EN5ider's going old school today but making use of Fifth Edition's newer trappings to make gritty, realistic campaigns more engaging on the maintenance-front without things getting bogged down by excessive lists or the minutiae of equipment! What does that even mean? Read onward!
Lately on EN5ider:
Lately on EN5ider:
- #288. Wear & Tear. Material components, backup buckles, oils and whetstones, extra munitions, replacement straps—there's a lot of maintenance to do when adventuring. Most Gamemasters gloss over these things but for campaigns that have a more old school or gritty feel that's part of the fun! With that in mind this issue of EN5ider approaches adventuring gear the same way that Fifth Edition does exhaustion: there are several levels of maintenance and equipment naturally deteriorates over time. PCs can use their downtime or their coin to keep their blades, backpacks, tomes, and bedrolls in proper shape, and anyone that really invests their time or money to do so takes with them the best-crafted items (most able to take a beating). This handy subsystem is the design of Eran Aviram, illustrated by Renan Costa Morales!
- #287. Mini-Adventure: Angel's Bacchanalia. Legends speak of a solstice festival arranged by a mysterious angelic patron deep in the woods, an event where the angel forgives all sins and no depravity goes unindulged. The adventurers are approached by a grieving mother claiming that her daughter attended last year’s bacchanalia but never returned, and she offers a substantial reward if the missing girl's fate can be found. The PCs must attend the wild celebration, infiltrate the deranged patrons, and eventually confront the fiendish erinyes that lord over this revel and the degenerate cultists that attend it. Written by Andrew Engelbrite; illustrated by Savage Mojo and using cartography by Dyson Logos.
- #286. Enchanted Trinkets: Gifts of Nature. The Enchanted Trinkets series is back again with 10 minor enchanted items from nature ideal to be in the possession of—or given as gifts from—fey folk! Eat some sourberries then throw up on your foes, plant a root club when you need to slow down your enemies, ask a bark dog to go home and briefly visit its charming extradimensional abode, or unleash the bubble wand to either play at lights or break it to escape from imminent danger in the safety of its floating embrace. Written by Will Gawned; illustrated by Rachel Maduro.
- #285. Intriguing Organizations: MacGruddin's Engineers. MacGruddin’s Engineers are hard-drinking sappers, machinists, cart-drivers, and cooks. Though the group is mostly dwarves (including Captain MacGruddin) all that is required to earn a place in the company are equal parts of loyalty and sweat equity. Specialized work includes construction of siege equipment (catapults, ballistae, towers, and the like), undermining castle walls, and the manufacture of specialized ammunition for siege weapons. Additional services offered include bridge building, laying down roads, and general construction—but most of the crew would much rather break things than build 'the boring stuff'. Written by Bill Beers, illustrated by Indi Martin.
- #284. ZEITGEIST #7 - Schism: Appendix. This issue for ZEITGEIST is one that every member of EN5ider should definitely download. Within Schism's Appendix are several handouts for the campaign (including some cards), but more importantly it contains a whopping 16 monsters and NPCs (ranging from the Steelshaper Leone Quital to witches to ghost councils and even a ghost witch) as well as 10 magic items!
