Category Archives: Commentary

Death by Cliché

I used to be a voracious reader. In the days before I got into tabletop gaming, when I was much shorter, I read pretty much everything I could get my hands on. I preferred science fiction, but I spent a … Continue reading

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On D&D as a Brand

As I’ve mentioned before, I follow professional wrestling, and today I want to talk Sunday’s WWE event, “Hell in a Cell”. Its namesake is the Hell in a Cell match, which is the big brother of a steel cage match. … Continue reading

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On Pathfinder

I told you that story to tell you this one: I’m starting to wonder if I’m done with Pathfinder. The more I read about Pathfinder and the more I understand the designers’ intentions and the way players use it, the … Continue reading

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The Wild West of D&D Content Publication

I used to visit the official D&D website every day or two, back when 3E was the hotness. In those days the site was nothing but content: new monsters, new spells, new items, new class features, all available for perusal … Continue reading

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Occult Adventures

Speaking of class design. I knew I was going to get Occult Adventures as soon as Paizo announced it. I figured it wouldn’t be the same as the amazing Heroes of Horror, but I’d hoped it would be in the … Continue reading

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On Unearthed Arcana: Variant Rules

After I spent all that time gushing about the variant alignment systems for Pathfinder, it’s only fair to point out when Wizards does something similar. The latest Unearthed Arcana (not to be confused with Unearthed Arcana or Unearthed Arcana) dropped, … Continue reading

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On Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne Adventures, Part 3: a Game of Choice

I’ve spent two posts going over Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne Adventures, which gave me a lot of time to shout about what I like and don’t like about it. But I also had time to think about why I feel the … Continue reading

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On Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne Adventures, Part 2: a Class of Ribbons

I think I could really get into reading articles like Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne Adventures regularly. The article itself is short, the linked content is interesting, and it gives me some insight into the minds of the developers. If articles in … Continue reading

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On Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne Adventures, Part 1: a System of Hats

One of the complaints I have about 5E is that it has so few options, and that’s a complaint I expected to have. I have the same issue whenever I pick up any Core D&D book because it can only … Continue reading

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Pathfinder Unchained

Reviewing Pathfinder Unchained is hard because it’s pretty all over the place. If it has a single unifying theme, it’s “Pathfinder does stuff in certain ways, and he’s how to make it do that stuff in different ways”. That’s largely … Continue reading

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