I got a copy of The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book. It's a nice book that has 40 different one-page and two-page RPGs by a wide variety of authors.

I'm running a local event where we play a new game, and I wanted to quickly find which RPGs in the book are suitable for the number of players at the table. Unfortunately the indices at the back do not include this option.

Here's my custom index for the book. You can print it easily if you want (9 pages, one for each of 1-9 players).

The game can be played here. Source code is on github.

Info about the original 1989 Hillsfar game is linked from the demo! Enjoy.

See also the previous blog post about the spritesheet.

Today’s hack-a-day project was a pencil-and-paper RPG. Based on feedback from people reading the rules, it’s notably bad and I don’t recommend it. Rules here.

I made a small game called Doodlemoji Alchemy, together with my friend Jennifer, as part of Hack-A-Day.

You can play it here.

You combine elements to make something new. Sometimes you get an old element:

Sometimes you discover a new one!

Today I chose to write a web version of a word game my family has loved for a long time, but which is sadly out of print.

It is meant to be played multi-player, but you’re welcome to try it out single-player online. Have fun!

Source code here

I condensed some of card games into one box:

I’ve noticed that board game boxes tend to be a little big. I combined five into one box:

I’ve been working on a spell guide for D&D games. During the process, I researched the differences between the Dungeons and Dragons 5e Player’s Handbook (PHB) and the 5e System Reference Document (SRD).

For those that don’t know, in 3e Wizards of the Coast released the core rules of the game for free. They’ve continued to do so for 3.5, 4, and 5e. The 5e rules were released under Creative Commons recently (thanks!), in response to some community backlash over proposed licensing changes (eek!).

There are 361 spells in the PHB, but only 318 in the SRD. Which are missing?

Here are the 43 spells in the PHB but not the SRD:

• arcane gate
• armor of agathys
• arms of hadar
• aura of life
• aura of purity
• aura of vitality
• banishing smite
• beast sense
• blade ward
• blinding smite
• chromatic orb
• circle of power
• cloud of daggers
• compelled duel
• conjure barrage
• conjure volley
• cordon of arrows
• crown of madness
• crusader’s mantle
• destructive wave
• dissonant whispers
• elemental weapon
• ensnaring strike
• feign death
• friends
• grasping vine
• hail of thorns
• hex
• hunger of hadar
• lightning arrow
• phantasmal force
• power word heal
• prayer of healing
• ray of sickness
• searing smite
• staggering smite
• swift quiver
• telepathy
• thorn whip
• thunderous smite
• tsunami
• witch bolt
• wrathful smite

Why are they missing? Well, the official WoTC answer is:

In general, the criteria for what went into the SRD is if it (1) was in the 3E SRD, (2) has an equivalent in 5th edition D&D, and (3) is vital to how a class, magic item, or monster works. For example, the 3E SRD has the delay poison spell, but in 5th edition that’s handled by the protection from poison spell, so protection from poison is in the SRD.

Wizards of the Coast, SRD5.1 FAQ

Looking at the actual list, every single spell missing was (1) not in the 3E SRD, (2) was added in 5E. I was curious what fraction of new 5E spells got added to the SRD vs. not, but it looks like no one has a list of new 5E spells, so I couldn’t easily check.

The following are renamed but present in the SRD, presumably for trademark reasons:

• drawmij’s instant summons, evard’s black tentacles, leomund’s secret chest, melf’s acid arrow, mordenkainen’s faithful hound, mordenkainen’s magnificent mansion, mordenkainen’s private sanctum, otiluke’s freezing sphere, otiluke’s resilient sphere, otto’s irresistible dance, rary’s telepathic bond, tasha’s hideous laughter, and tenser’s floating disk are all shortened. They become instant summons, black tentacles, secret chest, acid arrow, faithful hound, magnificent mansion, private sanctum, freezing sphere, resilient sphere, irresistable dance, telepathic bond, and floating disk.
• bigby’s hand becomes arcane hand
• mordenkainen’s sword becomes arcane sword
• nystul’s magic aura becomes arcanist’s magic aura

It’s november, and I’ve decided this month that I’m going to do 30 projects in 30 days. It’s an all-month hack-a-thon!

This is November 30th, so this will be the last project.

Today’s project is Hack-An-MMO (demo, source). It’s a small collaborative art RPG. You can draw people, places, and things to populate the tiny world. Have fun!

It’s november, and I’ve decided this month that I’m going to do 30 projects in 30 days. It’s an all-month hack-a-thon!

Today’s project is Hack-An-Adventure (demo, source). It’s a coloring book. It’s designed to be relaxing.

It’s november, and I’ve decided this month that I’m going to do 30 projects in 30 days. It’s an all-month hack-a-thon!

Today’s project is Hack-A-Farm (demo, source). It’s a simple tile-based RPG. You can walk around as a chicken, admire your house, and plant and harvest two types of crops.

My main goal with this project was to work with spritesheets or animation before, which I had never done. Showing off the individual tiles is deliberate. Also, the game should respond well to smaller and larger screens, I hope.

I had a good time with this one, and I’m happy with how much I got done in a day. I originally planned to do more fluid walking (it was called Hack-A-Walk), but it was more fun to add crops instead.

I re-used some of the logic from Hack-A-Minigame and Hack-A-Snake. I’ve been finding d3 to be mildly useful, if a little annoying.