Author Archives: Joseph

One-Shot: Infernal Firefox (homebrew)

I had an opportunity to run a quick one-shot for some friends using my homebrew RPG system. It’s a little like Dungeon World, World of Dungeons, Blades in the Dark, etc. Level-less, class-less, roll 1d6 to resolve an action. Low … Continue reading

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To Hunt the Stars: Session #3

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes went diving for tongs in a boiling lake, went apple-picking in a twisted orchard, and lost two friends to a voracious meadowshark and a pack of talon-dashers… Play time: 4 hours Adventurers: Altair the Clockwork … Continue reading

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Campaign Art

Last night, my awesome players surprised me with this fantastic piece of art they commissioned to commemorate our last campaign. Check this out: I’m a very lucky DM.

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To Hunt the Stars: Session #2

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes arrived in the village of Kettle, fought some monsters, beat up some kids, hired a lot of locals to do their dirty work, and found a long lost hammer. Play time: 4 hours Adventurers: … Continue reading

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To Hunt the Stars: Session #1

A new campaign begins! As an experiment, I am running this whole campaign at Level 3. No XP, no leveling up. Also, to create some group cohesion right from the start, I had my players invent a reason for being … Continue reading

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Quest for the Forest Gems: Session #2

My daughter and I have played a lot of D&D this spring, but somehow we forgot about her solo quest, so today we got back in the saddle! Play time: 1 hour Characters: Rose the Druid (2) Prowling the Woods … Continue reading

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D&D Experiment: Faster combat by skipping the monsters

I run a 5E campaign, and while I really like to create monsters and combat scenarios for my players, I don’t like dealing with monster stat blocks or adjudicating all the rules and rolls that happen during a combat encounter. … Continue reading

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D&D Question: How to start a good sandbox campaign?

A sandbox campaign has no one central story. It’s a basket full of little stories, lots of little opportunities to wander about and do whatever. And the general wisdom seems to be that you start somewhere small, with a big … Continue reading

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Lessons Learned

This last campaign ran for 17 sessions over about 6 months, from level 5 to the end of level 7. We started with 5 players and ended with 6! No one died, though we came close a bunch of times. … Continue reading

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Desert Angel Fiasco: Family Edition One-Shot

My daughters demanded that we play D&D last night, so I grabbed my homebrew quick-start character sheets and a copy of Desert Angel Fiasco, and we had a fantastic 2-hour game! Heroes: Wreckya the mind-reading Fighter Violet the weather-weaving Beast … Continue reading

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