Author Archives: MssngrDeath

Character Creation

Little-known fact: there’s nothing that gets me quite as excited as this: I’m the sort of person who watches video game rosters very closely during production. I watched every reveal trailer for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 the day it was … Continue reading

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I Podcast Magic Missile

I just noticed that I haven’t back to I Podcast Magic Missile since July, which was before any of the podcasts with me went up: Story Time with Blake and Highcove 1 Story Time with Blake and Highcove 2 We’re … Continue reading

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Mythic Adventures

Lest my previous post come down too hard on one side of the axis, I generally don’t have a problem with powerful, even startlingly so, characters. My concern is with situation where a player’s style is so focused on powergaming … Continue reading

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“Rules as Written” (or, Hate the Playa, not the Game)

I was loitering at my friendly local gaming store (patronize it with money!) lately, and a conversation sprouted about play styles. Specifically, we discussed a particular style of play formed around building powerful characters and having them do powerful things. … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Tagged | 3 Comments

DM Mentors

Gnome Stew had an article recently on the concept of the GM Confidant, which is a GM that assists another GM with the campaign without actually participating. A confidant is there to discuss ideas, add to existing concepts or create … Continue reading

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On Inspiration

Left Oblique and I go back and forth a lot on what systems, players, DMs, and gaming in general are and should be. A lot of it comes down to simulationism versus narrativism, but it’s not always that clear-cut. One … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, DMing | 3 Comments

Making Death Interesting

I’ve died six times. Given the amount of time I’ve been playing D&D, it’s a little surprising that I’ve only died six times. One was from a TPK during the first session of a campaign, and I decided that maybe … Continue reading

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Ultimate Campaign

Ultimate Campaign is a curious book. It almost doesn’t feel like a book at all, but rather a bunch of small books all put together with the only unifying theme being “these things are kind of neat, but fully optional”. … Continue reading

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On the Magic Item Compendium

Oh Lordy they’re doing it again.

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On Legendary Monsters

Vagrant Story is a video game from a million years ago, back when Square Enix was just Square. It details the adventures of a young man with ridiculous hair and 76% of a pair of pants as he explores the … Continue reading

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