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On Dwarves

Dwarves have always been my favorite fantasy race. They were the first I connected with when I got into fantasy. My first Warhammer Fantasy army? Dwarves. My very first AD&D character? A Dwarf Wizard (yes, that was a mistake). I played a Dwarf Cleric in EverQuest , and when my friends begged me to go Alliance in World of Warcraft , I rolled a Paladin, basically a glorified priest back in Vanilla (iykyk). And of course, I always pick dwarves in Dragon Age when the option is there and pretty much any fantasy game or setting if they are in. I love all the flavors: Hill Dwarves, Mountain Dwarves, Gold Dwarves, Redcaps, Duergar. And of course, the archetype that sets the standard for all: Tolkien’s dwarves. Stubborn, strong, mountain-dwelling, grudge-keeping, tradition-bound miners. The blueprint. Most fantasy settings barely deviate from it. Which, to be fair, isn’t necessarily a problem. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But it does raise a question: why do dwarves get so little varia...
Recent posts

Welcome to Titan World: A Brief Introduction

Welcome to Titan World A Primordial Setting of Myth, Monsters, and Adventure The initial sparks of this setting idea came while I was watching Godzilla: King of the Monsters. There's a scene, no spoilers, featuring an ancient city seemingly built to honor the kaiju, a civilization that didn’t just fear these giants, but worshiped them. What would a society, culture, kingdom look like if Kaiju were real and walked and raged across the earth? It got me thinking: what if entire cultures rose and fell under the shadow of colossal godlike beasts?  From that idea, the world began to take shape. I drew further inspiration from the Hyborian Age of Conan—an era raw, brutal, and unpolished, where magic is primal and mysterious, civilization is young but with more high fantasy thrown in and with the “beast” and “monstrous” races (hate those descriptors I'm an avid Orc fan) are the norm and culture.  From those seeds and many, many notes on my phone and half-written google docs, Titan W...

Ramblings on Veilguard, Design and Storytelling

I'll be the first to admit it: I’m a huge Bioware fanboy. I grew up playing their games and have replayed nearly all of them multiple times. They’ve created some of my favorite games of all time, and I continue to admire their ability to craft compelling stories, characters, and worlds. I’ve been discussing Dragon Age as a whole with a close friend lately who is still currently playing through Veilguard, and our conversation came to design decisions in Veilguard, particularly the choice to have only three decisions from Inquisition carry over while leaving most others unaddressed. It was a deliberate choice by the team, and ultimately, I think it was for the best. This has also made me think more broadly about storytelling and design. As someone who writes and creates worlds and stories,There comes a point in writing, producing, or designing where you need to shut off that creation valve and focus on the core of your story or world. I’ve faced this challenge in some of my own works...

Current Feelings on D&D

I'm currently of two minds about Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Recently, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has released some lackluster products and has been in several controversies. One particularly troubling incident involved WotC sending the Pinkertons, actual guns for hire, to someone's house after they were mistakenly sent a new set of Magic: The Gathering cards before their release. This person was threatened, which is shocking and unacceptable. Then there was the whole debacle with the Open Game License (OGL), which further soured my view of the company. With the "new" edition of D&D slated to come out this year, which is a story in itself, I've grown increasingly worried about the company's direction and how they view the game. They seem to be treating D&D more as a brand to be monetized rather than a game for players to enjoy. Plans to charge for individual spells and content have especially turned me off from supporting WotC and D&D. I hav...