2023-12-01
As the party exits this layer following a grand flight of stairs they see a large glowing portal before them.¶ This portal will transport the characters to the Tomb of the Vampire Queen.
Categories:
- #Dungeon23
- basic
- Isles of Avalon
- OSE
- Vampire Queen
Babe,I was just listening again to that album, I told you that night, had been the one in heavy rotation. I had noticed a sad, surprised, sorrowful look in your eyes, but considering the noise at the Exit, we didn't have a lot of intimacy to discuss things. It wasn't until an interview (you know the one) in which you explained why that album in particular was ...well, anathema may be
With the exception of a handful of pioneering academics and specialist publications, serious critical consideration of gaming as an art form feels, to me, to be seriously lacking. Sure, it's commonly accepted that gaming is now very much mainstream, but it's pretty clear that what most people are talking about when they say this is Call of Duty and Candy Crush. I'd argue that this is a terrible mistake. High end, complex games are material which should not - cannot - be sequestered generationall…
Most tabletop roleplaying game systems have the concept of rolling dice as a way of determining whether a player character in the game succeeds or fails when attempting a non-trivial task. A die roll doesn't itself have any meaning. A 20 on a 20-sided die is just a number, no better or worse than a 1, or a 6, or a 6 on a 6-sided die. It's up to the game to define what the number of success is, and many game systems leave it up to the Game Master to make that determination. I don't think forcing …
TL;DR: Yochai wrote a book. I’m producing it. It has sick art. The kickstarter goes live tomorrow. Day one backers get a free iron-on patch. Need some convincing? We have a video! Look at some pretty mockups to whet your need for beautiful books. Ok, we can all make a cute cover, but this book […]
SESSION #17¶ August 23, 2023¶ DRAMATIS PERSONAE:¶ Shifty (Halfling 4)¶ Grumli (Dwarf 3)¶ Thunk II (Thief 4)¶ Chonko (Fighter 1)¶ [Polemore (NM)]¶ Carmack (MU1) NPC¶ Encounters: 6 Bubbears¶ 25 Zombies¶ Green Slime¶ Treasure: 800sp¶ 400gp¶ XP: 1080¶ Notable Moments: All those zombies!!!¶ Thunk II and Polemore die to zombies; but the thief's insurance policy pays off!¶ Chonko pledges himself to the church of ????; 10% tithe for free Raise Dead when needed.¶ Shifty and the green slime mace¶ Shifty dies and spends all …
2023-11-30
The Sea Speaker's Tower¶ Episode 10, finally spotting the dead Leviathan and sneaking into a wizard's tower.¶ Played November 14, 2023¶ The Party for Episode 8¶ mtb playing Manqoba¶ CaptainSabatini playing Esgorman¶ igneous playing Fiske¶ The original Crab Wranglers reunited after many weeks apart and quickly decided to leverage their fame to put together a warband to deal with some larger issues they'd yet avoided. In addition to hiring the usual Hemmingway the porter and Albert de Manc the hedge knig…
Categories:
- Beneath the Missing Sea
- hexcrawl
- osr
- session report
The greatest of traditions have a timeless quality that allows us to imagine ourselves inhabiting an unbroken chain of custom that goes back into the mists of the ancient past. And so it is with Monsters & Manuals 'Best Books of...' lists, which each year are keenly awaited by small, ruddy-cheeked children up and down the land, so that they can refer to it when deciding what to put on their Christmas lists to St Nick.¶ This year, the recommendations will be as follows. I limiting myself here to f…
Far from the Eternal City, deep in the forests of a hostile frontier, unravel the mystery of a village overcome by nightmares its people are forced to reenact on the waking world.
Categories:
- Tabletop & RPGs
- 2d20
- Cohors Cthulhu
- free to download
- lovecraft
- Modiphius Entertainment
Thanks so much to Daily Hero Forge Minis for sending me these awesome S1 character figurine mockups. I'm sure many of you will recognize them right away. They are, of course, Gyrios, Kagan, Aradine, Umura, and Molgi.
As they unravel the tales of Bluebeard's past brides, the Sisters confront the chilling horrors concealed behind locked doors.
Categories:
- Tabletop & RPGs
- bluebeard's bride
- bundle of holding
- bundles
- horror
- magpie games
There's a single PC in the Ker Nethalas: Into the Midnight Throne. The system uses a D100, and checks must roll equal to or lower than the character's skills.
Categories:
- Tabletop & RPGs
- blackoath entertainment
- Ker Nethalas: Into the Midnight Throne
- kickstarters
One of the defining aspects of this campaign is my choice to run this on the real, actual Isle of Wight. I had thought about filing off the serial numbers, but the more time I spent poring over Google Maps, the more tempted I was to use the real place.¶ Approaching the Needles Tourist Attraction¶ The sheer amount of information here is truly overwhelming, but also like catnip to my brain. For one thing, players can get a good map of the whole place that really kicks player planning up a notch.¶ Ord…
The Black Parade¶ “In THE BLACK PARADE you play the character of Hume, a hardened¶ criminal who was sent into exile as a punishment for his crimes.¶ The year is 833. You are now back in The City, a sprawling metro-¶ polis of soot-caked brick, greasy fumes and noisy machinery, with¶ many a sinister conspiracy whispered behind closed doors. Lost and¶ without a penny to your name, you are back to your life of thievery¶ and must find your old associate Dahlquist. Shadows and silence are¶ your allies. Light …
My fireball problem (in B/X) is the fact that, in wilderness adventuring, the magic-user (MU) can destroy most encounters with a single fireball.¶ Facing another MU is deadly: he can cause a TPK with a single fireball.¶ The fighter will probably survive, but so wounded that the magic-user now has a decent chance of finishing him with a dagger (if the fighter can close in right after the fireball; otherwise, a magic missile could finish the job).¶ MUs are also very susceptible to fireballs, so if tw…
Categories:
- actual play
- AD&D
- Basic D&D
- D&D
- hit points
- House rules
- Magic
- Old school
- OSR
- and more…
You're a regular 1d figure. How many tries does it take to defeat another figure like you? Maybe 1 if you can land a hit, or 2 if you account for your chance to do that.¶ Nope, 3.0 tries, on the dot. Then it takes 2.6 tries if you have 1d–1 hit die, and 2.3 tries if you have ½d hit die.¶ That's pretty bad. And that's just for a 50% chance to hit. Upping this by 20% gives 2.2, 1.9, and 1.7. Not helping.¶ Think about it this way, too: to find the chance of one-shotting a figure, multiply the attacker…
Best if read while the following is playing at full volume: The Sigil 6 entered Ravenloft through a back-alley portal in Sigil guarded by Holy Arcane Knights or Ioun (maybe you remember them as the holy wizard-knights who ride Tenser’s Discs rather than steeds). I cut down on the Travel time in Tomb of Annihilation […]
Categories:
- D&D
- Planescape
- Ravenloft
- Tomb of Annihilation
- Curse of Strahd
- D & D
- Demi-Plane of Dread
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Sigil
- and more…
Glass Future by Howling Giant is one of my favorite new albums of 2023. I was also fortunate to see them live at a local venue.
Categories:
- music
- recommended
- sword-and-sorcery
- hard rock
- heavy metal
- music review
- psychedelic rock
I'm 98% finished with packing, and the handyman driver is due in about an hour and a half. Move-in prep has been made on the Landlord's side. It's just a 25 minute ride further away from work than my sister's place. But, its so close to the subway. :|Supervisor informed me that she plans a uniform inspection (me, only, 'cause I'm the one who relieves her shift), and to
For my personal foray into the Forgotten Realms, I will name this series exactly that: Into the Forgotten Realms. This is also appropriate because my very first recollection of the Forgotten Realms was not the "Grey Box" but rather an adventure in the pages of Dragon Magazine.¶ When Ed Greenwood was exploring the Realms in the pages of Dragon, he had a guide, the Sage of Shadowdale Elminster. Elminster told him stories of the Realms and was the intermediary between his world and ours.¶ But Elminst…
Categories:
- BG3
- character
- characters
- Forgotten Realms
- HeroForge
- miniatures
Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module design. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited critiques. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath. Knowing Revenge of the […]
Categories:
- Bathtub Reviews
- greek myth
- system agnostic
The exit to this maze is in sight. The only thing stopping you is the titanic red dragon.¶ Unlike the black dragon from earlier in this maze, the red dragon (Raxafalion) has made his home here. He has amassed a pile of gold from the Dwarven tombs above and whatever Akelarre has not claimed.¶ If Sir Fluffles is still with the party he will attack.¶ This dragon has maximum hp (80 hp) and twice the normal treasure (Hx2).
Categories:
- #Dungeon23
- basic
- Isles of Avalon
- OSE
- Vampire Queen
In So You Want To Be a Game Master, I present a complete structure for prepping and running dungeon adventures. It’s a complete framework for running your first dungeon adventure, while providing a foundation you can build on as you start experimenting with advanced and dynamic dungeons, too. If you’ve never run a dungeon before, […]
Categories:
- Roleplaying Games
- so you want to be a game master
Once again, The Merry Mushmen have cobbled together a bric-à-brac of game design insight, random tables, rules suggestions, monsters, classes, maps, adventures… the lot.
Categories:
- Tabletop & RPGs
- kickstarters
- knock!
- Old School Renaissance
- the merry mushmen
Beyond The Pale¶ I’m very excited to announce that tomorrow, Friday Dec 1st, the Kickstarter for Beyond the Pale is finally launching!¶ WATCH THE TRAILER¶ WATCH ME TALK ABOUT IT¶ FOLLOW THE KICKSTARTER PAGE TO GET NOTIFIED¶ What is it?¶ Beyond The Pale is an old school adventure module inspired by Jewish history, folk tales, and mysticism. One of the goals of this setting is to highlight the unique folklore and belief cultivated by the Jewish people and present them in an Old School RPG setting. The a…
2023-11-29
With the deadline a mere day away and my inbox steadily filling up, I figured it would be worthwhile to go over my method of judging adventures for high level oldschool D&D and re-iterate some of the peculiarities of writing for this bandwidth. I believe I have done so before. Part of this exercise should … More [NAP] Rating High Level Adventures
Categories:
- No Artpunk
- NO ARTPUNK CONTEST
So I read a few articles the last few weeks about a new Dungeons and Dragons TV channel created by Hasbro which was supposed to launch soon. I didn’t look too deep into it. The modern version of Dungeons and Dragons is not really my jam. And there’s the whole mess that Wizards of the […]
Categories:
- dungeons and dragons
- Roleplaying
- dnd
- Television
Behold my woes:¶ LBB or FMC: Lots of dice-rolling.¶ AD&D: Stupid and bad; multi-attack hell.¶ B/X or OSE: Plain boring. Boooooo.¶ DCC: No multi-attacks.¶ D&D4: Too many choices.¶ D&D5: The worst of AD&D, DCC, and D&D4.¶ FMC Skirmishes: Hard to explain; relies on an alternate system; constant factor overwhelms random factor.¶ FMC Basic: Having a damage floor is kinda awkward.¶ What to do? Earlier I said that I like fighters adding their level to attack and damage rolls, in combination with some way for th…
BRAZEN BACKGROUNDS: Character Backgrounds for Bronze Age Settings is now even better, thanks to a new update!¶ What's BRAZEN BACKGROUNDS, you ask? It's a colorful character-background generator written specifically for gaming in Bronze Age fantasy settings - and written by a professional scholar, with a doctorate in ancient history and archaeology.¶ BRAZEN BACKGROUNDS is available here on DTRPG.com (affiliate link) for $4.75 USD.¶ For the first time since its 2019 release, I've just uploaded an upd…
Time to revisit the primordial ooze of the Old-School Renaissance, the original D&D booklets.¶ While my usual long-term OSR campaigns use the GLOG, for playtests and one-shots I sometimes use a highly mutated version of AD&D. If they were dog breeds, the version of AD&D I use would be a neurotic greyhound with hip dysplasia, the GLOG is an Argentine tegu in a dog costume, and OD&D is a barely domesticated coyote/dog hybrid.¶ I will not explain further.¶ No One Ever Said It Would Be This Hard¶ Imagin…
Piece(c) 2023 Kyrinn S. EisIn my sister's household, Pumpkin is reserved for the Old Gods, and so it wasn't on the seasonal menu. I love pumpkin pie, with a nice dollop of cream. I could really go in for a piece right now. It would make the Season seem legit. 🧡🎃
I am now at my last set of gods (or whatever the Fates are), which brings me full circle. Today, I want to talk about the Fates.¶ When I began this project I talked about this book of mythology I had that had stories of the Greek myths, the Norse myths, and ending in Beowulf. In my young mind, these looked like a continuum, one set of tales flowed into the next. While age would teach me that these were separate myths, later age would also teach me they are still just one set of myths from an even…
Categories:
- 1st ed
- Advanced
- D&DGII
- gods
- Monstrous Mondays
Vegetal Toxicity Darsh the druid felt a firm grip on his upper arm as he wandered through the town market. Turning quickly he recognized an old rival from the druidic circles he used to roam about in. ‘Ah, Darsh, so … Continue reading →
Categories:
- Magic Spells
- Uncategorized
- Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
- BD&D
- BFRPG
- Blueholme
- Dragonslayer Rpg
- Hyperborea
- Iron Falcon
- and more…
Area C: Medical and Biolab¶ This map is released under terms of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.¶ Room 15: Medical¶ There are multiple areas with reclining beds and machines, closed off by curtains. A few have ancient skeletons on them.¶ If power is turned on, the machines connected to the beds come to life with lights and illusory displays. If a character lays on a bed, illusory images appear all over their body, indicating any ailments such as wounds, poisons, or disease. The bed then provides first aid …
The Kickstarter for Knock! issue four is now live, and I got some stuff in it! 212 pages of gaming articles, tables, and whatnots.¶ I've only heard good stuff about the previous issues, so here's hoping I won't ruin anything!¶ If you pledge on the "Ecstatic Mushperson" level, you too will be able to stack your copies like above!
With the second edition of the classic Labyrinth Lord B/X retro-clone now in production, I had the incredible pleasure of …¶ Continue reading →
Categories:
- Fantasy
- Maps
- Advanced Labyrinth Lord
- Hex
- Hex Crawl
- Hex Map
- Hexmap
- Labyrinth Lord
- OSR
- and more…
Reprieve from Castle Amber shenanigans. Click here for the other sessions. Expedition 52 23 Nov 2023 Leaving their mercenaries behind in Ximes to enjoy the week’s worth of accommodation paid for, the party left the city and ventured into the wild woods. Following the road, they came across a figure sat leaning against a tree, … Continue reading The Keep on Yeoldelands – Session 81
Categories:
- RPG
- B4 Lost City
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Fantasy
- Into the Wyrd and Wild
- Old School Essentials
- Session Report
- X2 Castle Amber
- Yeoldelands
You will look at my Spotify Wrapped.
This week, I've been fiddling around with Frank Mentzer's War Machine rules from the BECMI Companion Set. I've always liked these rules. They can handle huge wars or small skirmishes with just a few calculations, a pair of die rolls, and some table look-ups. The only problem is that those calculations can be a bit clunky at times.¶ For those that don't know, the War Machine has you first calculate a Basic Force Rating (BFR), depending on the leader's level and mental ability scores, the level/HD …
Categories:
- BECMI
- Chainmail
- domain game
- family gaming
- RPGs
- Wargaming
A quick update to say that the pre-launch page for The Shrike, my upcoming Hell-themed megadungeon point-crawl setting for Old School Essentials, is now live and you can sign up for an email alert once the funding period begins. This is my biggest TTRPG project ever, almost 70k words in manuscript, and I’m really excited… Continue reading The Shrike: Pre-Campaign Page Now Live →
By Thomas Scott Ingle Self Published LotFP The men of Dunnswain are distraught; all their wives are missing! They point apprehensively to a lone house on a hill, a couple miles from town. To paraphrase, “Our wives went there in … Continue reading →
Categories:
- Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Review
- My Life is a Living Fucking Hell
- Reviews
- The Worst EVAR?
In which I share my favorite bits of advice from various sub-reddits.
Categories:
- DM's Academy Advice
- D&D
- Dungeons and Dragons
- DM advice
- Dungeon Master Advice
- GM Advice
Back in Ireland this past weekend I met up with my old Katharsis table and we got to talking about the coming edition - in particular what would need to be in those books to get us to lay down our cash. Running theory is that the PHB will shift huge numbers, because players love options. The Monster Manual will not because there are so many online equivalents and a significantly smaller pool of interested buyers. We were not sure about the DMG; and wondered what we would want to see ourselves - …
When they get out onto the street, Heppa says, “What happened? It seems like you got Damal in trouble.” “I think Damal got himself in trouble,” Tric counters. “We just revealed his… I don’t know. Decade of deception?” “But… what happened? We were just talking about paper, and then there was the clatter.” “I just ... Read more¶ The post Echoes of Invasion: Whirlwind Tour of Weldyn | Scene 7 appeared first on Dicey Stories.
Categories:
- Battle for Wesnoth
- Echoes of Invasion
- Serialization
Tric remains at the counter, disinterested in papermaking and somewhat stunned by the welcome from Lonfar, which is far warmer than what he got from his own mother. Enthusiasm about family is not something Tric has had much experience with. Nasir is really level, and Heppa’s family tend to be similarly level or else scowling. ... Read more¶ The post Echoes of Invasion: Whirlwind Tour of Weldyn | Scene 6 appeared first on Dicey Stories.
Categories:
- Battle for Wesnoth
- Echoes of Invasion
- Serialization
When their dishes of Aethenwood salad have been cleared away, Tric asks, “So, you wanted to look for Alric’s parents?” “Yes, of cou—I mean, I’m assuming you do, right?” Heppa asks back, maintaining the fiction for herself that they are doing this for the sake of learning more about Tric’s kin. “But I don’t know ... Read more¶ The post Echoes of Invasion: Whirlwind Tour of Weldyn | Scene 5 appeared first on Dicey Stories.
Categories:
- Battle for Wesnoth
- Echoes of Invasion
- Serialization
Tric and Heppa meet Alric’s parents, a papermaker and a falconeer.¶ The post DS238 | Wesnoth | Echoes of Invasion: Whirlwind Tour of Weldyn | Part 2 of 5 appeared first on Dicey Stories.
Categories:
- Battle for Wesnoth
- Echoes of Invasion
- Actual Play
- Genesys
Our D&D campaign has been on hiatus for two months now but when we last left off, we were 64 sessions deep into Arden Vul (and 254 #boatmode sessions into the Crowded Sea era) after I-lost-count-but-probably-close-to-two-hundred sessions elsewhere in the same world. My take on Arden Vul is that “the content” itself (the locations, the factions, the items, the creatures) isn’t that good, and there’s some difficult themes (like slave labor). The design is what’s good, great even. Running it has be…
Go to Part 1 You can’t play an RPG without players. Plus, we all love RPGs and want to share with other people how awesome they are, so it’s always tempting to invite just one player to your game. But every player you add to your table comes with an inevitable and unavoidable entropic cost. […]
Categories:
- Roleplaying Games
- gm don't list
2023-11-28
Welcome to Ork City!¶ It is inspired by Gamma World, Numenera, Thundarr the Barbarian, Planet of the Apes, Roadside Picnic, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, and Mad Max and focuses on excursions to what used to be the ruins of New York City. I see it as a Point Crawl mixed with running Dungeons that drawls in those seeking fortune and treasure in this harsh and unrelenting world.¶ Most of what is known about the Moorlocks come from the Vagabonds who have survived its dangers and the Versifiers who …
Categories:
- Dungeon
- Ork City
- OSR
- Point Crawl
- Shadowdark
![CDATA[ Adventurers |Character|Class|Description| |---|---|---| |Rangar the Bull|Fighter level 1|Titanic, dark-skinned figure wearing bull-headed helmet and a harness with countless weapons strapped to it.| |Ervain|Cleric level 1|A cleric.| |Nolmbork|Dwarf level 1|Portly, bald, red bearded, with an epic nose. On a mission to have a drink in every settlement in Wilderlands.| |Ryan|Magic-User level 1|A magic-user.| |Celeborn of Revelshire|Elf level 1|Hails from a distant community led by an Ent. …
Issue #12 of Polyhedron (June 1983) features a very striking cover by Larry Elmore that depicts a pegasus-riding warrior about to engage a red dragon in aerial combat. Like all of the newszine's recent covers, this one draws inspiration from the issue's installment of "Encounters" about which I'll write shortly.¶ The issue proper kicks off with an editorial by Kim Eastland – now the publisher of Polyhedron – in which he discusses several matters. The first of these is that Polyhedron has joined T…
Categories:
- ADnD
- boot hill
- dawn patrol
- DnD
- elmore
- gamma world
- gangbusters
- gygax
- maps
- and more…
There's three dishes that really stand out.¶ Blood Soup.¶ Rich, red and warming. Packed with paprika. Normally made without blood, but a concentrated base of pork (or less commonly, beef) stock.¶ Recommended to build you back up when you're a bit pale and drained from sleeping badly the last few nights. Traditionally a remedy for anaemia - hence the name.¶ Variations include floating chunks of pickled beetroot, much much more garlic, or absolutely no garlic at all. Sometimes served in a hollowed-out…
Categories:
- system agnostic
- worldbuilding
To be honest, I never paid much attention to the BECMI reaction table.¶ I'm usually more interested in B/X and I thought that the BECMI table was just a needlessly convoluted version of the B/X table I liked, requiring multiple rolls to achieve the same result.¶ I was completely wrong, of course.¶ The part I overlooked is the asterisk. It explains in a succinct manner a number of questions I had with B/X reactions:¶ - When do you use Charisma for reaction rolls?¶ - What happens in an "uncertain" resu…
Categories:
- 5e
- AD&D
- Basic D&D
- Brainstorming
- D&D
- Dice
- OSR
- Random table
- rant
- and more…
I recently had the opportunity on a long drive to listen to Seamus Heaney reading his own translation of Beowulf from start to finish. It was a real treat, and I highly recommend it. I had read Beowulf before in other translations, but long ago, and the words are of course meant to be spoken rather than read; it is a much more powerful experience that way, especially (and strangely) when delivered in Heaney's decidedly un-Germanic Irish brogue.¶ I was very struck by the poem's syncretism (more on…
Defending the Children(c) 2023 Kyrinn S. Eis All Rights ReservedI went off into video-game emulation levels of artwork, and found another lovely style along the way as a side-effect of some choices, but I'm back to this style (for now), as I find it is the sweet-spot, the nexus of the influences I most enjoy in colour paintings. Tweaks to characters and cultures will be seen, but, for
I'm thinking that I want to start collecting DVDs of movies and shows that I like. On one hand, it's because streaming is annoying and increasingly expensive. On the other hand, I want to fill my media console with stuff because my kitty baby Rainbow has proved a danger to all the little trinkets I used to have in there.¶ So, I made a check-off list of movies or shows that I like to (or would like to) rewatch and maybe would want to display.¶ Agatha Christie's Poirot¶ Arrival¶ Barbie¶ Bottoms¶ Breakfa…
Ability scores have become vestigial in modern corporate D&D and Pathfinder, but there is a different D&D lineage where they are evolving into an elegant mechanic.
As the pic says, I’ll be doing a signing at Tower Games in Minneapolis, MN on Thursday, December 7th @ 4pm to 7pm. Tower Games 3920 Nicollet Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55409 They will have copies of the book available for sale, but you’re of course welcome to bring your own. And, of course, I’ll be […]
Day 5, Week 1, Fifthover, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending¶ The group got up and began their morning rituals. Samsun and Kraah preached sermons about how great their respective elements were. Dimitria implored the land to give her spells and Cheet memorized her spells. Raco practiced standing, with mixed success, and Yusef slept in.¶ Afterward, they passed out food and water rations. No one knew how to cook, so they ate dried meat and raw tubers. After eating, the group got up …
I had some more thoughts on downtime I wanted to share. But first, speaking of downtime, it was just announced that my supplement, Downtime in Zyan, is one of the winners of The Awards 2023! You can check out the full list of winners here. It’s an honor I share with my team. Downtime in Zyan is what it is thanks both to the meticulous layout of Lester B. Portley, and especially to Evlyn Moreau’s superb mole rat illustrations, without which the supplement would be a hollow shell. But back to the …
Categories:
- Basecamp
- Downtime
- Downtime Activities
- Home away from Home
- Homebase
At the time of this writing, I'm preparing to run Tomb of Annihilation for the first time. It's been out for a good 5 years, and I've played scenarios from it, but I've yet to run it. As I read through the book to prepare for the game, I've decided to post about my impressions. This review contains lots of spoilers.¶ I love a good city as a setting, and Port Nyanzaru feels like it could be a fun place to explore. It doesn't feel as easy to digest as Red Larch from Princes of the Apocalypse but th…
Categories:
- gaming
- dungeon
- modules
- 5e
- dnd
Artwork by Storn Cook¶ Hamilton Fox, a con man and drug dealer, had dreamed of becoming an Olympic runner for as long as he could remember. Sadly, he was willing to do anything to be the best and was caught using performance enhancing drugs and banned from competing any further.¶ Blaming everyone but himself he fell in with the wrong crowd and began dealing drugs before being caught and doing time in the Holloway Detention Center on the outskirts of Opal City. It was there that he met Joseph Klein…
Categories:
- DC Comics
- DC Comics Presents
- Earth72
- Miscreant Monday
- Savage Worlds
- Super Heroes RPGs
2023-11-27
Although the players from the main group were all busy with Thanksgiving festivities, I had visitors from out of town who wanted to play, so we had a game on Saturday.¶ Cast of Characters:¶ Thorgrim (Dwarf Cleric 4)¶ Rebecca (Elf Fighter 4)¶ Baron (war dog, who Thorgrim can speak with due to a Knack)¶ These two had done some exploration in the Perlammo Salt Mines (at Thanksgiving last year), but having heard rumors that another group of adventurers had pretty thoroughly cleaned that area out decided …
Categories:
- AD&D
- Adventures
- Brink of Calamity
- D&D
- session recap
Habitual disclaimer: I do not own any of this, I have neither asked nor received official permission and this translation and critique is done for educational and entertainment purposes only. Occasionally some liberties have been taken with the translation to improve legibility and trim some of the fat but in all cases effort has been expended … More [Ludoarcheology] Casus Belli #009; Le Jeux de l’Arene
Categories:
- Translations
- Adventure
- Casus Belli
- Lvl 1 - 3
For the past few months, I've been interested in a very interesting book, a handbook for traveling the American west written by US Army captain Randolph B. Marcy, published with the authority of the US War Department in 1859. In the first place, it's a useful first-hand account of the country in that time, and Marcy's perspective on the character of the land, rustic life, and the inhabitants of that increasingly imperiled region serve as an interesting historical note. As a guidebook for overlan…
Categories:
- Great and Terrible
- player advice
They are frightened of you, the little dry ones. They fear your long face and your long limbs. They mistake your little lights for cruel will-o-wisps. They mistake your attempts to deliver food and medicine for attacks, and drive you off with torches and peat knives. You would have spurned the dry ones long ago, were it not for the fact that you seem to know them. You remember them from a time long, long ago, before you were born from the mud, and they were even littler.¶ If they would just stop …
Categories:
- bodies of water
- character creation
- classes
- mechanics
- TROIKA!
Cover of the original printing¶ As mentioned recently by author Jon Peterson on X, a second edition of his seminal history of D&D, Playing at the World, is coming out next year, via MIT Press.¶ An Amazon pre-order page exists with a date of August 6th, 2024, with both print and digitial options. No cover image is yet available:¶ Playing at the World Pre-Order Page¶ Long out of print, second hand copies of the original printing from 2012 regularly fetch over $200.¶ Rather than just a straight reprint,…
Over the weekend, I was cleaning the bookshelf nearest to my computer desk and saw the boxed sets of the first and second editions of Gamma World sitting side by side. Visually, they couldn't be more different from one another. Here's the logo of the first edition:¶ I'm no expert on typography, so I can't tell which font is being used here. I can only say that, whatever it is, the font makes a certain point: Gamma World takes place in a "shattered" setting, one that has suffered some sort of cata…
Belt of Gems and Jools ‘I’ll not wear the thing,’ grumbled Wrilk the dwarf. ‘Why not? I can’t wear it, I am the one they will suspect of treachery, not you,’ replied Bakra-do. ‘It is a gnomish thing. I will … Continue reading →
Categories:
- Magic Items
- Uncategorized
- Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
- BD&D
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The Scavengers’ Deep is a reminder of the amount of work that went into underground structures during the great war. …¶ Continue reading →
Categories:
- Fantasy
- Maps
- Cave
- Caverns
- Caves
- Dungeon
- Dungeons & Dragons
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Il Ritorno in grande stile del carnevale più bello di sempre¶ di: Barakiel
Session was played on 1/22/23¶ Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)¶ Borumar, ½ Orc Fighter (Josh)¶ Blotto, Goblin (Lanse)¶ Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)¶ Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)¶ Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)¶ Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)¶ Lt. Marthek, Fighter (NPC)¶ Wanting to avoid any more encounters with the bug people, the party heads down in the direction of where the Orcus priest was going/coming from. At the end of the passage was a door, and silence beyond. Borumar checks it and says it’s clear, and unlocks it. Beyond is a disus…
Categories:
- actual play
- flailsnails
- Rappan Athuk
By Gus L. Kill Jester Errant/OSR Level 1 The Goose King squats in his great longhouse among verdant fields won by his ancestors. He feasts nightly on the most succulent turf, rich foreign wines, and the finest lettuces. In the … Continue reading →
I actually have not had much time this week for blogging, even reading my feeds was an issue. Which is sad because there was a rather juicy amount of stuff to be found in them. Here are the most interesting: Random Tables 100 Fairy Peon Quests (Whose Measure God Could Not Take) d100 Things I […]
Categories:
- Links
- osr
- Stuff
- blogosphere
- dnd
- monster
- Roleplaying
- rpg
A short set of links due to travel. More can be found on the previous list found here. You can find more links on this weeks r/OSR blogroll or the RPG Blog Carnival or on Third Kingdom Games news roundup. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links.¶ Scholomance has launched The Great Tabletop Roleplaying Survey - get your views in!¶ The Burnt World of Athas shares Scale, Tail, and Claw - The Reptilian Peoples of Athas¶ A Knight at the Opera gives us Action Mysteries¶ Well well well, l…
Having last week come to the defense of the murderhobo, I thought I'd go one step further this week by doing something similar for outright evil characters. That's because, for as long as I've played Dungeons & Dragons, I've never considered the possibility of playing such characters illegitimate. None of the editions of the game I encountered in the first few years after I entered the hobby – in order: Holmes Basic, AD&D, or Moldvay Basic – forbids characters from being evil (though the matter …
Categories:
- ADnD
- alignment
- arneson
- blackmoor
- DnD
- elric
- evil
- greyhawk
- gygax
- and more…
Go to Part 1 When we talk about mystery scenarios, we obviously spend a lot of time looking at clues. Broadly speaking, a clue is something that an investigator can use to reach a conclusion: The murders always happen on the night of a full moon; therefore a werewolf is responsible. The accounting records reveal […]
Categories:
- Roleplaying Games
- running mysteries
Summary: Summarizing last Monday’s session 0, in which the players picked adventuring in Castle Xyntillan. A decision that spawned further research and exploration.¶ update¶ I have purchased Castle Xyntillan and Helvéczia, and since doing so have learned that the author, Gabor Lux, is not someone that I want to promote.¶ I have brought the details to the game table. And we’re alright proceeding with playing through Castle Xyntillan. We’re okay using the general setting.¶ What I’ll be doing is:¶ Not p…
by jeremy@takeonrules.com (Jeremy Friesen),
2023-11-27
Another post about Lon Barago, but also a continuation of Forms of Government.¶ History¶ King Barago was the first king of Lon Barago. After his death, his son ruled, and his son after that.¶ But with each generation, the wisdom of Barago faded, and his bloodline thinned. Anabriss, the second wife of Barago, was wise in the ancient arts of the earth, and knew of a method by which the bloodline may be restored. She was the first Wife of Barago. The old widow orchestrated all that followed.¶ The curre…
2023-11-26
Each Sunday, I share seven links to items of interest that have crossed my eye across the preceding week. Here are this week's:¶ Patrick Stuart's Gackling Moon kickstarter is live¶ I did not see the new(ish) Dungeons and Dragons film, but it seems a sequel is in the works: D&D is genuinely having a cultural moment¶ Settlers of a Dead God - an animal fantasy setting in which the PCs are anthropomorphic insects exploring the corpse of a gigantic dead god - intrigues me¶ Rapier versus Katana. Yes, they…
I'll put in a picture when I have one. We're working on these a bit at a time. The Spider Bankers have been in Troika since the beginning and I've always meant to get around to using them more. They appeared in Wengle Instrumentality, and they're in the upcoming Streets Of Troika book, but they deserve a proper entry I think.¶ When picturing them I always imagine the presence of the triceratops foreman in that old puppet sitcom "Dinosaurs" or the baboon from Ren & Stimpy. Just with a little bowle…
If you’re a Hong Kong action movie afficionado, chances are you’ve heard of Simple Feng, my freeform/FKR game that makes playing that Atlas Game fun again. Now, you can have even more fun: stuffed with ideas and random tables for the world of Simple Feng and other Hong Kong action movie rpgs, More Bad Things … Continue reading Simple Feng: More Bad Things
Categories:
- Uncategorized
- feng shui
- fkr
- free kriegsspiel
- free kriegsspiel revolution
- hong kong action
- simple feng
Maybe I should just make peace with being that map guy who keeps excitedly posting about new map doodles that I’ll mostly never be using for any campaigns? I was, once again, feeling unhappy with the latest maps for Kaendor that I made over the last week since the coast lines look too square and … Continue reading "Fun with Mapbashing, and perhaps a map for the new Kaendor"
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:¶ Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 1)¶ Solcha (Elf Fighter 1 / Magic User 1)¶ Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 1 / Thief 1)¶ Gorro (Half Orc Cleric 1 / Fighter 1)¶ Date/Time¶ Planting 1 - late morning to Planting 2 - sunrise¶ The party follows the directions given by the creature in the stem pool to a rough path climbing up the scree and boulders of the mountainside, leading to a snow caped ridge above. Halfway up they encounter a low tunnel bored thorough the snow. This tunnel continu…
Categories:
- AD&D; Gygax & Greyhawk
- Campaign
- Eye of the Serpent
- Session
- Tenh
After several months of work, I've completed the first stage of my ships of Elite for Traveller. Deckplans and designs for all the human ships from the classic game.
Categories:
- Assets
- Gaming
- Science Fiction
- Elite
- RPG
- Traveller
I just released the second issue of my (potentially) regular zine full of dungeon maps. Dungeons, Regularly #2 contains thirteen maps (mainly dungeons) for you to key yourself and use for personal or commercial use. If you pay a little extra, you get two pages of things to put in those dungeons, if you need […]
I'm thrilled that I now have a framed print of the cover illustration by Erol Otus of the very first Dragon magazine that I ever owned (issue # 55) hanging on my wall:¶ The print is number 99 (out of 200) and signed Otus.¶ The original magazine cover:¶ The corner of my study:
Categories:
- ADnD
- art
- Dungeons and Dragons
- old school art
I just finished playing (solo) the first 5 turns of Kharkov The Soviet Spring Offensive from SPI. It is a game out of the magazine Strategy & Tactics May-June 1978 issue. After playing out the first two turn I fired up the YouTube channel and started a live stream. Played turns 3, 4, and 5 online.¶ The Russian 28th army broke out easily in the north, and 6th army began enveloping the German units south-southeast of Kharkov. The high mark of the Spring Offensive includes taking (but not keeping) o…
Coming soon to a politically correct table near you! (AI image courtesy of Bing Image Creator)¶ I was thinking whether I should post about this at all. Not in a fit of self-censorship, mind you, but if you follow the same blogs and/or RPG video channels I do (and you probably do,) you’ve about heard enough concerning this subject: that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has been retroactively editing their 5e books to replace words which have become (quite suddenly) politically incorrect with less “prob…
2023-11-25
Slow to post on account of a headachy morning after an absolutely stupid shift, blaaaaah A bit of a mishmash this time around, but a couple of interesting mysteries to build up (who put these here? how? why?) to prompt spinning out dungeon details ~ As ever, a larger version of the image can be … Continue reading Dungeon23 — Week Forty-Seven →
Categories:
- rpg general
- a map!
- dungeon
- Dungeon23
PART 10: EYES OF A CATOBLEPAS, WINGS OF AN OWLBEAR¶ 10.1 The Wood Elf Camp (Richfest 2nd – 3rd)¶ Our dauntless adventurers — Erik (the mountain dwarf fighter from the Lortmils), Althaea (the high elf wizard from the city of Tringlee), and the brothers Godric (the human rogue from the Barony of Shiboleth) and Cedric (the human cleric of St. Cuthbert) – journey to the Wood Elf camp after successfully exploring the Tomb of Serten.¶ Erik decides to give the legendary Helm of Laga Vulin to Cedric. The d…
Categories:
- 5e DnD
- ADnD
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Greyhawk
- Greyhawk classics campaign
- Gygax
- Into the Unknown
- RPGs
Crossbow of the Longer Lived Adventurer Krogak looked grimly at Nizzam then Arzax. ‘This may be it, down in this forgotten dungeon, where we die,’ the fighter told the thief and wizard. ‘What about that magic crossbow that you are … Continue reading →
Categories:
- Magic Items
- Uncategorized
- Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
- BD&D
- BFRPG
- Blueholme
- Dragonslayer Rpg
- Hyperborea
- Iron Falcon
- and more…
A Saga battle between the Great Kingdoms and barbarian Hordes. There were dragons, giants, sorcerers and bloodshed. Much bloodshed.
Categories:
- Wargaming
- Age of Magic
- FWGS
- Saga
I thought I'd mention that my humble RPG accessories are part of the big weekend sale over at DriveThruRPG.com. In particular, you can nab the 5-star rated BRAZEN BACKGROUNDS, my character background generator for Bronze Age (or even generic Sword and Sorcery) settings, for only $2.85 USD, at the moment!¶ It's available here (affiliate link).¶ I'm excited and grateful to note that this product is only a few sales away from reaching the Electrum "medal" level (it's currently a Silver seller on DTRP…
...for those who somehow don't know: in the last few months I've published the AxianQuest deck series, which consists of seven unofficial decks that expand the HeroQuest board game.¶ The decks been a huge success, with over 3000 decks sold so far and enthusiastic reviews both on the dtrpg product pages and several youtube video reviews (I'll just mention that The Dungeon Dive review titled "HeroQuest + AxianQuest Infinite Dungeons = the way it should be played"!!).¶ For those interested, the full …
Categories:
- Adventure
- AxianQuest
- Board games
- Fantasy
- GMless
- HeroQuest
- Miniatures
- Old School
DA3 "City of the Gods" includes lengthy descriptions of several NPCs (most of whom were previously described in DA1 "Adventures in Blackmoor"):¶ Captain Bork Reisling¶ Captain Bork Reisling (F10, Neutral)¶ captain of the Federation Survey Ship Beagle¶ Umra Dir (C10, Chaotic)¶ appears in DA4 "The Duchy of Ten"¶ The remaining entries cover NPCs previously described in DA1 (some edited more than others):¶ Bosero the Drunkard (M14, Lawful; John Snider)¶ Brother Richard, the Flying Monk (C11, Lawful; Richard…
Categories:
- BECMI
- Blackmoor
- DA3 City of the Gods
[Adventure]Winter Death (2023)Markus Schauta (Gazer Press)Lvl 1 Disclaimer: Sponsored content. The following review contains spoilers. I recently received a hardcopy booklet in the mail. Tearing off the protective cardboard wrapping, I gazed curiously upon its imposing black cover, its classic horror image of a bestial woman roaring at the gloomy blue moon rendered in striking … More [Review] Winter Death (Lotfp 3PP); The Other Lotfp
I don’t usually post links to random videos here, but this is one I really want to share with more people: The initial premise of “Avatar is stupid and Princess Mononoke is great” is pretty much a no brainer and what could possibly be added to that conversation? But after an initial overview and comparison … Continue reading "“How to have a message” on civilizational conflict"
By Jeff Simpson Buddyscott Entertainment Group B/X Level 14 The Elder Worm, a purple worm of galactic size, has been released from its cosmic prison and is on the loose! Dare you crawl inside its guts to find out what … Continue reading →
Categories:
- My Life is a Living Fucking Hell
- Reviews