Getting back on track

It's been ages since I've last posted here and I'm putting this post to remind myself that I need to start getting back to blogging. To explain my absence, I can only say that I've started a full time job in the past few months and, as expected, it has taken its toll on my game and blogging time.

Now that I'm gradually getting used to the fast-pace and long hours of the job and knowing what to expect out of it, I'm finally able to settle down and try to strike a balance between my personal life and gamer life.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to refurbish the furniture around here, so I hope you also like the new theme I've put up.

Another reason I'm putting up this post because during my hiatus, it has given my plenty of time to reflect on what I want to do and set new directions.

When I started the blog 2 years ago, I already had in mind a few things that I wanted to focus on, particularly about GMing, my personal styles and preferences with the occasional sprinkle of gaming news to inform my local gaming community.

After joining the RPG Bloggers Network, that focus shifted to almost the opposite direction. There I read numerous posts with great content that contained pieces of advice on gaming that it had become almost like every gamer blog should be done this way.

That's where I made my mistake, I conformed; conformed to the high standards that is the RPGBN that was just too high for me to reach with my limited experience, both as a GM and as a gamer.

To be honest, I took it like it was a competition amongst bloggers to produce the best content or to attract the most readers when you are surrounded by peers that emphasised on these things.

Over the course of time, I realized that I don't have the financial, skill and knowledge to make the cut which lead to the slow death of my enthusiasm and attachment to the community.

During my hiatus, I still continued lurking around forums and other blogs and I came to a realization. RPGs is not a game where everyone can have an equal opinion, the same goes with every arguments about editions, old school vs new school and or what rule is broken or unbalanced.

Every gaming experience on one table is unique for its own existence. We can discuss similarities between our games but we don't necessarily share them.

There were many things I wanted to say about various subjects but was too afraid that I would be disagreed by my fellow RPG bloggers, I was too careful with my opinions which partly became a barrier to express myself.

I don't intend for that to happen again.

So I hereby set a new course for the blog and what you can expect to see more and less in my future posts.

• The direction will be more personal than communal from now on, which means that you'll see more 'I's and 'my's than 'We's and 'our's. Every post that I make from now on is more likely to be a personal opinion, despite how controversial or stupid it may sound and is not trying to conform itself to any kind of acceptable standard (if there was any). What I say is my own and only applies to me.


• Post schedule is, at the moment, still uncertain but will try to stick along the lines of once weekly.


• Due to my work schedule, I'm planning to drop some features namely the Questing's Readings because my time to read, decide and compile which post makes it to the post is limited.


• On the other hand, I want to see how my personal and gaming life is progressing, so features such as the {Quest Log} might be back more often. New features are also in the works but you can be sure it's something more personally relevant.


• I'm adding a rant label so to anyone who wish to avoid the occasional bile that comes out from a rancid gamer, I have placed the labels at the top of my posts so that you won't be caught unaware. You have been warned.


• I'm adding comment moderation. Partly to have control over the spam that I'm starting to get, partly to avoid all out war in my blog based on my discretion.


• Gaming news might appear once in a while but as far as I'm concerned, Word of Wizards is dead in the water from now on (if it wasn't apparent months ago). This has something to do with my severed detachment with 4E in terms of news (I'm sure Wyatt will understand).


• I might get really frustrated at times and might incline towards trolling. If I make any rude remarks with links or mentions to names, blogs, forums, organizations and thereof, please be ensured that all is done in good faith with tongue in cheek. You don't have to take my personal opinions too seriously (.......yet).

That's all for now and I will inform you if I do add more but I think these are sufficient to inform my fundamentals and the expected change of tone and content that this blog is going to have from now on.

So now that this is off my chest, it's good to be back and roll some initiative.

Questing's Readings - 22/11/09

There has been so little readings that I found interesting from last week (one, in fact) that I've decided to include some posts from yesterday which explains for the late post.

This would probably be my last Questing's Readings for the year since I'll be leaving for holiday season. Once I'm back though, I can't promise that I can keep this feature up since I'll be entering into a full-time job and the hours aren't kind. Hopefully, you've enjoyed every post that I've recommended and I'll be able to settle down with work pretty soon to bring you more great post from the RPGBN.

Musings of the Chatty DM
Cross-Class Training: GMs, Teachers & Managers
Phil giving a lesson on 3 traits that can be used in the workplace and also as a GM. There are certainly more real-skills that can be applied to GMing but those 3 that he mentioned I agree wholeheartedly.

Newbie DM
NewbieDM Tutorial: The Battlemap Part III
The final installment to this very cool series on making maps and how to print/use them for your real/virtual game. I really enjoy the series and would try to find the time some day to try it out.

Worlds In A Handful of Dice
The RPG Course – A Session of Praedor
An interesting read about a session of Praedor, a Finnish RPG.

Questing's Readings - 15/11/09

Sorry for the really late post. This week's highlights we have a series on making battlemats, making interesting villains and finding more uses for your minions.

In other news, the RPGBN Advisory Panel Election polls has just ended and Micheal Wolf from Stargazer's World will be representing the community from now on as the voice of RPG bloggers in the network. Congrats and may his role make a better RPGBN.

Campaign Mastery
Increase game attendance with great session reminders
What to put in a session reminder? Let Johnn answer your questions. I think session reminders are really a great tool to pump your players up before the game, especially if the session only happens once or twice in a month or longer.

GamesTopica
There's Fun in Table Chatter too
Although most DMs like to reduce game chatter as much as possible on the table, this post shows how it could actually be conducive for your game.

Greywulf's Lair
More Creative Uses for Minions
A more out-of-the-box approach to enhancing the use of minions, adding on to what Sly Flourish has done (see below).

NewbieDM
NewbieDM Tutorial: The Battlemap, a guest post by Jonathan Roberts
NewbieDM Tutorial: The Battlemap Part II

A great guest post series on how to make sweet looking battlemaps using GIMP and some design thoughts of what makes a good map.

Sly Flourish
Creative Uses for Minions
Some ideas on how minions could do more other than just acting as fodder for the PCs.

The Spirits of Eden
Thinking Up An Interesting Villain
Wyatt giving advice on how to create villains with depth. I mostly agree with his philosophy of thinking them as characters instead of just some evil guy that the PCs need to defeat.

Worlds in a Handful of Dices
The RPG Course - Lecture Seven
A very interesting read on RPGs in social life and how RPGs are being used in the real world and some issues related with RPGs in the context of social life (e.g, sexuality).

Questing's Readings - 8/11/09

This week's highlights would be on a couple of post on free softwares that are useful for creating props for your game.

Critical Hits
Pain of Campaigning: Literature and Adventure Planning
As GMs, we've all had our moments when we read/watch a great piece of media entertainment and tell ourselves that we want to run a campaign just like it. Here's some advice on how to adapt your favorite books into a campaign but I think the best advice is the last one. Never be afraid to admit that you stole your ideas from somewhere.

Game in the Brain
Some Open Source Tools for Game Material Production
A list of free open source softwares for from simple writing to 3D animation. Useful to say the least.

Geek Related
Preparing Image Visual Aids For Your Game
A step-by-step tutorial on how to extract images from PDFs to use them as visual aids.

RoleplayingPro
Your Prefect D&D Character: Part 1
My group hasn't use the first technique and I personally would like to see it being used in my group once, I think it really helps to build characters that are easier to fit into the campaign feel and can potentially increase the fun the players are having with their characters.

The RPG Anthenaeum
Eight variations on the standard pit trap
Getting tired of the old pit trap where a character simply just falls into? Here's some ideas to modify or add more uses for the pit trap than just a hole on the floor.

Worlds in a Handful of Dice
The RPG Course – Lecture Six
I'm so envious that this guy gets to study in a RPG course at uni and it's really nice of him to share his thoughts about what he learns. It's interesting to see what are being taught in a RPG course. In this post, he talks about pervasive games.

Questing's Readings - 1/11/09

It's November and the former board of the RPG Bloggers Network have made their decision. Dave Chalker has made an announcement, after deliberating through the 6 proposals that were submitted, they have trusted the reins to Duane O' Brien from A Terrible Idea.

You can read what the future holds for the RPGBN in Duane's inauguration post but it doesn't seem to imply much drastic changes. Time will tell and we'll see in the first month.

Of course, a new month means a new topic for the blog carnival. This month, the carnival is hosted by Uncle Bear where he ask bloggers to share their thoughts on community; a fitting subject since he started the Role Playing Media Network and with the recent transition of the RPGBN.

Not only does this topic comprised on the online community but to the off-line as well. It would be interesting to see some post that describes their gaming community outside the US.

This week's readings has been pretty fruitful as there are good advice in various areas from GMing, adding elements into your game and some RPG-related history.

A Buttefly Dreaming
Adding Fear to Your Game
Since last weekend was Halloween, here's some pointers on how to instill fear into your game and how not to.

Campaign Mastery
Legendary Achievements: Colouring Your Campaign with Anecdote and Legend
How the Guinness Book of Records can help to improve your description.

Ask the GMs: PC Choices and Consequences
Great advice, especially if you are running a sandbox (some of the advice even points to that direction), on how you should decide how your PCs' actions have an impact on your setting.

Critical Hits
5 Tips For Running Dungeon Delves
Although these advice are aimed for running short delves, it is still good advice for any DM who is running a long-running campaign.

Purple Pawn
Dr Thomas Radecki’s List of D&D Related Deaths and Violence
An interesting link to murder cases during the 80s scare that this insane psychiatrist claims that D&D was the cause of it.

The RPG Anthenaeum
Five ways to recycle an old D&D campaign
Some elements in a campaign that can be reused even in the same campaign.

Level up your creativity with an 'imaginary bank account'
Few GMs underestimate the power of carrying a notebook in your pocket when an idea pops in. Here's another way you can organize your inspirations and ideas that comes to mind.

The Spirits of Eden
Creating Controlling Powers
Although aimed at developing new controller powers, this is a very good insight into the mechanics of controller powers. While useful for homebrewers, I also think this is useful for min/maxers.

Wyatt's Advice On Play-by-Post Recruiting
I don't play-by-post but these advice should be useful for anyone who plans to start. You obviously shouldn't take advice from a guy who has predominantly played online for 5 years *wink*.

Whitehall ParaIndustries
Looking Back: Elements of Complexity
Groups and Complexity

A breakdown listing different types of game complexity and how groups relate with game complexity. I admit that I do have my own taste of complexity and this could explain why I'm also adverse to some others.

Questing's Readings - Wave Edition

So the Wave has hit and making waves across the RPG bloggersphere. If you don't know what this new trendy topic is all about, well, you're almost as clueless as I am when I first heard it.

For a short explanation, it's a Google platform that combines IM Chat, forum and wiki functionality into one, consequently, called a wave. For an hour long explanation and demonstration, you could watch this video.

Needless to say, such an innovative piece of technology is surely being fiddled with by the hands of those who believe that Wave could be used for gaming purposes. In this edition, here's what bloggers, who were lucky enough to get invites to test out Wave, have to say about using it for running games.

Ars Technica
Google Wave: we came, we saw, we played D&D

At-Will
The Wave's the Thing: Google Wave, 4e D&D, and You
The Wave's the Thing: Running a D&D Wave Game

BoingBoing
Google Wave as an RPG environment

By Decree of the Czar
Using Google Wave with online D&D sessions

How to Start a Revolution in 21 Days or Less
Early Thoughts on Wave and Gaming

Neitherworld Stories
Using Google Wave for RPGs

Pen and Paper Portal
Google Wave + D&D = Do Want

Stargazer's World
Surfing on the Wave

The Spirit of Eden
Playing Online: Google Wave

Questing's Readings - RPG Bloggers Network Edition

When Dave Chalker, Danny Rupp, Graham Poole and Phil Menard have announced that they will no longer be in charge of the network, it did send shockwaves across the blogging community.

Their labor of love and passion has benefited many bloggers (including yours truly) and may have even been the reason why some roleplayers started blogging in the first place. We cannot deny that without them there wouldn't be a network to wrestle over with today.

Although some harsh words were thrown before they came to that decision, not all have been criticism against the founding members of the what I called the next best thing since ENWorld. Perhaps there were some regrets of what's being said about these gentlemen but that's not what I'm trying to point out here.

In this special edition, I have compiled a list of posts by bloggers who show their gratitude for the (apparently, thankless) job that Dave, Danny, Graham and Phil have done for the past year. Although it was a sadly short run, it was a good run.

This is my gift to them and I bid them good luck in whatever the future might bring for them.

Dungeon's Master
On the RPG Bloggers Network

Geek's Dream Girl
Oh Captain(s), My Captain(s): To The Men Behind The RPG Bloggers Network

Rule of the Dice
To Dave, Phil, Graham and Danny... Thanks for creating the RPGBN

Stargazer's World
The RPG Bloggers Network won't die ...

Symptoms of Madness
Dave Chalker, I salute you

The Geek Gazette
Goodbye RPGBN, it has been fun

The Spirits of Eden
A Round of Applause

Questing's Readings - 25/10/09

It is one heck of a week with ups and downs. This will not be your regular Questing's Readings as nothing has caught my eye for this week for some reason. One reason could be that the events that had transpired this past week.

The whole RPG Bloggers Network debacle from last week has escalated and climax into an ugly controversy. After discussing among themselves for a few days, it has been decided that the administrators (Dave, Danny, Graham and Phil) will be stepping down from their respective positions and are looking for someone that can bear the torch.

They have delivered an ultimatum that if no proposals are forthcoming or to their liking by the 27th of October, the RPG Bloggers Network will be shut down.

Factions have emerged with their own differing views of how they would run the network but we will find out the future of the network on the 31st when the former committee will make their decision on who they will handover the network to.

But in the aftermath of this, Uncle Bear, Berin Kinsman, who was one of the contenders for the RPGBN withdrew his campaign and started something else. The Roleplaying Media Network is a social network very much like Facebook and 'Wizbook' but it is growing very rapidly and has seem to gain more traction with the members of the RPGBN.

It is not a feed aggregator and is not a replacement for the RPGBN but a place where members can interact through forums, groups and share videos and photos.

At the same time, there's still some good things going on between bloggers who are still giving back to the gaming industry. Zach from RPG Blog II had this idea of a Small Press Week where he and a few gathered bloggers went out to interivew, review and post about anything done by small game publishers and their games. You can read find a compilation of the links made during Small Press Week here.

Who knows in the future, there might be more Small Press Weeks in the future.

Questing's Readings - 18/10/09

There's been some heavy (and sometimes heaty) discussions going on between bloggers of the RPG Bloggers Network on the evaluation criteria of accepting blogs into the network fold. You may have read this post by Chogwiz which sparked the discussion after a nasty retort by a blog that was rejected by the people who form the network.

I'm staying out of the whole politics mostly other than just being a spectator but I do commend to the founding members (Dave, Danny, Graham and Phil) for being very open to criticism (and flak) even if everyone had not been too happy with their transparency in running the network.

I really don't like to see these sort of things happening within such a noble endeavor but things like this happen when love and passion boils over into something less pretty.

I hope this mess gets sorted out soon and peacefully. Perhaps this will make the RPG Bloggers Network a stronger community because of it.

In the meantime, the highlight for this week's readings is a couple of post on giving narrative control to players.

Back to (Role-Playing Game) Basics
Hey, you got your story in my game!
A very charming way of introducing narrative control to your players. While I do the first methods introduced but I've never thought of giving out treasures when the players are on to something. I think the 4E treasure parcel system would work nicely with this idea.

Campaign Mastery
Ask the GMs: Giving Players The Power To Choose Their Own Adventures
A really great article on sandboxing and how to design rumors as plot hooks.

Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer
Learning a new RPG: a Step-by-Step Process
It is not very often that I read new RPG systems and the task can be pretty daunting at time. Although I might do things in a different order than what he suggested but it might help to speed up the learning process.

LivingDice
DM Resource: Warscholar.com
A useful link if you are researching for a wartime campaign. It has a timeline from the ancient to modern wars, information about equipments used and other military technologies.

Questing's Readings - 11/10/09

It seems to be a pretty slow week and there hasn't been plenty of good advice posts so I've been picking up some interesting posts rather than those that contain any real advice. Also, it's already been more than a week and I have yet to see a single post for this month's blog carnival. I guess Morality is a really hard question to answer.

Bard of Valiant
Elements of a Good Treasure Map [Advice]
Some useful questions to ask yourself when creating a treasure map. Honestly, I haven't give it much thought so this is quite helpful.

Campaign Mastery
Ask the GMs: “Let’s Split Up.” – “Good Idea, we can do more damage that way!”
Comprehensive recommendations on how to handle party split ups of various length and frequency.

The Literary GM: Expanding your resources for a better game
A list of different types of books that will be useful for DMs to have around. It looks pretty daunting and an overkill for me but it is helpful if you are running a sandbox campaign.

GamesTopica.Net
Reading D&D 4E: Concerning Combat
A dissection of the combat system in 4E and how does a rules-light and mainly narrative-based GM sees this. I do agree that with his points mostly that the 4E combat system can be a hit-or-miss for some GMs despite the credits given to it.

Jonathan Drain's D20 Source
A Wizard Did It: Patching 3E to 4E Continuity
There has been some notable changes between 3.x and 4E. Here's a a list of narrative explanations that could justify the mechanic changes if you are transiting your 3E campaign to 4E.

RetroRoleplaying
Three Solitaire Role-Playing Games Using Regular Playing Cards
Some really interesting links to card-based solitaire RPGs. I haven't check them out yet but the idea that these kind of games exist is intriguing.

RPGCentric
Update on Burnt Offerings: "We Be Goblins, Ye Be Food!"
A school in Portland, Oregon is doing a play based on the first Pathfinder module. This is just some little information about the school, the students and the roles that will be appearing on the play. I would really like to see the play.

Theo Dudek, Ultimate Game Master
Gamer Outing: Robin Williams
Some first hand accounts of Robin Williams's gaming activity.

The Spirits of Eden
Review: Jones DND Soda
Wyatt being a connoisseur and doing some soda tasting reviews on a range of D&D themed sodas. Want to know how Illithid Brain Juice taste like?

Uncle Bear
I Have a Home Ga,e Why Do I Need a Game Club?
Several reasons how networking can help build a gaming community. Although not everyone seems to agree with him but I would be taking this as a reference.

Questing's Readings - 4/10/09

October is Halloween Month.

Although, this month's blog carnival has nothing to do with ghost stories or other horror themes, it does raise significant questions about what justifies our own and our PC's actions.

Bring any thoughts that you might have on morality in this month's blog carnival hosted by the Games of State.

This week is a great week if you are stumped for ideas. There are a couple of series to be looking out if your creative juices are running low to help you find inspirations or ways to overcome creative barriers.

For DMs, there's also a couple of post which talks a little about DM responsibility as a reminder. But the most must-read for this week is an interview with Robin Laws on a new investigative system that sounds really interesting.

abstract XP
Coming up with original adventure ideas (Part 2)
Original adventure ideas (Part 3)
Ideas for original adventures (Part 4)
Adventure ideas (Part 5)
Generating adventure ideas (Part 6)
Adventure ideas (Part 7)

A series on where to find sources of ideas for creating adventures. The series is still running on the idea gathering part but it should be interesting to see how to weave these ideas into an adventure.

Dungeon's Master
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
An outline of responsibilities of the DM that I agree with but might want to add on a few of my own.

Gaming Brouhaha
More from D&D Camp
A sharing of what happened in a D&D camp in 1982. Reading this makes me feel that I could experience something like this when I was a kid.

Jonathan Drain's D20 Source
When Things Go Wrong
When things goes wrong, it's time for the DM to step up. Here are some simple things to keep in mind when you are in the hot seat to solve a problem.

Musings of the Chatty DM
Creativity and the RPG Mind: Part 1, Introduction
The start of a new series based on a book on creativity and learning what sort of barriers gamers face. It is a very strong introduction and it would certainly be very interesting to see how this series develops.

Stargazer's World
Robin D. Laws interview
A very long interview with Robin Laws about the GUMSHOE system and some bits of his RPG writing career.

Questing's Readings - 27/9/09

This week's readings has been slightly on the dry side but there were a couple of interesting posts on taking 10.

Chad Perrin: SOB
Passive Skill Checks, Consistency, and Taking 10
Why we don't allow taking 10 more often than we should and how it can benefit our games.

Elthos RPG
GMing: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
I agree with everything that he says about what makes a good, bad and ugly DM. A good summary of pointers for any would-be DMs to take out there.

Geek Ken
DM Tip: Taking 10 and passive skill checks
An interesting take on how taking 10 could be used for skills other than Perception and Insight.

RoleplayingPro
The Healing Surge: DM's Little Helper
Some extra application of healing surges outside of combat or to speed up play.

Whitehall ParaIndustries
Flaws of GNS- Part IV: Conflict with Reality
Flaws of GNS- Part V: The Big Model
Flaws of GNS- Part VI: Conclusion

Winding up the series on the flaws of GNS.

Questing's Readings - 20/9/09

This has been a great week of readings, generating a greater amount of good content than the usual week.

I would just like to give a small shoutout to what is going on between the Chatty DM and the Newbie DM who are starting a new series to examine questions about DMing from their respective point of views. The former being an experienced and well-loved DM with his own captivating style while the other is just starting to learn the ropes on sitting behind the screen.

I think this would be a very enlightening series which could give some interesting perspectives on different approaches to GMing. Keep it up, guys. I'll be anticipating for this series more often.

Other than that, we have more interviews with the designers from Wizards and a deconstruction (or should I say destruction) of the GNS theory which have seem to reemerge into the bloggersphere again.

CriticalAnkleBites
CriticalAnkleBites and ChattyDM pretend to be journalists
The second part of the interview with Andy Collins which discusses about improving the old classes, erratas, how Wizards take in player feedback, house rules and Andy's gaming preferences.

Critical Hits
In Depth: 4E Assassin and Q&A with Mike Mearls
If you're not a DDI subscriber, you might not have seen the new Assassin class that they previewed at Wizards. This piece gives a great summary about the new class that uses the Shadow power source, followed by an interview with Mike Mearls on the design process and ideas of this class.

Game in the Brain
GMing Style learned with a bit of a Scientific Approach
A managerial approach to seeing the relationship between GM and player and the game from a project standpoint.

Gaming Brouhaha
Constructing a Game Table (part 1)
A step-by-step look into building your own game table.

Greywulf's Lair
Everything you need to know about Skill Challenges but were afraid to ask
10 things to know about skill challenges as a DM and a player.

Musings of the Chatty DM
This is Why I’m Not a Journalist: Andy /Collins Interview
The first part of the interview with Andy Collins on DMing and how 4E has changed the job of DMing.

Something Old, Something New: What Makes a Great GM?
Let's hear it from Chatty DM on what he thinks makes a great GM. As an experienced DM, his best advice is always strive to be better.

NewbieDM
1d12 questions with James Wyatt
12 random questions with James Wyatt from DMing, skill challenges, DMG 2, Sigil to some interesting bit of information about Dark Sun.

Something Old, Something New: What Makes a Great GM?
The Newbie DM sharing his thoughts on what makes a great GM. They both share one similarity; communicaton.

RoleplayingPro
Why Verisimilitude
Why is verisimilitude important and how it can actually contribute to your game for players and DMs.

Whitehall Paraindustries
Flaws of GNS- Part I: The Appeal
Flaws of GNS- Part II: Devil in the Details
Flaws of GNS- Part III: Plan Meets Need

A very critical examination that discredits GNS.

Questing's Readings - DMG 2 Edition

Since the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 has been released for the 4th edition, there's been nothing but praise for the book as a great contributor to the game itself. From the reviews, it seems to be choked full of advice instead the crunchy add-ons that the Player's Handbook 2 and Monster Manual 2 have been.

It also addresses earlier issues that DMs may find hard to handle such as skill challenges by dedicating a whole chapter on it. The book also has a chapter for paragon campaigns which is just about the where most groups would likely be if they have been playing since the launch of 4E. It looks as though the DMG 2 is really filling up the gaps that were left in DMG 1.

I'm really interested to read the DMG 2 for myself and I have to say that I impressed to see what the designers have decided to put into this book. Even if you are not planning to get PHB 2 or MM 2 for the crunch fest that they are, I would believe that DMG 2 is a great successor to its predecessor.

If you can't take my word for it, then read the reviews of it by bloggers from the RPG Bloggers Network. Add these voices in and see if you hear an echo.

Critical Hits
Review: "Dungeon Master's Guide 2"

Dungeon's Master
Dungeon Master's Guide 2: Skill Challenges

Newbie DM
What's cool about the DMG2?

Stupid Ranger
DMG 2 Lessons

The RPG Athenaeum
Product Review: D&D Fourth Edition Dungeon Master's Guide 2

Questing's Readings - 13/9/09

For this week's readings, we have some posts on GMing advice, gaming with significant others and a resource page for Pathfinder.

Campaign Mastery
Types of Combat Hazards - Traps
Some pretty extensive advice on how to place traps in combat terrain and consider the what, where and why of traps in the battlefield.

GamesTopica
Scaling Social Conflicts
Some interesting thoughts on social conflicts and how other game systems up the stakes to make them as consequential as combat.

Mad Brew Labs
Pathfinder RPG Resources
A good list of resources, official and unofficial, including the PRD, wikis, character generators and character sheets.

RoleplayingPro
The Gamemaster's Arsenal: Shifting Paradigms [Part 1]
A very well written article on thinking how DMs should design NPCs that are not only reactive to the PCs but should be reacted by the PCs.

Stupid Ranger
I Don't Want To Decide Anything
A sharing of how different playing styles can affect a marriage. A good read for those who are into gaming with a significant other who is not.

Questing's Readings - 6/9/09

It's September and more than third of a quarter of the year has gone by. Now it's a good time to start looking back at your achievements and mistakes for this year and planning for next year's resolutions.

Speaking of looking back, this month's RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted by Johnn Four in his Campaign Mastery blog where he asks bloggers to think back about GMing mistakes that they have done and reflect upon it.

If you missed any of last month's blog post while you were away at GenCon, the roundup for last month's conventional carnival is also up at Chogwiz's Old Guy RPG Blog.

In the meantime, these are some of the readings that I've enjoyed this past week for the start of September. We have a couple of great interviews coming out of GenCon, a guide to an online gaming program and a look at monster maths in 4E

A Butterfly Dreaming
Character Development: Flashbacks
A repost on flashbacks and how to run a flashback session for your characters.

Dungeon's Master
Keith Baker Answers 13 Questions
An interview with Keith Baker on his thoughts about Eberron and some of the changes made in 4E (particularly about dragonmarks). There's a couple of juicy inside information about his upcoming novels and who Keith thought was the most worthy candidate to be sitting on the throne of Galifar.

Mike's Mind
Digital Dungeon Master: RP Tools Part 1
Digital Dungeon Master: RP Tools Part 2

A simple guide to installing MapTools, an online gametable. With instructions on how to host a game and creating tokens for combat.

Robertson Games
Differences & Direction in Dungeons and Dragons
A list of spectrums and how each edition of D&D stands between them. It's an interesting list to consider and it can be used to judge other game systems. Other DMs have already used it to judge their own personal preferences (RPG Blog II and Spirits of Eden)

RoleplayingPro
The DM's Call: Consequences
A good article that shows why everything the PCs do should have a consequence. Whether causing negative impacts to them or presenting opportunities for the DM.

Stupid Ranger
Interview: Bill Slavisek and Andy Collins from Wizards of the Coast
The Stupid Ranger crew asking them about their gaming history and career, dispensing some campaign advice and what are their favorite classes and villains. It's a little long and builds quiet a text block. I think it could have been better if they split it into 3 parts.

The Spirits of Eden
Wyatt Does Attack Math (This Can't End Well)
Wyatt Does Defense Math (Oh Lawd)
Despite his bile-filled speech about some 4E products, he does love 4E. Loves it so much that he is willing to do the math to study Monster defenses and attacks on an average PC.

Some interesting findings to be had for sure and maybe these will be addressed in future 4E products?

UncleBear
What is a Campaign?
Uncle Bear giving some definitions of what a campaign is. I really like mine to be the second one but it works out more like the third.

This could be useful in planning future campaigns to give it some structure.

Questing's Readings - 30/8/09

After about 2 weeks of hiatus, I'm slowly starting to find my stride back into blogging. After spending some time to think and looking back at some of my older posts, I might decide to experiment with a few ideas, ditch some of my regular features and go for an entirely different direction with this blog. That might be up in a future announcement if I find it worth mentioning.

In the meantime, I've tried not to miss anything that is happening in the RPG Bloggers Network and enjoyed some of the readings that I wanted to share. This week we have some insight in party composition and combat length in 4E, an interview with Erik Mona and some other general advice.

Campaign Mastery
Types of Combat Hazards - Environment
This post makes you think your combat environment in three dimension instead of just visualizing it on the flat battlemat.

Dungeon's Master
Playing In An Unbalanced Party
A demonstration of what happens when you play in a party mainly filled by one of the particular roles in 4E. While the results are not entirely surprising but it does raise the question of whether roles play an important role in effective party composition.

GamesTopica.Net
Who hold the Responsibilities for Effective Characters?
An interesting examination of defining character effectiveness and whether it's the rules or the DM which should give the PCs a situation to shine in. There are some interesting thoughts on character effectiveness and I agree that it is up to the DM to make it worthwhile for PCs to be effective in some situations other than combat.

Inkwell Ideas
Final Results of the RPG Blog Readership Survey
The final results of the RPG Blog Readership survey are out. Although it can be a little hard to digest especially the ones with subjective answers but this is surely useful for any RPG blogger who wants to know how other bloggers respond to their content.

Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer
Pacing your Game
Some really good advice on how to set the pace of your game with good pointers of do's and don'ts. There are also some useful examples to learn how to set your pacing for different situations.

Musings of the Chatty DM
Friday Chat: The Issue(s) of Combat length in D&D 4e
The Chatty DM talks about the problem of combat length in 4E, what contributes to it, his own solutions and some other alternatives. While my group doesn't seem to feel the Grind (yet), this is quite a good read nonetheless.

RPG Blog II
Erik Mona Interview: Pathfinder, Customer Service, and Old School
An interview with Erik Mona on the topics in the title. The most interesting part that I find in this interview is about his thoughts about the Old School Renaissance.

Sly Flourish
Four Tips for Running Solo Creatures
Some DMs might find that solo creatures aren't working as they thought it should and they have been know to contribute to the grind that some people feel in 4E. These are some good tips that demystify that expectations and how to use solo creatures for effectively in combat.

Questing's Readings - 2/8/09

July is gone and the month's blog carnival roundup is already up over at 6D6 Fireball where bloggers give their thoughts on all things related with D&D. From how it has change their lives to its well being and the future.

Now we're in August and that can only mean one thing in the gaming world. It is that time of the year where gamers would make their annual gaming pilgrimage to gaming mekkah; GenCon!

In line with this month's major convention, Chgowiz from the Old Guy RPG Blog will be hosting this month's blog carnival with the topic on conventions, Ren Fairs, carnivals and festivals whether in-game or out-of-game.

Readings has been a little slow but this week we've got good posts on worldbuilding, DMing tips and even a useful initiative trackers.

Beneath the Screen
Learn To Say "Yes"
Good advice on how to improvise and how to handle moments when players have derailed your plot. It even mentions a mistake that DMs tend to make to put their players in line.

Dungeon's Master
Condition Tracker
A very simple yet useful initiative and condition tracker pdf to use on your table.

Inkwell Ideas
10 Ways to Vary Your Game World's Cultures
10 aspects of culture for worldbuilders to consider when they are creating a new race or society. It is really a good list of things to consider and it can really differentiate each culture from the next.

GamesTopica.Net
Social Rewards in RPGs
Some thoughts on why social rewards in RPGs are not popular and some ideas on how to implement them mechanically.

Not just in Character, but in Style too
How hard is it to get your players to roleplay the way you want them to so that it suits your campaign genre or style. Is there a way to encourage roleplaying in style.

Mike's Mind
Turn by Turn: IniTracker
An introduction and step-by-step on how to use a free online initiative tracker.

NewbieDM
Beginner tips for effective narration
Some very good advice for DMs who are having trouble with their narration. It even gives you some pointers on what makes an effective narration, what should you describe and what are the common pitfalls that leads to boring or confusing narration.

Sly Flourish
Four Questions with Robin Laws
An interview with Robin Laws asking 4 questions about how he runs his 4E game. He's got some unique and specific advice about running 4E combat and skill challenges.

UncleBear
The Why of Worldbuilding
Why asking yourself questions like an annoying four year old could help create a better world.

Worldbuilding 101: Designing a soundtrack
Uncle Bear giving some great ideas on how to use music in your game for more than just setting the mood for your encounters.

Questing's Readings - 19/7/09 & 26/7/09

First of all, sorry for not posting last week's Questing's Readings. Not having a permanent internet connection sucks right now and I'm still considering alternatives of getting a different ISP. On the other hand, that's not too bad a thing since I will be compiling posts that I've enjoyed last week together with the ones from this week. So that you would will enjoy the double goodness coming from the RPG Bloggers Network.

Before we move on with the readings, some news of what's been happening in the RPG bloggersphere. Critical Hits and Mad Brew Labs from the RPG Bloggers Network have been nominated for the Best Website alongside with websites like Dungeon-a-Day run by Monte Cook, Kobold Quarterly by Wolfgang Baur and Obisidian Portal, the campaign wiki providing service.

Although it probably isn't fair to have blogs and commercial websites in the same category but it is still quite a big achievement for the network to have 2 of its members listed out of the 5 nominees. I have featured both of these blogs in Questing's Readings before and it will be a hard choice to make between the two for the content that they have generated over the past year.

Critical Hits has been pretty much my go-to website for any RPG-related news which has a crew of writers that have good connections with the industry. These are the guys that I look up to in regards to gaming journalism and they have also produced some indepth analysis especially in the 4E mechanics.

Not to mention that Dave Chalker, Danny Rupp and Graham Poole are part of the founding members of the RPG Bloggers Network which has been the next best thing for the online RPG Community since ENWorld (who award the ENnies), in my opinion.

Mad Brew Labs has always been about thought provoking posts. Although I don't share all of his taste but we both share an interest in understanding RPGs from an academic point of view. In fact, his blog was the first that came into mind when I first posted up what is still one of the most commented post I've done for this blog.

Outside of his blog, I have known Micheal Brewer to be very active in the RPG/Blogger community with his most recent participation as the host of the June RPG Blog Carnival, the RPGBN Shared Setting and co-founding NeverMet Press.

So I would ask you to go over to both of these blogs, read through what they have to offer to make up your mind and give your votes to these guys to support the underdogs. Hopefully this will win us some recognition among the judges in charge of the ENnies to give bloggers their own category the next year.

Now let's head over to what is going to be a long post ahead of us with lots of link love to posts (and blogs) that weren't nominated but are equally deserving for their great content. Throughout both weeks, we have some bloggers sharing topics on dealing with character deaths,, staging the 'epic' and character development.

A Butterfly Dreaming
What are the Best 4E Ability Score Arrays?
A very good look and thought about the possible combination of scores you can get from the 22 point buy and the ability score arrays from the PHB. This is interesting if you are a bit of math geek and useful for the min/maxer.

Advanced Gaming & Theory
Creating a Meaning Festival
Some ideas on how to run and roleplay an archery and jousting contest with some ways of implementing them into your campaign as potential plot hooks.

At Will
Is it a Fight or a Skill Challenge?
A good reminder that DMs should not be too rigid in deciding how PCs should overcome an encounter and let the players decide. This plays against the argument that 4E does not encourage roleplaying and it is something to keep in mind.

A boss in parts
An attempt to implement into 4E an often seen monster design concept in console JRPGs with a few examples. This is certainly an interesting approach to monster design for 4E.

Beneath the Screen
A DM's Dilemma: Dealing with Deadlines
5 advice on what you should do if you are having less time to play with your group or are moving away from town. Even if you are not in this kind of situation, I think it is still good advice for DMs in order to run a fun game.

5 Tips for Dealing With PC Death
5 advice on how to handle PC deaths and how they can sometimes be an opportunity for more roleplaying.

Campaign Mastery
Ask the GMs: An epic confusion, or how to stage a blockbuster finish
Someone asks the GMs whether their epic-spellcasting villain should go all out with his powerful arsenal at first when going against the PCs in the climatic final encounter. See what Johnn and Mike have to say. It's long but it has really good advice.

Fame & Fortune
staging epic conflict
Sort of a follow-up to Campaign Mastery's post on epic fights but this focuses more on how to make epic campaigns without being cheesy.

Inkwell Ideas
Game Design Tips from the Paizo RPG Superstar Contest
Some general advice and guidelines given by the judges of the Paizo RPG Superstar content in designing magical items. Most of these advice are not system specific and it would be good reference for those who are intending to join in next year's contest.

Jonathan Drain's D20 Source
Five Ways to Make Your Player's Life Easier
This could be summarize into talking with your players, giving them the spotlight and be willing to compromise which are generally good practices as a DM.

You're Dead!
A look into death throughout the editions and why death should not always be a harsh penalty because of the level, financial and equipment loss that it incurs.

Beyond "You Hit": Describing Damage
A very interesting way of describing damage based on ability scores, monster type and character class.

The Art of the One-Shot Adventure
The benefits of one-shot adventures and how to implement them into your ongoing campaign.

Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer
A Discussion on Trust
An interesting look on the concept of trust, trustor and trustee and how it can be applied in-game between NPCs and PC with a few examples from his current campaigns.

Newbie DM
Don't make the PC's ride your newbie railroad!
5 ways to improvise when your PCs goes off the track. This is normally good advice for new DMs who tend to railroad but it's good advice all around.

RoleplayingPro
Addressing Metagaming
Distinguishing lesser and greater metagaming with the latter being more destructive to the game. There are some advice on how to handle greater metagaming.

Building Memorable D&D Characters: Race & Class
Building Memorable D&D Characters: Backgrounds

A very good list of pointers to think about when developing your character background based on your class, race and the backgrounds from the Player's Handbook 2.

Sly Flourish
Four Tip's From Robin's Laws
4 general tips taken from the GMing bible by Robin Laws if you haven't read it before.

Four Tips for Kings of the Trollhaunt Warrens
P1 King of the Trollhaunt Warrens is the first paragon tier adventure module from Wizards and it is the first chance for the PCs to experience high level action and exploration. The four tips here recommend doing some groundwork much earlier before adventure begins to increase the satisfaction when the players go through it.

Stargazer's World
Interview with Wolfgang Baur
An interview with the man behind Kobold Quarterly, his nominations in this year's ENnies, his career, his future plans and love for the pesky buggers.

A Gamer in Japan Pt 2 - Location, Location, Location
Ever wondered where do Japanese gamer meet to play? I'm surprised to read that Japan has a gaming retail chain that also caters to RPG gamers.

Stupid Ranger
Developing Your Roleplaying
DM Your Way To Better Roleplaying

Dante and Stupid Ranger giving out simple ways for players and DMs to promote more roleplaying on the table.

tenletter
Maslow's Sandbox Game (Or Needs-Based Player Hooks)
An interesting idea of how to create plot hooks based on the character's needs according to the Maslow pyramid.

The Gherkin Patch
The Iron Triangle of Game Design
A very interesting article based on the constraints of software engineering and how it can also be applied to game design with playability, simulation and universality as the three points of the triangle.

It's a little long and can get quite heavy at times but it does paint an interesting portrait of the limits of designing the 'perfect' system.

Questing's Readings - Psion Edition

Wizards have released the complete version of the Psion class from Player's Handbook 3 for DDI subscribers which introduces a different type of power mechanics that has no encounter powers but giving them power points to augment their at-wills.

Psion and psionics in general has always been one of those hotly debated topics in D&D because some either loved it or hated it. One thing's for sure, Psions and psionics has always been an exception rather than the rule in D&D and even though I was certain that 4E has streamlined it when they announced a psionic power source. It seems that the designers has managed to carry on that tradition.

So in this special edition of Questing's Readings, these are the posts that bloggers from the RPG Bloggers Network had to say about the new Psion class and what are their thoughts about psionics in general, now that its arrival into the game is inevitable.

It also has some good spoilers (or teasers) for those who don't have a subscription for DDI to read the full psion class.

A Hero Twice A Month
A new class and new mechanics

At-Will
Beneath the Surface" Has anyone played the Psion yet?

Critical Hits
4E: Psion - by the Numbers

Dungeon's Master
Psionics Suck!

GarGamer
Psion Review/General Stuff

Geek Ken
Preview: the Psion Class

Ideamancer
Psion: How to multiclass?

Points of Light
Debut: Meet the Psion
Angra, Tiefling Psion

WeeBeeGamers
New D&D Class: The Psion