Future of Food

Hi, I am a vegetarian.  I have been a full vegetarian since September 1993, as of this moment that is twenty-four years ago.  I joke and say that I eat unborn children and deprive children of nourishment; I eat eggs and milk.  I know that a vegetarian diet is the best diet for the World's population.  I know this because it means that most of my food foot print is minimized.  

Think of a food footprint as the amount of acreage that you need to live on.  Plants is the most efficient because, well you eat the plants that grow directly from the farm.  Meat is less efficient, Fish being the most efficient, then Poultry, then Pork, then Beef.  Fish and poultry are more efficient because it only takes them a little while to reach commercial size and they eat less to get to that size.  Beef is the least efficient because they take a long time to reach mature size and require a lot of food to reach that size.

That is a simple model.  In reality it mostly works, but it doesn't work perfectly. For example, fish is not the most efficient animal protein, insects are.  Also, fish and poultry fed on grain are less efficient than pigs that eat food waste and cattle that eat silage and grass, because humans can't eat those foods so, those animals make plant growth more efficient.  But insects can eat some of those same foods so a more advanced model is necessary to figure out the most efficient path way for food.  

Grain production produces a lot more grass than it produces grain.  The grain is what we eat, but it is not very efficient because we only eat a small bit of it.  We could add the grass stock and leaves to cattle food, we already do, so this increases beef's efficiency.  But if we feed the silage to locusts and turned the locusts into pellets to feed poultry and fish, we would be reducing the amount of grain that both consume, and let's face it, poultry prefer insects to grain, and most commercially farmed fish prefer a meat diet in nature.  

Other vegetable plants have similar waste issues, particularly amounts the grains.  Some, like lettuce are extremely efficient, but others like tomatoes and other vegetable fruit crops have a lot of plant matter left after harvest.  Some of this can be fed to cattle or insects, but some might not and will remain less efficient.  Even after we have made our food production as efficient as we can there are other savings to be had.

Food waste.  Humans throw away a lot of food.  Some food spoils, some is unappealing, and some parts of the food is considered inedible, while still being nutritious.  We tack this waste and throw it out.  We could compost some of it but some parts of it are not readily compostable in most circumstances.  Also compost takes a length of time to be turned into something that can be used in agriculture again.  One solution is garbavores, things that eat garbage.  Rats will eat garbage but so will pigs.  Pigs will eat spoiled food, fruit, vegetables, dairy, and meat too.  Pigs and other animals produce manure and while that has to be composted too, it is easier to do that.  Indeed, it is possible to inoculate the raw manure with fungus and produce more food as mushrooms.  

So now the question is, what is the best diet for the environment and for the health of the consumer?  We come to the words of the best diet for humans summed up in seven words:  Eat food, mostly plants; not too much.

Eat plants, waste eaten by insects to feed us, or to feed poultry and fish, to feed us with meat and or eggs.  Ruffage used to feed goats, smaller than cattle so faster to grow to produce milk and meat.  Sadly I foresee that we will likely want eggs and milk products for the longterm future, because cooking requires it and cheese is very pleasurable for most people.

The answer is not what most people would suspect from a longterm Vegetarian like myself.  I recognize that if our food supply is to become maximally efficient, the addition of small quantities of meat would be needed.

The Amoral Few

The moral question of food is a new idea.  Food and morality.  The first part of this argument is really how can food be amoral.  Really.  It is just food.  All humans need food to live and all food does that same things in all humans, so how can it be moral?

The first step in this is to define a few things like good and evil, something that philosophers have been trying to do for humanity forever, but for food only.  Evil food is not trying to kill good food and it is not trying to take over the world in a large world government.  Words I write in humour but see parallels to them that are real.  Evil food would be food that grows in a country in place of food that would feed the people who grow it.  Confused?  How about an example.  

Coffee.  Coffee, tea and chocolate is grown in third world countries for export to wealthy nations at a fraction of the end price.  The poor people who grow these cash crops see very little of the money, indeed, many of these crops are grown on vast plantations with very little in the way of local employment and only a few wealthy individuals benefit.  And the land that the cash crops are grown on typically is the best land and the food that would normally be grown on it would normally be used to feed the people of that country.  And so the poor people might need to import food from elsewhere to survive.  So in this case, amoral food would be the coffee, the tea and the chocolate.  It could be made moral if the cost of the final product and the raw product were more closely related and the people of the country of export recieved a greater portion of the profit, so they could then feed the region.  

That is one way to make a food that has an amoral history, more moral.  And here is the rub, as I sit here drinking tea, we are all guilty of it, because we humans feel that luxury foods are important to our lives.  They can't grow everywhere, so we want them to grow where they can and we should pay for the luxury food.  We should export the staples that can't be grown where the luxury food is grown at a reduced price.  But there are some foods that are more evil than those foods.

There are foods that will kill people.  I know where you are going with your thoughts: GMO foods are dangerous and will kill and Organic foods are good.  If you thought that, you would be wrong.  And I can prove it with simple arguements.  No hocuspocus.  I am not a shill for big GMO, nor Monsanto.  I am poor and don't own a car or a house.  I rent and take transit places when I want to go places.  I walk or ride my bike.  I would happily be a shill for those GMO companies, because they do good work for humanity.  Really.

Organic food is not evil.  GMO food is not evil either.  They are just food and they are not evil in themselves, they can't be, because they have no choice, but they can be used to cause harm, and so for the purposes of this argument, Organic Food is evil.  Why evil?  It is about numbers.  The numbers are the people in the world, it is about climate change, and it is about the health of people.  

Earlier this year, it was announced that Peak Child occurred.  That was when e numbers of new children started to go down, which means that in subsequent generations there will be less people born each year than the year before and this will mean the population will naturally stabilize and decline.  The problem is, that we won't see it stabilize for many years becuase the death rate has been declining for years and so the natural population increase and the natural population decrease remain out of sync, so the population will still continue to rise for many years to come.  The World's population will rise from where it is now at between seven and seven and a half billion people to nine or ten billion people.  That is the problem.  There is another problem.

Years ago, back when the world's population was merely two or three billion people, scientists announced that we had reached Peak Food.  They said that we would never produce more food than what we were producing at that time.  They were wrong of course, because of the Green Revolution, which was not Green as we mean it in today's jargon, irronically it was very unGreen.  The Green Revolution was when they discovered that artificial fertilizers and artificial pesticides could increase crop production by leaps and bounds.  The practise poisoned the land and the earth, disrupting ecosystems and such, but it also allowed a short term gain in food production.  Short term, because the practices are unsustainable.  

In the late 1980s technology began to change in agriculture.  The processes that were involved in creating new versions of plants and animals that allowed better food production began to change.  We began to be able to make the changes in things directly instead of leaving the changes to chance.  This meant that we, humanity, could tweak plants and animals to make them better in ways that would take much longer if left to chance.  We could take successful mutations and genes from one plant and put them into plants of the same species.  We could take genes from different species and put them into others, like from grass to tomatoes.  We could even move move genes from completely different orders of life, because on the genetic level genomes are nearly identical.  Moving a gene from a bacteria to a plant or an animal to a plant has no dangerous effect on anything of the animal that is destined to pay money and consume it.  Theoretically, one could create a tomato that is poisonous for humans, but there are easier ways to do that, like poison or bullets.  

He above is what people who are evil Organic Food proponents like to cite as to why GMOs are bad for you.  Evil, that is a pretty strong statement.  Let's unpack that.  If someone kills someone they might be considered evil.  If someone accidentally kills someone, then because ignorance is no excuse, they still killed someone, they did something bad.  If they were told about it and they did it again, then they would be killing people through willful ignorance, they would be evil then.  So, I would suggest that Organic Food proponents are killing people through willful ignorance and they would be therefore evil.

How are they willfully ignorant?  The science has been around for over thirty years, and there has been no solid proof that GMOs are bad or dangerous and that many aspects of Organic farming techniques are harmful as well.  The power of genetically modified plants is amazingly impressive in its scope.  They are revolutionary.  They have created a strain of rice that naturally include a higher vitamin-A content that would wipe out diseases caused by not having enough.  They make plants that are resistant to non toxic herbicides so that those herbicides can be applied in places of much more toxic herbicides.  They make plants that have naturally produced toxins that only affect insects that eat the plant and not the insects that live in or around the plants and not in the soil.  These plants would improve the nutrition content of the food and make e land safer for everyone and everything.  

There is more, some plants, like clover fix nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil, if that capability could be put into other plants, then those plants would not need to be fertilized too.  Tomatoes with a great shelf life could be take the genes for great taste and we would have tomatoes that have a long self life and great taste too.  The skin of a potato has a complete protein, which means that if you just ate potato skins it would provide all the protein you would require.  If the genes that allowed that could be put into other foods, we would all be healthier for it.  

That is the argument for the morality of GMO food as good.  Organic food is completely natural and that means that to grow well it needs to be fertilized, and herbicides and pesticides need to be spread to allow it to grow.  The fertilizers need to be spread, which means that they have to be spread everywhere and non selectively.  Same with the pesticides and the herbicides.  This means more of the poisons and fertilizers miss the crop and enter the food chain.  We learned from the disaster of DDT exactly how far reaching a simple pesticide would go and cause damage.  Non selective poisons affect everything it touches and kills indiscriminately.  Also it requires multiple applications over the life of the crop.  Which means more chemicals, more damage.  The idea that organic means that the pesticides are organic too, is a distraction.  Organic pesticides can be just as destructive as non-organic pesticides.  

That is the argument that Organic food can be evil.  People would suggest that that was the same way that people grew crops for generations and so that it must be a better way to do things.  By that argument, we should all be using horse and buggies, sailing ships and in agriculture, no plows, we have after all been using plows for only a few centuries and not using them for thousands of years.  

Organic food, also has lower yields than GMO crop yields.  And this is another reason why organic food is evil.  Right now there are over 7,000,000,000 people. Seven Billion.  And we grow enough food for those people, just enough, well actually only almost enough.  There are a lot of starving people.  Some of those people are starving because we can't distribute all the food to the regions that have less from the ones that have too much, but even then there is a bit of shortfall.  Much of the food is organic.  Much of it is GMO.  But the wealthy countries where there is more food, they are banning GMO food.  And in the poor regions they are getting less food because of their choices.  The poor starve so the wealthy can get enough food.  And the wealthy tell the poor that they should not eat the more productive, more nutritious, less damaging food, because the weather people for no good reason say so.  That, is the definition of evil food practices.

That is with only seven billion people.  Imagine with an additional two to three billion people.  Then it would be a billion people eating fine with the rest of the people a third less food, that is called starvation.  The willful ignorant killing the poor.  The amoral few.  

D&D notes for the first adventure

Notes for Neloar

The village of Neloar was the last of the five villages built by the first lord go Greysteel.  The area was a little more than planned and the clearing had just begun when he died.  Immigrants from Jarda and Greysteel arrived and discovered that the land was much more fertile than other places and the settlement quickly began to grow.  The land was cleared and planted and for the first decade the harvests were larger than expected and the village grew and grew.  Now the large harvests merely occur every other year on average.  The land proved fertile enough that it could grow grapes and other orchid crops like apricots and peaches.  The wine in the region was at one time sought after from Jarda, but now most of the wine is consumed locally, but still sought after.    

The prosperity of the town attracted Aurista to the town and a beautiful temple to the prosperity god was built. There are other shrines, Stomidia is present and there is a wooded area dedicated to the Grey Warder.  

Cult 

Encounter 2— three fighters

6 — 2 rogues, 14 humans

7 — 1 rogues

12—5 humans

13—2humans

14—2humans

15—5 humans

16—3troglodytes

18—4humans

21—2 clerics, 9 goblins,4 troglodytes,2 humans

22— 5 humans

Abandoned!

9

16

17

24

There are 125 buildings that make up the primary town area the above represents about 60% of the adventure town, so to make it seem like more of an exodus from the area, when the PCs enter the town periphery they will see a number of overgrown fields and in one case a field that looks newly plowed, plants starting to grow, but no one anywhere.  A few homes look occupied, most with plowed fields, but the people run scares when the PCs come down the way.  One house, with weeds growing over the wheels  of a couple broken carts, has a young man sitting on the porch playing a lyre like from deliverance.  Watchful parents with crossbows standing in the cottage.  

The way into the village ias a patchwork of farms mostly still working, but the majority of the farm clusters, the groupings of three to five farms are affected  a mix of abandoned, strange and unaffected.  When they get to the town they should all be a little weirded out.  ****Accented by making the description of the many farms they passed by before getting here.*****

The village has three inns one abandoned and one infiltrated, the infiltrated was also the the location of a chapter house of the Jaradanese Theives Guild.  The guild was targeted a few years ago in Greysteel and they made the impromptu move here.  The Greysteel chapter house was more concerned about money laundering than actual thievery and they have considerable investments in the Neloar area.  A few months after the end of the fiasco, if any of the occupants of the Golden Grain have survived, that reward of 100pp  and a riding horse, arrive for each of the party members.  If all the proprietors died, there is an assassin sent.  

In addition to the town includes a sawmill, a tannery, a grocer—that purchases extra food from the farmers, and a winery, distillery and beer maker.  All of these additions are empty as the occupants were targeted by the cult and the occupants were failed to be charmed or died in later fights.  The buildings are intact and there is product in various states of completion or still ready for sale.  Tools are left as if their owners were about to pick them up in a moment.

Outside of town there is a large temple to Stomidia, abandoned.  A small temple to Xeric and one to the Grey Warder also abandoned. Unfortunately, the Tax Assessors office is still manned.

The clerics in the temple of Aurista are now worshippers of Drogath and the walls have been desecrated with written symbols of his priesthood as an idol has not been readied, idols of the Naga also serve.  There are additional priests from the temple of Stomidia and Xeric.  The priest of the Grey Warder did not survive the attack.

Inside the marsh temple, the naga has less powers than a traditional Spirit Naga.  Most notably her Charm is permanent until her death and her regeneration powers are absent.  She is granted resistance to magic as well.  She is not in fact a Naga at all but a constrictor snake that swallowed an artifact and the artifact caused her to become a Naga.  The Naga is accompanied by a dozen constrictor snakes and two half Yuan-ti.  One of the Yuan-ti will escape when the Naga is defeated, the other will cover the escape if it is still alive.  If the PCs defeated the Yuan-ti, a third will duck through the secret door in the South and the door will shut before they can get to it, if they open it the will find the temple room empty unless they missed it the first time.  

The story behind the Naga in the story is that a few years ago and artifact shard of a forgotten mythical blade appeared rose out of the swamp it was lodged.  A large constrictor snake encountered the shard and the residual magic in the blade shard compelled the snake to it, the biggest creature it could affect.  The snake was hypnotized by the shard of gold metal and after a few days it devoured the shard.  The shard worked its magic over the course of a year and slowly the snake grew until it was large enough to compel other creatures to its service.  First troglodytes then goblins joined with her.  By the time the first humans were brought to her, she had reached her present form and the power of the shard had worked all it could to empower her.

The Troglodyte room will be a more involved battle with troglodytes, stirges, and either a crocodile or other lizard like creature.  The troglodytes will attack with the crocodile first and the stirges will attack on their own from all directions. They will attack with advantage as they will be flanking the characters.  At the first sounds of combat the troglodytes at the other end of the cave will close as quickly as they can.  They have no crocodile or stirges.  

Combat without light will be differently described.  Shapes and sound with impressions of heat, shapes at range are indistinct.  Undead and mud covered creatures as well as cold blooded creatures, appear much like the background, but different so they appear to shift, which means they can see them.  Dark-vision characters can see in darkness as if it were dim light.  Dim light means everything is slightly obscured, which means passive perception is reduced by 5.  But that levels the playing field for everyone.  For finding secret doors that is important.

  

Bright light spell disrupt dark vision for an instant, if they have an instant duration, like lightning bolt and some colours of fire spells.  If characters clue into this and close their eyes just before, they get a brief advantage to affected opponents.  The effect is over by the next turn.  So if a cleric of Stomidia Storm domain, uses a lightning affect, all creatures that closed their eyes the instant the light affect occurred, have advantage over  other monsters.  This means they can attack or move without attacks of opportunity.  

The Shard Artifacts.  The finished form is a massive sword of three parts, Blade, Guard, and Hilt.  The finished sword is a blade from the distant past, from a time when the First Ones ruled the continent.  They battled the Dragons for supremacy and won.  They wielded vast powers that none have ever been able to master since and at their height they forged a mighty artifact.  The completed artifact was meant to rule the continent with undisputed power but the result was unanticipated.  It brought the entire continent wide empire to its knees shortly after it was forged and allowed the Dragons to once again to gain dominion to the lands.  It was dubbed the Sword of Balance.  

The Sword is a blade of twenty parts that were scattered when the blade was first used to fight the greatest dragon still alive.  The shards are all good aligned, but they create great evil that good must battle to gain.  Once the shard creature it awards itself to the victor.  To the forces of good the power only is revealed when two pieces join together, they fuse and their power manifests.  

The Hilt, also known as the Rod of Conquest is also in twenty pieces, it's pieces unlike the the Sword, desire to join together and once together cause greed and evil to proliferate and desires of conquest.  Each piece has power that keeps increasing as more pieces are discovered.  Many of the pieces resemble rings that confer more mundane powers like protection the like, but once two are in possession they begin to gain control.  Two confer an attribute increase, intelligence or strength, three another increase and a reduction in wisdom. By the time four are attained the attribute increase is by four and a lust to find more of them.  As soon as consecutive pieces are discovered they fuse and the greater power of the artifact comes into play and it begins to impose a greater desire for conquest upon the possessor.  The owner learns how to rise in power and achieve its goals, the conquest of the continent.  Many times in the past ten thousand years has seen great empires rise and each time the emperor was seen with a partially constructed Rod of Conquest.

The third artifact is the most important one, the Guard.  This artifact has been lost to time, because it has only one power and that power only manifests when both the Blade and Hilt are complete.  The Guard's only power is to join the Hilt and the Blade together into the Sword of Balance.  The Sword of Balance is all about knocking hills and mountains down.  The Sword can be used safely to oppose great good and great evil, but the moment that the possessor becomes the greatest example of good or evil; they become the target of the artifact.  The only way to keep the artifact is to not use it and to sink into obscurity.  The only way to destroy the artifact is to willingly give it up.  The powers of the combined artifact grant the wielder the powers of a Greater God, essentially. They unlock spells that have not been around since the time of the First Empire, Mythical 12th level spells.

D&D the setting main piece

I am told that the most important thing in a game is to not to break the perception of preparedness, when someone decides that they want to go to that ruin on the left, you can't say no, I am not ready for you to go there.  The correct response is to say, "I thought you would never ask," and begin describing it.  There are lots of little things that break the aura of a setting, like meeting random people and not having names for them.  Or taverns, or temples.  Or other things.  As Ford Prefect said in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, if a hitchhiker came prepared with his towel, his must have just lost everything else, so lending him anything else is not a hardship.  DMs need to have their towels ready.

Inns.  In Hommlet there is the Welcoming Wench, all ready for someone to go in and start a bar fight.  Every village has at least on inn or drinking establishment.  The more prosperous has two or three.  They provide places for locals to swap news, gossip and hold impromptu meetings– as well as get a good mug of ale and a meal.  

Every village has a blacksmith.  Someone to repair the metal goods and shoe horses and such, they might also repair leatherwork if there is no tanner or leather worker.  

How does the village feed itself?  Most common there are farms and then what must there be as well?  A mill to grind the grain to flour.  If there is a mill, there may be a brewer and they might be the same.  

Temples, every village will have at least one temple, maybe two or three.  Who are they temples of?  Hommlet has two, a temple to StCuthbert and a grove to the Druids.  The villages around Greysteel include an Agricultural Deity, and a nature deity, because there are farms and lots of woods, but it makes sense that there might be a temple to a protection Deity, and a temple dedicated to prosperity in Orlane, and a temple dedicated to Trade or Rivers in Saltmarsh. Saltmarsh might also have a temple dedicated to a trickster deity, because there are lots of Smugglers there.  The duke worships Scoria, that Goddess' temple is large and prominent in Greysteel.  Replace Hommlet's StCuthbert with Scoria, the Goddess of agriculture Stomidia. Prosperity Aurista, 

So that a is a few different gods that I must prepare for the setting that I have created. I have already detailed, or started to detail the major gods of the world, so I should start with those.  

Agricultural Deity: the Goddess of Weather seems like a good start, in this area.  CG, CN, and CE.  Good weather is good for crops.  Also, this might double as a good Temple for Saltmarsh, as this goddess is about trickery too.  She could be worshipped in the farmlands for bringing sun and rain in their proper measure and warding off her storms, in Saltmarsh also to pull the wool over the eyes of officials.  Name… Stomidia, of the Fickle Wind.  Who tended her children by scattering the winds and pushing them together, who lashed out with cyclones to destroy those who wronged her and who sent a thunderstorm to dampen her Sister's wedding day as a prank.  The Goddess of  Weather is Chaotic (Red). Tempest, Nature, Trickery.  Those who perform an elaborate prank and do not get caught that causes chaos recieve Stomida's Blessing

The people in the area need a god to call upon to protect them against the evils of the world.  Particularly against the evils that have arisen nearby a century ago, a god of righteousness and protection, Hestium, protector and Smiter of evil, locked in a never ending battle with his brother the War God, the God of health is depicted as a Winged Deva with four arms, holding a Sheild, Warhammer, a flower and a ewer of water.  The God of Health is Good ( Small and White, 1/4 year rotation, eclipse every five rotations) Life, Protection, City, NG,LG, and CG.  Giving meaningfully (not seeking reward) assistance to the poor and destitute, grants the Blessing of Hestium.

The god of nature might be easy to take the god of nature , but that would mean adding another Greater God to the mix, perhaps it is time to just broaden the mix by adding a demigod, or just the local Nature of the area, embodied by the idea of a cloaked stranger that wanders the forest who can change its shape to rock, tree, stag or man.  Known as the Grey Warder, he picks no side except those that can't defend against the stride of civilization.  Proper prayers must be given to him before a farm is planted, before land is cleared.  Stories are abound of those that tried to do so only to find a years work undone in a single night.  Neutral, god of the forests and lands drained by the River Wild.  Domain Nature.

Goddess of trade and prosperity , domains of Forge and City CG, CN.  Aurista is worshiped in all cities in various forms and appears as a gold or silver woman with a bulging purse at her side and a bundle of goods over her back.  Stories are told often how she traded with another god and then traded to yet another and gained much more in the exchange, others say that she trades worthless junk for valuables.  Most market places are overseen by a cleric of Aurista, and wise merchants evoke her name before entering trade.  Trading posts often have her image on a their sign post.

Goddess of the Green Sun, Scoria Goddess of justice.  She is depicted as a woman with four arms and two faces, one on the front and one on that back.  She is dressed in armour and carries a drawn Sword, an open book that she writes the good deeds and bad deeds on, a balance which she weighs people's souls and a hammer which she forges souls.  Her brow shines with the light of the Sun.  She is the God of Order.  She is neither good nor evil, she is lawful.  Worshipers are lawful, possibly looking for vengeance.  Those who keep their faith or oaths in the face of temptation are empowered by the Oath of Scoria.

Dragoth the Slayer.  God of the Green Moon is the god of murder and war; Strife.  Depicted as a god with three faces and nine arms.  In temples his statue rotates, not that he has many temples.  One face has one eye, one has two and the other has three.  He wields a sword, a dagger, a whip, a morningstar, a flail, lightning, a palm up with a cloud in it, chains and a fist raised to the heavens.  Sacrifices are made every full moon and every dark moon and they are always blood sacrifices.  All sacrificers are blessed by the god, the greater the sacrifice the greater the reward.  The statue is splattered with blood and it will glow green and the blood will burn off and the eye will bathe the worshiper with green light.  The god is evil.

Beshtak'l the goddess of magic and of what is hidden.  She is the goddess of knowledge.  Her name is unknown to all but her priests and it is never spoken aloud save on her holy days.  Her temples always include a window, the greater the temple the more window.  The floor is always clean and without furniture.  There is no idol.  When the light of only the blue sun shines through, the window becomes opaque and the statue of the goddess appears.  She is alternately as a child, a maiden, a mother or a crone.  She is the only god whose name is always the same.  She is the god of knowledge, magic and stealth and is Neutral.  Those that uncover hidden knowledge, lost knowledge and make it availible recieve her blessing

Xeric, the god of nature and the life cycle.  The god of the blue moon.  The moon of months.  He is the god of seasons and he is depicted as a may with a staff and a cloak of flowers.  He is all about nature and the life cycle.  God of life and death and all things natural.  Completely neutral. He is the god of Nature, Grave, and Life.  Undead are antithetical to his being, and should anyone kill the interrupter of the natural cycle of life, they will be blessed with Xeric's Blessing.

All the supreme goddesses have light domain for free because they are all suns.

The Goddess of Light is Lawful (Green) City, Forge, Protection

The Goddess of Magic is Neutral (Blue) Arcana, Knowledge, War

The Goddess of  Weather is Chaotic (Red). Tempest, Nature, Trickery

The God of Health is Good ( Small and White, 1/4 year rotation, eclipse every five rotations) Life, Protection, City

The God of Nature is Neutral (Medium and Blue, monthly rotation, eclipse every nine rotations) Nature, Grave, Life

The God of War is Evil (Large and Green, bi-weekly rotation, eclipse every 27 rotations) Death, Tempest, Forge

Of Gods: There are six greater gods, they are the only greater gods in all of Creation.  They are named differently in different cultures across the globe, and different cultures emphasize different aspects but there are a few things that remain common through all the greater world. 1) All the greater gods have three domains available for clerics, but they get more spells, the goddesses have Light Spells and the Gods have Darkness Spells.  2) The goddesses are associated with One of the suns, and the gods with a moon.  When the moon or sun is absent from the sky they lose power.  3) The major gods have a greater hold on the world.  When any intelligence invokes the proper sacrifice, action, they receive a material benefit to any one who does it… 

Beshtak'l's Blessing: gain ability to cast a single spell of higher level once a day for five castings or cantrip for a week.

Dragoth's Blessing: +5 to hit next attack.

Blessing of Hestium: next failed saving throw, succeeds.

Stomidia's Blessing: advantage for a day

Oath of Scoria: Sanctifies an Oath with divine Retribution

Xeric's Biddance: allows a version of Raise Dead to work.  Raise Dead short of a wish fails otherwise, unless cast by a cleric of Xeric.

Gods of the Realm:

Greater 

Beshtak'l or the hidden god, absent god supreme god N

Dragoth E

Hestium G

Stomidia C

Scoria L

Xeric N

Lesser

Aurista goddess of prosperity CG

*Cyr Astra of the Dulcimer, god of music CG

*Csane god of oaths, LN

*Volduct god of buildings, LN

*Dalmera goddess of rivers and streams, CN

*Ghelestria goddess of stars, LN

*Candalmar god of fire and artificial light, CG

*Balath god of murder, CE

*Jard goddess of righteous actions, LG

*Maristophelis goddess of common knowledge, N

*Fagus goddess of plagues, NE

*Lamatur god of friends and family relationships, NG

*Omarra goddess of the forge and industry, LN

*Qarous god of travel, NG

*Hatelan god of misfortune, NE

*Dimghit god of night, CN

*Restenest god of wild animals, CN 

*Yesdreai goddess of time and healing, NG 

*Wegnaturn god of the deal, LE

*Ruersa goddess of malice and vengeance, LE 

*Sorisrow god of corruption, CE

*Ahdet god of Death, NE

Demi

The Grey Warder, N

*Papax god of disease, CN

*Reho god of strength, CG

What else does a village have?  A place to get what they don't produce a trading post or a market place, one or the other, the latter tends to be in cities and large towns, if not, then the former, but in towns there may be more than one— if so they will likely specialize in other areas so as no stepping of toes occurs.  One might sell weapons and armour while another might sell things used on a farm, both might sell the usual dry goods, a third might sell textiles too.  

Villages might have one or more specialized craftsman.  For example there is a brewmaster in Hommlet, a wine maker in Orlane and in The Downs they make Apple Brandy.  The Downs also have more cattle than the other villages and so they probablly have a leather worker too.  Greysteel grows a lot of food, but not enough so it imports food from the other villages.  Because Greysteel is bigger, they have more blacksmiths and even a metal Armourer and weaponsmith, three of the best furniture makers are there too, the other is in Hommlet.  The cooper, lives in Greysteel too.  Most villages have a potter, but the town has better and more.  Most of the fish comes from Saltmarsh, and the salt.  Boats dock in Saltmarsh, before their contents head inland on the roads or on barges to Greysteel.  

Interesting roleplaying scenarios,  what happens when the characters spill blood in a temple to Drogath and the image of him is splattered with blood and the character receives his blessing?  

The Duke worships Scoria, and it has been made the State Religion.  He is LE but theoretically characters could worship her and be LG or LN.  

Central tension is law vs Chaos.  But both are bad as the leader is Evil and the opposition is also Evil.  The leader opposes the Temple of Elemental Evil, but is intent on war with the nation of Orcs to the south and has aspirations of conquest.  The world at large is not in peace, but the region is isolated.  The nation has got problems and it is gearing up for war.  If the characters fix the problems, the Duke can go to war.

Population of the area:

All the villages are larger than just the main village.  There are hamlets and groupings of farmhouses satellites around the village. A village might have forty houses there with 250 people there, but the area outside the village might have ten times that in the area.  Hommlet would have around 3000 inhabitants, same for the Downs, Orlane might have 5000 people including the outside people.  Nulb and Saltmarsh mug have 1500 people around both villages.  The town of Greysteel has 3000 inside its walls but outside the walls have another 7000 people farming the area.  All told 24,000 people in the area

Greysteel 3000; 600bldg outside 7000; 700bldg

Neloar 5000; 500bldg 125+375

Sunnydale 3000; 300bldg 75+225

Mehlomt's Dale 3000; 300bldg

Blun's Vale 1500; 150bldg 40+110

Saltmarsh 1500; 150bldg

2000 outliers, on the roads and in the woods 35 micro settlements 

26000 people.

If the players track down the smugglers and the pirates and pay their taxes the duke will have the money to outfit the army.  The will buy up all availible weapons and armour, Duke's discount.  50% of price, then deduct 25% taxes.

If they protect Orlane and Sunnydale the food security will be solved and the army will beable to be supplied.  Food prices increase by 10% rising to 50% as food becomes more scarce.

If the characters defeat the temple, the money and magic from taxes will help the war and the area will be protected.  Raising a Draft for the army.  The streets become more empty.  As young men and women are pressed into the army. 

Clearing out Humanoids is part of the security and allows the duke to press even more troops into the army.  If everything all lines up he will 

Saltmash and Sunnydale are stasis adventures

Orlane and the Temple start working as soon as the characters arrive.  

D&D non edited time plus

Time.  It is a nine day week, because, well because there are two suns and they move in the sky around each other, once every nine days, so duh.  The names are pretty obvious too.

  Brightday, is the day that the yellow sun eclipses the Red sun.

  Noday is the day honouring The hidden god, 

Dragoday honours the green moon god, 

Darkday is the day that the Red sun eclipses the Yellow sun.  

Kingsday is a day of rest.  

Scoriday is the day of the Yellos Sun god, 

Xeriday honours the Blue Moon god and Stomiday honours the red sun god.  

Brightday and Darkday are religious days and days of rest for other people.  

There are four weeks in a month and there are twelve months in a year.

There are three moons.

  

The Green moon is associated with the God Dragoth.  It is full every 14 days.  Dragoth is an evil god and when it is full it is considered to be a bad time to be out and around, under Dragoth's Eye, but then again, people know evil is abound when is out of the sky.

The Blue moon is associated with the God Xeric.  It is full every 34 days, close enough to a month of 36.  Xeric is the god of nature and the life cycle, he typically is unconcerned about the affairs of mortals.  People do know him though as the reaper of souls, but they know it is nothing personal.

The White Moon is associated with the God Hestium.  It is full every 108 days, precisely a quarter year.  The moon is full at the start and end of each season and it is dark for the mid season times.  Hestium is a good god and so there is not a lot of fear about the full moon or the dark.  But people are comforted that he can see them, his light often penetrates the day.  When the moon is dark, people say he is down in the land doing good work.

Eclipses happen.  The Red sun and the Yellow sun eclipse each other once a week.  The moons occasionally eclipse one of the suns, but not always.  Every year at midsummer the red sun eclipses the yellow and the day never comes and the stars are out during the day.  Midwinter, for a week the two suns disappear entirely and well there are lots of minor things that happen through the year.

Which leads us to Astrology!  It is real and it is 100% accurate if you are properly trained and have the correct birthdate and birthplace of the subject.  You also have to have the training, most people just use magic to correctly figure out their horoscopes.  

The first day of the year is the first day of Spring.  A year is measured by the movement of the two sisters through the sky, in the summer they are larger and in the winter they are smaller and it gets colder.  Some years are warmer and some colder, in a predictable manner.  

Elves celebrate a short year and a long year.  Which lasts 24 short years long.  They are conscious that the younger races use the short year, but understand that that is their way with short lives.  Elves typically enter adulthood when they are 4 and live often past 28, some have been known to live past 50.

. Alternate prime material plane explanation.  Apprentice Solicitor skills performance and persuasion.  Information dump that involves a lot of things that you don't understand and may never understand involving time and Toril and Oerth and stuff.

Solicitor.  By the light of the Yellow Sun, Scoria, mother of Laws, set down the rules of the great kingdom of Jarda.  The rules were clear and concise and breakers of these laws were to be punished.  Everything was clear and beyond reproach, and sterile and unfeeling.  A thief who stole was guilty, a thief who stole to feed her children was guilty, the worker who stole from his employer, even though his employer never paid him, was guilty….  It became clear that the law was a harsh mistress and unyielding, people however were not.  The Solicitor is the person who argues the extenuating circumstances that need to be taken into consideration before justice is served.  While the accused is always guilty of the crime in question, the punishment is not always appropriate.  The solicitor is called to explain these extenuating circumstances to the court and the ruler of the land before judgement is laid down.  A passionate speech is often the only difference between a light sentence and a harsh one.  

SKILL PROFICIENCIES: Performance, Persuasion. 

LANGUAGES: proto Jardanese, one other language of your choice.

EQUIPMENT: Diplomat's Pack, Disguise Kit, book of law, a Rapier, and a bag of 25gp.

Sage Personality Trait except as follows:

4. The world is a stage and the best person to be front and center is Me!

7. I need to be included in every social situation even when I don't know the first thing they are talking about. You monster.

8. I am convinced that people are talking behind my back constantly.

Noble ideals Except as as follows:

3. Independence.  I must make my own way in court, with out relying on the standard practices of performance law. (Chaotic)

5. Family. The enforcers of law, and the Rulers have a difficult job and deserve a bit more leniency under the Law. (any)

Sage Bond except as follows:

1.  … clients

3.  I work to preserve the Court of Oration in Greysteel from being used in the machinations of the Duke.

Sage Flaws.

First One Patron

1st see future, gain advantage on one check in next minute refreshes after short rest.

6th gain the full proficiency in all skills of one Ability, until a long rest where it may be reset

10th gain a one round as another class of the same level, spells must be selected after a long rest, but may be used as any class at notice

14th use a spell at a higher level that you can cast; can cast a 10 level spell slot; comes with a list of 10th level Warlock spells.  This spell is in addition to other spell slots.

Detect magic, Identify

Enhance ability, Moonbeam

Speak with Dead, Speak with Plants

Divination, Confusion

Legend Lore, Modify Memory

. The pantheon of the Jardanese Empire and protectorates.  Grew up and did all the things that elves do, dancing and playing music writing poetry etc.  On a journey to the city of Jarda, that was just a town when your great-Great Grandfather was born, about a thousand years ago. Elvish time.  Where you encountered the Human pantheon and you fell in love with the stories.

Shawn… the Gnomish warrior.  Who wields a heavy Warhammer.

Mike.  The mutant abandoned, knows the woods around Orlane substitute.  Local boy.

Renu.  Dwarf from the Dragon Teeth mountains, well originally that mountain system, which your parents claim was played out years ago

Samo. Cleric of?  

D&D Gods, the stuff I edited for my players

Of Gods: There are six greater gods, they are the only greater gods in all of Creation.  They are named differently in different cultures across the globe, and different cultures emphasize different aspects but there are a few things that remain common through all the greater world.  The goddesses are associated with one of the suns, and the gods with a moon.

Gods of the Realm of Jarda:

Greater Gods:

the Hidden God N

Dragoth E

Hestium G

Stomidia C

Scoria L

Xeric N

Lesser Gods:

Aurista goddess of prosperity CG

*Cyr Astra of the Dulcimer, god of music CG

*Csane god of oaths, LN

*Volduct god of buildings, LN

*Dalmera goddess of rivers and streams, CN

*Ghelestria goddess of stars, LN

*Candalmar god of fire and artificial light, CG

*Balath god of murder, CE

*Jard goddess of righteous actions, LG

*Maristophelis goddess of common knowledge, N

*Fagus goddess of plagues, NE

*Lamatur god of friends and family relationships, NG

*Omarra goddess of the forge and industry, LN

*Qarous god of travel, NG

*Hatelan god of misfortune, NE

*Dimghit god of night, CN

*Restenest god of wild animals, CN 

*Yesdreai goddess of time and healing, NG 

*Wegnaturn god of the deal, LE

*Ruersa goddess of malice and vengeance, LE 

*Sorisrow god of corruption, CE 

*Ahdet god of Death, NE

Demi-Gods:

The Grey Warder, N

*Papax god of disease, CN

*Reho god of strength, CG

Greater Gods:

Agricultural Deity: the Goddess of Weather; She is worshipped in the farmlands for bringing sun and rain in their proper measure and warding off her storms.  Stomida, of the Fickle Wind.  She tends her children by scattering them in the winds and pushing them together; she lashed out with cyclones to destroy those who wronged her and who sent a thunderstorm to dampen her Sister's wedding day as a prank.  The Goddess of  Weather is chaotic and fickle.  She is also known as a great trickster god, sending rain on a sunny day, or hail on hot days.  She is worshiped on Darkday

Hestium, protector and smiter of evil, locked in a never ending battle with his brother the War God.  The God of health is depicted as a Winged Deva with four arms, holding a Sheild, Warhammer, a flower and a ewer of water.  The God of Health is good above all else.  He is associated with the white moon.  He is worshiped on Brightday

Goddess of the Green Sun, Scoria Goddess of justice.  She is depicted as a woman with four arms and two faces, one on the front and one on that back.  She is dressed in armour and carries a drawn Sword, an open book that she writes the good deeds and bad deeds on, a balance which she weighs people's souls and a hammer which she forges souls.  Her brow shines with the light of the Sun.  She is the God of Order.  She is neither good nor evil, she is lawful.  Worshipers are lawful, possibly looking for vengeance.  She is worshiped on Brightday

Dragoth the Slayer.  God of the Green Moon is the god of murder and war; Strife.  Depicted as a god with three faces and nine arms.  In temples his statue rotates, not that he has many temples.  One face has one eye, one has two and the other has three.  He wields a sword, a dagger, a whip, a morningstar, a flail, lightning, a palm up with a cloud in it, chains and a fist raised to the heavens.  Sacrifices are made every full moon and every dark moon and they are always blood sacrifices. The god is evil.

The Hidden God.   His or Her name is unknown to all but her priests and it is never spoken aloud save on her holy days.  Her temples always include a window, the greater the temple the more window.  The floor is always clean and without furniture.  There is no idol.  The Hidden God is worshiped on Darkday

Xeric, the god of nature and the life cycle.  The god of the blue moon.  The moon of months.  He is the god of seasons and he is depicted as a may with a staff and a cloak of flowers.  He is all about nature and the life cycle.  God of life and death and all things natural.  Completely neutral. He is the god of Nature, Grave, and Life.  Undead are antithetical to his being.  He is worshiped on Darkday

Lesser Gods:

Goddess of trade and prosperity; CG, CN.  Aurista is worshiped in all cities in various forms and appears as a gold or silver woman with a bulging purse at her side and a bundle of goods over her back.  Stories are told often how she traded with another god and then traded to yet another and gained much more in the exchange, others say that she trades worthless junk for valuables.  Most market places are overseen by a cleric of Aurista, and wise merchants evoke her name before entering trade.  Trading posts often have her image on a their sign post.

Demi-Gods:

The  Grey Warder, is a local nature god from only the area of Greysteel.  He picks no side except those that can't defend against the stride of civilization.  Proper prayers must be given to him before a farm is planted, before land is cleared.  Stories are abound of those that tried to do so only to find a years work undone in a single night.  Neutral, god of the forests and lands drained by the River Wild.

D&D house rules and random tables; ideas

HR random calendar

Fail by 1, gain success, except complication

Description advantage

Basic: add +1 to roll

Advanced: gain Advantage on current Roll, or protection like moving after combat and not provoking attack of opportunity, or flip a used inspiration spot.

Exceptional: gain Advantage on Roll and protection add inspiration spot, possibly gain a plot direction choice

Inspiration advantage

Number of characters /2 spots

Flipped over to gain advantage on a roll, may only be re-flipped by GM when villain gains advantage on a roll, or a player earns a re-flip.

Special rewards of a new permanent Inspiration spot, always useable by players.

Calendar nine days a week, four weeks a month, twelve months a year.

36 days a month, 432 days a year.

1 Brightday — Green sun dominant priests of Lawful deities +1 level

2 White moon god day. Hestiday

3 Blue sun goddess day. Noday

4 Green moon god day. Dragoday

5 Darkday — Red sun dominant priests of Chaotic Deities +1 level

6 Freeday — day of rest cities only, rural partial day. Kingsday

7 Green sun goddess day. Scoriday

8 Blue moon god day. Xeriday

9 Red sun goddess day. Stomiday

High Summer. Neutral deities priests -1 level, for a week

High Winter. Neutral deities priests +1 level, others -1

Green moon Full once every 14 days, Dark 7 days later, eclipse every 20 darks.  Evil priests +1, -1, +3 respectively, and eclipsed sun -1 level

Blue Moon full every 34 days, Dark 17 days later, eclipse every 11 darks.  Neutral priests same as above, but full and darks last 2 days

White Moon, Full every 108 days and dark every 54 days, eclipse evey five darks.  Good Priests same as above save full and darks last a week.  Darks always coinside with the festival weeks of the Blue Sun, meaning every five years there is a guaranteed total eclipse during the week of Chaos

Cool but too complicated, 

Simplify. No eclipses.  Total simplification no bonuses or penalties.

Months

Novamead   Spring 1.  February 

Dumead Spring 2.  March

Plantmead Spring 3.  April. Planting typically 

Quadromead Summer 1.  May

Quintomead Summer 2.  — first week High Summer June the low magic week

Hexomead Summer 3.  July

Heptomead Autumn 1.  August 

Reapmead    Autumn 2.  September. Harvest begins typically

Noctomead Autumn 3.  October 

Dektomead Winter 1.  November 

Kaomead Winter 2. — first week High Winter December the week of Chaos

Kryomead Winter 3.  January 

Random encounters.  Not random.  Characters traveling in different areas meet different things

On the road near civilization

1) A family moving from Orlane or Sunnydale because of the troubles, otherwise a merchant 

2) four goblins creeping in the shadows near a farm

3) a fox, a cat dragon or a wolf dragon scouting out a farm for food.

4) a earth dragon looking to kill for food

5) three Orcs in an abandoned (looted) farm house

6) a tavern in amongst a cluster of farms.

Town

1) soldiers of the Duke on patrol (10). 

2) soldiers brawling in a tavern (5)

3) town guards or Militia training (10)

4) a loud argument inside a house that can be heard over the din

5) a burglar exiting a second story window in an alley or facing away from the road. Followed by a cry for help

6) a mistaken identity  for some reason with a PC.

On the road away from civilization

1) deserters from the Duke's soldiers, ambushing travelers (5-10)

2) a tree that has fallen over the road, roll again

3) merchant traveling between settlements camped at night

4) family of refugees heading away from or heading to a new village with stories, night it is 4 orcs

5) patrol of soldiers (20) night it is eight goblins

6) orcs setting an ambush (6)

7) goblins setting an ambush (9)

8) earth dragon ambush 

In the forest

1) woodsmen (6) cutting timber

2) pack of six wolves

3) encampment with shelters, 1) woodsman (12), 2) deserters turned bandits (10), 3) orcs (6), 4)goblins (12)

4) dragon cat or dragon wolf or Earth Dragon

5) a swarm of Fire Flies and Dragon Flies in a feeding frenzy, may start a fire.

6) a carcus of a large Earth Dragon and a disturbance in the trees

near the river

1) giant otters

2) fisherman

3) merchant barge or humanoid ambush (6 orcs) or (9 goblins)

4) a kite diving on the water for fish

5) a large log floating in the middle (50% just a log, 30% a crocodile, 20% a log with a Earth dragon ambush

6) smugglers (6) or Pirates (10)

In the Mountains

1) a dozen kobolds

2) a camp of dwarves (8)

3) a earth dragon fighting a dragon cat, dragon wolf, or another earth dragon 60-30-10%

4) orcs (6)

5) goblins (9)

6) prospectors camp (12)

In the marshes

1) giant frogs

2) troglodytes (3)

3) goblins (4)

4) swarm of bugs with fire fly

5) dragon fly hunting frogs

6) firebird eating birds

Near the Temple

1) patrol of (10) bandits

2) a pair of Bugbears

3) wererats (3)

4) an ogre with 4 goblins

5) a troll stomping through the brush or a hill giant

6) spy heading through with (5) guards

Near the tower

1) a dead orc/troll/hill giant/ goblin reoccurring 

2) a tree bent like a pretzel

3) the tower silhouetted by the moon in the wrong direction

4) a large pile of entrails

5) a set of tracks that lead in a circle

6) the feeling at you are being watched, default after the above

Near the haunted house

1) goblins (4)

2) smugglers (5). Talk about the haunted house

3) a bolt of silk or brandy

4) a Wyvren dives the group

Failed intro to RPG

I want to say Hi!  Many of you know me from work, but this aspect of me you would not know of me.  I have been a GM a DM (Game Master or Dungeon Master) for a very long time.  I remember when I first saw my first Dungeons and Dragons book; it was the same one featured in Stranger Things.  A friend brought it over after picking it up over the Summer.  We were ten and this was cool.  It was a new game and it came in a book, but it was not a choose your own adventure book; you played in a group!  I was fascinated by the Druid Class at first, the protectors of Nature.  

For Christmas I asked for it, and my mother on a trip to Barrie decided to break it out to keep my sister and I quiet, but it was a boardgames and not what I was looking for.  It was fun but not right.  I got the Basic set for Christmas and my dad tried to run it for my friends and he said that it was not something he understood.  Amongst our friends we tried to run it,  Geoff— the guy that started this craze for us DMed first, Grant, Patrick, Shane, Donald, and myself all had characters and we pawed through the encounters one by one taking turns running the game.  The first time I touched the control stick was early and I decided that I was never going to let go.  The players encountered a Carrion Crawler and defeated it, then the players began flipping through books looking up what treasure that it had and I thought, "What are you doing?  You're scrambling to count all the gold in the middle if a monster filled dungeon and the fighting over how to divide the loot?… okay you are doing that, a second monster hears the commotion and comes to investigate." Total player kill.  My friend Donald told me after all the others left unhappy that I did something unfair like that, that he thought it was realistic.  So began my journey.

Honestly, I was a bad GM.  I thought that I was the monsters and that I had to kill the characters.  I had no teachers.  I had no one with better experience and there was no Internet.  So I did my best.  I took a hiatus as I moved away when I was 13, but came back I continued our games.  Most of the people stopped playing in High School or went to play other types of RPGs, but I persevered and I started the school's Dungeons&Dragons Club.  Listen, you don't get it, nerds were not in then. I was outcasted, I was not popular to begin with but some people signed up and I DMed and I allowed people to borrow my books to read.  And some people stole some, that is cause they wanted them and could not find them or were poor.  I just hope they treated them right.  Anyways, that was where the Temple of Elemental Evil was tackled for the first time.  But I was still in player kill mode, but the players did not seem to mind.  

I went to University and I thought that I might find people to play, but I only found a couple and nothing ever happened.  It was in second year that it took off.  That was ten years after I started playing.  I found a good DM who learned from some other people and was a different kind of DM a ST, Story Teller.  He told a D&D story.  We played for nearly a year.  The next year he introduced other games and new players and new storytellers.  And the year after we played an epic game of Vampire: the Embraced.  Then he turned to me the next year and asked me if I would run Temple of Elemental Evil for him.  The campaign lasted for years.  It started with just him and enlarged to include a mutual friend and later the friend's girlfriend and after three years and a Master's degree, the temple was vanquished!  From there it went on to a weekly campaign where Gerald the Ranger went on to immortality in the eyes of the people of the world and was retired.  And then I quit D&D, becuase of some creative differences that I had with the game designers.  

I played Exalted then for fifteen years.  What's the difference?

D&D was almost always based around premade adventures, for me.  I mean those premade adventures were created by other people and first played by other people first, but when I got them they were already done.  Exalted was just setting.  Nothing else, and they were extremely bad at putting out premade adventures.  Their premade adventures consisted of indepth setting with NPCs.  Pretty much that's it.  So I was forced to make it all up.  And I was bad at first and later better.  I learned a whole bunch of shit from successes and failures.  

I learned to know the setting.  By that I mean, know the history and know the movers and the shakers in the setting and the reactions and beable to see everything moving without my players.  When they players do something, it affects their immeadiate surroundings and if what they do is big enough it affects things beyond them.  So it is important to know what is out there at least in terms of big things.  The little stuff can be moved around and changed anytime, but when they do something that changes the flow of history, then that is when things for the player get cool, because they are recognised.  

I learned to pay attention to their backgrounds.  People spend some time making them and this means that they think it is important.  So I make it important.  I make it as important as they make it to them.  If they have an ally, it is level one important.  If they say his name is Faust, level 2.  Faust, is a money changer in the city of Nexus, level 3.  Faust of Nexus the money changer, helped you rob a merchant who was raiding villages and selling people into slavery, by exchanging silver into jade script to make yourself appear to have a need of slaves so you could exchange money for slaves and catch him red handed … level five.  The detail tells me how expendable the person is.  It tells me that the character is invested in them, the more detail the more security it has.  The more security means that I can invoke that character to do things with that part of their background.  If they have a magic item, it is only a magic item until they name it, and then it becomes special.  If they say they have two brothers and five sisters, then I see that is licence to use them any way I see fit too.  If they have a sister named Lizzabek, then that gives the sister insurance, I can't just kill Lizzabek, I can ransom, blackmail, kidnap, threaten, sacrifice her, but not just kill her.  

I learned to make the game about the player.  Duh!  Let me reiterate that, in a group of four to six players, I have to make the game about the player.  When Jaguar played the game her companions, her RL friends were beside her, but I had to get her to feel that I was gaming for her alone.  I was by-the-way, I was gaming for the other people alone too though, at the same time.  Jaguar's village had been carted off as slaves, she needed to rescue them so every other, more or less, session she got a lead on that, sometimes there would be ten with nothing, and sometimes ten with.  I stole a game mechanic from somewhere else and modified it and if a character wanted to do something outside of where I was going I added it to the game for just them.  My game famous quests for sorcery, enemy, rivalry, romance, etc.  these were things that kept the focus on each player.  It is a teacher thing, I don't know if other teachers do it, I do not teach.  I think it would make me a good teacher.  It would likely make me a very tired teacher too.

I learned not to put players in a box.  Boxes are these things that they do in television shows, because they are written that way: the character wakes up in a prison and the story is how they got their.  That NEVER works in roleplaying.  One of the characters decides he does not want to be in prison and well gets upset and tries to destroy everything to make sure it does not happen, even if it gets them killed.  There see, I did not go to prison, becuase I am dead.  They won.  Never mind that the story was supposed to be them getting out of jail.  And it was cool, but now he is just dead.  Another box is to have a session with the future character.  I thought it was a cool way to introduce a opposing character to interact with, but they saw it as me placing limitations on their character and they then quit afterwards, nevermind the conversation happened a thousand years in the future.

People tell me that I am a good storyteller these days.  I tend to focus on areas where I need to improve, maybe that is part of my inner teacher, I mean if I fail a kid, I have failed.  That is

D&D setting

I woke up a few days ago and I realized that I had e setting in my head for my D&D game.  The natural setting that is.  I had pencilled out the life cycle of the Dragon in this World, different than your typical Dragon life cycle.  In this World, dragons are seeding the clouds with their offspring.  They hatch in raindrops and snowflakes and they spend their time fighting each other and consuming each other and growing.  Fireflies, Dragonflies, Dragon Birds, Dragon Hawks, then they fork and some take to the land and mature more and others keep to the skies.  The dragon Squirrels, dragon Cats, dragon Wolves, Earth Dragons.  The sky dwellers become Kites of various sizes and then Wyvrens.    All this time they are consuming and broadening their area of control.  Then they become adult dragons at about ten years old.  They continue to age and grow, Young Dragons where they gain sentience and languages, Adults where they gain sorcery, Old, Ancient, Wyrm, Great Wyrm and Elder Wyrm.  All the time they are getting bigger and more powerful.  The last stage they become God Wyrm Dragons and become more like spirits and they fly in the skies seeding the clouds with their offspring.  But when man came to their continent, they battled and their magics clashed and the different life stages changed and became permanent for some.  There are dragon like things everywhere.  Moreover, the dragon life cycle means that there are Dragons everywhere all over the place.  

The natural world has insects, birds, reptiles and mammals, but in each of these niches there are dragons at different life stages, everywhere.  The summer nights are filled with the dull green glow of lightning bugs and the bright orange flames of fireflies.  The larger insects and tiny dragon kin are prey to bats and dragonflies and Dragon Flies; tiny lizards with wings the size of your finger.  Then one day if they live they instead of being eaten by bats, eat the bats.  They eat birds, or lose the wings and live like Squirrels eating small animals and mice, later foxes and real lizards and smaller dragons.  In a sense, insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals are joined with Dragons, to fill every niche in the wilds.  In the vast wilderness of the continent there are every type of animal and variations everywhere.  There are primates and lizards everywhere.

The sun rises in the West and sets in the East, because the north is actually the South.  So the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, but nearest pole is  north, the South pole.  I mean, if this world the Earth was a southern hemisphere dominant, our maps would be upside down from what they are.  On Earth if we look out from a plain, we can see about ten kilometers, on a hil out further, because the world is the size it is and the curve of the world is what it is.  On this world, this bigger world, you can see about 100 km, but that is true only if it were a plain and the haze of the day was nonexistent.  You can see further on a hill.  Like you would be able to see the lights of the city of Jarda on a clear night, sort of.  It is still over 100kms away.  

D&D longterm?

Near the village of Sunnydale, in the forests there is an old remnant of a bygone empire in the form of a road, over grown and in general disrepair.  But, it is also clearly more advanced than the roads of the nascent kingdom.  Where the latter is a dirt road the former is made of stone slabs, the later winds to its location, the former runs straight for stretches of time.  The haphazard placement of farms and villages is comfortable, but should it be explored the old road has regular and predictable stops along the way and at the ends the ruins of fallen cities, or their remaints.  One ends in a massive crater with shear glass like sides, perfectly circular.  The other ends in an overgrown riot with ancient buildings in groves of trees.  There are fountains that still work and sewers that are still conected and clear.  The fountains have a barrier that only lets residents of the city claim its water.  The water is fresh and provides health benefits to imbibers, but only if they drink from the fountain.  There is a community of kobolds and goblins here that patrols the area attacking anyone within fifty kilometers.  They bring the spoils to their queen, whom they worship.  They drink from the fountain as often as they can and so all members of the groups are about a foot taller than average and have an extra hit dice, in addition they are twice as fecund, wish is especially good since their queen will often dine on them if they fail to bring her wealth or better options for food.  Their queen is an ancient Green Dragon, and resides in the audience chamber of the palace along with one of the city's fountains.  The dragon is so large that if she were to try to vacate the room she would bring the entire castle down in the attempt leaving her unharmed, but burying her treasure.  If this happens she will be very irate and completely undamaged.  If the characters should venture in this location after battling the big goblins and the big Kobolds that have no treasure and discover the palace allow them to see the lazy flicking tail emerging from the doorway.  If they do not retreat immeadiately proceed with all intelligence.  The players might figure a way into the treasure hoarde, but if they fail the the dragon will capture some or all of the characters and hold them ransom, forcing the other characters to bring her more treasure provided that they are polite and respectful.  The dragon is Lawful Evil and will abide by her agreements.  In her hoarde, which she will proudly show off includes magical items that appeal to some of the character types.  She might be persuaded to part with those items if they present her with something more to her liking. She will be wearing magical items that she has.  In addition, she is an accomplished Illusionist and uses her powers to effect.  She knows that she is not the only power in the city and that she does not have the reach to establish total control, but maybe the Player Characters will help her.  There is a massive dungeon complex in the city out of her immeadiate range.  And there are three enemies there that hold her power in check.  A Mindflayer colony, a beholder and a powerful group of Aboleth.  All hold a number of NPC races hostage and is using their safety to manipulate the race.  

The city:  the city is large.  Very large.  The entirety of Greysteel can fit into one block, those that have been to Jarda would feel that the city would dwarf it like a mouse beside an elephant.  It is thirty kilometers in diameter and a perfect circle.  The walls are purely ceremonial, as there are no battlements and siege equipment, smooth and unblemished, only covered with the growth of thousands of years of vines that obscures a mosaic pattern which is purely aesthetically pleasing.  The buildings have a genuinely alien feel; everything is slightly off: the steps are a little too large for human or elf kind, like everything is made for a race who averages 6'6", where writing appears it is alien.  Any PC with a knowledges of more than six languages two must be of a humanoid language like Orcish an Gnollish has a chance to figure it out DC 25 on intelligence check, but only after hearing the language spoken.  This City is the first city of the Orcs.  It is built of imperishable concrete mixed with a low level electrostatic field, powered by nano solar generators imbedded in the surface. Many of the buildings on the periphery of the city still have working facilities including some working voice interfaces.  Anyone with good architectural and weather knowledge will recognize that many streets are laid out to catch the sunrise and sunsets of the solstices and equinoxes.  

There is also evidence that the city was witness to a great cataclysm in the very deep past.  The buildings on the eastern side have been blown over like trees in a great wind the ones on the western side are all damaged but less so than the ones to the east.  Many of the towers are resting on others like giant dominoes that were placed a little too close to topple over.  The towers in the east were destroyed, like a tree turned into toothpicks and left to scatter.  The toppled towers are most impressive; there is only one at is intact and it is in the west, smaller than the ones in the center by half, but still a five hundred meters tall.      

The Dragon and its lair:  in the center of the city rises a large temple dedicated to the Suns the temple is lower than many of the buildings nearby, the large boulevard between it and the city is littered with the corpses of the buildings.  This building rises like a cathedral made of crystal and white stone.  It is only two hundred meters tall and inside it is an airy shell, egg shaped internally and sculpted magnificently outwardly.  Large trees have sprouted out of the ground around the region, growing on the fallen buildings, in them, and around.  Within the dragon sits surrounded by its hoard which includes coins from empires that risen and fallen in the shadow of this sleeping city.  The dragon controls the north and the south of the city with its minions. It has grown to fill its home and cannot leave it unless she rips it apart, which she will do as a last resort.  She is a level 12 sorcerer, so that makes her a CR25 encounter (75000xp) she has managed to acquire a massive hoard which includes many magic items.  She will use these magical items to procure the services of the adventurers.  To clean out the interlopers in the rest of the city. There are three that she is aware of and her subjects are not up to the task, which should tip off the characters.  She will claim truthfully that she is very comfortable where she is right now, and her enemies are not stupid enough to come to her, so, she must find someone to take the battle to them.  She will be bargained with but she will not be trifled with.  She can tell when people are lying to her.  She will also send them to the targets she believes that they can actually win against like the Mindflayer colony and the Aboleth before the Death Tyrant.  When they are successful she will be generous in her rewards. She has many intelligent weapons in her possession, which she holds conversations with, she calls them her court.  She will never give up the Dragon Slayer's she has acquired.  She might offer them aid by giving them salvaged Orcish Disrupters, treat as wands of disintegration with 1d10 charges. 

The Beholder and its lair:  the intact tower is the back door for the Tyrant.  It can rise the shaft and exit the 500m after 7 minutes of flight.  The only way up without flight means fighting up the towers 250 levels.  There are about 700 zombies in this tower including 10 beholder Zombies, three guarding the top most level.  Should they smartly attack from the top the other beholder zombies will converge from the top at their best speed, which is one per minute. The best direction of attack is from below, where they merely need to avoid patrols of undead that include twenty zombies lead by an ogre zombie, the zombies include all the other factions troops.  The Death Tyrant has no hope of defeating the Dragon, but has the best chance of doing so, so it waits patiently gaining forces slowly.  It has blocked off all the entrances to its area with disintegration rays so that there is only one front door and one back door.  If hard pressed, it will recall all the powerful zombies and make a kill zone at the bottom of the tower.

The Illithid and its community:  located at the Orery is the entrance to the community,  there are three Arcanists guarding the entrance, they are actually using the device to attempt to figure out the best time to go forth in strength.  They are outcasts, but have determined that if they can discover the best time to go forth, they will be allowed to breed.  The three Arcanists control a group of nine Gith warriors.  These are remnants from the Illithid Wars.  Deeper in the caverns are a host of Kuo-Toa.  The Elder Brain resides in a cluster of 24 Mindflayers.  There are many servants located in the depths.  Intellect Devourers range around the Orery and the building obscures a passage down to the depths below the sewer and subterranean living areas there are pitched battles in this part of the underground between the forces of the Dragons and the two Underdark Players.  Each Mind Flayer controls Twenty-four CR worth of creatures, plus their leaders, such a as 12 ogres and an Ogre leader, 12 quaggoths, 98 grimlocks, 8 gith, 98 kuo-toans, or 98 troglodytes.   There are three large communities of Kuo-Toans with leaders numbering over five hundred, same for Grimlocks and troglodytes.  There are 24 ogres and 24 quaggoths spaced to keep the three armies focused.  The 40 gith are there too.  If the players should sneak past and kill the Elder Brain, this break the hold on two thirds of the inhabitants and they would rebel, possibly killing their controllers.  But any sighting of the characters would count as sightings by the whole.  The Dragon would like this option the best as it would be likely that she could gain some of the better warriors herself.  There is one Intellect Devour for every Mind Flayer.

The Aboleth and its communal lair:  the Aboleth have been probing this city for ages.  They have allied with a city of Duergar after they enslaved their enemies the Svirfneblin.  This means that they have a force of about a thousand slaves and allies.  They are pressing the Illithids from below and pushing into the sewers of the city.  The gnomes have summoned many Xorn and Elementals to aid them at the Aboleth's prompting.  They are not trying to take over this area, but they are getting information on the area.  They will take all their forces with them if threatened by a strong force.  The Duergar are intent on destroying the Illithids.  If this should happen they will gathers up the Kuo-Toans and the other Underdark residents plus as many of the other races and enslave them, nine per day.  They will retreat to the depths.  They will first try to lure a PC to their doom and abduct them to their master lair, the deep lake to the north, the crater lake, it is 15 kms deep and there are 10 more Aboleth there.  

D&D new Warlock

Warlock. 

Dragon Patron

1st dragon fear constitution check or faint warlock DC, 10'cube

6th you may ignore the damage of one attack as a bonus action, long rest

10th gain magic resistance and one elemental resistance of choice after a long rest

14th dragon Breath weapon 1d10/level

Shield, Thunderwave

Enlarge, flaming Sphere

Lightning Bolt, Protection from Energy

Fire Sheild, Stoneskin

Cloudkill, Cone of Cold

First One Patron

1st see future, gain advantage on one check in next minute

6th gain the full proficiency in all skills of one Ability, until a long rest where it may be reset

10th gain a one round as another class of the same level, spells must be selected after a long rest, but may be used as any class at notice

14th use a spell at a higher level that you can cast; can cast a 10 level spell slot; comes with a list of 10th level Warlock spells.  This spell is in addition to other spell slots.

Detect magic, Identify

Enhance ability, Moonbeam

Speak with Dead, Speak with Plants

Divination, Confusion

Legend Lore, Modify Memory

Level 10 warlock spells

Time step—backwards one minute DC 10; one day DC15; one year DC20; one century DC25; past millennium or more DC 30

—forwards one minute DC 15; one day DC 20; one week DC 25; one month DC30.  May interact with environment for one minute

Gaia's Rebuke d8x100 damage to one target bludgeoning and Force damage

Dimensional Walk.  Duration 1 day, end at casters discretion.  Move at best speed through anything.  Can be used to scout out a dungeon, treasure chests secret doors etc., or it could be used to fly through a mountain to get to the other side.

Bless Land.  On the first day of the month.  Cause an area that you can walk around between sunrise and sunset to receive a gentle rain at sunset thought the night.  At sunrise the rays caress the land and a full years growth will occur in the space of a day.  Fields will produce bumper crops and fruit will be large and perfect.  The land will need to rest after a casting and so one plot may be blessed only once a decade.  

Been away

I have not posted much in 2017.

I have been busy and they two things I have not been doing might be related.  I have not been reading and I have not been writing.

I have been trying to create stuff, I have been world building, trying to put the setting in my head into a game.  The childhood creation from when I was a teenager, the Land of Caranus.  I have been adapting it for a dungeons and dragons campaign using 5th Edition.  It is a less complicated setting, because books can be complicated, but roleplaying needs to be not.  So I have been exploring how to make the setting playable and not too complicated for new players and scary for experienced players.

I guess I am going to reveal my work for those that are not in the campaign, so Natural20, I will post a D&D in the title, and don't read those posts.

I have been watching a series on YouTube called Running the Game, by Matt Coville, just to refine my storytelling technique.  It is funny, I am of age with Matt and I have been playing just as long, but my style and his are similar enough, I admit that he is better.  I wonder what kind of GM I would have been without Autism….  What he says though is true, you need no experience to be a DM, GM or Storyteller, because we in the beginning had none either.  Still it is great that we can learn from others now.

First game is set for Januray 6… I don't know how it will go.