#max’s dnd campaigns

[cassidystclair]

I saw as ask meme about what your character’s go to drink is so here’s a bunch of drinks for characters w/o context <3

Helen gets a medium americano, 4 shots, iced in the summer, hot in winter.

Cassie gets a large iced white mocha, no whip, all year round.

Aaron gets a medium hot earl grey tea (and puts so much sugar in it) and gets it even in summer to seem “cool” and “mysterious”

Amanda gets a medium hot vanilla latte in winter, and an iced chai in summer

June gets a pink lemonade, no matter where she goes or time of year.

Susie only drinks shitty gas station cappuccinos and Arizona iced teas.

Bonus:

Helena brought over a tea recipe from the old country that the old folks make in winter. It’s recipe is a closely guarded town secret but it’s extremely beloved by all and a warmly held tradition to drink when the weather gets cold

[skeletal-butterflyy]

D&D subtext in Stranger Things

Highly, highly requested analysis (no it’s not) of some interesting things I noticed going on with D&D in stranger things. This includes my personal thoughts based on my credentials of; having watched the show more times than i can possibly count over the past 7 years and current knowledge of DnD classes, worldbuilding, monsters, character creation. I’ll have this on the pinned post on my blog and i’ll add a text break because it’s…a lot.

Misc. :

The show starts with and is based off of Dungeons and Dragons, a table top rpg that the characters like to play. In the first season we don’t get much insight into the boys characters or the game itself, it’s used as a device to further the idea that these kids are nerds, they play a nerdy game that involves fantasy and math. As the show progresses it continues to be used to push across certain ideas, like establishing each character in the party and in season three showing how the game might represent the boys as social outcasts and their childhood.

DnD, is used throughout the show but we get to see actual play of the game in season one and four. It’s also used as a way to name the monsters they face (the monsters do get the right ideas across but the game and show versions are actually quite different from each other, especially the demogorgon)

In season 4 the idea of satanism connected to DnD really interested me. Why was everyone connecting DnD to satanism? I mean we know that everyone thought that Eddie was killing all of these people but that doesn’t mean that his club had anything to do with it. The duffers interestingly incorporated the real stigma that was widely held in the 80s against the game. At the time people were going on witchunts against anything regarded as being possibly related to satan. The most interesting part about all of this though is that, Dungeons and Dragons was made by two very devout christian men, Ernest Gygax (one of the founders) was even a Jehovah’s Witness! The two being christian’s though, incorporated a lot of religious themes into the game including clerics and paladins (calm down you fiends i’ll be getting to that) who carry a lot of religious themes and monsters that may represent demons. Outsiders might have seen a game presenting such themes as a mockery of their faith or a way to promote satanism simply by having monsters.

Characters:

I want to preface this by saying the classes that I’ll be talking about aren’t actually time period accurate. The boys would have been playing D&D 1e which had the three classes of : Fighting-man, magic-user, and cleric. While the classes listed are from D&D 2e which didn’t come out until 1989. Anyways.

In season 1, in the first scenes of the show we get to see what is the middle of DnD session before it gets interrupted. We get the basic ideas of their game across, Mike acting as DM presenting the adventure he created to his players while the rest of the party waits in anticipation for what they have to fight next. We also get to see some of will’s drawings of the party and his character

Keep these pictures in mind.

In season 2 when mike and max are arguing in the gym we hear mike say, “I’m our paladin, will’s our cleric, dustin’s our bard, lucas is our ranger and el is our mage.” At first glance it seems like nothing, oh he’s just listing off the party members and their roles and how max doesn’t fit into the party. But when you look at it properly it’s so much more.

Lucas and Dustin could not be more perfect for their chosen classes. Lucas is a ranger which means the ideal stats to be highest would include dexterity, constitution, and wisdom. Dexterity refers to, in this case the hand eye coordination and general reflexes. Constitution refers to a characters stamina and toughness, and wisdom is well, wisdom. Sounds like a certain character that has quick reflexes, has a tendency to take punches pretty well, and has good problem solving skills huh? All of these apply to lucas quite well, AND his weapon of choice is a ranged weapon, the slingshot (wrist-rocket you know what I mean), it’s really quite perfect. As for Dustin, he’s said to be a bard and the highest ideal stat for that class is charisma. Dustin has been proven to be very charismatic, he gets along with people and he can very comedic. Another thing about bards is they will tend to be very eloquent, inspirational, and persuasive, it comes with the territory of having a high charisma score, and we know dustin has a way with words. Dustin’s known for being a an eloquent and persuasive character; he convinced Mike to make up with Lucas after their fight in season one, he convinced a hesitant Mr. Clarke to tell him how to make a censory deprivation tank, he convinced steve to join him in looking for dart, and convinced erica to go through the vents (sort of). So, it makes complete sense for dustin to be a bard.

Taking a look at Mike’s character, his class also makes a lot of sense. Mike plays a paladin when he’s not the DM. A paladin is a “devout warrior” they fight with a cause, to serve their patron deity. They’re often compared to knights because of their values and the armor they usually wear. A paladin is the perfect representation of mike, especially for how will described him during the painting scene, he’s a leader and will throw himself in dangerous situations for the sake of the party, like when he jumped off the cliff for dustin.

Now, remember how will’s drawings, specifically of his character? Remember how mike said that will was a cleric? Will’s character is complicated. Will’s character being a cleric doesn’t make sense but makes so much sense at the same time. His character doesn’t look like a cleric. Clerics might be spellcasters but they don’t traditionally carry a staff or wear robes like we see will’s character does. He wears wizard clothing and has wizard abilities, not to mention in the first scene we see him play DnD and attempt to cast fireball, a spell that is most commonly associated with wizards and sorcerers and he does not seem to get his magic from a deity like a cleric traditionally would. (Clerics can cast fireball but only if they are part of the light domain) So, his character seems to be more of a wizard than a cleric, which is odd.

My theory relating to Will’s character:

Looking back at what mike said, Will’s character class doesn’t make much sense. But, I personally feel like Mike wasn’t being totally honest. First, he listed el, who they might consider to be part of the party but she doesn’t have an actual role in the game, but of course she would be the magic-user/mage. I think that mike made the list based on his feelings about the party specifically regarding will and el. El has powers in real life so it makes sense he assigned her the role of mage, and replacing will for him to become a cleric. It’d be interesting if Will was simply a cleric in mike’s personal thoughts about the party because it would make it so mike views them as very close. Paladins and clerics are very similar in relation to the fundamentals, a paladin is a warrior that swears an oath and serves a deity while a cleric is the servant of a deity that heals and fights. Basically, a cleric does more spell casting and less fighting while a paladin does more fighting and less spell casting. Since the two are so similar it would give a lot of depth to the characters being best friends, who have a much deeper understanding of each other than the rest of the party would. And even if he wasn’t simply a cleric in mikes mind and will the wise is actually a cleric, this would still show that the two having a much deeper connection and understanding of each other was hinted at from the beginning.

[skeleslime-phantom]

Forever in love with @persnickkitty 's, Spade. She's the whole package, gorgeous and could kick your ass.

No complaints from Max about that. ☠️🦑💕

[grimvestige]

Max & his "dog", Kite! They both miss each other lots, Max can't really show his face around his hometown anymore after getting in a huge brawl with the cops in a oneshot ;w;

[max-nolastname]

black sails characters and the dnd classes they would be:

flint: fighter/sorcerer (draconic bloodline) with high wisdom and charisma. able to pass as human in "civilized" society, but has latent magical powers from an ancient dragon ancestor that manifests in the strangest things...eyes that see through the dark...summoning storms...enchanting the minds of others to do his bidding...

madi: paladin with an oath of devotion, but she doesn't answer to a higher power, or a crown or some nebulous greater good. she answers to a chorus of voices...multitudes...of men, women and children bound by chains across the world....she is devoted to them she answers to them

anne: barbarian. when she channels her rage into fights, she deals serious critical damage to her ops. able to take an insane amount of damage to protect the ones she loves and still be up standing and fighting.

jack: bard (college of valor), through and through. hoards the stories of legendary pirates. obsessed with putting himself up there among the greats. loves to Perform. silvery barbs. iykyk

max: mastermind rogue. the tenants of a rogue is to evade and hide, remain unseen, gather information on enemies and allies in order to figure out how they tick and exploit their weaknesses. she is not fighting on the frontlines she is the shadows she is in the walls of your house waiting to strike

charles: human fighter

billy: human fighter

silver: an npc with no special powers or talents or backstory, his name randomly generated using an NPC fantasy name table. He was created by the DM for no other purpose than to bring the party together and deliver the Inciting Incident/Call to Adventure in the form of a complicated treasure map. quite literally sidelined (see: shackled to a chair) in the first couple sessions, and is only brought back by the DM to add mischief and complications to the plot. but there is something so charming and endearing about this npc that the party can't help but have him tag along on their adventures. John Silver soon becomes integral to the campaign because the player characters want him to be. John Silver the NPC is a reflection of what different players want him to be. He is a trusted partner, co-conspirator, love interest, damsel in distress...a Pirate King to inspire their allies and strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. He is fleshed out and made real by the real human players around him. The players are extremely fearful of john silver dying, but what they don't know is that the DM has no plans on killing off John Silver! The DM has already written john silver into the finale of the campaign, and the story doesn't work without him, so.....

Ty @bloodyentrails for letting me bounce ideas off u

[sesamenom]

alright you’ve been extremely extremely kind and indulgent to me about my oc and i cannot possibly thank you enough <333333 so MY turn now to ask YOU about YOURS. please tell me about maglor’s distant granddaughter who is also your bbeg?? .w. or about the chatty hobbits i would very VERY much love to hear about both!!!

~ @nelyoslegalteam, reporting from main <3

(long post, sorry for the random people stumbling upon this lol)

so I'm the dm for the chatty hobbits campaign and essentially it's set in a beleriand-adjacent continent, but with a few extra races and stuff. of the founders of the original settlements, the king of elende (the elf kingdom) is Gil-galad's (invented for the campaign) twin brother Finellach/Finwain. originally he was inspired by the fact that gil galad has a ton of names but only uses ereinion/gil, so I just invented a new character and gave him half the names. I headcanon gil galad as maglor's son, so finwain is in universe maglor's son (left at the havens with gil bc his wife divorced him for kinslaying and his kingdom, being next door neighbors with morgoth, is far too dangerous for small children).

Anyways, his descendant Elinyel (also known as aramire or elinnor) is the current queen of Elende! she's an evil fire-themed bard who is extremely feanorian in all the worst ways - her actual kingdom prospered under her reign, but she just does not care about everyone else as long as she's protecting her people. There were some tensions with one of the major kingdoms to the north (conflict over unclaimed territory between the kingdoms and some tariff stuff), so instead of risking the other kingdom starting a war and hurting her people, she just preemptively invaded it and started burned all the border territories to the ground.

her actual coronation was pretty weird- so she's the second child, but her older sister was born in wartime and there's a general belief in elende that children of peacetime make better rulers, so Elinyel was chosen as her family's heir. her grandfather (the crown prince of his generation) died defending Elende in one of the major wars, but his younger brother and two young kids survived. there's a whole feud between their houses because the brother chose to retain the kingship even after the kids were old enough to take the throne. anyways, two generations later Elinyel killed her cousin Arendil (the previous king of Elende) over a dispute about the legitimacy of his house (and what she believed to be a dishonoring of her grandparents' sacrifice) and took the throne.

obviously she has many Issues. arendil also has two surviving kids who are now essentially trying to stop her from murdering all their neighbors in proactive defense of her people.

however, when she first ascended she recruited her friend group as her elite guard/vassals of the kingdom. (aka the other bosses in the storyline). so it escalated to a war between her forces and the children of arendil, which ultimately culminated in her beloved sister being killed by one of arendil's children. this in turn led to her having basically a massive mental breakdown and feeling like she failed to protect her loved ones (exacerbated by some of her other friends being killed in battles she led). a normal person might decide this is was kind of her fault for starting a war and putting her friends in charge of the army. instead she decided she needed to destroy everyone who could ever potentially pose a threat. which is, in her eyes, literally everyone on the continent (except for her kingdom, of course).

so now she is at war with absolutely everyone of all factions! She is also somehow winning by virtue of Song almost on the level of maglor himself, and ten (now six) also incredibly powerful friends. Anyways, she has decided that the best way to wipe out the continent (except her kingdom) and start fresh is to literally find an ancient lost stone that can break the Doors of Night, summon Morgoth himself, and start the Dagorath. obviously this will Not go well for anyone at all if she succeeds, but she is on a full-on rampage and genuinely believes she (plus friends) can protect her kingdom from Morgoth's army while he wipes out everyone else.

Here's some old art of her btw!

And some slightly more recent unfinished art of her and the Evil Friend Group from when they were younger:

and here's (L-R) her cousin who is the 3rd boss, Elinyel, and her sister from before the war!

[nolassolace]

Another oc drop!

This is my lil homebrew tiefling dryad forest guardian.

He's a cocktail of wall•e and the avatar from atla.

He collects enchanted items and what not that he finds on his little patrols, he doesn't realize they're important so he'll pocket them and just toss them in a pile when he gets back to his shelter. He doesn't care about those trinkets as much as he cares about the literally garbage and rocks he finds which he puts on shelves and spends maybe a bit too long admiring them.

He does have speak with animals but he doesn't realize that the animals can understand him so he usually leaves or changes topic before the creature can respond.

He named himself twig and his leaves/ hair change color with the seasons

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

[biff-adventurer]

the other day my friend noticed i had put biff in the belt top and off handedly mentioned it was part of the mad max gear

today i saw a post that called the bubble the "levindome" and i was like. are you fucking kidding me. WELCOME TO THE THUNDER DOME OH MY GOD THE ENTIRE THING IS A MAD MAX REFERENCE

[m0thcl0wn]

wip but hehehe

[shahenor]

Meet Lamb & Mickey, a bloody fun duo

[mars-ipan]

so funny when i make it back to my dorm on fridays and i’m like “god why am i tired…” girl you just roleplayed for 8 hours of course you’re tired

[teamappare]

Absurdly rare art drop, the characters are all from my DnD campaign themed around one piece, the first one is Caspian Ashling, he's leading a revolution, the second one is Cade, they haven't been introduced in the campaign yet but I'd imagine them to be kind of similar to Uta or Brook from cannon one piece (they're a musician, and generally kind of silly), and the last one is Max, hes a little shit, well hes an assassin with a passion for robotics and he lost his eye and arm well before the story of the campaign, and made replacement limbs so he could keep trying to live a normal life, although he hasnt been able to live normally yet

[the-bear-deers-fwff]

I'll be honest, as much as I like MatPat from GameTheory, I dunno if I'd want to play DnD with him.

[grimvestige]

Silly doodles of Max & the rest of the great wyrm gang <3

Ross (upper left) belongs to @theitalianmafia Rizzo (middle right) belongs to @emmettkane Vesper (bottom right) belongs to @sadincae

[primsycoldbottles]

ohhh finished naddpods eldermourne campaign finally.. WHAT A RUSH !!!! the finale was so insane i cried a little i will be Honest

[morning-357]

D&D Camp 1.3

Okay, a lot and not much happened. Mostly the, trying to decide where they would go right or left in a cave system. What I will say is that they sang the national anthem of Burnsville, their home…