Games, Words, and History

The Way Ahead in 2023

I had planned to write 1200 words a day, every day, for 2023. About half of that is intended to be outside of gaming. That said, with the possible changes to the OGL, the nature of those words will need to change. OMG Not Another OGL Post Not really, just saying that the system(s) behind my content will likely change. I had intended to reimagine the fundamental lore of 5e this year and release…

I continue to write about my 5e Relex project. For those just joining in, it is a reimagining of the almost 50 years of standard D&D lore from the bottom up. It incorporates the most recent understanding of Spelljammer from 5e with a handful of fundamental changes. These fundamental changes include more elemental planes, planes that comprise the life cycle, and myriad Lands of the Dead in the…

Lotus lives in dimension 2 Lotus XVII.  They qualify for the universe name not only due to being the first contact from their world, but from being the most distinctive quality of their universe. Sixteen variants from other second level dimensions have made contact, but only this Lotus maintains contact with the Compendium and other dimensions. They will say to everyone that they meet that…

Discovery of 3 Chinnakan I

The Compendium is surrounded by a sensory array that detects incoming pithanoton particles. When they are detected, the signature of the incoming signal is matched with our archived contacts. If it is a new contact, the signal is routed to the room dubbed Welcome Committee. The Welcome Committee is the name of the room where first contact with a new universe is made. Only staff that enjoy the…

from universe – 3 Chinnaka I Survival for the Rock Island Independents during WWII meant returning to exhibition games, setting the stage for the story of Marjorie ‘Rosie’ Aberson. The story comes from Marjorie’s best-selling book, They Call Me Rosie. After a perfect 1942 season, all eyes were on the Chicago Marauders to continue their dominance. Boston was floundering and both New York teams…

Memory of the Pontus Dragon (Sea Dragon)

as dictated by Arethusa Atticus, Emissary of Nethunus In my time with walkers, I have learned that what they call fire is very different from my memories. Nethunus gifted us with fire to light our homes and aid with hunting for food. Through us, he generously shared it with walkers. In their darkest times, the flames of Nethunus continue to shine. I never conceived that a fire existed that…

There are a few universes that I want to list here and describe in more detail as well as provide more examples of how universes are named. Disclaimer I use Elminster as an example, I claim no rights to Forgotten Realms created by Ed Greenwood. Many gamers know of the Forgotten Realms, so this is merely an illustration. If requested, I will take down this post and rework this example with…

I have a naming system to label all the places these stories exist. Information about all the various universes are stored in a Compendium. To classify the universes, the convention is: Number of Dimensions + Name of First Contact or Distinct Feature + Number of Times the contact or feature has been encountered. For example, 10 Compendium I, would be the tenth dimension with the first encounter…

I’ve recently decided to be okay with my unfinished projects. Rather than try to perfect them, I want to just post the ideas to share with everyone. I write a lot of in-world lore for any game I prepare to run. As a kid reading Stephen King novels, I appreciated that all his stories are in the same multiverse, so I decided to do the same. The result was that I put easter eggs in all my…

Dal Tana, the Magical Salts of Shastra

General Notes Dal Tana is the name given to the Five Salts that power salt mages. These salts can be consumed (in moderation) as food. Chefs all over the world make dishes with the bright colors of the salts. As such, most shops sell at least a little red, yellow, and blue salt. Black salt is the rarest and most expensive, rivaling the prices of fine jewelry. White salt is so common that it can…

Safety, Coffee, & Three Ring Binders

In my previous post, I mentioned a Session Zero document. It is based on a handful I’ve seen around the internet and on Consent in Gaming by Monte Cook Games. I also added in a questions about content like Psionics, Clockwork, Spelljamming, etc. I will link to it here, but know that it is incomplete. I texted the group more information about the x-card as well as Lines and Veils along with the…

An Idea is Born

A long time ago, I set up my blog to enable posting by sending an email. It has been a while and with version 6.0 of WordPress, I wanted to see if it would still work. The other reason for this post is that I am trying to piece together a Choose Your Path campaign setting where the DM and players get information about regions of the campaign world as they explore them. For example, the party is…

Episode Notes for Odd Duk 17

Latest episode is available here: https://anchor.fm/sycarion/episodes/Odd-Duk-17-On-Dicemaking-and-Future-Projects-e12f0k9 I realized that making show notes is very different than it was a year ago, so my apologies as I navigate the process. Here is a Spotify link to the song I mentioned, but didn’t play: Cadence to Arms Other Links: Dice Creator’s Old Blog: Dice Creator Blog 2010 My github…

How Disease Affects the Creative Process

Being sick allows you to consider possibilities you’ve dismissed previously. The desire for the brain to do something pitted against the body’s call for resources to battle the invading sickness can provide desperate creative output. Desperate? Yes, let me explain a bit. I called in sick at 5 am after managing some semblance of sleep. I couldn’t stare at anything with a screen until about 2…

https://twitter.com/brickk/status/1299179880345526273 I posted about a verb-noun magic system on Twitter and this was the response. When someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of Ars Magica asks about an idea and invites you to submit it, you need to write it down. This idea lives in a spreadsheet now, but will live here when I am finished with this post. Magic in a Different Language The…