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It’s been several months (back in December 2010 if you can believe it) since I cross-posted any links from Game Knight Reviews over here… So I thought I’d go ahead and include a list of recent articles & reviews in case anybody was interested.
Evidently I’ve been busy!
Articles
Reviews
Tags: adventure, Articles, Game, Game Knight Reviews, Idea Factory, links, Lulu, Open Design, reviews, Shopping, Toys and Games
Hey there!
Just wanted to pass along that there’s some new content over at Game Knight Reviews. My review of Tales of the Old Margreve from Open Design went live Monday and my video interview with Cameron Crawford of Petrie’s Family Games went live today.
Tales of the Old Margreve offers all the charm of Tolkien‘s Mirkwood with the awareness of a living, breathing organism. Within the Margreve it offers its own rules for what is and what isn’t possible and woe be to those who get on its bad side…
And in my video interview with Cameron at Petrie’s Family Games, we discuss his store, current events, and his perspective on his customers. If you’re ever in Colorado Springs, be sure to drop by for a unique family-friendly game store with a little bit for everybody!
Check out these articles and much more over at Game Knight Reviews!
Have a great weekend!
–Fitz
Tags: Baba Yaga, Colorado Springs, Game, Game design, interview, Kobold Quarterly, Mirkwood, Open Design, Petrie's Family Games, Roleplaying, setting, store, Tales of the Old Margreve, video
Hi there!
Just wanted to let you know that a review of 650 City Encounter Seeds & Plots from Johnn Four at Roleplaying Tips went live early last week on Game Knight Reviews…
650 City Encounter Seeds & Plots offers what you’d expect – a list of 650 thought-provoking ideas to help when planning a city-based adventure. There’s a solid mix of coincidence and deliberate attempts to suck the PCs into particular plots. And even if you don’t use them “as is” – there should be plenty there to get the creative juices flowing if you need a jump start.
The book definitely has some cool ideas between the covers – and the price (free) can’t be beat. Check out the full review over at Game Knight Reviews!
–Fitz
Tags: 650 City Encounter Seeds & Plots, adventure, ebook, Game, Game Knight Reviews, gamemaster, Games, Johnn Four, Non-player character, PDF, plots, review, Roleplaying, Roleplaying Tips, RPGs, seeds
Hi there!
I’ve posted another couple of reviews on Game Knight Reviews…
A review of Advanced Feats: The Summoner’s Circle from Sigfried Trent and Open Design and a review of Warrior, Rogue, & Mage from Michael Wolf of Stargazer Games.
The Summoner’s Circle provides a fresh take on the Summoner class in Pathfinder. By adding a unique, wizard-crafted creature you can summon to your side, you gain some additional muscle when you need it and not just mindless critters fighting for you.
Warrior, Rogue & Mage (WR&M) offers a simplified, yet elegant rules system with limitless possibilities for fantasy roleplaying. Using a single d6 you and the rest of your party can focus on role-playing instead of roll-playing and still have the flexibility and balanced rules you may have been looking for.
Both have some interesting crunch to dive into, so be sure to check them out if you’re looking for a new game (WR&M) or some new tools for Patfhinder!
–Fitz
Tags: Advanced Feats, Books, Fantasy, Game, Game Knight Reviews, Games, Michael Wolf, Open Design, reviews, Rogue, Roleplaying, Sigfried Trent, Stargazer, Stargazer Games, Summoner, The Summoner's Circle, Warrior, Warrior Rogue & Mage, WR&M
Hi there!
I’ve posted another review on Game Knight Reviews, this time of the 2010 holiday issue of Kobold Quarterly. Once again, the kobolds have carefully crafted a tome worthy of your attention – from druids and traps to giant ants and mounted combat, there’s plenty to whet your appetite.
Wolfgang Baur and his crew at KQ/Open Design have done it again, so be sure to check it out here at GKR!
–Fitz
p.s. To everyone celebrating Thanksgiving – I wish you a happy day with friends, family, food, and football!
Tags: 4th Edition, Andrew Hind, cavalier, D&D, David Adams, DC Comics, druids, Fall 2010, Fallout, Game Knight Reviews, Games, giant ants, Issue 15, John Flemming, Jonathan McAnulty, Kingdom of the Spiders, Kobold Quarterly, magazine, mounted combat, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, PDF, Philippe-Antoine Menard, roleplaying games, RPGs, Ryan Costello Jr., traps, Vixen, William O'Connor, William Shatner, Wolfgang Baur
Hi all…
In case you missed it on my reviews blog, I wrote about Brother Ptolemy and the Hidden Kingdom over at Game Knight Reviews. Nevermet Press has put together a heck of a setting and adventure that would fit nicely into most of the D&D-based campaigns (4e or 3.5e really, though the book is tailored for 4e) I’ve played in in recent years.
Jonathan Jacobs and the rest of the gang at Nevermet have created a worthwhile villain in Brother Ptolemy. He really thinks he’s doing the right thing, which just amps up the creep factor for me. It’s these morally wrong people who feel they’re helping their fellow man that always make the best villains!
Check out the review here at GKR!
–Fitz
Tags: 4e, adventure, Book, Brother Ptolemy and the Hidden Kingdom, D&D, Dungeons & Dragons, Game Knight Reviews, Games, Nevermet Press, Ptolemy, review, setting, villains, Wizards of the Coast
When Da’ Vane (Christina Freeman) dropped me a note about the first D-Jumpers product from DVOID Systems, I was definitely intrigued. Da’ Vane is another of the folks going through Yax & Johnn Four’s Gamer Lifestyle Project. She started in April 2010 and in six months has released a book with help from Ouroboros I (Sebastian Klement), which is an impressive feat to begin with!
With that in mind, I started to dive into a final copy (minus artwork, which had been delayed) of D-Jumpers Volume #1: A Gate to Adventure… As a fan of cross-genre rules systems, my interest was piqued by the very first paragraph and the question – “Why limit your games to one genre, to one setting, to one world, to one imagination?” This product provides four different encounters in very different worlds – from fantasy and space opera to the great beyond.
Each of these mini-campaigns is presented as “systemless,” which should allow you the freedom to mix/match ideas and concepts but use any rules system from Storyteller and d20 to any other system you like or no system at all (though I’m not sure how that would work, it’s an interesting idea). As you go through each “Encounter,” they’re set up the same way, with an Objective, Hooks, Details, Development, Options, and a Checklist. This makes it easy to hop from one encounter to the next with a known structure.
“Gate Keeper” introduces characters to the multi-world concept of D-Jumpers. The PCs meet an inventor who’s managed to create a tool (i.e. spell or device) allowing adventurers to go to various places to gather critters, items, and information for him. He then can better plan how to take over the weaker worlds and gain more power… Of course, this evil genius doesn’t let the PCs in on his ultimate goal of controlling the multi-verse, so they won’t know what they’re getting themselves into...
→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here...
Tags: adventure, campaign, Fantasy, Game, GMs, players, plots, Role-playing game, Roleplaying, Universal
When you look up the word “martial” in the dictionary, most definitions tend towards the use of a few key adjectives – warrior, warlike, or military. So I’d be lying if I said that the Martial Flavors book from Chaotic Shiny Productions focuses on mostly peaceful people. Most of these cultures could be described as mercenaries, raiders, or warriors whether they believe in the chain of command or the power of the strongest sword.
At a mere 55 pages, Martial Flavor has to be one of the most colorful supplements I’ve seen in a while. Color, art, fonts, and text boxes are used to provide a layout that’s easy on the eyes and convey details on multiple levels.
The use of color works well to denote different sections, such as green for the titles, introduction, and table of contents, and a red/green pattern for The Daikort Pack, a green/brown pattern for The Elessim, etc. And each section is laid out consistently from group to group – starting with a vignette, an overview, appearance, hierarchy, rituals, races, sample characters, powers, and feats.
The full color and black and white artwork used on the front and back covers and inside provides not only a great way to break up the text, but provide a feel for each culture’s dress and appearance as well as what’s important. For example, for The Daikort Pack, we see a full color picture of an fair-haired elven maid wearing leather and a plate breastplate, which tends to indicate she’s more ready for a fight than to go frolicking in the woods in which she’s standing. But for The Elessim, there are three horses in the picture on a broad grassy plain and one rider. Something tells me the horses are important!
The black and white art was also quite striking...
→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here...
Tags: Arts, Book, Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Games, Roleplaying, RPGNow
When you’re in school, it’s easy to find gamers. I remember playing with people in junior high and high school, in college and even immediately after college. But at some point it starts to get difficult. People have jobs and families and other commitments that don’t let them game as often as they’d like. Or maybe they’ve had to move for some reason (work, family, or school being the big three reasons)… Or perhaps a game has just drifted apart over time as they sometimes do.
How do you find other gamers in your area? Well, Filling the empty chair from Johnn Four of Roleplaying Tips fame (RoleplayingTips.com) aims to help you find other like-minded individuals near you to keep your gaming habit alive. Finding a good gaming group is sort of like finding a good pair of sneakers. You may have to try a few out before you find a good fit, and even then they may wear out over time. But don’t be discouraged… As Four says in his Introduction, “Gaming is too important as part of living a balanced, healthy and enjoyable life. Do not let it go by the wayside.”
The book starts by providing a list of eight pages of some of the best websites for finding gamers online. Sites include everything from some of the RPG-related Meetup.com sites and NearbyGamers.com to RPGRegistry.com and PenAndPaperGames.com. I’d never heard of many of the sites listed, but hope to take advantage of some of them to put a new group together myself.
The bulk of the book however is dedicated to tips on finding a group or recruiting players. The 28 tips included cover everything from having business cards you can pass out if you find someone who’s interested to hanging out in game or bookstores to inviting your family and non-gaming friends to join you. It’s never too late (or too early) to bring new people to the hobby.
→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here…
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Tags: Board game, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Finding, Gamer, Games, Play Groups, Recreation and Sports, Role-playing game, Roleplaying
When I reviewed Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 back in October 2009, I felt it was a monumental and worthwhile compilation of game material from around the blogosphere. Jonathan Jacobs somehow managed to do everything from curating the articles to having the book printed and available. The result was a book that managed to provide players and gamemasters, both new and old, more inspiration than you could shake a stick at.
With Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 2 (OGTv2), Jacobs managed to get much more help with nearly every part of the process – from nominating material to editing, art, and so on. He even managed to get sponsors to help foot the bill to pay for part of the publishing effort so it wasn’t all out of his wallet.
To avoid any misconceptions, I helped with a couple of parts of the process of OGTv2. I worked as a peer reviewer and contributed some funds to help get the book printed. But even with my help and the help of many other folks, I suspect Jonathan put in the lion’s share of the work on this book.
That said, this book is simply astounding from the description of the daily gaming convention on the web in the foreward from RPG industry veteran Justin Achili to Trent Colwell’s hilarious article – “The Tale of Jacques: A Study in Ignominious RPG Death” – in which poor Jack’s character drowns in spectacular fashion teaching everyone to make sure the rope is tied off before you jump into a torrential river of death… I think there’s something for everyone stuffed into this 158 page volume…
→ Read More at Game Knight Reviews here…
Tags: blogs, Book, cartography, Dungeon Mastering, Enrique Beertran, Fantasy, Game, Games, gaming, Jeremy Jones, Jonathan Jacobs, Justin Achili, Kobold Quarterly, Nevermeet Press, Newbie DM, Open Game Table, Publishing, review, reviews, Role-playing game, Roleplaying, RPG, RPGKids, Trent Colwell, Universal, Yacine Merzouk
How do I review a product?
