Join the August 2021 RPG Blog Carnival – Let’s Build A Dungeon!
This month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme is “Let’s Build A Dungeon”…
This month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme is “Let’s Build A Dungeon”…
Sometimes people talk about characters as ‘meta’. It’s almost always used in a negative context. But one survey shows that people don’t use ‘meta’ in the same way, and sometimes it can be good to ‘meta game’.
Horrifying outsiders often invade our D&D worlds. They pillage green earth, gather frightened prisoners, and spread corruption far and wide, slaughtering, not rankling. Planar denizens run rampant as villains in plenty of TTRPG systems: devils, demons, and elementals among countless others. One outsider entity in particular haunts far fewer D&D adventures than it should: slaadi.
Our lives change constantly, as do our views and levels of creativity. For those of us who construct vast Dungeons & Dragons settings and worlds for our players to place their characters in and explore, this brings a dilemma. How do we stay true to all the wild escapades, heart-racing adventures, and ground-breaking campaigns that occur in our world? We all have an opinion on the role of canon in works of fiction—and we should carve one out for our own worlds as well.
Rounding up this month’s RPG Blog Carnival! Still time to join in!
The RPG Blog Carnival rolls round to another year; please take part and follow it around the blogosphere in 2021…
Character death is part of the stakes of a lot of our games. It keeps us on our toes as players. Hitpoints or harm are often one of the resources players have to manage. There can be a great deal of drama – and satisfaction – in epic battles against overwhelming odds, even if we lose.
The elements in the grid and whether they are in the spotlight tells me where to focus my planning; I can draft up a couple of NPCs and a list of potential stat blocks for the Antagonists, and maps etc. for any Places I might need in the next couple of sessions. If it’s not likely to be relevant now or soon then don’t plan it! But do it in a way that can be reused in case it doesn’t become relevant immediately.
The elements in the grid and whether they are in the spotlight tells me where to focus my planning; I can draft up a couple of NPCs and a list of potential stat blocks for the Antagonists, and maps etc. for any Places I might need in the next couple of sessions. If it’s not likely to be relevant now or soon then don’t plan it! But do it in a way that can be reused in case it doesn’t become relevant immediately.
A quick look at ways to build on existing sources like movies and tropes and make them your own as part of the worldbuilding process.