Radio Active #104: Rewind and Reload

Two people observe the approaching eclipse in Vermont in April 2024.

On this episode of Radio Active … well, it’s been a while. So let’s look back and where we’ve been and take a look at where we’re going. It’s a mix of bad news, good news, and geeky news, so get ready for the info dump. Nuketown News Geek On Contact Us

Weather in RPGs – Advice, Generators, and Tables

An example of weather in RPGs - lightning strikes down from clouds over the ocean. Darkened land can be seen to the right.

Bad snow storms and extreme weather scuttled many a Game Day over the years. They throw our RPG gaming lives into chaos, and while being able to fall back to Roll20 can help the game go on … it’s useless when it comes to shoveling snow or bailing out the basement. Just as a Nor’easter … Read more

#RPGaDay2018 – Describe how your play has evolved

A close up view of the spines of numerous role-playing game books.

As a group we’ve become more tolerant of non-standard character concepts, especially when it comes to the World of Greyhawk. When our Dungeons & Dragons campaign started 20 years ago, we were diehard devotees of Greyhawk canon (there is a reason, after all, why the biggest Greyhawk fan website is called Canonfire). We had holy wars over whether you … Read more

Spellcrash

A fantasy map of the planet Terminus

Spellcrash is a gonzo Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting I’m building featuring dying gods, trapped demons, impossible worlds and the most bizarre monsters the game’s ever known. It’s built around the cursed star system of Star’s End, which unerringly draws the lost and insane to it like bees to nectar. The Star’s End System My … Read more

Game Day: Weird Summertime

Four kids with bikes look at the looming shapes of cooling towers peaking through the mists.

It’s summertime. And things are getting weird. The slipcase two-volume edition of Delta Green arrived in early June after two years of waiting for the Kickstarter to make its production run. After reading lots of positive reviews, I picked up the Tales for the Loop RPG, which features kids on bikes investigating mysteries in a … Read more

Dicember 2017, Day 10: Workaholic

Two rows of different-colored twenty-sided dice.

Tales of a GM is running the 12 Days of Dicember, a project dedicated dice in all their randomized glory. The question for the tenth day of Dicember is “Which are your hardest working dice?” My d20s work the hardest at my gaming table, regardless of which side of the dungeon master’s screen I’m on. Dungeons & Dragons, in … Read more

Dicember 2017, Day 2: Oldest Dice

Dozens of polyhedral dice.

Tales of a GM is running the 12 Days of Dicember, a project dedicated dice in all their randomized glory. The question for the second day of Dicember is “Which is your oldest die?” The answer is … I honestly don’t know. I have a number of ancient dice that date back to my original Dungeons & Dragons Basic … Read more

Nuke(m)Con 2017

A close-up of a Dungeons & Dragons character sheet. A doodle of a sword, wreathed in flame, appears to the right.

Another Nuke(m)Con is in the bag. Held September 29-October 1, the latest Nuke(m)Con continued a reinvigorated tradition that began in 2006. Family and work emergencies played havoc with attendance this year as a broken water heater, a sick baby, and a super-sized work project kept three players away from the table. A family birthday and … Read more