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  1. robowieland

    Warhammer: The Old World RPG Offers A New Take On The Empire

    The Warhammer brand is one of the few gaming IPs that has a similar cultural cache to Dungeons & Dragons. It has decades of lore that span multiple games and eras of the world. Celebrities have started to discuss painting (or neglecting) their armies. When Games Workshop released the Warhammer...
  2. robowieland

    Become One Of The Weird Heroes Of Public Access

    The 80’s remain one of the last times of weird wonder in the world. It’s a time when kids on bikes could find a secret pirate ship hidden below their town. A time when a teeanger could hang out with a mad scientist and have time travelling adventures. Game designer Rev. Joey Royale taps into...
  3. robowieland

    Hacking Blades In The Dark With John Harper And Deep Cuts

    Blades In The Dark is one of the most influential role playing games in the past decade. Multiple games use everything from the d6 pool system to long term projects measured in clocks. What began as an evolution from the Powered By The Apocalypse lineage of games has grown into its own robust...
  4. robowieland

    Chrys Sellers Wants You To Defy The Gods On Kickstarter

    Sword and sorcery games tend to appeal to the old school side of the role playing game audience. Source material like Howard’s Conan and Leiber’s Fafhrd greatly influenced Dungeons & Dragons and loom large in the minds of fans who have been in the hobby a long time. While heroic fantasy is...
  5. robowieland

    The Second Old School Adventures Anthology Features Four More Great Dungeons

    When I review different titles in the same line, I try to spread them out. It keeps me from burning out and also gives you, the reader, a little bit of variety. However, Bundle of Holding is currently hosting a deal that includes both Old School Adventure Anthology titles, so I decided to bump...
  6. robowieland

    Take A Road Trip To Mystery Flesh Pit National Park

    Remember when making stuff up on the Internet was fun? When someone could post something silly and checking it out was interesting and not a desperate attempt to fight back real world horrors? Mystery Flesh Pit National Park, created by Trevor Roberts was one such online story. It purported to...
  7. robowieland

    D&D and Star Wars Designer Rodney Thompson Turns His Hand To Cyberpunk in Neon City Outlaws

    Even if you don't know Rodney Thompson’s name you are likely to have played one of his games. He’s the designer of Lords of Waterdeep and has worked on several editions of Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars Saga Edition and many other role playing games. He started his own company, Scratchpad...
  8. robowieland

    The First Old School Essentials Adventure Anthology Offers Some Great Drop In Dungeons

    Modern day dungeon crawls exist on an interesting spectrum. On the one end, there’s gritty, dirty cave runs with a wild mix of monsters. On the other end, there’s wild fantasy with sentient mushrooms and breathing caves. It shows how many authors have interpreted the classics in their own way...
  9. robowieland

    Outgunned Adventure Is Smart As A Whip

    As much as I love pulp adventure games, I was a little hesitant when Outgunned:Adventure was first announced. I first came to Two Little Mice through Broken Compass, of which Outgunned was a refinement of the system and mechanics. Did I really need another game to simulate my favorite movie...
  10. robowieland

    Love, Career & Magic Brings Bite Sized Fantasy To Reality TV

    A spoonful of fantasy helps the genre go down. This often applies to role playing games set in historical eras such as Deadlands or Call of Cthulhu. In the case of Love, Career & Magic from designer Wonmin Lee it applies to a genre of television. This game is about being part of a reality show...
  11. robowieland

    The First Righteous Vow Mixes Sandbox And Storyline

    Sandbox and storyline campaigns often feel like they are on opposite ends of a spectrum. Storyline campaigns feel like a custom movie built for players that respond to their actions. Sandbox campaigns engage in the joy of discovery and allow players to pursue the locations and characters that...
  12. robowieland

    Play The Twilight Of Your Adventures In Stewpot

    One of the classic gags in old school adventures were the very beefy stats for important NPCs. The tavern keeper was a 10th level fighter to keep players from deciding the game of exploration and battle had turned into a game of rolling over the friendly townsfolk and shaking down the quiet...
  13. robowieland

    Black Powder And Brimstone Offers A Stylish Religious War To Finish

    When it comes to history in my games, I prefer authentic vibes over specific accuracy. I don’t want my games to screech to a halt over what type of sword the villainous pirate captain is using and whether it existed in the period. I can get those arguments from the internet any time, any place...
  14. robowieland

    In Heart, The Dungeon Has Been Inside You All Along

    One of the most difficult moments as a game designer is when a potential customer walks up to you and picks up your book. They turn it over in their hands, flip through the pages and then ask “Can this run D&D?” Designers Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor likely had this scenario in mind when...
  15. robowieland

    Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Review Of The Wildsea

    It can be fun for Game Masters to sit down with a blank notebook and create whoe worlds for their friends to discover. It can also be fun to dive into worlds full of lore and backstory to inspire adventures at the table. I think every Game Master also has a “Goldilocks zone” that balances open...
  16. robowieland

    CBR+PNK Augmented Strips Cyberpunk Down To The Metal Laced Bone

    Most cyberpunk games come down on the heavier side of mechanics and world building. It makes sense since one of the big themes of the genre is modifying yourself through brand name technology to become something more human than human. It’s one of my favorite parts of these games, too. I get a...
  17. robowieland

    Spend Some Adventure Time In The Land Of Eem

    The “CalArts” style of animation is something of a generational divide amongst cartoon fans. The bulging eyes and bright colors are hallmarks of shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time which are adored by younger fans. But many older fans think that the artwork is too silly and...
  18. robowieland

    GrimWild Remixes A Few Heavy Hitters Into Something Unique

    Getting players to try something beyond Dungeons & Dragons can be a challenge. It takes time and effort to master D&D. Some players don’t want to learn more rules to play a different game. Grimwild, from designer J.D. Maxwell with art by Per Janke, seems like it might have been initially created...
  19. robowieland

    Owlmanac Is A Hoot: Bird Puns And Playable Options For Shadowdark

    Games like Shadowdark are supposed to be grim. It’s in the name, right? Dingy dungeon crawlers desperate for treasure ain’t got time to joke around. Yet there’s still plenty of room for a dark chuckle or two. The grand dame of grimdark, Warhammer, has plenty of parody characters out of pop...
  20. robowieland

    Neon Lords Calls Forth The VHS Apocalypse

    I spent a lot of my youth watching movies that were made with low, low budgets. Whether on HBO, rented from the local video store or with robot pals like Crow and Tom Servo, I love these little chunks of creativity from people who maybe don’t always have the talent (or money) to properly express...
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