Erebus Player's Guide

Hi folks! It's been a few of weeks. RL got a little too hectic, but now I'm back! Got some really cool content for you today and in the coming weeks. I'll be going back and concluding a few posts that were left as cliffhangers, like the Ultimate Bard, my Gaming Table, and most recently World Spells. Today's post has a Player's Guide for the World of Erebus with 50+ pages of lore and info for creating characters. I've also edited it to omit some of the larger world secrets so that your players can enjoy Erebus' epic twists and turns. These omitted sections are included in italics in the full version of the guide, so you Dungeon Masters can give you're players the regular version and keep the world secrets to yourselves (until you're ready for the epic reveals). If you're already a fan, this pdf will shed a little insight on what kind of D&D 5e characters roam this campaign world, along with ideal starting locations among other things. Enjoy!

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Start Your Squarecrawl

Hi folks! I’m working on something that’ll make it easier to run your own Squarecrawl. But first you need to start one, so let’s talk about mapping your Square/Hexcrawl. There are a variety of tools out there to buy or download free. The problem is those all require work. To state the obvious, Dungeons and Dragons is a game. It should be fun, so why shouldn’t worldbuilding be a game, too? I think it should, that’s why I use Civilization IV for my world maps.

Civilization IV is an incredibly addictive game that came out over ten years ago and is incredibly cheap. There’s a variety of historical nationalities to choose from, but what’s more important is the Fall from Heaven II mod you can download free. Wanna play Vampire crusaders? Check. How about a nation of Pirates who worship Cthulu? Check. Dwarves? Yep. Elves? In both light and dark varieties. One of the most hilarious is a nation of Clowns ruled by an insane archmage from a previous age. Do you want to play a D&D campaign in a world that has all of the above and then some? Download this mod:

“Fall from Heaven II is a dark fantasy mod for Civilization IV. The Age of Ice has ended, what is left of the once great empires of man have formed into small tribes, ready to rebuild and retake that which was lost. But the world is not empty. Hordes of barbarians await these new civilizations. Wild animals stalk hapless scouts and reckless emissaries. Giant spiders lie in patient wait in the jungles and the forests waiting for their prey to take that last, fatal, step.

“There is great evil, but also selfless good. There are those who strive to remain neutral in the coming conflict as opposed ideologies break the world asunder once again. The first goal, is survival. The second goal is power, for good or ill. Will you pursue power through strength of arms or arcane studies, through piety or blasphemy? Choose carefully. On each path you will allies, and bitter foes, and the deeper you delve into the secrets of combat, or sorcery, or the divine, the harder it will be to turn back.”

Once you get a hold of this you’ll wanna look at the FfH Manual for a great introduction and guide to the game. Then go check out the Lore Compendium. If nothing else, read some amazing short stories you’ll never forget.

When you’re ready to start your own Squarecrawl in the Fall from Heaven setting, check out my PDF Magic of the Gods for new feats and mechanics made especially for this incredible world.

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Oath of Reaping

Last time you got to read about my character concept - a man who's been possessed by a demon since childhood. Throughout his life Alistair experienced incidents when the demon was let out and caused great tragedy. This ultimately leads him to attempt the unthinkable, except the demon won't let him die. Alistair is convinced he is unable to die (and in 5e it can be pretty hard), so after receiving a life changing vision he dedicated himself to the god of death in the hopes of earning his eternal rest.

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A New Hero

One of my players, Kintaro, is starting a new 5e campaign in his homebrew setting. Sadly, that werewolf game never took of so I still haven't gotten to be a player yet in a serious campaign this year. I've talked with Kintaro about my character concept at length, and he's allowing me to do some really cool things. In a few days I'll post a new paladin Oath I put together, the Oath of Reaping. For today here's the introduction to my new character Alistair, a cursed paladin. Enjoy!

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NPC: Agent of Esus

This is an NPC no player wants to run into alone. It's an assassin you'll never see coming, and if you do you might think you're looking in a mirror.

Here's a passage from the Fall from Heaven Lore Compendium:

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Breaking the Game III: Deviating from Established Lore

At the start of my Pirates of the Aegean campaign, one of the players came to me with the concept of a Tiefling Druid. The problem was that there were no such things as Tieflings in the Fall from Heaven setting. My options looked like I could either tell the player there are no Tieflings in my Special Snowflake Setting so go make another character, or work it in. What was I to do? I dug into the lore of the setting and with a little elbow grease found a nice niche for tieflings.

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Introducing a World

Hi, folks! My current Monday night game is based on a much beloved dark fantasy setting, and for years I’ve thought about how to do it justice in a D&D campaign. I finally started it, and after several quests it’s been going well, though I feel like something was missing. It could be better, but I just didn’t know how. So I started reading online D&D blogs and stumbled across some truly genius articles about how the game is written and played. The first of those articles was about player agency at Hack & Slash. It was there I realized almost all of my games were railroads with elements of illusionism. I didn’t like that, and devoted my quest designing time to learning more. Soon I had found my way to the Alexandrian, and after immersing myself in those articles realized I didn't have to reinvent the wheel. There was already a better way. If I wanted a better game all I have to do is put that theory into practice. This blog is about my journey doing just that.

The next series of posts is going to be about restructuring my current campaign from a railroad to a sandbox, where player choice is more meaningful than ever. I’ll be starting with creating a hexcrawl and following the Alexandrian’s example. Take note though, hexcrawl here will be a bit of a misnomer since the map I’m using has squares. I guess that makes this a Square-crawl.

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