This I’ll Defend, The Ferments: A campaign one sheet

The Ferments are a rough land of geysers, lava flows, fast glaciers, waterfalls, hot springs, tornadoes, earthquakes — the raw power of the world. From this land the best alcohols of the Six Kingdoms come. The peoples of the Ferments are dispersed, spread over the many miles with four main towns. They generally live in defensible homesteads interacting when they need goods or during festivals.

Campaign Premise

Our eventual heroes start out as the primary defender of a homestead. They know how to contact other homesteads for help when needed, but mostly they are on their own hoping to remain safe from a world where dragons came real, magic became powerful and kaiju returned.

Grand Conflicts

Elementals burst from the land, stronger than before and with a hungry intelligence that threatens the land. Outsiders fleeing the wars of Six Kingdoms come for safe harbor. Dragons and their Ken continue to search for more scholars.

Each homestead has a book, collection of scrolls or other devices that helps them control an element (earth, air, fire, water) or paraelemental (smoke, magma, dust, ice, steam, mud, etc). These start out with each PC knowing Elementalism, limited by their choice of element. Each was passed down since the time of Gallinor, before the time of dragons.

Factions

Every player will create either an ally or adversary family besides their own. They may also have a connection to one of the families (not all families share blood-ties) of other characters.

Adversaries

Allies

Rumors

This section will fill over time.

• Kaiju roam as in the time of Gallinor — some even are ridden. Word is they come from the Kirtin-in-the-Sky and the Cliffs of Gallinor.

Facets

• Exploring the zero-to-hero tropes, friendship with animals, and who gets to control knowledge.
• Defending your people.
• Inverted West Marches.
  • Enemy generally comes to you. Though you may sallly in order to obtain resources.
  • Episodic – attend when you can.
• Sessions are 3 hours, with each story completed in one session.
  • Characters will level up every 3 sessions.
• Recaps will be posted to Full Moon Storytelling.

Variant Rules

• Wizards of the Coast’s 2024 D&D is the baseline
  • Monsters may come from Black Flag, A5E, 5.1 and 5.2 products.
  • Player options must be consistent within the ruleset (i.e. if you play a Mechanist all options should be from Tales of the Valiant for that character).
  • There is a campaign set up on DnD Beyond. Email me to get an invite.
  • Start at 1st level.
  • Use point buy or standard array for starting attributes. If you want something random, the redrick roller gives random point-buy-valid stats.
    • SlyFlourish’s Simple Array is permitted (17 14 14 12 10 8). Do not use ASIs from other sources.
• Playable races are Human, Hin(what they call themselves)/Halfling, or Goliath.
  • Start with a Bonded Companion.
• There are several custom backgrounds and tools available. We will use cultures, not languages. Common is the Western Wildes. Other cultures are;
  • Kirtin
  • Daoud
  • Crinth
  • Azsel
  • Mehmd
  • Gobkon
  • Dragonken
  • Church of Quar
  • Every character is assumed to have Common Knowledge in the Six Kingdoms.
• Heroic Inspiration will exist as a shared dice pool that is a maximum of 2+ the number of PCs that day.
  • In addition to the normal ways to award Heroic Inspiration it will be awarded for playing to Short Form Personality.
• Each PC manages a Homestead (Bastion from 5e 2024) that starts with no Special Buildings.
  • When defending your homestead you will have Militia Actions available. If you control a Barracks you have additional Militia Actions.
• Each session will offer the opportunity for a short rest. Long rests are between sessions.

Practicum

Sessions are on Sundays from 1-4 when my main campaign isn’t being played. We’ll meet at Logan Brewing, usually. I’m willing to do duet play outside of that timeline as well.

Each character should be built in a session zero discussing their personality, homestead, allies/adversaries and key abilities.

#campaign #campaignOneSheet #dd #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #gaming #PlayingDD #RPG #TTRPG

Militia actions for 5e systems

Sometimes in D&D and similar games you need to empower the players to manage groups of allies supporting the narrative, without precise actions by individuals. When running a rebellion, skirmish or base defense you can use militia actions representing the training a character conducted with a group of commoners.

1. On every PC’s turn they now have a Militia Action. This is independent of their character’s actions and reflect the training that the character put into the small unit (think squad sized) during downtime.
2. In initiative the Militia Action happens after all player actions and the actions of that character’s companions (familiars, pets, constructs, etc)
3. A militia is a Swarm of Commoners (AC: 10, HD: 6, PB: 0, all abilities are 10, a Swarm may have a tool proficiency or skill for flavor). Every time it is attacked it makes a Wisdom ability check against the damage dealt. It gains a bonus from the controlling character’s Charisma (Persuasion). Each failure removes a Hit Die. When it drops below 3 HD it loses one of its damage dice. Do not track damage.
   Suggestion: Use a d6 to track the HD of a Swarm of Commoners.
4. Pick one of the following actions
   • Ranged attack – this attack is rolled with an Attack Bonus of + controlling character’s Charisma+PB (and whichever ability they use to command). Range is 30/60 to represent inaccurate and improvised weapons. Damage is 2d4.
   • Melee attack – this attack is rolled with an Attack Bonus of + controlling character’s Charisma+PB (and whichever ability they use to command). Reach is 10′ to represent pitchforks, spears, and other implements. Damage is 2d6.
   • Funnel – the swarm moves 20′ and creates an 10×10 area of difficult terrain. If the terrain is already difficult it now costs twice that movement. After that the terrain becomes impassable except through magical means.
   • Rally – the militia energizes an ally, enabling it to expand an Hit Die. If the ally is another militia it regains a Hit Die.
   • Pester – if an opponent is in reach of the militia the unit can distract it so that the next attack against the opponent is at Advantage.
   • Move and/or Hide – the militia unit can move 20′ and then if cover is available it can make its defensive check at advantage.
   • Activate terrain, traps, spell craft or siege weapons – If a siege weapon is nearby a Swarm of Commoners has as many Utilize Actions as it does damage dice. It can also activate Magic Items, Rituals or Terrain as allowed by the scenario and dungeon master.
5. A player may choose to use a second Bonus Action (if they have one, to make another Militia Action.

A character may only command one Swarm of Commoners unless they are a Propagandist or Inspiring Leader (PB number of Swarms).

This is a refined approach on the earlier Introducing Militia Actions to support base defense in urban rebellion play.

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #MilitiaActions #PlayingDD #skirmishes #SwarmOfCommoners

How players should prepare before their next TTRPG session

There’s a lot of guidance on how to be a better DM. There’s some guidance on the player-side of the table. The most prolific of the player-side guidance is about character builds.

Instead of focusing on the character or DM, we’re going to focus on the player. What can a player do to prep for their next session? How can they help their group move at a pace that matches the genre of the game?

While the examples provided relate to Dungeons & Dragons, the fundamentals apply to most roleplaying games. You should be able to prepare in less than 30 minutes. These tips may be basic, but they’re steps I take every time I’m a player in my current era and come from my experiences in my bifurcated RPG time (early 80s to mid-90s, 2014 to present).

Review your character’s motivations

Others may push you to look at your powers first, but to me what makes a pen-and-paper RPG (even if it is D&D played on a VTT) special is that you get to act as the character would act. You aren’t constrained by anything but the willingness to be a coherent character.

To do so you should spend a few minutes thinking about your character. That could mean checking what their alignment is, what their personality is, what their goals are, how their family motivates them, etc. Don’t have them act slovenly if they’ve been cleanly in the past. Don’t have them be a chaos agent if they are orderly.

Do talk about how their brother inspired their quest. Do put forth that they are searching for their best friend. Do have them be motivated by riches and treasure.

Reviewing motivations means putting on that character’s face for a couple of minutes.

Review your character’s abilities

Character sheets can be complex. D&D PC sheets can be two-plus pages with spells and feats and features and weapons and masteries and riders — this list can go on. But for most characters you have a primary attack, a secondary attack, a way to interact in social encounters and a way to explore (or other pillars for other games).

Focus your attention on the main things your character does because they are good at them. At the table that’s what you’ll do. Spending a minute or two reviewing the rules for the things you do should speed up play as you won’t be looking up the rules live. This is especially important if the character has recently leveled up, acquired a magic item, or added a new feature.

Also remember what your character shouldn’t do because they are bad at it. You may want to hint at that during play. Maybe you are a Barbarian who shouldn’t be doing ranged attacks, bring that up when the group wants to snipe at distance.

Plan to use an ability or feature you haven’t in several sessions

When you’re looking at your sheet maybe you’ll notice something that your character hasn’t done in a few sessions. Find a way to do that in the session you are prepping for!

Xabal, my goblin Artificer, started using a spell called Caustic Brew regularly. They hadn’t used it in enough sessions that I forgot I had it. This week I committed to bringing it back to the forefront. Xabal blasted an automaton with it and later used it to break open a gate.

Review the party’s names, excellences and weaknesses

In real life most of us don’t forget our friends and coworkers. In a game like D&D, where some of us only play once a month, it’s easy to do so. As a player that’s understandable. It’s not for the characters.

Our recent session continued an invasion of a mob warehouse. Xabal wouldn’t forget the other character’s in the party, what they are good at and what they’d need help with.

The only way to ensure that you, the player, don’t forget the other characters in the group is to take a moment to review their names, their skills, and what they are doing adventuring with your character.

Remember the adventure and campaign goals

You don’t have to be a deep notetaker for this one.

Take the time to think about why the group is on this quest. What does success look like? What does failure look like?

Why is Xabal’s group invading a mob warehouse? Because they were sent there by an organization of mages from the ruling powers who think this mob may be connected with cultish activities that are attempting to overthrow the order in the world.

By knowing what the group’s goals are you may avoid going on that weird side quest or shopping trip or winding up with a 4-hour session in a tavern — you might not avoid it though! That’s the power of playing as real people. Sometimes we don’t do the smart thing or the right thing. We still should be ready to do the proper thing and know why we aren’t

These are my four steps to getting ready to be a player in a D&D session. What do you do to prepare to play?

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD #RolePlaying #RPG

Your players aren’t supposed to die

A couple weeks ago one of my players passed away. Not his character, the actual player. This isn’t supposed to happen. My group is GenX with a couple of Millennials.

John White left us too early. His D&D experiences were strongly in 3rd edition, though like myself had played for as long as he could remember. And even though he mostly played in an edition that encouraged optimization, it was his adoption of the story-centric campaign that we’ll all remember.

I remember playing with a friend who was never waiting for his turn to do something, but was engrossed in the act of telling a story together. I remember a collaborator who expanded the world that we played in by fully being in it. I remember characters whose backstories and internal lives were fully fleshed out, who incorporated elements of the world that even its creator hadn’t thought of and who interwove the stories of other players’ characters into their own with a generosity and care that is rare in any circumstance.
— another player at our table

He’s played with this group since it was founded during the pandemic, playing on the patio of a brewery that was roughly a midpoint for a group that is spread through King and Pierce County — Logan Brewing.

We’re going to celebrate John by playing D&D together in public — we’d like you to join us. Or you can watch. The event is March 16 from 1-4 pm PT at Logan Brewing.

Please fill out this form so we can be prepared with characters and the necessary number of DMs

John’s characters were:

• Habergeon, the world’s first, and possibly only, warforged, Habergeon was crafted during the fall of a previous age back when magic was plentiful and those who are now gods walked the world as mortals.
• Gardar, a Mehmdoan, this one-time cooper and weaponsmith lost his first animal companion to tragedy, fled his former master and now seeks to rid the influence of the Dragons and their allies.
• Tsirdan, an elven Scribe Wizard who worked with the Dragons to control the spread of magic in Douad.
• And Artok, our commander Dragonborn Paladin in his final campaign. Artok, like John, was noble and heroic, short on words but those few words were always potent.

John was unlike anyone I’ve ever met, his way of thinking and explaining things was in such detail that I could tell his mind was always working in overdrive
— another of our players.

The first time I met John was when I was co-hosting a Sounders podcast at our local German pub.

The first time I played D&D with John was when I was featured in the Renton History Museum exhibit on Creating Community with D&D. A letter to the editor at the time shouted that the museum shouldn’t support Satan, as if it was the 80s again.

John’s response was to suggest to me that we should play in public so that people could see this game for what it is. He and I were joined by his wife and sister-in-law. We played in a public park.

Though my modern D&D games had frequently been in public it was mostly at geeky places like game cafes.

It was perfect that our post-pandemic campaigns were in a very public brewery. Many times we played a stranger would ask us what we were doing while current and former players would always recognize the game and ask about the campaign.

Playing in public exposed more people to the game John loved.

John enjoyed porters and though he was short on words he was always present.

And that’s why we’re doing one session of a 4th level one-shot on Sunday March 16, from 1-4 pm. People who know John and those who want to experience the game are welcome. Again, please fill out this form so we can get an idea for how many DMs we need.

#DDInPublic #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #HoldBackTheDead #JohnWhite #LoganBrewing #PlayingDD

Integrating pop songs into the five-room dungeon system

You have limited time for gaming. Pulled in so many directions, you need to find ways to reduce prep time and focus the game on action.

Two innovations help those efforts quite a bit when playing a D&D style game.

• The Lazy GM’s 8 steps
• The five-room dungeon

But, you’re still left trying to be creative within those techniques.

Take the five-room dungeon, the short essay of dungeons. It’s an introduction/guardian, puzzle/social encounter, trick/setback, climax/big bad, and the resolution or plot twist.

This generally follows the basic plot graph in literature. It’s familiar, fast and can be done in one sitting if you time things well.

How do you fill that out? What’s the source of creativity?

Use pop songs!

No, really, they often follow a similar arc, but have a chorus that echoes the main theme of the song. This idea first sprung to mind with Apollo, by SYML.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIMSP3OC91g

Rather than five-rooms, we’re going to go with seven events because of the chorus. The song provides the creative prompts to fill these out.

Introduction/Entry — on the steps of a temple the party sees a golden altar being shined, hears talks of other wonders when a dark cloud blots the sky. A raven and a wolf rush to the altar, tossing it aside, fleeing to the countryside.

Note: after the intro the PCs determine the order of approach.

Social encounter — Interview the group talking of other wonders and the goals for the faith. Secrets and clues include a song that is unsung and a build up of a military force by the faith.

Choral echo — Tracking the raven and wolf leads to a moonlit glade with an empty space framed by 7 monoliths.

Setback — The huntress on wolf back, she rides with bow drawn, ready to fight. If the party sings the unsung song there is an attack. She only appears at night, under a full moon.

Choral echo — If the party rights the altar themselves and shines it to bright gold they discover a medallion that prevents the poison on the arrows from taking effect on the group (immunity from the poison condition in an emanation of 10′ from the one wearing the medallion).

Climax — The songmaker arrives when one of the party bends their knee (falling unconscious qualifies, as does voluntary submission)

Resolution (always last) — When the songmaker and huntress are both defeated a flock of ravens blots out the full moon. The wonders fall and a song echoes at their altars “I am. I was. I will be.”

Yes, that’s quick and dirty. Tuning that to a party shouldn’t be too difficult. Maps and expanding on the secrets can turn it into a decent short adventure facing off against avatars of gods in any D&D world.

Sure, that works for Apollo, but what about other songs?

Quicker and dirtier with Last Great American Dynasty by Taylor Swift.

Intro — In history there was a party with many attendees scheduled at any outsider’s home. Celebrations are held in town honoring the host and diminishing the current leaders

Chorus — One of the hosts dies, their partner is blamed in efforts by the current leadership to reduce influence

Puzzle — How did the person die? Clues include a neighbor’s dog, poor health, a nearby sea, a long drink together prior to the party

Chorus — The commoners in the community ignore the other surviving families, focusing instead on the surviving partner as both suspect and hero

Setback — Both partner-hosts haunt the house, interfering with ideas at solutions, causing the group to collect extra clues that may or may not be relevant.

Climax — PCs discover that the old money in the area is the reason for the death, as they didn’t want the new money to interfere. If the PCs share this with the commoners there is an uprising.

Resolution — The house remains haunted, after the PCs solve the mystery of the death, though the group can live there undisturbed.

Did you just use a Taylor Swift song?

Yes, I did.

Not every pop song will work

Just like not every TV show, movie or book is a good inspiration for a D&D adventure or campaign, not every song is.

But, if you find out at 9 in the morning that you’re DMing in the afternoon you can adapt the five-room dungeon using the chorus to help with theme and secrets.

Playing the song that inspires you on repeat can help you focus your energy. Sketch out the quick map including notable fantastic elements, make certain your secrets and clues work in a multi-nodal fashion.

Fill the monsters or opponents that fit the song (ravens, wolves, ghosts). The NPCs are in the song as well (commoners from LGAD or clergy in Apollo).

Connect a couple events to the characters and/or past adventures.

The chorus can either be tucked into various other scenes, can be dream sequences, portents, or speeches from various NPCs rather than specific events.

Have fun gaming

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #FiveRoomDungeon #homebrew #PlayingDD

Capturing the magic of the mundane Utilize action

The rules for the 2024 D&D Utilize [Action] are rather simple per the Free Rules and the Player’s Handbook. The magic is hidden in the siege engine blurb in the Dungeon Masters Guide.

Simply, Utilize lets you use non-magical items that take more than a bare moment to activate.

You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of the Attack action. When an object requires an action for its use, you take the Utilize action.

Free Rules

Within the siege equipment rules, you can see the potential for Utilize. There, each engine has a different number of utilizations that it takes — frequently these are things like aim, load, fire. Each engine requires between one and five rounds for a single person to use these massive elements of war.

What’s the magic in a catapult? Nothing, normally.

But an enterprising DM will realize that there is an implied crew in siege engines. Full staffed these can be used within a normal combat round.

Also, and probably more intriguing, is the implication of time pressure.

Imagine now an opponent using mangonel. It takes two Utilize to load, two to aim and one action to fire. In our example we’ll use a crew of three, which lets the mangonel fire every other round and the crew do some other annoying things.

Our heroes are on a mission to take out the emplacement of the siege engine.

The weapon itself has an AC of 15 with 100 HP. It could take a long time to damage it.

Taking out the crew is easier, of course. And thanks to the number of Utilize [Action] required the DM and PCs know the time it takes to make the mangonel no longer effective at attacking their allies. Each loss of a crew member slows down the enemy and grants your allies time to act in other ways.

It’s a clock, without a clock.

You can also use this technique for a chase scene!

Let’s say your PCs run to the docks, board a sailing vessel and need to get going fast. Maybe it’s a ketch, with a main mast and an aft mast and foresail.

https://flic.kr/p/noLuTq

Quick and speedy let’s say that setting the sails requires two at the aft, one at the foresail and three at the main, plus there are two utilize actions needed to release the lines. Yes, this is highly gamist, but allows a scene to develop.

That’s an eight segment clock for the party to escape. Maybe they have an artificer with a servant, or a familiar that can help. Maybe the rogue uses Fast Hands. These can speed things up, for sure.

The group knows, quickly that while under assault they need eight actions in order to be undersail and then the enemy will be behind them.

No need for fiddly rolls, unless they take a wound or condition that would limit the ability to succeed at these mundane tasks.

Building ad hoc clocks from the Utilize [Action] can also be done with traps (the number required to disarm or the number before the flooded room no longer offers room for breath).

Maybe do similar with rituals and the Magic [Action]. Is the group raiding a grove where evil druids are conducting a multi-step ritual to bring the mushrooms to life in order to choke out a local farm?

Come up with a number of Magic actions that are required for success. Now the two groups both know the timing of success.

If there are seven druids that need 14 Magic actions to succeed they can choose to all ignore the PCs and perform their magic or some can address the PCs. The solution is up to them and creates an interesting balance of choice.

No, these aren’t the clocks of Blades in the Dark. They still create a sense of timing and urgency within your game.

#2024DnD #ClocksInRPGs #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD #Utilize

Making it easier to DM

Being a Dungeon Master is intimidating. At it’s biggest level it can seem like you are supposed to run an entire world, know all the rules to the game, spotlight every player-character equally and help everyone have fun.

There are many ways to make it simpler than that;

• Focus only on the world with which the PCs interact
• Skip rules that aren’t meaningful at the time
• Rotate the spotlight as appropriate to the table
• Get feedback from players in order to improve

There are other ways too. I’m a big fan of the Lazy GM series.

2024 Dungeons & Dragons helps make it easier in their Dungeon Masters Guide by incorporating some, but not all of SlyFlourish’s ideas. One notable thing is the tracking sheets — theirs and different from his, but that’s fine. Not everything needs to be the same.

The layout of the new book is much better for new DMs. It also has excellent examples on how to spiral out from the characters while building a world, using Greyhawks as an example. There are micro adventures, which may not give enough information, but they do show that one doesn’t need a lot of notes to run a session. My sessions are usually a single notecard for example.

Overall the ’24 DMG is a good to great book for Dungeon Masters early in their experience. It’s also handy that those tracking sheets are all available for free!

But, (sorry WotC), there is a flaw in how easy it is to be a DM in this modern era.

Those wonderful tracking sheets aren’t really part of DnDBeyond.com

They exist, but without integration.

What could make it easier to DM in the DnD Beyond era?

When you Create a Campaign on Beyond it should start with that Game Expectations sheet. The notes should be replaced with the Campaign Journal.

These are wonderful tools, and they are completely unsupported.

Adding the sheets or similar fields to the campaign page would help a DM as they introduce the players to the game-to-be. They’d all be able to see what the story is about.

Right now those pre-session one-sheets and the like need to be shared on the web, via email, Discord, at the table, or other tools rather than in the platform that Wizards of the Coast owns. It’s a silly gap in integration.

Make it easier to share variant rules and setting information

Currently, Beyond lets you share all of your books or none of your books. But that doesn’t help for a specific campaign.

Currently, Beyond lets you share books in a deeper layer of content sharing, but doesn’t let you pick and choose rules (like attributes, extra feats, no feats, encumbrance)

The above was updated at 8:57 pm on Nov 27, 2024

My current Age of Myths campaign would make sense to permit Strixhaven, Theros and Dragonlance rules. It’s absurd for it to include the Illrigger, Ravenloft, or Lord of the Rings (TM).

Imagine how much easier it would be for a DM and the table to say “these are the rules we are using for this campaign” and then toggle those rules and books either on our off.

Currently that’s a player-by-player decision within the character creator.

But what type of encumbrance a table is using isn’t a player-by-player decision. That’s a table decision. The appropriate setting and adventure rules aren’t most or none, but a delicate basis that sets the tone for the next several months or years of hanging out with your friends.

Wizards of the Coast and the D&D team can make it even easier for DMs by changing some architecture of their semi-walled garden in such a way that they already believe works, because it’s in their brand new book.

#5e #DnD #DnDBeyond #DungeonMastering #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD

Inspiration is everywhere: Floating islands

Creating memorable scenes and adventures is easier when fantastic elements are included. Many of these fantastic elements can simply be things from the real world, but amplified or expanded. In this case we’ll walk through the concept of floating islands and make those even more mythical.

First off, yes, floating islands are real. In Lake Chippewa one is large enough it has to be pushed by motor boats so it doesn’t damage bridges.

A floating island that drifts about on a lake or sea is already pretty fantastic. How can we up the fantasy to make it more memorable in D&D when the players are getting together every few weeks?

This example is going to be for Sheljar, the bog-city once ruled by an intending-to-be-good necromancer, but could apply anywhere. Sheljar is a city of 100s of islands.

What if a few of those islands floated like the bog-island of Chippewa?

Rather than be moved by motorboat, they were moved by water elementals during the Age of Myths. The largest of these, Reylerel, at the time was the home of a power school of mages that integrated water, animals that live in and along water, and the peoples.

As the Age was crashing they attempted to flee the city. The school wanted to isolate itself from the riots, to hide the dolphins, elementals, beaver and ducks that worked together to help the Kin survive. Reylerel went adrift, into the Sea of Sheljar.

Now, thousands of years later the Free City of Sheljar is no longer ruled by the Necromancer. It is regrowing, discovering some of its influence from the Age of Myths. This bog-city isn’t a city of fog and depression, but a city of hope and humanity integrating gobkon teknology, love of animals and the lost magics.

The leadership knows this is possible. Myth said it happened before, and drifting towards them is the Floating Island of Reylerel. At sea it moves with the swells and storms. The towers and buildings are rundown. Someone is going to need to go to Reylerel and find a way to prevent it from crashing into the docks.

And that’s how you take a small trending topic on the internet and turn it into an adventure.

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #inspiration #PlayingDD #Sheljar #TTRPG

This isn’t something I talk about publicly much. The stutter and the lisp are a large part of the reason that when I worked full time in sports radio I was an off-air producer. Once in a while the on-air people would mock me.

Years later I would appear as a subject matter expert on those same shows.

I’ve also hosted 100s of podcasts, appeared on many dozen more. I used to be an analyst on ESPN+. I’ve been the MC for crowd events of four figures. Even now I host and sometimes appear as an analyst on security briefings.

Some people may have noticed the stutter. Others might not have. But it’s always something I think about while prepping. I also avoid words that would trigger the lisp — these happen to include the most common names I like for fantasy characters, which isn’t ironic. I think I like those names in writing because I struggle to say them. The lisp will often trigger bad stuttering.

Once upon a time I spent several hours a week in speech therapy for the stutter and lisp. I don’t remember those lessons consciously. They seep into how I grew up and who I became.

Somehow I won trophies in competitive speech while in high school. The stutter was still there.

It was there haunting me today in the Global Security Briefing. It haunts me when I DM. It haunts me when I’m a player.

One of my compensations is to spit out words as rapidly as possible. I don’t permit my mind to pause and think. I just do it, rapidly. My current character Xabal talks this way at the table. It’s easy for me to channel because it’s something I do. Xabal is an Artificer, inherently magical and constantly tinkering. Their speech pattern is part of them and has no impact on their magic or heroism. It’s just who they are.

I think that’s important when you consider playing a character with a stutter, lisp or other ‘issue’ with language. I’m not a weak speaker. It’s nearly been a profession for me. Xabal is different because of their speech, but isn’t weaker because of that.

I know coaches, other broadcasters and pro athletes that stutter. They are very good at their jobs. Yes, like me there are times when they doubt, when they compensate. But they aren’t lesser. They have a trait.

If you play a character with a stutter recognize that this is a trait. Don’t play it as a weakness. Don’t play it as a strength. It is a state of being.

I’ve been rewatching Agents of SHIELD lately. Early in the story cycle Leopold Fitz suffers an injury that causes him to stutter, but it’s because of a brain injury. In this case actor Iain De Caestecker was using the struggle to find the perfect word as a character element that was initially a weakness, but became a state of being.

Watching and rewatching Leopold Fitz develop and not-quite-conquer the stutter helped me open up about my own lisp and stutter. Because De Caestecker isn’t mocking me and others. He’s honoring that struggle. He also does a brilliant job of removing the in-character stutter during the season 4 Framework arc when Fitz is again his whole self, mentally.

I don’t get to remove my stutter.

I’ve listened back to various podcast and broadcast appearances and know when it has happened. I speed up in a way that harms communication because I don’t want to get th-th-th-that moment. I don’t want the obscenely long pause as my brain can’t tell my mouth the words to use.

So I go fast. It’s part of why I was decent at cross-ex and impromptu. I could spew words out rapidly.

But also there are times when I lose track. These tend to be emotional moments. My practice and therapy disappear. Since it happens at highly emotional moments and then the pause or micro-chunks of words happen I get interrupted.

That’s probably the time I get the angriest about the stutter — the interruptions (this is also where De Caestecker got it right). My state of being stops being valued. People can’t wait for me to find the proper word.

I don’t know why this is going up on my mostly D&D blog at this time. Probably because of Agents of SHIELD, probably because of the passing of James Earl Jones a few weeks, who I didn’t know stuttered until he passed. Jones is one of my favorite voices ever. His work in Star Wars, Field of Dreams and as the voice of CNN were inspiring to me, a dream voice that I wish I had!

And yet as a youth who loved those performances I didn’t know a stutterer could be one of the grandest voices in the world. Maybe that knowledge would have helped me be a better speaker, maybe I would have been a radio host.

I’m in a great place without that knowledge. But Jones passing caused me to wonder about my youth.

If you’re a D&D reader who has stuck through this long, remember — a stutter isn’t a weakness. If you don’t have a stutter don’t use a character with a stutter as inspiration for a Wild Mage. If you do have a stutter channeling that trait into magic would be awesome.

Yes, that’s the same general guidance for playing other characteristics that you don’t have. It’s not a joke. It’s not a weakness. It is. And no, I’m not stuttering right now.

For more guidance about creating accessible and understanding stories, here’s Jennifer Kretchmer’s doc.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/11/07/i-stutter-sometimes-a-little-sometimes-a-lot/

#acting #broadcasting #debate #personalEssay #PlayingDD #RolePlaying #stutter #stuttering

This is a story about The Dragon.

Which is a moon, not a big dragon. I don’t know why I called the biggest and slowest moon “The Dragon.” It was probably in honor of The Wheel of Time, one of my foundational fictions in the world. But the name never really came up in play.

The 21-year cycle did come up. That generational marker (key for many goliaths and the Crinth Confederation) marked a cycle from the Born Generation to the present era.

But, by expanding play in the world to a second DM The Dragon also finally became a point of clear fiction. It’s named that because during the Age of Myths that’s when the leading dragons on the Council retreated from society — Draakenmoten.

That’s about to come up in the campaign I’m playing within my own world.

Playing in the world I’ve invented has expanded the stories in ways I never expected. While I’ve included player concepts in world development in the past, including DM concepts in the world requires trust and grants wonderful opportunities for story-threads to be pulled into new places.

Other things added to my world through sharing the experience;

• Evil fungal druids that dabble in necromancy
• Dragon Council, a ruling body of dragons and their magical allies who control the continent in a federal system.
• Les Remoden Eisha, the intelligence and security branch of the Council.
• Necromancy as the forbidden school of magic.
• Elemental airships. Unlike the era where I DM, magic is common enough that it powers the airships, unlike the clackety, smog xips of the goblins.

Those first four elements seem to be growing into the major division that leads to the sundering of the world, separating the continent with the Everflow on it from all the magical spaces in the rest of the planet. Those councils and forbidden magicks could grow into the dragon-founded schools with their abusive Proctors, supplicant Scholars and limited magic in a world that has merely love for companionship, healing waters and hope.

Tips for Sharing a World

First, have the creator DM and non-creating DM talk about history and key elements. Discuss where the foundational elements of the world are necessary in each campaign. Unlike Uprising & Rebellion (and the other ‘modern’ campaigns set in the World of the Everflow) the current campaign doesn’t have a foundational element about animals as life companions for example.

Understand that things that happen in history don’t have to be understood in the future. Did Xabal discover tar-trees? Maybe someone else claims that 3,000 years later. Unless the details are vital to a plot point minor differences in the way myth-legend-history are known aren’t important. They can even both be true!

Second, play and act with trust. Going back to point one, the details don’t matter if they don’t matter. Does the now co-DM get the name of a city wrong? That doesn’t matter. Keep playing at the table. Don’t even bother to correct it. Many cities in the real world have multiple names. That’s the way worlds work.

Borrow heavily from each other. This is part communication, but also because you’re seeing each set of stories (every table is a set of stories that is some combination of the total number of people playing and their interactions) from different angles.

Is there a new nugget dropped that you want to be permanently part of the tale? Take note in heavy ink and add it to your own version of the world document. Just like when a player adds something new to the world let the co-DM do the same thing.

Be a player — you aren’t the DM, so don’t be a co-DM at the table, unless asked. The only time to speak up about some out-of-character element related to previous campaigns or lore is when the DM asks. Then you answer.

Bonus points if you can work that into something that your character would know/do/say. I didn’t do this most recently, but wish I had. The current DM asked me what Sheljar, the bog-city, was like in the Age of Myths. I gave an encyclopedic answer rather than the answer Xabal would give.

It’s been so much fun opening the world to more tales set within. We’ve added fantastic spaces, myths and histories that wouldn’t have existed if the World of the Everflow was merely my setting with nearly two dozen players. Adding a second DM to the world has changed the story dynamics in an exponential rather than additive fashion.

My hope is that after this Age of Myths campaign we return to the modern era with new tales too.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/11/02/sharing-your-world-the-power-of-co-dming-in-the-same-space/

#AgeOfMyths #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD #RPG #WorldOfTheEverflow

Expanding the types of Halflings in your world

No other early-era playable species/race in D&D history has been shoehorned into a singular type as the Halfling. Originally called Hobbits, because that’s what they were, Gygax decided to avoid a legal battle and renamed them as Halflings.

But for nearly thirty years these small people were either the peoples who lived in homely burrows (Stouts) or peoples who lived in Buckland (Tallefellows). There were also hairfoots, which let’s be honest the three types of D&D Halfling perfectly mirrored Tolkien’s varieties of Hobbit.

In 2024 Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast says there are more varieties, mentioning Eberron’s street-gang house and Dark Sun’s roving cannibals. And that’s it.

Halfling communities come in all varieties. For every sequestered shire tucked away in an unspoiled part of the world, there’s a crime syndicate like the Boromar Clan in the Eberron setting or a territorial mob of halflings like those in the Dark Sun setting.

No longer are the differences in Halfling types subraces as earlier versions of the game. But the “all varieties” are conventional hobbits, gangsters and cannibals.

This need not be all varieties of the small folk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGqOVIGcxgA

Caravans

In Rings of Power we meet two varieties of Halflings. The first are the Harfeet, who travel in communal covered wagons travelling with the seasons over a wide land. These peoples hide quickly (a Halfling born trait) and sing proudly of their history. Though not ‘Shire-y’ they are clearly the popular Hobbit/Halfling of fantasy tropes. Caravan Halflings have been embraced by D&D in the past, fitting them in your world is easy.

Desert cliffs

Season 2 introduces the Stoors, who live in cliffside holes in an arid land. You can see some Halfing behavior in the structure of the settlement. Again, they are quite communal, which I don’t like associating with a species because that feels cultural, not born, but this is part of the Halfling trope still. What makes these Stoors inspiring for small folk in my world is that they seem to embrace the divine luck of Halflings. Those aqueducts and microforms carved into cliff sides seems to require bravery, nimbleness and luck. Children scampering through that space would fall constantly without the luck of the gods.

There are other ways that you can embrace the born traits of Halflings and build some societies, captured in their homes.

Coop homes

In visiting various farm and feed stores you can find fancy chicken coops. These will frequently have multiple levels, many doors and windows. Sometimes they have a small fence in material similar to the walls or roof.

These have made me think of Halflings for some time, not just because they are made for tiny creatures. The various nooks and crannies are places to hide. Similar to modern micro-housing, a cluster of these coop-style Halfling homes would take up very little space in a fantasy city too. A cluster would touch on the communal aspect that Halflings will never escape, because their connection to Tolkien is so strong (even in Eberron and Dark Sun).

Or one with a run extension could be a connection to terriers, cats, or other small domestic animals that live with these Halflings as companions. A design with space underneath is sensible for raising mushrooms or other foods.

What other home types make sense for Halflings?

Rafts and waterways

A species of brave nimble peoples living on the waters in a mix of canals, creeks and lakes makes a lot of sense. Their small size lends itself well to working in the sails and ropes of the big people too. Narrow paths of docks and ladders would require a nimble and lucky peoples too. This also works at sea, with Halflings living in the rigging of multi-mast ships.

Bridges

Yes, I love this trope. My own Fort Ooshar uses it. Small folk are perfect for settling in the upper levels of a bridge-city. They also make sense in the undercarriage. The ability to slip into and out of the various rope elevators is perfect for the narrative. Halflings in this environment can be similar to the Eberron gangs or they can be families who take up the small spaces that humanity (all the medium thinking peoples) ignores.

Tree houses

Yes, yes, yes — this trope is heavily associated with Elves. It need not be. Halflings make a lot of sense as a tree people. They are small and light, which means they can live in a much larger variety of tree and not just the not-Redwoods. Put them in birch, or larches, or cedar. Maybe they live in briars with offices in the local oak. Being just a couple dozen pounds is a massive advantage for Halfling tree people. Their divine bravery and luck are also a great fit.

Spire lands

Imagine a land of natural spires with Stoor-like homes, but even more exaggeration of height with tiny bridges of rope connecting the neighborhoods. Humans would hate such a place, but a Halfling would run full speed along a rope bridge connecting two towering rocks.

tl;dr

Halflings can be more than just Hobbits. Your fantasy version of the small folk should embrace their born traits – brave, nimble, lucky, stealthy. Don’t assign culture due to their species, but the places where they live and how that influences them.

Your city Halflings could be gangsters, your caravan Halflings could be communal, your bridge Halflings could be a hidden undercurrent, your burrow Halflings could be a coven.

Embrace more options in your fantasy world so you can tell a wider variety of fantastical tales.

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #Halflings #Hobbits #PlayingDD #TTRPG #worldbuilding

In this post Jared talks about how rules support fiction with the examples being from Tales of the Valiant’s rituals system.

https://whatdoiknowjr.com/2024/10/12/what-do-i-know-about-diegetic-rules-tales-of-the-valiant-rituals/?page_id=26327

The magic of this is you don’t even have to use Tales of the Valiant as your base system to add this to your 5e world. The ritual system is essentially 5e D&D neutral.

Take Divine Ritualists as described. They look like, and are mechanically supported like, miracle workers at a temple. The Primordial Ritualists are like less powerful Tom Bombadils.

Thank you Jared Rascher for the inspiration.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/10/12/reblogging-ill-be-adding-npc-ritualists-to-my-world/

#5e #BlackFlag #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #KoboldPress #PlayingDD #TalesOfTheValiant

The latest version of D&D is out in the wild. I’ve been perusing it via D&D Beyond, and I bought the local shop version of the hardbound book (which already lacks the near-immediate errata updates). That cover, with its slice-of-life capture rather appealed to me. A large part of what I love about the game is imagining these heroes in their between times.

This review isn’t going to dive deep into rules, nor the debate about this being a new edition. Instead it’s going to be why I enjoy the book. Eventually I’ll use the 2024 version of 5e as my baseline, but leaning into SlyFlourish’s ideals I’ll augment it with other 5e materials I enjoy — Tales of the Valiant/Black Flag, Advanced 5e/Level Up, 2014 Wizards of the Coast, and more. Whatever tells the story at the table best will be what’s welcome at my table, when I DM.

I’ve played D&D in some variant for nearly as long as I can remember. My first games involved a few d6 and were kind of ad hoc, played with a red box and a DM who had to explain everything to my much too young mind. I stuck through it and grew into it, and played for more than ten years during my first run in the 80s and 90s. Then I came back to the game with 5th edition, almost twenty years after leaving the game. I bring this up, because in many ways the 2024 rule set isn’t made for me — it’s made for people who are still new to Dungeons & Dragons.

More welcoming

There are a lot of new rules, both revisions and outright new items.

But the best, absolute best, thing about this new PHB is that it seems crafted to help someone who has never played D&D before. It leads with how to play the game rather than how to create a character.

The examples given cover all pillars of the game, which is vital as more and more actual plays emphasize social and exploration pillars over the pure combat that birthed Dungeons & Dragons.

With a layout and organization that welcomes the eye the craft of the book is immediately obvious. The larger font is welcome to my old eyes, while also helping youngsters not feel like the wall of text is an obstruction to learning.

Massive amounts of art help too. That art sets tone, all the tones. Art throughout the book gives examples of sword & sorcery, high fantasy, magi-punk. In fact every active setting from 5e is given art at some point. There’s art that shows dirt and grit. There’s art from high fantasy superheroes. There’s art of a calm brook and a dragon and so much more.

Art is language. It shows us what the game can do, and for people with less D&D firmware updates in their brain they can see the game as it can be.

Having helped more than a dozen friends try to learn the game from the 2014 PHB I cannot wait for the first person to ask to learn now that 2024 is in our hands. It won’t feel like studying for a test.

Origins

There are some misses in the rules of the Origins section. Backgrounds remove some of the distinct flavor elements that were great (this is fixable via expanded feat opportunities and short-form personality). Also, my halflings were simplified, which makes me sad.

There are also wonderful new things that, once again, help new players more than old.

Background and species art is a slice of life for both.

With the species are every species listed but one shows at least one character with corrective lenses. Yes, this is something I harp on a lot, but it is a rather easy way to show the level of technology and acceptance within a society (even if it wasn’t historically accurate, which it is, your D&D campaign should include glasses). Species art shows the typical cultures for a species. The language also makes it clear, that you don’t have to make a character that is typical.

This is further reinforced because the background art shows other cultures. These vignettes of life are demonstrations of what the future heroes did before. It’s a wonderful and subtle to show more variety in the worlds of D&D. There are rice patties and sailing-canal towns and magi-scribes and so much possibility. That’s really what D&D is about at the core, possibility.

Equipment improvements

Of all the rule tweaks and expansions, my attention keeps coming back to what the design team did with gear. In old school D&D your equipment build out helped define how you could innovate to solve exploration and social problems.

2024 doesn’t go that same direction. Instead of innovation it goes for explanation. Every non-container (probably, I haven’t counted) has a description about what types of mechanical things it helps the owner of such gear do. A book helps with history checks. Perfume helps charisma checks. The list continues.

This is a massive improvement for the social and exploration pillars’ mechanical support. Equipment availability also helps describe the types of worlds within D&D. With muskets and pistols and ball bearings and magnifying glasses and spyglasses this is a world similar to the Renaissance.

A setting book can also remove or add to those elements. Eberron and Dark Sun need this the most.

As someone who used to peruse the polearm section of the original Unearthed Arcana for hours upon hours the massive amount of drawings for mundane gear is a pleasure.

Rules Glossary!

D&D is a complicated game. There are quite a few rules. Within the tabletop RPG space it is somewhere between medium and high complexity, even with 5th edition’s much more welcoming ruleset.

Another wise layout choice was to not waste space on an index, but instead give us a glossary of rules. A 384-page book, even one with a larger font and loads of art, can be intimidating.

For 2024 Wizards of the Coast decided to cut back on that potential complexity via the Rules Glossary (yes, it probably should have been an index also, but the glossary aspect is most important).

When people first start playing they consult rules frequently. During character creation they do this to understand what their PC is capable of. During play flipping pages to understand is quite common.

A glossary speeds things up at the table. So does writing the page number of your abilities on your character sheet (another SlyFlourish tip).

Who should get the 2024 PHB?

• People new to D&D who will be joining a table where it is the baseline rule set.
• Completionists.
• DMs who want to understand the tweaks that will speed up play (like beasts no longer having rules riders with saving throws).
• Players who want a much better monk.
• Tables that want better representation.
• Art lovers.
• Me

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/09/16/2024-dd-players-handbook-review/

#2024DnD #5e #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD

We’re flying back to Sheljar.

I guess we did what we needed to do, but something doesn’t sit right. A family lost their father and their oxen. A town lost its feeling of safety.

Yes, the stream is running clear again and those evils in the cave complex are gone.

They aren’t going to be harming the town and the standard guards should be able to help everyone feel safe, eventually. The town of Mihrstone can take a small comfort in that.

But I’m not comfortable. Artok’s mission feels incomplete. We lost an ally. We don’t know why this pungent fungal druidism rose to strength. There’s reason to think it is a danger that will be constant now.

Cap’n Crilbort and the Sadijh are taking a group that started as two (Artok and Amos) and is now five — I guess I’m in the group, maybe? — to Sheljar. Artok and Amos will report to their factions. I ain’t got a faction, nor do Rolf and this Crag, we don’t know ‘im yet. But he’s with us, because he’s heard there’s more to this evil than just the one city.

Aft Artok and Amos report in, what next?

Imma little communicator and fixit. I like small problems. I like thinkin’ ’bout how to get Midqh to do new things. I don’t like mysteries. I don’t walking shroom people. I don’t like not-quite dead elves with weird molds on them. I don’t like cursed scrolls and global dangers. And I don’t like losing a friend.

This world is getting more dangerous, not less.

I’ll help where I can. Come up with new ideas. Mayhap they’ll be wrong, but I’ll try. That’s all I can do, that and annoy Rolf by giving him too many options.

In our current Age of Myths campaign I’m playing Xabal, a smaller hobgoblin artificer that uses an eldritch cannon called Midqh. My goal is to be the party notetaker, but with a twist. I’m writing our recaps as if Xabal, a motormouth former Tinkerer is the author.

Other PCs are;
Artok — bronze dragonborn paladin
Amos — elven wizard
Rolf — bugbear monk
Crag — dwarf barbarian

Rest in peace Eustace, the gnome bard, laid to rest in Mihrstone

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/09/15/diary-success-in-mihrstone/

#AgeOfMyths #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD #recap

Hello again fair reader. You may be wondering why these diaries of my times with Artok and the crew are from me and not the humble bard we met. The reason is two-fold.

1 – I happen to want to remember the journey I’m having. It’s my life and my tale.

2 – Eustace died.

https://flic.kr/p/4cN8N9

Yeah… things didn’t go well in the fungal caves behind the waterfall. Some of that is my fault. Some is the fault of the funguses. Sometimes it’s just bad luck, like when that crewmem’ went o’erboard. This death in the violent life we lead has fault.

Eustace getting stuck inside a shambling mound of vegetal horror is kinda traumatic. Especially since at one point all of the group spent time inside that mound. I nearly died too, at my last available breath Rolf slew the dread beast!

How’d we get into a situation where the four of us were in such danger?

It started by trying to help a mushroom man who asked for help. I’m always up for helping the needy. Plus, Rolf really trusted fun-guy. Turns out that was because of a spell. Which, we probably should have figured out, but didn’t, again, because I believe in helping the less fortunate and who is less fortunate than someone made of fungus.

Deep in the cave the two of us were following Funguy, the shroom, and things started to get complicated. We discovered a ritual with other ambling funguses plus this thing that looked like what would happen if a fungus and elf merged, maybe that’s what was happening to poor Glovin who at least had the fortune to die before being taken over.

Things turn violent pretty quick, luckily Eustace and Amos showed up. We’re outnumbered. Things are going well somehow. We start to get confident. Things are working, kind of. I did accidentally destroy Midqh in boom of thunder, but we’re doing well outside of that until…

Funguy summons that mound.

In our weakened state we struggle. I get off some decent spells. So does Amos (that wizard knows some powerful magic). Rolf is doing alright with his magic too! Eustace’s words weaken things.

I’ve got no Midqh and I’m out of little bits and bobs to build more. I have to stand toe-to-toe with the mound eventually. It sucks me in.

Rolf and Amos tell me later that they were in serious danger. Rolf uses a misty step to get out and then he and Amos finish off the shambling mound, last of our enemies. I thank them after they wake me up.

“Where’s Eustace, our gnome storyteller?”

Their faces turn sad. One points to his body.

We search spellbooks and knowledge bases. We have nothing to help.

We have nothing for Eustace.

We’re stuck in this fungal cave, still no answer to what’s terrorizing Mihrstone, what killed Glovin, what stole his herd.

And there’s one less of us.

In our current Age of Myths campaign I’m playing Xabal, a smaller hobgoblin artificer that uses an eldritch cannon called Midqh. My goal is to be the party notetaker, but with a twist. I’m writing our recaps as if Xabal, a motormouth former Tinkerer is the author.

Other PCs are;
Artok — bronze dragonborn paladin
Amos — elven wizard
Rolf — bugbear monk

Rest in peace Eustace, the gnome bard.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/08/25/diary-eustace/

#AgeOfMyths #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD #recap

There are significant changes between the 2014 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons Backgrounds and the way 2024 5e D&D manages the same design space. 5e14 used backgrounds to expand on the social and exploration pillars of the game while encouraging roleplay via traits, ideals, bonds and flaws.

5e24 abandons that, turning backgrounds into a space with more mechanical heft than ever before — adding Ability Score Increases and Origin Feats. This also differs from alt-5e systems like Black Flag (no ASIs, talents are Feats) and Advanced 5e (no ASI, no Feat, single ASI adding connections, momentos and advancement).

By nature 5e24 reduces the story available via Backgrounds. Every Soldier is a Savage Attacker and never Tough. There’s no personality assigned everywhere, not even a highly detailed matrix of choices that results in 100s of combinations. There are also assigned ability scores, which means that Soldiers aren’t wise, for example.

So how do you inject story back into your table as you transition to 2024 5e?

Remove ASIs from Background

They can go back to floating like they were with Tasha’s or just included in the standard array/point buy like Black Flag.

This has absolutely zero impact on the power balance of the game.

Associate multiple Feats/Talents with a Background

Tough Soldiers exist! So could a soldier trained in magic in a high fantasy world (see the Second Army in the Grishaverse). A solider could be trained in Healing or Linguistics. Make the assigned Feat the one that most members of the Background have, but do not confine your story to that.

Pick a Feat and then justify it with a single clause in your backstory (backstories for Tier 1 play should fit in a text-based social post).

For myself, I’ll be using a chart that puts the most common Feat in the middle with the next most common next to them and rares on the outside. This small curve helps define the world in which you play.

Here’s an example for the Tinker

2. Magic Initiate
3. Tough
4. Linguist
5. Actor
6. Skilled
7. Ritual Caster
8. Artificer Initiate

This doesn’t impact the power level at the table at all.

Use custom Backgrounds to expand your world’s lore

Add more Backgrounds to enrich your world. Similar to how official Wizards of the Coast settings books have added a couple Backgrounds to help define those stories. Dragonlance added Wizards of High Sorcery and the Knights.

Take this lesson and use it at your table.

Do your stories consist of a world on the edge of Renaissance technology? Add in Optical Telegraph Far Talkers. Is there something inspired by the Silk Road? Add the Caravanserai. Are airships common? Those shouldn’t have sailors, but flyers. It’s a different skill set and a different story.

Again, there’s no power imbalance.

Add personality back to the game

Even though WotC, and the alt-5es too, got rid of personality you don’t need to. The 5e14 system is long and clunky. Alignment is tired and dated.

Instead, use short-form personality. Having 3-5 words or phrases isn’t a bulky system. Still grant Inspiration off of this — your players should be rewarded in game for playing their role. If you’re shifting to Black Flag or borrowing their Luck system do that instead.

This has a minimal amount of power disruption while encouraging more story through play.

These four simple steps don’t disrupt the power balance of 5e (and variants). They add lore to your world and story to your characters.

Best of all is that they can all be done while playing using DnD Beyond or any other virtual character sheet.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/08/10/enable-your-table-to-embrace-wider-stories-using-2024-dd-backgrounds/

#2024DnD #5e #backgrounds #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #PlayingDD

Been flying on the Sadijh since Captain Crilbort and the crew picked me up outside Oojar a few feylfs ago (weeks). My canoe broke, and, curse it, somehow I couldn’t repair the clackety rudder and the self-paddler lost its energy. My path was to go upriver, but upriver is hard when you have to paddle yourself. Harder at 3’4″.

Oh, yeah. Sadijh. It’s big magic, not minors. No balloons, fancy tendrils of powers and a magic crystal in it. I ain’t helping with that. They have me doing comms. It’s ’cause my talents. Also, cause the old comms officer died — I was available. They weren’t. It’s not that I was conscripted, it’s just that I didn’t have a choice.

Wait, here I am filling out my diary talking to myself and I cannay focus enough to stay to the story. I guess that’s why I write. Gotta figure out the best tale for the next campfire. I miss campfires, Mate Pryn told me we can’t have them on Sadijh.

I figure this story’s going to be a big deal.

Riding in Sadijh after defeating some pirates we get called back to work for the Ruling Council. This is when I learn I’m on a formal military ‘xip. Guess I’m an officer now?!

So we’re called back. We have to pick up ‘authorities.’ One is dragonborn (first time I’ve seen ’em!) – Artok, big and beefy. The other is part of Les Remoden Eisha, a studious wizardly type. At least Amos likes books, even if I can’t read his.

We’re to take Artok and Amos to Mirrstone. There’s been a lot of livestock gone missing out there. Enough that the Council is getting involved, but also, only enough that there’s two assigned to this investigation, plus the Sadijh.

That’s both a lot, and a little. On Sadijh we’ve a few officers and not-quite two dozen crew (some work nights and I ain’t getting up at night).

Captain Crilbort is in charge with First Mate Pryn helping. They both gobs. Most of us are gobs. There’s a navigator and a medic/cook too. And I guess, me?!

Master-at-arms Holx has five guard (it was six, but Prix went overboard — I’ll get to that | whoa, I have asides to my asides). They work with three on duty and three off duty. (that’s got to change soon).

Bosun Musi manages the deckhands. There aren’t as many hands on this kind of airxip as their are on the dirigibles or sail boats, because the magic takes care of a lot. It’s great. Almost nice enough I’d crew one.

Cabin chile Fokz is the one of the chilles I deal with. Fokz helps Crilbort. There’s two others, one helping the cook mostly and another that does general service for the rest of the crew.

Let’s get back to the tale. If I’m going to do this diary to help my memory I’m going to need to focus.

So, we pick up Artok and Amos for this investigation. It’s a couple days flight, which is great! Walking would take a feylf. We only encounter one problem during the journey. There’s a storm about halfway through and it’s big enough it opened up a rift. Two elementals try to bust up our ‘xip.

Artok helps us with some aid. That’s great, because I’m a hob that’s sized like a gob.

I’m not here to sound like the hero, but me and Midqh pert-much saved the day. Midqh catapulted a block and tackle at one, used its tail to shield Crilbort. Spells and sundry thrown all over the place.

Both me and Amos made big booms! He does it differently, no powders or tools involved. I’ll figure that out when I can focus. Battle was rough. A few us forgot to latch in during the storm and fight, so we were thrown about quite a bit. Only Prix went over the rail (knocks on chain).

Not to be casual, but when a rift opens and elemental forces attack a ship I’m used to the whole thing going down, but that’s because I’ve only been on balloon boats before — I only crashed once!

We get to town the next day. The crew lands at a field and Captain Crilbort orders me to go with Artok and Amos so I can message the ‘xip if they need rescue. This is a rather smart thing to do, if it didn’t involve me.

Mirrstone is about two dozen buildings, mostly stone. The residents are mostly human. The area seems to be primarily ranches — cattle and sheep. First we talk to Fiendhere, who is like a mayor. He doesn’t know why the herds are disappearing and the town doesn’t have many clues. I overpay for our food and lodging. They have a comfy chair for me to sleep under, which is so much better than the ‘xip’s hammocks. Plus, it’s on ground, so there’s no wobble from the air.

Fiendhere had told us the ranch most impacted was run by Glovin, whose entire herd of oxen is gone. The three of us inspect the area. The house and fields don’t show anything. No tracks, no trails, no signs. It’s baffling. Amos points out that if the herd was magicked away that it would take an immense amount of power and a portal that many would see.

I head into the barn. Something is amiss there. Artok and Amos are looking at stalls while I head up a ladder. I leave a tinkering behind so they can find me. This is smart. I’m a communications officer!

Up in the loft it stanks, rotten and musty. Like mushrooms and fairies (I hear). I call for help and the Two A are behind me, not far at all. We move slowly in this space, me because it’s scary. Them because the roof is low and there’s bales all over.

We round one place and discover why it stank. Glovin is dead. His body has fungus on it and the smell is intense. We all stop, look at each other. Then we look at the body again. Someone will have to inspect it and though I’m short I don’t want that short straw.

Then Glovin’s eye opens.

I need to stop here. That moment put me in a mood, bad one. I’ll write more later.

In our current Age of Myths campaign I’m playing Xabal, a smaller hobgoblin artificer that uses an eldritch cannon called Midqh. My goal is to be the party notetaker, but with a twist. I’m writing our recaps as if Xabal, a motormouth former Tinkerer is the author.

Other PCs are;
Artok — bronze dragonborn paladin
Amos — elven wizard

and more that we’ll meet soon.

The header image is the ribbon jammer from Dyson Logos.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/06/08/diary-airxip-sadijh-took-me-to-meet-a-dead-man-who-can-blink/

#AgeOfMyths #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD #recap

For the first time I’m going to be playing a character in my world. One of my players in the last two campaigns is going to DM and together we set up the one-sheet so as to not change too much lore. One of the ideas I came up with early, was by playing in the Age of Myths, because any lore changes can just be referenced as legend when we play in the current era.

The Road to the Uncoupling

Your story begins in a prosperous world of togetherness and mutual can-do spirit.  Before the battle for the heart of Kirtin on the Lake (KotL) or the sacking of Kirtin in the Sky (KotS), before the Proctors spread death and misery in Sas Rurulit, and before the unprecedented events of the Awakening and the finding of Lorebooks, there was The Uncoupling.  The apocalypse that destroyed the weave of magic for the Kin and Kon, leaving Ken and the 5 coloured dragons of the Chromatic Convocation in complete possession of magik. 

Players are part of a select group that were born with innate magical ability (you’ve been everflow touched) that is prized even in this magic-rich world.  Possibly you inherited your trait from a bloodline trait or ancestral ties to deeper magik of the Everflow.  It has shaped your early years, possibly enrolled at a young age by family in the scholarly studies to become part of the magik ruling core of society or you hid your talent and nurtured it on your own. 

However, recently there have been rumblings, rumors about a shadow organization unhappy with the status quo, who seek to eliminate the existing ruling council and rule not by consensus but by force.  You’ve each been selected by the bronze Dragonborn Artok, tasked with this mission by his patron, the adult Bronze Dragon (Othimbane) who sits on the council, to identify and either infiltrate or forcefully break these fools of their notions and ensure that no other plots are forthcoming. 

The following is written by the DM for this campaign.

Premise 

• This campaign takes at least three millennia before the Born Generation and the return of magic to the Lands of the Everflow.
• Gain information about “The Shadows”, a secretive organization bent on wiping out the Ruling Council of Aur.
  • Artok has the rough information about several potential members that could lead you to a hideout or meeting place. 
• Infiltrate or brute force your way into the group. 
• Identify other members and find potential leads about who is the power behind “The Shadows”.
  • Keep (human council) and (gnome council) members apprised of your investigation. 
• Possibly assist the council with additional tasks at your discretion.  

Factions  (NPC names to come soon)

• The Ruling Council of Aur (RCoA) – A group of 9 members, three of each Ken, Kin, and Kon, and 4 dragons, two each of metallic and chromatic. 
  • The RCoA is the “federational government” of Aur, with different cultures/regions governing in their own way and answering to the RCoA.
  • Kin: Human (F), Goliath (they), Halfling (M)
  • Ken: Elf (F), Elf (M), Dwarf (M)
  • Kon: Goblin (M), Bugbear (They), Hobgoblin (They)
  • Dragons:
    • Elder Metallic (Silver) – Tanargnyvur
    • Adult Metallic (Bronze) – Othimbane
    • Elder Chromatic (White) – Dwargauth
    • Adult Chromatic (Blue) – Nymaryxon
• In occurrence with the rise of The Dragon moon (the fourth moon of the Aurian system), the dragons withdraw from the council for a year (draakmoeten) and meet at an undisclosed location with the world dragon (a deep time dragon) named Andarawus Del-mos. 
• The Metallic Dragons
• The Chromatic Dragons 
• The Shining Order of Dreki – Holy dragonborn order who serve the Draconic races as paladins, clerics, and religious personages located across the world. Some that choose a more individual path travel and assist as Priests and Mortuary persons in smaller towns and villages.
  • Necromantic magic is thought to primarily flow through the draconic race). 
• The Shadows – A heretofore unknown organization/cult/religion(?) focused on the overthrow of the RCoA, and to rule through force and oppression rather than through consensus. 

Campaign Facets 

• 2nd & 3rd tier drop in/out campaign play, starting at 5th level 
• All PCs start at lv.5 with the added feat “Everflow Touched”, adding a +1 to spell attack modifier and adding one free 1st level spells (from any school except necromancy, unless your PC is dragonborn) to your spell list which can be cast once per long rest.
  • Material components will not be needed.
  • at lv. 9 this will increase to +2 and an additional spell (2nd lv.) can be learned.
• Rules used are core 2014 WotC D&D, plus most player facing options from WotC
  • Check with the DM about using setting-specific feats, subclasses and spells
• Allowed races are Kin (human, halfling, goliath), Kon (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear), Ken (elf, dwarf, non-rock gnomes) and dragonborn/kobold as shining order of Dreki
• Divine magic is thought to come from the forces of nature and the philosophies, there is no active pantheon of faith, beyond those who worship the dragons.
• Potential for multiple pathways to quest completion
• Player driven story creation in a sandbox setting
• Wide regional/worldwide settings with airship and/or teleportation travel 
• Actions may become legend
• Milestone leveling – several sessions per level gain; saves time when we all don’t have to track XP

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/05/19/age-of-myths-the-uncoupling-campaign-one-sheet/

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #OneSheet #PlayingDD #TheUncoupling

During the Age of Revolutions the leaders who wanted liberalization and democracy in Genoa had no idea how to govern. They were a bit idealistic. They struggled to get the various classes of this significant mercantile kingdom to get along.

This all comes up in a recent Nerd Farmer podcast featuring Nathan Perl-Rosenthal. And it’s going to inspire a new third-place tradition in my Dungeons & Dragons world.

One of the ways the Genoan revolutionaries tried to create cross-class conversations was by mandating public lunches be held on the streets before festivals. These lunches would be funded by the elites, had limitations on the number of courses and were intended to inspire conversation before the entire group proceeded together towards a town square for fest time.

This attempt at a third place being a space in time rather than a physical building intrigues me. That porch was only a third place during the luncheon, roughly every two weeks. It didn’t work.

This is a fantasy blog, mostly about a fantasy world where dragons and magic are real. Let’s make the Genoa public luncheons real.

My world has a naval empire, which makes this easy. But it is rather hierarchical and centered on the influence of the navy as sailor-citizens with power and influence. It is expansionist. Daoud won the war with Kirtin twice, and just lost their hold on Kirtin-on-the-Lake, the winter capital of Kirtin.

Douad’s fleets sail the seas trading goods, conquering territory and bring their wealth back to the homeland.

This is where the lunchtime third places come in!

These now-wealthy sailors, officers and captains are required, by the Admiralty of the Land, upon returning to port to share their wealth and throw a party in the neighborhood from which they came.

They lunch and fest together, with the Admiralty and Royalty surprising random porches with visits.

This now ingrained tradition started because when the first ships came back with massive wealth they were seen as a threat to the non-sailing gentry. So that leadership in a form of taxation started the luncheon program. This kept the peasants that didn’t sail happy with the leadership and that joy spread.

These lunches are simple fare — three courses, one which must always be from the land the ship just visited. There’s always a flatbread, that was originally simple but is now treated as a complex way to serve a fourth course that is not in violation of the edict. There is wine and coffee, tea and liquor.

There is joy.

Then there’s the party, always in sight of the harbor with the ships lit and glowing at mast and crossbeam. There are flags and fireworks (the best ships travel with Sparklers). These parties are on a time limit. They start within two sunrises of the ship’s return. They end the next morning.

And everyone participates. The paupers, urchins and sweeps know that when a ship returns they will eat well for at least a day, often two. The displays of wealth are ostentatious and the people are happy. These aren’t circuses, nor taxes. It’s Daoudian Luncheon — one of the two third places in the culture. The ships are the other third place.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/03/23/adapting-genoan-revolutionary-lunches-to-fantasy-third-places/

#Daoud #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #Kirtin #PlayingDD #thirdPlace

My experience with Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t go back to the beginning. That would be kind of hard, as I’m not 50. It does go back to some of my earliest memories. For me D&D always started as a storytelling game, probably because the way the first DM I played under introduced it to me.

Derek convinced us to play because he was and is a storyteller. He knew that I loved The Hobbit, Narnia, King Arthur and Robin Hood. The pitch was simple — “Do you want to tell your own stories in the world?”

The answer was simply “Yes.”

We played with, those simple dice that needed a Crayon to color in the numbers. For some reason I only remember d6s and dungeons.

D&D is what started me on my journey to tell stories. I always thought those stories I would tell would be fiction. As of yet, conventional publishers haven’t accepted any of the short stories I’ve pitched.

But it also started me on the journey to be a journalist, and that worked out to be sports (mostly soccer) and then marketing tales. Derek’s connected to that journey too, but that advances several years into high school and again to when I was an emergent baseball blogger (which didn’t work out).

Later in my journey Dungeons & Dragons became the central point of my strongest friendships in those harsh teenage years. Like many GenX suburban white males, I was a latchkey kid in a neighborhood with cul de sacs and basements.

Those basements provided our play space and our avoidance. We avoided thinking about divorcing parents, impending nuclear annihilation, ozone depletion and whatever other terror the nightly news foisted on us.

Erik, Justin, Abel, Colin, Jacob, Andy, Chris, and the others — we hid from all of that. There were early video games, many board games, and other role-playing games, but it was D&D that was our unifying factor. The stories we told via rolling oddly shaped dice and convoluted rules gave us an escape. We were big, damn heroes. We were anti-heroes. We were thieves and priests and archers and wizards. We adhered to the noble codes that our imperfect real lives could not. We violated those codes to see what would happen.

That late 80s to early 90s version of D&D that we played was sometimes in dungeons and always dragons. Every world we played in had dragons in the background providing terror, often ending in a TPK.

My second D&D era was about avoidance. The stories and people helped me make it through the bad times — puberty, divorces, fights with friends, being the outsider from the in-cliques. Without that group I’d be a horrible athlete, the storyteller incapable of finishing a tale, a ‘gifted’ kid who avoided hard work, someone with constantly broken ankles and a body that doctors considered brutally altering because I was dramatically smaller than my peers.

In the Army I nearly avoided D&D. During my time at DLI I did participate in a Vampire: The Maquerade LARP in Pacific Grove, California. That was the only place I met non-military people while in that hybrid college-military experience. In 5th Group one of the 18D (combat medics) invited me to do solo play with him as the DM. That was basically impossible to keep up because our deployment schedules didn’t quite overlap. We also never played when deployed together. I’m pretty certain no one in his ODA knew that’s what we did when we hung out outside of work.

Then D&D disappeared from my life.

I thought I grew up.

I thought I didn’t need the funky dice, the tales.

5th edition brought me back after not playing regularly since 94 (the 5th Group experience was 97-98).

My current era of D&D is broader in playing styles, stories told and the people I play with. There have been two dozen people who have played in the now-seven campaigns within the World of the Everflow. Plus I’ve been a player in four campaigns and hosted a charity actual play for YachtCon.

Where my first era of D&D planted the seeds of creativity and the second era taught me math (and kept me as sane as I’ll be due to avoidance), this third era of my Dungeons and my Dragons is about exploring fellowship, exploring philosophical issues, confronting the issues of the era rather than avoiding them.

On this 50th birthday of D&D I discover that my eras of D&D are the eras of my life, showing a maturity in my life while being skills and abilities I continue to use in this life.

My game doesn’t really have dungeons. Dragons aren’t omnipresent. But it’s still the same game.

My game doesn’t roll characters. They’re created for story rather than optimization. It’s still the same game.

My game isn’t in the Forgotten Realms or another official world (or third party world). It’s a world concocted by me and mutually, continually created by us. It’s still the same game.

For forty years this game has been present in my life. At times it has been my most defining hobby. Other times it was locked behind a haunted door in my head, hidden but influencing my personal journey.

Today I don’t lock my passions away. People get to see them. They can judge me — whatever.

We’ll play in public today. Something that was nigh impossible in the 80s, when even my own family thought D&D meant devil worship.

Today we roll for initiative.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/01/28/happy-birthday-to-the-dungeons-and-happy-birthday-to-the-dragons/

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD