#rpg inspired

Curse of Strahd's Influence on King of Dust

So, one of the biggest inspirations for King of Dust came from a campaign of Curse of Strahd that I was part of—it was wild. Imagine the gothic, dark, cursed world of Barovia, but what if Darius, my protagonist in the book, was an absolute bisexual disaster with only two functioning brain cells? He’s terrible at his job, but somehow, still, he’s willing to risk everything for love. That’s the energy I wanted to bring to this book—a character who means well, messes up often, and loves too hard for his own good.

I also started thinking: what if Curse of Strahd was more diverse? Sure, we’ve got vampires and gloomy atmospheres, but what if we added an LGBT romance subplot? A complex love story that doesn’t fit neatly into your standard vampire fantasy? What if it was a little more lighthearted? Enter Darius’s complicated feelings for Astrid after his 20-year relationship with Yra falls apart. Love, heartbreak, and the chaos of new attraction are all a huge part of the plot.

And then there’s the Murder House from Curse of Strahd. That setting planted the seeds for one of the key plots in King of Dust: a dark, cult-like group with roots in familiar gothic horror, but the story takes a hard left turn, flipping everything on its head. It’s my way of giving a nod to a classic Dungeons & Dragons storyline while crafting something completely new and unexpected.

In the end, King of Dust pulls from the atmosphere and structure of Curse of Strahd but adds more depth with diverse characters, LGBT themes, and a storyline that’s full of unexpected twists.

Now launched on Kickstarter, a new entry in my unique enamel pins, RPG GUINEA PIGS!

Four new adventurers in new rpg-classes. Pirate, Elemental Mage, Dark Knight and Alchemist. Can you guess which game inspired what? 😗

Whether you love RPG games, guinea pigs or collecting hard enamel pins, you gotta check this out!

If you think someone would love this, please share to spread some guinea pig love! ♡

That’s Novel (Word Wars of Kydance) [2017-Present]

*The church walls seem to sing from within as the nun turns to face you.

Do you approach her?

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