r/rpgpromo

▲ 172 r/rpgpromo+16 crossposts

Deathmarked Wight (CR 12) - When a Wight Becomes the Champion of a Death God

The Deathmarked Wight is a CR 12 variant of the classic wight, created for campaigns where undeath feels tied to a greater power. Instead of being only a hateful remnant of a former life, this wight has been chosen by a death god, ancient lich, or powerful necromantic order, carrying a mark that gives it purpose, authority, and far more dangerous abilities.

It can place a deathmark on a victim, weaken enemies with necromancy, drain life, raise the creatures it kills into temporary undead servants, and unleash pulses of necrotic power. I wanted it to feel like an undead enforcer or emissary, the kind of creature sent to crush rebellions, retrieve escaped undead, punish enemies of a death cult, or prepare the way for something much worse.

The Wight entry also includes expanded lore and optional traits to customize the base creature, such as memories from life, empowered zombie servants, or extra necrotic damage against untouched victims. Together, the two statblocks give you both a classic undead threat and a much deadlier champion of death for higher-level encounters.

These creatures are from Undead & Undead: The Ultimate Undead Handbook for 5E and the 2024 Edition available on DriveThruRPG!

Undead are more than shambling corpses and skeletal minions. Undead & Undead is your complete guide to raising the dead, commanding their power, and unleashing them in terrifying new forms - from restless spirits and cursed warriors to spectral lords, zombie dragons, and necromantic abominations.

What’s Inside?

  • 90+ Undead Statblocks – From crawling hands and soul wisps to deathpriests, banshees, mummy sovereigns, and lich gods. Each entry includes optional traits and variants to customize your encounters.
  • Undead Lair System – A scalable, flexible system to turn crypts, cursed cities, and haunted ruins into deadly environments. Includes thematic traps, lair actions, environmental effects, and more.
  • 50+ Magic Items – Cursed relics, necrotic weapons, undead-bound artifacts, and forbidden tomes designed to horrify or empower.
  • Customizable Templates & Traits – Easily create unique undead with variant traits, thematic abilities, and storytelling tools for every archetype.
  • Campaign Tools – Includes undead cult generators, random encounter tables, unholy rituals, haunted visions, and apocalyptic plot hooks to fuel your adventures.
  • VTT & Art Resources – 60 art handouts and 45 VTT tokens to bring your undead encounters to life, whether in person or online.

I’m also working on Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E, an upcoming Kickstarter featuring 300+ magic items inspired by myths and legends from around the world. It includes weapons, armor, relics, artifacts, and scaling items that can grow with the characters over the course of a campaign. You can subscribe to our newsletter to get updates and download a free 30-page PDF preview. We only send emails occasionally, and only when there’s a new release, important news, or exclusive free content and discount codes to share.

You can find more of my creatures and manuals on DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM!

u/jonnymhd — 18 hours ago
▲ 92 r/rpgpromo+5 crossposts

The Camarilla as an Exponent of Conservatism: Elders First, Everyone Else Second!

A while ago I wrote an article talking about how the Sabbat can be viewed as a sort of representation of counter-culture. And by that I mean the sort of caricature your average suburban mom would think about the counter culture during the heights of the Satanic Panic.

With that said however, where does that leave the Camarilla? For it is the opposite and equal force, the alpha to the omega. Given that the two are in total antithesis with each other, the Camarilla could thus be defined as a caricature of conservatism. Or at least what would've been seen as a caricature in back in the 90's. Let's not open the discussion of what's the current state of things.

So I think that would be the sort of thesis for this piece. We're looking at how does the Camarilla mash with conservatism, if they actually even do, what does that entail about the themes of the game and what does that mean for your table.

If that sounds like something you would be interested in, by all means, please do give it a read and voice your thoughts on the matter! I hope you will enjoy it!

therpggazette.wordpress.com
u/alexserban02 — 2 days ago
▲ 33 r/rpgpromo+11 crossposts

Discussions of Darkness, Episode 51: Pentex V. The Cheiron Group (World V. Chronicles of Darkness)

youtube.com
u/nlitherl — 3 days ago
▲ 379 r/rpgpromo+9 crossposts

We can survive the blizzard in here! Look, there is even a nice fire burning and strong sturdy doors!

Get this map and its accompanying one-shot at: patreon.com/balatroart

u/balatr0 — 5 days ago
▲ 101 r/rpgpromo+12 crossposts

Some Uncommon magic items inspired by Asian legends and myths | 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024

Hello, fellow adventurers! Today, we are excited to share some Uncommon magic items inspired by Asian legends and myths! These entries come from our upcoming Kickstarter project, 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024.

Step into a realm of ancient gods, legendary heroes, and forgotten civilizations with Mythological Items, a comprehensive compendium featuring over 300 magical items specifically designed for 5E and its 2024 ruleset update. This manual spans a vast array of cultural traditions, organizing its treasures into regional categories for easy reference and immersive worldbuilding. Each item includes not only full game mechanics, but also lore and background information to integrate it seamlessly into your campaign, whether as treasure, quest rewards, or the key to an unfolding mythic saga. From the storm-summoning weapons of thunder gods to cursed trinkets whispered of in ancient lore, this book brings myth to your table like never before.

This manual offers an extensive collection of magical items that can be incorporated into any campaign, regardless of its connection to specific mythological themes. The items presented in this volume, drawn from a multitude of global legends and folklore, are envisioned to enhance the diversity and depth of any fantasy world. This eclectic array mirrors the inherent blending of elements in many worlds and settings, where influences from various cultures and mythologies coexist harmoniously. For instance, Thor’s Hammer, Mjölnir, could serve as the centerpiece of a divine quest, while Draupnir, the Norse ring of endless wealth, might drive political intrigue or power struggles in a kingdom torn by greed.

Mythological Items also provides a solid foundation for campaigns that wish to delve deeper into the relics of a specific mythology or blend multiple traditions into a larger, interconnected setting. A campaign inspired by Greek mythology could see players donning the Nemean Lion’s Pelt, becoming nearly invulnerable as they take on challenges worthy of Heracles himself, while a campaign drawing from Japanese folklore could involve uncovering the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the fabled grass-cutting sword tied to imperial lineage and divine storms.

We suggest checking our pre-launch page for additional info and an extended 30-page preview of our compendium, scheduled to release in a few months! Alternatively, you can also subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming projects, special offers, and important news about our past and future works.

Happy adventuring!

u/MythosChronicles — 5 days ago
▲ 26 r/rpgpromo+4 crossposts

The Tower of the Standing Stones, a short adventure

Ciao a tutti!

Di recente ho contribuito alla pubblicazione e all'impaginazione di una piccola avventura indipendente per Dragonbane intitolata La Torre delle Pietre Erette, scritta da Marco G. Fossati, autore di numerosi supplementi per giochi di ruolo fantasy, sia di terze parti che indipendenti dal sistema di gioco, nel corso degli anni.

Si tratta di un'avventura compatta ambientata in un luogo specifico, pensata per Dragonbane, ma con qualche modifica potrebbe facilmente funzionare anche in molti altri sistemi fantasy OSR.

Non voglio svelare troppo su cosa si nasconde all'interno della torre, perché credo che parte del divertimento stia proprio nello scoprirne i segreti durante le sessioni di gioco. Dirò solo che è pensata per essere suggestiva, facile da inserire in una campagna in corso e che si integra sorprendentemente bene con Il Segreto dell'Imperatore Drago.

Il mio ruolo è stato principalmente quello di occuparmi dell'impaginazione e della presentazione del progetto, e mi sono divertito molto a lavorarci.

Attualmente costa $1,99 su DriveThruRPG. Mi piacerebbe davvero sapere cosa ne pensano gli altri GM e giocatori di Dragonbane!

Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/567777/the-tower-of-the-standing-stones

u/SirKohle — 5 days ago
▲ 2.7k r/rpgpromo+1 crossposts

I built a physical dice roller you can use online — real dice, shaken in my garage, photographed and sent to your browser

I created a dumb little dice roller that rolls a dice in my garage and sends you the photo and video for proof. Icanroll.com Bear with me since it's a work in progress and I'm doing this as a solo project in my free time. I'll try and post updates on updates.sirsweater.com/projects/icanroll and here if yall actually care about it. Currently there's only a d20 and d6 setup but I'm building those out as fast as I can and as much as I can afford.

u/SirSweater — 8 days ago
▲ 124 r/rpgpromo+5 crossposts

Back to Basics: A Review of Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game

I have been on a bit of an OSR acquisition spree lately. Cairn came home with me a couple of months back. More recently I picked up Whitebox, Into the Odd, Beneath the Sunken Catacombs, and the subject of today’s review: Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game. The plan is to run all of them and eventually write a comparative piece examining what each system brings to the table, with Old School Essentials joining the lineup as well. I have played OSE but never run it, and it deserves a spot in the collection and the conversation.

Before that comparative piece happens, though, each game gets its own review. Hence this one, for a game released in… let me check… 2006. I was four years old in 2006. Four. So yeah, this is a review for a game released 20 years ago, back when I was just starting kindergarten. I bet I made some of you feel old with this particular comment :))).

Like with other reviews I made for older titles, I do not presume that in this review I will necessarily bring something new to the discussion, but rather I simply want to share my thoughts of the game, what I like, what I dislike, where do I come from with these opinions so that you, dear reader, might get something out of it, especially if you did not know about the game.

For those unfamiliar with it, Basic Fantasy is one of the earlier major OSR projects, created by Chris Gonnerman as a reinterpretation of classic early D&D. Mechanically, it takes inspiration from B/X D&D while smoothing out some of the stranger or more cumbersome legacy mechanics. Ascending armor class instead of THAC0, race and class being separated, and a very approachable presentation make it feel surprisingly modern despite its old-school roots.

I hope you enjoy the review and please do tell if you have any experience running or playing it!

therpggazette.wordpress.com
u/alexserban02 — 6 days ago
▲ 14 r/rpgpromo+4 crossposts

Over 36 episodes in and having a blast. Listen as we progress through our campaign in Wrath of the Rightous and become better podcasters ourselves. We have an authentic group of friends who have known each other for decades. Hope you enjoy!

https://rss.com/podcasts/point-of-luck-podcast

If interested we have a new community on discord of people discussing the podcast, sharing memes, and having a good time: https://discord.gg/rdJxuwHvCf

u/Plus_Army3014 — 5 days ago
▲ 197 r/rpgpromo+15 crossposts

Orc Shaman (CR 4) - A Storm Priest, Spirit Speaker, and Warband Support Caster

Here is the Orc Shaman, a CR 4 spellcaster built to add storm magic, ancestral spirits, and battlefield support to orc encounters.

I wanted this creature to feel like more than just an orc with spells. It can support nearby allies with temporary hit points, empower a warband with primal rage, call down lightning through its Rite of the Storm Gods, and use its voice as a supernatural force that carries across the battlefield.

The page also includes optional traits that let you customize the shaman depending on the role you want it to play. It can become more durable against thunder and lightning, deal extra force damage through ancestral spirits, hold concentration more reliably while wounded, perform ritual movement, or unleash one final spell when reduced to 0 hit points.

It works well as a tribal spiritual leader, battlefield caster, cultic storm priest, or dangerous support monster behind a larger orc warband.

This creature is from Orcs & Orcs, available on DriveThruRPG in PDF and hardcover print!

Orcs & Orcs is the ultimate guide to unleashing the full fury and depth of orc-kind in your 5E campaigns, whether you want savage warbands, disciplined armies, cursed berserkers, or iron-willed mercenaries.

What’s Inside?

  • Dozens of Orc Statblocks – From the Orc Bannerbearer to the Red Orc Warlord, each entry includes extra traits and variants to help you customize encounters with brutal precision.
  • Powerful Orc Factions – Expand your bestiary with Ironpeak Orcs, Oathsister Orcs, Red Orcs, and twisted Mutant Orcs. Each brings unique abilities, lore, and lair ideas.
  • Orc Campaign Tools – Warband factions, tactical lairs, encounter suggestions, and more.
  • 70 Orc-Themed Magic Items – Tribal relics, cursed axes, brutal armor, spiritual totems, and more.
  • VTT & Art Resources – Includes 27 handouts and 17 creature tokens to bring orcs to life in-person or online.

Orcs fit into any fantasy campaign as enemies, allies, or complex factions. Wherever your world needs strength, rage, and scars earned in battle, orcs are ready.

I’m also working on Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E, an upcoming Kickstarter featuring 300+ magic items inspired by myths and legends from around the world. It includes weapons, armor, relics, artifacts, and scaling items that can grow with the characters over the course of a campaign. You can subscribe to our newsletter to get updates and download a free 30-page PDF preview. We only send emails occasionally, and only when there’s a new release, important news, or exclusive free content and discount codes to share.

You can find more of my creatures and manuals on DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM!

u/jonnymhd — 9 days ago
▲ 82 r/rpgpromo+3 crossposts

Simulationism Was Real: GNS Theory Twenty Years On

Well, some of you might know that I am finishing my MA now and I also want to enroll for a PhD in about a year or so. And that in my process I have discovered that there is a small community of people in academia who do research on TTRPG from a plethora of angles and domains - Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Game Studies, etc. So I wanna join this merry bunch, but firstly I went into a rabbit hole in order to see what other wrote and thought so far.

While doing this particular exercise I stumbled upon the GNS theory. For those of you who are not aware, it's a theory developed in the early 2000's by game designer Ron Edwards in an attempt to create a unified understanding of how TTRPGs work. It argues that RPG play tends to prioritize either gamist challenge and victory, narrativist thematic storytelling and character drama, or simulationist immersion in a coherent fictional world.

At the time it gained traction, the GNS theory gathered many supporters and critics alike, and although it has fallen out of fashion, its history and legacy is something that I feel is worth exploring! I hope you will enjoy it and please do share any stories you have if you were already part of the community back in those days!

therpggazette.wordpress.com
u/alexserban02 — 9 days ago