From the monthly archives: February 2020

Making Encounters and Descriptions More Thematic

By On 28 February 02020 · 1 Comment · In AD&D, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, OSR - Old School Rules

Getting back into writing more narrative-style content for D&D adventures has led me to do a bunch of research on keeping my theme and tone consistent. Two recent resources that have been very eye-opening are Adventure Writing like a F***** Boss by Venger Satanis and Stealing Cthulhu by Graham Walmsley.

These two […]

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d30 Thursday – Set Dressing – Kitchen

By On 27 February 02020 · Leave a Comment · In AD&D, OSR - Old School Rules

At a loss for how to describe what your PCs find in the kitchen of the castle?

Roll a d30!

Hand-carved wooden utensils (spoons, ladle, paddle) Forged iron utensils (spoons, ladle, paddle, meat forks) Bone-handled iron paring knife Wood-handled copper ladle Wood-handled iron cleaver Forged-iron tripod for hanging a cook-pot Small iron cook pot (1/2 […]

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d30 Thursday – Foraging

By On 20 February 02020 · Leave a Comment · In AD&D, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, OSR - Old School Rules

Searching for food, for material components? Perhaps the PCs are Hunting, Fishing, or Prospecting for precious minerals.

Here is a chart designed to help determine how long it takes to find an item of a particular level of scarcity.

Roll a d30!

1 6 hours Very Rare 2 5 hours Rare 3 4 hours Scarce […]

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d30 Thursday – Trees and Shrubs

By On 13 February 02020 · Leave a Comment · In AD&D

Trees & Shrubs Pecan Pin Oak Honey locust Pear Ginkgo Crabapple Redbud Saucer Magnolia Golden Plum Arborvitae Douglas Fir Tricolor Fir Dappled Willow Red-twig Dogwood Forsythia Rosewood Weigela Boxwood Juniper Dwarf Arborvitae Apricot Fig Cherry Lemon tree Lime tree Chestnut tree Persimmon Pineapple guava Pomegranate Cedar

 

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What Ho, Frog Demons! – A Review

By On 11 February 02020 · Leave a Comment · In AD&D, Books, Gaming Community, OSR - Old School Rules

The Hill Cantons was one of the first #OSR blogs I discovered last year when I got back into the D&D scene. I was looking for more info on the Old School scene, because I quickly discovered that D&D 5e was a completely different game. Chris Kutalik’s take on the Implied Apocalypse of […]

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The Unseen Servant – Part One

By On 7 February 02020 · 1 Comment · In AD&D, Grimdark Greyhawk, OSR - Old School Rules, World of Weirth

I’m doing some world-building, thinking about the role of magic in general and Clerical magic in particular. This bit from the AD&D Player’s Handbook has captured my attention:

Clerical spells, including the Druidic, are bestowed by the gods, so that the cleric need but pray for a few hours and the desired verbal and somatic […]

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d30 Thursday – All that Glitters

By On 6 February 02020 · Leave a Comment · In AD&D, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

A d30 Treasure table for making things interesting. Assign GP values as you see fit for your campaign and PC level.

A plain, silver ring with an inscription carved around the edge A carved golden ring with a braided pattern A fingertip claw of silver with  an onyx cabochon above the nail A leather thong […]

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