Happy Leap Day!
Tomorrow, we move into March and toward the Equinox and Spring. March gains its name from the Roman month Martius which is -in turn- named after Mars, the Roman god of war (and much more a soldier and less of a bully than his Greek counterpart Ares).
So, the theme for March will be the military and things martial.
While February, 2016, saw the following posts:
He is charming and nattily dressed, in blue and yellow, but there is something odd about him . . . perhaps it is those gills?
LEAP DAY WILLIAM CR 12
XP 19,200
NE Medium Unique fey (aquatic, water)
Init +6; Senses low-light vision, see in darkness; Perception +25
DEFENSE
AC 28, touch 17, flat-footed 21 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural, +5 bracers of armor)
hp 161 (19d6+95)
Fort +11, Ref +17, Will +14; DR 10/cold iron; SR 23 (33 against the magic of Aboleths)
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., Fly 60 ft (only over water), swim 60 ft.
Melee +15 Bite (1d6+5/19–20 + 1d4 bleed) and +15/+15 claw (1d6+5 + emotion)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 19th; concentration +26)
Constant— misdirection, see invisibility
At will— dimension door, disguise self, faerie fire, touch of idiocy, whispering wind
3/day— baleful polymorph (DC 21), confusion (DC 21), crushing despair (DC 21)
1/day— shadow walk, word of recall Read the rest of this entry ?
By Flame, Storm, and Thorn: Three Ranger Archetypes for D&D 5e opens some solid options for Rangers in 5e and nicely expands the range of choices for that class. Everything seems well balanced and if you like playing rangers, give this a look.
By Flame, Storm, and Thorn: Three Ranger Archetypes for D&D 5e by Brandes Stoddard and published by Tribality Publishing is just that, three new Ranger archetypes. The layout is clear with thematic color photographs for illustrations.
“What a charming hostess,” said Voddick, sipping at a cup of strong tea.
Golaon nodded, “And quite beautiful in spite of her age. Her spirit is young and her will like iron.”
“What an odd thing to say.”
“She has at her hands, well at her throat,” he tapped his collarbone when the lady wore an exquisite cameo, “the ability to be much young should she choose, that she does not, is a testimony to her honor and her will.”
Cameo of Vanity
These are exquisitely crafted pieces of jewelry in the cameo style, always depicting a person at the height of their beauty.
These three class option products from Rats in the Rain provides expansion to the new D&D rules, each providing a new background, two new class paths (one of these race specific) and a new full 20-level class. Nice to see people grasping the new OGL with both hands and creating things with it, now let us see how successful they are.
Though that I should make an attempt to contribute to this month’s RPG Blog Carnival “How do you inspire your players?” hosted by Roleplaying Tips.
Inspiring players is often a challenge and part of the answer for a GM has to be:
GM something that Inspires You.
If you are excited and involved with the game and its world, it will be easier for the players to become inspired and involved in it. If it is your passion, people will feel that and respond to it, just do not become too proprietary, no vision of the perfect campaign survives contact with the players; The world will both shape and be shaped by player action.
Communicate and Share what Inspires You.
Part and parcel of the first point, but let your player know what inspires and excites you about the game you are GMing. If there are movies or music that communicate ideas about your world, share them, put together a Pinterest board (or use some other site) to share images (I have one for the Sea of Stars, another for Petrichor and for other games and genres including the Noir Revolution campaign). Anything that helps put you all in the same mental landscape for the game.
In my experience, communication between GM and players (and between players) is what makes or breaks campaigns. So, talk, share, debate, build castles of the imagination together.
Not a long post, but I hope helpful. Now, go and inspire people.
“The officers around here seems a little too . . . excitable,” whispered Voddick to his companion as they sat drinking at a corner table watching the soldiers.
Gollaon, who had been listening to the same boasts and bluster, nodded. “Much enthusiasm, little actual field experience.”
“And they will be leading the charge tomorrow,” muttered Voddick shaking his head.
“Good thing we are on the other side, right, old friend?”
“Follow Me” Sword
These swords have decorated, usually with patriotic imagery, hilts and sheaths with blades polished to a mirror sheen.
To understand what is going on here, you had best read the first PinkCat: Running in the Shade post, but short summary, this is a campaign report for our Shadowrun campaign set in NorCal through the filter of a cartoon made by one of the team members.
Episode Eighteen: Blackmail Bad
Guest Starring: Clawz
One of their fellow students, a cheerleader, ask them to find out who is trying to blackmail her using photos from her in the showers at school. Investigation and comic encounter with students and staff at school follows before the actual camera is discovered and its fiber-optic cable is traced down into the underworld beneath the school. After dealing with cockroach cultists, crocodiles we finally find the mole behind it all, who is just lonely. We convince him to clean up and come to school instead of hiding. The shower pictures are destroyed and we end up with a new friend. Rah!
What really happened:
Having defeated the wasp cultists and been asked for aid, our heroes dispatched Tomlin to inform the others of the task they are embarking upon and headed out on a rescue mission. The rider, Sunbeam Swift, informed our heroes that the Gold Sword Company unit they were with had fought two cyclops and then been ambushed by a third, several of the company were dead and the others captured.
It is a long day’s travel to get to the camp of the company, which has been mostly trampled and looted, except for the largest tent which is still standing. As Lorrend rides into the camp, the flap of the big tent is pulled open and a huge javelin is thrown at him, grazing the knight, who replied by charging in(to the tent!). Lorrend uses his flail to take down the central pole, briefly trapping the attacker, who was a young cyclops. Between magic and martial attacks, the cyclops soon flees but is ridden down and captured by Lorrend. They bind the crying cyclops and head off to the cyclops cave. Read the rest of this entry ?
“Another one?” cursed Voddick snapping off a bolt from his crossbow.
“Revolutionary thought spreads like a disease it seems,” replied Gollaon, blocking a clumsy thrust by one of the masked attackers.
Voddick cracked one across the face with the stock of his crossbow. “I hate getting involved in civil disputes. The pay is never worth the trouble.”
“Agreed but we have to eat.”
Mask of the Revolutionary
These items come in a variety of types, wooden masks, distinctive hoods, scarves marked with a revolutionary sign, as is appropriate to the particular revolutionary sect. The magic of the mask makes them easy to conceal whatever their design.
You are currently browsing the Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal blog archives for February, 2016.
Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal 