Age of Sigmar Preview: Gloomspite Gitz

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to take a few minutes out of your day to talk about the new Age of Sigmar release for the first week of the new year, the Gloomspite Gitz.  Fans of Warhammer Fantasy remember the grots as a funny collection of crazed goblins who are just as likely to injure themselves as their opponents.  The other detail most will remember about the grots is their relationship with Squigs. The bright red ball shaped eating machines have a long history with the Grots and the new release for Age of Sigmar brings this history forward with a host of new kits and ideas. 

Plot Traps (Diseases)

It’s been a while since I put together one of these articles but I’m back and reasonably healthy enough to put one of these together.  We’re going to be putting some more of these together going into the new year and exploring some new options for ideas to make your gaming experience fun an exciting.  Today’s excursion covers another plot point that can shape an adventure, a story arc, or even an entire campaign. 

Today’s topic is disease and illness.  Ranging from simple childhood ailments to divinely mandated and supernaturally powered plagues, diseases and illnesses can radically redefine the plot you are building.  Now we’re discussing this in terms of an rpg environment and not a real world setting, so you can discard some real world practicalities and details when you put one of these together.  Let’s dive into this.

Blog Update (We're finally back)

I’m sitting in a new recliner in my new two bedroom apartment working on a new laptop.  This is the first time I’ve been out of a hospital or rehab facility since the 22^nd of August, and I am feeling particularly grateful to the universe and some of its denizens.  So how did we get here?  Well, it’s not a funny story, or a particularly positive story, but it is something I promised I would share when I got back to the typing machine.

The Horror Show (Gen Con Exhibitor's Hall)

Hey Game fans, we’re back with our first article post Gen Con. I wish this was the fantastic article about how much of an institution Gamer’s Live is (and it is), or the wonderful internet friends that became face to face friends. However, this isn’t going to be those articles. Today i’m going to talk about my personal experiences and those of the family that went on the trip. I usually spend a lot of time in the exhibitor’s hall, because it’s where you can see new companies and new game ideas. This year’s experience was the worst i’ve ever had in 8 years of attending Gen Con, and i will seriously have to rethink this approach for the future.

D & D E-sports and Gatekeeping

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to have a little bit of a ramble about a topic that we all think we know everything about (Gatekeeping) and how none of us would ever do anything like that to new folks. Earlier this week, the CEO of Hasbro was interviewed by a big news network and made a comment to the effect that the Dungeons and Dragons properties are growing and expanding as a financial success and he thinks that one way to grow these properties even further was through the use of an esports style approach to life. Sounds like an okay thing (oh, and they announced they were bringing Eberron back and opening up the Magic the Gathering world of Ravnica as playgrounds for Dungeons and Dragons).

Age of Sigmar 2nd Edition Battle Report (Video coming soon)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with something we want to do a lot more of in the coming months. The Wook and i got together and played our first game of Age of Sigmar, 2nd Edition. The Warhammer Store in Lawrence, Kansas was kind enough to host our game and give us permission to film the game, so keep your eyes peeled for the video to get posted soon. Now i’ll be the first to admit that we don’t know what we’re doing and we’re learning the game as we go. We only managed to get halfway through the third turn, due to some time constraints and the needs of a tiny dog, but from our engagement, i have some thoughts. I’ll get to those after i put down the lists and go through what happened during the game.

Gaslands (First Look)

So we’re back today with the first look at one of the games we’re going to be taking a closer look at for our trip to Gencon and probably the winter months into 2019. Today we’re taking a look at Gaslands, written by Mike Hutchinson and published by Osprey Games. Set in a post apocalyptic world dominated by vehicular combat, Gaslands takes all of the Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars of your youth and gives you an opportunity to turn them into hard hitting Wasteland death machines. Let’s dig in a little deeper

Last Days (First Look)

So we’re back today with the first look at one of the games we’re going to be taking a closer look at for our trip to Gencon and probably the winter months into 2019. Today we’re taking a look at the official release of Last Days, a zombie survival narrative skirmish game from Osprey Publishing. Written by Ash Barker, of Guerrilla Miniature Games, it’s a set of rules describing the struggle that survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse endure in the aftermath of the end of civilization. Let’s take a closer look.

Wild West Exodus (First Look)

So we’re back today with the first look at one of the games we’re going to be taking a closer look at for our trip to Gencon and probably the winter months into 2019. We’re going to take a dive into the Dystopian Age and an up close look at Wild West Exodus from Warcradle Studios. Let’s take a first look at the Game, and what attracted us to it. Buckle in, we’re going for a ramble.

Age Of Sigmar 2nd edition (First Thoughts)

So we’re about a week out on the official release of the Age of Sigmar 2nd edition and i have to admit that Games Workshop is doing an impressive job of rolling out this edition of the game. They have made a lot of very smart choices for this release and it feels like they have learned lessons from a few of their stumbles in the past and are applying those lessons as they roll forward. The new core set is up for pre-order and it has a host of bells, whistles, gadgets and other doodads that feel like a lot of fun. I’m not going to go over everything, but i am going to talk a little bit about the big points (Soul Wars, Core Rulebook, Malign Sorcery, General’s Handbook 2018) and their implications going forward.

Quick Update

Hey Game Fans, Just a quick hobby update (Day Job has been eating time, so not a lot of articles so far these last couple of weeks). The progress is being made on the Seraphon and the T’au. I have the base coats laid in on the Saurus Guard, half of the Saurus Warriors and two of the four Dinosaurs for the army i have. I like the way it looks, but i need to do a couple of fixits before i go to the wash stage. After that it’s highlights and maybe basing. 

The Lions of New Caliban ( Warhammer 40K Lore)

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to talk a little bit about one of my favorite subjects in the Universe, the Lore of Warhammer 40,000. There’s a lot of it, from the earliest days of Rogue Trader, to the Horus Heresy, and even into the new frontiers created by the advancement of the story that ties into the 8th edition of the game. Two things to keep in mind for Warhammer 40,000 is that there really aren’t any good guys and the battle being fought is a war of attrition.

Getting Started with Miniature Wargaming (Organic Growth)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back to talk about one of the aspects of our community that i really enjoy. Building a community that supports and encourages game play is a fantastic thing and can pop up for any type of game. Leagues, gaming clubs, Historical Societies all lend themselves to providing opportunities and access to gaming spaces and materials. Some game companies are very hip to this and go out of their way to provide agents who can demo games, visit stores and conventions and serve as brand ambassadors to represent the fun and the activity that goes into the various aspects of the game. We’ll talk about those a little later, today we’re going to focus on the organic growth of a gaming club and how these things can bloom into fun.

Oh The Fun We're Going To Have

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with hopefully what starts off of a brighter week than the one we endured last week. There’s a ton of interesting things and forward progress being made by people all over the hobby and we’re going to talk a little bit about what’s coming up from us the rest of the week. So Buckle in for a trip in the Rambler, because it’s about to go a Ramblin’.

Gatekeeping in our Community

So we talk about Gatekeeping a lot as it relates to a lot of communities and fandoms in the world we live in, but i want to talk a little bit about how it affects our gaming communities and the very easy way it can become a solution instead of a problem. First off, I am an absolutely filthy casual of a player and as long as you are polite and friendly, i will try to help you with anything i can, IF I HAVE A FREE MOMENT TO DO SO. I am totally happy helping new folks find their jam in a game so long as i am not trying to do a bunch of other things.

We need to have a talk about Tyler

With the recent revelations about the profoundly disturbing and predatory behavior laid at the feet of Tyler Carpenter, we need to have a chat. I’m an outsider looking in, but it has come out in the open that Tyler has abused several of the people in his closest circle of gaming friends in ways that hurt the soul and the heart. I have spent the last couple of days trying to process all of this and coming to a thing that i can do to try and help. I am usually pretty good with words, but the impact of this revelation has stripped me of that capacity. I’m going to try to express this in ways that i hope help out everyone affected by this trauma.

Store Experience: Warhammer Lawrence

Hey Game Fans, we managed to get our expedition to check out the new Warhammer store in Lawrence, Kansas off the ground this weekend and the Wook and i made our pilgrimage to the promised land. For those of you unfamiliar with Kansas, the eastern half is nice with trees, grass, and water. It also has an abundance of large towns/cities/suburbs. Lawrence is about a half an hour west of the Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas City, Kansas metroplex. It’ also about 45 minutes east of Topeka. The other important fact to keep in mind about Lawrence is that it’s home to the University of Kansas, and it’s transient population of about 50,000 students every year. This is a pretty solid place to open up a Warhammer store in my opinion.

Tempestus Scions Mega Project (Warhammer)

So let me preface this by saying i’m going to spend my money on Warhammer miniatures because i am in fact, quite mad. I’ve had an idea percolating in my head for awhile about some things i want to build, and today i’m going to show you sort of how that is going to work, if i am in fact the modeling wizard i hope to be (I probably am not, but it’s going to be fun to try) The army project i am going to be putting together is a Tempestus Scion detachment to roll around with either my Deathwing Terminators, or my Imperial Knight Titan household. They also would be good allies for my Adeptus Mechanicus army (and if i wanted to try full Imperial Soup, they could hang out with everybody). So, let’s take a look at the kits i’m planning to pick up (At or around Gencon) and see what sort of trouble I’ll be trying to get into with these minis.

Absolute Insanity (Miniature Wargaming)

So we’re at the point of my hobbying where i want to try something new and add something different to my miniatures collection. First off, i have too many miniatures that i will probably never use and am unlikely to finish painting. Some of them will end up getting cycled into other projects and will see double duty. These are things like my chaos cultists from Warhammer 40K getting painted up and used for a variety of Post Apocalyptic games where i can use some rad scarred human survivors. A lot of my space marines are getting sold because i just don’t need that many any more. Some small bits and bobs will get saved, and i will likely end up with a rule of three approach.

Fun in Gaming? We still do fun, right?

The internet gaming community is a lot of fun to experience. There are creators constantly rolling out new ideas and thoughts and gaming. You also have a host of Actual Play Podcasts to experience, if you have the free time. You can also find a host of players on both sides of the screen who are sharing their ideas and stories from past experiences. Some of these are good stories that make you happy about the hobby, where others are more cautionary tales about things that could happen. 

 

Behind the Curtain (RPG advice)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a bit of a peek behind the curtain, and this is for you new folks mostly (though i see some of you grumblers in the back). It’s been a banner year for D & D and we’re seeing a massive influx into our community and that’s absolutely fantastic. Welcome to the community and we hope you can find a group of people that you enjoy playing the game with. You may not click with your first group, but you will find some folks that get out of the hobby what you enjoy eventually, and that opens up a lot of really fun options and chances to collaboratively tell amazing stories with your friends while playing a game that is inherently social and encourages group activity.

Dressing for Success (The Details make the encounter area)

Hey Game Fans, we’re being a little too clever for our own good today, and we’re going to talk a little about how you describe your adventure locations and what you can do with some clever words and descriptive details. This is also a bit of advice for reskinning adventure locations and how to turn things on their head to modify an existing dungeon/encounter location/region to meet your needs. Buckle in, we’re going for a ride in the Rambler.

Battletech has returned to the PC (And it's spectacular)

So our friends at Hare Brained Schemes have spent the last two and half years putting together their Battletech game and it released last Tuesday to a mixture of trepidation, expectations of the highest caliber, and a smidge of controversy (which feels awfully artificially generated). So what is this game? Well, my limited (6ish hours in) experience is that it is one of the most elegant PC Games I’ve played in the last 5 years and the folks who built it have created something special, something that will be imitated by others in the near future. So what is Battletech? Settle in, i’ll try and make this brief.

Money (and Treasure!) in RPGs

Hey Game Fans, we’re looking at an interesting aspect of the RPG trope today and i am going to share a couple of ideas that i think will help you all have some more fun with your characters. Today we’re talking about Treasure, and what it means to your character in a game of D & D (though there are a lot of games where treasure is a driving focus for story progression, character development, and a meter for who’s winning).

Good Vibrations

This is a little different from our normal fare, but i see things on twitter, or in facebook groups that look like “OMG, i suck at this, why did i ever think i could do this, wtf is wrong with me?” and it cuts through our (the gaming community) population with a regularity that i find concerning. So, here are two truths that i think will help us all out.

New Warlock Patron

Hey Game Fans, we're back with a new idea for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. This is a new homebrew patron for Warlock players representing a pact made with an arcane power of some type. There are some examples in the opening paragraph, but there are tons of interesting options that can fuel this kind of a Warlock patron. Now, we haven't playtested this at all, and honestly aren't completely sold on all of the abilities. Below the body of the article we'll toss out some of the ideas we had considered for it. Grab ten minutes and take a look at the Grand Arcana

Battletech (PC Game)

So Friends, in less than a week we'll all have access to the Battletech PC game from the wonderworkers at Harebrained Schemes and i'll be talking about this as we get further in, and maybe play some for the youtubes, but this is one of the most important things i've ever seen.  (Battletech Intro)  Did you go see?  Good.  That's the most wonderful short introduction to the generational history of Battletech i have ever seen.  I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to Battletech and this gives me the best way ever of explaining the narrative story of Battletech to a new fan.  It's simple, it's two minutes long, the music is awesome and the images are perfect.  Thank you Harebrained Schemes. 

Intelligence and Behavior (Monsters)

Hey game fans, we’re going to briefly discuss something that cropped up on the twitters today (again, i blame TerminallyNerdy.com) We’ve got a DM Tip that Intelligent monsters should be played intelligently, and if they are, then they are way more dangerous than the sum of their stats and abilities. This is very true, but Intelligence is a spectrum, and creatures at the other end of the spectrum are equally interesting tactical challenges for players and DMs alike. Let’s take a look at one of the key things to remember when deciding how a less than intelligent monster is going to potentially behave.

Experiments in Cartographic Doom

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an idea article about a part of the world building process. This article is the intellectual descendant of my good friend Clay, over at Terminally Nerdy (Here). The genesis of this idea starts with a simple DM Tip on Twitter that basically says “When you are building your own world, don’t forget to leave blank spaces so you can fill in with new things or ideas as they come up.” And this is absolutely perfect advice. It does lead into a deeper thought of mine that comes up every once in a while.

Styles in Dungeons & Dragons

Hey Game Fans, today i’m going to talk a little bit about something i find interesting in the RPG community (the title says Dungeons and Dragons, but it can be splashed around a little harder than that). Dungeons and Dragons has a lot of characteristics that define its style, and you can mix and match them if you want to get creative. Let’s talk about those styles and how you can stretch them to fit your needs for your games at home or the adventures you may be writing or stories you’re trying to tell.

Retroverse Preview

Hey Game fans, we’re back with another article on one of our favorite topics, Dungeons and Dragons. Now our good friends over at Lasers and Liches (website here) are gearing up for a Kickstarter to launch their Retroverse campaign setting (officially launches on April 10th, so save your pennies). It’s an homage to neon lights, synth music, and a reality where everything is possible. Over the weekend they were nice enough to release a free preview for some of the stuff that’s coming with that setting. (You can find that preview here). Let’s talk about the themes we’re seeing so far, and talk about a couple of things.

Warhammer 40,000 (decisions decisions)

So the wonderworkers at Games Workshop are at it again. I have an on again, off again relationship with their games, and at this point in my life i’m more of a modeller (a bad one) and a painter (okay one) than i am a serious gamer. I played a half dozen games of 7th edition, and i have to admit, i haven’t gotten in a single game of 8th edition yet. This means a couple of different things for me. First, i have seen the shiny new models and really haven’t been that tempted. I have several armies already in progress, and though i would like to pick up a Magnus and some supersized Lords of Change at some point for my Tzeentch Daemons, they aren’t essential.

Starships for Edge of the Empire

If you look at the Star Wars Universe, one of its most iconic elements has always been the starships. Fantastic machines that give characters the freedom to explore the universe, a means to strike a blow for freedom, or the tools to wage war on a scale that defies imagining. Starships give characters a host of options and access to ideas that allow them to go on amazing adventures. This is the power of Starships in the setting, and one of its most iconic aspects.


Whether it’s a freighter like the Falcon, slipping cargo past unsuspecting customs agents, or a snubfighter like an X-wing, starships take part in some of the most exciting and amazing aspects of the Star Wars experience. Let’s take a look at how these wonderful machines (and to a lesser extent vehicles) function inside Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight Games.

Convention Season

This is a quick little anecdote about one of the most personally enjoyable interactions i have ever had at a convention. It was Gencon several years back and it was the first one i really remember going to by myself. This was years before i’d considered starting a blog and i was repping the school gaming club i was the president of at the time. It was one of those overcast days and i managed to find a table at the Steak and Shake right there next to the Indy convention center. I look over and see three guys and a couple of kids and i notice the shirt one of them is wearing. It’s a battletech shirt, and i don’t recognize the mech. I say something and this starts a conversation.


As it turns out, these three guys are Herb Beas, Randal Billis, and Brent Evans. They are employees of Catalyst Game Labs the makers of battletech, and absolutely some of the nicest people i have ever met. Brent (who later on signs a technical readout for me) even shows me the new Alpha Strike unit cards (I ended up buying a set later at the con). We had a pleasant conversation about the game and i ended up having a similar conversation a few years later with the folks who designed the Star Trek Attack Wing rules. (I’ll save the Steve Jackson fat joke for next time).


If you can get to a convention, be friendly, you never know who you’re going to meet. Game On, Game Fans.  By the way, we'll be at Gencon, and it'll be part of some giveaways and other stuff, so stay tuned for updates

Battletech Updates

Well, something i’ve been curious about finally happened over the weekend. Catalyst Game Labs updated their coming soon page for Battletech and we actually have a solid picture of what the next six or so months look like going forward for the franchise. This doesn’t include the amazing looking Battletech computer game from our friends over at Harebrained Schemes (No, seriously, go check it out, we’ll wait). It also doesn’t show off the rumored Mechwarrior 5 which is supposed to be out around Christmas time the last we heard. We do have some very solid looks at the new releases (and some updates on reprints and additional print runs) that will push Battletech as an idea going forward. Today we’re going to take a look at four of the items on the Coming Soon page (which you can find here)

Welcome to the Show

So you want to be a blogger, or a streamer, or a podcaster? Cool, welcome to the ever growing community of game enthusiasts, publishers, and thinkers that make up our diverse gaming community. There’s a ton of us, but there’s always room for more voices in our community. I’m going to try and help you get started with some of the questions that have helped me figure out what exactly I’m trying to do with my blog/podcast/production company amalgamation thingamajig.

Pathfinder Playtest

So the big news this week is that we’re going to be getting a new edition of the Pathfinder RPG from the wonder workers at Paizo. This is exciting news in our hobby for a couple of different reasons which i’ll get into in just a minute. With an expected playtest to start in August of this year, and if i read the announcement correctly a full launch to hit in Summer of 2019, this is a fairly tight release window for the playtest period. This means a couple of things to me, and i’ll get into those a little further down. Let’s dig into what this means to our hobby, and then i’ll toss out some speculative flights of fancy, and maybe we’ll ask a couple of questions to go along with it.

Force & Destiny

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another itty bitty update about one of our favorite things in the universe, the Star Wars RPG from Fantasy Flight Games. Now this is a family of Role-playing games that use the same system, meaning that they are interactive with each other. You can build a party of characters composed of a couple of rebels, a couple of edge of the empire criminals, and a force user in hiding for example. Now each game has a unique mechanic that sets it apart from the others, but they aren’t incompatible. As we dig deeper into this series, we’ll cover how those individual mechanics work, and try and help you put together a group that features these diverse characters.

The Force in Edge of the Empire (part III)

The Force is one the most iconic parts of the Star Wars universe and has an essential place in any role-playing game set in it. This is the dark time, when the Jedi have been hunted to the edge of extinction and the power of the Dark Side reigns over the universe. Rumors and stories tell of desperate battles in the shadows between the Emperor’s chosen and the few remaining wielders of the force. This is the backdrop for force users in Edge of the Empire, and it can be used to tell some amazing stories. It’s going to take us a bit to dig into the Force, so this is the third in a series of articles.

The Force in Edge of the Empire (part II)

The Force is one the most iconic parts of the Star Wars universe and has an essential place in any role-playing game set in it. This is the dark time, when the Jedi have been hunted to the edge of extinction and the power of the Dark Side reigns over the universe. Rumors and stories tell of desperate battles in the shadows between the Emperor’s chosen and the few remaining wielders of the force. This is the backdrop for force users in Edge of the Empire, and it can be used to tell some amazing stories. It’s going to take us a bit to dig into the Force, so this is the second in a series of articles.

The Force (Edge of the Empire)

The Force is one the most iconic parts of the Star Wars universe and has an essential place in any role-playing game set in it. This is the dark time, when the Jedi have been hunted to the edge of extinction and the power of the Dark Side reigns over the universe. Rumors and stories tell of desperate battles in the shadows between the Emperor’s chosen and the few remaining wielders of the force. This is the backdrop for force users in Edge of the Empire, and it can be used to tell some amazing stories. It’s going to take us a bit to dig into the Force, so this is the first in a series of articles.

Lakeport Campaign Outline Part 1

So today i am going to take a few minutes and jot down the outline of a starter campaign for Lakeport. This outline will detail some of the major players that the characters will interact with along their journey and should give you an easy campaign arc (session count will depend on how far out you want to stretch things) that gets characters to around 5th or 6th level. The Story starts out in Lakeport proper, and if you want to refresh yourself on that, check it out here. The adventure starts out, as all adventures in Lakeport do, on the first day of summer.

5 Story/Adventure Seeds for the Star Wars Universe

With the current release window for the new Star Wars movie, the discussion about the kinds of stories you can tell in the Star Wars universe ramped up again, and this list was sparked by a discussion between Cameron Rice, Adam Hlavac, and Emma Fyffe on Hyper RPG’s Youtube channel.  If you want to check out that video, or follow those awesome people, I’ll provide some links at the bottom of this article.  Now buckle in, we’ve got some stories to tell in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.

What is the Point of Gaming?

Hey Game Fans we’re back with another deep dive on the topic of gaming and today I’m going to take a swing at a big point that everyone has an opinion on. This is an underlying principle that i try to keep in mind with everything that i do that relates to gaming. There’s a question that comes up all the time with people who aren’t gamers (and they are wonderful people, just not one of us yet). The question usually takes the form of “Why do you do this?” Most of us have a quick answer that could be part of a funny line or a bit, but it’s a real, honest question that can be tricky to answer for other folks. “What is the point of all of these things that we do as gamers?”

Monday Morning Prime Time thoughts (How do you make a character?)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on one of our favorite topics in the multiverse, Role-Playing Games. This is always an interesting topic that sparks debates, arguments, hate mail, death threats, and the occasional civil discourse. Today’s aspect is an essential one for the hobby, and it’s as individual a process as anything else in the universe. How do you create your characters for your next RPG? I asked this question last week on twitter and i got a ton of answers (don’t worry, I’ll be linking this article to that question so you can pop back and check out the answers from the rest of the twitter-verse).


Today i’m going to sort of walk you through my process for creating characters for most role-playing games. Now some games have an entire process of their own that lets you start at point A, follow the dots and bing bang boom you have a character that’s ready to play. Those are their own sort of animal, and they have a very strong internal consistency for their character creation process. (We’ll talk about one of those later on once we’ve gotten through this process).

Post Modern (Super Powers)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with some more work on our Superhero setting, PostModern. Today we’re going to take a quick look at what life is like for people with superpowers, and how they typically present themselves. This should be a familiar sounding story for most folks, but we’ll tell it again.

Thursday Discussions (Complexity can be the Enemy of Fun)

Hey Game Fans, It’s ostensibly Thursday and that means it’s probably an opportunity to talk about Game Theory and systems design and how that works for Players, Game Masters, and Designers. One of the continual discussions (some would say arguments, but i like to think we’re a mostly civil bunch in the game hobby) is how complex is the right level of complexity for a game. This should come as no surprise to any of you who follow my blog on a regular basis, but my answer is “It depends on a couple of key factors.” What are those factors? Well, let’s hop into the Discussion Machine 40,000 and see if we can’t understand each other a little bit better.

Wednesday Wisdom: Tinkering with Backgrounds (and how you can borrow from the best)

Hey game fans, i know we talk a lot about a lot of stuff for games and today is probably not going to be a surprise for any of you. Today, we’re going to take a look at how to borrow elements of your favorite thing (TV show, book series, movie, music) and mash it up into something that you can use to make a character for an RPG. This project is the backstory for the Cleric i play once in a while, and he has some non-standard rules (don’t panic, they’re not helpful to him), and i’ll cover those at the end.

Wednesday Wits (Reincarnation in Lakeport)

Hey guys, this is a bit of a different article for us. Today we’re going to take a look at one of the underlying themes of the Lakeport setting and examine how it interacts with the gods of the setting. There are also a few cultures and species that follow different beliefs (or have a different reaction to this process) and we’ll take a brief look at each of those. We’re going to deep dive into some fairly deep topics (and these are only how the apply to this setting), so grab your oxygen tanks, we’re going deep.

Post Modern (A Setting for Mutants and Masterminds)

Super-Powered Individuals and the Law

Post Modern (A Setting for Mutants and Masterminds)

Technology in Post Modern

Post Modern (A Setting for Mutants and Masterminds)

(Continuing from Yesterday's hijinks, we're going to take a closer look at the aliens who are responsible for triggering the appearance of superpowers in humans in our Post Modern setting) 

Critical Role Campaign Season 2 (First Thoughts)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a brief look at one of the larger phenomena in our hobby, Critical Role. It’s a smashing success watching a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors sitting around a table playing a game with their friends and has drawn a lot of attention to the game and the hobby in general. With a table featuring Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Tallesin Jaffe, Sam Riegel and last but certainly not least, Liam O’Brien, Critical Role brings together storytelling, adventure and reminds a lot of us what kind of fun you can have with your friends playing D & D.

Post Modern (A Setting for Mutants and Masterminds)

Hey Game Fans, this is the first part of a write up for the Mutants and Masterminds SuperHero RPG that i ran for friends in college.  I personally love this world and i work on new characters and ideas for it all the time.  It has been a constant addition to the RPG work that i do and i think it’s a reasonable time to share.  If i ever planned to publish it as a comic book (not likely at all) the title of the book and its Universe is Post Modern.  I chose that because it represents a change from the traditional view of the world as i saw and took a hard look at what happens when society gets jumbled up by super powers and the amazingly awesome people that have them.

Monday Morning Thoughts (Game Mastering stuff)

Good Morning Game Fans, it’s a bright, shiny morning around the office and we’re settling in for a nice long week of winter (We just had our first patch of ice). Today’s thoughts from the Interweb revolve around something near and dear to my heart, Game Mastering. There are a TON of articles, videos, streams and other consumable forms of media that go into great detail about the nuts and bolts of Game Mastering and we’re not going to necessarily dive into any of those specifically, we’re going to talk about the underlying framework of what a Game Master does for the game, and the role they play in the group dynamic. Buckle in Game Fans, it’s going to be mild ride.

Plot Traps (Madness and You)

I’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 going to feature Madness as a phenomenon. There are a variety of ways this idea can be used to great effect in a fantasy rpg. Madness is a wonderful plot element that allows a GM to turn characters great and small against their normal nature and you can use it to open up options that don’t normally offer themselves, like an antagonistic angel or a friendly monster.

Now this is a discussion of madness as a plot device and an element to enhance your games. It IS NOT a discussion of mental health issues in gaming or in the real world and if you are struggling with those, i strongly encourage you to seek out help. There are people in this world who care about you and want to see you succeed. Get help, it’s the best advice i can give you. Now, onto the discussion at hand.