#homebrew blog

[tagamantra]

turning d&d 4e into a brutal xianxia game

i've always looked at D&D 4e as particularly amenable to the wuxia genre. in fact, it works as a spirit cultivation game. a problem with a lot of 4e (for me at least) is its disconnect of mechanics from the fiction. it is a game-first, player-first game, and that's a great genre in itself. but this post is looking at 4e through potential diegetic lens, with each game mechanic justified through spirit cultivation xianxia genre

as follows:

XP as Cultivation: exp serves great as cultivation. leveling up serves as cultivation progress. the three tiers work as "Man -> Earth -> Heaven" kinds of Cultivation Realm.

Powers as Techniques: each power works as a martial art technique that can be learned and mastered. this works better using the Alternative Rewards system found in the DMG, and getting powers from the world instead of getting it immediately on level up.

emphasize alternative rewards: instead of purely making level-ups the main way to get powers, have the powers be found in the world as alternative rewards. have them be of differing levels. if they find a level 14 fighter power from learning it from a bull God, they need to be a Level 14 PC with a Fighter Feat to be able to "equip" it.

Classes as Martial Arts schools: Fighters as the Fighter Sect, Wizards as the Eight School Magics Sect, etc. Subclasses or the Build Options work as School Specializations. this is the one that is least wuxia-esque to me, because wuxia is an inherently classless idea. you should be able to learn a strand of martial arts from one master and then learn a completely new and different one from another master that chooses to pick you up on.

every pc from a different school: to bridge this genre gap, when you make a PC, write the class they choose as a martial school. even if two PCs are two Sorcerers, they must come from different but perhaps similar schools. maybe one is from the Tantric Deity Sect and the other is from the Nine-Elements Yang Sect

Healing Surges as Qi: Qi is the breath or the life force. Similar ideas in other cultures are prana, ginhawa, ki, and kebatinan. You can only heal yourself as much as your inner reserves can heal you. If your Qi is tapped out, even healing potions will have a muted effect

Hit Points as Hit Protection: this one is stealing from NSR ideas. replace hit points with the idea of Hit Protection. Fighting in Wuxia/Xianxia etc. is a flurrious exchange of blows. when attacking a character, as long as they're not bloodied, they're actively fighting back, defending according to the targeted defense (blocking, parrying, ducking, weaving with AC, dodging and leaping with Reflex, resisting with Will, etc.) Hit Protection still includes personal vigor, which justifies attacks that poison or set them on fire as those attacks probably hit home to transmit those effects

xianxia lethality: xianxia and wuxia are surprisingly more brutal than one would think. it's bloody and arms are broken, legs are cut off. we move into homebrew-y territory here.

half HP, double damage: lean into this. power comes not from numbers but from techniques and traits for PCs. half HP and double damage not just for monsters, but for PCs as well. this will make fights less meat sack slogs and into tense, explosive engages.

move attack hit rate from 60% to 90%: this is something fft did well. most attacks have a 100% starting hit rate. enemy evasion values shifts that around. my idea is to raise attack hit rate to much higher. this makes defense-raising options much stronger as well and every attack becomes an important additional strike

make bloodied more potent: bloodied inflicts an injury. make this fiction oriented: a good enough attack might scar your face, or might render your arm useless and make you suffer disadvantage. this might not feel fun, but it will force creativity and the players must respect the world

improvisation: in wuxia and xianxia you actually will see more instances of the heroes using their environment to affect the outcome of the battle. throwing tables to distract, using roofs to provide cover, etc. here we move again into homebrew territory:

improvisation as default. this one is a large shift in the game. get rid of action economy. get rid of action types. you can move and do one thing. this is anything. most commonly it will be an attack. this includes even minor actions. there are no set actions you can do, no list to choose from. use your imagination. lean into the p 42 of the DMG. turn THAT into the core mechanic of the game

use essentials rules: this one is the least controversial but 4e essentials rules are the best consolidation of the rules. especially the item rarity stuff.

dare to be unbalanced: 4e's neo-golden cow is balance. don't care about the balancing. xianxia thrives on the unbalancedness of things to create tension and friction. the need to have revenge on a martial master that killed your master before, but they are a Level 28 Fighter and you're a measly Level 3 Wizard. You have to cultivate to get up to his level. You need 10,000 more years of training to get to him! now there's a reason for adventuring (collecting training manuals, finding masters, finding cultivation cores to gain XP). adopt an OSR mindset. become world-first: make the PCs rise to the challenge instead of tailoring everything to them. if they move into an area with level 8 monsters, they can choose to take those on, or just go back and go somewhere else, return at a later time when they have better equipment and better weaponry.

[chaotic-historian]

Ah yes....

The legendary game 'Tnb Bingngthilhb'

Say it after me now: runes are not a fun font for you to use at your leisure, they are their own alphabet

[notetakers-blog-of-holding]

Writing Your D&D Character Backstory

Creating your D&D character can seem a bit overwhelming, especially if you're new to the game. You have to remember the numbers and abilities that tie into other numbers and your characters species- On top of that, you have to write a story for them? I'll admit, it gets to be a little much.

You can choose to not have a fully fleshed out backstory for your character, and build them with the world you're playing in. (Utilizing amnesia, forgetfulness spells, or curses are always good) Open ended backstories can become a great way for you and the DM to "Yes and-" your way into new plot hooks.

However daunting it might seem, writing your D&D character backstory can be one of the most fun things about the game. 

No matter how you play your game, backstories can come in useful, for both role playing your character, and for the DM to write more interesting plot hooks surrounding specific character arcs. It can provide you with contacts in certain cities, allied factions that can help you out in a pinch, or recurring rivals that seek to undo your best-laid plans. 

Without further ado, let's get into these tips and tricks I hope will help you through the process of writing your backstory.

1. Who are you?

The most important thing your backstory needs to cover is who exactly your character is. This is essentially what the whole backstory should be about; Building a fleshy cover for that skeleton you made on your character sheet.

A few major essential things your backstory should cover are: 

Your name, age, and a physical description of your character.

Where you came from

Does this character have a family? Do they know who they are?

At least one character belief and/or goal.

Simple, right? Your backstory doesn't have to be a 60 page epic about how you went from your hometown to the town over and found a sword along the way. 

Getting these things into a backstory is generally enough to begin role playing at a very basic level. It also provides you with a really good basis for adding more to the backstory at a later date, with your DM's approval. 

2. Add a bit of Drama

Once you have a good understanding of who your character is, writing drama into your backstory will add depth to your character. 

Does your character have love interest that was killed, breaking their heart? Or, maybe your barbarian resents her tribe for choosing a new leader above her? 

Whatever the drama is, it's important to have some be open-ended. Unresolved trauma/dramatic events can be an early present for any DM, and gleefully they may unfold your characters story arc in front of you. (Some DM's are not as excited as I am about backstory integration, so make sure to talk to your DM before adding them in.)

Having a few dramatic events in your backstory can help tie your character to the world. Maybe they can't go back to a certain tavern since they got caught cheating at dice, or maybe they need to get to the church several months ride away as quickly as possible to stop their true love from getting married. 

Your characters drama is what makes them more 'real'. Having talks with their new-found allies about their lives around campfires, or while in a lull traveling through hyperspace, these stories form unbreakable bonds between characters and will strengthen your own love of your character. 

3. Play to your weaknesses

You are flawed, and so is your character. Every character should have at least one major flaw, and a handful of minor ones. When creating your character (unless you are particularly lucky) you should have an ability score in the minuses: Utilize It!

A character with a minus in charisma could be a lovely fool that always manages to say the wrong thing, or a grumpy teenager unable to express themselves properly. 

Starting at level 1, your character is going to be inherently weak, whether that be due to lack of experience (EXP) or by some tragic mishap of having all of your powers and abilities stripped away. Writing for the situation is vital, you probably won't have achieved world peace, killed an evil demon, and reinvented the wheel before the campaign starts. 

Whatever your character flaws are, there are some simple guidelines that I tend to follow when writing weakness into my character: 

Don't go overboard. 

Use your character sheet and stats to help.

Don't be a god when you're level 1.

Tie your flaws to your dramatic/traumatic section.

Remember, your flaws are what makes your character interesting, but don't have so many it intrudes on other players fun. 

4. Work with your DM

It helps to ask your DM for help when it comes to writing your backstory, since they know how the world works. 

With their input you can develop secrets to keep from the other players, write in rivals to challenge you at every turn, write additional characters that can help you out when you need a place to stay in the middle of nowhere. 

Any DM worth their salt will help a player develop a character that they enjoy playing. After all, it is a game that we're playing for fun. Don't be afraid to do something weird and off the wall, characters that stray outside of the conventional character stereotypes are often really fun and interesting. That being said, character conventions are nothing to be scared of, adding a twist to the expected can be just as fun.

5. Do multiple drafts

Doing multiple drafts of a backstory is both a luxury and a necessity. 

I know I've made many MANY drafts for my PC's, it's fun to scribble down little ideas throughout the day or add in cool details you find in books or on the internet

Sometimes, you simply do not have the time to do multiple drafts, asking your DM if you can change and add certain things once the story starts should not be a problem. If you are unable to do multiple drafts prior to starting, an evolving backstory in this way is a great way to compensate, so long as your DM is game and you don't just make up game breaking character changes midway through a vital encounter. 

If you do have the time to do multiple drafts however, this is a vital thing to do. Drafting a characters backstory allows you to take a break, come back and adapt things, change the way some things are written, rethink and rework some of those weirder plot lines. 

Making sure that you wrote things in a clear cut, simplistic way so that ambiguity doesn't end up leading to a big misunderstanding in the plot line is very important. More-so, the more drafts you do, the better you end up knowing your character, which, helps those who are new or not confident at role playing.

6. Write in the first person

This one should be obvious, it really helps to get into character. 

Writing from your characters perspective allows you to make out-of-character notes within the backstory that clarify situations for anyone reading. Plus your character may have a skewed view of what happened in certain events. 

Checklist

Here is a small checklist of things that you might want to consider putting into your backstory, some that I've written about above and some I will leave until a later post. Feel free to pick and choose what you put in and what you leave out.

Description of your character

Information on their hometown and family

The story of how they got their powers/abilities

A good friend that you've lost contact with

A rival 

A major flaw

A few minor flaws

A secret

A mystery

An unresolved bit of trauma

A love interest

An object they need to get their hands on

Ties to a particular town / city / faction

A vice

A morally questionable belief or ideal

Odd quirks

I hope this post helped you to write your character backstory in some way, I will be doing a part 2 and further posts in my tricks and tips series, for players and DMs alike.

Thanks for reading my first ever post!

[lady-rosceline-hurst]

On mine Homeworld,

Greetings, fair Omninet. It doth occur to me that while I have been most active here, I have neglected the secondary purpose of mine blog: to spread the word of mine illustrious homeworld! The time hath come that I do regail thee with knowledge of the place!

Crossland, designated also as DS10, is called thus for its key location as a port between Gloria and San Simeon, and is the lone habitable world in its system. It doth revolve around a brilliant white dwarf star, which did catch the previously rogue planet in its orbit.

Said star doth cause our fair planet much tidal activity, which leadeth to a world steeped in volcanism and much seismic quaking. One may mistake that such activity would be detrimental to life, but tis in fact the contrary. Lavaflow is destructive, forsooth, but it bringeth also nutrient-filled soil as it doth burn away vegetation. As such, much of mine world is covered in vibrant jungle! As for the volcanic soot which is expelled into the air, much of our animal life hath evolved to feed upon these ashen clouds, not unlike a flighted parody of life near the hydrothermal vents upon Earth (or Cradle as the Earthlings do call it).

Another note upon our jungles is their wondrous hue! Radiation from our star is heavy, and the plant life hath evolved into an exquisite azure blue to reflect the excess. When volcanic ash doth darken the sky, their hue doth shift to a deep crimson to make up for the loss. Tis a most scenic spectacle!

As for governance, on the local scale, the planet is ruled by the Crosslandic Council of Thirteen. Upon this council doth sit a representative from each of the most prominent Minor Houses upon the planet: mine own father being one of them. This is a separate position from the Head of House, which is the title mine Mother doth hold.

Tis but an introduction to mine fair colony, and I will doubtless explain more in future. If any of thee hast specific queries, mine ask box is crowded at this time but nonetheless open to all!

[afantasyoffiction]

hi!!

my word for the out-of-context WIP game is "factory" ! curious to see :)

oh boy. max my guy i TRIED i really did...but the answer is absolutely nothing im sorry lol i checked literally every draft i had and the best i can offer you is 'fact' or 'satisfactory'... im a fantasy writer i have apparently never once described industrialisation (oh no new writing idea unlocked i love that period of european history ngl...)

but in the spirit of the game, i've decided i'll share a poem containing the word 'fact', because im relatively fond of it. yep this is gonna 1,000% be unrelated to factories it is in fact about organised religion!

--------------------------------------------------------

the true colours of the divine

i think religion is more beautiful from the outside looking in peeking through stained glass windows, a door left ajar

without the heavy hand of the mundane, the every day the acceptance of faith as fact, scripture as truth, i can see it

thousands of people, looking up at the heavens, prayers rising through the air like smoke words echoing empty off marble

to see this belief as a choice, made in the face of the unknown, millions of people made one their nature compelling their faith

to know a mere few books have connected centuries to know of people holding hands differences bent to bonds of belief

it says something, perhaps about people - what we are, dreamers, lonely, looking for reasons, a purpose to hold

i am grateful for my own lack of faith, granting me vision of the spirit of people, not gods i see the human colours of the divine

[desmondhardscale]

[internetc00kie]

PSP GO ✍️

[roleplayrealms]

RoleplayRealms.Me

Looking for WorldBuilders • Lore Crafters • Roleplayers with Graphic Design Skills • And roleplayers who simply wish to do what they love doing best. 'ROLEPLAYING' We are not a Discord. We are not a dating/cybering site. We are Not a Group on some Social Media Website. We are a roleplay site Made by Roleplayers, Run by Roleplayers, Ad Free, For Roleplayers. Don't ask to Roleplay Anymore. SIMPLY post and others will post a rp reply right back. This is a Multi-Genre Roleplay Site for Roleplayers 18+ who simply want to Roleplay. Join Us Today.

[the-last-patch]

[Tuning In]

[Flipping to B-Side]

[Success]

[Now Playing - “Opossum”]

<The transmission begins with the sound of boots crunching on snow, the rythm is uneven as if the product of a limp. In addition, heavy footfalls reminiscent of a mechanized chassis follow behind.>

So, a lot has happened since I showed up on the omninet. A large mercenary company devoured itself from within, I’ve almost died twice, and I made what I’d like to call a friend out in the baronies and in constellar space. All are events I never could have expected, let alone imagined happening…that’s not necessarily a bad thing though. I mean the almost dying most certainly wasn’t ideal, but I know what I signed up for on this contract. That brings me to what I wanted to talk about today. I feel like I know so much about you all, and have shared nothing about myself. So that’s my goal for today! We’ll begin with modern day, since I’ve mentioned my past a few times previously. My name is “Opossum”, as you all know, sorry I’m having trouble finding a place to start. Ah, I know! I’ll describe where I am. Since TKG found our camp they know PMC is out here in the diaspora, there’s no harm in describing the planet! I have been deployed on the planet “Upsilon-XVII” as per my contract for about a month local time now, and I have no idea what that equates to in Union Standard to be honest. I haven’t kept track of the time in ages. Moving on, U-XVII is a cold, cold place, 85% of the planet is covered in a deep permafrost. The other 15 or so percent of the planet is being artificially thawed by a massive space station which works as what is essentially a giant heat lamp called “The Helios Station”. I’ve been told that the name references some old humanity literature or mythology, but I’m no expert on that.

<The quiet sounds of crunching snow are gradually replaced by a more pronounced sound of metal cleats digging into ice, and all sound begins to reverberate.>

I get the feeling that well before it was discovered, this place was truly beautiful. As I make my way through this natural tunnel, I can see trees perfectly preserved by ice. A whole forest’s worth actually, it’s amazing. It’s sights like these that remind me why I chose to be a mercenary in the first place, or rather why I accepted it so easily. I love traveling, seeing all these beautiful worlds each with their own unique scenery and life is simply worth dying for in my opinion. I suppose I’ve rambled long enough, I’ll leave you all with one last thing. I finally found the last of the “gifts” that lich pilot promised, but for the most part this one is quite pleasant. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

P.XV “Opossum”, taking in the scenery

[Loading Music Video…]

[Success]

[Now Playing - opossumtravellog.omif]

<A video begins, a camera is angled down to face a young man with his back turned. He appears to be shorter than average, and has a long metallic tail protruding from his waist dragging behind him. Suddenly a HUD appears in the camera’s viewport, one any mech pilot would recognize as a tactical display. It Identifies the young man as “Opossum”, and a small list of standard medical information appears. As this happens, “Opossum” turns around, carefully watching his steps on the ice. His tail slides effortlessly across the same ice, making a slight scratching sound as it does. “Opossum” raises his left arm and begins pressing buttons on his sleeve. As he does this the HUD disappears, and the camera’s color and video quality increase dramatically.>

There we go, that should make this a bit easier on all of your eyes. On behalf of the Patchwork Mercenary Company, I would like to welcome you all to Upsilon-XVII!

<As the quality improves, the background immediately comes to life. “Opossum” is standing triumphantly in front of a closed off wall of ice. Surrounding him, encased in the ice, are trees as far as the eye can see, frozen in time both figuratively and literally. A light pattern similar to an aurora dances across the walls of the cave, almost making it appear underwater. The camera focuses on “Opossum”, he is wearing a bomber jacket which appears to be made up of squares of fabric from different jackets, all in different colors and sizes, sewn together. Attached to its left sleeve is a small keyboard and screen on the forearm with wires creeping up the rest of the arm up to the shoulder where they then enter the inside of the coat. Where a shirt would normally be, a light hardsuit is visible, but as the suit makes its way down “Opossum’s” body it begins to be covered up by a thick pair of black cargo pants which pull close at the shins and tuck into a heavy pair of boots. Hon his right leg, there is a set of hydraulic supports starting from the upper thigh, meeting a circular plate parallel to the knee, then continuing down to his ankle. As he lowers his arm, the camera zooms into his face which after a moment of focus quickly becomes one of triumph. His eyes, which are a dark beady brown stay wide. His nose and cheeks are slightly pink from the cold, but a row of freckles span from cheek to cheek are slightly regardless. His mouth is curled into a toothy grin, revealing his rows of sharp teeth. His hair contrasts the rest of his outfit with its pure white pigment. The camera zooms back out to show the full area once again, and “Opossum” gives the camera a confident thumbs up before the feed abruptly ends.>

[Next Up - “Open Queue”]

[End Track]

[bowlofmie]

Considering looking into the process of making home brew for the 3ds! I know it’s not too difficult to make things for older consoles and then get them on the 3ds so maybe that could be a starting point!

I have a few items that are my everyday carry and I need to have with me at all times. My 3ds is a part of that, and I think it could be cool to make it take on a more functional aspect. I use and love my planner but I think it could be cool to make some programs that could make my 3ds into almost a Palm. I love the old digital assistants and the form factor of the DS isn’t too dissimilar to some of that stuff.

I was kind of inspired by the little alarms in Wario Ware Gold and the calculator DSiware, because I love how actually functional they are. There’s an application for the DSi that’s a mini pc and you can code in it! How cool is that?? Also someone ported the Mario knitting program to the 3ds which is so so cool. I’m so tempted to try it out even though it’s only in Japanese and I don’t know Japanese haha

Anyways! I’d love to add some everyday functionality to my 3ds beyond entertainment :) If anyone has any advice or thoughts, I’d love to hear!

[notetakers-blog-of-holding]

Homebrew House Rules #5

Dorito of Death: If a player drops food on the game map, it becomes a hard encounter. 

[absentia-misere]

More Shart Appreciation✨🌘

[pennyschool]

I used to do parkour out in the city, jumping out of trees is probably safer

You know what... You're right.

[whats-on-your-mind-then]

Today's article by Goblin Punch is exactly as described. Lots of intriguing exploration of ideas and themes here. This is one of those articles where I not only recommend reading the text in its entirety but also scrounging through the comment section! Lots of interesting stuff there, both from Arnold exploring his thoughts and strangers writing essays of their own! Trans Rights are Dwarven Rights. I gotta write more stuff on Witches. I gotta write more stuff for the blog in general! Enjoy!

[krissiefox]

https://thesegasource.tumblr.com/ SEGA related art and gifs.

https://segacity.tumblr.com/ SEGA game gifs and art.

https://vgsceneries.tumblr.com/ Scenery and gifs from video games.

https://obscuritory.tumblr.com/ Lesser known PC and console games.

https://quirky-vg.tumblr.com/ Quirky and strange video games!

https://gamesasp.tumblr.com/ Assorted video game screenshots and photos.

https://l0stw0rlds.tumblr.com/ Video game scenery.

https://oldpcgads.tumblr.com/ PC Game ads from magazines. No longer active.

https://toiletsofbuild.tumblr.com/ Mods, screenshots and art involving Build Engine games.

https://www.tumblr.com/polygonal-coffee Coffee machines in video games.

https://puppetcombo.tumblr.com/ Cool indie horror game dev!

https://psxui.tumblr.com/ Menu screens from PS1 games.

https://crabsinvideogames.tumblr.com/ Crabs from video games.

https://ulan-bator.tumblr.com/ Screenshots, gifs, images from old computer and arcade games.

https://namco-retro.tumblr.com/ Blog about Namco games.

https://retrogamechampion.tumblr.com/ Video game preservation and lots of other fun things!

https://oldschoolgames.tumblr.com/ Gifs of 90s video games.

https://asobi-station.tumblr.com/ Gifs from PlayStation games.

https://tiny-design.tumblr.com/ Info about various video games.

https://indiegamesource.tumblr.com/ Blog about indie games.

https://vmudream.tumblr.com/ Blog about old SEGA games and such.

https://gamingcreatures.tumblr.com/ Animals from video games!

https://vgwater.tumblr.com/ Scenes of water from video games.

https://vgjunk.tumblr.com/ Video game screenshots & art.

https://www.tumblr.com/cats-in-video-games Cats from video games!

https://segacity.tumblr.com/ Art, gifs, and videos related to SEGA games.

https://www.tumblr.com/homebrew4you A blog about homebrew games.

https://places-in-games.tumblr.com/ Video game scenery.

https://mapstalgia.tumblr.com/ Video game maps drawn from memory.

https://www.tumblr.com/fucknovideogames Accountability for shitty people in the gaming community/industry. Currently inactive.

[mavracax-writes]

♠️ The Kingdom of Spades ♠️

This is the kingdom that my WIP dark fantasy story, Out Of Torment, is set in. I hope to share more details about this world building in the near future!

A tremendous thank you to @annethewisoblivious for helping bring the royal crest of Spades from an idea to beautiful existence! I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I couldn't have done it without her 🖤