I'm Bringing Accuracy Back
Into the Odd famously jettisoned the “roll to hit” aspect of D&D derived combat. How can accuracy, specifically reducing an opponent’s accuracy by means of sand in the eyes or otherwise, be re-introduced without despoiling Into the Odd’s basic combat mechanics?
All Along the Clocktower
Are you using overloaded encounter dice to track time? Clocks like from Blades in the Dark? Here is a more tangible, toyetic alternative method for tracking progress of anything in TTRPGs from time to damage, and a few ways you might use it: the Clocktower.
Playtest Early, Playtest Often
To design a game, you have to break a few eggs and discard some rules or completely rewrite them. But you won’t know what to discard and what to rewrite until you feed those eggs to your players.
Advantage by Default
Instead of punishing being over-encumbered, would players be more willing to track their inventory if we rewarded being under-encumbered?
Divine Magic Works in Mysterious Ways
I’ve spilt so much digital ink about making a wizard’s magic feel more arcane, but now it is time to think about how to make a cleric’s magic feel more divine.
Babies in Dungeons
Why the hell would you bring a baby into the dungeon? Here are some rules to adjudicate your foolhardy endeavor if your character is saddled with a bundle of joy and can’t afford a babysitter.
Playing Card Initiative
Instead of rolling for initiative, here is a method for playing cards instead to determine who acts and when.
You Don’t Need a Game System Before You Play: The Calvinball Experiment
I played a 3ish-month campaign where we made up the rules as we went along. Here are the rules we came up with and my impressions of this experiment.
Control Weather Should Not Be a Spell
Control Weather is a cop-out of a spell, combining what should be many different magic effects into a single spell that is high level and accordingly puts a very interesting field of magic out of reach for most of the campaign.
In addition to my lament, I present a new character class: the Tempestarius.
It’s the Barter Economy, Stupid
Rules for abstract wealth, abstract supply, reputation, bartering, carousing, starvation, and random treasure in dungeons, and how all of these rules come together to form a cohesive whole.
You Got Democracy in My Medieval Fantasy!
Too many fantasy settings feature the political systems of the real world middle ages, but there isn’t a good reason for this prevalence. I make the case for using democracies in you setting from the perspective of increasing player agency and engagement in the factions in your campaign.
Which Sacred Cow Doth I Kill?
The worst part of the otherwise excellent "Roll Under" system is that rolling low on a d20, contrary to popular conceptions, is a good thing. Can we keep the bones of roll under while bringing it into conformity with mainstream worship of the natural 20?
Endangered in Dungeons
Oops, you hunted the random encounter to extinction. What comes next?
Wizard Diss Tracks
Wizards are petty creatures, prone to getting into arcane beefs with their fellows. I present rules for wizards researching diss spells to further their beefs along with a d66 random table for origins of the beefs between wizards.
We Live Again
Rules for resurrection, soul transference, reincarnation, and cloning (in roleplaying games. If I knew how in real life, would I really be spending my time pretending to be an elf?)
Rehabilitating the To-Hit Roll
Musings on removing the damage roll and replacing it with the to-hit roll for use in games that are heavy on looting enemies.
Schrödinger’s Chat 2: Amended & Restated Quantum Language Rules
Quantum language rules for TTRPGs, along with musing on language in games, in Mausritter, and more.
Blog Challenge: New (Year’s) Resolution Mechanic
I present a brand new resolution mechanic and challenge all bloggers to do the same!
I’ll include links to every blog that accepts my challenge.