Drintera Issue #3: The Cradle of the Faceless

I realized quite recently the decision to use a published TTRPG setting vs. homebrew is not either/or. Every game master needs creative fuel: adventure locations, plot hooks, lore, characters, factions, wondrous places. That’s what Drintera is all about. Buy Issue #3 from our Patreon store, or become a supporter and save up to 20% off the cover price.

In this issue:

• Cover story: The Cradle of the Faceless, a bazaar of wonders and treachery for high-level characters.

• Zuvinar, goddess of the sun

• Creature lore: aberrant metamorphs (shapechanging monsters)

Issue #1 of Drintera™ Magazine is FREE on Patreon!

Drintera™ is an original, multicultural fantasy TTRPG world built month by month. It's inspired by heroic mythology and by folklore and cultures from around the world.

The gods have proclaimed the Age of Destiny. Stride forth to claim your place in legend!

This first FREE issue is a sample of our work. It's focused on Mor Thia, our Asian inspired continent.

• Engage in guild intrigue and match wits with underworld gangs in the magnificent but strained Twin Moons empire.

• Explore the poisoned and haunted ruins of Red Pillar City in search of riches and magic!

• Answer the call of the Age of Destiny

Support Drintera on Patreon to get more lore and adventure ideas each month! The more supporters we gain, the more articles and art we can add to each issue.

Gods of Drintera article on World Anvil and Patreon soft launch

The Drintera fantasy setting is home to myriad spirits, great and small. Some of the most powerful spirits have established relationships with mortals and are called gods. Gods accept offerings and grant blessings in return.

See the full article on World Anvil.

Development of Drintera is being funded by Patreon. You can follow our Patreon for free or you can become a paid supporter of our work. Please note, during this soft launch phase, which may last many months, paid supporters get the same content that we’re releasing to the public for free. It’s really a digital tip jar, not a subscription to a regular publication.

Drintera interview on StoryComic podcast

Shewstone founder Andrew Gronosky returns to StoryComic for a 30-minute interview about the upcoming Drintera setting. We talk about the approach to worldbuilding and how we're balancing tradition with innovation in the fantasy genre.

Video interview with Andrew Gronosky about the Drintera TTRPG setting. 30 minutes.

Drintera™ - A Sandbox World of Deep Lore

Drintera™ is a tabletop RPG world of heroic adventure amid dreamlike enchantment. Shewstone Publishing has been working on this world since late 2022 and we’re ready to reveal more of what it is about.

The inspiration for Drintera came at Gen Con—2017, I think—at a seminar about mythology where Greg Stafford was on the panel. I realized there is great inspiration in going back to real-world mythology. There are plenty of great RPG settings based on Greek or Norse mythology. I wanted to create something new, that feels like heroic mythology.

As I dug deeper, listening to mythology scholars in addition to reading about it myself, I realized: mythology is weird. Norse mythology scholar Jackson Crawford summed it up by saying myth follows dream logic. When the Fisher King got wounded and his whole realm languished with him, that didn’t make rational sense. Our ancestors who created these stories didn’t expect rational explanations for things.

Dream logic is perfect for gaming. Don’t worry about a plausible backstory for magical creatures and events. Worry about a good story. Drintera is a world where the people make sense, but magic and monsters don’t have to.

Drintera in Detail

The best overview of the world is the Drintera page on this website. You can browse the free content of the world on World Anvil, but there’s not much there yet (July 2023).

How to Follow and Support Our Work

We’ll be funding our freelance team through Patreon. We’re not ready to accept patrons yet—I want to get to the point where we can publish the patrons-only Drintera Monthly zine on a regular basis. We’ll probably launch the Patreon for early adopters in early 2024.

We’ll be posting approximately monthly updates on this blog about what we’ve created, as well as our design journey. We’ve created a Drintera category for blog posts. Links to the blog posts will be shared on Facebook, Mastodon, and Discord.

We have a great design team working hard on this world. I can’t wait to share more about it as we go!