Talos the Storm Lord
@talosstormlord.bsky.social
🏳️🌈 #DnD lore diver and #TTRPG designer. Assistant Lead for #LoG Highfolk region. #Ravenloft expert. Same name on ❌. Cover by Talon Dunning.
So I hope you enjoyed this brief tangent. Check out @AtticArcana for their wares. And check out this space soon for more about my upcoming #Ravenloft #AdventurersLeague (#AL) modules in the NIghtmare Lands! (Oh and Greyhawk too 😉)
July 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
So I hope you enjoyed this brief tangent. Check out @AtticArcana for their wares. And check out this space soon for more about my upcoming #Ravenloft #AdventurersLeague (#AL) modules in the NIghtmare Lands! (Oh and Greyhawk too 😉)
Finally the coolest part: each die has a strip of Azalin’s writing… including perhaps his best known line: “My little scholar”. If you know the story of the #Ravenloft gazetteers, you know there’s… a lot of story there. It’s an amazing custom detail.
July 16, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Finally the coolest part: each die has a strip of Azalin’s writing… including perhaps his best known line: “My little scholar”. If you know the story of the #Ravenloft gazetteers, you know there’s… a lot of story there. It’s an amazing custom detail.
There’s then the colors: gold, iron (or a steely grey), and of course blood-red. The clear resin of the dice nicely makes all of them pop to varying degrees and varying angles. Each die is unique.
July 16, 2025 at 4:24 PM
There’s then the colors: gold, iron (or a steely grey), and of course blood-red. The clear resin of the dice nicely makes all of them pop to varying degrees and varying angles. Each die is unique.
Next up, Azalin’s symbols - specifically the lich’s phylactery or soul jar, in the shape of a gold dragon skull that can change weight and size. (It’s an easter egg in a number of #Ravenloft publication.) Here, you can see the skull reflected from inside one die!
July 16, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Next up, Azalin’s symbols - specifically the lich’s phylactery or soul jar, in the shape of a gold dragon skull that can change weight and size. (It’s an easter egg in a number of #Ravenloft publication.) Here, you can see the skull reflected from inside one die!
Now: this lich. He shows up on the dice themselves! Attic Arcana share my obsession with Azalin so he is their calling card: a little crowned skull for the top value on some #dice - a tribute to the lich king in his iron crown.
July 16, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Now: this lich. He shows up on the dice themselves! Attic Arcana share my obsession with Azalin so he is their calling card: a little crowned skull for the top value on some #dice - a tribute to the lich king in his iron crown.
We’re taking a brief detour from the Nightmare Lands to talk about something completely different. (Well, still #dnd related, so not really that different.) Today is for that OTHER #ttrpg obsession: #dice! And my custom #Ravenloft set.
July 16, 2025 at 4:18 PM
We’re taking a brief detour from the Nightmare Lands to talk about something completely different. (Well, still #dnd related, so not really that different.) Today is for that OTHER #ttrpg obsession: #dice! And my custom #Ravenloft set.
Now the biggest change, and maybe another #dndcontroversy (no not really) is that 5e makes Caroline Dinwiddy the source of the Nightmare Court, versus in 2e she was a minor good NPC. I like this shift, and have a unique twist in my #adventurersleague series coming soon on #DMsGuild… #rpgcreator
June 27, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Now the biggest change, and maybe another #dndcontroversy (no not really) is that 5e makes Caroline Dinwiddy the source of the Nightmare Court, versus in 2e she was a minor good NPC. I like this shift, and have a unique twist in my #adventurersleague series coming soon on #DMsGuild… #rpgcreator
Finally the Nightmare Man. 2e #dnd suggested he was the darklord, but I like him as the personification of ever-present anxiety dreams, making him the strongest but also least defined. Rather than the grim reaper imagery, I like something nebulous like the Whistler from #RadiantCitadel.
June 27, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Finally the Nightmare Man. 2e #dnd suggested he was the darklord, but I like him as the personification of ever-present anxiety dreams, making him the strongest but also least defined. Rather than the grim reaper imagery, I like something nebulous like the Whistler from #RadiantCitadel.
Two Nightmare Court members that get less attention. First, the Rainbow Serpent did not make it into #VanRichten material I bet for to cultural sensitivities. The Redheaded Child is from #Ravenloft #GothicEarth materials, but I’m including them. (h/t SanaOfTheNorth on Reddit for the #HeroForge)
June 27, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Two Nightmare Court members that get less attention. First, the Rainbow Serpent did not make it into #VanRichten material I bet for to cultural sensitivities. The Redheaded Child is from #Ravenloft #GothicEarth materials, but I’m including them. (h/t SanaOfTheNorth on Reddit for the #HeroForge)
Mullonga looks much like a diminutive #hag, with wiry white hair and a dark brown skin. Her voice is like rusty hinges. The old art is fine, but for modern times I like the trash lady from the movie #Labyrinth, her junk bag disgorging toys of the phobias she feeds on in dreams.
June 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Mullonga looks much like a diminutive #hag, with wiry white hair and a dark brown skin. Her voice is like rusty hinges. The old art is fine, but for modern times I like the trash lady from the movie #Labyrinth, her junk bag disgorging toys of the phobias she feeds on in dreams.
Morpheus - no not #thematrix one - is purple-skinned male torso floats atop a kaleidoscopic column of air. A damask vest, waist-sash, and fine jewelry accentuate his impressive physique. (And a disconcertingly pleasing baritone!) He delights in dreams about the loss of control, the alien or surreal.
June 27, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Morpheus - no not #thematrix one - is purple-skinned male torso floats atop a kaleidoscopic column of air. A damask vest, waist-sash, and fine jewelry accentuate his impressive physique. (And a disconcertingly pleasing baritone!) He delights in dreams about the loss of control, the alien or surreal.
Hypnos is encased in a tomb of glass, one eye open with hateful condescension. I personally like it more if he’s this orc in this Dean Spencer piece - buy it on @DriveThruRPG! But I’d want him still in a coffin. Hypnos feeds on dreams of impotence, paranoia, and the mortal “sins”.
June 27, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Hypnos is encased in a tomb of glass, one eye open with hateful condescension. I personally like it more if he’s this orc in this Dean Spencer piece - buy it on @DriveThruRPG! But I’d want him still in a coffin. Hypnos feeds on dreams of impotence, paranoia, and the mortal “sins”.
First among the #Ravenloft Nightmare Court is the Ghost Dancer. She’s had a couple renditions. While I liked the 2e original #bwart, there’s interesting things that could be done with the mask on the new one, like it morphs from frightening to haunting faces. She feeds on dreams of tragedy.
June 27, 2025 at 7:34 PM
First among the #Ravenloft Nightmare Court is the Ghost Dancer. She’s had a couple renditions. While I liked the 2e original #bwart, there’s interesting things that could be done with the mask on the new one, like it morphs from frightening to haunting faces. She feeds on dreams of tragedy.
The rulers of the Nightmare Lands in #dnd are a curious thing among #Ravenloft darklords (and varies across edition). But one constant is the Nightmare Court: villains who feed on the bad dreams and fears harvested from sleeping minds across the multiverse. Which is best (or worst)? #ttrpg
June 27, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The rulers of the Nightmare Lands in #dnd are a curious thing among #Ravenloft darklords (and varies across edition). But one constant is the Nightmare Court: villains who feed on the bad dreams and fears harvested from sleeping minds across the multiverse. Which is best (or worst)? #ttrpg
All that, and many of my prior #Ravenloft and #horror #rpg posts, build up something new and exciting I have on the horizon… more to come… #horrorprg #adventurersleague #al #ttrpgcreator
June 24, 2025 at 6:50 PM
All that, and many of my prior #Ravenloft and #horror #rpg posts, build up something new and exciting I have on the horizon… more to come… #horrorprg #adventurersleague #al #ttrpgcreator
Next time, we will dive into the domain and its locations, and then how it evolved over the editions. After that we’ll get to the darklord(s). And then at last the nature of playing #DungeonsAndDragons in dreams (or nightmares)…
June 24, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Next time, we will dive into the domain and its locations, and then how it evolved over the editions. After that we’ll get to the darklord(s). And then at last the nature of playing #DungeonsAndDragons in dreams (or nightmares)…
The Nightmare Lands was largely untouched by #TSR until it got its own formal debut in (natch) “The Nightmare Lands” boxed set in 1995 for second edition #dnd - much of the #Pencildrawing #horrorart you see in this thread draws from that resource.
June 24, 2025 at 6:47 PM
The Nightmare Lands was largely untouched by #TSR until it got its own formal debut in (natch) “The Nightmare Lands” boxed set in 1995 for second edition #dnd - much of the #Pencildrawing #horrorart you see in this thread draws from that resource.
(We’ll get into its current “geography” in a separate post.) Wherever it is located, it is mostly unknown to the #Ravenloft denizens - as fleeting as a #nightmare. Even among heroes the Nightmare Lands remain a mystery - few have visited this it, and even fewer come back sane.
June 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM
(We’ll get into its current “geography” in a separate post.) Wherever it is located, it is mostly unknown to the #Ravenloft denizens - as fleeting as a #nightmare. Even among heroes the Nightmare Lands remain a mystery - few have visited this it, and even fewer come back sane.
The Nightmare Lands once was part of the Ravenloft “Core” domains in the very first publication (“the Black Box” in 1990). It was featureless! Portrayed as strangely nondescript, unstable, and inhospitable - it was removed from the Core in “the Red Box” to become an island.
June 24, 2025 at 6:43 PM
The Nightmare Lands once was part of the Ravenloft “Core” domains in the very first publication (“the Black Box” in 1990). It was featureless! Portrayed as strangely nondescript, unstable, and inhospitable - it was removed from the Core in “the Red Box” to become an island.
The #NightmareLands is one of the strangest domains of dread. A mutable “terrain between” in a liminal space, it can spawn horrors that break the mind as easily as the body, both in dreams and in reality.
June 24, 2025 at 6:41 PM
The #NightmareLands is one of the strangest domains of dread. A mutable “terrain between” in a liminal space, it can spawn horrors that break the mind as easily as the body, both in dreams and in reality.
#Ravenloft have been very varied over the years: from enormous oceans to mountain-enclosed valleys; from kingdoms to a single town, building, or even a gem! But which is the most fun and unusual of them all? I’d say it is THE NIGHTMARE LANDS... #dnd #ttrpg #horrorrpg
June 24, 2025 at 6:39 PM
#Ravenloft have been very varied over the years: from enormous oceans to mountain-enclosed valleys; from kingdoms to a single town, building, or even a gem! But which is the most fun and unusual of them all? I’d say it is THE NIGHTMARE LANDS... #dnd #ttrpg #horrorrpg
But all of those are barely as weird as the final #domain. It is popular in the #Ravenloft community, a fave of mine, and pretty bonkers. Care to guess what it is? (I’ll tell you soon - I’ve got some upcoming stuff I’ve made to share for that domain…) #ttrpgcommunity #creator
June 20, 2025 at 5:34 PM
But all of those are barely as weird as the final #domain. It is popular in the #Ravenloft community, a fave of mine, and pretty bonkers. Care to guess what it is? (I’ll tell you soon - I’ve got some upcoming stuff I’ve made to share for that domain…) #ttrpgcommunity #creator
But that cannot compare to the reality-bending in the next 3 domains. VECHOR: ruled by Easan the Mad, that changes on his whim. DAVIAN: flips between 4 locations to reflect trapped personas that vie for control; SCAENA: a theater where anything can happen on Lemot’s deadly stage.
June 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
But that cannot compare to the reality-bending in the next 3 domains. VECHOR: ruled by Easan the Mad, that changes on his whim. DAVIAN: flips between 4 locations to reflect trapped personas that vie for control; SCAENA: a theater where anything can happen on Lemot’s deadly stage.
RISIBILOS: Speaking of “how does that even work” and manifestations of the mind, let’s jump to the campiest #Ravenloft #domain of all. The darklord is trapped as a ventriloquist to a terrible doll that looks like #Strahd - and says it IS Strahd! (In 2E it was a jester and was all about bad jokes).
June 20, 2025 at 5:27 PM
RISIBILOS: Speaking of “how does that even work” and manifestations of the mind, let’s jump to the campiest #Ravenloft #domain of all. The darklord is trapped as a ventriloquist to a terrible doll that looks like #Strahd - and says it IS Strahd! (In 2E it was a jester and was all about bad jokes).
THE VHAGE AGENCY. Detective agency? Sure! Fits the nee #Ravenloft #detectivestories #horror genre. But there’s a twist! The private eye is the darklord, and cause the cases they send adventurer to solve. But that’s not twisty enough! The entire domain is in their head! How does that… even work??
June 20, 2025 at 5:23 PM
THE VHAGE AGENCY. Detective agency? Sure! Fits the nee #Ravenloft #detectivestories #horror genre. But there’s a twist! The private eye is the darklord, and cause the cases they send adventurer to solve. But that’s not twisty enough! The entire domain is in their head! How does that… even work??