Dragon+ Issue 31

You can read this issue here.

Time to get caught up on my Dragon Pluses! Tons of stuff in this one, including a tremendous article on accessibility and D&D which shed some light on a few things for me.

The cover artist, Kent Davis, talks about the process of making the cover. The monster is an Udaak - a creature from the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount book. I reviewed this book right here.

We actually get a pdf of the monster's entry from the book. I love it when they do that.

Mythic Odysseys of Theros

In this one, designers discuss coming up with a way to make a "boss fight" more challenging. They put some monsters in this book that have two forms. You think you've killed the creature, but then the creature reveals it's true form and the battle continues.

Looking again at the alternate cover of the Theros book, I really like it. My only issue is that it's a bit too comic book-y in style. I like a fully painted look, no black line art visible.

Heroes & Villains

Heroes & Villains a new D&D clothing line. I actually really like this stuff a lot - especially the Warduke shirts and the D&D sweatpants/pajama pants. You can never have enough pajama pants, in my humble opinion.

Does wizards have the rights to use Warduke in the books? Could they put him in an adventure? If they can, they should! Warduke was one of the first NPCs I tried to write a guide about.

Baldur's Gate 3

I'm definitely looking forward to this game, even though I must confess that I have never actually completed a Baldur's Gate game. Not even close! I do really love Candlekeep thanks to the first game.

They give us a description of the nautiloid (that's a mind flayer ship that can traverse wildspace): "...an enormous living bio-ship that responds to the commands of its mind flayer pilot. Birthing pods are opened with the release of a clenched hand and colossal tentacles crush the buildings they have wrapped around with the closing of that same fist."

Sounds really cool. There were some things I didn't like about the nautiloid in Rime of the Frostmaiden, but I'm glad that the old 2e Spelljammer stuff isn't being left in the dust and forgotten.

Stay at Home Play at Home

I forgot that you can get the basic rules of D&D for free in pdf form. They link us to it. It's right here.

They also link to a bunch of free adventures from the DMs Guild.

We get some discussion about using D&D Beyond, Roll20, and Fantasy Grounds. In my opinion:

• D&D Beyond is really great. My groups seem to really like using it, and I love that you can link it to your twitch so that viewers can actually look at the stats of the characters.
• Roll20 is nice, but it's just way too complicated for me to use as a DM. It is fun as a player, though, especially if your DM has taken the time to master the program.
• Fantasy Grounds I only played once or twice, but I remember thinking that Fantasy Grounds really kicked ass. Also, the Fantasy Grounds people were nice enough to put some of my DMs Guild adventures on there.
  

Accessibility & D&D

This is a huge article on inclusion and resources for players with different conditions. There's a character sheet designed for those with dyslexia and color-blindness. I love this sheet and want to use it.

There is an interview with Sara Thompson who points out that you can use a live captioner on your screen when streaming.

Focusing: This part really hit me:

“There’s a problem feeling like you can’t bring things up,” Thompson says from experience, as Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome can make it painful for her to sit for long periods of time and may require medication that results in “brain fog, where you can’t concentrate on what a DM is saying to you, even though they’ve said it five times to your face. I would always feel pretty terrible asking every hour and a half, ‘Hey, can we take a break?’ while everyone else was really getting into playing.”

Brain fog! I can't tell you how many times I just couldn't focus while playing D&D. That's why I DM most of the time - my brain keeps moving. When I'm a player, I just can't focus and there always comes a point where I can't retain what the DM is saying, particularly if they read a lengthy description aloud.

Playing a Disabled Character: The article also talks about using disabled characters in the game: "Playing a disabled character might seem like a daunting task for an abled player who doesn’t want to cause offence or further stereotypes. Yet Thompson says not including disabled people in a world is the same as saying that they don’t exist."

The article even links to a combat wheelchair.

Accommodating Everyone: This passage hit me hard:

"Whether you’re a DM who knows not to mention spiders because of a player’s arachnophobia or a player who avoids character on character PvP attacks because a fellow player doesn’t enjoy them, gamers often unconsciously show the flexibility and responsiveness that is the core of accessibility. Once people have built up an understanding of the tools, materials, and needs of the group, Greyling says it’s simply a matter of “being willing to amend and being dynamic enough in your approach to things.”

This article is talking about core issues in D&D that I've been trying to wrap my head around for years. I have had a really hard time expressing the true challenges of running a game, which frequently involve the group dynamic. In my experience, the most difficult issue with D&D is collecting people in a room and performing a task together in a harmonious way.

You'd think it would be easy, but all of these weird issues you never even thought of spring up, and I'm often at a loss as far as how to deal with them. It has only been through repetition - playing D&D over and over for years and years with many different people, that I have been able to at least somewhat handle running the game smoothly.

That said, I still feel like I am often not up to the challenge because I lack insight, and this article is actually cluing me in on some bigger reasons as to why things happen the way they do.

Using Language: Then we are given a guide to use containing language to avoid. It is in pdf form here.

This one is a huge eye-opener for me. I really wish that, in each entry, they gave an alternative phrase to use (if any at all). They do give a list of words to use at the bottom.

Some of the ones that really hit me:

"Confined to a Wheelchair" I don't know if I've ever used this phrase, but I've seen it many times and never gave it any thought.

"Derp" is one I always thought of as a silly nonsense word.

"Harelip" I was under the impression that this was an actual definition of the condition. "Cleft-lip palette" is the term.

"Lame" is a word that I do use. I never made the connection that it refers to "people with physical or mobility disabilities." I feel like I need to completely update my lexicon.

"Spaz" is a word I have used on occasion - "Spaz out." Now I see this phrase on the screen in front of me: "Refers to people with cerebral palsy or similar neurological disabilities." Good god. I had a player with cerebral palsy and I might have actually said this word in front of him.

"Special Needs" I always thought this one was an OK term to use. I definitely feel the need to completely overhaul what words I use and the general mindset I have.

There is a big list of words that would be preferable to use. Some of my favorites: Asinine, Contemptible, Dense, Livid, Overwrought (that's a great word to slip in a sentence), Petulant, and Solipsistic (this is the word that I have to look up every time I hear it).

Now we get to words that should be used. I will try and lock some of these in my brain:

• Disabled
• On the autism spectrum
• With an intellectual disability
• Uses a walker
• With a mobility disability

D&D and Language: See, even "disabled" makes me nervous. We are living in a time where what is acceptable to say is changing rapidly, and often I feel like I shouldn't say anything at all because I might offend someone. This list is very helpful for me to use to upgrade my outlook on the world we live in right now.

I love that the world is re-evaluating the way we treat one another, and I really don't want to turn into some crabby old guy who clings fearfully to the way things were done in the '90's.

There are few things I loathe more in life than a dude who insults someone, and then says "Don't be a pussy" when it is pointed out that he's being a dick. I don't ever want to be that guy.

I have had a lot of players on the autism spectrum in the past and I had quite a few things that I would like to write about on the topic in a general sense, but I was always so afraid of using the wrong language or accidentally "shaming" someone that I didn't do it.

I actually once deleted an entire session recap from this blog from the time when I ran games in the game store, because an autistic player had an outburst and, even though I went to great lengths at the time to keep things anonymous, I felt like I probably shouldn't write about it at all - even though those issues eventually ended a campaign.

Anyway.. I could go on forever. So glad I read this article!

Unearthed Arcana: Spells, Magical Tattoos, and Psionics

Well geez, this sounds like a Monte Cook 5e explosion! What's more Monte than magic tattoos? What's more Bruce Cordell than D&D psionics?!

Most of the spell section involves summoning different kinds of spirits, which looks like a lot of fun. That's prime "the group's favorite NPC" territory.

Tattoos: The very first tattoo seems very powerful. When you are hit with a certain type of damage, you can gain immunity to it (just that instance of the damage, though) and heal half of the damage you took from it. It's only once per day. Good when you're fighting a dragon, though!

There's a tattoo that acts as armor (!), a tattoo that beefs up your critical hits, a tattoo that lets you move through creatures and solid object, and a tattoo that can store a spell.

I absolutely love these tattoos. It's so nice to have rules for things like this.

Psionics: As for the psionics, I should note that psionics played a huge part in my campaigns when I was a kid. The Complete Psionics Handbook completely changed my games for the better. The name of this blog - Power Score - is a term from that book. A power score is when you roll the exact number you needed (and produced special psionic effects when you rolled a power score).

We get some classes and, my favorite thing from 2e (except the wild magic surge table), WILD TALENTS. In 2e, a wild talent means your character just happened to be born with one psionic ability.

In this playtest, it's basically an extra die you can use to boost an ability check or attack roll. There's a cool idea here where the die "shrinks" on each use. So, your die is a d6. You use it on a to hit roll. Next time, it's a d4. Then, once the d4 is used, you can't use it at all until you take a long rest.

Maps of the Month

What's my favorite part of Dragon+? The free maps! This month we get a mix of stuff. The one I like most is the Mad Mage map. I wonder if they'll give us a free map of one level each issue, until all the levels have been given out.

For the record, Dungeon of the Mad Mage was a wall of text that I just couldn't get through. That's why there is no guide to it on this site. I may try to tackle it again at some point, but who knows. I'd need to nibble away at it each day, otherwise I'll get overwhelmed again.

They also have maps from the 3.5 Expedition to Castle Greyhawk! I actually ran a Castle Greyhawk campaign for a while on the Greyhawk Channel. I made my own version of the castle. People seemed to like when I incorporated the Lost Laboratory of Kwalish into it. Honestly I was very poorly prepared to run that adventure.

Creature Feature: Ikoria's Mutating Monsters

We get a .pdf of a monster from Magic: The Gathering. It's sort of like a godzilla-sized tiger. It has legendary actions and everything. It can shoot necrotic energy and has a special reaction where it can resist a certain type of damage.

Dndspeak d100 list: Gargantuan Monsters

Long time readers of this blog know that I LOVE the dungeon dozen, a site full of raw ideas on a certain topic. This article here is from Casey Willis, who runs a site called Dndspeak. This site is full of lists that go up to 100!

Apparently there is a reddit community that puts these together. Mind blown.

Let's pick out my favorite gargantuan monsters from this list:

Nimir of the Ruinous Oblivion: "A massive, nearly invisible figure draped in long, disgusting cloth. Nimir is the demon who oversees the creation of wraiths..."

OK, anything that expands on D&D lore is a huge thumbs up from me.

The Bickering Hydra: "This creature began life as seven royal sisters who constantly argued with each other, even as their kingdom fell apart under the threat of invading armies of monsters. Their bloodline was cursed and the heads of these princesses now sit on the seven serpentine necks of a giant hydra-like monster..."

So good. Is this not Demogorgon's next consort? Love it.

Drak’Munshoo, Eater of Stars: "This ancient lunar dragon resides on the dark side of the nearest moon. When the moon is full, its iridescent scales light up and it shoots across the sky, feeding on smaller stars. "

Fun fact: My campaign world/crystal sphere started way back when with the idea that there was a thing called a "star dragon." Later I came up with the twist that half the worlds in my crystal sphere are actually star dragon eggs that will one day hatch and kill the millions of people on each world.

The first set of gods could not resolve this issue and actually left the sphere, taking only their most devoted followers with them.

I have never resolved this story. I guess when I'm an old geezer, I'll run an adventure where the eggs hatch and everything is destroyed.

Animated Temple: I don't need to write anything else, do I? This needs to be a DMs Guild adventure like right now.

Arcane Jellyfish: "Unlike the seafaring creatures they are based upon, these jellyfish are crafted from pure magic. A few have grown to the size of small towns and can be seen from miles away as they float aimlessly in the sky."

This one is really good for atmosphere. I'd love to run a campaign where the heroes start off in a town where there's an arcane jellyfish floating in the distance, and everyone is used to it being there.

D&D Classics: Battlefields

This one contains a whole bunch of pdfs, articles from old issues of Dragon Magazine that deal with mass combat, battlefields, and castles.

Mass combat has always been this impossible thing to tackle in D&D. I do like the idea of just giving each side a stat block and letting them go at it. I personally love running encounters where the heroes are in the middle of a massive battle and each round, random stuff happens (a soldier stabs at them, a catapult boulder comes flying at them, a wounded soldier needs healing, etc.).

I can say with pride that when I was a kid, my friend Stan ran a D&D Skirmishes game one single time, and I won because I prepared like a madman for it.

Best of the Dungeon Master's Guild

These feature products that involve mass combat and gargantuan monsters. The one that catches my eye is The Walking Statues of Waterdeep by The DM Hero. That looks really cool.

Tactics for Mass Combat

Then we get a big article on running mass combat in 5e.

One idea I like involves combining the monster stats:

"Example: The party is fighting thirty orcs. Each orc has 15 hit points, so the horde has a total of 450 HP. If a character swings and deals 62 total damage across three attacks, the horde now has 388 HP as four of them are killed and another receives a grazing wound."

That works for me!

We also get some great notes on treating massive groups of enemies as an environmental hazard.

Very good issue. Thanks for reading!