🐾 What Lies Beyond the Enclosure? Building Outside-The-Zoo Adventures
For most Zoo Mafia campaigns, the action is contained within the electrified fences, steel bars, shadowy tunnels, and dark alleys of the zoo. But what happens when the crew looks beyond the gates? What if the outside world starts creeping in — or the players themselves...
Sky Whales of Aether Skies: Leviathans, Lore, and Story Hooks
How Titanic Creatures Shape Your Campaign World and Adventure Opportunities In the soaring world of Aether Skies, not all that floats is crafted by hands. Far above the surface, among the drifting cities, storm channels, and eldritch storms, glide the sky whales—enormous, ancient leviathans that are...
The Storm Made Flesh: Introducing Chaos Dragons to Your Campaign
“We thought we were safe. It didn’t fly in on wings—it rode the storm like it was part of it. Like it was the storm’s will given form.”—Ladrex Brimcall, last words of the Iron Spine patrol In the howling madness of Under the Dome, there are...
The Crimson Wall: Rewriting Mulan as a D&D Adventure
Yup, It is time for another jaunt into animated mayhem with some mouse movies, kids shows or whatever and see how I can get some D&D content out of it. Last week we dived into the Lion King [caption id="attachment_41067" align="alignright" width="210"] Careful consideration is the...
Contraband & Curiosities: Strange Items in the Zoo Underworld
Not everything that moves through Furton City’s back alleys and smoke-filled speakeasies is made of peanuts or bullets. Beneath the surface trade routes and boss-sanctioned shipments lies a secondary economy built on rare items, forbidden finds, and the downright bizarre. These contraband goods and strange...
Feeding on the Spark: Aether Parasites in TTRPG Storytelling
How to Use Magic-Hungry Creatures to Threaten Your World’s Most Vital Systems In the world of Aether Skies, Aether is more than just fuel—it’s the beating heart of civilization. It powers ships, cities, armor, minds. Without it, the floating world falls. So what happens when something feeds...
No Casters Allowed: Running a D&D Game With Zero Spellcasting PCs
Steel, grit, guile—and not a spell slot in sight Let’s be honest: Dungeons & Dragons is a spell-slinger’s paradise. Every other class hurls fire, heals wounds, or manipulates time. But what happens when you take that power away completely—not just from full casters, but from everyone? That’s...
Lost to the Storm: Legends and Truths of Vergussian, the Fallen Dome
"No map shows it, but every survivor knows it. You don’t find Vergussian. It finds you."—Old scavenger saying, whispered over glowcider Once, Vergussian was a beacon of innovation—known across the domes for its arcane research, storm-reactive crystal spires, and allegedly, the world's most stable chaos storm...
Retirement, Redemption, or Ruin: What Happens After the Game?
Long-Term Character Arcs in Zoo Mafia In a world where animals walk, talk, and deal in back-alley peanut deals, Zoo Mafia offers more than just heists and speakeasies—it offers legacy. What happens when your crew’s marker meter is low, the rival bosses are either buried or...
In the Shadow of the Veil: Using the Aethernati in Your TTRPG Campaign
Working With, For, and Against Aether Skies’ Most Dangerous Organization The floating cities of Aether Skies may soar above the cursed world, but they're held aloft by more than just Aether coils and dreamtech—they’re kept safe by silence, secrets, and the unblinking eyes of the Aethernati. Part...
Smoke, Grind, and Grit: Designing Grind-Powered Vehicles for Under the Dome
“Tires are for cowards. Real engines scream when they drink grind.”—Rassa Coilbite, skiffwright of the Slag Market The wastelands outside the dome cities are hostile, irradiated with chaos storms, crawling with monsters, and pocked by sinkholes, living fungus, and bone-sanded dunes. On foot? You're prey.On a...
Crime Ecology in Zoo Mafia: What Happens When a Mob Boss Falls?
In Zoo Mafia, the game is built on shifting power, fragile alliances, and the looming threat that nothing — and no one — is permanent. The jungle may have its laws, but Furton City has its own: survival, loyalty, and territory. And in a setting...
Making Your Ship a Character: Living Skyships in TTRPGs
Designing Vessels with Souls, Secrets, and Stories In Aether Skies, the ship isn’t just where your characters sleep. It’s a crew member, a home, a secret-keeper, and sometimes a goddamn mystery. Whether it’s cobbled together from driftwood and dream-forged hull plates or powered by an unstable...
Chronicles from Beneath: Natural Disasters & World-Altering Events Under the Dom
"You don't live under the Dome—you survive it."—Common saying in Crystalia’s Outer Warrens The lands under the Dome are not defined by calm days or gentle nights. They are shaped, scarred, and reborn through catastrophic upheaval. The truly terrifying truth? These disasters are not rare. They...
Running a Star Wars-Inspired Game in Dungeons & Dragons
“In a Realm Not So Far Away…” May the Fourth Edition Its May the Fourth so I figured I would throw this out there. Sure I know that there is a Star Wars RPG, and other games that might be even easier to play a Star War...
