Monsters are often born of myths and legends. Oh sure, there are some born of fiction. There even some created specifically for games, like the Beholder. Many of the iconic monsters pull from real world legends, though.
The Dragon is one of the oldest of man’s monsters. There are legends of dragons all over the world and they seem to even predate written language. Could be someone saw a dinosaur fossil and wondered about the monsters.
I address the comments going around about the Mike Mearls twitter posting. Note: think I need to do some work on my audio set up.
So, if you are a rules or lore expert and do not want to be a gatekeeper, what do you do? My experience is that it helps to take a mentoring mindset, rather than coaching. Here’s a starting point: https://t.co/8uOHFnGmBZ
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) January 22, 2018
It is all about context.
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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. The Hollow Mountain Library, found in what is now Cheyenne Mountain sent our narrator out to survey distant lands and see to the state of the world now that civilizations begin to reform out of barbarism.
In tonight’s ramble I talk about using folk lore to make your adventures more interesting. I am including a link to a story I wrote. I also briefly talk about being downgraded by YouTube.
Fiction: Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga’s Light
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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 in the cook pot later, yes.
I ramble about the Critical Role new campaign and the rising popularity of D&D. It is about as popular as it has ever been and that is a good thing.
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Decided to take a pass at making a background. This time around I am making a background for a variation on Criminals. The general Criminal background is fine and I even use it for one of my PC’s but it seems to me that there was space for more. Criminals come in a wide range and having backgrounds to reflect some of those variations could be useful. I thought I would start with a Con Artist.
A bit of trivia. The term “Mark” is a reference to a mark that was made on the back in chalk at carnivals. The mark was to indicate the subject was susceptible to trickery. The chalk mark would be applied with a pat on the back. It has come to mean the subject of a confidence job in general.
On to the Background…
A video laying out my plans for the new year. I will be doing more video reviews, a bit on comics tied to gaming, and some other fun things.
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They say there is no honor among thieves. That is probably true, but there are rules. There are societies, crews and of course guilds. I have written up a few guilds and there are plenty of others to draw on, but it can be hard for some folks to figure out how to use them.
The easiest use of course is adversaries. They steal the PC’s stuff and the PC’s have to get it back. Either that, or they beat the PC’s to the loot. That is fine but is not always the most compelling answer. Many players are into the whole idea of playing criminals. There is something to the appeal of crime stories. There is a reason why we keep seeing heist films getting made. Gangster flicks are iconic and Robin Hood is an enduring legend. Criminal societies make good stories.
The problem is, not everyone knows how to translate that kind of story to table top. If you will permit, I will offer some advice on that point.
So….new year. Last year was not great on so may levels. It was a bad year. It gets no biscuit. Now we begin a new year with a new plan. The plans may go off the rails, but you got to start somewhere. A plan is not a resolution. A plan is structure of activities and goals. Here is my plan for 2018.
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