Sean Does Games

I’ve been thinking about glitches for the gadgets in my Epic Gnomish Inventing supplement. The rules as they are now are very much focused on practical mechanics. There’s nothing wrong with this; some folks like concrete rules to follow and I wrote those glitch rules with that in mind. I like storytelling. For me, it’s the most important creative element in any RPG. I already use natural 1s and natural 20s as story elements whenever I DM. It only makes sense that gadget glitches should be treated in the same way. Really, what could be more capable of injecting unpredictable events into a game than a gnome invention gone amuck? I mean, they are perfect for those sorts of shenanigans. To that end, I’ve been toying around with this idea of narrative glitches. Like the dreaded natural 1s, narrative glitches introduce new elements or creative complications into the game that make life a little more challenging for the characters. It’s even possible for a gadget to achieve the desi...

When I wrote  Epic Gnomish Inventing  for Dungeons and Dragons 5e, I tried to balance overall cost of the gadget, its stability, and its relative difficulty to build and maintain so that both the DM and player would find it fair and useful. The worse possible outcome for me was to end up with rules that made it prohibitively difficult, costly, dangerous, or boring to create a gadget when compared to, say, a magic item with the same capabilities. The difficulty was in finding a sweet spot that was fair for every possible gadget players might come up with. For example, it would be unacceptable if the "charges" of a rifle cost 50GP, a ridiculous sum compare to other weapons. On the other hand, it would be equally unbalanced for a much stronger (or epic) invention such as a flying machine to be rechargeable for only 5GP. The task wasn't easy and there was much gnashing of teeth as I flipped back and forth trying to find said spot of sweetness. The final result works wel...

Character Concept Package The character concept package is a collection of backgrounds, feats, equipment, and other role playing ideas related to a single concept. Materials in a package can be used by any character of any class. Though a particular concept might be race related, they can generally be used by any race as well. These packages are an idea I've been kicking around for a while now. I'm posting the first one here for beta testing and feedback. Eventually, I'll be publishing a final product on DMsGuild . I look forward to constructive feedback. Gnome Toy Maker Background Your imagination is rather fanciful, even for a gnome. That whimsy fills every aspect of your life, from the shoes on your feet to the cap on your head, the food and drink you prefer, and your general outlook on life. That energy shines the brightest in your tinkering. Your inventions are as unique, and flamboyant, as you. Though you can build just about anything, you focus on toys....

The following is an initial draft for an expansion to my  Epic Gnomish Inventing  guide available from the DMs Guild. These are rules for crafting non-magical items in Dungeons and Dragons 5e. I'm currently play testing these rules on Time2TableTop 's Infinity Tower series where I play Theophraxis, a gnome gunslinger. I'm posting the rules here for play testing and constructive feedback. Ultimately, I'll make improvements based on your comments and post the completed product on the DMs Guild. Nimble Gnome Crafting The Fraslins-Glinder method as taught in Epic Gnomish Inventing single-handedly injected a much needed dose of stability into the otherwise unpredictable (and some would say chaotic) world of gnome tinkercraft. Workshops adopting the process saw increases in productivity and improvements in quality while experiencing a decrease in non-fatal mishaps. More importantly, folks who only a few years before would have preferred rotting in the Shadowfell ...