Gavin chewed thoughtfully on some exquisite squirrel jerky as he monitored the bounty hunters’ approach. They clearly knew his reputation because they were moving slowly and methodically checking their surroundings for hidden surprises. Yes, they knew who and what he was. This was going to be fun. Taking off his right boot, Gavin collected his […]
Trapsmith: Jerky Stake and Seeing Stars Traps Read More »
The world’s arctic region is both a place of great natural beauty and an inherently deadly environment. Freezing waters can turn blood to ice in mere minutes. Avalanches can bury entire parties, hiding their bodies forever under a mountainside’s worth of snow. As deadly as the arctic is, a wide variety of monsters call it
Bloodstained Ice: Monsters of the Arctic (Part 3) Read More »
The PDF of the Player’s Guide to the Dragon Empire is out and on the Kobold Press store webpage, and it is chock full of draconic goodness for gamemasters and players alike. Dragons in fantasy RPGs have always been problematical: Are they mythic and invulnerable beasts as in the Tolkien tradition, or are they 1st
Dragons, Dragonkin, and . . . Ostriches? Read More »
Whether you love them or hate them, guns are becoming more and more common in fantasy games. If you look closely, though, you’ll see that the guns currently available for the Pathfinder roleplaying game have a strangely large technological gap between them. That is to say, the step between early firearms and modern firearms is
Gun Upgrades: More Bang for Your Buck! Read More »
Gark peered deep into the flame, waiting for the blessed moment when the Mother of Destruction would whisper her words of inspiration. Blinking heavily, he withdrew from the flame. “Free the flame” she had said, but what did that mean? Snacking on some pigeons, he sifted through his trapsmithing stores. There was the sturdy dwarf-sized
Trapsmith: Homing Horror Trap Read More »
Guilds were a notable feature of urban life in medieval cities. If you were a craftsman of any type in Europe during the Middle Ages, you almost certainly belonged to a guild. Guilds show up in fantasy RPGs and campaign settings, too; every city has a thieves’ guild and a wizards’ guild. It’s mostly lip
Howling Tower: Paying Dues Read More »
With each installment of Creature Comforts, we take a deeper look into a legendary monster that adventurers might encounter while journeying through the world. In this installment, we tackle a creature of note, who you can drop into your campaign: Thrag Ice-Breaker. You can see more about frost giants and some useful spells in part
Creature Comforts: Frost Giants (Part 2) Read More »
Designer Margherita provides us with a veritable harvest of options with which to play this week as she wraps up this shaman class series. Alternative Alignment Rule Many shamans can come from barbarian tribes, rather than savage tribes. A multiclass barbarian/shaman would be the ultimate berzerkir (real-world legendary figures who raged in animal form). As
The Many Spirits of the Shaman: Optional Rules (Part 5) Read More »
Running through the forest, Gavin silently congratulated himself. Things were going splendidly. The werewolf pack was hunting him down, and, if everything went according to plan, they would trouble the baroness no more. No sooner had he finished the thought than the ground rose to meet him. Dazed, Gavin picked himself up and looked at
Trapsmith: Toxic Tripping Trap Read More »
In recent years, the philosophy of “yes, but” has become a hot ticket for GMs. Let me assure you, this was not always the case. I’m reminded a bit of the way philosophies come into and out of fashion in business management (are you a one-minute manager in search of excellence?). If that sounds dismissive,
Howling Tower: Saying No Read More »
Weather—the physical state of air in the natural environment—occurs hundreds of feet below ground, blowing, baking, fogging, and pouring over the pitch black of the Underdark. For those brave enough to venture there, confront its denizens, and reap its treasures, remember just three words: mind the weather.
Weather in the Underdark Read More »
The world’s arctic region is both a place of great natural beauty and an inherently deadly environment. Freezing waters can turn blood to ice in mere minutes. Avalanches can bury entire parties, hiding their bodies forever under a mountainside’s worth of snow. As deadly as the arctic is, a wide variety of monsters call it
Blood-Stained Ice: Monsters of the Arctic (Part 2) Read More »
Designer Margherita takes us into the world of skinchangers this week. Come walk on the wild side with this week’s exploration into shaman options. Skinchanger Skinchanger shamans goes a step farther in their relationships with the spirits: rather than summoning spirit guidse to fight at their sides, they let the spirit possess them, becoming powerful
The Many Spirits of the Shaman: Archetypes for the Shaman Class (Part 4) Read More »
Puzzles, traps, and hazards are a common occurrence in deadly dungeons. You might find that it can be quite time-consuming and challenging to come up with these events on the fly. In this series, you’ll find three fire-themed dungeon dangers ripe for plunder. You can find Part 1 here.
Puzzles and Pitfalls (Part 2) Read More »
Puzzles, traps, and hazards are a common occurrence in deadly dungeons. You might find that it can be quite time-consuming and challenging to come up with these events on the fly. In this series, you’ll find three fire-themed dungeon dangers ripe for plunder.
Puzzles and Pitfalls (Part 1) Read More »
When designing a world as a setting for replaying and storytelling, condensing your concept down to an elevator pitch is a great exercise. Not that you’re likely to corner a venture capitalist and a Hollywood producer in an elevator and pump them to invest money in your idea, but because you are going to corner friends,
Howling Tower: The Elevator Pitch Read More »
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