Author: aabicus

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D&D Druid: 5 Wildshapes Your Dungeon Master Will Not Allow

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It’s not happening. All of these are completely rules-legal, but you’re still not gonna get to play as them. There’s no way your GM will sign off on them, unless they’re going for a completely nonsensical setting or don’t mind crippling power disparities. Look upon these Wildshapes, ye mighty, and despair: 1. The Haungharassk Starting with this one because I talked about it in a previous article! This giant snail has a golden shell and even shinier stats, able to carry 9 passengers, climb walls, grant temporary hitpoints and remove curses with a single touch. It is hideously overpowered for… [Continue Reading]

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Stardew Valley – The Pursuit of Perfection

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Stardew Valley rocketed back into the gaming zeitgeist in March 2024 by releasing the much-awaited Update 1.6, which famously ballooned from its “minor quality-of-life patch for modders” beginnings when first announced. Like many players, I’d loved the game back in the day and created many fond memories in the valley, but new releases and the neverending search for novelty had pulled my attention to different (if not always greener) pastures. But the promise of fresh content brought me back, first to prepare my farm by whittling down my in-game bucket list, and second to save on Spring 1 of the… [Continue Reading]

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How to Turn Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) into a Single-Player Stealth Game

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STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection just came out on Steam! I’ve mentioned in several places that the original Battlefront II was my very first gaming love, long before I’d ever played Team Fortress 2 or even created a Steam account. I never actually owned it, I played it (and its predecessor) exclusively on my friend’s Xbox, but our neighborhood gang racked up hundreds of hours playing them and they are incredible. Seriously, these two games are 500% worth playing, even if you just go buy the originals, they work perfectly and have tons of cool mods to boot. The gameplay is addicting and… [Continue Reading]

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The Roottrees Are Dead – Free Game Recommendation

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A few months ago I got the exciting opportunity to playtest an in-development game by solo developer Jeremy Johnston. Despite having no idea what I was signing up for, I ended up really liking the final product and heartily recommend it to everyone! The Roottrees Are Dead is free and playable in-browser on itch.io, and currently has 5/5 stars with 189 user reviews! Taking place in the dial-up era of computer history, The Roottrees Are Dead stars a genealogist who’s hired by a mysterious woman to assemble a family tree for the Roottrees, a famous pedigree who made their fortune through an… [Continue Reading]

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Baldur’s Gate 3 – Review & Recommendation

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting rave reviews from everyone, sweeping award shows and being called the Best Game of 2023 by multiple publications. And it’s really not hard to see why. Having played it myself, it honestly deserves all the praise it’s getting and it’s easily one of my personal favorite games of all time. 1. Deep Breadth of Content The first thing I noticed upon jumping into this game was how much it had to offer. With 11 races, 12 classes and 46 subclasses, your player character can wield a vast array of different playstyles, backstories, and appearances, and… [Continue Reading]

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The 3 Things That Appear in Every D&D Campaign

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Now, I know that’s a very bold title to start off with. “Come on, aabicus,” I hear you saying, “There have been literally millions of D&D campaigns throughout history, with unfathomable amounts of premises and settings. How can you say for sure that anything has appeared in ALL of them?” Well, this is how. For the rest of this slow-news-day article, I’m gonna lay my case for why these three things (one weapon, one monster, and one treasure) have never failed to appear in any D&D campaign ever played, from one-shots to dungeon crawls to the most unfathomable genres and storylines you… [Continue Reading]

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3 Free Programs That Will Turn You Into a Video Editor (Updated 2024)

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Three years ago I wrote an article on my recommendations for people hoping to try their hand at video editing without paying anything. After advising a friend on that exact topic, I’ve reviewed my old article and found it largely out of date, and in desperate need of updating. So here are my new suggestions for what you should get while breaking into this exciting and fun field of study: 1. Open Broadcasting Software The one software to survive from the old article, OBS remains the fan-favored way to record game footage or your own screen, if you’re going the… [Continue Reading]

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2013-2023: 10 Years of Daily SPUF

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Phovos’ Nightwave critique yesterday clocked out 10 years of articles on The Daily SPUF! That’s right, on August 18 2013 we published our first article, a rant about Team Fortress 2’s Half-Zatoichi. Over the past decade since, we have published a new article every day without fail (except once), covering a huge swathe of games and topics from all across the Steamosphere and beyond, and we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you who read, commented on, or submitted articles over the past 3,652 days. In order to commemorate the occasion, I wanted to write another… [Continue Reading]

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The 5 Most-Impactful Steam Trades in My Life

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There’s something kinda nice about having all my years of gaming stored on Steam. For people like me who got into the scene late, I can pretty much track my entire life through my Steam history, traipse through old screenshots and reviews to see what I was into during those phases of my life. But at least personally, the tab with the most nostalgia is somewhat hidden away in a dusty corner of the inventory screen. Expanding the dropbar near “Trade Offers” lets you see an itemized list of everything you’ve ever done to alter your inventory across Steam’s many… [Continue Reading]

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The 5 Best Vehicles in Just Cause 2

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There aren’t a lot of reasons to use vehicles in Just Cause 2, and I’m the first to admit it. Slingshotting yourself with the parachute is faster, more maneuverable, and more efficient in 95% of situations. But this article is about the other 5%! There are some niche situations where Rico is better served buying or stealing a vehicle than going it on foot. Today, we’re discussing what those times are, and why! 1. The Chevalier Icebreaker This jingle-playing ice cream truck was released as free DLC, and buyable in-game for $25,000. This is the cheapest price on the black market,… [Continue Reading]

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