In thinking about the different character classes for Swords of Cydonia (still wondering about that title) and mixing in various cultures so that a party of adventurers might include a Cowboy, a Shaolin Monk, an Apache Medicine Man, and a former Buffalo Soldier it left me wondering what to do about the real historical issue of Racism in the Wild West. In the late 1800s this group of characters would almost certainly not have banded together, and most would receive an icy welcome at best in many frontier towns.
I …
One of the goals of the upcoming Swords of Cydonia campaign is to break with my usual conventions for playing D&D and explore some other sources of inspiration, like the Western, and game material I haven’t made much use of before. While looking through my AD&D books for ideas I realized The Monk class was always something I disregarded as being “out of genre”. I also realized that Muse’s video for Knights of Cydonia not only has martial arts, but a few quick shots of a guy who looks like …
Continuing from yesterday’s post on Desert and Heat in a D&D campaign, here are the rules for traveling in the wilderness.
Again, I found the d20 system had some excellent suggestions but found it just too much for me to manage as is. I also find that when you’re looking at rules that include traveling across desert, forest, arctic, water and by every means of travel imaginable it’s quite inclusive… but not very evocative of a particular location. By condensing it down to just the rules that are relevant …
Since the D&D campaign I’ve been working on is partly inspired by Westerns more than the usual Magical Medieval Europe, I wanted to have the environment reflected in the rules of the game a bit more.
In Western films like The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, or even Knights of Cydonia there’s a common theme of the danger posed by the desert heat, and characters struggling to make their way across the burning sands. While I tend to prefer the more basic rule systems for D&D, …
We’ve had a lot of interest in the Design a Dungeon Room Contest since it was announced yesterday! Here are some more details about the judges and prizes for this year’s competition.
Judges
I’m really happy to have such a great group of creative people to help me judge this contest!
Berin Kinsman
Uncle Bear Blog
James Edward Raggi IV
Lamentations of the Flame Princess
Jeff Rients
Jeff’s Gameblog
Jennifer Juniper Stratford
Dungeon Majesty and Telefantasy Studios
Jon Hershberger
Black Blade Publishing
Stuart Robertson
Robertson Games
I’m also waiting to hear back from one or two other people, so check back for any updates …
