2021-01-23
Title: Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch Tradition¶ Publisher: The Other Side Publishing¶ Author: Timothy S. Brannan¶ Year: 2019¶ Pages: 84 pages¶ Overall Rating: 5 of 5 starsText Only Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars¶ Of all the books Mr. Brannan has written on witches, this one is my second favorite. Were I to have it to do over again, I would have made my Coven of Ash witches in The Classical Witch Tradition instead of magic users. The power difference between a witch and a magic user is striking, th…
Categories:
- AD&D
- D&D
- DriveThru RPG
- Game Review
- Other Side Publishing
- Timothy S. Brannan
I recently completed a short BX D&D romp called Lesser Gods of Rone. Well... the campaign is called that, but this was just one adventure. Let's call it The Sleeper.¶ Here in these posts I talk about this whole island campaign concept:¶ First Post¶ Second Post¶ Third Post¶ The game ran for 7 sessions of 2 hours each. The characters were searching for the father of the party's wizard, Vonz. Vonz' dad had allegedly joined the crew of a wizard's ship in search of an ancient treasure. They explored 3 isl…
Categories:
- B/X
- campaign
- D&D
- Lesser Gods of Rone
Having spent the night deep in the bowels of the Garfield Hospital, the party began the day with a rapid repair of essential components of the Armored Ground Vehicle, parked outside in the heavily defended front lot. Samwise contemplated Lexi-B's new personality, having been upgraded with a new and experimental Positronic Brain. Interestingly, he thought, Lexi's personality seemed to resemble
Mummification is an ancient magical ritual, practiced likely since sorcery was first invented. Some argue it is even older than Lichdom, a proto-Lichdom, as it attempts the same thing, to maintain corporeal existence beyond the natural life span. Proponents of this theory state that Lichdom grew out of Mummification, while others say they are competing schools of thought, as Liches usually only end up as Undead because of errors the Lich makes, while a Mummy attempts to become Undead in the firs…
I post most of my pinup art over at Blood Red Pinups. But that one exists so I can be unfiltered and post nudes if I want. I also post pinup art here sometimes as long as it would be fitting to hang in your church.¶ Thus: Red Sonja!¶ Funny thing about this character is I have no real understanding of her history. Since I haven't read every Robert E. Howard story (shameful), I always assumed the character was in some Conan pieces I hadn't encountered yet. But actually she was almost entirely invent…
Categories:
- conan
- pinup
- Red Sonja
- savage sword of conan
These events continue from the TWENTY-FOURTH session. The real world session took place on Saturday 2nd January 2021 on the Atelier Hwei Discord.¶ Players:¶ - Mister Kent https://twitter.com/MrKentKomiks as Beautiful Other-far-from-the-Lake¶ - Oisín https://twitter.com/OisinoftheHill playing as Over-Hollow-Hills-Flies-the-Cuckoo¶ - JFur https://jenniferixon.itch.io/ playing as Fallen-far-from-the-Wind¶ Mercifully-Wasted-from-the-Tribe and Mortally Garnished-of-the-Fallen were NPCed.¶ There are 2 thing…
Categories:
- Actual Play
- campaign diary
- campaigning
- Pariah
- Sandbox
illustration from Gallant and Bold "Eow" for "End Of Week". Links I gathered during the week. This is iteration 4. Thoughts about combat rounds in OD&D Order of actions should not only depend on random die rolls but just as well on tactical decisions made by the players. And A refinement to the ubiquitous initative procedure My design intention for Declared Initiative Procedure is to highlight the chaos, danger, and desperation of combat. I really like the mechanism Jeremy is proposing. I'll try…
2021-01-22
I finally got around to playing my FKR/Mafia mashup game Hush (http://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2020/10/hush-beta-fkr-x-mafia-x-scifi-hijinx.html) and realised how damn fun running games in the Free Kriegspiel style is! So I went bonkers and outlined the Hush rules a little bit more, here is the result.¶ How to Play¶ One player is the Referee, the other players will each control a Player Character (PC).¶ The Referee will describe the imaginary world explored by the PCs, and determine the result…
(Written for Kontext Speil D6: https://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2021/01/kontext-spiel-d6.html )¶ The following tables will define a new PC using three words. The format is Adjective, (profession related) Noun and Profession. Roll a d66 (roll two d6, the first represents the tens digit, and the second represents the ones digit) for each table to get a random Character Class. Alternatively players can pick a word from each list.¶ These lists are just an example (as is the structure), the Refere…
Constant's New Babylon Nord. It is upside down, courtesy the internet.¶ Work for PARIAH VOLUME 2: CITY OF GHOSTS continues apace. There is no way I am going to be able to have this ready for Zine Quest 3 unfortunately, but I have at least settled on a format. The nature of the space is closer to a dungeon crawl than a city crawl, so there will be a somewhat granular approach to the space... by which I suppose I mean a keyed map with defined locations and routes around.¶ However, I'm still thinking…
Categories:
- city
- design
- DISC HORSE
- mechanics
- Pariah
- RPG design
Backwards link to D Part 1 - Daemon to Demodand...¶ Moving swiftly on, to a different part of the Lower Planes; this section is mainly demons.¶ Demon.The preamble to this section is a diverting read, though it naturally reruns some of the information from MM and also follows the general content of all the Daemon/Demon/Devil intros.¶ If a demon likes you (Reaction Roll?) it carries you off and makes you its slave, apparently favoured - so that's okay.¶ Nice list of who's-who in the Abyss, noting who'…
Part 2 of this article is now up here.¶ A campaign idea that starts from the point where we win the Cthulhu Mythos.¶ Mythos fiction is some of my favourite fiction, but you have to admit it's dark. The setting comes with the explicit knowledge that some day, probably sooner rather than later, the stars will be right and the Great Old Ones will rise. The human race will collectively go mad under Cthulhu's psychic influence and turn on each other in ecstatic slaughter. If we survive at all, it'll be…
Categories:
- campaign idea
- Cthulhu Mythos
- setting
Part 2: The bad stuff.Read part one of this article here.¶ IthaquaThe world is freezing. Ithaqua is spreading his influence from the poles, extending great sheets of ice down across North America and up through Australia. The seas are beginning to ice over. Greenland and Siberia are uninhabitable. Scandinavia is gone. Maybe Ithaqua is taking revenge for Cthulhu, maybe he just sees an opportunity to take over now that we're enforcing Cthulhu's sleep.¶ It isn't normal cold. The UN has tried to rever…
Categories:
- campaign idea
- Cthulhu Mythos
- setting
Robert E. Howard was born this 22nd of January in 1906 in Peaster, Texas. As a reader of this blog, you no doubt know him as the creator of Conan the Barbarian and the father of the Sword & Sorcery genre. But Conan was not his only Sword & Sorcery hero. There is also Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Cormac Mac Art, Turlough Dubh, Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, Dark Agnes de Chastillon (Red Sonja), and Solomon Kane just to name a few.¶ In honour of Mister Howard, I am reading the Spears of Clontarf. One of his many his…
Categories:
- Bran Mak Morn
- Conan
- Cormac Fitzgeoffrey
- Cormac Mac Art
- Dalcassian Axe
- Dark Agnes
- Dark Folk
- Howard
- Kull
- Lovecraft
- Pict
- REH
- Robert E. Howard
- Solomon Kane
- Spears of Clontarf
- Turlough Dubh
Above a recent work for Dungeoneer’s Guild – adventurers in the Silver Spire. Although intended for greyscale reproduction, I used limited colors of ink to execute the work.
While I generally try to avoid bringing up politics in this blog (my “day job” is teaching and writing about political philosophy), I found this to be too amusing not to post:¶ More information on this wondrous item can be found in this Polygon article: “Bernie Sanders’ mittens are now an extremely powerful magic item in D&D.”
Categories:
- 5e DnD
- Dungeons and Dragons
- humour
- politics
This entry is about the the influence that a player's experience of entry into the hobby of role-playing games has on subsequent preferences. It ends with questions for you, the reader.¶ ***¶ Each one of us begins playing role-playing games somewhere, somehow, with some rules (or lack of rules), and with some other people. That last factor--our fellow gamers at the start--may be the most formative, because others contribute to our experience with different expectations, preferences, and prior expe…
The Schnai Primer¶ “Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things:¶ what's said and what's done.”¶ ― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf¶ A Return to Glory¶ His Bellicose Majesty, King Ingemar Hartensen of the Schnai, yearns for a return to the glory days of Rhizia. The strongest, and most populace of the Barbarian states, they held sway over their brethren for years, but that has changed in recent years. Their brethren have shown increased autonomy. He is not pleased about that; but t…
Categories:
- AD&D
- Barbarians
- Scarlet Brotherhood
- Sea Barons
- Stonehold
The Cruski Primer¶ “It is always better¶ to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.¶ For every one of us, living in this world¶ means waiting for our end. Let whoever can¶ win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,¶ that will be his best and only bulwark.”¶ ― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf¶ The Chosen People¶ Few things grow upon the eastern shore of the Thillonrian peninsula. Wind and wave thrash it, allowing only the hardiest of things to take root, let along thrive. The Cruskii are one such. They a…
Categories:
- AD&D
- Barbarians
- Scarlet Brotherhood
- Stonehold
On Seuvord Redbeard¶ “I’ve never known fear; as a youth I fought¶ In endless battles. I am old, now,¶ But I will fight again, seek fame still,¶ If the dragon hiding in his tower dares¶ To face me”¶ ― Burton Raffel, Beowulf¶ Seuvord the Red¶ Few civilized realms give much thought to the vast lands beyond the Phostwood, if they give them any thought at all. It is only a frigid wasteland, its inhabitants barbarians and bandits.¶ In that regard, Seuvord the Red succeeds in being both. Or is he?¶ Is he a bandi…
Categories:
- Bandit Kingdoms
- Barbarians
- Iuz
- Nomads
- Rovers
- Scarlet Brotherhood
- Stonefist
- Stonehold
- Tenh
- Vatun
The Fruztii Primer¶ “Let whoever can win glory before death.”¶ ― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf¶ The Wind Howled...¶ The wind howled and swept clean the Thillonrian Peninsula until the Fruztii claimed that its western expanse of tundra and pine, naming it Rhizia. It is a cold land, and unforgiving land, and it nurtured a hard and unforgiving people, and their southern name became the root of the word Frost in all languages. In truth, they are the Rhizian Tiger clan, not that anyone refers to them as such ex…
Categories:
- AD&D
- Barbarians
- Bone March
- Ratik
- Stonehold
Today is part 2 of my two-part character creation. Yesterday I re-introduced you all to Siân ferch Modron and the game Keltia. Today is her soon-to-be husband, if they don't kill each other first, Lars son of Nicholas from the RPG Yggdrasill.¶ The Game: Yggdrasill¶ Like Keltia, Yggdrasill is from the French publisher Le 7ème Cercle (The 7th Circle) and was published in English first by Cubicle 7. Now it is published in English exclusively by Le 7ème Cercle. The games have a lot of similarities in …
Categories:
- #BuildAWitch
- challenge
- character
- Larina
- NewYearNewCharacter
- witch
Here is another quick idea for Curse of Strahd (and here is part III if you haven't read it).¶ The book's "proposed plot"* seems to be: you go around the valley looking for info, items and allies, maybe trying to save Ireena, until you get enough XP to kill Strahd.¶ (*I'll write an entire post on the subject next)¶ In my campaign, the (slightly murderhobos) PCs became paranoid (not entirely unreasonable), managed to save Ireena and find the sun blade, but the rest of the items were in the castle an…
Categories:
- 5e
- Adventures
- Curse of Strahd
- D&D
- Dark Fantasy
- Ravenloft
- review
- Rewriting
- RPG
- settings
Insight has a positive ring to it. We can destroy that.¶ The Wizard of Macke Town is a fantastic blog with a relevant blog post. Bloodborne apparently tracks 'frenzy' and this can, if accrued, cause horrible damage to the player. The wizard adapts this to games with Wisdom scores.¶ One gains Frenzy by encountering horrible things ('reading the grimoire deals 1d6 Frenzy damage and teaches you to speak to vermin'), gaining new knowledge of the world when speaking to some monsters. When your Frenzy s…
Here's the last section of the rules clarifications used in the D&D tournament for Gen Con IX:¶ Edit to add: The more I think about it, the more "the gods are back from their eons-long vacation" would make for a heckuva campaign concept. Kinda like Shadowrun's "the magic comes back and changes everything" vibe. The gods would probably be just as annoyed at the state of the world as Specules the Wizard was when he got back home from his cruise only to find Korgoth of Barbaria and other filthy adve…
SoldierProject advancementI've started the first play test round with friends, even though the system is not totally finished (but I know where I wanna go), because it's motivating for me to have a kind of urgency...¶ As sure as 1+1=2 , they chose careers that I had not developed, so I had no "Past problems table" for them, therefore I let them roll on the existing tables (I present here the 5th - I do not post all of them on the blog), and luckily they rolled some entries that were not too speci…
Categories:
- backgrounds
- EuropolX
- Rules
- System
- Tables
Happy Friday! On this week's Humpday RPG Show, I touched on a great blog post from Prismatic Wasteland. I don't feel like I spent enough time talking about their awesome idea for running mystery games, so here we are. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!¶ You can join the show by calling in at anchor.fm/thoughteater or via the Anchor app!¶ CLICK HERE for listening options or use the player below.¶ If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for as…
Categories:
- DM tips
- Five Minute Fridays
- podcasts
It's nearly ZineQuest time again! (For those who've not come across it before: ZineQuest is a celebration of RPG zines run by Kickstarter in February of each year.)¶ Old-School Essentials ZineQuest Projects There are some fantastic Old-School Essentials supplements and adventures being cooked up for ZineQuest this year. Below is a list of all projects that currently have a pre-launch page / blog post:¶ In the Shadow of Tower Silveraxe: A classic fantasy roleplaying adventure module zine for use wi…
In this episode Hannah and myself are talking about the Cat Lord a deity-like creature that is served loyally by all feline creatures. – Title Music: Fireworks by Alexander Nakarada (Public Domain)https://freepd.com/electronic.php Want to get involved in the conversation? – You can leave us a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/RDDRPGPodcast– Or you can email us at: RDDRPGpodcast@gmail.com You … Continue reading "Cat Lord"
Categories:
- Friend or Foe Friday
- OSR
- Podcast
- Tabletop RPG Ramblings
- Buzzsprout
- dungeons & dragons
The House Rules are coming!¶ Everybody house rules B/X. It's like chicken soup, you season to taste. Here's the house rules I'm thinking of using for my budding vanilla fantasy campaign.¶ GENERALHIT POINTS -- Reroll all HD upon level up. If total is higher, take the new number. Reroll 1's.¶ SECOND WIND -- Characters may spend a turn immediately after combat to regain 1d4 hit points. This represents bandaging, rest, food/water intake, weapon upkeep, etc.¶ CRITICALS -- Max damage is dealt on a natural…
First of a two-parter today! I delve into a game I REALLY wanted to play more of, but is now out of print from it's English publisher. The games are Keltia and Yggdrasill, two games that really capture the feel of the Post-Roman Celtic and Norse worlds. Both use the same base system and both really grab my attention. Today for part one I will focus on Keltia.¶ The Game: Keltia¶ Keltia, or Keltia, the Chronicles of Arthur Pendraeg, is from the French publisher Le 7ème Cercle (The 7th Circle) and wa…
Categories:
- #BuildAWitch
- celtic
- challenge
- character
- NewYearNewCharacter
- witch
As usual thinking about ability scores was keeping me awake at night, and—after yet again unsuccessfully trying to square the circle OF STUPID ABILITY SCORE MODIFIERS—I started thinking about reaction rolls. One may well assign the notion of ability score modifiers to the status of "only for the combat mini-game", but then you miss out on the UNADULTERATED POWER of having an 18 charisma character getting involved in this murky business:¶ None but a nincompoop would deny the beauty of the 2d6 tabl…
Categories:
- design
- mechanics
- Pariah
- RPG design
I participated in a discussion about how the game plays in tabletop roleplaying. The following is probably not constructive for the conversation but it does sum of my view of what make RPGs, RPGs, and why they are so different than boardgames and wargames.¶ While the following is a specific series of steps, the circumstance they can be applied too is nearly infinite. Also it can turn on a dime if the circumstance the referee describes changes. Whether that change follows from what the player did …
Categories:
- Inspiration
- managing sandbox campaigns
2021-01-21
Page 254 Ask what they want to get out of it, give them a choice of how to do this. Make one appealing but expensive. Make one exciting but dangerous. Bullet point #1 is up to you. I’ve got a twin d6 tables for points 2 and 3. Be aware of how hooks and flavor … Continue reading Go Socialising in Electric Bastionland (d6+d6) →
Mighty and knowledgeable was Trismegistus the Incomparable, a wizard and artificer without peer. Granted only unto the wealthiest, the fairest and the most powerful, princes beggared their realms for the right to possess his beautiful creations. But as ever there was a price, for Trismegistus, for all his brilliance, produced ten devices of questionable potency … More Adventures NOT in the Age of Dusk; The Midden Heap of Trismegistus the Incomparable
Somewhere in the Black Mire, servants of Ishtar built a grand tower to “shine a light in the darkness” and …¶ Continue reading →
Categories:
- Fantasy
- Maps
- Dungeon
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Labyrinth Lord
- Old School Essentials
- OSE
- OSR
- RPG
- Ruins
- Tower
This is old news by now. By this point, everyone has made their choice between these two... or something else.¶ I wrote about my first impressions of Pathfinder in 2019, when it was released. It has some interesting stuff. I've never actually played it.¶ I did, however, watch a video about it, and found it very interesting. It illustrates lots of stuff I try to say here with actual examples from PF2. Mainly, about lots of complexity and lack of meaningful choices.¶ This is not a jab against PF2 spe…
Varnk ‘Get that cat out of here!’ roared Stork as he fought back an imp to get to the door. ‘I don’t think it is a normal cat, it is standing up on two legs,’ replied Stork’s adventuring companion, Vistis … Continue reading →
Categories:
- Monsters
- Uncategorized
- Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
- BD&D
- BFRPG
- Iron Falcon
- Labyrinth Lord
- OD&D
- OS Essentials
- OSRIC
- roleplaying
- rpg
- Swords & Sorcery
- Swords & Wizardry
Today's post is a #TBT. Back to my first book. I can't believe it's been over two years and 300 downloads later. Perhaps it's time for an update.¶ I play a fusion of B/X and AD&D. Back in the day, we had no internet, so I had no context as to which books went with which games.¶ I vaguely recall some sort of conversion rules to bring your Basic and Expert Characters to AD&D and vis-à-vis. I liked that idea, but then when going through the process, I said, "Screw it! There aren't enough differences …
Categories:
- AD&D
- Book
- D&D
- NPC
- Zero to Hero
Another minipost collection.¶ Commedia del Arte del DonjoniersThe stock characters of traveling commedia plays. (CosmicOrrery told me to do this.)¶ The Fighter - The typical lead. Oblivious-to-danger and overly showy do-gooder.¶ The Thief - Best friend and confidant of the Fighter. Greedy, lustful, and eternally in debt.¶ The Cleric - A wandering preacher. Holier-than-thou attitude undercut by constant gluttony and lust played for laughs (They never catch the irony).¶ The Wizard - Pompous, inept, ego…
Categories:
- esoteric enterprises
- GLOG
- minipost
The prince was kind enough to take a look at my latest adventure "A Fool's Errand"¶ You can read the review here:¶ https://princeofnothingblogs.wordpress.com/2021/01/20/review-a-fools-errand-osr-skill-curve/¶ You can grab it here it's PWYW: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309263/A-Fools-Errand¶ Here's the premise:¶ A local jester (Gat) is looking for an ancient tome detailing long forgotten dances, it is called the “Grimoire Of Collected Dance” written by Halin Dwarivsh. He hopes to take his sta…
Last post about redoing the Basic dwarf got me thinking about elves too. I've been discontent with Basic's elf for a while. Fighting as a fighter and casting as an MU is cool, and I don't oppose having a class like that, but it has never really felt particularly elven to me. Casting and fighting is necessarily but insufficient, maybe.¶ So an alternate proposal:¶ Drop their max armor to chainmail, but leave their weapon selection alone (in Chainmail, elves got to use all manner of magic swords, and…
I've been a fan of vehicular combat games since I first saw Mad Max way back when.¶ Lockdown sees me with plenty of time on my hands and some creative urges which need to be sated, so I propose a build off.¶ The Rules¶ 1. Visit the Gaslands Refueled Team Builder and build a 50 can team (no Gyros, Helicopters, Tanks or War Rigs)¶ 2. Scratch-build as accurate a model of them as you can taking into account every weapon, crew member and upgrade you can squeeze in. Base vehicles must be Matchbox / Hotwhe…
Categories:
- Gaslands
- Miniatures
- Painting
The Charter of the Dragon City and the Adventurer's Guild:¶ Corwyn Mauntea, the Most Holy Emperor and Emperor of Thyatis, to his Dukes, Counts, Barons, Lords, Patriarchs, Justices, Officers, and all loyal subjects, greetings. Know that I have granted, and by this charter confirm, to my citizens of the Dragon City for themselves and their heirs that they hold the Dragon City of me and my heirs for a farm of 8,000 denarius per annum and military service in times of war.¶ The governance of the Dragon…
This is the contract a PC agrees to before joining the Adventurer's guild:¶ I (Name) swear before the Dragon Council to serve the Guild of Adventurers and no other master for the period of time necessary to achieve the ninth level within the aforementioned guild. While in the service of the Guild of of Adventurers I will show friendship, benevolence and fidelity to all Dragons and make no unprovoked attack against such. In all cases where a dragon may appear hostile I will first attempt to persua…
I'm delighted to announce that Necrotic Gnome's publishing partner Exalted Funeral has arranged a distribution deal with ACD Distribution! What does this mean?¶ For people who want to buy our books: It is now much easier for your friendly local gaming store to order Necrotic Gnome products! Just ask them about it and mention ACD (or show them this blog post).¶ For people who want to stock our books in their store: You can now order all Necrotic Gnome products from ACD. Our products are listed unde…
UVG • Vastlands • Fauna Vech | \vɛk\ 1. A domesticated or feral biomachine large enough to carry people or cargo. 2. Any substantial, autonomous means of transportation. Including large transport golems, neo-elephants, drone cars, and boatfish. Etymology: From VEhicular biomeCHanism via veh-mech. Also: vemek, vech-mech, shuffer (combining shuffle and suffer), drome (a driven mechanism).…Continue readingVechs (vehicular biomechanisms)
Categories:
- Ekleksikon
- Seacat
- Vastlands
- bestiary
- equipment
- UVG
- vehicle
A Blue Mage is a Spellcaster that gains abilities by experiencing monster attacks. This allows them to use attacks exclusive to monsters or enemies. The downside is that they must be subject to the attacks first. This is a Labyrinth Lord Class.¶ Experience¶ Level¶ Energy¶ Hit Dice (1d6)¶ 0¶ 1¶ 1¶ 1¶ 1,500¶ 2¶ 3¶ 2¶ 3,000¶ 3¶ 4¶ 3¶ 5,000¶ 4¶ 6¶ 4¶ 10,000¶ 5¶ 7¶ 5¶ 20,000¶ 6¶ 10¶ 6¶ 40,000¶ 7¶ 12¶ 7¶ 90,000¶ 8¶ 14¶ 8¶ 180,000¶ 9¶ 16¶ 9¶ 280,000¶ 10¶ 17¶ +2 hp only¶ 400,000¶ 11¶ 18¶ +4 hp only¶ 540,000¶ 12¶ 19¶ +6 hp only¶ 660,000¶ 13¶ 20¶ +8 hp only¶ 78…
That's right, keep raising the bar, guys. Anyway, voices, right?¶ In the article linked above, Arnold tosses off a paragraph about how things that normally don't talk to players talk.¶ Well, that's super important. Everything or nearly so should talk in a fantasy game. I'm sure I can't recall the last time I played where someone couldn't speak to animals or plants or rocks or something. In a 4e game I played, someone figured out speak with dead along with the ability to speak with animals/insects …
Date: Late summer 1640¶ Location: The White Wind, en route from Penzance to the island of Sirenswail¶ Cast: Shio the Alice, Gundislavus the Magic-User, Helga of the Ulvenbrigad, Harold the Mule¶ Cosplay by Kanasaiii¶ Previously: Ambushed by a child vampire of the Heart faction native to Shio's "Underland", our party tends to wounds and prepare to search for it, hiding in maggot form in the hold.¶ Presently: The sound of the struggle awoke a drunken sot passed out behind a stack of supplies. He introd…
Categories:
- child murder
- Session Report
Runemaster Class¶ By James Mishler with Jodi Moran-Mishler¶ Compatible with Labyrinth Lord¶ The Runemaster Class includes the following new additions to Labyrinth Lord:¶ Runemaster Class details;¶ Runemaster Rune List, including 34 new runes;¶ Rules for Drowning and Fear effects.¶ Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily used with any Old School RPG system!¶ 32 page booklet-sized PDF (25 pages of content) – Normally $2.99 – $1.49 for a limited time only!¶ Click here to buy the Runemaster Class on Dri…
Categories:
- Advanced Labyrinth Lord
- Dwarves
- Gnomes
- James Mishler Games
- Labyrinth Lord
- Now Available
- Runemaster Class
Runemaster Class¶ By James Mishler with Jodi Moran-Mishler¶ Compatible with Labyrinth Lord¶ The Runemaster Class includes the following new additions to Labyrinth Lord:¶ Runemaster Class details;¶ Runemaster Rune List, including 34 new runes;¶ Rules for Drowning and Fear effects.¶ Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily used with any Old School RPG system!¶ 32 page booklet-sized PDF (25 pages of content) – Normally $2.99 – $1.49 for a limited time only!¶ Click here to buy the Runemaster Class on Dri…
Categories:
- Advanced Labyrinth Lord
- Dwarves
- Gnomes
- Labyrinth Lord
- Now Available
- Runemaster Class
Last night (March 18, 2020), I mentioned to my patrons on Patreon, that I am not dependent upon their backing. I suggested that they consider backing the Patreons of creatives who rely on their Patreons to pay their bills. I then shared that across my social media. I also mentioned that I had gotten too … Continue reading Helping Others During Isolation & Quarantine →¶ The post Helping Others During Isolation & Quarantine appeared first on Follow Me And Die!.
Categories:
- RPGs
- Covid-19
- GaryCon
- Streaming
- Virtual Gary Con
This is hilarious. I went to all the trouble to write this post and I managed to not post it before I went in for surgery back in August, 2020. I intended to record a companion podcast episode, but didn’t manage that either. I’m still doing great and slowly improving. I decided to publish this … Continue reading Hopefully Not My Penultimate Post →¶ The post Hopefully Not My Penultimate Post appeared first on Follow Me And Die!.
2021-01-20
Berlichingen is a backwater world that used to be covered in life before some cataclysm ripped away its air and water. It is lightly populated, mostly with mining communities and fossil hunters.
Categories:
- Gaming
- World Building
- RPG
- Travel Guide
- Traveller
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:¶ Ranza (Changeling 4)¶ Jonesomon (Specialist 5)¶ Gnarl (Wood Gnome 5)¶ Hobbs (Hedgefey 4)¶ Thrax [NPC] (Fighter 3)¶ After an uneventful day of travel from the standing stone, the party arrived on the outskirts of Twitten's Hollow. The town lay in a small valley approachable over stream by means of an absolutely massive white stone bridge. The bridge was wildly out of proportion for the size of the stream (which was actually reasonably easy to ford in several places). Approaching the…
Categories:
- Campaign
- Forest of Wyrd
- LotFP
- Session
A list of different types of armor that can be purchased from the Adventurers Guild, their AC and their price in silver denarius(d).¶ Armour¶ AC¶ Price¶ notes¶ Padded Barding¶ 8¶ 200d¶ Padded Coat¶ 7¶ 100d¶ Scale Coat¶ 6¶ -¶ not found within known world, only in ruins¶ Chain Shirt¶ 6¶ 150d¶ Chain Barding¶ 6¶ 750d¶ Chain Coat¶ 5¶ 200d¶ Lamellar Coat¶ 5¶ 160d¶ only available in Emirate of Ylaruam¶ Coat of Plates¶ 5¶ 175d¶ Chain Suit¶ 4¶ 400d¶ Scaled Chain Coat¶ 4¶ -¶ not found within known world, only in ruins¶ Plate Barding¶ 4¶ 2500¶ On…
Back in March of 2020, I sort of went nuts. I started drawing everything that came to mind, whether I had the skill or not. I had this idea for a drawing from The Last Unicorn. It was to be in full color ink, but in the middle of the project I realized that I didn't have the pens or the skill to make it work.¶ However, I was determined to make it work. I started over with oil paint and hit another dead end. Finally, I took it digital.¶ The first iteration didn't work either. Then I stumbled across…
Happy Friday! I am off to work soon, but I wanted to do a quick post. I often wonder about the status of my blog and what changes over time. Throwback Thursdays are good way to look at what has happened, but these are often posts that I happen to like and reshare.¶ So, I ran some data on posts and broke it down not from start to finish, but picking the most popular posts in a random month during the data collection period, Hardly scientific, but here is what I found:¶ Back in July of 2019, my post…
[Adventure]Fool’s Errand (2020)Shane Ward (3toadstool Publishing)Lvl 3 Disclaimer: Sponsored Content. Humble adventure cobbler Shane Ward tried to get me to take his submission with the tagline ‘Feel like ripping me a new one?’ and at the promise of some of the ole’ rip & tear I could not, in good conscience, refuse. The damage is … More [Review] A Fool’s Errand (OSR); Skill Curve
Categories:
- Reviews
- **
- Adventure
- Caverns
- Lvl 1 - 3
- OSR
In the last session, the party dealt with strange changes to their cleric's magic, acquired a posse of phantoms, and reached the throne room of the Beast himself. Now, their lord Claude's rule is legitimated, the vampire Countess Maltricia's role in the subversion of the lich Aristide's will has been revealed, and her crimes are set to be punished. Will the party try to take justice into their own hands? How will they get back to safety from the heart of the dungeon? And what shall be the conseq…
Categories:
- Campaign
- Castle Xyntillan
- Realplay
- Swords and Wizardry
- WTF
"Pan Sold" artstation.com/geoffroy77 Geoffroy Hassoun and Samia Aci-Sèche are the authors of the RPG Les Oubliés. I had the opportunity to ask Geoffroy a few questions, here are his answers. What was your first roleplaying game experience? I was 7 years old, there was a TTRPG session at the recreation center. I did all I could to be accepted, they kept telling me I was too young. Finally I participated and it was simply magic. I am not sure, it probably was Dungeons and Dragons. Then, I came acr…
This is my week to tackle games I have always wanted to play, or play more of. Today is the day I take on one I have had sitting on my shelf since 2017 or so, The Dark Eye.¶ The Game: The Dark Eye¶ I have known about this game for a while, both The Dark Eye and the original German Das Schwarze Auge. I always wanted to own the original German, having taken German in both high school and college, but not using a language for, well longer than I care to admit, you lose it. Das tut mir leid.¶ The Dark …
Categories:
- #BuildAWitch
- challenge
- character
- NewYearNewCharacter
- witch
***This a formalized post that is to be used as a continuously updated resource for all of my writing on my current setting of fascination, Ánemos. The goal here is to have one page that links to all of the resources I have made and adding a little context to the links.¶ Its also a rewrite of this post that is meant to reorient, refocus and reaffirm my goals with the setting (a la this post by +Jack Shear) and to provide an evocative hook (a la this post by +Jeff Rients ) for fresh players.***¶ Se…
I think it’s not the first time that I’ve mentioned my love for West End Games’ original Star Wars Roleplaying game from 1987. It’s one of the first roleplaying games I’ve played and it’s a game I still read from time to time even though I don’t actually play it at the time. One thing … Continue reading WEG Star Wars: An Almost Perfect Roleplaying Game? →
Categories:
- D6
- Other Systems
- Random musings
- RPG
People actually asked for this (okay, one person ... but Part 1 received generally good and encouraging feedback). That said, I wouldn't want to force it. It's a strange and complex topic, and although I didn't go very deep into it, I think I laid out the basics okay. It's just that it all was left rather abstract (and intentionally so), so there is a lot to explore if opportunity (or inspiration) arises. Which actually happened (as I seem to be almost back to form), so here we go, building heav…
Categories:
- Daoism
- Design
- General Gaming Philosophy
Alright, let's talk games. I've been carrying this post with me for some time now. However, it's a difficult one to tackle (as you would assume, reading the headline), and it took me a while to get to the point where I could sit down and write this. As always, this is very situational, or momentary, as I'll explore where I stand on the topic as I write this, so it is what it is right now ... Here we go:¶ This is how it starts, people. For real. [source]¶ Origin Story (of a post)¶ DISCLAIMER: I will…
Categories:
- D&D History
- Daoism
- DM Tools
- Dungeon World
- General Gaming Philosophy
- Inspiration
- OSR
I'll just pretend 2020 didn't happen, if that's alright with you ... I've done lots of posts over the years about how design emerges from scratch to finish. At least as far as concepts go. I also can DM those designs or even get others to DM them. The next problem, however, is writing them down in a way that someone who just read the rules is able to DM them as I would. It's my attempt to map how innovation is linked to several aspects on why and how we write rules. It was one of the hardest pos…
Categories:
- Dark Thoughts
- Design
- General Gaming Philosophy
- Ø2\\‘3||
And this is the third and final issue of the first series of quests for FEAR the DARK, my new HeroQuest fanzine. As the previous issues, this is free (Pay What You Want on Drivethrurpg... of course if you want to throw me a dollar, your support will be appreciated!).¶ https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/344012/FEAR-the-DARK--HeroQuest-fanzine--issue-3¶ This issue concludes the series of adventures which started in issue number one and continued in number two, bringing to an end the story of the M…
By Tollkraft Dondrobat Productions OSR (5e?) Levels 4-6 In a secluded corner of the countryside, on top of a hill stands Mount Saint-Mikkel. An ancient power awakened there and since then, the region has been subject to raids by the … Continue reading →
Categories:
- Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Review
- Reviews
Aside from the actual PLAYING of games, my favorite things about this wonderful hobby are those two bastions of DIY creativity, zines and blogs. Join me each week on the Thought Eater podcast as I share the blogs, zines, and RPG bric-a-brac that caught my eye.¶ Have you started a new blog recently? Are you working on a zine? Are you a content creator that would like to be considered for an interview on the show? Want to send me review copies of what you're working on? I want to hear from you! Ema…
Categories:
- 5e
- Call of Cthulhu
- DM tips
- Dungeons and Dragons
- henchmen and hirelings
- humpday blog-o-rama
- Maps
- online gaming
- OSR
- podcasts
- Random Encounters
- retro-gaming
- reviews
- Sunday Zine Club
- zines
I recently, finally, started to play 2010's Fallout New Vegas. I bought it on sale, but had never gotten around to it due to thinking it was some kind of mere add on to Fallout 3. Nope. Obsidian studios were told by their overlords to pump something out and they really did a good job.¶ Okay, so the thing that is inspiring me as an elfgamer is the way missions are set up. Basically, it is a sandbox world. You can go anywhere, but some areas are just plain dangerous, so you have to listen to the NP…
Categories:
- Carcosa
- inspirations and ripoffs
If you've been around here long enough you've seen me write about my mental illness--I have General Anxiety Disorder--which means, essentially, my fight or flight goes off a fair bit more than usual and doesn't always need a reason. I've been taking medicine for over 20 years and it makes things a lot better and I'm one of the lucky ones.¶ My gaming group from 1991 to about 2006 was fairly stable and had up to 11 players at any given time. We were all fairly young and there was a lot of drama--al…
2021-01-19
Recently, Trey of From the Sorcerer's Skull proposed a worldbuilding concept that interested me. How would it change the game to replace the species available to the player characters?¶ Trey first proposed imaging a fantasy setting without elves, dwarves, or hobbits, but featuring the species from TSR's Star Frontiers setting - the insect-like Vrusk, amoeba-like Dralasite, and flying-monkey-like Yazirians.¶ Later, he suggested a pulp scifi campaign using the same species, set entirely within the S…
Categories:
- characters i want to play
- grotesque & dungeonesque
- sorcerers skull
- star trek
- worldbuilding
I just listened to the first two episodes of Sean Nittner’s and Judd Karlman’s actual play podcast about their Shoeless Peasant game. It’s the first time I’ve listened to other people play. I did this while making bread, making salad, cleaning up the kitchen, simple manual stuff to do with my hands. I don’t think I’d like to see it on video, but on a podcast, it works well. Hearing two people do nothing but play, practically no banter, very slow and deliberate, very much concerned about the rule…
[Adventure]The Curse of the Wildland (1982)Phil Masters (White Dwarf Magazine #30) Lvl 1 – 2 The White Dwarf Crawl continues. I’ve skipped over issues that have adventures for systems I am completely unfamiliar with (like Travelller) or issues that have adventures that are essentially glorified monster manual entries with a little vignette or set up to … More [Review] White Dwarf 30/32: The Curse of the Wildland/Chaos From Mount Dorren (AD&D); Double or nothing.
Categories:
- Uncategorized
- ***
- AD&D 1e
- Dungeon
- white dwarf
Inspired by this post by Wizard Lizard over at Underworld Adventures.¶ I like Zweihander from an aesthetic standpoint, I really do, but unfortunately I have OSR/FKR brainrot and so I can't run or play a system that complicated. However, what I could do is use the character creation method from that game and tweak it for use with a less complicated system.¶ The stats in Zweihander are Combat, Brawn, Agility, Perception, Intelligence, Willpower, and Fellowship. Normally you roll for these stats by r…
Backward Link to A-B...¶ Oh! This barely took me any time - is it because C isn't very long or are the monsters not very good?¶ Cat.Domestic and Wild. Cats. They're cats.¶ If you don't like cats, use them instead a Giant Rats in your tutorial dungeons.¶ Cat Lord.The Cat Lord feels like a Mary-Sue.¶ Some people complained that Deities & Demigods giving hit points for the divine was just encouraging players to try and kill them. I'm not complaining in the case of the Cat Lord.¶ Catfish, Giant.Big fish. …
Backward Link to C...¶ It's the Big One! Over thirty pages of the book, and taking in multiple entries under Daemon, Demodand, Demon, Deva, Devil, Dinosaur and -of course- Dragon.¶ I'm breaking it down into sections.¶ Daemons.Filling in the Neutral Evil gap between Demons and Devils, and slightly cooler than both because they've got that saexy ae in their name. The usual info on slaying them, saying their name, common special abilities and damage resistance.¶ I feel like the Daemons were a disparate…
I thought I'd have a go at reviewing the Monster Manual 2 monsters, and it's definitely because these folks are doing the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio:¶ http://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2020/12/reviewing-ad-monsters-part-1.html¶ https://savevsworm.blogspot.com/2020/12/goin-through-fiend-folio-part-1.html¶ https://thecosmicorrery.blogspot.com/2020/12/fiend-folio-review-b.html¶ Monster Manual 2 was the first AD&D product I bought, because Fiend Folio wasn't on the shop-shelf on the day and because …
Although I started running Holmes-based games using the Basic Set rulebook, I soon incorporated rules and character classes from the OD&D supplements and The Strategic Review articles. Below, I provide an overview of the range of options.¶ The three original D&D character classes, a fighting man, a magic-user, and (probably) a cleric, battling a horde of pig-faced orcs. From the Basic Set rulebook (1977). Illustration by David C. Sutherland III.¶ Fighting Men:¶ I used percentile Strength and Dexter…
Here is my writeup of the witch class for Holmes, as described in "Another Look at Witches and Witchcraft in D&D" by Ronald Pehr, from The Dragon #20 (November, 1978). (The article includes rules for advancement to 18th level and 1st to 8th level spells).¶ Illustration of a witch, from Dragon #114 (October, 1986)¶ Witches may be considered to bear the same relationship to druids as a magic-user towards a cleric of his own alignment. The witch uses her harmony with nature to increase her knowledge …
So after making new set of houserules for OSE I decided I wanted to make the elf spell list different from the magic user and more nature oriented. I took some druid spells and some of the spells in gaz 5. I also decided to update the gnome(from the advanced fantasy genre rules, this would be the forest gnome in my campaign) spell list on similar principles.¶ Elf Spells¶ Level 1Detect Magic¶ Detect Danger¶ Enchant Missile(as magic missile but on missiles already in hand)¶ Faerie Lights¶ Fellowship¶ Lig…
Modern systems seem to assume a baseline representation - i.e. I rolled twice, so each roll represents a swing of my sword or I can possibly move up to 10' a second, so in six seconds I move 60'.¶ At first blush this seems to make a lot of sense, but if you look at it too closely the abstraction inherent in hit points and saves breaks suspension of disbelief. i.e. Hit points suddenly becomes literal wounds dealt by specific sword blows. There are 3 saves reflex, will, and fortitude, and they lite…
Categories:
- 1st edition
- Hackmaster
- saving throw
artist unknown¶ "Control the things you can control, you maggot. Let everything else take a flying fuck at you, and if you must go down, go down with your guns blazing."¶ - Cort, The Drawing of the Three¶ The Servants of Lady Lead:¶ You are a master of the gun- a marksman who has combined his reverence for the weapon system and his skill with using it with the ancient arts to master an entirely new style, that of the Gun Witch sometimes also called Sorcerer-Gunslinger, Powder-Witch or Ballistic Wiza…
Categories:
- Character Class
- OSR
- WIZARDS
Another GLOG class, yes. I'm cleaning out drafts, alright. I swear, it's the last one. Man, these things are like biscuits.¶ Art by Rachel Suggs¶ Being a wizard is hard work. Especially when you have to be running around with this bunch of ruffians adventurers who think a bath is something you can either eat or kill, maybe both. Luckily you know better. In Wizard City, if there's one public matter that is taken very seriously, it is the sauna. Wizard brains are contstantly being whipped with live …
Take advantage of the very useful NaturalCrit tool without 5e style + Bonus¶ di: Barakiel
Bloody claw marks lead from the smashed door of the charcoaler’s house into the Big Sumac Woods. In the undergrowth …¶ Continue reading →
Categories:
- Fantasy
- Maps
- Dungeon
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Labyrinth Lord
- Old School Essentials
- OSE
- OSR
- RPG
Sfruttare l'utilissimo tool di NaturalCrit senza lo stile 5e + Bonus¶ di: Barakiel
I am actually quite thankful for this challenge right now. I feel my creative batteries are in need of a recharge and this has been a help.¶ The Game: Dragonquest¶ Everyone has that "one game" the game they admire from afar, want to learn it or more about it, and maybe, just maybe get to play it one day. For the early 1980s that game for me was DragonQuest. I can recall looking over the 2nd Edition book sitting prominently out front of Belobrajdic's Bookstore in my hometown. I'd flip through it an…
Categories:
- challenge
- character
- DragonQuest
- NewYearNewCharacter
One thing that has always been left very unclear about Vampire: The Masquerade (maybe in part deliberately) is the question of the scale at which the vampire society of a given domain exists. To some degree, the concept of the World of Darkness is pulling in two opposing directions. On the one hand, the game … Continue reading "The weird Demographics of Vampire populations"
Loffkar’s Life Drain ‘That’s a nasty cut,’ observed Vistis the Blue Mage as he pointed to a bleeding laceration on the leg of his adventuring companion, Stork. The latter looked down and grimaced. The duo had just been ambushed by … Continue reading →
Categories:
- Magic Spells
- Uncategorized
- Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
- BD&D
- BFRPG
- Iron Falcon
- Labyrinth Lord
- OD&D
- OS Essentials
- OSRIC
- roleplaying
- rpg
- Swords & Sorcery
- Swords & Wizardry
Updated Image for the DMs Guild Product Page¶ I meant to post this earlier, but last month the Ruined Tower of Zenopus achieved Platinum Best Seller status (1001+ copies sold) on DMs Guild. The burst of interest from the in-depth video review by captcorajus put it over the top just before holidays. Thanks, cap!¶ The Ruined Tower was released on January 22nd, 2020, which means that this Friday marks its one-year anniversary. I'll make another post then to mark the occasion.¶ Product Link:¶ The Ruined…
(So I've been knocking an idea around for at least three years now. The catalyst for the thought was reading about the RPG setting Midnight, where a very obvious Middle-Earth expy is mostly conquered by the resident Dark Lord and players take the role of people either surviving, fighting the occupation, or ushering in the darkness. The question it raised was "what would it be like if the story began even farther along than this?" What if the forces of evil won entirely? Well, evil likes to turn …
Categories:
- campaign setting
- Desolate Days
- game systems
- goblins
So here's something I've wanted to try for years. I logged the names and addresses of all the ads in White Dwarf issue #68 (September 1985), excluding the small ads (i.e. the classifieds). I only know a tiny thimbleful of British geography, but I really wanted to see where all these game companies, retailers, play-by-mail outfits, and miniatures manufacturers could be found. So I put the data into Google maps:¶ You can play around with it here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1HJ-XTRGY…
Here is a quick table for if you ever get put on the spot having to come up with a Holy Symbol or other assorted religious iconography. It can be fun sometimes to “work backwards” when establishing what a given ideology stands for based on its symbolism. Always arm Acolytes accordingly and give those Clerics something specific to clutch!
Categories:
- clerics
- d100
- equipment
- random tables
- tables
For familial reasons, I sometimes have to watch and pretend to be interested in ballet. Well, I say pretend to be interested; as time goes on, I have in fact become genuinely interested - and not just because I like watching attractive women prancing around in revealing clothes (although that is an added bonus). The level of skill, strength and prowess of professional ballet dancers is truly remarkable, and combined with the music of a genius like a Tchakovsky or a Stravinsky, the effect is ofte…
I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic lately and it has me thinking, predictably, about dwarves. One complaint I have heard about dwarves in Basic is that they're basically just Fighters but strictly better. They get darkvision and better saves and the extra XP to level is not that big. I have a proposal for if I were to roll my own Basic.¶ Dwarves are good fighters but they don't generally do it full-time like human fighters do; they just fight in defense of the vault, or in reclamation efforts o…
After being free for so long, the hurrums of the scrub plains grew tired of governing themselves. They had too much freedom, they complained, and it had spoiled them. They didn't have enough food, because no one wanted to work. They would just lounge around all day and hum about how bored they were. They wanted a government who could organize them and make the lazy among them work. So, they cried out to *Badna to send them a king.¶ Badna knew that the hurrums were foolish creatures, so Badna sent…
Holy Island (1866), By Capt. E.R. James, Col. Cameron, Nilfanion, MagentaGreen I am building this archelaus tool to generate hex maps I use as gamemaster in my session preparation. I've just generated a map of Lindisfarne and its surroundings. This is a continuation of Eminences in Green and Mobile Eminences. The tool generates an SVG map in an HTML file. It prints OK. I am slowly making improvements. This new version has a ruler embedded. It only plays nice on a desktop or laptop computer, not …