My personal blog of games, pop culture, content creation, web-technology, and whatever strikes my fancy.
Okay, so I had a crazy idea pop into my head. This actually happens a lot, but I try not to let myself get to taken by them. Sure, I probably could make an excellent dread overlord, but I am unwilling to spend time making the robot army of Pippi Longstockings. Think of the overhead!
Where was I?
Oh right! Crazy idea.
Here I am making another video. Crazy talk. I talk about recent projects, new audio gear, and I briefly review the Tal’ Dorei Setting. …
Why I am I talking about death on a blog dealing mainly with games? Well, games handle death differently. In many video games, you simply…
Trying something new here. Bear with me…. I am fond of the Fantasy AGE game system. It is, in many ways, very reminiscent of…
Gencon is the annual pilgrimage for many gamers, designers, and game writers. I have been before but not in a long while. It is like going to the cold clear spring and having a sip. The walk is hard, there are uncomfortable parts to the trail, but the trip is made worth it when you sip from that spring.
I went to Gencon for the 50th anniversary this year. I met cool people and played cool game. I got to attend interesting panels and see the latest things. I also got to be reminded that I am not alone on this winding path through game writing. Friends, new and old, are walking it with me. Strangers walk ahead or behind. We are all on the same quest and face the same dragons.
So here are a few of more Thieves Guilds archetypes. Clearly, I have a problem. This is my cow bell to be sure. I think the Thieves Guild is an interesting element and can be used to serve a lot of functions. Sometimes they are just vehicle for the thief in a party to get things. Sometimes they are plot hook providers. You can use them as the premise for a group of PC’s or you can use them as antagonists in your campaign.
With all of that in mind, here are an extra set of guild ideas. They could easily fit in a number of campaigns. I also have my previous post listing some World Guilds. Between these I hope I have given enough fodder to help spice up your underworld.
As is often the case, I was inspired by a friend’s work. My pal Greg over on his blog wrote up a barbarian build for…
Large Scale Thieves guilds The thieves guilds are an integral part of the standard generic fantasy worlds in which D&D takes place. This is partly…
I have a long history with the concept of playing a gravedigger. I played one for over a decade at a larp in the Atlanta area. I rather think he may have been the most interesting character I have ever played. For all his sneaky abilities (he was a rogue) he was also noble in thought and action. He was tremendously creepy and people expected him to be evil, but he wasn’t. He was just not socially adjusted. That lead to some amazing role play sessions and I kind of miss playing the guy.
Anyway, I always liked the vision of champions of death that are not evil. With that in mind, here is my take on Gravediggers as a rogue archetype in 5th edition. In keeping with their semi-divine devotion to caring for the dead, I set them up with paladin spells. I am interested in some feedback on this. It is not too unlike the Avenger class in 4th edition. I don’t think it is over powered, but others might disagree. Tell me what you think.
I recently offered to run the alternate, off-week, D&D game for the group I play with on Tuesdays. I would be the fill in guy for weeks when the normal DM did not want to run. My offer was generally greeted with some enthusiasm. The normal DM and another player expressed a desire for Eberron. Now, I love me some Eberron. I could wax rhapsodic about it for days. It is a setting with a wider range of setting conventions than are found in Forgotten Realm. And then there is Sharn: City of Towers.
That said there are some issues with running it in 5th edition, at the moment. Some things just haven’t been written yet. They only now released The Mystic (see also Psionics) and the Artificer. They do have some race stats for some of the races, like the Warforged, on the Wizards of the Coast site. Others have not been done. Also Dragonmarks have been accounted for, but I feel like they need some clarification. I will tackle those another time, but the race I was asked for was Kalashtar. There are some fan versions out there, but nothing definitive. I figured I would take a pass at it.
