"We Play To Get The Next Issue Picked Up!"

Dare: The Glittering Reef: 

“While the dragon may long be dead, there’s more than one predator in these waters. You best be quick if you wish to claim your prize.“

Setup: Generations ago the crystal clear waters of the Ildathan coast ran red with blood, as a terrible archdrake terrorized the trade routes and savaged any merchant ship it caught eyes on. Known to locals as Hullraker, this beast would use its powerful claws to crack open the body of ships to gorge itself on sailors and treasure alike. 

While its a myth that dragons eat gold, they do sometimes devour valuable objects to spit up into their hordes later. This habbit would eventually lead to the drake’s defeat, as a group of clever pirates tired of the drake’s meddling caste a series of golden cannonballs, then hollowed them out and filled them with black powder, and an alchemical compound that would ignite after being exposed to the drake’s insides for some length of time.  Loading up a dummy ship with their deadly decoys and piles of coin as bait, they watched in glee as the drake’s belly exploded mid air, showering the sea with golden shrapnel and sending Hullraker plunging into the reef below. 

The Challenge: Since the time of its death, treasure hunters have paddled out to the glimmering reef in the hopes of  reclaiming a portion of the dragons last, fatal meal. Having stripped most of the upper reef clear of coins. Now after years of plundering only the strongest of divers can make it down to the dark, shark infested shelf of the reef where the dragon’s bones and the bulk of its treasure remains. Tradition is that each diver only takes a single coin, and while one gold piece isn’t much to an adventure, a “drowned queen” (one of the particular printing of coins the pirates used for the bulk of their bait) is a mighty prize among sailors and other folk of the sea, said to confer the luck and cunning of the pirates that took Hullraker down. 

Just the image of cowboys sitting around a fire telling stories gave me bard ideas for the on going cowboy series

sixty-nine more questions for your ttrpg characters!

(i originally made one of these on a defunct sideblog; i thought it was about time i made a new one! send an oc’s name and a number, go wild!)

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1. what drives them? what’s their ultimate goal?

2. what was your original concept for this character? how did playing them change that concept?

3. can they accept failure?

4. what one person, place, or thing do they love more than anything else?

5. is there something they want to be known for?

6. how have they changed in the last year? how about the last five years?

7. there’s a magic item (or technological innovation, or special resource) made just for them—what is it?

8. what songs remind you of them? if there are specific lyrics or movements, list ‘em!

9. when in their life were they most scared?

10. what inspired this character’s creation?

11. if they have a pet or animal companion, how do they spend time with them? if they don’t have one, what sort of animal would they be interested in raising, if any?

12. how have they altered their body? piercings, tattoos, biohacks, or other modifications—anything. why (or why not) did they (or someone else) make those changes?

13. what are some motifs you associate with them? did you intentionally bring in those motifs, or did it happen over time?

14. what keeps them up at night?

15. is there something that never fails to make them laugh?

16. do they value their appearance?

17. they’re crying—what did it take to make them cry?

18. what dish brings back the best memories for them?

19. what sparks genuine, unadulterated rage in them?

20. what attracts them to someone—platonically and/or romantically, anything counts.

21. do they have an idea about how they’ll die? do you?

22. how would they decorate their living space, if they had a chance?

23. in what moment did they consider themselves to be “grown up”?

24. are they close to any family members?

25. who is their best friend?

26. what type of person pisses them off?

27. how do they usually dress? why do they dress the way they do?

28. do they collect anything?

29. what feelings do they internalize?

30. how do they handle confrontation?

31. do they respond well to praise? how about criticism?

32. which of your decisions led to their voice being the way it is?

33. what artistic medium are they most drawn to?

34. what languages do they speak? how did they learn them?

35. when did they feel loneliest?

36. how do they fidget?

37. if they’ve had one, what was their first kiss like?

38. do they see themselves as an important part of their party?

39. are they insecure about their appearance? how about their personality? what aspects specifically worry them?

40. if you had to remake this character right now, how would you change them?’

41. how do you keep notes for this character, if at all?

42. can they dance?

43. how much do they know about the world they live in?

44. what lies do they tell others?

45. what lies do they tell themselves?

46. have they taught themselves any skills just for fun?

47. what could they talk about for hours on end?

48. do they relate to anyone in their group? conversely, which person do they relate to the least?

49. how often do they cut their hair, if at all?

50. do they have a go-to beverage, alcoholic or nonalcoholic?

51. what element of their backstory are you proudest of?

52. how would they dress themselves up for a formal event?

53. do they keep their plans close to their chest?

54. how important is money in their life? do they save up for ages, or spend quickly?

55. they’re seeing their greatest wish come true—what’s happening?

56. who would they trust with their life, unequivocally?

57. do they see value in the laws of where they live?

58. how often do they swear? do they mind when others swear?

59. what’s an element of their philosophy that you disagree with?

60. what do they have faith in? what keeps them believing?

61. is there an in-game moment of theirs you think about and just laugh?

62. do they believe in good and evil?

63. what’s a meme or tiktok or vine (or whatever) that you associate with them?

64. how would a party member describe them?

65. what would their go-to karaoke song be?

66. which fruit do they like most?

67. do they consider themselves to be special?

68. where’s their home?

69. what’s one secret they don’t want getting out?

Drawings from The Cursed Catacombs, a solo role-playing game where you play as the last living apprentice to a legendary wizard, sent out on a final deadly errand.

If pick-your-path novels and fantasy RPGs are you thing, the book will be on shelves this summer, and you can preorder now (preferably at your local bookstore)!

A bard subclass designed for a pirate world, though this subclass could be very strong anywhere. With its own version of eldritch blast, the College of the Sea has just as good of a defense as an offense.

Like my work? You can support me on patreon here or buy the pdfs pwyw on kofi!

Edit: ^^ Gave it some changes thanks to homebrew-a-la-traumaverse‘s advice, hope y’all like it!

What are some ttrpg's on your game wish list? Ones that you'd want to play or plan to play (or maybe don't have time to). also as a side note your love for ttrpg's fills me with a lot of joy and reminds me why they're so special! : )

Inevitable: COWBOY KNIGHTS TRAGEDY this is number one i wanna play this so bad with a crew who will watch a few anti-westerns and arthurian films beforehand and fully commit to the tragedy aspect (big bold decisions if you know it ends in tragedy!) oh my god this specific flavor of game appeals to me a little too specifically

some kind of horror game. VTM, Curse of Strahd, Shadow of the Demon Lord, Call of Cthulhu, whatever lends itself to horror well. the horror genre is one of my favorites and i would so be down to play some good horror!!

MASKS as a PC!

and always more dnd.

uhhh I'm sure there would be other things but I don't know many ttrpgs off the top of my head. quite like ttrpgs. would very much like to play more. especially with a group of artists who will post dodoles and songs that remind them of characters and talk about them throughout the week and do psychological deep dives and theorize about the story and themes and and and

OP: When demonstrating dance moves, it's crucial to execute the actions precisely. (cr 爵士舞柳柳老师)

Art by KJKallo. If it ever becomes possible to play as a skeleton, I think they should be flimsy, tireless, and reliable: a sentinel that keeps watch for the party but can often get bonked down in combat. Here's a crack at it - with an entire lore section based off a wint tweet lmao

Dungeon: The Shattered Garden

“ Careful not to cut yourself on all this Pretty” 

Adventure Hooks: 

Seeking a precious artifact, the party is force to make a harrowing climb up freezing, alpine mountains to gain access to a castle that was said to have fallen from the sky. Finding the ruins of this structure deep within a mountain rift, they must explore a labyrinth of jagged shards and broken halls, hoping that the whole beautiful calamity doesn’t cave in. 

What a miserable place for a heist. What treasure is so grand that it could make a self-respecting thief leave the poorly guarded vaults and easily duped nobles of the city, trudge halfway up a mountain, and risk freezing their precious lock-picking fingers off in the process? How about the Hyborian Stylus, a weapon of such power that any warmage worth their salt would pay out the nose for the chance at wielding it.  To get their hands on this treasure, the party will need to outwit an ostentatious but heinously bloodthirsty oni by the name of Banehail, who treats the dungeon as her own personal gallery/art instillation.

Sometimes things in the life of an adventurer are simple. You hear rumors that someone saw a castle made out of clouds crash-landing on a mountainside, you grab some friends, go on a hike, and investigate. Maybe you get eaten by wolves, maybe you grow as a person by confronting the unkown, it’s not that complicated. 

Challenges & Complications: 

Situated at the bottom of fissure high up in an alpine mountain range, the party will have to battle through harsh conditions to even get to the dungeon site, and then figure out a reliable way of getting down into the dungeon, ascending up with their prize, and finding their way back down the mountain. This may not prove too challenging to a party only interested in stealing one or two items from the dungeon, but the Garden is filled with numerous, weighty treasures, all of which can slow the party’s escape. 

While some rooms and pockets of surrounding architecture survived the impact unscathed, most were either reduced to reduced to piles of jagged detritus or so structurally compromised that they might as well be uninhabitable. The party must test their caving skills, managing tight squeezes through once beatific galleries or prepare descents into wings that now slope at treacherous angles. Delicate floors crack like glass under the party’s treasure-laden footstep, and ceilings may at any time collapse into razors if too much damage is done to the surrounding rooms. 

Entering the Shattered garden is no protection from the chill outside, as harsh boreal winds surge through particular hallways and seek to rip the life-giving heat from a potential explorer’s bones. THe greatest of these dangers is gallery which contains the Hyborian Stylus itself, which may freeze characters solid if they linger in it too long. If the alarm is sounded, the elemental denizens of this dungeon may paradoxically open the doors to this most valuable of treasures, transforming the Shattered Garden into an indoor blizzard in the hopes of flushing out the warm-blooded intruders. 

This dungeon is part of a larger adventure path “A Kingdom Washed Away”, which you can find the rest of @dailyadventureprompts​

So i wanna do homebrew content but i fundamentally don't understand how to hand make a character sheet??? Like how do i make it w/o using dnd beyond???

So I figure i’ll use this opportunity to explain character making/character sheets in general.This will be more in depth than you need but i’ll call it a resource and add it to my blog in a link. 

Buckle up guys this is going to be a LONG one we’ll call this

DUNGEONS AND KOBOLDS’S LONG GUIDE TO MAKING CHARACTER SHEETS

1.     Character Sheet

First step is getting the character sheet itself. Below is a link to where you can download them on Wizards of the Coast’s website:

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets

This should download a file – the sheet that people use most often is called CharacterSheet_3Pgs_Complete.pdf

It’s well laid out and easily editable on your computer.

2.     Class/Race/Background Combination

Second, choose your class/race/background combination. It’s also important to understand a basic idea of where these appear/what they effect

Race: Ability Scores, Skills, Proficiencies, Features & Traits

Background: Skills, Proficiencies, Features & Traits, Equipment

Class: Basically everything but Ability Scores – although it does determine how you’ll want to arrange your Scores.

3.     Ability Scores

Ability Scores are on the far left hand side of the sheet. These determine your base Strength, Dexterity, etc. bonuses (ie. What you add to your rolls).

There are 3 basic ways of determining these scores: rolling, point buy, and standard array.

https://thekindgm.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/determining-ability-scores/

Above is a link to a post that explains these better than I could which I refer to often. (consult your DM as to which way you are using for your campaign)

For every 2 points your Ability Score goes up/down by, your bonus will go/down by 1. Ie. A Strength of 10 will give me 0 or no bonus a 12 +1, a 14 +2, etc. Whereas an 8 will give me -1, a 6 -2.

Arrange these scores as you wish – a good rule of thumb is you want your primary attacking ability to be your highest (normally the Quick Build section of your class will have good suggestions on how to arrange these statistics). I’ll go through what each of these scores effects in my explanation which should give you some options on how to arrange them.

To these base scores you’ve figured out, you then add the bonuses given to you by your Race.

For example, if I have a 14 Dexterity (+2) but I’m playing a Kobold (which has an increase of 2 for Dexterity as one of its traits) my Dexterity is then brought up to 16 (+3)

4.     Proficiency Bonus/Saving Throws

Proficiency bonus has a separate column in the levelling table of your class. At level 1 it is generally +2. This means that if you are proficient in a Saving Throw, Skill, Attack, or Tool you add your Proficiency Bonus and the bonus from your associated Ability Score to the Roll.

For example, if my Kobold is a barbarian, they have proficiency in Strength and Constitution Saving Throws. This means if my Kobold has a Strength of 14 (+2) and I am rolling a Saving Throw, I add another +2 to the roll (bringing it up to a total of +4). On the left hand side of the Saving Throws (and skills) there are little circles, fill in the circles of the Saving Throws you are proficient in to remind yourself why you have that score (but write next to them what you’ll actually be adding, ie. +4 Strength Saving Throw for my Kobold).

5.     Skills

This sheet actually makes skills relatively easy to fill out. Again fill in the circles of the skills you are proficient in (these can come from your class, race, and background so be sure to check all three). On the right hand side of each skill is the associated Ability – if you are not proficient you write down your base Ability Score bonus. If you are proficient be sure to add the +2 (at first level)

6.     Other Proficiencies

In Other Proficiencies and Languages write down the languages, tools, weapons, and armour you are proficient in – this is more to remind yourself of what you can and can’t easily use.

7.     Armour

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Armor#content

Here is a link to all of the armour scores you’ll need. Generally, armour is a base score (say 11 for leather armour) plus your Dexterity (just the base Ability Score bonus). Some armour gives you just a base score that you don’t add anything to. Some will have a strength requirement for you to be able to use it. The link divides the amour into light, medium and heavy amour – whether or not you can use them is determined by your proficiencies (found in your other proficiencies section)

If you’re wielding a shield you add another 2 to your armour score.

Unlike weapons your generally can’t use armour that you are not proficient in.

 8.     Initiative

Unless you have a Feat or a special class based bonus your Initiative is your Dexterity Ability Score Bonus

9.     Weapon Attacks

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Weapons#content

This link again divides the weapon up neatly into the proficiencies (simple and martial weapons).

There are 2 main scores to worry about with weapon attacks – Dexterity and Strength.

Dexterity based weapons are Ranged or Finesse weapons. Strength is everything else. Your attack bonus will be either your Strength or Dexterity Score (depending on the weapon) plus your proficiency bonus (although you can use weapons you are not proficient in, you just lose this bonus).

Your damage is the listed damage (see link above) plus either your Strength or Dexterity (again depending on the associated score).

(I’m not going to go into dual wielding here but feel free to ask if interested)

10. Equipment

Equipment will be listed in class and background – all you have to do is write it down in this section.

11. Gold

Gold normally appears in your background and class, but have a chat to your DM to see if they have a preference for staring gold.

12. Features/Traits

In the Features/Traits column you write down basically the things you can do (though people will use this column differently).

This includes things such as Darkvision, the ability you gain from your background and general abilities granted by your class (that are not spells or attacks). For instance a Cleric’s Channel Divinity might be written in this column.

 13. Spell Casting Ability

Your spell casting ability will be listed in your class – either Charisma, Intelligence or Wisdom. 

14. Spell Save DC

Your Spell Save DC will be your Spell Casting Ability Score’s bonus + your proficiency + 8. Ie. If my kobold is now a bard with a Charisma of 18 (+4) and is 1st level their Spell Save DC will be 4+2+8 for a total of 14.

 15. Spell Attack Bonus

Your spell attack bonus is your Spell Casting Ability Score’s bonus + your proficiency – for my previously mentioned kobold this would be 4+2 for a total of +6

16. Choosing Spells

There are 2 main ways classes determine what spells you have. The first method is, you choose new spells as you level up and those are the only spells you have (for example a Bard uses this method). The number of spells you have for classes such as this will be determined by the Spells Known column in your levelling up table. The second method is preparing spells. This means you can potentially cast any of the spells for your class, but each morning you choose certain ones for the day. The number of spells you can prepare will most likely be your Spell Casting Ability Score Bonus + your level (unless you’re a paladin).

17. The Other Stuff (alignment/personality)

The other stuff you can write or not write as your wish – this stuff is more for RP. Personally I will write my alignment and that is it – but you can plan as much or as little as you want! 

As usual feel free to ask for any clarifications/more information.

Hope this was helpful! (sorry of the length)