The Gamer Working Group, my lunchtime gaming crew, is restarting this month with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (Amazon), Wizards of the Coast’s new urban adventure set in the City of Splendors. It’s my first full-time campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, WotC’s signature campaign setting. Historically my group played in the World of Greyhawk, which has … Read more
There’s a lot of cool role-playing game material coming out this autumn. I find myself flitting from product to product, excited at the prospect of picking a new game, then realizing that my budget can only support so many purchases. Thus the shopping list. It’s largely aspirational — again, the budget can only support so … Read more
As I’ve gotten older, I think the characters I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones who’ve grown organically during the game, becoming something I didn’t quite expect when I sat down at the table. Briggs Foehammer: I expected my character for our Heart of Darkness online campaign to be a paragon of the new dwarven … Read more
My gaming group, the Blackrazor Guild. Over the last 22 years we’ve fought demons, slain dragons, burned down a city (not on purpose), and accidentally let demons invade our hometown (also not on purpose). We’ve also gotten married and had kids. A few of us have gotten divorced and married again. We’ve dealt with health … Read more
My overarching ambition is to continue making time for games. It’s difficult, with the day job, marriage, one kid in high school, the other in middle school, the day job, and all of the activities that go along with them. We’ve got Boy Scouts, marching band, softball, baseball, Seeing Eye Puppy Raising … it’s a … Read more
Bennies in Savage Worlds, without a doubt. Players typically start with three bennies, which they can spend to re-roll checks and soak damage. Having three bennies at any given time means that players are comfortable with spending them and still having a reserve. I don’t have a problem with people hoarding bennies because I’m liberal … Read more
For many years I lovingly crafted soundtracks for my sessions, occasionally even adding sound effects. Done well, music enhances immersion in the game and kicks engagement into a higher gear. Done so-so, it still adds to the game, but ends up serving as little more than pleasant background noise. Done poorly, it distracts from the … Read more
It varies greatly based on the game we are playing and the campaign I’m running. Typically at the start of a campaign I’ll set out to find art that either matches my vision or helps inspire me. This is particularly helpful when launching non-fantasy game as it helps people grok the tone, atmosphere, and/or vibe … Read more
I’m contemplating a return to lunchtime gaming. It’s been on hiatus for quite a while do to an overwhelming lack of time, but I miss it and so do the rest of the Gamer Working Group. As a brief re-cap, the Gamer Working Group consists of a few RPG players at my day job and one … Read more
There was once a Blackrazor redshirt named Zilanderan. A strange man, Zilanderan claimed to be part of a larger, near-infinite multiverse of alternate realities. He’d excitedly talk about how this multiverse interacted with this, the Prime Material Plane, boring his cohorts to tears until something happened to break the tension. Alas, the eccentric warrior-mage was … Read more