DM Academy

Which do you prefer? I've been using milestones in my campaign, but can see why XP could be cool to use.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/25172652

> # Background: > > I'm running the Pathfinder 2e Abomination Vaults adventure for a group of 5 players, though I've set it in my own homebrew setting and have not shied away from deviating from the published adventure. I'll try not to, but I may let slip some minor AV spoilers > > The players have just reached the end of book 1, and are about to go into book 2. At this point, about a month of in-game time has passed since the adventure began, and one week into the adventure there was a big supernatural event which made big news around the town that the adventure is set in. I like to play up the verisimilitude of the setting by having NPCs and the world react to the things that happen, as well as to the passage of time. > > One thing I've come up with which I'm excited to see play out is that enough time has passed that word has spread around the local area about this megadungeon that has been discovered near the town. The players have been telling everyone who will listen about this heretofore undiscovered complex. In my mind, this would mean that other parties of adventurers would come to the town with the intent of doing the same thing the players are doing: looting dungeon, killing baddies, leveling up, getting rich and famous. > > I've created a rival party of five adventurers of the same level as the players. This rival party is called "The Vanguard Edge" (or simply "The Edge"). I've spent a chunk of the last few days making notes on how to RP and employ The Edge. Here's what I've got so far: > > > The party is likely to try to join forces with The Vanguard Edge. This should never be possible. > > > > The Edge don't follow the same rules as other NPCs. Think of them as a group of DM-controlled player characters. They know the rules of adventuring and they think like players. > > > > The Edge are not villains. They are fundamentally "good guys", but their goal is to eat the party's lunch. They want to go into the Abomination Vaults and find all the cool loot first > > > In general, the Edge fulfill the negative stereotypes that most people have of adventurers. They are demanding, dismissive, and arrogant. They flaunt their wealth and brag about their exploits, they get bored when they go too long without fighting something. They sometimes speak in slightly more metagame terms, such as talking about their hopes to "level up" and "gain experience". > > > If the party ever shares useful information with The Edge, they will look at it with some skepticism. The members of the Edge would never dream of sharing Intel with other adventurers. > > > The Edge will occasionally have reached certain places first. This should be used sparingly, and only when it is a real gut punch for the party. It should be easy to tell where they have been, because they are completely unsubtle in their approach to adventuring. > > > Sometimes the implication of treasure can be added to the adventure, but with the added implication that the Edge got to it first. Maybe Abomination Vaults doesn't explicitly mention treasure in some room, but there was some in there, and the Edge already took it. > > > If an encounter is about to turn into a TPK, the Edge can show up to save the PCs. But they will never let them live it down. > > --- > > Those are the notes I've made so far on how to use this new element of my campaign. I'm curious if anyone out there has any thoughts, either in things I've noted or things I've missed. I'd love folks to give their feedback > > Thanks in advance!

last post linked here: https://lemmy.world/post/15519782

First of all, thanks for all of the advice on the last post. You all definitely got the gears turning for me. I just had the session and wanted to make an update post on how it went.

I started the session off with the players moved into a cell and restrained. the core members of the cult remained behind to deal with the issue while the majority of the cult left to get set up somewhere else. meanwhile Sorcerer arrived at Clerics tavern and told the barkeep, who grabbed some weapons and some roughnecks and headed to the cults hideout with Sorcerer. The cult pumped the party for information, using a zone of truth spell (whole party beat the save DC so the cult got no useful information out of this, except one player let slip the name of Sorcerer). The cult then decided to sacrifice these party members which took some time because its a whole ritual. Just as they finished the Sorcerer showed up, interrupting the sacrificial ceremony. A fight broke out, Druid and Rogue managed to slip their bonds and Cleric was freed by the barkeep who also dropped a bag of weapons so everyone was armed. Temporarily outgunned, the core cult members made an escape, leaving behind a few clues explaining their master plan. the party is now firmly in control of the situation with the villains having to bide their time and regroup while the party looks for a macguffin that should spoil their plans. (now to decide what that macguffin is...)

this isn't going to become a campaign diary or anything, I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone for letting me leech your ideas.

The following all happens in a town and the nearby surrounding area.

So my party, hereby referred to as their classes are currently third level and have infiltrated a cults hideout, they went there looking for Rogues friend and snuck in with disguises and managed to bluff their way into where the friend was being held. She was in a holding cell. After some deliberation they devised a plan to cast silent image and sneak her out, they couldn't manage to pick the lock and Cleric smashed the door in, this was heard by nearby cultists and they decided to just make a break for it. The cult massively outnumbered them and the party got surrounded. Sorcerer, who is an Aasimar and can fly at 3rd level, flew past everyone and escaped while the rest of the party surrendered. We ended the session there and Sorcerer told me after the session that they plan to go to Cleric's tavern to get the barkeep and any tough looking patrons to form a quick mob.

The conundrum here is that I can't think of a good reason for these cultists to not just kill the party aside from that's not fun. The cult is aware that one of them escaped is probably going to bring the law down on them, so they'll also want to leave. If I was them (and in a way I am) I'd probably kill the witnesses and bail.

Any advice?

Hey gang.

I'm running a campaign where the players are looking for eight magical items, once owned by eight powerful mages representing the eight schools of magic.

Right now – through the power of Plot™ – they're looking for those items for an influential but shadowy collector. They're supposed to deliver the first batch of three items together. When that happens they'll find out that they were inadvertently helping a criminal collector. A representative of a historical society will tell them that these artifacts belong in a museum.

And here's my problem: I want them to have these magical items, which of course have cool powers. And I don't know how to do that.

My plan right now is, that the museum isn't interested in the actual powers, they just want to display the items for their historical relevance. So they'll magically pull these items apart into two identical ones, where one retains the power and the other the history of the item (scratches/wear and tear).

I am not completely satisfied with that idea, because it seems far-fetched and I'd like to hear your ideas, if you have any, on how to resolve this.

Thank you and a thousand dm'ly kisses to you all.

Current scenario: BBEG is being dogpiled by 8 PCs, has a Wish spell, and is an insane genius.

How would the BBEG utilize her Wish?

*edit - and what actual effect would it have?

This is for D&D 5e.

I'm currently making a reoccurring antagonist NPC that is a master thief. It's CR 6 and I want it to be capable of making three attacks per round like multiattack but also have their thief subclass's enhanced cunning action with fast hands.

This would normally mean they'd get 3 attacks and a varying options for bonus actions, however I'd want them to be able to trade up to three if these attacks to have more uses of cunning action (this would of course stack the ability to dash 4 times per round but I'd just not do that while running the monster). They also have a special once per day ability that I'd want them to be able to swap a single attack for.

It got me thinking, instead of trying to make an unwieldy combination of multiattack, a special action and cunning action, could I just give them three actions?

The simple way this NPC works that I want them to pick 3 options from:

• Dagger
• Crossbow
• Special action
• Dash
• Disengage
• Hide
• Make an ability check
• Use an object
• Use a set of tools

At this point, what do I actually lose from letting them take 3 actions? They aren't a Spellcaster so I'm not worried about them throwing out three fireballs or the like.

I'm going to be starting a pretty short campaign here soon. I've mostly got the plot figured out, and when I was helping a player with character creation they asked if there was a good patron for their Warlock character. My initial thought was, "well the BBEG would be interesting."

The players are just exploring a ruined castle/island that's been twisted and it's inhabitants warped due to exposure to a great old one- they're trying to solve the problem and make the place habitable again.

The warlock's patron is the BBEG, an eldritch god trying to force his way onto their plane. He's currently held out of the plane by a magical seal that can't be broken by him or any of his servants. So the Warlock player needs to- subtly- get the party all the way to the seal and manipulate them into breaking it. I did this specifically to avoid him murder hoboing his party members. They have different goals, but they still need each other.

If this goes badly, I figure the worst case scenario is that he gets slapped by the other 5 party members. So I've asked him to have at least an idea for a second character.

Hey all, I've done a lot that I'm proud with in the past for random tables while traveling. Weather, encounters, and even the environment are all dynamic and changing in ways that my players enjoy.

What I feel like is missing is a fun way for the players to feel like they are plotting a course through my hexcrawl. They have a mostly blank map with points of interest that get added days or even weeks from their central location. While my players enjoy roleplaying around the fire, fighting monsters, and filling in the map as they go, a train ride could accomplish the same result.

Does anyone know an RPG system, or have some mechanics that facilitate the PC's trailblazing a path? Using their survival skills to find a safe way forward, that kind of thing. Thanks!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11298431

> I've been a DM for about 3 years, and have predominantly run one-shots and short campaigns in DnD5e and PF2e. I have a player who persistently builds primary caster based characters, but then won't do anything in combat but "I stab it with my dagger." They rarely use cantrips, and basically won't cast a leveled spell unless I suggest it immediately before their turn. They seem to enjoy playing despite the fact that they're far too squishy to be a front-line melee character and don't utilize most of their class features. I've talked with them explicitly about how their play style seems to be discordant with the kind of play they want to do, and that maybe next time they should try a paladin/champion or a fighter/rougue subclass with some minor casting. They agreed at the time that sounded like a good idea, but low and behold showed up to the next one-shot with a primary caster, and over 3 hours of play and 3 combats never cast a single spell, including a cantrip. > > I enjoy playing with this persons as a whole. They are engaged in the fiction, and are particularly engaged during exploration activities. They tell me they also find combat quite fun, and they are requesting I run a mega dungeon in the near future. > > As a general rule, I like to let people play how they have the most fun, but issues have arisen with this play style. Namely, all of my TPKs have been associated with this player charging a squishy character directly up to a significantly stronger villain and continuing to stab it with a dagger until they went down, significantly hindering the party in the action economy and resulting in a TPK. I feel I have to intentionally weaken all of my encounters to keep the party feasible in the face of such mechanically poor combat choices. > > What else can I do to help drive this individual towards melee builds, and/or help encourage them to change their play style to better suite the caster classes they choose?

I'm planning a campaign loosely where players have to fight enemies backed by a larger, scarier empire that frequently sends out their agents to try to assassinate them while they try to setup a new kingdom post-revolution (think the beginning of Game of Thrones where players are on the Small Council, but they're also sort of Danaerys trying to fend off the spies and assassins of the enemy kingdom's Varys).

I want there to be a lot of cloak and dagger stuff. The players will probably have to protect themselves and fellow members of the court, the monarch (whether it's a player or NPC), allied diplomats, and such from assassins while also rooting out spies. Those resulting battles, along with adventures that I'll incorporate with diplomatic missions abroad, are what will make it DnD.

But it occurred to me as I was planning the worldbuilding for this campaign that a lot of the danger of assassinations will be lost if they can be undone by resurrection magic. Then I started wondering how kings, organization leaders, criminal syndicate bosses, basically anyone important ever dies in any high fantasy DnD world. For players I can restrict their access to diamonds or whatever, but for NPC's who are rich and powerful, not sure if that makes much sense. Besides, it's okay of players have access to the magic, but I want NPCs to be threatened by it, because it adds drama and stakes to the story I'm planning. But if players have access to it, then basically no NPC around them is in danger either, and I lose a lot of the tension I was counting on.

So looking for advice on how you would solve this. Tl;dr: How would anyone important or rich die in your fantasy world from stuff that are not old age? (assuming you want a fantasy world like I do where death is a dangerous possibility)

Restrict the resurrection spells? Restrict diamonds even more so they're rare even for kings? Manipulate the religion or cosmology of your world somehow? Do something with the resurrection spells themselves, like like Matthew Mercer's optional rules? Something else?

I need help/input/inspiration with a campaign I am planning. Without going into too much detail, in the world I've built there used to be a historically important and very powerful council of 7 mages (3 elves, a human, a gnome, an orc and a dwarf). They've each left behind a magical artifact of some kind. My group (druid, rogue, cleric and swashbuckler) is eventually going to hunt down all these artifacts.

I am struggling to find artifacts that would fit. They either feel too mundane or are way too powerful. I want these artifacts to be useful and powerful, for the time they get them. Of course, they're not going to get them all at once. So these things should be spaced out to be useful from about player level 3 to 12.

We're playing Pathfinder 2e, but I can easily adapt DnD items as well. If you have homebrew, I'll take that as well. If you have general input for these items or that plotline, that's great as well.

Thank you all in advance.

I'm interested in adding turning to a game I'm running (I've talked to my players so don't worry,) and I've been wondering how some people do it, so please share.

I hope everyone is having a Fantastic December! With the Holidays in full swing, I wanted to give everyone here a present, by doing all the prep work for a fantastic Holiday One-Shot for you! Then, in turn, you can gift that experience to your players! And what better gift is there for players who have been so good, than an opportunity to let loose and be evil for a change! Yes, that's right, The Night before Wintermas is specifically designed for Level 5 Evil/Neutral aligned players.

Thanks to the creative mind of jmanc, you'll bring your players to The Town of Frosthold and join a morally bankrupt Toy and Tabacco company to put an end to Santa's charitable operations by Infiltrating his workshop and dealing with the problem for good!

Experience holiday music to fit every scene, face your favorite Christmas Characters...in a battle to the death, earn unique magic items to help you take on the fat man, and live vicariously through your newly evil characters! This is a One-Shot you won't want to miss!

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for The Night Before Wintermas: DM Notes (Preview)
• Google Docs Notes for The Town of Frosthold: DM Notes
• Link to: The Night Before Wintermas PDF
• Link to: The Night Before Wintermas Playlist
• Link to: The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• A Word document with all my notes including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for the encounter. This includes the enemy stat block organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• An Alternate encounter PDF for Frosty and The Snowmen \*(Updated 2023)
• Custom Maps for Santa's Grotto
• Custom Boss Fight Music
• Handouts for the Scrolls of Haste and Invisibility
• A Preview PDF of Flee Mortals

Other One Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns:

• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• The Haunt - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• Scarab of Death - Click Here
• Don't Say Vecna - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Into Ivy Mansion - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• Curse of Strahd - Click Here (W.I.P)
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Wizards Treehouse - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
• A Holiday One-Shot (2023) - Click Here
• The Barber of Silverymoon - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• Grammy's Country Apple Pie - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! If you have any advice on how I can improve my notes further, please let me know either here or leave a comment on the Google doc itself! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early, feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,

Advent

I might not be using the right terms exactly, but hopefully this makes sense.

This is only my second time DMing and this is with a group of newish players. I'm running an adventure out of a book which is fairly linear, since during our session 0, the players communicated that they would prefer following a set story rather than freely roaming around. I'm totally ok with that and am trying to accomodate.

The problem I struggle with, is I am utterly failing at presenting the plot points in an interesting way without it feeling lame and forced. For example:

"As you make your way down the path, you see two figures ahead. You recognize them as the odd couple from the tavern. What do you do?"

The answer is sometimes "uh... We ignore them and continue down the trail" which is frustrating when they are major characters for the story. The players sometimes get so focused on advancing the plot that they just skip past it all.

However it's almost worse then their answer is "well I guess we're supposed to talk to them. So... I do that." I feel that awkwardness, because if I were in their shoes, it would feel just as forced to me.

But... It's in the adventure book! They need to meet these guys or the next section kind of doesnt make sense. I have tried having the NPCs directly approach the player characters, but even that tends to feel like the players are just going through the motions. They know this must be important so they play along but I feel like it just turns into me giving info dump after info dump as each NPC appears, and it feels so contrived.

So, yes, I have talked to the players, and they are trying their best to engage. This is now me asking how I can be a better DM and present plot points in a natural, interesting way that doesn't just feel like a queue of NPCs lining up for their turn to "stare menacingly at the PCs" so they can stumble through another stilted conversation.

This is particularly difficult for "random encounters" that are meant to flesh out the world and give the players a chance to roleplay. "You come across a goblin next to an elaborate painting on the side of a large oak tree. 'my brushes! My brushes are missing!'" If I were a player, I would have no reason to engage with this. It might be a fun little interaction but would our group of adventurers really stop and talk to every random person they see? Help every cat out of a tree? I want to make the world feel full and exciting and fun to play inside but instesd I feel like I'm just presenting my players a series of chores.

I'm running a homebrew of Monster Hunter as a first time DM, with sort-of first time players. They treat it like a Disneyland ride where they "go here do X" and so I set them up for the first major boss fight with Teostra (cr13) against their group (lv4) with the inte t that they do 1/4 to 1/2 it's health to drive it away. (I know they can't kill it).

Except rather than fight it they offered to make it a cooked meal, since it can speak draconian and I want them to actually try to roleplay I let it unfold. Except now I have no idea how to proceed. I want this to pan out because it's the first time they've all truly put their heads together and had to figure out how to proceed to actually strategize in the way I see so many players just naturally do in podcasts, but in the spirit of MonHun, the Elder dragons are nearly ageless and you cant...just like reason with them.

I also have no way to set a scene other than pure improvisation for this "city saving cookout" they have to plan. Help?

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

We're back at it again with another Level 1+ One-Shot, this time by the amazing Jennifer Adcock! Grammy's Country Apple Pie is the perfect One-Shot to run for a group of kids who are looking to just have some fun. They can go in the hard way and try to fight everything or they can try to practice those bard-like skills and converse their way through the challenges!

In Grammy's Country Apple Pie, a wizard named Tyndareus develops a craving for a special treat from his childhood, he will stop at nothing to get his hands on the best apple pie in the whole world. He hires your group to seek out the bakery that once produced the wonderful dessert – unfortunately for them, the bakery has long since been overrun by goblins. But all is not as it seems at Grammy’s Bakery, and Tyndareus isn’t the only one who’d do anything for those pies.

Parents and Teachers can oftentimes be even busier than the rest of us and with this Fully Prepped One-Shot I hope I can help get families together and bring new generations of players to the table!

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for Grammy's Country Apple Pie: DM Notes (Preview)
• Link to Adventure: Grammy's Country Apple Pie
• Link to: Grammy's Country Apple Pie Playlist
• Link to: The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• A Word document with all my notes including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for all encounters. This includes the enemy stat blocks organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Custom Maps of Grammy's Bakery

Other One Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns:

• The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• The Haunt - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• Scarab of Death - Click Here
• Don't Say Vecna - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Into Ivy Mansion - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Wizards Treehouse - Click Here
• A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
• The Barber of Silverymoon - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• Grammy's Country Apple Pie - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here
• Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk - Click Here (W.I.P)

If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,

Advent

What is the best way to determine this? Is a flat number best, or should it be based on one of the user's ability scores?

We all know combat can sometimes be a bit of a slog when done poorly. I'm trying to get better and introduce more tactical nuance (interesting terrain, varied enemies, etc.) but things still tend to devolve into roll, hit, roll, miss, roll, hit, you win!

I know there are a few blog posts around that encourage alternative win conditions (no fights to the death, grab the MacGuffin, etc.) but a lot of that still feels handwavy to me ("Just be creative! It's easy!") and more or less still "feels" like the same old combat.

As an example of what I'm thinking, I've been playing Warhammer Vermintide. 95% of the game is just mindless fighting. But every so often, they throw in a simple puzzle to keep you on your toes. Everyone has to stand ground on a specific spot while something powers up. We have to find and break open all the eggs in the area. Bring the explosives to the target site without accidentally exploding. Protect one player while they fire the cannon/push the cart/read the map. All while an endless horde chases you. It's minimal, but is just enough of a shift in priorities that it "feels" exciting.

I'm not sure how well any of these would really translate over into D&D anyway, but perhaps some of you experienced folks have some tried and true examples? It would be especially handy to have a resource to quickly spice up an encounter on the fly using some kind of flowchart or tables. Is there anything like that? I'm hoping for enough variety that every fight can feel a little different beyond just different enemies.

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

It's October, the month of Halloween, so of course I had to prep a spine-chilling One-Shot! The Haunt is one of the highest-rated 5th-Level Horror-Themed One-Shots around by Phil Beckwith. In it, your players will have to survive, solve puzzles, and uncover the mysteries of Montarthas Manor.

In ages past, an ancient town was lost and destroyed by a siege of orcs. Only one building survived and to this day, the manor is the only still standing building to be seen for miles around. Some say it is haunted, a few whisper of great treasures within, whilst others whisper that it is the manor itself that lives! No one knows for sure, only that a great evil haunts its halls. Do you dare enter Montarthas Manor?!

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for The Haunt: DM Notes (Preview)
• Link to: The Haunt PDF
• Link to: The Haunt Playlist
• Link to: The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• A Word document with all my notes, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for all encounters. This includes the enemy stat blocks organized neatly, along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Handout for The Scroll of Invisibility
• Custom Maps (Credits: just\_2\_clarify, Before the Lore, Anonymous, PogS\_3)

Index:

Other One Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns:

• The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Curse of Strahd - Click Here (W.I.P)
• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• The Haunt - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• Don't Say Vecna - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Into Ivy Mansion - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Wizards Treehouse - Click Here
• A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
• The Barber of Silverymoon - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• Grammy's Country Apple Pie - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here
• Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk - Click Here (W.I.P)

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers, Advent

So, this is my own version of XP to level 3's idea to let player play until they are completely dead. I.e., they can still do stuff at 0 hp... for a price. Enjoy.

Condition Dying

Pas pour les NPCs, le but est de garder les joueurs en vie.

Quand les points de vie atteignent 0, le personnage tombe Prone et devient Dying

Au début du tour, on commence par les Death saving throws.

Ensuite, le personnage peut soit :

Bouger (prone = moitié de mouvement). Coût : gratuit

Parler en mourrant. Coût = gratuit

Action. Coût = 3 niveaux d'Exhaustion

Bonus Action. Coût = 1 niveau d'Exhaustion

Réaction. Coût = 1 niveau d'Exhaustion

Il n'est pas possible de se relever.

Exhaustion :

Sur les d20

1 = -1

2 = -2

... ...

9 = -9

10 = mort

Récupération

Premier short rest = - 1 Exhaustion

Long rest = - 2 Exhaustion

I'm finalizing my next campaign, and am looking around for an online tool to create a world map. I really just need to make one map (maybe two), so I'd prefer free to use or a small fee to get started.

I've googled around and found some options, but haven't found one that does exactly what I need. For example, some of my world map is on a plateau and some is lowlands, but that level of varying terrain elevation seems to be an advanced feature for a lot of programs.

I'm wondering if this community has any favorites to recommend. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!

I'm preparing a new monster for a special Halloween themed one-short and would like to check with the community if my evaluation of the CR for this monster seems fair... If anybody has resources to evaluate this, please do share!

The creature: a Pumpkin Beholder.

!

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk stems from The Lost Mine of Phandelver a classic and beloved starter set that many new DMs run. Even with this being the most recent release it still has an issue, the same as with many others...it doesn't describe the best way to transform the book's contents into an actual session. The Book-to-session conversion can be difficult between figuring out when things should happen, understanding motivations, and even organizing encounters.

Well, fortunately for you, 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:

• Read the book, I know surprising, but It can be extremely confusing when you don't know where everything leads to.
• Consider the needs of your group. As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign, you'll have to make tweaks here and there.
• These notes aren't meant to be the end-all-be-all. Tweak to your heart's content, and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things were meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience, though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!

Advent's Notes: I was surprised with how few changes were made in the book considering how long this adventure has been around and all the wonderful things the community has come up with, I was even more surprised when they started adding more monsters to Cragmaw Cave. It's already pretty rough in there and with the additional creatures, it's almost assured there's going to be a TPK. I've kept most of the fights the way they were with only a few minor adjustments, the most important changes are just subtle nods to the Psi Goblins that will be encountered later on.

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes Part 1 Cragmaw Hideout: DM Notes
• Link to: Intro + Cragmaw Hideout Playlist
• List of changes in Phandelver and Below: Change List
• Link to: The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection are:

• A Word document with all my notes, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDFs for all the encounters. This includes all the enemies' stat blocks organized neatly, along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP.
• An additional PDF with Sildars stats should he join the party as an ally
• Custom maps of Cragmaw Hideout. I enlarged and printed this out for my players as a battle map!

Index:

Other One Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns:

• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Into Ivy Mansion - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• Curse of Strahd - Click Here (W.I.P)
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Wizards Treehouse - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
• The Barber of Silverymoon - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,

Advent

Good day everyone, hope you're doing well!

I've made a new video and blog post on the topic of how to deal with sessions where people can't make it.

My solution is fairly simple but effective: The Woven Dream, a state of dreaming where party members experience shared dreams. Besides allowing the group to play instead of skipping a session, it also allows you to really dig into the background of any (or all) of the present characters.

It's not something that'll work every time, but it has served me really well, and I wanted to share the idea with you.

I've also taken the feedback from this and other communities around here and my stuff isn't just videos anymore, but blog posts as well and the blog posts have a full audio narration of the blog post for those that prefer podcasts or to account for accessibility.

Hope it gives you some inspiration!

Blog post with full audio transcript: https://impheim.com/2023/09/skip-or-play-a-solution-to-sessions-with-missing-players/

YT Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-8-P3YSBY

Hey everyone, I'm looking for any tips or advice with running exploration, as a recent example my players recently came across an abandoned ship and decided to climb aboard and look for any treasures that were left behind. They went room to room and I made an effort to describe each room in detail but the whole process felt very drawn out and repetitive. Especially if there's no special encounter in that room.

Hey everyone!

As a DM, I struggle a lot with juggling all the various things the party should get and receive. One of my greater shortcomings has been dealing with magic items.

So to help myself deal with that, I've been working on a little system to approach magic items differently. The basic idea is that instead of only letting players loot, be rewarded with or buy magic items, the dungeon master could go and enchant the equipment that the characters already have.

This could mean taking a magic item that exists and applying those effects to what they have through various means or creating effects that are fully tailored to not just the character but also the player.

The enchantments could come from external sources or even the pure power of the character who carries it.

Here's the blog post going into some depth on it all and including some examples: https://impheim.com/2023/09/magic-items-in-ttrpgs-embrace-enchantments/

And here's the little video I made on the topic: https://youtu.be/GSnCd2Mbr9U

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions!

Have you gotten with Astarion or maybe you were blown up by Gale for the hundredth time? Are your adventures as wild as you had hoped...have you even gotten out of character creation!? Well if you're one of the legendary few who have, why don't you take a step into the real world of D&D so you can go back into an imaginary one!

I get it, DMing for the first time can be scary, you might not even know where to start. The prep alone can seem like a mountain to climb. You find a cool-looking One-Shot open the PDF or book and just think to yourself, how in the heck do I turn this into an actual session?

Well, I've got you covered! I want as many people out there as possible to experience the Amazing world of D&D and most importantly DMing! I've taken the following One-Shots and Mini-Campaigns and fully prepped them so you can run an unforgettable session with ease! The best part, all of it's free for you to use!

Let's dive in:

A Most Potent Brew: This One-Shot brings together a group of rookie adventurers on a classic quest; clearing out a cellar from some rats. Things take an unexpected turn though and lead them to their first dungeon! This level-one One-Shot will take your players into the depths of a brewery, that turns out to be connected to an abandoned mage tower basement. Will your players survive their first adventure slaying giant rats, centipedes, and more?

Coming in at approximately 2-3 hours of play, this is the perfect one shot for both new players and DMs to show what D&D is all about, without being an overwhelming 6hr+ session!

(Credits: Winghorn Press)

The Wild Sheep Chase: This One-Shot is on par with some of the craziness that you can experience in Baldur's Gate 3! Your party will be enjoying a relaxing time at a tavern when a sheep suddenly bursts in and grants them a scroll that allows them to speak with each other. Your players will go on an epic chase, face off against polymorphed guards, and even fight a dragon...made out of a bed!? You can't make this stuff up...oh wait!

(Credits: Winghorn Press)

Dragons of Stormwreck Isle: This Mini-Campaign is for when you're ready to step things up and want a more serious Adventure. You'll go from level 1-3 learn of the history of Stormwreack Isle and face off against...you guessed it a dragon!

(Credits: WoTC)

The Lost Mine of Phandelver: This Mini-Campaign spans from levels 1-5, the only thing past this would be a full-blown campaign, but let's not get ahead of ourselves! This one is a classic, the very first starter set that WotC released and it stands the test of time, Heck, they're making an expansion for it coming out later this month! You'll face not 1 but 2 dragons, explore deadly dungeons, save a town, and live out all of your heroic fantasies! When you've done a one-shot or two I couldn't recommend running this more!

(Credits: WoTC)

If none of those tickle your fancy I've got over 2 dozen more sessions fully prepped and ready to go for you, here's a preview of what else I have to offer!

Index:

Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns:

• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• Curse of Strahd - Coming Soon
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Into Ivy Mansion - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Wizards Treehouse - Click Here
• A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
• The Barber of Silverymoon - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,

Advent

I started up a new campaign with some friends who have an 8 year old kid (let's say AJ). I've played with the parents before, but not him, and he's been dying to play, so I said why not. After the first session, he was hooked, and told his little friend (let's call him Ollie), also 8, who he knows has been wanting to play too. So now after a few more sessions, AJ asked me if Ollie could join. We all agreed, and now have myself (DM), three adults, and two 8 year olds. Ollie's parents are not playing.

Ollie is having the time of his life. And typical kid silliness aside, he's mostly a good player. The one thing I'm struggling with, is he keeps asking for specific items and magic powers. "Can I do a roll to see if I find something that lets me fly? Or breathe underwater forever? Oh! Are there any bears? Can I roll to find a bear and tame it?"

Most of the time, I just tell him something like: "no, your character wouldn't know where to find something like that. You can always ask around, it's not likely to be something these bandits would know about." And he's gotten a bit better realizing you can't expect the DM to just give you overpowered items in the middle of a fight, or just "decide" that his character remembered a spell that insta-kills any creature.

But now he's started trying to get "free" stuff in more clever ways. "I want to get some sticks and make them into javelins." Sure. Next time you rest you can make some improvised weapons. "Can I forage for food?" Sure. "Can I try to find any healing herbs?" Uh... Sure... but it will only heal one hit point.

Now it's gotten to the point where every time the party tries to move to the next location, he tries to jump in and grab some small free item. Even in the middle of social interactions with the king, last night: "hey, are there any sticks around the castle? Or pieces of leather? Do you think that frog guy would trade me his clothes if I went out and caught him a bunch of flies? Can I get some rocks to throw at people?"

I'm not so worried about him getting little freebie items, but more that his constant interruptions are heavily slowing down the game and distracting everyone. The adults have approached me out of game about this, as the game is "no longer fun", and Ollie's behavior is becoming especially bothersome to AJ who was really enjoying the story and now is getting vocally annoyed that it takes 10 minutes to do anything now.

I don't want to discourage Ollie from being creative or sour his experience with DnD, but I also don't know how to explain to this happy little kid that he can't keep interrupting every 3 minutes to see if he can find some rocks. Any tips on how to handle this type of player, especially being a kid?

Edit: added clarification that I am posting this due to complaints from the adults and the other kid. Everyone is helping where they can, but as the DM everyone is kind of looking to me for some solution.

Sometimes you just don't want to prep. Sometimes you get a last-minute call to run a session. Maybe it's your first time DMing and you don't know where to start.

Whatever the reason, prep may seem like a mountain to climb. Well, allow me to help you! I remember when I was first trying to figure everything out and I stumbled across The Wild Sheep Chase. It's a fantastic One-Shot by Richard Jansen-Parkes that you can get for free over on the DMsguild. The only issue at times can be how do I convert this pdf into an actual session?

Some DMs have a gift, they can read it once and go from there, some are masters at improv, storytelling, and off-the-cuff humor. Well, I unfortunately don't fit that boat and I'm sure many others out there are just like me. I need a ton of notes; because once I've got things organized, then I feel comfortable taking things in new directions.

So welcome to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible! Onboarding new DMs should be easy and I hope with this I can help grease the wheels!

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for The Wild Sheep Chase: DM Notes
• Link to: The Wild Sheep Chase Playlist
• Link to: The Complete Collection

Included in The Complete Collection are:

• A Word document with all my notes including a link to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDFs for all the encounters. This includes all the enemies' stat blocks organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP.
  • A complete spell list for Noke which gives full details so you're not bouncing around for info.
• A map of Shinebrights tower. I use this as a reference when drawing out the map for my players
• A handout for The Scroll of Speak with Animals

Index:

Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns:

• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• Curse of Strahd - Click Here
• Death House - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Wizards Treehouse - Click Here
• A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
• The Barber of Silverymoon - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,

Advent

Overall it seems like Larian made an improved version of 5e. I almost want a PHB based on these rules. It's like an Advanced 5e.There's definitely some things that wouldn't transfer to the table top as well like handling 4 boons and buffs to every roll.

I really like the camping supply cost to long rests and the weapon special abilities recharged on short rests.

I'm a beginner DM running Lost Mines of Phandelver for a group of 4 newbies, and they have a party "familiar" who is really just one of those goober characters that the party thought was funny and convinced them to join.

His name is Goblin Jr, appropriately named that because he's about half of the average height of a goblin. He poofed into existence as a joke to be a referee in a wrestling match against Klarg, the bugbear from Chapter 1 of LMOP.

The party had to leave him in Phandalin when going to Cragmaw Castle, and didn't have time to pass through the town again on their way to Wave Echo Cave so he is still there. Sildar and Gundren departed at the beginning of the dungeon (to make my life easier), and the party requested Sildar to convince Goblin Jr to make a journey from Phandalin to Wave Echo Cave and reunite with the party. I thought this would be a great idea for a one-shot, and it would help my players explore other classes/characters since most have only ever played their current one.

I was hoping for some general advice for designing and DMing one-shots, and was hoping we could brainstorm some ideas. Alternatively pointing me in the direction of any resources for this would be helpful too!

I'm also wondering if a certain party member should play Goblin Jr? I feel like they should have their own unique characters, but then I don't really know what to do with him. Him being a DMPC makes the most sense but I like to avoid those if there are better alternatives.

Any ideas?

For those of you who don't know about this yet, this is Fast Character! Quickly generate a DND 5e character for your campaign! As a DM, I've been using it to make NPCs in an army that my characters are fighting against.

I hope you can find it as useful as I did :)

Do you have a list of tasks you do every in-game morning as a DM? For example:

• roll for weather
• keep track of that curse time bomb
• roll for encounters for the day
• check for public holidays
• ....

I want to make my game more consistent and feel more alive. I'm wondering if there are things I should be tracking to achieve the feeling that the world is moving no matter what the players decide to do that day.