Fey Contracts 8

The Diabolical Deals section of Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus offers something that… frankly it’s kind of weird that we haven’t seen yet in 5e, where warlock is a core class: bargain-making guidelines. In this post, I’m exploring what a fey version of the same thing would look like. I’m […]


Lair Actions Everywhere 7

As part of a Very Special Episode of Edition Wars, Sam Dillon and I were talking about Player’s Option: Combat & Tactics, which includes random events at the start of every round that affect individuals or the whole battle area. I realized that in 5e, this could just get implemented […]


How to Write a Boffer LARP Module 4

Treasured Patreon backer Ryan McCorkle asked for a guide to writing modules for boffer LARPs. Since I freely acknowledge that there are others out there who can do better at this than I can, I hope the comments section will become a useful resource in its own right. For readers […]


Q&A with Harbinger of Doom 1

This post comes out of a request from Patreon backer Benjamin Ybarra. Many thanks to everyone who contributed questions! If you like this kind of quick-hit content, all you have to do is send me more questions, by whatever means seems best to you. Tomas Giminez (@TGiminezDM) asks: Which is […]


A Ninth Year of Blogging

Goodness, it has been another year. This year I started a Patreon, and for a small-time gaming blog, it does incredibly well thanks to the generosity of friends and readers. Blog traffic both here and over at Tribality bounced back after a fairly dismal 2018, likely the result of the […]


D&D 5e: Compelled Duel Issues 5

A couple of months ago, cherished reader Jonathan McGee asked me for my thoughts on the 1st-level spell compelled duel. At the time, my answer could be summed up as, “I’m not sure I’ve thought about it at all,” so I told him I would give it some work when […]


Difficulty in Tabletop Games 3

In a recent blog post, Sly Flourish talks about 1st level as the high-water mark for danger in 5e. This sparked a conversation about danger and difficulty levels in 5e more generally. I also follow the excellent Jennifer Scheurle on Twitter, who wrote this article on difficulty in video games, […]


LARP Design: Wandering Monsters and Active Locations 5

In a boffer LARP campaign, it does a lot of good for the wandering-monster gameplay experience if the players have a steady supply of reasons to move around the game site in small groups. That is, it both improves the experience of being a wandering monster (and yes, people playing […]


D&D 5e: Earth Domain 4

Of all the domains that have seen official support in 5e, there are a few ongoing, surprising gaps compared to the 3.5 list of domains and, for that matter, 4e builds. In this case – as if the title of the post didn’t give it away! – I’m talking about […]


D&D 5e: Four Spells from Fourth Edition 1

In last year’s 4e megathread, I listed a bunch of awesome spell names and concepts that hadn’t been officially brought into 5e. In this post, I’m offering one possible way of converting four of them. This is likely to become an ongoing series. Summons of Khirad 3rd-level conjuration (warlock) Casting […]