Inspirational ideas for campaigns, characters, creatures, locations, and magic items.
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| Cover art by Wayne Reynolds |
Preface
Dragon Magazine is all about Dungeons & Dragons, but you can still use a ton of its content for other games. In fact, there is so much content that it can be overwhelming. That's why I spent the time to read the entire issue and pick out relevant articles for your solo games.
Look through the list below and check out Dragon #299 if anything sounds interesting.
Campaign Concept
Knights (p.25-45)
The main feature of this issue is the newly introduced "Campaign Components" series. It focuses on a specific campaign theme and describes how DMs and players can utilize it in their own games.
The article was written by Michael John Tresca and is all about knights, honor, and chivalry. It assumes a European-esque feudal society and goes over a few of the basics of that period. Probably nothing new for modern gamers, but good enough to set the scene.
Based on these descriptions, I made a Campaign Framework for the GEMulator. It centers around a Knightly Order and has a few random tables to get you started. For convenience, I added the form-fillable play sheets to the PDF.
Download here
Campaign Frameworks are something new I'm trying out. Please let me know how useful they actually are.
If you're interested in playing a knight character or a feudal campaign, be sure to check out the article, as it has plenty of ideas and inspirational material. For example, look at the included tournament grounds map:
Character & Faction Concepts
The Reaper's Child (p.46-48)
Evil monks that worship a scythe-wielding god of death and darkness. They secretly infiltrate other monk orders to forcibly convert them through grisly ceremonies. They are ruthless, cold, domineering, and merciless to any who might get in their way.
The Gray Order (p.78-79)
A secretive alliance between fallen celestials and risen fiends. Their absolute devotion to order and balance between the forces of heaven and hell can see them suddenly shifting allegiances and fighting for different sides.
Creature Concepts
The Horrors of Cormyir (p.52-60)
This article is worth checking out for the art alone. Dark and grimy, it stands in stark contrast to the "clean" style of fifth edition D&D. Truly evocative illustrations by Mike May.
Sidenote: The red text on black background is almost impossible to read for colorblind people.
Page 60 has tokens for these creatures, but the scan quality isn't great.
Blood Horse
A nightmarish black horse with enormous bat wings. Able to emit stunning screeches and fangs to drain the blood of their victims. Cruel and capricious, they favor the taste of fresh blood from living creatures.
Uses: Exotic character/villain mount, target of a monster hunt, anything with vampires.
Catoblepas
A bizarre abomination that resembles a bloated buffalo with stumpy legs, a muscular tail with a chitinous knob at the end, a long neck, and an ugly warthog looking head. It lives in swamps and marshes, and is able to project a death ray from his bloodshot eyes.
Uses: Exotic character/villain mount, target of a monster hunt, gloomy swamp adventures.
Glamer
Manipulative masters of illusion, these ethereal creatures toy and deceive others toward their own ends.
Uses: Mysterious quest giver, puppet-master behind the BBEG, explanation for strange oracle results.
Shadovig
Tiny, wingless pixies with gray, dusky skin, veiled eyes, and long, clawed fingers.
Uses: Thieves, spies, assassins, anything sneaky.
Tree Troll
Small arboreal trolls that live in thick forests. Their rubbery, mottled-greed hides are almost completely covered in thick moss-like hair.
Uses: Enemies in forest adventures
Veserab
Faceless, flying worm-like creatures with gargoyle-like wings that fold alongside their midnight-blue, tubular bodies. They look like an unfortunate cross between furless bats and earthworms.
Uses: Exotic character/villain flying mount, target of a monster hunt.
Premade Locations
Moon Mountain Brewery (p.80-83)
A ramshackle tree-house brewery on the banks of a river. Made out of local wood, its endearingly crazy structure of odd little rooms, ramshackle roofs sprouting in various directions, structures built around or incorporating living trees, little steps and stone-lined storage pits dug into handy hillocks make it appear like it naturally grew as part of the forest.
I absolutely adore this illustration. It instantly sucks you in and there are so many details for you to discover. My first thought was to run a version of the prison break & barrel escape scene from The Hobbit (from the book, not that CGI-laden disaster from the movies).
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| Illustrated by David Day |
Magic Items
Wizard's Toy Box (p.62-66)
Charger the Toy Pony
A small stuffed toy pony that can be transformed into a life-sized living pony. It still looks like a stuffed animal.
Dreamweaver
A crystal pyramid that emits a soft aura of light that helps you sleep. It also protects the area against any interplanar intrusions.
Golden the Clockwork Cat
A mechanical construct that looks like an adult tabby cat. Crafted of golden plates, silver gears and mechanisms, and eyes crafted from twin emeralds of highest quality, faceted to uncannily mimic a true cat's eyes.
Splinter the Toy Sword
A sentient toy sword with a clear sense of Good vs Evil. When wielded, it glows with a soft nimbus of golden light. It lectures the wielder on the virtues of goodness and tries to guide them toward noble endeavors.
I liked this item so much that I made a Campaign Framework centered around it.
Download here
Honorable Mentions
Wayne Reynolds was the cover artist for this issue, and you can instantly recognize the style that would later come to define Pathfinder.
Other Observations
Familiar Complaints (p.10-16)
I found it fascinating that the Scalemail (reader mail) portion sounds very similar to current discussions on various social media platforms. Concerns over pushy advertisements, "you are playing it wrong!" debates, different groups wanting wildly different things from future releases, and a company desperately trying to keep everyone happy.
Yes, it's a curated list of letters and answers, but it's still nice to see passionate people from the company directly addressing the issues of their readers. Something modern companies seem to discourage because they fear social media backlash regardless of the answers they provide.
Caption Contest (p.15/16)
Asking readers to caption a comic just for the fun of it is a precious artifact of time before social media. Having your entry printed in the magazine was reward enough. Nowadays, you'd never see a contest like that because everyone can spew their every thought to the entire internet (yes, that includes my blog). Sometimes, I feel like I'm yelling into a void.
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