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Finals at my college and final papers. Ugh. I got a part in a summer festival musical though. Looking forward to performing again in July.

Regarding monster design for my game in construction:

Whenever I DM'd for the local DnD Meetup Group, I got some of my most positive responses from players when I added narrative to the actions taken by enemies rather than just a simple "it hits you for X damage".

This reminded me of when I was first introduced to DnD through ADnD 2nd edition, when my brother would spout out awesome descriptions of what was going on during combat (it was always gridless when we played).

What if sample narratives were built into the design of monsters, for DMs to describe the action? This could benefit new and old DMs greatly and enrich the experience for the entire table....

Things are progressing a bit slowly since I've had a lot on my plate with my studies and being in a musical.

I figured out an "advanced concept" of accuracy which builds upon the concept of bound accuracy. Not going to reveal it yet since it still requires some major tweaks for testing. My inspiration for this "new accuracy" comes from the combination of some old ideas that I've experienced in different games. It will be simple, streamlined, and -------- (last adjective omitted so as not to give it away).

I've decided to keep monster design separate from PC design. It will be similar to 4e design up to a certain point but the differences will be very noticeable.

Designing adventures will be easy with a very facilitated ability to add depth to storytelling. Tools will be made to compensate ...

I recently decided to turn a homebrew project that I've been working on into a serious endeavor.

I am going to pursue the actual publication of my own d20-mechanic-based tabletop roleplaying game.

There is already plenty going on with Pathfinder, 13th Age, and DnD Next so I don't expect to be very successful in selling my game. No unrealistic delusions here. This blog's title is mainly for fun though there's always the .0001% that it becomes reality, in which case I will start laughing megalomaniacally for the sake of tradition.

Right now my game's design is going in a very different direction from other d20-based games in development, and though there will be many similarities there are also more than enough differences to give my game a distinctly recognizable identity (it can't be ...

After a long break, just about a month and a half ago, I decided to try my hand at being a dungeon master once more. I made a post in the local fantasy community internet forums searching for people who want to play Dungeons & Dragons and surprisingly enough, just in a week or so, five people responded to my post. 

After discussing the details with the players, knowing that I already have a group and all of my work won't be for nothing, I began crafting my own world of adventure and conflict. Without going into detail, the main plot was about the rising tension between an ancient kingdom and a powerful alliance of dukes which were still at odds after a seemingly forgotten war.

More then a month later and a few sessions into the game, everything was going fine and ...

What is roleplaying?

Roleplaying is where you pretend to be something or someone you are not. Sometimes in the real world, sometimes in a created world.

How old is roleplaying?

From what I've heard it could be as old as 100,000 years It seems, from evidence found at sites of human habitation that old, that around that time our ancestors evolved a behavioral trait we now call "creativity."

Creativity can be seen as the ability to change how we look at things, and how we express things. Most importantly, we can change how others see things, much as a political cartoonist does with a political cartoon.

It is this creativity, when applied to ourselves, and another ability we have, empathy (the ability to see yourself in others) that let's us see ourselves as someone or something other than ...

I am getting right to the meat and potatoes because I know a lot of you don't want to waste time reading my campaign backround and all that jazz. Here is the jist. I am a new DM. Running a campaign with four experienced players. It is evil. Four sessions in. They are all drow in Menzoberranzan. Only one of them is female (menzoberrenzan is a matriarchy). Have gotten lots of great feedback from them so far. I love playing this game. Especially being a DM.
  Now, here are my questions. First, last session they came back from a long journey, got back to the city. They are still in tier breche, just about to graduate. Two of the players made their own house, Xe'larrezz'et'sauj (I know right, cant even say it). They are the first two sons of their matron mother. Now, I dont know how much...

How many roleplaying games have been published. Would you believe one? That one would be Houses of the Blooded by John Wick.

What do you do in all the other games?

You fight battles, doing just enough roleplaying, enough interaction to find a fight to engage in.

I once got involved in an Exalted dungeon crawl. That's right, a dungeon crawl using the Exalted rules. Tres disappointing. I thought Exalted was about the meaning of power and its cost. But I guess if Vampire: The Masquerade can be bastardized into a superhero game, most any game can.


How many of you out there ever asked the orc if he would share his pie?

(When all you have is correction fluid, everything starts to look like a typo.)

How many RPGs present, as in mechanics and guidelines, an alternative to combat? About the only one I...

I will be the first to publicly thank WotC for changing the terms and conditions of the Playtest, allowing us to do it over play by post. It was a good decision on their part, and opens up the test of the new system for a whole host of people.

The thing about living in Iowa is this: The food's cheap, the beef is good, and the rent is manageable. The downside? Unless you live in Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Davenport or Iowa City (Not surprisingly, all are along the I-80 Interstate corridor), there isn't a whole lot of opportunity to get together and play real life D and D. That's why I got into play by post 5 years back. I figured, if I couldn't find any games around, I'd hit up the interwebs. One of the best decisions I've made when it comes to my hobbies, really.

So when we finally got the...