Archive for the ‘D&D / Pathfinder’ Category

On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 21-23

This entry is part 11 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, I’ll never get it done in time… ************************************************************************************************* While most of Chapter 21 had been done when I started this series, Chapters 22 and 23 were at best partially finished, which means my easy ride is over. In the […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 18-20

This entry is part 10 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, I’ll either never get it done in time… ************************************************************************************************* Chapters 18-20 are all in final form. I don’t change “speaker” in mid-paragraph, but the speaker does change from one paragraph to the next. So if it seems like the […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 15-17

This entry is part 9 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it in public, I’ll either never get it done in time… ************************************************************************************************* Chapters 15-17 are all in reasonably final form. I try not to change “speaker” in mid-paragraph, but the speaker does sometimes change from one paragraph to the next. So […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 11-14

This entry is part 8 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, in public, I’ll never get it done in time… ************************************************************************************************* Chapters 10-13 are all in final form. I don’t change “speaker” in mid-paragraph, but the speaker does change from one paragraph to the next. So if it seems like […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 5-10

This entry is part 7 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, in public, I’ll either never get it done in time… ************************************************************************************************* A shout-out to the sources There aren’t many sources of non-original material that I have used in my Campaigns, but sometimes something is just too useful. These chapters […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 1-4

This entry is part 6 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, in public, I’ll either never get it done in time… But First, One more piece of context: In preparing this article, and the series as a whole, it’s suddenly occurred to me that I’ve never explained just why this […]

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one: An RPG, A Videogame, and a Bingo Game sit down in a bar…

Video Games and RPGs have shared a parallel evolution throughout their histories, going all the way back to the original such games (Colossal Cave Adventure in 1967 and [Original] D&D in 1974, which was based on 1971’s Chainmail rules for miniatures wargaming). Throughout their histories, they have fed on each other, sometimes in a fairly […]

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Inventing and Reinventing Races in DnD: An Introduction to the Orcs and Elves series part 5

This entry is part 5 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got a lot of campaign prep to get done. In fact, I’ve got so much to do that if I don’t do it here, I’ll either never get it done in time. But first, I have to paint a picture of the background for this to be useful to the rest of Campaign Mastery’s […]

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The Poetry Of Meaning: 16 words to synopsize a national identity

There are certain words whose literal translation can be considered telling when defining the mindset of a nation or culture. Most of these are identified after the fact, when a scholar matches a literal translation with a key insight into the profile of a particular group, but for roleplaying purposes we can define and redefine as necessary to employ selected terms as key indicators and giveaways to the psychology of a group or race.

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Inventing and Reinventing Races in DnD: An Introduction to the Orcs and Elves series part 4

This entry is part 4 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got a lot of campaign prep to get done. In fact, I’ve got so much to do that if I don’t do it here, I’ll either never get it done in time. But first, I have to paint a picture of the background for this to be useful to the rest of Campaign Mastery’s […]

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Inventing and Reinventing Races in DnD: An Introduction to the Orcs and Elves series part 3

This entry is part 3 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got a lot of campaign prep to get done over the next few months. In fact, I’ve got so much to do that if I don’t do it here, in public, I’ll either never get it done in time – or be so distracted that Campaign Mastery will suffer. I’ve chosen to do the […]

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Top-Down Design, Domino Theory, and Iteration: The Magic Bullets of Creation

There are three tricks that I use all the time when designing adventures, characters, races, campaigns, cultures, NPCs and Villainous Plans for RPGs, and for rebooting tired old characters. I call them the magic bullets of design, and I’ve written about most of them several times before – but there is always something new to […]

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