Monthly Archives:
sDefining Fantasy Role-Playing Games the Tunnels & Trolls Way
Thursday , 4, August 2016 Appendix N, Tabletop Games 12 CommentsGamers are a tough crowd in general, but role-players are particularly hard to get along with. The number of shibboleths and sacred cows in the rpg scene, the emperors with no clothes, the punditry and smack talk, the number of ways to give and take offense, the outright character assassination and demagoguery that goes down– […]
SENSOR SWEEP: Creepy Elves, Prattian Magic, Dangerous Demonization, and Soaked-In Misogyny
Wednesday , 3, August 2016 Sensor Sweep 6 CommentsAppendix N (Save Versus All Wands) Top Ten Reasons Why I Hate Drow — “Ideally, all elves should be dangerous, mysterious and perhaps even somewhat creepy. Creating a new category of elves that are almost defined as such, effectively means that elves in general (all the other elves) will not be dangerous, mysterious and somewhat […]
Set up a scenario out on the table, and you have a scenario. Replay it a few times and it becomes familiar as you grow to understand that scenario. Tweak it, and you begin to understand the pieces which are present. Take control of the pieces and learn to use them after identifying them… Now […]
David Pulver on How RPG Settings Killed the SFF Canon
Tuesday , 2, August 2016 Appendix N, GURPS 7 CommentsDavid Pulver is among the most prolific role-playing game designers around, and when his name appeared side by side with Steve Jackson and Sean Punch on the covers of the Fourth Edition GURPS core books, his status as one of the leading developers in the field was secured. He also witnessed first hand the trends […]
SUPERVERSIVE: Star Trek Beyond, the spoilerific review.
Tuesday , 2, August 2016 Superversive, Uncategorized 11 CommentsI grew up in a Star Trek house. A lot of my early memories involved classic Star Trek reruns and watching The Wrath of Khan the way my niece watches Frozen. I can remember the excitement of seeing Star Trek‘s future when TNG was new, and being mildly horrified and fascinated when my Dad told me the new Enterprise had kids […]
If Castalia House has only managed to whet your appetite for commentary on old style science fiction and fantasy, then this is your lucky week. Not just one, but two new “Appendix N” series are underway! One is by long time book reviewer H.P. who blogs at Every Day Should be Tuesday. Here’s what you […]
Guest Post by Brian Renninger: Running First Edition Oriental Adventures, Session 2
Monday , 1, August 2016 Tabletop Games 1 CommentPlay report 2: 1st Edition AD&D, and 1st Edition Oriental Adventures. Summary: Kung Fu barbarians of the north. After last week’s TPK, I was all ahoo with what I would do this week. I considered allowing a reboot back to the Daimyo’s castle and have the characters discover a different threat to the north. But, […]