Mixed Signals

Straight-forward gaming

Recently updated for 5e, Spelljammer has been around a long time, and the D&D team used to release a lot of material during previous editions. One source for new adventures was Dungeon magazine, which contained adventure after adventure for various AD&D settings. In issue 36, published in 1992,...

Years ago, Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) published a few "splatbooks" for 3rd Edition D&D, and one of these books was titled Undead (with Mike Mearls as a credited writer). I've been reading it lately, because I play Pathfinder and I love player options. This is my third post about the book,...

Today I had the chance to sit down with the Light of Xaryxis module included in the 5e Spelljammer boxed set. I enjoyed the Astral Adventurer's Guide, but I didn't love the old 2nd Edition module Skull and Crossbows, so I was eager to see what kind of precedence the 5e authors were setting for...

My favourite Shadowrun Fifth Edition supplement is the Run Faster source book. I love it so much, in fact, that I almost believe it should be the "Player's Handbook" of Shadowrun, relegating the Core Rulebook to the game master. I say almost because the division isn't really that clean, but R...

I've been reading through the Starfinder source book, Pact Worlds. It's a small book, but fits a lot of information into it, so I'm going to post about sections as I finish them.

The Diaspora is an asteroid field between the planets Verces (and the generation ship Idari) and Eox. It's exist...

With the release of Spelljammer for D&D 5th Edition, I decided to break out the second AD&D Spelljammer module Skulls & Crossbows. I'm looking at it particularly with quick conversion in mind, but also for story and general usefulness. The fourth adventure in the book is called "Pirate-wyrm."

Pi

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In my initial review of the D&D 5e version of Spelljammer, I praised the boxed set for everything but its DM screen. Since that review, there's been widespread disappointment in its sparse rules about ship combat and in the Hadozee race. Recently, I finally had the chance to sit down with the...

When the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide DMG came out back in 2014, I read it from cover to cover. I've decided to re-read the 5e DMG to re-discover anything I impatiently overlooked on my first read-through, and I'm going to review it chapter by chapter. In this post, I'm covering Chapter 5, "Adventure...

I'm rewatching every episode of the Man from UNCLE series from start to finish. This review may contain spoilers.

Word on the street is that Thrush has commissioned a super computer to help them...be evil, I guess. Obviously UNCLE hears about this development, and decides that they need to destr...

I've been reading through the Starfinder source book, Pact Worlds. It's a small book, but fits a lot of information into it, so I'm going to post about sections as I finish them.

Idari is the fifth celestial body from the sun in the Golarian system. It's not a planet, but the generation ship th...

In a previous post, I demonstrated how to do a quick D&D 5e character build with new players. The advantage to this idea is that you get a new player into the game within a quarter of an hour. They might not understand everything about the process, but a quick build gives them a taste of what's...

When the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide DMG came out back in 2014, I read it from cover to cover. I've decided to re-read the 5e DMG to re-discover anything I impatiently overlooked on my first read-through, and I'm going to review it chapter by chapter. In this post, I'm covering Chapter 3 and 4, "Cre...

If you've ever played the Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, or Shadowrun Hong Kong video games, then you may have developed an interest in the Sixth World.

Building an RPG character is complex. While Shadowrun's character build process is explained well in the 5th Edition Core Rulebo...

When the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide DMG came out back in 2014, I read it from cover to cover. I've decided to re-read the 5e DMG, though, to re-discover anything I impatiently overlooked on my first read-through, and I'm going to review it chapter by chapter. Chapter 2 is titled "Creating a multive...

As players level up in an RPG, they expect increased challenge. They want bigger monsters that are harder to kill and that threaten to kill them first, faster.

The formula seems like it would be simple: As player characters level-up and gain hit points, you make the monsters deal more damage. In o...

I'm rewatching every episode of the Man from UNCLE series from start to finish. This review may contain spoilers.

It's interesting, for me, to see how TV handled two-part episodes throughout the years. This is the conclusion to a two-part episode, but instead of doing a "Previously on..." segmen...