Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?
Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".
I don't know when or if I ever will run this, but I think it would be awesome.
It starts with the characters washed up on the shore of a strange island with absolutely no idea how they got there. They remember their whole backstory and everything about themselves, but they have no idea how they got where they are. They will travel across the island, exploring it and saving people like normal, and their backstories would be heavily tied into the story as well, but things would seem weird and off. Completely different, unrelated events will seem to be connected, people they meet might reference or say something similar to what another NPC has said, and they might be no connections between them. They would continue to come across monsters driven into madness, and many things they meet will be searching. Not all know what they are searching for, though some speak of an ancient secret that has existed before the creation of the world, and will exist long after. They will come across nothics and allips who have been transformed and been driven to insanity by the secret. The players will follow the trail, trying to uncover the dangerous and unknown knowledge that threatens the world. Things will seem like some powerful, otherwordly force is manipulating the world and the simplest everyday events that happen for some strange and unknown purpose. That is because there is a otherwordly being in control. Me. I am the otherwordly force, altering the world at my every whim. I am the being who guides the characters through their lives, challenging them, and helping them grow and develop. I am the writer of their story, but they made their own decisions. I just gave them their options. It would end with a massive final battle where I create an avatar of the dungeon master and I send it down to fight the characters. If they win, they have defeated me, and prove themselves as heroes, if they fail, their characters are either driven to madness or slain by my hand. The truth that destroyed them was that they are being played with in a game.
I hope there's a smoke monster
I feel like I am missing something obvious. Why do you hope that there is a smoke monster?
Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?
Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".
I don't know when or if I ever will run this, but I think it would be awesome.
It starts with the characters washed up on the shore of a strange island with absolutely no idea how they got there. They remember their whole backstory and everything about themselves, but they have no idea how they got where they are. They will travel across the island, exploring it and saving people like normal, and their backstories would be heavily tied into the story as well, but things would seem weird and off. Completely different, unrelated events will seem to be connected, people they meet might reference or say something similar to what another NPC has said, and they might be no connections between them. They would continue to come across monsters driven into madness, and many things they meet will be searching. Not all know what they are searching for, though some speak of an ancient secret that has existed before the creation of the world, and will exist long after. They will come across nothics and allips who have been transformed and been driven to insanity by the secret. The players will follow the trail, trying to uncover the dangerous and unknown knowledge that threatens the world. Things will seem like some powerful, otherwordly force is manipulating the world and the simplest everyday events that happen for some strange and unknown purpose. That is because there is a otherwordly being in control. Me. I am the otherwordly force, altering the world at my every whim. I am the being who guides the characters through their lives, challenging them, and helping them grow and develop. I am the writer of their story, but they made their own decisions. I just gave them their options. It would end with a massive final battle where I create an avatar of the dungeon master and I send it down to fight the characters. If they win, they have defeated me, and prove themselves as heroes, if they fail, their characters are either driven to madness or slain by my hand. The truth that destroyed them was that they are being played with in a game.
I hope there's a smoke monster
I feel like I am missing something obvious. Why do you hope that there is a smoke monster?
The write up bares a resemblence to the general plot of the TV show LOST which had a "Smoke Monster" in Season 1... along with a series of other, really weird, random, things... (I couldn't make it more than half way into Season 2 myself...)
Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?
Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".
I don't know when or if I ever will run this, but I think it would be awesome.
It starts with the characters washed up on the shore of a strange island with absolutely no idea how they got there. They remember their whole backstory and everything about themselves, but they have no idea how they got where they are. They will travel across the island, exploring it and saving people like normal, and their backstories would be heavily tied into the story as well, but things would seem weird and off. Completely different, unrelated events will seem to be connected, people they meet might reference or say something similar to what another NPC has said, and they might be no connections between them. They would continue to come across monsters driven into madness, and many things they meet will be searching. Not all know what they are searching for, though some speak of an ancient secret that has existed before the creation of the world, and will exist long after. They will come across nothics and allips who have been transformed and been driven to insanity by the secret. The players will follow the trail, trying to uncover the dangerous and unknown knowledge that threatens the world. Things will seem like some powerful, otherwordly force is manipulating the world and the simplest everyday events that happen for some strange and unknown purpose. That is because there is a otherwordly being in control. Me. I am the otherwordly force, altering the world at my every whim. I am the being who guides the characters through their lives, challenging them, and helping them grow and develop. I am the writer of their story, but they made their own decisions. I just gave them their options. It would end with a massive final battle where I create an avatar of the dungeon master and I send it down to fight the characters. If they win, they have defeated me, and prove themselves as heroes, if they fail, their characters are either driven to madness or slain by my hand. The truth that destroyed them was that they are being played with in a game.
I hope there's a smoke monster
I feel like I am missing something obvious. Why do you hope that there is a smoke monster?
The write up bares a resemblence to the general plot of the TV show LOST which had a "Smoke Monster" in Season 1... along with a series of other, really weird, random, things... (I couldn't make it more than half way into Season 2 myself...)
I am watching through Lost right now but I am only a few episodes in so I haven't seen any smoke monsters yet.
Slightly tangential to the Warlock Patron joke, what are people's feelings on religions in D&D? Like, which is your favorite? What setting is it from, and why is it your favorite?
My personal favorite is the Blood of Vol from Eberron, partially because they began as the "look how evil these atheist necromancers are" faction when they were first being developed back in 3.5e (there used to be no difference between the Order of the Emerald Claw and the main religion), but got over time overhauled into probably the coolest religion in all of Eberron. At least, in my opinion, they're easily the coolest and most nuanced religion in all of Eberron (maybe of all D&D settings. I don't know, maybe I'll find something cooler and more nuanced from an older D&D setting, or there will be one in the future that I'll like more).
There's a variety of reasons why I like them:
I love Necromancy not necessarily being evil. I've always thought that Necromancy was all-around a much less "evil" school of magic than Enchantment is, which is traditionally not how the school of magic is viewed in D&D worlds, so Eberron having a non-Evil faction that doesn't think Necromancy and Undead are inherently evil perfectly caters to my tastes.
I tend to find atheistic/antitheistic religions more interesting in fantasy settings. In my experience, you can have more nuance in fantasy religions that deal in uncertainty about the future of their souls and the existence of their gods than you can for settings that objectively have an afterlife and a pantheon of active deities. (There are some exceptions, Nentir Vale from 4e did a really good job of adding nuance to the setting's objectively real gods, but that tends to not be the case in most D&D worlds, or at least older ones.)
I like their sense of community. It's just something I didn't expect to be a part of the "undead necromancer transhumanists/Buddhist" religion. There's just something about the fact that "I'll give up my potential godhood in order to become an eternal guardian/guider of our people, and help my peers/descendants achieve apotheosis" that I feel is strangely noblefor Eberron's "necromancy religion". It's just something that was a pleasant surprise, and made me appreciate/love them even more.
I like transhumanism and stories about the "unlocked potential of humanity". The Blood of Vol was confronted with dilemma of "worship these gods, that probably don't exist, and if they do, they probably suck, and worshipping them won't even save your potentially immortal soul" and "worship the god that you could become, get magic from your potential of apotheosis, and possibly save your immortal soul through pure will". I know which option I would choose if I lived in Eberron, and it's not even a hard decision.
The Seeker Aasimar are awesome. Way cooler and more interesting than any of the Aasimar subraces from Volo's, even if it is a bit mechanically weaker.
I have a homebrew cult in my world that is there mostly for comic relief but I think they will be fun to play. The cultists are all insane people who follow a lesser deity named Clang the Lord of the Bucketheads. His goal is to overthrow the other gods and be in complete control of the universe. However his methods for achieving his goals may not be very reliable. He can influence the minds of anyone whose head is stuck in a bucket, driving them to madness and complete devotion to him. His cultists are all made up of crazy people who have gotten their head, and sometimes feet or hands, stuck in a bucket and now have pledged themselves to his service. They set up traps, placing buckets in inconvenient spots in the hope that someone gets their head stuck in one. They swing buckets attached to chains as weapons, and use their bucketed head as a weapon, but they are also blinded by the bucket on their head so they rarely succeed in anything. Some try to take a more diplomatic approach to the goal of creating more buckethead warriors. They will paint faces on their bucket heads in an attempt to blend in with society, and try to reason with people and convert them to their cause in a peaceful manor. Clang takes the form of a magnificent celestial figure whose head and feet are stuck in buckets. His followers are all very loyal, but they have made very little progress in their attempt at overthrowing the gods.
Slightly tangential to the Warlock Patron joke, what are people's feelings on religions in D&D? Like, which is your favorite? What setting is it from, and why is it your favorite?
My favourite cult in the game is the Keepers of Forbidden Lore - a Lawful Good cult to Vecna mentioned briefly in some 4e supplemental magazine product, but I don’t think ever included in a major work. Their belief is that some dark magic is far too dangerous for mortals to ever get a hold of, and when you need a vault to keep something secret, the God of Secrets—who already has enough dark magic that more will not make him more deadly—is going to be the most secure place you can find.
They were part of a rather interesting segment on good aligned players worshiping Vecna as an Evil god (the other example was Good rebels worshiping Vecna to keep their revolution secret from an Evil empire). Things like that I feel really flesh out the world - and give both depth to the gods themselves, as well as a gateway to explain why Evil cults form, since “I want to be in an evil cult” is far less compelling than “I legitimately thought I was doing Good, but we just went deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of darkness.”
Things like that I feel really flesh out the world - and give both depth to the gods themselves, as well as a gateway to explain why Evil cults form, since “I want to be in an evil cult” is far less compelling than “I legitimately thought I was doing Good, but we just went deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of darkness.”
I've always preferred not giving alignments to deities at all, for exactly this sort of reason. Certain domains might attract worshippers of a more sinister bent, but there are always reasons why someone of good alignment might feel drawn to say, a god of lies or disease or whatever, and mortals trying to pin down the motives of a god is always a risky endeavor
In my current campaign world I took a more old-school approach to the pantheon anyway, and rather than each deity having a specific faith, most devout people called upon or paid respect to whichever one(s) fit their current circumstance. If you're about to get on a boat, you make an offering to the god of the sea and the god of journeys, just to cover all your bases
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
The write up bares a resemblence to the general plot of the TV show LOST which had a "Smoke Monster" in Season 1... along with a series of other, really weird, random, things... (I couldn't make it more than half way into Season 2 myself...)
It doesn't need to be written, but if there was ever a need for a "How to be a bad DM", JJ Abrams' TED talk on the Mystery Box would be a master class in a DM just not having their stuff together. On the other hand, people did watch it to the end, so....
Slightly tangential to the Warlock Patron joke, what are people's feelings on religions in D&D? Like, which is your favorite? What setting is it from, and why is it your favorite?
Maybe not a religion but definitely a heretical faith, but in "official lore" I really dig the Sha'sal Khou among the Gith. I hadn't thought about it, and they do figure into my larger game plot because red dragons, but in my homebrew world there's a similar heretical faith organization between metallic and chromatic dragons that believe Tiamat's present state is the result of some oppressive violence inflicted by Bahamut and some head scratching allies. If her lost colors could be found, and if she could confront her past at the scene where she was flayed into her present five headed incarnation, a more truthful dragonkind may be able to better serve the planes. But it's the sort of talk that gets you hunted and killed, especially if you find any evidence supporting the heresy (if you don't get killed in the act of finding it).
EDIT: Oh, and I've invented a cult in a game I'm in that seems to have been accepted into the game world. The PC worships Rodan the Windcarver. It's a confused faith, seeing the incarnation of Rodan like the Kaiju Rodan, basically giant pterodactyl, but this Rodan also granted humanoids many gifts of sculpture like The Thinker (yes, the actual artwork by Auguste Rodan, found among many IRL cultural artifacts found in the game worlds "vaults") believers assert Rodan used the power of its wing generated wind to carve the figures. I could see the Rodan creating Hexblade pacts, only if to elicit more in character "what is wrong with you?" from the party. PC does call one of his swords Windbreaker, and Spinal Taps "Break Like the Wind" does have spiritual significance to him. At least in his personal head canon if not the games official creeds.
I am watching through Lost right now but I am only a few episodes in so I haven't seen any smoke monsters yet.
As I recall it first shows up about halfway through season 1, so you shouldn't have to wait long
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
The write up bares a resemblence to the general plot of the TV show LOST which had a "Smoke Monster" in Season 1... along with a series of other, really weird, random, things... (I couldn't make it more than half way into Season 2 myself...)
It doesn't need to be written, but if there was ever a need for a "How to be a bad DM", JJ Abrams' TED talk on the Mystery Box would be a master class in a DM just not having their stuff together. On the other hand, people did watch it to the end, so....
Yeah. At first, the weird things happening were entertaining... I was admittedly caught up in it, during Season 1. I put together my own little Lost fan website, trying to digest the information that was appearing in the episodes, with my speculations and all that... But a few episodes into Season 2, it was clear to me, they just had a bunch of ideas in a hat, and were pulling them out every week to see what the next episode was going to be, without anything really ever being connected. Maybe somewhere after Season 2 it all came together. My wife watched it longer than I did - I remember being out in the living room and a group of them found... what was it? A three (or was it four?) toed statue? At that point, I literally laughed and said, "They really are just making things up."
The write up bares a resemblence to the general plot of the TV show LOST which had a "Smoke Monster" in Season 1... along with a series of other, really weird, random, things... (I couldn't make it more than half way into Season 2 myself...)
It doesn't need to be written, but if there was ever a need for a "How to be a bad DM", JJ Abrams' TED talk on the Mystery Box would be a master class in a DM just not having their stuff together. On the other hand, people did watch it to the end, so....
Yeah. At first, the weird things happening were entertaining... I was admittedly caught up in it, during Season 1. I put together my own little Lost fan website, trying to digest the information that was appearing in the episodes, with my speculations and all that... But a few episodes into Season 2, it was clear to me, they just had a bunch of ideas in a hat, and were pulling them out every week to see what the next episode was going to be, without anything really ever being connected. Maybe somewhere after Season 2 it all came together. My wife watched it longer than I did - I remember being out in the living room and a group of them found... what was it? A three (or was it four?) toed statue? At that point, I literally laughed and said, "They really are just making things up."
I actually reached that point right at the end of season 1. Not to give too much away, since there's someone in the thread watching the show for the first time, but
it became clear to me they had no real idea where they were going with the plot when there was this massive build to Opening The Hatch in the first season, and then when they finally got it open they found... another hatch
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
All right - I know IamSposta is gonna pop in here with another question - but to veer this back towards D&D...
Tell us about your favorite character you've played (or perhaps your favorite NPC?) - and why they stand out?
I have alot of "darling" characters I have played, but the one that always stands out when a question like this comes out is a Way of the Four Elements Monk I played in one of my earliest campaigns. At the time, I was still pretty new to the hobby of TTRPG, and when it came to character creation I relied heavily on plagiarizing adapting characters from popular media I enjoyed as D&D characters. In this case, my 4EM was fashioned after an earthbender from the world of Avatar:The Last Airbender. Specifically, I was playing as THE BOULDER. I just found the "pro wrestler" personality to be super fun and simple to get into, and I still like to pull out the occasional one-liner in my current games.
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All right - I know IamSposta is gonna pop in here with another question - but to veer this back towards D&D...
Tell us about your favorite character you've played (or perhaps your favorite NPC?) - and why they stand out?
I cannot remember his name, but the one that always comes to mind is from the 1e era.
I had a half Elf Cleric who was reincarnated as a Kobold. About three months after that, he was given what he thought was a potion of healing, but instead it caused him to grow to eight feet tall. So, I had an 8 foot Kobold that went through some stuff . He saw things.
My second favorite were a pair: a half elf and a dwarf. Rhythm and Blues was what they went by. I had some god awful actual names for them that stretched on. Bickered constantly. half Elf was a bow wielding Paladin, Dwarf was a maul wielding Cleric.
My favorite NPC of all time is The Great Wazoo. Old guy, whistled his S's, absent minded, useful only when he wanted to be.
My current favorite is Arabesque. an Incarnate half elf Witch, Ikon of Antelle, absolutely hates the DM insert representative.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Fave PC was my arcane archer/alchemist. Brainy and persevering with unshakeable principles, who deliberately used bad grammar so her less-educated family wouldn't make fun of her. When she got angry, which was often, she'd unleash a vocabulary fit for a playwright. My table learned a lot of ten-dollar words when I had her rant - myself included, lol.
Fave NPC is tough. I'll always have a special place in my heart for the first one I ever created, who was an Underdark knight trying to prove herself, but as far as fun characters, it's a tie between Since (an immortal Faustian apothecary), Vice (a flirtatious tiefling smuggler), and Cecily (a magical candy shop owner high on sugar who speaks in exclamations! and owns a Blink dog).
Fave published NPC is Eku from Tomb of Annihilation.
What do you always make sure to have on hand for a game of D&D, outside of essentials like character sheets or dice? Any special props or tokens, good luck charms? Or conversely, what do you do your best to make sure never shows its face at your table when it's time to play. Digital-only folks too - what do you keep with you, and what do you make sure to banish before playtime?
All right - I know IamSposta is gonna pop in here with another question - but to veer this back towards D&D...
Tell us about your favorite character you've played (or perhaps your favorite NPC?) - and why they stand out?
My favorite was a 3.0-3.5 (edition switch mid-campaign) rogue, with a couple levels of fighter, the shadowdancer prestige class. His stealth was so crazy high people basically only saw him when he wanted to let them see him. But I remember him most, I think, because he was my first with a new group, and that group actually did a lot with role play and had a deep story with a plot. My friends I played with up to that point, it was more like, the DM would point us at some monsters, we’d kill them, repeat. It was really eye opening about what the game could be.
What do you always make sure to have on hand for a game of D&D, outside of essentials like character sheets or dice? Any special props or tokens, good luck charms? Or conversely, what do you do your best to make sure never shows its face at your table when it's time to play. Digital-only folks too - what do you keep with you, and what do you make sure to banish before playtime?
For any session, I like to make sure I have a nice pot of hot tea, because if my voice goes, things get weird.
My dice guardian, a teeny tiny teddy bear I have had since we go them all in 1981, is always present. it is about the same size as a d20. These days i have a "dungeon master's robe", lol. It is a hooded, black bath robe. Very cozy. if I do a front light online, it gives just the right kind of effect, lol.
In person, which I miss doing really, really, really badly, I always like to have some sort of new thing to add to the table. A chest with gems or coins, a fluffy felted dice cup, a glass marked by the character's name. I think three years ago, I spent about 450 bucks on gewgaws like that for my players that played in person. A few have the tiny chests on display behind them in their setups for zoom.
My attempts at figuring out how to do tiktok gave me reason to invest in some useful tools for gaming, so I have a back drop and some odd props, and I am currently always adding to that.
Oh! and my red fox plushie. to remind me.
If I am able to do in person sessions next year, I will be adding in meals made for the session that are specific to particular point it is either expected to reach or is in. So let's say they are going to camp and eat trail rations, I will serve trail rations.
Things I forbid are few -- sex toys. We are a fairly open bunch, but I have issues with sex toys around kids, even these kids who are, um, scary. I mean, they are ours and we've been playing together since 1980, soooo, um, yeah. And occasionally "eli" will drop in so I have to really enforce the no **** stuff because he did that for a living for like 20 years.
I *ask* that players limit drinks to one an hour (one shot or one beer/glass of wine). I have to keep my beverages and other things on a separate tray, so I don't wreck all my stuff.
cameras on. No one off screen.
I think that's about it.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
What do you always make sure to have on hand for a game of D&D, outside of essentials like character sheets or dice? Any special props or tokens, good luck charms? Or conversely, what do you do your best to make sure never shows its face at your table when it's time to play. Digital-only folks too - what do you keep with you, and what do you make sure to banish before playtime?
Online DM, here. My must-haves are a glass of water, physical dice (which must be tested before the game starts so I know which ones will betray me later), notes for my session that I inevitably forget to look at, and browser tabs with music selections and stat blocks I might need.
The only thing I banish is my spouse, who has an uncanny habit of making a ton of noise right when I'm trying to narrate something important, lol.
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I feel like I am missing something obvious. Why do you hope that there is a smoke monster?
a Lost reference....peeps stuck on Island with all sorts of weird stuff, including a smoke monsta
The write up bares a resemblence to the general plot of the TV show LOST which had a "Smoke Monster" in Season 1... along with a series of other, really weird, random, things... (I couldn't make it more than half way into Season 2 myself...)
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
I am watching through Lost right now but I am only a few episodes in so I haven't seen any smoke monsters yet.
I have a homebrew cult in my world that is there mostly for comic relief but I think they will be fun to play. The cultists are all insane people who follow a lesser deity named Clang the Lord of the Bucketheads. His goal is to overthrow the other gods and be in complete control of the universe. However his methods for achieving his goals may not be very reliable. He can influence the minds of anyone whose head is stuck in a bucket, driving them to madness and complete devotion to him. His cultists are all made up of crazy people who have gotten their head, and sometimes feet or hands, stuck in a bucket and now have pledged themselves to his service. They set up traps, placing buckets in inconvenient spots in the hope that someone gets their head stuck in one. They swing buckets attached to chains as weapons, and use their bucketed head as a weapon, but they are also blinded by the bucket on their head so they rarely succeed in anything. Some try to take a more diplomatic approach to the goal of creating more buckethead warriors. They will paint faces on their bucket heads in an attempt to blend in with society, and try to reason with people and convert them to their cause in a peaceful manor. Clang takes the form of a magnificent celestial figure whose head and feet are stuck in buckets. His followers are all very loyal, but they have made very little progress in their attempt at overthrowing the gods.
My favourite cult in the game is the Keepers of Forbidden Lore - a Lawful Good cult to Vecna mentioned briefly in some 4e supplemental magazine product, but I don’t think ever included in a major work. Their belief is that some dark magic is far too dangerous for mortals to ever get a hold of, and when you need a vault to keep something secret, the God of Secrets—who already has enough dark magic that more will not make him more deadly—is going to be the most secure place you can find.
They were part of a rather interesting segment on good aligned players worshiping Vecna as an Evil god (the other example was Good rebels worshiping Vecna to keep their revolution secret from an Evil empire). Things like that I feel really flesh out the world - and give both depth to the gods themselves, as well as a gateway to explain why Evil cults form, since “I want to be in an evil cult” is far less compelling than “I legitimately thought I was doing Good, but we just went deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of darkness.”
I've always preferred not giving alignments to deities at all, for exactly this sort of reason. Certain domains might attract worshippers of a more sinister bent, but there are always reasons why someone of good alignment might feel drawn to say, a god of lies or disease or whatever, and mortals trying to pin down the motives of a god is always a risky endeavor
In my current campaign world I took a more old-school approach to the pantheon anyway, and rather than each deity having a specific faith, most devout people called upon or paid respect to whichever one(s) fit their current circumstance. If you're about to get on a boat, you make an offering to the god of the sea and the god of journeys, just to cover all your bases
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
It doesn't need to be written, but if there was ever a need for a "How to be a bad DM", JJ Abrams' TED talk on the Mystery Box would be a master class in a DM just not having their stuff together. On the other hand, people did watch it to the end, so....
Maybe not a religion but definitely a heretical faith, but in "official lore" I really dig the Sha'sal Khou among the Gith. I hadn't thought about it, and they do figure into my larger game plot because red dragons, but in my homebrew world there's a similar heretical faith organization between metallic and chromatic dragons that believe Tiamat's present state is the result of some oppressive violence inflicted by Bahamut and some head scratching allies. If her lost colors could be found, and if she could confront her past at the scene where she was flayed into her present five headed incarnation, a more truthful dragonkind may be able to better serve the planes. But it's the sort of talk that gets you hunted and killed, especially if you find any evidence supporting the heresy (if you don't get killed in the act of finding it).
EDIT: Oh, and I've invented a cult in a game I'm in that seems to have been accepted into the game world. The PC worships Rodan the Windcarver. It's a confused faith, seeing the incarnation of Rodan like the Kaiju Rodan, basically giant pterodactyl, but this Rodan also granted humanoids many gifts of sculpture like The Thinker (yes, the actual artwork by Auguste Rodan, found among many IRL cultural artifacts found in the game worlds "vaults") believers assert Rodan used the power of its wing generated wind to carve the figures. I could see the Rodan creating Hexblade pacts, only if to elicit more in character "what is wrong with you?" from the party. PC does call one of his swords Windbreaker, and Spinal Taps "Break Like the Wind" does have spiritual significance to him. At least in his personal head canon if not the games official creeds.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
As I recall it first shows up about halfway through season 1, so you shouldn't have to wait long
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Yeah. At first, the weird things happening were entertaining... I was admittedly caught up in it, during Season 1. I put together my own little Lost fan website, trying to digest the information that was appearing in the episodes, with my speculations and all that... But a few episodes into Season 2, it was clear to me, they just had a bunch of ideas in a hat, and were pulling them out every week to see what the next episode was going to be, without anything really ever being connected. Maybe somewhere after Season 2 it all came together. My wife watched it longer than I did - I remember being out in the living room and a group of them found... what was it? A three (or was it four?) toed statue? At that point, I literally laughed and said, "They really are just making things up."
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
I actually reached that point right at the end of season 1. Not to give too much away, since there's someone in the thread watching the show for the first time, but
it became clear to me they had no real idea where they were going with the plot when there was this massive build to Opening The Hatch in the first season, and then when they finally got it open they found... another hatch
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
All right - I know IamSposta is gonna pop in here with another question - but to veer this back towards D&D...
Tell us about your favorite character you've played (or perhaps your favorite NPC?) - and why they stand out?
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
I have alot of "darling" characters I have played, but the one that always stands out when a question like this comes out is a Way of the Four Elements Monk I played in one of my earliest campaigns. At the time, I was still pretty new to the hobby of TTRPG, and when it came to character creation I relied heavily on
plagiarizingadapting characters from popular media I enjoyed as D&D characters. In this case, my 4EM was fashioned after an earthbender from the world of Avatar:The Last Airbender. Specifically, I was playing as THE BOULDER. I just found the "pro wrestler" personality to be super fun and simple to get into, and I still like to pull out the occasional one-liner in my current games.Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I cannot remember his name, but the one that always comes to mind is from the 1e era.
I had a half Elf Cleric who was reincarnated as a Kobold. About three months after that, he was given what he thought was a potion of healing, but instead it caused him to grow to eight feet tall. So, I had an 8 foot Kobold that went through some stuff . He saw things.
My second favorite were a pair: a half elf and a dwarf. Rhythm and Blues was what they went by. I had some god awful actual names for them that stretched on. Bickered constantly. half Elf was a bow wielding Paladin, Dwarf was a maul wielding Cleric.
My favorite NPC of all time is The Great Wazoo. Old guy, whistled his S's, absent minded, useful only when he wanted to be.
My current favorite is Arabesque. an Incarnate half elf Witch, Ikon of Antelle, absolutely hates the DM insert representative.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Fave PC was my arcane archer/alchemist. Brainy and persevering with unshakeable principles, who deliberately used bad grammar so her less-educated family wouldn't make fun of her. When she got angry, which was often, she'd unleash a vocabulary fit for a playwright. My table learned a lot of ten-dollar words when I had her rant - myself included, lol.
Fave NPC is tough. I'll always have a special place in my heart for the first one I ever created, who was an Underdark knight trying to prove herself, but as far as fun characters, it's a tie between Since (an immortal Faustian apothecary), Vice (a flirtatious tiefling smuggler), and Cecily (a magical candy shop owner high on sugar who speaks in exclamations! and owns a Blink dog).
Fave published NPC is Eku from Tomb of Annihilation.
In my area the smoke monsters hang out at the dispensaries and ask for cookies.
Question For The Day, in Sposta's stead:
What do you always make sure to have on hand for a game of D&D, outside of essentials like character sheets or dice? Any special props or tokens, good luck charms? Or conversely, what do you do your best to make sure never shows its face at your table when it's time to play. Digital-only folks too - what do you keep with you, and what do you make sure to banish before playtime?
Please do not contact or message me.
My favorite was a 3.0-3.5 (edition switch mid-campaign) rogue, with a couple levels of fighter, the shadowdancer prestige class. His stealth was so crazy high people basically only saw him when he wanted to let them see him.
But I remember him most, I think, because he was my first with a new group, and that group actually did a lot with role play and had a deep story with a plot. My friends I played with up to that point, it was more like, the DM would point us at some monsters, we’d kill them, repeat. It was really eye opening about what the game could be.
For any session, I like to make sure I have a nice pot of hot tea, because if my voice goes, things get weird.
My dice guardian, a teeny tiny teddy bear I have had since we go them all in 1981, is always present. it is about the same size as a d20. These days i have a "dungeon master's robe", lol. It is a hooded, black bath robe. Very cozy. if I do a front light online, it gives just the right kind of effect, lol.
In person, which I miss doing really, really, really badly, I always like to have some sort of new thing to add to the table. A chest with gems or coins, a fluffy felted dice cup, a glass marked by the character's name. I think three years ago, I spent about 450 bucks on gewgaws like that for my players that played in person. A few have the tiny chests on display behind them in their setups for zoom.
My attempts at figuring out how to do tiktok gave me reason to invest in some useful tools for gaming, so I have a back drop and some odd props, and I am currently always adding to that.
Oh! and my red fox plushie. to remind me.
If I am able to do in person sessions next year, I will be adding in meals made for the session that are specific to particular point it is either expected to reach or is in. So let's say they are going to camp and eat trail rations, I will serve trail rations.
Things I forbid are few -- sex toys. We are a fairly open bunch, but I have issues with sex toys around kids, even these kids who are, um, scary. I mean, they are ours and we've been playing together since 1980, soooo, um, yeah. And occasionally "eli" will drop in so I have to really enforce the no **** stuff because he did that for a living for like 20 years.
I *ask* that players limit drinks to one an hour (one shot or one beer/glass of wine). I have to keep my beverages and other things on a separate tray, so I don't wreck all my stuff.
cameras on. No one off screen.
I think that's about it.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Online DM, here. My must-haves are a glass of water, physical dice (which must be tested before the game starts so I know which ones will betray me later), notes for my session that I inevitably forget to look at, and browser tabs with music selections and stat blocks I might need.
The only thing I banish is my spouse, who has an uncanny habit of making a ton of noise right when I'm trying to narrate something important, lol.