Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

  • The Black Dice Society is more than an introduction to the Domains of Dread

    The Black Dice Society is more than an introduction to the Domains of Dread

    Unfamiliar with the Domains of Dread, besides a short dip into Barovia back in my original gaming group’s Interview with a Vampire phase, I’ve been drinking up the recent Lore You Should Know segments in Dragontalk, which helps. But, as a pandemic-retired DM and current player it helps to see the different angles to horror. The Black Dice Society does that.

    The show involves an intricate plot, with dream sequences and appearances by various Darklords who are pushing the characters through the mists, using them as pawns in the struggles between various Domains. Those Lords of Dread are ever present, even if merely as shadowy figures that the characters know could interfere with their lives and hopes. Sometimes they are much more than that.

    Within BDS is a group of characters who have grown up within the Domains and those who are from “normal” places. This dynamic leads to some characters having powers that are a bit creepy for the normies. This twist helps immerse the viewer or listener in the Mists. You are made as uncomfortable as the characters, who roleplay this quite well. As the group bands together these outsiders will become familiar with each other, but until then there will be a bit more creepy factor that is unusual within streamed shows. This dynamic is perfect for the story and genre of Black Dice Society.

    The whole thing is horror, PG-13 horror. Fear is ever present. Death and afterlife are significant themes. B.Dave Walters has crafted a tale that is much more complex than my other listens (NADDPod, D20 Dames). The buy-in from the players helps create a tale that is full of apprehension and unease.

    Then he spins another story over the PCs, creating a dizzying disquiet Walters has the Darklords observing. Their plots and treatment of the PCs as potential minions keeps a watcher-listener worried about betrayal. There is a sense of cosmic horror because they are all just so puny against those that rule the Domains. So far, the balance has allowed success with a constant fear of failure. That delicate string could break at any time.

    And that’s why I keep watching. What started as a desire for me to learn more about Ravenloft became an attachment to the story. What started as background audio is now foreground audio – no longer my second screen, but my first.

    How to Watch: Playlist of The Black Dice Society on YouTube

    It’s live on Twitch.TV/DnD on Thursday, without interfering with your Critical Role schedule. You can also catch up on the D&D YouTube channel.

    That’s their session 0.5 at GaryCon and a link to the full official D&D playlist for The Black Dice Society.

    Cast of Characters

    • B.Dave Walters – DM
    • Deejay Knight – Desmond, a human Ranger or light Fighter
    • Tanya DePass – Fen, a Bloodhunter dhampir drow
    • Becca Scott – Tatyana, a genasi Barbarian
    • Saige Ryan – Valentine, a reborn abberant mind Sorcerer
    • Mark Meer – Brother Uriah, a Cleric of the Grave
    • Nora Ibrahim – Nahara, a reborn fallen aasimar Warlock
    via their twitter

    How to Follow The Black Dice Society on Social

    Their billboard with Patreon, social links, and a way to buy dice inspired by the show.

  • Meet Amadin the Barker, including a new 5e D&D Background

    Meet Amadin the Barker, including a new 5e D&D Background

    From the Greatest Showman, to Newsies, to the nameless town criers belting out “Hear ye, Hear ye” the fiction that inspires our gaming has included symbols of governments, news guilds, carnivals, circuses, and religious orders in the streets are regularly part of the scenery. Some of these people would be dragged into heroic adventures.

    Amadin the Barker is one of these. Originally a barker for a travelling carnival, this fey hobgoblin fits within the normal world because of the cover of the carnival. Their uncommon lineage belongs among the strongmen who aren’t strong, the acrobatic performers, the owlbear trainers, and the oracles without magic.

    Created through a series of polls and prompts on Twitter, Amadin the Barker is discovered to be a Blessed Warrior Paladin of Redemption. They are generally peaceful, able to help their circus make money, prevent serious loss of live, and work to redeem themselves.

    Peace. Innocence. Patience. Wisdom.

    They swear upon these values. Sure, they are a warrior when needed. Those needs are rare. Amadin’s greatest tool is their booming voice and their desire to help the peoples who took them in when they were a stranger.

    laaaadeees and geenntleemeeen, step right up and see the most amazing art show in the world by Robert Couse-Baker (CC BY 2.0)

    Amadin the Barker

    Constitution +3Fey Hobgoblin, Paladin of Redemption (3)
    Strength -1Carnival Barker | Into crochet, not good at it
    Fine Clothes, rarely a Chain ShirtGhesh Province
    StaffSincere, Confident
    Comfortable, penny pincherAshamed, Judgmental
    This uses the Index Card version of NPCs for Social and Exploration Encounters

    If you want the full PC version of this community character Amadin is over at DnDBeyond, as are all of the community characters built via polls and interactions on my twitter account.

    Amadin is an example of a carnival barker, town crier, or herald. This new Background is part of my ever-percolating project Before We Were Heroes. Unlike the Remarkable Drudge, there is no cantrip or new tool for the Crier.

    Crier/Herald/Barker

    Skill Proficiencies: History, Persuasion
    Tool Proficiencies: None
    Languages: Two of your choice
    Equipment: A noisy instrument (bell, gong, horn, drum), fine clothes (a Barker should have a costume), common clothes, scroll case, 3 sheets of parchment, quill, jar of ink, 15 gp

    Feature: You Will Hear Me

    When in a crowd, or during a heated discussion, your words always break through the background noise. When you shout out, or clap, or ring the bell, etc., the attention of the multitudes shifts to the Crier/Herald/Barker who can make an appeal to them. Your pronouncements carry the weight and heft of your organization.

    Barker Design choices

    Skills: Persuasion was obvious. That’s where this background had to start. Their whole role in society is to convince people to do things. The other choice came down to Insight or History. Insight made sense because reading a crowd may be necessary, but History fits the idea that the symbol of an area’s governance or a news guild or a traveler would have this level of knowledge. If a campaign is using Culture rather than Language, drop History for Insight.

    Tools: One of the spaces I’m exploring is giving various Backgrounds tools that they possess that they aren’t necessarily proficient in – in this case a musical instrument. The Crier may use a gong to gain attention. They don’t need to know how to perform a musical piece.

    Languages: With two more slots and the modern cosmopolitan nature of default D&D granting two languages makes sense.

    Equipment: The non-proficient instrument is a little note that some Criers need an assist before they gain attention of the masses. Most backgrounds do not include two sets of clothes. In the case of the Crier/Herald they should have fine clothes for official duties and look common when not. For a Barker replace the fine clothing with a costume, if you’d like.

    Feature: First off, yes, I modified the Sounder at Heart motto for this one. You Will Hear Me captures the feel of a person standing in the crowd and demanding attention. A character could use this as a distraction, or a rallying cry, or maybe as a way to start a charity drive. As always, the feature fits into social and exploration moments more so than combat.

    For personality attributes use Folk Hero, Scholar, Noble, or others that fit. The finished product, whenever it is done will include unique characteristics for all 40 or so Backgrounds.

    Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

  • Wizards of the Coast brought the D&D blog back and it’s conversation fuel

    Wizards of the Coast brought the D&D blog back and it’s conversation fuel

    I love blogging. It’s been a huge part of my identity and part of my profession from 2008 to the present day (with the largest exception being the first few months of pandemic furlough). D&D blogging is in an interesting space – most of the conversation is happening on reddit, via video, or sectioned off into various closed systems like Patreon. And most of those conversations are about the happenings at a specific table, not the broader game.

    With Wizards of the Coast bringing back the official Dungeons & Dragons blog that may shift, even if just a bit. There’s so much fuel for longer conversations that do not translate well to modern social.

    This first blog entry in the resurrected kingdom of D&D blogging is from Ray Winninger, and the focus is on the D&D Studio and what it does. tl;dr – it is in charge of the tabletop game, and works with other versions of D&D to make certain that they maintain the flavor and notes that make D&D D&D.

    But, hidden within each of the section are a bunch of interesting notes about the structure of the team, how they design products, and what they are working on.

    Product Pitches

    These are all from internal submissions. No outside personnel participate. Those projects that move forward get a Product Lead. The current Leads are Jeremy Crawford, Amanda Hamon, Chris Perkins, Wes Schneider, and James Wyatt. From their past works within 5e we know what types of primary products most of those work on, and by the end of the year we’ll have an example for each.

    • Crawford – rules expansions
    • Perkins – adventures
    • Schneider – horror
    • Wyatt – world building
    • Hamon – an upcoming product not yet announced. Her experience with Kobold Press could mean magic or setting while her experience with Paizo could mean space fantasy. Or it could be something different. The conversation fuel is great.

    By design, we develop almost twice as many products as we publish. Developing more projects than needed allows us to pick and choose based on how those projects progress; it’s a strategy we use to boost the odds of bringing only the very best concepts to market.

    From the blog

    Within those glassed-in halls of south Renton are a couple dozen near-finished projects that sit in dark dungeons guarded by dragons.

    Five Major Releases in 2021

    • Candlekeep Mysteries is already out. I’m avoiding most of the adventures because I expect to play in a few one shots. Still, I own the book because I wanted to support the new creators.
    • Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft is coming out in mid May, just in time for my birthday. As someone who doesn’t know the Domains of Dread beyond Barovia, I’ve started to expand my knowledge through The Black Dice Society.
    • Unannounced summer adventure with Perkins as lead.
    • Unannounced Wyatt lead project that is a Winninger pitch.
    • Unannounced Hamon pitch and project, her first on the team.

    A book project takes 12+ months to go from pitch to release. They’re also working on developing more leads. The growth of the game spurred by 5e and supercharged by the pandemic is leading to a higher output of product than the early years of 5e indicated would happen.

    With this first entry being from the head of the D&D Studio there’s a lot of high level information. Since, by nature, a blog is throughput from the passions and mind of an author to their audience, each entry will be a reflection of the primary author, carved and shaped by their editor.

    Not only will the official blog provide inspiration for further conversation among fans, it is another route to learning about the people behind the game. For those of us that are readers it is a piece that helps us use a second screen while other things are on the primary one (whereas video streams tend to need to be the primary screen).

    What’s up next? We can only guess and talk about our theories.

  • Unearthed Arcana expands playable dragons – lacks playable dungeons

    Unearthed Arcana expands playable dragons – lacks playable dungeons

    The latest drop of Unearthed Arcana is another exploration of Draconic options – this time lineages, feats, and spells. Previously the Dungeons & Dragons team explored a Monk: Way of the Ascendant Dragon and a Ranger: Drakewarden.

    The UA also reminds readers that everyone gets a floating +2&+1 or three floating +1 with two languages (Common and one other being recommended).

    This review of UA will include bolded statements of what I like, what I would change, and what I dislike but can’t think of how to fix.

    Dragonborn

    Fifth edition D&D already has two sets of Dragonborn, one in the Player’s Handbook and another in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, the Critical Role book. Soon, there will be even more Draconic races, as the new set splits Dragonborn into the subsets – chromatic, metallic, gem. This Unearthed Arcana is also an expansion of Kobold options, as they were previously released in Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

    For all three there is a small boost in power for the breath weapon. This was needed. The PHB Dragonborn breath weapon wasn’t able to be used enough for it to serve a purpose. Having it be an attack replacement grants some great options for martial players after tier 1 play. Rather than 1 bonus action per rest (short or long) the UA version gets proficiency bonus number of uses per long rest. This is true for all three of the new subraces. They also increase damage from 2d6 with tier scaling to 2d8 with tier scaling. I like this.

    Chromatic

    Their breath weapon is a line, which is a switch for green and red dragonborn.

    At third level they gain the ability to be immune to the energy connected to their draconic origin. This ten minutes at once ability can help ahead of a combat encounter, but is also quite handy for some exploration challenges. It’s a fun little bit of story creep too. I like this.

    Metallic

    Their breath weapon is a cone, which is a switch for brass, bronze, and copper.

    Their third level boost is a secondary breath weapon that they can use once per long rest. There is a choice of two effects – a push and or kind of knock-out gas that incapacitates targets. These are both fine.

    Gem

    Previously gem dragonborn weren’t a thing, and as someone who didn’t get into gem dragons, this section is a lot of new ground. The various gems connect to new damage types (force, radiant, psychic, thunder, necrotic). As all gem dragons are connected to psionics these dragonborn gain the ability to telepathically communicate with a single creature within 30′, as long as they share a language. I like this cool boost.

    At third level they get this weird ability to fly by being surrounded by spectral gems. I don’t like this.

    Kobolds

    The kobolds in Volo’s have two negatives – their strength is reduced and they have sunlight sensitivity. The new draconic versions of kobolds suffer from neither of these.

    But the new kobolds also don’t get Grovel, Cower, and Beg (ok), nor do they get Pack Tactics (boo).

    The draconic versions get to choose between three abilities.

    • Advantage on saves versus fear. I like this.
    • A sorcerer cantrip. I like this because it connects them to the Volo’s monster kobold sorcerer.
    • An unarmed strike with the tail. I would change this strike to be finesse, so that dex builds could benefit.

    They also can roar. I don’t like this.

    I would rather the playable kobolds lean into the variant kobolds like dragonshields, winged, and inventors. Further connections between kobold culture and playable kobolds would be wonderful.

    Feats

    The new feats are about granting non-dragonborn a small lean into the powers and abilities of various dragons. This part is cool, but because they are each a different feat that means your character could take each feat once picking up a bit of chromatic, gem, and metallic. I don’t like this.

    Spells

    There are seven new spells that range from level 2 to 7. Four of them are named spells, with three carrying iconic names from the Forgotten Realms and one from Dragonlance. All are available to sorcerers and wizards, with a few being open to other casters.

    Draconic Transformation is a way to be nearly a dragon.

    Fizban’s Platinum Shield is a potent protective spell.

    Flame Stride is a movement boost that burns people as you pass them.

    Icingdeath’s Frost is a cone blast that covers the target in an ice shell.

    Nathair’s Mischief is a cube (yuck) that is rather fey in its behavior.

    Raulothim’s Psychic Lance is a piercing blast that has an interesting known name twist.

    Summon Draconic Spirit follows the new summons from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and is a dragon.

    I like the story behind the spells and hope that Awf can add the Icingdeath’s Frost and Flame Stride to his known spell list. A Bladesinger running through traffic with flaming feat is a great image.

    Overall there’s a lot of flavor in these, but similar to the Fey UA, there is a clear need to fold the earlier releases and this next book together. There are competing versions of Orc, Hobgoblin, Dragonborn, and Kobold now. These would make more sense as subraces in a book, or digital version, that is consolidated with all the changes, shifts, and combinations.

  • Lore Collage: Virtual Play is this weekend

    Lore Collage: Virtual Play is this weekend

    There’s a ton of cool animals in the real world that should be your companion or familiar. Dogs, cats, and owls are tiring. Instead go with tiny little ‘saurs that look like flying porgs.

    Embrace NPCs that have bad vision. Orne Willowrush is ready for your campaign. He’s a dude that’s bad at fishing, but likes it. Wearing glasses Willowrush crafts fine barrels and can be found buying his friends beverages.

    Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews

    D&D Virtual Weekend This Weekend

    This weekend’s Virtual Play includes games in Portuguese, but stay tuned as there are often options in Spanish with some other languages also featured. As a reminder these are paid events. The DMs are the primary recipient of those funds. Dragon+ has more about Virtual Play.

    Dungeons & Dragons Movie News

    Paramount is delaying the D&D movie by a year-and-a-half. This is almost certainly due to the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic and how crowded the big-budget movie release schedule will be in 2022. The wide slate of TV shows has no announced delays. Derek Kolstad’s project is the only one with an announced showrunner at this time.

    Regé-Jean Page was nearly in an upcoming Superman project. One of the hottest (in demand) actors in Hollywood these days Page will be in the D&D movie. He won’t be in that Superman project, because some idiot seemed to think that Superman can’t be related to a Black man.d

    He’s also a popular pick as the next James Bond. Dude is in demand. He’s in D&D.

    eOne is also launching a gob of reality programming, none are D&D, yet.

    Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft Previews

    The latest Lore You Should Know is all about one of the reworked Domains of Dread.

    Third-Party Products

    Venture Maidens is the latest podcast to release their world as a sourcebook. Their DM is also the head of the book project, and that bodes quite well for the quality of the product. Celeste Conowitch has credits with Wizards of the Coast, Kobold Press, and is now with 2C Gaming. The Kickstarter is up through May 10.

    Solasta is nearly a ‘finished’ product. The D&D OGL video game is leaving early access. Solasta is more focused on the 5e D&D rules than the official games.

    Tribality reviews the upcoming character and scenery art generator Neverending. Finding a tool that you can use, that helps non-artists changes your table atmosphere. Toss those creators some money, because they earned it.

    Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs

    Every week Alphastream and Shawn Merwin go deeper and deeper into what Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything empowers players to do. Their podcast might be the only digital enterprise still talking about the dramatic story and rules expansion from last fall.

    Want to add the themes from Phillip K. Dick’s stories to your games? Screen Rant guides you through mashing up sci-fi with your fantasy.

    Game Rant goes over how to use Feats in 5th edition. For me, in my world, I enjoy granting Feats at first level. But I drop the power-gamey ones from the list of options. There is a lot of story creep available in 80% of Feats.

    Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic

    Whereas most libraries are hosting games to play, at the Topeka Library the focus is on teaching people how to play the game. They have a monthly series that focuses on specific aspects of play. Up next is Character and Combat.

    The Johnston Public Library, in upstate New York, is reopening to the public, and continuing virtual D&D for teens in two age groups.

    Saratoga Springs Public Library, in Florida, is hosting virtual D&D.

    Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now

    D&D character art can be more than a hobby these days. | Fan art feature: Leilani Perriera and D&D – Savannah College of Art and Design Connector

    The ability to become a hero, no matter what holds you back in real life, is part of the powerful call of roleplaying. | Dungeons and Dragons Helps Me Live Without Duchenne for a Moment – Muscular Dystrophy News

    Other Geek Stuff

    If you missed Coyote & Crow’s Kickstarter, they have a late backer option now.

    We live in the future – and in the future there are lightsabers that work.

    Polygon’s board game shopping guide is a great reminder that Summer should involve games with friends on a deck or patio.

    The City of Dragons is celebrating the birth of Erasmus. Downtown Renton, the home of Wizards of the Coast, is celebrating hatchday on April 17.

    Shadow and Bone is the latest fantasy series to get a TV deal. Go behind the scenes in this story that discusses how the books were translated to screen.

    Washington State is flooded with RPG designers, don’t ignore the talent in the board game side of our hobby.

    The best board games of 2021, according to American designers.

    As Always, Maps

    Add fjords and mountains carved by gods to your game.

    This map has an old school styling to it. I want to move to this town.