Franny's D&D Blog

hi im fran and im a nerd and this is where im gonna put my DM stuff so my players don't see it! ~they/them pronouns please~

[the-darkish-side-of-specs]

Oh sweet mother that’s useful

Here’s just the template

[dmsden]

Burn It Down - Phoenixes in D&D

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week's Question from a Denizen comes from that-sff-twink. They ask, "Ever since I’ve read books like Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto, I’ve been wanting to see phoenixes get the same tlc that dragons get.

"To you, what does the ‘quintessential’ phoenix encounter look like in D&D?"

When I was a kid, I was super into phoenixes. I read everything I could find about them. I played the Phoenix video game (which I'm still pretty darned good at). Even to this day, when they've been generally subsumed into my love of fantasy & mythology as a whole, the phoenix is featured as part of the heraldry of one of the major kingdoms of my campaign world. I guess that love is still there for me.

Oddly, I don't think I've ever used a phoenix in a D&D game. They've been there since 1st Edition in various forms, but I've just never had a specific idea for it. In my campaign world, Phoenix is one of the Primal Spirits, an entity embodying death and rebirth. Maybe this is why I haven't had a need to pull out the stat block for the Phoenix from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. To me, Phoenix is kind of a singular concept, rather than a monster to be dispatched in an encounter. But I'm happy to look at the D&D phoenix and come up with an idea.

In Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Phoenix is presented as one of the Elder Elementals, along with the Elder Tempest, Leviathan, and Zaratan. This immediately strikes me, because of the presence of the Elder Elemental Eye in my campaign and the specific associations that mysterious being has. Since my players in my big campaign are high level and dealing with the repercussions of some Elder Elemental Eye dealings, it could be a cool high level encounter to have them have to deal with successive encounters against the four Elder Elementals, starting with the Phoenix. But would I call that an iconic encounter? I would not.

I would think an iconic phoenix encounter would need to acknowledge the most famous element of the phoenix legend - its ability to die and be reborn. Maybe a corrupted phoenix could be razing the countryside, setting fire to everything. This might be because of the influence of the Elder Elemental Eye, making it nothing but an avatar of destruction. The PCs might have to kill the phoenix, then guard the egg-shaped cinder that's left behind as agents of the EEE come seeking it to reclaim and re-desecrate it to their Master's service. When the phoenix is reborn, if they've nurtured and protected the egg, it might become a powerful protector of the region.

Maybe a kingdom that has the phoenix as its symbol is falling into ruin as its king dies. The young prince must find and help defeat a phoenix, then be reborn along with it when it wakes in fire and glory. Aiding the prince in finding it, defeating it, and then restoring the kingdom could be a long adventure arc, or it could be the basis for a whole campaign, especially if one of the players was the prince (taking the Noble background.)

I think for purposes of my campaign world, the most iconic encounter would be a group seeking the guidance of the Primal Spirit Phoenix...a creature capable of everything from youthful optimism to ancient wisdom, as it cycles through its existence. Doing so would be a quest unto itself, and I might use the stat block Phoenixes as guardians of the way, dissuading casual questors.

I hope this helps put some ideas out there for people who want to tell a story with phoenixes. If you've used them in your campaign, let us know what you did with them. Until next week, I hope your games bring you joy.

[prokopetz]

I think we need to take the “what if the conventional monster was friendly?” thing in fantasy worldbuilding further. “What if the dragon was friendly?” and “what if the orcs across the valley were friendly?” are well and good, but I’m thinking more like “what if the animated skeletons in the local graveyard were friendly?”

I think with the animated skeletons in particular the key is to play up their separation from the living in a way that’s still kinda creepy, but in an odd way rather than a horrific way. Something like:

Animated skeletons are explicitly not just skeleton versions of the living people their bones came from, and in fact don’t seem to have much in the way of individual identity – or, at least, if they do, they don’t express it in the way that humans do.  

They aren’t impaired by the loss of individual bones – including the skull! – and can freely swap bones among themselves. The same pile of loose bones won’t always animate into the same number or configuration of skeletons, nor does having more available bones necessarily translate into more skeletons.  

Consequently, questions like “how many skeletons are there?” are difficult to answer.  

Animated skeletons generally seem to understand both spoken and written languages, but don’t have much capacity for producing language; they don’t speak or write, and their capacity for signing is limited to stuff like nodding or shaking their head for “yes” or “no“, pointing to indicate objects or directions, etc.  

In spite of this, they appear to be able to communicate complex information and ideas amongst themselves, but it happens via some undetectable, (presumably) non-language-based medium.  

Their otherwise limited expressive capacity notwithstanding, skeleton “culture” (if that’s the word for it) is very big on making music. Instruments and sheet music are among the few material goods that skeletons value, though the former are typically limited to those that can be operated without breath.  

(This generally means percussion and strings. Wind instruments that can be operated without breath are an occasional feature; pipe organs are a big deal in those skeleton communities that can get their phalanges on them, as are a modified form of bagpipes, operated by two-skeleton teams where one plays the music and the other inflates the bag with a portable bellows.)  

Apart from music, skeletons are mostly into repetitive manual labour, though exclusively on a volunteer basis, as they’re uninterested in payment and will simply collapse into inanimate piles of bones if coerced. If you want a skeleton to do something for you, be prepared to explain why, in detail, to a silent, motionless, and expressionless audience.  

Skeletons are notably more likely to heed a request from a priest or religious scholar than from laypersons. There are a lot of theories as to why this is; the skeletons themselves are disinclined to comment.  

A skeleton with nothing better to do may squat like a gargoyle near some well-trafficked location and observe local goings-on, remaining motionless apart from turning its skull toward points of interest for days or weeks on end. It’s generally considered polite not to draw attention to their presence.

[prokopetz]

(To be clear, I am aware of the existence of bellows-driven bagpipes that are designed to be played by a single operator, but they’re generally smaller and quieter instruments, and I specifically wanted to include the mental image of a skeleton blasting the hell out of a full set of war-pipes.)

[whetstonefires]

i feel like these entities were just pulled from illuminated manuscripts and other memento mori decoration and i appreciate that

[prokopetz]

That is the particular vibe I’m going for, yes – I basically want you to be able to picture these critters cavorting in the margins of a massive illuminated tome getting up to inexplicable Skeleton Business, except somehow they’re a real thing now.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

......... different fantasy races should be impacted differently by each other's alcohol

no more if this "fine elvin wine" shit, I am going to personally write a fantasy setting in which every human knows that elf booze tastes and feels like fantasy la croix. there's barely even a flavor, and you'd need to drink a few to even get tipsy.

meanwhile, every human with a lick of common sense knows that you need to plan accordingly if you're going to be drinking dwarven liquor, because it hits you hard and fast and you'll lose feeling in your legs faster than you thought was physically possible. the hangovers are the stuff of legend.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

the flip side is that elves are an entire race of (comparative) lightweights, and a whole gaggle of teenange elves can get piss drunk passing around one bottle of fruity human wine

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

I think there's some compatability among drinks brewed by reptilian races (dragonborn, lizardfolk, tortles, kobolds, etc) although you run into similar translation issues as mammalians, but there is absolutely no crossover. like if a drsgonborn and a dwarf in a (very cosmopolitan) tavern were to switch drinks it would be a nonstarter.

"this is basically just a capri sun," the dragonborn says, disappointed.

"cool, I'm pretty sure I just drank actual paint thinner," the dwarf says. "get me to a hospital."

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

humans and halflings are probably the most compatible drinkers of any two races, although halflings find most human wines, beers, ciders, etc, a little too dry and bland for their liking. halfling alternatives are very sweet, which makes them a huge hit among the 'I like alcohol but I don't want it to taste like alcohol' crowd

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

I think it would be very funny if being drunk was like... a relatively new cultural development for gnomes? there’s just something about their wacky gnomish constitution that prevented them coming by it naturally (traditionally they’re more into a variety of mushrooms and other recreational plants) but once they started mingling more with more alcohol-happy races they learned VERY quickly and started opening, basically, turbo-breweries that are basically one part distillery and one part wizard tower. VERY popular job for young alchemists trying to make some good money, and the reason why gnomes are known (among other things) for operating the craziest night clubs

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

here’s who I think should be able to get drunk but become sober at will:

1.) sufficiently powerful paladins and clerics

2.) aasimar [all of them]

2.) very very few tieflings. it’s not universal at all, but few tiefling traits are. I know 5e has really solidified them as horns + tails + inhuman skin color but we need to be making them weirder 

[battlecrazed-axe-mage]

I agree with every single part of this but especially that we all need to be doing our part to make tieflings weirder, and also please someone overnight me some halfling booze

[battlecrazed-axe-mage]

Kombucha Plus

[thaumaturgekitchen]

Human Cultures

(For an explanation on how all this works plus some cultures for elves, see here. Other cultures: Dwarves, Orcs, Halflings)

Next up is humans, and damn, they sure do have culture. Humans in D&D (and, y'know, in general) are traditionally quite varied and adaptable, so I took this as an opportunity to make some cultures which focus specifically on how humanity engages with the unknown, and which consequentially get a little funky genre-wise. We've got something vaguely gothic-horror-adjacent, some spelljamming sci-fi, and the setup for a weird sort of quasi-Isekai. Is this a take on our modern world? An alternate history? What happens to a Tolkien-esque fantasy land once the magic's fully faded away? Who knows, but it sure does have trains, those wonderfully ambiguous touchstones of some-time-after-medieval-fantasy.

As far as the common language for this one in particular goes, there's some awkwardness here with how D&D typically handles human languages (or the lack thereof). You can make up a language as appropriate, or use a regular D&D language like Elvish to represent traces of language preserved in old stories from the world-that-was.

The final culture here is a pretty typical fantasy kingdom with a bit of draconic flair, if you're looking for something that will slot neatly into most fantasy worlds. That said, if you're hoping for more generic cultures to suit humans (along with folks of any other ancestry), keep an eye out - I've got something planned for Wednesday.

And now, the cultures:

Grim Townsfolk

Beyond the walls of human towns, monsters stalk the night. Dragons lurk in every cave, witches flit across the night sky and consort with demons, and elves weave strange spells and steal children's breath - or so the stories go. Faced with a strange and dangerous world beyond their comprehension, their fear gave way to paranoia. They made walls of stone and laws of iron, bound angels to their will and submitted to the rule of petty tyrants, all in a bid to keep the dark at bay.

Common language: Celestial

Pick two:

Gain proficiency in Perception

Gain proficiency in Religion

Gain proficiency with pikes and heavy crossbows

Gain proficiency with carpenter's tools and mason's tools

Learn the spell Detect Evil and Good. You can cast it using any spell slots you have and can cast it 1/long rest at 1st level without expending a spell slot.

Astral Voyagers

Born in the twilight years of a dying world, these humans came together in pursuit of one last, great hope. They gave all they had to built a fleet of spelljamming ships - one that could carry their children and their legacy for generations to come. And when at last they pierced the sky and emerged into the swirling splendor of the astral sea, they found that they were not alone. Now, these voyagers soar across a multiverse teeming with life, making new friends and taking on crewmates wherever the astral winds carry them.

Common language: Any

Pick two:

Gain proficiency in Persuasion

Gain proficiency in History

Gain proficiency with navigator's tools and tinker’s tools

Learn the Mending cantrip

Learn the spell Comprehend Languages. You can cast it using any spell slots you have and can cast it 1/long rest at 1st level without expending a spell slot.

Faded Fantasy

The ages turned, and the world forgot. Now the maps are fixed. Now trains roll through once-sleepy towns, and old houses sit empty as the families who once lived there move on. Yet in the far corners of the land there are traces of what came before, in snippets of stories and prayers to gods whose names no one remembers. And every so often some brave fool walks away and vanishes past the far mountains, in search of a land where elves and dwarves still walk the earth, and dragons still soar the skies.

Common language: Any

Pick two:

Gain proficiency in Persuasion

Gain proficiency in Investigation

Gain proficiency with vehicles (land) and one type of musical instrument

Gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tools and one type of gaming set

Learn the spell Ceremony. You can cast it using any spell slots you have and can cast it 1/long rest at 1st level without expending a spell slot.

Friends of the Dragon

Once, there was a wild and fearsome dragon who rampaged across the land, laying waste to all she touched. Though she was mighty, she feared what would happen were she to show the slightest hint of weakness. Yet one day, a few human farmers came to her not with swords but with kindness, to tend to her wounds and learn from her wisdom. In time, she learned to walk among them and share her magic. A town grew up around the dragon, then a kingdom, as she put her great strength to work healing the land and making a home of it. And though she has since grown ancient and weary, the kingdom she helped build still prospers and its people still cherish her.

Common language: Draconic

Pick two:

Gain proficiency in Animal Handling

Gain proficiency in Medicine

Gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tools and one type of musical instrument

Learn the spell Cure Wounds. You can cast it using any spell slots you have and can cast it 1/long rest at 1st level without expending a spell slot.

Learn the spell Chromatic Orb. You can cast it using any spell slots you have and can cast it 1/long rest at 1st level without expending a spell slot.

[probablygoodrpgideas]

Put other adventuring parties in your game for your players to interact with. Either as friends, allies, or even enemies.

[probablygoodrpgideas]

Oh yeah totally! I’m a big fan of making players aware of the fact that the world moves without them and telling them their rivals did the quest they’ve been meaning to do for the past four months is a pretty great way to accomplish that.

[vulpes-nothus]

Important Party Types and Their Uses

The Rival (derogatory): party that is, whether seemingly or legitimately, significantly more accomplished than the players. Best used to stir up petty drama and/or inspire subtle action.

The Rival (affectionate): the party that happens to show up to claim the same or parallel jobs, is as skilled as the players, and is fair about competition. Best used as a non-lethal testing method, or as a resource to be tapped in large, multitask quests.

The Kennys: just as skilled as the players, only job is to show the players they are in deep shit, usually by rushing in and dying or worse.

The New Kids: significantly weaker than the players, but eager to prove themselves. Use to either inspire mentoring or to trick the players into calling themselves dumb by calling out repeats of the same dumb shit they pulled.

The Experts: hired agents by the government, use to show how you interpret law, procedure, and the relative power of elite officials in your setting. These parties should be both generic and static; if an elite dragon hunting team is level 5, they stay level 5 forever.

The Sweepers: as or more skilled than the players, they exist to take on time sensitive quests in exactly the ways they don't want. They are the bad ending group, and exist to add, not relieve, time sensitive pressure.

The Kevins: a party that exists only to be found injured and going away from the quest location. Use to drop clues about encounters and to instill fear.

The Five Daves: a joke party that the players will of course get attached to and of course seek out for jolly cooperation and thus you find yourself having to voice these clowns in increasingly unlikely and unclownlike situations until they become as or more fleshed out than the players characters.

[prokopetz]

More inadvisable ways to introduce a new player character mid-dungeon, bait and switch edition:

A new character with almost but not quite identical stats and appearance comes hurrying up to the party, insisting that you’re the real [name], and the [name] everyone knew was an imposter; when informed that they died just before you arrived, cryptically remark that this isn’t the first time they’ve pulled that trick  

A character who nobody recognises speaks up from the party’s midst, acting like they expect to be familiar to the party; if questioned, claim that you’re the deceased character’s personal assistant, and that you’ve been here the entire time, then digress into a rant about how nobody every notices the help  

Following the next encounter, the party discovers a large, ornate treasure chest, which proves to contain nothing but your character, bound and gagged; once released, any complaint regarding the lack of gold and jewels should naturally be met with dramatic indignation at the implication that you’re not treasure enough  

The target the party has been sent to slay unexpectedly greets them warmly, explaining there’s been an awful misunderstanding: you’re not the true master of the dungeon, you’ve just been mistaken for the prophesied Lord of Evil, and you’d very much like to make your exit before the monsters figure it out  

[Spellcaster only] Your original character is revealed upon death to be a fraud with no magical powers, who had merely been impersonating a member of their ostensible character class; any spell effects you seemed to produce in fact originated from a heretofore-unsuspected accomplice: your horse

[metamagic-adept]

normal sounding nicknames that are actually short for random words/unconventional names:

Ted, short for Haunted

Levi, short for Leviathan

Sue, short for Suture

Babs, short for Babylon

Nic, short for Funicular

Roy, short for Corduroy

Maggie, short for Magnet

Sassy, short for Assassin

Ward, short for Windward

Fisher, short for Kingfisher

Cal, short for Calligraphy

Vera, short for Veracity

Ava, short for Avalanche

Gil, short for Gilded

Sam, short for Flotsam

[metamagic-adept]

Lorn, short for Forlorn

[charaznablescanontoyota]

hi marn!!! im gonna try to convince my friends to start a ttrpg campaign but none of them have really done any rpgs before, do you have any games you would recommend for a batch of newcomers?? probably something more rules light + gmless but pretty much any genre should work

claps my hands yes i doooooo

i'm sorry did you say street magic is a gmless game where you work together to create a magical city, its landmarks, and the people who live there! it's really fun for kicking off a campaign by spitballing and building a setting you're all excited to explore

stewpot is a gmless game where you play a series of minigames as retired adventurers settling down and running a tavern together! it also has a hack called wishing well that's about moving out of the big city and joining a small rural community, inspired by stardew valley and harvest moon

if not us, then who? is a card game where you create your own episodic tv show about a team of heroes fighting villains, inspired by power rangers, sailor moon, animorphs, etc! it's fun for multi-session play because you're essentially writing your own season-long arcs of the show

sleepaway is a gmless belonging outside belonging game where you play as summer camp employees trying to protect the kids you're in charge of from an ominous cryptid. it has rules for one-shot and multi-session play, and some bonus expansions! it is a horror game though so you should make sure your group is into that

tendencies is not gmless but it's one of my favorite campaign games of all time. it's a pbta game based on hunter x hunter and jojo's bizarre adventure and it lets you level up and unleash cool new powers in the middle of battle. it fucking shreds AND it has collaborative worldbuilding mechanics baked into its setup

bell songs is a gmless game where you play small animals on a redwall-style adventure! it's a game that feels very homey and warm, and lets you create interesting characters and experiment with the scope of the stories you want to tell with them at the table

i am gonna stop myself here lol but yeah here are a handful of recs!

[homunculus-argument]

Hey btw, if you're doing worldbuilding on something, and you're scared of writing ~unrealistic~ things into it out of fear that it'll sound lazy and ripped-out-of-your-ass, but you also don't want to do all the back-breaking research on coming up with depressingly boring, but practical and ~realistic~ solutions, have a rule:

Just give the thing two layers of explanation. One to explain the specific problem, and another one explaining the explanation. Have an example:

Plot hole 1: If the vampires can't stand daylight, why couldn't they just move around underground?

Solution 1: They can't go underground, the sewer system of the city is full of giant alligators who would eat them.

Well, that's a very quick and simple explanation, which sure opens up additional questions.

Plot hole 2: How and why the fuck are there alligators in the sewers? How do they survive, what do they eat down there when there's no vampires?

Solution 2: The nuns of the Underground Monastery feed and take care of them as a part of their sacred duties.

It takes exactly two layers to create an illusion that every question has an answer - that it's just turtles all the way down. And if you're lucky, you might even find that the second question's answer loops right back into the first one, filling up the plot hole entirely:

Plot hole 3: Who the fuck are the sewer nuns and what's their point and purpose?

Solution 3: The sewer nuns live underground in order to feed the alligators, in order to make sure that the vampires don't try to move around via the sewer system.

When you're just making things up, you don't need to have an answer for everything - just two layers is enough to create the illusion of infinite depth. Answer the question that looms behind the answer of the first question, and a normal reader won't bother to dig around for a 3rd question.

[ineffablecalculus]

Right? Vampires are out. Sewer nuns are my new obsession.

[swallowtailed]

[id: screenshot of tags reading “this is a great post but i am compelled by the sewer nuns” /end id]

[sighinastorm]

Playing D&D.  We found ourselves in a shop, like usual. Somehow I accidentally bought an old crone with a quill.  All she does is overline the writing on all my scrolls with a broader nib.

[sighinastorm]

fuckin’

[mrcloudyfun]

fuckin’

[sighinastorm]

Hag Of Bolding

[mrcloudyfun]

Hag Of Bolding

[randomencounters]

Table of Rivals

I was just digging through “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything” for stuff to steal inspiration and I found the table of Rivals—not the real enemies of the campaign or assassins hired by the Big Bad, but an NPC that opposes the party for reasons of their own, like that shitty Lake-Town mayor in The Hobbit or Walter Peck in Ghostbusters. Roll d50:

Rival adventurer or party out for the same goal for different reasons

Rival adventurer or party that wants to steal something currently owned by the party

Politician that genuinely thinks adventuring parties in general cause more problems than they solve

Politician that genuinely thinks most adventurers are fine but the players’ party specifically causes more problems than they solve

Politician that claims the party causes more problems than they solve to try and hide the fact that they caused the problems in question themselves

Tax collector that thinks the party is evading

Wealthy idiot with no day job that believes some treasure held by the party is legally theirs by ancestral rights

Wealthy idiot with no day job trying to manipulate the party into a particular action to win a bet

Tradesperson whose livelihood was ruined by the party’s actions (e.g. a farmer whose fields were trampled, a fruit-cart owner whose cart was knocked over, an undertaker whose customers were revived by the party’s necromancer, etc.)

Wealthy landowner whose property was ruined by the party’s actions

Merchant or other public figure that thinks the party’s actions negatively affect “the economy”

Cleric that believes the party has offended their deity

Wizard that blames the party for some recent disruption to the magical or natural world

Sorcerer that believes the source of their magical blood was wronged by an ancestor of a party member

Warlock ordered by their fiendish patron to tempt a particular member of the party to evil

Barbarian upset over some trivial slight

Rogue that is just an asshole

Bard that says the party’s Bard stole a song/routine from them

Fighter that wants to prove they’re better than the party’s fighter

Ranger convinced the party magic-user cursed them

Druid concerned about the path of destruction left by the party, in particular to monster-based ecosystems

Assassin (any class) that was assigned the party not as a real contract but as a challenge to earn their guild membership

Adventurer (any class) whose sworn enemy was previously defeated by the party, out for revenge for denying their victory

Jilted lover of a party member

Jilted lover of the current lover of a party member

Jilted lover of a known enemy of the party that believes by capturing, disrupting, or killing the party they will win favor

Person that was arranged to be married to one party member that has no real interest in them but can’t get their inheritance until they do so

Adventurer that was kicked out of the party at some point in the past (if the party was only recently formed, they were kicked out of one of the members’ previous parties)

NPC that formed an unrequited para-social relationship with the party and wants them to stop adventuring and come hang out

Childhood rival or member of a rival clan from a particular party member

Person from a party member’s village/clan that wants them to come home to fulfill their destiny

Former employer or mentor of a party member that claims they left without completing their contract

Estranged sibling or parent of party member

Sibling or ally of defeated enemy

Ghost (or other undead version) of defeated enemy, out to kill the one that killed them

Ghost (or other undead version) of defeated enemy, out NOT to kill the one that killed them but to make their life as long and miserable as possible

Ghost (or other undead version) of a party member’s ancestor’s defeated enemy

Inventor of some spell or equipment being used by the party that thinks they aren’t worthy of it (or the ghost or an heir if the spell/equipment is too ancient)

Member of the same college or clan or whatever as one party member that believes they are unworthy of membership

Person that claims a member of the party is an imposter and they are the real one

Person that believes an item held by the party secretly contains the soul of their master or loved one

Time traveler trying to cause or prevent a certain chain of events (if this is too sci-fi for your setting call it “a magic-user trying to manipulate destiny” or “a seer that divined future events, out to re-weave the tapestry of fate” or something)

High-level adventurer of an opposing alignment that just wants to test out a new spell or piece of equipment

Beholder that was convinced by someone else that the party is out to get them, presumably as a distraction to get it out of the way while robbing its lair

Extraplanar, Fae, or other similarly otherworldly creature that has decided to test the world by placing trials before the party

Extraplanar, Fae, or other similarly otherworldly creature that thinks the party is fun to annoy

Conspiracy theorist that believes the party is in league with their enemies

Honest journalist that believes the party is up to something

Scandalmongering journalist out to make the party look bad

Cannibal/vampire that believes the party member with the rarest bloodline to be a rare and special delicacy

[another-rpg-sideblog]

Monster: Snull by 1d6Adventurers on reddit

[gatheringbones]

that whole “make your characters want things” does so much work for you in a story, even if what your characters want is stupid and irrelevant, because how people go about pursuing their desires tells you about them as a person.

do they actually move toward what they desire? how far are they willing to go for it? do they pursue their desires directly or indirectly? do they acquire what they desire through force, trickery, or negotiation? do they tell themselves they aren’t supposed to feel desire and suppress it? does the suppressed desire wither away and die, or does it mutate and grow even stronger? is the initially expressed desire actually an inadequate and poorly translated different desire that they lack language for? does the desire change once the language has been updated, or when new experiences outline the desire more clearly? do they want someone else once they have better words for it, or once they know that they definitely don’t want something they thought they wanted before?

how does the world accommodate those desires? what does the world present to your character and in what order to update and clarify their desires? how does your magic system or sci-fi device correspond to those desires and the pursuit of them?

there’s so much good story meat on those bones; you just have to be brave and decisive enough to let characters want specific things instead of letting them float in the current of the plot.

[drmapzo]

Hello, everyone!

Are you feeling like sending your players to an old, spooky house? Well, now’s your chance!

Let your players investigate this old Victorian-inspired house and have them encounter evil ghosts, possessed dolls and much more!

Or maybe they just have been invited here by some mysterious figure, who will give them a handsome reward if they’re able to stay the night.

The creature tokens for this map are a Giant Goat, an Old Druid and a Skitterwidget. Emerald tier gets the Old Druid while Diamond tier gets all three. In addition, Sapphire tier gets extra creature token variants.

You can see a preview of all of this week’s Patreon content here.

Thank you very much for taking a look and be sure to check out my Patreon where you can pledge for gridless version, alternate map versions as well as the tokens pertaining to this map.

[transfagrified-in-the-void]

Here is a free pdf of the players handbook

Here is a free pdf of xanathars guide to everything

Here is a free pdf to monsters manual

Here is a free pdf to tashas cauldron of everything

Here is a free pdf to dungeon master’s guide

Here is a free pdf to volo’s guide to monsters

Here is a free pdf of mordenkainen’s tomb of foes

For all your dnd purposes

[rabdoidal]

wtf is with these anons?? anyway do u have tips on playing dnd? i had some bad games in college but i wanna try again

DM tips!

Prioritise the actions and ideas that your players contribute rather than your written notes (you will frequently need to throw out plotlines, don't force it)

You don't have to set out and write a whole homebrew campaign - most of the time, even when going off official modules, you will end up with a completely unique campaign just from what you add and improvise

If they get a nat 20 on initiative, give them a surprise round, if they get a nat 1 on initiative, take one of their actions or their movement (critting should always give or take something)

If your big bad evil guy is really important and intimidating, give them extra abilities and shit even if the stat block you're using doesn't have them - enemies don't have to be balanced, its about narrative, not XP

Make battles more interesting by adding different terrain, a time limit, or a competitive aspect - would you rather fight different enemies in the same room, or the same enemies in an entirely different terrain?

Use all 5 senses when describing NPCs and locations, or draw from real life people and places you've seen - work smarter, not harder

If you have shitty players, you do not have to keep DMing for them - DMs are playing too, and bad behaviour shouldn't be tolerated. If you don't find a good group, you can find online groups!

Check out resources like https://r-n-w.net/ or reddit for oneshot settings!

Player tips!

Don't let people bully you into playing a magic class if you don't know how to play one or you aren't ready - being worried over spells isn't worth it

Ask silly questions before serious questions with party members! People clam up when you ask "how did your parents die" right away, even if its more juicy than "would you rather jump in a pool of jello or milk"

Ask the DM if you can do weird bullshit if you want to do weird bullshit - worst case they say no, best case you get to do something awesome

Ask for help if you need it - if people won't help you when you're confused about mechanics, or call you dumb for needing help, you have a bad party