Greetings traveller, and welcome to this humble travel guide of the sights and sites of the Infinite Planes of Existence. Within this series of reference books I hope you'll find accurate information that aids you in your journey should you choose to 'hop a portal' and hang with the 'bashers, factols, and knights of the … Continue reading Cutter’s Guide to Planar Locations
Category: writing
Designing D&D encounters with the Storytelling Collective
I missed the lead in to advertise it to others, but I've signed up for this month's encounter design class with The Storytelling Collective. Those of you who've been reading a while may remember I wrote my first adventure with the RPG Writer Workshop class, and the Collective is what the Workshop team have now … Continue reading Designing D&D encounters with the Storytelling Collective
Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XV – Herald
Another class rename here - the paladin has become the herald. It makes some sense, and fits squarely the the genre of fantasy that the designers seem to be aiming at. Things that stay the same up to level 10:Divine Sense and Lay on Hands at level 1, Divine Smite at level 2, Oath features … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XV – Herald
Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XIV – Warlock
Time to move on to a fun one - I play a lot of warlocks! Hopefully that means I'll se both good and bad in the playtest. Let's see shall we? Things that stay the same up to level 10:Otherworldly Patron features at level 1 (and 6 and 10) and Pact Magic at level 1 … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XIV – Warlock
Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XIII – Cleric
I may have been a bit lax keeping up with the playtest bundles for April, but there's also been a lot more of them. So another burst of comparisons are coming your way over the next couple of weeks! Unlucky 13 brings us the Cleric. Let's see what changes have been made. Things that stay … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XIII – Cleric
Planar adventuring – A Sigil for the Inner Planes
Before we start, yes, I know Sigil is the city at the centre of all the planes, but it's positioned in the centre of the Plane of Concordant Opposition, which is directly connected to the Outer Planes via the gatetowns. That means I've always thought of it as a hub for the Outer Planes first … Continue reading Planar adventuring – A Sigil for the Inner Planes
Late to A-Z April 2021 Part II
As they were so fond of saying on Star Trek, "and now, the conclusion." N - New Settings!I have a lot of game settings written up, for various different RPGs. But that doesn't mean my mind isn't coming up with new ideas, and annoyingly flows with them at that.Ideas I need to flesh out a … Continue reading Late to A-Z April 2021 Part II
Late to A-Z April 2021 Part I
As usual, by the time I realise what time of year it is, I've almost missed it!Here's an A-Z of stuff I want to think about/write about/read about/play with in the next year. A - Awakened!I'm thinking up some ideas for a D&D character that's been awakened by the spell. I haven't decided yet if … Continue reading Late to A-Z April 2021 Part I
Updating 5e – Princes of the Apocalypse
I've been spending a lot of my time recently delving in to Princes of the Apocalypse, D&D 5e's second adventure book. It was released in 2015, making it the first to release after all three of the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual were out. It is... not great? I actually had … Continue reading Updating 5e – Princes of the Apocalypse
Some notes on ongoing projects
Whilst I try and get a few lengthier posts squared away, here's a quick one to say what I'm currently working on. After finishing up with Candlekeep Colleagues (now also available for Fantasy Grounds), I've been working on a long term collaboration with Czeuch. He's become something of a powerhouse on DMsGuild since starting out … Continue reading Some notes on ongoing projects
Revisiting mechanics – Skill challenges in 5e downtime
Readers may remember my recent post about missing mechanics in 5e - specifically those covering social interactions and exploration. I had several ideas built for the post, then scrapped them in favour of a general outline.This post takes a good bit of what I'd already written for downtime and skill challenges, and changes a few … Continue reading Revisiting mechanics – Skill challenges in 5e downtime
Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XII – the Bard
Hopefully this will catch me up with the playtest packets! So, on to the bard. I've played bard's before, and after a quick look at the changes, I'd say they still hold my attention with the new options. Things that stay the same up to level 10:Bardic Inspiration and Spellcasting at level 1, Jack of … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XII – the Bard
Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XI – The Wizard
Still running behind, here's what's going on with the changes to the Wizard. So I haven't played a Wizard in a long time. After reading through this playtest packet, I think I might give one a go. I like that couple of big changes they've made here. So, without further ado: Things that stay the … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest XI – The Wizard
Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest X – Adept
I'm running a bit behind on these, so let's see if I can catch up quick! It's another new class! Sort of.The Adept replaces the Monk, since the latter has some weird connotations regarding monks and leans into some orientalist tropes. The Adept is a focussed unarmed fighter in all regards, using different fighting styles. … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest X – Adept
Candlekeep Companions
I spent a good part of February writing a supplement of NPCs for Candlekeep with Chad M. Lensch and Transparent Games. This is a tie in for Candlekeep Mysteries, since adventurers in theory find themselves at the keep at least for some of their time. It was a really enjoyable experience, and I'm very happy … Continue reading Candlekeep Companions
Thoughts on missing 5e rules
I spent a couple of days working on a couple of posts following on from the below, then realised I could answer what I wanted with more or less one line - bring back skill challenges and hexcrawls. I tweeted about it, but here's a bit more of my thinking about everything. I tried to … Continue reading Thoughts on missing 5e rules
How to DM V – Dream big
Last time, I talked about the bottom up setting creation method, or starting small. This time, I'm going to go the opposite way, the top down method, or starting big. As you might be aware of if you've checked into the campaign settings here on the blog, I tend to start big. I try to … Continue reading How to DM V – Dream big
How to DM IV – Start small
So you've decided that none of the published adventures are what you want to run, and you want to build your own world. Congratulations! You're a homebrewing Dungeon Master / Game Master! There's several ways to build a new game, but a good way to categorise them is either top down or bottom up. The … Continue reading How to DM IV – Start small
State of Play – an update
In case anyone was wondering what I'm up to behind the scenes, here it is: After The Haunted Mine and Satchel's Bag of Tricks, I jumped on a couple of different collaborative projects.I've spent the last month or so working on some NPCs that can be added to Candlekeep, to be released around the time … Continue reading State of Play – an update
Tout’s Guide to Undersigil
Mind your head there sirrah, you have to really duck under that arch. I promise that's the last of them, and the smell of whatever-that-was back there will probably wash out.Now, Undersigil. There's plenty of 'under' to a city this big, and everything below the streets is technically Undersigil. I've brought you to this bit, … Continue reading Tout’s Guide to Undersigil
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