Jamison Stone's Blog, page 11

How to Create the Ideal Gaming Room Setup at Home - Guest Post

Gaming is a great way to have some fun, relax, and work on your eye-hand coordination. Whether you’re new to gaming or consider yourself a seasoned pro, it’s important to have the right setup if you plan to game for hours at a time. From the right chair to the right tech and equipment, there are certain things you’ll need if you want to have the ultimate gaming room at home. Read on for some great tips and suggestions that will help you design a gaming room you’ll never want to leave.

Take care of your back with the right gaming chair

If you’re a gamer, you’re going to need a comfortable, supportive chair with the right features. Here are a few things to look for when choosing the right gaming chair.

Back support. The proper back support is the most important component in a gaming chair since it keeps your spine aligned and your body in the right position. Look for chairs that include lumbar support and an adjustable design so you can change the angle of the back as needed. With the right back support, you’ll feel more comfortable, energetic, and able to prevent pain or injury while sitting for long periods.

Directional armrests. Adjustable armrests give you more control over how your arms and hands are positioned. Look for a chair that features directional armrests that you can move up, down, forward, and backward for optimum support.

Ergonomic. An ergonomic gaming chair provides you with the full-body support you need to stay comfortable. Ergonomic chairs should include features like a headrest, lumbar back support, and an adjustable height to help you sit in the proper position while playing. Your chair should provide you with a combination of support, comfort, and improved posture all in one.

Adjustable cushions. Gaming chairs with adjustable cushions make it easier for you to feel comfortable while you play. Most chairs that have adjustable cushions feature a lumbar “pillow” attached to the back as well as seat, back, and headrest cushions that you can move to fit your body in the best way.

Fabrics. Don’t forget to pick the right fabric or upholstery for your new chair. Mesh is great for warmer environments since it’s breathable and cool. Fabric or leather is a great option if you live in a colder place and need your chair to help keep you warm.

Make Everything RGB

In the gaming world, RGB refers to red, green, and blue. Let RGB inspire your lighting and color schemes. Here are some tips and killer gaming accessories to help you design an awesome RGB gaming room.

PC cabinet. Choose or design a PC cabinet that lets you change the lighting and design and that will make every internal component light up. This cabinet should include easy access to connect RGB-compatible components and accessories like gaming keyboards, headsets, and more.

Walls. Brighten up your gaming room with some awesome RGB lighting or décor. You can find RGB LED lighting strips, light bars, and even wall decals and artwork that will add a bold, modern touch to the room featuring the classic RGB motif.

Chair. There are lots of futuristic gaming chairs that include integrated RGB lighting. These chairs should be comfortable, but they should also have the right lighting around the back, seat, and headrest to create the look you want.

Floor. Make the entire floor RGB with lighted tiles for a bold effect. If you prefer to use lighting only around the edge of the room, try a rope light or LED light strips featuring the RGB color scheme.

Toy and accessories. Enhance your game room even further by designing an amazing background with accessories or by adding some awesome toys to the space. Wall-mounted hexagonal light panels add a cool effect, or you can fill a wall shelf with all of your favorite characters and gaming-themed collectibles.

Choose the Right Webcam

A lot of interactive games require webcam connectivity so you can interact with other players, so it’s important to choose one that has the best quality and picture. Before you shop, learn the differences between 4K, 1080, and 720 resolution levels.

Webcams offer different resolutions, which refers to the measure of pixels within an image. A 4k webcam is also known as Quad HD, because it offers four times the resolution of 720 pixels. These cameras are extremely high in quality, but they’re also at the higher end of the price spectrum. A 1080 webcam is full HD and is a great mid-grade choice due to its high-definition resolution, and it often comes at a reasonable price. A 720p webcam is another standard that’s still used by many gamers today. Although it doesn’t offer the best resolution, the 720 webcam is still a good choice for streaming if you need something affordable that works well.

Picking Out a Headset

Seasoned gamers use a gaming headset for a more immersive experience. A gaming headrest is also helpful if you want high-quality sound for talking or listening while you play using both of your hands.

Wireless vs traditional. A wireless headset makes it easier to move around the room or perform other tasks without having to take the headset off. A traditional headset attaches to your PC with a wire, which means you’ll need to remove it when you move away from your console. Most wireless headsets are rechargeable and include a docking station so they can charge up quickly. Traditional headsets don’t have a separate power source, since they rely on a direct connection with your gaming console or computer.

Look for compatibility. Certain types of gaming headsets may only be compatible with specific consoles. Check the headset’s packaging, or go online to ensure that it will work with your specific console or computer.

The Perfect Gaming Desk

Aside from your chair, webcam, and headset, you’ll want to be sure you have the right desk for your needs. Here are a few pointers to help you find the perfect desk for your gaming enjoyment.

Tall or long. Just like other furniture, you’ll want to make sure your gaming desk will fit nicely in the room. Decide whether you’ll need a desk that’s tall or long, depending on your console type and your game-playing habits. A tall desk offers more vertical storage, while a wider desk will give you more elbow room and space for a larger keyboard or mousepad. Measure the space for the desk before you invest to be sure it’ll fit.

Cabinets. Consider a desk that has built-in cabinets so you can store games, accessories, and other items neatly and protect them from dust.

Shape. Your gaming desk can be a traditional rectangular shape, or you can try an L-shaped desk for more surface area and a better fit in your room. Look at the variety of desk shapes available, and consider the available space you have in your gaming room before deciding which shape will work for you.

Console space. Make sure that your desk has plenty of room for your console while leaving enough extra space for your keyboard, mouse, and anything else you’ll need. Some desks include a separate compartment underneath, where you can store your console to free up the top surface for your monitor and other accessories.

Materials. Gaming desks come in a huge range of materials, including metal, glass, and wood. Make sure your new desk is sturdy, looks great, and is able to hold up to lots of rigorous gaming. Consider things like how it looks, how it feels (texture-wise), and how easy it is to keep clean.

What Every Good Gaming Computer Needs

Of course, no setup for a gamer is complete without the right gaming computer, so check out these features to help you build your gaming PC.

Mouse. A gaming mouse has a faster reaction time than a standard mouse. Look for a gaming mouse with the right DPI (dots per inch) level, depending on whether you use fast or “normal” hand movements. Your mouse should be comfortable, with a good grip to keep your hand and wrist stable. A mouse with a trackball is a popular choice among avid gamers, thanks to its flexibility and ease of use.

Mousepad. Make sure your mousepad includes soft and comfortable wrist support to prevent pain or carpal tunnel syndrome. Try a gaming mousepad with a low-friction surface so you can enjoy fast reaction times without the mouse “catching” on the surface.

Keyboard. Find a keyboard made of durable ABS plastic so it holds up over time and won’t get scratched. Backlighting comes standard on most gaming keyboards, which also feature a variety of colors and patterns to make playing more interactive. A one-hand keyboard allows you to type with one hand while keeping your other hand free for mouse work.

GPU. The GPU, or graphics card, is extremely important when building your gaming computer. Make sure the GPU is fast and uses the latest technology to ensure you’re getting the best graphic quality possible. Compare brands, capabilities, and features like RAM and how well it will work with your webcam, software, and monitor.

Storage. Standard storage is HDD, or a hard drive, while SSD is a solid-state drive. If you’re looking for speed and reliability, SSD is a much better choice, although it’s also more expensive. An HDD drive is less costly, but it may not have the speed or capacity you need if you’re a hardcore gamer.

CPU – AMD vs Intel: The CPU is your computer’s brain, so it’s vital to choose a fast, responsive processor. AMD CPUs are powerful and feature excellent integrated graphics, which is ideal for 3D gaming. Intel works best for videos and streaming movies, although the brand does offer many options that give you the raw power you need for fast gaming. Choose Intel if you have the cash, but opt for AMD if you’re on a tight budget or just starting out.

Buy or build? If you’re experienced in building computers, you can build your own gaming system and customize it however you choose. If you don’t have computer-building experience, or you’re a beginner, you might be better off buying something already designed for gaming. Compare your options side by side, and think about what’s most important to you, like cost, graphics, processing speed, and looks, and go from there.

If you love to game, designing the ultimate gaming room in your own home makes the entire experience even better. With the right furniture, computer, accessories, and high-tech environment, your home gaming room will be your new favorite place to chill.

Originally posted on Porch.com

The Vision of Dread Feeds on Your Terror

It's perfectly natural to be anxious or uncertain about a thing to do, or a course of action. To hesitate is the body's way to pull you back from an action, let you think it through just one more time, then to make certain. There are many times that this feeling gets the best of a person. I know that feeling all to well.

The feeling of unwelcome uncertainty is present in many living things. When a feeling or way of thinking unites thinking people, it creates one of The Keepers. Beings both immense and ancient, and perfect embodiments of the concepts that birthed them. The Conversing Titan knows every word said in the tracts of history and The Bearer of Disintegration watches the passage of time, uncaring. Keepers are usually immense beings, but not all.

Vision of Dread

It slinks silent behind your senses, ready to strike - Dream Eater by Daarken

It is terror. That uneasy feeling that most people get in a moment of danger or an uncomfortable social encounter is the fuel that feeds the Vision of Dread.

Many of the other Keepers have immense humanoid shapes. There is a small number, the ones descended from older concepts, who take on the shapes akin to animals we would know. The Aspect of Determination is the great illuminated wolf, while the Vision of Dread is shrouded, winged cat. It's bigger than a house cat, with a surprising strength and immense will. Its wings are a great shroud over its back that grant it immense lift and speed as it goes.

One of the first Keepers in existence, operating as a guide for mortals to avoid an undesirable fate. At first. As civilisations grew more and more complex, so did the things that people feared. Tribes, and the earliest gatherings of people hunted and felt the uncertainty of food and shelter. In modern times, and the times that Dungeons and Dragons games are set, fears about making ends meet and keeping up appearances can become very real. It's these fears that the Vision feed on.

The surprisingly small size of this Keeper is its greatest boon in how it hunts. While most Keepers silently watch as mortals come to grips with the various things that they oversee, the Vision of Dread actively seeks to cause fear and unease, and feeds on the excess of that feeling. As a person becomes more scared, they have to consciously will themselves through it. In the meantime, the Vision hangs from the person's back and takes the excess fear and uncertainty for its own.

Creeping Chill

The existence of this Keeper sets many people on edge. The spreading and bringing of anxious feelings at best, and immense, unshakeable fear at worst, this Keeper is a creature to be avoided, and has made it in the bad light of many culture's myths.

Vision of Dread Stats generated with Homebrewery

The age and expertise of this Keeper is also extremely valuable. It has fed on the fears and unease of every thinking being across history. It knows what everyone hates and mistrusts. In the right circumstances, it can weasel and extort anything out of anyone, using their fears to blackmail or torture.

Players may be under the thumb of the Vision of Dread without their knowledge, slowly feeling the effects of the fear aura. Ideal for a game with high realism and heavy grit themes. They may also find themselves pitted against the Keeper, who has installed themselves in a position of power, with those gripped by fear to do its bidding.

Now we want to hear from you. How will you include a creature this understandably terrifying creature in games you GM? What fears do your characters have that the Vision would find irresistible? Let us know in the comments below or on our discord server.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

Deciduous Undead - Foul Necro Botanical Monstrosities

The endless ranks of the dead will always be a real threat in fantasy fiction. Skeletal hands scratching at the living under the will of some strange contagion or the influence of a mad mage will always be a terrifying prospect.

What they are is consistent. There's very set feelings in the realms of fiction that let us readers and watchers know how we should think about them. They shamble, and they're fairly easy to overpower as long as you know what you're doing and have roughly average strength. The zombie is alongside the goblin as one of the first few things to help a PC get their first levels in combat. Because they're weak. Let's change that.

Deciduous Undead

Moss Pit Skeleton by Bryan Sola

The idea that zombies slowly shuffle about on what little muscle left on their rotting limbs is a great start, but creates a fairly weak creature. The magical energy that lifts a skeleton and animates it with the speed to be a threat is menacing, but they're brittle and prone to breaking.

Some necromancers in my homebrew setting have turned their mastery of the natural arts into warping the elements of undeath into new shapes, with the natural scaffolding of plants. In other cases, they occur naturally. In immense swamps and bogs suffused with dark magical energy, the undead can spring forth from the people who travelled there.

Deciduous Skeleton and Zombie Stats - generated on Homebrewery

Vulturous Zombie by Greg Staples

So called Deciduous Undead crop up often from the overgrown tombs and woodland cemeteries of the world. The undead have had the green of the world grow among their remains. The forces that animated those undead take those plants in with them. The moss hardens the bones and makes the greying skin smooth. Bark toughens their hides like a natural wooden armour. Vines weave through the joints and makes them both stronger and faster than most living beings, let alone other undead.

Some undead beings that fester in grim backwoods keep growing. Truly dire beings can fuse together with immense plants. Some deciduous undead grow to immense proportions. The deciduous undead can fuse with trees to bring them to immense heights, with other undead beings trapped in the knots of the wood. Some can grow branches from their backs and immense leaves can form wings for them to scour their tainted wood. The corpse flowers in our world can sprout across their rotting forms, leaving an immense, poisonous cloud around them.

The Dead Bloom

The consistently growing deciduous undead are a present threat on the fringes of the world. When the dead are near the growing life, they can make a truly profane union.

Mobs of deciduous undead can fall upon apart wandering through a blooming marsh or jungle hollow. The more serious and strong the undead for the stronger party make for a real challenge if the dense woodland has difficult terrain. It may lead to interesting story implications. Is the land cursed to spew undead horrors? Or is there some malevolent necromancer on the fringes creating these entities.

Now we want to hear from you. Where would deciduous undead bloom in settings you GM? What kind of necromancers would be so demented to mix undead and plant matter? Let us know on our discord server or in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

Cloud Elementals - The Storm is Coming

Elementals are a staple of fantasy fiction. Immense, hulking beings made of air, earth, fire, and water are such an immense visual. They dominate battlefields in tabletop roleplaying games and stories across the fantasy genre.

In my experience, it's common to see a lumbering form made of crumbling stones or a great whirlwind with a leering face. Elementals usually confine themselves to being made of just one element. Rarely are there elementals that are a mixture of one or more elements.

This is the third post featuring an elemental hybrid. Thus far they've all been themed on water, mixing with earth makes them vigilant sentinels on the sides of a river while mixing with fire creates volatile steam beings. Now we can consider what happens when elemental water is scooped up by the winds.

Cloud Elementals

Cloud elementals take as many shapes, and hold as many temperaments as the weather itself. Naturally able to fly despite their mass and size, the cloud elementals are bringers of change across whole swathes of countryside.

An old cloud elemental showing the extent of the storm within - Living Tempest by Campbell White

Their forms tower in size but vary heavily between different elementals. No two clouds are the same in the sky and cloud elementals show equal variety. Some appear as fluffy white plumes gathered in an uneven shape, floating onwards. Some charged with energy appear more as a swirling torrent or cone of wind full of grey wisps of water.

When they first form, cloud elementals are slow and very docile creatures. Whirls of humid air slowly gather into the recognisable shapes of clouds and whirlwinds. As they pass the windswept heaths they occur upon, they naturally humidify the air around them, bringing moisture back down to local plants. They follow the currents in the air and drift with the weather, aimless and solitary.

Cloud Elemental Stats generated with Homebrewery

As with clouds in the sky, cloud elementals are very short lived. Clouds are constantly gathering water that evaporates then rains back down to the earth. The lifespan of a cloud elemental is very similar, slowly amassing more water and ambient air into its growing form. This causes the wisps and plumes of a cloud elemental to darken. The winds that propel it up become fast, whistling as it goes, making its presence more known.
The longer lived the elemental is, the more crackling energy deep inside it comes out to show. Much like any reasonable creature, it begins to become aware of its own end. No longer content with itinerant wandering, bringing air and water to needy plants, the aged cloud elemental gives its last, gale force, breath suffused with lightning.

Weather the Weather, Whether you Like it or Not

The cloud elemental is a common wandering monster for the party to find. It can start as a glowing wisp in the air that wanders and drifts along. A quick swish of a melee weapon would easily disperse it into a puff of wet air. As it grows, the destructive power would only grow until it dissipates or is defeated. A stormy cloud elemental in a settlement would make for an excellent boss monster for a mid level party.

Now we want to hear from you. How would you use cloud elementals in a game you GM? What unlikely, tropical weather features would be absorbed by cloud elementals in other regions of your world. Let us know on our Discord server or in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

The Cucurbita Regrow, and Smell Like Autumn Itself

The worlds of fantasy RPGs can be populated by things that defy imagination. That's what draws people to playing them year after year. The beings of myth, and the wild creation of game masters the worlds over mean that anyone can embody anything.

We've seen one other race entry for your 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons games. The mysterious Selkies of Celtic Myth populate the shy, coastal towns of many worlds. Hidden, reclusive, and well in tune with the ebb and flow of the world and its waterways. Their shape changing nature means they can walk fairly freely. Some people may draw more curiosity, such as the satyr and centaur. Then come the truly bizarre. There have been plant-like people in past editions of this game, but none quite as visually striking as The Cucurbita.

The Cucurbita

There's an insidious look to the Cucurbita; a remnant from the lands of the faeries, that have somehow trickled down our world through unknowable doors and gates.

Their form is striking, and it immediately makes their form very obviously not quite like you, I, or most who walk the worlds of fantasy fiction. Their bodies are made of woven plant fibres. They stand up with vines that cascade down from their immense heads into the usual humanoid shapes. Strong plant matter, resembling wood naturally grows around these vines to form plant bones.

Pumpkin Head Jack by Jarrett Moore

The striking part, which makes the Cucurbita recognisable, is the head. Immense, orange pumpkins sit on the shoulders of these beings. Natural sections in the skin depress into the fruit as the Cucurbita grows making uneven shapes for eyes, nose, and an elongated shape for the mouth. For many cultures on many worlds, the carved face in a pumpkin is a figure of fear on certain days of celebration. This may be where that tradition originated – and some Cucurbita appreciate the representation, while others are horrified by the wanton cutting of fruit for just one day.

The noteworthy thing about Cucurbita is the immense growth afforded by their plant existence. Their resilience is unparalleled by most other living peoples. Death for a plant is very different for an animal, because a part of their living (but not thinking or conscious) essence is still there in the limb of the tree.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and any score other than Constitution increases by one.

Age. Cucurbita mature within one week of their first planting. They naturally live to roughly twenty years, beginning to wilt and wither at the 15/16 year mark.

Alignment. Recognising their short lifespan and the repetitive nature of their regrowth keeps them fickle and chaotic. They can easily flit between the Good and Evil alignments, as is their want.

Size. The Cucurbita can grow to heights between three and six feet, but never exceed more than 100lbs. Your size is medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Skill Versatility. You have proficiency in one skill of your choice.

Regrowth. If the Cucurbita dies, that's not the end. When they die, if their body is not destroyed, the pumpkin head breaks letting out 1d4 seeds. If the seed is planted within 24 hours, the Cucurbita will regrow in a number of days equal to 5 minus your Constitution Modifier. You regrow with your abilities intact and the memories up to and including the moment of your death.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write common, and another language of your choice.

The Pumpkins Patched

With these strange plants wandering around the worlds, we want to hear from you. Would you bring Cucurbita into the worlds you GM? Would races with their origins in odd things like plants or the elements be worth exploring? Let us know on our discord server or down in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

Steam Elementals - Scalding Water Strikes with a Vengeance

Elementals are among some of the oldest creatures in the many myths of our world, and the many worlds of fantasy RPGs. Beings made of great sheets of rock, swirling torrents of water, howling winds and searing flames.

In all my time Game Mastering RPGs, I've found that forms of these elementals, great and small, stick to just these singular elements in one being. There are a few exceptions. However most elementals are just air, earth, fire, or water. The energy which can animate the elements into a living being probably shouldn't stop at just one element. Why are there so few elemental hybrids in my favourite RPG system?

This is the second elemental hybrid I've covered, the first being the fusion of earth and water. I think continuing with water, before finding another element to flow into is the natural thing to do. Let's get steamy!

Steam Elementals

No this is not another name for your average PC gamer.

Steam elementals are unlikely beings, but found in places where waters flow and the intense heat of burning forests or the molten core of the earth is powerful. They take the form similar to a water elemental. Their bodies flow upwards in a vaguely humanoid shape with arms and legs. The water they're comprised of is usually a murky black of smoke that can't billow up and away.

A contradiction of cool water and roiling heat - Steamcore Weird by Justin Norman

When water, particularly the enchanted water that may yet spring to life as an elemental begins to evaporate, it doesn't always kill the water elemental. Much in the same way, a roaring, living fire doesn't cease when it's doused. Sometimes the heated water springs up and takes on life as scalding air.

True steam elementals are more akin to hot water, with roiling fire deep within. Truly immense flames, from stuff such as thermite and other devilish matter, can continue to burn underwater. It's this kind of material that fuels the hearts of steam elementals.

Water flowing near places of intense heat are the more common place to find steam elementals. This makes them abundant in volcanic region or immense geyser field. Players may also find them in places where fire occurs unexpectedly near natural flowing water. A cleansing fire in a forest may spawn a steam elemental.

Steam Elemental Stats generated with Homebrewery

By nature, steam is chaotic. It scalds and burns, but as it wanders, the sulphur and water in its form feeds and enriches the land it's near. As destructive as it may seem, the steam elemental may seem, it balances it just by living.

Into Hot Water

As with the delta elemental, the steam elemental is a very frequent and dangerous wandering monster. It's not inherently aggressive, but will stay aggressive if it needs to be.

Now we want to hear from you. How would steam elementals feature in your game? Would the hot water, sulphurous water have the intended effects on the world? Would they be aide and help, or an unexpected magical menace? Let us know in the comments below or on our Discord server.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

The Conversing Titan Knows Full Swathes of the Universe's History

The Keepers are ancient and forever, constantly obeying the tides of existence that breathed them into being. Keepers embody an aspect that ties together the collective unconscious of thinking beings. All people from every civilisation have added their thoughts and feelings about a certain thing to the many Keepers in the mutliverse, even without their knowing. As long as something is abstract and known by the majority of conscious beings, there will be a Keeper incarnation of it.

We've seen the slow marching progression of time, the vision that guides people onto a task, and the unnatural aggression that leads people to do terrible things. The Keepers in their essence, represent things and their actions in the world act to just be. With the exception of the Bearer of Disintegration, the other Keepers proactively spread their will of inspiration and warfare. The Conversing Titan is no different.

The Conversing Titan

The Conversing Titan is an immense being and acts as the Keeper of conversation and communication.

It roams where it wants to, hearing everything that has ever been said - walking archive by heather hudson

The Keeper stands twenty feet tall, and is made of a disorganised collection of papers, scrolls, books, and documents. It walks with an immense rustling and tearing sound, leaving trails of tattered papers in its wake.

Its body is a consistent repository of more information that could possibly contained on that much paper. Every spoken conversation that has ever happened, or is currently happening is written somewhere in the Keeper's body. The knowledge is written in a language that has never been translated or written down. A tongue that's native to no one but is possible for anyone to understand. The longer a person looks at the symbols, letters, and pictograms on the sides of the Keeper, their senses will haze over then it becomes legible.

There's more there than can be read. The Keeper also holds the secrets and mysteries that were thought of and speculated, but never said aloud. The schemes between insidious people discussed around a fire. All those times a person's tongue slipped and they thought “I can't possibly mean” that, even though they did. All those thoughts and feelings are written somewhere in the Keeper's paper body.

Scrivener of Eternity

For some characters, simply knowing that this Keeper exists is tantalising enough to want to find it. Its entire body is made of secrets and knowledge. Its blood is the ink that writes these secrets out. Adventurers scour the multiverse looking for The Conversing Titan. One page could add up to a conspiracy that could unravel an entire nation. Or, more likely it's an elderly man who lives alone talking to the air to help him find his keys.

Conversing Titan Stats generated on Homebrewery

In any case, hunting the Keeper for the secrets its body is made of would be folly. The Conversing Titan cannot divulge any part of the writing that makes up its body much in the same way you can't reach inside yourself and hand over your bones. If the Keeper is destroyed, the pages that make up its body persist for a time, but any new writing stops. Adventurers have a short window to search and salvage the pages before they disintegrate, reforming wherever the Keeper has reformed. This naturally makes The Conversing Titan very reclusive, sitting quietly on the edge of reality, listening intently to a podcast themed around the universe.

Now we want to hear from you. What would The Conversing Titan have written that would draw your players? Where would they find it, and would they have a chance to be gifted knowledge from it. Let us know in the comments below or on our Discord server.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

Delta Elementals - the Fine Mixture of Earth and Water

Elementals are an ancient, cardinal kind of monster in fantasy, and even science fiction. The old pillars of alchemy brought to life; air, earth, fire, and water. It's easy to imagine the great strides of immense stones tumbling from a towering form, or the world left sopping as a being made of twisting water washes through the city.

In my time covering monsters, I've made a series out of dragons, and my own creations, the Keepers. Those two series' aren't going anywhere, don't you worry about that. With everything written about true Elementals, Elemental type creatures, myrmidons, and elder elementals like the Phoenix, I notice something quite troubling: they're all just one element.

As I've ruled it in my own writing, elemental powers are quite rare and very confined. Thinking elementals would find hybrid elementals abominable. This makes them incredibly rare and fascinating to magical practitioners who study them.

Delta Elemental

This unlikely elemental is named after the many rocks that form when stones are washed down a river and meet the sea. Earth and water come together to lift those immense stones, worn smooth during their journey down the stream. The change is naturally slow, but magical. The energy which animates stone and surf could easily animate both in one entity.

The elemental blend of earth and water surges into action - Soul of the Rapids by Anthony Palumbo

Delta Elemental Stats generated on Homebrewery

The delta elemental resembles a humanoid shape made of twisting water. Their colours range from deep cascading blues of a high altitude, alpine river. Sometimes they can be found in an inner city river, giving them the murky brown of silt and pollution. Unlike true water elementals, they have stones of varying sizes deep inside their liquid bodies. Tiny stones fill in the extremities like fingers and toes. Immense stones line the inside of their bodies, giving them a rigid skeleton. Often, an immense stone, naturally carved and etched with other lines by the river's moving stones will find its way up to become a blank, expressionless face.

The delta elemental is naturally contemplative and thoughtful. It will sit on the banks of the river it was formed from for days on end and meditate as the sounds of its own body and the river below sloshes endlessly. Delta elementals staunchly defend natural places like this, keeping natural bodies of water safe for those who travel upon them. A delta elemental summoned or bound into service by a spellcaster is a relentless, determined sentinel.

The flexibility of water and the rigidity of stone makes the delta elemental a fierce fighter, able to twist and stay mobile but more hardy to attacks compared to other forces.

Water Shapes the Land

Delta elementals can be found anywhere the earth meets the water. They can make for an excellent wandering monster, dotting a brook or some other natural exploration scene, or perhaps an industrious city is polluting their river with refuse from magical experiments, which has drawn an elemental's ire.

Now we want to hear from you? How would you introduce a delta elemental to a game you're game mastering? How do you imagine elementals made from pairs of other elements behaving? Let us know in the comments below or on our discord server.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

The Bearer of Disintegration Marks the Passing of Time

Beings as immense and unknowable are out there. They're far more common than anyone would expect, and they're less scary than any cryptid. These are a kind of immense celestial that populate my campaign setting, I call them The Keepers.

Keepers are immense titans that embody concepts held by all thinking beings. Some with feelings of intense aggression manifest an ugly, violent brute. Some with the tenacity to get a task completed, great or small, can feel a guiding spirit leading their path. There's more about them for you to read about in my past articles about them.

Bearer of Disintegration

Some entities are so abstract and ancient that their very being is hard to fathom. The thing they embody is so abstract and hard to comprehend on a natural basis, that it makes the Keeper itself reclusive and hard to understand. Thus is the Bearer of Disintegration.

The Bearer looks on at a place once rich with life and civilisation - Soul of Eternity by Yigit Koroglu

Most player characters and NPCs in a fantasy RPG are just like us when it comes to the big wide universe. Time goes one way. We can't really imagine how the reversal of time would feel to us, and if the natural ageing of things was sped up, it'd be incredibly disorientating. This is the nature of this Keeper. Time is the plot to a story it's already heard.

Bearer of Disintegration Stats generated with Homebrewery

The formless, somewhat humanoid appearance of the Keeper stands as immense or tiny as the viewer perceives. Two people standing beside each other could be looking at the Keeper, one could be eye level to it while the other is dwarfed by its shadow. The immense ashy colour of its shape is constantly shifting. The rings which float behind it are carved in a text lost to time and detail stories that only it truly remembers.

The Bearer exists on the fringes of a natural place or a civilised settlement. Venturing too close to such things would cause it to start to age. Nothing is truly eternal, and in its presence, time has little meaning. It's not that the Keeper speeds time to increase decay and erosion. It helps the people and things in its presence realise that that is what it will become. Living things in its presence don't die so much as stop. The Bearer of Disintegration knows that this is what will happen to anything in its vicinity, even other Keepers (though they'll just reappear somewhere else). This makes the Bearer one of the most lonely individuals in this and many other worlds.

Waiting for the End

To seek out any of the Keepers is an immense quest in itself. Consulting these kinds of beings can offer immense, powerful insight into the universe as well as provide great assistance for some other, bigger task. Seeking out The Bearer of Disintegration is different. Due to its nature, the Bearer is incredibly isolationist and lonely. It doesn't want to unduly affect living things with the power of its presence.

With the reasons limited only by your imagination, we want to hear from you. How would you use the Bearer of Disintegration in games you GM? Will you see the Bearer as an antagonistic, deadly force, or a misunderstood wanderer at the fringes of the world. Let us know in the comments below and on our Discord server.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

Drain Your Enemies with Cursed Lifestealer Weapons

The world presented in fantasy RPGs are effortlessly filled with magic and mystery. The oddities of magic are harnessed by some as a power source, while flashing lights become magical parlour tricks. It's interesting to see where the line goes. When the magic of a world is truly everywhere, realism has to make people wonder how powerful wizards haven't taken over the world with their immense power.

Magic is in everything I write in my fiction, when I GM a game, and right here on this blog. I try to put a nicer spin on things, even the immense horrendous beings that stalk the night have layered history. Sometimes magic isn't nice. Past blogs have looked at the monstrous and places where adventurers can go. Now is the time for something an adventurer can use, at their own peril.

The axe draws the blood in - Bloodforged Battle Axe by Alayna Danner

Lifestealers

A weapon having the strange properties of endless, literal bloodlust is the stuff of nightmares. A force unethical and unthinkable to use as it mutually assures destruction for both parties in a war.

The lifestealer is a kind of magical armament that can be added to most mundane or magical weapons that deal piercing or slashing damage.
While attuned to this magic weapon, the wielder has a +2 to attack and damage rolls. Hitting a non-undead, non-construct creature with a weapon attack with one of these weapons draws the victim's blood out, dealing an additional 3d6 necrotic damage. This necrotic damage causes the wielder to gain that many temporary hit points until the next dawn.
While the wielder has at least 1 of these temporary hit, they are suffused with strange thoughts. Until they have no more of these temporary hit points, they feel compelled to strike another hostile creature to gain more of these temporary hit points. If a creature is able to gain temporary hit points from creatures over three concurrent days, the weapon's abilities change.

The call for more carnage is irresistible - Bloodthirsty Blade by Jason Kang

After this point, on a hit against a creature, the weapon still deals 3d6 necrotic damage. It also causes the bearer to gain hit points equal to the damage dealt. A creature hit this way gains resistance damage dealt by the weapon, and a temporary madness setting them to determinedly attack you, the lifestealer holder. If a person who has this madness is not slain by the same lifestealer within the next hour, that madness becomes permanent, putting them on a destructive urge toward the bearer of that that lifestealer.

If the one attuned to the lifestealer slays more than five creatures this way, the weapon starts to thirst for its blood. At dawn the one attuned to it must make a DC 5 Constitution Saving throw. On a success, nothing happens and the DC increases by 5. On a failure, the attuned creature falls into a pile of blood and dies, with no chance to magically bring them back.

Cursed Relic

The rage and literal bloodlust that a lifestealer weapon inspires in its user and those hurt by it has made it a sought after weapon for warlords who wish to make their soldiers more hardy at the expense of their sanity. Some see their use as abhorrent, and to be avoided at all costs.

Now we want to hear from you. How would you use a profane weapon of this kind in your games? Would they be commonplace or a strong curse to avoid and fear? Let us know in the comments below or on our Discord server.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com , he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.