Dice Deliberations

This is a fitting question for the end of "1 month" of themed RPG game blogging, which only took me 63 days to complete. There are games I've played that I really miss, and I'm going to provide a few examples from different categories. Game from A Large Company Large companies have resources, but they also have expectations from shareholders, and the ability to make a lot more money by investing in the right games. In 2005, Fantasy Flight Games published a unique game called Fireborn . The basic concept was that you were the reincarnation or spiritual successor of ancient dragons, and had some of their attributes in modern age. Characters were quite powerful, probably 5th level in D&D terms, at first level. The combat and magic systems were interesting, and there was a lot of variation between different characters. What made it really unique, though, was that while most of the game was played in modern times, you would also "flash back" to when you were ...

  Questions like this are always fun; there are so many interpretations and answers and none of them are wrong. In this essay, I'm going to provide a few options, some serious and some not. Henry Cavill This is my celebrity pick. Sure, he's a hot star in both senses of the word; he's famous and has been in several fan-favorite shows. But from what I can tell, he's just doing all that to pay for his Warhammer Armies, and would rather spend an evening playing D&D than attending a Hollywood premiere. And the beauty of it is that while there's a lot of hype about his geekiness, that's just the press focusing on it, rather than him trying to promote it. There are other celebrities that would be amazing: Vin Diesel or Joe Manganiello for that same "well-publicized but personally quiet love of the game", Stephen Colbert for his oft-proven brilliance, Kevin Smith because...duh. Jon Favreau is a master director, actor, and chef, so he must be amazing at D...

  For TTRPGs, there seem to be three general types of applications available: Those that do some of the work for you, so that you don't have to, those that help you develop creations for your game, and those that help you keep track of everything you know about your game.  Help Handle the Work My must-have website when I'm running a game is Fantasy Name Generators . NPC names are a bane of every GM, since any person the party encounters may need one. Names generated by the GM on the fly can have similar-sounding names, not be appropriate to the area, or frankly just be lame. This website has collections of real names or generated themed names organized by type. The area we're playing in now uses Moroccan names, and using this site gives the whole campaign a consistent feel. As a bonus, it also helped name a geographically significant lake that I left unnamed for over 20 years. Another bane of gamemastering that never had a good solution was "initiative tracking". ...

  This isn't exactly a gadget, but it's something that I've had on my wish list since I saw it. I've always wanted a gaming table, but have never really wanted to spend either the money or the space to have one. The nice ones can replace a dining room table, but they also cost several thousand dollars. This table, the Gamefold table by Yarro Studios , is really just a folding table with special features. Dual Purpose The real value of gaming tables is that you have the game you're playing setup, but then can put a topper on it, so that you can use the space for meals and other home uses, in between games. This is really valuable for board games that either have a very long setup time, or games that have a long play time, and no "save game" feature to get you back to where you were. It's also valuable if you have a multi-session combat or dungeon exploration going on in a TTRPG, with miniatures that you don't want to have to photograph and setup fo...

  I haven't used miniatures for RPGs in years. Long before we stopped meeting in person, my main game switched from giant dry-erase girds and minis (often just "spare dice" for the monsters) to Roll20. And most or all of the other system games, convention games and one-off games that I run are theatre of the mind. So while I loved the process of shopping, painting and playing with miniatures, I didn't have a reason to get them. Three things changed this viewpoint. Tools and Skills for Painting My wife got me two Reaper Miniature Learn-To-Paint sets. These have a set of paints, 2 brushes, 3 specific miniatures, and instructions on how to paint each miniature to look good. They seem pricy at $45 each, but when I opened them, I saw that the set comes with 11 well-reviewed paints (assume $3 a bottle), 2 good brushes, 3 high-quality plastic minis, and that the case could serve for longer term usage and storage. That's pretty much $45. A month or so ago, I pulled the f...

  I used to be a big fan of GM screens. I could have my adventure, personal notes, dice, and anything secret hidden behind a 3-6 panel copy of the rules. In a world where players would try to see the adventure so they'd know what was coming next, a screen was a great asset to keeping the surprises secret. They were also useful for things like to-hit tables for the different character classes before THAC0 was invented. However, I realized that other than the to-hit tables, I rarely used them. I had memorized most rules and could find anything else I needed quickly. And over time, I moved from secrecy in my adventures, from hidden rolling, and similar reasons for having a screen. That said, I'll list a few screens I do like. Games I Don't Know If I'm running a game that I don't know well, it's useful to have a convenient reference at hand and not be forced to flip through a book for critical mechanics. I purchased Mythcraft and Shadows of Esteren . Both came with...

Numerous innovations have been made in dice over the last few years. In fact, my biggest takeaway from last year's GenCon was the number of unique dice vendors and the variety of dice. Previous innovations included metal dice, gem dice, and interesting fonts and etchings. Now, acrylic dice methods have been perfected. They allow liquid cores, objects inside the dice, and incredible color and material palettes. They've also made acrylic dice feel good so you aren't sacrificing with the new designs. In fact, the new designs inspired me to buy my first new set of dice in years; I purchased the Stained Glass design by Gatekeeper Gaming .  However, my "Desirable Dice" are the glowing, Bluetooth-connected Pixel dice by Systemic Games . Being LED dice where LED behaviors can be controlled by code and/or an app is almost enough to want to buy them. At their most basic, you can have them glow green for skill checks, yellow for saving throws, and red for combat. But you can...