The Beginning

Dominic Matte

The dragons, to their great shock, had been defeated. Soundly. Overwhelmingly. The dragons had been nearly exterminated.

The vermin - the lesser races - had called it the Great Betrayal. None of the dragons thought of it that way - none who mattered. They were reclaiming their birthright, one they had long given up in the name of peace and prosperity. The dragons were reminded of the way things used to be, before they agreed to share with and protect the weaker races. Cooperation bringing prosperity? Nonsense! A dragon had its home and its hoard within the empire, but in the old days, a dragon was an empire. Dragons took what they wanted and cared not for the pathetic two-legged beasts who scurried around on the ground, save only for what the vermin could provide to the dragon. If a dragon protected a city, it was not out of generosity or fellowship, but as a means to an end. In the old days, dragons were power. Kings trembled at their wingbeat and armies shattered at their whim. That was as it should be - the dragons had suffered alliances with the three empires for far too long. Acting as one, they razed the capitals to craters of ash in a firestorm of draconic rage the likes of which had never been seen. After centuries, the dragon lords were vindicated, and all was as it should be.

Or so Hydrargea had been told. Perched on the tip of a rocky spire among the remainder of dragonkind, she flexed her shining wings, the light playing over the damaged membranes like liquid metal. She had her doubts about all this. The dragons were all here, perched on the highest peak on the continent, ignorant of the freezing cold and piercing wind. Some were the most powerful of dragonkind: ancient, powerful dragons with the knowledge and experience a thousand years or more, triumphant over legions of dragonslayers. Others were young, weaker, less experienced; having survived the purge with cunning, luck, or stealth (which some called cowardice).

One short year ago, there had been thousands of dragons. Here, now, in an assembly of the entire continent's dragons, there were only a few dozen.

Horizon Black IV: The Finale

Last time, on The Long Game, Alvyn, Tong, and Kalgar had infiltrated, stormed really, the gates of the secret superweapon base known as Horizon Black. The Shockrosia had been destroyed, and Kalgar's crew had fought their way through, and acquired, two new ships. The rest of Kalgar's fleet, fighting near the outskirts of the shoals, was being threatened with destruction by the giant death beam emanating from the base.

The stakes have never been higher, so let's get into it!

Dallas Kasaboski

Horizon Black III

Welcome back to The Long Game! Last time, Alvyn, Tong, Kalgar and his small fleet had made their way to the ultra-secret base Horizon Black, the likely place of development for Aes' superweapon program. Now, the fun begins... 

Dallas Kasaboski

Horizon Black: Part II

When last we left our heroes, Alvyn, Tong, and Kalgar had questioned the odd book of knowledge in Tong's possession. This book, created through an arcane, Aesian ritual, was able to answer any question, given at least 10 people currently alive knew the answer. 

Our heroes have been traveling for years, learning more of the threats which face the world continent of Cyfandir. Through that time, they have made many enemies, and as our party neared Horizon Black, a deep-dark over-the-top secret base purportedly the stronghold of Aes' superweapons program, Alvyn, Tong, and Kalgar knew the real test had only begun.

Dallas Kasaboski

On the Way to Horizon Black

Welcome back to The Long Game! If you're new to the adventure, a short summary can be found here! If you're fairly familiar with our tale, you can check out the medium recap, here.

When last we left our heroes, they had just investigated the western outpost known as Deep Watch Bay. Officially, the outpost's purpose is to guard and warn the rest of the nation of Aes of the terrifying creatures coming from the deep ocean. However, our party, Alvyn, Tong, and Kalgar, learned that it was a superweapon development complex. After exploring it, finding plenty of information about superweapons, they ended up fighting one! A super-psionic security force, capable of projecting harmful illusions, guarded the outpost.

As our heroes defeated him, they learned of an even more dangerous and secret base located farther west, known as Horizon Black. Rumoured to be the main superweapon facility, our party set sail!

Dallas Kasaboski

Deep Watch Bay: Part IV

Tong, Alvyn, and Kalgar had found Deep Watch Bay. They thought it abandoned but inside, they found illusory archers, soldiers, and structures. Moving past the illusions, and dropping to a lower level, they found a hidden floor, the base of the volcano. Will they finally get some answers, or just more questions in Deep Way Bay?

Dallas Kasaboski

Secret Backstories and Mysterious Characters

A well-developed backstory is often a critical part of creating a role-playing character. By no means necessary, a backstory can provide a foundation, some core tenets, for your character and allows you to ground yourself in his/her motives and behaviour. It allows you to understand how that character may make decisions and evolve as the story unfolds.

We have discussed character-making before, but today I'd like to discuss a specific type of character backstory, the secret one.

Dallas Kasaboski

Deep Watch Bay: Part III

Last time, in The Long Game, Alvyn, Kalgar, and Tong had found Deep Watch Bay. Thinking it abandoned, they explored the outpost, finding stairs leading underground. There, they found a grand library of records, but before they had a chance to investigate, they were surrounded by soldiers and archers!

Who are these soldiers? How will our heroes escape? Let's continue the story!

Dallas Kasaboski

Deep Watch Bay: Part II

When last we left our party, Kalgar, Tong, and Alvyn were on their way to Deep Watch Bay, an outpost whose official purpose was to guard against terrors of the deep ocean, but which our party suspected of being a superweapon facility. We join them now, within sight of the outpost. 

Dallas Kasaboski

The Long Game: On the Way to Deep Watch Bay

Welcome back to The Long Game! We've had a bit of a hiatus but now we're back! When last we left our adventurers, they had just faced off against a fragment of Tong's past, a fragment which came in the form of a bald, female, monk on fire who left Aes' Windle's Landing in ruin. Let's find out how our party progressed after something like that.

Dallas Kasaboski

The Long Game: The Windle's Landing Massacre

Alvyn, Kalgar, and Tong were on their way to Admiral Draksha, Sora's commander. Sora claimed that the admiral was interested in meeting Kalgar as she too believed there was something deeply troubling about Aes and its military developing superweapons.

The party had just defended Sora's outpost from a monstrosity created by the now-dead Iron Dragon, but their defense came at the cost of the outpost itself.

With many things weighing on them, the party set sail for the admiral.

Dallas Kasaboski

The Long Game: The Last of the Aesian Outpost

When last we left our adventurers, they were in Aes, at a lonely outpost, underground, facing off against an alien queen and her many terrifying creatures. The monsters had already killed many Aesian guards, as well as one of Kalgar's crew. The room was surrounded by dripping water, and barrels of oil and black powder. The fight had started. Now, it was time to finish this!

Dallas Kasaboski

The Long Game: The Queen's Lair

Under the isolated Aesian outpost, Alvyn, Tong, and Kalgar were following the carnage caused by a creature of unknown form and intent. It had killed one of their crew, many Aesian guards, and was now seemingly trapped under the outpost.

Still, nothing is ever easy in The Long Game, so let's see how our adventurers handle it.

Dallas Kasaboski

The Long Game: The Caves of Calamity

Our adventurers were making their way west, to track the monster that had killed one of their crew. They did not know what it was, only that it likely came from The Iron Tower and that it was dangerous. Let's see what they find...

Dallas Kasaboski

New players? Use premade characters.

Dominic Matte

After years of introducing people to D&D and seeing where people want to engage and struggle to do never involve creating a character.

so, I've come to the conclusion that a person's first ever RPG session should

When you want to try something new, you want to actually try it. A new player who wants to try D&D wants to start roleplaying, experience awesome action and tense encounters and root out intrigue - not spend an hour referencing rules and copying text and doing math and cross-referencing. I ran a session for a new group recently, and even 5th edition's very simple and streamlined character creation took over an hour because none of the players had ever touched a tabletop RPG and every rule and many basic concepts were new to them. In fact I've actually watched potential players get bored and leave the table during character creation who never got to actually try the game.

When a newbie tells you they want to be a dwarf wizard who used to be in the military, it's much better to hand them a sheet and get started than it is to sit down and explain how Vancian spellcasting works and ask them to choose from a vast list of spells with no frame of reference. Handle the rules as they come up - don't say "before we get started, here's a quick overview of how combat works". Do say "you are ambushed by a foul-smelling gang of orc marauders! Roll initiative! Which means..."

In fact, new players are often more creative before they know how the rules work. When you have a list of options you tend to choose from the list, even if the list items are suggestions and not your only choices. A player who has no list of combat options is more likely to say "Can I do this crazy thing?", in which case your job as DM is to reply either "Yes, and here's how that works" or "No, because of X, but you could try Y".

This is all a long way of saying that over the years I've become a big fan of pre-made character sheets. Don't fuss over choices the new player doesn't understand and filling out numbers that have no meaning yet. Hand them a complete level 1 character (or the system equivalent) with a minimum of backstory and get started.

Introducing Aseir (Al'Farok) Aerendgast

We've started a new D&D game here at D4sign! Don't worry, we'll continue playing The Long Game, but we're also playing a game run by fellow D4sign blogger, Mike! Today's post is all about my character for the game, and how he came to be!

                                

Dallas Kasaboski

The Long Game: Intrigue with a Side of Indigestion

Greetings, fair traveler, and welcome back to D4sign! Let's continue The Long Game! When last we left our adventurers, they had barely sailed their ship to an outpost in Aes, Kalgar's home country. There, they were recuperating, and waiting to speak with Admiral Draksha concerning Kalgar's fate...

Making Magic Happen

I used to have a problem with magic in D&D. For years, I avoided playing a magic-user, and would go so far as to ignore magic in games. This has changed recently, and I'm about to tell you why.

Dallas Kasaboski

Developing Starfall: a story-first approach

Dominic Matte

When I work on a D&D game, I start with a core idea for a world or story (for example, what if dragons were secretly playing a game for the fate of the world and no one knew). Then I build the world in excessive detail, including history, politics, organizations, and characters. When I write in an event (or when the players do) I want to know how it'll affect the world, and for that I need to have the world ready in working detail. Once I'm satisfied with the expansive planning, I star play, adding more to the story and world on a session-by-session basis as the players explore and learn about what's going on.

At least, that's how I usually work on a D&D game. I've been slowly kicking out ideas for a campaign that I'm tentatively calling Starfall (after three or four rejected titles over the years), and I've been taking a different approach than I normally do. I may have mentioned it here before, earlier in the process. I've been building a framework of story in distinct arcs with specific themes around the core concept, adding and subtracting and re-organizing as I make progress.

The Medium Version of The Long Game

Hello! We here, at D4sign, have been playing many games and sometimes it is easy to lose track of things. True to its name, we have been playing The Long Game for a long time, and I thought it would be a good idea to provide a summary. If you're new to the game, this should help you catch up, and if you're very familiar with it, this should refresh your memory. I will be updating this as we play and further details can be found in earlier Long Game posts!

I also found that while this was much shorter, it was still longer than the average reader may wish to peruse. Therefore, I have written an even shorter summary here.

Dallas Kasaboski