D&D General This week on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com: VF5E: Homebrewing my own D&D

[el-remmen]

Today on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com it is #TroglodyteTuesday! and so we have the Cave Troll, it's background, stat block, and some of my thinking/inspiration in making it.

Troglodyte Tuesday: Cave Troll

Sometimes having “rocks for brains” is a good thing!

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[el-remmen]

Today is Dweomer Day on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com - presenting Agon's Hammer - a homebrew spell I converted from out 3xE Aquerra campaigns for 5E. ..

Dweomer Day: Agon’s Hammer

A blast from the past that goes smash!

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[el-remmen]

Today is #TroglodyteTuesday on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com and the latest installment was inspired by looking at the 5E Owlbear stat block for the first time and realizing how boring and static it is (as are too many monsters) and how they stripped it of the one special ability it traditionally had at the same time that WotC released their latest "Draft" of their "OGL" which claimed to be generous by putting "mechanics" in creative commons but limits the real D&Dish stuff to their shady licensing deal. As such, it struck me as ironic that they were announcing limits on who can make Owlbears at the same time I was discovering that they can't seem to make a good one themselves!

As such, and since my content falls under the Fan agreement, i decided to make my own version: THE BEAROWL (pronunced "beh-rowl")

Troglodyte Tuesday: Bearowl

Forget 5E’s boring monsters and fear the mighty ow. .. uh, bearowl!

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[el-remmen]

Last week was pretty busy for me, so this week is a little light on content for the site, though I worked on this one for quite a while.

Rules Lab: Knockdown

“I get knocked down & an opportunity attack might keep me down!”

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I converted the Knockdown rules adapted from 2E's Combat & Tactics (that my group used in both our late 2E and throughout 3E games) to 5E.

 

[el-remmen]

Today on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com:

Covering my coverless copy of Dragon Magazine #102 for #DragonMagMonday

Dragon Mag Monday: #102

Covering my coverLESS copy of Dragon #102 (October 1985)

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I am also close to completing an article on 10 House Rules for Dynamic/Engaging Combat, which should be up either this Thursday or next.

 

[el-remmen]

I started a thread just for this, but figured I'd share it here too

Rules Lab: Ten House Rules for More Dynamic 5E Combat

Lively and interesting combat in 5E.

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Next week, look for another installment of Dweomer Day presenting the Wand of Hammer Blows. . . I am also working on a Troglodyte Tuesday post presenting the Gibbering Troll. In the long term, I am working on the first in a series giving suggestions for running stuff out of Ghosts of Saltmarsh based on how I ran it.

 

[el-remmen]

Today is Dweomer Day!

I converted the Wand of Hammer Blows from Dragon #102 (October 1985) from Ed Greenwood's 'Nine Wands of Wonder" (none of which are, you know, wands of wonder) to a 5E version with the new method of dealing with charges (which I dislike) and an optional version that handles charges more traditionally.

Dweomer Day: Wand of Hammer Blows

When you need to break stuff. . .

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[el-remmen]

Hey! It's Troglodyte Tuesday on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com and today I am presenting the supped up version of the Gibbering Troll which I revised after running it.

Troglodyte Tuesday: Gibbering Troll

This troll talks a maddening nonsense.

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For those who are curious, it was trying to make as complex a monster as this is all fit into a one page stat block that inspired my starting this thread.

 

[el-remmen]

Today is #TroglodyteTuesday on on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com and today I present my own version of the Gibbering Mouther, including three different sized Mouthers.

Troglodyte Tuesday: Gibbering Mouthers

Making Gibbering Mouthers Meaner

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[el-remmen]

It's #DragonMagMonday on HOW-I-RUN-IT.com!

Today I cover another coverless issue of Dragon in my collection, #103. An issue notable for its inclusion of errata for the notoriously error-ridded 1E Unearthed Arcana and for the soon to be ousted from TSR, Gary Gygax, giving his opinion on what the second edition of AD&D might look like.

Here is a brief excerpt:

. . .the thing that stands out most to me about Gygax’s discussion of a new edition is that there is no mention of playtesting, player surveys, or design philosophy. The whole piece gives the sense that AD&D does not need much more than a “cleaning up,” with Uncle Gary smoothing over a few of the contradictions that emerged between and among the countless subsystems used to run the game at that time. We all know that it takes many people, not just one man, to create something like a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but at this time Gygax banked on his name being synonymous with the game, something he worked to establish as part of his strategy to write Dave Arneson out of the game’s origins. But it would not be enough to keep the game’s fate tied to his.

Personally, I think in terms of both the game and the folk culture, Gygax’s exile was for the better.

Dragon Mag Monday: #103

Looking back at Dragon #103 from November 1985

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Opinions and comments welcome here or there. . .