Category Archives: RPG

Sexism in Geek Culture, with a look at Comics

In the most recent Coming Out of the Basement Podcast, we discuss sexism in geek culture, with a bit of a closer look at comics (along with the Mass Effect 3 ending). For the first subject, I had enough sources and examples that I thought it made sense to do a post on the topic.

I meant to mention three areas:

  1. the portrayal of women in geek culture media (comics, games, RPGs, etc.)
  2. the treatment of women in geek culture in real life situations, and
  3. women in positions of authority in the industries (writers/artists/creators/editors/etc.).

Lots more below.
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Odds and Ends

Like I mentioned in our just-released Episode 2, I’m not nearly as good as self-promotion or promotion as BJ is. :P A book I worked on actually came out the day we did our first podcast, but I felt a bit odd about bringing it up (so didn’t):

Open Design’s Midgard Bestiary for Pathfinder, with lead developer Adam Daigle. Daigle is an awesome monster developer who worked on all of Paizo’s Bestiaries and a host of Open Design and other materials- and as of last month was officially hired by Paizo and relocated from Austin to Seattle. And although I am biased, I gotta say that the book is one darned cool monster book. I’d get it without my contributions. ^_^ (I did include the idea of kobolds riding giant sea turtles, though! :P As well as other stuff.)

On the Kickstarter front: A few hours for a Gaming Paper adventure (plus gaming paper, a nifty gaming resource), and a few days for this excellent looking Viking-theme video game, The Banner Saga. Both look super cool. And today was the launch of Open Design’s new Kickstarter-backed project, Midgard Tales, which is going to be awesome. The lead on this one is Christina Stiles, who is both a great designer and really nice. I’m definitely backing, and if I can make the time I’m definitely contributing.

Last minute Geek Christmas Gifts already?

Cripes, it’s Christmas already. What’s going on? Well, here’s gift suggestions- maybe for your geek friends, maybe for you.

Of course, I expect lots of folks around these parts are playing Skyrim or Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’m certainly doing the latter at the moment. The only problem looking at those as gifts is that it is incredibly likely your fans of the material already have them. ^^ But it wouldn’t hurt to check. Also, the Humble Indie Bundle 4 looks great, and half the profits go to charity.

Hey, look- The Guild Season Five is now out, just in time for Christmas.

Right Stuf Anime is having a bunch of sales. Of particular note is the remastered Utena DVD box sets. The series had been hard to find for awhile. It’s one of my wife’s favorites. I may have picked up the Soul Eater holiday package…

For the budding RPGer, or someone who might want a bit simpler rule set, Pathfinder’s Beginner Box has been popular. And the Bestiary 3 was just released! Another interesting up and coming d20 game seems to be Legend. It’s a little over the top at times, but it’s an interesting approach to mixing classes, races, and specialties via mix-and-match tracks. That is, you can take a bit of ranger, combine it with a bit of steampunk robot-making, and be a dragon. Or you can be an elven ranger with all of its ranger-y goodness. (I suspect the former option might be more popular, but ya never know.) ^_^ Plus, right now all proceeds go to the Child’s Play charity. Nice. And lest I forget, although I haven’t had the opportunity to play it, the 3rd edition of Mutants and Masterminds sounds fun.

For the eBook fantasy readers out there, check out B. Justin Shier’s Zero Sight and its sequel, Zero Sum. Check out Zachary Rawlin’s The Academy. Both are marketed YA, but fun reads. Of course, if you haven’t picked up Sanderson’s Way of Kings, that’s fun. And Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind and its sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear. If you’d like RPG tie-ins, Paizo’s James Sutter’s Death’s Heretic is really very good.

Come to think of it, I can recommend books forever. =P

Oh, and I did pick up Betrayal at House on the Hill, for board gaming goodness…

And who can go wrong with a squishable Narhwal? (Picked one up for Q, it’s great. ^_^)

Other suggestions?

Whither 5th Edition?

Referring to D&D, of course… I suspect it’s close- within the next couple of years.

Rich Baker has had a couple of interesting Rule of Three columns, where he (and other designers) reflect on different parts of 4th edition. Baker mentions that powers between different classes seem very similar, which has definitely been a complaint of mine, and he’s noted that some of the real benefits of 4E also have costs. He also mentions that 4E is mostly a striker show, which I think is true to a large extent. And Monte Cook’s Legends and Lore column has certainly been provoking, as has his return to the WotC fold. Monte has asked some really interesting questions in Legends and Lore, and discussed the game’s history as well as the role of complexity in the game. So far, I like what I’m seeing.

Now, what are the odds they’ll bring back the OGL? =P

Heroes of the Feywild is coming out tomorrow, or two weeks ago if you’re close to one of the favored FLGS stores that can sell it early. Living near one of those stores, I picked it up last week. Solid book. I think I liked Neverwinter a tad bit better overall, but HoF is definitely fun. New races- pixie, hamadryad, and satyr, and several new class options, including the barbarian berserker, the bard skald, the druid protector (I think) and the wizard witch. The themes are a lot of fun- I particularly liked the fey beast tamer, which gives you your own magical beast companion. They’re all decent, though, and I wish they had more room for themes and epic destinies in the book. I was also happy that the pixie was relatively close to the one I made for a home game a few years back, at 4Es advent.

Mine:
Pixie, Not Quite The Greatest Race That Has Ever Existed (inside joke based on a wiki-editing war)
Tiny Fey Humanoid
Ability Bonuses: +2 Dex, +2 Cha
Sorta tiny: Treated as a small character for most purposes, including reach
Speed: 5 (flight)
Languages: Common, Elven
Skill bonuses: +2 stealth, +2 nature
Fey Origin

The official version isn’t identical, but it’s close enough that the player who was playing a pixie can walk right into the “real” version without much modification.