Tag: role-playing

Critical Fails

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It happens.  It’s okay.  It’s not the end of the world (usually).  Sometimes the dice hate us, and we end up with a critical fail.  I’ve wanted a little consistency in my games, and also a quick reference chart, so I put together a couple of tables for what happens when that dreaded “1” shows its face.  The tables were created with Dungeons and Dragons 5e in mind, but I’ve removed anything that is specific to that game system.  I’ll be adding critical success tables too, at a later date.

Click the link to access the tables: Critical Rolls

These tables are released under a free culture Creative Commons license.  Take them, use them, modify them, share them, do whatever you want with them.  The idea can’t be copyrighted – you’re always free to make your own.  All this covers is the specific wording and the layout. If you use the tables “as-is”, please link back to their page.

Creative Commons License
Critical Roll Tables by Jean A. Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

 

Rootless

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I wanted to do something different this week, so I wrote about one of my favorite homebrew classes: The Rootless.  This isn’t a class like fighter, mage, or rogue.  This is a class of people like farmers, merchants, noblemen, or craftsmen.  They are considered holy people, and a little out of their minds.  Like kleptomaniacs can’t help but steal, the Rootless can’t help but explore and learn.  Though the Rootless were created for a fantasy world, they can be adapted to any setting.  In a science fiction world they would be scientists, scholars, and explorers.

You can read all about them by clicking this link: The Rootless

I got the name, and the idea, from a song by S. J. Tucker titled, you guessed it, Rootless.  There is a beautiful sign-language performance of this song on YouTube, here: https://youtu.be/fUvm4FJ92P4

Have a great weekend, and may you discover something new every day!

 

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Jamie

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This week, a more traditional character background.  Jamie McFadden is an irrepressible scoundrel and optimist.  His latest adventure has him off searching Mexico for the fabled city of Shamballa, courtesy of a couple of scammers, a fake map, and an old song called The Road to Shamballa.  The awesome thing is that Shamballa exists – or did.  A pocket of scientists that survived the Great Death built a tiny, isolated community.  What that community has become, and how much of their knowledge has survived, is anyone’s guess.

click the link to read about Jamie McFadden

May your journey be long, your burdens be light, and your rewards be beyond your wildest dreams.

Happy Traveling!

~Jean Nadira

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Maxy

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I’m enjoying creating character sketches in a story-like way.  Maxy is a young man who finds himself on the wrong side of the law.  He’s shot in the back while running from police, and winds up in a world that is more than a thousand years in the future.  It takes him years to learn how to live in his new home.  His only regret is that his mother would never know what happened to her boy.

Click the link to read the full write-up:  Maxwell Carter aka Maxy

Have a great weekend!

~Jean

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Shadows Pouncing

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This week’s blog is a character profile – for a cat.   I used Shadows Pouncing, and his mentor Stub Tail, as familiars and companions for my Sonora game.  However, they are characters in their own rights.  I based the concept, very loosely, on a book called Tailchaser’s Song, by Tad Williams (which I just learned is in production for a 2018 movie release. Huzzah!)   I highly recommend the book.

So here he is, Shadows Pouncing

It’s nice to do different things, sometimes.  If you wanted to run an all-animal game in Sonora, you could. Cats, dogs, raccoons, coyotes – emerging sentience, burgeoning societies, old enmities.  What could be better?

May you catch enough prey to keep you from hunger, but not so much that you become lazy.  And may you never lose your tail in a dog fight.

~Jean “Tiptoes” Nadira

 

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

VIPs of Ellay

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This week’s post is a short one, with character sketches for the three most powerful people in Ellay: the Mayor, the Commissioner, and the Deputy Commissioner.  These three men rule Ellay and the surrounding area, which gives them control over trade between the west coast and all points east, since Ellay sits smack on the crossroads.  You can imagine how they would view smugglers attempting to circumvent Ellay and the taxes placed on trade goods.

The post is here: Who’s Who in Ellay

Have a glorious weekend, and may the guard never find your secret shrine.

~Jean

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Ellay

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When I ran the Sonora game on AOL, Ellay was the center of our game play.  This week’s post is considerably longer than any of the others because it contains the local background essential to running the game.

Edit: Whoops!  Forgot to include the link to the blog post, though you should always be able to find the page in the navigation menu.  So here it is, your link to Ellay.  Thanks to my beloved for noticing that lapse.

I’m still learning how to use WordPress, and this week includes my first ever table.  Hopefully it will render properly for you good folks.  Please let me know if it does not.   It’s been a while since I’ve used html coding.

Have a great weekend, and may the guards never find the dagger hidden in your boot!

~Jean

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

the Tribal Nations

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This week it’s a little blurb about the Tribal Nations who occupy the Rocky Mountains and a large chunk of north western real estate stretching into Canada.  They’re short descriptions, so I’ve grouped them together on a single page.  These people are the descendants of the Lakota and the European settlers of the American northwest.  They have a language that is the bastard child of Sioux, English, and French.  Their religion is constructed from fragments of belief systems that helped them survive and cope with the Great Death, molded into a new whole.

The Tribal Nations of North America

Hope you folks have a fantastic weekend, and may your dice always roll in your favor!

~Jean

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Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licens

Mormon

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This week I give you a little about the most sophisticated society in North America – and possibly the world.  When disaster hit, they clung to their faith but, more importantly, they held on to their social structure.  This means that they recovered more quickly than other areas and never devolved into the mindless barbarism that consumed other places.  Their religious fervor, however, serves to keep them from advancing.  They are basically stuck in the mid-twentieth century.  For now this gives them great advantages, but eventually the surrounding nations will catch up – and then surpass them.

Mormon -“God’s Country”

Hope you enjoy this little slice of relative civilization.

Have a great weekend!

~Jean

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Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Rajani

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This week’s blog is an overview of the last area on the map of Devanand – Rajani.

You can read the full blog here: Rajani

On the other side of the globe is a whole other land, but for now this is the extent of the known world.

I thought I’d take a break from Devanand, and introduce you to Sonora next week.  It’s a post-post-apocalyptic setting that I used for a chat-based role-paying game many years ago.  It’s still one of my favorite settings.

Have a great weekend!

~Jean

Creative Commons License This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.