Wes Baker

I’m a programmer who lives in Fredericksburg, VA. I enjoy board games, puzzles, and making things work. When I’m not in front of a screen of some sort, I’m probably spending time with my wife, my sons, my animals, my board games, or my books. Check out what I’m up to now, see what tools I’m currently using, or follow me on Mastodon.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 23: Edge

August 23rd, 2020

There are a number of RPG systems and playstyles out there, but I want to focus on two today: Modern Dungeons & Dragons (aka D&D 5e) Old…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 22: Rare

August 22nd, 2020

Magic items, ones that really change the game up and make things easier, should be rare. Now, that doesn’t mean that the party only sees one…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 21: Push

August 21st, 2020

One of my favorite mechanisms in roleplaying games is the Year Zero Engine’s push mechanism. Some preamble: in all Year Zero Engine games…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 20: Investigate

August 20th, 2020

Investigation is tough in a roleplaying game. First off, your players are bound to miss a clue that you think is so plainly obvious. In fact…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 19: Tower

August 19th, 2020

Spoiler warning: I’m going to talk about Tower of the Black Pearl, an adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics. If you’re part of my group, play…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 18: Meet

August 18th, 2020

A lot of campaigns start with the same few words: You all meet in a tavern… This is a perfectly acceptable way to start a session, one-shot…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 17: Comfort

August 17th, 2020

Comfort is something most RPGs discourage because it’s not the focus. Most games are focused on exploration, combat, discovery, and plunder…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 16: Dramatic

August 16th, 2020

For me, dramatic means getting into my NPCs and really thinking about how they sound and their mannerisms. I want the players to see at…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 15: Frame

August 15th, 2020

For Frame, I want to take a play out of Top Gear/The Grand Tour’s playbook: having large framed art as loot in the dungeon. Now, a large…

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 14: Banner

August 14th, 2020

The first thing I think of when I hear banner is something like this: However, I don’t think I’ve ever thought of it’s utility in a…