The Pink Dice Chronicles

The rule system for 13th Age, the Archmage Engine, has been released as an SRD under OGL.  This officially makes it a game that I have to GM, now that the rules are freely available for my players. Archmage Engine SRD

I'm currently running (at flgs):   Custom Pathfinder extension for modern on Tuesdays Tabletop RPGs I'm c urrently playing (at flgs) include: Sunday Rise of Runelords I'm currently running (online): Nothing yet Tabletop RPGs I'm c urrently playing (online) include:   Shadowrun I would  especially  like to play/run:  Numenera, 13th Age ...but would also try:   Call of Cthulu I live in:   Indiana 2 or 3 well-known RPG products other people made that I like:   Ultimate Equipment (Paizo), everything Forgotten Realms (Ed Greenwood, et al), Numenera (Monte Cooke) 2 or 3 novels I like:   Neuromancer, Snowcrash, Giant Series (John P. Hogan) 2 or 3 movies I like:   Groundhog's Day, Gattaca, The Avengers Best place to find me on-line:   Who knows? I will read almost anything on tabletop RPGs if it's: Well thought out, insightful, positive I really do not want to hear about: Failed kickstart...

With a new gaming room coming into my life soon, I've been taking a look at options for gaming tables.  This is a quick overview of what I've found so far. First up is a Kickstarter I helped fund by the newly created Mortise and Magic .  The kickstarter has a good overview of this add-on style gaming table.  By setting this on a good sized table, like a dining room table or a coffee table you can create a cool set of gaming nooks.  There is also a version that is stand-alone.  Some neat features include book slots on the corners and integrated lighting.  The kickstarted version will have additional features.  I like this table as an inspiration piece, though I'm not sure it is exactly what I'm looking for.  I look forward to getting a copy of the plans so I can potentially hack them in the direction I want. The next table is the "Ultimate Gaming Table", aka "The Avenger", which has its own dedicated website with lots of pictures.  ...

Unfortunately, Guillermo de Toro's interpretation of Lovecraft's "At The Mountains of Madness" will not be produced.  However, the script and artwork is now available online for your GM inspirational pleasure.

Vlad reports in... When it rains, it pours, and time, it seems is slipping at its usual duty of keeping everything from happening at once.  You almost get the idea that there is someone, somewhere plotting and scheming all of this reality, trying to make it into some sort of story. So I finally made it back to the bus without incident.  I have to admit it creeps me out a bit having it parked on the edge of the crater that we created on a previous mission.  It is the constant reminder of what happens when things get complicated. So we split the cases we had gathered into two piles -- cold cases and warm cases. Opening the cold cases we found a mismatch of about three people's worth (minus the torso and skulls, of course) of cyberware.  Some of it was old; some was normal stuff; some was foreign. We opened one of the warm cases and saw a glowing head.   It was as creepy as one can imagine -- I think I saw the thing move. I'm thinking radioactive, so we a...

Deep in one of the many packed boxes, a mint condition book of Call of Cthulu D20 awaits for its next victim to find it.  Reading the blasphemous book will rend the mind with aeons-old pieces of the greater chaos that awaits, lurking, within the places that humans do not look, the place where false assumptions hide the real chaos.  Insanity could be the only outcome, if there weren't something far darker and deeper yet to be awakened. Lovecraftian horror awaits you.  But what is it that defines Lovecraftian horror, over all the various subgenres of horror that evolved since?  Simply put, Lovecraftian horror is defined by the discovery of new knowledge that destroys the human assumptions of the world so profoundly, that it causes insanity. I cannot emphasize enough how utterly brilliant the piece "Lovecraft's Concept of Blasphemy" by Robert M. Price is in describing the true nature of the dangers in Lovecraftian horror.  If you truly want to capture the dang...

After a bit of a hiatus, our humble party got back underway on the Rise of the Runelords campaign.  Ranier was in good form this week.  We started this week having split all the loot and gold from the end of the first big adventure and wearing a shiney new level 4.  For Ranier, this meant now having the ability to use wands to perform melee attacks with his scimitar.  Here's his report: --- It's been a quite couple of weeks in town.  The sheriff is still grumbling because we left town to deal with the goblins and others.  Oh well, we saved the town... again... from evil.  And the town guards does squat. I've been copying scrolls into my spellbook and have quite a collection now.  It is unfortunate that some of them I have not truly figured out yet.  I have found a new trick -- being able to charge my scimitar attacks with spells from wands.  I suppose I'll have to share this one with the group, because certainly they will notice. ...

Playing Shadowrun (4th Ed) has gotten me thinking about the contrast between leveling up in traditional D&D and its derivatives (Pathfinder, 13th Age, etc), and completely different games (Numenera) in contrast with Shadowrun.  Shadowrun has a very unique economy with the gaining of karma points over time. Numenera and Shadowrun both have a mechanic that allow a player to accumulate a few points each session and you can use these points to make you character better.  The D&D sphere and Numenera both also have significant level ups that occur after many sessions, unlocking all sorts of new things.  Where Shadowrun is substantially different, is that once you are really good at doing something, getting even a little bit better requires some significant hoarding of karma points over time.  It simply isn't easy. So for example, I was a bit of a dunce and didn't put much into my perception at the beginning of Shadowrun.  To make up for this and other skil...