Ken Newquist 
Bob, the third Seeing Eye puppy my family raised, is off to puppy college. Our area coordinator picked him up this morning. Bob, true to form, was happy to see her and left home without any fuss. We were sad to see him go, but (hopefully) he’s off to do great things. Bob, a male … Read more
I started a bullet journal in Spring 2018. Nine months and one completed journal later, I’m still journaling and still happy with the results. Life is busy. As I’ve joked before, my wife and I hit peak kid last year. That’s when the kids have the maximum number of activities they can be involved in and … Read more
After the end of our long-running Obsidian Frontier campaign, we decided to venture to a little-explored region of Greyhawk: the Archbarony of Blackmoor. Inspired by Dave Arneson‘s legendary campaign setting of the same name (one of Dungeons & Dragons first-ever settings), Blackmoor promises a mix of ancient magic, weird technology, and the strangeness of the Egg of … Read more
A ton of role-playing game books found their way under the Geek Tree this year thanks to Christmas and my birthday. It was heavy on Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks, but there’s also a touch of Cthulhu … and a swig of Hellboy Firewater to wash it all down. Creature Codex (Amazon / Website) – Kobold Publishing’s Creature Codex (Amazon) is easily the heftiest of … Read more
A year ago I ran out my door, slipped on some snow-covered ice on the street, and broke my right ankle in two places. For good measure, I dislocated it as well. Much of what I had planned for the first half of 2018 went out the window, replaced by surgery to put my ankle … Read more
The Geek Tree is back again for 2018. There are no major changes to it this year save for the now-fully functional Hallmark Star Wars Storyteller collection. There are a six new ornaments on the tree, which is once again near capacity. I once again avoided going with a theme tree to limit the number of ornaments, but clearly, … Read more
Christmas Break is upon us, which means grabbing a book and reading it by the virtual fireplace (or a real fireplace if I can find one). Unlike my Summer Reading Lists, which average 14-18 books, my winter reading lists tend to be shorter and more aspirational (it turns out that your family actually wants to … Read more
After four years, 53 episodes, and over 200 hours of gaming, we closed the book on our Obsidian Frontier campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Begun as one of two playtest campaigns for 5th Edition, we had so much fun with the campaign — and the game — that we transitioned from “playtest” to “ongoing” campaign … Read more
My son and I spent the day at PAX Unplugged. Held at the Philadelphia Convention Center from Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2018, PAX Unplugged in a three-day event dedicated to offline games: card games, board games, role-playing games, their various iterations. We took advantage of PAX’s Kids Day and based on the number of children I saw … Read more
November is done and with it, Nuketown’s first-ever turn at hosting the RPG Blog Carnival. Inspired by the “All These Worlds” line from 2010: A Space Odyssey Two, the carnival explored all manners of world-building, from new planets to undersea realms to stellar frontiers. In total eight blogs contributed 15 entries to the carnival. The Expanding Frontier kicked things off “Expanded … Read more