Systems for awarding experience points in RPGs are currently the hot topic for RPG bloggers, so I thought I’d lend my 2 cents to the discussion as well. While some others have advocated a strict adherence to the Gold = XP standard, or a shift to Exploration or Plot Points for XP models, I’m going to suggest something a bit different — Experience points based on a Character’s Alignment.
I’ve previously written about Alignment and Languages for D&D, and this suggestion is based on that system. All characters in …

The Fiend Folio for 1st Edition Dungeons & Dragons is one of the best collections of monsters for any Roleplaying Game. It has some of the best artwork of any of the 1st edition books, and some of the most interesting adversaries for adventuring parties.
Unlike the other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books, the Fiend Folio came from the UK gaming magazine White Dwarf before it became a house publication for Games Workshop. The monsters were largely taken from the regular Fiend Factory column which featured creatures sent in by …

Spellbook is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It’s a quick reference of all the spells from Swords & Wizardry, which means you might also find it useful for other old school fantasy RPGs and retro-clones like Labyrinth Lord or original edition D&D.
As you’d expect from an RPG spell reference application for the iPhone you can browse through all the spells organized by name, class and level. In addition to this you can also save your favourite spells to a personalized “my spells” section for faster reference. Spells …

Experienced D&D players quickly learn that it makes sense to concentrate their attacks on one enemy at a time until they are removed from the game, thus reducing the number of attack rolls being made against them. A logical strategy for D&D, but rather “gamey” and lacking in verisimilitude.

Rolling 3 six-sided dice to determine a D&D character’s starting ability scores is an iconic part of the game, and certainly part of the fun for a lot of players. Still, some people do find the randomness of character creation can interfere with their enjoyment of the game if they had a particular character concept in mind that they were hoping to play.