Monday, May 26, 2025

Arcadia 5 Reactions

Image is copyright MCDM Productions

Another beautiful piece of cover art from Sean Andrew Murray depicting some sort of great siege engine. I love it.

Introcaso’s editor’s note focuses on asking logical questions about the fantastic details of our D&D worlds and carrying them to their conclusions. Certainly good advice for world building and reflected in this issue.

The first article is Long-Term Curses by Leon Barillaro. This provides six curses immune to the Remove Curse spell. These all seem to be less mechanical than narrative elements. The Curse of the Betrayed is interesting narratively, but seems like it would be difficult to do in practice. The Curse of Cassandra, paying homage to the Iliad, seems like it would be easier to roleplay. It’s harder to keep control of a group that is actively undermining one another and lying because it creates greater opportunities for problematic player behavior. While the prophecy curse provides an interesting narrative component that is easier to implement (the other characters simply need to act as though they don’t believe the prophecy, which is the curse, exactly as portrayed in the source material). 

The Curse of the Living Dead is distinct in not really being character focused. Instead it provides the idea of a town infected by necromatic energy that causes the dead to rise at midnight, meaning that their corpses are destroyed and removed from the immediate area before they arise as zombies. Instead this is an interesting narrative element that you can insert as a quest line in almost any campaign. I may use it to describe a town in Krakovar in my Midgard campaign, defiled by the magic of the ghouls and Blood Kingdom. The characters would need to break the curse as part of their work as rebels.

The last three curses are similarly interesting narrative devices, but my favorite is the Curse of the Watchers, which slowly adds to a folk of ravens who follow an adventurer who stole a seemingly mundane item of the GM’s choice from a dungeon until the swarm attacks. This would also be a great tie in to the Grove of Crows in the Path of the Planebreaker. The Grove is essentially a horror themed demiplane with similar vibes and esthetic. Just reskin the ravens as crows.

The next article is the Goldmonger Subclasses, by Carlos Cisco. I love these subclasses, like the unique and nuanced take on avarice as a divine domain. You don’t have to be evil to be greedy or a voracious collector of valuable magic items. The article is also very well written in my opinion. 

There’s a flavorful but brief description of Pta’u as a god of deals before launching into the cleric subclass. It has some powerful features, like the ability to duplicate a domain spell effect on yourself or an object you are touching after casting it on another creature or object. That means you can cast haste on your martial friend and yourself, or a number of other decent spells. Additionally there are other interesting abilities that add up to having a degree of battlefield control. Overall probably a middling subclass in terms of power, so it shouldn’t break your game.

The next is the Circle of the Gilded Druid, focusing on guarding natural resources of gold and gems from those who would take them. So I imagine they hate miners (not a subclass for Lost Mines of Phandelver perhaps). I’d need to test out the subclass to see how it performs, but largely it tries to boost the melee capabilities of the Druid with a ranged attack boost late at level ten. You’d still have the core controller and support spells of the Druid, but this certainly seems geared towards your character primarily relying on primal savagery for most of your attacks. A small boost to AC and resistance occurs at sixth level, meaning like most druids it would be advantageous to pick an ancestry that provides earlier buffs to AC if you plan to spells any significant amount of time in melee. So some cool abilities, but limited utility as far as their use. Probably another subclass that won’t break the game.

Next is the Paladin Oath of Acquisitions. The flavor on this one immediately makes me think about running an Acquisitions Incorporated game. It would definitely be a good addition thematically. It seems a little overtuned, with several abilities allowing you to impose disadvantage on enemy attacks. The aura allows this on any enemy within 10 feet, which seems like it could do a number on a boss encounter. 

The final article is Alabaster’s Almanac, by Sam Mannell. This article details nine new spells for arcane casters. They are all generally balanced, if sometimes a little too specific in their use cases. There is an odd ninth level spell that lets you turn illusions into real objects or creatures (but not magic items). Much like the other spell offerings, potentially useful to inject on a case-by-case basis, or give to an NPC or villain in your campaign.

That’s it for Arcadia 5!

Arcadia Reactions Page

Monday, May 19, 2025

Krakovan Rebels: NPC

Vojislov Sorokyn

Appearance: Middle aged human male, Vojislov has pale skin and brown hair. His features are unremarkable, allowing him to move through his people undetected by their vampire despots. He is clean shaven except when in the field, when he allows his beard and mustache to grow. He does stand slightly taller than the average Krakovar male, at just over six feet, and is solidly built from a lifetime of hard work.

Roleplaying: 
  • Vojislov always puts the people of Krakovar first, above the cause and above petty motivations like revenge.
  • He is quiet and his eyes look distant, as though fixed on some far horizon.

Background: Vojislov Sorokyn was a blacksmith in a small village in central Krakovar before the invasion. Like most people, he simply tried to survive when the Blood Kingdom invaded, aided by the ghouls. His family was taken in a blood tithe by the local vampire lord. He swore vengeance and staked the vampire through the heart with his own hands. Now Vojislov dedicates himself to fighting to protect others from the same fate.

Key Info: 

  • Vojislov always puts the people of Krakovar first, above the cause and above petty motivations like revenge.
  • He has great mutual respect with the Shield Maidens of Sif.
  • Vojislov has a personal vendetta against the Band of the Twice Damned—any who frustrate their designs are ones Vojislov considers his friends.
  • He is concerned at the methods that the Grim Accord are rumored to be employing in their fight against the Duchy of Morgau. They harm civilians indiscriminately.

Stat Block: Champion Warrior (Monstrous Menagerie, pg. 497)


Additional NPCs in Vojislov’s band: Use veteran stats.

Stanislava Bulganin

Zorana Svoboda

Vjekoslav Koci

Monday, May 12, 2025

Walled Temple

Walled Temple map - by Faxfire

Surrounded by high stone walls and with a large interior space for gardens, contemplation, or solitude, the walled temple is a touchpoint for those of the faith. 

This map can be used in a variety of different campaign situations, and can used as a temple with an altar, or even be used as a fortified ancient shrine, with its religious use now long forgotten. I drew it to be the repaired stronghold for my players in a concluded campaign. It is shared for your personal use.

Monday, May 5, 2025

Lore Book: Book of Endless Dark

This lore book is for my Midgard Empire of the Ghouls campaign and is based upon the lore on the Night Cauldron of Chernobog found in Demon Cults & Secret Societies, and in a few Kobold Press blog posts.

This aged book’s pages are yellowed with age. The title is blazed across the second page, covering much of the page, as if the scribe sought to blot out the entire surface with the dark ink. Within the book speaks of “the deceptions of the gods” and their “lies that persuaded the Lord of the Night to allow the stars and sun to alight.”

It speaks of a future “age of glory to come, when the sun sets for the last time, and the stars are choked in endless void.” It urges followers of the Black God to throw off their shackles and embrace the Cauldron of Night, “heralding the “Architect of Disaster that is to come” and will “leave the World Tree burning” in their wake.

The book is inscribed to “My loyal pupil of the Night Cauldron, Fane Illmaladson, in preparation for you to receive the Black God’s Blessing,” and is signed with the symbol of a cauldron marked with a bear paw.

South-Western Marches of the Blood Kingdom Hex Key

Cartography by Faxfire I created the map above for my Empire of the Ghouls campaign portion which has turned into a Homebrew deep dive into ...