Author: Leonidas

This author has written 17 articles

Roll & Play: The Game Master’s Fantasy Tool Kit REVIEW

Roll & Play: The Game Master’s Fantasy Tool Kit REVIEW

I recently did a KickStarter for Roll&Play’s Game Master’s Tool Kit. This is a review of that product, and I paid for it with my own hard earned dinero. No sponsorship was involved in this review.

What is it?

System Neutral – Fantasy aid for GM’s to fill in background details about scenes and encounters. Its written by Sam Bartlett in the UK, and it first product from his company Roll & Play. The 94 page guide helps fill in details with tons of tables (that you can roll randomly on or just pick) to help enrich the game. There are lot of other resources to help generate like tavern names or NPC names (which this has), but this guide also adds a lot more other details in areas like festivals, supernatural patrons, revival side effects, bargain spell scrolls, etc. (more…)

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Digital RPG books vs. Physical RPG books

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Digital RPG books vs. Physical RPG books

I love books. I love the feel of them, the weight, the smell of old paper, the sound of the crack of the opening of a book for the first time. I have a lot of books on the shelves. I also have a lot of comics. All this stuff takes up a lot of space. It drives my partner nuts on how much stuff I had. As e-books and digital media became more popular, I began to purchase more of my readings via digital vs. hardcopy. (yes, Amazon has made it really too easy to buy crap.)

 

Photos: not my bookshelves but the shelves of the other contributor of the blog. (more…)

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Read more about the article Dice for RPGs and Boardgames: Different types, science, collecting

Dice for RPGs and Boardgames: Different types, science, collecting

Dice, Dice, Dice.

We love dice. All shapes, colors, designs, materials. We have polyhedral dice with standard numbers for roleplaying games as well as custom ones for board games. So many possible combinations and sizes. Dice rolls make or break our characters and actions in the game. The thrill of making a savings throw or a critical roll drives the excitement and fun of the games. I remember the first set of light blue / grey dice I had that came with the Basic D&D set as a kid. I carefully colored in the numbers with a white crayon and re-filled in the color once a year after the color wore out. Nothing fancy, but we were fascinated by the d4 and d10 type of dice as kids.

If you are first getting into RPGs, there are several things to know. (more…)

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Read more about the article Different RPG Player Types

Different RPG Player Types

There are many different types or styles of Players. Some change it up based on the characters they are are playing, type of campaign they are in (1 shot vs. long campaign), or who they are playing. (ongoing friends vs. convention strangers).

Diversity of Players

As in all things in life, diversity is important. If you are a racist fascist, pls piss off now as we will not engage in a debate on diversity. Diversity can be styles of play, age, work background, gender type, ethnicity, novice or experienced. Game groups oftentimes are friend groups before becoming a game group so probably have some commonalities already. However, making sure there is diversity in different areas of the group will make the game more interesting and carry the story line better. More diversity gives more possible solutions to solving problems, coming up with new options, new and different looks to the same situation. (more…)

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Read more about the article What happens when you don’t have the core 4 classes?

What happens when you don’t have the core 4 classes?

So you are about to start a game session….. Everyone wants to play a fighter type character. Or the Bard and Healer can’t make it to game that day. One session we only had 2 fighter types and a rogue in a particularly nasty dungeon where we desperately needed a paladin and cleric for healing and undead encounters. We got mauled and had to escape the dungeon. Mission not completed.

It happens that you may not have the core 4 classes (Fighter type, Healer/Cleric type, Thief/Rogue type, Magic user type) at every game due to one thing or the other. If you are about to enter a deep dungeon or extended campaign, you will need all the core classes represented. Loading up on healing potions or healing poultices will only get you so far. So what to do? (more…)

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Read more about the article Hero / Luck / Fate / Oh Crap Points. <L>
top view of a expanse of four-leaf clovers of different height and dimensions

Hero / Luck / Fate / Oh Crap Points.

Most games have some elements of this. Luck points, pushing rolls, advantages, bennies etc. It is some mechanism that allows the players to re-roll after missing a critical roll/save. Most RPGs have some version of this. I like using Hero points to include doing heroic / extra-ordinary shitte. This usage is more geared toward Pulp / Heroic type games to allow character to perform crazy but entertaining actions. This involves the player more into the action of the game. I get them to describe their heroic act when they spend hero points. Eg. Leaping across to catch a rope, swing over the water, and stick the landing on the other side. Under normal circumstances, that could be like 2 DEX checks at med-high DC level. (more…)

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