Fantasy Heartbreak Workshop

Necropolis: Brutal Edition - Finale Necropolis is a rogue-like dungeon crawling videogame set in a vast, ancient, otherworldly tomb/temple/sanctum, created by the Mage Abraxis. It is currently overrun by wandering monsters of various factions, some of which are hostile to each other, though nearly all are hostile to the player character. To some extent the complex is still maintained and operated by The Brazen Head, which appears in the form of floating pyramid avatars at the beginning of each level, and cracks wise about old times and your chances of survival. And, after years of playing, I finally got good enough to beat this game. To be fair, it partly took this long because the game has permadeath, so a couple careless choices can get you restarting quick, even after maxing out advancements and armor. But also, I’m not exactly elite level at these kinds of games. On the other hand, I played this one over the years at least as much for the ambiance as for the possibility of winning....

Recently Mike Mearls did a retrospective on why D&D 4th Edition failed. It's been over a decade since I played and ran 4th Edition ("4E") D&D, but the question of what was wrong with it still keeps coming up on occasion, and my answers to the issue are spread across various places on the internet. So this is a more unified list of my complaints, or those I can sympathize with, that have been made over the years. I'm sure there's something to the casual participants vs. tactical combat optimizers issue Mike is mentioning. But the communities I was involved with at the time were what would eventually become the "Old School Revival/Renaissance", and folks there weren't particularly concerned with either of these things (though casual participants would have been more comfortable there than optimizers). First, to be clear:  I think for some people, 4th Edition was exactly the sort of game they were interested in.  It did try to "balance...

I've been thinking a bit about the idea of counterspells over the years, probably since reading a brief example of it in Weis and Hickman's Deathgate Cycle years back. And none of the iterations I've seen of it quite sit right. In my mind: There should be some chance of failure. This is something done on the fly, so it doesn't always work. It should have some price. You can't just try it against every spell thrown against you. It should not be just one spell or power that everyone needs to take (taking up a slot). It should be a bit more reflective of the breadth of a magician's understanding. But I hadn't really thought through all the specifics of what that would entail until reading The Robgoblin's post on Beyond Vancian Magic . I still am not fully onboard with his thoughts for this particular talent. But reading it lead me to more thoroughly consider the details of how to write this up for the Ancient Red Wyrm advanced edition. Other notes: The te...

Automata are thinking machines and other constructs made of metal, wood or similar non-living substances. An automata may be powered by magic, bottled lightning, animating spirits, self-winding spring systems, arcanotech, or other odd methods. A character of this type often looks completely artificial. But even those who appear uncannily human, tend to trigger some intuition in others who instinctively know something isn’t right. Though designed to mimic the sophont mind, automata don’t always completely get the weird motives of living creatures. Automata can shut down for a preset period but don’t truly sleep or dream. Stats below are intended for use with the Ancient Red Wyrm system . But it should be possible to adapt them to other OSR and newer school fantasy role-playing games with little effort. Ability Score Adjustments (Heavy Automata): +4 STR, +2 CON, -2 WIS, -4 CHA Ability Score Adjustments (Light Automata): +4 INT, +2 DEX, -2 WIS, -4 CHA Self Repair: An autom...

Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can’t see me! Attercop! Attercop! Won’t you stop, Stop your spinning and look for me!    - The Hobbit , J R R Tolkien Attercops are a smaller, typically social species of humanoid arachnids, closely related to the more solitary and feral Ettercap. They drink blood and the internal organs of living creatures. Attercops had historically been subsistence hunters, working in teams to deal with larger prey and hold their own against more voracious predators. However, after the advent of livestock farming, many have adopted a more sedentary lifestyle, becoming eager participants in community life. Stats below are intended for use with the Ancient Red Wyrm system . But it should be possible to adapt them to other OSR and newer school fantasy role-playing games with little effort. Ability Score Adjustments:  +2 DEX, +2 WIS, -2 STR, -2 CHA Cobweb: Each round an attercop may produce about 1 square yard of weak, gauzy webbin...