Planescape - The Blood War XVIII. Bzallin's Blacksphere

George's work schedule changed so we weren't able to play for a few weeks. Now we're hopefully back on track. I hate missing so much time.

From '08 to '14 I was running 2-3 sessions a week and I got very used to the grind, so missing sessions like this feels really weird.

I was very rusty tonight, but it was still pretty awesome.

Plans Change: I had planned this session about a month ago. The group was going to go to the Wells of Darkness, utilizing material from an old adventure that is part of the Savage Tide path.

Yesterday, I was sitting there thinking that it just didn't feel like it was time to go the wells. I would have to sort of shoehorn it in to the story. Plus, the realm is cool, but there's not that much to do there. I didn't feel like I would be able to make it fun. I needed to mess with it a bit more.

Just a few hours before game time, I decided to completely change my plans. I wanted to run Bzallin's Blacksphere, a Chris Perkins Dungeon magazine adventure that I'd already laid the foundation for.

Learning How to Prepare: It took me about 6 years to learn how to prepare an adventure in a way that worked for me. I have to read the whole thing and write notes as I do it. That's the only way I can retain it and at the same time, I'm giving myself a "cheat sheet" to refer to when running it.

By going over the module in such a thorough manner, I can look up any spells, items or powers that would have tripped me up during the session.

Way back when I first got this issue of Dungeon, I was recovering from DM burnout. Planning a new campaign, I grabbed a bunch of issues of Dungeon magazine and decided to make a "sandbox". I was going to place all of the adventures on one map, link the stories, and then let the characters roam free.

I thought that if I could prepare all of the adventures in advance, that would give the players an incredible amount of freedom and I think the game would feel really fun.

I didn't actually run this campaign, I just prepared it. Bzallin's Blacksphere was going to be the final adventure. I mined the "mere of dead men" mini-path as the probable main storyline.

This morphed into another campaign. As I was working, I started getting a million idea that I was excited about and I realized that I didn't need these published adventures because it had inspired so much content of my own making.

I proceeded to run a campaign that I was extremely happy with, following up on a lot of tuff from previous campaigns. The god the dwarves died (the dude in the banner of this site - that's his body in the astral sea) and there was this mad gnome in a ruined city who was siphoning the power from magic items to create and fuel an army of clockwork golems. One of the heroes actually fell in the magic furnace and became a clockwork golem himself.

In a way, Bzallin's Blacksphere was the catalyst that finally brought me to a point where I was happy with how I was running games. There's still a million things I wish I could do better, but it gave me the confidence to know that I could run a game that I personally was proud of and I have not suffered any kind of creative burnout since then.

Anyway, Bzallin's Blacksphere involves a pocket dimension/lair inside a cube. The map is literally a cube:

I hastily slapped together a cube map of my own:

I bet a lot of you could make a really cool homemade cube map.

The Party

(Jessie) Bidam - Platinum-Scaled Dragonborn Fighter
(George) Theran - Elf Wizard  

Last time, Graz'zt had a temper tantrum. He flew a chaos ship into the Abyssal Undersump and destroyed the portal to Thanatos that the group and their devil allies were using.

Their pit fiend friend proved he was loyal to the heroes and made Iggwilv really angry.

The adventurers had gone to the abyssal realm of Bidam's wife, Bazuuma. Bad guys had installed a sphere of annihilation in the center of this realm, and it was growing.

Worse, two demon lord avatars were there, alone with 13 wizards, intent on killing the adventurers and Bazuuma.

Nocticula

The demon lords:

• J'zzlshraak: A beetle-woman demon lord right out of Bzallin's Blacksphere.
• Nocticula: The pathfinder demon lord of succubi/assassins/shadows.

Both of them are controlled by Iggwilv the witch queen (she knows their truenames). Iggwilv has set up this assault as a way to please Graz'zt, so he will release her from her prison - she's trapped in his palace.

J'zzlshraak has allies:

• Bzallin: A very powerful wizard
• 12 apprentices, each pretty powerful in their own right.

The group's ally is Bazuuma, a "good" demon lord of positive energy with 20 eyes that she can shoot eyebeams out of.

The Blacksphere: Theran quickly scanned the sphere of annihilation. He could see that it was going to grow slowly, it would take a month to engulf the entire realm. In my game, I say that things "destroyed" by the sphere of annihilation are actually teleported to the plane of Acheron, where in ten minutes' time they turn to iron and become part of the mass of a huge cube.

The Plane of Acheron

This cube is the home of a rust dragon named Coirosis, who the group had a harrowing encounter with long ago.

Let's Jump In: Theran thought that they should... jump into the sphere. Yes, jump into a sphere of annihilation. They'd take a lot of damage, but they'd survive. They'd appear in Acheron and they would have ten minutes to get out of there before they turned to solid iron.

I really didn't expect that. They came extremely close to doing it.. but they remembered that Bazuuma would probably die here alone.

The Deal: Nocticula contacted Theran telepathically. She wanted to make a deal... she'd spare the heroes if they swore to find a way to free her from Iggwilv's control. They agreed. She took a dive.

Bzallin, acting like a teacher, told his students to carefully prepare to cast magic missile. They did. Then he told them to cast it. They did. 36 missiles came hurtling at the heroes and tore into them. They were still up, but it definitely hurt.

Bidam charged J'zzlshraak (one of the most fun names to say out loud in D&D) rolling a natural 20 with the sword of sharpness! He sliced into the demon lord's carapace.

Bazuuma fired off a thick combination eyebeam that hit J'zzlshraak and the clump of wizards.

J'zzlhraak teleported away. The wizards fled through a planar gate. They figured their job was done - the sphere was going to grow and completely obliterate the realm.

You really shouldn't hold it like that

Theran studied the sphere and saw that it was a portal to the quasi-elemental plane of vacuum, an airless void. So.. yeah, jumping in would have been bad.

The sphere had been infused with negative energy. He surmised that there was some magic device that needed to be nullified to reverse the growth effect.

He'd soon learn that Bzallin has a talisman of the sphere that he magically altered. That talisman is the source of the problem.

Sigil: The heroes went home to Sigil and we did a bunch of goofy stuff before they rested:

Baba Yaga's hut marched into deadbook square. Out of it came Burba Larga, Baba Yaga's goofy stepdaughter that my players enjoy. She had come here to tell Zaraga, the hag of deadbook square, that it was almost time for the Gloom Meet, a hag "convention" that I have been planning ever since I wrote the guide to nightmares a few years ago.

The Michael Jackson NPC, Eo Kaplan, was carrying around a pet monkey. In real life, Michael Jackson had a monkey named Bubbles (if you are interested in the 80's, you should check out my favorite book of all time - The Clothes have No Emporer by Paul Slansky). So, since my game is stupid, Eo's monkey was named Nipples.

The heroes were slightly alarmed to see Eo interacting with Baron Flumph (D&D Barron Trump) and his mom, Mel Narnia. Mel seemed to like Eo. Eo seemed to like Baron. Baron looked bored.

Somehow we ended up a doing a thing where Burba Larga tried to do a moonwalk and by gawd she rolled a natural 20. People in the square gathered around and cheered.

I also had the "official" stepdaughters of Baba Yaga make an appearance. Elena the Fair (aka Elena the Mad) and Natasha the Dark. I pointed out that Natasha looks exactly like Iggwilv, and the group freaked and started asking a million questions.

Basically, Natasha is Iggwilv. She grew up and left the hut. The Natasha in the hut now is a magical duplicate created by Elena, who misses her sister.

Then we did some perverted stuff involving golems and lightning, then moved on to Bidam's employees watching him perform lewd acts. It was a long rest well spent.

Fall From Grace as she appeared in Planescape:Torment

Favorite NPC: The next day, the group was surprised to see their good friend Fall From Grace had the day off from her "secret mission" with the Sensates. The group hates that mission. She's definitely their favorite sidekick NPC. They ask me about her chastity bodice every single time we play.

I think part of the reason is because I pronounce it "BOW-diss" rather than "Bod-iss" and they like correcting me on it.

She's a succubus who has never committed an "act of passion". As long as she remains chaste, the Bow Diss grants her special powers.

Fall From Grace agreed to come with them to foil Bzallin's scheme.

The heroes decided that they needed to find Bzallin and top this item that's causing the blacksphere to grow. Theran is a member of the Society of Lumeniferous Aether, and has access to their incredible library.

There, he found a spellbook/journal written by a former apprentice of Bzallin. In it was a sigil sequence that the group could use to teleport to Bzallin's lair. They hired someone to cast a teleportation circle spell, and in they went.

Bzallin's Cube: The cube lair of Bzallin is technically its own demiplane. It is made of smoky marble and the floor is covered in patterned tiles.

The Statues: The heroes appeared in a chamber with five green doors. There were 3 statues of barbed devils. The group immediately was pretty sure those statues would come to life and attack them.

After closer examination, they saw that these were real devils hit with flesh to stone spells.

Let's Begin: The group had to choose one of five exits. We're in room 1. Where did they go? Room 2? Room 3?

Take a look:

Room 30. They skipped the whole dungeon. They started laughing when they saw my face. Jessie pointed out that this was like the time that they skipped that evil carnival from Dead Gods - a huge locale full of encounters that I meticulously prepared and the group had no interest in investigating.

This is also similar how the group demanded that I create a cow lady NPC with 6 udders, and then were completely nonplussed when I introduced her with a special voice and everything.

The Laboratory: The heroes crept up to a door and listened. There were sounds of bubbling, clanking and murmuring. Bidam stealthily cracked the door open to peek in. Rolls a natural 20 on his stealth check! He saw four of the apprentices in a lab with tables made from hovering crystal. The room is LOADED with magic items.

This whole dungeon was completely overflowing with magic items. It's a high level 2e adventure, and in 2e, magic items were necessary for bad guys to be a challenge. My groups ended up with more +1 swords than they knew what to do with.

Mountain of Treasure: I had decided already that I was going to leave all of this treasure in there. We're nearing the end of the campaign, so I thought it would be fun to back a dump truck full of magic items on them and see what happened.

In 5e, thanks to attunement, it's not really that big of a problem. All of the really good items require attunement, and you can only be attuned to 3 of them.

Bidam saw this and the group got really excited about the treasure. They exploded into the room, getting a surprise round. They killed two of the four apprentices (I used Evoker stats from Volo's - deadly!) before they even turned around. One apprentice dropped to his knees and begged to be spared. The other fled into a room and said Bzallin's name.

Almost Done: Yes, the bad guy's room is right there. We're at the end of the dungeon. They thought that was very funny.

This actually isn't a problem because they'll still want to explore the rest of the place to get all of the loot.

I should note that Bzallin has a shadow demon sidekick named Gloomwhisper that I placed elsewhere. He has this thing where he can trap a soul and I didn't really want to get into that.

Keeping the Cube: When preparing this, I was wondering if they would want to "keep" this place as a home for themselves. As written, this place falls apart into nothing once Bzallin is defeated. I know my group, so I decided to see how they felt about the place. If they liked it, I'd have it remain, at least for a while. It's a very cool location, it feels like a waste to destroy it.

The heroes mercilessly murdered the begging apprentice and crept up to the door. Fall from Grace and Theran got up against the wall on either side, and Bidam busted through the door.

Battle With Bzallin: Beyond it was a study/library. Bzallin and his apprentices were there. They'd cast stoneskin on themselves - a pretty useless spell that I shouldn't have chosen. It gives resistance against non-magic damage. This group does nothing but magic damage.

Bidam sliced at Bzallin twice, but rolled really low and missed both times. The bad guys got off two chain lightning spells, which devastated the group. Bidam also got hit with a finger of death as the bad guys misty stepped around.

Theran spotted the modified talisman of the sphere hanging on Bzallin's neck. He could see that it was magically modified. He knew that the talisman is what was causing the sphere of annihilation to grow.

He cast mage hand, summoning the talisman to his hand. Bzallin was alarmed, to say the least.

Bzallin called forth a cloudkill spell in the main room where Theran was. This dropped him.

Fall From Grace grabbed Theran' body and pulled him into the hallway. Bzallin activated a guards and wards spell, which filled the hallway with mist and arcane-locked all of the doors.

Bidam killed the apprentice. He noticed that striking Bzallin was strange - he did not bleed or get cut. Bzallin dropped his illusory appearance - he was a lich!

Bzallin ignored Bidam, intent on killing Theran and getting his talisman back.

In the hallway, Fall from Grace healed Theran back to consciousness. Dispel magic unlocked the door.

Bidam charged Bzallin and sliced into him, reducing him to dust that vanished in a flash (he's a lich, so he'll reform by his phylactery).

Time to Loot: The heroes were hurt very badly, but they hadn't cast many spells. They have this sack of goodberries that they used to heal themselves to full and went on a looting spree.

They didn't have time to examine everything fully, as this place is full of creatures who probably heard all that lightning and would probably be here soon to see what happened. The loot:

• Ohm's Black Box - No idea what this is, will have to google it.
• Magemask - Same deal
• Black Robe of the Archmagi - wow
• Wand of Armory: ??
• Dagger +1
• Ring of Protection
• Rod of Energy Draining - This thing is black and was owned by an apprentice named Talica. Look at this cheeky comment in the adventure: "Nothing tickles Talica's fancy like touching someone with her black rod..." That's not an accident. No way.
• Vest of Protection
• Cloak of Protection
• Bracers of Defense
• Many scrolls
• 2 spellbooks
• Wand of Lightning Bolts
• 2 Ioun Stones - One gives you immunity to non-magic weapons, the other allows you to understand every spoken language.
• Flask of Curses - if you open it, you are cursed to fail every saving throw. In your life. Forever.
• Staff of the Magi
• Bone of Slaying - Make a melee attack. Roll a 19 or 20, the opponent must make a saving throw... or die.
• The Book of Vile Death - A tome that outlines the process of turning oneself into a lich. It can only be understood by wizards of 17th level or higher. That will be Theran pretty soon. He was quite excited about this.

The players were giddy.

I love the idea of the group getting all these items, then arming a small force of soldiers with them for some special mission or something.

We should finish the cube next week. I'll have to make up a list of all the items in this place to give to them.

I know I'm a Perkins fan and all, but I honestly think this is a classic adventure. If they ever do another Tales from the Yawning Portal type of book, this should be in it.

Planescape: Torment - Enhanced Edition

A few months ago, Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition was released. It's a cleaned-up version of the original RPG, which some regard as a classic.

Holly, who plays Strix on Dice, Camera, Action, did a series of videos on this game right here.

I'm going to write a review and discuss my experiences with this game. Then I'll talk about how it relates to the tabletop RPG setting.

You Must Like to Read: If you want to know whether this is the game for you, it's pretty simple. Do you like reading? If you do, you'll like this. This game is 90% reading and choosing responses. There is combat, too, but you have to be willing to read through text scrolls to get to them.

Reception: I first played Torment back when it came out way back when. Torment was critically acclaimed but didn't sell particularly well. I have always felt that the thing that hurt this game the most is the cover. Look:

I think when you see that image, you get no idea of what the game is about and it really doesn't look appealing at all. The colors... gah. It's "different", but different doesn't mean good.

I've never liked the look of the main character. He looks like a gray-skinned caveman with dreadlocks. It just feels completely out of place with the Planescape setting.

Rules: The game uses a modified version of the AD&D 2e rules, complete with descending ACs (an AC 2 is good in 2e). Spells are modified, but most keep to the spirit of the originals.

The new menu screen, big improvement over the old one!

Premise: You start off waking up on a slab in the Mortuary, home of the Dustmen. You have no idea who you are or why you came back to life. There are tattoos on your body that provide clues. This game came out before Memento, and at the time was a pretty innovative idea.

From there, you wander and slowly piece things together, making allies who can join your group in the process.

Good and Evil: Your alignment changes according to your actions. If you do evil things, you become evil. If you do good things, you'll become good. I always like being a good guy in games, and I found it incredibly difficult to attain lawful good status. The closest I came was neutral good.

Classes: You start off as a fighter. Eventually, you get to choose a class to build on top of that. In my newest playthrough, I decided to be a mage. It takes an extremely long time before you get to make that choice. I think I was 15 hours in before I actually became a mage.

The cranium rat hive-mind

The best thing about this game are the characters. They're extremely original and many are quite complex. Almost every single person who can join your party is a really unique, interesting character. The city is overloaded with fun NPCs, from a blue-skinned magic item merchant to a guy who legit lost his head.

Quests: The game is full of mini-quests, many of which are optional. Some of them are pretty hard to figure out. If you're like me, you'll need to consult an online FAQ or you might get stuck.

Secrets: There are secrets everywhere. Items stashed inside zombies, secret portals, NPCs who admit things only if you dig, it's a really deep game. This is where your stat choices come into play.

If you have a high charisma or wisdom, you have dialogue options not available to you otherwise. I went with a high intelligence and charisma, and the game was quite a bit easier for me.

Graphics: I just looked at this comparison video, and it doesn't really look that much different. I can say that when I played the original, I found the city screen to be grainy and difficult to navigate. In this version, that is not an issue. Everything is very clear and it made a huge difference for me.

I was wondering if younger people would be OK with the look of this game. I saw one review on Steam where a kid said that the game is too ugly to play. It definitely has a 90's "rust" look to it which some might find unappealing.

The Pillar of Skulls

The other big upgrade that stuck out was picking up objects. I remember in the original, looting could be a real pain, as it was hard to click on stuff in certain areas. They cleaned that up for the most part in this version.

Getting to the End: I have played this game 3 times. Once when it came out, again about 3 years ago, and now. I have never actually finished it. I got stuck every single time. It's one of those games where if you don't play it for a few days and forget what you were doing, you're going to be lost and might just give up.

I generally avoid using an FAQ unless it's necessary. I'm pretty sure I will never get through this game without using one.

There was an Incident: In this newest playthrough, something weird happened. There were a number of possibly connected "incidents" that walked me into a wall.

There's this part in the game where githyanki attack you on the streets of Sigil. They keep coming at you, seemingly in endless supply. I decided not to run away. I stood my ground and killed as many as I could.

This became a comical encounter where I was running around and dodging them like a running back while the rest of my party killed them off. For some reason, the githyanki wanted me dead and they mostly left the others alone.

I eventually set up a "funnel" where the githyanki had to get through my allies to get to me and we just mowed them down like a meatgrinder. I'm pretty sure we killed at least 50 githyanki. Their treasure littered the street.

Toward the end of this encounter, some of the githyanki seemed to get glitchy. They'd run up to me and then not attack. They'd just stand there, twitchy. I got the feeling I'd broken something.

Glabrezu

I got stuck shortly after that. I couldn't remember how to get to the next part of the game, which involves the mazes. I went back to this tavern called the Smoldering Corpse. Bored, I saw a table of devils and I thought maybe I'd mess with them and kill them.

So we get into a thing and I cast this spell that sends a swarm of insects at them. This swarm spread to other people in the tavern, and the entire bar came after me. One denizen tore off his skin and revealed himself to be a demon (a glabrezu). He actually helped us kill the devils.

I ended up killing everyone in the bar until it was just the demon and one devil fighting each other. Weirdly, neither seemed able to hit the other. I killed the devil, and struck up a conversation with the glabrezu, who was evil and menacing on his own. I left, rested, then came back and killed him.

I still needed to use an object to go find Ravel Puzzlewell. I eventually realized that the item I needed to do so was gone from my inventory. I might have accidentally dropped it while collecting the githyanki treasure mountain, but I don't think I would have done that.

The item was just... gone. You need this item to continue. I literally could not continue on, at least, as far as I know.

It's pretty sad that the third time I played this game, I made less progress than the times before.

Coaxmetal, the weapon-maker

Tabletop Use: The thing I love the most about this game is that it is a goldmine for material. If you run a Planescape campaign, you really need to check this out. It is so in keeping with the tone of the setting that I consider it "official" material.

Honestly, a lot of it is better than what's in the books. It is amazing. This game develops the githzerai race far beyond what had been done in the history of D&D. There are tons of worthy NPCs and locations to use. You can steal the quests, you name it. You could literally run an entire campaign based off of the material in this game.

I might see if I can salvage this playthrough. There is no way in hell that I am starting again from the beginning. I am thinking I will play through Torment: Tides of Numenara, and see what that's like.

Dice, Camera, Action - Character Backstories

 

On this page, I've tried to collect all that we know so far about the backstories of the Waffle Crew. I'll try and keep this updated as the show progresses. If there's something you think should be added, please let me know.

The main source is this page, which has the character sheets of the heroes. Most of them haven't been updated, but Paultin is 8th level. Did you know that he has dimension door?

The Beginning

At the start of episode 1, the group had just left Daggerford, a town featured in Scourge of the Sword Coast. The ruler of Daggerford is somewhat inept and there's a succubus looking to replace him. This succubus goes on to appear in Dead in Thay.

The group already knew each other at the start of episode 1. It has not been revealed what they'd done together before then.

They camped in the Misty Forest. They were pulled into Barovia through the mists of Ravenloft.

OK! Let's go in alphabetical order.

Diath Woodrow

Diath is a human rogue.

• Personality Trait: Adventure and challenges are better than riches. Calm, collected, quick-thinking. I can get out of any situation quickly and smoothly.
• Ideal: Seeking forgotten or lost riches is what I live for.
• Bond: Everyone else's well-being is more important than my own. I will discover what my ring of keys goes to
• Flaw: I am physically weak and want to avoid confrontation.
• "I do not steal, pickpocket, or rob others."
• Diath actually has an 8 Strength!

Backstory: Diath was born and raised in Waterdeep to a family that worked hard to get by. They weren't rich, but they also weren't poor. Until, that is, his family home was robbed.

From there it was a struggle to survive every day. Diath did odd jobs wherever he could, and on especially unfortunate days, he resorted to begging on the streets.

(episode 21) When Diath was a beggar, a mysterious person gave him the key ring.

The Keys: He's long forgotten their face, but this was when one cloaked figure simply placed a set of keys into his hands instead of a copper piece. He does not know what the key ring is for. It is later revealed that one key open the Tome of Strahd, and also that the keys fit into the magic sword Gutter.

Not Motivated by Greed: Adventuring quickly became his steadiest form of income. He does not desire fortune, but rather the tales and experiences he obtains from going on adventures. Any valuable gem, jewel, or trinket he discovered he kept for himself as a memento of how far he's come.

Not a Burglar: As a victim of petty theft himself, he refuses to outright steal. Diath has no interest in breaking into homes, cutting purses in the streets or taking from other citizens struggling to get by. For him, uncovering long-forgotten artifacts is far more valuable than any amount of coin.

Ancestors: It has been revealed that Diath has two ancestors:  

• Ashton (Father?) was an adventurer, apparently a rogue. He was friends with a half-orc/half-dwarf who eventually tracked down Diath and gave him Gutter, a magic sword passed down the Woodrow line.
• Dareth (Mother? Grandmother?) is who was originally given the sword by its creator, Shameshka the Marauder. Dareth apparently lived in the city of Sigil.

Gutter: This sword has a keyhole that Diath's keys fit into. Each time he uses a key, a portal opens and Shemeshka the Marauder steps through and will answer three questions. In return, Diath must hand over one of the keys from his key ring.

Evelyn Marthaine

(Episode 1) Evelyn is immaculately dressed and very clean. Chris said that she has family ties in Waterdeep. The Marthaines have some sort of holding in that city.

• Personality Trait: The common folk love me for my kindness and generosity.
• Ideal: It is my duty to protect and care for the people beneath me.
• Bond: My loyalty to my god is unwavering.
• Flaw: In fact, the world does revolve around me.
• Trinket: A four leaf clover pressed between inside a book discussing manners and etiquette.
• Serves Lathander, God of the Dawn.
• Oath of the Ancients

Construct Evelyn

Appearance: Evelyn looks like a flyer in cheerleading. Tiny, but built! You might describe her face and hair as cherubic. She's definitely "cute but deadly." The power of her God seems to flow through her in unbelievable feats of strength.

Juniper: In a roomy little pouch at her belt, or, at times, on her shoulder, she's currently carrying a little gray mouse that she has nursed back to health after finding it with a broken leg in the city streets. She calls it Juniper, and it's become quite tame.

Backstory: Evelyn came from a noble family and had a provincial, but overall privileged childhood, probably with some connection to Waterdeep. By tradition she should be addressed as "lady," but she never requires the honorific and encourages people to "just call her Evelyn."

Not Much Family: She doesn't really talk about it, but there doesn't seem to be much family or home for her to go back to. She's well known as a kind protector, and there's no particular scandal about her or her family, she just tends to focus on others and not say a whole lot about where she came from.

(Episode 13) Sometimes Evelyn didn't pay attention in paladin school because she was drawing horses. She had a teacher who wore the Icon of Ravenkind. 

Doesn't Talk About Past: Her flaw "in fact, the world does revolve around me" manifests not so much in self-centeredness, but more in a steadfast, sometimes unreasonable optimism. "Everything will be all right" and "tomorrow is a new day" seem to be as far as Evelyn will go when talking about her past.

Mysterious Incident Involving Parents: She was from a very small, quiet, provincial town - but a rumor has been heard once or twice around town that something happened to her poor lord and lady parents, and the most sinister of those whispers imply that Evelyn left home because she may be somehow to blame.

Heirloom - Winged Boots of the Dawn: Fey, religious boots with a blissful quirk. Passed down as an heirloom by the church in Evelyn's hometown before she left, these boots glow in the moonlight, and are worked with the holy symbol of Lathander. When worn, they make the wearer feel fortunate and optimistic about the future, and harmless creatures seem to frolic in their presence. (4 hours flight per day)

Paultin Seppa

Paultin's character sheet has been updated all the way to level 8 as of this writing. Some of Paultin's traits may have changed from the original concept listed on his sheet.

• Personality Trait: I love a good insult, even one directed at me.
• Ideal: Creativity. The world is in need of new ideas and bold actions (chaotic).
• Bond: I will do anything to prove I am superior to my rival. My rival is a voice in my head.
• Flaw: I have difficulty keeping my true feelings hidden. My sharp tongue lands me in trouble.
• Friendly. Entertainer. Musician.
• Paultin is Chaotic Neutral.

Backstory: Paultin doesn't have a backstory on his sheet. All we know are bits and pieces gleaned from the show.

Ancestor: He may have an ancestor named Jesper (Yesper?), also a bard who drank a lot.

Paultin's Shadow: It appears that Paultin's evil shadow was active for a long time. The shadow is eventually revealed to be a shard of Strahd's spirit whose goal is to corrupt Paultin and make him an ally of the dark lord.

Dead Parents: (Episode 25) The story goes like this. The vistani brought one of their kind to Rudolph van Richten to heal them. Included in this clump of vistani were Paultin's parents and a very young Paultin.

The patient died despite van Richten's efforts. To avoid their curse, he urged them to take something of his in compensation. They took his son, Erasmus.

Zombies: When van Richten realized what they'd done, he tried to save Erasmus only to find that they'd sold him to a vampire named Baron Metus. Obviously upset, van Richten got the corpse of the vistani he was unable to save and rode into the woods. He was attacked by an undead horde led by a lich. For whatever reason, the lich protected him and magically warded him from the undead.

Protected, van Richten led the horde to the vistani camp, where they killed all of the vistani in that clan except for Paultin. A dying vistani cursed van Richten. From that day forward, all who became close to him would suffer a horrible fate.

(Episode 26) According to van Richten, he purposely spared Paultin.

Erasmus: Erasmus had become a vampire and he could not be saved. He begged his father to kill him. Van Richten did, and from that day forth, he was relentless hunter of vampires and other supernatural monsters.

Strix

Strix has a complex origin.

• Personality Trait: I put no trust in divine beings. I hide scraps of food and trinkets away in my pockets.
• Ideal: I kill monsters to make the world a safer place, and to exorcise my own demons.
• Bond: A terrible guilt consumes me. I hope that I can find redemption through my actions.
• Flaw: I assume the worst in people.
• Pet: Strix has a pet cranium rat with one eye named Stinky. 

Appearance: Pale skin, milky eyes, fluffy long black hair, small pointed fangs and two small brown horns protruding from the upper head, hidden when she has her hood up. Her black and brown tattered robes are held together by some leather belts and straps. Miscellaneous vials and trinkets hang from them.

She has a long, pale tail ending in a spade that she hides under her robes when around commoners who might be afraid of her heritage. She has a worn leather backpack covered in sigils that she drew and probably mean nothing.

Backstory: (Acq Inc: Enter the Trash Witch) The Skizzixes were a human family from Sigil that feared annihilation from their rivals. They made a pact with Asmodeus to become tieflings and they were also awarded vassals - devils to serve as bodyguards and assistants. Strix is the most powerful member of the family.

There is an infernal contract linked to Strix that can be used to summon her and force her to do things.

(Episode 7) Strix is the daughter of a devil and a mortal (who is described as "a lovely woman" by Lady Wachter). A deal was wrought to make her. Strix has an older brother named Izek, who has one huge, monstrous arm.

Stolen by Vistani: Lady Wachter said that she could have raised Strix as her own daughter, but the vistani ("wanton thieves") stole Strix from the Wachters. The vistani would have taken Izek as well, but he slipped through their grasp.

Lady Wachter claimed that she could help Strix harness the power inside of her.

Strix asked Izek about their family. He said: "It is just me. Do not speak of aunts and other relatives."

Sigil: (Info from a story Holly wrote) Strix was placed in the city of Sigil with the word "Strix" written on her arm. She lived on the streets in the Hive, the poorest and most dangerous section of Sigil. Strix made a living selling dead bodies as a member of the Dustmen faction.

The Bariaur: She was taken in by a bariaur (half-woman/half-goat) who ran an orphanage/bakery. Strix stayed there for years, bonding with her fellow orphans.

The Entity: A shadowy entity entered the bakery and killed everyone except for Strix. Strix does not know why it spared her.

Planar Adventures: Strix fled into the planes, traveling to:

• The Outlands: She visited a number of gate towns. Apparently there was an incident of some sort in Torch.
• Limbo
• Bytopia
• The Feywild

The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga

In the Feywild, Strix was taken in by the legendary hag Baba Yaga. Strix lived in her dancing hut for a few years, making baked goods. Baba Yaga eventually told her it was time to go, and gave Strix the little black book that records her dreams.

Baba Yaga left Strix in a forest on a prime world. Strix settled into a bramble hovel. The immediate aftermath of this is described here.

Force Grey Season 2: Episodes 1-2

You can watch these episodes on Twitch right here.
You can buy Tomb of Annihilation right here.
You can buy Xanathar's Guide to Everything right here.

Force Grey is back for another season. This time, the adventure is linked to the Tomb of Annihilation adventure, which comes out in about a month.

If you haven't seen it, the premise is that there is an organization in Waterdeep that hires adventurers to complete missions of particular importance for them. For each mission, adventurers are selected from the ranks of Force Grey based on their skills or who is available at the time.

The bummer here for me is that my two favorite players, Shelby Faro and Jonah Ray, are absent. I know Jonah is busy with the new MST3K, so hey, what can you do?

The Party

(Joe Manganiello) Arkhan - Dragonborn Paladin of Tiamat
(Deborah Ann Woll) Jamilah - Human Barbarian
(Dylan Sprouse) Tyril Tallguy - Firbolg Druid
(Utkarsh Ambudkar) Hitch - Human Rogue
(Brian Posehn) Calliope - Half-Elf Bard

The players introduce their characters. Arkhan was lawful good but recently became a worshiper of Tiamat. Apparently Joe uses this character in his regular campaign. He owns a bar called "The Burning Cube." I'd like to hear more about that.

Jamila is a longtime denizen of Chult who is ready to move on Calliope has a rapier and she "looks like Becky Lynch from the WWE with an eyepatch."

Months have passed since the last adventure. The heroes are in a tavern in Waterdeep. Tyril and Hitch are playing cards with a guy. Calliope is playing music. The two new heroes are not with the party at the start.

Hitch tries to cheat at cards and rolls a natural one. The sailor he tried to cheat is angry, but Hitch bluffs his way out of it.

The door to the tavern opens. A middle aged woman in a cloak enters. She wears the symbol of a white hand, the emblem of the Watchful Order, mages who protect the city. She has come here to tell the heroes to head to Blackstaff Tower. It's time for Force Grey to force some grey on someone or something.

At Blackstaff tower, the group meets with a small woman with indigo skin. She's got a staff with a wolf's head on it. She explains that raise dead isn't working, and certain high masked lords of Waterdeep will perish from the death curse if this isn't dealt with.

The souls of those suffering the death curse are being pulled and fed to a device called the soulmonger.

The soulmonger is beneath a lost city in Chult. Force Grey's duty is to find the lost city. Arkhan joins the group as a new member of the party. He knows Hitch, apparently they've worked together before.

The next day, the heroes take a ship to Chult. The trip takes a week.

The group arrives at Port Nyanzaru. It is very hot. The sweat builds in their armor. This was also mentioned on Girls, Guts, Glory, I guess it' a thing in Tomb of Annihilation.

The heroes hit the streets. They see a domesticated stegosaurus with a rider. It is a beast of burden.

Nature is trying to reclaim the city, vines everywhere. The city is very old and some buildings are ruined.

The group heads to the Thundering Lizard. Calliope scans the tavern, looking for a guide. Let's see if the guides are the same ones on Girls Guts Glory. Calliope rolls a 1.

A noble catches her eye and waves her over. Hey.. these NPCs were on Girls, Guts, Glory. This is the good-looking dude who has a sidekick named Gondolo. They come over and try to impress the heroes.

Arkhan threatens them. Jamila is here in the bar, winning arm wrestling contests. She is low on money and eyeballs the adventurers.

Arkhan scares off the dudes. Jamila sees her opportunity and approaches the group. She starts talking and Hitch immediately says, "You're hired." What does Jamila look like? A female Joe Manganiello!

Jamila says that she can lead them to the city. She'll do it if they'll buy her rations and gear. She also says that Ubtao has blessed her.

The heroes are warned that the jungle is full of undead.

We catch a glimpse of the map of Chult. We actually see right where Omu is.

Jamila leads the group to the market.. whoop.. rolls a one in doing so. Welp. Tyril want to buy some antitoxin from a dude in a tent. The merchant gives him a clump of healing moss. Tyril applies Ronald Reagan's motto: "Trust, but verify." He probes the moss.

Hitch wants to steal it. He creeps over and snatches a clump. The merchant turns, wary. Hitch tells him he's looking for the bathroom. The merchant want to see his hands. Hitch says his hands are covered with feces. Good gawd, how far is he willing to go to pull this off?

Guards are approaching the tent. Hitch keeps saying he has poop all over his hands. Tyril wants to slip him some poo.. no.. the guards come in.

Arkhan tries to bribe them with 100 gold. The guards don't bite. After some deliberations, the merchant decides to take the gold. The guards throw Hitch into the street. They have no moss and they lost 100 of the 600 gold they were given to use for this trip.

That's where we stop!

Overall

I forgot that these episodes are only half an hour each. It goes very quick.

I'm a little torn on whether they should just cut to the action on this show or to run it somewhat like a normal game. If they had started in Port Nyanzaru with a quick explanation of their mission, we'd have gotten to the good stuff quicker. But starting at the start is more like a "real" D&D game, which you probably want viewers who are new to the game to see.

I like that we get to see the DMs of different shows running the same NPCs. I find it very interesting how each DM handles them so differently. Two people can run the same D&D adventure and they usually come out nothing alike.

Dice, Camera, Action: Episode 58 - Curse of Strahd

Episode 58: Bloodbath

• Order Tomb of Annihilation here
• Season Two Dice, Camera, Action Episode Guide
• Dice, Camera, Action on Reddit
• The Reddit Dice, Camera, Action Index
• The Dice, Camera, Action Youtube Playlist

Art: I've started getting DCA art for the blog. I'm going to get an image of each hero and then I'll probably start getting art of scenes from different episodes. The artist of the above image is right here. She's working on Evelyn right now.

If there are any scenes you'd like to see drawn, let me know. People on twitter gave me a real good list to start off from. Ultimately I'd like to have one piece for each episode.

Twitch Stuff: I decided to subscribe to the D&D channel just to see how subscribing works. Basically, you pay $5 and you get some emoji things. Here they are:

I assume some of the money goes to them. It's $5 a month. I would really like it if subscribers got something like a .pdf guide to the show or something. Maybe with some stats in it, summaries, character sheets, that kind of thing. They could take the best fan art and stick it in there, maybe.

They say that subscribing blocks ads, but I've never seen an ad on Twitch. Maybe firefox is beating them off with a stick or something.

If you want to be my buddy, my twitch name is PowerScoreRPG. We can be buddies... together? Maybe forever!

No Nate today. Chris will be running Paultin. I like it when it's these 3 playing.

The Party

(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander
(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue
(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer

Last time, Strahd was about to chase Sergei and Tatyana, who fled in a horse-drawn carriage when they realized Strahd wanted to kill Sergei. Diath stabbed Strahd in the back (literally).

So, here we go. Strix gets on her broom and flies 30 feet up. Strahd gets on his horse. Diath stabs him again. Strahd takes the hit and rides off, chasing his brother.

Soldiers emerge from the castle. 12 are running at them, 12 more up on the battlements with ranged weapons. They can take them. A few Strix fireballs will take care of this. The others should get under the battlements so the soldiers don't have line of sight.

I think Evelyn could summon Mourning Glory, Evelyn and Diath could hop on and they could chase Strahd. Sorry, I'll stop backseat driving.

Diath wants to surrender. Diath is suffering from decision fatigue again.

Paultin uses his mandolin to heal Evelyn. The chat is saying that Paultin wouldn't do that.

The ground soldiers attack Evelyn. She takes a total of 21 points of damage. The ranged soldiers fire crossbow bolts at Strix. She has an AC of 14. Eep. Only one hits! She takes 8 points.

A priest of the Morninglord shows up. He casts bless on three of the soldiers.

Strix decides to go after Strahd. Land and blow them up! She's 100 feet above him. She still has the flask, right?

Evelyn uses her winged boots and disengages. She is going to fly after Strahd.

The soldiers grab Waffles.. eep. The bad guys take Paultin's mandolin. It looks like Paultin was able to turn Murderbot invisible.

Strix's hat blows off. She chases it. Dex check to grab it. She rolls a one. The hat flutters down. Strix barely stays on her broom.

Evelyn is hit by 5 bolts. She takes 22 damage. She's down! She falls from the sky and takes 9 more damage, costing her one death save.

Holly thinks if they turn off their computers this can't get any worse. But Chris will be there, waiting...

The cleric stabilizes Evelyn. Waffles scampers over and tries to revive her.

Strahd's crossing a bridge. Strix decides to try to ram him off the side. Opposed strength check. Strix rolls a natural 20! Strahd tumbles onto the mossy bridge. His horse keeps going.

He gets up and gets back on his horse. She tries to talk sense into him. He scowls and rides off.
I know natural 20's aren't crits with ability checks, but it feels like Strahd should have been dangling on the side of the bridge or something. The dice told the story.

Strix flies up and casts poison spray on Strahd. Apparently, she casts this by squeezing her pet cranium rat and it comes out like a fart cloud. She utters the immortal line: "Take my rat farts."

Strahd gets on the carriage and Jesper engages him. Strahd knocks Jesper into Strix and they both fall to the ground. Strahd's horse tries to trample them.  

Strix hits Beucephalus with a fire bolt.. Wow! the Dark Powers reach out and use the flame, transforming Beucephalus into a nightmare.

Strahd riding Beucephalus

Strix is getting out of here but doesn't want to leave Jesper. He tells her to go. She gives him her drow spell book.

She slaps the horse around with mage hand to distract it while Jesper runs away. Then she takes flight.

Back at the castle, Rahadin hobbles outside. He took piles of damage last session. The priest heals him.

Rahadin summons a phantom steed to go help Strahd. Diath tells him about the tome of Strahd. He urges Rahadin to read it. Rahadin takes the book and heads inside.

It starts to rain. Diath and Paultin are being held by the bad guys... awkward.

Strahd pulls Sergei out of the carriage. Strix stats throwing stuff at him.. the driftglobe, a heart.

Strahd draws his sword and throws it at Strix. Strix has 1 hit point left. Strix tells Strahd he's going to regret killing his brother, and she flies away.

Strix decides to fly into the village of Barovia and look for a healer.

Strahd returns with the carriage an hour later. Sergei and Tatyana are still alive. Strahd orders Leo and his mother to be brought out. Strahd decapitates Leo in front of his mother. The Duchess is dragged to the dungeon.

Then Strahd calls for Paultin. He.. decapitates Paultin!

Diath's turn... He weeps, as he realizes he let everyone down. Diath is decapitated.

50 years pass.

Strix was in the village and learned that her friends were dead. She ends up living in a hut for years. Eventually, Waffles and Simon arrive. Scarecrows start popping up, spying on Strix.

There was an uprising in Castle Ravenloft, people died, the mists came. Strahd is a vampire again.

Over time, Strix makes friends with the vistani, the dusk elves, and the actual Kasimir (Rahadin pretended to be him for quite a while).

Eventually, the scarecrows lead Strix to another hut - the creeping hut of Baba Lysaga.

Holly says that Strix spent some of her childhood in a hut with chicken feet..! Baba Yaga's hut? Really? Was this ever said before? Did she mess with the tank?

In the hut is a bathtub full of blood. Someone sits up. It's an old woman, covered in blood.

They become friends. Lysaga takes goat's blood baths that stops the aging process. She teaches Strix how to do it.

Baba Lysaga was the midwife who brought Strahd into the world. Strix is not happy when she learns this and they are no longer friends.

She makes friends with the revenants of Argynvostholt and they eventually go to the Amber Temple on a quest to resurrect Strix's friends. It is soon revealed that they make dark pacts with the vestige of the corpse star. That pact gives them the power to bring the dead back to life.

Diath awakens in a coffin. He's a corpse.. living flesh forms, blood courses in his veins. Standing around him are vistani, dusk elves, and an undead knight. Strix is there.. so is a large, very old owlbear.

Paultin's resurrected.

Diath hugs Strix. He tells her he's sorry.

Is Evelyn going to be normal again? Is Chris going to roll on the resurrection chart? Nope! Light comes into her body. She's still a construct, fully restored and covered by grave dirt. She wakes up screaming.

They'd been trapped in the ethereal plane for 50 years.

So now they've all be raised, does that mean they all have the death curse? Does it count if they're raised somewhere other than Toril?

It turns out that the group was buried that place where Diath had a vision of himself being hung.

Evelyn opens the compartment where Juniper, her mouse, was. It's dead. Strix's cranium rat is dead, too. The revenants raise them, too. I find the idea of a mouse suffering from Acererak's death curse very amusing.

Kasimir says, "Thank you for everything you tried to do." The players are very shell-shocked.

A vistani gives the adventurers a wagon. Apparently it can be used to leave Barovia.

The group is missing all of their belongings. No.. the vistani stole it all back. They also give the group two big casks of wizard of wines wine.

Godfrey leads the group out. The heroes leave Barovia and return to Toril. That's where we stop!

Overall

Not sure how I feel about this episode! Interesting, at least. The players will have a week to think about what their characters did for those 50 years.

• Evelyn: I hate the idea that she might lose faith in the Morninglord. I mean... she wandered the mists as a spirit, probably praying for aid, and the aid never came. Hopefully she remained positive. I am still wondering why Lathander was holding that baby when her spirit came before him and the saints.
• Diath: When raised, his immediate response was to apologize. He felt like he failed. During those 50 years, he had time to mull over what mistakes he made and how he'd do it differently. Now he has a chance to make those changes. He also had a long time to think about the keys and the other Woodrows. Also, for those who think there's a Diath/Strix thing brewing, he'd have had 50 years to think about her and how he never got to get close to her.
• Paultin: No alcohol for 50 years. Maybe he's sober? He had time to come up with some ridiculously epic songs. Maybe a dark power reached out to him or something.
• Strix: Strix had 50 years to learn things. I'd guess that she knows a lot about things in general, having spent time with the vistani, the dusk elves, the knights and the hag. She could have learned cool magic tricks from Lysaga. I guess she'd also be very close to Waffles and Simon. Does Simon think of Strix as his mom now?

Time Travel: This session reminded me of a few things I tried as a DM a long time ago. None of them worked, so I had alarm bells going off as this episode progressed. Two things in particular stick out:

Glossing over the Passage of Years: The heroes needed repairs for their fleet of Spelljammer ships. How long did it take? 13 years, I declared. They did not like that at all. I just wanted to add some time to the campaign, because I don't like it when technically adventurers go from 1st level to 10th in 3 weeks time. It feels wrong. But yeah, the 13 years added nothing.

Actually Changing the Timeline: Near the end of my Al Qadim campaign, I thought it would be cool for the heroes to get a magic hourglass that would allow them to actually go back in time and change things that they regretted - mainly, one character had a twin sister who died. He wanted to save her.

So time travel happened, and the changes were made. I altered the campaign to reflect the changes. It actually made the campaign feel like it was no longer valid. All these things we'd done over the course of two years were erased. It felt cheap. Worse, I couldn't remember the changes! It got very confusing.

Skipping 50 Years: In this session we had Holly play through 50 years of life in 5 minutes. I'm definitely not saying that we should have sat there for months while they played through every event, but I think I would have liked it if Chris ran a special solo session with her over the week to allow for some consequential action.

Or..! Do an episode of their spirits wandering, flashing back to their past. We could see the characters play through significant events of their youth and learn some secret things. We could see Evelyn in paladin school, Diath on the streets of Sigil (!), Strix in Baba Yaga's hut and pre-drunkard Paultin.

Maybe that would be too weird. Lots of stuff to absorb this episode.

Still in the Past? Did the group return to present-day Toril? Are they in the past of the Forgotten Realms? It would be pretty cool to have them walk right into the Spellplague or something.

Critical Role - Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting

You can get the pdf of this book right here.
You can order it on amazon here. 

Today we're going to look at a brand new product: the Tal'Dorei campaign setting. This is the realm in which the Critical Role show takes place.

I've only seen the first episode of Critical Role. I liked it, but the episodes are very long and it's hard to keep up.

That means that all of this stuff is going to be new to me. We'll go through and pick out the best ideas that could be mined for your home game. I'll try to give you an idea of what's in the book so you can decide if you want to get it.

I'm interested to see if the Raven Queen is in this, as I'm pretty sure she is used on that show. I also know that this campaign started in Pathfinder, which makes it a real mix of stuff. I am wondering what they can and can't use, legally.

I run a Planescape campaign and I love the idea of having my group go here for a session or two, so this should be a lot of fun to check out.

Essential Information

• This book is primarily a description of the realm of Tal'Dorei.
• A lot of the deities in this book are D&D entities that are not called by their normal name.
• The art is top notch.
• There are monsters and magic items, but it feels like there could have been more. 
• If you are looking for a setting or a book to pull (non-dungeon) locations out of to use in your game, this is definitely worth getting. 
• I think that players might really like some of the options in here.

Very Good Cover: I really like the cover (see the very top of this article). There's action! I'm real picky about D&D art and this is definitely the kind of thing I like to see. It's a scene that shows you the stuff you can do in the game. I also really like that they resisted the idea of making it a standard group shot of the characters from the show. Their backs are turned! Ballsy!

Lots of Names: Looking at the credits, I see that Mark Hulmes from High Rollers had some input. I love that guy. Crystal Frasier did some work on this, too. She wrote that epic first adventure of the Hell's Rebels path that I am dying to run. The main authors: Matthew Mercer with James Haeck.

History

We start off with the history of the realm. A lot of times, I hate these things because they are so long-winded and just too complicated. It's hard to get this stuff across to groups without their eyes glazing over.

When I see a wall of text, I'm not too thrilled. Only Ed Greenwood can walk me through big paragraphs. He has a breezy style that's easy to fly through.

It turns out that this section is written in a similar way. I was able to get through it without too much of a struggle.

Tal'Dorei is on a world called Exandria. Gods known as the Protean Creators made the elves, then the dwarves, then the humans. They created metallic dragons to protect them.

The Primordials didn't like this.. Heyyy! The 4e primordials! Awesome. Fighting broke out. Some gods wanted to fight back, others didn't. This formed a split:

• The Prime Gods: Gods who battled the Primordials, creating things like alchemy to aid mortals in their fight.
• The Betrayer Gods: Deities who aided the enemy, went nuts, etc. They were banished to their own prison planes.

The primordials were defeated.

The first great city was founded: Vasselheim.

Raven Queen: Hey! A mortal mage crafted rites to challenge the God of Death..! I smell a Raven Queen. I wonder if they'll have art of her.

There is one truth when it comes to 4th edition and that thing is as follows: Everyone loves the Raven Queen.

Somebody named Vespin Chloras freed the Betrayer Gods. This led to a massive war. The good guys won and the Betrayers were sent back to solitary. Years later, a woman named Zan Tal'Dorei led an effort to fight off spawn of the betrayers and other stuff. The land ended up being named after her.

A red dragon named Thordak the Cinder King wreaked havoc and was sealed in the Elemental Plane of Fire.

This led to a bunch of dragons called the Chroma Conclave becoming a problem. Vox Machina (heroes of the Critical Role show) took them down an that bring us to the present day.

Good Choices: There are a lot of good names and words in this book. The Frostweald, the Rimelord, the Verdant Expanse (! love that one), Brimscythe!

Guns: Firearms are here but can be easily scrubbed out. It doesn't seem to be mentioned much at all.

Gods of Tal'Dorei

Let's check out the gods. It turns out that they don't refer directly to D&D gods by name. That's kind of a bummer. It seems to me that D&D has benefited tremendously from this show, and I think they should have allowed the use of certain entities that they don't normally allow. 

The Prime Gods

The good guy gods.

• The Archeart: God of magic and the fey. This looks like Corellon!
• The Allhammer: God of dwarves, knowledge and war. Moradin.
• The Changebringer: God of Trickery and Nature. "She Who Makes the Path."
• The Dawnfather:  Revered by those who hunt aberrations.
• The Everlight: She believes that the corrupt can be redeemed. Apparently she was betrayed by "the Lord of the Hells". I think this might be the Pathfinder deity, Sarenrae. I really like that this show mixes Pathfinder and D&D concepts.
• The Knowing Mistress: God of lore and knowledge. Ioun?
• The Lawbearer: God of law. Has a "tempestuous romance with the Wildmother, a furious love that is only tempered when civilization and nature are in balance." Hot damn!
• The Matron of Ravens (Raven Queen!): The few who have seen her says she's a pale woman wearing a white, porcelain mask.
• The Moonweaver: Goddess of moonlight and love. She protects the "trysts of lovers with shadows of her own making." Well now, how about that. Sehanine?
• The Platinum Dragon (Bahamut): It's Bahamut.
• The Stormlord: God of strength and storms.
• The Wildmother: Goddess of wild animals and "the heat-harried stillness of the desert." I love that rich description.

The Betrayer Gods

• The Chained Oblivion: An "engine of utter destruction and madness." I think this is Tharizdun?
• The Cloaked Serpent: God of snakes, poison and assassins.
• The Crawling King: Looks like this is Torog from 4e! Nice.
• The Lord of the Hells: Apparently the Changebringer tricked his armies onto attacking each other.
• The Ruiner: Gruumsh! His missing eye shifted to the center of his face. That's a nice little way to reconcile the two different depictions of Gruumsh.
• The Spider Queen: Lolth. The drow are in the thrall of Tharizdun's minions. Lolth can see through the eyes of all spiders. She hates the Stormlord, who impaled her against a cliffside with a thunderspear.
• The Strife Emporer: Maglubiyet? Honorable warrior, evil patron of war and conquest. His broken armor litters a plateau - his massive helmet houses the capital city of a hobgoblin empire. Awesome!
• The Scaled Tyrant: Tiamat.

Spicy Drow: There's some cool ideas about the drow being plagued by the Chained Oblivion, and some of them embracing him, becoming dopplegangers. Drow are a little boring and this seems like a good way to spice them up.

Turns of the Phrase: The master of D&D flavor text is James Jacobs. I'll never full recover from "wet and ruinous" and the "heaving birthflesh" from the demonomicon Malcanthet article from Dragon Magazine. Some of the stuff in here approaches those lofty heights. I love the description of the tempestuous affair between the gods.

Vecna: In the factions section we see that in this world, Vecna tried to ascend to godhood but it didn't work out. He's dead, sort of. His cult is trying to bring him back. The cult is separated into factions called the Eyes, the Voice, the Blood, the Hand and the Heart, which I believe is very similar to the groups in Vecna Reborn.

Gazeteer

This section makes up the bulk of the book. It details the realm, complete with adventure suggestions.

My favorite stuff:

• The Moon Mistress: A night hag who takes the guise of a water nymph. You can stop right there! Sold.
• A quasit heading up a team of griffon-egg poachers.
• Centaur skeletons! Awesome art, really cool idea. The Herd of the Damned, succumbing to a curse of undeath.
• Harpy pirates! Led by Captain Silvercomb, an arrogant, dashing, and well-spoken grandmother.
• A city protected by an illusory dome. Powering it requires wizards to dump spell slots into it. I really like this one.
• The Plainscow, a popular mount! I had a character who rode a cow once. I would cast fly on it and we'd zoom all over the place.
• Graz'tchar, the Decadent End: A magic sword that contains the remains of a demon prince (sounds like it's Graz'zt). They have stats for it and everything.
• The Holocaust Seed: An unborn primordial titan seed! Its presence makes the surrounding jungle thrive. If triggered, it awakens rapidly.

Class Options

I much prefer this depiction of halflings as compared to the halflings in the Player's Handbook.

The last 40 pages of the book deals with stat stuff. There are a few class options.

Class Options

(Cleric) Blood Domain: You can do extra damage, control people and make them attack others. You can study the spilled blood of a creature to find their current location and their state of health. That is awesome.

(Barbarian) Path of the Juggernaut: You can push creatures when you hit them, you can't be knocked prone, and you deal double damage to structures and objects.

(Sorcerer) Runechild: You have runes on your body that you can pump sorcery points into. When you get hit, you can use those runes to subtract d6 damage per rune! You can use them to get advantage on checks, and put them on other people.

I love this option and I would definitely play one, but I'd change the name. I like "runepriest" better.

(Monk) Way of the Cobalt Soul: You can recall lore, spend ki points to learn about the creature you struck, and "you can hit a series of hidden nerves on a creature with precision, temporarily causing them to be unable to mask their true thoughts and intent."

I love this one, too. I would like it if the "extract aspect" power let you learn about the creature's past, thoughts, that kind of thing. As it's written, you learn stat stuff: AC, vulnerabilities, immunities, etc.

Backgrounds

There's some backgrounds. I like the Ashari.

• The Clasp: A thieves guild.
• Lyceum Student: A rich kid, student at the highest place of learning in Tal'Dorei.
• Ashari: Protectors of nature that are tied to the elements. There are four tribes, one for each element.
• Recovered Cultist: Former evildoer.
• Fate-Touched: Your soul is linked to history itself.

New Feats: There's a pile of them. The one that stick out is "rapid drinker." It lets you drink a potion as a bonus action.

The Vestiges of Divergence: These are powerful magic items that have powers that gain potency over time. I think there was something like this in 3rd edition.

The item advances in power at certain times, often manifesting in a dramatic moment. They are dormant for levels 1-8, awaken at 9-15, and 16+ they are "exalted."

So, as an example.. the Armor of the Valiant Soul:

• Awakened: Can cast command once per long rest, +2 to AC, resist acid, immune frightened.
• Exalted: +3 to AC, frightened immunity extends to allies within 15 feet, immune acid, DC of command goes up.

There's a lot of these items.

Variant Rules: We get a bunch of variant rules. Quicker rests, alternate resurrection rules and more.

There's a big section on resurrection. You lose 1 Con each time you're raised, you might have long term madness and you also might accrue corruption. There's an idea of a "resurrection challenge", where others must perform a ritual to convince a god to bring them back.

The loss of Constitution is an idea that goes back to older editions. It never really worked out, because generally you don't die that much and the Con loss is a bummer.

I do love the idea, though, of running an adventure where the character keeps dying, and they have to complete a task before their Con runs out and they're dead forever.

Monsters

There's pages of lore explaining how different monsters fit into the world. The origin of the orcs: When Corellon shot out Gruumsh's eye, Gruumsh's blood spilled onto elves and humans, transforming them into orcs.

I really like that. Although it is weird to say that during that battle, elves spawned from Corellon's blood and then a few minutes later, Gruumsh's blood changes them.

We get some stat blocks. The Ashari are very cool. The Ashari firetamers can actually turn into a fire elemental.

Cinderslag Elemental: I love the art for this one. They're part lava. They can seep through cracks, they have a molten gaze, very cool.

There's more. Goliaths, Vecna cultists, mostly humanoid NPC types.

That's it!

Overall

The Art: The art in this book is really good. In some cases, it is better than the art in the 5e core books. There is a consistent level of quality and it feels less restricted - the artists were able to show off their style while still adhering to the general parameters of D&D art. Bryan Syme really kicked some ass in this book.

The Presentation: I love the way the pages are set up. It's sort of a hybrid Pathfinder/D&D look.

This is a good book. If you're into Critical Role, I think you'll really like it.

If you're not, then you should definitely check out what's in it before buying. The vast majority of the product describes locations. There aren't any encounters to steal or anything like that. There's no list of magic items - at least, not traditional magic items. The vestige items are very cool though, and there's a lot of them.

I do think players would like this book. The character options are very cool, particularly the monk and sorcerer ones.

There you go. Thumbs up!