If I spun an arrow with a ring of telekinesis...

More insanity that the folks at EnWorld.org have uncovered - an index of all the Sage Advice Dungeons & Dragons Q&A published over the years... If you have never eavesdropped on nerds fighting over their passionate topic (in this case, D&D rules, but think "Who would win in a fight - the Hulk or the Thing?" if you need a more pedestrian comparison)...well...you are in for a treat!

Sage Advice Archive

Painting Minis the Bruce Campbell Way...

Tallyrand at EnWorld.org has been tending a great thread with his recommendations for painting minis, over the past 4+ months. It is full of great advice that I learned piecemeal by trial and error over 20 years of painting minis, but he's put it all in a very approachable thread that is worth reading if you are at all curious about minis painting - something Tallyrand rightly points out has been marginalized in the roleplaying game hobby, and is worth the investment of time and effort. I, myself, find it to be the most relaxing and enjoyable of my hobbies.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/art-gallery-cartography-miniatures-painting/257501-how-paint-minis-bruce-campbell-way.html

(image from thread)

Play by Skype:Good thread on EnWorld.Org

For those of you who either play games by Skype or have ever wondered about playing games by Skype, check out this thread on Enworld.org:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/295226-play-skype.html

Two quasi-nostalgia threads worth reading

Ever play a game that was more fun to read than play?
My anecdote about this comes from eavesdropping at a games shop: I overheard a guy who runs a FLGS tell this story once. He participated in a retail program for one of the publishers at one point a while ago, where he had to complete phone surveys with the publisher for hours on end (about volume of sales, demographics, etc.). After one particularly tedious survey, at the end he said, "Look, can you tell me what you are finding from all of these, so that I can better position your products?" And amongst the many marketing talking points the surveyor rattled off, the one that stuck with him the most was, "Well, a lot of customers are guys in their 30s and 40s who buy the games but basically just read them - don't play too much."

Weigh in here:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/295071-games-more-fun-read-than-play.html

AND

Ever play a game that was more fun to play than read?
Here's what I posted there: For me, I'm a HUGE fan of the Runequest rules, but the campaign setting of Glorantha is so dense that I've had trouble getting players interested in an ongoing campaign over the years. By the time they've wrapped their arms around heroquesting, the various empires, etc., it's hours into the first session. Unlike say the Forgotten Realms, where granted there is an unapproachable amount of history, you actually have to get into this stuff in Glorantha (what tribe are you from, what deity do you worship, what are your views on the world) to make the game actually fit the setting, unlike FR where even if there are thousands of years of history you can say, "Well, you're a halfling from the south, and you're a pickpocket." The tropes and archetypes of Glorantha are less approachable to a typical fantasy player, in my opinion, but if you can get into it it's fascinating great stuff.

On the rules/presentation side, there are plenty of games that I've played where due to budget or whatever the game was presented in a haphazard fashion, but once you cut through it it was hella fun! TWERPS comes to mind - it was obviously photocopied from pages that were typed on a typewriter, but if you got past that, it was a great beer and pretzels game.

Weigh in:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/295072-games-more-fun-play-than-read.html

Bonus thread - nostalgia kicks about games from your youth:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/295121-games-my-youth-rolemaster-express.html

Halloween Cthulhu - Any Suggestions?

All Hallow's Eve is coming, and that means that I'll be running my annual Call of Cthulhu Halloween Spectacular. I'm wading through my old adventures and some more recent monographs.

Any recommendations for a good one shot Halloween game?

(PS, like how the text in this post is outweighed by the massive image to the left? Oooo. Scary.)

D&D TV Ad - not from the past, but from today!!!

Blatantly taking a scoop from EnWorld, again, but check this out - a very metal, nostalgic ad for the new D&D Red Box:

The Most Metulll Bus Evarrr!

Yet another scoop from enworld.org that I'm just recycling, but how cool is this D&D-themed bus! (throws up the horns)

(More at EnWorld.org)

Larry Elmore, R.A. Salvatore and Ed Greenwood walk into a con...

At Gen Con, Larry Elmore (famous for illustrating the Dragonlance series, Snarfquest and numerous D&D covers), Ed Greenwood (creator of the Forgotten Realms), and R.A."Bob" Salvatore (creator of Drizz't Do'Urden, and too many fantasy novels to count) - plus 3 lucky Gen Con attendees - played a game DMed by WotC's Chris Perkins (who is beginning to look more and more like Moby). The game was the new Red Box 'intro to 4th Edition', but despite that it was pretty cool! I had seen Gary Gygax once comment that videos of people playing D&D would be one of the most boring diversions ever, but this is fun for the celebrity factor. (Er...well, celebrities to us nerds, anyways...).



All 3 of the heroes of D&D (Greenwood, Salvatore, and Elmore) were a hoot to watch playing. Salvatore seemed to have the most fun, in my opinion. :)


Check it out!

Gaming at the Shop

I've been spending a lot of time over the Summer and into early Fall running games of D&D at the shop and watching folks play 40k (learning by osmosis). Last weekend, I ran the Red Box release event for 4E. Eeeeh, not so much. A starter kit will always be less than awesome for experienced players, but this one seemed cool in idea (big maps, lots of chits), but lower quality than old school adventures against Bargle and other D&D villains of old (Mentzer edition, represent...). I'm glad to get my 3.5E Forgotten Realms campaign going again. Check out the feed to the left on the blog, or go to this link on Obsidian Portal to see what's what. Nothing better than 1e/2e feel of Forgotten Realms with 3.5 rules, in my book...

Where you at?

Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delays in posting! Real life, and a decidedly low tech Summer spent painting miniatures, assembling terrain, and going down memory lane with some of my older gaming stuff became a priority. I also started rereading "Crisis on Infinite Earths," a Summer tradition of mine. (Huh, I think my cousin Tom used to read the collected works of Jane Austen in the Summer - time better spent? I can't be sure...)

See the attached image of some models I painted, and please share how you spent your Summer Vacation!

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