Tag: Playing D&D

  • Finding fantastic locations in the normal world

    Finding fantastic locations in the normal world

    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.

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  • Meet Passive Aggression and Izzy Handball, two more characters inspired by the soccer team I sponsored

    Meet Passive Aggression and Izzy Handball, two more characters inspired by the soccer team I sponsored

    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 Passive Aggression.

    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.

    Character graphics are made using ReRoll app. All eight players who submitted their favorite players and idealized playing styles to be imagined as D&D characters can be seen on DnDBeyond.

  • Sports in Fantasy with Cutting Edge Cosplay

    Sports in Fantasy with Cutting Edge Cosplay

    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.

  • Meet Davy Jones, an exceptional striker and brave defender

    Meet Davy Jones, an exceptional striker and brave defender

    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.

    First up is Davy Jones. Why Davy? Because that persona is on the reveal graphic.

    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.

    That’s Davy Jones.

    Character graphics are made using ReRoll app. All eight players who submitted their favorite players and idealized playing styles to be imagined as D&D characters can be seen on DnDBeyond.

  • Best part of D&D Direct? The new player onboarding site

    Best part of D&D Direct? The new player onboarding site

    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.

    But for me the winner was about the game — there’s a new onboarding site for players. This is obviously launching because the highly rated movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is out in theaters on March 31.

    • Dungeons & Dragons Comes to Minecraft – read more at Polygon and get new monsters on D&D Beyond.
    • Honor Among Thieves trailer and a Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair.
    • 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 Virtual Tabletop – read more at EN World
    • Joe Manganiello’s 50th Anniversary D&D Documentary
    • A Look at Future D&D Sourcebooks and Adventures – there’s a lot to take in, from four more books coming out this year, plus hints at new books over the next two years. Many were thrilled to see Planescape’s coming art.
    • 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.

    The cover image of PlayDND.com. The words "Welcome to the world of Dungeons & Dragons" and "Begin your adventure" sit over a cavern with burning embers floating through it.

    PlayDnD.com

    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.

    There’s the prequel to Dragons of Stormwreck Isle as a pick-your-path adventure with a d20 called Before the Storm. If there’s one negative it’s that Before the Storm is so far down the page.

    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.