The Metal Bard

Random List Generator Illustration by  Silex Art Studio      Nicodeme III, a wizard, is carrying 3 bundles of ropes, 4 flasks of oil, 1 lantern, 15 torches, 3 potions, 1 lockpicking kit, 2 vials of acid, 1 extendable ladder, 2 leather armor, 4 daggers, 1 short sword, 3 bows, 1 quiver, 50 arrows, and 15,000 coins. There is no squeaky door, dark corridor, pit, or padlock that stands in the way of Nicodeme III. He is ready for anything and will be even more ready next time he visits the general store. Sorry Nicodeme III, you’re going to have to drop some stuff, it’s too much. I believe that encumbrance can be useful as a mechanism to encourage creative thinking. If a character is lacking a rope, it may have to get creative or take a risk to descend down a slippery cave. And, of course, if there is too much treasure in a dangerous dungeon, then being unable to carry it all in one trip may encourage new strategies or preparation. For those of us that lik...

This is a session recap (26 July 2024) for the new system I'm testing called Chrono-Delve . I'm running an open table every week to continue testing and developing the game. Join the discord here . A company of four adventurers stood on the main road of Redwood as dusk settled. Every door and window were locked, for the village was built above a dungeon full of dangerous beasts that emerged at night. But as the beasts came out, adventurers went in. Equipped with torches, rope, and empty sacks set out ready to find treasure. Descending stairs of hewn stone led into a pitch-dark room. Eustice, an aspiring shaman, lit the first torch, revealing a three-way split deeper into the dungeon. “There are droppings of a mid-sized beast going east,” said Ziok, an apprentice wizard. “Perhaps we should go north.” The north corridor was narrow and damp, forcing the adventurers to move in single file. rioN, a knight, led the way. Not far in, she noticed an iron-banded oaken door on the western...

Inventory Management Methods - Poll Results Recently, I have been testing parts of a table-top role-playing game (TTRPG) system that I'm developing by running a dungeon of mine ( Pyramids of the Death Worshippers ). This has been incredibly helpful by allowing me to see mechanics in action from different angles. One of those mechanics is slot-based inventory management. As many other TTRPGs, inventory management is a central part of my game. In my opinion, having a finite number of carrying capacity can set interesting challenges, from having enough rope to being able to carry all of the treasure you just found. There are various methods of managing inventory in TTRPGs, and ultimately it comes down to preference. Yet, it got me thinking about what method different groups are implementing. To get an idea, I ran four polls across TTRPG subreddits, including r/OSR, r/Shadowdark, r/RPG, and r/DnD (herein referred to as OSR, Shadowdark, RPG, and DnD, respectively). A table with the...

Sometimes I have a simple, small idea that evolves into a dungeon. This one started with a mummy. I am a big fan of mummies. Real mummies are interesting from a scientific perspective, and mummies in horror media are a fun compromise between reality and fantasy. The idea of a misunderstood ancient civilization that uses eldritch magic to raise desiccated bodies with contorted faces and sinister powers is interesting to me. Typically, mummies in horror are powerful: they possess mind control powers and can regenerate or must be killed in specific ways. This got me thinking about how going at a mummy with traditional medieval weapons will likely end badly for the adventurers. So, what would happen if some adventurers tried to slash a mummy to death? My thought was that parts of the mummy would probably detach and, since there is dark magic at hand, continue moving and attacking the adventurers independently. If that was me, I would be frightened off my adventuring boots, so I decided to ...

Illustration by Silex Art Studio Introduction One of my favorite parts of TTRPGs is their unpredictability. While I as a GM know the general possibilities, I try to create games in which branching choices are regularly presented so that their combination can result in unique situations. Basic examples include random tables and reaction rolls, among many other strategies. Add a tablespoon of player creativity and amazing situations will emerge. In one of my previous posts, I presented a simple encounter with a couple of manticores . This is a retelling of how the encounter transpired at our table. There will be two parts. First, I will present the story from a fictional perspective. The second is a re-telling from a GM perspective. With this I aim to show how preparing a scenario with just a few random variables can result in interesting, and often unexpected, scenarios. In addition, I aim to draw attention to how GM impartiality, or the ability to use results as unexpected as they ...

  In chorus we sing of wine, sweet wine, Its power benign, and its flavor divine. -Bacchanalian, Francisco Martinez de la Rosa Some adventurers do it for the excitement, the glory, the treasure. In a profession where every day may be your last, life is lived to the fullest. So, when adventurers return carrying their fallen companions and bags of treasure, there is nothing left to do but to live your best life by carousing! Why did I make this? I needed a carousing table for the hexcrawl I’m running. The game is an amalgamation of mechanics, tables, and procedures that I’ve found interesting plus the weird ideas I’ve dreamt up. As such, there were carousing results that I wanted to have, such as MCC mutations. I also wanted to tie a better probability of getting something good with spending more. You may notice that lower results have more detrimental results than higher results. It was hard to find this, so I put one together. Note: In some instances I'm using third-party tables ...