Emphasize the “Magic” in Items

One of my least favorite aspects of all versions of Dungeons and Dragons have been the prevalence of vanilla “plus” weapons. They’re just boring. A long sword +1 feels an awful lot like a purely mechanical reward–less “magic” and more “accountant”.

It takes very little imagination to add a minor cantrip or bit of flavor to a magic weapon to make it exciting, but it provides a tremendous amount of interest versus the simple “plus” bonus.

This is not to say that magic weapons should not come with plus bonuses, but these plus bonuses should reflect the magic nature of the weapon, not define it. Take a look at my Waxing Sun/Daylight’s End dual sword for an example of what I mean, and here are a few more sample items to illustrate how minor mechanical effects can add a lot of variety to low-level magic rewards.

P&P Solo Campaign: Garret (Session 2)

Recap

Last time we created a retired soldier, Garret, and watched as he escorted a group of wounded companions into a small village. A confrontation in the village square woke him up, and he stepped out to see a man held at spear-point.

Hit the jump for my second session, in which Garret gets a job and may soon find himself in some trouble!

P&P Solo Campaign: Garret (Session 1)

All right! My first posted solo session. I’m playing a little catch-up here, filling you all in on a recently played character creation and the first few bits of play in a Pits & Perils game.

The game style I’m going for is a combination of Traveller’s open-world, job-seeking freedom with Raymond E. Feist’s SerpentWar saga from Riftwars.

Hit the jump to go into character creation and the first session!

Reboot

Well, it’s time–tabletop roleplaying has called me back into the fold. Over the years I flirt with gaming only to be turned off due to a lack of willing group, or busy with work/family, etc. A few years ago I found Mythic and fiddled with it a little, liking the idea, but never ended up taking it seriously. That’s changed.

For the last few weeks I’ve been playing regular games of Mythic in a variety of worlds/systems, and it’s been the most fun I’ve ever had with tabletop RPGs. I hope to share those adventures, and my tips for having fun with them, here!

Please keep in touch!