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Review: “13th Age”
30 Second Summary 13th Age feels like the spiritual successor of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons mixed with the storytelling mechanics of games like Fate and Fiasco. Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet...
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13th Age Musings: Of Templates, Uniqueness and Adventure Hooks
Those who follow my Twitter antics may have noticed I was bitten hard by the Pelgrane Press 13th Age bug. If you haven’t heard about this game yet, it is a high fantasy RPG based on simplified D&D...
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The State of D&D, Post-Gen Con 2013
My invitation to the Murder in Baldur’s Gate D&D party I feel like this post should start with a Star Wars crawl: “It was a time of great change in Dungeons & Dragons…” Gen Con, over a month...
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Soft Skill Check
About a month ago, I got an email from my alma mater. For fifteen years, the only time I ever heard from my former university had been when they wanted money, and I figured I had given them plenty of...
View ArticleInterview: Rob Heinsoo on “13th Age”
On November 5th, Mike Shea of SlyFlourish interviewed Rob Heinsoo, one of the lead designers of 13th Age, live on Google Hangouts. Topics include how to use icon relationships as a GM, previews of the...
View Article“13th Age” Musings: Story Hook-Based Adventure Prepping
Last week, I was scrambling to prepare for my bimonthly 13th Age game session. We’d just completed the campaign’s first story arc, one I’d run with tight narrative control (That’s fancy jargon for...
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Review: “Lords of Waterdeep” for iPad & iPhone
Lords of Waterdeep iPad/iPhone universal app $6.99 2-5 players, either human or AI, via pass and play or asynchronous online Lords of Waterdeep for iOS brings together two things I already like, so...
View Article“The 5×5 Method” Dragon Magazine Article
The Short Version I have an article in the 2nd to last (for now) issue of Dragon, and it’s a redone version of my most popular article on Critical Hits. It was also my first paid piece in my RPG...
View ArticleDeathtrap Dungeon World, Part 1: GM Principles
In this 3-part article series, I’ll share some of my tips for running deathtrap dungeons using the Dungeon World roleplaying game. By drawing on the lessons of my recent deathtrap dungeon campaign,...
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“13th Age” Musings: Running Non-Combat PC vs. NPC Scenes
13th Age‘s implied setting and the rules supporting it (backgrounds, icons and icon relationships) allow adventure styles that go beyond exploring dungeons and playing fantasy superheroes. In my mind,...
View ArticleDeathtrap Dungeon World, Part 2: Dangers and Hard Moves
In this 3-part article series, I’ll share some of my tips for running deathtrap dungeons using the Dungeon World roleplaying game. By drawing on the lessons of my recent deathtrap dungeon campaign,...
View ArticleChatty’s “13th Age”: The Story So Far, Part 1
Our 13th Age campaign is blossoming into one of the most amazing, highly improvised RPG campaigns I’ve ever played. So much so that I consider it one of the high points of my GMing career. I decided it...
View ArticleDeathtrap Dungeon World, Part 3: Death and Rewards
In this 3-part article series, I’ll share some of my tips for running deathtrap dungeons using the Dungeon World roleplaying game. By drawing on the lessons of my recent deathtrap dungeon campaign,...
View ArticleChatty’s “13th Age”: The Story So Far, Part 2
In Part 1, I started sharing a summary of my 13th Age campaign. In this post, I’ll catch up to current events and tell you a bit more about my players and table dynamics. If you’ve been reading my...
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Project Paradigm: Some Thoughts on a Mage-Inspired Fate Game
I’ve written before about my love of Mage: the Ascension. I even went and hacked another game system to play it in a way I really enjoyed, and have run it that way multiple times now. I’m not the only...
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Deathtrap Dungeon World: Moves from the Tomb
Last month, I wrote about how you might design and run deathtrap dungeons using the Dungeon World roleplaying game. To aid GMs further, I’ve created several custom moves based on some of the most...
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A Life Playing D&D
A woman named Bronnie Ware wrote an article based on her work in palliative care on the top five regrets of the dying. These regrets included the following: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life...
View ArticleProject Paradigm: Making Magic
First, one big note: Mage: The Ascension 20th anniversary edition is Kickstarting now. If you’re a big a fan as I am, or if you’re new and curious why it’s so great, get thee to it. In a game where...
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“Dungeons & Dragons” New Edition (Formerly “Next”) Gets Release Dates, Cover
For over a year now, I keep hearing the same questions among my D&D-playing friends. “When is the new D&D coming out?” “Will it be any good?” “Are you excited about it?” The answer to the third...
View ArticleChatty’s 13th Age: The Lich King’s Curse and Reactive Bosses
I miss RPG design work, but I haven’t stopped having ideas. So I do the second best thing: I design for my campaign! The following design concepts came up while doing prep work, enjoy! The Lich King’s...
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