Level One Dungeon Master

An inexperienced but hopeful DM's journey to mediocrity.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

I ATEN’T DEAD

But what I am is moving. This blog is a sub blog of my main, and it gets fussy not being able to properly submit asks as me to other blogs. So I’m moving to:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/levelonedungeonmaster

I’ll reblog all the stuff on this blog there, and I’ll be releasing a few new things, so be sure to follow if you haven’t lost all faith in me actually being a productive member of this community.

Safe travels.

-Lvl1DM

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

I really should stop playing Darkest Dungeon.

Anyway, addiction aside, I have been somewhat inspired from various places to make an unarmed combat system for D&D. I’d like to make this so that any player can access the moves that it allows, such as haymakers, headbutts, advanced grapples, kicks, and so on, but then, it comes with not making combat more complex than it already is with spells being chucked about all over the place, special abilities, turn orders, status effects etc. etc.

So current idea is I either:

1) Make the combat system open to any character, but certain moves have requirements, e.g haymaker needs both hands free, headbutt can inflict damage to self.

2) Make the system only available to a new class of character, the Brawler, a class similar to the Monk, but focused on sheer dominant fighting power rather than precise, quick attacks.

I’m not sure which is the better option, so I may just make both.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

I was playing Darkest Dungeon the other day (Good game, but be prepared to get hopelessly miffed), and I really like the Plague Doctor, just as a character. A person both intrigued by the strangeness and danger of disease, but also well aware of its power, of its ability to kill, and slowly.

The obvious next course of action was to think “How can I implement such a character into D&D?” The idea of a plague doctor is an interesting one, but overall, not suited for a class. It is surrounded by restrictive stereotypes, such as their fascination with and fear of virulent diseases, best left for a player to to create, not forced upon them by their choice of character.

So I expanded my scope. In Darkest Dungeon, the character makes use of bombs riddled with poison and smoke, and these reminded me of an item that can be found in D&D, Alchemist’s Fire. It’s effectively a Molotov, you throw it and it explodes, causing burning damage to anyone caught in the area. It’s a type of potion that, at the DM’s discretion, I think can be made, but honestly, that seems very boring. Potions in the world of D&D have always seemed really underwhelming to me. You get potions of healing, and maybe one or two others that fix a common status effect or buff in a certain way, but really, that’s all. What I wanted was a truly interesting system, a way to further the bounds of artifice beyond simple enchantments on swords and trinkets, and into new and potentially ridiculous consumable potions.

I wanted to create an Alchemist.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

“A chilling paranoia grips at your stomach, mind bullied into worry, as you wonder if you truly did your best.”

So my exams are over. For better or for worse.

Things to do:

1) Start up a new story. Probably that magic-hating town.

2) Start a new homebrew thing. Might try my hand at class creation, but what, I’m not too sure.

3) Host an actual game of D&D.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

It’s been a while since I actually made something, so it’s gotta be pretty big, right?

Well I suppose it is. These are the Formicyr, a race of bipedal ant people that live beneath the desert wastes. They have a range of colours, but the primary types are the Reds and the Golds. Tensions are high between their people in the wake of a war between them. Officially, the war is over, but many still resent the other colour, each claiming the other started the battle. Vicious four-armed fighters, the Formicyr also have venomous bites that inflict an effect upon their victim.

Because tumblr compression is a butt, here is the Homebrewery link. I hope they’re balanced, but I fear I might have put a bit too much stuff on this one.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

Looking back on this, definitely too much stuff between the multiple races, the venomous bite, and the four arms. If anyone out there wants a four-armed race, the Thri-Keen do that really well, but I think the venom of the Formicyr is enough to carry them as unique, so I’m cutting their four-arms down to two. I’ve edited the Homebrewery page to make this work, changing their descriptions, removing the trait, and editing the Red’s Reckless Strike. Should be a little bit more balanced now to boot. Here is another link.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

I like where my adventure, Blood and Salt, is going, but I think it’s a little too ambitious for a First Time Dungeon Master adventure. I’m gonna shelve it, and instead, I’ll make a simpler adventure.

I’m gonna spend some time making a few short adventures based around some cool ideas I have or find. The first is going to be based on that magic-hating town I thought of.

Also, @dnd-inspiration does really neat short story inspirations, so anytime I use one of their ideas for these short adventures, I’ll mention it.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

Another character idea, like the one I had for a spellcaster. This time, for a cleric.

Effectively, for some reason, the cleric has two minds, two consciences, and each supports a different god, possibly opposing gods (like a god of death and a god of life). Each mind has different charisma, intelligence and wisdom scores, but their skills and other ability scores are the same. In a moment of extreme stress, the other conscience can take over the body. This could create a really cool storytelling dynamic, of this character at war with themselves.

This could also work for two players playing one character, and the one currently in control of the body can hear the thoughts of the other, judging their actions and advising their way forward.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

Here’s an idea for a spellcaster character. They have absolutely no fucking idea how to use magic, but they are a very good illusionist. By way of alchemy, slight of hand and pure unbridled luck, they can make it seem as though they have performed almost any spell. And, for whatever reason, they can’t let anyone find out they can’t use magic.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

It’s been a while since I actually made something, so it’s gotta be pretty big, right?

Well I suppose it is. These are the Formicyr, a race of bipedal ant people that live beneath the desert wastes. They have a range of colours, but the primary types are the Reds and the Golds. Tensions are high between their people in the wake of a war between them. Officially, the war is over, but many still resent the other colour, each claiming the other started the battle. Vicious four-armed fighters, the Formicyr also have venomous bites that inflict an effect upon their victim.

Because tumblr compression is a butt, here is the Homebrewery link. I hope they’re balanced, but I fear I might have put a bit too much stuff on this one.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

Okay, I’d like to quickly thank @basalt-dnd, he makes a lot of homebrew stuff, and he introduced me to this.

It’s basically a really simple fully online writeup thingamajig called The Homebrewery by Natural Crit. It makes really nice looking D&D related stuff. Makes it look all official.

So naturally, I instantly started making the Homebrew Race I’m working on (The Armordillos) in this. It’s super simple.

You can add images, but I didn’t want to faff around trying to find good art.

Here’s a link so that you can actually read it without awful tumblr compression.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

I just noticed that cursor on the second page. Turns out I’m a colossal mongoloid. Also, this is really fuzzy, and since I’m just now finishing up the Formicyr Homebrewery page, I thought I’d better ask; Does anyone know a good way of making an image of a PDF that doesn’t look compressed to buggery?

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

Idea for a town I might use in a campaign. It’s probably a concept that’s been done before, but I prefer to make something of my own than use prebuilt stuff.

So, the party enters a town, and the first time a mage in the party casts a spell, they’re dragged by surprise into an alleyway by a fisherman called Harkir. He explains in furtive and worried tones that magic is incredibly taboo here because of an event in the past, and that if the authorities see even a hint of magic about a person, they are killed on the spot.

This leads into an encounter specifically tailored by the DM for the group, presenting them with a moral issue that is near impossible to solve without the use of a certain spell or magic ability in the hands of a caster. For example, a child could be playing on a roof, and they slip. The mage of the group, however, has access to the “Featherfall” spell, which would save the child, but would mean using magic and potentially causing the mage to become a wanted criminal to be killed on sight.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

Looks like it’s exam time.

There’s probably not gonna be a lot of stuff going out at the moment. I have all of my exams coming up in about a month, so I don’t have much time. I’ll still reblog stuff, and occasionally come out with news on Blood & Salt and my Magical Experiments, but it’ll be a bit of a dry season.

Speaking of which, I should have that ant race thing I was working on finished fairly soon.

[spiritofally]

Back in middle school, my friends and I used a very simple coded language for writing secret messages. I saw some posts about needing to hide one’s beliefs from partners/bosses/parents so I wanted to share it with you! These would also be great to incorporate into sigils since they are simple lines and dots.

[somethingdnd]

Write secret messages for your players as puzzles for dungeons

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I just love simple stuff like this that can be used for little world building things. Rather than just saying “There’s some runes here, but you can’t read them”, give them a piece of paper with the runes on it. They could possibly work it out, or if they don’t, when a character tells them how to read them, actually have the players work it out.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

You all know Sir Bearington, right? Well, I was thinking it’d be pretty neat if there was an actual race for people who want to play as animals. It’d be hard though, because you’d have to make a different race for every animal. 

Maybe it’d be like a Lost Soul race. A floating consciousness that finds a host body to control. It could be one of two types, one that can jump between different bodies, and one that stays in one from the start, and they gain specific benefits based on their choice.

Man, I just wanted to talk about Sir Bearington, but now I have a cool idea for a race.

[basalt-dnd]

Artwork by Minomi9. 

Have fun, kiddos.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

I like this. Especially with the Drunk System I made recently.

I got “The Saucy Wyrm Alehouse”.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

Drink Drank Drunk

I was thinking up some traits for a race I’m working on, and I thought, just as a little bonus trait, I’d make them half as susceptible to alcohol. This made me realise that I had not seen any rules for drunkenness in the handbooks, and, sure enough, when I went to check, I couldn’t find any official documentation. So I decided to make my own system for handling the consumption of alcohol!

...Don’t you judge me.

It should (and this is a very big should) work reasonably realistically. I’ve tried to take into account everything that would affect alcohol in a person, but it likely need at least a little tweaking. Anyway, it should be pretty neat.

[lvl1dm-old-blog]

How far should players be allowed to customise weapons? For example, let’s say the players go to a blacksmith, or one of the characters is a blacksmith. Can they fundamentally make changes to a weapon? I get that you could allow maybe adding decoration and such, but how far could I go with allowing mechanical changes?

I ask this because I had an idea for an encounter where the players meet a master blacksmith, an undead human with knowledge of ancient techniques. He would allow players to forge two weapons together, such as a bow and a shortsword to form a bow with a sharp edge. The thing is, there may not be much point if such creations are generally accepted to be allowed. So, how far can players normally take weapon modifications?