I'm sure you've all heard this one many, many times. All the best DM's steal everything. I'm not sure how many will admit to that and I guarantee I know of at least 2 DM's who are fantastic and it doesn't seem like they've stolen a thing.
But isn't that the point?
In my honest opinon, it doesn't matter if you steal storylines, plot hooks, NPC's, anything from other sources as long as your players are enjoying it. I'll admit, I've happily borrowed a few ideas from various sources for my campaign as well as for characters I've created. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that your players are enjoying themselves and my players so far seem to have enjoyed every single session we've had (or so they tell me!).
But this is also true of tropes or stereotypes for your own player characters. It doesn't matter if you play a stereotypical Hill Dwarf Cleric, Goliath Barbarian, Halfling Rogue or anything else than immediately springs to mind when you think of classic fantasy. What makes the character, in my opinion, is the player behind them. Regardless of whether the character is entirely made up tropes and rolls from the PHB to select personality traits, they are still going to be unique characters. Why? Because the player is (hopefully) invested in that character and will play that character to their best.
So what's this rant all about? Well, many things but mainly; when it comes to DMing, lie, cheat, and steal everything. When it comes to playing, feel free to create whatever type of character you want, whether they're quirky or stereotypical. The most important thing, for DMs and players alike, is to enjoy the story you're telling as a group!
Monday, 18 July 2016
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
DMing or Playing?
Which do you prefer?
It's actually been some time since I last had a chance to play D&D as a Player (and it will probably some more time until I can again!), but really my passion is to DM.
Don't get me wrong, I love just sitting back and being immersed into a world and tearing through dungeons with my party; it's nice to relax and enjoy the game sometimes. Really though, I love building up a world and watching the players breathe life into it and seeing the whole thing come to life before me, and them as well.
One of the best things about being a DM is world building, in my opinion. I love fleshing out the world I've already created, adding in some historical events, twists and turns in the campaign and working with the players' backstories to create a unique and exciting story for them. The best thing about building up a world though is watching the players fall into it, being immersed in their setting and believing everything they see and hear around them. Being invested in your campaign, in their characters and each other is one of the most satisfying things to watch.
Of course, DMing is a lot of hard work too, but the rewards don't compare. I spend a lot of time planning out events, and planning for every which way I think the players will take (even though no plan survives contact with the players), drawing battlemaps, constructing NPC's; there is a lot of work to be done. But it's all worth it.
Besides, in my opinion, as a DM; if your players had fun then you had fun. There's nothing better than them telling you that you did a good job, they can't wait for the next session, they're excited to see where the plot leads, everything like that.
So tell me, what do you prefer; being a player or a DM?
Until next time!
It's actually been some time since I last had a chance to play D&D as a Player (and it will probably some more time until I can again!), but really my passion is to DM.
Don't get me wrong, I love just sitting back and being immersed into a world and tearing through dungeons with my party; it's nice to relax and enjoy the game sometimes. Really though, I love building up a world and watching the players breathe life into it and seeing the whole thing come to life before me, and them as well.
One of the best things about being a DM is world building, in my opinion. I love fleshing out the world I've already created, adding in some historical events, twists and turns in the campaign and working with the players' backstories to create a unique and exciting story for them. The best thing about building up a world though is watching the players fall into it, being immersed in their setting and believing everything they see and hear around them. Being invested in your campaign, in their characters and each other is one of the most satisfying things to watch.
Of course, DMing is a lot of hard work too, but the rewards don't compare. I spend a lot of time planning out events, and planning for every which way I think the players will take (even though no plan survives contact with the players), drawing battlemaps, constructing NPC's; there is a lot of work to be done. But it's all worth it.
Besides, in my opinion, as a DM; if your players had fun then you had fun. There's nothing better than them telling you that you did a good job, they can't wait for the next session, they're excited to see where the plot leads, everything like that.
So tell me, what do you prefer; being a player or a DM?
Until next time!
Friday, 10 June 2016
Religion in Dascapus
In every world (almost), there are Gods, Deities or religion of some kind. All of the lore in the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide is absolutely brilliant; properly detailed with nearly everything you could ask for.
Me? I'm just awkward, and if I'm building the world, the countries, the kingdoms, etc, why not create the religion while I'm at it?
In Dascapus, the creation story is generally believed by most people, but there are 3 different religious sects; Dynism (named after Dygnera), Titanism (named after the Titans) and the Order of Lumen Velios (named after the god Lumen and his wife Velios).
Sects
Dynism focuses on worship of the Old Gods - the believed creators of the world and those responsible for everything they see around them.
Titanism is about the worship of what most people consider to be the evil gods, or at least the chaotic ones. Not everyone who worships these gods are evil, but it's very frowned upon to revere these beings.
The Order of Lumen Velios worship the new gods, believing that they rose up from the world to confront the Titans and banishing them, relieving the torment and chaos they'd left upon the world.
Creation Story
The same story is generally believed by all of the sects of religion is Dascapus, with a few exceptions and changes between them.
Firstly, the Old Gods came from other worlds where they were renowned heroes, adventures and other people of great influence and power who rose above the state of mortals and decided to create their own perfect, utopian world. They succeeded in creating a place where evil did not exist, even in human nature; Dascapus. However, a darkness had followed them from their native planes. This darkness banded together to become the Titans. Eventually, the Titans found Dascapus and subtly influenced the nature of humans, elves, dwarves, even going so far as to create tieflings and the dragonborn. Eventually, the Old Gods found out and confronted the Titans, but the Titans beat them and banished them from the world. Dascapus was plunged into chaos; death, and destruction now reigned supreme for hundreds of years. Eventually, a group of heroes found the power to rise up and face the Titans. An epic battle was fought, and the New Gods came out victorious. The Titans hadn't been slain, but their power was gone and their forms destroyed. However, the world had already been influenced and it was impossible for the New Gods to reverse the damage that had been done. They then took it upon themselves to watch over Dascapus while searching for the Old Gods, hoping their combined power would cleanse the world of sin and bring back the age of peace.
At least, that's what the Order of Lumen Velios believes. Worshippers of Dynism believe that the Old Gods never left, instead their power was stripped and became mortals once again, the New Gods being their ancestors eventually helped to push the Titans back. Some say Dygnera never left and that she still wanders the Unclaimed Lands, at the top of Limata Peak.
As I said, those who worship Titanism aren't always evil. Some of them believe that the Titans represent cultural diversity and destroyed the inherent racism and xenophobia that the Old Gods had created. However, there are also plenty of beings who lean towards evil and chaos and believe that the Titans were right to provide a more realistic view of the world, where not everything has a silver lining and is viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
The Gods
The Old Gods
Dyngnera - Goddess of Life
Esdur - God of War
Gohorr - God of Art
Hithena - Goddess of Nature
Vokona - Godess of Shadows
Xumos - God of Knowledge
Dymus - God of the Sun
Rumes - God of Travel
Romus - God of Luck
Axthar - God of Peace
Hutmera - Goddess of Serpents
The Titans
Brehnir - The Bloody Axe - God of War - Represents the slaughter
Trazex - The Ancient Shield - God of War - Represents the insurmountable odds
Xylsha - The Shadow Keeper - Goddess of Knowledge - Represents lies, secrets and deceit
Carannar - The Waxing Moon - God of Darkness - Represents the abscence of light and hope
Suranath - The Motionless Sea - God of Luck - Represents nothing but bad luck
Lillnnys - The Raven Queen - Goddess of Death
The New Gods
Lumen - God of Light
Velios - Goddess of Dark
Hydris - Goddess of Water
Scorch - God of Fire
Theran - God of the Earth
Murmus - God of Air
Me? I'm just awkward, and if I'm building the world, the countries, the kingdoms, etc, why not create the religion while I'm at it?
In Dascapus, the creation story is generally believed by most people, but there are 3 different religious sects; Dynism (named after Dygnera), Titanism (named after the Titans) and the Order of Lumen Velios (named after the god Lumen and his wife Velios).
Sects
Dynism focuses on worship of the Old Gods - the believed creators of the world and those responsible for everything they see around them.
Titanism is about the worship of what most people consider to be the evil gods, or at least the chaotic ones. Not everyone who worships these gods are evil, but it's very frowned upon to revere these beings.
The Order of Lumen Velios worship the new gods, believing that they rose up from the world to confront the Titans and banishing them, relieving the torment and chaos they'd left upon the world.
Creation Story
The same story is generally believed by all of the sects of religion is Dascapus, with a few exceptions and changes between them.
Firstly, the Old Gods came from other worlds where they were renowned heroes, adventures and other people of great influence and power who rose above the state of mortals and decided to create their own perfect, utopian world. They succeeded in creating a place where evil did not exist, even in human nature; Dascapus. However, a darkness had followed them from their native planes. This darkness banded together to become the Titans. Eventually, the Titans found Dascapus and subtly influenced the nature of humans, elves, dwarves, even going so far as to create tieflings and the dragonborn. Eventually, the Old Gods found out and confronted the Titans, but the Titans beat them and banished them from the world. Dascapus was plunged into chaos; death, and destruction now reigned supreme for hundreds of years. Eventually, a group of heroes found the power to rise up and face the Titans. An epic battle was fought, and the New Gods came out victorious. The Titans hadn't been slain, but their power was gone and their forms destroyed. However, the world had already been influenced and it was impossible for the New Gods to reverse the damage that had been done. They then took it upon themselves to watch over Dascapus while searching for the Old Gods, hoping their combined power would cleanse the world of sin and bring back the age of peace.
At least, that's what the Order of Lumen Velios believes. Worshippers of Dynism believe that the Old Gods never left, instead their power was stripped and became mortals once again, the New Gods being their ancestors eventually helped to push the Titans back. Some say Dygnera never left and that she still wanders the Unclaimed Lands, at the top of Limata Peak.
As I said, those who worship Titanism aren't always evil. Some of them believe that the Titans represent cultural diversity and destroyed the inherent racism and xenophobia that the Old Gods had created. However, there are also plenty of beings who lean towards evil and chaos and believe that the Titans were right to provide a more realistic view of the world, where not everything has a silver lining and is viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
The Gods
The Old Gods
Dyngnera - Goddess of Life
Esdur - God of War
Gohorr - God of Art
Hithena - Goddess of Nature
Vokona - Godess of Shadows
Xumos - God of Knowledge
Dymus - God of the Sun
Rumes - God of Travel
Romus - God of Luck
Axthar - God of Peace
Hutmera - Goddess of Serpents
The Titans
Brehnir - The Bloody Axe - God of War - Represents the slaughter
Trazex - The Ancient Shield - God of War - Represents the insurmountable odds
Xylsha - The Shadow Keeper - Goddess of Knowledge - Represents lies, secrets and deceit
Carannar - The Waxing Moon - God of Darkness - Represents the abscence of light and hope
Suranath - The Motionless Sea - God of Luck - Represents nothing but bad luck
Lillnnys - The Raven Queen - Goddess of Death
The New Gods
Lumen - God of Light
Velios - Goddess of Dark
Hydris - Goddess of Water
Scorch - God of Fire
Theran - God of the Earth
Murmus - God of Air
Thursday, 9 June 2016
The First Session
One of the hardest things I had to do as a new DM was run the first session for my group.
This was to be my very first time DMing for real (playing about as a character and a DM for the Starter Set didn't really count considering we had no idea what we were doing and there was only the 2 of us!), so I was extremely nervous and had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.
I'd done all of my worldbuilding, and the players had already created their characters, with rich backstories full of hooks I could use, so when it came round to the day, we could jump straight in. Great! Or not, depending on your point of view, but either way, the time came and I was nervous.
Luckily, it all went extremely well - everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves, which is all you could ask for really. I was still worried about everything I had done.
In my opinion, the first session of any group is the hardest thing to do. I don't want to railroad my players (this is a sandbox-style game after all, with a very loose overarching plot), but obviously there are certain assumptions that have to be made and certain things have to be forced into existence (I mean, what really are the chances of 4 different people of different races all being in the same tavern in the same town?).
It worked out for me in the end, because all of their backstories made a lot of sense - one of the party was a member of the Thieve's Guild, one had abandoned his education at the Mage's College, one had run away from home after his parents died and the other was on a quest to find his long lost father. In the end, we all agreed that the player from the Thieve's Guild hired these adventurers for a job near Shadowley, towards the North, North West of Asparia. As much as this solution worked, I still couldn't help but feel like I'd forced the players (and their characters) into a situation they wouldn't necesserily have been in (but hey, your party's got to start somewhere right?).
The rest of the session involved the job for the guild going haywire; the character had been betrayed by the guild and played against another member. However, one of the things that struck me again - why would the party stick together? Obviously they will, we're a D&D group sharing an adventure, why would this person's character suddenly go back to a mundane life? Even so, this is another problem I've faced - the reasons for the party sticking together.
That avenue is still being explored, but since then we've had 2 other sessions and I've managed to make it so certain events have kept them together as a unit for now, but I'm sure in every group there comes a point where the players, and their characters, must make choices and determine the reason the group stays together.
What really helped though was Mia, who plays a Merfolk Barbarian, rolled for her character's "length and girth". She rolled a natural 1.
Anyways, that's my rant over - all I'm trying to say is that the first session will always be the hardest, so don't be afraid to be honest with your players. If something doesn't work the way you planned, tell them and make a decision (especially if you're a new DM playing with experienced players like myself), they're bound to understand.
Good luck!
This was to be my very first time DMing for real (playing about as a character and a DM for the Starter Set didn't really count considering we had no idea what we were doing and there was only the 2 of us!), so I was extremely nervous and had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.
I'd done all of my worldbuilding, and the players had already created their characters, with rich backstories full of hooks I could use, so when it came round to the day, we could jump straight in. Great! Or not, depending on your point of view, but either way, the time came and I was nervous.
Luckily, it all went extremely well - everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves, which is all you could ask for really. I was still worried about everything I had done.
In my opinion, the first session of any group is the hardest thing to do. I don't want to railroad my players (this is a sandbox-style game after all, with a very loose overarching plot), but obviously there are certain assumptions that have to be made and certain things have to be forced into existence (I mean, what really are the chances of 4 different people of different races all being in the same tavern in the same town?).
It worked out for me in the end, because all of their backstories made a lot of sense - one of the party was a member of the Thieve's Guild, one had abandoned his education at the Mage's College, one had run away from home after his parents died and the other was on a quest to find his long lost father. In the end, we all agreed that the player from the Thieve's Guild hired these adventurers for a job near Shadowley, towards the North, North West of Asparia. As much as this solution worked, I still couldn't help but feel like I'd forced the players (and their characters) into a situation they wouldn't necesserily have been in (but hey, your party's got to start somewhere right?).
The rest of the session involved the job for the guild going haywire; the character had been betrayed by the guild and played against another member. However, one of the things that struck me again - why would the party stick together? Obviously they will, we're a D&D group sharing an adventure, why would this person's character suddenly go back to a mundane life? Even so, this is another problem I've faced - the reasons for the party sticking together.
That avenue is still being explored, but since then we've had 2 other sessions and I've managed to make it so certain events have kept them together as a unit for now, but I'm sure in every group there comes a point where the players, and their characters, must make choices and determine the reason the group stays together.
What really helped though was Mia, who plays a Merfolk Barbarian, rolled for her character's "length and girth". She rolled a natural 1.
Anyways, that's my rant over - all I'm trying to say is that the first session will always be the hardest, so don't be afraid to be honest with your players. If something doesn't work the way you planned, tell them and make a decision (especially if you're a new DM playing with experienced players like myself), they're bound to understand.
Good luck!
Wednesday, 8 June 2016
The World of Dascapus
For my actual first post, I thought I’d share the map I made for
the world I created for my group.
The planet is called Dascapus and is split into 4 continents: Sunov, Thars, Teuter and Dracora. There are 3 distinct oceans: the Sea of Daggers, surrounding Dracora, the Cerulean Sea, surrounding Thars and the Sea of Atheas, which covers the rest of the planet.
Each continent is split into 2 or 3 different regions or kingdoms, which I’ll go into further detail on another time. For now, enjoy the map!
(as a quick note, the Hex's should be 60 miles, not 10!)
The planet is called Dascapus and is split into 4 continents: Sunov, Thars, Teuter and Dracora. There are 3 distinct oceans: the Sea of Daggers, surrounding Dracora, the Cerulean Sea, surrounding Thars and the Sea of Atheas, which covers the rest of the planet.
Each continent is split into 2 or 3 different regions or kingdoms, which I’ll go into further detail on another time. For now, enjoy the map!
(as a quick note, the Hex's should be 60 miles, not 10!)
Welcome!
So here’s my first post! There’s not much to the blog at the minute (still trying to figure out how to work Blogger properly and make it all look pretty!), but there’ll be a lot more content on the way.
My next session with my group is on Saturday the 18th, so there’ll likely be some content on here before then!
Until next time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)