Tag: TTRPG

  • The Ferments: A campaign one sheet

    The Ferments: A campaign one sheet

    The Ferments are a rough land of geysers, lava flows, fast glaciers, waterfalls, hot springs, tornadoes, earthquakes — the raw power of the world. From this land the best alcohols of the Six Kingdoms come. The peoples of the Ferments are dispersed, spread over the many miles with four main towns. They generally live in defensible homesteads interacting when they need goods or during festivals.

    Campaign Premise

    Our eventual heroes start out as the primary defender of a homestead. They know how to contact other homesteads for help when needed, but mostly they are on their own hoping to remain safe from a world where dragons came real, magic became powerful and kaiju returned.

    Grand Conflicts

    Elementals burst from the land, stronger than before and with a hungry intelligence that threatens the land. Outsiders fleeing the wars of Six Kingdoms come for safe harbor. Dragons and their Ken continue to search for more scholars.

    Photo of a hot spring and geyser with a foreground of rough reds, the pool of water and a cliff in the background
    Photo by Laura Paredis on Pexels.com

    Each homestead has a book, collection of scrolls or other devices that helps them control an element (earth, air, fire, water) or paraelemental (smoke, magma, dust, ice, steam, mud, etc). These start out with each PC knowing Elementalism, limited by their choice of element. Each was passed down since the time of Gallinor, before the time of dragons.

    Factions

    Every player will create either an ally or adversary family besides their own. They may also have a connection to one of the families (not all families share blood-ties) of other characters.

    Adversaries

    Allies

    Rumors

    This section will fill over time.

    Animated gif of a blue-green wyvern overlooking a river
    • Kaiju roam as in the time of Gallinor — some even are ridden. Word is they come from the Kirtin-in-the-Sky and the Cliffs of Gallinor.

    Facets

    • Exploring the zero-to-hero tropes, friendship with animals, and who gets to control knowledge.
    • Defending your people.
    • Inverted West Marches.
      • Enemy generally comes to you. Though you may sallly in order to obtain resources.
      • Episodic – attend when you can.
    • Sessions are 3 hours, with each story completed in one session.
      • Characters will level up every 3 sessions.
    • Recaps will be posted to Full Moon Storytelling.

    Variant Rules

    • Wizards of the Coast’s 2024 D&D is the baseline
      • Monsters may come from Black Flag, A5E, 5.1 and 5.2 products.
      • Player options must be consistent within the ruleset (i.e. if you play a Mechanist all options should be from Tales of the Valiant for that character).
      • There is a campaign set up on DnD Beyond. Email me to get an invite.
      • Start at 1st level.
      • Use point buy or standard array for starting attributes. If you want something random, the redrick roller gives random point-buy-valid stats.
    • Playable races are Human, Hin(what they call themselves)/Halfling, or Goliath.
    • There are several custom backgrounds and tools available. We will use cultures, not languages. Common is the Western Wildes. Other cultures are;
    • Heroic Inspiration will exist as a shared dice pool that is a maximum of 2+ the number of PCs that day.
      • In addition to the normal ways to award Heroic Inspiration it will be awarded for playing to Short Form Personality.
    • Each PC manages a Homestead (Bastion from 5e 2024) that starts with no Special Buildings.
    • Each session will offer the opportunity for a short rest. Long rests are between sessions.

    Practicum

    Sessions are on Sundays from 1-4 when my main campaign isn’t being played. We’ll meet at Logan Brewing, usually. I’m willing to do duet play outside of that timeline as well.

    Each character should be built in a session zero discussing their personality, homestead, allies/adversaries and key abilities.

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  • Your players aren’t supposed to die

    Your players aren’t supposed to die

    A couple weeks ago one of my players passed away. Not his character, the actual player. This isn’t supposed to happen. My group is GenX with a couple of Millennials.

    John White left us too early. His D&D experiences were strongly in 3rd edition, though like myself had played for as long as he could remember. And even though he mostly played in an edition that encouraged optimization, it was his adoption of the story-centric campaign that we’ll all remember.

    I remember playing with a friend who was never waiting for his turn to do something, but was engrossed in the act of telling a story together. I remember a collaborator who expanded the world that we played in by fully being in it. I remember characters whose backstories and internal lives were fully fleshed out, who incorporated elements of the world that even its creator hadn’t thought of and who interwove the stories of other players’ characters into their own with a generosity and care that is rare in any circumstance.
    — another player at our table

    He’s played with this group since it was founded during the pandemic, playing on the patio of a brewery that was roughly a midpoint for a group that is spread through King and Pierce County — Logan Brewing.

    We’re going to celebrate John by playing D&D together in public — we’d like you to join us. Or you can watch. The event is March 16 from 1-4 pm PT at Logan Brewing.

    Please fill out this form so we can be prepared with characters and the necessary number of DMs

    John’s characters were:

    • Habergeon, the world’s first, and possibly only, warforged, Habergeon was crafted during the fall of a previous age back when magic was plentiful and those who are now gods walked the world as mortals.
    • Gardar, a Mehmdoan, this one-time cooper and weaponsmith lost his first animal companion to tragedy, fled his former master and now seeks to rid the influence of the Dragons and their allies.
    • Tsirdan, an elven Scribe Wizard who worked with the Dragons to control the spread of magic in Douad.
    • And Artok, our commander Dragonborn Paladin in his final campaign. Artok, like John, was noble and heroic, short on words but those few words were always potent.

    John was unlike anyone I’ve ever met, his way of thinking and explaining things was in such detail that I could tell his mind was always working in overdrive
    — another of our players.

    The first time I met John was when I was co-hosting a Sounders podcast at our local German pub.

    The first time I played D&D with John was when I was featured in the Renton History Museum exhibit on Creating Community with D&D. A letter to the editor at the time shouted that the museum shouldn’t support Satan, as if it was the 80s again.

    John’s response was to suggest to me that we should play in public so that people could see this game for what it is. He and I were joined by his wife and sister-in-law. We played in a public park.

    Though my modern D&D games had frequently been in public it was mostly at geeky places like game cafes.

    It was perfect that our post-pandemic campaigns were in a very public brewery. Many times we played a stranger would ask us what we were doing while current and former players would always recognize the game and ask about the campaign.

    Playing in public exposed more people to the game John loved.

    John enjoyed porters and though he was short on words he was always present.

    And that’s why we’re doing one session of a 4th level one-shot on Sunday March 16, from 1-4 pm. People who know John and those who want to experience the game are welcome. Again, please fill out this form so we can get an idea for how many DMs we need.

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  • 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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  • Expanding the types of Halflings in your world

    Expanding the types of Halflings in your world

    No other early-era playable species/race in D&D history has been shoehorned into a singular type as the Halfling. Originally called Hobbits, because that’s what they were, Gygax decided to avoid a legal battle and renamed them as Halflings.

    But for nearly thirty years these small people were either the peoples who lived in homely burrows (Stouts) or peoples who lived in Buckland (Tallefellows). There were also hairfoots, which let’s be honest the three types of D&D Halfling perfectly mirrored Tolkien’s varieties of Hobbit.

    In 2024 Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast says there are more varieties, mentioning Eberron’s street-gang house and Dark Sun’s roving cannibals. And that’s it.

    Halfling communities come in all varieties. For every sequestered shire tucked away in an unspoiled part of the world, there’s a crime syndicate like the Boromar Clan in the Eberron setting or a territorial mob of halflings like those in the Dark Sun setting.

    No longer are the differences in Halfling types subraces as earlier versions of the game. But the “all varieties” are conventional hobbits, gangsters and cannibals.

    This need not be all varieties of the small folk

    Caravans

    In Rings of Power we meet two varieties of Halflings. The first are the Harfeet, who travel in communal covered wagons travelling with the seasons over a wide land. These peoples hide quickly (a Halfling born trait) and sing proudly of their history. Though not ‘Shire-y’ they are clearly the popular Hobbit/Halfling of fantasy tropes. Caravan Halflings have been embraced by D&D in the past, fitting them in your world is easy.

    Desert cliffs

    A painting of a scene from Rings of Power showing small people living in an arid cliff and valley town with water chutes and small farms.
    Stoors from the Rings of Power (Fandom | CC BY SA)

    Season 2 introduces the Stoors, who live in cliffside holes in an arid land. You can see some Halfing behavior in the structure of the settlement. Again, they are quite communal, which I don’t like associating with a species because that feels cultural, not born, but this is part of the Halfling trope still. What makes these Stoors inspiring for small folk in my world is that they seem to embrace the divine luck of Halflings. Those aqueducts and microfarms carved into cliff sides seems to require bravery, nimbleness and luck. Children scampering through that space would fall constantly without the luck of the gods.

    There are other ways that you can embrace the born traits of Halflings and build some societies, captured in their homes.

    Coop homes

    Photo of a full enclosed wooden home, sized for chickens.
    Chicken coops sold at American feed stores (Dave Clark)

    In visiting various farm and feed stores you can find fancy chicken coops. These will frequently have multiple levels, many doors and windows. Sometimes they have a small fence in material similar to the walls or roof.

    These have made me think of Halflings for some time, not just because they are made for tiny creatures. The various nooks and crannies are places to hide. Similar to modern micro-housing, a cluster of these coop-style Halfling homes would take up very little space in a fantasy city too. A cluster would touch on the communal aspect that Halflings will never escape, because their connection to Tolkien is so strong (even in Eberron and Dark Sun).

    Or one with a run extension could be a connection to terriers, cats, or other small domestic animals that live with these Halflings as companions. A design with space underneath is sensible for raising mushrooms or other foods.

    What other home types make sense for Halflings?

    Rafts and waterways

    A species of brave nimble peoples living on the waters in a mix of canals, creeks and lakes makes a lot of sense. Their small size lends itself well to working in the sails and ropes of the big people too. Narrow paths of docks and ladders would require a nimble and lucky peoples too. This also works at sea, with Halflings living in the rigging of multi-mast ships.

    Bridges

    Yes, I love this trope. My own Fort Ooshar uses it. Small folk are perfect for settling in the upper levels of a bridge-city. They also make sense in the undercarriage. The ability to slip into and out of the various rope elevators is perfect for the narrative. Halflings in this environment can be similar to the Eberron gangs or they can be families who take up the small spaces that humanity (all the medium thinking peoples) ignores.

    Tree houses

    Yes, yes, yes — this trope is heavily associated with Elves. It need not be. Halflings make a lot of sense as a tree people. They are small and light, which means they can live in a much larger variety of tree and not just the not-Redwoods. Put them in birch, or larches, or cedar. Maybe they live in briars with offices in the local oak. Being just a couple dozen pounds is a massive advantage for Halfling tree people. Their divine bravery and luck are also a great fit.

    Spire lands

    Imagine a land of natural spires with Stoor-like homes, but even more exaggeration of height with tiny bridges of rope connecting the neighborhoods. Humans would hate such a place, but a Halfling would run full speed along a rope bridge connecting two towering rocks.

    tl;dr

    Halflings can be more than just Hobbits. Your fantasy version of the small folk should embrace their born traits – brave, nimble, lucky, stealthy. Don’t assign culture due to their species, but the places where they live and how that influences them.

    Your city Halflings could be gangsters, your caravan Halflings could be communal, your bridge Halflings could be a hidden undercurrent, your burrow Halflings could be a coven.

    Embrace more options in your fantasy world so you can tell a wider variety of fantastical tales.

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  • 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?