RPG Mechanics Ideas

[probablyrpgmechanicsideas]

I was in a game where our DM gave us a Cup Of Whatever.

He made up its contents whenever I asked, which resulted in some really disgusting drinks. I learned quickly to test it once he filled it with hydrochloric acid...

well that’s just terrifying! and excellent

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

cultural posturing elves with superiority complexes are way out, now we’re doing elves who literally cannot stop adopting other species and imparting elvish wisdom on them

because elves have a very low fertility rate to counterbalance their remarkable longevity, to the point that childbearing elves are lucky if they’re able to get pregnant, say, more than twice a century

but some elves just want to Nurture and they’ve noticed that adoption is a pretty sick deal, and that their human neighbors in particular always seem to have a veritable cornucopia of orphans sitting around in need of shelter and food and loving guidance and someone to teach them the finer points of communing with nature. 

elves reaching out to their human neighbors nervously for guidance because their beautiful adopted human son has decided he wants to get married but he’s only 25, he’s only completed one apprenticeship, he’s so young, is that really normal? are they sure? are they sure sure?

a 400 year old elf eagerly introducing her friends to her younger siblings: a 100 year old elf, 55 year old human, 27 year old tiefling, and 12 year old human. 

elf parents spending centuries proudly maintaining large and convoluted family trees where some of their great grand-kids are older than their most recently adopted children. elves highly prizing sprawling systems of family that span species and culture and share everything they can with each other. 

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

I’m just. I really charmed by the idea of elfin culture having the potential to be remarkably set in its ways, since they lack the relatively quick generational turnover of other species, but instead being almost infinitely open-minded and fluid to accommodate the needs of their many adopted community members. 

even elves who have left home to become professional adventurers aren’t immune to this; no wandering elfin bard or warrior is going to pass up a perfectly good opportunity for adoption. it’s relatively commonplace to run into adventuring parties followed by one or two or five wayward children in tow, on the way to the elf’s parents to deposit those kiddos for safekeeping. the rest of the party are a little confused about whether their elf friend is those kids’ parent now, or if their parents will be considered the parents and that makes the elf in question a big sibling now, or what. the elf shrugs it off. they’re family, what do the specifics matter? 

it’s a fantasy meme that elves will see an orphan sitting around and ask if anyone’s going to adopt them then not wait for an answer.   

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

and they’re all considered elves which means that within like. a generation or two? the word ‘elf’ starts to become more of a broad cultural descriptor than a specific species. there’s an orc on the elfin high council, and at first visiting dignitaries assume that, obviously, she was adopted by elves. but no, actually she was raised by a lovely human/lizardman couple, but both of them come from adopted elf families, which makes them elves by association, and obviously the grandparents would never allow anyone to imply that their cherished granddaughter isn’t an elf just because she happens to be an orc.

after a few centuries of this calling someone an “elf” means “someone somewhere in their family was probably an elf at some point, don’t worry about who it was.” 

[bisexualbaker]

Okay but also imagine elves finding out the ages of their non-elf adult friends and still adopting them. “What? You’re only 25? Okay, you’re my new sibling. Sorry, you just said your parents were dead, mine are taking you in, I promised when I left home that I’d forward any orphans I found onto them to help with their empty nest syndrome.”

[brewerssupplies]

So I’ve been kind of obsessed with the concept of a druid circle around making tea and have been scratching my head since around October last year I believe just trying to figure it out and I finally did! So here it is! Hope y'all enjoy!

[PDF]

[Ko-Fi]

[commodorecliche]

I'M LOSING MY SHIT AT THESE REPLIES HOLY FUCK

[sunflowershine03]

so many weird items are rings

[toldentops]

@rb-scribblemakes​

[otherwindow]

A concept I’d love to see explored in fantasy is the one druid party member not being native to the setting, so they’re completely unfamiliar with how to utilise the local flora and fauna. Druid: [beckons for a coyote to aid in combat] Mammoths: [stampeding] Druid: oh fuck

[otherwindow]

Druid, casting Enroot: This’ll slow you down! ;) Goblins: [impaled by a dozen cacti] Druid, in a desert: oh right

[tahere-ravenword]

Hi! So my PC's just finished a really hard quest and I decided to reward their hard work with an in game celebration in the form of a carnival/country fete! I ran it yesterday and we all had a tone of fun and they loved it, so I thought I'd share what I set up with everyone 😁

Carnival and celebrations

Chance for players to practice role playing a bit.

Locations

Inn- Arm wrestling, eating and drinking contests

Town square/centre- Find the coin, ring toss, knock over the bottles

Town Green-Target shot, ring the bell, log toss, checkers

Food Ideas

• Candy apples, sweet and crunchy 10 silver

• Shush kabobs, lamb&haloumi, chicken&mushroom, beef&capsicum, halloumi, mushroom&capsicum 10 copper

• Apple pie and other sweet pastries 5 copper

• Hand pulled candy floss 10 silver

• Raspberry/strawberry taffy 10 silver

Drink Ideas

Main price Per Bottle(per cup is 1/4 price)

• Ale 20 copper(5 copper)

• Wine 20 silver(5 silver)

• Spirits 20 gold(5 gold)

• Fruit juice 20 copper(5 copper)

• Sarsaparilla 20 silver(5 silver)

• Sparkling fruit juice 20 gold(5 gold)

GAMES

Town Square

• Knock over the Bottles: Dex DC13, 3 balls for 25 copper knock down the milk bottles. 3 times in a row to get spell scroll animal friendship, 2 wins gets an animal plush and 1 win gets a lolliepop Run by a young halfling girl with blond pigtails and freckles, she has a sweet and cheery disposition and appearance, wearing a simple blue dress, her name is Lizzy.

• Find the coin: Int/perception Dc15. 10 silver per game, watch the cups and find the coin. If you find the coin you win an item from the Magic Item Table A. held at the shrine of luck and run by Sister Ashling, a zealous young elf who worships Tymora

• Ring Toss: Dex Dc18, 3 rings/hoops for 50 copper Throw hoops onto bottles. Win a dagger worth 25 gold. Run by a shady old man named Rowland, who is wearing a rough spun tunic, dc13 insight/perception reveals that this game is rigged and he's very sure no one will win

• Ring the Bell: Dc20. 25 silver for 1 try. Hit the bell and win an item from Magic Item Table B. Run by Falmire a tall human male with huge muscles and and a rough beard, showing off his muscled arms by previously tearing off his sleeves.

Town Green

• Target Shot: Dex DC10-20, 3 bolts for 50 silver. Hit the bulls eye of the targets to win a prize. Easy target Dc10-redbrand ruffian dog toy. Medium Target Dc13 candied apple. Hard target Dc16, bronze engraved light cossbow. Impossible Target Dc20, win 10 special +3 Crossbow bolts/arrows . This game is run by a sharp-tongued human woman Lillian Greyjoy, she seems to be advertising her weaponry and armour.

• Checkers: Int vs opponent, minimum 10 copper to enter, winner takes all. Seems to just be a friendly game set up by a few older townsfolk. 1d4 for opponents.

• Log Toss: Str vs 1d6 opponent dc 15 to succeed. 25 gold to enter. 1st place gets an item from the 250gp art object table. 2nd place prize Morningstar. 3rd place prize decorated iron flask. Run by Torin a lean and balding human male shopkeeper of fifty years with a kindly manner

Inn/Tavern

• Arm Wrestle: Str vs opponent, minimum 25 silver to enter competition.Prize = total coin added to pot.1d6 for number of opponents. Not run by anyone in specific just a congregation of burly men drunkenly having a go

• Eating Contest: Dc10 first to 5 successes wins, 5 fails you're out of the running, 10 silver to play. Prize is 25 gp Art Objects Table and the total of the all participant's entry fee minus 10% for the proprieter. 1d6 opponents. Organised by the innkeeper/bartender

• Drinking contest: Dc15 first to 5 successes wins, 5 fails you're out of the running 10 gold to play. Prize is an itdm from the Magic Item table A and the total of the all participant's entry fee minus 20% for the proprieter. 1d6 opponents. Organized by the innkeeper/bartender.

Feel free to use and change whatever you would like, but I thought this was a good template for any DMs who want to run something similar

[madeline-kahn]

Is there a way to play dungeons and dragons with like a Downton Abbey twist so that my friends will have fun

[madeline-kahn]

Still working on the story part of it but I've decided to call it Downtons and Abbeys even though that doesn't make any sense. And being the Dungeon Master doesn't really sense either so I'll be Laura Linney

[probablyrpgmechanicsideas]

i for one am desperate to know how this turns out

[probablyrpgmechanicsideas]

Bless you I just found your blog and I am ecstatic 🙏🙏🙏 by the way, do you have any very simple tips for a newby dm? I'm gonna run my first campaign soon and am tryna be a good host (that literally just consists of me and one other person)

1. Kind of obvious, but don’t panic if you make a mistake or if the player(s) do something completely unexpected. You, as the D.M., are making a story; however, you’re not the only human (see: random) element of the story. Any plans too specific will likely be killed by Murphy’s law/your players: save yourself the work and get some improvisation skills under your belt to fend against your player(s). As for your mistakes, roll with them: it’s not that you gave the players conflicting information, it’s that one of the NPCs is trying to sabotage the party; it’s not that the encounter was too difficult, you meant for something to come in and interrupt the battle all along!

2. That being said, just because there are other human elements doesn’t mean everyone needs to have equal say: you are the D.M., the writer, so your word is final. Getting player inputs and getting them involved is one thing; getting walked over BY the players is another. That being said, try to be consistent with any home-rules or other personal exceptions. And make these exceptions clear as early as possible (i.e. if you’re not going to do poison/acid mechanics in the game, tell the players that before someone makes a player centered around poisoning opponents).

3. Some other online sources say to keep a NPC name list or generator at hand so you’re not stuck in introducing a character, but a list can run out and a generator can take a while to give a decent name. So, I’d say don’t forget about mnemonics. Instead of thinking “what’s a good name,” think “what’s the first thing that comes to my mind with this NPC’s occupation/role?” So, like, if you introduce a nurse or doctor, name her something like Remedy. Even if you flub up and name her something like “Enema,” that can be a character building opportunity of “Yeah, I’ve heard all the jokes before. I’m also the woman who’s about to perform surgery on you. Sure you want to piss me off?”

4. Another kinda obvious one, but try and get all your players involved. Just having encounters being battles can get dry, anyway: mix things up every once in a while. Bring in times where deception, healing, problem-solving, etc. skills are more appropriate (or mandatory, because every problem is a nail to the hammer-wielding barbarian) so that the rogue or silver-tongued bard, the cleric, and the scholarly wizard can shine!

5. Be careful with rewards: gold, treasure, and magic items aplenty aren’t always necessary, they don’t always make sense (see “Why did that dire wolf have 58 gold and a silver sword on it... and where did the wolf have them?”), and having too many can make the wards seem tired/boring quickly. Plus, rewards don’t always have to be the standards: true, the noble who hired the party could always pay them in weapons and gold. The noble could also pull the rogue aside during the festivities, handing them some contact information and saying “I’ll be in need of some of your more criminal expertise soon.” Or the noble could have access to a large library and/or laboratory, and watch the magic users run in like kids in a candy store. This is another point where knowing your players’ characters can help: shaping the rewards to fit the characters’ interests can really put in that personal touch.

..... That’s all I can think of at the moment. Sadly, I have... basically no experience in any tabletop game, although I’ve recently been trying to find a group. This is all my advice for recurring D.M. problems I’ve heard of through YouTube videos, podcasts, and hearing friends’ stories in various games.

Happy gaming, Cyber-Dyke!

-Mod Bean

[probablyrpgmechanicsideas]

Idea: Class-Based Societies

Hi, everyone! I’ve been absent from PRMI for a long while thanks to busy college reasons.

But, thanks to COVID-19, my Spring Break has essentially doubled and all my classes are going to be over virtual, Skype-like applications for the rest of the semester. Needless to say, I’m going to be having a lot of free time on my hands and easy access to my own computer for a while.

The last week or so, I was thinking about how a lot of tabletop games usually have societies based on species/race: i.e. a human kingdom, a dwarf kingdom, a half-dragon kingdom, etc. But with all the community talks around COVID-19, I was thinking how societies are usually built more around shared ideals than geneologies (especially in a world where skin-tones would matter relatively little compared to entire species differences).

And then, I thought to myself, “it wouldn’t really be races that determine societal belonging but classes.”

This has probably been done already, but I’m going to make a few posts about this.

Society for Knights, Samurai, Noble backgrounds, etc.:

Largely reminiscent of our world’s feudal societies. One overarching ruler controls a large supply of some desirable good (land, gold, food, etc.), with “classes” and relationships of superiority and servitude built into “who’s supplying whom.”

The members of the lowest class will, contrary to our world, likely have a fairly decent living with or without their production of the desirable good being necessary. With many tales of adventurers besting the most unlikely odds on sheer luck (a la natural 20s), the higher-ups would know better than to cut corners with even the most peasant NPC.

The “nobles” of these societies will likely want to discern their higher-class kin from the crowd (for whatever reasons), so expect some sort of communication learning curve: the lowest classes speak common or a similarly popular and simple language, while the higher classes can be signified by more complicated syntactical rules, added gestures, etc.

Failure to adapt to these rules properly will have you sticking out like a sore thumb, and cause consequences ranging from making the party awkward to being named an impersonator and marked for death.

The lowest classes might create the desirable good, or maybe their societal superiors just want them to housekeep/garden/maintain the city for them, while the higher classes control and oversee transactions of said desirable good. As such, there would be room for artisanal members of the community like blacksmiths, potters, seamstresses, etc. But chances are these beings will only be interested in the desirable good unless some other event distracts them (such as, no one’s going to really care how much land you have if there’s news of a nearby dragon who can reduce it all to kindling). Thus, any artisanal member who wants to stay in business will need to find a craft relevant to the desirable good: if the good is some food, potters will sculpt containers specifically for it and blacksmiths will forge tools to eat it with; if the good is a kind of enchanting magical force, blacksmiths will be swift to create applicable weapons and armor while seamstresses will hurry for clothing that can store (and possibly show off) the force’s colorful mana.

As I said, I’ll try for more posts with other class-centric societies. This is just all I’ve gotten in the three days I’ve been free of school so far.

So please send us some asks here, whether you’re requesting specific class societies or you want something completely new. I’m going to have way too much free time on my hands during this quarantine episode.

Happy gaming as always, sweethearts, and it is GREAT to be back!

-Mod Bean

[prokopetz]

Concept: a D&D campaign that borrows the format of a Pokémon journey: the party is a bunch of goofy teenagers going on a road trip to brave the strongholds of legendary exemplars of the twelve core-book character classes and win tokens of their esteem. Each stronghold would be themed around the character class of its master: e.g., the Wizard would have a puzzle-filled dungeon under their tower; the Fighter would require the party to participate in a four-on-four tournament against other adventuring parties for the right to face them in battle; the Rogue would refuse them out of hand, but leave the badge in a conspicuous-but-secure location as an unspoken challenge to steal the dumb thing if they want it so badly; and so forth.

[prokopetz]

(This post is absolutely an invitation to come up with your own stronghold formats, whether they’re for classes that haven’t been done yet, or alternative suggestions for ones that have. For reference, the twelve core-book classes are Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard.)

[prokopetz]

Reskinning Dungeons & Dragons to do The Legend of Zelda gets a lot easier when you realise that, from a game-mechanical perspective, Hylians aren’t the setting’s equivalent of humans: they’re the equivalent of halflings.

Not only do they have the same “Generic Folksy Pastoralists” culture, literally everything is bigger than them, including most other ostensibly human groups.

You just have to recalibrate your mental scale such that people the size of regular humans are Small, and all those eight-foot-plus zoras/gorons/gerudo/etc. are Medium, and everything falls into place without having to piss around with a bunch of awkward Large-but-not-really rules hacks to represent three quarters of your playable species.

[otherwindow]

Visually impaired tabletop merch!

[probablyjustfairyrpgideas]

SIGNAL BOOST

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

[Image transcription: A tweet made by @DotsRPG that reads, “Help us spread the word about @DotsRPG! We are bringing #braille rulebooks, #rpgdice, and various gaming aids to the #blind and #visuallyimpaired. Head to our site, shapeways shop (bit.ly/2ugzieM) or thingiverse (bit.ly/2GfwEaH) to get your own braille #dice!”]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Howto: roleplay a suit of armor filled with bees

Snickelsox’s guide to playing animated armor that is full of bees is full of surprisingly well-thought-through advice for anyone who should be tempted to role-play such a thing, despite their protestations that “this is dumb.”

https://boingboing.net/2020/01/24/snickelsox.html

[valtsv]

dnd character idea: a recently divorced or widowed older woman looking for a new hobby and a group of people to share it with who rejects book club or yoga in favor of an epic quest, her reasoning being that SOMEONE has to look after these reckless adventurers and make sure they have sufficient equipment and are eating proper meals

[valtsv]

she's armed with a sword she forged herself after taking up smithing classes as a fun, therapeutic craft hobby

[marithlizard]

I’d play her!

[brewerssupplies]

Kovaud Homebrew Masterpost

Been a bit since I’ve made one! Can’t find the original one so here! I’ll also be sorting by year!

2018

Monk - Way of the Wolverine

Warlock - The Symbiote

Barbarian - Path of the Draconic Fury

Monsters - Graboids, Shriekers, and Blasters

Fighter - Ember Knight

Subraces - Soda Genasi

Magic Items - Tempest

Paladin - Oath of the Flame

Race - Yuan-Ti Rework

Magic Items - Compendium of Arcane War Machines

Druid - Circle of the Goodberry

Setting - Kovaud Preview

Druid - Circle of Gravity

Warlock - The Vampire Lord

Magic Items - Earth’s Fury

Paladin - Oath of the Prism

Misc - The Digital Plane

Class - Dragonmarked

Fighter - Neon Samurai

Feat - Tavern Champion

Warlock - The Advertiser

Druid - Circle of Winter

Warlock - The Weapon of Power

Rogue - The Financier

Race - Tarsque

Race - Sandfolk and Krustashen

2019

Barbarian - Path of the Symbiote

Fighter - Hunter

Race - Nephilim

Warlock - The Monastic Spirit

Monsters - The Great Dragon Bestiary Rekindled

Cleric - Goodberry Domain

Warlock - The Cosmic Gems

Bard - College of the Hunting Horn

Subraces - Voidforged and Cometforged

Bard - College of Advertising

Compendium - Praise Be The Goodberry! Compendium

Druid - Circle of the Plague

Warlock - The Shattered Realm

Wizard - Study of the Shattered Realm

Fighter - Fisherman

Fighter - Lord of Thunder

Race - Scarabeon

Warlock - The Pactbreaker

Sorcerer - Atlantean Royalty

Race - Cyclopean

Monster - Adamantine Dragon

Compendium - Guide to Mythic Greece

Magic Items - Crown of the Forge Lord

Compendium - Kovaud’s Soda Parlor

Magic Items - Hellborn Gauntlet

Warlock - The Purple Worm

Ranger - Ashen Archer

Pugilist - Fist of Thunder

Prestige Class - Planeswalker

Warlock Pact Option - Pact of the Gem

Mechanic - The Stars Above

Druid - Circle of Agriculture

Monk - Way of the Fist

Compendium - Kovaud’s Compendium of Earth and Fire

Warlock - The Eldritch Might

One Page RPG - Tricks and Treats

Race - Gargoyle

Warlock Pact Option - Pact of the Staff

2020

Barbarian - Path of the Raging Fist

Barbarian - Path of the Blade

Hero Profile - Eida “Grandstand” Okyle

Setting - The Star Wilds

I honestly didn’t realize the sheer amount of content I’ve put out. Well here’s to another year!

[lichen-soup-scribe]

Hey, D&D players!

A Facebook acquaintance of mine is working on her PhD, which involves studying the experiences of people – and particularly women – who play Dungeons and Dragons. (Yeah, she’s living the dream.) As part of her research, she’s passing around three surveys.

1. Main survey (open to all D&D players; takes about 10 minutes tops)

2. This survey asks people about their characters - very quick

3. Finally, this survey is aimed at non D&D players.

Please pass these around – let’s help this fellow nerd get a robust dataset!  (2/11/20)

@randomitemdrop​, @prokopetz​, @dungeonqueering​, @battlecrazed-axe-mage​, @yourplayersaidwhat​, would you mind signal-boosting?

[dungeonqueering]

In response to the racist fuckbags being racist fuckbags on my post about non-white elves, I want to promote a DnD 5e world setting I came across on Twitter called the Wagadu Chronicles.

You can find them here:

https://twitter.com/WagaduChronicle?s=09

They are self described as "An Afrofantasy World |

5e Pen&Paper Adventures & an upcoming online game"

Honestly it looks rad as hell, and you should all check it out.