God Echoes

Scholar of Stars by Tommy Arnold for MTG

We bathe in the light of long-dead stars*. We see them as present things, with names and placements, but in truth they have already departed and become space-stuff. What we see of them is an echo of what was once there.

Stars, in that sense, are a good analogy for gods.

The gods we know are dead. Divine magic and, to an extent, religion, is built on jet lag; their divine presence and gifts are received from afar (it is said that the realm of the gods is high above the clouds, which is true in the same way that saying "the sun is hot" is true) and are then bestowed and interpreted in the present. It explains much of why the gods work in mysterious ways, or over great periods of time; so too does it explain why individual prayers are so rarely answered, and why the gods so rarely speak to individuals.

The gods knew this, and as such they sent their influence with the knowledge that its effects would not be known to mortals until generations after they are gone. Texts on stone, songs to pass down through the generations - these are the tools of gods that wanted their messages to last. Miracles were sent with the hope that they would still needed by the time they arrive; alternatively, events may be finely orchestrated so that miracles and events occurred as planned.

This time dissonance is why the gods were so fond of prophecy and oracles; vague enough to be applicable to future civilisations, but refined enough that even if the specific Ancient Evil described is already destroyed, it can still guide others to deal with similar problems.

Elements to explore:

• Some gods try to get closer to the mortal realm to reduce the gap between their actions and their consequences. The proximity to the mortal world influences their power; is this an effect of abandoning the celestial realm?
• Miracles, divine magic etc. are, to an extent, pre-written code. What happens if there is an error in this code? How does the delay in prayers and answers affect the role and interpretation of deities and priests?
• The gods are, as stated, dead. What happens when gods decay? What happens if mortals learn that their prayers will not go answered, for all decisions of the gods have already been made - deity predeterminism confirmed.

I could see elements of my Charles Dexter Ward prompt being incorporated here on a larger scale.

This post was partially inspired by stars, and partially inspired by GPT-2 Religion AI, a bot on Twitter that generates scripture extracts. One of my recent favourites is:

I make them into machines, so that I may come into being. I am impelled by their will, so that the universe may die of itself. With this empty shell, I forge a God, living on and becoming dust. With this, I curse the darkness and vomit it into the void.

*opening line shamelessly stolen from a fellow member of DoMT staff. Sorry, Damian! 

Responding to Orthodoxies I by Jojiro

 Jojiro recently posted 13 GM Exercises, with the intent to help GMs identify their principles and patterns. I've not read through it yet, so I'll be answering questions as I go through. Check out Jojiro's post for the original questions.

A Take on Prologue Sessions

Prologues prepare the reader for what is to come. They provide background and context to the story, as well as potentially providing a larger context to the story's significance within the setting.   In roleplaying games, a prologue can be used for the same purpose. They also provide good opportunities for players to get used to their characters, the game system, and any homebrew rulings you may be using.

My experiences with them haven't been fantastic. I want to share those experiences with you, and then take some key points from them - both what went well and what didn't - that you can use when considering running a prologue session for your players.

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My first experience with prologue sessions involved a group of level 1 characters, in what was both a prologue and a time-skip; our adventurers were exploring a crypt of some sort, eventually cornered by the resident undead, and made to recount our adventures thus far, leading into session one. It's worth noting that whilst the group had played together for a while, the DM wasn't super experienced at the time.

Within the first half an hour of playing, my character had been incinerated. Taking a wrong step, my sorcerer went foot-first into a fireball trap, leaving the DM somewhat confused as to why I was dead, as 23 damage surely wasn't enough to do that (for reference, my character had 6, maybe 7 hit points - about standard for a character of that class & level).

My character was very quickly brought back after the damage taken was retconned to a more manageable number, and the prologue continued as planned.

The second time around was a few years later, with a group prologue* that took place over several sessions with a group of experienced players. Our characters had been fleshed out over a longer period of time, and we had all worked with the DM to integrate them into the setting. The prologue therefore was mainly to allow the players to learn more about the game world, and also to give our characters a chance to meet one another (and those of us using homebrew a chance to try it out).

This time, the game ended with a 50% TPK for PCs and allied NPCs. The reasons are understandable - our group went charing into a dungeon with full knowledge that the DM made challenging combat encounters, and the party split up once inside - but nevertheless, this was the prologue: the pre-game content.

The dungeon quickly turned on us, with two PCs down, one trying to commit seppuku via animal companion so that they wouldn't come back as an undead thrall, and two NPC allies dead. The last memories I have of that campaign were several minutes of two of the players (one an undead thrall, the other the previously mentioned seppuku attempter) and the DM rolling failed attack rolls on loop, each trying to drop someone so that the session could come to an end.

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The Issues at the Table

During session zero, or whenever you pitch the game to your players, a social contract (an overview of ground rules and expectations between players) is made. Part of this contract includes player expectations, such as what world they are in, what the focus of the adventures is going to be, what kind of threat levels they will be facing, and what kind of story their characters may tell. Players then enter the game with these expectations in mind and expect to meet those expectations during the game.

Prologues are awkward in that they can very easily, and often justifiably, ignore these expectations - not because of the GM trying to screw them over, but because it's a ttrpg; random chance is part of the equation. When the dice start rolling, there is a chance that your PC might die. There is a chance that the background content you are playing through may change significantly, or events that were planned for the campaign may not happen. It is the same risk and reward as in regular gameplay, but under the notion that this is not the 'true' content.

The main feeling that the above prologues give when thinking back on them is one of missed potential: of the fun that I was looking forward to having, and of the context and justification for character opinions and actions that was promised.

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Elements that would make for good prologues

Short: we're talking two sessions at most. Longer than this and it no longer becomes a prologue to the campaign: it is the campaign. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this, but if the idea is to give players a taster of the atmosphere and setting, then you don't want players to be in the taster for too long.

Informative: a prologue should do what a prologue is meant to do - develop the backdrop and atmosphere of the story. Note that this doesn't require it to be in the same time or place as the adventure, nor does it require the prologue to use the same characters. The players could play future NPCs, or other individuals wrapped up in your game's conflict.

Is your setting in the middle of a civil war? Split the players and have them take the role of rival soldiers forced to cooperate to escape a mutual threat - give them only one side of the conflict to work with and have them figure out what each side is fighting for. Is your campaign about an ancient sealed evil, soon to return? Have your players be present as the sealed evil's forces last breached, located in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's worth noting that my second prologue game did this fantastically, in my opinion. All characters came to the table with at least some opinion on the major worldly conflicts, and various aspects of the plot and NPC interactions reinforced elements of the setting and worked with or against our opinions on the main conflicts and goings on.

Establish Relationships: similar to the last one, with a greater focus on the relationships between characters (i.e. initial perceptions, how the group came to be) and between setting elements (e.g. where are the main sources of conflict).

In the first of my prologue adventures, we were informed that at this point we had been travelling for a while and our characters got on - this didn't feel very natural at the time, and I think that part of this could have been mitigated if the group was still considered cautious of one another (in other groups that know each other better this might not have been the case). The second prologue meanwhile did this quite well, but I would argue that this was in part due to the increased amount of time our characters had to get to know each other, and an increased effort on the player end to get our characters interacting.

Low Risk: perhaps not the best name for it, but the most appropriate given my past experiences An alternative heading would be Set Game Expectations, Maintain Social Contract, or perhaps Reinforce Expectations. Essentially, if your prologue is going to potentially result in PC death, this should be communicated. The base expectation that I've seen from players is that prologues are the 'tutorial zone' of the game, where long-term consequences aren't likely to arise.

If you want to go for something high-risk, a good example of this is the first episode of Matt Colville's The Chain. The series prologue starts with a group of mercenaries preparing to assassinate someone, only for it to go horribly wrong and result in the death of the PCs, making it memorable and a harrowing event for the team. This worked well because the player and the DM both had in mind that this character was temporary. The social contract was maintained throughout the prologue.

Contrast this with my most recent prologue experience, which was roughly 6 sessions long and ended in a 50% mortality rate for PCs and allied NPCs. Yes, it informed us of the setting tone, but it also meant that the preparation made for the game that we signed up to play - i.e. the game after the prologue - was rendered moot.

This is the point that I think most people will disagree with; there are players that will argue that removing the risk of death hinders the gameplay, and I understand that argument if you are drawn to ttrpgs for the mechanical elements moreso than the narrative elements.

In conclusion, prologue sessions do best when the DM approaches them as a narrative tool to help contextualise the world that players will be exploring in their campaign, and if necessary also giving players a chance to gain a feel for the game rules and mechanics. If PC death is on the table and the session takes place with characters intended to be used beyond the prologue, this should be discussed with the group beforehand. I was hoping to bring up some examples of prologues I like but find myself drawing blanks - I will aim to do a follow up post when I find some.

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* I specify 'group' prologue here after a discussion I had with the DM and two of the other players in that game a few days ago, in which the following came up: the DM didn't consider these sessions to be prologue. In their mind, the real prologues were the single-player one shots he ran with the group to explain why they were in the starting area looking for work. The players meanwhile considered the group sessions as prologue because, prior to the campaign start, we had been told that the big events of the campaign would take place after a scripted event that would occur after this first adventure.

Thinking back on that, this makes a lot more sense, and if that had been clarified more then I think this post in retrospect would take a different perspective, because I loved the single-player sessions we did before the prologue-but-not-prologue. They were well paced, established prior character relationships, informed us about our place in the setting, and whilst risk was present the intent was not to challenge our characters entirely, but to instead give context and background. My character's prologue involved the events prior to their betrayal of the local tyrant, joining the resistance, and finding themselves directed to the starting point as part of a covert mission.

It was a fantastic prologue reference, and I feel bad that I spent so much time analysing why the following sessions didn't work as well as prologue material when I could have been thinking about the one shot instead.

Nerdhogg's 2020 in review

 2020 has certainly been a year. I was considering doing a personal recap of the year, but that's not really how I do things on this blog, so instead I wanted to look back at what I've done from a Nerdhogg point of view, not a person who owns the Nerdhogg accounts perspective.

System Review: AGON

AGON is a fantasy-action TTRPG created by John Harper (Blades in the Dark) and Sean Nittner from Evil Hat Productions. Players take on the roles of heroes in Ancient Greek myths and legends, as they return from war and find themselves sailing through a mist-covered sea, traveling from island to island as they face new challenges and the whimsies of the Olympians.

For full reference, my experience playing AGON is through Roll20 in weekly games, where I took on both a player and a GM role.

Conclusion

Just to get it out of the way as it's what most people reading reviews are actually looking for: I enjoy AGON and would recommend trying it out for an island or two. AGON will appeal if you:

• Like narrative driven games with a focus on minimal and decisive dice rolling
• Like Ancient Greek thematics (or any other setting with a strong focus on capricious supernatural forces and competition, such as Norse mythology)
• Like games that require minimal prep work for a GM, or games where players can take turns as the GM
• Like episodic adventures, or systems that work well as one shots

However, it may not appeal if you:

• Like games with a heavier focus on tactics, battlemaps etc.
• Like to take time discussing and planning out your next moves
• Like more involved combat systems

Also, the artwork is lovely and thematic. The full page art before each adventure is a wonderful addition, and the game is all the better for it.

I Was Interviewed!

Brewmasters is an upcoming podcast series focused on homebrew content and getting to know the people behind the content. As the creator says:

Brewmasters is the series where we sit down with accomplished home brewers from the dungeons and dragons community and signal boost their achievements. We discuss their table top rpg interests, their work, inspirations, methodology, and share advice for everyone interested in making their own homebrew content for D&D.

u/Caelestis was kind enough to sit down with myself and two other moderators on the Discord of Many Things to discuss changes to the server, as well as about our homebrew works and issues within the D&D/WotC community.

I really enjoyed the process, and Caelestris was a wonderful host for us. There's a few bits I bring up that I think should have been worded in a more nuanced/specific manner (sweeping generalisations and all that), but given the situation I'm pretty content with how it came out.

I was also challenged to make a magic item for the podcast, which I've written up here (balance not checked):

Muse's Ichor
potion, very rare

    This iridescent potion looks like liquid starling feathers. Once consumed, the drinker is overwhelmed by a compulsion to create a great work of art. For the next 8 hours you have expertise in all artisan's tools, and go out of your way to create a masterpiece out of whatever materials you have access to.
    At the end of this period, you suffer two levels of exhaustion and must roll a d20: on a roll equal or lower than your level, you succeed in creating a masterpiece. On a failed save, it's still pretty good, but kinda eh in comparison to what it could've been. This doesn't affect the masterpiece mechanically, but it does leave you feeling a little disappointed.
    The masterpiece is not limited by size, shape, form, or physics; it cannot be used as a weapon, nor can it have an intentionally harm-inducing purpose (such as a guillotine or explosive sculpture). Any creature that spends a short rest observing and considering the masterpiece gains a d10 in Bardic Inspiration, which can be used within the next 24 hours. A creature can only benefit from this once per masterpiece.

If you want to listen to the whole thing, click here (YouTube link, will open in external tab/window).

An Alternative Dragonborn Origin

In times of old, human ancestors killed the dragons. In their dying breath, the last ancient dragon proclaimed that dragonkind would return once more, and that their return would take root in the hearts of their murderers.

This prophecy was forgotten over time, and the dragon slayers carried on with their lives, growing rich on dragon treasure and passing on the tales of their exploits to their children and grandchildren. But over time, one generation after another, they began to change.

First it was a few scales, or a change in eye colour. Then came the sharper teeth, the forked tongues, the sharpening of claws. From this came the dragonborn.

The current dragonborn people vary in how distinct their features are. Future generations of the dragonborn - or perhaps more recent members, with enough inbreeding or exposure to magic/dragon thoughts/ancient treasure - will become dragons entirely, bringing them back into the world once more.

Dragonarii by Rodrigo-Vega

What this means for your game:

Mechanically, dragonborn remain the same as usual. If you wanted a 'lower' dragonborn with less prominent traits or a 'higher' dragonborn with more prominent ones, you could look at the Shed Skin trait given as an optional ability for Yuan-Ti (Volo's Guide to Monsters) or lizardfolk traits for inspiration. You could optionally look at giving some feats that exemplify these traits further if plot-reasons came up for the metamorphosis to speed up.

This lore works well for games where dragons are more prominent individual entities as opposed to a large-scale presence. Think more Lord of the Rings than Flight of Dragons. Dragons that exist likely have names and stories to tell, either of how their non-dragon parents raised or abandoned them, or of how they were once more human, but changed into what they are now. You could also draw inspiration from games like Skyrim, where dragons are returning to the land and there is history and lore associated with their sudden return.

In this lore, dragons returning is a gradual process over multiple generations, but there's no harm in having this be a more erratic process. It could alternatively be based on time rather than generations; a planetary event could induce the direct descendants of the dragon slayers to metamorphose at once in a cicada-esque day of screaming and fire.

Dragonborn and half-dragons are essentially one and the same as far as anyone is concerned; only dragon-lore scholars would be peculiar enough to distinguish the two. Humans are sort of well known for trying to bang anything that moves, so it is also feasible to get dragonborn/half-dragon giants, minotaurs, elementals, elves etc.

For more recent dragon emergence, current dragon statblocks would instead represent how 'pure' a dragon is; dragon wyrmlings are akin to dragonborns with wings, whilst adults and older become more obviously dragon and less humanoid.

Not quite sure what this implies for draconic sorcery. If you have any thoughts, leave a comment and let me know!