Continuing with our preview materials, the patrons of Journeys to the West have finished generating items and spells, and now we’re heading full sail toward playtesting—presuming the winds of creativity and the authors’ muses are generous! In the meantime, patrons are looking over material, plus they’re looking for mechanical or grammatical concerns (and hoping to […]
Journeys into the West: Guardians and En Garde! Read More »
A character who favors ranged attacks has many ways to master the bow, and the schools presented in this article series give you some interesting options to round out your player character. This week, we present another school of archery styles by Rich Redman. If you missed the first part, you can revisit it here.
Archery Styles (Part 2) Read More »
By now, everyone has had time to settle into the idea that D&D is getting another revision. I’m using this week to look at some D&D history, what revisions mean, and their effects. Today’s episode concerns complexity and option fatigue. Every revision of D&D has made the game more complex somehow. Complexity comes in different
Howling Tower: Complexity and Option Fatigue Read More »
Back in the fall of 2009, Chris Dinkins and I interviewed a host of game designers and novelists who were also experienced game masters. We sent around too many questions to too many GMs and received far too much material for one article to hold. As a result, a lot of great material got scrapped.
The Lost GM Scrolls: James Jacobs Lists His Pet Peeves Read More »
The patrons of Journeys have been hard at work brainstorming, collaborating, and creating material for an island-hopping expedition of legend. And with that comes not only the sort of item certain to save your hero’s hide as the ship sinks beneath storm-tossed seas, but the sort of creature locked within a giant brass monkey head,
Journeys to the West: Hazards and Havens Read More »
Master Pett’s Your Whispering Homunculus presents only the finest in British gaming. Indeed, you are not likely to find a more comprehensive assortment of miscellany anywhere. (So much more than just another bloke in a dress.) [previously] Twelve Types of Cider 1. Dabshaw’s Ratfest Scrumpy 2. Rumper’s Kill or Cure Cider 3. Poppritt’s Poisonous Perry 4.
Your Whispering Homunculus: A Plethora of d12 Tables (Part 4 of 4) Read More »
No, not that type of discrimination. Fantasy roleplayers love their nonhuman races. What started in AD&D with elves, dwarves, halflings, half-elves, and half-orcs has mushroomed into dozens of player-character races in RPGs. Players seem to have an inexhaustible appetite for more races to dabble with. The choices have expanded from humans through the so-called demihumans
Howling Tower: Racial Discrimination Read More »
We’re running the Seize the Tin Crown contest, and entries are due in by March 9th! You can take a look at the contest rules and guidelines here—it’s a pretty open contest in terms of what sorts of things you can enter, though the entries must work well with the Zobeck Gazetteer. So, go peek
Reminder: Seize the Tin Crown Contest Read More »
As part of the Journeys to the West project that’s currently in progress, Christina Stiles came up with the following description (with patron input) for the goddess Mnemosyne. Mnemosyne plays an important role in the Western Ocean’s story, since she rules the mysterious Morphoi Isle, and she is the wife of Nethus, the god the
Master Pett’s Your Whispering Homunculus presents only the finest in British gaming. Indeed, you are not likely to find a more comprehensive assortment of miscellany anywhere. (So much more than just another bloke in a dress.) [previously] Twelve NPC Moods Occasionally, it’s interesting to spice up some checks with the odd unusual modifier due to peculiar
Your Whispering Homunculus: A Plethora of d12 Tables (Part 3 of 4) Read More »
Last week, we looked at three groups of spells that cause headaches for DMs. The first contains spells that let characters get from here to there without dealing with what’s in between. The second lets players see what’s over there, know what’s going on, or glimpse what lies ahead when that knowledge would otherwise be
Howling Tower: Magic is Changing My World Read More »
You’ve seen him showing up in Friday’s Funny. Now you can roll with him in your game! It’s Thppgrg, the long-suffering goblin minion of Dark Lord Torkelheim. Take a look at Boomer’s statistics for Thppgrg, whose first diary entry takes you into the world of the strategically important fountain and theoretically important fountain room. Thppgrg,
Monster Monday: Thppgrg, Long-Suffering Goblin Minion of Dark Lord Torkelheim Read More »
A character who favors ranged attacks has many ways to master the bow, and these schools represent benefits of doing so. We start off with the elements that GMs and players should consider, an example of learning a style, and then go into the schools themselves. Gaining Mastery First, you and your GM must decide
Archery Styles (Part 1) Read More »
Magic is all about warping reality to do the wizard’s bidding. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Drawmij, Harry Dresden, or Isaac Bonewits. The wizard wants or needs the world to be different from how it is and has the supernatural juice to make it so. The power to shape reality is what makes magic-users in
Howling Tower: Magic is Ruining My Game Read More »
A cunning, vicious beast, the shadow claw strikes fear into the hearts of travelers everywhere. Originally an attempt by a cabal of wizards to engineer the perfect guard animal, the shadow claw now stands as an example of the consequences of hubris. See more about the shadow claw before diving into its statistics and tactics.
Shadow Claw: A Guard Animal Gone Wrong (Part 2 of 2) Read More »
Some of you might be aware that roleplaying game industry veteran Steve Winter has started writing blogs about Dungeons & Dragons and other topics that interest him. His site, Howling Tower, already has some great posts that you should go read. As a special treat, we’re working with Steve to make some of his thoughts
Howling Tower: Heroism and Lethality Read More »
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