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What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part X: Love Among The Races

5 May 2011 by 1 Comment
TerminusLithra_WIP_3

Regardless of whether or not you play against your gender when you create a new RPG character, odds are you play against your race. Yeah, humans are great and all, but when such a big part of the fun of roleplaying is escaping from the real world, why be a human? Especially when there are so many wonderful races to choose from! Elves and dwarves are just the tip of the iceberg, baby; depending on your game world/system, there are many more options, from annoyingly adorable kender and prideful … [Read more...]

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What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part IX: When Love Fades

24 March 2011 by 3 Comments
Marcus-Lyssi

As much as everyone loves “happily ever after”, we all know that not all love affairs end that way. Love is complicated, relationships even more so, and sometimes things just don’t work out. Whether the once-raging fire of passion burns itself out too quickly, is doused by an outside force, or just slowly runs out of fuel and isn’t replenished, not all loves are forever. Sad. Relationships in your RPG don’t always last, either. There’s an added level of complication: there are … [Read more...]

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Getting Lucky: The Element of Luck in RPGs

17 March 2011 by 3 Comments
I'm So Lucky Clover

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Time for a green beer, a shamrock-shaped cookie, some delicious Irish noms (I’ll take pasties instead of the corned beef, thanks!), and of course, pinches if you’re not wearing green! Admittedly, there’s a whole lot more to the holiday, but for those of us without Irish heritage, it’s mostly a day of fun and pretending we have the luck o’ the Irish. Luck. It’s a funny intangible thing. We always wish we had more of the good kind and less of the bad … [Read more...]

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Gamus Interruptus: When A Player Has To Take A Leave Of Absence

17 February 2011 by Leave a Comment
Photo by Robert W. Thomson (aka Mr. C). I haz permission to use it. :-)

Real life has a very annoying way of interfering with one’s gaming plans. You finally find a day and time that works for everyone to come to the table, and BOOM! Someone’s got the flu. Or has relatives in town. Or went on vacation. Or had to work late. Just like that, your table is short a player, and the party is short their battlemage for the trek into the unknown dangers of the frozen steppes. There isn’t a gaming group in existence that this hasn’t happened to at least once. So … [Read more...]

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What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part VIII: Makin’ Babies!

20 January 2011 by 7 Comments
pregnancy test

Over the past two weeks my posts have tackled the concerns of characters having children in your RPG. Hopefully any fears or hesitations you’ve had have been calmed and you’re possibly ready to introduce a tiny NPC to your campaign. But how? I mean, we all know how babies are made, but how do you go about this in an RPG? As I noted a few months back in an earlier What’s Love post, pregnancy is one of those sex-related things that it doesn’t hurt to have some rules for. Obviously, sex … [Read more...]

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Family Matters, Part II: Adding Children To The Plot

13 January 2011 by Leave a Comment
ren faire family

As you read my column last week discussing some of the logistics involved in RPG characters having children, some of you may have thought, “WTF? Why would anyone want babies in a fantasy game? C, you’ve lost it.” As accurate as that last statement may or may not be, there are lots of reasons why children could play a role in your campaign. Since I sometimes think backwards, we got the potential complications out of the way last week. This frees us up today to think about ways to bring … [Read more...]

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Family Matters: RPG Characters Having Children

6 January 2011 by 3 Comments
knight and son

For many couples, it’s a natural progression from love and romance to starting a family. While sometimes the transition occurs unexpectedly and the couple becomes parents whether they’re ready or not, it’s often a carefully planned decision, with many things to consider before taking the leap and having children. Who’s going to watch the baby while you’re fighting the lich-king? How will you transport your toddler safely and securely when traveling by griffon? Should you start training … [Read more...]

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Needles of Knitting +5: Using The Craft Skill To Its Best Advantage

2 September 2010 by 10 Comments
craftsewing

Back at the beginning of my career here at GDG, I wrote about the joys and benefits of making things with your own two hands, and I’ll be writing more about that in the future. In the mean time, how about some of that crafty goodness for your character? In the skill list of most pen-and-paper RPGs is the Craft skill. It may have a different name depending on the game, but it’s whatever roll you’d make to, well, make something. Aside from some obvious choices – Craft (alchemy) for potion … [Read more...]

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