The Gaming Den

Continuing with establishing our judging criteria, the introduction has a lot to say. At this point, a fair warning is probably in order. HackMaster was born out of the desire to fix the shortcomings of slow-moving turn-based games and provide players with more (sometimes brutally) authentic experie...

230 Mounting the fold-down steps at the back of the covered wagon, you pull aside a creamy cloth and step inside. Despite the performers having set up for their performance already, the cart still seems full of costumes and props. Among them is a white, featureless mask with openings for the eyes, ...

Just taking a closer look at the planned improvements. -Better balancing of core abilities (Con, Int, Cha improved and better aligned), as well as species and classes The game makes a major point about how 'average' abilities are playable, and a player's choices matter more than having high attribut...

173 Hiding behind the wall-hanging is an elderly gentleman, wearing a fur-lined, floor-length robe and a velvet cap. Seeing your drawn steel his eyes widen in alarm. “Murder! Murder most foul!” he cries. For a moment you consider running him through. But when one so great begins to rage, he’s hunte...

In July of this year, KenzerCo launched a Kickstarter, and I had this to say: I don't know if we have a general thread about Kickstarters, but if we didn't we do now, and if we did, now we have two. KenzerCo (publishers of Knights of the Dinner Table ) have released a Kickstarter for the 25th Annive...

Just an unusually busy week here... 143 “The time is out of joint,” the Queen says guardedly. “O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!” you mu􀀪er under your breath. Turn to 170. 170 “I am given, sir, secretly to understand,” she says, her voice suddenly barely more than a whisper, “tha...

The Nays have it, 1.0 to 0.05. 184 “But what is your affair in Elsinore?” she asks. “Are you with the Players?” How will you reply this time? “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Turn to 194. “My dearest queen, the strong necessity of time commands our services awhile...

212 The troubled youth leads you to a certain chamber and draws aside a heavy curtain. “My mother, Queen Gertrude,” he says in a hushed voice. He ushers you inside, but then promptly leaves. You find yourself in a small audience chamber where, seated upon a carved oak chair, is a handsome woman, in...

******* It might be worth keeping in mind that during the course of the play Hamlet was either insane or PRETENDING to be insane, so if his questions make no sense, that's probably to be expected. 231 The young man looks surprised and slightly disappointed. “Were you not sent for? Is it your own inc...

Okay, be honest. And I abstained from voting on the skull, we should have it. Noted. I thought you were abstaining from taking it, not abstaining from voting on taking it. 201 “Ah, so you’re with them,” says the clerk, ushering you through along with the Players. Not wanting to disabuse the man of ...

Rolling to decide between taking and leaving the skull (1-3, keep, 4-6 leave). Roll: 4 (leave) Rolling to decide between talking to R & G (1-3) or the players (4-6). Roll: 1 (R & G) 207 Approaching the two noblemen you address them: “My excellent good friends… how do ye both?” “As the indiff...

172 “What man dost thou dig it for?” you ask, peering into the half-excavated grave. “For no man, sir,” the grave-digger says. “What woman, then?” “For none, neither.” “Who is to be buried in’t?” you press him. “One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she’s dead.” As he thrusts his spade int...

152 You unroll the scroll and discover that it is covered in an unintelligible cuneiform script as well as curious glyphs. But now you have it in your hands, you feel an inexplicable compulsion to keep hold of it. “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool,” you sa...

209 An eerie howl echoes across the cliff-top and the creatures encircling you suddenly all look towards the source of the sound. Then, a moment later, accompanied by a chorus of yelps and guttural growls, they lope away into the encroaching night, vanishing between the broken tombs, no doubt retur...

149

“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war!” you declare as the inhuman hunters emerge from the broken tombs to surround you.

If you want to use The Pen is Mightier special ability, cross off one use and turn to 209. If not, turn to 129.

189 Heavy grey clouds crowd the sky above the cliffs so it as ’twere a shrouding sheet has been laid over the land, hiding the sun that even now hangs low in the sky. “Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,” you mutter to yourself, pulling your cloak tighter about you ’gains...

165 “Come, young waverer, come, go with me, in one respect I’ll thy assistant be,” you tell the youth, “for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households’ rancour to pure love.” “O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.” Romeo leaves the apothecary’s shop through the small, sunlit cour...

Sorry guys, you do not have the flower. I was in a bit of a rush. Then had a major internet outage. Sorry for the delay. 105 “Here,” the holy apothecary says, taking a vial from a shelf, “take this.” “What’s in it?” you ask, accepting the item. “There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue,” ...

(Oh, so weird magic things showing him the stories inspired Shakespeare to write later plays? That makes sense, I guess) That's my guess, but I haven't seen anything that says that explicitly. But if it weren't the case, I would definitely expect him to say 'huh, this is weird, it's like my play ha...

Love's Labour's Lost is one of his early plays, written after King Richard III and Two Gentlemen from Verona , but before A Midsummer's Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet - so within the game fiction, Shakespeare could be becoming acquainted with the stories that would then inspire his famous plays...

Letting him pass wins by a 1.0 to 0.5 vote. 75 You step out of the way, and the young man hurries through the crowd, followed by a gang of his fellow roisterers. The excitement of the villain’s appearance and subsequent disappearance may have passed, but the turmoil that has been raised inside your ...

I thought the Green Man was a pretty easy fight... 220 Passing beneath the stone arch, and pushing aside a piece of cloth that has been daubed with plaster to be made to look like rough-cast, you suddenly find yourself in a bustling city street. But this is no London street you have ever seen. The s...

88 The way the wood and canvas flats have been arranged, the only way through to the back of this side of the Tiring House is through one of two scenery arches. One is decked out with greenery to look like the way into a forest, while the other has been painted to give the impression it has been co...

35 The sword is heavy but well-balanced, even if it is only a stage prop. And while it might not have the keenest edge, it could still deal an opponent a nasty blow, should you so choose. Finding a belt and scabbard nearby, you buckle it on and sheathe the blade. “Best draw my sword,” you say, pull...

44 “I’ll fight till, from my bones, my flesh be hack’d,” you say, quoting a line from your Sco􀀪ish Play, as you put on the Breastplate, adjusting the leather straps until it rests comfortably over your doublet. “Give me my armour.” (Record the Breastplate on your Adventure Sheet. For as long as you...