Howdy! I'm Mr. Mann, and I throw stuff up here related to OSR games. I'm interested in writing, reading broadly, and philosophy and fantasy specifically. ...
Here are some Legendary Spells for NBateman's Super Spell System for Super NatheQuest . These are likely hidden spells, the pride and joy of cults or the dastardly techniques of arcane scoundrels. Ramuh Index and middle fingers point a lightning bolt from heaven. Deals the caster's maximum HP to a line of foes. Bounces from surfaces twice, but always crackles safely around the caster. Phoniex Call…
A discussion about the best practices for running online games, alongside some of my own opinions and preferences for which you, the fledgling online referee, should follow exactly. Special thanks to all the referees whom I solicited feedback from on this: Aggie Domopunk Gin Bradbury Havoc NBateman oldhawkeyes Weird Writer This guide wouldn't be nearly as complete without them! The Foreplay This…
The people of Blip are, if anything can be said about people at the end of the world, superstitious. They cling to their beliefs, daedal and shapeless like sea foam, to the exclusion of all else. Like sea foam, these beliefs are often washed away. When the gnoll cult arrived in Blip thirteen years ago, they found a ground unbroken for their dogma. The masses soon wore their hair as gnolls, loose…
TL;DR: The Fighter is the only class that can engage with more than one foe; when any other class is targeted by multiple foes in a round, all attacks after the first automatically hit. Introduction; Where the idea came from So it stands to reason the cleave attack that is a pretty popular rule in the Gay Beholder server comes from a combination of the writing Gary Gygax did in The Strategic…
Part of the Sex Bandwagon. Lord's Castle, 8 Myrmidons, manned by 90. The hex that surrounds the Castle Calliope is overgrown, flush with monsters (though there are no toads), and starved of attention. The soil is good, should any would-be agriculturalist sample it. The rocks that white the waters of the nearby river are visible from the walls of the castle. The approach has been left abandoned,…
Play reports are a vital part of the TTRPG hobby but there is a lot of unclear communication around the purpose of the play report. If you understand why you're writing play reports, you can write a better, more useful play report that accomplishes the stated goal. Here are a few purposes for play reports that answer the question "Why would I write a play report?" alongside some advice towards…
Y'all are being too weird with it, cut it out. No seriously, all those custom classes, monsters, items. Why? Creation is sick and awesome. I wouldn't be here if I didn't like writing new tabletop things and sharing them with people, or playing in strange settings and strange worlds. Roleplaying and the creative aspect that goes alongside it is awesome. That being said, there's a HUGE tradeoff…
Credits to Newt's Truthtelling and the Black Company Playtest Document v2. Wizards are only human and get Exhausted like anyone else. This is represented as a number, which, in practice, ranges from 0 to 29. Wizards can perform any feat they can speak into the world. To cast a spell, state what you would like to do. The smallest viable spell is in the shape of “(verb) a/the (noun). Count the…
Introduction I love Realms of Yolmi. For the people in the room not aware, it's one of the first Roleplaying games ever, released by Ken Black and Marshall Rose in 1977. It's got B/X mish-mashed with Runequest mish-mashed with OD&D and is a wonderful post-apocalyptic mess of a game. The bestiary is a highlight, and thankfully the numbers we know and love for D&D (HD, AC, damage) are still there!…
There's a certain genre of gamer who enjoys mastering a system. They know the hit probabilities of a 1st-level character against every armor class in the game, have memorized the entire monster manual, and could identify traps from the smell of their components. They tend to play a certain style of character that benefits from the mechanics of the game (plate and shield fighter/cleric, Thief who…