fullmoonstorytelling.com, 5 days ago to DnD

For the first time I’m going to be playing a character in my world. One of my players in the last two campaigns is going to DM and together we set up the one-sheet so as to not change too much lore. One of the ideas I came up with early, was by playing in the Age of Myths, because any lore changes can just be referenced as legend when we play in the current era.

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The Road to the Uncoupling

Your story begins in a prosperous world of togetherness and mutual can-do spirit. Before the battle for the heart of Kirtin on the Lake (KotL) or the sacking of Kirtin in the Sky (KotS), before the Proctors spread death and misery in Sas Rurulit, and before the unprecedented events of the Awakening and the finding of Lorebooks, there was The Uncoupling. The apocalypse that destroyed the weave of magic for the Kin and Kon, leaving Ken and the 5 coloured dragons of the Chromatic Convocation in complete possession of magik.

Players are part of a select group that were born with innate magical ability (you’ve been everflow touched) that is prized even in this magic-rich world. Possibly you inherited your trait from a bloodline trait or ancestral ties to deeper magik of the Everflow. It has shaped your early years, possibly enrolled at a young age by family in the scholarly studies to become part of the magik ruling core of society or you hid your talent and nurtured it on your own.

However, recently there have been rumblings, rumors about a shadow organization unhappy with the status quo, who seek to eliminate the existing ruling council and rule not by consensus but by force. You’ve each been selected by the bronze Dragonborn Artok, tasked with this mission by his patron, the adult Bronze Dragon (Othimbane) who sits on the council, to identify and either infiltrate or forcefully break these fools of their notions and ensure that no other plots are forthcoming.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/world-map-of-aur-1.jpg?w=1024*A global map of the world centered on the spaces where play in the campaign has occurred to this point.*The following is written by the DM for this campaign.

Premise

• This campaign takes at least three millennia before the Born Generation and the return of magic to the Lands of the Everflow.
• Gain information about “The Shadows”, a secretive organization bent on wiping out the Ruling Council of Aur.
  • Artok has the rough information about several potential members that could lead you to a hideout or meeting place.
• Infiltrate or brute force your way into the group.
• Identify other members and find potential leads about who is the power behind “The Shadows”.
  • Keep (human council) and (gnome council) members apprised of your investigation.
• Possibly assist the council with additional tasks at your discretion.

Factions (NPC names to come soon)

• The Ruling Council of Aur (RCoA) – A group of 9 members, three of each Ken, Kin, and Kon, and 4 dragons, two each of metallic and chromatic.

  • The RCoA is the “federational government” of Aur, with different cultures/regions governing in their own way and answering to the RCoA.

  • Kin: Human (F), Goliath (they), Halfling (M)

  • Ken: Elf (F), Elf (M), Dwarf (M)

  • Kon: Goblin (M), Bugbear (They), Hobgoblin (They)

  • Dragons:

    • Elder Metallic (Silver) – Tanargnyvur
    • Adult Metallic (Bronze) – Othimbane
    • Elder Chromatic (White) – Dwargauth
    • Adult Chromatic (Blue) – Nymaryxon
• In occurrence with the rise of The Dragon moon (the fourth moon of the Aurian system), the dragons withdraw from the council for a year (draakmoeten) and meet at an undisclosed location with the world dragon (a deep time dragon) named Andarawus Del-mos.
• The Metallic Dragons
• The Chromatic Dragons
• The Shining Order of Dreki – Holy dragonborn order who serve the Draconic races as paladins, clerics, and religious personages located across the world. Some that choose a more individual path travel and assist as Priests and Mortuary persons in smaller towns and villages.
  • Necromantic magic is thought to primarily flow through the draconic race).
• The Shadows – A heretofore unknown organization/cult/religion(?) focused on the overthrow of the RCoA, and to rule through force and oppression rather than through consensus.

Campaign Facets

• 2nd & 3rd tier drop in/out campaign play, starting at 5th level
• All PCs start at lv.5 with the added feat “Everflow Touched”, adding a +1 to spell attack modifier and adding one free 1st level spells (from any school expect necromancy, unless your PC is dragonborn) to your spell list which can be cast once per long rest.
  • Material components will not be needed.
  • at lv. 9 this will increase to +2 and an additional spell (2nd lv.) can be learned.
• Rules used are core 2014 WotC D&D, plus most player facing options from WotC
  • Check with the DM about using setting-specific feats, subclasses and spells
• Allowed races are Kin (human, halfling, goliath), Kon (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear), Ken (elf, dwarf, non-rock gnomes) and dragonborn/kobold as shining order of Dreki
• Divine magic is thought to come from the forces of nature and the philosophies, there is no active pantheon of faith, beyond those who worship the dragons.
• Potential for multiple pathways to quest completion
• Player driven story creation in a sandbox setting
• Wide regional/worldwide settings with airship and/or teleportation travel
• Actions may become legend
• Milestone leveling – several sessions per level gain; saves time when we all don’t have to track XP

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/05/19/age-of-myths-the-uncoupling-campaign-one-sheet/

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #OneSheet #PlayingDD #TheUncoupling

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 22 days ago to DnD

Alignment is tired, boring and essentially meaningless in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Many playing the modern game trying to replace it with personality. Wizards of the Coast tried to take major steps towards personality play with their Traits, Ideals, Bonds and Flaws system attached to backgrounds. That system uses five sentences of 5-25 words to describe the personality of the character. Alignment also exists.

Then, if the DM and/or the other players remember your TIBF and you play to it you might get advantage via Inspiration.

It’s a bulky system that requires memorizing a lot of detail that aren’t necessarily relevant to how your character is played. The Acolyte is in the SRD 5.1 CC BY. Here’s a sample of TIBF for a lawful good Acolyte.

I see omens in every event and action. The gods try to speak to us, we just need to listen.
I quote (or misquote) sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation.
Faith. I trust that my deity will guide my actions. I have faith that if I work hard, things will go well. (Lawful)
I would die to recover an ancient relic of my faith that was lost long ago.
I am suspicious of strangers and expect the worst of them.

That’s 82 words plus two for lawful good. But really, it’s just a few. You don’t need that much detail.

Just like when you fill out that your character has brown or brown-green eyes you know there is more detail to the eyes than just that word or two. You can do this for your personality.

That Acolyte?

Faithful, Suspicious, Orderly, Erudite.

Replace the entire TIBF system with those four words. Can you memorize a few words that describe how the other characters in the party act? Absolutely! Your mind was already taking the shortcuts on the way to do so.

Then award inspiration when the character is played along their personality.

You could build your short-form personality using the official background information already provided. That’s a great start. But you could also use a list of personality traits. Here’s 638!

A character modelled off a favorite movie or TV or comic or book or video game or etc character could use their traits too.

• Margot from The Magicians — sexy, strong willed, crass, loyal
• Wesley from The Princess Bride — dedicated, adaptable, loving
• Tasselhoff from the original Dragonlance – friendly, curious, brave, aloof
• Moiraine from early Wheel of Time – determined, withdrawn, studious
• Lan from early Wheel of Time – lawful, loyal, commanding
• Awf, my PC in Lost Mines – persistent, exuberant, fearless

The intent with short-form personality is to reduce memorization, reward roleplaying and continue the de-emphasization of alignment in D&D.

Be generous with the Inspiration you award. Play up the personality. Just make it simpler than a system that might require 100 words when you only need three to five.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/05/03/goodbye-alignment-hello-short-form-personality/

#alignment #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #personality

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 months ago to DnD

During the Age of Revolutions the leaders who wanted liberalization and democracy in Genoa had no idea how to govern. They were a bit idealistic. They struggled to get the various classes of this significant mercantile kingdom to get along.

This all comes up in a recent Nerd Farmer podcast featuring Nathan Perl-Rosenthal. And it’s going to inspire a new third-place tradition in my Dungeons & Dragons world.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2024/03/1280px-genoese_holdings.png?w=1024*By Aldan-2 – {{[1]}}{{[2]}}, CC BY-SA 4.0*One of the ways the Genoan revolutionaries tried to create cross-class conversations was by mandating public lunches be held on the streets before festivals. These lunches would be funded by the elites, had limitations on the number of courses and were intended to inspire conversation before the entire group proceeded together towards a town square for fest time.

This attempt at a third place being a space in time rather than a physical building intrigues me. That porch was only a third place during the luncheon, roughly every two weeks. It didn’t work.

This is a fantasy blog, mostly about a fantasy world where dragons and magic are real. Let’s make the Genoa public luncheons real.

My world has a naval empire, which makes this easy. But it is rather hierarchical and centered on the influence of the navy as sailor-citizens with power and influence. It is expansionist. Daoud won the war with Kirtin twice, and just lost their hold on Kirtin-on-the-Lake, the winter capital of Kirtin.

Douad’s fleets sail the seas trading goods, conquering territory and bring their wealth back to the homeland.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/kin.png?w=465*Daoud is the southern nation and controls the Green Isles in the Southeast.*This is where the lunchtime third places come in!

These now-wealthy sailors, officers and captains are required, by the Admiralty of the Land, upon returning to port to share their wealth and throw a party in the neighborhood from which they came.

They lunch and fest together, with the Admiralty and Royalty surprising random porches with visits.

This now ingrained tradition started because when the first ships came back with massive wealth they were seen as a threat to the non-sailing gentry. So that leadership in a form of taxation started the luncheon program. This kept the peasants that didn’t sail happy with the leadership and that joy spread.

These lunches are simple fare — three courses, one which must always be from the land the ship just visited. There’s always a flatbread, that was originally simple but is now treated as a complex way to serve a fourth course that is not in violation of the edict. There is wine and coffee, tea and liquor.

There is joy.

Then there’s the party, always in sight of the harbor with the ships lit and glowing at mast and crossbeam. There are flags and fireworks (the best ships travel with Sparklers). These parties are on a time limit. They start within two sunrises of the ship’s return. They end the next morning.

And everyone participates. The paupers, urchins and sweeps know that when a ship returns they will eat well for at least a day, often two. The displays of wealth are ostentatious and the people are happy. These aren’t circuses, nor taxes. It’s Daoudian Luncheon — one of the two third places in the culture. The ships are the other third place.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/03/23/adapting-genoan-revolutionary-lunches-to-fantasy-third-places/

#Daoud #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #Kirtin #PlayingDD #thirdPlace

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fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 months ago to soccer

Being able to support my friends who do fun stuff is good. ECS continues to run Pub League, a simple barely competitive set of two soccer leagues full of joy that embraces everyone. Once upon a time I sponsored them while I managed Sounder at Heart. Then I stopped because I didn’t manage Sounder at Heart. A year ago they had an empty slot that needed a sponsor. I was able to and that was when my team was a group of pirates. Last fall it was vampires.

Now it’s the Almost Full 90 FC, inspired by the era when I was a teen with Trapper Keepers and Peechees playing D&D hiding my inner nerd behind pastels (including my jeans).

Two soccer jerseys and two logos. First soccer jersey on the left is a swirl of pastel colors in a sunset with two shiny dolphins jumping out of a pastel ocean over the setting sun. Second jersey is black with bands of swirly pastels over the black. Top logo is Almost Full 90s FC, a 1990s logo similar to MS Paint of that era. Second logo is for Full Moon Storytelling which shows a rising full moon with a polyhedral d20 silhouette embedded in it. The moon is rising out of a pine forest. The words Full Moon Storytelling are under the forest.Every player name is inspired by 90s era TV shows, songs and memes (we had those back then).

Coaches: Bop it Throw it Pass it, That’s Brisk Baby, and Eat My Shorts

Players: WHAT’S THE 411, COOPER, FRESH PRINCE OF DEFENSE, SPORTY SPICE, FOOTBALL HEAD, THAT’S BRISK BABY, I DID NOT INHALE, EAT MY SHORTS, ON A BREAK, BOP IT THROW IT PASS IT, DOCTOR, BEANIE BABE, REPTAR ON TURF, TRUNCHBULL, D’OH!’, MIDAS, YOU’VE GOT MAIL, STREET SOCCER, TOO YOUNG FOR THIS, UGH, AS IF!, NEVERMIND, NON BLONDES.

I’m telling you, they’re going to win the ‘ship.

There’s a couple other cool bits. The Captain’s armband is inspired by iconic frogs from the era and unlike most soccer jerseys these days, the back is similar to the front — with a unicorn.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2024/03/pub-league-er-frogs-armband-2.jpg?w=1024

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2024/03/unicorn-back-of-jersey-1.jpg?w=640

As always, the lesson from this is to support your friends when they do rad things. It’s totally awesome.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/03/21/my-spring-24-soccer-team-is-inspired-by-the-almost-90s/

#jersey #PubLeague #Soccer #the90s

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fullmoonstorytelling.com, 3 months ago to DnD

My experience with Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t go back to the beginning. That would be kind of hard, as I’m not 50. It does go back to some of my earliest memories. For me D&D always started as a storytelling game, probably because the way the first DM I played under introduced it to me.

Derek convinced us to play because he was and is a storyteller. He knew that I loved The Hobbit, Narnia, King Arthur and Robin Hood. The pitch was simple — “Do you want to tell your own stories in the world?”

The answer was simply “Yes.”

We played with, those simple dice that needed a Crayon to color in the numbers. For some reason I only remember d6s and dungeons.

Two old d6 showing the number 5. They are a green like the color of exposed old copper.D&D is what started me on my journey to tell stories. I always thought those stories I would tell would be fiction. As of yet, conventional publishers haven’t accepted any of the short stories I’ve pitched.

But it also started me on the journey to be a journalist, and that worked out to be sports (mostly soccer) and then marketing tales. Derek’s connected to that journey too, but that advances several years into high school and again to when I was an emergent baseball blogger (which didn’t work out).

Later in my journey Dungeons & Dragons became the central point of my strongest friendships in those harsh teenage years. Like many GenX suburban white males, I was a latchkey kid in a neighborhood with cul de sacs and basements.

Those basements provided our play space and our avoidance. We avoided thinking about divorcing parents, impending nuclear annihilation, ozone depletion and whatever other terror the nightly news foisted on us.

Erik, Justin, Abel, Colin, Jacob, Andy, Chris, and the others — we hid from all of that. There were early video games, many board games, and other role-playing games, but it was D&D that was our unifying factor. The stories we told via rolling oddly shaped dice and convoluted rules gave us an escape. We were big, damn heroes. We were anti-heroes. We were thieves and priests and archers and wizards. We adhered to the noble codes that our imperfect real lives could not. We violated those codes to see what would happen.

That late 80s to early 90s version of D&D that we played was sometimes in dungeons and always dragons. Every world we played in had dragons in the background providing terror, often ending in a TPK.

My second D&D era was about avoidance. The stories and people helped me make it through the bad times — puberty, divorces, fights with friends, being the outsider from the in-cliques. Without that group I’d be a horrible athlete, the storyteller incapable of finishing a tale, a ‘gifted’ kid who avoided hard work, someone with constantly broken ankles and a body that doctors considered brutally altering because I was dramatically smaller than my peers.

In the Army I nearly avoided D&D. During my time at DLI I did participate in a Vampire: The Maquerade LARP in Pacific Grove, California. That was the only place I met non-military people while in that hybrid college-military experience. In 5th Group one of the 18D (combat medics) invited me to do solo play with him as the DM. That was basically impossible to keep up because our deployment schedules didn’t quite overlap. We also never played when deployed together. I’m pretty certain no one in his ODA knew that’s what we did when we hung out outside of work.

Then D&D disappeared from my life.

I thought I grew up.

I thought I didn’t need the funky dice, the tales.

5th edition brought me back after not playing regularly since 94 (the 5th Group experience was 97-98).

My current era of D&D is broader in playing styles, stories told and the people I play with. There have been two dozen people who have played in the now-seven campaigns within the World of the Everflow. Plus I’ve been a player in four campaigns and hosted a charity actual play for YachtCon.

Where my first era of D&D planted the seeds of creativity and the second era taught me math (and kept me as sane as I’ll be due to avoidance), this third era of my Dungeons and my Dragons is about exploring fellowship, exploring philosophical issues, confronting the issues of the era rather than avoiding them.

On this 50th birthday of D&D I discover that my eras of D&D are the eras of my life, showing a maturity in my life while being skills and abilities I continue to use in this life.

My game doesn’t really have dungeons. Dragons aren’t omnipresent. But it’s still the same game.

My game doesn’t roll characters. They’re created for story rather than optimization. It’s still the same game.

My game isn’t in the Forgotten Realms or another official world (or third party world). It’s a world concocted by me and mutually, continually created by us. It’s still the same game.

For forty years this game has been present in my life. At times it has been my most defining hobby. Other times it was locked behind a haunted door in my head, hidden but influencing my personal journey.

Today I don’t lock my passions away. People get to see them. They can judge me — whatever.

We’ll play in public today. Something that was nigh impossible in the 80s, when even my own family thought D&D meant devil worship.

Today we roll for initiative.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/01/28/happy-birthday-to-the-dungeons-and-happy-birthday-to-the-dragons/

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 4 months ago to DnD

All of the campaigns that have taken place win the World of the Everflow have focused on tracking down the various Lorebooks, with each group having other side quests, generally towards making the world for the common peoples of the Lands of the Six Kingdoms.

They’ve run counter to the Proctors, an evil faction that is trying to control knowledge of magic, and rogue Scholars who are spreading knowledge of magic in order to control people. Necromancy and Transformation are the ones most counter to traditional D&D goodness.

The only other super-natural organization is the Orthodox Church of Quar. The Quarites control access to the Everflow and a massive merchant endeavor with their churches also working as trade posts and shops for what are in game terms healing potions.

This world has no equal to the Factions of tradition D&D, or the Knights of the Round Table, or Templars or other super-national knightly orders. No one has wanted to be in one.

But if a player wanted to play a character with these kinds of ideals and/or oaths, we’d talk about how it would fit. Knowing my player base the inspiration would be the Free City of Sheljar, the egalitarian re-founding of Sheljar after the early campaigns purged the Necromancer, his agents of undeath and the Tunneling Nightmares (they’ll be the subject of a future Lore 24).

Based off the players and characters that founded the Free City such an idealistic organization would look similar to the Harpers, with a dash of de oppresso liber and a side of asymmetric organization.

• Determination for all peoples Kin, Ken, Kon and any who think.
• Share knowledge, so all in the world may live better lives.
• Defend those that cannot defend themselves and their companions
• Judge behavior, not the companion, the nationality or the faith
• Recognize successes at spreading the word of a Free Shejar and Free Everflow

Like the oaths of D&D paladins, these ideals within the oath are aspirational. They aren’t to be perscriptive.

A player wanting to be part of this order wouldn’t necessarily pledge to sergeant or knight. They wouldn’t need to swear fealty to the current Mayor of Sheljar (Samul). The order would rise because the oath is a bit viral — it’s one that encourages heroic actions and fulfilling quests.

A band could be one halfling and her dog, or an entire airxip of goblins, or an adventuring party, or three elves visiting the Everflow that abandon their fey pacts, or a group of Mehmdians, or a village near Telse, or a tribe in Crinth. A band inspired by the ideals of Free Sheljar aren’t sworn to them, in fact the current governance of Kirtin-on-the-Lake is inspired by Sheljar, but free from them.

That’s the knightly order I would make if I were to make a knightly order.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2024/01/07/lore-24-oath-of-free-sheljar/

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #FreeSheljar #Lore24 #WorldOfTheEverflow

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 4 months ago to DnD

Every year I publish a look back at my favorite writing, podcast and video appearances for the year. This helps me remember what I’ve done, re-up things to people who discovered me late in the year and when attempting to freelance gives me a handy spot to find work to share with editors and other hiring managers.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/cropped-fullmoonstorytelling_twitter.jpg?w=1020Dungeons & Dragons

The most popular story in the history of Full Moon Storytelling is no longer about sports. My essay on how to use third places to amplify verisimilitude surpassed the sports and cultures essay and then lapped it, twice in just a year. This helped boost Full Moon Storytelling to have 74% more views than last year and in 2023 it had more total views and visitors than the total of either from its founding in 2014 to 2022. Federating via WordPress helped contribute to that growth as well.

D&D: Honor Among Thieves had an interesting release. Opening week was fine, but not great. The falloff was significant, and yet there are many reasons to think that there will be a sequel. It was a massive success when it came to marketing D&D and is one of the most streamed movies of 2023. My fascination with the mainstreaming of the hobby by Hollywood is one of my favorite writings.

I’m probably not going to do a full post on Honor Among Thieves overall streaming success. Here’s the end of year data from Flixpatrol;

• Ended the year as the 8th most popular movie to purchase on Google, Rakuten and Amazon.
• It spent 246 days in Google’s top 10 most purchased movies & shows again globally. That’s basically every day it was available.
• On Paramount+, its primary streaming platform, it spent 228 days in the top 10 globally good for 9th overall. It spent the weekend in 6th worldwide and 4th in the USA on P+
• On iTunes it finished 12th, with 224 days in the top 10.
• In Asia it was streamed on HBO Max. It spent 83 days in the top 10 globally for HBO movies, despite only being available in limited markets.
• In much of Latin America it was on Star+. It finished 11th among movies on that platform, spending 46 days in the top 10.

Backgrounds continue to be my specialty. The most popular released this year was the Weaver, working its way into the top 5 all time.

You can find five of my backgrounds, converted to A5e, in Worlds to Go! The Elysians, my first ever Kickstarter. There’s also Sports in D&D rules in that book.

During a vacation I saw roads with funky names and decided they can inspire D&D and other fantasy settings. You too can find inspiration in normal places.

Why do I keep a d20 in my pocket? Because it gives me a sense of belonging.

I sponsored two soccer teams. Our Flag Means Offside FC and What We Do On The Sidelines FC had opposite records on the field, but they’re both #1 in my heart. I’ve already sponsored a spring 2024 team. I can’t wait to see the new jersey.

Sounders and other soccer

Back in 2008 I founded Sounder at Heart. In 2019 I left to work for Tacoma Defiance and Reign FC. This year the current Managing Editor, Jeremiah Oshan took the site independent. As part of that effort I took over the twice-weekly newsletter now called the Ship’s Log.

The most popular of those was a Reign themed newsletter on network effects and the sum of a team being greater than the individual pieces.

I also help maintain the Depth Chart and cover Defiance.

Risk Intelligence

For Factal I also help with a newsletter — Benchmarker. Similar to the SaH newsletter, the open rates are climbing, click-through rates are climbing and distribution is growing. Mostly, my job there is to help people within Global Security, Business Continuity, Resilience and Crisis find our free resources (and then our paid service). The work we do there helps keep people alive and business operating. You can read more about that in our annual recap.

People outside of security and continuity fields will enjoy things I don’t do — the Factal Forecast and The Debrief. The Forecast is our editors’ look at the planned news of the next week. The Debrief dives deep into an issue that isn’t on the front page of US media, but needs attention.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/12/31/my-best-of-2023/

#1 #backgrounds #Defiance #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #DungeonsAndDragonsMovie #Factal #Reign #sounders

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fullmoonstorytelling.com, 5 months ago to DnD

Giant Freaking Robot says that Netflix is in talks to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to the screen. They don’t know if it would be a movie or a series yet, but the series makes more sense considering the amount of content in the video game.

There’s already one Dungeons & Dragons show that’s been picked up by Paramount+. The Marshall Rawson Thurber project is in pre-production. Thurber is probably best known for Netflix’s Red Notice.

Derek Kolstad, known for John Wick 1-3, is also writing and showrunning a different “untitled D&D” series. Kolstad’s project, but that may still be just a pitch, rather than a purchased series. It was supposedly connected to Drizzt Do’Urden.

There’s also a long simmering rumor that once Joe Manganiello gets done with he and his brother’s D&D documentary he’ll resume pitching his long-sought Dragonlance series. Manganiello is helping push the previous efforts at the doc over the line, there will be archival footage of many of the early particulars plus modern interviews with those in the current culture.

Yes, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast let a lot of people go this week. The weakness of their position may be why Giant Freaking Robot has the exclusive about the deal. It’s a way to get funds for the struggling company fast.

Additionally, on Plex and Freevee there are three recently new D&D shows. On D&D Adventures you can watch a Heroes Feast (D&D cooking), Faster Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! (D&D comedy where everyone dies) and Encounter Party (an edited actual play). The Free Ad-Supported Television channel also has the original D&D cartoon, DesiQuest and Rivals of Waterdeep.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/12/13/baldurs-gate-3-is-the-next-dd-tv-show-in-development-maybe/

#BaldurSGate3 #BG3 #DerekKolstand #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #DungeonsAndDragonsTVShow #JoeManganiello #MarshallRawsonThurber

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 5 months ago to DnD

First appearing to the mass market fanbase within 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons in Eberron: Rising from the Last War and now in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the Artificer is a kind of techno-wizard. For someone without previous connections to Eberron, the setting that exploded on the scene in 3rd edition, the Artificer confused me.

The fiction upon which it is based seemingly is all self-referring, or modern fantastical. There’s a subclass that essentially reads as if it is Iron Man ported back into D&D for example. Whereas most D&D classes stretch into the myths and legends that predate the game itself, the Artificer does not seem to have that convention.

Oddly enough, it was a Christmas movie that reminded me of Artificers within our lore. There are magical techno-wizards within holiday tales. From Christmas elves of tradition, to the inventors of Jingle Jangle, you can find your inspiration for your next Artificer.

These creators take the mundane and imbue it with magic. They create automatons, magically tinker, infuse items, and all the other things you expect from the description of an Artificer.

Masters of invention, artificers use ingenuity and magic to unlock extraordinary capabilities in objects. They see magic as a complex system waiting to be decoded and then harnessed in their spells and inventions. You can find everything you need to play one of these inventors in the next few sections.

Artificers use a variety of tools to channel their arcane power. To cast a spell, an artificer might use alchemist’s supplies to create a potent elixir, calligrapher’s supplies to inscribe a sigil of power, or tinker’s tools to craft a temporary charm. The magic of artificers is tied to their tools and their talents, and few other characters can produce the right tool for a job as well as an artificer.

From DnDBeyond.

Opening up a vision of an Artificer to include these amazing gift-gives also helps change how you approach D&D. A character of kindness and generosity, or that thieving Gustafson, expands the stories you can tell. When you visit the village you can brighten the spirits of the community via your infusions and spells.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/pexels-photo-730256.jpeg*Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com*It may be a Hallmark/Lifetime/FreeForm/UPTv cliche, but there is magic in the holiday season. Incorporating the magic of elves, toys, inventors, Santa, and others into your D&D characters and stories means adding more joy to a game that so often centers violence.

Generosity and joy exist in D&D (even in Barovia). Your Artificer has the power to amplify those feelings (while also being an effective combatant, but there are many places that talk about optimizing in those ways). There are 1,000 times a thousand stories available at any table and any session. Adding a little Christmas to your Artificer is a way to discover more of them.

Be Jeronicus, Jessica, Journey, or even Gustafson. Be Alabaster Snowball, Bushy Evergreen, Pepper Minstix, Shinny Upatree, Sugarplum Mary, or Wunorse Openslae. Roll dice and tell stories about the power of Artifice.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

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Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
You can support Full Moon Storytelling by choosing Homes by KC for your next real estate transaction.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/12/09/how-christmas-can-inspire-your-next-artificer/

#artificer #CharacterBuilds #characterDescription #Christmas #DnD #DnD5 #DnD5e #DungeonsAndDragons #RolePlaying

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 5 months ago to random

Overshadowed in the product reveals and release schedule, which has now be reduced to “coming soon,” was an immense amount of new art for the 2024 version of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. Every class will have full page art.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/2024-phb-fighter-iconic.png?w=373Every subclass with have art. Every background will have art. If a picture says a thousand words, then there will be more story revealed in the upcoming Player’s Handbook (at one point coming in late May next year) than ever before. This, and the increased font size, and the increased number of subclasses, and the additional spells and more feats, is why it will be the biggest PHB ever.

The amount of art is amazing. Look at this potential spread for Backgrounds (it should be noted that nothing shared at PAX U is considered final).

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/2024-phb-backgrounds.png?w=712That’s quite evocative.

It’s the details where I get sad. 5e has transitioned away from having racial/species modifiers to attributes. From Tasha’s forward the encouraged option was to have these as floating selections that power players to create a wider variety of story.

Two alt-5e variants have followed suit. Tales of the Valiant from Kobold Press no longer has stat increases. They just grant more points for point buy or larger numbers for the standard array. Level Up and Advanced 5e from EN Publishing has a +1 from Backgrounds and a floating +1.

It seems, based on the image shared by Jeremy Crawford during the PAX U panel that Wizards of the Coast will be backing away from floating bonuses and instead assigning all bonuses to backgrounds. Since 2024 5e D&D is also removing Traits, Ideals, Bonds and Flaws from backgrounds we are losing another way to tell story via one of 5th editions best additions to the game.

In 2024 backgrounds will have ability score improvements (ASI) and a lower-powered feat, two potent mechanical advantages at lower levels. In D&D both of these will be heavily tied towards combat mechanics. It is less likely that stories of the Acolyte who became a Fighter are seen at tables because why would you want to damage your ability of a Fighter to do fighter-y things?

And this continues. The Soldier will have a Feat that makes sense for a soldier, as well as ASIs related to soldiering. This makes sense for specific stories, but only narrow tropey ones.

Since Wizards is removing personality and background features (five items very tied to social and exploration pillars) the game will be even heavier into combat — by rule.

There’s still time to fix this. Reduce the ASIs associated with Backgrounds to maybe a +1, recognizing that every background is tied to some sort of stat. Then have the other two +1s float where the player wants them. That way story-driven players and those seeking maximization will both be able to find angles for their tales.

Additionally, if the TIBF were too much, narrow these options. Use keywords rather than sentences. Have a bold, brash soldier. Maybe the aristocrat is well-kempt and haughty. Still empower DMs and the rest of the table to reward social roleplay by granting Inspiration.

Every single step of 5th edition’s living development has expanded story.

Wizards of the Coast should not step back from the expansion of story in the 2024 evolution of the game (floating ASIs in Tasha’s, species with less racism, not tying species/backgrounds to specific classes, new subclasses that capture the zeitgeist and more). Instead they should find ways to continue to expand the tales we tell via this game of dice and friends. Releasing most of the ASIs associated with Backgrounds is a way to do that. As is returning some of the traits and flaws that define our characters both in play and mechanically.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/12/03/changes-coming-to-5e-backgrounds-further-reduce-story/

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fullmoonstorytelling.com, 6 months ago to 13thFloor

Sweat dripping from my brow, I head back towards home. Dinodas bounds towards me, shifting to walk on the customary left side as we stroll. My hand reaches up to scratch that comfortable spot behind his ear. It’s an instinctive move now, for both of us.

We’re kin for many years now, this massive hound and little me, a halfling from Kirtin, just off Slope.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/drew-by-airwolfhound.jpgDrew by Airwolfhound (CC BY-SA 2.0)

On certain days in the field he’s closer to me than others. On rising full Glibbon he knows I’m going to cut wood and brush. The physical exertion helps me focus, or unfocus — whatever. Those things that happened down Slope, and the years after, normally sit back in my head, but since the Hornjaws started visiting on full moons I’m unable to avoid the thoughts.

Don’t know how they got me to open up — probably something to do with how well they treat Dinodas. He likes them, so I like them. It’s typical for a bond. Meeting Belni and Terdu was good for him, probably good for me too.

I don’t like thinking about those times. I don’t want to remember the decision I made.

So that’s why when a moon rises full I cut brush and start a burn pile. Because this evening I’m going to share some stories. Daytime cannot be about Down Slope and regrets. That’s what moons rise is for.

I think back to the week-moon Feylf’s rise in Autumn. Belni was at the door. I didn’t have the rituals then, no stories. Just a drink from second mug. First mug is for caf in morning; second mug is ale in evenings. I lost third mug a while ago, that’s the one that Serg’nt gave me with the bottle. The fire was blazing, a bit too hot for this time of the year. Din’s at my feet when the knock comes.

Wrong time of day for a visitor.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/2372878909_51b1ed3807_o.jpgFire and sickle by Enrico Francese (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Out here in Cold Creek things are pretty spread out. Down by Iron Road they be more city types. Here we’re alone at night, and that’s why I live by Creek.

“Ho. Door’s open.”

I set second mug down. Looking towards the door, one eye on the dusty sword that hangs to its right. Dinodas lifts one ear, one eye. The old hound is apathetic.

“Sir, ‘s Belni. I been looking for Terdu. He late from bonds-day.”

I helped the older Hornjaw look for his younger brother. They human, Belni with a solid herding dog. Good size to his bond, smaller than Din.

We searched for a few hours, the light of Feylf helped, and a few hours after sunset the month-moon Glibbon rose too. That made things easier. We found Terdu crying in a briar. He was embarrassed. His bond were two little sheep — two little fluffy wool sheep.

So I talked and talked and talked. I told tale to Terdu of all the kin and their bonds I met Down Slope. Many dogs, horses too. But when you’re on the northern front you see a bit of everything. Cold Creek doesn’t have a lot of people. Most of their bonds are herding dogs, we’re a herding community and then Iron Road nearsby has the ford. Still mostall the bonds have purpose.

Telling Terdu and Belni about the bigger world helped. Terdu was willing to go home. Belni, his dog, the two floof-sheep and the now prideful Terdu waved away. On that first night I didn’t know they’d come back. They’ve been back five Glibbons now.

Winter on the Slope and Rise gets cold, so the fire rages and the Hornjaws started to bring their friends.

There’s a first-timer tonight. Someone from Iron Road? Not from Creek, that’s certain.

He’s with a pony, carrying a lance and shield. Oh, and the helm of a new conscript. Older than the Hornjaws. Hmmm.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/island-rock-fire-and-full-moon-by-michael-rael-cropped1.jpgIsland Rock Fire and Moon by Michael Rael (CC BY 2.0)

Feylf and Glibbon are both rising now, full. Kin is three-quarters too. It’s a bright night, but bitter cold. The Dragon is tucked behind a cloud and years from being full.

“Terdu, is this everyone you invited?”

“Yessi.. I mean, yes.” They’d stopped calling me sir. I’m just a man, and a dog, and a past that interests them.

There’s three girls, not the same families, as one is a goliath. She’s got a flutter of sparrows round her, several braiding her beard while she sits and waits.

“Belni, serve the cider. Tonight I’m going to talk about Fer and his bull. Fer came from out east. Getting to know Fer was probably the best thing about serving Down Slope. Warm soul who knew warm songs, and would always smile.”

The new one is clearly disinterested.

“It was Fer who taught me talking-drum. I never picked it up the speed he could do, but didn’t matter. He made me practice. Made me good in the head. Hitting that little drum meant not thinking about the lines across the river with the people of Az and Sel, their mastiffs, their rage…”

New kid stops muttering to himself and just interrupts.

“How was he at fighting?!” He shouts.

“Fer would sing too. Not a deep voice, not falsetto — just that type of voice that is confident in itself and willing to share…”

“His fighting! Was he a master at the sword, or bow, or an axeman?” Another interuption.

It’s going to be one of those nights. This isn’t the first time a near-child has wanted the focus to be on the violence in the front. It most certainly won’t be the last.

“Others may tell you those stories. My tales are of the friendships made, the acquaintances held close, and the connections lost. I no longer swing a sword or throw my spear. But I still think warmly about the women and men with whom I serve.

“They are what I miss. They are my regrets. The people and their bonds are the only thing worth my time, for any other thought is sorrow and pain.

“Maybe you’ll find another to tell you your tales. Here, at my fire, under the full moons, my stories are of them, because these are the stories I have.”

Chided, the man-child laughs and storms off. No one joins him.

“Another custom Fer taught me…” I continue with my tale of my friend, the story I have.

Mastodon

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/11/11/storytime-as-moons-rise/

#Fiction #Kin #Kirtin #microfiction #moon #narrative #plotlessNarrative #WorldOfTheEverflow

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fullmoonstorytelling.com, 10 months ago to DnD

Driving off into the wilderlands of Oregon my thoughts wandered to the D&D world I’ve created. Creating names for places on the fly is hard. Often people get consumed with making something that feels like Tolkien, Jordan, Weis, Bardugo or other greats. These names are complicated and often involve invented languages.

You don’t need to be so impressive that linguists study you.

Your world will feel alive borrowing from our own world.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2023/07/seven-devils-road.jpg?w=641These are great names for a fantasy space.

Seven Devils Road and Old Seven Devils Road is perfect for any Dungeons and Dragons game. You don’t need to stretch to far for there to be both an incident that involved seven devils and for the now ruling empire to have a newer, more popular road that carries the same name.

West Beaverhill Road could mean that it is west of Beaverhill. I submit that your fantasy world is more Lewis when you have every cardinal direction have a Beaverhill Road. Each of those is for a different beaverhill. Make those beavers talkative and have them part of the empire to capture some Fillory vibes too.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

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Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
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Whiskey Run Road is just down the way from where we are staying. In my fantasy world that road probably started as a minor trail used by some bootleggers. Now, as they gained power within the realm, thanks to their whiskey runs making money, Whiskey Run Road is the main thoroughfare between the capitol and its not-quite-satellite city. What was once a former smuggler cove is now the headquarters of a major influence on a failing state.

Hidden Canyon Road is something I’m fairly certain I passed by driving to get a cranberry turnover this morning. But my memory of this road is fragile as the road may not exist. The canyon might not exist. I never saw it. In a fantasy world Hidden Canyon Road could be a road, and a bridge, that exists over a fey gulch. There are nights when the gulch exists on most days the hidden canyon and covered bridge is just a normal passage with no need of a bridge at all. But on those nights with a few moons waning the fey canyon is back. Elves and their friends come out of the gulch demanding tax from those who use the bridge.

tl;dr

Take a few road names with you and be ready to create them as fantastic locations using the techniques from SlyFlourish’s Lazy Dungeon Master series. These quite normal names create a world of magic and wonder. Use placenames in reality to inspire your fiction.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/07/14/inspiration-on-vacation/

#DnD #DnD5 #DnD5e #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #inspiration #lazyDM #PlayingDD

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 1 year ago to DnD

The trope that starts every Dungeons & Dragons campaign is “So, you meet in a tavern.” Which is fitting. For most campaigns start with a diverse group of characters who don’t have strong connections throughout the group. They are a cross-cultural, cross-class, cross-Class, cross-everything group that wouldn’t meet at most places in the medieval-Renaissance-ish fantasy world that is D&D.

But the tavern, via the trope, has become a third place. It’s not home (though it often becomes that). It’s not work (though it often becomes that). It’s the place between. And these places between are frequently where subcultures within a society connect.

Various cultures have had different third places. For modern America it is now the coffeeshop and used to be bowling alleys. In the Ottoman Empire in the classical age had its cafes, where philosophy, music and political debate occurred.

In New England during the American Revolution public houses were the gathering point, for many at that time the first place was a co-located home with work and the second were churches.

The Greeks gathered on the steps of temples. Finns and Russians gather in bathhouses.

Sporting venues have been third places, before they became economically stratified. Travelling carnivals and festivals can be a third place.

No matter the type of third place, it tells you a bit about the culture.

Using third places as a character backstory tool

When creating a PC think about the place where you mingled with peoples unlike you. Where did your dwarf first meet an elf? Where did your farmer first meet a noble? Where did your follower of Lathander meet an unbeliever?

This decision will help tell you about your own history.

It will connect them to a place and associated behaviors that aren’t mechanics, but are fuel for the social pillar. Their own stories about a trip to watch a great debate between philosophers, a visit to the library, or the type of ale they enjoyed at the pub are stories that add more depth to the shared story that is D&D.

Adventurers have the place where they sleep (a cave, a cove, an inn), the place where they work (dungeons), and the places where they spend time meeting strangers with odd quests. Once they start their adventure they have the third place that was cross-cultural communication when they were growing up and now the place between — and that’s up to the whole party of different peoples.

Using third places as a world building tool

Dungeon Masters generally are more active in creating the world. There are a few ways they can use third places in that world.

• Collect each players’ third places in your notes. Give them the opportunity to revisit them in new lands.
• Start the campaign at the typical third place for the origin culture of the campaign. “So, you meet on the steps of the temple.”
• When the group comes to a new land and looks for their comfortable third place (the tavern) demonstrate how that locale is different from their expectation and what the unfamiliar culture would use as their non-stratified place that welcomes outsiders.
• Use maps of abandoned third places to show how different the older ages were from the one in which you campaign.
  • Marching Tankard Inn
  • Grand Library of Coruvon
  • Church of the Huntress in Umber
  • Gardens of the Absent City
  • Serzen’s Seven Stairs
• Have an NPC name-drop their favorite third place. This can show how they are familiar to most of the group, or different. Each NPC can have their own place, they should!
• Have two third places in the same town share similarities but still be unique beyond their name. Maybe the Rusty Clam is a working pub and the Silver Nail is for the merchant class — and yet the players are welcomed at both.

These are flavor elements, but flavor is story in D&D. And story is what tables build together, usually because Dungeons and Dragons is now our third place.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/02/07/using-third-places-to-add-cultural-depth-to-your-dd-campaign-or-character/

#coffeeshop #DnD #DnD5 #DnD5e #DungeonsAndDragons #PlayingDD #pub #RolePlaying #soYouMeetInATavern #tavern #thirdPlace #tropes

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 1 year ago to DnD

In the World of the Everflow all dragons have hoards. At this point of Uprising and Rebellion the group has met those that hoard books (paper dragons), jewels and fine art (jaculus), animal companions (black dragons) and strife (blue dragons).

Heading towards the final faceoff with the great wyrm blue dragon there’s a desire to connect the size of the hoard in that Wyrm’s sphere of influence to its power – subsequently allowing actions by the players to reduce the hoard.

This will be done by combining the Legendary Resistance and Legendary Action pools. Legendary Resistance will still be a use and lose item while Legendary Actions will be regained at the start of the dragon’s next turn. A pool of physical objects will symbolize the size of the pool. This will represent the intelligence the group learns about the Wyrm.

A blue-green dragon atop a mossy rock leers over a large d20. Behind it is a river The Wyrm watches the d20 rolls

The Blue Wyrm currently resides in the mayor’s palace, having thrived off the strife caused by the rebellion and the Mayor’s corruption. But the heroes have shown that their rebellion is built on hope, a less stratified society and a city capable of trade again. Now just three dragons stand in the way of freedom, possibly.

Things the characters could do to reduce strife;

• Healing, feeding Kirtin-on-the-Lake’s residents
• Freeing animal companions bound to Shadow and Darkness, the two black dragons
• Increasing trade of desired goods within the war torn city
• Establishing a popular governance path after the Mayor’s abdication
• Reducing the size of the 7th Fleet encampment outside of the city
• Teaching utility cantrips

I’m certain the party will surprise me with other ideas.

Things that can increase strife;

• War with the 7th Fleet
• Teaching more attack cantrips
• The Mayor reclaiming the seat of government
• Open battle in the streets

They will again surprise me with ideas that create a less peaceful city.

The Wyrm is going to start with five legendary points in the penultimate session for this story arc. The session will be split between the plan to pick the territory of battle (palace, tunnel, cave) and preparations that could include reducing the Wyrm’s power.

This tweak to the standard rules should connect a social session to the grand combat ending the Wyrm’s arc.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2023/01/22/integrating-social-narrative-into-combat-legendary-points-connected-to-a-dragons-hoard/

#DnD #dragons #DungeonsAndDragons #Everflow #homebrew #Kirtin #legendaryActions #legendaryPoints #UprisingAndRebellion

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 1 year ago to DnD

Spelljammer is already on printing two. That’s because they need to make some changes to the Hadozee for reasons of insensitivity. They’re good changes and Wizards of the Coast is changing the processes that allowed the culturally insensitive material to appear first too. This new printing has other errata too.

The one that sticks out is the addition of Feats to every Background.

“These backgrounds each give a feat. If a character takes a background from elsewhere and doesn’t get a feat from that background, the character gains one of the following feats of the player’s choice: Magic Initiate, Skilled, or Tough.”

Dragonlance will have something similar. For Dragonlance this was because these are characters in a war. They must be stronger, tougher, etc. In Spelljammer it kind of makes sense. Normal people aren’t space halflings and asteroid dwarves.

Similar to the Dragonlance decision my world has an additional feat at first level. In the case of the World of the Everflow these choices are;

• Kin get a Bonded Companion.
• Ken get a feat that grants a cantrip.
• Kon get Artificer Initiate and the Rock Gnome’s tinker ability.

Similar to the Dragonlance decision to add Feats this was done to add flavor, speaking to the types of powers that people from various continents have.

With One D&D’s playtest we know there’s a chance at adding Feats for everyone at 1st level.

What if the One D&D system of 1st Level Feats was added to 5e now?

You could add Feats to any character in the current game with a minor, but not overwhelming, increase in power with a few simple guidelines.

1. Only allow Feats that don’t have a +1 to an attribute.
2. Don’t allow the +5/-10 Feats.
3. Don’t allow Lucky.
4. Don’t allow Polearm Master

That’s it.

Now you can have flavorful feats in your 5e game at 1st level.

Instead, attach Feats to Backgrounds

Now, my current world attaches Feats to racial choices, but one could choose to go the path of Dragonlance, Spelljammer, and Strixhaven. Each of those books assigns their unique Backgrounds specific Feats for flavor.

A more flexible system would be to attach Feats on a small curve. Those Feats would be selected to emphasize specific stories typically told regarding that Background.

Using my most popular original Background, the Tinker, as an example. We’ll include the three default Feats from the errata — Magic Initiate, Skilled, Tough. Then only selecting Feats from the Player’s Handbook, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything since those are a core book and the two rules expansions.

Actor reminds me of Paden Fain. Artificer Initiate seems obvious. Linguist fits the wanderer mold. Ritual Caster makes sense to capture the one who picks up hedge magic.

Putting those on a chart with a curve using two dice can influence the commonality of the Feats.

Roll 2d4 or choose your favorite.

2. Magic Initiate
3. Tough
4. Linguist
5. Actor
6. Skilled
7. Ritual Caster
8. Artificer Initiate

Since it looks likely that Before We Were Heroes won’t be ready before the 2024 edition, I’m thinking of adding that Feat guidance to each listed Background.

Have another Background you’d like a Feat Chart for, ask in comments.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/11/10/adding-feats-to-5e-backgrounds/

#backgrounds #DnD #DnD5 #DnD5e #Dragonlance #DungeonsAndDragons #feats #homebrew #PlayingDD #Spelljammer #tinker

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 1 year ago to DnD

Since Dungeons & Dragons is anachronistic, most people, and basically every player character, know how to write. But what about those that know how to write and count better? The late middle ages were a time when there was a rapid need for more writers, more accountants. Guilds needed to track the money they were bringing in.

If your D&D world has many guilds it would have many clerks. Some of those clerks may get bored of quill and ink, or precisely measuring liquids, or whatever mundane task their employer has for them — so they head out on adventures, which is what happened in real life too. Lots of clerks got involved with murdering.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/pexels-photo-6752321.jpeg*Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com*Clerk

You are someone who counts fast, keeps precise notes, reads for others, writes for others. You are meticulous and detailed. When

Skill Proficiencies: Investigation, Insight
Tool Proficiencies: Calligrapher’s Tools
Languages: One language
Equipment: Common clothes, tabard, abacus, merchant’s scale, jar (precisely 1 quart), pouch, signet ring, 10 gp

Feature: Measure Twice

You can rapidly and accurately account for large quantities of coins or other staples, assessing their value using just a single action. Clerks are also able to stretch large quantities of staples further than expected. If you need more than 50 of an item a Clerk needs 10% less of that item. For example, 900 ball bearings works just as well for a Clerk as 1000. Or if others would need 50′ of rope the Clerk can make do with 45′.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

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Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
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Alternate Background: Tax Collector

You are a representative of the government, collecting fees and taxes for the services they provide. Maybe you work at a toll bridge, a city gate, or you wander to various farms. Some pay in gold, most in silver or even copper. You’ll take barter too. The Barony needs the funds however it can get them.

A just collector may go easy on a family in years of struggle. An unjust may continually take. Your character’s behavior and history is up to you.

The Tax collector has the same skills, tools, and languages as the Clerk. The difference is in their Feature and in their role in society.

Feature: Forgotten Refund

Knowing the ways of governments you are able to assume the debts of a group that owe. You can also find a way to get a tax refund for yourself or others, or avoid paying the full amount. If normally the government takes 10% you would only pay 5%. If you are short gold, you may visit another tax collector, if one can be found, to get 5 times your proficiency bonus as a refund.

Design Goals

Clerks were so common in the late middle ages they killed a lot of people. Which sounds a lot like D&D adventurers, so why not have a Background based on them. Sure, they could be represented by Sages and Acolytes or other thinkers.

But, I’ve watched too many Clerks movies, and so needed to honor the OG clerks in a special way. Don’t be murdered by clerks, be the clerks that murder.

Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

• Barker or Crier
• Remarkable Drudge
• Farmer & Beekeeper
• Vintner
• Midwife
• Caravanserai & Innkeeper
• Sparkler
• Tinker
• Lamplighter or Street Sweeper
• Herbalist
• Far Talker
• Hunter
• Messenger
• Clerk & Tax Collector
• Barber, Stylist or Bloodletter
• Cabbie & Ferien
• Clothier or Weaver

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/08/09/im-not-even-supposed-to-be-here-today-add-a-clerk-background-to-dd/

#backgrounds #clerk #DnD #DnD5 #DnD5e #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #taxCollector

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fullmoonstorytelling.com, 1 year ago to DnD

In 5th edition D&D I create a lot of rogues. This is a change for me, for in my earlier forays into Dungeons & Dragons, I mostly played clerics, bards and paladins. Part of the appeal of the rogue in 5e, is that it has became the main skill-monkey class. Mostly mundane there are interesting stories to be told via the mastermind, the inquisitive, the scout and the propagandist.

One thing I find lacking for three of those options is the narrative around using a weapon that knocks opponents unconscious. While the rule set allows any weapon that does enough damage to kill to be declared a non-fatal blow, there’s something about an mastermind smacking a thief upside the head with a baton and knocking them out.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/14836265730_f05ef11df3_o-e1659825189185.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/oB2JV1Common within the literatures that inspire our game are also tales about short staves that flip about stabbing with the point and smacking with the side — see various interpretations of Sherlock Holmes. My campaign needed one of these because a player in Uprising and Rebellion Campaign Two is a streetsweeper. Their broom handle makes sense as a weapon for them.

And so, the baton and the short stave were born.

Baton

Type: Simple | Cost: 5 gp | Weight: .5 lbs | Damage: 1d4 | Type: Bludgeoning | Properties: Light, Finesse

Short stave (broom handle)

Type: Martial | Cost: 5 cp | Weight: 2 lbs | Damage: 1d8 | Type: Bludgeoning | Properties: Finesse

The baton is just a refined club so that you can play as Sticks from the Vlad Taltos Saga. The short stave (broom handle) is based on the rapier, the current best weapon for a rogue, but merely bludgeoning and cheap.

There’s nothing game breaking from these additions. There’s no power creep.

There is a whole lot more story. And that’s the whole point to Full Moon Storytelling — story creep.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/08/06/batons-and-short-staves-two-new-finesse-weapons/

#baton #broomstick #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #PlayingDD #weapons

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

Tea, tisanes, rooibos, herbal concoctions and other similar hot drinks are staples in many cultures of the real world and fit so many Dungeons & Dragons cultures as well. The sub-culture around ceremony and expertise makes sense as a Background in 5th edition.

Why would a Tea Master go adventuring? They could be searching for a new supply; have run out of their own supply; know that there is a threat to the trade routes they depend upon; heard from the nobility of a need for the government; have a loyal customer that needs aid. A Tea Master like many service types develops a relationship with the people they serve. Those connections are easy to leverage into relationships that help power story — plus they have tea.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/pexels-photo-1693626.jpeg*Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com*Tea Master

You are a server of fine teas. Maybe you worked in a tea shop, or were a tea merchant, or were the tea master for a noble estate. You prepare teas and small bites of food for the thinking peoples in the area. This can be as simple as a cuppa or an elaborate ritual.

You may be an expert in particular types of tea (powders, fermented, naturals, or combination). These teas and tisanes may come from your local community or come from other lands far from your origin. Regardless, you start with 24 servings of your favorite tea or tisane (tisane=herbal tea). When creating your tea master consider the peoples you served tea to in the past, consider who taught you the ceremony(ies) you know. Use these flavor decisions to embrace your role as a Tea Master.

Skill Proficiencies: History and Insight. If you are using cultures rather than languages, then replace history as per those rules.
Tool Proficiencies: None
Languages: Two languages
Equipment: Alms box with 25 silver, bell or whistle or hand drum, tea set for 6 including tea for 4 ceremonies for 6 (10 pounds and 25 gp value), fine clothes, waterskin

Feature: Tea Ceremony

Performing a 1 hour ritualistic ceremony you serve tea often with small plates of food, but that is not required. The ceremony is patient and calming, shifting NPC attitude from hostile to indifferent or indifferent to friendly, if the NPC can be convinced to partake in the full ceremony. PCs partaking in a tea ceremony can use Hit Dice to heal as if the time was spent on a Short Rest.

Personality Traits that make sense for the Tea Master could be from the Acolyte, the Guild Artisan, the Hermit, or the Sage. Mix and match these as necessary.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/kristin-clark-logo-white.png

Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
You can support Full Moon Storytelling by choosing Homes by KC for your next real estate transaction.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/pexels-photo-7596854.jpeg*Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com*Design Goals

There are a few reasons I wanted to make the Tea Master. During my time in the Middle East I experienced a couple versions of tea ceremonies. These were done as a welcome to a home or to a camp. In my personal life I have also experienced the elaborate high tea that used to be part of the nobility of England. These seemed to fit the social portion of D&D, especially as they stretch back in time to the days which inspire our stories.

Within fiction there are two tea ceremonies that stand out in my mind — both from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Tumnus uses a tea ceremony to distract and then poison Lucy. The Witch uses a tea ceremony and foods to make Edmund think that she is not a threat. Both examples fit the literature that inspires our game.

There was also a desire to make the tea ‘rules’ different than coffee ‘rules.’ The two are similar in that they are water with vegetation that often provides stimulation as well as being from locales far from the founding cultures of the game. Both belong in D&D, because they were in Europe in the era that inspired the game AND because D&D is about much more than Europe.

Another goal was to remove specificity of culture from the tea ceremony. Tea ceremonies do not have the direct lineage that coffee does (coffee houses have a direct lineage to Ottoman cafes). Tea is a more widespread crop with various cultures celebrating the leaf. So make your tea ceremony your own. Celebrate a real culture, create a pastiche, or invent a new one — do it honoring real cultures that you are a member of or that you’ve studied.

Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

• Barker or Crier
• Remarkable Drudge
• Farmer & Beekeeper
• Vintner
• Midwife
• Caravanserai & Innkeeper
• Sparkler
• Tinker
• Lamplighter or Street Sweeper
• Herbalist
• Far Talker
• Hunter
• Messenger
• Clerk & Tax Collector
• Barber, Stylist or Bloodletter
• Cabbie & Ferien
• Clothier or Weaver

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/05/21/tea-master-background-dampd/

#backgrounds #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #teaMaster

image/jpeg

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

Animal companions are a vital part of my campaign world. Much of the reason the World of the Everflow and the Land of Six Kingdoms exists is because I want to explore the connection between humans and dogs. Since this is Dungeons & Dragons that also means exploring the connection between halflings and riding dogs, kobolds and ratters, elves and sighting dogs, goliaths and huskies.

D&D only has one natural dog. There’s also blink dogs, wolves, dire wolves, and a few other mystical beasts. But the real world has dogs that range from one pound to a couple hundred, dogs that are able to swim forever, dogs that are able to detect scent so well they detect cancer, dogs that pull sleds for hundreds of miles.

Fifth edition is simpler than reality, and every other version of the “editions” of D&D, only various basic editions could be classified as simple. It doesn’t need 150 breeds of dogs. It does need more than the mastiff. Here are nine other types of dogs to help expand your D&D game.

Mastiffs or War Dogs

Part of the 5th edition D&D SRD, the mastiff can be summoned by various spells and magic items and ridden by small humanoids. Though described as a hound, the art for mastiffs tends towards bulky. They are war dogs, clearly. Maybe they also represent breeds that guard through violence and intimidation rather than as an early warning system.

Mastiffs and war dogs should always be medium.

Herding dogs

These dogs herd animals, you already figured that out. Whether they are shepherds or certain terriers or heelers, they enjoy large groups.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2020/08/18/add-a-herding-dog-to-your-dd-game/

Herding dogs are usually medium, but small is appropriate.

Guardian dogs

There are a few types of guardian dogs. Where in D&D the mastiff represents the guard dog that is violent and intimidating a guardian dog represents those breeds that act as an early warning system. They observe a space and warn their companions that danger is coming.

Rather than stat this out, the two guardian dogs in my current game are simple. They do 1 HP of damage on attacks, have half hit points of a mastiff, and are small. These represent the terrier breeds that aren’t eliminating vermin but are barking a lot (there’s some crossover in the real world). What makes them special is the ability, once per long rest, to “cast” Alarm as a ritual without any use of spell components. Rather than invent a new ability, creating a small area that the dogs can sense entry into and then bark a lot makes things simple.

Guardian dogs can be small and sometimes medium.

Working dogs

Where the mastiff represents breeds that are violent, working dogs have two main roles in our world of fantasy — the mount and the cart/sled puller. These are big doggos. They never tire. They love you so much they want to work harder. Give them the mastiff stats, but with max HP and a boost of 2 to Constitution. They have disadvantage on attack rolls.

Give a working dog Beast of Burden, you can find that on the Mule. They are tireless, and have advantage on strength or constitution checks that would impose exhaustion.

Working dogs are medium, maybe even large — this is a fantasy world.

Retrieving dogs

Aslan is a red lab and Amira was a golden/yellow mix. These are the dogs that taught me what dogs are. Retrievers haven’t appeared in my game yet. The rules are simple. A retriever fetches. At the end of a combat 100% of ammunition can be found within ten minutes, unless magically hidden or a critical fail was rolled. Additionally, when they are within 30′ of their companion and that companion’s target their companion always has at least 1 piece of ammunition. They do not provoke attacks of opportunity, ever. They use the mastiff stats.

Retrieving dogs are usually medium, but small works.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2021/06/06/eat-bonded-companion/

Water dogs

Labs are funny because they are both retriever and water dogs, but that’s complicated. 5e isn’t supposed to be complicated. So your lab needs to be one or the other. Or get a spaniel. They’re cool too, all dogs are cool. There’s lots of water dogs that basically forget that they are supposed to run on land, not jump in every pond, crick, or ocean they find. And yet. Water dogs do just that.

Mechanically? Use the mastiff, because simple. Drop Keen Hearing & Smell and drop the bite to a d4+1. Add on a swimming speed of 40 and resistance to cold damage.

Water dogs can be medium or small.

Hound or sighting dogs

The dog that helps hunters and trackers is a capable tracker who can sight prey from great distances. These hounds are frequent companions of rangers and other outdoorsy types.

Mastiffs, the base D&D dog, already have Keen Sight & Hearing, so what does a dog that’s even better have? Let’s lean on Elven Accuracy. Whenever tracking, hounds and sighting dogs are able to reroll one of their advantage dice. When their companion is tracking the help of a hound or sighter means that companion has the same. A sighting dog or smell-hound can use the Help action as a Bonus Action for a ranged or melee attack respectfully. Other changes from the mastiff are a drop of strength and constitution by 2 points, reducing their damage, attack bonus, and hit points.

Hounds and sighting dogs are evenly split between medium and small.

Vermin hunting dogs

Certain breeds were meant to get rid of rats, badgers, foxes etc. They are nimble (Dex 16, AC 14) pack animals (Pack Tactics) who are brave (advantage against fear). They will chase a small animal into its home, enjoying that chase through darkness (darkvision 10′). They aren’t strong (Str 9) or tough (HP 2). They’re just fierce. Their bite does 1d4-1 hit points of damage, minimum one. On a successful bite the victim must make a DC: 10 strength check or be grappled.

Many tunneling societies will partner up with vermin hunters, to include, but not limited to, kobolds, gnomes, dwarves, goblins, drow. Sure these dogs may bring rats back to their companions. This is both good and bad and good and bad.

Vermin hunters are small, with some being tiny and a few being medium.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/kristin-clark-logo-white.pngHomes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
You can support Full Moon Storytelling by choosing Homes by KC for your next real estate transaction.

Messenger or racing dogs

These dogs are fast. Whippets, greyhounds and others are real world breeds who are racers. In the World of the Everflow messenger dogs are used to send letters between places. These dogs just have to move, except when they don’t. They sleep hard and eat as much as a working dog.

They have a movement of 60′ and are able to use the Dash Action as a Bonus Action. Additionally their dexterity is 16, giving them an AC of 13. They do not provoke attacks of opportunity. They only do 1 HP of damage on attacks. Otherwise they have the stats of a mastiff.

Most messenger dogs are small. Some could be medium.

Toy or companion dogs

Some dogs are beloved by their companions, but not by everyone else. That’s fine. Everyone deserves dog love. Maybe an eccentric wizard carries one in their pouch, or a bard has one in their pocket, or the king has a medium sized one on its lap constantly. These aren’t dogs for adventuring. These are dogs for socializing.

A toy dog can cast Friends once per long rest. They have 1 HP and an 8 constitution. Their bite does no damage, but causes disadvantage on the next attack roll for the victim. If they are targeted by an attack the attacker may suffer from Hellish Rebuke originating from the toy dog causing psychic damage.

Toy dogs are usually small, maybe tiny, but some medium flooffs think that they are toys and will crawl up in your lap no matter what you want.

---

What’s the first type of dog you’re adding to your game?

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/05/13/nine-types-of-dogs-to-add-to-dungeons-dragons/

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #GuardianDog #HerdingDog #homebrew #HoundDog #RetrievingDog #SightingDog #ToyDog #VerminHuntingDog #WaterDog #WorkingDog

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

As a horde of humans riding guard drakes crests the Blue Hills, the chappe telegraph operator builds the signal that will reach the Larton Keep now that war has returned to the range. Using whistles, a youngster tells the village miles away that four sheep are lost so they’ll be home late, could his family please have tea ready for when they return.

A thrumming beat injects itself into the air as an owlbear stalks a deer. Knowing the bear is nearing a sacred vale a group of druids and rangers work to separate hunter and prey, for there will be no killing in Frannet’s vale.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/signaling_by_napoleonic_semaphore_line.jpg*The drawing is signed “Keith Thomas” in lower right corner – Retrieved June 11, 2014 from Radio News magazine, Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., Inc., New York, Vol. 32, No. 5, November 1944, p. 71 archived on http://www.americanradiohistory.com/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39352497*Sure, a spell caster might be able to use Message, or two people may have Sending Stone for magical cell phones. But, the Far Talkers converse over a distance of miles, not feet. They speak with many, not one, signaling a warning or just chattering about the weather. Far Talkers and Messengers help societies that stretch over leagues communicate and maintain a culture.

Far Talker

You have the ability to converse over miles, sending messages for a government, faction, or some other organization. In war societies seek your aid to help units communicate. In peace you and other Far Talkers help connect towns and cities, or just keep two distant wizard towers in touch.

Familiar with how the weather impacts your mode of speech you have learned the winds and rains of many lands. Expected to see or hear things at a great distance your senses are strong. You may be an expert at the drums, but you have heard of others who use whistles, tree beating, smoke, flags, or other instruments. No matter what tool is used your messages are simultaneously public and semi-secret.

Skill Proficiencies: Perception, Nature
Tool Proficiencies: One musical instrument
Languages: One additional, plus the ability to Far Talk in Intelligence bonus languages (minimum 1)
Equipment: A symbol of service to a government or large church, a gaming set, a spyglass or musical instrument, traveler’s clothes, a notebook with notation for your type of far talk, 1 day rations, pouch with 2 gold

Feature: Far Talking

Using your chosen tool you can communicate over a distance of 6 miles when outdoors, and twice normal speaking distance when indoors, in a number of languages equal to your Intelligence bonus (minimum 1). Extreme weather may make those long-distance conversations more difficult.

When you meet another practitioner of the Far Talking arts they are always one step friendlier than their companions or social situation would indicate. For example if two scout groups from warring nations met their far talkers would be indifferent while everyone else was hostile. This is true even when the far talkers in question use different languages and tools to talk.

Learning Far Talking

A character without the background can learn Far Talking per the rules to learn a new language. They would then learn one method of Far Talking for a single language.

Some groups of druids, rangers, and their allies might spend time learning Druidic spoken via Whistle Cant. A fleet of pirates could all know Yodeling. Have fun with this.

Types of Far Talkers

Roll on the table below or pick your favorite

1. Whistle Cant
2. Talking Drums
3. Smoke Signals
4. Signal Flags
5. Tree Drumming
6. Yodeling/Throat Singing
7. Bugle
8. Optical Telegraph

As always, seek ways that cantrips would enhance these. Those that rely on sound would be amplified by Minor Illusion, Thaumaturgy, and can you imagine Thunder Clap sent through a massive bugle-like device. Those that need light can be made more useful by Prestidigitation, Dancing Lights, Light, and Minor Illusion. A world of magic would have Far Talkers that can speak across many miles.

Personality: Use the Soldier or Folk Hero personality traits for now. When the Background project is done each new Background will have traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws that are unique to the Background.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/kristin-clark-logo-white.png

Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
You can support Full Moon Storytelling by choosing Homes by KC for your next real estate transaction.

Design Goals

The Far Talker started out from two different ideas — I wanted to create Whistle Cant as a kind of alt-Druidic and my desire for the Messenger Background. The Messenger became two different Backgrounds. That Messenger will focus on the people who deliver physical messages by walking, running, riding, etc. The Far Talker is the other version. Rather than become Druidic, Whistle Cant became a type of Far Talking, and one of several examples of alt-languages that a Far Talker might specialize in.

Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

• Barker or Crier
• Remarkable Drudge
• Farmer & Beekeeper
• Vintner
• Midwife
• Caravanserai & Innkeeper
• Sparkler
• Tinker
• Lamplighter or Street Sweeper
• Herbalist
• Far Talker
• Hunter
• Messenger
• Clerk & Tax Collector
• Barber, Stylist or Bloodletter
• Cabbie & Ferien
• Clothier or Weaver

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/01/29/far-talkers-converse-over-miles-with-this-dd-background/

#backgrounds #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #FarTalker #homebrew #inspiration #PlayingDD

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

Using Green-Flame Blade, Booming Blade, and Lightning Lure gives these two subclasses much of the feel they need. Both invoke a feeling of characters who use their weapons while slinging spells. So does the Hexblade, the Battle Smith, some Paladins, and some Rangers.

Unlike when the Hexblade and Battle Smith were added to the game, the Bladesinger and Eldritch Knight didn’t get access to spells like Thunderous Smite or Zephyr Strike or Ensnaring Strike. The Smites all fit the two narratives. The Strikes are just the two previously listed and Steel Wind Strike.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/pexels-photo-10819551.jpeg*Photo by Anastasia Lashkevich on Pexels.com*A Dungeon Master that adds these ten spells for their players helps that player play a character who fits the mold as a weapon-caster. Giving a PC a few moments a day, because they take spell slots, when that character emphasizes the vibe of the fiction that inspires their character is great. They aren’t stepping on the toes of the Paladin (who has the Smite feature still) or the Ranger (because Favored Foe and Hunter’s Mark are their combat signatures).

Ten spells and your players will be more like the character they want to be, without the need to be a Hexblade sworn to a odd mystical sword, a Paladin sworn to a cause, or a Ranger protecting civilization from the Wildes.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/kristin-clark-logo-white.png

Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
You can support Full Moon Storytelling by choosing Homes by KC for your next real estate transaction.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/01/23/bladesingers-and-eldritch-knights-should-have-smite-and-strike-spells/

#Bladesinger #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #EdritchKnight #homebrew #PlayingDD

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

Typically in Dungeons and Dragons an adventure consists of some easy encounters, some hard encounters, a deadly encounter, and then the final encounter. The way characters level up over a campaign echoes this progression.

Heck, this is even typical in most stories. The heroes may see a deadly monster early, but they don’t fight it until they are more powerful. Or, in the course of a D&D adventuring day, when they’ve used some amount of resources, thereby making the final monster more deadly.

Through a happy little accident of misreading some stat blocks, my last set of sessions inverted this process.

Rather than meet goblins, then hobgoblins, then an ogre climbing that ladder of difficulty, the group started their day with a CR 7.6 encounter, next was a CR 6.25 encounter, and then a CR 3.

That released some opportunities for the players. The happy little accident meant that during that tough encounter they used a bunch of powerful abilities rather than keep them in reserve. During the second encounter they used more.

Then, finally, when they met the “boss” (who was actually the boss of the various Dragon Sworn*) they only had a couple abilities left. That meant it felt deadly, but really wasn’t. They won easily.

• For this I used the Fizban’s Dragon Blessed, Dragon Chosen, and Dragon Speaker

Overall the group was tested, more so than typical in my sessions. Also, they got to use more of their potent features. If I better telegraphed the inversion, like if it was planned, then they would have used even more of their limited powers.

When a player invests in a character having certain abilities they need to be able to use them. This accident utilized more powers in one day then I’ve seen in some time.

Now they’ll try to rest.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/kristin-clark-logo-white.png

Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
You can support Full Moon Storytelling by choosing Homes by KC for your next real estate transaction.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/01/19/try-inverting-your-dd-encounters-difficulty/

#DM #DnD #DungeonMastering #DungeonsAndDragons #encounterDesign #PlayingDD

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

One of the tenets of Dungeons & Dragons is that your character can be anything. Well nearly anything. There are certain limitations on races, mostly due to fantasy tropes. Those continue to expand. The embrace of characters with crutches, wheelchairs, and other ambulatory aids continues. Official books always include art showing these samples.

While the movement towards inclusion of disabled people as potential heroes is slow. It is there. This is wonderful. Because everyone deserves representation. Everyone should have the choice to see themselves as a hero.

Me? I wear glasses. Have all my life. This includes when I was a cartoon superhero as a linguist in the 5th Special Forces. On the range? Glasses. Jumping out of airplanes? Glasses. Setting det-cord? Glasses. Giving an IV? Glasses.

But how would my character where glasses? How could I play this?

My next D&D character is a glasses wearer.
They carry dozens of lenses for varied uses. One of the land’s best archers, they can shoot a bee’s nest at 300 lengths.
Once a truffle hunter always paying attention what was close, they now look afar, constantly.

Originally tweeted by Dave Clark (@bedirthan) on January 13, 2022.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/hero-screenshot.png*Created at Hero Forge.*There’s no rules for wearing glasses. The fix is simple. The worlds of D&D have magnifying glasses (100 gp, can start fires) and spyglasses (1000 gp, doubles size of object). So grinding glass isn’t a problem within typical D&D. Neither is the construction of simple frames. In the real world glasses as we know them date to the 13th century.

Eyeglasses or Spectacles

Type: Adventuring Gear | Cost: 25 gp* | Weight: —
Wearers of eyeglasses or spectacles have their vision corrected to normal within the world.

* any player who wants to start their character with lenses should be permitted at no cost.

Now, you may ask — what happens if they get knocked off?

First, I say? Whatever. No, seriously, is your game a constant barrage of disarming player characters of their weapons, shields, and spell components? If not, then don’t worry about it. If you do run that kind of game, then use the same rules for other disarms and expect that characters would carry an extra set of lenses, as I did when I was a cartoon superhero. Maybe their next attack is at disadvantage if you feel cruelty is necessary in your game of heroics.

Those rules are rather unnecessary. My glasses fell off once during training exercises that involved nearly the highest level of training in the US Army (I was SOT-A, not tabbed).

Hero Forge, DM Heroes, ReRoll, Never Ending all have glasses options for art. Currently DnD Beyond does not. You’ll have to load your own, but that should be corrected, because D&D is for everybody.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/rybalanik.png*A gnome hero from DM Heroes.*My next D&D Character is bespectacled.
They wear lens to correct their poor eyesight. Not a nerd, just a person who lives life with lenses on their face. They slay dragons with a giant sword and use their shield to protect their friends.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2022/01/16/your-dd-campaign-should-have-glasses/

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #equipment #gear #glasses #PlayingDD

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fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

Picking herbs from a backyard garden, a hot house, or a forest outside of town the herbalist collects natural items that aid and harm. An herbalist can heal, poison, invigorate. They know the powers of plants and fungi to change how humanoids and beasts experience the world.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/pexels-photo-4355630.jpeg*Photo by murat esibatir on Pexels.com*Herbalist

You are a naturalist. You use the art and science of foods and other natural goods to change the way people experience the world. Maybe your favorite tisane helps awaken the weary, or heal the hurt, or cure a disease, or puts people to sleep. A poultice could stop blood flow, or cool the overheating.

There’s power in the natural world and your various recipes. Clerics count on gods. Druids channel the magic of nature. An herbalist knows that life interacts with itself in interesting ways. There’s a magic to that, it’s just not ‘magic.’

Skill Proficiencies: Nature, Survival
Tool Proficiencies: Herbalist Kit
Languages: Druidic
Equipment: Sickle, 2 candles, Scroll case with 5 pieces parchment or a notebook, common clothes, component pouch, herbalism kit, 2 vials (1 w/ either antitoxin or healing potion)

Feature: A Dash of This; a Dollop of That

Using a short rest, you can always find the various fungus, plants, and whatnot needed to make antitoxin, healing potions, poison, or coffee-like substances. Your recipes manifest as salves, poultices, potions, pills, or any other way to deliver the ingredients. Any of your recipes take just a Bonus Action to use as they are more potent than typical.

The personality traits, ideals, bonds of flaws of the Acolyte, Folk Hero, Hermit, Outlander, and Sage all make sense to borrow from during the playtest of this Background. When published all Backgrounds will have unique character traits.

Full Moon Storytelling is presented by Homes by KC

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/kristin-clark-logo-white.png

Homes by KC is a Keller-Williams Realtor with a background in interior design, marketing, and project management.

Follow her on Facebook or Instagram to see featured homes in the area as well as to get advice on the real estate market around Puget Sound and southeast Washington.
You can support Full Moon Storytelling by choosing Homes by KC for your next real estate transaction.

Herbalist Design Goals

Again, this design exists because the Guild Artisan puts most Backgrounds that are related to Tools into a Guild. That’s fine for some stories, but it ignores so many others.

A rural or farm community Herbalist is common in the lore upon which D&D is based. These can become Druids, Rangers, Clerics, Sorcerers, Wizards, and Warlocks most commonly. There’s also a fit with certain Barbarians, Monks, and Paladins. Frankly, a Rogue (Assassin) and Paladin (Devotion, Ancients), and even a Fighter (Eldritch Knight). Because frankly every background should have a story with every core class.

There was also a desire to have access to Druidic, my least favorite D&D language, at a Background level. A couple Backgrounds grant access to Thieves Cant, and it makes sense to have at least one grant Druidic. Shortly, there will be a post about a new take on Druidic that expands it to cover at least one more class and a couple more Backgrounds soon.

Nynaeve al’Meara from the Wheel of Time is a foundational character for this Background.

---

Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

• Barker or Crier
• Remarkable Drudge
• Farmer & Beekeeper
• Vintner
• Midwife
• Caravanserai & Innkeeper
• Sparkler
• Tinker
• Lamplighter or Street Sweeper
• Herbalist
• Far Talker
• Hunter
• Messenger
• Clerk & Tax Collector
• Barber, Stylist or Bloodletter
• Cabbie & Ferien
• Clothier or Weaver

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2021/10/27/add-the-herbalist-background-to-your-5th-edition-dd-games/

#backgrounds #DnD #DnD5 #DnD5e #DungeonsAndDragons #herbalist #homebrew

fullmoonstorytelling.com, 2 years ago to DnD

The clattering of tin as they come over the hill; a belly laugh as the tinker learns of some gossip from mother; the circle of enraptured youth as a tale that is at most half-true is told; the fussing over a minor repair for a family that has no goods to offer in service.

In fantasy the Tinker is a trope that captures a travelling fixer who knows news, rumor, and myth. Their wealth rides a donkey or canoe with them and every community on their circuit is home and an unknowable set of peoples. Now, you too can play a Tinker.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/pexels-photo-764350.jpeg*Photo by Isa Sebastiu00e3o on Pexels.com*Tinker

Maybe you grew up in a family of smiths, or were raised by bards, or maybe you were kind of good at a lot of arts, but not really good at one in particular. Whatever your past you decided to leave the ‘civilized’ world and help those families on the frontier. When things break you fix them.

When communities break you share that information with others who need to hear it. You carry as much information as you do tin. Your donkey is your only friend on the trails throughout the wilds. Everyone you meet trusts you, even the bandits, brigands and raiders. They need your services too.

Skill Proficiencies: Performance, Insight
Tool Proficiencies: Tinker’s Tools, Vehicle (Land or Water)
Languages: None
Equipment: Donkey/Mule/Pony (if water vehicles chosen a canoe, rowboat or skiff is appropriate), Tinker’s Kit, 1 Pound Each Tin, Copper, Iron, Pack Saddle, 3 Pots, Traveler’s Clothes, Pouch with 5 Gold

Feature: I Can Fix It

Facing a mundane device that is broken you are able to fix it, even if you don’t have the proper supplies and parts. This repair may only last a few minutes or a few hours, though it is enough for the device to last through it’s next use. You may wind up using a copper coin, or a bit of string, or a knife during this repair. This feature can be used to fix ammunition, traps, broken wheels, or other adventuring equipment. The repair is not permanent.

Tinker Design Goals

Throughout the literature that inspires Dungeons & Dragons are tales of itinerant workers who travel the barely civilized wildernesses drifting between villages. Primarily they are fixers, using bits of tin, copper, iron, leather, etc to repair farming tools or kitchen utensils in the homesteads too far from smithys.

The fiction also has these tinkers as storytellers. They aren’t bards, as their magic is just the magic of carrying tales of other households, villages, and empires to people who long for information, but don’t want to live in places where information is common. The Tinker tells their tales around a fire or a meal, informing the group through storytelling. At their next stop they will share what they’ve learned. Every encounter is a bit of knowledge to share in an attempt to connect the frontier lands despite weather and monsters that keep those connections broken.

For these reasons the Tinker has Performance and Insight. Consideration was made for History. That would seem to indicate an intellectual rather than a tale-teller. Insight made sense because of the way the literature has the Tinker connect to the families year after year.

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Custom Backgrounds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons

• Barker or Crier
• Remarkable Drudge
• Farmer & Beekeeper
• Vintner
• Midwife
• Caravanserai & Innkeeper
• Sparkler
• Tinker
• Lamplighter or Street Sweeper
• Herbalist
• Far Talker
• Hunter
• Messenger
• Clerk & Tax Collector
• Barber, Stylist or Bloodletter
• Cabbie & Ferien
• Clothier or Weaver

https://fullmoonstorytelling.com/2021/08/03/the-tinker-a-5th-edition-dd-background/

#backgrounds #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #homebrew #tinker

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