In this episode of Discussions of Darkness, Neal Litherland talks about why your character sheet needs testing before the game.
Mini Greeble Hunt: Toy Car Controller
In this video, I dismantle a toy car controller from my first charity shop haul, looking for useful parts for crafting.
D10: Bits of Misinformation to Learn About Dwarves
Characters may attempt to learn more about types of creatures that they may end up fighting, and there are many sources they might check, but not everything they learn is necessarily true. Here are ten bits of misinformation to learn about dwarves.
- Dwarves are good at finding gold in any form because they are literally able to sniff out its location.
- Dwarves are made of rock, not flesh and blood, and return to the rock from which they came when they die.
- Dwarves burrow their tunnels under the buildings of other species in order to collapse them.
- Dwarves can’t drink water, as it’s poisonous to them, which is why they drink alcohol instead.
- Dwarves don’t have children, being effectively immortal except through violence, and when the last dwarf dies, they will become extinct.
- Dwarves have no morals, being completely mercenary and only obeying their lust for money.
- Dwarves want gems in order to eat them, as they gain sustenance from such.
- If a dwarf’s belly is cut open, gems can be found in their gut. These gems help the dwarf digest otherwise indigestible items.
- There are no females amongst the dwarves, and those that others believe to be female are in fact male, dwarves reproducing by splitting in two when they are old enough.
- There are tunnels constructed by the dwarves running beneath the civilised lands, and these tunnels are used by said dwarves to spy on others and move around unseen.
100 NPCs To Meet On The Docks, 100 Encounters for a War-Torn Land (PFRPG) and 100 Snow and Ice Encounters (SWADE) Now Available
100 NPCs To Meet On The Docks, 100 Encounters for a War-Torn Land (PFRPG) and 100 Snow and Ice Encounters (SWADE) are now available to buy on DriveThruRPG.
Ports and docks can have plenty of NPCs, some passing through, some staying there, and these can cover a range of legal and illegal types. 100 NPCs To Meet On The Docks has 100 such characters to encounter.
Lands in a state of conflict will show the signs of this and 100 Encounters for a War-Torn Land (PFRPG) has 100 such signs, ranging from background colour to the potentially dangerous. This is a conversion of the original system neutral supplement.
Characters can encounter things whilst travelling through snowy regions and winter, and 100 Snow and Ice Encounters (SWADE) has 100 such encounters. They can be used as colour or as potential adventure hooks.
Tabletop Mercenary Episode 29: No One Makes Money At Conventions
In this video, Neal Litherland talks about the cost of attending conventions as a creator, why very few people make any money doing so and why you do it anyway.
Greeble Hunt: Paper Shredder
In this video, I dismantle a broken paper shredder, in my eighth dismantling of items looking for greebles and other parts that might be usable in scratchbuilding.
D10: Numenera Rumours – Creatures: Destiny I
Numenera is a game published by Monte Cook Games. Its setting is the Ninth World, and this list has ten rumours for that setting. The rumours, which are similar to the Hearsay that can be found in the official books, can be used as adventure hooks or as simple misinformation.
- A nano has been seeking help with a dread excavator that is currently disassembled. Those who have heard about the nano believe they are insane to even think of messing with the things, but the nano apparently found something in a numenera ruin that they believe can be used to control the machines.
- A newly-constructed building is considered to be cursed, as a number of those who have used it have disappeared, never to be found again. Unknown to most, the builder made a deal with a conundary, promising that the creature would have prey to feed on if it helped in the building’s construction.
- A settlement is being plagued by at least two balithaurs, who seem to be acting in a manner that is even more disruptive than usual. If the matter is investigated, the balithaurs can be seen wearing what appear to be, and are, numenera devices; they are under the control of someone who is trying to deliberately cause harm to the settlement.
- An inventor is looking for people to capture babirasa for them, as the individual believes that they can make use of the natural electricity generated by the creatures as a source of power. A reward is only being offered for live and unharmed specimens, not injured or dead ones.
- Anhedrons are known to be searching for something they call the Meeting of All Things, and it’s said that a number of recently encountered anhedrons have been seeking out a specific person. Unfortunately for the anhedrons, they do not seem to know what that person’s name is. It’s thought that this individual might know something about the Meeting of All Things, which is why they are being sought out.
- Choanids are hill-sized creatures that are constantly secreting toxins. Recently, a community has been afflicted by sickness that has been determined as being like that caused by a choanid, yet none can be discovered in the area. Someone has successfully managed to use a numenera to effectively bottle choanid toxin and is releasing it in the settlement.
- Cuiddits are levitating spheres that follow beings around until destroyed or driven away; they can sometimes be helpful but also sometimes harmful. Recently, explorers of a numenera ruin seem to have disturbed a cache of these beings which are now roaming the surrounding countryside causing random damage.
- Cynoclepts are usually found alone, but recently the surrounding area has been troubled by a number of the creatures preying on cyphers and amber crystal, and raiding those who own such. The cynoclepts are proving to be a serious problem, and they appear to be originating in a nearby ruin.
- Esculants are known to not always try to eat living creatures they encounter, only to follow them. Someone is paying money for details of these happenings, such as how long the creatures followed and where they stopped. It’s said that the employer believes that there is a hidden motive behind the creatures’ actions.
- It’s rumoured that there is an entire community consisting just of flesh ghosts in Beyond, where they live and work as if they were the people they originally were. It’s also rumoured that those who travel to this community may not always return, as the flesh ghosts are harvesting them for parts.
Want some items that could be used as oddities? Check out 100 Xenoarchaeological Finds.
100 Shrines for a Fantasy Setting, 100 Encounters for the Fantasy Taiga (Black Spear) and 100 Hooks and Rumours for the Emerald City V Now Available
100 Shrines for a Fantasy Setting, 100 Encounters for the Fantasy Taiga (Black Spear) and 100 Hooks and Rumours for the Emerald City V are now available to buy from DriveThruRPG.
Shrines can be discovered in various locations and 100 Shrines for a Fantasy Setting has 100 such to find. They can range from parts of larger structures to places in their own right.
Taiga is cold, lowland and sometimes forested terrain closer to the pole and 100 Encounters for the Fantasy Taiga (Black Spear) has 100 encounters for such that can be used to enliven a journey.
When asking around for information, characters may hear rumours, and 100 Hooks and Rumours for the Emerald City V has 100 such related to Seattle in the Shadowrun setting. They can be used as background colour, misinformation and adventure hooks.
Tactical Plastic Report, Episode 11: Religions in Army Men
In this video, Neal Litherland talks about religion in Army Men’s setting.
Stages of Drawing Map – City 4
A brief video showing the stages of drawing Map – City 4.