Recommendations: March 2012

Recommendations March 2012

In this category of posts I will highlight three links I find worthwhile and tell you, the readers, why that is so. In every post like this I will link to one podcast, one other blog, and one free game, be it video-, table-top, RP-, or other. I'll try to keep this as regular category at the end of the month/beginning of the next month, hence the “of the month” attached to each category. Take that however you will. All things presented here are things I listen to/read/play on a regular basis and that is my only certificate of quality I'm offering here.

Podcast of the month: Actual People, Actual Play
This is yet another podcast on the topic of role-playing games, albeit a bit more on the theoretical and intellectual side of things. The crew basically reviews game-sessions they have played on a variety of different gaming-systems, ranging from traditional RPGs to more experimental ones lacking Gamemasters and such things. They put a lot of thought into game-mechanics and how they affect gameplay and the overall experience and, as they put it in the beginning of each episode, "the fiction during play". Anyone who is a GM or likes to design their own games will find this well worth listening to so check it out!

Blog of the month: Greywulfs Lair
This man, original inspirateur for my own Sudongeon has a blog that is a mixture between art-blog (he does 3D-designs, mostly of fantasy-characters) and musings on classic and more recent Dungeons and Dragons. As the man has quite the background in the latter, his texts are always worth a read, even if you don't play actual D 'n D, for his ideas for campaign-settings and rule-deviations are inspiring for any kind of game, really.

Free game of the month: How to Host a Dungeon
How to Host a Dungeon is a procedural world-generation tool that you play not with your computer, but with pen and paper and some dice. Watch in awe as a dungeon is created from the formation of caves, the intrusion of dwarves and dark elves and their eventual demise through cultural enthropy or invading monsters. This creates a dungeon that has a history of centuries, allowing a GM to fleshen out descriptions nearly endlessly, or is just a fun exercise in itself. There is a free version as well as a paid version with additional illustrations and features.