u/No_Literature7840

While researching banned or challenged children's books, I rediscovered one of the most frightening books I ever read when I was a child. Hell, it might be even more frightening to me as an adult. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. For those who have never or read this, here's the plot. And trust me, the book is a lot scarier then the title suggests.

Set in a world of sentient humanoid animals, our story is about a donkey foal named Sylvester who has a happy life with his mother and father, and has a strange hobby. He likes collecting pebbles. Then, one day, while collecting more pebbles, he finds something special. A pebble with the power to grant wishes to whoever holds it. With it, he wishes for a wart on his muzzle to go away and for the rain to stop. He brings it home, thinking it could also help his mother and father.

But on his way back, he encounters a lion with hostile intentions. Completely terrified and his ability to think clearly nullified, Sylvester wishes that he was a rock. While this saves him from the lion, he can't pick up the pebble and wish himself back. He can't even talk because he has no voice. He can still think and feel, but that's it. You read right, my friends. A kids book using the trope "And I Must Scream".

Naturally, his mother and father are very worried. They look everywhere, even recruiting friends, neighbors, and cops to find their son. But of course, they don't find him and soon believe he's gone forever. Even the narration even goes for a real gut punch that hurts me even more as an adult. "They tried their best to be happy, to go about their usual ways. But their usual ways included Sylvester and they were always reminded of him. They were miserable. Life had no meaning for them anymore."

Ouch!

Even worse, the book implies that Sylvester spends a WHOLE YEAR as a rock. And as he sinks more into depression, he enters whatever you could call sleep in his situation, the book even implies that if this continues for too long, he would have lost or given up his identity and psyche... FOREVER.

I dunno if that was the intent, but that sounds an awful lot like SUICIDE!

Fortunately, one day, the parents have a picnic to process their grief... and chose the rock that is their son to put their basket on. They even find the pebble and admire it's beauty... and lament their son would like it, and put it on the rock that's their son. Then, using the last of his identity, emotions, and psyche, Sylvester wishes himself back, and it's a happy ending. True, the ending was good, but that only because of sheer luck and a huge bullet dodge.

But what if something like this happened in a more mature story? What if something like this happened in Ravenloft? In my opinion, adapting this story for Ravenloft would make an excellent early level story. The donkey thing shouldn't be a problem, you can make Sylvester and his parents whatever race you want. I could also see the parents hiring Alanik Ray and Dr. Arthur Sedgewick to find their son. I could see them hiring the players as well. But, it would not be Ravenloft without a Dark Lord, and I could see the pebble being deliberately put there, as is whatever scares the kid enough to turn him into a rock.

But which Dark Lord is most likely to pull such a twisted Batman gambit? And why? Is it the boy they are after? Or was this some twisted sense of sadistic humor?

I'm asking to give Warlock PC's more options if they want a Celestial or Fiend patron.

This coming Christmas, I'm hoping to DM some of the adventures in the One-Shot Holiday pack, and I've got big plans for it. The Yule Log app on my TV, decorations, cookies, hot coco and eggnog, etc. But what I'm REALLY hoping to emulate, is a Disney Christmas anthology movie that I adored when I was a child. Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. Each of the 3 stories were about classic Disney characters learning the true meaning of Christmas, but each in different ways. And do any of the adventures written in this independent DnD book have any morals about the true meaning of Christmas? About how it's a time spent with our loved ones? About how true value is found in what we can give? And how gifts are extensions of our love for other people? Or anything else with a positive message? I don't even care if it's given ironically.

I've got a Lupine character I'm working on for a Curse of Strahd adventure who's a combo of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and Stella from Helluva Boss. Long story short, my character was a cruel, elitist, wrathful bitch who was a horrible wife and mother to her husband and daughter, and one day it came back to bite her in the ass. She lost her wealth, her home, her family, and even her humanity when her appearance was changed to reflect her true nature*,* and she was utterly broken, and worse, the mists took her. By the time of the game start, she is utterly broken, she hates herself, and she thinks she doesn't deserve to be happy.

Any suggestions for motivating her to want to do good, help the other players, and find the good in herself that's been buried so deeply, she doesn't know it's there?

Lupine origins

Lupine origins emerge from the curse of lycanthropy not fulling taking effect or other bestial magics or curses. The Lupine Origin Table offers suggestions for your Lupine origin

D6

1. You were attacked by a lycanthrope while they were transforming, ensuring the curse never fully took hold
2. You are the child of a lycanthrope and a non-lycanthrope
3. An old beggar asked you for help, you refused, the beggar then revealed themselves to be a fey mage and turned you into a lupine as punishment
4. You are the child of 2 lupine parents
5. You were turned into a lupine by a mad scientist experiment
6. You became a lupine due to a resurgent gene in your family

Lupines in the Domains of Dread

When creating a lupine, , consult with your DM to see if it's appropriate to to tie your origins to one of the following Domains of Dread

Barovia: While many fear the wolves and werewolves of the Svalich forest, many Lupine see the Svalich forest as a place of sanctuary and build hidden villages within these haunted woods where they hope against hope that Strahd and monster hunters won't find them.

Kartakass: With it's werewolf haunted woods and dangerous performances that often end in werewolf attacks, Kartakass has produced a large number of Lupine who make no effort to hide their identities. This makes them both a small case of honesty, and hated pariah's.

Tempest: While not as common as Lupine who became who they are with botched lycnthropy, some Lupine became monsters for upsetting fey creatures. From not giving them the proper respect, to being outright cruel, and even festivities gone wrong.

Every animal species is a unique challenge for Zookeepers and some require more trained Zookeepers then others. Otherwise Zookeepers risk being injured or even killed. For example, did you know that more Zookeepers are injured by Zebras then Big Cats? Unlike most horses, Zebras evolved to be wary of humans and see them as potential carnivores. This why despite thousands of years of trying, no one's been able to domesticate a Zebra.

So if you want Zebra's in your Zoo, you need Zookeepers who, to put things simply, need extensive training and experience. So perhaps training centers could be a good idea for a new staff building.

The Aviary gameplay trailer implies that rabbits are coming next. I remember my home zoo having rabbits when I was a child, and them being in a nocturnal section. But apart from that, no memory, it was such a long time ago.

If their an American species, all I would need then would be Great Horned Owls, American Porcupine's, Marmot's, American Black Bear's, certain freshwater fish, and Canada Lynx. Combine those with certain American animals from 1, and I finally have my 100% Minnesota themed Zoo.

This is going to sound really strange, but most of the characters don't feel like people who lived in the 1500's or 1600's. Most of them feel more like people who live in a fantasy world. Granted, it IS a fantasy, but when you set it in the past, it becomes a different ball game. Ironically, the only character who feels like someone who lived in the time frame was Patrokolos... and that's because of all the religious persecution and religious wars that were fought across Europe. So people like him actually DID exist. Ironic, isn't it? The most hated character is the most realistic one.

I mean, the 15 and 1600's were very different times and many things and values back then would not fly by today's standards. I dunno, maybe I've become too much of a history nerd as I've grown older. I started getting into Soul Calibur as a teenager and was attracted by the Star Wars characters in 4. But now I'm 33 years old and will be turning 34 in September. So I'm a very different kind of person now.

What do you think? Think the characters feel a bit misplaced by setting the story in the past? If you wanted to make them feel more like the people who lived back then, what would you do?

In Birth by Sleep, one of the bosses in Terra's story was Experiment 221, AKA Sparky. That suggests that the other 624 experiments are still out there, but their whereabouts are unknown. So, what if like the Dalmations in the first game, we have to find the ball forms of the others. They shouldn't be found individually, but in groups and maybe over the course of multiple games. This could also mean bringing in Lilo in, but the next question is, should Hawaii be turned into a world? Or maybe she and the others are residents of the Destiny Isles. So we return them to the Destiny Isles or Hawaii to mark them down.

Plus, the Lilo and Stitch series revealed that Lilo isn't the only human who has taken an experiment under their protection. Experiment 345, AKA Elastico is under the protection of a circus troupe. And Experiment 7, AKA Gigi, is under the protection of Myrtle Evans. So maybe we'd also get a little cheddar cheese for this. Circuses have money, and bully that she is, Myrtle does love and care for Gigi.

The North theme looks promising to what I want to build. I just need to wait until/if the animals I'm looking for show up.

I'd like to see at least one species of vulture in the game and while pondering their requirements, a strange idea came to me. Since vultures are scavenger birds, what if we could feed the vultures other animals in the zoo when they die of old age? After all, they are nature's garbage men and are often underappreciated. Like real garbage men.

What do you think of this potential option?

I have a Wild Boar habitat that hasn't attracted customers for a long time because there's only one boar in there now. She's the last of a group of boars I brought in and she is very old. Her time meter has been in the red zone for a long time and I can't trade or release her. I thought she would have died of old age by this point, but she's a stubborn old sow and I'm starting to wonder if the game is glitching on me.

How am I going to get rid of her? I need fresher boars and I'm afraid a fight will break out if I bring in newer boars when she is still in there.

Also, she is 20.2 years old. Do boars stick around for that long? Or am I facing a glitch that won't allow her to die of old age?

In every Chromatic Dragon campaign and story I know, Tiamat has always been the main villain or the greater scope villain. But that's not the case in Critical Role. The Chroma Conclave has never considered themselves subordinate to Tiamat. They don't even pay her lip service, and I've heard of a few adventures where dragons at the very least, pay her lip service. Obviously the out of universe reason for this is to avoid copyright lawsuits. But I'm curious about why the 5 dragons never even bothered paying their goddess lip service and never considered themselves subordinate to her.