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	<title>Ideology of Madness &#187; The Wizard Sleeve</title>
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	<itunes:summary>IdeologyofMadness.com where if we geek about it, we speak about it!

IdeologyofMadness.com is a geek culture website where we focus on comics, role playing games, video games, movies, you name it.  If it excites us, we talk about it.  We host a number of podcasts...

Funnybooks (with Aron and Paulie) is a weekly comic book discussion show.  We chat about the business of comics, new releases, experiences in the hobby and old favorites.  Plus, we chat with some of the biggest names in the industry in our New Comic Book Day Interview Series! 
HOSTS: Aron Head, Paul Aponte, Wayne Cole, Tim Shaw, and Jonathan Landreth

Knights of Reignsborough is a sandbox superhero role playing game series featuring both world building episodes and actual play.
HOSTS: Aron Head, Paul Aponte, Wayne Cole, Tim Shaw, and Jonathan Landreth

Cardboard Crack is a Magic: The Gathering podcast exploring strategy for the collectible card game.
HOSTS: Jonathan Landreth and John Anderson</itunes:summary>
	<itunes:author>Aron Head and Paul Aponte</itunes:author>
	<itunes:explicit>yes</itunes:explicit>
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		<itunes:name>Aron Head and Paul Aponte</itunes:name>
		<itunes:email>ideologyofmadness@gmail.com</itunes:email>
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	<managingEditor>ideologyofmadness@gmail.com (Aron Head and Paul Aponte)</managingEditor>
	<copyright>2011</copyright>
	<itunes:subtitle>If we geek about it, we speak about it!  IdeologyofMadness.com is a geek culture website where we focus on comics, role playing games, video games, movies, you name it.  If it excites us, we talk about it.  Funny Books with Aron and Paulie is our weekl...</itunes:subtitle>
	<itunes:keywords>comics, discussion, batman, superman, blackest night, RPG, CCG, MTG</itunes:keywords>
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		<title>Ideology of Madness &#187; The Wizard Sleeve</title>
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		<item>
		<title>The Wizard Sleeve: Encounting</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/6863</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/6863#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Luke</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DnD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Role Playing Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RPG]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=6863</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have never been fan of systems that dictate building encounters in roleplaying games.  I’m the kind of GM who has always relied on the “eyeball it” method that comes with enough experience with games.  While this gave me great freedom in how I approached things it also meant that I was often adjusting stats and scores during the encounter when things turned out too tough or too easy.  I thought this was the best way to do things because, let’s be honest, any balancing system is going to have trouble accounting for the near infinite possibilities that can happen in an rpg. So imagine my surprise when I discovered how much fun I was having building encounters in 4e using the standard system.  Let me start by saying that it’s no holy grail of encounter design systems, but it is very, very robust and, most importantly, consistently gives good results.  And by good results I mean really fun encounters, of course. I think a lot of the breakthrough here is that monsters aren’t just given a power rating, like Challenge Ratings in 3E, but are given a role along with it.  By looking at creature’s level and role you instantly know what it’s going to be doing on the battlefield and how tough it’s going to be for the players to take down.  This means you don’t have to have a lot of experience with either the system or the creature itself to know what it should be doing....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Wizard Sleeve: Blood Bowl Review</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/6733</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/6733#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Luke</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PC Gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video Games]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=6733</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Francis can suck my big toe.  His video game reviews are&#8230;how to put this nicely?  Adequate, I guess.  Y&#8217;know, if you haven&#8217;t played many video games.  So I thought I&#8217;d show him, here at The Wizard Sleeve, just how things are done this time, since I&#8217;ll be covering a tabletop game turned video game. After many long years, it has finally happened.  Someone took a tabletop miniatures game and translated it directly into a video game.  Sure, there have been numerous games based on tabletop rules, but almost all of them adapt the idea instead of sticking to the rules that brought players in to begin with.  Blood Bowl changes that.  So, if you&#8217;re already a fan of the tabletop version of the game you have no reason to not pick this up right now.  For the rest of you ill-informed heathens, let me bring you up to speed. Blood Bowl, the tabletop game, was originally released by Games Workshop in 1988.  It was a game that took the basics from American football and mixed in the fantasy races from The Old World (Warhammer’s setting).  The goal is to drive the ball up the field and score by entering your opponent’s end zone.  Unlike American football, there isn’t any line of scrimmage or strict rules for who can handle the ball, so anyone can score.  The game is still one of GW’s best and the rules can now be found free online, from their Specialist Games website.  If you’re going....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wizard Sleeve: Try 4E For Free!</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3945</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3945#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:08:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Luke</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[DnD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Role Playing Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[d&d]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[keep on the shadowfell]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=3945</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Good news, folks!  WOTC made a surprise move by offering the Keep on the Shadowfell and the quick-start rules that came with it for free.  That&#8217;s right, free!  Our group just played through the module and we had a grand ole&#8217; time.  That&#8217;s not to say the adventure is something spectacular, but it certainly isn&#8217;t boring. Expect  classic D&#38;D from top to bottom.  They&#8217;ve even gone through and updated numerous encounters based on the year or so of feedback they&#8217;ve received from fans.  Good on them! While the setup isn&#8217;t anything new,  the encounters are fun, including an early one where you face what will be looked upon in coming years as the Hogger of D&#38;D.  The biggest problem we had was that we could tell the design was done before the rules were finalized.  Several encounters were less than challenging and seemed to follow a more 3E philosophy than 4E.  That&#8217;s a really small criticism though, especially for what&#8217;s now a free product. Our group spent around 8 session playing through the module, so if you&#8217;re looking for a short-term game that will give you a feel for the new D&#38;D there&#8217;s no reason not to check it out.  We had enough fun that everyone wanted to continue playing which has led to the homebrew campaign I&#8217;m running now.  The group posted a lot about it while we were playing so if you&#8217;d like to compare your play experience to ours, just head over to the Spooky Outhouse forums. ....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Wizard Sleeve: What Should I Buy? &#8211; Savage Worlds Edition</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3703</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3703#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Luke</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Role Playing Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Savage Worlds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RPG]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=3703</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the hardest things about playing rpgs is breaking into the hobby. Without a knowledgeable hand to guide you, deciphering the myriad of terminology, niches, and reviewer biases can be absolutely mind-boggling.  And don&#8217;t discount this problem to apply to just gaming newbies.  Even the experienced gamer may have to do a whole lot of research on what he needs to get to play or run a certain game.  Finally, the whole thing is complicated by the fact that not every rulebook is, to put it gently, complete. Well, I&#8217;m here to help.  As someone who spent years looking for the Holy Grail of games (and later realizing the truth about that conception) I have a good grasp of far too many game systems I&#8217;ll never play.  So I&#8217;m going to help you sort it out in what will be a regular feature of this column: &#8220;What Should I Buy?&#8221;   Today, we&#8217;re going to cover Savage Worlds. What type of game  Savage Worlds? &#8211; Savage Worlds is a  cinematic game that&#8217;s designed to play very quickly while still maintaining tactical depth.  It&#8217;s a generic system that is easily adapted from everythign from fantasy, to sci-fi, to horror.  Everything from character creation to conflict resolution is designed to be extremely quick.  The system excels at being versatile and handling epic battles in minimal time.  The only caveat is that any genre that you decide to play really needs to be rooted in pulp action.  There&#8217;s nothing stopping you from running....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Wizard Sleeve: Sweet Victory</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3543</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3543#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Luke</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DnD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Role Playing Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RPG]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=3543</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As a gamemaster, you must never discount that player motivation will often trump character motivation.  Sure, everyone likes to brag about games with &#8220;deep roleplaying&#8221; and &#8220;staying in-character&#8221; and most of the time experienced roleplayers have little trouble separating their desires from the character&#8217;s. However, sometimes there&#8217;s a carrot dangling that no player can resist breaking character to grab. In our last game, the carrot was a handful of Gobstoppers.  In the last encounter of the session on Sunday, the party found themselves in front of a crowd of charging villagers who were being run down by marauding orcs.   They were tasked with intercepting  the orcs and holding them off while a ferry slowly crossed the river to pick up the villagers. To represent the villagers, we used Gobstoppers that one player had on hand since they were plentiful and easily identifiable on the board. The orcs started right behind the villagers and quickly began their slaughter.  As the Gobstoppers were pulled from the table, the players immediately ate them.  With this, I set a bad precedent by positively reinforcing the death of the villagers. I think the potential reward of sweets lulled our heroes into laziness, as far more villagers found themselves eaten by players than I had imagined.  It wasn&#8217;t a complete slaughter, but it was close. Plus, I barely got any!  I should have let the PCs eat the ones they saved and taken the ones the orcs killed for myself.  That&#8217;s the only fair way to....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Wizard Sleeve: Over the River and All That Noise, Part 2</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3174</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3174#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:00:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Luke</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DnD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Role Playing Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RPG]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=3174</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last time I told you all about two of the ways to handle overland travel in D&#38;D (and other fantasy games).  Today we&#8217;re going to jump headfirst into even more techniques.   Again, think of these as different knobs and dials you can adjust in order to make overland travel as easy or as complicated as your campaign needs it to be. Skill Challenge: One of the more modern approaches to handling overland travel is to make it a skill check.  Fourth Edition D&#38;D excels at this as it already has the skill challenge mechanic in place.  It all boils down to having the players make various skill checks until they reach their goal. How easy or difficult these are is entirely up to the GM.  Examples of various challenges include, finding the trail, foraging for food, hunting, navigating a treacherous bog, enduring the blazing heat of the desert, and finding water.  There&#8217;s really no limit to what you can do on part of a trip.  If you&#8217;re looking for inspiration watch Survivorman or Man vs. Wild.  You&#8217;ll quickly see the huge variety of problems nature can throw at the party. The key here is to make sure that failure has consequences.  Perhaps failing a check adds days to the journey or gives penalties to certain rolls for the next day.  In 4e, taking away healing surges is always fun to do. One caveat though, don&#8217;t make the success of the trip dependent on the skill rolls.  You don&#8217;t want a....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Wizard Sleeve:  Over the River and All That Noise, Part 1</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3112</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3112#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Luke</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DnD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Role Playing Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RPG]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=3112</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Welcome, weary internet travelers! The kind overlords at Ideology of Madness have given me this new column as a place to spew my incoherent babbling about gaming.  Some would say I already do that enough over at The Podge Cast, but some brain droppings are better consumed in a visual medium such as this than through the audio ambrosia that is podcasting.  In other words, this is where I can talk about that stuff that doesn&#8217;t lend itself to roundtable discussion. As a bit of background, I am currently running a D&#38;D 4e game with my group.  A lot of this column is going to be about exploring the concepts and themes of whatever I&#8217;m running or playing at the time.  As someone who has spent the last few years mainly running and playing intense player-driven, plot-focused, intrigue-laden games, going back to my gaming roots with D&#38;D has been a nice change.  No matter what edition you enjoy, I think we can all agree that there&#8217;s no feeling like slicing off a dragon&#8217;s nuts and then stealing his hoard while the halfling juggles those man-marbles. To start off with, we&#8217;re going to talk about the different approaches to overland travel in D&#38;D.  Overland travel, and all of the dangers that come with it, are something that has at least been mentioned in every game of D&#38;D, if not every fantasy roleplaying game.  I think that somewhere in the great shared gamer subconscious that we remember all the walking and riding....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Breaking News: Luke Meyer announces hiatus from The Podge Cast, joins IoM!</title>
		<link>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3162</link>
		<comments>http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/archives/3162#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:28:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aron</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wizard Sleeve]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideologyofmadness.com/?p=3162</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, that&#8217;s only half true. Luke Meyer, in addition to his weekly duties co-hosting The Podge Cast, will be writing a regular column for Ideology of Madness.  His column, The Wizard Sleeve, will focus on gaming related topics with a heavy emphases on Fourth Edition DnD. We&#8217;re as tickled as we can be to welcome Luke to the site. The first installment of The Wizard Sleeve will be posted later this morning.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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