#RPGaDAY2020 Day 29 – Ride

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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.

My 2020 Has Been Mainly Expansions

expansions, new arrivals

With the arrival of Twilight Imperium: Prophecy of Kings yesterday that is the last of the expansions and the focus of my purchases for 2020.

I have bought games published this year. Well one for sure. That was the new Marvel themed Love Letter.

And I have bought one or two other games such as Smash Up, the new edition of Love Letter, Dungeon Mayhem and Star Wars Outer Rim.

There have been no games released in 2020 that have grabbed me as must buys. It has been the expansions that have stolen that place.

Although there has been one recent game that has got my attention, and has been preordered. That’s Dune Imperium. It’s due out in December. I’ve seen late December. So it looks like it could be hit or miss whether it makes 2020.

But I have to admit I am happy with just the expansions for games I have. New content gives an excuse to get them back to the table (eventually).

Three of the expansions were pleasant surprises when they were announced or I found out they had come out. I wasn’t expecting expansions for TI4, Targi or Civilisation: A New Dawn. But I was going to make sure I got them. I really like those games and especially for TI4 and New Dawn must haves.

Not shown in the photo above because I have thrown the packaging away (it was very thin cardboard and not of any use) is the expansion for Civilisation: A New Dawn, Terra Incognita.

I have to admit when I talked about the expansions I was looking forward to in a post a while back now. I didn’t include the Wingspan expansion (as was pointed out to me by Jonathan in a comment on the post). I was sceptical that it would make 2020 with all that was going on. Or that is the excuse I used to justify that I had forgotten to include it.

There is one expansion I will get, but it can wait until next year. I’m not in a hurry. And that is the new expansion for 7 Wonders Duel, Agora. I need two copies of this any way. I buy myself a copy and also Nathan one. He loves the game too and has his own copy. which I also pimped out with the same promos etc.

Despite knowing I won’t be playing the games with the expansions until sometime next year (which I am very much looking forward to doing). The way the board game hobby is. If you don’t get the expansion/game when it comes out, the likely hood that it is between printings, out of print when you want to get it, is pretty high. And that route only leads to resentment and rants about paying stupid money for plastic and cardboard to a stranger on the internet.

What expansions did you buy this year? Is there a game I should have got excited about?

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 28 – Close

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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.

Looking at why I bought certain D&D books

D&D, RPG

While listening to the latest episode of The Tome Show podcast that took an initial look at Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, I had an idea to write this post.

A post that will look at the official WotC D&D 5e books that I own, and answering the question why did I buy that book? What do they bring to the table for me?

I’m not going to talk about the “holy trinity” of books that should be on every DM’s book shelf, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Player’s Handbook, and Monster Manual.

Those are a given, and shouldn’t need explaining.

I’m also going to assume it’s a given that each book gives new monsters, spells, and magical items. And they were not bought because of this. But that this is a nice bonus to the main reason the book was bought.

So here are the official D&D 5e books I own and why.

Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes was bought for the extra depth it gives on some of the races such as halflings and gnomes. It covers their beliefs, societies etc. Very useful indeed for inspiring player backstories, or adventure ideas. I’ve used what the halflings believe about death and the afterlife to describe what Dram experienced whilst he was temporarily dead before being resurrected.

Volo’s Guide to Monsters was bought for the monster lore chapter. The nine monsters covered there not only add more depth to them but also have maps for a liar. These are basically instant mini adventures that could be used at the drop of a hat during a session or planned into a campaign. Very useful to have.

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything this is full of optional rules to use along side the core rule books. So far the revisited rules for Traps have been of use, along with the rules for levelling up from Appendix A shared campaigns. Appendix B is also very handy with its lists of character names.

Both Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros are firstly source books bringing the world of Magic the Gathering (MtG) to D&D. Being a MtG player this mash up appealed to me. So it was a given I’d get the source books that will allow me to play in the MtG sandpit.

I don’t (at the moment, nor have I) run a published adventure. So why do I currently own six of them?

Ghosts of Saltmarsh was bought for the rules it brings to the table that cover sea travel, ships, underwater encounters, and the many tables it has to roll against.

Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus was purchased for it’s Appendix A: Diabolical Deals. I plan to use these within my campaign (once we can get back to playing safely as a group). I just love the idea of one of the characters making “a deal with the devil” as a story plot.

I bought Tales from the Yawning Portal because it was full of examples that would be classed as death trap dungeons (I think that would be the correct term to describe them). They have a high mortality rate. Plus lots of examples of different types of traps and puzzles.

An element I’d like to try to bring to my campaign is horror. The nice thing about my campaign is that it allows for me to try different genres/themes very easily. Although it is true to say that I have not started down that route yet.

However for examples of writing horror themed adventures WotC have now kindly provided two different examples and styles of this genre. Curse of Strahd is the gothic horror of the classics such as Dracula and Frankenstein. Whilst Icewind Dale Rime of the Frost Maiden is inspired more by The Thing. Plus it has some rules for wilderness travel in extreme cold. Which could be handy.

Tomb of Annihilation is an example of a hex crawler. And it was for it’s rules on this that I bought the book. I have used these rules as the basis for sea travel within my campaign.

These final three books are like the MtG books above, settings books. Books that inspire.

My first campaign is set in the Forgotten Realm, and to the Moonshae Isles which are to the west of the Sword Coast. So it was obvious to get the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide that provided some background information for the area.

Eberron: Rising from the Last War was bought because I liked the sound of the setting. Steampunk meets fantasy. Throw in adventure, pulp and noir themes, and it sounds a blast. Plus Halflings with dinosaur pets!

I’m not a fan of streamed D&D sessions. I find them boring to watch, and an inaccurate depiction of a D&D session. How many D&D groups are made up entirely of actors and comedians? I feel these streamed shows are more about improve acting and showcasing what these actors/comedians can do.

So it’s fair to say I am not a fan of the Acquisitions Inc streamed show. So why is the Acquisitions Incorporated source book in my collection? It’s for it’s franchise rules. The running a corporate organisation, such as a heroes for hire, or whatever other business the players might think up. Not sure if we will use these. But it’s there if the thought comes to the players.

So there we have it a brief explanation why each of the official D&D books that I own are in the collection. How many do you own and why did you buy them?

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 27 – Favour

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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.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 25 – Lever

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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.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 24 – Humour

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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.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 23 – Edge

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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.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 22 – Rare

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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.