Mass Effect 2
I used to think that Bioware was the coolest studio out there. They were putting out games I absolutely loved: mainly
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What’s wrong with Bioware? (Mas...
Mass Effect 2
I used to think that Bioware was the coolest studio out there. They were putting out games I absolutely loved: mainly
Driver: San Francisco
Driver: San Francisco
Before Driver: San Francisco, I thought that maybe you just can’t do engaging storytelling in a car game. Rockstar had given it a shot, and while I really enjoy Midnight Club: Los Angeles, the storytelling is really very bad and uninteresting. If Rockstar can’t do it, who can? It turns out that Reflections ca [...]
Dungeons & Dragons: Skill Challe...
D&D Rules Compendium
I’ve praised D&D fourth edition’s skill challenges before, but they warrant some more love. Initially I dismissed the system – I thought it was just about Wizards branding the concept of rolling for a skill outside of combat or something.
But they’ve taken a leaf out of new wave roleplaying [...]
Warhammer 40 000: Space Marine
Space Marine cover
Based on Relic’s history with Warhammer 40 000 I had a feeling they might really deliver with Space Marine, their first action take on the franchise. I’ve played both Dawn Of War titles a lot and liked the adaptations into videogame form quite a bit. As most Warhammer fans, what I’d really love is a direct [...]
Dungeons & Dragons: Running an e...
Black dragon
We are now five sessions into our “In Exile” (“Maanpaossa” in Finnish) campaign, in which the players portray nobles and their servants who have fled their homeland, now trapped in civil war. It is very much back to basics D&D, as per the Essentials flavor.
The game has been very successful so far and [...]
Power2ool: Better than paper
Dyson Airblade: better than paper, scary as hell. Why'd they have to call a thing you insert your hands into a "blade" of any sort is beyond me
I started planning the D&D game I ran over the last weekend some years ago in a Moleskine notebook while on a cruise boat to Sweden. Since then I’ve iterated on the plan and wr [...]
D&D Essentials: Pre-game thought...
I do like the 4E art
I’ve read through the new Red Box (“Starter Set”), Heroes Of The Fallen Lands and the Rules Compendium, getting ready to run my first fourth edition D&D game. I’m only using these three products so far and want to see if I can actually run a game properly. I can, but it’s a can with a but [...]
Keeping it simple with exceptions
Exalted first edition cover. I like it a lot!
I had a talk with a friend about roleplaying game system complexity way too late in Midsummer night. This is another of those things that D&D 4E gets right.
I would like to play Exalted, but it’s far too cumbersome. The rule system just doesn’t apply to the kind of gaming it wants [...]
F.E.A.R.
Scary girls were in at the time
Monolith is an interesting developer. While I was disappointed that they never continued Shogo (unique shooter to this day), they’ve more than earned my respect and interest. I still have Condemned to play, sitting unopened next to the Xbox over there, and No One Lives Forever is the greatest PC s [...]
Planning for greatness
The fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons does a great job with preparing Dungeon Masters for the journey ahead. They had parts of this back in the third edition back in 2000, but as with many other facets of 4E (2008), it’s only now really bearing fruit.
When planning games, you’re not planning just encounters or adventures. You& [...]
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