Adventure and Encounter Design

In discussing yesterday’s post about the goals of Echelon, I realized there are some unspoken assumptions on my part. I mentioned how I didn’t mind ‘CR math’, the arithmetic used to combine Challenge Ratings to find Encounter Levels and thus estimate whether or not an encounter can be considered reasonable …

Expanded Ranger Combat Styles

While reviewing Thieves’ World: Player’s Manual from Green Ronin, I found an expanded list of combat styles for rangers. I posted it to rec.games.frp.dnd, where people proposed additional ranger styles. This article collects them. ‘Ranged’ and ‘Two-Weapon’ styles below are as per RSRD, but the others are new. Unless otherwise …

Pillar of Souls

Most creatures, when they die, simply pass on. Their spirit may linger near the mortal world for a short time, and may even be called back by the right magics (such as raise dead and the like), but even this is uncommon. Less frequently, a dying creature with unfinished business …

Eye of Fire

Geography The Eye of Fire is a caldera lake over an active volcano. From above it is almost perfectly circular, a deep blue (except for some red of magma visible at the bottom), and steaming hot. It is said to be a holy site of the good god of the …

Storm Mountain

Geography Storm Mountain is a high peak with unusually severe weather (blizzards in winter, thunderstorms in summer, storms and hurricanes almost any time). Almost no one lives here. Mountains aren’t generally all that hospitable anyway, and where you’ve got lots of storms they’re even less so. However, here is a …

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