Category Archives: Links & Resources

The Smartwood Children (a Lasers and Feelings hack for my kids)

This weekend has been chock-a-block with face to face gaming goodness with cool kids. Friday was the 14th session of Masks: Phoenix Academy game with Kaylee and the Jamies and, I think, possibly one of the best sessions so far. (Which is good, because we’re not going to be able to play again until something […]

Looking Back at a Remarkably RPG-heavy Week

I’ve been lucky enough to have a regular gaming group for Some Time Now (thanks, #Roll20 !) – I don’t have the hard numbers, but I think we’re averaging ~48-50 game sessions a year in the main Monday night group. The weekend just past was a bit of a jackpot. On Friday night, I ran […]

Masks, Menagerie Actual Play, Session 45 – Doctor Infinity is a Purple

The Sepia Squad’s final showdown with Dr. Infinity. Doctor Infinity’s starfish-robot questions Charade about Charlotte Palmer by sending itself through her timeline. Charade deflects attention onto Hecate and the HHL. Mercury rescues her from the object’s subsequent attack. While Link escapes with an older Jason Quill, Concord faces off against an older Sablestar, and manages […]

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Girl Underground meets the TARDIS?

There’s a game in development called Girl Underground, which focuses on a central Girl (in the vein of Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth, Mirrormask, Spirited Away, etc) having an adventure in a weird secret world, with her companions. Only The Girl has stats. No one plays the girl. Everyone plays wondrous companions. You roll with The […]

The Hollow, by way of World of Dungeon: Turbo

I’m running a game for my kids, inspired by The Hollow series on Netflix, and for said game I’m basically using a loosey-goosey version of World of Dungeons: Turbo. However, the setup for the game doesn’t closely match the original World of Dungeons: Turbo premise, so I’ve already spent a fair amount of time scribbling […]

Masks Menagerie Tropes

A couple weeks ago, I joked that I should try to identify the main tropes that show up in our current Masks game. Unfortunately, some part of my brain didn’t know I was joking. So. Adaptive Armor – Jason’s Nanobots Alternate Company Equivalent – The HHL as this world’s Justice League (hopefully the JL and […]

Masks, Actual Play Analysis, Sessions 11 to 15

We’re back! It’s another long flight, so let’s run through Masks sessions to the latest and see what to make of them… Issue 11: When Sablestar Strikes! (hell-day part 3) Issue 11 on YouTube AP Report I like when we can start things in media res, if only to skip the fiddly front-loading on a […]

Masks “Menagerie” Campaign – Session 6 to 10

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about our ongoing Masks game (superhero antics in the vein of Young Justice, Teen Titans, or Avengers Academy), but that in no way means the game itself has slowed. Quite the opposite. So, if only for the sake of bragging, I thought I’d catch things up. The last time, […]

Masks AP Resource

The whelmed podcast (located at the nigh-perfect url http://crashingthemode.com/) is basically “Buffering the Vampire Slayer,” but for Young Justice. I’ve just started in on the beginning of the show, and it’s great; if you like podcasts where pop culture love and gaming overlap and/or intersect, I recommend it. But here’s an additional BONUS: the podcast […]

Playing Hero Kids with my Hero Kids

Last night, in lieu of normal bedtime activities (reading Winnie-the-Pooh, Justice League I-Can-Read books, or our new favorite, Bone), Kaylee and Sean and I played some Hero Kids. For those of you unfamiliar, this is an RPG specifically designed for “kids from ages 4 to 10” – says so right on the tin cover. It’s […]

I am a Nerd (Final-ish version)

I’ve posted versions of this on my main blog, but while I like it, it didn’t quite feel like it was completely there. I had the chance to recite it for an audience last night at Whidbey MFA. I said “recite” because I’d memorized it while driving out from Denver, and that memorization helped me […]

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The Glitcherman

Today, I was walking around the neighborhood with my daughter, looking at trees and houses. (There are only 3 or 4 house templates in our suburb, and we like to try to spot ‘our house’ in other places.) While walking, we were talking about the concept for Save Game. (Short version: there’s a world-destroying evil […]

Why I haven't Blogged about Wildstar Yet

… as explained by Tycho at PA. (See link and disregard first paragraph, which is mostly about something else.) "When I try to write about Wildstar, I get stuck in a sort of spiral.  I don’t really know where to start, because everything refers to some other part.  It’s interlaced in a way that reinforces […]

Fate: Kugen Wasabi

This has been sitting in my drafts folder for something like six months, so let’s put it out there, just for fun. I made this guy up for a “feudal, so-high-tech-it’s-low-tech Japan” campaign that ran for (I think) just the character creation session. An obvious riff on the Blade of the Immortal comics (which I’ve […]

Character Progression in Fate Accelerated

One of the complaints/problems I've run into with previous incarnations of Fate were with character advancement. To be blunt, there wasn't any, or it wasn't satisfying for those familiar with more mainstream RPG gaming.  That is, without a doubt, a 'fixed problem' with Fate Core and FAE. The best demonstration of that I've found have […]

A few thoughts on EVE, a static playerbase, and how I'd fix it

Reshared post from +Doyce Testerman A few thoughts on EVE, a static playerbase, and how I'd fix it. (Also: the new home of my Life in Eve #gaming posts!)? Stay Awhile and Listen: Growing the EVE Population with a Good Story Some of EVE’s current zeitgeist is currently swirling around the topic of New Players. […]

My review of the most surprising Marvel-published title this year

#wp #gaming Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon | TheMittani.com In my last review, I talked about Atomic Robo, a fairly small-press, not-everyone’s-heard-about-it title. This time, let’s go the opposite route. Let’s talk about Marvel. Specifically, let’s talk about a story that really no one would have pegged as a winner, let alone the best […]

Where I’ve Been

I haven’t been logged into Eve for awhile. Or DCUO. Or LotRO, or really anywhere online. Gaming has, in short, taken a bit of a back seat for awhile, though I doubt that’ll last. The summer turned out to be a lot more busy than I’d expected. One of the reasons is this guy. That’s […]

Atomic Robo, Some of the Most Fun You Can Have with Action Science!

Guaranteed* 98% free of unexpected explosions. #wp  #gaming * – Should not actually be considered any kind of guarantee. At all. Atomic Robo & the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne | TheMittani.com Let’s start with a quick questionnaire. Do you like: Buckaroo Banzai; Indiana Jones; Doc Savage; Hellboy (movie or comic); Science, especially when it is […]

Went to Comic Con San Diego

… and got to play some Atomic Robo(!)  …With my daughter. …With her playing as my daughter. …using a character with easily-compelled "I can take care of myself!" aspect. Life imitates art imitates life imitates game session. #gaming #fate #kaylee #sdcc This post has been reshared 2 times on Google+ View this post on Google+

Fate: Trouble Magnet – Session Three

We picked up the action from Session Two the following day. Hooray for weekends and little brother’s naptime. Matthew Cuthbert drives a beautifully preserved old pickup that purrs down the highway like a sleeping lion. Inside the cab of the pickup, the old man and young girl are quiet: Matthew seems a bit uncomfortable with […]