A chonky list as people get busy in the new year. More can be found on the previous list found here. You can find more links on this weeks r/OSR blogroll or the RPG Blog Carnival or on Third Kingdom Games news roundup. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links.
WizardThiefFighter writes SDM (formerly SEACAT) is finally finished
Nick's RPG Thoughts gives us All Stones Left Unturned: Ruminating on the death of my West Marches campaign
Goblin Punch declares You're Doing Demons All Wrong
The Lizard Man Diaries shares Recent PDF releases!
Zzarchov Kowolski wrote The Cliffhanger Table
Busy Wyvern writes Let’s Build A(nother) World – #Lore24
Tales of the Lunar Lands gives us On the Origins of Magic Items
Dead Tree, No Shelter shares Cave of the Creepers
The DM in Paris asks How's my campaign?
15 January 2024
13 January 2024
Full World Hooks for Far-roamers (RPG Blog Carnival, #Lore24)
For this months blog carnival we are back to the host Of Dice And Dragons for the topic of World Building which is also happening concurrently with the kick-off of the Lore24 challenge by T.W.Wombat of Wombat's Gaming Den of Iniquity - mostly coordinated with the #Lore24 hashtag. So - two birds, one stone to set out my own #Lore24 project.
Partly driven by home campaign's bard getting access to the Legend Lore spell, partly by the fact they are starting to interact with further flung reaches of the world due to their access to a flying saddle but also there has been a long running nagging thing in my mind that with magic, flying mounts, even just sea-faring ships, there ought to be stories of all sorts of places and maybe I ought to sketch out what folk ought to know.
So we turn once more to our wonderful Azgaar map and look at everything that is *outside* the Known World - the three campaign spaces - Ducal House, Southern Reaches and Bay of Princes have more or less blocked out their immediate neighbourhoods - so I want to look at the rest of the world.
Partly driven by home campaign's bard getting access to the Legend Lore spell, partly by the fact they are starting to interact with further flung reaches of the world due to their access to a flying saddle but also there has been a long running nagging thing in my mind that with magic, flying mounts, even just sea-faring ships, there ought to be stories of all sorts of places and maybe I ought to sketch out what folk ought to know.
So we turn once more to our wonderful Azgaar map and look at everything that is *outside* the Known World - the three campaign spaces - Ducal House, Southern Reaches and Bay of Princes have more or less blocked out their immediate neighbourhoods - so I want to look at the rest of the world.
10 January 2024
Terrain, Terrain, Terrain
I have been enjoying Baldurs Gate 3 and in particular the complexity of the terrain in many of the fights. I have written before on adding scale and verticality to make fights more interesting and even if you are not having a fight, interesting terrain can be a puzzles to set your players - and I think there are further interesting ideas to take for our tables.
First - two changes to the rules make interacting with the terrain 'cheaper' than in RAW 5e:
- Jump is a bonus action meaning everyone gets a mini 'cunning action: dash'
- Shoving is a bonus action (not an attack)
The first aids you interacting with the terrain and the second forces your enemies to.
First - two changes to the rules make interacting with the terrain 'cheaper' than in RAW 5e:
- Jump is a bonus action meaning everyone gets a mini 'cunning action: dash'
- Shoving is a bonus action (not an attack)
The first aids you interacting with the terrain and the second forces your enemies to.
08 January 2024
Shiny TTRPG links #154
A short set of links this week as I return from travelling. More can be found on the previous list found here. You can find more links on this weeks r/OSR blogroll or the RPG Blog Carnival or on Third Kingdom Games news roundup. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links.
Prismatic Wasteland proposes Blog Challenge: New (Year’s) Resolution Mechanic
The Dododecahedron responds Re: New (Year’s) Resolution Mechanic
Goblin Punch shares Everyone Has 10 HP
A Distant Chime wrote The GM Is Dead, and we, Murderers of All Murderers, Have Killed Him
The Gameatory gives us Luck in D&D
Grognardia shares Rakshasa Riddles
Don't Split the Party wrote Play Report: Skull Mountain
The Alexandrian gives us Skimming Scenarios
prokopetz writes Dealing with death in tabletop RPGs:
A Knight at the Opera shares Crunch Criteria
Sly Flourish gives us Roleplaying Between Sessions
Dark Eagle Games writes Last Minute Rolls
Prismatic Wasteland proposes Blog Challenge: New (Year’s) Resolution Mechanic
The Dododecahedron responds Re: New (Year’s) Resolution Mechanic
Goblin Punch shares Everyone Has 10 HP
A Distant Chime wrote The GM Is Dead, and we, Murderers of All Murderers, Have Killed Him
The Gameatory gives us Luck in D&D
Grognardia shares Rakshasa Riddles
Don't Split the Party wrote Play Report: Skull Mountain
The Alexandrian gives us Skimming Scenarios
prokopetz writes Dealing with death in tabletop RPGs:
A Knight at the Opera shares Crunch Criteria
Sly Flourish gives us Roleplaying Between Sessions
Dark Eagle Games writes Last Minute Rolls
06 January 2024
D.I.O. Ultimate Steppes Campaign
I have had a thought rolling about in my head for a bit to work up some sort of steppes campaign - built around a moving base that is either a nomadic tribe or a silk road caravan. I think a lot of this could be built off Ultraviolet Grasslands but I want the science-fantasy weirdness dialled more towards sword-and-sorcery weirdness. Throwing it out here on the D.I.O. principle.
An objective would be to bring to the table a bunch of books I have on my shelves - the long list being
Ultraviolet Grasslands
Metis Creative’s catalogue - City of the Crescent and Empires of the Silk Road
Wayfarer's Nomadic Realms
Studio Agates Great Kaan from Eana
Valley of the Five Fires
The Golden Khan of Ethengar (Known World Gazetteer GAZ12)
Another big influence on all this is the Dothraki Horde articles on A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry (ACOUP) which is a fascinating series.
Another objective of this would be a chance to visit some of the lesser known areas of famous campaign worlds since most of them do have a steppe location in it - Ethengar for the Known World, the Endless Wastes or the Hordelands for Forgotten Realms, the Dry Steppes for Greyhawk, Great Kaan for Eana, Khanate of Khazzaki for Midgard. Noting the strong similarities between all of these - effectively "if Steppe, therefore Mongol-types" much of what is available should be readily portable side-to-side. The Great Kaan and Nomadic Realms stand out for doing something a bit different. The way the ACOUP blog series looks at the parallels between horse-nomad cultures in North America and Asia provides another source of influences to draw on.
The campaign structure would be the caravan mechanics from UVG, a big theme being the 'moving across the map' huge scale of the thing. Sites would come within reach and be accessible for a period of time, the party roaming out from the mobile home base before moving on. It would prompt some different play styles in that you could play some situations as pure raids - stirring up a hornets nest and escaping into the great grasslands, confident that you are rapidly moving beyond the reach of vengeance.
The combination between 'explorers of the unknown' and 'community base' is the unusual thing to lean into. With a caravan, there are strong similarities to a ship based campaign, but with a nomad community than there are a lot more interesting relationships, a lot more going on but also a block more obligations and potential hooks related to the fact that *everyone* is along on the journey. In both cases there is a slow-moving core that needs to be protected or have enemies diverted away from it - sheep and goat flocks, the young and old of the community, the caravan goods, etc.
Thoughts for hooks would be: 1. Known hazards we need checked out to plan our route - are our sworn foes at their northern or southern camp grounds so we can avoid them, have the seals held on the tomb of great evil 2. Scout the route ahead - should be an easy ride, plenty of time for a side endeavour 3. Some predator is snatching from the flocks/mounts - deal with it 4. Tales tell of a treasure near our next camp ground - we should investigate 5. Ahead is one of the great cities - opportunity for trade and information gathering but all the risks that cities bring 6. Some so-called ruler of the steppe has sent emissaries - go back with them and try to get us in the least trouble
System wise the sources are 50/50 between 5e or BX compatible. I wouldn't mind trying an older edition to give a bit more focus onto solutions not on your character sheet and see people use their mounts more.
The more I think on this, the more it strikes me this is a rolling hex-crawl where there is time pressure to check things out before they fall beyond reach and fun to be had in the constant balance of 'grab what we can and go' versus 'delve deeper, knowing we have to travel ever further to catch up'. Some things will stay constant while others will change frequently.
An objective would be to bring to the table a bunch of books I have on my shelves - the long list being
Ultraviolet Grasslands
Metis Creative’s catalogue - City of the Crescent and Empires of the Silk Road
Wayfarer's Nomadic Realms
Studio Agates Great Kaan from Eana
Valley of the Five Fires
The Golden Khan of Ethengar (Known World Gazetteer GAZ12)
Another big influence on all this is the Dothraki Horde articles on A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry (ACOUP) which is a fascinating series.
Another objective of this would be a chance to visit some of the lesser known areas of famous campaign worlds since most of them do have a steppe location in it - Ethengar for the Known World, the Endless Wastes or the Hordelands for Forgotten Realms, the Dry Steppes for Greyhawk, Great Kaan for Eana, Khanate of Khazzaki for Midgard. Noting the strong similarities between all of these - effectively "if Steppe, therefore Mongol-types" much of what is available should be readily portable side-to-side. The Great Kaan and Nomadic Realms stand out for doing something a bit different. The way the ACOUP blog series looks at the parallels between horse-nomad cultures in North America and Asia provides another source of influences to draw on.
The campaign structure would be the caravan mechanics from UVG, a big theme being the 'moving across the map' huge scale of the thing. Sites would come within reach and be accessible for a period of time, the party roaming out from the mobile home base before moving on. It would prompt some different play styles in that you could play some situations as pure raids - stirring up a hornets nest and escaping into the great grasslands, confident that you are rapidly moving beyond the reach of vengeance.
The combination between 'explorers of the unknown' and 'community base' is the unusual thing to lean into. With a caravan, there are strong similarities to a ship based campaign, but with a nomad community than there are a lot more interesting relationships, a lot more going on but also a block more obligations and potential hooks related to the fact that *everyone* is along on the journey. In both cases there is a slow-moving core that needs to be protected or have enemies diverted away from it - sheep and goat flocks, the young and old of the community, the caravan goods, etc.
Thoughts for hooks would be: 1. Known hazards we need checked out to plan our route - are our sworn foes at their northern or southern camp grounds so we can avoid them, have the seals held on the tomb of great evil 2. Scout the route ahead - should be an easy ride, plenty of time for a side endeavour 3. Some predator is snatching from the flocks/mounts - deal with it 4. Tales tell of a treasure near our next camp ground - we should investigate 5. Ahead is one of the great cities - opportunity for trade and information gathering but all the risks that cities bring 6. Some so-called ruler of the steppe has sent emissaries - go back with them and try to get us in the least trouble
System wise the sources are 50/50 between 5e or BX compatible. I wouldn't mind trying an older edition to give a bit more focus onto solutions not on your character sheet and see people use their mounts more.
The more I think on this, the more it strikes me this is a rolling hex-crawl where there is time pressure to check things out before they fall beyond reach and fun to be had in the constant balance of 'grab what we can and go' versus 'delve deeper, knowing we have to travel ever further to catch up'. Some things will stay constant while others will change frequently.
03 January 2024
Review: Fateforge Creatures 2
tl;dr: a bestiary customised to the Eana setting, a strong setting book with some interesting design choices.
I have been backing Studio Agates Fateforge series for a while and this was the first of their 'wave 2' books - a follow-up bestiary exploring the underdark equivalent of their setting Eana - 180 creatures, playable species and game options. I backed the kickstarter a while back and the book turned up a while ago.
Lots of interesting creatures - low CR curiousities for pets and companions - good for flavour. Comes across as targetted at an explorers game where people will be doing a lot more interacting with the environment than simply killing anything that moves. Gorgeous art, as ever from Studio Agate, kudos to the artists and art direction. This is a chunky book, easier to read than your standard 5e due to larger text size, done in the same Studio Agate house style.
So what is all this stuff you get in the book?
I have been backing Studio Agates Fateforge series for a while and this was the first of their 'wave 2' books - a follow-up bestiary exploring the underdark equivalent of their setting Eana - 180 creatures, playable species and game options. I backed the kickstarter a while back and the book turned up a while ago.
Cover art by Yvan 'Gawain' Villeneuve
Lots of interesting creatures - low CR curiousities for pets and companions - good for flavour. Comes across as targetted at an explorers game where people will be doing a lot more interacting with the environment than simply killing anything that moves. Gorgeous art, as ever from Studio Agate, kudos to the artists and art direction. This is a chunky book, easier to read than your standard 5e due to larger text size, done in the same Studio Agate house style.
So what is all this stuff you get in the book?
01 January 2024
Shiny TTRPG links #153
First shiny links for 2024! More can be found on the previous list found here. You can find more links on this weeks r/OSR blogroll or the RPG Blog Carnival or on Third Kingdom Games news roundup. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links.
@zedecksiew announces THE BLOGGIES 2023: NOMINATIONS OPEN
Playful Void gives us The Novies and Year in Review
Vaults of Pandius publishes Threshold 33 - another chunky read.
If Our Lives Be Short, Let Our Fame Be Great has cultural proficiencies: a modest proposal
The-Magic-Sword on EnWorld started an interesting thread Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective
David J Projopetz On seeing D&D editions as a completely different game that happens to share a franchise name
Homicidally Inclined Persons Of No Fixed Address gives us Dungeons as networks
Tales of the Lunar Lands writes We Need More Nutcracker Adventures
@zedecksiew announces THE BLOGGIES 2023: NOMINATIONS OPEN
Playful Void gives us The Novies and Year in Review
Vaults of Pandius publishes Threshold 33 - another chunky read.
If Our Lives Be Short, Let Our Fame Be Great has cultural proficiencies: a modest proposal
The-Magic-Sword on EnWorld started an interesting thread Thinking About the Purpose of Mechanics from a Neo-Trad Perspective
David J Projopetz On seeing D&D editions as a completely different game that happens to share a franchise name
Homicidally Inclined Persons Of No Fixed Address gives us Dungeons as networks
Tales of the Lunar Lands writes We Need More Nutcracker Adventures
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