Monday, March 26, 2018

Stories We Tell

            When I was six or so, my family was sitting around the breakfast table telling stories of the dreams we’d had. This wasn’t an irregular occurrence, but something different happened this time: my dad had a dream to share. Normally he only commented on how he didn’t dream, so when he commented that last night, he had a dream, he had our rapt attention.

            It was an extraordinary and hilarious tale about his encounter with an aggressive pink rhino, which he had eventually befriended. To this day I don’t know for sure if he made it up on the spot and wrote it down later, or if he’d prepared it in advance. It doesn’t really matter – what matters is that it was the start of something wonderful.

            I honestly don’t know how it happened, but it led to my dad coming into the grades 1-3 my brother and I both were in to tell the story of the Pink Rhino again, and the story was loved by the whole class – so much so that it became a regular thing. My dad began producing more Robert Munch-esque stories and telling them for my class. It wasn’t just the incredible stories themselves – it was the way he told them, which I would love to describe to you, but in truth it’s something you’d have to experience.

Some of the stories involved members of the class, like Pictures, a story about a talented artist in the class named Mallory whose pictures came to life when put on the refrigerator (causing no end of problems), or The Scratch – a story about the fight I had with Rotten Rosco, the most fearsome pirate to sail the Canadian highways, that he wrote over the weekend as an explanation for a huge scratch I’d gotten on my face from running into a tree. Others grew into massive class projects, like the Ordinary Story, a rhyming story about a boy and a girl who wander into the woods and befriend a troll – after this story, our class worked together to create an enchanted forest from plasticine.

            Looking back on that time, I find it incredible how many engaging and humorous stories he wrote, memorized, and told over the short three years I was in that classroom. It led to him joining the local storytellers’ guild and telling stories at a number of other venues as well – including an event for my wife’s homeschool group, before I even met her.

            Looking back on that, it’s no wonder that, with that in my background, I grew up with a passion for telling stories. However, there’s one conversation I had with my dad several years ago that has stuck with me ever since – it was the day he told me how impressed he was that I could write full length books. I looked at him in astonishment and told him that he could easily write a novel as well. I, myself, was (and am) still impressed with all his shorter stories. I’ve only written a few short stories in my time, and almost all of them leave an opening for more to happen – making them more like first chapters than short stories. Writing something novel-length is far easier to me.

            I think that was the first day I came to appreciate a key element of human nature: our tendency to be blind to that which makes us extraordinary because it comes easily to us. We think that, because we find it easy, everyone must find it easy, and that the things we find hard and that other people find easy means that those people are more extraordinary than us.

            We teach kids that everyone is unique and special, but we don’t go on to tell them what that actually means. It means that everyone has their own skills and talents, and those are what make them extraordinary. If something comes easily to you, that’s probably one of the things that makes you special. And those things you wish you could do that other people seem so good at, but that they seem to think it’s no big deal that they can do it? That’s what makes them special, and they just might admire you for the things you find to be easy.


            Sure, I’ll never be able to sit at the front of a room and captivate an audience with the way I tell a story – at least, not like my dad can – but I have my own ways of telling stories that are just as good. Not to mention, requiring far less energy to present. And quieter. Much quieter.





Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.



Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Lark's Landing, Episode 19

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


15th of Waxing Summer, 0AL

The adventurers find themselves closed in a fairly small room with Grubfrub the bugbear, his four goblin bodyguards, a goblin shaman, and a bound and tied golden dragonborn from their settlement. While none of them have interacted with with this dragonborn, the green patter in his gold scales makes him memorable - he's also missing an eye, which has the group worried that he was tortured for information. Stor, in particular, is very upset that these goblins have hurt someone from his home again.

Kordak expresses that they weren't told not to go home before reporting, and that they did do some scouting before doing so. Grubfrub seems to accept this and asks for their report - to which they say there are a lot of hobgoblins in the city that are very strong - and that they don't think there are enough goblins to attack it. Grubfrub replies that that's why he sent them to find any weaknesses - and demands to know what those weaknesses are. When he gets a quick, detail-free reply that there are no weaknesses, his suspicion begins to show.

Grubfrub asks what colour the walls of the hobgoblin city are. Stor, assuming the bugbear has no way of knowing, quickly lies, giving the most obvious answer that the walls are grey. Grubfrub sees the lie for what it was and announces that he's seen the walls before - if from a distance - and, while they have some grey in them, they have other colours as well - most prominently, sections of white. Having had enough of his lies, he snaps his fingers - dropping a net from the ceiling onto most of the party. Kordak and Shend manage to dodge out of the way, but Stor and Akta get tangled in it.

Kordak rushes forward with his two-handed sword, quickly deciding that the shaman beside Grubfrub was a greater threat. He scores a vicious hit on the goblin, who responds by trying to use his magic to lock Kordak and Balasar in place. Then Grubfrub and two of his bodyguards start bashing and hacking at the heavily-armoured half-orc while the other two bodyguards take advantage of the net restraining Akta and Stor to attack them. Stor swings a couple blows at the goblin attacking him, but misses because of the net, to he aims his last blow at the ropes - breaking free.

Suddenly, the captive golden dragonborn bursts free of his bonds, pulls the gag from his mouth, and casts a spell causing Kordak to grow to twice his size - to everyone's astonishment. Balasar, with his back to one of the doors, chants a quick healing spell to help Kordak recover from the many hits he's already taken while swinging his warhammer at the bodyguard attacking the tangled Akta. He misses, and the goblin arrogantly spits at his feet.

Shend draws a short sword and attacks one of the goblins going after Kordak, but his swing is parried, so he drops the sword and backs away to the door, drawing his bow for his next attack. Not bothering to even get out from under the net - trusting Balasar to take care of the goblin attacking her - Akta casts a powerful spell, causing a shimmering crown to appear above his head, allowing her to exert her will over Grubfrub and forcing him to attack his own men.

The shaman dodges Kordak's next attack and casts a spell that begins to fill almost the entire room with a cloud of stinking gas, but that spell fades as Grubfrub, his own boss, brains him. One goblin continues to attack the giant Kordak, while the other that was attacking him runs over to the escaped prisoner and attacks him, recognising him as the source of Kordak's size.

While the rest continue fighting and whittling down the bodyguards (with Grubfrub's unwilling assistance), the new dragonborn vanishes - reappearing on the other side of the room yelling something about his belongings and swiping at a pouch on Grubfrub's belt. He missed, and while the others continued fighting, he confused them further by continuing to go for the pouch - only succeeding in hugging Grubfrub in the attempt.

Balasar and Shend feel some pressure on the doors at their back - as of someone trying to look in to see what's happening. Knowing how many goblins are outside, they keep pressure against the door. The pressure slowly grows until the doors open a little, revealing a crowd of curious goblins outside. The golden dragonborn looks up from trying to steal Grubfrub's pouch to cast a spell through the opening, putting several of the goblins to sleep and allowing the doors to swing closed again. Shend leaves the door in Balasar's care to join the fray. In the time it takes the goblins outside to wake up their friends, Grubfrub's bodyguards are finished off - just in time for Grubfrub to shake off Akta's spell.

The crown above the bugbear's head vanishes, and he lays about him with his morningstar - focusing his attention first on the golden dragonborn who has been harassing him, until the dragonborn, weak from his wounds, carefully steps away. Then Grubfrub's attention turns on those nearest him - Kordak and Stor, both already bearing heavy wounds from the rest of the fight.

No longer needing to spend all her attention on controlling Grubfrub, Akta bursts free of the net and joins Balasar at the door - the two of them desperately trying to find a way to wedge it closed. Across the room from them, Grubfrub brings down Stor, turning his full attention on Kordak as the half-orc shrinks back down to his normal size.

Shend rushes over, handing a healing potion off to Kordak and magically healing Stor, bringing the dying goblin back to consciousness and rescuing him from death's door. Everyone's attention turns to taking down Grubfrub - knowing that the bugbear's death is the only thing that might save them from the hoards of goblins outside. But Grubfrub is tough and hard to hit.

Then Akta darts away from the door and, popping up over Kordak's shoulder, sends a blast into the surprised bugbear's face. Grubfrub has only a moment to register his shock before tumbling to the ground. Kordak immediately removes his head, stomping over to the door and shouting to the goblins outside that Grubfrub is dead and that they should bring their leaders here.

The goblins outside gabble to each other in their own language, which Stor can understand. He reports to the others that the goblins don't entirely believe them, so they allow the doors to open enough for the goblins to look in and see Grubfrub's detached head. A couple of the gobilins immediately shout "Avenge Grubfrub!" and run up the stairs. One of the other goblins follow, but the others stay to fight - though only one is able to make a weak attack through the door.

Balasar, hoping to intimidate the others, grabs that goblin's arm and - with an amazing feat of strength - hauls him right into the room. This shakes the other goblins a little, but not as much as what happens next. The golden dragonborn, not paying attention to anything else, immediately goes for Grubfrub's pouch. Shend wanders over to see what he's up to and is shocked when the dragonborn pulls a gem out of the pouch, shines it up a little, and then pops it into his empty eye-socket.

"Oi! He just shoved a rock in his eye!" Shend calls to the others. From outside the door, they hear gasps of alarm from the goblins.

"Yes!" Akta shouts, seizing the opportunity presented to her. "If you keep fighting, you'll all get rocks in your eyes!"

"Bring us your leaders!" Kordak reiterates.

It is all too much for the goblins. They flee up the stairs, and everyone's attention is turned to the goblin Balasar dragged into the room. Amidst begging them not to kill him or stick rocks in his eye, the goblin tells them his name is Skapu and agrees to go fetch the goblins who were chieftains before Grubfrub had taken over. The adventurers release him, and he runs off up the stairs.

The group then takes to discussing how they're going to handle this situation. The golden dragonborn introduces himself as Extang and, in response to Stor's questioning, tells them that he was kidnapped by the goblins less than half a day outside of camp. This is distressing news to Stor because it means the goblins know where their settlement is - which could be dangerous. Kordak believes that the goblins will follow him as a new leader - or at least some of them will. The rest they can scatter - the important part is breaking up the tribe so it's less of a threat.

Akta asks Extang if she can see the pouch from Grubfrub and begins searching through for anything that might be on the list of items her patron requires. She finds an uncut bloodstone - which she takes with Extang's permission. She needs two that are spherical, but she believes she can get it made into the right shape.

After a while, they realise that no goblins seem to be coming back. Stor volunteers to sneak out. He very quietly heads up the stairs and discover that there are no goblins there. He goes and looks out the door and sees goblins running off in all directions, as well as a few groups that are fighting each other and a number of corpses scattered around. Right outside the door, Skapu is talking to Ilk - but as soon as he catches sight of Stor he says, "That's one of them!" and runs.

"Is it true? Is Grubfrub dead?" Ilk asks. Stor confirms this and tells Ilk he can work for them now - saying he can have all the food he wants, and there are no beatings. Ilk is impressed with this offer, and misunderstands it to mean he's being made a chieftain. Stor explains that in their society, everyone lives like chieftains - a concept Ilk likes, but has trouble understanding.

The two return downstairs and report to the others. Akta, drunk on power, immediately picks up a rock and says she's going up to scare off more goblins. Everyone else joins her. They come out of the building and start yelling at the remaining goblins, who forget their quarrels with each other and flee. As the silence descends, they hear a sound and look over to a collapsed and trampled tent that something is moving inside of. Stor, believing he recognises the brewing tent, goes over and finds the rough-looking goblin girl B'yeta crawling out of the tent. He explains that Grubfrub is dead and offers her the same deal he did with Ilk. She also thinks she's being made a chieftain at first, but accepts.

The group retreats inside to see what loot they found. Extang discovers that Grubfrub's pouch contains mostly pretty rocks, but it has a few gems as well. Balasar casts a spell to detect magic, revealing that Grubfrub's morningstar and the gem-studded leather headband he wore were magical, as well as of of Extang's gems. They take a short rest, healing their wounds a little and learning more about the magical items - determining that the headband makes the person wearing it very intelligent and the magical gem can emit light - sometimes bright enough to blind enemies.

Feeling a bit more rested, Balasar takes the magical morningstar and goes upstairs to the undamaged fresco wall at the top of the stairs that radiates magic. He swings the magical weapon at it, hoping that the weapon will be able to break through, but he can't seem to damage the stonework. Remembering something mentioned by Gilligan, he finds the hairline crack running down the center of the fresco, hidden in the buildings of the city depicted there. Suspecting that this may be a door, he heads down the stairs, confirming that the consistent ceiling level presents an opportunity for a hidden room.

Akta wanders over to the statue on the lower level. It has been defaced once again, with the goblins trying to make it look like Grubfrub. She reads the draconic runes aloud: "The Great Rhovar, First Emperor of Drovinaar. He forged this Empire with his breath."

As soon as he hears this, Balasar's eyes fly open. He sprints up the stairs, wondering what type of element Rhovar could breath. Not having any other option, he opens his mouth and spews lightning onto the fresco. The image seems to absorb his power, then, with a popping-crack, it splits down the middle and swings inwards, revealing the secret room. At the back of the room is a pedestal, on which sits a silver anvil. On the floor, there are two skeletons - one kneeling before the pedastal with an undamaged warhammer across its knees, and the other slumped against a wall with a longsword at its side.

Everyone gathers around, curious to see this new discovery, but Balasar holds them back - insisting that they proceed with caution. Searching for traps, he carefully enters and bends down to examine the kneeling skeleton. As he does so, he brushes against it and in instantly crumbles to dust. He then casts his detect magic spell again, revealing that both weapons and the anvil are magical. There don't appear to be any traps anywhere.

Stor recalls that the anvil is a holy symbol of Mirinrie, the goddess of crafting and tradition. Kordak decides to find out if he can lift the anvil. As soon as he touches it, a sense of calm and peace washes over him - but it's also accompanied by a deep sense of regret for all the things he'd done in his life that weren't, strictly speaking, good - such as throwing sailors overboard; things that, as soon as he took his hand away from the anvil, he knew that he didn't always regret normally.

He could lift it on his own, however it's very heavy and it will slow him down a lot if he carries it on his own. He mentions this, and Balasar offers to help. As soon as he touches it, he feels the same sense of peace - but also a nagging feeling that his life should be more orderly and would be far better if it was. He and Kordak lower the anvil back to the pedestal and talk about their experiences from being in contact with it. Balasar says he thinks it means that his life before he lost his memory was far more orderly than it is now.


And that's where this game session came to an end, with Balasar and Kordak discussing this strange item and what it makes them feel. Find out more next week in Episode 20.

Monday, March 19, 2018

Learn to Code

            Today I want to tell you about a wonderful resource I came across for learning how to program: code.org . As those of you who are regulars around here know, I’ve been teaching myself to code for a little over a year now – and it’s been going well, with the one hiccup that I eventually run out of material on the website I’m learning from, and have to find another.

            Then a hashtag caught my attention on Twitter that was something about an hour of code. I did some research, and discovered that it was part of a movement for encouraging students to learn programming. I was enthralled, so I looked into it some more and found my way to this website that offered tons of lessons on coding – all for free. And so, my education continued.

            As technology becomes more and more prominent in the world, it’s becoming more important for people to understand how it works. Sure, it does what we want it to (at least, most of the time), but how does the technology actually accomplish this? Even a rudimentary understanding of coding is helpful in understanding what’s going on behind the screen, making it easier to deal with those infuriating times when the technology just won’t work properly.


            So, why not pop by code.org and learn a little about programming? Not only is it extremely good knowledge to have, but it’s fun, too! And it isn’t nearly as hard as you think. Really! Anyone can code.





Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.




Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Lark's Landing, Episode: 18

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


38th of Waning Spring - 15th of Waxing Summer, 0AL

Last week, we left our heroes with a conundrum to solve: Triena, the human priestess of the Four, had given birth to a tiefling child - which drew the attention of an angry mob that was convinced she'd had dealings with evil forces. With the help of Naldor, the adventurers managed to dismiss the mob, with the promise that the council would solve the problem. The next day, in the council meeting, Naldor suggested racial segregation to solve the problem - but the adventurers convinced the council that this would only be a temporary solution that would lead to bigger problems in the future.

The trouble now is that they're having trouble coming up with any other solution. Stor suggests a festival of cultures to educate people about different races, which is well received as a solution for a long-term solution, but won't stop an angry mob from burning down the temple tonight. They discuss circulating lies about the child's father dabbling with evil forces, but Shend speaks up, saying that they don't even know who the father is - maybe they should learn the truth before spreading lies.

So, they ask Triena - who is at the meeting with her baby, but hasn't been any condition to pay attention or participate. Fear fills her eyes, and she insists that she doesn't want to talk about it. Understanding that some of her discomfort is coming from how many people there are, Gilligan - who has become good friends with her - offers to speak with her alone, using his powers to raise a wall around them for privacy.

He comes out of that private meeting with a somewhat haunted look, and tells the council that they'll tell people that Triena was tricked by some demonic force and isn't at all evil. However, it's pointed out that people will still want to kill the baby.

Then the idea emerges that they could distract the people until they forget about this whole situation. They throw out the idea of sharing information that, until now, has been contained to the council: that there are traces of destroyed civilisations around - and that there is a dangerous hobgoblin threat nearby. The council is hesitant to accept, but they agree it will work - at least for now. In addition, Gilligan declares that he will be staying at Triena's side to protect her, and anyone who thinks she's evil can be sent to him.

The council disperses and the adventurers retire to their home, keeping Triena and the baby with them for safety. Once home, Triena thanks them for everything they've done, and says that she's naming the baby Chance - for the chance they've given him, and the second chance everyone who crossed the Endless Ocean had received.

Kordak goes out to speak with Hargrom about the militia members who were part of the mob. Hargrom isn't happy about it either, but he says that people are free to do what they want when off duty. Also that, just because someone got swept up in the excitement of the mob, it doesn't necessarily mean they're a problem. Kordak still thinks it's a danger to have them around, and tells Hargrom as much before going for a walk around the settlement, keeping his eyes open for such traitors so he can glare his wrath at them.

Balasar goes off to tend his shrine and Akta asks to go along with him, as she's never seen it before. Once there, she shares what she'd told everyone else except Gilligan - that she was raised in the Somvidian Empire before escaping. Balasar says that, having no idea of who he really is, he really isn't one to judge - and that he's sorry if he's a bit prickly sometimes.

Then Akta tells him that she probably shouldn't tell him, as she might have to kill him if he knows, but she gets her power from a patron - and it's a fiend, but she doesn't actually know who it is. She's hoping that Balasar, with his religious training, might be able to help her figure it out - and then shows him a mark she's kept concealed on the wrist. It's in the shape of a lantern made from a horned skull, suspended from chains through its eye-sockets, with a glowing green orb in its mouth. Unfortunately, Balasar - after recovering from shock - doesn't recognise it. But he does say that any creature represented by that symbol must be very evil.

As the three who were out are returning home, they see that word about the hobgoblins is spreading, and a messenger child even comes up to Kordak, telling him that there are dangerous hobgoblins nearby and people who want to help defend the settlement should join the militia. They all return home, and Kordak tells the others that they should go out to meet the invading hobgoblin army. Shend agrees with him, but then Akta reminds them that this was their plan all along - that the hobgoblins don't even know they exist. Shend then tells a story from his homeland that lied about seeing a wolf so many times that when there really was a wolf no one believed him and he got eaten.

They do agree that this is the rumour they started with the council, but they're a little concerned about the future ramifications. When will they know if a real threat is coming?

Over the next couple days, Triena and Chance stay with the adventurers. Shend and Stor spend the days training their perception skills with Ardona, while Akta hangs around at the beach, Balasar tends to his shrine, Gilligan stays at home working on making a spiderweb silk blanket for the baby, and Kordak trains with the militia - throwing around his weight a bit more than necessary with certain individuals.

The first of the month of Waxing Summer comes, bringing with it Faire Day - a generic holiday where people would traditionally hold a festival and there would be booths where people sold their goods. The adventurers (except Gilligan) head down to the beach for the festival, eager to engage in the fun they had last month. Sadly, this month's festival seems quite dour by comparison. The day is a bit cloudy and on the dreary side and, though Wyatt is trying to play some lively music with a group of musicians, no one seems to be getting into it - Stor tries to join in, but the mood just isn't working for him.

There are a number of crude tables with vaguely interesting goods, but no games, no abundant food, and a very small turnout. Hoping to liven things up a bit, the adventures gather some sticks and vines and set up a fighting ring. They have some bouts amongst themselves - during which Akta uses magic to cheat against Kordak and still loses. This gets some people interested and brings some more people out to the festival - some of them joining in, others just watching.

The adventurers head home that night feeling restless. They want to get back out into the world - they've been talking about going back to the white stone building they found - but Stor and Kordak need to wait until their batch of rum is done, else they'll spoil the batch or risk burning the house down. So, they decide to wait.

Over the next few days, Akta mentions to Stor a mark she's spotted branded on his back: three cara lillies - the emblem of the Somvidian empire. He's extremely confused by this, and doesn't even believe her until she drags him out to the water pool and shows him his reflection. This is very concerning for him, because he has no recollection of ever being branded - and his adoptive parents never told him anything about it.

Akta's pranks on Gilligan also come to an end, and she at last talks to him about it, explaining that she's mad at him because of his threat to start a rumour that she had summoned the imps into the settlement, accompanied with the statement that everyone would believe him because she's a tiefling. She accuses him of being worse than Naldor, calling him the new "racist guy". Gilligan argues that she had been trying to get his blood - and agreeing that he probably should have threatened to tell the truth about that instead.

When Chance starts crying, he suggests that they finish the conversation outside. They go out, but as he opens his mouth to apologise, Akta blasts a spell at him - it flies off wide, though, and she says that she's not talking to him any more, and she doesn't trust him to fight beside her in battle anymore, then storms off - saying she will get that blood.

Gilligan calls a wall up around her and goes in to tell the others what just happened - they're shocked. Stor runs out to talk to Akta, who is slowly blasting her way through the wall, while the others try to get more information from Gilligan and try to calm the situation. But Triena and Chance were planning to move back to living by the temple today, so Gilligan grabs all his things and goes with them, since he was planning to stay with them and guard them anyway. He finds that Triena had been living in a rough lean-to all this time and begins working on building a house by the temple.

Akta breaks through the wall and goes off to the beach, not returning for several days.

Stor has been spending a lot of time fretting over the brand on his back, so he goes to speak with Gorbosh about it. The half-orc isn't able to tell him much - the only place he'd seen such a brand before was on slaves of certain officers of the Somvidian Empire. Strangely, this doesn't make Stor feel any better.

Balasar takes a day to go and speak with Gilligan. He asks if they can explore his memories some more, and offers to help with construction in exchange. Gilligan agrees and they prepare. This time, however, he tries something different than just simply reliving the memory together. Based on some instinct, he pours some of his psychic energy into the process an gives a little twist...

And he and Balasar find themselves floating in some amorphous, black, tentacly room that seems to have glowing eyes peering at them periodically. They both have faint silver cord extending from their backs, fading into the distance, and Gilligan understands - and explains - that they have used a form of astral projection to enter Balasar's mind - specifically, they have landed inside the wall that is blocking Balasar from accessing his earlier memories.

They're a little concerned about the nature of this place, but they are determined to explore a bit. They see an area that looks light and cheery, so they head for that, moving by thinking of where they want to go. As they get there, they are sucked in, reliving Balasar's memory of fist waking up. They press on into the lighter area some more, finding that they can see more of Balasar's more recent memories, and Gilligan gets to experience seeing himself through Balasar's eyes.

As they travel through Balasar's mind, they both find themselves with building pain in their minds, and they understand that the longer they stay, the more they'll suffer - but they're not quite ready to leave yet. They believe that the lighter area is where all of Balasar's present memories are, so they head back to the darker section. They look around a bit, finding several openings blocked by tendrils.

Gilligan suggests that, with the pain that's wearing them down, they've probably discovered enough for now. They've also seen some images that make him think it might be a little dangerous to go exploring here, so they should probably come back with the rest of the group - although, that might be difficult with how Akta is feeling about him. Nevertheless, Balasar agrees and they attempt to leave his mind. It doesn't work - at least, not until Gilligan is able to guide them to the exact location where they entered.

They wake up in their own bodies - both shaken and excited about this discovery, though feeling weakened. Balasar thanks Gilligan for his help and heads home - both of them forgetting that he'd offered to help work on the house.

That evening, Stor also visits Gilligan, asking him about searching his memories to figure out how and when he was branded. They spend some time exploring his memories, discovering no such experiences. However, Gilligan does notice that Stor's earliest memories have been altered by some powerful magic - something beyond his ability to see through or fix. Stor thanks him and goes home, deciding that he'll visit Feryon the wizard in the morning.

The next day, the 10th of Waxing Summer, the rum - labelled Stoned Dwarf Rum - is finally ready to drink. However, since the goal has been to sell some, he and Stor water down half of it to make another label: Green Skin Grog (I think). They then sample the rum, which they plan to keep for themselves, finding it to be a decent batch. Stor certainly seems to enjoy it - drinking himself into unconsciousness, although that may have had more to do with the brand.

Kordak takes the grog out to the slowly-being-constructed tavern, where Wyatt and the three other workers eagerly rush forward to sample it. Kordak hesitantly allows them to sample a bit, then sets up with Wyatt to sell it. He convinces Wyatt to ask for coins in exchange for the drink, and, since there isn't much use for money right now and there's no other alcohol around, sets the price at an exorbitant silver piece per mug. In spite of the price, there are enough people who haven't seen alcohol in so long that they're willing to pay it. The grog runs out very quickly, nearly causing a riot from those who didn't get any or who want more. Luckily Wyatt is charming enough to calm the situation, assuring them that this was only a sample of what is to come.

The next day they, everyone is feeling restless, so they decide to head out to the white stone building they'd found. However, first, Stor pays a quick visit to Feryon - discovering that if his memories have been altered, the magic has been hidden - and there's nothing the wizard can do about it.

They head off into the wilderness, minus Gilligan - who is committed to staying behind to protect Triena and Chance. Balasar is deliberately making as much noise as he can to draw in something to kill, but he just seems to scare everything away. On the part way through the fourth day out, when they're in the field of long blue grass and expecting to be attacked by lions, Fluffy brings back a report from up ahead - a large goblin encampment is positioned right next to the building they're heading for.

They immediately believe that it's the camp of goblins they encountered before - the one led by Grubfrub, the bugbear, who had sent them on a mission they had abandoned. They're not happy about all the filthy creatures that must be making a mess of the building they'd been working to clean up, but they don't think they can take on the hundreds of goblins that are there. They decide to check on the old camp, just to be safe.

They circle around to the south, using Fluffy to help them avoid goblin patrols, and sneak through the low mountain range when they come too close to the camp. They arrive at the old camp in the night and find it completely deserted - the ground churned and the brontosaurus corpse they had seen nothing more than a skeleton.

They make camp for the night, deciding what they want to do next. They consider going after Grubfrub, coming in under the guise of reporting from their scouting mission they could possibly attack him. Theoretically, that show of force could convince the goblins to follow them, eliminating a potential threat that has moved closer to their settlement. Possibly. But they're a man down, they don't know if they can even make it into the camp, or what will happen if they succeed - for all they know, if they try, they could end up fighting an entire goblin army.

With these troubling thoughts, they set watches and go to sleep. On the second watch, Stor catches sight of a goblin patrol that has already spotted them. As they start charging toward their camp, he quickly wakes his friends so they can prepare for battle. Then he catches what the goblins are saying - "It's them! They're back!" They seem excited, not aggressive. In fact, as the goblins draw near, they even recognise Ilk.

The goblin reports to them that Grubfrub was beginning to think they wouldn't be coming and will be very happy to see them and hear their report. They want to go right away, but the adventurers insist on waiting until morning. The goblins comply and set their own camp nearby.

In the morning the adventurers, a little hesitantly, allow themselves to be escorted to the goblin camp - through four hundred or more goblins, then through the big front doors that they had repaired before. They're led past Grubfrub's courtiers, down to the lower level where there are more goblins, then through another set doors into the final room. Here they see Grubfrub, sitting on a stone desk as if it were a throne, with his four goblin bodyguards and one feather-garbed goblin.

The bugbear greets them, commenting on how long they've been away scouting - as it has been close to a month. Kordak agrees, saying that they like to be thorough. Grubfrub comments on how interesting it is that they've been scouting all this time when he's heard that they've been back at their camp - two of his bodyguards then close the room's doors, revealing behind one of them bound and gagged golden dragonborn, who they vaguely recognise as someone they've seen around their settlement before.


And that's where this game session came to an end. Find out what happens next week in Episode 19.

Monday, March 12, 2018

Blurring the Lines

            Last week showed gave me one of the greatest experiences I‘ve had to date while playing Dungeons & Dragons – and, believe me, I’ve had a lot of great things come out of that game. Those who’ve played D&D know that, every now and then, there are moments that are... indescribable. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try to describe them anyway. These moments happen when the players are so invested in what’s happening in the game that they almost forget that they’re playing a game. It almost seems like reality blends over into the game world.

            Most often, these times come in situations that bring up strong emotions for the characters – sometimes it’s when the characters are bonding; sharing tales of their past and feeling vulnerable. Sometimes it’s when they are discussing what they want to do next and they have very hard decisions to make. Sometimes it’s when one of the characters has died – and it feels like an actual friend has been lost.

            This week, I presented the players in my game with a decision that would shape the future of the world they’re playing in – and I was careful to make the decision as challenging as possible. You can read a more detailed account of the game over here, but for the purposes of this blog I’m just going to outline the scenario.

            The players have helped found a settlement in a new land that seems to be bereft of civilization. They have been working hard to establish the place and keep it safe. In this game session, they woke up one morning to discover that the settlement’s first baby was being born, to someone they had known for a long time and was very close friends with one of the characters. The child was born, but he was a tiefling (a demonic form of humanoid that is generally mistrusted by society) – which might not have been a problem if his mother hadn’t been a human. A mob arose, crying “demon worship” and “witch” and wanting to slay the mother and child.

            The player characters were on hand to diffuse the situation, but it was a bit much for them alone. They had to get the help of a known racist (racism in D&D tends towards species, rather than skin color) who had a great deal of influence. He managed to disperse the crowd with a promise that the council (which the players are part of) would solve the problem. Then, at the council, he proposed the idea of segregating the settlement into districts based on race.

            As you can guess, the players (most of which have characters of minority races) were not too happy about this, but the council put it to a vote, with each council member voicing their opinion. Now, as the Dungeon Master of the game, I had to put a lot of work into this situation. I wanted the players to have a direct influence on the outcome of this vote, so the majority of the rest of the council had to vote in favor of the segregation – which meant I had to come up with a lot of very convincing reasons for it; a challenge for someone who is actually opposed.

            In the end, the scenario was designed so that, in order to avoid segregation, the players had to all vote against it – plus, on top of that, they had to convince the final voter, who would break the tie. Now, here’s what happened:

            After hearing the arguments of the rest of the council, one of the players was actually swinging towards voting for segregation (a very rewarding situation for me, on its own, because it meant that the arguments I came up with were believable and convincing). The other five wouldn’t even consider it. One by one, they each gave an impassioned speech against racial segregation; about why this plan would fail and backfire. They didn’t just say “my character gives a speech”, they actually made the speeches themselves. Each and every one of them was incredible – so much so that I wish I’d recorded the session so I could share their words. They were so well thought-out and convincing that they convinced they brought the final member of their party back to their side of the argument.

            And they easily convinced the swing vote (and even some of opposing votes) that they were correct, successfully preventing the entire settlement from going down a very dark path.

            The amazing part is how connected they were to the whole scenario, and that even I – the man behind the curtain who knows how everything works and pulls all the strings – was drawn into that psudo-reality where the story we were telling became something more than just a story. That’s very hard to achieve from the DM’s omnipotent position.

            Those are the rare and glorious moments that make D&D more than just a game – it briefly transforms into something magical shared by a group of people. I wish they happened more frequently, but then, I suppose they wouldn’t be as special then.


            Still, if you ever wondered why people play something like D&D, this is partially why. It’s also why you should try it out, too.




Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.




Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Friday, March 09, 2018

Lark's Landing, Episode 17

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


35th - 38th of Waning Spring, 0AL

The adventurers have decided it's time to spend some time at the settlement. The 35th of Waning Spring starts with a bit of a surprise for Gilligan, who wakes up to find Akta looming over him with a blank expression. She doesn't say anything when he asks what's going on - just continues to stare. He threatens to hit her if she doesn't move, but she stays where she is until just as he swings at her, then turns and walks away. She leaves the house and spends the day walking on the beach.

Confused, but only a little shaken, Gilligan goes out and spends the day talking to various people and researching to discover what it would take to turn the displacer beast hide into a cloak without it losing its magical properties. He comes to the determination that it will take a lot of magical materials mixed into tanning chemicals, while magical energy is funnelled into it and it will need to be crafted into its cloak form while still in this mixture. The entire process will take about fifty days to complete.

As part of his research, he visits Feryon, who also gives Gilligan a scroll of the Identify spell written an a brittle paper made of pressed leaves. Stor had requested this in exchange for the bottle of displacer beast blood, knowing that Gilligan was quite distraught about the previous one which he had broken. Gilligan is so touched by this kindness form Stor that he rushes home to hug and thank the goblin - then promptly stashes the scroll somewhere very safe.

Stor has been at home this whole time with Kordak, starting the brewing process for their next concoction: rum. Their mead needs more time to age, so they're eager to make something that will be ready to drink much sooner.

Balasar also spends the day at home, relaxing, but also looking inwards - striving to find some hint of what his life had been like before he woke up with no memory of his past. He can't seem to get past that earliest memory from less than six months ago. He begins to reconsider Gilligan's offer to assist by joining their minds.

Shend spends his day learning fletching from Orfo, who doesn't seem to notice he was gone for a long time. He is also more than happy to attach Shend's magical arrowhead to a new arrow.

That night, as they're going to sleep, Gilligan discovers that his bed is in the wrong place. This is confusing and is a bit concerning because there were people home all day and no one saw it move. He decides to ask Akta about it, since she seems a viable culprit. She doesn't confirm or deny anything, but does say that he doesn't understand - but he will.

Everyone goes to sleep, with Gilligan setting Pablo to keep an eye on Akta. His familiar wakes him in the morning as Akta comes over to loom over him. He does his best to ignore her and heads out, seeking to talk with Feryon again. Balasar, wanting to talk to both Gilligan and the wizard, accompanies him. He asks Gilligan about the mind-meld he'd offered, wondering what it's like and if it'll help unlock his lost memories. Gilligan explains that it's simply the sharing of a memory and that they can certainly try. He says that a relaxing environment will be best, so he suggests Balasar's shrine to Epesta - saying that they can go after talking to Feryon.

As usual, something inside breaks when they knock on the door of the swaying bamboo tower. The wizard answers and Gilligan speaks with him about helping to enchant the cloak. Feryon refuses, saying he's much too busy - admitting, when Gilligan presses him for reasons, that he's needing to pour magic into his tower every day to keep it standing, as he made mistakes while enchanting it. Gilligan accepts this and suggests leaving the displacer beast hide with Feryon for safekeeping until the adventurers can deal with it, but decides not to when Feryon seems a bit too eager to have it.

Balasar then asks about how to determine if some kind of magic is affecting a someone's mind - the wizard suggests a simple identify spell. Thanking him, the two head off to the shrine.

Meanwhile, Kordak has gone out to help with the construction of Wyatt's tavern. The process is going very slowly because there are few workers and it's a very large building. Stor stays at home, fashioning a tiger pelt into a cloak, and Shend goes out to speak with Ardona, who is on a patrol duty around the wall. He asks she can train him to be more observant if he walks along with her - she agrees, and he spends his day training.

Akta goes out for one of her usual walks, but remembers that Angro had asked to speak with her many days ago and decides to find him. The big tiefling is working with Gorbosh on building a forge. He's happy to see Akta, and asks her to sit beside him on the stone wall of the furnace. He then apologises if he was too harsh on her the other night when he'd caught her troubling Naldor. He explains that a lot of people give tieflings a hard time, so it's important not to encourage that reputation. Akta thanks him from his apology, and explains that, because of her upbringing, she's still learning the nuances of right and wrong.

Angro ends the conversation by letting her know that there's nothing wrong with the pranks she likes to pull - they can be great fun - she just has to be careful to prank the people who will appreciate the humor. As Akta stands, there's a squelching sound caused by the mortar she'd been sitting in. She hears a chuckle from the tiefling behind her.

Next she has a conversation with the nearby Gorbosh, who she knows fairly well from the ship and her time in the militia. She tells him that she's struggling with getting along with her companions - and that she wants to tell them something, but she doesn't know how to. She wants his advice. The half-orc thinks for a moment before saying that the group has always seemed friendly and fair to him. He says that his own policy is to be straightforward and honest, and that it's mostly worked for him so far.

Akta thanks him and, before leaving, uses a spell to clean off the mortar and pauses to thank Angro for his prank. She then returns to her walk on the beach before going home. Once Shend and Kordak get home, she tells them and Stor that she has something she wants to tell them - she wants to tell Balasar, too, but since he's still away and she doesn't trust Gilligan enough to tell him, she settles for these three. She explains that she grew up in the Somvidian Empire and was meant to be part of their army. Her father was an officer, but her mother managed to sneak her out - and is now in prison because of it. She says she really doesn't like talking about it, and would appreciate it if they no longer ask her about it all the time. Her friends are very understanding of this.

Out at the shrine to Epesta, Gilligan talks Balasar through a meditation, taking a great deal of time to get him relaxed. He then connects their minds and they wander into Balasar's memories. They start off in his earliest memory, of waking up alone in a room with all of his belongings. Next, they press on, looking further back, but come across some form of barrier. They push against it, trying to get through. Suddenly it snaps! They get a brief glimpse of Balasar, feeling very frightened, lying down and looking up at a hooded figure, then they're ejected from the memory. They come back to reality with severe pain arcing through their minds.

They try to examine what they saw more closely, but don't recall anything beyond what they saw - except for Gilligan noticing that the figure held a staff. But, as he's concentrating, Gilligan finds his eyes drawn to the back of Balasar's hand - where one of his blue scales has turned black.

Panicking, they examine it. There isn't anything wrong with it as far as they can tell - no disease of anything magical about it. It's a natural, healthy scale - except that it's the wrong color. Balasar says he'll need gloves now, so Gilligan gives him his. The dragonborn pulls it on over his hand - the glove is significantly too small; the fingers tear out and the seams stretch, giving it a rough, post-apocalyptic fingerless glove look. He hands the other glove back to Gilligan - who has given himself a once-over and is relieved to find he hasn't developed any black patches.

They decide to try again, to see if they can find out more. They have the same experience, not managing to get any farther - and getting booted out of Balasar's mind with further damage done to their minds. Gilligan, used to the rigours of psychic energy, recovers quickly, but Balasar is left with a headache that will last for the rest of the day. Luckily, there are no more black scales. They believe that they need to give Balasar's mind some time to recover before exploring further.

They head home, where they tell the others - who are very interested in the experience. The conversation gets Gilligan thinking about the possibility of linking the whole group into Balasar's mind so they can all explore his past. However, it is late and it must wait for another day.

Remembering Feryon's advice, Balasar casts the identify spell on himself, trying to determine if this strange memory blockage is being caused by a spell. He finds magics inside himself, but he can't determine if any of it is specifically causing his memory block - but it doesn't seem to be. Kordak suggests the spell be cast on him, for a basis of comparison - Balasar finds no magic, and says, "There's nothing special about you." which Kordak doesn't take very well. Now Stor and Akta want the spell cast on them as well - Balasar obliges, revealing that Stro's body is amazingly generating radiant energy inside, and Akta has magic being funnelled into her from an outside source. Grumpy about seeming to be the only non-magical person about, not to mention there being "nothing special" about him, Kordak stomps out into the night, where he sleeps on the beach.

The others start going to sleep, but before he can, Gilligan discovers that his bed is soaking wet. And there's a fish in it - dead, but fairly fresh. He assumes Akta is responsible and cooks the fish to eat it, but Stor is more concerned. He was at home all day, and he didn't see anyone putting a fish in Gilligan's bed. As Gilligan's about to eat the fish, Stor reminds him of the bear traps that had been set - albeit upside-down - in their house. He suggests eating the fish might not be such a good idea. Gilligan puts the fish aside and pulls out his bedroll to sleep on.

In the morning, Akta is, of course, looming over Gilligan. He ignores her and sets Pablo to guarding his bed. As everyone is heads out for the day, they notice a strange, excited energy in the settlement. People keep pulling each other aside, whispering excitedly. Gilligan decides that the best way to find out what's going on is to ask Triena, so he heads straight to the temple - which he finds a strange sail-cloth tent outside of. His jaw drops and he rushes into the tent - guessing what's going on, but needing to know for certain. The moment he pushes through the tent flap, he's shooed back outside, but his suspicions are confirmed.

The others use more conventional means to gather information - they ask whoever is closest to them and discover that Triena has done into labor - the settlement's fist baby is being born! Akta rushes over and joins Gilligan, where he's pacing and chewing his nails outside the tent. She's never seen a baby before, and is very excited.

The others are happy about the news, but continue about their days. Shend and Stor go off to train with Ardona. Balasar goes to find Kordak, who is helping with the tavern again. He apologises for what he said last night, but only gets a grunt in reply. So he stays and helps with building.

Gilligan and Akta wait outside the birthing tent all day, except for a brief span when Gilligan rushes off to Feryon's tower - he'd left his tea set there some time ago and wants it back. To his dismay, it is no longer there - Feryon had traded it to the crazy people on the herb farm, saying that he didn't know Gilligan wanted it back and, quite frankly, he'd forgotten it was his. Frustrated, Gilligan demands that Feryon get it back for him, then returns to waiting outside the tent, even more anxious than before.

The sun is setting when the child's first cries are heard from within the tent. But there's also the sounds of some alarm. One of the women in the tent comes out, looking around anxiously, then runs off. A few moments later, another woman sticks her head out of the tent, saying that they need a healer. Akta volunteers her medicinal skills while Gilligan rushes off to find Balasar.

In the tent, Akta finds three women watching over Triena, who'd on a cot, looking very pale, and covered in a bloodstained sheet. It clearly was a very difficult birth. Akta tries to help, fumbling with her small collection of herbs, but in her panic she can't seem to remember anything or figure out how to help. Luckily, Gilligan soon returns with Balasar in tow. The dragonborn hurries to Triena's side and pours his healing magic into her.

Outside, Kordak, Shend, and Stor are heading home when they notice a different mood in the settlement - a much fouler one. There seem to be groups of people forming, many with torches, and heading towards the temple. Kordak and Shend find such groups and tag along to find out what's happening. Sensing trouble, Stor runs as fast as he can to the temple and the tent beside it.

In the tent, Triena asks to see her child. One of the midwives says, with a bit of a nervousness in her voice, that it's a boy. She holds the baby out to her and Balasar, Akta, and Gilligan see that he has florescent pink skin and the tiny start of horns - a tiefling. Triena looks at her child with a great deal of love, but also a trace of uncertainty. She looks up at Gilligan and says, "I was going to call him Gilligan, after the hero who helped us on the ship - without you, he may never have been born - but now, I'm not sure that's a good idea...."

Stor slides into the tent just in time to hear this. A quick glance around gives him a good idea of what's going on - a human has just given birth to a tiefling, a race whose origins come from dealing with fiends. He's dealt with enough prejudices to make an educated guess.

"That can wait until later!" He says, drawing everyone's attention. "There's a mob coming!"

Everyone jumps into action, trying to figure out the situation. A quick question reveals that the child's father was human - not a tiefling. Akta doesn't understand what the fuss is all about and is enamoured of the baby, but starts thinking of ways to get the child and the mother out of there.

Balasar, Gilligan, and Stor leave the tent and see a mob of more than 150 people approaching with torches. Luckily, Hargrom, who had picked up on the trouble, also shows up with a number of militia members who set up defensively in front of the tent and temple. Balasar and Stor start yelling at the mob - which is continuing to grow, but has at least stopped at the sight of the armed militia in their way - trying to reason with them. They have very little success, getting responses about demon worshipping and burning the witch.

In the midst of the mob, Kordak also tries some reason, but he loses his temper when he hears some horrible things being said by an off-duty member of the militia. Kordak decks him, laying him out, but in response the mob around him turns on him - punching him and beating him with torches. His armor is only of a little help. Luckily, Hargrom and his milita, seeing the fighting start from outside and knowing it could spell disaster, forces their way into the mob ad drags him out. When Hargrom recognises that Kordak was the start of the fight, he says, "It would be you."

The attempts to reason with the mob continue to go poorly, but amid the shouts, the defenders of the tent recognise a voice yelling deliberately ridiculous things - something about newts. Balasar uses his magic to amplify his voice, telling Shend to get out of the crowd. Having had his fun, the dwarf pushes his way out of the mob and joins his friends.

But the mob is building itself up into a frenzy. From inside the tent, Akta proposes a plan, and the others accept. She and Shend slip out the back of the tent with Triena and the baby. Akta summons up a pair of horses and the four ride off into the jungle, heading for the ruins where they found the tombstones - the closest relatively safe place they could think of.

Meanwhile, the others try to figure out how to calm the mob. They realise that Naldor, who they would have thought was running the show, doesn't even seem to be there. They aren't certain if Naldor will help or make the problem worse, but he's the only one they can think of that the mob might actually listen to. With his psionic powers, Gilligan launches Stor into the air and over the crowd. The goblin's belt of featherfalling allows him to drift safely to the ground, where he takes of running at full speed.

Stor bursts into Naldor's shop to find the man calmly working, unaware that anything strange is happening. Stor quickly explains about the mob and - hesitantly - Triena's tiefling child. Naldor's eyes blaze with fury and he says, "We can't have people doing that!" and joins Stor in rushing back to the temple. Stor fills him in a bit more, and Naldor mutters angrily the whole time about lynch mobs and stupid people.

They arrive to find the mob - thankfully still building it's frenzy. Naldor and Stor make their way through, with the crowd opening up before them when they recognise Naldor. Stor smirks to himself when he notices a number of them excited to have Naldor here, certain he's on their side.

When they get to the front, Naldor asks about getting his voice amplified, but, as that's not available for him, he requests light instead. Balasar casts a light spell on a shovel volunteered by Gilligan to hold above Naldor's head, then Stor and Gilligan send blasts of light into the night sky until the mob notices Naldor and quiets down.

Naldor then succinctly orders them to disperse. The mob protests, but he insists that what they're doing is wrong. He shares their concerns, but this is not the way to deal with the problem. When the crowd seems unlikely to agree with him, he calls out several people by name, reminding them of how he's helped them. He manages to send them off with a promise that this is the council's responsibility and the council will deal with it.

The crowd disperses, and the adventurers are relieved - not to mention astounded that Naldor actually helped them out of this mess. Stor runs off to catch Shend, Akta, Triena, and the baby, while the others tell Naldor about the escape, then head home with Naldor's promise that he'll summon the council tomorrow. Hargrom leaves some guards behind at the temple, partially for show and partially for safety.

Akta's horses only existed for an hour, so Stor is eventually able to catch up. He tells them the good news and brings them back home. They decide that Triena and the baby should stay with them for the night, while the rest of the group takes watches.

Relatively early in the morning, the messenger summoning them to the council arrives. Triena is in no condition for participating, but they bring her and the baby along for safety. Upon seeing the tiefling child, some of the council members are surprised to see that the rumors are true.

Naldor delivers an impassioned speech, about how everyone came here to escape the Somvidian Empire and feel safe, but now - with goblins killing people, imps being summoned, and now tieflings being born to humans - people aren't sure they escaped - and they certainly aren't feeling safe. It's the council's job to make people feel safe, otherwise the people will take matters into their own hands, and there will be blood. And it will be the council's fault for not doing anything to stop it. He proposes separating the settlement into districts, divided by races.

The adventurers' good feelings towards Naldor immediately vanish as an argument breaks out between the whole council. It is eventually calmed down by Duchess Kelenia, an elven woman who frequently serves the role of moderator for the council. She says that this is an extremely important decision, so they must take a vote and every voice must be heard. She then gets each council member to state their opinions and cast their vote on the segregation.

The adventurers listen and watch in horror as many of the council members - some of whom they trust and know to be good people throw in with Naldor, agreeing to racial segregation for a variety of reasons: protecting family from disputants on either side; keeping people apart so they won't fight; people are stupid and will believe what they hear, so there's no other way; there were no problems on the ship, where people were separated.

The vote stands 9 to 3 in favor of segregation when Kelenia turns to the adventurers for their votes. One by one, Gilligan, Shend, Stor, Akta, and Balasar step forward, each making extraordinarily passionate and unique speeches about why they should not split up the races: unity; separation breeding fear; temporary solution; making hateful people believe they are right; weakening the settlement.

9 to 8. Kordak pauses for a long time, considering. He had been swaying to vote for segregation - seeing the logic in keeping people apart to keep them safe from their own stupidity. But it was his companions speeches that make up his mind. He steps forward, making his own grand speech, and stepping over to join his friends.

Kelenia looks to both sides. She expresses that each of them have many fair and valid points. Everything that was said is true, but she agrees that segregation is a temporary solution that will only cause more problems in the future - and she breaks the tie, ending the talk of racial segregation.

Even some of the people who voted in favor of the segregation are relieved by the decision. Naldor says that he won't argue with the decision, but that another solution must be found. The people must feel that they are safe; that the council is doing it's job.

So the conversation turns to the matter of figuring out how to convince an entire settlement that Triena and her child are not evil and that the settlement isn't being threatened from the inside.


And that's where this game session came to an end. What solution will our heroes find to this problem? Find out next week in Episode 18.

Monday, March 05, 2018

Built in Obsolescence

            Today I shall say a few word on built in obsolescence. This is something in our current world that is both very important, and extremely horrendous. It is the idea of making products with the express intent that they will only last for a certain amount of time before needing to be replaced.

            A first look at this process (which is used in a great many industries) at first glance looks like a money grab – and it is, to a certain extent. If you build something that lasts forever and sell it to them, you sell one item. On the other hand, if you build something that lasts for 5 years and sell it to someone, they keep coming back every 5 years for a new one.

            It’s a type of job security, for everyone from retail to manufacturing to design. It fuels the economy by ensuring that within our materialistic society people just keep buying more and more things. It sounds horrible – and it is – but there’s a flip side to it: progress.

            Putting an expiry date on items that otherwise need not expire allows for constant work towards improving products. If there wasn’t such a constant turnover of people buying more smart phones, how fast would improvements to them be developed? Not very fast, because there would be far less demand and there wouldn’t be money to pay the researchers.

            So, it’s not all bad, from a certain point of view. In fact, it’s necessary for how our society functions. It makes more jobs, and keeps people with the latest technology. On the other hand, it is extremely inefficient and wasteful. It’s a bit of a conundrum, and not one that’s easy to fix.

            Where is the balance between continuing to improve products and keeping people in jobs, and less waste accompanied by people not needing to spend so much money? There must be a way, but whatever it is will be hard for us to find. The way things work right now are so ingrained in our society that it’s hard to imagine another way.


            We need to view the problem from the outside – and probably completely restructure our society.





Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.



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If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Saturday, March 03, 2018

Lark's Landing, Episode: 16

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.


32nd - 34th of Waning Spring, 0AL


Having just killed a giant boar and s strange, tentacled black cat, Shend (with some assistance) skins the creatures. Believing it to be something special and magical, the adventurers wrap up the cat-pelt with great care, thinking of taking it the wizard, Feryon. Stor, remembering that the wizard said something about blood from magical creatures being good for writing magical scrolls, gets an empty wine bottle from Gilligan and fills it.

They take a short break to take care of the wounds received in the battle. During this, Shend tries to replicate the strange rawhide vial his potion from Naldor came in - Akta has been asking about vials for some reason and he wants to help. Stor sees what he's doing and also tries. They manage to get the shape right, but they don't seem like they'll hold liquid. Even after drying out, they believe that filling them with liquid would just cause them to soak it up and become soft again. That's when Stor realises that the insides of the vials they have are coated with wax.

After their rest, the adventurers  begin the trek home, hauling the giant boar with them. They know they won't get home today, but they should be able to make it by tomorrow.

As evening draws closer, Shend, who's leading them, pushes aside some brush and sees a giant spider wrapping something in webs. He turns to the others and suggests going around, but accidentally catches the spider's attention in the process. Hoping to end the battle quickly, Shend shoots the spider using the magical arrowhead Akta had won at the Spring Festival. This is the first time he's used the arrow, and he's delighted by the blast of fire it releases upon hitting his enemy - although it's a bit concerning when the arrowshaft is burned to cinders.

The spider is soon finished off by the others, but no sooner does it collapse than six more drop out of the trees. In the ensuing battle, many of them are injured by the spiders and their insidious poison, though everyone manages to stay out of the webs. Balasar goes down, paralysed but kept alive by the poison. Seeing their fallen friend, the others fight all the fiercer, bringing down the last of the spiders.

Akta rushes to Balasar's, examining him. Unfortunately, in her hurry, she manages to forget everything she knows about dragonborn anatomy - and most of what she knows about medicine, too. She pronounces him dead, to the dismay of the rest of her companions - especially Balasar, who is able to hear every word but has no way to communicate. Stor and Gilligan also check, but, in light of Akta's pronouncement, they find nothing to refute her.

Akta proceeds to perform a powerful eulogy, so moving that it brings some of the others to tears - including Balasar, though no one notices. Shend and Stor then spend some time retrieving the magical arrowhead and attempting to harvest some poison from the spiders. Gilligan gathers some spiderwebs on sticks.

After about half-an-hour, they head off, with Kordak carrying Balasar back to the settlement so they can bury him by his shine. When, after another half hour, the poison wears off, Balasar scares everyone half to death by shouting that he isn't dead. Night falls and they make camp for the night, chuckling over the mishap.

They arrive back at the settlement around midday. Kordak suggests a beach barbecue with the giant boar and goes off to arrange it. Shend stops by Gorbosh's forge with his arrowhead and asks about a metal arrowshaft for the arrow. The half-orc says that he'll give it some thought and, once the metal is flowing from the mine, he'll give it a try. Shend then goes to help Kordak with getting the giant boar cooked.

Akta goes out to the mine by the Singing Stone to ask Deltria about if the settlement needs more people with medicinal skills. The dwarf says such skills are always needed, and the best person to talk to about it is Triena. Akta thanks her and goes to join Kordak on the beach.

Stor takes the bottle of blood from the cat-like creature to Feryon, who recognises the creature from its description as a displacer beast. He accepts the blood and agrees to make a replacement identify scroll for Gilligan in exchange. Stor then visits the gnome Natat down by the farms where he asks her about the blue grass sample he'd given her. She tells him that they were able to make flour and bread out of it and wishes they had more - so Stor hands over a bundle of the grass he'd collected on his previous trip to the area. He then joins the others on the beach.

Balasar stops by his shrine, praying to Epesta. He speaks of his uncertainty, both of who he is, what he's doing, and if his goddess is with him. He asks for some kind of sign. He waits for over ten minutes before a beam of sunlight pierces the jungle's canopy and shines directly on his shrine. He takes that as his sign and also goes to the beach.

While the food is preparing, Siha shyly approaches Kordak. The young half-orc woman tells him that she heard about the caravan his family was in from Gorbosh and had brought some items that had been scavenged from it that she and her mother hadn't been able to sell. Kordak immediately recognises his uncle Kendrik's secret brewing journal, though it has some kind of acid damage around the edges. He gratefully takes it, and flips through - finding, alongside brewing recopies, various short notes in the margins about his own childhood; some kind, others not so much. In the back, he finds a brief, point-form account of his aunt, uncle, and mother's journey on the caravan - which comes to an end suggesting that the caravan was attacked just a couple short days from the next village.

Gilligan goes to Feryon's tower not long after Stor. He brings with him the hide from the displacer beast. He asks the wizard about enchanting it and crafting it into a magical item. The wizard says he doesn't know exactly how to enchant it, but he'll do some research. He believes it will take a great deal of time and magical material. Gilligan, who has been gathering such materials, starts to suggest plans for gathering such materials, but Feryon says that a great wizard like himself has others to get such materials for him. He tells Gilligan about a small herb farm, but warns him that the owners are crazy and he shouldn't spend much time around them.

Gilligan then takes the displacer beast hide to the tanner for advice, but the tanner has never worked with magical materials before. He does say the hide, as long as its clean, should keep for a while.

The mystic then heads off to find the herb farm. It takes him some time, but he finds it behind some trees being tended by a small creature of indeterminate gender. He inquires about acquiring magical materials, learning that Feryon already has all of what is currently available. He suggests a trade system, involving trading a pound of food for a pound of magical materials, at which the small creature baulks - saying that a pound of food is worth about one leaf. When Gilligan protests, trying to say that's ridiculous, the small creature tells him to leave. When he refuses - still trying to negotiate a deal, the creature calls a almost indistinguishable companion named Fonofo who chases him off with a very large axe.

Gilligan goes to join the barbecue on the beach - which has most of the settlement coming and going - where his companions are all expressing what they want to happen to them when they die. Distacted, Gilligan offhandedly answers before looking to see if Feryon is around. Not seeing him, he grabs some food and takes it to the wizard's tower.

Though he'd been to the barbecue earlier, the wizard is happy to accept more food and answer Gilligan's questions. He assures Gilligan that the crazy herb farmer is correct about the value of the magical components. Gilligan expresses that he's worried about the farmers being dangerous, and Feryon immediately guessed that he tried to haggle with them. He warns him that they don't like haggling, but says they probably won't even remember him the next time he goes back. Gilligan asks what Feryon traded for the magical components, and gets an answer of "baubles and odds and ends" before getting distracted by a comment Feryon made about his tower. It makes Gilligan remember to ask about the fact that the tower has no stairs. Feryon invited him in to demonstrate, and starts pulling a pull-cord. As he does so, the room fades from view while the next one fades into view. Gilligan is very impressed, and happy to have that mystery solved.

He heads back to the beach, planning how to deal with the irritating herb farmers. He goes to speak with Akta, who has gone off alone to sit at the edge of the ocean. He asks her if she'd be willing to prank the farm to make it seem haunted. Akta agrees to help in exchange for his blood - she needs human blood for the list of items her patron wants, and she's feeling a bit hurried because the dwarf blood - which Shend surely would have given her without question - was already scratched off the list; retrieved by someone else. Gilligan dislikes the idea and negotiates that, since she's only his plan C, he will give her his blood if and when he needs her services.

At this point, Akta suggests that she could always take his blood by force. Gilligan responds with a threat to tell the settlement that Akta was the one who summoned the imps - pointing out that, even though it isn't true, the people will believe it because she's a tiefling. This sparks an argument that draws the rest of the group over. They break it up and listen to both sides - both of whom lie a bit to cover themselves, but when it comes out that Akta wanted Gilligan's blood it sets off some alarm - particularly from Stor, who points out that blood can be used to control people its drawn from.

They begin to question Akta about why she wants the blood, saying they want to help her but they need to know why she needs the blood, but she's unwilling to talk about it. This re-sparks an argument about trust within the group. Shend calms it down by proposing a trust exercise - suggesting that they all share some dark secret from their past that they haven't shared with the group yet. He starts off by revealing that his mother dies giving birth to him, so he grew up with only one parent. Since everyone already knows that Balasar doesn't remember his past, they skip by him. Kordak reveals that he got the half-circle scar on his eye during a fight in a bar that went a bit too far, landing him in jail - and it cost his family a lot to get him out. Gilligan tells the story of his childhood with his gifted best friend, solving murder mysteries to put ghosts to their rest. It's pointed out to him that this doesn't seem like a dark secret, so he pulls a bundle out of his pack and reveals that it's his best friend's skull.

Stor reveals that his adoptive mother was an assassin - a blade for hire. This last story brings it around to Akta, who still isn't ready to talk about the blood - but, to show willing, she tells them that her horn was broken by a half-orc when she was a kid. It's not the answer the others were looking for, but they accept it.

Having talked into the night, they head home to sleep. The next day, Gilligan talks to Natat about the herb farmers. She says Nofono and Fonofo are strange, but harmless as long as they aren't aggravated. So Gilligan goes to speak with them again - he isn't recognised and, this time, he's careful to leave before causing a fuss, though he's still not happy with what he's hearing.

Akta spends the day preparing some of the sparse land outside their house for an herb garden of her own while, inside, Stor and Kordak distil their batch of mead into a barrel to age. Shend and Balasar stop by the tanner for the tiger pelts they'd left there, then spend most of the day trying to find a leather-worker. Eventually they do, and Shend trades some tiger teeth to get one of the pelts made into a belt-and-sash type garment for Kordak.

And that brings the day, and the game session to an end. Find out what happens next week in Episode 17.