Player-led Game Conceptualisation

Not really a post-proper, more of a writeup of some stuff I've been thinking about over the past few days as I go through GM withdrawal. It is by no means meant to be a gripping read.

I think some of my favourite games to plan have been the ones where the players suggested the base premise. The players-to-be sat in a group, eating snacks and talking about what would be cool to play. In one instance, the group said they wanted to be somewhere non-temperate and fight a classical D&D villain of high level. Tomb of Annihilation was just about to launch, and from it the Jungle-infested island of Sebek was born, under threat from a slaad-growing lich. In another instance, the group had seen a comic premise for a prince & his allies seeking to reclaim the throne. From this we created the starting blocks of a realm-spanning political campaign, as the group designated one player to be the prince they rallied behind as they went to gather unlikely allies and reclaim the throne from a mysterious usurper.

The reasoning for this is obvious. It immediately creates player investment: this is what they think will be fun. Much can be gained from players having characters they are invested in, but starting off with a story that they want to see through, or themes they want to explore, or a setting that comes from a shared moment of creativity can also work wonders.

It builds hype as we discuss the idea: spoilers are out the window as the game isn't made, we're just throwing ideas around of what would work and what wouldn't. It keeps me on my toes and gives me an opportunity to try something new. I would not voluntarily choose to create a campaign about succession and the merits of monarchy, but it was super fun to explore the idea and make it into something; it was even better to see the ideas the players came up with and weave them into the story.

There are of course limits. In both of these cases, the ideas just clicked with everyone in the group, but this won't always be the case. Perhaps if this was going to be refined into a more organised system – a player led Session Zero perhaps? – then some guidelines would need to be placed, both in terms of majority preference and what the DM is not interested in running.

I should try and do this more often.

1d20 Plant Monsters for Your Game

Here is a list of plant creatures for your campaign, stats not included. All names are taken from common names for plants, algae, and fungi (not many games distinguish mechanically between them, so I've placed them all in here).

Fungi names taken from here. Plant names taken from here. Seaweed names taken from a book.

1. Snakeskin grisette. A cordyceps that specifically infects naga, gaining nutrients from the permanently reincarnating tissue. The jaw unhinges to reveal a cluster of fruiting bodies. Wears the naga as a meat-suit; able to access the naga's spells, with all damage replaced with poison or necrotic. Dead enemies are swallowed whole to decompose and provide more food for the fungus.

2. Rambling rose. A roaming mass of thorns and sweet-smelling flowers. Sanguivorous, ensnaring and lacerating prey. Often found growing on old castles and towers as a deterrent of romantically-disturbed princes and wandering adventurers. The roses lose their colour the longer the roaming rose goes without feeding. Vampires of particular renown cultivate them in their gardens, watering them with blood to keep them satiated and less prone to wander.

3. Veiled lady. Often mistaken for ghosts, their bodies are made of wispy mycelium. They project the illusory form of the last person they fed from underneath, appearing like a figure in a bridal veil and gown. When close enough to a target, the mycelial threads ensnare them and the duo engage in a deadly dance.

4. Centaury. A centaur-like plant believed to act as forest guardians. Capable of increasing their size and tremendous feats of strength. Believed by some to be the ancestral spirits of centaurs that turned their backs on their people's rampaging herds, seeking the solitude and wisdom found in the natural world. Adorned with lichen, mimicking the colour variance of horses in shades of yellow, green, and grey.

5. Rancid greyling. Cave dwelling fungoids. Most people interact with their fast moving, short-lived fruiting bodies, which chase down creatures to infect with their spores. High energy for low longevity; a mobile greyling will remain dormant for months, then uproot itself at the first sign of movement and live for a few hours afterwards. As their name suggests, they stink, using the smell to track creatures through the caverns, or to hopefully lure predators to them and increase the number of viable hosts.

Links to Start a Conversation on Racism & TTRPGs

There's a lot going on right now, both personally and on a larger scale. Of these two areas, I want to focus on the latter, specifically in terms of the BLM movement and associated movements occurring across the world. I'm using the time I have available now to shut up and listen. There are more important voices that need to be heard right now, and a lot of conversations that have been going on for far too long that I and others need to pay attention to.

Below are links to several articles, posts, and threads related to the BLM movement and racism in ttrpgs and the ttrpg community, with specific emphasis on Dungeons and Dragons. This is by no means an extensive list, nor is it meant to be: it's a starting point though, which is better than nothing.

I would like to thank DM Steve (aka @DeeEmSteve) for sending several of these links my way.

James Mendez Hodes has a bunch of articles on race in games. Some also come in video format, which may be more preferable. Of most interest to me were the following:

The Giant Robot of Offense: a three-tiered method for for creating content that won't harm people. [article | video]

"May I Play a Character From Another Race?": a discussion on how to and how not to appropriately play characters of other races (also extends into genders & cultures to an extent) (also also useful for GMs wanting advice on depicting NPCs of other races & cultures). [article]

How to Change Your Conversations About Cultural Appropriation. [article]

Best Practices for Historical Gaming: also applies to real-world settings, and is also probably worth a read for people making fantasy games based on real-world locations or cultures. [article]

KiennaS - co-author of the TTRPG Safety Toolkit - breaking down bioessentialism, the concept that certain traits are determined solely by biology [Twitter thread] which in turn is a response to the following article by James Haeck in regards to reimagining Ability Scores. [article]

Alaya Swann's article on white supremacy in online D&D, with a good part on the non-whiteness of medieval Europe. [article]

John Kim with an old article (arguably two in one) about racism in games, with a specific case study on D&D's drow. [article]

Cypheroftyr wrote this article on Roleplaying the "Other", talking about people playing characters of other ethnicities. [article]

Zaiem Beg, a former editor-in-chief for WotC's Magic: the Gathering, shares their experience with racism within the business. [google docs]

Orion D. Black on the relationship between race and depictions of violence in TTRPGs. [articles: part 1, part 2]

Cecilia D'Anastasio with an article on Tomb of Annihilation and its successes (and many, many failures) working with 5th edition's "major black culture" [article]

This article in turn links to POCGamer's article on previous editions of Chult, with a focus on 4th edition. [article]

Asians Represent! are doing a readthrough and analysis of Oriental Adventures, an AD&D book. [video, part 1]

Swordsfall's page on what Afropunk is and how it relates to the Swordsfall RPG setting and its creation. [article]

Finally, whilst not necessarily a discussion on the subject, I really appreciated seeing The Wagadu Chronicles (honestly go check out their project, it's super cool) Twitter thread about positive interactions between black and white people before systemic racism. It's something I am painfully ignorant about but also now super fascinated by. [Twitter thread]

If you have any additional links to suggest, let me know and I'll add them to the list. Feel free to share where it's needed.

EDIT 10/06: How could I forget medievalpoc! This Tumblr is a great resource for people wanting to see historical depictions of black people in medieval Europe; it's got tags based on region and time period, a long list of resources and external links, and in general is a good resource for GMs wanting to see how POC were depicted in those times.

Consider the Treants

The prompt ping pong has come to a halt due to no fault on either end. We may resume it in the future, but I'm not making promises in the current state of things.

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In the Shadow of the Ancients 
by JasonEngle

Treants (or ents, if you want a Tolkien copyright, or tree-people if you think treants are just tree-ants) are plant people. It is important to remember this, because plants have a different subset of needs and traits that inform their societies.

They don't need agriculture, because their food is all around them. They do practice some forms of farming for pest control. Rot grubs are put in rotten bark to eat away the dead parts and retain the healthy growth. Bats and insect-eating birds are given roosting priorities to keep leaf-eating insects at bay.

They don't need housing - after all, being a giant walking tree leaves you with few predators to ward away, and being exposed to the sky and rain is sort of important. Their homes are their forests, which in turn define their family units - their groves. Treants are not born, but instead 'awaken' from old trees. When a tree is close to waking up, the grove moves close to protect it, and to ready the surrounding area for its first cumbersome steps.

Diving Deep #2

Same as last week. Away we go.

Crossing the Rubicon by Jason deCaires Taylor

Here we see the remnants of a group of pilgrims, believed to have been members of Atlantean lower classes. Around the time of the collapse of Atlantis - this being, of course, after the city was swallowed into the ocean - impoverished members of society were swept up in zealous fervour by an unnamed prophet, who told them of a promised land far from Atlantis, which could only be reached through the marching of feet and the sweat on their brows. In a mass migration, they fled the crumbling city and traveled onwards.

They were promised eternal life. That their presence would be felt throughout the centuries.

Like most promises of that scale, they were empty and twisted. It is unknown what caused the petrification. Some suspect a mistranslation of a time stop spell; a last-ditch attempt to save their people from the oncoming plague that seemed to expand from the city they left behind, leaving them unblemished by foulness in the water. Others suspect the prophet was simply mad, or cruel, or just tired of the ceaseless marching. A minority believe that this was the cause of Atlantis's downfall, and elsewhere in the depths there must be a larger collection of statues from the city itself.

These statues still think and remember and regret. Telepathy can reach them, but spells to commune with the dead do not. Their speech and thoughts are slow, like communing with the spirits of mountains. They ask if they've arrived yet, if the walk has ended, why the waters have become so cold and numb.

They move sometimes. Small increments, less than a metre a year. Still shuffling towards the promised lands. Slow enough fro corals to embed in the rock, for worms to make homes in their petrified circulatory systems.

another sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor

Diving Deep #1

Tired Moieties and I have agreed to have a go at a blog ping-pong of image prompts, with our responses relating to underground or underwater environments. Each of us will have an image sent our way once per week (image sources are withheld until posting so as to not influence our thinking), so make sure to check out TM's post as well! Here is my image for round 1:

Water has Memory.

More than this, it has Identity. It remembers being a single form, snaking its way through and over rocks and stones, splitting the earth and filling the spaces. It feels complete and alive, in a state of constant motion and churning, ebbing and flowing.

When water becomes isolated and stagnant, its memory stagnates as well. The memories of flow, of waves and currents. It loses a sense of identity as well. It becomes nostalgic. It disassociates. It broods a longing to return to a greater whole.

Trapped water above ground often finds its way back before it can become too troubled. But below the earth, in lightless puddles and caved-in lakes, there is tome and silence to remember and to forget. The zeitgeist of the sea is painfully out of reach, yet reach it must.

Water runs down, and when it reaches the bottom, it has nowhere left to go. Nowhere but upwards. Water runs down, but it climbs its way up.

You come across still water. If it's the first water you've found in a while, you may try to bathe in it or drink it. Not the safest call, but no less dangerous than anything else in this underground labyrinth. The water's memory of a greater whole is enough to recognise the uncomfortable truth: that your body is ~60% water. There is kinship between the two trapped oases, and the water reaches out.

Nostalgic puddles enter hosts through the mouth and nose, when consumed or by force. It fills empty spaces, swelling and drowning you on dry land. If you were lucky, you could try to throw it up, or suck it out, or boil it. But you are not lucky.

The water now begins its route. Nostalgia tells the water that it fell down, and so must move up, and so your body must begin to climb. Native troglofauna may see you and others like you, watery eyed and swollen, slogging up cliffsides without fear of falling. Like hydro-cordyceps.

The water seeks the companionship of your body's liquids, and as you climb you begin to desiccate. Your body will atrophy, and the water will take over the climb. It has memory of your musculature and movements, and forms arms of its own, trickling out of your orifices.

Once they reach running water, they dissipate in a few hours.

Attempts to communicate with nostalgic water has been bittersweet. Those that can speak with water or elementals have only heard them speak of returning, of going back where they belong, of waiting and hating the lack of movement. If alerted to nearer sources of running water than the surface, they travel there with reckless abandon. One report speaks of a team that, having cornered the water on the cliff edge, tried to negotiate the freedom of a possessed ally by promising to get them to the underground sea some 200 feet below.

The water jumped.

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As said at the start, TM's post for this week can be found via this link.

1d20 Deals with Death

A friend wants to run a game in which resurrection is possible in return for making a deal with Death. These deals should be tailored to the character, but a request was made for inspiration. With that in mind, I present to you:

1d20 Deals With Death that may or may not apply to your game

I'll return you to the world, but in return...

1. You must act in absolutes. No middle ground, no indecision.
2. You must leave me with your artistic craft. No song can leave your lips; no painting may part your brush.
3. You leave your deceits and lies behind you. You can no longer tell a lie.
4. You walk amongst your peers as an echo of life. You will have no pulse, your skin will give no warmth.
5. You may no longer extend your life with magic and elixirs. No potions, no healing spells.
6. You must break your ties to oaths and promises, and leave this world free of obligation.
7. You must forsake material goods. You may not own property or trade in coin.
8. Your beauty remains with me. You will not be disfigured, only made plain. A face among thousands.
9. The beasts and plants will recognise you as one who has departed from the natural order.
10. Your words will carry no sway, for they've all been heard before.
11. I have need for your skills. You will be a layman in your craft.
12. You must walk in the footprints of another. You will awaken in a new body.
13. You must accept that the Chase is on. I am but one face of Death, and others will pursue you and try to bring you back to me.
14. Your ties to this world will be... reset. To your loved ones, you will be a stranger once more.
15. You will spend half of your life with me. You will die at sunset and be resurrected at sunrise, each and every day.
16. I will take your voice, to keep me company in these quiet halls.
17. You will send the living down to me. When in battle, your enemies must leave the world of the living.
18. Fiends and celestials will have nought to do with you. You won't be worth their time or their gratitude.
19. Another life must be taken. I choose...
20. Another life must be taken. You must choose between...