#Planar Campaign

[jumpboy-rembrandt]

what’s up!! i made a 3d model of the dnd planar system (adherent to 1e with some elements of later editions) with $15 at michael’s and whatever i could find in my room (sewing kit, jewelry supplies, four different packs of markers, love).

i showed it to each of my roommates and all three had the initial reaction of “cool, why”. love of the game baby. also my therapist wants me to be more creative.

[id: three pictures of a styrofoam sphere with a cardstock ring around it tied to a metal wreath base. the sphere is divided and colored by the 18 inner planes, and the ring is likewise made for the 16 outer planes, split into levels with marker lines. the third picture shows the sphere opened up and inside, suspended by jewelry wire, is a smaller blue and green styrofoam ball.]

[brynnmclean]

Re: my latest D&D poll, it is hysterically funny to me whenever someone mentions resurrections and cross-planar trip storylines being possibilities if I kill my fave NPC. I very intentionally did not mention that we're in Middle-earth for my game because I think the poll has some fun generic appeal if the setting isn't apparent, but. Yeah, those kind of things would be VERY tricky for my band of Faithful Númenóreans!

[elinaline]

Rrnnnghgg

Dungeons. And mayhaps even dragons.

[eaudecrow]

I’m in enough active campaigns that I decided to finally go through my d&d tag and sort things by party name. SO.

Theseus and Co. are in #planar pringles

Aaren’s in #freak force

And Z(oatham)’s in #gilded lilies

[lamplightgames]

Bureau of Planar Balance: 00 - The Spire

In the middle of the Outlands rests the infinitely-tall Spire, with the grand City of Doors, Sigil, resting at its apex. Those associated with the Bureau, however, direct their attention underneath the rock of the Spire instead, where the Bureau's headquarters are located and its many cells and agents are organized.

---

I've been DMing a D&D 5e game with some friends, and wanted to create some in-world documents for them to look at! The players are agents of the Bureau of Planar Balance, a secretive organization that operates across the planes of existence in order to maintain overall Balance.

I'm pulling in inspiration from just so many places, from MiB and Control/SCP Foundation to The Adventure Zone to various bits and pieces of Planescape and Spelljammer that I've read!

Floor plans of the various sectors are to come!

[thisisnotthenerd]

ik it's been beat to death by this point

but holy shit the bad kids in-world are fucking terrifying

even starting with the bad boys:

you have fabian, inheritor of the seacaster and lomenelda legacies and the elven oracle's champion in his own right. maximum legend. somehow a straight-a student, captain of the owlbears, and owner of the party house. he fights with the sword of the elven kings and will perform a full dance routine while decapitating you.

you have riz, licensed private investigator and angelic agent of the lower planar reconnaissance task force. litigator. campaign manager. found the rogue teacher by his own effort and then passed the last stand. the kid who showed up to school with a gun on the first day and now dual wields a sword and a magic gun. he will find you, he will fight you, and if he deems necessary he will eat you.

you have gorgug, creator and pioneer of the barbificer subclass, the first barbarian to be able to maintain spells while raging. the greatest wizard of the age. generally chill but will commit murder over a sex lawnmower. rock star drummer on the side. he can buff his party and solo a purple worm at the same time. he fights with an axe that affects nearby gravity as a returning weapon.

and then the bad girls:

you have adaine, the elven oracle. known for her exquisite spellcraft, unerring eye for the future, and a willingness to get her hands dirty. practical magic is her bitch. she issues 13 impossible prophecies in the span of a couple weeks. she defied the will of fallinel and brought modernity to the court of stars through dance battle (via fabian).

you have fig, of fig and the sig figs fame, the infaethable archdevil of the bottomless pit. an illusionist who's caused so much chaos that she has an agent of the council of chosen personally after her. psychologically threatened a guy in his dreams. a phenomenal bard, warlock of her own domain, and a paladin of conviction and rebellion.

you have kristen, the blessed saint who raised cassandra from the nightmare king and yes!/yes? from the void. who performs miracles with the shards of a dying god and holds the power of doubt as her shepherd's crook. she chose to walk away from being chosen and venture into paths unknown, even as gods asked for her worship. one conversation with her can make you question everything you've ever known.

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Hey DM? Are you familiar with the spell "Dream of the Blue Veil?"

-Player about to make this cross-planar campaign complicated

[cottoncandybitchfuck]

Riz Gukgak, a little rogue from a single-parent household. A natural detective, going nights without sleeping and worrying his mother to death. He was looking for his babysitter who had gone missing, he didn’t care about friends. He was the briefcase kid, he was used to getting bullied. He gets thrown into a trash can and called “The Ball.” He stole a teabag in the name of getting clues and got detention. He brought a gun to his first day of school. He killed a monster, making the worst but smartest choice of jumping into the corn monster. He joined the A.V. club with some gross people just to solve a mystery. He started taking care of a random rat just because he could. He used his suitcase as a skateboard during combat. He shot Coach Daybreak when he was unconscious just to make sure he was dead. He knew they weren’t done yet despite the cops having the palimpsest. He took 7 damage to try to save someone from a palimpsest. He shot 2 of his classmate’s fingers off to get him to answer their questions. He holds the sword of shadows. He kills a dragon and then eats him. “Fury of the Ball” He becomes a licensed investigator. He lied about having a partner, and it manifested and kidnapped him. He comes clean immediately. He gave up a secret only to save his friend he never thought he would have. He tried to help Fabian feel better after the fight at the Row and the Ruction. He helped save Adaine, helping take down a Plyon. He found record of the coin from the Nightmare King in Kalvaxus’ Horde. He was also the first to find out about the Shadow Cat.  He represented Fig in a legal trial in Hell. He met his dad and almost thought he was bad. He became part of the Lower Planar Reconnaissance Task Force. His biggest fear was getting left by his friends getting in relationships. He came up with the way to destroy Kalina. He used magic to be able to drive. He ran over Fabian. He joined every club he could and became a campaign manager so that he could go to college since his mom couldn’t afford it. *His principal cast Hold Monster on him…  He didn’t hesitate to protect Fig from the moon by throwing her into his briefcase and jumping in after her. His nightmare followed him, it attacked his friends. He got away again. He learned to talk shit. He hid so well and helped with the Last Stand so much. He found the rogue teacher, he solved so many points of the mystery. He killed another dragon! He is so protective of his friends, and he hated what the rat grinders stood for. “Make sure to cut his head off so he can’t be revived.” He submerged in lava just to throw Kipperlilly off.  “Very good on paper but… no practical application.” He apologized to Fig and Kristen for pushing them to do school when they didn’t want to, as well as made sure Kristen actually wanted to be president. He is Riz Gukgak, The Ball, and he is a huge part of the bad kids despite being so small. And the one thing Porter was right about? Riz is a “Little Shadow” and he is good at it too. 

It took me three hours to write this because I had to condense and cut so much. It’s 1am (12:14) in a warehouse in the middle of the sea (a dorm room) and I am finally done with this style of post. At least 4 more Bad Kids posts are coming, and then I’ll be normal again (posting about other fandoms and dnd shows)

*I said this was important! He used dominate person on Ruben, so that was a choice Grix made, there are no mechanical reasons for monster to work vs person

[rhowena]

I will never not be baffled by the take that Vax becoming a CR 21 angel of death post-Campaign 1 is a horrible, torturous form of enslavement that the Matron subjects him to because she's evil. Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence is a very old trope/concept that, in the context of death and grief, is meant to soften the blow by offering the reassurance that the people we've lost are still 'around' in some form, which is very much the vibe with Vax; when I saw that his Champion of Ravens statblock types him as a celestial instead of a humanoid, the direction my brain immediately went in was "Well, celestials are a warlock patron option, so could I use him as such if I ever play a Tal'Dorei campaign? What about Planar Ally? Could he be called to fight beside his family once again as a summon, given the right circumstances?" Flattening it down to "but he doesn't get to rest!" is missing the point by a country mile.

[utilitycaster]

You who are wise in the way of Exandria (helps run the readable wiki), maybe you could tell me or point me in the right direction. There's been several statements that the Pantheon gets their power from their followers, that feed on their faith/worship/prayers. One of the Vanguard says something to this effect, and Deanna seems to subscribe to this belief as well, and I think I sort of thought this as well pre-Downfall. But is there any actual evidence for this?

Hey anon, thank you!

The short answer: it's really unclear even from the text precisely what's going on, likely because this is foundational lore of Exandria that's existed since pre-stream and it's changed over time as different players and GMs have brought in new perspectives. The most I would say is that the gods of the pantheon do not require worship as a condition of their existence.

The longer answer:

The gods appear to be independently powerful, which would make sense, since they are effectively extra-terrestrial or extra-planar entities of possibility solidified into specific embodiments of concepts, ie, when in physical form on the material plane they are just creatures with their own power. We see that the Everlight's power during Downfall, for example, does not seem diminished even though nearly all of her worshipers were killed by Asmodeus.

However, we also see that when in mortal form, the avatars do gain power from worship and specifically from being in places where they are worshiped. We also know that while he's not of the pantheon, the reason Artagan has the ability to grant divine power as though he were a god is because he is worshiped as one by Jester.

My personal interpretation, and I want to stress this paragraph is very much only an interpretation and not canon, is that while the gods are in mortal form, they need worship to access those truly divine abilities, but while in full godly form they do not - ie, the pantheon doesn't seem to need to be worshiped to have the powers of a god, since that is simply what they are as beings, but should they limit their forms or should an entity who is not of that same classification of being (ie, Tengarian, mortal who has used the Rites of Ascension, or whatever the fuck the Chained Oblivion is) wish to have the powers of a god, they do need worship.

Now: the above relates to entities who are on the material plane. This isn't the case with the divine gate. Because the gods of the pantheon now must act through mortals, it is functionally true that unless they have worshipers within the world, their ability to influence anything in the world is greatly limited if they don't have worshipers. The wiki source on The Everlight's influence being weakened/diminished is a Reddit post from Matt 8 years ago and again, that's influence, not raw ability. When we encounter her in Campaign 1, The Everlight is still able to do everything any other god can do; she just isn't as well-known within Exandria.

The Vanguard member who says mortals are food for the gods is Tuldus in episode 44 and he does not explain how this is. Obviously he's not going to be an objective source here, as a cult member under interrogation with valid resentment towards whatever religious institution under which he was brought up, but we have not seen evidence of the gods needing mortal prayer or worship other than again, to act within the Prime Material Plane from the other side of the Divine Gate. FRIDA says that they believe their worship "charges" the gods (episode 52) but also doesn't provide evidence; it's just their belief.

So this is a long way to say that the gods do ask things of their followers, particularly those followers who gain powers from them, but that seems to be strictly for the purposes of acting within the world from behind the Divine Gate. Any feeding off of mortal worship when in full god form and not a mortal avatar form is purely speculative, and such worship of their mortal forms as we saw in Downfall was freely, if in SILAHA's case unknowingly given, and did not seem to drain his followers in any way nor even require them to know it was worship. In terms of having power as present physical entities either pre-Divergence or in their realms post-Divergence, we don't know if they require anything. At minimum they can go a very, very long time without major worship with no loss of power.

[statsbot]

THE END OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

Prompt: "The sword coast setting, but thousands and thousands and thousands of years in the future, where it's turned from high fantasy into dark fantasy"

The Outline:

Sample Campaign Starter:

Text under Read More:

The Great Cities Waterdeep, once the City of Splendors, is now the City of Eternal Twilight. Its towering spires remain, but they're twisted and warped, having grown like pale coral over thousands of years of wild magic exposure. The city exists in layers - the deepest parts still contain functioning Undermountain technology, while the surface is a maze of crystallized buildings where masked nobles maintain a mockery of the old customs. Baldur's Gate has become a titanous mechanical city-state, burning the corpses of the dead in enormous furnaces to maintain warmth as the sun dies. The Sword Coast itself is no longer recognizable as a coast - the sea has partially crystallized into a sheet of black glass that occasionally liquefies without warning.

The Nature of Magic As the sun dims, magic has become more visceral and dangerous. The Weave has partially collapsed, creating "knots" of wild magic that float like spectral tumors across the landscape. Spellcasting requires blood sacrifice or the burning of valuable materials - the age of casual magic is long gone. Many spellcasters have resorted to binding fragments of dying gods into their flesh to maintain their powers. The color of magic has changed too - most spells manifest in blacks, grays, and pale blues, as if the magic itself is suffering from cosmic frostbite.

The Old Pantheons The gods are dying, but cannot truly die. They exist in a state of perpetual agony, their essence crystallizing into god-shards that fall from the sky like meteors. Some gods have merged together in desperate attempts to survive - Lathander and Kelemvor are now one entity, a terrible thing that represents both dawn and death, neither of which have meaning anymore. Mystra's death long ago caused the initial collapse, but her essence still pervades reality like a virus, causing spontaneous magical mutations.

Survival Methods People cluster around "hearth-crystals," shards of the original sun that still emit weak heat and light. Communities are usually small, heavily fortified, and deeply suspicious of outsiders. Many have resorted to consuming the flesh of magical creatures to survive, leading to widespread mutations. Water must be thawed before drinking, and most food is grown in underground fungal gardens. Some communities have turned to worshipping the machines left behind by the gnomes and artificers of old, maintaining ancient technologies they barely understand.

Monsters and Creatures Most of the iconic D&D monsters have evolved or devolved into horrific new forms. Dragons are blind, pale things that nest in thermal vents, having lost their color affiliations millennia ago. Mind Flayers have returned from the far realm, but they're different now - more mechanical, having fused with ancient Netherese technologies. Beholders have multiplied and shrunk, becoming swarms of floating eyes that serve as organic surveillance systems for the larger settlements.

The Planes The planar boundaries have grown thin and unstable. The Shadowfell is slowly merging with the Material Plane, while the Feywild has become a frozen wasteland of eternal twilight. Fragments of other planes occasionally crash into the material world, creating zones where reality behaves according to alien rules. The Nine Hells have frozen over, and demons now seek warmth in the material plane, sometimes offering their essence as fuel for the desperate.

Ancient Artifacts The legendary artifacts of the past have grown in power as the world dies. The Blackstaff has become a living entity that consumes its wielders. The Ring of Winter is sought after not as a weapon, but as a tool of mercy - it can grant final death to those who otherwise would live forever in the twilight. Many new artifacts have been created from the crystallized remains of gods, each carrying a fraction of divine power and madness.

SITUATION A hearth-crystal powering the settlement of Coldhearth is dying. The crystal's dimming has caused panic among the inhabitants, who know they have perhaps two weeks before the cold claims them. However, the local Crystal-Speaker has had a vision - one of the dying gods, a merged aspect of Gond and Oghma called the Brass Scholar, is falling from the heavens. Its crystallized divine essence could serve as a new hearth-crystal, if it can be claimed. Unfortunately, others have sensed its imminent arrival too - including the machine-cult of Baldur's Gate and a desperate band of god-flesh scavengers.

SETTING Coldhearth sits in what was once a coastal village near Waterdeep, though the black glass sea is now several miles away. The settlement is built into and around an ancient lighthouse, its beacon replaced with the current (dying) hearth-crystal. The surrounding area is a wasteland of crystallized trees and frozen earth, with occasional patches of liquidized ground where wild magic has temporarily thawed reality.

The nearby "Shattershore" - where the black glass sea begins - is a maze of geometric shapes and broken reflections. The glass occasionally liquefies without warning, swallowing the unwary. Scavengers risk these dangers to harvest valuable resources from ancient ships trapped within the glass. Several miles inland lies the ruins of a pre-twilight trading post called Wayward's Rest, now home to a colony of devolved mind flayers who trade memories for warmth.

The predicted impact site of the falling god-shard lies in the Thornmaze, a crystallized forest where the trees have grown into impossibly sharp geometric patterns. The local mutation-touched say the trees still grow, just too slowly for normal eyes to see. The maze is home to various geometric predators - creatures that have adapted to move and hunt along perfectly straight lines and right angles.

CAST The Settlement of Coldhearth Vara Nightbridge, Crystal-Speaker and unofficial leader. Her eyes have been replaced with shards of a fallen god, allowing her to see divine essence. She speaks in temperatures rather than words. Ghkss the Thawed, a mutation-touched merchant whose flesh periodically liquefies. He maintains the settlement's fungal gardens and knows more than he shares. Pock, a child who never seems to feel the cold. The other children follow her lead, and she knows all the settlement's secrets.

The Machine-Cult of Baldur's Gate Archimandrite Kex, a cyborg priestess who has replaced her blood with heated oil. She leads the local machine-cult expeditions. Brother-Operator Finn, a former street thief who maintains the cult's warmth-engines. He's secretly planning to steal the god-shard for himself.

The God-Flesh Scavengers The Twins, Voss and Vess, who share a single mutation-touched body but alternate control. They're known for eating anything that glows. Skrike, their enforcer, who has bound frozen demon-flesh to his bones. He can only move in straight lines but hits like a runaway cart.

INITIAL CONDITIONS The hearth-crystal is dimming noticeably each day. The settlement's outer rings have already been abandoned as the warmth recedes. Most residents have crowded into the lighthouse proper, creating tensions and using up stored resources faster than anticipated. The Crystal-Speaker's vision has given hope, but also attracted unwanted attention from outside groups.

The machine-cult has already established a forward camp near the Thornmaze, using salvaged warmth-engines that leave trails of black smoke. The god-flesh scavengers are more mobile, using trained geometric predators as mounts to patrol the crystallized forest's edge.

The god-shard is due to impact in approximately ten days. The cold is getting worse. Strange lights have been seen in the Thornmaze, suggesting the area's wild magic is intensifying in anticipation of the divine arrival.

GOALS Vara Nightbridge seeks to save her people and maintain order during the crisis. Ghkss wants to preserve his secret collection of pre-twilight artifacts, even at the cost of lives. Pock intends to lead the other children to safety if the adults fail. Archimandrite Kex plans to use the god-shard to create a new type of warmth-engine. Brother-Operator Finn dreams of becoming a god himself by consuming the shard. The Twins aim to feed the god-shard to their geometric mounts, believing it will create perfect predators. Skrike simply wants enough divine essence to fix his condition.

TOOLS/RESOURCES Vara has her god-shard eyes and the loyalty of most settlers. Ghkss maintains a hidden cache of thawed water and preserved food. Pock knows secret ways through the Thornmaze. Archimandrite Kex commands several warmth-engines and trained technicians. Brother-Operator Finn possesses a pre-twilight device that can supposedly contain divine essence. The Twins control a pack of geometric predators. Skrike has demon-enhanced strength and durability.

SAMPLE SOLUTIONS Navigate the Thornmaze using Pock's knowledge, reach the impact site first, and defend it until the god-shard arrives. This requires surviving the geometric predators and wild magic surges.

Ally with Brother-Operator Finn, use his device to safely contain the god-shard, then betray him before he can consume it. This means dealing with both the machine-cult and his personal ambitions.

Convince the Twins to help clear a path through the Thornmaze using their geometric predators, then deal with their inevitable betrayal at the impact site.

Use Ghkss's secret resources to outlast the other factions, letting them fight among themselves before claiming the god-shard from the survivors.

Negotiate with the mind flayers at Wayward's Rest, trading memories for their help in securing the god-shard. This is risky but could provide a significant advantage over other factions.

[patmax17]

I can't overstate how much I love the color wheel (or color pie) from Magic:The Gathering

I started playing magic back in 2001 when I was 14, Odyssey had just come out. I knew a bit of English, and I soon started reading Magic's website for news and spoilers. That's when I discovered @markrosewater 's column Making Magic. MaRo is both a great game designer and an impressive writer, his column was entertaining, witty, fun and informative. I consider Magic and especially his column to be the main reason I learned to read English so fast.

Now, 2001 was a period of transformation in Magic. The main saga in the story had just ended (consider Avengers:Endgame), and the people at WotC were reconsidering and rebalancing the color wheel. I remember there being weeks dedicated to the single colors, and MaRo's comulumn being deeeep dives into those colors.

Now, what's the color wheel? You see, in the universe of Magic: The Gathering the primordial energy and building block is mana, which comes in one of five colors: white, blue, black, red and green. Mechanically, each card is associated to one (or more) colors, and each color has mechanics that are typical for it, like green being the color of growth and big creatures, blue being the color of spells and flying, and black being the color of death and zombies. But the people at WotC put a lot of effort to also distinguish each color thematically, defining *why* each color has certain mechanics, what it says about the color's philosophy and values. Green is the color of nature and community, where the small ones help the big ones grow and foster. Blue is the color of knowledge and artificiality, black is the color.

It's pretty intuitive most of the time, but here's where it gets even better: the placing of the colors on the wheel has a meaning. Colors that are close to each other are "allied" colors and have something in common, while colors that are opposite of each other represent the two opposites on an axis:

I don't have the time (or skill) to go into detail here, but this system is so damn elegant. It has five basix building blocks but allows to represent an incredibly vast array of concepts, characters and behaviors.

The color wheel is still my favourite system to define/describe fictional characters, it's miles better than the alignment chart of D&D (or, like, hogwarts houses).

I find it incredibly fun to discuss what color(s) certain character fall into: is superman white, green? Is batman white, black, blue? A combination of those? Ryuko Matoi is red, Satsuki Kiryuin is white. Do you disagree? Perfect, tell me why, it's always super interesting to see which aspects of a character people consider the most prominent!

My favourite Magic blocks and sets were those playing with the color wheel and its concepts, mainly Planar Chaos but ESPECIALLY Ravnica. Man, I really need to play some rpg campaign set on Ravnica sooner or later.

I played magic for 5-6 years (until I finished high school), but the color wheel is ingrained in my mind. It was the main chitchat topic when I first started going out with my SO more than 15 years ago xD

So yeah, not sure who this is for, it's mainly me rambling and fanboying about one of my favourite game design and character creation concepts. If you don't know the color wheel, I suggest you try to read a bit about it. And if you do know it, what do you think? Is there anyone out there who used it as a basis for an rpg or foe writing?

[dullgecko]

Riz has a “den” in all of the bad kids houses. Goblin dens are usually caves so it’s usually the darkest and most ridden spots. There his little hiddy holes for when his social battery is drained.

In Mordred Manor he has 2, one in Adaine’s bedroom (Sometimes Adaine and him go under there to study) Also one in one of the hidden rooms. Jawbone gave him a little do not disturb sign for it.

Under Fabian’s bed in Seacasted manor, Fabian’s tried to get him to make one anywhere else because he has so many spare rooms, but Riz always moves his stuff back.

The Thistlesprings house isn’t one of the main hangout spots, but Riz himself fits nicely there. There aren’t that many little nooks and crannies that don’t have some kind of trinkets. But he somehow made a den underneath a tarp (Wilma and Digby didn’t have a heart to move it.)

(Back when they lived in the Stronghold Luxury Apartments he also had one in both Gilear and Jawbone’s apartments)

Adaine isn't sure when Riz made the little den in her room because it was in a spot she would never have looked. He apparently found it when he went looking for something in her room and noticed a wallpapered over door in the wall beside her bed (high investigation strikes gold again, because he'd had to crawl under the bed to even access it). It was just an unused storage space, but the door was tiny (any of the other kids would have to crawl to get through) and his head brushed the ceiling when he stood so it was perfect. It even had a little light in there he could use if he wanted to read.

He'd stolen one of the guest blankets and pillows from the linnen cupboard downstairs to make it comfy and tended to sneak inside whenever they had a sleepover and he wanted to work without waking anyone up.

The other kids only found it when one of them woke up and noticed Riz was gone. The only problem was his crystal, briefcase and weapons were all still in the room where they'd been left before they all bedded down to sleep. Fabian had tried calling him when he didnt come back straight away and had followed the sound of the ringtone to Riz's crystal lying suspiciously in the middle of the floor in Adaines room having fallen out of his pocket unnoticed. The rest of his party had promptly paniced thinking something had happened to him and had spent two hours searching the manor top to bottom before realising they could probably cast locate object on something he was wearing.

They found him totally passed out asleep once they finally located the hidden door, glasses nearly falling off the top of his head with his notebook covering his face. The floor of the tiny room absoloutly littered with paperwork for his rogue classes he'd been working on before zonking out.

The second little room he discovered was downstairs, where they usually hung out during the day time. He'd clamber in there to do his work for the Lower Planar Reconaisance Taskforce because most of that was extremely classified. The little sign Jawbone gave him was mostly to make it easier to locate the door again (since when it was shut it was almost impossible to see the seam of the doorframe) but it served the duel purpose of making sure people stayed away while he was busy.

---------------------------

The one in Fabians house was made when, during a party, he found himself getting so overstimulated from all the people and noise that it was giving him a pounding headache and making him snap at everything. He didnt want to jepordise Kristens whole campaign by putting a dent in his party's popularity, so he'd disappeared at some point to go find somewhere to calm down right around the point where his vision started getting spots.

The fighters room was usually locked so no one could get in there during a house party but Riz had simply used his claws to pick the door open. He'd pulled the covers off Fabians bed and clambered underneath where it was cramped and quiet and stuffed himself into the far corner against the wall. It was comfy down there and quiet and dark (and also smelled nice because of the stolen blankets) so he'd stayed there for hours while he waited for the migraine to go away.

He was discovered when Fabian tried to go to bed that night and found his sheets conspiciously missing with no other signs of intrusion. Now its the first place he looks whenever Riz disappears when at the manor. (He offered to set aside a different room for if Riz needed to get away for a bit but the goblin insisted this worked better)

-------------------------

Gorgug has to be careful when sitting at his workbench or his legs will cause the tarp set up underneath to push inwards. If Riz is hanging out with the half-orc at his house its often to help him with his artificer homework, so at some point Riz had set himself up down there and they didnt have the heart to dismantle the little cave.

----------------------

Behind couches is almost always the best spot to hide when you're only three feet tall. Especially if its couches belonging to people twice your size, in an appartment that was probably just a little too small for anyone. Lots of great unused real estate back there, perfect for goblins.

[justabitscrewy]

If you could fit the entire universe into a can of chips would you? Absolutely. Welcome to Pringleton. - @bacoj8 one year ago today

HAPPY CANNIVERSARY!!!!!

The Planar Pringles campaign is officially a year old, and its been an incredible journey. Its been an utter joy and privilege to get to build a story and game with such beautifully talented human beings. These characters are all so rich, so multifaceted, and getting to interact with them in such a beautiful narrative space is just a gift.

DM: @bacoj8 || Theseus @eaudecrow || Izen me! || Phaela @couchtaro || Red @lorebreaker || Yancy @coffeecakecafe

80% of the flowers featured here were fully referenced from Taro’s frankly breathtaking and heart wrenching floriograph series

[wanderingnork]

Githyanki History Timeline

After MUCH research, I present: a timeline of the history of the gith! Starting from their earliest known appearances in history, spanning multiple planes, and ending at "the present day." Sources below the cut.

The subterranean empire of Zarum is founded on the Material Plane world of Oerth. The gith inhabitants, likely originally human, are highly religious, live deeply ritualistic lives, and claim complete control over many other peoples.

A patron deity of the gith dies and is buried somewhere under the material plane world of Pharagos. Presumably this, and possibly other deaths, are why the gods didn't intervene in what came next.

The illithids invade from a parallel, destroying the empire and enslaving the gith. The gith are forcibly dispersed across many planes of existence. Some are taken to the planet of Penumbra, where they'll remain and miss out on the rebellion, remaining in the long term as the "forerunners."

The great rebellion: Gith leads her people to shatter the entire illithid empire across every plane and leave it in ruins.

The githyanki relocate from the Material Plane to the Astral Sea.

The city of Tu'narath is founded on the body of a dead god and the gith begin forging their famous silver swords.

If Baldur's Gate 3 is treated as canon, somewhere in here Gith's son Orpheus is born.

Zerthimon objects to Gith's attempts to continue a war now that the gith are free. A civil war of the gith ensues and they split into the githyanki (children of Gith) and githzerai (those who spurn Gith). In some sources this is called "The Pronouncement of Two Skies." The githzerai depart for the plane of Limbo. A small splinter faction, the githvyrik, break off from both sides.

Gith and Vlaakith travel to the Hells to negotiate for aid from the archdevil Dispater. He denies them, but the dragon goddess Tiamat accepts a deal for the souls of githyanki rulers in return for the service of red dragons. Gith remains in the Hells as the first sacrifice. Vlaakith returns to the Astral Sea as regent in Gith's name, carrying the Scepter of Ephelomon as symbol of the pact.

If Baldur's Gate 3 is treated as canon, Orpheus tries to overthrow Vlaakith and is imprisoned, thought dead by the general public.

The extended regency of the line of Vlaakith begins and will last for 156 descendants. Vlaakith promises the githyanki the Material Plane as a "garden" for harvesting. At some point, Zerthimon disappears and it's unclear exactly where he went. Suggestions range from enlightened transcendence to death to lichdom.

The faction of the gul'othran, githyanki who seek total conquest and death of all aberrations rather than mere raiding and plunder, appears.

At some point after this, a significantly-sized githyanki ship breaks through into the planar-locked world of Athas. It's stranded there and all aboard are mutated permanently by psionic energies of that world, with no way to get back. The ship is considered lost.

The forge of Kamyn-Dhun, where the best silver swords were forged, is lost by sinking into the ocean. The githyanki remaining there undergo magical adjustments to allow them to survive underwater in their now-sunken city.

Approximately 1,000 years prior to the present day, Vlaakith CLVII (157) undergoes a transformation to become a lich. She will reign unchallenged until the present day, when either the events of The Lich-Queen's Beloved will take place or the events of Baldur's Gate 3 will take place, depending on the setting.

Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios, 2023 Chainmail Miniatures Game: Blood and Darkness - Set 2 Guidebook Dark Sun Campaign Setting, 2nd Edition Dark Sun Creature Catalog, 4th Edition Dawn of Night (Erevis Cale Trilogy, Book II, 2009) Dragon Magazine #294 - Underground Scenarios Dragon Magazine #298 - Vault of the Drow and Wizards' Workshop: Chainmail Dungeon #100 - The Lich-Queen's Beloved Dungeon #116 - The Death of Lashimire Dungeon #125 - Seeker of the Silver Forge Dungeon #168 - A Tyranny of Souls The Illithiad 3, Masters of Eternal Night The Illithiad 4, Dawn of the Overmind Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, 5th Edition The Plane Above, 4th Edition The Plane Below, 4th Edition Planescape: Torment, Black Isle Studios, 1999 Polyhedron #159 - Chapter 5: The Invasion of Pharagos

[mylordshesacactus]

OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE

I've alluded a few times to the Wish mechanic around which I centered the Suncrest campaign's climactic final battle.

The endgame option the party ended up pursuing involved reversing a mass-scale planar convergence by stealing a Scepter of Wishes from the Faerie Queen's center of power. That's an awesome challenge and it was fun to run! They had fun, I had fun, designing the Summer Palace as a series of mechanical, social, combat, and other skill challenges was really rewarding!

The dilemma I faced as a DM while doing endgame prep was: Once they've GOT the scepter....that's kind of it? Like. It's a Wish. There's no roll to see if it works. And, rules-as-written, the entire decision as to how a Wish resolves is...DM fiat.

So, my options were: Give them this massive months-long series of complicated, emotionally-resonant linked quest chains all leading to this moment, then just declare that the spell backfires horribly on them, screwing them over at the very end of the campaign when there's nothing they can do about it....or just, like, try to hope that pretty narration is enough to negate the inherent anticlimax of "yup, you pressed the Win button and now you won".

That's not a climactic final showdown, that's not a fun challenge! That's not satisfying! So, instead, I tossed together a final-battle mechanic to give my players some agency in how the Wish spell would resolve.

What I told my players:

"The question here is not whether the Wish will take effect. You will get exactly what you asked for. The question here is: Max [the bard attuned to the scepter] is...this isn't like casting a spell. There's no ritual, there's no incantation. For a brief second, you are channeling all the power that exists in the universe. Arcane, divine, nature, elemental--literally all forms of pure raw power being filtered through your own limited perception. Guiding that power into EXACTLY what you want requires you to hold the image of your ideal outcome PERFECTLY in your head until the spell can take effect. Do you understand? The spell will work. But the longer you can hold it, the narrower you can force its effect to become--the closer you'll get to your ideal image, the less severe the side effects will be--you might even get some benefits. Do not break concentration. That is your only job. Hold. This. Spell. So. Gameplay-wise, what does that mean? Ten rounds. Maintain concentration. Here we go."

I did it as a countdown--starting at Round Ten and working our way down to Round 1, then as a bonus, with the table's unanimous agreement to fight one more round and see if they can get 'better than golden', Round Zero.

It was a desperate scramble near the end--our paladin was killed (and her player--a first-time TTRPG player when she started the campaign, who was also stressed, actively grieving her first-ever d&d character's brutal death, and looking at a completely unfamiliar statblock--did a PHENOMENAL job at playing Shasta the androsphinx for the remainder of the battle, making excellent and effective use of totally new abilities and spells!), they barely scratched the Summer Queen, and I think everyone EXCEPT Max went down at least once.

But damned if they didn't hold out by their fingernails to do right by the city of Suncrest.