4E Link-stravaganza

I've been occupied as of late reading through the new 4E PHB, so I realize that I haven't been posting much, but it's for a good reason!

While I'm still in the process of reading, check out these other fine 4E posts:

DungeonMastering's 4E Celebration in Haiku

Chatty's Initial Thoughts & Game Day Recap

Gnome Stew's Martin Ralya's First Impressions

D&D Nerd's List of Reviews

I'm sure there are more, but I haven't spent a lot of time reading the blogs lately, as that would have detracted from my reading of the PHB. So if I missed your post, please feel free to add a comment and include a link.

I'll be happy to share my thoughts from a player perspective soon!

The Monster Mash

Yax's Sunday morning quiz was a fabulous query involving monsters! I'm proud to say that I managed to pass this one with an 84% (I usually fail spectatuarly!), mostly by guessing on the Devil/Demon portion.

I love the Sunday morning quizzes, even when I fail spectactulary, because they are fun and there's a lot of good Red Dragon in there. This one was especially fun as there's a little aside to one of our favorite creatures. I won't tell you which one, that would give it away!

Take a peak at the Sunday Morning Quiz - Mystery Monsters and see how you well you can do the Monster Mash!

We are experiencing technical difficulties...

A giant, spectacular lightning storm has knocked out the internet connection here at SR Central until Friday evening. If time permits, we may post from work but don't hold thine breath.

In the meantime, please entertain yourselves with Cuddle Monsters, courtesy of Yax over at Dungeon Mastering. He's so crazy!

Memorial Day Lazysaurus...

A thousand apologies for the lack of a post yesterday, the Stupid Ranger crew were heavily busy with some much needed R&R, home repairs, and moviegoing (Iron Man woot!).

In addition to our standard fare, I am happy to report that both SR and I ordered our GenCon badges yesterday! We're optimistic for a great time this year, we're making a distinct effort to get to meet and greet our fellow D&D bloggers.

This morning Yax has posted an interesting read over on DungeonMastering about having an "innovation party" for fellow DMs, and I think the whole premise (in addition to his article) is a wonderful idea. In fact, we have been known to (somewhat) regularly get the Stupid Ranger crew together to brainstorm ideas for articles, roleplaying stuff, t-shirt ideas, etc. and it usually turns out well for us.

Yax also stresses the importance of having a motivation or reward for these type of events, and I agree that whether I'm doing this for my campaign, this site, or a project at work it really helps to have a near-term "slightly delayed gratificiation" reward for getting through the effort. That level of focus and release is really what helps you get real productive ideas on the table without too much of the "I'm bored of this let's B.S. for an hour" interruptions.

Regardless of my $0.02, his article is a great read. Go check it out and reward yourself with a cheeseburger or something!

The New Old (Experienced) Kids on the Block...

I'd like to take today's post to herald the dawning of a new and truly excellent roleplaying and game mastering blog run by some pretty talented folks: Gnome Stew, the Game Mastering Blog.

All Hail the Honor Guard of Game Mastering!

Those of you that have been paying any attention whatsoever in recent years will recognize many of the names, the Gnome-in-Chief is none other than Martin Ralya. Until very recently, Martin maintained (in my opinion) the gold standard of all GMing blogs, Treasure Tables.

The rest of the gnomes are a formidable bunch as well, several of which have honored us with their opinions during our relatively short tenure in the blogosphere. A quick glance at the front page of Gnome Stew pretty well tells the tale... you get a broad perspective on all things gaming, from conventions to gaming systems to game mastering tips... there's a ton of great information there already and they've not even been open a month yet!

It's going to be great to see what they have in store as months unfold, head on over there and see what good stuff they're laying down! I've added them a big, hairy link in our Featured Links section... because, lets face it... with an honor roll like that there's no question their site is going to rule! Good luck, you guys!

Queen of Pork Belly Futures

There's a hilarious bit on the current Presidential candidates as D&D monsters over at Boing Boing this morning. As a person who has contemplated his own magic resistance, this RULED.

As an aside, I was trying to clean up a double-posted comment on Dante's post yesterday and apparently I was clicking like E. Honda because I have somehow managed to irreversibly delete both comments. Sorry 'bout that. We're not in the business of silencing people unless they're spamming or being abusive, so I just wanted to clear that up before someone called us evil Overlords or something.

Wait, if you feel like calling me that I totally did that on purpose.