What Pokemon Taught Me About Worldbuilding

This is the first in a series of articles I started on Reddit and will be porting over to my blog for the sake of longevity. It's a series about looking at some of my biggest influences and seeing *why* they influenced me, and how. This one's about Pokemon.

1. Episodic Adventuring

• Set yourself up for an easier time prepping by using an episodic structure. This will allow you to have generalized ideas of your world as a whole while only focusing on one location per session. 
• It stops you from having the "open world" vs. "linear story" discussion because there isn't one with an episodic story. 
• Each episode is linked, but how they are linked can be handwaved as traveling. 
• The direction of travel isn't as important because you are essentially resetting the party's footing with each session. 
• It creates a definite end and beginning to each session. Each session begins with the party coming to a place, or experiencing something new. Each episode ends with them moving on. 

2. Build the map as you go

• You have your starting town and your first adventure, plus you have your list of ideas that sound cool. 
• At the end of each session you can lay out some rumors for the party to choose from. 
• When they pick one, just place that as the next spot on your "map". No fuss, no hassle. 
• After 9 or 10 sessions you'll have a whole region mapped out. 

3a Theme

• In the World of Pokemon, there is a core theme. Capture pokemon, battle them to become stronger, become the "very best". 
• This is a goal and an attainable one. 
• What is the core theme of your world? Boiling your world down to an idea this basic can free you up to explore ideas that are not complete in your head. 
• You don't need to know why the nations are at war if your theme boils down to: go to town, capture base, win the war. 
• Everything else can come from that and you can give your party this information as a pitch. If they're in, they're in. If not, try the next idea.

3b Location Theme

• Instead of focusing on the minutiae of worldbuilding, when it comes to new locations in Pokemon, each one is based around its *own* theme. 
• In Pokemon, each gym has its specialty, and from that specialty, the town grows. The rock town is rough and stoic. The ghost town is spooky and horrifying. 
• Use those random ideas you have to be the fuel to flesh out the locations of your world. 
• If we continue with the war example, you might have a list that includes: the horrors of war, the downward spiral, losing a friend, letters from home. 
• Each of those will be a location in your world: a fresh battlefield where shellshocked soldiers call for the party's help, a wasteland where the weirdness of war pull at the party's sanity, a makeshift gravesite where the party faces their fallen comrades, a base with working water/comforts and a mailbox.

4a Enemies

• The World Theme creates the enemies. 
• In Pokemon, it's other trainers. 
• In this War World (which I'm starting to grow fond of) it's the opposing army. 
• You don't need to know everything about them, just that they are on the opposite side of your Party. 
• They fight against the party because of the Theme. 
• They oppose the party to fulfill the theme.

4b Recurring

• Recurring enemies creates fondness, understanding, and something *other*. 
• Just like a player can learn about their character by experiencing various situations and reacting to them, so can we learn about the enemy by experiencing them every session. 
• And not a group of faceless nobodies. But people with faces and names. 
• In Pokemon, it's Jesse and James. 
• In this War World, it might be the seductress who is a double agent, or an opposing sniper who radios in to taunt the party. 
• It's through repeated exposure that relationships and life are brewed. 

5. Random Encounters

• In Pokemon, between each of gym battles, the gang has an encounter. Usually out in the woods, or on the road. 
• These are just random encounters, and random encounters done right. Each one is impactful and lends itself to the overall theme. 
• Each one involves the gaining of a pokemon, the battling of some strange trainer, the accomplishment of some bonding exercise, or the thwarting of the enemy trying to steal your power. 
• In the War World, the random encounters could be POWs, a ruined village with survivors, mortar attacks, ambushes, a strange adventure where you have to dress fancy and mingle at some benefit. 
• Create a list of 10 ideas and use that as your springboard for random encounters. 

6. Re-imagining the old

• Pokemon is just a homebrew DnD world where the spells are living and wizards capture them to battle and grow stronger. 
• You can create a fresh spin for *your* world just be fluffing something old (spells) as something new (pokemon). 
• What if all monsters were just people, the name in the monster manual was their nickname? 
• What if all the races were actually animals (humans are dogs, elves are cats)? 
• What if dragons are just ideas that you can be infected with? 

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These are some ideas that influence my worldbuilding. Maybe you can see them in some older posts. You can follow me on reddit. I've got a book coming out soon! It's at the printers, just making sure it all came together okay before it goes up in the shop. Stay tuned!

Animated Objects: Redoing the Monster Manual

So I like Beauty and the Beast. That's the animated objects I know. And other than them, I don't really know how to do them, or *why* to use them. They seem kinda wacky and weird. Especially how they are written.

The main thing I did was make it *not* because of a wizard. These objects are not serving anyone and they are not here for anyone. They are here because the person who owned/used them left something behind in them. Never on purpose. Just by force of will/character, a little bit of them was left behind in these objects, so now the objects act like them.

These are best used sparingly. Like, if the party is graverobbing and they open the tomb of a knight, the armor is animate with his personality. Or if the party is in an old kingdom, ruined by giants, there's an animated book that knows what happened.

Shit like that.

Other than that, follow the advice and watch Beauty and the Beast if you REALLY want to use animated objects. Cause, in the 5e MM, they're kinda boring.

Angels: Redoing the 5e Monster Manual

I already have angels in my world. Everyone in my world has an angel. They live inside your dreams and rarely show themselves on purpose. You have to seek them out. They're the kid in the yellow smock that's drawing with chalk on the pavement of that one weird nightmare you keep having.

They always have the yellow coat. They always have the chalk (they're often drawing you dying in horrible ways).

All angels are the daughters of Zweila, the giant who was to cut the head off the Ran (the world snake) before she was betrayed, her own sword stabbed into her. She escaped, like most giants, into a pocket dimension, left to bleed her white blood.

She holds her hands out, cupped to catch the trickle of blood from her mouth. Every so often there's a clot and it sludges out and falls in the pool of her palms, and this forms an angel.

They watch you from the dream plane hoping you'll be the one to pull the sword from Zweila and kill Ran.

I'm copying and pasting the rest from my reddit because I'm tired.

STATS

HD 25 HP 137 SPEED 220’ (flying/hovering/levitating/anything that allows them to not exert force)

AC 16 (high dex)

ATTACK Zweihander +8 to hit, 2d6 + 8 damage, 6d6 + 8 to demons (includes witches married to demons, half-demons, demon marked sorcerers, warlocks with demon patrons, or anyone with any positive association to a demon)

DEFENSE Immune to ranged attacks unless from another angel, Immune to Zweihanders, Offended by any attacks that don’t come from an immaculate weapon, also has a buckler shield that she will use on occasion (+2ac)

SPECIAL phobia of snakes (will not go to Ran and abhors the Serpent Prince) which imposes disadvantage to all rolls revolving around snakes in any capacity, and being presented with a snake has a 50/50 chance of snapping them into a battle frenzy or paralyzing them

Colorblind - they only see in shades of white on account of the milk they were born in

The Gift - Angels can reach inside you, as if your chest was a curtain, and pull from it something and gift it to you. They often do not know what will come out and are just as often disappointed by the lack of blood it spills.

Angel Appearances - or at your own discretion

When

1. You critical fail at your most critical moment
2. Someone crits you when you were about to do something great
3. You fail your second death save
4. After you anger the government
5. Near a pit of snakes
6. When someone breaks your heart

Where

1. Out of the corner of your eye
2. In the back of a muscle car
3. Parachuting down
4. Out from under some bricks (or a manhole)
5. The shadow of an alley or a passing cloud
6. From your chest, which opens like a curtain for her

Why? - what they say when you ask

1. I thought you needed a cheerleader, she says using air-quotes and rolling her eyes.
2. You’re boring if you’re dead. shrugs
3. It’s a job. Nothing personal. snaps rubber glove on hand
4. Brushes dust off your shoulder Shut up.
5. You’re just about useless.
6. That’s a weird way of saying “thank you”, kid.

THE GIFT

Angels can see what you really are, what creature wears your skin, what color your soul is. If they feel like it, they can pull this from your chest and let it face the world. It doesn’t have to be kind, or subservient. Most of the time they are violent and destructive. To help determine what this gift is, look at your birth month and year below.

Appearance

There is no definite look that I can give you for your Angel Gift, but these are the ideas behind each month that give it its shape. Embellish and exaggerate whenever possible. And if needed, here’s a list of d12 animals to use as a base.

1. Cat
2. Dog
3. Wolf
4. Shark
5. Bull
6. Octopus
7. Hawk
8. Gecko
9. Snake
10. Lion
11. Fox
12. Whale

Month

1. January - shielded, solid parts for battering, clumsy
2. February - sagging, tentacled beast, wrapped in aging debris
3. March - pure evil, vile muck of a shadow, dripping with time
4. April - berserking beast, jittering and hungry, rippling with energy
5. May - immovable, unstoppable, gargantuan and blocky
6. June - Vile, monstrous humanoid
7. July - Many limbs, pincers, armor
8. August - animal in nature, warped humanoid
9. September - hunched and angry, pure instinct, humanoid
10. October - made of machines and war, fire and neon
11. November - Chimeric creature, human, animal, and alien
12. December - a humanoid climbing out of an animal

YEAR - special ability/trait

1. 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960 - Animated tiny minions
2. 2009, 1997, 1985, 1973, 1961 - Super strength
3. 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962 - Shadow form
4. 2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963 - Super speed
5. 2012, 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964 - Combustion
6. 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965 - Invisibility
7. 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966 - Regeneration
8. 2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, 1967 - Ethereal limbs
9. 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968 - Polymorph into objects and animals
10. 2017, 2005, 1993, 1981, 1969 - Telekinesis, levitation
11. 2018, 2006, 1994, 1982, 1970 - Immortal
12. 2019, 2007, 1995, 1983, 1971 - Laser eyes, thermal vision

Optional rule: You can roll a d12 for each option, they are all based off of 12 options.

What does it do? Why is it here?

This is a last ditch effort and also a test. If what comes out is an ally, then you’re more worthy than you were before. If what comes out is a monster and you slay it, you’re more worthy than before. To determine if it’s friend or foe, flip a coin. Have the player call it and catch it in your hand. Do not show them the result. Describe to them what it looks like as its pulled from them. Ask them what they do. If they respond “I wait” then you can look at the coin. The Gift will get an action before them.

Creating stats for your Angel’s Gift

The easiest thing to do, and a way to make it level with you and always be a viable option in-game is to give the gift your stats. HP, AC, etc, only modified by the appearance and traits. You could also base them off the stat-block of an animal or similar creature in order to create a feel. For instance, if an angel pulls something from a terrible villain, you could use the stat block for a powerful monster.

Who is Worthy?

One who has faced their Gift and has eaten a snake. One who has swallowed true courage and has faced the Leviathan in the Dreamwave. Dream jumper, demon slayer. Crafter of their own Zweihander.

Only they can pull the sword from Zweila and slay the Serpent Throne.

At Last Atop the Crystal Palace - my elemental plane of fire

Red skiff sands push endlessly towards the sun that hugs the horizon in orange and purple hues. Its dominating shape searing smoke and steam into the land. A constant shimmer. Haze. Sulfur stench. A single fleck of sand can melt through steel. A sandstorm is genocide.

A lonely shape rides the flats. Sky blue color trapped in glass, latticing up and out and jutting into space and time with jagged precision. Dragon hearts morphed together to form a safe haven, mirrored and reflective in pillars of crystalline minerals.

This shape is the Crystal Palace. It's but a speck against the mountain of the sun. But its shadow stretches long miles into an unmappable distance.

It must keep moving. Cutting through the air is the only breeze it can afford its denizens. And the sweat is thick on the backs of all the wizards and warlocks that dodge the monsters in the streets. The burnt skin clings to the backs of slayers who hide in the shadows of dragons.

The Halls of Smoke and Flame

There are not many permanent residents of the Crystal Palace, but there are permanent places visited by the various groups that are drawn here. In a mountain of crystal, there are several tall, arched hallways that crisscross in perfect patterns. The walls are smooth and semi-reflective. Cold to the touch. The abrupt change in temperature creates a fog that bites at your ankles. Your breath visibly crystalizes and floats the air like snow.

Wizards come here to study the ways of fire and the natural magics of dragon hearts.

Fire Magics - Mages of Elemental Fire begin with the manipulation of fire and grow in power as they devour the 7 flames.

Create/control fire - Expending a spell slot creates a campfire-sized fire. Anything under that can be extinguished/created at will. For it to be more than just a nuisance/damage someone you must expend a spell slot. Using this you can lower/raise your own temperature. You can also do this for things you are touching, like weapons or other people. Again, for this to have damaging effects you must expend a spell slot. You can absorb larger flames to regain spell slots.

Gathering the Flames

The seven flames are scattered across various locales. Their history is made up of legend and myth, with a few half-truths thrown in.

Flame	Location
First	In the Halls of Smoke and Flame
Second	Down in the Furnace
Third	Sold by a merchant that comes to the Crystal Palace once a year
Fourth	In the shadow of the Crystal Palace, across the wastes
Fifth	Held by the faerie atop Melancholy Hill
Sixth	At the gates of Mazmorra
Final	Atop the Crystal Palace

First Flame - Flame tongue. You can lick any fire and know who made it and their general direction. You can also speak to fires lit by someone else. Fires only talk about what their creator is trying to help.

Second Flame - Healing. Expend a spell slot to turn your flames green and white, healing someone for d6. This works alongside your create/control fire.

Third Flame - Combustion. As the fireball spell.

Fourth Flame - Icarus. Expend a spell slot to dim or brighten the sun. This can have subtle effects. The more slots expended the more powerful the dimming or brightness. All spell slots will blackout the sun or blind people.

Fifth Flame - Fire Wall. Expend more spell slots to change its properties. 1 = a wall of flame that hurts both sides, 2 = hurts only one side, 3 = same as below but only one side can pass through

Sixth Flame - Mirage Door. Create a mirage which opens an extra-dimensional space shared by all Elemental Fire Mages. It's a desert oasis surrounded by palm trees. Expending spell slots can allow additional people to come with you. You can also expend more slots to summon creatures from this extradimensional space (d4; 1. giant lizard, 2. dire raccoon, 3. colossal scorpion, 4. baby blue murder tarantula)

Final Flame - Rage Against the Dark. When you drop to 0hp, expend all remaining spell slots to survive for that many more round, wreathed in flame.

by Dimitrii Ustinov

Creation

The Crystal Palace itself is made from dragon hearts. The only thing that can withstand the heat. The exact creation isn't known to many, but the cursed Elves saw it happen long ago. Unlike the other planes, this one existed before the Giants and they used it as a place to lock away the fae. Even their mighty magics wouldn't resist the heat of the sun. But as Manos gave birth to dragons, the beasts saught the fae and piled up, one by one on the gravesite/prison, melting away until just their hearts remained. Legend has it that the most powerful of the fae are still crystalized perfectly in the center of the Palace.

Dragon Hearts, a Study

Wizards and scholars alike come here to study the strange materials. The gems are perfect for soul-trapping as well as different scientific experiments. Dragon Mutants with a bit of sanity left inside of them often scream about sanctuary being at the Crystal Palace. It's rumored that if you eat a Dragon Heart then you can reverse the negative effects that the Draconic language has on the brain and body.

The Scaled Church

Close to the top of the Palace, dragon mutants gather, each with their own goal and story behind their mutations. But here they have a sense of community, sequestered out of the Cage by people calling them Demons and other terrible, terrible things. Here they are not hunted and are even respected.

Tyranny's Claw

An extremist sect of the Scaled Chruch who continue to read and speak the Draconic texts, warping their bodies into these crystalline shapes. They hope to become dragons themselves, but many become statuesque, unable to move and trapped in horrific poses. It's unsure if any of them have succeeded in their tests and practices. You'd have to gain access to the Smoulder Archives to find out...

Smolder Archives

Connected via secret tunnels to the Halls of Smoke and Flame. There's a game that Wizard students play where they sneak into the Archives under a dare to retrieve a dragon scale. It's said to be good luck. But many students never return. The Archives are kept dark and locked away. It's a library with no books. Only row after row of petrified and crystalized people. Getting information from them requires gaining favor with Madam Cruel.

The Snake of the Crystal Palace

Madam Cruel is a medusa. They say she's the reason the Archives are kept dark. They also say that she is one of the first dragon mutants or even a daughter of Manos. She doesn't know and will only care if it means finding a way to control the Crystal Palace. She calls all dragon mutants her children and treats them with a stern but soft hand. To gain her favor you must tell her something she doesn't already know. But be careful...if it's too interesting she might want to keep you.

Dragon Clouds

Every day, as the Crystal Palace skiffs across the wastes, dragons crowd the sky. They dance in water, moving fluidly across the sky. It's a stunning sight, especially if you've ever seen the feral eyes of a dragon up close. It's something about the intense heat, the massive sun, that calms them. You can watch their tiny shadows move across the sun.

Sulfur Rock

This blackened slab of obsidian juts out from the Palace. It's covered in dusty, white, chalk signatures. Dragon Slayers make it a point to come here, witness the Dragon Clouds, and write their name. "We are but names taken away in a breath." The motto is carved at the tip of Sulfur Rock. It's been there since Madam Cruel.

Dragon Attacks

They are frequent and odd because they are never done in anger or ferocity. Dragons swoop and claw and burn and bite. But they always are targeting the Palace itself, sometimes even stopping and chewing on it. People get caught in the crossfire. It's just what happens here.

City of Ash

As we all know, Warlocks gain their power by trading their heart for a monster heart. This is one of the sacred sites of such rituals. Towards the bottom center of the Palace, through miles of caves, there is a city of fire elementals and living spells. Sticking out of the crystal walls are the limbs and face of an ancient fae. If you bring her your heart, she will push her tongue inside your chest and ignite a fire. And as you grow more powerful, your humanity will burn away to ash and smoke, leaving only monstrous fire. But you will be powerful.

Rumors of a Crystal Heart

The ancient fae within the City of Ash will deny this, but a few sages speak of another fae trapped even deeper in the caves. One that will take your heart and replace it with a gemstone. Maybe this is how you become a dragon? Think of the possibilities...the power...

Aboleth: redoing the 5e monster manual

Zak S. started this project a while ago. And ever since then it's changed the way I create new monsters and look at the current stuff we have for 5e (or any edition).

With that in mind, I'm going to try to redo the entire 5e Monster Manual. Let's see if I get further than Zak.

Aarakocra

Today is the Aboleth

Click to make bigger

I'll be honest, I never ran an Aboleth before. Looking at them I was kinda bored. They "enslave" people and live in lakes and are kinda gross? I much prefer the Mindflayer or the Beholder when it comes to Aberrations. 

So these Aboleths are just incubation sacks for alien god babies of the Sleeping Giant, infecting our dreams and leaking into our world. Go slay them or they might give birth to the end of life as we know it. 

They probably got some treasure too.

Redoing the 5e Monster Manual

Zak S. started this project a while ago. And ever since then it's changed the way I create new monsters and look at the current stuff we have for 5e (or any edition).

With that in mind, I'm going to try to redo the entire 5e Monster Manual. Let's see if I get further than Zak. Starting with Aarokocra.

Click to make it bigger

So basically these guys are inspired by the Valravn folklore, and they serve this long-dead Queen and see her in every other woman in existence. They carry big swords, fly through the air, and eat dead, searching for the hearts of kings so that they can further their surrogate queen's power. 

Inspiration from the Munchkin card game, which has abilities/monsters that function/react differently to you depending on whichever gender you are. If the wording isn't inclusive, please let me know how I can reword it. 

D12 Creepy Rooms

This is for when your party goes into a place and you want something a little creepy (could also be funny depending on how you play it). When in doubt, use whatever assassin statblocks you have handy, but definitely give everyone sneak attack damage and a big fucking dagger.

1. When you open the door you see yourself as if it's a mirror. You see the room behind this reflection though, and cannot discern any mirror. This reflection mimics everything you do perfectly...almost.
2. Someone takes your coat. You have another under it. Someone else takes that one. This continues and it gets harder and harder to leave the room as more and more people come to take your coats.
3. A laundry room. All the machines begin to flood. Inside each is a body of something/someone you've killed.
4. Floor is water, though looks like carpet when still. There’s a shark deep below.
5. Six men share one lollipop but refuse to touch each other.
6. There's a man standing in the corner, counting down from 100. What happens when he reaches 0? 
7. A room with a clock, it moves and is labeled like any other clock (1-12), except it references months. You can watch the seasons change out the window as the world ages around you at this accelerated rate.
8. It's your birthday. The rest of the party smiles and feeds you forkfuls of cake. Forcibly. They have so much cake for you to eat. And if you don't eat it, they have forks to prod you with.
9. A room with a bad ant problem. If you kill just one of the ants, you will get the sensation that there is something crawling on you. You will see ants in your peripheral vision. If you ignore it, it will bite you with hallucinatory poison.
10. Once you enter this room you must listen to Messa da requiem: lux aeterna. Don't speak while it plays. Just sit and listen. (See how long you can just sit and stare at your party in complete silence before they do something)
11. In this room is a you from another dimension. They have a day job. A content life. A wedding ring. You can trade spots with them. You can make them do this instead of you.
12. One of your parents is being conceived behind the curtained bed in the center of the room. If you stop it, reroll your race.