Session 5 Recap: The Haunting of Crossland Manor

The party gains access to the mysterious and feared Crossland Manor. Rumored to be the source of the town’s misery, cursed by the thirst for power and other unspeakable deeds by the Crossland family, what will they find? Can they overcome the dangers that have claimed the lives of every other person who dared investigate?

VIDEO: Session 5 Recap: https://www.justwriteforme.com/session-5-recap

Session 4 Recap: The Mysteries of Crossland

After entering the strange pool of bubbling black goo found in the depths of the underground ancient temple, the party now find themselves in a horrifying forest of doom. As they run for their lives from the horrific creatures within the foggy, deadly woods, they stumble upon a mysterious village at its center. The village, known as Crossland, hides many secrets. The party works to unravel some of the mysteries, starting with facing a powerful and murderous phantom.

VIDEO: Session 4 Recap: https://www.justwriteforme.com/session-4-recap

Session 3 Recap: A Portal Discovered!

The party has discovered a secret alcove and more examples of hideous experiments from Rahsamoric's ancient origins. They also continue to encounter more deadly traps as they attempt to unravel the mysteries of the dungeon. Powerful artifacts cross their path, but they come at a price - and a permanent one. Ultimately, the horror deepens further as a mysterious and foreboding portal is uncovered.

VIDEO: Session 3 Recap: https://www.justwriteforme.com/session-3-recap

Session 2 Recap: Delving Deeper into Dungeon

Refreshed and recharged, the party returns to the dungeon, where they discover an ancient shrine dedicated to the Lord of Darkness himself and several of his first priests. Before they can investigate the meaning, however, a skeletal army, led by a mysterious undead figure, attacks. Animated sarcophagi bar the exits from the shrine room as the battle ensues, adding to the mysteries yet to be solved in this ancient dungeon as the party seeks the origin of the blue beam of power.

VIDEO: Session 2 Recap: https://www.justwriteforme.com/session-2-delving-deeper-into-the-dungeon

Session 1 Recap: The Secret Council of Common Sense & A Perilous Quest

And so it begins! The adventurers arrive one by one at the clandestine meeting among the shrouded-in-secrecy Council of Common Sense. There it is revealed who is among their ranks - surprising reveal, indeed! The Council outlines the thankless and perilous task before them, itself an outrageous task to restore balance to the realm of Xenia. The party volunteers receive their orders and are led to a chamber hidden and forgotten by time and progress. There, the remnants of an ancient civilization cling to existence. This place holds great power and greater secrets. After being barred in, the game is now afoot for our band of curious and brave adventurers!

VIDEO: Session 1 Recap: https://www.justwriteforme.com/session-1-recap

You Look Like You Could Use a Miracle.

With the recent kicking off of my TTRPG group’s third journey into the homebrew world of Xenia, I have lots of fun and new twists and mechanics I am introducing.

When you have been gaming consistently with the same group for more than 20 years(!) and around the table sits more than 200 years(!!) of collective TTRPG experience, you gotta come up with ways to keep them engaged.

Now, mind you, this is a fabulous group of guys I get to play with, so rather than having any worries about them being bored, it’s more like their engagement gets me more engaged, which gets them more engaged, and round and round we go.

One such mechanic I am introducing in this campaign is the Miracle Die.

The Miracle Die: How it Works

Whenever a player character finds themselves in a truly dire, life-and-death, no-way-out situation, they can hope for a miracle to save their bacon.

If you haven’t been following along since the beginning - and that’s okay! - my homebrew world of Xenia is heavily influenced by the gods. Their pettiness, animosity, and constant competition for followers and influence always impact society, and generally not in a positive way. Mankind is truly a pawn in a sadistic chess match that has spanned millennia.

The Miracle Die allows the player to ask for their deity to hopefully influence their roll.

For instance, when the player is making a Death Save, they can ask for the Miracle Die. It is a smoky white D20 they can roll along with their own D20. The Miracle Die can allow them to succeed on their roll, even if they fail the check on their personal die.

If I left it at that, it’s a cute mechanic but not really a very interesting one.

That’s where the Disaster Die comes in.

The Disaster Die. How it Works Against You

Every deity has a polar opposite who doesn't particularly want to see their enemy’s followers survive and potentially increase their influence. So, when the player rolls the Miracle Die, they also must roll the Disaster Die.

The Disaster Die is a smoky black D20, and it can cause dire consequences even if the player succeeds on their roll. And if the player fails on their roll? Rub your hands together menacingly, DMs. It’s time to get medieval on their ass.

The Miracle / Disaster Dice System

Here are the rules if you ever want to incorporate the Miracle and Disaster Dice into your campaign.

Remember: The player must roll both D20s along with their own D20. The player’s D20 and corresponding bonuses or negatives ultimately determine success or failure. None of that changes with this mechanic. The Miracle and Disaster Dice just add flavor.

Outcome #1: Success and also the Miracle Die is Higher than the Disaster Die

• Player is not just successful, but wildly so. The god’s influence adds extra benefits. For instance, they not only make their Death Save but heal a certain amount of hit points.

Outcome #2: Success but Disaster Die is Higher than the Miracle Die

• Player is successful, but some sort of negative side effect occurs. For instance, they make their Death Save but they are temporarily blind or mute or lame. Tailor it to their class for ultimate impact!

Outcome #3: Failure but Miracle Die is Higher than the Disaster Die

• The player is successful because the Miracle Die overrode the failed roll, but the impact is less than expected or there is a negative side effect. For instance, a player makes their Death Save, but they remain unconscious or have some side effect.

Outcome #4: Failure and Disaster Die is Higher than the Miracle Die

• Bad things happen. Get wicked, DMs. These are the scenarios we dream about!

For now, since this is my first time using this mechanic, I have not put any rules around what situations or how often the player can call upon their gods for a miracle (and therefore the Miracle Die). I am leaving it open-ended but told my players I’ll monitor it’s use and may cap it to once per session or once per level or something down the road if need be.

What do you think of the Miracle / Disaster Dice system? Send me your thoughts. I’d love to hear from other players who have experimented with it to know what you experienced and how you might have adapted its usage or outcomes.

Buy your own Miracle / Disaster Dice

I bought these off Amazon. Very inexpensive, good quality, and you get both your Miracle and Disaster Dice in the same package: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N4VJY9Y?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Twas the Night Before Session 1….

As stated numerous times heading into the kick-off of my homebrew campaign, “Tales of Xenia 3: Resurrecting Rashamoric,” I love this group of friends I get to play with and DM for so much that I am going absolutely all out this time around.

Going all out includes leveraging AI tools to create artwork, video, and audio to create teaser trailers and visually represent the Council of Common Sense, the primary quest givers in the campaign.

So, with that in mind and to keep building on the anticipation, I created a prologue video that was released on our group’s Discord channel the night before Session 1. It encapsulates everything that has been teased thus far, including the personalized invitation scrolls each person had mailed to their physical homes and addressed to the character.

Here is the kick-off video: https://www.justwriteforme.com/a-mysterious-invite

Look for a Session 1 recap soon. It was a ton of fun, and we have already dug into the bag of tricks I have planned for this latest epic tale set in Xenia (i.e., someone almost died and needed…a Mircale)!

Enjoy! And thanks for the follows!

Bringing a Little Reality to Fantasy

Today, we officially launch “Tales of Xenia 3: Resurrecting Rashamoric.” In fact, the first dice get cast in just about 4 hours from now.

As I mentioned, especially to my friends around the table, I’m going for broke this time. One such way I’m doing this is having Session 1 begin with a clandestine meeting among like-minded individuals to discuss rebellion referred to as the Council of Common Sense (a riff on Thomas Payne’s Common Senses pamphlet).

However, last Friday, before Session 1 takes place, I mailed a note to all my players' physical home addresses.

• Each one is addressed to their character

• Each one is from a separate member of the Council of Common Sense

• Each one is in a different handwriting (i.e., font)

This was really fun for me, tickling my creative side. And seeing the players get excited to receive them in the mail - unexpectedly so, as I did not tip my hand that they were coming - just fires me up to do more and more to make this a unique and memorable campaign.

It is almost time to begin the epic. I hope you will follow along and enjoy the ride. For spoiler reasons, expect forthcoming updates to be a week or so after they occur in-game.

You can also follow along on Twitter at @JustWriting4You. I appreciate the Likes, Follows, and RTs!

Trailer Release -- Tales of Xenia 3: Resurrecting Rashamoric

I thought it would be fun to drop a teaser trailer announcing the third Tales of Xenia campaign. I had been hinting at having the itch to get behind the DM screen once again and run a campaign that had been gestating for some time…I just didn’t say when I would be taking over the DM’s seat.

So, I cooked up a quick teaser trailer and dropped it into the group’s Discord channel unannounced.

It was fun, and I got some great reactions! If you plan to follow along on our epic third journey through the world of Xenia, here is the trailer for you as well to help set the table for what’s in store for this campaign.

Enjoy!

Xenia 3 Teaser Trailer: Which Ones?

Tales of Xenia 3: Resurrecting Rashamoric

Xenia is a high-fantasy, high-magic, deity-centric homebrew world I dreamed up as a teenager. It is a place where Light and Dark are ever in a perilous balance. The gods and minions on one side seek to throw that balance out of whack while their diametrically opposed foes work ceaselessly to preserve it.

There are pious factions and seedy cults. Otherworldly travelers are commonplace, so much so that they rarely raise an eyebrow. The people of the land gauge and remember every action, and as a living, breathing world, it changes based on the actions of the characters in the story or campaign. Those actions may even cause a new cult or cause to arise in response!

To that end, I have penned numerous short stories in the World of Xenia. I have countless characters who have shaped, for better or worse, the world from secret hovels to the seats of power in the capital city of Lex Xaia.

Perhaps most significantly, I have run two multiyear campaigns of Dungeons & Dragons in Xenia. They are open-world games with minimal railroading (here is the broad concept - save the world…or don’t…or take your time and chase all the shiny objects).

Clearly, if you have sat around my table, I wear my MMORPG influences on my sleeve. There is the primary campaign…and then there is ALLLLLL this other stuff you can do. As Xenia is such an open society with fantastical people and events happening seemingly everywhere, every day, my player characters have a tremendous license to build and roleplay the characters they want.

Some would call it a total sandbox. Others would characterize it as a total shit show. I fully admit it’s not for everybody, but it works for the wonderful, creative souls I have been fortunate to surround myself with for nearly 25 years. They confound the DM, and I throw curveballs at every opportunity. There’s like 200 years of combined TTRPG experience at the table. “You’re surrounded by orcs” ain’t gonna cut it.

I say all this to bring me to this point: Since I finished Tales of Xenia I, I’ve had an idea in my head for a story I wanted to tell in this world. I don’t want to give too much away here since my players are also readers, but I intend to include a lot of genres and outside ideas to create an absolutely bonkers campaign. I’m pretty positive they will love it. I hope you will, too.

When Tales of Xenia II came along, I didn’t have the bandwidth to do the things I am now about to attempt. I’ve had years to prepare for this, however, and a steadily growing note on my phone to capture every wild idea.

I hope you will join me and my party of carefree (careless?) adventurers as we embark on this journey of many months, adventures, laughs, and stories to be retold over beers and bourbon for years to come.

We meet every other week, kicking off on July 17, so check back often for updates. Or, hey, just subscribe and get notified of updates!

Note that out-of-game updates in this space will often be posted after they occur so as not to spoil the fun of the party!