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Homebrew Spotlight: Lizardfolk

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Lizardfolk

Medium Humanoid (amphibious, humanoid, reptilian) (14 RP)

Racial Traits

  • Specialized: +2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Cha (1 RP)
  • Humanoid (reptilian): Lizardfolk are humanoids with the reptilian and amphibious subtypes. (0 RP)
  • Medium: As medium-size creatures, lizardfolk have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Normal speed: Lizardfolk have a base speed of 30 ft. (0 RP)
    • Swim: Lizardfolk have a Swim speed of 30 feet and gain the +8 racial bonus on Swim checks that a swim speed normally grants. (2 RP)
  • Lowlight Vision: Lizardfolk have low-light vision allowing them to see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light. (1 RP)
  • Well-Balanced: Lizardfolk receive a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics. (2 RP)
  • Natural Armor: Lizardfolk have a +2 natural bonus to Armour Class: Lizardfolk benefit from thick protective scales. (4 RP)
  • Hold Breath: A Lizardfolk can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to 4 times their Constitution score. After this time, a lizardfolk character must make a Fortitude check (DC 10) every round in order to continue holding her breath. Each round, the DC increases by 1. (1 RP)
  • Natural Weapons: Lizardfolk possess sharp claws and teeth and are able to deal 1d4 points of damage with an unarmed strike. They are always considered armed.
    • Bite: 1d4 damage [primary] (1 RP)
    • Claws: 2 claw attacks, 1d4 damage [secondary] (2 RP)
  • Stability: Lizardfolk gain a +4 racial bonus to their CMD when resisting bull rush or trip attempts while standing on the ground. (1 RP)
  • Xenophobic Languages: Bonus Languages: Lizardfolk with high Intelligence can choose bonus languages from the following: Aquan, Common, Nagan, or Elven. (-1 RP)

Alternate Racial Feats

 The following feats are available to a lizardfolk character who meets the prerequisites.

  •  Powerful Tail: A few lizardfolk have broad, strong tails that are more suited for water travel than the typical lizardfolk tail. Those with this trait have a swim speed of 40 ft and gain a +2 racial bonus on Swim checks (for a total of +10). Replaces Well-balanced.
  • Hardened Scales: Lizardfolk gain Improved natural armor. This replaces claw attack.
  • Monstrous Strength: Lizardfolk gain a +2 racial bonus to their Strength This replaces swim speed.
  • Rending Claws: If a Lizardfolk hits with two claw attacks in 1 round, the attack deals additional damage equal to 1d4 + 1-1/2 their Str Replaces bite attack.
  • Slapping Tail: The lizardfolk have a tail they can use to make attacks of opportunity with a reach of 5 feet. The tail is a natural attack that deals 1d8 points of damage plus the lizardfolks’ Strength modifier. This replaces the replaces natural armor and gains 1 RP.
  • Tripping Tail: Lizardfolk can hit with their slapping tails, so they can choose to make a trip attack as a free action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Replaces hold breath and stability.

Lizardfolk are usually 6 to 7 feet tall with green, gray, or brown scales. They weigh between 200 and 250 pounds. Lizardfolk have long, dangerous claws and thick, powerful tails that are used for balance, about 3 to 4 feet in length. Although a few tribes are small at 3-5 feet tall, weighing 80-150 pounds with tails that are about 1 to 2 feet long.

Few mammals are befriended by lizardfolk. However, they place great store in friendships and alliances, among their own kind and with other races.  Although they may be frequently hostile to humanoids, lizardfolk are not without honor. They have long memories, remembering both the good and ill done to them.  They treat others as others treat them. If a human is fair and honorable, even if he is an enemy, lizardfolk treat him with the same respect. If an outsider manages to befriend a lizardfolk, the bond will last until the trust is betrayed.

Most tribes live in swamps, but about a third of the population lives in underwater air-filled caves. In isolated areas they survive by fishing, gathering, and scavenging, while those that live near other humanoids make raids for food and supplies. A threatened or starving tribe will go to incredible lengths to ensure its continued existence.

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Mace 2018 Was Great!

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Mace 2018 is now behind us, and it was yet again another great convention. For myself, this one was quite different from past years. Over the course of 2018, I have tried my hand as a vendor at each MACE that I have attended. Thankfully, I can say that I have had great success at each of these events. 

I feel I am very certain that it is something that I will continue to do going forward. I enjoy making the items that I sell.  As well the reactions of excitement that I see on so many faces when they purchase something that is in its own way slightly unique. 

This year we offered up a full table of things for sale. In the past events, we have attended we only have brought a few things. overall everything was well received. With each convention, we have learned some things do better than others. I already know that the next event we go to the table will look different yet again. 

  • Mace 2018 minis
    Mace 2018 Vendor Table. 

Sadly I did not play in any games this year. That was due partly to my desire to devote my full attention the vending at this convention. Also, I did not sign up for any games at the event in advance. Now that we both feel confident just one of us can manage the full table we will plan to get in several games each.

Thankfully I still did get the opportunity to talk to many of my friends and gamers. After all half of the reason why I go to Mace is to see and spend time with my convention family. It also helped that my dear friends ran a vendor table next to us. So this made for a very relaxing weekend overall. The whole weekend left me feeling mentally and physically in a much better place then I have been in several weeks if not months. Case in point, I am writing again. 

Mace also served as a good place spread my business cards around and inform people that I now have opened an Etsy store! If you would like to take a look at that here is the link. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RunklePlaysGames I prefer it to the WordPress store as it is just more easy to navigate. 

NOTE: in the near future expect to see the WordPress site store closing down as I will be shifting to embracing the Etsy store fully. 

One of the surprises hits at MACE was the adorable dice holder beholder dice jails that are handmade. If you would like to check them out you can find a crafting blog about that below. Also if you like them you can find them on the Etsy store as well. 
https://runkleplaysgames.com/2018/08/29/crafting-corner-dice-holder-beholder/

Writing for Myself Again.

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To be honest, writing this year has been a bit of a struggle for me on my blog. Last year I raised my personal expectations for the blog through the roof. The result in doing so I missed the mark utterly. The popularity of my blog under a year ago came from the fact that it was me spilling my thoughts on the page about topics that I was passionate about. Personally, I still am shocked that anyone ever reads my blog, but I am thankful of you’re here. Where it began to go wrong was when I started caring about its growth. I was trying to grow the blog instead of continuing to do what was growing it in the first place.

The Result

I began to change, I began writing about things that I thought would attract more people to the blog, and In doing so I became disenchanted and burned out trying to keep up the pace. Then in the early part of the year it happened, I hit the wall and found myself at a point where I would dread even logging in some days. This quickly led to delays in promised posts & reviews and just an overall drop in my blogs signal.

Lets me be honest for a moment, if it were not for Missy, and PookasKreations stepping bring fresh posts and content to the blog. This year might have experienced several weeks at a time without a post. Thank you Missy for all of the help you have brought to the blog.

At the start of the month, I had declared a comback of sorts with RPGaDay. That turned into a short lived endevoer this time around. As I was excited at having some blog content ideas that would get me back in the saddle again. Yet again this turned out to be content NOT for me but an audience. I realized I had immediately slipped right back inhabit habbit that had caused me so many issues in recent months. So I set it aside shortly after the first week and did something that I have never done in the time I have had this blog. Other than scheduled posts I just didn’t open WordPress for a few days. I just hit the mental reset button.

Mistakes

So I have looked back at this year and I want to acknolage some of my mistakes.

  •  I stoped writting about what I want to blog about.
  •  Honestly got a bit of a big head, I had the pleasure of many amazing people giving me the opertuinty to write quality reviews on some amzaing products. I reached a point that I just assumed. That when they would make new projects they would naturaly just send new reviews and such away. But who can blame anyone for not sending review work to a bloger who is barely bloging.
  •  My hopes were to high, as was evidnece in my first format of my patreon. I have reassesed and now i think  it has realistic goals.

 

Now What?

Going forward, I am going to make an effort to go back to the basics, I writing started this silly blog only for me. So I am going back to the drawing board and writting for myself again. If you are still here wonderful. I can not say enough how thankfull I am to everyone that has been along for the ride so far.

Likely I will be changing the look of the page a bit, change is good from time to time I think. Also kind of want to embrace some of my old formats again and going back to my roots a little. Call it nostagla, I am looking to find myself once more. I will give you this warning as the next few weeks of blogs might look like I am just throwing topics at the wall to see what sticks in an effort to get me writting again.

There will still be reviews, But I am going to go out and review what I want to review for awhile. And expect an announcement on RunklesRankings in the next few days.

Expect to see more crafting posts in the coming days as well. With my ramping up for Mace Con and my growing love of crafting, Its about time it gets a bigger presence on the blog.

I will keep the Patreon but it will be seeing some changes coming soon as well. I have a few ideas cooking up like giveaways, candle or bath bomb subscriptions and things of that nature. Keep your eyes out for more news soon.

As always thank you for your support!

 

 

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How can we get more people playing? #RPGaDay2018

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How can we get more people playing?

Today’s question has been the topic of discussion more than once with some of my fellow gamers over the years. So I look forward to talking about it here today. How can we get more people playing?

Now I will be the first to point out that depending on where you live not all of these ideas may work for you. these are some of the things that have been discussed in the past to get more people playing locally.

Day 8 RPGaDay2018

So I have seen a lot of people today talking about making games more diverse as well as changes that the gaming industry should make to help get more people playing. I am not going to go that route today with this question. Instead, I am going to propose some ideas to get more local people playing in your area. Back when we were running Storm-con often we would discuss things that we could to do increase our visibility in a positive way in our community to attract more people to the hobby.  The following are some of the things we did as well as a few that we considered I hope you find them as useful as we did!

 

Play in Public 

This turned out to not only be a ton of fun but one of the best ways we attracted new players when we were doing it. Understand I am not talking about playing at your FLGS like adventure league. Were talking busting out a game at the food court, or playing at a local coffee shop. We even played regularly at a few bar and grills and a restaurant for nearly two years.  If you understand that it is not only curious but expect that you should be buying some food and drinks while you are taking up their space. You will find that tons of people will want to learn more about what you are doing. We When we began to draw to an end of our play in public campaign we regularly had 15 to 20 people attending a week.

Host Meet-Ups, Start/Join a Facebook Group

This might sound like a very simple thing but you would be surprised that it works better than you realize.  I am an admin on a local RPG and we get new area member requests all of the time. A few times we have hosted Gamer Meet n greets at FLGs with their permission with the goal of just trying to get gamers looking for games to see new faces.

Run a Gaming for Charity Events

An excellent way to attract new people is by running an event. Before we did Storm-con we hosted events out of our community center called “Gatherings in the Park”. We would bring gamers together and host games for new or experienced players in a mini-convention format. It was a great way to meet people but we also doubled it as an event to help the community by asking for canned food donations. You might be surprised how interested in gaming some people will become when they realize you are your fellow gamers can be a force of good in the community.

 

Until next time!

#RPGaDay2016 Day 8 Hardcover, Softcover, Digital? What is your preference?

 

#RPGaDay2014 Day 8 Favorite Appearance of RPGs in the Media

 

RPG PATREON LINK

Tales from the Loop on Amazon

Tales from the Loop RPG is heading to Amazon TV

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Tales from the Loop is coming to Amazon TV. You heard it right, that is not a mistake.
Amazon has ordered up a direct-to-series Sci-fi drama. Lets just let that sink in for a moment.

 

That’s right Amazon has green light this show for more than just a pilot.  I can only imagine that this is in hopes to be a direct competitor to the Netflix smash hit Stranger Things. It looks to me like Amazon is swinging for the fences on this project from the writer of “Legion” Nathaniel Halpern. Halpern will be the executive producer and showrunner of the series.

 

The world of TFL is built around the stunning and evocative artwork of Simon Stålenhag that blends rural Sweden life in the backdrop of science fiction. Personally one of the reasons why I love his art so much is rural Sweden has a striking resemblance to the 1980s Midwestern America where I grew up.

Albert Cheng, co-head of television at Amazon Studios said

“Simon Stålenhag’s paintings are renowned for their vision of a not-too-distant, futuristic landscape. We are looking forward to bringing that to life and sharing it with our Prime Video audience,”

Amazon feels very confident putting Nathaniel at the helm according to Sharon Tal Ygudado, Head of scripted genre programming with Amazon Studios.

“Nathaniel is a gifted storyteller who shares our passion for creating soulful, human stories that push the boundaries of genre programming and we’re thrilled to be working with him on this series,”

Fox 21 Television Studios will co-produce the show the executive VP Jane Francis commented.

“I was immediately intrigued by the idea of bringing Stålenhag’s incredible paintings to life, but it’s Nathaniel’s deeply inspired vision for this world, and the stories he has created from an incredibly passionate and emotional place, that will drive this series and its storytelling. Together with Mark’s brilliant visual sensibility and unique point of view, it makes this a truly exceptional project and the perfect one to partner with Amazon in our studio’s first direct-to-series order at the streamer,”

Having been utterly blown away by Legion and in a love affair with Tales from the Loop RPG. This for me has all the makings of a smash hit. I imagine many of my fellow fans and gamers that backed the Kickstarter as well are a bit excited to hear the news that the RPG they helped bring to life. That started as a series of paintings is now going to be cast into our homes as a Sci-Fi drama!

Tales from the loop art

It’s a great time to be a gamer!

 

 

 

 

Odyssey RPG

Baldur’s Gate Designer Leaves Bioware To Create D&D Publishing Company!

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James Ohlen was one of the architects of the 1990s’ Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II video games, along with other classic CRPGs. He has been working for BioWare for over 22 years, but now he’s leaving to publish D&D adventures with his new company, Arcanum Worlds, and their first hardcover sourcebook, the Ancient Greek themed Odyssey of the Dragonlords.

He’s not alone, either. He’s joined by Jesse Sky (Star Wars: The Old Republic). Their website announced their first project,

“… a hardcover sourcebook for the fifth edition of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. This epic adventure is set in a fantasy world inspired by Ancient Greek mythology.”

Ohlen announced this new venture in a series of tweets.

“After 22 years I have retired from BioWare. I’ve loved my time with Anthem, Star Wars, Dragon Age and Dungeons and Dragons. But I need to take a break from the industry and work on something a little smaller and more personal.. The most fun I’ve ever had at BioWare was as the lead designer on Baldur’s Gate 1+2 and NWN. I’ve been a D&D fanatic since I was 10 years old and I want to be a part of it again. Please visit http://www.arcanumworlds.com to see what I’m talking about.

The first book I’m working on is called Odyssey of the Dragonlords. I’m working on it with another former Creative Director from BioWare – Jesse Sky. Plus a mystery writer that I’ve worked with before.”

Game Informer says that BioWare’s founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, originally heard of Ohlen when he was running a comic book store and running two legendary D&D campaigns so popular that they had waiting lists.

Ohlen’s credits include Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur’s Gate I & II, Knights of the Old Republic, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Jesse Sky worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic, along with three expansions.

The team also has a yet to be announced mystery writer.

So how do I feel about this? Myself I am absolutely over the top with excitement at the chance to get my hands and eyes on what they are looking to develop.  The thought that the creators of 90% of my all-time favorite games.  Are about to break bad from the video game industry and create what THEY want to produce… It cant get made fast enough!

My only concern when it comes to this project is that because of their background in what I feel is some of the best video gaming projects. That the bar will be set to high just out of expectations. So I ask you, readers is that a valid concern, and are you as excited about the prospect as I am?

 

 

Legendary Owlbear!

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One thing that I absolutely love as a gamer and a game master is finding inspiration in the oddest places. Last night was a perfect example of one such instance as I stumbled on an owlbear out in a monster hunter style game.

So last night I was hanging out in Twitch watching an awesome streamer and gamer that goes by the name of Zippy_Zippo on Twitch and @gamingdotEXP on Twitter. Well, Zippy was playing the Beata of Dauntless when I swung by to hang out and watch their stream. It turns out Dauntless is an MMO Monster hunter Style game.

This caught my interest as I love some of the conversions I have seen for monster hunter out there for D&D. Zippy comments that he is going to join a group and go on a Shrike hunt. This did not really get my attention as I had no idea what a Shrike was in the game. Moments later he and the group of players round a corner and there it is the Shrike… Yet to my surprise I have known it by an entirely different name for the last 30 years.
The Owlbear!

At this point I am paying full attention as this party of four is locked in combat with a HUGE owlbear. I am loving the encounter and right at that moment when it seems that the battle will turn out to be nothing more than four players dancing around in a claw, claw bite fest to the death… the owlbear does something surprising. Something that over the years once or twice I have considered doing in my encounters as a DM. The Owlbear Stood on its hind legs let out a mighty flap of its wings and took to the air.

via Gfycat

Instantly I thought to myself.. that would be an AWESOME Legendary Actions! As the battle continued I penciled in some of its other attacks and came up with what I would love to share with you all today that I think would make for an enjoyable Legendary Owlbear encounter.

So here ya go, I hope ya all enjoy it! Please let me know if you decide to use it in any of your 5E games. (Note: I literally pulled all of this info from watching this battle. I just used my understanding of D&D to translate this into a fun game mechanic that I hope you enjoy. I am not claiming this as my idea lol)

Owlbear

My intent was to make a cool slightly more difficult alpha version of an owlbear.  I did not want to create a crazy CR 15 monster. Just something with a few legendary ticks up his sleeve to surprise a party.

SO there you go! Please feel free to let me know what you think about it? Or if you have any other comments about it. I slapped him up on D&D Beyond for any of you that have D&DB and would like to add this to your own homebrew collection.

Until next time!

If you enjoy my work and would like to see more of it!