Full Moon Storytelling

Lore Collage: Dark Alliance gameplay trailer, DDD253, conventions are coming back, more to read and watch
Over the weekend I ran my first livestreamed D&D show. It was part of YachtCon, a charity convention for Seattle Sounders fans that raises money for the Autism Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. DDD:253 – Invasion of the Trees may just be the oddest thing I’ve done related to my blogging, podcasting, and broadcasting related to Seattle soccer. We’ve made scarves, shirts, hoodies, beers, conventions, tours, parties, and much more, but playing D&D with sports fans and even a head coach was not something I expected to do back in 2008 when I launched Sounder at Heart. Maybe there will be more. Here’s the 3-hour adventure.

Yes, I dressed the part.

Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews

Dark Alliance is coming June 22

That button mashing glory is full on high action, not subtle roleplay. It’s out June 22, and yes, it’s very metal.

The only thing parents thought would send their kids straight to Hell faster than listening to my music was playing Dungeons & Dragons. Join the @DarkAlliance, coming soon to PC and consoles! https://t.co/eFeyTLarCd #ad pic.twitter.com/XVLO9KUIz2
— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 16, 2021

IGN has an exclusive look at the making of Dark Alliance, to include how Tuque Games talked their way into making the game. Polygon compares it to Gears of War.

By the way, the D&D MMORPG Neverwinter is still getting updates.

Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

In Justice Smith’s press junkets about his upcoming movie he also mentions the D&D movie role, but without much detail.

After that, audiences will see him reprise his role as Franklin in Jurassic World: Dominion in 2022. That film will be followed by the anticipated adaptation of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which has lined up an all-star cast, including Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodriguez and Bridgerton breakout Rege-Jean Page. “The character I play, again, is very different from someone I’ve played before,” he teases.
ET Online

Candlekeep Mysteries Reviews

The compilation of 17 short adventures released last week. Reviews are still rolling in. The adventure book echoes the nature of Candelkeep itself.

GameRant talks about the lore of the library-fortress that precedes the latest book.

Other Official D&D News

D&D is coming to Magic: The Gathering later this spring, but also, that Strixhaven set looks ripe for D&D themes too.

Fey Races Unearthed Arcana

The Kind GM reviews the last UA.

Third-Party Products

Someday you’ll be playing D&D in person again. Warlock Tiles help your miniatures exist in three dimensions.

Heroes’ Fest is among the dozen of fantasy and sci-fi cookbooks mentioned by the Ames Public Library.

Goodman Games will have a new product announcement Thursday, probably.

Conventions Are Returning to In Person Events

GenCon is leaving its traditional date for mid-September. With vaccinations continuing to increase, the hope is that a limited in-person event will be able to be safe.

Enough with the teasing, we are very excited to announce that PAX Australia will be back in 2021 as a live event, just as you remember it!

8 Oct – 10 Oct 2021
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

Hang with us + 1000's more on the #PAXAus discord now: https://t.co/S4BQIcFa47 pic.twitter.com/Ev1DnIzFaX
— PAX Australia (@PAXAus) March 9, 2021

Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

Just because your NPC is a smith, doesn’t mean that their last name needs to be Smith.

I will forever be weirdly obsessed with all the names across the world that are actually translations of Smith pic.twitter.com/94uOeTcTpT
— katie spalding (@supermathskid) March 19, 2021

The best adventures should allow foreshadowing and/or research so that the players can help their characters succeed.

Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

The Orca’s Center in Washington is hosting a two-night D&D fundraiser. You still have time to watch night two.

At the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota the tabletop community keeps playing, even while distancing.

Vancouver, BC’s public library is hosting D&D for pre-teens.

Out in Pittsburgh the Northlands Public Library remote D&D is focused on teens.

Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now

This mom is making TEN GRAND A MONTH teaching people how to play D&D. | How a mom of 4 makes $10,000 a month teaching Dungeons & Dragons on Outschool – Acorns

Are computers and robots going to replace D&D streamers soon? | Meet the computer scientist teaching an AI to play Dungeons and Dragons – BBC Science Focus

Local columnist just recaps a D&D session to fill space. | Aprill Brandon: Dungeons and dragons for dummies and delinquents – Victoria Advocate (Texas)

Other Geek Stuff

https://twitter.com/Forspoken/status/1372603416615256068

The number one RPG in Japan isn’t D&D. It’s Call of Cthulu.

Discord and Roll20 aren’t just for RPGs. They can also help you run your boardgame night. Remember boardgame night? That thing you used to do before the pandemic? They’re also good for D&D.

Anthropology: The Long Lives of Fairy Tales – yes, that’s a serious study on fairy tales.

A homemade Arwen dress, but not for cosplay. This is a prom dress.

This deck of Magic cards can be a computer.

15 video game streamers that deserve your ear and eye holes.

More D&D rock

As Always, Maps

This is an intriguing cave from someone more well known for their constructed dungeons.

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Over on Dyson Logos’ blog there’s more story and downloads available.
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March 22, 2021
Your D&D characters should have hobbies
The mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons don’t force you to choose a pastime or hobby. Outside of Bards and the various Backgrounds that include entertainment and arts there is no obligation or hint that a character should do things besides fight, interact socially to solve or cause problems, or explore a wildernesses and dungeons.

With a limited number of skills and tools you might weaken your character if you take something without a direct impact on their ability to perform as an asset in the adventuring party – so what?

Be a tiny bit weaker and add something that your character enjoys doing that has nothing to do with defeating dragons or wandering dungeons. In the real world in the eras upon which D&D reflects, this was common. Commoners worked less than we do in the modern era.
- Pre-industrial workers had a shorter workweek than today’s
- Eight centuries of annual hours
There’s a reason that there are giant stadiums more than a 1,000 years old scattered around the world.

Knidos (or Cnidus), was an ancient Greek city of Caria, Asia Minor, situated in today's Muğla Province, Turkey.
Read more about it here 👇https://t.co/mogfqnDAqr pic.twitter.com/39B9UKrkhS
— Angela O'Brien (@GrecianGirly) March 11, 2021

Various MesoAmerican Ballgames stretching through modern Central America, the Caribbean, and even into Arizona. Sports were commonplace in the eras that inspire many Dungeons & Dragons worlds. That’s why you should add them to your world.

But it’s more than just sports.

Look at games like draughts, chess, mancala, 9-man morris, hnefatafl, and others lost to history. People had time. They did things with that time that they enjoyed.

They sang songs. Told tales. Wrote dumb epic poems that we still read.

So what does your character do when they aren’t living their life and when they aren’t dungeoning or dragoning?

Burn a tool or skill on this – or don’t! – maybe they enjoy doing something that they are bad at.

Maybe your next PC or NPC is the world’s best tafl player, or the local community’s worst singer. Maybe they make little sweaters for the elves that aren’t actually elves, and then they meet real elves. Maybe they are the old m an that talks story to the children of his town.

These elements may show in just a sentence or two in a given gaming session. That’s okay. It’s part of who they are and what they do, even if a d20 isn’t involved.
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March 21, 2021
Remarkable Drudge – work hard, play hard with this new Fantastic & Empowered Background v 2
Backgrounds offer so much space to establish who you character was before they entered the stress and conflict of adventuring life. The combination of skill selection, tools, languages, equipment, and personality are a story unto themselves. Jim the Fighter and Nancy the Fighter are similar because of what they do now, but they are also different because of what they did then. Jim was a Noble, raised among the upper class — prim and proper. Nancy was an Urchin, raised on the streets she could sneak among crowds to avoid fights, usually.

And unlike classes, there’s still a lot of uncovered ground. Many tales of what your hero was aren’t encapsulated in the current official backgrounds. The common laborer – the fence builder, the ditch digger, the lumber mover, the stevedore, the longshoreman – is currently ignored.

Photo by Filip Marcus Adam on Pexels.com

In trying to fill that niche, while also playing with the idea that utility cantrips are valid parts of a Background, the Remarkable Drudge comes to life. This implementation differs from the earlier version of Seven Backgrounds for Games in the World of the Everflow in one primary way. In the past, the power level of a 1st level character was such that cantrips were folded into the feature. To keep the Drudge and the other Fantastical Backgrounds appropriate to generic D&D worlds the decision is made to replace a single skill and a single tool/language with one cantrip. An evaluation of various Feats available in the Player’s Handbook, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything shows the value of a cantrip is slightly more than a skill, but not much more than a skill.

Let’s meet the Remarkable Drudge.

Remarkable Drudge

You are a laborer, often ignored and yet the reason why the community runs as smoothly as it does. You may work the docks, the stockyards, the lumberyards, or lay the planks to improve the dirt roads into wooden streets. Your hard work is the foundation of civilization. But, you’ve also learned, or been born with, a simple spell to make your work a bit easier. The small spell provides utility for you and your coworkers. It may be a hand that can bring you the necessary tool from a distance, the ability to change the shape of earth or water, a way to shout instructions to someone across the field, or a way to light a fire. No matter what your little spells gain you a bit more respect and value than others in your line of work.

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics
Tool Proficiencies: Pick One: Carpenter’s Tools, Farmer’s Tools, Mason’s Tools, Vehicles (Land or Water)
Languages: None
Cantrips: Pick One: Shape Water, Mold Earth, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Druidcraft, Thaumaturgy
Equipment: Traveler’s clothes, wineskin or jar of mead, mallet, shovel, block & tackle, 2 gp, 5 sp

Feature: This Will Work

Over the years you’ve learned that anything can be a hammer, or a shovel, or well, what you need. When you don’t have the tool or mundane item designed for the job you are usually able to find something else that will work for it – maybe it’s a rock, a brick, a busted up board, or something from someone else’s pack. An imperfect tool is better than no tool at all.

Suggested Characteristics

Drudges are hard workers and celebrate their completed projects with gusto. Frequently working in teams they are warm to those who work hard and cold to those who do not.

For now, use the Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws of the Folk Hero.
Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons
- Barker or Crier
- Remarkable Drudge
- Farmer & Beekeeper
- Vintner
- Midwife
- Caravanserai & Innkeeper
- Sparkler
- Tinker
- Lamplighter or Street Sweeper
- Herbalist
- Far Talker
- Hunter
- Messenger
- Clerk & Tax Collector
- Barber, Stylist or Bloodletter
- Cabbie & Ferien
- Clothier or Weaver
Farmer’s Tools

Cost: 5 gp | Weight: 7 lbs

Proficiency with farmer’s tools means that you are familiar with the operations of a farm, orchard, vineyard, or other cropland. You are knowledgeable in the typical crops within an area, to include when to plant and harvest them. You also know their market value in most lands.

Components: Farmer’s Tools include a hand trowel, a bag of seeds, a hand rake, a mallet, shears, a bucket, and 10 feet of rope. When near a homestead they would be able to easily borrow a hoe or other full size implements.

Animal Handling: Familiar working in tandem with animals you are able to gain the cooperation from domesticated animals and can give common commands in languages you know.

Nature: You are able to identify the plants and fungus that are consumed as food, often knowing what cultures would typically raise those crops.

Survival: In the wilds you are generally able to locate some produce that provide a minimum level of nourishment.

Forecast: Your understanding of weather patterns is such that you are able to predict the weather for the next few hours. You can sense if there will be a natural change in temperature, wind, precipitation, etc when you have a view of the sky.

Farmer’s Tools

Activity DC
Identify culture/race raising common crops 10
Give domesticated animal a simple command 15
Weather forecast for the next few hours 15
Identify culture/race raising rare crops 20

Farmer’s Tools are designed to use the tools guidance in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
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March 20, 2021
Meet the cast of DDD:253 – Invasion of the Trees
We’re speeding towards my first ever livestream of Dungeons & Dragons. There’s a thrill and excitement to this. Unlike most who jump into livestreaming, my playing group is not a set of people who I’ve done this with before. Only one of the players is part of my regular gaming group (I’ve never DMd for them). The two celebrities are the people I know the best. Many wouldn’t plan to jump into streaming this way, but for me the game came together as a desire to help YachtCon: Back to School generate community while donating to the Autism Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital, to act as an evangelist for D&D, and to add some South Sound/Tacoma Defiance flavor to my life after missing it for so long.

The paid slots are full, but you can still “audit” the stream — yes, that means you can watch us play a D&D scenario with Defiance Head Coach Wade Webber and professional wrestler Ethan HD. There are other great classes, too. But DDD: 253 is my baby and my challenge, my dragon to tame.

One of the thrills about creating this game is meeting new players. Each of the participants met with me for a one-on-one session zero. In every single one of these the players didn’t just build a combat oriented “build” but worked on backstory and connections towards the adventure on hand.

It was thrilling to see this!

There are several reasons why backstory developed. Fifth edition leans into this with Backgrounds. Every participant knows that their DM is into story creep rather than pure roll play. Plus, it isn’t surprising that those willing to generously donate their time and money to the cause would be those whose passions for the game include social, exploration, and combat encounters.

It will be up to me to take these characters and get at least a small mention of their pasts into the three-hour tour that is DD:253 – Invasion of the Trees (Sunday March 21 at 7p). All of our characters, from Lorenzo to Du-Rag to the ones you are about to meet, are here to help the small town of Prosperityburg solve a simple problem – why did Castle Highberg stop responding to messages?

A map of the Dusk Shores and the Spring Mountains

On this campaign of discovery Du-Rag and Lorenzo will be joined by a ragtag group of adventurers. The rest of the group is made up of;

Lennel is a tortle warlock, connected to the sea. He values the connection between the port town and the Dusk Sea, working to build camaraderie between the peoples.

Ebrius is our second warlock. A tiefling, he works to help the helpless.

Yelfir is a goliath fighter. Born in mountains, she tests her strength and serves the greater good of the community.

Joining Yelfir on the frontline is another axe-wielder. A half-orc barbarian, Rezani shuns armor as he stares down the greatest dangers.

When not stabbing you with sharp wit Qulile will stab with a rapier and a dagger. The swashbuckling fishfolk knows the run of the streets and remains calm under pressure, right up until the point he runs.

Together this group of misfits joins Du-Rag (half-orc cleric) and Lorenzo (human bard) serving the city that sits along Badd Bay in the shadow of the Spring Mountains north of the Weald of Aspirations. The defiant land that they call home is threatened. Rising together they will attempt to stop the Invasion of the Trees.

Join us Sunday night.
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March 17, 2021
Lore Collage: Candlekeep Mysteries releases March 16 and more news you can use
Product release week is on us again — these will speed up, per the recent quarterly earnings review. One of the benefits to Wizards/Hasbro having so many new freelancers on the Candlekeep Mysteries project is that they have an extra couple dozen voices who can hit the promotions circuit, and many did.

As a reminder, I’m running DDD: 253, a charity game, Sunday March 21 at 7p. It is part of YachtCon: Back to School, the Puget Sound’s largest annual soccer convention. Sign up to watch for free, or sign up for our other “classes” and commune with Seattle’s soccer scene about pizza, beer, art, wine, cocktails, trivia, and more.

Inspiration is everywhere.

Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews

Candlekeep Mysteries Previews

With Candlekeep Mysteries releasing this week the internet is full of preview material. Some focuses on the individual writers, as diverse a group as Wizards has ever put forward on an official product, and others give broad overviews of the product.
- Daniel Kwan’s adventure is inspired by his heritage.
- Mark ‘Sherlock’ Hulmes adventure starts as a spa day.
- Amy Vorpahl shares the lessons she learned from writing an adventure for Candlekeep Mysteries.
- ENWorld has Brimmels’ overview and a Six Best Adventures story.
- Wieland also does a broad overview for Forbes.
- Charlie Hall’s review at Polygon splashes big photos and deep writing.
- Drop the Die’s reviews their friends and acquaintances, a twist that this product forces because the sheer number of new voices brought to an official product.
- Fandamentals went so in depth they have a part one and a part two. Every adventure has spoilery notes.
D&D Twitter featured every writer from from the adventure in a massive multi-week thread. Excellent use of social media to amplify their contract writers.

Introducing #Candlekeep Mysteries, the latest adventure anthology in the Forgotten Realms setting! Explore this collection of new mysteries by up-and-coming D&D designers from across our community. These short adventures arrive March 16!

Pre-order now: https://t.co/BLd9a3VhiI pic.twitter.com/zig5ahqgPv
— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) January 12, 2021

Chris Perkins wasn’t just the lead on the product, he was also one of the adventure writers. D&D puts his voice behind this 9 minute overview of the book of books.

The latest episode of DragonTalk includes a little nugget that Wizards is donating to a library of each library’s choice.

Time for a new Dragon Talk, the official D&D podcast!

> @Gregtito & @shellymoo cover D&D news

> New Random Character Generator with @dayntee

> Plus, #Candlekeep contributors, @kellylynnedang & @sherlock_hulmes!

Listen: https://t.co/Plw7puUj05
Watch: https://t.co/b7UFnNDKOH pic.twitter.com/34DwmskN5V
— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) March 11, 2021

Fey Races Unearthed Arcana

Last week a new Unearthed Arcana started testing four fey races. Inevitably people are trying to guess what book this will be for.

Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

Sophia Lillis was playing D&D during the pandemic. Now she’s starring in the movie.

Other Official D&D News

Comic Relief and D&D combine for Red Nose Day. Help raise money and maybe win the opportunity to play D&D in a castle.

After Dark Alliance, Screen Rant wants more D&D video games.

Third-Party Products

Free adventure on DMs Guild? Yep. Their weekly newsletter features a free adventure as well as strong recommendations of quality products.

What D&D character action figure do you want? Wizards is launching a D&D action figure line and I’m looking forward to whichever halfling I can get.

Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

SlyFlourish doesn’t want you to forget about the DMG — frankly, I needed the reminder. Currently the book I re-read most frequently is Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, but that’s mostly because I’m doing a lot of writing about Tools. After that, I’m spending time with Rime of the Frostmaiden’s introduction to help me with writing for DDD: 253 – Invasion of the Trees.

Merric supplies guidance on how empty rooms in your dungeon impact pacing.

One of the tricks the DM can use as the players get more familiar with the dungeon’s baseline is to speed past the areas that conform to that baseline and instead describe the exciting places.

This twist to Critical Fails is a great addition and will be part of my table rules from here forward.

Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

The City of Menlo Park, California is hosting a Ravnica campaign.

Portage County, Wisconsin is hosting virtual D&D using DnDBeyond.com. They launched the digital version after donations from Wizards of the Coast and Fandom.

BYU-Idaho is hosting D&D sessions. They are transitioning back to in-person gaming.

Missoula, Montana’s arts scene is hosting D&D for kids.

Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now

Another week, another musician releases a D&D inspired song. | Premiere: Jenny Owen Youngs Shares “Dungeons and Dragons” – Under the Radar

If you haven’t started watching Critical Role, here’s an introduction to the massive phenomena. | An Introduction to Critical Role: Prepare Your Emotions – TOR

D&D went virtual and became more powerful than ever. | Dungeons & Dragons had its biggest year ever as Covid forced the game off tables and onto the web – CNBC

Other Geek Stuff

Video games are able to tell stories in ways that books, movies, and role-playing games cannot.

Taylor Walker built this incredible #LEGO Dungeons & Dragons scene, the Beholder's Lair #weloveMOCs pic.twitter.com/KG9UEbNy7h
— Blocks magazine (@blocksmagazine) March 10, 2021

When that stimmy hits I’m backing Coyote and Crow. I love alt-histories. One designed from the ground up to honor the First Peoples of North America will be exciting.

Dice that light up for you? Sure, why not.

As Always, Maps

Your interior maps can reflect the night.

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A post shared by AAW Games (@aawgames)

This tower with the stairs inside the walls is going to be my next character’s home.

Castle Keeper's Guide Map #4 (of 12): The Broch. A cut-a-way view of this interesting tower design.#cartography #maps #map #mapping #dnd #art #mapmaking #mapart #mapmaker #fantasymaps #design pic.twitter.com/ElUnKlJFul
— Alyssa Faden (@AlyssaFadenMaps) March 8, 2021
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March 15, 2021
Inspiration Is Everywhere: Beer Factories and other modern approaches to food
Many D&D worlds are anachronistic in their approach to the world space. The inn has rooms with bunks for a single person. Clothing and bathing habits also mimic our current world. Reading is common.

Here’s the thing — the idea that these things are too modern for a “real” approach to world building is wrong. The ancient world through the Renaissance contained modern conveniences, and they didn’t have magic.

Beer Factories

No, your average inn or tavern will not have canned tall boys to crush when the adventurers visit. They most certainly would have lower carbonation beers that are mass produced, not just niche ales, lagers, meads, and such. Beer factories were present in ancient Egypt.

Archaeologists found eight huge units — each is 20 meters (about 65 feet) long and 2.5 meters (about 8 feet) wide. Each unit includes some 40 pottery basins in two rows, which had been used to heat up a mixture of grains and water to produce beer, Waziri said.

That’s a lot of beer. In Curse of Strahd there’s the embrace of a rather large winery.

Embrace this. Have a popular beer, wine, liquor, etc within a region. Develop trade routes with it. Maybe your character tried it when their richer friend gifted them a bottle, jar, or cask. Maybe they carry a small vial of their favorite with them to remember home. Were they part of the merchant class that helped ship the goods from town to town?

There are plenty of ways to add mass produced beverages to your game. Embrace the additional ways that flavor can connect to your world.

Recipe Books

Related to beer is that recipe books go back to the dawn of writing. Your brewer or vintner could be producing a recipe from many towns over, not due to word of mouth, but because the recipe is known to the world.

https://twitter.com/marinamaral2/status/1370360221080633346

The foods will be different than the modern era. Eel was a quite popular protein in England, for example.

Grab Heroes Feast for some modern foods inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, or just follow Dollop of History for pre-WWII foods going back to the early Middle Ages.

And, of course, the Redwall Feasts bot has foods that work for any indulgent culture.

https://twitter.com/RedwallFeasts/status/1371082030478426112

Your world can and should include the senses of taste and smell. Street foods and walkups should exist. Develop a vibrant food culture not because it adds verisimilitude, but because it expands the stories you can tell with D&D.
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March 14, 2021
Critical Fumble Fix
I love this little twist for crit fails. As your character gets better, they should get better at what they do.

ThinkDM

We talked about critical fumbles last week while covering the Gunslinger’s Misfire mechanic. While I stand by the conclusion that you shouldn’t build a (sub)class around a critical fumble mechanic, there may be a solution to the problem fumbles experience interacting with extra attacks.

The Problem

Critical fumbles impose an additional penalty on players who roll a 1 on a d20.

For the sake of discussion, we’ll assume you’ve already set your heart on running critical fumbles, notwithstanding the narrative perils.

The mechanical problem you still need to resolve is that extra attacks make more proficient martial characters more likely to fail. This is not an impediment that “linear” fighters need to experience against “quadratic” wizards. Especially considering the spellcaster’s reliance on fumble-immune saving throw spells at higher levels.

The Solution

For tables that insist on using critical fumbles, a tidy solution comes courtesy of reader Alexander Davis:

The…

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March 13, 2021
Fey-folk enter testing with March Unearthed Arcana; continues floating ASIs
Four Fey-folk are explored in the March 11 Unearthed Arcana drop. This includes the classic Fairy, two animal-folk (rabbit and owl), and a Fey Hobgoblin. While all of these races are connected to the Feywild, they are not called out specifically as being from the Feywild, just connected to it. Only the Fairy is Fey, by creature category. In some ways this makes the other three racial options (the document does not call them out as lineages) like “normal” Elves rather than Eladarin. If this UA gets strong feedback there will be two Hobgoblins in existence, one a martial warrior and the other that creates a unique bond through gift giving.

Just as in the last Unearthed Arcana there is a sidebar explaining the path forward in regards to Ability Score Increases at character creation. Mostly it is a reminder about the rules in Tasha’s, but it continues the commitment to reduce racism and bioessentialism within Dungeons & Dragons.

The “Creating Your Character” section provides special character-creation rules for the race options in this article. The races that use these rules can coexist seamlessly with races that use other rules. For example, the race options in the Player’s Handbook have built-in ability score increases, while the races in this article don’t. Race options from both sources can adventure together.
If you’d like a race that doesn’t appear in this article, such as an elf or a dwarf, to have similar ability score flexibility, the book Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything provides a rule, called Customizing Your Origin, that gives you that flexibility. That book also gives you the option of building your own race, rather than choosing an existing one. That option is called the Custom Lineage. No matter which option you choose for your character—a race in this article, a Player’s Handbook race, a race modified by the Customizing Your Origin rule, or a Custom Lineage—you can adventure with characters who are built with a different option.
This sidebar builds on the design note in our previous Unearthed Arcana, “Gothic Lineages.”
UNEARTHED ARCANA 2021 | Folk of the Feywild

Fairy

Any fey centered story has to have fairies as playable characters. Fifth edition is finally adding them. They fly, of course. The Fairy joins Aarakocra and Feral Tieflings as able to fly at first level. Owlfolk join that group shortly. These are the only races limited away from some versions of Adventurers League.

All of the abilities just make sense for what we expect from fairies, but the one that stands out to me as unique and situationally potent is Fey Passage. The ability of a small fey to enter nearly sealed spaces fits so much of the legend and lore surrounding these peoples.

Hobgoblin of the Feywild

Whereas the Volo’s version of Hobgoblins focused on every single one of them being at least a light fighter, those Hobgoblins with connections to the Feywild are helpers. Rather than armor or weapon proficiencies, your Hobgoblin gains a leveling version of the Help action. This is much more interesting flavor.

Hopefully when the Fey Hobgoblin gets dialed into official material the two version appear more like subraces, rather than having similar, but still different abilities. There is language drift between the new Fortune from the Many and the old Saving Face. Also, the older version of the Hobgoblin is just weaker. Three proficiencies is just weaker than Fey Gift and Fey Ancestry.

Owlfolk

Another flying creature, of course. The choice to be either medium or small makes sense, as there is variation in size for real owls, as well as the stories upon which the Owlfolk are based. There are two sight based abilities, but neither directly relate to Perception. This UA does insert a third scale of Darkvision. It should likely be changed to either 60′ or 120′ to be inline with other races. 5e is about those kinds of simplicity.

My favorite ability for Owlfolk is Magic Sight. Adding a ritual spell makes so much sense for a race that is so storied in wisdom and intelligence. It combines well with spellcasters and martial types. Hopefully there are more races that access rituals rather than the now standard 1 per long rest usage of a 1st level spell.

Rabbitfolk

Hip, hop and hippity hop. Yes, there will be a Rabbitfolk Bard in my future. There’s some interesting mirroring of Halfling abilities here, which makes sense. The two generally smaller folk both love freedom and large families. Rather than Lucky, the Rabbitfolk get a minor bonus on failed Dexterity saving throws. These similar abilities maintain interest while connecting to their stories.

Here, the Rabbit Hop is the ability that leaps out. Being able to jump around is key for a rabbit. Getting to use it with no cost is wonderful. The d12 of additional feet is clunky (just as the similar rules regarding Athletics are clunky). For gridded play something like +5′ per proficiency bonus would be simpler. For those playing with Theater of the Mind the difference between 3 feet and 4 feet is meaningless in combat.

Overall these should be popular. There are entire game systems dedicated to animal folk. Humblewood was extraordinarily popular, because people just enjoy being little floofs of magic and power. Official support for similar folk makes sense.

Hopefully the feedback helps dial in some changes to the various hobgoblins and other non-core races that have clear subraces but operate as completely separate instances rather than those that share story and abilities.
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March 11, 2021
Lore Collage: D&D books, D&D movies, D&D video games, D&D in libraries – we’re in the D&D era
There’s a packed week’s worth of news around Dungeons & Dragons this week — two books are in the preview stages, the movie keeps getting attention, a new AAA video game is now public and more. This amount of news should no longer be a surprise, as Wizards of the Coast and D&D are the fuel to Hasbro’s machine now. We’ll dive into that as well.

Before all of that a reminder that though DDD:253‘s table is sold out YachtCon has plenty of other opportunities to support the Autism Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. You can also audit the game with Tacoma Defiance Head Coach Wade Webber, Defy Wrestler Ethan HD, and myself. Even if you don’t like Puget Sound soccer, there are classes on pizza making and cocktail shaking for you to enjoy.

Check out the Remarkable Drudge, a laborer background for your 5th edition D&D game.

Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews

Candlekeep Mysteries Previews

Physical copies of Candlekeep Mysteries are out in influencer and media hands.

Now that I have your attention. #dnd pic.twitter.com/eaxFsCHfwV
— NewbieDM (@newbiedm) March 6, 2021

The iconic library-castle is a huge part of the story. Candlekeep gets a map and chapter to expand your own setting or your understanding of the Forgotten Realms.

Candlekeep Mysteries authors are doing the rounds as well. Kelly Lynne D’Angelo is featured in Polygon.

New AAA Open World Video Game – untitled

Hidden Path, the Bellevue gaming studio, is working on a D&D game. The open world concept is something that is ripe for D&D, as the success of Assassin’s Creed, Grand Theft Auto, and Breath of the Wild have demonstrated. No sandbox, no railroad – just a world to explore. Hidden Path worked on Counter-Strike with Valve, as well as having a portfolio of their own games. The Narrative Director is Strix, who is also one of the writers of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.

Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dark Alliance launch this year.

Hasbro’s Stock News Features D&D and Magic: The Gathering

The quarterly earnings report for Hasbro was full of D&D and other Wizards of the Coast news, including making Wizards a larger aspect of the company.
- Dungeons & Dragons Gets a Bigger Role at Hasbro.
- Wizards will have offices in Bellevue in addition to Renton, Austin, Montreal.
- Magic: The Gathering Announces Crossovers With Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40,000.
- There’s a Magic movie and D&D TV coming too.
- Expect a lot of Hasbro movies, as they partner with numerous studios on various projects.
- WOTC makes more money than Hasbro’s toy business.
Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

As a reminder, Hugh Grant is the villain in the untitled D&D movie project from Paramount and eOne. Sophia Lillis was the other big addition last week. Deadline broke the news on both actors.

Third-Party Products

Adam Bradford, formerly of DnDBeyond is off to Demiplane. This move indicates that the expanding digital options around D&D and tabletop roleplaying games will continue to grow and compete with each other.

Several miniature manufactures are making wheelchair users for D&D play. Yorktown this week connects with Strata Miniatures and Sara Thompson about the Combat Wheelchair.

Keith Baker has a post about Arcane Industry in Eberron, where magic is involved in everything.

LevelUp released a preview of their Exploration pillar. The baseline rules of the game address this pillar less than any other aspect of the game. It will be interesting to see where LevelUp diverges from Adventures in Middle Earth, which also expanded exploration.

Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

POC Gamer’s OrcaCon session on worldbuilding is now available to all.

Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

The Museum of Design-Atanta is hosting a D&D/LEGO mashup focusing on helping kids learn design.

In Indiana the Lawrenceburg Main Library is hosting D&D in its café. As regions climb out of pandemic social distancing it will be interesting to see how many libraries take their virtual sessions into real life.

Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now

Another week, another story in the paper of record. | Escape Your Reality With Role-Playing Games – New York Times.

An offseason gift guide suggests a massive pack of dice. | All the Under-$20 Style, Tech, and Home Goods We’re Feeling This March – GQ

Other Geek Stuff

Peter Straub and Stephen King’s The Talisman is next up on the movie/show list of fantasy properties. It already has Spielberg and the Duffer Brothers behind it.

As Always, Maps

There are times when it is hard to tell if something is art or a map. The best of these times are when a thing is both.

Paintings of Middle Eastern cityscapes, from Aden to Sanaa to Kuwait and beyond.

As depicted by Yemeni artist Abdulla Alameen, a native of Aden. pic.twitter.com/WAKEsWVNZj
— Alex Shams (@alexshams_) March 4, 2021

Not all maps need to be on paper or parchment.

Ingenious, Indigenous: The Tunumiit (E Greenland Inuit) practice of carving portable maps from driftwood, used for navigating coastal waters. Representing coastlines up one side of the wood & down the other, they fit in a mitten, are compact, buoyant, & can be read in the dark. pic.twitter.com/FkNHBoXf9s
— The Decolonial Atlas (@decolonialatlas) March 7, 2021
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March 8, 2021
DDD:253 Invasion of Trees – a YachtCon charity adventure
Over the past five years I’ve participated in YachtCon — sometimes as talent, sometimes as green room host. In 2019 and 2020, while with Tacoma Defiance I sold off the opportunity to join the broadcast booth for a match. Those 2020 winners are still waiting to do that, as the covid-19 pandemic made that option unsafe.

Still wanting to give some South Sound flavor to an event that will be entirely virtual I needed to come up with a different idea. Ambition got the best of me, and with Sounder at Heart/Nos Audietis manager Jeremiah Oshan’s approval Dungeons & Dragons & Defiance: Invasion of the Trees was launched. DDD:253 is a charity game with two celebrity guests and five PC spots for people who donated $60 dollars to the Autism Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. DDD:253 sold out in 24 hours. There’s still plenty of opportunity to join the audience for the live stream of this 3-hour tour of D&D.

There are also many other opportunities to join in on classes about pizza making, wine tasting (observer only), cocktail shaking, watercolor painting, and so much more. All of them will have twists related to the pro soccer teams in the area, including celeb participants. Just as gaming conventions had to adapt, so did YachtCon. The group of passionate Sounders/Reign/Defiance fans haven’t been to a match together since March 8, 2020. It’s possible that the 2020 YachtCon was the last time we were all together. This year’s event is as much about re-connecting the community as it is raising funds. That’s why you can audit every “class” for free. But, it’s also a way to raise funds. The Nos Audietis/Sounder at Heart/Ride of the Valkyries group has raised over $30,000 dollars in the past five years. Please join us. There’s even kickass soccer gear.

Character art by ReRoll

What is DDD: 253 – Invasion of the Trees?

This is a short adventure inspired by Tacoma and Tacoma Defiance, set in a small frontier town common in so many fantasy worlds. This port village has a tavern where a local leader needs help. Our adventuring party is going to help the city defend itself from an invasion from the south. Along the way they will meet hazards, possible allies, and of course the enemy(ies?).

Railroads have been avoided, which means there are nearly a dozen encounters, but in a 3-hour session only a handful will ever be used. Maybe, just maybe, the whole world will see the product after the live adventure, which will be streamed. There will be no VTT, everyone will track their damage, spells, etc with paper sheets in their own homes. Maps and art will be via a shared screen and the experience will be Theater of the Mind, rather than tactical. The model being followed is the Stranger Things x D&D game from early winter rather than highly produced streams like Critical Role.

Each participant is getting an individual session zero, which will involve character creation and an agreement on option rules. They are also getting pixel art of their PC, using the ReRoll app. Each will also get a set of dice, which is especially handy for those who are playing for the first time.

Meet Lorenzo Snapdragon

Lorenzo’s character sheet.

Lorenzo is a human bard, run by Tacoma Defiance Head Coach Wade Webber. He’s as handy with his lute as he is with a dagger or rapier. Sometimes he’ll bang a drum or play a recorder, but mostly he likes the strings to accompany his songs and poetry. Snapdragon is likely to be the charismatic face of the party.

Meet Du-Rag, The Honest

Du-Rag’s character sheet

Du-Rag, The Honest, is run by Defy professional wrestler and Destiny City Comics owner Ethan HD. Du-Rag is a half-orc cleric, who is as comfortable in the streets as he is in the pulpit. His friends? He’ll heal them. The Honest will usually try words first, but those that stay enemies face the dagger, or the power of his god.

Rest of the Party

Over the next week the rest of our adventuring party is being filled out. When those are done we’ll share the character art for them. There’s already a tortle warlock, a half-orc barbarian joining the cause. The group is banding together to defend a lumber town, with a port, a gritty city of unpaved streets with a good bar and neighbors who gather together in defiance of the odds against them.

Again, DDD:253 Invasion of the Trees is part of YachtCon: Back to School. All proceeds from every class go to the Autism Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
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March 3, 2021

Activity	DC
Identify culture/race raising common crops	10
Give domesticated animal a simple command	15
Weather forecast for the next few hours	15
Identify culture/race raising rare crops	20

Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews

Dark Alliance is coming June 22

Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

Candlekeep Mysteries Reviews

Other Official D&D News

Fey Races Unearthed Arcana

Third-Party Products

Conventions Are Returning to In Person Events

Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now

Other Geek Stuff

As Always, Maps

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Remarkable Drudge

Suggested Characteristics

Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

Farmer’s Tools

Farmer’s Tools

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Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews

Candlekeep Mysteries Previews

Fey Races Unearthed Arcana

Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

Other Official D&D News

Third-Party Products

Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now

Other Geek Stuff

As Always, Maps

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Beer Factories

Recipe Books

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The Problem

The Solution

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Fairy

Hobgoblin of the Feywild

Owlfolk

Rabbitfolk

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Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews

Candlekeep Mysteries Previews

New AAA Open World Video Game – untitled

Hasbro’s Stock News Features D&D and Magic: The Gathering

Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

Third-Party Products

Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now

Other Geek Stuff

As Always, Maps

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What is DDD: 253 – Invasion of the Trees?

Meet Lorenzo Snapdragon

Meet Du-Rag, The Honest

Rest of the Party

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