I recently picked up Kenneth Hite’s Trail of Cthulhu Role-Playing Game. This game uses the GUMSHOE system rather than the Basic Roleplaying system used in Chaosium’s venerable Call of Cthulhu RPG. GUMSHOE uses a point spend system that allows players to “buy a hint” to help move the game forward, avoiding the problem of a missed clue as a result of a die roll. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently visited Portland, Oregon Bridgetown Hobbies to pick up my copy of D&D Player Handbook 4th Edition and am weighing in on this new edition. I have been playing D&D since the blue box era (my local shop had the white box set, but the blue book pictures got me) - roughly 1977. And I still have my old copies of 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition (thanks mom, for not throwing my stuff away!). Sure, I need a new role-playing game like I need that extra 20 ounces of Coke from 7-11, but I just have to see how the game has changed - and changed it has! I am also considering the True20 Revised RPG at the same time - which will be the true successor to D&D 3rd Edition? Read the rest of this entry »