Ken Newquist Maybe it’s having just listened to hours upon hours of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, but I truly enjoyed the 300 soundtrack’s martial mix of choral singing, Mediterranean/Middle Eastern-inspired music and a touch of hard rock explosiveness. The album has 25 tracks, from the opening “To Victory” to the final “Remember Us” and clocks … Read more
This week’s game day sees us returning to the Khelez-Mar dwarven campaign to launch an investigation/raid into the UnderOerth of the Pomarj. It’s not just Dungeons & Dragons though; I’ve also received my review copy of the new Star Wars Pocket Model constructible ship game by WizKids Games and I’ve been working on superhero histories for … Read more
Wizards of the Coast has launched a new online community for strategy gamers. According to Wizards’ press release: “Gleemax will be built on three pillars – community, games, and editorial content – each representing the essence of what WotC has been providing strategy gamers for more than 15 years.” And it’s called Gleemax. Gleemax. The … Read more
Looking back over my Top of the Pile columns, and considering what this week’s might bring, I found that I was in something of a rut — I’ve got my standard comics that I get every month — X-Men, Conan, Ex Machina, Batman — but I haven’t been venturing very far from that core. That’s … Read more
Radio Active reaches a milestone with Episode #50, but it ends up being a fairly quiet birthday with news of a Nuketown road trip, a GenCon update, adventures in parenting with nosebleeds, and a summer reading list. I also run down my favorite Radio Actives from the first 50 episodes, talk about the Wicked Good … Read more
After a week away from home at the Portal 2007 higher ed conference at Gettysburg College, I’ve returned home to an inbox overflowing with games. My Xbox 360 will be seeing heavy action this weekend as I put Shadowrun and Forza 2 through its paces, while my non-video game moments will likely be consumed by … Read more
Interested in teaching kids how to play role-playing games? Then check out the article “Role-Playing Games and Kids” by Katrina Middelburg-Creswell on RoleplayingTips.com. She’s a high school teacher and RPG club organizer in the Netherlands, and her two-part article offers tips on how to organize a kid gaming group and then what sorts of games … Read more
A while back at My Play, Gerald Cameron proposed the idea of the “BHAC” (Big, Hairy, Audacious Campaign), the sort of campaign that’s earth-trembling huge its shear audacity and (I’m assuming) its variance from the norm. He throws out one example: normal D&D campaigns usually have a home town or city … what happens if … Read more
The Star Wars: Saga Edition Role-Playing Game is the third Star Wars RPG released by Wizards of the Coast. Like it’s predecessors, its based on a variant of the d20 engine that drives Dungeons & Dragons. Unlike the previous editions though, this one truly feels like Star Wars. My friends and I (collectively known as … Read more
The headline says it all. I’m reviewing the new Star Wars: Saga Edition as a freelance gig. My review copy arrived Wednesday; my playtest of the game was scheduled for Friday and the game review is due Monday. At the same time, my Knights of the Dinner Table column was due Friday, my next freelance … Read more