Recent content by kronovan

Even though the systems are different, I'd say you're right to compare them since Pinnacle Entertaiment has now published Savage Pathfinder. Classes in 13th Age are containers for powers and feats (like 4e), so in a sense there more akin to SW's archetypes with their edges and arcane powers (if...

I haven't played or DM'd at an IRL 5e table in my city, where all but 1, maybe 2, of the players hadn't read the PHB front -to- back. The same's been true for earlier editions of D&D rules. On the other hand, I can't recall playing at an IRL table for any other TTRPG (doesn't matter which...

Probably due to it being a genre in which players and GMs have different interpretations of what it encompasses. For a personal example, I consider Shadowrun with its mages, shamans, elves, dwarves, orcs & trolls to be much more of an urban fantasy setting with a mix of cyberpunk blended in. And...

Historical Fantasy -eras of Earth's history retold with fantastical elements- is my favorite genre. There's many unique, Basic Roleplaying, GURPS and Savage Worlds settings that come under that subgenre, like Pendragon, Mythical Iceland, Mythical Britain, Weird Wars Rome, etc. However that...

I'll ditto Savage Worlds SWADE - I've run many a car chase and a battle using those rules, with very good results. Vehicle battles using miniatures on a tabletop with SW are also doable and I've done a fair amount of that with tanks and AFV in Weird Wars campaigns. They're a bit more doable...

I've read the Abysal Plague Trilogy and I'd recommend it to anyone who looking for a story that delves into and develops some of the lore of the Nentir Vale. The 1st (The Temple of Yellow Skulls) and 3rd (The Eye of the Chained God) novels are written by Don Bassingthwaite who's my favorite D&D...

I homebrewed my own setting that's set in the Italian Republics of the Renaissance, for which aspects and institutions of Christianity are in play. IMO it's best to treat this idea via Historical Fantasy set in an era and location where Christianity was the primary religion. And most...

Since I'm a big fan of the Midgard World setting, I've used many of Kobold Presses' 3rd party publications. I've used there Midgard content for Pathfinder 1e, Dragon/Fantasy AGE, D&D 5e and 13th Age. I began with a print copy of their Northlands settings (a realm in Midgard) and many of the...

I for one are not sad Willams is gone. Instead of speculating on why she left with such short notice? Why there's no successor in sight? Is this normal CEO departure practice? Is the sky about to fall in on WotC? Etc. I prefer to instead ponder this "Williams worked for Microsoft on the Gaming...

Dishonored does not have challenge dice, but it's an odd ball/hybrid of a 2d20 game that attempts to mix in some features of narrative TTRPGs like FATE. Anyhow, my players and I were not impressed with it - would gladly take a CD-like system in it, in place of some of the querky play mechanics...

This may be a moot point since you're expressing an interest in moving to 2e anyways, but I just wanted to point out that you can already buy a better organized version of the rules with black text on white pages. In print, I only own the Rules Digest (same rule book that was included in the...

Sorry to hear about this, but glad it won't force you out of business. I have 3 friends who've owned game stores in my city, but only 1 remains in business. None were/have been broken into and the 2 closed for reasons other than theft - rents are ridiculously inflated in my city. All 3...

I only have experience running 4e with the Fantasy Ground Unity VTT. A 4e ruleset is available for free with that VTT, but the owners SmiteWorks have never gotten permission from WotC to adapt 4e content for it - called a module in FGU jargon. That said, there's a fan community that's built...

I've found Cepheus Modern, which is based on the Cepheus Engine SRD, to be a good set of rules for modern era RPing. It's not something to consider though if presentation and artwork are a concern, as there's barely any art to speak of and it's a very nuts & bolts, one column layout. It's a...

I started using digital mapping tools more than 30 years ago via work in the Geographic Information Systems biz - worked with both GIS and Computer Aided Design software. And although I long ago left that profession, mapping has been a hobby since. I used to hand draw maps in the 80s for our...