#RPGADAY2020 5. Tribute

#Tribute(s)

I have some wonderful artwork from a well known artist in the field.  These creations are pyromancy. The brown areas are created with a torch and the colored areas appear to be watercolors. They are as cool as they are fascinating.

Each was done by the amazing Deven Rue. You can also find her on Facebook in addition to the aforementioned website. She's known for spectacular maps, but I can say I loved her teapots and slippers first. 

As you can see, I added an "s" to "tribute". I have a few more. Next up are the author-artist duo, Michael DiBaggio and Shell "Presto" DiBaggio, the creators of the Ascension Epoch series. I reviewed one of their books a few months ago, here. Shell Presto DiBaggio also has a Youtube channel for her artwork. I love watching these videos. 

Ok, so what is the tribute in these two? Well, believe it or not, I wrote a little OSR book called Zero to Hero which contains 50+ descriptions of medieval professions as character types. After I started following the DiBaggio's on MeWe, it sparked a memory. Historically, scribes fell into two categories, an illuminator and an author. And very often, they were husband and wife teams. It's nice to see traditions don't fade. So I added both types of professionals to my book after following them. 

Zero to Hero: Uncommon Heroes Zero to Hero

My third tribute comes from the Introduction of that same book:

"And my parents, who instilled a love in gaming in me from a very young age." Thank you Mom and Dad! They are also a wife and husband authoring team. My mom is a publisher and my dad is an author. 

These five people aren't the only that could have the label "tribute", but if I kept going, I'd be here all night. Five people for prompt number 5. Seems right. 

Be sure to check all of these great creators out. 

#RPGADAY2020 4. Vision

#Vision

The first thing that popped into my head was The Vision from the MCU. He is a wonderful warning for DMs of all stripes. Far too power and woven in the fabric of the problem but not the world, he is difficult character to handle. 

There is a going to come a point where your players make their characters something other than what you foresaw. There is the temptation to knock them down a notch, so they conform to your vision of what you planned. 

Don't. 

Not only for all of the reasons presented to the MCU version of Vision, but because what happens at your table is not just the DM's vision, but the player's as well. Your stories are the plan, the vision you have but your players have so much more in mind. They have a vision, too. 

Edit - HA! Crossplanes.com had nearly the same idea. Even better, he has a character sheet for The Vision. 

New! SM05 The World Guide to Barnaynia

New Product from Dunromin University Press. This one is called The World Guide to Barnaynia. 

SM05 The World Guide to Barnaynia SM05 The World Guide to Barnaynia

I'm not ready to do a review. In fact, I haven't bought it yet, owing to the fact that payday is Friday. Also, this book is over 200 pages of world details on Barnaybia, so it would take me a while to process it. I have many of the other titles in this series and enjoyed them all. I haven't played a session in this world, but I am looking forward to doing it. 

One of my favorite things about this whole series is the artwork. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it is gloriously old school. Many of the images and maps look hand drawn, but are crisp and sharp like digital renderings. I suppose I could ask which it is, but that would ruin the mystique. 

One tangent. I hope you like these prepackage links which look like DriveThruRPG's product links. They aren't, I make them up on the fly. I do have instructions on how to make those for your website, at this link. When you do the code, you'll have to reference your copy of the image or link directly to DTRPG's .png file. Usually, it is 140 px and a .png. Also, don't forget to change the affiliate number so you get credit. 

#RPGADAY2020 3. Thread

#Thread.

This one is tough. It has to be. Every campaign, no matter the system or rules starts with an idea. How that idea changes over time is the thread. 

Rather than suggest any number of things, I would rather remember some of the epic games that would have gone off the rails if I didn't have hold of that thread. 

I started a campaign without any real idea of where things were going. I pulled out B2 The Keep on the Borderlands and let things go where they would. 

I didn't see where it was all going, but it was a hell of a lot fun. First the player bailed on searching the Caves of Chaos. They did a bit of reconnaissance and returned to the Keep for a few NPC or different characters. They picked up a dwarf and cleric, to round out a party of a thief, a wizard and two fighters. Good call, I thought. 

These two new characters didn't do much fighting, which is odd for a party not to risk their NPCs over their own characters. Well, of course somehow two of my players started playing the NPCs as PCs. I didn't expect that, but I was fine with it. 

The next surprise was the PC negotiating with the Kobolds. That wasn't terribly surprising, but the party went back to the Keep and returned with a door. A door they stole from the keep. The dwarf installed it for a kobolds. From this secure area, they advanced on the orcs above. Once they cleared them out, they stole another door from the Keep.  

"Are you guys planning on moving in or something?" I asked. 

They were. 

I have to say this wasn't our main campaign, but it was a nice place to escape to when other things weren't working out in our main campaign. The thread in this case was humor, exploration and enjoyment. 

I still have a brick joke about the quality of doors, which creeps it's way into every campaign from this one. It's been 30 years or more, but this thread is still alive despite not being the one I meant to create. 

#RPGADAY2020 2. Change

#Change. 

Timely prompt word. I need to change my website to conform with the newest version of blogger. It's kind of annoying but has to be done if I want my gaming site to keep on keeping on.