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Showing posts from June, 2018

The Dead Isles of Altarin

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My first “campaign” was over. The Savage Front campaign, in my eyes, had been a failure caused by me, the Dungeon Master. Under ten sessions long, one total party kill, and a few failed plots was enough for me to end the story and start a new campaign. Did I quit? Yes. Looking back, I could have handled it much better and saved the Savage Front without beginning something new. Alas, that’s not what happened; instead, me and my friends began a new campaign called the Dead Isles of Altarin. This time, I decided against doing mountains of preparation beforehand and instead started with a simple idea: an archipelago ruled over by a trio of three liches called the Dread Admirals. Under them, common folk lived and thrived but a revolution was slowly brewing against the undead. As the party entered the world, they’d have to take a side and decide the fate of the Dead Isles of Altarin. This campaign, I was going to prepare little, improvise a lot, and go with the flow of the story. Well, how…
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Go Tombdoral: A Project on the Side

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Greetings, folks.

For the past year, I have been a part of a team of developers seeking to create a text-based adventure game. The project is called Go Tombdoral and it uses the Unity engine. Yesterday, we released our website, tombdoral.com, and posted our first blog about the game and our progress on it. In addition, we released a demo of Go Tombdoral.
To describe the game simply, I'd say the following:
Go Tombdoral is a text-based adventure game in which you take control of one of five characters and delve into the game world's greatest dungeon, Tombdoral, to emerge as the greatest adventurer of all time. Within Tombdoral, players wits, reflexes, and typing skills are tested as they help their character navigate a series of traps, puzzles, and monsters.
It's a simplified and streamlined roleplaying game using the text-based format and it's rather entertaining - and we need playtesters. 
The demo is out with the game's first two levels; the characters are voiced,…
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Thri-Kreen: The Mind Mantids

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It’s Friday night. The Enoach group is investigating strange happenings around the Storm Temple of Talos in the rich desert town of Asudem. Sentient weapons, sacks of gold, and far more are being stolen from locations such as the Sandstone Arcanum, the Shrine of Zet, and the Eight Goldmen Bank in Asudem. Believing the source to stem from the Storm Temple, the party decides to stake outside of the great stone structure. Night falls and the many moons of Aelonis fade into view. At first, nothing happens. The air remains dry and silent, the dragonborn of the party begin to get drowsy, and the moons glow faintly in the decorated sky. Then, Rhozur, a blue dragonborn monk portrayed by Gerald Steckley, hears a slight clicking noise, followed by a high hiss. Both are nearly inaudible. Rhozur perks up and peers at the temple.

Atop the structure’s roof is the silhouette of a large being with many limbs. In two, the creature wields long, spear-like weapons, curved at their tips. It spots Rhozur …
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Accepting the Flow

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It’s Friday night. Everyone’s gathered around the table. Tonight is my group’s first delve into Dungeons and Dragons in years. We’re playing fifth edition and I’m the dungeon master. I have a few notes, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and my dice pushed behind my third edition DM screen - I’m ready to go. We begin outside a small farming village, and the group roleplays for the first time in a while. People laugh, roll some dice, and awkwardly move their way toward the village. Eventually, they arrive and see that the village is under siege by kobolds, robed humans, and an enormous blue dragon - oh my! Being the righteous adventurers that they are, the group bumbles into the fray, slaying kobolds and fighting their way toward the village’s keep. They make it, meet with the mayor, and decide to stake out on the battlements. As darts and rocks from the kobolds on the ground below fly past the group, and the great blue dragon breathes lightning from his guzzle, one of the characters, a human …
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Creating Collaboratively

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It’s Friday night. The party is about to assemble for the first time (an epic moment, I know). However, before the adventure begins, I ask each player questions about their character and about my own world. As they put the finishing touches on their character sheets and sharpen their pencils, I bounce from player to player. Kristi’s elf rogue had a mentor, so I posit, “Kristi, what’s the name of Zara’s mentor, what did he do, and was his business shady?” She thinks, smiles, responds, and now she’s created a small piece of my world. I turn to Tom, who’s character almost perished at the hands of a demonic cult. “Tom, what’s this cult’s name, what do they worship, and who stopped them from accomplishing their vile task?” He looks up in the air, looks side to side, opens his mouth once, as if ready to respond, closes it, thinks a tad more, and then comes up with some awesome information. Tom is building the world, along with Kristi, the rest of the players, and me, the dungeon master.

Man…
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Above and Below Waterdeep!

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Last weekend, a plethora of actors, comedy icons, Twitch streamers, and proponents of Dungeons and Dragons participated in an epic, three-day live stream that showcased the latest D&D storyline. This hearty troupe laughed and played alongside the D&D team, and created an entertaining event that truly showed why D&D is one of the greatest games to exist. In addition, we learned that D&D’s next storyline involves Waterdeep, the City of Splendors, and what lies below the sprawling metropolis.

The campaign comes in two parts: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage. 

I could not be more excited about this next release.

Let’s briefly delve into why this is!
What We Know Wizards of the Coast will be releasing two adventure books this fall: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

The former will take adventurers on an urban romp through the most splendid city in the Forgotten Realms and is levels 1-5. The goal of the PCs is to …
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The Dead Isles of Altarin

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My first “campaign” was over. The Savage Front campaign, in my eyes, had been a failure caused by me, the Dungeon Master. Under ten sessions long, one total party kill, and a few failed plots was enough for me to end the story and start a new campaign. Did I quit? Yes. Looking back, I could have handled it much better and saved the Savage Front without beginning something new. Alas, that’s not what happened; instead, me and my friends began a new campaign called the Dead Isles of Altarin. This time, I decided against doing mountains of preparation beforehand and instead started with a simple idea: an archipelago ruled over by a trio of three liches called the Dread Admirals. Under them, common folk lived and thrived but a revolution was slowly brewing against the undead. As the party entered the world, they’d have to take a side and decide the fate of the Dead Isles of Altarin. This campaign, I was going to prepare little, improvise a lot, and go with the flow of the story. Well, how…
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Monsters Abound!

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Friday night. The Altarin campaign group is diving into the depths of Highkeep, the stronghold of the eccentric halfling wizard, Kenric Shallowren. Within, they hope to steal from the maniacal wizard’s vaults, which hold two items they need to reforge a legendary artifact. However, between them and the vaults is a labyrinth created by Kenric. Populating the dungeon are cruel traps, unfair puzzles, and mutated monsters taken from the nearby jungle. Unabashedly, they travel into the labyrinth. Inside, they battle a medusa with a serpentine body and a humanoid head, sacrifice valuables to massive-chested, sentient gorillas, and fell a winged, scaly monstrosity with four burly arms and venomous, regenerative flesh. At the end of the night, they emerge from the depths of Highkeep, items in hand, but bodies and minds scarred by these strange, new creatures.

Every battle beneath Highkeep was unique, every interaction new; this was because the creatures encountered were unknown the players. A…
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Session Starters

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The table is set, all my players are here, and I’m ready to begin today’s session of Dungeons & Dragons. Before I give my brief recap of last time’s events, I ask everyone a question, “Do you have an irrational fear? If you do, do you show it to others, or try to keep it hidden away?” Everyone starts to think; they’re putting themselves in the mind of their characters. Alovnek is terrified of cultists of Bhaal, god of murder. Ra is terrified of losing his clan, the Tarsa. Grobbolith cannot stand creatures that surpass his own power. And Qoyish is fearful of minotaurs, despite one being a member of their party. We all laugh and prepare to delve into tonight’s story. I begin the session. “Previously in the Karlith Straits…”
For some groups, it’s terribly difficult to start a session. People talk, grab food, and meander around the table, still set in their real-world ways. In my latest campaign, I’ve put into use an idea I found in the wild a while ago I now call session starters. W…
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