How To Play Lord of the Rings Duel

The game is a two player back and forth drafting game. One person takes on the forces of Sauron and the other the Fellowship. But that’s mainly in name only. The game generally revolves around resource collection and then using those resources to procure other cards or fortresses.

As you play there are three end game triggers that you need to watch out for. If the Nazgul catch the Fellowship, they get the ring and win. If the Fellowship makes it to Mount Doom, they get the ring and win. Or if someone, either side, rallies all six different factions they win. And if either side has a presence in all the locations on the board they win.

That’s the basics of the game, I’m going to get into some of the differences between Lord of the Rings Duel and 7 Wonders Duel next.

What’s Different Between 7 Wonders Duel and Lord of the Rings Duel?

There are a few differences worth noting between the games. While the core loop of drafting cards remains the same between the two. It does vary in a number of different ways. Including a central board.

The Central Board

Let’s start with that central board. This is an area control battle between the players. It kind of takes the place of the combat track. But it’s also it’s own separate thing. There are a number, I believe 7, of locations on the map. If a player either gets troops or towers in all the locations they can win the game. But you battle with your troops, moving them around the board and trading them with your opponent one for one.

And the red combat cards are how you get more troops onto the board. And the purple cards that offer scoring in 7 Wonders Duel, now a lot of them are manipulating where you have troops on the board to help you push for that end game.

Factions

The game also has factions. These are going to be familiar to science cards. You collect them and when you get enough you can win the game. But that’s something that is blockable because you can see if a player is going after that. And there are six factions and two cards of each which might not all be in there.

But there is an additional benefit to factions. If you get two of the same faction you pull two tokens from that faction deck. You select one and that is going to be the one that you use. For some of them it’s a benefit for the whole game. For others Ents and Wizards which are only in the third chapter, you get a one time effect.

Fortresses

Another change to the game is the fortresses. These are basically replacements for the wonders in 7 Wonders and 7 Wonders Duel. So it’s kind of the same thing, a high cost for something but then it gives you a bonus.

The difference in Lord of the Rings Duel is that these are a shared pool. Three are available in chapter one and at the end of each chapter they are replenished. So you fight directly over who gets which one. And that can matter a fair amount. It’s a good way to push to gain that sixth faction with the powers of some of them. Or other win conditions as well.

What Doesn’t Work?

I think for me there is one element that I feel like doesn’t work super well. And I am sure it was done for a good reason. But that’s that I want more in the box. Just one little bit more variety. A bit more variety in the cards maybe? Or it might just be that I miss the final scoring of 7 Wonders Duel. Here there are the three different ways to win or it’s majority on that map. If you figure out that you can’t hit one of the other win objectives, you need to spend on that map in the third chapter.

Now scoring would be a large change to the game. And I get why they didn’t want to add it in. But I’d love to see a little bit of scoring in the game to end it otherwise. Or at least have you look at two or three different things. Like the majority on the map, majority in the factions and furthest to the ring goal. That’d be great for me, I think. And most of the time you should end up with a winner. And it gives players multiple things to push for in that final chapter.

What Works?

Much like 7 Wonders Duel, the card drafting works so well. It’s a great push and pull between the players. And I think the Lord of the Rings Duel even makes it better. Because you have the shared pool of fortresses you are now sometimes skipping a round drafting. It feels like a bit more control than I remember with 7 Wonders Duel, though I’m sure it’s minor at best. But I often sat there in the game counting cards and pushing to get exactly what I needed to buy a fortress to guarantee I got a card I wanted.

I also like the shared nature of the fortresses. Often time you want to fight over them and you look to see what your opponent might need. There was one time where I needed either Wizards faction card or the feather (Eagles) from the Hobbit tokens to win the game. My opponent smartly took the one that let me pull a card from the discard for the age, which did have a wizard. But then accidentally gave me the way to feather token. So you need to pay attention to a lot with the fortresses.

The game is also still really fast. Even with the added element of the area control board to watch, you get through a game in maybe 30 minutes. With learning the game and playing three times in an evening, we started at 7:30 and were done by 9:15 or so. And that’s nice for a two player game to get in a few plays in a single evening. If it was going to take much longer than that, it’d feel like more work than intended.

Who Is This For?

I think the Lord of the Rings Duel is for people who maybe aren’t drawn to the 7 Wonders Duel theme but are interested in the game itself. Lord of the Rings is obviously going to be a more popular them. And I think that as a game too, it’s easy enough to play that it’s that great play it with the Lord of the Rings fan in your life. Give it to them for a holiday or birthday, teach them to play and let them go forth from there.

But if you already really love 7 Wonders Duel and the theme doesn’t do it for you. I don’t know that you need this game. I think that they do enough different that I plan on keeping both. But that is a me thing and I’m not sure that everyone would agree with that sentiment.

Final Thoughts on Lord of the Rings Duel

I really enjoy this game. I do have that one negative. And I expect that an expansion might tweak that end game slightly. Though who knows if there is going to be an expansion to this game. If it does well I’m sure that they’ll make another one. But I also can tell that the game was very carefully curated to create a box that has everything you need for a consistently close and fun game.

I think that the tightness of the game and the closely curated card set also is one of the reasons that I do want an expansion. I think that you’ll get to know the cards very well very quickly. And depending what you see in the first chapter that might start to really focus players in on certain strategies in the future chapters. But there are ways without adding cards you can add more variability. Different and more fortresses or different and more faction tokens easily add in more variety.

My Grade: A
Gamers Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B+

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The Dragon Prince – Plot Overview

Warning, if you haven’t watched the show at all, spoilers ahead for the whole series.

Season 1-3 Recap

Let’s recap everything to get to where we are. Rayla and the moon elves come to assassinate the King after he and Viren took down the dragon king and destroyed the Dragon Prince’s egg. However, that egg is found in the castle. And one of the moon elves, Rayla joins with Callum and Ezran to go on the run with the Dragon Prince’s egg to try and get him back to his mother. Things don’t always go smoothly but they work their way over there through the first three seasons.

Viren, meanwhile, is making a play for the throne which Ezran struggles to know what to do with. And he attempts to track down the boys and Rayla to get the egg back. Even sending his own children after them to get the egg and let a mysterious accident happen to them. But that doesn’t work and it culminates with Viren leading troops into Xadia, the elven lands, to get the egg back, all with a mysterious little voice Aaravos whispering in his ear, helping him along the way.

Season 4

We jump forward two years. Ezran has taken the thrown, Viren is back, after being thought to be dead, and now the threat is new. No longer are they trying to get the Dragon Prince, Zym, back to his mother, but now the threat is the return of Aaravos.

Season 4 brings the characters back together after having been apart. As well as gives us more of the history of Xadia and the lands and what Aaravos had done prior to being put into his prison. And without saying much more, that’s the basics of the story to avoid spoilers.

What Doesn’t Work?

The time jump makes sense, to some extent, and there is a story reason for it. But it also adds in some complications for everything. When you do a time jump you need to explain where characters have been and what they’ve been up to. I think it works for some of the characters pretty well, Claudia for example, but not for others as much, Rayla. However, you need Rayla’s story for some of the tension and development of everything.

And I think that a show like The Dragon Prince, with the actual time gap between seasons suffers a little bit. As the characters age up, you kind of expect the show to mature a little bit. And The Dragon Prince has never kept from dealing with tough topics. But some of the characters or situations are basically done for humor in ways where it cuts into heavier or more meaningful moments. Now, it is a kids show, so that is the reason, never let it to get too heavy in any moment, but it could have been handled better.

What Works?

I think the overall story is the right way to go. Aaravos needs to be the next big bad guy. There is not the pressure of getting Zym to his mother anymore. So some new bad guy needs to exist. And Viren could work for that, but it’d feel a lot like a retread. I believe it was smart for them to look to a new main villain.

Viren’s arc for this season I think worked really well. It was almost a passing of a torch early in the season and he returns to his power at the end. No details for you on how that works though as it is a spoiler. But his arc makes a lot of sense and I like that they given characters who are villains depth and arcs for what they are doing.

And finally, I really like the handling of the elf and human dynamic. It is two years later, but things aren’t perfect. In fact, a lot of times, things still struggle. And that is one thing that the Dragon Prince always does well. It tells a story where there are comparisons to the real world. But it shows light on things that are hard to see in real life. Mainly that real change, coming together, it takes time, it takes work, there are going to be differing opinions. But if it truly does matter, then the fight to make those changes happen does matter as well.

Final Thoughts on The Dragon Prince Season 4

Is this my favorite season, I don’t know that it is. There are elements that are great, though. And without getting into spoilers, it is hard to talk about them completely But there are elements that aren’t as fun. And some of that is the time jump and the need to explain it away. I wish they hadn’t done it in some way. But at the same time, it is needed.

One of my likes, how it handles the struggles of the elf and human dynamic is really good. And that is not as strong without that time jump. However, another element, that with Rayla, it feels like it’s tacked onto there for no amazing reason. They needed to explain it, they want more drama. But this show is better when it allows some things to work out just because they do. Overall, still a great show and still a really fun season.

Is this going to be a season that brings in new viewers or makes it worth pushing through? No, I don’t think it is. But if you like the show, it is reason to keep watching. Do you like like The Dragon Prince?

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Keeper of the Lost Cities Plot

Sophie is not a normal 13 year old, she has the power of telepathy and can always hear everyone’s thoughts. To go along with that, she’s extremely smart, and has a photographic memory. She’s an outsider because of all of those things. Then, she sees a boy, on a class field trip, who just looks too pretty. And he is looking at her, something feels off and she talked to him.

Turns out that something is off about her life. Fitz, the boy, tells her that she isn’t a normal human, in fact, she isn’t a human at all. There is a secret world of elves and other magical and mythical creatures out there. In our own world, but just out of sight due to magic. But her life as a human will need to go away if she is going to be an elf and live the life that she’s supposed to.

More Details and Harry Potter Comparison

So I don’t want to go into much more. What I wrote is basically the back blurb on the cover, but it’s something that should wet your appetite. And don’t worry, Keeper of the Lost Cities is not another Harry Potter. There are elements that might feel similar. The main character integrates into a new world that they didn’t know existed.

And to continue that comparison, she is a bit of a chosen child, but not in the way that Harry Potter is. I think that chosen child comparison is something people will latch onto, but Shannon Messenger does a better job of writing a chosen child. Sophie is really behind for an elf. She doesn’t know the world, she is expected to know and catch-up to what she doesn’t know. When she gets stuff wrong, elves are disappointed.

Harry Potter constantly should be in trouble, and he is not. Sophie often should be in trouble, and when she is, she gets punished. Her life has many more real elements to it. Characters worry about her. They pester her. They bug her, stuff that you don’t see happen in Harry Potter. People either hate Harry or love Harry, there is nothing between the two. For Sophie, people look to use her, to befriend her because of who she is, avoid her, and expect everything from her. And she is trying to balance all of that.

What Doesn’t Work?

There is very little, if anything that doesn’t work. I should talk about book 8.5 here. Mainly because that might be something that won’t work for some people. Even for me, I found it fairly boring. The point of book 8.5 is that it’s a bit of a recap for everything that has happened. Plus a novella that tells some story where book 8 left off and where book 9 begins. Or at least I am assuming that.

If you read the series in a compressed period of time, most book 8.5 is unneeded. I know what the characters did recently. I don’t need a full recap, no matter what way it is written. And some of the sections are better written than others. It is more the authors notes turned into something in the world that you are reading through.

I don’t even mind that they exist. I mind that there is a pretty important feeling novella in the book. It is different than she could write for the main book. The main books only show Sophie’s perspective. The novella bounces between perspectives. But to get the novella, you get the whole book. And I say now, get the book, just read the novella.

What Works?

Characters

So much works in this series. Sophie is a believable main character and the side characters are strong as well. Often in Middle Grade or Young Adult books, the main character is a paper cutout of a character. It is meant for the reader to put themselves into their shoes. Sophie is not that. She is a fully realized and deeply developed character. And each of the side characters at least the core, are as realized as she is.

I fail to think of many series where this is the case. Especially in that grade range. And I think there should be more. The story is easily digestible for an adult. And while there are intense moments for maybe middle grade reader, it is going to be pull them in.

Story Depth and Intensity

And let’s talk about the intensity. The story, unlike others in it’s age range, isn’t shy about bad things happening. And not like they happen around Sophie. Some of them do happen to other people. And it is character development for those characters. And reasons that friendships become stronger. But often the bad is directed to Sophie. She is not given an easy life. She is not a hero who always steps in and saves the day.

In fact, most of the time, she needs to rely on others to help her. Does she lead, for sure, she is the chosen one after all. But it isn’t a situation where she can do it alone. And that is a struggle for her. To compare her to another fictional character, it is a lot like how Harry Dresden, in the Dresden Files, is always looking to do stuff himself. He does so because he doesn’t want others to get hurt. Sophie is the same way.

World Building and Themes

Shannon Messenger is very good about building out her world. It helps that some of it is our world. But the rest of it, with the elves, dwarves, goblins, orcs, and more is different. But it is still similar. I think it is worked well like good fantasy or sci-fi. It is different enough that you feel like it isn’t our world, but close enough that it can touch on themes and issues that are true for us our world as well.

And I think that is another thing Messenger does well, also. She tells a good story with items that ring true. Now, it is still middle grade, so the depth of an issue isn’t always there. But that is okay, she is writing through the eyes of a 13-15 year old. Sophie is not going to understand everything, so as a reader, our view of these issues in the story should be simpler.

At the same time, I talk about the intensity of the story. And that means that as an older reader of the series, I understand some things that Sophie doesn’t. The story ages up well, that way. It makes the young reader start to think and the older reader understand the depth that is there.

Who is Keeper of the Lost Cities For?

I think that the young end would be twelve for the series. Though you maybe could go younger just reading it aloud and talking about what is going on. But that depends obviously on how you spend time. I don’t want to assume that people do a story that way. But twelve or thirteen is when I’d say a kid would be up for reading it.

As for getting older, it depends. I think a lot of people around my age and younger so mid-thirties and younger. The story is familiar. It feels a bit like Harry Potter, but in my opinion better. And my generation and younger, we read Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent, Maze Runner and more. Keeper of the Lost Cities contains all of that and more.

Final Thoughts

I love this series. I am reading a few other things right now, but I fully expect to come back to the series and read it all again. And I already pre-ordered the next book in the series. I want to know what is going to come next, and I want to spend more time with these characters in that world.

I really believe that a lot of people are going to enjoy this series as well. Like I said, the story is different, more meaningful than things it feels similar to. Yet it will hit the same beats that you expect from a Middle Grade or Young Adult series and novels. Plus there is a lot to the story, just in terms of how long the story is.

Have you read Keeper of the Lost Cities?

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Keeper of the Lost Cities – The Premise

Sophie Foster is not your normal 12 year old girl. She is extremely smart with a photographic memory. But more than that, she is a telepath. It is something that she’s had from a very young age and it’s definitely an annoyance. When her class is on a school trip to the science museum she spots a boy who is watching her. Not from her class, she goes and talks to him.

It turns out that the world she thought existed wasn’t quite what she thought it was. It is a whole lot bigger and she is part of that bigger picture. But what that means for her, as she moves from a world of humans to a world of magic and elves is the adventure she’s about to discover.

What Doesn’t Work?

I don’t find much fault with this series. Shannon Messenger does a really good job of writing this series. Yes, it most definitely is targeted towards the middle grade reader, but it doesn’t pull it’s punches. My only knock on the writing is that it can get a little bit preachy at times. Now, I say at times, in almost four full books, it’s maybe a handful of times. And these aren’t small books. It is more that you can feel the tone or style or writing shift when it happens.

Again, it isn’t much of the books. And it isn’t long sections of the book. Most of the time it is a paragraph of two. So compared to something like the Shannara Chronicles where it is the main focus through large chunks of the book, it doesn’t feel oppressive. It just isn’t blended into the series as well as it should be.

What Works?

Sophie Foster and Friends

There are a lot of things that work in the series. Again, no shock there, I really like the series. Let’s start out with the characters and in particular the main character, Sophie Foster. She is a well developed character. Her life gets turned on it’s head. And while she is most definitely excited about what is happening going forward, she also misses things. She has emotions and she has flaws and all of that gives her depth.

Is she a prototypical hero where things work out for her in the end, yes, generally. But the moments between, she struggles. I compare this series a bit to Harry Potter. Again, starting in middle grade and with magic, it is going to be an obvious comparison. In Harry Potter, he gets away with everything, Sophie gets away with almost nothing. When she does, there is always a cost.

Also, her friends work. A series that I don’t like, Divergent, had interesting side characters, for one book. They overshadowed the main character, so they became more boring. In Keeper of the Lost Cities, because Sophie has depth, the side characters have depth. I might still prefer some of the side characters to Sophie, but not by much. In Divergent it wasn’t even close, the side characters were that much better. This brings them all together in a way that makes them all different and interesting.

The Plot

The plot of all the books is good, that I’ve read thus far. But I mainly am talking about the first one right now. It is kind of a fish out of water story. Sophie Foster, obviously, doesn’t know the world she hasn’t lived in. So the first story is about her finding out about herself. Who she is, why she grew up in the human world. But there is more to the story than that. And Shannon Messenger does a good job of creating a middle grade reading level story that isn’t dumbed down.

It really comes out in further books in the series. But Sophie has a lot of tough stuff happen to her. Again, reading level appropriate, but not shying away from it. I feel like there are a lot of books that dumb it down for their target audience. The Keeper of the Lost Cities certainly does not do that. And the story is so much stronger for it. If it were dumbed down, I think my comment about characters wouldn’t exist.

That said, and this isn’t a negative, be aware of that. Sophie goes through a lot. For some readers, it might be too much at times. But this is also a series that adults will enjoy. So you, if thinking about it for a kid, and preread the first two books to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Who Is It For?

I want to address this as well, because I think some people will pass it by because it is middle grade. Did you like Harry Potter, I think this is better. Do you still like Harry Potter, I think you will like this. Keeper of the Lost Cities is a well written series, and while it might be lighter reading than what some people normally do, it is still good reading. So while I do recommend that adults maybe check it out to see how intense it gets, I think a lot will want to continue through the whole series.

That said, I know I am a sucker for fantasy. If you aren’t, again, you probably don’t like Harry Potter, this series isn’t likely to change it for you. And I think that some adults or readers outside of the age range, might find it too breezy a read. This is a summer read where you want to read something that has depth but a lot of fast action. Or in Minnesota a winter read, so you don’t stew in the fact it’s cold outside and snowing.

Keeper of the Lost Cities Final Thoughts

This is a really fun and addicting series. I like it when I pick up a series and I want to read the next book and then the next. The Great Library Series that I wrote about not too long ago was like this, but to a lesser extent. The Keeper of the Lost Cities keeps me coming back again and again. And they read so fast. It is one that I can pick-up and read and get far enough into the story in a few minutes that I just want to keep going.

So, like I said four or five times already, I really like this series. I think it works as a whole. There is enough depth to keep me interested. But it isn’t so heavy that I can’t speed through it and just absorb it as I go. For me, that is what I really love about a good book series, I just get so sucked into it, that I don’t ever want to leave. And the world created in Keeper of the Lost Cities, for me, is like that.

My Grade: 9/10

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10. Elves

They almost didn’t make my list, but they are good. I mainly find that the elves are annoying. They don’t lose a troops when they are killed in a battle, so you can run with elves the whole game. So it’s annoying to decide when to go into decline, because you’ll likely always be getting solid points from them. But they are annoying to deal with as well because you can’t kill them to get them off of the board. They can be a bit of a trap race if the combo is wrong because you get decent points each round, but not enough to get close to being in first. But you still keep playing them, because you get decent points.

9. Orcs

This might be higher on some people’s lists, because they can work really well in the right combos. Getting extra coins for taking over spots is always good. But they have limited numbers. Generally, you’ll see, I like the races with a lot of character tokens. But the orcs can be a nice, rush in there, get points, go into decline team. Even something like the special power stout with them works really well because you don’t have to waste a turn while they are in decline getting limited points potentially.

8. Dwarves

Dwarves are another race that has very few tokens. In fact, probably the fewest tokens of any race. But I don’t mind them because they are a good point getting race. The fact you can still get points while in decline is great. I like trying to hide one or two on mountain spots with mines so that I can quickly go into decline but still be collecting a few points a turn from them and put them in that harder to get to spot.

7. Trolls

Trolls are the ultimate turtle team. By that, I mean when you play them, you can possibly just only play them. If you have the right combination with a special power that is giving them some points passively. Merchant for example, which is a special power that I don’t love, but can work with a defensive race. Getting 2 coins, plus being able to more easily defend a location is great. If you can get into the mountains with the trolls, they are hard to get out of there. Plus their lairs stick around when they go into decline. That’s not that common and makes them, hard to move even when they aren’t active.

6. Giants

The next two are pretty similar, I just like the other one slightly better than the giants. Giants give you a discount when attacking down from a mountain. Anything that makes conquering a region easier is really nice. Plus they are coming down from the mountains which gives you better defensive position with them. That said, getting into the mountains in the first place isn’t discounted, so that’s why they are slightly lower than the one to come.

5. Tritons

Tritons are, in my opinion, slightly better than Giants. Mainly because they only care about being next to the shore to get their discount. And most of the maps, you can navigate from shore to shore relatively easily, possibly without ever leaving a shoreline. That makes them a great race to rush a large number of areas. The big reason they are ahead of the giants is that the Tritons are less situational. For the giants, someone could be entrenched in the mountains and make it hard for the giants to get a foothold. For the tritons, they can basically always have a weak spot to start.

4. Skeletons

Now we’re getting into the races that I really keep an eye out for. Skeletons add in more skeletons the more you attack. They are one of two races which grow over time. And while theirs might not be as strong a good combo, something like the special power commando makes them hard to stop. Even without a great combination, you can really push them around the map. They are a good one to come in and squeeze a player who is doing well or wipe out a large group of a race that’s in decline.

3. Amazons

Much like the Skeletons, the Amazons can wreck someone’s strategy. I really like how theirs works in comparison to Skeletons. While with the skeletons you add more, the Amazons actually lose some when it’s not your turn. But then you get them back for attacking. Again something like commando is great for them. Pillaging Amazons is also a little bit crazy with everything that they can do. I will at times seek them out in the right combination over the next two.

2. Ghoul

Ghouls are fun because they are extremely unique. When they go into decline, you don’t take anything off of the board, and they spread like they are an active race. Now you lose your special power, but that’s okay. Being able to attack in multiple different areas keeps people from being able to focus as easily on your troops. And you can get some huge turns depending on who the ghouls are paired up with.

1. Sorcerer

I’m not sure if people would consider this the top race. But I do, for one main reason, they can deal with the elves. But beyond that, they can spread extremely fast. The sorcerers once per player per turn, can replace an adjacent single enemy character with a sorcerer from the supply. In a four or five player game, you can spread quickly. Give them flying or underworld and they can pop up almost anywhere on the board. And like I said, they deal with the elves who don’t lose troops when they die, but being replaced by the sorcerer, they go back into the supply container. It’s hard to find a downside to the sorcerer, unless it’s early game, then players haven’t spread out enough.

Now, if I were to add in stuff from the Underground base game/standalone expansion, and the Be Not Afraid expansion, I could probably change this up. But just the base game, there are a lot of fun characters to try out. What are your favorite races? What is your favorite race and special power combo? For me, I’d have to say flying sorcerers.

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So let’s set the stage, this game everyone is going to be playing as Santa’s little helpers those wonderful Christmas elves. They’re busy getting ready for Christmas when they hear coming from Santa’s office “Ho Ho… Nooooooooooo” and when they go and look Santa Claus has been kidnapped. They have just enough time to jump through a portal as they see Santa being taken.

However, they don’t end up in the same place that the person was going, but instead they end up in a little world, a tiny little forest really and there are brightly colored eggs laying around.

What I’d want to do is run through a number of different holidays quickly. This might be only a one shot, or if you have some time off and want to get a few games in, maybe you split this up over a few. If you are just do a one shot, I’d have them face off against the Easter bunny first, or maybe cupid before they get to the Lich whose heart is not 3 sizes too small, but has turned to dust. They need to find Santa Claus, beat the lich, and get him back in time for Christmas. I’d probably create an in game timer or some sort for that countdown to Christmas.

Now, if you’re doing this over multiple nights, the timer is a bit longer, but I’d still have some sort of in game timer, but one that will give them a chance to face off against a few more holidays. I’d probably say the Easter Bunny, Cupid, and a Giant Turkey for sure, but maybe pick a weird holiday to add in as well, Arbor Day comes to mind, and have them face off against a giant living tree who is trying to skewer them, or maybe New Year’s and have it be a team-up of the New Year’s baby and the old last year, or maybe have the old last year transform into the New Year’s baby when their hit points go low enough. I’d also have minions for as many of these guys as you can. Eventually they’ll win and you can have them face off against a Lich that is going to want to kill them in a world of Halloween.

I think another thing that you really should do is lean into the holiday that they are facing off against. It should be it’s own holiday world with lots of crazy things happening in it. For Easter, everything in the world, minus things like the Easter Bunny, probably some little chick minions, to be made of candy or to be a dyed Easter egg, something like that would be memorable, and the players might get distracted trying to eat as much candy as possible. You could even make the fact that everything is candy be an encounter where if they eat too much they have to make saves against being poisoned, or maybe treat it as a haste spell or something like that where maybe they take a level of exhaustion after the affect wears off. And I’d try and come up with something like that for each location.

Finally, you are going to face off against the Lich in the world of Halloween, because where else would a Lich be hanging out, Arbor Day? This is less about finding that phylactery and more about beating the lich and getting Santa. If/when they beat the Lich, that shouldn’t just get them Santa, they should then have a bit of a challenge to rescue Santa. Or maybe during the fight they also need to rescue Santa. Clearly the Lich is an evil mastermind, so they are going to have some sort of weird contraption that is dropping Santa slowly into a pit of acid or something like that, and maybe your characters aren’t actually at the level to fight a Lich, but of course Santa would be.

If you could play this with your family, I think everyone would have fun with it. Definitely this is something that you all agree to, and as the DM, you bring in a batch of prebuilt characters so that you can just sit down and get going, especially for the one shot, but even for the longer one if you have a short time around Christmas, say 3-4 nights.

Anyways, Happy Holidays for this Friday Night D&D. Would playing in a game like this be fun? Have you done any gaming over the holidays with family or anything like that before?

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Banshees are spirits, in D&D of dead elves, always female. They are created at death when they lament something that have not completed, generally this is some sort of guilt or vengeance, but it drives their spirit to remain. Known for their cries or wailing, a Banshees cry can cause the strongest of adventurers to grow faint.

In D&D terms they are a fair challenging creature to deal with but not that high a challenge rating. For a group of four third level characters, this is a hard encounter just as a solo monster. Now, if it isn’t able to use it’s wail effectively, it won’t be nearly as difficult. The ability isn’t the toughest to avoid, but it’s a good one for hitting the whole part, the banshee wails and everyone who can hear it makes a constitution saving throw, of 13, so not that high. But if they fail, they immediately drop to 0 health, otherwise 3D6 damage. At third level, there’s a chance that a banshee could take down a whole party if they roll poorly.

But let’s talk about how to use them in a game and if they could be a BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy).

For me, they are probably the catalyst for characters becoming adventurers at the start of a campaign, at least one of the ways. You have the players face off against a Banshee that is haunting their town and defeat it and that’s how they start getting jobs. This works especially well since it’s third level and that’s when players generally get their specialization for their class. So simplest would be they are all from the same town, they team up to save the town.

But, I think a more interesting thing to do would be to create a coven of banshee. Like it was a coven of hags who were killed and now have become a coven of banshee. I’m not giving them magical powers, but four banshee for a group of level 10 is considered a hard encounter. And a wail can be used by each of the banshee once per day. That’s 4 chances for failed saving throws and if they do that all in round one, you got a slight chance of a party wipe, but it’s also possible, if the party is fast enough they can get out ahead of it.

Now, finally, I think you could homebrew banshee’s some if you wanted to build off of my coven idea above. Have the players first take down a group of hags, seems like that solves the problem, and while the hags were a problem, they also were warning of a potential larger disaster. That’d be the main BBEG or event for the story that you’re playing. Then, because they can’t be at rest, the hags are back as banshee, and you give them some innate casting abilities. Grab some spells, not all, but maybe one higher level spell from the hags as another once per day ability. Now, not only is there the banshee wail that the players need to worry about and the flaws that do necrotic damage, but there can be some impressive spells being flung around, or at least something else that the players might not be prepared for.

Those are just some ways that I think you could use a banshee to make it interesting, and the first one is a good way to kick off a game, and the last one can really heavily tie into a story.

Have you used a Banshee in your game? How have you used them if you have?

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Onward is a story that focuses around two Elven brothers, Ian and Barley. Their life is pretty normal for their world, a world in which magic has existed but when technology became easier than magic, the magic users and magic in the world kind of faded away until everyone forgot about them and just saw it more as a legend. However, when a magical mishap happens, Barley convinces Ian that the only way to fix it is through magic and that they need to go on a grand quest, somewhat based around Barley’s favorite role playing game, so that can fix what went wrong.

Now, it’s hard not to go more into the story as that really drives some of the themes of the movie, which Pixar, like normal, does a good job of creating meaningful and real moments. I’ll just say that the biggest one is loss and kind of overcoming emotions and baggage around that loss, not by pushing it down but by exploring and questing through that loss to see what came come out of it, what new things can be found and explored. I think that it handles it really well and handles it in a way that I don’t see many other movies handle it, some of that is because delving into grief and loss can be hard for movies and doesn’t really drive a plot, though they made it work well in this one. I think it’s actually important to have a movie that does this right now though, because a lot of people, whether they fully realize it or not are going through the grieving process of their normal routine and life as we knew it. And really, there’ll be many moments outside of Covid-19 that this is true for people as well, it just stands out as a world we’re going through it together.

As for the other parts of it, the story is not complex, however, I think that is to it’s benefit. There are some decent jokes, but mainly it’s about that feeling of adventure and exploring on this grand quest and how that pairs with the theme of loss and grief and dealing with that. The jokes in this film are fine, I don’t think that they are amazingly funny, but they are generally pretty good callbacks to previous references. Also, just the concept of the world is really interesting, that idea of there being magic in the world is something that I think is meant for more than just the story as written but about finding the magic in our actual world versus just having technology for everything. But that is a much lighter and subtle theme on everything wrapped up in Onward’s versions of D&D.

The acting in the film is good as well. The main two characters, Ian and Barley are played by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt respectively. They both do a good job with the voice acting and portray emotions very well. It is a little bit funny as Ian just has that same feel and almost a bit of a look as Tom Holland does in real life. Those are the main two characters, but the others in it are good as well, there aren’t really any humdrum performances, but everyone else generally steps aside to let those two characters really drive the story. Laurel, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has her moments to shine as well, so it isn’t just only the two of them, Ian and Barley, all of the time.

Finally, how does this compare to other Pixar films? There are a lot of Pixar films out there at this point with the Incredibles, Cars, Up, Brave, Wall-E, Toy Story 1-4, so on and so forth. I actually put Onward pretty high up on the list. I think it does a better job than some at telling a story with a complex theme without the theme being as blatantly laid out. Now, there are still moments that make it obvious what the theme is, but I don’t feel like it’s quite as forceful as it could have been portrayed if they hadn’t been careful with the story. I also like it a lot because it is nerdy, it has that interesting fantasy twist to it and the nods to Dungeons and Dragons. I don’t know that I’d say it’s the best, but the ones that I for sure like better, Up, Wall-E, and The Incredibles, I think that I’d want to watch Onward more than some of them just because it has a higher fun factor to it.

Have you had a chance to checkout Onward? What are your thoughts on it, where does it fall in your Pixar rankings?

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In Dragonlance, you have a lot of stories and games that are going to be focused around the deities or dragons. Which is classic fantasy and classic Dungeons and Dragons. The deities are active in the world and are regularly fighting each other which of course is going to cause problems in the world that the adventurers are going to need to take care. The world where the characters join in is already going to be at the point where things have gone poorly and they are going to be fighting to bring things back to some level of good, or at least to keep the world from ending.

Dragonlance, being that it’s an earlier world doesn’t have the fully fleshed out set of races. While you’re going to have your classic races, Elves, Dwarves, and Humans, some of the other ones such as gnomes, halflings, tieflings, etc. aren’t going to be in this world. Much of this comes, again, from the time when this was created. Those other races were added onto Dungeons and Dragons at a later time. However, with that, because it’s been around so long, there are some well known NPC’s that you can interact with in the world. Raistlin is probably the most well known. He’s an extremely powerful mage, probably the most powerful in the land, so while he’s dealing with the bigger things, it would make sense then for the players to deal with smaller things that aren’t worth Raistlin’s notice.

So why would you play in this world? It’s fairly generic, and you don’t have the options that would be there in The Forgotten Realms which is also generic. I think that the reason you’d play here is that it’s going to have that grittier feel. If you wanted to play in a more generic settings but one that is darker and grittier, The Forgotten Realms is about being heroic, and while Dragonlance can have that feeling as well, it’s not going to be handed to you as much. Your characters will have to fight their way for it keeping track of everything. Now, that isn’t going to be for a lot of people. I would say that this is for the people who care more for the simulation piece of Dungeons and Dragons and a little bit less about the role playing piece. Not to say that you couldn’t play that more heroic style of game in Dragonlance, but what can set it apart is going less that direction and delving more into the darker and grittier side of fantasy.

As for the sort of games, it’s going to be the big epics. Eventually, your characters will be up there fighting with Raistlin against some deity or taking care of some dragon that he doesn’t have time for. It’s a world that is on the swords edge of falling into just complete war and chaos, which is what one of the gods wants, and the players will need to fight back those forces. You can do more stories in the world as well, but with the history and lore that is in place, that’s going to be a common style of game, is keeping Dragonlance and the lands of Krynn from falling into chaos and destruction that they can’t come back from. Again, leaning towards more of that fight for survival in a world that’s falling apart versus a grand heroic adventure.

So, would I play a game in Dragonlance? I’d play a game in any D&D setting, but I really don’t care to play in Dragonlance. Because it’s older, it would feel like an older setting with more constraints on what I can play and do. And this idea that it’s this darker and grittier world, just make something really bad happen in the Forgotten Realms or Eberron and you can gain that same survivalist feeling. So if I want this generic fantasy feel and to have that survival and darker setting, I can do that, I can even make it more unique in some other settings, so for me Dragonlance is a setting that’s had it’s moment and I really don’t care if I’d play in it.

Would you play or run a game in Dragonlance? Have you played a game in that setting before?

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Forgotten Realms
This is a high fantasy setting where you’re going to see all the content (almost) from Wizards of the Coast coming out in. It’s your typical fantasy setting where Dwarves act like Dwarves and Elves act like Elves. This setting can be seen as a little bit vanilla in how standard it is, but it also makes it an amazing jumping off point for new players because it has a level of familiarity to it. The main cities in the Forgotten Realms are going to be Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate.

Eberron
Eberron is a very different setting than your typical fantasy setting. Magic is basically used as technology in this world. And it isn’t just a world where you have your standard races that you can play, there are shifters, changlings, and monstrous races that you can play as well. What also makes this setting unique is that the setting and call the adventures are set after this great war has ended when a country wiped off the map do to some cataclysm, but it’s never stated what it is, so it leaves it open for players and DM’s to decide for their campaign. The setting is very pulp and noir in it’s feel.

Ravenloft
Another different sort of setting where it’s less your standard fantasy setting and more focused on a Victorian Gothic setting. It is also going to be focused on a lower level of magic. The land is ruled by a vampire, Strahd, that is basically locked into the cursed land and most adventures set in Ravenloft are going to be about finding out Strahd’s history and then dealing with him. In 5th Edition the Curse of Strahd adventure pulls players from the Forgotten Realms and sticks them into this setting that is different than the world that they know and they are stuck there until they can defeat Strahd, if they ever leave.

Dragonlance
One of the first, if not the first D&D setting, Dragonlance is going to be another epic fantasy setting. The world is greatly influenced by the deities and a lot of the stories revolve around the good deities fighting the evil deities or the return of dragons after centuries of absence. It’s going to be much more in the standard version of fantasy and another good jumping off world that you could use to introduce Dungeons and Dragons.

Grey Hawk
As compared to the epic fantasy settings, Grey Hawk is more of a sword and sorcery setting. It is going to be darker and more dangerous for your characters. Magic is going to be less common than some settings. Grey Hawk is more of a world that is on it’s way out and the adventures that you might be more about keeping the world going versus bringing the world into a new great place which some Epic Fantasy stories can focus on more so.

Spelljammer
Now, if you want something completely different. Spelljammer is kind of a setting, but it can hit up most settings as you have magically powered space ships. This is going to be a game where you want to hop between a lot of worlds, have grand space exploration sort of adventures, versus a more traditional traveling adventure like Lord of the Rings. It really isn’t something that they’d call it’s own setting anymore, but it’s something that you could easily focus on to move between the worlds in your own campaign.

Dark Sun
This used to be a great world, but now, magic has defiled and the land and use of magic can make it even worse. And there is a god-like Sorcerer King who is ruling and can you stay out of their wrath or will they crush you and your party as you try to survive the harsh lands. Dark Sun is going to be a lower magic game that is much more focused on the survival throughout the lands and avoiding the halflings who are jungle cannibals. There are some new races that you can play in this setting as well and one of the biggest types of magic is psionics.

Birthright
If you want to play that extremely epic nation level game, Birthright is going to be the setting of you. In Birthright every player is going to be connected to a nation and have some sort of royal blood. These campaigns are going to be more about that nation ruling, epic wars, versus that smaller adventuring party. Birthright is a setting you’re going to have to come up with or tweak combat for to make it done at a bigger scale.

Planescape
This setting wraps several planes of existence into a single setting. It also takes it out of the normal medieval fantasy setting and puts it into a more Victorian and pseudo-steam punk world. There is a city of Sigil which is the home base for the players and is generally where you are going to be sending them out to the other planes to have their adventures and then returning back to Sigil to resupply, recover, and get new adventures.

Now, that’s just the start of Dungeons and Dragons settings. There are new ones being created as well as old ones that might come back. Most of these settings don’t have official books for fifth edition, but if you find older world setting books, you’d be able to turn them into something that you can use in 5e.

Do you have a favorite setting or is there a setting that you’ve really wanted to play in?

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