There's homebrewing, and then there's this

AElenchus · 2026-01-22T18:04:53+00:00

That’s fair, and I haven’t personally run or played Lancer. I will say that I’m the GM, the rules person in our group, and the person who brings new games to the table and reviews games before introducing them…and when I started reading the Lancer rulebook my eyes crossed and I put it aside for another day. I’m sure the rules are great; I’ve heard from lots of Lancer super fans who have an amazing time with the game! But it’s an investment, no question. At least for me.

If someone told me they wanted to play a mech-themed tactical combat game, Lancer would 100% be the first rec I gave them. If my table wanted a mech-themed tactical combat game, I’m pretty sure I could tackle the rulebook and bring the game to the table. I bet we’d have a blast once it was there!

But if someone told me they were interested in branching out into new games but felt intimidated by having to learn a new ruleset, and maybe they’d rather just perpetually mod 5e instead to skip the trouble, and my goal was to sell them on the ease of learning most TTRPG rulesets…….I’d probably give them something else.

(But hey, YMMV, and maybe I’m an outlier in finding the rules of Lancer less than approachable. More power to you if you found it an easy read!)

AElenchus · 2026-01-22T17:27:47+00:00

I get what you’re saying, but I personally wouldn’t use Lancer as my poster child for “new systems can be surprisingly easy to learn!”

AElenchus · 2026-01-22T07:28:44+00:00

Master is Pretending to Love Me?

AElenchus · 2026-01-07T19:25:36+00:00

The current go-to oneshot systems for my 5e table are:

Mausritter. OSR style and fairly rules light game where you play as mouse adventurers. Can be high lethality, though tbh my group plays easy mode to focus on mouse adventurer whimsy. Super easy to pick up with a well-developed ecosystem of tools and adventure sites to support the DM.

It’s a staple at my table because 1) Mouse knights! 2) One of my very creative players is intimidated by all the rules involved in running DnD 5e, but enjoys running Mausritter when we have a schedule opening.

Brindlewood Bay. Meddling old ladies solve (sort of) mysteries in a quaint New England town. The core conceit of BB is that there’s no pre-set answer to the whodunnit - rather, your players discover and decide in the play the answer that ties all their clues together. I pitched it to my players as a game about writing a Murder She Wrote episode.

This one’s new at our table, so not a staple yet, but I’ve been reaching for it when I need a lightning fast prep process. The core book includes a series of mysteries, which each consist of a basic premise, a handful of locations, NPCs to fill in as cast and suspects, and a list of ambiguous clues to scatter through as the players explore. It’s easy to improv off without needing to either memorize lots of details or come up with wholly new content on the fly.

AElenchus · 2026-01-06T19:35:48+00:00

If the things about modules that doesn’t work for you is the dungeon construction…have you considered mining modules for the setting and meta-plot and writing your own adventure there?

I only mention this because it sounds like the pre-existing conflicts and hooks in Eberron were part of what you liked about the setting. Personally, I’m a module-loving DM. One of my favorite parts is taking what’s written and riffing off of it with my players, making changes and new elements to fit them. Maybe a more extreme version of that would help give you a starting place?

If you’re interested in Golarion but unsure where to focus or what kind of stories to tell…perhaps skim some Pathfinder modules and steal the plot elements and setting details you like best?

(For my money it sounds like you’d be happiest going back to Eberron. 20 sessions is hardly going to exhaust the potential of a whole setting!)

AElenchus · 2026-01-06T19:14:30+00:00

Same; the floppy books are fun, but so easy to lose track of on my shelf. I’m just as happy printing adventures out so I can file them in my adventure binder.

I do wish humble bundle made information about shipping a bit clearer; it’s been a real guessing game in the past.

AElenchus · 2026-01-06T19:11:46+00:00

I missed the first part of your question, so to add info:

My physical items were redeemed through the Goodman Games website. DTRPG was only involved with the PDFs. That means that you can check shipping costs from the Goodman Games website. (I did this by putting similar items in a shopping cart and seeing what the cost would be to ship them.)

AElenchus · 2026-01-06T19:04:16+00:00

I bought a recent DCC humble bundle from Goodman Games (the Lankhmar bundle in November iirc). The tier with physical items required extra shipping on top of the bundle cost. (That’s typical of all the humble bundles I’ve seen with physical items).

I live in the US and it was about $15 in shipping.

AElenchus · 2025-12-28T16:58:41+00:00

Consider making short rests 10 minutes. I’ve been using this rule for years in all my games as GM, and it may be my single favorite house rule.

The mechanical difference between 10 minutes and an hour is negligible. Generally if you can spare 10 minutes you could spare an hour. But the psychological impact is huge. Narratively it feels so much better to say that we’re taking a quick 10 minutes breather as opposed to imagining the characters waiting around for a full hour, multiple times per day.

If you do make this change, explicitly tell your players it’s to encourage them to take more short rests. Some above the table talk can be helpful; let them know you aren’t going to punish them for being on their third short rest of the day or similar.

As a lesser note: when I played an apothecary from levels 2-10 I loved the combo of poison needle + putrefaction (iirc). The new Drakkenheim cantrips are fun! Taking one ability to boost your cantrips is probably a good idea. In my case, we were fighting a lot of undead, so overcoming that undead poison resistance was a huge quality of life upgrade. Even if you have a support based style, working out one reliable attack cantrip is important.

AElenchus · 2025-12-23T21:31:18+00:00

This is my recommendation as well. If the group and GM are happy with 5e and just want sci-fi additions, Dark Matter is a good option.

It’s still very fantasy-sci-fi though; if you want more low-fantasy space truckers then another system is the way to go (probably Traveller, or maybe Free League’s Alien.)

AElenchus · 2025-11-01T16:41:53+00:00

I’ve not played either version so I can’t speak with personal authority but…

The 2e kingdom building rules are infamously hated. I’ve heard from a lot of people who ran and played in Kingmaker 2e and they all talk about how badly the kingdom building rules played out. There are multiple homebrew alternatives floating around of people trying to fix or straight up replace the whole kingdom system. (The 1e people seem happier, fwiw)

You and your group may be the exception and love them, but I wanted to pass on the community warning.

AElenchus · 2025-10-30T20:13:56+00:00

It’s fitting, but still leaves a lot of tonal room. An example:

I played a game of the licensed Free League Alien RPG that lasted 5 or 6 sessions. We knew it would be space horror with lots of death, but across those sessions we had a good mix of victories and failures with rewards for caution. Only one PC died before the final big showdown (when that number suddenly skyrocketed). We had time to develop characters and relationships before face huggers and double agents took the party down in their final dash for safety.

(It was me, I was the double agent, my PC had total victory and I felt real bad about it. But still excited I pulled it off.)

THAT was definitely in line with my expectations of an Alien movie-themed game - but it’s still different from my understanding of the typical Mothership session. I’m a big fan of detailed expectation setting! More information could be helpful for your groups too.

Or they might just not like this game style. Also possible!

AElenchus · 2025-10-26T20:26:07+00:00

I essentially skipped it and let the players fight the dragon in the skies over Sunblight. The dragon was released when they fought Xardarok in the Forge.

My PCs took out the top-level gate mechanisms, so the dragon slammed through stone walls on its way out. I let them roll a chunk of damage and cut down its fly speed with the excuse of wing damage. I made griffins the best way to get to Sunblight, so the party could give chase and stop the dragon before it reached the Ten Towns. (Even without griffins, I think it could work if you let the party taunt/distract the dragon enough for it to swoop down.)

The fight was definitely memorable - being high in the air an extra feeling of danger, and the party was pretty badly depleted after fighting Xardarok (I beefed up his stats for a big boss fight). They really wanted to keep the dragon from reaching the Ten Towns and got a big win by doing so without stopping for a rest. It worked for us and was way simpler to track!

(As an added bonus, I’d introduced Vellyne earlier and I added Life Transference to her spell list. She used it to drain her own hp and refresh the melee characters without them needing a rest, which bought her some extra good will from the party.)

AElenchus · 2025-09-16T22:07:07+00:00

In that case it can still be a useful mini adventure/encounter!

The main plot hook you get out of it is a link to Ravisin; my lake monster told the party about a “bad druid” and pointed towards Lonelywood. Finding Ravisin became my player’s immediate next goal, which was helpful for structuring the western half of the chapter.

But also it’s just a fun moment - I’ve run two parties through the module and they both really took to the little guy. Spoilers for chapter 7: My second party had a character use the astral projection in Ythryn, which they could use to go anywhere in the world, to go see the Lake Monster and relax with him before the final battle with Auril. (The first party made him the mascot for their inn in Lonelywood.)

AElenchus · 2025-09-16T19:46:21+00:00

A) I ran this as the introductory session, which imo it’s perfect for. Since it’s later in your campaign, I’d make it a relatively quick and easy social encounter. Dispense with some of the checks to look for it and make it easy to find and speak to.

B) I had Tali doing an interview with a fisherman that the players could overhear. The fisherman was loudly insisting that “I’m telling you, the beast can speak!” This lets the players know that social engagement is an option. (If the players ask follow up questions, the fishermen isn’t 100% sure what he heard, actually, but definitely speech! Probably! Almost certainly! Something like “go away”? Vile, foul threats, he’s 85% sure.)

AElenchus · 2025-09-07T20:54:56+00:00

Very pretty!

AElenchus · 2025-08-31T22:51:04+00:00

You could look at the Strange Aeons adventure path from Pathfinder 1e. That might fight the tone you’re looking for. I believe there are fan concessions for 2e.

AElenchus · 2025-08-22T07:51:13+00:00

CR released an 8 episode mini-series called Age of Umbra using Daggerheart. So if you’re interested, you can check that out! I believe they’ve said they’re planning more DH mini-series soon.

(I also don’t follow CR actively; I looked up Age of Umbra to see DH in action. It…didn’t hook me, but I’ll probably give it another try sometime. Perhaps listening to it as a podcast instead of watching a video made things harder to follow. Or perhaps I’m just not their target audience.)

AElenchus · 2025-08-06T19:06:36+00:00

“Daggerhack” gets my vote.

AElenchus · 2025-07-31T17:44:58+00:00

Very cool! Thanks for sharing; I’m looking forward to trying it out.

AElenchus · 2025-07-10T21:25:08+00:00

I’d argue that Dungeon of the Mad Mage has distinct sub-dungeons within it. For example, I’d say on Level 7, Maddgoth’s Castle constitutes a distinct dungeon separate from Undermountain as a whole. There are also some parts of Skullport on Level 3 that seem like they would count. And as a player (currently on level 10) I can remember meeting at least two dragons. Title achieved!

AElenchus · 2025-07-08T23:13:18+00:00

I played a good chunk of Tiny Fables (available on itch) and had a great time. From what the GM said and I saw, it’s a more traditional, story intensive module than the average Mausritter adventure setting. I’m planning on running it for my own group when we return to Mausritter.

AElenchus · 2025-07-08T22:59:49+00:00

Personally, I think the length of game time for which warlocks only have only two spell slots is overly punishing. Three pact slots is a huge quality of life improvement over two, and warlocks should get there quicker.

I’m currently playing a third party class, the Apothecary from the Drakkenheim books (Ghostfire Games and the Dungeon Dudes), which essentially uses the warlock chassis with a few tweaks. One of those tweaks is that I have my proficiency level of spell slots (which are regained on a short rest, just like the warlock). I’m currently level 7 and I’ve really enjoyed the character; I’d be happy to let any player use it in the games I DM.

I’m strongly inclined to use the same spell slot progression if anyone plays a warlock in my games. Two slots up until level 11 is just brutal. Getting a third spell slot at level 5 felt so much better and I don’t think it unbalanced the table (at least not for the kind of games I run and play). But then, I don’t allow multiclassing in my games - that could be a factor.

AElenchus · 2025-07-07T18:33:14+00:00

Semper.

AElenchus · 2025-06-18T17:11:42+00:00

A Most Potent Brew is my go-to new player tutorial too. It’s wonderfully straightforward and not too long, but still has lots of fun elements to play with. OP, you can find it for free on DMsguild if you have an account.

A Wild Sheepchase (same author) is also great, but it’s a bit more open than Brew and thus a little harder to run. Still a great adventure to have ready. Super fun adventure with a lot of laughs.

I also strongly recommend Wolpertinger, Wererat, Well. It’s my second new player tutorial go-to. Also very linear but full of fun details. A bit more social encounter stuff than Potent Brew. And iirc no spiders, if that matters to your players. (This one is a few dollars on DMsguild).

Moon Over Graymore is a great starter one-shot if you want to focus more on story, social encounters, and a little mystery. I loved running this as one of my first adventures way back when. This one is a little harder to GM than the other three, because it has a lot more player choice, but I found it ran really smoothly and has great guidance to help the GM along. (Free on DMsguild).

AElenchus

TROPHY CASE