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6 iron spikes

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Town Planner - Part I: Designing and running villages

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/08

(White Dwarf #31)Paul Vernon kicks off this well-regarded series with a focus on authentic medieval village design.What’s it about?Villages need an economic base—usually agriculture, livestock, or resource extraction (mining, fishing, forestry). Strategic locations, like crossroads, a mountain pass or river crossings, may also provide the reason for the village existing. Fresh water is essential. Without an economic base you don’t have a village.Monsters in the area should have marked lairs, hunting

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The Dungeon Architect Part III: The Populated Dungeon

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/06

(White Dwarf #27)Last in the series. Roger Musson tackles the challenge of filling a dungeon with monsters and treasure.What’s it about?Roger sees dungeons as a fallback when inspiration runs dry, offering routine through reconnaissance, mapping, target identification and looting. At the same time dungeons feel productive—yielding XP, treasure, and items—the real work lies in populating rooms, which can be daunting with hundreds to fill.A fully random approach is quick but unsatisfying, often

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The Dungeon Architect Part II: The Constructed Dungeon

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/06

(White Dwarf #26)Roger Musson discusses dungeon layout—rooms, corridors, and traps - with an emphasis on disorienting the party.What’s it about?Musson favors large dungeons, settling on 200 rooms a level (fewer below 4th level) to provide plenty of treasure for leveling before descending and opportunities to get lost.Verticality: With 40' between levels, he suggests pits, galleries, sloping floors, and high passages starting near the ceiling. Including large multi-level features (e.g., a vast

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The Dungeon Architect Part I: The Interesting Dungeon

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/05

(White Dwarf #25)Roger Musson argues that NPCs and their plots are the key to creating an interesting and fun dungeon.What’s it about?Musson critiques the “randomly generated dungeon,” where encounters are assembled without thought or flavor, resulting in a dull, procedural experience. While this might seem like a straw-man argument, I’ve played in dungeons like this, so the criticism holds weight.He compares D&D not to a game but to a pastime like fishing: while the objective may be to catch

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Beyond the rule book: Procedure and style tips for...

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/04

(Dragon #75)How do you DM—not the mechanics, but the approach? Lew Pulsipher offers 20 tips in what may be his magnum opus for Dragon or White Dwarf.What’s it about?Lew stresses consistency, logical application of rules, and establishing clear boundaries - don’t let players push you around. Not all published rules are good, so apply them sensibly. Avoid mid-session rule changes, share house rules beforehand, and revisit rulings if players make strong arguments. Prepare enough to keep the game

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The Alchemist

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/03

(White Dwarf #20)Tony Chamberlain expands on the alchemist outlined in the DMG.What’s it about?This article provides rules for generating alchemists (levels 1-6, most at level 3), predominantly human, not as a playable class but as NPCs to flesh out your hired help. Alchemists can cast a limited selection of spells (e.g., slow poison and legend lore), with costs comparable to those in the DMG.Expanding on the DMG, where alchemists assist with potion creation, this article allows them to help craft

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The gnomish point of view

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/02

(Dragon #61)Gnomes are polarizing. This article starts strong but introduces incongruous elements that fuel the trope of "annoying gnomes just playing their character."What’s it about?Roger begins by describing gnomes as a happy medium between dwarves (focused on mining) and elves (nature-loving). They live in underground complexes near the surface, mingling with woodland creatures. Then, things take a turn with humor: gnomes feel unjustly persecuted by all and start with a suspicious attitude (cue

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Sage Advice: Psionics

6 iron spikes ·

2025/02/01

(Dragon #78)While Sage Advice isn’t official canon it was as close as it got. This installment addresses psionic questions, though most involve things that will never come up. Some clarifications, however, are useful.Anything insightful?If your CHA, WIS or INT increase, you get another chance to become psionic. Alternatively, a wish can make your character psionic if you meet the required 16 INT, WIS, or CHA.Elves and half-elves can now be psionic.You can always mount a psionic defense, even if

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An introduction to Dungeons & Dragons - Part III: The...

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/31

(White Dwarf #25)The third installment of Lew’s five-part series provides an overview of playing spellcasters in Dungeons & Dragons. Articles like this, offering advice on gameplay, always catch my interest.What’s it about?Lew emphasizes that magic-users (M-Us) are entirely reliant on their spells, suggesting they should make up 25% of a party, ideally with plenty of elves. He stresses the importance of protecting them—useful advice for beginners, though something they’d quickly figure out on

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Armed to the Teeth

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/30

(White Dwarf #65)More weapons, finally a two-handed axe, a pavise, a flaming oil alternative and soft-soap?What’s it about?M J Bourne introduces new weapons and unconventional tools, including the misericorde and poniard—grappling daggers with favorable WvAC outcomes in surprise situations or grapples. Since the two are nearly identical, only one feels necessary. We finally get a two-handed axe, though it underperforms compared to the two-handed sword, making it a suboptimal choice. The

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Be aware and take care

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/29

(Dragon #79)What’s it about?The article starts by saying good play relies on common sense, cooperation and prioritizing the party's survival.The core advice is strong: have the right balance of classes, prioritize defensive spells like dispel magic over offensive ones like fireball, and set clear objectives for each expedition. If you don't have an objective your goal is to scout, gather info and avoid fights. Lew stresses the importance of gathering intel—whether from rumors, sages, or

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Useful Dungeon Equipment

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/28

(White Dwarf #12)Lew explores creative uses for equipment, revisiting ideas he later expanded on in Dragon magazine. Was the original better?What’s it about?This article focuses on practical equipment ideas with rules and prices for the items discussed. Lew provides costs for silver plating weapons and explains their use, which is genuinely helpful. He also covers niche topics like bronze weapons for dealing with rust monsters, fire arrows (arrows wrapped in oiled rags), and blessing weapons for

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Ready for anything!

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/27

(Dragon #69)Lew returns with out-of-the-box thinking on equipment. Engaging with the game as a game is good practice but does he push things too far?What’s it about?Lew suggests metal oil flasks to avoid breakage, manacles instead of rope for prisoners, and other items to solve specific problems. While creative, much is over explained.He spends too much time preventing potion breakage—something I rarely require rolls for unless falling into a pit or failing a fireball save. Ideas like screwing two

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Divinations and the Divine - Another Look at Clerics...

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/26

(White Dwarf #50)Jim Bambra, co-writer of The Enemy Within for WFRP (a campaign I loved running), explores clerics in AD&D. But is his advice worth sharing with cleric players?What’s it about?Jim argues that parties need clerics—something I agree with—and notes that no one wants to play them. While this hasn’t been my experience with veteran players, new players might not see the value right away.He advocates being a protagonist for their religion. I’d like to see my players do this more often

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The Brownie

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/25

(White Dwarf #29)Some players enjoy small races, and games like Tunnels & Trolls and the classic Wizardry series offer fairies to scratch that itch. Brownies provide a similar appeal without introducing flying PCs at level 1.What does a brownie get?Class Options. Fighters (to 5th), Magic-User (to 13th) and Thief (U) and multiclass options (f/m, m/t and f/t). Thief multi-class are restricted to thief armour and weapons.Magic Resistant. Constitution-based, like dwarves.Surprise Advantage. 3-in-6

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The Necromancer

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/24

(White Dwarf #35 republished in Flipping and Turning #4)Lew Pulsipher’s Necromancer is a standout class article, alongside his iconic My Life as a Werebear. While not inherently party-friendly, it could work in a group of neutral characters... sort of ... maybe...? Themes of degeneration, isolation and paranoia are woven throughout.What does a Necromancer get?Control Undead. Communicate with all undead and turn them as an evil priest. A "D" result means permanent control. Friendly undead can also be

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Singing a new tune. A different bard, not quite so hard.

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/24

(Dragon #56)The original bard from Appendix II required high attributes and a delayed start—players had to work through 10+ levels of other classes, making it rare. This rewrite eases requirements, lets you start as a bard, opens the class to elves, and caps halflings and dwarves(?!) at level 5. But is it any good?What does a Bard get?Decent saves. Cleric saves, but weaker against poison and similar effects.Spells. Gains druid spells at level 2 and illusionist spells at level 4. Restricted spell

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War Smiths

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/24

(White Dwarf #28)Roger E. Moore offers a partial nod to dwarf players lamenting their lack of clerics. The war smith, open to dwarves, gnomes, and humans, is a hammer loving fighter with limited spellcasting abilities.What does a War Smith get?Forge armour and weapons. War smiths can craft gear, though the rules (DMG p.29) are vague. A fair ruling might require half the item’s cost in raw materials. This ability is only useful before play or at low levels and with DM buy in.Lords of the Hammer. +1

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The Elementalist

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/24

(White Dwarf #23)A thematic magic-user variant with access to druid spells, 26 unique spells, and the ability to command elementals. You start with an extra spell at level 1. While flavorful, it’s hard to see why you’d pick this over a standard M-U.What does an Elementalist get?Level 2 Spell at Level 1. Starts with a level 2 spell (likely a typo)—there's another clear error in the spell table. Given their spell list, this isn't game-breaking.Elemental Resistances. +2 to saves vs fire, water, air and

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The Whole Half-Ogre

6 iron spikes ·

2025/01/24

(Dragon #73)By popular demand Roger Moore finishes what Gygax started. Is this power creep? Half-ogres can gain unlimited fighter levels, level 4 as clerics, and can multi-class. Unfortunately, Moore’s article is full of filler.What does a Half-Ogre get?Height and Weight. Makes for a better grappler than the lizardman. Should dominate against humanoid opponents.High STR. Half-ogres have a 2-in-6 chance of rolling an 18 STR. Fighters get a +25% bonus to their exceptional STR roll. Getting mature

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