Journeying Through the World of RPGs
"A Land of Make Believe" by Jaro Hess A lot of blog-space is spent showcasing or discussing various ways a GM should structure and prep their sessions. But what does prepping actually look like in practice? Is everyone using techniques such as prep-situations-not-plots? Are they making good use of the three-clue rule for their adventures? … Continue reading How I Prep A Session
Chances are, if you're one of the millions playing games like D&D 5e, Pathfinder or 13th Age, it's because you love combat. The power fantasy of fighting evil monsters, daring feats of heroism, and overcoming the odds are one of the core reasons why we play these games, myself included. It's such a staple of … Continue reading Structured Combat Encounters: Objectives
"Burning Tavern" by conzitool A blood-weaving warlock of the Iron Circle has rooted out a member of the Harkenwold resistance, a human woman named Ilyana including her two children. Her husband was dragged outside and a toxic acid salamander is gorging itself on his remains. Ilyana's cries for help are drowned out as the warlock … Continue reading What the Heart? Using ICRPG Hearts in 13th Age
Neo-Ptolus is a Dieselpunk-fueled high fantasy megalopolis mixed with elements of Cyberpunk and Cosmic Horror. Encounter anything from light-eating terrors from deep beneath the earth, dazzling islands in the sky, the ominous wreck of the crashed Vallis moon, an alien vessel from the infinite cosmic space, an underground city with an artificial sun, and so … Continue reading Neo-Ptolus
Recently I've been revisiting and re-reading multiple authors' takes on the Overloaded Encounter Die. For a while now I've felt that my Encounter Checks have been missing a little spice- something to enliven them. I believe that missing spice to be the escalation of threat during an adventure. It's all well and good if traveling … Continue reading Pointcrawls Applied: The Escalating Encounter Die
(Previous Article: Flux Space and Discovery Part 1) Back when I wrote my session recap and thoughts regarding overland pointcrawls with optional rules for discovery, I was only partially satisfied with my approach. Requiring players to spend the time necessary to traverse a Flux Space to determine all open connections is fine, but what if … Continue reading Pointcrawls Applied: Flux Space and Discovery Part 2
I love traps. My favorite ones are those that the players see coming yet are so tantalizing and confounding that they mess with or trigger them anyway. In fact, them knowing that they're standing right in front or even inside of a trap is a source of excitement and an experience I hope they remember … Continue reading 1d6 Insidious Traps Your Players Will See Coming but Walk Into Anyway
I recently had the pleasure of Refereeing another game of Whitehack 3e. It ended in a TPK after a showdown with a two-headed dire bear went awry. Oops. Let's talk about how I used a simple Pointcrawl diagram to layout and design the adventure! A quick summary of the adventure is in order. The players … Continue reading Pointcrawls Applied: Flux Space and Discovery
From Dimitry Masaltsev's Medieval Armory Relight In my search for the "perfect" (OSR) game, I have spent a lot of time tinkering and creating my own homebrew rules and am even working on a system of my own. The system is by no means OSR, but rather epic fantasy like 13th Age. Nevertheless, one of … Continue reading Weapon Toolkit
Converting The Full-Dark Stone from Trilemma Adventures to a magnificent pointcrawl. I've recently been on a pointcrawling binge and think that it's becoming one of my favorite ways of running dungeons. I know that some people aren't quite as familiar with it (and I'm by no means an expert), so I thought it would be … Continue reading Pointcrawls Applied: The Full-Dark Stone
The Adventuring Day 