Driving off into the wilderlands of Oregon my thoughts wandered to the D&D world I’ve created. Creating names for places on the fly is hard. Often people get consumed with making something that feels like Tolkien, Jordan, Weis, Bardugo or other greats. These names are complicated and often involve invented languages.
You don’t need to be so impressive that linguists study you.
Your world will feel alive borrowing from our own world.
These are great names for a fantasy space.
Seven Devils Road and Old Seven Devils Road is perfect for any Dungeons and Dragons game. You don’t need to stretch to far for there to be both an incident that involved seven devils and for the now ruling empire to have a newer, more popular road that carries the same name.
West Beaverhill Road could mean that it is west of Beaverhill. I submit that your fantasy world is more Lewis when you have every cardinal direction have a Beaverhill Road. Each of those is for a different beaverhill. Make those beavers talkative and have them part of the empire to capture some Fillory vibes too.
Whiskey Run Road is just down the way from where we are staying. In my fantasy world that road probably started as a minor trail used by some bootleggers. Now, as they gained power within the realm, thanks to their whiskey runs making money, Whiskey Run Road is the main thoroughfare between the capitol and its not-quite-satellite city. What was once a former smuggler cove is now the headquarters of a major influence on a failing state.
Hidden Canyon Road is something I’m fairly certain I passed by driving to get a cranberry turnover this morning. But my memory of this road is fragile as the road may not exist. The canyon might not exist. I never saw it. In a fantasy world Hidden Canyon Road could be a road, and a bridge, that exists over a fey gulch. There are nights when the gulch exists on most days the hidden canyon and covered bridge is just a normal passage with no need of a bridge at all. But on those nights with a few moons waning the fey canyon is back. Elves and their friends come out of the gulch demanding tax from those who use the bridge.
tl;dr
Take a few road names with you and be ready to create them as fantastic locations using the techniques from SlyFlourish’s Lazy Dungeon Master series. These quite normal names create a world of magic and wonder. Use placenames in reality to inspire your fiction.
As a lover of fantasy fiction and storytelling my friends have consistently suggested comic books for more D&D source material, for further stories. Unlike many in the space, I was not a comics fan and certainly not a collector in my youth.
I came to comics through soccer — the friends that I made through the game. The first person who really convinced me to give comics a shot was ETHAN HD, owner of Destiny City Comics and real life superhero in Tacoma.
We chatted about subcultures, genre and the power of story. I picked up a couple comics, different formats — March, Dungeons & Dragons, some supers stuff.
Later, again through soccer, I met G. Willow Wilson. We chatted about the paths to fandom, embracing stories of others and discovery of commonalities in differences. I now have a Poison Ivy book, because I loved and learned from Wilson’s Kamala Khan and her Empty Quarter.
Wilson has a new series coming out and it’s right up my alley. The D&D vibe is strong. The Hunger and The Dusk is set in an enviro-apocalypse with an invasion of alien and/or planar beings. I’ll probably create the main characters as NPCs in my world.
Releasing to the public on July 12, The Hunger and The Dusk from G. Willow Wilson and Chris Wildgoose is story fuel for any Dungeon/Game Master who tells fantasy stories. You’ll immediately recognize the first issue’s story of destruction, sadness and tiny bit of hope.
This preview is from a pdf of issue #1 given by G. Willow Wilson. I had already pre-ordered the issue based on earlier reviews.
I will attempt to not spoil anything.
This is an interior cover, effectively the transition from prologue to main story. The prologue shows the multiple dangers facing the world. There’s environmental destruction forcing migration, there are the conflicts between human and orc, and there are the Vangol — an alien and superior being destroying all living things.
They came out of the Dusk
The introduction of the Vangol is violent, swift. They are more powerful than orcs and humans acting on their own. Whether warrior or farmstead the peoples of this world cannot stand up to the Vangol.
They came as an Omen
The combination of language, color and layout are powerful. You see scale of story and individual depth in equal parts. The main characters are Gruakhtar Icemane, and Callum Battlechild (I think that’s Will too in later scenes). They have complimentary fantasy tropes and there’s depth to them behind just tropes early in issue 1.
The Hunger and The Dusk mixes color themes in a way to signify despair and hope. Lush green fields are rare, a brief respite in a world where there is drought up and down the coast. The ending image of issue one is a transition from the oranges of a violent dusk to a soft, dark green hillside show that our protagonists might just be heroes, if things work out.
I’m excited to see where the story goes. In interviews Wilson has said that this is a “hot orc saga.” I expect there’s some romance, there’s certainly found family to come, and there’s probably hope, because the world of The Hunger and The Dusk deserves hope.
The story of Gruakhtar Icemane, Callum Battlechild and the Last Men Standing is available in The Hunger and The Dusk at your favorite local comic book shop (like Destiny City Comics) or online on July 12 and throughout the hot orc summer.
Weaving, sewing, quilting, tapestries — these arts were part of what common people did in the times that inspire fantasy storytelling. It’s rare that these professions are featured as heroes, but they should be. They are community leaders or practitioners of the quiet circle, often of women unempowered in a society.
From these origins one may rise to be a powerful Artificer, a storytelling Bard, a Mastermind Rogue, a healing Druid, a Cleric of Peace, a vengeful Paladin. Or something else.
The weaver is not soft, though they can make great fabrics. A quilter is not necessarily warm to all. These are the people who toil with nimble fingers and converse with those too often overlooked by authority.
You are an independent artisan who makes fabric or clothes or blankets. Your specific art is less important than what you do with it. Your friends and colleagues know things and count on you.
Authority may overlook your presence, but you know their tenor and can hide what they are looking for — whether that’s a person or a thing.
Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Sleight of Hand Tool Proficiencies: Disguise Kit, Weaver’s Tools Languages: No additional Equipment: Blanket, 3 candles, chalk, cloths (either common or winter), 3 needles, spool of thread, pouch, 5 gold
Feature: As the Wheel Wills
You have a certain comfort and understanding that you aren’t always in control. You have advantage on saves against fear, charm and other enchantments after the first round in these conditions.
Additionally, you are able to find and protect secrets. When using Insight or Sleight of Hand to keep or discover secrets you do so with double proficiency.
Personality: use the Folk Hero and Guild Artisan as guidance.
Design Goals
Avoiding the Folk Hero’s problem of “if you’re already a hero you shouldn’t be level 1” is my primary goal with the Clothier. It’s the primary goal with many of the backgrounds I’ve created. Common people become heroes through playing D&D — although someday I’ll make a False Hero, one who hasn’t yet been heroic.
Fernando Pessoa once said “Sometimes, when I wake up at night, I feel invisible hands weaving my destiny.”
I also wanted to capture the magic of weaving and other arts of cloth. These aren’t arts that I understand. They are arts that I want to celebrate.
From the literature that inspires D&D the lines from Wheel of Time about “the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills” prodded me into action.
Finally there are some important quilters in my life. This background goes out to them too. Whether by stitch, by arms long or short, they are the fabric of our lives. A quilter can tell a story in squares and thread. Hopefully this story helps tell theirs.
Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons
I went and sponsored a soccer team. It’s a pub league team with several friends I met through Sounders soccer. Rather than advertise my soccer blog they all know about already I put the logo for Full Moon Storytelling on their kits. And then I offered to make any of them an Adventurer’s League legal character that represents some of their favorite soccer players and themselves.
A character sheet in Dungeons & Dragons is a story told in short hand.
With Passive Aggression, one of the first things I wanted to do was have a little honey badger companion (in Reroll I used a cat). Ozzie Alonso was Seattle’s honey badger for so long that I must, must honor him. The player who submitted their favorite players requested a minotaur, which also suits Alonso well. It is easy to imagine Alonso lowering his head and charging through someone.
The other guidance is the maestro Luka Modrić. Ranger helped with this, because the bit of magic makes sense. Luka is one of the more technical players in the world, with the titles and individual recognition that makes sense. When the player is that exceptional only magic makes sense. Zephyr Strike seemed perfect for that representation.
I chose the subclass Gloom Stalker because of the Our Flag Means Offside FC player sees themselves as someone who can be a support player across the battlefield, Entangle and Dread Ambuser helped capture that story
Here’s the story I was trying to tell with Izzy Handball.
Roger Levesque is a legendary Sounder, from the time before they were in MLS. He also puts on a great pirate impression. Pelé is the world’s greatest player, ever. Young people please don’t come at me with your modern faves — Izzy Handball will slay you.
Combining a cult legend and the world’s greatest was a fun challenge. I started with the pirate, which meant Swashbuckler Rogue, which also fits Pelé’s personality. He loved to go one-on-one, or one-on-four, whatever. Dual-wielding swords made sense because Pelé would strike rapidly, constantly and with both feet.
A wood elf was chosen to further lean into Pelé’s pace, his fey ancestry and his charm.
With both of the soccer players the Folk Hero made sense. Whether form the streets of Brazil or the artificial turf of Starfire, Levesque and Pelé became legends with tales growing taller every year.
After one of my regular D&D sessions at Logan Brewing someone watching us started asking me about my campaign. I just couldn’t stop talking. We eventually got to talking about Sports in D&D.
That’s when Bears invited me onto her podcast, because I’m a talker.
The Cutting Edge Cosplay group were great hosts. I’ve listened to all of their other episodes and enjoy how much they share their passions for performance via cosplay.
This episode is also available as a podcast.
Share your passions, open up to others — you never know the friends you can make.
Most Dungeons & Dragons settings (Forgotten Realms, Eberron, DragonLance, Midgard, Greyhawk) exist in a similar socio-economic state to the very late Middle Ages through the Victorian period. The commonality of magic, the relative wealth and existence of a middle class, and other indicators compare fairly well to those concepts. There is a certain apocrypha that makes it clear that much of the fantasy we roleplay is not from Arthurian legend, instead there are modern concepts such as trade guilds, inns with more individual rooms rather than sleeping halls, massive sailing ships, some worlds even have printing presses producing newspapers.
Something lacking in almost every world set within that many hundred year period is sports. Almost all sporting events mentioned in the literature are individual in nature, essentially replacing things which were in the original Olympics. This ignores the fact that by the time societies had inns, guilds, papers, etc. they had team sports.
By Unknown author – Pietro di Lorenzo Bini (ed.), Memorie del calcio fiorentino tratte da diverse scritture e dedicate all’altezze serenissime di Ferdinando Principe di Toscana e Violante Beatrice di Baviera, Firenze, Stamperia di S.A.S. alla Condotta [1688], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=864734
A partial list of the team sports from around the globe within the time periods that inspire a majority of D&D fiction includes Town Ball (ball, stick, & safety), Mob Ball (ball, foot, & goal), Lacrosse (ball, stick, & goal), Maya Ballgame (ball, stick/hip, & goal), Polo (ball, stick, horse, & goal), Dakyu (ball, stick, & goal with maybe horses), Buzkashi (animal head, horse, & goal), and others – like the predecessor of hockey.
Fantasy Team Sports
Fantasy literature tends to ignore the element of sports. There are some that exist — from the barely mentioned phandrel (team chasing-and-destination) in the Forgotten Realms to, of course, quidditch, which somehow exists in the real world now. The Magicians has welters, which combines chess with magical violence. Strixhaven, the Magic: the Gathering and D&D setting, has Mage Tower and the single reference to Silk Ball (and a map).
Yes, adventures like Tomb of Annihilation, Rime of the Frostmaiden, and Theros capture individual sports.
But we know that the times upon which our worlds are based have a wonderful glut of sports. At the minimum these should be used to add color and flavor to our worlds. Make them part of festivals. Have a red v blue v green v orange v black phandrel contest that interrupts a chase scene, or maybe even becomes part of it.
Still, there’s more available to make your world live and breathe. Not just the Athlete and Gladiator backgrounds, which are great for a hero that specializes in individual sport. Add team sports to your character’s history.
Sports (type): A 5th Edition Tool
Lean into tools for the mechanics. They are an excellent way to add more story to your backstory. The use and specialization in a specific set of tools tells us much about the artisan, the bard, the entertainer and so many other backgrounds.
Expand on your Athlete by adding Sports (type) as one of their tools. Borrow from what was established by Musical Instrument (shawm, etc) for your model. The specific type of sport is purely a flavor and story element, until it isn’t. Maybe, you’ll find a fun town ball bat, or a ball game stick, or whatever, during your journeys and that may provide a clue as to who was in that space prior – DC YY Intelligence (Investigation) with advantage if you have experience with that or a similar sport, for example.
Bringing sports into your game as a tool expands the tales you can tell. Be Waterdeep’s version of Roy Hobbs, or a Sharn’s version of Mara. Maybe during a chaotic match of mob football between Aviceland and Copperwall in the Foxshaw Field you became a folk hero that repelled a skeleton attack.
Don’t Worry About Mechanics
As always, here at Full Moon Storytelling we’re focused on story rather than mechanics. Using a new Tool isn’t going to change your D&D game’s power level, not even as much as Coffee Gear.
Trying to figure out a winner might be necessary, but not with significant frequency. If you wanted to roleplay actual sports something like Blaseball would be a better than D&D. But, if you need a result and want to use the dice, limit the contest to a single roll for each participant on the team (use party sizes of 3 to 6), and have it opposed by an NPC. Through the description of their primary role within the sport and what that character is attempting have them make a roll Athletics or Acrobatics, assigned to an attribute that most fits their action and with advantage if they character is proficient. Then roll the same for the NPC. Have the first team to 3 successes wins that match.
Most games before the codification of rule and laws (baseball and football/soccer in the mid 19th century) could last from sunrise to sunset. If the players succeed on their first three rolls, consider that a game done by lunch. If it takes five, or more due to a bunch of ties, make it last into twilight.
Do not attempt to get deeper into the mechanics than this. Your session doesn’t need hours dedicated to sport. Instead any match should be a way to access new stories told at the table. Instead of hanging at the bar, or boxing – play some Dakyu. Meet some new NPCs based around that event, then hit the tavern to talk about that day’s new star athlete.
Handy Maps for Play
Two-minute Tabletop’s wonderful map works for many structures. There’s a small stadium with markings for halves that could work for town ball or mob ball that develop into a spectator sport.
Welcome to Connor’s Fantasy Stadium battle map, a field of packed earth ready for a clash of gladiators, athletes, or whatever you imagine!
I went and sponsored a soccer team. It’s a pub league team with several friends I met through Sounders soccer. Rather than advertise my soccer blog they all know about already I put the logo for Full Moon Storytelling on their kits. And then I offered to make any of them an Adventurer’s League legal character that represents some of their favorite soccer players and themselves.
A character sheet in Dungeons & Dragons is a story told in short hand.
Here’s the story I was trying to tell with Davy Jones — the name on the back of one of the players’ shirts. I didn’t look up the real players to build these. I did use their soccer-name as inspiration.
The soccer players provided in the prompt questions were Fredy Montero, DeAndre Yedlin, Zlatan. In some of the prompts there were references to Jessica Jones and Ljósálfar.
D&D is an imperfect way to represent these things. My attempts here are to capture the vibes of a potent showperson, a striker from distance and a stout defender. An Aasimar is more similar to the light elves of Nordic legend than the current version of D&D, plus that helps add more magic to Davy Jones — Zlatan has to have magic, so does Fredy “Golden God” Montero.
It was Fredy that helped the lean towards Paladin, as well as the Jessica Jones mention. Jones helped the decision towards Oath of Vengeance. Having Compelled Duel was another touch point towards Zlatan.
With DeAndre Yedlin still to be incorporated the Background choice was obvious — Folk Hero. Yedlin was the first MLS Sounder to rise from the Academy, the first to play in the World Cup because of their performance as a Sounder and the first to be sold to Europe. He’s a legend in his home town, and so is Davy Jones.
Each skill, weapon, spell is chosen to emphasize the combination of mystical striker, bewitching technique and the willingness to be a stout defender.
One gap in the official backgrounds is the trope of innkeeper. So many tales that inspired this game consist of an innkeeper (and we’re keeping that slightly different than barkeep) who exists as an NPC. A related topic, and one I wished to amplify is that version of an innkeeper who plies their trade at a frontier stop or waypoint on a much travelled road. The Caravanserai is meant to capture that individual, and the alternate the urban innkeeper.
Along dusty roads and alpine trails there are forts that operate as a rest stop, place to pickup supplies, maybe an opportunity to trade, and a safe enclosure from the dangers of people and nature. You grew up at one of these caravanserais, or moved there when young, learning the lingua franca and other tongues, picking up on the various cultures that came through the walls to spend a night or a week in your safety.
When bandits attacked you helped to defend the fort, as did everyone within. Some may focus on those tales. Others would focus on the caravans traveling with spices and fabrics from lands that others only think of fanciful stories, but for you are the real origins of people you’ve met. You are worldly, without travelling the world until now. Gifted a family heirloom you are off on a journey away from safety, ready to explore spaces that are no longer fiction.
Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Insight Tool Proficiencies: None Languages: Any two (Thieves Cant included) — as always, using cultures is better Equipment: Abacus, Baton (a club with finesse properties), Bell, Blanket (2), Guestbook, Candles (5), Map Case, Traveler’s Clothes, Ink Pen, Heirloom Spyglass, 5 gp
Feature: Warm Welcome
When you first meet new people they usually assume you are friendly. Your demeanor is such to put them at ease. Those being chased, followed, or otherwise harassed seek you for protection and comfort. For the most part, thinking peoples want to be on your good side because you are known to accept those in need, especially those who can pay.
Characteristics: For now, use those from the Folk Hero or pick & choose your favorites. Whenever my background project sees full publication there will be unique characteristics for each of them and feats, because that’s what 2024’s version of the game will have.
You either worked at an inn owned by others, once owned your own small inn, or have left the inn owned by your family as you head out into the world of adventure. Whether you come from a small town or a metropolis, your experiences are generally urban. You know the temples, libraries, parks, and other civic buildings of the neighborhood as well as someone who works or lives there.
People know your inn as a place for visitors and some locals. They know your for your ability to make friends, for your ready weapon to enforce the peace within your building, a willingness to clean up a mess, and that you always have the right key available.
Changes from Caravanserai
Replace the Animal Handling skill with Persuasion or Intimidation.
Replace the equipment of the Caravanserai with the following.
Equipment: Abacus, Any Simple or Martial Weapon, Bell, Blanket (2), Guestbook, Candles (5), Map Case, Traveler’s Clothes, Towel or Rag, a Key Ring, Ink Pen, 10 gp
This map from Newbie DM inspired the release of these backgrounds. Every innkeeper should have an inn they left when they started out on their adventure. There are many reasons to leave that life, some by choice and others more sinister. When creating an innkeeper or caravanserai have a map of that location, and a story about why you left.
I’ll admit, leading with the Caravanserai is inspired by my studies (Near Eastern Cultures and Civilizations, Arabic), my gaming passion for al-Qadim, and my visits to Palestine, Israel, and Kuwait. Also, there are some unique spaces to fill. The heirloom spyglass is a fun trick of creation. Taking that away from the family adds story. Adding a weapon in which the character may not be proficient is a technique I’ll lean into a bit in the backgrounds project. Certain civilian (aka non-adventuring) roles in a society will have a weapon, but not necessarily be good at using it.
Whether the Silk Road or ancient mountain pass, travel routes have always, in every culture and geography, needed the safe respite away from brigands, bandits, wild animals, and extreme weather. At this locales the caravanserai and/or innkeeper offers a warm smile, food & board, and information all for just a few coins.
Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons
Hallway decorations at Wizards of the Coast On Monday April 3rd, 2023, about 30 community members visited the Wizards offices for a Creator Summit. Another 100 joined virtually. In many ways, it exceeded my expectations. In others, it fell short… while offering great promise. This is part one of a series, with an eye towards…
Earlier this week Dungeons & Dragons held a “direct.” These events are about announcing new product. It was a bit odd to see a D&D Direct already, since the full slate of hardback books for D&D is already known. So what did Wizards of the Coast show the fans?
A lot, much of it not related to the game of D&D, but to the brand of D&D.
Hasbro March Monster Madness – new toys and stuffed animals with D&D themes are fine. I’ll probably get one or two (Kristin you didn’t read this)
New Life-Size D&D Figures from Wizkids – I’ll probably get one of these too.
R.A. Salvatore on Drizzt and a Neverwinter Module – The Neverwinter MMO is starting to feel like forever winter. The staying power of the game is impressive
D&D Play Events at Local Game Stores – I like this because FLGS need more support than ever, but also because it helps new people discover the game.
I love adding new people to D&D.
It makes me feel good knowing that this once niche hobby where I was constantly mocked and derided is now popular.
More important than me feeling good is that new players mean new stories.
More players = more stories
I can’t tell you all of my stories, let alone tell you everyone else’s story.
The only route to more stories is more players. By finding new people the original, the mix and the remix at each table is amplified. Playing with the same people all the time is a great way to retell their stories. But the power of life, the power of roleplaying games is story — big, fat, emotionally loaded stories from all the varieties of people in the world.
Story creep is always better than power creep.
That’s why Tasha’s was good. That’s why Radiant Citadel is excellent.
Learning D&D can be hard. There’s no hiding from that. Finding ways to teach new players, especially those not joining a current table is the hardest thing facing any RPG.
This is a brilliant onboarding portal that addresses the most common question I get from the now-hundreds of people who have asked me about Dungeons & Dragons “Where do I start?”
You start at PlayDnD.com. It starts with an intro video.
The Starter Set of course!
But maybe those five characters aren’t right for you. PlayDnD has 11 pregenerated characters. Clicking on those pulls up a fully filled out page on D&D Beyond with a video tour of the character page!
There’s also three adventures, for free!
Lost Mines of Phandelver (which is about to have another sequel, this time in hardback, later this year). This is a mini-campaign
Frozen Sick is a first level adventure
Prisoner 13 is a multi-session adventure set in the prison Revel’s End. Revel’s End is part of the Honor Among Thieves, part of Rime of the Frostmaiden (and co-developed by John Francis Daley who co-wrote and co-directed Honor Among Thieves) and part of Keys from the Golden Vault
The first two can be run by people only semi-familiar with D&D and other fantasy tropes. Prisoner 13 is better for a more familiar DM.
Maybe you need help building a your own character? There’s guide to that.
After that is a bundle to get the Dragons of Strormwreck Isle in both digital and physical at the same time.
There’s a final carousel of clickthroughs that includes ads for D&D Beyond, the D&D Discord, and another item that makes me very happy — help finding your local gaming store.
Play D&D and discover stories of heroism, of diversity, of found family. It just got a lot easier.
