From time to time instead of writing a new post about something I’ve already written about I have been known to actually update the original post instead.
My post that shares some recent videos from Arcane Library and Sly Flourish about generating ideas for adventures using random tables is one such post. So if you want to see the update just click here.
As the above image demonstrates I did in fact cave and get Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. I can’t wait to use it within my campaign. But first we need to get our sessions started again. No new date has been set yet!
In other news FFG in partnership with Dark Horse Comics are releasing a third art book in their series based on FFG intellectual property called The Art Of The Android Universe.
The Art of the Android Universe will be “showcasing the design and art from the hit table top games set within the Android Universe!”
Cool I’m a big fan of the Android universe. I have been ever since I first got into playing Android Netrunner. I just love this vision of a cyberpunk future that FFG have come up with.
This art book will be a great resource for GM’s wanting to run an adventure in the Android universe. I’m pretty sure it will compliment The Worlds of Android book very nicely as a source of inspiration.
The Art of the Android Universe is due out according to its Amazon UK page on the 16th December and will be £33.99.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
So this weekends planned session has been cancelled due to lack consensus as to which day it should be. At the moment no new date has been suggested or agreed on. Which is very frustrating.
I’ve not so subtly prodded the group in our Messenger group about this. So it’s wait and see to whether anyone or all of them will come to a date they all agree on.
I think I’m ready. I just need to go through the Lazy DM steps before hand.
I’m still dithering over whether Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons will be added to my library of D&D books. I know the adventurers have met the Red Rage of Mintarn. But do I plan for them to meet more dragons in the future? I certainly think they might have an encounter with a dragon turtle whilst at sea. And there is the germ of a plan for running the Jim Murphy Undead trap. Which will involve, possibly, an undead dragon skeleton. Just to make things interesting.
But do I need Fizban’s? Need? No. Would like? Possibly.
I’m sure I’ll get it. The question is just when.
In the meantime I’m left wondering if our campaign will manage to start again. I think it’ll be lucky if we do get a session before Christmas now. Then obviously the seasonal event kicks in which takes us into next year. Maybe I’m being too pessimistic and need to be more optimistic.
With Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft that came out earlier in the year it’s never been “easier” to create a horror adventure in D&D for this most commercial of occasions.
However you may want some further advice in a more concise format like say talking pictures.
A couple of days ago Kelsey of The Arcane Library posted a new YouTube video on how to write horror for D&D. Not only do we get some great advice but there is also a free adventure The Night Hunter for a party of level 1 adventurers to use this all hallows eve (or any other time) she wrote along with a walk through of running the adventure.
You can download the free adventure mentioned by Kelsey (and also linked on the YouTube video) here.
One year I’ll be organised enough to run a spooktacular scary one shot to participate in this yearly commercialized faux celebration. Until then “need more brains, uuuuurgh!”
Recently (in the last month) there have been two great videos put out on YouTube that show creating ideas for adventures using random tables.
I like these type of videos as they basically act as “how to” videos, and also give a sneak peak in to the creative process of those doing the video.
Plus we all know how I feel about using random tables to generate ideas. So I’m bound to be biased and love these videos.
The first video is by Kelsey aka The Arcane Library, and the tables used are from the pretty amazing book Tome of Adventure Design.
Kelsey has talked about this before in her adhoc enewsletter and I followed those steps in a previous post (there was a second post too).
I’m looking forward to when Kelsey does part two.
The second video is by Mike aka Sly Flourish who did this video as part of his current Kickstarter for the Lazy DM’s Companion.
The Companion is the third book in the Lazy DM series, and is chock full of guidelines and adventure generators (read themed tables) to inspire you.
It’s those adventure generators that Mike uses in these videos, in particular the ones from the free sample pdf on the Kickstarter (you don’t even have to be a backer to get it!)
What I like about the generators aka tables in the Companion is that they are themed. Otherwise they most definitely scratch my random generation itch that I get. Maybe I should follow in Mike’s foot steps and do a post using the generators (although I’ll use the pdf of them from the Patreon instead of the freebie sample). I mean I have done posts following Kelsey’s steps previously. Only right I should do the way of the Lazy DM too.
UPDATE 22/10/22: Last night Mike aka Sly Flourish did another twitch stream as part of his Kickstarter that is part two to his Let’s Make an Adventure video. It’s now on YouTube (embedded below). In this one Mike goes into how to fill out a dungeon. Well worth a watch.
UPDATE 18/11/21: A couple of days ago (it might be 3 or 4, dats are blurring into each other these days) Kelsey live-streamed the second part to her video I embedded above. Just like that one I’ve embedded it below so everything is in one nice handy place.
I’m also embedding a recent video from Sly Flourish about building lazy magic items. It fits in with the whole theme of this post and using tables to inspire and create content.
Yesterday WotC announced the first D&D book to hit the shelves both virtual and physical next year (if we don’t count the gift set that lands in January), Call of the Netherdeep. Which will be its second book in collaboration with the Critical Role folks, and due to arrive in March.
For me the announcement is a bit of a dud. Which is fine. I’m not a Critical Role fan. It’s not aimed at me. Not everything WotC release for D&D has to be.
Just like out of the three books that make up the last third of this year, only one has me excited and will see me parting with scarce pennies. A big hint to which is dragons.
Am I complaining about the ones I’m not interested in? Nope. Although I would have preferred WotC chosen a different MtG plane to do than Strixhaven. But I appreciate there are some misguided folks out there that like it!
Which reminds me that given Mark Rosenberg has said WotC see Ixalan as a major failure recently. I’m very unlikely to see a return to Ixalan both in MtG and D&D. So if I want to play in Ixalan I’ll have to make do with the Plane Shift pdf that was done, and the art book.
Also announced by WotC in the last week was that Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons has had its release put back by about a week. Which is a nothing delay in this day of shipping chaos. I can wait until I throw money at them for it. Oh wait I just told you which book I’m excited about.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
It’s been a long long time since the previous session planning post for our campaigns next session. And we all know why that is. But we have a date now for the resumption of the campaign. Which means I need to refresh my memory (using these great notes I have on here) and also actually finalising the ideas and thoughts I’ve had in the intervening time.
I recently got hold of a copy of the Tome of Beasts 2 Pocket Edition (it’s cheaper than the regular version). Sly Flourish mentions this all the time.
I got a chance to browse the pages of this “alternate monster manual” this morning whilst waiting for Mum to get some blood samples taken. Within the first 5 or 6 pages I hit a creature that would be ideal for the campaign.
That creature is an Akhlut.
Akhlut (taken off a Google image search)
The Akhlut has the body, head and tail of a killer whale, and the legs of a large wolf. A true “seawolf”! But it looks sooo cool. The Akhlut has a challenge rating of 6. Might be a tad high for the party if more than one attacked at once. But that’s something I can tinker with at the table.
I just think the Akhlut has so much potential for my campaign. I like that they can also be used as a steed. So while I have the Sahuagin using sharks. I’m thinking that maybe merfolk or another aquatic life form could use the Akhlut or even a more Northern based tribe of Sahuagin. I think even some of the northern human tribes could use them as well.
I had a strong start all planned. Well at least in my head. It’s been bouncing around up there for a while.
The plan was to have pirates come rushing out of the tree line attacking the party who are camping on the beach. They would be unable to return to their ship because row boats would be coming towards the shore. Pirate ships anchored off shore.
However now I know about the Akhlut I think this is going to change. I think the fish the party have been cooking/preserving have attracted a pod of Akhlut. The look of surprise on the parties faces as they go from wonder at the majestic sea beasts swimming to “OMG! They are coming out of the water towards us!”
Back to having a date to aim for I also need to spend some time finishing off painting the 3D scatter terrain that Duncan did for me nearly a year ago. This will mainly be for the lost Ironstar dwarf mine the party are trying to find.
I don’t get all this fascination with halloween here in the UK.
When I was a wee nipper it was penny for the guy, and fire works night. Halloween was not a thing.
Like proms, halloween some how got bought over from the US, and caught on. I blame corporations for this. They needed another way to exploit money out of folks.
In the later post that I link to are links to D&D Beyond posts about running Curse of Strahd as a one shot.
However these are not the only resources out there for doing this.
The first ones to look at are from one of my usual sources that I keep mentioning on here Sly Flourish. Mike wrote the following post “Running Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd in a Single Session”. This is also backed up with a YouTube video (embedded below for those that would prefer to watch instead of read!).
Run Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd as a One-Shot Single-Session Halloween D&D Game
Another YouTuber/Author I like is Seth Skorkowsky. I particularly like his in-depth reviews that also contain advice on running the adventure being reviewed.
AD&D Review: Ravenloft
Although Seth’s review is for the 1e Ravenloft adventure it’s still worth considering. As Seth points out in the video you can pick this up on DriveThruRPG as a pdf only or as a print on demand physical copy. It’s very cheap considering. A lot cheaper than trying to get an original copy off eBay. And I may or may not have gone this route!
Another good YouTube video to look at is from the Dungeon Craft YouTube channel.
How to Run Ravenloft in One Night (Episode #162)
Don’t forget you can always come up with your own one shot set in the Ravenloft universe. You can use the Curse of Strahd as your source book or this years Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
You can find some “inspiration” for your own one shot here.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
There had been plans (well had asked for players interested) for running an Alien RPG one shot (either Hadley’s Last Hope from the core rule book or Chariot of the Gods). But with the loss of Nan I didn’t feel up to running the session so put the plans on hold.
With the imminent arrival of the next D&D source book Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, and the current Sly Flourish Kickstarter I am starting to feel I could run our campaign.
Our campaign has been on hiatus since the start of the pandemic. So that’s a pretty long break.
I had been sharing those posts previously in the hope that others would find my thought process informative and for myself.
Now they come into their own and should allow me to pick up where I left off on the prep side. Naturally over the months I have given some thought to the next session. Especially what the strong start will be.
However before I continue on the prep of the next session I need to review those previous posts to refresh my memory. Oh and just as importantly get a date for the session.
The last day or two has seen more prominent D&D content creators picking up on a comment from the closing panel of last weekends D&D Celebration 2021, that D&D will get a major update in 2024.
But before I share with the world my thoughts about this, let’s look at a summary of the other snippets mentioned in the Future of D&D panel (YouTube video embedded below).
The D&D Celebration 2021 panel The Future of D&D
First up 2022 will see the arrival of the two remaining classic D&D settings that were mentioned last year. To further add to the mystery they will be published in formats that WotC have never published in before! Plus there will be hints/cameo of another classic setting plus there will be a fourth classic setting out in 2023. Whether that is the same setting that makes the cameo who knows?
There will be more adventure anthologies coming. Think along the lines of Candlekeep Mysteries.
2024 is the 50th Anniversary of D&D. Part of that celebration will see an update to D&D or the next evolution as it’s being currently pushed as. WotC started work earlier in the year on this. Which is why there were a couple of player surveys put out to gather feedback. The key part to pick out is that whatever this new version is called, it will be compatible with current 5e books. But as expected more details about this evolution of the core rules next year. And my guess is it will be about this time next year.
There was also an almost throw away line about new D&D digital stuff being worked on. We will have to be patient to find out what this is.
Arriving January (they did give a specific date, but I’m not holding them to that, after all shipping etc is a mess) is a new gift set of D&D rule books. That will be made up of an updated Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and a new book Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse.
Monsters of the Multiverse collects over 250creatures from previous D&D books into one place and updated! These updates will be our first clue/look as to how things might be in the 2024 evolved rulebooks. Plus there are over 30 setting agnostic playable races in the book. Go watch the video for some examples from this new tome.
Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse will also be available separately at a later date (I assume to help push sales of the gift set for those that absolutely must have it at the earliest possible opportunity).
We also learnt that currently in development are two brand new D&D settings. Which may or may not see the light of day.
Next month we will see news of a new product for 2022 that apparently we’ve never been to before and is terrifying!
Boo! a sketch of a proposed alt cover for unnamed product
Plus a mystery product that sees the return of Boo. Which I’m assuming means Minsc won’t be too far away from him.
Let’s circle back to the new core rulebooks coming in 2024. There has been some discussion about will people be expected to buy everything again and throw out the old? No. As pointed out above all our 5e books will be compatible with the new edition of rules. So at worst you only need to replace the core rulebooks IF you want to.
There is nothing stopping you from playing what you currently have if that is what you are happy with. People are playing older editions now because that is what they prefer.
So when the new rules come out don’t feel pressured to buy them. You don’t need to buy them if you are happy with the stuff you already have.
I’m pretty sure this will need repeating again nearer the time.
The end of last week saw EN Publishing release the latest major Judge Dredd story arc supplement for the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 A.D. RPG, The Apocalypse War.
The cover!
So what is contained inside the 114 pages that make up this supplement?
Contents page
“The Apocalypse War supplement includes:
New origins, species, careers and Judge options
Expanded equipment and rules for Sov Block items
Three new scenarios plus guidance campaigns set in the Apocalypse War
A timeline and gazeteer of the Sov Block”
What I like about buying directly from EN Publishing is if you buy the physical copy you get the pdf included. Which is available instantly after you complete the purchase. So you can be reading the supplement while you wait for the physical copy to arrive. I know one or two other publishers also do this. I wish more did.
In other news there is a new Kickstarter that went live yesterday from the legendary Sly Flourish for his latest book The Lazy DM’s Companion.
For anyone not aware of my position on the Lazy DM approach and books I’m a big fan. I own both the other books in this series Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and The Lazy DM’s Workbook, and love them.
“Each page of this 64-page book offers useful guidelines, an adventure or campaign generator, or a versatile map within which to build your own adventures.”
On the Kickstarter page is a 17 page sample from the book that can be downloaded, which you can use straight away. It really does contain some really useful/handy information such as info on improvisation during a session, safety tools, building situations, a core adventure generator, to name some of the pages.
Remember if you decide to back this project that VAT and shipping will be added on after the campaign has finished during the backerkit stage. So there is not a massive surprise Mike aka Sly has included some guide costs for this on the page (near the bottom).
