Sarah Riastrad's Gaming Blog

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...

 This will soon be the home to Riastrad Gaming's blog. This post is just so I have content to see when I load it up for testing...