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Tag Archives: RPG
A How for Pow (RPG magic)
What would you give up for magical powers? Your health? Your physical strength or speed? Your sanity? Your ability to connect with the people around you? Here’s an idea for an alternate, relatively system-neutral rule for magic in RPGs. The … Continue reading
Posted in Rules, World-Building
Tagged attributes, magic, RPG, rules, sacrifice, wizards
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Fiddling with XP, part 3: Apologia and Addendum
Last time, I outlined a rough proposal for an alternate XP system for a class-and-level RPG. This included how the DM determines awards and how the players can work to adjust their individual awards, and then how those numbers might … Continue reading
Fiddling with XP, part 2: Something old, something new
Previously I rambled for a while about XP systems, and how my ideal would be granular and world-associated – i.e. the way it works makes sense from an in-world perspective as well as a meta, mechanical one. Assuming a D&D-style … Continue reading
An SP Economy
(Yes, there are some bloggers who have talked about replacing the venerable “gold piece”-centric currency system with a silver standard, but that’s not what this post is about.) (By the by, I’m in favor of world-specific, idiosyncratic currency systems. It … Continue reading
Tweaking “Turning”
Background One of the classic powers of clerics in D&D is “turning undead.” You present a holy symbol, the light of your patron deity shines through, and mummies shamble away or zombies are blasted into dust. The root of this, … Continue reading
Posted in Rules, World-Building
Tagged contests of will, D&D, RPG, rules, turning, vampires, wizards
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Setting Idea – Animism / Spontaneous Generation
There was a time when human knowledge of biology was underpinned (and dragged down) by the theory of “Spontaneous Generation” – the idea that living organisms need not necessarily be born, but may spring wholly formed from some appropriate substrate, … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellaneous, Setting, World-Building
Tagged animism, brainstorming, dragons, dwarves, elves, goblins, RPG, setting, spawning, spontaneous generation
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Megadungeon Idea: Vertical Highway/Abyss
Preamble A common setting for D&D adventures is the dungeon: an enclosed, usually underground space, divided into rooms and hallways and so on, filled with monsters (some sentient and some not; not all of them necessarily hostile), traps, and treasure, … Continue reading
Brainstorm of the day — Random RPG Mechanics
The other evening I was shooting the breeze with a friend, talking about various mechanics that could be used in constructing a traditional-style tabletop role-playing game. Here are some of the brainchildren of that conversation, in no particular order: Stat … Continue reading
Posted in Nonfiction, Rules
Tagged action points, brainstorm, devotions, gaming, mechanics, RPG, skills, stats
4 Comments
Dungeon Design 101, Part 3
In part 1 of this essay I talked about using randomness to generate a dungeon of your own on the fly. That’s easy to say, but might you actually do it? Three Methods, in Outline First, there are online generators. … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Nonfiction, World-Building
Tagged adventure setup, dungeon, dungeon design 101, Dyson Logos, gaming, Geomorphs, maps, random tables, RPG, searches, Zak S
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Dungeon Design 101, part 2
I’ve thrown around a lot of theory, but how does that come together in practical terms? Here’s the outline it implies when trying to create a dungeon. Decide the dungeon’s purpose in play. Decide the dungeon’s identity within the game … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Nonfiction, World-Building
Tagged adventure setup, dungeon, dungeon design 101, gaming, maps, RPG
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