Monday, October 31, 2016

The People of Yeltharan (Open Legend)

Yeltharan has a population of around 14 million people.  Aside from a few large cities with populations over 100,000, most of these people are scattered into either small towns or independent farm and home steads. About half the population is involved in agrarian pursuits of some kind, and the other half are fairly evenly split between lumbering and mining.Yeltharan is a closed economy that neither imports nor exports, so it provides everything that its people need internally.

Gearing up for Cthulhu (Last step of Character Building)

All right Game Fans, it’s Halloween and we’re going to cover the last step of building an Investigator for Call of Cthulhu today.  The last thing we’re going to need for our Investigator is to gear up for the myriad of potential things you could bump into while investigating the Mythos. Bear in mind, you aren’t playing Oregon Trail, so you need to figure out exactly what your character has on hand, and what he or she can lay his or her grubby mitts on when the situation demands. Let’s take a closer look at equipping yourself in Call of Cthulhu.

Player's Choice (Half-Orcs)

Player's Choice (Half-Orc Edition)
So you’ve taken a hard look at Dungeons and Dragons and decided that it’s time to make your first character for Dungeons & Dragons.  First off, welcome to the family.  You’ve taken your first steps into a world of shared storytelling and high adventure.  We’re going to take a look at the process for building your character and go over the options you have available in the Player’s Handbook (we use the 5th edition, as it’s the most recent, and we think it’s one of the most accessible systems we’ve seen in a long time.).  So grab your scratch paper, your pencil, and your character sheet as we explore the magical world of Dungeons and Dragons.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Open Legend (Work in Progress Part II)

Let's take a look at the land and the important areas of Yeltharan. 

Filling in the Background (Character Building advice for Call of Cthulhu)

All right Game Fans, we’re back to finish up our character building for Call of Cthulhu
We’ve Rolled our Attributes, generated our statistics, picked a profession, and assigned our skill points.  We’re coming in on the home stretch but we’re at one the most important parts of constructing a character, building the Backstory.  Let’s take a look at Building a Backstory, Call of Cthulhu style.  Call of Cthulhu gives you a lot of leeway for building a backstory, and they offer a variety of tables to help inspire you.  We’re going to use that narrative tool for building a backstory, to give you folks at home an idea of how the tables works.  
 

Puzzle Quest (Dungeon Mastering Advice)

All right Game Fans, today we’re going to talk about Puzzles and how to include in your encounters.  Puzzles are a staple of the fantasy genre and really came into their own with the rise of video games. Puzzles can include Movable blocks, hidden floor panels, and other combinations of environmentally based scenic elements  that can be manipulated to effect a change in the environment of the area.  They also represent password protected areas or barriers that prevent movement forward (The secret door into the Mines of Moria, for example).  Let’s take a closer look at puzzles and some of the best ways to incorporate them into your game, and some suggestions on puzzle traps to avoid.