Vox Arcana - Blog

My issues with the 2014 version of D&D are well-documented. At this point, it's almost become a separate hobby, wondering how I can fix the game. I once compared modern D&D to Old School D&D to a Chevy Silverado and a Bicycle; one is easy to maintain and modify, and the other is not. Modern (i.e. non-old school) D&D is much like the truck in this scenario, and one shouldn't pop the hood unless he is willing to make a mess and get his hands dirty. …And possibly break something important. For today, there are a few things I'd like to call your attention to. Namely: Lack of challenge for players Lack of long-term consequences Lack of survival mechanics (even though they SEEM to be present) The overpowered nature of spells and cantrips (see point 3) The lack of a consistent economy The overpowered nature of magical items, especially weapons Lack of meaningful/useful CR system Outrageous power curve after level 6 It's only fair to list things that I do l...

  I’ve mentioned this before on the show, but wasn’t able to extrapolate on what I believe to be one of my greatest innovations.

This is a great, weird book, if you're willing to do some work.

  Is it possible? Can it be true? Can an OSR D&D adventure game utilize the Age of Sigmar as its world? "But William," I hear you cry, "AOS is high fantasy! There are angels and demons doing battle across countless battlefields! How can you possibly be considering such an idea?"

  If you saw Neverland and decided to keep on scrolling, you'd be making the same mistake I made. This game came out of nowhere. I first learned of it from a Questing Beast review, and I was hesitant to click because my interest in Peter Pan (and Neverland in general) is nonexistent. I saw the number of views on the video and thought it must be worth watching.

Our wonderful (and tragically lost episode of) Vox Arcana, detailed the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure for 5e. We discussed how to really utilize all of our best 5e tricks to make the adventure great. While recording, I realized the entire thing could easily be cut-and-pasted into my personal D&D world. It’s an easy, fairly low-stakes adventure that involves some exploration, and it would require minimal modification to work in my game.  Spoilers for the adventure from the D&D Beginner Box, originally released in 2014. Here is what I would change: The name Phandalin is silly, and worst still, very recognizable. Let’s call the little mining town Dalin, which has an Irish feel. Let’s make all of its woodsy citizens speak with an Irish brogue. The adventure itself is already set up as a series of situations, so let’s lean into that. A local wizard is on the hunt for a lost spell forge, and will pay any price to find it (it functions as a 20,000gp library) . He’s hired hobg...