Closeout Sale! Get’em before they’re gone!

Horse MinisWe’ve had a great run, but it’s time for our store to come to a close.

We have a few horses left (including some that we’ve never sold before, and their price was been slashed by 50%

There are plenty of Exotic Mounts and Monster Minis (again, including things we’ve never sold before – like Gorillas!).  Also, I found a Unicorn!  Most of the Exotic Mounts and Monsters are marked 75% off.

We still have Number Tokens!  Wood tokens painted black, with number stickers on both sides.  They come with a case, and are highly useful.  We pull them out for our game almost every session.

So, get’em before they’re gone, ’cause when they’re gone, they’re gone for good!

p.s. In the next week or so, I’ll be posting a couple of tutorials on how to make your own Mini Counters and Horse Minis.

When is a Pair of Scissors a Dagger?

A longsword does a d8, right? A greataxe does a d12, a dagger does a d4, and longbows can fire arrows accurately at a distance of 100 feet. That’s just how it is. Using the default D&D weapon chart, at least. Really, though, why does a slashing and piercing weapon that does a d4 need to be a dagger? Wouldn’t it be just as reasonable to say that the d4 damage comes from a pair of scissors that a tailor uses to defend himself? No need to say it’s an improvised weapon. After all, this tailor knows those scissors better than any cutpurse knows a dagger. Continue reading “When is a Pair of Scissors a Dagger?”

Write a Plot-Seed, Earn $5 DriveThruRPG Credit!

Want to win $5 worth of roleplaying game stuff from DriveThruRPG? It’s easy! All you have to do is write a one-paragraph plot-seed.

Stuffer Shack will soon be publishing its first product, Truly Terrifying Vampires. It’s an awesome guide for creating the types of vampires that have inspired terror over the last few thousand years (not the charismatic and cerebral Dracula types of today). The book is nearing completion, and we’d like to include a few plot-seeds from our readers. For your participation, you may earn a $5 gift certificate from DriveThruRPG, as well as credit in the book (which will be around 25 pages).

Okay, there are a few caveats… Continue reading “Write a Plot-Seed, Earn $5 DriveThruRPG Credit!”

More on Equipment: Following Up Conversations

I didn’t know how the tracking of a character’s equipment was affecting the roleplaying games people were playing. My article, Do You Have That On Your Character Sheet, generated a number of comments and discussions. There are different ways of handling the equipment issue: some game masters (GMs) are strict about how items are recorded while others are more fluid with their game (and, by-the-way, this covered the spectrum of wanting detailed lists to I don’t give a frack). Neither is a problem. How the game runs is part of the agreement between the GM and the rest of the players in the gaming group. Continue reading “More on Equipment: Following Up Conversations”

Why I love Savage…

Not too long ago, the player characters went up against Paramour, a cyber-assassin that outclassed them in every way. She had been a thorn in their side for several weeks, and they finally took the bait. This was a fight in which the players knew that I would not be pulling any punches.

To start it off, they shot a grenade that she was holding – and of course it blew up, because that’s cool. She ended up being Shaken, but with a destroyed cyberarm. I gave her a -2 Parry, but she still had cool cyberware and a bad-ass heavy pistol. The PCs were almost Seasoned, while she was Legendary +3 extras.

The fight was intense. In attempting to escape, she took out half of the PCs (incapacitated). This turned the tide in her favor, so she maliciously decided to press the attack against the rest of the group. Double taps, Bennies, wild attacks, sniping, full-auto, Bennies, explosions, single-shot, more Bennies, acrobatics, blood-n-wires… you name it, it happened, and it was glorious. In the end, the PCs beat her, but just barely (and they certainly had the injuries to show for it). In that fight we didn’t stop to look up rules, but we weren’t winging it, either. It just… worked. Continue reading “Why I love Savage…”

Class-Based Thoughts on Different Types of Dwarves

Dwarves are typically viewed as masters of mining, crafting, and warfare in RPGs. Although these stereotypes may be a starting point, in and of themselves they are, quite frankly, boring. What if these ideas could be refreshed, made alive by combining ideas of class into the mix by showing how the different classes would fit into daily life? Read on: Continue reading “Class-Based Thoughts on Different Types of Dwarves”

The Right Tool for the Campaign

Most role players have a favorite system. For many, it’s Dungeons and Dragons. Sometimes it’s Shadowrun. Hopefully, it’s never FATAL. Regardless of the specifics, it might seem that a favorite system is simply perfect. The system may follow the exact philosophy you have for gaming, it may be balanced, and it might use setting material for your favorite series. Why ever use any other system? Unfortunately, no matter how good a game may be, it can never be the best system for every campaign idea. Continue reading “The Right Tool for the Campaign”

BANNED!… or not? Guarding Galaxy XXX…

Have you heard the hoopla?  Kort’thalis Publishing came out with a scenario for their flagship game, Alpha Blue.  However, there may have been a few people (namely OneBookShelf) who thought that “Guardians of Galaxy XXX” sounded a little too familiar to a certain current big budget movie.  I guess that after some words between parties… yelling, fighting, lasers, and ‘splosions, both sides came to an agreement/compromise.

Enter Guarding Galaxy XXX.

I was a little curious about it, so I talked to Venger Satanis (the author)… Continue reading “BANNED!… or not? Guarding Galaxy XXX…”

12 Unlikely Places for PCs to get Equipment and Supplies

Have these situations ever happened to you?

  • You’re in a dungeon and because the enemies were a bit tougher than you thought that they would be, the PCs either have to retreat back to town to restock up on supplies or get equipment that would make it easier to defeat them.
  • Or the PCs are at the end of a dungeon and find the clues of where to go next to solve the mystery, but they have to return to town to spend some of the loot they gained, to get training, and/or rest up.

If either of these situations have come up in a game, then you know how frustrating they can be and how delaying they can be to the story line. But just because the town’s a narrative hop, skip, and a jump away doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to do things this way. Consider the following 12 alternatives… Continue reading “12 Unlikely Places for PCs to get Equipment and Supplies”