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Alphastream

alphastream.org · American English

A positive site exploring Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. Learn the hobby’s rich history and refine skills as we build techniques for creating engaging play.

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Aug 14, 2026
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  1. Join My Tables at 2026 GameHole Con!
    Aug 14, 2026 · original
    One of my awesome tables from 2023! GameHole Con 13 takes place Oct. 15th – Oct. 18th, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. This heralded convention has a wide range of excellent RPGs, seminars, and events. I’m extremely thankful to be a guest at this convention, joining an incredible guest list . ( As I captured in video here , conventions aren’t cheap and they aren’t always the best option for creators. But, if you can afford conventions financially, GameHole is a great option! There is also an amazing PoC event and seminars each year.) I would love to see you at the con! You can find all of my events here , or click on the specific games and events noted below: Draw Steel – Crack the Sun Excerpt! (3 hrs) Thursday, 1-4 PM CST Friday, 9-12 AM CST This will be a fun session for anyone interested in Draw Steel. I’ll pick an exciting portion of the Crack the Sun project and run it – no Draw Steel e
  2. Dark Sun Returns!
    Jul 31, 2026 · original
    Cover art by Tyler Jacobson for the Alt PH! D&D has just announced that Dark Sun is coming back for 5E in 2027! Let’s look at the products they will release and what makes this campaign setting so awesome and unique! My Favorite Setting Returns At Gen Con 2026, the D&D team announced that Dark Sun will be back! The Season of Survival kicks off in February 2027 and will fill us with Dark Sun news until the products release near the end of the season in July, 2027. You can find my full review in this video ! And if you are new to Dark Sun or want to see which key parts of the setting may change, this video may be helpful : Art by Nestor Ossandon Leal What is in the release? We get two books, a “ Blood and Power gameplay expansion,” which likely has player and campaign-specific rules, and an “ Edge of Oblivion setting expansion.” Art by Nestor Ossandon Leal We also get a Map Pack and someth
  3. The Beautiful Game (Your RPG Isn’t the World Cup)
    Jul 24, 2026 · original
    James Rodríguez takes on a Tarrasque! How can a sports game that ends 0-0 be exciting? Explaining RPGs to a non-gamer can be a similar struggle. The similarities, and the differences, can help us appreciate what makes for great RPG campaigns. Competitive vs Collaborative Soccer is a chess match due to a number of factors, including the very large field of play. Competitive between teams and collaborative within teams, each team strives to win according to their strengths and the opponent’s weaknesses. Every offensive move calls for a defensive one. If one team gets close to the goal, the other collapses defensively. A team retreats on purpose, trying to draw midfielders to their end while hoping for an opportunity to surge forward before the defense next collapses. RPGs are collaborative, even between players and DM, including in tactical games like Draw Steel. The DM is running opponent
  4. How Often Should We Roll Skill Checks, If At All?
    May 7, 2026 · original
    Art from WotC; a bribe to look the other way. D&D and other RPGs initially didn’t have skills. And some modern roleplaying games no longer use skills. Let’s look at the impact on play with and without skill checks and consider our own approach to how often we should have players roll them! Interact and Ask In them olden days, what we did was interact with the environment and ask questions. This had some advantages, helping to create improvisational and immediate play, really diving into the DM setting up a situation and then the back-and-forth as players interacted and perhaps changed something, and the DM responded. However, this can sound better than it sometimes was. On the video version of this blog , I shared this room from the classic AD&D adventure, The Temple of Elemental Evil . (See the Best of Temple of Elemental Evil on Mastering Dungeons .) The text has a lot in it, including
  5. How Many PCs Can Try a Skill Check?
    May 2, 2026 · original
    Art from Draw Steel, Heroes book A character tries to roll a skill check in D&D or another RPG. The rest of the players want to roll at the same time. Should we allow that? Let’s examine the math! First, Lessons From DMAP A quick note! I’ve been examining various aspects of how to run great games through the lens of the new Dungeon Masters D&D official actual play. It’s been fun to see the Do’s and Don’ts of the series. Episode 1: Character backstory, NPCs as your voice, the known surprise. Episode 2: 2 Do’s and 2 Don’ts: Story before combat, player negotiation, agency loss, PC emotions. In addition, this blog you are reading on skills is available as a video . The Skill Dogpile If you’ve DMed long enough, you have probably had the experience where you describe the scene and a PC asks if they can try something. “Can I make an arcana check to inspect the idol?” Suddenly, several other pla
  6. How Many Times Can a PC Reroll a Check?
    Apr 21, 2026 · original
    Art by Franz Vohwinkel How many times can a PC reroll a skill check? Can other PCs help? How does the math of the game change if several PCs try the same check… or cast Guidance or use the Help action? And how frequently should we as DMs ask for skill checks? But First, Draw Steel! Just announced: I worked with MCDM and Griffon’s Saddlebage to convert 10 magic items from 5E to Draw Steel. It was a really fun project. ( Available to MCDM patreon supporters here .) It all Started with Pirate Borg In this first of three blog articles, let’s start with the first question. A question asked on my YouTube’s Pirate Borg video kicked this off: Let’s say a player has fashioned some kind of grappling hook and wants to toss it to hook onto a rock to try and climb. So you ask for a presence test to see if they succeed in throwing the rope to attach to the rock, and they fail the test. From a storylin
  7. Watched Stranger Things? Here’s How to Start Playing D&D!
    Jan 27, 2026 · original
    The kids reach the triumphant end of a campaign. The Stranger Things TV show did an amazing job illustrating why D&D is an amazing game. This post is for the person who has never played, or who hasn’t played in a long time, and how they can start playing D&D. Why D&D is Awesome Stranger Things shows off many of the reasons why D&D is an incredible game and hobby. It brings friends together in ways that are rare today – face to face, huge excitement over a single die roll, collaborating and solving situations together, stepping out of our everyday lives, exercising our creative sides, and with no devices (unless you choose to use digital tools or to play online). D&D can be a casual game. But it also can be so much more. Bonds are created between friends as we learn to trust one another and weave stories today. The Dungeon Master (DM) gets to create a world and paint scenes, to which the
  8. Build a Daggerheart Fear Tracker!
    Jan 25, 2026 · original
    My fear tracker in action I share how to build two variations on an abacus-style Fear tracker for the Daggerheart RPG! This project is very easy, low cost, and fun! Tracking Fear in Daggerheart The Daggerheart RPG provides the GM with a special Fear currency. As play begins, and as players roll dice and either fail or generate fear, the GM gains fear (up to a maximum of twelve). This can be spent to empower monsters, introduce events, and more. It’s an important and excellent part of the RPG, similar to the Malice gained in Draw Steel and similar currencies in older RPGs. When tracking fear, it is ideal for the GM and players to know how much fear is in play. As GM we want players to see the stakes. As players, we want to adjust our strategy based on the risk of generating more fear. Fear can be tracked as suggested in the RPG, with a bowl of colored stones or similar approaches. However
  9. What Did We Accomplish In a Year?
    Jan 5, 2026 · original
    Time dragons! (Art from Crack the Sun) Creators are sharing their 2025 accomplishments online. Let’s take a look at ways we can measure a year and what might help us achieve a healthy and productive 2026. Healthy Measurements Measuring what we’ve accomplished can be healthy. Just putting together the list can help us recall all that we did in a year and reflect on what that meant to us. We can get a sense of pride from accomplishment. We might also have some regrets, hard-earned lessons, or setbacks. Recent studies indicate we can learn a lot from these, perhaps more than from successes, if we adopt the right mindset and learn from these moments. Other metrics might not be helpful. They may cause anxiety or leave us feeling hollow. We want to avoid those metrics unless they are absolutely necessary to the work we do. What might we measure? Figuring out what you might want to track and ho
  10. My New Initiative Tracking System for Draw Steel
    Nov 21, 2025 · original
    My new initiative tracker! After considering a few options, I get crafty and find an excellent way to track initiative in Draw Steel. I share how I made it, so you can too! Initiative Approaches Matter As you may know, I take initiative very seriously in RPGs! The right approach to an RPG’s system can greatly speed up player engagement and awareness. We ideally want everyone to be prepared to take their turn, know who has gone and who has yet to go, and be ready to jump into the action. I’ve previously shared Paul Lauper Ellison’s technique for D&D initiative here and on YouTube . This approach has worked well for me for most of the RPGs I play. Alas, a few new RPGs call for a different approach! Enjoy a video version of this blog, if you are so inclined! How Initiative Works in Draw Steel When battle starts, the Director (GM) decides if there is a clear side that should initiate combat.

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