Collected Ramblings

Wherein I throw my idle thoughts and musings.

[baphall]

Planar goodies!

A brief overview and my thoughts on the latest Unearthed Arcana, since I love Planescape so much and OMG let's go back to The Cage already! #dnd5e #UnearthedArcana #Planescape #selfpromosaturday

It’s a great day for me as I write this – it’s Tuesday 19th July here in the past, so not only do I have Journey’s Through the Radiant Citadel to enjoy but I also get treated to Unearthed Arcana’s Wonders of the Multiverse issue. I am very excited!Why? Because Planescape, that’s why! Today I’m going to focus on Unearthed Arcana because I haven’t had a chance to dive into Radiant Citadel yet.…

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[baphall]

How did it go?

A quick look at the party I started running for this week, with more of their adventures to come soon! #dnd5e #selfpromosaturday #ABoyAndHisModron

In my last post, I talked about finally stretching my DM muscles for the first time in a long time. How did it go? Short answer is we didn’t get too far, but we did play a bit. The longer version is I had a table of five players, two of whom were veterans of several editions, one knew 5E well enough to quickly build a new 1st level character he’d never tried, and two complete newbies who needed…

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[baphall]

Scratching the DM itch

I'm thinking about jumping back into the Dungeon Master pool. Come see what my ideas are for the game. #dnd5e #planescape #selfpromosaturday

Apologies for my lack of regular updates recently, I’ve been a bit all over with time management for a few weeks. I’m staring down a big chunk of empty evenings to fill, so there will be a return to more regular content here soon. I’ve been thinking recently that it’s about time to jump back into DMing, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I think I’ve narrowed it down pretty well to…

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[baphall]

Drizzt's Travelogue of Everything (Volume 1) - a review

Too many writers to tag for this review, so I'll just tag the main Drizzt himself @bettermindsnot. *New Tactician class *26 subclasses and 2 more redux *52 magic items *DM tools and tips My tldr verdict - go grab this product over on DMsGuild now!

I asked to review this product and got a free copy. I’m using referral links to it below if anyone wants to give me a few cents from their purchase. Recently released on DMsGuild, Drizzt’s Travelogue bills itself as ‘an astonishing account of rules options for the world’s greatest roleplaying game’. Whilst we are presented with options here for both players and DMs, the majority of the book is…

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[baphall]

Uncaged Goddesses - a review

Better late than never, and whilst the product is at a reduced price - a short review of #UncagedGoddesses, sure to give you a better idea of some of the hot selling points for the book. #ttrpg #dnd5e #review

I’ve been trying to finish off this review for a few weeks now, seems like I could never find the time. Read below a few reasons you should pick up this product on DMsGuild now! Uncaged: Goddesses Cover Art:Artist: Gwen Bassett (@gwendybee)Cover Layout: David Markiwsky (@DavidMarkiwsky) The new installment in the Uncaged series for D&D, Uncaged Goddesses, has been released, and it’s…

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[baphall]

Adventure seed - twilight caverns

I've had an idea and I'm typing "out loud" as I sketch it out a bit more. A cavern cursed with a twilight interior. But why?! #dnd5e #ttrpg #selfpromosaturday

I have another idea for an adventure brewing, although currently it’s pretty early days. I was thinking about the caverns in the Elder Scrolls games, and how they’re never entirely pitch black despite being deep underground. There’s always a useful beam of light or small, high gap in a ceiling – never mid the inhabited caves that have torches and sconces. My idea for the twilight caves is to…

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[baphall]

5e creature idea - living weather

I think I'm pretty happy with the direction this idea is moving in. I'm glad it's finally swirling back around my mind to build upon. #ttrpg #dnd5e #LivingWeather #selfpromosaturday

Eberron has living spells, magical emanations that have somehow gained sentience through some strange arcane twist, and now roam the landscape causing mayhem. I’ve seen suggestions of living breath weapons having the same twist – dragon’s breath that’s gained a will of its own, and now travels about causing mischief. I’ve been watching some old episodes of Star Trek recently, and after a…

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[baphall]

Oops accidentally all robots

I've started playing an Eberron game at the same time as I've started playing a Star Wars game (alternate weeks). I *may* have accidentally made two robot engineers to play... #ttrpg #dnd5e #FFGStarWars

I’ve mentioned recently that I’m playing a warforged artificer in an Eberron game. I’ve also recently gotten the chance to finally play the Fantasy Flight version of Star Wars. I went in not knowing very much about the game, I’ve only played a couple of sessions and I still don’t really understand the different symbols on the dice (why are they all so same-y? Whose idea was that?!), but I’ve…

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[baphall]

So... Spelljammer confirmed!

I'm very excited for Spelljammer. That is all. #dnd5e #ttrpg #spelljammer

I think many people will be aware by now that D&D In Space (TM) is on the way in August. I’m very excited about the prospect. I’ve spoken before about my desire to run a Spelljammer game in 5e for a while and having official rules so I don’t have to hack together and homebrew stuff will be useful. That said, I’m still unsure about the current iteration, and probably will be until I see the…

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[baphall]

Seeker, warforged battle smith

I finally got to play in an Eberron game - only took me almost 20 years! Here's a current build of the character Seeker, and his steel defender Pooky. Comments/tips welcome! #dnd5e #eberron #SeekerTheArtificer

As I mentioned last week, I’ve finally got to make a warforged character for an Eberron game, and only 18 or so years after buying the original campaign setting book when it arrived in 2004… Anyway, here’s a bit about Seeker. Any tips and recommendations are more than welcome! Seeker, level 3 warforged battlesmith.Chaotic neutral, they/themAC 18, Spd 30 ft., hitpoints 27STR 8 (-1) DEX 13 (+1)…

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[baphall]

Keeping on top of things

I've been terrible of late at getting posts written, but that should change soon! #ttrpg #selfpromosaturday #watchthisspace

In recent months, I’ve been pretty bad at keeping to my regular weekly updates. I’m hoping to get back on track shortly when I have a bit more time, but after heading back to the office at the start of the year, I’ve lost a lot of my free time to commuting! There’s a lot of reading and writing happening in the background when I have a bit of time to do it. I’m still working on a handful of…

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[baphall]

End of the Carnival, Start of Something New

My Wild Beyond the Witchlight game has given up the ghost, so now I'm prepping for an Eberron game! #selfpromosaturday #eberronnoob #whatsawarforged

I joined an online game of Wild Beyond the Witchight with players in my locality a few months back. We recently made the switch back to in-person games, and it’s been a little rough. Our DM has decided he wants to take a step back, potentially forever. My harengon archfey tomelock will have to sit and wait in Thither until we maybe pick the game back up. Instead, one of the other players has…

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[baphall]

Unearthed Arcana - Heroes of Krynn

I did a quick overview and review of the new 5e Heroes of Krynn playtest material. I want to play an eladrin lunar sorcerer now! #ttrpg #dnd5e #selfpromosaturday

Apologies for the break last week, I’ve been ill! The Dragonlance novels, and D&D adventures, all took place in the world of Krynn. Now that Wizards is finally addressing this missing setting for 5e (hey, the new novel line is important enough for a public lawsuit, so they’d better get their acts together soon…), it makes sense they’d release a playtest of some of the material for it. Now, I’m…

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[baphall]

A D&D Reward Chart

I'm still finishing up reading my copy of #UncagedGoddesses so no review just yet. Instead, here's an idea for rewards in D&D inspired by my toddler's Paw Patrol sticker reward chart! #ttrpg #dnd5e #selfpromosaturday

We recently picked up a sticker reward chart for our toddler, hoping that it would help motivate him to tidy up after himself, brush his teeth, and take medicine. So far the allure of shiny Paw Patrol stickers is all we’ve needed to get some more willingness from him for those activities (playing All I Eat Is Pizza by Koo Koo Kangaroo whilst we tidy is also a must, for some reason). It got me…

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[baphall]

Adventurous Locales

This week I've been musing on some locations for adventures. A bit D&D heavy, because that's where the ideas started, but the seeds of stuff to use in many different kinds of games. #ttrpg #selfpromosaturday #dnd #planescape #spelljammer #wizardsdidit

I’ve been trying to come up with some more interesting places to stick adventures, similar to Sigil in scope though not purpose. My City of Sunsets post sort of inspired this, as did all of my digging into Sigil (such as most recently) and other planar locations. I need to hash out the ideas a bot, but here are three quick previews: The City on the Edge of Forever:This one is a Spelljammer– and…

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[baphall]

Quirks of a City at the Centre of the Planes

Why doesn't Sigil have a Little Greyhawk? Why is it so small when it's the central city of the Planes, potentially the most cosmopolitan place in existence? #dnd #musings #ttrpg

I’ve been thinking a bit about how being at the centre of everything might affect Sigil, specifically how cosmopolitan it might get. A lot of big cities in the real world have established ethnic communities and imported cuisine, chances for fusion cooking, and unique ways of doing things like architecture, art, customs or even laws (and in Sigil, as long as the law doesn’t interfere with the…

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[baphall]

Mundane magic item ideas

I'm writing some magic items, pretty happy with how they're going - and all based on the Adventuring Gear table in the 5e PHB. #ttrpg #dnd5e #selfpromosaturday

I’m writing a product based on the Adventuring Gear table from the Player’s Handbook. The general idea is to write some useful magic items that are based on mundane equipment. Here are a few samples, from a list of 30 or so that I’m working on. Collapsible LadderWondrous item, rareThe collapsible ladder looks like two wooden rods capped with rune-covered steel caps at their ends, linked together…

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