• Creating a new world

    Creating a new world

    It comes with just a single question. What if? What if I started a new blog? What if we talked about fantasy fiction? What if the stories told coincided with a role-playing game? What if I set myself back two decades and cracked open Dungeons & Dragons again?

    bard-dave
    Every storyteller needs their tools – a good mug, a notebook (or netbook), a satchel for tokens and memories and a block of cheese maybe some sausage, and a trusty sword.

    What if the themes were strong adult subject matter that made for gritty tales of life, death and heroism? What if magic was real? And the gods could talk, but then they stopped?

    What if the continents were small, the peoples plentiful and not all human? What if humans didn’t believe in magic because it had disappeared in the only continent they know? How about making it so they are defined more by their cultures than by their phenotype?

    Have they stopped believing in themselves, in their gods? Do they see good and evil? How?

    Is there slavery? Why? Is there nobility? Can someone be both?

    These questions and the cascade of answers start to form more questions. It’s a nearly infinite series of responses. World building, particularly the creation of a world that breathes, is hard. Crafting a world-space that can withstand episodic gaming is harder.

    Take chunks at a time. That’s what Full Moon Storytelling will be. Small chunks of content for use in a campaign setting, built around a custom set of rules adapted from 5th edition D&D, but with accompanying tales. If the setting says “The Necromancer is just someone trying to be good” there will be a story that explains how that happened.

    As The Worthing Saga took a novella and broke out portions into branch stories, Full Moon Storytelling takes a campaign setting, rule set and crafts micro-fiction, short stories, plotless narrations and episodic adventures within the World of the Everflow.

    Maybe that’s where we start, not with a character, but with a story about a fountain that flows from a cliff and diverts along two paths – the Font of Two Paths, the Two-Headed Spring, Pool of Life, Lake of Wonder. The Everflow influences the western peninsula of Kin, is clearly unnatural and …

    This is Full Moon Storytelling. It’s a way to share writing, writing process and to think aloud, while words spring forth from tiny digits. Things will happen live, in front of you. Process will be as important as output. Creation is play. Come, join me at this fire under a full moon with clear sky as we look up through trees staring towards the open world of wonder, knowing that behind those trees at your back is whatever reality you can imagine.

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  • Lore Collage: D&D movie adds two more talents; how to play videos from Wizards and Todd Kenreck, dozens of other news items about your favorite game

    Lore Collage: D&D movie adds two more talents; how to play videos from Wizards and Todd Kenreck, dozens of other news items about your favorite game

    Inspiration is everywhere, and anywhere. Read a story about mushroom bricks? Add mushroom bricks to your world. Read a story about how dinosaurs weren’t actually as fast as people think? Adjust their speeds. Everything is prep — even a cold spell and winter storm that hits 1/3 of the country. That should help inform your Rime of the Frostmaiden sessions.

    Let’s get into the news, which leads off with the Dungeons & Dragons movie from Paramount and eOne.

    Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews

    Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

    Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith are joining Chris Pine in the D&D movie project from Paramount and eOne/Hasbro. Most of the news around this is bare-bones, but one thing stick out — Rodriguez and Pine are both already part of multi-billion dollar franchises (Fast & Furious, Avatar, Star Trek, Wonder Woman/DCU). The aim on this project is huge. There is no indicator that the studios are just floating the movie as a possible success. They are targeting the type of success that creates new sub-studios and genre defying popularity. Vulture thinks they may just have a chance.

    Will Hasbro be able to ride the success of 5th edition during the pandemic into something even bigger?

    New to the Game?

    Two new video series look to guide first-time players through the experience.

    Yawning Portal Games Sign Up Opens for February

    Looking for a game and can’t find one locally during the pandemic? The Yawning Portal hosts Adventurer’s League games and original adventures once a month with official virtual D&D. Their doors are back open.

    Idle Champions

    Idle Champions creator Codename Entertainment grabbed Todd Kenreck (creative manager) and Lauren (community manager) from Fandom unit DnDBeyond. Codename also recently added the Combat Wheelchair to their game.

    Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

    There are a lot of ways to cheat in D&D. All of them are dumb, unnecessary, and fun ruining. Don’t cheat while playing D&D.

    Build your villains the same way pro wrestling does — big, over-the-top and vibrant.

    Use this one cool trick to connect the party before they adventure together.

    TechRadar talks about using your smart speaker to add sound effects to your game. At Full Moon Storytelling we were fans of Syrinscape back in our in-person sessions.

    Third-Party Products

    Free NPC token pack? Free NPC token pack for VTTs.

    Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

    As someone who grew up in the 80s, with a mom who bought into the Satanic Panic, I will never get used to libraries and community centers hosting D&D for the general public.

    The Sachse Library out in Texas is hosting D&D.

    Laney decided it would be best to host the ses­sion on Zoom. He says he will also utilize tools and resources from the website dndbeyond.com, which can help new play­ers with character creation and help him manage the games. He also contacted Wizards of the Coast, the publisher for Dun­geons and Dragons, who said they are proud to support li­brary and school D&D groups. The publisher donated digital copies of all published Dun­geons and Dragons 5th Edition sourcebook.

    A Sonoma theater is hosting a D&D inspired play. The actor-player-actor cycles just doesn’t stop.

    U Mass – Farmington is hosting D&D in the Commons. They are also presenting discussion groups and lectures on the game.

    Ocean City Public Libraries in New Jersey are hosting both middle school and high school D&D sessions. If you’re ever in Ocean City, check out their beach. My grandad worked on some of the building design.

    Dungeons & Dragons & Mainstream

    GameRant wants D&D to have an official VTT. For me this would be an error that forces homogenization. Just like every home table in the pre-pandemic varied, so should the virtual tables around which we gather. Some DMs work best with a video camera and story without any specific mechanics tied to the digital world. Others may like a complete customizable virtual game that approaches video game levels of detail. Find the one that is best for your group and use it.

    The Star Trek: Discovery cast plays D&D. Star Trek News is now recapping their adventures.

    They’ve shared art styles for years, and now metal bands are playing D&D on Twitch.

    Another story about how D&D saved people’s social experiences during the pandemic, this one out of Lancaster.

    The Dungeons & Dragons cartoon of the 80s was too short lived. If you miss it, or need to know what it is Boing Boing has your write up, and shared this video.

    Other Geek Stuff

    Looking for other RPGs not just D&D? This winter has a bunch coming out.

    The second most popular fantasy RPG has a new beginner’s box out.

    D&D isn’t the only fantasy property getting a new look. Netflix is launching Redwall with a movie and TV series.

    The Dragon Prince is getting an RPG. You can test it out now.

    As Always, Maps

    A pastoral town that demands a story.

  • Passive-Only Skills

    Passive-Only Skills

    This may help you understand Passive Perception, Passive Investigation, and Passive Insight. The potential for making Passive versions of all of these the default is something I’m still considering.

    thinkdm's avatarThinkDM

    We’ve previously explored where to draw the line between passive and active skills. Today, we’re taking that analysis one step further: Are there skills which should only function as passive skills?

    Perception

    Passive perception is the most prevalent passive skill in the rules. This makes sense. It’s something that you can’t stop doing without impairment.

    So, it’s definitely passive. But, when does it become active? We can think of all sorts of examples:

    • Squinting or shading your eyes to see through glaring light.
    • Cupping your hand to your ear to listen for noise.
    • Closing your eyes to savor a tasty morsel.
    • Drawing a deep breath to discern a scent.

    These techniques allow us to focus our perception specifically. But, we already have a word for actively using our senses to deduce information. It’s called investigation.

    Perception and investigation are the passive and active sides of the same coin. They’re…

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  • Inspiration Is Everywhere: Mushrooms

    Inspiration Is Everywhere: Mushrooms

    They can be disgusting. There are times that I’ve called them the rats of the vegetable world — they are not vegetables. In our games we can use mushrooms as food.

    What dungeon bound civilization hasn’t used fields of mushrooms for sustenance? Every time Drow, Dueger, Svirfneblin, and the rest raise shrooms. It’s part of the lore. Bioluminescent fungus and molds can be used for lighting as well.

    These tropes are common in Dungeons & Dragons.

    But you should also use mushrooms to build things. This is happening in the real world, but as bricks. Sure, that works in D&D. It makes a lot of sense for certain cultures.

    Expand on that idea.

    Who lives inside the shrooms like the Smurfs did. Or do your fey hide from the rain underneath a little cap.

    Photo by Visually Us on Pexels.com

    What secret assassin group searches for a specific fungus for their signature poison? What apothecary makes a healing tisane out of mycelium and molds? Which street vendor took the meals of the underdark and turned them into handheld pastries stuffed with minced mushrooms and aged cheese making a name for themselves in the lighted world?

    Everything you experience — eat, read, watch, listen to, encounter — can inspire you to add a little bit to your gameworld or character.

  • How to give your Beasts and Monstrosities reasonable speeds

    How to give your Beasts and Monstrosities reasonable speeds

    You might be able to outrun a Tyrannosaurus Rex, if you’re a peak athlete. Keep note of that. You almost certainly can outmaneuver them. Those are the key takeaways that Wired wants you to have after reading “How to Outrun a Dinosaur.“

    There’s a lot more depth in there for a game designer, homebrewer, or storyteller.

    Three years ago the biologist Myriam Hirt, who studies animal movement at the German Centre for Biodiversity Research, asked a seemingly simple question: Why is it that the biggest, most powerful animals—the whales, elephants, and rhinoceroses—are not the fastest, while the smallest—the mice, minnows, and millipedes—are some of the slowest? Is the implication that there is an optimum size for speed?

    The answer, Hirt found, is yes. If you were designing an animal for speed, that animal should weigh approximately 200 pounds. A bit heavier for a swimmer, and a bit lighter for a flyer.

    Wired, How to Outrun a Dinosaur.

    The T Rex has a speed of 50 in Dungeons & Dragons. That’s too fast for the mass of meat with jaws of death. Smaller dinos and lizards should probably have higher speeds. The Ripper Lizard is getting an update as this story is getting written.

    The speed of 50 might make sense if the primary time in D&D that speed is used is to determine distance running. But it is not. Speed most frequently comes up in combats in six-second chunks of time. Beasts and Monstrosities with high speeds should be the ones that accelerate and burst forward — cheetahs, lions, and Deltadromeus. Even the velociraptor should be average-to-athletic human sprint speed-ish.

    That also brings up a key point. A D&D character is supposed to represent, in general, above average athletes. There’s no direct tie-in between Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution and speed. Most races get a 30, some get a 25, rare ones get 35, and even rarer are the few that fly or swim.

    There are three things we should do with the knowledge from that Wired article;

    • Centerline most speeds to better represent reality in non-magical creatures.
    • Add line in the description that addresses distance traveled by unencumbered and encumbered beasts of burden.
    • Create a quick and easy way to avoid getting run down by a dinosaur.

    That last bullet doesn’t take a lot of work. When in a chase scene use opposed Dexterity checks (Acrobatics or Athletics or Sports could apply) when the chaser is within Reach of the chasee. A success would permit an attack/shove/grapple, if the action economy makes sense. If not, let the chasee take half their movement as a reaction as long as they are able to, and do, significantly change direction.

    Any creature that has magical influence on their speed can operate as normal.

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