Heroes Rise two hundred and thirtieth entry: If an Owlbear Poops Mimics in the Woods…
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 230th entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday November 26th 2022, and released Wednesday November 30th 2022 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Ryu has found something more deadly than an official adventure’s first level encounters… [volume 1 | volume 2] Next we answer all of those D&D questions we never thought we’d get asked as DMs, as we gather around the campfire and engage in some Dissonant Whispers After that we’ll take a Short Rest and head into the Archives of Candlekeep and get the lowdown on Graz’zt; before finally heading into the Scrying Pool to see what you [all] have to say. Community Questions
Archives of Candlekeep: Graz’zt
Like so many things, Graz’zt is fine as long as you’re a man. Graz’zt is a figure that can be very problematic in D&D. Certainly using him in a campaign in any way that’s true to lore and doesn’t just have him as an adversary to fight can raise some eyebrows or cause a lot of uncomfortable squirming in players. The demon lord is not new, but he wasn’t there from the very beginning like Orcus or Demogorgon. Graz’zt was, however, a Gary Gygax original for better or worse. Gygax also said in an interview that “Graz-it” was the pronunciation, so sorry to everyone who liked the “grazt” version. The demon lord first appeared in a module for first edition D&D called “The lost Caverns of Tsojconth [SOJ-kanth]”. It was labeled as adventure “S4” and published in 1982, though the published version was a clean up and rewrite of Gygax’s…
Heroes Rise two hundred and twenty ninth entry: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Tiamat
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 229th entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday November 12th 2022, and released Wednesday November 16th 2022 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. This week we’re going to wander into the Market of Minauros to see what mysterious and magical items have filtered up for sale. Angel’s Bacchanalia: Holiday Feasts & Celebrations for D&D Itza’s Guide to Dragonbonding: A DnD 5e supplement Quest Decks 2.0: Adventure Cards for your RPG Games Next we check out some D&D News as we discuss the new art released for Takhisis, as well as looking at the prelude to adventure for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen; and then we’ll open up our Quest Logs as Indigo Specter takes us through the Tomb of Annihilation. After that we’ll take a Short Rest and head into the Archives of Candlekeep and learn all about the Gnolls and Yeenoghu, before…
Archives of Candlekeep: Gnolls and Yeenoghu
This article was first broadcast in Episode Two Hundred and Twenty Nine on 16th November 2022. Note: This article was adapted from an episode script, and so there may be parts that don’t flow well when read, because they were initially designed for broadcast. People always point out that generalizing the behavior of a species based on the most frequently encountered groups or even the majority isn’t fair. Drizzt proved that not all Drow are Lolth-worshiping, murderously conniving slavers, Orc society is much more complex than them just being aggressive raiders that want to kill all the other races and conquer the world, and not all Kobolds are mindless dragon sycophants. On the other hand, there are some species where trying to find the diamond in the rough is a very long, fruitless dig. Locating a sympathetic vegetarian Mind Flayer is going to be a really difficult scavenger hunt; benevolent…
Wisdom of the Masters: You’re Coming With Me
This article was first broadcast in Episode Two Hundred and Twenty Eight on 2nd November 2022. Note: This article was adapted from an episode script, and so there may be parts that don’t flow well when read, because they were initially designed for broadcast. The heroes being captured is a fairly common trope in most adventure stories. Princess Leia on the death star, Merry and Pippin in Lord of the Rings, the dwarves in The Hobbit, or James Bond…practically always. It’s usually used in the story to present an immediate problem for the heroes to overcome, and to showcase their capability when they don’t have all their resources or weapons available. It’s also sometimes used as a way to move the plot forward; either a villain will monologue at the heroes and divulge their plan for ultimate domination, or the heroes come across vital pieces of information while imprisoned, either…
Heroes Rise two hundred and twenty eighth entry: OK Lunar
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 228th entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday, October 29th, 2022, and released Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022 over at heroesrisepodcast.com. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Lennon has somehow lost his atlas. Luckily, he can just search for a new one. Next we check out some D&D News as we discuss the upcoming adventure module release: Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen Dragonlance What is Dragonlance Knights of Solamnia [1], [2] High Mages of Sorcery [1], [2] Lunar Sorcerer Preview [1], [2] For a refresher on the history of the setting, check out Heroes Rise ep 206 where we discussed Dragonlance in detail, or read up on Libby’s notes on Dragonlance from the Candlekeep archives Beadle and Grimm’s Shadow of the Dragon Queen Steel Edition After that we take a Short Rest and hear some Wisdom of the Masters on why you’re…
Archives of Candlekeep: Drizzt
This article was first broadcast in Episode Two Hundred and Twenty Seven on 19th October 2022. Note: This article was adapted from an episode script, and so there may be parts that don’t flow well when read, because they were initially designed for broadcast. Drizzt Do’Urden is one of the most famous fictional characters to come out of D&D. Some people say he is the 100% most famous character, Stranger Things notwithstanding. He’s the rebel drow that forsook his heritage, made his way on the surface, and established a long-running legacy with his swords, panther, and companions. There is debate about some things, but a lot of people consider him to be the main reason the Forgotten Realms rose to as much prominence as it did. Some say he is also the reason Rangers, drow playable races, and animal companions are always the focus of a lot of fan attention in…
Heroes Rise two hundred and twenty seventh entry: Twinkle McDuder and his Magic Crystal Cinnabon
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 227th entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday, October 15th, and released Wednesday, October 19th over at heroesrisepodcast.com. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Ryu has crafted a new spearhead! Then we head into the Archives of Candlekeep and take a Long Rest as we attempt to tackle a subject that’s taken 38 mainline novels to cover: the legendary deeds of Drizzt Do’Urden And finally we’ll be heading into the Scrying Pool to see what you have to say. Community Questions What’s your experience with Drizzt Do’Urden? Have you read all of the novels? Any of the novels? Has he shown up in a video or RL game? And now that everyone has a baseline impression, what do you think of the prototypical drow ranger? Is he a worthy figure to carry the D&D banner after overcoming adversity and solving problems in…
Archives of Candlekeep: Lord Soth (aka Strahd Lite)
This article was first broadcast in Episode Two Hundred and Twenty Six on 5th October 2022. Note: This article was adapted from an episode script, and so there may be parts that don’t flow well when read, because they were initially designed for broadcast. Lord Soth, in Dragonlance, fills in much the same niche as Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings or The Mountain from Game of Thrones; he is a secondary antagonist in most of his appearances, almost always working at the behest of someone else, and their backstory is…fraught. Soth’s first appearance in real life chronology was in the War of the Lance trilogy (The original three). He lived through that conflict (sort of…we’ll get to that in a bit), and became another significant pain for the heroes in the so-called “twins trilogy” that focuses on Raistlin and Caramon…and the short one whose name starts with a “T”.…
Heroes Rise two hundred and twenty sixth entry: Charisdom of the Experts
Welcome, brave adventurers, to Heroes Rise. This is the 226th entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday October 1st, and released Wednesday October 5th over at heroesrisepodcast.com. In this week’s Adventurer’s Pack, Ostron’s been keeping a database of critters… Hopefully that’s a list of creatures, and not a list of Critical Role fans… Anyway Next we check out some D&D News as we take a look at how the next edition is going back to the future, with the latest Unearthed Arcana for the OneD&D Playtest: Expert Classes. After that we take a Short Rest and head into the Archives of Candlekeep and learn all about Lord Soth (aka Strahd Light); before finally heading into the Scrying Pool to see what you [all] have to say. Community Questions The new UA is out! What do you think about the new classes? Do you agree the ranger has a role now?…