Realistic D&D Combat?

I’ve always been on the fence when dealing with proposals for more realistic mechanics. On the one side, I want a kind of realism that could be called coherence: that is a matching of expectations between what the gaming group expects as a probable outcome from combat and the results produced by combat mechanics. On the other hand I want to stay faaaar away from GURPS like exactitude: I don’t want anything to do with the idea of simulating real combat with mechanics so that they, by themselves, would mimic whatever concept of reality.

Get Rid of the Fluff

Fluff has bad nutritional values. It’s not surprising to hear a lot of people claiming that they “don’t like books with a lot of fluff” or that “that kind of gameplay is too fluffy” simply because they have been experiencing this kind of nourishment and sometimes assume that everything non-mechanical (something which is also defined rather poorly -some other time though-) is by definition fluff.

I disagree (read: you’re wrong.)

Join me in this first trek into the territory of gaming evil as I try to sweep the fluff out of our gameplay. Also, I’d like to say ‘hello!’ to the readers coming here from the RPG Bloggers Network, I hope that you have a good time reading the articles in this site. As always comments and critiques are more than welcome!

There’s a Goblin in my Soup!

After a fantastic week of undisturbed migraine, I come back to the land of the living to bring you a live report on a recent play of Dungeons and Dragons. This time, it’s the heroic tale of both Julius the brave Warlord and Rhynae the insightful Cleric as they faced a pseudo horde of greenish hell in…

There is a Goblin in my Soup!

What sleight of hand will destiny have in store for our heroes, what fiendish plots unravel behind their backs? We will know this and lots more… some other time. This time, raw and uncut, we get to marvel as both these paragons of justice trample over a happy goblin family having lunch.

Gorilla Jam! ep2: Good Vibrations!

We’re picking up the pace in the second episode of Gorilla Jam where we take a look at the makings of a D&D character. Each time we’re moving closer and closer to roleplaying heaven, but before we get there, it’s time to have a little taste of the crunchy D&D cereal bar… remember kids, crunch well to grow up into your paragon years!

This time we tackle the second chapter of the book and have a look at “Making Characters.” Although it should be more accurately named something like “How to Begin the Long and Wonderful Process of Making Characters” I support Wizards of the Coast decision for a shorter and cleaner title. But enough of my rambling, let’s get ready for… eh, more of my rambling!

Rooting for Shiny Disco Balls!

I’ve finished reading [this] post, on the very entertaining Cogito, ergo ludo blog and I wanted to share some thoughts on the topic. Besides, it ties very nicely with the series that I’m writing so it’s even thematically accurate!

So do yourselves a favor and go read that when you have a few minutes. As for me, these are my proverbial two cents on the topic…

Gorilla Jam! ep1: Sailors in the Sea of Fate

I’ve gotten my feet wet with D&D goodness (or madness?) and I’m here to tell the tale of my first days on the road. We’ll take baby steps through the first 3 chapters of the Player’s Handbook in order to prepare ourselves for the 100+ pages rampage through the classes chapter. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we have plenty of material to go through and some pretty pictures to look at (except for the tieflings… you’ll see what I mean.)

I’ll be making pretty specific comments on certain parts of the text, but I will always try to give page references so if you want you can follow along and scream about how utterly wrong/right I am. Everyone ready? Let’s dive in!

Cuddling with the 800 lbs. Gorilla

There is a big bad monkey in my lawn and he is certainly not going away! I recently wrote an entry titled “There is a Gap Between Us”, and I’ve realized that people have mostly gotten the wrong impression from it; the “screaming maniac who thinks that the mere mention of D&D is worse than killing puppies” kind of impression.

That is simply wrong, and you might be rejoiced to know that I harbor a certain affection for that bulky primate. In fact, our bond is so strong that I have set my sights on a fabulous journey of RPG goodness that will take me through all the core books of its latest incarnation as I madly chop and cut to take D&D to its true unD&D potential (hint: that was sarcasm.)