#003en - early april 2022
Letter 1/2 for the month of april
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Latest blog posts
I added a translation widget on my french so you can now better understand my articles by reading it in your language!
I haven't written much in the last couple of weeks, but I did publish an article about Dungeon Alchemist, a drawing program that I'll talk about a little further down in this letter.
The next article will be about Fizban's Treasury of Dragons for D&D.
My games of the month
I continue to master my two campaigns, but I also got to be a player.
In Adventures in Eriador (for D&D-Adventures in Middle Earth), the ruins of Delossad, near Echad Candelleth in the Trollshaws, turned out to be evil. What are emissaries from Angmar doing here and what hidden secrets of the long forgotten realm of Rhudaur would be better left untouched? A difficult expedition, which now leads to a reconnaissance mission to Thorenhad in the northern woods of the area. Will it be less trying?
We're nearing the end of the initial Adventures in Phandalin campaign for D&D. After a frontal assault on the orcs stationed at Wyverns Spur and a difficult battle with a hill giant, the adventurers have returned to Phandalin to find the village in turmoil, with elections looming. But strange dreams drive them to the cliffs of the Sword Coast. Will their fate be decided at the top of the Tower of Storms?
Finally, I was able to participate as a player in a short Call of Cthulhu scenario featuring two groups of players, in a French mine of the 1920s. A rather atypical and exotic story.
Readings and inspirations
I enjoyed ordering the Dungeon Alchemist software (available on Steam), which allows to make maps quickly thanks to an Artificial Intelligence engine. The content is automatically generated according to the type of room, and you can customize everything: furniture, doors, walls, lighting etc. A 3D view allows you to walk in and around your creation.
As a bonus, and this is the element that made me dive in, an export of the map is done with the virtual game platforms. And as I use Foundry VTT, I can find the map with the walls, doors, lights... already configured!
Occasionally, I'll take the opportunity to redo the maps of some of the blog's scenarios using Dungeon Alchemist. I already had in mind to redesign these stories and put them back on the page anyway.
Yum/DM's monthly d12 montly is out, and this eleventh issue is devoted to adventurers' followers, be they mercenaries, followers or employees. It also covers familiars and pets, and this issue has enough random tables and ideas for customizing these mostly generic characters or animals. Another article by the cartographer of Dark Realm Maps tells about his passion for maps. This monthly magazine is free, so why not get it?
I was thinking of mastering one-shot science fiction scenarios for a while, and I wondered what game system to use. I had looked at Chaosium's Basic RPG, then at Casus Belli magazine's Chroniques Oubliées Galactiques, and I finally settled on a great old one (since it dates from the same time as the original D&D!): Traveller! Well, there have been several editions, and even derivative systems (Cepheus) but the principle has remained very faithful to the origin and seems to me simple enough (with only 2D6!) and complete to be viable. I would like to start with less epic and more gritty games.
By the way, the french system Chroniques Oubliées Galactiques (derivated from OGL 3.5) will be in a crowdfunding during the month of may so I’ll have to check it too.
Patreon, tips, shop…
Most of my creations are released for free, and the paid ones cost less than the price of a coffee!
You can subscribe on Patreon for a longer term support
or buy my creations (scenarios, play aids, maps) in my shops of uTip or itch(.)io
They are in french atm but I can easly translate them by popular demand!
The TTT2 module (part 2 of a series of 4) is going to be released in the next days.
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See you guys in two weeks for the next newsletter!
And do not hesitate to leave a message or comment below to let me know what you think of this letter.