In Keyword Design, I use a single word as inspiration for a mundane item, a magic item, a feat, a spell, and a class option. Today’s word is “Intelligence” as suggested by… well, no one. In the last Keyword...
Sometimes life gets away from us, Andrew and I are swapping days this week. You’re regularly scheduled Burst of Insight will appear on Thursday. I make no pretense that my blog here is anything other than the things I...
Ryan here, taking over for Alex to expand upon my latest PFS character, as mentioned in the banter segment of Know Direction episode 172. My understanding of Hollywood changed when I heard The Joker described as a dream character...
Every once in a while, a game will have a character or enemy that is instantly iconic. One of these, I would say, is the Big Daddy from Bioshock. It’s a big, imposing, and terrifying looking enemy that just...
Inspired By is a new Behind the Screens subseries in which Ryan talks about something everyday he cames across -be it a book, song, toy, etc- that inspired him as a GM. In today’s installment, he talks about the...
We’ve all been there. You carefully crafted a robust story involving war, intrigue, adventure, and cool battles. Then your players decide to do something completely different and miss it all. Let’s explore some ways we can help them choose...
Hi, my name is James and welcome to Code/Switch. Today I want to talk about collisions, more specifically collisions in space. While trawling the Know Direction Discord Server I got into a conversation about the realism of space combat...
Last week I did something completely different for one of my Iconic Design articles—I designed a shifter aspect. Normally I just make builds. This week I’m going to break another mold—I’m going to walk you step-by-step through my process...
Monster Hunter World is out! It’s my first foray into the series and I’m having a great time with the game so far. It’s a great action game and really sells on the feeling of fighting an enormous monster....
My Medieval Literature professor once told my class that the medieval audiences enjoyed new and innovative retelling of the same tales. As far as I can tell, not much has changed in the last 600+ years. There are dozens...