Completed GenCon registration last night and I’m excited enough about it to post here.  I completely forgot about registration on Sunday, and man-oh-man do games sell out fast!  By Monday night I was left with slim RPG pickings (made even slimmer by the fact that I needed to find games with at least 2 open seats because my wife is attending with me.)  In the end I was forced to pick some games I wouldn’t traditionally pick, which may be a good thing.  In addition, I had to fill in a lot of gaps with board and card games.  If nothing else, this year will be an adventure!  (Say that last word the way Flapjack would say it.)

Carcassonne – board game – I have yet to play this game.  I Like Catan, and was told I would really like this.

Bob and Bob Again – D20 Modern -  We play clones manufactured by Department 7 for short-term missions.  Do I detect a bit of a Paranoia vibe?

Quackery: The Game of Medieval Medicine – card game – Sounds like a fun little game where you apply wacky logic to diagnosing ailments.

Space Junkyard Board Game – board game – A fast, family-friendly game about refurbishing junk to make a bigger, better ship.

Revolution – card game – I’ve been hearing good things from the Steve Jackson guys about this one.

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword – Vampire: The Requiem – I haven’t played in a Vampire game in a long time, so this should be a nice return.

Ergo – card game – Battling philosophers try to prove that their opponents don’t exist!

Cave Troll – board game – I will try any Fantasy Flight game at least once.

Letter of Marque – card game – I know nothing about this game, but I needed to fill an hour.  Its description of sailing and trade in the classic days of sail sounded provoking enough.

Unity Underground – Run and Gun Engine – A game still in play testing.  It is a dystopian future where we get to play warriors trying to “stick it to the man.”

This is a set of mechanics to represent personality and its change over time in terms of some abstract game mechanics.  As it is presented it will function with all editions of D&D, but could easily be modified to fit just about any RPG system.  This system is not meant to replace role playing.  The idea is to provide a context to define a character’s personality to other players, as well as a way to have a character’s personality have some effect on other mechanical elements in a game.  This system is largely inspired by the traits and passions from the Pendragon system. read more »

Pictures of a game of 40K against my wife.  I was playing Eldar, she was playing Necrons. read more »

On occasion I get the urge to sit down and mash together favorite bits of rules from different systems.  This article covers a mash-up that starts with 2ed D&D and adds in some Hackmaster Basic, Savage Worlds, and 3.5ed/4ed.  The actual rules doc is presented in PDF format and a direct link can be found at the bottom of this article.  The article itself serves partly as a summary of the rules changes, and partly as a designer diary into my thinking behind the changes.  The PDF is a first draft and is just a dump of information–there isn’t much formatting or pretty layout.  It was written with the idea that the reader is at least familiar with the 2ed rules set.  Since your tastes will likely vary anyways, you might just want to use this as a jumping-off point for adding some of your own radical rules ideas. read more »

I’m putting together a list of stereotypes for character ideas.  I’m building the list using iconic characters from movies and fiction.  It is my intention to use this list to build personalities for characters that will be used in some one-shot games, but I’m sure the list could also be used for instant NPCs and such.  Here is my list so far: read more »

I recently donated $20 to Haiti at RPGNow and got the free $1500 PDF bundle.  In that bundle was “3:16, Carnage Amonst the Stars“.  It is a game about trigger-happy human marines venturing out into the galaxy and killing every life form they come across.  I haven’t played it yet, but it is a tight little rules system that seems tremendously fun for some low-prep gaming.  Of particular note is the simple combat system that still manages to produce rather colorful results.  In fact, the whole game is simple–simple enough that younger kids could play it.  Of course, the genocide of the entire galaxy seems a bit of a heavy subject for children.  Even if you toned down the violence, I think the underlying theme and statements might go a bit over their heads.

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James Raggi over at LotFP has issued a request:  Come up with a devious trick to unleash on your players.  One so dirty and evil that it will undoubtedly make them want to quit your game.  Here is my idea:

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Just a couple of short ideas I’ve used recently. They both worked well, so I thought I would share.

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Left 4 Dead is a fun game. It isn’t an incredibly deep game, but what it does have, it has in spades. This intense shooter is ripe for some sort of tabletop game. While an RPG would be fun (and my pick for system would either be All Flesh Must Be Eaten or Savage Worlds,) there is something about a tabletop miniatures game that appeals to me. It requires no prep time, can be played relatively quickly, and focuses on lots of frantic combat. My go-to game for that right now is Warhammer 40K.

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I have seen some attempts at firearms for 4ed (and some good ones, at that,) but they all tend to focus on the black powder variety.  That is just fine for running games about pirates, steam-punk, or other period pieces.  What if you want to represent modern technology?  Here is the goal of this rules attempt:
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