This week we had some great number of contents coming out from specific blogs alone. Hats off goes to Dungeon's Master, Exchange of Realities, Philippine Gamer and The RPG Athenaeum for their great series of posts which were useful and interesting this week.
That doesn't mean to say there hasn't been other good readings from other blogs. Some bloggers are starting to test the limitations of 4E and it would be interesting to see where the results of their experimentation would take the game. This week, we had some interesting discussions and thoughts about roles in 4E, a focus on players and the usual rounds of GMing advice.
I hope you will enjoy these readings as much as it's my pleasure to recommend these to you.
A Butterfly Dreaming
The Rules Gap
A very good post on how to look at 4E rules fitting into our games.
Advanced Gaming and Theory
Constructing Magic Items
The hassles and pains of creating magical items if you want to make your game feel more realistic.
Bard of Valiant
How Would Elminster Peel a Banana?
A link to a video talk on how to think differently about solutions. Can be used to reverse engineer an adventure.
Campaign Mastery
A Different Perspective: Changing the dynamic with a different metaphor
An very interesting look at using card games and a roulette for different conflict resolution.
Crtical Hits
Being a Good New Player
4 considerations to think about when you are new to an ongoing gaming group.
DND Corner
5 Tips for Managing DM Prep Time
5 ways to maximize your prep time.
Dungeonmastering
The Secrets of Great Solo Adventures
3 simple tips of running a solo campaign
Dungeon's Master
Running Memorable Skill Challenges (Part 1)
Running Memorable Skill Challenges (Part 2)
A good series to learn the basics of skill challenges and some ways of designing them.
Redefining Character Roles
Some thoughts on roles becoming the real class in 4E.
The Fighter as a Striker
Should classes be attached to roles?
Exchange of Realities
Long Narratives: Why Go For It?
Long Narratives: What Can Go Wrong?
Long Narratives: Avoiding the Hazards
A good series on understanding the long narratives and how to avoid its pitfalls. Very useful for planning or running long campaigns.
Gaming In Code
D&D Insider Compendium - API Part 1
A very useful guide to improve your search using the D&DI Compendium.
Geek Related
Some Thoughts On 2e and 3e
A good look at the differences between 2E and 3E and how these are addressed in 4E and Pathfinder.
Greywulf's Lair
Separating Class from Role
Some ideas on how to separate roles from classes.
Ideamancer
Alternate Power Source Class: 4e Divine Bard
APSC: 4e Divine Bard Character Sheet
An step-by-step explanation of creating the Divine Bard and a sample character.
Inkwell Ideas
Top 5 Overlooked Rule Subsets of RPGs
5 commons rules in fantasy RPGs that we often forget or refuse to enforce.
Kobold Quarterly
A Better Play Experience: a Conversation with Jason Bulmanhn
An interview with the lead designer of Pathfinder where he talks about some of his design philosophies for the game and some changes they have in Pathfinder.
Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer
The Joys of Healing Time and Irreversible Character Modifications
A very good example of what characters can do when they are recovering and still be in the game.
Players... Go Play, Dammit!
3 ways that a player can make the game more enjoyable for themselves.
Character Development Happens In-Game
A good reminder of why we don't need a detailed backstory for our characters.
Musings of the Chatty DM
Adventure Prep: The City Adventure
2 types of urban adventures that you can run in a city and how to mix them up.
Old School, New School and Gygaxian Naturalism (or not)
Chatty's take on old school, new school and Gygaxian naturalism. A good and easy introductory read regarding these issues with some useful definitions and links.
Neitherworld Stories
Great GMing Advice
A link to a post on computer game level design but has a lot of great points that should be kept in mind for DMs when designing encounters and dungeons.
NewbieDM
Playing at paragon tier, or learning to crawl before you can walk
A game report on paragon tier play in 4E with some valuable lessons.
Points of Light
Interview: Ari Marmell
An interview with a writer and designer with Wizards of the Coast.
RPG Blog II
Gaming Companies on Twitter
A list gaming companies that has twitter with added links.
Tankards and Broadswords
RPG-Writing Style - Professional or Personable?
An interesting dilemma when it comes to writing RPGs.
tenletter
Does 4e Hamper Creative Play in Combat?
3 reasons why 4E combat is restricting player creative.
The Bone Scroll
The Art of GM BSing
5 tips on how to be prepared to improvise.
The Core Mechanic
Towards more Cinematic Gaming, Part 1 - RPG Statistics
Some interesting success/failure statistics and finding an alternative to the d20.
The RPG Athenaeum
Four tips for writing effective D&D read-aloud text
4 strong rules of writing to improve your read-aloud text.
Session time is precious: here's how not to waste it
3 ways to prevent session time from being wasted with an approximation of how much time can be used from these methods.
The Spirits of Eden
Wyatt's Words: Daydreaming Design
Designing adventures based on scenery and daydreams.
Uncle Bear
Is 4th Edition D&D Really "Old School"?
Berin puts 4E to the test of whether it can be 'old school' based on the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming.
2 comments:
The Dungeon's Master team thanks you for the shout out. If you liked where we were going with our discussion on roles and classes, be sure to visit us this week when we take this discussion to the next level.
Hey Ameron,
You're most welcome. I'll be sure to see where you take your discussions on roles.
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