Eldritch History: RPG Legends & Lore

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This is Ravenloft, everybody scream! At this spooky time of year I couldn't help but look at the creepy side of D&D. So we're going into the mists and exploring the Domains of Dread: Bluetspur, Borca, The Carnival, Darkon, Dementlieu, Falkovnia, Har'Akir, Hazlan, and I'Cath. You can follow along with Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft as we look at the changes, Easter eggs, and things left behind in bringing the Demiplane of Dread to 5E. 

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One D&D is on the horizon and playtesting is already underway. But while we're looking to the future of the game, it's also important to look at where in its past some of the changes are coming from. This episode I look at two options for PCs that are unique for One D&D in different ways. Orcs trace back to the very beginning of the game, but for the first time may become a core playable race. The Ardlings on the other hand are brand new, but continue some longstanding traditions for Celestials.

One D&D Playtest - Character Origins

Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built for Racial Terror
Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part II: They're Not Human
[content warnings for the articles: racism, colonialism/imperialism, cultural conflation, sexism, sexual violence, anger]

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One ring to rule them all,
One ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all,
and in the darkness bind them!

I wish there was only one Middle-Earth game to bind all the players together, but over the past 40 years of LotR RPGs, there's a few more than that. This episode breaks down the gaming (and legal!) history of Tolkien's greatest works. From M.E.R.P. to the One Ring and everything in between.

The One Ring 2e at DriveThruRPG
Ben Riggs' Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons at Amazon

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First published in 1982, the gamebook series Fighting Fantasy is celebrating its 40th anniversary in style in 2022. Two new books by the creators Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, the 4th Annual Fighting Fantasy Fest is being held on Sep 3rd 2022, and a special anniversary edition of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks is coming to Kickstarter later this year. To help celebrate this episode starts off with three friends making a mail order game business in a London flat more than 40 years ago and follows Fighting Fantasy and its creators to present day.

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Extra Life is a charity created by gamers for gamers to raise money on behalf of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. They have partnerships with Twitch, Rooster Teeth, Humble Bundle, Wizards of the Coast, NACE Starleague and Playfly Esports. Over 100,000 gamers have contributed time and money, raising over $100 million since 2008. And it all started because of the strength, fearlessness, and generosity of a young woman named Victoria "Tori" Enmon.

Extra-Life.org
Eldritch History Extra Life Fundraiser
How One Girl With Leukemia Started the Extra Life Movement - Video about Tori
D&D's Extra Life Partnership Page
Humble Bundle - Essential Classic Fantasy RPG Collection

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What do you call a legendary figure akin to the Flying Dutchman? A class of space ships powered by magic? A verb for traveling through wildspace and the phlogiston? A setting for Dungeons & Dragons being revived after almost 30 years? This episode of Eldritch History? Spelljammer confirmed!

Monstrous Compendium (or grab the PDF here)
Spelljammer Academy
Legends of the Multiverse
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space 5E

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Companion of the Hall, champion of Mielikki, husband of Catti-brie, textbook ranger, and atypical drow. Drizzt Do'Urden has become one of the most famous characters of the Forgotten Realms (if not D&D in general). Created by author R.A. Salvatore (originally as a sidekick), his story spans over thirty real world years (centuries in fiction), across comics, video games, maybe TV if rumors are true, and most importantly the dozens of books in The Legend of Drizzt series. Number 38 is due out next week, Glacier's Edge. So now seems like the perfect time to recap the life and times of Drizzt Do'Urden.

Homeland - The 1st Legend of Drizzt Book
Starlight Enclave - The first book of the current trilogy
Glacier's Edge - The newest book, releases August 9th
Dao of Drizzt - Upcoming collection of Drizzt's essays

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In preparation for the August 2nd release of the first Dragonlance novel in over a decade, Dragons of Deceit, this week's episode is all about the story so far. Considering there's about 200 novels set in this world I'm limiting the episode to only the ones I think will have the biggest impact on the upcoming trilogy: 

The Chronicles Trilogy

• Dragons of Autumn Twilight
• Dragons of Winter Night
• Dragons of Spring Dawning

The Legends Trilogy

• Time of the Twins
• War of the Twins
• Test of the Twins

The Lost Chronicles Trilogy

• Dragons of the Dwarven Depths 
• Dragons of the Highlord Skies
• Dragons of the Hourglass Mage

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We're picking up right where we left off last week. This episode we look at the following Official D&D Campaign Settings:

• Dark Sun
• Planescape
• Council of Wyrms 
• Birthright 
• Tale of the Comet 
• Jakandor 
• Dragon Fist 
• Mahasarpa 
• Ghostwalk 
• Eberron 
• Nentir Vale

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Ever wonder what worlds have been made for D&D? Need an idea for the setting of your next campaign? Curious what the upcoming releases for Spelljammer and Dragonlance are all about? Then this episode of Eldritch History is for you. This week and next we're diving into the campaign settings made for D&D, from where the game was formed all the way to present day.

The campaign settings detailed in today's episode are:

• Blackmoor
• Greyhawk - Tales From The Yawning Portal - Ghosts of Saltmarsh
  • The Sundered Empire
• Mystara - Official Fan Site
  • Hollow World
  • Savage Coast
  • Thunder Rift
  • Blackmoor
• Dragonlance - Dragons of Deceit
  • Taladas
• Forgotten Realms
  • Kara-Tur
  • The Horde
  • Maztica
  • Al-Qadim
  • Arcane Age
• Pelinore
• Spelljammer - Monstrous Compendium PDF - Spelljammer Academy
• Ravenloft - Curse of Strahd -

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