Well we made it.

It’s been a long and drawn out journey. But I think we have all grown because of it.

Heck I didn’t even do the obvious quote for yesterday’s post. Ok that might be more to do with me forgetting to add it than a deliberate action on my part.

But here we are the last day, the last post of this hash tag.

So once more with feeling, this last theme for me to share my shallow thoughts on is…

I’m going with the obvious interpretation of this theme. Which is probably the interpretation that the majority went with.

Within D&D players improve their characters by earning experience points (XP).

The DM’s Guide mentions a handful of ways to level up a character.

The players can earn XP during a session by completing combat encounters aka killing monsters, role play, and anything else the DM can think of as an excuse for awarding XP.

Another way giving XP is allocate XP for achieving various milestones within the adventure. Such as delivering a message, rescuing a victim from a dungeon, etc.

The DM’S Guide suggests a couple of ways to do away with XP all together for advancing characters.

The first is a session-based advancement. This sees players levelling up after completing a certain number of sessions.

The other non-XP way is story-based advancement. It’s not to dissimilar to the milestones way of awarding XP. Except instead of getting XP for completing significant goals the characters advance a level instead.

In Xanathar’s Guide to Everything in Appendix A: Shared Campaigns suggests a way of rewarding players for taking part in a play session by using experience checkpoints.

“A character reaches 1 checkpoint for each hour an adventure is designed to last.”

I like this method of levelling up a character because as Xanathar’s says “this approach ensures that a player’s preferred style is neither penalised nor rewarded. … this system gives credit where credit is due.”

It just seems fairer to me because of that.

So far (touch wood) the players in our campaign are also happy with this as well. I’ve found it makes my admin in tracking when a player advances to the next level easier. And takes that burden off the players as well as they are not having to track XP and keep a record of what they have got.

If I had to choose one of the other methods from the DM’s Guide it would be the milestones.

These two seem the most flexible and allow for sessions to take unplanned paths based on decisions at the table, and keep the admin down during game play and in preparing for a session.

I hope this last post has been a handy very brief summary of earning XP in D&D.

Phew that’s the end. No more until next year. Hopefully I’ll remember to do it at the proper time.

Woo Hoo the penultimate post.

In hindsight this next paragraph should have possibly been placed into a couple of the previous posts for this #RPGaDAY2020 thing. But it’s ok late now, and I’m not retro editing the posts. I’d have to reread my own words. Who’d want to do that?

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.

When we get back to our campaign once this who pandemic thing allows the adventurers will be exploring an abandoned dwarven mine that once was home to small number of dwarves belonging to the Ironstar clan.

I’m going to be using the Dwarven Excavation map from the D&D Essentials Kit. Naturally the map will need a tweak or two. For instance the party will not be meeting the two dwarf prospectors. So how do I warn the party of the threats inside?

In the Ruined Settlement part I plan to have fragments of an ancient diary lying around for the party to discover. Naturally these will be written in dwarven. So depending on who discovers the fragments will determine what version I hand over. A non-dwarven reading character will get a sheet that is just dwarven runes. Whilst a dwarven reading character will get an english version to read.

The fragments will talk of a rift opening up in the Hall of Greed. From this rift oozes spewed. So the party will still encounter ochre jelly. But I’m going to throw in a gelatinous cube, maybe even a black pudding.

I got the idea for the rift from the following post from the Role Playing Tips website.

Rifts are a kind of portal in my mind.

I do like the idea of using portals within a campaign. They allow adventurers to travel to other planes. Or in this case provide a story element, and even problem for the party to solve.

In a MtG inspired campaign whether using the Ravnica or Theros source books, or the Planes Shift pdfs a portal is how your party will planes walker between realms.

In a regular D&D campaign they are how you get to Avernus or one of the many planes that exist in the D&D universe.

In the Hall of Greed the party will encounter the rift which they will need to close before they can make use of the Brazier of Green Flame to enchant their weapons. I’m borrowing this brazier from the Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign that comes with the D&D Starter Kit. If you want specifics it can be found in the Forge of Spells in the Wave Echo Cave map.

The brazier for me explains the “secret” of how the Ironstar Clan were able to imbue their weapons and other items with magical properties.

I think this plan of mine is a good example of how to take an existing encounter, and make it your own by mashing several ideas together to create something semi original.

Before we have the penultimate post of my late posts for #RPGaDAY2020 we need to cover today’s theme, which is…

Today’s theme got me thinking about halflings and the creatures they ride.

Halflings can have some pretty cool mounts.

In the Forgotten Realms Ghostwise halflings can have giant owls as a mount.

These halflings are usually “Clan warriors known as nightgliders…” As a DM I would not insist that anyone playing a Ghostwise halfling who wanted a giant owl as a mount also had to be a warrior also. I think it could be made to work backstory wise how they ended up with a giant owl.

In Eberron Talenta halfiings “…are nomads who ride domesticated dinosaurs across the wide plains.”

I’ve said this in a previous post, frickin dinosaur mounts! How cool is that? It’s one of the reasons I want to be a player in an Eberron campaign.

In fact I’d be half tempted to “borrow” the idea for a Forgotten Realms campaign with the halfling coming from Chult to explain the relationship between halflings and dinosaurs.

And let’s not forget in D&D it’s possible for a halfling to have a wolf as a mount. Which would be pretty cool. I love the idea of a tribe of halfling wolf riders. It would hark back to a comic book that I loved back in the late 80’s, early 90’s called Elfquest.

See you tomorrow for the penultimate post tomorrow.

We are in the home stretch. Just three posts left after this one.

I do hope folks have got some enjoyment out of these posts.

Anyways, let’s get on with todays post and find out what #RPGaDAY2020 has in line for us today…

Wow this has me stumped.

All I have is “close that door”!

A bit of sage advice for adventurers in a dungeon when they have decided they need a rest. Whether it’s a short rest or a much longer one.

I’d also advise them to use a piton or wedge to help secure the door so that any wandering monster can not just push open the door. But adventurers in these modern days do tend to not carry these with them as they go off into dark deep places looking for fame and fortune.

They also don’t carry ten foot poles with them either.

It seems dungeons have become safer places these days.

Fools!

Lulled into a false sense of security.

It makes that trap they stumbled in to all that more sweeter.

Four days left after this post.

I’ve nearly made it.

Today #RPGaDAY2020 wants us to think about..

For this post I’m jumping from the usual default of D&D 5e to another RPG system. That system being the Genesys RPG from FFG (and now Edge Studio).

The second source book released for Genesys was Android Shadow of the Beanstalk (SotB).

A setting in a cyberpunk universe created by FFG. I love this setting, I fell in love with it when I was introduced to it with the Android Netrunner lcg.

So getting this source book was a no brainer for me. Plus the Worlds of Android book is a great companion for creating adventures in this rich futuristic world.

With the release of SotB we were given a new mechanic to the system. That being the favour economy.

“The favour economy is, at its core, an exchange economy. The core game mechanic of this economy is that a character can exchange a favour for a favour of equal value with another character (as long as both characters are willing to make the trade).” SotB page 80.

In SotB there are three categories in the favour economy: small favours, regular favours, and big favours.

The table from the SotB source book below gives examples of the sort of things favours could be.

The cool thing is that the favour economy is also tied in with factions within SotB. Factions are basically corporations, street gangs, etc.

During character creation, “…you may (but you don’t have to) choose one faction. Your character owes a favor to someone in that faction.” SotB page 53.

Being aligned with a faction gives a character access to favours only that faction can do. Although you don’t have to be in the faction to owe them a favour.

Owing a favour during character creation is a great way to get a boost to your characters starting equipment. For example it could mean a runner character starts off with a better deck than normal.

The draw back is you never know when that favour may have to be paid back.

I love this favour economy mechanic it’s so thematic. It screams cyberpunk, life on the streets, struggling to survive.

Just image me doing a double back flip, as I dive into today’s #RPGaDAY2020 theme of…

Today’s theme was nearly another curve ball.

However then I remembered the WotC Stranger Things D&D Starter Kit.

So all I’m going to do today is be lazy and point you to my previous post looking at the themed starter kit. In theory this post is a quick read. However the linked post isn’t!

Today’s late for me theme for #RPGaDAY2020 is…

I was looking forward to today’s theme.

As you all know I’m a new DM running their first D&D 5e campaign that is a homebrew campaign.

The first “dungeon” that the players came across was one of my own designs.

It was the liar of the minotaur pirate Angrath.

The players had washed up on a beach after the boat they were travelling on had sunk during a storm.

Unclimbable cliffs loomed before them. There was no way off the beach.

However there was a cave in the base of the cliffs.

The players explored the cave discovering a stair well leading up.

This was the entrance to the pirate lair.

Whilst designing the pirate lair I was inspired a little by the original version of the video game Doom.

In Doom they had buttons that when pressed appeared to do nothing when pressed. But if you listened carefully you heard a door opening, or a lift lowering/raising. Often releasing some new imminent threat.

And it was this that I thought of when I added levers to my dungeon.

The party would pull the lever and hear something opening in the distance (maybe depending on their perception checks).

So the lever appears to do nothing. But just round the corner a surprise may now be lurking, or a door/portcullis is now open that was blocking them.

I like this design element. It’s something I’ll definitely use again in my own designs, and in maps I borrow from other sources. I just need to resist over using it. Which is a tendency everyone has when they hit on something they like.

Well after today there are seven more posts left of this blog event. We could almost call it the home straight.

Let’s jump in and see what today’s theme is…

Humour is a hard one in RPGs, and subjective.

What one person or group finds hilarious, another will find it falls flat.

During a session of D&D humour is something that happens spontaneously based on events and comments at the table.

If playing a horror scenario whether D&D or another system such as the Alien RPG, humour is a tool used to break the tension.

However there are RPGs that have humour and humorous situations built into them. The one I know of and own is Paranoia.

“Paranoia is a comedy game – a dark comedy, for sure, but if people aren’t laughing out loud at least once per session, you’re doing your job wrong.” from the Paranoia GM manual.

I love how the manuals for Paranoia have been written. They have a style that is informative, casual, and humorous.

The GM manual for the game has a chapter giving advice offering tips for running humour in an RPG. A GMs mileage will vary with the given advice. But it’s still

One of my favourite quotes and bits of advice from the GM manual is the following:

“Note: Always say ‘XP points’, never just ‘XP’. If it annoys you just reading through this book, imagine how much it’ll annoy your players.”

I think it captures the tone of the manuals and Paranoia itself perfectly.

And for the record the Paranoia Mission Book has one of the best, if not the best introductory scenarios for an RPG that I have seen (which admittedly isn’t extensive).

[YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE OF THIS ADVENTURE] is the name of that starting scenario, written with a similar style as the other books that make up the core Paranoia RPG. It can actually be played without having read the other books or referring to them. Plus I really do enjoy reading this scenario, it’s a delight.

Paranoia is the go to game for me if I want to play a RPG that will have people laughing. It allows for so many silly situations and lots of slapstick humour.

It’s been funny reminding myself about Paranoia. I must get it to the table once all this silliness in the real world is over.

Let’s see what curve ball this late #RPGaDAY2020 thing has for us today. Today’s curve ball is…

This one has me stumped.

I had to look the meaning of edge up and alternatives to use to get inspiration for this post.

In the end I decided to go with linking edge with extremity and reaching the furthest point of something, like a boundary.

My first and current campaign as a DM, which regular long time sufferers of this blog will know is a homebrew campaign I call In the Wake of Pytheas.

The campaign got its name after the Greek geographer and explorer Pytheas.

It has the party exploring the edges of the Sword Coast.

Bouncing around the islands that make the Moonshae Isles and the unnamed ones to the west of it.

However being only seven sessions in to the campaign the adventurers have only reached the Mintarn archipelago.

In those sessions they have managed to make enemies with a Minotaur pirate called Angrath. Seen the Red Rage of Mintarn, Hoondarrh the red dragon. Fought sahuagin. And now are on a “treasure hunt” trying to find a lost dwarven mine on Mintarn.

They have been given an adventure hook that will take them to the Northlander Isles trying to save a party member that has been kidnapped. But they haven’t followed that up yet.

But the nature of this campaign is that they can go anywhere. It’s a sandbox campaign.

I have ideas for adventures or islands for the adventurers to discover, that have a variety of sources of inspiration.

Such as the adventurers coming across an island based on the MtG realm Ixalan. Which has pirates, merfolk, vampires and dinosaurs. Which I think will be pretty cool.

Or having an island based on the Greek Minotaur legend. With the imminent arrival of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything I like the idea of using islands themed around the supernatural hazards.

This sandbox nature of the campaign is something I really love. The openness. The variety. That last bits important. It means we can try different genres, such as horror. Or different styles of play, such as dungeon crawl or wilderness. Which will hopefully keep things interesting for the players.

There we have it a very tenuous link to today’s theme of edge. More bs tomorrow see you then.

For some reason yesterday was an amazing day for traffic to the blog. Over double it’s normal traffic.

Often these are rare blips. It doesn’t become the new norm.

Super small and cozy blogs like this, which don’t review stuff, cover news, or write in-depth insightful posts, are thankfully rare.

It means I can write about stuff I like, do a series of posts like this #RPGaDAY2020. Basically whatever I’m currently into, then that’s what I blog about. And that changes over time.

But you and I are here for one thing only today. And that’s to my poorly formed thoughts on the theme that was chosen for day 22 of the #RPGaDAY2020 when it was run back in August. That theme is …

I could talk about magic items and treasure within D&D. And if I was a betting man and could be bothered to google it. I’d bet good money that is the approach that a good few folks took when they hit today’s theme (back when people were doing this at the correct time).

Me I’m going to talk about real life rare items.

One that if it was in print I would be saying should be in every DM’s library. That rare item is Gary Gygax’s Extraordinary Book of Names.

I’ll admit I don’t own a physical copy of this book. I’d love to. But like most things that are out of print and unlikely to be printed again, the second hand price is astronomical. At the time of writing around £250 on Amazon!

This isn’t a book that is just made up from lists of names. It has essays on names and naming. The lists of real names are organised by origin not nationality. Plus there are lists of fantasy names. Each list has naming customs, pronunciation guidance. There are also tables you can roll against. It’s a great source of inspiration to help bring an NPC to life. With a name a picture starts to form of just who that NPC is.

The Gary Gygax’s Extraordinary Book of Names is still relevant today and easily used in conjunction with current systems. Which makes it an even rarer book, and no doubt pushes up its price even more.

But even old scenarios or supplements for long gone RPG systems or old versions of existing systems can be pretty hard to get hold of. Such as the two Judge Dredd RPG scenarios Judgement Day and Slaughter Margin. Although the cost of these is a bit more affordable.

Why would you want these sort of things?

Well you could be on a retro RPG kick and want to relive those halcyon days of yester year. Sadly through the mists of time your copies got lost for whatever reason.

Or you could be playing a current version of the system or IP and want to use the old material as a source of inspiration in the current version. Or you want to update an adventure you have fond memories of to play with the new rules.

Collecting rare out of print RPG publications for whatever reason can be expensive. But also rewarding.

Ok that’s enough of these ramblings. More tomorrow.