For the last little while, my desire to run a game again has been slowly rising. I have to assume it's due to watching a lot of videos on YouTube and listening to podcasts on running games (GMing and DMing), and paying attention to discussion in various forums and discord channels. I ran a playtest … Continue reading Fuelling the craft of Gamemastery
Tag: roleplay
Gathering the Realms
My collaborative Magic the Gathering/Dungeons and Dragons crossover project is now live on DMsGuild for the world to see. Gathering the Realms bridges Theros, Ravnica and the Forgotten Realms into a cohesive, planeswalkable whole, and brings new items, spells, player options and variant rules to help you do that. From options for playing a Planeswalker, … Continue reading Gathering the Realms
Cantrip Tattoos
Whilst working on a project for domestic-leaning magic items and spells, I got to thinking about the magical tattoos presented in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and specifically that the only usage of cantrips in tattoos was when they were being used in place of scrolls. So I started looking at what makes the other tattoos … Continue reading Cantrip Tattoos
Notes from a shelved D&D campaign
I've mentioned previously that I had a plan for a saurial-focused D&D campaign encompassing planar travel and spelljamming. I even started a write-up for it before I got busier writing stuff I could actually publish for money.But what with the pandemic and everything, I didn't ever get around to actually building it into a game … Continue reading Notes from a shelved D&D campaign
Designing Magic Items
I've been designing a lot of magic items recently, first with a Ravnica or Theros flavour, and now focused on domestic items that non-adventuring Dungeons & Dragons characters might use. The Magic the Gathering items were hard to think of, especially as so many had been created already. Now that I've moved on to the … Continue reading Designing Magic Items
Wrapping up the Encounter Design course
After the month of May finished, I had designed an encounter I was reasonably happy about. But! I decided not to publish it. So there were a few reasons why I ended up not finishing the encounter off to a publishable standard:1. I wasn't happy I had enough time to work on the layout and … Continue reading Wrapping up the Encounter Design course
Magic shops
I mentioned before that I was writing something involving a shop front. Well it's finally available for purchase! The Magic Shop Catalogue brings a whole load of different, system neutral ideas for stores (though generally embedded in fantasy) to populate your TTRPG games. I wrote Pawn's, a pawn shop run by a horrible man (who … Continue reading Magic shops
Cutter’s Guide to Planar Locations II – Sigil, City of Doors
Ah, Sigil, the centre of the Multiverse, or so the locals would have you think! What can one say that hasn't already filled multiple treatises? For a city of such a small size, there must be be multiple volumes dedicated to each f its many streets, even just to detail all the exotic locales one … Continue reading Cutter’s Guide to Planar Locations II – Sigil, City of Doors
Glittery Grimoires
Another book that I contributed to is now available on DMsGuild! The Glitter Grimoire fits into a gonzo D&D niche. All the spells and items are useful, but fit neatly into slapstick, silly, or prank niches.I wrote two spells for it - a cantrip called Spitball Barrage and a level 2 enchantment spell called Iggwilv's … Continue reading Glittery Grimoires
Cutter’s Guide to Planar Locations
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
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
Ideas for altering 5e’s Inspiration mechanic
There's a lot of other takes on Inspiration out there, and when to award it and so on. I've been toying with the below in my head for a while. Advantage on a die roll is nice, but having it to use for other things would be good too. 1. I know a guyI think … Continue reading Ideas for altering 5e’s Inspiration mechanic
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
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
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