Shadow & Fae

  I 've been desperately trying to get this out before Halloween, and HERE IT IS! https://shadowandfae.itch.io/harwood This idea struck me a few weeks back while I was watching Over the Garden Wall and reading "Where the Dark Stands Still" I knew if I didn't get on it soon, I'd never finish it at all. It's been a very fun little hex crawl to write, but I must confess it is not fully play-tested.  Things I'm Proud Of A complete mini-hexcrawl, dungeon, and human-made art! A little village with its own history, holiday, and hauntings! A solid adventure scenario with some interesting possibilities. Things I'm Not Sure About I think the village could be fleshed out with a bit more intrigue, but it's probably sufficient for play. I hope you enjoy... A Walk in the Harwood!

  GLoGtober continues! The first challenge I rolled, but second I've now completed, is "Anime-Inspired Content".  While I watch a little anime, I've never considered writing anything strongly inspired by it.  I wrote about 3 half-baked generic systems before giving up and watching an anime I've never seen before. The show is about an MMO guild-master who finds himself pulled into the game after the servers are shut down. The NPCs his guild has created to fill their guildhall spring to life and bow to his every command. But what if he was just gone, and those generals were left to themselves? Thus was born the premise for  DARK POWERS: ARISE!

  "Poems & Stories" By J.R.R. Tolkien, Cover by Pauline Baynes, 1980 Edition Worlds from Seeds The most daunting foe to many a budding Referee (Sometimes called a Game Master, or even a Dungeon Master) is the blank page. Let's not mince words, Referees are frail, fallible human beings of limited capacity, just like (almost) every other human mucking about on Earth, and yet we're expected to summon worlds from our fingertips, breathe life into the unwashed hordes, and pull intriguing lore straight out of our unmentionables . It's too much to ask. But hubris-filled fools that we are, we're going to try it anyway. Where shall we start?  From Tiny Seeds What is it that interests you personally about fantasy stories? For now, keep things painfully simple. Your list could be as simple as "A Dungeon, a Dragon". There's a reason that recipe works. But there's no harm in spicing things up a little: "A Corrupt Temple, a Falling Star, a 'Vi...

  What Makes a Setting Good? Adventure games are about adventuring. In so far as a setting empowers that, it is good. If it makes adventuring difficult or confusing, it has taken a misstep. That's the theory, and I'm running with it. Lots of folks like to talk about Elden Ring, which gives a  touch  of lore up front, just enough to make you wonder, and then trusts you to explore and figure out that world on your own. If you want to dive into the lore, you've got to dive into the world and it's dungeons. That is my aim. Inisval Three Centuries Ago The Grey Lady lead the Fairfolk away from their home in Greymirror deep into the underworld at Fairgrave, and they have not been seen since, unless you believe old wives' tales and rumors, that is. The land was entrusted to the King in Casarra, but it was never the same. Three Decades Ago Dwarves, exiles from their home in the east, founded a mountain home at Lastlight. They don't allow visitors, but from time to time t...

I've been working on Shadow and Fae for about three years now, and I think I'm getting to the point of calling it done. But then, why not improve it just a touch more... Why not make it a zine? And if it's a zine, why not make two more zines to go with it? If you want more details on this journey, the three zines I'm working on, or to support me as I go, take a peek here:  https://itch.io/s/120972/shadow-and-fae-2e-3-zine-fundraiser

Inspiration taken from Goblin Punch , Whose Measure , and Various Others Well of Bolonchen, by Frederick Catherwood At times my brain enters a lucid state of creative day-dreaming, and glorious ideas pour forth like rain in the spring, and at times I sit and pray desperately for a drop of inspiration to quench my thirst. This is a post for those dry times, when inspiration teases but never delivers, and deadlines loom ever nearer. How can that tiny drop of inspiration be stretched into something playable? This is also somewhat a distillation of the "Dungeons" section of my massive module creation document. . A. Gather Dungeon Inspiration What compels  your imagination ? Choose 2-3 one-sentence themes , and a scenario tying them together. Themes may be environmental conditions or factions. Write more than necessary and choose the best . Don't worry about making them all unique or fascinating, we'll get there. Some Examples: A sentient and hostile mushroom forest. The a...

  A GLoG For Everyone The plan is simple, profound, and idiotic. We play GLoG. Characters are built using a simple, compatibility-focused ruleset, found here . Absolutely any published GLoG classes are welcome. Gamemasters add their dungeons/adventuring locations to the map, and state when they're available to play. Players schedule with the GMs, and show up at the designated time. GLoG is played. After the session, the party returns to town, gains XP for GP, and may purchase gear, carouse, etc. One player writes up a report in the style of a newspaper article, so the whole server can learn what happened. The GM updates their dungeon as they see fit, and the whole cycle repeats. That's it. That's the plan. If you like that plan, you can join here . EDIT: Like this guy did. "Distributed Campaign Style"

  A Spluttering and a Splashing, by John Batten I'm not sure why I am the way I am. Inspiration hits me like a shot of espresso, and I write and write and write until I collapse. Then I wonder if it's any good at all. Then I slap it on itch and call it a day. Then, a week later, I remember to post something about it on my blog. Goblin Tales As a kid, I loved all sorts of weird goblin and fairy stories. Lord of the Rings, Narnia, The Knights of the Round Table, and then a ridiculous  amount of books by Terry Pratchett. There was something fun about the juxtaposition of the credible and the incredible, that made me wonder if there were  fairies or goblins hiding around here somewhere. Goblin Tales was spawned by my love of those old stories, some talk on Phlox's GLoG server, my curiosity about rolling-under, and too much free time due to being out of work for the moment.  Find it over on Itch: Goblin Tales

The Brownies Celebrated Still, by Palmer Cox The Festival of Fair Dreams In the city surrounding Meriden Castle, there is a festival each year on the birthday of the sleeping princess. Fireworks bloom in the night sky. The commoners dance, and laugh, and share the meager bounty of their crops. Actors play at grand tales of heroes and their noble quests. Fortune Tellers tell bright lies, and whisper dark truths. All so the princess may have fair dreams, and think well of the land that goes on without her. For in 60 years, not once has she awoken. Background The king is growing old, and without a proper heir the nobles are beginning to size up their allies and formulate their own claims to the throne. Hostilities and plots abound during the night's festivities. The Princess  was cursed into a deep sleep 60 years ago. Though none know the origin of the curse, there is a prophecy that if the broken crown of her father is repaired and placed upon her brow, she will awaken. She has not ...

  If you can't tell, I drew that myself. It's been an interesting few days for me, as I have taken a step I've never really done before.  I've published a full adventure over on Itch, "The Bones of Ol' Bill." The process of drafting, re-drafting, and editing it into a workable product was a bit bumpy, and I even changed it once post-publication, but  it's been stupidly fun. See, I've been running a game in my own homebrew world for years. There are places, people, and problems that have been sitting in a file on my desktop that I doubted I would ever think about again. And then I had an idea. What if I shared them? What if I took those people beloved by my table, fleshed them out, and organized them into an adventure? Arnesport The town of Arnesport wasn't the first place I ever ran a game—it was the second. A band of town guards (my players) were following the trail of a group of kidnappers, and they caught a boat from Arnesport to the next st...

  "The Carpet Merchant" - Jean-Leon Gerome Merchants are common characters in RPGs. We need folks who have just the right item, for ( slightly more than)  just the right price. From barkeepers and armorers to alchemists and enchanters, merchants are vital. But when a player says, "Can I be a merchant?" we might be tempted to stutter through an explanation of "Well that's... uh.. a neat idea, but... economics ." Shame on us. For some odd reason we have this idea that adventurers should be poor and desperate, and it's not "balanced" to allow them to be trading large amounts of wealth and goods. If they had all that money, they could just buy whatever they wanted! True, but is that bad? They can afford Masterwork Weapons, Armors that are just as much works of art as they are impenetrable shells, potions by the bucket, and—through a very  generous donation—may even gain access to the miracles of the temples! These are powerful people! But wit...

Recently a method of writing a quick campaign opener has been floating around Phlox's GLoG server, and I decided to give it a go. The idea is to write up what happened 5 Centuries ago, 5 Decades ago, 5 Years ago, 5 Days ago, and lastly 5 Minutes ago. I actually started with the "5 Minutes ago", as I had an image in mind of what the players would be dealing with, then worked back from there. At the end of the process I realized I'd created something rather dark, and placed the heroes in a position that wasn't as unquestionably heroic as our playstyle tends to be. That's all well and good for some tables, but we just happen to like being the good guys, or at least feeling like we're good guys. So I thought, "Who else could the group play as?" Well, I found some. And it turns out they aren't perfect people either, but their story is—in my opinion—the more interesting of the two. Of course, then there's option C. The Mountain of the Sun  5 Ce...

The Yorde Beyond the walled city-states of civilization lies the Yorde. Some call it the wild, some call it “Mother Nature”, and some even dare to call it home. The Yorde cares not what you call it, only that you respect it. If you do not, it will swallow you whole. Trust no “safe road”. Keep your eyes open. Give the Yorde no opportunity to claim you, and it might let you live. Regions Anmark A dozen houses of men vie for the right to wear the Emerald Crown of Anmark, but the crown itself was stolen long ago. Without it, the war waxes and wanes without end in sight. Ashema Ashema—the City of Life—nestles into a Bend of the River Ah, but between Ashema and the world spills a sea of dunes, where the cold stars take turns with the glaring sun to watch men die searching for the fabled treasures of the Dead City. Fountains Deep in the mountains, the Dwarves found the Fountains - three majestic waterfalls spilling forth into a great box canyon. They built their city directly into the walls o...