''Tales From My D&D Campaign'' is an internet-based campaign log featuring a set of four D&D [=PC=]s in a semi-original campaign world. Narrated by the GM, Demonac (also the creator of ''WebComic/AnotherGamingComic''), its simple art style disguises an intriguing world and epic storyline.

Meet the skilled artificer [[GadgeteerGenius Draven Rowe]], the heavily armored priest of Sirus [[MightyGlacier Reginald Black]], the lethal gnome Rogue and assassin [[TheTrickster Angel Bloodright]] and the half-dragon Warblade [[OneManArmy Little One]]. They are later joined by the cleric of Ankou [[DontFearTheReaper Zaheer]], his mysterious protector [[DeadToBeginWith Mahar]], and the [[MasterArcher elven marksman Krillidin]]. As they battle extra-dimensional dark elves, body-stealing golem spirits, absurdly badass orcs, evil FishPeople, invincible trolls, and more, they leave a trail of heroism and adventure behind them.

Available [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2971j1O3tGM&list=PLylLGJF4VZY7Wya1zdWY3ExLfitPCdJEN&index=1 here]].

After the conclusion of the first series, the first episode of the sequel series, ''Sea of Secrets'', premiered in April 2023, following a new cast of characters in the same setting - the [[UnstoppableRage raging shifter Uhamicho]], the [[VoluntaryShapeshifting changeling bard Jinx]], the [[MindOverMatter psionic goblin Blue]], the [[CharmPerson eladrin beguiler Adria]] and the [[DanceBattler stylish polearm user Pelor]] (no, not the god of the same name).

The first episode for ''Sea of Secrets'' is available [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZaxIeKnweI here]].

!!''Tales From My D&D Campaign'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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* AbsoluteXenophobe: Deluvian courts hold that contracts or treaties with non-Kua-Toa are non-binding and may be revoked whenever it is convenient. The fact that the Illud have officially declared contracts with land-dwellers binding is one of the major causes of the EnemyCivilWar.
** See also, MasterRace below
* AlienSpaceBats: The goddess Blibaal invested the [[FishPeople Kua-Toa]] with a sliver of her own divine essence, granting them everything from scales harder than chain mail to ridiculous strength to massive immunity to electricity to an innate ability to see invisible things. They returned the favor by conquering the entire ocean and a good part of the land and sacrificing billions of slaves to Bibaal.
* AllMythsAreTrue: InUniverse, to an extent. Each culture usually has their own set of gods they pray to, and each of these gods exist. However, rather than there being a ton of gods around, there is only one set of gods but each culture unknowingly worships a [[AmalgamatedIndividual different]] ''[[AmalgamatedIndividual aspect or facet]]'' [[AmalgamatedIndividual of each god]]. For example, Muradin the dwarven god of crafting is the same figure as both Infernus (the human, and orcish, god of fire and forging) and Ytarru (the Ytarran god of creation), but with different names and different virtues being emphasized (e.g. Muradin advising more caution in his dwarven followers than Ytarru did with his, possibly because of the fate that befell the Ytarrans). Demonac goes into more detail about this in a video dedicated to the gods in his setting (which can be seen [[https://youtu.be/ir1IPIsc4n8?si=tfF6qMHpIpYvKbpI here]]), saying this isn't an entirely conscious process for the gods, which can cause them to seemingly act against themselves at times.
* AllThereInTheManual: In addition to the main story videos, there's also a series of "Extras" videos (with usually one Extras video per main episode) that goes into more detail about the characters, game mechanics, plot and setting that might not be included in the main videos due to length.
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: These ones can regenerate from nothing more than their indestructible jawbone.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The [[TheEmpire Deluvians]], as you may have picked up from the rest of this page. Significantly less so for the Illud, but they'e still not exactly 'nice'.
** Surprisingly {{averted}} for the orcs. They have a lot of marauding bandit-types among them, but once (if) you manage to start talking to them, they're actually fairly reasonable. Notably, [[spoiler: when the party is trapped in a fortified town in Episode 4 by a besieging army of [[OneManArmy three orcs]], their demands are only for three kegs of water, three healthy horses (it's ambiguous if they're for riding or eating), and an artifact spoon of effectively infinite food. If it wasn't for the fact that they needed the spoon, the party would've gladly just given them what they wanted and parted ways amicably.]]
* AndTheAdventureContinues: When the first season ends (mirroring the DM and players putting the original campaign on hiatus to start a new one) the original cast splits up, [[spoiler:no longer having the threat of the Astral Plague to force them together]], going off to do their own things:
** Draven leaves the Hand of Sirius in order to [[spoiler:look after his ancestral land of Rowan in Verandi, or rather to leave that task to his son while Draven himself hides in Polaron and aids them in repairing the facility while carrying out his own research]].
** Black, released from his bodyguard duties, is given a new task by the Hand: to deliver a message to [[spoiler:the head of the [[RenegadeSplinterFaction Gauntlet of Sirius]] ''personally'', not through their spy network or other subordinates, as well as investigating the status of the prince that's supposedly supporting the anti-monarchy faction, though in reality seems to be held captive]]. He's accompanied in this by [[spoiler:his father, now recovered from his ordeal in the Shadowfel and wanting to spend time with his son]].
** Angel and her cohort Mora go back to their jobs with the Organization specifically targeting a high-ranking Deluvian general that's hanging around near the [[spoiler:demilitarized zone near the former Peacebond]].
** Little One, accompanied by Dwarf!Daggerface, is recruited by Chrysanthemum to fight some orcs, which he is more than happy to do.
** Krillidin gets a lift back to the Feywild (via a friendly gnome named Tula) to handle a potential crisis there involving an impact in Formian territory.
* AntiMagicalFaction: There's a collection of druids in this setting called "The Cleansers", who oppose Arcane magic, viewing it as an abomination (as opposed to their own nature based magic) that needs to be purged. This view is ''not'' universal, and the group is outlawed in nations like Tarq. They're obliquely referenced in the first season (though not by name), but only become prominent in ''Sea of Secrets'' when the party is ambushed by a group of them because Jinx used arcane magic to fix a broken wheel, [[spoiler:though it's really because their leader saw Blue use their psionic magic to try to murder someone]].
* BigBadEnsemble: While the main antagonist is the Deluvian Empire, there's also the Dark Ancients, Vampire Kings, and [[spoiler:The Mind Hunters.]]
* BlobMonster: The heroes fight one at one point.
* BodySurf: There are a handful of Warforged known as "Dark Ancients" who use this method to stay alive, jumping from Warforged body to Warforged body. They can also take over normal Constructs, but the body will last only a few years at most (rather than decades or centuries they can sustain a Warforged body).
* BossSubtitles: Most of the major boss encounters get one, including the [[BodySurf Dark Ancients]]. Though it doesn't appear right at the start of the encounter if their name is mentioned during the fight itself.
* BothSidesHaveAPoint: During episode 45, the party discusses their two primary plans for dealing with the Astral Plague infecting them. Plan A is to essentially channel a massive amount of planar energy into the White Spirit Seed, dramatically speeding up its growth into a more powerful form, but the nature of that form would be unpredictable. Plan B is to use a device that Draven has been building, using samples taken from the various planes, to filter the dangerous energies out of their bodies, but it will require capturing an undead spirit to complete it. Little One has some issues with Plan B, primarily because it feels a lot like [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaving an innocent creature for their own purposes]], potentially harming or even destroying it in the process. Draven argues that not only would the spirit would not necessarily be innocent, or even sentient, but that Plan A is effectively random, and could easily screw over the party in multiple ways (e.g. the Spirit Seed might not be able to move, or even be able to protect them from the Plague anymore). They ultimately choose to shelve the issue in favor of rescuing Zaheer, who as a priest of Ankou would both be an expert on how to capture ghosts and on the ethics of the situation as well.
* BreathWeapon: Little One has ''two'' of these: An extremely powerful 1/day lightning bolt from his half-dragon bloodline, and a very weak but repeatable cone of fire from his Dragonfire Adept splash. He's rarely seen using them in the videos.
* TheCaper: The ''Sea of Secrets'' crew pull an Inverse example, where they need to sneak their employer onto a ship past the eyes of [[spoiler:the Illuds]], using Jinx's shapeshifting combined with some misdirection to pull it off.
* ChainsawGood: Angel's spiked chains tend to resemble this.
* ChestInsignia: Black's Ytarran PoweredArmor manifests the symbol of the wearer's god on the pauldrons.
* ColdIron: Little One's greatsword is made from this, allowing it to cut though the defenses of Fey creatures. This comes in handy a few times.
* CoolSword: Little One's +2 ColdIron shock greatsword is about ten times more valuable than the weapons the party was supposed to have at the level he got it.
* DisturbingStatistic: In episode 15, the party encounters the "Tiger Lord," a rakshasa called Lord Kintemazu. Spying on the rakshasa, they overhear a conversation they have with their fellow rakshasa, discussing the coming conflict with they party. They bluntly state that, according to their predictions, Kintemazu will almost certainly die in a fight with the party while inflicting a mere "1.5" casualties to the party in return. This figure (which notably bothers Black, who repeats it several times), along with the almost casual manner in which the Rajs (as they would later be known as) were discussing the high probability of Kintemazu's demise, actually throws the party off a bit before they decide to confront him.
* TheEmpire: The Deluvian Empire is obviously all over this trope
* EnemyCivilWar: Pretty much the only reason the Kua-Toa haven't yet conquered the land nations and sacrificed all the humans to Blibaal is that around 300 years ago, they split into two factions: the Deluvians (the original and utterly evil KT civilization, worship Chaotic Evil Blibaal), and the Illud (mildly less evil, worship the True Neutral storm god Lakmaal). Since the Illud control about half the ocean and two of the five Monitor monasteries, the two factions are pretty closely matched.
* EpicFlail: Black's signature weapon for the early levels.
* ExactWords: Narrowly averted by the party [[spoiler:while in the Albtraum's nightmare realm, as noting the spacing in "any ''one'' still alive" in their rules sounds too suspicious, and the Albtraum relents and adds a clause that makes it clear that ''everyone'' still alive can leave.]]
* EyeOfNewt: In this setting, one must have an "eldritch eye" (the eye of a sufficiently powerful abomination), to cast long-range teleportation spells.
* FantasticRacism: The Kua-Toa (particularly the [[TheEmpire Deluvians]]) both give and receive this in spades. Note the frequent use of the word 'trout' in reference to them on this very page.
* FinalExamBoss: [[spoiler:Polaron's Strategic Withdrawal Unit combines functionality from all of the facility's unique constructs to create a Gargantuan juggernaut of pain. Even the non-combat units get in on the action, with its sword being made of four flatbed constructs welded together. Its [[TakingYouWithMe final desperation attack]] (or at least how the Dark Ancient possessing it rigged it) even emulates the electrical cannon [[BookEnds from the first room]].]]
* FishPeople: The Kua-Toa, as well as their various aquatic slave races. It should be noted that Kua-Toa are one of only two true amphibious races in this setting, and they hunted the other almost to extinction to maximize the strategic advantage this gives them over everybody else. All other aquatic races can't survive for long, if at all, out of the water.
* FlatWhat: [[spoiler:The KT sniper in episode 43 when the party kills Diamondfin Hazov, [[OneManArmy a Monitor]].]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: As the portal is being held open by Seven in Episode 9, Seven notices that every once in a while there are flashes of other locations. [[spoiler:The one that we keep seeing is a lava surrounded room, with a tall cylinder in the middle. This is the portal room of Polaron, where Seven ended up after going through the portal]].
* FromASingleCell: As a result of some meddling by a dark god, trolls in this world can eventually regrow their bodies from nothing more than their jawbone. Since the jawbone itself is indestructible by any known force, this makes the trolls true immortals.
* GadgeteerGenius: Draven. As an artificer, his whole function is to craft cool magic items for a fraction of their purchase cost. On top of that, he can create one-shot items that cast any low-level arcane spell in existence and can easily identify the powers and properties of magic gear.
** The Ytarran race were legendary artificers and crafters.
* GodIsDead: The true gods are very nearly immortal, and will eventually recover from almost any force, even the power of their fellow gods. However, there exists a technique or spell known as "The Death Equation" which can truly and permanently destroy a god. This technique has been used only three times in the histories of eternity (and only by other Gods). Luckily, each use raises the amount of power the Death Equation requires exponentially, rendering its use risky.
* {{Golem}}: The Warforged, a race of sentient (and truly ''living'') {{Golem}}s created by an ancient civilization of artificers known as the Ytarrans.
** In addition, Vistria apparently relies heavily on golems to hold the trouts at bay.
* [[GoodCopBadCop Good Cop/Heavy-Armored Cop]]
** As described in the relevant Extras video, one of they Fey the party meets in the Feywild has something of a SplitPersonality and actually plays both parts while trying to strike a deal with them.
* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: The Illud would ''like'' the surface-dwellers to see them this way. While they certainly aren't ''as'' "Bad/Evil" as the Deluvians, they certainly aren't "Good" either (what with the mass slavery for both labor and warfare)
* GreaterScopeVillain: The KT Empire is the obvious BigBad, but there are hints of this trope in play even early on. [[spoiler: It seems like the Mind Hunters of the Shadowfel, who rule that plane's oceans, may be filling this role. Even the KT seem to consider them BAD NEWS.]]
* HalfHumanHybrid: Little One is half-dragon, though he doesn't manifest any visible signs of it.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:GE-7 tries to pull one of these fairly early on, but is replaced by Draven's flying cat-like familiar, Seven. For a while it was unclear if Seven actually died or not, but during their time at Polaron they discovered that Seven had actually made it through the portal from Gineron, albeit damaged - so it's {{Averted}} over all.]]
* HomeFieldAdvantage: The [=KTs=] get one so big it's practically a GameBreaker. Their amphibious nature means that they can attack us at will, but we can never attack them back because we can't breathe underwater.
* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Mentioned in one episode when Little One reveals that his mother was a dragon. Explained by the fact that dragons can assume human form if they so desire.
* HouseRules: While the campaign mainly uses D&D 3.5 edition rules, the DM (Demonac) added several house rules that added both quality of life improvements (e.g. treating [[PsychicPowers psionic abilities]] as another type of magic alongside arcane and divine spells, making it easier for players to learn about and counter it) and restrictions to prevent the players from breaking the campaign ''too'' easily (e.g. making any {{Teleportation}} magic more powerful than ''Dimension Door'' require the eye of a particularly powerful aberration).
* ImpoverishedPatrician: Draven. He is the rightful Marquis of Rowan, a fairly wealthy region in northern Verandi. Unfortunately, the fact that Rowan, like all the rest of Verandi, has been occupied by KT troops for the past couple of generations means that Draven lacks most of the resources or servants a noble of his rank is actually entitled to.
** His marriage to a minor noble family of significant wealth helps alleviate that, see NobilityMarriesMoney below
* InLoveWithYourCarnage: This seems to be why Little One is considering courting Lady Chrysanthemum Von Christoff (who despite the flowery name is every bit as badass as her father).
* InstantCostumeChange: When Little One gets a ring of armor storing, it lets him do this with his fancy new Dragonscale heavy armor.
** There's also shades of this with the PoweredArmor GE-7 gives Black earlier in the series: it can be donned in a single round (instead of the normal ''minutes'' it takes to put on full plate armor), and compacts down to backpack size for easy transport if he wants to take it off.
* InvisibleAliens: The extremely powerful Adar used to be a major power in this world, but a couple of millennia back they sent out messages to the other races saying, in these exact words: "We are tired of the gods interfering. We are leaving now." And then...they left. As far as anyone's been able to tell, every last Adar and most of their cities simply disappeared into thin air, and nobody has the slightest clue where they went or what they are up to now.
* InvisibleMonster: One of the Kua-Toa's biggest assets are the Colos cloaks, an alchemical cloak powered by KT skin secretions which can make the wearer invisible but at a fraction of the cost of a regular invisibility item.
* ItBeganWithATwistOfFate: When the party gains a bounty on their heads and all sorts of bounty hunters start to come after them, including one particularly skilled one known as [[spoiler: Daggerface]] and his band of lackeys. This encounter was suppose to be cinematic with very little chance that [[spoiler: the players end up in a TPK. However, due to a combination of bad luck, one of the players being absent, and the players approaching the situation in a way that Demonac did not expect, all the player characters end up unconscious.]] This eventually leads them to [[spoiler: stopping a massive underground experiment to turn humans into living weapons to be used against the Kua-Toa, and becoming acquaintances with the Rajs (a group of rakshashas) and receiving several quests from them. Demonac himself says that this event had a huge impact on the entire campaign]]
* ItCanThink: Since they live forever, trolls in this world have been alive long enough to get a lot smarter than the usual and tend to use magic gear.
* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: The only explanation a Hand Of Sirius messenger gives for why he's delivering a package from a random fair maiden he met on the side of the road. The party's pretty sure that he was magically charmed.
* IShallTauntYou: Little One seems to have put skill points into Knowledge(Insulting [=KTs=]). From getting Angel to write insults in Kuar on his shield to decorating that same shield with teeth taken from dead [=KTs=] to dropping a fishing line in the water he suspects to be occupied by KT warriors, he goes to great lengths to make sure the [=KTs=] are as pissed off with him as possible. Perhaps the best is when, after slaughtering a KT patrol, he cuts the heads off, stakes the bodies upside-down, then sticks the head back on top of the whole affair (i.e., the [=KTs=] have their heads up their behinds.)
* LastOfHisKind: GE-7 is one of the Ancients, a small group of Warforged who learned enough artificing to maintain themselves after their masters all died to the Astral Plague.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo: In ''Sea of Secrets'', some of the names of certain races are changed due to then recent concerns regarding controversial actions Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast had taken regarding D&D's OGL in 2023. Warforged were now 'Mechanicals,' while Kua-Toa were referred to instead by their factions (Deluvians and Illuds). The StandardFantasyRaces like elves and dwarves were left as they were. For similar reasons, the main title of the series was changed to "Tales From My ''RPG'' Campaign".
* LesserOfTwoEvils: How most nations view dealing with the Illud vs the Deluvians. While they see both sides as being evil [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil due to both using slaves extensively in labor and warfare]], the Illuds at least seem somewhat more reasonable (or at least don't actually care enough about the land dwellers to harass them) in comparison to the Deluvians, who would happily wipe out any opposition if given the chance. It helps that the Illuds have at least stopped worshiping the [[GodOfEvil goddess of slaughter]], who the Deluvians still make mass sacrifices to. Maintaining the civil war (to the extent of making sure neither side gains a notable advantage) is still seen as the better alternative to ''either'' side winning though.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The Illud compared to the Deluvians.
* MagicPants: Morduval's LovecraftianSuperpower transformation destroys his clothing, leaving him naked (except for a CensorBox ) when he changes back, making him an aversion of this trope, even though it turns out that he had literal Magic Pants!
* {{Magitek}}: Fairly frequent. Most of it is leftover from the ancient Ytarran civilization, but Draven also makes a lot of magic stuff.
* MasterRace: The Kua-Toa, they keep slaves of several aquatic races rather than exterminating them all. Then again, their ReligionOfEvil is the Goddess of Slaughter.
** The name "Kua-Toa" in their language literally means "Masters of All"
* MasterSwordsman: As a Warblade, Little One knows a lot of exotic martial techniques that let him do things like ignoring damage reduction, bypassing armor, or just doing a boatload of extra damage.
* MightyGlacier: Black is very hard to hit in his full armor, and hits pretty hard himself with his flail or mace, but his movement speed is about half the normal.
** He eventually starts using a spell that lets him teleport into melee range if an ally is already there, leading to a few moments of FasterThanTheyLook
* MindOverManners: Semi-averted with the ancient Adar. They incorporated their massive racial talent for [[PsychicPowers psionics]] into their everyday life to such a degree that bargaining, courtship, and even simple communication became MindRape when they interacted with other races.
* MurderInc: The Organization. Originally founded to harass the Kua-Toa and prevent their inevitable conquest of the land nations. After the KT nearly wiped them out in retaliation, the group was forced to branch out into assassination and bounty-hunting missions to help with funds and recruitment. [[spoiler: Angel is a member]].
* MysticalPlague: The Astral Plague, a confusing and mysterious ailment that wiped out the entire Ytarran civilization. It is believed to have originated from Ytarran research into teleportation portals. As a result of being near such a portal when it malfunctioned, the heroes are currently infected with this, and though they are shielded from the effects by a friendly spirit, the protection is beginning to fail, and they will need to find a cure soon, or die.
* NobilityMarriesMoney: Draven again. His father married him to the heir of the wealthy but low-ranked Silverlode Barony, to help him make something of himself and keep their family's noble title relevant.
* NonIndicativeName: Little One is about six and a half feet tall, and built to match. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that he was named by his mother, who was a dragon.
** Angel, by far the most sinister member of the main party (though definitely not evil)
* OneManArmy: A single orc will frequently rout a regiment of 100+ human or elven soldiers.
** And Kua-Toa Monitors can CurbStomp orcs. Luckily, there's only about 50 - 250 of them, or all humanity would already have been wiped out. In game-terms, the GM designed them as a prestige class that can challenge an entire high level party ''solo'' (ie. 4+ to 1).
* OneSteveLimit: [[spoiler: Early on the party recruits Daggerface, a dwarf driven (mostly?) insane by Drow torture and a magical fear cave. Later, they hear that a famed bounty hunter named Daggerface is after them. Turns out, there's a warforged Daggerface - his face is literally a sextet of protruding blades, thanks to some cosmetic artificing.]]
** In ''Sea of Secrets'', one of the party members is named Pelor. This party member (a human fighter) has no relation to the dead god, and may have picked it himself out of ego.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: As a result of a divine curse turning their homeland into a DeathWorld, there are only a few thousand orcs left. But those few thousand display Badassery rivaling that of [[Franchise/{{Dune}} the Fremen]]. It is not uncommon for two or three orcs to burn a small city to the ground or butcher a hundred-man infantry patrol.
* PlaceOfPower: Black's Ytarran Power Armor has a few special abilities that only work when in an Ytarran facility.
* PoweredArmor: Black gets a suit of this around Episode 6. It comes with an absolute load of little cool features.
* {{Precursors}}: Two notable examples in this setting. The first are the Adar, a psionically gifted people (arguably ''too'' gifted; most psionic interactions with them apparently bordered unintentionally on MindRape) who built large crystal structures, before suddenly vanishing, with the only reason given is the Adar did not want the gods' interference, with no other context given. The second were the Ytarrans, who were supremely talented artificers and engineers, creating many mechanical marvels. Their most notable creations were the Warforged/Mechanicals, who are still found to this day. Their race died out due to a mysterious illness called the Astral Plague [[spoiler:that possibly stemmed from some dangerous research into planar travel]], which spread rapidly amongst them and led to their extinction.
* ProperlyParanoid: As a precaution against slave uprisings, the [=KTs=] built their capital and other major cities on islands. Kua-Toa can breathe both air and water freely, but all other aquatic races can't survive for more than a few hours out of water. To this end, they also either wiped out every other amphibious race or very strictly control their populations (e.g. the sea elves), as they would be the biggest known threat to their island cities.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Little One fits the bill despite being the only example (so far) of his race. He fights against any oppression and generally revels in combat, but honors duels, such as the one against the Orc Marp.
* PsychicPowers: The ancient Adar race were the first to invent psionics, but both humans and halflings picked the ability up after all the Adar mysteriously vanished a couple of millennia ago.
* RealityWarper: The Albtraum, within his Realm in the Shadowfel. He's not completely omnipotent, as he doesn't [[spoiler:recreate a Monitor's Multiform ability completely right]], but when you can casually rewind time to get a better BondOneLiner, no one's going to split hairs about it.
* RedBaron:
** Little One picks up the title of "Orcslayer" after defeating [[OneManArmy an orc]] in single combat.
** His mother, Lady Vasarus of the Bronze, was known as the "Bronze Death" for her raids against the Kua occupation forces.
** Duke Newland has acquired the sobriquet of "The Bloody Shield".
* RenegadeSplinterFaction: In the fallout of [[spoiler:the monarchy accepting the Deluvian's deal to restore the Peacebond to the human kingdom's in exchange for limited military presence]], the Hand of Sirius is split into two factions regarding this decision; the original Hand (who publicly support the decision) and the new Gauntlet, with the latter more opposed to it. They both still serve the same broad cause (protecting humanity from outside threats) and are even willing to cooperate to a degree, but they differ in ''who'' they should be ultimately loyal to (either to the monarchy or to the country as a whole).
* RuleOfCool: While the campaign usually sticks to the rules of 3.5 edition as written, there are a few times where said rules have been waived to allow a player to do something cool, with Demonac even naming this trope at least once when doing so, so long as the action makes at least some sense. Examples include letting Little One pick [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash, the gigantic horse-like creature]] as his cohort, and Black being able to use ''Knight's Move'' as a reaction to protect a defenseless NPC from [[spoiler:the Albtraum]] during the battle in episode 66 [[note]]normally that spell can only be done on the caster's turn, but Demonac allowed it to be used on another character's turn in this case since the intention fit in with the theme of Protection of Black's deity, and the battle was taking place in a citadel that was named after said deity[[/note]].
* RunningGag:
** The achievements, which always pop up at times with funny "unlocks".
** Draven's kill stealing.
** "Feywild!"
* SeeTheInvisible: Kua-Toa can see through invisibility spells automatically, which makes their trademark [[InvisibilityCloak Invisibility Cloaks]] useless for internecine war.
** Also, around Episode 6 Little One dips into Dragonfire Adept, (a major change in his build), almost entirely to learn a spell that grants him this ability whenever he wants it.
* SkewedPriorities: Episode 4 of ''Sea of Secrets'' reveals that the main reason that some elven Cleansers survived their war with the rest of the elves (led by their king and queen) was because the nature goddess Dialiah took them under her protection, since they were technically fighting for nature (which is naturally of great importance to her). She seems to have largely ignored that the group had committed numerous acts of murder and terrorism against both the elves and their allies (''[[{{Hypocrite}} including burning down several forest cities]]''), though she did offer some concessions to the elven royals, such as allowing the leaders of those Cleansers to be tried and punished for their crimes and extending her protection only to certain jungles.
* SlaveLiberation: Y'Solas Turi, last [[LongList Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, ]][[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard Minister of Treasury, Minister of Science, ]][[OverlyLongName Minister of Agriculture, Minister of the Interior ]][[OverlyLongGag and Minister of Foreign Affairs]] of Ytarra pronounced all Warforged free on his deathbed. At first glance this seems quite redundant (since he was effectively the last Ytarran alive, his death would leave the Warforged automatically free), but there was a point behind this. Y'Solas was worried that should he not free the Warforged, all too many of them would simply keep carrying out their old duties: building houses, gathering food, and generally serving a race that no longer existed. As even with the edict, some Warforged did in fact go on gathering food, building warehouses, and then building new warehouses as the food stored in the old ones rotted away uneaten, his concern was at least somewhat justified.
* SlaveRace: Fairly common in TDDC, possession of slaves is an easy way to pick out an AlwaysChaoticEvil race in this world
** The Deluvian Kua-Toa enslaved all of the ocean prior to the [[EnemyCivilWar Civil War]]. They still dominate the Skum, Mermaids, Tritons and Aventi.
** The Illud [=KTs=] who broke off the TheEmpire still practice this, and brought with them the Sahaguin, Naga and others.
*** Tritons are prized for their ability to summon Elementals, while Naga have a variety of magical powers, making them an example of SuperHumanTrafficking.
** The Drow in the Shadowfel have enslaved several Underdark races, as well as the Ibixians ([[FaunsAndSatyrs Goat Men]])
* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The Kua-Toa civilization is fundamentally dependent on slave labor and slave armies to function, and this is widely regarded as the single biggest proof that the Illud are not that different from their Deluvian kin.
* ServantRace: The Ytarrans created the Warforged to be this, and to fight the Dead Wars against the horrific Vampire Kings. Many continued to serve even after their creators [[EndOfAnAge died out]].
** The Dragonborn were created by (you guessed it) the Dragons to serve them. Originally they were [[HappinessInSlavery happy to serve]], but eventually most of them inevitably TurnedAgainstTheirMasters. They enjoyed several generations of freedom (though not peace) before the Dragons successfully retaliated by nearly wiping them out.
* SwissArmyWeapon: Draven's magitek crossbow has a rotating set of wands in the stock, allowing Draven to simply rotate out whichever one he wants to use. No mechanical advantage, but [[RuleOfCool awesome fluff]].
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:After performing a HeroicSacrifice early on, a later episode has revealed that Draven's familiar Seven actually ''survived'' the portal collapse albeit very damaged. After a period of time of repair and recovery, Seven left Polaron before the party made it there and it is currently in the Faewild for some unknown reason]].
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Humanity is the Good, The Illud are the Bad, and the Deluvians are the Evil.
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Rajs, a small number of rakshashas with utterly inexplicable powers and knowledge. In addition to powerful [[PsychicPowers psionic abilities]] and the ability to predict someone's future with enough accuracy to calculate the casualties of a battle down to a tenth of a person by reading their "Fate Matrix", they appear to be able to use their "karma" to fuel RealityWarper effects. Among other things, they can cleanse someone of the Astral Plague, a feat beyond even the Ytarrans at the height of their civilization. They appear to be accumulating karma by investing in supernatural bargains, and have a vast communal reserve of karma known as the Great Pool. What they intend to do with that karma is anyone's guess.
* TheStinger: Each episode has one after the credits, ranging from images/sequences from the episode, outtakes, a teaser of the next episode or even extra bits of the story in places away from the main cast.
* TheTeaser: Starting in ''Sea of Secrets'' (from episode 2 onward), Demonac starting including cold opens that would give information that might not conveyed directly in the actual episode, such as the player characters' backstories (or parts of them anyway).
* ThrowTheDogABone: Back in the Gineron arc, the party hoped to turn the ancient facility into a base of operations. They don't get the chance, and are infected with an ancient disease instead [[spoiler:but at the end of the Polaron arc, [[LaserGuidedKarma not only do they kill the one responsible for infecting them]], but gain control of another ancient facility, even find a way to save themselves from the plague.]]
* TieredBySize: As the campaign uses D&D 3.5 rules, creatures larger than humans have their own size categories (Large, Huge, Gargantuan, etc). However, Demonac [[HouseRules adds his own twist to this]] by giving any creature that's Gargantuan or larger a size-based [=DR=] that can't be ignored by the usual methods (e.g. Little One's Mountain Hammer maneuver) as well as a "Damage Threshold", meaning an attack has to deal a certain amount of damage to actually do ''anything'' to the target. Both of these increase corresponding to the creature's size. These rules were made to emphasize just how tough such behemoths would be to fight against, for even a skilled warrior, never mind the average civilian or solder.
* ValuesDissonance: In-Universe example: Little One finds [[spoiler: Warforged!Daggerface disgusting because it fights for pay, against people who are not his enemies. In Little One's mind, you should only fight to protect or for vengeance or at least to conquer and test your skills. In addition, Little One finds Daggerface's decision to spare his life after Little One refused to surrender ''deeply'' humiliating. As a result, Little One has sworn to get vengeance on Daggerface if he ever encounters him again.]]
* WeHaveReserves: {{Averted}} in the case of the Kua-Toa invasion of Verandi. Since the Kua-Toa are basically the only race that can freely breathe both air and water, they could not use the legions of expendable soldier-slaves they normally relied upon and instead lost a large number of their own lives trying to maintain their foothold. This is a large part of why they considered the whole thing such a fiasco.
* TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed: The fate of all civilized races rests on the precarious balance of the EnemyCivilWar between the Deluvians and the Illud. If either side ever wins, they will wipe out humanity with ease.
** Similarly, deep within the Astral Sea, the BigGood Ioun fights an unending battle with BigBad Vecna for control of the Source of all magic. Should Vecna ever win, all magic and all gods will be blotted out, and [[DevilButNoGod Vecna will reign unchallenged and unchallengeable for all eternity.]]