Questing for Tabletop Adventure Games
Let's get to it: My name's Thomas and I will soon be running Skorne on Roll20 as theater of the mind. Very soon in fact: in three days! While I am excited to run combat without dice rolls, I am wondering how combat maneuvers will work and I am hoping that you can give me … Continue reading Ask the Dragonslayer #3: Diceless Maneuvers in Skorne
Shipwright I'm running everything at the table out of a 1" binder with pockets. Here's what's inside: Front pocket Adventure Hour!Maze Rats20-some index cardsTiny 2d6 in a bagAdventure World one page rules and character packages (we've been marking off character packages so every character is unique).Bastionland name list (alphabetical and by failed career)Dungeon World GM … Continue reading Current setup and recent findings (2022)
The Hobbit A spectrum of table styles with two extremities: crystalized and fluid. Crystalized. The world is set in stone. The GM or an intellectual property has declared its boundaries. Details are made ahead of time like calendars with holidays and festivals, towns with maps and points of interests, major factions with motivations and rosters, … Continue reading Adventure World Chassis
Artwork from my young cousin. A style unseen here on the blog! 🙂 Part of watching the contrasted reception of Adventure Hour! and Skorne was learning this lesson: more specific pitches resonate with more people, despite having a smaller scope. Use structured campaigns with a beginning, middle, and end. Have something short and sweet that … Continue reading Delivery Knights Meditation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzERUKZD0H0 Chris McDowall was gracious enough to do a readthrough of Skorne (find it here on itch.io). Check out his written thoughts about diceless play here, with promise of more on the way. Neat stuff, neat design space, happy to see where the limits are!
More digital art from my brother, Caleb. Skorne is becoming more souls-like. Using this from Coins and Scrolls as inspiration, here are four sample bosses (Tyrants, as they're known in this game). The stats here are very FKR: Note: the “bloodied” condition triggers once the Tyrant reaches half hits. It is immediate. Critical details are … Continue reading Boss Battles – Tyrants of Skorne
Digitally warped art from my brother, to whom Adventure Hour! is dedicated. In response to the news about Dark Souls 5e and the subsequent jams (there's two?!), Skorne is getting a full layout. I'm re-upping the design (AKA letting it breathe) and adding more advice and tables. I'll be adding content from recent articles written, … Continue reading Becoming souls-like (plus sample monsters)
Been a while since we've had a Shipwright piece around here... This is a sequel to the Diceless Violence post. Main takeaways: Dice can cheapen victories and deliver cheaper losses.Diceless combat (no to-hit rolls, no damage rolls) moves the game away from elements of luck to strategy and critical thinking.In order to make combat a … Continue reading Decisive Combat
The vast majority of actions require a quick judgement call to resolve. Players who leverage their environment, use their items and common sense, and clearly declare their actions often receive success. The consequences of any described actions follow accordingly. If an action described by a player is uncertain, the GM may call for a roll. … Continue reading Nim Style
In the practice of meditation, you are often told to focus on the breath. Each breath is life-giving. You can’t be without it. And try as you might, focus with all your effort, and your mind will still wonder. One might posit that if you had perfect focus, you would be able to retain all … Continue reading Focus on the World: Return to Play
DREAMING DRAGONSLAYER 