Exemplary Elves Part 3 High Elves
This is a continuation of a series that seeks to re-imagine the standard races of Dungeons & Dragons as more unique and fully developed cultures. The last article dealt with the Einolar, a Wood...
Tagged: Characters
Perfect Party Size? In 5th edition, it’s five.
I’ve been ruminating recently on an issue I haven’t seen a lot of discussion about: How many players are too few or too many? For most groups, this issue is more a matter of...
SHAPESHIFTERS: The Lord in the Pit No one said intelligent magic items had to be swords. Or property.
Introduction Lord Blot is a sentient sphere of annihilation. It maintains a low profile in a remote area of a larger kingdom, where it enjoys both limited anonymity and territorial independence. Local rulers know it...
SHAPESHIFTERS: Farron, King of Baubles A dangerous NPC broker in the underground magical-items market
Shapeshifters is a new series on nonplayer characters. These NPCs aren’t literal shapeshifters. Instead, they fall into the “shapeshifter” archetype described by scholars of myth like Joseph Campbell. We’re talking about the Professor Snapes and Walder...
Gleeking Out on the Streets of Runerock Or, the Fine Art of Interpreting Crappy Stats
An excerpt from the journal of one Jacker Stump, age and origin unknown, as transcribed by Bennonois, clerk to the Court of Canes, City of Runerock. (A warning to brothers of the Order:...
Raicho the Recusant
An Experiment with Narrative Because character is best revealed through narrative, I thought I’d present most of this installment of Dice Unloaded in story form. It’s an experiment. Raicho the Recusant—fourth and most controversial in...
Reopening the Tavern Scene
If you flip through enough GM guidance, you see repeated disdain for one fantasy-gaming trope in particular: the tavern opening. You know the one: You’re all sitting in a bar full of tough mercenaries, enjoying...
Richer Alignments Why most characters should have two alignments, not one
Dating back to the early days of Gygax and Arneson, alignment is an old standard of Dungeons & Dragons, one of the bits that makes D&D feel like D&D. With every new edition, however, alignment feels more and...
Exemplary Elves: Game World Design
Last time, in the final installment of my discussion of the Four Principles for Game World Design, I discussed the non human races of D&D and how the demi-human races in particular failed to...
D&D isn’t Even Human – Game World Design – The Fourth (of Four) Principles
This column rounds up the fourth of four principles of fantasy world design. You can read the other three here, here, and here. 4) If D&D “Isn’t even human,” then what is it? Alien,...
