Samuel Wright
Bio
I am a writer & tarot card reader in Oregon, TTRPG fan, love all types of sci-fi/fantasy books, movies, games, & read voraciously. All Hail Our Lady Of Darkness The Queen Of Shadows, Kelsey Dionne! Shadowdark Forever!
Stories (62)
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Magic and Tagging
Last week I was at the mall trying without success to find a new pair of running shoes I liked for under $100. I got hungry and hit the food court to get some food. As usual, me being me, some of it landed on my necktie so I went to the loo to rinse it off and for some reason noticed the graffiti on a toilet seat. People tag buildings, railways, and billboards with graffiti to mark their territory, express themselves, and boast about achievements, but a toilet? What was this person thinking?
By Samuel Wright3 months ago in Humans
A New Faction For Shadowdark: The Cult of the Scale
The Cult of the Scale is a mass movement of reptilian monsters and races, to take back the world from mammalian races. They believe that since mammalian life arose after those who have scales, that such hairy usurpers and their civilisations must be overthrown. They wish to resurrect their ancient empires and see humanoids as nothing more than slaves and cattle. Insane, self-loathing humans wishing to overthrow society and lured by the promises of magical power and secret knowledge, and evil scaly creatures like the Viperians and the Lizard Folk, fill the ranks of the organisation, revering dragons and other scaly monsters such as primeval dinosaurs as gods. Insidious and ruthless, the cult seeks to infiltrate the hierarchies of cities, other religions, and rival factions to destroy them from the inside, while freeing or resurrecting reptilian monsters like the Tarrasque and evil dragons. Common creatures of Scalykind include the basilisk, bulette, cockatrice, couatl, crocodile, dinosaurs, dragons, hydra, lizardfolk, naga, salamander, snakes, viperians, wyvern, and the terrifying, colossal Tarrasque, a monster of apocalyptic destruction. The most terrifying of these monsters are treated as a living god by the members of this secret society.
By Samuel Wright5 months ago in Gamers
FEEDING THE DUNGEON
Looking at the majority of monsters in RPGs, Shadowdark included, quickly shows that the vast majority are predators, designed to be obstacles to heroes in the game. Plunge into the deep, dark realms under the ground, away from the sun, suddenly normal plants cannot grow, and there are no herbivores. So what do all of the predators eat when there are no adventurers wandering around waiting to be devoured by monsters? This can be handwaved as just a part of the game, or it can be used as a driver for the design of new creatures.
By Samuel Wright6 months ago in Gamers
BLACK MARSEMIUS, THE LICH-DRAGON
The cave had been considered cursed for centuries, but no one left alive remembered why. It was a place of ill-omen, where no rest was to be had by the wounded and weary. Legends spoke of demons and clouds of poison and gods of death dwelling in the black depths of the cave. At the deepest part of the cave was the Great Seal, a slab of obsidian covered in runes and a thirty foot wide magic circle. People dumped trash and corpses in the cave, and sometimes bandits or tribes of humanoids would hide here, but never for very long. Stingbats roosted on the ceiling next to giant arachnids that looked like stalactites. Giant rats and centipedes creeped around the dark corners of the cave in search of food. Other malignant creatures stirred in the shadows, lurking, waiting for prey.
By Samuel Wright8 months ago in Gamers
The Adam Vines
The fishing village of Aizendorf had been a peaceful place to grow up. A fishing village built on the ruins of the Ancients, its people were not rich and knew better than to go out at night, when the Shadow moved across the land, but they were mostly happy and rarely squabbled.
By Samuel Wright10 months ago in Gamers
Agoston Balogh's Favourite Spells For Making A Bit Of Jink
"It was larceny that got me into magic, that night I stole my future master's grimoire, the huge, bejewelled book in which he kept his spells and lore, and held it for ransom to blackmail him into teaching me how to be a wizard, so it is only fitting that I learned to use magic to improve my larceny. My master, Orban Varazslo, was a powerful wizard, but he appreciated daring, audacity, and cunning, so he decided to take me on as an apprentice instead of blasting me to smithereens with a fireball for daring to blackmail him. I vowed to be worth his trouble, studied hard, and stole from his rivals to help him find their secrets, foil their plans, and gain their wealth. A thief has specific operations that must be done to gain his wealth, and magic can make them easier. Work smart, not hard, I say! You have to find treasure, you have to either convince the owner to give it to you, or you have to break into his home and steal it, and then you have to make sure you get away without being discovered or identified. The right spells can make all of these things easier." --- Agoston Balogh, the Larcenous Wizard
By Samuel Wright10 months ago in Gamers
Agoston Balogh's Favourite Spells for Dragon Hunters
Agoston Balogh was born in a bad part of town and had to live by his wits. But he had plenty of those, plus a lot of charm and nimble fingers. As a street tough, he was the one who came up with the scams and staked out the marks. Well, one day he made a mistake. He planned to lead his gang on a break-in at a fat merchant’s huge house. It was supposed to be a quick raid to grab some jewels and get out. He had peeked through the windows and knew where some treasures resided. He had even conned his way into the house under the pretense of making a delivery so he could look around inside. He picked the lock on a back door used by the merchant’s servants, and he and his gang slipped into the mansion.
By Samuel Wright10 months ago in Gamers
Enthralled In The Dark
“Aye, I will tell thee about the worst of the Duergars, the Slavers, but it is not a pretty yarn. Know that it was two scores and twelve years ago, when I was a young buck and thought I would be a hero, travelling into the shadowdark, down under the ground below the deepest mines to slay monsters, loot treasure, and rescue the innocent. Hah! I was a young fool. I was a fairly tough lad, having fought a lot o’ goblins and orcs and even a few ogres. People called me the Cavalier back then. I was a right honest soldier and held up the law, and I did it with panache. I joined up with a crew of adventurers. It was me, two other fighters, a thief, and priest of Gede. Gods, were we ever naive…
By Samuel Wright11 months ago in Gamers
Evil from the Deeps
The fishing village of Hillshire has been tormented by pirates hiding in caves nearby for decades. The pirates have looted the village, stealing horses, food, and money from homes. They even dared to desecrate the temple at the centre of the village, stealing idols of the gods of the sea. In the past, the villagers have always been able to fight off the petty raids and get back some of what was stolen from the raiders. But now they had done something unthinkable, using strange magic to lure away what the villagers valued the most, their children. The villagers are afraid to assault the caves, fearing that the pirates will murder their hostages. The parents of a score of lost children have put out a call for heroes to raid the caves along the coast and rescue the captives. The weeping parents have little gold, but will offer whatever they have to get their precious children back, and promise that the heroes will find plenty of loot in the lair of the pirates. The villagers have also drawn pictures of their lost children so they can be recognised and will show them to anyone who offers to help find them.
By Samuel Wright12 months ago in Gamers
The Cult of the Scale
King Vanaligan has put out a call for heroes and town criers are out spreading the word. His daughter, the beautiful and kindly Princess Brisentynne, has been kidnapped by a cult of dragon-worshipping snake people. Members of the cult, bald, tattooed figures in dark robes wielding magic, were seen dragging the girl off when she was picking flowers in a meadow near the royal castle. The princess, a lady-in-waiting, and a bodyguard are now missing and feared dead. Tracks followed by searchers looking for the young princess were found to lead to a dark cave with a villainous reputation as an abode of bandits and strange monsters.
By Samuel Wright12 months ago in Gamers
The Shadowlings...
The day of the Event outer space was ripped open to create a gaping hellmouth, an open gate to the Abyss from which creatures of pure evil flew. Millions of foul things, living embodiments of Madness, Cruelty, Hate, and Corruption, flooded out of this hole in space to be vomited out across the world.
By Samuel Wrightabout a year ago in Gamers
The Death Wyrm of Aizendorf
“Our party was hunting in the swamp, chasing a great green elk. The beast had enough meat on it to feed our family for a week or more, and we could sell its verdant pelt for a good bag of jink, but it was a fierce creature with sharp antlers spreading out 3 metres wide and eyes that glowed green. We chased it into a bog and it dived under the water to hide. We had spears and an Ancient weapon that shot bolts of fire, but we knew it could easily sneak up on us under the murky waters of the bog. The whole party spread out and waded forward carefully, aiming toward the spot we saw it dive.
By Samuel Wrightabout a year ago in Gamers
