Continuing with the development of the campaign series, I want to start working up a low level campaign arc to immerse the players in the world where their characters will be adventuring. I’ve detailed the southwestern corner of the campaign map, the oldest area known to mankind and site of the ancient cities that sank [...]
At the risk of offending a few of my regular readers who are NOT fans of pro football, I offer this week a few tasty nuggets for those who ARE fans of the game…
As I was traveling about the country these last couple of weeks, my companion was my Nintendo DS Lite, and my game of choice was Advance Wars: Dual Strike. It’s a very good (and well-regarded) turn-based strategy wargame in the standard “build units, smash enemy units, capture enemy bases” mold – its success is found [...]
Over my many years of fantasy Role-Playing I’ve noticed certain trends. I’ve played priests, been around people playing holy men (and women) of all kinds. It was all fun but there seemed to be something missing. There was just something a little wrong with everybody’s behavior. Nothing I could put my finger on until recently.
I’ve been an amateur programmer for a few years now, dabbling in everything from BASIC to C++ to XHTML. I’m always looking for a program to actually work on, since programming is essentially useless without a problem to solve (sort of like learning a foreign language when you have no one to talk to). I’ve [...]
The dungeons of Angband are not a friendly or welcoming place. In fact, character perma-death is an omnipresent reality.
One of the great thing about gamers is that they tend to be geeks. As a result technology gets adapted to gaming fairly quickly. This has led to the overabundance of gaming podcasts currently available.
As I’ve stated before, I believe that a good D&D campaign should be a akin to a story. Many believe that the story is solely the responsibility of the DM, but I believe that it is the player’s duty to contribute.
If you’ve been following the World Development articles, then you know that Argosia is a large continent in the northern hemisphere with a few basic deity concepts and a history involving ancient empires of non-humans. I think it’s time we started putting some more flesh on this beast and determine where all the races live [...]
Building on my earlier discussion, I would like to tackle a more complex discussion of resource management in Euro-style board games. Today’s focus is on one of BGG’s all-time favorite games, Puerto Rico. If you are not familiar with the game, then most of this discussion will be over your head.
Rhelik gets into online boardgaming with some hopes of sucking you in too. This week he reviews two of the sites that are available.
What does High Definition TV have to do with the regular gaming content here at d21? Read on to find out.
I love D&D and have been playing it on and off for 27 years, but even I can use a little help every now and then. Thank all the gods for the internet. There are such great resources to help facilitate the playing of this game. Here are my favorites.
We’ve all experienced something approaching the “perfect gaming session.” You know, the one in which all the game elements you love are present, everyone involved in the game is having fun, and time passes all too quickly. When you’re lost in the moment you feel a euphoria like being a 5-year-old child at an amusement [...]
Fellow d21 contributor Smite, in a recent article, talked about the art of “money management” in Euro Games. I was planning to address something similar within the next few weeks, but I have decided to bump up my own discussion of resource efficiency in Euro style board games in order to build on Smite’s column. Like Smite, I will lean heavily on Ticket to Ride as a game where you can learn to hone your boardgaming efficiency skills.
In a good board game, mechanics fit together smoothly. They add up to bigger things. You can play the game, not the mechanics, with a intuitive connection between the two. In a not-so-good board game, mechanics seem gimmicky and stiff. They work against the game being fun, or at least can be annoying. The differences [...]
Most people when they design a character to play in a RPG chose to play the same gender as they are. Every now and then we choose to play one of the opposite sex. The reasons we do this and the conseq…
This analysis was done to benefit a friend for an internet adventure based in the Forgotten Realms. He wanted to play a single-classed 1st-level evoker (wizard) (his favorite class) but was unsure of the survivability of a single wizard character in a long campaign. I analyzed his options and came up with the following:
A human wizard begins knowing 3 first [...]
Actually, this is an essay about the role of NPC patron characters in Role Playing Games. Back in the days of the Shadowrun RPG, within the setting of the game, “Mr. Johnson” was the semi-official street slang for any sleazy but nameless employer (usually a corporate suit) who was looking to hire the player characters for some dangerous but potentially lucrative black ops job.
Rhelik previews the Gargantuan Black Dragon, the first in WoTC’s new line of Icon figures for Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures.