Author: darkjade68
Doragon DM Rescue
Doragon DM Rescue is a Dungeon Master Story/NPC Character/Campaign Feedback Service
I, Dungeon Master (Episode I) The Beginning (Vlog)
Check out my New Dungeons & Dragons Vlog, ‘I, Dungeon Master’
Guide To Thanatos (The 113 Layer Of The Abyss)
I Came Across This Post Whilst Researching Thanatos… The Original Post Can Be Found HERE
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Dungeons & Dragons – A Guide to Thanatos, the 113th layer of the Abyss
My Planescape group is going to be exploring this place, so I figured I should read up on it. This is a guide to Thanatos, the 113th layer of the Abyss that is ruled by Orcus, demon prince of undeath.
I’m going to go through each old product and pull out the essential information so that we can use it as a starting point whenever we need to use Thanatos in a campaign.
The Essential Information
- This place is home to hordes of undead.
- Mortals find that this place drains their essence and will kill them if they stay too long.
- If you die here, you rise up as either a zombie or a bodak.
- There are many cities here…
View original post 3,374 more words
Remarkable Shops & Their Wares… In Review
Last year I came across an awesome Book called ‘Remarkable Inns & Their Drinks’ by an Independent RPG Product Company, called ‘Lore Smyth’
You can check out my Review of it HERE
Well this year, they’ve come out with another Awesome Book! ‘Remarkable Shops & Their Wares’
My Review
Art
From the Cover, through everything within, the Art in this book takes you to another place… In fact, the Art on the Cover of ‘Remarkable Inns And Their Drinks’ Is what led me to this company
‘Remarkable Shops & Their Wares’ Art really immerses you
Right away the Writers shift your perspective, illuminating what a Shop is, and what it can be
In Chapter 1, this books gives you 8 Pre-Made Shops, and they are awesome
Starting with ‘Thunderspire Forge’, when I peeked at the goods within it, I was like, wow, good prices for some really powerful items…
…little did I realize the journey a Party would have to undertake to not only get to this Shop, but get within
The Details of each of these 8 shops, is immense
From Wealth & Prices, Currencies, Shopkeeper’s Influence, Disposition, Security, Supply & Demand, this section tells you everything you need to know to bring your shop to life!
For those Players who want to own their own Stores, this is the chapter for them
From the Planning Phase, to the Building Phase…
Operating Your Store, Making A Profit
To Creating Your Shop, Structure and Location, and Decorating, this section has all you need
Create your own Custom Staff…
…your own Custom Items
There’s even Shop Floorplans for the 8 Pre-Made Shops!
To be honest, this book is so dense/packed with content, it’s challenging to truly demonstrate how elaborate it is
Just get it
Nuff said,
Thanks for Reading/Listening
Doragon-
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Lore Smyth TWITTER @LoreSmyth
Remarkable Shops & Their Wares
Find me on Twitter Here @Dragon_Ryder7
Story/Campaign Concepts
Story/Campaign Concepts
I discuss a few ways to help in conceiving D & D Campaigns
Drawings From My Player’s ‘Adventures Of Vilven Ledsong’ Blog, Telling The Story Of Our Campaign From The Beginning HERE https://waterwarlock.wordpress.com/
Art by Living Silver @Living_Silver (Twitter)
‘Frost Rhealm’ D & D 5e PDF on DriveThruRPG HERE https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/…
PRINTED VERSION (US) HERE https://www.amazon.com/FROST-RHEALM-M…
PRINTED VERSION (UK) HERE https://www.amazon.co.uk/FROST-RHEALM… World Building Videos:
HOMEBREW CREATION (Despa) Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nx6Y…
HOMEBREW CREATION (Despa) Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZZSA…
DARKPLANE (Part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb2Vu…
DARKPLANE (Part 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJNCO…
Inhabiting The Mind Of A Villain (D & D)
I originally conceived the main Villains (So to speak) for my Dungeons & Dragons 5e Module ‘Frost Rhealm’ back in April, 2017.
I stepped away from the project in Oct 2017, then returned to it once more in Jan 2019, completing/publishing it in Nov of 2019.
It was my first Module, but not my first Villain (‘s).
I wrote the beginning of my first Fantasy Novel when I was 10-11ish, and ran my first two D & D campaigns when I was 17-19, 29-30.
As part of my PrePublishing of ‘Frost Rhealm’, I created an ‘Audio’ Trailer.
It was then that it was suggested that I consider doing a Podcast.
Between August 2019 & Feb 2020 I’ve created a total of 7 Episodes of my ‘Frost Rhealm’ inspired story.
Recently I wrote Episode 8 when it hit me, I’d been following the Party heading to the ‘Frost Rhealm’ Fortress, and/or a large cave near it, and now I felt it was time to introduce the ‘True Villains’ of the story…
…which are the Villain’s from the actual Module.
When I started writing Episode 9 (Which I will likely record and publish prior to Episode 8), I felt myself immerse into the Wizard Nor’astat and more so Prince Tarov, the true master of said fortress.
First of all, I had no idea how much I related to the Prince.
Not in his darkness, but rather in his ‘Struggle’.
Side note, my favorite all time Villain is ‘Darth Vader’…
…talk about conflicted, and flat out cool.
This scene I began writing for Episode 9 took me directly into a moment I’d basically conceived but never actually wrote between the Wizard and Prince.
It was extremely fulfilling, and I am really looking forward to more scenes in the future, should the Party actually confront/interact with them.
My theory/general rule about ‘Good vs Evil’ stories is, it can only be as good as the Villain.
I mean, who cares about defeating a ‘Bad Guy’, if they’re lame…
…no matter how cool the Hero is.
Unless the Villain is supposed to be kinda lame/comedic.
Nuff said, I’ll leave you with this…
‘Be the Villain, when you play the Villain.’
DORAGON-
Art by Allen Childers @childersartfx (Twitter)
‘Frost Rhealm’ Podcast
‘Frost Rhealm’ Module PDF PRINT also available @ Amazon Print (US) & Print (UK)
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SHARE YOUR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CHARACTERS, CAMPAIGNS, CREATOR CONTENT (Published/Streams/Podcasts) ON THIS SITE!
Reach Out To Me @ dragonkeep68@gmail.com, or my Twitter Account @Dragon_Ryder7 if you’d like to post some content!
Sinisterly Crafty (Dice Bags)… In Review
When I created ‘Dragon Keep’/this site, it was meant to be a place for the D & D community to post things about their Characters, Campaigns or Creations, such as Modules, Art, Podcasts & Associated RPG Products
It’s also a place to write about all things Dungeons & Dragons
Eric Buchert (Twitter @atanak74) is someone I met online two plus years back, when I first truly joined the Twitter D & D Community in early 2017
I quickly became aware of D & D 5e, and gave it a go as first a Player (In the past I was primarily a Dungeon Master), then in 2018 as a Dungeon Master
But during 2017 I started a D & D Vlog, primarily about Dungeon Master related things, which lead me to posting about my ‘World Building’ process…
…which led to creating ‘Frost Rhealm’, which 2 1/2 years later (Worked on it for 16 of those months), became my first ever Published D & D 5e Module
During the DM Vlog, I would reach out to the D & D Community for names etc. for the module, and Eric was my greatest contributor
When I created this site, I mentioned to him that if he and his wife Michelle (Who makes Dice Bags, Twitter @Mini9fingers) would like me to do a post about their Dice Bags, I could
Being the generous sorts, they offered to send me a Dice Bag so I could Review them as well
At first, I thought I’d have them custom make one for me to give to my Girlfriend, who I’ve been running a Campaign for, for the last two years, and also Dungeon Masters for me and another D & D Community member
I told him she likes Black & Pink, and so they sent me pictures of possible fabric choices…
We chose the left…
…and the right
I also told her she likes Skull & Crossbones
And they showed me these beads
It was then that I looked at their Etsy Shop ‘Sinisterly Crafty’
And saw a Dice Bag I had seen a while back, and had him send me that one as well…
Received the Bags a couple days ago, and here they are
First there’s my girlfriends, the Custom one…
They suggested a harlequin style, which came out awesome
“She really prides herself on lining up all the stitches & seams”
Says Eric about his wife’s work
The material is a real soft durable blend
The Skull and Crossbone interior came out great
And they hold a lot of dice
And now for mine
This one they have on their site HERE for the Gold, Silver and Copper emblem
And HERE for a White, Red, Blue, Green or Purple emblem
The interior fabric is one of the reasons I wanted this bag
I love this bag, lol
These bags are beautiful, mine is designated specifically for my Dungeon Master Dice
Not to mention, Eric is good people
Once again, to check out his Wife’s Etsy Site head here SINISTERLY CRAFTY
And for Eric’s Twitter head here @atanak74
Nuff said, thanks for checking my Review of these awesome Dice Bags
DORAGON-
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SHARE YOUR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CHARACTERS, CAMPAIGNS, CREATOR CONTENT (Published/Streams/Podcasts) ON THIS SITE!
Reach Out To Me @ dragonkeep68@gmail.com, or my Twitter Account @Dragon_Ryder7 if you’d like to post some content!
Dungeons & Dragons – Building Inner Worlds, While Our Outer World Shakes About
As a 30 year Dungeons & Dragons Player (Played in my late teens, late twenties, and now) I’ve been delving into the limitless imaginative world of D & D for quite some time
It’s always been my ‘pure’ place of creative expression
Primarily as a Dungeon Master, lately as both Player & DM
Let’s face it, the last several years on our planet have truly been challenging
From climate change, to rising tensions between countries, to public demonstrators/outcries, literally everywhere
For me D & D has never been an ‘escape’ like for many
For me it has been an unbridled landscape of imaginative exploration…
Storytelling…
…and theatrical portrayals
But reality keeps banging on the door, doesn’t it
Now more than ever we need our storytellers, and our stories
To come together in a world, inward, if not yet outward
Fortunately Dungeons & Dragons has truly blown up
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Between enormous amounts of written content created by ‘Wizards of the Coast’ itself…
…to Independent companies like ‘Kobold Press’
And thousands upon thousands of community members, throwing their creations up on DMsGuild…
…and DriveThruRPG
And thriving live streams like…
…Critical Role’, bringing the friendships, hilarity and immersive qualities of our game into the homes of so many who never really got what the big deal was about Dungeons & Dragons
To Podcasts & more
Our community is thriving
It’s coming together…
Perhaps helping to create a social template, one would hope our world might follow, or learn from someday
All I can say is, keep doing what you’re doing with hopes of a rippling effect that might echo across our real world
DORAGON-
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SHARE YOUR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CHARACTERS, CAMPAIGNS, CREATOR CONTENT (Published/Streams/Podcasts) ON THIS SITE!
Reach Out To Me @ dragonkeep68@gmail.com, or my Twitter Account @Dragon_Ryder7 if you’d like to post some content!
Reign Of The Compassionate Nerds (D & D)
It’s funny, when I was a kid, I was extremely shy…
In fact, when I was at school, I barely spoke, and by the 8th grade, had missed nearly 1/3 of the year
Kids were not nice about this
And so I moved out of state to give living with my dad a go
It was better, but it was lonely
I remember as a kid, I was enthralled by the concept of Dungeons & Dragons
In fact, one of my Mom’s friends played behind closed doors with some of his friends, and I was always so intrigued
I longed to play when I was like 12-16, but I had no friends really, and the ‘nerds’ of the time, to be honest, spent more time arguing about rules, than actually playing
That’s when I came to the realization that if I was ever to actually play Dungeons & Dragons, I’d have to run it myself
So I picked up the Red Book
I was intrigued by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but I wasn’t much of a Reader, so I started with the Basic Rules
Followed shortly by the Expert Rules (Blue Book)
At some point, a guy my brother and I knew, invited us to play in his Warhammer RPG game, which was awesome
He had a huge collection of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books, and when he stepped away from the game, he gave them to us
So from that point forward, I started to weave in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Rules Etc. as well
I played in my late Teens & late Twenties, and it was amazing
But I never really fit in with the ‘D & D’ crowd
Not to be mean or anything, but more than just arguing over rules, they seemed to place their egos completely in the game
The guys that ran the games in particular, though they were great in some ways, were kinda out of control in regards to thinking they were flat out smarter/better than anyone else at the table
Those were my experiences though, not necessarily others
Anyway, In my 30’s it was ‘World of Warcraft’ for me, spent 4 1/2 years in there
But my 40’s found their way to Dungeons & Dragons 5e
Initially through my Dungeons & Dragons Twitter Account, which lead me to it
It also lead me to an extremely ‘inclusive’, and deeply friend based show, called ‘Critical Role’
I started watching on Episode 70ish of Season One, and did my best to catch it when I could
But something I noticed about the Dungeons & Dragons Community, is there was less ‘meanness’.
Less, ‘Elitism’, which was my original experience of the D & D community
Sure, it’s still out there
But for the most part, I do believe, it is the ‘Reign Of The Compassionate Nerds’
Nuff Said
Thanks for Listening/Reading
DORAGON-
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SHARE YOUR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CHARACTERS, CAMPAIGNS, CREATOR CONTENT (Published/Streams/Podcasts) ON THIS SITE!
Reach Out To Me @ dragonkeep68@gmail.com, or my Twitter Account @Dragon_Ryder7 if you’d like to post some content!
Dragon Keep 