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s.wbones

welcome to the dnd section!

I want to run adventures for my friends, because I like hanging out with them! DnD5e isn't the most fantastic system in the world, but it's the one I started with. I have nostalgic memories of hanging out in dark warehouses around picnic tables, while a pedantic DM described what happened next in the adventure, hoping desperately for the chance to have a Character Moment.

I miss the dark, and the musty smell, and hoping one of the Good DMs was free this week. I miss browsing the selection of dice and books and minis, and every now and again pulling off something clever or teamwork-oriented.

I don't miss some of the players, to be sure: the selfish playstyles, the power-fantasy item-hungry anti-social guys. And it's always guys - why is it always guys? But some of them I do miss: the older dads were good, with their dwarves and clerics, and their encylopediac knowledge of the older versions. And I can't miss the other good ones, because I'm still friends with them all! You can't miss who you've already got.

But let's go: I want to run DnD for my friends again, because I miss that easy atmosphere, and that laid-back style of adventuring. But because I always put in a lot of effort for the first two sessions (and then never again) I'm going to try to work out a system of resources that lets me prep quickly and effectively.

Here's the resources I have to hand:

Also a few books on interpersonal conflict resolution, second-hand from op-shops.

The important thing for me, I think, is not being trapped in DnD. Having the freedom to play whatever system I want is what makes playing DnD possible at all - it's because I've tried Savage Worlds, and Fallout, and Masks, and Pathfinder, that I'm like 'nah, classic DnD is the go this week'.

It also lets me use all the crap above.

So what's our system / to-do list?

You know, I just remembered the Young Adventurer's Guide to Monsters - I don't have it, but it's got a very good monster format, so I'll see if it's online anywhere to reference.

The Campaign

A long time ago, a BBEG made* seven terrible artifacts, which ey used to control the world. Seven great heroes took up the fight, and used those artifacts against em, sealing em forever in an unbreakable prison!

The heroes made an array with these artifacts in a great magical working, to protect the land ever after from all evil influences. However, as their deeds became legend, and then myth, the array was forgotten, and the great artifacts - powerful in their own right, as well as together - were moved or stolen, and the array fell into disrepair.

Now is an age of growing chaos, where monsters that once stayed harmlessly within their domain now freely wander, and where people grow bitter and resentful of the dangers looming on all sides.

The seven great artifacts were made* by the BBEG to reflect human nature. Believing humans to be base and untrustworthy, the BBEG named the artifacts cruelly: Gluttony, Lust, Envy, Greed, Wrath, Sloth, and Pride.

The heroes of legend inverted the artifacts, and renamed them each thus: Discipline, Clarity, Gratitude, Generosity, Melancholy, Perseverance, and Humility.

*However, little known to any was the fact that the BBEG did not make the artifacts. They were as old as the land itself, and had existed since its creation, in many forms and by many names.

Each artifact, having two names, was originally meant to reflect all sides of its focus, as human nature is as mercurial as the sea. Both the BBEG and the heroes of old were trapped in their stiff ideals about humanity as a whole, and used the artifacts accordingly.

Now the BBEG sends his minions into the world in his stead, and seeks both to escape, and to take control of the whole world once more - because humans are base and can't be trusted to make their own choices, and the only good world is one that he has absolute control over. He seeks the return of his artifacts, and the destabilisation of the array. Can the heroes stop him?

Only their choices will tell.

bookshelf

FALLOUT4 FANFIC | 30/01/2026
Grognak the Supermutant & the Gruesome Ghoul!
fanfic, fallout4, Original Characters

A self-indulgent Fallout4 OC fic. Deviates heavily from the main storyline, because we've all played it to death anyway. Buddy comedy slice of life, with two main OC's:

#1, Ozzie the Ghoul, a very out of place Australian whose luck is so bad that he was fired from his job on the day the bombs fell; and #2, Grognak, a Supermutant who pretends to be his favourite comic book character in order to stay connected to humanity.

Where's that quote about everyone you see being 'the walking wounded'? That no-one comes out of life intact?