Today we have two new episode of Untamed Dice for you to enjoy!
Showing posts with label D&D. Show all posts
Showing posts with label D&D. Show all posts
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Libris Monstrum #1: Naga
Welcome to the very first entry in the Libris Monstrum! Here shall be a series of entries going over some of the most commonly included monsters in game manuals. But, no, I am not going to be going over things like dragons or goblins. At least not at first, because those monsters are not just included but staples of games like Dungeons & Dragons. My goal is to talk about the monsters that often get missed and forgotten. To begin I want to talk about one of my favorites from mythology: the naga!
Serpent Entities
Naga, or nagini as the females are called, are serpent creatures of various Asian mythos. Most notably, nagas are part of the various Indian religions. The spread of religions like Hinduism and Buddhism throughout Asia caused quite a diversification of nagas over time. Nevertheless, nagas are almost always related to the king cobra and thus have similar hoods. Aside from this, there are a few other common physical features. The more frightening, and interesting, are the human faces. How human the faces are can vary. Still, the image of a serpentine creature whose head is very human, but whose eyes and forked tongue are still snake-like, is unnerving. Some even have multiple heads like the hydra of greek mythology. Nagas can also be capable of shapeshifting into human form, disguising themselves among people.
Purpose
There are mixed stories about the type of beings that naga and nagini are. Generally speaking they are seen as evil creatures, capricious and deceitful. Sometimes though, they can act as a neutral party or may even be willing to be good and helpful. Regardless though, there seems to be a general regard of nagas to be guardians of some kind. Treasure is one such thing, but more often they are natural resources, especially water. Rivers, lakes, and underground springs can be the home of guardian naga. Even those helpful naga must be shown respect and their sacred water source treated well.
Nagas In Dungeons & Dragons
Nagas have been included in D&D for decades, always showing up in the monster manuals as serpentine entities. These come in a couple varieties, each of which tends to focus on a specific aspect of the mythos. Common types include guardian, dark, and water nagas which become associated with sacred places / treasure, evil, and nature protection respectively. This division is also tied to alignment with guardian naga being good and dark naga being evil, for example. This variety is kept throughout the edition, though there are often more added in various books. These days the naga have a very cobra-like appearance and slightly human faces. They are considered immortal monstrosities and all are capable of some form of spell casting.
Nagas In Pathfinder
Pathfinder is one of my favorite games in regard to the treatment of creatures from a variety of mythos and sources. Nagas are no exception. Like D&D, Pathfinder links different types of naga to some aspect of the mythos, as well as alignment. There is a little less emphasis on guardianship, but a strong linking to other specifics. That list of things has been expanded and explored by Paizo and includes interesting naga types like royal, slime, and dream. The nagas in Pathfinder art have much more human faces and their serpent forms divert from the cobra occasionally, providing a nice variety. Like D&D nagas, these ones can cast spells, but they are mortal beings. Instead of one naga lording over a place or people, a lineage of nagas take the name of a predecessor allowing the shorter lived races to assume it is but a single individual.
Nagas At The Table
The obvious use of a naga is to act as a guardian of a certain area or item that the party may be looking for. While interesting and different in the moment, this does not do the naga justice. D&D has emphasized the naga in 5th Edition by discussing their connection to the Yuan-ti, another serpent people. The war between the two go so far back that the yuan-ti even have a horrible ritual which kills a naga and raises it as an undead known as the bone naga. This enmity could be the basis of an entire setting or campaign. Perhaps the PCs must choose sides in a developing war, or maybe they get caught as a third party between the two sides. Another idea I had was to have the two groups working together. What would cause such unprecedented and dangerous agendas?
My favorite use of the naga is completely different, however. There are a multitude of powerful entities or persons that can act has NPCs, but why not naga? Utilize the mythical predilection towards guarding something and helping those who help them, as well as their ability to look human (or some fantasy race). Give them age, knowledge, and power beyond what is the base stat block. Their ability to cast spells naturally make them even more formidable. I would argue that ancient nagas (with levels in some spellcasting class) would be more powerful than many dragons, and they certainly provide a different way of filling a similar role. Hey, you could even give them a treasure hoard like dragons have!
Serpent Entities
Naga, or nagini as the females are called, are serpent creatures of various Asian mythos. Most notably, nagas are part of the various Indian religions. The spread of religions like Hinduism and Buddhism throughout Asia caused quite a diversification of nagas over time. Nevertheless, nagas are almost always related to the king cobra and thus have similar hoods. Aside from this, there are a few other common physical features. The more frightening, and interesting, are the human faces. How human the faces are can vary. Still, the image of a serpentine creature whose head is very human, but whose eyes and forked tongue are still snake-like, is unnerving. Some even have multiple heads like the hydra of greek mythology. Nagas can also be capable of shapeshifting into human form, disguising themselves among people.
Purpose
There are mixed stories about the type of beings that naga and nagini are. Generally speaking they are seen as evil creatures, capricious and deceitful. Sometimes though, they can act as a neutral party or may even be willing to be good and helpful. Regardless though, there seems to be a general regard of nagas to be guardians of some kind. Treasure is one such thing, but more often they are natural resources, especially water. Rivers, lakes, and underground springs can be the home of guardian naga. Even those helpful naga must be shown respect and their sacred water source treated well.
Nagas In Dungeons & Dragons
Nagas have been included in D&D for decades, always showing up in the monster manuals as serpentine entities. These come in a couple varieties, each of which tends to focus on a specific aspect of the mythos. Common types include guardian, dark, and water nagas which become associated with sacred places / treasure, evil, and nature protection respectively. This division is also tied to alignment with guardian naga being good and dark naga being evil, for example. This variety is kept throughout the edition, though there are often more added in various books. These days the naga have a very cobra-like appearance and slightly human faces. They are considered immortal monstrosities and all are capable of some form of spell casting.
Nagas In Pathfinder
Pathfinder is one of my favorite games in regard to the treatment of creatures from a variety of mythos and sources. Nagas are no exception. Like D&D, Pathfinder links different types of naga to some aspect of the mythos, as well as alignment. There is a little less emphasis on guardianship, but a strong linking to other specifics. That list of things has been expanded and explored by Paizo and includes interesting naga types like royal, slime, and dream. The nagas in Pathfinder art have much more human faces and their serpent forms divert from the cobra occasionally, providing a nice variety. Like D&D nagas, these ones can cast spells, but they are mortal beings. Instead of one naga lording over a place or people, a lineage of nagas take the name of a predecessor allowing the shorter lived races to assume it is but a single individual.
Nagas At The Table
The obvious use of a naga is to act as a guardian of a certain area or item that the party may be looking for. While interesting and different in the moment, this does not do the naga justice. D&D has emphasized the naga in 5th Edition by discussing their connection to the Yuan-ti, another serpent people. The war between the two go so far back that the yuan-ti even have a horrible ritual which kills a naga and raises it as an undead known as the bone naga. This enmity could be the basis of an entire setting or campaign. Perhaps the PCs must choose sides in a developing war, or maybe they get caught as a third party between the two sides. Another idea I had was to have the two groups working together. What would cause such unprecedented and dangerous agendas?
My favorite use of the naga is completely different, however. There are a multitude of powerful entities or persons that can act has NPCs, but why not naga? Utilize the mythical predilection towards guarding something and helping those who help them, as well as their ability to look human (or some fantasy race). Give them age, knowledge, and power beyond what is the base stat block. Their ability to cast spells naturally make them even more formidable. I would argue that ancient nagas (with levels in some spellcasting class) would be more powerful than many dragons, and they certainly provide a different way of filling a similar role. Hey, you could even give them a treasure hoard like dragons have!
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Resources For Every GM: Rules & Supplements Part 7
Greetings everyone! Today we get back to some core resources for your bookshelf. While these resources will be much more directed towards the Pathfinder or Dungeons & Dragons GM, they are pretty great book in general. The topic of this trio is equipment, especially weapons, because who doesn't need more diverse (or insane!) equipment??
Arms & Equipment Guide (3rd Edition D&D): I love this book. It wasn't gigantic, and it wasn't in color, but it was full of great stuff. The great thing about books like this is that gold value is relatively maintained throughout the editions, so that you don't need to go into much editing or double-checking there. This one, in particular, makes great use of that with all the various mundane items that can be found in Chapter 2. Clothing, food, drink, and trade goods are just a few of the items you can find here. Trade goods could be especially useful in filling out a dragon's hoard. I know what you're thinking too, but this stuff is in the main manual I use. Yes you are right, but this gives a large variety of examples to flesh out your world and make different locations unique from one-another. Vehicle, hirelings, creatures, and mercenaries are also helpful from this book even if you only use price points. The mechanics of it may not be the most helpful to everyone's game, but if you need a compact list of resources and items then this should be added to your library.
Weapons of Legacy (3.5 D&D): This book almost didn't make it on here. It is very mechanic heavy and entrenched in the 3rd Edition feat rules. However, it provides an example of something that few other books did: provide scaling magical items. I have always loved this idea. If I player find or even creates an item and grant it a name (magical or otherwise) it deserves to have a legacy. Granting magical effects and increasing its power over time with that of the character makes it more meaningful. There are also some good examples of this happening recently. In Critical Role, the vestiges gain power as they are used and their potential unlocked. In World of Warcraft, there are now legendary weapons that scale with your level and can be imbued with more and more power. In Destiny items can be consumed to increase the light level of the one you wield. Personally, this book is a great how-to guide, an example of how you can go about doing the same in your game. The fact that there is a whole chapter of optional rules provides just that much more insight into the process and the things associated with using scalable items. If you want a whole book of prime examples, this is the best one I have seen.
Adventurer's Armory (Pathfinder): This is the Pathfinder version of the Arms & Equipment guide. While it doesn't have things like the gelatinous cube mount, it does have a ton of fantastic stuff (and full color artwork!). Included are a number of unique weapons, like the boomerang, with rules how to use those and some unique weapon properties (like the ability to choke someone). In addition there are more great ideas for mundane items and their price points. Also included are examples (in the form of feats and the like) of equipment tricks you can learn and how to use certain items as spell foci. Other awesome sections include alchemist's ingredients and how they might effect a concoction, as well as a brief example of how to utilize items within a social encounter. For those who continue to love variety for their games, this is another book for you!
Arms & Equipment Guide (3rd Edition D&D): I love this book. It wasn't gigantic, and it wasn't in color, but it was full of great stuff. The great thing about books like this is that gold value is relatively maintained throughout the editions, so that you don't need to go into much editing or double-checking there. This one, in particular, makes great use of that with all the various mundane items that can be found in Chapter 2. Clothing, food, drink, and trade goods are just a few of the items you can find here. Trade goods could be especially useful in filling out a dragon's hoard. I know what you're thinking too, but this stuff is in the main manual I use. Yes you are right, but this gives a large variety of examples to flesh out your world and make different locations unique from one-another. Vehicle, hirelings, creatures, and mercenaries are also helpful from this book even if you only use price points. The mechanics of it may not be the most helpful to everyone's game, but if you need a compact list of resources and items then this should be added to your library.
Weapons of Legacy (3.5 D&D): This book almost didn't make it on here. It is very mechanic heavy and entrenched in the 3rd Edition feat rules. However, it provides an example of something that few other books did: provide scaling magical items. I have always loved this idea. If I player find or even creates an item and grant it a name (magical or otherwise) it deserves to have a legacy. Granting magical effects and increasing its power over time with that of the character makes it more meaningful. There are also some good examples of this happening recently. In Critical Role, the vestiges gain power as they are used and their potential unlocked. In World of Warcraft, there are now legendary weapons that scale with your level and can be imbued with more and more power. In Destiny items can be consumed to increase the light level of the one you wield. Personally, this book is a great how-to guide, an example of how you can go about doing the same in your game. The fact that there is a whole chapter of optional rules provides just that much more insight into the process and the things associated with using scalable items. If you want a whole book of prime examples, this is the best one I have seen.
Adventurer's Armory (Pathfinder): This is the Pathfinder version of the Arms & Equipment guide. While it doesn't have things like the gelatinous cube mount, it does have a ton of fantastic stuff (and full color artwork!). Included are a number of unique weapons, like the boomerang, with rules how to use those and some unique weapon properties (like the ability to choke someone). In addition there are more great ideas for mundane items and their price points. Also included are examples (in the form of feats and the like) of equipment tricks you can learn and how to use certain items as spell foci. Other awesome sections include alchemist's ingredients and how they might effect a concoction, as well as a brief example of how to utilize items within a social encounter. For those who continue to love variety for their games, this is another book for you!
Saturday, January 21, 2017
It's A Trap!
Episode 6 of our Luxarrah game is out and things are a little tense. A few hours (in game days) trying to escape from underground will do that to a party! Find out how the next leg of this journey goes in today's episode!
Monday, January 16, 2017
Running My First Published Campaign And Killing Everyone
Despite many years of playing Dungeons & Dragons, and other table top games, I have never actually run a published adventure or campaign. I have come close to doing so, taken pretty direct inspiration from them, but never held one with the intent of following that story directly. Not until Curse of Strahd came out last year.
We introduced a couple new players to D&D using Death House and with the great fun and success of that one-shot, we decided to move on to Curse of Strahd. It has provided a couple of significant challenges as a DM for me, which I have mentioned a couple times in passing. Today, I wanted to discuss it a little further, especially given last night's session. Never have I killed so many PCs in a session or a campaign. It may seem unlikely, but it is true, the other near TPK situations I have had were generally converted to capture situations. Needless to say, Strahd has been quite an experience so far.
It's Ready For You
The (obvious) thing about published adventures is that they are made for you. You don't have to do any of the normal prep work that goes with a home game. Instead, you have a good amount of reading ahead of you. It may sound odd, but this has not been the easiest way for me to run an adventure.
Preparation for this adventure includes reading more between sessions. Figuring out what the players have done and how their actions have rippled through that book. The problem, for me, is that it's not unlikely that the players have done something that commits drastic changes to the written story. Now, that much should be pretty obvious for most GMs. The players will always derail anything you run for them. As those changes pile up, though, it becomes a little difficult to prepare. The hardest part is when you are leading them down a (narrative) road and discover that the road was destroyed multiple sessions ago by their actions. It isn't the worst thing to happen, it is just a bit annoying because that discovery could come mid-session not during your planning between.
Look It Up Instead Of Make It Up
When running the published game I get as prepared as possible to know what is in that book and keep the most likely relevant information at the top of my thoughts. Of course this always goes to shit, so I also have been getting more familiar with where to find what for the inevitable, "let me look that up," moments. Now, you may be saying that I should just do things on the fly, make it up, and fix it later. For a number of things, I very much do that, but there is a line where I have to decide I don't know enough off the top of my head to make it up. If I did I would create a lot more work for myself later, and possibly create unknown narrative roadblocks elsewhere.
In Curse of Strahd, the thing I end up looking up most is individuals' statuses. Are they allies or enemies of Strahd? Who are they friendly with? I NEED to make sure I get those right when the players ask those questions. The whole story is written around those relationships. Now, my players don't mind me double checking, but I find myself most comfortable in a home brew world where I KNOW those relationships. And the ones I don't know, well that is when I make the decision myself.
The Death Of A Party....Or Two
Curse of Strahd was taken as a difficult, high risk adventure. I knew that, my players knew that. Two of them died in Death House. Death hasn't been a problem for the group or the game, but it has happened. Up until last night, however, the two newbies (through sheer luck) had survived since their arrival to Death House. They provided a narrative backbone for story progression and knowing what was going on and why. At least enough to say, "hey new guy who isn't from here I have some bad news...."
The deaths alone aren't bad. They were all made in doing something good. Death House is cleansed. Ireena and her brother have escaped the Village of Barovia. The Wizards Of Wines vineyard is beat up, but saved and one gem returned. Those who aren't ghosts of Barovia will likely be back, some as vampires. The player's know this and I think it will be a fun session when they have to fight their former selves. It's the line we have gotten to now, with no original party member left, that creates a problem.
But everyone died yesterday. Two at the hands of a vampire nest. One after really bad-mouthing Strahd from the stocks and failing a Wisdom save. The last was hung for murder (a story in its own right). That last one was brought back from the dead, but he was new to the party and only knows what is happening second hand. Now new travelers have come to Barovia, and the party is together as outsiders who know that the only way home will be to defeat Strahd. They even had new cards read and that reading has aided the campaign track nicely.
But what happens if there is a TPK, or close enough to one? If it is too soon, that might be the end of Curse of Strahd. I don't think the players would even find it enjoyable to so quickly make a whole new party and go through introductions, get new card readings, and discover how many may have fallen before them. Maybe at a later date when the horrors of Barovia are a memory. If there is quite a bit of story before any deaths, then the likelihood of deaths lessens and the players get stronger. It will be easier to resurrect or replace one of them, and continue. That problem, though, the problem of too many deaths too soon; it lurks right around the corner.
Learning Curve
Running a published game has been quite the learning curve, especially given the added burden of character deaths by the wagon-load. It has been a fun one, however. While I may be more comfortable in my own worlds, I don't dislike the published adventures. In many ways I spend less time preparing, though that may be my many years of student experience. I know how to take notes and look things up. Creating my own things may be easier, but it is certainly time consuming. I get better as the sessions go on, and the start of the next one will prove to be smoother (from my point of view at least). And my home brew games, I can apply what I learn in this form of GMing to those too. There is always something to be learned, and I look forward to learning.
Oh, and if there is a TPK soon, or even if Strahd is eventually defeated, we will have to move onto In Strange Aeons, because why go for a less horrific adventure the second go?
Saturday, January 14, 2017
New Untamed Dice!
Today brings you Episode 5 of our Luxarrah campaign!! I also want to mention a worry I have after the Rant debacle this month. While the audio isn't bad, we did run into the realization that it recorded via the notebook mic, not the good one. I know why now, and it is probably because the audio in and audio out selections are right next to each other. I would have made the wrong switch to our Meteor mic. Now I am hyper-aware of making sure NOT to do that, but I am also worried some of the recording in line to be edited got similar treatment. We may or may not even notice, I hope not, but just in case I want to apologize in advance if any episodes end up being of especially poor quality despite our efforts to improve. Anyways here is your new episode!
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Luxarrah Episode 4!
Hey everyone! I am happy to say that Luxarrah episode 4 is here and we only missed one week! If you are wondering, The Untamed Rant is close to ready as well, but patrons will still be getting it first despite the delay. Make sure to watch Twitter, though, because we will be posting a poll for next month's topic tomorrow!
Thursday, January 5, 2017
D&D And The Legend Of Zelda
There are a lot of video games out there that feel like a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Some of them are D&D video games, others are just fantasy RPGs. The Legend of Zelda franchise is one of those series that belongs at the table. The elements are all there just waiting for you to save Hyrule as your own character. Other people seem to agree with this opinion, because the unofficial fan-made source books for D&D are out there. We are going to take advantage of the hard work done by those fans and deliver you a one-shot adventure set in Hyrule, but before that happens let's talk about The Legend of Zelda and how that will work.
The Legend of Zelda
The title of the original game for the Nintendo Entertainment System reveals something that a lot of people tend to miss: this isn't just about the hero character. The mix up still happens, and the uninitiated have a decent chance of calling Link by the name of the princess. Link is the hero and Zelda is the damsel in distress. Then there is Gannon, the villain. One of the greatest things about the LoZ series is that this trio of characters that are destined to be reincarnated throughout time and the artifact to which they are connected: the Triforce. Representing wisdom, courage, and power, the Triforce is often split into many parts and then gathered by the hero to save Hyrule (again!).
Amazingly, the series is that it presents you with a fairly in-depth story, even in the days of 8-bit graphics. Back then there were instruction manuals filled with art, game explanation, lists of enemies, and controls. That isn't all, though, the manuals included story. Why is the hero doing what they are doing? What happened? If you didn't read the manual you didn't know what Mario was looking for until some weird dude told you that the princess was in another castle. Not true for the Legend of Zelda. The title screen included a cinematic background, great music, and an opening crawl that revealed what the tale was. Then you start up, an old man gives you a sword, and you are left to figure out how to save the world.
D&D Fantasy Elements
So we have the hero, the quest, the villain. It's a pretty general story set up. It's also the cliche fantasy or fairy-tale set up, but it isn't the only thing that makes this game very D&D-like. First off, there is the presence of ghosts, living skeletons, magical beasts, and the equivalent of orcs (moblins). What I love about the Zelda games are that those creatures are often unique. For example you have the Like Like, a gelatinous, worm-like creature that kind of just hugs you, takes your shield, and spits you out.
Then you have the formula of the game: exploration of the world to get the tools you need to save it. This includes a lot of adventure zones that feature unique sets of creatures and obstacles. There are forests, mountains, deserts, shores, graveyards, and dungeons. There are hidden secrets hinted at by strange NPCs or found through random experimentation. Puzzles are also common, even in the early days where there is a repeating woodland screen tile. You could come back the way you came to get out, or travel a specific path to get out the other side.
All of those elements exist in the worlds of D&D, especially when thinking of the way old school campaigns tend to be remembered. Dungeon delve after dungeon delve, with potentially dangerous travel between and leaving the dungeon to seek the tools you need to get deeper. Learning to recognize traps and remembering the tenancies of common dungeon-dwellers. The LoZ series has always relied on tools, too. In D&D you bring your string, caltrops, mirror, and ten-foot pole. As Link you make sure you have your candle, potion, and bombs. And, of course, you have to get artifacts to get through the journey. Rafts, ladders, boomerangs, a hook shot, masks, and so much more. Don't forget the magical weapons either! Fighters always want prettier, more powerful swords.
The Problem and the Solution
OK, great, The Legend of Zelda fits all the cliches and desires of a D&D game, but there's a problem. The story (almost) always included a solo hero destined to fight a villain. Moblins, peahats, and wizzrobes seem to keep to themselves in the wilderness and dungeons, even in times of darkness. In the original game you don't visit towns or cities and in more recent games you usually don't find monsters in those civilized areas. It is as if the only thing creating danger in the world are the major villains and often these are, or combo with, some kind of demon. Whenever the villain is defeated Hyrule experiences another age of prosperity.
So are there heroes and adventurers besides Link? Probably, you cannot go a few hundred years without problems of some kind, right? The series creates so many possibilities and versions of Hyrule, that a DM is free to do whatever he wants. That in itself is a blessing, but also a curse. What is the right one to choose? If you pick one do you have to limit the classes available? And then of course, where were such heroes in Link's time(s)?
The creator of the guidebooks for a LoZ 5th Edition games takes care of this for you in a wonderful way. In this version of Hyrule, the Triforce and those connected to it have been removed from time. The cycle is broken and without the ruling family things are a bit in shambles. So what races and monsters are there? Pretty much all of them. They all have an area to themselves and all have some stake in Hyrule, and because of their interactions and the dangers of the wilderness between, there is reason for adventurers to be around.
That is the take we're going to go with. Our heroes will be adventurers in a Hyrule with no Triforce and no Hero of Time. There isn't much stability and monsters roam the wilds. Things can only get worse and there will be no Link to save the world. Someone must step up, and someone will be selected by the Goddess to help the world. And don't worry we will see a dungeon, classic items, and some of our favorite baddies. If you are interested in the resources we'll be using the links are below and we cannot wait to share our adventures through Hyrule on Untamed Dice!
GMs
PCs
Monsters
The Legend of Zelda
The title of the original game for the Nintendo Entertainment System reveals something that a lot of people tend to miss: this isn't just about the hero character. The mix up still happens, and the uninitiated have a decent chance of calling Link by the name of the princess. Link is the hero and Zelda is the damsel in distress. Then there is Gannon, the villain. One of the greatest things about the LoZ series is that this trio of characters that are destined to be reincarnated throughout time and the artifact to which they are connected: the Triforce. Representing wisdom, courage, and power, the Triforce is often split into many parts and then gathered by the hero to save Hyrule (again!).
Amazingly, the series is that it presents you with a fairly in-depth story, even in the days of 8-bit graphics. Back then there were instruction manuals filled with art, game explanation, lists of enemies, and controls. That isn't all, though, the manuals included story. Why is the hero doing what they are doing? What happened? If you didn't read the manual you didn't know what Mario was looking for until some weird dude told you that the princess was in another castle. Not true for the Legend of Zelda. The title screen included a cinematic background, great music, and an opening crawl that revealed what the tale was. Then you start up, an old man gives you a sword, and you are left to figure out how to save the world.
D&D Fantasy Elements
So we have the hero, the quest, the villain. It's a pretty general story set up. It's also the cliche fantasy or fairy-tale set up, but it isn't the only thing that makes this game very D&D-like. First off, there is the presence of ghosts, living skeletons, magical beasts, and the equivalent of orcs (moblins). What I love about the Zelda games are that those creatures are often unique. For example you have the Like Like, a gelatinous, worm-like creature that kind of just hugs you, takes your shield, and spits you out.
Then you have the formula of the game: exploration of the world to get the tools you need to save it. This includes a lot of adventure zones that feature unique sets of creatures and obstacles. There are forests, mountains, deserts, shores, graveyards, and dungeons. There are hidden secrets hinted at by strange NPCs or found through random experimentation. Puzzles are also common, even in the early days where there is a repeating woodland screen tile. You could come back the way you came to get out, or travel a specific path to get out the other side.
All of those elements exist in the worlds of D&D, especially when thinking of the way old school campaigns tend to be remembered. Dungeon delve after dungeon delve, with potentially dangerous travel between and leaving the dungeon to seek the tools you need to get deeper. Learning to recognize traps and remembering the tenancies of common dungeon-dwellers. The LoZ series has always relied on tools, too. In D&D you bring your string, caltrops, mirror, and ten-foot pole. As Link you make sure you have your candle, potion, and bombs. And, of course, you have to get artifacts to get through the journey. Rafts, ladders, boomerangs, a hook shot, masks, and so much more. Don't forget the magical weapons either! Fighters always want prettier, more powerful swords.
The Problem and the Solution
OK, great, The Legend of Zelda fits all the cliches and desires of a D&D game, but there's a problem. The story (almost) always included a solo hero destined to fight a villain. Moblins, peahats, and wizzrobes seem to keep to themselves in the wilderness and dungeons, even in times of darkness. In the original game you don't visit towns or cities and in more recent games you usually don't find monsters in those civilized areas. It is as if the only thing creating danger in the world are the major villains and often these are, or combo with, some kind of demon. Whenever the villain is defeated Hyrule experiences another age of prosperity.
So are there heroes and adventurers besides Link? Probably, you cannot go a few hundred years without problems of some kind, right? The series creates so many possibilities and versions of Hyrule, that a DM is free to do whatever he wants. That in itself is a blessing, but also a curse. What is the right one to choose? If you pick one do you have to limit the classes available? And then of course, where were such heroes in Link's time(s)?
The creator of the guidebooks for a LoZ 5th Edition games takes care of this for you in a wonderful way. In this version of Hyrule, the Triforce and those connected to it have been removed from time. The cycle is broken and without the ruling family things are a bit in shambles. So what races and monsters are there? Pretty much all of them. They all have an area to themselves and all have some stake in Hyrule, and because of their interactions and the dangers of the wilderness between, there is reason for adventurers to be around.
That is the take we're going to go with. Our heroes will be adventurers in a Hyrule with no Triforce and no Hero of Time. There isn't much stability and monsters roam the wilds. Things can only get worse and there will be no Link to save the world. Someone must step up, and someone will be selected by the Goddess to help the world. And don't worry we will see a dungeon, classic items, and some of our favorite baddies. If you are interested in the resources we'll be using the links are below and we cannot wait to share our adventures through Hyrule on Untamed Dice!
GMs
PCs
Monsters
Monday, December 26, 2016
Luxarrah: Fates Denied
Hey everyone, I hope your holidays have all been going well! In case you missed it Saturday, episode 3 of out Luxarrah came out. Join our captured heroes and find out if they can escape with their, and the other captives', lives!
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Luxarrah Episode 2
In case you missed it, yesterday, the second episode of our Luxarrah campaign is out! Catch it below or wherever you normally listen to podcasts. In this episode the PCs begin their quest to defeat the Arikana.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Latest Untamed Rant!
Good morning everyone! Thursday saw our release of the third episode of the Untamed Rant. If you haven't already caught it, this one is about thaumaturgy and the way 5th Edition changed up how cantrips were tackled. Stay tuned because later today I'll also have episode 2 of the Luxarrah game!!!
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Untamed Dice Is Back!!
Hello everyone! This past Saturday saw the return of Untamed Dice with the first episode of our Luxarrah campaign. This will release weekly and we can guarantee this for months! Barring any random event mind you. While this does not (yet) include the return of Brave New Worlds it does feature the world those episodes were taking place on, approximately six months later. Don't worry there are no spoilers, and the party goes north. You'll just have to continue to wait for the horrors those guys will encounter.
As a side note, you can expect more one shots. We have already recorded Cat and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Next we intend to do a Legend of Zelda game. So, there is lots to look forward to and were very excited to share!
As a side note, you can expect more one shots. We have already recorded Cat and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Next we intend to do a Legend of Zelda game. So, there is lots to look forward to and were very excited to share!
Friday, November 25, 2016
Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 7
Hey everyone, today I wanted to expand your bookmarks once again!
Campaign Crawler: This website is new to me, and pretty new to the internet. Campaign Crawler is a database of table top role playing game campaigns. As various campaigns become ever-more numerous, it helps to have a place where you can search or browse them. Now, this is a new site so there is a limited number of campaigns. Hundreds are there, mind you, but most of the database features 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons material including Wizards, other publishers' products, and a lot of DMs Guild material. Browsing it I have also found some Call of Cthulhu and AGE entries in the database, so there is a lot of potential for this database to become something huge. It will require interest and visitors though! If you need a little more pushing to go to the site, the entries already there are well done. They include varying amount of summary but have rule-sets, authors, page numbers, settings, and more associated with them. Additionally the page will lead you to similar products and link you to where you can purchase the product.
Kobold Fight Club: A web tool to make any Dungeon Master's life a whole hell of a lot easier comes in the form of Kobold Fight Club. This tool allows you to enter your party size and level in order to determine the difficulty of various creatures based on Challenge Rating. In addition the entries include size, type, alignment and source of the entry. The entries can be filtered be these, by level range, environment, and search. If this wasn't helpful enough, you can build and save encounters to use in your game and figure out how difficult those encounters will be. These encounters can be saved and accessed later to create a place to keep and run them from with ease. As of right now, there are over a dozen sources that can be included in any searches or encounters, but it will be up to the DM to have access to the stats of those creatures.
Matthew Colville's YouTube Channel: I can't say enough about this channel. While the channel isn't new, Matt Colville has begun adding a significant number of TTRPG videos. To be fair, most of these are D&D directed, but there is so much information presented in these that is great for players (or potential players) of any game. The Running The Game series, is perhaps the one I would suggest most as Matt shares much of his experience and hints on how to go about things at the table. Random encounters, making characters, why we play, and dead ends are all topics that can be found. He addresses the topics carefully and well-spoken. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of an experienced DM's advice!
Campaign Crawler: This website is new to me, and pretty new to the internet. Campaign Crawler is a database of table top role playing game campaigns. As various campaigns become ever-more numerous, it helps to have a place where you can search or browse them. Now, this is a new site so there is a limited number of campaigns. Hundreds are there, mind you, but most of the database features 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons material including Wizards, other publishers' products, and a lot of DMs Guild material. Browsing it I have also found some Call of Cthulhu and AGE entries in the database, so there is a lot of potential for this database to become something huge. It will require interest and visitors though! If you need a little more pushing to go to the site, the entries already there are well done. They include varying amount of summary but have rule-sets, authors, page numbers, settings, and more associated with them. Additionally the page will lead you to similar products and link you to where you can purchase the product.
Kobold Fight Club: A web tool to make any Dungeon Master's life a whole hell of a lot easier comes in the form of Kobold Fight Club. This tool allows you to enter your party size and level in order to determine the difficulty of various creatures based on Challenge Rating. In addition the entries include size, type, alignment and source of the entry. The entries can be filtered be these, by level range, environment, and search. If this wasn't helpful enough, you can build and save encounters to use in your game and figure out how difficult those encounters will be. These encounters can be saved and accessed later to create a place to keep and run them from with ease. As of right now, there are over a dozen sources that can be included in any searches or encounters, but it will be up to the DM to have access to the stats of those creatures.
Matthew Colville's YouTube Channel: I can't say enough about this channel. While the channel isn't new, Matt Colville has begun adding a significant number of TTRPG videos. To be fair, most of these are D&D directed, but there is so much information presented in these that is great for players (or potential players) of any game. The Running The Game series, is perhaps the one I would suggest most as Matt shares much of his experience and hints on how to go about things at the table. Random encounters, making characters, why we play, and dead ends are all topics that can be found. He addresses the topics carefully and well-spoken. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of an experienced DM's advice!
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Untamed Rant: Resurrection
Hello everyone and welcome to our first new episode of D&Donuts, now called the Untamed Rant! In this episode we talk about the changes to resurrection and similar spells throughout the years of Dungeons & Dragons, and we get into the importance and occurrence of character death in the game.
In the next episode we will be discussing Cthulhu, as voted on by our followers on Twitter. If you would like to vote on the third episode's topic follow @42nd_Alchemist and @untamedscribe. If you enjoy the show, want to help us out, or just get it two weeks before everyone else become a patron over on our Patreon page! And don't worry about our current goals or reward levels, those are undergoing revision for November and any pledge you make will get you early access to this podcast and our Cracks of the Rift story!
In the next episode we will be discussing Cthulhu, as voted on by our followers on Twitter. If you would like to vote on the third episode's topic follow @42nd_Alchemist and @untamedscribe. If you enjoy the show, want to help us out, or just get it two weeks before everyone else become a patron over on our Patreon page! And don't worry about our current goals or reward levels, those are undergoing revision for November and any pledge you make will get you early access to this podcast and our Cracks of the Rift story!
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Mel Gibson, Necrotic Spells, Space Trinkets, And Cypher Dungeons
OK, so has I was hoping to do today I have a post for you about the various projects I have been working on. Let's start with the one that I never quite finished on time: Spells of Old Volume III. This project is still in the works. Realistically, a small version of this is mostly done, but I did mention before that I wanted to make its release larger. I still plan on that. Finalizing this and getting the work in on it is a bit time consuming, and that is something I have had to be careful distributing lately. I won't get into it anymore than I have, but I will talk about the other projects that have developed themselves from my use of time.
First off, I did an article earlier this month for the RPGA Blog Carnival. It involved 10 sci-fi related trinkets for your games. As items for sci-fi touched D&D games I would love to use this list and expand upon it. From that article I am keeping that as a slowly building list that, once I have a good number, I will format nicely and through as a PWYW on the DM's Guild.
Second, I have been toying with the idea of trying my hand at writing an adventure. I need the practice and have found the one-shot we played last week a could place for me to work from. It is the first one I have properly designed as a short, self contained adventure. Granted, 3 hours was not enough to explore everything, but that's OK and it would be written with that in mind. This project is on the back-burner until my time frees up towards winter, though.
As for other projects there are two major ones that won't be on the DMs Guild. First will be our first go at a supplement getting published on familiar online retailer(s). This will be a class build from the ground up and there is a hint about it in the title, though it doesn't tell you much. As we design and begin testing the class, we will be looking for more testing help to really make sure it works and stands on its own.
Outside the realm of D&D, I am working on an even bigger, long term project with a friend. Currently that project is working to fit into the Cypher System and there is a very convenient portal for publishing that setting since their Worlds of Cypher kickstarter. And that's right, it will be a large setting book. We have put a lot of thought and effort in so far, but it is a slow process, and yes it takes from some of the effort I'm putting into smaller stuff.
Finally, I want to address some of the work for the DM's Guild. Obviously, previously mentioned supplements are on hold. Paths to Power Volume II has some more patrons, but their full ideas are not worked out yet. That is something I plan to have out around November. By then Spells of Old Volume III will be done and out, with Volume IV getting its start. DM's Field Guide series is on indefinate hold. It didn't do too well, and the effort I put into it is the most time significant. While enjoyable, other projects are where more people are getting something out of. As for my personal campaign worlds and their future as potentially published well, there is always work being done on those even if I don't mention it. One step at a time and all that!
First off, I did an article earlier this month for the RPGA Blog Carnival. It involved 10 sci-fi related trinkets for your games. As items for sci-fi touched D&D games I would love to use this list and expand upon it. From that article I am keeping that as a slowly building list that, once I have a good number, I will format nicely and through as a PWYW on the DM's Guild.
Second, I have been toying with the idea of trying my hand at writing an adventure. I need the practice and have found the one-shot we played last week a could place for me to work from. It is the first one I have properly designed as a short, self contained adventure. Granted, 3 hours was not enough to explore everything, but that's OK and it would be written with that in mind. This project is on the back-burner until my time frees up towards winter, though.
As for other projects there are two major ones that won't be on the DMs Guild. First will be our first go at a supplement getting published on familiar online retailer(s). This will be a class build from the ground up and there is a hint about it in the title, though it doesn't tell you much. As we design and begin testing the class, we will be looking for more testing help to really make sure it works and stands on its own.
Outside the realm of D&D, I am working on an even bigger, long term project with a friend. Currently that project is working to fit into the Cypher System and there is a very convenient portal for publishing that setting since their Worlds of Cypher kickstarter. And that's right, it will be a large setting book. We have put a lot of thought and effort in so far, but it is a slow process, and yes it takes from some of the effort I'm putting into smaller stuff.
Finally, I want to address some of the work for the DM's Guild. Obviously, previously mentioned supplements are on hold. Paths to Power Volume II has some more patrons, but their full ideas are not worked out yet. That is something I plan to have out around November. By then Spells of Old Volume III will be done and out, with Volume IV getting its start. DM's Field Guide series is on indefinate hold. It didn't do too well, and the effort I put into it is the most time significant. While enjoyable, other projects are where more people are getting something out of. As for my personal campaign worlds and their future as potentially published well, there is always work being done on those even if I don't mention it. One step at a time and all that!
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Re-skinning: Changing A Recipe's Flavor
Have you every seen yourself as the group's healer and enjoying the cleric class, but wanting to be more of a druid-like character? Or perhaps you see yourself as the group's tank but loathe the idea of being just another sword and board in plate. Well, perhaps you can play by the rules without playing by the rules. In fact I am here to tell you that is exactly what you can do. That is the whole point of D&D, after all. To exist in a world where anything is possible and there are no programming restrictions on the choices you make. All subject to DM approval and nerf-hammers, of course.
Today I want to talk about re-skinning the things that sit within a rule book to make them work for you. Such things find themselves to be problems only in mechanics heavy games like Dungeons & Dragons. Other games may have a rule for literally anything, being even more mechanically heavy like earlier forms of D&D. Or they may be universal systems where you get better at something and can skin how that works virtually any way you want.
For 5th Edition, Wizards cut back the fat on the rules in some ways. In 3rd Edition there were so many rules, feats, bonus, penalties, spells, builds, tacked on mechanics, and situational circumstances it was hard to build the character you envisioned without doing a thesis on the idea first. Then came 4th Edition and we got streamlined set of rules that worked similarly across the board (for most of the edition's life anyway). Now all you had to do was decide to build your defender with the defense feats and defensive abilities. Don't want a shield, just make sure not to pick those ones. Want to dual-wield? Grab a couple of those powers to beef that aspect up.
Now, to be fair 4th Edition became as laden with options as 3rd, though they we more easily indexed. And you were limited in the number of "cool moves" you could have at any one time, since leveling had you replace one with another eventually. This was especially true as they released regular supplements, some of which entirely focused on one set of characters (such as martial or divine). In some ways, all of these options are great and many powers are super cool. Hell fighters became a more easily enjoyable option (you can do a lot with 3E feats but, boy, is that some planning and bonus/penalty paperwork). But, when it comes down to it, 5th Edition has become a nice blend of streamlined and unique mechanics. Only certain classes/archetypes get extra attack for example.
And now, two years later, we are still working off of the core books. There have been adventures, one Sword Coast supplement, and Unearthed Arcana articles, but all in all we are working from the Player's Handbook. That doesn't have to limit us and I will use my two original examples as to why.
First off, who says playing a druid has to mean you actually have to take levels in druid? I mean mechanically at their core is shape-shifting and certain spells. But thematically, a druid is a protector of nature. Perhaps you would like the opportunity to expunge shape-shifting for more spell-related abilities. My suggestion to you is to play a cleric of nature (or even life or tempest). Already you are themed toward being druidic. Next, simply forgo claiming any god to worship or call to and refer to yourself as a druid. The final step is, perhaps the most important, and needs to be approved by your DM. In my opinion, however, it is pretty non-issue. Simply use the druid spell list instead of the cleric one. Simple as that. That means no saying, "but I am technically a cleric so can I prepare this just once." And no swapping out cleric spells you don't mind losing for the druid spells you hate to lose. Just do the full switch.
Of course, you may have other problems with this like how do the cleric abilities mesh with a "druid". Let's start with turning undead. That is fairly easy since undead are, often, anathema to druids. Fits right in. Choosing the right domain is another key factor, of course. But perhaps it is divine intervention which you have trouble getting around. Well, why does it have to be divine? Perhaps the druid uses that ability and pulls a Moses parting a sea for refugees to get across. Or, maybe a powerful spirit of nature or ancient fey answers the call of such a powerful druid. Even better the druid may have such command of the elements in that brief moment that nature itself listens to her need. Don't let ability names limit you!
How about for my second example though? A shield-less defender. We actually did this in a recent game. I built my friend the crusader type character he wanted. A wall at the front line, forward defense if you will. He used a polearm. I allowed him the defender fighting style, simply replacing the requirement of shield with polearm. As long as he had that he could still utilize that class feature, but would be unable to do it should he choose or need to take up a shield instead.
Everything else about a paladin works out for the way he wanted to play his character. And none of it really affected that one swap. To make him even more polearm mastered, though, we gave him the feat. Being able to threaten at reach was imperative. Because this feat is a commitment of "build resources" I also allowed it to synergize with that defensive tactic ability. There's no real reason not to. Is it going to break the game to give him that defensive ground? Probably not, since he takes a hit to his AC from not wielding a shield as a tank instead. And frankly, that was the crux of his character idea and having fun is the most important part of the game.
When it comes down to it, both of these examples are simple things that require nothing but a single mechanical swap and a lot of flavoring. There are many ways this could be done and very little reason not to. If it won't break your game and will give someone the opportunity to play the character they want with building a whole new class or looking for one online, just do it!
Monday, August 15, 2016
Kickstarters, New Games, And Incoming Tales
Hey everyone! Once again there is plenty to cover from the last week. Today I have a couple of Kickstarter campaigns that I have my eye on, some new stuff coming out to add to your collections, and some more updates for things around here.
Kickstarters You Need To Check Out!
The first campaign you may want to take a look at is the new Worldographer. I have mentioned Hexographer as a mapping program for your RPG needs, and the good people over at Inkwell Ideas have decided to kick it up a notch. Head over here to check out the Kickstarter. After 7 years with Hexographer, they are trying to improve upon the program and create an even more useful tool. The new Worldographer will be able to integrate more details into your map, as well as multiple levels of mapping integrated together. On top of that there will be mini-generators for details on things like cities and ruins. If you are interested there are a few backer levels, some of which even include a download of the current Hexographer. And, if that doesn't sell you, they have a ling to a demo on the campaign's page!
The next campaign that I want to talk about is the type of thing I was hoping would show up. Last week, I mentioned Kobold Press' new Tome of Beasts for 5th Edition. This week, Nord Games has far exceeded their goal for releasing their own 5th addition monster supplement. Called Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde, you can check it out over here. What makes this an awesome project worth backing is not the horde of new monsters you will get out of it. Instead, you will be getting a horde of details, stat blocks, and ideas for classic enemies. From goblins to gnolls, you will get a host adversaries for you PCs to tackle. Added on top of this are a number of stretch goals, some of which have already been unlocked. Among those are beasts of the horde and tribe details for the different races. The next goal is racial stats to play these monsters, so be sure to head of and pledge your support!
Yet Another World To Play In
In case all the worlds created for D&D over the years weren't enough, or the worlds now being released with the OGL still aren't quite enough, Green Ronin has announced that Matthew Mercer's world from Critical Role, Exandria, is coming to 5th Edition source books near you. If you haven't been watching Critical Role, than you should understand that the world Mercer has created for his players over the last few years is an incredibly rich one. If you have been watching you know just how awesome this is going to be. You can find the press release here, but the key point is the Tal'Dorei book is already in the works and slated for a Spring 2017 release.
Death Isn't The End
This game caught my eye when it showed up over and over on my Twitter feed during GenCon. Phoenix Dawn Command is a new RPG from Twogether Studios. What caught my eye about it, specifically was the giant, tarot sized deck of cards that comes with it. Apparently the RPG is deck-based, requiring sets of cards to be played in order to overcome the difficulty and complete a task. The artwork looks fantastic and there appears to be a rich world to dive into. When you die, you're not dead forever. Instead, you come back and become stronger learning from your mistakes and adding more cards to your deck. There is a catch though, well two catches. First off, missions are often time sensitive. Die and you could fail. You don't just rise instantly from the place you were killed of course. Additionally, you only have the opportunity to come back 7 times before the end is final. The result is that you can be reckless to get things done, but how reckless is to reckless and is it worth the risk? Check out the game's site and learn more here.
Stories Need Telling....And Scheduling
This week, we have some fun stuff to talk about here at Notes of the Wandering Alchemist. First off, today marked the official beginning of a novelized rendition of the story of the campaign that we spent two years playing and will be continuing (hopefully soon). We played it in the Pathfinder RPG system, in a world of, mostly, my own design. Initially this was going to be written as minor journal entries, but the tale has taken a life of its own in Untamed Scribes hands. The result is that our first entry is around 5 pages long. If you are a patron at the preview level, you can go check that out and download the PDF right now. If you are not, it will be posted up here on the 1st of September. Given the length of the entries, you can expect to see a new one each month. Preview patrons will see it on the 15th and the public will get it on the 1st of the following month.
In addition to that we have ever-more updates on Untamed Dice. If you have been following along on Twitter then you know why things have been late this bast few days. Games and time spent with visiting friends (one Aikos Lord of Cakes & Pastries, God of the Harvest and Brew). Expect Brave New Worlds to come this week instead and D&Donuts shortly. Also watch for that poll I mentioned as it will finally be going up tomorrow at some point.
Tomorrow I will also have a re-skinning article with some suggestions on re-flavoring things to make something unique. Wednesday i am going to try and squeeze in a new update as to my progress on the various projects I am working on and why some of those are taking longer than they should. Thursday will feature the regular Resources article. Friday will get you an update on the state of Untamed Dice games and our plans for recording, while Saturday will actually get you the episode (finally!).
Until next time!
Kickstarters You Need To Check Out!
The first campaign you may want to take a look at is the new Worldographer. I have mentioned Hexographer as a mapping program for your RPG needs, and the good people over at Inkwell Ideas have decided to kick it up a notch. Head over here to check out the Kickstarter. After 7 years with Hexographer, they are trying to improve upon the program and create an even more useful tool. The new Worldographer will be able to integrate more details into your map, as well as multiple levels of mapping integrated together. On top of that there will be mini-generators for details on things like cities and ruins. If you are interested there are a few backer levels, some of which even include a download of the current Hexographer. And, if that doesn't sell you, they have a ling to a demo on the campaign's page!
The next campaign that I want to talk about is the type of thing I was hoping would show up. Last week, I mentioned Kobold Press' new Tome of Beasts for 5th Edition. This week, Nord Games has far exceeded their goal for releasing their own 5th addition monster supplement. Called Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde, you can check it out over here. What makes this an awesome project worth backing is not the horde of new monsters you will get out of it. Instead, you will be getting a horde of details, stat blocks, and ideas for classic enemies. From goblins to gnolls, you will get a host adversaries for you PCs to tackle. Added on top of this are a number of stretch goals, some of which have already been unlocked. Among those are beasts of the horde and tribe details for the different races. The next goal is racial stats to play these monsters, so be sure to head of and pledge your support!
Yet Another World To Play In
In case all the worlds created for D&D over the years weren't enough, or the worlds now being released with the OGL still aren't quite enough, Green Ronin has announced that Matthew Mercer's world from Critical Role, Exandria, is coming to 5th Edition source books near you. If you haven't been watching Critical Role, than you should understand that the world Mercer has created for his players over the last few years is an incredibly rich one. If you have been watching you know just how awesome this is going to be. You can find the press release here, but the key point is the Tal'Dorei book is already in the works and slated for a Spring 2017 release.
Death Isn't The End
This game caught my eye when it showed up over and over on my Twitter feed during GenCon. Phoenix Dawn Command is a new RPG from Twogether Studios. What caught my eye about it, specifically was the giant, tarot sized deck of cards that comes with it. Apparently the RPG is deck-based, requiring sets of cards to be played in order to overcome the difficulty and complete a task. The artwork looks fantastic and there appears to be a rich world to dive into. When you die, you're not dead forever. Instead, you come back and become stronger learning from your mistakes and adding more cards to your deck. There is a catch though, well two catches. First off, missions are often time sensitive. Die and you could fail. You don't just rise instantly from the place you were killed of course. Additionally, you only have the opportunity to come back 7 times before the end is final. The result is that you can be reckless to get things done, but how reckless is to reckless and is it worth the risk? Check out the game's site and learn more here.
Stories Need Telling....And Scheduling
This week, we have some fun stuff to talk about here at Notes of the Wandering Alchemist. First off, today marked the official beginning of a novelized rendition of the story of the campaign that we spent two years playing and will be continuing (hopefully soon). We played it in the Pathfinder RPG system, in a world of, mostly, my own design. Initially this was going to be written as minor journal entries, but the tale has taken a life of its own in Untamed Scribes hands. The result is that our first entry is around 5 pages long. If you are a patron at the preview level, you can go check that out and download the PDF right now. If you are not, it will be posted up here on the 1st of September. Given the length of the entries, you can expect to see a new one each month. Preview patrons will see it on the 15th and the public will get it on the 1st of the following month.
In addition to that we have ever-more updates on Untamed Dice. If you have been following along on Twitter then you know why things have been late this bast few days. Games and time spent with visiting friends (one Aikos Lord of Cakes & Pastries, God of the Harvest and Brew). Expect Brave New Worlds to come this week instead and D&Donuts shortly. Also watch for that poll I mentioned as it will finally be going up tomorrow at some point.
Tomorrow I will also have a re-skinning article with some suggestions on re-flavoring things to make something unique. Wednesday i am going to try and squeeze in a new update as to my progress on the various projects I am working on and why some of those are taking longer than they should. Thursday will feature the regular Resources article. Friday will get you an update on the state of Untamed Dice games and our plans for recording, while Saturday will actually get you the episode (finally!).
Until next time!
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
RPG Blog Carnival: Trinkets From Space!
The theme of this month's RPG Blog Carnival is super science and sorcery, a topic that hits home for what I try to work into a lot of my games. The melding of science, technology, and magic can result in a lot of awesome things. From clockwork and steam powered gnomish devices to spell slinging pistols, the possibilities are endless. Daemons & Deathrays is hosting the Carnival this month and I cannot wait to get a moment to check out what others have shared. You can click the link above to check out their post on this and find links from other participants!
For my part in this carnival I wanted to go with something fairly simple, but something that will hopefully have a lot of potential for fun at the table. Below is a table of trinkets for your games that blend science and magic. These trinkets are treated to be something like those found in the 5th Edition Player's Handbook. Something that has little meaning, but could be a great talking piece and, who knows, something of great importance.
I have found these, and similar trinkets, to be awesome ideas and provide some levity, some curiosity, and some inspiration. The list can be used for any system, since they are minor items free of mechanics. How you use some of these is up to you, but consider dropping some of them in your next fantasy dungeon as an interesting twist!
| D10 | Science-Fantasy Trinket |
|---|---|
| 1 | This small book-like object, made of a light but sturdy material and metal, features the phrase "Don't Panic!" on the cover. When opened there are not pages, but if asked about a subject the "book" will provide a brief piece of knowledge. This information, however, tends to have not useful relation to situation at hand or reveals information you may already have learned the hard way. |
| 2 | This round glass vial appears to have been created without opening. Nevertheless, it is hollow and the contents visible. Within is some kind of sludge or growth that sits inert and unmoving. Shaking the container causes it to solidify temporarily. Staring at it long enough a single eye may appear to look back at you. |
| 3 | You have a multi-colored, light-weight cube of some unknown material. Each side appears to be made up of smaller squares, each small face is a different color. You count six colors and nine faces of each color. The device can be twisted to rearrange rows of the small squares. What happens when different colors align to each face is a mystery. |
| 4 | The small stone cube is inlaid with golden lines and runes of some kind creating an interesting, if odd, decoration. The barest of seams can be felt along the faces, calling you to attempt to manipulate the object into different forms, but none of the changes you makes seem to do anything. If left alone, the cube resets itself, but you eventually get the urge to try re-configuring the puzzle again. |
| 5 | Within this black metal box sits a single red gem that glows with inner intelligence. If addressed, the light pulses and a monotone voice will answer. The voice claims to know much and will refer to itself as Mal, if asked. No matter what else someone requests to know, however, the object will simply answer, "I cannot do that Dave." |
| 6 | This object is the size and shape of a human heart, and appears to be one for all intent and purpose. However, it is made cleverly overlapped metal plates that have begun to rust. If you listen closely you imagine you can here the slow, creaking beat of the metallic organ. |
| 7 | You have what appears to be a metal eye-patch with no loop to old it on your head, and nowhere to attach one. When pressed you your eye the patch will remain in place, and you can sense a slight buzz or tingle. You get used to the feeling after a couple hours and there are no apparent side effects to wearing it. |
| 8 | This glass tube is closed off on both ends by hefty metal caps that can be screwed on and off. Despite a pair of metal braces running from one end to the other on opposite sides of the cylinder, the glass cracked at some point making it useless as a container. A dull, glowing green film that dried on the inside of the container can be noticed in darkness. |
| 9 | Hanging from a length of leather this strange mummified worm-like creature sits as if it used its incredibly sharp teeth to burst from your chest. |
| 10 | The small hourglass is housed in a single piece of intricately carved crystal with three clawed toes holding it up from one side. The sand within it travels up into the empty portion above, rather than down, when tapped lightly. A small depression on the top can be pressed, causing the sand to disappear in a shimmer of light, reappearing back in the bottom. |
Monday, August 8, 2016
5th Edition Resources, D&D In Theaters, and Untamed Dice
Hey everyone, lots to share again today! News that you may have missed, this weeks articles, and what we are up to. First we will start with some of the stuff I came across this week.
Choices
Nothing is better in RPGs, especially table-top RPGs, than the fact that we have so many choice. At the table there is an actual infinity of possibilities to chose from. Last week we got some more opportunities to get such choices laid out with rules and presented to us for ease of use. The first thing I found, literally as I was getting the link for the article I mentioned a week ago, is a new Unearthed Arcana. This time the article features divine characters, but not divine spellcasters. Instead there are options for playing a character that follows the path of a god, but is either not part of the clergy or who is a member of one which prefers different methods. The first of these is a warlock patron called The Seeker, which represents a god of knowledge. This warlock build has plenty of room for flexibility, though. It's powers inspire wanderlust and any god of secrets, lore, exploration, or travel could easily be used. Additionally it provides a new pact boon option made for this patron, but one that could easily be adapted for other patrons.
The second build presented is for the wizard and is the school of Theurgy. This school is for those priests who follow the goddesses of magic and arcana. However, it is built so that you could be the wizard of any god's order as you do gain access to your choice of domains from the cleric class. These grant you the benefits a little later than a cleric, except for the 17th level one. That you get at 14th level. oh, and did I mention channeling arcana? Needless to say, this is one of my favorite UA articles to date alongside the one that covers such things as a ghost in the machine patron. Having extra options that don't go too crazy with the rules is great to have, especially when exploring something like non-divine faithful.
The other thing I wanted to mention is something, if you are playing 5E, you really should have heard about already: Tome of Beasts. Kobold Press Kickstarted this a little while back and it is finally available to get. On their site you can get it in print and / or PDF and it looks well worth the cover price. In it are over 400 new monsters to throw at your players and given only one Monster Manual so far, it will be nice to have another full sized resource to utilize. Looking for the cost on that for my future order, I also noticed a second 5E book withing a similar vein from Kobold Press: the Book of Lairs. This features two dozen new lairs to house your big bad monsters in. These each include treasure, hazards, and traps for your adventurers to fall victim to. Given the 5th Editions propensity for lair effects in legendary monsters one can only assume that is such options are not provided in this supplement, it will pair quite well with the choices you will have in their Tome of Beasts.
It Keeps Getting Bigger
This is a quick mention, but an important one. Over the years now, RPGs have been becoming more and more popular. This is, in no small part, thanks to the many podcasts and streams that are being done for the entertainment of those who can't play as much or want to see what its like (or just want to laugh along with us). Acquisitions Incorporated is the Penny Arcade / Wizards team up game that started back before the release of 4th Edition. It has continued regularly since then including live shows at PAX and the recent YouTube series. If you haven't already watched / listened to it you can find the audio playlist here and I suggest you start at the beginning. For those of you who are following the series and want to see what is next, but cannot make it to PAX West, well there is good new. You might be able to see it in theaters. That's right Fathom Events is hosting it. The link to the details of the event is right here, and you should go see if there is a theater near you. If you are wondering why this is important, its because gaming is important to us as a community. It changes how we look at things and people, it is how we socialize, and it can make us better people. We should have more exposure of the awesomeness it holds and getting major live shows to appear in theaters, that is just another success for us.
Here With the Alchemist
Ok there are a couple things I also wanted to mention, but I will save them for next week after I check them out a bit more. Now we can cover what is going on here. First off, later today you will get another post that features the Star Wars Edge of the Empire game episode 7. This should have gone up yesterday but 4 extra hours of work messed up the "plan". So, don't worry that is coming. Tomorrow, I will be taking a part in the RPG Blog Carnival again. This time it features science with your sorcery. Thursday I am going to have a resources article for you, of course. And Friday you can get another episode of Brave New Worlds.
Moving forward there is still a lot to happen and figure out. Tonight (for real this time) we record D&Donuts, which I hope to have out by this time next week. We are trying to improve how we do it and fit more into the time you spend listening. We have also changed from the original theme quite quickly. What started as a random talk session over coffee and donuts as become a combination discussion of rules / concepts and discussion of the things we have been playing and working on. As such we will be re-naming the podcast to better reflect that, and may ask for your votes on that matter.
Aside from that you can also expect a poll for the next game we play. We have a one-shot for a friend this week that we are not recording for Untamed Dice and we still have another session of Cypher to finish up. Aside from those, we still have Monster of the Week to finish so that we can present that after Star Wars. What does all this mean for you? Well, we have a few more episodes of Star Wars yet, but we are running out of recorded shows. Personally I would like Monster of the Week to be finished before we start airing it, but I would take scheduling the last session too. Work is a problem for that game, so its release may get put on hold. We do have another session of Brave New Worlds scheduled, and those will hopefully pick up as summer closes because things are ramping up on Luxarrah.
So, you can expect Star Wars to pull us through August and into the very beginning of September. Then Brave New Worlds should once again take its rightful spot every other week. Hopefully Monster of the week will be featured after that, but we may have some shorter games coming. Our Last Best Hope will be coming up and, as I prep and run these one-shots I am getting a better idea of what will be 1 session and what will be 3 and how to keep them in line. Given that, and Fall coming up, we hope to have a lot more games for you to listen to!
Choices
Nothing is better in RPGs, especially table-top RPGs, than the fact that we have so many choice. At the table there is an actual infinity of possibilities to chose from. Last week we got some more opportunities to get such choices laid out with rules and presented to us for ease of use. The first thing I found, literally as I was getting the link for the article I mentioned a week ago, is a new Unearthed Arcana. This time the article features divine characters, but not divine spellcasters. Instead there are options for playing a character that follows the path of a god, but is either not part of the clergy or who is a member of one which prefers different methods. The first of these is a warlock patron called The Seeker, which represents a god of knowledge. This warlock build has plenty of room for flexibility, though. It's powers inspire wanderlust and any god of secrets, lore, exploration, or travel could easily be used. Additionally it provides a new pact boon option made for this patron, but one that could easily be adapted for other patrons.
The second build presented is for the wizard and is the school of Theurgy. This school is for those priests who follow the goddesses of magic and arcana. However, it is built so that you could be the wizard of any god's order as you do gain access to your choice of domains from the cleric class. These grant you the benefits a little later than a cleric, except for the 17th level one. That you get at 14th level. oh, and did I mention channeling arcana? Needless to say, this is one of my favorite UA articles to date alongside the one that covers such things as a ghost in the machine patron. Having extra options that don't go too crazy with the rules is great to have, especially when exploring something like non-divine faithful.
The other thing I wanted to mention is something, if you are playing 5E, you really should have heard about already: Tome of Beasts. Kobold Press Kickstarted this a little while back and it is finally available to get. On their site you can get it in print and / or PDF and it looks well worth the cover price. In it are over 400 new monsters to throw at your players and given only one Monster Manual so far, it will be nice to have another full sized resource to utilize. Looking for the cost on that for my future order, I also noticed a second 5E book withing a similar vein from Kobold Press: the Book of Lairs. This features two dozen new lairs to house your big bad monsters in. These each include treasure, hazards, and traps for your adventurers to fall victim to. Given the 5th Editions propensity for lair effects in legendary monsters one can only assume that is such options are not provided in this supplement, it will pair quite well with the choices you will have in their Tome of Beasts.
It Keeps Getting Bigger
This is a quick mention, but an important one. Over the years now, RPGs have been becoming more and more popular. This is, in no small part, thanks to the many podcasts and streams that are being done for the entertainment of those who can't play as much or want to see what its like (or just want to laugh along with us). Acquisitions Incorporated is the Penny Arcade / Wizards team up game that started back before the release of 4th Edition. It has continued regularly since then including live shows at PAX and the recent YouTube series. If you haven't already watched / listened to it you can find the audio playlist here and I suggest you start at the beginning. For those of you who are following the series and want to see what is next, but cannot make it to PAX West, well there is good new. You might be able to see it in theaters. That's right Fathom Events is hosting it. The link to the details of the event is right here, and you should go see if there is a theater near you. If you are wondering why this is important, its because gaming is important to us as a community. It changes how we look at things and people, it is how we socialize, and it can make us better people. We should have more exposure of the awesomeness it holds and getting major live shows to appear in theaters, that is just another success for us.
Here With the Alchemist
Ok there are a couple things I also wanted to mention, but I will save them for next week after I check them out a bit more. Now we can cover what is going on here. First off, later today you will get another post that features the Star Wars Edge of the Empire game episode 7. This should have gone up yesterday but 4 extra hours of work messed up the "plan". So, don't worry that is coming. Tomorrow, I will be taking a part in the RPG Blog Carnival again. This time it features science with your sorcery. Thursday I am going to have a resources article for you, of course. And Friday you can get another episode of Brave New Worlds.
Moving forward there is still a lot to happen and figure out. Tonight (for real this time) we record D&Donuts, which I hope to have out by this time next week. We are trying to improve how we do it and fit more into the time you spend listening. We have also changed from the original theme quite quickly. What started as a random talk session over coffee and donuts as become a combination discussion of rules / concepts and discussion of the things we have been playing and working on. As such we will be re-naming the podcast to better reflect that, and may ask for your votes on that matter.
Aside from that you can also expect a poll for the next game we play. We have a one-shot for a friend this week that we are not recording for Untamed Dice and we still have another session of Cypher to finish up. Aside from those, we still have Monster of the Week to finish so that we can present that after Star Wars. What does all this mean for you? Well, we have a few more episodes of Star Wars yet, but we are running out of recorded shows. Personally I would like Monster of the Week to be finished before we start airing it, but I would take scheduling the last session too. Work is a problem for that game, so its release may get put on hold. We do have another session of Brave New Worlds scheduled, and those will hopefully pick up as summer closes because things are ramping up on Luxarrah.
So, you can expect Star Wars to pull us through August and into the very beginning of September. Then Brave New Worlds should once again take its rightful spot every other week. Hopefully Monster of the week will be featured after that, but we may have some shorter games coming. Our Last Best Hope will be coming up and, as I prep and run these one-shots I am getting a better idea of what will be 1 session and what will be 3 and how to keep them in line. Given that, and Fall coming up, we hope to have a lot more games for you to listen to!
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 5
Hello everyone, today I have three more resources from across the internet! There is so much online, that it can be difficult to even track what you are using. The resources I want to share with you today are some of the ones I have found more recently and immediately bookmarked. Inspiration, ideas, stats, and more can be found within the pages of these sites!
Mithril & Mages: I first happened upon this site when I clicked on a link that led me to their treasure generator page. The tool allows you to generate the coins carried by enemies, as level appropriate, for your party to loot. Add on top of that the ability to generate a level-appropriate hoard of gold and items and you have a great utility for running D&D games. That is why I bookmarked the page, but in addition to that they offer quite a bit. There are name generators like those for motels, businesses, natural terrain, and taverns. You can also find a dice roller, job title generator, esoteric creature generator, and a bare bones adventure idea generator. All of these tools can be useful, and while some are edition / game specific there are more than enough that are not to add this to your growing list of bookmarks.
RandomGen: There is one major reason I am including this in resources you need, but I will get to that. Among the other things created by Orteil, this site features a number of random generators and help in making your own as well. Included in these generators are things like a name generator, a creature generator, and a dungeon loot generator. What is great about these is that they are absolutely not really set with anything particular in mind (at least system-wise). The things generated have lists or descriptions and occasionally make little sense, but they are full of ideas from which to draw if you are having a lot of trouble coming up with something. Do take care with the insult generator. That one is definitely rated R and should only be used if nasty verbage and word use doesn't offend you. It is, of course, called an insult generator for a reason. The main reason I have this page bookmarked though, is the unique fantasy generator that led me to the site: the random kobold generator. Like I said, you can get help and make your own generator here, and someone did so for kobolds. I included the link because it is fantastic. If you want to feature kobolds heavily in your game and like having unique indivduals even for low level characters bookmark that generator!
A Point Of Inspiration: I found some of this site's authors' work in the 5E Homebrew Tumblr. Luckily I followed the sources back to their main site, because they have some great stuff. As of right now the only download is the Grimm Dark, but it is a 44 page quality piece of work. If they had their own art to use, they could certainly get great backing and support on these projects to put up on places like DriveThru RPG or even print editions. I would certainly pay for a print edition. They are currently working on their second book and have a number of ideas for down the line. I have not yet joined their Facebook page, but certainly plan on it, and you need to go download the Grimm Dark. Not only is it free, but it is one of the best faerie / faerie tale resources I have seen and it is for 5th Edition D&D, though it is not specified to any one setting.
Mithril & Mages: I first happened upon this site when I clicked on a link that led me to their treasure generator page. The tool allows you to generate the coins carried by enemies, as level appropriate, for your party to loot. Add on top of that the ability to generate a level-appropriate hoard of gold and items and you have a great utility for running D&D games. That is why I bookmarked the page, but in addition to that they offer quite a bit. There are name generators like those for motels, businesses, natural terrain, and taverns. You can also find a dice roller, job title generator, esoteric creature generator, and a bare bones adventure idea generator. All of these tools can be useful, and while some are edition / game specific there are more than enough that are not to add this to your growing list of bookmarks.
RandomGen: There is one major reason I am including this in resources you need, but I will get to that. Among the other things created by Orteil, this site features a number of random generators and help in making your own as well. Included in these generators are things like a name generator, a creature generator, and a dungeon loot generator. What is great about these is that they are absolutely not really set with anything particular in mind (at least system-wise). The things generated have lists or descriptions and occasionally make little sense, but they are full of ideas from which to draw if you are having a lot of trouble coming up with something. Do take care with the insult generator. That one is definitely rated R and should only be used if nasty verbage and word use doesn't offend you. It is, of course, called an insult generator for a reason. The main reason I have this page bookmarked though, is the unique fantasy generator that led me to the site: the random kobold generator. Like I said, you can get help and make your own generator here, and someone did so for kobolds. I included the link because it is fantastic. If you want to feature kobolds heavily in your game and like having unique indivduals even for low level characters bookmark that generator!
A Point Of Inspiration: I found some of this site's authors' work in the 5E Homebrew Tumblr. Luckily I followed the sources back to their main site, because they have some great stuff. As of right now the only download is the Grimm Dark, but it is a 44 page quality piece of work. If they had their own art to use, they could certainly get great backing and support on these projects to put up on places like DriveThru RPG or even print editions. I would certainly pay for a print edition. They are currently working on their second book and have a number of ideas for down the line. I have not yet joined their Facebook page, but certainly plan on it, and you need to go download the Grimm Dark. Not only is it free, but it is one of the best faerie / faerie tale resources I have seen and it is for 5th Edition D&D, though it is not specified to any one setting.
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