Culture of the Day: Lumpfzball

The most exciting sporting events in the kingdom are the massively popular Lumpfzball contests. Held every year at the end of winter, Lumpfzball is a cross between jousting and dodge ball.

Random Name Generator #1

I'm always interested in helping other game masters with some quick resources they can use in a jam. This is a random name generator that you can use to placate your players when they get too curious about "shopkeeper" and his personal wants and desires.

99 Ways to Circumvent a Locked Door

So, you just failed your "unlock the door" check and you're desperate to see what's on the other side of the door. Could it be a cache of weapons? Could it be a cache of armor? Could it just be some cash? You may never know because the dice refuse to cooperate.

But the one thing about table top role playing games is that game masters LOVE creativity. And if you use your noodle to circumvent the locking mechanism in some unusual way, they'll probably make sure that whatever is on the other side of the door is equal in impressiveness to the solution you used to solve their problem.

Item of the Day: Royf's Coif

The legendary illusionist Mallard Royf performed across the whole of the land -- traveling from city to city to showcase his sleight of hand skills. He was particularly well known for a dagger throwing feat where he would juggle eight daggers high into the air -- only to have one come down awkwardly and "pierce" him straight through the skull. He then would "pull out" the dagger and show the crowd how he was "miraculously" unharmed.

Hierarchy of the Day: Nature Demigods

Presuming that each god in a pantheon has a series of demigods, titans, and other such creatures under his or her purview, what would such a hierarchy look like for a nature god who was in charge of all things wild and woolly?

Dungeon of the Day: Hidden Pantheon

A pantheon (not the Parthenon) is a collection of gods. It comes from the Greek "pan" (meaning "all", like "pandemic") and "theos" (meaning "gods", like "theology"). Today's dungeon is a temple jammed into the base of a ravine. It's haunting beauty cleverly tricks unsuspecting adventurers in and then destroys them with guile. It's simple design allows you to stock it full of any kind of gods/creatures you'd like and then fit it snugly into your world.

Dungeon of the Day: Goblin Mine #1

The goblins are at it again. Having discovered a small but pure vein of iron near a small village, they have taken up residence, enslaved several of the villagers to work as laborers, and scared everyone else away from the area.

Item of the Day: The Sword of Everfrost

The Sirens of Everfrost were a coven of dangerous mages who lived deep in the mountains of Cyldar. Their intoxicating chants bewitched many an adventurer, causing the doomed fighters to stand in place until they were imprisoned by the elements in icy stalagmites. For those fortunate few who were immune to their charms, the Sirens were more than capable of defending themselves using ancient elemental magic.

That was until the adventurer Justain Dandelar discovered their secret lair while exploring the mountains. Her unique path through what was to others impassible terrain gave her access to a deeper part of the Siren's realm -- where she found the Hallucinosis Orb that controlled the frosty witches. After speaking to the orb and beating it in a contest of wits, the Orb crumbled to dust releasing the sirens who gratefully fled the valley after rewarding Dandelar with The Sword of Everfrost -- a magical weapon with a thirst for warmth.

Puzzle of the Day: Lockpicking Wheels

I personally find rolling to determine the success or failure of a lock picking event to be too impersonal and since picking locks in real life is a monotonous skill that requires hundreds of hours of staring at a metal face plate to fully appreciate, I would never consider handing a player the ripped-out lock from my front door and saying, "Here, have at it!"

Can we construct a physical puzzle that simulates the aligning of tumblers and the spinning of a combination lock in a way that makes a lock-picking event more fun and engaging? I think we can.

The Problem with Published Modules

Flexibility in the face of unforeseen change is a fundamental part of what makes TTRPGs fun. Sadly, published adventure modules are, in my opinion, deeply flawed by the very fact that they are designed to send players down a strict path of content without consideration for player input.

In a game genre where the word "railroading" is as dirty as any four-letter offering you can muster, published modules openly embrace this design flaw and turn it into a full-fledged game mechanic.

Map of the Day: Garthmound

Garthmound is a medium-sized fishing village located on the major trade road between two large cities. At first only an emergency stop for those seeking a nice fish dinner, it has grown over the past two decades into a legitimate trading hub full of local vendors. However, the fisheries have also continued to grow -- pitting the major players against one another as they jostle to control the river.

10 Things Every RPG Town Must Have

When it comes to designing a town for your table top role playing game (TTRPG), there are some questions that will come up on a regular basis that -- if you haven't thought them through in advance -- could trip up the flow of your game as you fumble for the answers. In this article, I'd like to present the ten things you need to have in your fantasy village, town, or city design in order to make sure that the people who live there don't die a horrible death.

Types of Quest Giver

Many game masters complain that there is no variety in the sources of quests in a table top game because most people hyper focus on the various non-player characters (NPCs) they meet in the world. As a bonus post today, I want to talk about alternative sources of player quests and then specifically list the types of quest givers -- both sentient and non-sentient -- that a party of adventurers may find as they play the game.

Item of the Day: Caromb's Cross

The arch-mage Nephros Caromb sought immortality. His plan was to channel his soul into an object -- a gold pendant that hung from a thick silver chain -- convinced that leaving the object back in safety as he went forward into battle would grant him immunity from harm.

However, as he worked to accomplish his goal his greed consumed him and he attempted to add power to his soul by amplifying it through a cracked seer stone. The experiment ended in his death and his soul was fractured into four imperfect pieces, imprisoned within a golden cell.

NPC of the Day: Family Tree Gardener

Fenwald Griswick, Keeper of the Lore and librarian to King Ludwig Ormandy, is known throughout the land as one of the wisest of scribes. He works in the private archives deep within the bowels of the royal palace at Castle Hardstone. These extensive stacks stretch for hundreds of yards and sink down into the sub-basement dug deep into the limestone cliffs that support the generations-old stronghold. There is also a secret exit from the castle way in the back known only to the King, Griswick, and his assistants.

Appearance and Traits

• Gender: Male
• Age: Advanced
• Severely Nearsighted (eyes are full of cataracts and are severely pale)
• Takes a secret potion that reduces cataracts for several hours
• Dress: Robes of a Monk
• Shoes: simple cloth wraps so as not to disturb the visitors to the library
• Has an ever-flowing magic quill on him at all times
• Has a half-dozen miniature blank scrolls in each of his pocket; can identify them by touch and find exactly the one he's looking for with stunning accuracy
• Writes
• Teetotaler
• Can no longer identify different foods by taste
• Voice is raspy and choked; audible breaths; tires easily
• Smells of dust