Gate Pass Gazette Gate Pass Gazette #3 Introduces The Spiderfolk!

The third issue (well, 4th -- there was a free Issue #0!) of Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition's official magazine, the Gate Pass Gazette, is now available to subscribers! As always, it's jammed full of new content, including the long-awaited Spiderfolk heritage, new archetypes (subclasses), exploration challenges, monster variants, and magic items!

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Cunning Curses
Usually relegated to the role of bizarre junk, this article aims to instead to give you the kind of cursed item we know from stories: those that tempt the owner with great power--at great cost. By Cassandra Macdonald

Paths of Courtly Intrigue
There is debate on whether the pen is mightier than the sword, but there’s a canny sort of adventurer that sees no reason to choose between the two. These archetypes are for those that move through places of political power, negotiating, making deals, and ensuring knives are found in the right backs when it comes to it. By Tyler Omichinski

Those of the Web
A new Heritage in the form of the spiderfolk, a mysterious arachnoid people with a connection to the Ethereal Plane, and a related new Culture: the Ethereal Scout. By Pedro Coimbra.

Mount Jino
Once home to a magnificent wizard's castle, Mount Jiro is a crumbling mountain now littered with ruins and populated by magically-created monstrosities and natural predators alike. Meanwhile, the bog below is home to its own hazards and opportunities. These challenges, monster variants, and NPCs can be used in conjunction or individually. By Marc Kenobi.

 

[Morrus]

I thought Zeitgeist was the 'official default' setting in the same way Forgotten Realms is for O5E. You can use the stuff in generic fantasy X setting but they refer to that one in the source books.

We have three settings — ZEITGEIST, War of the Burning Sky, and the World of Elissar (where Holdenshire is found).

 

[noodohs]

Just a small issue, on page 6 (well, page 7 of the PDF but page 6 as numbered) under the darkvision section there is a typo, it says dsarkness instead of darkness.

 

[Steampunkette]

Just a small issue, on page 6 (well, page 7 of the PDF but page 6 as numbered) under the darkvision section there is a typo, it says dsarkness instead of darkness.

That's not a typo, we just have to make sure Snoop Dogg gets his proper writing credit.

 

[wellis]

We have three settings — ZEITGEIST, War of the Burning Sky, and the World of Elissar (where Holdenshire is found).

ZEITGEIST, that's the one where you play as agents of some fantasy-Victorian style agency right? awhat is Elissar like?

 

[Steampunkette]

ZEITGEIST, that's the one where you play as agents of some fantasy-Victorian style agency right? awhat is Elissar like?

World of Elissar

worldofelissar.com

Ancient euro fantasy setting. To get a good idea of what it's like you could look through the Monster Lore in the Monstrous Menagerie and aim for "Common" enemies like Orcs, Hobgoblins, and the like.

Goblins, for example, are still presented as often forced labor and fighters for stronger beings like Hobgoblins, and are rarely kind because kindness is rarely given to them... But they're also presented as scavengers living in liminal spaces who just want to live and be happy, taking joy out of any moment they can. Making up games on the fly and laughing and playing with anyone who joins in.

Troglodytes aren't your standard "Underground Savages" like Forgotten Realms makes them out to be, they're instead descendants of an ancient culture beset by calamity who often fall into demonic cults that prey upon the more peaceful and druidic troglodyte society at large.

Hill Giants aren't your standard booger flicking butt scratching stereotype of ignorant yore. Instead they're fairy tale creatures from the Dreaming/Feywild where they can sate their enormous hunger on the massive fruits of strange trees that regrows before the coming of the dawn. When on the Material plane, though, no such food exists and they hunt in constant hunger. And being from the Dreaming? They're Literalists. Raining cats and dogs? Hill giant will try to save the puppies and kitties! They're also incapable of lying. Both traits that befit Fairy Tale creatures.

But just being on the Material Plane? They -bring- the Dreaming with them. And wherever they make their home becomes lush and fertile lands, just never quite enough to sate their hunger...

You can learn a lot about a setting from its monsters, even if the setting hasn't been released, yet.

 

[wellis]

Okay, that sounds really neat! The only other 5e setting that I know of, that seems to be pretty inspired by more ancient eras rather than Western medieval Europe, is Swords & Sorceries by Arc Dream Publishing.

EDIT: I forgot about Arkadia, Scarred Lands, and one of the MtG settings.

 

[Steampunkette]

Okay, that sounds really neat! The only other 5e setting that I know of, that seems to be pretty inspired by more ancient eras rather than Western medieval Europe, is Swords & Sorceries by Arc Dream Publishing.

EDIT: I forgot about Arkadia, Scarred Lands, and one of the MtG settings.

When I say "Ancient" I mean "Medieval/Dark Ages" 'cause, y'know...

I don't think it's meant to be set earlier than the Dark Ages. What with the Longswords and Guns actually in the Adventurer's Guide...

Though that -does- inspire me to add a new space to Sins of the Scorpion Age... a distant land far to the Northwest of painted kings and strange magics... A druid-kingdom touched by darkness...

 

[Morrus]

To clarify, it's very much a Tolkien-esque setting, with areas which are loosely inspired by dark ages England, Scotland, Germany, Scandinavia, and Rohan, plus its own cosmology. The starter adventure, Memories of Holdenshire, is set there.