DDOCentral

I lost my copy of Rolemaster’s “Character & Campaign Law” somewhere around the time I moved to Nottingham to work for Games Workshop. Yesterday, I found it again.

In the 1980s, I loved Rolemaster! Goriel Swiftfoot, my Halfling Thief, slew the Balrog of Moria while we were playing a 24-hour charity session playing this game. It’s the single most memorable event of my player career in roleplaying. It as ridiculous, of course, but that was part of the charm.

Getting back into Rolemaster in the 2000s, I picked up the revised 2006 edition of Character Law from Iron Crown Enterprises but it was missing what I remembered of Campaign Law. I have been wanting to re-read that section of the original from 1987 ever since. Today, I finally have it to read again.

It’s interesting to me because, apart from revisiting advice on setting up a campaign, I realise…

When we looked at the Taito Legends collection on PS2, we stumbled upon three tick boxes that might also be the measure of any other compilation; in the order we stumbled, they were value for money, the selection of games on offer and the element of discovery awaiting within. Of course, the latter can be a little difficult to judge until you’ve spent a bit of time with the thing, and you’ve worked out whether or not you’ve discovered a new all-time favourite or a bunch of complete stinkers! And that, in turn, might retrospectively affect your judgement of those other two boxes. Taito Legends did alright though, mostly by throwing so many games at us that no matter how many stinkers you discovered, such as Gladiator or Plotting, there was always a good chance you were going to discover even more favourites, such as Battle Shark, Space Gun and…

Many consider Super Mario Sunshine the black sheep of 3D Mario games.

The game was innovative, but in a way that didn’t resonate with fans. While we can argue all day about the unique controls and mechanics, there’s no doubt that the game featured some great level aesthetics.

Again, many maybe didn’t enjoy the levels because the game’s gimmick made platforming difficult or downright infuriating.

That said, the world of Isle Delfino was a fun one to visit because it connected the various levels in a way that we didn’t see again until Super Mario Odyssey. Even that game didn’t provide players with the connectivity Mario Sunshine provides as you can actually see other levels from locations in the world you are playing in.

With all that in mind, what is your favorite Super Mario Sunshine level?

Super Mario Sunshine Levels: Aesthetics or Gameplay?

I immediately jumped to two:…

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Last night was session 5 or 6 (I don’t remember) of module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands, my first 1st Edition AD&D (“1e“) game in 40 years. It was by far our best session yet. Everyone is more familiar with the combat system, so it went far more smoothly. We had two new players join: Vic and his 23-year-old son, Nicholas. For someone so young, Nicholas certainly got into the 1e spirit. He played a neutral evil wizard because . . . well, why not? He also chose to randomly select his spells, which I don’t require. Wizards get Read Magic at 1st level, but rather than randomly roll for one offensive spell, one defensive spell, and one miscellaneous spell (see Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 39)…

Off we go into the wild grey Yon-der. The story twists into the Wizard of Oz, and we fly straight to this land’s witch, er, hag.

 I thot I saw a puddy cat!

When last we left our heroes, we had spent two sessions travelling from the Land of Thither and into the Land of Yon via a difficult mountain pass. Between woodland weddings and chimera jousting, we encountered a peculiar shopkeep named Dex who traded some of our more trivial magic items for some that we could actually use. Like my SpellGuard Shield that I am determined to make my DM regret giving me. Another item we regretted was turning Daithi’s halberd that he hallucinates can talk into one that actually does. It turns out this possessed polearm despises Daithi and wants to drive him insane. Which happened immediately, dragging us into a forced and contrived player versus…