UPDATES TO KISMET'S DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS

Recent Updates
Even Older Updates

07/24/08

      I updated my D&D music suggestions, since I forgot a few items and have discovered a few more.  I just got an invite to join a webring for 4th edition D&D sites, so I put up an announcement to let everyone know that I have no plans to update for the new edition.  I have not played 4e yet, though I believe I will get the chance before the year is out.  I haven't really been very interested in what I've seen of it so far and it's currently my intention to stick with our ongoing blend of 3x.  I know that there are things on this site that everyone can use, like the collection of character names.  Other things can provide food for thought.  But I must admit that 4e aficionados won't really find much to whet their appetites here.

10/19/07

      I am still slowly reworking my women in gaming section; don't think I've forgotten it!  In the meantime, I have a new and pressing musical recommendation.  And I want to thank J_Antonio for writing me with some musical and name suggestions!

09/28/07

      After seeing so many threads devoted to gaming music over the years, I've decided to make some recommendations over in the DM's Notes section.  While players also enjoy gaming music, it seems to me that Dungeon Masters are often the ones in charge of it.  I have about 30 suggested albums so far, the lion's share of which I have been using in my games for some time.

09/13/07

      It's my grandmother's 80th birthday today so I figure, why not commemorate in my own geeky way?  I've been working on this update forever and enough is enough - it's time to roll it all out and see how it flies.  I rewrote my examination of Leadership (in the DMs Notes section) for what was probably the third time yesterday.  I have fiddled and fiddled and fiddled with a lot here.  Most of the site is done, though I'm sure there are a few problems lying in wait.  My Women in Gaming section hasn't yet been completed because I am in the process of rewriting it.  I have other plans for this site but they'll be gradually implemented.

09/04/07

      It's been several months now and I am almost done with the remodeling of this site.  I keep getting distracted by things like work, home, and game demands, as well as the desire to rewrite pages.  If I had just cut and pasted the old material entirely, I would have been done some time ago.  But I've been able to rewrite things like my review of the Stronghold Builder's Guide, and add things like my article on the Leadership feat.  The writing isn't necessarily a swift process, either; I try to be more careful about what I say and I how say it than I've been in the past.  I am now almost entirely done and I find that I want to rewrite most if not all of my women in gaming pages, which I know will take more time.  Perhaps I can bring myself to copy and paste for now and rewrite them later.  Perhaps...

04/16/07

      Clandestinely I am retrofitting this site for a new graphics set; no one knows it yet because I'm not going to upload a thing until all of the pages are done.  I got held up in my almost mechanical progress by my desire to do a new review for the Book of Erotic Fantasy, which is now complete.  Alas, I have to attend to some pieces of work that need to be done but once that's over, I'll probably try to convert more pages.  Since I have no idea when this conversion will be over, I thought I'd record the new review here.

02/08/07

      Sometimes unexpected criticism is a good thing. A while back, I stumbled across another site with an interesting thread on the controversy about roleplaying games. The original poster asked for sites about the controversy that had links, footnotes, and a fairly professional methodology. Someone linked to my discussion of the issue here, saying that while my writing was mediocre, I had a lot of links. I was admittedly angry at first since my site is obviously not footnoted or up to collegiate standards, nor is it intended to be. I do enough college-level writing at school; that's not what I've wanted for my sites.

      But when I thought about it further, I realized that they didn't know that; they'd only found my site through a search, and they only had one goal in mind. And it wasn't a bad goal. I hadn't touched the controversy page in ages so I actually sat down and read it, and as usual, recoiled from my previous writing. I wanted to do better and I wanted to look at the issue much more closely, so I began to dig into news archives and other web sites. I also started to rewrite everything. I still had no intention of college-level standards but I did a much more thorough job than before. I also expanded my section of links and added a selection of newspaper references.

      Since I've been incredibly busy with school, work, and gaming, I have only been able to work on this project in bits and pieces. I admit that there were times I just went over articles with abject fascination. Sure, I lived through the 80s, but I was young and not yet a gamer. I didn't miss the moral panic of those times - not by a long shot - but to see the past laid out is a breathtaking thing to someone like me. But, despite all delays, I have uploaded the new controversy section today. It is not yet completed and it does not cover every nuance, but it's not a bad start.

07/17/06

      I have added a link to my new guestbook today, as well as links to my other gaming sites.

02/01/06

      Welcome to the new Kismet's Dungeons and Dragons. I have finished a basic site overhaul - a new graphics set, a new system of navigation, and so forth. (If something does not work right, please let me know so I can fix it.) I have also updated some things as I have gone along. My information about bards has been rewritten in areas. My Dragonblooded feats have been updated, as has my sorcerer template. I have done my best throughout to make my information compatible with the 3.5 edition of D&D while smoothing out the rough edges. I hope you like it.

11/21/05

      I have added a new feat to my Dragonblooded , which you can find in My Additions. I have also done a bit of updating on my explanation of alignments. I have rewritten the explanation of Lawful Good, reconsidered a few of the examples, and added some examples from the television show Firefly. (If you haven't already, go out and buy Firefly on DVD; it is truly an excellent and addictive show.)

10/21/05

      I have restructured and updated my section on the Drow. I have added a page about Drow Sensuality that I have been meaning to finish for some time. Some of it is information that has been moved from the page on Drow society, but most of it is new material. I have also added some new links and renamed my section about women in gaming. I would very much like to restructure and rewrite much of that section, but I'm not sure if I have the energy for it tonight. I am trying to spell check my pages and to do updates on sentence structure when I can. I have slapped many of these pages up without much editing in the writing and I would like to rectify that.

9/14/05

      I've updated a few prices on my guide to slave costs and I've added a section of Planescape links on my links page. I have also officially added my Custom Construct Creation Rules in My Additions, providing a system for folks to create their own constructs (without being bled dry by the astronomical prices given in the Monster Manuals). It might look really complicated at first glance but I've broken it down into steps. If you follow the steps one at a time and just concentrate on one at a time, you should be fine.

8/23/05

      After finding yet another thread on message boards asking about what slaves cost, I have decided to come up with a method. It is in the section on My Additions, and is also available via .pdf.

7/20/05

      I have been given permission to use a lovely piece of Drow artwork I found while putzing around the internet the other night. It is now the frontispiece of my Drow section. Thanks to Stefano Azzalin for the gracious permission, and for all the time he put into his work.

7/16/05

      I have added to my Drow name section (which is found in my section about the Drow). There is now a Drow name generator for you to use along with my page on Drow naming practices.

7/4/05

      I have added to my section on the Drow in which I talk specifically about Drow names. Thus far there is a list of names for Drow males, females, last names, house names, and cities. There is also a page on how to make Drow names more interesting or different. I am pretty pleased overall, and I hope the Drow fans out there will be as well. 

6/29/05

      I have updated the DM Name Resource so that there are about 1,000 more names than last time. I have also updated the Contact page to reflect the best ways to get ahold of me. I have trimmed a page or two from this site that are no longer necessary, and done other minor changes. Soon I hope to add my latest creation here, but as of this moment it is not yet done.

5/5/05

      I have added to my In Character section on Women in Gaming. I decided to write about girlie stuff in gaming; in other words, how you can use clothing, hair and make-up as valuable details in a game.

2/19/05

      My boyfriend Nathan helped me with a big update to my name list. He's entered names before but I don't know if he's ever done so many in one go. In any case, the updated version is available and his name is on it as surely as my own. He's been an amazing help; I'm lucky to have him as a player, not to mention a partner.

2/4/05

      All right, people - I've started message boards up again at a new place I found the other night. So far the boards look and act pretty good. Please try them out, if only so I know they work for other folks and not just me.

      In other news, I updated my guide to gaming slightly, because someone was nice enough to let me know I used the acronym D&D waaaay before I explained what it meant. That doesn't make much sense if you're trying to explain the basics of the game to newbies, now does it? But it's all fixed now and back up for use.

      Also - the dragonblooded templates I put up are free for folks to use if they want to use 'em. Please try them out and see how they work, and if you'll be nice enough, let me know how it goes. You're just not free to say that you created them, or to put them on another web site, or to make money off of them. =)

1/22/05

      Welcome to the new year with Kismet's Dungeons and Dragons! The racial templates that I've been talking about for a while are finally finished and posted. You can find them in My Additions. I have my own versions of the genasi, and a whole mess of templates that fall into the Dragonblooded category. Want to see what comes between a half-dragon and an ordinary human? Have a look.

      I have also added a 13 page introductory guide to gaming to the Roleplaying & D&D Basics section. If you know someone new to gaming or someone who's toying with the idea of playing, this guide might be of some help to them. It's in .pdf format for quick downloading and printing.