dante-and-dragons

[dante-and-dragons]

I think TMA is bleeding into some of my D&D worldlore. Some of my gods are more like... people who have committed themselves so much to a concept/ideal (eg. luck, ambition, family) that they became the gods of those things. And then some of them are just... the raw, unfiltered/unworshiped ideals themselves.

For instance, there isn't really a god of war, but there is just straight up War, an entity, or the essence of war itself, which... exists.

I guess to some extent, the more concrete/person-shaped gods could be taken as avatars of the more essential forces/ideals.

I'm still not sure exactly how I want to do my pantheon, to be honest. I have a few gods developed, and some have names and take on physical forms, but others are... thereish.

#i kind of like the idea that the base entities/forces/ideas Exist but don't really interact with the world beyond abstract influence #and it's the named/worshipped “gods” (who were once people) that do things by channeling elements of the entities #but they don't necessarily worship those things. #so far the only god who canonically was once a person is the god of ambition. which i suppose is kind of fitting. #imagine being so ambitious that you become a god. like. that fits. #and then the only decided abstract god is War #maybe some of the gods were once people (eg. ambition) but then others came about through worship and mythology as #avatars of the Forces but they themselves don't “worship” those forces so much as they are strongly influenced by them #it does kind of bring about the question though of like... what happens to clerics and such? do they eventually inevitably become gods? #to me it would be deeply sad if the god of family was once a person because that would mean that their whole fam is now dead #so i'm thinking that one came about through like... abstract Feelings Of Familial Closeness #or to be honest could be an abstract entity that has a physical form because like... if people can become gods #maybe gods can become people (like immortal powerful people but like... with emotions and fleshy forms) #to be honest maybe my gods don't need to be super consistent or systematic i think that fits things in a way #mainly i am thinking abt War because one of my players succeeded a sword in the stone type puzzle andlike... #technically now they're a paladin of war but i'ven't given that god a name #i see war as an apathetic distant figure but unfortunately the trial already happened and it was partially a morality trial of like... #“please don't kill civilians” and it generally focused on the Horrors Of War which... idk if the apathetic figure of war would do that #dante dicit #might delete

[dante-and-dragons]

Blehhh I had a D&D session and I am feeling kind of bad about it. At the end of the day, everyone had fun, but I was just... noticing myself doing all of my DMing bad habits (saying too much, being too soft on the players, not really enforcing consequences or agency) and I feel like shit!!! Like. They had fun. But I am doing a lot of the things that I did in my very first, pretty bad campaign and like... It is really uncomfortable. I know they are bad and make the game less fun, but I guess I just felt like I was floundering a bit. I don't know. I'm just... bummed. Everyone had fun, so I should really calm down, but there are like... three major things that I kind of fucked up.

#like i just showed way too much of my hand i guess and there were a lot of things that i let them do that i wouldn't normally do #like i was very anxious going into the session and i think that made the session worse because to make me feel less anxious #i was just softer as a dm and it may have comforted me in the moment but it was like. ugh. i feel like the tone of the campaign... #just got really squishy and this session was very much given to Filler because i was too unsure of myself to let bad things happen #i guess. idk. #i also just. if i made a mistake while narrating or switching the music i feel like i didn't improvise or roll with it well i would fully #be like “OH SHIT WAIT I FUCKED UP ONE SECOND SORRY...” and awkwardly fumble with things for a super long time where i could #have just improvised away from it which i usually don't have a problem with??? at all??? but for some reason this session it was just... no #not working out. #dante dicit #vent #dm'ing #dungeon master #might delete

[dante-and-dragons]

a list of 100+ buildings to put in your fantasy town

academy

adventurer's guild

alchemist

apiary

apothecary

aquarium

armory

art gallery

bakery

bank

barber

barracks

bathhouse

blacksmith

boathouse

book store

bookbinder

botanical garden

brothel

butcher

carpenter

cartographer

casino

castle

cobbler

coffee shop

council chamber

court house

crypt for the noble family

dentist

distillery

docks

dovecot

dyer

embassy

farmer's market

fighting pit

fishmonger

fortune teller

gallows

gatehouse

general store

graveyard

greenhouses

guard post

guildhall

gymnasium

haberdashery

haunted house

hedge maze

herbalist

hospice

hospital

house for sale

inn

jail

jeweller

leatherworker

library

locksmith

mail courier

manor house

market

mayor's house

monastery

morgue

museum

music shop

observatory

orchard

orphanage

outhouse

paper maker

pawn shop

pet shop

potion shop

potter

printmaker

quest board

residence

restricted zone

sawmill

school

scribe

sewer entrance

sheriff's office

shrine

silversmith

spa

speakeasy

spice merchant

sports stadium

stables

street market

tailor

tannery

tavern

tax collector

tea house

temple

textile shop

theatre

thieves guild

thrift store

tinker's workshop

town crier post

town square

townhall

toy store

trinket shop

warehouse

watchtower

water mill

weaver

well

wind mill

wishing well

wizard tower

#ohoho i NEEDed this #i figured i would start planning the capital city of my campaign setting but then i chickened out because... i could not think of #what to put in it. this will help a lot #d&d #dungeons and dragons #reblog #worldbuilding

[dante-and-dragons]

Sigh... Do I... Do I think that my players can be mature about it if the highest ranking official in a criminal organization known as the Redhands is known as the High Fist.

#it's keeping with the Hand theme yk but... will they be mature about it... #i feel like every dm can relate to matthew mercer with purval suul or whatever #d&d #dungeons and dragons #dungeon master #dm #otherwise i'll just call him the Red Emperor or something #but I kind of like the High Fist #sigh

[dante-and-dragons]

I just planned such a fucked up delightful encounter and I am so sad because there is a 50/50 chance that my party will not encounter it at our next session.

#i will of course re-use it but!! ough i want to use this encounter now... #dante dicit #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dungeon master #dm #dming

[dante-and-dragons]

#this but dming #reblog #dungeon master #dm #dm'ing #d&d #dungeons and dragos

[dante-and-dragons]

OH! I never posted about it, but my first ever campaign (The Order of the Owlbears) which was running for four years ended recently, which is pretty cool.

And I am starting a Curse of Strahd campaign with some people who I don't know but who will be going to college with me next year. Which is also pretty cool!

And, along with continuing my second campaign (The Lunch Bunch—which needs to be renamed), I will be running a creepy circus oneshot with the people from The Owlbears plus a few others.

#i am living my forever dm life!!! #i am a player in One campaign only and that campaign meets this saturday too for i believe our fourth ever session #i'm very excited to sneak attack people and get traumatized #but OH MY GOD i am soooooo in love with CoS just from the campaign book i cannot WAIT for our first session #i am obsessed with the fact that strahd can like hijack attempts to talk with a deity/patron like???? hELLOOO?? #can you imagine like in your darkest hour turning to your god for guidance and it's just... strahd #i'm already brainstorming like good lines for that like “oh? you thought there was any god but me in this place?” but like!! #ough. i am so excited for this campaign mainly because of strahd toying with the party like!!!! ahhhh!! #dante dicit #dungeon master #dm #dming #forever dm

[dante-and-dragons]

And you muzzle yourself

Forcing your fur to lie flat, forcing yourself to be docile

Yet you are a creature of carnage and ruin

Of bloody jaws and wild eyes and murder, hatred, rage

I see your sacrifices, my dear, how you bow when you want to bite

You restrain yourself for the good of others, and that is a kindness that will not go unrewarded

#thelle #thelle the changeling #reblog #queue

[dante-and-dragons]

there's something about characters with doppelgangers and mirror selves and masks and personas that's like catnip to me. something about how it tells you so much about them while telling you nothing at all.

#thelle #thelle the changeling #reblog #queue

[dante-and-dragons]

This is my first time not being deeply fatigued after a session, and it is weirding me out!!!

#guys is this normal #is it just that i am improving as a dm #does it mean that i wasn't emotionally involved enough in my session and i'm repressing my emotions again??? #i'm being hyperbolic but i am also genuinely kind of wondering if that is the case this is really weird for me #if i am improving as a dm i guess that's good but it feels... #um it's like an insecure attachment style where you need someone exhausting and if things go too well you lose interest #or whatever #like a part of the appeal of d&d for me besides the Friends Time is that it is challenging and complicated to dm #it's like the sherlock holmes “my mind is an engine” quote you know??? #d&D #dming #dungeon master #might delete #dante dicit #did i just over plan???

[dante-and-dragons]

okay wait I know I just said that Sedated is an Astarion song... BUT

Kingdom of Welcome Addiction by IAMX is like... THE Astarion song. To me.

#astarion #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #kingdom of welcome addiction #iamx #astarion playlist #dante dicit #like i think if i had to pick one song... maybe not this one but it would be like my second choice

[dante-and-dragons]

"Do you think they had a situationship" No i think they too had a relationship tight wires between them pegs too deep to unroot and a mind like a ring sliding shut on some quick thing the construction killing them also

#thelle the changeling #reblog #queue

[dante-and-dragons]

i looooove characters who are sacrificial lamb coded. characters who have never lived for themselves. characters born to be a tool, a weapon, a sacrifice, all of the above. a character raised by the heroes to save the world, at any expense, even their own health, even their own life. a character raised by the villains to end the world, at any expense, even their own health, even their own life. characters who are denied personhood so they can be used as tools instead. characters who never even had a chance to be people because they were shaped into something else from the moment they were born. characters who were born to die.

#thelle #<- oc/a d&d char of mine #reblog #queue

[dante-and-dragons]

Sedated as an Astarion song...

#especially like... hm. maybe ascended astarion in a moment of clarity and regret #<- i'm saying astarion because this is a Thelle (my changeling) song and Thelle is basically like Astarion if he didn't want to get better #dante dicit #thelle #astarion #sedated #hozier #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

[dante-and-dragons]

Speedrunning session plans for my other campaign...

#dante dicit #idk how to tag this #<- i do i'm just lazy

[dante-and-dragons]

See, I'm actually struggling with Music Choices for next session, because... basically everything Planned for next session is some type of Tragic or Complicated Reveal. I'm using The Nomai from the Outer Wilds soundtrack for one specific reveal that is particularly gut-wrenching, and then I'm using Every Ending Has A Beginning from John Wick for the session opening because it's starting in the aftermath of a different big reveal where everyone is a little lost and unsure, but then I'm also doing a dream sequence which will have similar vibes. And ALSO... possible flashbacks. Like. Eurgh.

#all the songs have similar vibes idk which to assign where #dante dict #session planning #<- this should have been a tag a long time ago half of my posts on this blog are probs me procrastinating on session planning #dm #dming #dm'ing #dungeon master #d&d #dungeons and dragons

[dante-and-dragons]

I think my best DMing tip is, if you use music, use synthwave for dream sequences or other surreal situations.

#my party gets synthwave whenever they go to the astral plane and it's great #and also for dream sequences bc i do those pretty frequently (and i'm pretty great with them) #it really adds to the surrealness because it doesn't fit the Genre Expectations of a fantasy game #also i'm not sure if synthwave is exactly the name of the genre i'm thinking of eurgh. like. #wojciech golczewski is one i use his music a lot (esp Odium for the Astral Plane) #actually in general i try to not always stick with Genre-Fitting music unless i'm in a setting (eg. tavern) where there would be performers #more like vague atmospheric music is better for Setting The Tone w/o Implying Performers #but ofc this is an opinion and i don't like.. follow that as a hard rule or anything #dm #dm'ing #dming #dungeon master #d&d #dungeons and dragons #dante dicit #dm tips