Aaaaand... we're back. This time, I'm joined by my now 12 year old daughter in our discussion of mixing versions of D&D to get a more interesting game. Yes I know, we just committed heresy. Here we are, on the eve on a brand, spanking new edition of D&D (4th, for those of you keeping track) and we're talking about mixing 1st, 2nd & 3rd all into one big game. I've had people ask me how I do that and as "Newbie" (as my daughter has decided to be called) thinks this is completely normal, it makes sense for us to walk you through how we do this and why.
A description of two characters from one of my past campaigns illustrates the topic of what it really means to depict and focus on both genders fairly and equally in your role-playing games. It also shows that if you're interested in making sure that your game gives equal time to men and women, doing so may be an easier task than you think.
Are you tired of playing the same stereotypical characters? Tired of not being challenged? Bored of playing a superhuman hero? Why don't you try playing an Everyman?
Recently, I've found myself in the unusual situation of being an experienced gamer with little experience in the game my primary group is playing - and that game happens to be D&D. Many gamers take D&D experience for granted in their new players, which can cause groups to run into trouble when that isn't the case for some players. These are a few of my experiences as a D&D newbie; knowing about them may help you when dealing with new players.
Large molded and painted pieces dominate Lego sets of today. They look cool, but can rarely be used for anything other than their original design purpose. The same might be said of the design components of RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons, which has evolved quite far from its roots. The following article is a critical examination of the loss of narrative interactions in tabletop role-playing, as exemplified by D&D.
Enemy Chocolatier is a strategy-based board game from Cheap Ass Games, whilst Chocolatier is a computer "Coffee Break Game" primarily about time management, but with enough strategy thrown in to be interesting. Comparing a board game and a computer game might strike you as funny, but as I'm sharing what I'm interested in spending my game-playing time doing, it actually makes a kind of sense.
It's been more than five years since I last wrote about women in gaming. In that time, we've seen the end of the World of Darkness, yet another new edition of D&D, the advent of World of Warcraft, and (at least in my opinion) much greater involvement of women around the gaming table. When so much has changed for the better, is the topic of women in gaming even worth exploring anymore? At the very least, I have one new piece of advice for male gamers, and one new piece of advice for women in the hobby.
With today's release of D&D 4th Edition, Wizards has been updating their website in regards to D&D Insider, Dragon, and Dungeon. While there's nothing really new in the Insider section (save the utter lack of the project's health - nothing about the open beta, nothing about the lack of client applications for months, nothing about costs, etc.), we do have tables of content for their two magazines, and Dragon reveals Wizards promise of revisiting previous campaign worlds.
If you're seeing this, it means you're currently viewing the new and improved Gamegrene.com, running on a new server with upgraded software and theme (but the same old green). This is the first iteration of Gamegrene Third Edition, and is focused on "just" getting the site to work. New features will continue to drop in over the coming weeks. For now, read on, poke around, and give us some comments on how it's lookin'.
In this installment of his column, Gilgamesh talks about secrets and cycles, about getting back to the beginning, about magical curtains that hide secrets, and about using the Great Wheel to re-visit old knowledge from a new perspective. It's a fitting discussion to serve as a sort of transition from old to new here on Gamegrene.
