If you plan to create a tabletop (or computer-based) game, you need to know about curves. You need to understand the power curve and how to use it. Don’t worry. It is quite easy to do. Here, is an example of baseline damage per spell level when the dice are …
What happens when your party are accused of a crime they did not commit? What happens when they do not see the accusation coming – say during some well-earned rest in a tavern? This tavern based encounter can be tuned to the party’s level. Use the form below to make …
Long time readers might be aware of the auto-randomising nature of my TPK encounter and loot posts. What you might not know is that this is powered by a PHP class I wrote that provides a lot of shortcodes. Why shortcodes, I hear you ask. Because blocks were not a …
This TPK prelude is a midnight encounter which should serve as an introduction to other goblin encounters. This is a surprise attack that turns the usually uneventful act of getting a full nights sleep, recovering HP, and gaining back spells into a story driving moment. Where the encounter should …
I have a vice which keeps me from writing as much as perhaps I should – my beloved Xbox and my two weekly tabletop game nights. Right now my two main addictions are Terraria, and Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms. That’s on top of my weekly Dungeons and Dragons …
Sometimes you just want to mess with your players. Perhaps because they have become complacent or maybe they have forgotten that you, the GM, are all powerful. Maybe you are just an evil maniacal GM. Either way, these special loot items have you covered. Ring of unnatural ageing A platinum …
Click grabbing headline aside, I really am going to talk about the difference between different skill types. I’m going to draw my examples from both S3 and Pathfinder but really these should apply universally. Skills in RPGs can be expressed along a few binary axis: passive vs active constant vs at-will critical …
True love’s kiss as a power to break a spell or curse is one of those fairy tale elements that has become engrained in the modern psyche. I thought it might be interesting to explore it as a curse breaker in an RPG setting. True love’s kiss is one of …
Sometimes, just for a laugh, an evil GM likes to mess with player’s characters and nothing does that quite like a cursed ring of gender change. Maybe there is a treasure grabbing munchkin that needs to learn a lesson, or perhaps you just want to lighten the mood. Whatever your …
I know I said that a GM should be ready to TPK their players but that also means that, as the GM, you should have a plan to save your players. Assuming, of course, that you not playing a game that expects TPKs, you might want a few plans in place to …
