This text was inspired by the video game Maneater by Tripwire Interactive, on which I worked as a senior game designer. I ran a DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 5th EDITION campaign after work at Tripwire for six years and for most of that time it was set in a South Pacific-inspired campaign setting I called Catamaran.
I tend to come up with a lot of custom unique named magic items for my 5E campaigns, particularly magic weapons and armor. I don’t like the idea of a generic +X sword without a history and background. Thus all magic weapons and armor in my games have names and at least a few unique
I’ve always liked the idea that wizards need planning to really maximize their effectiveness. I don’t just mean having a great combat spell combo or making sure you have prepped counterspell. I mean real years-long planning and honing their enchantments (in the classical sense of the word, i.e. things that are enchanted, not charm spells).
Figure I would make this its own post as its not tied to any specific subject. but I hope in the near future to begin putting up products on the DMS Guild. These blog posts have served as a way to get my writing wheels turning again and get some of my 5E ideas down
I really like reactions in 5E. I think they’re one of the most interesting aspects of combat in 5E, but they seemed underdeveloped for a lot of classes. I’m a big fan of counter play, especially for PCs, so I’m always looking for more options for reactions. One of my favorites is the Give Ground
I’m not a big fan of resurrection in D&D, particularly in 5E where it’s relatively painless. Coming back from the dead is really no big deal in 5E once you get to third level spells thanks to revivify, which to me just seems like it takes a large chunk of the danger out of the
This started out as a blog post about a system for long term costs for resurrection I had been noodling around with for my 5E games, but in writing that up I realized I had to lay a lot of track to get there. So get comfortable. This is why I should write an outline
For years I’ve been tinkering with an idea for an rpg rules system that tries to capture something that I don’t think a lot of rpgs capture; how the effort and attention you put into something can often be more important than your skill level in doing it. I’m not saying no rpgs do this,
In addition to Catamaran, my South Pacific flavored 5E campaign, I run another more traditional 5E game without a cool codename. The easiest thing to call it is my County of Bataas campaign as the campaign takes place in the region of that name centered on the trade city of Bataas. I also refer to
In my Pacific Island themed Catamaran campaign I was shooting for an epic, mythic feel for the game from the beginning. I didn’t want the PCs to level up into epicness, I wanted over the top legendary action from day one with the players dealing with gods and monsters of legend right off the bat.