When my housemate got an iPhone, I played with it a little (when he wasn’t looking) to see what it could do. Seemed pretty cool, I thought, but it was too small for my tastes, and I had no desire to pay $50+ per month. Besides, I reasoned, I hated cel phones; I carry an [...]
The Gamer Agenda – Bringing Non-Gamers to the Gaming Table
28 Apr By 3 Comments
My good friend Sam (short for Samantha) doesn’t game. We’ve tried to get her to game for years, but she’s always been very resistant to the idea. Her husband games with us, and we met her through my husband, who certainly games. She teases us a little about being geeks, and we tease her a [...]
PAX East 2012: Part 2 – Picking the Brains of Wizards and My Tolkien Obsession Pays Off!
21 Apr By 3 Comments
So, from my last article, you might be thinking that all I did at PAX East was play D&D. And you’d almost be right. I did find time to cruise around the Expo Hall a couple of times, most memorably when I walked up to the Turbine booth just as someone said, “So who here [...]
PAX East 2012: Part 1 – Cosplayers, Dark Elves, and D&D Next
14 Apr By 2 Comments
Hiho, gentle readers. It is I, your GGG, here to give you my report on the happenings at PAX East 2012. Well, I logged over 25 hours of running D&D games for Wizards of the Coast and walked out with a mighty pile o’ swag. Amongst my various runnings of the Delve (to be explained [...]
Beyond the Cheetos and the Mountain Dew – A Different Take on Gaming Food
7 Apr By 2 Comments
There’s a bit of a stereotype about us RPG players. Well, okay, there’s a lot of them, but, specifically, I’m talking about the ones about us and food. We tend to be overweight. We love Doritos, Cheetos, and Mountain Dew. We live on Coke & M&Ms. Well, actually, that one is true about my friend [...]
Speaking the Cant – Terms and Concepts from D&D’s Past that You Might Not Know
31 Mar By 8 Comments
I had a fun conversation with one of my players last night. To him, D&D begins and ends with 4E; he never played an earlier version of it. I don’t remember how the conversation started, but I mentioned something about my hopes for D&D Next…specifically that “Speed Factors”, if they came back at all, would [...]
Life Goes On – Three Tips to Make Your Campaign World Seem to Live
17 Mar By 2 Comments
One of the nicest things people have said about my various RPG campaigns is that they tend to feel like real places that the players get a glimpse into on a weekly (or so) basis. They look forward to visiting places that they like, they actually smile or scowl when certain NPCs pop up, and [...]
Defeat from the Jaws of Victory: Bad Endings and How to Avoid Them
12 Mar By 2 Comments
m helps you design an ending that soars instead of sours.
Breaking the Rules – Tricks to Make Your RPG More Fun by Making Alternate Rules Calls on the Fly
3 Mar By 3 Comments
Right now, I’m wearing a t-shirt that says “You’re not just wrong. The rules also say you’re a dick!” This is one of my favorite gaming t-shirts ever…as evidenced by the fact that I own it. On the back, however, it says “Rules-Lawyer,” something I hope I never am, especially as a Dungeon Master. Way [...]
Elemental, My Dear Watson – GGG Reviews Heroes of the Elemental Chaos
25 Feb By Leave a Comment
A warrior draws the power of elemental earth into his body to protect himself. A warlock unleashes a bolt of pure elemental ice on his foe. A wizard sweeps away enemies with an icy wind. Gandalf hurls fire at the wolves in The Lord of the Rings. Elemental power has been a mainstay of heroic [...]
