This post is going to end up with new weapon lists, stats, prices and so on for 5e. But first I’ll talk through how I got to them. To recap an older post, I reverse-engineered the principles by which 5e weapon stats are (mainly) assigned and checked the official weapon lists for logic and consistency.… Continue reading Improving the D&D 5e weapons list
Author: Ian
Content assessment: the Belgariad
This is a follow-up post to my recent one discussing the age suitability of epic fantasy novels by David Eddings. That post outlined themes that were common across four series of his best-known work. This one is a deep dive into one series, the Belgariad. Book 1: Pawn of Prophecy Violence, gore, horror Prologue: Mythic-style… Continue reading Content assessment: the Belgariad
David Eddings: age suitability
Content warnings for this blog post: mention of real-life physical abuse of children; mention, some discussion and brief description of fictional violence including against children, rape, genocide, human sacrifice, cannibalism, forced marriage, non-consensual drugging, death of animals, war, war crimes, death in childbirth and other dark content. Summary Before giving David Eddings’ fantasy work to… Continue reading David Eddings: age suitability
Hiding and awareness in D&D 5e
This is an area of the D&D 5e rules that I personally have found tricky as I started using the edition, and I see a lot of other people having trouble with. In online chat, I hear of different GMs running it different ways, and I even see knowledgeable rules experts disagreeing to some extent… Continue reading Hiding and awareness in D&D 5e
Upgrading a monster in DnD 5e
Here’s a worked example of how I’ve used the Creating a Monster guidelines in the 5e DMG to adjust a monster stat block to fit what I wanted for an encounter. The base monster I’m using is the Ankheg (Monster Manual, page 21). It is rated Challenge 2. For my 5-character, 5th-level beginner-ish party I… Continue reading Upgrading a monster in DnD 5e
Monster menus (School of Adventure Year Five part 2)
I’ve started prepping encounters by outlining menus of things that the antagonist/s might do in that encounter. I suppose this may be a beginner-to-intermediate point for many GMs these days, but if that’s where you’re at in your gaming journey or if, like me, you started GMing with a game/edition that didn’t explain this technique,… Continue reading Monster menus (School of Adventure Year Five part 2)
School of Adventure—Year Five part 1
I’ve been running the Year Five mission for the School of Adventure for several weeks now. I was maybe going to let it finish before I posted a write-up of the whole thing, but there would be a lot to cover. And now I’ve drafted a post about an idea I used while running it,… Continue reading School of Adventure—Year Five part 1
Chivalry & Sorcery—generating a character
This outlines the generation of my first ever Chivalry & Sorcery character, putting into practice the learning I set out in my last post. The steps in the process The steps listed in the Character Generation chapter are: Select method Birth Horoscope Birth Omens Race and sex Background, class, status and intragroup status Sibling rank… Continue reading Chivalry & Sorcery—generating a character
Chivalry & Sorcery—understanding skills and vocations
This is a follow-up to my previous post, which gave an overview of what you get with the Chivalry & Sorcery 5th edition core rulebook. I’m shifting out of the review mode I was kind of in for that post, because I’ve been figuring out exactly how the skill selection and vocation rules work in… Continue reading Chivalry & Sorcery—understanding skills and vocations
Chivalry & Sorcery—opening the book
I fairly recently got a new game so here are some notes of my first impressions. Chivalry & Sorcery, for those not familiar with it, is a venerable tabletop roleplaying game, first created in 1977 in response to Dungeons & Dragons, with the intent of bringing more historicity and realism to tabletop fantasy adventure. It… Continue reading Chivalry & Sorcery—opening the book