Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 14h

When I saw this beholder figurine (WITH GLOWING EYE!) for half price, I bought it despite not needing any more tchotchkes.

The included Guide for Training Your Beholder reminded me of How to Care for Your Monster, a book I loved as a youngster.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 4d

Fantastic post from Patchwork Paladin on offering choices in every scene while avoiding false choices, handcuffing, and calculations posing a choices. patchworkpaladin.com/2025/10/04/t...

The Goblin Ambush

The very same goblin ambush can be infuriating, boring, or a highlight. This post uses the goblin ambush to show how you can avoid bad choices and create good choices that maximise player agency.

patchworkpaladin.com

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 5d

A 2021 photo of a battle in an iron fortress in the Abyss versus a sibriex and some iron golems. From my first run through of my tier 4 adventure Battle Walker From the Abyss.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 6d

Unusual ability scores in two 1977 RPGs: Chivalry & Sorcery included Bardic Voice, for your Feudal Idol campaign. Arduin had Mechanical Ability and Swimming Ability because no one had invented skills yet.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 7d

I’m easily amused by Halloween decorations that seem more D&D than spooky like this ogre I met in the neighborhood.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 9d

Yes, unless I overlooked one.

I suspect the 2024 design team viewed weapon mastery as a potential martial counterpart to spells. Surely everyone enjoys gaining an edge by swapping weapons from turn to turn.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 9d

For playing Keep on the Borderlands I wanted a 2024 D&D PC without spells or weapon mastery.

Good thing I like playing monks.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 11d

Noble Knight, but sadly it’s no longer available at that price

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 11d

At $100, I passed on the Deck of Many Things, but on sale at $50 I succumbed. I’m pleasantly surprised by this chimera. A deck, more cards, plus help using it for divination as in Ravenloft, & for random adventure ideas. Plus 192 pages of loosely related PC options, locations, NPCs, magic & more.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 12d

Spells in Pathfinder 2 where a single failed save can take a creature out of a fight have the incapacitation trait, which gives creatures more than twice the spell's rank a high chance to resist.

PF2 players, how well does this work in play?

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 13d

Years ago I posted about D&D adventures that included poster battle maps. I never uncovered a series of boxed adventures that followed the 1991 black box basic edition of D&D. Adventures like The Dragons Den (1992) included maps, counters, and more. They even got a Thunder Rift setting box.

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Reposted by DM David Hartlage

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 14d

I've sure had plenty of fun with gelatinous cubes back in the day.

Even if it's perfectly invisible (!), it seems like an adventurer might smell a gelatinous cube before walking into it. Or notice that noises sound different when you're close to it. But maybe I'm overthinking it.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 14d

I can’t remember the last announcement that brought me so much excitement and anticipation.

Shannon Appelcline 🌮 @shannonappelcline.bsky.social · 15d

Designers & Dragons ORIGINS are new books. These are not the classic Designers & Dragons books, which detail the histories of about 100 companies in the industry. These are the histories of 200-300 D&D supplements that TSR published mostly in the 70s & 80s.

Launching Soon - Designers & Dragons: Origins

From Evil Hat - Launching Soon - Designers & Dragons: Origins

www.backerkit.com

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 14d

I once played a game where we spotted gear seemingly floating in a hall. Fun and not so obvious as you might suppose!

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 14d

After my 1st-level party met a gelatinous cube, I'm thinking about it's transparency. Originally surprise on 1-3. As a DM, I've been inconsistent in running that aspect.

We spotted the cube once and ran away (smart), and later walked right into it (1 dead PC and nearly 2 more).

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 15d

Armor soaked up damage until destroyed. A high to-hit roll might avoid getting soaked by armor, but skilled combatants got no better at avoiding armor.

Skilled combatants did grow better at defense rolls: beat the to-hit roll on a d20 to dodge of parry.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 15d

In 1983, D&D had pages of tables to determine to-hit numbers. In the D&D-inspired Palladium RPG (1983) the to-hit number on a d20 for every attack was 5! Always 5.

That quirk fascinates me.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · 17d

Joke PCs bug me, but with so much of my DMing for public play, I learned to tolerate them. Besides, I felt wary of being the cranky old guy bitching about someone's fun.

So this @dungeondudes.bsky.social video about playing joke PCs in campaigns scores a crit. Brilliantly explained! And funny too

The Problem With Joke Characters.

YouTube video by Dungeon Dudes

youtu.be

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Reposted by DM David Hartlage

Morrus @morrus.bsky.social · 18d

This is interesting. The number of third party #DnD products being produced each year dropped sharply after 2023 back down to 2015 levels. The two big things I would attribute that to (off the top of my head) are the OGL crisis and the announcement of D&D 2024.

www.enworld.org/threads/how-...

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · Aug 30

Every time I mentioned that I needed to register for GameHole my spouse laughed in wonder that any business would choose the name GameHole.

I always think of the quote, “If we had known our band would be so successful, we probably wouldn’t have named it Toad the Wet Sprocket.”

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · Aug 30

Wow. Gamehole con’s wishlist system makes event registration wonderfully easy. Done!

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · Aug 28

GameHole has an event where you can join legendary Traveller creator Marc Miller to roll up PCs!

Folks tend to chuckle about how Traveller PCs can die during creation, but Marc owns it as a solo mini-game and an early life-path system.

I played that mini-game a lot.

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · Aug 25

Watched @treantmonk.bsky.social run the numbers on the overwhelming, bonkers power of the 2024 spell Conjure Celestial. Good grief.

However marvelous the individual members of the D&D team may be, the team clearly suffers from a gap in their skill set. youtu.be/kqmyUED9-l

The Best Healing AND Damage Spell in Dnd 5.5

YouTube video by Treantmonk's Temple

youtu.be

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Reposted by DM David Hartlage

MechTexas @mechtexas.bsky.social · Aug 24

More Draw Steel? Yes. Please.
I got to play in this one with @d20play.bsky.social and @dmdavid.com and others. Fun game!

Draw Steel Actual Play THE DELIAN TOMB Part 1 Into the Tomb

YouTube video by d20play

youtu.be

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DM David Hartlage @dmdavid.com · Aug 23

I had zero Dark Sun experience until I played in @alphastream.bsky.social‘s Ashes of Athas organized play campaign. Everyone was laughing about how the chef NPC was a halfling. Took me a while to learn that Dark Sun’s setting’s halflings were known as cannibals.

It’s Dark, you know.

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