Today we’ll be looking at the Cursed Sorcerer. The intent here was to have a sorcerer whose magic came from an old curse put on their family, which they then took advantage of in order to gain power.
I like the theming, and I like the narrative. The mechanics? Not so much.
And as much as I’d love to crack a joke about this creation being cursed, I can’t really justify that. It just has some issues, that’s all.
I’ve recently been reading through The Complete Book of Necromancers for my next Late Review. One section, covering necromancer organizations, called out a specific example from Dungeon magazine #27 as being a perfect example of the “necromancer group” concept.
As far as I can remember, I’ve never seen any published book mention one of the D&D magazines (Dragon or Dungeon) except as the source of a spell or item used in the published work. This is the first pure “recommended reading” mention, so I decided to look into it.
We’ll come back to The Complete Book of Necromancers next time – because right now, it’s time to talk about A++ adventure module, “The School of Nekros.”
Continue reading “Late Review – The School of Nekros (Dungeon Magazine #27)”
Welcome back to the Introspective, where I tear apart years-old homebrew in the pursuit of game design understanding. It’s also all my own work, so don’t feel bad about the poor creator of the work – he’s the same one doing the tearing-down in the first place.
Today we’ll be looking at the Council Warlock, one of my more contentious homebrews. Narratively there was the whole “mortal creatures as a Patron” thing, while mechanically it ran afoul of the age-old “INT vs. CHA” argument for the warlock class.
And I think there’s interesting points to make about both. So let’s begin, shall we?
Continue reading “Homebrew Introspective – The Council Warlock”
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a character option here – more so due to coincidence than any conscious decision. Plus all that nonsense with the OGL is really not ideal. But all the same, I feel examining homebrews is an interesting way of looking deeper into the philosophy and mechanics of the game.
By examining my own homebrews, I can even ensure there won’t be any angry creators coming after me! So let’s take a look, shall we?
Continue reading “Homebrew Introspective – Generalist Wizard”
In the end, I really did want to go over some of the specific themes I had in mind while detailing The Living Dungeon, and so here we are! I wasn’t originally intending to do these so soon after the original articles, but I’m not in charge of the content pipeline. Come to think of it, I also don’t know who is in charge of it, or if it exists at all.
As a warning, this will include some body horror – the original iteration of this idea was intended to be an aberration-themed nightmare after all. But not all of them are. Just to make doubly sure, all the body horror options will actually have the words “body horror” in their section headers.
With all that out of the way, let’s dive right in!
Continue reading “Dungeon Designs – The Living Vault Addendum”
Welcome back to Dungeon Designs and our discussion of “The Living Vault” – a dungeon which aims to feel more alive than any other in existence. Last time, we went over the basic stats for the Living Vault as a creature and an active participant in players’ dungeon crawl. This time, though, we’re going to be focusing more on the actual “dungeon” aspects of this concept.
And don’t worry – anatomical expertise is not required because I sure don’t have any.
Continue reading “Dungeon Designs – The Living Vault, part 2”
Recently I’ve been brainstorming a new concept for a dungeon. Not for any particular reason – I just think it sounds cool. But I wanted to discuss it here to show off my method for making dungeons, which should be informative, entertaining, and/or horrifying.
That last option is primarily for people who have played in my games, who will presumably come away from this thinking “what the hell man, that’s how you came up with this nonsense?” To which I say… sometimes.
Other times I’m just sort of winging it.
Continue reading “Dungeon Designs – The Living Vault, part 1”
For me, Halloween season started a solid couple of weeks ago. But that isn’t important right now, because what we’re here to do is prep for a Halloween of Dungeons and Dragons scares! And to do that, we’re going to review all of the Domains from the latest Ravenloft book. Not all at once, but still.
So just step on through that mist and we’ll get started. What do you mean “is the mist dangerous?” It’s mist in a Ravenloft setting.
Of course it’s dangerous.
Click through below if you dare!
Continue reading “Ravenloft Review – Van Richten’s Guide to Halloween”
Look, don’t worry about it. Yes, half my body has been replaced by magical constructs. Yes, I no longer feel emotions, pain, or guilt. But it’s still me! I’m still the same inside. No invasive surgery or experimental augmentation can take that away…
Until mid-next week, at least.
Click through to join the construct revolution with the Augmentation Artificer! Continue reading “Augmentation Artificer – Patch Notes: Removed Humanity, etc… (v1.0)”
While “save-or-die” isn’t really what we’re talking about here, it sure makes for a catchy buzzword. But instead of that, we’ll be looking more generally at the evolution of the saving throw in general – from its humble and confusing beginnings to the modern day.
Also get the d20’s ready. When I say the old system is confusing, I mean like in the confusion spell. Hope you’ve got a good Wisdom save bonus.
Just as a note, it may take a year but by god do I follow up on my stupid title jokes.