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I love mini-games. 

You can play them in real life, you can inject them into taverns and pubs in your game, and they can serve as a nice change of pace between haggling with Kings and slaying Dragons (or slaying Kings and haggling with Dragons, depending on how your campaign is going). Here's three for you to steal and play with in-game or out. I've used these in pub settings, for carousing during downtime, or even for the BBEG to wager the macguffin against the PC's souls. 

King's Keep
A deception / gambling game in the same vein as Liar’s Dice or Pirate’s Dice. 

Setup: Both players have a cup and four dice (4d6). 
Gameplay: Play begins when both players secretly roll three of their dice (3d6) via the cup. After seeing what they rolled in secret, both players roll the fourth dice (1d6) out in the open. Then, on a count to three, both players simultaneously do one of the following: 

Yell “Keep" and keep the dice that was publicly rolled. 
Yell “King” and ‘give’ the publi…
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Recent posts

Dryad's Sanctuary Release Party

Being trapped in a magical forest that wants to eat or enslave you until you love it has never been so fun!
I am pleased to announce that I'm finally releasing this little adventure out into the wild on Drivethrurpg and Itch.io. I'm not DONE-done with it, and will still probably make edits and updates and additions in the future, but it's finally at a point where I want to share it with everyone else. 
The adventure started out as something I was calling a decadungeon: a twelve-sided 3d map, so that the actual forest itself was a non-euclidean space that connected various locations together in a non-linear fashion. You can get the rough drafts of the maps here.Over the course of writing, and after a few playtests, I realized as novel as it looked and sounded, it didn't really help make the adventure more fun to play, and in the end that's really all that matters to me. I'll definitely use that for a future adventure though, so don't fret.
A Decadungeon 
The …
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Longwinter Nights - Session 2

And so the mission begins, as the adventurers escort an archaeologist on what promises to be the biggest discovery of her career, and possibly the last.

Meet the boys:

Toshiro Nagi - The sensible and practical exorcist that hails from the quiet Tensia Town.  Furio - A mysterious assassin with a shadowy past.  Ezo Ashara - The lion-maned Beastfolk who finds himself very far from home.  Rev - A heavily armored knight of few words. 
And we're off with a late morning start thanks to Furio needing to sleep off some injuries, while Toshiro meets with the other two shmucks seasoned adventurers that have also been hired on as security detail: Ezo and Rev. Over brunch, Sigma Delmar, the head archaeologist and financier of this excursion, goes over the details of the assignment: after a two-day trek along the Dimnaya Stream, the group will set up shop in a newly discovered Old Architect seed-vault, where Sigma will spend as much time as she needs to exploring, unearthing, and cataloging all of …
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First Time Playing: Whitehack

Whitehack, written by Christian Mehrstam (and available here) is billed as "a complete fantasy role-playing game in 64 pages" and wholly lives up to that claim. It takes core gameplay ideas and inspiration from an older era of tabletop games and approaches them with newer, distilled game design sensibilities boasting being able to "run 40+ years of material in the world's first rules tradition..." The core mechanic is d20 roll-under attribute (e.g. if you have a Strength score of 12, and you're attempting to crush a tomato can, you would have to roll 12 or under to succeed). As someone who started playing D&D during the 3.5 era, having to retrain my mind to understand 'low is good and 20 is the worst' was a fun little game in itself. Another interesting difference between Whitehack and most modern d20 games is that "Attack" rolls and "Saving Throws" have their own stat that also have to be rolled under to succeed (AV or '…
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Longwinter Nights - Session 1

It's shaping up to be the coldest winter Brezim has ever seen, and two men find themselves far, far from home. 
Meet our poor, lost souls adventurers:  Toshiro - The sensible and practical exorcist that hails from the quiet Tensia Town.  Furio - A mysterious assassin with a shadowy past. 
A local researcher who specializes in old architect ruins, one red-haired Sigma Delmar, has finally secured funding from the WhiteyesInstitute to investigate an old unsecured bunker near the Dimnaya stream. Our aforementioned fellows have been sent to accompany her and provide any extra security she may need on this project. Allegedly, this bunker houses an untouched seed vault left behind by the Old Architects. 
Our expedition starts in the middle of the winter season, just twelve days after the WinterSolstice. Furio and Toshiro share a wool-covered snowjeepney, driven by RufusScarborough, an honest man who runs a taxi line from the metropolitan hub of Barston, to the regional capital of Gomiliy,…
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5e Subclass: Chaos Domain

Chaos Domain
Clerics that choose Chaos as their domain worship gods of different walks. Some worship Mystra, but believe that a mortal understanding of magic is incomplete. Some worship gods of trickery and deceit, believing that fully trusting in the divine can be a mistake. Regardless of who they worship, they share a belief that magic is all-powerful, and to handle it carelessly comes with many repercussions.

Chaos Domain Spells
Cleric LevelSpells1stChromatic Orb, Color Spray3rdAlter Self, Enlarge/Reduce5thGaseous Form, Blink7thConfusion, Polymorph9thAnimate Objects, Reincarnate
Bonus Cantrip
When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain the prestidigitation cantrip if you don't already know it.

Channel Divinity: Fate's Gambit
Beginning at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to alter fate itself. Whenever any creature within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, roll a D20 and use your result instead. You make this choice after you s…
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5e Subclass: College of the Firebird

College of the Firebird
Bards who follow the College of the Phoenix all share similar qualities: courageous, chivalrous, and determination. They travel the world telling tales of the Phoenix, and patterning their lives after their namesake. Always the first to fight, and the last to give up, College of the Phoenix bards will never let their allies down, and are always a welcome addition on the battlefield.

Fire Dancer
When you join the College of the Phoenix at 3rd level, while not wearing armor or wielding a shield you gain the following benefits:
You gain proficiency with martial weaponsYour movement speed is increased by 10 feet.Your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifer + your Charisma modifier.Ignite the Soul
Also at 3rd level, your bardic inspiration has a chance to inspire and spark the imagination of your comrades. Whenever a friendly creature uses a Bardic Inspiration die granted by you, they add your Charisma modifier to the number rolled on the die.

Blaze of Glory
Beginning at…
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5e Subclass: College of Hymns

College of Hymns
Bards who follow the College of Divinity usually head the choirs of their universities and churches, or take up the power of hymnals to help inspire their fellow man down a path of righteousness.

Mysteries of Faith
When you join the College of Divinity at 3rd level, your healing spells and abilities are infused with divine power. Whenever you would roll a 1 or a 2 for a spell or ability to restore hit points, you reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2.

Hymn of Soothing
Also at 3rd level, your bardic inspiration begins to soothe the soul. Whenever you or a friendly creature uses your bardic inspiration die, they gain temporary hit points equal to the number rolled on the die + your Charisma modifier.

Psalm of Renewal
Beginning at 6th level, whenever you use your Song of Rest feature, you can end either one disease or one condition afflicting you or a single friendly creature who can hear your performance.

Conviction of Peace
Starting a…
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