Intro So a little under a year ago I posted This Piece that discussed something called the ‘Clockwork Setpiece’. This is a convenient catch-all terms used to describe things like time loops and other resetting challenges. I’m incredibly proud of that piece. I would say it’s one of my best.I’ve recently re-explored the concept in … Continue reading Revisiting the Clockwork Setpiece: Roguelikes
Tag: Design
Design Insights: Power Budget
Intro We’re continuing to unpack various design concepts to make ourselves better at homebrewing and creating 3rd-party content for D&D 5e. In the last piece I mentioned Power Budgets, so this piece is going to focus on that concept. Before I dive in, this is going to be almost exclusively relevant for designing classes and … Continue reading Design Insights: Power Budget
Design Insights: Static Bonuses
Go into any homebrew community and post a non-item brew that gives a +1 bonus to something (like a subclass ability that gives a +1 to saving throws). You will get eaten alive. Why is this?
How To Design Puzzles Part 2: The Scrivener’s Tomb
Intro So the last part left you in the lurch a bit. I said I was going to teach you how to design puzzles, but I never actually showed you how, I just delivered to high-concept ideas and put in an example and a counter-example. As promised in the last part, this part is going … Continue reading How To Design Puzzles Part 2: The Scrivener’s Tomb
How To Design Puzzles Part 1
Intro This one has been a long time coming. I’ve spoken at great length about taking lessons from puzzle games, and also about utilising puzzle mechanics to create incredible dungeons, but in all that something’s been missing. When I’ve brought up creating puzzles I’ve just sort of laid it out there as ‘when you make … Continue reading How To Design Puzzles Part 1
Puzzles, Time Loops and the Clockwork Setpiece
You pull yourselves up the rigging and over the ship’s handrail. The mist hangs low over the deck. You think you can see figures moving about, but nothing is distinct.“Ah,” you hear from behind you, “I thought this might happen...”Captain Broadheart is looking at his outstretched hands as his fingers trail off into the mist. … Continue reading Puzzles, Time Loops and the Clockwork Setpiece
Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 4
Intro Welcome back! I feel at this point there’s little value in preamble so I’ll just get on with the piece. To re-cap where we currently are, the last 3 parts have discussed world structures for our campaigns that are informed by puzzle game design.So if there’s one thing I wish I could go back … Continue reading Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 4
Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 3
Intro After the wait for part 2 dragged into the span of months I figured I’d best have part 3 out a little sooner, so here it is!This piece continues where Part 2 left off. We spent the entirety of that part talking about Megadungeons and a way of structuring them to fit with our … Continue reading Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 3
Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 2
Intro If you’ve been patiently waiting for this then I can only extend my gratitude. This one’s been a long time in the making. I’ve mentioned it here and there, but this whole series was effectively complete, then after posting the first part I decided I wasn’t happy with the rest and pulled the whole … Continue reading Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 2
Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 1
Intro Hello again fine folks! I hinted at this already, but I’m following up my series on taking lessons from puzzle games for dungeon design with a series on doing the same thing with campaign and setting design. First, Some Definitions I’m using ‘campaign’ here pretty loosely, as really these lessons can be applied pretty … Continue reading Building Better Campaigns Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 1
The Active Dungeon vs The Passive Dungeon
Intro Hi everyone. I’m back again with something that came up in one of the discussions spawned by my Puzzle Game series. I figured I’d cover it while I finalise my series on using puzzle game design to help build campaigns and narrative arcs (yes that’s still in the works). This post is going to … Continue reading The Active Dungeon vs The Passive Dungeon
Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Appendix
Intro Hey guys, I’m back with a short follow-up to my recent 5-part series on using tenets of puzzle game design to help with dungeon building in DnD. I felt there were a few pieces of wisdom related to the overall concept that I could not fit into the series, so I wanted to release … Continue reading Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Appendix
Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 5
Intro We’ve really been through a lot together by now, and I like to think we need no introductions between us. Still, I will at least provide the courtesy of recapping the series so far and outline what this final piece will discuss. This series has focused on using lessons from puzzle game design to … Continue reading Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 5
Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 4
Intro Welcome back! And this time I’m not going to apologise for the previous part. If you’re coming in to this fresh, first of all you really ought to read the previous posts to get properly up to speed, but in a nutshell this series is focusing on using lessons from puzzle game design to … Continue reading Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 4
Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 3
Intro Welcome back! If you’ve made it this far I’m more than a little impressed. This series has been dense so far. To go back over the background of this series, I’ve so far discussed the concept of the ‘Holistic Dungeon’ and an approach to building one that takes lessons from puzzle game design. We’ve … Continue reading Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 3
Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 2
Intro Welcome back, and thank you for coming back after that first post that seemed so void of applicable advice. If I were to give an alternate title for this part it would be ‘Actually Beginning To Build A Dungeon With This Advice’, but that wouldn’t be very snappy. I digress. I’m here to continue … Continue reading Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 2
Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 1
Intro Hi folks. Due to popular demand I'm consolidating a number of my posts from r/DnDBehindTheScreen into a blog. For now, all of my content will also be posted on that subreddit, but this should stand as a place to more easily find other articles I've written for other DMs. This here is the first … Continue reading Building Better Dungeons Using Puzzle Game Design: Lesson 1
Apothecary Press 