Previews: Monsters, Ships, and Advice for the Young at Heart

Pathfinder Bestiary 2 cover

It's been awhile since I reviewed RPG rules, inspirations, or merchandise. I plan to talk about Paizo's Pathfinder Bestiary 2 soon, as well as some ideas I have for spicing up traps in dungeon-delving - and by spicing up I'm not talking about making super traps or anything like that.

I expect to get my feet wet again with Axis & Allies War at Sea (or is just called Naval Battles?). A friend of mine fell under the spell of the game in a six-player scenario at Nashcon a few years ago and is ready to get some dedicated gaming in. Why, there has even been talk of a campaign - especially with the (sorta) relaunch of the game which is supposed to make gameplay faster. I'll be honest, I didn't think it was particularly slow to begin with, but I'm for getting to the action quicker.

Speaking of campaign gaming, I am in the midst of Rick Priestley's article on the subject in Wargames Illustrated #281 (the Artillery Issue). He gives some solid advice in the article and I recommend it to anyone who wants to run a wargame campaign. As far as that goes, it's probably not bad advice for anyone trying to run a RPG campaign either. Both are demanding, but at least RPG rules typically make the assumption the game will run as a campaign and get the game master in the right frame of mind for handling an ongoing series of games. Ultimately, no matter what your aspirations are, you need to (realistically) answer the following questions: Who are you writing the rules for? What kind of time and interest will the players have for your campaign?

I might have other things to put in here over the next week or so, including a return to Sudan topics. I have just received a copy of 'A Good Dusting' thanks to historical author Neil Smith.