I follow Paper and Dice's interesting blog "Writing and Rolling", which mainly reviews creatures (including possible campaign hooks) and provides conversions of creatures from older rulesets to 5e. A month ago he very kindly branched out and posted a detailed review of Ragnar's Keep. He has put a lot of effort into it, which I … Continue reading Ragnar’s Keep Review
D&D fifth edition has a lot of good things in it and improvements over BECMI and AD&D. The d20 mechanism. Advantage/disadvantage. Race disconnected from class. But one innovation I really don't like is opportunity attacks. Not only does it penalise "live to fight another day," it locks down the battlefield and makes everything more static. … Continue reading Fixing opportunity attacks
Are you a GamesMaster for a fantasy role-playing game? Do you struggle to make your settings feel real? Do you need a castle home base? Or a castle for the players to attack? Or a refuge from the dangers on the road? Maybe some NPCs in a wilderness stronghold? Ragnar's Keep is a detailed castle … Continue reading Ragnar’s Keep – a mediaeval castle setting for fantasy RPGs
We're playing through the old X2 Castle Amber module (converting to 5e using XXX as a guide), and the party were going after the Sword of Sylaire. Note: This post contains minor spoilers for X2 Castle Amber. If this might be a problem, stop reading now and direct your GM here instead. They had met … Continue reading How a moral dilemma turned a mediocre battle to an engaging session
In February 2019 when I whiled away a train journey by sketching a castle, little did I know what I was letting myself in for. I had done it to work out what the castle on top of Heroic Maps' Mydstep Keep dungeon might look like before I ruined it, to try to make sure … Continue reading Ragnar’s Keep is coming!
It's August 31st, day 31 of #RPGaDay2019, and the Last day, following Connection yesterday and a whole month of posts. And the inspiration today, appropriately enough, is Last. This seems like an appropriate time to have a retrospective on the season. But first, I claim the triumph of completing it, and not only completing it, … Continue reading RPGaDay2019 Day 31 – Last
How are your characters connected? Connection is the inspiration for day 30 of #RPGaDay2019, following Evolve yesterday. I've had quite a few random musings posts recently, and tomorrow's probably will be too, so I'll go concrete today. I'm going to talk about a suggestion I came across when I was starting my new campaign a … Continue reading RPGaDay2019 Day 30 – Connection
Evolve. That's the inspiration for day 29 of #RPGaDay2019, following Love yesterday. I played BECMI instead of AD&D 2e (which I now know is what that was). I missed 3e, 3.5, Pathfinder and 4e and only returned at 5e. So I'm not very qualified to chart the evolution of D&D - DM David has a … Continue reading RPGaDay2019 Day 29 – Evolve
Love. That's the inspiration for day 28 of #RPGaDay2019, following Suspense yesterday. I have to confess romantic love hasn't featured much in my D&D sessions. The closest I've come was my friend's characters during my teenage years - he had a male magic user and a female elf who were definitely partnered. But since we … Continue reading RPGaDay2019 Day 28 – Love
Suspense. That's the inspiration for day 27 of #RPGaDay2019, following Idea yesterday. "I'm going to smash the zombie's head in!""I'm going to sneak round the back and take the Snargle while no-one is looking""I'm going to jump across this ravine""I'm going to fire a crossbow bolt with a rope tied to it at the boat … Continue reading RPGaDay2019 Day 27 – Suspense
