Jan 092012
 
Steal This Character: Ganthet, Turian Infiltrator

Ganthet grew up as a hunter in the jungles of the turian homeworld of Palavan. Like most young turians, when he came of age he spent a tour of duty in the turian military, then opted for a career in C-Sec – Citadel Security. His abilities and instincts have proven valuable when chasing down a lead, investigating a crime, or collaring a perp. Unsurprisingly, Ganthet [Read the article]

Dec 262011
 
Steal this Mass Effect Character: Jared Sanderson, Human Spectre

Concept Genetically altered super-soldier. Background One of a very small number of human Spectres (Special Tactics and Reconnaissance) commissioned by the counsel in the wake of Shepard’s ascent to that role, Jared Sanderson is a born soldier. Former Aliance military, Sanderson does the will of the Council quietly and efficiently. As one of only a few human Spectres, Sanderson has come to accept comparisons between [Read the article]

Dec 192011
 
Steal this Mass Effect RPG Character: Alexander Bourne, Human Adept

So just what is an Adept, anyway? For those of you who haven’t played Mass Effect, there are two answers to that question. The short answer: Adepts are space wizards, and one of six classes in the game. The long answer: Adepts are individuals with Biotic potential who have spent most of their lives learning and practicing how to create and control mass effect fields [Read the article]

Dec 122011
 
Steal This Character: Alara'Zen vas Citadel nar Neema

Concept Quarian engineer. A bit about the quarians Quarians are a race of interstellar nomads, long since driven from their home planet by a race of Artificial Intelligence known as the geth, originally created by the quarians as a servant race. The quarians attempted to destroy the Geth when they became fearful of their creation’s growing intelligence, and the geth responded naturally to preserve their [Read the article]

Dec 052011
 

One of the reasons I opted to use Mutants and Masterminds 3e for my Mass Effect conversion is that it offers a very flexible set of tools that allow for a number of approaches to GMing, and particularly to building NPCs. Approach 1: The Detailed (“Official”) method M&M handles NPCs pretty much the same way it handles PCs, with a couple of differences: 1) NPCs [Read the article]

Mass Effect Style Character Design

 Posted by on November 28, 2011  Filed as: Character-Building  5 Responses »  Topic(s):
Nov 282011
 
Mass Effect Style Character Design

So, you’ve got a few ideas about what makes a good encounter and how to get your players to understand the meaning of “take cover!” You’re probably asking, “Now what?” First of all, Alejandro, don’t interrupt me when I’m talking about Mass Effect, it’s rude. Second of all, since you asked, chances are good your players will need something to play, yes? Well, probably your [Read the article]

Mass Effect: Encounter Design Principles

 Posted by on November 21, 2011  Filed as: Editorial  2 Responses »  Topic(s):
Nov 212011
 
Mass Effect: Encounter Design Principles

So what does it take to build an encounter for a game like this one? In short, what makes running an encounter for a game setting like Mass Effect significantly different from a D&D setting, or a superheroic milieu? I’m glad you asked. Unless you didn’t, in which case I wish you had so that I could answer properly. I’ll wait. It’ll give me time [Read the article]

Mass Effect Tabletop: An Introduction

 Posted by on November 14, 2011  Filed as: Editorial  4 Responses »  Topic(s):
Nov 142011
 
Mass Effect Tabletop: An Introduction

Some of you may remember the Steam Summer Camp Sale. Some of you, like me, may have spent far more money than you really expected to during that sale buying games that you were merely curious about. Some of you, like me, probably bought something in the Mass Effect series. In my case, it was Mass Effect 2. I was not disappointed. Far from it [Read the article]