Full Moon Storytelling – Page 11 – Dungeons and Dragons thoughts, micro-fiction, and episodic D&D adventures within the World of the Everflow.

2024 D&D Player’s Handbook Review
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
Fediverse reactions
September 16, 2024
Diary: Success in Mihrstone

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

September 15, 2024
Diary: Eustace

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.

china tour guilin reed flute cave fungal looking purple and blue by Ben Burkland Carolyn Cook (CC BY)

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.

August 25, 2024
Enable your table to embrace wider stories using 2024 D&D Backgrounds

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.
Fediverse reactions
August 10, 2024
Diary: Underbrush

After Glovin’s eye opened we confirmed that he dead. Which, thank the moons, he is. But also, that’s kind of bad too. We’re at a bit of an impasse. There aren’t more clues that we can suss out. Artok and Amos think they have a lead on somthin. The A&A crew head off their way.

I needs support.

I head back to Mirrstone’s tavern, because I think maybe someone there can help me figure out Glovin’s neighbors — they don’t wanna talk at me. There was this small folk playing a lute. Many of those instrumentalists pickup on the local conversations. I’ll ask them.

Eustace knows the neighbor, a bit. That’s good. He say he can join me heading there.

One the goblin big folk is hiding in a corner, all quiet like. But, this Rolf, he has a cart. That’s great. I don’t like walking. Talkin’ to these two I present all the options afore us. Eustace puts fore his knowledge. I put fore three things, which includes going back to look at one-eye dead Glovin.

Rolf don’t like choices, so we go where the bard wants.

When we get to Sam and Mell’s they tell us about strange noises coming from the forest, like wolves, but unwell wolves. It all started ’bout ten days ago, more then a Feylf passing. Other places been missing livestock by 1s and 2s. Sam and Mell say Glovin’s done gone gone all at once, with lots of vermin coming from the forest.

We go in that forest.

There’s lots of thick underbrush. We have a small trail, but it’s not great. Probably good that we’re mostly smalls (well, Rolf isn’t short, but skinny). Thing is this thicket of forest feels dank. It’s not dark. There’s something foreboding.

Then the spiny things attack.

Photo by Hunter Harmon on Pexels.com

They surprise us at first. Which gives them the opportunity to latch on, kind of hugging us with spines. They try to drain us of blood even. We can walk faster than they amble, so we do this dodgy-fight dance.

This gets us well off the trail, kinda confused. We’re a bit lost. Eustace didn’t stick with Rolf and I.

Rolf and I take a nap.

We find our way towards a waterfall ’bout 20 feet high. But the water is putrid, oily. There’s a trail for things heading to the pool. But that nothing would drink from that water — it’s horrid.

Rolf suggests we hide. This is smart, because four woodsy human-ish things amble along. They drink up the stank-water. We deal with these things. We’re a bit hurting and need more than a nap. Rolf, the decider that he is suggests getting to the top of the cliff because the small hidden cave (keep up, there’s a cave) doesn’t make the low area feel safe.

Getting to the top takes a while. We’re not strong. That’s unusual for us two gobbos. Midqh helps out with the pitons and the rope and such. As we prepare camp I reconfigure Midqh and the rope, pulling it apart and turning it into a true rope of climbing. That’ll help us get down without falling.

So much easier!

We get down to the cave and enter. It smells a lot like that stank-water. The cave is also dark, limiting our ability to see things. As we start to explore something that looks like a fungal human-ish says “You will help us.”

Which, well, I don’t know how…

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
Eustace — gnome bard
Rolf — bugbear monk

August 9, 2024

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