After watching wayyy too many HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) videos, I made some changes to how combat might flow in Wandering Blades. Of course, I wanted to give you folks an inside look into my notebook and my design thoughts! For this video, and possibly subsequent ones if you found this helpful, I used a VTT to help illustrate my thoughts.
2023-11-29 22:46:34 +0000 UTC View PostHere's a peek inside the new notebook I started to help with the process of designing Wandering Blades (and other projects)!
2023-11-19 03:00:44 +0000 UTC View PostSword of the Stranger is of my favourite animated movies. The story is interesting and the fight scenes are beautifully choreographed and animated. While not a wuxia movie, the way the action flows has very much been an influence on how I want Wandering Blades to play.
In the final fight of the movie, two characters find themselves in a tense duel. Momentum shifts back and forth as they ex...
2023-11-11 00:44:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe most important update: I've pretty much recovered from COVID! I still have a lingering cough that is really disruptive in my day to day, but my energy levels are getting back to normal!
But here are the game-related updates I have for you:
Hey everyone! I have some good and bad news.
The good news? Wandering Blades and the campaign setting are progressing well!
While I wasn't able to formally playtest Wandering Blades at Big Bad Con, I was able to get A LOT of feedback on the system that I can't wait to add into the next version of the quickstart! The con itself was incredible and I even got to spend a lot of time with ED GREENWOOD himself during a mentorship event. He gave me a lot of feedback abou...
2023-10-08 17:58:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Big Bad Con is around the corner, so here is an updated playtest document! This is the one that I'll be bringing to the con. My schedule is unfortunately too busy to run anything, but I'll be talking to members of the community about it and picking their brains!
I hope you enjoy it! Once I return, I'm hoping to record a playtest for you folks!
Daniel
2023-09-22 22:22:06 +0000 UTC View PostHey there! Here is an updated Wandering Blades playtest document leading up to Big Bad Con! I've modified the equipment section and added another class - the Bandit! While the youxia leverages qi to perform dramatic martial arts techniques, the bandit relies on their notoriety to get what they want and brutality to devastate their foes!
By the week of Big Bad Con, Liana and I should have at least 1 more class ready to playtest!
2023-09-05 15:31:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Here we go! Enjoy this first ever quickstart guide for the Wandering Blades RPG! This is the document that I'll be bringing to Big Bad Con and I wanted you folks to see it first!
The quickstart will walk you through character creation, combat, and includes a starting class - the youxia.
A couple of things that are still a work in progress:
My home D&D game ended and honestly, I'm all up in my feelings about it. Our game went for two years (weekly until the last few months) and was set in the Land of Blades. Our game ended due to scheduling conflicts - we had a member of the party cancel a whole bunch of times and another had sporadic attendance during the last few months. This caused other members of the group (myself included) to lose interest.
It was a great opportunity for me to work on the setting and to stay moti...
2023-07-05 16:34:20 +0000 UTC View PostI'm going to be publishing this to my Substack this week and wanted to give you early access (especially now that the embargo has lifted)!
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On May 18, 2023, I received an invitation from the D&D Creator Relations Team to participate in what they described as the “first closed playtest group“ for the upcoming D&D VTT (referred to as ...
2023-06-12 00:21:16 +0000 UTC View Post
More progress on my campaign setting! I'm experimenting with the information that I want to provide. Taking inspiration from the Perilous Wilds supplement for Dungeon World, I added tags at the region and location levels to provide you with quick context.
2023-05-16 04:43:08 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been slowly playing around with how I want to lay out my campaign setting and what kind of information is most relevant. Once I get the quick descriptive prompts written, I plan on writing random encounter tables for each region!
This next zine will include a history, faction guide, and geography!
2023-05-10 19:36:31 +0000 UTC View PostA while back, I sat down with a good friend of mine, Joe DeSimone, to learn about the history of the tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) genre and its origins in the 1960s American wargaming scene (this happened during an episode of Anything But D&D for long-time Patrons). While discussing the influences of tabletop wargames such as Strategos by Charles Totten (1880), Siege of Bodenburg by Hen...
2023-04-30 04:28:43 +0000 UTC View Post
I have finally put together a proper hex map for the Land of Blades! Next week, I'm going to post a breakdown of the labeled locations!
*I'm using Hex Kit to make the map!
2023-04-26 00:49:56 +0000 UTC View PostI've been having a lot of fun posting on Substack lately (I only use the free feature of that platform since I'm a casual writer there). It's been a great place for me to write about things unrelated to gaming. But that said, I've decided to write one article or post a month about games (but not my own design projects).
Because of that, I want to make sure that I provide value to you folks! My plan is to relea...
2023-04-14 01:48:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! I was just at the D&D Creator Summit (virtually) and have publicly shared my notes. I didn't want to do that via Patreon, because I didn't want to make people go to this page to read information that the community deserves for free.
That said, the Substack I have is primarily for public writing that doesn't involve my projects, so this page isn't going anywhere!
2023-04-04 13:24:36 +0000 UTC View PostHere we go! The first draft of Denizens of Mountains & Season vol 3: The Sapphire Flame!
The Sapphire Flame serve as the main antagonists of my home D&D game. They operate from the shadows and have had numerous violent encounters with the party. One of the things I've been trying to do is show how the cult has spread its influence throughout the land through faith. In an upcoming session, the party will visit a small village where the inhabitants are members of th...
2023-03-29 05:15:49 +0000 UTC View PostThe first playtest of Wandering Blades went so well! I got a lot of feedback from the playtesters and friends, and can't wait to work on those edits and revisions!
Moving forward, I'll be uploading each new version of the playtest materials here!
2023-03-24 14:59:35 +0000 UTC View PostIT IS COMPLETE. Well, the first batch of complete playtest materials for Wandering Blades!
I'm going to be running a one shot at Breakout Con this weekend set in the Land of Blades. In these playtest documents, you'll find a rudimentary character sheet and a handy reference document with breakdowns of the five classes we designed for the con: the youxia, vagabond, bandit, apothecary, and daoshi!
Two things that are elaborated on in the demo, but are absen...
2023-03-17 04:26:39 +0000 UTC View PostAs Breakout Con approaches, I've completed working drafts of 3 core classes for Wandering Blades: the Youxia, Vagabond, and Bandit! My design partner, Liana, is working on a magic user at the moment!
Here is a breakdown of the class system and the Youxia. You'll notice that the Youxia is fairly short compared to games like Pathfinder and D&D. Each class table will look very different as well.
*At the moment, we are only designing 5 levels for each class. This will allow us to ...
2023-03-10 21:28:42 +0000 UTC View PostLeading up to Breakout Con, I've been trying to clear up character fundamentals. Here are the core aspects of each Wandering Blades character. Or should I say, "each wandering blade"?
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In Wandering Blades, a player character’s (PC) attributes represent the characteristics that define their abilities and how they will react in different situations. There are four attrib...
2023-03-08 17:23:03 +0000 UTC View PostI've been thinking a lot about hit points in TTRPGs a lot. One of the things I've loved about the OSR design and play styles are the very different approaches to character "health". "Hit protection" is a term I've encountered a lot, and that's a concept I've taken into Wandering Blades.
Hit Points (HP) represent a character’s health and vitality. They are a measure of a character or non-player character’s (NPC) ability to av...
2023-03-05 02:58:57 +0000 UTC View PostI'm currently working on these rules with Emma Yasui, Drew Quon, and Liana Mackenzie! As always, you'll be the first to receive a free copy when they are completed! A variation of this ruleset will be a part of Wandering Blades!
That said, I'd love any feedback you folks have on these!
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To better reflect the nature of qi in Chinese culture, this optional rule set allows characters from all classes to ...
2023-02-12 23:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe D&D 5.1 SRD is now under the CC 4.0 international license. From what I understand, this is the best case scenario for the community and creators. I promptly switch the licensing on Blades of the Lunar Kingdom to the new license to protect my work indefinitely.
Will I still be working on Wandering Blades, my setting (which will remain system agnostic), and maybe the occasional 5e supplement that I make for my home game.
That said, I've update the files on itch.io for ...
2023-01-28 06:39:57 +0000 UTC View PostAs you folks know, I had a whole bunch of projects planned for this year including: Denizens of Mountains & Seas vol 3: The Sapphire Flame Cult, Denizens of Mountains & Seas vol 4: The Yue Dynasty, and the Youxia Class. All but denizens vol 4 are planned to be 5e compatible.
With the OGL situation currently happening, I'm not sure what to do with most of my plans. I'm really proud of Blades of the Lunar Kingdom (and am literally 4 sales away from...
2023-01-16 15:40:05 +0000 UTC View PostIt's been a wild week for the TTRPG industry with the leak of the 1.1 OGL. Since them, I've been carefully evaluating how I want to change the direction of my content. At the moment, it doesn't seem like making 5th edition supplements is in my best interest as Wizards may be able to just take anything I make for the mainline game.
That said, in a stroke of extreme hyper fixation, I started designing my own OSR game with Liana Mackenzie of Valorous Games. We're calling it
I'm planning on running Lunar New Year sales on my DriveThruRPG and Itch.io stores at the end of the month. Ahead of that, I wanted to provide patrons that are not in the PDF tier something special - the Lunar New Year sale links 20 days early!
Paradise Mountain (my wuxia micro setting) is 88% off on DriveThruRPG using this link.
Blades of t...
2023-01-03 03:53:43 +0000 UTC View PostBlades of the Lunar Kingdom is now available! To claim your copy on my Itch.io store, click the embedded link!
2023-01-01 03:20:39 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy this free template for digitally tracking your Dungeon23 journey!
I have a hard time keeping track of my work with a physical notebook. Digital tools work much better for me, so in anticipation for #Dungeon23, I made a quick spreadsheet (via Google Sheets) to help me track of my daily work in one place.
Here's how to use it:
I'm going to try to participate in the Dungeon23 challenge next year. I'll be trying to write a dungeon room every day for a year - consolidating them on a weekly basis into levels! My plan is to digitize everything into a Miro board so that you folks can see what I come up with!
2022-12-28 04:35:42 +0000 UTC View Post