Review – Revolution: Virtual Playspace
With the growing popularity of online tabletop gaming, more and more game masters and players are turning to sites and software for digital virtual playspaces in order to boost their fun and the gaming experience. Most of these virtual tabletops include a variety of extra functions, such as dice rollers and campaign managers and messaging and more, but to my knowledge all focus upon a two-dimensional environment.
Not so with Revolution: Virtual Playspace.
Mad Max Fury Road & The Dark Fantasy Art Influences of Brom
Furiosa’s black war paint beside Brom’s painting from 10 years prior.
So I may lose nerd cred here, but I was only just able to see the fantastic, nitrous injected film that was Mad Max Fury Road this past weekend. I don’t feel I can add much to the discussion of the cultural significance of the film, but there is one unique slant regarding the visuals that I might offer.
Fury Road explodes like an oil tanker flame-throwered and jack-knifed into the desert wastes at 60 mph with rich, detailed costumes, weapons, and vehicles- I was simply floored by how visually extravagant this film was! The many muted tones of the film giving the few instances of vibrant color an incredible punch!
It was full of dark fantasy imagery coupled with something else- maybe call it a “Rust Punk” aesthetic with all of it’s super-charged, lethal, heap of junk vehicles. For those less well-versed in dark fantasy imagery, it tends to have a more threatening and fetishized look about it. The first name that comes to mind when I think “dark fantasy” is: Gerald Brom, or to many, just simply Brom.
Playing RPGs with New Gamers
Greetings Nerdarchist Ted here and if you are a regular visitor to our site you will know that today should be a Goblin comic. But Nerdarchist Ryan celebrated Star Wars day with a great comic so we actually launched that one on Monday.
So that shifted my usual articles back a day. So here we are with me on a Wednesday.
New players at your role playing game offer an assortment of challenges as well as an assortment of boon. Now sadly I am not talking about Epic boons bestowed upon you when you reach 20th level but they are advantages never the less.
Player tips for new players in a Role Playing game
Unearthed Arcana — Eberron for 5E D&D
Unearthed Arcana — Eberron is out and it’s time for Nerdarchy to weigh in. If you haven’t downloaded the free PDF from Wizards of the Coast grab it here.
Top 5 D&D Campaign Settings
Hello and well met. I’m here to discuss my top 5 picks for D&D campaign settings through out my 30+ years of the game. First and foremost we will be skipping Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms. I find these to be the most generic of D&D campaign settings. They could literally be anyone’s homebrew game. Oh wait, Forgotten Realms was Ed Greenwood’s. Nothing against those settings it’s just there isn’t anything really different in them. The only reason Forgotten Realms is interesting at all is because of the amount of detail that has gone into it, with tons of authors having written in that setting. Even with all of that it strikes as being incredibly generic. Personally if I’m going to play in a generic setting I’d rather just run my own homebrew.
Top 5 Tabletop RPGs to Play Before a Zombie Apocalypse
Nerdarchist Dave here to give you my Top 5 Tabletop RPG Games to Play Before The Zombie Apocalypse. This is going to be a list of games I haven’t gotten a chance to play, a little bit about the game and why I want to play them.
Rune Stones and Rune Transportation in Tabletop RPGs
Hello Nerdarchy fans. Today I want to talk about a potential house rule you can add to your tabletop roleplaying game like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons — rune port transportation. Many of you have played video games that used way points or some form of magic portal allowing easy travel and access to other areas of your realm. Essentially that is what we’re exploring. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept this would be a sigil or glyph created on the ground imbued with magic allowing one to magically travel to another such location.
How to Find a Gaming Group for Tabletop RPG Games
Hey folks Nerdarchist Dave here to talk about the age old question: how do I find a gaming group? This can be super easy or a Herculean task especially among us tabletop RPG gamers. Let’s face it, inside the gaming community there are more socially inept people than you can roll a d20 at. I feel like can say that, being one of the inept. I personally have always gotten anxiety when placed in large social gatherings with people I don’t know.
Getting into Character for Tabletop Roleplaying
Hello Nerdarchy friends and fans! Nerdarchist Ted here. Today we are going to step back and lift the veil from the gaming world and talk about the mindset. I have been tabletop roleplaying for well over two decades. In this time I have played countless characters both as a Dungeon Master and as a player character. Whether you wing it every session or you have a detailed process, you might want some tips so here are some ideas to help you out.
The Desert World of Athas — Dark Sun Campaign Setting
Hello friends, Nerdarchist Ted here to talk about Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings. Today I would like to talk about Dark Sun or the desert world of Athas. With most D&D campaign settings the world is mostly good. That is not the case in Dark Sun. In most campaign settings magic is prevalent and not harmful at its core. In the desert world of Athas magic destroys life just by being cast.
Finding Inspiration for 5E D&D Campaigns
Hey friends, Nerdarchist Ted here. Running a campaign in fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder or any other tabletop roleplaying game is hard and writing material for said campaign can be even harder. When doing so you have to predict possible actions your players will make and be prepared for the most obvious options but as as Dungeon Master where do you come up with the ideas?
Willing Suspension of Disbelief Creates an Immersive RPG Experience
Even with the light from your torch the stairwell’s end cannot be seen. As you cautiously make your way down each step, the cracks and crevices on the sides of the wall quiver and writhe in time to the torch’s flickering flame.
Unseen cobwebs flutter against your eyes and face. There is a rushing sound like one unending breath that you hear too close to your ear. You see something move in the shadows just outside the torch’s glow. You hear a scratching, chattering cacopho-
*crackle, crackle*
*crackle, crackle*
” Hey pass over those Cheese Puffs”
Sigh… The dreaded words that quell the willing suspension of disbelief in an immersive RPG.
“Pass me the ______” ( food or beverage )
As a DM, if that blank is not filled by the words “Holy Avenger” or some other fantasy item, it really deconstructs the built up tension.
Thus undermining the work that we, as DMs, put into setting the mood of encounters.
While experienced players can still hack it when it comes to mood disruptions they still lessen the overall experience for everyone.
Why is that the case?
Tabletop RPGs and Board Games — The House Rules To Rule Them All
Hello my fellow gamers out there.
Do you play Tabletop RPGs or board games only with the rules out of the book or box?
If you do you are missing something great.
House rules be they in a tabletop rpg or board games offer many good and bad additions to the game. So be careful if you decide to go down that road. It is possible that if you make significant changes to a game you can alter the creators intent or completely remove the challenge that is implied with the rules.
However with subtle game play changes to your tabletop rpg or board game you can make something that you already enjoy that much better.
Mutants And Masterminds — An Awesome Table Top Roleplaying Game!
I’ve been lucky enough to experience four different superhero role-playing games; two editions of Green Ronin’s Mutant and Masterminds, the original Marvel Superheroes FASERIP system by TSR, Mayfair’s DC Heroes, and Heroes Unlimited by Palladium, but Mutants and Masterminds has been my favorite by far. It was actually during a Heroes Unlimited RPG session that I was inspired to seek out a different superhero role-playing game.
