Games

Exploring RPG Uses of Pinterest

by
A variety of pulp and weird science related photos that represent "pins" on a Pinterest pinboard.

Pinterest is a social bookmarking site for images: you find photographs, illustrations, or posters or other images that you like an “pin” them to a collection of boards. It’s like dumping a stack of art catalogs onto your desk, cutting out the illustrations you like best, and then thumbtacking them to your bulletin board.

The site’s popular with crafters, and when I was casting about for ideas for a recent “Summon WebScryer” column for Knights of the Dinner Table I decided to see if it could be used for gaming.

Munchkin Level Counter

by

At its heart, Steve Jackson’s Munchkin is a simple game. Players assume the role of adventurers hacking, slashing, and looting their way through a dungeon, fighting monsters (and often each other) on a quest to reach level 10.

These power-hungry munchkins can play all manner of cards to help them, including weapons, armor and other magic items, as well as special species and class cards. It’s simple … but often devilishly hard to track. The Munchkin Level Counter app ($4.99, Steve Jackson Games) adds to the complexity, but also brings some new tools for managing it.

Star Wars Round Up: AGE of Rebellion, X-Wing Mini Game, new d20 rules

by

It is a dark time for Star Wars role-playing games. There’s no official role-playing game being released, and fan-generated content for older games is tapering off. Fortunately though the Order 66 podcast continues to pump out new content for Saga Edition, there’s a new AGE-powered Rebellion Era playtest document, and an X-Wing miniatures game from … Read more

Before the Z: Dragon Ball Origins 2

by

Before aliens, power levels over 9000, and “Z”, there was simply Dragon Ball. It was a simple tale about a naive boy who leaves his simple life for one of adventure. Luckily, someone at Game Republic recognised this when they created the Dragon Ball Origins games. Journey to the West (Note: Some may consider the … Read more

Star Wars Round Up: Starships, Dragon Age, Rodney Thompson interviewed

by

It’s been a long time since I did a Star Wars RPG round up — unfortunately without an active campaign I find it’s all to easy to let the months slip by without searching the internet for material. For my part, my campaign isn’t entirely dead. I ran a Star Wars: Saga Edition one shot … Read more

D&D Next: You had me at “Pelor”

by

After braving the rings of fire, the digital quicksand, and the firewall of eternity, I managed to download a copy of the D&D Next playtest. Unpacking the zip file and looking over the files, I had to smile. There was the cleric of Pelor. And a cleric of Moradin. A high elf wizard. A dungeon called “Caves of Chaos”.

A strong wave of nostalgia hit me, bringing with it memories of cracking open an ancient Red Boxed set and finding a module called “B2 Keep of the Borderlands” inside. A thousand memories of my Greyhawk campaign came rushing forward, carrying names like Kalib, Scrappy, Merwyn, Tanevier, Obsidian Bay and the Cult of Death Undying.

And all that was without opening the PDFs.

Get lost in a new reality with the Inner Sea World Guide

by

The Inner Sea World Guide is Paizo’s third iteration of its Golarion campaign guide. The first was released when D&D 3.5 was still Wizard of the Coast’s flagship fantasy game; the second came with the release of Paizo’s own 3.5-derived Pathfinder RPG. The latest iteration reflects the growing maturity of the Pathfinder product line. Within its pages players will find that redundant material – such as class write-ups now included in the Pathfinder core rulebook – removed in favor of extended write-ups on the world itself.

And what a world it is. While evoking spirit of World of Greyhawk, Golarion excels at tweaking standard fantasy formula. Within its pages – including 64 pages of new content – you’ll find Cheliax, a kingdom that embraced devil worship in order to save its empire, as well as Galt, a country that threw off its imperial Cheliax masters and descended into a never-ending bloodthirsty revolution. There are the mountaintop citadels constructed after the dwarves completed their quest for the sky, and a frozen kingdom ruled by the daughters of Baba Yaga. It’s a setting that feels familiar and new at the same time, and like Pathfinder itself, it’s a worthy successor to the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.

Traversing Infinite Space

by

In March 2010 Sega released a game that got us really excited here at Nuketown: It was Infinite Space, a Space Opera JRPG for the DS that promised customizable fleet to fleet combat. Unfortunately, as our Editor lamented about on Radio Active #84, combat isn’t very easy to understand. It looks like a very basic … Read more

Lose your sanity (and time) with The Wasted Land

by

Red Wasp Designs’ The Wasted Land takes Call of Cthulhu to the iPad and iPhone, transforming RPG horror into a turn-based squad game that seeks to prevent a German mythos cult from unleashing an army of undead during World War I. The game unfolds in the No Man’s Land between the Allied and German fronts … Read more