When I got my first set of books from the library, the Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne caught my eye, mainly because if it had any more pages, it’d be classified as a ball, not a book. This thing is huge. So I started reading a bit every night, thinking to just jump on […]
Author Archives: mattwandcow
Matt’s Alchemy Rules v2: Alchemy in Eberron
I gave out a bit of loot to a player and they asked about my alchemy rules. Near a week after that, here they are. Long time viewers may recall an older version of the rules, that was 6 pages long. I cut it down to 3, mainly by simplifying how a few parts of […]
Unearthed Arcana Subclasses Part 2
WotC have some new class options out and all of them sound interesting. Make sure to fill out surveys for things you have opinions on.
Campaign Framework: How to Run a Monster Hunt
Monster hunting seems like it should be a core part of D&D. They have monsters a-plenty, PCs are accustomed to doing things for money, it should just work, right? Well, it should. And it can. But I haven’t been able to find anything in my books that describes the process. I’m sure various adventures have […]
Culture Quest: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
I found a quote by C. S. Lewis that I’m going to misuse. He said “It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.” Now, my misuse of this quote will be in the definition of “new” and […]
Have you Ever or Never as a DM
I had a not great week this week and need to do something quick for content today. I have like 4 or 5 articles half written that need a bit more time to percolate, so instead of forcing one of them out early, we’re going to play a game.
Mad Matt’s CultureQuest Ep 1: Regeneration, by Pat Barker
It’s probably a good omen that my first foray into this grand endeavor is one of success. I probably wouldn’t have predicted it, but I really enjoyed this book, and I can see why it was double recommended to my lists.
Mad Matt’s Culture Quest: Introduction
I like to think of myself as being very well read, which is basically a lie. Oh, sure, I read a lot, there’s no question there. But the substance that I read is probably a bit lacking.
Subskill Thoughts, Question, and such
I haven’t heard a lot back about my subskill system, which is a shame because the piece I intended for today had a bunch of stalled research. So today, I’m struggling to write a sufficiently long filler piece, as I wonder how committed I am to twice a week updating.
Subskills: Expanding 5e’s skill system
It’s no secret that I kind of hate skills. 5e is the best system so far, but that doesn’t mean I like it. My distaste for the skill system led me to create the Specialty system, which I just realized isn’t posted anywhere since the site refresh. Sigh. Anyway, I had a breakthrough last week […]