I don’t know if I ever told you guys, but it’s Chris Perkins that got me into GMing. I was in a deadly dull office job at the time, and I’d yet to discover Reddit. That made Perkins’s weekly “The Dungeon Master Experience” articles vital for my continued sanity. You can still find ’em over here (just click “Dungeon Master Experience” in the dropdown menu), and they’re still worth a read despite the intervening years and edition changes.

I bring those articles up today because of Perkins’s custom setting. Every article drew on the latest happenings from his weekly campaign, and it’s that campaign setting that brings our lovable kobold Pugilist into the equation.

Iomandra was the name of the game, and that island-world was dominated not by humans, but by dragonborn. A world of empires controlled by bipedal reptile folk demands a different feel than the standard human world. Caste systems based on scale color become a concern. Egg thievery steps in for kidnapping as a plot device. The standard talk of “infinite human adaptability” recedes, and the constellation of racial/cultural relationships shifts accordingly.

So imagine the plight of poor Pug there in the barber’s chair. She’s trying her best to fit into a human-dominated society, adapting to the local fashion as best she can. Some lizardfolk have been known to go to ridiculous extremes for the sake of current trends. Imagine then what it might look like if the shoe was on the other claw. How would mammalian folk adapt if lizards ruled the world? Scaly makeup? False tails? Acquiring a taste for raw meat cuisine?

For today’s discussion question, what do you say we indulge in a little bit of worldbuilding? Pick a non-human race as your dominant species. How does that world deviate from the standard anthropocentic fantasy? Do drow construct elaborate sun-shades in their above-ground outposts? Is food scarce in a warforged society? Are aarakocra towns built into the sides of cliffs? Let’s hear all about your exotic inhuman campaign settings down in the comments!

EARN BONUS LOOT! Check out the The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. We’ve got a sketch feed full of Laurel’s original concept art. We’ve got early access to comics. There’s physical schwag, personalized art, and a monthly vote to see which class gets featured in the comic next. And perhaps my personal favorite, we’ve been hard at work bringing a bimonthly NSFW Handbook of Erotic Fantasy comic to the world! So come one come all. Hurry while supplies of hot elf chicks lasts!