The use of hirelings isn’t nearly as common in D&D as it once was, but I think we should bring that back a bit. In addition to shoring up a party’s weakness and draining some cash out of their coffers, hirelings also provide someone who can die horribly to showcase a monster’s sick dance moves. Oh, and they make great backup characters for when a dragon eats the one guy in the party who can Raise Dead and you’re a week away from anyone else who could.| Brandes Stoddard
Have you been to Moria yet? That’s right, the OG megadungeon, the greatest of the dwarven halls, Khazad-dûm, where Gandalf stood alone, upon Durin’s Bridge, to block the passage of […]| Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy
Being an incomplete, visual review of the 2024 Player’s Handbook. I got a copy of this almost entirely on the strength of the new cover art: (This is the “alt” cover which I think is limited in some way. I find the new standard cover somewhat less appealing, but still better than the strange monochromatic […]| Necropraxis
“What sort of fool would use fire against an elemental of fire?” “No sword of iron or bronze can pierce the dragon’s hide.” “Why would a ghost fear cold? It is …| Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal
“The creatures of the wood shun fire.” “Only a ritual blessed arrow can slay the demon.” “A gold-tipped spear will bring the light of the Sun to the heart of the Darkn…| Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal
“It is only by fire that the monster can be slain.” “A silver weapon can kill a werebeast, nothing else will end its life.” “Each elemental has an element to which it …| Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal
Int-based class.| Brandes Stoddard
Listen, I’m a snob in many areas, but especially in how I have fun. If a game is pitched to me as “popular”, I’m wary of it. “Everyone’s doing it” is one o…| DREAMING DRAGONSLAYER
I haven’t written an UA breakdown in a hot minute—the last one was before the three core books of 2024-25 dropped!—but this drop sucked me back in. Part of this is to find out where the reading audience is these days. I’m sad to see that they’ve dropped bylines for UA articles; I liked knowing […]| Brandes Stoddard
Dear Mr Dragonslayer :) How do you handle resource management in an open table campaign? Your wrote a great article on “returning to base” each session in an open table campaign. We are…| DREAMING DRAGONSLAYER
It doesn’t seem possible that it has been almost two years| Brandes Stoddard
One of my professional projects and working on Citadel LARP| Brandes Stoddard
In a conversation over on a social media site that shall| Brandes Stoddard
