| April 9, 2013 | Posted by Walt Ciechanowski |
Ever notice how, in RPGs that grant PCs advantages and disadvantages, PCs tend to use their advantages all the time while rarely being hindered by disadvantages? Most games I’ve run that use some version of disadvantages (or drawbacks, flaws, negative feats – you get the idea) implicitly give creative players ways to ignore them. Some players may select disadvantages that aren’t really disadvantages at all (e.g. the impulsive, overconfident bully) while others select disadvantages that rarely affect their characters (the one-eyed barbarian that has a…
| April 8, 2013 | Posted by Patrick Benson |
This is my fifth article in my final five series. That means that it is also my last article for Gnome Stew. I have chosen this comment by reader Janus as the inspiration for my final article: Goodbyes are always sad, but i think everyone wishes you well for the future. (me too!) Also you may find a spark to ignite a flame for something new. Since the topic is right, what about a article about endings? Ending a campaign, adventure or the parting of a…
| April 4, 2013 | Posted by Scott Martin |
How will your villain manifest their power this time? Similar to our Brass Knuckled villain from the previous article, we’re looking at a foe who engages the characters directly, but this time our foe will be slightly more subtle. Even though villainous fingerprints are all over the scheme, there’s at least some plausible deniability. Cloaked Blades Like our brass knuckled villain, the Cloaked Blade strikes directly and violently at the PCs. Unlike the Brass Knuckled foe, something keeps this villain from claiming responsibility for the…
| April 2, 2013 | Posted by John Arcadian |
I’ve recently finished a long move out of my home state of Ohio. During the many long days of packing and unpacking, I watched a lot of netflix in the background, and being a geek I tended to watch lots of geeky tv series and movies. I realized a pretty common trope in a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and supernatural shows is one of the main characters getting mind controlled – as in, really common. I was a little amazed by the amount it got…
| April 1, 2013 | Posted by Martin Ralya |
Too many RPGs aren’t about gnomes — and would be so much better if they were. So we’re solving that problem with our new Kickstarter, which launched this morning. Our funding goal, $632,000, will give us the funds we need to buy or license the following depressingly gnome-free RPGs and make them about gnomes: Vampire: The Requiem Technoir Call of Cthulhu Apocalypse World Dogs in the Vineyard The One Ring Dark Heresy Traveller Night’s Black Agents Cyberpunk 2020 To give you a taste of how…
| March 29, 2013 | Posted by Phil Vecchione |
We all have those games that we have always wanted to run, but they either psyche us out or our gaming groups do not want to play them. They sit on our shelves taunting us between each campaign. We make pacts with ourselves to one day run those games, to live the dream. When that day comes, will the game live up to your dreams? Well I have been to the edge and back, and for me, the answer was yes. Dream Games Every GM…
| March 28, 2013 | Posted by Walt Ciechanowski |
Remember when all weapons did 1d6 damage? If you do, then you go back to the earliest editions of Dungeons & Dragons, where damage was exactly that. It didn’t matter whether you held a dagger or a two-handed sword; if you hit your opponent you did 1d6 damage. In the rules I cut my teeth on (Moldvay Basic), variable weapon damage was simply an option. Back then the variable damage rules made sense to me- of course a pole arm does more damage than a…
