One of my favorite fantasy series is Memory, Sorrow, Thorn by Tad Williams. There are a lot of reasons I love these books, and many of them are applicable to gaming. The one apropos here, however, is the setting. Probably my favorite aspect of the setting is the fact that it seems so realistic… at…
Tag Archives: Swords and Wizardry
Security and shelter became a bit of a problem in our most recent Swords and Wizardry game. We were caught in the wilderness, wounded and low on provisions. My mage character, Cornelius Cassius Flavian, was one of the few who were not half dead, and he had plenty of time to think of ways that…
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…
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…
Reading Charlie’s commentary from last week got me thinking about how mechanics affect role playing. Most RPGs are fairly complex games. As such, they can be enjoyed on many levels. This is where the old Gamist/Narrativeist/Simulationist discussion would come in, but that’s really not the point of this post. What is the point, however, is…
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…
For the last couple months, our group has been running a homebrew varient of Swords and Wizardry. This system seeks to recreate the feel of the original version of D&D. The game has stirred up memories of my first years of gaming. It has also made me realize exactly how my playing style has changed…