Mystery Campaign Session Notes 20

Last time on the mystery campaign, the party worked to bring the business of the city guard in Yamseth to a close. This time, we brought a few final ideas to their conclusion and wrapped up the story as a whole. The epilogue nature of the last few sessions really changed the tone of the story, and it all made way for a final note from the DM to wrap it all up. 

We picked up from the moment they had left off: the vote about the fate of Horace Barnes and Tajana at the guard headquarters. Ais searched the headquarters, looking for incriminating documents; she found a variety of paperwork confirming that Riviel Jassimir had financial say over guard decisions and policies, as well as the fact that Barnes made decisions on behalf of Jassimir. Ais also found a locked drawer, but was unable to open it. (I didn't have plans for anything inside, but I was surprised when the party didn't try harder to open it.) 

Content with things at the guard headquarters, the party returned to their healing center. They dealt with a customer there--a woman named Della Eckman--whose neck pain had been constant after an attack many years prior. Beor administered a healing potion, which set her right. With their customer dealt with, they discussed the future of the business with Josephine Glass, their remaining healer. She had concerns about the moral fiber of the party given what Dirk St. Patrick had told her, but she agreed to keep working with the business. 

With the final bricks laid in discovering the mystery of Hildy's death, the party checked in once more with her father, Davil. They explained that Hildy had been, in a roundabout way, a victim of Rivil Jassimir, who had also been deal with conclusively. Davil was still in pain over the loss of his daughter, but he seemed somewhat relieved that justice had been made, especially when Jassimir could have so easily evaded that justice. 

All that was left to attend to for the players was saying goodbye. Together, the party made their way from the mountain town of Yamseth through the forested steppes surrounding it, down into the lowlands, and finally to a small hilly town called Solitude--Montana's old home. The party found Montana's old home and saw his wife, a woman named Brandy. Montana and Brandy spoke for a while about Montana's past deeds. Brandy expressed that she wished he had tried to let the town and herself trust him instead of running away for years, and Montana explained that it had all been too much to lose his son, his surrogate son, and his ability to be with the remaining people he loved, and still have to face what he had done. In the end, Brandy urged Montana to try to stay in Solitude, starting over with her and remaking his life into something good. He seemed so inclined. 

To begin again in earnest, Montana sought out the father of the boy his son had killed, a man called Jessup. He found Jessup an absolute mess, high on hard drugs and unwilling or unable to communicate. The two discussed their pasts and their losses in a tense several moments. In the end, Jessup forgave Montana, and Montana asked for his support in asking the town for forgiveness; Jessup agreed. 

To communicate his condolences and regrets, Montana played an epic show. He explained his life over the last ten years through song, and by the end, most people in the town forgave him. The remaining portion who still had grief planned for Montana were defused through Jessup's passionate cry for peace; if he could forgive Montana, the rest could too. 

Montana returned to Brandy and asked about whether they could have a life again. Brandy replied that they could, but that they would need to start over. Perhaps Montana could get a room at the local inn for a while and Brandy and he could go on a few dates to see where things might go? With hope between the two of them, Montana seent Ais and Beor back to Yamseth with the gift of a kalimba each for them. And as the campaign's final moments faded away, Ais and Beor made their way back towards the forested steppes of Yamseth, each adventurer playing the kalimba, their songs simple and free. 

You may notice that I scrapped the plan of having Riviel Jassimir come back. I had liked the idea, but the party was so content to deal with the elements of the story they wanted to continue (and never mentioned Jassimir again), so I just let it go. They beat her once, and that's enough. I like the simply happy ending we got instead, so that's that. 

I like to end my campaigns with epilogues--little profiles on each NPC and some big effects that come out of the player character actions. I find this can be a big reward to the players, who get to reflect back on the entire campaign and get both laughs and meaningful moments out of looking back at it all. So the remainder of this article will be that epilogue. Read on for the full story of what happens after the story proper ends. 

Beor  - In the days following the end of the campaign, Beor took a direct hand in the fate of the city. Initially, Beor used his funds and social leverage to advance the workers' rights in the city. A united front from members of the Above was eventually defeated by Beor with help from a coalition of prominent members of the Below. In the later days, when it became clear that Yamseth was bound for a different future, Beor turned to a quiet life, teaching young children how to defend themselves. By the end of his second decade in the city, the community had pitched in together to buy a statue of Beor on a bench near his home where people knew they could find him and ask for help. 

Montana - After forging a way to rebuild back home in solitude, Montana initially struggled with a life of the simple things. When shows down at the local tavern grew lackluster, and Fharlanghn's call made the roads begin to sing, Montana truly struggled. It was a fight between Montana's truest self and what he wanted the most. In the end, Brandy made the choice for him. She had been able to pretend when alone that Montana wanted to be there more than he wanted to be out on the road, but not with his constantly wandering gaze. But Montana would not lose her again. He challenged her to join him on the road. She found that she loved the thrills and journeys of the road, and they together see to it that travelers on Evanoch's roads are safe. 

Ais - While Beor was the face of the revolution, Ais was its backbone. Horace Barnes' paperwork was investigated thoroughly by Ais, making public the extensive spending of public funds on paying mercenaries to intimidate unions and the the creation of buffer funds to keep vulnerable members of the the Above in the Above. Following the revolution, her shop became something of an outpost for revolutionary intellectuals, though on an inconspicuous scale. Public knowledge that a tiefling was involved in ending the chaos storms leads to improved race relations. 

Horace Barnes - Horace became the scapegoat of the revolution. His duplicitous accounting for the city and his complicity with Above rule made him a prime target for symbolic justice. Barnes was suspended in a cage over boiling water for days until a half-elven man killed Barnes with a spell. 

Baldwin Weams - The bartender found himself part of a contingent of the revolution, serving as a squad leader for a number of missions. Following the revolution, he founded a collective restaurant and expanded the reach of collectivist thought.

Darla Oakfort - This helpful guard who had identified Tajana to begin with grew frustrated with the guard efforts just in time to become a major leader of the revolution. The "Oakfort Brigade" of her most trusted operatives became known as the greatest allies to striking workers in the city. 

Cat burglar - She who witnessed the initial crime watched in fascination as the city began to bring itself down. She began to burglarize targeted wealthy individuals, but became interested in funding the revolution via her spoils. She became a silent benefactor of the revolution, pushing it towards the wealthiest in the city. 

Derek the Dandelion - Derek continued to grow in his new alleyway, taller and taller until he became the size of an adult human. A group of rambunctious children used a pocketknife to hack Derek down at the stem one day, and Derek was dismayed to lose his place in the city. But as he fell, his seeds spread into the air, and Derek's children spread everywhere across and around Yamseth. His many progeny have taken it upon themselves to speak humanoid language and form a massive network of eyes and ears on the criminal problems of the city. 

Davil Analeth - Davil completed the public housing project ahead of schedule and with a finer degree of quality than anticipated. He was at first frustrated by the slow speed of building, but was instantly won over when he saw the faces of the families that moved in. He took the payment from the party and leveraged it to buy cheap property and build more housing. Within a year, he had constructed over a dozen housing compounds, enough to house over a hundred and fifty of Yamseth's poor. He dedicated all of his work to his daughter Hildy, and her name is carved into a hidden place in each home. 

Tajana - Nearly swept under the rug in the chaotic days of the revolution, Tajana remained in a cell for most of the beginning of the uprising. She managed to stage a stealthy escape after three months in the cell and made it the streets of Yamseth. But she had nearly made it to the city gates when a random gang swept her up and left her in a bloody pile. She was ignored by citizens of Yamseth and succumbed to her wounds, alone, some time just before midnight. In her heart was a song she wished to one day play on a lute. 

George Turnbuckle - Suddenly the owner of the largest construction company in Yamseth, George was still in a deep depression. Unsure of what to do with his wealth and himself, he made his company publicly owned and retired. Turnbuckle Lumber and Construction lowered its prices and reoriented towards building structures for common use, and Turnbuckle himself opened a home for the blind, deaf, and mute, catering to a chronically underserved community. 

Dirk St. Patrick - Unfazed by the chaos of Yamseth, St. Patrick set out to solve the greatest mystery of all. He traveled to an alternate dimension to meet his brother, Nick Valentine, and together, the two solved all the mysteries of the wasteland. Dirk would never be believed when he relayed stories of his time in Yamseth. 

Lyssbetonk Cogswagon - Given a new lease on life after dying, she dedicated her life to actually developing her inventions for good. With months of gradual attempts, Lyssbetonk managed to leave her home and resume a standard life outside, where she made deals to mass produce inventions like the Weather Controller and the Automatic Plower to multiply the effects of farming in the countryside, leading to an overall increase in the quality of life. She enjoys an occasional walk at night through the local cemetery, where she visits the grave of her old friend Hildy Analeth. 

Aaron Brown - After butting heads with the party, Brown turned his attention to silently opposing them. Brown enlisted a small group of mercenaries to become guards and oppose the party's actions from within, but their presence proved inadequate to oppose the revolutionary spirit of the city. Brown grew frustrated with the change in the city and moved to New Dalton for a better fit for his home.

Dulk Sart - The stablehand who winessed Tajana's flight and who hid out in Beor's cabin for his safety returned to Yamseth and was fixated on improving public safety to avoid what happened to him. He organized a movement of common laborers who lobbied for greater rights and protections, and soon, Yamseth's laborers were as safe as anyone else. 

Isha Blackchain - In the upheaval of releasing and adding prisoners in the revolution, Blackchain was released. He immediately went to a bar, got into a fight with a half-elf, and was mortally wounded by the half-elf's self-defense. Blackchain died in the street alone. 

Clover Loom - Oblivious at first to the effects of the revolution, she tried to stay above it all by staying inside of her tower. But as the revolution reached her door, she began to trade away goods and money for another day unbothered by the masses. Within weeks, Loom had given away her tower, now the collective home of dozens of gnomes and halflings. Loom herself fled the city for fear of her life, escaping the fate that other less generous members of the Above faced (public executions of the Above were common for a short while). 

Quarsa Fielt - Invigorated by matching skills with Beor, Fielt opened a public space for people to learn basic self-defense skills. Later, she would combine forces with Beor on his own self-defense center, and the two would make various neighborhoods and establishments an unsafe place for someone looking for a brawl. 

Tane Stonehauler - Dissatisfied with the conditions at the failing Loom Healing Center, Stonehauler created his own fledgling business, "Tane's Healing," which catered mostly to common work injuries. He would also expand his business to a team of healers, and they were able to be repurposed as emergency healers during the bloodier days of the revolution. 

Sally Cloudworth - The magic item vendor and bookseller realigned her library's contents, focusing instead on political philosophy and histories of peoples' movement. Soon, she would be giving her books and items away in exchange for food in order to make it easier to spread the ideas. She would become a target of remaining forces from the Above and would die in a skirmish in the final weeks of the revolution. 

Sippikup Magee - The corporate spy would quickly find his services in high demand, then suddenly no demand at all, as the Above grew defensive and then desperate. Magee tried to take advantage of the situation, causing a rift between him and his previous clientele--the result was that Magee was effectively blacklisted. Without consistent work, he relocated to the elven capital of Mishara where espionage remains lucrative. 

Carl Sjunior - Carl opened his own tavern, "Sjunior's," with a discount for anyone who could show evidence of an address in the Below. "Sjunior's" became a go-to center for collectivist action. Carl himself became something of a folk hero for singlehandedly stopping a robbery at the next-door general store, known henceforth as "Carl Sbad." 
 

Edgar Hillerman - The mind-controlled member of the Above grew more and more resentful of the spell which robbed him of his agency. He poured money into a spell-creating process to reverse the effects of mind control, but the effect only resulted in restoring the memories of what he had said and done under the spell's effect. This caused him great misery, and he leapt from his tower to his death days after the spell's debut. 

Lort Drenk and Riell Destin - These two partygoers at Loom's became swept up in the revolution; Drenk dispersed all his money to avoid being caught up in the revolution, while Destin tried to insulate herself from the changes. Drenk was unable to convince average Yamsethians that his support was real; Destin could not purchase a way to safety. As a result, both members of the Above were made examples of by revolutionaries, executed publicly. 

Nyrill Gennellon - Nyrill got paid for his work at the Misty Morning Healing Boutique, bought a bunch of booze, and got drunk. Very drunk. 

Marietta Pushman - This street food restauranteur turned the open space near Misty Morning Healing Boutique into one of the most popular urban spaces in Yamseth. When faced by demands to make the business represent collectivist concerns, she expanded the business to include a meal service which does not compromise on taste. Marietta's Munchies made rabbit nuggets an unofficial dish of Yamseth. 

Polly Bridgerman - The head of the Yamseth College of Magic became haunted by the notion of mind control spells being used in the city for any purpose, so she set to developing a permanent counterspell. With this spell, she managed to remove a handful of people from Riviel Jassimir's magic grasp, making Jassimir's return substantially more difficult. 

Josephine Glass - The healer employed by Misty Morning Healing Boutique used her position there to expand the use of healing potions for common ailments. With her promotion of the healing options, which she created a few alterations for, the potions soon began selling as a cure-all in great demand. Under her care, the healing potions became a key ingredient of collectivist success. 

Nicole Fyrra and Grat Sharn - These former employees of Misty Morning Healing Boutique tried in the early days of the revolution to discredit Beor, Montana, and Ais due to their pasts, but the momentum of the revolution was too great for them. Fyrra decided to join up with the revolutionaries rather than continue on, and Sharn was killed as part of a counter-revolutionary attack on the city's food provisions. 

Peyton Copperminer - The painter of Misty Morning Healing Boutique was outraged by the revelation of the guards' control by Riviel Jassimir and began to paint an enormous mural on the base of Jassimir's tower. The mural depicts Jassimir riding an angry dragon which is spraying fire, ice, wind, and electricity, all over a collection of poor people trying to hide. 

Seven Fifteen - This corporate spy found himself in hot water when members of the Above turned on him following reports that he had worked closely with Beor, Montana, and Ais. He fled for the gnomish capital of Vestry, but was killed by a roving band of bandits just outside Yamseth. 

Tunder - The chaos dragon flew away from Yamseth and over the sea. He flew for days at a time and eventually landed on an icy, mountainous land which swarmed with magical creatures and dragons much like himself. His chaos attacks here interacted with the chaos of the natural landscape, created order across the land. He was truly happy, and thanked the stars every night for his freedom. 

Dolly Bronzebane - This prominent young guard advocated for a new way forward for the Yamseth city guard. The guards' contract would be tendered by the citizens, and the new Yamseth would be patrolled by people pledged to the common good. Bronzebane became close friends with Carl Sjunior, and together the two managed to create a new culture in Yamseth which honored the average person. It was Bronzebane's order that called for the repurposing or demolition of every tower in the city; the bricks of demolished towers became used for new civic buildings, especially town halls where the matters of community governance were tended to. 

Izzunech - Ais' demon was trapped inside an amulet, suspended in a solid block of amber, and left harmlessly on a coffee table. Ais would occasionally place pictures of things Izzunech would enjoy on top of the amber, such as a sketch of sliced bodies atop a craggy mountain, and an audible but heavily muted scream would emanate from the amulet deep within the amber. Ais saw to it that following her own death, Izzunech would be transferred to somewhere he could never escape, in perpetuity. Izzunech became a shell of himself, barely able to so much as protest after hundreds of years in isolation. 

Riviel Jassimir - After surviving the fall from her tower, Jassimir lay in wait. For days, she waited for the ideal moment to strike back against those who had taken her city from her. Days after her disappearance, she disguised herself as an elderly woman and made her way to the center of town. As luck would have it, Seven Fifteen collided with her as she walked, and the disruption of her magic disguise caused several nearby revolutionaries to notice her. Without realizing her identity, the revolutionaries began to chastise her, and she snapped at them, beginning a conflict that ended in a burst of magical energy that left Jassimir and most of the revolutionaries dead. It would be weeks before anyone made the connection to Jassimir. Thus, her grip on the city ended as unceremoniously as it began, and Yamseth entered a new chapter of its life. 

Mystery Campaign Session Notes 19

Last time in the mystery campaign, the party solved the mystery, defeating Riviel Jassimir and overturning her hold on the city of Yamseth. They developed goals for changing the city and tending to their affairs in epilogue sessions. This time, they begin work on those goals and discover that there may be opposition yet. 

After leaving Jassimir Tower, the party headed to the Briscoe Inn for drinks and food. Ais explained over the meal the history of her possession by Izzunech, a tale of Ais' curiosity saddling her with a terrible curse. Beor explained that he planned to remain in the city and unite Yamseth's workers and seize the means of production from those in the Above. Looking to extend their celebrations, the party opted to leave for another bar. 

They headed a ways across town to a bar called The Xenolith and ordered drinks which were very nearly but not quite Spanish coffees. There was a half-elven band playing intense music that relied on dueling lutes, heavy drums, and sharp flute; the bar was filled with people dancing. When it grew intense enough for a mosh pit to form, Beor joined in. Afterwards, the whole party tried orcish tequila, which made everyone quite drunk. [At least, it did about half an hour later when I realized that Beor's alcohol immunity from the first day of the campaign was removed when Tunder blessed him and removed his lycanthropy. We initially played it with Beor sober, but retconning it later was actually more fun in its own way.] Because everyone was so drunk (especially Ais), the bartender made a moss and nettle tea, which sobered Ais considerably. 

In a more quiet moment, Montana stepped outside of the bar to seek a plant and speak to it. He spotted a tall and strong dandelion plant and spoke to it; it was Derek the Dandelion from the first investigation of the campaign. The two of them chatted and bade each other well, and Derek revealed that Jassimir had used a spell to fly towards the end of her fall and hadn't died--in fact, she had terrorized a neighborhood from the air. Montana returned to the bar and conveyed this information to the party. He also took a moment to obtain a hatchet, enchant it, and tell the bartender he had found his "next musical ax" (acts). It was high D&D: puns with elaborate setups. Still at the bar, Beor and Ais tried a spicy pepper honey gin, which Beor bought a bottle of as a gift for Ais since she had liked it so much. 

It was about this point that one of the players--I won't say who--asked to fast forward through the rest of the partying. They were so eager to jump to the meaty work of finding the end of this story that the celebration had worn thin. And so we all agreed that the partying continued on in this fashion, with the drinking of exotic alcohols and having of good times, and moved on to the following morning. You should make sure that your players know that they can request to move on as long as they party agrees on it. 

In the morning, Beor rose early and made coffee, then left for the market. He returned and made a grand breakfast for everyone, with bacon, eggs, potatoes, and pastries. As the others rose, they ate and drank coffee and began to plan. Once they had a sense of their day, they set out for the market. They returned to the tanner, who presented Montana with his new leather guitar case and Beor with his new hammer holster, on which she engraved "Perseverance" in dwarven. They also returned to the jewleler's, where they picked up and dispensed Beor's gifts. Ais was pleased with her ahornments and contracted the jeweler to suspend Izzunech's amulet in a block of amber. 

They headed next for the guard headquarters and sought out the Chief of Police, Horace Barnes. Barnes unabashedly supported the status quo, claiming that any redistribution of wealth was strictly against the city's moral fiber and that everyone should be entitled to their own work. A debate between Barnes and Beor went on for some time, discussing the ethics and realities of government. They agreed about essentially nothing. Even with direct imploring, Barnes was unwilling to advocate for or even allow change. 

The party changed tactics. They called over a collection of guards and asked them who among them supported jailing Barnes and overthrowing the city's government--the guards voted by a majority that Barnes would be detained and that the government would be restructured. With that matter aside, Barnes was placed in a cell. 

One of the guards (a dwarf named Dolly Bronzebane) raised issue with the way the party was planning on dealing with Tajana. The party planned to honor their word and let her go, but Bronzebane believed that so many murders could not be forgiven. At the party's direction, she gathered the guards and arranged another vote. After the votes were in, it was decided that both Barnes and Tajana would remain in holding cells until a fitting consequence could be designed for each one.

That's where we left things due to time and because the business at the guard headquarters had largely come to a close. I'll acknowledge right off that last time I talked about Jassimir being dead, and now she's alive. I changed my mind. The party didn't get to kill Jassimir; Tunder dropped her off the ledge. I felt like the battle was anticlimactic, and I wanted to give the party another chance to actually get her themselves. Not to mention, a powerful wizard who can improvise spells can figure out plenty of ways to survive a fall, and one of Jassimir's status more than qualifies her for that. I'm much more satisfied with her alive for now, especially given the reaction it got from my players ("oh no" was the general consensus). 

So with the first epilogue session done, there is a great deal of change a-brewing. If the party tries the same tactic they used with the guards on other parts of the population, things could be rapidly changing throughout the city. It's all in the players' hands to determine what happens next. 

Next time in the mystery campaign, the party will consider how to create long-term solutions for Yamseth. The players will decide almost everything. Until next time, happy gaming! 

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Mystery Campaign Session Notes 18

Last time on the mystery campaign, the party interrogated Tajana, killed Portia, and began an uprising against Riviel Jassimir. This time, they face off against Jassimir and decide the fate of the city. All that and more in this session of the mystery campaign. 

Picking up where they left off, the party decided to capitalize on the chaos caused by their revolt gambit and met Riviel Jassimir head on. Approaching her tower, Ais cast a glyph spell which was intended to discern the way one would access Jassimir's tower's second floor, and she saw a magical vision of a mechanical button inside a locket of Heironeous around Jassimir's neck. With the knowledge of how to ascend to the tower's upper floor, the party hastened in the direction of the tower. On the way, Montana magically communicated with Dirk St. Patrick, directing the sleuth to meet the party near Jassimir Tower to talk. 

The party met with Dirk at an elven restaurant within walking distance of Jassimir Tower. Montana supplied some information about Jassimir, trying to get Dirk to join the party and take down Jassimir. Before Dirk could definitively say yes or no, Izzunech overpowered Ais, controlling her and forcing her to stab Dirk in the hand with a steak knife. Dirk announced he would be only able to help in small ways given the advances already made by the party, and that he was reticent to throw in his lot with a stab-happy demon. 

Just as the party broached the topic of how they would make it into Jassimir's tower, a courier arrived and delivered a large golden key, conveying Jassimir's invitation to the party to join her at her tower. Once the party had arrived, she greeted them and cut straight to the chase. She knew that they knew of her deeds, and she wanted to be done with the game of it all. She opened her locket, pressed the button, revealed a moving staircase that descended from the ceiling, and led the party into the upper floor. 

Upstairs was dark and drafty. The party noticed that one side of the tower was open to the city and the open air high above it all. Jassimir took a long, sharp prodding tool from the wall and thrust it repeatedly into the darkness. But the party each had darkvision, and they were all able to see that Jassimir's strikes into the darkness were actually connecting with tender spots on the body of a dragon with multicolored and translucent scales. When she prodded the dragon, it screamed in pain and released chaos bolts down into the city. 

The party jumped into action--technically the third combat of the entire campaign, but the first true fight. Beor spoke with the dragon and ascertained that the chains holding him were magical in nature and that they were enchanted to keep him imprisoned. Ais used a glyph spell to remove the magical effect from the chains on the dragon, and Montana made a grand show of turning on Ais and Beor to fight with Jassimir. Jassimir, bolstered by Montana's assistance, reapplied the magic strengthening the chains on the dragon. Ais immediately countered this, though, both removing the magic from the chains and destroying them via rust and corrosion. 

Still under the banner of fighting with Jassimir rather than against her, Montana cast "Dominate Person," playing on a technicality that allowed him to deny Jassimir a bonus to her resistance to the effect. Under the effects of the spell, Jassimir was magically forced to turn over control of her finances to people around down (liquidating financial groups she formed, dividing up her business among her competitors, and attributing her other assets to the poor of the city). 

With binding paperwork turning her empire into support for the city, the party turned Jassimir over the the dragon she had spent centuries torturing. The dragon introduced himself as Tunder before taking Jassimir gently in his teeth and dropping her from the open side of the tower, the highest point in the city. Tunder turned to the party, asking them if he could reward them for their help in freeing him. At their requests, Tunder healed Beor of his lycanthropy (a chaos-driven effect) and exorcised Ais of Izzunech (a chaos-defined being). Montana requested a flute for his labors, and Tunder created a flute imbued with chaos--the instrument randomly plays a note which is unexpected but still pleasing to the ear. Content with his rewards, Tunder flew off over the city in search of starting his old life over again. 

With the bulk of their justice served, the party decided to rest and regroup. They headed to the Briscoe Inn to decompress, get food and drinks from their trust barkeep friend Carl, and get a taste of some normalcy after a long while of chaotic work. On the walk over, Beor admired the night sky's stars and moon for the first time in years. 

This session's ending was a challenge for me. I'll admit that when the party killed Jassimir (or rather, helped Tunder kill Jassimir), I was at a loss as to what to do. I genuinely forgot that the party was still standing in a room with a chaos dragon they had just freed--I was surprised when they reminded me that they wanted to talk with him. I planned things up to the moment that the players defeated Jassimir and nothing beyond; I really wasn't sure how to tie things up. 

Fortunately, my players have plenty of ideas about what to do. They've spoken of completing the revolution, restructuring the guards, and going further with their business. Now that the mystery is resolved and they're working to satisfy their own narrative concerns, almost anything is on the table for epilogues. We've agreed to spend at least one more session playing through how it all gets wrapped up, and I am pretty excited to see where it all goes. I will admit that I didn't get the reaction I was hoping for with the dragon reveal, but that's okay. It's more important that my players are blown away by each other's actions than mine. 

So although the mystery is solved, the story continues. Next time, the party will pick up the pieces, build a better Yamseth, and decide the future of each character. Until next time, happy gaming!

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Mystery Campaign Session Notes 17

Last time in the mystery campaign, the party found Lyssbetonk Cogswagon dead in her lab, captured the mercenary Tajana, and raised Cogswagon from the dead. This time, the party interrogates Tajana, and things take a dramatic turn. All that and more on this review of the mystery campaign.

When we picked up this time for the players pushing toward the resolution of this mystery, the party was just arriving at the guard headquarters, intent on interrogating Tajana and getting answers for their long-standing questions and suspicions. One of the first lines of questioning was about Tajana's connection to the original murder victim Hildy Analeth. From inside her cage, Tajana admitted that she killed Hildy because she had been ordered to eliminate any witnesses to the break-in at Cogswagon's lab. Under continued questioning, Tajana admitted to a total of 23 murders including Hildy's and Cogswagon's and supplied some details on who had ordered each death. 

With the murder of Hildy solved and the murderer in custody, Portia recognized that the party had done their due diligence and were no longer under any obligation to continue their work. But the party carried on, asking more and more questions of both Tajana and Portia. Much to Portia's discomfort, Tajana said that Riviel Jassimir was behind much of the violence in the city going back years. 

Under some pressure from the party, Portia privately explained something of a history of intentionally overlooked crimes. She said that Jassimir had been squashing labor movements and competitors with deadly force for years, and that her position as the benefactor of the guards largely insulated her from any consequences for her actions. The party pledged themselves to bringing Jassimir to justice, and Portia offered her own support--she planned to operate outside of the guard in order to help the party bring Jassimir to justice. 

Back in the main area of the guard headquarters, Tajana knocked over her cage and caused a commotion, attracting about 40 guards along with the party and Portia. At Portia's suggestion, the party decided to interview Tajana in this public way before all the guards to send a message about Jassimir and the true loyalties of the guards. Ais administered a thorough line of questions to Tajana, trying to get to the bottom of what Jassimir was really up to and how she could be counteracted. 

In a dramatic moment, it was revealed that Portia was an agent of Jassimir's. Ais slapped Portia in the face to mark her betrayal, which knocked her to the floor, and Beor upped the ante by swinging his hammer at Portia's head. Beor's blow struck heavily, crushing Portia's head and killing her. Thinking quickly, the party addressed the collected guards, trying to help them see things the party's way and start a revolution against Jassimir. It worked to an extent--the guards split into camps, some loyal to the guard cause and Jassimir, and others loyal to the party's revolutionary cause. In the end, the party's appeals convinced most of the guards, and only a few left the guard headquarters questioning the party.

Suddenly, Izzunech possessed Ais once more. He spoke of the excitement of Portia's death and praised Beor for his violence. After a lengthy exchange between Montana, Beor, and Izzunech, Ais passed out completely. When she rose again, after Izzunech's longest possession yet, the party was struck by the gravity of the situation. Beor held the final rites for Portia, blessing her into the next life. Montana took advantage of Tajana's unconsciousness after the commotion to steal her ocarina after earlier making her promise to learn two new instruments as part of her penance for her life of crime. 

That's where we left off for the session. Because the players managed to complete the crime-solving element of the story, I rewarded them with a level up, which brings them to level 10. In the few remaining sessions, they will be able to use their advanced abilities to strike back at Jassimir, possibly with their plans for revolution. It will be a dramatic end to a dramatic campaign, though of course, at this point, the pacing of the final chapter is entirely up to the party. They may choose to confront Jassimir directly or wage a more indirect war on her. Whatever they choose, it is sure to be at least as dramatic as the campaign that has preceded it. 

That's all for now. Next time on the mystery campaign, the players will engage in their struggle against Riviel Jassimir and try to create justice for the city of Yamseth. Until next time, happy gaming!

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Mystery Campaign Session Notes 16

Last time on the mystery campaign, the party shopped, escaped a burning building, and scried the assassin Tajana. We ended on something of a cliffhanger, and this time, the party focuses on the endgame and face off against Tajana. 

In the final moments of the previous session, Ais had cast "Invisibility" on the party in order to aid their unseen travel through the city. The group returned to Ais' house and planned. In particular, the party was pondering questions about how to face off against the incriminated Riviel Jassimir, and whether there was much hope that their interference would be a positive for the city. Would the end of the chaos storms even be a good thing, for instance? And what were they to do about Tajana coming to kill them?They decided to take these questions up with Portia, and headed for the guard headquarters. 

On the way, a chaos storm struck. Montana evaded the bolt of chaotic energy, but Ais and Beor were struck, resulting in Ais' being instantly hogtied and Beor's saturation with magical power, allowing him to cast 2nd-level spells at will. The party completed the journey to the guard headquarters and began speaking with Portia. The group took a fairly hostile tone with Portia, who seemed to balance sympathy for the party with a limitation on how much she could help them. The heart of the disagreement was about how poor the organization of the guards is, and all agreed that things could be better, though the disagreement continued. Portia offered city guards to defend the group, but they turned this down to protect the city guard. 

The party changed the subject and requested a courier. Portia sent for one, and the courier agreed to take the diamond from the party and deliver it to Lyssbetonk Cogswagon. Meanwhile, Beor demanded that the linking spell that connected the party be magically deactivated, wanting to speak with Chief of Police Horace Barnes; Porita sheepishly revealed that the spell had been ineffective for a while--it only lasts three days. This caused some frustration in the party, but Portia tried to deflect that they could more safely and strategically face Tajana without the link. 

The courier returned to the guard headquarters, saying that she could not deliver the diamond because Cogswagon would not open the door. Fearing for the worst, the party rushed to Cogswagon's lab and discovered Tajana disassembling the Weather Controller. Thinking fast, the party unleashed a series of spells that magically bound her, at which point Beor shattered her arm and the Undoer with his hammer. Montana then used "Polymorph" to turn Tajana into a slug and deposit her in a jar. Meanwhile, Ais found Cogswagon killed in her bed, her throat slit and her eyes lifeless. 

Beor transformed into a large hound and delivered Tajana to the guard headquarters, where she was placed in a high security cell. Back at the lab, Ais reassembled the Weather Controller save for the diamond and began to work on fixing up with Antigravity Boots. Beor returned, and Montana began to cast "Raise Dead" on Cogswagon. While Montana worked through the ceremony, Ais added the diamond to the Weather Controller, completing it, and switched it on to the setting to prevent chaos storms. Moments later, however, the storms struck again, the party each able to narrowly avoid its effects. 

Montana completed the "Raise Dead" spell on Cogswagon, who was disoriented. She was not sure how she felt it, but suspected she had died, but could not remember it. The party explained that Tajana had killed her, going into fairly grisly detail. Cogswagon was extremely vulnerable, and it was a rather emotional moment for all involved. She was surprisingly focused on learning the details of the Weather Controller's first run, and she said that the failure to work clearly indicates that the chaos storms are not weather at all. She went to rest, and the party said they would check in with her again soon. They turned to go to the guard headquarters again to interrogate Tajana, which is where we ended for the night.

This was a bit of a departure for this campaign. Where I began with some notes guiding sessions and recently transitioned into more reactive planning, this session represented a complete reliance on improvisation. That's more or less where my sweet spot for DMing is, but I have been wary of acting against my own best interests when it comes to long-term planned story events--a mystery just relies on more structure than improvisation is really geared towards. But we're in the endgame now. The remaining reveals are in place and I won't get in their way, so now it's just down to the players to see their agendas through and end this story as they see fit. I envision between 2 and 3 session more before the wrap-up, but of course, that remains to be seen. 

I also want to note for a second that I completely forgot that "Raise Dead" existed. I had Tajana kill Cogswagon and thought that would be a tragic way to reveal Cogswagon was innocent after all and get some emotional energy flowing. But Montana almost immediately resolved that problem with minimal complications. When we were done for the night, the players remarked on how Tajana's ease of being captured was surprising, and I was still hung up on how Cogswagon was alive again. Specifically, they said that I seemed quite alright with Tajana being captured--and in a way, I was. She's not the BBEG, and they planned well and then executed the plan well when facing off against her. They earned their victory, so I had no problem allowing for it. I mention these two things together because both were cases where playing along like nothing was disrupted really helped, and it even earned compliments from the players, which is always a great feeling. 

Next time on the mystery campaign, the party will interrogate Tajana and try to learn more about the mysterious Riviel Jassimir. They seem to have finally gotten the upper hand--what will they do with that power? Until next time, happy gaming!

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Music by Culture in My Homebrew Setting

When you go about creating a homebrew world, I recommend delving into every element of life within your world so you can get a real sense of what life is like there. I've offered peeks into the mythology, literature, superstitions, naming conventions, common sayings, and architecture of my world as a way to simultaneously illustrate what life is like there, show you the kind of worldbuilding you can do, and work out these details for myself. When I started writing on this site, I had a working idea of what these domains were like, but nowhere near the level of detail I now have surrounding many facets of life. Today, I want to break down an idea that's dear to me: music. For my profile on each race's music, I will describe the most common themes, the instruments used, a well-known song, and a notable musician or group of musicians. 

The Importance of Reviewing Last Session

Your campaign is going well, and you're picking up after a little break between sessions. Everyone sits down to play, but something is off. The players can't remember exactly where you left off, nor can they recall the fine details that made last session so special. Now the prospect of picking up where you left off is something of a problem. The classic solution to this problem is the best solution: we need to take notes. But what kind of notes you take is an vital question, and this guide will help you to create session notes that allow you and your players to start right where you left off without issue. 

The first choice you need to make is how you're going to record your notes. A physical notebook or a digital document both work very well, but if you have another method in mind, use it so long as it doesn't interfere with the purpose of the note-taking in the first place. I used to use a paper notebook for my notes when I played in-person games because I find a notebook is less distracting than a computer with its portals to anything and everything (all of the time). But since the beginning of the pandemic and the rise of online gaming, I've been using my computer. Specifically, I have a google doc for any campaign I run, and I used it to both plan and record notes for my campaigns. 

The next step is a simple one as well--you want to determine the extent to which you will record events. Obviously you want to include major events like the completing of a quest or the death of a major NPC, and you wouldn't include an out-of-character argument about the best way to handle a situation, but the in-between areas are the question we'll have to answer. Generally, I use a single question to decide what to record: Might this event have later consequences? It's really that simple. 

When I say "consequences," what I mean is that knowing about the specific events that unfolded previously would guide the flow of events in the future. I'll use an example from my mystery campaign: the following is the notes I took for the most recent session of that campaign:

After rising at Ais’ in the morning, you made plans and headed for Cogswagon’s. Cogwagon demonstrated the Biometric Scanner, and Izzunech took over Ais. Montana covered for Ais, pretending she just needed coffee, which worked on Cogswagon. She explained witnessing a chaos storm and asked you to buy her a diamond to complete the Weather Controller. Montana resisted, suggesting that she conquer her fear of the outside world and buy it herself, causing a standoff which ended in Beor carrying Montana to the door. Montana played a sultry song, causing a man to kiss a stranger, who slapped him, and Beor punched him out. You went to the leatherworker at the marketplace and designed your guitar case and hammer holster. You went to Cuff Jewelers, where you bought an appropriate diamond (energy transmitting) for Cogswagon, were shown a beautiful Ehlonna statue, and Beor commissioned a new holy symbol, a Fharlanghn guitar pick for Montana, and horn adornments for Ais. A chaos storm struck, and Beor lost all memory of his past for 9 minutes, during which Montana and Ais tried to teach Beor who he was and their situation (also Montana lied that they were best friends and that both of their names were Beor). Slowly, Beor’s memories came back, his whole life flashing before him at once. You headed to the abandoned shack and found a locked door, which Beor smashed open. You found the way to the secret basement, where Beor turned into a dog and confirmed that Tajana had slept on the bedroll there. You picked through the scroll cases and noticed the building was on fire; you lifted the floor and magically unlocked the door to emerge to a worried crowd. Among the crowd was Nyril, who said that most of the business’s employees quit when Dirk St. Patrick told them of your deeds. Montana used hair from Tajana’s bedroll to scry, seeing her riding in an elevator, then agreeing to “stop them” before leaving town. Ais turned the three of you invisible.

These are my notes as I typed them with no changes. There are a number of things worth commenting on here. One of the first things you'll notice is that I have written this account in the past tense and addressed it specifically to the players. This means that I can simply read this account without having to make any changes. In previous sessions, I had my post-game write-ups in mind and then had to improvise the correct conjugations and other linguistic changes as I read aloud, which is challenging for a person with dyslexia. So I shifted it and wrote my notes with the review of last session as my primary concern. 

You'll also notice that I'm very brief with my notes. Let's look at the first sentence: "After rising in Ais' in the morning, you made plans and headed for Cogswagon's." This relatively brief sentence establishes quiet a lot. We know the time (morning), the place (Ais' house), the who (the party), and the what (making plans and heading for Cogswagon's place). Your notes don't have to be so economical in terms of words, but keep in mind that you'll be reading your notes to the players next session--to keep them engaged, you want the review of notes to balance detail and brevity. Because this particular session was especially full of events and fine details (like specific custom items commissioned by the players), I ended up with about 150% the amount of notes I normally do. But despite the lengthiness of the notes, they do accomplish what I need. That leads us to a distinction:

There are your notes to keep you reminded of what is happenings, and then there are the notes that you will share with your players. In the case of the notes I have pasted above, I would probably clean up the account a bit. It works well for my notes so that I know specific information, but I don't need to remind the party of the more specific and non-vital details. Namely, I would shorten up the list of things purchased at the jeweler's--a simple "You went to the jewelers and purchased a diamond for Cogswagon and custom items for the rest of you" would work just fine. Changes like this affect the ultimate version of the notes I read to my players; a copy-pasted version of your own notes cleaned up will be the easiest way to do this. Ultimately, I recommend shooting for a set of notes that takes about one minute to read; any less, and you're probably skipping important details, and any more, and you're probably getting too granular (although of course there are exceptionally eventful or uneventful sessions, so adjust per your best judgment). 

My favorite part of the process comes when the next session begins. Normally, my players are chatting and goofing around, sharing plans for the session at times. As we settle in for the business of actually playing, I dig into what I call the "Last time on . . ." I'll start it off with a dramatic voice: "Last time on the mystery campaign . . ." and lead into the notes I prepared from the last session. This accomplishes a number of positive goals. First and foremost, it aligns everyone's thinking--now we're leaving social banter behind and delving into the heart of the game. It also catches everyone up--the game may be picking up right where you left off, but in real life, it's been a week or more, and everyone needs a moment to catch up. And this refreshing of the memory is not just for the story events; I cannot tell you how many times I've shared the players' plans from the previous session and been met with cries of "Oh yeah! I was gonna do that." The notes review gets everyone on the same page. 

But the notes also allow you as GM to assert some control over the scenario. Let's say that your players have been skillfully evading dealing with some element of your story. Maybe they're caught up in some other project or knowingly avoiding something they know is trouble. You can gently add some pressure to the party by adding the scenario to your notes via some trivial event. By way of example, in the mystery campaign, the players indicated some interest in speaking with a business owner--Birt Wizzoom--a few sessions ago. Wizzoom, I decided, has some interesting information about the mercenary that the party is tracking, and I want the party to go and talk to him. So when I provided my most recent recap of the previous session, I ended by saying, "And last time we met, you indicated that you were interested in speaking with Cogswagon, investigating the abandoned shack, and interrogating Birt Wizzoom." I'm pretty far from demanding that my players go speak with the man, but I'm also applying some gentle pressure to move things in that direction. It's just a small trick that can guide players under the right conditions.

Keeping notes on campaign events is pretty crucial--you can only do your best planning when you know the details that came before, and if you want to share your campaign like I do here on this site, you will require some note-taking. And once you do start keeping notes, not only will your writing improve, but as I've shown here, there's also considerable benefits even from sharing a boiled down version of those notes with your players. So try a "last time on . . ." and see if it sparks more enjoyable gaming. At worst, it will bore your players for one minute, and at best, it can tie everything together in a cohesive way. Sounds worth trying to me. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: a profile on music in my homebrew setting, an argument for convenient storytelling, and how to write a murder mystery one-shot. Until next time, happy gaming!

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Mystery Campaign Session Notes 15

Last time in the mystery campaign, the party hit the market and investigated Seven Fifteen, a corporate espionage agent. They planned to check into the abandoned shack in the marketplace that was associated with the mercenary Tajana. This time, they hit the market again and investigate the shack. Read on for the full account of the fifteenth session of the mystery campaign. 

After rising at Ais' house in the morning, the party made plans for the day and headed over to Cogswagon's lab to check in. Cogswagon took them inside and showed them the newest fruit of her labors: the repaired Biometric Scanner. After a demonstration of its capacities, which include indicating whether someone is lying, Izzunech took over Ais. Montana covered for Ais, pretending that she hadn't had enough coffee that morning, and Cogswagon bought it. Then Cogswagon explained that she had witnessed a chaos storm terrorize a few people in the market and turned her attention to rebuilding her Weather Controller to turn the storms off. She asked that the party fetch her a diamond for the machine in order to complete it. Montana balked at this, countering that Cogswagon should just go to the market herself. Something of an argument unfolded: Cogswagon said her agoraphobia kept her from going outside, Montana believed she could conquer it if she tried, and Beor wanted Montana to accept that Cogswagon couldn't go outside. In the end, Beor carried Montana to the door. 

Back outside and on the way to the market, Montana began to play a sultry song. (Out of game, he said that he wanted to be playing "Careless Whisper" by George Michael.) Because of an exceptional roll, he played so well that a random person in the crowd was overcome and kissed a nearby unsuspecting stranger. The stranger slapped the man, and Beor wound up and punched the man unconscious. The crowd dispersed when the song ended, and the crowd showered the party with coins. 

They headed back to the leatherworker and commissioned a few custom items: Beor had a hammer holster made, and Montana bought a guitar case. The process involved the hiring of a spellcaster who used shaping spells to create stand-in items of wood and stone for the guitar and hammer respectively so that the party could keep their items. 

Then it was off to Cuff Jewelers, a small jewelry store near the market. Inside, they bought a proper diamond for Cogswagon's Weather Controller--one cut for transmitting energy. Beor also asked to see a number of other items, among which were a beautiful statue of Ehlonna made from precious gems. Beor commissioned a custom holy symbol of Ehlonna, a gold-and-silver guitar pick in the shape of Fharlanghn's symbol for Montana, and an elaborate series of gold-and-ruby chains and clasps as decorations for Ais' horns (ahornments, if you will). 

The party left the shop, headed for the abandoned shack, and a chaos storm struck. Beor was suddenly unable to recall any information from before the strike, including his name and where he was. For nine minutes, Montana and Ais tried to explain to Beor who he was and how they know each other, peppering in untrue details about how close they are as a group; Montana even claimed that both he and Beor were named Beor, which caused ample confusion. A few memories came back to Beor slowly, and then all at once, quite overwhelming him. After a moment of recovery, Beor was ready to carry one. 

The group arrived at the abandoned shack and found a heavy padlock on the only door in. Beor smashed the lock, and they went inside to find a small room empty except for a few empty shelves. After some searching, Montana found a seam in the flooring which was connected to a wire which fed through a pully system and lifted half the floor to reveal a staircase leading down to a larger room. Inside that room, the party found a recently-used bedroll, six scroll cases, and a box of candles. Inside the scroll cases were spell scrolls (Chain Lightning, Mall Healing Word, Geas), maps of mining operations in the mountains nearby, blackmail dossiers on four members of the Above, and a pair of letters between George Turnbuckle and Hildy Analeth. Beor turned into a hunting dog and used his sense of smell to confirm that Tajana had slept here. Montana took a few stray hairs. Soon, they noticed that smoke was pouring into the room--the house above was on fire. If they stayed there, they would suffocate as all the oxygen burned. Using Ais' resistance to fire damage, they managed to lift the floor, magically open the locked door, and rush outside to safety. 

Outside the burning shack was a crowd. People grew animated when it was revealed that people had been inside the burning building. A few good Samaritans came to help, but the party was fine. Nyril was also in the crowd. He was relieved the party was fine, but disappointed to tell them that two of the business' healers had quit. A private investigator named Dirk St. Patrick had shown up at the business and told the employees that Montana had killed his son, Beor had killed his wife, and Ais was possessed by a demon. Two healers had quit in disgust, but Nyril didn't believe St. Patrick, so he had stayed. The party doubled down, insisting that the stories were lies and resolving to seek out the healers to set things right. 

Montana then used the hair from Tajana to scry her. He witnessed her riding an elevator up to a tower, where she met with Riviel Jassimir. Tajana explained that her cover was burned and she was leaving town, but Jassimir insisted that they still had unfinished business. Tajana argued again and again that no amount of money would convince her to stay, but she changed her mind when Jassimir produced two bulging bags of platinum pieces and threatened Tajana with some unspoken secret. When Tajana accepted the bags, Jassimir told her to "stop them" before she left town. Then Tajana entered the elevator back down, and Montana's scrying ended as she walked out into the city. 

The party felt ready to take Tajana on but was unsure of how to follow her. Ais placed a hand on her compatriots, cast "Invisibility," and we decided to pick up from there next time. Sorry for the cliffhanger! Sometimes, you just have to call it. 

A quick note about Dirk St. Patrick's return this session: I'm not really a "mean DM" at all. I'd rather give interesting problems to my players to see how they solve them than stump the players. But after the jokes about how toothless Dirk St. Patrick had become, my mind started going. "Okay, so he can't reveal their secrets to each other. And he knows how much they love their business. Why not have him strike at the employees?" Now, the party will have to work with the employees who quit or find replacements, which creates its own story angles. It also makes Dirk a threat again--what if he spreads word of that and the disguises to the Above? Before now, Dirk was a way to put pressure on the party dynamic. But since the party is completely integrated now, Dirk can be repurposed to threaten their interests in new ways, which also creates new story angles. I personally like the idea of the party losing a lot of their support from the people they've met as they approach the final chapter, which would increase the drama of facing off against the final boss even more. We'll see. 

That's all for now. Next time in the mystery campaign, the players will hatch plans to deal with Tajana. I certainly don't know what is going to come next, and I think the players don't either. So you'll just have to tune in next time to find out how it all plays out. Until next time, happy gaming!

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Snakes on a Plane One-Shot

Some movie strive to play on your heartstrings. Others try to impress you with big ideas. Some want to make you laugh or be afraid or feel alone. And some movies just want spectacle. Snakes on a Plane is this last kind of movie. The title tells you everything you need to know: there's a plane, and there are snakes on it. And while some games also vary in aim--some emotional, some intellectual, some instinctual--spectacle is not a bad thing to base a game on. In this one-shot, the players will have to survive a deadly plane ride, inspired by a movie so bad it's almost good. 

I normally aim to create one-shots that are pretty family-friendly so that anyone can play them. But for this one-shot, I allowed a bit of profanity but generally kept the rest of it clean. To play this one-shot, just follow the narration and directions below, and you can give your players the plane ride of their lives. 

How to Develop Places of Interest in a Setting

Good tabletop game writing answers all of the interrogatives: who, what, when, where, why, and the elusive how. Games are almost always clear about who (the players and the featured NPCS), the what (the quest), and the why (the reason behind the quest). Players themselves provide the how--it's the method they choose for progressing. The when is rarely a real question--it's answered by the context of the campaign and usually not given much thought. But the where! The where is a question that usually gets relegated to a secondary concern. It doesn't have to be, though. With a little bit of work, you can turn the places in a campaign into integral and interesting elements of the game. I call these developed locations "places of interest," parts of the game that double as settings and characters in their own right (a character in the sense that New York is kind of a character in movies about New York). Read on for a guide on how to develop a place of interest (or several) for your campaign. 

A word about the inspiration for this guide: recently, I created a tabletop game involving time travel and historical settings. When designing the game, I began with the where. I chose places (and times, but the time was informed by the place), and my first step in filling out the game was to create places. People came afterward, as did motivations and timelines. The individual locations in each place came to be not just significant locations in and of themselves, but also anchors that kept the places alive. So I want to apply that design to other tabletop games, and the guide below will show you how to do so. 

The first step in designing a place of interest can vary. Personally, I recommend beginning with a purpose. You may derive this purpose from a narrative concern--you need a place for the BBEG to hide out, or a place for the player characters to make a discovery, or a place that is chaotic and filled with people for a dramatic reveal. Or you might pick a place that serves a function in the community it's a part of--it serves a common utilitarian purpose, or it expresses something unique about the place it's in, or it is a regular hangout place for a particular faction of people. Any of these options are good starting points, and other ideas not listed here will, work too. What matters is that you have a grain of meaning to begin with that you can spin into a pearl. 

Once you have your purpose in mind, it's time to select a place that suits it. For the purposes of this guide, I'll complete each step with an example. Per this example, our developed place of interest will both express something unique about the place it's in and be a faction hangout. The unique aspect of the community it represents is that the town is built across a river, and rather than build a bridge, the city has planted a massive tree in the center of the river and strategically cut it as it grew--now there is a bridge across the river formed by the trunk of this tree, which has been cut into in its branches to create homes and businesses. So this tree is the center of the city and one of the more prestigious places to live and work. It also serves as a faction hangout. The most elite merchants who have businesses in this tree have formed something of an alliance to keep competing businesses out of the tree. They also want to grow the city around it at large, so they fund business ventures in the surrounding city. Although there is official governmental authority in the city, the real seat of power is these businesspeople. 

We can add a name to the place at any point in the process, so I'll pick one now. I want it to reflect the natural profile of the tree but also the power that it holds. For bonus points, something that reflects its purpose as a bridge would be good too. I'm going to go with "Great Oakbridge," which is good enough for my purposes in illustrating the process. 

The next step is in filling out the other functions of the place. Great Oakbridge acts as bridge, apartment, business complex, and base of operations for the elite merchants. But how does everyday life progress there? We know that because the location acts as a bridge, there are a good number of people who pass through every day. This could create safety concerns for residents, so I will add that there are only businesses on the bridge-level of the tree; in order to access the houses built into it, people must climb a staircase which spirals around the tree as it ascends. This trend should bear out as the tree's heights are reached; almost all the businesses are lower on the tree to make them easier to get to. Thus, the tree is divided more or less in half--businesses below and homes above. The most wealthy and elite of the merchants on the tree also have homes higher up, and the higher the home, the more prestigious. 

We also know that the elite merchants use the tree as a base of operations. But real estate on the tree is precious, and a dedicated space for meetings would be impractical. (Other residents of the city might also complain that livable space is dedicated to being empty most of the time.) So we can determine that the meetings take place in the personal spaces of the elite merchants. Let's say that these merchants take turns hosting the others in their respective businesses for the meetings. Obviously, this would not happen during business hours, so these meetings must happen either very early in the morning or later at night. I want these merchants to be industrious, and an early morning meeting feels more in line with that vibe, so we'll say that the first few floors of Great Oakbridge are alight with activity early in the morning before the first shoppers are out and about. 

Now that we know about the place a bit, it's time to attribute some characters to it. You might take an NPC or two who would fit the place and add them, and you can also create characters to fill the place out. I recommend a mixture of both. For the purposes of this example, let's create a few characters: 

• Violet Higgins - One of the elite merchants vying for control of the merchant group, she owns a business that sells common goods in a kind of expanded general store. Because she has irons in so many different fires, she is one of the more active members of the group, pushing for general business rights. She is aggressive in terms of business strategy and is in a bit of a rivalry with Gregory Illinel, a producer of finished goods. 
• Gregory Illinel - A new addition to the elite merchant group, he oversees several small companies which create specialized goods and resells them to merchants. Illinel is regarded by the other elite merchants as something of an outsider--he is the only one in the group to be primarily involved in resale rather than engaging in vertical integration like the others. He is somewhere cautious, and he regards the rest of the elite merchant group as potential assets he needs to convince of his value. 
• Janice Hornblower - The only artisan to be a part of the elite merchant group, she creates the city's finest metal goods. As the expert smith in the city, she has gained a following from adventurers for her high quality work. She has recently organized a form of apprenticing, charging for her tutelage--many of the regions best smiths trained under her. She represents the interests of labor, and is often outvoted by the other merchants. 

Already from these three characters, we get plenty of story opportunities. Violet Higgins can be used as something of a nemesis as she makes business interests more powerful than individual people; she might also be a strong ally if the party is looking to establish their own business. Gregory Illinel might provide quests to work with individual craftspeople; he might also be empowered to help growing businesses in the city over established businesses. The rivalry between the two could be ripe for a story about a power struggle amongst the city's most powerful people. Janice Hornblower could be the heart of a story about empowering laborers and craftspeople; she might be the center of a quest to change the business strategies in the city at large. These are just possibilities, and there will be more if we look closer. The important thing to recognize, though, is that these personalities came out of the place we built. 

We might then expand. We can do so in a number of ways. We could expand from the place: if the city in question has this combination bridge/apartment/shopping center, what other places would be necessary to serve the city. We still have lots of roles to fill: religious centers, governmental centers, cultural sites, and many more. We might make an individualized version of each of there: a temple that caters to all the good-aligned deities with considerable freedom of worship, a modest mayor's office that is overwhelmed by public demands for action, a formidable library of literature and philosophy from every culture. These places add complexity to the city and make it seem like a living place. 

We could also expand from the people: where else might Violet Higgins spend her time? Certainly she would check in on her various business concerns--we can develop those. She regularly visits creators of rope, textiles, and clothing at one location (a textile factory run by local laborers); she works with a shipping company (perhaps her own) to ensure timely deliveries (Higgins Deliveries is dedicated to transporting only her wares); she checks in at the city temple in order to reach out to the city's underprivileged with offers of work (she considers it good business practice to hire people who are formally aligned with good behavior). We might do the same for the other two people, following these steps for each place. 

And then we might expand from considering the opposite of what we've crafted so far. If the city has a good-aligned temple, a modest mayor's office, and a formidable library, what else might they have? Perhaps the less-than-good residents of the city have their own temple for evil-aligned deities, and it is carefully hidden away from the public. Maybe the mayor is not really the most powerful person in town, and the former mayor (now retired but not uninvolved in the city's progress) has been pulling the strings unseen. Mayhaps the library is so high-minded that common people have little use for it, instead preferring a local book collector's array of practical texts. Now we can develop these places further, and the result will be a complex mixture of places that represent all walks of life. 

The opposite approach also works for people. Let's consider Janice Hornblower. Her opposite is someone who works hard but hasn't broken through to success, someone who is more focused on their community than on themselves. They are not an expert like her, but they do have considerable skills in organizing people. Perhaps as Janice Hornblower uses her business expertise to advocate somewhat for laborers, our foil to her is a labor organizer who doesn't feel she works hard enough for common people. Now, Janice Hornblower is caught in a bind between the labor organizer and the other elite merchants, forcing her to pick a side. 

The best thing about the opposite approach is automatic conflict. In the examples from expanding based on place, we see that immediately, the good-aligned temple is in conflict with the evil-aligned temple. Similarly, the mayor and former mayor are locked in a struggle, as are the libraries of high knowledge and practical knowledge. One thing I have learned concretely about running games is that players pick up on conflict and almost always insert themselves into it. But creating places and people that oppose each other, we not only represent more than one side of a story, but we also give the players opportunities to assert themselves in the gameworld. 

In the end, your developed place should include what happens there (both in terms of its intended purpose and what people actually use it for), who frequents the location, and a counterpart to it (usually an opposite like we built, and sometimes a shade of grey when the story calls for it). What matters is that you have a complete sense of the place. And you want to communicate as much of this to your players as is reasonable. You don't want to drown the players in information, but you definitely want them to have more than a name to go off of. 

As your players explore your world, they'll begin to notice that places in your campaign are more than just a scene for the drama to unfold. This in turn leads them to investigate locations more completely, and you as a GM will be in a position to depict the other locations in your game more fully. And of course, remember to include the details you brainstorm. I for one am guilty of occasionally coming up with all manner of interesting detail and then neglecting to share all of that information with the players. It's in my head, so they must get it too, right? I wish that were the case. You can get away with more description of places than other elements of the game, so really show your players what a place is like. 

The amount of work you need to put into the overall process depends on your goals. For a small settlement that won't be a major part of the campaign, I recommend developing at least 3 places of interest. For a mid-size city that will be visited a few times, at least 5 places of interest should do it. But if you're going to base a whole campaign in one city (as I have before, and as I do in the game that inspired this guide), you want to get very granular. In my custom TTRPG, I developed 12 places of interest for each setting. That's quite a lot, and I don't think you need to go into that level of detail for any campaign. But I will say this: the more you know about a place, and the more complex and varied that place is, the richer it is as a setting for both you and your players. Think about it like sightseeing: would you rather go to a city which boasts 3 interesting places, or one that claims over 10? Give your players cause to get excited about exploring!

That's all for now. Coming soon: a one-shot based on the movie Snakes on a Plane, the value of reviewing last session's events, and a profile on music in my homebrew setting. Until next time, happy gaming!

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Mythology by Culture in My Homebrew Setting

I have created a series of articles about my homebrew setting; I have tackled the literature, architecture, common sayings, naming conventions, and superstitions of each racial culture in my D&D setting. As a whole, these profiles depict the cultural values of each race through various lenses. To that list, I am adding mythology: the stories that people tell about the origins of life. Read on for the full guide to culture in my homebrew world, Evanoch. 

When it comes to mythology, the myth is characterized by the story itself, what that myth tells us about the corresponding culture, and what impact that myth has on that culture in today's world. I will address each of these details for each myth, and I think that regular readers of this site will recognize the trends within each culture as consistent with the ways that their cultures operate outside of the realm of mythology. 

Daltoners

• Pelor's Grace: Daltoners have long passed down the story of Pelor's role in the world, characterizing him as a demanding paternal figure. This image began long before the Daltoners arrived on Evanoch. In the myth, Pelor uses all his godly energy to fuel his light so that the people of the world could grow crops and see clearly. But in the process, he becomes weaker the more his light shines. In order to keep Pelor strong, Daltoners commit to acts of sacrifice under the belief that the lost life energy will transfer to Pelor. It is said amongst Daltoners that Pelor received the first sacrifice--a human sacrifice--with mixed feelings because he did not want Daltoners to die for his own power. This has led many extremist Daltoners to look to capturing people of other races for sacrifices (whereas most Daltoners use animal sacrifices). This myth tells us that Daltoners are gravely serious about their religious beliefs and that they view the world as inherently unstable; they must tirelessly work to keep the world from falling apart, which makes many Daltoners view the world as an endless struggle. This is in-line with life on their homeland, the island of Dalton, where resources are scarce, food is scarcer, and people look out for themselves rather than their communities. In today's world, this myth fuels some of the more extreme imperialist Daltoners, and the prevalence of the myth's repetition in the modern world is a reminder that Daltoners have clung to their myths more literally than any other race. 
• Sir Hector the Pure: One of the earliest tales in Daltoner lore is that of Sir Hector the Pure, a hero king who is said to have united all of the warring factions of Dalton under a single banner, forming the kingdom of Dalton. Sir Hector's great strength as a leader was in his clarity of purpose. He publicly committed himself to uniting the great houses of Dalton under the name of Pelor; although he was not honored with an official title of kinghood, he is commonly considered the first real Tsar of Dalton (the supreme leader of the empire). In the myth, Sir Hector repeatedly faces off against the self-driven lords of the land, speaking to them in adages about the limits of power and the virtues of unity. But while this myth includes ideas like these, the morals about collective power and responsibility to community have been interpreted in other ways, usually emphasizing the strength of empires and the infallibility of leaders. This myth's popularity is less a statement about the values represented in the story and more about its enduring popularity as a text interpreted in favor of existing social mores. Today, Sir Hector the Pure's story is treated not unlike modern America treats the story of George Washington--so much is apocryphal that the truth and the modern understanding are completely separate. 
• The Eternal Mother: In the earlier years of the Daltoner empire (before they arrived on Evanoch), gender relations were considerably stronger than they are in modern day. This was due in large part to the myth of the Eternal Mother. Where Pelor served as a symbol of male energy--radiating energy to support the family of the earth--the Eternal Mother was the symbol of female energy. The Eternal Mother was not a god like Pelor, but a symbol embodied by natural forces, like a protective ghost. The myth went that the Eternal Mother was once impregnated by Pelor, but she was so fertile that even after giving birth, she remained pregnant. The myth continues that the Eternal Mother has birthed the most important parts of everyday life, including tangible things like farming implements and technological devices as well as intangible things like a spirit of indomitability or a feeling of inspiration. This myth fell out of favor amongst Daltoner leaders centuries before Daltoners landed on Evanoch, cementing a mostly male-centric society, but some of the more rebellious Daltoner women keep the tale alive for future generations. Today, most Evanines consider this tale to be some of the only evidence that Daltoner society was ever permissive of anything that they are not currently. 

Faninites

• The Great Splitting: Long before the first Faninite settlers landed on the shores of Evanoch, Faninite explorers had made their way to the continent and encountered the mass of races there. This caused the human society to ask questions about the origin of the different races, and a new myth arose. This new story proposed an idea that was considered mythical at best at the time but which is now supported by genealogical science: the different races are all descended from one common ancestor. The Faninite myth contends that one progenitor (essentially a human) split into the other races over time as the distance between the developing races grew. This myth was partially fueled by the biodiversity of the island of Fanin, where similar but distinct species show signs of specialization. This myth places Faninites at the center of the story (being the base ancestor of all races), but also is one of the only racial myths which includes the other races. This story reveals that Faninites, outsiders to Evanoch, were keen to understand their place in a world that had just grown much larger--this is key to Faninites, who regard their place in the world more humbly than most. Today, this myth is considered more of a philosophical concept which reminds Faninites that the world is a complex place. 
• A Mother's Touch: In a tale long passed down, Faninite culture explains that a mother's actions while pregnant help to determine the personality of the child. Playing games while pregnant leads to a competitive child, serving one's community leads to a nurturing child, eating too much leads to a gluttonous child, and so on. It is said that during the mother's pregnancy, the child learns what life is via the mother's experiences. Belief in this myth leads Faninite mothers to adhere to strict behavioral codes during pregnancy, and Faninite mothers commonly curse themselves for their actions when their child misbehaves. This myth reveals the notion of balance in the world that is dear to Faninites--actions have predictable outcomes. It also stresses the importance of child-mother relationships, which are especially important in Faninite culture. Today, this myth is regarded as a wives' tale by most, but many Faninites adhere to strict codes of behavior while pregnant just to be certain. 
• The Unsung God: In the days prior to Faninite expansion to Evanoch, most Faninites practiced a crude form of worship of nature as an entity--they did not worship Obad-Hai or Ehlonna, but rather an unnamed spirit of all natural things. This unnamed deity was responsible for maintaining the balance between extremes: life and death, summer heat and winter snow, times of plenty and times of scarcity. The belief was that by honoring this god, imbalance in nature could be averted. When more Faninites made Evanoch their home, they discovered that Evanines had direct contact with a whole range of deities who actually responded to them--this changed the Faninite perception of worship. Most Faninites became converts of Obad-Hai or Ehlonna, but a good number of them maintained worship of the unnamed god in private. This myth is a reminder that Faninites (now an integral part of Evanoch) are still newcomers to the continent relative the non-human races despite their assimilation but also reminds Faninites that Evanoch is a more special place than their homeland. Today, worship of the unnamed god is more limited and private than ever, but those who do pray to this deity swear that the setting of intentions is more meaningful than directly speaking with a god, who has their own agenda. 

Dwarves

• The Forging of the Hammer: Before Moradin created the dwarves, he was more or less alone in the world. Other gods were warring or creating their domains bit by bit, but Moradin had other plans. To increase his own power, he decided to craft a tool to help him. He considered the spear, but it could not act as a tool. He considered a saw, but it could not be used to protect oneself. He considered a great stone, but it was not easy to use. He decided to combine these features and invented the first hammer, which had reach like a spear, usefulness as a tool like a saw, and power like the stone. The hammer became the very symbol of Moradin, and in many versions of the dwarven creation myth, he used it to create and bless the dwarves. This myth reveals that dwarves' love of tradition extends to all things dwarven, including their deity and their culture. Amongst dwarves today, a hammer is still the holy symbol of Moradin, and many dwarves choose hammers to defend themselves. 
• The Right of Kings: The supreme leader of the dwarven capital of Underhar is called the Dronith, which loosely translates to "Regent." In the earliest days of dwarven civilization, the Dronith was more of a ceremonial rank, someone who humbly performed the rites to keep dwarven leadership going. But sometime just after the beginning of recorded history, the Dronith was transformed into a much more comprehensively powerful person. Many attribute this to the dwarven myth of a mysterious and likely apocryphal leader from the years before history was recorded. In this tale, Dronith Flint Redshield was a dwarven leader whose health was ailing. His people gathered around him on his deathbed, and a cleric whose name was never recorded (known simply as "The Cleric" in this story) decided to direct everyone to empower the dying regent. Through the effort of the gathered people and the magic of the cleric, Dronith Redshield recovered his health and was also invested with the power of his people. From this point onward, dwarven leadership was bestowed along with the blessings of all dwarves in Underhar and the churches of the capital. This myth illustrates the long tradition of strict hierarchy in dwarven culture, as in the myth, common people give up their power for the Dronith's sake. Today, the myth remains something of a reminder from older generations to younger dwarves to remember the power of dwarven leadership in crucial times. 
• A Line on the Floor: Drawn from a myth so old that some details have been lost to time, this myth is the cause of a peculiar dwarven architectural tradition. What remains of the myth tells us this: in the time before humanoids, when it was only gods, the powers of the gods were boundless. They had nothing to sustain, and so they used their powers freely. But because there were no limits on godly powers, the gods were always accidentally interfering with one another. Moradin hatched a plan: he used his hammer to draw dividing lines around himself when conducting magic. These lines separated his powers from the other gods', which allowed them all to practice their powers as they saw fit. This is replicated in dwarven homes by etching lines into the floor that section the home off into distinct areas. A dwarf might eat meals in one section, sleep in another section, and read in a third section; dividing lines on the ground separate these different realms of life. It is said that not employing these lines invites the other gods to interfere with one's designs. This myth illustrates both the dwarven reverence for Moradin (dwarves are among the most committed to a racial deity in the land) and the hierarchical, organized way of life. Today, this tradition is deeply ingrained in dwarven society, and all but the most independent dwarves have clearly marked areas in their homes. 

Elves

• The Phases of the Moon: Corellon Larethian, god of the elves, is indicated by his symbol of a thin crescent moon. In elven myth, Larethian began as the moon itself, more detached than the other gods. This was long before the birth of humanoids; it was simply the gods and the earth. Larethian watched over the world when Pelor was asleep, and the two were very much counterparts of one another. But when the moon reached its waning crescent, Corellon Larethian was split. The moon remained named Corellon, and Larethian is the elven word for "change." Thus, the moon is watched over by Corellon Larethian's highest spirit, while his consciousness lives as the elven god. This separation of spirit and mind indicates the elven tendency towards balancing those two aspects of life. It also represents the elven reverence of the moon. Elves celebrate every waning crescent moon as the beginning of something new, marked by the following new moon. Today, lunar phases remain crucial to elven faith and culture, and some elven traditions are only carried out at night in honor of the moon god. 
• The First Sapling: The story of the first tree is central to elven culture. In this myth, the growth of the first tree precedes even the gods. Before any deities had come to exist, earth, air, and water combined to form the first sapling. In elven culture, trees represent all the elements, as they grow in earth, rise into the air, grow from water, and can be burned as fuel for fire. The first sapling grew strong and tall and spread a variety of seeds across the land, and these seeds grew into different plants depending on where they landed. From this one tree grew all that have ever lived, and elves commonly give thanks to the first tree as though it is a minor deity. The elven homeland on the Lathien Island system is dominated by rich forests with many trees that can only be found there. Many elven homes are built directly into living trees. These facts give context to the elven fondness for forests, and indeed even the symbol of a tree is often used to represent the idea of home. Today, the tale of the first sapling is regarded more as a folk tale than a real history, but the story is shared more often than any more scientific explanation. 
• Tree Breath: One of the oldest substances used as a drug in Evanoch is the refined essence of a plant leaf called Vivara. This substance, when consumed, induces a state similar to elven meditation; for non-elves, it creates a calm but euphoric experience that looks like elven meditation, and for elves, the effect is multiplied by as much as twice that effect. Though uses vary outside of the elven community, for elves, Vivara essence (or "Tree Breath," as it is commonly known) is a spiritual experience meant to bring the user closer to nature. The myth surrounding this is that Corellon Larethian recognized that humanoids were formed with a vital element missing--perspective. To remedy this, he endowed the Vivara tree with the powerful property that opens the door to true contemplation. Many elves believe that the only true path to enlightenment is through Vivara essence. This myth reveals that elves both desire connection with nature (enough to dedicate a powerful drug to pursuing that connection) and that elves believe the path forward comes from reflection, not action. Today, people pay little attention to the myth behind Vivara essence unless they are using it for traditional meditation purposes. 

Half-Elves

• The Other Piece: When Faninites reached Evanoch and mixed with the elves, the result was half-elves. It was noted at the time as curious, as humans and elves were not expected to be able to bear children, since no other combination of races could produce children. Very quickly, half-elves created a myth about the nature of this pairing. Humans and elves were as similar as halflings and gnomes, so why didn't that combination have the same effect? The resulting story posited that elves and Faninites were cosmically linked, fated to meet and create half-elves. The story's details changed with each telling, but the basic premise was the Corellon Larethian and Ehlonna had conspired against the other gods, intending to combine their forces. With this plan, they created elves and Faninites separately, but bound on a collision course. This myth shows the half-elven belief that balancing two extremes is a key part of culture and that half-elves' presence is no accident (a common perception of non-half-elves). Today, this myth is more of an attitude than an actual belief--half-elves are less prone to tradition than their elven parents, and they value philosophy over  faith. 
• The Third Voice: A common elven folk saying (preceding half-elves) says that "Everyone has two voices: a voice for good, and a voice for bad. We must listen to the good." But half-elves developed their own interpretation of this saying with a myth. The story goes that half-elves brought with them a third voice, a voice which is more powerful than either the good or the bad. The third voice, sometimes called "judgment," represents neither extreme, but the push to remain balanced in the middle. The appearance of this third voice is considered by many half-elves to be a real historical event, as the period in which half-elves appeared in Evanoch was also marked by decreased violence, advances in philosophy, and an array of improvements in social conditions. This myth represents the half-elven tendency toward tempering two distinct things as well as the value of compromise and diplomatic thought. Today, the idea that the third voice is a real entity which has changed history is adopted by about one-half of half-elves and a smattering of other individuals; it is often invoked by half-elves when they have a clear solution to a problem that others don't see the merit of. 
• The Half-God: In recent years, a faction of half-elves who feel that they are oppressed and ignored by society introduced a myth they claim is ancient but which few scholars can find any evidence for. The myth contends that there is a forgotten member of the pantheon of deities who is specifically a half-elven god. The patron saint of communication and balance, this deity is named Relligen Larethian--not the god of the moon or elves, but the god of the sky and half-elves. Relligen is supposed to be Corellon Larethian's wife, forgotten by many because her time to shine would not come until the half-elves were born, and ignored then because the other gods were all anyone knew. Although few claim to have been in contact with Relligen Larethian, the myth has gained traction among younger half-elves who want to carve out their own space. This myth is reflective of the difficult social position of half-elves, who have no distinct cultural representation without this god. Today, the myth is continuing to grow, even as it is ridiculed by many outside the half-elven community.  

Halflings

• A Hole in the Ground: Visitors to the halfling capital of Curagon notice quickly that many of the buildings there are underground, with only small burrowed entrances to the structures. This method of halfling construction stretches back as far as recorded history. A halfling myth provides the origin for this tendency: the halfling goddess Yondalla was once the most peaceful and nurturing of deities, which created issues for her as the other gods strove to compete for the most power. In order to be safe and keep practicing her good deeds, Yondalla burrowed into the earth and created a sanctuary from the surface world. Scholars argue over whether this myth explained existing burrows, or if, as the myth contends, burrows followed Yondalla's example. But regardless of the truth of it, the myth is celebrated by halflings by placing a symbol of Yondalla at the lowest point in the home (oftentime, a small dugout is added to homes to create a lowest point). This myth displays an explanation for traditional halfling behavior and adds a moral component to it, which represents the halfling tendency toward good deeds on the community level. Today, the myth is regarded as folk wisdom and inspiration for doing things the halfling traditional way.  
• A Single Note: Halfling mythology contends that in the beginning, all was silent. The gods communicated telepathically, and nothing on the earth made a sound. But Yondalla saw a new way forward, and she spoke to herself from her burrow, "Life." At the sound of Yondalla's bright voice, a halfling family appeared before her. Rather than explain what she wanted from the halflings, Yondalla produced a harp and played a single note. From that note, the halfling family came to understand all that Yondalla had to say, and soon the other gods were speaking and attempting to make music, although no god could make music like Yondalla. The halfling family were gifted with their own instruments, and they created beautiful music long before even the gods could. This myth can explain the halfling tendency toward musical expression; halflings are considered the most inventive musicians in the land, and the creation of music beginning with them depicts the pride that halflings feel for their abilities. Today, this myth is taken quite seriously. Even non-halfling musicians are likely to pray to Yondalla for inspiration, and halfling musicians often also dabble in the lore of Yondalla.  
• A Few Inches Less: For much of the beginning of recorded history, halflings were mostly in contact with their neighbors to the northeast, the gnomes. The similar statures of halflings and gnomes led most members of both races to conceptualize the world as mostly consisting of people of their size. As the halflings came into contact with the dwarves to the southeast, the orcs to the southwest, and the elves to the northwest, they began to realize that halflings and gnomes were outnumbered by the larger humanoids. As a result, a myth began to develop that the gods changed the size of a humanoid depending on that person's morality. The better you were as a person, the shorter you would be, went the logic. The smallest halflings were honored, and the largest humanoids feared. Young halflings resented their growth spurts and hoped to be a few inches less than their parents and siblings. This myth reflects the halfling perspective as outsiders on most every issue, as well as the belief that halflings are the most moral of the races. Today, this myth is regarded as an outdated folk tale, and is mostly invoked jokingly: "I've been having an off day--I bet I grow an inch tonight." 

Gnomes

• The First Machine: As inventors, gnomes are unsurpassed; gnomish god Garl Glittergold is said to have been the progenitor of this tradition. In an early gnomish myth, Glittergold witnesses the blessings of the other races: strength for the orcs, grace for the elves, sturdiness for the dwarves--and decided he had to outdo them and make gnomes the most powerful of the humanoids. His strategy was to make the gnomes more than just humanoids, but beings which could command forces beyond their own abilities. So Glittergold invented a machine, using natural objects like shaped stones and twisted trees, that could empower the gnomes with ingenuity. The machine created gnomes who could tinker and create devices at the same age they could first walk. This myth depicts how the gnomish tradition of inventing is viewed as a crucial and even spiritual part of life. Today, gnomish inventors are likely to worship Glittergold, and they often dedicate their inventions to the deity in hope of success.  
• The Next Name: In a myth from the earliest years of gnomish civilization, a businesswoman named Turina Frebenemy began her ascent of the financial ladder. As she created new products, conquered new markets, and made new fortunes, she began to accumulate new names. These names included Heronitin, Grablowski, Vitteramin, and Ampwin. Each name was an honorific--a title rather than a name. But as generations passed and the story was passed down, the emphasis of the myth became the collection of names as a marker of success. Many gnomes credit this story with being the origin of gnomes' collecting names, and the remaining gnomes insist that Frebenemy was a real person who originated the practice. The myth reveals not only the gnomish custom of gathering names, but also the importance of social prestige in gnomish culture. Today, the myth is still shared as a part of gnomish history, and many gnomes who cherish the tale adopt some of Frebenemy's names in honor of the idea.  
• Part of Something Bigger: Appearing around the time that the gnomish capital of Vestry shifted toward a more socialistic approach to government, this myth provides the basis for much of gnomish culture's emphasis on community. The myth holds that in the first few years of humanoids existing on the earth, disputes began to pop up. The other races devolved into fighting each other and amongst themselves, but the gnomes took a different approach. Instead, they banded together in order to protect themselves and advance their interests together. This was a highly successful strategy which was soon copied by the other races, but the gnomes seemed best suited to this approach. Part of the myth's reason for being was that cultural values were changing, and gnomes needed to codify the value of community in place of the former "everyone is in it for themselves" approach. This myth tells clearly how gnomes consider teamwork to be the best way forward, which informs practically every element of their society. Today, the myth has largely been incorporated into serious history as part of the project that is collective gnomish society.  

Orcs

• The Island Alone: The orcish people reside primarly on the island of Grob, a stark land marked by craggy peaks and an isthmus to the mainland to the north. It took centuries after the beginning of recorded history for orcs to encounter any other race--the elves to the north, with whom the orcs share a fierce rivalry. But before that encounter, the orcs lived as though they were the only people of Evanoch. A myth from this period describes the island of Grob as massive and full of varied peoples, all of whom vied for supremacy of the land. This myth was shattered when the elves were contacted, but the orcish view of the orcish people as being varied became highly important when their world expanded. Until warfare with the elves became a primary concern, orcs resented the other races of Evanoch viewing them as one unit rather than members of disparate tribes. This myth displays how the orcs have a worldview that centers on orcish rather than global issues, as well as how identity amongst orcs is conceptualized--orcs are not a monolith, but neither are they individuals; they belong to a clan first and foremost. Today, this myth is passed down by orcish elders as a reminder of the clan obligations of orcs in the modern world. 
• The Wise Woman: In orcish society, the Curtran ("Wise Woman") is the cultural and spiritual leader of communities. The nominal leader is the warchief, but all of their decisions are discussed with the Curtran first. A very early orcish myth tells of the first Curtran: in the beginning, Gruumsh realized that his prowess in battle would not be enough to serve the orcish people. So he pulled the greater part of his spirit from his body, infused it into a body made of earth and fire, and created the first Curtran. This wise woman acted as counsel to Gruumsh throughout her life, then passed her spirit to the next wise woman. The myth contends that every Curtran today has a part of that first Curtran's spirit alive inside her. This myth reveals that orcs have a considerably more favorable role for women in society than many believe of the orcs; while many assume that the militant orcs would relegate women to backseats in society like the Daltoners and dwarves do, the orcs in fact invest most of their community faith in the wise woman. In this myth, the mundane wise woman is even powerful enough to advise a god--a great investment of power. Today, this story continues to be told, especially by the Curtrans of Grob and by orcs who have left the homeland but want to stay connected to tradition.  
• The Elven Conundrum: This myth picks up where the orcish creation myth leaves off; after the gods have formed the earth and their favored people, disputes between the gods begin in earnest. This myth actually precedes the contact between elves and orcs, and many say it was prophesized by this tale. In the story, orcs are beset on all sides by a numerous, long-lived enemy. For every one of these menacing beings the orcs managed to best in combat, five more enemies appeared in its place. The orcs fought for generations, and in the end, both the enemies and the orcs were too badly damaged to continue fighting. This is rare in an orcish myth--combat is nearly always displayed as a meaningful strategy that will be of advantage to the orcs. Nevertheless, this myth was repeated and feared for centuries until the orcs encountered the elves. Some orcs were hesitant to identify the elves as the feared enemies, but many felt the similarities were too great to ignore. This myth reveals that orcish culture is centered around battle, but it also shows that orcs know when a stalemate has been reached. Today, this myth is repeated by people of all races, particularly historian, who believe that this myth is the single most significant foretelling of a real event to ever occur. 

There you have it: three mythical stories from each racial culture along with the meaning and impact of those stories in the gameworld's present day. These myths deepen our understanding of the cultures they come from and open new possibilities for storytelling. As a for instance, we might set our players loose investigating the half-elven story of Relligen Larethian, or we could have the players look into other potential prophecies from the orcish world. As always, worldbuilding serves not only to characterize the world, but also to create places for our players to create their own stories. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: how to develop places of interest, a one-shot adapted from the movie Snakes on a Plane, and the value of including a summary of the last session to start your game. Until next time, happy gaming!

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