A place for my game inspiration

“Ghosts aren’t real” it’s very fair and rational that you believe that

“Ghosts aren’t real anymore” I’m about to hear a poem or very sad story

Let me axe you something…

Here is a free pdf of xanathars guide to everything

Here is a free pdf to monsters manual

Here is a free pdf to tashas cauldron of everything

Here is a free pdf to dungeon master’s guide

Here is a free pdf to volo’s guide to monsters

Here is a free pdf of mordenkainen’s tomb of foes

Get the Night Vale TTRPG starter set pdf (and over 500 other games!) for only $5 by supporting the fundraiser TTRPGs for Trans Rights-Idaho. Back a good cause and get a ton of fun games, but most importantly back a good cause. https://itch.io/b/3525/ttrpgs-for-trans-rightsidaho

Dungeon: Castle Gelidraf

Artsource

Once belonging to a plunderhungry northern thane by the name of Geyrild Grimstalker, the fate of this forlorn fortress was sealed when Geyrild set himself to stealing one of the sea god's daughters.

Bards tell different versions of the tale: love or ransom, rescue or ravishment. Whatever the truth of the matter, the sea god's wrath fell upon Geyrild's home, striking it with a great wave and then freezing it solid.

Near to a century since this act of wrath, rumours have begun to circulate that the once glacial ice around the castle has begun to crack and thaw, opening the possibility to reclaim a portion of the thane's stolen riches.

Challenges:

As the party race across frigid seas they'll have to contend with other treasure hunters, some reasonable, some bloodthirsty.

The wise forewarn that the sea god's wrath may yet linger over castle Gelidraf, but those with the pillager's lust for riches are unlikely to heed them. Odd weather and icy elementals are likely to bedevil any who make the journey, and may even follow them home after the adventure is done.

A roiling mass of worms and centipedes erupts from the beast's mouth.

Its breath is an avalanche. A torrent of snow and ice pelts you, burying you, creating winter where there was none.

It's belching up dreams at you, tantalizing promises of things yearned for. You freeze in your tracks, mesmerized by unrealized possibilities.

You are sliced and stabbed by shards of glass. Blood drips from the dragon's mouth as its throat is shredded, but still it exhales.

Ultrasonic sound besieges you, tearing your eardrums and overriding thought with its shrill pitch.

Your mind is inundated with an ancient language. The characters curl around your skin like tattoos, words you do not know demanding an answer, crowding out any thoughts you might have had.

It hurts like gravel, whatever is billowing from the dragon's mouth. It's only after the beast is gone and you survey its leavings that you realize it breathed crystalline sugar.

The rush of oxygen gives you a heady, foggy feeling. You realize too late the dragon exhales pure O2.

The bubbles, when they pop, coat you in an iridescent film, slick and smelling of flowers. Unfortunately, your sword is barely a match for the viscous walls of the bubbles floating from the dragon's mouth.

The dragon belches up blood, and at first you think you've bested it. After another torrent of viscera, you realize with dawning horror that it shows no signs of injury.

D&D writing, by and large, encourages a lack of questions. The surface runs deep. "Go into a cave and chop up goblins." Why are we doing this? "Goblins are bad." All goblins? "Yes."

I think the question of "why are there players comfortable siding with fascist factions and wondering why they're called 'lawful evil'" is pretty easily answered with... because D&D itself is inherently kind of fascist. And it's the most insidious kind of fascist, too- its villains are fascists, so how could you point fingers at the book?

Fire Giants are dwarf slavers. Drow are a megalomaniacal theocracy who hate men. Orcs are violent tribes of marauding killers. Illithids want to destroy all life and keep an entire civilization to scrub their floors. But these narratives still push the idea that "evil" is a racial trait. The players are not only justified in their campaign to destroy these cultures, they're encouraged to do it.

I had an intro to my campaign that involved a mad scientist kidnapping someone and turning them into a wererat. I didn't think much of it and I spent way more time fleshing out the other NPCs, I just wanted to use that wererat as a boss fight.

Once the party encountered him though they immediately saw what I totally missed: the guy who became the wererat was absolutely the victim of this story. I did my best at thinking on my feet and made the wererat this defeated guy who only followed the mad scientist because he felt like his life was ruined. So they, through good rolls, convinced him to help them fight the mad scientist and it made for such a better story.

anyone interested in the subject should definitely also check out the whole Three Black Halflings podcast, which talks about being black in nerdy spaces. a lot of times they’ll have on guests talking about their intersections and experiences in nerdy spaces. they have an episode with the author of the articles above.

they’ve also played a ttrpg based on african mythologies rather than mostly european ones like most mainstream fantasy.

Adventure: A visit to Dawdlewall Fortress

Well there goes the neighbourhood... won't be too hard to catch it though....

Meet Clover, She's a primordial spirit of the land, and a very polite one at that. She embodies the place where the ancient mountains meets the lush green of valleys and lakes below, and her name is derived from an ancient elven poetic composition about her that refers to her mowing through the canopy like it was clover in a lawn.

In times of yore, a great hero awoke her to save their home from an invading army, simultaneously breaking the cliff-face free an undauntable defender. In the usual course of things a spirit like clover would have been unsummoned as soon as the crisis had passed, but the hero and all of their neighbours were just so taken with the gentle giant that they decided to let her stay.

Generations later, Clover has become a beloved local icon, gently grazing the surrounding forests while the fortress on her back serves as the region's seat of power. While most rulers of Dawdlewall have tried to live up to the hero's example the most recent; Gottfried Scarlett, Earl of Eastcress has turned out to be a bit of a bastard. Having ascended to rule Dawdlewall through a convoluted inheritance scheme, he intends to use his authority to wring the region dry of riches, backing up his power grab with kaiju sized threats.

Adventure Hooks:

The party can run into the earl's forces in a number of ways, having set up impromptu toll roads, shaking down local guilds, strong arming tavern staff for free service, ubiquitous "assholes throwing their weight around" type of behaviour. Things inevitably come to a head when the party delve a local dungeon and end up running face to face into the earl's "tax collectors" insisting that they need to pay a "delving fee". A brawl ensues, and the party either find themselves carted off to the Dawdlewall dungeons or on the run with a bounty on their head.

In attempting to fill his treasury as much as possible, Earl Gottfried has ironically made himself tremendously easy to rob. Wagons full of extorted gold make their way across the marshy roads towards the fortress snail. Though well guarded, these trusted troops are overworked and prone to error. Start planning your robinhood ambushes now.

As one of the many privileges granted to him by his new noble title, the Earl has seized control of the ancient hero's staff, which is the only means of communicating with Clover. He's already steered the oblivious primordial to crush a tiny logging hamlet that refused his unjust enchroachment , allowing the denizens to evacuate as a show of his magnanimity (also because it's hard for a giant earth-churning snail to sneak up on anyone). Seizing this staff is the key to kicking Gottfried to the curb (or off the edge of the Fortress, if the party is feeling particularly dramatic) but suddenly puts the heroes in a difficult position. Who can they trust with Clover's titanic power? Do they keep the staff for themselves or use it as a bargaining chip in the power vacuum left by their enemy's departure?

Random encounter: Oriphel, the orphaned blade.

 Adventure hook: During a trek through the wilderness, the party discovers an old, disused road that promises to take them in the vague direction of their goal. Traveling along it for a few days, the road eventually settles in to run parallel to a river, upon who’s banks the party discovers a glimmering blade half buried among the silt and grasses.

 Background: The sword called Oriphel is a relic of the old kingdom, the trusted blade of a royal guard captain who lost her life defending her princely charge from a gang of assassins who ambushed them as they traveled the old river road. The bodies of the captain, her guardsman, and her charge were all dumped into the river, and though their bones may have scattered and their flesh long faded, their dedication remains entrusted in Oriphel’s steel, the blade upon which the captain made her oaths of loyalty 

Consequences and Complications:

 First, the item’s stats: 

Oriphel, the orphaned blade 

Rare (requires attunement) 

This longsword grants the user a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls when attuned. 

Captian’s vigilance: While attuned to this weapon, the bearer has a sixth sense for danger, and is granted advantage on any wisdom checks made to detect hostile intent ( such as a perception check looking for signs of an ambush, or an insight check made against a feint). Likewise, when the user is asleep or unconscious, the blade keeps them at least partially alert, negating any benefits an enemy would receive for sneaking up on an unconscious target.

Ready for Action: Oriphel will not let another of it’s charges die. When it’s attuned bearer rolls initiative Oriphel appears in their hand, already completing the action of being drawn.   Also, if Oriphel is ever disarmed or distant from its bearer, the attuned creature can use a bonus action to call the blade back to them so long as it is within 30ft.