D&D for Kids: Basic Rules & Choosing a Race

I recently joined a Facebook group called "Dads and Dragons," for dads like me who love roleplaying games and playing them with their kids. I've seen a few resources out there for adapting D&D 5e to kids, but none of them were good enough to be standalone publications. Below I've compiled a collection of rule adaptations to simplify D&D 5e for kids 6 and up, rather than 12 and up. I'm leaning on the side of opening the game for fun story opportunities and making kids feel satisfied, like making successes more likely and promoting "fun" abilities rather than decidedly "balanced" ones, but all feedback is appreciated!

Once I've gotten all the rules fleshed out and playtested, I'll release these rules on a PDF. More to come later!

Thoughts on Warcraft III Reforged (ongoing)

Well, my favorite PC game of all time has been remastered and reworked into Warcraft III: Reforged, and all my childhood dreams have come true... or have they?

Yesterday I streamed my first reactions of the Warcraft 3 Reforged campaigns and, while I remained as optimistic as possible throughout the first few missions, ultimately I ended the day in a disappointed funk. Though I like the game's models, the truth is, Blizzard got all their priorities wrong and delivered a straight-up underwhelming, misleading product. And I can't figure out why! This is the company that made modern masterpieces like Starcraft II and Heroes of the Storm, both with amazing models, UI, gameplay, and features, but then they release something that feels like an unfinished beta project made by amateurs.

I'm trying to remain positive, even though the game's score on Metacritic was 1.9 yesterday and has dropped all the way down to 1.1 as of posting this. Blizzard can't ignore that, can they? My hope is that they listen to players (for once), refund us all their money, set Warcraft III's classic launcher back to its old self, and then just start over and try again. No harm, no foul. They can come back to us in a year or two when they've released a polished product. But until then, it just feels off.

Anyway, enough ranting. My purpose in making this post was actually more constructive. I'm here to make a list of the things I like and the things I don't like about Warcraft 3 Reforged as I play through it. This list will change quite a bit as I add things to it in the coming months, so feel free to check back. These may give useful data for a future video on the Abelhawk channel.

Six-Word Memoirs

Why is it I have to wait at least five years to write about my creative works on Pretzel Lectern? It's like this blog just oozes nostalgia and has some kind of requirement for the creative works to age a little to make sure they're good enough quality. Anyhow, here are some "six-word memoirs" I wrote when I learned about them five years ago. Most of them reflect the somewhat sad state of my life back then, which is comforting now that I'm happy, prosperous, and optimistic. A salary job, Wellbutrin, and D&D have definitely helped.

Warcraft Techno (The German Mixes)

I like techno a lot, but I really liked it back in 2007 when I first started college. Somewhere around that time, I found this song by "Mr. Tom & Got Show," whom I can't find much information about anywhere online. Since I've been playing Warcraft 2 lately, I was reminded of this song and now it's finally published for public consumption!

10 D&D Monster Templates

I've found that one of the best ways to breathe new life into the creativity of homebrew monster encounters in Dungeons & Dragons is through templates. Who could be more unique than encountering a fairy lich, a pack of zombie dogs, a half-dragon half-ogre, or a dire snail? I did some research and compared and compiled some stuff in the monster manual, and have for you some templates you can give to any monster. In order to apply one of these templates, simply change anything explained in the bullet points. Everything else (except the appearance of the monster, which is up to you to make unique!) remains the same.

The Scourge of Lordaeron Adventure, Chapter 1

I've long wanted to play a D&D campaign that takes place in the world of Azeroth. The Warcraft Roleplaying Game was what got me into 3rd edition D&D in the first place, and my first time ever playing D&D 5th edition was running an adventure that took place in Azeroth. In my spare time, I've compiled a starter adventure taken directly from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain: My Edition

I recently watched the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and was reminded of how nice the song "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" is. It's fun to see the idea of paradise from the perspective of a 1920s hobo, who valued not getting caught by law enforcement, easy food and cigarettes, and other more universally paradisaical ideas, such as sunshine and lands that are "fair and bright." I decided it'd be fun to make my own version of this song based on what my idea of paradise would be.