Creations

This is category for stories and art I make.

  • Picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains
    Blogroll,  Creations,  Game Material

    Setting Project: The world of Ballad

    So, I have had a stressful life of late. I distracted myself by coming up with a new campaign world. Some people drink, I apparently come up with fictional worlds.  Ballad is a high fantasy setting. It is leaning into a lot of mysterious magic rather than the notion of magic like technology that you find in Eberron or Ravnica for instance. I also started with the premise that humans were rare. The assumption in most settings is that humans are the “us” stand-in and not innately magical. They are the neutral default and all other races are alterations on the human base. This is problematic and should be discussed,…

  • Picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains
    Creations,  Game Material,  Games

    The Kingdom of Durnam

    This post is an experiment. I will do a second part soon. My favorite gaming supplements over the decades have been the ones with an in character commentary. This is my attempt at that sort of thing. Here is a travelogue style bit from a scholar traveling through the Kingdom of Durnam. I have included a random encounter table at the bottom, and some other game information. I also made sure there are some story hooks in there. This is set in the post-apocalyptic setting I have written about in the past. It is hundreds of years after the giant Space Gods came and reeked enormous havoc on the world.…

  • Creations,  fiction,  Writing

    Fiction: Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga’s Light

    This is a short tale I wrote as a writing  project a while back. It is a retelling of an old Russian folk tale. It is interesting to take and old story and reframe it. I did some further polishing before posting it.  I hope people like it.     Come closer, says I.  It is time to tell the story of Vasilisa, the Beautiful, and of her terrible light.  It is time to tell of her journey and troubles, of the old crone, Baba Yaga.  I will not bite, my children.  Not yet, at least. This is time for a story.  There is time enough for you to land…

  • Blogroll,  Game Material,  Games,  Writing

    Yet another take on Kalashtar for 5th edition

    I recently offered to run the alternate, off-week, D&D game for the group I play with on Tuesdays. I would be the fill in guy for weeks when the normal DM did not want to run. My offer was generally greeted with some enthusiasm. The normal DM and another player expressed a desire for Eberron. Now, I love me some Eberron.  I could wax rhapsodic about it for days.  It is a setting with a wider range of setting conventions than are found in Forgotten Realm. And then there is Sharn: City of Towers. That said there are some issues with running it in 5th edition,  at the moment. Some…

  • photo of brown concrete buildings
    Blogroll,  Creations,  Writing

    A Guild Tale

    “I need your help,” the voice called to Kenet. The place was dark about him, and memory eluded him. Where am I, he thought? He cast around the place, looking for something to tell him where he was. Dim fog filled the air, and shadows stretched across towards him.   The figure stepped from shadow. It was Ele, her slight form cloaked in little more than shadow. She looked at him with sad, loving eyes. Her broken and blood-splattered hand reached for him. The deep cut in her throat made a sickening movement and spilled blood with her every breath. Her lips moved as if to tell him something, but…