The picture is from the 1979 science fiction film The Black Hole. The film tells the story of the crew of the Palomino that boards the long-lost ship Cygnus. Here they have to stand up to faceless robots that have unhealthy plans for the visitors.
Posts tonen met het label links. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label links. Alle posts tonen
dinsdag 19 april 2011
Traveller inspiration
Space: 1970 is an excellent blog that features artwork, photo's etc. from science fiction shows and films from the 1970's. Take a look at this wonderful picture of a capital ship.
The picture is from the 1979 science fiction film The Black Hole. The film tells the story of the crew of the Palomino that boards the long-lost ship Cygnus. Here they have to stand up to faceless robots that have unhealthy plans for the visitors.
The picture is from the 1979 science fiction film The Black Hole. The film tells the story of the crew of the Palomino that boards the long-lost ship Cygnus. Here they have to stand up to faceless robots that have unhealthy plans for the visitors.
zondag 17 april 2011
The best links of week 15
It's Link-sunday again here on Behold the Dice. Reading the gaming blogs so you won't have to.
Adventure Design Deskbook
The Underdark gazette takes Mythmere's Adventure Design Deskbook Volume One for a testdrive. They show how an adventure is made using the random tables from the book. I'm really curious about the book!
Link
Thousand Suns
James Maliszewski talks on Grognardia about his Sci Fi RPG Thousand Suns. It's a game with limited background information. He talks about the challenges you have to face as a DM running an open ended sandbox campaign in the SciFi genre, while your characters have their own starship.
Link
Thousand Suns can be bought here from RPGNow and here from Rogue Games themselves.
Languages
Kobold Quarterly has a great post on the working of the Speak Languages skill. The skill doesn't work as a skill, since you either know a language or you don't. In the blog, the skill is modified to work as a skill, with examples of DCs for different tasks etc. I never really thought of this one, bu I like it! This will be employed in our campaigns.
Link
Traveller inspitation
The Zhodani base links to 5 free ebooks from the project Gutenberg to use as inspiration for your Traveller game. It's old stuff, but good stuff.
Link
Some of my own books for Traveller inspiration:
Gamma World adventure
Sly Flourish has an exciting Gamma World adventure on his blog. Go check it out!
Link
Adventure Design Deskbook
The Underdark gazette takes Mythmere's Adventure Design Deskbook Volume One for a testdrive. They show how an adventure is made using the random tables from the book. I'm really curious about the book!
Link
Thousand Suns
James Maliszewski talks on Grognardia about his Sci Fi RPG Thousand Suns. It's a game with limited background information. He talks about the challenges you have to face as a DM running an open ended sandbox campaign in the SciFi genre, while your characters have their own starship.
Link
Thousand Suns can be bought here from RPGNow and here from Rogue Games themselves.
Languages
Kobold Quarterly has a great post on the working of the Speak Languages skill. The skill doesn't work as a skill, since you either know a language or you don't. In the blog, the skill is modified to work as a skill, with examples of DCs for different tasks etc. I never really thought of this one, bu I like it! This will be employed in our campaigns.
Link
Traveller inspitation
The Zhodani base links to 5 free ebooks from the project Gutenberg to use as inspiration for your Traveller game. It's old stuff, but good stuff.
Link
Some of my own books for Traveller inspiration:
Gamma World adventure
Sly Flourish has an exciting Gamma World adventure on his blog. Go check it out!
Link
zondag 27 maart 2011
Links week 12
Sunday-links-day here on Behold the Dice. It's been a slow week, link-wise. Still we managed to present you with three links that caught our attention this week.
Developments in Old School Gaming
There's Dungeons Down Under brings a nice review post of three interesting developments in old school gaming. As regulars here will know, I'm a big fan of old school gaming. Every time I see news that the old school community is alive and kicking, I'm thrilled.
Link
Pulp Characters
We linked to the previous posts a few weeks back. Campaign mastery again delves into the pulp genre and provides some interesting ideas:
Link
Steve Jackson Games
MTV Geek interviews Steve Jackson and Phil Reed about... well, Steve Jackson Games. Go check it out!
Link
Dave's Mapper
David Millar, the creator of the wonderful mapping tool we linked to earlier, mailed to tell us the new location of the mapper. Thanks Dave! Here is the new link:
Link
Facebook page
Developments in Old School Gaming
There's Dungeons Down Under brings a nice review post of three interesting developments in old school gaming. As regulars here will know, I'm a big fan of old school gaming. Every time I see news that the old school community is alive and kicking, I'm thrilled.
Link
Pulp Characters
We linked to the previous posts a few weeks back. Campaign mastery again delves into the pulp genre and provides some interesting ideas:
Link
Steve Jackson Games
MTV Geek interviews Steve Jackson and Phil Reed about... well, Steve Jackson Games. Go check it out!
Link
Dave's Mapper
David Millar, the creator of the wonderful mapping tool we linked to earlier, mailed to tell us the new location of the mapper. Thanks Dave! Here is the new link:
Link
Facebook page
zondag 20 maart 2011
Links Week 11
Sunday is links-day here on Behold the Dice. We read the gaming blogs so you won't have to. Enjoy these best links of last week!
The Underdark Gazette
The Underdark Gazette is one of my favorite sources of old-school gaming information. This week they featured another great links collection.
Link
Sword & Sworcery
The new tagline for the blog is "99.9% unplugged". I'm a big fan of retro-style RPGs and in particular retrographics with modern games. I'm very much looking forward to the Sword & Sworcery, a new adveture game in an old styling. Take a look at the wonderful artwork they have on their site:
Link
Printing on Demand
Over at Stargazer's World they have a piece on the printing on demand (POD) of RPGnow. The book that is printed on demand is Stars without numbes, the link to which was featured on the linksfest a few weeks back. In all, Stargazer is very positive about printing on demand. With RPG sales to a (very) low, at least here in the Netherlands, and brick and mortar stores having to make shelf space priorities, it is good to see that this innovation in the publishing industry is working well. In the near future I plan on doing some experiments myself. reports to follow
Link
Dragon deseases
I love the idea of a dragon catching a cold, though I hate to be in the neighbourhood when he sneezes. Kobold Quarterly had the third post in a series of five that describe diseases that can strike a dragon.
Link
Maps
A mapper to make beautiful old-school maps.
Link
Alignment
Dungeons and Dragons alignments explained with muppets characters
Link
Party
Over at Kobold Quarterly they have an anniversary. It's been five years since Open Design, the parent company of Kobold Quarterly started. This pary is celebrated with massive discounts on their products. Go check it out:
Link
The Underdark Gazette
The Underdark Gazette is one of my favorite sources of old-school gaming information. This week they featured another great links collection.
Link
Sword & Sworcery
The new tagline for the blog is "99.9% unplugged". I'm a big fan of retro-style RPGs and in particular retrographics with modern games. I'm very much looking forward to the Sword & Sworcery, a new adveture game in an old styling. Take a look at the wonderful artwork they have on their site:
Link
Walk in the Woods from Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery on Vimeo.
Printing on Demand
Over at Stargazer's World they have a piece on the printing on demand (POD) of RPGnow. The book that is printed on demand is Stars without numbes, the link to which was featured on the linksfest a few weeks back. In all, Stargazer is very positive about printing on demand. With RPG sales to a (very) low, at least here in the Netherlands, and brick and mortar stores having to make shelf space priorities, it is good to see that this innovation in the publishing industry is working well. In the near future I plan on doing some experiments myself. reports to follow
Link
Dragon deseases
I love the idea of a dragon catching a cold, though I hate to be in the neighbourhood when he sneezes. Kobold Quarterly had the third post in a series of five that describe diseases that can strike a dragon.
Link
Maps
A mapper to make beautiful old-school maps.
Link
Alignment
Dungeons and Dragons alignments explained with muppets characters
Link
Party
Over at Kobold Quarterly they have an anniversary. It's been five years since Open Design, the parent company of Kobold Quarterly started. This pary is celebrated with massive discounts on their products. Go check it out:
Link
zondag 6 maart 2011
Links week 9 (03-03 to 06-03)
This week was more interesting thn the last week on the blogs. So, without further adue, these are the blogposts and sites that I liked best.
On writing weird fiction
Rule of the Dice published the essay "On Writing Weird Fiction" by H.P. Lovecraft:
Link
Random generators
If you're a DM that has to improvise a lot, and you have a laptop at hand during your sessions, the following site offers a wealth of tools:
Link
NewbieDM's take on where dnd is going:
Link
Quest for the dungeon master
Currently, I'm watching all episodes of the Dungens and Dragons cartoon again. This cartoon had some merchandise, such as action figures, etc., but I have never seen this one:
Link
Fantasy mashup
For the DM that cannot choose in which setting he wishes to position his campaign:
Link
Signs & Portents magazine
Mongoose's monthly magazine Signs & Portents can now be downloaded from Mongoose's site:
Link
The history of Dungeons and Dragons
Stargazers world has a really nice infographic about the history of dungeons and dragons
Link
Judge Dredd miniature game
Judge Dredd miniature game, again from Mongoose Publishing, can be downloaded free of charge from the Wargame vault.
Link
Monday motivations
At roleplay geek they have a weekly feature that explores adventuring motivations for different character classes.
Link
Rest in Piece Gary
And last, but not least: my post in memory of Gary Gygax (in Dutch):
Link
On writing weird fiction
Rule of the Dice published the essay "On Writing Weird Fiction" by H.P. Lovecraft:
Link
Random generators
If you're a DM that has to improvise a lot, and you have a laptop at hand during your sessions, the following site offers a wealth of tools:
Link
NewbieDM's take on where dnd is going:
Link
Quest for the dungeon master
Currently, I'm watching all episodes of the Dungens and Dragons cartoon again. This cartoon had some merchandise, such as action figures, etc., but I have never seen this one:
Link
Fantasy mashup
For the DM that cannot choose in which setting he wishes to position his campaign:
Link
Signs & Portents magazine
Mongoose's monthly magazine Signs & Portents can now be downloaded from Mongoose's site:
Link
The history of Dungeons and Dragons
Stargazers world has a really nice infographic about the history of dungeons and dragons
Link
Judge Dredd miniature game
Judge Dredd miniature game, again from Mongoose Publishing, can be downloaded free of charge from the Wargame vault.
Link
Monday motivations
At roleplay geek they have a weekly feature that explores adventuring motivations for different character classes.
Link
Rest in Piece Gary
And last, but not least: my post in memory of Gary Gygax (in Dutch):
Link
zondag 27 februari 2011
The best of week 8 - February 21 to Februari 27
Last week has been a quiet week on the blogs. Nevertheless, here are three posts I particularly liked. Have fun!
Music
There is a lot of attention on music at the gaming table the last weeks. In this blog we had Murphy's jukebox. Several other bloggers shared their favorite music. Look at this post at Gnomestew for a large post on their favorites:
Link
API
Obsidian Portal built up anticipation in the last weeks. On several locations they shared they had big news, but wouldn't say what it was. This week they announced that they have been working on an API. For those who are not familiar with APIs, an API functions like a reception desk servicing requests for information and funtionality that is offered on the Obsidian Portal site. This means that third party developers can start to develop mobile apps, webapplications and such based on the information in Obsidian Portal. I look forward to see whether there are some smart and creative developers out there to put this to maximum use.
Link
Free game
Stargazers world has a weekly feature which links to free games. This time Stars Without Number, Science Fiction Role playing game that can be downloaded from DriveThruRPG. Take a look:
Link
Music
There is a lot of attention on music at the gaming table the last weeks. In this blog we had Murphy's jukebox. Several other bloggers shared their favorite music. Look at this post at Gnomestew for a large post on their favorites:
Link
API
Obsidian Portal built up anticipation in the last weeks. On several locations they shared they had big news, but wouldn't say what it was. This week they announced that they have been working on an API. For those who are not familiar with APIs, an API functions like a reception desk servicing requests for information and funtionality that is offered on the Obsidian Portal site. This means that third party developers can start to develop mobile apps, webapplications and such based on the information in Obsidian Portal. I look forward to see whether there are some smart and creative developers out there to put this to maximum use.
Link
Free game
Stargazers world has a weekly feature which links to free games. This time Stars Without Number, Science Fiction Role playing game that can be downloaded from DriveThruRPG. Take a look:
Link
zaterdag 19 februari 2011
The best of week 7: February 14 – February 20
These are my favorite blogsposts of the last week. Check them out, and follow these superb writers!
Ye olde dungeons
Always amazing to see drawings from the old box. Makes me want to get out my old aD&D notes to see what treasures I have lurking in the box. Maybe stuff for some later blogposts.
Link
Which RPG suits me
Strategy games has a nice decision tree to choose the RPG that will best suit you. I had a fun time playing around with the different answers, finding some RPGs I have never heard of before.
Link
A rant on skills:
Robert J. Swalb discusses some caveats you should consider when using skills. Skills can misguide discussion and hamper the playing experience if you're doing it wrong. I generally agree with the backdraws that he is describing. His solution: Do away with skills. My solution: Don't do it wrong.
Link
Terrain, baby:
If you are playing with miniatures, and you want the best looking terrain you have ever seen, look at the following links. Simply amazing.
Link 1
Link 2
Music:
These last few weeks, several bloggers and forums have addressed the question of ideal campaign music. Of course, we have our Traveller D66 list from Murphy's Bar & Grill on our local space station.
Link
Free Oldscool RPG
I love oldscool RPGs and retroclones. Stargazers World links to Oldschool hack, a free oldschool RPG that has a splendid presentation. Looks really neat. I'm looking forward to reading it.
Link
Ye olde dungeons
Always amazing to see drawings from the old box. Makes me want to get out my old aD&D notes to see what treasures I have lurking in the box. Maybe stuff for some later blogposts.
Link
Which RPG suits me
Strategy games has a nice decision tree to choose the RPG that will best suit you. I had a fun time playing around with the different answers, finding some RPGs I have never heard of before.
Link
A rant on skills:
Robert J. Swalb discusses some caveats you should consider when using skills. Skills can misguide discussion and hamper the playing experience if you're doing it wrong. I generally agree with the backdraws that he is describing. His solution: Do away with skills. My solution: Don't do it wrong.
Link
Terrain, baby:
If you are playing with miniatures, and you want the best looking terrain you have ever seen, look at the following links. Simply amazing.
Link 1
Link 2
Music:
These last few weeks, several bloggers and forums have addressed the question of ideal campaign music. Of course, we have our Traveller D66 list from Murphy's Bar & Grill on our local space station.
Link
Free Oldscool RPG
I love oldscool RPGs and retroclones. Stargazers World links to Oldschool hack, a free oldschool RPG that has a splendid presentation. Looks really neat. I'm looking forward to reading it.
Link
zaterdag 12 februari 2011
The best of week 6: February 7 - February 13
Pulp adventures:
Campaign mastery has an excellent post on the pulp genre. The post elaborates on three aspects of pulp adventures: The world the adventure is taking place in, the particular story conventions of a pulp story, and character cliche's. I like the paragraph on optimism as an important stance in pulp games. Instead of a cynical or dark setting, pulp settings are best played with a hands-on we-can-make-this-work attitudes, no matter how doomed the world is.
Link.
Languages:
An often overlooked aspect of role playing games is the role language plays in the game. Although there are relatively a lot of rules in the different rulebooks, a lot of DMs, and players alike, struggle with making the concept work.
Dice mechanics:
Statistics, the favorite subject of any gamer! Ever since the distribution of dice results was omitted from the DMG, DMs and players have been searching for more information of the distribution of dicerolls. The following article deals with statistics of dice mechanics and the effect of checks under different gaming systems on successrate. Pretty well worked out.
Link.
Conan:
The following post collects an excellent collection of Conan materials, including a link to a free audio production of Red Nails by Robert E. Howard. Good stuff!
Link.
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