The stirge. It is a monster whose name echoes down the halls of dungeon crawling history, evoking terror and scorn as it does so (terror for low-level characters trapped in a cavern with them, scorn for high-level adventurers all but immune to their blood-sucking attacks). This monster, whose roots date back to the dawn of … Read more
In Part 1 of this column, I gave an overview of Monte Cook’s Diamond Throne (Amazon) campaign setting for Arcana Unearthed (Amazon) and talked about the sort of adventures I’d like to run there. In Part 2, I talk about the races and classes I’d use to achieve the goals set out in the first column. One … Read more
GenCon, that gaming mecca held once a year in Indianapolis, is drawing to a close. And despite having gamed until unconsciousness at our home-grown NukemCon convention, I really wished I’d been there. The immensity of GenCon — the thousands of gamers gather together to play countless games, the cathedral-like exhibition hall, the electric buzz of … Read more
In WISH 99, Ginger asked (Internet Archive): Pick three to five genres and name the best RPG for that genre. Why do you think it’s the best? What makes it better than others? What are its downsides? Fantasy / Dungeons & Dragons: What makes Dungeons & Dragons the best fantasy game out there isn’t its … Read more
In WISH 98, Ginger asks (Internet Archive): What are three games or settings that you’ve bought or seen recently (in stores or previews) that you’d really like to try? What interests you about them and why? Eberron: At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this campaign setting, but it’s grown on me … Read more
Monte Cooke’s Arcana Unearthed (Amazon) is an alternative Players Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons that ditches the game’s time-honored fantasy classes in favor of wholly new classes that contain echoes of their predecessors, but represent something entirely different. It does an excellent job of breaking the fantasy molds, and it’s surprisingly well-suited for a libertarian campaign. … Read more
In WISH 97, Ginger asked (Internet Archive): What’s your take on player bitching/venting: complaints intended to relieve player stress and not to actually change things in the game? When and where and to whom is it appropriate? How should players and GMs handle it? Most of the player bitching I see in my game has centered … Read more
I’m in the process of putting together a new music-themed feature article for Nuketown. My intention is to do something similar to the Mac RPG feature, with links to Web sites focusing on music in role-playing games, links to RPG musicians, commentary from gamers. I also plan on writing some original articles about using music … Read more
In WISH #96, Ginger asked (Internet Archive): Describe one or more occasions when a game went click for you and things fell together. Why do you think this happened? What factors made it possible? What were the consequences? It just happened this past Saturday. It was in the Scarred Lands campaign where I’m a player, … Read more
Reactions to the Libertarian Gamers Project have been largely positive — in the month since I started promoting it, we’ve had 21 members join up, and a few good conversations over at the UncleBear.com forums, where people wanted to know what the heck a “libertarian” was. But there have been a few who’ve been uncomfortable … Read more