Category: Homebrew

This blog explores OSR game design through practical mechanics and table-tested ideas homebrews.

  • When Clerics Lose Their Way: The Apostate Class for DCC

    DCC is famous for its gonzo quality. Characters readily undergo profound transformations, whether sprouting another head, becoming cursed with a gossiping demon face in the palm of their hand, growing gills on their neck, or having their feet become hands. In essence, a character may become unrecognizable from the individual they were at level 1.…

  • Oraedium, the Seer Mother

    DCC’s occupations provide a rich starting ground for inventing new deities. In Part IV of Bret Devereaux’s series on polytheistic religions, he notes how the ancient world was full of “smaller more personable gods”—household gods, gods of places, and gods of activities or moments. It makes sense to me that a cleric may be predisposed…

  • Homebrew Rules for Retainers

    These rules are meant to supplement my hireling and henchmen generators. Parties can hire retainers and specialists to assist them. Retainers consist of hirelings and henchmen, whereas specialists are skilled professionals, such as alchemists, armorers, sages, spies, and so on. Since the availability and cost of specialists vary considerably, this document focuses on retainers. This…

  • Session-Based Leveling in an Open-Table West Marches Campaign

    I often read posts on Reddit seeking alternative approaches to tracking experience progression in their D&D or D&D-adjacent games. In this post, I describe the session-based leveling method I’ve used for the past few years. I’m not the first person to use session-based leveling, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone use the exact system…

  • Procedurally Generating Purposeful Roads on the Fly

    Over the past year, I’ve been inspired to try solo play after watching Daniel Norton’s solo campaign, which uses his homebrew Unchained. Initially, I tried to do everything identical to him as I gathered my bearings—this included purchasing a copy Outdoor Survival to use its map. In recent months, however, I’ve wanted to try running…

  • Reimagining Rations in a Hex Crawl Campaign

    When I was younger, I used to go on hour long runs around the neighborhood. My general strategy was to run as far away from my house as possible to force myself to drag myself back home. I run West Marches hex crawls the same way. I want my players to sally forth—perhaps a bit…

  • Exploration Rules for Hexcrawls, Part 2

    In my previous post, I highlighted rules I homebrewed for hexcrawls. Apart from a desire to tinker with game design, I wanted to offer my players a means of making meaningful travel choices without showing them the complete map. To reveal the map, players need to contend with a fog of war mechanic, which they…

  • Exploration Rules for Hexcrawls

    Earlier this year, Arnold Kemp at GoblinPunch wrote two thought provoking articles on hexcrawls, titled, “Hexcrawls Kinda Suck” and “Okay I Fixed Hexcrawls Now.” Kemp notes (rightfully, I think) that there are some pretty severe limitations to hexcrawling. That said, they offer a fun approach to running a campaign. In the next few posts, I…