In which MetalJim provides yet another quick preview for 4th edition D D…

Today’s post is about Skip-bo. Sort of. Maybe it’s about the madness of crowds as it pertains to the game table. Your call.

Skip-bo, dating all the back to 1967, is more of a “family” game in the vein of Uno than it is a strategy game, the main distinction here is that it’s very “light” [...]

This weeks theme: Monsters!

My thoughts on a great gaming podcast on the eve of it’s ending.

As role-playing gamers, we have adopted certain styles of play to accommodate the game and group interactions. By assuming the role of fictitious characters, the knowledge of the players and the knowledge of the characters must be kept separate. Characters don’t know about maguffins, foils, or foreshadowing anymore than we can predict the future. So [...]

In which MetalJim engages in a bit of silliness, and invites you along for the ride…

I guess the sentiment expressed in today’s title should come as a surprise to exactly no one here: game design is hard! Like any creative art, it’s easier to criticize what someone else has done than to create something yourself. And being a consummate connoisseur may not, in fact, give credential to create. True confessions [...]

Sharing the bounty of late night web crawls

Danger makes adventuring exciting. But how much danger is enugh? Or is it as the Tick said:”Always… always remember: Less is less. More is more. More is better, and twice as much is good too. Not enough is bad, and too much is never enough except when it’s just about right.”

In which MetalJim asks you, the viewer, to recall some memorable fight scenes…

Time for me to catch up with the rest of the d21 gang (see: here, here, and here) and offer a few thoughts about the upcoming (2008) 4th Edition D&D product from Wizards of the Coast. It turns out I have mixed feelings that do not map precisely along the lines that other have used [...]

I’ve just become aware that this old stereotype grudge match may actually be a real phenomenon.

I’ve been working on my personal campaign setting lately and wanted to share some of my work with the d21-community. This monster is a personal favorite, since I always love the monsters that would scare me the most. This one is called…the Spider-Kin!

A little bit of background first. My personal campaign has a god of [...]

Today, I’m going to provide some recap of a recent WotC podcast talking about the direction of monster design for 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons.

Everyone knows that one of the great pleasures of life is found in the art and creativity that is tabletop role-playing games. And of all the RPGs out there, none comes close to Dungeons and Dragons in terms of collective cultural recognition – it’s in our blood, this high-octane affinity for the generically fantastic, this [...]

This week Random finally gives his take on 4th edition…… in someone else’s words.

After a long stint away from Magic (other than a brief return last year) I decided to rejoin my addicted brethren and delve into the Tenth Edition like a trooper. Now, I can’t go crazy like I did in the past, but you really don’t have to nowadays. Here’s a look at my recent experiences.

In which MetalJim joins everyone else in raggin’ on the PS3…

In last week’s post I used Gabriel Rocklin’s freeware version of Ra as a strawman to make some points about classic trouble spots in AI’s for computerized board games. Gabriel was kind enough to comment in and point to a newer test version of the game with some ongoing AI tweaks. Thanks for the response, Gabriel, [...]