Category: From the Editor’s Desk

It’s a new month, which means it’s time once again to showcase one of our favorite gaming blogs…

Roving Band of Misfits is a blog dedicated to all things D&D 4e. Benoit, the main contributor and founder of the site has a certain bent towards the arts & crafts side of things, so many of the articles focus on miniatures, Hirst Arts, and making accessories for your game table. That doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of other DM inspiration on the site, though. From large scale naval combat rules to how to describe a scene for your players to the new Two Page Mini Delves series, there is no shortage of stuff to steal for your game. And of course, how could anyone miss the 18 part series on Gamma World miniatures?

In the past six months, there have also been two major expansions to the site’s content. The first is the addition of the podcast “Level Up.” In the podcast, Benoit and Hamblin discuss 4e characters – options, choices, and creation. It is aimed squarely at D&D players instead of DMs, filling a niche that most D&D podcasts don’t address. As a result, the podcast has grown very quickly in popularity. The second content expansion was the founding of the Game Night Blog Carnival. In this carnival, a group of RPG bloggers take the last Tuesday of every month to go “off topic” and review some of their favorite non-RPG board and card games. Any and all RPG blogs are welcome to join the carnival, and submissions are always open.

For a blog that’s been around less than a year, Roving Band of Misfits has accomplished quite a bit. We hope to see them continue their great content for more years to come!

When I started reading gaming blogs a while back, I wasn’t really expecting much from them, and I thought there would be only a few of them. Boy was I wrong… on both counts! The Other Side blog was one of the first RPG blogs I visited, and I have to say that I got hooked. I can’t really explain it, but I keep finding myself heading over there to catch up on the latest that Tim Brannan has to post.

Here’s Tim:

The Other Side started as a way for me to share some of my game-related work, and hopefully improve my writing. I started the Other Side as a blog back in 2007, and then forgot about it. Eventually I remembered I had it and I began to start posting.

The blog became the reincarnation of my old website, also called the Other Side. I wrote a lot of gaming-related material, mostly horror-related and for Unisystem games by Eden Studios. Originally, I posted materials related to some of the games I had worked on: Buffy, WitchCraft RPG and Ghosts of Albion. As it progressed, I also got involved in the Old School movement, and began to expand into the OSR and Retro Clone games too, but keeping in the general theme I had established.

I also do a number of book, movie and game reviews. So on any given day I could post a new Unisystem quality, a character write-up, a new monster for Basic D&D or horror movie review. I also post a bit about the gaming community as a whole and my own point of view as a player and freelancer.

I do have a few special features I like to post. I do a lot of character write-ups of various supernatural characters, particularly witches. I have run an entire series of posts on Willow and Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer for about a dozen and half different game systems. I also run a weekly series called “Zananurday” where I post something about the DC Character Zatanna every Saturday.

Currently I am also using my blog to promote the Ghosts of Albion games I am running at Gen Con (ran at Gen Con), and a new book I am working for – the Basic versions of the OSR Retro-Clones, called “The Witch”.

I really enjoy the interactions I get from people replying to my posts, and seeing others talk about something I had posted on their own blogs. See you there!

Tim Brannan

The Other Side blog, check it out!

Anyone can take out the lone zombie. It’s slow and stupid, and since they’re already dead, you should have no qualms about turning its head into a canoe. Just watch any of the various zombie-killing training videos (Zombies on Broadway, Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, etc.) and you’ll see what I mean. The real problem is dealing with a zombie horde, and really, your best chance then is to just take off and nuke the site from orbit – it’s the only way to be sure.

But, for those of us without spaceships and tactical nukes, we have to rely on fortifying our position and picking those zombies off one by one until they’re all dead, again. Well, that’s what happened with Stuffer Shack. We got invaded by a zombie horde, and had to hunker down until we could get a handle on it.

And here’s the kicker: I’m responsible for it all. I tried to upgrade the Shack by re-purposing a lone zombie, but he ended up being more than I could handle (it turns out you can’t train an old zombie). Anyway, he ate through part of our site trying to get to our brains, and then created a horde for help (strength in numbers). It’s been a frustratingly long battle, but eventually we prevailed (discipline is key, rule #47).

All the zombies are dead, again, and now our focus is on rebuilding. However, it’s actually a blessing because we get to build the site back up even better than it was before.

– The Shack will have a more professional appearance and function.
– All of our articles will be more easily attainable, as you can swiftly browse by topic or writer.
– Also, readers will now have the ability to start their own column or portfolio here – for free!

The blog is now back up. Articles might not be that pretty, and various options might not yet be available, but I’ll be rebuilding on a daily basis. So stick around, because the new Stuffer Shack will definitely be worth the wait.

Thanks for reading.

There are a lot of things that I look for in deciding which RPG blogs to follow, and of those things, solid and useful content would be the most important.  Well, Leonine Roar has that in spades.  Kilsek has a good grasp of 4th edition D&D, but many of his posts could apply to any game, making it all the more useful.

Here are a few words from Kilsek…

Thanks so much selecting my site, that’s awesome!  I’ve found a couple of cool blogs through this feature of yours, so I have to say – this feels pretty damn good.  Here’s a short bit about me and Leonine Roar:

I love D&D and I love to write – I always have, since grade school.  Choose Your Own Adventure Books and the King Arthur story in middle school were just the start of my inspiration for both.

Was lucky enough to win a few creative writing contests along the way, which I always entered because they, well, always got me excited.  I’ve been a D&D player since the original Red Box.  It was Choose Your Own Adventure meets theater with friends.  So unique, and simply awesome.

I fired up Leonine Roar because of my love for the game and for creative writing.  With years of primarily DMing and some playing experience (more so now in 4e, hooray!) since Basic, and a great love for games, RPGs, and the fantasy genre in general, I’ve always enjoyed talking about both the design and storytelling aspects of D&D.  Having studied both psychology and instructional design, perhaps that’s a piece of why it feels so natural for me to think and write about both?

I strongly believe that unique balance of story and game is critical to a classic and engaging D&D experience, and that’s what the articles on Leonine Roar try to bring to the table: I want to help fellow gamers amp up their D&D game, players and DMs alike.

Thank you again so much for selecting Leonine Roar for Stuffer Shack’s Site of the Month, Tourq.  You were one of the earliest sites checking me out, and I very much appreciate you for that.  There are a few common themes and styles between Leonine Roar and Stuffer Shack, and I’m quite proud of that connection.  Keep up the great work, Tourq!

Kilsek (Tony)

No sir, you keep up the great work.

Leonine Roar – in my subscription list.

Superheroes, warriors, athletes, and monsters battle for a century.  My favorite part of this epic war involves Chuck Norris crushing Bruce Wayne’s head.  Of course, we can’t expect anything less.  I mean, Chuck Norris won the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title six years in a row before retiring from full contact tournaments.  With a 183–10–2 record, you know he’s the only man alive that can kick you in the back of the face.

Please enjoy a century of epic battle, condensed to three and a half minutes.

It’s Take a Break Sunday again!  Relax, chill, and just take it easy.

Whenever I’m feeling down about myself, or need motivation to get into shape, I watch this guy – specifically, this video of this guy – with cool music to boot!  What can I say, in an alternate universe, I’m a kick-ass parkour, free-running stuntman from hell.  I’ve had more than such character!

It’s Take A Break Sunday again, so enjoy that which has the potential to enslave all of our meager minds.  Move over WoW…

Is it just me, or do you also have the urge to dust off your old Star Wars RPG books?

Wow, talk about getting a head start out of the gate!

Without a doubt, there are almost countless gaming blogs out there.  Most of them are pretty cool, but some of them instantly grab your attention.  Whether its a nice clean layout, cool graphics, or quality content, some gaming blogs simply appear as though they’ve been going strong for years…

If you haven’t been there, stop by The Id DM.  Michael Mallen started up this site a couple of months ago, and has really hit the nail on the head as far as knowing what gamers want, and writing articles that engage the readers.

Here’s Michael:

“Starting The Id DM website and getting plugged into the online RPG community has been a great experience. I benefit from the knowledge and ideas that are shared on a multitude of blogs and Twitter feeds, and adding my voice to that arena is rewarding. So far, The Id DM has focused on Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition since that is the only game I’m playing at the moment. While many of the more specific articles relate to specific D&D 4e mechanics, other articles are more general and can apply to any RPG.

For example, I am a psychologist, and write from this perspective. Specifically, I am aware of the interpersonal issues that can arise for a gamemaster and his or her players. Several posts on the site have described communication dynamics during and after gaming sessions. A goal for my site is to provide gamemasters with suggestions for running efficient games and communicating with their players more effectively.

I plan to keep the site active moving forward, and may participate in writing guest posts elsewhere. In addition to the topics above, I will continue to post sample encounters, monsters, etc. for use in D&D 4e, discuss my influences when building worlds, and describe how other forms of entertainment and art (e.g., videogames, films, music) inspire me to funnel those ideas into the gaming sessions with my players.

Please visit my site and take a spin through some of the posts. I read every comment that is posted, and try to respond to all of them. And thank you to Tourq and the fine folks at Stuffer Shack for recognizing The Id DM and sharing it with their audience!”

The Id DM, one of our personal favorites.