CHAINMAIL: 09.22.2023

Domain-Play Lessons from ... Shadow of War? - Gundobad Games

A part of D&D that tends to get overlooked, by myself as well, is the potential of "domain play". This refers to the characters enacting change on a level above their day-to-day movements. Stuff like hiring mercenaries to spy on a rival, sending out an envoy to parlay with a local lord, and creating a fortress with its own standing militia. I'd love to explore some of these ideas more completely in my own games, but I am still collecting resources to help shape the way I want it to run. I also LOVE Shadow of War and think there is so much to steal from that game for our TTRPGs. I've talked about the nemesis system in this newsletter, but this blog post is about some of the other awesome domain level mechanics that can also be ported into your TTRPG games.

On Worldbuilding: Religions - Hello Future Me

Religion is extremely fascinating to me. The way it interacts and defines culture is something I love to explore in my own worldbuilding. When it comes to fictional depictions of polytheism, they tend to be off base from their real-world parallels. This video is a great primer on how to better incorporate fictional polytheism in your games and worldbuilding.

Great RPG Mechanics: Week Two - Raven Age Games

We can learn so much by exploring systems outside of our normal rotation. Every TTRPG offers up some tools or advice that can be applied across the majority of other TTRPGs in order to elevate play. The mechanics highlighted here are some examples of those. My favorite from this list is "death moves" which I very much want to explore and potentially adapt for my table.

I hope these resources inspire you! If you haven't already, the best way to stay up to date with everything hothead-related is to join the discord. See you next week!