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The Many Settings of Dungeons and Dragons part 1
This idea started as a twitter thread. I started listing the various settings of D&D. That was both useful and a reminder of the limits of Twitter. What I ran into was the limited character count of twitter. This made me abbreviate the list in places where I shouldn’t have. I also failed to list a couple of major items. This post is part of my attempt to be more thorough.
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The many names of spells and how to change them.
In D&D, spells have names. This is based on some fiction and some legendary sources so it didn’t start with D&D. The notion of names having power is actually pretty old. The concept appears in ancient Egypt and Greece by various terms. By naming the spell, they describe its power. Most of the spell names in D&D are relatively innocuous if descriptive of their effect. A Fireball spell creates a big ball of fire. Simple and easy. Then there are some spells that have little more story to them. They not only describe the effect, but carry the name of the wizard who created it. This has been…
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5 Things Superhero RPG’s Should Have, in my own biased opinion
I have been thinking alot about Superhero RPG’s lately. I am a fan of them and I have been since the TSR Marvel Super Heroes Role Playing Game came out in the 80’s. I went on to run multiple games in multiple systems, but Champions certainly got most of my time. I love comics…let me restate that…I LOVE COMICS! I read a whole bunch of comics. I have been reading them pretty much since I learned how to read. Most of them were superhero stories, so enjoying superhero RPG;s ties into that. I fell off playing the superhero RPG’s about a decade ago. Over time as the design…
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The Basics of the Game Why I love Midgard
First in a new series where I talk about things I love. Starting out with the Midgard Setting by Kobold Press. https://koboldpress.com/ https://www.patreon.com/jeremiahmccoy
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The Basics of the Game on running a game for newbies
I recently ran a game for newbie D&D players. Here are my thoughts on the experience. I recommend it to people because not only does it bring in more players, but it is remarkably satisfying. I also talk about a game I played later that evening with Francois Letarte and company.
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The Machine for Modern Age
Let me tell you about my love for Persons of Interest. The show was on the air between 2011 and 2016 and dealt with a range of complex notions in the framework of the shows premise, which is described in the opening narration. You are being watched. The government has a secret system: a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you. Crimes the government considered irrelevant. They wouldn’t act, so I decided I would. But I needed…
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When Immortals Adventure
I proposed a question a while back. Are immortal PC’s a problem or are they workable? The consensus appears to be that they are workable. I decided to take a pass at setting up a framework for using it in D&D. Death is ultimately just a small challenge after all. Immortality offers a range of cool stories that make the PC’s feel special in the world, which is sort of the point.
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The Kingdom of Durnham pt 2: The Chapel
Here is another installment of my describing a post apocalyptic fantasy setting called God Thrones. This is the ruins of Chapel Hill, which is pretty different in the world I am describing. It is a stop on on the way to the capital of Durnham. If people like these, please let me know. I will keep writing more.
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Burning Orcs
When I began writing a post apocalyptic fantasy setting, I knew a radiation or toxic corruption would be a recurring theme. It is part and parcel in the genre. The Blight Elves were part of that, and so is today’s offering. There will be others. Thing is, I am not personally afraid of all things nuclear. I grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This is where the material for the first atomic weapons came from. My grandfather was scientist at the labs, and I grew up understanding that nuclear was not necessarily a bad thing. Nuclear medicine was saving lives daily and nuclear power, while not yet perfected, was easier…
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The Basics of the Game Rambles about the Mearls Tweet
I address the comments going around about the Mike Mearls twitter posting. Note: think I need to do some work on my audio set up. So, if you are a rules or lore expert and do not want to be a gatekeeper, what do you do? My experience is that it helps to take a mentoring mindset, rather than coaching. Here’s a starting point: https://t.co/8uOHFnGmBZ — Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) January 22, 2018 It is all about context. My Blog https://jeremiahmccoy.com My Patreon https://www.patreon.com/jeremiahmccoy