MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES! HOMEBREW: DRAGON-TOUCHED! (PATHFINDER)

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

PATHFINDER HOMEBREW: 

MY CUSTOM DRAGON-TOUCHED RACES

Today I'm doing something a little different; sharing some detailed custom stuff I made for my Tabletop RPGs I run. As many of you probably know, for about half a decade now, me and my friends meet up about once a week to play Dungeons and Dragons, board games, video games, etc, and, once again many of you know this, I've shared content before. But I don't think I've shared like detailed mechanical stuff about my settings. So here, let's talk a bit about my newest setting...

I love Skyrim. But, ironically, it somewhat put a damper on two Dungeons and Dragons setting/campaign ideas I had swirling around in my head since as long as I've been developing my own settings/campaigns for Dungeons and Dragons:

1. It made me put off my Viking setting for a couple of years.

2. It kept me from making a campaign about dragon invasion.

Eventually, I made my Viking setting. The setting is based on the very first Dungeons and Dragons setting I ever made and I'll tell you guys about it another day.

Today, we're talking about dragons.

In my newest setting, Nyumeneera, dragons and "dragon-touched" races are an important element and theme. After all, the chromatic dragons and their servant races are part of the Tytanyan Pact, the most powerful empire that the world has ever known:

The dragons of Smolder, led by Red Typhon, live a decadent lifestyle where their chief concerns are maintaining their wealth from the mines of the island they inhabit and maintaining control over the prisoner/slaves/servants that work the mines. In order to maintain control, the dragons have three races that make up an administrative class in their society. The whip-cracking kobolds, the militant dragonborn, and the cunning and manipulative guivre.

These custom races are compatible with Pathfinder and, if you want to check them out in detail, there are links after the jump (hint: the links are under the pictures).

MUSICAL MONDAY! SONG FOR ULVAAK!

 MUSICAL MONDAY!

Well, as you can see above, this week's entry is so personal that I posted the background for my blog as the headlining picture for this article. If there is only one thing you should have figured out by now, after I have been blogging for over two months, and posting quite frequently, it is the following:

I Love Dungeons and Dragons.

If you  haven't figured that out, I apologize for making outrageous presumptions about your attentiveness and apologize further if you are total newbie to my blog. But, it is an undeniable fact that only after playing dungeons and dragons for a few years, it is that playing or game mastering dungeons and dragons, or more correctly, pen and paper roleplaying games, is my favorite past time.

Above is a pretty good approximation of my first dungeons and dragons character. He was a somewhat grumpy and big-mouthed but terribly clever, loyal, and generous dwarf cleric (think warrior priest) by the name of Bumble Bootsbane. I played the character up until I had to retire him. He had become so powerful and important in the world that he was just not as much fun to play (being Dwarf Pope, happily married to a Dwarven paladin, and Head Councilman of his own country, Freeland) and as such I retired him. Yet, I'll never forget how important Bumble was and is because, perhaps the most easily lost beauty of dungeons and dragons, is that one's character does not simply have to be a fantasy or avatar (though there is nothing wrong with that) but instead can be so much more. Bumble Bootsbane was an extension of myself, the best version of myself, and when I played him in my best friend Zach's dad's A D & D campaign (a campaign that is older than me) I played Bumble as if I was in his boots. (A full story about Bumble will come out some day when I feel like I am ready to tell the whole story.) Moving on to the subject of today's Musical Monday Post, I think Patton Oswalt really understand the idea of how important this game is to people.

Patton Oswalt is, undeniably, one of us. He pokes fun at nerd culture and his own nerdier past (and nerdy present) with the gleeful and child-like relationship that we should all be able to have when poking fun at our identities. This year, he released a humorous memoir, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland.

In the book Oswalt makes a lot of references to D & D and other pop culture in the piece. Included in the book, is the Song of Ulvaak. It is a sad but beautiful ode about a D & D fantasy world. It follows a warrior who discovers his world is not all as it seems.

THE SONG OF ULVAAK BY PATTON OSWALT

What does this have to do with anything? Well, Allie Goertz, an awesome youtuber and musician wrote a fan-song adaptation of the piece called Song for Ulvaak. Just as the Conan the Barbarian! The Musical! video from the Kaplan Bros. sold me on Conan the Barbarian, its soundtrack and their talent, Allie Goertz achieved similar results. I ordered Zombie Spaceship Wasteland from Amazon, subscribed to her youtube channel, and am just in love with everything about this song. I loved the song so much that I quoted it in the two D & D books I gave my friend, Rachel, as a birthday gift.

SONG FOR ULVAAK- BY ALLIE GOERTZ

On the right, Allie Goertz and on the left, her friend Megan.

The song is about a warrior by the name of Ulvaak who is on a quest to kill a lich king. He is surprised that the lich king does little to stop him. As the lich king died, it informs him that their world is not so real, and it is all a game to some far-off gods. Ulvaak at first refused to believe the lich's words but after seeing the empty faces of the people around him, realizes the truth and dedicates his life to find out the truth and making his creators pay. The themes implied here are so poignant. The most important part of role-playing is to be able to detach oneself from reality and engage in an imaginary world. Realists and people who have trouble grasping metaphysical concepts about reality tend to have trouble playing the game. Children, story tellers, gamers and actors tend to be the best players because they are so willing to play pretend and pretend the imaginary is real.

But who is to say that imaginary world isn't real?

WORD OF THE DAY! 2/12/14! (ALIGNMENTS PT. 1 LAWFUL GOOD)

COUNTER MONKEY- WHERE HAVE ALL THE LAWFUL GOODS GONE?

lawful good [law-fuhl-gud]
noun
1. The alignment that upholds society and society's laws in the name of the greater good and prosperity for all. This alignment upholds the values of truth, justice and compassion, while striving to bring structure and security.
adjective
2. Anything that falls within the perimeter of the lawful good alignment (see 1. above).

EX. Holy crap! I am opening up a big can of worms by doing a word of the day about an alignment without explaining the other alignments but, if you have to start anywhere, I suppose Lawful Good is a good place to start.

Real life morality and ethics is complicated. So complicated that it has led many a philosopher to question the definition or validity of these terms in relationship to real humans. After all, real humans are far more enigmatic than most fictional characters because, hypothetically, we can know exactly how they feel and think about everything. In reality, one only knows one true self or that only one could possibly know one true self. Still, we categorize the way that individuals and organizations act based on what they espouse through their words and actions. In fiction, we can have debates about where characters fall upon the spectrum of good versus evil and chaos versus order.

Dungeons and Dragons uses these principles for the alignment system.

The purpose of the alignment system, at least in my opinion, is to give a guideline for players or DM in understanding character's ethics and morality to better translate them to roleplaying through the character's actions and motivations. Therefore, every character in Dungeons and Dragons is defined by their alignment. Their alignment is define along two crossing axis:

The morality axis (Good vs. Evil) and the ethical axis (Order vs. Chaos).

Good is most simply defined by altruism and the respect of other living beings and evil is by lack of altruism and a lack of respect for other living beings. Law is defined by a focus on honor and respect for society's rules and chaos is defined by a focus on individual freedom and expression. Neutrality defines the middle ground between these two extremes with true neutral having neither defined morals or ethics.

Today we're talking about the strict but idealistic alignment, Lawful Good or "the Paladin alignment" (despite the fact that a paladin can be any alignment but tend toward lawful alignments).

What's a paladin?

That's a paladin. In the literal sense.

A paladin is a holy knight that crusades in the name of good and order while wielding divine magic and martial discipline. In the dungeons and dragons sense.

A paladin, in a less literal sense or even Dungeons and Dragons sense, are righteous heroes who sacrifice their own comfort & safety to protect and promote the greater good. They can also be called "paragons".

Paladins and paragons are heroes. And (usually) they are lawful good. Because, arguably, lawful good is the most heroic alignment.

Lawful good characters strike a balance between law and good; good dictates their altruistic morality and motivates them to put others before themselves and law dictates their means to altruism through creating and/or upholding systems that promote the greater good.

Lawful good societies are built upon laws that protect and promote the populous. They build institutions to uphold the law and build further institutions to protect these institutions. The promote those that serve these institutions.

A lawful good character must strike a balance between justice and mercy and a lawful good society must strike a balance between placing importance on structures and rules creates to protect the people and the freedom of peoples these structures and rules are designed to protect.

An example of a morality-ethics based conflict for a lawful good character would be catching a hungry street urchin stealing an apple from a vendor. Law would dictate that they hand the urchin over to the authorities. Compassion would dictate a more merciful path, especially if the law is harsh on thieves, considering the specifics of the situation. After all, not all crimes are equal. A starving child stealing an apple cannot be compared to a thug robbing a carriage. As a lawful good society, it would be important to try and solve the problem on a macro scale by making sure punishments fit the crime while also seeking to create institutions that promote welfare and opportunities for the poor/downtrodden while also seeking to protect the innocent from suffering in the future.


What are some examples of lawful good characters?

Aragorn, Superman, Spock, Captain America, Robocop, Carrot Ironfounderson, Optimus Prime

So, why pick Lawful Good? You want to play a character that upholds the law, protects the weak, and serves as a paragon in his society.

And, if you don't know just how controversial alignments can be (trust me when I saw someone will take umbrage with my definitions), try to see if you agree with all of the characters in the following image. I don't. But I do agree with most of it. And that'll do!

Word of the Day. 9/17/2011

Word of the Day

"SPIDERMAN! HSSSSSSS!"

goblin [gob-lin]
noun
1. An evil and/or grotesque mythical creature described as mischievous or malicious toward humans.

GOBLINS ARE PEOPLE TOO.

I think all Dungeons and Dragons players have a favorite monster or type of monsters. For many, they love the classic powerhouse of a dragon, the scheming immortal undead lich or other D & D classics, like the displacer beast. These monsters are alot of fun to use but they lack a certain something.My favorite monsters don't usually have lots of powers or wealth. They have faults, quirks and most importantly, personalities.My favorite monsters in Dungeons and Dragons are goblins.

Goblins, as we dungeons and dragons players know them, was really given its shape by the expert hand of Tolkein in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. A Lich King, a turncoat wizard, Nazghul, orcs and a mostly naked crack addict (Gollum) are the biggest threats to the fellowship. In the Hobbit, the biggest threat is an army of goblins led by a goblin prince.

The idea of a scheming green humanoid got my attention. If orcs are the match for men than goblins were the match for dwarves. Goblins don't win through brute strength. Goblins when through scheming, deception and numbers. They make excellent minions, to quote the old idiom, "Throw goblins at a problem until it goes away. At the very least you'll have less goblins." I love goblins because they make great adversaries for low level (heroic level) heroes and in D & D most games are played at this low level. Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of using goblins as a dungeon master is to take advantage of their versatility and variety. 

In Dungeons and Dragons there are 3 main varieties of goblins that a hero has to contend with. They each share common characteristics; large and pointed ears, a prominent jaw filled with pointy teeth and a small nose.The 3 varieties are:

GOBLINS

 The smallest variety of goblins and the most numerous. They tend to have yellow-green skin, dark hair and beady eyes. Goblins are known for their wickedness, ill-tempers and cowardice. 

HOBGOBLINS

 The clever and militaristic race of hobgoblins are about human size, with reddish skin, dark hair and often facial hair. These warriors are disciplined and intelligent and can organize goblin and bugbear tribes into a formidable force.

 

BUGBEARS

These large, brutish and burly goblins are known for a surprising skill in stealth and though, not at intelligent as their smaller cousins, they can usually get ahead by bullying others or stealing what they want.

"Psst? Did he say we're people too?"

Yet, I see goblins different than most Dungeon Masters and most fantasy authors. In Beniro, the main setting I DM and write fantasy in looks at goblins with a different view. On one hand, traditionalists still view them as brutish monsters. Yet, some goblins strive for more, some goblins just want to be like everyone because goblins are people too.

For some this concept is completely silly. Yet, in Beniro, goblins, hobgoblins and even bugbears immigrate more and more often to the capital city. Yet, why would they leave their traditional homes for an urban life?

I suppose the first goblins to move to the cities were mercenaries and soldiers. Hobgoblins are the most civil of the three races and, therefore, as long as they could mind their Ps and Qs make excellent mercenaries. The next in line? Priests. In the Great Spine, the largest mountain range in the Wold (yes that's the name of the planet), a religious movement is spreading through the peoples

The Cult of Bung is a religion of peace and love. It was started by a goblin monk named Bung who is said to sit on the tallest mountain, praying for goblins and all monsters. His main message is that goblins and other intelligent creatures need not be monstrous. "Goblins are People Too." He would say. The idea spread through goblin and bugbear tribes and has caused a great pilgrimage of goblinoids to the human capital of Beniro. Initially, the people were weary but, despite their still being xenophobic tensions, they have become part of every day life. Each type has found a special function in the city.

The goblins make up the poorest slums of Beniro and are commonly found cleaning sewers, sweeping floors and doing dirty jobs nobody wants to do. Furthermore, they have found a special talent for salesmanship. One tribe of goblins, the Hands, are renown for their salesmanship. In our current campaign, they have met Scrib Hand, who tried to sell them such things as frozen yogurt and magic armor.
I love playing goblins as the nastier match up to halflings.

Next up, we got hobgoblins. As I mentioned before, they're renowned for their military prowess and are commonly found in mercenary guilds. Yet, the most important hobgoblin that the characters in my campaign know is their butler, Friday. Friday is the perfect butler, professional, clever and loyal to a point. Hobgoblins are great to play for their nasty but fair dealings.

Finally we got bugbears. To be fair, I have really had to stretch how people look at bugbears. Sure, most of them are still dumb as a brick, but I have also taken advantage of their talents. Being the best bullies, assassins and thieves what business would do bugbears better than professional crime? The most important bugbear the heroes have met in Beniro, is Michael Accordion AKA the Bugfather. He is the head of the mafia and founder of the Western Mercenaries guild. There is also a bugbear on the Guard, so they're not all criminals.

Yet, that's what I love about goblins. I love redefining them for my more Renaissance period kingdom of Beniro. Goblins are great for analogies and because their variety work for everything from indentured servants to illegal immigrants. I love goblins.

Don't give me that look. We'll talk about you tomorrow. Wink.

MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES! #1 YAMA HACHIYAMA

TABLE TOP TALES #1

Yama Hachiyama

 

山八山

I love Dungeons and Dragons. I have been playing, more or less, once a week for over two years and I don't ever plan to stop playing. Most of the times I've played Dungeons and Dragons, I have been the Dungeon Master. For those who don't know, a Dungeon Master is the guy who is in charge of telling the story, determining what monsters and characters the other players come across and, in essence, is the god of the world the players explore. As an author, it gives me a chance to flex my creative muscles.

So, it is not that often, especially lately, that I have been able to play instead of DM. On Sunday, my friend Zach started a new Advance Dungeons and Dragons campaign with us set in an Asiatic setting, much like Edo Japan (think Inuyasha). I was skeptical, at first, because I thought that myself and the other two player characters would have to be human. Instead, I discovered a race called Hengeyokai.

Hengeyokai are animal spirits or demons that can switch between an animal form, a bipedal monstrous form and a human form. A Hengeyokai can be any kind of animal and I couldn't help myself but be drawn to the Japanese Raccoon Dog or Tanuki. I could go into a whole entire blog about tanuki because of just how weird and interesting Japanese folklore on the subject is. They are so interesting that Studio Ghibli made a film about them called Pom Poko.

I decided to be a Tanuki Hengeyokai bushi ("warrior") and went about making my character. One of the funnest parts of playing Dungeons and Dragons is making characters. My friends and I must have took about two or three hours coming up with the basics of who our characters are and were. I eventually came to mold my character piece by piece.

First, I started with an image in my head of a giant warrior that would tower over others and was basically a man-mountain. At first, he was only 6' tall but, by the end, he ended up 6'6'', in his human form, and weighs over 300 lbs. I made him a soft spoken, kind and gentle giant that walks softly and carries a big, big stick (Tetsubo- a type of Japanese mace). Then came the name, Yama Hachiyama. 

"山八山"

Being a simple creature, he named himself  Hachiyama (Eight Mountains) and his family name was simply Yama (Mountain). He came from the mountains and is as big a mountain. The name just fit. A simple but memorable name is one of the most important parts of creating a character, especially in a fantasy setting.

His companions are a Hare Hengeyokai Wujen (wizard) and a human Kensei (swordsman).By the end of our first session, Hachiyama had the biggest kill count, the human swordsman won two duels and the wizard leveled up to level 4. It was probably the most successful first session in my life!

I really enjoyed playing Yama Hachiyama and hopefully I can play him again soon.

MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES! #2 STORY-BOOK CAMPAIGN Pt.1

TABLETOP TALES! PRESENTS

 STORY-BOOK CAMPAIGN:THE LIZARD OF LOLZ Pt. 1 The LOST LIBRARY

I love Dungeons and Dragons. I have been playing, more or less, once a week for over two years and I don't ever plan to stop playing. Most of the times I've played Dungeons and Dragons, I have been the Dungeon Master. For those who don't know, a Dungeon Master is the guy who is in charge of telling the story, determining what monsters and characters the other players come across and, in essence, is the god of the world the players explore. As an author, it gives me a chance to flex my creative muscles.

 Yet, while Dungeons and Dragons can breed a lot of original ideas, it doesn't hurt to fall back on familiar ideas, tropes and characters inspired by works of fantasy. This adventure in particular that I'm about to talk about borrows elements from Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Wizard of OZ.

A couple of summers ago, way back in 2010, I had one of the most awesome Dungeons and Dragons campaigns of my career. The hijinks and what-not of that campaign still live on til this day.

I don't remember the names of the characters in this campaign so we'll have to just make do with naming them after the people who played them. First, the leader of the group, Justin, a gnome artificer (basically, an engineer with magic), with a rather serious disposition. Then, there was the very feline personality of Dulin the shifter druid (basically, he was a witch with cat like features). And last but not least, there was Chris, a halfling rogue, a clumsy but very lucky character who always found himself in trouble. The three companions were looking for work when they found a flier posted on a bulletin board at the local mercenaries guild asking for heroes for an important quest. The flier led them to a little bookstore.

The inside of the bookstore was bigger on the inside and crowded with piles upon piles of books. Each of the characters had a different reaction; Justin's eyes were drawn to the spines of books of forgotten lore, Dulin was trying to find the store owner, and Chris was trying to find something worth stealing. That's when they were interrupted by a high-pitched cough, and peaking out at them from behind a desk was an ancient gnome. He introduced himself as the owner of the store, Lod, and after he saw the flier he explained what he needed of the heroes. He had moved to the desert city of Kiero after years of searching the desert for the Lost Library, a library filled with every book ever written and ever scroll ever scribed. He grew too old for the quest, and has all the books he could ever read, but has finally found a map on the back of an old drawing of the library.

He whistled, and his adopted son, an eight-foot tall goliath named Del, brings the map. Lod begged for them to go to the library and find him a precious artifact; a Key of Talor. He needed the Key to be able to read a collection of books from another dimension that he had collected over his life. After our heroes saw how much it meant to the old man, and smelling the potential treasure at this lost library, they agreed to find him the Key. Thus our heroes began their quest. After a couple of weeks wandering through the desert, they found the spot on the map. Except, something was wrong.

The entire library was buried under the sand except for a single tower spire (unlike the picture above, it had no entrance). At first the heroes were forlorn but Justin discovered a strange inscription on the side written in Draconic, simply "Add Water". He poured his canteen onto the writing and the tower began to tremble. Before their very eyes, a door opened on the tower, and they scaled the inside of the tower down , down into the dark. At the bottom, they lit a torch and were confronted by, standing in the center of the infinite library, the formidable shape of a dragon

The golden dragon explained that he was the Keeper of the Lost Library, Durel the Amber Dragon. Durel also explained that he was not merely the Keeper of the Lost Library but a New God, immortal and all-knowing, his dominion was over history, knowledge, and treasures. He welcomed then and asked that they each offer something to the library. Justin offered him one of his books, Dulin offered him a song, and Chris offered him a special lockpick. Satisfied with these offerings, Durel awarded them with magical items and made them his disciples. Upon hearing about Lod, he not only offered them a Key of Talor (which he had an ever-filled chest of) but also a flying carpet to give them a ride back to the old gnome. Grateful for his generosity, they took the carpet ride home and told the gnome about Durel. Hearing of the incredible dragon and the Lost Library he took the flying carpet back to the Libary, leaving Del the bookstore, and giving our heroes a gracious goodbye.

It was then that Del, the goliath, offered them the opportunity to see Lod's old collection of extra-dimensional books. With a massive heave, he lifted a book the side of a door onto the desk, and put the key into a slot on the cover. The book was covered in glittering scales of red rubies and written in green emeralds was the title, "The Lizard of LOLZ." Del warned them to be careful, but Chris reached forward and opened the cover. He was sucked into the book with a flash of green light.

TO BE CONTINUED...

TABLETOP TALES. SHADOWRUN RUNDOWN #1 A Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Day

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

THE SHADOWRUN RUNDOWN #1

“Frippity Froopah Frippety Fray! 

I got a frickin’ feeling it’s gonna be a fabulous day!”

I love Dungeons and Dragons and I love pen-and-paper roleplaying. I have been playing these games, more or less, once a week for over three years and I don't ever plan to stop playing. Most of the times I've played Dungeons and Dragons, I have been the Dungeon Master. For those who don't know, a Dungeon Master, a term that is expanded to Game Master for various kinds of games, is the guy who is in charge of telling the story, determining what monsters and characters the other players come across and, in essence, is the god of the world the players explore. As an author, it gives me a chance to flex my creative muscles.

 Yet, while Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games can breed a lot of original ideas, it doesn't hurt to fall back on familiar ideas, tropes and characters inspired by works of sci-fi fantasy. I find myself borrowing/parodying from all masters of the imagination; from L. Frank Baum to Frank Oz. Today's subject is a twisted parody of one of one man and the empire he built that defined family friendly entertainment for a generation, Walt Disney.

What is it about Walt Disney that draws inspiration and attention? I suppose it is for a number of reasons: arguably Walt Disney was a genius who managed to tap into the fairy tale world of the past and create timeless films that exude nostalgia. Or maybe its his impressive ability to create/manage a lucrative media empire that grew to be one of the largest controllers of entertainment but control a number of other businesses. Yet, I think what draws me and many others to satire his squeaky clean image is the cult of personality that surrounds him. Walt Disney created an image for himself and his company. The ideals he pursued are quite admirable, but his methods of maintaining this image seem like small-scale fascism with a special security force, strict rules and regulations (for example, if you have tattoos on your arms you have to cover your arms with long sleeves), and a number of secrets and technologies cooked up by a cadre of creative engineers or "Imagineers" that build mechanical men.

There is something about poking fun at the idealistic post World War II America that crumbled under the backlashes of anti-Vietnam sentiment, Water Gate, and the civil rights movement. It is my opinion that the main villain of Bioshock borrows some characteristics from Walt Disney's charismatic personage. And so when it came time to create a unique setting for my Shadowrun game, I decided to create a cyber-punk version of Disney world ruled by a tyrannical animatronic cyborg that is the version of Walt Disney that gives hapless hipsters and sarcastic sotts an intellectual hard-on.

Before we get to the introduction to my first Shadowrun campaign, I should probably explain what the game is about. Shadowrun is is a role-playing game, similar to Dungeons and Dragons but running on a d6 system, set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction. It is a mix of inspirations ranging from Blade Runner to Ghost in the Shell to the Matrix into an rpg that bubbles with personality and complexity. In fact, the game was and is so complex that I would say learning to run a game, making characters, and just running a single session was one of the most difficult trials of my career as the GM.

Rather than review the game, which is quite advanced but interesting, I want to just expose you guys to some of the material I wrote for the setting. This following is something I acted out to begin our first session.

MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES. #3 FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC: THE BUDDY COP CAMPAIGN PT. 1

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC: THE BUDDY COP CAMPAIGN PT. 1 Introduction

I love Dungeons and Dragons. I have been playing, more or less, once a week for over two years and I don't ever plan to stop playing. Most of the times I've played Dungeons and Dragons, I have been the Dungeon Master. For those who don't know, a Dungeon Master is the guy who is in charge of telling the story, determining what monsters and characters the other players come across and, in essence, is the god of the world the players explore. As an author, it gives me a chance to flex my creative muscles.

 Yet, while Dungeons and Dragons can breed a lot of original ideas, it doesn't hurt to fall back on familiar ideas, tropes and characters inspired by works of sci-fi fantasy. I find myself borrowing/parodying from all masters of the imagination; from L. Frank Baum to Walt Disney to Jim Henson and on. Yet, if there is on author that has had an effect on my dungeon mastering, story-telling and humor it is Terry Pratchett.




Terry Pratchett is my favorite author. Out of all the worlds I've visited in my reading, Discworld is the one I want to revisit again and again. Despite the fact that Terry Pratchett is a great satirist, poking fun and adapting everything from Hamlet to Conan the Barbarian, he is also the creator of some of the most endearing characters I've ever read. Somehow he managed to take the best parts of so many iconic characters, inject them with his own personal wit and insights, and create a world of characters that shine.

There are two things I learned from reading his work: anything is possible through the power of imagination (sound cliche, but it takes quite a lot of nonsense to make one believe in what most people consider to be nonsense) and the power of fantasy. He is a defender of fantasy, the oldest genre of fiction, and its power to bend reality around a story. I try to bend my fantasy world, The Wold, around every story I create. Perhaps no campaign has ever been a better example of this concept and a better homage to Pratchett's works than my 2010 campaign that, as of today, will be forever remember as FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC as a reference to the Ankh-Morpork's City Watch's motto (which cannot be translated to "Make my day, punk!" That would just be silly.))

In terms of pure improvisational story-telling and role-playing, few of my campaigns have ever been as successful as the Buddy Cop campaign. I don't remember how it all got started, but it began unlike any other story I've ran. First of all, there were only two player characters and both were originally created as an homage to two of Terry Pratchett's characters, Carrot Ironfounderson and Angua. I made the characters on a lark.

First, up we got Carrot Ironfounderson. Pratchett's Carrot is the perfect model that we would all hope a cop would be; honest, diligent, trustworthy, kind and generous etc. An orphan raised by dwarves, he came to the city to become a watchman after he discovered he was human, and has quickly become one of the most well-known and liked figures in the city of Ankh-Morpork. He is considered the "most linear thinker" in Discworld, and is so naive that he doesn't even realize that he has been living above a brothel for several years, but one must not confuse being "simple" with being "stupid". Carrot is a great detective, a great problem solver, and if someone crosses his honest nature will find themselves in trouble fast. In my campaign, he was played by my friend Chris Baker who, despite never reading a single Pratchett novel, plays Carrot just as Pratchett intended. I handed him the character, which I made a paragon paladin, and he gave one of the most likeable role-playing performances I've seen from a gamer. Chris managed to play a goody-good character that was hardly boring and hardly incapable of solving problems. When it came to making the other character, it easy to say that things got a little bit more complicated.

The other character I made turned out to be a composite of two Terry Pratchett characters. Initially, I made a longtooth shifter dual-blade ranger based on a female character. The character was based on Angua, a werewolf cop who joined the force after escaping the land of Uberwold. Only problem with using her in my campaign? I needed another male character instead of a female. The solution was to combine Angua with the main watchmen character of Ankh-Morpork, Samuel Vimes. The end result was a gruff werewolf cop by the name of Viktor "Vik" Von Uberwold, the old drunkard bad cop to Carrot's goody-two-shoes cop. Vik was played by my friend Nick Mawby. Nick is great at playing characters that are anti-heroes, villains, and cowards. He played Vik as an old beatcop in the body of a young werewolf. His character often acted on instinct and he uses his werewolf powers to take care of business. The end result came out like an insane mix of Wolverine, Dirty Harry, and McGruff the Crime Dog.

How well did these two different characters interact and how did the adventure play out? Well, you'll have to check back later this week with Part 2: UNICORNS & ZOMBIES


To read my other Tabletop Tales, click the links below.

#1 YAMA HACHIYAMA

#2 THE STORY BOOK CAMPAIGN: THE LIZARD OF LOLZ Pt. 1

#2 THE STORY BOOK CAMPAIGN: THE LIZARD OF LOZ Pt. 2

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/30/15!

flumph [flumf]
noun
1. Dungeons and Dragons. First published in the 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons book, The Fiend Folio, it is a Lawful Good aberration, from space/outer planes, resembling a glowing jellyfish with eye stalks that floats using air jets that make the noise that gives them their name. Surprisingly intelligent and wise, they live in well-organized and harmonious communities and communicate telepathically with other life forms. They, harmlessly, feed off the emotional energy of other beings and react to their emotions/behavior accordingly; they are attracted to good creatures and repelled by evil. Flumphs are quick to make friends with those that can look past their appearance and, generally, serve heroes in the fight against heroes by warning them of alien threats and assisting them in their own way.

EX. Out of all of the extremely silly monsters in Dungeons and Dragons history, the humble flumphs are my favorite.

The angle of appeal with these alien creatures is they look like some sort of random alien creatures that would swarm heroes and take part in something out of a bad Japanese hentai but, instead, are some of the nicest and most helpful creatures you will ever meet! These mini Flying Spaghetti monsters are like the pugs of D & D-- ugly, adorable and a little bit tragic. After all, most heroes would just assume they're horrible monsters and cut them down without giving them the opportunity to explain themselves. And that's a shame because, unlike many outer beings, Flumphs are not complete and utter tosspots.

My adventuring party in the Fifth Edition game I am currently playing in, as my human cleric of Lathander, Geth Dawnbraker, we met a Flumph! The pitiful creature seemed a little young, a little lost, and very distraught. It couldn't fly or, rather, it was afraid to fly! Immediately taking the little creature under his wing, Geth Dawnbreaker gave him an encouraging speech and, with a little divine intervention, sent the creature on it's way. And, with Geth making all sorts of deals and alignments with outsiders that might not have his best interests at heart, he'll need friends without ulterior motives that owe him a favor.

And a flumph is a good friend to have.

SCI-FI FANTASY SATURDAY! JANUARY POLL!

Hey guys, its a new year and I feel like I am falling into a slump. I haven't written a sci-fi fantasy chapter to any of my stories in weeks! In order to help rectify the situation, I need a kick in the pants to get going. The question is, where should I get going to? Below I am going to give synopsis for my two running stories and then suggest some ideas I've had floating around.

Vote for which one you'd like to see me tackle in the comment section below!

1. ACTION SOCIETY: RISE OF THE WHITE SPIDER

A plague has stricken the city of Doktham and the King has sent for adventurers. Four heroes leave the sun behind and enter the dark tunnels of the Underwold to find a cure before it is too late.

This story is based on my 2011 4e Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

2. YŌKAI

"YŌKAI" is a Japanese-styled Edo Period piece focused on big action, Japanese mythology, and folkloric. Read the tale of three companions, a swordsman, his apprentice, a sorceror and a giant, who are more than they seem, as they fight the oppressors and fight for the oppressed, in a land of terrible beauty and contrast. 

This story is based on my friends Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

3. SILVERFISH: A THIEF'S TAIL


Wit Silverfish is infamous. His name and likeness hang on the walls of many of the city of Tiefl's walls. Stories are spun about him, some terrible and some great, and he has become a local legend. Yet, the Duke of Tiefl is not likely to invite the "Prince of Thieves" to his table. What happens when a thief who has spent his entire life in the city is torn away from his home ground and forced to adventure?

4. ABACULUS


Del Thorston has just had the best day in his life. He had been nervous to be starting out at a new school, but quickly made friends. Everything was looking up until, a few moments after getting on the bus to go home, his whole world melted away in a sea of seething white and black fury. Del's world is already blown apart and he is possessed to blow apart everyone else's. In a sci-fi fantasy opera/kabuki styled epic, 

Abaculus is an ultra-violent reaction to too much anime that has been boiling in my brain for years.

5. STAR WARS: THE BROKEN PATH


A Star Wars fan fic that me and my friend Zach have talked about for a few years. Intended to be a stand alone tale, not reliant on other extended universe sources, The Broken Path is a four part saga about how two jedis lives change in a time dominated by threats unlike the galaxy has ever seen. From a Jedi-Sith war, to the reign of Darth Solus, the Emperor of the Ever Rising Sun, to the immortal Ungods ceaseless cycle of destruction, these two friends will discover the truths and hypocrisies of the Force.

6. KORBO THE BARBARIAN


In the world of Sixx, the Sky Gods are constantly f***ing up everything. A vicious hoard of Bearataurs are tearing their way across the coast, a metallic Kracken has begun building a giant drum set, and hair spray is in short supply! In such times of crisis and chaos, a hero is needed to tip the scales in favor of righteousness, and no hero is more righteous, than KORBO THE BARBARIAN! A pulp sci-fi fantasy barbarian action romp, Korbo the Barbarianm, is a story for all those out there who like a little less singing dwarves and a lot more dwarves getting their heads screamed off in their fantasy.

7. THE BUMBLE BOOTSBANE CHRONICLES!

The Bumble Bootsbane Chronicles is the tale of two men who begin their partnership in chains and become brothers in arms. Vilnis was a simple horse farmer when he met Bumble Bootsbane. He had never met a dwarf before and he'd soon find that Bumble was neither a drunkard, a miner, or a berserker. Bumble Bootsbane was a priest.

The Bumble Bootsbane Chronicles is based on the life story of my first Advanced Dungeons and Dragons character, Bumble Bootbane.


And those are the seven ideas I've had rattling away in my head. You can check out the latest chapters of the first two selections in links below.

ACTION SOCIETY! CHAPTER 7!

YOKAI! EPISODE 3!