The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Alright, after the last exercise our playstyle is known. What do we do with that knowledge? This is where we go shopping for systems. Choice of system is really vast today, compared to past times. Everything from Champions, one of the most detailed point based games to WuShu a very slim fast moving game. The first thing is the choice of system itself. Is there an overwhelming leaning in a...
My gaming group is what you might call “stable”. Our “new guy” has been gaming with us for 18 years. My best friend is somebody whom I’ve been playing RPG’s with for 30 years. Some might say we go beyond “stable” and verge on “stagnant”. That could very easily have been true were it not for some of us venturing out of the group and returning with fresh ideas. The best places to go get...
In 2002, some WizOs and wizards.com patrons got together to start a D&D campaign. Ergeheilalt, Tisca, and myself agreed to DM the campaign in a round-robin format, trading off between adventures, or if real life interfered with game preparation. Ergeheilalt set the game in his homebrew world of Thimtona, everyone rolled up 1<sup>st</sup> level characters, and away we went. Choices for...
This week we are adding a new section to the column; you can see it near the end of the article. RPGs and PDFs sometimes run in themes; the first three publications are all inter-related, but different from each other. It’s fairly fascinating how the history in our rpg community can come together at times and these three highlight it. Actually, quite a few of the selections for the week...
Technology has always been a part of D&D. Don Kaye, a friend of Gary Gygax’s in his original campaign, created the character of Murlynd, who wore a Stetson and sported twin six-shooters. Murlynd’s house was detailed in the module The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, featuring electrical lights, hot and cold running water (turned on only on the first floor), and a stove and refrigerator in the...
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:RelyOnVML/> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]-->Every GM at some point is faced with the conundrum of coming up with new treasures. Yes, you could throw infinite piles of gems, gold, and jewelry at the party; but eventually it’s just going to become routine. Hardly what you want for your magnificent treasure...
As a 12-year-old, I spent every waking moment crafting D&D adventures for my friends to play. The older I got, however, the less time I had to devote to creating encounters from scratch. Thankfully, there was a wealth of modules in the early D&D days that presented the DM with the “bare bones” of an adventure that could be tailored to individual campaigns. Of course, as a teenager, I...
Note: Just want to remind everyone that input, criticism, etc is welcome and appreciated. I noticed last week’s article wasn’t read by many. Are you getting tired? Do I need a new direction? Was that article really that bad? Remember, you tell me if it’s a hit, miss, critical hit or a critical fumble. Thanks. On with the show!! This week we move to something other than RPGs. We play all...
Where are you? Actually, don't tell me - I'll tell you where you are. Not you, specifically, of course - but "you" as an anonymised aggregate. "What's Morrus blathering on about this time?" is probably near the tip of your tongue right now. Well, WotC recently asked if I (along with, I assume, other large web communities of gamers) would be able to pull an anonymised list from Google...
One of my gadget-strewn quests over years of gaming has been finding a good way to track initiative. I've seen a lot of methods -- and everyone loves what they're doing (or doesn't obsess about it), but I've got my favorites. What We Need Initiative is important for DMs, who need to keep things running in an orderly way. Taking control of initiative is critical to good tactical play...
Do you know who Bluma Zeigarnik is? Well if you don’t then you should totally click on that link because, in addition to be awfully pretty (as Russian scientists go), she did some really fascinating research back in the early 20th century. The “Zeigarnik Effect” came out of that research, which is basically how your brain won’t let something go if it got interrupted in the middle of doing...
This week we have 10 excellent and interesting PDFs to take a look at. We have Shadowrun mixing with politics, advice on comedy, some new rule sets with cool settings, some new settings for cool fantasy campaigns, some books that can be used in just about any game and a mix of other styles/genres/systems. The Spotlight highlights an old but superb game system making its way to PDF form. It’s...
As a GM and game designer, I think it’s laughable that you could ever separate people into different personality types, let alone gamers. However, since I have to write another article, why not? Yes, today I’ll be pigeon-holing all gamers into several broad, vague, and inaccurate ‘types’ with no hint of useful information anywhere in sight. In fact, this article’s sole purpose can be said to...
With The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977, Wizards is going back to the roots of the game, presenting material other histories have not.
For its first book of D&D's 50th anniversary year, Wizards is going big with a multiverse-spanning, multiverse-threatening adventure where players will face off against one of the game’s most legendary villains.
With The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977, Wizards is going back to the roots of the game, presenting material other histories have not.