Todd tells us about his world, Skjaald, and his fantasy TTRPG system he’s designing for it called Skjaald Sagas. The main continent for Skjaald is Driktsuung, a place with varied biomes similar to North America. The people of Driktsuung are divided into the Six Realms with different governmental structures for each Realm. All the typical fantasy races are present with a few twists. Magic is deeply connected to the soul in Skjaald, causing changes in the nature of all magical creatures. Dragons are the most affected as they are beings of almost pure magic. Magic also acts as a form of radiation that slowly turns spellcasters into draconic beings.

The Skjaald Sagas system grew out of D&D with d20 resolution and class-like choices based off different personality types called archetypes. Examples include Fighter, Protector, Cleric, Thinker, Coward, and Leader. You roll using your attributes which are also increased through usage. Thus if you want to be a better melee attacker, you either have to attack during combat or state that my character is practicing during downtime. Higher attributes that are associated with a certain archetype allow you to increase the stage of the archetype and unlock new abilities. The point based system allows for easy movement between the different archetypes as your character grows through play.

Skjaald Sagas Links:
Skjaald Sagas World Anvil
Skjaald Sagas Playtest Materials Google Doc

I mentioned Elfquest while talking with Todd about the elves in Skjaald. If you’d like to try Elfquest most of the comics are available through a reader on the creators’ website.

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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

83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Hem tells us about their actual play campaign, The Sprouting. Within the world of The Sprouting, Earth's history diverged during the 1800s when an eldritch horror was summoned into our reality. The horror lay in wait for centuries, building up a secret army of plant monsters. In 2020, the plant monsters struck, ruining infrastructure and attacking population centers across the world. One hundred years have passed and our heroes learn that the next stage of the plant apocalypse has begun…We also discussed some of the difficulties and pleasures of actual play podcasts and how the RPG community varies internationally (Hem is in Iceland).If you want to try listening to The Sprouting its available on all major podcast platforms. You can learn more on The Sprouting's website.For other shows produced by Hem check out Blighthouse Studio's website.Hem mentioned The Lucky Die actual play show of theirs several times which used D&D 5e.And the broader network of Fable and Folly has their website too.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  2. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)
  3. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  4. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)
  5. 79 – Dragon Age Degenerates (Zoe from Degenerates with Dice)