(Rolling now. A 4 and a 3.) Perched upon a stalactite, far out of reach of the bullseye lantern of his former adventuring company, the ghost of Enyo cackles soundlessly. “They laughed,” he chortles to a nearby bat who takes no notice of the specter, “they laughed when I called myself ‘assassin.’ They mocked me…
Tag Archives: OSR
I love coming up with an elaborate character backstory. I suck at remembering it in play. Thus, my character sheets end up a study in marginalia: scrawled near the top of the sheet is the reminder that this character is characterized by a wise laziness and always seeks the most effective path of least resistance….
“It is the mark of a brave man to face things that are, and seem, terrible for a man, because it is noble to do so and disgraceful not to do so.” Thus was it written in days of old, thus is it spoken this day in memory of a noble warrior. Such words seem…
Enyo Tanicus was a bard with one thing on his mind as he adventured: fame. His adventuring compatriots often looked on with annoyance as he secretively scrawled his twisted interpretation of the party’s exploits in his journal, which was titled (in childish script): “The Adventures of Enyo and his followers.” Enyo, caught up in writing…
A hero has fallen. This weekend, Enyo Tanicus, first level bard-turned-assassin, bravely defiled the temple of a lizardman. After this noble act, Enyo claimed a pendant from a corpse in the temple as his own–mistaking it first for a magical water-breathing amulet, and later for a holy symbol of Poseidon. Waving it in the face…
Regular readers know that our group is in the midst of a Swords and Wizardry game. We took a break from that this Saturday to brew, hold babies, and (yes) play games. Knowing: that brewing and/or babies would cause many interruptions we had an RPG virgin (but still a board game geek) joining us we…
My name is Charlie. I’m a mechanoholic. It’s true. My disease compels me to pursue the best mechanical benefit in any situation, regardless of whether my character would actually do the thing or not. I can resist mechanics-driven impulses when playing games like FATE or old-school D&D knockoffs, but when I start playing 4E, all…
I got my start in gaming with the 1989 basic set. The “red box” holds a central place in the bookshelf of my heart (aww, isn’t that sweet?), as it represents the foundation for “what gaming is” in my mind. I’ve played AD&D, D&D 3.5, and D&D 4. I’ve enjoyed each game, diverse though each…
How come I haven’t heard of “Fourthcore” before today? And when can I try it? As a player working his way through a pretty unforgiving Swords and Wizardry adventure, and a person who has so far seen 4th Edition as a game that eschews the unforgiving play and rewarding discovery of the so-called 0E game,…