D&D 4th Edition: A Player’s Perspective

In November I had the chance to do something I’ve never done before: play Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. Technically that’s not true – I’ve played D&D 4E plenty of times as a Dungeon Master, including my gaming group’s playtest campaign. But I’ve never sat at the table as a D&D 4E player. The last … Read more

The Tome Podcast #121: Revenge of the Giants reviewed

My gaming group recently returned to D&D 4th Edition with a megashot of the Revenge of the Giants supermodule. I talk about our experiences with Wizards of the Coast’s homage to the original 1st Edition Against the Giants tournament modules on Episode #121 of The Tome Podcast. I’m joined by Quinn Murphy of the excellent … Read more

Game Day: Return to D&D 4E

Two frost giants stand ready to fight.

Giants stalk the land, threatening one of the few flickering lights of civilization. Someone needs to deal with the threat … and it turns out that’s us. My gaming group is returning to Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition with a megashot of Revenge of the Giants, the new super module from Wizards of the Coast. … Read more

MEPACon Fall 2009 Recap

After a few years away, the Blackazor Guild and I returned to MEPACon last weekend, our local gaming convention held near Scranton, Pa. every spring and fall. We used to be regulars at the local convention scene, but over the last few years we been running our own homegrown Nuke(m)Con instead. We decided to return … Read more

The Ruins of New York: Jason Freewalker

 The Day After RagnarokJason Freewalker is a second-generation lawman, his father having become a Texas Ranger just after Serpentfall. In the early days after Serpentfall, he rode with his father, battling scaly monsters crawled out of the Rio Grande to drink the blood of children and the Serpent cults arose from the Gulf looking to spawn realms of madness.

He’s been riding and shooting since he could walk, and he’s wanted nothing more or less than to walk in his father’s footsteps. Tragically, he’s done just that; the year he became a Ranger, his father died at his side, fighting an infestation of ghouls in Houston. He now proudly wields his father’s gun – a pearl-inlaid, silver-gilded Colt .45 – and wears his steel-toed, Serpent-skinned boots (their skin being about the only good thing to come out of those Fallspawn).

The Ruins of New York: Ollivander Ellis

In another life, Ollivander Ellis might have been a physicist or astronomer, but instead he grew up in the world of the Serpentfall. It’s lead him to dedicate his life to understanding its arcane secrets … and fighting them when they’re unleashed upon the world. He’s battled latter-day Nazi mystics in Argentina, negotiated with the … Read more