Note: The following is a monster of my own creation and is a composite of multiple legends, fictional sources, etc. It originated in a nightmare I had, and like I always do – I share my fear with others. Enjoy. Wraith A wraith is a particular type of corporeal undead. In life it used some […]
Continue readingTag Archives: Role-Playing
Alien Menace Session 1 – Musings
I’m not going to try to cover the game session from last Saturday’s Alien Menace campaign – Doug and Peter did that pretty well already. And to be honest, I’m not going to recap those sessions because that’s too much work and the way I view it a GM’s task. Instead, I’m going to get […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Character Point Debt
Character point debt…hmmm. It can be annoying and it can be a wash, depending on the GM and the player. First, in case you’re not familiar with the concept, there is only one mention of it in the Basic Set (p. B295) and that is: The GM might opt to let you pay for your […]
Continue readingTriple Threat: Death Mauler
Note: This creature is directly inspired by the monster of the same name from Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Death Mauler The Death Mauler is an earth demon that dwells deep within the network of subterranean caverns of the Burning Hells. They are well protected by a hard shell bristling with spikes and a thick, […]
Continue reading
Boil and Bubble: Ritual Path Magic, Wishes, and Permanently Granted Traits
Inspired by +Peter V. Dell’Orto‘s posts about Wishes (you can read them, here, here, and here), as well as this post and this thread (which ultimately didn’t pan out for the reasons I discussed in there), I got to thinking: What would a “wish” spell look like in Ritual Path Magic? It almost certainly would require […]
Continue readingTriple Threat: Gaping Maw
Note: The following critter was inspired by the Gaping Dragon boss from Dark Souls. Gaping Maw This twisted monstrosity resembles a cross between a camel cricket and some sort of reptile…with a gigantic mouth where its torso should be. It has fully functional wings, which resemble those of a dragonfly with reptilian features. It attacks […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Character Death – Part II
And we’re back! Still talking about character death, its causes, possible outcomes, and what you can do about it. Well. That Was a Dumb IdeaIt’s happened to all of us. We went left when we should have gone right. You weren’t paying attention entirely to the GM when he spilled a crucial bit of information. […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Character Death – Part I
Every player’s fear and a GMs’ nightmare – the death of a player character. Nothing can halt game play like a (unplanned – see below) death. Was it a bad roll? Did the player just make a mistake? Was it intentional? Was it GM error? Regardless of the why, the effects of how it can […]
Continue readingTriple Threat: Shoggoth
Note: This is a creature from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Shoggoth Iridescent black masses of bubbling protoplasm with random eyes, mouths, and less definable organs forming from and receding into the body, Shoggoths were created the servants of the Elder Things using alien biotechnology about a billion years ago. Shoggoths are malevolent, mocking, and […]
Continue readingCarpe Blogiem: My Love/Hate Relationship With Virtual Tabletops
I’ve been playing role-playing games for a long time, I’ve been into computers almost as long. When I found out the two could combine…oh man, I geeked out. My first VTT was MapTools (version 1.19 I think). I spent hours toying with it and trying to make it work…and it did. But not the way […]
Continue reading