snark Archives - Neitherworld Stories

May 12, 2008

Attention Shadowrun Fans…

If you like to mix your cyberpunk with elves, go read Justina Robson’s Keeping It Real. I’m in the middle of it now, and I’m enjoying it. The premise of the setting is that there was a quantum explosion in the near-future that ripped a hole into other (magical) realities. A quote from one of the Amazon reviews, “I found...

May 5, 2008

I which I offer a preliminary criticism (or two) about 4e encounter design…

I appreciate the fact that Wizards, in making 4e, took a long, hard look at encounter design and found it lacking. I’ve written before about how big a difference numbers make in 3.x – a group of PCs against one powerful enemy has a disproportionate advantage due to the per-round limit on actions. This could make climatic fights against the...

March 12, 2008

In which we make bad gaming/politics analogies…

Last night, while playing Exalted, we got into a discussion about how we would write up the various U.S. presidential candidates as Exalted characters, with a particular emphasis upon their virtues. Here’s my take: Barack Obama: Zenith Caste Solar key abilities: Integrity, Performance, Presence, Socialize virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 3, Temperance 4, Valor 2 Hilary Clinton: Eclipse Caste Solar key...

May 31, 2007

PC is for PsyChopath

The other night, I saw the first episode of Dexter, a TV series on Showtime which is based upon the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. It was really good, but that isn’t the point of this post. Dexter is about a guy (named Dexter. surprise.) who was adopted at a young age after some sort of traumatic incident. He believes himself...

March 12, 2007

A Blast at The Past

So, today, RPGnet has posted a review of the first edition AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide. I know a lot of people swear by “Uncle Gary,” but a few months back, I picked this thing up (to do something other than look up a magic item) for the first time in a long while. I was astounded at the apparent incoherency...

December 15, 2006

Where did I put that beast…?

Okay, if you attack a Displacer Beast and you hit it, you roll a miss chance. Why is it that if you miss you don’t roll a hit chance?

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