Mixed Signals

Straight-forward gaming

When the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide DMG came out back in 2014, I read it from cover to cover. I knew I'd be running games, so I needed to know about the rules of the world. That is, of course, what the DMG is. It contains the rules for things that aren't the player characters themselves, but that i...

I mentioned in my first look at Spelljammer that ship combat appears to largely be missing from the Astral Adventurer's Guide. I've fixed that with some custom rules, adapted from my well-worn Starfinder ship combat ruleset.

I didn't have high hopes for ship combat rules, honestly, because I'v...

I picked up a copy of Spelljammer, the latest release from Wizards of the Coast, and I've spent the past couple of days reading over the three books in the boxed set. This is a quick cursory review of the new setting.

When Spelljammer was first announced, I was excited about it. I've already pla...

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.

In my initial read of the Aballon section, I expressed some dismay with the lack of explicit descriptions of the r...

Building a character in Shadowrun is a lot of fun. It's not quite the roller coaster that Traveler or Dead Earth are (for instance, you can't die during character creation in Shadowrun), but it's a detailed system in which you map out your character's life and education prior to running the shad...

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

This episode features an intriguing crime sydicate consisting entirely of women, most notably a race car driver named Nazarone. They are, predictably, as beautiful as they are deadly...

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.

Akiton is the fourth planet planet from the Sun in the Golarian solar system, and I have vague memories of it appear...

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

An evil, eccentric, and embarrassingly wealthy English gentleman who was wronged by UNCLE in the past decides to kidnap Kuryakin, and then Solo, and ultimately Waverly. For the durat...

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.

Golarian was the third planet from the Sun in its solar system, but it (and its moons, I guess) has gone missing.

A...

I believe I've reached a definitive conclusion about the organisational structure of most 5e books. I don't know what it is about the way 5e books are put together, but I have yet to find even one that entirely makes sense to me. This isn't a complaint I make lightly, because I see how much informat...

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, which is essentially 3rd Edition with revisions, and I love pla...

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.

Castrovel, the second planet from the Sun in the Golarian solar system, was featured in a module of the Dead Suns...

Way back at the turn of the century, Wizards of the Coast decided to adopt open source methodology by developing the Open Game License (OGL). This marked not just the 3rd Edition of the game, but also the opening of the market for supplementary D&D material. After the 3rd Edition was released, there...

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

This one's a wholesome episode. A revivalist preacher (played by Eddie Albert) named Brother Love is gathering followers and spreading the Good Word around America. With a name like...

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.

Aballon is the first planet in Golarian's solar system, and it's home to a race of intelligent machines called anac...

I mostly play Pathfinder and 5e D&D, but if asked, I do also consider myself an AD&D 2nd edition player. In fact, emotionally I consider 2nd edition "my edition" because it for that edition I rolled my first characters (which I then never played, because my parents forbade it), and I read Dragonlanc...