Category: Gaming

Iron GM at Gen Con 2018

Riley John Gibbs4 Comments

I competed in the Iron GM World Championship on Saturday afternoon at Gen Con. It was my first time participating in the event in any capacity. I had heard of it only shortly before signups for events opened for Gen Con this year, but it was the thing I was looking forward to most about this year’s con.

I have many thoughts and feelings about it, and I decided the only way I could get them down coherently right now without rambling overmuch would be in bullet point form. There is only limited reasoning behind the ordering.Read More »

Drinking & Dragons: A Critical Self-Review

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Last night was the second installment of Nerd Nite LA‘s Drinking & Dragons, a combination of D&D and improv show, with Yours Truly as the Dungeon Master and players selected at random from the audience. When Katie, one of my co-bosses of Nerd Nite LA, asked me how I was feeling before the show, my most honest answer was, as usual, incredibly nervous. Then, around ten o’clock last night after the show concluded, I felt… still nervous?Read More »

A Human Dilemma

Riley John Gibbs2 Comments

Here’s a moral dilemma for gamers: Someone has been helping you toward your win condition in a game for the last few hours. You have the opportunity to win now, but the player who has been helping you this whole time tells you this will cause him to lose, and he asks you to wait just one more turn. You could potentially lose in the meantime. Do you play to win and end the game now?

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Shouting Over Camelot

Riley John Gibbs2 Comments

There were three conversations happening in a group of seven players, everyone’s voice a little elevated in order to be heard. I’m not sure everyone even knew whose turn it was anymore, because this had been going on for a couple of minutes. I pulled myself back from the melee for a second to smile in appreciation of how into it everyone was. We were all (mostly) on the same team, despite the appearance from the shouting, and everyone had their own excited ideas about the best next play.Read More »

Instead of Church, I’m Playing “Shadow of the Demon Lord”

Riley John Gibbs2 Comments

Yesterday morning was my second time playing Shadow of the Demon Lord. The last time I played it, probably a year or so ago, ended in a party wipe, which was fine since it was a one-shot, but because we played at level 0, it didn’t feel like we really got into the meat of the game very much. I was hoping for a slightly different experience this time around, and got it.Read More »