RIP Computer

So my computer has officially bit the dust. I thought that I would be able to just swap out the fans but the heat appears to have well and truly fucked the damned thing. I've got a new one ordered but it looks like it will be late July before I get it back. I'm…

Exploring the Southern Gothic

Bare with me for a moment as I'm working through an idea when it comes to storytelling in my games and the sort of themes that I'm wanting to explore. Which brings me to the title of this post: what do we mean when we talk about the Southern Gothic? At its core we're discussing…

Combat in ADND 2e, Part 4: Initiative

So I really like the way that D&D 2e asks for us to determine initiative. Each side (the DM and the players) roll a single d10. The lowest result goes first and that side acts before the other. Now this result can be modified by various situational modifiers (for example being "Slowed" will add 2…

Combat in ADnD 2e, Part 3

The combat sequence of Dungeons and Dragons 2e is quite a bit different from that of 3e. In 2e the sequence goes as follows: 1. The DM decides what actions the monsters or NPCs will take, including casting spells (if any).2. The players indicate what their characters will do, including casting spells (if any).3. Initiative…

BEST READS OF THE WEEK! MAY 31 – JUNE 5, 2020!

Welcome to the BEST READS OF THE WEEK! This week we’ve got Aliens, Yoon Suin, a rejection of the classic Race theory of game design, and more! Oh, and in an effort to make it easier to see what articles are related to, topic wise, I have included hashtags at the end of each. Let…

BEST READS OF THE WEEK! MAY 23 – 29, 2020

Welcome to the BEST READS OF THE WEEK! This is the first list I’ve done in several years so you might be asking yourself, “What’s the BEST READS OF THE WEEK?” Each week I read through the more than 700 blogs on my blog roll call to and find the best of articles out of…

Greyhawk & Order

Pitch In a time of escalating tensions throughout the world one group of men and women stand between the law and chaos; they are the Greyhawk Police Department (GDP) and these are their stories. Each episode would follow a group of detectives for the GDP as they attempt to solve the crimes that haunt the…

The Frontier isn’t the Frontier

Recently I’ve been reading the book America Moves West by Robert E. Riegel and Robert G. Athearn and I was struck by the following passage: As it does today, when applied to such fields as science, industry, education, or religion, ‘frontier’ meant something new, relatively unknown, but always promising and exciting. To the pioneers the…

Let’s Go Exploring – If We Can Ever Find Somewhere Unexplored

Recently I started running a game of D&D set in the Forgotten Realms; and as I was describing where the players were in the world it occurred to me at how civilized the Realms (and my beloved Greyhawk for that matter) really are. The world still has wild spaces but there are clearly defined boarders…

Being Essential During the Pandemic

While many of my friends are finding themselves in a bit of a creative renascence you'll find me over here, being essential. Others are staying home, social distancing, and I'm over here going to work fighting crowds. I'm still writing though, and more will come. I just need to get through the next few days.

Alignment in Eberron

Using the traditional alignment system found in Dungeons & Dragons is a difficult chore for those looking to adventure in the world of Eberron. Unlike the world of Greyhawk, where the world is constantly trying to find a balance between good and evil, law and order, the world of Eberron is more often seen in…

Languages in Eberron

One of the first things that Eberron really does to distinguish itself from the traditional understanding of race and language in Dungeons & Dragons games is in how it deals with language. In previous versions of the game an Elf almost always knows the elvish language and is able to speak it fluently from the…

The Eberron Project

This week I’ve been spending a lot of time with the new Eberron book: Eberron, Rising from the Last War. The more time I spend with it, the more I find myself intrigued by the setting; so I’ve decided to start exploring it a bit more deeply here on the blog. To do this I’ve…

We Are Alone Among the Stars with Friend Computer

This week I discovered a new game, well, new to me at any rate. Alone Among the Stars by Takuma Okada is a solo play game that is designed to help you simulate space exploration by using a deck of cards and a d6. The rules for the system are simple to understand and fit…

A Few Quick Impressions on the New Eberron Book

1.) This book is relatively short. From beginning to end we're looking at 326 pages - and around 30 of those pages are monsters and non-player characters that you can use in your games. 2.) The artwork is very, very good. I've only done a casual sweep through the book but so far every illustration…