In this week’s post there are tips about creating with accessibility in mind, more libraries playing D&D with youth, maps, recommended podcasts, and so much more.
Beverage accompaniment: Friday Afternoon Tea’s Stormfire. It’s a softer approach to black tea, due to the blue cornflower with the mate and black peppercorn hitting giving it a spike of spice.
Accessibility and Representation
Jennifer Kretchmer‘s resource guide to Accessibility and anti-ableism is a hefty set of reading and viewing. These resources are a wonderful way to understand how your writing and gaming can create opportunities for others. Read, watch, re-read, re-watch.
Here it is, friends. A massive compilation of resources, documents, tools, and more addressing accessibility in tabletop gaming, streaming, and life. I'm incredibly proud to share my Accessibility in Gaming Resource. https://t.co/uzCODeeYjL (1/)
D&D is adapting. More frequently we see creators and performers of color, of differing sexes and sexualities – and we see their characters as well. Representation is vital. Myself, I think back to when I was so tiny there were thoughts about medical ways to cause me to be taller. At the time I always played Halfings, Gnomes, and Dwarves. I did that because I needed to see heroes that were like me.
In the Before Times there was a mighty group of heroes in the South Sound. These women and men put on shows, entertained the masses, and just maybe won a few battles for the hearts and minds of the people of the Near Cliff, Tahoma, and all that call the region home.
We were a tight group of specialists who when combined were a powerful faction of spellslingers, story weavers, and travellers who loved the region and would defend it.
These are the Heroes of Castle Cheney.
Delaney Saul, illustrator, created the group to celebrate my 45th birthday.
Delaney and I had conversations about what race and class each of the heroic representations of the group would be. While creating my friends, and Before Times coworkers, as playable characters (3rd level, Adventurers League rules, Players Handbook only, no stat below 10) I was able to add in a few more details about them.
Casey is the leader of the group – the Director, if you must. A few things were required when creating him. Without any doubt he is a Bard. The man is a natural performer, whether on a mic, dancing on a dugout, or spinning records. He puts himself in front of people. His knowledge of Tacoma, Puget Sound, and so much more made the College of Lore an obvious choice.
When deciding on his race, his natural charisma had to be emphasized. Leaning into the trope that half-elves can be accepted by both of their communities seemed obvious as Casey is beloved in Rainiers and Defiance circles.
Slapping expertise onto Performance and Insight was so obvious a choice, I’m not explaining it. The Background of Entertainer was also an easy choice. I needed to get Casey a Disguise Kit for all of those costume changes we know and love.j
Spell choices leaned into charming types, with Longstrider added because if you’ve ever seen him move around the stadium you know there is magic behind it.
Delaney is an extraordinary illustrator. Capturing her level of talent in D&D meant more than a Background, but instead the magic of images. Locked into the PHB for cost reasons (maybe one of my friends eventually plays themselves) that meant the Illusionist.
Her past as an athlete was captured in two ways. First up, that meant the Gladiator Background. Second it was why I went Wood Elf for race. The increased speed combined with Athletics felt like the perfect way to capture her love and career in basketball.
Witch Bolt became the attack cantrip of choice, because I felt like that one would give Delaney the most joy when she used it. I can just see her eyes light up while going all Palpatine on someone.
Adam is a videographer I’ve worked with and around for nearly a decade now. Between our time together with Sounder at Heart and on Tacoma Defiance broadcasts we probably know each other better than I know anyone else in the Cheney creative team. He is a man with believes in faith, equity, and generosity. A noble Paladin seemed an obvious start.
In order to best represent his excellent eye for what’s going on around him, he had to have the Feat Observant. That meant going with Variant Human. Adam’s cameras capture the life in any game inside Cheney’s walls and the vibrant community that is Tacoma.
For his background I wanted to capture to personality traits.
I can find common ground between the fiercest enemies, empathizing with them and always working toward peace. I am tolerant of other faiths and respect the worship of other gods.
“Acolyte”
If you’ve met Adam you know that every fiber of who he is consists in those traits.
Phinney the Wild is the technical genius behind all of the light, sound, and video at Cheney Stadium. I started working with him on the broadcasts, but really got to know him through a project that started early in the pandemic when I asked each employee about what they were doing. That’s when I learned that Phinney loves the mountains and forests of Washington.
That made it obvious he needed to be a Druid or Ranger. Since he’s the lord of sound, I needed to give him the thunder spells – Druid it is. If I hadn’t chosen to lock myself into PHB or free content, I would have gone Firbolg, but instead he’s a goliath.
Phinney consumes books. That’s where the Sage comes in. He’s also well connected at local colleges, which is a doubly important reason for that nod.
Erin is the other artist at Cheney Castle. Every party can have a duplication in role, but cannot have duplication in identity. To me, the other way to emulate the power of drawing/painting arts is Enchantment. The close choice was simple after thinking through that.
The high elf made sense after that, as I wanted a small boost to illusion magic. Also, Erin is fashionable, which fits the high elf tropes. Her fine precision in her artwork and design is captured in the Guild Artisan Background.
Erin and I worked together on the Defiance season ticket renewal magazine and several other projects. To recognize that her class skills are History and Investigation. No offense to Casey, but Erin spent as much time copy editing my writing for print as anyone.
Reema was my manager for Reign related projects in 2019. Through that time, when the team’s biggest star got in a Twitter war with the President and won every award available to a soccer player while winning The Best and a World Cup, we were in constant communication. Her leadership and belief in me was strong. Her charisma was readily apparent in discussions with ownership, or the brilliant talents that wore the crest – it came naturally to her. In D&D natural power such as hers often is displayed as a Sorcerer.
While the Noble Background is often about being born into high society, I chose that for Reema because she so seamlessly fits into the group. Between her sense of fashion, her wine and cocktail knowledge, and her will she belongs in those situations. The following trait and ideal also pushed that decision over the edge into a big “yep.”
Despite my noble birth, I do not place myself above other folk. We all have the same blood.
It is my duty to protect and care for the people beneath me.
Noble
To represent her ability to make friends simply and easily I gave her the Friends cantrip, while ignoring the part about people knowing magic was used against the new friend.
Maddie is so multi-faceted. To the fans in the stands she’s just part of the entertainment crew. To those of us behind the scenes she’s a manager of mascots, planner of schedules, and keen executor of fun. She’s part mage, that’s obvious. She also slips in and out of spaces, everywhere at once. The Arcane Trickster’s magic of entertainment was an obvious choice.
In her past our favorite Trickster was an elite tumbler. That meant expertise in Acrobatics and Performance, as well as the Entertainer background. Maddie always finds a way to share the fun with an audience.
Picking a race started with a look at which ones offered bonuses to Charisma. This quickly became a choice between lightfoot halfling and half-elf. There was a need to capture Maddie’s bravery in stepping into a role at the last minute, accepting all those challenges without any fear – halfling it is.
AJ, unlike the rest of the group, came to the Sound from elsewhere. He rapidly became a sounder, as in a person of the Sound, even if not a soccer fan. For his build I started with that Outlander background. His tales and stories from his youth, schooling, and previous jobs were foreign to us. The Outlander made so much sense.
The way AJ relaxes is to travel the new lands. He’s an expert on the parks around Pierce County and beyond. The Ranger embraces that. His willingness to support cross-functionally meant I went for the Hunter, as he knocks out small tasks frequently.
He’s good at so much – he can be a radio pbp voice, a video host, a writer, a social media expert, and more. There’s only one race that embraces the ability to do anything – the traditional human. Sorry, AJ, but little fantasy in that one. Bonuses to every single attribute will come in handy no matter what you do.
Throughout the design process every choice came back to how do I make the most heroic version of my friends and coworkers. Which skills, spells, and features made sense to show that these fantasy heroes are based in the real heroics during our year (or more, or less). Together, we overcame obstacles and used our various strengths to destroy the monsters that got in the way.
These are the heroes of Castle Cheney. I miss them, but that when a banner is raised asking for help they will answer, rally, and wave the Flag of Defiance for each other and our city.
Everyone needs a good pick-me-up. The studious wizard, the pickpocket, the noble, and the farmer all can take advantage of the boost of energy whether the beans are from far-off mountains or nearby hills. Adventurers aren’t on standard sleep schedules so the not-quite-magical bean roaster and brewer is quite helpful in the wildes, caverns, dungeons, and seas of any world.
Components: Coffee gear includes a pound of beans, 2 small spoons, 2 small cups, mortar & pestle or small hand grinder, an ibrik or small moka pot, a small rotisserie or pan roaster (can be powered by fire or certain cantrips), spices and sugar.
Those cantrips that could power the two styles of roasters are: Control Flames, Create Bonfire, Druidcraft, Fire Bolt, Prestidigitation, and Produce Flame.
In most D&D worlds a pound of green coffee should be priced around 3 gp and available similar to how cloves are in your worldspace.
Insight: As someone that is in tune with the life of a cafe, coffeehouse, or court you can read the emotions and even pick up rumors spreading through the crowd.
Example: As the party enters a bar or coffeehouse there is a buzz of conversation. Volgat Emberstone recognizes the conversations, listening in on the chatter around him. The player tells the DM that they are attempting to learn if Crylia the Goblin has been in the area.Per Xanathar’s Guide, as this Insight check is aided by the Tool, the player rolls with Advantage if they are proficient in both Insight and Coffee Gear, using the higher modifier of the two. If they are only proficient in only one of the two, they would use just the higher modifier rolling a single d20.
Nature: Familiar with the origins of the glorious bean, you have learned about various locales where coffee is grown.
Example: Marching through Windy Heaven Ridge, Umog sees some wild coffee. The player is wondering if this area is where they might find the tail feather of the Peryton that the Archmage of Cryssalis Valley hired them to bring to him.
Remove Exhaustion: During a Short Rest you can roast and prepare a unique beverage for a single humanoid that drinks water. This special beverage can remove one level of Exhaustion, up to level 3 (going from 3 to 2, or 2 to 1, or 1 to no longer exhausted).
Some like to claim that they are low prep Dungeon Masters. Myself, I’m a high prep DM. Everything I encounter in life is prep for how I run games, or play characters. Every person I meet, every fiction I encounter, every blog entry, every song – these enter me and fuel my approach.
The following is a collection of some of the things that stuck with me over the past week. Consider it a curated post of the fuel for my games, and likely a regular feature here at Full Moon Storytelling.
Humor
Let’s kick this off with what my broadcasting instructor would call a kicker. This is also a snapshot in the continual mainstreaming of the game-of-nerds.
Every week someone asks me about starting to play for the first time. The growth of D&D, and RPGs in general, is stunning. That only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. So how does one start?
Wired kicks us off with a long look at How to Get Started in Dungeons & Dragons. The story is packed with interviews, links, and the approach that D&D is meant for everybody – there shall be no gates, no keepers.
Fantasy maps tell stories. Within each you’ll find 1000 thousand tales. Axebridge from Dyson Logos shows that not every city need to be contained in walls.
This list is my personal creation. I often listen to music while doing my prep for gaming sessions, always with the goal to put me in the mood for that adventure.
As is appropriate for so much of Renton’s history, the exhibit starts with a Moses. Henry Moses, of the dxʷdəwʔabš/Duwamish, often referred to as chief, is the entry point for Renton History Museum’s journey through sports history.
Originally scheduled to launch in spring, the museum and exhibit adapted to a the COVID-19 pandemic. Mask usage is required, the staff takes your info for possible contact tracing, there is a path to guide you through the main exhibits, and with the spacious main hall you feel comfortable even when others enter.
The exhibit itself shifted as gaining access to artifacts was complicated due to the pandemic. The delay the launch means that it is up at the same time as What Difference Do Renton Women Make?
Being up at the same time as an exhibit focused on women makes sense for the dive into Renton’s sporting history. After Moses, the display shifts to two girls who helped Renton High School dominate the King County high school basketball scene in the 20s. And then girls’ sports disappeared from schools.
While Renton produced an Olympic quality women’s track star during the stretch between the Great Depression and Title IX, it was more by accident than any plan. After 37 years with a smattering of sports, the US legal ruling brought about a surge in opportunity for female athletes.
The best museum exhibits do not explain everything. Instead they open up stories that inspire you to learn more. Renton History Museum will help do that for the visitor. Even those steeped in the tales of the South King County city will learn that Mark Prothero was more than a lawyer that defended the Green River Killer, but one of Washington’s best swimmers ever.
Before Zach LaVine was winning dunk contests Renton High won titles in both football and basketball, with seven players that featured on both squads. There are other pros that called Renton home, not just a birthplace.
The triumph in the exhibit is the way that it teases you to learn more – to understand and connect with Renton via sports. That there is a throughline to the other feature exhibit as well as two of the three static subjects for the museum is a great bonus.
Animal companions are a tradition in Dungeons & Dragons. The Ranger with a hunting dog; the halfling riding a wolfhound; the dogs guarding the entry to the castle — all have status as tropes. In the standard rules the “Mastiff” represents all of these.
But not every dog is a mass of muscle, teeth, and bark.
Other dogs exist in any fantasy world. These doggos deserve game-love, too. Inspired by Ambrose, the ranger in the game where my dwarven axe-wizard Awf slings spells and swings a battle axe like some kind of D&D version of John Casey, the Herding Dog leapt into existence.
The desire with the Herding Dog was to not have an increase in power for a medium canine, but represent how shepherds, collies, sheepdogs, and other AKC Herding Group members are different from the working group types that the Mastiff embraces.
There’s a small dip in strength, constitution, and damage with the most significant boosts being adding Animal Handling (to embrace the ability to make the herd go places) and Pack Tactics (to represent that herding dogs often work in groups).
The minor changes give this dog a different identity, stay at the same power level, and give Ambrose a friend that isn’t purely a means to biting enemies. We’re using the Herding Dog in our campaign. Let me know if you decide to add it to your own.
Terriers and Retrievers are on my list of potential design additions.
What I like about this is the density of the shops and how they share spaces, as well as the alley. Dyson Logos did an interesting mix of spaces with this.
Here we have a collection of five mercantile businesses along the south side of Moonset Street. These are fairly traditional business designs – in most cases there is no access to the interior of the business for shoppers and they instead interact through the long shop windows.
Moonset Street Shops
From left to right we have:
First Building – Front – Cloth Shop
This shop mostly deals in lengths and bolts of cloth, imported and domestic. They also provide some dressmaking and tailoring services (the workshops being in the rooms behind the shop, one sharing space with the owner’s bedroom).
First Building – Back – Trinkets & Jewelry
This shop actually has a “shopping space” within the building (so that people can examine the wares without taking them outside) including a small showroom and counters where work is done as well as sales. The back rooms include a workshop and…
In creating Awf there were a few goals. As one of the more experienced players in the party I wanted to have at least a secondary stat be Intelligence. With the party being four to six PCs, there was room for at least one multi-role character. There’s a fighter, a rogue, a ranger, a cleric in the regular group.
That meant that I could fill a few roles – this dwarf axe-wizard is a solid secondary front-line warrior and secondary spellcaster.
As someone who generally tries to avoid the more typical tropes with my PCs, Awf let me explore a few things that 5th edition empowers that weren’t possible when I was originally playing in 1st and 2nd edition of AD&D. He’s a Dwarf Wizard who uses a Battleaxe, fairly well.
The desire to explore a new subclass was approved by my DM. The Bladesinger made sense for a frontline warrior/spellcaster. But, Dwarves aren’t supposed to be one.
Courtesy of Delaney Saul for my birthday
That meant exploring his backstory. Awf has started to talk about that in his backstory in the game, so now it makes sense to share a bit of it.
His hometown suffered a goblin attack. At the time he was a righteous adolescent who believed in the power of his family and village. Unfortunately his homestead was destroyed by goblins. He will never forgive this act.
Fortunately the Order of the Shooting Star, mostly Elven Bladesingers, saved the town through a flanking operation. Awf’s family survived. But he lost respect. They weren’t powerful enough; they weren’t strong enough.
So when the Shooting Stars left, he followed. There was strength in their magic. He followed them for more than ten years. The orphan-by-choice was a hanger-on. He shadowed the lessons of the Eagle Song, as they used axes in their maneuvers, but small axes, for they were not dwarves.
By day Awf Hornjaw was an annoying outcast who offered just enough service to be useful. By night, Awf Hornjaw studied the ways of the Loragwyn clan’s magic.
Being 3’11” and 211 pounds, he didn’t fit in the Knightly Order. He was too fat, too slow, too Dwarf.
But Awf worked. The insulting nickname “Fat Goose” became his calling card. His axe took on the name Oie Cendrée. He learned and succeeded.
Eventually the Loragwyns and the Shooting Stars accepted Awf. His noble desire to sacrifice anything to help others fit their ideals. His skill with adapting Oie Cendrée to the ways of the Song were intriguing.
As Awf left the Shooting Stars they awarded him their name. Awf Hornjaw et Loragwyn is a man with two last names, two identities, and one goal – to find the goblin clan that threatened his family and show them that the Fat Goose is ready to sing the song of violence and ring the gong of death.
My backgrounds project continues to expand, adding in many medieval/Renaissance professions that fit in the apocrypha of D&D and related fantasy worlds. At this point there are nearly three dozen frameworks down. None of them demand a magical world.
But, this is D&D, and in all (?) of the official, product-supported worlds of 5th edition magic is not something that is only held by leveled PCs and NPCs. If you visit a shrine in Forgotten Realms there is a great chance that one of the Acolytes there knows Thaumaturgy. The number of Guild Artisans (tailor) in Eberron that know Mending is almost certainly larger than the number that do not.
In these worlds there should be tales of those who became heroes after their less-than-mundane lives. The fantastic is part of the D&D experience – both in heroic journeys and in everyday life.
Exploring what cantrips make sense leads me to listing those cantrips that are not designed for warfare – essentially ignoring damage cantrips, but there are a few that make sense. Let’s take a look at the DnDBeyond list of cantrips and pare it down to just things that commoners would possibly know.
Cantrips for Fantastic Living
Control Flames – Yes, it can do damage, but its primary purpose is about starting and putting out fires. I’ll explore a Firefighter.
Create Bonfire – Similar to above.
Dancing Lights – This also has combat roles, but imagine the ability of a theater designer to take advantage of Dancing Lights in ways that amplify that experience. The name does not leap to mind, but a variant entertainer using light is needed.
Druidcraft – The most obvious way this works is to help a Farmer, Rancher, Herder, etc. On the other hand, imagine a Weather Forecaster.
Gust – Sailing across the sea and stuck? Find your empowered crew who can create a tiny wind.
Light – The uses are nearly infinite. The Lamplighter will be both apocryphal and fantastical.
Mage Hand – Thieves and Wizards alike enjoy this one, but so would construction workers. Why bother with a ladder when you have Mage Hand?
Magic Stone – While this is a combat cantrip it feels proper for certain wilderness Backgrounds to have access to it. An Herbalist hunting for a rare shroom may need to defend themselves, for example.
Mending – Tailors and Tinkers around the world would be thrilled.
Message – This would be useful for the Pamphleteer, the Town Crier, the Spy, the City Watch, and many more.
Minor Illusion – Another cantrip that would suit Entertainers.
Mold Earth – Masons and Farmers could both find uses for this cantrip.
Prestidigitation – A Realmsean Dry Cleaner could profit off of making the bloodied heroes, and criminals, presentable. Similar to Light and Druidcraft the Backgrounds that could take advantage of this are nearly infinite.
Produce Flame – A third in the fire series.
Shape Water – Immediately upon reading this one I thought about construction of aqueducts and water wheels.
Spare the Dying – In gameplay this may be one of the weakest cantrips. In the rough and tumble alleys of Baldur’s Gate it keeps the citizenry alive – Medic and maybe for the Barber as well.
Thaumaturgy – Acolytes and Sages should probably already know this one. The organized faiths of the world would have plenty of priests and others able to shout above the masses. This also has great application for a Town Crier, Herald, and Soldier.
Several more attacking cantrips have possible secondary uses. These are ignored because not every D&D world need be one of violence for the commoner.
Next Steps
In some cases adding these minor spells to existing Backgrounds makes sense. That would involve a slight change to the current rule set. We know that a cantrip is considered roughly equal to a skill or language based on the Feats Linguist, Prodigy, and Skilled. The product will address that.
But knowing these cantrips also means an exploration of how certain roles in the medieval/Renaissance apocrypha of D&D change because of magic. A Lamplighter (a custom background in development) with Light should be behaviorally different than one still using flint, steel, and oil.
If we are to be heroes, we must act with in the faith of ourselves, our gods, and those that look to us for hope. This band of becoming-friends is strong willed and capable.
We are willing to risk, a bit brash (that may be my fault). Those that oppose us are able to surrender. We will not kill them if they do. There are things we will not tolerate. Those enemies do not live long.
Together we will free this town and rescue our patron. What happens on the way will happen.
Spoilers for the D&D Starter Set adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver follow. Our adventures started with an ambush by goblins, then a rescue of Sildar in the goblin caves. From there we cleaned up the southern part of town prior to attack the Red Brands at their manor house.
Have you met my friends? Maybe I should introduce them.
Krakom is another dwarf. A fierce fighter who will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me Krakom is sometimes confused by my behavior. While I prefer a big axe, Krakom has mastered the use of a massive hammer — bang-bang.
Norran might be an elf. I’m uncertain. He can slip through a crowd, or into the dark, and disappear for a bit. An arrow will fly free from where Norran might be and pierce the heart of our enemies. Most often he’s the scout.
Ambrose is my orc-ish friend. Deft with a hurled spear and willing to enter a fight with two weapons when hand-to-hand combat ensues Ambrose likes to use an axe, which I appreciate.
Rowan has faith. She’s more than a believer. Tymora works through her. The human helps keep us alive, which is appreciated, of course. Rowan is also a wonder at sussing out information from people who aren’t trying to destroy us. She’s trusted. Hopefully we can all be trusted soon.
Sorry, I got distracted. You were asking about the manor house. Yes, we raided it. Yes, at daylight. We needed to sleep. No, we weren’t concerned with them being warned by the near dozen of deaths and surrenders from the previous day.
[mutters under breath: coward]
No, not you.
Anyway. We went to the manor. Shortly after entering we dispatched three more Red Brands, found some rations, and a bit of coin. The one we didn’t kill indicated that the GlassStaff would be down a hall.
While my friends discussed the ‘proper action’ I opened the door to that hall. We knew what to do. Let’s do it.
Behind that door was a powerful stench of rotting flesh. Someone vomited. No, it wasn’t me [it was me].
A disgusting monstrosity was beyond the doors. It had one large eye in the center of its head and a massive maw. The hands were large with nails that may as well been claws.
We destroyed it because talking wasn’t working. It wanted to eat the flesh of peoples. There is no saving those types.
You want to know what happens next? Fill my mug. I’m out of Elverquisst. Fill the mug. I’ll have more tales when you return.
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