Blog Archives

Nerd News — End-of-Year Conventions

Guess what time it is? It’s Game-o-Clock! The latter three months of the year have plenty of conventions to mention, and here’s a giant list for you to plan your next real-life adventure.

Which ones are you attending?

Update Post – September 4, 2019

Greetings Obsidian Portal Community!

It’s been a little bit since we had our last update post, but we’re back in action with some really great news. So let’s dive right in and get into it. News, updates, a beta feature, and a unique opportunity await!

Review: Stranger Things 5th Ed. D&D Starter Set

Our regular GM was sick last week, so our gaming group had a chance to try out the Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons Stranger Things Starter Set. In short: it’s a great little adventure that’s just right for beginners or DM’s who need a starting point for a low-level campaign. And for more experienced gamers, I’ve written up some ways to modify it for more advanced play.

Side Quest: Tangle Bridge

Here is a short side-quest (map included!) designed for low-level characters for any game system where wagons and overland travel would feel appropriate. It works as a quick mission or random encounter that can be dropped into any adventure. To use it in your own game, simply fill in whatever details are needed and set any ability or skill checks that you feel would be necessary. To escalate the challenge, add an enemy ambush, false rumors, more natural obstacles, or increase the danger of falling off the tangle bridge.

Obsidian Portal Campaign of the Month August 2019 – Into the Gathering Dark

Darkspawn stir while the land’s nobles scheme for profit. Meanwhile innocent folk are left largely to their own devices. Even foreign mercenaries seem more honorable in recent days. Perhaps it’s all for the best; who better than mercenaries to venture Into the Gathering Dark – August’s Campaign of the Month! Now hurry! There’s no time to waste if the Blight is to be stopped. We must get to GM Pytheas with all haste.

Describe Your Death For Us

When a character fails miserably at something during a game, who describes the failure? Is it the GM’s duty – NAY – pleasure to chronicle the crunch of bones, the explosion of electronics, or the graceless fall from a great height? Are we figuratively rubbing our player’s faces in their own flubs? It’s fun for a storyteller to portray pratfalls, but shouldn’t we share that fun with the player who must suffer the slings and arrows of unkind dice?