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The Edge of Sanity…

June 7, 2010 in Inspiration by Fitz | 2 comments

Welcome back!

Hey all…

In my career as a gamer, at least since college, I’ve had a thing for playing insane characters. I thought I’d share some of those characters and how I dealt with their crazy behaviors.

The first time it happened, my character in a Call of Cthulhu game went crazy with a Tommy Gun and managed to murder all but one member of his team because he thought they were monsters. And it felt good. Not the killing part – just cutting loose of all rational thought for a brief moment. He just snapped and went insane based on the rules of the game (aka “missed his save”) and I went with it.

That moment led to my playing of a Malkavian in a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign who was more than a little loopy. He liked having rules for everything. So if, in the course of an adventure, he encountered a situation that lent itself to a new rule, he’d add it to the list. Suffice it to say that living by those rules was a bit of a challenge at times, but a welcome one. The simplicity of the insanity was the key.

And more recently I played a rogue in a campaign that shifted rules a couple of times (from the freeform Hero to a thief in D&D 3.5e). The game was set in a world much like our own during the time of the Roman Empire. Didius (or “DC” as he came to be known – short for Didius Cato) was an escaped slave. And he had a bit of a thing about slavery.

If DC encountered a situation where a slave was being treated unfairly… For instance, on the auction block in a crowded marketplace… There was a chance he’d go a bit nuts and do what he could to change the situation. I’d roll a die and basically decide if he would (even number) or wouldn’t (odd) flip out based on the result. During one session, he basically slaughtered a number of guards as he worked to free a line of slaves being sold.

Somehow he managed to survive. But again, the simplicity of the insanity is what made it fun. He had a trigger (seeing slavery) and no willpower to speak of (thus rolling to determine his action). Sometimes he managed to contain himself. Then there was the rest of the time…

So if you haven’t played a crazy character, I’d encourage you to try it at least once in a campaign. As a GM, it’s easy to slip in a NPC teetering on the edge of rational thought. As a player, sometimes it’s less easy – but talk to your GM and give it a go.

If you have played crazy characters, I’d love to hear about them. What were they like? How did they come about? What guidelines did you use for bounding their nutty behavior? Leave me a comment below or drop me an e-mail at fitz(at)moebiusadventures(dot)com.

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RPG Review: Sunken Empires by Brandon Hodge

June 4, 2010 in Books, Reviews by Fitz | No comments

Hi there…

Ever since college when I actually started having the extra money to do so, I’ve been drawn to game stores and hunting for unique supplements. Adventures, gazettes, simple collections of maps – each has its own attraction for me. As such, I have ended up with a wide variety of books, pamphlets, and PDFs that each holds a particular fascination.

Open Design’s recent release of Sunken Empires: Treasures and Terrors of the Deep encompasses the perfect storm of history, art, and implementation that makes a supplement not only a useful tool for gamemasters to terrorize their players from time to time but a great read as well. From the forward by David “Zeb” Cook to the chapters on dealing with the deep and its denizens held my attention to the very end, which is a rarity in any supplement.

Beginning with Cook’s introduction – “A History of the Aboleth” – I felt I was being let into a tomb of previously unknown horrors. I honestly can’t recall if I’d heard of the Aboleth as a creature prior to reading Sunken Empires, but now I know it has a place in the occasional nightmare realms players may find born of my own freakishly random firing neurons. The story of how the creature came about provided crucial clues to crafting hooks and monsters without filling in absolutely all the details – leaving the rest to the players encountering such vile critters.

And Brandon Hodge takes things from there, weaving a storyteller’s spell upon the reader and introducing them to the aspects of Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu from tales both ancient (Plato’s tales of at Atlantis) and relatively recent (H.P. Lovecraft adapting Mu into the Cthulhu mythos). Hodge then takes it a step further to create the lost city of Ankeshel and the modern cities of Upper and Lower Cassadega now exploring the submerged ruins and learning a few of Ankeshel’s mysteries.

After that, he provides all an enterprising GM would need to torture entertain his or her players with hints of powerful artifacts and spells from the distant past just waiting to be discovered by an enterprising band of adventurers. We have the half-merfolk Maerean peoples working both above and below the waters as well as new paths for other races and classes… I was particularly fascinated by the description of how Monks are entranced by undersea ruins – “drawn by the promise of lost knowledge and paths of enlightenment cultivated by ancient civilizations.” I’d not considered monks in that light before and yet I may start doing so…

Chapter 3 provides not only equipment for adventures daring to explore the sunken ruins, but by what they may find. The lure of lost technology provides not only interesting magic items, but the almost Steampunk-influenced weapons of a much more advanced race. And the weapons don’t disappoint… rifles that fire magically-created ice slivers, methods of crowd control, and even a magical/mechanical method of duplicating a Dispel Magic spell. Very creative items indeed.

Spellcasters aren’t forgotten either, with new spells provided for Bards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Wizards, and even Rangers. The Druid spells provide water-related magical effects such as Barnacle Armor, Wall of Water, and Calm the Waves. I was a bit disappointed by the small number of Ranger spells (there are only two) and wondered if as a GM I might consider creating additional powers for those adventurers used to prowling the underwater wilderness. Of course the Sorcerer/Wizard list was the most impressive, including more than 30 new spells for those classes.

The list of new magic items was definitely fun to peruse… Though I felt like I needed a much bigger bankroll to be wandering the aisles for many of the items costing 10,000 gold pieces or more. Even so, as a fighter who wouldn’t want a heavy steel shield shaped as a writhing squid that 3x a day could try to disarm your enemies!

If you plan on running any adventures in the split city of Cassadega, Chapter 5 is a must read. It provides much needed guidance on how to handle different levels of parties adventuring in or near the sunken ruins. Though that discussion is little more than a page, it provides answers to many of the problems parties may encounter if they are outmatched by the environment they find themselves in. Hodge goes so far as to provide random encounter tables for the coast and the underdeep that would scare the heck out of me as a player. Everything from plant life trying to kill you to a shoggoth waiting to devour you and your party as an hors d’oeuvre.

Lastly, Chapter 6 provides a description of the many critters you may encounter above or below the waves in these areas. Everything from a Bone Crab to a Wharfling Swarm (described as a huge number of hairless underwater raccoons with needle-like teeth) and aquatic variants of other creatures such as a Needlefish Swarm (a variant of Bat Swarm), a Slick (a Black Pudding variant), or a Giant Trilobite (variant of a Giant Centipede). And then of course there’s the Aboleth… I certainly wouldn’t want to encounter one in a dark, submerged alley.

Honestly, I was very impressed by Sunken Empires. It provides enough “crunch” for an enterprising GM to take it and merge it into his or her own game world quite easily. And if done right, a GM would have potentially years of gaming to explore all the dark corners of the Ankeshel ruins. I did find a few typos here and there, but nothing earth shattering that prevented my understanding of the content. And the artwork for the book was amazing from Malcolm McClinton (awesome cover art), Thomas Cole, Hodge himself, Pat Loboyko, and Hugo Solis.

If you’re looking for a new supplement and you think you want your players to get wet, scared, or both – I’d encourage you to check out Sunken Empires from Open Design and Brandon Hodge. Look for it at Paizo Publishing, RPGNow, and Kobold Quarterly!

This article first appeared at BlogCritics.org here.

–Fitz

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How do you make module-driven games seem less railroaded?

May 24, 2010 in Advice, GMing, Seeking Feedback by Fitz | No comments

Hi all…

Yes, it seems that nearly every time I post anything these days, it’s asking a question. But before I ask, let me provide some context…

We have a very small group (currently 2 or 3 players depending on the week and a GM) playing a D&D 3.5e adventure set in one of the Paizo Pathfinder adventures (Second Darkness). The GM (Mike) and I have been discussing the fact that, like every other module-driven adventure either of us has played or run, it seems very linear. And, dare I say it, a bit boring for those of us playing who prefer story and emotional depth over combat.

Sure there are a few mysteries left. We only play once a month or so and sometimes not even that, so getting through significant parts of the adventure is iffy at best. And it probably doesn’t help that the two PCs in our group that are supposed to know and like each other are drifting apart (but that’s a tale for another day), so that’s not helping us move forward much either.

But here’s the issue… if the GM lacks the time to spin off his own ideas to make the setting more lively and engaging for the PCs and the PCs can’t stay together, how do we make the game more enjoyable across the board?

I suspect that if Mike as GM can find some nuggets of creativity in the module to build on, that’s one way to do it. And as a player, I can try and invest myself more in the world as well – perhaps going so far as to define NPC “friends” he may have met during spelunking beneath the city, in the wilds, or while avoiding the less natural parts of town (he’s a druid who’s probably swinging from neutral good to true neutral soon after some experiences he’s had in the campaign).

What do you do, as a player or GM, to make campaigns based around pre-written modules seem more lively? Or what do you do to revive fading campaigns when the enthusiasm starts to die?

Mike and I are both curious what others who have faced similar issues have done to help the situation… And not just what worked, but what didn’t… So we don’t unwittingly step in land mines trying something that probably was a bad idea from the get-go.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. I’ll try and sum it up in a separate post so others can benefit from the combined wisdom.

Thanks!
–Fitz

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Religion in Fantasy Worlds

December 13, 2009 in Design, GMing, Inspiration, Resources, Rules, World by Fitz | 8 comments

This post was inspired by a post at the KORE rpg blog about the topic. And it got me thinking, which is sometimes not a good thing…

monk_bwReligion is definitely one of those hot buttons in the real world, like sex, money, politics, and many other hot buttons. As soon as you breach the subject however, some people want to either convert you or condemn you – and neither option really appeals to me.

I’m an atheistic-leaning agnostic… or an agnostic-leaning atheist. Just depends on the day. From my point of view, religion is a good thing for a lot of people, so I don’t make a fuss about it. If you want to talk to me about religion, that’s fine – but I don’t like being preached to. Just a personal thing. The door-to-door folks concerned with saving my soul should just move along. (I’m nice about it, but don’t want to waste their time or mine.)

What’s funny is that it’s also not one of the things I typically think about in my roleplaying. I’m more likely to play a cleric or priest as an NPC than a PC, which goes along with my leaning towards creating worlds with conflict these days.

My Immortals’ Wake setting has a church – the Church of the Mother – that has been twisted in the last thousand years to preach a message of no tolerance. History in the real world shows that many faiths have had issues with tolerating views other than their own. And I wanted to bring that aspect into my setting.

And, as with all things, there are those people within the Church who are more liberal in their views of brotherhood than others. A militant arm has sworn to destroy a group of so-called “demons” simply because they are an affront to what they believe. Other groups within the Church are more tolerant of the “demons” and even helps them from time to time.

However, priests in my games tend to be focused on the personal aspects of the mortal condition – helping the sick and poor, aiding those seeking sanctuary, providing spiritual guidance, and so on – not just the traditional D&D cleric point of view as far as mobile MASH and holy smash unit. As mentioned, there are militants in the Church of the Mother who certainly focus on what they think of as fighting the good fight. But most priests would rather tend to their flocks than fight I think.

As such, my priest NPCs tend to be more philosophers and scholars than weapon-wielding crusaders of faith. They’re more likely to talk you to death than beat you with a blessed club. These folks are also just as likely to be warped by greed or lust as any other mortal, so they may not be the paragons of virtue they’re made out to be. They’re simply men and women doing a job they believe in (or want you to believe in).

This is not to say that they don’t apply their healing abilities to those who need them. Nor do they stray away from praying regularly to the focus of their devotion. And miracles do happen. But these are mortal representatives of their faith who only rarely become vessels to the divine power of their gods.

When you bring in the whole wizard vs. cleric debate and wonder whether a priest might directly oppose a wizard and try to have them lynched. Many priests would decry that wizardry is evil and therefore should be destroyed. But many others would state that if their divine hosts could work miracles through the faithful, why would they allow magicians of other types not to exist? What’s to say that the wizard isn’t working divine miracles of his or her own and simply doesn’t appreciate the divine side of the equation?

A priest whose power base is threatened might turn his flock against a rival wizard, but that would erode his power base. The wizard would most likely fall to greater numbers eventually, but how many members of the priest’s flock would die first? Wouldn’t that give them pause?

So there is definitely room for religion in my games. I’ve only had one player ever convincingly play a priest in a campaign I ran. But I’m always hoping for another!

How do you use religion in your fantasy games? Is it a force to be reckoned with?

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Friday Links for October 30, 2009

October 30, 2009 in Friday Links, Inspiration, Resources by Fitz | 4 comments

Hey all…

Yes, I’m a bit late this week. Sorry about that. First ugly cold of autumn for me and work has been keeping me busy. That didn’t stop a whole mess of people coming up with some interesting articles to keep us all thinking about gaming. :)

Friday Links Banner 150x150We’ll get the list started off this week with some Halloween-themed posts:

  • Dungeon’s Master has an awesome Zombie Survival Flowchart this week, which made my week. Definitely check it out! I started giggling as soon as I hit “Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse?” -> no -> “You wet yourself.” -> “Do you change into clean clothes?” :) Zombie Survival Flowchart
  • And from Dungeon Mastering, we have an awesome summary of all things “zombie”… You must know your enemy to combat it! And it definitely helps to follow rule #4 – “Find the Necromancer.” :) Zombie-pocalypse

A few posts about magic:

  • Tankards & Broadswords today brought up using magic actually inspired by the realms of the occult, wicca, and so on. And though I won’t be sanctioning trying to summon beings from the lower planes in real life, I have to admit to a fascination with the “rules” of magic practitioners in the real world. Great food for thought, whether your campaign is in a fantasy realm or the “real” world!Putting Some Real Magic in Your Gaming
  • At Troll and Flame, I found myself presented with an idea that I’d bounced around with Mike (our GM) a number of times. “Magic Missile” is a pretty boring spell name when you think about it. I changed it to “Finger of Death” so I could give your enemies the “finger” whenever we were in combat… The solution in the article is to NOT name the spell – but let the player name it. What a concept – easy way to get the player involved in the world by defining a part of how his character interacts with it!Magical Monday – Personalized Magic

A few posts about the RPG industry:

  • The Seven-Sided Die has an interesting article about the cost-effectiveness of POD and shipping, which I found very interesting because I’ve used Lulu for publishing Moebius Adventures Core Rules. It is definitely not cost effective for one copy, but gets more cost effective the more copies you buy.A Comment on POD and Shipping
  • LivingDice has a very interesting way of looking at the RPG business model, from The Citadel to the Beer Garden and finally to the Bazaar. Anybody involved in publishing (or trying to, like myself) RPGs should give it a look and see what they think. I know I’ll be spending some brain power on it.The Citadel, the Beer Garden, and the Bazaar
  • Another article about RPG business comes from Wondrous Imaginings by Joe the Lawyer… He contends that D&D at Wizards of the Coast might not have gone the same way it has if it had focused more on PR and customer service. It definitely makes me think that PR & customer service should be high on the priority list for any small game company or game designer. Honestly that’s a good idea in any business. :) The Role of Customer Service in a RPG Company

And finally, a scattering of posts on a variety of other topics:

  • Over at the Sea of Stars, I found a well-thought-out view of evil and why evil characters work in a campaign. It’s along the lines of my own idea that there really is no good or evil, but an individual working toward a goal. If you think it’s ok to chop off a few heads along the way, you might be evil. :) Game Theory: Moral Dilemmas – Playing Evil
  • At Abstract XP, we get a bit of a primer on the difference between plot and story. And it’s a great refresher if you haven’t considered the difference for a while (like me!).Plotting Adventures: Part One
  • Also in the vein of defining “evil”, at the World of Alidor blog we find them discussing a greedy, but not quite evil god named Yol. But what really got me thinking was the comparison of evil to a deadly virus like ebola. Sure, it can spread, but it typically kills so quickly that it dies out and becomes dormant, waiting for the next opportunity to strike. I like the analogy. :) The Good, the Bad, Gods and Spirits of Alidor
  • Critical Failure – the GURPS Podcast pointed us at a great article on the anatomy of Japanese folk monsters, with some amazing images. You have to love the Japanese for their dedication to detail, even if it’s for a mythological creature!Potential Encounters: Anatomy of Japanese Folk Monsters points you to… Anatomy of Japanese Folk Monsters
  • And lastly, in the category of “go ahead, lay some history on me” we have an amazing article on the Persian Empire from the Sea of Stars blog… This is another one I’m going to have to devour a piece at a time to milk as much as I can out of it. :) Through the Lens of History 5: The Great King

As per usual, thanks to all the writers of these great, thought provoking posts! Have a great weekend and a wonderful Halloween!

–Fitz

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Tonight: Playtest in Colorado Springs!

October 27, 2009 in News, Playtesting by Fitz | 1 comment

Hey all…

RPG DiceThat’s right… We’re having a playtest in Colorado Springs at Gamer’s Haven tonight from 4pm to 8pm. There’s a bit more information here about this event. There’s a few folks signed up even, which is better than the last time I tried this. :)

Hopefully I’ll get a chance to write up how it goes later in the week!

–Fitz

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Moral and Ethical Ambiguity, Part 2 of 4 – Morality

October 16, 2009 in Articles, GMing, Inspiration, Rules by Fitz | 4 comments

As I said in Part 1, this series deals with Morality and Virtue as we define them for the Moebius Adventures games. But as with many things, I think it goes beyond the system of rules and provides more food for thought when looking at alignment.

yinyangSo let’s talk a bit about Morality. Every time I hear that word, I think of the Animaniacs and their “Wheel of Morality” – “Wheel of morality, turn, turn turn… Tell me the lessons that we should learn…” Yes, I am warped.

Anyway… Morality… As I said last time, Morality indicates roughly how a character views right and wrong. And morals are principles or standards relating to a system governing right and wrong behavior in the universe. Codes of morality provide frameworks that benefit an individual or group if used properly.

In terms of the rules for Moral Alignments, “Moral” is 10 to 6, “Gray” is the 5 to -5 range, and -6 to -10 is “Immoral.”

An individual’s morality may differ from that of society, and both may differ from the morality of higher beings.

There’s also a difference between the morality of a character and the player or GM as a person. As a player, you concentrate on what your character understands as right and wrong. For example, let’s take a character in the thieves’ guild. In the real world, the player would (probably) never steal from another person. However, the character has his own reasons for stealing and therefore a different morality from the player.

We found that there are some general, high-level categories of moral codes – Nature, Animals, Man, Society, Thought, and Time. The sum of these define the overall morality of the universe.

Nature’s moral code defines how the elements (fire, wind, earth, water), plant life, and geological events work in the universe. Nature’s moral code is structured to ensure its own continuity. It often does this by cycling through periods of creation and destruction – lightning starts a fire, burns dense forests, and thus provides room for new growth; floods redistribute rich new soil for growth higher along the flood plain.

RPGBlogCarnivalLogocopy“Survival of the fittest” is a basically the moral code for Animals. Only the strongest and most able animals are able to perpetuate the species. Often, this moral code is in conflict with Nature. However, animals are more able to survive the effects of Nature because they can adapt.

Mankind’s moral code represents all individuals and genders and their struggle to survive in the world of Nature and Animals. At a basic level, the Human moral code is “might makes right.” To survive, one must live within Nature and control a portion of the Animal kingdom (through the domestication of animals) to improve their quality of life.

Society’s moral code represents groups of individuals brought together to ensure protection of all those in the group. Society requires the participation of its members to succeed. Where conflicts arise between the moral codes of Man and Society, Society should win more often than not. People typically recognize that they have better lives within properly functioning societies than without.

The moral code of Thought includes those individuals capable of reasoning what’s best for Society, Man, Animals, and Nature. The responsibility of Thought is to manage all the lower moral codes to they might all peacefully coexist. Intellectuals recognize that they must minimize conflict between moral codes to obtain a better life for all.

And Time has the highest moral code of all. Like Nature, Time continues marching on.

So what happens when there are conflicts between moral codes?

Let’s go back to the fire example with Nature. Fire cleanses the forest for a new cycle of life. But this may seem cruel to Man or Society to kill life. Nature knows it’s necessary to sacrifice some of the forest so the rest can thrive. Without it, life cannot exist.

However, when a fire threatens a city and its inhabitants, a conflict arises between moral codes. Which moral code should prevail? A character with a “Gray” level of morality at 1 would probably try to stop the fire to protect themselves and their family, thinking more of themselves than Society. Characters with a higher moral alignment, around a 4, would also try to save the city, but because their goal was to save everyone within it, not just themselves.

Examples of Moral Alignment:

  • Time = +10
  • Thought = +6
  • Society = +2
  • Man = -1
  • Animals = -6
  • Nature = -10

When a course of events favors two or more moral codes, no conflict arises. When events don’t favor all participants, conflicts arise. Following the morality of the universe, the right thing to do is to favor the higher moral code.

When two different moral codes conflict, you must weigh them. It is morally just to place Time over Thought, Thought over Society, Society over Man, Man over Animals, and Animals over Nature. A character with a moral alignment of -3 might side more with Animals and Nature than Society and Man. This might make him believe it’s morally right to kill poachers in the forest because they are upsetting the moral code when they kill healthy animals instead of the old or sick ones.

Obviously there’s more to discuss for Morality, but we’ll leave it there for now.

Next time we’ll discuss Virtue.

–Fitz

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Moral and Ethical Ambiguity, Part 1 of 4 – Intro

October 16, 2009 in Articles, GMing, Inspiration, Rules by Fitz | 4 comments

For this month’s Blog Carnival, I thought I’d throw some different ideas out there about an alternative to the simple alignment grid…

Though I understand the attraction of a simple alignment scheme for some games, I’ve always been fascinated by the gray area. Rarely will you find anyone who has a perfect moral compass. As Citizen G’Kar said once in an episode of Babylon 5 – “The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements. Energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest.”

yinyangIt’s that “enlightened self-interest” that motivates even the most well-intentioned individual.

What is alignment? A character’s alignment generally describes how the character perceives moral choices in their world. Are they really good? Really evil? Or somewhere in-between?

Though extremes may be interesting experiments in roleplaying, I find that most player characters tend to fall in the Chaotic or Neutral camps, using their judgment to decide whether to do good or evil or obey the laws. It’s that gray area between good and evil that most of us reside in – using the context of the decision to help us make those crucial decisions.

It’s in the spirit of the “gray” that for the Moebius Adventures system we created an alternative to the traditional good, neutral, and evil alignments – Morality and Virtue – to measure character behavior a bit differently.

Morality indicates how a character views right and wrong. Virtue reflects a character’s attitude to pain – do they ease pain or cause it? Together the two scales help define how a character can gauge decisions.

RPGBlogCarnivalLogocopyWhat are morals? Morals are principles or standards relating to a system governing right and wrong behavior in the universe. Codes of morality provide frameworks that benefit an individual or group if used properly.

What is Virtue? Virtue represents the mortal drive to ease or cause pain and suffering in themselves and others. Someone’s virtue isn’t determined by how they perceive the pain they inflict or receive, but in how they deal with that pain.

So by now you’re wondering how the heck any of this could be playable… And I agree, it gets a bit philosophically deep. But as with alignments, we’re talking about rough guidelines for PC behavior. Evil may be just another way of saying that an individual is immoral and likes causing pain.

But what happens when a character (PC or NPC) strongly believes in their morality, is ok with a certain amount of pain caused to others, and yet is opposed to the social or natural order of the world? Does that make them evil? Or does it make them good? It all depends on the context of a particular decision, doesn’t it? The player or GM has to weigh the decision of the character based on the circumstances around them – just like in life.

It makes things a bit more interesting anyway.

The next couple of posts will go into more detail about how we use Morality and Virtue in-game and then how to work through some different situations.

Until next time,

–Fitz

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Friday Links for September 25, 2009

September 25, 2009 in Friday Links, News by Fitz | 2 comments

I’ve been a silent member of the community for quite a while now, but now that I’m active again, I thought it would be helpful to re-link to posts from the week that I found thought provoking or useful.

Friday Links

So starting today, I’m starting a “Friday Links” post tradition. This will basically gather all the links I thought were cool from the week and provide a bit of why I thought each was interesting or useful.

First we have “Bringing Back the Magic” from Brandan Landgraff at d20source.com. As someone who’s been investigating how to add more “crunch” to wizards, I have to say I hadn’t thought much about magic items until I read Brandan’s entry. As he says, a +3 flaming sword just doesn’t have much pizazz – “all too often it is easy to think of a magic item as a +3 flaming sword, rather than the legendary fiery blade wielded by the mighty conqueror Hulkgar the Bad during his annexation of the kingdoms of the north”. You can find this great article here.

Next, you have a similar article from the AbstractXP blog… Again, a +3 dagger is just a dagger with a +3, but it could be so much more. It should have a history or at least a name to inspire fear and stories in your enemies and friends. It’s definitely a trap that many D&D players run into as far as magic items – focusing on the properties of the item and not the item as his or her character would perceive it. Yet another area where some “crunch” is needed for better roleplaying. You can read the whole article here.

To change the topic a bit, as a parent I’m often struggling with when to introduce my creative, imaginative daughters (ages 4 and 6) to roleplaying. So I’m always on the lookout for “Gaming as a Parent” types of articles around the blogosphere. I found one on The Escapist this week from WJ Walton titled “Washington Post parenting blog likes D&D”, which led me to a Washington Post article I wouldn’t have read otherwise. And Walton’s conclusion – if “he’s really suggesting that more parents should play RPGs with their kids”? He couldn’t agree more. I hope to join this cadre of gaming Dads soon. :) For the article and the link to the Washington Post article, see here.

Next, we have an article from the gnomes at Gnome Stew. John Arcadian suggests you “Think About Your Game As If It Were a Movie or TV Show.” I have to say, though this isn’t the first article on this theme, it’s one of the best I’ve seen to summarize the various aspects of TV show production that lend themselves to being a GM. I’ve tried this mindset myself from time to time (in the distant past), but never really got the hang of it. With John’s suggestions, maybe I’ll try it again! You can read the article here.

And lastly, I’m always on the lookout for resources. Over at the Game Table Role-Playing Game Blog, Justin Mason has provided a list of 33 free fantasy True-Type Fonts (TTF) that can be used in your own campaigns. There are some great ones here. “Hobbiton Brush Hand” is just beautiful, and I think the capitals for “Neverwinter” would make great flourishes on any page. Thanks Justin for offering these! You can see the article here yourself.

Thanks for all the great posts and I hope to make this a regular column every Friday!

Let me know if you have any suggestions for links and I’ll be sure to include them. Have an awesome weekend!

–Fitz

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