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!

Cypher, Donuts, Giveaways, Star Trek, And Horror

Happy Monday everyone!  The internet is back!  Crazy events are over and I actually have some free time again!  There is a lot of catching up to do from the rather poor showing July has been.  The first step in making up for all of this is just making sure things get back on track.  The train has derailed, flipped over, and fallen from a cliff but that is ok.  I'll get it back up there.  Tomorrow will have an article for you about being a player when you usually DM, taking from some of my personal experiences.  I probably will be forgoing Wednesday updates for a while in preference for getting things done behind the scenes.  Thursday will finally feature a review of Monster of the Week from the player's side of the table.  This weekend will have some more Untamed Dice for you including both Brave New Worlds and Star Wars Edge of the Empire.

Aside from all this, there is a ton of stuff that has been happening.  Some of this you may have heard about, others perhaps not.  Much of it depends on what I have managed to mention.  First off, today we are finally trying Cypher with Gods of the Fall.  I am very excited to try out this system.  Today we are not recording, but we will be recording an adventure when the next Kickstarter book arrives.  Today is just going to be us playing the game and me trying to get a good grasp on the rules.  It is a system with some potential for a setting a friend and I are working on so understanding it better is pretty important.

Next week we will be recording D&Donuts and this time I am looking to improve the way things go again.  I am going to do a write up for us this time to make sure we have a better plan and cover what we want / need.  Topics are going to include alignments and how they can help or hinder a game, as well as some information on the Cypher system, how it works, and how we enjoyed it.  Watch out towards the end of next week for the preview of that.

As a final note on Wandering Alchemist topics, I want to mention our giveaways.  There is a tweet pinned to my page which you can get to over on the right.  Retweet that and / or tweet with the hashtag #wanderinggiveaway and you will have a chance at one of the five wristbands we are giving out.  We will be doing more of these in the future, along with some others that include items we are still working on.  More on that later, but make sure to head to twitter before the 1st to get a chance at a free wristband!

A couple notes on RPG-related topics to cover now.  First, Star Trek Adventures!  I am so incredibly excited for this.  Recently I have been re-watching The Next Generation for inspiration and have covered some RPG topics relating Star Trek to D&D.  How amazing it is that an RPG based in the classic universe is in the works!  It is something I have been hoping for for years now, and I will be sure to keep an eye on it and keep up information here.

Second, Pathfinder is coming out with some awesome resources soon.  Luckily, they aren't just useful for Pathfinder but (with a bit of DM work) D&D.  Again, the books coming out are right up my ally.  First off are a pair of books centered around horror: Horror Adventures and Horror Realms.  The former is a full rule book that is available from Paizo now and the second is a player's companion due out in October.  Paizo produces quality work and tons of story driven inspiration and material, so these should be fantastic.  Finally, Strange Aeons is the next Adventure Path coming out and it is nothing but Lovecrafian fun!  I will be purchasing this and I will be running it one way or another, either in Pathfinder or D&D 5th Edition.  I may even record it for you!

Until next time folks!