Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Guildhall Ward

Well sirrah, didn't I tell you? Best rat on a stick in the city! Crunchy bones and they even leave all the fur on!Now, most folk think of this place as part of the Market Ward, and there's plenty of overlap, but plenty of little differences too. First of all, there's hardly any decent flophouses … Continue reading Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Guildhall Ward

Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest IXb – Warlord again

Much like with the ranger playtest previously, the warlord also gets an immediate variant. This time it didn't feel like it was to shoehorn in mechanics for using magic, instead we've got a tiny change and some more explanations of how stuff works. At level 3 there's a new ability called Mark Foe. Bonus action … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest IXb – Warlord again

How to DM III – What are we playing?

I'm going to cheat a little bit with this post, but we'll circle back later on and hopefully make it right!I've called this series How to DM, so we're going to start by looking at Dungeon Masters - which means we're playing Dungeons and Dragons, since it's super popular and a known gateway to playing … Continue reading How to DM III – What are we playing?

Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Clerk’s Ward

Well, sirrah, I think we gave those chancers the laugh. Very well handled, I must say. Well noticed to jump those tripwires in Tenfoots.Where are we now? L... Land... of... Green... Gin... Ginger? I think that's near the Hull Road, so we're not far from one of the main thoroughfares of the Clerk's Ward. Phew! … Continue reading Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Clerk’s Ward

Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest IXa – Warlord archetypes

As promised, let's look at the warlord archetypes. The Gambling General is a go big or go home sort. Daring Commander at level 3 gives options of Daring Assault or Daring Charge.Daring Assult lets allies in the Commanding Presence roll attacks with a -5 penalty in return for a potential bonus 2d6 damage (going up … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest IXa – Warlord archetypes

Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest IX – Warlord

It's finally time to go beyond levels 1-10, and with a new class no less! The Warlord is a new build of the 4e core class of the same name. That class was a fighter who could buff their allies in a similar way to bards but without magic, and had some cool battlefield control … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest IX – Warlord

Tout’s Guide to Sigil – the Hive

OK sirrah, we'll try not to stay here long. Mostly because we might both get killed, and then you won't pay me my jink!This is the Hive. It's not pretty, not clean, not nice. This is what you might think of as the slums of Sigil, though you won't find any nobles here slumming it … Continue reading Tout’s Guide to Sigil – the Hive

Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Lower Ward

Right, sirrah, here we go. The Lower Ward. This place is packed with portals that dump you in the Lower Planes, hence the name. I suppose if there were a few more to the Plane of Fire, this'd be the Fire Ward, or the Efreeti Ward, or something stupid like that.All the other wards have … Continue reading Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Lower Ward

Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Market Ward

Wotcha sirrah. Still want that tour then?OK, we'll start with and easy one. Let's go shopping. You've been here a little while I take it? Good, then I'll skip the talk about the dabus, sedan chairs, jink and razorvine wine.This here is the centre of the multiverse. I know, I know. Maybe "everyone and everything … Continue reading Tout’s Guide to Sigil – Market Ward

Satchel’s Bag of Tricks

I've recently released my second product on DMsGuild - Satchel's Bag of Tricks.This is an item supplement for Six-guns and Sorcery adventures, so an ideal accompaniment to my first product A Town Called Mud: The Haunted Mine. And you can even get them both together in a bundle for the price of just my adventure. … Continue reading Satchel’s Bag of Tricks

Notion and Dragons

I wrote a little while ago about my experience with Microsoft OneNote for organising my D&D notes. I wasn't a huge fan. I started hearing about Notion around the start of lockdown (I think, maybe earlier) but didn't get a chance to give much of a look at it.My first real introduction was just before … Continue reading Notion and Dragons

Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest VIII – Berserker

I messed up and scheduled this for the wrong date - this should have gone up on Saturday 9th but I'm just going to enjoy taking a day of time to relax a bit and work on other projects instead of stress and try and scrabble something together to get ahead again! I think it's … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest VIII – Berserker

Out West and the Haunted Mine

As I've mentioned a few times now, I participated in the RPG Writer Workshop back in November, writing and publishing an adventure to DMsGuild.(You can still get the adventure as part of a bundle with other products from other creators, and save yourself a bunch of jink by buying it all at once.) The Haunted … Continue reading Out West and the Haunted Mine

Changes for 2021

I'm switching up the days for my updates again - I'll be dropping down to just twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Between parenting, work, and wanting to write and publish more stuff, the blog's going to take up a bit less of my time, I hope. I have some looooong posts planned for … Continue reading Changes for 2021

2020: A Year in Review

Here's a list of stuff I feel like is an achievement, given 2020 has basically been a write-off of a year! I've upgraded to a .com URL.It was a long time coming, and it took me the first six months of the year to make a decision and pull the trigger. I'm glad I did, … Continue reading 2020: A Year in Review

Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest VIIa – Ranger Again

So the good folks at LevelUp 5e have issued another playtest for the ranger. I presume this is because of spells? Let's take a look. Yup, spells. Because there are ranger subclasses that have spells, and LevelUp is supposed to be compatible with based D&D 5e, someone had to add a ruling on this.Seems like … Continue reading Thoughts on the LevelUp 5e Playtest VIIa – Ranger Again

December worldbuilding prompts II

This time I'm going to focus on the lower half of the prompts. ReligionGodThe members of the Ascended Host are nearly omnipotent, but don't mistake them for infallible. They still hold all their flaws and desires from their mortal lives, for all their airs and graces.The Host are also not impossible to remove. The Garden … Continue reading December worldbuilding prompts II

December worldbuilding prompts I

I thought about writing something festive up, since it's Christmas Eve, and I did it with Halloween, but I've always felt Xmas specials can be a bit lacking, especially when I do them! So instead, I'm going to go through the December Worldbuilding Challenge I found, and write some stuff for it.All in one go! … Continue reading December worldbuilding prompts I

RPGs that influenced me IV – d20 Modern

This was another big influence. Simply put, d20 Modern took a set of rules I understood (Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition) and tweaked them heavily (classes, occupations, setting), and I loved it even more.Maybe it was the idea of playing X-Files meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or the fact that the rules could more easily … Continue reading RPGs that influenced me IV – d20 Modern

How to DM II – a quick overview

My last post focused on the Why of DMing, so let's make a start on the How of doing it. There's a bunch of places you can go to pick up some quick tips for starting out. Run to YouTube, watch people run games in person and virtually. Watch videos of people giving advice for … Continue reading How to DM II – a quick overview