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Category: Game Material

This is for game material people can use in their own games.

 Broken States: a Cyberpunk Future

Published by Jeremiah McCoy on July 6, 2022

I am doing the RPG Writer’s Workshop again this month. This is an attempt to break my writer’s block, among other things. This time around I decided to write an adventure for a system other than D&D for a change. This time I am working on a cyberpunk genre adventure for Modern AGE by Green Ronin. It is a system I wish I had more time to play.

As part of this adventure, I decided I needed at least a rough background. I am not writing this for an existing world, so I figured I should have some world information to put in the adventure. Just enough to have a starting point. I will also write up what the tech level is, as well, but I am trying to not overwhelm myself.

So here is the future history I produced.

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4 Magic Bows

4 Magic Bows

Published by Jeremiah McCoy on November 4, 2021

There is always a need for more magic weapons in D&D. Simply having a +1 just doesn’t feel that satisfying a lot of the time. I like items that are little more varied than simply doing more damage.

This time I am going for bows. There is something compelling about the archer character and there a lot of ways to build them in 5E. Any of these would be great for a ranger, a fighter, a rogue, even some monks. Hopefully, some of these will prove useful for additions to your games.

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Making Encounter TablesImage of a full bookshelf

Making Encounter Tables

Published by Jeremiah McCoy on July 18, 2021

Making an Encounter table is an interesting exercise. In some ways it is a statement of the tone of your game. Do you have a half dozen silly encounters? Do you have 8 generic wilderness encounters with beasts? Do you have combat encounters? Role playing? Chilling atmospheric encounters? Each says something about the style of game you are running.  

Whatever the case, you are generating a list of events you wouldn’t mind showing in your game. You are generating a list of things that fit enough that you don’t care which one shows up. Even having an enormous table says something.  

But some folks don’t know where to start.  So here is a quick guide on how to make one. 

Note: I used this technique to design an encounter table for my adventure, The Lost Library of Meldorin.

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Paladin’s World

Paladin’s World

Published by Jeremiah McCoy on June 18, 2021

I recently started playing a game called Sentinel Comics RPG run by my friend Jared Rascher.  It is a newer superhero system with an interesting structure to its combat, a deep amount of lore, and a somewhat randomized character creation which calls back to the feel of classic Marvel Superheroes RPG without being so random as to make the characters silly. The lore of the game is also based on the board game called Sentinels of the Multiverse. I made a character called Paladin, because his abilities were supernatural and began to resemble paladins from D&D. I created a lose history for the character, but I realized after playing him I needed to do something more. 

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Something in the future wants you deadImage of a metal skull in flames
The School of VitomancyIlluminated Text

The School of Vitomancy

Published by Jeremiah McCoy on August 15, 2020

My intent here is to create a wizard healer school that is viable and has a flavor that works.  I know there are some who will object to the whole idea. I can’t really convince you if you are strictly against the idea altogether. I can only say that this proscription against wizards who heal is strictly a D&D thing. Plenty of games, and folklore traditions, show less of a separation on this point.

I did try to make the thematics of this work for me. The Vitomancer is a close cousin of the Necromancer but inverts that connection to give us the healing wizard.    

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Elemental Beasts part 2
Elemental Beasts: New Companions for Rangers
Setting Project: The People of BalladPicture of the Blue Ridge Mountains

Setting Project: The People of Ballad

Published by Jeremiah McCoy on February 17, 2020

Now that I have described humans on Ballad, I think I will tackle the other races. The people of Ballad are pretty diverse. The longer lived races tend to have a large on the 1000 kingdoms. Monarchs who rule for a thousand years with no succession wars just tend to be more of a stabilizing influence. 

That said, the shorter lived races tend to be more numerous and their societies tend to be more dynamic. When you don’t personally remember when the traditions and rules were made, it is sometimes easier to see why you should change them. 

Let’s dig in.

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Monsterous Ecologist: The History of the Tarrasque.

Monsterous Ecologist: The History of the Tarrasque.

Published by Jeremiah McCoy on January 24, 2020

I have done intermittent segments for The Tome Show, a long-running D&D podcast. The segments are called the Monsterous Ecologist. I took on the persona of the titled ecologist and I would give a history of the monsters from D&D. I would explore the history of the real world legendary monsters and fiction that inspired the monsters in D&D. I also would track the changes the monsters went through in D&D through the editions.

I had a computer failure which has complicated my further recordings, but I do intend to return to this. If you want to help that project I won’t turn down any contributions.

That said, I did have a friend (C. J. Hunter aka Commander Pulsar) make a suggestion that made a lot of sense. Turn the research I did for these podcasts into blog content as well. I will do that. It gives me a chance to revisit these creatures I like so much.

With that in mind, I present..

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