sometimes i gm

if you are one of my players go away

[ghost-gm]

~welcome!~

hey there! i'm ghost. i'm currently dungeon mastering a homebrew d&d 5e campaign for a few friends. it's a cosmic horror campaign, with a healthy mix of combat and roleplay. i use this blog to post session recaps, brainstorm ideas, and gather inspiration. i hope to also meet fellow ttrpg players, on either side of the dm's screen! (and not necessarily d&d of course)

feel free to check out my campaign so far, under the tag #the sleeping god, or send me an ask to say hey and tell me about your character or campaign!

[monstersovka]

🌱 dragon sword 🗡️

[charnel-grounds]

Gothic 19th-century daguerreotype metal plate photograph of a young lady dubbed “Mona Lisa of the Deep”.

This portrait was found in the wreck of the ship that sank 1857.

source

[starberry-cupcake]

here's a photo of the daguerreotype in the shipwreck remains themselves, which I think is wonderful to see

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[quietwingsinthesky]

favorite thing in the whole wide world when a story is about how a typically “negative” trait is the one essential to saving the day. a character whose anger pushes them further than any of their kinder aspects. someone so stubborn that they cross a finish line no one else could reach. greed that becomes justification to protect people. ruthlessness that gets the job done right. the coward who becomes a hero because they were the only one with the sense not to face something deadly head on. selfishness that keeps you alive.

I love when our ‘worst’ impulses are shown to be as important to who we are and how we handle things as the best parts of us. sometimes you don’t conquer what everyone says is wrong with you; sometimes you learn how to make use of what comes naturally instead of fighting against it.

[thewindowofthesummerhouse]

Joonas Ryynänen

[entnoot]

Cinder, my fiancé’s original character. They are a collection of souls of witches who were burned at the stake, bound within a suit of armour. They were accidentally awoken from years of dormancy by my character, Kestrel.

[strange-house-art]

[ghost-gm]

i have this idea for a bbeg, and i haven’t quite fleshed him out yet. i’ve been calling him mr. red right hand (or rrh for short) because the song by the same name was the inspiration.

so far, this is what i’ve got:

he’s a human. a city-born, self-made man.

he has had dealings with devils, and currently has a moderate cohort of fiends at his disposal (imps and spined devils and such).

he is in cahoots with the ancient wizard responsible for the rifts that brought the eldritch beings to faerûn, though their alliance is one of convenience and mutual need. he sort of has the wizard on a leash, though the wizard isn't submissive.

he truly believes he can make the world a better place by ruling it. he won't kill people just for not liking him, but he will not hesitate to take out anyone he sees as a threat to his power. that being said, he always tries first to persuade powerful people to his cause.

ruthless, cunning, a fierce moral compass that just happens to not point north.

[ghost-gm]

is gideon godfrey a stupid name?

[ghost-gm]

gideon godfrey is OUT

cedric godwin is IN

[byjove]

Someone mentioned how they were having a hard time creating a world for their fantasy fiction geographically because they kept reinventing the island of Britain, which also happened to my good close enemy George R. R. Martin. I would like to suggest North Carolina. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous but North Carolina has an awesome geographic setup for a fantasy kingdom, I think. Inhospitable barrier islands, constantly shifting shoals in the sound, swamps with alligators, venomous snakes and carnivorous plants, lots of very flat and somewhat sparsely populated farmland, foothills, mines, mountains full of mysterious phenomenon that were originally very difficult to navigate and people still get lost in today. It kind of rocks.

[prokopetz]

I totally understand why, of all the playable species first introduced in the Planescape campaign setting, tieflings would be the one to make the jump to the D&D core, but sometimes I like to imagine the world where it had been rogue modrons instead. The standard D&D species are humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits, and cubes.

[prokopetz]

Tell me this isn't a face that would be welcome at any table.

[prokopetz]

I find the "rules are toys" framing of tabletop RPG design useful for several reasons:

The idea that system matters is reducible to recognising that toys have affordances; while there is of course no "wrong" way to play with a toy, no amount of open-mindedness will readily fit a bicycle through a basketball hoop.

It puts a line under one of the main objections to the "why not just freeform it?" thing; if folks are discussing how to make or modify a toy to achieve a particular set of affordances, blundering into the conversation going "why bother with toys when you can Use Your Imagination?" is unlikely to be well received!

Sometimes it's helpful to take a step back from a critique of a particular system and ask yourself: is this set of game mechanics really broken or incomplete, or have I mistaken a bicycle for a basketball?

[gyodragon]

Ah yes! One of my favorite original designs. This is the big bad, a gift for my DM's birthday

[lhl-std]

A new character for the party in dangeon and dragons

A revived enchanter who lost his memory, named Arthritis

[ghost-gm]

i have this idea for a bbeg, and i haven’t quite fleshed him out yet. i’ve been calling him mr. red right hand (or rrh for short) because the song by the same name was the inspiration.

so far, this is what i’ve got:

he’s a human. a city-born, self-made man.

he has had dealings with devils, and currently has a moderate cohort of fiends at his disposal (imps and spined devils and such).

he is in cahoots with the ancient wizard responsible for the rifts that brought the eldritch beings to faerûn, though their alliance is one of convenience and mutual need. he sort of has the wizard on a leash, though the wizard isn't submissive.

he truly believes he can make the world a better place by ruling it. he won't kill people just for not liking him, but he will not hesitate to take out anyone he sees as a threat to his power. that being said, he always tries first to persuade powerful people to his cause.

ruthless, cunning, a fierce moral compass that just happens to not point north.

[ghost-gm]

is gideon godfrey a stupid name?

[filibusterfrog]

dragonborn for @i-am-lich

[duckieslament]

DM Affirmations:

- My players gaf about the story

- My plot twists aren’t predictable

- This homebrew element ISN’T self indulgent

- I can calculate damage right

- I didn’t contradict the lore 2 sessions ago when I improved that thing

- This is fun for me