Neitherworld Stories

August 22, 2008

The Hydra: an alternate view

Here’s a slightly odd take on a solution to the hydra problem for 4e. A standard level 12 encounter for 4 PCs would feature (1) Hydra, (1) Skulking Hydra Head, and (4) minion Hydra Heads for a 6-headed hydra. I had to create a new mechanic for multiple monsters sharing a single body. It should, I hope, be self-explanatory. Hydra...

August 20, 2008

Building Woodstock (Part 1 of ?)

In my last post, I discussed the possible development of a fictionalized city for a modern fantasy game Angela and I are planning on running. We’ve tentatively decided on Woodstock, NY – in a world where the 1969 festival brought on a population boom to the area. The problem, of course, is that Woodstock wasn’t in Woodstock. The festival was...

August 18, 2008

Life in the Big City

As I mentioned in my last post, Angela and I are planning on running a modern fantasy game. We’re not sure where to set it, though. Here are some criteria: It should be a city conveniently located to a large portion of North America (having a major airport would cover this). It should be fairly large (at least a million...

August 18, 2008

A Weekend in Indianapolis

I have come to believe that Indianapolis doesn’t believe in signage. This is unfortunate. Really, it only interfered once. Finding our way in and out of the Embassy Suites to attend the Goodman Games seminar on adventure design was an adventure in itself. It was like we got to attend the True Dungeon for free! …except not fun. Other than...

August 14, 2008

Gen Con Plans

It looks like we’ll probably head over to Indy late Friday night, hit Gen Con on Saturday, and take in the Indianapolis zoo on Sunday. Seminar-things I want to make sure I attend at Gen Con:RPG Bloggers Unite! 1PM SatHow to Write Adventures Modules that Don’t Suck 9pm Sat If convenient, I might go to the Freelancing for Dungeons &...

August 13, 2008

Carnival Post: There goes the Zombiehood…

The Undead I don’t use a lot of undead in my games. There are a number of reasons for this. First is the zombie issue. Zombies are among the most commonly used undead, but (I know this is sacriledge among many) I don’t get excited about zombies. Zombie movies? They can be OK, but only if they aren’t about the...

August 13, 2008

Carnival time!

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned the RPG blog carnival. The idea? A number of blogs post on a single topic over a short period of time. It is something that tends to happen quasi-naturally. Someone will blog on a topic and it will give other people ideas. The carnival is a bit different in that (1) it is...

August 11, 2008

Understanding Old-School

The 4e honeymoon is over. There’s a lot to like in it, game mechanically, but I can’t help but feel like there is something about 4e D&D that disagrees with me. I’m pretty sure that the bit which disagrees with me is either the same thing or very closely related to that which a lot of nostalgia-oriented gamers seem to...

August 11, 2008

Makin’ Whuffie

On Thursday, I wandered over to the library over lunch to return a pile of books. While I was there, I picked up a copy of Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. While I’d read many of C.D.’s blog posts, I hadn’t read one of his novels before. I finished it, umm, Friday night, I think. It...

August 8, 2008

Joiner

I’m not so much a joiner, usually (I still don’t have a Facebook page, much less a ::shudder:: MySpace one), but I linked up with this here RPG Bloggers Network thingie. I even made a button for the blog:See? We’ll see what difference the PRG Bloggers Network makes. I suspect it will be nice for organizing things like the RPG...