The Hiatus

Sorry for the long hiatus everyone. Probably no one super cares. But the reason is that I've been thinking a lot about this whole blog thing.

When I started this whole blog project with Sam, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. I spammed my blog with posts about everything. I knew that when I look at my DMing style, the thing I'm most proud of is my ability to improv.

But this project got... bigger than I ever thought it would. Not in the sense of having more followers, but in the scope of what I want to do with it. I started a podcast with Sam. I started looking into self publishing, and reading blogs that don't just talk about stories, but also provide real content, and I sort of think that if I'm really going to do this blog thing long term, I would really like to provide useful content. Like, concrete things that a person can take away from my blog and use in their next game.

I'm still not sure what shape that takes though. I can come up with unique monster statistics so DMs can use them in their own material. I can come up with simple drop in settings, or lists of quirky NPCs. And those things are fun, but they don't really add to the concept of the blog.

I wanted this to be a platform to teach better improv as a dungeon master. But I'm not sure what concrete tools look like. The only real idea I have is putting together short dungeons with an improv presentation - something I think that most modules would really benefit from.

I also think that I might start live streaming at some point. I have this idea that I could live stream some world building... show people my approach to developing completely new settings, and what falls out of that. And that might be fun... but again, I don't know that it's entirely useful.

For now, I just want to say that this blog isn't forgotten. I'm just in flux while I try to figure out what to do with it. In the meantime, you should totally check out my Podcast, Banshee and Skullboy. You can find a link to the sidebar on the right.

Confused Monsters: The Death Clown

The Death Clown, a being of hideous evil, driven mad by the mix of torture and Stockholm Syndrome, part Joker and part Freddy... and they are the secret police in the hopeful town of Vallaki.

You see, in Vallaki, the only thing that keeps Strahd's forces at bay is the happiness in the commoner's hearts. And the Baron has embraced that, magnifying it to degrees which bear little resemblance to a form of sane leadership. There are festivals every week, people are required to smile in public at all times, fighting in the streets is prohibited. Those that do not - or cannot - keep to these laws are branded Subversive Depressents, and executed during festivals.

On almost every corner in Vallaki, a mime performs all day and all night. The mimes act as spies and informers. Their eyes see everything, and common people slip them notes when the suspect friends, families, or enemies might be Depressents. But the mimes are mostly harmless, at least in a physical confrontation. They aren't trained in the martial arts, they aren't going to stand against a team of adventurers set on overthrowing the twisted government.

No, that honor goes to the Death Clowns. They are only seen just before an arrest. They suddenly appear out of thick crowds as their iconic music plays in the background - summoned with a snap of the finger. Commoners flee at the sound of the song, and tales of Death Clown sightings are spoken in hushed whispers, but only in the safety of home and hearth.

And although the Death Clowns do have some powerful martial abilities, their true power comes from the ability to force status conditions on their enemies, paralyzing them with spasms of panicked laughter that cannot be contained.

The Advantage of Friends

I do a lot of game preparation. It's not usually about finding maps, and coming up with monster statistics. It's not usually about trying to predict my player's every move and plan carefully detailed plots. Most of the time I'm thinking about character motivations and interactions, feeling out how my players interactions have changed the web formed by conflicting NPCs that want different things.

Most of the time it's preparing to improv.

However, every once in awhile I come to a place that I know needs a specific scene. The Trials of Mind, Might, and Heart was a scene like that. Preparing a dungeon when you know your players are about to come across it is like that. And my next session is like that too. A lot of things have been building in the background, and tonight it's all coming to a head.

I wanted to be ready, to have a set of iconic scenes prepared and ready to go.

But I was struggling. Like, really struggling. I had a vague idea of how the scenes might play out, but every time I tried to grab hold of one, the idea floated out of reach.

So I called a friend. And she helped me prepare, and now I am feeling super prepared.

Which is the advantage of having a friend that isn't in your game to talk to. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation that just isn't clicking in your head for some reason. You know that there's something good beneath the surface, but when you try to dig it out of the sand, all you find is more sand.

Having a friend to bounce ideas off of can help you find the sweet pearl of player despair under all the dirt.

Your friend doesn't even have to be a dungeon master, although I do find that other DMs can have some very clever insights about things going on in a game. But all you really need is someone that is willing to listen to your ideas, someone to help you brainstorm, and someone who will help shape the urge you feel as a dungeon master to complicate character's lives.

So find a friend and try it some time. I highly recommend it.

Curse of Strahd: Player Handouts

Player Handouts can add life to a game. If you are playing in person, you can hand a player a note card with a carefully designed burning sword to help them visualize the new magic item they've found. You can tea stain a map, and make it feel like a surviving relic of an ancient time. Or you can hand over a mole skin journal, a wizard's spell book.

I run most of my games online, so player handouts are digital instead of physical. But that doesn't mean there isn't a place for them. Visual aids are amazing to help with descriptions. Instead of describing the carving of a snake eating it's own tail, runes carefully winding around it's body, you can reveal a picture.

Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words.

This is the handout I'm using for a session coming out soon.

Homebrew Lore of Strahd: The Mists of Ravenloft

I talk about my Curse of Strahd game a lot on this blog, and I hint at a lot of the changes and additions that I've made to the lore. But I haven't had a place to really delve into those changes. Until now. Welcome to the official Homebrew Lore of Strahd column, where I dive into the personal tweaks I've added to the game. Today I'm going to jump into the actual Mists of Ravenloft, the strange fog that plays such a big part in the adventure.

If you have a character named Badger, Cyrus, Sparrow, Vaclav, Ariane, Flint, or Sascha I suggest you stop reading here. Otherwise continue forward at your own risk...

The Mists of Ravenloft are as capricious as they are ominous; and although Strahd has some control over them, they are not his creation. Indeed, the vampire lord loathes the mists with all his dead heart. For the Mists serve as his eternal prison, trapping him as much as anyone he brings to toy with in his realm.

But what are the Mists of Ravenloft? Why does Strahd have any control over them at all? Well... to understand that, you must understand the reason that Ravenloft exists at all.

You see, Ravenloft is not just the country that Strahd rules. The Mists are more Ravenloft than anything else. The Mists were created or formed for one reason only, to keep the most terrible monsters imprisoned, and to punish them for eternity. Was Strahd a vampire before coming to the mists? Maybe. Probably. Although no one knows for sure. What is sure, is that the vampire lord exists in a state of pure rage, forced to live out his most terrible nightmares over and over again.

Some scholars even believe that Strahd has no control over the mists at all, and they merely react to his whims to enhance his own punishment.

Barovia is the most well known country in the mists. But there are many others, each it's own island surrounded by the terrible fog. Each island is different, but each is ruled over by its own Dark Lord, each lord being punished for their terrible deeds on the material planes. Rumors claim that Lord Soth from Krynn exists somewhere in the obscured lands. Others claim that Vecna himself rules a land of his own from a cursed tower of melting bones. Only one thing is known for certain: there are many islands and many terrors hidden in the Mists of Ravenloft. One must travel with care... if they can travel the mists at all.

Venting 101: Your Memories Are a Lie

This is a blog about running pen and paper rpgs. It's designed to be about things I create, things I like, and pointers on how to improv during incredibly stressful moments. I don't think I'm supposed to write about my day to day life. That sort of thing belongs in my diary.

Only, I haven't had a pen and paper diary since high school, senior year. And the livejournal I created to replace it died off so long ago, it might as well be a different age. So I'm going to vent about life here, and at the end, I'll probably find some clever twist to apply it all to gaming.

That justifies things, right?

I want to start this with a single statement: I am not a bad person. If I had to assign myself a D&D style alignment, I would either be chaotic or neutral good. I believe that generally the law is in the right, and that people should be good to each other. But I struggle with depression and anxiety, which can lead to putting important things off.

But I would be far from the only person to struggle with procrastination. And lately, after getting on delicious, mind altering (but prescribed) drugs, I am dealing with things much better.

And then today happened, and the sky came crashing down.

The story starts on a dark September night. It's three am, overcast, and I'm driving along ill-lit roads. In front of me a rotary that I've driven through during the day a thousand times. But never from this direction. There's no other cars on the road. So I crawl up to the rotary entrance, look around, find that I'm the only traveler on the lonely road, and pull into the circle.

And suddenly there are flashing blue lights behind me, lighting up the night in strobes of near blinding light. I pull over, the police man asks me what I did, and I'm truly confused. Turns out that there was a stop sign before the rotary entrance, not a yield. Which is different than every other entrance onto the dang thing.

He runs my id, and comes back, hands it to me, and tells me I can be on my way.

Now, here's the thing. Memories are odd things. More and more science is realizing that memories aren't reliable at all. They get turned and twisted every time we think of something, tainted by our emotions. But if you had asked me yesterday, if you had pointed a gun at my boyfriend's head and demanded to know what had happened that night, I would have said this: he pulled me over. Informed me I ran a stop sign. We laughed about it a little, laughed even more that it's the only stop sign on the rotary. He left to run my id, came back, handed it to me, and sent me on my way.

I don't recall him handing me a ticket. Even now, after going through my afternoon, I just cannot get a visual of him walking out to my car, and handing me a ticket. Why? Well, I deal with pretty insane anxiety, and I loathe getting any sort of ticket. And I specifically remember a palpable sense of relief that flowed through me after I drove away. A feeling that said, "that went so much better than it could have."

So it makes no sense to me that the night went differently than I remember. But it must have. Because today I got pulled over for my inspection sticker being out of date. I know, I know. My fault. In fact, I knew it was out of date. So totally my fault. This is the pesky procrastination I was talking about.

Three blocks away from getting home today, blue lights flashed behind me. I rolled my eyes, because two or three weeks ago I got pulled over for going seven miles over the speed limit on the highway. Getting pulled over twice in a month is not like me at all, so I was annoyed. More, I hadn't been doing anything wrong.

So the officer comes up, and asks if I knew my inspection was out of date, and I wanted to smack my forehead. Of course I knew that. I was already resigned to the fact that I was going to get a ticket, MA is serious about their inspections. But the cop came over to my car after running my id, frowning.

"Excuse me, sir," he said (my id is still registered to my dead name), "do you know that the town of Ayer has a warrant out for your arrest."

I gaped at him. I am not a criminal. I don't rob convenience stores. I don't steal cars. I don't even trespass. So what in god's name would I have a warrant out for?!

"Well," he says, "do you remember getting pulled over?"

I did. I told him the story.

"And you know that was a warning?" he asks, and now I'm staring at him in horror.

"Uh... yes?" I say, trying to warp my memory into anything but what it's giving me without success.

"Wrong. You got a ticket. It looks like you had a Michigan licence at the time?"

"Oh. Yeah, I did, I was right in the process of moving."

"Well, you didn't pay your ticket. At because you haven't paid, as of last Tuesday you have an active warrant."

I'm panicking at this point. "Umm, okay, so... what does that mean exactly?"

"It means you're going to jail, sir. I need you to step out of the car."

So I stepped out, and got handcuffed, and put in the back of a police van. It was nice outside, and people walked all around, staring. And all I could think was, why is this happening?! What the hell?!

But I knew there was nothing I could do. So I managed to remain polite, and credit to the officers, they were all polite about everything too. They took me to the police station. Booked me. Made me take one of those profile picture things. Printed me. And then said, "alright, we're going to put you in a cell. But since you don't have a record, we just have to wait for the bondswoman to come release you. Your bail will be negligible since this is your very first arrest. She should be here in an hour or so."

Five hours later she finally arrived. Five. Hours. Later.

But the police did give me a tattered blanket and a tuna sandwich for dinner. They even gave me a soda to wash it down with. And as annoyed as I was, again, the officers were incredibly friendly about it all. So, happy privilege I guess.

I got out almost six hours after arriving, took a Lyft to get my car out of the towing company's lot where the police had stashed it, and finally I'm home. I have a court date tomorrow, and a brand new understanding of the entire arrest procedure that I would really like to refund.

So, how does this apply to gaming? Well, I did come away with all that insider knowledge, so, maybe we can go with that.

Town Guards and Police in Game

When utilizing the town guard and the police, most of the time they come in guns blazing or swords swinging. Rarely do they take the time to talk to characters about things. They are usually invoked because players have gotten out of control. But instead of throwing nameless mobs at your players, think about the following:

• Your security enforcement officers don't want to die. They will put their lives on the line if they have to, but only as a last defense. 
• Your security enforcement is just doing their job. They want things to move as smoothly as possible, because that means less danger for everyone.
• Instead of getting up in your face, many security enforcement officers will instead try to calm a situation down. 

Granted, all of those things are enhanced by my very white privilege, and wouldn't always hold true. But the most surprising thing of this evening to me, was just how friendly everyone was. No one there hated me, they were just doing their jobs. It was a perspective I've never thought about before.

But the real lesson here? Don't trust your memories. They will betray you at every point. Be vigilant. Never sleep. And never listen to your mind, it's a raving lunatic that can't be trusted.

So, uh, have a good night. I'll be back with regular content soon.

Name That Spell: Necromancer Edition!

Here is a cool thing I made! I suggest rolling one or two attributes. Sometimes one fits better than two. Good luck, and have fun!

DM Tool: 101 Traps, Puzzles, and Challenges

Sometimes I really like lists and random generators. I rarely roll on them, but they can be great inspiration for encounters. While brainstorming the Trials of Heart, Mind, and Might yesterday, I did some googling, and found a great list of suggestions that really inspired me.

In the end my encounters looked nothing like the suggestions, but the list gave me the jumping off place I needed to create some trials that I think are fairly unique, and will be lots of fun (or terrifying when my players fail).

I will put in a reminder though. Whenever you are dealing with traps, puzzles, and challenges, reward your players for their creativity and ingenuity. Even if you have a solution written down in front of you, don't get into the mind set that the solution is the only way to deal with the situation. Be open to player ideas... often what they come up with is better than anything you did. And if you play it off right, they'll think you made that the solution all along.

The Trials of Heart, Mind, and Might

My players in Curse of Strahd have been a chaotic mess. It's been an excellent game, but their ability to protect Ireena is in major question. For awhile, The Order of the Black Doves (a replacement for the Order of the Feather, that is exactly the same except were-doves instead of were-ravens) decided that the party couldn't protect her, and decided they would do it on their own.

So while the entire party had left Ireena behind at a tavern, the Order of the Black Doves kidnapped her, whisking her across the city to their hidden hideout.

Now the players have tracked them down, and they want Ireena back. And either they will have to kill all the lycanthropic birds, or pass The Trials of Heart, Mind, and Might.

The trials are designed to be tricky and difficult. Failure is a real consideration. And although failure might not result in death, it does mean that the order will not return Ireena without a fight (that isn't likely to go the character's way). 

The Trials

"If you want Ireena back, you must prove your ability to protect her. We will not give her back unless you pass the trials of Heart, Mind, and Might. They are dangerous, and they may destroy you if you do not pass them. Do you truly wish to risk your lives and souls?"

"You do? Very well, we go then."

The characters are led to a platform that descends into an underground chamber. The central chamber is small, just large enough for the platform to descend. But there are three rooms that you can clearly see.

On the left there is a long room. About twenty feet wide, the room starts flat, but then has an ascending slope that goes up in a sharp, sixty degree angle. The ramp leads upwards for fifty feet before flattening out again. At the bottom, where the room is still flat, there is an eight food wide circular crack in the floor.

On the right side, there is another were-dove. But this one is clad in a long black robe, with a cowl so long, that the only thing you can see of it's face is a sharp beak. In his left hand is a corked vial with completely clear liquid. In his right hand is a book, with the phrase Toralia deas Loridal, written on the cover. 

Finally, the room straight ahead of you is a huge circle. It's sixty feet wide in diameter, with crystalline walls that shoot straight up at least fifty feet. The reflection of room's contents shift endlessly around the walls, creating a dizzying rainbow like mirage.

Inside the room are six massive golems:

The first is a golem surrounded with glowing yellow energy, it has a cross shaped hole in it's chest where the energy Cascades out to surround it's fists and torso. The second is a golem of red crystals. It holds a gigantic sword in one hand, and a massive shield in the other, and it's eyes glow with crimson power. The third is a golem carved of ocean blue ice. It's surrounded by a cloud of mist as the warm air clashes with the Arctic chill the golem is formed of. It's tall and slender, and holds a bow formed of the same Arctic blue ice. Next is a golem formed of burning orange flames. It's taller than all the rest, and surrounded by an acrid cloud of sulfur smelling smoke. In it's hands is a massive great axe bigger than even a Goliath could wield. Then there's a floating golem that hovers on waves of sickly green energy. It's fists are surrounded with the energy as well, and although tall, it's slender and sleek. And finally there's a purple golem formed of crystalline spines sharp enough to draw blood with even the lightest prick. The tips seem to glow with arcane energy, and it's face is fixed into a grimace of pure rage.

So... tell me in the comments which room you think belongs to which quest. Because before even starting the trials, that's the first puzzle to solve.

Diablo TTRPG: Armor Points

Every system needs a good Armor Class/Defense system, and it took my awhile to figure out what I wanted to do with the Diablo system. Stacking point after point of armor from six different Armor slots felt like it would get excessive very quickly. Even if you were using dirt poor armor in each slot, that would still give you +6 to your AC, and in a system using a d10 to hit, that's insane! Then again, I thought maybe I could switch it over to damage reduction. But that's still a 6 point damage reduction per hit, and that was problematic as well.

But then my friend Skullboy sent me over to The Black Hack, and showed me armor points. I instantly fell in love. The system is perfect, and it feels SO Diablo.

So, without further ado, Armor Points:

Armor Points: When you equip a piece of armor, it has an Armor Point value. This is the amount of damage the armor can take before it breaks. At any time during an adventure, you can decide to spend armor points to reduce the damage you take from a hit, keeping the following in mind:

• You can only use one piece of Armor per hit. So if you have gloves that only have 1 AP left, you can't decide to use both your gloves, and your chest armor to reduce damage on the same hit.
• It costs money to repair items, and it is far less expensive to fix something that still has 1 AP left, than it is to fix something that has 0 left. It is often better to keep each piece of armor at a 1 AP value.
• Armor cannot be fixed by anyone except a merchant or blacksmith. 

It's a simple system, but it feels really awesome to me.

Diablo TTRPG: 1st Level Necromancer

This is the first draft of a first level character! I decided to start with a necromancer, because they have always been my favorite. You can look at the basic mechanics for the game in previous posts, but below you will find the descriptions of the different abilities that the Necromancer has at first level.

Blood Rush (Utility): Short range teleport. Take 1d4 damage. Can use as a reaction to being hit (avoid the hit), but cannot take a movement action next round.

Siphon Blood (Standard): Medium Ranged Attack. On hit gain 1 life. 1x Damage. Explosive Attack: 2x damage, heal half damage dealt.

Summon Skeleton (Full): Medium Ranged. Summon a skeleton, and give it some of your life (max 10 hp).
After you summon, the skeleton takes a basic attack if it’s in melee range with an enemy. Until the skeleton dies, instead of taking a basic action, you can make the skeleton attack.
Until the skeleton dies, instead of taking a Full Action, you can have all your skeletons attack a single target. Skeletons do not gain Explosive Attacks. You can control skeletons equal to your Intelligence modifier (max 4).

Corpse Explosion (Full): Long Ranged. Target corpses equal to your Intelligence modifier (max 5). Each corpse explodes, dealing 1x damage to anyone in 10 ft. Explosive Attack: Corpses deal 2x damage. Targets hit become poisoned.

Bone Armor (Utility): Summon armor of bones to protect yourself. The armor absorbs 3d10 damage until it explodes. Counts as a move action.

Bone Spikes (Standard): Short Ranged Attack (5ft radius). Pull spikes of bone from the ground to strike into anyone in the target area. Each spike deals 1/2x damage.