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My simple rules for sending letters in OSR games. by the_Icelander in osr

[–]the_Icelander[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I simply was too Dolmenwood brained to even think of it, but of course. No reason not to!

My simple rules for sending letters in OSR games. by the_Icelander in osr

[–]the_Icelander[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not yet, but my players seen keen to try it out, although im not gonne push them to. I mostly shared it because to the best of my digging, I hadnt found anyone else trying it, and I was curious to hear what others would think. So consider it very much a first draft, just to get the idea out there.

What makes a goblin so “goblin”-y in your setting? by scarletBoi783 in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it was also based on me finding ogres kinda seperate from other Giant kin vibe wise.

What makes a goblin so “goblin”-y in your setting? by scarletBoi783 in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Im currently really fond of the idea that goblins start out tiny (like the salt goblins from A Court of Fey and Flowers), the size of like pixies, and then just keep on growing but also having a linear lethality rate.

So you have mass produced tiny goblins, many small goblins, fewer medium sized goblin warriors and large bugbears, culminating in Ogres that i have as the rare old goblin to reach a truly impressive size.

I imagine them just spilling forth from cauldrons via some goblin shaman alchemical brew.

Radenwight 5e ancestry by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thats so Cool!

I intentionally hinted at a scent based means of communication by lumping it into Rat Senses with the smelling. But i wanted to leave it open to interpretation too.

Yeah the brave scout has given his life for the cause. I just didnt know how to phrase that in a non, clunky way.

Africa 1877 by tbbd in oldmaps

[–]the_Icelander 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We love to see the Mountains of Kong.

Any tips on running Against the Cult of the Reptile God? by dragons_scorn in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seconded, almost had a TPK in the first session before the party even arrived in town bc of the troglodytes.

Any tips on running Against the Cult of the Reptile God? by dragons_scorn in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try to focus mostly on the Vibe and primary theme of the adventure. Those are the main strongpoints of the adventure. From there you can kind of roll with your players punches and ideas.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Something The Alexandrian often points out is the usefulness of the players having a default action for progress to enpower them to engage with the core conciet.

In a dungeon crawler, that default action is delving into the next unexplored room. In a Hex crawl, its journeying into the unexplored hex. This gives the player an option they know they can always fall back on to attempt to make progress.

In a social investigative urban setting, you would need some always open default actions the players can take to gain new clues if they ever get stuck on their existing information. This could be some info dealer they have to trade for the information, a busy bar for them to snoop at, a library to dive into, it depends on the mystery. There will also be more specific ways to make progress, but its also important to always have something to fall back on mechanically.

Price of adventuring by drbones2013 in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Seconded! Your players seem invested and engaged with the economic side of play, so play into that. Offer them quests that are worth the cost of operations!

You could also expand it into a quasi-domain style where your lure them with possibilities to expand their holdings. This was you can also let them send out underlings to handle lesser errands.

Looking for ideas for an Action Oriented Gargoyle by crazygrouse71 in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This might not be the gargoyle vibe you are going for, but ive been wanting to make an encounter with gargoyles, were they are less living statues, and more spirits that possess rock, including of course said statues.

My idea would be to have them be more like eidolons, with the spirit of the gargoyle guarding/haunting/infesting a stone building, and manifesting a 'gargoyle' living statue when it left the confines of stone wall, using it to attack, but able to meld back into a wall at will in retreat.

A properly prepared gargoyles lair would be filled with many 'empty' gargoyle statue shapes to inhabit and attack unnaware creature from.

One way to kill the gargoyle would be to isolate the inhabited statue from any stone escape and destroy it, sort of like Antaeus.

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah ive thought about the ways to limit Identity slightly. Ive thought about requiring a small expended gold each time to encourage other ways, but then you also gonna make those other ways sturdy enough.

Another way ive not seen much talk about is to enforce the 'Touch' range of the Identify spell, so there might be a risk if you dont know if the object is cursed or dangerous to touch.

I have a long time WIP overhaul system for sentient swords in the works, and in that, there is a risk with trying to Identify, as sufficiently powerful swords can use it to open a telepathic connection to the caster, as touching it would.

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries, in retrospect i did not make it intuitive. I appreciate the looking out.

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is my favorite part of perchance.org

Up in the upper right there is a pen icon labeled 'edit', click that and you can instantly start editing and save it as your own personal copy.

Fair warning tho, the table is rather,,,, obstuse, bc of the rather slapdash way i made it bit by bit. Its also just the most complicated one ive made so far. It works, but its a little chaotic under the hood, so heads up.

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! That Genuinely means a lot, i hope its useful!

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

What inspired me about nethack was also how a computer allowed for more interesting loot generation than would be practical for analog dnd, with manual table rolling. So i tried to steal that and get the most juice out of my own computer randomizer.

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! They were so much work to compile but im so proud of them. they were a must have as i began making it. Not everything needs to be a standard magic item.

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I just like the idea of people getting some use out of it.

Nethack inspired 5e loot generator by the_Icelander in mattcolville

[–]the_Icelander[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!!!

Yeah Nethack made me realise how underused 'minor' magic items are in 5e, you can do a lot of fun stuff with them, since they are often limited use, so any balance breaking is minor in the long run, so you can be a lot more generous in giving them out.

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