Samuel Wright
Bio
I am a writer & tarot reader in Oregon. I'm a TTRPG fan, love all types of sci-fi & fantasy books, movies, & games, & read voraciously. I write a variety of content, mostly RPG blogs. Tell me where you found my page.
Art by Google/Unsplash
Stories (45/0)
Witch-Knights: Warriors of the Lost Gods
On the lost world of Arathia, hidden from the rest of the Multiverse, there was a terrible betrayal. One god, the Measurer, grown corrupt and tyrannical, cast his divine kin into an inescapable prison. From this well of infinite silence they could not hear or answer the prayers of their worshipers. Cut off from the gods, the holy warriors of this world could no longer use their priestly powers. The minions of the dark god of stone ruled with an iron fist, grinding away all joy from the lives of the people of Arathia. This was the start of the Grey Times, an era of endless toil, fear, and oppression.
By Samuel Wright9 days ago in Gamers
Better Than A Plain +1
Magic items, especially the common ones, can get dull. If you have seen one +1 dagger, you have seen them all, right? Well, with a little work, you can make the weakest magic weapon interesting. Just ask yourself, who made these, and why? Add a few details and maybe a minor magical effect that makes the item stand out so that a player appreciates having it. You do not need to give every random item a backstory, but having a class of items that shares a reason for existing in a campaign makes them meaningful. Give items a place in a culture, a role that can create plot hooks or just be interesting. “These are from this culture and were made for this reason” reduces the sheer boredom of a random, nondescript magical item.
By Samuel Wright27 days ago in Gamers
Nightfox Reports: Screamers
Not many people read news reports from all of the places that I do, just those who see the Big Picture, that obtuse angle of perception that makes other people anxious, so they change the subject and end a conversation as if the one speaking to them was somehow contagious. I have learned not to discuss these things with just anyone, so I will record my findings here on the Internet and occasionally try to find clues to map out the world that is hidden under the day-to-day life that the Mundanes think of as reality.
By Samuel Wrightabout a month ago in Horror
Knights of the Silver Way: Warriors of the Mind and Will
As Chenk pulled his mount to a hover, the nervous beast beat its gelatinous wings in a rippling wave and whistled through its gill-sacks. Looking down into the seemingly endless chasm he was flying through at the illithid lair below, Chenk knew that hundreds of slaves were groaning under the yoke of telepathic oppression, living in barely suppressed horror at the daily prospect of a mind-flayer slicing open a skull at random to feed on the delicate gray meat of a brain. “Easy, Salathious,” Chenk whispered to his steed, “We’re not alone...”
By Samuel Wrightabout a month ago in Gamers
Nightfox Reports: A Train to Nowhere
This is a hasty report because this shit just happened. Sometimes I do not even need the internet to stumble onto a weird, horrific event. Sometimes just trying to get home from somewhere I run over a mystery. Tonight I was in Downtown Los Angeles picking up some strictly medicinal herbs for my special brownie recipe from a reliable supplier, and testing some samples of other products he had. (We got baked!). Afterwards I had to take the subway to get back to the Valley so I skated over to Union Station, the hub of all the trains and buses in the Los Angeles area to catch the Red Line to NoHo. Personally, I have no idea why they call North Hollywood “NoHo” when there are tons of Hoes there. (Cue rim shot!) Whatever, I needed to get back to my kip in North Hills to start baking my goodies.
By Samuel Wrightabout a month ago in Horror
Adriana's Tale
Adriana looked out of her hiding place in the library of the ruined temple of Apollo. This was the one place in her city, Valora, she was sure that none of the wild, painted barbarians would bother to pillage and burn. The smoke from the fires in the rest of the temple had wafted away, the ashes were all cold now, and the screams of the dying had faded away, too.
By Samuel Wrightabout a month ago in Fiction
Knights of the Broken Blade: Ending War by Force
The two armies had been encamped at opposite ends of the bridge for days, occasionally making short forays against one another, periodically testing each other’s mettle while trying to find a way to gain the upper hand. Like most battles in this war, this one was futile and meaningless, and the real damage done by each host of warriors was to the local countryside as they pillaged nearby villages and farms for “provisions”. Neither side was willing to back down and let the other army seize the bridge across the winding river; but neither side had the strength to take it, so the siege lingered on…
By Samuel Wright2 months ago in Gamers
Knights of the Eternal Dark: Taking the fight to the sunless deeps
Long ago in the kingdom of Stranghen, King Sturm so feared dying that he emptied the royal coffers to obtain a form of immortality, ruining the prosperity of his once powerful dynasty just to become a lich, gaining the title, the Deathless. Under the long rule of Sturm the Deathless the royal house eventually regained its status and prosperity, but it grew corrupt and morbid, leading the entire nation to revering the undead. One aristocrat after another turned to the Dark Arts to avoid death and hold onto the reigns of their power with bony hands. Life became cheap as the wealthy fed upon the poor, leeching the warmth of life from whomever they grew tired of to extend their false immortality. Love, joy, beauty, and compassion were gradually replaced by greed, hunger, vengeance, and cruelty.
By Samuel Wright2 months ago in Gamers
Knights of the Free Will: The Holy Liberators
The tyrant of Gothonor, the self-styled King Hiram, was once a common thief and trader of slaves. Under the very noses of a corrupt and incompetent aristocracy he had raised an army of slaves and taken over the nation in a bloody coup. Now the kind and generous people of that nation were suspicious and secretive. Citizens were constantly in fear of being “vanished”, taken away by their new ruler’s secret force of assassins and buried in the wilderness where none would find them. Paranoia was the order of the day. Children regularly turned in their own parents for being “seditious” (committing such terrible crimes as complaining about having to wait in line to buy bread or saying things had been better under the murdered aristocrats). No one was happy in the tiny kingdom, but no one was brave enough to say so.
By Samuel Wright2 months ago in Gamers
Knights of the White Shield: Keepers of the Peace
Snowy mountain peaks overlooked the tiny village of Cliffbottom that had sprung up by the Wathwend River, a waterway that meandered between the vast Snowmane Mountains to the sea. It was a small community of Halfling and Gnome farmers and merchants attracted by the traffic in spices that had grown as trade with the distant Hmomshai Empire to the South flourished. A small port on the winding river where farmers could bring their crops to trade for spices brought by ships bound for cities of the North, Cliffbottom had been built just inland from the coast on the river delta as part of the expanding colonies of the Duchy of Vairone, in a forested wilderness that was thought to be uninhabited virgin territory. The Vaironese settlers had no idea that the river they called the Wathwend was the Sacred Road used by the spirits of the dead to go to the Island of the Dead. They could not know that the river was bathed in to cleanse the soul of sins, that the trees they had cleared from the river bank were the reincarnated chieftains of a hundred generations of savage human tribesmen, and they were not expecting the barbarian warriors to be willing to die to purify their holy river of the taint of civilisation.
By Samuel Wright2 months ago in Gamers
Knights of the Pure Heart: Leading the Sinful to Redemption
The knight knelt down beside the murderous thief who sat on the ground bound with manacles in the gaol for his crimes. After the knight had captured him, the young man had been convicted of killing and robbing a merchant; he was going to be executed in the morning. “Be calm, my son,” he said softly to the criminal, “I mean you know harm. Just tell me, why did you do it? You don’t need to lie, you can tell me anything. I will never tell anyone, I am not here to condemn, just offer you a chance at peace.” The scurrilous cur spat at the knight and struggled against his chains. The knight did not flinch, just wiped away the spittle and smiled benignly and said softly “That’s okay, my son, I know you must be angry. Tell me, what makes you so wrathful?”
By Samuel Wright3 months ago in Gamers