Tag: Role-playing game

Godly Affairs – Part IV – God

We’re getting to the end of this Scion week, and I’m honestly surprised I’ve managed to talk so much about this campaign. This was supposed to be a two or three-piece thing, not five as it is right now. But considering a 2000 word article is already a stretch for most people, the full plot-compendium of 8000 words would’ve been too much for anyone.

To recap, on Monday I dropped a Primer with some basic Scion concepts and mechanics to make my retelling make some sense, then on Tuesday I spoke about the Hero story—as in the Hero level of play, not the wonky-quality TV series Heroes or the really strange Jet Li film Hero—and yesterday was all about the Demigod arc.

So of course, today I end this telling of the campaign with the God campaign.

Because of some real-life commitments, the Rich Kid’s player couldn’t be part of the campaign but for the first sessions, making his participation negligible at best. Continue reading Godly Affairs – Part IV – God

Godly Affairs – Part III – Demigod

Yesterday I wrote about the Scion: Hero campaign. My plan was to write about all three stories in a single post, but it would’ve been excessively long so I decided to split it all out.

Today let’s go over the second story arc I told my players, and as it was yesterday, if at any point there’s something you don’t understand, read the primer I wrote on Monday. That should tell you all you need to know.

Well, not all, not in this case, at least. I explained on Monday what Virtues and Purviews were, I didn’t go into details with them. So for this story, I urge you to read these wiki entries on the Virtues and Purviews, so you can learn what they’re about, as they’re very important to the arc’s plot. Continue reading Godly Affairs – Part III – Demigod

Dice and Settings – My Favourite RPG Systems

Yesterday I mentioned I’m on a recruitment drive for RPG games. Since writing the article, I haven’t stopped thinking about the many games I’ve played, the characters I’ve created and the great times I’ve had with my friends.

So today, I’d like to talk to you about some of my favourite RPG systems/games. Continue reading Dice and Settings – My Favourite RPG Systems

Looking for Group – Recruitment Drive

Hello everybody. I’ve mentioned in the past how much I enjoy playing Pen & Paper RPGS. I love D&D and almost every other system I’ve had the fortune of playing. My recent purchase and review of the Anima video game came from my love of the RPG setting and only last week I wrote a bit of an ode to one of my favourite D&D podcasts/shows, Acquisitions Incorporated.

As The Mental Attic grows and I tap new contacts and opportunities, I get in touch with many RPG developers and publishers and they often send me their products for reviewing purposes and while I at least attempt to get some games together to try things out, I’m rarely successful. Continue reading Looking for Group – Recruitment Drive

Things I love – Acquisitions Incorporated

I love D&D, very much. I love tabletop RPGs in general—and I’m desperate to get some games going, but that’s another topic—but Dungeons & Dragons is the first one I played and so it has a special place in that shriveled lump I call a heart.

Most people like to play games or be the storyteller but very few people enjoy listening or watching others play. I’m in that group, as I see the games of others as books written in front of me. And it’s not just the games of friends but even complete strangers. Much like TV, films or games, I’ll watch any game where I find the setting and characters interesting and as a general rule, RPG Storytellers (call them DM, GM or whatever you like) come up with some of the craziest stuff out there and it’s always entertaining. Continue reading Things I love – Acquisitions Incorporated

Tales of Zestiria – It’s a Wrap!

Tales of Zestira is finally done!

After 8 months, 110 episodes—and many more I either deleted accidentally or lost due to file corruption—and hours of footage, the game is finally done and I’m very proud of it. What started as a regular playthrough of a massively long game ended up being the first game I created custom thumbnails for and now at the end it’s the first of the LawfulGeek plays series to have extensive video editing done on them. Continue reading Tales of Zestiria – It’s a Wrap!

Spoiled Rotten – Elements I now want in all JRPGs!!

As you know, I’ve been playing and recording Tales of Zestiria, the latest in what is apparently a very long series, though I had never before played any of them. Another game I’m still playing and which you might know of is Xenoblade Chronicles X, of which I’ve written in the past, particularly how much I loved the world and the gameplay elements.

Now that I’m playing another major JRPG for a review in the coming days, I keep thinking back to those games and the convenient mechanics they brought into my gaming life. And while it may seem unfair, I keep waiting for those mechanics to show up in this new JRPG, and I will admit I’ll be partly disappointed if they never pop up.

You could say Xenoblade Chronicles X and Tales f Zestiria have spoiled me. But once I tell you about these features, you will probably understand why they’re so good and how game changing they are in JRPGs—not so much in western RPGs were at least one of them has been around for a while.

Continue reading Spoiled Rotten – Elements I now want in all JRPGs!!

Preview: Wolcen Lords of Mayhem aka Umbra

Last year I backed a project on Kickstarter, my first ever backing and it was for a top-down Action-RPG (aka Diablo-clone) built using the CryEngine. Its name was Umbra but recently on entering Steam Early Access, it received a name revamp, one I’m not particularly fond of, to Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem.

I really hate the new name, I thought Umbra had a lot more character and added a sense of mystique to the world. So for the rest of this article, I’ll keep calling it Umbra.

When you launch Umbra, the first thing you’ll see is a warning reminding you of the Alpha stage of the game, and how because of that there is very little in terms of sound design in the game, which is true as there are barely any sound effects, let alone music to find in the current build. Continue reading Preview: Wolcen Lords of Mayhem aka Umbra

Top Five Bad Tropes in JRPGs

Yesterday I spoke of the best things in Japanese Role-Playing Games aka JRPGs. I spoke of the scale, the length of the video games and how complex they are no matter their audience. But not everything about JRPGs is good and there are some common elements that annoy me to no end, so this time around I’m listing the five things I wish JRPGs stopped doing! Continue reading Top Five Bad Tropes in JRPGs

Five things I love about JRPGs

A couple of days I go wrote about the common elements in RPGs that I wasn’t really fond of, and JRPGs—that is Japanese RPGs—popped up a few times, both for good and bad reasons. Some people disagreed with my statements and we had a lovely discussion about it, but I realised today that no one argued the JRPG points.

So in contrast to the, mostly negative, overview of RPGs I gave on that article, I thought maybe we should take a closer look at JRPGs. What are its virtues and vices? If the phrasing seems familiar, then you probably read a similar article I did on adventure games some time ago. If you haven’t, go check it out, it’s a good one.

For today, I’m focusing on the positive aspects, the virtues of JRPGs. And to keep the list succinct, I’ll just explore the five things I like the most about JRPGs. Tomorrow, I’ll speak about the five I dislike the most! Continue reading Five things I love about JRPGs