Orc and Pie: The Skill Challenge
One the most famous and shortest, yet technically complete, adventures written by Monte Cook is Orc and Pie. It is so well written that there is no way I could update it to 4E. Then I asked myself, what if some[...]Read on >>
Stairing into the Abyss
One of the more overlooked features of any dungeon are the stairs. Most of the time these are little more than purely utilitarian vehicles for getting characters from one level of the dungeon to another. I think this is [...]Read on >>
Rules analysis
Significant amount of roleplaying uses rules, by which I mean mechanics in the context of this post. Specifically mechanics made explicit by a book or note paper or oral agreements. In this post I will attempt to outline[...]Read on >>
Dungeoncraft: Asecia reboot
During the last few months I have been working on a campaign setting called “Asecia”. The development of this world has been documented in my Dungeoncraft articles. But recently I was starting to get disconte[...]Read on >>
Everway: My Favorite Obscure RPG
Zachary the First over at RPG Blog II wrote today about his favorite obscure RPG. In response, I dropped a comment about Everway, which to this day has the distinction of being the one game I’ve played more than any ot[...]Read on >>
Caves on Yates Hill
The caves on Yates Hill were once controlled by the Mokosha dwarf clan of Jelling. The proximity of the caves to the burnt out, and abandoned Yates Manor made it increasingly difficult for the clan to continue to main[...]Read on >>
Archaeology News: “New” 4,300 year-old Egyptian pyramid discovered
Now, if you're like me, when you first read that headline, you had to ask yourself, how the heck could there be an entire pyramid that was still undiscovered all this time? The answer, according to the article, is that t[...]Read on >>
Review: Keep on the Borderlands
Over the next few months, I'll be reading some of Gary Gygax's more well-known works and writing about my reaction to them. I've been a gamer since 1993, but I've never actually had the opportunity to read anything by Gy[...]Read on >>
Ancient Map of Alidor Found
This ancient map was recently found in an excavation in the ruins just north east of Yatton. Maps like this one, which bears both the marks of the elfin family Cyriand (symbol:The moon) and the elfin family Calendel [...]Read on >>
The Riftcrag Mega-Campaign
Before my last campaign ended due to out-of-game issues, I had gotten the party to the city of Riftcrag, perched on the edge of the mighty Rift Canyon. The plan was to get them involved in the exploration of a warren of [...]Read on >>
The Necessity of Random Encounters in D&D
November 5, 2008 from Tales of the Rambling Bumblers
Filed under: Advice/Tools, Featured!, Game Design, RPG Hub
Random Dungeons and Dragons Encounters, Pros and Cons
I think that a solid understanding of what a random encounter does will help you decide how to include them into your game, if at all.
The author [...] Filed under: Advice/Tools, Featured!, Game Design, RPG Hub
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An Alternative to the Thieves Guild
I'm not a big fan of gangster movies outside of the first two Godfather films. Yet I can't help but think that many D&D locales are suffering from the institution of the Thieves Guild that has become ubiquitous, fou[...]Read on >>
Fallout 3 - intro and character generation
As I mentioned yesterday, I just picked up Fallout 3. I haven't had much time to play, but i like what I've seen so far. Good games often give me ideas about how to improve other games, so I may be commenting here from t[...]Read on >>
Reading Gygax for the First Time
I entered the roleplaying game hobby in the early 1990s, when story-driven games like Vampire and Shadowrun were all the rage and TSR staggered through financial hardship. Consequently, I never played classic D&D; indeed[...]Read on >>
New Castles & Crusades Classes I’m Working On
I've been really enjoying toying around with Castles & Crusades lately (with no Castle Keeper's Guide in sight, I've instead been having fun with the very compatible and hilarious charts and tables found in the Hackm[...]Read on >>
Worldbuilding 101: Descriptive Characters
A generic format for system-independent character descriptions. This can be adjusted, adding or deleting things as needed. Name The name the character is best known by. If the operate under a code name, nickname, handle,[...]Read on >>
The Most Terrifying Adventure of All Time
As you probably already know, the YMIAT crew just announced that I won their first contest ever, entitled Can You Scare Us? I can say almost without hubris or sarcasm that my contest entry, A Lord's Dying Wish, is probab[...]Read on >>
Dynamic Dungeons and Spellcasting
I am in the middle of thinking about crafting a megadungeon for OD&D, and the idea of a more dynamic place came to mind. I'm trying to walk a line between overly boring and confining realism and the completely gonzo[...]Read on >>
Candy Monsters for Halloween Games
This Tuesday I ran the second part of the RPGA adapted module The Sinister Spire (D&D 3.5). As I stated before I usually use Starburst candies for monsters in the RPGA games. For games around Halloween, RPGA or othe[...]Read on >>
The Dreadspine Sculpin and Role Challenges
This little level 12 4E skirmisher was inspired by my recent west-coast USA trip, along with the lack of aquatic critters in 4E. Like many of my recent critters, he has spines, nature's way of saying "screw you." ;) I've[...]Read on >>
A Better Way to Craft Wondrous Items
You can deny a gift much easier than you can take one away... That little pearl has probably been offered up in pithier ways by clever(er) people, but it's a truth I believe in, reinforced by years of play. In game terms[...]Read on >>
Worldbuilding 101: A Question for Readers
In trying to order the sections of the Worldbuilding 101 book, I’d hit a conundrum and want to throw this out to you, the reader, for opinions.It has to do with House Rules and published supplements. On one hand,[...]Read on >>
Mad Menagerie: Keymaster
[Note: The table below will display better if you install this font, as it was created with Asmor's Monster Maker.] A figure stands before jingling like a chime in the wind. The humanoid shape is buckled from head to t[...]Read on >>
Strategic rules
I’ve been reading a collection of philosophical essays, titled “Tieto, totuus ja todellisuus”, for some months now (slowly but with certainty. A particular article by Jaakko Hintikka contained a bit of [...]Read on >>
one long and two short
Aging World Builders http://unclebear.com/?p=2052#comment-7586 Mr. Newquist says, “I love world building, but as I’ve whined before, I just don’t have as much time for it now that I’m a dad. So I definitely [...]Read on >>
The Invisible Dungeon, Revisited
I don’t like to repost old content, but a reader recently recommended my 2006 essay, The Invisible Dungeon. It discusses the dungeon as a metaphor for adventure, and how this concept can apply even to adventures th[...]Read on >>
System-Free Settings and Dealing with Game Licenses
October 25, 2008 from UncleBear
Filed under: D&D 4e, Game Design, Legacy D&D, Other Systems, RPG Hub, advice
Following up on yesterday’s post about system-free settings, I’ve been assimilating the various comments and putting together a business strategy. To recap, I’m more interested in producing fluff than c[...] Filed under: D&D 4e, Game Design, Legacy D&D, Other Systems, RPG Hub, advice
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Beast: the Ravaging - Officium
October 24, 2008 from MadBrewLabs
Filed under: Game Design, News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG Hub, World of Darkness
Mad Brew continues to build upon his expansion setting for the World of Darkness, Beast: the Ravaging, for his conversion of Chatty DM's Kobold Love. He details the Officium which reflect the roles of monsters in 4e D&#[...] Filed under: Game Design, News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG Hub, World of Darkness
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My Webhost Puked Again
I was down pretty hard today, usually only the SQL side of my website pukes and dyes, but today I lost everything Apache, SQL and Mail. 4hrs… Grr… Still looking to find a new home for Alidor. [...]Read on >>
Built a Banner for My Website
I saw all the banners on RPGbloggers so I decided to sit down and make one. Here my top two: or The symbol on the left is part of my push to develop heraldry for cities and places in my world. The image represents the[...]Read on >>
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