Just Dumb Things (D & D 3.5 part 1 of many)

We’re back with another episode of Just Dumb Things, where i tell you a gaming horror story and attempt to show some errors in games so that you can in fact avoid making similar mistakes in your own games.  You can learn from our examples, or you can make them yourself.  It’s entirely up to you and how you want to run your life.  Today we’re going to start with another fine example of things that you probably shouldn’t do when you set up your game.  We’re playing 3.5 edition Dungeons and Dragons, near the end of its life.  We’ve got access to most of the books and we’re running an assortment of crazy dumb things.  

Mystery Box Friday (Last Flickering Light)

Hey Folks, we’re putting together a first for our mystery box series.  Today we’re looking at a DM’s Guild adventure created by a community member.  This adventure, written by Wes Cordell, features a quintessential dungeon crawl full of traps, treasures, and a pile of spooky magic.  Let’s dive into Last Flickering Light, and see what new and inventive ways we can die.

Adventurer's League Season 3 part 3 (Lower Level Track Pt 3)

All right Game Fans, we’re continuing with our look at the 3rd season of the Adventurer’s League for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th edition.  Like last season, we’re not going to take these adventures in numeric order, but we’ve split them up into two different tracks based off of their suggested character level.  Today we’re looking at the next two adventures for the lower level track, DDEX 3-10 Quelling the Horde and DDEX 3-12 Hillsfar Reclaimed.  Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the next part of Season 3.

Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures (And A Deep Cut)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a look at something we thought was particularly awesome when we first heard about them way back in September (we think).  The wonder children at Wizkids Games have been working on an unpainted line of fantasy adventure themed miniatures.  The D & D ones are called Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures, (itself a riff on a magic item, that basically works like the paint from Bugs Bunny Cartoons), and the Pathfinder ones are from a line called Deep Cuts.  Let’s take a closer look (like we broke out a camera and everything), and see what we can see.  

Alpha Strike Battle Report (Drewbacca & Zardoz at Thunderdome)

Alpha Strike Battle Report

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another Alpha Strike battle report.  Today, Drewbacca and i threw down at 150 points during our big day out in the KCK burbs.  We’re playing at the Geekery, and the terrain and such are all from their store supply.  Let’s dig into the game and see what sort of mischief we got into

The Technician Career for Edge of the Empire (Quit Breaking Everything)

Following up from last week, we’re going to take a bit of a deeper dive into the specific careers that you can pick up for Edge of the Empire. In alphabetical order , we’re finishing up with the Technician career.  The Star Wars Universe is full of fantastic technology.  From energy weapons, to omnipresent robots, to fantastic starships, technology is a touchstone of the Star Wars Universe.  In an environment with this level of technology, the people who work with and repair technological equipment are worth their weight in credits.

Race in Fantasy Gaming

This article is in its entirety inspired by a conversation with Jessica Price on Twitter, and i’ll try to explain what’s going on.  The basic gist of the conversation revolves around writers for fantasy games and projects inserting the word Race when describing cultures or species groupings.  For Example “The Merfolk race”  The question asked is why do we do that?  It’s functionally unnecessary, and in most cases, Merfolk (or in other examples, the race actually being described) should suffice as the descriptor.  

Psionics and You

All Right Game Fans, we’re back with our final look at the last component for the Mystic.  Today we’re going to take a look at Psionic Disciplines and Talents, and how they interact with your character and the rest of the gaming environment you’ll experience playing Dungeons and Dragons.  If you need a refresher on the terms we’re going over, feel free to check our article here http://zardozgames.blogspot.com/2017/03/mystic-1st-looks-more-detailed.html, and if you want a breakdown of the Mystic class, check here http://zardozgames.blogspot.com/2017/03/mystic-class-discussion.html.  Let’s take a closer look at the Disciplines and the Talents available to the mystic.  A lot of these are quoted from the original playtest material, and this is in no way a challenge to the copyright held by their respective parties (namely Wizards of the Coast).

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 12

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 misunderstood goddesses for the setting, Courvail, the Lady of Time. Before i get started on Courvail herself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Just Dumb Things (Oriental Adventures edition)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article in this fun series about gamer horror stories and what happens when things go terribly sideways.  Today’s article is all about the Oriental adventures book for Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition.  (For those of you keeping score at home, this is the version that uses Legend of the Five Rings Rokugan as its core setting).  There’s a bunch of stories that i could mine for this article, but today we’re going to talk about how the game died in a most violently splendid fashion.  

Mystery Box Friday (What's in the Box?)

Hey Game Fans, We’re either a little late or way early depending on how you want to look at it, but this week’s mystery box features a wonderful book form the fine folks at Cubicle 7.  Today we’re going to take a quick look at the Loremaster’s Guide to Middle Earth.  This is the second book in their adventuring resources that are compatible with 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, and helps a budding game master get a grasp on the epic world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.  Let’s dig a little deeper and see what we can find?

What we Learned from Strangers (Alpha Strike Thoughts)

If you’ve been following us, you know that we had the most wonderful opportunity to play a game of Alpha Strike with some wonderful people last week.  I am not going to give you an actual battle report of this game, because we were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures.  If that’s not a hallmark of us having the best time ever, i don’t know what to tell you.  We got massively lucky and actually had a Catalyst Demo Agent (I Think that’s what they’re called) play with us, and he was a delightful resource about game play and ideas.  What i am going to talk about are some lessons learned from the experience of playing with people outside your comfort zone.  

Zardoz and Drewbacca's Big Day Out

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a different kind of an article for today.  Me and the wookie went rampaging through the Olathe/Kansas City, Kansas suburbs yesterday (He’s out on work release, i mean Spring Break), checking out some game stores, getting a fabulous lunch, and otherwise having the time of our lives.  We even managed to squeeze in a couple of games of Alpha Strike to boot.  I was going to tweet the stops on our magical mystery tour but decided i’m a little old-fashioned to be prancing around with a smartphone live tweeting the day.  What i am going to do is give you guys a bit of a look at the places we stopped along our expedition.  

Adventurer's League Season 3 part 2 (Lower Level Track Pt 2)

All right Game Fans, we’re continuing with our look at the 3rd season of the Adventurer’s League for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th edition.  Like last season, we’re not going to take these adventures in numeric order, but we’ve split them up into two different tracks based off of their suggested character level.  Today we’re looking at the next two adventures for the lower level track, DDEX 3-5 Bane of the Tradeways and DDEX 3-6 No Foolish Matter.  Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the next part of Season 3.

The Smuggler Career for Edge of the Empire (Cargo's got to move somehow)

Following up from last week, we’re going to take a bit of a deeper dive into the specific careers that you can pick up for Edge of the Empire. In alphabetical order , we’re continuing with the Smuggler career.  The Star Wars Universe is full of situations where things have to move from place to place without being noticed.  One of the iconic heroes of the Star Wars Universe started his career as a Smuggler, and the stories that you can tell playing a Smuggler are limitless.

First thoughts on DND Beyond Beta

Now i typically try to find the positives in every situation, and i don’t think i’ve ever written an especially harsh or critical review.  Well, that’s probably going to change today because my first experience with Beyond has been pretty bad.  Read on to see where and why my confusion is shifting to irritation.

Mystic Class Discussion

Good Morning Game Fans, we’re back to continue our deeper investigation into the mysteries of Dungeons and Dragons, and how it shaped the larger roleplaying game community.  We’ve put a temporary hold on our discussion about races in fantasy roleplaying (We’ll pick back up with the races from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion after this interlude).  We’re going to discuss the role of Classes in fantasy roleplaying games, and then we’ll take a look in turn at each of the character classes in the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.

Summoner Design Diary Week 2

Week 2

Hey Game Fans we’re back with another look at the new character class we’re homebrewing around the office.  We published the first part of this design log last week and we’ve gotten some interesting feedback.  The first thing we’re probably going to do is change the name of the class to Binder,  It’s a better title for the class than Summoner, though we’re keeping that as an also known as, in addition to Medium.  This does a better job of capturing the feeling of the class and its specific connection to the planes and how it interacts with planar energy.  So we’ve got an idea of how the basic class feature Planar Shape is going to work, but now we’re going to have look at the other core ability, Spell Casting.

Alpha Strike List Building Part 2 (300 Points, Late Succession Wars)

So i’ve been telling you guys that the Enraged Wookie and I are going to be playing some Alpha Strike games this coming week.  We’ve got a team game in the evening, where we split 500 points of hilarity.  We’ve also got a 300 point game, and a 150 point game earlier in the day where we’re going head to head.  I know he’s already decided on his list and isn’t planning on changing it (according to him, the potential list tailoring jerk).  This is the list i am probably going to play, and it fills a lot of my personal preferences for playing Alpha Strike.  Let’s take a closer look.

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 11

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 curious goddesses for the setting, Gemera, The Lady of Life. Before i get started on Gemera herself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Mystery Box Review

Hey Folks, we’re putting together a first for our mystery box series.  Today we’re looking at a DM’s Guild adventure created by a community member.  This adventure, written by Jeff C. Stevens, features citizens in distress, a tavern bigger than it seems, and a pile of monsters.  Let’s dive into Dragon’s Breath Tavern, and see what sort of mischief we can find.

Mystic (1st Looks, more detailed breakdown to come)

Hey Game Fans we’re back with another fun look at a new option (well, the third revision of a new option) for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.  Today’s hot new thing is the Mystic.  The Mystic uses psionics (the powers of the mind) in a very similar way that monks use Ki, and how most of the spell casters use arcane or divine magic.  Mystics are an interesting interpretation of a character idea that’s been a part of the Dungeons and Dragons game since its earlier days (Interesting Fact, you used to be able to tack psionics onto any class, depending on how you rolled on the table of psionic mischief {not it’s actual name}.).  As the game has evolved, it’s changed and morphed over the years until now it’s got a new presentation with a ton of different options.  Today i’m going to talk about some of those changes, and i’ll do a complete breakdown like i did on Artificer next week.  

Just Dumb Things #5 (Shadowrun edition)

As it happens in college, a friend of mine says to our college gaming club, "Let's Play Shadowrun you fucks"  The kid had never run Shadowrun before, and I tried to explain the complexity of the game, but he was insistent.  I said sure, and so did 7 other people.  So we've got a new GM running a game for a group of players with a mix of skill level and experience with the game.  I volunteered to be the Decker, so that no one else had to try to interact with that particularly interesting subsystem.  Because of the edition, I also picked up the rigger job description and made sure that I had an idea of what I was doing.  My friends decided to make a mish mash of wonderful character concepts and tropes, and we ended up with the following

Adventurer's League Season 3 part 1 (Lower Level Track Pt 1)

DDEX 3-1 Harried in Hillsfar

All right Game Fans, Season 3 of Adventurer’s League (The Rage of Demons Story Arc) kicks off with DDEX 3-1, Aptly titled Harried in Hillsfar.  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.  Each one connects with the overarching theme of Demonic Instability, and introduces some of the major players around Hillsfar.  Let’s dig into the mini adventures and see what sort of trouble a party of fresh adventurers can get into.  

Adventurer's League Season 3 Breakdown

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to do a quick breakdown of the Experience Points for Season 2 of Adventurer’s League.  There are basically two experience tracks in season 2 (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’t be played in direct order by following the adventure numbers because of these two different tracks.  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.

Getting Started with Adventurer's League Season 3

All right game fans, we’re hoping you’re having a pleasant and passable end of winter/start of the spring season. We’re going to take a pretty close look at the 3rd season of the Adventurer’s League for the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons.  This is tied in with the Out of the Abyss Campaign book, and features a full range of adventures, some new options, and some other trouble to get into.  Today we’re going to take a closer look at the things you’ll need as a player to get into the fun of Season 3.  

Hired Guns in Edge of the Empire (Being mean and making green)

Following up from last week, we’re going to take a bit of a deeper dive into the specific careers that you can pick up for Edge of the Empire. In alphabetical order , we’re continuing with the Hired Gun career.  The Star Wars Universe is full of situations full of danger and potential situations where having someone who knows their way around a blaster is a necessity. Hired Guns can be essential to making sure that the mission you get sent on turns out positively rather than in shallow graves.

Summoner Design Diary, Part 1

Okay Game Fans, we’re going to look at something a little different from our normal fare, and while we’ve talked about World Building in the past, today we’re going to look at something a little different.  As with most things of this type, you can blame the awesome people i interact with on twitter for this.  The discussion arose, what kind of class/concept ideas do you think are missing from 5th edition?  Four or five of us were tweeting back and forth at each other, and the idea came about for a summoner type of class that used extra planar powers to accomplish neat things and cause trouble.  Someone asks the next logical question, how does that work?
 

Drewbacca list building 3

So this is Drewbacca’s list with the units he’s planning on bringing and hopefully an idea of why.  

Now onto our finalist.(This is one of three lists he submitted for various things, It contains 2 Venoms, a Grasshopper, a Battlemaster, a Thunderbolt, and an Archer)

Sorcerer Class Discussion

Good Morning Game Fans, we’re back to continue our deeper investigation into the mysteries of Dungeons and Dragons, and how it shaped the larger roleplaying game community.  We’ve put a temporary hold on our discussion about races in fantasy roleplaying (We’ll pick back up with the races from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion after this interlude).  We’re going to discuss the role of Classes in fantasy roleplaying games, and then we’ll take a look in turn at each of the character classes in the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.

Just Dumb Things Intermission part 1

Haven't posted in this topic in a while, but wanted to keep you guys in the loop. 

Alpha Strike Prep for the Day of DOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Team Game)

So The Enraged Wookie and I are breaking loose over his spring break to visit a game shop near us.  We’re going to be playing 3 or so games of Alpha Strike at different point levels.  To our endless glee, we’re actually on a team for one of those games, and i thought i’d take a minute and break down our units, and show off just how list building works in this game.  We’re playing a game at 500 points, and have decided to split our points evenly (mostly) down the middle.  He tends to favor fast medium/heavy units and is tailoring his half of the list that way.  I’m going to favor an energy weapons heavy group that can stand off at range and put holes in things from Downtown.  

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 10

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 interesting gods for the setting, Mah-Shen, The Lord of Emotions. Before i get started on Mah-Shen himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

The Explorer Career for Edge of the Empire (Where we're going, we don't need roads)

Following up from last week, we’re going to take a bit of a deeper dive into the specific careers that you can pick up for Edge of the Empire. In alphabetical order , we’re continuing with the Explorer career.  Now the Star Wars Universe is full of exciting and awesome places to see and find, and one of the most interesting aspects of the Outer Rim is that it represents the outermost perimeter of civilization, beyond that, who knows what’s lurking in space?

Alpha Strike Battle Report 4 (Part 2)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another Alpha Strike battle report from our correspondent, Drewbacca.  This one is another introductory game, this time between the Enraged Wookie (and friends) and his brother Lumpy with a friend (it’s a wookie reference, look it up, fuzzball). Let’s break down the game, and take a look at how two siblings play this variation on Battletech.  

Rogue Discussion

Good Morning Game Fans, we’re back to continue our deeper investigation into the mysteries of Dungeons and Dragons, and how it shaped the larger roleplaying game community.  We’ve put a temporary hold on our discussion about races in fantasy roleplaying (We’ll pick back up with the races from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion after this interlude).  We’re going to discuss the role of Classes in fantasy roleplaying games, and then we’ll take a look in turn at each of the character classes in the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.

Combat Phase for Alpha Strike

 

This is the compiled version of my article in 3 pieces over on Spikey Bits.  I've compiled it just in case you don't want to have three windows open at once to read the whole thing. 

Hey Game Fans, we're back with another article in our series on the Battletech: Alpha Strike Rules. Last week we talked about getting the most out of the Movement Phase. This week we're going to take a look at the Combat Phase.  Let's see if we can't figure out how to put all sorts of holes in the other guys?

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 9

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 oldest gods for the setting, Ahrimaius, the Lord of Creation.. Before i get started on Ahrimaius himself, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.  

Mystery Box Part 2 (Ice Kingdoms Campaign Setting)

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to be giving you a quick look at something new from Mad Martian Games.  They’re releasing a campaign setting that’s system friendly called Ice Kingdoms.  It’s a pulpy style Sword and Sorcery Vikings setting, with all the trimmings and things that make that a fun genre to play in.  This is my first looks article (which means that there are more coming), and today i’m going to talk about what i look for in a campaign setting, and the things that i think this publication does very well.

 

Mystery Box Friday Part 1

Hey guys, we’re taking a bit of a different angle with our Mystery Box article today to talk about things that are critical to the gaming community on the internet.  There is an embarrassment of riches available in terms of content providers, homebrewers, and reviewers out there.  Between actual play stream and casts, unboxing videos, and a host of other gaming related commentary and programming, you can spend your week watching and reading about games.  If you’ve been following my blog so far, you’ve noticed that i have an expanding list of links to podcasts, and twitch streams, and blogs and just other cool stuff that i like.

Managing "That Guy"

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article about something that crops up in every gaming group from time to time.  “That Guy”  You know, the one you tell wtf stories about to your other gamer friends (I myself have an article series about my time in the “That Guy” mines) and you all laugh, and then show back up to see what the hell he (or she) is going to do the next time to cause havoc and screw stuff up.  Those players can be entertaining to a point, but eventually they’re going to upset the apple cart and the harmless antics you were laughing about just burned your gaming group to the ground.  Then you’re sitting in the burned out wreckage trying to figure out what the hell happened, and how the hell did it get that far.  

Alpha Strike Battle Report 4 (Part 1)

Hey Game Fans, today I was hoping I'd have a completed Alpha Strike Battle Report from Drewbacca to share with you, but that's not the case.  Time got in the way of fun and they had to quit in the middle of the game the last time they played, on around turn 4.  What they did do this time was take a wall of pictures, which I'm going to share with all of you today.  Hopefully we'll have the battle report side of this for next week sometime.

Colonist Career for Edge of the Empire (Townsfolk go on adventures too)

Following up from last week, we’re going to take a bit of a deeper dive into the specific careers that you can pick up for Edge of the Empire. In alphabetical order, (having done the cool cat bounty hunters) today we pick up with the Colonist.  Colonists are an interesting component of life in Edge of the Empire, and the Outer Rim as a whole.  There are a million little out of the way places on the edges of space, and you can be sure that somewhere, someone is looking to make one of those places home.  

Ranger Discussion

Good Morning Game Fans, we’re back to continue our deeper investigation into the mysteries of Dungeons and Dragons, and how it shaped the larger roleplaying game community.  We’ve put a temporary hold on our discussion about races in fantasy roleplaying (We’ll pick back up with the races from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion after this interlude).  We’re going to discuss the role of Classes in fantasy roleplaying games, and then we’ll take a look in turn at each of the character classes in the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.