Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so-you-have-to-be-kidding-me, still sick time of year. I took awhile to perculate, but after flying back from DC two weeks ago I got sick. Nothing terrible. I'm not dying. But I still don't feel great and probably nobody else wants to feel what I'm feeling, so I'm staying home. No D&D for me today. I don't want to get my tissue damp fingers all over those lovely dice. That reads far grosser than intended, but I'm leaving it.

I was planning to go to the game. I was looking forward to it on Friday morning and said as much on our Discord server. But things did not go as planned or as desired. By Sunday morning I was not feeling well. Sick as a dog. Unable to make the game. The game was canceled. Which is good for me, but bad for the game. It's been a long time since the group has gotten together. Apparently, the turnout was low and they decided not to play. So that means the story hasn't advanced and our big decision is still needing to be made. Destroy the floating base and everyone in it, around it, and probably below it... or take our chances fighting this ever growing fleet of airships and the people behind the trouble. How will we balance this equation. How great is the cost in lives now versus the cost of the lives in the inevitable future? Whatever will we do? Let's look again at our hero and distract ourselves from these unpleasant choices. Instead, let's look at the pact between Therg...

This is an absolutely unnecessary luxury. But one that I happily spent my money on. I'm a fan of some nice embroidery and I love the look of these Ultra Pro book covers. They might not be the colors I would have chose, but they are edition appropriate. They are handsome and definitely give a premium look and feel to the books. Who are these for? Me. Definitely, me. Maybe for you. Definitely not for everyone, I imagine these are not an item everyone will want and more than a few will say they're too expensive and absolutely unnecessary. What are we actually looking at here. These are the Ultra Pro Premium Book Cover for Dungeons & Dragons. They have a stiff hardboard core, front and back with a flexible spine. They are wrapped in a textured leatherette cover which features embroidered title on the spine and a color matched ampersand on the cover.   How do they work? They don't completely encompass the book covers. Rather, slip the back cover into the back inner pocket an...

I waited until after my trip to Washington DC to do it, but I've joined another D&D group. This one meets every other Wednesday at The Gaming Warehouse in Grandville. That's the same place I was playing the Delta Green game and is in fact how I was exposed to this group. They run short sessions, 2.5 hours, and they've got a standing invitation for new players, so the number of players varries by session. I saw it running 8-players on the night we were playing Delta Green next to them. So, it could get interesting. Short sessions, lots of players, probably going to end up being a single set-up, combat, and cliff-hanger sort of session plan. But it gets me out of the house and playing games, so I'm down with that. Which means, I have a new character to introduce you to... For this game I wanted to play a cleric, a class that I've never played and since this is Eberron, he'll exist on a campaign world I've never played with. Also, let's just jump into t...

I was surprised to find this on hoopla, but I think it's great that stuff like this is getting out there with the increased popularity of D&D. I own the first book and so I was excited to listen to this one. The problem being, between writing and gaming. I've been doing this for 40 years and most of the advice I've heard before, in one form or another. It's good stuff and I recommend anybody interested in world building give it a listen. I just didn't get as much out of it as I hoped. Hoopla Digital - Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding, Volume 2 2023 Blackstone Publishing Audiobook 4h 22m by Gail Simone, Keith Baker, Veronica Roth, Jeff Grubb read by Ray Greenley The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding, Volume 2, features fifteen stars of tabletop roleplaying games and fantasy fiction, such as Gail Simone, Keith Baker, Veronica Roth, Ken Liu, Kate Elliott, Mike Shea, Tobias S. Buckell, Shanna Germain, Gabe Hicks, the Dungeon Dudes (Monty Marti...

I have never played Call of Cthulhu. I know, right! I've been playing RPGs since the 1980s and this classic game has somehow eluded my experience. But the release of the latest edition of the game and the YouTube game reviews of Seth Skorkowsky  have pushed me over the edge. I can take it no longer. I must have this game. Truth be told, I did buy, and still have, the WotC d20 version of the game by Monte Cook and John Tynes. Never played it. But that is the only version of the game that I have had any exposure to in real-life. It's a nice book, but even when I was using d20 materials in my D&D 3e games it didn't see any use. That's more a reflection on my style of game than the content of that book. I don't know if this most recent version of the game will see any more action, but I made the decision to buy it. Actually, the cashier at the Gamer's Wharf made the decision. I asked him which I should get Call of Cthulhu or Cyberpunk Red. I think we know how th...

  2023/10/22 Session 7: Cragmaw Castle (Campbell, Doug, Gryffon, Ronn, Zak) 5 Winterwane 5023 The members of The Order of Righteous Peregrination , having escaped the captivity of the Redbrands and recovered in relative comfort and security of the Stonehill Inn, awake late in the morning to a buzz of commotion running through the camp. In a move to counter any actions by the Heroes of Eureka the Redbrands have dragged some aberration from the ruins and staked it out in front of the town hall. The creature is monstrous with bony spikes protruding from its mottled back, terrible talons, and a single great eye above a maw of sharp fangs. Both the mayor, Harbin Wester , and the real leader of the town, Vilarno Albrek , gave rousing speeches about the mind altering powers of this creature and blamed the rash of bad behavior by the Redbrands on the creature's influence. Assurances were made that with this creature slain, the corrupting influence of its magic on the camp would end, the ...

Our referee is out of town this week and as a result, canceled our game session this Saturday. We'll try again in two weeks. “The purpose of the referee is to present obstacles for players to overcome as they go about seeking their goals, not to constantly make trouble for them. This is a subtle distinction, and one that many beginners have trouble with.” ―  Marc W. Miller,  Marc Miller's Traveller

I do not know anything about tarot cards or tarot reading. I don't have any other tarot decks or plan to use these for readings. I bought them because they're D&D branded, because they looked nice, and possibly as a game aid. Having written all that, let me give you my thoughts on this deck. Starting with the box, the outside is nice looking and seems sturdy enough to last for years. The inside is fitted to the booklet and has a pocket for the deck with a nice ribbon to help extract the cards. The packaging is quite nice. The cards themselves are a little on the thin side, but not bad. I'd have liked them to be a little heavier stock, but they do have a good 'feel' to them. I really like the art on the back of the cards and the art on the face is very nice. They’re giving us a 78 card deck and each card is fully illustrated. The style is different from typical D&D art, but is very nice and feels right. Because this is a D&D product, each card...

I could go to todays game, I've got the time. I'm just sitting here doing nothing, but I'm still in Washington DC waiting on a plane that won't get back to Grand Rapids until almost 11:00 PM. And that's the rub, so much time, so little to do.

Fate has smiled on me and upon our hero, Thergale the Verdant. I was not going to be able to make the game session today, what with my being in our nations capitol taking in the sites and experiencing the full bosom of our democracy. The game was scheduled to go on without me and without the noble leadership and guidance of our favorite fae blessed warlock. But, alas, turnout was low and the session was canceled. I feel for my fellow gamers, it is a sad day when the dice do not roll, but this does assure that I will not be left out of the major decision that sits upon the shoulders of our brave band of adventurers. This does, however, offer us yet another chance to delve a bit deeper into the persona that is Thergale the Verdant. Is it true, for example, that on his own world our hero began his career as something of a charlatan? Thergale has always had a way with people. Knowing what makes them tick, teasing out their hearts’ desires after but a few minutes of conversation, and with l...

With most of these books I listen to whatever is relevant to me at the moment, but this one I listened straight through and found it full of good ideas, solid advice, and juicy things to pull on my players. Good stuff. How to Defend-Your Lair Publisher's summary Defend yourself and protect your assets in a lair that feels as real and alive as your monsters with advice from Keith Ammann, author of The Monsters Know What They’re Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters. The world is a dangerous place—especially when you’re up to no good. Whether you’re a rampaging monster, a calculating mastermind, or the current possessor of the Golden MacGuffin, someone’s going to come at you. Probably more than one someone. You can’t know when, but you can choose where. You need to be ready. You need a lair. In How to Defend Your Lair, gamemaster Keith Ammann pulls back the curtain on an underrated but crucial part of any tabletop roleplaying game: the theater of battle. Say goodbye to encounters...

I heard the dog barking up a storm earlier, probably at a delivery driver, that's usually what gets him excited. I wasn't expecting a package so I just kept working on my thing and did not get up to see what he was barking at.  And then I received a text from my buddy, who is also one of my Adventure 3DP players. " My phone tells me you just received a package. Let me know if it's cool. " Sure enough, there was an unexpected box on my porch. Interesting. Whatever could it be? I get so few gifts at this time of year. Well, there was quite a fancy bit of kit in that box. " It's just a thank you for all your hard DM work and to maybe help offset the cost of the vast quantities of gasoline to come out here. 😀" This was quite unexpected. Gifts aren't really a thing I do with my friends. But it is very cool and will be super handy as I travel about spreading the good word of Gygax. Let's take a look. For starters, it has a 3-year Asurian Protectio...

 We have a Traveller game scheduled for today, but I'm going to miss it. I have a birthday party to go to. Seems my nephew is celebrating his first year of life and my wife thinks this is more important than investigating a slime filled space ship. I guess I can understand her thinking, but I bet it wont be as much fun. I'll catch up with the guys in two weeks... 

Bunch of table news today, most of it bad and most of it not terribly relevant to you.  Adventure: The 3-Dragon Problem. Yesterday, the group I Dungeon Master for in Plymouth got together to play some D&D. Last session they suffered a bad defeat and all of their characters ended up captured. My solution to this dilemma was to put them in the shoes of their rivals and send them in to rescue their characters. I mixed things up, rather than letting them choose, and made the wizard play a fighter, the fighter play a wizard, the monk play a cleric, and the paladin was given a rogue. They successfully infiltrated, assaulted, and rescued their characters as well as a trio of townsfolk. I'm sure there will be no repercussions from the heroes being rescued by their rivals. But, as a bonus they got to know the rival party better than they might have otherwise done. It was a good session and I think everyone had fun. At the end, I told the gang to level up their characters, everyone is n...

Early Sunday D&D is on hiatus while our illustrious Dungeon Master is out of town, possibly traveling the world in search of inspiration for our continuing adventures. The adventures of Thergale the Verdant on this strange foreign world will continue, but during this break lets hear from our hero and learn a bit more about this powerful warlock. Thergale the Verdant Human Male, Chaotic Good, Warlock/7 Thergale the Verdant is an adult human male, 32-years-old, 6 feet tall, and 175 lbs in weight. His hair is a warm honey red-brown and his eyes a bright verdant green. He wears his hair nearly to shoulder length and sports a full beard and mustache, both of which he keeps neat, trim, and clean. He is fond of the color green, warm brown leather, and the flash of gold. His lifestyle, dress, and manners are those of a man of wealth who aspires to gain title among the aristocracy. " I came from nothing. I am the product of ale and opportunity. Children making children, conceived on di...