Dungeons and Dragons is all about community storytelling. As a DM I create the skeleton of a story that the players fill in with their characters’ actions. I have a lot of influence on the events of a session, but ultimately it’s my job to let the story go where the players want it to go. Sometimes I can’t help myself though and I end up writing a little vignette for the players to read, often in the form of a prophetic dream like the following short story.

Eathirilu has a dream. It starts off like the nightmares he’s had before. The dragovinians have won. The world is a smoking ruin, barely resembling what he recognizes. Dragovinians stalk the skies, looking for anything with the barest scrap of blood to devour. They fight amongst themselves when they encounter each other. The victor consumes the loser.

Eathirilu walks through the waste towards a high mountain. He climbs the mountain. The architect of this world waits at the top, Blendegad. When he reaches the top, Eathirilu transforms into a T-rex and throws himself at the red dragon god. Their struggle shakes the earth. They toss and roll as their conflict continues, destroying the mountain in the process. In the end Eathirilu stands over Blendegad in the rubble with the dragon’s has neck in his jowls.

Eathirilu transforms back into an elf, but he is a giant elf, bright and shining. He holds Blendegad’s neck in his left hand while his right is free. Blendegad struggles against the elf’s iron grip as Eathirilu reaches for the wooden spear on his back. He takes the spear, lines up his strike, and plunges it into Blendegad’s breast. The beast shrieks, spitting fire all around, but it does not die.

The Touch of Nature shines on Eathirilu’s forehead. The Touch splits into a thousand rays of light that shoot off in all directions, illuminating the entire world. Then the rays return, all of them pouring into Blendegad’s body through the wooden spear made wound. Blendegad deflates and then turns into millions of particles of light. The wind picks up and the light is blown throughout the lands. Eathirilu’s keen hearing picks out the sounds of dragovinians dying as the light touches them.

And the light is EVERYWHERE. And Pan has returned.

And Eathirilu wakes up. It is morning and the sun is in his eyes.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

75 – Masks, Capitalism, and Coming of Age (Joel and Critical Bits) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Joel tells us about his actual play podcast, Critical Bits! The campaign was a teen super hero story using the Powered by the Apocalypse system Masks. The Masks system is great for teen drama and coming of age stories for superheroes that still live with their parents, have school, and don't know who they want to be yet. Joel and the players did a great job of capturing those feelings in a world where superpowered individuals are under threat. The government attempts to register all teen superpowered people and there are tons of organizations looking to kidnap superpowered teens to enslave them. Does good win in the end? Well… probably. That's how these stories work, right? Right?You can find Critical Bits on your podcast app or learn more at Joel's website: https://www.doyouvalidate.com/do-you-validate-network/critical-bitsJoel's current show is called Oddity Roadshow that you can check on on his website as well: https://www.doyouvalidate.com/do-you-validate-network/oddity-roadshow-podcastFor the latest news about Joel's next project you can follow him on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/doyouvalidate.bsky.socialOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 75 – Masks, Capitalism, and Coming of Age (Joel and Critical Bits)
  2. 74 – Kylie and Fallout: Garden of Atom
  3. 73 – Duncan and Extraordinary Locations
  4. 72.5 – Calico and Psychomortis (Part 2)
  5. 72 – Calico and Psychomortis (Part 1)