13.9.13

IDG Connect claims Tolkein would be new media maestro if alive today

Would J.R. have made You tube videos, Wikis, Tweets, Video Games and PDF only Roleplaying games based off his most loved work?


My comment repsonse to an intriguing article by IDG on the infulence of Tolkien on the digital age.

10.9.13

Day Seven - 30 Day D&D Challenge 2013: A funny story about editions...

The 7th post of the 30 Day Challenge. I heard about this through The Other Side Blog. Cred for the origonal idea goes to Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things.


Day Six - 30 Day D&D Challenge 2013: The Infulence of the Gods

Bow down and give tithes unto the 6th post of the 30 Day Challenge. Remember, we see lots of Washingtons and Lincolns in the collection plate, but Benjamins are welcome too! I heard about this through The Other Side Blog. Cred for the origonal idea goes to  Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things.

Day 6: Fave God



"I am the Law!" from Deities and Demigods  3.5
That would be St. Cuthbert, easily.

St. C does it for me mostly becuase I'm a DM, and Cuthbert is such a wonderful god for me to use.

I got instant hardline oppresion regime when he steps out into politics, without being too evil and drawing up that kind of mess. His dogma creates the perfect law-enforcement for hire industry, where kings and princes can take out big-money contracts to make use of their military trained clerics, paladins and knights to enforce order in their land, for good or ill. Cutherbertians are just the type of people to hear about a city overflowing with thievry and corruption, assemble a expeditionary force (containing one or more PCs), gahter funds from other churches and interested nobles, and police a nation thousands of miles away for no other purpose than creating just a bit more order in the world. These guys could maintain magical prisons, build dungeons to house artifacts of chaotic power, own flotillas of astral carracks to battle sladdi...

I love gods that have active congregations, becuase as we know in human history, relgion can get people to do crazy stuff. Stuff so crazy, it just might work in my game...

6.9.13

Cool Witch Supplement out now!

UPDATE 09-10-2013 The book won't be out till October it seems. Again, perfect H-day present!

Excuse me for a quick interruption of my 30 Day challenge festivites.

This looks awesome, frankly, but I highly suspect that it is as full of substance as it is style. Timothy S. Brannon, who I consider to be an expert on representing witches and their craft in RPGs, brings us another great supplement on witches: this tome is titled Eldritch Witchery, built for Jason Vey's Spellcraft and Sorcery rpg from Elf Lair Games.




Grab it on Drive Thru RPG. Perfect present for halloween, no doubt.

Day Five - 30 Day D&D Challenge 2013: Dice pun!

Short posts aint got no reason to live! Here's the knee-high 5th post of the 30 Day Challenge. I heard about this through The Other Side Blog. Cred for the origonal idea goes to  Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things.

Day 5: Favorite Dice

Here's my old bag o' dice. They are a motely crew of multicolored, battle worn peices. These are not your well trained regulars, with their sqare button to keep them from wiping their noses and their phenomenal discipline and pagenrty. No, these are the mercenaries, the rebels, the hometwon milita of rag-tag bandits. Theses are the kind of die that may roll a couple of single digits here and there or even the not terribly uncommon one after a long night of carousing, but these are the kind of die that will drop a 20 for ya in a pinch. Loyal through and through these rough riding ne'erdowells are!

And no, I make no apologies for the bag!

My favorite individual die is this guy. He's wierd, being a sort of double 10 in dodecahedron form, but he's a cool die. And yes, he came out of the bag on a 1: haters be damned.

Here's old blue. I have no idea where he came from, or where he's been. He's just an old double 10 is all...


Day Four - 30 Day D&D Challenge 2013 - All the world's a stage.

The anticipation and liberty of worldbuilding thrills me endlessly.
Landscapeby ~JoeDiepstraten at www.deviantart.com
They just .... don't.... DIE; here comes the shambling 4th post of the 30 Day Challenge. I heard about this through The Other Side Blog. Cred for the origonal idea goes to  Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things.

4. Favorite D&D setting.

To tell the truth, I have only played as a PC a handful of times and never played more than two sessions into a campaign. I stand in solidarity with the bridesmaid: always a dungeon's master, never a dungeon crawler.

Also, I haven't ever ran any campaigns in an established setting. I'm a cheap player, so I never bought any setting tomes. I have always run homebrews.

Yet even if I had all the jingle in the world burning holes in my pocket, I still probably play in those published worlds (except Gamma World, maybe). The sheer power trip of being able to say "I made this" is too delicious and the opportunity to experiment is too tempting.

Plus I get to brag about what I built in this months blog challenge! Here’s the plug:

My  world is called Nexus, named after the dark god who created it. His godling children constantly vie for the worship of the mortals they helped to create; for many of them, their divine power, and their life forces, stems directly from worshippers. The good gods pool the faith of their followers into metaphysical wells, and energies naturally flow to paladins, clerics, mages, and items that meet those god’s written standards for “good”. The evil gods do the same, also handing out energies to those they collectively decide are “evil”. Chaos and Law, apart from the divine forces of holy and unholy, regulate the flow of history throughout the world, while men and women serves as both pawns of the gods and rebels against those upstairs.

As far as the D&D setting I would LIKE to try, that question has an equally inappropriate answer: all of them! The one I want to try first though is Ravenloft. The idea of the very setting working against the players and making their lives tragic and short sound all types of exciting and scintillating.

I ask you: what NOT to love about this image? If only I could find a less grainy one... Clyde Caldwell's classic painting "Ravenloft".



5.9.13

Day 3 - 30 Day D&D Challenge: The High Class

Girl MONKby *el-grimlock on www.deviantart.com.
Copyright 2011 Paizon Publishing LLC (please dont sue me oh golem!)
And Lo, comes the 3rd post of the 30 Day Challenge. I heard about this through The Other Side Blog. Cred for the origonal idea goes to  Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things.

Day 3: Favorite playable class.


There are those adventurers who swing swords, those who pray for help, those who skulk, those who sing songs and finally those who do silly flips when they fight.

That doesn't do anything for me. 

Day 2 - 30 Day D&D Challenge 2013: The Amazing Race

Time is running out. Awesome cover art by Ciruelo Cabral, for Micheal A Stackpole's Fortress Draconis
Behold the 2nd post of the 30 Day Challenge. I heard about this through The Other Side Blog. Cred for the origonal idea goes to  Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things.

2. Favorite playable race

My favorite race is human, easily.

I have seen that many of my contemporaries agree that human is best for them, and I applaud their good taste. But while some enjoy humans for versatility, and others for the extra feat or faster XP in 3rd edition D&D, I play human because I like one of their more negative traits.

2.9.13

Day 1 - 30 Day D&D Challenge 2013: How it all began...

This is my first post in the 30 Day Challenge, brought to me by The Other Side Blog, brought to the Internet at large by Polar Bear Dreams and Stranger Things.

1. How you got started.

All of our stories begin with our mothers.

My story begins with a certain collector's edition of a video game, a game infamous in the gaming community...