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Broken States: a Cyberpunk Future
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…
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4 Magic Bows
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.
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Making Encounter Tables
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…
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The School of Vitomancy
My intent here is to create a wizard healer school that is viable and has a flavor that works.
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Elemental Beasts part 2
Okay, this is my part two of my lists of elemental beasts.
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Elemental Beasts: New Companions for Rangers
I originally intended this for a published product. That may still happen, but I can’t afford a a lot of art, and each beast would likely need new art. When I pitched it a couple of times the people I pitched it to also mentioned the art issue. That said, I may still eventually put this in a product, or they will revise the Beast Master ranger making it irrelevant. Either way, I would like some feedback on these so I am putting them out there for people to see. Beasts are part of the natural world. This is one of the things which helps distinguish them from other creatures…
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Setting Project: Redefining Humanity for Ballad.
This is my second article exploring the world Ballad. I am going to dig into the thing that started me thinking about the setting in the first place. I started with the notion of a setting where humans were rare and treated with distrust. This would not be unlike how Drow or Tieflings were treated in other settings. What would that kind of setting look like? A thread started by my friend Rabbit over on Twitter certainly contributed to that line of thought. Before I dig too far in, let me address the history here.
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Talking about high level play and reasons why it isn’t happening.
I have thoughts on the discussion about why people are not playing high level characters in D&D.
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Removing Monks 2 The Paladin option
So, I am trying this again. Another part of my series of blog posts explaining how you might remove the Monk from D&D and keep some of the playstyle intact. The last post caused a good deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth from those who objected to even the suggestion that there might be a problem with Monks, on a cultural level. I will leave that aside for the moment. I can recognize there are issues with Monks and still love them. I have played them and I have written subclasses for them. I will do so again. I will instead focus on the purpose of these blog posts.…
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Removing Monks
I have written previously about the problems embedded with Monks in D&D. I say that as a guy who has always loved the class. Despite my love, there are some deeply problematic cultural stereotyping embedded in the class. The fact is, they default fiction of the class is a western misunderstanding of East Asian cultures and deeply lacking knowledge of the rich tapestry of martial arts that are found in the world. I don’t think those original designs, or designers, were coming from a place of hate, maliciousness, or even knowing it was a problem. I think they even meant well. Awareness over the years has improved and now we…
