Tag: RPG

  • Now is the time to reduce the house rules in your D&D game

    Now is the time to reduce the house rules in your D&D game

    Dungeons and Dragons is more popular than ever. That is undeniable. The game has grown and become a side channel to the mainstream, with its influence everywhere. But it is about to get a lot more popular. Tens of millions are going to watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

    That’s going to attract a lot more neophytes to the game.

    Honor Among Thieves, the next D&D movie looks fun
    The Honor Among Thieves trailer has vibes of Thor: Ragnarok, Guardian of the Galaxy, and Princess Bride.

    But the D&D movie is not the only thing that will grow fantasy gaming.

    Johnny Stanton, the Cleveland Browns fullback, and his group have been featured in Sports Illustrated. Stanton is also part of San Diego ComicCon’s Everybody is Playing Dungeons & Dragons! seminar — expect even more coverage of his game in mainstream media.

    From Chris Pine saying every high school should have a D&D club to mainstream local soccer fundraisers like YachtCon playing the game (we’ll do something this year too) the game is spreading faster than ever before. After a season of not-really-D&D Stranger Things dipped back in with the Hellfire Club. Season five, the final will also be D&D themed.

    There’s also D&D adjacent properties like Wheel of Time (season 2 of Origins is out in August and season 3 is already happening) and Rings of Power (season 1 in Fall). Witcher keeps going strong. Vox Machina got a season 2 and probably will get a third. List goes on, and on.

    There’s no better time for fantasy TV and movies — none.

    As experienced players and DM’s it is our responsibility and duty to welcome these new players to the game. One way to do that is through the classic Starter Set, the Stranger Things boxed set, the Essentials Kit, the new Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, Spelljammer Academy, etc, etc.

    But you also have your home games with elaborate and thought-out original plots. These games are the most common way to play D&D, a majority do not play in the official worlds. There’s a danger in welcoming people to the game the first time in an original world. Those campaigns can have a lot of custom rules.

    When the Lorebook Hunters first started in the World of the Everflow there were more than four pages of custom rules, heavily tweaking the game. Now there are just four sentences of rules not taken from the books – all able to integrate with DnDBeyond, excepting the custom subclasses. Players new to the game can create a character in 30-60 minutes rather than hours.

    That helps first-time players pick up the game. There’s plenty of support online for the official rules — blogs, video, podcasts, social media. There’s only your table as a place to learn about custom rules. That can be intimidating. Plus they need to pick up custom lore. Another barrier to play.

    Reducing both of those weights helps a first-time player become a perpetual player and eventual Dungeon Master.

    Tips for types of rules to add

    • Optional rules from the Dungeon Master’s Guide — they’re already official, in a book for others to read.
    • Rules that enable your story — the World of the Everflow has a key question as to why we love pets. It wouldn’t be the same without the bonus feat of Bonded Companion.
    • Changes that empower cinematic flavor — since many people new to the game will come from watching film give them that vibe.
    • Tweaks that don’t require technical knowledge — asking a first time player to learn a VTT rather than just video or theater of the mind can reduce their interest.

    At the same point, if you have a massive world already, don’t retro those rules. Find ways for your table to welcome new people into your complex lore and ruleset. Use session zeroes frequently, both one-on-one and with the group. Tell a new player why you have those rules. House rules that help tell the communal storytelling are always better than house rules that add complexity, at least for the modern gamer coming at D&D as a storytelling game that empowers group tales of action and adventure.

    Most of all, enjoy the new players and their new stories. They’re going to add to your table coming up with ideas and concepts you’ve never seen before. If you are doing it right you’ll have a more diverse group, telling more diverse tales — and you’ll be stronger both in real life and in the game.

  • Gendarmes of Sheljar Campaign: One Sheet

    Gendarmes of Sheljar Campaign: One Sheet

    This campaign is set seven years after the Lorebook Hunters returned magic to the World of the Everflow. It is set in the Free City of Sheljar, and is centered on clearing portions of the bog-city from the return of undead and tunneling nightmares. Combat and exploration will be heavier than social play at the beginnnig. Every character is united in keeping residents of Sheljar safe and mostly unified in the ideals of Free Shejlar (all thinking peoples have value), but may have differing concepts about how to do so.

    The bog-city of Sheljar sits in a lowland below a waterfall. The climate is cool and wet, think the lowlands of the upper Salish, the moors of Scotland with a boggy multi-island brackish lake similar to New Orleans.

    Campaign Premise

    The party is a group of guards that volunteered and is paid to help the Lorebook Hunters keep the people of Sheljar safe from skeletons, zombies, wights and other undead. Tunneling Nightmares may have returned to isles in the bog-city as well. They will start in the old neighborhood of Jherr as recent migrants have noticed a cavern with odd noises and smells.

    Made using Perilous Shores, this is the neighborhood of Jherr, to the north and east of the core of Sheljar. The southeast corner is less brackish than most of the bog-city, almost an internal fresh water space.

    Background

    The Flag of the Free City of Sheljar features the moon Feylf in crescent, a white triangle entering a field of the sea and Boo, in his skeletal form.

    Once upon a time, the Empire of Sheljar ruled all of the Western Wildes, from the Cliffs of Galinor to Mira to Qin. Then, the Born Generation of magically imbued teens (27 years ago) caused chaos and disruption, upending the old ways. One of the Born Generation, the Necromancer, thought he was doing good, keeping dying peoples and animals with their families, but these horrifying undead monstrosities were often rejected. As he raised more and more, people fled Sheljar, emptying it out, leaving the bog-city nearly abandoned to the Necromancer and his unliving nightmares. A misty stench then started to control the city and more people fled.

    It was not until after the eruption of the volcano, the battle of Cortez and Chorl, and the Lorebook Hunters eventually slaying the Necromancer that Sheljar felt free again. Now, six years later the Free City of Sheljar welcomes all thinking peoples. Those that return to their former homes have their property back. Those without homes are granted plots and space with the promise of aid. Few ships dock at Sheljar, but that number increases every month.

    Sheljar has several dozen gobkon, a few dozen Ken with no known dragons, but most of its 2,000 generally agrarian peoples are various Kin with their animal companions. The Gendarmes and the Lorebook Hunters are the only standing ‘army.’ Most of the residents are frontier peoples ready to defend their cottages but only have clubs and other utensils as weapons.

    A map of the former Empire of Sheljar, now a series of independent city-states and free towns.

    Grand Conflicts

    At the start this is a simple island of the week adventure, where the Gendarmes are responsible for discovering and clearing pockets of undead.

    Factions

    • Lorebook Hunters – this is the leadership of Sheljar.
    • Cult of Nak – these are the remnants of Chrol’s transformations.
    • Fort Ooshar is under control of the Fox and Crow, a gang that sees opportunity to raid the migrants heading to Sheljar
    • A death cult has taken over the lands west of Telse.

    Rumors

    • The Folio of Necromancy may be missing. Saffron had held it prior to rising to part of the leadership council.
    • What is that stench out east? Tunneling Nightmares?
    • The Volcano of the Glass Tower is glowing.

    Facets

    • Exploring the zero-to-hero tropes, friendship with animals, and who gets to control knowledge.
    • Sandbox play.
    • Player agency creates history.
    • Drop in/drop out, whatever. This is an episodic campaign.
    • Sessions are 60-90 minutes. Adventures are 1-3 sessions.

    Variant Rules

    • Playable races are Human, Hin(what they call themselves)/Halfling, Goliath/Firbolg, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome (wood only), Goblin, Hobgoblin, Bugbear.
      • Only the Kon (goblinoids) may be Artificers.
      • Kin start with a Bonded Companion.
      • Ken start with a Feat that grants a 1st level spell such as Magic Initiate.
      • Kon start with Tek.
    • There are a few custom subclasses available (Way of Frayed Knot, Society of Veil and Shadows, Conscript, Propagandist, Circle of Sewers).
    • There are several custom backgrounds and tools available. We will use cultures, not languages.
    • Use point buy or standard array for starting attributes. If you want something random, the redrick roller gives random point buy valid stats.
    • Start at 1st level because several are new to the game, let’s learn together.
    • The Gendarmes start with a small sailing boat (Crew:4 for rudder, sails, a repeating heavy crossbow, and a fire sling).
    • Long rests require 24 hours within sanctuary. This creates a pace of play more similar to novels than video games.

    Practicum

    Sessions will be on Wednesdays right after work, played over Meet with shared screen used to help set the scene. Theater of the Mind will be the most common form of combat, ideally using cinematic descriptions which will grant Inspiration. There is a campaign on DnDBeyond, used only by the participants rather than open to public.

    Every character is assumed to have Common Knowledge in the Six Kingdoms.

  • Reblogging — TV Series Review: The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)

    Source The first three episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina were just released on Amazon Prime Video. The show is based on the first campaign of “Critical Role”; a Dungeons and Dragons live play podcast and twitch stream. So far three episodes have been released; it is difficult to judge whether or not the […]

    TV Series Review: The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)
  • The Normalization of D&D in Media

    The Normalization of D&D in Media

    Over the years mainstream media has shifted from acting as if Dungeons & Dragons was connected to Satan and murder, to acting as if players were just nerds in basements to be ignored, to being nerds in apartments to be mocked (Big Bang Theory), to superpowered nerds to save the world (Stranger Things), to now just people who like something that other people don’t like (Ghosts) without any judgment of the game.

    The D&D episode of CBS’ Ghosts will re-air as part of the Ghosts marathon on December 23rd.

    Seeing this shift, which I’ve lived through every moment of, still amazes me. Yes, there were times when genre shows featured D&D. Stranger Things made sense. The game fit and was featured in the story.

    The current status of the game is different. This isn’t some niche hobby anymore. Active football players play; Jack Black plays; there’s a regular show on cable TV that is D&D.

    Ghosts did something different. One of the main characters mocked the game, but the way D&D was featured wasn’t a mockery. Instead, Dungeons & Dragons was a way to further establish fellowship between the diverse cast of ghosts and the one living who shares their space and cannot see them. Also, the d20s helped solve the other plot of the episode. Lead writer Joe Wiseman addressed this on Dragon Talk recently.

    Every time I encounter the featuring of D&D as normal continues to astound me. Once forced to hide my passion for the game or get the books knocked out of my lap as if real life was a crappy teen comedy, now D&D is popular and mainstream enough that it is on my resume, talked about during job interviews, played in public, and can raise money for charity as celebs play.

    Much of the mainstreaming of the game is because many of us nerds that hid in our basements are now of the age that we are in positions of influence. While it is Zoomers and Millenials that are the fuel spreading the game, GenX leadership is normalizing it.

    Writers rooms throughout Hollywood played as kids and are playing again, as are the actors, cinematographers, set designers, etc. Video game designers (and all of the support staff) played with pen and paper, then translated that to big screen.

    D&D’s tropes are mentioned in genre fiction (Onward!) and regularly trend on social media. There’s not a day that goes by that an Alignment Chart meme doesn’t show up.

    Now that we’re mainstream there’s always that worry among us olds that things will change in ways that we don’t understand. But at it’s core D&D has always espoused that a “diverse group is a strong group.” And all of the current changes lean into that trope that started with the Fighting-Man, Magic User, Thief, and Cleric that were also a Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Elf.

    Leaning into that means more players, more games, more chances to “roll for initiative.” That’s all I want.

  • Narrative character creation in 5th edition

    Narrative character creation in 5th edition

    Story is modern roleplay gaming. But, character creation per the Player’s Handbook is mechanical. It doesn’t have to be. It can follow a narrative; this is how.

    The character creation order changes a little bit with this method. Now it’s almost as if your character is going through childhood and adolescence while you and the DM (ideally together) go through this process. Kind of like filming a documentary, together you discover the journey from birth to hero. Take notes and get the feeling of the story that created the personality that will exist at the table later. If the player talks about history or backstory that doesn’t yet exist in your world, they are there creating it with you. This empowers the player to help with worldbuilding and creates bonds between the character and the past.

    I’ve done this with two players so far. The following has the steps of process and a practical example.

    Tell me about your parents

    This is the first lead. The DM is trying to figure out a bit about the homeland and race of the parents. They don’t need to be known (orphans are common in our base literature), but at the least get a few words describing origin country and race. Write those down. Get their given name now. Maybe their adventuring name is different, but when they are born, they are named.

    My first player said his parents were a merchant family from Southern Kirtin. They’d lost their lands when Daoud took over. They are halflings that abhor Azsel.

    Race: Halfling

    Are you strong, intelligent, wise, a leader, nimble, healthy?

    As the DM I generated a random point buy array and asked for the player to describe their character traits that they exhibited as a youth. Were they the type that led groups or shy? Did they throw rocks, or work in the mill? Maybe they were sick, or never got sick when others were? Some people read a lot, or read people. Distribute the six scores based on the answers given.

    This player said that they were a bit of a leader playing with the kids, generally healthy, tended to know and understand people. They were a bit weak (halflings in Everflow have minuses to strength).

    STR: 7 | DEX: 16 | CON: 14 | INT: 11 | WIS: 14 | CHA: 14

    Your parents did what? Did you follow in footsteps?

    The answers to these questions determine Background, and help guide you towards Class. They aren’t the answer to class, but do influence it. A lot of personality gets built out here. The Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw should be apparent from this conversation. If it isn’t offered, the DM can probe a bit more.

    In our example the character was raised by a merchant family that wanted to do everything right, that as a family wanted to regain their lost market in Kirtin-on-the-Lake and as the youngest of the trade family he’d been swindled once or twice, so he’s a bit suspicious of that.

    Background: Merchant with skills in Appraiser’s Tools because he doesn’t trust and Vehicle’s (Land) because he was the youngest son.

    What makes you special?

    Ask about the time that the character discovered that they aren’t common, but instead began to know that they are a hero. Have them describe it. Did they fight with arms, pick up a bow? Maybe they stole something? There should be indications towards class here. The experience may be a bit like a tree where the branches are melee or magic. After that the split might be sneaky (Rogue), hefty (Fighter, Barbarian), ranged (Fighter, Rogue, Ranger) or divine (Cleric, Druid), arcane (Wizard), discovered (Sorcerer), pledged (Warlock, Paladin). Are they principled (Monks, Paladins, Clerics)? This is likely the longest conversation you have during narrative character creation. Throw them some experience for wonderful ideas that surprise and entertain you.

    But during this section you’ll come away with their Class, their options like Fighting Styles, or Faith, or Wizard school, etc.

    Our example character was someone who had a caravan raided. He wasn’t a fighter, and didn’t know magic, instead he helped. He distracted the opponents, or warned his guards. Throughout the fight he was helpful. After the fight he repaired the cart, and returned the goods.

    Class: Uncommoner (this is a homebrew that may be public soon)

    Altogether it isn’t a major shift. Maybe some tables already do similar. For me it created a process shift from “this is what I am” to “this is how I came to be.” That adds some depth.