Tag: fantasy

  • Inspiration is everywhere: Floating islands

    Inspiration is everywhere: Floating islands

    Creating memorable scenes and adventures is easier when fantastic elements are included. Many of these fantastic elements can simply be things from the real world, but amplified or expanded. In this case we’ll walk through the concept of floating islands and make those even more mythical.

    First off, yes, floating islands are real. In Lake Chippewa one is large enough it has to be pushed by motor boats so it doesn’t damage bridges.

    A floating island that drifts about on a lake or sea is already pretty fantastic. How can we up the fantasy to make it more memorable in D&D when the players are getting together every few weeks?

    This example is going to be for Sheljar, the bog-city once ruled by an intending-to-be-good necromancer, but could apply anywhere. Sheljar is a city of 100s of islands.

    Simple map of 100s of islands in a sea with a large waterfall in the south and mountains to the south and south east.

    What if a few of those islands floated like the bog-island of Chippewa?

    Rather than be moved by motorboat, they were moved by water elementals during the Age of Myths. The largest of these, Reylerel, at the time was the home of a power school of mages that integrated water, animals that live in and along water, and the peoples.

    As the Age was crashing they attempted to flee the city. The school wanted to isolate itself from the riots, to hide the dolphins, elementals, beaver and ducks that worked together to help the Kin survive. Reylerel went adrift, into the Sea of Sheljar.

    Now, thousands of years later the Free City of Sheljar is no longer ruled by the Necromancer. It is regrowing, discovering some of its influence from the Age of Myths. This bog-city isn’t a city of fog and depression, but a city of hope and humanity integrating gobkon teknology, love of animals and the lost magics.

    The leadership knows this is possible. Myth said it happened before, and drifting towards them is the Floating Island of Reylerel. At sea it moves with the swells and storms. The towers and buildings are rundown. Someone is going to need to go to Reylerel and find a way to prevent it from crashing into the docks.

    And that’s how you take a small trending topic on the internet and turn it into an adventure.

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  • The Willow trailer is more proof that there’s never been a better time to be a fan of fantasy

    The Willow trailer is more proof that there’s never been a better time to be a fan of fantasy

    Back in the 1980s there was a cute little movie called Willow. Featuring Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer and others, the film opened well and then petered out. But among certain fans it maintained this legacy and appeal. There’s a little person (Davis), even littler people (two Brownies), Kilmer with a sword! and extraordinary effects. The story is quite a traditional tale of people without anything in common trying to save the world.

    Eventually when it was on video tape it developed a reputation as a grand adventure and we all loved it.

    Now, there’s a new Willow — with the same message, better effects and even more of everything. The cast is wider and the story more grand. It looks like an epic Dungeons & Dragons tale.

    That trailer shows every member of the party featured in the spotlight. Some are noble. Others are urchins. There are sorcerers and fighters. Davis is back and so are the Brownies. The princess is now longer a baby. Where the original Willow explores just a single continent in the world the new series explores the world and more.

    It’s an epic fantasy tale and another example of the wide variety of fantasy that is available in the 2020s. Sword & Sorcery, Epics, Grim dark, Magipunk, comedy and more subgenres of fantasy are available. Every streaming platform is hoping for a tentpole series, with none dominating right now.

    Like, there’s a lot of fantasy and there’s more to come.

    Honor Among Thieves looks like it will great. Wheel of Time is still in the Top 10 for Prime Video Streams. House of the Dragon and Rings of Power are battling every week to be the most watched non-sports/awards show. Legends of Vox Machina season two is still to come. Witcher season three. Shadow and Bone.

    Outlander, Last Kingdom and Black Sails are genre adjacent in that they are period shows that people who play D&D think of when they play D&D.

    All of this isn’t powered by franchises like Marvel, DC, Star Wars or Star Trek.

    Fantasy is capturing global imaginations and our dreams. We’re watching. We’re playing. We’re creating new stories with the old tropes seen a right angle so as to capture the people who we’ve always been. Fantasy is built around tales of cooperation among those with different backgrounds, skill sets and races. Fantasy is built around the authentic statement that the diverse group is the strong group — it’s been true for the millennia of myths about dragons and the people who fight them.

  • Tips about naming your characters

    Tips about naming your characters

    Naming characters can be hard. For a DM coming up with names at the spur of the moment can lead to a stoppage in play as their mind struggles to find something appropriate for the NPC that was supposed to be a background character, but your players have thrust that individual into a major role.

    For most players, naming a character is a rare event. It is usually the first or last thing that they do. Then, it’s over until the next campaign starts. Still, you want to get the proper name for your character, because you will carry it with you for a long time*.

    *strong exceptions for rogues, criminals, urchins, and the like.

    As someone who both creates way too many PCs, and once named a formerly non-notable NPC “Anderson” after the car dealer across the street from the restaurant hosting our session I’ve developed a few tricks to naming characters.

    Easy Button

    Those of you using DnDBeyond.com probably already know this, but the Fantasy Name Generator has well over 100 different naming categories. Click the category and it will spit out ten names. Simple is as simple does. Sometimes you’ll hit those buttons a dozen times to get the one you like.

    Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

    All the way back in November of 2017 Wizards of the Coast released Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. The book is most well known for being the first official significant expansion of character classes in 5th edition. Those people into optimization ranted against the inclusion of almost 20 pages of names.

    Frankly, it was a poor critique.

    There are so many more people picking up the game every day, every month, every year. They don’t have the knowledge base that stretches back editions. They may not want unofficial sources for fantasy names.

    Xanathar’s includes official lists of fantasy names as well as dozens of real cultures that are often captured within your gaming table. This section is one of the forgotten joys of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Cracking the book open to those sections should help inspire your next character’s name.

    Use Athletes for Inspiration

    After working in sports for nearly 15 years, there should be little surprise that they become part of my gaming paradigm. There’s a reason that Sports as a Tool exists in my worlds.

    Sports, particularly Olympic sports and soccer/football, are an excellent way to discover wonderful inspiration for names. Just look at the recent MLS SuperDraft.

    Mitch Guitar was drafted. Who doesn’t want to make a Bard called Mith Lyre now?

    Sondre Norheim was drafted. Could that be your next dwarf named after a powerful elven king? Yes.

    Real people and cultures can inspire your name. Honor those peoples through the name of your character.

    To discover new names head to a reference website covering a sport with international play. Click on a league outside of the mainstream, click a team at random, and combine a two-four players’ names. Drop a couple letters, or add a few. Research those players because their lives can help inspire you the same way that reading Tolkien can inspire you.

    Sports Reference, Soccerway, and Transfermarkt are my favorite places to do this.

    As a DM, I try to have a small selection of NPCs already made up ahead of a session. These index card sized characters are there because my players will always surprise me. Most of their names have come from various athletes around the world. Some will be consistent within a certain set of cultures, while others recognize that the fantasy worlds in which we play are generally as interconnected as the modern world in which we live.

    Your naming conventions should embrace the fact that the peoples travel extensively.

    How do you name your characters?