dmdave

Poll #310 - Upcoming Magic Book Focus

In our latest poll, the book on Helkaran magic is leading by quite a bit.

The brief description I gave said that it would offer "spells, magic items, how to become a sorc-king, etc." I thought a cool theme would be to build a series-within-a-series of these, all focused on one of the sorcerer-kings. And since I've modeled each of the sorcerer-kings after an arcane discipline, it should be pretty easy to create a whole book focused on it. It'll be sort of "their take" on the art, possibl...

Preview at Helkara Books and Poll

Hey folks,

Here's an upcoming preview for the Helkara books that are on the way. The first is already drafted and is now in proofing. #2 I'll start writing soon (finishing up GMSG today with some things the editor needs). Then #3 will come after that. And so on.

Here's what to expect:

Helkara Campaign Sourcebook

Release Date: Early March 2023 (P...

[All Patrons] Helkara Monster Pack #3 (or #2, depending on how you're counting them)

Hey all!

Here's another big ol' pack of monsters for the Helkara setting. The pack has rules both for 5e monsters as well as MörkBorg (or at least, the "Dave"borg style of Helkara's rules). This second pack includes:

• Acidjaw
• Ashstorm
• Bloodfiend
• Bonecrusher
• Choking Mist
• Gloomstalker
• Hook Hulk
• Shrieker

All art is by our friend Rick Hershey of 2023-02-10 23:55:01 +0000 UTC View Post

[All Patrons] Helkara Campaign Sourcebook (Draft)

Hey all!

Some fun news today, but I've actually spent the last couple of days drafting up a book about Helkara and its lore. And now I'm done! 

We're still in the proofing stages of this monster but should have the working copy out to you before the end of this month. It'll then go on presale around the start of March. After that, we're going to have more books coming out on the regular. I'm not sure what tiers will receive access to the PDF versions of the books yet, but I d...

Poll #309 - Helkara Books in 2023

Hey all!

First, I want to say thank you for voting on the Helkara campaign setting book over the monster book. Not that I don't love the idea of doing a monster book, mind you. But it shows me that you're interested in this setting that's got me pretty excited, and that means a lot. This has been a pretty rocky year already (OGL, AI art woes, etc.), so knowing that you all care about something I've made that is a little different than the usual offer is pretty awesome.

Okay, enoug...

Poll #308 - What Helkara book should come first?

Hey all!

I hope you're having a lovely Monday evening. I was working alongside Rick and some of my other pals in this biz and started thinking to myself: would it make more sense to do a monster book first or the setting book?

On one hand, it's cool to have a full setting book out.

On the other hand, monsters are fairly campaign independent. And they can help me illustrate the world a bit better.

So, I'll put that question to all of you.

What should come first? 2023-02-07 03:22:09 +0000 UTC View Post

One Word Prompt #101 - The Alchemist's Army

Been a while since we've done one of these!

Here's how this works: you give me a single word prompt in the comments below and I develop a room based on your word.

There's a few rules:

1) No proper nouns
2) Keep it clean
3) Nothing too anachronistic
4) No "defenestration" or "mirror" (burnt out on those words)
5) One word per patron

I look forward to your words!

Poll #307 - Let's Expand Helkara Part 6 - Adventure

Okay!

So I think I've got a pretty good idea of where things are going now with Helkara. Now it's time to take things to the next level and create the *first* adventure set in Helkara.

Below, I've keyed up some cool adventure prompts. Pick the one you like best.

1. The Mutated Menace. The characters are tasked with investigating a series of strange animal attacks near a remote village. The culprit turns out to be a pack of mutated goblin beasts.
2. ...
   2023-02-05 22:21:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Poll #306 - Helkara: One Monster Stays... the Rest Gotta Go!

This is the most stressful poll you'll do all year.

Below, I've picked 16 iconic monsters from the 5e Monster Manual. Vote for the one that you want to stay. It will become part of Helkara's mythology.

The rest are gone! Forever! Muahaha...

I look forward to the results.

[Zealots+] Dungeons & Lairs #65: Yeti Cavern (Levels 3, 5, 8, or 11) - FoundryVTT Pack

Yeti Caverns is a Fifth Edition plug-in adventure for four characters with an average party level (APL) of 3, 5, 8, or 11. This document offers a general guideline on scaling the adventure for each level. The characters must find and enter the lair of a powerful yeti known as the Terror. Before they can confront the yeti, however, they must first dispatch his goblinoid minions.

The following creators made this adventure possible:

• Design and Writing. DMDave, ...
  2023-02-03 21:14:37 +0000 UTC View Post

[All Patrons] Dungeons & Lairs #65: Yeti Caverns (Levels 3, 5, 8, or 11)

Yeti Caverns is a Fifth Edition plug-in adventure for four characters with an average party level (APL) of 3, 5, 8, or 11. This document offers a general guideline on scaling the adventure for each level. The characters must find and enter the lair of a powerful yeti known as the Terror. Before they can confront the yeti, however, they must first dispatch his goblinoid minions.

The following creators made this adventure possible:

• Design and Writing. DMDave, ...
  2023-02-03 14:34:09 +0000 UTC View Post

[Free] Helkara Political Map

Here is the political layout of Helkara divided into six distinct regions (seven, if you count the Free City of Kisurra, which the sorcerer-kings most certainly do not). 

Vrogathar controls the largest region in the southeast (although Evernight is technically the north pole, Helkarans don't use it for geolocating). However, the Blood Cult of Azathoth's territories have far more citizens. The sorcerer-king of Nazgar and his subjects remain within his bleak spire, Tryggva. ...

Poll #305 - Let's Expand Helkara Part 5

Already things are moving quick with the Part 4 poll. Folks want to see 

1) 5e character conversion information
2) Starter city
3) Adventure

I will work on #1 tonight, but I'm interested in building out the starting location soon after that. Below, I've listed the eight main starting locations. Pick the one that you like best and I'll do a write-up for it.

They're all based on the sorcerer-kings' domains. If you aren't familiar with those, I've included the lore d...

Poll #304 - Let's Expand Helkara Part 4

Almost a week ago, I posted the first basic alpha draft of the Helkara rules set.

Check it out here. Or grab the files at the end of the post.

After that, I posted a couple of surveys asking what you wanted me to expand. So far, I've expanded quite a bit, adding everything from monsters to maps.

Here's everything that's in there so far :

Changelog (February 2, 2023...