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I love to review new entries to the roleplaying genre, but sometimes we must look to the old classics as well. This week, I’m compromising. Unknown Armies has been with us since the late 90s,* but its third edition came out in 2016, so there’s … read more »
Have you ever played a tabletop RPG that effectively represented people developing useful relationships with animals (dogs, horses, etc.)? It’s such a huge part of human history but seems strangely ignored in the TTRPG space. As you once pointed out, Animal Handling or equivalents are … read more »
Have you ever wondered why a D&D longsword does 1d8 damage? Or why slings are a simple weapon but repeating crossbows are an exotic weapon? Well, wonder no more, because this week we’re talking about all things related to weapons in roleplaying games. How much … read more »
Character creation is one of the more difficult aspects of roleplaying-game design, and a few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the most common problems with it. Since then, I’ve received a number of questions about what makes character creation rules good, which is … read more »
We love roleplaying, and we make no secret of it. In fact, we shout it from the rooftops whenever possible. But what are our reasons for playing in the first place? That’s what we’re talking about today. We discuss what first drew us to roleplaying, … read more »
Writing and roleplaying are vastly different mediums. Writing offers much greater control over the story, but roleplaying has something else: a strong connection with the audience. Whereas writers have limited knowledge of how readers respond to their work, game masters (GMs) must be closely in … read more »
My roleplaying group is split into two parties. My party has gotten nothing but combat to do, whereas the other party has gotten combat plus more interesting things like diplomacy mission and mysteries to solve. I’m worried if I say something, it’ll come off wrong. How can I bring this up with upsetting my friends? Read more »
FAITH* is a space-opera roleplaying game from the folks over at Burning Games. It uses cards instead of dice, but that’s not all. It’s got interstellar adventure. It’s got outlandishly cool technology. It’s got lasers and spaceships and aliens, oh my! These days, it’s easy … read more »
In the nearly half a century since Dungeons and Dragons first emerged from the primal war-gaming soup, game designers have gifted us with a plethora of different core dice mechanics. Most of them can be separated into two broad categories: static dice and dice pools. … read more »
Character creation prepares players for the game. It is their first encounter with the rules and sets expectations for what is to come. Not only does character creation decide a PC’s mechanical abilities, but it’s also vital for building player excitement. If players don’t come … read more »