We've done it. We've finished Undermountain. The rest of this post contains some mild spoilers for the dungeon, but honestly not a lot. Instead, I want to talk about what I learned about D&D and communities. For context, Variant Roles ran the entire book as a community project, with different groups exploring different levels. I … Continue reading Thoughts on Dungeon of the Mad Mage
I sat down this weekend and listed out the three games I currently have planned, then started thinking about what I want to do next. All of my current streams take place on the Variant Roles channel on Twitch, for what it's worth, and are archived on YouTube. "Jayemdae Tome" by Donato Giancola As I've … Continue reading Updates on upcoming streaming
NB: Stream of consciousness style. Just throwing this down someplace. "Broken Concentration" by Clint Cearley I really need to end my Wednesday game because weeknights are just too difficult. I've already cancelled my Tuesday and Thursday games, and I haven't done Monday in a long time. Already, this Wednesday and next have no game because … Continue reading Spring 2019 Campaign Musings
Chapter art for Level 11 Troglodyte Warrens I recently ran Level 11, "Troglodyte Warrens", from Dungeon of the Mad Mage for Variant Roles. You can watch the first of the two sessions below (I will add in the second when it's posted). Spoilers follow, obviously, at least for that level of DotMM. https://youtu.be/8XA2JN8DunM?t=673 In this … Continue reading Using DW style prep in D&D
Originally, I wrote this post to talk about all the things I dislike about the changes to the Adventurers League rule set. Most of it comes down to treasure. Magic item counts in the previous rules had their problems, but folks could understand; now you need a cheat sheet just to understand what you get. … Continue reading Outgrowing Adventurers League
As the Variant Roles Dragon Heist "mega campaign" has ended, I've started to think about what I want to do next. While we're still planning for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, that doesn't stop me from thinking about a homebrew dungeon-focused campaign. Principles In the meantime, planning has begun! I don't know yet if this will consist … Continue reading Principles and ideas for a dungeon campaign
Despite the way Wizards of the Coast has positioned them, I don't think that Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage really pair together very well. One is an urban intrigue and investigation campaign, and the other is a chthonic megadungeon. These have very different tones and structures, and many players will … Continue reading Dungeon of the Mad Mage lead-in alternatives
Technoskald's Forge 