• Darius Dondermonger – inspired by dragons and cheese.

    Darius Dondermonger – inspired by dragons and cheese.

    Character concepts come from all sorts of places. Sometimes they grow over years, tended like a rare flower they sprout and bloom after long care. Then there are those that burst forth from your mind to page (actual or digital) in a flurry.

    Darius Dondermonger came into being when two roads combined. The first road originated some time ago, when the D&D released the Drakewarden. Dragons are quite important in the World of the Everflow, so I knew I would revisit the Drakewarden. The second road came when grocery shopping. We needed cheese, lots of cheeses. Yes, we’re fans of charcuterie. These roads merged when reading about Dragon’s Milk Stout’s web-RPG release. As often happens, flavor started to inspire the story.

    The Chef Feat in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is quite useful for someone who latches onto flavors like this. That pushed towards a Variant Human so that the foods he creates can help heal and/or inspire his companions towards greatness.

    Darius Dondermonger kept growing. From a legacy family in a small village, Darius was to be the head of household and manage the ageing of grana (think Parmesean and similar cheeses). Some of these for decades. They use adjuncts at times. That is what sent him to the forests and hills of the area.

    https://twitter.com/bedirthan/status/1341918231880032256

    He is also flawed. Not only does he prefer the hunt for herbs and the like to management, he also prefers the making of cheese to business. That’s part of why he rejects the full family name. The other part is that he does not feel he’s earned that name, for he has lost something special to them.

    Lastly, he took on Dunder, due to his companion’s, and later his own, connection to thunder & lightning.

    He is more than just a ranger, more than just a cheesemonger specializing in aged cheeses – Darius Dondermonger has a small dragon companion and has discovered that he is also part dragon. The family’s most exclusive grana comes from their age-old connection to drakes, wyverns, and all of dragonkind.

    That same blood compels Darius to travel away from town, for someone with his powers cannot just work the books of Amberhearth and Highwall’s greatest cheese makers. Someone with the blood of dragons must, must, pursue a grander destiny — and also find that which they’ve lost.

  • Merry Christmas and Joyous New Year

    Merry Christmas and Joyous New Year

    Back when I ran SounderAtHeart.com I wrote most, maybe all?, of the holiday messages. Usually they tended to focus on the purpose of the day. Now, with a slightly different audience, that continues.

    One of the lessons of 2020 is that the search for joy can be difficult. For the most part we are separated from the friends and family that make life so awesome. Our D&D tables are now virtual, losing some of that companionship that is at the core of the game. They’re also harder to schedule, because even though we are home more frequently, some people have bandwidth or computer limitations, others just need to not go from bad screen to good screen because it ruins the good screen.

    This is probably why lonely play and online conversation about the game is expanding. When I can’t find a table I do a lot more thinking about my setting, how to expand story via mechanics, and ideation about how my mundane life can grow into fantastic tales. [This is me thinking aloud, and quite possibly not a normal holiday letter]

    Christmas in 2020 is going to stretch for a few more weeks because of the way shipping is overwhelmed, both intentionally and not. This will be wonderful for all of us. It means little sprinkles of holiday cheer will appear over many more days.

    Rather than concentrate on how the shipping delays damage Christmas, please consider them an extension of joy and that we are all “Simply having a wonderful Christmastime” that lasts long enough to lessen the pains of 2020.

    I wish all who read my little corner of the internet a Merry Christmas, a Happy Yuletide, and a Joyous New Year.

    Sometimes our Christmas Tree is decorated with the Christmas cards people send.

    Below I’ve added the nearly-annual letter we send out to friends and family. If you’d like a letter in the future hit me up via email or Direct Message.

    Hello friends and family,

    When 2020 started we thought we’d spend more time seeing you. There were weddings, reunions, road trips, and more that were planned. Dave was supposed to return to work in baseball with Tacoma Rainiers while continuing his work with Tacoma Defiance. Kristin continued her real estate journey – prepared for a year of home market valuations and open houses.

    Then, well, everything that made 2020, twenty-twenty, happened.

    The biggest beneficiaries of this year have been Aslan, Remi, and Luca – they’re getting more walks, pets, care, and love than ever before.

    • Aslan
    • Remi
    • Luca

    Dave re-launched his personal website (FullMoonStorytelling.com) mostly focusing on short fiction and gaming, with a sprinkle of soccer appearing on occasion.

    In between helping clients buy/sell homes, Kristin has been reworking the space in our spare bedroom to make it more usable as a home office while also organizing various closets and cabinets in our home. Please keep her in mind for anyone you know who is looking to buy or sell in the greater Seattle area (or as a referring agent elsewhere.)

    Together, we’ve purged a bunch of clutter from our lives, discovered new recipes, and learned to appreciate the little things in life more than ever.

    Like you, we are looking forward to 2021 – a year of good health and good memories. One of the strongest lessons of this year is that we’re not going to wait to do things. When it’s practical and safe again, we’re going spend time with friends & family that have only been present digitally for too long.

    With Love & Hope

  • Lore Collage: More D&D movie news, Stranger Things cast plays D&D, gift ideas, and 28 other things to read and watch

    Lore Collage: More D&D movie news, Stranger Things cast plays D&D, gift ideas, and 28 other things to read and watch

    As we’re speeding towards the peak holiday season there is more news about the Dungeons and Dragons movie, a monster manual of dad jokes, a few gift ideas, things to inspire your own adventures and more. This week’s Lore Collage also includes the Stranger Things one-shot adventure run by Chris Perkins.

    Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews

    The D&D movie already has its studio space over in Belfast. Titanic Studios was made famous in fantasy circles as one of the studios involved in Game of Thrones. Speculators are going to speculate – can it be as popular as Lord of the Rings?

    Here’s some guidance on how to play the Satyr from Odyssey of Theros.

    His last effort as a DMs Guild Adept combines Dad Jokes and the Monster Manual. The Print on Demand version is on my wish list already.

    FanWraps D&D Inspired Shirts and Other Gift Ideas

    https://twitter.com/bedirthan/status/1333449094828703744

    Kobold Press has Free Shipping from their warren to yours.

    David Flor has a fun little adventure about an Abyssal Snowman?!

    This sports inspired Swordsfall Logo is awesome.

    Check the Full Moon Storytelling for more last minute gift ideas. With the broken Postal Service this year everything is going to be late, so you won’t have to make excuses.

    D&D During the Pandemic

    Spartanburg County Public Libraries are hosting virtual D&D. For more info on libraries and other civic institutions hosting the game follow my twitter thread.

    As a fan of Friendly Local Gaming Stores, there’s joy in seeing local news cover an FLGS – in this case out in Lansing, MI.

    Inspiration for Your Next Adventure

    Dinosaurs with spines on their neck? The real world can help you create Beasts and Monstrosities. Your players won’t even know that they aren’t real.

    SlyFlourish has advice on how to run a minimal prep sessions, even tighter than his Lazy Dungeon Master series.

    Twenty awesome free adventures to help you spend the winter indoors.

    When creating your worldspace remember that in the real world, even in 400 CE, people were connected. A Roman woman in London wore Chinese silks.

    You can use a DC0 check to ungate information. This technique means there are no blocks on the adventure and that players with big bonuses still have advantages.

    https://glassgrimoire.com/2020/12/19/leo-in-icewind-dale/
    Some Icewind Dale art to inspire you.

    This is what a Dungeoneer’s Pack looks like.

    https://twitter.com/CreativeBates/status/1340294757864640512

    How do Gnomes make music?

    https://twitter.com/scott_kerr/status/1340399932893782019

    Wintery locations to host your wintery adventures.

    Dungeons, Dragons, and Mainstream News

    Parsing Joe Manganiello’s appearances means DragonLance? Joe can’t stop talking about D&D while promoting his not-D&D movie. At this point there’s probably no one doing more to mainstream our favorite game.

    Another local paper editorialist talks about D&D.

    Other Geek Stuff, not D&D

    Solve this dungeon RPG and get great beer.

    Firefly might be back, sadly as a reboot that targets a younger age group.

    As Always, Maps

    https://twitter.com/Lerb_Ash/status/1335002151815409665
    https://twitter.com/danialrashidi/status/1340439433145946112
  • DC 0 Checks

    DC 0 Checks

    While DMing I’ve used the concept of progressive checks for rolls over the listed DC, but the concept from Think DM takes it even further – start with a DC ZERO and add info the better your players roll. This adds more flexibility to the game, but does require more effort from Dungeon Masters.

    thinkdm's avatarThinkDM

    As a matter of adventure design (or when improvising as a DM), you shouldn’t lock mission-critical information behind a skill check. Because if the characters fail the check, the plot line is dead.

    But, the solution isn’t to get rid of skill checks.

    The solution is DC 0 checks.

    “Isn’t that basically just telling them the information?”

    Yes, but we don’t stop there.

    Progressive Skill Checks

    The idea is to move away from binary skill checks to a progressive resolution system. So, you still have a check to discover mission critical information. But, the DC to learn the stuff you need to know is set at zero.

    As you roll progressively higher, you learn additional information that isn’t necessary, but helpful. You probably could have found out that extra information eventually with your DC 0 clue, but rolling better lets you take shortcuts by applying more intuition or conducting a…

    View original post 335 more words

  • Queen and Konstruct: A Goblin’s Lyfe

    Queen and Konstruct: A Goblin’s Lyfe

    There are two important things in a goblin’s lyfe. I’m talking about all of us, the gobkon, the hobkon, the mulkon — all of us — our relationship to the Queen and our Guild. This is hard for you humans, with all your divergent nations and cities and faiths and disgusting menagerie animals to understand.

    Goblin
    By creanita design und ausführung by nina saner (CC BY-SA 2.0)

    I’m a printer, part of the Ratxet Guild. My engines run on the power of muls (best!) or whoever else I can hire. The clockwerks give that comforting noise as sheaf and stamp press against each other leaving words behind.

    We’re into gears, mostly. But also some other interesting clockwerks. Frankly, we do better with springs than the Union does. Sure, they’ve the Queens’ Stamp – so we cannot sell to others. In our builds we don’t buy from the Union anymore.

    My first engine was a climbing device. Lean it up against a feral tar-tree and you’ll be able to get to the top on a platform to work that tree with nary your own effort. It was a tough build, because I needed it to be strong enough for a hob. Without a brother there were no hobs to help me. Sis rode atop my shoulders during the entire testing phase.

    At Test it showed a new mechanic for the tar-tree. A Baroness blessed the family via flag and decree. Mother’s standing improved, and the full family took on that glory.

    Now, sister is part of the Airxip Syndicate. They’re relatively new. Taking our bike-props and bladders from the Sisterhood, and the Federation’s tar stacks, the Syndicate built those awesome airxips. I don’t understand her werk. There’s something about steampipes. She’s done well for mother. Her flags came from a Countess, one for her and one for mother. Blerxa left on the First Flight with me.

    I’m Phatha Phioxa Baroness-flagged of the Guild. Sis is Blerxa Phioxa First-Countess Flagged and Many Unfurled of the Syndicate.

    We are what we build and how much the Ladies, may they serve the Queen, reward us for our werks.

    A few more daughters like us and mother could be a Lady. If Blerxa and I hadn’t left for the untamed lands of the Kin Blerx may have earned mother the knighting on her own.

    Our werks are trapped from knowing since we are far from Queen, so I expect mother to have a few more gobkon. Maybe I’ll find out if I go back, not until after I figure out how to use the power of horses in my next werk. They smell, but they are even stronger than mulgobs.

A thin shape of a house with script Kristin Clark inset

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