I was talking to a friend about the above tweet and realized this is kinda in-line with how I view the tone of E+E. So... I made it into a Keychain.
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@elixirspluselementals
I was talking to a friend about the above tweet and realized this is kinda in-line with how I view the tone of E+E. So... I made it into a Keychain.
Work on the D&D 4e Clone Thing (@elixirspluselementals) continues.
Drawing of the fighter in front is mine, background art is “Mountainous Riverscape with Figures” by Georg Eisenmann from nga.gov
The Keychain Idea, Dev Blog #3
I think characters should keep their weapons for longer. One part of that is that I think it's cool when an adventurer of some stripe keeps their weapon, I like the idea of someone recognizing that a Warhammer is a specific character's Warhammer that they've had since level 1 and has followed them through double-digit adventures. If you're swapping out Warhammers for various upgrades every level or handful of adventures, you don't have any ties to your weapons, they're just statblocks waiting to be used.
The other part of it is that I don't wanna design a billion weapons. I've looked through the 4e players guides, and I've seen the nonsense you can add to a character in the 4e Windows character builder, and I don't wanna do that! I'm just one guy!
There's gotta be a way to split the difference. Every character has their weapon, something iconic and tied to a class that you can describe as visually unique for your character but has the same mechanics at every table no matter what, but there's also some type of treasure or item you could acquire to make changes to your weapon to make it feel mechanically different.
Introducing the "Keychain" idea.
It's been a little quiet, so I wanted to provide a small update on ELIXIRS PLUS ELEMENTALS.
Cover not final. Art is “Mountainous Riverscape with Figures” by Georg Eisenmann from nga.gov. Edited by Josh Average.
What if we made a PWYW digital magazine?
Inspired by zines, blog updates, and the old Dungeon and Dragon magazines, I'm gonna put together a bi-monthly (every other month) e-zine on itch. Volume 0 will focus fully on development of E PLUS E. Expect the blog posts from here to get "reprinted", peeks at new mechanics and ideas I'm tossing around, fully stat'd character sheets, and other developmental ideas.
Each issue will have one big feature on things that make E PLUS E unique, with our first issue focusing on "Meat Mountain", the default setting of E PLUS E. We'll talk about the idea of the setting, the inspiration, the vibes we hope it brings, and what mechanical ideas E PLUS E has that are centered around "Meat Mountain" as the default setting.
Posts from the blog won't stop! This is just a fun way to package everything together that I'm using to work on E PLUS E. I would be writing about and thinking about "Meat Mountain", or weapon mechanics, or leveling systems to help me work through my thoughts and put (digital) pen to (digital) paper for the game. This just helps me gauge interest and make a cool thing in-between bigger milestones for the game.
As always, if you have any thoughts, you know where to find us. We'll keep up updated with the first issue goes out, and when any other fun developments happen.
See ya!
-Josh Average
you can add whatever you want to your plex server
I... I meant to post this on my regular account... lmao
you can add whatever you want to your plex server
Creature Variations
One of my favorite aspects of Fourth Edition was the variations on Monsters, best exemplified by Minions. Minions could be taken down with any amount of damage dealt to them, as they had 1 HP, and they provided less XP to players.
You could, in theory, make any Monster in the Monster Manual into a Minion by lowering the XP you give your players and by making it so they die to any damage dealt to them. One of the Windows desktop tools actually let you design any creature like this, thereby allowing you make anything (even dragons!) into Minions. It allows for lots of flexibility DMs while not needing a ton of encounter prep behind the screen.
Josh Average's Holiday 2025 Sale!
"Gosh, wouldn't it be soooo cool to get every Josh Average published game for $3…"
We're all constantly thinking this, and do I have news for you!
All three of my finished TTRPGs, plus the in-development ELIXIRS + ELEMENTALS, is on sale NOW for $3 on itchio! It's the Josh Average Holiday 2025 Sale!
Crisis Corpse is an exquisite corpse game about writing superhero stories for an erratic d6 editor-in-chief. Create a silly superhero universe with your friends, watch it all come apart at the seams through forced tie-ins, and reuse old characters from past games!
Odd Powers is a one-page, JJBA-inspired, TTRPG where you use your odd powers to defeat your Fated Enemy.
You Have 7 Days is a one-page, TWEWY-inspired, diceless TTRPG that was made in one several-hour Twitch stream. You are now in the Reaper's Game. You will be asked questions, and your answers guide your story. Will you survive, or face Erasure?
And finally, ELIXIRS + ELEMENTALS is my current TTRPG project that you may have seen on @elixirspluselementals. E+E is a Fourth Edition Clone-Thing that looks to offer some dungeon-crawly, tactics-y, fourth-edition-y fun. You can build a level 1 wizard with the rules written so far. Exciting!!!
Josh Average's Holiday 2025 Sale!
"Gosh, wouldn't it be soooo cool to get every Josh Average published game for $3…"
We're all constantly thinking this, and do I have news for you!
All three of my finished TTRPGs, plus the in-development ELIXIRS + ELEMENTALS, is on sale NOW for $3 on itchio! It's the Josh Average Holiday 2025 Sale!
Crisis Corpse is an exquisite corpse game about writing superhero stories for an erratic d6 editor-in-chief. Create a silly superhero universe with your friends, watch it all come apart at the seams through forced tie-ins, and reuse old characters from past games!
Odd Powers is a one-page, JJBA-inspired, TTRPG where you use your odd powers to defeat your Fated Enemy.
You Have 7 Days is a one-page, TWEWY-inspired, diceless TTRPG that was made in one several-hour Twitch stream. You are now in the Reaper's Game. You will be asked questions, and your answers guide your story. Will you survive, or face Erasure?
And finally, ELIXIRS + ELEMENTALS is my current TTRPG project that you may have seen on @elixirspluselementals. E+E is a Fourth Edition Clone-Thing that looks to offer some dungeon-crawly, tactics-y, fourth-edition-y fun. You can build a level 1 wizard with the rules written so far. Exciting!!!
Do You...
Did you know you can write whatever the hell you want into a text document?
Decided to work on the Creature Field Guide (name probably not final) to take a break from all the work the Player's Field Guide (name also probably not final) is taking. Here's a crack at Fourth Edition's Minions: Jobbers.
ITCH PAGE IS LIVE!
ELIXIRS + ELEMENTALS, a Fourth Edition Clone Thing, has an Itch page! It is in extremely early stages right now, as you may have guessed by some of the screenshots and dev blogs I've been posting. You can literally only make a level 1 wizard during character creation and that's it, but! I think it shows off the bones of what I'm trying to do here. It is free to own right now, or a suggested $1 tip, so get your hands on it and read it!
A Fourth Edition Clone Thing
What's In A Species?: Dev Blog #02
No, really, what does a race, heritage, background, "species" or any of that stuff mean? Should it mean anything? I think it shouldn't be too much.
A wizard is just an Arcane Rogue, I guess.
Starting Somewhere: Dev Blog #01
ELIXIRS + ELEMENTALS (E+E) has been in my brain for awhile. I'd been talking it up with a friend in terms of "what if I made 4e, wouldn't that be something" for years, and I'd been thinking of a dungeon-crawly setting called "Meat Mountain" with them as well. In my mind, I wanted a game that was a bit more Diablo than 4th Edition was, but also had wayyy more options. And not just options, but buckets for options.
Small Introduction
What if someone took another crack at 4th Edition. That would be cool, right? It's an edition of That Dragon Game that doesn't have a lot of fans, but it's got some good bones to it. I mean, Pen & Paper Diablo 3 is a pretty interesting concept, and I think it could lend itself to something fun.
Since no one else is doing it, I'm gonna be the change I wanna see in the world. I'll post updates as things move along, and as I come up with silly ideas. Eventually this will be a game that you, dear reader, could play! As that's coming together, you can watch as the game is shaped, on weird screenshot of LibreOffice at a time.
This is ELIXIRS + ELEMENTALS, a funny little dungeon-crawly, d20, tabletop RPG. Thanks for checking us out!
welcome to the splash zone (another 4e-ish Power)