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