Game Days can be a fickle thing. Almost everyone in our group is middle-aged (or getting close), most of us have kids, and those kids are old enough to have Game Day-smashing activities of their own. As a result, our weekly Sunday game can go from looking like a lock to no one being able … Read more
My weekly gaming group took a break from our regular Dungeons & Dragons campaigns to play Fiasco … in space! Fiasco (Amazon/Indie Press Revolution ) by Bully Pulpit Games is a role-playing game of ordinary people with powerful ambition and poor impulse control. It’s a role-playing game for 3-5 players and no game master inspired by movies such as Fargo, A Simple Plan, and The Way … Read more
In 2008 I wrote, “Beware the Megadungeon”, a post about delving into depths of the sprawling deathtraps known as megadungeons. At the time, the Blackrazor Guild was just coming off of a prolonged — and frustrating — foray into the legendary ruins of Maure Castle. What started off as a fun side adventure turned into a … Read more
After the end of our long-running Obsidian Frontier campaign, we decided to venture to a little-explored region of Greyhawk: the Archbarony of Blackmoor. Inspired by Dave Arneson‘s legendary campaign setting of the same name (one of Dungeons & Dragons first-ever settings), Blackmoor promises a mix of ancient magic, weird technology, and the strangeness of the Egg of … Read more
After four years, 53 episodes, and over 200 hours of gaming, we closed the book on our Obsidian Frontier campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Begun as one of two playtest campaigns for 5th Edition, we had so much fun with the campaign — and the game — that we transitioned from “playtest” to “ongoing” campaign … Read more
My son and I spent the day at PAX Unplugged. Held at the Philadelphia Convention Center from Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2018, PAX Unplugged in a three-day event dedicated to offline games: card games, board games, role-playing games, their various iterations. We took advantage of PAX’s Kids Day and based on the number of children I saw … Read more
November is done and with it, Nuketown’s first-ever turn at hosting the RPG Blog Carnival. Inspired by the “All These Worlds” line from 2010: A Space Odyssey Two, the carnival explored all manners of world-building, from new planets to undersea realms to stellar frontiers. In total eight blogs contributed 15 entries to the carnival. The Expanding Frontier kicked things off “Expanded … Read more
The Refuge of Durak is a pocket dimension that served as an oasis of law for the planar explorer known as Durak the Rigid. An archmage and planar explorer, Durak held to his moral code in any situation, steadfastly embracing his ideals even in the face of absolute chaos. Durak the Rigid’s home — the alternative material … Read more
Whether it’s the subterranean world beneath our feet, other planets racing through the sky, or intersections with other planes of existence, the worlds we can visit through role-playing games are infinite. The November 2018 RPG Blog Carnival hopes to capture a few of them. The topic is inspired by the final message from the David … Read more
My Waterdeep: Dragon Heist campaign kicks off in October. Anyone who’s played Dungeons & Dragons for any length of time has likely heard of Waterdeep, the famous “City of Splendors” in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The nearby megadungeon of Undermountain is equally legendary. Even the Blackrazor Guild (my Sunday group and diehard Greyhawkers), know of Waterdeep and it’s dungeon, which served … Read more