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Justin Alexander Profile picture
Justin Alexander
@hexcrawl
Creator of the Alexandrian. Author of So You Want To Be a Game Master. ENnie Award Winner. USA TODAY Bestselling Author.
Oct 10 • 27 tweets • 5 min read
Step 1: When you place a secret, you have to be at peace with the idea that the PCs may never find that secret.

If you're not, then the secret isn't really a secret. It's a pantomime.

(This thread will make more sense if you read James' full tweet.) "I then decide to elaborate about the dust, so they don't miss the secret; now I'm the one deciding whether they find the secret!"

Right. So don't do that.

That's going to solve a bunch of your problems.
Jun 7 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Hypothesis: The beholder's mouth gets larger with each new edition.

Let's start with the original 1975 appearance on the cover of Supplement I: Greyhawk. Image Okay, let's compare AD&D 1E (Tom Wham) to AD&D 2E (Jeff Easley).

Here I think you could argue that the 1E beholder has a wider mouth, but I definitely think the 2E has more maw.
Image
Image
Jan 22 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
This article was removed because it was attracting transphobes and its original purpose was also defunct.

Core claims from the article and the discussion at the time it was written:

1. You shouldn't deadname people. 2. However, the ethics of re-editing material written before a name change is complicated.

3. If Jennell requested a change to the original article, I would change it.

(She did, and I did.)
Jan 22 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
I have been asked to respond to this post.

Short version: The post is not only lying about what I said, it's also wrong about what Jennell said and what Jennell's wife has said.

diyanddragons.blogspot.com/2024/01/xander… For one example completely out of my control, the post claims Jennell's wife said she was in a coma on November 1st in the GoFundMe updates.

You can go look: That's not true.

(Make a donation while you're there.)

gofundme.com/f/jennell-jaqu…
Jun 20, 2023 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
When I did theater, we would periodically run into "my significant other is uncomfortable with my character (me) kissing someone onstage."

Never once had someone's significant other get concerned about their significant other getting stabbed or haunted by a ghost on stage. Remove the script and the formality of the stage and... well...
Jun 19, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Re: 5E DMG. #dnd

A lot is made of chapter order (start by creating a pantheon of gods!). That's easy to point to, but is really only representative of the more fundamental problem:

The designers didn't have a clear vision for the structure of play. Cover of 5E Dungeon Master'... So there's a bunch of stuff, but very little of it is actually connected to any clear function. It seems mostly sourced from other D&D books and a vague sense that this is "cool" or "should be there."

Which makes it tough for the reader to come to grips with it.
Jan 20, 2023 • 29 tweets • 6 min read
OGL 1.2 survey is live.

survey.alchemer.com/s3/7182208/OGL… 1. Would you like to provide feedback on the content of the Well... a lot, actually. 2. Now that you've read the proposed OGL 1.2, what concerns
Jan 20, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Let's sneak peek the survey.

survey.alchemer.com/s3/7182208/OGL… Image Yes, please. 1. Would you like to provid...
Jan 20, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
If the #DnDBegone survey doesn't allow direct feedback on these six issues, it will be virtually impossible to believe that the surveys are anything but a PR stunt. To review:
- De-authorizing OGL v1.0a
- WotC having a unilateral and uncontestable power to revoke your use of the license
- No mechanism for sharing open content
- Print or PDF products only / VTT restrictions
- WotC's ability to change terms of the license
- Severability
Jan 19, 2023 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Let's revisit this thread now that WotC has released OGL v1.2 (Draft).

Have they actually addressed the deeply problematic things they attempted to do?

Spoilers: No.

Deauthorizing OGL v1.0a: They are doing this.

New License is Revocable: The license says "irrevocable," but WotC has a unilateral and uncontested ability to prohibit you from distributing anything you release using the license.

WotC Gets Final Approval: They are doing this.
Jan 19, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
The OGL 1.2 (Draft) is still de-authorizing the OGL 1.0a and gives no mechanism for anyone who used other people's OGC under the license to keep their work in print.

WotC is lying to you. OGL 1.2 (Draft) is not an open license: You cannot use the license to open your content.

It is a unilateral license which can only be used to license material from WotC.

WotC is lying to you.
Jan 19, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
During the Watergate investigation, Washington Post reporters Bernstein & Woodward made a mistake: Rushing for deadline, they thought they had confirmation from a source that a story was true.

They did not.

It was not. You can see it dramatized in All the President's Men.

Jan 19, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
WotC has not "done a 180" or "backed down" or "fixed" the #OGL problem they've created. #DnDBegone

Out of 8 deeply problematic things, they've reversed 2, doubled down on 3, and remained silent on 3.

Alphastream provides a list.

Let's break it down.

alphastream.org/index.php/2023… Deauthorizing OGL v1.0a: The new statement says they're still doing this.

New License is Revocable: No statement.

Approval: The new statement says they're still doing this.

No Mechanism for Sharing of Open Content: No statement.
Jan 18, 2023 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
The single most destructive act by Hasbro in the OGL controversy has been their legally dubious assertion that they can invent a right to "de-authorize" the license not enumerated in the license.

They do not appear to be backing down on this.

dndbeyond.com/posts/1428-a-w… This is an act of cultural vandalism.

Thousands of creators have contributed open content to the community. Hasbro asserting a right to burn that community of open content to he ground and prevent anyone from using it in the future is grotesque.

Jan 6, 2023 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Falling in Love at First Bite.

When you are a vampire, you always fall in love with those you feed upon.

Always.

How could it be otherwise? In that mingling of blood the beat of their heart stirs that cold, black lump in your chest.

That which is dead feels life.

The Pharaonic haty pumps and fills with the preternatural yb; the core of being and identity and passion.

The soul.
Dec 12, 2022 • 37 tweets • 8 min read
Our Let's Read of the #Dragonlance Saga has arrived at the final installment: DL14 Dragons of Triumph by Douglas Niles.

This adventure picks up right from the end of DL13: The PCs have just left Glitterpalace and returned to Godshome. If you're wondering what's going on, you might want to pop back to the beginning of our Let's Read over here.

Dec 11, 2022 • 43 tweets • 10 min read
Our Let's Read of the #Dragonlance Saga draws to a close with

DL13 Dragons of Truth, by Tracy Hickman

&

DL14 Dragons of Triumph, by Douglas Niles ImageImage If you'd like to go back to the beginning, our Let's Read started over here!

Dec 11, 2022 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
My deluxe edition of #Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen has escaped from the maw of shipping!

I have not done much more than flip through it at this point, but let's take a quick peek. Image Back of the Deluxe Edition lays out what you've got here:

- The campaign book.
- The board game.
- The DM screen. Image
Dec 10, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Which Alexandrian Remix is your favorite? The Eternal Lies Remix adds

300+ props
150+ diorama elements
450+ pages, including new scenarios
130,000+ words

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/3707…
Nov 10, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Think about how stuff from a previous adventure could be used to good effect in the current adventure.

This tends to be a bit easier in urban campaigns, IME.

For example, in my long-running Ptolus campaign I (as GM) introduced Shim, an information broker. Shim's original function was to give them some info about a period of lost time in which they'd all lost their memories.

A little later, the PCs needed to find an NPC and they needed to find them fast. One of them said, "Hey. What about Shim?"

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4316…
Aug 25, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
The advantage of Dungeon Master over Game Master is that it connotes control over a specific element of the game world: You control the characters; I control the dungeon.

I don't control the entire game (which we are actually playing together). If one were to extend that beyond the dungeon, one might suggest World Master.

You actively play your characters; I actively play everything else in the world.

No one masters (or controls) the game, which is the thing we create/do together.