Neitherworld Stories

September 18, 2009

Alchemists in RPGs

There are few fantasy RPGs that have a really interesting way of playing an alchemist. Most of them require a tremendous amount of forethought and bean-counting as you buy and construct your alchemical creations ahead of time. D&D is among the most egregious of these. I like the idea of playing an alchemist, but that’s not the way I want...

September 17, 2009

Dungeons and Dragons Sodas

As I posted on my other blog, Jones Soda recently announced that they are partnering with Wizards to create D&D-themed sodas. Wacky. I have to wonder whether these will actually be tasty… or if they’ll be more along the lines of the Jones Thanksgiving flavors. What do you think Illithid Brain Juice tastes like?

September 10, 2009

It all comes together

I’ve mentioned that I’ve been mulling the idea of a FATE/d20 hybrid. Today, I had a breakthrough. It was one of those things that seems obvious in retrospect… In FATE combat, you can use a maneuver during an attack. Instead of inflicting stress (damage), a successful maneuver allows you to place a temporary aspect upon your target… or generate an...

September 9, 2009

Firefighter RPG?

RPGs often let you take the role of heroes. We see RPGs that support different sorts of heroes: fantasy adventurers, super-powered do-gooders, elite military teams, cowboys… yet, despite the fact that they have pretty good hero-cred, I don’t think I’ve ever really seen a RPG that focuses upon firefighters or search and rescue teams. The closest I can think of...

September 4, 2009

I’m Back

We’re settling in to the new apartment in Takoma Park. Setting up a gaming space was, of course, a concern, and I think we did pretty well. We have a table that can expand out to seat up to ten people, and a nearby bookcase that holds our gaming books. Now we just need to find people to game with....

July 24, 2009

Have a Dungeon Map

Happy Friday.

July 24, 2009

The Ennie Awards

I voted. Did you? I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, but I will mention that Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone is up for both the Interior Art and Best Production Values. A friend of mine is one of the two artists who worked on the book, so I might be biased when I say that...

July 23, 2009

Looking for Group

Not yet, precisely. Angela and I are moving to the D.C. area soon. Very soon. This is the primary reason that I haven’t been posting much lately. I’ve been busy. I know a good number of gamers in the D.C. area. I know that there are a large number of RPG blogger-types there as well. Since I last lived in...

July 15, 2009

Coming to an End

Sunday was the last game in our Woodstock campaign. The campaign was set in an alternate Woodstock, NY… in a world in which Dylan collaborated with the concert organizers and Woodstock was actually, well, held in Woodstock. In the game-world, a lot of people actually stayed there, and Woodstock is now a thriving city. The game was in the urban...

June 18, 2009

D&D 3.5: All About The Future?

A friend of mine who I game with regularly recently made an observation about why he prefers 4e to 3.5. Third edition, he noted, was all about the next level. When people build 3.5 PCs, it is often with an eye toward a particular prestige class or feat combination that the PC won’t have for some time. Some people, when...