Hello World! This is my new blog. My name is Drew Maks. and I’m an artist, designer, and game master living in Portland Oregon. In 2019, I quit my job as a graphic designer, moved to the Pacific Northwest, and dove head first into roleplaying games. I’d known Dungeons and Dragons existed, but only through various pop culture references. I’d never actually had the time or the opportunity to learn the game until that summer.
I bought a Players Handbook for Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons and was astonished! I was enthralled. This game is a perfect mix of my childhood fantasy of being a wizard and my love for collaborative storytelling that I gained as a young adult in the theatre. Dungeon and Dragons has a deep history and rich, seemingly endless, lore that set my imagination aflame. Decades of incredible artwork, character designs, and a worldbuilding behemoth that I’d somehow missed out on for literal decades. I am in love with this game. I fell head first into something much bigger than I’d anticipated and was very quickly swept away. I started watching every Youtube dungeon master I could find and set out on my ultimate quest: be a Dungeon Master!
Now, two years and one pandemic later, I have an ever deepening love for Dungeons and Dragons, the OSR community, and the endless stream of amazing new tabletop games I discover on an almost weekly basis. The TTRPG community is filled with some of the most creative and inspiring people I’ve ever come across. I’ve been ravenously devouring content ever since.
I’m currently running a 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game for three of my close friends. I plan to post weekly campaign summaries and whatever maps, magic items, and lore I’ve cooked up for those sessions. Plus some shoutouts to things I am really enjoying at the moment like other tabletop RPGs including Call of Cthulhu, Monster of the Week, Bastionland, Blades in the Dark, B/X D&D, and really any other neat games, streams, or gaming advice I come across.
As many a dungeon master before me, I have been building my own homebrew fantasy setting. This massive endeavor has been loads of fun and opened my mind to many questions that have sparked countless hours of research into real world minutia and strange corners of history. There is always more to learn and I really love learning it, twisting it, and remixing it into something new or new-ish as the case may be. I’ve named my blog “Khlorós” after the world I’m building for my homebrew campaigns.
“Long ago, Khlorós was broken in two. The land was torn apart and so too was the fabric of the planes. The many other planes of existence poured into Khlorós through the great rift. Strange peoples, weird magic, and alien beings intermingled with the civilizations of Khlorós creating a complex tapestry of interwoven cultures, shared histories, and diverse beliefs. Until, the gods sealed the rift and built a glittering bridge over the chasm reuniting the people. Since then the glorious ages of the bygone past have given way to the difficult and unforgiving existence lived by most of those inhabiting this world. A violent world of trouble rife with adventure and legends that tell of incredible wealth and unknowable power hidden in the deep reaches of Khlorós.”
It’s a fun and crazy mess of planar horrors and dwarves who smell strongly of cheese. Stick around, read some blog posts, and maybe get inspired. I’m happy to have you here and, as Mr. Rogers liked to say, “There is only one person in the whole world like you, and people can like you just because you’re you.” Thank you for being here and thanks for being you.
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