Collaboration

My Dad’s Monster Manual – Displacer Beast

Collaboration, Inspiration / D&D, D&D 5e, D&D fifth edition, D&D5e, DnD, DnD 5e, DnD5e, dungeons and dragons, dungeons and dragons fifth edition, Fifth Edition D&D, fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons, Monster, monster creation, monster design, Monster Manual, monsters, My Dad's Monster Manual / 1 comment

September 10, 2020

Check out Burn Bryte, an original science fantasy TTRPG I helped create for Roll20!

The work on My Dad’s Monster Manual continues. You can check out all the previews on this blog here. There are also a few on my Patreon!

Let’s see what my father thinks of the displacer beast.

Marona (Displacer Beast)

Ooooh! Is that six legs?
Lucian J. Introcaso

The monstrous, six-legged marona is a muscle-rippled, 800-pound, infernal panther with two tentacles that end in mouths coming out of its shoulders.

Infernal Pets. Greater devils create maronas from the souls of evil awakened animals. The giant cats live in packs among the fiendish soldiers of the Blood War. Their stealth and speed make maronas ideal ambushers and scouts. The extra mouths at the ends of their tentacles make them expert trackers, able to follow the scent of any creature on the same plane.

Hunters of Mortals. When a mortal breaks a contract with a greater devil, the devil sends one or more maronas to the Material Plane to hunt the mortal. Though the great cats are often sent to kill their victims, they have the ability to grab another creature with their tentacles and drag it back to the Nine Hells alive.

Contracted Fiends. Greater devils often offer the services of a pack of maronas as a way to tempt mortals into deals. Humanoids willing to sell their soul or service to a devil could get the faithful service of a pack to act as assassins, guardians, hunters, or soldiers bolstering an army.

Marona

Large fiend, lawful evil

Armor Class 13

Hit Points 51 (6d10 + 18)

Speed 50 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	7 (-2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5

Damage Resistances fire

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities poisoned

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages understands Infernal but can’t speak

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Camouflage. The marona has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in areas of dim light or darkness.

Keen Smell. The marona has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Pounce. If the marona moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with its claws on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the marona can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.

Track Creature. If the marona gets the scent of a creature, it knows the direction to the creature’s location, as long as that creature is on the same plane as the marona. If the creature is moving, the marona knows the direction of its movement.

Actions

Multiattack. The marona makes two tentacle attacks.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d12 + 3) slashing damage.

Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13) if it is a Medium or smaller creature. Until the grapple ends, the marona can’t use this tentacle on another target. The marona has two tentacles.

Infernal Portal (1/Day). The marona opens a 10-foot-square gate to its home in the Nine Hells within an unoccupied space within 30 feet of it that last for 1 minute. The marona must concentrate on the gate as if concentrating on a spell.

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Great news! More than 80 stat blocks inspired by my dad’s version of D&D creatures should be hitting the DMs Guild sometime this Summer. If you sign up for my mailing list, I’ll email you when the book goes live and you can get a coupon for 20% off the PDF version of the book!

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, sign up for my mailing list, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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My Dad’s Monster Manual – Fire Snake

Collaboration, Inspiration / D&D, D&D 5e, D&D fifth edition, D&D5e, DnD 5e, DnD5e, dungeons and dragons, dungeons and dragons fifth edition, Fifth Edition D&D, fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons, Monster, monster creation, monster design, Monster Manual, monsters, My Dad's Monster Manual, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

August 27, 2020

Check out Burn Bryte, an original science fantasy TTRPG I helped create for Roll20!

The work on My Dad’s Monster Manual continues. You can check out all the previews on this blog here. There are also a few on my Patreon!

Let’s see what my father thinks of the fire snake.

Turkgon (Fire Snake)

This is a class of chicken dragon.
Lucian J. Introcaso

Turkgons are red and orange dragons that grow to be more than thirty feet long. They have no limbs, but their serpentine bodies end in a plumed head with a massive, toothed beak. Despite their lack of wings, turkgons are able to fly.

Lesser Red Dragons. An adult turkgon can breathe fire hot enough to melt stone and enjoys areas of extreme heat, leading many to speculate that it is somehow related to the red dragon. It does not seem to share the red dragon’s innate greed or cruelty, nor does a turkgon live as long as a true dragon. Turkgons reach adulthood at about twenty years of age and die around one hundred.

Imprinted Loyalty. Turkgons imprint upon whatever creature they see first when they hatch from their golden eggs. The turkgon treats this creature as its unquestionable master, doing whatever is asked of it. As the turkgon grows older, it gains a distinct personality and learns to reason and think for itself, though some instinct has it remain loyal to its master. A turkgon’s master can appoint a secondary master for the dragon. In the event of the master’s death or disappearance, the turkgon turns to the secondary.

In very rare cases a turkgon has broken free of the sway of a particularly abusive master.

Controlled Eggs. Because they make powerful soldiers, turkgon eggs are extremely valuable, made even more so by their scarcity. The few eggs known to exist are protected and controlled by powerful nobles, tyrants, and rulers.

Turkgon

Gargantuan dragon, lawful neutral

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 201 (13d20 + 65)

Speed 50 ft., fly 80 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
28 (+8)	10 (+0)	20 (+5)	13 (+1)	10 (+0)	17 (+3)

Saving Throws Dex +4, Con +9, Wis +4

Skills Perception +4

Damage Immunities Fire

Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Common, Draconic

Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)

Magic Weapons. The turkgon’s weapon attacks are magical.

Actions

Multiattack. The turkgon makes two attacks: one with its bite and one constrict attack.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 24 (3d10 + 8) piercing damage, and 3 (1d6) fire damage.

Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6 + 8) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 18). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the turkgon can’t constrict another target.

Fire Breath (Recharge 5-6). The turkgon exhales fire in a 90-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 42 (12d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Reactions

Guard. When a creature within 10 feet of the turkgon is hit with an attack, the turkgon is hit with the attack instead.

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My Dad’s Monster Manual – Roper

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August 20, 2020

Check out Burn Bryte, an original science fantasy TTRPG I helped create for Roll20!

The work on My Dad’s Monster Manual continues. You can check out all the previews on this blog here. There are also a few on my Patreon!

Let’s see what my father thinks of the roper.

Potentling (Roper)

It swaps knowledge for knowledge.
Lucian J. Introcaso

A potentling is a 15-foot-tall, stone-skinned creature that looks like a massive stalagmite. It has one great eye near the top of its body, a massive mouth, and six long tentacles. These aberrations have lived on the Material Plane for eons. They are rare, dangerous, and have a vast knowledge of history.

Protected in Mountain Fortress. Each potentling lives in a citadel atop tall mountains. From these high seats, they watch the world around them, taking in the rise and fall of surrounding civilizations and memorizing every detail. While the potentlings observe their surroundings, their creations, the ever-faithful scorpdillos, maintain and guard their fortresses.

Knowledge for Knowledge. For those brave enough to journey to their lairs, potentlings are willing to trade in information. Though they’re nearly immobile, they are intimately familiar with all that happens within hundreds of miles of their fortresses, and happy to share all they know with a creature that offers new stories or experiences to the aberration. However, if the creature offers things the potentling already knows or has experienced, the aberration tries to eat the offender. After all, tasting this being’s flesh is a new experience.

Potentling

Huge aberration, chaotic neutral

Armor Class 20 (natural armor)

Hit Points 230 (20d12 + 100)

Speed 5 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
24 (+7)	8 (-1)	20 (+5)	22 (+6)	23 (+6)	18 (+4)

Saving Throws Dex +4, Int +11, Wis +11, Cha 11

Skills History +11, Perception +11

Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 21

Languages all

Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)

Far Senses. The potentling can see and hear over a distance of 500 miles.

Lair Teleportation. While inside its lair, the potentling can teleport to an unoccupied space it can see within 50 feet of it as a bonus action.

Magic Resistance. The potentling has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The potentling’s weapon attacks are magical.

Actions

Multiattack. The potentling makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its tentacles.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (2d12 + 7) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the potentling can’t bite another target.

Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 90 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (3d8 + 7) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the potentling can’t use the same tentacle on another target. The potentling has six tentacles.

Swallow. The potentling makes one bite attack against a Large or smaller target it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target is also swallowed, and the grapple ends. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the potentling, and it takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the potentling’s turns.

If the potentling takes 30 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the potentling must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the potentling. If the potentling dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 15 feet of movement, exiting prone.

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My Dad’s Monster Manual – Nothic

Collaboration, Inspiration / D&D, D&D 5e, D&D5e, DnD 5e, DnD5e, Fifth Edition D&D, Monster, monster creation, monster design, Monster Manual, monsters, My Dad's Monster Manual, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

August 13, 2020

Check out Burn Bryte, an original science fantasy TTRPG I helped create for Roll20!

The work on My Dad’s Monster Manual continues. You can check out all the previews on this blog here. There are also a few on my Patreon!

Let’s see what my father thinks of the nothic.

Vizor (Nothic)

They can self-divide, but there can’t be too many of them.
Lucian J. Introcaso

Clawed, bipedal carnivores about three feet tall with one massive green eye, vizors prowl the desert in packs searching for fresh flesh.

Delicious Fear. Vizors prefer the taste of meat saturated with fear. They use their stealthy movement to sneak up on caravans and camps in the desert night, tearing only a few victims limb from limb with their claws and feasting as they scatter the survivors.

After devouring their initial victims, the vizors pursue the fleeing survivors, sometimes over the course of several days. The monstrosities keep their prey basting in fear, picking victims off one-by-one.

Split Reproduction. Every vizor is identical because they reproduce through a grotesque process of splitting in half and quickly regenerating. Luckily, vizors can only do such a thing when there are fewer than a dozen nearby, though the purpose for this limit is unclear.

Vizor

Small monstrosity, chaotic evil

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 44 (8d6 + 16)

Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	4 (-3)	13 (+1)	8 (-1)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5, Survival +3

Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages –

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Keen Sight. The vizor has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Pack Tactics. The vizor has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the vizor’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Actions

Multiattack. The vizor attacks twice: once with its bite and once with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4 + 3) slashing damage.

Divide (1/Day). The vizor splits, becoming two vizors. The new vizor is unaffected by any conditions and has all of its hit points, but cannot use Divide until it completes a long rest.

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Entice the Players

Collaboration / Burn Bryte, Game Design, Patreon / 0 comments

August 6, 2020

Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rich Hershey / Fat Goblin Games

If you like what you’re reading, check out, Burn Bryte, an original science fantasy TTRPG I helped create for Roll20!

This post originally appeared on my Patreon a little over a year ago.

While working together on Burn Bryte, my fellow designers and I would talk about how we wanted players to engage with the game. We had an obvious, but often overlooked design philosophy: Reward the players for playing the game a particular way rather than forcing them into it. If you’ve been following World Builder Blog, you about Burn Bryte, a new science fantasy RPG I created with Jim McClure, Kat Kuhl, and Darcy Ross for exclusive use on the Roll20 platform. The game’s core mechanics and character advancement through Story Paths revolve around the idea of designers enticing players to engage with the RPG how you want, instead of forcing the players to play the game a certain way through restrictive rules. I’ll be referring to those posts as examples in this article.

Some Restrictions Are Good

First let me say that I’m not talking about having no restrictions in a game. Most games need parameters, and those restrictions come in the form of rules that describe what the characters’ limitations are. Typically the restrictions you have shouldn’t limit how a character uses their abilities, but rather places a limitation on the power of those abilities. In fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, a barbarian has a certain number of rages per day, but the rules do not state specific rage-only circumstances for the barbarian. The barbarian can rage in combat, while locked in manacles to get advantage on a Strength check to break free, or while running down a trapped hall to resist damage. The restricted number of rages the barbarian has creates an interesting tension as the player must decide when to use a rage. Many players save these rages for combat encounters, where the feature has the most benefits, thus barbarians are rewarded for using their rage during combat instead of forced to use it only during combat by having a rule that states rages can only be used in combat encounters. It feels good to have a smart choice rewarded instead of being forced into only being able to rage in combat. It’s a subtle but important difference. You can see in this example how restriction and reward work together to create fun in the game.

The Big Idea

In general the fewer restrictions you can put into your game, the better. The expectation with most roleplaying games is that characters can attempt whatever actions their players like. Too much restriction means player characters start to feel locked into a specific mode of play, and the game feels more like a video game (which must have restrictions because of technology) instead of a tabletop game. For instance, some people didn’t enjoy playing fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons because you had player characters with fantastic powers that could only be used as attacks. Take the sword mage class from that edition. It could teleport all over the battlefield, but outside of combat, teleporting was rarely an option. Shouldn’t the guy who acts like Nightcrawler in combat also act like him outside of combat? It broke the immersion for many players and felt too restrictive. The better solution is to reward players for playing the game you want to play and place limits on their features, but not how they use them. For instance, if sword mages could only teleport a certain number of times per day and got a bonus to attack or damage rolls on the same turn they teleport instead of being restricted to only teleporting in combat, you’d likely see many people choosing to save their teleportation uses for combat. Payers would have more freedom and could choose to teleport outside of combat, but the optimal thing to do is wait to use that feature until combat. There’s a big difference between being rewarded for playing a game a certain way and being forced into it.

Reward Risks

Burn Bryte is a science fantasy game, and in the tradition of beloved science fantasy stories (and over-the-top roleplaying game moments) we wanted to encourage characters to take big risks, attempt plans just crazy enough to work, and have unbelievable successes and spectacular failures. You can read more about how we did that in my post about the game’s core mechanics, but I want to specifically address Nova points. Nova points are a resource characters spend to activate their most powerful abilities and are gained when by a player character when they use one skill of each die size (succeed or not). They came about when we asked the question, “How do we prevent player characters from simply using their best skills over and over again?” Jim presented this idea as a way to reward characters for using their less-optimized skills. In playtesting it has worked like a dream.

Roleplaying and Rewards

Many games, like D&D, increase character power through combat and gathering of treasure. In D&D’s rules as written you gain experience by killing monsters, and your stuff gets better when you loot their corpses. There are certainly other ways to play the game, but there’s a reason murder hobos exist. (There’s nothing wrong with wanting to kill dragons and take their treasure. That’s good fun!) If you want your game to play differently, you need to change the way player characters advance. When we were designing Burn Bryte, Kat Kuhl and Darcy Ross pushed for a system that had nonviolent character progression. That’s not to say there isn’t combat in many Burn Bryte games, but there doesn’t need to be in order for your characters to get stronger. They pitched the idea of Story Paths, which take your character through a series of events that could be related to combat, investigation, social interaction, etc. Many of the forty paths that are included in the core rules have options for nonviolent progression. This doesn’t mean their can’t be combat along those paths, but characters who choose the paths are rewarded for actions they take outside of or in addition to combat. Tying character progression to story also changes the game for power gamers. I am at least part power gamer and enjoy my characters’ advancement. Burn Bryte rewards me for engaging with the story, appealing to the power gamer in me AND the storyteller. Our idea is to encourage the power gamers, storytellers, explorers, slayers, and all other kinds of gamers to sit down together and have a great time playing Burn Bryte and engaging with the story. Story Paths reward that.

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My Dad’s Monster Manual – Myconid

Collaboration / D&D, D&D 5e, D&D fifth edition, D&D5e, DnD 5e, DnD5e, Fifth Edition D&D, fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons, Monster, monster creation, monster design, Monster Manual, My Dad's Monster Manual, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

July 23, 2020

Check out Burn Bryte, an original science fantasy TTRPG I helped create for Roll20!

The work on My Dad’s Monster Manual continues. You can check out all the previews on this blog here. There are also a few on my Patreon!

Let’s see what my father thinks of the myconid.

Schroom (Myconid)

They look a little drug-addled.
Lucian J. Introcaso

Schrooms are fungi people with a humanoid shape and bulbous mushroom heads. They are all combinations of colors and can be anywhere from four to seven feet tall.

Wanderers and Philosophers. Colonies of schrooms wander giant forests, eating all types of fungi and looking for the warmest spots to debate philosophy. They never stay in one place for long, always chasing the warmest weather within their woods.

Most schrooms enjoy debating philosophical questions like, “Do good and evil truly exist?” and, “What purpose do dragons serve?” These debates can last hours as each schroom calmly presents arguments, often for multiple sides of the debate. The schroooms call to passersby and ask them to weigh in, contemplating and curiously questioning outside viewpoints.

Despite the lengthy debates, the schrooms seem content to never come to a definitive answer. Instead when they feel they have examined the viewpoint from all angles, they switch topics or engage in one of their other favorite activities: dancing.

Dancing While the Woods Burn. While their legendary percussionists laydown a fast tempo, each schroom gets up and dances. There are no cultural schroom dances. It is schroom custom to “just feel the music” and allow it to move their bodies in the moment. It is high praise when a schroom asks another creature to dance, and rejection ends in the plant taking great offense.

Schrooms enjoy dancing most in warmth and nothing in their habitat is warmer than a forest fire. While only evil schrooms start such blazes, all schrooms enjoy dancing at the edge of a wildfire and become violent if another creature tries to snuff the flames.

Schroom

Medium plant, chaotic neutral

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 18 (4d8 + 4)

Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	13 (+1)

Skills Performance +3

Damage Immunities fire, poison

Condition Immunities poisoned

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages Common, Sylvan

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Fire Energized. Whenever the schroom is subjected to fire damage, it takes no damage and instead regains a number of hit points equal to the fire damage dealt and gains advantage on all attack rolls until the end of its next turn.

Actions

Multiattack. The schroom makes two fist attacks.

Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage.

Mosh Schroom (1/Day). The schroom dances wildly, limbs flailing. As it does this, the schroom can move its speed without provoking opportunity attacks. The schroom makes one fist attack against each enemy within its reach during this movement.

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My Dad’s Monster Manual – Otyugh

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May 14, 2020

My latest DMs Guild product, The Iron Titan, is now available!

The work on My Dad’s Monster Manual continues. You can check out all the previews on this blog here. There are also a few on my Patreon!

Today I wanted to show off my father’s version of the otyugh, which he calls the skunkline! Let’s meet the friendly fey.

Skunkline (Otyugh)

It has the ability to create aromas.
Lucian J. Introcaso

The forest-dwelling skunkline is a happy, bulbous creature with three legs. Its eyes and nose are set in a stalk that emerges from the top of its body, and it has two tentacles that end in spikes. Adult skunklines stand about three feet tall with tentacles twice as long.

Quest Lovers. Skunklines wander the forest, eating plants and looking for sapient creatures to converse with. They enjoy telling and learning stories of heroic deeds and saviors who defeat evil. The only thing a skunkline enjoys more than sharing an epic tale is becoming a character in one. When a skunkline meets adventurers, the fey creature begs to be a part of the next quest the heroes take on. After the quest is complete, the skunkline heads back to the forest to share the story with its friends.

Olfactory and Sound Illusionists. A skunkline has obvious formidable defenses in its teeth and tentacles, but less conspicuous are its innate magical talents. All skunklines can create illusionary sounds and smells, which they use to distract and overwhelm their foes.

Skunkline

Medium fey, neutral good

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 55 (10d8 + 10)

Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	14 (+2)	13 (+1)	11 (+0)	13 (+1)	16 (+3)

Skills History +2, Perception +3

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages Common, Sylvan

Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Sickening Aura. Any creature the skunkline chooses that can smell the skunkline and starts its turn within 10 feet of the skunkline must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of the creature’s next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the skunkline’s Sickening Aura for 1 hour.

Actions

Multiattack. The skunkline makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its tentacles.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.

Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 13) and restrained until the grapple ends. The skunkline has two tentacles, each of which can grapple one target.

Illusion of Sound and Smell. The skunkline picks a nonmagical object within 120 feet of it. The object emanates the illusion of a sound and of a smell that is experienced by creatures within 60 feet of it. The sound and smell seem real, though a creature that interacts with the object and succeeds on a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check knows the smell and sound are illusory. The skunkline must concentrate on the illusion as if it were concentrating on a spell. If the skunkline moves more than 120 feet away from the object, the illusion immediately ends.

Coming Soon to DMs Guild

Great news! More than 80 stat blocks inspired by my dad’s version of D&D creatures should be hitting the DMs Guild sometime this Summer. In the meantime, keep checking back here for previews of My Dad’s Monster Manual!

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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My Dad’s Monster Manual – Bone Devil

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April 2, 2020

Check out my latest DMs Guild product, Oracle of War: Salvage Bases and Missions.

It’s time for another preview of My Dad’s Monster Manual. Got questions about the concept? Check out my first post on the subject.

I just interviewed my father for a whole new batch of critters. His takes are pretty wild! First up, my father’s take on the bone devil! He thinks it’s an undead pixie!

Faeton (Bone Devil)

Because they have eternal unlife, they can go wherever they want.
Lucian J. Introcaso

Twisted, undead pixies with long claws and poison-tipped tails, Faeton are little barbed skeletons with powerful innate magic.

Recreate Tragic Deaths. When a pixie dies a horrific, tragic, or violent death, its bones reform into a faeton. The faeton remembers its life as a pixie but has an entirely new attitude. It believes other creatures should suffer the same fate it had, seeking to recreate that death for other creatures.

Faetons choose their victims with care, typically targeting creatures that remind the undead pixies of enemies they had in life. This similarity could be in appearance, taste, or some other small detail that only makes sense to the faeton. The undead pixies are patient and might lay subtle groundwork for days before finally taking the lives of victims. They use their enchantment spells and their magical stingers to turn victims and others into puppets that recreate the final moments of the faeton’s life.

Deadly Wanderers. Faetons never stay in one place for long. When all their targets in one area are dead, they move on to a new location to find more creatures to murder. Many communities don’t realize a faeton perpetrated a tragic death until they learn surrounding settlements also experienced similar tragedies.

Soft Spot for Fey. Somewhere deep in their souls, faetons still feel a connection to the Feywild. As such, they only ever seem to harm fey creatures in self-defense. Even humanoids with fey lineage, such as elves, seem to avoid the wrath of faetons.

Faeton

Tiny undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 15

Hit Points 22 (5d4 + 10)

Speed 10 ft., fly 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
2 (-4)	20 (+5)	14 (+2)	13 (+1)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)

Skills Insight +4, Perception +4, Stealth +7

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities charmed, poisoned

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Sylvan

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Innate Spellcasting. The faeton’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: chill touch, minor illusion

1/day each: command, crown of madness, detect thoughts, dominate person, dream, fear, major image, mislead, phantasmal force

Magic Resistance. The faeton has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. The faeton makes two attacks: one with its claws and one with its stinger.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d4 + 5) slashing damage.

Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the faeton for 1 minute. When the target takes damage, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the condition on a success.

What Do You Think?

So how did Pop do? Let me know in the comments below.

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Work-Life Balance While Working From Home

Collaboration / Bonnie MacDonald / 0 comments

March 26, 2020

Last week I had the privilege to post an article written by my wife, Bonnie. As she mentioned in that post, we have both worked from home for more than four years. We know that with the current global pandemic, many people are adjusting to working from home for the first time. The previous post was all about working with a partner from home, but we also wanted to provide some general work from home tips for you all! So we both worked on the words below. (And if you’re looking for RPG content, have no fear! This blog will be back next week with a My Dad’s Monster Manual preview.)

So you work at home now. It wasn’t your decision, and you’re not set up for this at all. Let us give you some tips on how to balance work and life.

A lot of people want advice for work-life balance while working from home when we put out a call on Twitter for topics. Before we get into this, we want to tell you that it is 100% ok if you are having trouble focusing on work. Not only is working from home an adjustment, this once-a-century pandemic has many people understandably worried and panicked for themselves and their loved ones. It is really, really, really normal to have a hard time. Being socially distant does not mean you are alone. You are not. Reach out to people. They likely need connection and a chance to talk as much as you do.

List Priorities

Both of us typically start our days by making a list of the things we need to get done that day. Writing it down helps you visualize your day. If you get distracted by your dog, a package delivery, or any number of events that can happen, you can refer to your list to get back on track. Bonnie uses a whiteboard hanging above her desk to make her list. Just a glance up at those tasks can help to regain her focus from her distractions. James uses a Google document. In both cases we use a list that can easily be rearranged and added to throughout the day. It’s also great because we can use the previous day’s list to build the next one.

We try to build our lists so we have “end-of-day” goals. What do we need to accomplish before we break for the day, and what would we like to get done in addition to those tasks? You can break this down as granular as you like. Maybe you just write, “Draft three My Dad’s Monster Manual creatures,” or you could write, “Rough draft cryon, rough draft chicktee, rough draft gordon.” Whatever helps you is best. James likes to break down tasks into subtasks on the list because it helps him plan his day and because crossing or deleting items from a list gives him a sense of accomplishment!

Plan Your Day

Here in our household, we try to adhere to regular 9AM to 6PM work hours with a lunch break. That means getting up in time to do your morning routine and be sitting down at your computer by 9am. You don’t have a commute, so that should help you budget some time before and after work to do the other things you need and want to do with your life (even if that thing is sleeping in). If you can start your work day at a time most other people are working, it will help you stay focused and on task.

Breaks Are Good

While being focused is important, you should remember to take breaks! Your day can be much more flexible than it can at the office: you can do laundry during the day, or do some prep for dinner, but it’s important to think of those things as convenient breaks, the same as if you’d go on an errand during a workday at the office. Try not to engage in household chores that would take a longer time than you’d take a break normally. James often wants to check Twitter, watch a funny video a friend sent, or read the latest RPG news when he also needs to write. Typically, he rewards himself with a quick break when he crosses an item off his list.

Sticking to the end time of your work day is as important as sticking to the start of it. When you work from home, you can get TOO focused. Many people can’t leave the office behind, especially when the office is their living room. If you have crossed everything you NEED to do for the day off your list, and it’s quitting time, go ahead and break for the day. Especially in these times, it is important to have some stress relief. Watch TV, hang out with your partner, play some games, hop on a video call with friends, or dance! Do whatever you need to do to clear your head. If you need to work late, remember to take a break, eat a meal, and, if you have a partner, share some time with them before diving back into work.

Keeping to the end of your day also helps you stay focused because you know you have a limited time to work. That means the quality of your work in those hours improves, and you’re not wandering to social media, cat videos, etc. If your work time is “sort of all the time” you are more likely to get distracted and lose focus because you never give yourself a regular break.

Bonnie is going to jump on her soapbox for this all-the-time tip: TURN OFF YOUR WORK NOTIFICATIONS WHEN WORK IS DONE. All of them! Slack and email and whatever other apps you use at work give you the option to limit when they’re activated. Take advantage of these features. If you receive text messages from coworkers, don’t answer them after hours. If it gets overwhelming, ask your coworkers to email you or slack you after hours so that you can get to it in the morning. Rest and a mental break actually makes you more productive when you’re at work, so don’t let it creep into your free time just because you’re sitting in the same place where you were working earlier.

Avoid Internet Temptation

Avoiding internet temptation is difficult. James checked Twitter three times while writing this article! No one is perfect, so forgive yourself if social media or something else distracts you from your work. That’s number one! Be kind to you.

If you can, make internet rewards part of your daily breaks. If social media is important for your job (like James promoting his podcasts, this blog, and other work), schedule time in your day to promote stuff. You’ll notice James is an active Twitter user between the hours of 9AM and 11AM Eastern, which is usually when he’s checking his email and updating all his promotional stuff.

If the internet keeps distracting you and you have a job that doesn’t require the internet at all times (such as copywriting, audio editing, graphic design, etc.) you can turn off the wifi on your computer and turn your phone to silent (like actual silence, not vibrate). This will help you stay in the zone. Sometimes when you need a moment to think you’ll find a new tab is open on your computer and Facebook or your favorite hobby site is there without thinking. It’s automatic. If the internet is off, that site can’t appear.

Of course, many people need the internet all day for their jobs, so if you’re getting distracted by the constant news, desperately seeking answers so you feel like you have some control in this overwhelming hellscape (… just us?), might we suggest exploring apps that limit your time on certain sites. Bonnie uses StayFocusd, which is a Chrome extension that times how long you spend on certain websites and then cuts you off with a shaming message “SHOULDN’T YOU BE WORKING?!” It is extremely diligent, so you don’t have to be. You can set up your schedule and which sites are distracting you (heck, these days, maybe it’s CDC.gov) and allows you to decide how much time you spend on them. I gave myself 10 minutes daily on both Facebook and Twitter between the hours of 9AM and 6PM. The timer counts down and when you’re done, you cannot get into that site again nor can you change the settings you made. It is a really helpful reminder that “Past Bonnie” made this decision for me and maybe “Present Bonnie” should listen to her. There are also built-in settings on Android and Apple phones that do this for you.

We’re All In This Together

We are all in this thing together. If you’re home alone, don’t hesitate to reach out to someone in a similar situation and ask them to be your work buddy. Your work buddy (or buddies) and you should check in on each other everyday at the start of the day. Ask, “What are you working on today?” and “What did you do yesterday?” These should be people who’s work you are genuinely interested in. Think of these people as your virtual officemates. By talking about work and holding each other accountable, we’re more likely to get stuff done. James doesn’t want to tell Bonnie all he did at the end of the day was write a great Tweet about Lilo, and that helps keep him motivated to write cool stuff. Having a work buddy will also help you feel less isolated in these scary times!

Lilo says, “This post is done. Back to pets!”

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Self-Quarantine Tips For Working at Home with Your Partner

Collaboration / Bonnie MacDonald / 3 comments

March 19, 2020

Check out my latest DMs Guild product, Oracle of War: Salvage Bases and Missions.

Hey everyone! I know this blog is usually about TTRPGs, but this week my wife, Bonnie MacDonald, had an awesome idea. We’ve been coworking together for more than four years. With the coronavirus outbreak keeping many people working from home for the good of humanity, Bonnie thought we could share some tips about coworking with your romantic partner. So without further ado, here’s Bonnie!

James and I have both been working at home since 2016 and until recently that shared home and office space was also a two-bedroom apartment. We decided not to set up office-space in the bedroom, leaving only the second bedroom and the living room as potential office space.

The second bedroom was a shared office space that only one person would use at a time. The living room had a small writing table and the sofa.

It wasn’t ideal, and it took some time to get into the right groove with our work and with each other. We’re sharing some tips that we learned from years of practice, so you can benefit right away as you are thrown into unfamiliar territory.

Boundaries

It will seem silly at first, but we immediately learned the value of a door. Just a simple, unlocked door. The door immediately gives your lizard brain the signal that “the occupant needs privacy.” The door incites the question, “Do I need to request the attention of the person behind the closed door right now?” That’s why offices with doors are such hot commodities in the dreaded cubicle and open-office space worlds we live in now. The door gives control over the space.

This is also why James and I would trade off the office space when we only had one door to share. That space would be awarded to the person with the most video meetings or phone calls or the person who really needed to put their head down and crank out some deliverables that day. Sometimes if we had overlapping meetings, the other person would take calls or meetings in the bedroom, so we wouldn’t disturb each other.

We also know you might not have a door to share. We encourage you during this (hopefully temporary) time to try to create separate workable space with what you have. Move around some furniture to create a nook in opposite corners of the room. Maybe one person doesn’t mind working in the bedroom.

Early into our coworking adventure, I crawled on the floor to tell James that his livestream with Chris Perkins had cut out so as to not be seen on camera. James assured me that no matter the importance of the meeting I NEVER needed to crawl on the floor. What a guy.

We also strongly recommend you find separate rooms of the house to work in, if possible. If you do end up creating a nook in your living room, try to position it so that your back and computer screen are facing a wall. Then if your partner walks into that shared space where your office is, you don’t feel like they’re invading your space or sneaking up on you. You are aware of where they are and have control over the privacy of your work.

Remember that your work is something you usually navigate independently. It’s okay that you feel weird that your loved ones are suddenly RIGHT THERE. I trust James more than anyone in the world; yet, if I have a call that I’m nervous about, I’ll ask him to put on headphones if there’s even a remote possibility he might overhear. It’s okay to want your privacy.

(If you have children, you’ll have to look elsewhere for advice for that one. Maybe you do need to lock the door, as this very serious BBC reporter learned the hard way.)

The best picture we have of our old living room office set up.

Communication

Just like in the office and in all relationships, communicating is key. In an old office job my entire team shared calendars with one another, so we’d have a sense of when someone was slammed with meetings or if they were taking off work. It was common procedure to check that calendar first before going to chat with someone or, of course, scheduling a meeting.

That’s just what James and I do in our two-person office space. Google Calendar makes it easy to share calendars so we can see them all in one view. Then if I want to ask James a question or take a break and just chat, I can look at his calendar. Is he in a meeting? Is he about to be in a meeting? Then I’d find another way to take a break. James does the same for me!

Since we would alternate use of the dedicated office space, we also checked in with each other in the morning. What do you have going on today? Who is going to use the space? Do we need to switch off at a certain point?

Make sure you talk to each other about how you like to work. I get very fidgety and even a little depressed when I’m at the computer all day. James would live in his dragon-filled world with the curtains drawn and no human interaction for days. Just because we have different styles, doesn’t mean we can’t accommodate each other. We have regular lunch dates so we can chat during the day. Before we dive into a conversation, we ask the other person if they have a moment to chat and expect an honest answer. Keep that answer polite and snark-free.

Be open about your working style, especially when you’re finding it changing. Often, I work in my office in the morning and by the afternoon I like to sit in the dining room for a change of scenery. James is pretty much at his desk all the time. Be open about how you find yourself changing even just day-to-day in this new environment. Change is good! Be kind to yourselves and to each other. It takes some getting used to.

It may seem absurd since we’re in the same building, sometimes just a wall between us, but we also talk through Google Hangouts, which is an unobtrusive way to have more casual banter and send each other funny animal videos. If you keep thinking of things you want to talk to your spouse about, try keeping a list for later or emailing them, so they won’t get an immediate notification and can look at it on their schedule.

Enjoy

We’ve heard from lots of people that they could never work at home with their partner, but now many of us should do so for the good of humanity. Here’s the thing: working together at home can be really wonderful. We love it! I encourage you to try and enjoy these things:

If I’m having a bad day or a frustrating few hours, I go and ask James for a hug. It is the best remedy to know that he is there and he supports me when I am feeling frustrated or the imposter syndrome is creeping in. (James note: Bonnie does the same for me. She is the best. Boundaries and communication are important, but remember to throw that stuff out the window when your partner really needs you. No work I do is more important than Bonnie.)
Schedule time to chat with each other and be with the person you love most in the world. A dog-walk date, coffee break, a lunch, or even knocking off early to enjoy some time outside before dinner. You work from home now. These are the freedoms you can enjoy together!
They say that petting a dog can relieve stress and James and I have set up space for our beloved Lilo to be at our side at all times. Giving her some scritches or taking fifteen minutes to play can be a necessary break for your brain. Sometimes we both take a break to play with the puppo.

Bonnie giving Lilo pets in her other chair. Yes, she has two chairs. (Kids’ furniture is cheapter than pet furniture.)

Patience

Remember these are new circumstances. It took a year for James and I to understand our rhythm, and sometimes we still fall out of it. Have patience for each other and remember that not only is working from home new, but all the constant news about the virus and the economy is really, really stressful. Some tips for success:

DON’T send your spouse every crazy news alert you see. We all need to stay informed but also find time to focus and perhaps your partner just got in the zone. Make rules about when you are sharing this info and stick to them.

DO send adorable videos of penguins touring the empty aquarium. These are always welcome endorphin rushes. But maybe email it, or save it until you can ooh and aww together cuddled on the couch.

Take care of yourself, try to limit your scary news intake, and deep breaths do work. If you’ve got more questions, tweet at us @BonnieMacPlans and @JamesIntrocaso.

Stay safe, friends!

Next week: tips for all people working from home about how to stay focused and get into a good routine.

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