Lore Collage: Everyone has dragons, they’re all different
I have to blog. It’s a curse
It’s also a space full of unpublished drafts. I wouldn’t want to see what drafts I lost when Sounder at Heart left SB Nation. I can still check what SaH has of mine in drafts, but I don’t dare check that. I recently checked my work drafts and even there I have unpublished drafts. Here there are unpublished drafts.
Anyway, I have to blog.
But also I let things get in the way of publishing. Which is frustrating.
It does mean that I don’t need to shave the yak like my friend, but sometimes, maybe I need a bit of a reset. That’s a part of what Lore Collage is. It compels me to write more. Even if I don’t think my words are worthy — I press publish.
Reading
Dragons are funny things. Almost every culture has dragon-ish monsters in their stories. In my own world they horde things and emotions and knowledge. In others they are a warring faction of old gods. What are your dragons?
Over on EN World SlyFlourish asked people to share their game prep. Since I’m not DMing right now I didn’t share, but seeing the variety of ways people prep for games is wonderful.
While most of my role-play is centered around 5e and similar systems, I like the Ennies as a way to keep me aware of new systems, creators and aids. The 2025 nominee list includes two products I’ve already used (DungeonScrawl and Hero Forge Kitbashing).
Post by @scottfgray View on Mastodon
If you live in the Puget Sound and Columbia Basins you don’t need to worry about the tiny earthquake swarms under Tahoma. If you are creating a fantasy world, add earthquake swarms as a natural hazard, make them big. See how the characters react to things they cannot fight. Then make them fight an earthquake swarms.
Making Enemies is the next book from The Monsters Know What They’re Doing creator Keith Amman. The way Keith approaches lore based in the short story of a stat block makes me excited to see what he does when he’s teaching me how to make the stat blocks.
Creating an RPG is hard. It takes either an immense amount of talent or a network of people. It probably takes both. PJ Coffey gets into the details of all the tasks that go into publishing a work. I’ve worked with PJ on two of their projects.
A few weeks ago I spoke at a risk intelligence conference about using role playing games as a teaching aid for non practitioners. My search algorithm is working. Both Rascal News and Military.com put out stories that will be part of my next work presentation on the same subject.
- Preparing for Public Health Disasters With Tabletop Games
- How Tabletop War Games Build Strategy and Community
Want help telling your world’s history of empires? Procedurally generate the ebb and flow of conquest (if you have a Windows machine and understand GitHub).
Watching
There’s always more to learn about sports, and I’m already trying to figure out how to insert tuj lub into my D&D games — I’m big about that too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FWhgnRjQME
Kobold Press has a deal on shipping right now. I’m looking at the Labyrinth Worldbook. It is full of ideas I can borrow into the World of the Everflow. Which would be funny since as a backer for Tales of the Valiant I pitched the World of the Everflow to be included.
Handily, SlyFlourish has a review up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT3Dl1rbPKs
Creating
Alignment is too simple. Personality traits, ideals, bonds and flaws is too complex. Use short form personality instead — 2-6 words that describe your character.
Converting Full Moon Storytelling’s Herbalist Background to modern 5e
5e24
Pick one of the following Feats. They are listed in order of commonality;
- Healer
- Magic Initiate (Druid)
- Skilled
- Musician
- Magic Initiate (Cleric)
Then assign ability score bonuses to Wisdom, Intelligence or Dexterity.
Pick one of the following Talents. They are listed in order of commonality;
- Field Medic
- Trade Skills
- Physical Fortitude
- Ritualist (Primordial)
- Psycanist
!
