Even longer than “It’s a Trap!” (I wrote the first draft in April 2013), “The Department of Occult Defense” was rejected twice (for both Pyramid #3/59: Conspiracies and Pyramid #3/58: Urban Fantasy II), but finally ended up in this month’s Pyramid (Pyramid #3/73: Monster Hunters II) after a good long while in the stew point. I wrote it fairly […]
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Boil and Bubble: Spell Kits for Casters – the Defender
In a previous post, I talked about various “wizardly” archetypes and how you might create them using RPM. I’ve already done this for the Gatemaker and the Necromancer, but what’s next? Well, I’ve been watching a lot of Agents of S.H.E.L.D. and shields defend…so hey! Defender. That’s the ticket. I described the Defender archetype as… “The […]
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Boil and Bubble: Ritual Path Magic Skill Levels
Anders sent me a PM the other day and asked a pretty simple question: What do skill levels mean for Ritual Path magic casters? You’ve got your shiny copy of GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic and you’ve just bought GURPS Template Toolkit 1: Characters…but now what? You’ve got your skill level description from p. 12 […]
Continue readingTriple Threat – Aillénsceith
Aillénsceith The original aillén was a monstrous three-headed reptile that terrorized the people of Ireland and put the people of Tara into a deep sleep and burned the Ráth na Riógh (the Fortress of the Kings) to the ground every year for 23 years. Eventually, Finn McCool killed the creature by stabbing it in the […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Dungeon Fantasy Musings
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is by far the most successful of the various lines for for the GURPS game engine. Up until a few weeks ago I didn’t run it as one of my constant campaigns – in fact I only use it for playtest games that require it or the occasional one shot. All of that changed […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: It’s a Trap!
I don’t talk about it often, but I’m a/was a huge fan of Dungeons and Dragons. I dove into Wizards of the Coast’s 3rd edition like a pool on a scorching summer day. Finally, I thought, a edition that could be mine. I bought every book that came out, I visited the site regularly, I […]
Continue readingTriple Threat: Raggedy Spirit
Raggedy Spirit Dolls are creepy. Kids with dolls and vacant, empty eyes are creepier. Possessed dolls are even creepier than that. So what happens when you a have a willful child who dies and comes back as a ghost and his favorite toy happens to be his creepy doll that in life he carried with […]
Continue readingGURPS101: Other Trained by a Master Advantages
Nothing helps build a character concept like the hint of some kind of secret or special training. In GURPS this can go be done in several ways, by taking high skills, having high attributes, or by taking advantages. The chief among these in the Basic Set are Gunslinger, Trained by a Master, or Weapon Master. […]
Continue readingTriple Threat – Gwyllgi
Gwyllgi Cu Sidhe (aka “fairy hounds”) are more or less immortal and can be found anywhere that the sidhe are found. For some sidhe who cannot afford to pay the Teind (their tithe to Hell) they sacrifice their beloved hounds instead of themselves. This results in a monstrous creature stuck somewhere between a Hellhound and […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: Dungeon Fantasy Video Gaming
Overall writing this article was fun. I got to mix two of my favorite things: RPGs and video-games. Who wouldn’t want to do that? I also wanted to do something so out there and cool that Steven would accept it – with his “Well, I can see why ‘traditional’ dungeon-fantasy campaigns wouldn’t want to do […]
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