We provide your one-stop list for character flaws, as well as a fun exercise to create dynamic characters!
Creating a character is a difficult task. There are several things to consider from what do they look like, how do they sound, how do they act, and what makes them who they are? All of these things and more should be focused on when building a character. But you should also focus on their weakness or flaws.
These types of traits can be anything from fear, a vice, or failing. They could also be something another character can use against them or hold over their head. It may even be another person. Someone they are afraid to speak with or even see. Whatever it is, characters with weaknesses are more engaging to readers as they are more realistic.
Character Building Exercise: Choose five numbers randomly, or use one of those random number generation tools online. Or roll a d100 five times! Write down those five traits and create a character out of them. Decide how this personality happened. What in the character’s past caused these traits to form? How do they use them? Do they fully understand them? If there are contradicting ones, what caused this internal battle?
We give our top tips to discussing backstory and lore in your world to make your tabletop game the best it can be!
Official guidebooks for tabletop games present a plethora of information regarding cultures and history but knowing how or when to introduce players to certain information can be difficult. We break down the best ways players and dungeon masters can present backstory to be more inclusive and have a fun game!
Bring it up in Conversations
One of the best and easiest ways to drop tidbits of lore and information about a quest, region, monster, person, or anything is to have it come from an NPC. They’re everywhere and if your players are lost or confused they can point them in the right direction or talk about a relevant piece of information the characters need.
Think of it as a video game where NPCs are coded to say specific dialogue but for the game they can say whatever they please. They aren’t limited to knowing what they’re told. Bravely Default 2 does this rather well with the game’s main characters. There will often be conversations where characters will talk to one another about their past. It’s a great way to get players to roleplay and talk about their character’s backstory. Which is lore all their own.
Here are a few ways to naturally bring it up in conversation:
Ask a character where they are from
Ask a character what food they enjoyed growing up
Just get players talking about their home or life
An NPC may be talking too loudly at a tavern or street corner
Find a way to connect lore to the players
Tell players different rumors about locations or monsters and have them all discuss what they have heard
Other games that do this quite well are the Dragon Age series and Pillars of Eternity II.
Make it Cinematic
A more unique way to talk about lore is to just show it. Take a step back from the players for a moment and tell them what they would know about an area. Then like a large sweeping shot from a movie or game trailer cinematically describe how it looks, feels, and sounds. It doesn’t have to be in great detail but highlighting some larger landmarks, monsters, or people in the area will help set the scene.
This also works great for a beginning and end of a campaign. Let the players add in their information about their backstory or let them discuss some lore with you as well.
It can even be a collaborative process between the players and the DM. The dungeon master can have players create portions of their own hometown or an upcoming location. Working together is part of what makes tabletop games so great and helps ensure everyone has a fun game.
Ask the players what they believe would be in a specific area. (If it isn’t there already, add it in and surprise them)
Have players describe locations they may be familiar with
Notes and Journals
Documents are a simple way to introduce information. We’ve discussed how to use them in the past to drive plot and they are incredibly useful for storytelling in general. They can be anywhere and say anything. You don’t even have to write them beforehand. Just saying “your character sees a crumpled note on the table” the DM has already pushed them to investigate. Then the game master can just tell the players what it says. Or it can be written ahead of time for a more immersive game.
Skyrim and Morrowind both do an excellent job at laying out notes to players.
When it comes to traveling, we’re still learning a few tricks to enhance our overall experience. Driving for hours on end is quite a challenge but a welcome one. However, we can’t help but think about all of the video game travels we’ve played that make it much more simple. Games like Zelda or the Elder Scrollsseries where hopping from one side of the world map to the other is done without running across plains, over mountains, and through forests. It’s these times we wish fast travel could be used in the real world.
Open world games provide the player with endless amounts of exploration. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt presents one of the largest and broadest maps to explore. Its main story is quite good and we’re always up for playing it again but it found its beauty in its quests and exploration. It’s the same with the real world, minus the side quests, although life does tend to through a few if you’re looking and even when you’re not.
Hitting the open road cues up plenty of opportunities to see new sites and experience new places. It’s what makes exploring worthwhile. But there can be times when becomes tedious and you just want to skip ahead to the next destination (we’re looking at your Kansas plains). Being able to fast forward through uncomfortable roads or dull views would make adventuring a bit less boring. That’s why we’ve listed a few games we believe have the best fast travel options.
Five Games with the Most Immersive Fast Travel
Elder Scrolls Morrowind – Silt Striders
The Elder Scrolls series is one great big adventure across multiple provinces. Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim all feature epic landscapes to explore but reaching them can be a bit of a chore. No matter if you’ve played through multiple times or it’s your first, walking from one end of the map to the other just to complete a side quest can be tedious, but Morrowind makes fast travel fun.
We’re always a fan of games that provide a unique way to get from point A to point B that makes sense. Simply clicking on a point on the map you’ve been to before and instantly teleporting there isn’t really all that immersive, and oftentimes it can even break immersion. Instead, Morrowind features creatures called silt striders – giant beasts of burden that float just off of the ground. They are effectively ferry boats but instead of water, they ride over land. If characters have enough coin they can take a ride on a silt strider and reach a new town within seconds.
While there isn’t a cutscene involved, it does make reaching new places much more simple. The game even puts a silt strider in the starting town of Seyda Neen allowing players access to larger cities that can take time to reach on foot.
Pokémon – Flying
Flying is one of the quickest ways to get around in the real world and Pokémon utilizes it as well. The mechanic was introduced during the first generation – Red, Blue, Yellow – and allowed trainers to teach it to some Pokémon able to fly. However, the catch was the player had to have visited a location beforehand. This means there was still exploration involved in the games.
Once a Pokémonlearned to fly, the trainer hopped on them like a horse and flew to their destination. Early games didn’t have the technical capacity to make a full cutscene, but later games let players control their mount and let them see the world below.
Skyrim – Carriages
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does include one Silt Strider but it isn’t available to hire. Instead, the fifth game in the series uses one of the most unique forms of travel of any game on our list: carriages or wagons. It’s a form of transport any player of Skyrim will be familiar with as the game begins with the protagonist riding in one.
Each major city has a carriage and rider the player can hire to take them across the province. It’s like renting a car or taking a bus but instead of dealing with people, you get to smell horses throughout the journey. If only carriages provided some way to see the scenery as you went along. While the opening cinematic is gorgeous, especially on PC, the entire world of Skyrim is stunningly epic to look at.
The best part is the carriages can be taken to other cities you haven’t visited yet.
Legend of Zelda – Music
The Legend of Zelda series uses music as a way to quickly traverse the world. While Breath of the Wild may be one exception to the franchise; utilizing Shrines to get from point to point, the others include music of some sort.
Ocarina of Time features the ocarina and lets Link traverse Hyrule through songs. Each song is connected to a different location on the world map and allows the Hero of Time to instantly teleport there. Whereas Wind Waker gives Link a magical baton to compose songs. No matter which game in the series you play, there is a link to music somewhere in it. Even Breath of the Wild’s shrines are powered by music. Activating them cues a single track that ends with the final note turning on the device.
A Link to the Past even allows Link to summon a flying rooster to reach new areas. When put into perspective in the real world, music can make travel seem quicker. Lengthy car rides can appear shorter or faster even if you listen to a great travel-themed playlist.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Signposts
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is another beautiful game to experience. From its striking overlooks to its bustling towns cawing seagulls and ringing ship bells the world is alive. The game is a fountain of locations with new ones spewing up every few seconds it seems. Reaching all of the new landmarks of the Witcher could take hours, if not hundreds of them, but thankfully there’s a fast travel system in place to help.
To travel between various points on the map, Geralt needs only to stand near a signpost and select another on the map. It is certainly a time-saving way to get around and immersively speaking, it is a world full of magic and sorcery so simply teleporting between signposts doesn’t seem too farfetched. The Continent is vast and there is so much to see and do that completing the game and every side quest could take upwards of 100 hours.
However, if zapping between places in an instant isn’t your thing, you could always saddle up your horse Roach and hit the open road. There is a handy mechanic that lets horses follow paths on their own. All you have to do is hold a button and sit back and enjoy the sights and sounds.
While fast travel may be good for speeding up the plot or reducing game time, it does defeat the purpose of exploring a vast world. After all, that is what traveling is, experiencing boundless opportunities and views not otherwise seen.
Working while traveling on the road isn’t ideal. Traveling is meant to be a fun experience full of adventure and new sights. But there may come a time when work must be done and you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and in need of internet access. It’s times like these that can make life on the road a bit frustrating but we’re here to help you through it because we experienced it.
Finding the Elusive WiFi
These tips are built for adventurers who don’t have WiFi built into their campervan, car, or RV. These guidelines are for more rugged trips where you’re farther removed from civilization. Perhaps on the beach enjoying the ocean breeze or you’re in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and you need the internet to see exactly what bear that was outside your window.
Traveling extensively in a vehicle can be exhausting – which we cover here – and if you add on finding internet to the mix, you’ll be even more exhausted. More often than not if you’re away from cell towers, your phone won’t have the necessary juice to connect to the internet. One bar may be enough for browsing Pinterest but it won’t be good enough to stream Netflix so you can watch Henry Cavill strike down monsters as the handsome Witcher Geralt of Rivia. Prepare to do some driving.
Parking Lots
There are many options when it comes to tracking down WiFi. One of the best is Starbucks (which is not one of our sponsors). Of course buying a coffee or dessert is preferably if you plan on parking outside and eating up their delicious WiFi – that is if you’re lucky enough to fit the vehicle in the drive thru and parking lot. Or you could just go inside if regulations allow.
Another location is McDonalds and trust us the urge to consume your own weight in nuggets may be high.
Public libraries are also great for finding WiFi and for hunting down that book on your read list. Or you could check out our fantasy series Thread of Souls.
Also, many rest stops may have their own WiFi you can pull from.
Hotspots
One we found most useful was a WiFi hotspot. If you are absolutely unable to locate a strong and dependable WiFi signal, the next best thing is to use your phone’s service. By either plugging it directly into the computer’s USB port or turning on tethering, you’ll have access to WiFi in no time, as long as the cell service is strong (three bars or higher should be fine).
Aside from using your phone – which will consume battery rather quickly – an actual hotspot device is another viable route. Keep in mind that these work similarly to a cell phone plan, each can be paid on a month to month basis or an upfront fee where you choose how much data you think you’ll use.
Hotels
If fast and reliable internet is something you desperately need, hotels may be the best choice. Though you will have to pay for a room if you want to use their service. Or you may be able to ask them for the WiFi password and if you’re lucky enough, they may oblige.
As we’ve learned from experience, doing work on a laptop in a camper isn’t the most comfortable. Having a table or area specifically designed for working is key. Backs and necks can get sore without having a chair with good lumbar support.
Working and traveling on the road is a time consuming process. There may not always be a restaurant, rest stop, or coffee shop nearby so plan accordingly and find whatever way works best for you.
Test the waters. It’s a popular saying and one we put to test just one week ago. After a few weeks of converting our campervan it was time to set off. We routed the journey, created a travel playlist, and set out on the road. We’ve been traveling before but always stayed in hotels or with relatives. This would be the first time we didn’t book rooms and instead opted for sleeping in the camper wherever we could find. After one week out, we can say adventuring like a tabletop gaming party is difficult but completely worth it.
Plan Ahead
It’s always fun to throw a dart at a map and head wherever it lands but for our first outing we developed a plan. Our destination was Galveston beach and we had found three sites to camp before reaching the shore. The first was a few hours away from our location. Once we got there we decided to keep going as we still had energy and determination.
Having a plan isn’t necessarily key but it does help knowing where you’re going and what time you need to set off to avoid rush hour, traffic, or driving at night. From our first stop we worked out our next location and made plans to journey the following day. We still had that wanderlust feeling the next morning and drove several hours to the ocean. Was it worth the exhaustion and sore muscles? Yes, but that leads to the next step.
Exhaustion
Driving for hours on end with little to no stops is exciting, if not challenging. Sitting in an uncomfortable seat can lead to sore backs, shoulders, and necks. As soon as our muscles locked up we noticed we grew more tired. Not to mention the growing headaches we developed as the hours droned by. It’s always helping to pack medicine in these situations and Icy Hot always helps reduce tension. That and drinking caffeinated beverages but we’re trying to cut the habit.
Expect the Unexpected
Fuel
There are a few things to keep an eye on or be aware of while traveling on the road. Among the most important may be fuel. Our Nissan NV2500 with its beefy 28 gallon fuel tank isn’t necessarily a gas guzzler but it does get expensive.
Restrooms
Another top priority of traveling is finding a restroom. While RVs and campervans may have them it can be rather difficult to use it on the road especially for the driver. You can easily take care of business while getting fuel at a gas station.
Water
Water and food are other important factors when considering the open road. Ensuring there is plenty of H2O in the car is beneficial. Being by the beach or higher altitudes can dry out the throat quite quickly and having a water bottle with fresh water will quench thirst and may even make you feel better.
Traffic
Traffic is not something easily planned for. Always consider the destination before attempting to drive through it. Larger cities will naturally be busier than smaller ones and rush hour traffic will be especially difficult to contend with – specifically if you’re in a larger RV or campervan. If you end up driving at these times just take it slow and try taking back roads or longer routes to avoid it.
Bogged Down
By far one of the most unexpected events you can run into is being stuck. Knowing what terrain your vehicle can drive through will ensure it doesn’t get bogged down. Not everything is built for sand, mud, or snow and even having off-road or snow tires doesn’t mean everything will be fine. When in doubt a simple shovel can be a best friend in times of trouble.
Adventuring in a campervan or RV is a great way to see the world. Having a set plan and schedule is just one part of a travel plan. Ensuring all the other aspects will make for a more comfortable and simpler time as well.
Solasta is still in Early Access but it’s turning out to be one of the best RPGs of the year. The development team is constantly releasing new updates and dev diaries and their latest is about adding a dungeon builder to the full release. The concept will give players the freedom to design their own dungeons in the game and it’s quite a unique feature to the Fifth Edition based CRPG.
What to expert from the Dungeon Maker. Solasta’s builder will let designers create a 2D map first before seeing it as as fully developed 3D world. It will include everything from adding crypts, walls, lighting effects, monsters, and interactable items. The map can be named, given a description, and setup so text automatically appears when characters trigger it. And several maps can be combined together to create a massive dungeon.
In a short video posted by the dev team, the upcoming Dungeon Maker will launch when Solasta: Crown of the Magister releases fully sometime this year. While there is no official announcement date yet, simply knowing what is coming to the game is exciting not only for players but also dungeon masters for the tabletop game. Neverwinter Nights did something similar. We’ve listed five reasons why the Dungeon Maker matters more than you think.
Art of the Dungeon. One facet about being a dungeon master for the physical Dungeons & Dragons game is building a dungeon for the characters to explore. This can be daunting especially to newer DMs behind the screen or even storytellers who have been creating campaigns for years. Not everyone is going to be an expert artist. Outlining a dungeon sounds great in theory but putting the idea to paper can be another tale.
There are many map making programs available but they aren’t as detailed as the builder for Solasta looks like it is going to be. Inkarnate may be great for 2D mapmaking but you’re still going to have to rely on theater of the mind when it comes to the finer details. The Dungeon Maker for Solasta will transition from a 2D builder to a fully explorable 3D map to test before letting the players have a go at it.
Real-Time Exploration. With the tabletop game dungeon masters aren’t able to explore their creation in real-time. Through Solasta, builders will be able to design an area and then explore it as characters with weapons and items. This will allow the DM to get a better feel for how it flows before throwing the real characters into the fire at the table.
Collaborations. If you’re feeling stuck on how to design a specific build for you campaign, you will be able to work with friends. An idea as big as this will build a community of dungeon designers that can bounce ideas off of one another. Having access to other maps creates a sort of sandbox puzzle that creators can pull from and mix and match ideas.
No more Random Rolls. The Dungeon Master’s Guide has simple rules for building a dungeon on the fly but it can be awkward and time-consuming (believe me I have tried). While it isn’t all that difficult to do, it can leave tabletop dungeons looking odd or incomplete. Having the Dungeon Maker will definitely smooth out and speed up the design process for dungeon building. (This by no means makes random rolling tables a negative).
Multiplayer. Hear us out on this one. While multiplayer is not in Solasta at the moment – and may not be coming to it – the Dungeon Maker makes it somewhat possible. Solasta is a fully single player game but if you have a party of four at your table, it can be used to playout the dungeon digitally if everyone is up for it. By taking turns around the keyboard, each player can build their character – or get as close as possible – with Solasta’s character builder. From there, you start up the dungeon and get exploring.
While adventuring, players can say they move their specific character to a certain spot and investigate. Initiative works a bit easier by assigning characters their turn. When it’s their go, just move around the keyboard and away they go.
Solasta is shaping up to be a fantastic CRPG and we’re excited for the future of it. Between it and Baldur’s Gate 3, there is a lot to expect this year for tabletop games turned video game.
Welcome to the second installment of Bardic Inspiration. This segment looks at, well, listens to, the best tracks to play during tabletop role-playing game session. The first article about adding mood-setting music to tavern scenes is a great starting point for any campaign or story.
This time around we’re sticking with songs that revolve around exploration. These tracks are perfect for when the adventuring party heads into a dense jungle, traverses a desert, or searches for tracks. The music is designed to build upon mystery and intrigue so they players are pulled into the action.
Into the Unknown
Now, before everyone gets the Frozen 2 song stuck in their head, let’s start with one of my favorite exploration songs: “The Hunter’s Path” from the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. If you really want to set the mood, start up this track. It’s slow and melodic and reminds me of a full party tracking a wild beast through the plains. Even the name has explore built into it. It literally means following a path.
It’s a slow tune that uses soft drums to add a sense of stealth to the piece. Their rhythmic pace echoes footsteps while a lute – or perhaps a suka or gadulka – plays along with them. It’s great for leaving on repeat as well and is just shy of three minutes.
I take a lot of inspiration for planning music playlists from song titles. It can help you find tracks that fit a region or area better. For instance, if the party is traveling through an open plain, a great song to use is “The Plains of Erathell” composed by Grant Kirkhope.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has a special place in my heart as does its music. This track is built for expansive plains or fields. It can be used as a way to setup the area the character’s are going to explore or to enhance a description of arcane ruins. It’s just beautiful. And at four minutes, it’s easy to loop.
“Sand Travellers” by Ryan Roth is a track from the game Moon Hunters. The indie title from Kitfox Games is a fun adventure game with an all around excellent soundtrack. This specific track may focus around desert environments but it can be used for much more regions. It’s mysterious and can really transform scenes.
I first discovered it while building an encounter around a sphinx. Since that day I’ve used it while the character’s explored ruined temples, underwater ruins, and flown across vast distances.
For a song with spooky motif, I recommend “Dead City” by Pawel Blaszczak. It’s from the first Witcher game and is great for traveling through graveyards, following cultists through a dungeon, or entering a dragon’s lair. It’s dark and foreboding tone also makes it rather perfect for venturing to Strahd’s Castle Ravenloft.
It’s eight minutes long so you can easily leave it running while you hold a conversation or interact with the players.
Thankfully, there are thousands of video games and movies that have songs built for exploration. Lord of the Rings, Skyrim, Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls Online, and Golden Sun are full of epic adventure music to fill your D&D games.
Exploring is a one of the key pillars of Dungeons & Dragons along with social interaction and combat. It can be pushed aside quite frequently due to combat but is no less important. It’s a time for characters and players to discover ancient lore, important information about the quest, or find new magic items.
The fellowship in the Lord of the Ringswouldn’t have made it far without exploring. Frodo would not have found the light of Eärendil nor would Bilbo have found Sting or Gandalf Glamdring if they hadn’t come across the troll cave.
In real life, we use music to get us through everyday experiences as well. Whether it’s working out or driving to and from the store or work, turning on some tunes can enhance our imagination and make us think. It’s certainly helped in our D&D game and during our camper van travels.
The original Dragonlance trilogy series is becoming one of my favorite fantasy stories ever written. Now, however, it will no longer be a trilogy. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman announced they are writing three more novels in the series.
It’s been a long time coming and it’s certainly a great way to start off 2021. While there is no information detailing the plot of the new trilogy, they will revolve around the original cast: Tanis Half-Elven, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Raistlin, Caraman, Flint Fireforge (shoutout to dwarfs), Sturm Brightblade, Goldmoon, Riverwind, and Tika. Joining the crew will be a brand new protagonist as well.
“Dungeons & Dragons is at the heart of what spurred us to adventure and Dragons of Autumn Twilight is among one of the many stories that reignited that drive.”
Dungeons & Dragons is at the heart of what spurred us to adventure and Dragons of Autumn Twilight is among one of the many stories that reignited that drive. Along with The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and our homebrew Dungeons & Dragons game. Whether it’s rolling dice at the table or following the Heroes of the Lance or Drizzt, we absolutely love the tabletop game.
Weis and Hickman created the world of Krynn and its characters then played the heroes in their home Dungeons & Dragons game. It’s rather similar to how we started our fantasy book series Thread of Souls.
In 2015, we finally took the plunge and bought the Fifth Edition Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide for Dungeons & Dragons. Dorian was the dungeon master and we had several friends over for session 0. Jade, Zok, and Sen were created first, followed a few months later by Artemis and Skar. Unole joined about a year later. It wasn’t until 2018 that Wash, Taliesin and Ruuda were put on paper. Thus, the world of Corventos went from pure imagination to published.
The rights to the upcoming series was secured by Weis and Hickman in 2018, too. Then came legal trouble with Wizards of the Coast. The 2020 issue surrounded creating new books and was settled before the end of the year. The series will be published by Del Rey Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. There is no word on when the first book will be released.
As for Thread of Souls, the first two books of the ongoing series are available on Amazon now! If you’re a fan of the Dragonlance series, consider checking it out. We’re also in the process of converting a camper van so we can travel around like Tanis and his crew or a Dungeons & Dragons party.
