Adventure Review: Wine and Spirits

 Wine and Spirits

Wine and Spirits is billed as a 4 hour adventure for the 5th edition of the Dungeons and Dragons rules set. Published by Rat King Games, and retailing for $7.99, it’s a horror themed adventure focused on a haunting in a small town that plays out over a single night.  I’ll talk a bit about what i like about the adventure, the things that get in the way, and the ease of you running/playing it in your home game.  

2020 status update

Hey Game Fans, bit of an update and some things I’ll be working on for the coming year. First, my health has not been ideal. I was diagnosed with Diabetic Retinopathy in October, after an eye bleed. The good news is it’s treatable, but it takes time. The bad news, it means that I can basically only see clearly out of one of my eyes right now. My vision is still improving, but I have to get shots in my eyes once a month to keep the treatment going.


In non-eye related news, I have been seeing a wound care specialist to take care of some lingering injuries on my feet (some are diabetic related, some aren’t). Good news on this front as well, as two of the five injuries are completely healed. Bad news, the other three still haven’t completely healed. I have three visits a week to the outpatient clinic to get the dressings on my wounds changed. (this is also the hilarious story where I had surgery on my foot without any anesthetic, but it’s ok, i have polyneuropathy in both feet, so i have no functional nerve endings in said locations). Oh, and I was diagnosed with Iron deficient anemia.


Combined, these things have sort of sapped my will and desire to work on hobby related things, and i have not been working too hard to keep up with the gaming community as a result.


However, 2020 has some high spots coming. Starting in January, I will be putting together a hobby blog series on a new Warhammer 40,000 project I’m working on. It’ll be a complete army project for Warhammer from start to finish, featuring an army i have been interested in playing since I got into the game back in 2001. Also, we’re working on putting together the first official release of a Module for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. Into the Depths will feature art, a short adventure and a brand new monster. I hope to have it released around the 1st of the year, but it’s possible it may take a smidge longer while I wrangle the team together. If this release works out, it may be the start of a series of new adventures and projects for Dungeons and Dragons going forward.


That’s my brief update for what’s going on (other than the Mage the Ascension game i run on discord). I hope you all have a happy holiday season, and we’ll see what happens in 2020. Game on, Game Fans.

Conversions and Gaming

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to try some a little more energetic than we normally do. Today we’re going to do a conversion of a fan favorite over to 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, just to show you how easy it is. Today’s offering, funnily enough, is Burnt Offerings, the 1st book in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path from the fine folks at Paizo. This was originally written for the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and this is based off of that version, not the Anniversary Edition that came out some time later. Now pull up your working table, and let’s get converting.

Conversions (or i really want to play this adventure but my friends hate the system)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another look at one of the intersections we occasionally bounce through in the TTRPG hobby. You’re in the game store or checking out Drivethru and you found the coolest adventure you’ve ever seen. It’s got everything you like in an adventure and will give you and your friends weeks and weeks of adventure. Just one problem. It’s for a system that your table absolutely refuses to even consider trying. What do? Take a breath, think about it for a moment, and grab that adventure. There’s a better than average chance you can convert the game to the system of your choice and still enjoy it with your table of gaming friends.

Afterlife Domain

Hey Game Fans, we’re coming back to our roots for the first time in a while and working on some content for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. A while back we put together our Deities of Lakeport series, and it’s finally time to go back and fill in some of the mechanical details on how to play the servants of these Deities. This may take a while to push through the entire series, but we hope to get through them. This is a rough version of putting the ideas on paper, and if you all seem to enjoy these enough, we may put together a finished version for publication later.

Civilization Domain for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

Hey Game Fans, we’re coming back to our roots for the first time in a while and working on some content for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. A while back we put together our Deities of Lakeport series, and it’s finally time to go back and fill in some of the mechanical details on how to play the servants of these Deities. This may take a while to push through the entire series, but we hope to get through them. This is a rough version of putting the ideas on paper, and if you all seem to enjoy these enough, we may put together a finished version for publication later.

D & D Beyond (Part 2)

Hey game fans, we’re back with a second look at the D & D Beyond digital tools for Dungeons and Dragons 5^th edition.  If you dig way back into our archives from a couple of years back, you’ll notice that we reviewed D & D Beyond and weren’t real happy with it.  Since we are looking at getting into online games and playing over the internet, it was time to take a second look at the tool kit. 

D & D E-sports and Gatekeeping

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to have a little bit of a ramble about a topic that we all think we know everything about (Gatekeeping) and how none of us would ever do anything like that to new folks. Earlier this week, the CEO of Hasbro was interviewed by a big news network and made a comment to the effect that the Dungeons and Dragons properties are growing and expanding as a financial success and he thinks that one way to grow these properties even further was through the use of an esports style approach to life. Sounds like an okay thing (oh, and they announced they were bringing Eberron back and opening up the Magic the Gathering world of Ravnica as playgrounds for Dungeons and Dragons).

Oh The Fun We're Going To Have

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with hopefully what starts off of a brighter week than the one we endured last week. There’s a ton of interesting things and forward progress being made by people all over the hobby and we’re going to talk a little bit about what’s coming up from us the rest of the week. So Buckle in for a trip in the Rambler, because it’s about to go a Ramblin’.

Money (and Treasure!) in RPGs

Hey Game Fans, we’re looking at an interesting aspect of the RPG trope today and i am going to share a couple of ideas that i think will help you all have some more fun with your characters. Today we’re talking about Treasure, and what it means to your character in a game of D & D (though there are a lot of games where treasure is a driving focus for story progression, character development, and a meter for who’s winning).

New Warlock Patron

Hey Game Fans, we're back with a new idea for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. This is a new homebrew patron for Warlock players representing a pact made with an arcane power of some type. There are some examples in the opening paragraph, but there are tons of interesting options that can fuel this kind of a Warlock patron. Now, we haven't playtested this at all, and honestly aren't completely sold on all of the abilities. Below the body of the article we'll toss out some of the ideas we had considered for it. Grab ten minutes and take a look at the Grand Arcana

Experiments in Cartographic Doom

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an idea article about a part of the world building process. This article is the intellectual descendant of my good friend Clay, over at Terminally Nerdy (Here). The genesis of this idea starts with a simple DM Tip on Twitter that basically says “When you are building your own world, don’t forget to leave blank spaces so you can fill in with new things or ideas as they come up.” And this is absolutely perfect advice. It does lead into a deeper thought of mine that comes up every once in a while.

Styles in Dungeons & Dragons

Hey Game Fans, today i’m going to talk a little bit about something i find interesting in the RPG community (the title says Dungeons and Dragons, but it can be splashed around a little harder than that). Dungeons and Dragons has a lot of characteristics that define its style, and you can mix and match them if you want to get creative. Let’s talk about those styles and how you can stretch them to fit your needs for your games at home or the adventures you may be writing or stories you’re trying to tell.

Retroverse Preview

Hey Game fans, we’re back with another article on one of our favorite topics, Dungeons and Dragons. Now our good friends over at Lasers and Liches (website here) are gearing up for a Kickstarter to launch their Retroverse campaign setting (officially launches on April 10th, so save your pennies). It’s an homage to neon lights, synth music, and a reality where everything is possible. Over the weekend they were nice enough to release a free preview for some of the stuff that’s coming with that setting. (You can find that preview here). Let’s talk about the themes we’re seeing so far, and talk about a couple of things.

Wednesday Wits (Reincarnation in Lakeport)

Hey guys, this is a bit of a different article for us. Today we’re going to take a look at one of the underlying themes of the Lakeport setting and examine how it interacts with the gods of the setting. There are also a few cultures and species that follow different beliefs (or have a different reaction to this process) and we’ll take a brief look at each of those. We’re going to deep dive into some fairly deep topics (and these are only how the apply to this setting), so grab your oxygen tanks, we’re going deep.

Critical Role Campaign Season 2 (First Thoughts)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a brief look at one of the larger phenomena in our hobby, Critical Role. It’s a smashing success watching a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors sitting around a table playing a game with their friends and has drawn a lot of attention to the game and the hobby in general. With a table featuring Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Tallesin Jaffe, Sam Riegel and last but certainly not least, Liam O’Brien, Critical Role brings together storytelling, adventure and reminds a lot of us what kind of fun you can have with your friends playing D & D.

Monday Morning Thoughts (Game Mastering stuff)

Good Morning Game Fans, it’s a bright, shiny morning around the office and we’re settling in for a nice long week of winter (We just had our first patch of ice). Today’s thoughts from the Interweb revolve around something near and dear to my heart, Game Mastering. There are a TON of articles, videos, streams and other consumable forms of media that go into great detail about the nuts and bolts of Game Mastering and we’re not going to necessarily dive into any of those specifically, we’re going to talk about the underlying framework of what a Game Master does for the game, and the role they play in the group dynamic. Buckle in Game Fans, it’s going to be mild ride.

Plot Traps (Madness and You)

I’m changing some things up with the blog and looking at a variety of new and old ideas in gaming. I’d like to spend part of today talking about some recurring tropes and ideas that crop up in fantasy storytelling and how they can be used (and abused) in an RPG to some sort of effect. Today’s volume is going to feature Madness as a phenomenon. There are a variety of ways this idea can be used to great effect in a fantasy rpg. Madness is a wonderful plot element that allows a GM to turn characters great and small against their normal nature and you can use it to open up options that don’t normally offer themselves, like an antagonistic angel or a friendly monster.

Now this is a discussion of madness as a plot device and an element to enhance your games. It IS NOT a discussion of mental health issues in gaming or in the real world and if you are struggling with those, i strongly encourage you to seek out help. There are people in this world who care about you and want to see you succeed. Get help, it’s the best advice i can give you. Now, onto the discussion at hand.

Archetypes List for LakePort

So we’re off to the races compiling a list of additional archetypes (or notes on how to incorporate them) for use in our Lakeport setting. These will include but are not limited to:

Humans of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back for the last part of our feature on the races for the setting of Lakeport.  Today we’re going to look at humans, and their two primary cultures, the Lakefolk and the Horse Lords. These represent a mechanical issue with the way we’ve wanted to present Lakeport. There’s an internal discussion on whether or not they should be a subrace or a background.  

Mechanically, the Lakefolk and the Horse Lords are the exact same people with very few differences in their stats.  Their changes are minor, and focus on specific aspects of their culture and the primary conveyance they use to get around the world.  However, if we make them a background, we take away the ability for a Player to make a Lakefolk Artisan, or a Horse Lord Noble.  We pigeonhole them into their specific culture instead of giving their culture the same breadth of options that the other cultures can select.  

So we’re going to present these options as subraces (which are usable with either configuration of human from the Player’s Handbook).  This is presented as an augmentation to the information provided in the Player’s Handbook, and the subrace represents additional cultural traits exclusive to the Horse Lords and the Lakefolk.  There are other smaller groups but these lack a unified culture that pulls them together.  The full range of heights, weights, complexions and descriptive elements from the Player’s Handbook are available.  Let’s take a closer look at the Horse Lords and The Lakefolk.