Tag: musing

August 27, 2007

Dynamic combat

I was reading this thread on EN World. It is about how movement might be encouraged/more important in combat in D&D 4e. I’m not going to speculate here on 4e mechanics, but this idea did get me to start thinking about how to encourage dynamic combat. Part of the goal is to get people to use their environment to their...

August 20, 2007

GenCon Report Part II

I spent more time in the exhibit hall than anywhere else. There were a few reasons for this. First, Angela’s booth was in the art show and, you know, I wanted to spend some time with her. Second, the place was huge and filled with cool stuff. I easily get entranced by books as it is. Add in swords, cool...

August 20, 2007

GenCon Report Part I

I got back from GenCon last night. It was my first, and I think I took it to be a learning experience. Initial impressions: Damn. This thing is huge. I kept feeling like I was probably in the room with people I knew online… but I didn’t know who they were… There needs to be a Beginner’s Guide to GenCon....

July 27, 2007

Random leveling thought and away message

First, I should apologize for not updating lately. I’m in the middle of moving and will be headed to New Orleans next week. It will probably be two weeks before I begin updating regularly… unless I figure out how to do so from my new Treo. Anyway, I was reading a thread on a forum (probably EN World – I...

May 18, 2007

When do they stop being goblins?

The goblins in Goblins of Gourm share a number of traits with “typical” goblins. They are malicious, creepy, little guys. As the adventure progresses, however, the PCs will run into goblins who are increasingly unlike the stereotype. Goblin farmers aren’t a huge stretch. Goblins need to eat, and – despite D&D’s tropes – raiding is not a sustainable method of...

May 17, 2007

Current Projects

So many things are going on… At work I have a conference coming up at the end of June that I am planning – and this is a busy time of year otherwise. Personally, I will be going away for at least two weekends in June. This upcoming weekend is a friend’s wedding (tonight is his bachelor party – I...

May 7, 2007

I’m running with it

I’ve been struggling with the decision of what to run for the C-U Run Club. I can’t delay any longer – my turn comes up on May 28th. I’ve decided to run The Secret of Zir’an. This is a game that I’ve neither played nor run, but I’ve had it since it came out. It has generally been reviewed positively,...

May 3, 2007

That Darn Fourth Wall

At the Run Club on Sunday, we got into a bit of a discussion about breaking the fourth wall in rpgs. A DC Heroes adventure featuring Ambush Bug (that came with a mask so that the GM could pretend to be Ambush Bug escaped from the adventure) was prominently mentioned. I’ve always been tickled by things that break the fourth...

April 25, 2007

Sequential art

Monday after work I picked up Angela and we met Tim over at the Krannert Art Museum to see a talk by Scott McCloud. It was good. It was in fact, the best use of a powerpointesque (Keynote, actually) presentation I have ever seen. I suppose that shouldn’e be a surprise coming from someone who is a sequential art theorist…...

April 24, 2007

Run Away

My Monday night gaming group, which I’ve been playing with since I moved to town in 2001, might be coming to an end in the not-too-distant future. One of the three guys I play with is moving to NYC (he’s finishing up his second Ph.D. from the U of I and got a teaching gig). Last night we came to...