Author Archives: MssngrDeath

Themes: Pirate

Posted on 3 August, 2017 by MssngrDeath

So far almost every theme I’ve written has been something from my initial list of concepts. Only two themes came about because a player wanted something specific for a character. The first is the noble and the second is this … Continue reading →

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Themes: Entertainer

Posted on 31 July, 2017 by MssngrDeath

Both of my ongoing campaigns ended within the last few weeks, and we’re a few weeks away from starting the next ones. I don’t have a campaign to work on for what feels like the first time in years. It’s … Continue reading →

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Campaign Songs: Contract of Barl

Posted on 7 July, 2017 by MssngrDeath

I’ve spoken before about our campaign theme songs, but only for a paragraph or two. Since one of my campaigns had ended recently, it’s a good time to talk about one in more depth. The Eight Arms and the Contract … Continue reading →

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One-Shot Characters in Ongoing Campaigns

Posted on 24 June, 2017 by MssngrDeath

One of my favorite tropes in media is the individual face-offs between antagonistic teams. That is, I love it when the good guys meet the bad guys, and the good guys have a genius magician but the bad guys also … Continue reading →

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Live GameScreen Available for Download

Posted on 16 June, 2017 by MssngrDeath

Over the years I’ve gotten several requests for Live GameScreen, the session-management software we use in our games. I’ve extolled its virtues before, and I’ve finally gotten a chance to use its networking capabilities in a campaign (verdict: …eh, but … Continue reading →

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The Subjectivity of Quality

Posted on 21 May, 2017 by MssngrDeath

I’m going to start with something incendiary and explain it later: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a bad movie, and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is a good one. Our recent guest post accidentally raises an important … Continue reading →

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Underpowered: Zodar

Posted on 12 May, 2017 by MssngrDeath

Really, the issue isn’t that the zodar is underpowered. I mean, it is, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that the zodar is boring. It doesn’t fit into any setting, it doesn’t provide interesting hooks to the players, … Continue reading →

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A to Z Challenge 2017 Postmortem

Posted on 8 May, 2017 by MssngrDeath

As part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, it’s a yearly tradition to write a reflections post discussing the previous month. Looking bad, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I’m already turning over … Continue reading →

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DMing with Constitution

Posted on 5 May, 2017 by MssngrDeath

I don’t know how many of you remember November, when I tried to line up guest posts while I focused on National Novel Writing Month. It didn’t work out, but I did get one late in the month and now … Continue reading →

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Z’s Also for Zodar, Just Look at This Trash

Posted on 1 May, 2017 by MssngrDeath

One of the takeaways from April should be that you can make just about any creature interesting by putting your own spin on it, either by playing up its role in the story, subverting the players’ expectations for it, or … Continue reading →

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