My overarching ambition is to continue making time for games. It’s difficult, with the day job, marriage, one kid in high school, the other in middle school, the day job, and all of the activities that go along with them. We’ve got Boy Scouts, marching band, softball, baseball, Seeing Eye Puppy Raising … it’s a … Read more
Bennies in Savage Worlds, without a doubt. Players typically start with three bennies, which they can spend to re-roll checks and soak damage. Having three bennies at any given time means that players are comfortable with spending them and still having a reserve. I don’t have a problem with people hoarding bennies because I’m liberal … Read more
For many years I lovingly crafted soundtracks for my sessions, occasionally even adding sound effects. Done well, music enhances immersion in the game and kicks engagement into a higher gear. Done so-so, it still adds to the game, but ends up serving as little more than pleasant background noise. Done poorly, it distracts from the … Read more
It varies greatly based on the game we are playing and the campaign I’m running. Typically at the start of a campaign I’ll set out to find art that either matches my vision or helps inspire me. This is particularly helpful when launching non-fantasy game as it helps people grok the tone, atmosphere, and/or vibe … Read more
I’m contemplating a return to lunchtime gaming. It’s been on hiatus for quite a while do to an overwhelming lack of time, but I miss it and so do the rest of the Gamer Working Group. As a brief re-cap, the Gamer Working Group consists of a few RPG players at my day job and one … Read more
There was once a Blackrazor redshirt named Zilanderan. A strange man, Zilanderan claimed to be part of a larger, near-infinite multiverse of alternate realities. He’d excitedly talk about how this multiverse interacted with this, the Prime Material Plane, boring his cohorts to tears until something happened to break the tension. Alas, the eccentric warrior-mage was … Read more
It’s a toss up between Forceful Truth and Zilanderan … but I want to write about Zilanderan for “Wildest Character Concept” for Day 12 so Forceful Truth it is. A few years ago another player in my lunchtime gaming group took on the dungeon mastering role because he wanted to try out a still-mystifying Dungeons … Read more
Gaming increased my confidence, made me more articulate, taught me how to lead small groups, and increased my organization skills. As a geek in middle school and high school, my self-confidence was low. I had a hard time meeting new friends and connecting with my peers (who often bullied me for being weird). Dungeons & … Read more
I played the best convention game of my life at GenCon 2000. It was a multi-round RPGA event called “Barbarian Lives”. It used the newly-released Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules to tell a soap opera-inspired tale of romance, heartbreak, and monster hunting. At the time, the Role-playing Gamers Association (RPGA) was still a notable … Read more
For those of us with kids, the answer’s easy: teach them how to play. I started teaching my son and his friends how to play three years ago during our annual summer vacation on Lake Champlain. Two years ago, our gaming group started scheduling “D&D Kids” sessions and running our children through the classic B2 … Read more