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Showing posts from October, 2024

Tricks+Treats

While many different traditions come up around this time of year, the one that's always scary popular is Trick or Treating. At least in the USA, things are typically focused more on treats rather than tricks... though, in some shady corners, flaming bags of animal poop, eggings, and the TP'ing of people’s houses still likely prevails. There are also always rumors of the tricks disguised as treats:  needles or razor blades shoved into candy or fruit treats, drug laced delights, and so forth . Even today, it's still recommended that adults go through their younglings' collection of confections before letting them have at (also a great opportunity to sneak some candy yourself). But before you slip into your sugar infused diabetic naps, have a quick read of a table of tricks and treats you can use to sweeten up your tabletop games. - A A mixed bag of candies and curses for your players can come in any number of ways. Perhaps they're a collection of Victorian tinctures

The Post with the Most

It wouldn’t be the spooky time of the year around here without Never Say Dice digging up some '80s and '90s macabre media or exhuming forgotten toys. In the past, we’ve talked about a myriad of Simpsons " Treehouse of Horror" episodes , had a Mad Monster Party , and played around with finding inspiration in monstrous toys such as Blurp Balls and Boglins . It was an era in which creepiness abounded, and you could find it in just about everything, even things like after-school cartoons and breakfast cereals . Beetlejuice was one media franchise that was adapted into all those things and more... it's even been on Broadway ! (Lets face it, the cartoon was a great kids' show and the action figures did some interesting things you didn’t typically see.) So, with the franchise being revisited on the big screen in the form of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice , why don’t we see what inspiration it can bring to our games? Ghost with the Most Across all of the various forms o

Columbus the Killer

 " He came dancing across the water With his galleons and guns Looking for the New World And that palace in the sun..." - Neil Young, "Corte z the Killer" (1975) I'm aware that I bring up Ozark Softscape's 1984 game The Seven Cities of Gold rather frequently for a title that's mostly remembered today for its influence later series like Civilization . But it's a very significant game for me personally, not only because it was, for me,  an early demonstration of the medium's potential richness and depth, but because some thirty-six years later, I keep coming back to it. There's the cartographical indulgence Seven Cities foregrounds, of course, and an appreciation of the game's mechanics I wouldn't have had at seven years old, especially since so many are hidden, left for the players themselves to deduce. But there's a reason I kept going back, both as a kid and as an emulator-savvy adult, every Columbus Day: a longing for repai

Trashed Compactor

In Dungeons and Dragons , there have been plenty of "trash" spells over the years. Spells you wouldn’t pick, as they won’t be very useful or are too niche to be worth taking up a slot in your roster. Players and GMs alike will argue over these kinds of spells for hours. Likewise, there are plenty of spells and effects that combine to enhance each other. One example would be casting Grease and Fog over the same area, limiting both your enemies' vision and their mobility. If you’re feeling murder hobo-ish, another might be Sleep and Fireball - keeping your enemies in one spot and then flambĂ©ing them. What about Trash Compactor? You don’t know what that is? The thought is to Polymorph an enemy into a small or tiny creature, then cast Resilient Sphere (sometimes known as Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere), release the Polymorph, and watch as your enemy is turned into a thick slurry of meat, blood, and bone. If you follow the blog, you’ll know that seeing a ridiculous description wri