tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80884035891905922652011-11-27T19:25:56.058-05:00A DM's quest for gaming Nirvana (or Mecanus, or the Abyss...)ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.comBlogger1271100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-90343151116090732732007-11-10T22:17:00.001-05:002007-11-11T22:50:33.664-05:00

Oh well, it went a lot easier than expected!The physical move to my new Fortress of Crunch has been successful. Not perfect, but successful.I will pull the plug on this here blog-iteration soon. I would appreciate you saunter on to my new HQ.... just be careful not to bump in Ogre Laborers while visiting the place.Thanks for reading, this move to swankier quarters would not have happened if it

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-67902848448946974742007-11-10T19:16:00.000-05:002007-11-10T20:25:33.136-05:00

Decrypted from a junk post on alt.conspiracy.inconnu on November 8, 2007. Author: woKened_up_S75. It's so easy to steal copies of classified reports when you happen to be the one who wrote them... well at least, technically speaking I did.I finally made the classes and am just one day shy of being a fully licensed Intrusion Detection Agency agent (IDA for all those Cold-War nostalgics ). Yup, I

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-7495058579642437692007-11-10T06:35:00.000-05:002007-11-10T07:06:49.636-05:00

Sketch by Veronica Pare (She's awesome!!!!)I just secured my very own domain name (Thanks Ve4!) and opened me an honest to God Web site!I installed Wordpress on it... you can see it in all it's empty splendor at:chattydm.net (simple, elegant, refined... so totally unlike me!)It will have its own email (chattydm(at)chattydm(dot)(net).Here's my planned to do list:Choose a cool theme (which will

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-48427802370094217282007-11-09T22:53:00.000-05:002007-11-09T23:02:33.699-05:00

A few days ago, my good friend Stupid Ranger posted on inspiration about playing the game and writing about it in the blog. In that post I added a comment about an interesting experience I had with my friend Math. I'm reposting an expanded version of the comment here... not very original I agree, but I'd like to keep a version open for discussion over here.Some time between this game and that

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-59328646482341064822007-11-09T05:00:00.000-05:002007-11-09T08:24:19.891-05:00

Well it was only a matter of time. Franky went completely bonkers over Monte's World of Darkness d20 game and he's bought d20 Modern, the Menace Manual and other books of the genre...I can't say I blame him... I mean look at my library... and those are mostly 3.5 books!Anyhoo, while we were supposed to have Franky's game as a filler for when we couldn't reach Quorum for mine, Franky really

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-10603184359517616952007-11-08T09:07:00.001-05:002007-11-09T05:19:00.417-05:00

Part 1 can be found here. The players decided to go explore the Necropolis to find where the seven plant-creatures that survived the streets of Ptolus were headed for. They met once again with the leaders of the Keepers of the Veil who gave them another healing package (a 5 charge wand of Restoration and a few potions of Cure Moderate wounds).Aside: One of our House rules is that no skills are

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-51058459675545948442007-11-07T13:40:00.000-05:002007-11-09T05:25:07.249-05:00

Previously on Phil's game...Our yet unnamed band of heroes foiled the plans of evil Fey renegades by breaking up their drug ring in the Warrens of Ptolus. Said drug whose mellowing effect hides a terrifying price for those who abuse it: complete and irreversible transformation in a hideous plant-like humanoid monster. The Heroes then return to the Keepers of the Veil in order to report their

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-62741784094527987612007-11-06T20:11:00.000-05:002007-11-07T13:40:09.941-05:00

After the extreme crunchiness of the last few days, here is some lighter fare. It's time for another edition of Lillie's Journal written by Yan! As promised, I'll follow up tomorrow with my DM Chronicles of the same game but from the DM's view (with a little extras that covers the things Lillie wasn't party to in last Friday's game).Prior posts of this series can be found here. Enjoy!As I'm

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-5639009433025990632007-11-05T14:49:00.000-05:002007-11-06T21:57:57.994-05:00

Now this is one lengthy crunchy post, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did writing it. Although I must admit that I've never worked so hard for a role playing game before. Monte, Wolfgang and all game designers, developers and writers out there, you have my utmost and eternal respect!Part 1 can be found here.Here is a new D&D-compatible 20 level core character class (complete with old

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-4616171925181897372007-11-05T05:39:00.000-05:002007-11-05T05:53:57.825-05:00

It seems that my strategy to contain the Spambot invasion within the same post has backfired on me as they ingeniously started throwing Sex ads... more than 10 just last night. Such links are not what I want on this blog.So on top of deleting them all, I activated Blogger's Word Verification system for comments (Colloquially called Captcha).Which means that in order for you to leave a comment,

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-4004581090428009972007-11-04T19:37:00.000-05:002007-11-04T21:48:38.839-05:00

One of the core premises of our current campaign is "Play the character you want to play". As this is possibly our last D&D 3.5 game, we agreed that everyone would play along these lines, irrespective of party roles ... if there was to be no rogues or clerics, so be it, a large part of the loot was going to pay for healing and Reflex Save buffs.As mentioned before, once the campaign started, we

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-63883756252466663452007-11-04T06:16:00.000-05:002007-11-04T07:27:05.730-05:00

Posted on November 4, 2007I have been posting some open game content of the D&D game for quite some time now with the usual nonchalance of the internet user. While I've been joking about how having a Cease and Desist letter by Wizards would validate this blog's existence, I don't actually want any real beef with anyone. Especially if this blogging gig ever develops in anything.Furthemore, I

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-24773214659773139642007-11-03T16:19:00.000-04:002007-11-03T17:21:32.255-04:00

We had a great game yesterday and I'll have a lot to say about it soon. However, I'd like to post Yan's journal entry 1st so I can build on it instead of playing it safe. So you'll see it all later this week.Yesterday before the game, I went to my Favorite Local Game Store (FLGS) to buy Franky's birthday gift (which is going to be great for his new McWod game).I also bought an ancient copy of

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-37687022247813272312007-11-02T14:31:00.001-04:002007-11-02T14:47:28.150-04:00

As you may have noticed, Spambots have started landing on my Four on the Floor Meme post.I don't intend to do anything other than delete them as they come.... As long as they stay confined to this post, which, oddly enough, is the only post that has a backlink to it.I'd really rather not have to activate a Captcha (unless I find one like Shamus that shows a unique really simple word) or activate

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-66675467159394415852007-11-01T15:37:00.000-04:002007-11-04T06:10:41.697-05:00

This is PM's second post of his Casual Player approach to D&D. Once again, PM's wry humour entertains us in his tale of confronting his fears about that nasty multi-headed beast that is Role-Playing!Last week, my inner half-orc took a few steps out of the closet and while it was a bit scary out there, nothing bad happened. Well nothing too bad. I might not have absolute proof of this, but I

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-39420535478570785512007-10-31T15:07:00.000-04:002007-11-01T08:39:26.310-04:00

This is a boring, repeating preface nobody reads anymore. It links to stuff I wrote some time ago that has a vague thematic link to what I'm about to write here...Actually this is a Very D&D specific Trope post. It features a lot of Crunchy bits... like the candy I'm eating right now...The kids are trick or treating with my adorable gamer-friendly wife. My five-year old Sith Lord and my 4

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-17321678288747252712007-10-30T15:41:00.000-04:002007-10-31T02:55:47.884-04:00

Okay, so this week's game is a transition from my adaptation of the Vile Addiction adventure (From Dungeon Magazine #145) to its sequel, Spawn of Sehan from #146.Going in this week's preparations, I had the following goals:Focus the adventure on the more impatient Butt Kickers like Eric and Math to make up for last game's Storyteller's festival.Introduce Stef's new Character, a Half-Dragon (Brass

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-43248557271269346402007-10-29T19:27:00.000-04:002007-10-30T08:10:24.825-04:00

Tonight I had planned to write an Adventure Prep post for this week's game, but I don't have a lot of time and will do it Tuesday evening. Instead I'm whipping up a short post on some Fluffy tools I use to better create a sense of immersion in our games.One of the walls of my basement gaming room features 2 very useful props.1) A large Vinyl map of Ptolus, the city where the campaign is based.

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-12421582040620020072007-10-28T17:48:00.000-04:002007-10-29T07:51:50.490-04:00

As I was gearing up for preparing this week's game, I reviewed the player's 'satisfaction levels' with their characters. By tackling this early this week, I might be able to address any issues before Friday's game.For those who follow the antics of my gaming group (either from my logs or from a Yan's) you probably noticed that everything is going pretty smoothly for Eric (Book of 9 Swords'

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-18013335173769712802007-10-27T19:12:00.000-04:002007-10-28T14:51:42.664-04:00

I'm having a successful run with my posts on coolness and applying tropes to tabletop RPGs. Today I'd like to start a new series that tackles the actual tropes that generate from Tabletop roleplaying instead of other narrative media. The idea came to me while reading a tabletop RPG debate on the TV Tropes forum.Once again, a trope can be defined as:A common pattern or theme within a narrative

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-83961005437713635162007-10-26T06:22:00.000-04:002007-10-27T10:23:52.558-04:00

This post features extensive spoilers for the 1st Pathfinder Adventure path adventure "Burnt Offering"Last night we played the introduction D&D game I talked about earlier this week. It was a good game and while I completely realize that I might be expecting too much from D&D, it could have gone better.... but this time, it was the Dice's fault, and not so much my own set!I traveled to the Sunny

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-23287744196973820672007-10-26T05:07:00.000-04:002007-10-26T06:25:21.317-04:00

Meta-blogging post alert...After nearly 2 months of Ad Sense and referral adds, I pulled in a Whopping 2$ (Canadian, mind you). I initially put ads on the page because I was curious to see how it worked.Since I'm nowhere near the threshold 1000 pageviews a day point (which would land about 0,15$ a day), I average between 200 and 300 page views a day (sometimes mostly mine it seems... lol!), its

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-48412732270265553202007-10-25T19:16:00.001-04:002007-10-26T07:39:45.120-04:00

Image Source: Paizo's Pathfinder Wallpaper found here*.According to Google Analytics, the 1st search result that lands people here is 'Pathfinder' (at 11,6%), right before my 'Nom de Plume' (which doesn't mean 'My name is Plum!'). So there seems to be some genuine interest in Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Magazine on the Web. Since I just got issue #2 from the the mail this afternoon (as my

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-76952312393134007492007-10-24T20:08:00.000-04:002007-10-25T20:50:23.892-04:00

Image Source: The one and only PM!This is part of a continuing series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki.Ahhhh Evil, evil, evil... Misunderstood, detectable, and too often Color Coded so the characters can know, beyond the

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-45958060631947781232007-10-24T11:27:00.000-04:002007-10-24T15:01:36.553-04:00

As we where heading back to find the drug lab, seven other Spriggan were blocking our path.They were the remaining force of the Dogbane House and they got to see the unconscious form of their leader, Raketi in our grasp. To my surprise they started talking to me in Sylvan, stating that they had been mislead by Raketi and brought in this disgraceful situation by his actions. They did not really

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-50539890124656067002007-10-23T18:17:00.000-04:002007-10-24T06:04:00.833-04:00

Since PM posted his first 'Perspective' post yesterday, I thought it was the perfect timing for posting this Adventure Prep/Response to PM's postNext Friday, PM has agreed to get a few friends together and allow me to DM an introductory D&D game. I feel honored to be entrusted a mission so many of us geeks have botched one way or the other... and that is showing D&D to new players without

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-43002900561803238012007-10-23T13:49:00.000-04:002007-10-24T20:09:40.147-04:00

Image Source: PM himself with a little help with a South Park creator, I would guess.Chatty DM: Welcome to the first of what I hope will become a series of posts by PM. PM is a friend of ours who has yet to succumb to the sweet call of RPGs, but the Evil Overlord in me can sense him weakening by the hour. He's quite good and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.Leave comments, I'm sure he'll

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-20325001945609934922007-10-22T21:33:00.000-04:002007-10-23T09:03:07.622-04:00

This is just a short meta-blogging message to mark my 100th post in this here blog. I can't believe that in only 10 weeks I wrote between 70 000 and 100 000 words already!Isn't that like a novel or something?While I originally was doing this for myself and some of my players (and I still do, to some extent) I remain amazed that some of you take a few minutes a day to drop by, read my ramblings

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-62966793000041879832007-10-22T20:40:00.001-04:002007-10-23T06:41:50.865-04:00

What a day! Well just as I finished writing my last entry Cruguer complained that I did not pay enough attention to his martial exploits. Well this is something I surely intend to pay attention to from now on.So let’s get down to business. We are in this cave, discussing our next course of action when we see some lights coming from the various exits.Quickly the others hide their sunrods from what

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-45677920124589537812007-10-22T10:29:00.000-04:002007-10-22T15:35:22.555-04:00

See here for the 1st part of this DM log.So the characters, victorious over the Big Bad and his sidekick, were battered, bruised and the players were showing the 1st signs of being tired (it was getting close to 9 pm). I still had 9 Spriggan mooks and a lab to go through.That's when inspiration struck me... I wanted to give the players an opportunity to 'defeat' the mooks without a fight but

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-72552887236763168382007-10-21T09:46:00.000-04:002007-10-21T18:16:32.269-04:00

Image Source: Me, Simpsonize me and The GimpHot on the heels of Dr Rotwang's sexy robotic revamp and similar makeovers over at Critical-Hits, Dungeonmastering and Treasure Tables, I decided to leave behind Blogger's default header and go with a more personal touch.With a mug shot, the Simpsonize me site and a lot of help from PM's Photoshoppery and HTML tampering skills I must say I really

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-43396496735388114082007-10-21T09:07:00.000-04:002007-10-21T15:43:53.610-04:00

Image Source: Wizards of the Coast.Previously in Chatty DM's game:The Characters were investigating the source of a new drug called 'Green Welcome' that appeared in the Warrens of Ptolus. This drug has a tendency to transforms its users in horrible Plant-like creatures. Following a tip by a shady dealer, our heroes have started exploring a sewer complex. Some resistance was met and

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-68077797675859599272007-10-19T23:20:00.000-04:002007-10-19T23:37:57.123-04:00

I just came back from one of the best Gaming evening I've had in quite some time. I think our gaming group might be close to returning to the performing stage!However, I don't have time to write about it just yet. It's very late, I'm tired and I have a Halloween party to prepare for tomorrow night.I'll be back on Sunday with a DM log post that I think you'll enjoy.If you're bored this weekend,

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-9275004116050024992007-10-18T18:18:00.001-04:002007-10-19T08:53:13.247-04:00

I see that after a bit less than 24 hours of polling, my pain-med induced Overlord Crunch of Madness posts aren't that popular. I still need to see this one to the end though.I'm therefore giving this post a double mandate: Finish off what I started against my Nemesis and giving you a few examples of what DMs shouldn't allow in their D&D games.As an added bonus, I'm giving extra ammunition to

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-61595847352456943852007-10-17T10:14:00.000-04:002007-10-18T09:47:07.919-04:00

Unrelated Preface: I had dinner with Yax of Dungeonmastering.com on Monday night. He's in Montreal for a few months and I'm glad I got to meet a fellow blogger. Yax sure is passionate about what he does and he has a plan... (which makes him a Cylon, obviously. Don't be fooled by his boyish Dr. Baltar look!)(Its a joke Yax!)(Get him people!!!!)It's finally our D&D week. Once again

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-14174927805505259822007-10-16T19:55:00.001-04:002007-10-17T13:05:03.343-04:00

Image Source: WotC's Ravenloft baby!This is part of a continuing series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki.This afternoon, while Gtalking with PM, my new Troper partner-in-crime, he proposed an interesting one for the

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-23584196126662935062007-10-15T20:16:00.000-04:002007-10-29T19:28:32.001-04:00

Image Source: Wizards of the Coast (I'm baiting for a Cease and Desist letter, I know... hope this falls under fair use)Last time we left our current D&D game, I left my players in the middle of a Sewers-based Dungeon Crawltaken from the Vile Addiction adventure in Dungeon Magazine #145, much to the dismay of some of the party members.Now this week's game is all ready and I could sit on my

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-83053548317453356092007-10-14T20:02:00.001-04:002007-10-15T20:21:19.159-04:00

Image Source: The Epic Barbarian, Wizards of the Coast. Having finished the series on the 4-stages of team development in terms of an RPG gaming group, I'm now tackling a new one: Joining the concept of Emotional Intelligence to successful DMing. Think about the best DM you've ever played with, or if you've never had one, think about the best teacher or coach you ever had. Chances are, they were

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-45184129781014570542007-10-13T16:12:00.002-04:002007-10-14T21:43:22.039-04:00

While my minions toll away at building my Ultimate Crunch army of Ultimate Power to crush the Fluff Kingdom, I have a game to prepare for next Friday.Recent musings by Dante over at Stupid Ranger has made me ponder about the number of D&D books and gaming aids I use....I have a lot of them (D&D being my main personal hobby with Magic the Gathering and D&D Online). So here's a list and the

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-75184805311234578532007-10-12T19:57:00.000-04:002007-10-13T06:27:59.886-04:00

Image Source: WotC's Player's Handbook II There we are. After 5 weeks, here's the last player profile of my gaming group. For the other four, have a look here.What character do you play in our current D&D campaign? (Name, Race Class)? Nogard Rinevedne, Dragon Shaman (Chatty DM: When you read the name in reverse, it means ‘Dragon to Be’ in French…. Yeah, Stef is the silent but clever one)

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-10326665299434259122007-10-12T10:25:00.000-04:002007-10-12T14:01:52.329-04:00

Image Source: Done by Elmore, owned by WotCThe silliness with Wolfgang Baur will run it's course shortly and I will return with more of my usual stuff. I'm home, on pain meds following a minor surgery so I'm a bit on the silly side lately. Please bear with me. Oddly enough, it's quite an intersting study on Fluff vs Crunch for me. And no, the irony that a duel of Wits with Wolfgang is 100%

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-39047220500882841632007-10-11T12:49:00.000-04:002007-10-16T20:42:50.215-04:00

Image Source: Once again, RPGnet's Forum.To arms!My Fluff Nemesis, Master Wolfgang Baur, has found out about my nefarious plans to topple his empire of Fluff and has already started to maneuver to foil my mad Crunchy schemes!Aside: Well, to be honest, I did tell him about the Nemesis thing, how fun is it to scheme when your blood enemy doesn't even know about you?To me, my Crunchy minions! He

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-14156733290428111312007-10-11T05:56:00.000-04:002007-10-11T11:54:54.792-04:00

Dante touched a nerve today in his post on scheduling conflicts for RPG sessions.I have been playing with a rather stable group for about 8 years. Enough to take us from our early to mid-twenties well into our early Thirties.Babies were had, house were bought and jobs with traveling occurred.While my non-gamer wife (who get's my gaming) is a pearl and is ready to takes over solo parenting duty

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-25936732484536256962007-10-10T20:05:00.000-04:002007-10-11T06:55:47.690-04:00

This is part of a series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki.Description: a DM's main weapon and canvas to paint the world in which the players cavort.Wowing the players with descriptions is not always an easy task

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-35412269830099730122007-10-09T13:32:00.000-04:002007-10-25T20:51:33.328-04:00

I finished reading the 1st issue of Paizo's Pathfinder #1 and I maintain my 1st impression that it's one of the best D&D compatible products I've seen in a long time (they can't say it but I can).The 1st adventure, called Burnt Offering, takes characters from level 1 to level 4 (or more) and features fluffy and crunchy new twists on the low-level threat that are goblins. Think Gremlins meet

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-75184569092795408022007-10-08T19:49:00.001-04:002007-10-09T01:45:27.076-04:00

Image Source: Monte Cook's World of Darkness d20 cover.Hot on the heels of the 'Why do you DM' post, and to address the 64% of readers that play at least some of the time, here's the follow up questions:Why do you play a player character in a tabletop RPG? What are the top 3 reasons why you continue to be a non-DM player in such games?My answer on that will be rather short since I don't often

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-84072826404925750862007-10-08T06:14:00.000-04:002007-10-09T09:56:03.846-04:00

Image Source: Sorry couldn't resist... :)Post-publication clarifications: I ended up getting a few facts wrong (eg: cRPG vs MMORPG) and making erroneous assumptions in the post and the comments (eg: 'Jake's' age). For that I humbly apologize to Ve4grm. However, I think that, as written, the post remains an interesting case study.In Yesterday's post where I asked why you DMed, Ve4grm shared

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-16381805463982869902007-10-06T15:17:00.000-04:002007-10-08T09:10:28.768-04:00

Thrommel, the head Admin. from the 'Okay.. Your Turn' forums posed a good question a few days ago:"A DM carries a staggering amount of responsibility for game preparation, rules knowledge, storytelling and social interaction-- especially when compared to the players, who often just have to show up and roll the dice. It's a lot of work, far more than playing. So why do you do it?"While I'll

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-90884878517213460762007-10-05T14:57:00.000-04:002007-10-06T06:56:28.861-04:00

Image Source: Shamus Young's most excellent DM of the Ring Webcomic (used with permission, thanks man!).Here's the fourth Player Profile from my gaming group. All previous profiles can be found here. What character do you play in our current D&D campaign? (Name, Race Class)?I play Aravar, an elven Duskblade that's been tweaked out to feel like an Arcane Archer. What Quote would best

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-83450118794045446712007-10-04T19:59:00.001-04:002007-10-06T12:50:51.285-04:00

Image Source: RPGnet's Forums.This is part of a series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki.Quite a number of tropes exist solely because of the Rule of Cool. I've already covered the Blade Run in a very Crunchy way.

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-48609323644332397222007-10-03T14:24:00.000-04:002007-10-05T16:20:53.970-04:00

Images Source: RPGnet's Forums.At last! We come to the conclusion of this 5 part series that compares the development of a RPG gaming group with that of a workplace team through the concepts of the 4-stages of team development. See the Introduction, Forming, Storming and Norming stages that lead to this last post.Your players spontaneously discuss, in-character no less, the approach to a

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-36474410278387669282007-10-02T19:23:00.000-04:002007-10-06T09:51:07.725-04:00

I'm hosting a pair of scientists for a quality audit of my lab on Wednesday and Thursday (I'm a Quality Officer in a Genomics service lab). I'm more or less focused on this so I have little creative juices for this here blog.But never fear dear reader, let's see what excellent stuff I browsed lately that might be of interest to you.Lawful Stupids vs Chaotic Jerks Vanir of StupidRanger.com talks

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-81040463644211120422007-10-02T12:10:00.000-04:002007-10-06T07:15:23.837-04:00

Image Source: Mille Bornes! (What? You never played that game???)This here blog thingnie hit the 100 unique visitor's in a day mark for the 1st time yesterday at midnight.And that was before Martin's shout-out this morning (Thanks so much, it means a lot to me)!I might as well spend a few lines to talk about where I want to go from here.I wrote an insane number of posts in September and I know I

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-29285733124939771482007-10-02T05:34:00.000-04:002007-10-04T08:36:33.301-04:00

This is the final part of Yan's second Player log. See the 1st part here.At the shop everything went smoothly. Our shadier-looking members went in, pretending to be from another town and explaining they wanted to extend the market of this drug called Green Welcome. They gave the shop keeper a large bribe and he gave us his source without too much hesitation.It seems that he was getting his

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-39796669524694593122007-10-01T23:40:00.000-04:002007-10-02T05:34:01.046-04:00

I'm still working on the Big Eyes, Small Mouth-Pokemon game for my 5 year-old son. I also read Dante's and Martin's excellent post on Improvising. I'm taking notes here!I bought 2 starters of The Pokemon Trading figure Game. My son whips my butt on a consistent basis and he loves those spinning figurines. I now have an Ash and a Pikachu figurine for the 'party'I also bought a Pokemon Trading

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-46162895023443421812007-10-01T06:19:00.000-04:002007-10-01T11:15:42.877-04:00

This is Yan's second Player log. He tells the story of our game from his PC's perspective. That's why I now leave out plot points and details form my DM logs. Yan is an up and coming storyteller and it's fun to see him flex his creative muscles on a new venture. Thanks for fighting the inertia man!A Fey’s Journal 2nd Entry As I’m writing these few lines we are yet again… (Cruguer! Stop

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-54257863484642180902007-09-30T05:56:00.000-04:002007-09-30T18:30:54.612-04:00

It's 6h00 on a Sunday Morning. My 5-year old son is watching Captain Flamingo on the Tube. I'm looking at the blog's stats ,still somewhat bemused to have at least 58 unique visitors day in day out (I need to go to California, apparently they dig me over there!). I'm also touching up on typos and grammar mishaps here and there. I'm fighting the urge to spend hours on Facebook (do drop in if

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-90763930350486541702007-09-29T20:28:00.000-04:002007-10-15T22:29:59.937-04:00

Three weeks ago, I sent a questionnaires to my 5 D&D players. I finally got all 5 responses (in exchange for 750 xp each) and I'm posting the 3rd one today, along with my usual editorial comments. See here and here for previous postings.What character do you play in our current D&D campaign? (Name, Race, Class)? Cixi, Sparkless (Iron Hero) Human(?) Archer (With the strength to use a

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-35012013682910888042007-09-29T05:48:00.001-04:002007-09-29T13:20:18.906-04:00

Image Source: WotC D&D Miniature GameAfter having skipped a week from our usual bi-monthly game, I was really looking forward for this week's. One of our players, Stef, had to stay home because his Wife was away and he was with the kids. So I offered to move the game over there.So I rolled all the battlemaps I had prepared, packed the ziplocked minis, the adventure, the USB key with DM Wiki,

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-69581552049431580582007-09-28T09:51:00.001-04:002007-10-25T20:51:00.913-04:00

Like a lot of Dungeon magazine subscribers, it's with shock and apprehension that I learned about WotC's revocation of the Dungeon and Dragon magazine licenses.For those who don't know yet, Paizo, the publisher of the two magazines, created a new D&D 3.5 compatible adventure magazine (they just don't say it out loud) called Pathfinder to replace both canceled mags. All subscribers were given

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-64177737493531049142007-09-27T22:33:00.001-04:002007-10-02T11:23:28.006-04:00

We continue with the third topic in this discussion on the life stages of a RPG gaming group that borrows heavily on the work place team development concept.So far we covered the definition of a RPG Team, it's forming stage and the harsher Storming Stage. When the storm becomes unbearable there are two choices opened to a RPG gaming group, die or go into...NormingYour group develops a Social

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-26488824368008155432007-09-27T08:47:00.000-04:002007-09-27T09:34:28.522-04:00

Image Source: Necromancer games' Mother of all Encounter Tables.It's Thursday and as I've seen a surge in reading on that day, what better time to serve a post of mini-musings? I'm playing tomorrow and I'm taking the evening off from prepping and blogging to recharge my mental batteries before the game. But as I get ready to play, the usual assault of ideas hits me...Adapting a published

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-26200050192509683032007-09-26T18:44:00.001-04:002007-09-26T21:32:34.789-04:00

Image Source: Chatty DM's game roomIt's no secret, since the seventies, D&D has arguably been mostly about two things:Kill StuffTake their lootA lot of people were content with that (and still are). I have been for a long time. However, as I played D&D 3.0, and later 3.5, I realized that we had matured to a point where character development became a more important parts of the plots that I

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-10681482321605048272007-09-25T21:05:00.001-04:002007-09-25T21:46:20.471-04:00

Image Source: Do I really need to? :) I'm prepping this week's game tonight so I'll keep the post a bit on the short side. Greywulf commented on this post earlier today* and shared his most excellent tricks to save time in RPG combats (dude, I'm like Keanu now, whoa!)One of his tricks literally set my crunch-loving-but-lazy DM brain on fire:As GM, I keep a Hit Point pool for groups of monsters

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-90528579423822095682007-09-24T20:30:00.000-04:002007-09-25T05:39:18.060-04:00

Image Source: D&D 3.5 Monster ManualThis is part of a series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki."I'm sorry, you've never faced a troll before, so you're not supposed to know that fire damage is lethal. That's Metagaming""

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-69146650154756657362007-09-23T22:20:00.000-04:002007-09-24T08:20:27.429-04:00

Image Source: Alfred Hitchcock's PsychoMartin over at Treasure Tables had a recent post asking DMs what were ideal gaming sessions and the shortest ones we're comfortable running (Quick Answer, 4 hours, 2 hours).That made me think of the shortest, craziest one-shot game I ever GMed. It was right before D&D 3.0 and, like Greywulf's commented on my Storming post, I too was getting

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-28501980903634341012007-09-23T07:39:00.000-04:002007-09-23T21:53:29.675-04:00

Image Source: Fiery Dragon ProductionsA few months ago, while reading the most excellent, and sadly concluded, DM of the Rings webcomic, I came upon a very inspiring strip. I wrote a forum post about it but I'd like to re-edit it here instead of letting it fall off the 20th page.Shamus' cynical comments under the strip are often as funny as the strips and, sadly, too true. This one defines

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-9472044606949256542007-09-23T06:58:00.000-04:002007-10-04T08:45:29.195-04:00

Image Source: Ubi Soft's Prince of Persia, The Two ThronesTwo weeks ago, I sent a questionnaires like this one to my 5 D&D players. I got 4 responses so far and I'm posting the 2nd one today, along with my usual editorial comments.What character do you play in our current D&D campaign? (Name, Race, Class)?Cruguer, Hellbred Crusader (Chatty DM: Evil-soul-turned-good reincarnated in horribly

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-64648310327078978232007-09-22T06:51:00.001-04:002007-09-22T10:24:43.768-04:00

Image Source: Old-translated-to-French Manga called Mini-Fée.Yax and the Stupid Ranger crew (Stupid Ranger,Vanir and Dante) celebrated their 2 months on the blogosphere earlier this month and it made me realize that I started at about the same time. Woot, 2 months, 60-some posts (I ain't called Chatty for nothing!) , 2000 total page views (since Sept 12th) and clicks from 32 countries! This

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-13439175939183156092007-09-21T13:09:00.000-04:002007-10-02T11:23:42.850-04:00

Image Source: Canadian Artist Glen ScrimshawLet's forge onwards in this 'D&D and Workplace teams are similar' analogy. With the four stages of a team's development concept, we've covered the introduction and the forming of a new RPG gaming group. Now onwards to the choppy waters of a Storming group.StormingHalf the players are reading from their manual, fiddling their iPods or cruising the

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-56108583714063314662007-09-21T06:57:00.001-04:002007-09-21T14:15:13.875-04:00

Wow, a few days shy of my 2nd month doing this Bloggy buisness and I've already been tagged by The Stupid Ranger for a thing called a Meme. Now having read both of Brin's uplift Trilogies I know that a Meme is a lifeform made out of ideas!!!! So I am basically being infected!Never being one to miss an occasion to yap about something, I'll tackle this before breakfast! (As usual, when I do one

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-55919447509667590622007-09-20T19:53:00.001-04:002007-09-21T05:27:01.566-04:00

Image Source: GamespotThis is part of a series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki.All right, so Marty's dead now and we need new cool tricks to spice up our game.This week, I decided to go deeper into the Rule of Cool and

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-23091034221462619922007-09-19T20:33:00.000-04:002007-09-20T12:56:31.923-04:00

I'm a crunch junky, always been and I know it. I love the rules especially those involved in the creation of monsters (I'm looking at you Mr Chaos-Shaped Were-Boar Ogre!)In fact, that's probably why I like reading stuff by Mike Mearls (Iron Heroes, Book of Nine Swords, Book of Iron Might) so much. That man is all about the crunch. Even the fluff he writes about is crunchy.Aside: Just so we

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-38791736697520988632007-09-19T20:05:00.000-04:002007-09-20T08:14:49.850-04:00

Deeper in the archives of my pals at Critical Hits lies a link to a gaming video made by semi-celebrities of the audio-visual arts in the frigid spaces of Québec, Canada.I'm not bringing a lot of new things to the discussions (hence the title reference) except to show it to people who haven't seen it yet. The subtitles are riddled with errors and plain bad English but the jokes are still funny

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-46497987881923409192007-09-18T20:31:00.000-04:002007-10-02T11:23:57.572-04:00

Image Source: The Order of the StickLast time I committed the sin of comparing Management to DMing. Sinful or not, I really think the comparison holds on many levels. I then went out to introduce the 4 stages of a team's development cycle. I concluded by saying that a RPG gaming group was a team like one in the work environment with the DM having the role of the team leader. The key

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-73111693921467084352007-09-18T08:50:00.000-04:002007-09-18T10:26:34.890-04:00

Stupid Ranger beat me to it this morning by providing a very good answer to one of the player questions I posted yesterday when I introduced my first player.Now that I asked similar questions to your DMs (and hope they'll continue answering as they drop by) I'd like to hear from you players, part time or full time, that read here (I think Stupid Ranger is not the only one).So here are the

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-33927341555252948322007-09-17T21:32:00.000-04:002007-10-17T05:59:09.168-04:00

I just finished reading my 5 year-old son's bedtime story from a Pokemon pocket novella. When we were talking about the story after I could not help but notice how much he still loved Pokemon and the whole concept of being a young pocket monster trainer.This gave me an idea. I have wanted to introduce my son to RPGs as a father/son activity for some time. (We're already finished Paper Mario

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-19805126870199535542007-09-17T15:41:00.000-04:002007-10-02T11:23:05.098-04:00

Image Source: The Cartoon Source.Those who know me know that I'm a very Meta-(insert subject) type of person. That's why discovering the TV Tropes wiki made my month as a DM. I've overlinked that site and my Rule of Cool post so I won't do it here. If you're a new reader, hi there! Thanks for spending your precious time here and have a look at them.But tropes are not all that I find

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-36051553518690527632007-09-17T08:10:00.000-04:002007-10-04T08:44:57.886-04:00

Last week I sent a questionnaires similar to the one here to my 5 players. I got 2 responses so far and I'm posting the 1st one today, along with editorial comments on my part. What character do you play in our current D&D campaign? (Name, Race Class)?Lillie, Female Pixie Sorceress with a one and a half page long background story. ;-) (Chatty DM: I kid you not, that guy needs a serious

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-27548197650702032652007-09-16T07:39:00.000-04:002007-09-17T09:24:17.327-04:00

I've been thinking about it for some time now and I finally set everything in motion this morning. (I love Sunday morning cartoons, both my kids are watching while I tap away and keep an eye on them to the sound of high-pitched laughter).After talking about it here and here, I went out and created a DM-only Google group called Chatty DM's Club. I've put my money where my mouth was (Ewwww!

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-72757675019951025072007-09-15T07:56:00.002-04:002007-09-15T10:50:48.591-04:00

Image Source: Paizo's Dungeon MagazineTwo players can't make it to the game next Friday. According to our social contract when 2 or more players are missing, we try to move the game back one week. While this extra time could allow me to prepare a super extra awesome adventure, I find that I spend enough time on prepping as it is. So the extra week translates into playing online games (WoW, D&D

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-10097795373703677042007-09-14T09:39:00.000-04:002007-10-06T09:20:21.077-04:00

Image Source: RPGnet's Forums. (Check out Wil's blog he's a gamer too.)This is part of a series of articles that tackles the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. It is heavily inspired by the sheer goodness of the TV Tropes Wiki.We're probably all guilty of having introduced a Marty Stu (or his sister Mary Sue) at least

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-2998422617361311572007-09-14T07:32:00.000-04:002007-09-14T08:50:28.146-04:00

I'm going to commit a little blogging sin and go meta-blogging here. I'll make it up with a Gaming Post today, honest!Yesterday I was looking at where people link from to get here and the planet is indeed a small place. (I took out the ones that stayed less than 1 minute, those were probably bots or 'oops wrong site' clicks) Country (Visits) 1. United States (60 ) 2.

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-20730541894418571822007-09-14T07:03:00.000-04:002007-09-14T16:57:05.721-04:00

Thanks so much for those who answered the Getting to know the DMs questionnaire. I have read all the posts and will check periodically for new ones. I even put the post in my 'favorite links' on the page to allow anyone to answer later on.Now it's my turn. I won't directly recycle stuff from the blog and I'll try to make all new responses fresh.Here goes:What’s your current campaign’s elevator

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-22363420909612806172007-09-13T08:42:00.002-04:002007-09-14T13:14:19.834-04:00

Image Source: The Brothers Brick BlogMy friends Dave and Danny over at Critical-Hits posted this over on their side.This makes me ask myself: Is there such a thing as too much cool?My rational side is a bit repulsed by the sheer cheesiness of the video. But my primitive, emotional brain purrs overtime just thinking about it.I guess it's what the Rule of Cool is all about.What say you?

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-15241733320306146062007-09-13T06:35:00.000-04:002007-09-13T08:56:12.622-04:00

Image Source: D&D Cartoon.I'm working on a little series of posts where I will introduce each of my players with 5 RPG- related questions. While doing this, I thought it would be nice for me to answer these questions and post it too. Thing in, the questions were mostly player-related and I almost never play a PC.I then sat down to draft a few DM-related questions and realized that this would

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-63911446431637058892007-09-11T22:18:00.000-04:002007-09-12T09:59:09.098-04:00

Image source: Hollow World, Basic D&D campaign SettingEarlier today, my pal Yan was telling me how much he liked the fact that I took players ideas and in-game decisions to shape the campaign world's past and present. It's true. From campaign to campaign, the players also occasionally glean events, places or people that were shaped by the adventures of prior characters.Like many DMs, I'm a

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-44919933403338451492007-09-11T07:04:00.000-04:002007-09-11T16:28:44.970-04:00

Image Artist: Arnie SwekelDoug M. left a well written comment on my post about exploring evil in RPGs where he makes a clear distinction between Evil (The flavor, the horror, the creeping out of players), Menacing foes (More powerful than the party) and 'I hate this guy'.This, and a funny exchange of comments with the guys over at Critical Hits got me thinking. You see, when a playing group

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-36092119262053545302007-09-10T09:18:00.000-04:002007-10-06T09:19:03.273-04:00

This is a first stab at tackling the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. I'd like to make this a weekly feature if it garners any interest. It sure does interest me!For those who have read at least one of my previous post in the last week, it becomes rapidly obvious that I went absolutely nuts over the TV Tropes site

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-58839379143254568522007-09-09T21:56:00.000-04:002007-09-11T17:14:17.183-04:00

This morning I asked my good friend and long-time player Yan to prepare a player's log to our game. I gave him the option to take it in the direction he wanted, baring some editorial oversight on my part. Yan is that 'other' extroverted overanalytical geek around our table. He's passionate about the game, a part-time DM and he has pored a lot of efforts in his character's abilities and

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-56278488569861276042007-09-09T17:38:00.000-04:002007-09-20T12:56:05.626-04:00

The following is a Crunch-heavy post on tweaking the mechanics of D&D 3.5 character classes. As D&D 4e draws nearer I feel more and more comfortable with playing under the game's hood. Something I would never had dared with previous editions of the game. One of the things that came out of last Friday's game is that there appears to be imbalances in the power level of the characters of our

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-68011661536382640192007-09-09T07:16:00.000-04:002007-09-09T19:39:57.173-04:00

Scene 3: Evil is a matter of styleFollowing the Self-Employed Mensa Troll, who just happened to be going where the map was leading, the PCs came into another burst Sewer tunnel leading into the darkness. That time, the passage looked like it had been man/thing made. This brought the party to a largish Cavern with a natural bridge over a 10' wide chasm and a Guardpost.Once there the party

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-79024114379241016242007-09-08T07:18:00.000-04:002007-09-09T07:18:27.914-04:00

Previously in Phil's game:The PCs got their asses handed to them by an overwhelming encounter with a group of Yugoloths in an Elven temple. Invited to leave rapidly because of threats of open rebellion and slashed tires, the fiends disappeared in the Ptolus night. Battered and bitter, the PCs meet with Ptolus' elven leadership to plan their next move...Last night's game was much better than the

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-35702284035549923692007-09-07T14:13:00.001-04:002007-09-07T14:58:14.380-04:00

While browsing through the DMing Blogosphere I came upon an older post by Dr.Rotwang that talked about the place that the 1st edition A D & D Dungeon Master Guide occupies in a DM's library. Instead of posting a comment on an article dated November 2006 I decided to ponder about it here.A copy of this book, does indeed occupy a place in my rather smallish bookcase of RPG manuals. It's sitting

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-89709443063695874152007-09-07T13:23:00.001-04:002007-09-07T13:46:13.760-04:00

Shamus of DM of the Ring fame has completed his first Opus.Before even letting the dust settle he presents us with his new comic over at the Fear the Boot site.Like a lot of his readers I stumbled upon DM of the Ring quite by accident somewhere around the story arc of the 1st movie. If you've never heard of that guy, click on the link! Its pure RPG satire gold!His new comic, Chainmail Bikini has

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-8300223718780185602007-09-07T05:22:00.002-04:002007-09-22T05:31:52.911-04:00

Preparing an adventure represents about 80% of my game prep process. This includes stating the Bad Guys, setting the difficulty of the various Non-Combat challenges and creating loot that the players will appreciate.Aside: One of my last D&D 3.5 purchases was the Magic Item Compedium. This book is phenomenal and a preview of what 4e will be about. A very small part of it are Treasure

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-74898195487645391872007-09-06T08:06:00.000-04:002007-09-15T08:00:28.450-04:00

I'm still shocked that people other than my close friends actually read this and even more shocked to have been mentioned by other DM bloggers. (I'm not going to Ego it up by linking to their post, but these guys have gotten added to my DM Blogroll).Oh and this is not a Meta-Blogging post because it's considered bad form by some. :)Yesterday evening was spent doing the actual Adventure

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-26184011719969685172007-09-04T20:48:00.000-04:002007-10-06T08:59:33.061-04:00

Image Source: The TV Tropes Wiki.I just found out about possibly the coolest site for failed writers (raises hand), Meta-plot analyst (raises hand... again) and just plain Story-driven entertainment junkies (Me me me!!!).It's called the TV tropes Wiki and it may very well Ruin your life. (God! I must be the billionth blogger to use that Schtick). It's about plot devices and common tricks used in

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-66074725653753133552007-09-04T11:53:00.000-04:002007-09-04T12:34:59.977-04:00

As promised, Vanir over at StupidRanger posted is 1st part of a series on defining Evil in NPC. His definitions of evil and the motivations that may lead a non-evil being to cross the line are spot on. A lot can be said on Evil and we actually have quite a few gaming books written on this. Chief among those for the D&D crowd:Book of Vile Darkness by Monte Cook. While written for 3.0 (or at the

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088403589190592265.post-67466329196120295532007-08-31T09:53:00.001-04:002007-09-04T22:41:04.506-04:00

A few months ago, I stumbled upon Martin Ralya's GM Wiki (well, it's a collaborative effort, but he hosts it) and one concept in it really inspired me, the RPG Elevator Pitch. A short, concise description of a RPG system, like if you were trying to sell someone over a new game within the time an elevator ride takes.That got me to think. People like to rally to clear, simple and strong ideas (

ChattyDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.com0