Author Archives: MssngrDeath

Faith: Planning through Time

I know I’ve been talking a lot about Faith lately, and that’s unusual for this blog. I rarely give updates on my current campaigns because I expect readers will find them boring. A session-by-session recap is more for the creative … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Tagged | Comments Off on Faith: Planning through Time

Player Secrets

One of the running themes in my posts is that good games have players who communicate with each other. To quote a previous post: I think the best advice I’ve ever gotten for gaming is the best advice I’ve ever … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Comments Off on Player Secrets

Faith: Character Portraits

A quick note: there’s been an update to the character page for Faith. Our partist party artist has drawn character portraits for everybody, so now we have art I’m allowed to post online.

Posted in Campaigns | Tagged | Comments Off on Faith: Character Portraits

The Splash Damage of Alignment Restrictions

I’ve been trying to come up with something else nice to say about 5E. I don’t think it’s a bad system, I just think it took away a lot of the things I like about running D&D games like agency … Continue reading

Posted in Game Design, Gaming Systems | Tagged | 2 Comments

Faith: Opening and Ending

I love working music into campaigns. Whether it’s using the lyrics of a song as inspiration for a plot or naming campaign villains after a specific artist’s works, tying music into the game is among the most deeply rewarding, if … Continue reading

Posted in Campaigns | Tagged , | Comments Off on Faith: Opening and Ending

A Window in the Fourth Wall

DMing involves a lot of juggling acts. You have to balance what you want versus what the players want, challenge versus frustration, character and player spotlights, and all the payoffs that keep people at your table. Different games involve different … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Tagged | Comments Off on A Window in the Fourth Wall

Faith: Signature Items (Angeline)

I had a rule of thumb for the capstone abilities: if a player read the ability I was trying to give them and their only response was “are you high?”, I did it right. Each capstone is ludicrously powerful, able … Continue reading

Posted in House Rules | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Faith: Signature Items (Sarai)

I ran the first draft of these items by each player, but I didn’t mail the entire group. I wanted everybody’s item design to take place in a relative vacuum. Each player knew the early levels I posted in March, … Continue reading

Posted in House Rules | Tagged , | Comments Off on Faith: Signature Items (Sarai)

Faith: Signature Items (Liam)

One thing I do like about Pathfinder is that it goes out of its way to avoid dead levels, or points where a character gains no new abilities. I tried to mimic that in these items. At every level a … Continue reading

Posted in House Rules | Tagged , | Comments Off on Faith: Signature Items (Liam)

Faith: Signature Items (Jace)

If there’s a single running theme across all signature items, it’s that they’re objectively powerful. Consider today’s item, where the capstone ability is a more powerful, more useful version of time stop, a top-tier 9th-level spell. This is one of … Continue reading

Posted in House Rules | Tagged , | Comments Off on Faith: Signature Items (Jace)