Dungoner Och Dragoner

(under construction) A Swedish newbie DM's trying to create a world for their first campaign and dumps some info, art, and ideas on this blog.Feel free to steal stuff and/or take inspiration from their posts on here, but please don't take credit for them, and give the url of this blog to anyone who's interested in knowing who came up with this stuff. If you want to publish anything online, please ask first!

[tabletopresources]

DNDSPEAK is a website dedicated to providing you with extra material for your tabletop games. This site offers custom fantasy music, DM inspiration, and our specialty: d100 lists. Each list is in the form of a d100 list, meaning there are 100 different options for each category (some lists may contain more). These lists are created by the D100 Reddit Community. If you would like to request a category, please submit your request there.

Only just had the time to look through this website today and, props to ‘em, it’s a fantastic tabletop gaming resource! It has good content for inspiration, and it sources ideas from the community, giving credit where it’s due.

I love it!

Even if you just use their random lists. Here are some examples that they offer: Roll a d10 if you wanna choose one at random!

100+ Cave Skill Challenges

100 Secrets A Hamlet Or Village Conceals From Outsiders

100 Things You Can Find In A Haunted House 

100 Bard Songs 

100 Halfling Traits 

100 Interesting Dungeon Encounters 

100 Cyberpunk Corporations 

100 Warm Up Roleplaying Questions for Players 

100 NPC Jobs 

100 Useless People You Find On A Failed “Gather Information” Check

They have generators too. For example, a random potion and book generator.

If you want to contribute to a list or see what lists are currently in the works, check out their reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/d100/

I’d encourage any tabletop gamer to have a look at the site, and while you’re at it check out Tabletop Gaming Resources for more art, tips, and tools for your game!

[doctorslippery]

127551 views and 2809 votes on Imgur

So this is a cheat-sheet I’ve made for personal use to just have an overview over all the basic D&D rules. The first page covers most of the text rules. The color divides the sections more or less from one another.

The second page covers most of the important tables and stats, that you’ll probably need through the game. Hope you like it and find some use for this! Cheers.

[bardicknowledgeblogger]

SUPER handy! I might use this for the kiddos in my beginner d&d camp this summer!

[sushinfood]

This is good for anyone honestly

[paler-than-thou]

@puppehgal @wonszu @koto056

[thydungeongal]

Use this as a battlemap in your next D&D game

[probablyevilrpgideas]

Give the dwarf’s player a private note explaining the battlefield is deeply slanted, and let them decide whether to let the other players in on it.

[wakewithgiggli]

Alternatively, use this one:

From Dyson’s maps

[thydungeongal]

Oh Fuck yes, Dyson Logos rules

[quinn-vica-deactivated20201222]

Reminds me of the Mobius Strip endless dungeon I’ve seen before. Directions HERE.

[thydungeongal]

I have the best kind of headache now

[gunsandfireandshit]

[dnd-one-shots]

Is your combat boring?

Do you find combat the most boring part of d&d? Do you feel you hand slowly reaching for your phone when it’s not your turn in combat? Are you constantly having your mind wander? Well, this post is for you!

How to spice up your combat!

Describe what you’re doing! This applies to players and to DMs. Instead of saying ‘I hit him, I do x damage.’ Spice that shit up baby!! Be descriptive! “I draw my sword off my back, and with one hand I slash him across the chest to set an example out of him and scare his friends!’ Or if you’re a DM: ‘The hobgoblin has nowhere to escape, he attempts to climb up over the wall but it’s too high, he knows you will catch him. So he jumps off the wall and flies in your face, clawing wildly.” Damn, see? That’s way cooler than ‘The hobgoblin is trapped, he’s going to claw you.“

Use your environment! This will make for more interesting fights and perhaps get you extra damage. “I punch him” vs “I grab him by the hair and smash his face into the table, holding him down. I lift up a tankard and break it overtop of his head.” How cool!! Wow, are you an action star? ★

For DMs: its more fun to kill 10 small enemies than it is to kill 2 regular enemies. (Unless it is a boss)

DMs: player rolled a 1 or a 20? Let them describe what happens. It keeps the players engaged and let’s them be creative.

Describe deaths. “Your magic missiles have killed him” vs “you outreach your hand, the hot missiles of your spell form around you, collecting energy until they speed past you, straight towards the Evil Man. He knocks the first missile away but the others hit him with an intense force, sending him flying into the wall behind him. His body makes an awful 'crunch’ as the stone wall cracks from the impact. He slumps down, and does not get up.”

Hope this helps! Have fun playing.

[dnd-one-shots]

This keeps getting notes so I’m adding some stuff. I haven’t DMed in like a year so here’s from a players perspective:

If you are a Magic User:

1. Use spell components when you’re casting spells! Ex from my Paladin using 'bless’: “I take my flask of holy water and go up to (PC). I put a drop on my finger and swipe it down her nose and say 'Chauntea will protect us’”

This adds great RP dynamic and character depth + relationships, just by casting a spell!

2. Add personal spins on things when casting spells. Here’s an example from my bard: “I take out my violin bow and begin to play a soft, haunting Lullaby. Images of broken hearts begin to dance in front of their faces and the enemies start to fall into a trance. They have to make a wisdom save.”

That’s how I cast hypnotic pattern. Some aspect of the spells I cast always involve my character, and you can change up little details. When I casted Hypnotic pattern there was a dancing droplet of blood that distracted a group of vampire bats!

If you are a physical character:

This is a bit more difficult Imo, I feel like they have less options for flavor. I usually think about how my character is feeling, and what weapon I’m using.

My Paladin is always angry/cocky when fighting undead. So when she faces undead: “I take Snapdragon (her greatsword) off my back and smile at the skeleton before I hold my sword like a plunger and stab him through the head, again and again.”

This added a surprising violent side to my character, and gave other PC’s an invitation to ask about it.

If you think you’re not good at describing stuff, or are embarrassed about RPing, start small. Read this post before a game and try to think of something beforehand. Happy d&ding!

[1000ballbearings]

The New DMs Guide to: Building a Homebrew World

Every creature, class and caricature can be found for free on the internet, with almost no digging. Dungeons and Dragons has never been easier to play. These are the resources I used to build the beginning of my campaign. This one isn’t for building story, this one is for building world. (Story Masterpost coming soon)

What I Use

The Obvious: dndbeyond.com - Character Builders, Rule Guides, Guides to Monsters, Tips, Tricks and everything in between. Does require a little money to access the full scope of the site, but the free version is superb as well.

Create your own world map: Inkarnate.com - awesome map creator with free and Pro versions (at very reasonable prices). Example:

The Best of the Dungeon Builders: http://www.dungeonographer.com (free and paid versions. I use the free one) - dungeon builder, but you can make anything! The best dungeon maker I’ve found, with sheer simplicity of use balanced with scope of opportunity. Example:

How deep do you want to go? Donjon’s Generators - https://donjon.bin.sh Calendars? Loot? Dungeons? Demographics? Inns? Towns? Magic Shops?

Cities are big. Someone else can build it. fantasycities.watabou.ru (free) - City Map Generator. Great for creating big cities or tiny towns, and so much easier than building every single major city of your world, if you want to have those maps.

There are plenty of places to download and print tokens for combat play (if you want to use a map at all) online, but I bought mine from: SidequestTTM

Watch and Learn

The Bare Basics of D&D - Handbook Helper. New too Dungeons and Dragons? The team behind Critical Role have a whole (and continuing) series on the basic rules of D&D 

Matthew Mercer and Satine Phoenix’s GM Tips - Some of the best Game Masters in the world share their tips for Mastering the Game. I’ve watched the whole thing twice and always learn more.

Matt Colville’s Running the Game - An incredible video resource that goes from building the very start of a campaign to how to navigate tough spots, how to plant story hooks and some of the best advice I’ve ever seen.

Other Great Resources

“All You Need” Site, http://autorolltables.github.io/index.html - need an npc? A plot? A settlement? A monster? An encounter? autorolltables will make it.

World Map Making: http://www.hexographer.com - specific style of simplistic map making, very useful though I don’t use it myself. 

Azgaar World Map Generator: has landscape, political boundaries, names and more. If you don’t want to design your own, this one’s a perfectly viable option.

https://sketchbook.com: free drawing software, very intuitive but no map making specifics. 

https://rpgtinker.com:  great for more complex characters.

Dungeon Building: https://deepnight.net/tools/tabletop-rpg-map-editor/ - a fantastic but very simple map maker, works best in Chrome and requires flash.

Extras

Make your homebrew content look official

Need a Monster? - roll20 

[we-are-rogue]

The Deck of Certain Things, or: The Joke Item That Almost Destroyed my Campaign

[by u/astonishingantman / reddit]

“I created this thing over two years ago as a joke item. One of my players became convinced that I was trying to trick them, and that it was a real Deck of Many Things. His paranoia spread, and the party nearly killed each other over it. After some impromptu group therapy, they decided to leave the Deck be and never speak of it again.

So now you get to use it. Have fun!”

Deck of Certain Things

Wondrous Item, Legendary

A set of 10 cards that come in a small box. “Deck of Certain Things” has been crudely carved into the box’s lid in Common.

Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use a d10 to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise, as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. Each card must be drawn no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining cards fly from the deck and take effect all at once. Once a card is drawn it cannot reappear.

Once all 10 cards have been drawn, a pair of Gloves of Thievery appear in the deck box, along with a note thanking the Deck’s owner for the fun.

The cards are decorated with shoddy-looking artwork, seemingly scribbled with crayon. They are:

Acorn: 3d8 terrified squirrels are transported to your location from elsewhere on the material plane.

Fireworks: Your weapon explodes into a shower of brightly-colored glitter. It reforms in 1 hour.

Prospector: A wooden chest containing 10,000 pieces of counterfeit gold drops at your feet. The coins show a winking jester on both sides.

Liar: For the next 1d12 hours, telling a lie causes your trousers to ignite, dealing 1d6 points of fire damage.

Honey Jar: Summons a friendly sentient bear named Sigmund, who acts as an apothecary, selling the party potions from his backpack. He vanishes after 1d20 minutes.

Wallflower: You instantly succeed on all Insight checks for 24 hours, but fail all Intimidation checks.

Invitation: An imp appears in a burst of smoke, kicks you in the shins, then vanishes.

Nightmare: All items worn on your person, with the exception of undergarments, turn invisible for 1d4 hours.

Quill: A flameskull appears in front of you, delivers a heartfelt soliloquy, then explodes in a pillar of green flame. All creatures within 5 feet must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d10 fire damage.

Infant: For the next hour your voice is replaced with the shrill cries of a baby. You are unable to communicate through speech or cast spells with a verbal component.

[dungonerochdragoner]

Idea: make the dwarves have fluorescent markings, much like deep sea creatures, as they too live in completely dark spaces (caves)

[thatwest0nkid-deactivated202106]

My super advanced mapmaking technique - a handful of dice makes the map nice

[somethingdnd]

interesting method

[takeo14]

My question is do the die affect topography any or just set the borders?

[somethingdnd]

I imagine it’s up to the person making the map. But maybe the more dice in a single spot, the more mountainous or forested the area. Maybe choose a few dice to be deemed cities, and some dice for ruins.

[onion-ice]

Maybe let the dice choose, like a nat 20 would be the world capital, and 10’s would be mountains or something like that.

[somethingdnd]

1-5: Plains and fields

6-8: Forests

9-11: Mountains

12-14: Tundras and snow covered lands

15-17: Farms and towns

18-19: Larger cities

20: Capitals and castles

[captain-forsyth]

what would happing if all the dice landed on a 20?

[somethingdnd]

then you have a very busy continent

[muck-raker-deactivated20181222]

not all of those are d20s though, so you’d have to come up with another method for the other ones

[somethingdnd]

Adjusted for all dice you might have

D20

1-5: Plains and fields

6-8: Forests

9-11: Mountains

12-14: Tundras and snow covered lands

15-17: Farms and towns

18-19: Larger cities

20: Capitals and castles

D12

1-3: Plains and fields

4-6: Forests

7-8: Mountains

9-10: Tundras and snow covered lands

11: Farms and towns

12: Larger cities

D10

1-3: Plains and fields

4-6: Forests

7-8: Mountains

9: Tundras and snow covered lands

10: Farms and towns

D8

1-4: Plains and fields

5-6: Forests

7: Mountains

8: Tundras and snow covered lands

D6

1-3: Plains and fields

4: Forests

5-6: Mountains

D4

1-2: Plains and fields

3: Forests

4: Mountains

[dungonerochdragoner]

The birth and death of an elf

Elves develop inside a kind of gelatinous egg underneath a few, old trees in different parts of the world.

The eggs are emitting yellow light, leading the elves to believe they are made of sunlight. The high concentration of light is helping the unborn elves grow.

The eggs are very close together, making them look like one big lumpy jello thing.

Not even the elves really know how the eggs get there, or how elves start developing in them.

To make sure nothing happens to the eggs, there are always a few elves guarding them.

As an elf develops, their brain starts to connect with more and more brains of the other elves until they can hear the thoughts of (almost) every living elf. Thanks to this happening gradually, it is not overwhelming.

Through telepathy, the unborn elves learn everything they need to know to go straight into adulthood as soon as they are born.

For as long as an elf stays in their egg, they cannot transmit thoughts, only recieve them.

When the other elves recognise a new signal, they know an elf has just been born.

While an elf develops, the egg gradually builds up tension. When it's time for an elf to be born, the tension becomes so great the egg crumbles, turning into a gooey bed for the newborn to lie on.

Elves are born as fully developed adults.

Elves do not visually age, but since they don't cut their hair (permanently altering one's body is seen as disrespectful to Mother Nature, who "births" the elves) one can usually tell the approximate age of an elf by the length of their hair.

When an elf dies of old age, what actually happens is that their telepathic connection to the other elves gradually starts failing, and eventually they die from loneliness.

When an elf dies of unnatural causes, their telepathic ability also stops working, but the process is usually sped up a lot.

Basically, when an elf feels their telepathy degrade, they know their time has come.

[dungonerochdragoner]

Elven Fashion 101

Cloth and other accessories are only meant to enhance, not alter, elves’ natural beauty. It’s socially unacceptable to permanently alter one’s body, as it is seen as disrespectful towards Mother Nature, from which elves are born. This means no piercings, tattoos, or haircuts.

Since elves do not have any “private parts”, it’s popular in elven fashion to highlight this fact by explicitly showing the parts of their bodies that would have had nipples, genitals, and so on if they had been any other race. This by either using see-through fabric, or simply having no fabric in those places.

Because of the “no private parts” thing it is also not uncommon for elves to walk around naked. These elves are seen as “traditional”, and usually have stricter views regarding the “no bodily alterations” rule.

However, there are naked elves who have hairdos and other accessories. These are not viewed as traditional, it’s rather an alternative fashion.

Elves use a lot of light, hanging cloth as they find that the way it moves really enhances their natural beauty.

Bright coloured cloth is the most common, as it contrasts nicely against the elves’ dark skin, and it brings to mind the brightness of the sun, which elves worship and need for survival, as it is their source of energy.

Among other reasons stated previously, elves also tend to wear little clothing because it is important that sunrays can hit as much of their body as possible.

[brydigdraws]

it’s as though the sun itself is mocking them

[dungonerochdragoner]

Thought: make the goblin design more inspired by rats, as they too get seen as pests when they are in actuality highly intelligent

[dungonerochdragoner]

Magic is hard and tedious

Magic in this world is much like STEM. Everyone has to learn basic magic in school, but often with uninspiring teachers, and more advanced magic is hard. But there are those who are gifted, and these usually choose a specific branch of magic in more advanced studies - such as restoration, pyrokinesis, levitation, and so on. The best schools are usually in the big cities, where mixtures of all races live.

So magic isn't as common in the world as it could have been, but magic items, just like technology in the real world, are almost everywhere.

Goblins and dragonborns have the highest rate of magic practitioners among the races. Goblins find it helpful in stead of impressing physique, and dragonborns consider controlled magic usage a sign of high intelligence. Orcs prefer to stay out of it for the most part, they don't completely trust it. Elves tend to avoid it as well, as they consider much of it to be unnatural.

[dungonerochdragoner]

I looked up a lot of different animal penises today and hoo boy did I get more than I bargained for

[dungonerochdragoner]

Same-sex relationships in different races' societies - general views and children

Goblins: due to very little sexual dimorphism, goblins don't even label a romantic and/or sexual relationship as "same-sex" or "different-sex". If two goblins want children but can't reproduce, they can either help take care of the existing goblin kids in their social group (more than usual, that is), or get help with conception through a goblin shaman's magic (but only if at least one of them has a womb, otherwise they'll need a surrogate). Very rarely, they may find a goblin orphan to adopt, but there aren't many goblin orphans due to goblins' strong sense of family and the other members of the goblin children's social group taking care of them in case of the parents' death.

Gremlins: Since gremlin-kind is made up of small "gangs", their views on same-sex relationships vary. In a specific group, it can be seen as benifical, impairing or non-affecting to the group's goals. This goes for all romatic and sexual relationships, really.

Orcs: According to orc women, sapphic love within the group is very positive, as it strengthens bonds. It may also lead to better fighting and less recklessness, as one would like to protect one's partner and stay alive for her. Males don't really have an opinion on it, as they rarely see it - "If it gives advantage in battle, it must be a good thing." Gay love between males is seen as a good thing too, as they often take care of the orc children together when the females are away fighting. The straight males often find the gay ones strange, though they don't actually mind it - "how can someone not be attracted to those big female tusks?". So it's not "how can you be attracted to males", it's rather "how can you NOT be attracted to females". So bi and pan males generally "make more sense" to straight ones. If two males want to have their own children, they must find a willing surrogate mother. And if they want both their DNA in the child(ren), they must find a goblin shaman to help them. They can also simply adopt. If two females want their own children, their options are also either adoption or goblin shaman help (which is a slightly easier process, as females have wombs of their own). It's also not uncommon for a male and a female couple to "team up" to have children.

Elves: Elves are all agender, asexual and aromantic. They are born from "eggs of the earth". The only relationship they usually have is the platonic one between every elf in a group. Rarely, they find themselves befriending beings of other races. They don't really differentiate between different relationships in other races, as they are so different from themselves. They only understand them in a "textbook" sorta way (if at all), and don't care much about it.

Dwarves: TBD, I want to change some base things about them first.

Disclaimer: I have not accounted for trans individuals in this, that's for another post I believe. There can also be exeptions to every "rule" (which btw applies to all my info posts).

[brydigdraws]

Goblin Week Day One!

I’ll try to do the whole week this year, with different kinds of gobs each day - first up is a gob from my dnd campaign world, who doesn’t seem to be too fond of spiders~

[dungonerochdragoner]

Dwarves:

Small and stocky - normally somewhere between 90-110cm.

Almost no sexual dimorphism- pretty much only a dwarf can tell male and female dwarves apart.

Big beards - the bigger the beard, the more status.

Cover their bodies with clothing - to be able to see any skin other than that of the head is considered scandalous.

Long hair is common as it helps covering skin (beards serve this function as well, so most dwarves do not shave).

Prefer cold climates - because of their bodies' natural cold resistance and the whole "cover the entire body in clothes" thing (and their extreme heat intolerance).

Dwarven communities are almost always led by a "queen" or a "king" - depending on the geographical location of the community, some of these don't own any land, but are still the rulers of their people.

In general, dwarves highly dislike being dependent on others - and especially other races. Because of this, they do not trade with non-dwarves and try to produce everything they need within the community.

A very small amount of dwarves live in the cities, which are all hodgepodges of a number of different races. These dwarves are typically those who dislike dwarven values and beliefs, or have been thrown out of their communities for one reason or another, and dwarven kind at large has disowned them.

Even though dwarven communities can be rather large, dwarves rarely hold any actual affection for anyone outside of their immediate family.

Some communities have tamed ice dragons, which have multiple uses. They can be used as transport, freezing of food (thanks to their frost breath) and guard "dogs".

Others live close to an untamed ice dragon - forcing them to be always vigilant, in case the dragon gets a craving for dwarf.

Dwarves' main means of transportation are ponies - not completely unlike Icelandic horses.

Some dwarves live in caves, while others prefer building their homes out of sturdy wood.

Most dwarves are fishers or hunters, but there are also a few miners and jewellers.

Dwarves love gems and precious stones, and have master craftsmen that make the most beautiful jewellery out of it. This jewellery is highly revered by other races, but because of dwarves' dislike of trading, are very hard to come by.