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Curse of Strahd done differently. Again.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 - 02:15

So I decided to do something interesting with my D&D campaigns this year and that was make them interesting.

This time around, I truly made the campaign my own and afforded the players with a variety of options, including being a native of Barovia, which some opted for.

In short, Barovia is a miserable land full of dour and death but it happens to exist in the Core and part of the core is The Carnival.

This concept didn't hit me at first. I knew that I wanted my plot to involve The Carnival, so ultimately choosing them as a point of origin served...

Great ideas are not exclusive

Friday, November 24, 2023 - 18:33

I was watching Jordphan's latest videos and noted during his recent Outlands video that a race exists known as the Rimalni.

Their range of abilities is strictly aligned to provide a 'balance' to the multiverse, going so far as to polymorph into various forms of creature to ensure said balance.

They seem to have evolved from organic celestial creatures into something more akin to modrons, or...

Two stories

Thursday, November 23, 2023 - 05:03

I had forgotten the mental drain that running multiple games can be. Socially, I don't have any issue with it. However, keeping the threads untangled and straight in my mind during game takes some real honest planning.

Maintaining a game driven by my own story is one thing and running two games is another thing, but running two games that are tandem on a timeline or storyline is a new challenge for me.

It's a heavy amount of work to get the characters written and any lacking points can quickly lead to problematic outcomes if I'm not keeping abreast of my story as the games...

My own little world

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 - 05:06

I'm not Tolkein, nor would I compare myself to his genius, but aspirations and dreams are what they are.

I will never be Tolkein. My work will never have or be what Tolkeins is regarded for. Best I can expect, I think, is that a few people appreciate and are moved by my stories, but then that's all I'm really asking for, is that I tell a good enough story that the few people who attend my games are emotionally moved by the events therein.

There's nothing more satisfying then seeing the passion that players put into the world I'm creating, helping me define and shape and create together as we all play within our collective creation.

I provide a doorway into the Forgotten Realms...

Lions & Nobles

Tuesday, November 7, 2023 - 10:00

So the new season begins, and with it the chronicles of the Farsea Swamps continues.

I'll admit, I did not assume that I would become so invested in this story, but the more I develop the world, the more meaningful characters I develop and become intrinsically familiar with, the more I can't help but fall in love with it all.

I suppose that's no different than any other author who takes pride in their work, but I am sincerely surprised that this world and its characters have grown on me in such a fashion.

The best part about it is that I find I'm in love with the...

Starting from the middle

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 20:53

An interesting point that Jim Uhls (screenwriter of Fight Club) mentioned in an interview I caught recently, is that he looks to key scenes that a story should have and write those first.

He called it the 'scent of blood' or in other words, to tempt your creativity, to put yourself in the script and grow outward. Instead of trying to start from a seed, get immersed in some thing you're passionate about and let the story grow from there.

I can get behind that.

When I start a new campaign, I look to players to provide a decent enough back story that we are starting from...

The next chapter

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 21:43

An open book and empty tea cup sitting by the seaside, pages billowing in the breeze.

I haven't been inspired in a while.

The story I'm telling or rather bringing to it's dramatic conclusion, is something of a pride point as we reach a crescendo the players will remember.

Moreover, the thing I think I'm most happy about with this campaign is that there's been more story, interaction and exposition than there's been combat and yet the campaign has felt intense, dense and satisfying through nearly every session.

As we come to the close of the campaign, I look to the future and I ask myselfl, what is next? What is my next story? What story do I wish to...

The game we play

Friday, April 21, 2023 - 03:25

A dungeon master, plays a very different game from the game that the players are playing.

A dungeon master, or game master, or story teller, is playing a game of tag while players are playing whatever game they want to play, with each other if they understand D&D.

Whatever game system you are playing, the point as the centre point of the players trust is to deliver a fun experience. That may seem gross and derivative but the point is true.

The same way we (the biblical we) watch action, horror, suspense, and mystery movies, among others, or read adventures,...

The Farsea Swamps

Saturday, April 8, 2023 - 17:53

A map of the Farsea swamp in current Faerunian canon.

As campaigns go, I have a few that I'm especially proud of for their place in my growth as a story teller.

With the end of the current storyline on the horizon, I am proud to say thus far I've expertly handled each plot point and respective pay off and am excited for the next few sessions and what they'll offer in emotional rewards.

When we watch movies, read books, understand poems, and hear music, our emotions are being compelled. These things give rise to something in each of us. Memories, trauma, joy, anguish, and so forth.

When, as an artist in any medium, you...

WeaveWright

Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 12:26

I've released an adventure that you can have a look at here.

I decided to challenge myself some years ago to write a small module that folks could use to build an epic series of adventures off of.
I wanted to build a premise and context with characters that myself or others could easily inject (hah!) into their D&D story and build off it for high level campaigns.

I don't assume I'm alone in saying that it can be hard to produce a convincing small scope high level...

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