Monthly Archives: December 2019

22 Dec

New Item: Holiday Lights

Today, we’ve got a quick bit of homebrew, inspired by my players’ actions just the other day: Holiday Lights!

In my Reclaim the Wild campaign, I ran a short sidequest-type adventure, where the players had to save a modern-day town from repeating Christmas every day, caused by an enchanted snowglobe. During that adventure, as the Heroes fled from the roof of a mansion that once held the ensorcelling snowglobe, one of them used a string of electric lights as a makeshift rope to rappel down the manse’s masonry. Both they and I were delighted with this bit of MacGuyver-esque tomfoolery, and the Hero kept the string of lights after the adventure (as well as the other holiday gifts they earned for saving the town).

Of course, now that one of my players has a string of lights, I need to decide exactly what they do, and how they work. And if one Hero wants a string of lights, perhaps others will, too – either for their own bungled burglings, or just to decorate their homes and towns.

Check ’em out below!

Read More →
20 Dec

Wild on the Web: Zeldathon

We’ve just learned that Reclaim the Wild will be featured as part of this year’s Zeldathon!

They play through a wide variety of Zelda games, in a wide variety of ways: straight-up speedruns, relay races, Two Games One Controller challenges, and more. If you’ve never watched a Zeldathon before, this is a good year to start – they’ll also be premiering a documentary about the history of the event, covering over ten years of charity streaming.

The Reclaim the Wild session is currently scheduled to start Tuesday, December 31st, at 9:45 AM Eastern. Since this is a charity stream-a-thon, though, times are subject to change!

This year, the Zeldathon is working to donate money to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

You can check out the full Zeldathon schedule here.

15 Dec

Giving Gifts to your Heroes

Happy holidays! ‘Tis the season to bring your friends together, tell them how much you appreciate them in your lives, and – if you’re feeling particularly nice – to give them gifts.

In my campaigns, I make it a yearly tradition to give gifts to my players’ characters. These often involve partaking in some light-hearted, low-stakes adventure, alongside a kindly old man with white hair and a flair for subtle, peaceful magic. Regardless of the details of the adventure, though, at its end, the Heroes of my games receive gifts. Not just random tchotchkies, either – things that are really ‘picked out’ for that particular Hero.

Below, I’ll talk a bit about the kinds of gifts you can give your Heroes in your Reclaim the Wild campaign.

Read More →
08 Dec

Shred the Wild

For many centuries, Hyruleans have enjoyed shield-surfing as a pastime, as a sport, and a means of transportation. To that extent, they have created tools dedicated to shield surfing, and shield surfing-adjacent activities, suited for more than just a snowy mountaintop!

In honor of December, here a few of those tools! As well as new feats and techniques to enjoy Shield Surfing!

Read More →
01 Dec

New Song: Fairy’s Frottola

While working on the previous article’s Spells, there was one Spell from Zelda history that just didn’t sit right with me: the “Fairy” Spell, from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It seemed like it wouldn’t be very useful in a fight, but very useful outside of a battle.

So then, it hit me: why not make it into a Song, instead of a Spell? After all, Songs are the perfect place for magical effects that are best suited to solving puzzles and navigating the world, but a poor fit for a fight.

And in this article, that’s what we’ve done! We’ve invented a new Song, Fairy’s Frottola. It acts like a kind of souped-up version of Minish Minuet; allowing Heroes to get itsy-bitsy and explore places that they otherwise couldn’t reach.

Read More →