I tossed this up on my blog as I was able to get my hands on the physical copy and look it over myself. I was one of the ones asked in this review what I thought about the art. And While the setting struck me as an interesting one. The Photography in place of… Continue reading Product Review – Corporia
I look away for one second on a Friday and this happens! Well how awesome is that! A whole magazine dedicated to all things Cypher. Well you could not ask for much more awesome than that. Not a lot more to be said then what is on their page at the moment but I wanted… Continue reading Cyphercast is coming!
Today is the last day to have a chance a free copy of Morne Schapp's Savage worlds Winter Eternal in PDF. On Friday I will announce the winner of the contest. Remember for a chance to win all you have to do is head on over to the review I did HERE and leave a… Continue reading Savage Worlds: Winter Eternal Giveaway Winner
One of my most favorite of clans yet so riddled with missteps in how played and GM’S constantly,tragically represent them so poorly.
Hey Clan Malkav,
How you doing? It’s been a while. You have kind of taken a backseat role since WOD transitioned from Masquerade to Requiem. You went from being one of the most popular and fleshed out groups in the franchise to becoming a psychological affliction that peppers bloodsuckers with insanity across the board. You get a cute little section in ‘Ventrue Lords Over the Damned’ but it’s fair to say that you lot have fallen on hard times.
In comparison to the other clans I would argue that you are the most misunderstood, misused and misplayed. Insanity in reality, is scary. I mean, HELLA scary (trust me, I’m like toats an expert with my B.S in psychology). Oftentimes in stories the revelation that all the craziness and death that takes place is caused by one person with unsound thoughts rather than a monster or thing is far more terrifying. Unfortunately, you…
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I find myself with the Blogger on this one. Shocking as most readers will find it a well run game can handle a split party and the game with thrive. But the execution rests on the GM.
This advice is not taken lightly if you are not confident that you can handle the party breaking up tell your players. Be honest with yourself and your fellow gamer’s. If you can no handle a split party you will lose your players fast and it can easily make a great session a boring or even bad session.
Myself I am very confident and comfortable splitting my party. To the point that often the moment my players hit the safe location they scatter to the four winds. Nine times out of ten I handle it like a champ. Some nights rare as they are it is an utter failure. And I have been at this for nearly 30 years !
But my advice do it anyway! your players will thank you for it in the end. Those moments when you pull it off and allow your players to play to their individual strengths and develop. Far outweigh the occasional slow moments.
The most common advice I heard on RPG boards for awhile was “Never split the party.” The reasons for this on both sides of the screen are compelling. As a player, separating the party weakens and exposes you to dangers. As a GM, it makes your work much harder, trying to manage all the separate strands. This makes it great advice for new players or GM’s. If you aren’t new though, it limits you in what you can accomplish in terms of telling diverse stories or enacting cunning plans.
Lets start from a player perspective. Always being grouped together means you can’t really pursue individual goals or stories. Think how much less epic those Vader Luke fights would have been if every time Luke was backed by a wookie, smuggler, two droids, and a princess. Hardly the climatic showdown we all wanted. Or imagine trying to flirt with your first…
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Good read, you are the second person that has mentioned to me how great PoE is. This is now on my list of must play games.
That said these tips are great to any DM/GM as well at the Tabletop. When you make NPC’s that your players value they will grow to love the world around them as much as their own Character.
Making a player put value in an NPC good or bad. Makes every interaction with them that much better. This is a wonderful way to curb the much hated Murder Hobo groups that DM’s dread.
But much like any MMO. Not everyone needs a name. Suzy the barmaid only requires a name if she is addressed by the players and they engage her in conversation. Until that time she is just a Drone on auto pilot. This goes for any other NPC that is not a key character in your stories.
MMORPG published an article a few days ago: 5 Things MMOs Could Learn from Pillars of Eternity. It was good to see characters and story near the top of this list.
Some reader comments on the article are skeptical, suggesting that single player RPGs and MMOs are different categories, but no. Characters should be the #1 most important thing in anything fiction, and every video game is fiction.
No? When you think of Mortal Kombat, what comes to mind? The gameplay or the characters? What about driving games? GTA is the best-selling driving franchise of all time, edging out Mario Kart. And Mario Kart is called Mario Kart.
MMOs tend to overwhelm players with too many throw-away character names. Pillars of Eternity tries to avoid this trap. Instead of naming every villager, PoE just calls them villagers.
One of the companion NPCs in PoE, written by…
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Passing along the call for gamer’s helping gamer’s !
Meet Serene, a courageous teen battling cancer
Earlier today I came across a gentleman named Ric M. in one of the many buy/sell/trade groups I belong to on Facebook who posted he was considering selling off his collection to raise funds for his daughter’s cancer treatment expenses. His situation hit me link a ton of bricks! I am a parent and a grandparent and I can’t imagine being this guy’s shoes, but I would do the same thing that he is doing without thinking twice. I love my family more than my books or my hobby.
Ric and I have never met or gamed together, but I felt compelled to action. He and I chatted at length this evening and I arranged to purchase several items I needed to fill in holes in my collection of older D&D books and module sets and I was happy to support his efforts…
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Runkle Plays Games 