D&D

So D&D 4th Edition came out last week, and I got a chance to play a demo on Saturday. I went in with the idea that it would be a completely new game, only loosely based on Dungeons & Dragons as I knew it. As it was, I turned out to be pleasantly surprised. Yes, it is a VERY different game, but it seems to be a great system for a fantasy game. Has anyone else tried it yet? What do you think?

This time, it looks like they decided to delve into some of the gamer chick stereotypes. As well as some of the lame ways that male gamers treat them.

Gary Gygax has died. When I think about how different my life would be without the hobby he launched, it makes this news very sad.

Wired: http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/report-gary-gyg.html
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/03/farewell_gary_gygax_the_du...
Salon: http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/03/04/gary_gygax/index.html
CNN (home page): http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/04/obit.gygax.ap/index.html
Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-gaming/article/2008-03/dd-co-creator...

New Geek Girls Rule! is up, wherein I talk about having more than one gaming group, and why I think this is a good thing if you can pull it off. 

http://www.geekgirlsrule.wordpress.com

And look, I even spelled the link right this time. 

I've heard some people talk about female gamers not being into rolling dice that they'd rather spend their time role-playing. While I don't think it's a valid generalization, I wonder what types of conflict resolution systems Gamer Chicks enjoy. A conflict resolution system is how you accomplish things in an RPG that are not automatic like hitting the orc with your longsword or using your vampiric charm to influence the hapless mortal or making your character recall a piece of information you have forgotten.

Okay, I played some D&D last night, but it was with a pre-made character. I finally made my own character today. It took about all day today, but that is due to the being easily distracted-ness of me and my dad. We also had to run to the store, so that took a bit of time. For all who want to know what I am, I am an Elf Sorceress. She's Chaotic Good and her familair is a hawk.

After kicking around multiple ideas on the intro to D&D for women adventure, I finally settled on sticking to something a bit more traditional. In other words, I didn't want to take a lot of time on things that may not be a likely D&D adventure they would play with someone else.

So I've experienced something that I'm wondering if it's just me, just guys, or across the RPG community. In my D&D group of late, we've mostly spent almost entire evenings trying to figure out what's going on. But every once in a while, I just want to roll some dice and go all RIASTA.

This sourcebook published by Green Ronin is a great resource for someone who wants to have a rich religious flavor to their setting without designing your own or bogging down in useless details like the stats of the gods and goddesses. Released in 2002, it is the best sourcebook I own for use in D&D.

Since we don't currently have any campaigns together, ShoshieB1 asked me to run some D&D for her one-on-one. Running an RPG one-on-one present some unique opportunities as well as some unique challenges. In this story, I'm going to discuss some of them and what I think it'll be like.