Matthew D. Ryan's Blog

New Site

We are still “The Wizard’s Inkwell,” but we’ve had an upgrade. This is no longer my personal blog about fantasy world building and fantasy fiction. Instead, as of 5/16/2025, I’m here to sell my writing skills to anyone in need of content or other kinds of writing.

I write blog posts, emails, newsletters, general ads (Facebook, etc…), YouTube scripts, landing pages, and other website copy. And no, I’m not limited to the fantasy genre. To date, I have worked on projects for website review comp...

12/9/2024 – ANNOUNCEMENT

Hi, all! Just making an announcement. I am closing this site down … sort of. To be more accurate, I am rebranding and reinventing it as a serious business endeavor to market my writing skills throughout Plattsburgh, NY; Burlington, VT; and the surrounding areas, as well as the Internet as a whole.

I mean, I’m marketing my writing skills. I don’t have to be local to write. I can do just fine operating remotely. I’m keeping the name of the site, though, because it still works and I happen to li...

A Dose of Realism and the Mighty Gnome

D & D, in all its manifestations, is a great game. It blends both strategy and skill with chance and luck. In my opinion, it is the apex of the whole concept of “game.” Chess, for example, is all strategy and control. There is no luck involved. At all. I think Go is another one of all strategy, no luck – but I’m not as versed in that game as I am in chess or D & D. I guess poker is kind of a blend between strategy and chance … anyway, I’m getting too, I don’t know, nerdy maybe. I just want to sa...

UnNerfing Undead

I think I mentioned this in one of my posts on Transitioning from 2nd Edition to 5th. While I agree that the undead in 2nd Edition needed to be Nerfed in some fashion, I think 5th Edition just went too far down that road.

2nd Edition Undead

In 2nd edition, both vampires and spectres drained 2 full levels with every hit. That’s incredibly nasty, all the more so because even if you used magic to restore the levels, you’d still only get enough XP back to exceed the minimum required for the le...

The Rogue’s Critical Hit

I almost addressed this in the post about House Rules, but changed my mind at the last second. I decided that it was weighty enough to earn a post in its own right. I want to look at the Rogue’s sneak attack in the light of critical hits. In the game I play now, the DM has ruled that when a Rogue makes a critical hit (a natural 20 to hit) when making a Sneak Attack, he/she only gets a single extra die. So, if the Rogue gets a 1d6 from their weapon, and say 5d6 from their Sneak Attack, for a tota...

House Rules for 5th Edition D & D

I’ve been playing 5th Edition D & D now for several years. I think I’ve finally adjusted to the system. I wrote four posts prior in which I examined some of the things I like about the system, some of the things I don’t like about the system, and a few things that I’m still up in the air about. In light of all that, I’m going to now discuss a few candidates for potential “house rules.” Of course, I haven’t DMed in 5th edition yet, so I’m not quite sure if these rules will pass the bar or not. Bu...

The High Adventures of the Youths of Yesteryear

This is kind of a different kind of post. I just want to hearken back to the gaming adventures I had so long ago … when I was really young. I think I got into D & D in like fourth grade. I think it started because in that year we had a new student join our class at our relatively small Catholic grade school. We became friends and we sat together on the bus fairly frequently. And whenever we sat together he would tell me about the D & D adventures he went on. He had an older brother. They had D &...

Transitioning from 2nd Edition to 5th (Part III – continued)

Well, it’s my fourth post on this topic, so I think it’s about time to wrap things up. I’ve got a handful of other things that I have mixed feelings about with respect to switching over from 2nd Edition D&D to 5th.

More Items I’m Unsure OfExpending Hit Dice

In 5th Edition, characters who take a short rest can earn back lost hit points by “expending hit dice.” When I started playing 5th edition, I found this whole concept a little weird. But, now I’ve gotten used to this. I’m almost inc...

Transitioning from 2nd Edition to 5th Edition (Part III)

And for the next post regarding 5th edition D&D and transitioning from 2nd, I’m going to discuss things I have mixed feelings about. Sometimes … they seem okay. Other times, I’m just not sure. But again, the more I play, the more used to it I get.

Things I Have Mixed Feelings AboutIncreasing Stats

I have a couple issues with how they did stats. I like the idea that you can increase stats – in fact, I’ve developed systems with that feature years before 5th edition ever existed (and I th...

Transitioning from 2nd to 5th Edition D&D(Part II)

Introduction

In my last post, I discussed the things I like about 5th Edition D&D when compared to 2nd Edition D&D. Let’s move on to the things I really don’t like.

Things I Don’t Like About 5th EditionSaving Throws

One of my biggest issues with 5th Edition is how they did Saving Throws. It starts off okay for low-level characters, where saving throws are based on particular stats and every class has proficiency in two saving throws. So, one class might be proficient in Strength and...