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.

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

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.

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.

Sci-Fi Space Travel Speeds

April 9, 2023 mstanton Settings

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

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 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 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 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 Rules

A houserule on the price and availability of hiring spellcasters.

D&D5e: Magic Item Prices

November 28, 2020 mstanton 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 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 Benchmarks

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

Heat And Power Benchmarks

September 21, 2017 mstanton 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.

D&D5e: Magic

November 25, 2016 mstanton Rules

Notes about spellcasting, magic items and guidelines for effects and limitations in play.

D&D5e: Skill & Tool Use

November 25, 2016 mstanton Rules

Notes about ability checks and various proficiencies, plus clarification on the “Hide” action.

D&D5e: Combat & Health

November 25, 2016 mstanton Rules

All kinds of notes about running combat, “to-hit” rolls and damage, hit point loss and recovery and class abilities.

D&D5e: Time & Travel

November 24, 2016 mstanton Rules

Recap of rules and house rules for travel by land, air or sea.

Hack: Defusing Bombs/Traps

November 24, 2016 mstanton Rules

An RPG mechanic for solving short codes such as defusing sequences for bombs or traps.

Seed: Omniscient Killer AI

November 20, 2016 mstanton Adventures

What if characters pissed off an artificial intelligence that has full access to hack the internet of things?

Seed: Kill Me, I Beg You

November 20, 2016 mstanton Adventures

Here’s an encounter during which a powerful NPC attacks the characters for apparently no reason, all part of a hidden plot.

RPG Starship Sizes

September 22, 2016 mstanton Benchmarks

Some baseline measurements, maybe for use with High Guard/Trillion Credit Squadron?

Cypher System

August 25, 2016 mstanton Rules

A hack to the “buying down Difficulty” rule in Monte Cook’s Cypher System Rulebook.

My Cthulhu RPG

April 6, 2016 mstanton Homebrews

My hack of Harper’s “Lasers & Feelings” RPG to experience Lovecraftian horror.

Benchmarks: DC Heroes APs

February 25, 2016 mstanton Benchmarks, Homebrews

A look back at the logarithmic ability score scale Mayfair Games used for their first superhero role-playing game.

My Star Wars RPG (v.1.0)

December 30, 2015 mstanton Homebrews

My hack at creating a Star Wars role-playing game.

D&D5e Range Chart

November 20, 2015 mstanton Rules

Comparison of some range distance limits in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.

Call Of Cthulhu 7th Edition

October 31, 2015 mstanton Rules

An expanded version of Matt Puccio’s Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition cribsheet.

Fantasy Forensics

March 15, 2015 mstanton Rules

BlogOfHolding’s fantastic post on how magic changes criminal investigations in a fantasy world.

GURPS: Ghellen the Elder

October 3, 2014 mstanton Characters

Another character callously murdered by GM Stanley Miller, this one by getting run down by elite-level stone golem karate grandmasters. Screw you Stan.

D&D4e: War Challenges

May 1, 2014 mstanton Rules

Repost of “Skill Challenges of War” by Michael Brewer, Jonathan Jacobs, and Quinn Murphy.

AD&D1e Fast Characters

March 23, 2014 mstanton Characters

Tournament play character sheets for use with S1: Tomb Of Horrors (also works with other AD&D modules for levels 8 to 14)

AD&D1e Fast Treasures

March 23, 2014 mstanton Rules

A collection of treasure items a party might have in its possession during an adventure.

Alternatives To Death

July 22, 2013 mstanton Rules

So, a character has died. Now what? here’s ideas to avoid a player having to “start over” with a wholly new character.

Descriptive D&D Damage

March 1, 2013 mstanton Rules

Hit point loss could be meat, OR condition of armor OR self-confidence, focus and resisting shock in combat OR ability to ignore nuisance effect like dirt in eyes or awkward stumbles OR lots of things…

And Then, Things Got Worse

November 25, 2012 mstanton Adventures, Homebrews

Adventure details on making the worst out of anyplace the characters might go.

D&D3e: Ruhg Norwind

June 15, 2012 mstanton Characters

An ancient red dragon who inexplicably awoke one day in the body of a lowly human, he set out on a violent quest to regain his former form. Made for Daniel Scribner’s D&D campaign at the NYC Google offices.