Shedding Light on Hasbro/WotC & D&D The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman

Recently, I watch this video from "Diversity & Dragons" and I never realized it was "this" bad. He might be a smaller content creator but he spits pure facts in this video.

This guy touched on a lot of stuff he pulled from Twitter and one thing I want to make clear, all of these people I am about to highlight are affiliated with Hasbro/WotC in one form or another . . . some are editors, writers, executives and content creators. They publically say stuff that is pure racist and WotC/Hasbro lets them get away with it, and as a matter of fact Hasbro/WotC does its best to go along with these people and what they say. It's disgusting and embarrassing.

These are just a few of the tweets that were found on Twitter. Dominique Dickey posted a couple of tweets here and here. How much of a racist can someone be?

Then you have Sadie Lowrie who assisted as a writer for Call of the Netherdeep making tweets like this. I send her a tweet asking her about her tweet and this is the reply I got from her. Instead of explaining herself, she blocks me. Typical racist hiding from what she has done. The exact same thing happened with Sarah Madsen . . . when I sent her a tweet about these tweets that she made and I got another reply just like I got from Sadie Lowry.

Lets look at Makenzie De Armas with her tweet or how the one and only Christopher Perkins tweeted this and to think, it pretty much all started with this from Kyle Brinks. Now the latest news is WotC is saying they are removing the Half Elf and Half Orc races or half ANYTHING from D&D because it's racist. It's just gotten out of control. I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons since it was called Basic D&D, hell . . . even before Basic, back when it was called Chain Mail and I've never been this dusgusted with a game, it's people and it's company than I am right now.

With that being said, I want to make one thing perfectly clear, I'll never buy another product from WotC. You know, back when we played classic edition Dungeons & Dragons, we didn't have all this drama, it was all about the game and we had one community that stuck together. It's simply not like that anymore.

Ready, Set, Go The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman

I have some things that I would like to touch on with those of you that are first time readers on this blog. The first thing that I kind of want to get into is what many call the "Matt Mercer Effect". I think one thing we all can agree on is Matthew Mercer is ranked in the top level of Dungeon Masters.

The man knows his stuff, but it isn't just about Matthew, his players bring a huge part of what makes Critical Role special to the table. To quote an old saying ... "it takes two to tango", or in this case, it takes a Dungeon Master and a group of players to make a game special.

One thing I very much want to emphasize on is "I am not Matthew Mercer" and if you expect me as a Dungeon Master to be like Matthew Mercer then I would say "go find you another campaign to follow" because I am not on his level, nor will I even try to be and to be perfectly honest I am not sure if the world has a Dungeon Master that even comes close to his level of story telling "well maybe but I have yet to see one". I try to run a good game where my players have a good time (plain and simple) and in the past my players have all had a great time so I guess I am doing something right.

Critical Role is a staged game, with some scripting involved - Matthew and his players are all voice actors. When you watch his campaigns, this is not what Dungeon & Dragon games are really like. His campaigns are strictly constructed to bring entertainment to his viewers.

This campaign will have a set of house rules in affect that will be imported into our modified Old-School Essentials system, not many but a few. They are pretty generic and can be applied to pretty much any edition. Anyone that might think they are interested in joining us in future games should check this page out and everything about the campaign we are currently playing will be located on this page. Stay tuned, much much more is coming!

Ready For Content The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman

Ready For Content The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman

Ready For Content The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman

Merwellyn Wood The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman

Merwellyn Wood is less a forest and more a suffocating tomb, its deceptive beauty a crumbling mask over a festering heart of decay. On its northern border, gnarled and twisted trees press against the blighted, fetid swamps of Xak Tsaroth, their moss-draped limbs like skeletal fingers, clawing at the sun to keep its warmth from penetrating the gloom.

Within, a pervasive and oppressive dampness hangs in the air, a humid weight that clings to a person's skin and clothes, never fully drying, and encouraging the earth itself to breathe out a thick, earthy vapor promising slow disintegration. Arrowgum branches twist into a claustrophobic maze, their dark, watchful intent mirrored by the coiling bellbird vines that twitch in the periphery like a waiting predator.

It is a place where ancient pines and oaks cast deep shadows that feel less like shelter and more like a malignant presence. In this morbid quiet, one can sometimes hear the restless sighs and echoing sobs of the dead—the ghosts of those lost to the Cataclysm's flood and the brutal Shadow Years that followed. These are not mere echoes, but spectral whispers that sometimes flicker just beyond the edge of sight, forever reliving their demise. This is not a place of natural peace, but an unnatural stillness so profound that the snap of a twig becomes an intrusion, a promise that your trespass has not gone unnoticed. The woods hold their breath, and so, too, does anyone with the misfortune to cross its grim threshold.

Instead of merely stating the forest's edge borders the fetid swamps of Xak Tsaroth, a description might offer more detail. The moss-draped trees aren't just trying to block out the light, but perhaps their twisted branches are like skeletal fingers, grasping and clawing at the sun, desperate to pull it into the endless gloom. The air near the swamp might taste of old decay and stagnant water.

The suffocating dampness can be further described using sensory imagery. Rather than just causing rot, the humidity might feel like a heavy, living thing that clings to a person's clothes and skin, never fully drying. The ground itself, perpetually moist, could be described as breathing a thick, earthy vapor that promises slow, steady disintegration.

The trees and vines could be further personified. Perhaps the gnarled roots of ancient vallenwood trees writhe across the forest floor like slumbering serpents. The bellbird vines, rather than just coiling, might twitch in the periphery, mimicking the slow, deliberate movements of a predator ready to strike. Even the ancient pine needles could seem to whisper ancient, half-forgotten secrets, carried on a cold breeze that smells of damp earth and decay.

The ghostly element could be intensified, moving beyond the simple mention of screams. The ghostly echoes could not only be heard, but their spectral forms might be glimpsed in the dappled shadows—flickering shapes of lost souls perpetually reliving their final moments. An unfortunate traveler might feel a sudden, inexplicable cold spot, as if a long-dead person just walked through them.

This unnatural quiet can be made more menacing by contrasting it with the normal sounds of a forest. The silence isn't peaceful, but heavy and expectant, as if the entire forest is holding its breath. The sudden, jarring crack of a twig underfoot or a bird's frantic cry for a split second becomes an intrusion, a signal that something has noticed your presence and is waiting. It's the kind of silence that makes one's own heartbeat thunder in their ears, each beat counting down to some unseen terror.

The Cursed Lands The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman

The Cursed Lands surrounding Xak Khalan are a testament to the enduring power of rot and corruption, a landscape where even the memory of a thriving city has been suffocated by decay. The air itself, a humid, cloying weight, tastes of rust and sulfur, a constant reminder of the poisonous bogs that lie in wait for the unwary. Underfoot, the ground is a deceitful thing, appearing solid beneath a carpet of sickly green moss, but quick to give way into a sucking mire that threatens to claim any who stray from the few treacherous, half-submerged paths.

Here, the remnants of Xak Khalan's street grid are like a skeletal finger-work beneath a veil of grime, with ancient, waterlogged stones occasionally breaking the surface like tombstones for a forgotten civilization. The flora of this place seems as cursed as the land itself. Twisted, grasping "ironclaw" trees stand like skeletal guardians at the marsh's edge, their bark perpetually slick with moisture and their branches ending in menacing, hooked thorns.

Aggressive, fast-spreading marsh grasses choke the waterways and entangle the ruins, their pale, fleshy stalks promising only entrapment and lurking beneath the surface of the stagnant, algae-covered ponds are unseen, dangerous creatures, their presence only betrayed by the occasional ripple or the sudden, violent death of a bird foolish enough to drink from the corrupted water.

This is a land of morbid stillness, where the echoes of the Cataclysm and the corrupting presence of the black dragon Khisanth have left a lingering miasma of despair. It is a place where every shadow holds a threat and every step is a gamble against the grasping earth.

The Cursed Lands are a breeding ground for foul and dangerous creatures, corrupted by the lingering evil of the black dragon Khisanth and the ever-present miasma of the swamp. While the great dragon herself is gone, her influence persists, twisting the landscape and its inhabitants into hostile, venomous caricatures of their former selves. Draconic monsters like the greedy Baaz draconians are a common threat, often encountered alongside their reptilian kin, such as mutated lizardfolk tribes who perform brutal rituals in the deepest parts of the marsh.

Enormous and cunning giant crocodiles lurk in the fetid waters, while giant, venomous snakes and monstrous blood-sucking leeches inhabit the murky depths and dense vegetation, posing a constant threat to travelers. The swamp is also haunted by the restless dead, including ghosts and revenants of those lost during the Cataclysm, and the dark magic animating these lands has given rise to bog mummies—soggy, corrupted horrors that shamble through the ruin-choked mire.

In addition, cunning and predatory froghemoths, catgators, and swarms of stirges now thrive here, joining the ranks of disease-ridden animals mutated by the swamp's corruption, ensuring that the Cursed Lands remain a place of constant peril for any who dare enter.

The region surrounding Xak Tsaroth and Xak Khalan is known as the Cursed Lands due to a confluence of two cataclysmic events: the devastation of the world-shattering Cataclysm and the subsequent, prolonged presence of the evil black dragon, Khisanth. The Cataclysm brought with it a divine punishment that submerged much of the area in a great deluge, drowning the city of Xak Tsaroth and forever transforming the landscape into a putrid bog filled with the restless spirits of the dead. In the wake of this initial blight, the black dragon Khisanth established her lair within the submerged, cavernous ruins, infusing the already damaged land with her potent and corrupting dark magic for generations.

Her malicious influence twisted the flora and fauna, attracting wicked creatures like draconians and turning the swamp into a toxic breeding ground for monsters and disease. Thus, the name "Cursed Lands" is a bitter testament to the enduring scars of the gods' fury and the lingering evil of a black dragon, a name earned through centuries of decay, death, and relentless corruption.

Ready For Content The Cataclysm & The War of the Lance The current year for our Dragonlance campaign is set during 351 AC "After Cataclysm". Inspired By Trampas Whiteman