Fire lanes are a concept from skirmish wargaming that describe concrete areas of line of sight that allow attacks to be performed at range. Line of sight blockers describe terrain elements that block line of sight and therefore attacks and abilities. Movement blockers describe terrain elements that block or impede movement even if they don’t […]
Art of Skirmishing: The Map is Not the Territory Read More »
As the holiday season roars down upon us, your thoughts may turn to family, friends, merriment, and feasts. In other words, you foolishly believe you are safe. For as you place the Thanksgiving roast upon the table, basking in the sounds of admiration and growling stomachs, an ancient evil arises. It opens its own chest
A Thanksgiving Horror: The Turkolich Read More »
Plain and simple, the reason we’re even here is because we like to play games: they’re fun, they offer an escape, they allow us to take our imaginations out for a stroll, they let us strategize and simulate. Sure, there are a lot of nuances as to why we might play roleplaying games, but the
The 4th Pillar: Finding the 4th Pillar Read More »
We’re almost at the end of our little series here, so before we close this book, I wanted to chat about a pillar of good gaming that I hold very dear: the art of descriptive storytelling. I believe many of us who choose to run roleplaying games do so because we have fallen in love
Beyond the Audience: Paint Me a Picture Read More »
We’ve written previously in this series about the importance of approaching a one-on-one 5E game as a co-creative storytelling process. At the table, this looks like the player taking on some roles of the GM and vice-versa.
One-on-One Roleplaying: Supporting Co-Creation in Your One-on-One Game Read More »
Back in the summer of 2019, I wrote an article entitled “So You Want to Play in Midgard? (But You Don’t Know Where to Start),” which discussed how to use the amazing resources of the Midgard Worldbook, the online and interactive Midgard Map, and the Midgard Adventures by Level and Location spreadsheet that I maintain
So You (Still) Want to Play in Midgard? Part One Read More »
Alternate Traits and Actions The following changes allow GMs to alter a light drake without modifying its challenge rating.
Tome Unbound: Light Drake Read More »
The Emerald Order is a group steeped in magic. With the Emerald Tablets holding the secrets of the universe, the devout and high-ranking members of the order can glean much arcane knowledge from them. The order also creates and collects many strange and powerful magical items, often aided by the knowledge contained in the tablets
Secrets of the Emerald Order: From the Vaults Read More »
A GM’s work is never done, so to make things easier on you, we’re providing a series of tables to help you flesh out your encounters, your adventures—your world. This table provides 33 unique environmental encounters… not encounters of the combat sort but strange, wonderous, or disturbing things for your adventurers to happen upon while,
Dungeon Tables: Fifty Unique Environmental Encounters Read More »
Straight from the Editorial Director’s snout, this monthly blog series provides a peek at current publications and projects headed from the warrens to gaming tables everywhere—so you’ll always know what to watch out for!
Kobold Dispatch: November Edition Read More »
A troll in a field is dead. A troll under a bridge is dramatic. A troll in your privy is terrifying. The danger of enemies in 5th edition is based heavily on the circumstances in which they are encountered. Skirmishing doesn’t change this fact but does change the nature of those circumstances. Previously, you’d have
The Art of Skirmishing: The Role of Creatures Read More »
It’s November, and everyone’s gaming! So here’s a fang-tastic set of wallpapers for your computer, your smartphone, or whatever electronic device you’ve got. This month, we’ve got a piece from the Tome of Beasts 2 (artist Hugh Pindur).
Tome of Beasts 2 Wallpapers Read More »
None living know for sure what caused the fall of the great northern dwarven kingdom. Some say that the dwarves lost their way. Forged on the adamantine anvil by the smith god Volund and the thunder god Thor, they were created to be warriors in Wotan’s battle against the wild elves of Thorn. As they
Warlock’s Apprentice: The Drownstone Road Read More »
There are a few reasons why you might choose to run a one-on-one session (one player, one GM) as part of your group game, some of which we’ll cover in depth in this post. Maybe the other members of your group were unable to meet, but you still want to play? Or perhaps one of
One-on-One Roleplaying: Running a One-on-One Session as Part of Your Group Game Read More »
It doesn’t matter what game you’re playing: you can break all of its rules and go wild with how you want to use or ignore them. Take all of the best bits and run with them. What we’re talking about now is how exactly to begin doing that. Now, there’re no formulae for doing it,
The 4th Pillar: Setting up an “Imbalanced” Campaign Read More »
In a previous post, I brought up focusing your traps with purpose and mentioned nonlethal traps. These types of traps are often overlooked when designing adventures, but they are equally valuable. Nonlethal traps alert guards to the presence of intruders, scare off dangerous animals, capture valuable prisoners, or hobble fleeing prey.
Trapmaster: The Soft Touch Read More »
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