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On April 27th, OneBookShelf, in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Grounds, and White Wolf, announced a Play It Forward Event, running from May 4th (Star Wars Day) until May 17th. During the event, community-created products on those companies will forgo their royalties on products sold on DMs Guild and Story Vault and instead, the creators of the content will get 100% of all revenue. This is intended to help the creators, many of who are struggling due to Covid-19.

In addition to this change of revenue sharing, the sites will be having a 20% sale on titles at least 30 days old and temporarily suspending the affiliate program.

Perhaps you, like me, are wondering about some titles to invest in and explore during this event. I did some exploring and would like to recommend the following:

The Corruption of Skyhorn Lighthouse

The Corruption of Skyhorn Lighthouse is an adventure for 8th-level characters expected to take about 5-7 hours. It may be run as a follow up adventure to The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse, a 5th-level adventure that is available for free.

There's a lot to talk about with this adventure, specifically that it takes a bit of a different approach than most of the ones I've seen. Encounters by and large are kept to one page (with hyperlinks or printables to help cut down on page flipping). Embellishments and details are kept to a minimum. The idea is to allow a dungeon master to "run at a glance with minimal preparation and a natural delivery." To further aid with this, there is a short video walkthrough of the adventure.

Encounters are set up to resolve a dramatic question. Sometimes the expectation is that this will be around combat but often it includes a non-combat way to resolve the question. Once it is resolved, the idea is to move forward to the transition, which helps wrap up the current scene and kickstart the next. This is my first introduction to this approach and I rather like it.

If this interests you but you'd love to learn more before purchasing, the free 5th-level adventure follows a similar format.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Exit Pursued by Owlbear

Exit Pursued by Owlbear is an anthology of five adventures all inspired by the bard, Shakespeare. The Rose of the Fair State is inspired by Hamlet and is for a party of four 5th-level characters.

A Shrew’s Vengeance is for a party of four 3rd-5th level characters (with an average party level of 4) and is inspired by The Taming of the Shrew.

If We Shadows Have Offended explores A Midsummer Night’s Dream through a game.

Much Ado About Cookies takes its inspiration from Much Ado About Nothing and is for a party of four to six 3rd-level characters.

Finally, Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble delves into the world of Macbeth and is for a party of four 5th-level characters.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Budding Baba's Growing Hut

Have you ever wanted to have your own wandering hut like Baba Yaga's? If so, this is the title for you (and if you read this blog, I hope the answer is yes for you and your character!) This product contains rules for growing a hut including advancements, quirks, personality traits, some special abilities (like the ability to kick out unwanted guests!). I absolutely adore this one.
To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

On April 27th, OneBookShelf, in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Grounds, and White Wolf, announced a Play It Forward Event, running from May 4th (Star Wars Day) until May 17th. During the event, community-created products on those companies will forgo their royalties on products sold on DMs Guild and Story Vault and instead, the creators of the content will get 100% of all revenue. This is intended to help the creators, many of who are struggling due to Covid-19.

In addition to this change of revenue sharing, the sites will be having a 20% sale on titles at least 30 days old and temporarily suspending the affiliate program.

Perhaps you, like me, are wondering about some titles to invest in and explore during this event. I did some exploring and would like to recommend the following:

Wanted: Dead or Alive - A Collection of Dastardly Criminals for Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons

Wanted: Dead or Alive is a book of NPCs, presented as a series of wanted posters. In addition to the poster, we get some background of each character including their "crimes" and background on their life, special items they may have, plot hooks, tactics, and a stat block. The book includes 18 characters. There are content warnings where appropriate. In addition, each character has the name of its author, helping readers to track down other works written by their favorites.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

The Princess Project

The Princess Project is an anthology of adventures. Each focuses on fairy tale and mythological princesses, aiming and subverting tropes and the patriarchy. The title includes magic items, spells, and more.

I particularly enjoyed "Tying the Knot," especially the list of items that need to be collected before the wedding as well as the locations. I may steal some of them for my own games as well.

In addition to the adventures, there are several random tables in the appendix, including trinkets and wild magic, as well as themed items and spells.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

i've been

i've been is an adventure for four 3rd-level characters that explores themes around mental health, particularly "depression, self-loathing, and isolation." As a person who has faced depression and anxiety and has had a number of friends and others in my life who have done the same, I super appreciate this adventure. In particular, I liked the metaphor for what it's like for some to have depression and similar. Like a number of the titles I'm featuring, creating this module helps the designer (and also potentially us) to explore these issues. At the end there are resources for safety tools to use if you decide to run the adventure as well as a number of crisis lines for the US.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

College of Acapella

College of Acapella contains player options for bards including a bard college along with some spells and feats. In particular, I love the concept of the chorus of harmony, which gives your character a number of duplicates (allowing you to be a one-person acapella group!).

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

On April 27th, OneBookShelf, in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Grounds, and White Wolf, announced a Play It Forward Event, running from May 4th (Star Wars Day) until May 17th. During the event, community-created products on those companies will forgo their royalties on products sold on DMs Guild and Story Vault and instead, the creators of the content will get 100% of all revenue. This is intended to help the creators, many of who are struggling due to Covid-19.

In addition to this change of revenue sharing, the sites will be having a 20% sale on titles at least 30 days old and temporarily suspending the affiliate program.

Perhaps you, like me, are wondering about some titles to invest in and explore during this event. I did some exploring and would like to recommend the following:

The Adventurer's Domestic Handbook

The Adventurer's Domestic Handbook is a supplement for all things hearth and home including love, marriage, children, household upkeep, divorce, and more. The book has 153 pages and includes new subclasses, stat blocks, marriage ceremonies, vehicles and upgrades, feats, and backgrounds. In addition, it has a whole section full of romanceable NPCs.

I haven't had a chance to read it in depth enough for a full review but one of the things that really stuck out to me is the care taken in terms of language and presentation. For example, multiple times gender is left out of pregnancy, preferring the wording of pregnant person. Likewise the book makes no assumptions on who might be rearing the child or children.

The apprenticing section also looks interesting, with slightly different mechanics depending on how old the character becoming an apprentice is. Likewise, the romanceable NPCs section provides a lot of inspiration for how to approach character design in a way that enables or enhances that direction of play. The non-romanceable NPCs are also interesting. For instance the idea of engagement tracks for employees seems useful for a dungeon master.

Finally, I really enjoyed reading through the marriage ceremonies section, especially since it's a great way to do world building and add variance to the world. And a number of the magic items made me smile, especially the Bassinet of Following (hello, Mandolorian).

Preview: Google Docs

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Tales of Thelanis, Vol 1: "The Child and the Guardian"

"The Child and the Guardian" is the first volume in the series Tales of Thelanis, which explores areas within the Faerie Court in Eberron. Each volume in the series is expected to "explor[e] different story-themed domains in Thelanis and their archfey" with this one covering the Burning Grove and the Green Giant. In addition, it adds a new race and two subclasses.

I really enjoyed how the story weaved throughout the entire 12 pages. In particular, I loved the lair actions and regional effects that are tied to the archfey as well as the important figures for the area.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Harps and Harpies

Harps and Harpies is an adventure for 3-5 level 4 characters (tier 1) with an expected playtime of about 5 hours. It concentrates on the story of Stonetide, "a coastal town with a harpy problem." One of the townsfolk, Aegis Roulade, wants to learn what happened to his great-aunt, a person who used to keep the harpies at bay, and to return to his family her legendary harp.

I don't want to give away too much about the adventure, but, of course, there is more to the story than appears. The story promotes a large amount of exploration of a nearby island and includes aquatic-themed encounters and skill challenges. Finally, it asks us what family means.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

A Dire Dalliance

In "A Dire Dalliance," a local noble woman asks the group to help her uncover the secret of a pair of guests at her recent balls. Both times, the guest left the party before answering her questions about their identity. Inspired by the story of Cinderella, the adventure unveils the truth behind their hurried escapes.

The adventure is designed for 4 characters of levels 3-5 and is intended as a short adventure. As with the above adventure, Harps and Harpies, it explores a number of themes including "love, identity, and breaking free from poisonous family ties." It carries a content warning of transphobia.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

As I looked through a bunch of the discussion around the Love Domain cleric, it became clear that the criticism of some of the powers removing consent wasn't clear, especially concerning the criticism made that it could be referred to as the "'roofie' domain."

I appreciate that discussion was fast and often furious and folks might not want to discuss the details anymore. Having a full-time job and a three-year-old makes it hard to participate in the conversation in a more timely manner, but I'd like to give the conversation a try.

First, I want to say it's clear that through some of the design that thought was put in, especially in the area of the bonds. My gut tells me some portion of the folks involved in the design were going for an Aphrodite/Eros/Cupid vibe and particularly their tendency to use mind control and those folks either weren't aware or chose to ignore the problematic aspects to those stories.

I don't say that to shame or otherwise assign blame. Just that we live in a culture that tends to minimize the importance of consent and sometimes make excuses for stories that involve in removing the ability to willingly and enthusiastically consent.

Second, while it's important at some point to discuss the role of consent when it comes to sex (especially with regards to a Love Domain), for the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to keep the conversation more centered on the idea of what it means to remove consent and how some types of drugs make that easier. I won't talk about instances of sexual assault or rape but will use the story of someone who was drugged but didn't have anything additionally negative happen to them.

With all that said, let's dig in, shall we?

Understanding Roofies

One of the first things that stood out to me reflecting on the response is that a lot of folks don't understand the group of drugs called "date rape drugs" or "roofies." For instance, I recently had a conversation with someone under the impression that roofies knocked the victim out, rendering them unconscious. That was because the expected usage is to help people unable to fall asleep do so.

However, when these drugs are used in an off-label way (often on unknowing or unwilling participants), it's the combination of the following reactions that the administrators of the drug are looking for: reduce inhibitions, sedate folks, and cause memory loss. It's also important to note here that while "roofies" are often used to facilitate sexual assault and rape (along with other substances such as alcohol), there have actually been many cases of people just adding these substances to people's drink for what they consider to be fun.

Because people are sometimes unwittingly drugged by an unconnected third party, we have situations where reliable third parties are present during the episode. For instance, I found this description in an article by Jordan Kisner, describing what happened when she was drugged while at a bar with her then-boyfriend, John.

Twelve hours after being drugged, I woke up shaking in John’s bed, fully clothed, and on top of the covers. My knowledge of the interim is pieced together mostly from what he told me. Apparently, I’d grown radiantly happy and then quickly, dramatically incapacitated. I’d stopped talking, and then walking. I ran into walls. He took me back to his apartment to put me to bed, but I managed to lock myself in his bathroom for 30 minutes and either wouldn’t or couldn’t respond to his attempts to coax me out. When I finally emerged, he suggested I sit down, and I sat. He told me I should drink water, and I wordlessly accepted the cup. This was what unnerved him the most in the retelling: how pliable I had been. “You would do things, but you weren’t there,” he said.

https://www.thecut.com/2014/10/what-you-might-not-know-about-getting-roo...

What we can get from this description is that for at least some folks, the response is not to turn into an unconscious log but rather someone who clearly has an altered mental state and may become more "pliable" or compliant. It's important to keep that in mind as we look at the components of the domain.

Comparison to Charm Person

Now let's quickly look at Charm Person and Charmed.

Charm Person
You attempt to charm a humanoid you can see within range. It must make a Wisdom saving throw, and does so with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it. If it fails the saving throw, it is charmed by you until the spell ends or until you or your companions do anything harmful to it. The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance. When the spell ends, the creature knows it was charmed by you.

Charmed
A charmed creature can’t Attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful Abilities or magical Effects.
The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.

Right away I see a few things here that line up with the criticism. Charm person can take someone who is hostile to you and make them a friendly acquaintance. It doesn't say it here, but I think it's common knowledge that the reason why this spell exists and used is to make the target more agreeable to the person. This could be relatively benign, for instance a character could use it to counter someone who is under a different mind control spell. Or it could be more malicious, make someone more likely to do something that is in the caster's favor at the expense of the person who would have benefited from the target's free will.

Most importantly, this sort of modification, typically for the benefit of the administrator of the substance, of a person's mental state is the purpose of these drugs. And yes, there are additional protections here that don't apply in real life, the caster and their companions can't do anything that the DM would rule as harm to the target and amnesia isn't part of the spell. But I hope that folks can at least see where this criticism is still valid. The intent of both is to alter someone's mental state and make them more likely to do things they wouldn't otherwise do.

Comparison of Hypnotic Pattern, Confusion, and Hold Monster

Hypnotic pattern
You create a twisting pattern of colors that weaves through the air inside a 30-foot cube within range. The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the area who sees the pattern must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for the duration. While charmed by this spell, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0.
The spell ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor.

I hope by now, this is an easy one to see the comparisons. As with charm person, the creature becomes charmed, making the target more pliable. And now, we've added incapacitation which can be an outcome of many of the date rape drugs.

Confusion
This spell assaults and twists creatures' minds, spawning delusions and provoking uncontrolled action. Each creature in a 10-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw when you cast this spell or be affected by it.

More mind control, this one honestly feels eerily similar to what happens with some abusers.

Hold monster
Choose a creature that you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be paralyzed for the duration. This spell has no effect on undead. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target.

Another incapacitation outcome.

Comparison to Channel Divinity: Impulsive Infatuation

You can use your Channel Divinity to overwhelm a creature with a flash of short-lived but intense admiration for you, driving them to rash action in your defense. As an action, you present your holy symbol and choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw; a creature can choose to fail this saving throw if it wishes. On a success, the creature is unaffected. On a failure, the creature is charmed by you until the start of your next turn, and it must immediately use its reaction to make a weapon attack against a target you designate. If there are no valid targets, it uses its reaction to admire you.

Here again, we are overriding a creature's free-will and consent in hopes of influencing the outcome of an event and making that part of a "love domain." It's a bit harder here because the issues are only implicit in the text. By and large, the reason this class feature exists is to force a creature to do something it would not do such as attack one of its allies or something in the environment that would be helpful to hostile enemies.

Not only do the same critiques of charm person apply, but not only are we engaging in removing consent, it's a domain feature. Unlike charm person, which is just part of the game (not saying there aren't issues there, just the issues get highly magnified when packaging with the Love domain), this domain feature should, in part, be key to telling us what this domain is about. This should be iconoclastic. And what we end up getting is tightly tying the domain to removing consent.

Thoughts

Do I think this is easy to forget when designing something? Abso-f*ing-lutely. Especially when combined with all of the other criticism of the game, right? I mean, the bond powers are nice, but a lot of folks have been upset when clerics don't get enough damage dealing powers, right? And we definitely want to be careful of that with the love domain because it often gets thought of as feminine, right? Add into that a healthy serving of stories where this makes sense (looking at you Aphrodite/Eros/Cupid) and I totally get how someone gets to this place in writing.

But moving from there to publishing is super hard. We know the time we live in. Where we're still in the position of having to say "Cosplay is not consent" and even trying to get the public at large to live by the fact that consent can be withdrawn at any time. We live in a time of #MeToo. To put this as a domain feature of the love domain is, well, it's hard to process and feels, from the outside, like a failure somewhere in the chain.

Currently on Kickstarter is a game called One Child's Heart, designed by Camdon Wright.

There are pivotal moments in every child’s life that shape who they become. One Child's Heart is a tabletop roleplaying game that invites players to take the role of child welfare professionals participating in a new mental health care memory exploration experiment. The Central Limbic Engagement Recovery System (CLERS – pronounced, “clears”) brings characters into the memories of these key moments to give support and guidance to a child who needs both.

What I love about this game is that it focuses on human connection and empathy while not being about "tragedy tourism." In addition, as hard as at may be to accept, players cannot change what has already happened. There is no ability to be the savior. But, just like in real life, what can be done is helping the child learn tools to cope with their life to come.

The basics of game play are described in the Kickstarter. Players take on one of five playable professions: the child psychologist, the clergy, law enforcement, the social worker, and the therapist. They help the child through the memory and attempt to earn enough tokens for an optimal outcome. Dice are used to determine whether or not a connection is made, which makes sense because each child is unique and the reality is that we cannot know what is going to connect with an individual.

In addition to the game idea itself, the reason why this is a "More Like This Please" post is because it has a kickass team working on it. First, let me be clear and say a number of people I know and admire are part of this, including Sharang Biswas whom I know from outside of gaming. The whole group is immensely talented and bring a diverse range of experiences to the table, incredibly important in a game such as this.

If you are interested in learning more, I recommend listening to the actual play sessions listed on the Kickstarter page:

• One Shot Podcast
• She's a Super Geek Podcast
• Party of One