Five for Friday : Week of 2/8/13 - 2/14/13: Meteor Watch Edition

The Sky is Falling! (reported everywhere)

Big news today was that a meteor tore threw the sky over a city in Russia today and it was caught on video. Pretty amazing stuff. Not to mention how crazy powerful the shock wave was - putting a fair sized gauge in brick wall, shattering windows, flexing window frames, etc. Even without any kind of impact to the planet surface, it caused quit a bit of damage (most injuries due to shards of glass).

There has to be a way to work a meteor into one of my games.

Fantasy Background Generator Hack From Cyberpunk 2020 on Wrathofzombie's Blog
I love random generators. They're mini-games unto themselves (taken to the extreme, you get GDW's Classic Traveller where characters can die during generation). This one from Wrathofzombie is a lot of fun.

The B Team Can Relieve Your Campaign on Roles, Rules & Rolls

Roger the GS talks about having some second string characters to fill in on those days when one or more players are absent, and it's better to wait for their return than to move the campaign forward without them. It also works well when the main game has a lot riding on the PCs and the players or GM want  a game without worry about how much they've invested in the game and character so far.

How Can Impermanent Terrain Be Justified on SoloNexus

The idea is simple - terrain is not necessarily the constant we often take it to be. Artillery, weather and meteors can all reshape it. JF poses the question to his readers for ideas that can be used in a game to justify that change - to create new tactical challenges in play. The focus is on miniature gaming, but such things are not uncommon in the RPG world and the ideas mentioned are probably of use to both.

Mini Campaign II "Rear Guard" on The Wars of Wine and Cheese

This is eye candy pure and simple. The table and soldiers look beautiful. Hoping to get some time out in the garage this weekend to paint my own table top.