Can male
players roleplay female characters? - Some
say they can, and some say they
can't. All I can say is, I've tried. Here are the
results, make up your own mind.Strontium
Dog - Am I the only person in the world who
thinks this is the most
brilliant sci-fi roleplaying setting there has ever been?
The Day Jenny Played Star
Wars - when the earth trembled, the sky
boiled,
and forgotten socks ventured forth from launderettes
across the land.
The Obligatory Gaming
Quotes Page - Proof that rolegaming is a
spiritual and
transcendent pasttime that does not in the least betray
the latent puerility of its practitioners.
Who the F*** Are You?
- Indispensible guidelines for creating credible PCs. Or
something.
Heptovania - My
gameworld, shamelessly flaunted for all to snicker at.
Yes, it's got elves and orcs and halflings and shit. No,
I don't care.
I think you can safely say
that there ain't a shortage of rolegaming stuff out there
on the web. Where does one start, old chap?
Lotsof game-related links
at Phil Masters' web site,
including a Molesworth RPG and a glossary of gaming terms.
Another huge list of
gaming links at RPG
Gateway.
Some great stuff to read
at Beth Kinderman's Revenge of the Gamer Chick, thought-provoking and dead funny at the same
time.
Online fanzines definitely
worth checking out include Places To Go, People To Be, currently up to about 14 issues. Another
essential read is Paul Mason's imazine (I'm a zine...), though you need Acrobat Reader
to look at it. Definitely worth the hassle, though, if
you like provocative articles on restricting the power of
the GM, the relation between rolegaming and art (if there
is one), and other 'intellectual' stuff.
If, on the other hand, you
are just another gamer wondering why the hell you waste
so much time on such a fruitless hobby, you might care to
do yourself a favour and browse the pages of Critical
Miss, ('The Magazine for
Dysfunctional Roleplayers'). Highly recommended if you
want a good laugh.
Online game systems
available for download - not that you'll ever actually
play them, of course - include FUDGE (Freeform
Universal Do-it-yourself Game Engine), which is not so
much a game system as a platform for designing one. The FAQ might also be worth a look. A complete fantasy
system, Dominion Rules, is
rather staid and traditional, but very nicely laid out.
And Paul 'imazine' Mason has an HTML version of his own
game, Outlaws of the Water Margin, set in 12th Century China.
If you want to see other
worlds that gamers have designed, try Profantasy
Software's homepage. They have
a section devoted to worlds that have been mapped with
their Campaign Cartographer software. A good springboard
to leap off if you want to go looking for gaming stuff.
There's an excellent
article on determining population sizes for
kingdoms and cities, if that's what you're into. Or a simpler
system if you don't want to go
into too much fiddly detail.
And another,
short-but-sweet, on economics which uses
real-world prices and wages to work out how much that
full suit of plate mail will cost you.
An Ars Magica resource site with a
couple of lengthy price lists.
Fantasy Art
Want some art to spice up
printouts of your house rules/scenarios? Try the Elfwood
Amateur Fantasy Art Gallery.
Thousands upon thousands of piccies, from the frankly
scrappy to the superb. Check out the guided tours for the
best.
Another neat collection of
fantasy art, including a lot of Tolkien-inspired stuff,
at Sunet. If you've got
the ICE modules for MERP you'll recognise a lot of this.
Fantasy clipart for
websites can be nabbed at Clipart
Castle with another stack at House
Azor. Also check out Bryde's Medieval Clipart page
Fonts can be had in plenty
at Flat Earth.
Or peruse the authentic period stuff
at the Bibliotheque National de France - 1000 14th
Century pictures.
Superb quality scans of
fine art in CGFA's gallery, including E B Leighton's The Accolade (not
really fantasy, but a brilliant picture so I don't care.
There's some nice Waterhouse scans on this site too).
Factual Stuff
Mediaeval material abounds
by the screenload, and can add an authentic touch to your
campaign. Try some of these, they all contain game-usable
stuff:
The ORB
Online Reference Book for
Medieval Studies and the Labyrinth - essential
academic sites.
The Medieval Economy site
- a quick-quick guide to mediaeval life. Not deep, but
mentions some of those things that were so blatantly
obvious you never really thought about them before. Shame
about some of those backgrounds, though.
A huge site on mediaeval English towns,
crammed with detail.
A glossary of mediaeval costume, for
the fashion-conscious character. Plus lots of reference
pics at this site.
Fundamentals of mediaeval medicine,
and some fascinating stuff about doctors in mediaeval Ireland. Caught the Mummy's Rot? Then bring in the
goldfinch, you'll be well in no time.
A guide to alcholic drinksh of
the mevid ... mideval ... miveldee ... sheveral
shenturies ago.
Nosh with knowledge at godecookery - mainly (but not entirely) about food, in case
you hadn't guessed.
Lists of authenticated mediaeval
names - useful if you get stuck
for what to call your new character or NPCs. And another name database compiled
specifically for Ars Magica (but no less useful for
that). Yep, you can get away with a chap called
Koldobika, it's a genuine Basque name (apparently).
And a faerie encyclopaedia
to trip up those players who've memorised the Monstrous
Compendium. No game info, but you can adapt.
|
