Andreas Turriff

Wudinar's Adventuring Guide

Not every villain needs to be killed. If it is possible to convince them to turn, that is almost always the preferred option.

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Clerics have a lot more uses than healing spells. They possess power over the living dead, ready access to summoning spells, a number of powerful blessings and curses, and reasonable skills with weapons. There are far worse travelling companions than a servant of the divine.

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Keep in mind not only who your opponents are, but what they are: unless the plan is on a schedule, a dragon antagonist can simply account for human interference by going to the ground for 20 years, and resume from there. At the same time, that’s 20 years to

Gaming News

Not much caught my eye this go round, although I did notice that Esper Genesis is out – a science-fiction setting for D&D5. Also, there is a kickstarter for Worlds of Empyrea – an attempt to make a single campaign setting work for a wide variety of systems. Interested in

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

I know I mentioned situational awareness in the past. This not only extends to the specific situation an adventurer might find oneself in, but also to the generic kind of situation. For example, when infiltrating an impregnable fortress, remember that all that military machinery needs to be supported – there will

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Magic frequently is finicky. Whether it’s a limited-scope divination (reading entrails only counts when an actual spell or ritual is involved) or a full Wish going awry, one can often not rely on the results of spellcasting to solve a problem. So, figure out to deal with things the

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Help yourself, and the gods’ help shall follow. This might seem trite advice, but when the gods are real and take an active interest in the world, it is something to be remembered and followed – after all, noone likes a freeloader. At the same time, demonstrating resourcefulness and ingenuity leaves

Gaming News

It’s been a while since the last time I went looking for gaming news; several things caught my eye since then: * Virtual Table Top applications: Fantasy Grounds plans native support for Starfinder. * BattleTech: Catalyst Games goes back in (game) time and fleshes out the backdrop for classic BattleTech. “Second

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Do not underestimate the ability to create custom magic items during downtime. Not only is doing so often cheaper than acquiring these items on the open market, they are specifically built to your needs. That said, this is a great area to talk to the GM – not every universe allows

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Magical items do not simply have their designed used: a Potion of Cure Wounds fashioned as an oil instead can see use as anti-undead grenade, for example. There are a lot of other items that could see such unintended usage, and while most of them are situational, they can easily

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

I spent a lot of time on the ‘dos’ of adventuring, but I should highlight at least some of the ‘don’ts’ as well. The major one is not, as you might think, splitting the party – although that is high on the list. The major ‘don’t’ is to rush

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

This might go without saying, but when you hear drums in the depths, it is probably time to vacate the premises… and seal the gates. On that note, there are two related pointers I have for aspiring dungeon-delvers today. One, do not leave enemies behind you. They could catch you

Gaming News

Things that caught my eye over the past few weeks: * Harmony Gold is resuming their legal crusade against BattleTech. You’d think after 20 years and a full rework of the “Unseen”, there would no longer be a case… * Catalyst are building a deckbuilding game on the D&D

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

While there is a certain satisfaction in self-sufficiency and independence, when you are out in the sticks (or worse, deep in hostile territory), there is something to be said for strength in numbers. Not everyone needs to be able to do everything (badly), but tasks can be split to the

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Efficient Quivers do not work only for arrows. The arrow compartment can hold wands, the bow compartment can hold staves, and the javelin compartment can hold rods. In a similar vein, spells like Treasure Stitching can be used to smuggle contraband, and feather tokens have been known to double as

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Summoned creatures are your friends. This could be quite literal in some settings or with some GMs, where a caster summoning the same creature type will always call upon the same creature, or metaphorical in others – but either way, they are wonderful for support and force multiplication. A summoned creature

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Along with rope, a mirror is an important part of every adventurer’s toolkit. From preventing shaving mistakes over looking around corners to signalling, it can be invaluable. And do not forget that when you are fighting a medusa or basilisk, the mirror can keep you from having to fight

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Rope is useful – even when one has substantial magical or high-tech support, one should not be without. Other than the obvious uses in climbing, restraining captives and lashing things together, rope can serve as a marker, can be unbraided to use the component strands, can serve as tinder, can be

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

I am certain this has been said before: Keep your objective in mind. Unless you were hired as exterminator, your goal is usually not to depopulate a region of its residents, but to get in, get your job done, and get out. And who knows, maybe some of the locals

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Know when to surrender. Even captured, stripped naked and shoved in a cage is better than being dead – death tends to be final, especially when the capability for resurrection is in doubt. Captivity, embarrassment, slavery all can be overcome, by contrast.

Portal Outage

The Portal’s database server decided to regenerate its DHCP identifier and acquire a new address today. An outage resulted. This should be fixed.

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Noone ever said the opposition plays fair – and neither should you. Making sure that you play to your strength and to the other side’s weakness, and that circumstances are in your favor is not dishonorable, it’s smart.

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

Not all dangers are obvious. Sure, an orc or hobgoblin will take your head off, a dark elf is likely to torture you, and so on… but there are more subtle dangers, too. Whether it’s the companion who makes off with your equipment while you sleep, or a cursed

Wudinar's Adventuring Tips

A propos of Starfinder, be sure you have defenses against the environments you are expecting. Whether that is subarctic temperatures, vacuum or a radiation storm, I cannot stress this enough: Preparation is what helps an adventurer survive.

Gaming News

Concentrating o nPathfinder today, because PaizoCon. * Paizo is branching out. Apparently, there is a license out for a digital CCG, Kingmaker is being turned into a computer RPG (Baldur’s Gate style), Pathfinder Online is still running * Branching in a different direction, details about Starfinder were announced. System plays, as