Descartes’s Circle

Descartes was a vampire illusionist who came into possession of a magical staff know as the Mansion of Solitude. The staff contained an extradimensional mansion inside of it. This structure allowed vampires to sustain themselves from the enchanted food within without the need for drinking blood. A number of reformed vampires took up residence in the staff where they could avoid feeding on living people. Unfortunately the staff was found by Descartes. He wanted to use the magical item for his own nefarious purposes, but he couldn’t as long as it was occupied.

Descartes found his solution with Terroc and his band of adventurers. Descartes disguised his nature with illusion spells and entered Shalemstead. He hired Terroc to clear the staff of vampires. The mage and his companions entered the Mansion of Solitude and destroyed all of the reformed vampires with a magical mace. They emerged, but were betrayed by Descartes. The evil vampire fled west from Shalemstead to a ring of stones where his coffin was protected by his thralls. Terroc followed and defeated Descartes. The vampire ran away once more taking the Mansion of Solitude with him, but his place of power and his cult of followers were destroyed.

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

71 – Aaron Ryan and Dissonance/The End Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

I talked with Aaron Ryan about two of his book series, Dissonance and The End.Dissonance is a near future world where aliens have attacked, killing most humans and animals on Earth and driving humans into hiding underground. Humans finally develop technology to fight back and the war enters a new stage while the characters also struggle to determine the motivation for the alien invasion and nefarious actions of the government.The End is a Christian End Time series based loosely on the events described in Revelations. A man calling himself Nero has risen to rule over the world and he has outlawed Christianity. Robots called Guardians hunt Christians throughout the world, murdering them on the spot if they don't recant their faith. A resistance movement works in the shadows against Nero, but things aren't looking good for them.We talked about the basics of those settings along with how they could be adapted for RPG campaign settings. My main recommendations were Ashes Without Number, Spire, and Blades in the Dark.If you're interested in reading Aaron's books you can find them at most any bookstore or library. Both of the series are also being adapted into movies, but aren't publicly available yet. Aaron's website is https://authoraaronryan.com/ for the latest updates on his work. Next up for Aaron is the Talisman series that covers events within the "Aaronverse" in the decades between Dissonance and The End.Our 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. 71 – Aaron Ryan and Dissonance/The End
  2. 70 – Sensei Suplex and Project Aurora
  3. 69 – Siix and Godstorm
  4. 68 – John and Tahlvaen
  5. 67 – John and Blittle League Blaseball