Jamison Stone's Blog, page 14

Bone Faeries and Bladewings - Deadly Faeries

Faeries. Do not at me, hear me out. Faeries have been present in the majority of the world's folklore, and their place in Dungeons and Dragons has elements of its lore which reference back to Shakespeare. Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle famously insisted on the existence of faeries, and was a big believer and insisted on the authenticity of Cottingley Fairies.

It's easy for people outside the fantasy genre to take faeries as a little less seriously. They're airy, fleeting, and fun loving. Tinkerbell has done no favour for their reputation. They are tiny, untrustworthy tricksters at best, and violent tiny death machines at worst. Look no further, than the two fae creatures in this article. One, is small but deadly – the other is all deadly. Hopefully your players will fly away while they can.

Bladewings

Swordwing by Steve Argyle

Tooth and Bone by Nell Fallcard

Though they're the size of your average Pixie – two to three inches tall, and weighing in at the ounce – the Bladewing is a deadly. They live in the bark of the oldest trees of nearly every forest in the world. After they were cast out of the world of the faerie, for their ugliness and ruthelessness, they grew jaded as a people. Their jadedness, translated into literal jaggedness of their form.

Their most extreme difference to other fae-kin is their bladed arm. It differs between the right or left for individual bladewings, but all of them have a sharpened carapace instead of a hand with fingers and digits. Bladewings make every effort to keep this limb sharp. It serves as a tool, and a fearsome weapon. Bladewings have hardened shells, like an insect, which is covered in many barbed surfaces. As they fly, their wings ring like what we would know as a mosquito – an intensely high pitch ringing.

The Bladewings as a people are eternally unhappy with how they were treated in the fae-world. They choose to view their unusual shapes as a badge of honour, and bismerch all things they deem prettier than themselves. Stealing riches, vandalising artwork, or even attacks on individuals are all things the jealous faeries are willing to do, to ease their unbalanced minds.

Bone Faeries

In the nicer myths, or bedtime stories told to children when they lose their small teeth – the tooth faerie is coming for abandoned and unwanted teeth. There have even been sightings of tooth faeries coming for the old and the dentured.

This is a cute picture if you believe that faeries are small and nice. Most of the time, faeries are not nice, and sometimes they are not small. Bone faeries stand just under six feet tall, with dragonfly-like wings spreading up to twenty feet wide.

Tooth faeries collect discarded teeth to grind for building, medicine, or high fashion. Bone faeries bones, discarded or not, out of an obsessive need to hoard them comparable a dragon. Most bone faeries have favourite creatures they like to take from, but they usually prefer to take from humanoid races over beasts or monstrosities. Sometimes they wait for a creature to die, and plunder the corpses like carrion. More often, their violent nature compels them to remove the bones aggressively from still living creatures.

Flitting Away

Not all faeries mean well. I wanted to turn something generally considered endearing, sweet or friendly into something sinister and dangerous. Now I'd love to hear from you. What unconventional take could we make on the known and familiar? What friendly monster could we make dangerous? What malicious creature could we put a spin on to make them nicer? Let us know in the comments below, and thanks for flying with the meanest faeries of many worlds.

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.

Purple Dragons - Schemers in the Dark

It's hard for me to get dragons off my mind. Grand mythical reptiles of ancient power and wisdom that breath fire or lightning will always, always be cool to me. With the last article about them fresh on my mind, I think it's high time we visited more dragons.

Purple Dragon by Todd Lockwood

Part two of this series will take us somewhere much more insidious, compared to the cityscapes and ancient ruins that the titanium dragons call home. Now we go dark. Now, we venture to the deep places of the Dungeons and Dragons worlds. Now, things get trippy.

This material has my own spice to it, but it is heavily inspired by The Draconomicon from a previous edition. We all know how we feel about that edition, but its good ideas need to be brought into the now.

Purple Dragons

Purple dragons, sometimes called deep dragons or eldritch dragons, are often dismissed by draconologists as being extinct, a myth, or both. Those living in the deep underground civilisations of the world know better. Purple dragons are a very real threat.

As the world was progressively dominated by dragons of other colours, purple dragons were drawn under the world's crust. Lured by the civilisations that dwell there, and their insatiable greed to fill their treasure hoards with gemstones – the more irregular and uncut, the better.

Life underground has had a profound impact on their physiology. The need to fly is still present in massive underground canyons, but the great soaring wings of surface dragons have been shrunk over time into wider frills suited for gliding. The claws on these wings aid in climbing the vertical stretches of tunnels found deep underground. Their forms are lithe and thin, making many deep dragons able to slide and slither as well as walk or climb through underground caverns.

Ancient Purple Dragon Stats - Stat block made oonHomebrewery

As a deep dragon moves into an area, usually one surrounded by a populace of some kind, it makes every effort to learn the tectonics of the cave its in. To know where the fault lines are and where the stone is its strongest and weakest. Holding an underground civilisation to ransom is easy when you can threaten a cave-in or boulder-fall at a moment's notice. As such, the dragon insists on a gaggle of devoted followers to do its bidding in places too small or narrow for it to travel.

The purple dragon is a master manipulator. While the surface dragons have fearsome might to bend enemies to their will, purple dragons have chosen a subtler art to control. The glamour of their scales and the dulcet tones of their voice can beguile the minds of those in their presence, and if that fails, the dragon's breath attacks the mind far stronger than it attacks the body.

Purple Dragon Lairs

Purple dragons dwell in immense caves of unworked gemstones and crystals. It makes every effort to sharpen its claws on the raw earth, so that the crystals are made visible, but are too deep for humanoid races to excavate without time. Time the purple dragon would never permit.

Lair Actions:

Adult Purple Dragon Stats

The dragon has memorised the placement of each crystal in their lair and can use that to its advantage. The dragon beats its wings and scratches the loose earth in the cavern. Each creature within 20 feet of the dragon must make a DC 15 Dexterity Saving Throw. On a failure, each creature is blinded and cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn.

The dragon, despite its intense love of the crystals, will use them as a weapon if needed. The dragon chooses a 10 feet radius cylinder it can see within 120 feet of it. Crystal shards fall from the ceiling or jut from the ground in that area. All creatures in the cylinder must succeed a DC 15 Dexterity Saving throw or take 14 (4d6) piercing damage.

Region Effects:

Creatures that are within 6 miles of the dragon's lair, and underground get the feeling of consistent dread when going towards the dragon's lair.

Sources of running within 1 mile of dragon's lair run still, and provide no refreshment to anyone who drinks from it.

Crystal nymphs patrol thinner caverns within 6 miles of the dragon's lair. Crystal nymphs have the statistics of ice mephits, but it has an Intelligence and Charisma of 1 (-5) and all instances of cold damage are replaced with psychic damage.

Leaving the Caves

Young Purple Dragon and Purple Dragon Wyrmling Stats

With the creep factor fresh in your mind, we want to hear from you. Where would purple dragons feature in your Dungeons and Dragons world? Are there other types of forgotten dragons, or creatures from old editions you’d love to see remastered. Let us know on social media or 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.

Welcome to The Break-Knuckle Pit

It's easy to place a whole, and bizarrely shaped, city into your high fantasy or science fiction roleplaying game. The look of it, and the general attitude of the people that live and work there are enough for some game masters to get started running many sessions in them. Some need a little further inspiration. I am on hand to take a little closer look at special corners, unique locations within a city, maybe Oculus, maybe elsewhere. Maybe even a city all of your own. Not all locations are nice places to be.

The Break-Knuckle Pits

Speak Easy's are always a familiar place to imagine. The low lit interiors, the haze of smoke lingering at the ceiling. Vices legal and not on tap for every patron. The Break-Knuckle Pits are a lot like that, but also not. There could be just one, or a chain run by a network of shady NPCs across your world.

The low lights and excited crowd speak volumes. Club Interior photographed by 573p5

As players enter the Break-Knuckle Pit, round tables fill the floor up until the balcony. Those edge tables usually have very tatty 'reserved' signs on them, because they have the best view of the eponymous pit. Peering over the edge, you'd see the other layers of the pit. Usually between four or six, depends how much underground space they could get.

That lowest level, right next to a sandy pit roughly thirty feet in diameter, is where the magic happens. Or the bleeding. Usually the bleeding.

An establishment like this doesn't get its name without the fight club it's built around being the source of the action, the main entertainment, and a lot of the establishment's income. To enter, the owners and ringside medic need to clear you for action, make sure you're physically fit and will only fight hand-to-hand. No strange magic or illegal upgrades here, to keep things fair between skilled fighters. The club also wants to keep things clean - lazer blasts and magical fallout are very hard to repair. To keep the action consistent, being a regular fighter is usually a sustainable job, with its own pay plus tips from appreciative spectators and lodgings here in the Pit. Pretty decent going for a practice illegal in many lands.

Though the vast majority of fights in places like this are kept upstanding, there may be the odd special event night. Fights with a less serious tone can happen on the local holidays or at the request of someone willing to sponsor the Pit a very heavy sum of money. When that happens, costumed fights, or even fights against magically or cybernetically enhanced beasts can happen.

“My favourite client! How ya been?“ - Arena Bookie by SIXMOREVODKA

Unfriendly Faces

In a place like this, or even somewhere unfamiliar and unsafe, it's less about what you know and more who you know. Some of the likely faces you'll get in The Break-Knuckle Pit are sources of ready information for players, possible quests and missions waiting to happen, or some they really don't wish to provoke. I'm going to leave the NPCs anonymous for anyone reading to fill their own names in as I'd likely give names for the version I've used.

One figure characters can talk to between fights is one of their regular fighters, and one of the best. There's no prestige or championships to fight for in the Pit. Many fighters treat it like their own grind. He's is the least physically imposing of any of the regular fighters. Long limbed, wiry, judging dark eyes. His martial arts mastery makes him unassuming but never to be underestimated. He's generally very humble and cordial to player characters.

“Fill ya boots my old son! Never guess who was just in here n’all!“ Back Alley Barkeep by SIXMOREVODKA

A place like this has to have the loud talking barmaid who is made of gossip and local secrets, right? Wrong! That trope, while good, has done to death. A wired remix is the idea of the mad scientist type of person, who was never actually good at the mad science, but instead turns that frantic, and scientific attitude to mixing drinks like chemicals and brewing beverages like potions. He's got all the secrets the characters may need but the manic energy the players will love.

A den of inequity like this almost always has an equally unscrupulous individual in charge. I like my gangsters to be very unassuming but with a bold personality. In my own games, some of the greatest examples of scum and villainy have been an overweight dark elf and a sentient brain in a jar. The owner of The Break-Knuckle Pit is always here for a deal, and is a respectable businessman, but one you do not want to cheat or defraud. You may not live to regret it.

Wrapping Up

Who else would populate a place like this? We'd love to hear from you. What shady organisations would hedge their bets in The Break-Knuckle Pit? Would your characters hope to go toe-to-toe with a strange combatant in the ring? Let us know in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes for adventurers at 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.

Titanium Dragons - Ancient Scholars

quietly contemplating many things. art by Gunship Revolution

It's in the name of the game, so it must be a key part of it all, right? Yes. Dragons are a very important part of Dungeons and Dragons. Everyone knows about the evil chromatics and the benevolent dragons with metallic scales. That's a great selection for some, but that's a great start for me.

This is the first part of a series where I'll be outlining new breeds of dragons. Some of them will be inspired by The Draconomicon from that old edition nobody talks about. Some of them, like the one here will be a figure of my own making. So, without further ado...

Titanium Dragons

Considered one of the oldest and rarest species, titanium dragons are linked to the flows of magic within the world. Often called Mage Dragons, the titanium dragons are attributed to the first practices of wizardry and the art of bringing magic down to a form that can be practised like art or studied like science.

A titanium dragon is known for its short snout and wide jawline, with a circle of four sharpened horns which grow in different directions for each dragon. When young, their scales appear a gleaming silver, like polished metal, but as age takes them, their scales grow dimmer and more grey. Truly ancient titanium dragons have blue flecks in their scales, as their forms have been subject to their magical experiments.

Ancient titanium dragon stat block generated on Homebrewery.naturalcrit.com

Adult Titanium Stat Block

Titanium dragons horde knowledge of whatever kind it can gather. Books, scrolls, tapestries of historic events, and often keeps historians and storytellers in its circle of influence.

A unique ability of titanium dragons is its mastery of conjuration. Over the millennia of their existence, their breath has become charged more and more with arcane energy. The energy is so potent with the eldest titanium dragons, that they can breathe creatures made of raw magical energy into existence. These serpents have a lifespan of one hour, obey the titanium dragon that created it, and die if the dragon dies. They often perform simple tasks to assist the dragon or fight to the death to defend it.

Titanium Dragon Lairs

Titanium dragons dwell in ruins. Castles and cityscapes lost to time and broken down by wind or water erosion. Despite the gloomy appearance, the lair and area around it swells with positive magical energy.

Lair Actions:

The dragon enchants the air filling its lair with energy that nullifies or weakens any harmful magic cast in the lair. The next time a spell would deal damage to a creature other than the dragon, the caster of that spell must make a Wisdom saving throw against their own Spell Save DC. On a failure, they take damage of the type their spell created equal to half the total damage that spell dealt. For example, if a wizard cast Magic Missile at first level, and their three bolts dealt 2, 3, and 4 force damage respectively, that wizard would take 4 force damage.

Young Titanium Dragon

The dragon absorbs the energy of the next negative spell cast in their lair. If the dragon is hit with a spell attack or takes damage from a spell that required it to make a saving throw, the dragon can use one of its legendary actions to have the spell rebound. A spell rebounded this way causes a 10-foot-square within 120 feet of it to become difficult terrain until the next initiative count 20.

Region Effects:

Creatures within 6 miles of the dragon's lair make intelligence checks with advantage. Creatures proficient in intelligence skills roll with their proficiency bonus doubled if their proficiency bonus is not doubled by another effect, such as Expertise.

Fruit bearing trees and plants within 1 mile of the dragon's lair bear fruit that once eaten have the same effect of a random common or uncommon potion.

Tiny beasts such as rodents and birds that are normally unable to speak gain the magical ability to speak and understand Draconic within 1 mile of the dragon's lair. These creatures speak well of the dragon and can offer information about the dragon's whereabouts and intentions if it can answer a riddle. The dragon is aware of everything these beasts say and hear.

The vaporous serpent coiled to strike - art by alan pollack

Wrapping Up

This is the first of many posts coming to Apotheosis Studios about dragons. Keep your eyes close to our site for the calculating grey dragons, the elusive purple dragons, the noble steel dragons, and insidious cobalt dragons.

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.

Oculus - The Upside-down City

Dungeons and Dragons settings are pretty well cut out at this point. It says so in The Dungeon Master’s Guide, that the world is made of a few bastions of civilization, with immense wilderness and unexplored dungeons in between. This is all very true, but a lot of the time, cities end up looking pretty similar to what we know: buildings in a collection, some taller than the other, all-around high walls to keep the people safe from the threats beyond. That’s all well and good, but as Tom Hardy said in Inception, “you mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”

The Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Corona - a 16th Century Church in our world built into the mountain

Oculus, The Hanging City

The landscape of the hanging city is so clear in my head, but there's no artwork like it, and such a city is kind of impossible by our architecture. In a game with Dragons, Gods, and people able to walk between worlds, impossible architecture is something we should really have more of. As a group of travelers walk over a range of hills, they'll eventually see it cutting the horizon open. The shape of it is like an open umbrella or a golf tee. A thin spire perfectly in the middle, with a great dome spreading out from the top.

Seven tunnels lead from the plains surrounding Oculus, up to the city's outer streets. These tunnels, lovingly called “the legs” by locals, hold the structure in place, and allow travel into the city from the surface. As years went on, the tunnels have been constantly reinforced to make sure that they can help keep Oculus upright, as too big a seismic shock in the area can send the whole structure, and everyone living within toppling to the ground.

Oculus was once built on an immense hill, something around the size of Australia's Uluru, but in a much more green surrounding. As settlers in that land dug under the hill, they found the soil itself was rich in clay, and great for making bricks. As they dug out more and more of the earth, all that was eventually left after a thousand years, was their underground homes, hanging from the bottom of what was left of the hill. Out of resources, most of the settlers moved on, but not without selling the remains of their hill to nearby wealthy lords.

The Meteora Monasteries - Buildings in our world built out of the rock itself

In the time since the city was founded, people have found unique ways to live. Bridges between the hanging buildings are how people stay connected. Thrill seekers often travel quickly by jumping between levels and from bridge to bridge. People raised in Oculus feel no real fear of heights and vertigo is a foreign concept, while visitors are often encouraged not to look down.

With a unique landscape like that, one hundreds of feet up, and on catwalks and bridges, people must ask if it's a safe place to live. It's not. Lucky for you, the powers that be in Oculus have magical fixes for that. In the unlikely event that a guard rail breaks and someone tumbles to the scraggy brown rock under the city, runic magic carved into the pit by the first settlers would “catch” you and send you back to governmental buildings up. The falling person pays a small “tumble fine” to cover costs of the magic used, and they report where they fell before going on their way. Criminal enterprises often strap items that negate magical effects to their victims before sending them on a plunge.

This is a city I've used often own games, and I encourage Game Masters out there to adapt this strange living model to their own world. It'd even work in a science fiction RPG, changing the magic for targeted teleport systems, or drones that catch you and fly you back up. There'll be plenty more location spotlights on the Apotheosis Studios blog, but places that are smaller than a city, but just as full of life.

Now we want to hear from you. How would living in a strange city like this affect the people and the adventurers in your games? Do you have strange or unique cities like this in your worlds? Let us know 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.

Blackstorm Realms - Kickstarter Spotlight

You know what’s cooler than a fun, original new sandbox-style world to adventure in?

…Infinite fun, original new sandbox-style worlds to adventure in. Well, that’s exactly the kind of potential Jetpack7 is bringing to the table with their latest 5th Edition offering: Blackstorm Realms

Would you look at that big bad behemoth?! That right there is a Celestial Leviathan, and it offers fast, efficient travel between the endless worlds of Blackstorm Realms. Essentially, what Jetpack7 has done here, is create a fun, effective mechanic for a seamless multiverse gaming experience. Official 5E realms, third party content, and even your homebrew campaigns can be plugged in to this total and complete universe of worlds. But don’t worry, you won’t have to totally build out your multiverse alone. The book will include At least three new realms/worlds for you to explore.

And as far as other original content, they’ve created a new system of player customization and crafting called Aparatum: Think of them as mechanisms that can enhance your character's body and mind ...but there are risks that balance out the gifted power.

Two provided examples of this customization feature are:

The Black Tongue (Profanus Aparatum) This Profanus Aparatum replaces the bearer’s tongue, or in the event that they have no tongue, gives them a new one. The tongue allows the bearer to drink and eat any edible foodstuff; rancid, poisoned, it makes no difference. If the bearer eats or drinks any poison it is stored in the tongue and can be used as a short-ranged breath weapon. 

The Velvet Clutch (Divinus Aparatum) This replaces one or both of the bearer’s hands.  The clutch gives the bearer unparalleled touch sensitivity. A rogue using the clutch can feel every click of the tumblers as he picks a lock, feel every imperfection in a hallway in looking for a secret door. 

Wicked.

And, of course, they supply you with a convenient and smooth mechanism for travel between all these realms, and even have a whole galaxy-spanning conspiracy with good guys and villains to fight, join, bribe, betray, hide from, and maybe defeat. …. oh, hell yeah!!! I mean look at this:

I mean… what is that? Dwarves?! In space?! Mining a floating asteroid that’s chained to another, larger floating asteroid holding up a city all while wearing magical bubbles, presumably to help with breathing?!?!

Sign me up, yesterday

So sprint your little internet selves other to their Kickstarter campaign today and check out:

Blackstorm Realms

Take Care, Owlbear

Pat

Featured Images: Jetpack7

Patrick Edwards is the co-writer of the upcoming 5E Campaign, The Red Opera , as well as the writer of the Space Tripping series of novels. Check him out on Twitter @ThePatEdwards or his website thepatedwards.com

Porcuparrot - An Unlikely Beast

Fifth Edition has given us three, meaty books full of monsters for the players to do battle against. When you couple that with the unique stats from published adventures too, there thousands of adversaries a dungeon master can throw at their players. Anyone who thinks that they don’t have enough, or don’t have some with that certain I-don’t-know-what are right. As I said in my previous post, Dungeons and Dragons is all about telling your story. Sometimes your story requires a really unique bad guy, or strange being from another world.

The porcuparrot is both strange and aggressive.

The look of the creature I’m writing about is an idea borrowed from Magic the Gathering. I wanted to make stats for this strange thing for a two reasons. Mashing together two known animals to make another creature is a fun and easy jumping off point. Patrick Rothfuss once said “[owlbears are] sort of like the Reese’s Pieces of D&D Monsters”. Why not continue the tradition of mashing two things together? The other, more important reason I put this together is simply that the creature from the magic card is something my girlfriend finds very strange, and she’s in every game I GM - why not include things that personally creep out my own players?

The stat block as I see it - made on homebrewery.naturalcrit.com

So, without further ado, the porcuparrot.

Porcuparrots live where the green is dense and humid, much as their bird-like head would suggest. In remote jungles, where boughs of the trees knit together into an unbreakable ground are where they roost. Porcuparrots are solitary, and keeping their territories very well guarded against jungle cats, owlbears, and other predators. Their many spines and barbs make for natural, formidable defence when used as a ranged projectile. The plumage that makes up their faces are as brightly coloured and varied as the parrots you've seen in nature, including cockatiels, cockatoos, and macaws.

Deeply Territorial

Some porcuparrots feed on small jungle beasts, but most feed on the shrubbery or larger fruits abundant in the dense jungles of the world. For the majority of their time in the world's jungles, they've been sought after prey of dinosaurs or civilised poachers – seeking their bones for medicine or their spines for tool and weapon craft. This has made the porcuparrot very territorial and confrontational. They keep their half a square mile of treetop or thick bush very well guarded and will fight intruders with extreme prejudice.

What a strange one - art by Chris Seaman

Uncertain Beginnings

No one truly knows where the porcuparrot first originated. The prevailing theory among crypto-zoologists is that they were the mad amalgam of a deranged mind. Two creatures fused by magic or science, and made large for their own strange reasons. Some pose that the tricky gods of nature enjoy making combinations of the familiar into the rare, such as the owlbear or the platypus.

its shrieks sound like nails on chalk, but imagine if it could talk like some parrots do - Porcuparrot by Denis Medri

Porcuparrots in Your World

What I've said above are the rules and zoology of how I use porcuparrots. In my own setting, they straight up replace owlbears in a lot of regions. These are all suggestions, and to slot them into your world, there's many things you can do with them. They might not be territorial, they could be grazing beasts that move in herds. Give them claws or poisonous spines to let your players have an extra challenge. This could even be the game statistics for an awakened, enormous pin cushion if you really enjoy animated objects.

Putting a Pin in it

This is the first of many monster blocks that I'll be bringing. Future ones will be less strange to behold, and based on my own ideas instead of other mediums. Let me know about any strange creature ideas you may have, and it may get stats soon!

Fading Embers - Kickstarter Spotlight

It’s that time of year when the first brisk chill starts sneaking into the air. It’s the time of year for ciders and pumpkin flavored everything… literally EVERYTHING (my local grocery store has a display with upwards of 30 different pumpkin flavored food & drink products). And I know for many of us, it feels like Fall is just beginning, but the way time moves these days, before we know it, winter will be upon us…

If you’re the kind of soul who enjoys winter and wintery things, and also the sort who digs TTRPGs (and really, at this point, it’d be kind of weird if you weren’t. I mean, why read an article that reviews TTRPG crowdfunding campaigns if you weren’t into TTRPGs… What are you hiding?! Who sent you?!) But I digress, where was I? Oh yeah. If you’re the sort who both enjoys TTRPGs and wintery stuff, then you need to check out Fading Embers, the latest offering from John Yackel & Valiant Fox Gaming.

Damn… she looks tough. I hope she’s on our side.

Fading Embers is a massive new campaign package for 5e that includes a Setting Manual, a Player’s Manual, and Gamemaster’s manual. In the creator’s own words:

Almost 1000 years after being thrust into a new ice age, the world of Nyth hangs on to life by a thread.

Civilization exists in pockets.  Independent city-states rule portions of the most favorable latitudes, while much of the remaining lands are now frigid untamed wilds.

This campaign boasts a veritable treasure trove of new and original content such as:

24 new subclasses

New feats

New equipment & gear

Over 50 new spells

Over 100 new items!!!

Y’all know I love my trinkets, which means I think the icy, frost laden world of Fading Embers sounds pretty cool… (pun so very much intended)

I’ll tell you one thing that isn’t frozen when it comes to Nyth: the time you have left to check it out and reserve your copy. So, head on over to their Kickstarter and take a gander for yourself right now!

Fading Embers

Well, that’s all from me for now. Until next time…

Take Care, Owlbear

Pat

Featured Images: Valiant Fox

Patrick Edwards is the co-writer of the upcoming 5E Campaign, The Red Opera , as well as the writer of the Space Tripping series of novels. Check him out on Twitter @ThePatEdwards or his website thepatedwards.com

Selkies - New Player Race for Dungeons and Dragons

The classic races of Dungeons and Dragons are so iconic at this point that everyone knows them. Elves, dwarves, and halflings are as familiar as the dice themselves and they'll always be the ones many players – including me – will come back to. But there are more myths than just those, and when you dig deep into some culture's history, you find very interesting races. I'm Adam, and I'd like to tell you about selkies.

the selkie, changing her skin. Art by Natasa Illincic

“The people of Grandwater are some of the nicest and jovial people I have ever met. They understand any water better than anyone I know. Even the children. Do remember to never ask about those cloaks they wear, they're very touchy about that.”

- The Travel Diary of Sir Reginald Gearsworth III

Selkies are found in most worlds of Dungeons and Dragons, but their existence is so rare and so easy to hide, that they're often dismissed as myth. Selkies are aquatic people, but do not live deep under the sea as tritons or sea elves do. Selkies live in shallow waters. Their connection to the oceans of the world is old as the gods of the sea, and just as wild but beautiful as a great lake or immense bay. For the majority of their lives, they live in the oceans in the form of seals. Curiosity and the need to mate draws them to the surface. When walking the land, selkies shed their seal skin to take on a more humanoid visage. Their seal skin becomes a cloak, easy for them to put on to return to the ocean.

Skin Changers

All selkies are born as seals, sea lions or even manatees. When they reach walking age, they shed that seal skin and take on the human presenting shape most see. They keep this skin as a cloak that allows them to transform between the seal and the humanoid. Each selkie is magically bonded to their own skin, and cannot use each other's to change into a seal. Selkies normally appear very human, with pale skin tones, and hair ranging from deep black to vibrant red. Sometimes, selkies can have patches or dark areas of their skin which matches perfectly with their seal skins. They appear just like a seal while in these skins, but other selkie recognise the truth and communicate with each other, and other seals can feel the difference.

Mystics of the Water

The selkies are beings of the land and the sea. This connection has allowed them prophetic insights into the oceans movements, the movements of the clouds, and the humidity of the air. This connection makes them seem very wise, and very valuable to people of coastal communities and sailors on long-haul vessels. Their secretive, thoughtful nature has meant that their gifts have been exploited for other race's gains.

Powerful Coat

A sea lion - one of the most common selkie forms.

The selkie's cloak is a unique and personal item. The act of a selkie putting their cloak on and closing it up is what transforms them from humanoid to beast. It's more than a possession, it's a part of their body. A selkie knows the area around where their cloak is when it's not on their person, but can never stray far from it if it's not with them. In the past, many have coerced selkies into service or marriage by hiding their cloaks from them. In the event their cloak is destroyed, it's gone forever, leaving the selkie unable to transform – a fate they often consider worse than death.

Selkie Names

Selkies often adopt the names of the civilisations they're on the fringes of. Often they may adapt those names, or take names more derived from Aquan.

Selkie Traits

Selkies, beings of coastal waters, have a plethora of abilities.

Ability Score Improvement. Your Constitution Score increases by 2.

Age. Selkie mature at 20 years and live to be around 100.

Alignment. Your curiosity and wanderlust over land and water makes Selkie lean towards the chaotic. Their respect for nature encourages goodness, while their detachment from society suggests neutrality.

Size. Selkie, when in their humanoid form, stand well over five feet tall, and are more plump than most humanoids by comparison. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your speed is 30 feet in your humanoid form. In your seal form, you have a walking speed of 10 feet and a swimming speed of 50 feet.

Skin Walker. You have a second skin, one of your seal form. In humanoid or seal form, you can use your bonus action to put on or remove this skin, changing between your humanoid and seal forms. If you lose this skin, or it is destroyed, you cannot get it back. When in your seal form, you have the following benefits:

You gain resistance to cold damage.

You’re also naturally adapted to cold climates, as described in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

You can hold your breath up to for two hours.

The Walrus; an aggressive selkie shape.

Waterways Augur. At the end of a long rest taken in or near running water, you may ask the Dungeon Master one question about your current situation that can be answered with yes or no. The Dungeon Master will decide how the water will give you this insight.

Languages. You can speak Common. You can also speak, read, and write Aquan.

Subrace. Much like the different breeds of seal, the shapes a Selkie can take are different too.

Sea Lion

The most common breed of Selkie and the most adept at scouting and moving through the water.

Ability Score Improvement. Your Wisdom Score increases by 1.

Aquatic Huntmaster. While underwater, your proficiency bonus is doubled when making a skill check you are already proficient with.

Walrus

The ferocity of the Selkies from the most extreme corners of the ocean show in kind through their immense tusks, present but smaller in their humanoid form.

Ability Score Improvement. Your Strength score increases by 1.

Tusks. You're proficient in unarmed strikes made with your tusks, which deal 1d4 slashing damage on a hit.

Wrapping Up

So that's what you'd need to get started playing as selkies. Kind and curious waterway adepts. With the classics always at our fingertips, we have to wonder if D&D has too many races. I'd say that almost defeats the purpose. D&D for me is always about telling an interactive story, anything that makes the story more interesting, like say, broadening the cast of characters, makes the story better for me. If you have suggestions for more selkie powers and subraces, or other unloved gems from myth and legend, do let me know and you may find them on a post near you soon.

Scarlet Citadel - Kickstarter Spotlight

I think it’s beyond obvious now that I’m an enthusiastic fan of TTRPGs and D&D in particular. Since it’s just you and me here…. can I confess something? I find dungeon crawls are often, not always, but often…. a frustrating chore. I know, I KNOW. Dungeon crawls are the foundation that D&D was built upon. And I believe they are fun and exciting and enthralling when used properly. We’ve all been there: your party has their ultimate goal laid out before them, close the portal… stop the baddie… save the world… Time is of the essence. But then you’re suddenly pulled into a ten hour detour through some ancient underground ruins filled with low stakes combat encounters. Fingers crossed the world isn’t an apocalyptic hellscape ruled by the evil necromancer by the time you get through the dungeon.

For a dungeon crawl to be fun and effective, it has to be both dynamic and integral to the story. Better yet, what if the dungeon crawl was the story? What if the entire adventure was one legendary dungeon crawl? That is a concept I get behind and it is precisely what the fine folks over at Kobold Press are bringing to us with their latest creation: The Scarlet Citadel

Scarlet Citadel… “is a classic, old-school dungeon crawl that goes from a surface setting to a deep set of caverns far from the light of the sun, where alien things skitter and guttural chants murmur down chill and damp passageways lit only by magical spheres and phosphorescent fungi.

The Scarlet Citadel includes at least 6 levels of dungeon exploration with lavish maps, plus a town base, appendixes of additional monsters and characters, and a full suite of PDF and virtual tabletop options from Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.”

Hell yeah! I am totally down for that. Again it’s all about context and player expectations. Playing this campaign, you know you are signing up for an epic crawl. And since the the crawl itself is the adventure, you know these seasoned professionals (lead by the prolific game designing veteran, Steve Winter) have put a ton of work into making this engaging, dynamic, and most of all, FUN!

We’re in the last week of their campaign, so hurry the heck up and get your copy of Scarlet Citadel today!

Scarlet Citadel

You can check out more of what Kobold Press has to offer on Instagram and Facebook

Well, that’s all from me for now. Until next time…

Take Care, Owlbear

Pat

Featured Images: Kobold Press

Patrick Edwards is the co-writer of the upcoming 5E Campaign, The Red Opera , as well as the writer of the Space Tripping series of novels. Check him out on Twitter @ThePatEdwards or his website thepatedwards.com