Depending on who you ask, ChatGPT (and other similar LLM chatbots) might be impressive, dangerous, misunderstood, or one of many other things. However, it and other recent generative AI have created plenty of entertaining content. Crossing over my interests between tabletop RPGs and computing, I read an article about playing D&D with ChatGPT as the […]
Category: games
From 2022, my recommendations span games, viewing, cooking, and reading. Video Game: Super Mario Galaxy I didn’t grow up with any gaming consoles, so although I played many great PC gaming franchises, I never played the likes of Final Fantasy, Zelda, or GTA. Recently, I tried out Super Mario Odyssey, and I couldn’t put it […]
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Building My First PC (Part 2)
Last time, I wrote about how I decided to build a PC and got through purchasing all of the parts. I’ll pick up from there with actually putting it together. Building My experience with building was about 20 years out of date, and even then, I hadn’t done it from scratch. I just tinkered with […]
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Building My First PC (Part 1)
For years, I have considered building a gaming PC. From the cost to the high-minded desire to not play more games, I have always found reasons to not do it. On the flip side, I never found a good enough reason to do it. Until this past year. A few months ago, we watched the […]
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Forced Fun
Currently, the only game that I’m running is at the local teen community center. It’s an after-school drop-in space for teens to play games, do homework, have a snack, and otherwise hang out. Although I have mostly been running for a consistent set of players, I always have to be ready for a teen to […]
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My Hot Take on One D&D
Big news from Wizards: there’s not a new edition of D&D. There’s just One D&D. More info here. Before I dive into my hot take, I want to disclaim my extreme ignorance. I honestly haven’t kept up with either a broader D&D community nor have I even really incorporated more recent rulebooks into my game. […]
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Running My First Solo Adventure
Normally when I know I only have one player available, I just cancel the session and pick up next time. Last week, however, I made an exception for a few reasons. The player was behind on experience from the rest of the group We had already skipped a few weeks beforehand We were between major […]
This post is a followup to Part 1 where I reflect specifically on cases where I have learned, grown up, or adapted to new circumstances. Physical Books This one is a cop-out because I still actually prefer reading ebooks for myself. However, I have a new reason to want to have physical books around. I […]
Players love to be rewarded just in the course of playing. I won’t wade into the argument between “participation trophy” versus ”90% of success is just showing up.” However, there is a narrow middle path that should make your player happy. I worry about giving players too much good stuff: that Potion of Invisibility sounds […]
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GMing Without… Anything
Recently, I proudly wrote about trying to run an analog campaign. After years of adding more and more digital tools, I dropped all of that for paper. I thought that restriction was good enough. However, last week, surprise constraints pushed me even further. On the day of my weekly game, I took my car in […]