Creation Corner: Flavoring Up the Barbarian’s Rage

Creation Corner: It's so easy to let game mechanics feel, well, mechanical. But they don't have to be! D&D and other RPGs draw from rich sources, and if we know a little more about them, we can find ways to use the extra detail to enrich our games.

In this episode, we consider the 5e barbarian's rage, and how it seems to draw from the tradition of the Norse berserker. We'll look at some aspects that may be familiar, and some that may be not so familiar, and then consider a couple ways to use these facets to drive rewarding roleplay at the table.

Here are links to the references and resources Rhett used in today's episode, in case you'd like to do some digging on your own:

Hrafnsmál or Haraldskvæði: https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1436
Ynglingasaga: http://mcllibrary.org/Heimskringla/ynglinga.html
Samuel Ødmann's fly amanita hypothesis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria#Vikings
On henbane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoscyamus_niger
Cú Chulainn's ríastrad narrative 1: https://www.wildernessireland.com/blog/irish-folklore-cuchulain-hound-ulster/
Cú Chulainn's ríastrad narrative 2: https://mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/1050/what-did-cuchulainns-warp-spasm-look-like
On going berserk: A neurochemical inquiry, a scholarly inquiry from 1956: https://www.jstor.org/stable/21684
The haka, a ceremonial dance for the Māori in New Zealand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw

So get out that shaker and let's start flavoring!

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Our spot for Battlebards uses music from Battlebards! We hope you like our use of:

Capital City - Middlegate - Score Music by Shams Ahsan

We're glad you're sharing our story; we really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy what we've created together. We're having fun sharing our adventure with you each week, and we'll only get better with time! If you like what you hear, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, since that bumps us up in the ratings and lets others join in the fun. For quick updates on a more real-time basis, follow us on Twitter (@stackodice) and on Instagram (@stackodice), where we'd love to hear from you. Or if you want to share a question or idea with us, drop us a line at [email protected].

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We didn't use any Creative Commons sound effects and music in this show, but we like to point to freesound.org, a fantastic resource for completely free sound effects.

We also used some excellent Battlebards sound effects. If you like what you hear, check them out at battlebards.com. If you sign up for a Prime account, be sure to use our special code, stack, and you'll get a 20% discount on your subscription.

Here are the sound effects we used in this episode:

City Siege - Defending the Gates - Score Music, by Phil Archer
BBEG Theme - God of Death - Score Music, by Christian Peitsch
Downtime - Fantasy Ambience - Score Music, by Alexander Nakarada

And now, on with the show-- we're excited to tell a story with you.