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THE TRAVELLING ALCHEMIST







TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024


THE $10 SOLUTION TO MINIATURES FOR TTRPGS



What if I told you for $10 you'd never have to worry about having the right
miniature ever again. That after spending that $10's you'd could display a
Goblin, a Redcoat, a Corrupted Cultist, and a Stormtrooper, all without having
to purchase, print, or make another mini? And to top it all off, they will
immerse your players more than any normal painted mini. Sounds too good to be
true? maybe, but here the solution I suggest.




Meeples!



For those of you also in the Board Game hobby, you are already familiar with
meeples. They are small painted and shaped wooden game pieces. These ones are
humanoid shaped, but they come in all shapes and sizes. If you've played Catan
or Root, you've used Meeples. 







Meeples are so popular in board games because they are much cheaper to produce
then plastic miniatures, and they also have more character than standees or
simple wooden blocks.



For these same reasons, Meeples also make perfect RPG materials. A Meeples color
can act as a reminder for what they represent, unlike something like dice, which
is what I used to use when I didn't use miniatures. For example, a goblin or
zombie might use green. Elite NPCs may use silver and gold. A noble person may
have a purple Meeple.

Don't get me wrong, I love miniatures, I'm a wargamer just as much as a ttrpg
enthusiast. But miniatures can often limit the imagination of players, not
enhance their immersion. Once a physical, detailed representation of an NPC or
Monster is sitting on the table, the players imagination cease. Not to mention
when you must use a stand-in model for something you don't have, and suddenly
the kobolds the PCs have been talking to turnout out to look identical to the
dwarves they talked to last week. Not so with Meeples, which offer just enough
context for the mind to fill in the blanks with evocative language. I'm not
saying don't use minis, but Meeples may have a place for fodder who you don't
want to put the time, effort, or money into finding and painting accurate models
for.

Even for gridless games Meeples can have a use at your table as tokens,
condition counters, hp trackers, or whatever else you could need. In my savage
worlds game my players chose a meeple color and use the extras as their Bennies.
They also weigh next to nothing and store up small.





I got my Meeples online for around $10 for 100. If you want a set for yourself
they shouldn't be hard to find. Bye for now and happy gaming!







at June 04, 2024 No comments:
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Labels: RPGs




MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2024


USING A FLOW CHART FOR DUNGEON MAPS




QUICKIE TODAY!

 I've been running Starfinder recently, and with the final session coming up I
needed to prepare the ship the party would be stealing from. However I knew I
didn't need a highly detailed, highly time consuming map of the ship, but I also
didn't want to run it entirely off the cuff. I was inspired by the idea of Point
Crawls, so I ended up going with a flowchart map, as seen below:




I highly recommend this method, here's why:





 1. Ease of Use: While not as rigid as a standard square grid map, it also isn't
    so loose that the players and the GM can still use it for reference.
 2. Room to Expand: The areas and passages give an idea of how everything
    connects, but leaves room for improvisation at the table. How it connects
    can be left up to GM Fiat. For example the connection between the Living
    area and Maintenance might be an elevator, a staircase, or a series of
    floors that transition between the two depending on what the GM and Players
    need at the table.
 3. Ease of Creation: I made this map in about an hour using app.diagrams.net.
    It's a free browser program than links right into Google Drive.

I know I'm not the first to use flow chart maps before, but I felt inspired to
write up a quick blogpost about mine, after my friend told me to. If you end up
feeling inspired an make a flow chart map, feel free to tag me @qw3rty_jp to
show me!




at April 22, 2024 No comments:
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Labels: OC, RPGs



MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024


YET ANOTHER MANEUVER SYSTEM FOR OSR STYLE GAMES



 Long time no see!




Something I noticed a few days ago that has been bugging me to no end is how in
Trad games, mainly D&D, there seems to be a problem with fights that are
stagnant. The fighter rocks up to the opposing Orc and they stand there fighting
until either one of them is dead or retreating. Compare this to all the best
sword fights in movies you've seen. I'll link the famous Princess Bride duel,
though doubtless you've seen it.




Look at the way they move around the battlefield, all while remaining engaged
with each other. I want to replicate this in my combats. I have devised a system
to solve my problems, inspired by Trespasser, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and
Mythras. While designing I had these design principles:







1. Can be bolted onto an existing system with little effort



2. Rewards the use of maneuvers

3. Encourages movement around the battlefield between those in melee

4. Does not significantly slow combat




Without further ado here are the rules, with design commentary at the bottom.




Strong Hits:

When you hit an enemies armor class or above and your die roll is even, you can
confer extra benefits on top of your damage roll. Choose one:



 1. Add +1 damage to the damage roll
 2. Control the battle: Go on the offensive and move the battle somewhere else
    on the battlefield within reason.
 3. Attempt a maneuver: name a maneuver you would like to attempt that your GM
    agrees to. Then roll the attack dice again, if you succeed, the maneuver
    works. Eg. Knock a sword out of someone's hand, kick them off a cliff, etc.
 4. Disengage: Move away from the enemy combatant, this does not provoke an
    attack of opportunity.*

Designer Commentary



First, why the decision to make strong hits on a hit + even dice roll? For this
I can thank Trespasser for the inspiration, where even dice rolls confer
additional effects. I like this because it means these effects are going off 50%
of the time an attacker succeeds, which means they happen often but cannot fully
be relied upon.



 1. The simple +1 damage is a back up plan, for when there is nowhere useful to
    move to and no maneuver an attack wants to use. It is only 1 damage because
    I want to encourage the use of the other options. It is also an easy option
    for most unintelligent monsters to pick.
 2. This was the inspiration for the whole subsystem. By controlling the battle
    you can position yourself into an advantageous position or your enemy into a
    perilous one. For example jumping up onto a rock to gain the high ground, or
    inching an enemies back up against the edge of a cliff.
 3. These are pretty standard maneuver rules. It is worth noting in these rules,
    you can still attempt to do maneuvers without getting a strong hit, only it
    takes your action. This may still be worth it in some cases, as you'd only
    need to succeed one roll, instead of succeeding an attack with an even
    number, then succeeding a second roll.
 4. *While attacks of opportunity may seem counterproductive if my goal is to
    increase the amount of movement in combat, without it my system falls apart
    somewhat. Since in this system you can force movement on your opponent there
    needs to be an incentive not to immediately undo that movement. For example
    if you push back your foe to the edge of a cliff, without a reason to stay
    in that spot, your foe can simply move away from the cliffside. they may be
    more likely to stay there and fight if the threat of an attack of
    opportunity is eminent. Attacks of Opportunity do not activate Strong Hits.

Additional Considerations
Who can use Strong Hits?


If I were using this subsystem for a classic retroclone like Whitebox, I would
probably give these options to Fighters and Dwarves. While writing this the
system I had in mind was Knave. Since Knave is classless, I would give all PCs
access to Strong Hits.


-------
So how did I do? I hope you found my idea interesting at the very least. This
subsystem is still a work in progress, so if you have any suggestions or
comments, please leave them below!




at January 29, 2024 No comments:
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Labels: OC, OSR, RPGs



TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023


IN THE REALM OF ME, APRIL 2023



 It's funny to see just how long its been since the last time I posted
something. Time really flies by, huh. Since my last post I have a few updates to
make.

Firstly: I released my first official ttrpg supplement! ACES is a hack of the
game FIST by Claymore, which allows you to take on missions set in the wild
west! Inside the 8 page zine includes new mechanics, character options, a
mission generator, and a loose one-shot to get you started.

You can find ACES on itch.io for Pay What You Want at this
link: https://qw3rty.itch.io/aces





Second: I started a Call of Cthulhu public game at my college. I'm surprised
just how popular it has become, especially since many of the members had no
prior roleplaying experiences. One had never even heard of Cthulhu at all! I
have a post coming soon detailing a one-shot I wrote for that public game, but
for now I will just detail my experiences running. First it definitely made me a
better Keeper and GM. With a constantly changing party the dynamic was always
switching and I was always teaching new people how to play. Additionally it gave
me a lot of experience running, which in all honestly I didn't have a ton of
beforehand. And secondly, it felt very fulfilling to introduce people to the
hobby that wouldn't have otherwise. The more people playing the better,
especially if they go to my school.


Well that's all for this update. I have a few things in the works, but those
will be for after finals are over. As always happy gaming and I look forward to
the next time you stop by the Travelling Alchemist!




at April 25, 2023 No comments:
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Labels: RPGs



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023


BLACKJACKAL DICE GAME, FOR YOUR RPG GAMBLING PLEASURE!



 Today's Blogpost is about a simple dice game to throw into your games when the
players are feeling lucky. It's quite simple, and is a good mix of luck and
skill, in my opinion. It plays very similar to blackjack, only with d12s instead
of cards. Here are the rules:





 * One person is the dealer, this is most likely the house, but a player with a
   particularly large sum could take this role as well.
 * First, the Players put in their bets. You can decide if the table will have a
   minimum or not.
 * The Dealer then rolls 4d12, dropping as many dice as it takes to get below
   25. They then reveal one of the dice.
 * The Players now decide if they want to add more to their bet or fold. Again
   decide if there should be a minimum.
 * The players now choose how many d12s they would like to roll. There is no
   maximum, however if they roll above 24 they lose.
 * The goal of the game is to get above the dealer without going over 24.
 * Finally the Dealer reveals their whole dice pool. If the Dealer wins they
   take the bet, if the Player wins the dealer matches what they put in.
 * If anyone gets a perfect 24 that's called a BlackJackal, and they get the
   entire table's bets, on top of what the dealer owes them. If multiple people
   get a BlackJackal, then they split the pot evenly.

And that's it! This is a pretty popular game at the Travelling Alchemist, you
can find many adventurers losing their hard-earned loot at our beer stained
tables. Some shifty fellows even like to bet secrets and rumors in lieu of
money. 

If you want to have the players roll for a skill check on top of playing the
game (for example Savage Worlds has a gambling skill), have them make the check.
If they succeed let them add or subtract an extra die after their initial roll,
to signify their character correctly calculating the odds. If a player wants to
cheat let them make the skill check, then change the face of a die if they
succeed.

However you play I hope you have fun, and Happy Gaming!


at February 16, 2023 No comments:
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Labels: OC, RPGs



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023


USING PC THEME SONGS TO SHOWCASE YOUR HEROES



So today's blog post is about giving the PCs of your rpg campaign theme songs.
Obviously, this isn't for every game but if your running a game where the PCs
are supposed to be badasses, reminiscent of action hero movies and the like this
may be the perfect fit. Especially if music is important at your table.

Juan Giménez


The setup would be quite simple. During your session zero have each of the
players choose a song they think represents their character well. This might
work better for a modern or cyberpunk setting so that the players can choose
recognizable songs that wouldn't clash with your playlist. Add these songs to
your playlist. Now you can decide how long you want your playlist to be. If you
only play music during combat then you'll probably want it shorter, but if you
play music the whole session you'll want it longer, maybe around 6 hours. When a
PC's song comes up give that PC some sort of bonus. 

A few ideas may be:

 * Give them a static bonus to their next turn (IE a +3 bonus to all rolls in
   D&D 5e)
 * Let them auto-succeed on their next action
 * My favorite, let them describe how the party gets some sort of edge in the
   scene they're in because of the PC's badassery (IE letting the PC describe
   how they use their stealthy skills to sneak past a security system, how they
   smooth talk with a crime boss, etc, etc)




Finally, my favorite use of this mechanic is what I call "The Blaze of Glory".
At any time the player can either ask the GM to play their song or pull out
their phone and begin playing their theme. When a player does this they take
control of the scene and describe how they overcome the obstacles, defeat the
villain, whatever. But at the end of the scene or song, that PC dies in a blaze
or glory. This can create super impactful moments where a PC makes the ultimate
sacrifice, all the while the song that highlighted so many of their achievements
plays in the background.




Let me know if you use this in your own games or one-shots, and how you would
modify it for your own use. Until next time, this is Drew of the Travelling
Alchemist. 


at February 10, 2023 1 comment:
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Labels: OC, RPGs



THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2023


CUSTOM FROSTGRAVE SCENARIO: GOREPIN'S MANOR


Recently I was back home for the holidays. While I was home I got my friends
into Frostgrave and we had a bit of a mini narrative over 4 gaming sessions
total. This all culminated in the 4 warbands finding the destroyed ruins of the
legendary wizard Gorepin's manor. While his house was chock full of treasure,
the ghost of Gorepin himself was there to protect it! Well at least he was
supposed too... due to some unfortunate die rolls Gorepin only made himself
known twice in our game. You may want to adjust the summoning target number if
you run this scenario with your group. Below is the pdf scenario.


 Here's some photos of some of the warbands I painted and the ruins of Gorepins
manor!





The Final Battle




My Warband, led by Marieth the Ancient



A Friends Warband, led by Steve Craftmine



Another Friends Warband, led by Tombra



A final warband, pictured partially painted, led by Magus










at January 26, 2023 No comments:
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Labels: Frostgrave, OC, Wargaming

Older Posts Home

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THE $10 SOLUTION TO MINIATURES FOR TTRPGS

What if I told you for $10 you'd never have to worry about having the right
miniature ever again. That after spending that $10's you...


 * Using A Flow Chart for Dungeon Maps
   Quickie today!  I've been running Starfinder recently, and with the final
   session coming up I needed to prepare the ship the party would...
   
 * Yet Another Maneuver System for OSR style games
    Long time no see! Something I noticed a few days ago that has been bugging
   me to no end is how in Trad games, mainly D&D, there seems t...
   
 * In the Realm of Me, April 2023
    It's funny to see just how long its been since the last time I posted
   something. Time really flies by, huh. Since my last post I have a...
   





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