TB Insights

A comprehensive guide to Order of Might from Too Few Kobolds to Too Much to Handle.

Adventurers in Torchbearer often find themselves in situations out of their control or beyond their capabilities. In those moments, when all else has failed, there is usually nothing left to do but...

An example of custom conflicts and puzzles.

A wise is an area of knowledge a character draws upon—often to correct a failure or point out something missed. Wises must have a narrow focus, but they represent a wealth of expertise.

A simple method for creating obstacle-to-obstacle ecosystems.

The Vagrant's Guide to Surviving the Wild contains lots of new gear, monsters, and animals for wilderness adventures. But, the heart of the book revolves around a new custom conflict type called an...

Let's discuss trap design and look at a trap from the lair of the nefarious Lich King of Mordeth. The Lich King has had centuries to build and perfect a series of traps to safeguard his tomb, and...

The Halfling Burglar provides the backbone for any adventuring party. As a support role, halflings make an adventurer's life easier, and experienced players appreciate a burglar in the mix.

Today, we are launching our Character Sheet Repo with the sheets for Beren levels 1 - 5.

After you cast your spell(s), there's no need to sit and mope.

Whether playing at a convention or firing up a one-shot adventure, there are times when you are looking for not only pre-generated characters but a pre-gen team.

Puzzles are a staple of adventure and role-playing games. However, the design for a puzzle dungeon presents not-so-typical challenges. Fortunately, Torchbearer has systems, tactics, and mechanics...

Previously in the Master's Manual we have explored how to balance a session, how to estimate the difficulty of obstacles, how to gauge the relative power of monsters, and how to make sense of unusual...

Loot as if you were to die tomorrow. Level up as if you were to live forever. - The Adventurer Credo

Conflicts handle a variety of pivotal moments in Torchbearer: arguments, contests, and struggles of will, daring chases or escapes, and more. While the rulebook thoroughly explores “Fight”-style...

One of the coolest features of the conflict system in Torchbearer is that it can be applied to almost any chaotic, dramatic scene— not just fights! However, many of the other conflict types receive a...

Behold, a vision in my scrying orb... there are brave scholars who pray for guidance as they pore through the ancient tomes. Those calls shall not go unanswered.

Mordite Press is playing through Shane King’s adventure Floating Castle Ardmor, which is available for free under the Dungeoneers license. The adventure is still in its “alpha” playtesting phase, so...

In Part II, we discussed Obstacles and how to evaluate what obstacles were challenging for a given party. Today we're going to look at versus tests and monsters, and how to gauge just how dangerous a...

In Part I we discussed how skill and ability tests against obstacles are only a part of Torchbearer’s overall flow. A lot hangs on how the GM presents information to the players and the choices that...

Boss Monster battles offer interesting challenges for players and GMs. Players have to strategize a little differently and GMs have to juggle a few more pieces. Let's look at what these special rules...

The Torchbearer rulebook has solid advice on running the game, and I recommend periodically re-reading it as your Torchbearer campaign unfolds. Specific headings like Describe to Live and...

As the Torchbearer rulebook helpfully explains, the magician is the most complicated class in the game. A close reading and mastery of the spell rules is necessary to get the most out of playing a...

GMing any game is an art form - requiring imagination and creativity. But when it comes down to it, running a Torchbearer game for the first time can be daunting.

Most of the adventures I run in Torchbearer, both at home and at conventions, are drawn from one or two page adventures by a variety of authors. I’ve found that using small adventure locations helps...

The guru awaits...

I greet you, Legion of Chaons, and welcome back to Mordite Monday! This week I'm turning over command to D. Koch, author of Fearless and Freebooting and all-around classy guy. His formidable mission...

Nature is one of the most abstract rules in the Torchbearer RPG. You could, in theory, play many sessions without rolling it at all. Even so, a lot of the other mechanics hang from it, and once...

It’s been five years since the Kickstarter for the Torchbearer RPG. There have been a lot of developments since then, both through official BWHQ products and the open Torchbearer Sagas License. While...