This is my 400th published post in Harbinger of Doom. To celebrate the first 399, I’m giving away a copy of Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate! From now until the end of the month, you can enter the giveaway by either:
- Commenting on this post, or
- Sending an email to harbinger@brandesstoddard.com.
If you feel helping me out, you could do one or more of the following:
- Mention a topic you’d like to see me cover
- Tell your friends about this drawing
- Share any feedback you may have about the blog
The ground rules of the giveaway:
- One entry per person.
- My family members can’t be part of the drawing, but my friends (including the webmistress, if she wishes) can.
- The entry period is from April 7 to 11:59 p.m. EDT on April 30, 2018.
- You’ll have to give me your email address as part of your entry. If you’re okay with me adding it to an email list for any future giveaways and product releases, please say so! I promise not to sell it or use it for any other purpose than that. If you do not give me permission, I promise to lose your email address after the drawing, and I will not sell it or use it to contact you, other than contacting you because you’ve won. (Obviously, if we’re friends in real life, this doesn’t apply to you in quite the same way.) Joining the mailing list is not necessary to participate in the drawing, and won’t affect your chances of winning.
- At the end of the entry period, I’ll randomly select one name from the list of entries and contact them to get their shipping address. If I don’t hear back from them within 72 hours, I’ll randomly select a new winner, so make sure you check the email address you give me at least once on May 1st or 2nd.
- The prize is one copy of Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate. If you live in the United States, I’ll buy a copy from a local gaming store and ship it to you. If you live overseas, I may have to figure something else out, like using Amazon. We’ll sort it out, you’ll get your game.
Thanks for your time, thank you for the years of support that have kept me writing, and good luck in the drawing!
You can now buy Under the Seas of Vodari in PDF!
Under the Seas of Vodari is a 300-page book that provides 5E/Fifth Edition material for both gamemasters and players to dive into a world full of action and adventure set beneath the waves of Vodari or your own campaign world. This book is a follow-up to The Seas of Vodari, a setting book filled with swashbuckling action and magical adventure. Dive into your first adventure today!
I am amused that I get to say this for real — I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. 🙂
You should do an article talking about angelic pc options. You had an angelic pc race in Dust to Dust, and I am interested how you might tackle it in 5e.
Feedback…. You could be nebulously more awesome? Maybe more challenge posts?
You already have my email. I am prepared to receive your literature.
Well, I’m 75% done with a PDF of angels as a PC race with a paragon class, so… good news! (The last 25% is causing me no end of trouble. I’ve been 75% done for more than a month.) Once I finish writing it, it still needs to go through editing and layout. Then it’ll be released by Rite Publishing.
Thanks, man. =)
I’d like to see a collection of all the subclasses/magic items you’ve ever written up. A lot of good things are at the far reaches (beginning) of the blog, and I would totally pay money if it was all rounded up and bundled into a little book with art.
(Yes, I would like to enter the giveaway).
Keep trekking, my dude. I love your stuff. And I’m prepared to receive more of your literature.
It’s not pretty, and I can’t 100% promise that all of the content is the latest revision, but http://shieldhaven.pbworks.com has my classes (still pretty rough), subclasses, and so on. The Class Options page has the subclasses.
I’m interested in packaging more things to sell through Tribality Publishing, but I need to seriously revamp some things that… work all right at the table, because I know what I MEANT, but they’re ugly as sin for formal rules text, like the Renegade wizard. Thanks for your interest and support!
More on the fae.
Advice for other people on how to build subclasses/ races/ spells.
And count me in, I am pretty sure you have my email address.
Just the other day, I realized that I really want to write up and publish a PDF that is tips, tricks, and a Manual of Style for third-party 5e content. Things I’ve learned from my editors, like “5e rules text uses ‘can’ rather than ‘may.'” Adding some meta commentary on the rhythm of subclass features, like Mearls has been talking about in more detail in his Happy Fun Hour stream, would be great.
There’s one particular piece of content for the fey that is my last big hangup before I get serious about pulling it all together into a book. Stupid only 24 hours in a day, of which I need to be asleep for so MANY…
I’s love to see DM Advice/tips/tricks on telling stories with a time travel component. It’s tricky. I know you’ve gone that direction at least once, and I’m thinking about going that direction in the future, and find your articles frequently set my wheels turning.
Time-travel related magic items or monsters might also be cool.
It’s funny you should mention that… I’ve been watching Timeless. Oh man, I cannot be trusted in proximity to time-travel stories. =)
I’d love to be included in the giveaway, not least because my kids and I are playing a game based in Baldur’s Gate.
In terms of content I’d like to see some thoughts about about reworking and designing adventures and encounters for smaller parties (specifically 2 PCs a la Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser). There’s plenty of material in going up or down 1 or 2 from the optimal 5pc party and even some solo player stuff, but dynamic duos tend to get short shrift. My kids are good at surviving but I’m running out of ideas and could always use some inspiration.
That’s a great topic! I haven’t worked through this in full, but my first idea is giving each player 1 legendary action, and what they can do with that legendary action depends on their class. “Make one attack” and “cast a cantrip” are my baselines here. I’ll definitely add that to my list going forward.
Also, check out http://www.brandesstoddard.com/2017/07/dd-5e-companion-npcs/ and http://www.brandesstoddard.com/2017/12/dd-5e-loyalty-track/ for filling out the party with NPCs under their control (which I expect you’ve at least considered, if not already discarded).
Count me in for the giveaway, big fan of your work both here and at Tribality. Especially the Zodiac Subclasses! Would love to see a finished product centered around all 12 archetypes and maybe an adventure/other content to make a zodiac-centric campaign.
I am glad that you like my work, though I hasten to clarify that the Zodiac series is written by Colin McLaughlin, not me. If you’re interested in more content from him, check out his great blog, https://standsinthefire.com/.
Thanks!
Lay some of that sweet Baldur’s Gate love on me! Also, would like to see your predictions for the near future of D&D 5e… What will probably happen next, what needs to happen (IYHO) and what will NEVER happen but you’d love to see anyway.
At this point, my yearly prognostication on D&D shows up in Tribality in or near July, so I need to be thinking about the next one…
Anyway, here’s last year’s: https://www.tribality.com/2017/08/17/5e-content-strategy-2017-update/
Thanks for offering this opportunity — very cool! I enjoy your blog for its new sub-classes, spells, and other options. I appreciate learning about the history of various parts of D&D (although much of that is on Tribality, I realize). I also like hearing about how other games’ concepts can be incorporated into F20 games.
I’d be happy to be included on your mailing list. I included my email address in the appropriate field when posting this comment. I assume that means you have it, but if not, please let me know.
Yup, I have your email. =)
Thank you for your kind words and your many years of enthusiastic support!
Posting on Friday the 13th hoping it gives me some karma for the draw!
I just found your blog and I’m trying to read it from the beginning so I am WAY behind.
I enjoy your writing style so I would say write about anything. But, if you’re really looking for ideas, I would love to hear some insights on the current 5e WOTC hard over modules and things that could be changed for future ones. Just started Horde fo the Dragon Queen and it seems very railroad-ish and unbalanced.
Welcome to the blog! Here’s as much as I’ve written on HotDQ and RoT so far:
http://www.brandesstoddard.com/2017/09/villain-design-hoard-of-the-dragon-queen/
http://www.brandesstoddard.com/2017/12/villain-design-the-rise-of-tiamat/
In short, yes, it is railroady as heck, yet a lot of what the PCs do winds up not mattering at all.
I have good intentions of eventually covering more adventures, but that is all in the unwritten future. =)
My favorite thing you have ever created was the Geist honored monk. I created my whole setting as a place where that was something that would be possible. I would love to see more sub classes from you!
I am incredibly flattered!
Oooh, yes please and congrats on 400! I would love to see more PC/NPC track systems a la your loyalty system.
Long time reader, first time commenter. Huge fan of your work.
My favorite so far has been the history of the classes. I like seeing the evolution in game design, the different styles and types of play, and the thematic elements they’re trying to capture all wrapped together to create a unified whole. The racial personality articles were also stellar.
(On Tribality, your UA writeups are also suberb. Nearly everyone has some comment on these new mechanics – including us, as part of the playtest. Yours seem to be one of the only ones really worth a damn.)
I suppose what I’d like to see more of is “problematic” elements in D&D, as you often do with the (lack of a) crafting system. Things like how to better support Roguish play without it being a one-person stealth mission. How to incorporate Rangery elements, without isolating the members of the group that weren’t raised by wolves (or, how to be a Horizon Walker at low levels when plane-hopping isn’t so common, or whatever). Mix of theme and mechanics here.
You’ve touched on things like this before, but I find the game design and thematic elements far more useful than any sort of homebrew. Creating an elemental-based Sorcerer is only important if I have a Sorcerer character or am DMing for one, and if that Sorcerer doesn’t wish to be Wild or Draconic or whatever. OTOH, making Elves (or Druids, etc.) seem like something more fleshed out than “nature hippy” is great for both character creation and world-building.
Thank you so much for the suggestions and the kind words!
I’d love to see a collection of your house rules, maybe divided by edition? If that already exists, I apologise for not digging for it.
Here it is: https://www.brandesstoddard.com/2016/02/dd-5e-my-house-rules/
Enjoy!
Nothing I love more than a great board game / rpg blog and this is one of the best ones. Thanks for the continued reviews and information. Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate would be an excellent addition to my game library.
Thank you for your kind words!
Great work!, I will be happy to subscribe to your newsletter _D