I was noodling about RPG setting material I’ve always meant to read, and I remembered a truly excellent thing: Stephan Michael Sechi, creator of Talislanta, generously makes available virtually ever Talislanta product ever published in PDF, with permission granted to download, modify, and print for personal use only, for free. That’s over 30 PDFs spanning […]
Free Talislanta PDFs, and where to start Read More »
Ever since I turned 40, I’ve been more aware of, and thinking more often about, my own mortality. (So clichéd! I know.) One of the most comforting things I’ve stumbled across is this Epicurean epitaph: I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind. The idea that I won’t exist is
My Seattle group is coming up on a year of Ars Magica [paid link] play, using 5e — my first experience with Ars. We’ve played around 20 sessions (I’ve missed a couple, but I’ve been there for 18), covering about a year of in-game time, and I say without hyperbole that I will happily play this
Ars Magica after 18 sessions: what an amazing RPG Read More »
As a kid, I used to spend hours poring over any sort of “superheroes A-Z” content I could find. I had some that came in issues of comics, and the long-running Marvel-phile column in Dragon, and probably other sources I’ve forgotten about. When I started playing TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes, I traced hero silhouettes from
The Marvel Encyclopedia is awesome Read More »
I missed the boat on Chris McDowall’s Into the Odd (paid link), but eventually figured out that I was missing something splendid. It’s out of print, but the PDF is a dandy $8 and I love coil binding, so here we are. Here’s the blurb: “Into the Odd contains everything you need to create a character
Into the Odd is delightful Read More »
Earlier this month, at Go Play Northwest, I played a game of Traveller Carcosa run by Alex Mayo that really made me want to play more Traveller. It also reminded me to prod my long-simmering, largely unrequited interest in Traveller and see if Mongoose Traveller was still my favorite iteration. I then bumped into this
A new appreciation for the 1977 version of Traveller Read More »
Thanks to the inimitable Alex Schroeder, I followed a link to this excellent 2005 essay by Michael Andre-Driussi: Deciphering the Text Foundations of Traveller. Here’s Driussi’s thesis: “The creators of CT wanted the anarchic, amoral, and violent adventure of fantasy role playing translated into a science fiction setting. They also wanted a kind of science
Traveller’s literary sources Read More »
After I posted about Devil Ghost’s character generator for Classic Traveller, Frank Filz mentioned that he hosts the same generator on his site — and that he’s made it user-configurable. I tried it out, and it rocks. To get a character, just open the generator page. For a new one, just refresh the page. Easy
Frank Filz’s excellent Classic Traveller character generator Read More »
This Classic Traveller character generator on Devil Ghost is a hoot. The visuals are a perfect match for Traveller, and it couldn’t be easier to use: just refresh to get a new character.[1] Here’s my favorite character I’ve rolled up so far: Just look at this dude: he spent five terms — 20 years —
A spiffy online Classic Traveller character generator Read More »
This post is a round-up of three things that crossed my path and grabbed my attention, all RPG-related. Gygax on agreement I found this fascinating 1975 Gary Gygax quote over on The Acaeum: “Dave and I disagree on how to handle any number of things, and both of our campaigns differ from the “rules” found
Agreement, rough edges, and combat as sport vs. war Read More »
