If you have been hanging around the Variant Ventures page for a while, you will know I am the history guy. I like history, I write about it frequently, and I talk about ways to implement historical factors and events in your game. Today, however, I want to make a statement – most TTRPGs are …
Welcome back to the next Enhance Ability Histories! Today we will be covering the Battle of Raphia from the wars of succession of Alexander the Great. Honestly, the context behind this battle is arguably more interesting than that battle itself, but that’s a conversation for another day. The Battle of Raphia took place in June …
Welcome Variants, to a new series for the site, Enhance Ability Histories! Here we are going to be discussing historical battles, and how the outcomes of these conflicts might have been changed by the introduction of TTRPG style magic! I made an outline of the parameters for the series you can peruse by clicking here. …
Welcome Variants, to a new series I like to call “Enhance Ability Histories.” In this series, we will analyze a historical battle and see how it could have changed if there were TTRPG style magic users involved. Now, I know this may get complicated, so we are going to set some ground rules before diving …
Welcome Back, Variants! Following last week’s blast of a post about artillery and indirect fire, I’d like to talk about Box Barrages today. A box barrage is a form of artillery fire that falls around a specific part of the battlefield, with the aim of preventing escape or reinforcement of that area. For a Box …
A few weeks ago, we discussed the types of kingdoms that may exist in your fantasy world. Today, let’s branch out a bit and discuss some other governments that could exist in your fantasy world. In our own history, kingdoms tended to be the most common type of governing body in the Medieval period, but …
Yo Ho, me hearties! Today be “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” and here be some educational materials about different types of scurvy sea dogs! *cough, cough* Okay, that’s enough of that. Today we will be looking at the difference between pirates and their variants. Generally speaking, a “Pirate” is a sailor who takes things that …
Why are most fantasy kingdoms ruled organized as kingdoms? And what even is a kingdom and how does it work? As part of my ongoing world-building, I find myself asking this question often. First, let’s establish what a Kingdom is. Simply, it is a region or nation ruled by a monarch, usually titled as King …
Asking a layman about a knight, they would probably respond with a description of a nobleman on horseback, wearing heavy armor and charging into battle. The origins of this trope are, as always, more intricate than the stories we share. While the popular mythology of knights is based around King Arthur and other such tales, …
Hello again, Variants! As promised, I have returned for week two of our pike tactics War Talk. Last week we talked about the use of the phalanx in ancient warfare, but that’s not the only time the pike saw widespread use. The second was during the early Renaissance, with the proliferation of gunpowder weapons. …
