Gary Gygax famously declared strict time records to be vital for a meaningful campaign, but with the 5e DMG lacking any real helpful tips on how to manage time I tended to let it fall by the wayside. But with a greater appreciation of the importance of structure in making characters' decisions have an impact, … Continue reading Tracking Time, Time Trackers
No, I've still not had much practice with drawing digitally. Why do you ask? There was originally a long, rambling moan about the lack of structure in 5e for anything other than hitting things with weapons or magic. I don't think it was particularly constructive (or well-written enough to justify using anyway) so I got … Continue reading Structures in RPG Play
All images in this post attained from game-icons.net I Go, You Go One element of D&D 5e which always left me cold was Initiative. A randomly determined but then fixed turn order for each individual participant threw an initial spanner in the pacing works and then rendered a lot of creative and narrative thinking sub-optimal. … Continue reading An alternative to IGO UGO combat
None of this is groundbreaking, but it's sometimes handy to describe one's internal goings on, especially if my future self needs to look back at me with a slightly quizzical expression. We're coming up to a year of playing through Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze using various versions of Off-White Cube. Whilst classes have come and gone, … Continue reading Variable Difficulty, or How I Learned To Love The X-In-6
EDIT: Simplified the consequences of rolling a 1 further so the only reference a caster should need is the magical mishap table. As alluded to in my post trialling the Channeller class for a previous version of Off-White Cube, my preference is that those barmy fools who think dabbling in the arcane arts is an … Continue reading Casting without spell lists
A big assumption behind Off-White Cube is that a character is not defined primarily (or much at all) by their class. Instead, the class serves as a recognisable archetype which should help guide players as to how their character's goes about adventuring. My personal preference is to do away with classes entirely, but they do … Continue reading Character Flavour Tables
Several versions on from the previous iteration of Off-White Cube, this new document has been pared down and simplified further in an attempt to reinforce the elements that I find more enjoyable in gameplay. For the benefit of anyone who's interested, and so that I have something of a log of my thought processes, this … Continue reading Off-White Cube 0.21
Quite a few more sessions have passed since the first look back at running an open-table megadungeon, so it seems appropriate to have an update. From the Barrowmaze GM Screen Affairs so far Of the 41 sessions so far (current global matters have ensured the capacity for rather a lot of games in a short … Continue reading A month’s worth of sessions – a megadungeon reflection update
Artwork by Zhu Bajiee We've now had seven sessions running through Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze module as an open table using Off-White Cube and it's always good to be analytical in the way one plays the game (within reason). Warning: there are some spoilers below, although my players will have experienced them already so they don't … Continue reading A week’s worth of sessions – a megadungeon reflection
UPDATE: There is a more recent version available here. There's little point denying that D&D has a lot of clout in the RPG scene. Its fifth edition is hugely popular, and one of its few remotely plausible rivals for the market share - Pathfinder - is essentially a retroclone of a previous edition. If someone … Continue reading Off-White Cube 0.13
There Could Have Been Snakes 