Clik here to view.
Company Pirates
The merchants were in charge. “In charge,” was literal. The merchants controlled their little country. They had royalty of a sort. They were quite proud of their royalty. They enjoyed showing them...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A D&D Life
It was a tome of magic for me back then. What does D&D mean to me? My friend Shawn Merwin asked me to write about this question, and record the response for his podcast. I don’t have recording gear...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Deep Elf Game Shows
The Company annoyed the Deep Elves. The Company kept sending Company Men into the Underdark to kick over things, take stuff, and set up forward bulwark settlements. Once they achieved a foothold, the...
View ArticleSkill Challenges in 5th Edition D&D
Skill challenges were the best kept secret of 4e D&D. They were awesome, but they were so poorly explained that it caused a lot of confusion. Not only that, it took the designers two whole errata...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Dead Weight Loss of Plunder
Take the common Murder Hobo. He’s ready for adventure. He gathered up his buddies. He has starting gear. He goes to the neighborhood bar. He finds the old man quest giver skulking in a concealed dark...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Interstellar Pirates Part 1: The Merchant Ships
Introduction Interstellar travel isn’t completely analogous to 16th century sea travel. For one, delicious air bathed ships even during the most dangerous voyages. The crew wasn’t at risk for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Interstellar Pirates Part 2: The Pirate Captain and Crew!
The adventurers stole a ship! The adventurers mutinied, snuck on board and hacked it out from under watchful AIs, or swindled a ship in a card game. They got their hands on a ship and got away with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Quest for a Magic Sword
The Adventurers stood in the wreckage of the burnt-out peasant village. The survivors told the Adventurers the Halfling Barbarian raiders wielded magic swords. Real magic, the villagers insisted. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Adventurer Cartels
The Super Evil Lich King of Ancient Yore reemerged from his 10,000 year nap to, once again, take over the world. He waved his arms and unleashed hordes of undead. The undead shambled across the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: “Storm King’s Thunder”– A Giant-Sized Toolbox
Okay, so I’ve got this great new D&D adventure for you. Giants! Dragons! Rollicking cross-continent adventuring! Sure it has some problems, like it starts with fighting goblins in a cave- no wait...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Adventuring Party Bond Market
The stock market works like so: A company – perhaps an Adventuring Company – does a thing or performs a service like “ridding the world of evil” or “selling insurance.” The company’s owner wants to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dalt Wisney’s World: A D&D Play Report
My ongoing D&D campaign is rolling along fine. It’s by far the most casual one I’ve played. We’re playing in a world I described here. The idea was to mix and match the themes, locales, characters...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Debt Financing the Evil Lord’s Iconic Dungeon
A hallmark of an Evil Lord is the dungeon. Evil Lords fill multi-level sprawling structures with treasure rooms, traps, hidden corridors, and overwrought set pieces. No true villain is complete...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rodney Thompson on “Dusk City Outlaws” RPG
Heist films and TV shows have been around for a while, from the original Ocean’s 11 to the newer Ocean’s Eleven and shows like Leverage. More recently, we’ve started to see more heist games come to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Wizards and the Sheep
This is a long-winded story about how master 20th level wizards often get into the sheep business. First: Magic is an information profession. Wizards preserve and transfer knowledge through writing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Study in CCGs: Magic/Heartstone/Star Wars: Destiny
I would never claim to be a pro, but I’ve played my fair share of collectible card games. In some ways, I think we are in a golden age of the CCG. Designers now understand the ‘magic’ that Magic: The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queer Creations
Kotaku recently published an article on queerness in the D&D game. To be more specific, this article is about the inclusion of queer people and, more specifically, a glimpse into their lives as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sentinel Comics Roleplaying Game Starter Kit Released
The first product for the Sentinel Comics Roleplaying Game, and Critical-Hits Studios’ first mass produced/print product (in partnership with Greater Than Games), is on its way into stores and into the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: “Tomb of Annihilation”
I really wanted to hate Tomb of Annihilation. It’s a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition campaign book advertised as a module full of super-hard challenges and vicious traps. “You will die,” said the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
So You’ve Decided to Run Your Own D&D Campaign…
If you’re thinking about starting your own D&D campaign you should pick an underlying theme as the structure with which you’ll build your world. I’ll try to expand on related ideas and best...
View Article