Free Map Friday - Lair No.1

This week's map is inspired by a Labyrinth Lord campaign I'm running for my family. For me it is a kobold lair, but could just as easily be an underground bandit hide out a secret bunker for Nazi occultists, a stronghold for post-apocalyptic mutants, or something even more bizarre and weird. What ever you come up with I hope you enjoy using this map and let me know how it turns out–tag me in a post or drop me a line. Patreon patrons will get high resolution layered and modular versions at the end of the month.

You can get it here. 

Also for those who don't know already and a reminder for those who do, Instead of my usual donation to Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation this month, I'll be redirecting those funds to help RPG author Jim Ward.

By now many of you have seen this GoFundMe going around the past couple days to help Jim Ward with medical costs.  While I've never met Jim Ward, he has left an indelible mark on my life through his work. I owe him much gratitude for the endless hours I have spent playing his games. I had been trying to decide how I would help and then +Tim Shorts posted that he would be donating a portion of his Patreon to Jim's GoFundMe. Since I already donate 20% of my Patreon support to The Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation, it would be easy to redirect those funds to Jim's immediate need.

Just as Tim did, I encourage the other folks who have a Patreon or have enjoyed Jim's work to pledge.  If you can maybe toss a few bucks in, whatever you can afford.



When I started my Patreon my 8 year-old son was in the hospital with a major infection. I made the decision then that every month a percentage of my Patreon would be earmarked for the Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation. It was not a financial hardship for our family, but there are many out there who cannot afford proper care and often even if the medical bills are covered, we often forget about the other external expenses that need to be taken care of by the families. 

If it wasn't for my Patreon supporters I wouldn't be able to do this.  I thank everyone of them for the privilege of allowing me to help out someone whose work I've enjoyed over the years.

Into the "Heart of Darkness" - Warning: Spoilers

Warning: Spoilers!

I just received the final commissioned writing from +Emma Gray; a set of diary logs from one of the NPCs that act as a series of clues throughout the adventure. Heart of Darkness will be my first published adventure- a Sci-fi/Space Opera Gothic Horror that takes place on a derelict space hulk. Originally written for +James Spahn's "White Star" RPG, but I am also working a Savage Worlds version, possibly a Cypher System "translation" and I have already begun to re-write it as a Science-Fantasy version for other systems—I'm looking at you 5e. 

Here's a sneak peek of one of the unedited diary entries:

 Day Six

Something is very wrong.
  The ship has been rattling around in space, meteors have been hitting the the exterior of the ship, and they've already closed down the Lido Deck due to the possibility of a large jagged rock breaking through the glass windows. We're slowly losing power and the lights keep flickering.
   I'm scared, and I can tell Mal is too, even though I know he's trying to put on a brave front. There's a coldness that's washing through the ship, and I can tell it's not just from the power going out. Something is here. Something bad. I feel like I'm stuck in a nightmare and I'm just waiting to wake up.
   Several passengers have been reported missing, while others have been injured due to the hits that the ship took. There's something that's been creeping down the halls-- a shadow... a darkness. I almost feel as if I'm the only one that sees it. I haven't said anything about it. I don't want anyone to think I'm going crazy. Especially not Mal.
   Mal won't let me leave our room. Not that I want to anyway. Every noise I hear sends fear down my spine. Mal leaves the room twice a day. Once in the morning and then again in the evening. He tells me not to open the door and if for some reason he doesn't come back not to go searching for him. Why wouldn't he come back? And how do people even go missing on a ship?
   No one knows what's going on or where we are. There has been no response from the captain in over 24 hours. Where are we going? What happens if the power goes out? Will we make it off this ship? Or is this how we die? 

Emma Gray is a Young Adult author best known for her debut novel Shattered In The Dark.  You can read the first four chapters and get a discount code here.

Dungeons & Dungeons - My Basic D&D/5e Mashup

The record high in the valley
was actually 117°

I think the sun has finally baked my brain yesterday because I'm about to "Frank"-enstein D&D Basic with 5e.

Because I'm essentially trying to keep the overall feel of Basic/Expert I'm retro fitting the numbers from 5e into the Basic rules to start. There's a few things I like about the new rules, but for me it's not just nostalgia that keeps me going back to version of the game that got me hooked, but there's an elegance to the simplicity. I can just sit down with a group of players and be off and running in minutes. I don't expect to change much as far as rules go, but I hope to have characters that look and feel like Basic characters in much the same way  Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardy, or Blood & Treasure do, but can be played in any 5e game with little to no changes. The way I understood it, one of the core goals of the 5e design team was to make it modular so that swapping in and out simple house rules would not hurt the system. My vision right now is that this is just as much a set of house rules for 5e as it is a hack of Basic. Hopefully the math works out in the end. 

Sources of inspiration: Mentzer Basic Player's Guide,
Modlvay Basic, 5th Edition Players Guide, and the Rules Cyclopedia

First up character creation- rolling up attributes and aligning the Basic and 5e stat bonuses. This is still Basic D&D so there will be no point buy or average stat pool—3d6 down the line as The Maker intended it.

Comparing how the two systems handle attribute bonuses, Basic places modifiers per attribute rather than 5e's universal modifiers, so I'm going to replace all the Basic numbers with the bonuses from 5e.

Free Map Friday - The House at the End of the Street

This weeks map is a variation on the last one, but just a bit more sinister. What exactly is going on here? Is it a cult? a rogue wizard? Teenagers "just trying to scare their friends"? What ever you come up with I hope you enjoy using this map. Let me know how it turns out- tag me in a post or drop me a line. Patreon patrons will get the high resolution versions at the end of the month.

You can get it here. 

Instead of donating to the Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation this month, I'll be redirecting those funds to help RPG author Jim Ward.

By now many of you have seen this GoFundMe going around the past couple days to help Jim Ward with medical costs.  While I've never met Jim Ward, he has left an indelible mark on my life through his work. I owe him much gratitude for the endless hours I have spent playing his games. I had been trying to decide how I would help and then +Tim Shorts posted that he would be donating a portion of his Patreon to Jim's GoFundMe. Since I already donate 20% of my Patreon support to The Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation, it would be easy to redirect those funds to Jim's immediate need.

Just as Tim did, I encourage the other folks who have a Patreon or have enjoyed Jim's work to pledge.  If you can maybe toss a few bucks in, whatever you can afford.



When I started my Patreon my 8 year-old son was in the hospital with a major infection. I made the decision then that every month a percentage of my Patreon would be earmarked for the Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation. It was not a financial hardship for our family, but there are many out there who cannot afford proper care and often even if the medical bills are covered, we often forget about the other external expenses that need to be taken care of by the families. 

If it wasn't for my Patreon supporters I wouldn't be able to do this.  I thank everyone of them for the privilege of allowing me to help out someone whose work I've enjoyed over the years.

Using My Patreon To Help Support Jim Ward's GoFundMe!

By now many of you have seen this GoFundMe going around the past couple days to help Jim Ward with medical costs.  While I've never met Jim Ward, he has left an indelible mark on my life through his work. I owe him much gratitude for the endless hours I have spent playing his games. I had been trying to decide how would help and then +Tim Shorts posted that he would be donating a portion of his Patreon to Jim's GoFundMe. Since I already donate 20% of my Patreon support to The Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation, it would be easy to redirect those funds to Jim's immediate need.

Just as Tim did, I encourage the other folks who have a Patreon or have enjoyed Jim's work to pledge.  If you can maybe toss a few bucks in, whatever you can afford.



When I started my Patreon my 8 year-old son was in the hospital with a major infection. I made the decision then that every month a percentage of my Patreon would be earmarked for the Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation. It was not a financial hardship for our family, but there are many out there who cannot afford proper care and often even if the medical bills are covered, we often forget about the other external expenses that need to be taken care of by the families. 

If it wasn't for my Patreon supporters I wouldn't be able to do this.  I thank everyone of them for the privilege of allowing me to help out someone whose work I've enjoyed over the years.

Thank you.