Tag: Magic
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2400 devlog: Legends
Legends is the one (and likely only) “lo-fi hi-fantasy” entry in the 2400 series, an homage to D&D that might actually fit into a unified 2400 setting (if you squint hard enough). You can find it in the full 2400 series on Itch.io, and on its own and in the 2400 bundle on DriveThruRPG. Legends…
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2400 devlog: Resistors
Resistors is a game about activist hackers struggling to get by and make a difference in a hyper-corporate cyberpunk dystopia. Download it as part of the entire 2400 collection on Itch.io, or on its own or in the 2400 bundle on DriveThruRPG. Cyberpunk aesthetics vs. praxis As I wrote on the original Itch devlog, I…
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2400 devlog: Codebreakers
Codebreakers is an action-thriller microgame about hackers, investigators, and innocent bystanders who know The Truth: This is all just a simulation. They’ve glimpsed enough of the code behind reality to exploit it, at the risk of attracting the attention of relentless daemons. Get it as part of the entire 2400 collection on Itch.io, and on…
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How to learn spells in Bastionland
I love the simplicity of Electric Bastionland and Into the Odd and “foreground growth” in place of advancement, but I also understand the appeal of detailed character upgrade options. For a lot of players, getting to plan out and optimize their character trajectory is an essential part of the fun of RPGs. There are, of…
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This giant, immortal bug wizard seems like an OK dude
Mind control is tricky business. As a player in a D&D-descended game, you understand that you have limited control over the world at large, but you are the final arbiter on how your character thinks and acts. Losing control of your character’s behavior is effectively being denied the right to actually play the game. No…
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Seven Sorceries
Whenever I come across (or come up with) a magic system I think would be fun to use in an RPG someday, I make a note of it in a document (which I just realized I should probably be referring to as my “grimoire,” “spell book,” or something comparably dorky). Here are a few I’ve…
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Advanced HD&D, 2nd Edition
Someday I would like to run an old school D&D game that uses hit dice as an expendable resource. Here’s how I might do it. The Basics: You have a reserve of as many hit dice as your level, and your hit die size is based on class (d4 wizard, d6 thief, d8 cleric, d10…
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The (Mostly) Indecipherable Spellbook
I have always been a little dissatisfied with the two main mechanisms I’ve seen for magic users to gain spells in D&D: Either the player just picks one from a book and the character suddenly knows it, or the character finds a spell in the world and among loot and gets to learn it when…
Pretendo Games 