Emergency Update

Hey Games Fans, some of you are aware of that death of my mother recently, and some of you are not.  This is an official (ish) notification and we will be closing down for at least the end of the year to take care of family things and making sure that we honor her appropriately and celebrate the holidays with her spirit in mind. 

This has shaken all of us deeply, and it will take time for us to recover from the sudden shock of her untimely passing.  As things get back to normal, we will start creating articles again.  Thank you for wishes, thoughts, prayers, and condolences in this time of tribulation. 

Matthew Wilkins

Zardoz the Magnificent

2018 (A flash forward)

Hey Game Fans, it’s that time of year again and we’re going to take a look at some new ideas and thoughts for what we’re going to do around the office for 2018 to keep bringing you spectacular content and new ideas about gaming. We have a cyclical relationship with games, and what that means to us is that we go through a cycle of engagement and disengagement with the games we love. This means we sort of lose track of them and pick up new, shiny things that we are interested in, and we’re in the middle of several of those cycles as we speak. So what does that mean for 2018?

Archetypes List for LakePort

So we’re off to the races compiling a list of additional archetypes (or notes on how to incorporate them) for use in our Lakeport setting. These will include but are not limited to:

The Year of Battletech

If you read this blog often, you know that we’re huge fans of Battletech (in all of its many wonderful forms), and 2018 is looking like a banner year for the franchise. With new starter sets for the board game in the works, two new computer games slated for release, and a host of other developments on the horizon, it’s a great time to be a fan of giant stompy robots fighting over a Game of Thrones esque feudal system. Let’s talk a little bit about some of the developments and see what the future holds.

Humans of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back for the last part of our feature on the races for the setting of Lakeport.  Today we’re going to look at humans, and their two primary cultures, the Lakefolk and the Horse Lords. These represent a mechanical issue with the way we’ve wanted to present Lakeport. There’s an internal discussion on whether or not they should be a subrace or a background.  

Mechanically, the Lakefolk and the Horse Lords are the exact same people with very few differences in their stats.  Their changes are minor, and focus on specific aspects of their culture and the primary conveyance they use to get around the world.  However, if we make them a background, we take away the ability for a Player to make a Lakefolk Artisan, or a Horse Lord Noble.  We pigeonhole them into their specific culture instead of giving their culture the same breadth of options that the other cultures can select.  

So we’re going to present these options as subraces (which are usable with either configuration of human from the Player’s Handbook).  This is presented as an augmentation to the information provided in the Player’s Handbook, and the subrace represents additional cultural traits exclusive to the Horse Lords and the Lakefolk.  There are other smaller groups but these lack a unified culture that pulls them together.  The full range of heights, weights, complexions and descriptive elements from the Player’s Handbook are available.  Let’s take a closer look at the Horse Lords and The Lakefolk.

Dire Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving

The Dire Turkey is a mega sized version of the common fowl that can be found in natural settings throughout the world.  Unlike their smaller cousins, Dire Turkeys are not afraid of humanoids.  They come in two primary forms, a large bird, roughly the size of a horse, and an even larger bird that gives an elephant a run for its money.  These birds are quick, and move through their native environments with practiced ease.  Hunting the larger birds is a rite of passage for giants in some climates, and they can be surprisingly hard to catch.

World Anvil (World Building Resources)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a look at another gaming resource for your world building needs.  World Anvil is a new resource for World builders and authors.  It features a variety of tools and functions for the world builder and gives you a place to collate all of your resources in one easy to find reference spot.  It’s system agnostic, which means you can create the specific entry for a critter or a location, and then in the same entry put in stats for whatever system you’re planning on using.  Let’s take a closer look, and we’ll show you the world anvil approach to our Lakeport setting.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 28

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at the last of the major deities of the Divine Court.  Today we’re going to be talking about the Slumbering King, the god of Humanity.  Before i get started on him, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 27

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today we’re going to a different approach because the Wanderers worship a  host of different spirits and elemental powers that are similar to Gods and Goddesses, but aren’t quite as coherently defined as the other deities we’ve discussed.

Teroshi of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back for the last part of our feature on the Homebrew races for the setting of Lakeport.  Today we’re going to look at the Teroshi.  Like the rest of the Wanderers, they draw from an extra-planar heritage.  There are planes of existence where wondrous and terrible creatures that boggle the imagination roam free.  There are even Planes where plants became the dominant form of life and gained intelligence and sentience on their own.  These are the plants the Teroshi come from.  

Savage Metaverse (Thoughts and ideas)

If you were keeping up with last week, you know how much of a fan we are of Masters of the Metaverse (a fine RPG show on Hyper RPG’s Twitch and Youtube Channels), and the underlying concept that it runs with.  For those that aren’t familiar, the idea is that the player characters have the ability to hop into the bodies of people from parallel worlds and can take control of them to interact with their world for a variety of different reasons.  The tagline for the show is that it’s sort of like Quantum Leap and Sliders had a baby.  

Meta Mayhem (Masters of the Metaverse)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a spotlight on one of our favorite shows, and the underlying RPG Concept that it has at its core.  Today we’re going to talk about Masters of the Metaverse, a live streaming show on Hyper RPG’s hyperactive, interactive, community driven gaming experience twitch channel.  Masters is put together by the wonderful people at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, who have a host of entertainment credits under the belt.  (Don’t worry, we’ll toss up some links at the end of this article for the where to finds).  Masters of the Metaverse is one of the more interesting concepts for an RPG experience, and it’s one very successful way to translate the rpg experience around the table to a live show experience that is easy to understand for an audience.  Let’s dig in.  

Winning, Losing, and Missing the Point Entirely

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on one of the deepest topics in gaming. This one’s a doozy, and it’s something that everyone has an opinion about.  Our objective for today is to share with you some of the differing points of view, and we’ll share our perspective on the topic as well.You’ve read this far, so let’s dig into the 64$ question.   What, precisely is the point of gaming?

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 7)

DDAL 4-13 The Horseman

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) rolls on through with DDAL 4-13, The Horseman.  The Greenhall has gone mad with rage, and its creatures and its people are attacking everything.  Someone has to deal with source of this rage and quell the fury of Greenhall’s denizens.

Clan Abilities for Test of Honour (Prototype Ideas)

Hey Game Fans, I’m back with another article on our Favorite Miniature Game of 2017, Test of Honour.  I tossed out the Hand grenade question of “What if the historical samurai clans were upgrade cards you could put on your Samurai Heroes?”  on the facebook page last week and boy did it spawn a bunch of questions and answers.  The essence of that discussion boils down to “how would the abilities work and which clans would get which ability?”  As i have stated numerous times, i do not know enough about the history of Japan to be able to answer the second question.  This article is an approach to answering the first one.  Let’s dig in and see what this looks like.  

Test of Honour Unboxing (Geisha Spy)

Geisha Spy

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  We’re going to take a look at the figure, the cards, and any other odds and ends that come with it.  Let’s dig into the components and see what you can put together out of the box.

Test of Honour Unboxing (Unarmoured Samurai)

Unarmoured Samurai

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  Today we’re going to take a look at the Unarmoured Samurai clampack.  This is a single model pack with an upgrade card.  Let’s take a closer look at the pack, and then we’ll take a look at the upgrade card itself.

Test of Honour Unboxing (Dice and Cards)

Dice and Cards Expansion

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  Today we have the Dice and Cards expansion, which is one of the few expansions that doesn’t have any models in it.  This is a fairly easy expansion, with an assortment of dice and more quests, skills, injuries, and dishonor cards. Let’s dig into what’s precisely in the pack

OMG Dice, (Fresh from Tabletop Loot)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a look at something that every gamer in the world is probably going to be interested in, DICE.  We recently got a big chunk of our christmas shopping out of the way when we found the Tabletop Loot Website (which you can find here).  They were running a fantastic promotion (involving a free set of dice when you ordered one) and we couldn’t help but grab some of these.  About half of the sets we ordered are christmas presents, and we give some of the others away as a follower goal, but we really like them a lot.  We ordered 8 sets of dice, and are happy with all the sets we received.  

Test of Honour (some deeper thoughts)

This is a reaction to the package that had my Cavalry bases for my Test of Honour mounted troops, and the bonus i was sent by the fine people at Warlord Games.  I received the Geisha Spy, and the Unarmoured Samurai clampacks (along with my 12 cavalry bases, thanks Andy). I’ve looked at the stat cards for both figures (and i am really impressed with the idea of the Unarmoured Samurai being an upgrade card, with a figure) and this started my mind working along two parallel ideas that i thought were interesting.  If you’ll put up with the rambling path this is going to take, see if you can follow my logic tree

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 6)

DDAL 4-11 The Donjon

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) rolls on through with DDAL 4-11, The Donjon.  After returning to Orasnou, the characters encounter a surprise.  A group of Orcs have arrived at the small town and have demanded the town assist them with a crisis.  The current leader of the town has offered the assistance of the next party of adventurers (The PCs) to help them solve this issue.    

Just Dumb Things (Deadlands Short)

So I have an abiding love of Deadlands in all of its permutations (I would love to see someone mod Fallout 3 into the Wasted West), but oh my lord have I seen some awful interactions between characters in this game.  Today's JDT is the first time we got a horse killed by a PC. 

Book Review (TRO Succesion Wars)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a quick review of the Technical Readout: Succession Wars book for Battletech.  Like the other books in the Technical Readout series, this book gives you access to more combat units for your game of Battletech. Let’s dig into the book, the units presented, and have a bit of a discussion about what’s in here, and what you’ll need to pick up next.  

 

 

Live Streaming Games, (and the intersting places you'll go)

Hey Game Fans, it's an early Monday morning the day before Halloween and I hope you are all gearing up for the joy of over indulgence in candy, liquor and scaring the pants off of each other.  I've got a quick look for you today about one of the coolest Live Stream games I've seen in a very, very long time.  I was watching Death From Above on Hyper RPG's Twitch channel (you can find a link to both their twitch channel and their Youtube channel in the links over here on the right -------->).  The current season of that program (Season 3, technically 4) is one of the most entertaining, story driven performance pieces I've seen.  The episode on Friday, the 28th, was one of the best episodes of a live streamed gaming show ever. 

Battletech (The Company You Keep)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an idea about one of our favorite games around the office, Battletech.  It’s a wonderful board game (with customizable pieces and a depth of units so big it has its own website) of giant robots fighting on futuristic battlefields across any of the thousands of inhabited worlds in the future of the human race.  Often described as Game of Thrones with giant robots instead of swords, Battletech has much more to offer than just the Succession Wars.  With 30+ years of books and stories written about the universe and computer and video game adaptations, there are a million different stories you can experience playing Battletech.  

However, that depth of information can be crippling for a new player to get into the setting.  So how does one get into the game?  

Well, there are a host of ways you can dig into the setting, but if you want to experience the tabletop game, i suggest 3 purchases to get started.  The Battletech Introductory Box Set (if you can find it), has all of the basic rules you need to learn how to play the game and gets you a collection of giant robots of your own to get started.  From there, the new BattleMech Manual gives you the rules you need to play more complex games with the units you have and scales up the rules to add more complexity and variety to the game.  Finally, the new Technical Readout (TRO): Succession Wars will greatly expand the units you can play with on the tabletop.  Once you have played some games and had some fun with it, change up your units a little and see what works for you.  This is a game that offers virtually unlimited options and choices for combat units, so you could literally play for years without exhausting the potential.  

Plot Traps Addendum A (World Building: Myths and Legends edition)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article in our Plot Traps series.  Today we’re going to take a look at Myths and Legends and how they can help you shape your world. We’ve got a buddy who runs a channel on Youtube called Terminally Nerdy who posted a video about this topic which you can find here.  One of the most important ideas he reminded me of is that you can make your myths and legends as big or as small as you need them to be, and they can work in just about any Genre of gaming (or storytelling for that matter).  Be sure to check out the video, (and like, subscribe and favorite stuff, if you found it as helpful as we did), and we’re going to dig into some thoughts and ideas about what you can do with Myths and Legends in your game.  

Some thoughts for Expanding Test of Honour

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to take a bit of a different look at Test of Honour.  We’ve done a lot of unboxing articles and shown you what you can find in most of the boxes (and the units and cards that come with), but today we’re going to take a look at what we would like to see for Test of Honour going forward, and things that we like about the game.  Without dithering much, let’s dig into the Wish List.

Legend of the Five Rings Beta First Looks

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to talk in brief about the new version of the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying game from Fantasy Flight Games.  Currently it’s undergoing an Open Beta for playtesting and i personally think that’s a fantastic idea.  Legend of the Five Rings is a long running franchise, featuring a Miniature Wargame, a Collectible Card Game that ran for several editions, and four editions of a Roleplaying game that featured drama, action, and intrigue.  

Since the property was acquired by Fantasy Flight Games, rumors and questions have been circulating about what they would do with the property.  They announced a new ideation of the Legend of the Five Rings card game, this time using the Living Card Game format that Fantasy Flight has had great success with in other properties (including Star Wars, Warhammer 40,000, and Call of Cthulhu to name a few).  They are also offering a board game that features the Great Clans of Rokugan vying for control of the world of L5R in the aptly named Battle for Rokugan.  I know that i was very interested to see what they did with the Roleplaying game side of the Franchise, and i have had a little bit of time to take a look at the first few chapters of the Beta (I think I’ve almost figured out how to make a character).  I’d like to talk about those first few chapters today and give you folks my first impressions.

Test of Honour Unboxing (Daimyo's Retinue)

Daimyo’s Retinue

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  We’re going to take a look at the sprues, the cards, and any other odds and ends that come in the box.  Now most of these expansion sets (aside from the Samurai Warband) have additional metal components (typically metal heads) and a metal hero character.  Let’s dig into the components and see what you can put together out of the box.

Test of Honour Unboxing (Ronin)

Ronin

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  We’re going to take a look at the sprues, the cards, and any other odds and ends that come in the box.  Now most of these expansion sets (aside from the Samurai Warband) have additional metal components (typically metal heads) and a metal hero character.  Let’s dig into the components and see what you can put together out of the box.

Gensai of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back for another part of a feature on the Homebrew setting of Lakeport.  Today we’re going to look at one of the races from Lakeport, the Gensai.  Like the rest of the Wanderers, they draw from an extra-planar heritage.  There are planes of raw energy that exist in the multiverse, and strange creatures and energies bleed across to the world of Lakeport.  The Gensai draw an ancient connection to the elemental planes.  Like the other Wanderers, they occur within other populations and have no culture of their own.   Let’s dig into these unusual beings

1879 (Mechanics First Look)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another look at a different role-playing game than we normally cover.  Today’s entry is 1879, a different take on the concepts of colonialism and exploration through the lens of Steampunk, travel to alien worlds and magic.  Let’s take a look at the core mechanic for task resolution and how that shapes the rest of the game (we’ll dig into building a character later on, and we’ll see if we can’t discuss some of the underlying concepts and ideas that shape the game).  

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 5)

DDAL 4-9 The Tempter

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) rolls on through with DDAL 4-9, The Tempter.  Disaster has struck and the resources to pay for Orasnou taxes have been gravely reduced. If something can’t be done, the town will either starve or risk the unforgiving wrath of the Lord of Barovia.  There are rumors of wealth and resources that can be gained from a nearby estate, but these will not be given freely.  

Test of Honour (Skill Cards)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on our new favorite skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Today we’re going to finish up our look at the Starter Set by taking a look at the rest of the cards in the Starter Set.  These fall into one of three broad categories, Skills, Dishonor, and Injuries. Each of these interacts with the game in a different way and allow you to do things that operate outside the rules.  Let’s dig into the skill cards and see where we get to.

Plot Traps: Bad Guy Example (The Unbroken Circle)

Hey Game Fans, we’ve shown you the theoretically steps for how to put together an Antagonist/bad guy for your RPG fun, but that’s a theoretical.  Today i’d like to take to an opportunity to show you how this works in actual practice.  I haven’t exactly decided what kind of a Big Bad Monster that’s Going to Break Your Tiny Face ™ to use in this, but let’s dig into the idea and see what we can come up with.  As always, we start with the Antagonist and work our way down from there.  

Test of Honour Unboxing (Pauper Soldiers)

Product Name

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  We’re going to take a look at the sprues, the cards, and any other odds and ends that come in the box.  Now most of these expansion sets (aside from the Samurai Warband) have additional metal components (typically metal heads) and a metal hero character.  Let’s dig into the components and see what you can put together out of the box.

Test of Honour Unboxing (Masked Men)

Masked Men

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  We’re going to take a look at the sprues, the cards, and any other odds and ends that come in the box.  Now most of these expansion sets (aside from the Samurai Warband) have additional metal components (typically metal heads) and a metal hero character.  Let’s dig into the components and see what you can put together out of the box.

Test of Honour Unboxing (Mounted Samurai)

Mounted Samurai

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  We’re going to take a look at the sprues, the cards, and any other odds and ends that come in the box.  Now most of these expansion sets (aside from the Samurai Warband) have additional metal components (typically metal heads) and a metal hero character.  Let’s dig into the components and see what you can put together out of the box.

 

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 4)

DDAL 4-7 The Innocent

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) rolls on through with DDAL 4-5, The Innocent.  The characters explore the Glumpen Swamp and find a terrible den of evil.  Difficult choices await the adventurers as they decide what to do with an ancient creature of unspeakable origins.  

Plot Traps: Bad Guys Part 5 (Antagonists)

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to keep on keeping on with our discussion of Antagonists and how to get the most use of them in your adventure writing.  Every Antagonist has a specific role to play in the narrative you’re putting together. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them gives you a leg up in finding the spot to put them and how to utilize them to maximum effect.  We’ve talked about Minions, Specialists, and Lieutenants in previous articles, so today we’re going to finish up with a discussion about Antagonists.  These are the end bosses, masters of disaster,  or world breaking tyrants.  In some cases they are background elements, like an evil overlord whose minions constantly threaten the neighboring kingdoms.  In other cases they are personal enemies that have to be dealt with in some way.  We’ve written these articles technically backwards, because we really do think you ought to start with your primary antagonist.  Once you’ve decided who or what it is, you can design the overarching scheme and figure out what lieutenants, minions and specialists you can use to build their encounter, adventure, story arc, or complete campaign.  

Radiants and Fellwan of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back for another part of a feature on the Homebrew setting of Lakeport.  Today we’re going to look at two new races for the setting, the Radiants, and the Fellwan.  Like the rest of the Wanderers, they draw from an extra-planar heritage.  There are planes of raw energy that exist in the multiverse, and strange creatures and energies bleed across to the world of Lakeport.  The Radiants draw on a connection to the Positive Energy plane, a universe of life affirming and strengthening energy, while the Fellwan draw their power from the Negative Energy plane, a universe that weakens living creatures and empowers the undead.  Like the Aasimar and the Tieflings, they occur within other populations and have no culture of their own.   Let’s dig into these unusual beings

Project Log and Miniature Mischief (End of September)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a bit of hobby update on the miniatures and other random wargaming stuff we do.  Currently there are a bunch of projects and other random crazy things we’re working on.  Right now I’m prioritizing the unbuilt/unassembled things that need to be glued to my fingers so i can get everything primed (and theoretically painted).  So we’re going to start in no particular order.

Test of Honour (The Core Mechanic)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on our new favorite skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Last week we put together an article about the Recruitment cards and how to read the Recruitment cards..  Today we’re going to talk about the Core Mechanic (and the dice rolled for the game).  This article might be a little shorter than the last one, but it’s covering a couple of important concepts.  The next one of these we’ll cover the mechanics of combat and how to cut the other guys down. 

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 3)

DDAL 4-5 The Seer

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) rolls on through with DDAL 4-5, The Seer.  The characters finally push out of the town of Orasnou and explore a little bit of Barovia proper.  During their exploration they encounter the Vistani, a mysterious people of sinister reputation.  What are these mysterious Vistani up to?

Plot Traps: Bad Guys Part 4 (Lieutenants)

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to keep on keeping on with our discussion of Antagonists and how to get the most use of them in your adventure writing.  Every Antagonist has a specific role to play in the narrative you’re putting together. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them gives you a leg up in finding the spot to put them and how to utilize them to maximum effect.  Last week we talked about the minions that make up the rank and file of the bad guys, today we’re going to take a look at the Lieutenants that carry out the Antagonist's plans.  Remember the Pyramid example we talked about last week.  These antagonists are the next level up, and perform a specific task for the Antagonist directly.  Let’s dig into that idea and see what we can come up with.

 

Exalted Character Write up #2 (Merchant Princess)

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to make another character for Exalted 3rd Edition.  You all voted on Twitter for this one, so today we’re going to take a crack at making a Merchant Princess type of characters.  Now we’ve had a little more practice at this, so we’re  going to omit some of the explanations along the way.  If you want a step by step breakdown of the hows, check out our articles on Rey, which you can find here, here, and here. This is after 3 solid reads of the relevant chapters and digging into the nuts and bolts of everything.  So let’s dig into this article and get things started.  If you’re curious what we’re talking about and don’t know what Exalted is, check out our First Looks article Here.  

Aasimar and Tieflings of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back for another part of a feature on the Homebrew setting of Lakeport.  Today we’re going to look at the divinely graced Aasimar and the fiendishly souled Tieflings.  Both races have ties to other planes of reality, and are the result of unions between powerful energies from those planes and living creatures from the material plane.  There are basically two kinds of each.  Some of the Aasimar and Tieflings favor the extra planar origins (often referred to as Domitors), others favor their mortal heritage (Falraks being as an easy shorthand for these people).  Let’s dig into these differences and explore these otherworldly beings.

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 2)

DDAL 4-3 The Executioner

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) carries on with DDAL 4-3, The Executioner.  An ancient relic is rumored to have been discovered nearby.  Treasure hunters and fortune seekers alike are racing towards this treasure, can you afford to be the last ones to reach the relic?

DDAL 4-3 is designed for 1st thru 4th  level characters, with an average party size of 5 suggested.  For Adventurer’s League play, the level range is a hard ceiling, and characters of 5th level or higher are not playable in this adventure.  This adventure is built in 3 parts.  It should take about 2 hours start to finish.  Remember to bring your D & D Survival Kit with you when you show up to game. (This adventure is optimized for 3rd level characters, so plan accordingly)

Plot Traps: Bad Guys Part 3 (Specialists)

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to keep on keeping on with our discussion of Antagonists and how to get the most use of them in your adventure writing.  Every Antagonist has a specific role to play in the narrative you’re putting together. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them gives you a leg up in finding the spot to put them and how to utilize them to maximum effect.  Last week we talked about the minions that make up the rank and file of the bad guys, today we’re going to take a look at the Specialists that are basically a tier up from the minions.  Remember the Pyramid example we talked about last week.  These antagonists are the next level up, and perform a specific task in the Antagonist hierarchy.  Let’s dig into that idea and see what we can come up with.

 

Test of Honour (Recruitment Cards)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on our new favorite skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Last week we put together an article about how units activate, and we realized we sort of put the horse before the cart.  Today we’re going to talk about the Recruitment cards you use to build your force, and very briefly cover the attributes on the cards.  We’re only going to talk about the ones that come in the Starter Set, so you can familiarize yourself with these units before you start building your models.  

The Unmitigated Joys of Not Knowing Where You Are Going (RPG Editiorial)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a bit of an editorial on a gaming topic that we find personally enjoyable.  From the earliest days of playing the game (back in the 80s for us, some of you may go back a little further, some of you got a bit of a later start), one of the things that i really enjoyed was gathering my supplies and traipsing off into the wilderness.  We may have had a destination in mind, like an adventure site, or not.  Really at the time i didn’t matter to me.  One of the most interesting ideas i found as a kid playing games like this was the ability to pick a direction and go, and not necessarily having the foggiest idea of what was along the way, and where we’d end up.  The journey was the aspect that i found fascinating.  

DDAL 4-1 Suits of the Mists

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) kicks off with DDAL 4-1, Aptly titled Suits of the Mists.  Like the 1st module for prior seasons, this adventure is actually composed of five mini adventures.  Each one is designed to be played through in about an hour and a half, and gives brand new players their first interactions with Dungeons and Dragons in bite sized, discrete pieces.  Set in the darkened land of Barovia, the characters are slowly introduced to the horrors of the Demiplane of Dread and get a look at what’s waiting for them in the rest of the season.  “Welcome to Barovia”

D & D 5th Edition Character Creation Example (All hail Grand Bahama)

Hey Game Fans, I realize we talk an awful lot about how to build characters across a lot of games, but we’ve never actually shown you a character creation example for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.  Well, fear not friends, with the thunderbolt inspiration of naming things awesomely, I had the inspiration for what I think is a great character to bring on an adventure.  Now there are two ways this character could have gone, so we’re going to build it both ways.  One of them I’ll be rolling attributes, the other I’ll put together with a point buy (meaning you could technically borrow my character and take them to adventurer’s league at your local gaming establishment).  Alright friends, let’s build some characters.

Bits Box Picture Gallery

This was originally supposed to go up with my bits box article, but the scheduling wires got crossed and that article dropped earlier than it was supposed to.  I have put together a few pictures of the Bits Box I use for parts (this one is specifically for Terminator parts).  These are easy to find Plano tackle boxes.  The internal compartments have inserts that allow you to customize the internal layout for whatever parts you want to store.  I use the same box for my X-wing ships, and my D & D dice plus minis.  Let's get a look at those pictures, shall we?

Mystery Box Friday (Ice Kingdoms Adventures)

Hey Game Fans, It’s friday so it’s time for us to dig into our Mystery Box and revisit one of our favorite publishers.  Mad Martian Games has created one of our favorite campaign Settings in the Ice Kingdoms.  A complex setting in a frozen land, Ice Kingdoms is Sword and Sorcery style adventures at their best.  If you’d like to take a look at our review of that setting, you can find it here.  Today we’re going to take a look at 3 of the adventures for that setting.  This is as Old School as it gets.  

Exalted Character Creation Part 3 (Little Bits and Final thoughts)

Hey Game Fans, as promised, we finished up the Charms Section for Rey’s Character sheet which is now complete.  You can find that version of the character sheet here.  One of the aspects of the character i didn’t get to write up last week is the various nicks, cuts, scars and other distinctive physical characteristics that Rey has.  I’ve been pondering how this works for a couple of weeks, so i have a firm idea of what Rey’s been through and the long, hard roads he’s been down.

Test of Honour (Activation)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article about our new favorite Skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Set in feudal Japan, Test is a fast paced game of historical violence.  It’s designed for a player to control between 5 and 25 models, with most games falling somewhere in between.  With fast task resolution and some interesting mechanics, we love the game (and now that we have our color scheme chosen, can start assembling our boxes).  Today we’re going to take a look at the Activation mechanism for the game.  Units activate in a dynamic fashion that keeps the game tense and the players guessing about how their tactics are going to unfold.  Let’s take a closer look at this, and show you one of the ways this game grabbed our attention during a demo.

Army Rebuilding Project Part 3 (WTF is a bits Box?)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article taking a look at Warhammer 40,000’s 8th Edition, and how we’re going to bring our 7th edition (okay, mostly 6th Edition) army forward.  We’ve gone over the rundown of our Deathwing army including what units we have, and the likely purchases we need to make soon.  Check back on the other two articles in this series Here and Here for more details.  Then i did some cleaning last weekend and found my Terminator parts Bits Box and cried a little inside.

Plot Point 12 The Bad Guys (Part 2)

’m changing some things up with the blog and looking at a variety of new and old ideas in gaming.  I’d like to spend part of today talking about some recurring tropes and ideas that crop up in fantasy storytelling and how they can be used (and abused) in an RPG to some sort of effect.  Today’s volume is a little different because we’re not going to be looking at a specific instance or idea of a plot trap, but a larger concept that is overarching throughout the fantasy RPG genre and beyond.  When you’re designing an encounter, an adventure, a story arc, or even a campaign, your villains are an essential part of what you’re designing, and you can put a lot of thought into all of the aspects of team “bad guy.” What we’re going to do is take a look at some types of bad guys and how they can scale up to deal with your player characters in interesting interactions throughout the encounter, adventure or potential campaign.  Let’s take a closer look.  

Adventurer's League Season 4 Breakdown

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to do a quick breakdown of the Experience Points for Season 4 of Adventurer’s League.  There are two experience tracks in season 4 (One for brand new characters up to level 4, and one for more experienced characters that are level 5-10).  We’re going to list the adventures, and indicate where they belong on these tracks and maybe some good points to consider hopping from the lower level track to the upper level track.  This season can be played in direct order by following the adventure numbers, (depending on experience gains, you may have to exercise the catch up option to get from level 4 to level 5).  We’re going to take a deeper dive and see what information we can come up with to help you get your stuff together.  Read on, Game Fans.

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 26

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more serious goddesses for the setting, Asha, the Keeper of the Gates. Before i get started on her, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.

The Wanderers of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another look at our Lakeport setting.  Today we’re going to cover another major group of affiliated races that share a culture.  Our Feature for today are the Wanderers of Lakeport and the shared culture they have.  We’ll have companion pieces that look closely at the specific cultures of Gensai, Aasimar, Tieflings, and some of the other exotic humanoids.  We’ll also have articles on their matron goddess as we move towards a complete picture of these denizens of Lakeport.  

Test of Honour (First Looks)

Test of Honour is a fast paced skirmish game from Warlord Games.   Set in Medieval Japan, it features clashes and confrontations between warring clans of Samurai and their peasant retainers.  Honour is a driving force in this era, and the game is fast paced, dynamic, and filled with excitement and the dice themselves can swing a glorious last stand into a rout of the enemy forces, or turn a sure victory into an ignominious defeat. Let’s take a closer look at Test of Honour and see what convinced me to buy a starter set this weekend at Recruits