Playtesting Releases and The Huntsman’s Codex: A First Look And Future Plans

Good evening! This post marks our shift away from discussing blog and internet presence minutia (though I would still greatly appreciate if you would respond to the surveys found on the Open Polls page, as this project could still benefit greatly from additional feedback in those areas!), and we get to move into more of the really fun stuff: Dungeons and Dragons homebrew and design!

For those of you who have missed this information in my admittedly disastrously inconsistent Tumblr blogging in the last six months, I have been working on a full-length supplement in the style of the official books Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, meaning that the book will, in its final form, be over a hundred pages long and feature a bevy of content, including but also pushing well beyond my usual additional subclass options. The current draft includes:

  • Over sixty new subclasses for every official class in the game, as well as Matt Mercer’s Blood Hunter class, with additional new options for certain classes (such as new Fighting Styles for martial classes)
  • A new class called the Psion, a simplified Mystic for 5th Edition
  • A handful of new feats, including new racial feats for races that weren’t included in Xanathar’s Guide
  • A fistful of additional character options intended for use by Dungeon Masters in the creation of evil adventurers, in a similar vein to the Cleric Divine Domain of Death and the Oathbreaker Paladin character options presented in the Dungeon Master’s Guide
  • A broad selection of new spells to expand any class’s spell list, including new Chronomancy spells to add to those presented officially in the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
  • A selection of new loot and magical items, including a flexible system for designing and implementing an array of technological items and a titanic mecha-style construct designed for taking on larger than life monsters
  • Several optional rules to expand on underdeveloped 5E design concepts, bring additional realism to your table, or otherwise spice up your tabletop experience
  • A one-session adventure module, set aboard a science-fantasy train in the style of Eberron’s Lightning Rail
  • A selection of monster and NPC stat blocks with which to run the included adventure

As you can see, this project is ambitious.

That might be an understatement.

Much of the content in the current draft has benefitted substantially from my incredibly patient friends, who have spent hours discussing or playing through the homebrew with me, but that can only carry me so far. As a result, I have decided to invite you, dear reader, to help me test this content.

While it may be a bit out of order, allow me to present the set of rules that I am presenting as playtest material: the Bardic Colleges that have survived cuts and refinement to make the list that will be published in The Huntsman’s Codex.

Bardic Colleges Playtest ReleaseDownload

(I just discovered that there is a widget through which I can implant PDF documents directly into blog posts. This is a game changing upgrade from Tumblr!)

I am still in the process of determining how I will be accepting playtesting feedback on this and future playtest released; however, I do not want to delay beginning the release of playtest material any longer. As I have the opportunity to finish reviewing other subsections of The Huntsman’s Codex with my initial reviewers, I will post the playtesting incarnations of each subsection to this blog.

I look forward to hearing what you do with this and future releases, both in playtest and official release capacities!

– Michael Leonard A.K.A. The Huntsman

Taking Things Seriously (and a new Homebrew Release)

Rise and shine, everyone, we’ve got a bright new day of adventuring before us!

Unfortunately, things are going to be a little less than thrilling today. We’ve got some… Well.. “Fun” problems ahead.

I was cleaning out my D&D/Homebrew specific email account this morning with the intent of actually checking the email going forward when I discovered an old (like, nearly year and a half old) email informing me that my DM’s Guild product covers were… Not allowed. Apparently, recreating the visual styling of the official Dungeons and Dragons manual covers is a problem, which, ok, I guess I can understand why that policy would make sense, but it took so much effort to create those covers, and all that effort is now going down the drain.

For those of you who weren’t aware, I am not a graphic designer nor an artist. As a result, I’m at a bit of a loss here. I need to come up with a new, compelling cover design or risk having my ability to publish on the DM’s Guild heavily restricted. So. That isn’t ideal. Ultimately, I need to double down and commission some help here — at a minimum, it’s high time that I got my own logo and a custom profile picture — but I’m not quite sure where or how to even start. Hopefully I’m able to figure that out in the very near future.

In other news, I want to know what platforms people most want to see my work published on going forward. I rediscovered as part of my email cleanse that I had, at one time, partially created a Patreon; apparently I also dipped my toes into a few other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. I don’t necessarily know whether or not I am willing to attempt a foray onto Twitter — as far as social media goes, it seems substantially worse than Tumblr in terms of potential detriment to my mental health — but I am open to the discussion of general internet platforms where people might like to see updates about my work.

If you want to provide feedback about what platforms you would like to see my content on and what kinds of support you would like to provide, please take this survey.

In other news, I’m starting to get really excited about this project again, and I’m really wanting to commit to it this time. I have a few IRL friends who will be helping keep me honest about it, and we’ve already put together a brand new homebrew for you: May I present the Weaponmaster Fighter Archetype!

This is one of two brand new, 2021 homebrews that will be officially debuting in the release edition of the Huntsman’s Codex, which I am increasingly excited about.

Be sure to let me know what you think! I am so excited to be making forward progress on this project again, and I am even more excited to be sharing that progress with you all.

Michael Leonard A.K.A. The Huntsman

Setting Expectations

Greetings, fellow adventurers!

In my experience, a significant portion of my ability to achieve my goals comes down to the ability to track and measure my progress. And, if it can work for me exercising, then surely it can work for my Dungeons and Dragons projects as well, right?

So, here’s my current plan:

  • First, I’m going to attempt to post at least one post per week on this blog. At a minimum, I will be giving progress updates on the Huntsman’s Codex of Adventuring Heroics and Villainy (which desperately needs a better name…), often along with excerpts and samples. Hopefully I’ll be able to write one or two longer posts each month as well, dealing with more in depth discussions of balance and game design philosophy.
  • Second, I’m going to schedule a weekly stream. I haven’t figured out exactly when it will be, because my employment schedule is in flux right now, but I’m excited to resume streaming if my computer will let me.

Let me know what your thoughts are! Is there something else you want me to put in blog posts? Do you think the frequency I’ve planned is good? Leave your responses in the comments, or if you would like to give more in depth feedback, feel free to use this survey.

Finally, to say thank you for reading this post, here’s a preview from The Huntsman’s Codex: the College of the Hero Bard subclass!

A New Beginning

So, if you’re reading this, you’ve either seen the Tumblr post announcing this massive shift in the way that this project will be presenting going forward or this project has been wildly successful some time in the future and you have scrolled way too far down the blog.

Either way, here we go!

Five years ago I wrote my first homebrew for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. It was for a playable race I dubbed Arion, which were basically just music elves. The intervening time since then has been a wild ride with wholly unwarranted but deeply appreciated support, ranging from friends and family I’ve known for years to fleeting, lovely interactions with strangers on the internet.

I hope that this next phase of The Huntsman’s Homebrews will be just as exciting. With a little persistence and a little bit of luck, I hope that even bigger and better things will be on the horizon.

If you have liked my work before or think you might enjoy it going forward, please, follow this space for updates on my ongoing projects and upcoming releases. As of the time of this writing, I am putting together a full length supplement, compatible with D&D 5th edition, which will be releasing on the DM’s Guild (hopefully) some time in the near future.

Thank you for coming with me on this new adventure. As is indicated in the comedic disclaimer at the front of my upcoming supplement, the real key to a successful adventure is the people who undertake it alongside you.

All the best,

Michael Leonard / The Huntsman