All Entries in the "campaigns" Category
Paper vs. Pixels. Part 2: Mass Effect is a Dirty Whore
This is a bizarre time we live in, where gamers praise if not outright command open world settings in which to explore. It’s one aspect of digital gaming that paper gaming often does better. With the right GM, a group can go anywhere and do pretty much anything and still encounter an interesting story when [...]
An Assassin, a Mystic and Two Nightbanes Walk Into a Bar
Role-playing campaigns often start in a bar, public house or other public meeting space. Players take turns describing their PC in general terms, sit at the bar and wait for the plot hook to sink in to their back and adventuring begins. There is nothing wrong with this, but it feels forced and artificial. [...]
Catastrophe: When Your RPG Campaign Starts Badly
“Nightbane” is my latest campaign and I got my players energized about the game. Everyone showed up ready to play and then it went horribly wrong. I claim partial credit for the calamity, but the system itself also contributed. Regardless of culpability, I write this post as a cautionary tale to those that come after. [...]
Book Report: The Führer’s Headquarters – Hitler’s command bunkers 1939–45
At LivingDice, we often trumpet our love of using history as inspiration for RPG adventuring. One of my favorite quotes, when I think of history and RPGs, comes from an American author named Joseph Heller (of Catch-22 fame). In his book ‘Good as Gold’ he said: History was a trash bag of random coincidences torn open [...]
The Death of Faith
Faith-based characters like clerics, priest and monks wield holy might, but often treat their miracles like bullets in a gun. There is no wonder from these minor miracles, only the expectation of more miracles on demand. The miraculous is now mundane. Players forget about the rigors of faith because of the flashy powers, but faith [...]
My Alpha Omega Campaign is Ending–A Post-Mortem
My Alpha Omega RPG campaign ends this weekend and I wanted to get up a few thoughts about the game and how the campaign went overall. The game is not ending because my players did not enjoy my plot. I think the story part of it went well. The high-adventure, high-action campaign mixed in with [...]