Flying Ostrich

Flying Ostriches


In my homebrew campaign, there is a region known as the Piruna Fields. It is a collection of islands far removed from the rest of the "civilized world." Its inhabitants (consisting mostly of feral gnomes and firbolgs) rely on nature and the manipulation of natural processes to meet their homeostatic needs. For most of these peoples, then, it's unlikely they would ever see something as advanced as an airship let alone own one and know how to use it.

This presented an interesting puzzle for me to solve. How do the peoples of Piruna Fields get around? Even though I had established that most folks never leave their island, there would be cause for occasional visits to far-away lands. This is especially true of the tabaxi folk whose wanderlust would leave them very unhappy should be they stranded on just one island. And a recent session made the need to solve this riddle more urgent.

To that end, I came up with the idea of the flying ostrich, wholly inspired by the classic arcade game Joust. I am very excited by this idea. I hope you are too.

Flying ostriches are raised from birth and trained as mounts and pack animals. They come in three varieties: flying ostrich, small flying ostrich, tabaxi flying ostrich

The flying ostrich is the most common of the creature's varieties. It's larger than the other two and slightly more robust. Both firbolgs and feral gnomes use them primarily as pack animals and almost never as mounts. Gnomes don't use them as mounts because the creatures are too big. Firbolgs don't use them as mounts because they have little need to do so. Firbolgs almost never leave their home island.


The miniature flying ostrich is a smaller variety bred by the feral gnomes as mounts. They are more slender and slightly more intelligent than the standard variety.



The tabaxi flying ostrich is exclusively bred by and used by the tabaxi. There is a deep kinship between a tabaxi and their ostrich. A tabaxi and an ostrich are paired when they are juveniles. From then on, the two are never parted. They grow up together. They learn together. And they travel together. If either one of the pair dies, the survivor tends to fall into fits of depression. While new pairings can be made after such a tragedy, the relationship is never as close or intuitive as the original. The tabaxi flying ostrich is more slender, agile, and intelligent than any of the other varieties.



Note: The art for this post is the cover art for the Atari 2600 port of the original arcade game.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Follow me on one of these fine social media platforms:
Instagram: @hokumsean
Spotify: @hokumsean
Twitch: @hokumsean
Twitter: @hokumsean
Tumblr @hokumsean

Stop by my YouTube channel "Ovens and Dragons" and partake in the exciting world of cooking for gamers.

Also, check out my DMsGuild offerings:


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Open Sky Encounters

Image
In Session 12 of my Dungeons and Dragons home-brew campaign Skyfell the player characters acquired an airship. I've already written up quite a few rules regarding airships and the nature of air travel in Skyfell (see my Airships post ). That was good enough to explain a bit about ships for earlier sessions. I'm assuming, however, that the characters will be sailing the open skies more frequently now. That's the sort of freedom owning an airship grants. There is, of course, a potential for encountering new locales and new creatures as they travel. So, I put together this set of rules for random encounters in the Open Skies. Like all the material regarding Skyfell on this blog, I've posted this for my players. These rules will likely change as we use them in the campaign. That said, feel free to use and adapt for your own campaign. Also, if you’re interested, I have assembled a couple playlists of session music specifically for sailing the open skies. There is one su
Read more

5e Conversion: Fallout Nuka-Cola

Image
  5e Conversion: Fallout's Nuka-Cola As there appears to be no end to my obsession with the Appalachia wasteland, I of course, must provide another conversion for  Fallout 76  into the  Dungeons and Dragons  setting. This time around, I want to tackle that most refreshing of novelty beverages, Nuka-Cola.  In case you don't know, the  Fallout  setting has a ubiquitous soda called Nuka-Cola that comes in convenient, rocket-shaped bottles. The standard variety is simply a refreshing way to hydrate and restore yourself while out and about braving the dangers of the wasteland. There are, however, several other specialty flavors that provide a wide range of other benefits. As with the chems, I feel that in a Dungeons and Dragons setting, Nuka-Cola would be a kind of potion, perhaps developed by some enterprising gnome as a way to differentiate his or her magical offerings from all the other potions that clutter up the adventuring market. I mean, who else but a gnome would think to u
Read more

5e Conversion : The Grinch

Image
5e: The Grinch The holiday season is upon us and once again my Dungeons and Dragons mind turns to Christmas with an unreasoning need to mash up the two. To that end, I bring you The Grinch stat block (as I imagine it). This stat block is based on the 2000 live-action movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey. For roleplaying tips, watch the movie. Let me know if you use this stat block and how it worked out. Merry Christmas. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow me on one of these fine social media platforms: Instagram : @hokumsean Spotify : @hokumsean Twitch : @hokumsean Twitter : @hokumsean Tumblr  @hokumsean Stop by my YouTube channel " Ovens and Dragons " and partake in the exciting world of cooking for gamers. Also, check out my DMsGuild offerings: Epic Gnomish Inventing Rules supplement for creating gadgets. Gnome Concept Packages 1 Collection of gnome-related backgrounds, feats, magic items, and m
Read more