It's been a little over a year since the release of the 2024 refresh of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. Since it's initial release, it has been the primary system my own gaming group uses, so I thought I might reflect a bit upon the changes we noticed and how they've worked at our table. Weapon Mastery Weapon Mastery is the first feature that really comes to mind as a big change.

This post originally appeared on the previous incarnation of this blog on September 22, 2024. Earlier in the week, I wrote about my first session of a new campaign. Last night, the group met online to do session 2 of that campaign. Our Cast Ahsha: High Elf Sorcerer, a runaway from Sharn, still learning to control her magic, seeking adventure.

This year, I've read a lot of sci-fi, especially classic space opera, because of a reading list I found on the Traveller RPG wiki. One of the series listed as a "Primary Inspiration" for Traveller was the Saga of Dominic Flandry by Poul Anderson, which begins with Ensign Flandry. Ensign Flandry tells the tale of Dominic Flandry, a recent graduate of the Terran Empire's naval academy serving an assignment on what's considered an unimportant backwater world, where the Merseian Supremacy has nonetheless set up supporting one side of a conflict.

This post originally appeared on the previous incarnation of this blog on December 11, 2022 For today's review, I'm going to be talking about a game system rather than a novel or a single adventure. Additionally, I'm moving outside a system that I've played with the friends in my gaming group and to a system that I picked up specifically to play with my daughter, who is four years old.

When we last left Eveline Hawking, she had received a distress signal from an old mentor. She'd tried to quickly get her ship launched to help but the breakers in the engine impeller had kept her grounded. More Complications with Takeoff After her experience with the breaker in engineering, Eveline decides she needs to go fast by going slow and making sure everything is checked and proper.

I read a blog post from Virtual Moose about how we should consider making 2026 The Year of the Personal Website. Like he says, it's nice having a place of my very own to put down thoughts on things I enjoy without worrying about the 288 character limitation of the Social Media site formerly known as Twitter, or even the more generous limits on Mastodon.

This post originally appeared on the previous incarnation of this blog on September 18, 2024. I recently started a new campaign with my group. It's one I've wanted to do for ages, since I actually sat down and read the Eberron setting. Eberron is a setting which looks to answer the question "What would technology look like if it were made of magic?" There are trains and long distance communications and airships and magical robot soldiers and wandslinging wizard soldiers.

Earlier this month, I reviewed the games I played this year. One of the games I talked about was Magical Kitties Save the Day published by Atlas Games. Basic Information Authors: Matthew J. Hanson, Justin Alexander (of The Alexandrian), Michelle Nephew Publisher: Atlas Games A first edition of Magical Kitties was released in 2016. I have the Second Edition Boxed Set that was released in 2020.

Last week, I did a general review of stuff from 2025, but seeing Endies posts from the Indie RPG Newsletter and Cannibal Halfling Games inspired me to think some more about which games I managed to get to the table this year. My gaming schedule can get a bit sparse from hectic other things, like the spring and fall softball schedules but I still had a good time with a few different campaigns.

This post originally appeared on the previous incarnation of this blog on April 23, 2024. This was not my first time reading Three Parts Dead. In fact, I pre-ordered it when it first came out and read it then. Max Gladstone just released the second book of a sequel series to the original Craft Sequence books and in getting ready to read the Craft Wars books, I decided to go back and read the original Craft Sequence.

I've been reading John Scalzi's Comfort Watch posts this month and really enjoying his take on film critique of a certain type of favorite film and why it clicks with him. My wife and I have stressful jobs that we've described to others as "all of other people's problems become our problems." So stress is kind of a given for us on a good portion of days.

Sunday night, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their home. I never met Mr. Reiner but his work was such an immense part of my childhood, especially The Princess Bride. I was nine the first time I saw The Princess Bride, watching it at a friend's house in a double-feature with Spaceballs both introduced as "two of the best movies" that I absolutely needed to see.

Stream the NCAA Men's Soccer Match Washington vs. #15 NC State (Championship) live from ESPNU on Watch ESPN. Live stream on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.

Introduction to the Forge In the distant future, humanity has fled its homeworld and taken refuge in the Forge, a globular cluster situated 1,700 light-years above the galactic plane. Generations ago, interdimensional beings possessed the dead of Earth and turned them against their friends and their families. When the situation seemed its bleakest, an iron pillar was discovered on Luna pointing humanity to mysterious gates among the stars.