What were we talking about again?
One of the interesting places that Wizards of the Coast brought to the fore during the 3e era of Greyhawk was the Tomb of Azharadian. The Tomb was clearly meant to be an adventure hook, but it’s one that I think missed an opportunity to provide the world with something more meaningful. Let’s look at… Continue reading The Tomb of Azharadian
A wizard casting spells from his magic circle by the light of his cauldron surrounded by creatures. by J. Wood 1763 Carl Sargent introduced a treasure trove of curiosities to the World of Greyhawk during the early 1990s as he helped reshape the setting, but perhaps none was more tantalizing than Philidor the Blue Wizard,… Continue reading The Curious History of Philidor the Blue Wizard
This past week, Wizards of the Coast, announced One D&D - which largely sounds like a revision of the current edition similar to the Player Options for AD&D 2e and Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. It's clear that they're looking to create a version of the game that they can sustainably use for another decade or… Continue reading Character Origins with One DnD
I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about pretending and today I'd like to take a moment to say something real. I'm proud of you. I know what it's like to get up at 3 am to go to a job you hate; to get yelled at by people who couldn't give… Continue reading I’m proud of you, Kid
One of the things that I've noticed recently, online, is that there are some people who want you to feel bad about enjoying the game the way you want to play it. They will loudly, and incessantly, berate you about liking D&D 5e. They'll demand that you play other games instead of doing what you… Continue reading Enjoy the Things You Enjoy, without Apologizing for It.
The next god of the New Sun is Shaw. Shaw is a god that kind of fills a big void for me that's often missing when you look at the brief lists of gods that often appear in the Player's Handbook. He's there not so much to pick one side or the other, but for… Continue reading Gods of the New Sun: Shaw
The second god I created was Nwt. I wanted someone who could stand in stark contrast to Geb and so this is what came out: Nwt by Charles Akins When I started working on the illustration for Nwt I wanted to draw someone who was confident and felt like she could hold her own against… Continue reading The Gods of the New Sun: Nwt
One of my favorite aspects of creating a world is building up the gods. I don't know why it is, but it's something that I've always loved. To that end I've begun working on the pantheon of the New Sun. Meet Geb. Geb, by Charles Akins Geb was the first god that popped into my… Continue reading The Gods of the Book of the New Sun: Geb
Recently, I started talking to some friends about beginning a new campaign. Several of them had heard of Dungeons and Dragons, though only two of them have played before. So I'm treating this as a new experience for everyone involved and that means that I need to treat it like my first time DMing again,… Continue reading The Book of the New Sun
Morgan Ironwolf first appeared as line in the 1980 Dungeon Masters Adventure Log as seen below: Character Log example from Dungeon Master's Log Here Morgan Ironwolf appears, alongside other player characters, as an example for the Dungeon Master in how to accurately record an adventure using the log system that TSR was attempting to get… Continue reading The Curious Evolution of Morgan Ironwolf
One of the great problems I find with clerics is that they're largely all the same. A lot of the sameness comes from the way that Dungeons and Dragons presents the class. Little wonder too, as they're trying to provide a class that will be appealing to the greatest number of people across the largest… Continue reading Making Clerics Distinct
One of the things that I love about reading older role-playing game materials - whether they're old books, magazines, or zines - is that so often you can tell that the authors have no pretense at being "right." More often than not, they're likely to begin talking about any topic by hedging what they say… Continue reading The Beauty of Saying, “I Don’t Know.”
Changing Pasture by Anton Mauve Occasionally I find myself slipping off into a bit of minutia when it comes to the worlds I'm playing with in my home games. This morning was just such an occasion. I had been working on a scene my players would be encountering in the countryside when I noted that… Continue reading How Many Cows Are There, Really?
Recently I ran across an article, An ancient exploding comet may explain why glass litters part of Chile, by Freda Kreier and it kind of captured my imagination. The article is a fascinating look at this twisted glass that covers about a 75 kilometer long corridor within the Atacama Desert in Chile. I find myself… Continue reading A Desert of Glass
You've rolled your character, arranged their ability scores to your heart's desire, and picked out their class. You've filled their inventories; picked out their spells, feats, and powers. You even managed to pick out a name before the game began. But who are they, really? Idylls of the King by Gustave Doré What made Boethius… Continue reading Backgrounds, or, Who Even Are You?
Dragons Never Forget 