Nuketown

August 2010

Harrowing Halls: Taking Dungeon Tiles to the 3rd Dimension

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 4:30am

Harrowing HallsHarrowing Halls is a Dungeon Tiles set for Dungeons & Dragons that takes the long-running line to new heights. That's because they're not just dungeon tiles ... they're three dimensional dungeon tiles that can be used to build a staircase, raised platforms, tables, and pedastals, all of which player characters can jump on, leap off of and generally use to their advantage.

It makes a big difference on many fronts, starting with prep time. I got a review copy of Harrowing Halls a few months ago, but since I run a weekly Star Wars game I haven't had much call for a rustic hall/dungeon. That changed when I decided to run an epic showdown with a Jedi master in a temple on a stormwracked backwater world.

Photo: Jedi vs Mandalorian

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 6:43pm
Photo: Jedi vs Mandalorian

Star Wars RPG Round Up: Pop Culture, Campaign Planning, Starships, WotC archive

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 10:41am

My Star Wars: Saga Edition game has hit the summer doldrums, as our Friday sessions fall victim to August vacations, Musikfest, and back-to-school crush. We're about three-quarters of the way through our Mandalorian Interlude story arc (in which we're all playing Mandos in the opening days of the Mandalorian War), and while it's been fun, we're looking forward to getting back to our regular characters. Thanksfully, the rest of the net is keeping the Saga Edition fires burning during our downtime.

Of of the Blackrazors' pet projects has been coming up with a fantasy version of Saga Edition; you can track the progress here. Little did we know that someone had already beat us to the punch with Sword & Sorcery Saga Editon. I've downloaded the rules, and I'm looking forward to reading through them -- in particular I'm interested in seeing how they handled the two most contentious areas of our own discussions: a point buy system for skills and the addition of a Vancian magic system.

Lake Placid: Monster vs. Cow

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 5:40pm

Lake PlacidBack when the Blackrazor Guild still played D&D, we had a list of standard battle tactics. They were things like "spring the ambush then fight your way out", "lightning bolt in a short corridor", "fireball at your feet" and the classic "stake out a cow to lure the monster into the open".

Lake Placid is our kind of movie. Set in Maine, the movie involves a monster taking up residence in a lake. The creature starts killing people, including Fish & Game agents counting beavers, which leads an eccentric band of monster hunters to descend on the lake. They consist of Fish & Game agents led by Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), Sheriff's offices led by Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson), a palentologist from New York City named Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda) and Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt) rich-but-crazy mythology professor who loves to swim with giant reptiles.