In the Mouth of Madness

"Go on in, it's okay. You can see him."

The Dungeon Master was frozen at the door. He was nervous for what he'd find on the other side. But that was his player in there. His friend. After a moment's hesitation, he stepped inside. Just ahead, there were the bars of a secure cell visible. He could hear the Rogue's voice. He was saying something, something unclear. The nurse saw that the Dungeon Master was unsure, and so she stepped inside with him.

"Rogue, you have a visitor. Your Dungeon Master has come to see you."

The Dungeon Master crept further and saw through the cell bars. On the other side was the Rogue. He was pale and trembling. His arms were bound and his surroundings were padded. Their eyes met, but there was no recognition in the Rogue's gaze. He just continued muttering.

"It doesn't even give the length. Not in feet, not in meters, not in squares, nothing."

"The length of what, Rogue?" asked the Dungeon Master.

"Why are those words capitalized? Why are so many words capitalized?"

It was no use. He wasn't talking to them at all. He wasn't in the same room as them, in the same world as them. The Dungeon Master choked. It was too difficult for him to see. His friend of so many years, now a total stranger. The Rogue had changed.

Rules Aren't Knots

[This post exists for Josh to be able to cite. Feel free to do likewise.]

This is actually one of my favorite passages in a 5E text and I want to explain why:

Like, first of all, this is kind of a cute rule, right? Like oh hey that's clever, instead of a binary pass/fail, the result of your check becomes the DC to untie the knot. That's smart. And you reassign Sleight of Hand to the Intelligence attribute instead of Dexterity because it makes more sense. That's a nifty bit of design.

But more importantly, it's not actually included because 5E thought you needed a mechanic for this. It's an illustrative moment to remind you that 5E was intended to be a game that thrives on "rulings over rules," that you should be thinking of creative ways to apply the core mechanic on a case-by-case basis. This idea is stated outright in the PHB and the DMG both, but then also again right here in Xanathar's Guide. They felt the need to include a reminder doubling down on it, by way of a good example.

Rules aren't knots. Rules are rope. A good DM should know how to use rope, because DMing is an adventure in itself.

-Dwiz

With the Cult of Crimson Revelers: an adventure that I drew for

Directsun, creator of puzzle dungeons like The Seers Sanctum and Aberrant Reflections, submitted this adventure to the Knave 2E Game Jam, and I got to draw the cover! I also got to do a little bit of the playtesting and I really enjoyed it. You should go check it out here on itch.io.

The pitch: the viscount's dumbass son has been kidnapped, but it may not be so simple. Intoxicating mushrooms, ghosts of cultists, and pure nightmare-fuel creatures (illustrated by Munkao). It's smallish-sized, nonlinear, rich in strong details, and has spectacular formatting.

-Dwiz

A Response to the Esteemed Dr. Crackpot

That's the title of a little journaling game a friend of mine got off of itch.io, created by Emily Jankowski. You can get it here as a PWYW, although I've also included the game in its entirety below.

I thought this was pretty fun sounding, and so my DM and I gave it a spin. I offered a few suggestions for our scientific field, he picked Faster-Than-Light travel and wrote the first entry (Dr. Lucas Krag). I wrote as Dr. Tycho March. You can read our full correspondence as a pdf here, in all its unedited glory. I hope you enjoy.

Spoilers: Dr. Krag won the fist fight, but was then escorted off the premises by security and lost any semblance of a career he had left.

-Dwiz

H Monsters at the Opera

A B C D Demon Dragon E F G1 G2 G3 H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Credit: my sister, again

No, I haven't forgotten this series. It's a backburner project, remember? Opera-goers have been eating pretty good this year. But alas, we still have half a manual of monsters to get through.

Mothership: Engine Malfunction

This is a review of Mothership, the popular and widely-acclaimed sci-fi horror RPG by Sean McCoy and the folks at Tuesday Knight Games.

It is a pretty negative review.

Yeah, I'm as surprised as you are.

A True Test of Skill

This is satisfying:

This is unsatisfying:

This is most relevant to competitive board games, but it can also sometimes matter for RPGs.

Luck provides uncertainty. Challenge-based games need uncertainty or else they'll become solved. Without uncertainty, every time you play, you would keep getting the same outcome. But too much uncertainty can undermine strategic integrity. Good luck and bad luck keeps everyone on their toes, but I do prefer games where good decision-making matters more than luck. After all, what's the point of putting effort into understanding a game, into forming a sound strategy, if that effort can't compensate for bad luck? To the competitive mind, there's nothing more thrilling than beating your opponent even though you kept rolling worse than they did, simply because you were better at the game than them.

Luck can also be a great tiebreaker for players who are otherwise evenly matched. Stalemates aren't very satisfying, so luck usually ensures that someone gets to walk away a winner. But I'm tired of playing games that only possess an illusion of skill. Where the winner looks at their own victory and has no choice but to admit, "I didn't really earn that. I just drew a better hand."

-Dwiz