D&D Ideas — Beginnings
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is beginnings, which we discussed in our first live chat of 2020. With the beginning of our new schedule, we combined the topical chat of our long running Quests & Adventures live chat with the exclusive Patreon weekly chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. with Patreon supporters and talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here. Speaking of beginnings the image below is from our wildly successful Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter. In Aces High the encounter begins when a gang of goblin sky bandits makes their presence known in dramatic fashion. The Out of the Box Pledge Manager remains open for late pledges. You can get your hands on the book and all the add-ons including presale badges for Nerdarchy the Convention, or upgrade your badge to Legendary or Artifact level. There’s also a FREE encounter Seizing the Means you can download for a sneak peek at the sort of content you’ll find in the book. Check it out here.
Goblin bandits begin an encounter in a spectacular way in Out of the Box. [Art by Kim Van Deun]
Recent videos
Should You Use a D&D Character Build Guide
Best Race to Play a Blood Hunter
Product Spotlight
Bugbears! Lizardfolk! They battled it out online and you decided — they both invade Nerdarchy the Store with the promo code MINIMOBS for a one-time 20% discount on any and all 3D bugbear and lizardfolk minis until the end of the month. If bugbears and lizardfolk aren’t your thing, you can still use the promo code MOUNTUP for 10% off your entire cart until February 2. Check the all the bugbears, lizardfolk and other 3D minis and terrain here.
January Fan Game
This month’s fan game is scheduled for Jan. 26 with Nerditor Doug running a D&D one shot. There are still some spots open so keep an eye out for opportunities to join this game. The best way to get in on these monthly games is through the newsletter, and as game day nears check us out on social media where we reach out to fill the group as needed. Join us and get in on the funny shaped dice rolling action!
Delving Dave’s Dungeon
Beginnings could mean a lot of things. I’m going to go in a random direction.
Beginnings Tavern
A tavern run in a frontier town on the edge of the wilderness. It also doubles as a church for a deity whose areas of influence are renewal, second chances, luck, and/or community. It is run by a grizzled old timer who follows a god of one of these spheres of influence named Ole Yerris. Their past is a mystery. When questioned they smile and gaze off into the distance just shaking a shaggy head covered in white and grey thinning hair.
The meals and room prices here are unique. They are always priced at what a buyer can afford. Yerris always knows what a customer can afford. They say there isn’t a way to get over on Ole Yerris. (Note: Use PHB prices unless a character can’t afford, then charge them exactly what they can afford for a meal and a night’s stay.)
Sometimes Ole Yerris will barter goods or labor in exchange for meals and stay. Booze on the other hand costs normal prices.
Every morning at dawn Ole Yerris gives a service along with a small breakfast. These sermons are always about renewal and new beginnings and teaching lessons that can come of these events.
Ole Yerris is a strong proponent of their teachings. They never ask about someone’s past, but always inquire about their future and gently nudge them towards becoming their best self.
Beginnings Tavern is a bastion of the community. Some will even say the town sprung up around the tavern. No one knows where Ole Yerris came from. Three to five acolytes attend the tavern at any given time. It remains a secret as to how or where these acolytes come from. They have all taken vows of silence.
A side effect of the beliefs Ole Yerris holds dear is the place can be a bit of a haven for criminals, runaways and outcasts. Everyone who enters the tavern is expected to be polite and civil. As long as this decorum is observed no questions are asked.
Visitors can find fine if not humble food, ale and liquor aplenty, and of course entertainment. Ole Yerris seems to lack for having a wandering bard, storyteller or minstrel in house for the pleasure of the patrons. At any given time there are contest of darts, throwing of dice and the playing cards going on.
Beginnings Tavern is a neutral ground perfect for illicit meetings and gathering of information. It is said there has never been a single brawl to break out within its walls.
Ole Yerris is the only one who knows why this is. A vision lead them to a sacred tree in an old forest near here. The tree was cut down and turned into lumber that makes up most of the tavern. Judging by the size of the tavern, a three story tall and very large building, it would take a colossal tree to garner enough timber. Ole Yerris spent years building their tavern in the middle of nowhere.
The blessing of the deity causes anyone with ill intent, anger or any other negative emotions within the tavern to come under the effect of a calm emotions spell.
From Ted’s Head
Happy New Year in the year of the double crit. The start of anything is very important. A fumbled start in a race leaves a runner behind the pack, having to run harder and faster to catch up with everyone else. A building with a poor foundation will last much less time than one built on a strong foundation.
A solid RPG game should be treated the same way. A good session zero is your foundation to a solid game. Players can build characters that will get along and work together. The group, players and Game Master can discuss house rules, campaign length and themes. You can even begin with making sure everyone wants to play the same game.
Getting the game running has a lot of similarities to running a race. And the start is important. That is not to say you can’t fix any mistakes and adjust your course. You can, and in fact it is a lot easier than running a race. But when you are on the wrong foot and need to fix something you are working harder than if you had just done it right from the beginning. Campaigns can be a set length or until the story is over. When you start a game, have an idea of the kind of game you are running or playing so it sets the proper tone.
Along the same lines the start of every session should grab the attention of the players. I recommend you do as we do and get your socializing out of the way. Plan time at the beginning for out of game talk. When this subsides you can get everyone on board and begin the game. Make sure everyone is aware of what happened last session and get into the session in full force. If you ended on a cliff hanger then you have a good jumping off point. If you did not then have an impactful start so you capture the players attention right away.
But I do not want to stop there. Let’s add a magic item into this theme as well.
Chaotic Beginning
(very rare, wondrous item, requires attunement)
The thick silver bracelet is made of very fine silver wire corded together. There are 7 such corded sets of fine silver wire. Spaced haphazardly in between the wires are prismatic gemstones. The placement of the stones magically changes position when no one is able to see the stones.
When the bracelet is identified or examined to determine properties, the examiner finds the bracelet helps the wearer shrug off magical energy. But the elemental type changes each day at dawn. The bracelet in fact does this, but it is also cursed. When you attune to the bracelet and wear it clasped around your wrist or ankle, the curse is sealed and the bracelet cannot be removed unless the curse is broken.
Properties
Each day at dawn roll a d6. You gain resistance to the following energy type:
- Fire
- Cold
- Thunder
- Lightning
- Acid
- All of the above
Curse. At the same time that you gain resistance to an energy type the curse of the bracelet takes hold for the day. Each day at dawn roll 2d6. Until dawn the following day your ability scores are switched.
- Strength
- Dexterity
- Constitution
- Intelligence
- Wisdom
- Charisma
If you roll the same number then chaos makes no changes that day. For instance I roll a 1 and a 6. My Strength score becomes what my Charisma was and Charisma changes to what my Strength score was. If I roll double 2, essentially my Dexterity becomes my Dexterity so there are no changes that day.
In order to break the curse you must decipher the pattern of the changing stones. Each day you can make a DC 30 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Once you accumulate seven successes you unlock the full puzzle allowing you to adjust the stones into a permanent place. You get a permanent +2 bonus to all of your ability scores (maximum of 20). The bracelet still grants a random resistance each day at dawn, but the curse is gone.
From the Nerditor’s desk
Nerdarchist Dave came up with a location and Nerdarchist Ted designed a magic item to go along with the idea of beginnings for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons so I feel compelled to create something too. I’m going to build on one of my favorite things we came up with already, the druid Circle from Beyond. This is a product over at the Dungeon Masters Guild you can pick up and pay what you want. Check it out here.
Beginnings is an organization recently come to a frontier town to set up a new branch. The adherents present themselves as druids and espouse a philosophy of a power beyond the natural world, welcoming the curious to begin a new path in life.
Publicly, the devotees from Beginnings speak of the vastness of the stars and infinite space that translates into limitless potential to begin anew. This philosophy strongly appeals to outcasts and also the downtrodden, who may feel stuck in a rut or held back from reaching greater success in life.
Folks swayed by these philosophies are welcomed as new adherents, and the group’s members do what they can to aid the community. Some of their leadership even use druidic magic to help with things like crop growth and interactions with beasts.
But Beginnings has a sinister secret (of course!). The true purpose of Beginnings is to spread the influence of their master, Abalor the Abhorrent, a terrible entity from beyond. Each Beginnings branch conceals a spawn of Abalor. As new adherents join, they are sent on pilgrimages to learn the deeper ways of Beginnings.
These pilgrimages are just a cover though! Some new members who are truly devoted are indoctrinated further into the organzation. These individuals truly do make pilgrimages, carrying a spawn of Abalor to a new town and continuing to spread their influence.
Others, deemed unfit for service to Abalor, are fed to the spawn.
Either way, these adherents are never seen again from where they came from.
For a 5E D&D campaign an organization like Beginnings works at any tier of play. For low level adventures, a new Beginnings branch with only a handful of druids of Abalor and a spawn of Abalor make a terrific story arc for a tier 1 adventuring party. Each tier above escalates the same scenario, with Beginnings setting up shop in larger communities and including more powerful members, all the way up to Abalor the Abhorrent itself, a Challenge Rating 25 creature!
Beginnings can also make a great subplot for ongoing adventures. On the surface, these new age philosophers come across as helpful and peaceful, wishing only to better the lives of those around them. It can add a nice detail to your campaign setting, and players might never think twice about them.
Imagine the great surprise after many sessions of a campaign when the players realize the far out philosophers they’ve seen and heard from the very beginning of their adventuring career turn out to be insane cultists devoted to an otherworldly entity! Their unchecked machinations result in Beginnings branches all over the place — each with growing spawn of Abalor ready to follow their progenitor into conquest of this world!
ICYMI
Should You Use a D&D Character Build Guide
No Comments