Von’gleas thoughts on Lolth’s religion

More pages from Of Drow and Lolth. As abhorent and disgusting as one may find the rituals of Lolth’s preistesses there is a macbre spirituality to the practices. The author in no way, shape, means, or forms condones live sacrifices, torture, or lustful debauchary. Well the later may be acceptible within a group of concenting adults, but I digress… When one observes the theology of the demon queen of spiders there is a profound albeit dark spirituality. The central tenant presented by Lolth to her followers is the amassing and exercising of personal power. This is the ultimate goal of …

GenCon Online after thoughts

This was the very first online GenCon. It was sad not to attend the best four days in gaming live and in person. I think that the on-line experience that was put together in such a short time was good. It felt like GenCon when I was watching Twitch streams or browsing in the virtual exhibit hall. The virtual exhibit hall was brilliant. Who ever came up with that presentation model deserves many accolades. It was chaotic and packed with places to visit and companies to explore. It was a good approximation for being in the hall. Websites and Youtube …

Von’gleas’ thoughts on Drow Elf Culture: matron mothers

Pages from Of Drow and Lolth The writings of the wandering Mage Von’gleas are rare and special. His academic works may be found in secret stashes of the Harpers or in restricted sections of the library at Silverymoon. Often referred to as the “mad mage” or the “vagabond vizer” Von’gleas seems to be able to learn much and documents it; whether the subject of the work cares to be documented or not. Rumor posits that his head in a burlap sack will fetch a king’s ransom in many courts and lairs across and under Toril. The only problem is that …

The road to GenCon

This summer I had planned on going to Origins and skipping GenCon and then life happened and I was in Vermont in June and busy. This August I find myself in a position to get to Indy for the best four days in gaming, so why not. Getting into the GenCon mindset this late in the game has introduces some challenges. I haven’t been following the normal YouTubers or really paying attention to the BGG GenCon preview forums. I am far too late for any of the exclusive content from Fantasy Flight (Thanks FF for artificial scarcity, Not!) so that’s …

Traveller T5 first impressions

The PDF files for the recently concluded Traveller T5 3 big black books have been released to backers via drivethrurpg. I’ve read through Book 1 and here are my initial impressions: Wow. It feels like the little black book. These PDFs are visually similar with a simple black and white presentation and a writing style that is concise and focused. For modern RPG people this will be a very different experience from the glossy full color pages with rules explained in great detail in multiple sections. I have started on Book 2 and the same feel and style are consistent. …

New Pathfinder ACG Core set

The new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game core set arrived at the house yesterday. I broke it open and read the rules. The rule book has an excellent section for those of us who have played this game a bunch to highlight the new rules and some of the changed terminology. Tonight I tried the starter adventure a few times with one character and it did not go well. These are some of the changes: Locations that have small, medium, and large deck settings that controls how many cards are at each location. Blessings have specific powers vs the generic give …

Traveller vs Starfinder

Sci-fi role playing games have been around for a long time and I have been a fan since I first found the Traveller box set in the 1980s.  A few decades later I found myself caught up in the Starfinder release by Paizo and ran a year of Starfinder Society play.  I found that both systems had strengths and weaknesses and may appeal to different groups of players. Starfinder is a science-fantasy RPG that is based in the Pathfinder universe.  The game is very much a mixture of science fiction and fantasy.  There is magic in this game and hi-tech.  …

DCC Road Show

I have run two open DCC games now at the Randolph campus of Vermont Tech.  Each game has a unique set of players so I did the Portal Under the Stars for both games and ran a level 0 funnel.  Fair warning: I will be mentioning some Portal Under the Stars spoilers. Game 1 The first game was with some people in my 5e D&D group who have played together for a long time.  They enjoyed the simplified DCC system and really like the idea of the funnel and disposable characters.  The first fatality was met with laughter as a …

Pulp Detective — a review

Pulp Detective is a solo card and dice game set in the mystery/detective genre of the 1930-40s  The art work is very thematic and reminds me of comics like The Shadow. The setup is easy.  You pick a detective from a list of characters.  Each detective has a unique special power that you can use during play.  You have two other cards: one tracks which item is in your inventory and the other tracks stamina (aka health) and how many clues you have found. You have a set number of hours to collect enough clues to confront the villain and …

Origins vs. GenCon

A few folks have asked me about conventions in general and GenCon in particular.  I wanted to share my impression about the two summer time shows in the mid-west. First GenCon.  It is big and crowded and expensive.  It’s the “best four days in gaming” because it is the primary show in the U.S. for most publishers to make big product announcements and releases.  Paizo, Asmodee, Arcane Wonders, Fantasy Flight, Upper Deck, and all the other industry leaders bring new and exciting things to GenCon every year.  It makes sense, this is where those companies can get the most exposure …