Hello friends!
You’ve decided you want your next Torchbearer character to be all mysterious and edgy, so you’ve chosen to be a loner, tough and cool. No friends, no parents, no mentor. But you do have an enemy that has it in for you. Oops.
Continue reading[41] Friends shall gladden each other | with arms and garments,
As each for himself can see;
Gift-givers’ friendships | are longest found,
If fair their fates may be.
[42] To his friend a man | a friend shall prove,
And gifts with gifts requite;
But men shall mocking | with mockery answer,
And fraud with falsehood meet.
Hávamál, from The Poetic Edda, translated by Henry Adams Bellows
Hello friends!
How much do you make use of relationships in your games? Do the PCs frequently call in at home so their parents will do their laundry? Do they lean on their friends for help? Do they seek instruction and guidance from their mentors? Do they seek out their rivals for a loan? Why not?
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Hello friends!
I want to apologize for this blog’s recent hiatus. Many of you probably don’t know that my other hobby (apart from making games) is coaching women’s flat track roller derby.
I coach two teams in the Gotham Girls Roller Derby league: Manhattan Mayhem (a home team) and the Gotham Girls Roller Derby All-Stars (a travel team). Over the past six weeks, Mayhem has played twice (a victory against Queens and a loss to Bronx), and the All-Stars have played five games across two tournaments (victories against New Jax (Jacksonville, Fl.), Arch Rival (St. Louis, Mo.), Victoria (Melbourne, Australia), Crime City (Malmö, Sweden) and Dirty South (Atlanta, Ga.)).
As you can imagine, I’ve been a little distracted! The good news is that both teams are now headed into the post-season. Mayhem will play Bronx again for the local championship in August. The All-Stars still have a few more games ahead, but our success has put us back in the #2 spot ahead of Victoria, and we hope to reclaim the Hydra from Rose City (Portland, Ore.) at the International WFTDA Championships in Montreal this November.
In the meantime, I’ve got a little breathing room to think about games once again — which is good, considering that this time next week I’ll be at Gen Con (Burning Wheel will be at booth 2150; come say hi!). On to Torchbearer!
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Hello friends!
In the Guild Hall section of the Town chapter Torchbearer1Page 91 we note that adventurers can use the Guild Hall to find work. It’s a great option if adventurers find themselves short of coin while in town, but as written the jobs only pay out a pouch of silver and there isn’t much guidance for GMs about what sorts of jobs the guilds might provide.
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Luke and I have been tossing around some ideas to give dwarven/elven weapons and armor a bit more character. Right now there’s just a little footnote to the Gear table on page 145. We wanted to give them just a bit more love.
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Hello friends!
Luke and I have some more magic items and potions for you this week.
You can find items from past entries here:
If you use any of these items in your game, please tell us about it. Enjoy!
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Hello friends!
Luke has been noodling around with a new Middarmark stock. We’re still playtesting and would love your feedback!
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Hello friends!
It’s been a bit since the end of the Bridge of the Damned campaign, so I wanted to give you some insight into what I’ve been working on.
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Hello friends!
We know that settlements in Torchbearer often have temples and shrines to various Immortals—they’re among the locations you can visit during the town phase. But the temples and shrines are generic. It’s left to the GM to fill in the details. By default, people in Torchbearer give devotion to many Immortals. Most are simply worshipped collectively as the “Lords.” But it is not uncommon for settlements to pay special attention to a Young Lord: say Yngve the Lord of Sowing, an incarnation of the Lords of Plenty.
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Hello friends!
We all know you go to the tavern for drinks and rumors, the shrine for omens and the temple for prayers. But where do you go for your more esoteric needs? Why, the hedge witch of course! Check out this new town location for your game.
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