2017-02-23 00:00
Piracy is as popular in RPGs as it is in the rest of mass-media - perhaps even more so. A semi-criminal or outright criminal band primarily loyal to one another and devoted to acquirin… Read More
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War Beneath The Earth Blog
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Roleplaying advice, reviews, and observations, mostly on the world's most popular RPG and its derivatives.
2017-02-19 23:25
Time for another review of Wizards of the Coast's Original Adventures. For a while it seemed like Owen K. C. Stephens had been holding the series up single-handed, but now Skip William… Read More
2017-02-16 00:00
Not so long ago, I talked about a strange flat world floating through infinite air. The idea is still roaming around my head along with thoughts about alignment. Inevitably, that leads… Read More
2017-02-13 09:05
This is a spoiler-free recap of how I feel I'm going with Andrew Chapman's Seas of Blood. The book beat me on five attempts (if you don't mind the spoilers, you can read my summaries o… Read More
2017-02-12 07:12
One of the many oddities of D&D is the role of platinum pieces. In the game, platinum pieces are usually highly valued as readily portable currency, but they are far more problemat… Read More
2017-02-11 18:00
This is another installment of the Original Adventures series reviews. Once again, the author is Owen K. C. Stephens, but this time I'm reviewing his Halloween special for October 2004… Read More
2017-02-09 00:00
Previously, I've discussed a rationale for ability scores as potential rather than realised ability. I'm trying to expand on that idea by looking at how one might export the funct… Read More
2017-02-04 18:00
The Day the Kobolds Ruled the World is a pay what you want module written by the GagMen comedy RPG podcaster collective. As with their other modules, it's written for Basic Fantasy Rul… Read More
2017-02-03 04:05
It's hard to set foot in an online forum for discussing RPGs without coming across an on-going alignment argument. I doubt that anyone has heard a sample of every position advanced in… Read More
2017-02-02 00:00
It's a strange thing that fantasy world-builders will happily allow for biology that defies reason, but when it comes to the shape of the world they stay shackled to the globe. Suppose… Read More
2017-01-29 18:00
Yesterday's review of &12 was so enjoyable I couldn't help but go straight on to issue 13. & Mag suffered a bit of the "2016s" itself, so - to the satisfaction of triskaidekaph… Read More
2017-01-28 23:30
Andrew Chapman's Seas of Blood killed me on the first try. That's what should happen with a gamebook. It also defeated me on outings two and three, in a healthy display of replay… Read More
2017-01-28 18:00
Issue 12 of & Magazine came out shortly before my long hiatus and certainly had nothing to do with my case of "the 2016s". Back in 2015, Bryan Fazekas was nice enough to share my r… Read More
2017-01-27 18:13
After falling well short of beating Seas of Blood yesterday, I'm going to take another swing and try to get a little further. This is 80s-style re-playability, where the thing is hard… Read More
2017-01-26 23:00
It's come to my attention that Wizards of the Coast have released some of the Original Adventures series through DriveThruRPG. That explains why the old giveaway series isn't on the ar… Read More
2017-01-26 21:14
My flatmate has a fantastic collection of gamebooks, many of which I remember owning and playing as a child. I thought it would be fun to play through a few of them to see if I was act… Read More
2017-01-25 21:36
Davide Pignedoli recently released a "Beta version" of Tukram's Tomb with a call for feedback from anyone brave enough to venture within. Tukram's Tomb is an adventure for the Crying B… Read More
2017-01-21 18:00
According to received wisdom about the middle ages, Europeans unfortunate enough to be born into that era were ignorant of the merits of bathing. As a result, public hygiene was poor and epi… Read More
2015-09-21 01:55
Welcome back to the Original Adventures series reviews. This time I'm reviewing another Owen K.C. Stephens adventure, Primrose Path. The module was distributed by Wizards of the… Read More
2015-09-19 22:31
One of my regular players wanted to cut down to fortnightly games while the others were up for staying on weekly. So rather than develop more material I turned to the stack of reviewed… Read More
2015-09-19 20:45
Welcome back to the Original Adventures review series. The Original Adventures were free monthly adventures released by Wizards of the Coast to support their D&D 3.0 and 3.5 line (… Read More
2015-09-18 06:45
Corey Ryan Walden's The Cliff-Lair of Heeter is a small adventure site for 4-10 adventurers of levels 1-3, to be played under the Original D&D rules and clones of the same. &nb&hell…Read More
2015-09-17 04:52
2015-09-17 04:52
Last time, I talked about a rationale for ability scores as potential rather than realised ability. I wanted to expand on that idea by discussing how one might export the functions of… Read More
2015-09-13 23:31
This is something of a follow-up to my musings on Concreteness, Inquiry, and Rationalisation. It's not necessary to go back and read the prior post, but it might help to understand the… Read More
2015-09-11 22:15
Back in May, I reviewed RC Pinnell's Cold Drake Canyon, a module with an engaging ambition but lacklustre achievement. Pinnell's latest on Dragonsfoot, Ice Maidens of the Frozen Horn… Read More
2015-09-10 02:53
This is not the greatest module in the world.This is a tribute.Charley Phipps' The Howling Hills is a free adventure for AD&D First Edition and its clones. The material c… Read More
2015-09-09 06:49
The Oliver Brothers' The Tavern of Daednu is a free adventure module for low-level characters. The cover commits the work to AD&D 1st Edition, but as usual this means tha… Read More
2015-09-09 04:19
The Barrow of the Moon Druid is a free adventure hosted on Dragonsfoot for characters of levels 2-4. The material is intended for use with AD&D 1st Edition or 2nd Edition (wi… Read More
2015-09-04 04:58
An internal view of 15th. century Brigandine.The question "why is this stuff in RPGs?" has been thrown around a lot lately. In the interests of making that discussion a little more saf… Read More
2015-09-03 04:24
It has been a very long time since I first posted about my campaign. Despite my absence from the blog, I'm happy to report that the game hasn't died - although one character did.  &hell…Read More
2015-09-02 23:43
The Forbidden Land by RC Pinnell is a free hex-crawl scenario hosted on Dragonsfoot. The design is oriented towards Classic D&D (B/X, BECMI, or the Cyclopedia) but the work le… Read More
2015-09-02 08:30
The Lair of Largash the Lurid is a free introductory module (released as Pay What You Want with a recommended price of nothing) by Michael Mills of Canister & Grape Wargames. … Read More
2015-09-02 02:48
OneBookShelf (who run DriveThruRPG, RPGNow, among others) recently announced a new policy on rejecting "Offensive Content". Here's the core of the policy:It's been pointed out tha… Read More
2015-09-01 00:51
The Craft Dungeon of Reynaldo Lazendry is a pay what you want module designed by Jeremy Reaban. For the sake of full disclosure: I don't know Jeremy but I do follow his very usefu… Read More
2015-08-31 11:12
Earlier this year, Geoffrey C. Grabowski, writer of the Exalted RPG, released The Dreams of Ruin. This free module is nominally as a Labyrinth Lord product but compatible with a g… Read More
2015-08-31 01:27
Cut to the Chase Games are giving away "Mad Dave" Olson's WK0 Night of the Mad Kobold until the 16th of September. The adventure is aimed at six 1st-level adventurers and is writt… Read More
2015-08-30 01:43
It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.There's a long-standing view that role-playing games are not things that can be won or lost. There's always more of the gam… Read More
2015-08-29 01:04
I'm a big fan of the random tables in the DMG, because I feel that these charts make me less partisan to the development of the scenario. If the difficulty is being generated more by d… Read More
2015-05-26 04:48
I haven't had as much time for reviewing modules this week as last because I'm preparing to DM on Saturday. (I'll be expanding a one-shot adventure into a campaign in my old milieu.)&n&hell…Read More
2015-05-26 04:46
After the events of my most recent session as DM, I'm left with a problem and opportunity. The party intends to take a few days out before continuing their exploration of the ruined te… Read More
2015-05-26 04:37
The first regular session of my new campaign went off without too much trouble. One player had to roll up a character, but he was good enough to arrive early and was more or less ready… Read More
2015-05-24 21:07
Issue 11 of & Magazine came out at the start of the month. I'd put it on my reading list but hadn't intended on a review until &'s PR Director Ron Redmond somewhat hesitat… Read More
2015-05-24 21:07
Issue 11 of & Magazine came out at the start of the month. I'd put it on my reading list but hadn't intended on a review until &'s PR Director Ron Redmond somewhat hesitat… Read More
2015-05-24 21:05
Foreword: I mentioned in my review of Issue 11 of & Magazine that I had some disagreements with the views expressed in that issue's special feature articles. Rather than clutter th… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Most of my hobby time over the last few weeks has been spent on wargames rather than RPGs. I've rediscovered my usual poor form at Race for the Galaxy, dabbled in War Machine and had a… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Raistlin and Drizzt are now listed on baby name sites. Hopefully Miraxacalas never gets that kind of fan base Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
There's something pleasingly earnest about Arlin Ortiz's Monster Pamphlet #1. As the name suggests, it's a five-page booklet of monster concepts for your role-playing campaign. A… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Yesterday I played Eclipse very badly, scarcely remembering the rules let alone any of the game's strategy or tactics. The game also stretched out to five hours, a point that I wouldn't rai… Read More
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