Nuntiovolo.de: Rückkehr nach Myranor: April-Update
Das neue Update zur Rückkehr nach Myranor ist online. Bei Game On Tabletop könnt ihr euch über den aktuellen Stand bei den Arbeiten an der Umsetzung informieren.
Quelle: Game On Tabletop
#Pnpde #crowdfunding #DD5E #GameOnTabletop #Myranor #RückkehrNachMyranor #Uhrwerk
Nuntiovolo.de: Traviasnecken 2025: Dubai-Konvent, Aventurien 5e, Geheimbund DSA, IPhrasto, Foren-Vorstand, Produkte
Gestern war der 1. April und so gab es die wieder die Runde des traditionellen Traviasnecken. Demnach gibt es nun natürlich einige Enttäuschungen zu verkraften:
Der Ultra-Deluxe Kaiser-Reto-Konvent 2026 in Dubai wird leider nicht stattfinden.
Von Uhrwerk erscheint heute kein Aventurien 5e.
Den Roman Geheimbund Schwarzes Auge, den das DSA-Sammlerarchiv vorstellte, gab es nie.
Für Ilaris wird es keinen IPhrasto geben.
Das DSA-Forum wird keinen Vorstand wählen.
Das im Wiki Aventurica angekündigte bahnbrechende kommende DSA-Produkt Katz Rudolf Plus wird nicht erscheinen. Ebenso ist keine akute Neuauflage der Phileasson-Saga und der Sieben-Gezeichneten-Kampagne angekündigt, wie im Wiki unter Neuigkeiten verzeichnet.
Habt ihr weitere Traviasnecken-Scherze gesehen? Dann schreibt sie uns doch in die Kommentare und wir ergänzen sie in der Liste.
#Pnpde #2025 #Aprilscherz #Convention #DD5E #DSAForum #Foren #Ilaris #KaiserRetoKonvent2026 #Traviasnecken #Uhrwerk #WikiAventurica
Nuntiovolo.de: Uhrwerk kündigt für morgen Aventurien 5e an
Wie man bei Facebook lesen kann, gibt es vom Uhrwerk-Verlag eine Ankündigung für Aventurien nach 5e Regeln ab morgen.
Quelle: Facebook
#Pnpde #Aventurien #Aventurien5e #DD5E #SozialeMedien #UhrwerkVerlag
Nuntiovolo.de: Update zur Rückkehr nach Myranor: Neue Schnellstarterversion, Ankündigung einer Starterbox und mehr
Es gibt Neuigkeiten zum Fortgang der Arbeiten am Crowdfunding der Rückkehr nach Myranor von Uhrwerk. Die Schnellstartregeln liegen nun in einer nach dem ersten Feedback erratierten Version vor, die wie die erste kostenlos bei Uhrwerk heruntergeladen werden kann. Des weiteren gibt es einige Produktneuigkeiten:
Quellen: Game On Tabletop, Uhrwerk
#Pnpde #crowdfunding #DD5E #GameOnTabletop #Myranor #MyranorStarterbox #RückkehrNachMyranor #Uhrwerk
Nuntiovolo.de: Myranor: Schnellstarter und Neudrucke vorbestellbar
Nachdem der 48-seitige Schnellstarter für die 5e-Ausgabe von Myranor bereits downloadbar ist, kann er nun auch in der kommenden gedruckten Version vorbestellt werden. Sein Preis beträgt 9,95 €, erscheinen soll er am 25. April.
Am gleichen Tag sollen außerdem einige überarbeitete Nachdrucke erscheinen:
#Pnpde #DD5E #JenseitsDesNebelwalds #LegatinDesBösen #Myranor #Regelfrei #Schnellstarter #UhrwerkVerlag #UnterDemSternenpfeiler
Nuntiovolo.de: Rückkehr nach Myranor: Schnellstarter erschienen und neuer Werkstattbericht
Es gibt Neuigkeiten zur Rückkehr nach Myranor von Uhrwerk: Wie man z. B. bei Game On Tabletop lesen kann, ist zum einen der 48-seitige Schnellstarter fertig und kann kostenlos heruntergeladen werden. Zum Dokument gibt es auch eine Fehlersammlung, deren Verlinkung sich im Artikel findet. Außerdem ist ein weiterer Werkstattbericht verfügbar, der Informationen zu den Dienern der Götter enthält.
Quellen: Game On Tabletop, Uhrwerk (Schnellstarter, Werkstattbericht)
#Pnpde #crowdfunding #DD5E #Myranor #RückkehrNachMyranor #Uhrwerk
Nuntiovolo.de: Uhrwerk: Neuigkeiten zur Rückkehr nach Myranor und Werkstattbericht
Es gibt eine neue Wasserstandsmeldung zur Rückkehr nach Myranor: Wie weit die Arbeiten momentan sind erfahrt ihr auf Game On Tabletop, dazu gibt es einen Werkstattbericht der Illustratoren im Uhrwerk-Blog.
Quellen: Game On Tabletop, Uhrwerk
#Pnpde #crowdfunding #DD5E #GameOnTabletop #Myranor #RückkehrNachMyranor #Uhrwerk
Nuntiovolo.de: Uhrwerk: Crowdfunding-Neuigkeiten zu Grüner Ebene und Myranor
Vom Uhrwerk-Verlag gab es in den letzten Tagen Neuigkeiten zu den Crowdfundings. Einmal gibt es von Eevie ein Update zur Grünen Ebene, außerdem von Stefan zum Stand bei den Arbeiten an Myranor.
Quelle: GameFound (Grüne Ebene, Myranor)
#Pnpde #Aventurien #crowdfunding #DD5E #DasSchwarzeAuge #DieGrüneEbeneTravingenUndUmgebung #Dragonbane #EevieDemirtel #elf #Gamefound #Myranor #Stefan #Uhrwerk
Dragonlance: Shadows of the Dragon Queen Part 4: Rearguard Action
https://countzeroor.com/2025/01/25/dragonlance-shadows-of-the-dragon-queen-part-4-rearguard-action/
Nuntiovolo.de: Rückkehr nach Myranor: Neues Update samt Werkstattbericht zur Magie
Bei Game On Tabletop gibt es ein Update zum Fortgang an den Arbeiten des Crowdfundings Rückkehr nach Myranor von Uhrwerk. Dazu gibt es einen Werkstattbericht zur Umsetzung der Magie.
Quelle: Game On Tabletop
#Pnpde #crowdfunding #DD5E #DasSchwarzeAuge #GameOnTabletop #Myranor #RückkehrNachMyranor #Werkstattbericht
Clawdeen: Rückblick 2024 und Ausblick 2025: Wenig Lametta, viele Wurzeln
2024 war hinsichtlich Rollenspiel & Co. ein wirklich mageres Jahr. Dazu habe ich in meinem ersten Artikel, nachdem ich alles neu aufgesetzt hatte, schon einiges geschrieben. Dennoch liebe ich Rück- und Ausblicke, also gibt es auch einen. Und zumindest Ausblick gibts ne Menge.
2024
Sessions im Jahr 2024
Mit gleich zwei längeren Zwangspausen habe ich es in diesem Jahr gerade mal auf etwas mehr als 20 Sessions gebracht. In Anbetracht der Umstände bin ich allerdings sowohl froh, dass es überhaupt so viele waren, und ich bin meinen Mitspielenden sehr dankbar für ihre Geduld, und dass sie trotz der Pausen noch Bock hatten, jeweils fortzusetzen.
Gespielte Systeme
Gespielt haben wir vor allem D&D 5E (Strixhaven und ein paar Sessions in einem Homebrew-Setting) sowie Dragonbane, unterbrochen von Oneshots mit Delta Green und Cthulhu 7. Immerhin ein ganz netter Mix, wie ich finde.
Dinge rund ums Rollenspiel 2024
Ich hab den Blog neu aufgesetzt, hier und da mal was auf Instagram gepostet und am Youtubekanal festgehalten.
Davon abgesehen habe ich ziemlich viel Zeit damit verbracht, auf den „neuesten Stand“ zu kommen, was Veröffentlichungen betrifft. Gleiches gilt für Bloginhalte sowie Youtube- und Social Media-Kanäle rund ums Hobby. Nach anfänglichen Flauten bin ich gerade bei letzteren sehr fündig geworden. Entsprechend viel habe ich gelesen oder mich bei Videos/Streams berieseln oder informieren lassen.
Der glatte Aal im Hobby
Was mich bei den Hobbykanälen ziemlich ankekst, ist das Streamlining, das ich seit einer Weile beobachte. Immer wieder stoße ich auf neue (manchmal auch schon lang bestehende) Kanäle (Blogs, Youtube, Twitch, Instagram), bei denen es merklich nicht (mehr) in erster Linie um den Bock geht, den ich ja immer für essentiell halte. Da geht es dann aber merklich um Views, Klicks, Connections und eben um Einnahmen. Das ist relativ neu in dieser Ausprägung (ein paar „Ausreißer“ gibts quasi schon lange), und es gefällt mir gar nicht. Ich will keine auf Hochglanz polierten Inhalte, keine Phrasen und Schnickschnack, sondern möchte mich einfach informieren, entspannen, mich auf Augenhöhe mit anderen Spielbegeisterten unterhalten, austauschen und vernetzen. Ich möchte mich von der Begeisterung anderer für irgendwas anstecken lassen und sehen, wie andere wirklich irgendwas spielen, worüber sie stolpern, wie sie etwas lösen (oder auch nicht) und so weiter. Zum Glück ist davon noch viel da.
2025
Geplantes für 2025
Vorweg: Ich habe viel vor.
Ich hoffe wirklich, wirklich, dass 2025 jetzt mal keine Katastrophen bereit hält, sondern ein Jahr wird, in dem ich mich wieder intensiver dem Hobby widmen kann.
Diesen Blog hier will ich auf jeden Fall nach und nach wieder füllen. Inhalte habe ich auch 2025 für Youtube geplant und mehr bei Instagram zu posten habe ich mir ebenfalls vorgenommen.
Abseits dieser Randthemen will ich aber vor allem mindestens doppelt soviel spielen/leiten wie in diesem Jahr, und zwar
Keine Kampagnen mehr
Das ist natürlich gemogelt, denn die beiden laufenden Kampagnen laufen auf jeden Fall noch bis Mitte des Jahres 2025, und ehrlich gesagt liebäugele ich ja schon mit einer Kampagne zum Jahresende hin … da ist also nicht viel Luft dazwischen.
Trotzdem ist es so, dass ich mittlerweile bei knapp 200% Auslastung bin (ernsthaft), was Berufliches betrifft. Da ist einfach kaum noch Zeit für irgendwas beziehungsweise alles will/muss verdammt gut getaktet sein. Im ersten Halbjahr 2025 steht für mich zusätzlich noch ein Upgrade meiner Fachweiterbildung mit diversen Kursen in verschiedenen Bundesländern an, und Ende des Jahres wird es Zeit, dass ich mich um meine Bachelorarbeit kümmere und überlege, ob oder wie es nun genau studientechnisch bei mir weitergehen soll.
Um trotzdem wieder mehr ins Spielen zu kommen ist der Plan also, auf Oneshots, Fewshots und episodenhaftes Spiel zu setzen. Ich hoffe, der Plan geht auf. Was ich alles gern spielen würde und wie so mein Stand zu verschiedenen Rollenspielen aussieht, dazu komme ich gleich noch.
Podcast
Eine noch immer bestehende mittelgroße Wunde ist das Thema Podcast bei mir. Von meinem Podcast zu Splittermond gab es ja nicht allzu viele Folgen und mit der Insolvenzverkündung des Verlags damals brach dann auch der Podcast ein. Letztlich ein bisschen komplexer als das, aber das reicht an dieser Stelle. Immer mal wieder überlege ich, den Podcast wiederzubeleben, hatte es sogar schon ein paar Male wieder konkreter vor, aber dann wurde doch nichts daraus. Da Splittermond ein sehr ambivalentes Thema für mich ist seit einer Weile (dazu später noch etwas mehr), wird es wohl auch erst mal so bleiben.
Schon vor einem Jahr wollten Tsu und ich einen Podcast starten und hatten den sogar schon angekündigt. Talk über Rollenspiele, so unspektakulär der Plan. Also wir haben einen Plan, so ist das nicht, und ein bisschen mehr soll dann schon auch noch rein … wie auch immer: Wir kamen nicht dazu, das Projekt anzugehen und umzusetzen und hoffen jetzt beide, dass sich das 2025 ändern wird.
Tabletop
Ja, 2025 ist so ein bisschen ein Rundumschlagjahr für mich (hoffentlich). Dazu gehört auch Tabletop, das für mich persönlich irgendwie um drei Ecken schon auch zum Thema Rollenspiele gehört. Tabletop hab ich mit kleinen Ausnahmen schon seit Jahren nicht mehr gespielt und ich brenne darauf, damit wieder einzusteigen. Würde gern meine Malifaux-Minis (1st/2nd Edition) mal wieder entstauben. Außerdem haben wir eine Grundausstattung Freebooter’s Fate investiert und haben davon abgesehen hier noch etliche OVP-Minis aus allen möglichen (und unmöglichen) Spielen, die ich gerne mal aus ihrem Gefängnis befreien und bemalen würde.
Übrigens sehr gelungen fand ich 2024 Zone Wars von Free League. Immerhin das haben wir mal spielen können und es gefällt mir ganz gut.
Back to the roots
An sich blogge ich zum Hobby ja schon … lange. Und das ist für mich tatsächlich ein Kernaspekt dieses Punkts: back to the roots.
Entgegen anders lautender Meinungen halte ich Blogs für noch lange nicht tot und auch zukünftig glaube ich das nicht. Ich würde sogar so weit gehen zu behaupten, dass das Gegenteil der Fall sein könnte (also, Leute, ran an die virtuellen Schreibfedern!).
Ungeachtet dessen möchte ich zwar auch weiterhin über laufende Runden berichten, vielleicht auch mal von Runden anderer (insofern sie irgendwie gestreamt sind), aber da fehlte mir zuletzt beim Bloggen, auch wenn es jetzt schon bestimmt 2 Jahre zurückliegt, die Balance.
In erster Linie möchte ich nämlich von eigenen Ideen und Überlegungen berichten, ganz persönlich, wie ein Blog nun mal im Kern gedacht ist. Und ich möchte 2025 auch endlich wieder kreativer werden und mir selbst Dinge ausdenken. Muss ja nicht gleich eine ganze Welt sein, muss auch nicht perfekt sein. Hier mal ein Item, da ein Storyhook und so weiter. Das ist mir echt wichtig.
Spiele für 2025
Curseborne
Da hab ich noch gar nicht viel drin gelesen, aber was ich bisher gelesen habe, begeistert mich total. Aufhänger des Ganzen war das Curseborne Panel von Onyx Path Publishing, auf das wir eher zufällig stießen. Und von da an startete für Tsu und mich dann ein kleiner persönlicher Hypetrain, sodass ich mittlerweile sehr, sehr gespannt darauf bin, wie es sich spielen wird.
Ich finde die Idee des Ganzen auf jeden Fall schon mal sehr clever, und es könnte ein Pendant meiner früher so heiß geliebten World of Darkness sein. In modern. Mit erfolgreichem Crossover. Und es bezeichnet sich als „Hope Punk“, was mir deutlich mehr zusagt als das (erzwungen) Degenerativ-Depressive (dazu gleich noch mehr).
Delta Green
Das ist seit Jahren für mich immer mal wieder aufgeplöppt und hat mich interessiert, aber irgendwie kam ich nie dazu, es mal zu lesen oder auch nur zu spielen. Das hat sich 2024 geändert, wenn auch nur innerhalb eines einzelnen Oneshots, und es hat mir echt gut gefallen und macht Lust auf mehr. Den Mix aus Cthulhu und Akte X kann man kaum besser als Beschreibung nutzen als genau so, es ist auf gegenwärtiges Spiel ausgelegt. Kurzum: toll.
Cthulhu 7
Cthulhu geht irgendwie immer. Oder auch nicht. So sehr ich die Grundstimmung von Cthulhu mag und all die Geschichten, finde ich es doch oftmals zu langatmig und zu schwer. Damit meine ich jetzt nicht das System (oder auch nur eines davon), sondern eben besagte Grundstimmung, dieses Pessimistische und Degenerative. Klingt nach einem Widerspruch und ist es in gewisser Weise auch. Gerade die Kombination mit der meist gewählten Zeit, den 1920ern, wird diese Grundstimmung aber noch mal durch die Umgebung, oft eher urban, aber in sich schon voller Restriktionen, verstärkt. Und ich hadere auch immer sehr mit der Frage „Gab es X da schon? War Y bereits erfunden?“ Das macht es in Kombination für mich oft irgendwie anstrengend, sodass ich mich da wenn, dann eher als SL sehe denn als Spielerin. Find ich einfach weniger anstrengend. Zum Beispiel mit den *hust* Froschkönig-Fragmenten *hust*?
The Walking Dead
Die Lektüre des Grundregelwerks liegt jetzt auch schon gefühlt ewig zurück und bei meiner Merkfähigkeit müsste ich da wohl von vorne einsteigen, aber nach anfänglicher Skepsis mochte ich das Spiel und fand es vom Leseeindruck her sehr gelungen. Außerdem steht drin, wie man regelseitig Kartoffelfelder anlegt. Dafür allein lohnt es sich doch schon, oder?
Vaesen
Haben wir bislang viel zu wenig gespielt, dabei ist das für mich ein Spiel, das mich wirklich begeistert. Man hat durch das Spiel zur Jahrhundertwende so ein bisschen oben beschriebenen „Cthulhu-Effekt“, aber ich finds durch das Fehlen des kosmischen Horrors und die Grundprämisse einschließlich der Einbindung von Folklore leichtgängiger.
John Sinclair
Das steht schon so viele Jahre lang im Regal, ungelesen und ungespielt. Das würde ich 2025 auch echt gerne mal ändern. Rollenspiele werden ja bekanntlich nicht schlecht, und ich hab soooo viele gute Erinnerungen an die alten Hörspielzeiten mit John Sinclair, Larry Brent und Co.
Dragonbane
Ich hab es ja bereits an anderer Stelle mehrfach geschrieben: Dragonbane trifft einen absoluten Sweetspot bei mir und ich mag das Spiel wirklich, wirklich gerne. Die Kombination aus laufender Kampagne noch im ersten Halbjahr 2025, wenig Zeit insgesamt und der Wunsch nach mehr Lametta, also mehr Spielen einschließlich Fokus mehr auf Urban Fantasy/Horror und Co. sorgen leider schon für sich genommen dafür, dass ich nicht davon ausgehe, nach Abschluss der Kampagne 2025 noch mal Dragonbane zu spielen. Also hier gleich mein erster Vorsatz für 2026 wieder gefasst, yippie!
Splittermond
Splittermond ist eins von zwei Spielen, auf die ich häufiger angesprochen bzw. angeschrieben werde. Ich hab im Kanalgeburtstag/Jubiläumsstream dazu ein paar Worte verloren, aber wer jetzt keine Lust hat, sich dafür das ganze Video reinzuziehen, in aller Kürze: Seit zwei Jahren ungefähr war ich über ein Dutzend Male bereit, mein Regalbrett zugunsten anderer Sachen zu räumen und meine Splittermondsachen in den Keller zu verfrachten. Damit abzuschließen. Getan hab ich es kein einziges Mal. Ich hab ehrlich aktuell keine Ahnung, warum das so ist, aber ich kann Splittermond einfach nicht für mich abhaken. Ist ja nicht so, als wenn mich das Spiel von vornherein sehr begeistert hätte, das kam erst mit der Zeit. Aber das einfach in einer Intensität, dass es einen großen Platz in meinem Herzen hat, der sich auch durch diverse Enttäuschungen der letzten Jahre hierzu nicht verkleinert irgendwie.
Im Gegenteil habe ich durch einen Talk mit den neu eingesetzten Chefredakteur*innen Giulia Pellegrino und Jörg Löhnerz eher wieder Hoffnung geschöpft, und auch letzte Ankündigungen sowie Veröffentlichungen lassen mein Fanherz da eher wieder höher schlagen (bzw. überhaupt wieder schlagen). Ganz fest vorgenommen habe ich mir: 2025 werde ich mich – wenn auch sicherlich eher theoretisch als praktisch im Sinne des Spielens – Splittermond noch mal intensiver widmen. Und dann packe ich es entweder weg oder bleibe dabei und geh es wieder „richtig“ an. Mal schauen, wie es ausgeht.
Das Schwarze Auge
Ganz ehrlich: Mit der 5. Edition wieder einzusteigen und dieses Gefühl von „nach Hause kommen“, weil ich mit DSA angefangen habe und soooo viele Jahre damit verbracht habe, war großartig. Wie ich ja neulich schon schrieb, informiere ich mich durchaus immer noch ein bisschen zum Spiel, was durch Engors Dereblick und die Ulisses-Vlogs schon allein ja ziemlich einfach ist. Es wurde mir vor Jahren aber schon wieder sehr schnell zu viel(es). Die verschiedenen Anpassungen des Spiels bezüglich Aufteilungen, Editionen und so weiter haben ihr übriges dazu getan. Insgesamt ist DSA einfach ein Moneysink, für den ich echt nicht bereit bin. Bei aller Liebe nicht.
Ich hatte und habe davon abgesehen immer mal wieder Bock, einen Ausflug mit DSA zu unternehmen. Wird bestimmt auch kommen, habe ich mir für 2025 im Rahmen eines Oneshots sogar vorgenommen. Dann aber irgendein Retro-Ding, also Retro-Abenteuer mit DSA 5.
Dungeons & Dragons 5E
D&D geht irgendwie auch immer. Ist auch gut so. Leider ist mir D&D tatsächlich oft zu larger than life, und die Tendenz der Leute, da sehr wilde Kombos zu bauen, in abgefahrenen eigenen Welten noch viel abgefahrenere Homebrew-Schneeflocken zu spielen, das ist mir einfach too much. Da ist Strixhaven quasi meine Grenze, was „Curriculum of Chaos“ betrifft.
Gleichzeitig finde ich es bei D&D unheimlich schade, dass gerade da irre viele Lore-Lücken bestehen. Ich liebe Lore in Rollenspielen, aber bei D&D wird sehr viel weggedriftet von allem möglichen und von der Lore und ihrer Entwicklung weiß eigentlich kaum jemand was, und das ungeachtet solcher Veröffentlichungen wie das Abenteurerhandbuch für die Schwertküste oder sowas. Und da gäbe es SO vieles (was ich als DSA-Sozialisierte auch bei weitem nicht alles überblicke bis heute).
Unterm Strich ein Spiel, mit dem ich mich 2025 definitiv weiter befassen möchte (zum Beispiel endlich mal was von der 2024er Version zu lesen …), aber auch eher theoretisch. Sieht man einmal davon ab, dass unsere Kampagne noch bis Mitte des Jahres laufen wird, wir immer wieder Ausflüge in die Homebrew-Welt eines Bekannten unternehmen und man Oneshots ja nie ausschließen sollte, heißt das.
Shadowrun 6
War eigentlich schon für 2024 geplant, endlich mal wieder Shadowrun zu spielen. Und das sehr bewusst mit der aktuellen Edition, wenn auch nicht unbedingt mit dem aktuellen Metaplot und in aktueller Timeline, denn die erscheint mir doch auch wieder arg wild geraten. Wichtig ist mir auf jeden Fall die aktuelle Edition, an der ja selten mal ein gutes Haar gelassen wird, die ich aber wirklich gerne mal länger in Aktion erleben bzw. bespielen möchte, um da ein eigenes Bild zu kriegen.
Ganz im Rahmen der Oneshot-/Episoden-Idee für 2025 ist genau das für Shadowrun angedacht. Tsu und ich haben uns Boston rausgepickt und wollen diesen Plex mal ein bisschen bevölkern und beleben (yay, endlich auch mal wieder kreativ(er) werden!), allerdings vor 2076, also entsprechenden Metaplot-Ereignissen.
Abschließendes
Ich bin wirklich schon jetzt irre gespannt darauf, was 2025 tatsächlich bereithalten wird. Was es Neues geben wird. Wie sehr ich bei meinen Vorsätzen bleibe oder mich davon weg entwickle. Ob wir wirklich spielen, was so ansteht oder was ganz anderes?
Nagetiere mit Gitarren. Die hab ich vergessen. Aber da hätte ich auch mal Lust zu.
Hach, so viel Bock, so wenig Zeit!
Der Beitrag Rückblick 2024 und Ausblick 2025: Wenig Lametta, viele Wurzeln erschien zuerst auf Clawdeen spielt.
#Pnpde #Allgemeines #Cthulhu #Cthulhu7 #Curseborne #DD5e #DasSchwarzeAuge #DeltaGreen #Dragonbane #Jahresausblick #Jahresrückblick #JohnSinclair #Nostalgie #Pläne #TableTop #TheWalkingDead #Vaesen
What Do I Know About Reviews? Under the Seas of Vodari: The Hunt for the Undine
Let’s start the month with a look at an adventure released for Under the Seas of Vodari, The Hunt for the Undine. If you haven’t looked at the setting, The Seas of Vodari is a third-party D&D setting of fantasy pirates and swashbuckling, with all the D&D-isms built in. Under the Seas of Vodari is the expansion of the setting that details the undersea cultures of the setting. This adventure’s hook and locations all take place in the undersea realms.
Disclaimer
Brandes Stoddard, who has writer/developer credits on this adventure, is a good friend of mine. I received my copy of this adventure as a backer of the Under the Seas of Vodari crowdfunding campaign. I have not had the opportunity to play in or run this adventure, but I’ve had pretty extensive experience both as a player and a DM of D&D 5e.
Under the Seas of Vodari: The Hunt for the Undine
Writing/Development: Brandes Stoddard
Editing: Shawn Ellsworth
Art Direction: Shawn Ellsworth
Graphic Design and Layout: Dave Jumaquio
Illustrators: Mariam Trejo
Cartographers: Kate Woodall and Dave Jumaquio
The Hunt for the Undine is a 24-page PDF. It includes a cover page and a credits/table of contents page, with the rest being the adventure material, including NPC stats. The artwork continues with the same style in the Vodari material so far from Mariam Trejo. I’m an easy mark for a setting with an established art style and a fan of Trejo’s work.
Technical Details
This is an adventure designed for 5th-level characters. A section provides story-based advancement suggestions if you aren’t inclined to track XP in your games. There is a sidebar that uses surface characters in the adventure. At the very least, they’ll need the ability to breathe underwater, and the sidebar summarizes some of the other issues that may come up if a character is built for dryland adventuring.
The adventure was developed for the Under the Seas of Vodari crowdfunding campaign, so the stat blocks don’t utilize the new 2024 format, but nothing about the adventure would be significantly modified by using the 2024 rules. If you want to see some of the initial development of 2024 versions of Vodari elements, there are some previews of this work on the Vodari Voyages Patreon.
The adventure does something I appreciate whenever I see it: It includes a structured sidebar on role-playing an important NPC. More than player characters, having an NPC’s personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws can help a DM understand why the NPC is doing what they are doing and why.
The Plot
If you’re likely to play in this adventure or want to be surprised when you read it for yourself, it’s time to get out of the pool.
The adventure starts with the PCs finding an inscribed gemstone that serves as a map to a lost piece of technology: the Undine, a submersible supervehicle. If you’re wondering what kind of superscience is floating around the backstory of this setting, think of the tragically underappreciated Atlantis: The Lost Empire to visualize this tech. It’s technology that has a very arcane feel to it.
This could just be a “treasure map that leads to a dungeon” but in an underwater setting, and that would make it an interesting spin on the trope. But in addition to a treasure map to a lost piece of super valuable technology, multiple factions are on the hunt for The Undine because we’ve got a cold war situation turning hot, and a superweapon all brings out the faction agents.
While exploring the undersea fortress, other factions might have encountered various traps or travails, leaving dead bodies or NPCs to interact with, compare notes with, or strike temporary alliances with. The PCs may be going it alone, or they may already have hitched their water wagon (?) to one of the existing factions.
The secret of The Undine’s construction is that the ship’s creator struck a deal with a literal undine, an aquatic fey creature who thought it would be interesting to see what it would be like to be integrated into the ship itself, at least for a while. That means to utilize the ship fully, the crew needs to be on good terms with the spirit that is integrated into it. That will be important if the PCs still have some rivals willing to take a shot at them as they pilot The Undine away from the fortress.
The Devil (or Fey) is in the Details
Your PCs may already be affiliated with a faction by the time they reach 5th level, but if not, the included hook defaults to connecting the PCs to the Avalsi League. This undersea nation is composed of a mix of different undersea folk. The Avalsi are less ambitious than they are concerned that Avalsi will suffer if the recovery of The Undine flares a war into life.
While there are a few other factions that are mentioned as being available to swap out for the primary factions described in the adventure, the assumed primary powers include:
In addition to explaining the factions and describing the teams each faction will be sending (if the PCs aren’t affiliated with them), each faction has a section explaining how the adventure assumptions change depending on what faction the PCs might be affiliated with, including what happens if the PCs break they contract with the faction.
Dungeon Crawling (Swimming?)
The fortress is divided into broader sections and more heavily locked-down engineering portions. Unlike some dungeons, the fortress has various barracks, and if the PCs take their time exploring, they can use some of the barracks as their home base. However, even if they get a head start, eventually, other factions arrive and start to inhabit different barracks themselves. There is a chance that the PCs can encounter other factions and negotiate a truce so that they don’t fight off traps, sea creatures, and constructs, as well as rival adventurers.
Several Challenge Rooms locations are locked down with puzzles. If your players are having trouble with the puzzles, or if your players just aren’t puzzle people, there are several entries for these rooms, including a more accessible version of the puzzle and event development, which also notes that if the PCs aren’t on bad terms with another faction, they may work with the PCs to solve the puzzle so that everyone can advance to the next area.
Because the research at the facility involved the fey, a group of undersea unseelie fey are waiting to be alerted to anyone reaching part of the fortress. Two groups of these unseelie are trying to find the fey working with the engineers, unaware she’s integrated into The Undine itself.
Favorable Seas
I’ve said before that I enjoy it when there are adventures available for a setting that utilize what is unique about that setting, and this adventure fits that bill. You can adapt this to other campaign settings, and the concepts of an undersea dungeon crawl with rival adventurers and lost technology make the adventure strong without its setting elements. However, this also does a great job of using elements of the Vodari setting to show how setting details can enrich an experience. I appreciate the inclusion of easier puzzles and the option to have other factions solve them. I appreciate details like how allying with factions might change things, the disposition of NPCs and how they operate, and he full workup of the primary’s NPCs personality and motivations.
The Cold Depths
I’m one of those uncultured slobs who worries about puzzles in adventures. I’m always biased in this because my anxiety makes it hard for me to engage with puzzles in social situations. I appreciate puzzles when I engage with them before my anxiety catches up. As a DM, I worry about not presenting well enough for PCs to have the necessary information. But that’s not a valid concern for just this adventure. It may be a little challenging to juggle all the factions, even with the guidelines in the sidebar in the adventure, even if it’s worth the payoff. I appreciate the efficiency in the presentation of The Undine’s stats, but I would have loved to have had its whole stat block instead of the “use this vehicle with the following changes” approach, but that’s been standard practice in 5e adventures from the beginning.
Recommended–If the product fits in your broad area of gaming interests, you are likely to be happy with this purchase.
My primary concerns with the adventure aren’t major flaws, just personal preferences. This is a solid adventure for presenting a unique adventuring scenario: an aquatic dungeon with rival adventurers. If you’re interested in the Vodari setting, this adventure highlights its unique elements.
If you want to support the blog and help me pick up additional RPG material to review, you can check out the affiliate links below. Thanks!
If you want to hear us talking D&D with our actual voices, you can find our podcast, THAC0 with Advantage, on the Polygamerous Podcast Network.
#AngryfishGames #DD #DD5e #d20 #DungeonsDragons #DungeonsDragons5e #rpgs #SeasOfVodari #ttrpgs #UnderTheSeasOfVodari
D&D Beyond 3rd Party Spotlight: The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying
Continuing my look at D&D Beyond 3rd party implementation, I’m going to look at one that is potentially even more extensive than the Illrigger class, which is meant to work with standard D&D campaigns. Specifically, I’m looking at Lord of the Rings Roleplaying from Free League and how it translates to D&D Beyond.
While the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying rules utilize the 5e SRD, there are some deviations from the core assumptions of Dungeons & Dragons. Many familiar elements of 5e SRD exist in some form, but they are remixed in different places. The product includes the following:
This package includes the entire text of the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying book in electronic form and all of the product’s artwork. We’ll look at a few other site sections and how this source is implemented there.
Character Creation
The standard process for character creation in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying is in this order:
D&D Beyond goes in this direction:
It’s worth noting that the backgrounds from the LOTR RPG book do not appear as part of the Background section of the character creator. Because the backgrounds are all specific to a particular Heroic Culture, they are implemented essentially as Species traits. But Backgrounds aren’t removed from the process, so you still choose a standard D&D Background, and you’ll need to ensure that anyone making a character doesn’t add a Background at that step.
You may also want to shut off all of the optional material except for Free League because, with all the options enabled, you have to scroll far to find the Callings and Heroic Cultures on those pages.
One thing that becomes apparent early on is that the Character Creation process doesn’t accommodate the changes to skills in LOTR RPG. Arcana, Religion, and Survival aren’t skills in LOTR RPG, and Old Lore takes the place of History. Riddle, Explore, Hunting, and Travel are all added to the skill list. But not in the character creation process. None of the specific skills for this product are present. That means when you’re creating characters, you see things like this:
Among the Heroic Cultures that get skills, the following happens:
You can add custom skills to the character sheet once you finish making the character, but to have the proper number of skills, you need to leave some of the skills you can choose during character creation unchosen.
The entire list of languages is present whenever you can choose a language, but a section says Free League. So it will help to know what company makes the 3rd party game material you’re using, which probably isn’t a problem if you’re reading this, but it may be for your players that you want to be able to build characters in D&D Beyond.
Unlike languages, there isn’t a list of tools or musical instruments available in the setting. Sometimes, you’ll only have a limited list of tools, but musical instruments are usually wide open, and some tool proficiencies are also.
Some character options give you Expertise on skills if you select the skill twice. The drop-down will say something like “add skill” and “already have skill,” but it doesn’t know if you have picked that skill in the other part of the process. Additionally, if you take the option to gain Expertise, it doesn’t show up in the skills list; it shows up as one of your character traits, just showing what double your proficiency bonus is.
Each Heroic Culture has a standard of living that provides base gear. That base gear is not added to your character sheet when you take your Culture, presumably because nothing in the “Species” section allows the character builder to add gear.
When you level up, the character builder works fine for adding in virtues, which serve the same function as feats, but you also get Rewards at various levels. If you take a reward that gives you a Grevious Weapon, for example, you’ll have a section in your traits that explains what a Grevious Weapon does, but it doesn’t add one to your equipment. Those items do not exist as items for D&D Beyond, meaning you’ll need to either remember the trait and add it yourself or make a custom item to represent it.
Because the character sheet uses the default D&D character sheet, things like Fellowship and Shadow Points must be typed into the sheet under notes. Nothing stops you from making a character from 11th to 20th level, but this is a smaller problem than some of these issues since the DM will be involved when the PCs level up.
Equipment
The following equipment shows up as items from the LOTR RPG filter in D&D Beyond:
One problem that arises is that when character creation lets you pick from multiple weapons, there is a section that says Free League, but if the item is the same as its base D&D version, it doesn’t appear in the Free League section.
Monsters
There are 32 stat blocks that come up if you filter Monsters for LOTR RPG, including NPCs and monsters. The stat blocks look just like standard monster stat blocks in the monster section of the site, and it seems like everything from the books made it into the monster section.
Final Thoughts
Because The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying is so specialized in some areas, I wondered how well D&D Beyond would manage the system. I was reasonably sure we wouldn’t see custom skills. Still, I appreciate that they added backgrounds into Cultures to implement them since backgrounds in the game are tied explicitly to a given Culture. But that leaves a whole section to skip with Backgrounds, and I suspect that LOTR Backgrounds being a Species trait is what keeps characters from getting the gear they need to get.
You can do the following and make a character:
Many people use character creators to ensure they don’t lose track of some step of the process. Brand new players may want a character builder that only shows them what they are meant to use. This isn’t going to help on either of those fronts. While it’s good to know what the actual rules say and not just trust that the character builder will guide you, especially for new players who haven’t looked at the rules yet, this process could be confusing.
I know WotC wanted to be able to say they had a Lord of the Rings option for D&D on D&D Beyond and that this is part of their “Worlds Beyond” for D&D. If you primarily use D&D Beyond for reference, this should work fine for you. If you want this to provide you with the same character-building and electronic character sheet experience you have for a standard D&D game, this doesn’t probably won’t satisfy you. I honestly wish they had held off on releasing this when they had a solution for more of the issues here. Once they get the initial sales hit from this product, I feel it may not get additional development.
If you would like to help support the site and encourage my reckless RPG spending, you can use the affiliate links below. Thanks!
#008000 #993300 #DD #DD5e #DDBeyond #DungeonDragons #FreeLeague #LOTR #TheLordOfTheRings #TheLordOfTheRingsRoleplaying #WizardsOfTheCoast #WOTC
Auf der Seite des Uhrwerk-Verlags gibt es einen neuen Werkstattbericht zum Crowdfunding um die Rückkehr nach Myranor. Neben dem Blick auf den aktuellen Stand geht es auch darum, wie die Kompromisse getroffen, die u. a. bei der Übertragung auf die 5e-Regelb nötig sind.
Quelle: Uhrwerk
https://nuntiovolo.de/2024/11/03/rueckkehr-nach-myranor-neuer-werkstattbericht/
#Pnpde #Convention #DD5E #Myranor #RückkehrNachMyranor #UhrwerkVerlag #Werkstattbericht
I’ve looked at many playtest documents in the last two years. While I’m dubious that I’ve done much to help anyone with their designs, I enjoy looking at bite-size pieces of design that let me dig deep when I usually have to do a more surface-level look at some elements, especially regarding subclasses.
We’ve already looked at the Worlds Beyond Number’s Witch class playtest, but now they have released their next playtest, the Wizard of the Citadel subclass. Wizards of the Citadel represent highly trained wizards working for a powerful organization. They are scholars, intelligence agents, and military officers in some ways.
Disclaimer
My copy of this playtest comes from supporting the Worlds Beyond Number Patreon, which grants access to various extras, including these playtests. I have not had the opportunity to play with these options, or run for a character using them, but I’m pretty comfortable with D&D 5e, both as a DM and a player. Brandes Stoddard, one of the designers who worked on this, is a good friend of mine, but I won’t let that sway me too much.
Worlds Beyond Number Playtest: New Wizard Subclass–Wizard of the Citadel
Concept Design: Aabria Iyengar, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Mazey Veselak
Design: Dan Dillon, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Hannah Rose, Brandes Stoddard, Mazey Veselak
Playtester in Chief: Aabria Iyengar
Layout: Ruby Lavin
Illustrators: Corey Brickley, Tucker Donovan, Lorena Lammer
Experimental Parameters
The playtest PDF is six pages long. If you’re used to seeing other playtest documents, this one will probably stand out because it has the layout commonly seen in final releases and includes full-color artwork. Every page of this document has playtest content.
Various sidebars provide setting-specific information from the actual play series’ setting and information on how some aspects of the subclass work differently between the 2014 and 2024 D&D rules.
Going to School
The previous playtest document, which included the witch, was a little more general. Witches are a concept that can exist as a class in just about any D&D setting, and the class didn’t have any special interactions with setting-specific elements. The Wizard of the Citadel are a little different in that they represent wizards trained by the Citadel, specific organization that exists in the World Beyond Number setting. They represent a powerful organization that not only safeguards their native lands but also exists as proof of a wizard’s importance. Some wizards don’t go to the Citadel, but are they worth talking about?
While this subclass indicates a wizard trained at the citadel, the setting information indicates that not every wizard trained at the Citadel takes this subclass, and there are specific roles for other specializations, such as Abjurers.
Because a faction heavily influences this in the game world, it will be worth noting how well this subclass would translate to a different setting, which may not have the same assumptions as the setting of the AP.
The Wizard of the Citadel subclass gets these features at the indicated levels:
Spellcraft Secrets (3rd)
The first subclass ability represents the specialized training that the Citadel gives its students, representing secrets they hold that are not commonly known to other wizards. When the wizard first takes this subclass, they pick up three of these secrets and gain a new secret for every additional level they take in the wizard class. The wizard gains the ability to modify a spell with one of these secrets a number of times, which is equal to their proficiency bonus for every short or long rest.
The document includes over thirty secrets. Two of these options modify how Counterspell works, and the document notes how to utilize the secrets with the 2014 version of the spell.
The secrets allow spells to create a secondary effect, modify the rules for targeting characters, negate other spell trigger conditions, make counterspell more effective, cause backlash to people breaking your concentration, boost your effective spell level, use other people as spell notes from which to manifest spells; reposition summoned creatures, alter the number of targets for a spell, change the save used to counter a spell, and other effects with a similar scope.
Because this subclass is being developed in conjunction with an actual play, listening to some of the shows on the Patreon provides additional insight. This subclass feature arose from a desire to have a way for wizards to modify spells similarly to sorcerers but in a way that feels more scholarly and specific.
It’s hard to gauge the full effect of some of these secrets outside of play. I like their feel, and I think they get across the idea of a specific “secret” added to spell crafting rather than the kind of freestyle jazz a sorcerer does with their sorcery points. My gut feeling is that they get way too many of these secrets. It makes the individual choices and the ability to swap out secrets when the wizard levels up, less meaningful when they have a double-digit amount of them by 8th level. I know there is a limit to how often they can use secrets, and I don’t know that it’s a game balance issue, as much as tuning the right feel for making choices matter and have impact.
Ritual Diagrams (3rd)
The Citadel Wizard can draw a diagram as part of a ritual, and as long as the diagram is active, you don’t have to use the ritual casting time each time you cast the same ritual inside the diagram. This is limited by proficiency bonus, with each diagram functioning for a specific ritual spell.
Drawing precise diagrams is one of those things I’ve always pictured wizards doing, so I like to have a mechanic that plays with that image. Part of me wants to say you should have to reset diagrams every day, so you don’t have a spot where you cast a ritual that is always available, but on the other hand, I think that just me reflexively not wanting anything to be too permanent. Functionally, the ability to cast your rituals at non-ritual speed will be balanced by the fact that you need to be in one spot, meaning you need to have that spot secured or have the ability to backtrack to it. It’s also explicitly called out that it takes an action to ruin the diagram by someone inclined to do so.
I know wizards are already burdened with more requirements to spend gold than other classes, but maybe, there should be a cost involved in the material used to draw the diagram.
Applied Arcana (6th)
Applied Arcana introduces a certain course of study that the Wizard of the Citadel has practiced. Each one of these Arcanas give the wizard proficiency in some kind of tool. The arcana include the following:
Most of the benefits of the Alchemy Arcana involve drinking potions, so I imagine people in the alchemy class spend a lot of time drinking for practice. You also do more damage with alchemical supplies that can be used in combat and get more healing from potions that restore hit points.
Celestial navigation gets you two extra spells in your spellbook. I’ll let you guess them, but they let you instantly move from one place to another. You can also double your pace if you’re navigating with tools or carrying a map, which makes you better than a ranger, but hey, if paladins can outclass them, why not wizards?
Forge magic gets you another pair of spells for your spellbook and an additional item attunement slot, but only if its a ring, rod, staff, wand, or weapon (presumably something that can be forged and thus would benefit from your special knowledge).
Inscription gives you a chance that you don’t expend a scroll when you cast a spell from one, you can inscribe spells at half the cost, and you don’t use scrolls when you use them to inscribe a spell.
I think gaining two free spells related to an Arcana in your spellbook is a nice feature. Nice enough that I wish that were standard for each Arcana. I understand that using spells from the SRD makes it hard to find good 2nd and 4th-level options for Alchemy and Inscription, but I would love it if they all had a similar base. Inscription’s benefits may be worth not getting spells, if your DM adds lots of scrolls into the treasure you find.
Cryptic Rider (10th)
This is a tricky ability. You cast a 5th level or higher spell, and when you do, you can cast a single action, single target spell that hits a target that saved against the initial spell. When you trigger this ability, the first spell you cast grants an advantage on saves against it.
This is an ability meant to represent having a backup plan that outmaneuvers your enemies. I know this is going to get you to burn through 5th level or higher spells, which is its limiter, but I wonder how out of hand this can get if you have an idea of what saves your opponents are bad at, and you still have a pretty reasonable chance to get the full effect from both spells.
This may be less flavorful, but I would rather have a proficiency bonus limited ability to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 action as a reaction when someone saves against your spell. But I could be completely losing the “tricksy” feeling of this, making it that straightforward.
Master of the Citadel (14th)
This is meant to show your ability to alter spells as you cast them in a way that reflects knowing math, diagrams, parameters, energy dispersal rates, and fun academic stuff. The modifications that are part of this class feature are:
Adding two of these to a single spell feels powerful. Elemental and Statistical Substitution will probably be the most popular secondary effects to apply. But this is a once-per-short or long rest ability. It also has a feature that I like (that I don’t think I’ve seen in a while), expending a spell slot to recharge the ability without a rest. I like those.
A Quick Look at Spellcraft Secrets
I’m not going to do a deep dive into all of these; there are just a few that jumped out at me that I wanted to touch on.
Secret of the Burning Word–I’m not sure if I would give it any benefit for 8th—or 9th-level spells, just to keep from generating confusion with 10th—or 11th-level spells. I don’t think it’s too much to assume that some spells are too powerful to benefit more even if you literally pour your heart and soul into them.
Secret of Immurement–I can see this secret causing issues with Tiny Hut, using the spell to tear up anyone outside while staying safe on the inside.
Secret of the Peaceful Summons–I think I would reword this to say that if the creature can take the attack action or use spells that affect others, it cannot do so if modified by this secret.
Secret of the Repaired Form–I don’t think this is a problem, so much as I’m still going over how it alters the assumed healing economy to add this to a spell that gets to take effect as well. But I’ve also still got to wrap my head around the increased healing across the board in 2024.
Secret of Spell-Shadowing–This seems a little random and almost like it should be two separate, more dependable secrets.
Final Thoughts
Brennan and Aabria, when talking about this subclass, mentioned that this isn’t the kind of subclass you put in the player’s handbook as one of your first options, and its a subclass for “magic nerds,” i.e. characters that know about the “science” behind magic. That prepared me for a more complex subclass than this actually is. I agree, it’s playing with decisions and options that a lot of players aren’t going to want to deal with.
In other words, it’s not as complex as I thought it would be. It isn’t a simple class, but if it’s not simple, that’s by intentional design, not conceptual drift.
As far as this being a subclass that can be used outside of the setting for which it was written, I don’t think that’s too difficult. It would fit with academically trained wizards taught in a facility with ample resources and study material. I could picture this being used to model a spellcaster trained in one of Silverymoon’s colleges or a student from Zobeck. Because it does have a lot of tactical applications that may not be overt and could be useful for espionage, I can also see this modeling a Cormyrean War Wizard well (you know, that class that, because of the name, everyone thinks is about battlefield magic, when they’re more like Cormyr’s secret police).
Everything that causes any twitch in my brain is a matter of calibration rather than being too far off track. Cryptic Rider may be the thing that bothers me the most, and I’m not sure if it’s really an issue or if it just isn’t expressed in a way my brain is comfortable with.
#AabriaIyengar #BennanLeeMulligan #DD #DD5e #DungeonsDragons #Wizard #WizardOfTheCitadel #WorldsBeyondNumber
Time to follow the tides and float into another look at the latest issue of Vodari Voyages. This time, we’re looking at Issue number 4, with the theme of Naval Combat. The Seas of Vodari campaign setting book did an excellent job of converting ship statistics into the format introduced in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Which WotC promptly ignored any time they revisited vehicles, most notably in the Spelljammer release.
Naval combat may be one of those subsystems that has been tackled over and over across the lifespan of D&D. AD&D 2nd edition had different naval combat rules in the Dungeon Master’s Guide series, DMGR 9 Of Ships and Sea, as well as rules in the Forgotten Realms product Pirates of the Fallen Stars, and in the Birthright setting in Havens of the Great Bay. That’s all in addition to the vehicle combat rules in the Spelljammer boxed set.
Sometimes it’s just something simple like giving vehicles the same stats as PCs or monsters, complete with armor class and hit points, which is the direction 5th edition went before it began to split vehicles into different sections with their own armor class and hit point totals. Ghosts of Saltmarsh gives vehicles ability scores, a number of actions the ship can take, and what actions the ship can use with the actions it can take.
Now that we’ve taken a very quick and abbreviated tour of the current state of the naval game, let’s roll into this issue with a little more depth.
Disclaimer
I am working from my own copy of Vodari Voyages, which I received from my subscription to the Vodari Voyages Patreon. I have not used the rules included in this issue, but I have run and played D&D 5e quite a bit, including using the vehicle rules that were expanded in Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
Vodari Voyages Issue Number 4: Naval Combat
Designer: Shawn Ellsworth
Editing: Brandes Stoddard
Graphic Design: Dave Jumaquio
Artwork: Mariam Trejo
Navigating the Document
The PDF for Vodari Voyages Issue 4 is 14 pages long. There are also some extras you can get, which include tokens for the ships presented in this document, as well as a big, gridded map of open sea, so you can upload these to your VTT of choice, should you so choose. The document is split up into these sections:
The Rules of the Sea
Core D&D 5e is pretty sparse on vehicle rules. You have a vehicle with an armor class and hit points, and if you do something to get the vehicle to go somewhere or do something, someone with the right vehicle proficiency can make a check with proficiency to see how well the vehicle responds.
In Ghosts of Saltmarsh, as mentioned above, ships had more of a creature stat block, and it also rolls initiative and takes its turn when it comes up. There are some ship roles included, which give the captain, first mate, and bosun additional actions, Take Aim and Full Speed Ahead.
Now, if you want to run vehicle, or specifically ship based, combat in the 2024 rules . . . there isn’t really anything published yet. In fact, the 2024 rules don’t reference vehicle proficiencies at all, and don’t include any vehicle statistics. This could change with the DMG, but for now, vehicles rules are in limbo, minus a default tool that existed before to portray proficiency.
What’s New
This issue is rolling back some of the granularity of vehicle combat from Ghosts of Saltmarsh and mirrored in the Seas of Vodari campaign setting. While the rules pull back a little from the Ghosts of Saltmarsh paradigm, it still keeps the general concept of a vehicle having a stat block similar to a creature. That means it still has ability scores, armor class, and hit points. In fact, let’s look at what we’re tracking on vehicles from these rules:
The ship’s initiative is always 0, however, the player characters can use their actions to trigger the ship’s actions. That means that the cannon isn’t going to fire unless a player character gives the order, and they have to have enough crew available to run the weapon or ship component. The comparison made in the text is that when PCs are on the ship, the ship functions like a mount, meaning that it doesn’t have its own actions while the PCs are directing it.
There is a sidebar explaining how to handle proficiency checks to pilot the ship if you are using the 2024 rules. Unlike standard combat, facing does matter, mainly because your ship can spin around fast enough to shoot all of its cannons at an opponent, so you need to know what’s facing your opponent.
What is it You Would Say That You Do Here?
The number of roles has been expanded, as have the actions that player characters can use that interact with the ship. The roles included in this include:
Most of these roles get a persistent ability, as well as abilities they work once per short rest, or in some cases, once per long rest. Captains get a boost to initiative, they can grant someone on the crew an extra partial move and an action, or they can boost ship actions taken. The quartermaster can bolster allies or attempt to impose the frightened condition. The Sailing Master can take evasive maneuvers making the ship harder to hit or give the ship a quick burst of speed. The Boatswain cobble together extra ship defenses or makes emergency repairs. The chaplain has a limited ability to heal the ship itself, even if it’s not normally a valid target, and you can manipulate probability. The cook can make food and drink that grants a number of extra benefits. The gunner can increase the damage of ship’s weapons and can use more precise attacks. The lookout increases your range for what you can perceive and have a more reliable Perception check. Mage’s get better range for spells and can use the ship as their focus. The musician can grant certain actions as a bonus action, and let people reroll dice under a certain set of circumstances. The surgeon gets a limited ability to bring characters making death saves back to 1 hit point, as well as a limited healing function outside of spellcasting.
Player characters gain the option to use the following new actions while on the ship:
They’re More Like Guidelines
There are a number of optional rules included in this document as well, including rules that address the following situations:
Cross-Section
Not every ship presented in the Seas of Vodari campaign setting book are converted to this new paradigm, but a few are, including the Brigantine, Eleven Warship, the Galleon, the Ironclad, and the Sloop.
There are a number of ship upgrades included. Some of these are modified from the Seas of Vodari, and some are new options.
Shifting Hull, Vessel of the Mists, Spectral Sails, Windchaser Sails, Arcane Cannons, Thunderstone Mangonel, Basilisk Figurehead, Mimic Figurehead, Skeleton Figurehead, Moonglow Lanterns, Ghost-Lantern, and Hidden Compartments are all reworked from Seas of Vodari.
Some of these are almost the same, but have had their costs adjusted, from a moderate change to a significant drop in price. In many cases, these have also been reworded to address the way the 2024 rules expect rules to be expressed.
Final Thoughts
Without getting too specific, I’ve seen other 3rd party vehicle rules that I was less enamored of, because they completely reinvent the wheel. I am very happy that these rules build on the core game rather than creating a subsystem that fights against it or ignores it. I like having the PCs being responsible for the ship taking its actions, because it reinforces that they are part of the crew, not just adventurer’s standing off to the side of the crew.
I was a fan of having components separated out, because it facilitated tactics like blowing out your opponent’s sails. That said, I can understand dialing back some of the specialized parts of the ship to make combat simpler, and I like that it’s only a half-step back, maintaining the more “creature style” stat block for the ship. I really like individual roles that PCs can assume, and I like that there is a mechanic for characters shifting roles, keeping the game from slowing down compared to just allowing players to shift roles each turn. Thinking back to when I was reviewing the Pirates of the Aetherial Expanse adventure series, you can recruit people in different locations that have specialties in various ship roles, and I like that you could keep that structure while using these roles, and possibly allow NPCs with these assigned roles to sit aside from the crew and take ship actions like the PCs. I say this mainly because I can see smaller parties, with three players, for example, having a harder time fully utilizing their ship’s options.
There are a few fuzzy areas that either I didn’t fully understand, or that I feel could be a little more defined:
I’m interested in taking these vehicle rules for a spin, and my PCs may be sailing somewhere soon, which may give me a chance to do so. The issue mentions that there will be more ships and components being converted in future issues, and I’m looking forward to this.
https://whatdoiknowjr.com/2024/10/03/what-do-i-know-about-patreons-vodari-voyages-issue-number-4/
#DD #DD5e #DungeonsDragons #DungeonsDragons2024 #NauticalFantasy #Pirates #SeasOfVodari #UnderTheSeasOfVodari
Dragonlance: Shadows of the Dragon Queen: Pt 1 – Funeral For A Friend
#RolePlayingGames #ActualPlay #DD5e #dragonlance #DungeonsDragons
#bot
Let’s take a look at something that’s being crowdfunded, and maybe even get this article up in time that what I’m looking at will still be funding at the time you’re reading this, so you can make a decision in the present instead of theorize about what might have been if I had a time machine and could put out articles when I want them to be published.
What we’re going to look at is Shadow City Mysteries: The Roleplaying Game, which is currently crowdfunding on Backerkit. More specifically, we’re going to take a look at what’s on offer in the Quickstart Guide that’s available on the crowdfunding page. It’s a supernatural investigative noir game using the 5e SRD as its base.
Disclaimer
I’m currently backing the project, but one of my good friends, Brandes Stoddard is a designer on this project. That may mean that I’m biased, but honestly, part of how Brandes and I became friends revolve around our discussions about his thoughts on game design, and he’s one of the great underutilized talents in the RPG industry. But, yes, my friend is working on this.
Shadow City Mysteries: The Roleplaying Game
Creative Director Christopher Mifsud
Lead Game Designer Stephen Cheney
Lead Writer/Editor Brandes Stoddard
Artist Adam Schumpert
Graphic Designer Fleur Sciortino
Symbol Artist Luana Zahra
We’ll talk about this when we get into the details about the project, but the Quickstart is in black and white, greyscale, with accents of colors like purple, red, and metallic tones. This is a 56-page PDF with the following pages:
The black and white artwork is striking, made even more so with the splashes of color that appear as accents to various pieces.
Setting Concept
The setting resembles a 1930s noir setting, but it takes that inspiration very literally. The entire world is cast in black and white, and the only splashes of color tend to come from supernatural effects or various metals and the mechanisms made from them. A special material, Turnstone, has provided the world with almost perpetual energy, meaning that the biggest concern is addressing the wear and tear on those mechanisms powered by the material.
Because the supernatural is subtle and can get confused with the extraordinary properties of various special metal mechanisms, society is growing at least a little more skeptical of the supernatural, even though spells and magic are still in use by some people in society. There are even scientists trying to provide a rational explanation for why light wavelengths function the way they do now, and why this changed.
While this is a world of dark alleys, organized crime, corrupt police, and private investigators, clockwork mechanisms are still more common than some of what we may be used to for the genre tropes being borrowed. There are pistols, but the self-winding hand arbalests are more powerful. People regularly get prosthetics made of special medals, which are based on clockworks and precise gears, not monofilaments or circuitry.
Soreta, or Shadow City, isn’t the capital of its nation, but it is the biggest metropolitan entity. Soreta isn’t a shining example, and the nation Soreta is part of is engaged in imperialist adventurism, waging war to secure the most turnstone and “win” the game of nations. Shadow City itself is dominated by a series of factions, which include:
I have a weird trait where, when a setting or a game presents me with a closed set of factions that everyone’s character should be aligned with, I look for ways for characters to be free of those factions. For some reason, I reflexively try to push back on the closed set. That’s not always fair, and for a long time, it kept me from fully engaging with the benefits provided by strong, thematically rich factions. What I’m saying is, I may have experienced character growth since the 90s.
The factions of the setting really do help to highlight aspects of the world that the document is attempting to present. But something else that this document does, which I think is a great benefit to expressing the genre being emulated, is to show how messy allegiance with these factions can become. The pregenerated PCs, and the example adventure, show that no matter how much you may want to just do what your faction wants you to do, and no matter how “pure” your faction may want you to be, everybody gets entangled with everyone else’s business. Your faction isn’t just presenting you with your worldview, or with a personal patron, but also with your own personal Sword of Damocles hanging over your head if your entanglements with the other factions keeps you from centering your faction’s desires.
I’m a fan of 30s-ish noir private investigator style stories, and I’m a fan of modern urban fantasy. The presentation of the setting in this document plays to what I like about those genres and their tropes.
Rules
This is a 5e SRD game, but it’s not a game that relies on the species and classes that are presented in the SRD. This is a world of humans, and to reflect the unique industry and subtle magic if the setting, it’s got its own set of classes.
I’ve seen several 5e adaptations and how they drift core concepts of the game. While many of those do a good job of making classes that feel familiar but are customized to the setting presented. These classes are a little less directly tracked to existing D&D classes. Some of them use similar concepts, but make them more subtle and spin them, as well as remixing elements of classes under new concepts.
For example, you could easily make the Heavy your barbarian stand it, and adrenaline seems like it’s another name for rage. But adrenaline is more like the monk’s resource, something that Enforcers can tap into to do specific physical feats, rather than a state that they enter. The Infiltrator is an agent type that has sneak attack, but they can “spend” sneak attack dice to perform certain skill-based actions and can spend preparedness points to produce the right thing at the right time.
The Savant plays with superiority dice, which calls back to Battlemaster Fighters, as well as Bardic Inspiration, but their tricks are structured like Warlock spell slots, meaning that they can pull off a few clutch tricks that they can refresh, but they can’t lean heavily on their spell-like tricks. The Face also plays with encouragement, which could feel similar, but the Face can also do things like using their dice to damage an opponent that hasn’t attacked them yet, converting their social resource into an impromptu sneak attack die.
Looking at the pregenerated characters, it does look like we’ve still got subclasses at play as well, which in this document include the following:
This all feels very ambitious. Pushing against the “packages” where these abilities normally reside can easily throw off how any of these classes will play, especially if the new “packages” don’t play nice together. There’s also more than one class that plays with boosting others, and that can be tricky to pull off. With all of that said, this doesn’t feel like a haphazard reorganization of abilities. I haven’t had a chance to play any of these classes or see them together at a table, but they feel crafted, not tinkered together. I want to see how these classes work.
Characters don’t just get abilities from their class, but they also have certain benefits based on their faction. This isn’t quite the same thing as the bundle of skills and proficiencies you get with a background, although some of that is present. There are some weightier mechanical benefits, like the Iron Union or the Brass Consortium offering enhanced metal prosthesis. As I was typing that sentence, I realized that mechanical benefits are doing double duty in that sentence, and instead of groaning, I’m going to act that it’s a sign of the efficiency of my analysis.
Making Progress
Character abilities also interact with the rules included in the setting, which facilitate political maneuvering and investigation. Projects can represent social endeavors or actual crafting projects, and they work in a similar manner, while engaging with different skills and tools. To progress these tracks, a character rolls a skill check after a predetermined interval dictated by the task. If the character succeeds, they roll a die to add to the progress track. If something gets screwed up, you may need to roll dice and subtract from your total.
This same overall structure can be used to reflect a Maker building a new weapon, or the PCs canvasing a neighborhood to get a lead on where a witness has been hiding. One of the goals of these rules is to make sure that everyone, regardless of class, can participate in activities like investigation. Some of this is accomplished with faction abilities, but many of the progress tracks can be advanced in a number of ways. For example, the Heavy could drop some intimidation to limit the number of people that someone that has gone to ground can call into help them hide out, and thus adds to the same progress track that the Face contributed to by lying about who is looking for their mark and why, progressing the track with Deception.
Money, Money, Money
There are some interesting rules regarding wealth and influence, where you may have some cash on hand, but you also have a Lifestyle score which works in a manner similar to your other ability scores. For example, if you have a Lifestyle score of 12, you get a +1 on d20 rolls where your wealth and status would matter. I like that this works like ability scores and doesn’t feel too much like a separate subsystem, but I did want to address a very interesting thing these rules do.
If you have a bonus to your Lifestyle, you get a bonus when you roll for hit points that you get back, and you get a bonus when you save against things like diseases. The rationale for this is that if you’re living in a nice apartment, away from the smog and smoke of the factories ruining your lungs, your money makes you healthier. It’s a neat bit of social commentary. It teaches a lesson. And I’m not sure I like it. There are things that communicate a story with mechanics, but it also means that the people that pick parts of their character to play an archetype could potentially be less vested in that archetype. Your Iron Union Enforcers is a tough SOB, but the slim, not especially hardy Savant with a high lifestyle isn’t getting felled by disease when you trudge through the sewers, but you keep missing your check but that same amount you would have had if you just had a higher lifestyle. It’s one of those places where I don’t know that reflecting the harsh realities of the world makes for a better experience.
All of that said, we only see the basic concept in these rules. I don’t know how deep that divide becomes in a long-term game. It just feels like it might be more effective at making the PCs want to eat the rich in their own party rather than the rich NPCs they are working against.
Doing the Job
It’s time for one of my most often repeated statements! Get ready! Sample adventures are good not just to give you something to play when you first learn the rules, but they communicate what the creators of the game envision for the setting/game they have created.
I don’t want to spoil anything about the plot, other than the very broad strokes that someone powerful representing one faction hires the PCs. The pregenerated characters all have built in entanglements that make them likely to work with other factions, even ones for which their own faction might hold some antipathy. They are investigating a murder, following up on leads, and coming into conflicts with potential suspects.
In true noir fashion, if the PCs find out the truth, it puts them in a bad position that they’ll have to navigate, but because of how everything is set up, it doesn’t feel like the kind of swerve that reverses all of the character’s efforts. The stakes are set up front that all of this is a mess, and finding out the truth won’t necessarily make it any better, other than completing the job.
The investigation portion of the adventure has a wide range of skills presented as options, and it provides different levels of clues based on how high the PCs roll. There are places across the investigation where members of different factions get additional benefits that are only true of their faction. It feels like this has been crafted to make sure that everything will have some degree of usefulness, and everyone has the potential for a spotlight moment.
I like that there is an opportunity to find out something more about the mystery if one of the PCs fixes an object that was damaged at the crime scene. The progress tracks aren’t a simple “you reached X, now you won the progress track!” Instead, there are different points where those progress tracks trigger something to happen. Something might happen when you reach 10 progress, and then a more important event comes into play when you reach 20.
No Happy Endings
Something else I like about this adventure, which is 100% because of the noir genre. If you reach the end of your timer for performing this job, you may not have solved the mystery. You might be able to present your employer with enough information that you still get paid, but you might still be wondering what’s going on. In some campaigns, which would be frustrating, but it’s very in keeping with noir stories. In fact, it reminds me of how some of the investigations are structured in the Blade Runner RPG, where the PCs may not solve the crime by the end of the case, but the point of the game is to deal with the fallout of the investigation.
One thing that I was wondering at the end of the adventure is how to communicate a side project to the player characters. There is a project that the PCs can engage with to basically convince the cops to let them take the lead on the investigation without getting in their way, maybe even letting them skirt the law a bit. That’s a nice side project, and there are a few places in the adventure where they mention you might have a handful of PCs investigating a site, while others are doing “quality of life” projects to make things easier for everyone. But there isn’t a clear way to communicate that this is an option. I don’t know if the game expects me to say, “it occurs to you that you could do this side project,” or if some NPC should say, “you know, if you play your cards right, the cops will get out of your way.” I’m not sure if I missed it, and I definitely could have.
Final Thoughts
This quickstart leaps way ahead just on style alone. It looks amazing, and it’s kind of brilliant how the setting literally incorporates black and white noir into the literal structure of the world it’s presenting.
The description of some progress tracks needing someone to use intimidation as well as persuasion, and how you can lean on people or talk them up at different times, was nagging at the back of my mind, and I finally realized what it was. It reminded me of how White, Exley, and Vincennes used different approaches to learn different aspects of the overall mystery in LA Confidential. White’s a thug beating information out of people, Exley is all facts and analysis, and Vincennes is playing on knowing what to say at the right time. That’s a strong recommendation to me that the descriptions are tripping the right noir buttons in my brain.
The mechanics look fun, clever, and well-crafted. It’s got some moving parts, but they read like they move without a lot of friction. That said, because a lot of what’s going on is remixing established elements, I want to see how this works out, not just in a session, but across a few sessions, to really get a feel for it.
Because of how this looks, and how it reads, I really want to see what a nice, solid, final book will look like. I don’t think I’m going to be disappointed by the final product, but I’m really interested to see what it looks like to bring the full noir influenced game home.
#5eSRD #Backerkit #DD #DD5e #Noir #rpg #ShadowCity #ShadowCityMysteries #ttrpg
I’ll have a lot more to say about backgrounds and how they are implemented in the 2024 rules of Dungeons & Dragons, but that’s going to wait a little bit. In the meantime, when I sort out how I think about things, I often put the things I’m contemplating in a spreadsheet. It’s what I do for my day job, and it’s how my brain likes to digest interrelated concepts. Because of that, I made a spreadsheet showing what backgrounds work best with what classes in D&D 2024, here:
The logic is that a class is a full match for any class for which it provides potential ability bonuses that match the class’ primary ability score. For most classes, that’s just one ability score, but for Monks, Paladins, and Rangers, that means for a background to be a full match, it has to potentially provide bonuses to both of the prerequisite scores.
This doesn’t mean you can’t take a background that doesn’t provide bonuses, just that introduces the old issue of “if I make an elf paladin, I’ll have worse stats than a human paladin that puts their bonuses in Strength and Charisma.”
In addition to making a table for the Class/Background Matches, I also wanted to see what weapon qualities were assigned to what weapon, and it occurred to me that it would be nice to be able to sort by quality to see what weapons existed that offered it.
I’ll also say that part of my logic for this is that I want to tinker with a copy to see what it would look like if I gave weapons the weapon qualities I think are more logical for them, rather than the qualities that reinforce their position as part of the game rules:
#5eSRD #Background #Class #DD #DD2024 #DD5e #Mastery #Weapon
Recherche Catarina désespérément (partie 4)
Lucius cherche toujours Catarina dans la ville de Dinam, aidé par le Sergent Tranchepomme. Les deux compagnons partent à la rencontre d'un gang d'adolescents.
