Dolmenwood Players Book Flip Through

Hobby Vlog Day 92

Today we’re going to open up the Dolmenwood Players Handbook. I’m going to run you through the races and classes so you can see them all, and then build out one of the characters we made last night.

The Cloth Map

The Dolmenwood Players Mat—this is the cloth version. It’s very vibrant, thicker than I thought from the unboxing. The colors are awesome. This thing is beautiful.

What Is Dolmenwood?

If you don’t know anything about Dolmenwood: “Everything you ever heard about The Wood is true, and everything you ever heard is false. Dreams and fairies walk between standing stones and dancing trees, slipping in and out of the mortal world as easily as you or I slip through an open door.”

The appendix N includes Fellowship of the Ring, Gormenghast, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, The King of Elfin’s Daughter, and films like The Green Knight, Princess Mononoke, Legend, Labyrinth, Spirited Away, the original Wicker Man, Over the Garden Wall, and Twin Peaks. There’s intrigue, mystery, and horror mixed in.

The System

This is essentially a rule set built upon OSE, which is built upon old school Dungeons & Dragons—a mix of beginner and expert editions with maybe a little advanced creeping in. There’s also a campaign book, monster book, and adventure scenarios.

Setting a New Standard

This is not just a simple rule book—this is a whole campaign system, a whole living world hex map style. In my opinion, this will be what role playing games are compared to going forward. This is setting the new bar for what a tabletop RPG is, what world building is, what supplements are. Truly a magnum opus, truly a masterpiece.

The Kindreds

Mortals

• Bregles: Goat people divided into aristocratic long horns and commoner short horns
• Mosslings: Little hobbits/gnome people—part mortal flesh, part plant or fungus
• Humans: Humans are humans
• Dwarves: Not native to Dolmenwood, which will make my character interesting

Fairy and Demi-Fey

• Elves: Appear humanlike but otherworldly
• Grimalkins: Shape-shifting cat people with three forms—humanoid cat, fat cat (Chester), and fae predator (Wilder)
• Woodgrues: Capricious bat-faced goblins

The Classes

Class Overview

• Bard: Prime abilities charisma and dexterity, counter charm, enchantment, folklore
• Cleric: Holy magic from level two, holy order, turn undead
• Enchanter: Glamours, fairy runes (very powerful), detect magic
• Fighter: Combat talents like battle rage, cleave, defender, last stand
• Friar: Herbalism and holy magic, non-martial
• Hunter: Animal companion, tracking, missile attacks
• Knight: Chivalric code, horsemanship, monster slayer
• Magician: Traditional arcane magic, detect magic
• Thief: Actually useful—backstab, climbing, traps, locks

Building Thoric Duskorn

Our character is a dwarf cleric—unusual since dwarves aren’t from Dolmenwood. He’s turned his back on the gods of his land and is walking around trying to find power within himself.

Stats

• Strength: 11 (no modifier)
• Intelligence: 7 (-1, a little dopey)
• Wisdom: 17 (+2)
• Dexterity: 13 (+1)
• Constitution: 14 (+1)
• Charisma: 6 (-1)

Hit points: 6 (rolled a 5 + 1 constitution). Maybe he’ll be our tank since everyone else’s stats are rough.

No Spells Yet

Clerics get holy magic once they’ve proven their devotion at level two. So he won’t walk into Dolmenwood with spells—we’ll have to play through that first adventure. It’s almost like it was meant for a dwarf not from Dolmenwood so we can get him initiated before making all these decisions.

Cool Details

Holy Magic

All spells have prayer names. It’s not “I cast detect evil”—it’s “I will say St. Witt’s Vision.” Very flavorful, not just lightning bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt.

Equipment

You roll your equipment in set kits with customization. I like this because I’m someone who could spend all day trying to figure out what to buy.

Robust Systems

There’s fungi and herbs, alchemy, animal trainers, specialist services, retainers, slot encumbrance, camping rules, and a robust religion system. The calendar system plays a rather large role.

Ascending Armor Class

Confirmed: an elf knight in the combat example has AC 17. It is ascending armor class.

Final Thoughts

As we play, I don’t plan on doing flip-throughs of the campaign book or monster book—you’ll see those as I play through. I don’t want to spoil that for myself. Thanks for being here and being awesome.