Infinite Ideas: Building the Infinity Tower

What is the Infinity Tower? This was the question that I wanted to answer this session. At least a lot more than I have so far. The PCs are entering into 'Tier 2' play now that they are 5th level and I wanted to make sure that there was a dramatic shift in the scale of the story. We're now dealing with the Infinity Tower hands on. There's a planar enemy that may be petrifying people one at a time in Eastkeep. The PCs have jumped into a demiplane of darkness and transformation. As a DM, I used to be totally obsessed with Ravenloft as a 2e/3e setting. For those who experienced the material, the Ravenloft setting was dark and interesting with lots of plot elements that could entice players. I didn't want to copy Ravenloft but I did want to have fun with the idea of curses and dark powers. That's what Dreysil, my little homebrew Demiplane of Transformation, is all about. So we've got a vampire tree that has grown up and through the Shadowfell to become a dar...

OK, I found out about Inkarnate.com today thanks to Clay(@cbsa82). Here is a terrain map of Tregeria, focus of the Infinity Tower campaign.

Monk Weapons These specialized weapons reflect the training of a Monk. Each of these weapons requires intense study and practice to use effectively and as such they are neither Simple or Martial Weapons. At level 1 a Monk can choose one of these categories of weapon to become proficient in. The Monk also gains a special attack with that category of weapon detailed below. A Monk that is not proficient in a category of Monk Weapons may not use this special attack. Flexible weapons Flexible weapons can be used to make an Entangling Attack. Entangling Attack : A Large or smaller creature hit by a flexible weapon is restrained until it is freed. Entangling Attack has no effect on creatures that are formless, or creatures that are Huge or larger. A creature can use its action to make a DC (8 + Proficiency + user's Strength or Dexterity bonus, as used to make the Attack roll) Strength check, freeing itself or another creature within its reach on a success. Dealing slashing d...

As a DM, I love story development. It's the best part of the game. There can be amazing combat scenes and PCs can gain incredible powers, but I'm there for the story. Some of my favorite things that happened this game: Aurora offering up people that she found irritating to a cosmic power as food. Theopraxis feeling guilty about the time he spent building a party cannon while people needed protection. Arven dealing with all the influences that pull at him and remaining centered. Fiction-first gaming is a buzzword from the PbtA games and Blades in the Dark that I like to appropriate for D&D. I want the most interesting thing going on to be the story of the players, so that shapes a lot of my decisions. I still try not to break the game to the point where it's unrecognizable. This week, we added a monk weapon: the flying guillotine. Flying Guillotine Cost: 10gp Damage:1d6 slashing Weight: 2lb Reach We'll give it some game flavor and say that on a crit it l...

This is a busy week for Time2Tabletop! We had 2 back-to-back nights of Infinity Tower and still have What Game Did You Bring? tonight! So this reflections post is really about both games. Firstly, we never planned to have solo adventures for the PCs. There was an earlier show scheduled to accomodate Kat, who we knew couldn't make the regular game. Our special guest Kelsa was unavailable for the changed time, so we made it work for everyone. The Aurora solo on Monday was great and almost entirely off-the-cuff. This was a great example how dice can change the narrative. I had a scene planned and was setting terrain when Kat rolled a Natural 20 on her Death Saving Throw. Then another on a skill check. Then another. At that point, the fates were clearly with Kat and Aurora started telling us what she wanted to see happen. It was a lot of fun! Then our usual session of Infinity Tower Tuesday. This was a simple battle where numbers seemed overwhelmingly in the players' favor ...

We had a ton of changes for Session 13! This was a recharge session after several (6) sessions outside of a city. The players have been on a long arc exploring underground, fighting monsters and doing their best to survive. Getting to Eastkeep, the starting point of the campaign, I wanted this session to be lighter, more fun and feel rewarding for the players. They've completed an important part of their recent arc - really, they're just moments from finishing it - and I wanted them to feel like they had gotten somewhere and accomplished something. I think that having a session that is really role-play heavy, giving a chance t do shopping, crafting and general upgrading is important at points like this. The last few sessions I had noticed a real drain on player resources and a good amount of tension. I think this session gave a chance for that to relax away and let the players focus on their individual goals. Our guest player, Kelsa (@kelsa) was absolutely great. She was ...

I just got to watch our Infinity Tower Session 12 on YouTube. I loved it. I lost it. In Session 11, the party got access to a Rod of Rulership. That was already going to have consequences. In Session 12, first thing, the player holding it used it on the rest of the party. Result: amazing role-play. Lots of fun. Totally removed the threat and consequence of a powerful magical item in the resolution of NPC conflicts. There's nothing like when you put items out for players to use and they surprise you with them. Even better when you don't expect the things your players come up with. Really, the best part of an RPG is playing things out with your fellow players. I've been obsessing over Powered by the Apocalypse games and so this sort of directed action with a player focus was just what I would have hoped for. Fun and unexpected.