Month: March 2018

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 48 Recap

We engage the massive hill giant army and help defend the town of Goldenfields.

Streamed, recorded and uploaded every week. Subscribe for our weekly adventures. Join us live on Fridays at 7pm Pacific/10pm Eastern!

Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

The hill giant army advanced up the walls in front of us. It was now or never.

I glanced at Halfred as a foggy cloud descended upon half the army, blanketing them in darkness.

Just as the cries of surprise rang out, T.I.M. spurred his horse forward at break-neck speed, leaping of it in the middle of a pack of giants, bugbears and goblins.

I could see him in the distance lifting his warhammer, the embedded jewel glinting off the morning sun.

When he slammed it into the ground I could feel the shockwave from over 20 yards away. The ground tore apart and kicked up dust and debris all around him. When I looked up again I saw one of the hill giants topple over, along with an ogre and several goblins.

Hell of a way to start a fight. I charged into the fray.

We’ve had sessions without any combat at all, but rarely do we have a week with nothing but one single combat encounter. That definitely happens this week as we engage a massive hill giant army assaulting the walled farming town of Goldenfields.

We began right were we left off last week – having ridden all night from recruiting Dinayla the Giant-Slayer to reach Goldenfields, at exactly the same moment Gnasher’s army approached the walls.

I don’t have the exact numbers but there were a lot of foes on the battlefield, including five hill giants and at least as many ogres and bugbears, and probably like twenty goblins. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 48 Recap”

Read My First Article for Tabletop Gaming Magazine in the April Issue, Out Now!

Over the years I’ve built my writing career almost entirely around video games. But one of my biggest passions of the last decade have been tabletop board games and RPGs, and I’m excited to write more about them professionally.

I’m pleased to announced my first article for Tabletop Gaming Magazine can be found in the April Issue, which launched this week. It’s all about the unique shared universe of Indines created by indie publisher Level 99 Games, and includes an interview with L99 Games founder Brad Talton.

You can purchase the April issue and/or subscribe to the magazine here. It’s available in digitally as well as print, and ships worldwide.

Ranking All Six Skylanders Games [Pixelkin]

Read the full article at Pixelkin

Skylanders fans haven’t been feeling confident about the series lately. Activision announced last year that there would be no Skylanders 7 release, the first year a new Skylanders game hadn’t released since the series began in 2011. We’ve been given no new updates on the future of the once stalwart kid-friendly franchise.

For now fans can revel in the sales of older games and figures. Whether you’re a newcomer to the toys-to-life series or a reminiscing veteran, we’ve compared all six primary Skylanders games and ranked them from weakest to strongest.

Read the full article at Pixelkin

How a video game composer designed the indie RPG Tangledeep [PC Gamer]

Read the full feature article at PC Gamer

“Growing up I’d read articles and see pictures in Nintendo Power about behind-the-screen game development,” says Andrew Aversa, lead designer and programmer at Impact Gameworks, who recently released roguelike dungeon crawler Tangledeep. “I thought it was so interesting, but that fell by the wayside.” Though games were his first love, it was music, specifically game music, that captured his attention in his formative years.

Aversa is best known as Zircon, one of the most prolific video game remixers and professional game-focused composers in the industry. “In 2002 a friend introduced me to Music Maker 2000 Deluxe,” he says. “I had taken piano lessons as a kid and liked it, but once I could make music on a computer I got really into it. Being able to adjust knobs and sliders to create different sounds—I couldn’t get enough of it.”

Read the full feature article at PC Gamer

The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 13 “Do Not Send Us Astray” Recap

This week on The Walking Dead we finally got to see the big siege between the Saviors (now led by Simon) and the Hilltop, and it was mostly too dark to see anything.

After Rick’s reckless attack last week, the Saviors are now led by Simon, and Simon wants to go full-on scorched Earth in their siege of the Hilltop. Continue reading “The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 13 “Do Not Send Us Astray” Recap”

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 47 Recap

We find the legendary giant-slayer and beseech her to aid us in the epic giant siege at Goldenfields.

Streamed, recorded and uploaded every week. Subscribe for our weekly adventures. Join us live on Fridays at 7pm Pacific/10pm Eastern!

Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

The sun was peeking over the horizon, and we were dead tired. We’d rode all night to reach Dinayla and back to Goldenfields, and I feared we were as liable to keel over as our poor horses.

Seeing the massive army gathered outside Goldenfields gave us all a jolt of adrenaline.

Five Hill Giants towered over the rest. The figure in the middle was taller still, his body covered with what looked like human-size shields welded together for armor.

Among the scattered troops of bugbears and goblins were half a dozen ogres, each with what looked like miniature catapults strapped to their backs. Walking siege weapons.

“You ever seen anything like this?” I whispered to Dinayla, despite still being several hundred feet away.

“Gods,” she breathed, awe-stricken. “I’ve never seen them this organized before.” She quickly composed herself, and her voice became confident again. “Let’s wait for them to start attacking, then move in. If we charge in now they’ll all turn and murder us.”

We held back for the moment, casting spells and discussing a plan that wouldn’t get us all killed. The army began to advance on the walls. We were in for a hell of a fight.

This week we took another detour to tackle a much older side quest, one we’ve had since we left Bryn Shander: seek out a giant slayer near Goldenfields. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 47 Recap”

Roll20 Review: Crownfall (War for the Crown 1)

A press review copy of the module was provided. Find more Roll20 Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

Every new edition of Dungeons & Dragons has its naysayers, but in the mid 2000s Fourth Edition’s announcement was especially volatile compared to the widely beloved 3.5 edition. So much so that one company split off and created their own RPG system heavily based on 3.5 edition. Pathfinder did the unthinkable and proved more popular than Dungeons & Dragons for several years, until Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition arrived in 2014.

My own experience with Pathfinder is quite limited. When we first got into doing role-playing games online via Roll20, we actually started with Pathfinder, playing for several months. That game was cancelled when our GM abruptly left, and it would be several months before we got bit by the RPG bug again, first with Shadowrun and then with D&D 5E.

Now, finally, Pathfinder has officially come to Roll20. Roll20 is completely open, meaning you could always play Pathfinder, but with official licensing support comes Roll20-created character sheets, as well as professionally adapted modules, the likes of which we’ve been seeing (and I’ve been reviewing) for D&D over the last several months. Continue reading “Roll20 Review: Crownfall (War for the Crown 1)”

The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 12 “The Key” Recap

This week Rick officially returns to the Hilltop, only to immediately go off half-cocked on a last minute plan to attack Negan, further proving that he learned nothing from his son.

On the flip side, Maggie begins to see the value of trusting and working with others. We saw a glimmer of this last week when she acquiesced to letting the Savior prisoners have some outside time. This week she spots an odd message just outside their walls – an offer of exchanges from a newcomer.

Michonne jumps all over the opportunity, despite the danger. Rick isn’t here to caution them against it, since he’s already left to scout for Saviors. Hilltop is very aware that an attack with the newly freed Saviors is imminent.  Continue reading “The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 12 “The Key” Recap”

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 46 Recap

T.I.M.’s journal leads us to a long-buried magical sword guarded by bullywugs and their monstrous, tentacled god.

Streamed, recorded and uploaded every week. Subscribe for our weekly adventures. Join us live on Fridays at 7pm Pacific/10pm Eastern!

Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

The incessant croaking from the surrounding bullywugs had reached a fever pitch as the monstrous creature lurched toward us, tentacles writhing, maw gaping. Halfred threw our last batch of food into its mouth, and it rolled forward again, making little indication that it had any intention to stop feeding.

I motioned to T.I.M. He nodded, and raced back to the cave where Korinn had gone. The monster’s three eye stalks swiveled around to each of us, and the croaking began to take on a nervous quality. We were out of food.

Suddenly a blast erupted from the cave as an explosion rocked the ground around us. The cave rumbled, and T.I.M. and Korinn came running out. T.I.M. was proudly carrying a glowing yellow sword, and he held it aloft as the situation around us began collapsing.

“Let’s get out of here!” I yelled. We ran as the giant monster roared out in agitation. We fled, and rounded a corner of trees. As we disappeared from view I glanced back to see a massive tentacle wrap around the nearest screaming bullywug, and pull it toward the monster’s hungry mouth.

This week we defend T.I.M.’s old home (and our lives) against warforged agents, then diplomatically deal with a nearby bullywug tribe to retrieve his magic sword. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 46 Recap”