EpicSavingThrow.com: A Grognard's Notebook

About This Site

November 23, 2016 mstanton Adventures, Settings

A brief introduction to this hodgepodge online dump of RPG ideas and notes.

RPG Industry News

November 23, 2016 mstanton Tools

A collection of links and latest headlines about RPG-related websites.

RPG Podcasts

November 23, 2016 mstanton Uncategorized

The Adventure Zone, One-Shot, Film Reroll, Happy Jacks, Imaginary Worlds, Hello From The Magic Tavern and more.

STA2e Complication Ideas

April 29, 2025 mstanton Rules

Idea for creating negative traits from botched task dice rolls.

Encounter: The Memory Eaters

April 29, 2025 mstanton Adventures

An idea meant to evoke emotional impact from psychic damage.

D&D Stats: Ridder Joost Vanderbruuk (Lvl 9)

April 4, 2025 mstanton Characters

Level up to 9, adds proficiency increase, 3rd level Paladin spells, Abjure Foes

D&D Stats: Ridder Joost Vanderbruuk (Lvl 8)

April 2, 2025 mstanton Characters

Level up to 8, adds Heavy Armor Mastery.

Realis RPG 101

March 13, 2025 mstanton Rules

A diceless narrative space fantasy game by Austin Walker.

D&D Stats: Tainzer Spoor (Lvl 7)

March 6, 2025 mstanton Characters

Backup character for Jason’s D&D campaign, starting at to level 7.

D&D Stats: Ridder Joost Vanderbruuk (Lvl 7)

March 5, 2025 mstanton Characters

Character for Jason’s D&D campaign, leveled up to 7.

Some D&D Combat Tactics

March 1, 2025 mstanton Uncategorized

Ideas to parley, use diversions, make better attacks, and flee when necessary.

Curse of Strahd Magical Loot

February 24, 2025 mstanton Uncategorized

Game stats for acquired magical items.

D&D Stats: Ridder Joost Vanderbruuk (Lvl 6)

February 24, 2025 mstanton Characters

Character created for Jason’s D&D campaign.

Curse of Strahd Campaign Notes

February 24, 2025 mstanton Adventures

This time I get to be a player character for once!

The Shortest TTRPG Rules Ever

February 19, 2025 mstanton Rules

Roll 2d6, get 9 or more or spend a story token to succeed.

My Ridley Scott-iverse Headcanon

February 8, 2025 mstanton Settings

The Alien/Prometheus, Blade Runner, Predator, and Raised By Wolves shows all happen in a shared universe.

STA2e Rules Notes, Glossary, Momentum and More

February 6, 2025 mstanton Rules

Some clarifications on terms used in Star Trek Adventures Second Edition.

How Much Did It Cost In The Past?

January 16, 2025 mstanton Settings

A rule-of-thumb guide for estimating U.S. dollar values between time periods.

Homebrew Rule: No Dice Failures

January 8, 2025 mstanton Homebrews, Rules

Instead of success or failure, attempt always work but player must choose at what cost.

Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying Rules

January 6, 2025 mstanton Homebrews, Rules

Notes on mashing up BRP with some patchwork houserules.

Another Homebrew RPG Idea

January 2, 2025 mstanton Homebrews, Rules

Another homebrew idea, Frankenstein of ideas from D&D5e and BRP (Chaosium’s Basic Role Playing/Call of Cthulhu system), with a few bits borrowed from Marvel Multiverse RPG and GURPS.

Range and Scale Benchmarks

January 2, 2025 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks

Some generic range bands for any rpg-like comparisons (may vary per game system).

Sci-Fi Equipment Lists

January 2, 2025 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks, Rules

Sample personal “starting gear” lists from science-fiction role-playing games.

Terraforming Steps

December 29, 2024 mstanton Settings

Some steps along the way to making an exoplanet livable for humans.

Otherwhere (Summer 2024)

October 1, 2024 mstanton Adventures, Settings

A brief recap of the D&D5e game played on Roll20 during summer 2024.

Setting Up “Hard Sci-Fi” Settings

September 30, 2024 mstanton Settings

What would a “hard sci-fi” setting look like without any “magic sci-fi tech” cheats?

The Inevitable Machine Uprisings

September 30, 2024 mstanton Settings

Some thoughts on why and how the machines will kill us all.

100 NPC Types

August 7, 2024 mstanton Characters, Lists & Benchmarks

Seeds to prompt personalities for minor non-player characters.

Tricks, Minor Curses and Magical Complications

August 1, 2024 mstanton Uncategorized

Colin McLaughlin’s ideas for minor complications from using magical portals.

Fast Starship Combat Rules

July 8, 2024 mstanton Rules

Some ideas for a quick-and-dirty starship RPG rules set.

Notebook of Star Trek-isms

June 12, 2024 mstanton Settings

Random notes about details from the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek Prime Timelines Headcanon

June 12, 2024 mstanton Settings

Why there must be two “Prime Timelines” in Star Trek.

Fast RPG v0.8

June 1, 2024 mstanton Rules

Yet another homebrew set of tabletop role-playing rules to playtest.

D&D 5e House Rules, Take Two

April 20, 2024 mstanton Rules

A list of common Dungeons & Dragons 5e house rules, and some new ideas to consider.

Fast Traveller 0.8

April 2, 2024 mstanton Rules

Version 0.8 of my re-edit of classic Traveller rules.

On DMing Faeries and Fey Pledges

February 3, 2024 mstanton Uncategorized

Some ideas on fey encounters and making pledges with such creatures.

Stanton’s DM Screen

January 4, 2024 mstanton Rules

A peak at my cribnotes for running 5e-based games, including credit on some great reference sources.

My MCU+ Timeline (+ X + FF)

December 28, 2023 mstanton Settings

List of news headlines includes only events as the general public would understand…

Marvel Multiverse RPG Cheatsheet

November 27, 2023 mstanton Rules

Some quick reference notes on Matt Forbeck’s rules.

Hey ChatGPT, Make Me Some Wargame Rules

October 11, 2023 mstanton Rules

An experiment in AI game design using some prompts into ChatGPT-3.5, circa October 2023.

Trait System RPG Idea

October 6, 2023 mstanton Homebrews, Rules

Updating my 30-year-old RPG design project notes, started way back in the early 1990s. Uses d20s only, no ability scores, and players roll for all task outcomes.

Another RPG Ruleset In Progress

September 27, 2023 mstanton Homebrews, Rules

Brainstorming a sort of D&D-Cypher hybrid rules idea…

LARP Character Magical Powers

September 25, 2023 mstanton Homebrews, Rules

I found the following character abilities in some mid-1990s LARP rules I made for con events in Wisconsin.

Animal Spirit Powers

July 8, 2023 mstanton Settings

A sampling a possible abilities gained by channeling animal spirits.

AD&D1e to 5e Conversions

June 25, 2023 mstanton Rules

When running old AD&D1e modules for D&D 5e adventures, follow these guidelines

Sci-Fi Space Travel Speeds

April 9, 2023 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks, Settings

Some notes cribbed from various sources on sunlight and faster-than-light starship speeds in popular science-fiction worlds.

Questions to Make Character Bonds

March 13, 2023 mstanton Rules

This exercise is designed to help players create character bonds through debts, rivalries, and shared past experiences. Position players in a circle (around a table

Coup: Rules & Notes

July 13, 2022 mstanton Rules

Notes on how to play the card game “Coup.”

Exandria Condensed Timeline

June 23, 2022 mstanton Settings

A condensed timeline of Matt Mercer’s Exandria campaign setting

Magic Item Shopping In Ank’Harel

June 23, 2022 mstanton Adventures

Quick rules on shopping for specific magical items sought on the streets of Ank’Harel.

Sci-Fi Environmental Standards

May 23, 2022 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks, Settings

Taking a guess at what the “air” inside most spaceports and starships must be like in the Traveller Universe.

Marvel Superheroes FASERIP Redux

May 10, 2022 mstanton Rules

The Marvel Superheroes Role-Playing Game rates abilities by descriptive ranks, each used to roll percentile dice (d100) to measure results on the Universal Results Table.

Describing Fiends

April 28, 2022 mstanton Uncategorized

Ways to describe encounters with demons, devils, and other unholy creatures spawned from the Lower Planes.

Imperial / Metric Conversions For D&D

March 24, 2022 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks, Rules

Loose estimates rounded for narrative/gaming purposes.

D&D 5e House Rules

March 24, 2022 mstanton Rules

A list of house rules I tend to use in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition games.

Call Of The Netherdeep: Game Notes

March 21, 2022 mstanton Adventures

A crash course in Matt Mercer’s campaign setting ahead of playing the module released in March 2022.

Otherwhere: Game Session Notes

September 9, 2021 mstanton Adventures

SESSION 0: A SUMMONS TO OLYA’S (9/8/2021) The mage-merchant Olya summons a group of adventurers in service to him to gather at his shop within

Otherwhere: Cast Of Characters

September 9, 2021 mstanton Characters, Settings

A brief summary of player character bios.

Otherwhere: Peoples And Places (2021)

September 9, 2021 mstanton Homebrews, Settings

A “mythological theme park” of ancient cultures and classic fantasy tropes: the fall of Atlantis, pantheons of mischievous gods, nations of human and non-human peoples, the struggle between order and chaos, and lands conjured out of dreams.

5e Custom Character Traits

July 17, 2021 mstanton Characters, Homebrews, Rules

Some ideas on character customization.

5e Robots

July 17, 2021 mstanton Characters, Homebrews, Rules

My take on making a playable race for sci-fi robots.

D&D5e Action Economy

June 22, 2021 mstanton Rules

A breakdown look at RAW, plus a couple of house rules.

Magical Healing 101

April 29, 2021 mstanton Rules

A comparison of what magic fixes what injuries.

Rime Of The Frostmaiden Log

March 31, 2021 mstanton Adventures

Campaign session notes for playing Icewide Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, with two major changes: The setting has been moved to Blackmoor in the World

Campaign Timeline: The World Of Greyhawk

March 1, 2021 mstanton Settings

A revised historical timeline with significant player character events noted.

Micro Fast Traveller 2.1

February 24, 2021 mstanton Homebrews, Rules

Even shorter version of ttprg rules for Traveller.

Roll20 User Notes

February 23, 2021 mstanton Tools

Some reference notes on using the VTT Roll20 platform.

Sci-Fi Technobabble

February 22, 2021 mstanton Settings, Tools

Nonsense words to use at the table to sound like a starship engineer or doctor.

D&D5e: Expanded Conditions & Abilities Glossary

February 21, 2021 mstanton Rules

Notes on conditions, common abilities, and a few house rules.

Sci-Fi 5e Medicines And Equipment

January 11, 2021 mstanton Rules, Settings

Some homebrew items for a science-fiction flavor to D&D5e.

Rime Of The Frostmaiden: Blackmoor On Oerth

January 4, 2021 mstanton Settings

Details about the archbarony in the Greyhawk setting.

D&D5e: Prices For Spellcasting Services

November 30, 2020 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks, Rules

A houserule on the price and availability of hiring spellcasters.

D&D5e: Magic Item Prices

November 28, 2020 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks, Rules

A shopping list for magical items and spellcasting services.

White Plume Mountain Log

September 18, 2020 mstanton Settings

Notes on an adventure to recover three missing magical weapons guarded within a taunting wizard’s dungeon built into an active volcano.

Subtle Spellcasting House Rule

September 18, 2020 mstanton Rules

A clarification on spellcasting.

Faster Combat Tips

August 8, 2020 mstanton Rules

Cribbed from several YouTube videos and blog sites…

Renewing My Old City Of Greyhawk Campaign

July 23, 2020 mstanton Settings

Background notes on revising my college-days D&D campaign.

Gamma World for D&D 5e

July 12, 2020 mstanton Rules, Settings

Notes for playing Gamma World using the D&D 5e ruleset.

Dirty Tricks Of The Evil Spellcaster

June 29, 2020 mstanton Rules

Uses D&D5e PHB spells for espionage – surveillance, sabotage, psyops and assassination.

Valerie Valusek’s City Of Greyhawk Map Annotated

June 29, 2020 mstanton Adventures, Settings

Links to view a version of the City Of Greyhawk map with key locations labeled.

The Xro Dinn Chronicles RPG

June 29, 2020 mstanton Rules

A quick outline about a sci-fi role-playing game from 2001.

My Campaigns’ Metaplot

May 20, 2020 mstanton Adventures, Settings

What I’ve noticed as a consistent theme in campaigns I’ve run, and how they can be made to fit together into an ongoing cosmic mystery.

Why Does The King Send You On Adventures?

April 8, 2020 mstanton Characters

Besides the chance for fame, treasure and glory, what’s your personal link to the ruling king?

Shorthand Stats For D&D Monsters

January 19, 2020 mstanton Rules

Text crib notes for D&D monster stats.

Sample Riddles

December 13, 2019 mstanton Adventures

Riddles stolen from a bunch of different sources.

Fiend Rationales

August 7, 2019 mstanton Characters

Even the most primally evil beings in the multiverse consider themselves “good” from their own points of view…

Sample Fantasy Character Equipment Lists

July 29, 2019 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks, Settings

DUNGEONEER’S GEAR (AD&D) Adapted from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. A melee weapon (longsword or battleaxe common). Leather armor (or better, unless forbidden). A waterskin (2

Role-Playing Mini Codes Of Honor

June 5, 2019 mstanton Characters

I once wrote up playing card-sized OD&D character sheets that included three guidelines to remember when role-playing characters. Some were distilled down from the “code

The Outlands (Revised)

August 12, 2018 mstanton Homebrews, Settings

What if Planescape was run without Sigil?

House Rules For Modern 5e

August 11, 2018 mstanton Rules

Some rough ideas on using the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition ruleset for other genre games.

The Entity MacGuffin

June 8, 2018 mstanton Settings

Idea for a shared horror meta-plot across multiple games in which Nyarlathotep, Tharizdun, the Elder Elemental Eye and The Wyrm are all the same malevolent cosmic being.

Top Secret: New World Order Notes

April 14, 2018 mstanton Rules

Some initial notes on the 2018 reboot version of Merle M. Rasmussen’s original espionage role-playing game.

Fantasy Timelines

January 19, 2018 mstanton Settings

Example timelines of some Dungeons & Dragons campaign backstories.

Speed Benchmarks

September 21, 2017 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks

A range of movement rate examples per 6-second round.

Heat And Power Benchmarks

September 21, 2017 mstanton Lists & Benchmarks

Random notes on temperatures.

Star Trek Fast Traveller

February 22, 2017 mstanton Rules

Notes for running a Traveller game in the Star Trek universe.

T.I.M.E Stories Rules

February 12, 2017 mstanton Rules

A summary of basic rules to Space Cowboys’ “decksploration” board game.

Adventures In Middle-Earth 5e

December 19, 2016 mstanton Rules

Some early notes on the D&D sourcebook / conversion of THE ONE RING role-playing game.

D&D5e: Inspiration Hack

November 30, 2016 mstanton Rules

An alternative method for determining when and how a character gains Inspiration during play.

D&D5e: Downtime Activities

November 25, 2016 mstanton Rules

Notes about what characters may do between adventures. More roll-play than role-play but nice to have some guidelines for DMs and players to set expectations.