Sarah Riastrad's Gaming Blog

Originally posted to my Patreon page. Lihan was the fourth king of Carasa, also known as South Solde. He hoped to distinguish himself from his father, Ovdeil, by being seen as fair, as "one of the common folk". As a prince, Lihan mingled amongst the people, often dressing as a commoner, and hearing the plight of the citizens of Carasa firsthand. During one of these outings to the city, Lihan went into the The Wisher's Well, a tavern of moderate reputation - hardly an upper class establishment, however respectable. It was there that Lihan met Caila, the barkeeper's daughter. It was there, that they fell in love. Rumors spread quickly, of course, and after several wonderful nights with his love, Ovdeil demanded to see the prince. He told Lihan that he could not be with a commoner, and forbade the prince from ever seeing her again. He warned his son that if he were seen with her, she would be arrested and imprisoned. Lihan was furious, and tried to strike the King, howev...

I have now set up a Ko-fi account, to replace the Patreon I was attempting. I just feel weird doing it, keep thinking I need to explain myself. So what happened was a few months ago, I had finally gotten the 5e books and was working on preparing a 5e game. I just got frustrating, because I realized a lot of important stuff wasn't in the core books - I needed Xanathar's and Tasha's.  Meanwhile, I was getting into other games at the same time. I realized that I could afford to buy a book or a such once a month, but I have multiple hobbies. I was frustrated. I had considered the idea of paid DMing for some time, but was hesitant. I debated it, and finally decided to do a test run. Not a paid game, but I was going to act like it was, and learn the system inside out as much as I could before asking anyone for a penny. I was upfront with the players - but also promised I was not going to turn around and charge for a game. I mean that - I will never try to charge for an existing g...

About Tweet & D Not long ago, I had one of my weird ideas while on a Twitter spree: I wondered if anyone had ever actually done D&D over Twitter before. It seemed crazy, so of course, next thing I know I announce I am looking for players to actually do this. By the next day, I was ready to go. I call this "Tweet & D", or Tweetnd, it seemed like an obvious name for combining D&D with Twitter. It means Tweeting and Dungeons and Dragons. I searched the hashtag #tweetnd to make sure I wasn't going to have a problem with other tweets - there was I think one use of that hashtag in something totally unrelated (I think it was a reference to Weeknd).  What Tweet & D Is It is a full D&D 5e game that just happens to be played using Tweets. It follows a method similar to play-by-post games, where players do not have to be present at all times, and reply whenever they feel like it during the session. The way Twitter works makes dialogue very interesting with th...

The abridged backstory of Lady Adariel, one of the pregenerated characters in Stone of Ayled. As the head library in Edivan, Lady Adariel has devoted her life to research and the collection of tomes. Then one day,  the library was burned down, and with it, all of Adariel’s books. Heartbroken and now homeless, the once-proud elf travelled to Carasa, but the library refused to take her, due to a rivalry between the libraries.  Desperate, the elf took to the streets, her only friend a stray calico who she called Felicia. One day, however, she saw a band of adventurers seeking a lost treasure. One that she knew legends of, and couldn’t help but correct their foolish misconceptions. Realizing that they had an expert who was down on her luck, they asked her to help them in exchange for a cut.  Her help led the adventurers to success, and she got a share. Not enough to open a library, but enough for decent clothes and a warm place to stay. Now she and Felicia have become adventu...

For GaryCon XIII, I prepared a short, 4-part campaign split into one-shots. Each would tell its own part of a story. Unfortunately, tonight, the first session was cancelled from a lack of players. So I regret that the story won't be told for a little while - so this is a little taste of the plot. This is a clue that PCs would have discovered during the game, that sets up the overall story of Stone of Ayled (and also has a little hint about Tweet&D as well). I don't plan to share much more from Part I, because I still plan to use it in the future...  

 Being a Dungeon Master means being a storyteller. Does that drive people away from sitting behind the screen? For me, telling stories is a natural thing. I've been coming up with stories my whole life. For many people, that's not the case. So what happens when players see someone like Matt Mercer, and assume that is what is required as a DM? This is called the "Matt Mercer" effect, and it is one of the great deterrents of becoming a DM - and it's BS.  Being a DM does mean being a storytelling - it doesn't mean being a great actor, not a great writer. It doesn't mean being original. It doesn't mean being overly literate or educated. It means you can sit down and tell a story - and you know what? Anyone can do that. The important part is to get over the intimidation, and often that means letting go of expectations. You're not writing the great American novel here - you're getting a bunch of friends at a table and having a good time. If you can...