Animals
Analysis
Animal companions are semi-characters with simple personalities and limited agency. While they have feelings, they don’t usually talk or undergo character arcs. Instead of pursuing their own goals, animal companions give devoted assistance to a protagonist. Read more »
Podcast
Everyone knows that the chosen one must have a chosen horse, a beast so noble and strong of will that no other warrior can ride it. Or maybe not? It turns out that horses are complicated animals, and they don’t always go along with human … read more »
Q&A
Thinking through hero’s journey and story archetypes (newbie here!) and was watching the recent Pixar movie Moana. My question is, what do you see as the function of or reason for a story to choose a relatively inanimate/neutral sidekick like Heihei (Moana’s chicken, that, though providing some … read more »
Q&A
Have you ever played a tabletop RPG that effectively represented people developing useful relationships with animals (dogs, horses, etc.)? It’s such a huge part of human history but seems strangely ignored in the TTRPG space. As you once pointed out, Animal Handling or equivalents are … read more »
Worldbuilding
Every world needs animals to give the setting life. I’ll focus on creating realistic and semi-realistic creatures and aliens, but these techniques can also be used to create races, plants, and other organisms. As an ongoing example, we’ll be making a creature as we go. … read more »
Worldbuilding
Whatever your setting, you’ll probably need animal transportation and labor. Only in the past 100 years has overland transportation been dominated by machines; throughout history, most humans have relied on some manner of large beastie to haul around their stuff or themselves. Read more »
