With a week away from collaging about Dungeon lore and Dragon news, this collation of links, videos, podcasts, and maps is bigger than every. It may be the last in the weekly collection. They are becoming too hefty. Maybe a scheduled day for the major topics of the Collage makes more sense? We’ll see.
With D&D bringing back the official blog it’s interesting to think about how the game that is word-centric has most online discussion via videos and podcasts. The new blog will help fuel conversations across all mediums.
If you’ve ever wanted to play a carnival barker or newsie you had to reskin other backgrounds. Until now. The Crier/Herald/Barker is what you are looking for.
I started listening to The Black Dice Society because I wanted to prepare for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. What wound up happening is me discovering a layered horror show with excellent characterization and a creep factor that hits me just right.
There’s more dragons in your dungeons, if you want them.
Official D&D Product Releases and Reviews
Dungeons & Dragons Movie News
Casting Regé-Jean Page means near weekly mentions of D&D in mainstream film and TV discussions. Page’s star couldn’t be rising faster, and there’s d20s chasing him. Page and the cast are already showing up in Belfast to start filming. Some scenery shots were already filmed in Iceland too.
Emerging phenom Chloe Coleman joins the ensemble. Coleman already has twice as many credits as she is years old. She’s 12.
Just so you don’t forget, the Derek Kolstad TV project isn’t the only D&D TV project. It is merely the only one with a known personality attached to it.
Yawning Portal Opens for Virtual Weekend Play May 7-9
Draconic Options Unearthed Arcana
Wizards of the Coast is testing three new versions of Dragonborn, a new Kobold, a few Feats, and seven spells. I enjoyed most of the stories behind these, but feel that uncoupling the PHB and Volo’s versions of these races is a mistake.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft Previews
The latest issue of Dragon+ is dedicated to the mists of Ravenloft. Lore You Should Know continues their dive into the subject too.
Of course, Black Dice Society is another introduction to Ravenloft, but so much more. Yes, that’s a second plug for my own article.
Third-Party Products
ThinkDM has a review of MCDM’s Illrigger, their first custom class. It’s an evil leaning class that has some flavors similar to Paladins, Warlocks, and blood magic.
Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent is the heavy metal, overpowered D&D setting from the creator of Warcraft. The Kickstarter will hit One Million Dollars shortly.
Advice for Dungeons & Dragons Payers and DMs
An oldie, but a goodie – Paths Peculiar goes to in-depth into creating your own world.
ThinkDM expands on the discussion of the Illrigger. The class may echo other class themes, but takes a unique mechanical approach that amplifies the story elements.
The dump stat of 5e – Intelligence. Maybe the players need to act like their characters aren’t smart?
These character sheets will be added to my collection.
Shifting from language to culture is one of my key desires in 5th edition. There are more stories available to tell if we empower our players to understand both, not just scribbles on a page. So how do you make quickly understandable cultures? Like this.
Calendaring is the number one death of any D&D campaign. One way to reduce that impact is through Duet-play. That style does take an even more character-centric approach to design, luckily the experts at Duet have a guide for you.
Playing D&D in Civic Spaces During the Pandemic
The Kamloops, B.C., public library is hosting Geek Week. Yes, there’s lots of D&D and D&D adjacent stuff to do.
Also up in Canada, this time Ottawa, the Putnam County Library is putting together a D&D group starting May 25.
Dungeons & Dragons is Mainstream Now
One-act plays about D&D getting Kennedy Center Awards, even if regional, is not a thing I ever expected to discover. | MCC’s Robert O’Brien honored by the Kennedy Center for playwriting – Mesa Legend
As the pandemic continues to impact college life students continue to turn to role-playing games for social interaction. | How “Dungeons and Dragons” Serves as a Socially Healthy Pastime – Indiana Stateman
“Blood of the Paladin” is a novelization that combines D&D and real life. | Novel Illustrates Life With Hemophilia, Dungeons and Dragons – Hemophilia Today
There may be a campus that doesn’t have an active D&D community during the pandemic, but at this point that’s doubtful. | Athens and UGA Dungeons & Dragons groups adventure through pandemic – The Red & Black
The Satanic Panic closed D&D to so many. The pandemic opened the game back up to them. | Yeah, I Play. You? Check Out My Dungeons & Dragons Alter-Ego – Mix 93.1 FM
D&D is too often seen as an American phenomena. That’s lazy. The game is popular throughout the English speaking world with it continuing to rebuild in Spanish, Portuguese, German-speaking countries and more. | Rolling with it: Ottawa’s Dungeons and Dragons community thriving online – Capital Current
Other Geek Stuff
Polygon previews the best board and role-playing games of Spring.
Austin’s The Fiery Talon is a pop-up fried chicken/D&D restaurant.
Remember when everyone in geekdom, and mainstream, cared about Game of Thrones and now no one does? It’s ten years old and the world has forgotten.
Are you a comics fan that’s into D&D? IDW has a Humble Bunble of up to 100 titles starting at just 1$.
Amazon Prime’s Second Age telling of JRR Tolkien’s saga of The Rings will cost over $465 million in season one. To put that in some perspective that’s more than WandaVision and The Mandalorian season ones, combined. We are in peak fantasy in TV and movies.
There are lighter fantasy tales to tell. Wanderhome is an RPG about sentient animal folk living lives that aren’t necessarily violent, but still quite dramatic.
I owe Jeff a review of Blue Planet: Recontact still. For now, here’s an interview about the sci-fi setting that combines David Brin’s Uplift world with heavy doses of environmental stewardship.
As Always, Maps
Your next trip to the feywild or Domains of Dread needs a dungeon where you are going both up and down at the same time.
Who wants to move here?
The adventuring party discovers this city. What’s up with the inverted pyramid?
Full Moon Storytelling 