Dry Spell

It is a dry season for me as far as gaming is concerned. Work has eased up a little bit but promises to come down in a raging torrent by the beginning of next month, what with the news that I’m being handed another dep[...]
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World Hex Template

Global maps, hex-style Long story short, I got to thinking about rendering a global map in hexes, using the hex templates I already created. If you’re interested in hexing out your campaign world and are only mildl[...]
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The Devil is in the Details: Slaves of Shkeen

Mr. Maliszewski has thrown down the gauntlet:John Laviolette, over at The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms, has even suggested that the old school renaissance would be wise to offer up more examples of tables and systems in this[...]
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[meta] Ace in the Hole Do-Over

Angel was sick this past week and her character is integral for the next scene in Perdition’s prison, so we decided to do something you can’t do in real life: Do-Over! In gameplay last week, we wer[...]
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Promoting racial diversity in RPGs

Mythical and magical races are a staple of fantasy fiction, both as heroes and enemies, so it only makes sense that fantasy roleplaying games (RPGs) would include race options for players to use in building their charact[...]
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Wold Building Research Mind Dump

I broke my own home brew rules. I've gone back to the basics and tried again. This time a little bit more detailed. As I've always got game in the brain here is some of my tinkerings.Transportation and Logistics TL. The [...]
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Tuesday Magic Item – Belt of Defiance (“Bruising Belt”)

Something a bit strange here, but still combat-themed, playing on the difference between damage types in D20/Pathfinder to make a magic item that help keep someone alive, in a slightly painful way: Belt of Defiance (“B[...]
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New Feat – Pankration (Martial Art)

The Ancient Greeks practiced various forms of unarmed combat, wresting, early boxing and the vicious style known as Pankration.  Pankration is built around grappling leading to takedown, joint locks (and breaks) and cho[...]
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Black Rose, Part 2

Continuing on one of the things I need to figure out is how Ravenloft and Aldea come together.  This is a two parter really.  I need to figure out game-wise how the fit; is Aldea pulled into Ravenloft, is Raven[...]
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Magical Javelins

Sorry this is late, yesterday was taken up with work and then going into Atlanta to see the amazing Al Stewart preform live at Eddie’s Attic and we did not get back until after midnight.   Great performance, grea[...]
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Black Rose, Part 1

I had no idea people would like this one so much.  I mean to me it seems a no-brainer.   Let me roll back a bit and talk about why I think so.I love Ravenloft.  It was *my* world for all of 2nd Ed.  I[...]
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Adventure-Guided Worldbuilding

One way to build a world is to start with a single adventure and build outward. You make it up as you go along, based on elements suggested or implied by the setting. This can be a published adventure, whether or not it&[...]
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Magna Cartas

One of the keys to being a successful gamemaster is playing to your strengths. One of the ways to identify those strengths is to list out things that you like in the type of setting you want to run, and things you dislik[...]
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Drow should be Lawful Evil, among other things

I have been thinking about Drow of late.  We are going through some of the classic modules and I really am looking forward to doing the GDQ series again.  Now I have every faith in DM to make it interesting and[...]
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Two Post-Apocalyptic Plot Settings – Part 2

This is the second of my two post-apocalyptic setting ideas. Rather then unusal transport, this is a take on the Golden Age of Comic Books. Last, Best Hope This idea actually came from a two ideas I’ve been toying [...]
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Slings and Slingers

To start out the martial month of May, I will (as promised) finally get to looking at slings in D&D/Pathfinder.  I have always felt that slings were ill-treated in D&D (and equally so in Pathfinder).  The Baler[...]
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February 2010 Blog Roundup: Choice Bits

I keep telling myself I’m going to do a weekly roundup of posts I like in the blogosphere, but I never get around to doing it. So here in no particular order, are ten of the many posts I bookmarked this past month.[...]
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Thoughts on Curses

As February draws to a close, I thought that it might be worthwhile to discuss some of my thoughts on the place of curses and how they can be best used in a roleplaying game. In games, curses usually come in one of two f[...]
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Curse of the Tyrant’s Lament

Thought that I would wrap up the month of curses, curse-wise, with a greater, kingdom wrecking curse: When King Sandovar II was crowned, having killed his two older brothers and forced his younger sister into a marriage [...]
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[meta] Legos, Props and Serenity

It was a great first night of gameplay. It’s always bumpy learning a new system. We were constantly flipping through our books, calling out “It’s on page 144! No, wait, 145.” I discovered that I h[...]
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The City of Veneline – Part 2

Last time we looked at the history and style to the city of bridges. Now followsh a smattering of interesting places and groups to throw into it. These locations can also be used in other places in your game world. [...]
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Opening Up the Setting

“…and the third key they ground into uselessness and gave to the dean as a badge of office?” I ask. It’s the second session of my boyfriend’s first serious attempt at running tabletop, a solo C[...]
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New Magic Item – Talisman against Curses

Since all of these curses have been described, perhaps some defense against them is needed as well: Talisman against Curses These talisman take many forms depending on the culture that produced them, from simple bags fil[...]
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Two Post-Apocalyptic Settings – Part 1

I’ve had a flu-y bug for the last few days, which has resulted in me a spending considerable portions of my time enjoying the dystopian futures of Fallout 3 and Halo 3 (as well as a bit of Oblivion – which is[...]
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The City of Veneline – Part 1

Here I present a city which was created for a 4e campaign, inspired by Venice. It sits within my homebrew world, known as Arras, at the northern edge of an inland sea. The city was built in such a way that it should be p[...]
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Gods, Demigods and Heroes

I have been thinking about Gods and the like in my games for some time now.  Now that I am going to be playing Pathfinder as well as 4e I thought I would look into some gods for my Mystoerth world.Now Mystara didn't[...]
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Flies’ Friend Curse

“Damnable things,” the knight cursed swatting at the insect that circled his head.  “Since we left Lower Scofton I cannot seem to get rid of the creatures.”  Reports had reached me that the knights of his order[...]
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World Building, Villages

Back in October I wrote about Villages . The few things I would add are villagers are the masters of 'making do'. They do not have the crafting experts, the best healing or bravest fighting men, but they have a way of [...]
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Loss as a Positive Characteristic

I've been peeking around at a few freebie games scattered across the web and found one that manages to strike a resonant chord with me: Elegia by John Higgins of Relative Entropy Games. It's a retro-clone, as are so fash[...]
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World Building, Baronies

Time to take that kingdom map you've moved the boundaries on and start dividing it up with more lines. I'll be using the word, barony because it's the most common term I use, but duchy, county, territory, shire will all[...]
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Taking a new path

So. I had a plan. It was a good plan as far as these things go. That is till my regular DM decided to do something unexpected. We have a few games going, I have one with my kids (3.x), he has one with his (4.0), we have [...]
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Drinker’s Curse

A minor curse, of the folk variety: Old Redbeard, though his beard had long since, gone gray, used to haunt the taverns near to his home until one day he found he was not welcome.  His very presence in a tavern soured b[...]
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World Building, Kingdoms and Empires

Without a doubt this is my weakest area of development. For some reason the kingdom scale eludes me. So I recruited some assistance from Rob Conley. He is going to write a more extensive blog about this in the future,[...]
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World Building, Evil Religions

A while back there were a couple of excellent posts about evil and evil religions one by Friar Dave at Blood of Prokopius and the other by Rob Conley at Bat in the Attic. Friar Dave goes into detail about what is evil a[...]
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Stone Age Adventures.

Last night I made a light-hearted comment to someone that my next game project should involve dinosaurs. That got me thinking. I knew I was doomed to take this joke-project seriously. We've all seen the anachronistic ima[...]
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World Building, One Map at a Time, Developing Gods

For me, having a good map to start with is critical. I need a map with personality. I like big continents because I'm not much for high seas adventure and I like sprawling lands that are cut up by swamps, deserts, moun[...]
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Stuff on the Internet!

Well, I just found something very fun on the Internet. On DriveThruRPG, there was a Pantheon Generator for free download. It was created by a group called Chaotic Shiny Studios. These generators include things like th[...]
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Tuesday Magic Item – Sarpathian Shield

For those soldiers that fight in tight formation: Sarpathian Shield Developed by the military wizards of the Sarpathian lands, these large shields are enchanted to improve the defenses of large formations, and as such th[...]
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New Magic Item – Ring of Dark Power

Another semi-cursed item. Ring of Dark Power These rings are carved from ivory colored bone and inlaid with a silvery metal that is not silver. Looking at the ring the metal twists into writing, hinting at magical secre[...]
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Pre-Release Review of Kingdom Builder Generator Pack by Chaotic Shiny Productions

“I’ve built this kingdom up from nothing.  When I started here, all there was was swamp.” ~ Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Oh, you knew it had to happen someday… it was fairly inevitable that I’d h[...]
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Another Instant Challenge!

So, for those that haven’t seen Instant Game yet, I’ve even had a comment from one of its two creators, the brothers in charge of Animalball Games. On their frontpage, they state: “Many moons ago, Anim[...]
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Ayn Blüd, Tiefling Paladin of Erathis Part 1

In the summer of 2008, Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition was brand new.  I had stopped playing World of Warcraft a few months before and had some room in my life for some nerdly fun.  I could also use an infusion of soc[...]
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Through the Lens of History – Vision 8: After Alexander – The Diadochi and the Successor States

Following from the death of Alexander the great we explore what happened to his empire: Through the Lens of History: Using History for Better Gaming Vision 8: After Alexander – The Diadochi and the Successor States[...]
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Curse – Starving Heart

A curse of love as we move towards St. Valentine’s day. “Abandoned again,” Larak cried.  “I offered her my love and she left me.  As the others have.  Like them, she will pay,” he growled and started to [...]
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Common Order Signet enhancements

Continuing from yesterday’s Order Signet item, some common enhancements added to them: Comfort, while carrying the signet, the owner is untroubled by extremes of temperate or weather. Aura adds faint abjuration; CL[...]
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Cruise Ship Adventure Area

This week I’ve been on a cruise with my wife and some of my closest friends.  On a whole, it’s been pleasant, but we’ve also experienced a few surreal moments that inspired some adventure hooks I invite you to ste[...]
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New Magic Item – Order Signet

“I am Zorandek of the Order of the Night Sky,” said the wizard and his ring flashed a brilliant blue displaying the sign of the order.  “Take me to your master without delay.” Order Signet These [...]
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Let Me Tell You About My Campaign: Age of Awakening

About two months ago Dave decided to tell you about his campaign - the setting, world, how it all began, characters, planning, and some of his house rules. He set me up to share about my campaign also, as a large part of[...]
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Curse – Anniversary of Ashes

Sorry for the delay but yesterday was my birthday and my dad is in town visiting, so I just did not get to posting.  Will try to get a magic item up tomorrow to get everything back on schedule. Every year, around the ti[...]
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Understanding the Legendary Styles

The Student followed his Master across the green plain, fresh from a filling breakfast of over-night roasted pork. They approached a shallow pond where ducks swam. The Master's spear lightly tapped the cool water."The In[...]
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