DM of the Rings XCVI:
Hear me on Fear the Boot
A few eagle-eyed readers might have noticed the Fear the Boot link and banner that have been appearing on the site for the past couple of days. The show is a podcast about tabletop roleplaying. They recently had me on the show for an interview and we talked about D&D, DM of the Rings, and a bit about me personally. It was great fun. If you want to know a bit about how DM of the Rings works behind the scenes or about my experiences as a DM in the past, then you should definitely give it a listen.
I never really got into podcasts before Fear the Boot, but I must say the show is quite enjoyable. It flows less like a talk show and more like an animated conversation between friends. It works really well.
If you want to dive in and see what the rest of the show is like, then I suggest starting around episode 40 and going forward from there. The archives are huge and it would take forever to hear them all, and I think the most recent episodes are their best work to date.
Thanks again to Dan, Chad and John for having me on.
WoW, That Was Close
Last night I noticed you can create a free 10-day trial for World of Warcraft, and download the software directly. Like an idiot I clicked and began the registration process. It wasn’t until I’d gotten halfway done that I realized what a stupid thing I was doing and backed away.
I’ve known for a long time that this game would suck me in if I was ever foolish enough to try it. Right now my time is carefully balanced between work, family, the website, the comic, and videogames. Something like WoW would upset this careful balance and quickly devour the time set aside for these other projects. Unlike single-player games, you can’t pause an MMO. You can’t pick it up and play for thirty minutes at a time and come away with a satifying experience. An MMO is a demanding hobby and I don’t have room for another one of those right now.
Still, if you’ve wanted to see what the fuss is about then it looks like now is a great time to try the game out.
HP = Horrible Pcomputers
Pixy shares his experiences of using an HP computer.
Let us not forget Ubu Roi and his HP adventures. Steven tells a now-familiar tale about his HP. And I never miss a chance to link back to my own personal trials with the demon-infused box of madness that is HP Pavillion.
The folks at HP really are horrible people. Those machines spread a lot of misery. I can’t say enough bad things about them. What sickens me is that churning out crap for years on end doesn’t seem to have hurt their reputation. I do what I can here to inform people as a low-grade form of revenge, but it’s not like my efforts will ever cause any distress for the people responsible, which is the only thing that would really give me any sort of satisfaction.
DM of the Rings XCV:
You Could Get a Splinter
My last post
Jay tagged me to participate this this meme. The idea is thus: Bloggers: The blogosphere is coming to an end. You have one last post. What is it going to be? What is the final summary of your blog? What is the one last gem that you want to leave with your readers? Urban Monk, the originator of the meme, is also bribing us by promising to donate to charity based on participation, but I wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t amuse me.
So here it is, my final post, my secret revealed:
i cant belief u thot i leik those stupid RPG games and anime its so gay. thanks for cliking on my ads suckers oh yeah please click a few more times i want 2 get a tv instaled on the dashboard so i can play halo while ur stuck behind me lol.
I’m not going to tag anyone. If writing a “last post” tickles your fancy, then please go for it. It’s for a good cause. (My hummer.)
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones: Ending
After heaping shame on the game because I wasn’t ready to work for the ending, I realized someone probably already had it on YouTube. Sure enough:
Spoilers. (Duh.)
Continue reading 〉〉 “Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones: Ending”
Fable II
The plot of this game isn't just dumb, it's actively hostile to the player. This game hates you and thinks you are stupid.
MMO Population Problems
Computers keep getting more powerful. So why do the population caps for massively multiplayer games stay about the same?
The Best of 2018
I called 2018 "The Year of Good News". Here is a list of the games I thought were interesting or worth talking about that year.
The Terrible New Thing
Fidget spinners are ruining education! We need to... oh, never mind the fad is over. This is not the first time we've had a dumb moral panic.
Quakecon 2011 Keynote Annotated
An interesting but technically dense talk about gaming technology. I translate it for the non-coders.
Why The Christmas Shopping Season is Worse Every Year
Everyone hates Black Friday sales. Even retailers! So why does it exist?
PC Gaming Golden Age
It's not a legend. It was real. There was a time before DLC. Before DRM. Before crappy ports. It was glorious.
Quakecon Keynote 2013 Annotated
An interesting but technically dense talk about gaming technology. I translate it for the non-coders.
id Software Coding Style
When the source code for Doom 3 was released, we got a look at some of the style conventions used by the developers. Here I analyze this style and explain what it all means.
Self-Balancing Gameplay
There's a wonderful way to balance difficulty in RPGs, and designers try to prevent it. For some reason.
T w e n t y S i d e d

