Tag: writing

Designing a D&D Campaign for Middle Schoolers Afterschool: Episode 1

Designing a D&D Campaign for a Middle School afterschool program.


Greetings, and welcome back to Modern Papyrus! Today I’ll start looking at a new series of designing a Dungeons and Dragons campaign for a group of middle schoolers that fits into a shortened time period after school. This has it’s own challenges and restrictions that require some suitable tweaks to the standard D&D Campaign. So let’s take a look!

Continue reading “Designing a D&D Campaign for Middle Schoolers Afterschool: Episode 1”

Renaissance Festival Roundup


Today I’m going to recap my trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival (in brief) and share some exciting news, as well as plans for some future blog posts!

As always, I loved visiting the Renaissance Festival. My hosts – the wonderful Vicki and Thomas at Page after Page – were gracious and supportive as always. Even in the rainy early October weather, we had great crowds and wonderful patrons coming by to purchase, get books signed, or just to chat! I had one of my best selling days so far, even with the poor weather, and I hope to be back next year.

While the blog has been a bit more inconsistent as of late, I’m hoping that with the school year settling down that I’ll be able to write some more. I have started planning my next novel – focusing on Corbus and his continuing story – as a stand alone (at this point) story arc. The goal is to get this story planned out by November so I can participate in NaNoWriMo for the (however many) year in a row. We’ll see where it goes!

Renfest Book Signing this October!


Hi everyone,

It’s been a busy time here in the Ottalini household, but I’m excited for things to settle down a bit with the school year starting, and even more pleased to announce my return to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this October 2nd, 2022! Thanks to the kind generosity of Page after Page, the preeminent (and only!) Bookstore at the festival, I’ll be signing copies of my novels and anthology, which you can pick up there in person!

Also feel free to chat with me about all the great Dungeons and Dragons modules I’ve been putting out this last year.

See me last year in my author get-up. I’ll hopefully have a few additional pieces of gear to wear this year! Make your reservations to visit the faire here, and come out and support me and my books (and have a cracking good time at one of the best events in the Mid Atlantic!)

If you can’t wait to get your copies, you can always order them in advance here!

What’s that Burning Smell? A look at the Cult of the Searing Torchbearers

Meet the Searing Torchbearer Cultists


“Those cultists are another thing, I tell you. More likely to burn each other with those weird symbols of those. Some people like the smell of bacon in the morning. I think they prefer the smell of another meat instead….” – Maud the Mauler, after an encounter with the Searing Torchbearers in Pier’s Landing.

Continue reading “What’s that Burning Smell? A look at the Cult of the Searing Torchbearers”

Mercenary Group Focus – Tales from Temerrit – Gwrawn’s Raiders


Welcome back! Today we have a focus on one of the mercenary groups in the upcoming D&D 5th ed adventure – Tales from Temerrit: The Fall of Palrom the Usurper. While conflict and war is a cornerstone of many of the D&D worlds, I felt like not a lot had been done to flesh out the world of professional mercenaries. In a way every adventuring party is a small group of professional mercenaries, but I wanted to focus on larger groups. Given that the Usurper relies on mercenaries for the bulk of his forces, I was excited to record some ideas and provide background for several of these groups. Gwrawn’s Raiders are an example of a fast and hard hitting force of cavalry mercenaries that follow in the tradition of several historical examples of strong cavalry armies. Each mercenary company comes with a roster of enemies taken from D&D source books, suggested tactics, bonus special rules, and details about their leader, who is, in essence, a ‘boss’ in the world. As always, C&C would be appreciated!

NaNoWriMo Word Update: 11,728 at time of posting

Continue reading “Mercenary Group Focus – Tales from Temerrit – Gwrawn’s Raiders”

D&D Project in the Works – NaNoWriMo Progress

A brief preview of The Fall of Palrom the Usurper


As promised, I’ve actually been working on my latest writing project from the Tales from Temerrit: The Fall of Palrom the Usurper. In summary, this is a story about a devious tyrant seeking to claim the entirety of the beautiful and diverse province of Temerrit. At this point, I’ve got 10,000 words written in this story! While not a novel or even a novella per say, this adventure does require a lot of technical thought, planning, and creativity! I’ll be sharing some more information about what I’m writing in the future, but for now, enjoy this quote!

As the smoke-wreathed figure butchered the guards, the servants, and all who stood…   

Laughing heartily as the blood flowed from the royal duke’s brood,

    Leaving not a single soul alive within the Ewdean keep 

    Except the shattered bones of his victims to unrestfully sleep…

Fall of the Duke, Saga recited by Ortesi the Bard

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National Novel Writing Month 2021 – with a Dungeons and Dragon’s Twist!


Continue reading “National Novel Writing Month 2021 – with a Dungeons and Dragon’s Twist!”

Coming Soon: Reflections of Brass Print Anthology & Cover Teaser!


I’m pleased to announce the coming publication of Reflection of Brass, my print anthology composing the novellas Antioch Burns, Roma Aeronautica, and the Last Gladiator, along with a sneak peek at my forthcoming novella, tentatively titled A Brief History of New Caesaria. I’ll be doing some cover teases all this week and next, along with a blog blitz to share writing new and old! Here’s today’s first piece of artwork!

Twilight Cleric Character Creation

I design a Twilight Cleric for a One-Shot! Woot woot!


A Shadow-touched Air Genasi Twilight Cleric Build!

I have my ‘post-wedding-bachelor-party’ this weekend, and a friend is running a one-shot for me and the gang. I’m excited to introduce a character I’ve been wanting to play for quite some time, my shadow-touched Twilight Cleric! Just for fun, I’ve decided to post my backstory character creation. I’ll post the character sheet I’ve written out for them below as well.

Continue reading “Twilight Cleric Character Creation”

Summer Smashwords Sale!


  • Click here for the Paperback Version!

You know it! All my novels and novellas are on sale this Summer for 25% off! (besides Brass Legionnaire and Roma Aeronautica, which are already a steal at the low low price of just 99 cents!) Use the code SSW25 at checkout to get 25% off all my ebooks from July 1st through 31st! Check out my novels and novellas here now!

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