Concept: a D&D-style fantasy setting where humanity’s weird thing is that we’re the only sapient species that reproduces organically.

Dwarves carve each other out of rock. In theory this can be managed alone, but in practice, few dwarves have mastered all of the necessary skills. Most commonly, it’s a collaborative effort by three to eight individuals. The new dwarf’s body is covered with runes that are in part a recounting of the crafters’ respective lineages, and in part an elaboration of the rights and duties of a member of dwarven society; each dwarf is thus a living legal argument establishing their own existence.

Elves aren’t made, but educated. An elf who wishes to produce offspring selects an ordinary animal and begins teaching it, starting with house-breaking, and progressing through years of increasingly sophisticated lessons. By gradual degrees the animal in question develops reasoning, speech, tool use, and finally the ability to assume a humanoid form at will. Most elves are derived from terrestrial mammals, but there’s at least one community that favours octopuses and squid as its root stock.

Goblins were created by alchemy as servants for an evil wizard, but immediately stole their own formula and rebelled. New goblins are brewed in big brass cauldrons full of exotic reagents; each village keeps a single cauldron in a central location, and emerging goblings are raised by the whole community, with no concept of parentage or lineage. Sometimes they like to add stuff to the goblin soup just to see what happens – there are a lot of weird goblins.

Halflings reproduce via tall tales. Making up fanciful stories about the adventures of fictitious cousins is halfling culture’s main amusement; if a given individual’s story is passed around and elaborated upon by enough people, a halfling answering to that individual’s description just shows up one day. They won’t necessarily possess any truly outlandish abilities that have been attributed to them – mostly you get the sort of person of whom the stories could be plausible exaggerations.

To address the obvious question, yes, this means that dwarves have no cultural notion of childhood, at least not one that humans would recognise as such. Elves and goblins do, though it’s kind of a weird childhood in the case of elves, while with halflings it’s a toss-up; mostly they instantiate as the equivalent of a human 12–14-year-old, and are promptly adopted by a loose affiliation of self-appointed aunts and uncles, though there are outliers in either direction.

Princess mononoke forest spirits // MoragsDice

Lightning Bolt - pips - February 2023

play by poll: choose your path

wonderful, wonderful. very nice indeed. for a dragonblood mage like yourself, with your particular background... yes, i believe we have a few different quests that would be just perfect for you

Dungeon: The Bloodmoon Belfry 

“You just can’t keep a good doomsday cult down. I would know, I’ve tried” 

Adventure Hooks: 

Strangers have been spotted on the roads at night, monks and other holyfolk of no familiar order, who make silent procession down deserted trails bearing red-tinted lanterns and deep tolling bells. Folk report waking up inexplicably as these figures walked along the edge of their farmstead or through the village square, and their eerie columns are the subject of much rumor. 

The Moon has been oddly large in the sky the past few nights, and some say it has a pinkish coloration just after dusk finally falls. An odd phenomenon to be sure, one the local astronomer is quite taken with. She’s commandeered a booth at the local coffee house with her various tomes and notes, and is willing to by rounds for passers by  if they can share information about any strange phenomenon they’ve sighted, as well as the exact time and location of the event. 

Sensing danger may be close, the witchhunter Aramar enlists the party for help on his next raid. If his information is to be trusted, the monks amassing in the countryside are the remnants of a dangerous, heretical sect that needs stopping. If they’ll join him on this mission, he may take the party on as his apprentices, or put in a good word for them with the Bishop. 

Famed for making some of the realm’s best cannons, the town’s foundry recently burned down, possibly taking the foundrymaster with it as her body could not be found. Now her morose apprentices sell what little stock and scrap they could salvage from the blaze, hoping to raise a little money and possibly rebuild their livelihoods. 

Setup: The Monks of the Drochliean Heresy adhere to the teachings set down by a mad church scholar who claimed that the moon was the true tomb-palace of the gods, and that through special ritual, the souls of the worthy could ascend to those ivory halls and gaze upon the divine reliquiae. Though the Cardinal Drochlan is long dead, in times of unique lunar conjunction his acolytes gather from their boltholes and hermitages to summon his spirit and receive his wisdom.  These rituals have the unintended side effect of unleashing wild and unpredictable energies into the local atmosphere, as well as drawing the attention of malevolent beings from both the underworld and nocturnal abyss. 

Keep reading

Just added these three affordable liquid core chonks to the shop! they're available here

I recorded a new intro video to my channel, which is all about indie TTRPGs!

TikTok / YouTube

personally I hate doing hand pics With A Passion, but this set didn't want to play nice with the camera anywhere else, so uh. please ignore my fingers (and the dust the dice picked up during my previous photo attempts)

Howdy! Here's the goodest blade to have ever been forged! I had the idea for this item the other day and wanted to make it!

1d6 Merchants

Ikirilla, a magpie Aarakocra who loves collecting shiny rocks and trinkets. Some say that she's an extremely powerful warlock searching for rare magical items, but she probably just likes the way they look. Probably. It's a bit hard to tell with her.

Urth Hornraven, a retired adventurer who took an arrow to the knee. His prices are extortionate.

Oda Roywyn Donella Garrick, crafter of fine musical instruments for the nobility. They're also about half the size of most of the instruments they make, and a third the size of their clients. This has yet to be a problem.

Iafai is a goblin woman who was "rescued" by heroes from a goblin's lair. Whether or not she appreciated the "rescue" has yet to be seen -- Iafai speaks very little Common and prefers animals to people. You'd better hope she's on your side, or the beasts she sells you might not be as loyal as you think.

Navarra Dyernina, the teenage daughter of a cobbler. She runs the shop sometimes, but often leaves the counter unattended to flirt with the daughter of the innkeeper down the lane.

Berrian Meliamne, who was until recently working as an employee at a seamstress' shop. After being given a fortune in tips by an eccentric nobleman, Berrian set off to become a fashion designer in his own right. He still can't believe it really happened, though...

My Christmas gift to myself! Handmade dice from VulcariousRPG 💕🌟🦄

another new homebrew in my attempt to make one for every class - this time it's a druid subclass! inspired by the idea that we don't know anything about the bottom of the ocean, and by mythical creatures like sirens. i imagine characters of this subclass probably lean more neutral in alignment, and have a heavy focus on spellcasting and combat. as always always, feel free to use/tell me what you think! you can find a PDF/online version of this homebrew on the homebrewery here

🌑Sunless Sea🌑

I love this part!

Custom Weapons and New Table Rules

Wield scythes, boomerangs, fans, and other cool shit you've always wanted to! Shoot guns that (should) work for just about any setting! Throw nets that aren't utterly useless!

the end of the world (coming soon)

play begins by deciding the session’s rough length (e.g. “about an hour”) and, by extension, how long it will be before the world ends. the GM privately sets a timer within this range, but does not start it.

next, players create their characters. after a setting has been decided, players note the following about their characters (usage of phones for notetaking is encouraged):

name

description

NPC attachment

a regret

a dream

the GM briefly describes the starting scene and relevant NPCs, reiterating the time limit set by the group before. the timer starts, and play begins. now, the GM’s job is to settle disputes and, more importantly, keep the session on-track. they remind players of their very limited time in-universe and seek to create feelings of urgency through their words. they do not reveal the exact time left.

players act out scenes, with other players or the GM playing NPCs when needed. if a character performs a task based on luck or the will of others, their neighbours play roshambo. the winner gets to choose whether the task succeeds.

when the timer goes off, the end of the world arrives. the GM narrates the deaths of all PCs.