Forest Encounter – Alex Drummond

I like fantasy architecture. I stud my worlds with impossible structures weaved out of dream-stuff and fancy. And the cyclopean trees of elven forests are among my favorites. It would have been almost unthinkable for Legends & Labyrinths not to include an illustration like this… and, thankfully, Alex Drummond delivers something that is both fanciful and feyish; beautiful and mysterious.

The Adjudicator – Viktor Fetsch

This illustration (which I adore) came very close to being the class illustration for the rogue.

As you know, the rogue was instead illustrated by Bonnie Tang. This piece is now likely to find its home on page 10, where it will hopefully encourage people to occasionally think outside of the traditional fantasy box as they read about “Step 8: Character Description”.

This is somewhat ironic, because the reason I ultimately chose not to use this image for the rogue was because I wanted the class illustration to inside the box — to remain essentially true to the “core conception” most people have for the classes. (On the other hand, the class illustrations are a little rebellious in other ways: Staying within the box, but also trying to find ways to reinvent the box and keep it fresh.)

Last January, the Alexandrian swapped over from its previous existence as a cobbled-together morass of HTML to a WordPress installation. This meant that I needed to hand-convert over 500+ posts which existed on the old site. This went at a fairly brisk pace until I hit the mid-point of 2010, which is when I started getting experimental with my HTML coding. This greatly improved the look of the old site; but made converting things over to the new site a bit of a headache (as old formatting would break and new formatting needed to be figured out).

But as of today the Great Conversion is over! All of the old posts and as many of the old comments as survived the slow death of HaloScan can now be found on the WordPress installation (which is what you’re reading now).

Since I’ve just wrapped up the conversion of 2010, here are some highlights from the posts that year:

Node-Based Scenario Design: The manifesto of non-linear adventure design.

Xandering the Dungeon: The manifesto for non-linear dungeon design.

Richard II: Thomas of Woodstock – Script and Ending: An apocryphal play sometimes ascribed to Shakespeare. I edited and made available on the ‘net the first decent edition of the text. It’s missing most of the last scene, so I wrote a replacement.

Hard Limits in Scenario Design: Inspired by an analysis of the GUMSHOE system, this look at hard limits in system design and how they affect (or should affect) your scenario design has played a surprisingly large roll in my thinking about roleplaying games over the past two years.

You Can’t Do That Here: Another GUMSHOE-inspired analysis. Sometimes systems actively prevent certain things from happening. Other times, players get stuck when they start thinking exclusively in terms of the system’s paradigms.

Werewolf Templates: A re-organization of the werewolf templates from 3rd Edition which make them much, much easier to use. (Plus: Bradoch the Wererat, the Spider Weird of Hollow’s Deep, and the Totem Giants.)

UA-Style Rumors for D&D: Originally a thread on RPGNet, these rumors twist your common understanding of the D&D universe. For example: “Underdark? There’s no such thing. The dark elves just live on the other side of the planet.”

Size Does Matter?: A somewhat informative look at the escalating bloat of the D&D system (or lack thereof) over the years.

Fanal the Swordbearer: A three-part series originally written for John Wick’s Orkworld.

The Long Con of DRM: Pretty much everything I said here is coming true.

OD&D in the Caverns of Thracia: The collected edition of the campaign journal from my OD&D megadungeon campaign.

(The highlights from the conversion of 2009 can be found here.)

On page 86 of the Black Book Beta, there’s a sidebar entitled “What Type of Action Is It?” If you’re so inclined, I’d like to get your feedback on it.

For certain activities and abilities, the type of action is defined. (For example, it requires a standard action for a cleric to turn undead.) But at other times, the DM will have to make a judgment call about what type of action is required to carry out a particular intention. Here are some rules of thumb you can use:

• Any action which doesn’t require an action check is probably a move action.

• If it involves moving through space or traversing a given distance, then it’s probably a move action even if it does require an action check.

• If it’s any other action requiring an action check, then it’s probably a standard action.

• Full actions should be used for anything which feels like it should take more time or involves multiple steps. (But, when in doubt, default to a standard action.)

• Actions which could be resolved in the blink of an eye (like dropping something held in your hand) are probably a free action. But if executing the action is non-trivial, makes a substantial contribution to the battle, or just feels like something which should be limited in its repetition you can probably go ahead and bump it up to a swift action or move action.

Immediate actions should generally be reserved for specific special abilities because being able to act out of turn is a major advantage. However, if an action is immediately reactive by necessity (like catching someone as they fall past you) it may be appropriate to make an exception.

Legends & Labyrinths eschews a lot of the specific guidelines that you’d find in an advanced 3rd Edition rulebook, so this type of general advice — aimed at giving the DM widely applicable guidelines on how to make rulings — is, I think, necessary. The question is: Does this feel on target to you? Does it match your gut feeling for what different actions represent in the 3rd Edition ruleset?

Mountain Temple – Alex Drummond

Like Drummond’s Dove City, this is another vista designed to draw your eye and your imagination into the realms of fantasy: It makes you want to walk that long, jack-knifed road of dust-swept rock.

It’s also a radically different type environment, which was something else I was keeping firmly in mind while looking for art. Legends & Labyrinths is a radically inclusive game — pulling influences from every corner of the world; every nook of myth; and every aspect of fantasy. I wanted the art to reflect that by taking you to verdant forests; steaming  jungles; underground caverns; icy glaciers; and dark coasts.