Friday, October 25, 2019

Weird Dwarf Traits

It is important to me that the demihuman races feel properly distinct and non-human. Or at least, they should be exotic or foreign, and especially easy to roleplay in a memorable way. As we know, dwarrow (dwarves) tend to all be the same. We should fix that. Here are some miscellaneous things about dwarrow culture I’ve either brainstormed sitting here or accumulated over the years. Some are pretty creative and original, others are straight-up cultural appropriation but, like, you’ll enjoy them.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Navette (or Marquise) Story Structure

(Firstly, the culture around jewelry and precious stones is kind of stupid. Anyway...)

I want to tell you about a structural tool I find extremely useful, but it is slightly more advanced than a lot of other DMing advice out there. I think a lot of my stuff is. This blog isn't a 100 or 200 level course, it's a 300 or 400 level course, so I usually assume you've already done a lot of the basic readings (you know, Dungeoncraft 101, Metagaming 150, Player Types 210, Random Encounters 215, etc). Most of the stuff that Matt Colville would have made a video about or the Angry GM would write about, I assume you're familiar with. So I want to take a very basic concept and start deconstructing it: Railroads vs. Sandboxes.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Would "X" Be a Good Idea for a New Class?

I've long been mildly interested in following the logic of what does and doesn't justify its own existence as a potential character class in D&D. Like, at what point does a fantasy storytelling archetype become distinct enough that it should be a class? If you look at a lot of B/X homebrew, people will turn anything into a class. How about a whole class to be a Miner? Sure, I like that idea. Or a class for being a Queen? Well, sure... I guess. Or a class for being a Gothic Villain? What, like, from literature? Maybe a little specific. Or a class for being a princess made out of candy and sweets? Yes, of course, because lord knows that I've been needing that. A class specifically for playing as Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time is exactly what I've been looking for.