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 “old” books. For him, a “new” book is one that was contemporary with him, and an old book is a classic. Interestingly, if I was to apply that same rubric to books now, his books have moved from new to old, which is probably something he never imagined.

But I’m taking it in a different angle. And “Old” book to me is a book you’ve read before. And this Culture Quest article is about my third most purchased book, Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede.

Continue reading “Culture Quest: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede”

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.

Continue reading “Have you Ever or Never as a DM”

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.

Continue reading “Mad Matt’s CultureQuest Ep 1: Regeneration, by Pat Barker”

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.

Continue reading “Subskill Thoughts, Question, and such”

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 of a way skills SHOULD work but don’t (or rather, how the lack of skills should work). 

Continue reading “Subskills: Expanding 5e’s skill system”

New Unearthed Arcana Jan2020 Subclasses Part 1

Look, I WANTED to just do 2 posts this week, but things keep happening. This time, a new playtest UA came out, with some subclasses. So let’s do a first look at those before I co back to working on the beast of the Friday post that is in the works. (Remember, doing the surveys for the Unearthed Arcana is how we get broken things fixed!)

Continue reading “New Unearthed Arcana Jan2020 Subclasses Part 1”

Master of Masks Prestige feat

 So I’ve been building these things I call Prestige Feats, which convert a 3e Prestige class to an overpowered 5e Feat. Today, I’m demonstrating how I do this conversion, using the Master of Masks, a prestige class from the Complete Scoundrel, apparently. Fellow DM, Teddy, said this was his favorite Class, for flavor over power. So I decided this would be a Prestige to rebuild.

Continue reading “Master of Masks Prestige feat”

Overthinking Eberron: Khorvaire Newspapers

One of the things that makes Eberron so interesting is the world they’ve created. Official sources said “There are newspapers!” and left the details in unspecified darkness. So I wrote some stuff about Newspapers.

Continue reading “Overthinking Eberron: Khorvaire Newspapers”