Darkest Soul: Zero Act and Act One

What's all this? Well, I've finally started running a game of Tenra Bansho Zero, a short-form Japanese RPG that's been recently translated into English by Andy Kitkowski. I've written a couple articles drawing from it, both here and here, and it's finally time that I relay some of my actual-play experience with the system. Spoiler alert: it's awesome.

Game On!

(You can't resist reading this article. It has a picture of Felicia Day!)

Sorry I haven't been posting much as of late. I will say that I have an excuse: I've been gaming! It's true; a local con and then weekend gaming at the FLGS occupied Saturdays, and it was glorious. I've also wound up playing in a group on Sundays, as well, and it's fantastic. And all of this gaming, it brought me to a sudden, fresh perspective.

Ninjas, Cyborgs, and Hulked-Out Samurai!

When I saw this Kickstarter, I knew that I had to back it. And, since it only has a few days left to expand its funding base, I figured I'd spread the word as best as I could! I'm talking about Tenra Bansho Zero, a native Japanese RPG that came out in 1997, a full fifteen years ago.

Dice and Distance: Bridging the Gap

What? I thought the picture was apropos. Anywho. It's been a while since I've actually gamed in person, but I've had my share of experiences trying to fill the same gap through long-distance gaming. The results are decidedly mixed, but there's a lot to be learned from it, and a lot of options out there. I'm gonna go through, and hopefully make it less confusing to deal with, because there's a lot of options out there.

Rise: Capping Off a Story

Dear Readers: This is NOT a review of The Dark Knight Rises, because I haven't seen it yet, though I do plan on seeing it at 10 PM tonight. I just like the picture and theming, and considering that it's opening day for the final Bat-Nolan trilogy, it seems quite fitting. So, then, let me present to you: my thoughts on wrapping up a story with a bang.

Making Magic

So, I'm still alive! I've got a guest post up at Exploring Infinity, but that doesn't mean I can't post back here! So, on I go, with some interesting advice. You see, I've been reading through The Amateur Magician's Handbook (by Henry Hay), and I've noticed that there's some very interesting lessons that can be applied from conjuring to gaming. Watch closely...

A Wanderer's Romance: Quick Review

A Wanderer's Romance (henceforth abbreviated as "AWR") is something I talked about previously, in my free RPG post. I've had a chance to actually experience it in play, so now I've got a much stronger perspective on what the game does and how well it does it. Sneak preview: it does pretty darn well.

Crashing the Dungeon

So, some time back, I promised that I'd follow up on my Identity Crisis post. I'm finally getting around to that, although the idea isn't strictly mine. I owe it to my buddy Scott for pointing out something that I said in the very end: "We've got a dungeon to crash." He then proceeded to spark quite the interesting train of thought, so let's see if I can flesh stuff out a tad.

Identity Crisis

Go read this, and then come back here. If you care about roleplaying games, about the RPG industry, or about game design, you're going to want to read this. If you have any concern about the fact that non-WotC RPGing is a complete fringe hobby (awesome as it is), you must read this. I saw it, and it's provoked some mighty powerful thoughts on my part.

Heroes For Heroes (The Super Bowl and Fantasy Gaming)

This post will actually have very little to do about the Super Bowl, and I'm not even going to make any mention of Blood Bowl beyond this first paragraph. I'm just going to do a little reflection, inspired by this famous event. I also don't expect this post to get much readership today, seeing as so many people are watching said Super Bowl. At any rate, here it is: what the Super Bowl has to do with your fantasy world.

Burning in the New Year

This post was written for the first annual New Year, New Game blog carnival hosted by Gnome Stew as part of the 2012 New Year, New Game challenge.

First off, I would like to reassure all of you that this blog is not about to go Burning Wheel-exclusive. I just happen to be very enthusiastic about the game. I do promise that my next post will be wholly unrelated to the game, as I believe that variety is an essential trait to any good bit of writing. Today, however, I bring it up because of the New Year, New Game blog carnival sponsored by Gnome Stew.

Fire and Flames: A Review of Burning Wheel

Ladies and gentlemen, Bagginses and Boffins, I proudly present to you a review of what I speculate will be the pride and joy of my RPG collection for some time. This certainly won't be the last time that I speak on Burning Wheel Gold, but I'll certainly try and sum up exactly what I think about the game. I'll also be trying a nice, easy, organized review format.

Feeding the Fire: I Meet Burning Wheel Gold

Well, folks, I'd like to welcome you back, with a pretty cool RPG book cover. Burning Wheel (Gold Edition): behold the awesome. Okay, now we're done with that. I suppose I should bring everyone back up to speed on the blog. I haven't posted on it for a month and a half, unfortunately, and that was primarily due to my computer fritzing out. I'm borrowing a computer from a friend, and though it's a bit slower, it does its job admirably.

Player's Side Vlog: NaNo and Noir

I'm back, with an actual episode this time! I go off on a NaNoWriMo-related tangent, and then review Greg Stolze's "A Dirty World".

Unspent: Further Investigation

We resume our recap of the Unspent campaign with a recap of last week's session, which introduced a new player. Her character, Sharon, was a forensic investigator, who (as we're going to see) was very understandably skeptical of the goings-on at St. Luke's. The group wound up digging into the past of St. Luke's, uncovering some interesting dirt, and then went back for another investigation.

Unspent: St. Luke's Church

So, I've also recently started up a World of Darkness campaign for some friends over the phone, which is a vastly different medium than that of my other campaign (Dystopia and Giant Robots). I'm exploring a few different things here, including pitting the players against some very...unique critters. And, well, you'll have to see for yourself. This campaign is titled "Unspent", for reasons that will eventually become clear...

Beacon of Hope: a New World of Darkness Houserule

The Stress hack for nWoD

Well, some of you may have noted my World of Darkness hack for madness, the stress of coming into contact with the supernatural, and the tie-in to the Morality system. I've been looking at it...and I can also see how it might lend itself to a pretty nasty spiral of "Way too many derangements that will cost way too much XP to buy off." Well, here's a solution for that.

The Shadow of Madness: a New World of Darkness houserule

This is a rules hack that I've already mentioned on Google+, and now I've revised it a little. It was inspired by the mention of a "Shadow Points" system for Cubicle 7's The One Ring RPG. That system works as follows: as your character progresses, they get more experienced, but they also have more of a chance to accumulate "shadow points" that bring them closer to the brink of madness and evil...so it's a good idea to retire characters before that happens. Thinking on it, it could be a marvelous idea when adapted to WoD. My brain started clicking, and, well...

Dystopia and Giant Robots: Grand Finale (Sorta)

Well, folks, sorry about that delay! I, er, got sidetracked a bit, including a lengthy Civilization IV session, crushing my enemies. (I guess it's time to bump up the difficulty...) Anyhow, this is the final update on Mecha, at least for a little while, since the group is on hiatus. We'll be starting back up again once people get settled. I need to start hatching plans for what's happening next in the story...

Dystopia and Giant Robots: Kiss and Make Up

Hoo boy. So, we've had our good chunk of drama take place already, what with Nathan getting outed partially by his abusive older sister Lynn. Did I mention that Lynn had covertly slipped out and away, while all of this was happening? Because when people went to check around, she'd disappeared. Did I mention that Nathan was the illegitimate son of two gods having an affair?