#dmadvice

20 Things That Monks Might Have in Addition to Enlightenment

Mark S. Cookman

May 3, 2016
2 min

20 Things That Monks Might Have in Addition to Enlightenment

Last week, the theme of this blog was centered upon the equipment that travelling adventurers might carry with them on their delves and quests. This week the theme will center upon those who seek to unburden themselves and what better place to start than with what they choose to burden themselves with. So Monk Week, as I have so cleverly decided to call this week, begins with a look at the common equipment that the fast-handed disciples of Ki might carry on their adventures.

78 views0 comments

20 Items a Magic User Might Carry in Addition to Spellbooks

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 29, 2016
3 min

20 Items a Magic User Might Carry in Addition to Spellbooks

We've reached the end of another week just in time. This week's theme has been about the equipment carried by the various classes. Follow the link to see the whole list. As the old saying goes, we've saved the best for last: Magic Users. In this case, "best" means most diverse because under the banner of Magic Users stand all Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards regardless of the source of their power, the nature of their patron, or the arcane specialty they have chosen. As it wa

200 views0 comments

20 Items a Cleric Might Carry in Addition to a Holy Symbol

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 28, 2016
2 min

20 Items a Cleric Might Carry in Addition to a Holy Symbol

Today's post follows the class equipment theme, which we started with Thieves and Fighters. It's time to examine what things might be in the backpack of the party's cleric, but first a word about today's art. This piece is entitled "Evil Cleric" and it was created by the fantastically-talented Jon Hodgson. Treat yourself to more of Jon's incredible artwork by checking out his Deviant Art gallery. He's done a lot of amazing pieces on a wide range of subjects and I'm sure you'l

328 views0 comments

20 Items a Fighter Might Carry in Addition to Weapons and Armor

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 26, 2016
2 min

20 Items a Fighter Might Carry in Addition to Weapons and Armor

Almost three weeks ago, I posted a table about thieves tools. Since then, I have been thinking about a series of posts along a similar theme. This is the first of those. I have decided to tackle what extra things fighters might carry with them. Fighters are a wide-open topic and while two D&D fighters might be comparable, they will not be identical. Thus, understand the difficulty in developing a "universal" list. Fighters vary too much in races, cultures, creeds, backgrounds

154 views0 comments

20 Books to Find in a Ship Captain's Library

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 22, 2016
2 min

20 Books to Find in a Ship Captain's Library

This week we've been looking over some sailing topics. Sailing can honestly be pretty boring if nothing's going wrong, especially if you are only a passenger. In well-protected shipping lanes, a ship might go a week, or more, between significant encounters. What was there to do on a ship before there were Carnival Cruises? - A whole lot of nothing, basically. The ship moves too fast for casual fishing, there are no large open spaces for Zumba classes, and closest thing that m

172 views0 comments

20 Things the Lookout Spots from High Above

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 21, 2016
4 min

20 Things the Lookout Spots from High Above

We continue our week focused on sailing with a look at the lookout high in the crows nest. We're going to examine how far the lookout can actually see, what he does besides just looking ahead for the ship, and why he's often a target of the enemy. Oh, and of course there will be a list of 20 things at the end, as promised by the title. Let's get started. First of all, a lookout can only see as far as the visibility of the air will let her/him see. If there is a mist or a ligh

129 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 20, 2016
6 min

20 Days of Sailing on the Ocean Blue

This week we will discuss various topics of a nautical nature. We will start off with a collection of really boring encounters at sea. Now you might be thinking, "why would I want a collection of really boring encounters?" There are numerous reasons that you might want to use these encounters; listed below are three good motives to do so. First, it is unlikely that all of the characters in your group already have sailing experience. In fact, it is more likely that you will ha

87 views0 comments

20 Items to Find in a Dockside Pawn Shop

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 13, 2016
5 min

20 Items to Find in a Dockside Pawn Shop

This is yet another post in the dockside series. Today we will be examining pawn shops and how they might be used in your fantasy campaign. We will look briefly at the history of pawn shops around the world and demonstrate the working relationship between sailors and pawn shops, before presenting the list itself. First, let's define what a pawn shop really is. A pawn shop is a poor man's bank. A pawnbroker is a businessman who makes money by charging interest on short term lo

888 views0 comments

20 Special Services Provided by the Thieves Guild

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 8, 2016
2 min

20 Special Services Provided by the Thieves Guild

To end the week and our look at the thieves, today we will examine some "special services" that, for a cost, could be provided by the local thieves guild. This is not meant to be a full list of services, nor is it meant to be a general core list that all such institutions might provide. It is just a list of possibilities to get you thinking about the types of "special services" that your thieves guilds might provide. Keep in mind that thieves guilds are not usually limited to

200 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 7, 2016
4 min

20 Purses Waiting to be Cut

Pickpocket by Felicia Cano - Check out all her artwork here This is another post on the thief theme. Today, we're going to examine picking pockets, or rather cutting purses. In most fantasy RPG campaigns, the setting is reminiscent of the middle ages in terms of both clothing and attitudes. Few pieces of clothing in the medieval period had pockets sewn into them at all and most people chose to carry their valuables in a bag, pouch, or purse tied to their belt. Thus, most "pic

186 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 6, 2016
1 min

20 Thieves Tools Beyond Lockpicks

To keep with the thief theme started with Monday's post, today we will talk about some thieves tools that aren't lockpicks or a pry bar. Whether you use these tools to equip your NPC rogues, or just provide them to the PC's as additional tools they might carry, I hope that you enjoy them. I also hope that they get you thinking about other tools the merchants of midnight might use. Without further ado, here are 20 Thieves Tools Beyond Lockpicks. Until next time, Happy Gaming!

2,946 views0 comments

20 Different Names for the "Thieves Guild"

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 4, 2016
2 min

20 Different Names for the "Thieves Guild"

As a wrap up to our discussion on guilds, today we will discuss the nature of the "thieves guild". During this series, I have emphasized how guilds are all about getting as much gold as they can. While this is the primary goal of any trade organization, normal guilds put a portion (often a large portion) of their money back into the community through public works projects. Most thieves guilds clearly do not follow this practice. Additionally, since thievery isn't truly a guil

14,497 views0 comments

A Guild-Themed Double-Feature: 10 Guild Adventure Seeds and 10 Masters of the Guilds

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 3, 2016
7 min

A Guild-Themed Double-Feature: 10 Guild Adventure Seeds and 10 Masters of the Guilds

I apologize for my poor health this week, but we've managed to make it to the weekend, even if we aren't all healthy and happy. This week we've been looking at guilds. We're going to end that examination with 2 tables - one with potential adventures and a second with influential NPC's. As it is always, I hope that you can find some use for these tables in your own games. Before we get to the tables though, let's talk just a little about the influences of guilds upon towns. As

78 views0 comments

A Quarterly Events Table for Guilds and Businesses

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 31, 2016
5 min

A Quarterly Events Table for Guilds and Businesses

As I said yesterday, guilds are all about the gold. That's only appropriate since they are trade organizations. Unfortunately for the guilds, there are many others that are also out to get that same gold. Below is a table for helping to determine the quarterly profits and losses for a guild or business expressed by a percentage of the working capital for the entity. Additional tables below flesh out the events responsible for the downturn, levelling out, or upswing in profits

76 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 29, 2016
5 min

20 Perks of Being a Guild Member

This week we'll be looking at guilds. Guilds were first established in the early middle ages (10th-12th Century) as a protection against the unfair treatment and over taxation rampant throughout the feudal system. They continued to exist within the medieval world as a strange mix of trade unions, training schools, cartels, and civic-minded secret societies until well into the Industrial Age. As a matter of fact, over 100 modern corporations within the city of London have desc

1,577 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 25, 2016
6 min

10 Prisons You'll Likely Die In

Well, we've made it once again to Friday. Today, we conclude our crime and punishment theme with a collection of prisons. In story-telling, there are generally two types of prisons. The type that might appear as part of a character history, i.e., no matter how tough its reputation, it is ultimately the type that you come back from. The prisons listed below are decidedly of the second type. The type that no one is ever meant to visit or return from. Listed below is a collectio

440 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 24, 2016
2 min

20 Punishments for Minor Crimes

This is the next step in our legal series this week. We've looked at Laws and we've looked at Law Trials. Now we will turn our attention to punishments. Below I have listed some minor (in the medieval sense of crime and punishment) punishments that might be levied against law breakers in a fantasy realm. You know your world the best so if 1000 Gold is far too much for a minor crime, then change it to a better number. In fact, all of these are just suggestions to get you think

388 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 23, 2016
4 min

20 Types of Law Trials

Today, we will continue the legal theme with a look at law trials. Law is defined as a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. Individual laws might be endlessly disputed, but the concept of Law is basically the same to everyone. If you do something wrong and you get caught, then you are going to be made to pay for it in some way. Different societies and cultures may have vastly different laws and courts from those that your PC's migh

44 views0 comments

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 22, 2016
3 min

20 Bizarre Laws for Your PC's to Break

All cultures have some form of law; some system by which the actions of individual members of the culture can be judged. All cultures use laws to isolate themselves from behaviors that they do not approve of; unfortunately cultures often differ greatly, making what is perfectly acceptable in one place, absolute taboo in another. When travelling, even in your own country, one can forget that different people do things differently. A traveller might sometimes run afoul of local

113 views0 comments

20 Things to Find in the River Pirate's Hideout

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 18, 2016
4 min

20 Things to Find in the River Pirate's Hideout

Well, against all odds we've made it once again to Friday. Before finishing off this week's river theme, I'd like to take a moment to discuss today's pictures. This place is named Cave-In-Rock and it is located on the northern side of the Ohio River at Cave-In-Rock, Illonois. It has a fascinating history and if you ever get the chance to visit there, I highly recommend it. Cave-In-Rock was once the temporary home to a number of river pirates and stories say that the Harpe Bro

269 views0 comments

BLACK SHARK ENTERPRISES