Let’s skip the spoilers for Tuesday’s new product reveal. You can search the internet if you want that stuff. The big news not related to that product is this weekend’s Yawning Portal event, which is basically a convention without keynote speakers, just lots of games. The DMs are paid, so you need to toss a coin to them.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is already out in Early Access. Dark Alliance, which is more of a team shooty/stabby game, is one of the most anticipated releases of 2021.
Theaters and actors continue to turn to D&D as an outlet, and fundraiser. Hazards & Hijinks leans into improve. The just hosted their second session on their YouTube page.
i09’s Gizmado writes that D&D can inspire your fiction storytelling. This speaks to me. I can’t really tell the difference between whether I create for unplayed D&D or unpublished short stories.
This amazing artist takes dice cases and turns them into little dioramas. When the pandemic fades and office life is exists again, I will have a corner dedicated to gaming. Something like this is perfect.
February is New Gamemaster Month. If you’ve never sat behind the screen start planning your first adventure and then invite me to play.
Reuben Wu uses drones to create modern art in landscapes. How does your illusionist or other magical entertainer paint with magic?
If you didn’t get the clue from Darius Dondermonger, I enjoy heroes with interesting backstories. A cheese maker can become a famed ranger. Your cleric may have just been a mercenary, or a candlemaker. That butcher in the village that was conscripted? They’re now one of the realm’s greatest fighters.
Backgrounds are the D&D rule that best embraces this concept in 5e. Toss in a dose of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything Chapter 1: Section: This Is Your Life and you’re on your way to having a backstory that embraces the pre-hero version of your character.
Still, it takes a player that is willing to embrace that zero part of your zero-to-hero journey. It’s up to you to embrace the idea that a fence maker can become a powerful sorcerer.
That’s essentially what the “My Next D&D Character Is…” thought-bombs are over on twitter. They are the embrace that these unconventional Dungeons & Dragons concepts are as valid as the the mercenary, the head of the local thieves guild, the student-wizard, the acolyte-cleric. Normal people get caught up in grand stories. Your adventuring party and character creation should embrace that.
Throw off the yoke of convention and make the story that you want to tell. Make the character that embraces some small aspect of you, your friends, or just that person down the street – amplify that and create. All stories are valid. Everyone can become a hero.
For the most part, when creating these types of characters with no homebrew rules I start with the Folk Hero Background (the Guild Artisan is #2), and then remove all of the skills, languages, and tools. The mechanics are then built around the profession. Use the tool that makes sense, add two skills that fit the closest to the concept, and then add a language or another tool to round out the idea.
In DnDBeyond.com this is done in standard character creation during step 4, custom background. There’s then a choice of 2 skills + [options]. You will also be asked which feature to adopt (Rustic Hospitality is likely the best). It’s quick and easy, and part of the core system as 5th edition is designed.
The more complex way is to partner with your DM to build custom backgrounds from scratch, or connect with me and take one of my 40+ concepts out for a test drive.
Many businesses slow down during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, so there is no new news regarding the D&D movie. It’s also just a lighter week in general. A reminder, Baldman Games and Wizards of the Coast are hosting monthly sessions via the The Yawning Portal.
Check out my portfolio of 20 writings in 2020 for an example as to how I can help your content grow.
Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews
According to Forbes, the five best D&D products of 2020 include stuff from Kobold Press (Tome of Beasts 2; I own Tome of Beasts and use it regularly), Nord Games (Spectacular Settlements; I own this and regularly consult it when creating communities for fiction and gaming) and three from Wizards of the Coast.
The Yawning Portal is calling out for more adventurers. This month’s WotC/Baldman Games gaming sessions are January 15-17. There are Adventurer’s League games set in Eberron, the Moonshaes, Thay, and a new season entirely. Select DMs will also be running their original non-AL games.
Bustle put together a “How To” guide to D&D and Zoom (works for any video call platform really). My groups have used jitsi, Zoom, and Google Meet over the past months.
Your desert dwellers can and should have snow cones, ice cream, and other frozen treats. Yes, I’m serious. Yakhchāl were the ancient Persian way to create ice in the middle east.
So much Sci-fi/Fantasy genre to stream this month. I’ll be binging The Magicians, WandaVision, Hook, Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, Snowpiercer (movie and the series), and The Princess Bride (duh). What are you looking forward to?
A review of my writing portfolio of 2020 demonstrates just how the covid-19 pandemic impacted the styles and techniques I used in marketing, a re-emergence of gaming writing, and a consistent undercurrent of story-themes throughout the diverse subjects covered. Listicles, metaphor, match recaps, rules, reviews, and so many other techniques burst from my creative mind into pixel and print in 2020.
Now a free agent, searching for work, the following examples can be backed with practical measurements to show their ability to increase the attention and sales of product if you are interested in adding my skill set to your portfolio. Or you can just click and read awesome stuff about D&D, Tacoma, Renton, Defiance, Sounders and more.
Here are my 20 favorite items from 2020.
Dungeons & Dragons
First and foremost Full Moon Storytelling was a way for me to share thoughts about how and why I play D&D. From its founding through early 2020 the most common writing were session notes so that the rest of my group would have a place where they could review what happened between our time together. Needing a place to write, anything, Full Moon Storytelling became a place to share my story-first concepts, refine ideas for the World of the Everflow, and put out rough drafts of what may eventually be products on DMsGuild.
My review of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything burst into a small moment of virality in a private Facebook group. People embraced that while it was a mechanical expansion, Tasha’s was more an expansion of story opportunities than anything else.
Your mundane life can and should populate your D&D games. As a former professional coffee roaster/taster and beer sales person flavor is a core element of how I tell stories. It should also be an element of the stories you tell within Dungeons & Dragons. Flavor can also be mechanical. Tasha’s adds the Chef Feat (reflavor that for brewers, tea blenders, vintners, etc), but you can also add mechanics like Coffee Gear, an artisans tool that is appropriate for most campaigns.
Not all legends are about success. Not all stories end in greatness. None include only victories. Embrace the struggles and failures, because those define your character as much as race/class/background.
Every story – no matter the medium – can inspire a new character. When watching Jingle Jangle and Christmas Chronicle 2 the Artificer class opened up to me in ways that go beyond Eberron. Your next D&D character is a Rock Gnome Artificer-Toy Maker.
Tacoma Defiance and Other Soccer
2020 started with me employed by Tacoma Defiance and Tacoma Rainiers as a content writer, marketer, and broadcaster. It ends with me freelancing about soccer again, something I started in 2008 and that continues to this day.
My return to Sounder at Heart was to write about the most powerful personality in Tacoma Defiance history – Jesse Daley. The Aussie transferred back to Brisbane Roar, his youth club. His former captain, his best friend, and his coaches all spoke lovingly about what The Defiant brought to Defiance.
Without Daley who would step forward to become the soul of the team? It was a complicated answer. Alec Diaz was the goal scorer. Sam Rogers, when playing, was a stalwart. It was Ray Serrano who embraced the challenges of pandemic play to become more than he ever was before – The Defiant of 2020.
Some players transcend their play on the field. They embrace sports as a communications device for social justice, for equality, and for filling the gaps that society creates. Cheney Stadium’s first soccer captain retired after the 2020 season. This is the story of David Estrada.
Player profiles should be about more than just the skills they bring to the team. They are also snapshots into who the person is. Meet Taylor Mueller, Captain Tacoma Defiance, and Puget Sound native – go Dawgs.
Writing in metaphor for thousands of words can be a challenge. Coming up with 34 unique ways to talk about Tacoma Defiance’s intended 2020 journey was a challenge. This story and entire marketing concept eventually combined the written word, illustration, design, and video. It was a full force project.
The journey and return home metaphor was to extend throughout the season, that meant blowing out a couple lines from the season long story into a full independent manifestation for every match.
There are times when a readership or fanbase don’t need all the details. This quick list of performances let the readers know Tacoma’s influence on the team that would eventually go on to compete in its 4th MLS Cup.
Tacoma and Renton Culture
One of the things working with Tacoma Defiance, Tacoma Rainiers, and Reign FC/OL Reign taught me was writing about culture – the people and things that people love about a place. There were interviews with civil rights leaders, appearances at day camps, beer tastings, and an overall embrace that the people of a place are an important of sports. That continued in 2020, even during the pandemic. These are my six favorite stories of 2020.
The Renton History Museum launched an exhibit on sports in the small city during the pandemic. The tour inspired me, a Renton native, to learn more about Henry Moses and the dominance of Renton’s women’s basketball program in the 1920s.
When the first shutdown happened small businesses suffered. People didn’t know what was open and search engines were often out-of-date, this shopping guide was updated daily from mid-March until late-May. It drove 1000s of people to businesses around the South Sound.
Early during the covid-19 pandemic people struggled to find ways to connect, particularly those that connected via sports when there were no sports. We found ways to bond and socialize, even if just through signs in windows.
Even non-cooks started cooking during the pandemic. In order to capture that I interviewed staff at Rainiers/Defiance about their discoveries. Working with Erin, our graphic designer, we crafted recipe cards.
Captain Katrina Anderson is the only woman piloting a tug in Puget Sound. This story was supposed to have a short video accompanying it, but the pandemic ruined that plan.
Ethan HD is unapologetically a Black nerd. The Tacoma-born geek bought a comic book shop in late 2019, but he defies the stereotypes – he’s also a pro wrestler who will stomp you.
Fiction
By creanita
design und ausführung by nina saner
(CC BY-SA 2.0)
During the pandemic my efforts towards fiction continue to increase. Several of my older stories here on Full Moon Storytelling have been updated, with my favorite being Queen and Konstruct – a goblin’s lyfe. This tale helps set the scene as to what the goblinoids of my world are and how smog-punk is different from Eberron’s magipunk and the various versions of steampunk that exist.
Hire Dave Clark
You can hire me to help tell your stories that help market product, to channel a unique voice about your team, or to fill your needs in fiction or poetry. Submission will include towards SEO, SEM, social media, and newsletter advice.
At this point the amount of Dungeons & Dragons movie news coming out might need it gets its own mini-collage every week. With the move from pre-production to actual filming you should expect a flood of actor announcements and leaks. There are no secrets in Hollywood.
This week’s Lore Collage is heavy on inspiration and I would love to know what direction you are taking those little seeds.
Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews
Supposedly Chris Pine is playing a human named Edgin in the D&D movie. Expectations are that the casting director will be Rich Delia, who worked with directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein on Game Night. Delia’s genre credentials include The Curse of la Llorona, Shazam!, Brightburn, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Stargirl, as well as upcoming projects like Mortal Kombat, King Richard, Black Adam and The Flash.
According to Newsweek, Heroes’ Feast was the best selling cookbook of 2020 (up to Dec 2) and the 3rd best selling How To/Advice book this year. Yes, you read that right, a D&D food book outsold an HGTV star and Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa
Another blogger discovers that fluff is part of the game as well. There’s a consistent debate among those who are online right now, just check the comments.
As Nerdarchy discusses, story took a huge step forward in Xanathar’s Guide, but in Tasha’s it came to the forefront. There’s no surprise that I agree.
The Santa Fe Examiner’s annual 12 things to do in the winter suggests that you pick up pen, paper, and dice. Ignore the video games, and tell stories together.
These sounds of the souk can enliven sessions set in MENACA and similar spaces.
Your gameworld should have fast food. Walkup and cart-based food vendors were common prior to the modern era. Embrace that. In Pompeii hot food was lowered, bowl and all, into the stonework counters of their walkup restaurants.
Ramps that ease access for the disabled are not a 20th century invention. Your worlds should include these too. Be more like the Greeks.
Lox is the oldest English word that has kept both meaning and pronunciation. That let’s us know that the proto-English speakers came from a place where salmon was a regular dish.
Your next underwater adventure better include a punchy octopus.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Whether it’s a critical failure (the dreaded 1 in combat) or forgetting your own abilities leading to tactical error every character will have to deal with defeat at some point, likely often if you aren’t into optimization. These losses are an opportunity.
Not all tales of heroes are about victory. Within pain and failure is the contrast to success.
Recently, in the final battle within Lost Mine of Phandelver the party was completely overwhelmed. We knew of 14 opponents, to include the adventure’s final boss. There are 7 of us. Awf is overconfident by nature. As a Hill Dwarf Bladesinger he wades into the frontlines accepting damage as part of raison d’être.
The problem with that became rapidly apparent as he attempted a rear guard action. Eventually four different bugbears were piling on the broadshouldered dwarf. No one was surprised when he fell unconscious and took a death save from another attack.
Norran, our Half-elf Assassin, slid through the traffic of combat to administer the only healing potion available in that part of combat. With the party split things looked dire for the rear guard group. Bring Awf back up gives Norran and Ambrose, Half-orc Beastmaster, and Awf a bit of hope, when things seem hopeless.
Our session ended in mid combat – and that’s when I remembered that Awf has a Staff of Defense.
AFTER taking numerous blows that dropped him. Through poor play as a player, I forgot about Awf’s 8 charges of Shield that he could use as reactions to limit the battering his body took.
It’s a dumb error.
Except, upon review it is exactly the type of error that Awf Hornjaw et Loragwyn would make in combat. It’s part of who he is and how he operates. My error was in fact playing to type.
Personality Traits I enjoy being strong and like breaking things. I face problems head-on. A simple, direct solution is the best path to success.
From Awf’s Background
And this is where embracing the failure becomes an epic tale. In next week’s session Awf’s overconfidence will disappear. Every single turn a Shield spell will be used to protect either himself or his companions that he placed in danger. Rising from his stupor he learned.
Being in danger is part of the joy of role-playing combats. There will be times that the danger is overwhelming.
Now, due to failure Awf will have a fireside tale that isn’t just about the failure, but also about the success. The mistake of the player will become the character’s epic song.
The holidays are fully in session. Your D&D and other RPG adventures may be getting rescheduled. Awf’s most certainly are. If you are looking for gifts, here’s a guide built for the D&D fan in your life. There’s major news regarding the D&D movie, more advice related to Tasha’s Cauldron of everything and dozens of other stories, images, and videos that deserve your attention.
D&D Movie News
Chris Pine is starring in the latest attempt at a Dungeons & Dragons movie. Filming is supposed to start in Q1 of 2021, which is actually really soon unless 2020 decides to last 72 more months. Deadline has all the details.
Official D&D Products Releases and Reviews
The latest issue of Dragon+ dropped, and the cover art is three kobolds in a trench coat. As always there are free maps and a best of the DMs Guild that require your attention.
Looks like Stranger Things and D&D are going to be more than a season 1 appearance, a season 3 meme, a comic book, a starter set (OK they’re already mixing it up quite a bit).
