All Entries in the "Books" Category
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 [...]
Book Report: The Fortifications of Ancient Egypt 3000-1780 BC from Osprey Publishing
As regular readers know, I am a huge fan of using history as a foundation for game campaigns. Nothing beats a little reality to spice up your next RPG campaign. To further my goal of injecting history into game campaigns, I occasionally do a “book report” on a history book that I find interesting and [...]
Review – Pathfinder Rolepaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide
One of the hot new releases at Gen Con this year, was the Pathfinder Rolepaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide by Paizo Publishing. As media, we get into the vendor area an hour early on Thursday, before the doors open to regular guests. And when those doors opened, I was standing next to Paizo’s booth. All [...]
Book Report: Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph and Francis Gies
Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph and Francis Gies is a must-have book for any medieval fantasy game. Period. I do not use terms like “must have” very often because it implies that the lack of this book somehow makes you a lesser game master than those that do own it. In this case, [...]
Review: The Adventures of Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan from Goodman Games (4E D&D)
The Adventures of Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan arrived today and I decided to give it a review. Whether they know it or not, almost every geek is familiar with the artistry of Frank Frazetta. In addition to his fantasy and science fiction paintings, his work has graced the covers of novels, comic [...]
Review: Azagar’s Book of Rituals from Goodman Games
One thing that always irked me in my D&D 4th Edition home game was the lack of ritual integration. I don’t know why, but my players would just not use them. I suspect that since they got involved with 4E through the Living Forgotten Realms modules, those story-light, combat heavy adventures generally did not lend [...]
Download Shatnerquake for Free!
Jeff Burke, author of “Shatnerquake,” a bizarro and funny take on the phenomenon that is William Shatner dropped me a line with some great news. On Tuesday, November 17, Jeff is giving away free downloads of “Shatnerquake” on his blog. I heartily recommend that you take advantage of the freeness, but be warned after completing [...]
Shatnerquake–A Review
There are a few chosen men that stand above all others. William Shatner is such a man! In honor of his greatness, Jeff Burk wrote the definitive William Shatner novel; Shatnerquake. Let me get the review parts out of the way first. This is bizarro storytelling at its finest, fast, entertaining and completely, well, bizarre. [...]
Review: Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition – Monster Manual 2
My fellow D&D friends, have I got the book for you! As Trask is out on some much needed R&R, I thought I would pop in and take the opportunity to tell you about the new Monster Manual 2. This book is a definitely a required purchase for any 4E DMs out there. Honestly, for [...]