My RPG Carnival post will be about the Lorebooks and Font of the Everflow, the items which combined to shift the Land of Kin from some more typical fantasy worlds.
Welcome to the RPG Blog Carnival for the Month of February, 2021, on the theme of Gifts of the Gods, divine artifacts,
Such items figure in highly legends such as:
The Aegis of Athena, the shield that protects her (and indirectly the Olympians).
Mjölnir, the hammer of Thor, popularized in the Marvel comics and movies.
The Yata no Kagami (the sacred mirror) of Japanese legend.
And in fiction with such items as Stormbringer, the soul-drinking demonic sword and tool of the gods of Chaos.
A small number of such items, the thunderbolts used by Zeus, are mass produced.
So, let your imagination run wild! Make up new items or stat up those from myth, describe places where lost items can be found or quests set by the gods for those who wish to “borrow” item for an important task, what artifacts would your campaign villain seek? …
Awf Hornjaw et Loragwyn and the Brigade (formerly Droop’s Brigade) may have reached the end of Lost Mines of Phandelver. Or not. It’s hard to know. Everyone’s favorite axe-wizard and friends may have killed their final enemy, and they may even have rescued a Rockseeker brother.
After putting session recaps on pause for a while, I’m returning to recapping our near-weekly campaign that started with D&D’s Starter Set and is likely to continue in Avernus. Recaps will only be written after Long Rests.
There may be spoilers. Don’t read on if you don’t want them.
This is the final week for Lore Collage to contain the “Inspiration” section. Instead that will be spit out as simpler quick articles similar to Inspiration is Everywhere: Trees. This is part of my effort to show that everyone is creative enough to play Dungeons & Dragons, as well as a reinforcement of the concept that every lived moment is prep for a Dungeon Master.
Last week, on the Wolf Moon, I published my latest tiny fiction. Please read it and the other fiction on this here blog because frankly, I like it when people see my stuff.
Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews
Adventurer’s League
The biggest news in D&D land is that the Adventurer’s League is moving all support to within official D&D channels. You’ll find games, rules announcements, and related news through the Yawning Portal. Whereas many see this as a reduction in the importance of AL, folding its presence within the tent where fans would look for D&D stuff more than anywhere else consolidates and amplifies its presence. It is no longer an adjunct, but a feature.
Screen Rant doesn’t like 5e slings, and I’m with them on that. My solve would be to switch up the typical 5e difference between standard and long ranges. Slings should have a much longer ranger available — let’s triple that.
Third-Party Products
Tribality reviewsMCDM’s Arcadia, the latest effort in a D&D magazine. tl;dr — it’s pro quality with pros who have put in extensive effort building 3rd party products.
Streaming D&D Shows
Basements & Bugbears is a D&D show focused on suicide prevention and involving Broadway theater talent.
The latest streaming partner for Wizards of the Coast features puppets.
Boston’s NPR station, WBUR, featured how D&D and Critical Role are helping people cope with the pandemic. The mainstreaming of the hobby will never stop surprising me.
In Huntsville, Alabama a D&D–themed café opens and is featured in AL.com and its affiliates.
Every time there is a new discovery of ancient pre-history in the real world it is a reminder that your D&D world needs similar history. In this case a little girl found a 220-million year old footprint. Give your creation a sense of history.
Out in the lands of Mehmd mammals and avians are rare. Many of the ecological and domestic niches are instead filled by lizards, amphibians and dinosaur-like creatures. The Taien Sahul are small saurs based on the Velociraptor by Sam Stockdale at ENWorld.
In Mehmd they tend to roam the wilderness, though certain tribes of Unkempt in the South and the Isles use them as companions. When free they roam in packs of 9 or so (3d6). Their Pounce needs quite a distance in order to be used, but when the commit they tend to rush prey quickly. Taien Sahul can survive in deserts, having advantage on CON checks to deal with dehydration.
Taien Sahul – the ripper lizard Small beast, unaligned
Armor Class 13 (natural) Hit Points 3 (1d6) Speed 45 ft., climb 10 ft.
STR 7 (–2) DEX 15 (+2) CON 10 (+0) INT 3 (–4) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 7 (–2)
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +4 Senses passive Perception 14 Languages — Challenge: ½ CR 50 xp
Keen Sight: The raptor has advantage on sight-based Perception (WIS) checks. Pounce: If the raptor moves at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If a target is prone, the raptor can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action. Pack Tactics: The raptor has advantage on an attack roll against a target if at least one of the raptor’s allies is within 5 feet of the target and isn’t incapacitated.
ACTIONS Multiattack: The raptor makes two melee attacks, usually using both claws unless they’ve pounced. Bite:Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4+2 piercing damage. Claws:Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4+2 slashing damage.
There’s a doc open on my computer almost every day. I’m crafting an original D&D adventure for a charity game come spring time. For that adventure I’m researching various tree-monsters. These are common in the fiction which is inspired by and that inspired Dungeons & Dragons. There’s Treants/Ents from Lord of the Rings and the Flying Forest and Sentient Trees of The Magicians.
Within the game there are Awakened Shrubs and Awakened Trees in the Basic Rules. Kobold Press introduces us to a Dragonleaf Tree, in Tome of Beasts for 5e.
But trees can help us with more than just monsters. They can inspire creative decisions. Look at this stand across the river.
There’s some scarring from disease, or something, several dozen feet up. Take a closer look at that.
Put your “not in the real world” hat on. What if that scaring was from a massive beast? What if the Giant Elk of this realm were so huge that their antlers (looking it up, yes elk have antlers) rubbed off that bark that’s a full 30 feet or so above the river.
What happens when a herd of them walk the river during logging season with their massive legs crushing through or between the barges? Or are these Elk the friends of your woodland dwelling elves, gnomes, goblins, or other races? Are they ridden like elephants?
The answers are up to you.
Trees are also our mighty connection to history.
Did you know the Mountaineer Tree on Five Mile Drive is about as old as William Shakespeare? He was born in 1564, that's over 450 years ago! pic.twitter.com/4vnpx0JH2z
Tolkien recognized that. The age of trees is why the Ents knew so much and also why they’d become peaceful and rooted. When you see so much life pass before you are the little lives so precious?
In the World of the Everflow, the Dragonleaf Trees are ancient, from the era before legends, when Dragons and the other Ken were part of the world of Kin. But they are also dying. A breed that is honored while also being forgotten. They do not seed. They do not spread. There are only twenty or so of these ancient trees left, with almost all of them in the Tree District of Qin.
When a tree is a millennia old what does that signal in your world? Are they like the trees of Solace in Krynn, with homes and workplaces scattered within the branches? Or is it a single tree from the time before time the sits alone in a desert, with roots that stretch hundreds of feet down and branches in the sky that reach to the clouds, a trade post surrounding this tree so big that it creates its own climate?
Every journey you take. Every book you read. Every show or movie you watch. Every song you here. Every social media post you scan.
They’re all inspiration for your world, your character, your dreams. Share them with your table.
When a new Unearthed Arcana drops much of the focus is on the mechanics. They are mechanical tests after all. In some cases the development team removes story mentions to not taint the survey results. This UA drop is focused on playing as Undead or Fey. The purpose is to test Dhampir (emergent vampires, kinda), Hexblood (emergent hags, kinda), Reborn (those that hover between living and dead, mostly).
The mechanics are intriguing. The Dhampir has a bite attack that uses Constitution for its damage stat, which makes sense. The Hexblood has a superior version of Message and Arcane Eye combo. Reborn are sleepless, with a kind of elvish trance available.
More important than the new racial options and mechanics is the sidebar titled Design Note: Changes to Racial Traits. Thanks to Justice Arman for calling this out on Twitter and forcing me to look deeper into the change.
Let’s take it piece by piece.
The first paragraph further emphasizes the small changes in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. It’s a solid reminder of the product and the small steps already taken.
In 2020, the book Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced the option to customize several of your character’s racial traits, specifically the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, and traits that give skill, armor, weapon, or tool proficiencies.
Paragraph two is a reminder that the work is not done. Forward all D&D books are removing those elements from races that are purely cultural, as well as the Ability Score increase. This will obviously, and *necessarily*, impact the current races (a change that will be simpler via DnDBeyond and other digital systems than those with physical books. There will still be physical and magical differences for the characters with certain races.
Following in that book’s footsteps, the race options in this article and in future D&D books lack the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage. Such traits include things like darkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), or innate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Such traits don’t include cultural characteristics, like language or training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits also don’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignment is a choice for each individual, not a characteristic shared by a lineage.
The final paragraph is a strong reminder that a character is not the normal part of any culture, species, lineage, or race. The player-character occupies a unique space within a D&D world. They are heroes or anti-heroes, not paragons of a racial group.
Finally, going forward, the term “race” in D&D refers only to the suite of game features used by player characters. Said features don’t have any bearing on monsters and NPCs who are members of the same species or lineage, since monsters and NPCs in D&D don’t rely on race or class to function. Moreover, DMs are empowered to customize the features of the creatures in their game as they wish.
The multi-year critique directed at D&D in regards to its history and legacy of racism and racial-tinged rules is having an impact — a slow one. This are necessary changes. Some of them are small. Some of them are big.
To borrow from Jemma Simmons, Agents of SHIELD, “The steps you take don’t need to be big. They just need to take you in the right direction.”
These are steps in the right direction. This is progress. The path forward is exciting.
A day late, Lore Collage took a break while I focused some creative efforts on soccer (9 players the Sounders should try to sign), a new session recap in the story of Awf and the Brigade, some fiction to post here, and an expansion of the Gobkon teknologies in the World of the Everflow.
Now, our weekly feature of Dungeons & Dragons news, reviews, and inspiration.
Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews
Dragonlance is back, in particularly the original creators of the tales of high fantasy with mighty dragons are writing and publishing stories set on Krynn. It seems like they are returning to stories set in the Chronicles era through their use of “Classic” and mentioning the original character set. Polygon has more than just the press release.
Candlekeep Mysteries is still getting attention. The next official book from Wizards of the Coast features a diverse set of authors and short adventures. Get to know the people behind the product.
What’s the best official adventure for a first-time DM to run? Outside of the entry level boxes (Starter Set, Essentials, Stranger Things, Rick&Morty) Polygon thinks you should try Curse of Strahd. The gothic horror elements are things that anyone who likes fantasy, horror, or sci-fi understand and the story is one that is familiar.
I’ll be picking up Barber’s Variant Experience and Leveling system. My games involve just as much social and exploration as they do combat. Awards should reflect that.
The D&D video game Dark Alliance features the Drizzt and his classic companions. Likely the most famous character from D&D novels, some people (like me) may not know much about his friends. So read up.
so those round banliang coins with square holes in the middle are the most iconic Chinese coinage, but did you know, before the First Emperor standardized coinages 2.2k years ago, some kingdoms of the Warring States used KNIFE COINS!!!! pic.twitter.com/XcZylU9dn6
When the 🐲 breathes 🔥 it always helps to roll a 20. The fire only shows under flash photography. Buy this shirt and others inspired by the classes in my favorite RPG at @FanWraps.
Naming characters can be hard. For a DM coming up with names at the spur of the moment can lead to a stoppage in play as their mind struggles to find something appropriate for the NPC that was supposed to be a background character, but your players have thrust that individual into a major role.
For most players, naming a character is a rare event. It is usually the first or last thing that they do. Then, it’s over until the next campaign starts. Still, you want to get the proper name for your character, because you will carry it with you for a long time*.
*strong exceptions for rogues, criminals, urchins, and the like.
As someone who both creates way too many PCs, and once named a formerly non-notable NPC “Anderson” after the car dealer across the street from the restaurant hosting our session I’ve developed a few tricks to naming characters.
Easy Button
Those of you using DnDBeyond.com probably already know this, but the Fantasy Name Generator has well over 100 different naming categories. Click the category and it will spit out ten names. Simple is as simple does. Sometimes you’ll hit those buttons a dozen times to get the one you like.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
All the way back in November of 2017 Wizards of the Coast released Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. The book is most well known for being the first official significant expansion of character classes in 5th edition. Those people into optimization ranted against the inclusion of almost 20 pages of names.
Frankly, it was a poor critique.
There are so many more people picking up the game every day, every month, every year. They don’t have the knowledge base that stretches back editions. They may not want unofficial sources for fantasy names.
Xanathar’s includes official lists of fantasy names as well as dozens of real cultures that are often captured within your gaming table. This section is one of the forgotten joys of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Cracking the book open to those sections should help inspire your next character’s name.
Use Athletes for Inspiration
After working in sports for nearly 15 years, there should be little surprise that they become part of my gaming paradigm. There’s a reason that Sports as a Tool exists in my worlds.
Sports, particularly Olympic sports and soccer/football, are an excellent way to discover wonderful inspiration for names. Just look at the recent MLS SuperDraft.
Mitch Guitar was drafted. Who doesn’t want to make a Bard called Mith Lyre now?
Sondre Norheim was drafted. Could that be your next dwarf named after a powerful elven king? Yes.
Real people and cultures can inspire your name. Honor those peoples through the name of your character.
To discover new names head to a reference website covering a sport with international play. Click on a league outside of the mainstream, click a team at random, and combine a two-four players’ names. Drop a couple letters, or add a few. Research those players because their lives can help inspire you the same way that reading Tolkien can inspire you.
As a DM, I try to have a small selection of NPCs already made up ahead of a session. These index card sized characters are there because my players will always surprise me. Most of their names have come from various athletes around the world. Some will be consistent within a certain set of cultures, while others recognize that the fantasy worlds in which we play are generally as interconnected as the modern world in which we live.
Your naming conventions should embrace the fact that the peoples travel extensively.
Product release week shifts the focus of the Dungeons & Dragons community on the new product. That news dwarfs (not dwarves) everything else. So come for even more news about Candlekeep Mysteries, but stay for things like the rumors regarding a new D&D TV show, a new magazine, inspiration for your campaign at home, and more D&D in public libraries.
Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews
With the product announcement for Candlekeep Mysteries, there is virtual library full of announcements from websites that rarely cover the game, as well as those that are dedicated to the gaming space. Let’s hit those up rapid fire and then go deeper into a few elements. Gizmodo talks about how it adds new voices to the official game. TechRadar with a typical coming soon story. PCGamer has another coming soon story. CGMagOnline’s announcement. GamesRadar lists the spaces you can pre-order online (support your local though). PopInsider’s announcement focuses on mystery. SyFy focuses on the library-keep of Candlekeep.
HypeBeast focuses on the wheelchair accessible dungeon. This dungeon, and the dedication to diversity is one of the three reasons I’m getting Candlekeep Mysteries immediately. The pushback about the addition of ramps to one dungeon is absurd. Dreamwisp, the designer, is here to dunk on those angry about the inclusion of ramps.
Dyson Logos has maps in it. They’ve become the signature look of interior spaces for 5th edition.
It’s not all book release news. There is now confirmation that in addition to a D&D movie that is starting production this month, there is a D&D TV show in conception with John Wick’s writer Derek Kolstad pitching it. There’s a bit more information about the D&D TV show and movie over at Report Door.
Arcadia is a new magazine from Matt Colville and MCDM. It is available to all of his Patrons, as well as for individual purchase. ENWorld and ComicBook have introductions to the magazine.
DnDBeyond’s lead writer says goodbye. Haeck is clearly going places, it will be interesting to see where he lands. His credits include 3 books with Wizards of the Coast and numerous other products. Hopefully his goodbye from writing about the game becomes a full-time gig writing the game.
If a magic prosthetic is only replacing the standard function of a body part it should not require attunement. This is an unnecessary penalty. ThinkDM goes into the simple fix.
D&D During the Pandemic
Struggling to maintain social connections during the pandemic, many people are turning to D&D – LA Times. This story was syndicated into smaller towns too.
Nearly everyone on the internet has heard The Wellerman a dozen times, with different variations popping up every day. Maybe you’ve even experimented with other sea shanties, because frankly when you are stuck at home the unity of the working-class’s songs helps you feel like you are part of something greater than yourself.
That’s a large part of the reason that ShantyTok exploded off of Tik Tok to take over all social media. Now, it’s even inspired people to start talking about the best film about the Age of Sail — Master & Commander.
Frankly, you need to add shanties to your D&D game too. There lots of ways to do this, from just a single character to an entire campaign. Do it. Have fun. Embrace the zeitgeist, and make your gaming community a group of unified purpose — surviving a sea and sometimes even a captain that hates you.
Every Class Can Be A Pirate/Privateer/Sailor
First and foremost, realize that any and every class can be a sailor of sorts. The obvious way is through the use of the Sailor/Pirate/Privateer Background. You already know this. You also know about the Swashbuckler, because you are a wise soul.
But there is more than that. Every single Bard in the core D&D game can fill a role on a pirate ship, so can every Rogue. Most Clerics make sense, etcetera, etc. Be creative in the roles and purpose on a ship. Your concept belongs there, even a fully armored Paladin, with those drawbacks, belongs aboard a galleon in the Age of Sail.
Just a quick glance at Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything shows some great concepts for your shanty-singing adventurer;
Artificer: Artillerist – Who needs gunpowder when you have magic cannons?
Cleric: Order Domain – Someone has to keep the law of the ship and boost the crew.
Druid: Circle of Stars – The blessings of the sky are vital during a trip across thousands of miles of ocean.
Rogue: Phantom – The latter Pirates of the Caribbean movies lean into tales where dead men talk.
Warlock: The Fathomless – duh
Making the sea even a small element of a campaign gives space for your shanty-singing glory.
Seas of Voldari
What if every character was part of the story of the sea? That’s what Tribality’s Seas of Voldari explores. Their words describe the setting and ruleset well.
The Seas of Vodari campaign setting was created to support seafaring adventures that focus on the crew of a ship hunting sea monsters, exploring mysterious uncharted islands, visiting bustling port cities, following maps to find buried treasure, and battling cutthroat pirates. The setting is also well suited to running campaigns in its large port cities, with swashbuckling heroes getting mixed up with fierce rivals, notorious crime syndicates, feuding nobles, and scheming politicians.
The added classes, races, and backgrounds make life at sea the key element of most adventures. Add them to your existing campaign and your players have more options to enjoy their sugar & rum & tea.
Be Creative: Add Shanties As A Landlubber
While The Wellerman is all about the Age of Sail, shanties were not confined to life at sea. There are shanties about building railroads, working mines, and every other activity that requires a group to work in unison in miserable conditions — the marching and running songs of soldiers are related to shanties.
Hi ho, hi ho It’s off to work we go
Yes, your dwarves should sing shanties. Your drudge cutting down trees for the lumberyard should sing shanties. Your Bard at the bar should sing shanties, and so should your Battle Master.
All times of needed unity are appropriate for the musical style.
This can add more ideas during campaign prep or character building.
Watch Black Sails. It’s Hulu, Starz, and Prime (season 1) for no additional charge. The season one trailer opens you to the TV prequel for Treasure Island, but it’s season 4 that gets my blood pumping.
There’s also the now-classic cartoon Pirates of Dark Water, which is especially handy if you want a Seas of Voldari campaign. It’s hard to track it down, but if you can find it the mix of piracy and fantasy is perfect for a Dungeons & Dragons.
The films, books, comics, and such inspired by life at sea is numerous. Your approaches to integrating that into your campaign should be as big as the ocean.
For forty days or even more, the line went slack then tight once more, All boats were lost, there were only four and still that whale did go.
The quest of the Wellerman is the quest of Ahab, and a familiar quest for any adventurer, because it’s never done, merely paused for a bit of song and rum.
Welcome to the RPG Blog Carnival for the Month of February, 2021, on the theme of Gifts of the Gods, divine artifacts,
Full Moon Storytelling 