Dungeons and Resources: Character Builder App

With so many advances in technology these days it is no surprise to me that there are now RPG apps. I myself am a iPhone user and I find myself using a lot of different apps for different things and GMing is no different.

I have spent a fair amount of time scouring the app store for any kind of app that would help me to build upon my game. As a GM keeping track of NPCs can be challenging especially in a world as in depth as shadowrun. Finally I made a discovery, an app that not only allows me to generate random characters but also lets me edit them how I need too. The app is called " RPG Character Generator " and let me start by say this needs to be included on every DM's iPhone or iPod Touch.

Granted that the random characters tend to be more fantasy based then sci-fi but it is a small detail that I can work around. One of the great features of this app is that it also stores the characters generated so as to be called upon at a later time. This becomes handy while behind a DM screen because sometimes my phone is easier to operate then a computer.

The code monkeys of lvl99games knew what they wanted when they put this wonderfully useful app together. After using this for a short while I could tell that this was designed with the kind of user in mind, because lets face it most DMs are the kind of people who are always changing things.

One of the advantages of having an app to do tasks like these is that now you can build your campaign while on the go. This allows that if you are out and have a random thought about some kind of enemy that would be awesome to throw at your players you can record it before you forget it.

A great big thank you goes out to one Mr. Steve Jobs for making geeks lives everywhere much easier. For the GM on the go this app is one I personally use and recommend for building a well integrated and complete fantasy world.

Dungeons and Resources: Donjon

As I talked about yesterday the Internet is a fabulous tool for learning and doing many things. For the most part people today use the Internet as a means of social networking, and to keep themselves up to date with the media.
As a gamer I utilize the Internet for it's many gaming resources, wether it is a walk through for the game I am currently playing or a forum to swap ideas and tips on my favorite table top game. I am always looking for good sites to help me to flush out my table top games, to add an element of realism and make the players feel more immersed in the world I have created. Sometimes I find myself struggling to come up with something new, so I find myself turning to the Internet for new and exciting things.
This is when I discovered my first random generator and my love affaire began. First I discovered a simple random name generator, nothing super special just a simple code that spewed out a random name from a list of maybe a hundred. Over time I tried dozens and kept moving on to bigger and more advanced generators to fit my needs.
So now to share with you one of my most frequented, this one I use for magical treasure and to create monstrous dungeons.
Are you ready for this?

Here: http://donjon.bin.sh/

This I find to be a spectacular site.

Dungeons and Resources: Elements of power

Every good DM knows that it can be hard to come up with half decent loot all the time. Especially when your crew decides to raid every single dead body after decimating an army. Some DM's myself include love to keep their players and themselves on their toes with complete and utter randomness.
Some people turn to random Internet based random generators, or random loot tables to put a bit of chaos into a run. Myself being a more visual person I like to see a picture of an item, as a player an a DM when I pick up an item I like to describe the hell out of it. The more intricate the weapon the more I feel it flushes out a character.
So when I was browsing through my local gaming shop, Sentry Box, I cam across this very helpful little item. Upon finding it I thought I had natural 20ed my search check and discovered a hidden treasure trove. What I had discovered was deck of cards, but not just any deck of cards this was a magical deck filled with images of powerful weapons and items. The deck so rightfully boasted it's name to be, The Elements of Power

It turns out that a company called Paizo most famous in the table top community for its RPG called Pathfinder. This company may not be affiliated with the actual Dungeons and Dragons RPG but they are a very similar fantasy game so a lot of the resources can be used with any fantasy style campaign.
Now the cards themselves are pretty basic with just an image and a simple weapon name, with a space for notes on the back. This is very helpful because it allows for the DM to be in charge of the stats and effects of the item on the card. The images that are on the cards are very detailed which help if players are imagination impaired and also can help a DM to spice up his campaign, we all know that everyone's imaginations sometimes can get stuck in a rut.


I highly recommend that every group has a set of cards like this just to keep the game spicy and fresh. And who knows maybe the items on the cards have shady backgrounds. So order them here: http://paizo.com/products/btpy7yi6?GameMastery-Item-Cards-Elements-of-Power-Deck

What did I just watch?: Age of the Dragons

As of a short while ago a very close friend of mine informed me that there was a functioning Rogers video store. This made me so excited I nearly wet my self, it has been a couple months since the blockbuster and Rogers video closed down in my neck of the woods. Unfortunately Netflix was not able to support my avid movie watching habit, because of the restrictive copyright laws here in Canada Netflix has a very small selection. So to discover a fully operational video rental is big news an I will spread this news to any and all who will listen to me rabble.
After work on monday Mr. Devo joined me and brought a movie he had rented with him. Now Mr. Devo is on a mission to find and watch every film with Vinnie Jones in it, I can understand this because Vinnie is just awesome and because most people think Mr. Devo is a lot like the roles that Vinnie Jones plays. The movie in question sounded awesome a retelling of the classic Herman Melville novel Moby Dick but instead of whales there are Dragons.
When Mr. Devo told me this I was like this sounds like an epic adventure but what I found to be weird is that he said it came out in 2010. This is strange toe for the reason that I have heard nothing of the film ever and upon shooting a text to a friend of mine, who worked at a theater for the last five years, she informed me that she had never heard of a film called Age Of The Dragons. We popped into the play station and pushed the X button and started the movie.

Now aside from Vinnie Jones the other name to add a degree of star power to this film is Danny Glover best known for his role in 1987's lethal weapon. After watching this film I think that Danny needs to look in the mirror every morning and repeat his most famous line from the Lethal Weapon franchise "I am too old for this shit!".

This movie was boring it was pretty much a direct translation filled with long lulls of nothing of importance. It was hard to watch an I found myself getting extremely bored with it. During the beginning Vinnie Jones as alway was awesome but you could tell he realized how bad of a film it was and wanted out cause next thing you know he is burned by a discovery channel graphics dragon. With that half of the star power and the one of the only interesting characters died.
bah it was beyond terrible and I would not wish it upon anyone. Upon the rolling of the credits I felt pure frustration. I should have damaged the disc to prevent anyone else from ever viewing this atrocity.
The only redeeming feature of this film is that they had a sweet land ship. It was like a medieval tank rolling across the frozen country side. An epic steampunk vehicle that in a lot of ways I wished was in my possession.