Blog Posts
Oct 20, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
5e
dnd
homebrew
lets-write-a_module
I recently had dinner with a good friend, who was picking my brain on
how I prepare adventures for 5E. He’s a veteran player but looking to
dip his toe in the GM water. That gave me an idea to write, in blog
form, how I brainstorm and prepare adventures for 5E.
May 16, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
5e
dnd
learn-to-play
This is the second article of several to give some help and guidance to brand-new Dungeons and Dragons players.
In my opinion, nothing is easier than rounding up some friends, buying a few sets of inexpensive dice, and purchasing the 5E Starter Set for around $20.00. It provides dice, rules, characters, and a great story. The only thing it doesn’t provide are friends and a place to play.
I’m going to discuss below what you need at a bare minimum to play Dungeons & Dragons, and then return to the Starter Set.
May 15, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
5e
dnd
learn-to-play
This is the first article of several to give some help and guidance to
brand-new Dungeons and Dragons players.
Apr 28, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
5e
stealth
rules
how-i_run
surprise
dnd
This article will discuss how I like to adjudicate stealth and surprise in 5E.
In many 5E games, I’ve found stealth and surprise rounds are rarely handled correctly by the DM; often, we see this in the form of either the PCs or the monsters getting an unfair (per RAW) “alpha strike” on the opposing party. This causes encounter imbalance and can make the game either too easy or too difficult.
Apr 27, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
reviews
Tags:
game-design
book-review
I recently finished A Theory of Fun for Game Design, 2nd Edition, by Raph Koster. There is some good-to-great content in this book; however, I felt it was mostly abstract theory with little practical examples. It’s worth the read for budding game designers but I don’t know if it’s worth the price tag; this would definitely be a library borrow for me as opposed to a purchase for your reference bookshelf.
Apr 27, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
reviews
Tags:
book-review
football
I recently read Pat Kirwan’s Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look. While it is mostly NFL focused, and in love with Pete Carroll, I greatly enjoyed the book, particularly the chapters discussing the qualities needed for offensive linemen and defensive linemen in different schemes.
I also enjoyed the discussion about translating the college game to the pro game, as well as his break down on a typical NFL team’s week during the season.
Apr 24, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
pf2
Paizo announced Pathfinder 2’s release date will be August 1, 2019. I’m excited to see what ended up in the final version.
Apr 17, 2019 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
football
Tags:
longhorns
football
I did not expect the success of our 2018 season. The OU win was great, and the Georgia win was even sweeter. While I did get my hopes up after we went on our mid-season run, it was nice again to be in the national talk as well as being ranked more than not.
During the 2017 season I was hyper-critical of the coaching staff, and 2018 has earned them some patience from me.
Sep 11, 2018 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
football
Tags:
longhorns
injuries
Keontay Ingram is “doubtful” to play for the USC game. Bummer. On the plus side, I’ve seen the USC at Texas odds at Texas -3 to -3.5, which I had to look at multiple times to make sure I was reading the line correctly.
Sep 11, 2018 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
pf2
character-creation
I decided to read the Pathfinder 2 Playtest (“PF2PT”) rulebook last night. Here are some brief thoughts on the system regarding character creation.
I think they may have actually fixed character creation. The original Pathfinder practically required a computer character generator since the amount of character options were so expansive and contained in such a large library of official and unofficial content.
At least with these new playtest rules, it looks like character creation will be much more streamlined.