#RPGaDay2025 Day 15 Deceive

Fantasy Friday Edition

Deception is everywhere in fantasy.

Illusions, glamours, false faces. Changeling children. Cursed bargains. Secret kings. The villain who was never in the dungeon, the hero who was never truly on your side.

It’s one of the oldest elements of the genre, right up there with swords and spells. And in fantasy RPGs, deception is more than a skill check; it’s a tool of worldbuilding, character development, and tension.

A good deception makes players second-guess everything.

•  The map they followed.
•  The patron they trusted.
•  The sword they pulled from the stone.

And that’s where the fun begins.

Deception in a fantasy game can be as simple as a bandit pretending to be a merchant, or as complex as an entire kingdom under a curse where no one remembers the truth. One of my favorite tools? Having a monster pose as an innocent. A cursed noble. A helpful spirit. A fellow adventurer.

Because when the truth finally comes out? That’s the moment everyone remembers.

Now, not every game needs trickery. Sometimes you want a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl, no lies, just orcs. But even then, somewhere in the back of your mind, you know:

• The statue’s watching.
• The innkeeper’s too friendly.
• The mayor is hiding something.

And then there's magic.

Magic and deception go hand in hand in fantasy. Illusionists specialize in lies made visible. Witches glamour themselves or trick the eye with shadow. Fey creatures make promises that twist into traps.

Cursed items whisper to the wielder until they think the voice is their own. 

But deception isn’t just for NPCs and villains. Sometimes the players lie. To NPCs, to each other, to themselves. Maybe the warlock claims their power comes from “an ancient ancestor,” not a hungry patron. Maybe the cleric keeps a secret god. Maybe the rogue isn’t just good at lying, they need to lie.

Because the truth is too dangerous to speak aloud.

In a good fantasy RPG, deception isn't just trickery, it’s drama. It’s tension. It’s story.

And sometimes the best twists aren’t the ones you plan, they’re the ones the players create through the lies their characters tell.

So here’s to deceit.

The double agent. The doppelgänger. The mask that slips. The lie that changes the world when it’s finally revealed.

After all, what’s fantasy without a bit of misdirection?

Questions

What. Envious. Adventure.

What adventure am I envious of? I would have to say the original Greyhawk Campaign of TAGDQ adventures. I would love to play through them again using AD&D 1st Edition, or maybe Castles & Crusades. That would be a lot of fun. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 14 Mystery

 In games, a mystery is often a question that needs solving. Who stole the artifact? What’s making the villagers sick? Why won’t the dead stay dead?

But in the occult, mystery is something deeper, a little more profound.

Not a puzzle to be solved, but a truth too big to grasp all at once.

The word “occult” itself means hidden. Not evil, not dangerous, just concealed. Veiled. Enfolded in symbols and silence. Not because it can’t be known, but because it must be experienced to be understood.

That’s how I treat mystery in my games, not as a locked box waiting for the right roll, but as a revelation that unfolds slowly, ritually, even dangerously.

The best mysteries aren’t just plot hooks. They are tones. They are atmosphere. They’re what makes the players lean in when you lower your voice.

They start small:

• A name whispered in a dream.
• A mirror that stops reflecting.
• A string of deaths that all share the same wound, but nothing else.

They grow:

• The name shows up in an old ledger.
• The mirror reappears in another town.
• The wound pattern matches something from a war that ended centuries ago.

Until suddenly, the players realize: this isn’t a mystery they’re solving. This is a mystery they’re becoming part of.

That’s when you know it’s working.

Because the greatest mysteries don’t just exist to be explained.

 They exist to transform.

The occult traditions get this. The Mystery Schools weren’t lecture halls. They were initiatory experiences. To understand the mystery, you had to live it. You had to enter the cave, drink the wine, draw the circle, speak the name.

That’s the energy I try to bring to my witch stories and adventures.

The mystery is the magic.

 Not the “what,” but the why.

 Not the “how do we fix this,” but the “what happens if we don’t.”

And the best part?

Even I don’t always know the answer!

Because a real mystery… changes everyone who touches it.

This is an idea I’ll come back to again in this challenge, but specifically Day 26. 

Questions

Who. Enthusiastic. Art.

Who's art am I enthusiastic about? I would have to say my good friend Djinn. She always does a great job with my characters and I look forward to seeing what she does with them.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 13 Darkness

Witchcraft Wednesday Edition

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

- H.P. Lovecraft

Darkness is the first unknown.

Before the gods named the stars. Before light was separated from shadow. Before the world had shape or time or form, there was darkness.

Every myth begins there.

In Greek myth, the cosmos was born from Chaos, and from Chaos came Nyx, Night itself. In Norse myth, the void was Ginnungagap, yawning and unknowable. In Kabbalistic lore, creation emerged from the Ain Soph, an infinite darkness with no boundary. Even Genesis opens with a spirit hovering over the waters, formless, in the dark.

Witches know this.

They don’t fear the dark. They come from it.

In the worlds I create and the characters I write, darkness is never just the absence of light, it’s the primordial potential. A place of power, transformation, and unknowable truth.

Yes, it’s where monsters live. Yes, it’s where danger lurks. But it’s also where secrets are kept. Where mysteries are born. Where souls are shaped.

Lovecraft leaned hard into the fear side of things, his darkness is cosmic, uncaring, and overwhelming. I get that. The fear of the unknown is real, valid, and a great tool at the game table. You don’t have to describe the thing in the dark. Sometimes it’s scarier when you don’t.

But I’m just as interested in the power of darkness. The depth. The origin-point.

Witches in my games don’t shine a lantern to dispel the dark; they listen to it. They ask it questions. They trace the shape of what’s moving just beyond the edge of sight.

And when my players step into darkness, literal or metaphorical, they know it’s not just a place of danger. It’s a threshold. It’s where the story shifts.

You can’t cast a shadow without light. But you can’t understand light without the dark. You need both.

So as we stand at the edge of the next room, the next decision, the next truth too big to see all at once, I remind my players:

Go ahead. Step into the dark.

 It’s where all things begin.

Questions

How. Envious. Character.

How was I envious of my characters? I don't know. Their ability to pick up languages in the game was always great. I speak English, learned German in High School, took some Japanese in college, and learned some Irish Gaelic and Spanish since then. Each one has been a struggle. But I keep at it.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 12 Path

One of the great metaphors in fantasy gaming is the path.

Every character is on one, whether they know it or not. Sometimes it’s clear from the start: a paladin on the road to righteousness, a rogue fleeing their past, a wizard chasing forgotten lore. Other times, the path isn’t chosen, it’s revealed, one strange step at a time.

For players, the path is often literal. You travel from town to dungeon, from forest to ruin, from the known to the unknown. There are forks in the road, trails in the wilderness, portals that beckon, and thresholds you can’t uncross. It’s all part of the adventure.

But behind that? There’s always something deeper.

The Path is also about identity.

 The journey a character takes from what they were to what they might become. And for the best characters and the best players, it’s not a straight line.

In the real world, we often imagine that our paths are chosen. Career paths. Life paths. But more often than not, they’re shaped by the things we stumble into, the things we say “yes” to, and the things we survive. The same is true in fantasy.

Witches and warlocks, the characters I write about the most often, don’t always choose their path. Sometimes they hear the call in dreams. Sometimes they’re marked by birth. Sometimes they’re just the only ones brave (or foolish) enough to follow a trail that ends in blood and moonlight. But once they’re on it, there’s no going back. The world has changed them. Or maybe the change was already there, and the path is just catching up.

In game terms, the path can be mechanical: levels, powers, subclasses, destinies. But in story terms? It’s mythic.

• The path of atonement.
• The path of vengeance.
• The path of knowledge, or power, or healing, or truth.
• The path that says this is who I am now.

Sometimes you wander off it. Sometimes you make a new one. Sometimes you find out it was never yours to begin with. 

But one thing’s always true: Once the path calls you, you walk it.

Even if you don’t know where it leads.

Questions

When. Enthusiastic. Lesson.

Oh, I have a good lesson I learned and I learned it with enthusiasm.

I have played exactly 1 ninja my entire gaming life.  His name was (horrible I know) Oko-nishi.  My lame attempts at a Japanese-sounding name.  In my defense at what I knew was bad I made him a half-orc.  It must have been around this time I made him using the AD&D 1st Ed Oriental Adventure rules.  

My then DM, Grenda,  and I had worked up a D&D combat simulator (we called it BARD), and we plugged him in with 9 other characters.  He was attacked by a Black Dragon (or Red, I can't recall) and killed. The dragon kept attacking him and only him.  We had not worked out all the errors. In the end, he had been reduced to something like -70 hp.  My DM offered to let him be ok or keep him dead. 

We enjoyed watching it so much and getting the mental image of this stupid dragon jumping up and down on my dead ninja that I felt it was a waste to say it never happened.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 11 Flavor

Monstrous Monday Edition

Every DM has their seasoning.

Some go for high fantasy heroics. Some love swashbuckling pulp. Some dive deep into political intrigue or dungeon-crawling strategy.

 Me?

I like my monsters with a touch of horror.

Okay, more than a touch.

Call it the jalapeño principle: whatever the dish is, a little heat makes it better. And for me, that heat is horror.

Doesn’t matter what system I’m running, D&D, Pathfinder, Wasted Lands, even a more story-driven game like Daggerheart or Blue Rose, my monsters always bring a certain Flavor. And that Flavor usually tastes like grave dust, candle smoke, and old houses.

It goes back to my origin story, Dark Shadows, Hammer Horror, witch trial folklore, and that first glimpse into the Monster Manual. I didn’t just want monsters that challenged the players mechanically. I wanted monsters that unsettled them. That made them ask, What is this thing really? And worse, why does it know my name?

Even the familiar creatures, such as your trolls, kobolds, and giant spiders, get filtered through that lens. A vampire in my game isn’t just a bloodsucker. She’s a former lover, an ancient queen, or a fragment of a forgotten god, wearing a corpse like a wedding dress. Kobolds are not just a type of humanoid; they are the lost souls of miners who died underground. Trolls? They are the last remnants of an ancient species that fought the gods and lost. 

And the truly unique monsters? The ones I design from scratch?

 They’re stitched together from nightmares, folklore, and the weird corners of mythology that don’t get cleaned up for public consumption.

I like monsters that linger. Not just in combat, but in the imagination. The kind that leave players looking over their shoulder even after the dice stop rolling.

Tone matters. Flavor matters.

It’s the difference between “you fight a ghost” and “you wake up with frost on your fingertips, and realize something is weeping under the floorboards.”

That’s the Flavor I chase.

A little uncanny. A little dread. Enough shadow to make the torchlight meaningful. 

So yeah. You can run your monsters however you like. Heroic. Mythic. Comedic, even.

But me?

I’m going to keep tossing in the horror jalapeños.

 And trust me, my players wouldn’t have it any other way.

Questions

Why. Confident. Rule.

What rule are you the most confident in and why?

Yesterday I talked about the rule I was envious of. To turn it around today I'll talk about a rule I did come up with that I am most happy about. In Ghosts of Albion there are magical philosophies and these change how you learn and use magic. We playtested the hell out of these and I love how to work in the game. I'd love to do something similar for my witch classes.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 10 Origin

Yesterday, I talked about inspiration, the strange, eerie, or mythic things that spark our imagination and send us off chasing stories in the dark.

But before there was inspiration, there was origin.

Mine?

It starts in a quiet classroom in 1979.  Washington Elementary School, Jacksonville, Illinois. “Silent reading” time. Most kids had The Phantom Tollbooth or Ramona the Pest.

I had the Monster Manual.

Or, more accurately, I had my friend’s copy of the Monster Manual, because I didn’t have one of my own yet. Not easy to come by in a tiny, near-bible-belt town. But once I saw it? Once I opened it and saw the hydra, the efreet, the demons, devils, and displacer beasts? The vampires!

I was gone.

Hooked. Claimed. Branded.

The Monster Manual wasn’t just a game book, it was a grimoire.

A bestiary of monsters that felt as real as anything I’d read in the Greek myths I was already devouring.

That was my origin point. That was the moment I became the über-geek you all know today. (And yes, I use the umlauts. That’s my street cred.)

I borrowed that book.

 And read.

 And read.

 And read.

I’m pretty sure I had the whole thing memorized before I even played my first game. The mechanics were confusing, the art was a little weird, but the imagination? Unmatched. That’s the moment that formed me.

And ever since then, every game book I pick up gets judged against what I call the Monster Manual Scale.

How close does this book come to giving me that feeling? That rush of wonder, danger, mystery, and possibility?

Some have come close. A few have hit the mark.

C.J. Carella’s WitchCraft gave me that same feeling. So did Wasted Lands, in a different, deeper way.

That’s my origin.

 But here’s the thing: everyone who comes to this hobby has one.

And your origin shapes everything:

• The kind of stories you like to tell.
• The kinds of characters you play.
• The mechanics you care about (or happily ignore).
• The tone you aim for at your table.
• The feel of fantasy that feels right to you.

Maybe your origin is Tolkien. Maybe it’s anime. Maybe it’s heavy metal album covers and 1980s horror movies. Oh, I guess I am still talking about me here. Maybe it was a family member who taught you to roll dice, or a weird little book you found at a garage sale that opened a door in your brain you’ve never quite shut again. Maybe you got here via Critical Role.

Whatever it was, your origin matters.

 It doesn’t just explain how you game.

 It explains why.

So think back. What was it? What was your Monster Manual? And have you passed it on yet?

Questions

Why. Envious. Rule. Ok...

What rule am I envious of and why? I really have been enjoying the Hope & Fear mechanic of Daggerheart and wish it had been something I had come up with myself. It is a fun narrative device for both the players and game master, who often doesn't get a narrative point device like this. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 9 Inspire

We all have our first spark.

Maybe it was a cousin who ran a chaotic homebrew game over Thanksgiving break.

 Maybe it was reading The Hobbit, watching Legend, or seeing Conan stride across a barren world full of swords, serpents, and sorcery.

For me? My inspiration came from fog-shrouded cemeteries, books on mythology, and finding a copy of the Monster Manual during silent reading time.

Dark Shadows.

Hammer Horror.

Witch trial folklore and tales from Medieval Europe.

Those were my touchstones. That’s the marrow in the bones of the witch books I write, the characters I create, and the adventures I run. I wasn’t drawn to mighty warriors and golden thrones; I was drawn to the outsider. The whisperer. The one who knows too much and says too little.

These are the things that inspire me.

I wanted characters who were feared for what they might be, not for what they’d done.  I wanted villages that held secrets under every root and hearthstone. I wanted magic that felt old, like it was carved into the world before the gods ever got around to naming it.

That’s the kind of inspiration that sticks. That coils around your imagination and never lets go. It shapes your choices as a writer, a referee, a player, even when you don’t realize it.

And inspiration doesn’t have to be high fantasy or heroic.

 Sometimes it’s a whisper.

 A shape in the mist.

 A name scratched into the cellar wall.

And once you find it, once you feel it, you build from there.

Because here’s the real truth:

You never know what part of your world, your blog, your spell list, or your strange little NPC is going to light a fire in someone else.

Inspiration moves in a circle.

We draw from the stories that came before, and then we send our own sparks out into the dark.

And if we’re lucky?

Someone else picks them up.

Questions

When. Grateful. Accessory.

When was I grateful for an accessory? Or something. 

Honestly, i think it might have been when I got my first PDA, a Handspring Visor. These were Palm Pilot clones created by some of the guys who had founded Palm when it was U.S. Robotics. Having something I could keep in my pocket and jot down notes whenever I wanted and then collect them all later on was amazing. 

I have gone through many of these things over the years. Upgrading to smartphones and more, but that little blue Visor holds a special place in my heart. 

I pretty much wrote my first Netbook of Witches and Warlocks, as well as Ghosts of Albion, on that thing. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

Fantasy Fridays Review: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Revised

We are in the AD&D 2nd ed era for sure now, and today I am planning on finally tackling the boxed set that launched a 1000 campaigns or more. The AD&D 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Revised.  I purchased mine relatively recently to be honest. Well. More recent than 1993. This is the second Forgotten Realms Campaign setting boxed set. The first, of course, was the famous "Gray box" for AD&D 1st Edition.  It was an instant classic, but I think many of my readers will agree that it was AD&D 2nd Edition where the Realms really grew in popularity. Even me, stuck in my lonely little corner of Ravenloft knew how important the Realms was. Forget that, all you had to do was be online in the early 90s when the Internet was still a wild and untamed place to know of the Realms' popularity. 

I will be honest. Of all the Realms products out there, this one feels like the hardest to review properly. But I will carry on. 

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Revised

1993. by Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb, and Don Bingle. Art Clyde Caldwell (book covers), Fred Fields (box cover), Interior art by  George Barr, Dennis Beauvais, Tim Conrad, James Crabtree, Eric Hotz, Robin Raab, Uttam, and Valerie Valusek.

NOTE: For this review I am considering both my original* boxed set and the PDFs** from DriveThruRPG.

Ok, there is a note on my note. First, I got my boxed set in a game auction. So I know for a fact there is extra material in my box. I have a second set of maps that look different from the other set. I am not entirely sure which set belongs. This is the problem when buying collections, going to auctions, and inheriting other collections. There is a lot more in this box. SO, I bought the PDFs for this review. I figure I might as well (I didn't have them) AND the PDF version has a different cover. Now I had that boxed set for a bit, but it was beat to all hell. I didn't know which one came first. So I kept the best looking box and best books. Likely, that is why I have extra stuff. 

I learned that the "gold" cover box that had the same art as the 1st Edition set was the first, and the one I have was the second printing/version. Either way, the interior contents are the same.

Except mine that is. Mine is special. ;)

Ok, all that aside, let's jump into this bit of D&D history. The box set has three soft-cover books that I'll take in turn.

A Grand Tour of the Realms

This 128-page softcover book is the player-facing book for this set.

I think the biggest surprise for me was that this is where (at least for me) the Relams absorbed the campaign settings of Kara-Tur (previously part of Greyhawk at least in practice), Maztica, and Zakhara. Now of all these Zakhara was the most interesting to me and I flirted with buying the campaign setting a few times in the early 90s. But I was still an undergrad and there was always another Ravenloft book. Each setting gets a little overview here.

Likewise, the various peoples of the Realms are mentioned. Humans predominate, but dragons, dwaves, elves, goblins, gnomes, and more also get a mention here. The standard D&D species/races are here. Indeed, here is where many learned of these races for the first time in conjunction with AD&D 2nd edition rules. 

Up next, the standard classes are covered here. It's 2nd edition now, so Bards are not relegated to the back of the book. I would argue that is was 2nd Ed Realms where Bards got their proper due. 

Our next large section is all about Faerûn. This is the continent that people think of as synonymous with "the Forgotten Realms." The larger sections of the continent are covered briefly here. This is helpful for me since I never really know what people mean when they say "The North" for example. The map following this is even better. The large poster maps are great, but unwieldly to be honest. 

Some print is given over to the months and years, which I love. In the two Realms campaigns going on here in my house (my "Into the Forgotten Realms" and my oldest kid's "It's Always Sunny in Waterdeep") I have gotten fairly used to thinking of times in Dale Reckoning.  The current year for this set is 1368 DR.

Languages are next. It is really fun to see the Dethek writing here after seeing it the Baldur's Gate 3 video game. 

Up next are more detailed descriptions of various locales. The Dales and the Elven Courts, Cormyr, Sembia, The Moonsea, The Vast, The Dragon Coast, The Western Heartlands (including the Sword Coast), Waterdeep, and beyond (Evermeet, Moonshaes, etc.). Each gets a few pages to discuss important sites and people. There are adventure seeds galore.

There is a lot here, but not a lot of details on any one thing. This is actually good in my mind. It gives me room to work (I know... remarkably naïve on my part), but it did give some ideas for the next adventure I am going to run. 

The back cover has a list of the Forgotten Realms Adventure Backlist with prices up to that point. Still impressive by 1993, to be honest. I know I am missing a lot of these, but my Forgotten Realms buying is limited (on purpose) to what I can find via my local game auctions or Half-Price Books or other used sources.

Running the Realms

This is our DM's book. It's 64 pages and features one of my favorite Clyde Caldwell pieces ever. I have a signed print in my game room. An aside. There is something about the size of the TSR-era 64 page books. Hits my nostalgia for the BX books.

Here we get a good and proper introduction to the Realms. The voices of Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood ring out loud here in their respective introductions. And we learn this is the 3rd Age of the Realms. 

We start the book proper with a Campaigns for New Players. I am neither a new player nor unfamiliar with the Realms, but I found this to be a good read with some great advice. Some of this reads very similar to the 1st Edition Gray box. This falls under the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" rule. 

Wild Magic and Dead Magic zones are discussed. I am not sure how much I would have used these back then, but I am going to make an effort to use them more now. 

There is a great timeline from -2637 DR to 1368 DR. I am still in 1357 DR in my games.

After this, some News of Realms covering recent local events follows. It reads like a set of newspaper articles. 

There is a section on the Secret Power Groups. The Harpers, the Cult of the Dragon, and the like. I have learned to use these sparingly. The Cult of the Dragon can be huge and my players would want to hunt it down and take them out for good. And the Harpers can swoop in and steal all the glory. Now other groups like the Red Wizards and Zhentarim are still great to use. Likewise, there is a roster of Select NPCs. The usual suspects are here. Again, this is a season to use sparingly. BUT it is nice to have these here. It is also nice to have a picture and pronunciation guide for some of these names. Because seriously Ed? What the hell?

There is a section on Gods that is good, but will see expanded in the next few years. Gods are ever changing bunch in the realms. The names stay roughly the same, but powers and portfolios can vary. It is always fun to read these starting with Ed's Down to Earth Divinity from Dragon Magazine. 

There is some "player" information here, but I feel the idea here is that DM will parse that out as they feel necessary. 

The back cover has Forgotten Realms novels published to date.

The Fogotten Realms novels are like cheeseburgers. Some are great and really fill you up. Others are the fast food variety; great when that is what you want and often cheap and easy to get. Others are sliders. They seemed like a good idea at the time, but when you are done you are questioning your choices. Now I have not read a lot of these to be fair, and really I should not judge; I read all the Ravenloft novels.

Shadowdale

This 96-page softcover book is part location guide, part base of operations, and part adventure. 

Reading through this now I am reminded of how important the Dalelands used to be in the Forgotten Realms. It was *the* place to adventure back then. Back then I wasn't sure if it was from the novels or that's where Elminster had set up shop. I think now it must have been largely due to this book. I could be wrong, it's hard to judge cultural phenomena (and that is what is was in online D&D discourse) 30+ years later.

But, I am not here to judge this on past or perceived merits of the past. I am looking at the text in front of me. 

This book is broken up into sections detailing the history of Shadowdale and the lands including the farm lands around it (aside: growing up in the Midwest I don't think enough people understand how important farms were/are and how much land they can take up. Thankfully most of the AD&D guys are of the same background as I am.)

We also delve into the Village of Shadowdale, places of interest, and the temples. These include, respectively, Elminster's Tower (which should be a tourist location by now) and the Temple of Mystra.

About half this book is given over to the adventure "Beneath the Twisted Tower." Which was briefly profiled in places of interest. It is an adventure for parties of 1st to 3rd level and set after the Time of Troubles. The tone shifts here and I wonder if this was the contribution of Don Bingle.  To continue my BX D&D association, this would be the Caves of Chaos to Shadowdale's Keep on the Borderlands.

This book has the most "new" information to me. There is a huge underground cave system here with a lot of potential. The best part is that it gives new players a solid taste of what is in the realms. It's like a charcuterie board of Realms favorites, served in easy-to-eat sizes. The areas of Wild and Dead magics are also clearly marked, so that is fun. I gotta remember to use those more when the time is right.

Another Aside: I need to look into how and why Wild and Dead magic began here. Was it a side-effect of the Time of Troubles or did it happen before? I thought it was a side effect, but maybe I am wrong.

The adventure looks fun, but reading it is not playing it. If my party gets to the Dales I might give it a try. The one thing I don't lack is low-level adventures in the Realms. 

The book ends with a comprehensive Index of all three books. It is easy then to see what entries get coverage in which books, sometimes multiple coverage. 

Other Materials

I mentioned before that my boxed set seems to have materials from other sets and I have not identified which is which. 

There are the four large poster maps of Faerûn (I have two different sets), and the clear hex maps to place over them. This was a great idea. While I loved the maps from the D&D Basic and Expert sets, they always looked like they were drawn to fit the hexes. These are maps and the hexes come later. 

There are full color card-stock inserts of various symbols, sigils, and signs from the Realms which is great to show players what they are looking at.

And much to my pleasure AD&D 2nd Ed Monstrous Compendium inserts. My Forgotten Realms MC binder is getting quite full now.

DriveThruRPG PDFs

The PDF/Zip file from DriveThruRPG has all three books plus the Monstrous Compendium pages in one large, 312 pages, file.

The text is sharp and the tables of contents are hyperlinked. The index in not. The images are bit dark, but not so much so that they are hard to make out. I should note that some of the images are also dark in my boxed set, so that could just be how they came out in the color to black-and-white conversions.

I did print out the Monstrous Compendium pages so I could keep the originals in the box set intact and for better alphabetical sorting.

The zip file contains JPGs of all the inserts, including the acetate hex map overlays (why??), front and back of all the cards (which is good, now I don't have to cut up the ones in my boxes), the maps, and the poster that came with it. Wait a minute! My boxed set doesn't have the poster!!

Conclusion

This set is not exactly what I imagined it would be. Well, let me clarify that. This set is not what 1993 me thought it would be. It is actually better.

This box is bigger than the 1st Edition Realms boxed set. Plus the white background and 1990s trade dress make it a lot easier to read than the 1st Edition one. 

Many of the differences in terms of rules come from the shift from AD&D 1 to AD&D 2. For example Barbarians and Cavaliers are gone, Bards, Specialty Wizards and Priests are in. Speaking of which, it was in the Realms where the Priests of specific gods really shone and took full advantage of the new AD&D 2nd rules. When I get to the Faith's & Avatar series I am going to focus on this. Likewise we see in-world application of the Specialty Wizards in the Red Wizards of Thay. Yes, the Known World of Mystara also did this in the 1980s with the Schools of Magic in Glantri, but that was adding on to the rules; this was the existing rules being made manifest in the world. 

Honestly. This is one of the reasons why I associate AD&D 2nd Edition and Realms so closely with each other. The world informed the rules, the rules shaped the world.

Updates on Sinéad in the Realms

In my Realms game I have been using my character Sinéad to help view the Realms as someone learning about the world the same way I was.  One of the other reasons from the delay in getting to this product is that Sinéad and Co. have not yet caught up!

Primed 3D print and Character sheets of Sinéad

Well, for starters, Sinéad is a proper single-class Bard now. It was really 2nd Edition I had in mind for her since Bards were now a regular class. Also, I imagined she was some sort of wild-magic user, which is something I'll also explore.

Her partner in crime, Nida (who is important for some Ravenloft stuff later on) is still with her. These were my two main characters in this and my thoughts were always of 2nd Edition for them. Over the years, Sinéad has gone from a witch to a wild magic user.

What about the others?

Ok, so there some things I need to consider.

First off is Jaromir. He is a barbarian and those don't exist anymore in 2nd Ed. Well, unless I pull out the Complete Fighters Book.  Rhiannon (and I realize I am breaking my own rules here, this is my THIRD Rhiannon.) is a Dragon #114 witch.  While I could convert her to use the Witch kit in Complete Wizards Book. I might hold her off till I cover Spellbound. In fact that is a good idea.  Ok. Rhiannon and Jaromir have returned home to Rashemen. 

Argyle was a Dwarf from Mystara who got trapped here in Faerûn. He is a dwarf with no clan, family or a home. So...maybe he finds some dwarves to live with. I don't know. I am going to assume he is retired now.  I know that Druid and Ranger couple Asabalom and Maryah, eventually come to call a wetlands area their home where they protect it. I was hoping to get some more gaming in with them as NPCs so I could figure out what they were all about. I have an adventure they appear in later on to help the PCs, I just wanted to figure out how they got there. Lastly there was the young elf turned werewolf Arnell Hallowleaf. I know where he is going, but I'm not sure how he'll get there.

So for now, my main NPCs for my "Into the Forgotten Realms" are Sinéad and Nida, that is if the Players can get to the Dalelands for me to use them again. 

To say there is an entire world to explore here is cliché, but it is also the truth. My collection of Realms products is small, comparatively speaking, but it is still larger than I can ever hope to use in my lifetime. 

#RPGaDay2025 Day 8 Explore

Fantasy Friday Edition

Exploration is one of the core pillars of fantasy roleplaying.

But what does it mean to explore?

In Dungeons & Dragons, especially old-school editions, exploration often means mapping the dungeon one corridor at a time, or the world one hex at a time. Every turn is a decision, every door a threat, every torch a precious hour of light. There’s danger in the dark, but also treasure, and secrets the surface world forgot. It’s a gritty, tactile kind of exploration, and I love it.

In Pathfinder, exploration becomes more dynamic and often more epic. You’re not just crawling through ruins, you’re mapping uncharted wilderness, navigating complex cultures, and solving arcane mysteries baked into the world’s DNA. There’s a heroic scale to it. You’re not just surviving, you’re discovering your place in a mythic world.

In the Wasted Lands, the world itself is still waking up. You explore not only geography, but myth. You carve stories into the world that future ages will only dimly remember. Here, the ruins aren’t ancient, they’re being made. Exploration becomes a spiritual act. When you cross into unknown territory, you’re not following in footsteps, you’re making them.

Daggerheart invites a more emotional kind of exploration. The stories live just as much in who your character is as in where they go. The haunted forest is scary, sure, but what you fear might not be the wolves in the woods; it’s the memory of why you ran from home. Exploration here isn’t just a map; it’s a mirror. That’s no less heroic, it’s just a different kind of bravery.

Even in cozy fantasy games or weird narrative indies, exploration plays a role. Maybe you’re uncovering your grandmother’s secret recipes in a magical bakery. Maybe you’re exploring forgotten traditions in a village steeped in folklore. Discovery isn’t always tied to danger, but it always brings change.

Because that’s what exploration does in fantasy RPGs:

 It changes things.

You can’t go into the unknown and come back the same. The world shifts.  The character grows.  The player remembers.

Whether you’re following a raven into the deep woods, stepping into a glowing portal, sailing beyond the edge of the map, or just opening a door labeled “Do Not,” you’re exploring.

And that, to me, is the heart of fantasy gaming.

Not killing monsters. Not hoarding gold. But going where you haven’t gone before, and discovering what you didn’t know you were looking for.

So wherever your players are headed tonight, whether it’s a dragon’s lair, a crumbling keep, or a roadside tavern with one too many shadows, remember this:

Every great story starts with someone deciding to go a little further than they should have.

Questions

What. Proud. Lesson.

What lesson made me proud? I think it was back when I was teaching my kids to play. They both started very young and I used it as a means to teach them simple math. I think my oldest was about 3 or so, and when he finally "got it" and was doing all the addition and subtraction in his head, it was an excellent time for both of us.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 7 Journey

"Not all journeys begin on roads. Some start on broomsticks, others in dreams, or through a mirror no one else sees."

 - From the Journal of Larina Nix

A few days back, I talked about the Tavern as the iconic adventuring location, maybe as famous as the dungeon itself. But that’s only one, very early stop on the Journey. Capital J.

When I think of the Journey for characters, I can’t help but go full myth-nerd and drift back to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces and the whole Hero’s Journey structure. That moment of Departure, when the character leaves the known world behind and enters the realm of magic, danger, and transformation? That’s the real start of the story. Not the tavern. Not the rumors. Not the first goblin in a dark hallway. But that choice, that first real step.

Now, for most D&D-style characters, that might be heading off with sword and/or spellbook, saying goodbye to the family farm, or signing on for a job in a shady city.

But for witches? It’s a little different.

Their journeys often begin in the unknown. It’s not “go out and find magic.” It’s “magic came calling, and now you’re part of it whether you like it or not.” It starts when the moon speaks. When the cat stares too long. When you dream of fire and wake with cinders in your hair. When you start to understand what the crows are saying.

Larina’s journey didn’t begin on a trail or caravan road. It began the moment she heard the voice of the Goddess, when she could see ghosts, and when she stepped behind her grandmother’s mirror and realized she could see her own reflection walking away.

That moment, the crossing of the first threshold, is crucial. And in gaming terms, it’s one of the most rewarding to roleplay, even if most of the time we skip right past it with a background paragraph.

But what if we didn’t?

What if we slowed down and let that Journey take shape in play? What if we saw the moment a young hedge witch received her first vision, or a would-be warlock stood at the edge of the Standing Stones, whispering a name they don’t remember learning?

Journeys matter. Not just because they get you from Level 1 to 20, but because they reveal who your character is, and what they’re willing to become.

And for witches, that journey never truly ends. It just spirals onward, like a sigil carved in bone, leading deeper into the mystery.

For witches I replace the circle of the Monomyth with the Spiral Dance.  

I'll come back to this more. 

Questions

When. Proud. Adventure.

When was my proudest moment in an adventure? So many, really. When my kids discovered the plot concocted by the demons to kill all the gods of the sun to invade the world. When they killed Strahd. When *I* killed Strahd nearly 30 years prior to that. When running Ghosts of Albion Blight and one group REALLY embraced their roles as the Protectors of Ériu. It's why I keep dong this!

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

Duchess & Candella for Daggerheart

 I hope everyone had a great Gen Con. Sadly, I was not there, but I heard it was fun. I also heard that Daggerheart had sold out of its print run and had no copies left by Saturday. That is pretty cool, really. It's also still the #1 selling PDF on DriveThruRPG, a spot it has owned since its release. 

I was on DriveThruRPG today looking to see if any of the new games I had heard about at Gen Con had been released yet. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did see something in my Personalized Suggestions; a bunch of new-to-me titles from Art of the Genre (the Folio people) featuring my favorite party girl rogues, Duchess and Candella. Most of these were for the FAST Core RPG System, which I know nearly nothing about. But there are a lot of titles featuring them. 

I remembered I covered a lot of the Folio Black Label books when I did my feature on Duchess and Candella, and there were some new ones (again, new-to-me) that I had not seen. I grabbed some more of the Folio adventures featuring them and one of the FAST Core D\&C books, which I might review later, but I'd like to get the core rules first. 

I do have the core rules for Daggerheart.

While I tend to gravitate towards witches, spellcasters, and the odd paladin type, I do love these two. Again, I imagine them as two party girls who love a good time and don't mind getting into a little bit of trouble if it means they are going to get some gold out of it. Art of the Genre has stats and extensive backgrounds for them both in The Storyteller's Arcana. It works, I can't disagree with them really other than I see them more as thieves and rogues rather than fighter-types. But hey, they have given these characters a lot more thought than I have. Still, for Daggerheart, I think I want to keep them as thief-types. Thankfully, there are two different Rogue "subclasses" I can try, the Nightwalker and the Syndicate.

Duchess

Level 2
Class & Subclass: Rogue (Nightwalker)
Ancestry & Heritage: Highborne Human
Pronouns: She/Her

Agility: 1
Strength: -1
Finesse: 2
Instinct: 0
Presence: 1
Knowledge: 0

Evasion: 12
Armor: 3

HP: 5
Minor Damage: 8 Major Damage: 15
Stress: 6

Hope: 2

Weapons: Longsword, Agility Melee, 1d8+3
Dagger. Finesse, Melee, d8+1 phy

Armor: Leather 6/13 +3

Experience
I will live the life owed to me +2 (when dealing with people of higher social class or money)
Candella is my sister in crime +2 (when dealing with rolls that can aid Candella)
So much gold and it will be mine +2 (when trying to steal or acquire wealth)

Class Features
Cloaked, Sneak Attack, Shadow Stepper, Believable Lie

Candella

Level 2
Class & Subclass: Rogue (Syndicate)
Ancestry & Heritage: Slyborne Human
Pronouns: She/Her

Agility: 2
Strength: 2
Finesse: 2
Instinct: 0
Presence: -1
Knowledge: 0

Evasion: 12
Armor: 3

HP: 5
Minor Damage: 8 Major Damage: 15
Stress: 6

Hope: 2

Weapons: Shortsword, Agility Melee, 1d8+3
Dagger. Finesse, Melee, d8+1 phy
Paired (Tier 1) +2 to primary weapon damage to targets in Melee Range.

Armor: Leather 6/13 +3

Experience
Life is a game, and I plan to cheat +2 (when any rolls are considered cheating)
Duchess is my sister in crime +2 (when dealing with rolls that can aid Duchess)
Gold! Wine! Adventure! +2 (when trying to steal or acquire wealth, or a good time.)

Class Features
Cloaked, Sneak Attack, Well-Connected, Enrapture

--

The great thing about Daggerheart is how you can create characters that really support each other and have that baked into the rules and rolls. 

Love how these two came out!

#RPGaDay2025 Day 6 Motive

Witchcraft Wednesday Edition

In most games, when the party gathers for the first time, there's a fairly straightforward motive: treasure, fame, glory, revenge. Maybe they’re trying to save their village. Maybe they just need to pay off a bar tab. Whatever the case, the classic adventurer is easy to motivate. Dangle gold or justice in front of them, and they’ll go down into the dungeon willingly.

But witches and warlocks?

Their motives tend to be… different.

“She didn’t go into the ruins for gold. She went looking for the name she saw in her dreams.”

 - page, recovered from the bog near Meirath’s Hollow

Witches often aren’t chasing wealth. They might live in crumbling cottages or vine-covered towers filled with tea, bones, and books. They have what they need. Their magic doesn’t come from loot, it comes from knowing. From power earned through pacts, practices, and pain.

When a witch goes on a journey, it’s usually because something has shifted in the world:

• The stars have changed their alignment.
• A long-forgotten spirit has begun to whisper again.
• A charm buried under a tree has broken.
• A name has been spoken that should not have been known.

Their motive isn’t external. It’s internal, symbolic, spiritual. Sometimes it’s not even clear to them at first. But they feel it. A pull. A path. The wind shifts through the birches in a different way, and suddenly she knows it’s time to move.

Warlocks, too, have unique motives, but theirs are often tied to obligation.

 Their power comes at a cost, after all. And sometimes that cost is paid in quests, souls, or favors. Maybe they heard their patron whisper something in their sleep. Maybe they found a rune etched into the frost on their window and knew they had to follow it. Or maybe they have no choice. Maybe the pact has come due.

That’s the thing about occult characters in fantasy RPGs: their motives aren’t lesser or greater than the standard adventurer’s, they’re just deeper. More tangled in the weird threads of fate and prophecy and intuition. Sometimes they’ll ride alongside the party for gold and steel and good company, but eventually, something will pull them off the path. And that’s when the story really begins.

So next time a witch joins your adventuring party, ask her why she’s there.

 If she tells you it’s for gold, she’s lying.

 She already knows something’s coming.

 She just doesn’t want to be the only one standing when it arrives.

Questions

How. Optimistic. Accessory.

Hmm. How does a particular accessory keep you optimistic? 

As I mentioned yesterday, I often take the point of view of the characters. A while back, I got some art done of Larina. I don't remember which one it was, but around her waist she wore chain and it was threaded with dragon teeth. I had asked for a dragon tooth charm, and that is what I got back. I like to trust the artists with their vision, and this was a good choice. In my games from that point, it was a "charm" she wore to provide protection. While mechanically it added to her saving throws, I said it was something that gave her hope. She could collect all these dragon teeth and know she helped defeat those monsters, so whatever challenge was next, she could handle. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 5 Ancient

 "Before the first cleric lifted a holy symbol, before the first wizard penned a scroll, they were already here, gathering in moonlight."

- From the Journal of Larina Nix

A lot of what goes into the assumptions of D&D, or really any fantasy RPG, is that there were once glorious empires (or terrible ones), long before the current age. Civilizations rose, ruled, and collapsed. Names were lost. Gods were forgotten. Ruins now dot the land like scars on old skin. And the heroes of today walk through the bones of that forgotten world, looting what little wisdom and gold remains.

It’s a familiar formula. And it works. Even the Greeks did it with the Egyptians, and that’s where some of the myth of Atlantis comes from, trying to make sense of a culture already ancient when theirs was young.

We build that same idea into our games.

Why does this dungeon have magic no wizard understands?  Why is this sword sealed behind twelve runes in a language no one speaks?  Why are there pyramids on this island when no one remembers building them?

Because something came before.

 And whatever it was, it was older, deeper, and probably stranger.

But for me, “Ancient” doesn’t always mean “a thousand years ago.” Sometimes it means before memory. Before civilization. Before the gods got organized.

When Larina speaks of “they,” she means the ones who practiced the old ways before spells had names and magic had schools. The ones who made offerings in stone circles, who brewed potions by feel, who danced naked in the moonlight, not because it was part of a ritual, but because that was the ritual.

They didn’t even call themselves witches. They didn’t call themselves anything. They were simply those who knew.

And sometimes… still do.

That’s one of the things I love about Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age.

 It flips the paradigm. The world isn’t ancient yet, but you’re playing in the mythic past that future bards will whisper about. You are the ancients, carving out the foundations of legend. The ruined towers in your 5e game? Yeah, maybe your hero built one of those. Or destroyed it. Or died there.

There’s a strange beauty to playing in the age before the age. You’re not unearthing forgotten relics, you’re making them.

And for witches, who remember too much and live too long, every new age is just another layer of dust on a story that began long before gods had names.

Questions

How. Contemplative. Character.

I often will contemplate what a bit of writing means from the point of view of the characters, or a specific character. With the quote above, I often view my witch writing from the point of view of the witches in the game. Like Larina or Emse or Amaranth. When doing my Forgotten Realms reviews I'll often take the point of view of the characters in that. Moria, Jaromir, or Sinéad.

It helps me get immersed in what the world looks like to those in it.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 4 Message

 Monstrous Monday Edition

It’s a quiet night in the tavern (for yesterday!)

The fire has burned low. The regulars have stumbled home. The bard’s stopped playing and is asleep in the stables. Just you, your companions, the dregs of your drinks, and a few moments of rare peace.

Then the door creaks open and a message arrives.

Not a letter. Not a scroll. Not a pigeon with a satchel. 

A thing, bone-thin, cloaked in rags that hang like wet skin, with eyes like coins held too long in the mouth. It doesn’t speak. It simply places something on the table and turns to leave.

What did it leave behind?

That’s the start of the adventure I’m working on.

See, I’ve always loved the idea that not all messengers are human, or even alive. Some messages come from older places, places where ink isn’t used and paper doesn’t burn. Where secrets aren’t written so much as bound. And sometimes, the thing carrying the message doesn’t even understand it. It’s just a vessel. A warning. A test.

This whole adventure started with that moment:

 A creature. A message. A choice.

What do you do when something too old to name brings you a letter with your name on it?

What if the wax seal bears a symbol you saw once in a dream you forgot?

What if the ink moves when no one’s looking?

What if you break the seal and something breaks back?

The message in this case? It’s not a quest hook. Not exactly.

It’s a summons.

Something ancient remembers you.

And it’s time to remember it back.

That’s the thread I’m pulling on right now, something I’m weaving into the adventure that begins at the most clichéd tavern I could dream up. I want the players to laugh at the trope… until it gets quiet… and the thing at the door isn’t part of the trope anymore.

It’s part of the world.

And now, so are they.

Questions

When. Grateful. Genre.

When was I grateful for a particular genre? Hmm. I think that would have to be when I approached Christopher Golden about collaborating on a Buffy adventure for Eden Studios, and he instead asked me if I knew Victorian/Gothic horror. I stepped up and said I was practically an expert! I wasn't, I was just an enthusiastic fan, but it worked and that is one of the reasons why we all have Ghosts of Albion now.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 3 Tavern

 I’ve been working on an adventure for a little while now, off and on, between other projects, late at night when inspiration strikes and I let myself go back to being just a DM for a while.

And yes, I’m going to start it in a tavern.

 Not a mysterious tower. Not a burning village. Not a cosmic rift in the sky.

 A tavern. 

(ok, to be fair, all those other things are going to show up as well.)

And not just any tavern.

 The most clichéd, wood-paneled, hearth-warmed, ale-soaked, smoke-filled tavern you’ve ever seen. There’s a fire in the hearth, a surly dwarf in the corner, a nervous man with a hood who keeps checking the door, and a barmaid named Tilly who’s much more than she seems.

Why? Because I love it.

We’ve spent the last few decades trying to subvert the tropes, and that’s good; it keeps things fresh. But sometimes, I just want to embrace the classic feel. I want it to smell like spilled beer and pipe smoke and wet cloaks. I want the players to know the adventure is starting the moment they walk through that door.

This adventure I’m writing is a bit of an homage. It draws from the games I played in high school and college, when our graph paper was full of hastily drawn rooms and our taverns were, honestly, just ways to get the party together before we threw owlbears or goblins at them. But those games mattered. And I want to recapture that feeling. Not just nostalgia, but the invitation that those early games always offered:

You are here. The world is waiting. What will you do next?

Writing this for others, though, is a whole different challenge. I’ve written plenty of adventures for my own groups, messy, notes-in-the-margins kind of things. But polishing it up for other DMs? That’s a skill I’m re-learning.

And I still need a name for the tavern itself. Something that feels like it could exist in any D&D world, just off a dirt road outside of town. The kind of place travelers mutter about and locals warn you not to drink the green stuff.

No idea what the name is yet, but I’ll figure it out.

For now, the fire’s warm, the mugs are full, and someone just walked through the door who shouldn’t be here.

Got a good name for me?

Questions

Who. Envious. Accessory. 

Back in the day, I was always envious of the guys who had lead minis AND could do a good job of painting them. Back then (1980s) gaming dollars were tight and lead minis were rare and an expense I could never justify. 

Today I am drowning in minis. Plastic minis are so much cheaper and I can get them pre-painted, printed in color, hire people to pain them, have my wife paint them (something she loves to do), or most recently, paint them myself. I am rather terrible at it to be honest, but looking to my left and my two most recent ones I can say I am getting better. Better than I ever thought I would be.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 2 Prompt

Today's prompt is, well, Prompt.

Not every adventure begins with a map and a reward poster.

Sometimes, the adventure starts with a whisper you didn’t expect to hear. A shadow in the same place every night. A child saying something they shouldn’t know. The sound of something scratching inside the walls, but there are no mice, and the walls aren’t hollow.

These are the kinds of prompts I love best. The ones that feel like a dare from the world.

Sure, a good old-fashioned “Help us, adventurers!” hook is tried and true, and it works well. But what keeps me coming back, what really gets me writing, is when the prompt is uncanny. Subtle. Occult even. Note I will often use "occult" here in the original sense of "hidden" or "unknown."

It’s the dream you can’t shake.  It’s the name you don’t remember learning but now can’t forget.  It’s the cracked mirror in the old inn that only reflects one of the party members, and no one else.

These are the prompts that get the witch involved. The ones that pull the warlock out of their tower. That make the players sit forward in their chairs.

The best part? You can drop these kinds of prompts anywhere.

 The party’s resting in a sleepy village? One of the locals offers them tea and casually mentions that no one’s seen the moon in three nights. 

 They’re walking through a forest? A dead bird falls from the sky, but its body is still warm. Or maybe it is frozen solid. 

 They open a letter meant for someone else. There’s no writing inside, just a sigil, drawn in blood, that starts to glow faintly when it rains.

You don’t have to explain it right away. In fact, please don’t. Let it linger. Let it get under their skin, worm its way into their brains. Let the players dig. Let them argue over what it means. If they follow down the wrong path, let them go.

The Prompt is not the Plot. The Prompt is the door.

Let them decide whether to knock, kick it down, or walk away.

But if they walk away… it might follow.

Questions

Let's roll again!

Who, Excited, Art. "Who's art am I most excited to see in a book?"

I think it would have to have been Clyde Caldwell back in the day, or Larry Elmore. They defined the "old-school" look for me. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 1 Patron

 Today is the start of the #RPGaDAY2025. 

This year, in addition to the prompts detailed below, I am going to write a lot on my Occult D&D project and some upcoming adventure ideas. It will help me focus on where those projects need to go.

We start this year’s #RPGaDAY with Patron, and I’m diving in with something near and dear to my design heart: Patrons for witches and warlocks.

Now, the usual suspects are easy to name; demons, devils, faerie lords and ladies, and Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the veil. And yes, I use all of them. Often. Enthusiastically.

But lately I’ve been thinking more about the other kinds of patrons. The less obvious ones. The ones that add flavor and complexity beyond the usual infernal bargain.

Here are a few I’ve been playing around with:

Dragons

Honestly, I should have done this ages ago. My oldest is dragon-obsessed, and I’ve lost count of how many dragon miniatures, plushies, and LEGO sets we have in the house.

Dragons are ancient, magical, and powerful. Why wouldn’t a warlock or witch swear themselves to a mighty drake of time or flame? Not just as treasure-hoarding monsters, but as elemental, almost divine beings with long memories and stranger agendas. Only the most ancient and cunning ones offer pacts, and they always come with a price.

Angels

This one’s a bit unexpected, but stick with me.

Crack open any New Age spellbook or Victorian spiritualist guide, and you’ll find incantations invoking angels, Raphael, Michael, Uriel, and so on.

Why should only demons offer deals?

The Watchers of Enochian lore taught witchcraft, after all. And their punishment? Eternal exile, watching their children, the Nephilim, fall. There’s something beautiful and tragic there. An angelic patron might offer guidance, power, or forbidden knowledge, but at what cost to their divine purpose?

Animal Lords

Briefly touched on this in one of my warlock projects, but worth revisiting. These are like the Archfey, but aligned with the primal wild. Lords of the Fox, the Raven, the Serpent, the Stag, each with their own ancient cults, taboos, and riddles. A warlock bound to the Panther Lord might wear shadows like a cloak. A witch devoted to the La Lechuza, the Owl Queen, might speak only in questions and dreams.

Witch Queens

When a witch becomes powerful enough, she doesn’t kneel to a patron, she becomes one.

Witch Queens are legendary figures of folklore and power. Some, like Aradia, are benevolent guides. Others, like Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, demand devotion, transformation, and sacrifice. These patrons are perfect for witches who walk the line between mortal and myth.

Daimons

Not demons. Not daemons. Not even spirits in the traditional D&D sense.

Daimons, in the Platonic and Gnostic traditions, are spirits of knowledge—divine intermediaries who speak in symbols, guide seekers to hidden truths, and sometimes lead them into madness. A warlock who binds themselves to a daimon may not fully understand what they've done. But the dreams come anyway. And the visions never lie.

Honestly, I have way more, an absurd number, really. But these are some of my favorites right now. I love patrons that aren’t just “here’s some spells, go cause chaos,” but instead add weight and weirdness to a character’s story. The best patrons change their warlocks and witches. Slowly. Irrevocably.

And that’s where the real fun begins.

Questions

There are also questions I can answer. So let's roll and see what I get. 

I got "How," "Grateful," and "Person." 

Translating..."Who is a Person I am Grateful for and How?"

Hmm...Assuming I am keeping this in the game sphere...I am going to say Len Lakofka. Len passed away a few years ago, but not before we could establish a good online correspondence. His articles in Dragon were some of my favorite, so being able to talk to him much later in my life was a real treat. I am sad to see he is gone.