andrewjluther

The Low-Level Monster Problem?

For those gamers who are brand new to Dungeons & Dragons, everything feels new. No one yawns when they first encounter a kobold or a goblin. Orcs and hobgoblins are unknown entities and there’s a level of excitement that comes with encountering the unknown. For example, in the game that I’m running for my sonContinueContinue reading “The Low-Level Monster Problem?”

D&D Adventure Maps through the Years

Cartography in official D&D products have undergone quite a change through the four decades of its publication. Most modern maps are quite different from those published in the early years. Some of that has to do with printing costs/technology, and some has to do with changing styles. I see RPG maps as falling into twoContinueContinue reading “D&D Adventure Maps through the Years”

What’s Wrong with Drizzt, Anyway?

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of the Forgotten Realms as a setting for fantasy roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons. I discovered the Realms with the original grey box and a handful of the early 1987 and 1988 sourcebooks, such as Waterdeep and the North, Moonshae, The Savage Frontier, and Dreams of theContinueContinue reading “What’s Wrong with Drizzt, Anyway?”

D&D Beyond – Is it Worth It?

For those who are not aware of it, D&D Beyond is a digital offering from Curse LLC, also known as Twitch Interactive that provides online tools for running and managing a D&D 5E campaign. Not only does it contain a compendium of every official rule, class, subclass, spell monster, magic item, etc., but it alsoContinueContinue reading “D&D Beyond – Is it Worth It?”

Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 1

I’ve recently talked about using the D&D 5E rules for old school play (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5). As I mentioned last week, I’ve been really interested in putting together an old school sandbox (also known as a hexcrawl) campaign. I’ve been a DM since I bought the original TomContinueContinue reading “Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 1”

How Much Crunch Is Right For You?

I’ve been gaming a long time (more than three decades), and in that time I’ve played a great number of different games and all kinds of genres. I’ve played some very cruchy (i.e. rules-heavy) games, like Rolemaster and Champions. I’ve played some games with little or (almost) no crunch, such as Wushu or HeroQuest. AndContinueContinue reading “How Much Crunch Is Right For You?”

Rooms with a View Announcement

Back in 2004, I published a PDF supplement for D&D 3.5 named Rooms with a View. When the official d20 Trademark license was revoked in June 2008, I pulled the PDF from sale with the intention of eventually stripping out any references to anything related to the d20 license and putting it back up. TenContinueContinue reading “Rooms with a View Announcement”

D&D 5E – Old School and Megadungeons

Recently, I’ve been talking about using D&D 5E for an “old school” campaign style. D&D 5E – Old School XP and Treasure D&D 5E – Old School and Skills D&D 5E – Old School and Resource Management D&D 5E – Old School and Encounter Balance A good explanation of this type of campaign can beContinueContinue reading “D&D 5E – Old School and Megadungeons”

D&D 5E – Old School and Encounter Balance

Recently, I’ve been talking about using D&D 5E for an “old school” campaign style. D&D 5E – Old School XP and Treasure D&D 5E – Old School and Skills D&D 5E – Old School and Resource Management A good explanation of this type of campaign can be found in Matt Finch’s Quick Primer on OldContinueContinue reading “D&D 5E – Old School and Encounter Balance”

D&D 5E – Old School and Resource Management

Recently, I’ve been talking about using D&D 5E for an “old school” campaign style. D&D 5E – Old School XP and Treasure D&D 5E – Old School and Skills A good explanation of this type of campaign can be found in Matt Finch’s Quick Primer on Old School Gaming. Resource Management An important part ofContinueContinue reading “D&D 5E – Old School and Resource Management”