J.M. Black – Media Shenanigans!

Hello hello!

Go read the beginning of Post 20 for setup, but long story short – Dungeons and Dragons is a fantastic game, has changed my life as a creative massively, and this post is gonna be a short one about the game I’ll be running soon – talking about shaping the narrative in the first few sessions to set up expectations on the wider story that’ll play out through the rest of the game…

—

The upcoming story I’ll be bringing my players into is one of Demons in the Desert. The story of demonic creatures coming into our world and acting as an invasive species to the ecosystem of a desert that we find ourselves travelling through. A desert, that 3000 years ago just appeared in the middle of a kingdom seemingly overnight, which has left the citizens of the land baffled ever since…

I’m about to run a three session story at the start of a new (hopefully) long term campaign with my regular group of players – and by the end of these sessions, three things need to have happened. The players need to be:

• Oriented in the world and have a strong feeling of the tone of the game (though they’ll have influence on tone as well alongside what I’m doing to set the scene).
• Comfortable with their characters and settling into a dynamic playing with each other.
• Having fun and excited for what comes next! This is the most important one!!

To you, my players and dear friends – don’t read any further! I’m about to spoil the plans for the first few sessions publicly!

To anyone else, including mutual friends of ours – welcome, but please keep the secrets!

—

This three session arc is going to be a storm in a teacup kind of story. A fast paced microcosm of the larger narrative – the way a TV pilot has to tap into the wider themes of the full season of a show to let us know “this is the kind of show you’re watching!”

So in a nutshell, here’s what those three sessions are going to do:

The World:

• The players are going to a camp in the South of the desert that specialises in sandworm research: “Camp Wyvern”. So we’ll need lots of cool worm stuff! Worm riding, Worm RACING, and lots of other worm related shenanigans!

• In this camp, the people the players meet will talk about things happening in the wider world. This will help plant seeds for future events. Like rumours of a monster in the East, a Sandstorm moving in the West, and political tensions from the royal family in the North.
• The three sessions isn’t a lot of time, so in session 1 we’ll get to know the camp, session 2 will be travel towards the demon monsters lair in a cave system, then session 3 will be the big fight and journey back again! Beginning-Middle-End. Three places (Home, The Desert, The Caves).

The Characters:

• This part is less in my control. I need to give the players space to make decisions and get to know who they’re playing, and the dynamic between their character and the others. This can come through combat (how they fight together), social encounters (how they each deal with other people), and downtime (how they relate to each other).
• The three sessions should give the players three or four combat encounters to get to know their abilities (like magic spells, fighting styles, shapeshifting and stealth!). Around that, every other encounter is a chance for them to decide what kind of person their character is. And that’s always exciting to see play out!

The Villains and Wider Story:

• The antagonists of this arc will be demonic creatures called Burrowers. Mole like creatures with Kraken mouths, that burrow through sand and ground at great speed and have been kidnapping people from the camp!
• By the end of the three sessions, the players will discover someone has been controlling the Burrowers. On travelling back, Camp Wyvern will be in flames after being under attack by the first Big Villain of the game. A selfish and powerful warlock named Sheila, who has sole control over the demons in the south of the desert through a magical artifact that bonded with her and enhanced her already deadly dark magic!

—

Now, how this all plays out – there’s no way of knowing! I’m very open to new ideas any given moment, so these plans could be derailed in the first session. But we’ve prepped the main beats of what COULD happen, and that’s all we need to get going with! Some cool encounters (sandworm racing, big fights, a mystery!), and the chance to figure out who the player characters are through the story.

All of this is great practice for my other creative work. It’s all storytelling. writing, voice acting, this is just more collaborative as I’m not the only one at the table. Almost like a writer’s room, more like an improv group, all a fun time!

Into the unknown we go, the dice will show us the way…

Until the next time, dear reader, try not to roll any Natural Ones!

-J

Joke of the Day:

Hey I heard the Gelatinous Cube was envious of my cool armour…

Yeah, he was well Jelly!