If you know me personally, then you’ve heard that title used since I was 12 years old. If you don’t, you’re about to be somewhat confused and eventually exasperated. My apologies.
Now, there is such a thing as a Black Dog in folklore. It’s an English legend that is seen as an incredibly large black dog with red glowing eyes. They were associated with evil or demonic entities, or were the harbingers of death (I prefer the word ‘doom’, but that’s the storytelling nerd talking).
Storytellers have used them before. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles used the Black Dog as major plot points. I even have a D&D short series campaign that has a Blink Dog take on the motif, somewhere in my files.
(That plot line may never be used, sadly. I like writing horror campaigns, but players never seem to want to get into the setting.)
For me personally, though, the Black Dog is a tavern I’ve never been to but always wanted to, and a shirt that I wore so habitually I could’ve given Doug Funnie a run for his money. Unfortunately, due to nearly 15 years of wear and washing, that shirt had fallen apart, and while I have a collection, I never owned another red colored shirt.
Until a friend of mine in Virginia sent a parcel down for Christmas.
And so begins a new era of the Black Dog. Thanks, Jason!
Stay safe out there, readers! I’ll be working on the next session this evening.
-JB Swift
Swift's Corner 