So yeah, as I was chugging along Kobold Love’s 1st scene, I hit a snag with the skill challenge and I needed help ‘debugging it’. Graham ran to the rescue but when we were done, I had 1/2 a post and very little time left for sleep.
So I thought I’d share a pair of cool things with you while I spend a bit more time working on my main post.
One-Sentence NPCs
Some time ago, I ran a contest with Johnn Four, asking readers to submit NPC descriptions that fit in one sentence.
I just wanted to share with you that all entries 700 entries were collected and edited in one PDF that you can find here. That’s a very handy document to have near your GM notes. It takes some time to load as it’s a 44 page PDF.
Also, Johnn created a random selector, you can find it here.
That was a fun contest. I’m working at a new, much bigger one for later this year, stay tuned.
When D&D meets Magic: the Gathering.
As many know, my friend Asmor has been churning the best fan created D&D 4e tools since the game launched and I use them often.
What people might not know is that he’s also been writing about stealing elements of popular non-D&D fantasy franchises and adapting them to the latest edition of D&D.
My favorite by far is his series about Magic: the Gathering. So far he adapted the game’s infamous Slivers, Monsters that feature one key ability/power each but that take up the power/abilities of all other types of slivers nearby. However, what really blew my mind was his adaptation of parts of the very popular Ravnica setting.
Ravnica was a 3-set expansion that transported the players on a world entirely made up of one city. In that city, 10 guilds, each representing a pair of Magic’s 5 colors, struggled against each other and a Guildpact that prevented all out war between them.
This setting screams D&D, and Asmor pulled it off quite nicely by adapting one character, monster or magic item from each guild to get enterprising DM started.
All right, I’m back to the grind of work and Kobold Love. I’ll see you all later!
Credits: Stephen Martiniere/Wizards of the Coast (Image)
Really love the 1 sentence NPC’s. Thanks for sharing. Definitely a handy tool for any GM’s arsenal.
I hadn’t put much thought before into combining aspects of MTG into D&D. I play MTG a fair amount. I think Wizards has already pushed the tribal element pretty good in 4th edition with the shared abilities of monsters of the same types, but there is definitely plenty of design space to be explored by following the same themes that are used in MTG.
Welcome to the blog, thanks for the link on yours!
M:tG is a great series of settings ready for fans to exploit.
While Wizards have no plans of fusing the franchises, we can surely do it.
I have been thinking a long time about adapting Magic Elements to D&D but older rulesets (and my tendency to do it ‘by the book’) made it too work intensive.
4e can definitively make this more accessible.
Great Ideia!
I have made a entrie campaing with the 4th edition of magic ( yes, its old and its was with 2nd edition ) using only the text that follow some cards to build the world. By far the best experience i have!
Great Post
leandropugs last blog post..Nóticias da Wizards – GenCon 2008 e Lista de Livros ( Parte II )
I think a skill challenges competition would be cool. I unfortunately don’t feel like I have a good grasp on how to create and implement skill challenges and some examples from your readers (or a blog post!) would provide some great examples.
@Leandro: Thanks… I’d love to tackle a M:tG campaign one day! We may talk about this more soon.
@Greenvesper: Great idea! It made it on my list of ‘Dangerous but cool ideas’
Thanks a ton for the link love, I missed it the first time around. 😀
Asmors last blog post..Friends & Foes: The Masked Mountebank
Hey, there’s my entries in the NPC contest! I am ze proud papa.