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Pregenerated Characters Ready for Quick 5e D&D (2024)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Pregenerated character sheets are a fantastic tool to run quick and smooth games of 5th Edition D&D 2024. No long character creation, no rulebook flipping, no analysis paralysis over whether a halfling monk is viable. The following pregenerated characters do exactly that: quick starts, smooth onboarding, and immediate playing.

Download the Character Sheets here!

Principles of the Pregenerated Characters

Each character sheet follows these three principles:

Easy to use. Everything is ready on a single, pre-filled character sheet.
Beginner-friendly. Ideal for new players or one-shots.
Playable from levels 1–5. The same sheet grows with the character—just unlock the features marked with each level.

There’s one sheet per class, covering all twelve core classes in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, each using a subclass from the Free Rules. Ability bonuses, skills, and class features are already calculated or clearly marked. The only missing piece is the character’s story—that’s for the player to fill in.

How to Use These Sheets

Players pick a sheet, write down a name, and come up with a thematic background—just a word or short phrase like village guard, failed scholar, or wandering cook. The mechanical bonuses tied to backgrounds are already on the sheet; this is pure storytelling flavor.

As the game progresses, players simply use every feature labeled for their current level or below (for example, [Level 3] features become available once they hit level 3).
Skill proficiencies are marked, but their modifiers are left blank—this way players learn to add their ability modifier and proficiency bonus themselves.

Spell Descriptions are in a separate file for each spellcasting character class.

The Characters

You will find a sheet for each of the twelve core classes, using a straightforward subclass included in the free rules:

Each one is balanced, self-contained, and tuned for classic fantasy play—no odd combinations or optional rules needed. Perfect for one-shots, conventions, or introducing new players to the 2024 edition.

Closing Thoughts

Pregenerated characters can do more than fill seats at a one-shot—they teach the rhythm of play, the feel of leveling up, and how class features fit together. We can still encourage creativity while sparing new players the overwhelm of their first character build.

Try these sheets in your next one-shot or for new players, ready to grow these characters into heroes of their own stories.

Epic Mind Flayer Boss Battle: Design and Tactics

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Few monsters strike fear in players the way a mind flayer does. Iconic, otherworldly, and familiar to many players after Baldur’s Gate 3, an illithid makes the perfect boss to close out the Trebaz Sinara arc. By level 5, the crew has earned the right to face a true nightmare. Here’s how to run a mind flayer as a dynamic, terrifying, and unforgettable boss fight.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

The Mind Flayer

The mind flayer sits at CR 7, making it a tough but fair challenge for a level 5 party. Its telepathy, spellcasting, and brain-devouring tentacles are iconic, and its Mind Blast attack remains one of the scariest single abilities in the Monster Manual at this level.

But as written, mind flayers can sometimes underperform as solo bosses. To make this one memorable, we give it a few tweaks and extra tricks.

Making the Mind Flayer a Boss Monster

To keep the mind flayer on the battlefield long enough to be a real threat, consider making the following tweaks:

Shared Pain (Custom Trait). Whenever the mind flayer takes damage, it only suffers half, with the other half transferred to a designated thrall (see below) within 60 feet. This forces the party to make a tactical choice: focus the thralls first, or keep chipping away at the mind flayer’s defenses.
Winged Boots. With extra flying speed of the boots, the illithid dominates the vertical battlefield, swooping in and out with impunity.
Warped Displacement (Custom Bonus Action). With a touch, the mind flayer can force a target to make a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw, or be teleported up to 30 feet away. Perfect for splitting up the crew or tossing someone into the acid lake.
Extra Durability. Against optimized parties, double the mind flayer’s hit points to ensure the fight doesn’t end too quickly.

These changes turn the encounter into a puzzle: the crew must manage minions, endure psychic assaults, and adapt to a battlefield stacked against them.

Mind Flayer Minions

No mind flayer fights alone. Its cult brings both humanoid and monstrous thralls into the volcanic chamber:

Shared Pain. Pick a monster with high hit points, like a Berserker to be psionically bound to the mind flayer for the Shared Pain ability (see above).
Humanoids. A few Cult Fanatics and Berserkers fight with zeal and buy their master time.
Monstrous Thralls. Grimlocks and Quaggoths in large numbers add brute force to the melee.
Shocking Twist. When minions fall, a few Intellect Devourers can erupt from their skulls, forcing the crew to switch tactics mid-fight.

Environmental Features

The fight takes place in a volcanic chamber deep inside Little Brother. But instead of lava, the volcano’s heart churns with corrosive acid, corrupted by daelkyr influence.

Platforms. The battlefield consists of multiple stone platforms, jagged bridges, and crumbling ledges over the acid lake.
Verticality. The mind flayer’s flight makes it king of the chamber, swooping down to strike and soaring away to reposition.
Hazard. Falling into the acid inflicts heavy damage, adding constant danger to movement and displacement effects.

The arena reinforces the mind flayer’s alien superiority while testing the crew’s creativity.

Tactics: Running the Battle

To maximize tension, play the mind flayer ruthlessly and intelligently:

Round 1: Shock and Awe. Open with Mind Blast. A 60-foot cone can incapacitate multiple characters at once, forcing the crew into emergency mode immediately.
Round 2: Dominate. Use Dominate Monster on a low-Wisdom character like a barbarian or fighter. Turning a party member against the others raises the stakes intensely.
Round 3: Brain Feast. Target a vulnerable PC with Tentacle attacks, grappling them, and flying up over the acid lake. This threatens to devour their brain, killing the character, or at the least, to drop them into the acid below. Either way, this creates instant urgency.
General Tactics. Keep moving. Remember that it’s often worth taking an opportunity attack if it means escaping melee range and forcing the crew to scramble. The illithid should feel slippery, predatory, and always one step ahead.

Closing Thoughts

The mind flayer is more than just a monster—it’s the campaign’s first true villain. With the right mechanics, minions, and battlefield design, this fight can leave your players shaken and exhilarated, cementing Trebaz Sinara as a turning point in their story.

The mind flayer fight marks the climax of our Trebaz Sinara arc, and with it, the close of this article series. From here, the outline we sketched—dives into Khyber, unfolding daelkyr mysteries, plane-hopping chases—becomes yours to shape. Every crew, every table, will chart a different course through this campaign. Take what we’ve outlined here, adapt it to the characters in your campaign, and let your own version of the Lhazaar Principalities come to live!

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

Eberron’s Treasure Island: Survival Adventuring on Trebaz Sinara

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

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Every great seafaring story needs a legendary island, and in Eberron, that island is Trebaz Sinara. Said to have been the home of pirate queen Lhazaar herself, the island has been lost to the seas for more than five centuries. Sailors dedicate their lives to finding it, lured by tales of buried treasures, cursed tombs, and dragon legends.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

In our campaign, the crew learns that their missing changeling captain, Pax, has been taken to this island by a Cult of the Dragon Below. Armed with a centuries-old map, the crew must cross perilous seas and survive whatever protections Lhazaar left behind. What they find is a jungle-shrouded land of volcanic earth, buried wealth, and long-forgotten secrets.

Location Overview

The Island. Trebaz Sinara rises from the sea in sharp cliffs and spiked reefs. Only the southern side offers safe passage, at a port once used by Lhazaar herself.
Twin Volcanoes. Known as Old Brother and Little Brother, the volcanoes dominate the island. Legends say two red dragon brothers forged the island and guided its dragonborn tribes—until jealousy and demonic betrayal destroyed them both.
Extinct Dragonborn Tribe. The Urum once called Trebaz Sinara home. They built a grand mausoleum around a colossal Eberron Shard, which they believed was a fragment of the world itself.
Pirate Queen’s Treasures. Queen Lhazaar’s riches, relics, and curses are scattered across the island, waiting to be claimed—or stolen.

Point Crawl Exploration

Once the crew lands, travel across Trebaz Sinara is run as a point crawl. The island’s jungles are thick and dangerous, and crossing from Port Lhazaar in the south to the Little Brother volcano in the north takes multiple days.

Locations. The map below contains evocative titles for locations on the island. Let these inspire your own descriptions and encounters for each.
Paths. The party chooses their route, deciding which landmarks to explore and which dangers to avoid.
Encounters. Travel brings both set-piece encounters at key locations and random dangers in the wilderness.
Rival Crew. The party may discover that their rivals from Regalport have tracked them here—either hunting treasure or secretly working for the cult.

This structure makes exploration feel dangerous and open-ended while keeping the campaign moving toward the volcanic climax.

A simple point crawl map for Trebaz Sinara

Secrets of Trebaz Sinara

As the crew pushes through the jungles, they uncover the deeper history of the island:

The Brothers’ Folly. Little Brother betrayed Old Brother by summoning demons from Khyber. The demons killed both dragons and poisoned the northern island.
Demon-Haunted North. The northern lands around Little Brother volcano are scarred, cursed, and crawling with remnants of Khyber’s servants.
The Urum Legacy. The dragonborn tribe believed themselves children of Eberron. Their tombs and lingering spirits can reveal about the island.
The Boon of Eberron. To survive the multi-day trek, the crew must gain a blessing at a mausoleum built by the Urum. Without it, they cannot rest safely on the island.
The Primordial Guardian. A massive beast—ancient, hungry, and twisted by the demonic corruption—prowls near the mausoleum, eager to devour intruders.

Jungle Monsters

The island teems with dangers both natural and unnatural. Options for encounters include:

Basilisks, Ankhegs, Giant Boars, Giant Apes, and Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Ettercaps and their spider swarms, Phase Spiders, and Shambling Mounds lurking in the undergrowth.
Awakened Trees, Trolls, Flameskulls, and Banshees guarding forgotten ruins.
Giant Toads and other hungry predators in swamps and rivers.

Every step is a chance for ambush, and every treasure chest might just be bait.

Closing Thoughts

Trebaz Sinara is more than a legendary treasure island—it’s a crucible where the crew must prove their worth against ancient secrets, cursed jungles, and rivals hungry for the same glory. Each path across the island uncovers a piece of its forgotten story, drawing the crew closer to the truth of their missing captain and the cult that holds him.

In the next article, we’ll dive into the climax of this arc: the ritual within the heart of Little Brother volcano, where a mind flayer cult leader wields Pax’s aberrant dragonmark in a bid to corrupt all of Eberron.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

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Regalport Job Board: Earning Renown in the Lhazaar Principalities

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

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The Lhazaar Principalities campaign begins small: a crew with no name, no flag, and no reputation. Tier 1 of the campaign is all about building that reputation, forging alliances, and learning who can be trusted in Regalport. The structure that holds this early arc together is a job board adventuring model, a flexible engine that keeps the campaign lively, episodic, and full of faction politics.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

The Party’s Goal

At this stage, the crew isn’t saving the world—they’re trying to survive and stand out. Their goals are:

Build a reputation in the aftermath of the Last War.
Form alliances with Regalport’s factions.
Outperform rival crews at every turn.

Everything else—the missing captain, Dyrrn’s corruption, the cosmic horror—lurks in the background, waiting for the players to notice.

The Job Board Process

The job board sits in the Gilded Hook Tavern, a lively hub where crews gather to drink, boast, and find work. Every job has a faction sponsor—a patron whose favor can be gained or lost depending on how the party handles things.

We use a 3–2–1 job model:

Session Zero: Offer 3 jobs. The crew chooses one.
After Job 1: At the end of the session, two jobs remain. The party picks one of them.
After Job 2: The final job disappears (claimed by their rivals), and 3 new jobs appear.
Progression: Completing two jobs = a level-up.

This cycle makes the campaign modular: it’s easy to slot in custom jobs, shift factions, or foreshadow bigger arcs.

Check out our generator for nautical quests here: Nautical Quest Generator – Craft Awesome Adventures at Sea.

Tracking Factions

Factions give weight to the job board system. Each job is tied to a patron, and success (or failure) changes the party’s standing with them. To keep it simple, track no more than three factions at a time, with relationships falling on a spectrum: allied, friendly, neutral, suspicious, hostile.

Completing a job improves standing with the faction who offered it, but might sour relations with their rivals. For example, completing a smuggling run for the Seadragon Principality will put the crew on bad terms with the Direshark Principality.

Here’s a list of possible factions for our Lhazaar Principalities Campaign:

Prince Rygar (Seadragon Principality)
Prince Kolberkon (Direshark Principality)
Gray Tide Changelings
House Kundarak (Dreadhold Prison)
House Thuranni (Mark of Shadow)
Wind Whisperer Principality (Mark of Storms Foundlings)
Iron Council (Mror Hold Clans)
Empire of Riedra (Psychic Ambassadors of Sarlona)
Elves of Aerenal (Court of the Undying)
Blood of Vol (Self-Improvement Religion)

Rival Interventions

Rival crews are essential. In Session Zero, we let the players build their own antagonists for extra dramatic tension. The rivals make the job board feel competitive instead of mechanical. Use them to keep tension alive:

Tavern Taunts. Every time the party returns to the Gilded Hook, have rivals mock them or try to snatch a contract first.
Job Theft. Sometimes the rivals try to swoop in mid-adventure—snatching the relic, intercepting the shipment, or claiming credit for the party’s work.
Recurring Antagonists. Rivals don’t need to be villains, but they’re constant competition. This makes victories sweeter and failures sting.

Foreshadowing

Job board adventuring is episodic by design—it should feel breezy, fun, and varied. But we can drop breadcrumbs toward the larger story, and towards adventure arcs yet to come:

A minor cult reveals ties to the greater Cult of the Dragon Below.
Carvings hint at an aberrant seed spreading corruption.
A job reveals clues toward the kidnapping of the crew’s changeling captain.

These clues don’t interrupt the episodic flow—they add depth, hinting that something bigger lurks beneath the surface of the Lhazaar Principalities.

Closing Thoughts

Job board adventuring gives the early campaign structure without railroading. It keeps sessions modular, balances roleplay with action, and ties the crew’s progress to their reputation. Most importantly, it gives us space to slowly seed the larger narrative while the party builds bonds, rivalries, and a name worth remembering.

Try this model in your own game. Drop a job board in a tavern, give every contract a faction sponsor, and watch your players compete for fame, fortune, and survival in Regalport’s cutthroat waters.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

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Adrift in Lhazaar: A Level 1-20 Epic Campaign Outline

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 10:00:00 GMT

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When we run a level 1–20 campaign, it’s easy to lose sight of the long arc. That’s when a clear outline from the start can help—something flexible enough to adapt to the table, but strong enough to hold the weight of twenty levels of play. Here’s the full arc of Lhazaar Principalities: Adrift, from job board quests in Regalport to a multi-planar showdown with Dyrrn the Corruptor.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

Elevator Pitch

A disbanded naval crew trying to find its place in post-war Eberron, chasing the mystery of their missing changeling captain. What begins as odd jobs in the Lhazaar Principalities becomes a desperate hunt across Khyber and the planes themselves to stop Dyrrn the Corruptor from seeding the world with an aberrant dragonmark plague.

Tier 1 (Levels 1–5): Job Board Adventuring in Regalport

We start small. The crew is based in Regalport, competing with rival crews, taking jobs, and building alliances. Every adventure is another chance to earn reputation, coin, and allies (or enemies).

But threaded through these early jobs are hints about the missing changeling captain. Whispers of a kidnapping. Rumors of a strange dragonmark. Evidence that someone—perhaps a cult—is pulling strings in the shadows.

The truth: the captain bears an ancient aberrant dragonmark tied to the daelkyr. A Cult of the Dragon Below has abducted them, and in hidden lairs, the cult experiments on the captain to awaken something far more dangerous.

Tier 2 (Levels 6–10): Finding the Missing Captain

Clues lead the crew to Trebaz Sinara, a cursed island unseen for five centuries. Here, the mystery deepens. The cult, secretly led by a mind flayer, serves Dyrrn the Corruptor.

In volcanic caverns, the ritual reaches its climax: the cult is awakening the captain’s mark, which is no mark at all but a seed—a living aberrant corruption planted generations ago in the captain’s bloodline. If unleashed, this seed would spread through Eberron itself, corrupting land, people, and magic under Dyrrn’s sway.

Stopping the ritual saves the captain, but the greater danger remains. The seed is real. And Dyrrn’s plans are still unfolding.

Tier 3 (Levels 11–16): Diving into Khyber

The crew now understands: the seed is just one piece of Dyrrn’s design. To truly stop it, they must dive into Khyber.

The search for the correct portal takes them across Eberron: through the Mror Holds, where the captain’s ancestor first received the dragonmark in a foul bargain with the daelkyr, and into the Shadow Marches, where the shrewd Gatekeepers control the portals to Khyber. The right portal into Khyber is hidden among these fractured places.

Once found, the crew confronts Dyrrn’s daelkyr lieutenants in their grotesque fortresses of Khyber—each twisted commander plotting to spread the seed further.

The climax: a battle against Dyrrn’s right hand, revealing that the Corruptor himself is already moving beyond Eberron. His true ambition is not one world, but all worlds.

Tier 4 (Levels 17–20): Hunting Dyrrn the Corruptor Across the Planes

The final tier takes the crew beyond seas and underworlds—into the planes themselves. Dyrrn is seeding the multiverse. The chase carries the party through dream-haunted Dal Quor, the living nightmare of Xoriat, the radiant fields of Syrania, and more.

Each plane offers both allies and enemies, as the corruption begins to seep into the fabric of reality itself.

The finale: a multi-planar battle against Dyrrn the Corruptor, fought on shifting ground where the stakes are nothing less than the survival of all existence.

Closing Thoughts

From job board adventures to a planar showdown, Adrift in Lhazaar escalates naturally. Each tier builds on the one before, while raising the stakes until the crew faces one of the greatest evils Eberron has to offer.

If you’re charting a course for a 1–20 campaign, take this as a skeleton. Flesh it out from session to session with your table’s choices, rivalries, and crew dynamics—and let your players decide what kind of legends they’ll become.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

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Session Zero for a Nautical Eberron Campaign

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

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Session Zero is where our Lhazaar Principalities campaign truly begins. Before the first adventure, we lay the foundation for tone, characters, and crew identity. In my experience, a strong Session Zero makes the difference between a campaign that drifts and one that runs smoothly. Here’s how we set sail in the Lhazaar Principalities.

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

The One-Page Guide

A few days before session zero, we send out a one-page campaign primer. Then, at the start of session zero, we read through it together. This keeps everyone on the same page—literally. Here’s the core of that handout which you can download at the end of this post.

Elevator Pitch. Four years after the Last War, the party is a disbanded naval crew, cast adrift among pirates, cults, and rival powers. Together, the characters will fight to survive, rebuild a reputation, and decide what kind of crew they’ll become.
Truths of Eberron. The Last War has only just ended. The Principalities are fractured under a shaky high prince. Dragonmarked dynasties control trade. Magic saturates daily life.
Starting Point. The campaign begins in Regalport, seat of High Prince Ryger, a place of intrigue and opportunity where crews compete for fame and fortune.
Character Building. Everyone begins at level 1 as part of a single sailing crew. Characters can be anything from a warforged naval carpenter to a half-orc smuggler tied to House Thuranni—but the shared goal is building a crew that thrives in the aftermath of war.
Safety Tools. We establish lines and veils. Anyone can pause the game if content makes them uncomfortable.
Inspirations. The campaign draws on Pirates of the Caribbean, Treasure Island, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Liveship Traders, Die Hard, and Blade Runner 2049.

This one-pager gives players an anchor: they know the world, the themes, and the expectations.

Building Characters at the Table

We use Sly Flourish’s quick character-building steps to make filling out character sheets smooth and enjoyable. Instead of everyone showing up with pre-written sheets we pick classes, and sketch backstories together. It’s a writer’s room experience in Session Zero!

To lean into theme, we provide a list of nautical or pirate-adjacent backgrounds. Sailors, smugglers, charlatans, mercenaries, ex-naval officers—backgrounds that tie into the sea, reputation, and survival. Here’s some suggestions:

Wind Whisperer Carpenter. You learned your craft from the Lyrandar foundlings of the Wind Whisperer Principality.
Thuranni Smuggler. You move goods, secrets, or people across borders—sometimes for House Thuranni, sometimes for yourself.
Sea-Kissed Mystic. You can access mystical powers because of an encounter with a powerful sea spirit.
Ghallanda Entertainer. You were raised on the stages of Regalport, licensed through House Ghallanda. Whether bard, blade-dancer, or masked dramatist, you know how to charm a crowd.
Blacktongue Cook. Trained in the secret spice routes of the Blacktongue Principality, you cook with dragonshard dust, sahuagin ink, or deadman’s salt.
Far-Traveled Navigator. You studied winds and waves on far-off shores—perhaps Sarlona or Aerenal. Oracles taught you to read the stars and tides.
Jorasco-trained Doctor. A healer trained by House Jorasco, licensed or not, tending to wounds and curses alike.
Morgrave Researcher. You studied at Morgrave University in Sharn. You’ve catalogued sahuagin tombs, charted Dhakaani ruins, and dove for relics from the Age of Demons.
Iron Council Quartermaster. Once a vaultkeeper for the Iron Council, you now track every ration, deal, and coin—and you never forget a debt.
Last War Privateer. You served aboard ships hired by Breland, Aundair, Karrnath—whoever paid best during the war. You’ve fought for every color but your own.

Creating a Rival Crew

No pirate story is complete without rivals. During Session Zero, we come up with a competing crew together. Each player rolls randomly for one rival crew member and ties them into their character’s backstory. This makes the rivals feel personal, and it gives us dramatic tension right away. Here’s a d20 list with suggestions:

Sly Carpenter
Seductive Cook
Brooding Navigator
Laughing Bosun
Drunken Surgeon
Pious Cannoneer
Cunning Quartermaster
Vengeful Lookout
Masked First Mate
Charming Powder Monkey
Cruel Harpooner
Arrogant Helmsman
Mourning Deckhand
Smirking Sailmaker
Stoic Rigger
Scheming Cook’s Mate
Whispering Shipwright
Hot-tempered Marine
Eerie Bellringer
Grinning Swashbuckler

These rivals don’t just flesh out the world; they set the stakes. If our crew fails, someone else might swoop in to take the prize.

Picking a Party Motivation

Finally, we define why our crew sails together. Gold and glory are fine, but a shared goal keeps us pulling in the same direction. Do we want to find out missing captain? Seize a principality of our own? Protect the seas from something darker rising in the depths?

Agreeing on a core motivation transforms the party from “adventurers on the same boat” into “a crew with a destiny.” Here’s some suggestions for party goals:

Driven by personal ties to their missing captain
Committed to protecting their homeland or allies
Haunted by a lingering curse from wartime
Obsessed with recovering legendary treasures
Burned by betrayal and yearning for revenge.
Eager to build a new home
Caught up in the line of succession
Bound to a sunken ship

Closing Thoughts

Session Zero is about more than making cool characters—it’s about creating a shared sense of direction. With a one-page guide, collaborative character creation, a rival crew, and a unifying motivation, we launch the campaign with sails full and purpose clear.

If you’re planning to run a Lhazaar campaign, try these steps at your own table. Set sail with your crew and see where the winds carry you.

Download the One-Page Player Guide here:

One-Page Player Guide to the Lhazaar Principalities_IllusoryScript v1.0 Download

This article is part of a series of posts about a Lhazaar Principalities D&D Campaign:

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Adrift in Lhazaar: A New Campaign Series

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 10:00:00 GMT

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The Lhazaar Principalities are one of the most overlooked corners of Eberron. Pirates, privateers, scheming princes, and ancient threats beneath the waves—this is a setting that begs for swashbuckling adventures. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be charting a course through a full campaign framework set in Lhazaar. Posts will cover everything from Session Zero to the final boss battle.

We’ll start with session zero prep—a one-page guide, character building at the table, and a rival crew to bring your players’ story alive right from the start. From there, we’ll map out a campaign outline that takes the characters from level 1-20, from Regalport’s job boards all the way to a climactic confrontation with Dyrrn the Corruptor across the planes.

The next three articles will dive into more details about running the first arc of the campaign:

Job board adventuring in Regalport, a flexible framework for building a party reputation and faction ties.
Trebaz Sinara, Eberron’s own Treasure Island, presented as a point crawl with locations, secrets, and encounters.
A Mind Flayer boss battle, with a customized stat block, thematic minions, and tactical advice to make your finale unforgettable.

If you’ve ever wanted to run a seafaring Eberron campaign—or just borrow ideas for factions, rival crews, or nautical encounters—this series will give you the tools to do it.

Hoist the sails, gather your crew, and get ready to set out for the Lhazaar Principalities!

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Magic Item Tracker for Your D&D Party

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Why should we track Magic Items?

Magic items are one of the easiest ways to make players feel powerful, invested, and excited about the game. But as DMs, we’re juggling so many details that it’s easy to lose track of who has what. That’s where a simple Magic Item Tracker comes in.

We’ve put together a lightweight tracker you can integrate into your campaign notes — whether you use Notion, Google Docs, or a physical folder. It helps you quickly check:

Who has a magic weapon or focus
Who’s due for something new
What kind of items each player wants

A few Assumptions this Tracker uses:

Every character should have a magic weapon or spellcasting focus by level 4 (end of Tier 1). Magic items are a core part of the game, and every player should have one early in their career.
Magic items should suit the character. Ask during Session Zero what kinds of items players imagine — not specific ones, but themes like “big swords” or “teleportation tricks.”
Characters should get better magic items as the campaign progresses. We can hand out better items or let items grow alongside the characters. A basic +1 dagger might become a shadow-stepping blade at level 8. Track those upgrades here too.
Magic armor and shields cap at +1. Higher bonuses break bounded accuracy and make combat tedious, and less fun for everyone.
Only track combat items. Non-combat potions, wondrous items, and utility tools are great rewards but don’t need rigid distribution.

Download the spreadsheet attached to this post and start keeping your loot distribution fair, fun, and stress-free.

2025-07-05_Illusory Script_Magic Item Tracker Download

Nautical Quest Generator - Craft Awesome Adventures at Sea

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

How to Use the Nautical Quest Generator

Illusory Script presents: the Nautical Quest Generator — a simple, no-nonsense tool designed to deliver sea-soaked adventure hooks. Whether we’re prepping tonight’s session or fleshing out a coastal town’s job board, this generator gives us fast, flavorful, adaptable quests.

Use It to Fill Out Job Boards

When our party drops anchor in any seaside settlement they’ll likely find a job board. Use the generator to quickly fill these boards with quests. In my experience, three quests are a good number for players to pick from.

Here’s a tip: Have players pick a quest at the end of a session (for example at the end of our Session Zero Adventure), so you have time to prepare the adventure in between sessions. I’ve used the exact technique in my Radiant Citadel Campaign.

That way, the job board becomes a great technique to inject agency and variety without heavy prep.

Adapt Results to Fit Your World

The prompts are intentionally broad. Swap out locations, NPC names, and monster types to align with your setting’s tone and lore. For example, use Eberron Factions as quest-givers in your Lhazaar Principalities campaign.

The goal isn’t to use the generator’s results verbatim — it’s a starting point for our imagination. Customize freely. Use these hooks to flesh out local factions, seed rumors, or tie into ongoing plots.

Starting Strong: The 45-Minute Session Zero Adventure

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Concluding Session Zero with an Adventure

Session Zero is where we lay the foundation for a great campaign. We build characters, tie them to the world and each other, and set expectations for the game ahead. But once the character sheets are filled out, there’s one more step that can set the tone and send everyone home excited: a short, punchy mini-adventure to end Session Zero on a high note.

Most of the time, we only have an hour or less left at the end of Session Zero. That’s just enough for a quick scene to introduce the party, showcase their new abilities in a fast-paced combat, and set up the first real session to come.

Three-Part Structure for Short Adventures

Here’s a three-part structure that works beautifully for a one-hour-or-less intro adventure:

Character Introductions
Imagine a movie opening: the camera pans across a tavern, a train car, or a forest glade, stopping at each character. Ask each player to describe their character’s look, vibe, and what they’re doing in this scene. It sets the tone and gives everyone a chance to embody their character right away.
Combat Encounter
Give them something to fight. This is where players get to use the cool abilities they just picked out. Make the encounter simple and fast-paced. One group of enemies, one clear objective, and one exciting twist is enough.
Adventure Hook for Next Session
Once the dust settles, drop a clue that points to the next adventure. This can be a mysterious map, a job board, or a three-path fork in the road. Letting players choose what comes next builds investment — and gives us DMs a clear prep target for Session One.

Examples and Templates for Intro Adventures

Here are a few examples to slot into your campaign, along with templates to reskin these adventures for your own campaign.

Zombies in the Tavern

Characters chat in a cozy tavern.
A few shady figures suddenly rise and attack — they’re zombies!
One carries a map to a necromancer’s lair.
Template: Tavern intro → surprise attackers → clue to villain

Lightning Rail Ambush

Characters dine in the Lightning Rail’s fancy carriage.
Warforged agents of the Lord of Blades storm in, shouting anti-flesh-creatures propaganda.
As the train pulls into Sharn, the party picks their next job from a board.
Template: Traveling intro → ambush → mission choice

Into the Feywild

Characters are briefed by an archdruid about a mission to hunt down traitors.
The Fey Crossing is corrupted by shadow monsters they must defeat.
In the Feywild, they find three paths to begin their hunt.
Template: Mission briefing → combat challenge → choice of paths

We can reskin these templates to fit nearly any setting or theme. The key is to keep things tight, cinematic, and tailored to the campaign’s themes and setting.

Ending Session Zero with a Bang

To wrap up Session Zero with a bang, give players a taste of action and agency. Introduce their characters, run a snappy fight, and point them toward the next adventure. It’s a small investment of time that pays off in momentum and excitement. Try it out in your next campaign launch — and leave your players wanting more.

The Devil You All Know: Collaborative RPG Villain Creation

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 31 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Build the Villain Together

We GMs often arrive at session zero of our RPG with a clear idea of who the villain is. Maybe we even have their stat block ready to go, name and all. But what if we didn’t? What if, instead, we built our main RPG villains with the players, using their character creation process to flesh out the very person (or people) they’ll be hunting for the next dozen or more sessions?

In my recent D&D campaign Vengeance of the Fey, that’s exactly what I tried. The hook was simple: a tribe of elves has been betrayed by three of their own, who fled into the Feywild. The players took on the role of those who volunteered to pursue them and bring them to justice.

Instead of presenting the traitors as prewritten NPCs, I used character creation in session zero to build the D&D villains together with the players.

Step 1: Bring the Premise, Not the Villains

Show up to session zero with your campaign hook, but leave the details of the RPG villain open. You don’t need names, motivations, or stats. Just the broad strokes. In my case: three traitors escaped into the Feywild. That’s enough.

Step 2: Tie Player Characters to the Villains

When players build their characters, offer them options that connect their backstories to the villain(s). In Vengeance of the Fey, I gave players a list to randomly roll on (or choose from). Each option tied them directly to one of the traitors:

Sibling
Uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew
Cousins
Acolyte of
Friendly rival
Childhood friends
Student/teacher
Murdered a loved one
Stole something valuable
Received a divine vision
Was saved by them
Escaped together
Both haunted by the same nightmare
Ran away together
Secret admirer
Ex-lovers
Co-workers
Was enchanted by them
Escaped a debt
Was humiliated by them

Step 3: Flesh Out the Traitors Together

Once a player chooses or rolls a connection, ask them: What were they like? If they were childhood friends, what kind of mischief did they get up to? As co-workers, what job did they do together? If the traitor murdered someone dear to them, who was it, and how did it happen?

One of my players decided their traitor-sibling murdered their parents during the betrayal. That single detail shaped the whole arc: it meant the villains were targeting tribal elders. Suddenly I had a motive. The elders knew something. Something the traitors wanted to silence.

By the end of session zero, we had three villains, each one deeply intertwined with the characters. Their motivations grew organically from the stories the players invented. The betrayals felt personal.

Step 4: Detail the Villains

Finally, we take the ideas we generated together with the players in our D&D session zero, and detail the villains’ motivations, personalities, and backstories. In Vengeance of the Fey, I did not know more than the general campaign premise before session zero. Afterwards, I was able to sketch out the rest of the campaign from the material generated during session zero.

Summary: Building Villains Together With the Players

Come to session zero with a strong campaign premise, not detailed villains.
Prompt players to connect their characters to the villain using a list of relationship prompts.
Build the details of the villains collaboratively during session zero.
Derive the villains’ motivations from those personal connections.

Try This at Your Table

Yes, it can be scary to let go of control and not know who your main villains are going to be. But if we embrace uncertainty in our games, the blank spaces in session zero are fertile ground. Let your players help you fill them. When we build our RPG villain together with the players, we build better stories—ones that feel dramatic, urgent, and personal.

Roleplaying in D&D Combat

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 24 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Balancing Roleplaying in Combat

Combat can be one of the most memorable parts of a session—but not just because of the dice rolls or tactical maneuvers. Some of our favorite combat scenes come alive because of the roleplaying woven into them. But how do we strike that balance? How do we include character moments without bogging down the fight?

In my experience, combat is better when turns go faster. Less waiting means more engagement—and better pacing keeps the table on edge. So the goal isn’t to turn every fight into a social interaction scene. The goal is to let roleplaying enhance the tension of combat, not stretch it thin.

Here are a few practical ways we DMs can bring roleplaying into combat without slowing the flow.

Let Players Have the Last Word

One of the cleanest ways to add roleplay to a turn is at the very end of it. After the player rolls, moves, casts, or slashes, give them a beat to describe what it looks like. A simple prompt can go a long way:

“Describe what that critical hit looks like!”
“What do we see as you cast that spell?”
“What’s the last thing you shout before vanishing into mist?”

The trick is, we don’t add extra narration after that. We just move right to the next initiative slot. The player gets the final word on their moment, and everyone stays in the rhythm of combat.

Ask for the Killing Blow Description

Whenever an enemy goes down, give the player the moment, by asking, “How do you want to do this?” or “Describe your killing blow!”

This doesn’t take more than a sentence or two—and often players already have the scene in their head. They’ve been waiting for this moment. Let them deliver it. And again: keep the pace brisk. As soon as the moment lands, we move on.

Use the Enemy’s Turn for Roleplay To

Villains have voices too. And they don’t have to wait until monologue time. Use enemy turns to inject personality:

“Is that all you’ve got!?”
“You’ll have to do better than that, elf!”
“My grandmother fought harder, and she’s a skull now!”

A quick taunt or threat is enough to raise the stakes. It also makes the baddies feel more alive—and gives players more reason to hate them. These moments can be scripted, improvised, or pulled from a short list of lines you jot down during prep.

Add a “Dialog” Slot in Initiative

This idea comes from Justin Alexander and it works surprisingly well: include a “Dialog” entry at Initiative 0. That’s right—every round, we pause just briefly to let a little bit of roleplay emerge.

Maybe it’s the villain making a threat. Maybe it’s a PC yelling to a downed friend. Maybe it’s just a desperate “Hold the line!” or “We have to finish this, now!”

This moment doesn’t have to be long—think of it as a single camera cut in a movie battle. It lets characters be characters without breaking the action.

Roleplay Should Fuel the Fight

We don’t need long speeches or intense conversations to get great roleplaying moments in combat. A quick description here, a shouted line there—these beats amplify the energy. When we keep them short and punchy, they give players something to care about in the middle of the swing-and-hit mechanics.

Try out these techniques next time initiative hits the table. Add one or two to your next combat and see what clicks. You’ll find that even the fastest battles can become dramatic scenes.

Creating NPCs Based On PCs

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 17 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

One of the core principles we can return to again and again as DMs is this: Build the world around the player characters. In today’s article, let’s apply that principle to one of the most important elements of our games: Creating NPCs (non-player characters) based on the PCs (player characters).

Why Build Around the PCs?

When we build the world around our player characters, we give players something to latch on to in their roleplaying. Something that says: this story is about you. That can apply to locations, quests, factions—but it’s especially useful with NPCs.

Think of it like this: player characters are the protagonists of the story. Any NPC of the story is really only a side character who is there to accentuate the main characters—the PCs. In Mike Shea’s The Lazy Dungeon Master, the very first step is to review the characters for that exact reason. By keeping the characters in the front of our minds, we craft a story with them at the center.

Distorted Mirrors

One of the best techniques for building an NPC around a PC is this: create a distorted mirror of a player character. We can take some defining aspect of the player character and twist it for the NPC.

The NPC can match any of the player character’s aspects, like:

Species
Class
Background
Subclass
Faith or belief system
Hometown or homeland
…

Then, we reflect that aspect differently—even opposingly—in the NPC. Here are some ways to flip the mirror in the NPC we create:

A fellow cleric of the same god who believes their deity has forsaken them.
A fellow gnome who believes their kind are inferior, and aspires to become a “greater” species.
A fellow rogue who sees parties with mixed classes as a weakness—each class should stick to their own guild.
A fellow bard who hates the hometown they share with the PC and spreads nasty rumors about it.
A rival who married the PC’s old flame after the PC left on their adventuring life.
A successful merchant who got rich in the business the PC walked away from.
A fellow ranger from the same region, same subclass even—but who uses their skills in the service of an empire the PC despises.
A fellow fighter who turned to worship a god, and thinks warriors without a divine purpose are a disgrace.

When the player character meets their “distorted mirror” in an NPC, there’s a built-in roleplaying hook. The player has a natural reason to respond to the NPC in a dramatic way.

Final Thought: Building Everything Around the PCs

This principle—build the world around the PCs—doesn’t stop at NPCs. We can use it for:

Adventure hooks that tie into backstories
Locations with ties to their heritage
Custom magic items that echo their personal goals
Monsters that challenge their ideals, not just their hit points

So next time you’re prepping the game, look at your party and ask: How can I make an NPC be a (distorted) reflection of a player character?

The After-Credit Scene in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 10 May 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The Only Worthwhile Cutscene

Cutscenes are for video games. In D&D, they almost always get in the way. With one exception: the after-credit scene.

When we narrate a scene in which the characters are not present, we’re putting story over play. We’re turning our players into an audience instead of participants. If players can’t act in or respond to a scene, we’re better off just narrating the outcome briefly (e.g. “you travel safely for three days and reach the city”).

Except, there is one kind of cutscene that does belong in our games: the after-credit scene.

Borrowed from cinema (and made famous by the Marvel Cinematic Universe), the after-credit scene is a short, often ominous or mysterious moment that hints at things to come. The heroes don’t witness it. It’s not there to give them information. It’s there to raise the stakes for the players.

What Makes an After-Credit Scene Work?

An after-credit scene creates an imbalance of knowledge. The players know something their characters do not. That disconnect is part of the fun. The table gets to gasp or groan together, knowing what doom might be looming. And it gives us DMs a powerful tool to build suspense and shape long-term campaign arcs.

But timing and tone are everything. These scenes work best when they are brief, punchy, and dramatic. No exposition dump, no ten-minute villain monologue. Just a glimpse behind the curtain.

Great Moments for an After-Credit Scene

Here are a few examples of after-credit scenes:

As the characters cross the threshold into Barovia, we cut to Strahd watching from his balcony, glass of wine in hand.
Princess Serissa of the storm giants uses her underwater scrying chamber to scry on the adventurers’ progress.
A dragon stirs in its hoard, eyes opening to the scent of intruders.
Deep in the caverns, a writhing, slumbering mass pulses with alien hunger.
Nazznar the Black Spider examines a map of Wave Echo Cave. He mutters, “They’re getting close.”
A rival faction sets out, unknowingly on a collision course with the characters.

Each of these scenes is less than a minute of narration. No character actions, no dice rolls, just a slice of drama to let players know: the world is moving, with or without them.

When Not to Use One

If you want the players to act on the information, then it’s not an after-credit scene. It’s useful information. And useful information belongs in the hands of the characters. Let them overhear a conversation. Let them find the journal page. Make it playable.

And don’t overuse them. If we throw an after-credit scene in after every session, it won’t add to the drama after a while. Keep it rare. Use it when the stakes change, or when a new act in the campaign begins.

Create Drama with After-Credit Scenes

Used sparingly, the after-credit scene is a powerful storytelling device that keeps players leaning forward in their chairs. It’s not a moment for the characters. It’s a moment for the table. A little cinematic indulgence that lets the players know: something bigger is coming.

D&D 2024 Player's Handbook Changes

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The D&D 2024 revision of the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook brings a host of small mechanical changes to the game. If you’re a Dungeon Master already familiar with the 2014 ruleset, here’s a focused guide to what has changed—and how it might impact the way we run our tables.

Rather than being a full overhaul, the D&D 2024 rules changes attempt to rework, clarify, and codify many elements that were previously handled by intuition or scattered rulings. Below you’ll find the most important changes to conditions, actions, character options, and spellcasting.

Mechanical Changes

Exhaustion (p. 366)

Still goes from level 1 to 6 (you die at 6 levels). Each level of exhaustion causes a cumulative -2 penalty to D20 Tests, and -5 ft. of movement.

Grappled (Condition) (p. 367)

Grappled creatures now have disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone except their grappler. Movement is no longer halved—instead, moving a grappled target costs double movement (like difficult terrain).

Heroic Inspiration (p. 368)

Replaces standard Inspiration. Now used after any roll to reroll any one die (not just d20s). You must take the new result. Inspiration gained when you already have one can be gifted to another player.

Hide (Action) (p. 368)

Taking the Hide action now uses a base DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check. You must be Heavily Obscured or behind at least three-quarters cover to attempt it. Success grants the Invisible condition until revealed.

Invisible (Condition) (p. 370)

Initiative advantage if you’re unseen when combat starts. Successful hiding grants Invisible condition. Spells like See Invisibility still negate benefits.

Long Rest (p. 370-371)

Takes 8 hours.
Must sleep for at least 6 hours.
Must start with at least 1 HP.
Recovers all Hit Dice (was half).
Interruptions don’t invalidate the rest, but each requires an additional hour of rest.
Can only Long Rest again after 16 hours (once every 24 hours).

Surprised (p. 376)

Surprised creatures now only have disadvantage on initiative rolls. They no longer lose their first turn or reactions.

Unarmed Strike (p. 377)

Choose to:
- Attack and deal damage
- Grapple (target makes Strength or Dexterity save)
- Shove (target makes Strength or Dexterity save)
One hand = one grapple

“One Spell Slot per Turn” (p. 236)

You can cast only one leveled spell per turn using a spell slot. You can still cast a cantrip and a leveled spell, or cast a spell as a reaction on another turn.

Two-Weapon Fighting & Light Weapons (p. 213-214)

Light weapons let you make a Bonus Action attack with a Light weapon (even if it’s not melee, e.g., hand crossbows, thrown daggers).

New Action Options

The following Action options formalize certain Ability Checks, making it clear that these take an Action, especially in combat.

Influence (p. 369)

A social interaction Action. The DM categorizes NPCs as Willing, Unwilling, or Hesitant. If Hesitant, a Charisma check is made using a relevant skill. On failure, you can’t repeat the request for 24 hours.

Magic (p. 371)

A new keyword for Actions that involve spellcasting or magical effects. Helps define interactions with antimagic or effects like Counterspell.

Search (p. 373)

Now codified as an action. Typically requires a Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check depending on the context.

Study (p. 375)

Used to examine or recall information. The DM calls for Intelligence- or Wisdom-based checks, depending on subject matter (e.g., Arcana, History, Insight).

Utilize (p. 377)

Renamed from “Use an Object”. Used to operate or interact with items or objects.

Character Option Changes

Feats (p. 200)

Feats are no longer optional. Every character starts with one (from background). Additional feats are gained during level-up progression.

Feat Types:

Origin Feats (choose at level 1)
General Feats (can grant +1 to an Ability Score)
Fighting Style Feats
Epic Boons (at level 19+)

Weapon Masteries (p. 214)

Martial classes get access to weapon masteries—special effects attached to certain weapons (like Push, Cleave, or Vex). These add tactical flavor to martial combat and vary by weapon.

Onboarding 5th Edition D&D 2024

In the end, we don’t need to overhaul our tables overnight to use the D&D 2024 rules changes. As we explored in a previous article, a gradual, selective integration—letting players choose between the 2014 and 2024 options, and introducing changes like the new exhaustion and surprise rules at our own pace—can ease the transition and even improve the game for everyone at the table.

Make a City Come to Life in Any RPG

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Preparing Urban Chaos for the Table

A city can breathe fresh life into any fantasy RPG. They’re where intrigues are born, gold changes hands, and alliances get sealed or shattered over a drink. But when we GMs need to prepare one, especially for just a session or two, cities can feel like an overwhelming tangle of names, maps, and missed opportunities. Here’s how we cut through the noise and bring the bustle to life without over-preparing.

Start With the Map

A visual representation can do wonders. A printed city map (we love Dyson Logos City Maps for any RPG), anchors the city in our players’ minds. Drop it in the center of the table. Use a mini or token to show where the party is.

Even a rough sketch is better than nothing. Divide the city into named districts with distinct purposes: Noble Quarter, Docks, Temple Ward, Market Rows, etc. These become your anchors for flavor, encounters, and player choices.

Don’t Prep the Whole City

You don’t need 200 named locations. In fact, the more you prep, the more static the city can feel. Instead, prep character-interest-first. Build around what your players care about. A cleric might want to visit a grand temple. A barbarian might be itching for a local fighting pit. Give each PC at least one hook in the city and you already have five or six compelling places.

Instead of writing pages of notes for a location, write down evocative names for each location. That’s usually enough. Sorted by district, even a sparse list becomes a flexible toolkit to improvise city sessions. Here’s some examples from our upcoming Guide to Daggerford:

Caravan Quarter

Lady Luck Hotel (inn and shrine to Tymora)
Miller’s Dry Goods (adventuring rations)

Farmer’s Quarter

River Shining Tavern (oldest inn in Daggerford; bards, Zhents, and devils all drink here)
Harvest House (open-air temple of Chauntea; farming blessings sold for a smile)

River Quarter

Table of the Sword (shrine to Tempus with cracked pillars and quiet prayers)
Jail and Constable’s Office (five cramped cells, one stressed constable)

Monuments and Encounters

What makes a city feel alive? It’s not the number of streets or detailed locations we have prepared. It can be as simple as having something happen when players are between destinations.

We can keep a short list of monuments—landmarks that spark the imagination:

The Broken Spire, still smoking.
A statue of a forgotten queen, covered in birds.
A tree growing upside-down from an old well.
A weathered blade jammed into the town square’s cobblestone.
A bell of mourning, hung from a crumbling arch, rung only when a hero dies in defense of the town.
Archway formed from the rusted shields of Daggerford’s fallen militia.

Then we pair these with a handful of random events. Think small, flavorful interruptions:

A robbery in progress
A beggar asking for a blessing
A duel over spilled wine.
A procession of masked dancers
Sudden rain or festival fireworks
A spilled cart blocks the road.

Use these as players travel through districts. We can roll 2d6 to generate a quick, immersive city moment from these lists. These small beats add a sense of busyness to the city.

Preparing and Improvising Cities

We improvise details for the city when needed. When a location or NPC catches the players’ interest in particular, we take note, and build on it. That way the city evolves with the players, each session that they are in the city.

We don’t build cities to write a book (although we have done exactly that in our upcoming Guide to Daggerford). With a strong map, evocative names, and a few moments of flavor, our city can come to life in any RPG—without ever needing to know the names of every bakery in the Noble Quarter.

Tracking Damage to Monster Groups

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Hit Points Are a Lie (and That’s Okay)

In a previous article about the Encounter Damage Tally, we explored a clever way for tracking monster damage: rather than counting down hit points for each individual monster, we tally up the total damage dealt in the encounter. When the tally reaches a monster’s average HP, we remove one from play, carry over any extra damage, and keep going. This works especially well for hordes—think skeletons, goblins, or swarms of shadowy specters. Mike Shea at SlyFlourish calls this the “damage pool” approach, and it streamlines combat beautifully.

But sometimes, it creates weird moments.

A PC swings at a specter, cleaving through it for 18 points of damage. Nothing happens. Then the next PC deals just 2 points to a different specter—and that one dies instantly. Why? Because the tally crossed the threshold. That second specter just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This can feel strange if we think of HP as a literal stat on a monster statblock. But what if we stop thinking of HP as a fixed stat and start thinking of it as a narrative abstraction?

A Different Way to Read the Tally

Let’s say we’re running a fight with 10 specters. Their HP is 22 on the statblock, but we round that down to 20 for fast play. That’s 200 total hit points for the whole encounter.

Now here’s the shift: instead of imagining each specter with its own 20 HP, imagine that the group has 200 HP and the individual HP varies. Some will go down after a single swing. Others might take two hits. On average, each has 20 HP—but we’re not tracking that damage per creature. We’re relying on the Encounter Damage Tally.

So when one PC hits for 18 damage and the next hits a different target for 2, and that second target dies? That’s not a glitch. That’s just the damage tally telling us that the second specter only had 2 HP left in the story—even if we never tracked it directly. The total encounter damage still works out. The average still holds. We just allowed some variance to show up at the individual level.

This can make the fight feel more dynamic and cinematic. Some monsters are hardy. Others crumble with a scream and vanish.

Lean Into the Abstraction

The truth is, monsters don’t have hit points. In the story at least, not really. They die when it makes sense for them to die—when the math supports it, yes, but also when the story does. The encounter damage tally gives us a way to use “balanced” math without getting lost in the bookkeeping.

When we lean into that abstraction, we gain:

Speed: No more flipping through notes trying to remember which goblin had 6 HP left.
Clarity: We always know how much of the encounter has been “burned through.”
Variety: Monsters fall away in varied, unpredictable moments, not when the rigidity of individual damage tracking tells us to.

And the best part? Most players won’t notice. They’ll feel that their attacks are impactful and that the battle moves quickly—and that’s exactly what we want.

Average Monster HP and the Encounter Damage Tally

So if the wizard firebolts a fresh cultist and the tally says it’s time to remove one, describe that cultist bursting into flame. No one needs to know the damage was mostly from the rogue’s sneak attack two rounds ago. It’s all part of the dance.

The encounter damage tally isn’t about accuracy—it’s about ease of use and variety of monster sturdiness. Some monsters fall fast, others hold on longer. That’s not an error. That’s what makes the fight feel alive. We’re not tracking individual damage—we’re telling a story. Let monsters fall dramatically. Let the damage tally do the lifting. And keep your eyes on the story.

10 One-Shot Outlines for Your Next Game Night

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Running effective D&D one-shots can feel daunting – we DMs must deliver a complete adventure within a tight timeframe. With only three hours to play, clarity and structure are essential. And that’s where the following one-shot outlines come in. In my experience, in three hours we can realistically run three distinct scenes. Plus a mini session zero for character introductions, safety discussions, and setting expectations.

Below, I’ve prepared evocative outlines for ten one-shot adventures set in and around Daggerford, ready to run with minimal prep. For deeper lore and context, stay tuned for our upcoming Guide to Daggerford.

Tips for One-Shots

The following outlines are built on a few core principles of preparing and running one-shot adventures. I have previously outlined these here: How to Prepare and Run a One-Shot. Here’s the most important principles to help you flesh out the outlines below, and run effective one-shot sessions:

Preparation:

Use Three Scenes: Plan for a clear beginning, middle, and climax. Start strong, engage players with exploration and investigation, then finish with a memorable final conflict.
Maintain Focus: Every scene should drive toward your climactic moment, keeping the narrative tight and purposeful.

Running the Game:

Manage Pacing: Keep the session moving, monitor the clock, and ensure enough time for the finale. Trim scenes as needed and always advance the story, even when rolls fail (fail forward).
Encourage Boldness: Embrace outrageous storytelling; allow players to pursue dramatic goals like taming dragons or confronting gods. Lean into high-risk situations, heroic sacrifices, and surprising twists—there’s no need to worry about future consequences.
Offer Big Rewards: Don’t hesitate to provide exceptional, memorable rewards—even legendary items—to make the adventure exciting.

With these principles in mind, here are ten outlines for one-shot adventures.

1. Capture the Undead Spirit

Patron: A fervent priest of Amaunator named Lucy Brightmist urgently needs an undead spirit captured for a sacred sun ritual. She pays the characters to capture one in a holy amulet. The characters must weaken but not kill the spirit and then activate the amulet to capture the spirit.

One of the PCs knows of the grave of Lady Melira of Starra hidden in the Lizard Marsh.

Scene 1, Lizard Marsh Ambush: The adventure begins as the characters are trekking through the foggy Lizard Marsh. Suddenly, fierce lizardfolk claim the characters trespass their holy grounds (Lizardfolk, Giant Lizard).
Scene 2: Non-combat encounter including ability checks to survive through mist, quicksand, and ancient, cursed marsh ruins. How will the PCs reach the forgotten grave of the Lady Melira?
Climax: Lady Melira arises from her grave, and attacks furiously in her undead form (Specter, Banshee, Wraith). When the characters are ready to bind the Melira’s spirit they are interrupted by a frantic lizardfolk shaman. As it turns out, these lizardfolk are determined to protect their deity – Melira’s angry spirit (Lizardfolk Shaman).

2. Sword Coast Bank Heist

Patron: Lady Belinda Anteos, a sophisticated noble from Waterdeep, urgently enlists adventurers to secretly thwart a heist. The target is her bank, the Sword Coast Traders’ Bank in Daggerford. And Lady Anteos wants protection without alarming the local militia, to preserve the bank’s esteemed reputation.

Scene 1, Quiet Negotiations: Lady Anteos discreetly briefs the party in her heavily fortified office above the bank’s vault. Tense planning ensues, including discussions of magical protections, and guard rotations. And a wary interview with Lady Anteos’s suspicious head of security, a battle-scarred veteran named Cedric Varwell.
Scene 2, Midnight Attack: Chaos erupts when thieves employ sleep-gas grenades to incapacitate guards, infiltrating under cover of darkness. The characters must adapt quickly, neutralizing the gas and defending the bank from waves of well-coordinated intruders (Bandits, Thugs).
Climax, Vault Showdown: The cunning burglar leader, adept at illusion and stealth, breaches the vault defenses. The characters are forced into a tense confrontation (Spy).

3. Giants Assault Ducal Castle

Patron: Ducal Seneschal Tarn Urmbrusk desperately seeks help against stone giants. These emissaries of the dreaded Thane Kayalithica begin dismantling ancient castle walls. The giants are driven by visions of the magical qualities of these ancient stones.

Scene 1, Siege Begins: Sudden, thunderous impacts herald giants hurling massive boulders. Characters defend amidst chaos, coordinating militia and rescuing citizens trapped under debris (Stone Giant).
Scene 2, Urgent Counterattack: Reinforce castle defenses or pursue the giants back to their rocky foothills camp, confronting additional threats hidden among crumbling ruins (Ogres).
Climax, Legacy of the Kingdom: The stone giant leader personally assaults the castle gates, demanding the ancient relics while invoking ancestral claims. Characters must fight or negotiate to preserve Daggerford’s historical legacy (Stone Giants, Basilisks).

4. Hunt the Terrorizing Hill Giant

Patron: Desperate farmers from north of Daggerford, whose lands are ravaged by an aggressive hill giant from the Forlorn Hills, implore adventurers for immediate aid.

Scene 1, Dire Chase: Characters pursue the giant across ravaged farmland, only to be ambushed by dire wolves fiercely loyal to the giant, protecting their monstrous ally’s escape (Wolves, Dire Wolves).
Scene 2, Grisly Discovery: Navigate through the giant’s lair, a gruesome maze filled with deadly traps and evidence of brutal attacks on local settlements.
Climax, Furious Showdown: Face a desperate battle against the enraged giant amid grisly trophies in his cavernous lair, determined to eliminate the threat once and for all (Hill Giant).

5. Rescue Vistani Child from Werewolves

Patron: Elderly Vistani leader Stanimir begs for aid to rescue a child kidnapped by a rogue werewolf pack hiding in the eerie shadows of the Misty Forest.

Scene 1, Haunted Pursuit: Track carefully through dark, howling forests, fighting or evading packs of wolves acting as sentinels (Wolves, Dire Wolves).
Scene 2, Questionable Alliance: Encounter a shunned werewolf outcast who offers crucial guidance and safe passage—at a morally troubling cost (Commoner, Werewolf).
Climax, Wolfpack Den: Engage in stealth or a frontal assault on the werewolf den, navigating frantic chaos to rescue the child amid ferocious combat with the pack (Werewolves).

6. Stop Lizardfolk Swamp Ritual

Patron: Daggerford’s panicked Council of Guilds warns of an impending catastrophe caused by a dangerous lizardfolk ritual emanating from deep within the Lizard Marsh.

Scene 1, Earthbound Crisis: Sudden quakes tear through Daggerford’s streets as small earth elementals emerge, attacking citizens. Characters rush to rescue survivors (Mud Mephits).
Scene 2, Dangerous Waters: Navigate hostile magical wards and aquatic guardians to breach a lizardfolk-occupied island stronghold in the Delimbiyr River (Crocodiles, Giant Crocodile).
Climax, Ritual Interruption: Solve a tense puzzle-combat encounter, disrupting chanting lizardfolk shamans before the ritual reaches completion, averting a disastrous magical backlash (Lizardfolk, Lizardfolk Shaman).

7. Cleanse the Infested Tannery

Patron: The tannery owner, Hilberryl Finewiser, desperately calls for aid as monstrous vermin and oozes spill forth, infecting Daggerford’s plumbing and streets.

Scene 1, Urban Chaos: Massive, diseased vermin burst from the sewers into local taverns and homes, requiring swift response and crowd control (Giant Rats).
Scene 2, Dark Descent: Enter narrow, slime-infested tunnels beneath the tannery, battling acidic oozes and grotesque creatures emerging from darkness (Ochre Jelly).
Climax, Heart of Filth: Confront the monstrous source of the infestation—a bloated otyugh nesting beneath the tannery, spawning corruption and terror (Otyugh).

8. Smuggle Relics to Waterdeep

Patron: A secretive Zhentarim agent in Daggerford seeks discreet escorts for valuable relics to Waterdeep after the arrest of their initial courier.

Scene 1, Suspicious Eyes: On the Trade Way, characters evade tense, probing inspections by Lords’ Alliance guards, risking exposure. The Lords’ Alliance patrol is secretly bribed by the Knights of Shield, rivals of the Zhentarim (Guards, Veteran).
Scene 2, Ambushed on the Road: Ambush by rival Knights of the Shield agents (Bandits, Thugs, Scouts).
Climax, Final Stand: Defend the caravan from a climactic attack by a rival faction leader determined to seize the relics by force (Veteran or Gladiator).

9. Race for Chauntea’s Relic

Patron: A passionate priest of Chauntea seeks adventurers to recover a sacred relic, competing directly against the rival adventuring party, the “Fine Fellows of Daggerford.”

Scene 1, Rival Research: Intense skill challenge against rivals to uncover relic’s secret hiding place, requiring cunning investigation in the temple archives.
Scene 2, Wilderness Trials: Venture deep into the High Forest, overcoming territorial beasts protecting their domain (Owlbear).
Climax, Bitter Rivalry: Confront ruthless “Fine Fellows,” willing to use deception and force to claim glory, ensuring the relic reaches worthy hands (Acolyte, Bandit, Thug, Scout).

10. Hunt Escaped Prisoner in the Marsh

Patron: Ducal Captain Elsbeth Trannyth urgently dispatches adventurers into the treacherous Lizard Marsh to recapture a traitorous prisoner. The prisoner betrayed the PCs during the Second Dragonspear War. He was one of their own but murdered their squad leader.

Scene 1, Living Marsh: Navigate sinister, hostile vegetation and natural ambushes threatening to consume unwary travelers (Vine Blight).
Scene 2, Deadly Pursuit: The chase becomes perilous as the traitor’s loyal allies stage a lethal ambush (Bandits, Thugs).
Climax, Dramatic Capture: Engage the charismatic, cunning traitor in a final showdown deep within marsh ruins, striving to secure justice or uncover hidden truths (Spy or Veteran).

Character Creation for One-Shots

One-shot outlines like these are an excellent way to quickly prepare a unique single-session adventure (Or to run a session when we don’t have time to prepare.) Here’s a few tips for creating characters for one-shots. If you want a deeper dive into these tips, check out this article: How to Prepare and Run a One-Shot.

Here’s some of the most important tips for character creation:

Brief Session Zero: Take a few minutes beforehand to establish character motivations and ensure player comfort.
Pregenerated Characters: Save time by offering pregenerated characters while allowing players personal touches like custom names, appearance, or background. Encourage reskinning to fit player creativity.
Unified Motivation: Provide characters with a shared goal to quickly align the party, but let players add unique personal reasons, enhancing roleplay.

The Power of One-Shots

Running a one-shot successfully is all about embracing simplicity, clarity, and bold storytelling. With structured planning, concise scenes, and motivated characters, we DMs can deliver thrilling adventures in just a single session. These ten one-shot outlines set in Daggerford provide a perfect blend of excitement, intrigue, and memorable climaxes. Remember, one-shots grant freedom to take risks, make big moves, and offer legendary rewards. Dive in, trust your players, and enjoy the spontaneous magic of short-form D&D.

Custom Backgrounds for Campaign Buy-In (D&D 5e 2024)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Custom Backgrounds for Campaign Buy-In

Session Zero our chance to tie characters to the campaign’s world from the start—and one of the strongest tools we have is often overlooked: custom backgrounds.

Used well, custom backgrounds act as anchor points. They ground characters in the setting, hint at future plot threads, and give players a starting point for roleplay. But the key is this: we don’t need to invent entirely new ones. We just need to reskin.

(I have previously written about reskinning backgrounds and even classes for a modern fantasy setting: Reskinning D&D Classes and Backgrounds for Modern Fantasy.)

Use the Background, Not the Numbers

The 2024 Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Player’s Handbook doubled down on the mechanical side of backgrounds—tying them to ability scores, origin feats, and skill proficiencies. That’s fine if you want a mechanical package. But if we’re aiming for campaign buy-in, the mechanics aren’t the point.

Let players customize the mechanics. Let players pick any Ability Scores. Any Origin Feat. Any skill or tool proficiencies that make sense for the story. As the DM, we change the story of a background and let the players customize the mechanics.

Reskin, Rename, Connect

Instead of designing custom backgrounds from scratch, we take existing ones and rename them to match our campaign’s factions, locations, or themes. You cann add a short description, a single sentence that grounds the background in the setting and provides adventure hooks for the players.

We’re not writing pages of lore, and we’re not designing new mechanics. We’re offering a vibe and a seed. Something that says, here’s where you came from, and here’s why that matters now.

Offer Backgrounds at Session Zero

At your session zero, print out a list of customized backgrounds for your setting. When we hand out the list, we can tell the players something like:

»These are the kinds of stories I would like to tell together with you.«

(… like Shawn Merwin put it perfectly on the Mastering Dungeons podcast.)

Example: Daggerford Backgrounds

Let’s say you’re prepping a sandbox campaign set in and around Daggerford (hint: we’ve got a full Guide to Daggerford coming soon). You might offer something like this:

Acolyte of the Table of the Sword (Acolyte). You served Tempus with blade and prayer—now your faith leads you beyond the shrine into the world’s battles.
Hardcheese Hustler (Criminal) You grew up in the Happy Cow’s backrooms, trading coin and secrets. Now, you’re playing a bigger, riskier game.
Delfen’s Apprentice (Sage). You studied magic in Delfen’s tower. With your master releasing you, forbidden knowledge now tempts you beyond his wards.
Daggerford Militia (Guard). Mandatory service taught you to fight, march, and obey. What you’ve seen on patrols has changed your loyalties forever.
Lady Luck Trickster (Charlatan). You rigged the games at the Lady Luck. Now the gods—or the house—want their due, and you’re running.
River Shining Entertainer (Entertainer). Your songs echoed through Daggerford’s finest stage. But one performance changed your life.

And so on. Each background includes a short evocative description and a hook. A story seed, and reason to care about the campaign’s story.

Leave Room for Player Imagination

We don’t need to fill in every detail. In fact, it’s better if we don’t. Let your players decide why they left Delfen’s tower. What divine guidance they received. Who they cheated at the Lady Luck’s tables.

By giving them a springboard, not a cage, we invite players to collaborate. And collaboration in a Session Zero can help players become invested in the campaign.

Reskin. Rename. Connect.

That’s all there is to it. With just a bit of prep before session zero, we DMs can help make every character feel like they already belong in the story we’re about to tell.

Want more examples? We’ll be sharing more backgrounds and other details about Daggerford in the upcoming Guide to Daggerford!

In the meantime, try it yourself. Take a few core backgrounds and give them a local twist. You’ll be surprised how quickly the campaign starts to take shape around the characters—not the other way around.

NPC Generator

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Sometimes you need a quick NPC. Someone for the characters to interact with in a scene. The NPC should have some unique features, a personality, and something to help the DM roleplay the NPC. That’s what the Illusory Script NPC Generator is about. We have written previously about NPCs, and this generator is built on the philosophy of these articles:

Check out these articles if you want to learn more about the ideas behind the generator. If you just need a quick NPC, here’s three from our generator:

With this tool, you won’t just create names and professions—you’ll get NPCs that your players will remember. And the best part? These NPCs are built for instant use. We don’t need to stop the session and brainstorm—just grab a character from the generator and drop them into the scene.

Each entry is crafted to provide just enough detail to make them engaging without overwhelming us with unnecessary lore. If the players get attached (as they inevitably do), we can expand on them later. But in the moment, we’ll have everything we need to roleplay with confidence.

So the next time your players throw you a curveball—demanding to talk to the random stablehand or interrogate the cook—let the Illusory Script NPC Generator do the heavy lifting.

When a Campaign Needs a Reset

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Sometimes, campaigns lose momentum. Players seem less engaged, the energy at the table dips, and we, as DMs, start feeling less excited about preparing and running sessions. Maybe we’re even anxious about the game. If we find ourselves looking forward to the next campaign more than to the current one, it might be time for a change.

Should We End the Campaign?

When a campaign starts dragging, one option is to bring it to a close within a few sessions. A fresh start—new characters, new stories—can breathe new life into our games. However, if there are still compelling character arcs to explore, unresolved plotlines, or exciting plans that we don’t want to abandon, a full stop might not be the best choice.

Instead, we can opt for a Campaign Reset—a way to reinvigorate the story without throwing everything away.

How to Reset a Campaign

1. Talk to the Players

A reset should be a group decision. If we’ve noticed a dip in enthusiasm, chances are the players have too. An open discussion—or even a survey—can help sense their interest and gather ideas for the future. Framing the conversation around resetting the campaign to better finish the characters’ stories can keep everyone engaged.

2. Wrap Up the Current Arc Quickly

The first step in a reset is to conclude the current adventure. Rather than dragging out an uninspiring storyline, we can find a natural stopping point within the next session or two. A satisfying resolution can create a sense of closure before moving into a new and fresh campaign phase.

3. Introduce a Long Downtime

A significant chunk of in-game downtime—spanning months or even a year—can work wonders. It allows:

Players to step back and reconsider their characters’ long-term goals.
A natural reset in the world, allowing us to introduce a big in-world event, shifting politics, factions, and power balances.
A chance to follow up on individual side quests or character-driven stories.
A rekindling of excitement, reminding players why they built their characters in the first place.

4. Run an Adventure That Excites You

DM energy is contagious. If we feel uninspired, the players will pick up on it. Choosing an adventure or multiple that genuinely excite us—whether it’s a published module, a homebrew dungeon crawl, or a pointcrawl through a mysterious wilderness—can reignite our passion for the game.

5. Center the Story Around the Characters

Rather than picking up where we left off with the same broad campaign plot, a reset is an opportunity to refocus on the players’ characters. What personal arcs remain unfinished? What NPCs do they care about? Building the next leg of the campaign around them helps everyone stay engaged.

Example: Resetting My Eberron Campaign

In my Eberron campaign, I ran a few published adventures for the first several levels. They weren’t very good, and I found myself rushing through them just to “be done”—a classic sign that a reset was needed. Rather than scrap the campaign entirely, we ran a one-year in-game downtime and started fresh with three job options for the players. Each was tied directly to a character’s backstory:

Experiments on warforged (for the warforged character)
An expedition into the druidic Eldeen Reaches (for the druid character)
Defending a goblin settlement in the sewers of Sharn (for the goblin character)

This shift reinvigorated the game and gave the players a sense of personal investment in this new phase of the campaign while still continuing their characters’ stories in a meaningful way.

Don’t Be Afraid of a Campaign Reset

A campaign reset is about preserving what works and refreshing what doesn’t. By recognizing the signs early and making intentional changes, we can steer our campaigns back on course, ensuring that both we and our players stay excited about the journey ahead.

One-Line NPCs

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 10:00:00 GMT

NPCs are the backbone of the social interaction pillar in Dungeons & Dragons. They drive stories, provide hooks, and create memorable moments for our players. But crafting a compelling NPC doesn’t have to be complicated. With a simple one-line formula, we can generate unique NPCs which are easy to roleplay at the table.

The Simple NPC Template

When coming up with an NPC, we can define them using a single sentence which includes:

Two adjectives (describe personality and attitude)
One noun (role, background, or defining feature)
One verbal mannerism (how they speak)
One physical mannerism (how they move or act)

This method (which was inspired in part by the character creation process of Numenera) keeps things simple while giving our NPCs distinct traits that help us make them come alive at the table.

If we want to add some more flavor, we can use a gimmick. Because every character should have a gimmick!

10 NPC Examples

Here are some examples to show you what a one-line NPC description could look like:

Gruff, Loyal Blacksmith who always clears throat before speaking and wipes hands on apron constantly.
Jovial, Forgetful Merchant who repeats customer’s name too often and scratches their head while speaking.
Stoic, Wise Monk who speaks in proverbs and stands completely still.
Eccentric, Frenzied Wizard who talks too fast and jumps topics and waves their hands wildly while speaking.
Stern, Cunning Noble who drawls words with disdain and taps fingers on the table when impatient.
Timid, Fidgety Scribe who stutters when nervous and adjusts spectacles constantly.
Charming, Shady Bard who overuses flattery and winks at inappropriate moments.
Grumpy, Honest Guard who gives short, blunt answers and rolls shoulders before speaking.
Anxious, Paranoid Alchemist who constantly whispers and checks over their shoulder often.
Boisterous, Clumsy Fisherman who laughs too loudly and slaps people on the back mid-sentence.

Roleplaying One-Line NPCs

When introducing an NPC, scan this one-line description. Then improvise the interaction with the party. I often focus on an NPCs mannerisms first. A NPCs personality shines through how they speak and move before players even learn about their background. This quick-build method allows us to generate unique NPCs which are easy to roleplay. Try it in your next session and watch your NPCs become unforgettable!

Reflections on Designing Secrets of the Betrayer

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Now a Bestseller on DMsGuild!

Our adventure Secrets of the Betrayer just hit Copper Bestseller status on DMsGuild! This adventure fixes your Vecna: Eve of Ruin campaign, and it stands out because of its non-linear story, deep connections with the lore of Kas and Vecna, and an epic boss fight. With the Copper milestone reached, now is the perfect time to reflect on the design process—what worked, what didn’t, and what we learned along the way.

Collaboration and Different Design Perspectives

Working on this project with my friend Alain was a deeply collaborative experience. However, we quickly learned that we approach adventure design with a different emphasis:

I prefer writing toolkits with building blocks that allow a DM to customize the adventure to fit their players.
Alain loves deep lore, providing rich details for DMs to connect the adventure with a larger story.

These perspectives had to merge into a single, cohesive product. Alain and I talked constantly about our different visions of the adventure. In the end, we always found a compromise which combined the best of both worlds. And sometimes, we split responsibilities according to our strengths:

Alain focused on writing the lore-heavy introduction and inserting setting details into each encounter.
I handled mechanical aspects, such as coming up with exploration procedures for the characters’ journey through Tovag, and structuring the boss fight.

The result? Hopefully, a more accessible adventure that appeals to both lore-focused and action-oriented DMs.

The Importance of Setting Clear Design Goals

At first, we aimed for too much: making a Tovag-themed adventure, tying it into Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, providing horror advice, and ensuring compatibility with Vecna: Eve of Ruin.

Playtesting revealed this was overwhelming. Players were confused by conflicting themes and overloaded with information. The solution? Narrow our focus. After playtesting, we decided our primary design goal was to provide fixes to the shortcomings of Vecna: Eve of Ruin.

Playtesting is King

Playtesting was a game-changer. When designing in isolation, it’s easy to lose sight of how an adventure plays for others. Testing showed us where the adventure lacked focus and injected fresh energy into the project.

One challenge of playtesting is distinguishing between feedback on the adventure itself versus feedback on how it was run. For example, in one playtest, the party was TPK’ed in the final battle. But the DM also ran that fight with ruthless tactics, even using meta-game knowledge to punish characters. Understanding whether that meant we had to nerf the boss’s stats or not remained a challenge throughout playtesting.

Final Thoughts

Hitting Copper Bestseller is exciting, but the real value lies in the lessons learned: collaboration makes for a stronger product, clear design goals prevent bloat, and playtesting is essential to refining an adventure. Moving forward, these insights will shape how we tackle future projects. And rest assured, Illusory Script is already deep in the design of our next DMsGuild product! Hint: It’s a guide to a town that appears in many Forgotten Realms adventures but has not been given a detailed look yet!

Running Games with Absent Players

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:00:00 GMT

The Game Must Go On

One of the biggest obstacles for any long-running RPG campaign is scheduling. I’ve written before about the importance of scheduling even if we’re not sure what we’re actually going to run. But there’s another issue which can stop us from playing: absent players. If we wait for every player to be available, we’ll play far less often. Instead, I run the game as long as at least three players can make it. To support this, we can also introduce on-call players who only step in when others are absent.

What to Do with Absent Player Characters?

The simplest, default solution is to let the character fade into the background. We don’t explain it; we just don’t worry about it. This keeps things flexible and avoids convoluted justifications when the player returns.

But sometimes, we might want to integrate a story-driven reason for the character’s disappearance and reappearance. Here are ten fun, in-game explanations for a suddenly absent character:

Taken by a god
Caught between planes of existence
Teleported to the Ethereal Plane
Locked inside an oil lamp
Turned into radiant light
Transformed into shadows
Transmutes into a small beast
Absorbed by a tree
Summoned by a fiend
Sucked through a portal into the Far Realm

We can even use one of these in-game explanations to establish a consistent explanation for the infrequent appearances of the characters of on-call players. Maybe an entity beyond mortal understanding keeps pulling them away or a magical artifact randomly shifts them between planes of existence.

The Best Option? Make It an Adventure Hook!

The coolest approach is turning a missing PC into an adventure hook. Maybe the party needs to rescue them, solve the mystery of their disappearance, or retrieve them from a prison dimension. This keeps the absent player’s character relevant and adds excitement for when they return.

Final Thoughts

The game must go on—don’t cancel just because someone is missing. Don’t stress over absent PCs. Their player isn’t there to care, so focus on making the session great for those who are present. If it fits, use an in-world story reason for their absence and return. Keep the momentum going, and keep the game alive!

Planegea Campaign Outline: Winterwalk

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 10:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Planegea

Have you ever wanted to experience a young, restless world in which dinosaurs roam the plains, clans struggle for survival by building huge, welcoming clanfires, and prehistoric evils lurk in forbidden caves, forests, and mountains? If so, Planegea—a Stone Age campaign setting by Atlas Games—might be the perfect setting for your next D&D campaign.

This article provides a campaign outline set during the annual migration known as the Winterwalk, blending survival, exploration, and epic, primal storytelling. It is based on a campaign I ran set in Planegea in 2024.

Check out these other campaign outlines on Illusory Script!

Campaign Elevator Pitch: The Winterwalk

With the coming of fall, the clans move southwards in a migration called Winterwalk to escape the bone-dry winds of the northern cold season. The characters are part of a small clan trying to survive the journey, to grow, and to make a name for themselves.

Truths of Planegea

The following truths are known by any character from Planegea:

The world is young and restless. The planes of existence are one, and adventurers can travel by foot from the Sea of Stars to the volcanic peak of Blood Mountain. Every step is fraught with peril and opportunity.
No universal gods. Deities are local and unpredictable, often appearing in surprising forms. They grant boons to those who provide offerings or complete strange quests.
The clanfire is sacred. Clan life revolves around the clanfire. It is a place of safety, and hospitality, but sometimes rival clans will raid other clanfires for honor and resources.
The black taboos. Breaking the laws of no writing, no numbers over nine, and no wheels or money invites the wrath of the Hounds of the Blind Heaven—a mysterious force ensuring these taboos remain unbroken.

Characters in Planegea

In a session zero, we can build characters with a shared motivation, and unique mechanics from the Planegea sourcebook.

Part of a Clan: Characters form a small clan traveling south during the Winterwalk, working together to survive, thrive, and build their reputation.
Character Creation: The descriptions for race and class in chapters 4 and 5 of the Planegea sourcebook replace the original descriptions. Players are encouraged to use one of the backgrounds from chapter 6 of the Planegea sourcebook.

Villainous Factions

These three villains are the main antagonists of the characters in this campaign. All three have their own goals and villainous plans, and the characters decisions will determine which of these villains is kept in check and who will grow in power.

Vyrkha the Shepherd: A ruthless warlord using Winterwalk’s chaos to forge an empire.
Crawling Awful: Aberrations from the Aberrant Vaults, awakening to devour Planegea.
Winter Gods: Petty deities of Wintersouth, demanding worship and spreading their influence.

Example Quests and Adventures

The following outline provides inspiration for adventures and quests for each tier of play. As we run the campaign, we can refer to the bullet points for ideas, but we will follow the story as it unfolds from the decisions made and paths taken by the characters.

Tier 1: Preparing for the Journey (Levels 1-4)

Location: Great Valley (northern arc). The fertile homeland of most clans.
Example Quests:
- Gain favor and magic items from local gods.
- Form alliances with other clans.
- Defend against raids by Vyrkha and others or conduct your own raids.
- Explore small Aberrant Vaults for treasures.

Tier 2: Following the Herds (Levels 5-10)

Location: Allhunt. Open hunting grounds where any hunting party may pursue game here without fear of harm from another clan. Unless someone breaks that covenant.
Example Quests:
- Track great herds south.
- Hunt beasts for food and resources.
- Secure shelter and medicines.
- Please local gods
- Fend off Vyrkha’s growing forces.
- Investigate larger Aberrant Vaults and uncover the Crawling Awful’s schemes.

Tier 3: Gods of Wintersouth (Levels 11-15)

Location: Wintersouth (southern arc of the Great Valley). Wide, sparse grazing lands, the seasonal refuge of herd animals and the clans that depend on them for food. This land is unwelcoming, and its little hills and valleys are claimed by the Winter Gods.
Example Quests:
- Win favor of the petty Winter Gods.
- Stop Vyrkha’s growing army.
- Seal Aberrant Vaults to halt an impending aberration invasion.

Tier 4: Winter Breaks (Levels 16-20)

Location: Great Valley (return north)
Example Quests:
- Safely lead your clan home.
- Defeat Vyrkha’s empire.
- Confront the Crawling Awful in their final form before they devour Planegea.

Closing Thoughts

Planegea lets us break out of the usual fantasy mold of D&D. Whether the characters face the wrath of the Hounds, challenge petty gods, or confront prehistoric horrors, every session is an opportunity for a unique Stone Age adventure. Gather your clan, light the fire, and begin your journey through the restless world of Planegea!

How to Prepare and Run a One-Shot

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 10:00:00 GMT

One-shots are a great way to tell self-contained stories in a single session, perfect for new players, trying out experimental ideas, or just having fun without the long-term commitment of a campaign. (And even in a long-term campaign, we can think of each session as a one-shot.) Here are some tips to help you prepare and run an engaging one-shot.

Preparing a One-Shot

Plan for Three Scenes: Assuming a three-hour game, we won’t get more than three scenes in the session. We can keep that in mind when we prepare for the one-shot. Consider the following three scene types we might use:

Strong Start: Engage the players immediately. Start in the middle of the action or with a compelling event that demands the characters’ attention.
Development: This is where the players explore, investigate, or make meaningful decisions.
Climax: End with a big, memorable moment—we can rarely go wrong with an epic, challenging combat encounter.

Focus! Everything in the one-shot should lead towards the climax scene. Ideally, the Strong Start already sets up the quest, mystery, or conflict which will be resolved in the final scene.

Character Creation

Run a mini Session Zero: Before we jump into the one-shot, we can take 15 minutes with the players to talk about their characters, motivation, and safety tools.

Use Pregenerated Characters: To save time, we can provide pregenerated characters. However, with pregens, we can leave room for players to personalize them:

Let players choose the name, appearance, occupation, and other roleplaying details.
Reskin the pregens for creative flexibility. For instance, if someone wants their character to be a catfolk wizard but you’ve prepared a human wizard, let them keep the mechanics but reflavor any human abilities as catfolk abilities.

Motivate the Characters: Provide a shared goal from the start but let players flesh it out individually. For example: »You all seek revenge against the witch in the woods. What did she do to you personally?« This ensures the group is aligned while allowing space for individual motivations.

Running One-Shots

Keep Things Moving: While running a one-shot, pacing and time management is even more important than in long-term campaigns. Here’s a few tips:

Keep an eye on the clock and pace the game by making sure that there’s enough time left for the final scene. If necessary, cut from the middle.
Embrace Failing Forward to prevent the game from stalling. Even failed rolls should allow the story to advance—but perhaps with a cost!

Embrace Unlikely Stories

One-shots are the perfect opportunity to tell bold, unrepeatable tales. Unlike campaigns, you don’t need to worry about long-term consequences:

Say »Yes« to wild ideas. If a player wants to tame the dragon or challenge a god, let them try.
Allow for dramatic twists like character death, heroic sacrifices, or ascension to godhood.
Go big with rewards like legendary items, even for low-level characters. It’s a one-shot—why not?

Final Thoughts

One-shots thrive on tight stories and bold ideas. By keeping the structure simple, giving players the freedom to make their characters their own, and leaning into the wild potential of a short, self-contained story, we can create a session that’s engaging, unique, and memorable.

Tournament / Arena Encounter Template

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 10:00:00 GMT

A tournament or arena encounter can create a welcome change of pace in our games. They offer a structured series of varied challenges where characters can shine through skill, ingenuity, and flair, all while competing for a coveted prize. Whether used as filler sessions or part of the main story, tournaments can be tailored to fit any environment, from royal courts to roadside taverns.

This article provides a template for preparing and running tournament encounters, beginning with a hook to enter the tournament, three stages of competitions, and tips for running a fun tournament encounter.

Hook: Entering the Tournament

First, the characters must enter the tournament. Three general hooks are possible:

Voluntary Entry: The characters hear about the tournament through rumors, a town crier, or a announcement board. We can draw them in with the promise of fame, gold, or a unique reward like a magic item.
Compelled Participation: The party is forced into the competition, perhaps to win their own freedom, secure the release of an NPC (or an absent PC), or obtain a critical McGuffin as the prize of the competition.
Patron’s Request: A group patron—be it a noble, a guild leader, or a faerie queen—asks the party to compete in their name. Success could bring the party renown and/or material rewards.

Designing the Tournament: The 3 Stages Template

A well-rounded tournament mixes combat and non-combat challenges to test the characters’ versatility. Here’s a general template for running a tournament encounter:

Non-Combat Challenge 1 (for example, jousting): This round could include Animal Handling, Athletics, Acrobatics checks, and attack rolls with a lance. Ask players to come up with their own unique actions to influence the round. Alternatively, start the tournament off with a combat round if your players are more interested in combat.
Non-Combat Challenge 2 (for example, racing): Whether on horseback, fantastical mounts like giant snails, or through an obstacle-filled footrace, this stage tests characters’ speed and resilience. Players might use Animal Handling to control their mount, Acrobatics to avoid hazards, and other abilities to sabotage rivals.
Combat Challenge (for example, a brawl): Pit the party against a rival adventuring group or mixed challengers. Winning the combat is key, but rewarding characters for flair—such as creative spell use or charismatic taunts—can make this stage feel different than regular combats.

The Winner’s Ceremony

Celebrate the conclusion of the tournament with a grand ceremony. The winners might receive:

Gold or magical items
Renown with factions or patrons or even a royal title
Boons from influential patrons (e.g., invitations to future quests or special events)

We can use this moment to plant seeds for future adventures—perhaps a jealous rival or a treacherous patron who expects repayment for their favor.

Location: The Shape-Shifting Arena

The location where the tournament is held can add depth and variety to each stage:

Dynamic Layouts: Magical arenas that transform between rounds keep players on their toes. For example, the jousting area might morph into a twisting racetrack and then into a combat pit filled with shifting terrain.
Hidden Features: Place traps, hazards, or boons in the arena. These could range from healing potions tucked in a corner to traps that hinder reckless characters. Allow characters to discover these with Perception or Investigation checks.
Announcer: Every tournament needs a memorable announcer, like a witty leprechaun with an amplified voice who taunts the audience, but also hypes up characters who compete in style.
Engaging the Audience: Include narrative descriptions of the roaring crowd, nobles murmuring about competitors, and the swaying favor of the general audience. NPCs can offer in-game boons, like potions or spell effects (for example, bless or aid) for spectacular performances.

Final Tips for Running Tournaments

Balance the Challenges: Mix non-combat and combat to ensure every character has a chance to contribute.
Reward Creativity: Encourage players to think outside the box, rewarding ingenuity with inspiration and audience approval.
Pace for Excitement: Keep each stage dynamic and engaging. Use audience reactions and in-game commentary to maintain the energy.

With these elements in place, our tournament sessions can become thrilling, memorable highlights in any campaign, offering players an opportunity to showcase their skills in unusual ways, and revel in their characters’ glory.

The Inner Game of RPGs

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 10:00:00 GMT

As game masters, we often strive for control—crafting intricate plots, anticipating player decisions, and steering the game towards planned outcomes. But what if we could let go of that conscious control and trust our subconscious instead? This is the lesson at the heart of The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey, a book that teaches tennis players to improve by quieting their critical inner voice and trusting their subconscious. While Gallwey’s focus is on tennis, his insights apply surprisingly well to running RPGs. By empowering our subconscious “Self 2” and reducing interference from the critical “Self 1,” we can run games more fluidly and responsively, creating a better experience for everyone at the table.

Understanding Self 1 and Self 2

Gallwey describes two “selves” at work in any activity. Self 1 is the verbal, critical, and control-focused voice in our heads, often the source of doubt and overcorrection. Self 2, on the other hand, is non-verbal and intuitive, handling the mechanics of action without conscious thought.

In tennis, Self 1 might say, “Why can’t you hit the ball right?” while Self 2 already knows how to swing the racket. Gallwey’s advice: trust Self 2 and quiet Self 1.

As GMs, we experience a similar dynamic. Self 1 plans, critiques, and judges our performance. Self 2, however, can respond to the unfolding game with creativity and adaptability—if we let it. Over-relying on Self 1 can hinder spontaneity, while trusting Self 2 can lead to adaptable, rewarding GMing.

Empowering Self 2 in Game Mastering

Preparation (Self 1) vs. Play (Self 2)

Preparation is the domain of Self 1, where we plan encounters, create NPCs, and map out storylines. During play, however, Self 2 shines. It reacts to player choices, adapts narratives, and picks up on subtle table dynamics. Problems arise when Self 1 tries to maintain control during play: “I prepped this combat encounter; they must fight!” By trusting Self 2, we can adapt to player decisions and let the story unfold by itself.

Non-Judgmental Observation

One of Gallwey’s key techniques is observing without judgment. In GMing, this means focusing on what is happening rather than what “should” happen. Ask yourself:

What are players doing now? (e.g., planning, roleplaying, rolling dice).
Where are characters, and what are their goals?
What motivates NPCs/monsters?

This approach reduces Self 1’s interference and allows Self 2 to process information intuitively. By observing non-judgmentally, you’ll notice subtle cues—like shifts in player engagement or table atmosphere—and adjust dynamically without conscious control.

Focus on Goals

Set overarching goals for your game and let Self 2 handle the details. For example, if your goal is to make player choices matter more, fix that in your mind but don’t force outcomes. Instead, ask yourself: “How does this current player choice impact the narrative?” By fixing the goal in our mind at the outset, then observing non-judgementally and trusting Self 2, we’ll subconsciously find ways to achieve our goals.

Practical Steps for the Inner Game of RPGs

Quieting Self 1

During play, listen non-judgmentally to players’ actions and focus on the breath to stay bring attention to the present moment.
When intrusive judgments arise, acknowledge them but gently redirect your focus to the present moment.

Shifting Perspective

See the game as something that unfolds on its own, rather than something you must control tightly. We’re just playing along!

Preparing for Self 2

Build flexible frameworks, like loose scene outlines instead of rigid scripts.
Craft tools for improvisation, such as random tables and modular ideas.

Conclusion

Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis offers a powerful framework for GMs: observe without judgment, trust your instincts, and let go of control. By empowering Self 2 and quieting Self 1, we can run games more responsively and fluidly, enhancing the experience for both us and our players. Trust your subconscious—the game will unfold as it’s meant to, often in ways you couldn’t have consciously planned.

Year in Review: Illusory Script 2024

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 10:00:00 GMT

As we close out 2024, it’s time to reflect on a year filled with articles, games, and creative collaborations. While not everything went exactly to plan, we made some great strides, had plenty of fun, and laid solid foundations for 2025. Let’s dive into the highlights!

Blog activity: regular articles

This year saw Illusory Script hit a steady stride with regular articles. We published 41 articles. In 2023 we published 39 articles! While we missed a few weeks here and there, it’s great to look back on that consistency. Here’s some of my favorite articles from 2024:

The number of articles is great, but more importantly, writing remains the most fun thing I do for Illusory Script. It’s where I can pick whatever topic interests me this week, and write a short piece about it. For 2025, writing will continue to be my main focus. That said, I can’t ignore the gaps: there were no YouTube videos this year and no guest articles. I’m hoping to get back on track with YouTube and invite some friends to contribute articles next year. Collaboration always sparks great new ideas.

Conclusion: Writing articles is here to stay. YouTube and guest posts? Let’s see what 2025 brings.

Publications: Secrets, NPCs, and lessons learned

This year’s big publication milestone was Secrets of the Betrayer, a co-designed product released on the DMsGuild. Alain and I spent months working on it, and the experience was incredibly enriching. One of the biggest takeaways? Playtesting is huge–there’s nothing like seeing your ideas in action to find out what works and what doesn’t.

We also put out smaller NPC products, and those turned out to be deeply rewarding. Smaller-scale projects let me publish quickly, and allow for focused creativity, but there’s no denying that cooperation brought its own rewards. Sharing ideas, learning from one another, and creating something bigger together was worth every moment.

Conclusion: More small products? Absolutely. Another co-op publication? Maybe! 2025 might see another co-design project…

Games run: Home game and beyond

Running D&D games continued to be the heart of my weekly D&D routine this year.

My public library game hit the 2-year mark! This year’s sessions included a Chessenta hexcrawl, a second run of Ruins of the Grendleroot, and a brand-new Feywild campaign that’s just getting started.
On the home front, we wrapped up a wild run through Planegea (look for an article on Planegea soon!) and are now deep into an Eberron campaign.
My annual weekend of D&D brought a homebrew campaign in the ocean world of Thalassia to life, a highlight of the year.
I also experimented with StartPlaying early in 2024, trying out paid online games. Unfortunately, it didn’t click for me. EU time zones made scheduling tough, and running games online just didn’t have the same spark.

Through it all, running games remains even more fun than writing about them. The plan for 2025? Stick with what works: 1-2 games per week, steady campaigns, and plenty of opportunities for players to dive into new worlds and stories.

Conclusion: The dice keep rolling, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Looking ahead

2024 was a year of creativity, consistency, and some valuable lessons learned. As we head into 2025, I’m doubling down on writing, leaning into what makes Illusory Script fun and rewarding. More articles, more games, and hopefully a few new experiments along the way. Here’s to another year of stories, collaborations, and games!

Out Now: Secrets of the Betrayer

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Check out Illusory Script’s newest adventure here: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/504170!

I’m excited to share something I’ve been working on during this last year, together with my friend, Alain Dunphy. We’ve written an adventure called Secrets of the Betrayer! It’s a 10th-level adventure and an expansion for Vecna: Eve of Ruin. However, it also works as a standalone adventure set in Tovag—the cursed Domain of Dread ruled by Kas the Betrayer.

Alain and I started this project in early 2024. We had previously run a game as co-DMs with great success. Now, with Secrets of the Betrayer, we set out to fix the rough transition between chapters 1 and 2 in Eve of Ruin.

The adventure begins with a battlefield in chaos, leads to branching paths full of tough choices, and ends with a brutal showdown against a simulacrum of Kas. We poured a lot of time into creating memorable encounters and a custom boss that’s challenging even for 10th-level parties.

And Secrets of the Betrayer is now out as a gorgeous PDF! It’s filled with custom art that really brings Tovag to life—bleak, twisted, and filled with danger. Seeing everything come together has been incredibly satisfying.

Highlights of Secrets of the Betrayer

A Battlefield Start

The adventure throws the players right into the chaos of a battlefield of undead carnage. There’s no slow build-up—they’re in the thick of it from the start, and getting out alive is the first challenge.

Page 6 of 42

Two Paths to Doomtooth Fortress

One of my favorite parts of the design: the players get to choose how they travel across Tovag. There are two routes to get to the fortress of Kas, and each comes with its own set of challenges and rewards. One is more combat-heavy, the other requires puzzle-solving and careful navigation. And the players have to choose!

The Final Battle

At the end of it all, the party faces Kas’s simulacrum. The simulacrum is a custom boss monster we had a lot of fun designing. The final battle is a tough fight with some twists to keep players on their toes. And it’s meant to feel like a fitting climax to everything they’ve been through. Here’s the stat block for the simulacrum:

Page 34 of 42

Run it Your Way!

You might be running Vecna: Eve of Ruin and want a smoother story. Or you’re looking for a one-shot that throws your players into a dark and brutal adventure. In either case, I think, Secrets of the Betrayer will deliver. I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I hope it brings as much excitement to your table as it did to Alain and I while designing it.

Check it out here: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/504170

Magic Item Shops: To Shop or Not to Shop?

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Magic item shops can be a divisive topic in tabletop RPGs, with strong opinions on both sides. Should our campaigns feature a shop where adventurers can exchange their hard-earned gold for magical gear, or should magic items be treasures found only in the wilds of our worlds? Let’s weigh the pros and cons before diving into some practical tips for inclusing magic item shops in our campaigns.

The case for magic item shops

Player expectations: Some players, particularly those coming from video games, might expect shopping for magic items in a tabletop RPG. It’s an easy way for them to plan upgrades and feel a sense of agency over their gear.

Recurring NPCs: A magic shop provides a great opportunity for a memorable and recurring NPC, like the fabulous magic item shop keeper Gilmore from Critical Role. A charming, quirky, or even sinister shopkeeper can become an endearing NPC for the characters to return to over the course of the campaign.

Custom magic items: Shops make it simple to introduce custom magic items tailored to your campaign or characters without relying solely on treasure.

Coin sink: Characters often amass substantial amounts of gold, especially at higher levels. Magic shops can provide a way to spend that wealth, preventing characters from hoarding coin without purpose.

The case against magic item shops

Shopping takes time: Prolonged and repeated episodes of shopping can be time-consuming and may disrupt the pacing of our game.

Incentive for adventure: If magic items can be bought, adventurers might question why they’re delving into dungeons and risking their lives for treasure.

Too many magic items: Allowing easy access to magic items can lead to characters becoming overpowered or players becoming overwhelmed with too many options on their character sheets.

Preparation time: Coming up with unique and interesting inventory lists takes valuable prep time that could be spent elsewhere.

Tips for magic item shops

If we do decide to include magic item shops in a campaign, here are some thoughts on how to alleviate some of the downsides mentioned above:

Impermanent shops: Consider making the shop temporary or mobile. For example, a young bronze dragon might travel the realm to sell treasures. This lets us control when players can shop and when they need to earn items through adventuring.

Randomize inventories: Use random generators (like Donjon’s Magic Item Shop Generator) to save prep time and keep things fresh. Generating inventory randomly might surprise the players and us with unforeseen magic items.

Side quests: Turn shopping into gameplay. For instance, a shopkeeper or enchanter might need rare components to craft specific items, sending the characters on a mini-adventure.

Session Zero: Establish in a session zero whether magic item shops exist in this campaign. That way, players can set their expectations for magic items in the campaign.

Magic item shops to fit your game

Magic item shops are neither inherently good nor bad. Like most things in tabletop RPGs, their value depends on how well they fit our campaign and our players’ expectations. I don’t tend to use them in my campaigns because of the reasons outlined above, but I have included that bronze dragon magic item trader. As a mobile magic item shop and recurring friendly NPC, it was a great success. Think about what kind of magic item shops (if any) fit your game!

Monster Roles

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Sometimes we want a tactical combat challenge for our players. A core technique of making encounters more tactical is thinking about monster roles: single words describing the tactical function of monsters, like artillery, controller, skirmisher, and brute.

Different monster roles

Different games use slightly different sets of monster roles. Overall, however, they all have the same six tactical functions, with additional special roles like solo and minions. Here’s an overview of roles in 4th Edition D&D, Forge of Foes, Flee Mortals!, and League of Legends. (Though a PvP game, League’s champion classes reflect similar tactical principles!)

Source	Controller	Artillery	Skirmisher	Brute	Soldier	Ambusher	Leader	Solo	Minions
4e	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	Lurker	✓	✓ and Elite	✓
Forge of Foes	✓	✓	✓	Bruiser	Defender	✓	✓	✓ and Boss	✓ and Underlings
Flee Mortals!	✓ (and Support)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓ and Companion, Retainer
League of Legends	✓ (Enchanter, Catcher)	✓ (Mage)	Slayer (Skirmisher)	Fighter (Juggernaut, Diver)	Tank (Vanguard, Warden)	Slayer (Assassin)

Note: I’ve grouped some roles by similar tactics. League of Legends includes subroles (in brackets) which break down tactical differences further. Support is unique to Flee Mortals! but many of its tactical features are fulfilled by controllers in other publications

The simplest monster roles

Some roles seem to come up more often in combat encounters: artillery, controller, skirmisher, and brute are probably the most common in my games. And in fact, any combination of two of these can create unique challenges. For example, giant spider soldiers rush into melee while drow artillery attack from a distance.

To simplify further, every encounter can think about just melee and ranged monsters—frontline and backline roles. This two-role model is easy to improvise. Frontline monsters lock down characters in melee while backline monsters attack or support from afar.

Spice things up with terrain! Elevation and cover add depth. Picture spiders trapping the party in a chokepoint of webs while drow snipe from the ceiling!

What cool tactical challenges can you come up with using only frontline, backline, cover, and elevation?

The dial of tactics

Monster roles are just one tool in our DM kit. Use them flexibly! Some encounters run on story rather than tactics, while big set-piece battles might benefit from intricate role combinations. Monster roles (and tactics in general) are a dial we can adjust to suit the moment. Use monster roles to inspire your game!

Lessons from Ruins of the Grendleroot

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Having just wrapped up my second campaign running Ruins of the Grendleroot by Mike Shea, I can confidently say it’s my favorite published campaign. The setting of Blackclaw Mountain is made for classic adventuring and brings a thrilling mix of cosmic horror and high fantasy to the table. In addition, the adventures in Ruins of the Grendleroot hold valuable lessons for us as Dungeon Masters and adventure designers. Whether you’re a DM looking to run great games or an aspiring adventure writer, there’s a lot to learn here.

Location-based, single-session adventures

Each adventure in Ruins of the Grendleroot revolves around a specific location, like an ancient underwater temple, a village of zombie gnomes, or a forest of iron. This focus around a location gives players agency to explore and approach it however they see fit. This design allows for a player-driven adventure while keeping prep of a single location manageable for the DM. As I have argued before, focusing on single-session adventures can lead to more streamlined, engaging, and coherent games.

The variety of adventure types is another strength of Ruins of the Grendleroot. One session might see the party defending a village, the next retrieving a powerful artifact, and another stopping an ancient ritual. The shifts of adventure models keep the campaign fresh while maintaining a cohesive tone.

Pacing with optional encounters

Optional encounters are an effective tool for managing pacing. Need to slow things down or add tension? Introduce an extra encounter. Ready to wrap things up? Skip an encounter. Ruins of the Grendleroot makes this easy for us DMs. Encounters will be marked as optional, allowing us to adapt the adventure on the fly to the time we have.

In general, this shows us how important it is not to hang on too tightly to encounters. As DMs, we should always be ready to drop or add encounters to facilitate the flow of the game.

Clear hooks and goals

Each adventure in Ruins of the Grendleroot starts with a clear hook and a well-defined goal. The stakes are made clear by NPCs in the beginning of an adventure, and the characters receive concise quests for each adventure. This clarity makes it easy for players to stay focused and invested in the adventure’s outcome.

What can we learn from this? Don’t be too complicated. Keep hooks and goals simple. Strong hooks simplify our job as DMs while giving players a reason to care about the adventure.

Practical tips to enhance Ruins of the Grendleroot

If you’re running Ruins of the Grendleroot (or any campaign, really), here are two tips to enhance your sessions:

Hand out character secrets beforehand. We can come up with a secret for each character which ties the character to the current adventure. This adds personal stakes, deepening the motivation of individual characters.
Customize magic items. The adventures don’t have a ton of magic weapons and armor. It’s worth our time to come up with custom magic weapons, spellcasting focuses, or armor to tie loot to individual characters.

Run Ruins of the Grendleroot!

Ruins of the Grendleroot is fantastic, and I highly recommend running the adventures therein. But beyond delivering exciting adventures, we can learn from the book as well. By focusing on locations, remaining flexible with encounters, and providing clear and strong motivations, we can run better games and design better adventures.

You can buy Ruins of the Grendleroot here: https://shop.slyflourish.com/products/fantastic-adventures-ruins-of-the-grendleroot-pdf-map-pack.

Help, My Boss Got One-Shot!

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 10:00:00 GMT

It’s the boss battle of the adventure: Our players face the big bad boss they’ve been chasing for sessions. We’ve prepared meticulously—an action-packed stat block, the perfect lair, environmental hazards to up the stakes. Roll initiative! The players go first. A paladin steps up, lands a critical hit, pours in a smite, and… the boss dies before they even get a turn.

For us DMs, moments like this can be a bit of a letdown. We spent time and effort setting up an epic battle, only for the boss to go down before it even starts. So, what can we do in this situation? Let’s explore some options.

Option 1: Let It Happen

One approach is to let the boss’s instant death stand. After all, it’s a high point for the players and makes them feel powerful. There’s satisfaction in knowing their characters can take down a dangerous enemy just like that. However, this shouldn’t happen too often. The occasional one-shot is memorable, but we want boss battles to feel epic and challenging at the end of an adventure.

Option 2: Empower the Lieutenants

Okay, the boss is dead. What now? If we still want to give our players a challenging encounter, we could boost the boss’s allies. Increase their HP, add extra attacks and damage to make the combat a challenge even with the boss dead. Here’s a dirty trick: Give one of the lieutenants the boss’s stat block. Maybe a loyal lieutenant or an ambitious underling steps up, seizing the opportunity to become the new leader. This can keep the tension high but it also takes away some of the players agency.

Option 3: Trigger a New Combat Stage

Instead of letting the battle end, we can use the boss’s death as a trigger for a new phase in the combat. When the spider queen falls, maybe dozens of smaller spiders begin to swarm from the walls. This type of shift keeps the encounter dynamic, and gives the players new challenges after they’ve defeated the boss.

Aftermath: Reflect and Adjust

Whatever we do, after a boss got one-shot, we should reflect on the encounter’s difficulty. If players tend to one-shot bosses more often, it might be time to increase the base line difficulty for our encounters. Are the characters wielding powerful magic items or combining strong abilities? One option to raise the difficulty is to treat the party as if they’re one level higher when balancing encounter difficulty.

Tips for Boss Survival

To avoid one-shots in future boss battles, here are a few strategies to keep bosses on their feet (and our players on theirs):

Add More Monsters: Shield the boss with golems or other minions who intercept attackers.
Defensive Actions: Add reactions or legendary actions to help bosses stay alive between turns.
Damage Sharing: Use creatures or objects, like magical pillars, that absorb part of the damage dealt to the boss, forcing players to either destroy them or focus on the boss.
Illusory Duplicate or Clone: Add a magical duplicate or clone of the boss to soak some of the characters’ abilities. Use this sparingly, however, as it can be frustrating if players feel like they’ve wasted resources on a fake boss.

Conclusion

A boss battle can be the most thrilling part of any campaign, and while it’s occasionally fun for players to drop a boss with a single blow, we also want to keep these fights epic and memorable. With a few tricks up our sleeves, we can balance letting the players feel powerful while keeping the climactic fights challenging and engaging.

D&D Combat Descriptions to Narrate Exciting Battles

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Combat descriptions as a Dungeon Master are all about balance. Too much detail can stall the flow of combat, and pull the focus away from the actions of the characters. Too little detail, and a battle can feel like nothing but numbers and dice rolls. So how do we effectively narrate D&D combat?

There are three recurring key moments during combat, at which we can strategically place our combat descriptions: the start of the encounter, the start of each round, and between player turns.

1. Start of the encounter

We set the tone for the fight with a strong opening description. Establish the scene, emphasize environmental features, any hazards, and the placement of enemies. We can also include the enemies’ motivations—do they look like they’re here to kill, capture, or intimidate? This doesn’t just build atmosphere; it gives players context for their first turn. Are they up against mercenaries out for blood or guards hesitant to use lethal force? The players’ choices might change with a clearer picture of the enemy’s intent.

2. Top of each round

At the beginning of each new round, we set up the action of that round. Sometimes, a ‘dramatic question’ can describe how the situation has evolved. Has a new threat emerged? Are there wounded allies? We can keep this summary short, as long as we make the stakes clear. For example: »With two allies down, and the enemy necromancer vanishing into thin air, do you press the chase or help the fallen?« This reminds players of the overall scene, giving them a moment to consider the action of the next round.

3. Between turns

After each player’s turn, we can summarize their actions in a way that impacts the next player in initiative. Instead of describing every move in detail, here too, we keep it concise and engaging. For instance, at the end of the fighter’s turn, we can describe a transition from the fighter to the next character: »The fighter charges past the wizard, slashing down the orc in front of him with one brutal strike… but the remaining orcs, now furious, are closing in, snarling.« This keeps intiative moving and lets players feel their character’s influence on the battlefield.

A few more tips for combat descriptions

Resolve, then describe: Instead of describing every move as it happens, we can resolve the mechanics first, then summarize. This way, players can take their full turns without interruptions and we can move on to the transition description.
Describe from the character’s perspective: View the world through the characters’ eyes. Rather than an objective »the fireball detonates and kills six orcs,« we can go for »you feel the searing heat of the explosion as orcs are blown back.«
Give players the last word: Whenever possible, let players have a say in how their attacks land or how they finish off an enemy. Prompt them with, »What does your eldritch blast look like?« or »Describe your killing blow.« Whenever possible, we can transition to the next turn not with us, the DM, closing the player’s turn, but with them having the last word themselves.
Dialogue: We can add a few moments of dialogue or reactions. For example, on initiative 0 or during enemy turns. A foe might sneer, “Is that all you’ve got?” or mutter a final curse. These moments can add a cinematic edge to the combat without halting the action.

Narrating combat can be tough. We’re already focused on the rules of the game, and often think less about our descriptions of the battle. Choose the right moments for descriptions, and think deliberately about how we narrate combat, and run smooth, vivid, and engaging combats as a result.

Every D&D Session Is a One-Shot

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 10:00:00 GMT

As Dungeon Masters, we think of one-shots as isolated games with a beginning, middle, and end—a complete story packed into a single session. But what if we approach every session with this mindset? Even in epic campaigns, adopting a ‘one-shot mindset’ can lead to more engaging, satisfying gameplay—each session a self-contained adventure that prioritizes the experience during the session over the broader campaign.

Why think of every session as a one-shot?

A one-shot mindset aims to make each session feel like a full, coherent story. When we think of every session as a one-shot, we focus on delivering a complete arc in each session. In this way, sessions become more than just stepping stones toward a distant campaign climax; they are rewarding, engaging experiences in themselves, full of dramatic beats, tensions, and resolutions that land each time we get together to play. It’s like watching an episode of a great Netflix series where each episode has its own story, even while contributing to a larger narrative arc.

How to run a session with the one-shot mindset

Adopting a one-shot mindset involves structuring each session with a strong beginning, middle, and end. Here’s one way how to put it into practice:

The Beginning – Whether it’s a dramatic scene, a call to action, or an in-media-res opening, a strong start grabs players’ attention and sets the stakes for the session.
The Middle – Think of ‘upward and downward beats’, where tension rises and falls. There are moments where the characters succeed, and moments where they are set back. These ‘beats’ help maintain the pacing and give players a sense of progression within the session.
The End – Keeping an eye on the clock, we can aim for a satisfying wrap-up or cliffhanger. Even if you don’t resolve every thread, try to end on a scene or reveal that gives the session a sense of closure, signaling to players that they have achieved something (or that something big is yet to come).

(Johnn Four’s 5 Room Dungeon is a different take on this structure based on the five acts of classical narratives).

Different mindsets: One-Shot vs. Procedural vs. Epic Campaign

The mindset we adopt as a DM regarding individual sessions, will change the D&D experience significantly. A procedural mindset might lead to open-ended sessions where events unfold naturally, led by player agency and random encounters, for example in a hex crawl. Here, the DM takes a more neutral, hands-off approach, prioritizing exploration and unpredictability over tight dramatic arcs.

An epic campaign mindset, on the other hand, emphasizes long-term plot arcs and world-building, with each session serving as a chapter within a much grander story. With epic campaigns, the DM focuses on story beats that may take several sessions to reach a conclusion, not necessarily leading to self-contained adventures within a session.

Why the one-shot mindset works for me

Personally, I find that the one-shot mindset creates more engaging sessions, especially with players who prefer tight, narrative-driven games. For my groups, this approach leads to better focus, likely because we’re all accustomed to serialized storytelling formats. As a player, I also feel more engaged, when the DM has a one-shot mindset, perhaps because each session’s arc feels complete, and I get a sense of accomplishment in each session.

Choosing the right mindset for you

Reflect on the mindset with which you approach your sessions. Are you leaning toward an epic, overarching campaign focus? Do you let player agency and randomness dictate the game’s flow without aiming for a session-specific arc? Or do you structure each session as a one-shot for a more contained story?

No mindset is universally better—each can create great games. However, understanding which type of mindset resonates with you, your group, and your specific campaign’s tone can help you run better sessions.

Create Custom Magic Items for D&D Characters

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Custom Magic Items for D&D Characters

Creating unique magic items for player characters is a great way to enhance engagement in our D&D campaigns. Custom magic items not only provide mechanical benefits but also deepen the connection between players and their characters. Here’s how we can approach crafting custom magic items that elevate the players’ experience.

Tailored to the Character

When designing magic items, we consider each character’s role, their key stats, and what kinds of things the player likes to do during combat. Here’s some ideas for the kinds of items that work well for particular classes:

Clerics (and spellcasting Paladins): Custom holy symbols with bonuses to spell attack, and spell save DCs with unique features tied to their domain or oath.
Bards, Druids, Sorcerers, Wizards: Spellcasting focuses that provide boosts to spell attacks and spell save DC with magical features or additional spells.
Warlocks: Modified rods of the pact keeper with pact-specific abilities.
Martial Classes (Barbarians, Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues): Signature weapons with bonuses to attack rolls and unique combat maneuvers or out-of-combat utility.
Artificers: Versatile all-purpose tools with additional spells and/or tinkering features.

Ask for magic item preferences in Session Zero

We can start by asking players in a Session Zero what kinds of magic items they envision for their characters. Don’t ask for specific items, just for general interests, like weapons, armor, or items that grant versatility. This gives us insight into the players’ preferences. And it allows us to align the treasure we hand out around the characters. By listening to the players’ ideas, we can create custom magic items which are balanced and thematic, and which fit the vision players’ have of their characters.

Plan and Upgrade

We can keep things dynamic by upgrading these items in stages over the course of our campaign. For example, we can grant enhancements for items when characters complete quests in different tiers of play. Here’s some example item stats which are appropriate for the different tiers of play:

Tier 1: A +1 bonus to a key stat (attack, AC, spell attack and spell save DC) along with an ability that ties into the character’s backstory or archetype.
Tier 2: Improve an existing feature or add a new one.
Tier 3: Increase to a +2 bonus.
Tier 4: Maximize to a +3 bonus and introduce a powerful final ability.

Example Custom Magic Items

Here are some examples to illustrate how these upgrades might look in practice:

Tier 1: A +1 Holy Symbol of the Traveler, allowing the character to use an action to allow allies within 30 feet to teleport a short distance.
Tier 2: A +1 Wizard’s Wand that provides limited uses of protection spells such as armor of agathys, shield, and counterspell.
Tier 3: A +2 Longbow with an elemental infusion that lets the wielder imbue arrows with fire or ice, dealing extra damage.
Tier 4: A +3 Greataxe that enhances rage, enabling a Barbarian to roll additional damage dice while raging.

Inspiration

For inspiration, we can look to sources like Nybor’s Tome of Enchantments, which has versatile enchantments to customize items. Or we can steal features from class abilities, or add spells to items which can then be cast once per Long Rest.

By combining numerical bonuses with custom features, we can craft magic items that uniquely fit an individual character. We can listen to the players’ preferences, plan the progression of unique magic items, and help the characters develop in unique ways.

»It's My Turn ALREADY!?« - Faster D&D Combat

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 10:00:00 GMT

When combat drags, it pulls players out of the flow of the game. What we want is for our players to think, “It’s my turn already!?” instead of “Finally, it’s my turn again.” Each combat round represents just six seconds in-game, so it shouldn’t take half an hour at the table. Keeping combat quick and engaging is essential for maintaining good pacing in our sessions. Here’s a few tips for running faster D&D combat rounds.

Keep the DM’s Turn Short

As Dungeon Masters, our turns are the one aspect of combat we fully control. The goal is efficiency without losing the excitement.

Average Damage: Rolling for every monster’s attack can slow things down. Instead, using the average damage listed in the stat block keeps things moving. For critical hits, we simply double that value. Quick and easy.
Simplify the Encounter: Having one complex monster with interesting abilities provides enough tactical depth. The other creatures in the fight can be simpler, straightforward attackers. This reduces the decision-making burden on us and keeps the combat from bogging down.
Streamlined Hordes: Running large numbers of monsters can slow our turns down. But sometimes, we want to have the players face an army of 200 skeletons. In that case, I recommend something like the encounter damage tally and Mike Shea’s Horde Rules. They are easy to remember and help us run large numbers of monsters smoothly.

Keeping Player Turns Snappy

While we can’t directly control how long our players take, there are ways we can set them up for faster, more focused turns.

Brief Descriptions: At the start of each player’s turn, a quick overview of the situation suffices. Then we adjudicate the actions the player is taking as efficiently as possible. At the end of their turn, we summarize how the situation has changed and use this summary to transition to the next player. Describing every movement or attack in detail can actually take us out of the action.
On-Deck Players: Calling out who’s next keeps players attentive and gives them time to think ahead. It also helps prevent the dreaded, “Wait, what’s happening again?” as they can stay engaged while the current player is resolving their actions.
Silent Pressure: If a player starts to slow down, there’s no need to rush them verbally. Simply waiting quietly creates its own sense of urgency without breaking focus. The silence alone can be a subtle nudge to speed things along.

When we keep the pace brisk, combat becomes a fast and fun experience. With these small adjustments, we’re more likely to hear that coveted, “It’s my turn already?!” from our players.

Minimal Game Prep for Numenera (and other RPGs)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Minimal game preparation guide

When it comes to running a role-playing game, preparation is seen as essential. Many game masters spend hours crafting detailed maps, fleshing out intricate NPCs, and designing challenging encounters. However, some games, like Numenera, challenge this traditional approach by advocating for minimal game preparation. This method focuses on jotting down a few bullet points for potential scenes and creating a list of weird elements that capture the game’s unique science-fantasy flavor. The rest is left to improvisation.

For many GMs, especially those accustomed to meticulous planning, this minimalist approach can feel daunting. Yet, if we embrace it, minimal prep can become a powerful tool that forces us to think on our feet and improvise more effectively during the game.

A list of scenes

One of the key components of minimal prep in Numenera is creating a list of potential scenes. This isn’t a rigid script that dictates the session’s events but rather a flexible guide that offers a sense of direction.

Potential scenes: The scenes we jot down are merely suggestions, not mandates. We should be ready to throw them out if the story takes a different turn. This approach keeps us open to the unexpected and allows the players’ actions to shape the narrative.
Character goals and options: Including an overview of the characters’ goals and the options available to them in these scenes helps us stay aligned with the players’ motivations. This way, the game remains focused on what matters most to the characters.

By outlining potential scenes, we give ourselves a roadmap, but one that allows for detours and new discoveries along the way.

A list of weird things

In Numenera, »the weird« is central to the game’s atmosphere. The rulebook suggests creating a list of weird things—bizarre, mysterious elements that we can drop into the game. These weird elements help us create the game’s unique science-fantasy feel.

Tools for improvisation: The weird elements can be strange NPCs, bizarre locations, or confusing monsters and items. During the game, we keep the list handy to infuse weirdness into a scene by dropping one of these elements in front of the characters.
Weird mindset: The list of weird things gets us into a specific mindset, one that blends futuristic science fiction with ancient fantasy aesthetics. By preparing a few strange, unexpected elements, we ensure that the game maintains the science-fantasy vibe that Numenera is known for.

This list serves as a wellspring of inspiration, helping us inject that specific science-fantasy weirdness into our Numenera game. But what if we don’t play Numenera? Is there something to be learned from this kind of preparation for other RPGs?

Applying minimal prep to other RPGs

The minimalist prep approach isn’t exclusive to Numenera. It can be a refreshing and effective method for running any role-playing game, including more traditional ones like Dungeons & Dragons. Here’s some potential benefits of preparing for a RPG like D&D with just a list of potential scenes, and a collection of »weird« (or fantastic) elements:

Improvisation skills: Minimal preparation forces us to improvise at the table, responding to the players in real time. While this might be challenging at first, it’s a skill that improves with practice. Over time, we’ll become more comfortable with improvising, leading to more dynamic, spontaneous, and even character-focused gameplay.
Weird, fantastic, science-fiction: In other games, »weird« might not be the flavor we’re looking to evoke. For D&D, we can come up with a list of fantastic elements instead. For a science-fiction RPG, it might be science-fiction elements, and for a noir detective RPG noir elements.
Try it out: If you’re used to heavy prep, try running a Dungeons & Dragons game with just a list of potential scenes and a few fantastic elements. You might find that this approach not only saves time but also leads to a more flexible and engaging game.

The benefits of minimal prep

Minimal game preparation might seem intimidating, especially if we’re accustomed to detailed planning. However, by embracing a minimalist approach—creating a simple list of potential scenes and flavorful elements—we can unlock a more improvisational, responsive style of gameplay. This method doesn’t just save time; it also encourages us to stay flexible, allowing the story to unfold in unexpected ways. Over time, minimal prep not only enhances our skills as a GM but also leads to more dynamic sessions that keep both us and our players on the edge of our seats.

Open Milestones: How to Level Up

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Open milestone leveling

Usually in D&D campaigns, the exact moment when characters will level up often remains a mystery to the players. This uncertainty can create an awkward dynamic, with players frequently asking, “Do we level up now?” Sometimes after every session. But what if we flipped the script? By making the milestones of milestone leveling open and transparent, we can empower players to take control of their character progression and the campaign’s story.

Let players take charge of character advancement

When players know exactly what they need to do to level up, it can fundamentally change their approach to the game. Instead of passively waiting for the DM to announce that they’ve gained a level, they can strategize and make decisions that align with their goals. Simply knowing which milestone will let them level up, makes a big difference. Nothing has really changed, but to the players it can feel like the control over character advancement no longer lies solely with the DM.

Players advancing the story

Open milestones do more than just clarify progression—they actively encourage players to drive the narrative toward those milestones. When players understand what needs to happen for them to advance, they become our collaborators in storytelling. They’re encouraged to push the plot forward, tackle key challenges, and engage with the game world in a goal-oriented manner.

With transparent milestones, players control the pace of their characters’ progression. Knowing the path to the next level allows them to decide how fast or slow they want to get there. They can choose to take on additional side quests, and linger in scenes. Or they can focus directly on the next milestone, ignoring distractions. The choice is in the players hands, and with open milestones, they know the impact of their decisions on character advancement.

Player-created milestones

This approach works seamlessly whether we’re running a published adventure or a homebrew campaign. If we’re using a published adventure, we can make the milestones from that adventure clear to the players. Alternatively, we can pick up on the players’ own goals and desires, and announce milestones tied to these goals. (As suggested by Matt Colville in his video on rewards.) For example, a character who seeks revenge against a nemesis might level up upon defeating that foe, or a group might gain a level after forming an alliance with a faction they’re interested in.

Beyond leveling

This principle doesn’t have to be limited to leveling. We can apply it to other rewards, such as acquiring magic items, gaining a new feat, or even story rewards such as gaining renown or acquiring a home base. By making these rewards transparent, we empower players, giving them clear goals to work toward and enhancing their sense of ownership over the story.

Collaborative character advancement

Open milestones transform the leveling process from a DM-controlled event into a collaborative journey. By giving players a clear understanding of how and when they will progress, we invite them to become our collaborators in creating the narrative.

How To Start and Run a Public D&D Game

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Running a public D&D game is an excellent way to meet new people, improve our DM skills, and build a consistent, weekly game. Whether we’re new to DMing or looking to expand our horizons, hosting a game in a public setting offers an exciting opportunity to grow as a DM while creating a welcoming space for our local community. The process might seem daunting at first, but with a clear plan and a bit of preparation, a public D&D game can be an extremely rewarding experience.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to get started:

1. Just Do It!

The most important step is starting. It might feel intimidating at first, but running D&D for strangers is one of the most effective ways to refine our skills, as every player brings a unique playstyle and fresh ideas. A public game will challenge us and help us improve our DMing skills, especially when it comes to running a more adaptable game.

2. Find a Location

A good public venue is crucial for drawing in players and keeping the game consistent. Libraries are a fantastic option because they often host community events and appreciate the attention a D&D game can bring. Many libraries will offer rooms for free. Alternatively, local gaming stores might have a dedicated space for tabletop games, and they can help promote the game through their customer base.

3. Set a Starting Date

We should pick a date even before we have everything fully planned out. Without a set deadline, it’s easy to push things into the future indefinitely. Choosing a date around two weeks away is ideal—it gives us enough time to gather players and prepare the basics without overcomplicating things. Mark it on the calendar and commit to that time frame.

4. Advertise the Game

Once we have a date and location, it’s time to get the word out. A simple flyer works wonders; it doesn’t need to be fancy, just clear. Include the game details, location, time, and a way for interested players to contact you—whether it’s through email, social media, or a QR code. We can leave these flyers at libraries, game stores, or even local cafes. An online post in local gaming groups or forums can also help gather players quickly.

5. Pick an Adventure

Choosing the right adventure is key. A short, low-level adventure is ideal for public games, as it allows new players to jump in without feeling overwhelmed. Ruins of the Grendleroot by SlyFlourish is an excellent choice. It provides a classic D&D experience packed with ways for players to shape the story. The campaign even comes with pregenerated characters, which can speed up the session zero, and help new players get into the game.

6. Run a Session Zero

Once we have a list of players, it’s time to get started! A session zero helps us and our players set expectations, get comfortable, and ensure everyone’s on the same page. During this session, we can introduce the adventure, go over any house rules, and explain key game concepts to new players. Pregenerated characters can help immensely, especially players who are new to D&D—sites like D&D Beyond offer plenty of options, and Grendleroot includes them, saving us valuable prep time.

7. Be Consistent

Public games tend to have fluctuating player attendance, but our consistency is key. As long as we keep showing up every week, players will feel more confident about joining and sticking with the game. New players will trickle in over time, and it’s important to let them join when an opening comes up, even mid-campaign. A flexible approach keeps the game fresh and accessible, building a strong community over time.

Final Tip: Don’t Overthink It

Running public D&D games has given me a lot: new friendships, a regular game, and the freedom to experiment with new RPG ideas. The key is to dive in and enjoy the ride—every session is a learning experience, and the benefits far outweigh any initial nerves you might feel.

2024 D&D Rule Change: One Spell Slot Per Turn

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 14 Sep 2024 10:00:00 GMT

On a turn, you can expend only one spell slot to cast a spell.

from the D&D 2024 5th Edition Free Rules

This new rule limits how many spells a character can cast in one turn. Only one spell slot per turn. This rule is much clearer than the convoluted rules governing Bonus Action spells in 2014 D&D. But how will it change play? What are the consequences of this rule change? And should we incorporate it into our ongoing games?

2014 D&D vs. 2024 D&D: What’s different?

In 2014 D&D, when a character casts a Bonus Action spell, the only other spell they can cast is a cantrip with a casting time of one action. Now, in effect, that’s not very different than the new 2024 rule. Both rules mean a character can only cast one »leveled« spell (any spell that requires a spell slot) per turn. But the first significant difference in the clarity of the rule. The simplicity of »one spell slot per turn« is easy to remember, and less likely to lead to rules discussions at the table.

Reaction spells (counterspell, shield)

However, there are some mechanical consequences to this new phrasing in 2024 D&D. First, the rule means that a character cannot cast a leveled spell with the casting time of a Reaction on their turn if they have cast another leveled spell before. The wizard can no longer counterspell the counterspell that the NPC mage cast against them. Because that would require two spell slots in a turn: the spell the wizard cast, and the counterspell they are casting afterwards.

The same goes for shield: The wizard might cast fireball and then try to move away from an enemy. Now they can no longer cast shield against the attack of opportunity because they’ve already cast the fireball.

In my opinion, that’s not a bad consequence. Again, it makes the rules easier: one spell slot per turn. No counterspelling counterspells no shielding opportunity attacks. Once you’ve cast a leveled spell, your magic is spent for the turn.

Action Surge

Previously, characters could still cast two leveled spells if they had the Action Surge feature of the fighter. Because the 2014 rule only concerned spells cast as a Bonus Action, two spells cast as an Action were allowed. Now 2024 D&D allows one spell slot per turn — no Action Surge double-casting.

Again, this makes the game simpler, and more approachable. We won’t see expert players outperform the new players at the table because the expert has taken two levels of fighter on their sorcerer so that they could cast two fireballs in one turn. Once again, in my opinion, this makes the game more streamlined, easier to understand, and more focused on the story.

Onboarding this rule into our ongoing games

This is one of those rules from 2024 5th Edition D&D which we can quickly and easily onboard into our ongoing 5th Edition games. It doesn’t vastly change the mechanics of spellcasting from 2014 D&D. The new rule is just simpler, more elegant. It does have some consequences for Reaction spells and multiclassing. But again, the new rule makes these aspects of the game more intuitive, more easily explained, less prone to argumentation.

In the spirit of gradually onboarding 2024 D&D, I am going to take this rule into my ongoing games, right now. Will you?

Embracing Uncertainty in D&D Campaigns

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Embracing uncertainty

As Dungeon Masters, we often feel the pressure to meticulously plan every detail of our campaigns. We might want to plot the characters’ path stretching tens of sessions into the future. However, this approach can become a straitjacket, constraining not only our creativity but also the players’ agency. Instead, let’s explore a different approach—one that embraces uncertainty and flexibility in our D&D games, allowing the story to change and develop in response to the players’ actions.

Thinking 2 horizons out

Sly Flourish’s concept of »Thinking 2 Horizons Out« offers a practical framework for this mindset. It encourages us to focus on two key timeframes: the immediate session (the first horizon) and the session or two after that (the second horizon). By concentrating on these two timeframes, we stay nimble. Two-horizon thinking lets us adapt and improvise based on what happens at the table.

Horizon 1: This is all about the next session. Where do the characters start? What can they discover? Which challenges do they face right now? This focus keeps us grounded in the present, ensuring that the next game we’re running is relevant and engaging.

Horizon 2: This is where we start thinking about what might happen after the next session. However, this is a space for options rather than concrete planning. Which choice will the players face at the end of the next session? Which diverging paths lie in front of them?

Embrace the unknown

Beyond these two horizons lies the unknown—a realm where we as DMs don’t need to have clear answers. The details can remain nebulous, ready to be shaped by the unfolding narrative. Did a powerful magic weapon fall into the players’ hands? Who forged it? Why was it abandoned? The truth can shift based on the story’s needs, keeping both you and your players on your toes.

Similarly, an NPC might have vanished without a trace. We don’t need to know exactly where this NPC went or why. Let the players’ actions guide the resolution. Perhaps they’ll enter a dungeon, and we could use a prisoner the party finds in there. We hadn’t considered this when the NPC first disappeared but now their appearance in the dungeon makes for an exciting callback for the players.

The joy of not knowing

This approach requires a shift in mindset. It’s about letting go of the need to control every aspect of the narrative and trusting that the story will unfold in a way that’s satisfying for everyone involved. Our role as a DM is to facilitate the players’ journey, not dictate it. Keeping our focus on the immediate, allows the near future to remain fluid, and let the distant future remain a mystery even to us.

By embracing uncertainty in D&D, we not only reduce our own prep time and stress, but we also create a richer, more dynamic world where the players’ actions truly matter. The campaign becomes a living thing, growing and changing in ways that even we, the DM, can’t fully predict. To me, this makes the game more exciting not only for the players but for myself! I get to discover what happens in the story together with the players!

Onboarding 2024 Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (2024 D&D 5e)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 10:00:00 GMT

With the release of the 2024 Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) 5th Edition rules on the horizon, we can start considering whether and how to make the switch to the updated system. There’s the excitement of the new rules, there’s the complications of a gradual transition, and there’s a way to onboard D&D step by step. Here’s some quick thoughts on how I approach these new rules and decide what’s right for my table.

Why consider the change?

The 2024 edition offers a lot to be excited about. It brings fresh updates that could enhance our existing 5e games. For example, the changes to exhaustion, surprise mechanics, and casting bonus action spells could streamline gameplay. These updates aren’t overwhelmingly complex, and they might improve the game we’re already playing.

Potential problems of 2024 D&D

However, there are valid concerns about making the switch. First and foremost, there’s the cost of new rulebooks. Some of us have already invested heavily in the 2014 content. Asking our players to purchase new materials might not be well-received. Additionally, while the new rules may give experienced players more exciting and more powerful character options, they also introduce new layers of complexity. They might make creating a character harder for new players. And a 2024 player character might easily overshadow a 2014 player character at the same table.

A gradual approach

Rather than making an immediate, wholesale switch to D&D 2024, we can consider a more gradual onboarding process. We can allow our players the choice to stick with the 2014 rules or to explore the new options at their own pace. As a DM, we can selectively introduce the new rules that enhance our game. This hybrid approach lets us keep what works while slowly adopting the improvements that 2024 has to offer.

Onboarding 2024 D&D 5e

Onboarding D&D 2024 into our game doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing decision. We can select the elements that enhance our game and allow players to adapt at their own speed.

Rise of the Ghannabar - Level 20 Adventure (Thalassia 4)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 10:00:00 GMT

This article provides material to prepare and run an adventure titled, »Rise of the Ghannabar« as a stand-alone adventure, or as the fourth and final part of a mini-campaign set in the ocean world of Thalassia. The material below builds on the general setting information about Thalassia which you can find here: Thalassia Overview. Find the first part of the mini-campaign here, the second part here, and the third here.

The adventure is optimized for a party of four 20th-level characters.

Adventure Overview

Following the events at the Congregation, the adventure in the ruins of Calathis, and the defense of the Shardi’nam, the Ghannabar has been released on Thalassia. The titanic dragonturtle has been attacking ships, and even the city states themselves, causing terror and destruction (think Kaijus from Pacific Rim or Godzilla). Whether or not you ran the first, second , and third adventure, in »Rise of the Ghannabar«, the party of heroic 20th-level characters hunts the Ghannabar.

As with previous adventures in this series, the adventures starts right in the middle of the action. If you prefer, you can run a short introductory roleplaying scene in which the party’s patron briefs them on the situation and their mission. Use some of the secrets of Thalassia below as information the patron provides.

Strong Start

The war between the city states has ended. The global war against the Ghannabar has been ravaging the world of Thalassia for four years. In the first scene, the characters arrive at yet another scene of destruction caused by the dragonturtle-god. This time, the Ghannabar and his legions of bloodthirsty followers called Ghannites have ravaged Nod’Nol, City of Gears.

When you’re ready to start the adventure read or paraphrase the following:

Death, destruction, despair. Such is the scene you arrive at in Nod’Nol. Many of the massive metal towers of the City of Gears lie in ruin, and the cries of wounded and distraught citizens can be heard over the smoking rubble. As you take in the scene, standing on the remains of a ruined tower, a shadow moves over the debris towards you. Quickly you can make out that the shadow is not a shadow at all, but instead hundreds of Ghannites - the bloodthirsty legions of the Ghannabar who always follow in his wake. These slimy, mutated abominations with arms, legs, fins, and maws in odd numbers and odder angles crawl out of the ocean and threaten to cause even more death if you do not stop them.

A horde of Ghannites. We can pit numbers of enemies against 20th-level characters which would seem absurd in any other tier of play. In this encounter, we use 400 Ghannites, so 100 Ghannites per character. We use the cultist statblock as a template (change the type to aberration), and round their hit points down to 5 HP each.

Then, instead of tracking each individual Ghannite, we use a hit point pool of 2000 HP, and track the total number of remaining Ghannites, removing a Ghannite whenever the pool is dealt 10 damage. Instead of rolling 400 attack rolls, we assume 100 Ghannites target each character each round, and a quarter of them, or even fewer if a character has a very high AC, hit the character with an attack that deals 4 damage. At the beginning of the encounter, a maximum of 25 Ghannites hit each character, dealing a maximum of 100 damage in a round. Refer to these rules by Mike Shea for running large numbers of monsters for more details.

Scenes

The goal of the characters is to hunt the Ghannabar in his lair called Nessus, to protect the world of Thalassia. The following scenes might occur during the adventure:

Attack of the Ghannites in the ruins of Nod’nol.
Hunt the Ghannabar. In preparation these encounters are possible:
- Confrontation with Cardinal Soren Pike of the Anglo-Fishian Church
- Unlock powers of the Okeanus Scepter at the Tree of Thalassia.
Battle with the Ghannabar.

Secrets of the Ghannabar

We can reveal the following secrets, clues and bits of information during the course of the adventure. We decide when and how to give these to the players — they might be disclosed by NPCs, read in ancient inscriptions, or revealed through divine visions.

Ghan An Bar, aka the Ghannabar has been released from a celestial prison and he has returned to his former citadel deep inside Nessus, the Devil’s Sanctum. Nessus is a hidden ocean region of ruthless competition, bloodshed and evil. From there he has been attacking Thalassia in mindless rages. He started with travelling ships but now has started attacking the great cities directly, leaving a trail of destruction and death each time.
Rathun the Red Tide has been weakened to become a small industrial nation forbidden from having an army and controlled by Emnor and New Calath. The other nations have united over the threat of the Ghannabar with Cardinal Soren Pike of the Anglo-Fishian Church taking a leading role in guiding the fragile alliance which they call the Holy Alliance.
Nessus is an ocean region made up of concentric rings created to facilitate and guard the Citadel of Ghan An Bar. There are nine rings with the last being the citadel itself at the center of Nessus.
Vengeful spirits of his followers from the First War when he battled the ancient Calathians and their gods protect the Ghannabar. Feral predators known as Ghannites who roam Nessus have also pledged allegiance to Ghan An Bar.
Ghan An Bar is driven by pain this time around. Nereus, one of the Old Gods of Calathis wounded him at the end of the First War and the wound is causing the Ghannabar to rage in fear and vengeance.
The Anglo-Fishian Church wants to slay the devil Ghannabar with the divinely led forces of the Holy Alliance. Special squads of priest soldiers are on their way to deal with Ghannabar attacks.
But a cult is on the rise within the church. The Eyes of Ghannabar are a faction which believes the Ghannabar to be a new divine spirit who will bring about a new age on Thalassia if only the Thalassians obey and follow him.
A squad of priest soldiers are on their way into Nessus to slay the Ghannabar for the church. They, however, do not want to cooperate, instead keeping to themselves. They wish to reach the Ghannabar to pledge themselves to him as most of the squad are members of the Eyes of Ghannabar.
Cardinal Soren Pike, leader of the Anglo-Fishian Church accompanies these priest soldiers. He himself is not a secret worshipper of the Ghannabar. But he is in grave danger while in the company of the cultists surrounding him.
The Okeanus Scepter is the only artifact capable of returning Ghan An Bar to his prison beyond the stars for another age. To do so the scepter must create a bridge between the temple of Nereus in Calathis and the Anomaly at the Tree of Thalassia on the Colony to channel both the sources of divine and arcane magic into banishing the Ghannabar.

Fantastic Locations

The following locations might become backdrops for encounters during the adventure:

Ruins of Nod’Nol. Crumbled metal towers, plumes of black smoke, cries of despair.
Nessus, the Devil’s Sanctum. Nine oceanic regions set up in concentric circles around the Citadel of the Ghannabar. (We can narrate the passage through these regions and display the challenging environments through improvised trap-like skill challenges.)
1. Endless Wall. A towering, impenetrable wall that stretches endlessly into the murky depths, covered in barnacles and ancient runes. Guarded by spectral sentinels that patrol its length, the wall serves as the first line of defense against intruders. The wall occasionally shifts location and orientation, creating new passages and blocking others, requiring visitors to solve its ever-changing maze.
2. Crumbling Volcanoes. This ring features underwater volcanoes that erupt intermittently, spewing magical, luminescent lava that cools into bizarre formations. The heat from the volcanoes creates thermal vents that attract strange, heat-loving creatures.
3. Iceberg Chaos. A stark contrast to the fiery volcanoes, this realm is filled with drifting icebergs and frozen underwater currents. Visibility is low due to fog and ice particles in the water. The icebergs are not merely ice; they are alive, with spirits of ancient mariners trapped within, whispering secrets to those who dare listen.
4. Armies of the Dark One. This militaristic realm houses the barracks and training grounds for Ghannabar’s armies. Here, legions of sea demons and corrupted marine creatures prepare for battle. The water is littered with the remains of fallen warriors, which can reanimate to challenge trespassers.
5. Prison Realm. A dark, oppressive area where enemies of Ghannabar are kept captive. The prison has magical barriers and torturous environments, tailored to each prisoner’s weaknesses. The cries and pleas of the prisoners echo through the water, capable of driving intruders to madness.
6. Administration. The bureaucratic heart of Nessus, where records of every soul, spell, and secret are kept. The waters here are unnaturally calm, with swirling vortexes that serve as portals to various administrative offices. The clerks and functionaries here are shadows, binding agreements and pacts with all who seek audience with Ghannabar, often with hidden clauses.
7. Worship Halls of the Devil. Vast cathedrals and temples dedicated to Ghannabar line this realm, filled with devout worshippers and sacrificial offerings. The architecture is grandiose but sinister, with statues that seem to watch and follow one’s movements.
8. The Inner Sanctum Protections. This realm is a labyrinth of magical barriers, illusions, and deadly traps designed to protect the innermost sanctum. The water here shimmers with powerful enchantments, distorting perception and reality.
9. The Citadel. At the center of Nessus, the Citadel of Ghan An Bar rises, a fortress carved from black coral and reinforced with the bones of leviathans. Here, the Ghannabar resides, surrounded by his most powerful lieutenants and treasures. (Use this map by Dyson for the battle.)
Tree of Thalassia; the Anomaly. Ancient white tree stretching to the sky, threads of golden magic in its wood, dangerous arcane radiation.
Temple of Nereus. (See this previous adventure in the series.)

NPCs

These are some of the NPCs which might make an appearance during the adventure. You can generate new ones here, and give them gimmicks here.

Cardinal Soren Pike of the Anglo-Fishian Church (male merfolk)
- Motivation: Aims to unite Thalassia in a Holy Alliance against the Ghannabar, to preserve the world, but also to show the power of the Church over the pagan Old Gods.
- Mannerisms: Frequently makes the sign of the fish, speaks slowly with a resonant, sonorous voice.
Chancellor Gearwright Coglaine****of Nod’Nol (non-gendered machine-merfolk hybrid)
- Motivation: Rebuild the City of Gears from the rubble, prevent further destruction by the Ghannabar.
- Mannerisms: Constantly tinkering with a small gear, voice oscillates as if modulating through different pitches.

Monsters

We can use the following monsters as sea demons of Nessus, defending the Ghannabar. We can roll randomly for monsters or pick and choose an appropriate one for any scene.

Waterkledde (CR 5)
Gladiators (reskin as aquatic brutes which deal cold damage) (CR 5)
Rimepacted Devil (CR 6)
Fire-Infused Water Elemental (CR 7)
Coastline Reaper (CR 9)
Incandescent One (CR 9)
Maelstrom Devil (CR 12)
Maha Demon (CR 12)
Gigantura (CR 13)
Shetani (CR 14)

The Ghannabar

Titanic Dragon Turtle with the following features / changes
- The Ghannabar has 3 Legendary Resistances instead of 1.
- When the Ghannabar drops to 0 HP or would be killed, the characters must succeed on four Ability checks to banish Ghan An Bar to his celestial prison. A failed check results in 25 damage, and a level of exhaustion for the whole party.
- The Ghannabar has the following Lair Actions:
  - Blasting Current. A strong water current moves through the dragon turtle’s lair. Each creature within 30 feet of the dragon turtle must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or take 20 bludgeoning damage and be moved 30 feet in a direction of the dragon turtle’s choice. On a success, the creature takes half damage and is moved 10 feet instead.
  - Entangling Kelp. Strands of spectral kelp reach out to ensnare creatures in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point in the lair that the dragon turtle can see. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or take 20 necrotic damage and be restrained until the end of its next turn (half damage, not restrained on success).
  - Steam Eruption. Steam erupts in a 15-foot cone from a point on the ground the dragon turtle can see within 120 feet of it. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 31 (9d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Being underwater doesn’t grant creatures resistance to this damage.
We can use the following waves of minions to defend the Ghannabar in the final battle, or as a precursor before the characters actually reach the Ghannabar:
1. 2x Giganturas
2. 4x Shoal Oozes
3. 8x Waterkleddes

Treasure

Use any treasure from the previous adventures which you have not handed out, in addition to any of the following:

31.776 gp, 33.198 pp (363.756gp), 20,000 gp clockwork necklace of rubies , 20,000 gp aberrant life-sized masterpiece bronze statue , 13 x 5,000 gp pink diamond
Potion of Superior Healing
Potion of Flying
Ring of Shooting Stars
Spell Scroll (5th-level, Greater Restoration)
Staff of Fire
A flaming feyish mask that casts Reverse Gravity (Level 7) once
An eldritch orcish scale that casts Prismatic Wall (Level 9) once
A necrotic unholy bracelet that casts Move Earth (Level 6) once

License

This work includes material taken from the Lazy GM’s Resource Document by Michael E. Shea of SlyFlourish.com, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Defense of Shardi'nam - Level 14 Adventure (Thalassia 3)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 10:00:00 GMT

This article provides material to prepare and run an adventure titled, »Defense of Shardi’nam« as a stand-alone adventure, or as the third part of a mini-campaign set in the ocean world of Thalassia. The material below builds on the general setting information about Thalassia which you can find here: Thalassia Overview. Find the first part of the mini-campaign here, and the second part here.

The adventure is optimized for a party of four 14th-level characters.

Adventure Overview

Following the events at the Congregation, and the adventure in the ruins of Calathis, the characters might have allied themselves with a faction of Thalassia. Whether or not you ran the first and second adventure, in »Defense of Shardi’nam«, the party heads to the Colony at the behest of their patron to defend the rebel stronghold called Shardi’nam against the warmongering city-state of Rathun and their rival New Calath. The characters must act strategically, forge alliances, and stand strong against overwhelming odds.

As with previous adventures in this series, the adventures starts right in the middle of the action. If you prefer, you can run a short introductory roleplaying scene in which the party’s patron briefs them on their mission to defend Shardi’nam. Use some of the secrets of Shardi’nam as information the patron provides.

Strong Start

In the first scene, the characters meet Rebel Leader Fenix Tal but then sharpshooter archers of Rathun ambush the meeting. During the ambush, the chaos intensifies as another force attacks both the soldiers of Rathun and the rebels.

When you’re ready to start the adventure read or paraphrase the following:

You have come to the Colony. In the dunes which dominate much of the only landmass of Thalassia, the dashing rebel leader Fenix Tal awaits you to coordinate the defense of the rebel stronghold Shardi’nam. Admiral Korrak the Iron Tide is on the move for Rathun, and it’s unclear whether they’ve already made it to the Colony. You are just able to exchange a greeting with Fenix Tal when you get the answer. Arrows fly, and you spot shapes of archers moving in the dunes 500 feet away. Rathun has come. And you and Fenix Tal are caught in their ambush.

Long-range ambush. This ambush tests the characters’ resilience and their quick thinking. The Rathunian archers start combat 500 feet away from the characters — within the maximum distance of 600 feet of their longbows, which they can shoot from without disadvantage because they are sharpshooters.

New Calath interferes. War has broken out between Rathun and New Calath (see secrets below). And the forces of Governor Thalia Marun attack the sharpshooters after a couple of rounds have passed. When New Calath’s soldiers manage to defeat the sharpshooters, it becomes clear however that New Calath, too, is not an ally of the Colony. Thalia’s soldiers proceed to attack the rebels and the characters after dispersing the Rathunians. The chaos of war has come to the Colony.

Scenes

The goal of the characters is to protect the rebels and their stronghold Shardi’nam from the attacking factions, Rathun and New Calath. The following scenes might take place in the course of the adventure:

Ambushed in the dunes of the Colony
Planning the defense of Shardi’nam, which can include the following:
- Building traps and defensive structures
- Finding allies, for example Chancellor Gearwright Coglaine of Nod’nol
- Playing Admiral Korrak (Rathun) and Governor Marun (New Calath) against each other
The battle of Shardi’nam. Instead of running all of the NPCs involved in a large-scale battle, we can focus on small squads around the leaders of the attacking factions which the characters face directly. Describing the larger battle surrounding the characters narratively is more effective than minutely figuring out mechanics for mass combat. We can use elements of the characters’ preparation efforts to influence the overall outcome of the battle, or to give them advantages in their combats.
Epilogue (Only if running Part 4 of the Thalassia campaign): The standing stones activate. If the characters have successfully defended Shardi’nam, they have achieved their goal. However, they cannot stop the celestial activation of the standing stones surrounding the outpost. After the conclusion of the adventure, narrate the opening of a celestial prison signalled by streams of light flowing from the standing stones to constellations in the sky, which suddenly start to move.

Secrets of the Colony

The following secrets, clues and bits of information can be revealed during the course of the adventure. We decide when and how to give these to the players — they might be disclosed by NPCs, picked up in enemy communications, or revealed through divine visions.

War has engulfed Thalassia with Governor Thalia Marun of New Calath openly declaring war against Rathun led by Admiral Korrak the Iron Tide. Only Emnor the City of Glass, Nod’nol the City of Gears, and T’hali the Veiled Cliffs stayed neutral in the war. But a recent deployment of large numbers of soldiers to the Colony makes for rising tensions among the great cities.
Admiral Korrak the Iron Tide is preparing for an attack on the Rebel Stronghold Shardi’nam which is under the control of Fenix Tal, leader of the grung rebels. The attack is going to happen within the week. Korrak says she will burn down the stronghold because grung workers have begun striking for even more rights and freedoms, (following their successes at the Congregation if the characters allied with them in that adventure).
Ambassador Orien Halix of Emnor thinks it might not be the worst thing to have the rebels cleared out if it would unite the city states. It might even bring an end to the war…
A battalion led by Chancellor Gearwright Coglaine of Nod’nol is stationed on the Colony as well. They too have stayed neutral so far, and have not reacted to the presence of the Rathunians. Nod’nol is heavily dependent on resources from the Colony for their industrial prowess.
Rebel Leader Fenix Tal has captured an aasimar and he and his personal guard have been drinking his divine blood to strengthen themselves. They want to keep this secret from the party.
The aasimar’s name is Tordahl and he was taken by the rebels when he wandered into the Stronghold. He was muttering nonsense about the Dark One, about the Shadow, about Him returning from his celestial prison. He kept repeating, »time is up«. At first Tal imprisoned the aasimar so that he couldn’t upset the rebel forces.
When things got dire, however, Rebel Leader Fenix Tal had the desperate idea of drinking the angel’s blood, and miraculously, it worked. It strengthened Fenix and his guard. They have been drinking the aasimar’s divine blood daily.
Governor Thalia Marun has sent ships filled with soldiers to also take out the rebels because they are halting industrial progress in New Calath which is dependent on the work the resources provide for New Calath’s exploding population. However, the New Calathians also hate Rathun and would like to see them dead. The governor and her soldiers are stationed on their ships just off the shore of the Colony.
Admiral Korrak and her soldiers have set up in abandoned mines close to the Anomaly, the source of arcane magic on Thalassia. They have developed body suits which protect them from the arcane radiation there.
The rebel uprising is only one minor reason why Rathun is attacking Shardi’nam. In truth, they want access to the standing stones that surround the stronghold. These are related to an ancient cult of Gan An Bar which sprung up on the Colony shortly after its creation by the evil Old God. The Rathunians believe they can ally with Gan An Bar
The Standing Stones are connected to celestial constellations, aligning perfectly with movements of certain stars in the night sky. The stones describe a countdown, until which the Prison of Depths Above remains sealed. During the night of the attack, the standing stones will activate and release the Ghannabar into Thalassia. (This sets up the final adventure in this series).

Fantastic Locations

The following locations are points of interest during the adventure:

Rathun Mine Encampment. Abandoned mines, magical war machines, disciplined brutal soldiers. Use this map by Dyson.
Nod’Nol Cave Outpost. Cave near the ocean, artificer experiments, pool of arcane-magic-infused water. Use this map by Dyson.
Rebel Desert Stronghold. Huts and tents surrounded by makeshift wall, in the middle of vast circle of ancient standing stones, rebel grung soldiers and their families. Use this map by Dyson but in a desert setting: no farms, next to a dried-out riverbed.
Colony Harbor - New Calath station. Wooden piers, ancient marble lighthouse, ships from New Calath as quarters for New Calath soldiers.

NPCs

These are the faction leaders which have come to the Colony in this adventure:

Rebel Leader Fenix Tal (male grung) – Colony
- Motivation: Defend and expand the rights of grung, perhaps making a sovereign homeland for them on the Colony.
- Mannerisms: Fidgets with a locket, speaks abruptly, often cutting to the chase.
Admiral Korrak ‘Iron Tide’ (female merfolk) – Rathun
- Motivation: Focused on expanding Rathun’s naval dominance, tenuous alliance with the imprisoned Ghannabar whom they hope to release at the standing stones of Shardi’nam.
- Mannerisms: Clenches jaw when thinking, voice is deep and commanding.
Governor Thalia Marun (female merfolk) – New Calath
- Motivation: Seeking to bolster New Calath’s status as an industrial powerhouse by gaining control over the Colony resources.
- Mannerisms: Strokes chin thoughtfully, speaks with a firm, assertive voice.
Chancellor Gearwright Coglaine (non-gendered machine-merfolk hybrid) - Nod’Nol.
- Motivation: Interested in researching materials found on the Colony, stays mostly neutral in inter-city conflicts.
- Mannerisms: Constantly tinkering with a small gear, voice oscillates as if modulating through different pitches.

Monsters

The following monsters can be used as soldiers of the different factions. Describe their differing armors and weapons, and reflavor attacks to fit the vibe of a certain faction. The maximum number of each below assumes no other monsters in a combat, but we can mix and match troops, adjusting their numbers accordingly.

Veterans (infantry) - maximum of 12x at one time
Archers (artillery, give them sharpshooter feat, to have range of 600ft.) - maximum of 12x at one time
Mages (artillery, control) - maximum of 6x at one time
Frost giants (reskin as elite soldiers) - maximum of 4x at one time
Governor Thalia Marun uses a reskinned horned devil statblock (using weapons)
Admiral Korrak uses a reskinned efreeti statblock (with lightning damage)

Treasure

Use any treasure from the previous adventure which you have not handed out, in addition to any of the following:

11.940 gp, 2.100 pp (32.940gp), 7,500 gp astral efreeti brass ore , 7,500 gp prehistoric life-sized silver statue , 7,500 gp cyclopean full royal pardon , 7,500 gp clockwork legendary tome
Mace of Terror
Manual of Gainful Exercise
Animated Shield
Demon Armor
Wand of Fireballs
Staff of the Woodlands
Elemental Gem

License

This work includes material taken from the Lazy GM’s Resource Document by Michael E. Shea of SlyFlourish.com, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Hunt for the Okeanus Scepter - Level 8 Adventure (Thalassia 2)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 10:00:00 GMT

This article provides material to prepare and run an adventure titled, »Hunt for the Okeanus Scepter« as a stand-alone adventure, or as the second part of a mini-campaign set in the ocean world of Thalassia. The material below builds on the general setting information about Thalassia which you can find here: Thalassia Overview. Find the first part of the mini-campaign here.

The adventure is optimized for a party of four 8th-level characters.

Adventure Overview

Following the events at the Congregation, the characters might have allied themselves with a faction of Thalassia in the previous adventure. Whether or not you ran the first adventure, in this adventure, the party’s patron tasks them with recovering an artifact called the Okeanus Scepter from the ruins of Calathis, an ancient underwater city. The characters must navigate the treacherous Abyssal Depths, survive the threats of the ruins of Calathis, and finally retrieve the scepter.

The start of the adventure assumes the characters have already received the quest from their patron. (Let the players choose one of the factions of Thalassia as a patron if you did not run Intrigue at the Congregation.) In order to cut right to the action, we can handle the quest-giving »off-screen« before we begin the game. If you want, and you have the time, however, you can run a short interaction with the patron NPC in which the party receives the quest.

Strong Start

In the first scene, the characters are on an underwater vessel diving through a layer of the Abyssal Depths in their search for the ruins of Calathis.

When you’re ready to start the adventure read or paraphrase the following:

You dive deeper and deeper into the Abyssal Depths, with only the thin, shimmering force barrier protecting you and your ship. Through it, you can see seaweed the size of trees, and knots of kelp as large as boulders passing by the ship. You know the ruins of Calathis lie on the sea floor beneath these chaotic layers of the Depths.

While they are diving through this layer, called the Sunken Sargasso, invisible parasites called Balbazus have made it onto the ship, and are starting to feast on the characters. Roll initiative!

12 Balbazus are attacking the characters. They are invisible underwater, and the characters can only discern that they are being attacked at all after they succeed on a DC 11 Constitution save (see the Balbazu stat block for more information).

After the characters have dealt with the demons, they can continue on their harrowing journey through more chaotic layers of the Abyssal Depths.

Scenes

The goal of the characters is to find and recover the legendary Okeanus Scepter before another faction does. The following scenes might take place in the course of the adventure:

Surviving the journey through the Abyssal Depths to find the ruins of Calathis.
Finding the Okeanus Scepter in the Temple of Nereus in Calathis.
Return to the ship, and then to the surface, surviving an ambush from another faction.

Secrets of the Calathis

The following secrets, clues and bits of information can be revealed during the course of the adventure. You decide when and how to give these to the players — they might be disclosed by NPCs, deciphered in ancient carvings, or revealed through divine visions.

The faction or collection of factions the characters aligned with in the first adventure hire them to put the maps of Calathis to use. The maps reveal an artifact hidden in the ruins of Calathis, more specifically, in the Temple of Nereus — a place of worship for one of the Old Gods. The artifact’s name is the Okeanus Scepter and holds mysterious powers, described only as »creating currents« which travel across vast distances, connecting the most distant parts of Thalassia.
The Okeanus Scepter, lost artifact of the ancient Calathians, holds powers to open portals, access ancient memories, manipulate water purity, summon elemental forces, and create protective water shields. Its recovery could shift the political landscape of Thalassia, offering significant advantage to those who wield it or prevent its misuse. The fate of the depths and perhaps all of Thalassia could hinge on who controls this potent relic.
The lost people of Calathis worshipped a small pantheon of gods, now known as the Old Gods, and generally understood as a pagan, outdated, unenlightened religious belief by the Anglo-Fishian Church. At the head of the pantheon stood Nereus, son of of Okeanus, creator of the planet which was then called by the same name: Okeanus.
The maps show that Calathis lies hidden between the maddening layers of the recently discovered Abyssal Depths. The Depths are a maze of sequestered hellish ocean environments. Only a handful have been briefly explored, and many exploration missions never returned from a venture into the Depths.
The Abyssal Depths are crawling with a terrible variety of sea demons. Malignant, chaotic creations kept alive not by any natural adaptation but by constant destruction and iteration. It seems new layers appear, and with them new abominations crawl forth from the Depths.
Not much is known about the people of Calathis besides their pagan religion. Mainstream archaeology assumes the Calathians were a simple folk, living off the sea floor in simple conditions. A few fringe scholars, however, believe that Calathis was an advanced civilization, capable of feats that the general population of Thalassia could only dream of. These renegade researchers believe the Old Gods gave the Calathians powers beyond belief.
In truth, the Calathians were the first intelligent species to evolve on the sea floor, aeons ago. They built a prospering society, advanced cultural, religious and magical life. The Old Gods sometimes walked among the fey creatures that were the Calathians and helped them build their city, develop magic and prosper.
One day, however, an Old God by the name of Ghan An Bar deceived the Calathians. A war ensued between the Calathians and Ghan An Bar who could transform into a terrible dragon turtle. Ghan An Bar twisted the arcane magic suffusing Thalassia to create the Abyssal Depths and with them wipe out Calathis. It would take ten thousand years before civilization was built anew, separate from Calathis, by a different set of species.
The Okeanus Scepter was part of the creation of the Tree of Thalassia, the modern namesake of the planet. This tree stands on the Colony, and is the nexus of what is called the Anomaly — the source of arcane magic on Thalassia. The people of Thalassia only discovered it once they had evolved to survive on the surface. The discovery of arcane magic changed the fate of Thalassia forever and turned it into the industrial, scheming collection of city states it is today.
Todays amphibian Thalassians who make up the majority of the population are capable of living on land and water. But they are originally a sea-dwelling species. They knew divine magic before venturing to the surface, but thanks to the symbiotic evolution with a species of floating funghi, the Thalassians learned to survive above water. There, they discovered the Colony, and with it, arcane magic.
The Colony is a mostly inhospitable wasteland but the city states harvest stone, and more powerfully, wood charged with arcane energy here. These are the main sources of material for the construction of magical ships, and architecture and research in the city states of Thalassia. The land of the colony is covered in arcane radiation. Only the grung seem to have limited natural resistance to the radiation. Which is why they’re exploited by the ruling class to work on the the Colony.

Fantastic Locations

The following locations are settings for scenes during the adventure:

The Abyssal Depths: Overwhelming darkness, labyrinthine layers of chaotic ocean environments, abominable demons. These are some of the names of layers of the Depths. Use them to inspire the journey to the ruins of Calathis which lie on the sea floor beneath the Depths. You can roll a d10 or pick layers the party traverses on their journey to Calathis:
1. Iron Maw. A vast undersea canyon with walls of jagged metallic stone, patrolled by armored demonic sharks.
2. Sunken Sargasso. A tangled mass of supernaturally tough seaweed and kelp that ensnares the unwary, concealing predatory creatures within.
3. Brine Rift. A maze of salt-crystal formations that constantly shift and change, making navigation nearly impossible.
4. Abyssal Grotto. A series of underwater caves filled with luminescent fungi, strange echoes, and twisted, mind-bending paths.
5. Whirlpool Dominion. Dominated by powerful, demonic whirlpools that suck in everything, decorated with relics of sunken ships and the bones of sea monsters.
6. Infernal Reef. A coral reef heated by volcanic vents, home to fire-resistant demons and thermal vents that emit hallucinogenic gases.
7. Murkendraw. Dark, muddy waters where nothing is visible and movement is sluggish, inhabited by amorphous creatures that mimic the sea floor.
8. Cold Hell. Icy waters where the cold is so intense it burns, populated by ice wraiths and frozen undead.
9. Crushing Deep. Depths so extreme that the pressure threatens to implode any who dare venture too deep, guarded by creatures adapted to extreme pressure.
10. Nocturnal Sea. A layer of perpetual night, deeper than light can reach, home to sightless, luminescent predators and forgotten gods.
The Ruins of Calathis. Crumbling stone structures on the sea floor, roiling chaos of the Abyssal Depths above, ethereal whispers and songs, divine magic of the Old Gods.
The Temple of Nereus. Huge ziggurat; Use this map by dysonlogos; upper level with a shrine to Okeanus, ancient medical chambers, ground level with huge statue of Nereus and priests’ chambers, lower level with wards against Ghan An Bar, and the Okeanus Vault where the scepter lies.

NPCs

The group’s patron might send a representative with the party on their journey. In addition, a representative of a rival faction might ambush the party on their way back. Use the NPCs from the previous adventure, or generate new NPCs here.

Monsters

The following monsters can occupy any of the layers of the Abyssal Depths. They also function as guardians of the Temple of Nereus. You can roll a d10 to pick a monster randomly. The herald of darkness works as a final boss guardian of the scepter of Nereus.

Treasure

Use any treasure from the previous adventure which you have not handed out, in addition to any of the following:

99 sp, 3.360 gp, 110 pp (4.469gp), 250 gp aberrant gold hoops , 250 gp aberrant stylish silk doublet , 250 gp orcish fine tapestry , Potion of Greater Healing, Circlet of Blasting, Potion of Greater Healing, Potion of Greater Healing, Headband of Intellect
Okeanus Scepter. The scepter has the following abilities which become partially unlocked after this adventure. At your discretion more abilities become available in future adventures. These abilities are phrased as inspirational descriptions, choose appropriate mechanics:
- Dimensional Riptide: With a wave of the scepter, open short-lived portals to other water-based dimensions or locations across Thalassia, enabling rapid travel or escape
- Memory of the Ocean: The scepter holds the collective memories and knowledge of the Calathian civilization. The wielder can access these, providing invaluable wisdom and ancient secrets.
- Purification of Waters: The scepter can purify or toxify large bodies of water. This could be used to cleanse poisoned waters or alternatively, create barriers of uninhabitable water.
- Conjure Elemental Forms: Ability to conjure water elementals or storm entities that can fight, protect, or perform tasks at the wielder’s command.
- Shield of the Deep: Generate a powerful shield of pressurized water around the user, offering protection from physical attacks, pressure, and temperature extremes of the deep ocean, essential for deep-sea exploration.

License

This work includes material taken from the Lazy GM’s Resource Document by Michael E. Shea of SlyFlourish.com, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Intrigue at the Congregation - Level 4 Adventure Outline (Thalassia 1)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 10:00:00 GMT

This article provides material to prepare and run an adventure titled, »Intrigue at the Congregation« as a stand-alone adventure, or as the first part of a mini-campaign set in the ocean world of Thalassia. The material below builds on the general setting information about Thalassia which you can find here: Thalassia Overview.

The adventure is optimized for a party of four 4th-level characters.

Adventure Overview

The characters take part in »The Congregation« — the annual gathering of the political, economic, and intelligence elites of Thalassia, held in Emnor, City of Glass. At the opening gala, representatives of these factions approach the characters with job offers. During the events of the two-day summit, the characters find out that many factions are competing for access to recently discovered ruins. The party must decide whom to ally with … and bear the consequences of their decision.

Strong Start

Having arrived in Emnor, the adventure begins with the characters attending the Opening Gala in the Grand Crystal Hall — sometimes shortened to the Crystal Gala. This starting scene gives the players a chance to introduce their characters. Afterwards the party is approached by the host, Ambassador Orien Halix.

When you’re ready to start the adventure read or paraphrase the following:

All the powerful players and factions of Thalassia have gathered in Emnor for the annual Congregation. The first event of the summit, the Opening Gala is held in the Grand Crystal Hall. As you arrive, you enter a floating palace of glass. The crystal floors are covered in red carpets, upon which merfolk servants deliver golden champagne glasses to important diplomats.

As an elegant servant approaches the characters, ask each player to describe their character’s appearance, and say a few sentences about their background.

Afterwards, the host approaches the characters. Read or paraphrase the following:

Ambassador Orien Halix, host of the Congregation, and diplomatic leader of Emnor approaches you. The weathered female merfolk approaches you with a well-practiced smile on her wrinkled face.
»Welcome to the Crystal Gala. I, Ambassador Orien Halix and all of Emnor welcome you to the Congregation. We have brought you here because the delegations sometimes require… ‘freelancers’ to help them during the Congregation’s proceedings. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the delegations start approaching you. Happy Congregation!«

The characters can have a short conversation with their host, the leader of Emnor, Ambassador Halix, before delegations start approaching them with jobs. You can have Halix reveal some of the Secrets of the Congregation if the characters are particularly persuasive.

Freelance Quests

The following quests are offered by diplomats during the Opening Gala. The characters can decide which of these they want to accept and fulfill. They might want to pick multiple quests and play to multiple factions’ interests or commit themselves to one faction. The choice of quests will determine what happens in the scenes outlined below, and will influence the outcome of the voting at the Table of Thalassia (see the secrets below).

Chancellor Gearwright Coglaine of Nod’Nol: »Follow the rumors that Ambassador Orien Halix, representative of Emnor, is not so neutral after all, and is influencing votes in favor of a single faction. Find out who that faction is!« (It’s Rathun. See the secrets below)
Cardinal Soren Pike of the Church: »Find the maps of Calathis at the Midnight Market and ascertain whether there is any religious significance to them« (There are religious symbols on the maps.)
Rebel Leader Fenix Tal: »Steal the maps of Calathis for the rebellion as bargaining leverage for freedom for the grung of the Colony.«
Governor Thalia Marun of New Calath: »Assassinate as many members of the delegation of Rathun as possible.«

Scenes

The following scenes take place in the course of this adventure.

The Crystal Gala. Delegations approach the characters with quests.
The Midnight Market. Artifacts, secrets, and magical items are being traded and the characters can interfere in the exchange of maps of the ruins of Calathis.
The Trial of Tides. The characters compete in an aquatic arena to represent a faction of their choice.
The Diplomat’s Ball. As the delegations vote during a ball, violence ensues and the characters finalize alliances for the adventures to come.

Secrets of the Congregation

The following secrets, clues and bits of information can be revealed during the course of the adventure. You decide when and how to give these to the players — they might be disclosed by NPCs, found on documents, or revealed through encrypted messages.

The Congregation is the annual gathering of the political, economic, and intelligence elites of Thalassia. Large delegations arrive for a two-day summit in Emnor, the City of Glass. The following events take place over the two days of the Congregation:
- Day 1: Crystal Gala. Opening gala, extravagant dresses, mingling, and quests handed out to freelancers (see above).
- Night 1: Midnight Market: Knowledge brokers of each delegation trade magic items, clandestine artefacts, and other archaeological finds.
- Day 2: Trial of Tides. The Anglo-Fishian Church organizes ritual games where the prices are blessings but a loss might mean death.
- Night 2: Diplomat’s Ball. Music, dance, gambling. The highlight of the night is the Table of Thalassia, where the diplomatic leaders of each delegation sit, debate and cast votes on codes and laws.
This year, the biggest issue is the debate over control of the Abyssal Depths, a region of Thalassia where chaos reigns but resources are rich. The Depths are a recent discovery - they are a region which embodies all that is perverse, gruesome, and chaotic. Its virtually endless layers spiral downward into ever more appalling forms. Each layer of the Depths boast its own horrific environment. Although no two layers are alike, they are all harsh and inhospitable. Each layer also reflects the entropic nature of the Depths. In fact, much of what one sees or touches seems to be in a decaying, crumbling, or corroded state.
There is no known resource that could be harvested from the Abyssal Depths but still a few delegations have already signalled a willingness to safeguard and control the area. Each is insistent that they should be the ones sending »protective forces« to the area.
A mythical scroll recovered from the Abyssal Depths is rumored to be in the hands of Admiral Korrak, leader of Rathun the Red Tide. Rathun has not shared what it found on the scroll: Maps which show the ruins of Calathis within the Abyssal Depths.
By now everyone has heard that Rathun has a mythical scroll but only the spies of Cardinal Soren Pike of the Anglo-Fishian Church, Rebel Leader Fenix Tal representing the Colony, and Nod’Nol the City of Gears know that maps of Calathis are on the scroll.
Actually, one other party is about to be informed about the maps. A meeting between Admiral Korrak and High Priestess Elyndra Vhall, chief diplomat of Lissandril will take place during the Midnight Market. Precisely at midnight, the scroll will exchange hands there, as Lissandril promises to support Rathun’s monopoly over the Depths in exchange for access to any secrets discovered in Calathis.
The Table of Thalassia is made from the wood of the mythical tree named Thalassia that once stood on the Colony and gave the world its name. Over the years, the table has seen many trades, alliances, and betrayal. And its fibre has been soaked with blood more than once.
Each delegation hires freelancers for various jobs during the congregation: delivering messages, sabotaging enemies, and even more daring undertakings are an open secret of the Congregation.
The Ghannabar is the evil counterpart to the pantheon of sea spirits officially adhered to by the Anglo-Fishian Church. The evil dragonturtle is the mythical creature that offers temptations and bargains and watches over the Dustlands - eternal, waterless wastes where the church says sinners go.

Fantastic Locations

The following locations are settings for scenes during the adventure:

The Grand Crystal Hall (Opening Gala). White crystal cathedral, water flows from the ocean into the entrance, white banners and carpets representing Emnor.
The Glimmering Shoals (Midnight Market). Only appears with a full moon, coral platform rises above the canals of Emnor, floating bioluminescent jellyfish create colorful lights.
The Wave Bowl (Trial of Tides). Cascading waterfalls surround a coliseum for aquatic combat, statues of holy sea creatures of the Anglo-Fishian church adorn tiered seating areas, consecration zones for blessings by the clergy.
The Lazurite Atrium (Diplomat’s Ball). A chamber made from vibrant blue mineral, adorned with white curtains and carpets, magical light is refracted through curtains of mist.

NPCs

Ambassador Orien Halix (female merfolk) - Emnor
- Motivation: To maintain and expand Emnor’s neutrality and diplomatic ties, focusing on securing technological sharing agreements related to the Abyssal Depths.
- Mannerisms: Frequently adjusts glasses, speaks with a clear, precise tone.
Rebel Leader Fenix Tal (male grung) - Colony
- Motivation: Uses the Congregation to garner support for the Grung’s plight and to secure more humane conditions, intrigued by any strategic use of Calathis’ maps for bargaining.
- Mannerisms: Fidgets with a locket, speaks abruptly, often cutting to the chase.
Cardinal Soren Pike (male merfolk) - Anglo-Fishian Church
- Motivation: Aims to ascertain any religious significance of Calathis’ maps, advocates for preservation of the Depths as sacred sites.
- Mannerisms: Frequently makes the sign of the fish, speaks slowly with a resonant, sonorous voice.
Admiral Korrak ‘Iron Tide’ (female merfolk) - Rathun
- Motivation: Focused on expanding Rathun’s naval dominance, seeks strategic advantages over the Depths for military purposes.
- Mannerisms: Clenches jaw when thinking, voice is deep and commanding.
High Priestess Elyndra Vhall (female merfolk)- Lissandril
- Motivation: Driven to protect the spiritual sanctity of the Abyssal Depths and uncover any links to divine entities, particularly interested in the maps of Calathis.
- Mannerisms: Holds a prayer bead, speaks in a whispery, reverent tone.
Governor Thalia Marun (female merfolk) - New Calath
- Motivation: Seeking to bolster New Calath’s status as a trade capital by negotiating for exclusive navigation rights through the Depths.
- Mannerisms: Strokes chin thoughtfully, speaks with a firm, assertive voice.

Monsters

The following monsters work as guards for the Congregation, as sea monsters for the Trial of Tides, and as warriors and mages for the final confrontation at the Table of Thalassia:

Guards: guards, elite guards (veterans)
Sea monsters: giant shark, swarm of quippers, giant octopus, merrow, giant water scorpion, chuul
Delegations: thugs, merfolk brute (ogre), spellcasters (acolyte, mystic), cutthroat, elite warriors (bandit lord, veteran),

Treasure

The following treasures are more powerful than usual for a 4th-level party. This is because the items are appropriate for the next adventure in the mini-campaign. In that adventure, characters begin at 8th level.

+2 weapon, spellcasting focus, holy symbol, or rod of the pactkeeper which can…
- … cast ensnaring strike 1/Long Rest (DC 17)
- … cast blight 1/Long Rest (DC 17)
- … on a hit (with spell or weapon attack): the target and creatures within 10 feet of the target must make a DC 17 CON save or take 3d6 lightning damage (half on success) 1/Long Rest
potion of acid resistance, fire resistance, psychic resistance
scrolls of fly, enhance ability, lightning bolt
cloak of elvenkind, which can cast misty step 1/Long Rest
+1 armor which can casts faerie fire centered on the wearer 1/Long Rest (DC 17, does not affect the wearer)

License

This work includes material taken from the Lazy GM’s Resource Document by Michael E. Shea of SlyFlourish.com, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Tales of Thalassia: A Nautical Mini-Campaign

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 10:00:00 GMT

A weekend of D&D in Thalassia

The following mini-campaign, adventure path, or simply campaign setting was the basis for a weekend of D&D recently. Thalassia is an ocean world in which great floating cities vie for control over the planet. Take elements from this mini-campaign into your own game, create your own mini-campaign based on the article, or run this adventure path as written!

I ran 16 hours of games set in Thalassia, four adventures at four tiers of play. Here’s a brief overview of the four adventures:

Level 4: Intrigue at the Congregation. The characters fall into a web of intrigue and deception at the Congregation, the annual gathering of the great powers of Thalassia.
Level 8: The Okeanus Sceptre. The characters retrieve a relic of the Old Gods from the ruins of Calathis at the bottom of the sea.
Level: 14: Defense of Shardi’nam. The characters defend an outpost against overwhelming odds.
Level 20: Shadow over Thalassia. The characters hunt the Ghannabar — a devil among the Old Gods, this malice takes the shape of a dragon turtle.

Character Motivation

Before starting the mini-campaign, hand the players a character motivation for their characters. We can introduce this party motivation at the beginning of our session zero. That way, players build their characters with this cooperative motivation in mind:

You and the other characters work together to protect Thalassia and its people.

During character creation, the players can decide to add nuance and detail to this motivation. For example, they might want to play a party of daring explorers, charting the most dangerous areas of Thalassia. Or they might be adventurer-diplomats, looking to make Thalassia a more just and equal society.

Thalassia’s Truths

The following things are true and known to the characters at the beginning of the campaign:

The Ocean is Everything: Thalassia is a planet of a vast and boundless ocean. Land is scarce, precious, and often perilous. The civilizations of this world depend entirely on the sea for their survival, resources, and commerce. Every city, every race, and every creature is irrevocably tied to the ocean’s whims.
Perils and Promises of the Colony. The only landmass, known as The Colony, harbors an anomaly that gives rise to all arcane magic. This anomaly makes the land dangerous but also invaluable. Control over The Colony means control over magic itself, and thus it is heavily contested and fraught with conflict.
The Anglo-Fishian Church Rules. A single religious institution, worshiping majestic sea spirits as gods, dominates the spiritual landscape of Thalassia. This church’s influence extends into the political sphere, where it plays a critical role in the governance and conflicts of the great cities.
The Great Cities are Autonomous Powers: Each of the major cities—Emnor, Nod’nol, T’hali, New Calath, Lisandril, and Rathun—operates almost like a sovereign state, with its own culture, governance, and agenda. Alliances are as fluid as the waters they are built upon, and politics are as deep and shifting as the tides.
Race Relations are Tense and Complex: The major races of Thalassia—Merfolk, Aasimars, and Grungs—coexist in a delicate balance. While merfolk are prevalent, aasimars are viewed with a divine mystique, and grungs, often seen as second-class citizens, are on the brink of rebellion against oppressive forces.
The Myth of Calathis: In Thalassia, the underwater city of Calathis exists as a legend, whispered in taverns and debated by scholars. Some claim it is a repository of ancient wisdom lost to the ocean’s depths, while others believe it a fanciful tale concocted by mariners and poets. Its true nature remains a tantalizing mystery, luring the brave and the foolish alike into the deep.

The Villains of Thalassia

Three major villains drive the events of this campaign. We can use them flexibly, as villains react to the choices the characters make.

The Anglo-Fishian Church. A dominant religious institution that venerates various sea creatures as gods. The church is divided into sects, each worshiping different sea deities like sharks, anglerfish, etc.
Rathun, the Red Tide. A militaristic city-state with a powerful navy, known for its ruthless expansion and enforcement of maritime law.
The Ghannabar. An ancient dragonturtle of Thalassia’s pre-history, yearning to return to the world and destroy civilization.

Other Factions of Thalassia

The following factions can play a role in the mini-campaign in Thalassia. We can use them as group patrons for the party, as allies or adversaries, or to quickly give an NPC a relationship to the politics of the world.

The City-States

Emnor, City of Glass: Known for its advanced technology and water purification systems. Politically neutral and a hub for diplomacy and trade.
Nod’nol, City of Gears: A powerhouse in engineering and mechanics, this city is always on the move and boasts massive factories and a huge labor force.
T’hali the Veiled Cliffs: Known for its recreational pursuits and as a haven for artists, gamblers, and entertainers.
New Calath, Hope of the West: A thriving trade center in a hot, sandy environment. It is the largest city and acts as a cultural melting pot.
Lisandril the Forever City: An ancient matriarchy, steeped in tradition and known for its strong government and spiritual leadership.
Rathun the Red Tide: A militaristic city-state with a powerful navy, known for its ruthless expansion and enforcement of maritime law.

Other Factions

The Anglo-Fishian Church: A dominant religious institution that venerates various sea creatures as gods. The church is divided into sects, each worshiping different sea deities like sharks, anglerfish, etc.
The Knowing Hands: A network of information brokers and artifact traders, influential in the realms of academia and black markets.
The Colony Settlers and Rebels: Consists of both the colonial authorities who govern the only significant landmass (a source of wood and arcane magic) and the rebels (primarily Grungs) who oppose their rule due to harsh conditions and exploitation.
Mercantile Guilds: Powerful trading guilds that control various aspects of commerce in Thalassia, often having their own agendas and influence within the political landscape.
Pirate Leagues: While not formally recognized, these leagues hold significant power in less regulated waters, sometimes clashing with city-states like Rathun the Red Tide or making illicit deals with others.

Adapting to the characters

Use the information from this article to help players build characters (for example for a weekend of D&D) with deep ties to the setting of Thalassia. For example, characters might have history with one of the villains, their backstory might be related to one of the truths, or even to a villain.

We can also pick and choose factions, secrets and villains to foreground in our campaign after we know more about the characters. We can grab onto hooks, relationships, and mysteries in the characters’ backstories and motivations, and build them into the campaign outline.

Either way, in other articles, more details about the four adventures in a nautical mini-campaign set in the ocean world of Thalassia will follow.

Reskinning Character Classes

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Unique character concepts

Sometimes players seek to create character concepts that don’t fit into any of the published races, classes, and subclasses. A player might imagine a character as a scorpion-hybrid that combines aspects of its arachnid and humanoid nature. None of the existing races or classes can easily accommodate that concept. In that case it can be a collaborative exercise to come up with an entirely new class for that concept. However, it is also a lot of work, and if we’re not very experienced a lot can go wrong when designing a new class. Reskinning classes instead of creating new ones can be a great way to accommodate unique character concepts.

Reskinning classes

Instead, we can re-skin an existing class to make the character concept come to life. What does reskinning mean in this case?

Character classes come with flavor and mechanics. Throwing out the flavor lets us use the classes as mechanical templates to create wildly different character concepts. Our scorpion-oid PC might use the fighter’s mechanics to represent their arachnid combat prowess. Weapon attacks could be re-flavored as natural weapons of its scorpion form. If we’re looking for a more magical hybrid creature, a warlock might work. A hexblade warlock could uses its stinger in place of a Hex weapon. Their Pact Magic might stem from the magical scorpion essence of its transformed body. Looking at the class abilities as bundles of mechanics lets us use them for a wide range of character concepts.

Pitfalls to avoid

Reskinning means we stick with the mechanics of the existing class. Once we start messing with the mechanics too much, we can run into problems. Classes are carefully designed packages of mechanics that are balanced against each other. We might over- or underpower a character quickly if we change a lot of mechanics. In reskinning, change the flavor, keep the mechanics.

Additionally, talk to all the players before you reskin a class for an individual character. A session zero is a great moment to do so. Make it clear that mechanically the class is not changed, and offer to reskin classes for other players as well. That way, there’s no awkward surprise when the scorpion-human PC arrives, and another player is bummed out because they desperately wanted to play a turkey-human hybrid character but didn’t know that was an option.

When D&D Players Collaborate in Plot Twists

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Plot twists are exciting. D&D streaming shows like Critical Role have used sudden revelations about characters to put players (and viewers) on the edge of their seat. But most likely, you’re not running a show for millions of people. You just want the players around the table to have a good time. So character backstory plot twists can be tricky to execute. Here’s why.

Players own their characters

Players should have full control over their characters. The campaign setting might be strange and hostile, and the villains devious and unpredictable. But the players should feel like they truly know and own their characters. Introducing a sudden revelation, like, »Actually, your parents aren’t dead, they’re the villains,« can make players feel like they had the rug pulled out from under them. The character they built, which they thought they knew, suddenly changes. For some players this can be fun, but as DMs we shouldn’t assume that every player is open to these kinds of twists.

So how can we incorporate the excitement of unexpected character backstory revelations into our games without threatening the players’ autonomy over their characters?

Get player buy-in before introducing plot twists

A simple way to make sure a player is on board with a plot twist is to ask them. Before bringing the plot twist we have in mind to the table, talk to the player who’s character backstory is being »twisted.« Ask them whether they would be interested in playing through the revelation. The tricky bit is to keep the information we tell the player beforehand vague enough to not spoil all of the surprise but concrete enough to let them make an informed decision. Here’s an example:

The backstory revelation. A character’s parents who were thought to have died actually survived. And what’s worse: they’ve become the villains working against the characters.
How to get player buy-in. Ask the player whether they would be interested in exploring an unexpected turn in the story of their character’s parents. How do they feel about the idea of their parents possibly still being alive? What if there were dark secrets in the character’s parents’ past that might come to light soon? Ask how the player feels about this general direction of the story.
The player’s response. The most important bit is to actually listen to the player and accept their response. They might be fully on board and excited to play through these revelations at the table. Or they want their character’s parents to stay dead because it’s an important facet of the story they’re trying to tell with the character. In either case, we as the DM need to accept the player’s wishes, and continue the game accordingly.

With player buy-in, the player becomes a collaborator

This approach might seem counterintuitive. After all, it’s not much of a plot twist if we tell the player beforehand, right? Here’s another way to look at it: by involving the player, they become a collaborator, a co-author of their own character’s development. They get to contribute to the plot twist, for example by foreshadowing it during roleplay. Rather than diminishing the excitement this can draw players into their characters’ story by giving them the appropriately central role to play in a backstory plot twist.

Talk about how to handle backstory plot twists in a session zero

A lot of the problems with character backstory revelations can be avoided by talking about the process in a session zero. We can tell players how we will handle plot twists and revelations regarding the characters’ backstory in general. Here’s one way we might introduce the topic in a session zero: »There might be secrets about your characters’ backstories that can be revealed during the campaign. Before anything major is revealed at the table, I will approach you individually and we will decide together how to make these plot twists work.«

Building a dynamic character-focused campaign

We want to put the characters front and center in our D&D game. The story evolves around them. And unexpected revelations about the characters’ past can create an exciting and dynamic campaign. But we also want players to truly know and own their characters. One solution that has worked well for me is to involve the player in the process before the plot twist hits the table. A player can always veto a revelation about their character’s backstory. But they can also become collaborators in revealing these unexpected plot twists.

Running NPCs: Character Sheets, Statblocks, No Stats?

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Ask not what your NPC can do for you. Ask what your NPC can do for the party.

John F. Kennedy - 35th Dungeon Master of the United States

NPCs without character sheets

NPCs can be a trap. Especially if you are a forever-DM, NPCs can seem like an opportunity to play a fully fledged character. Creating character concepts and turning these into character sheets with lots of fun abilities is a big part of D&D. But it is rarely a good idea to build NPCs using normal PC character sheets.

PCs often have a lot of abilities to use in many different situations. For players this is great, but if we run an NPC with such an arsenal of options, it can slow down play. In the worst case, our NPC could steal the spotlight from the player characters. That’s unnecessary. As DMs we are already in the spotlight for significant portions of the game. Keep the “Non” in Non-Player Character.

Instead, we can default to one of the many NPC stat blocks out there, and use the re-skinning techniques of the multi-purpose ogre to make them unique and flavorful.

NPCs without statblocks

Often, an NPC doesn’t need any statblocks at all. Not every shopkeeper, traveling minstrel, or city guard needs to have a statblock. We can adjudicate interactions between player characters and NPCs with D&D’s core mechanic: Players make checks against DCs that are appropriate to the NPC and the situation.

Sometimes, even a powerful NPC doesn’t need statblocks. Prof. Dumbledore doesn’t need a stat block, he can basically do whatever he wants, even if it breaks the rules. (He can teleport in and out of Hogwarts for example.)

Sometimes, the absence of a stat block lets us portray powerful NPCs that have many tricks up their sleeve. When the situation and the NPC call for it, we can shroud an NPC in mystery and keep the players guessing as to the limit of their powers.

The “non” in non-player character

Portraying NPCs is one of my favorite parts of running games. But these NPCs are not my characters in the sense that a player character is a player’s character. For starters, we DMs get to play an arsenal of NPCs, likely multiple in each session. To run these non-player characters, however, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about stats, and instead focus on motivation, roleplaying, and gimmicks.

NPC statblock resources

NPC Villain Bundle by IllusoryScript. Cinematic NPCs built to represent character class archetypes.
Open5e. Free basic NPCs.
My favorite monster books. Different sources for different needs.

Session Zero Writers' Room

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 10:00:00 GMT

The unpredictable session zero

We can (and probably should) prepare for our session zero. Session zero is the kick-off for a campaign, the session before the first session. But while we can prepare a lot of things which we’ll talk about below, character and party creation led by the players will remain largely unpredictable. And that is part of the excitement of a session zero. It’s like a writers’ room. We get together with the players and collaboratively build characters, worlds, and stories.

What we need for session zero

There are a couple of things we can prepare for a successful session zero, even though the process itself will remain elusive until the players start making characters.

Theme of the campaign
Motivation of the party
Character secrets
Safety tools

Everyone will have their own kind of list like this one. But these four steps should give us a solid foundation to streamline our writers’ room session zero.

Campaign themes

What’s the campaign about? What is the central tension of the campaign world? What will be the feeling of the campaign? Swashbuckling naval exploration? Old-school dungeon crawling? Political intrigue? Telling the players what the themes of the campaign are let’s them build fitting characters. A cursed pirate character will have fewer connections to an Underdark campaign. A rabbit person looking for a way back into the Feywild might derail our intrigue-at-court campaign vibes.

When players know the theme of the campaign before they build characters, they can build characters better suited to the campaign.

Party motivation

»Your character works together with the other characters to…« I have used this formulation for almost every session zero I’ve run. We tell the players what motivation to build into their characters. It’s not railroading, it’s not taking away agency. Like the campaign themes, this allows all the writers in the writers’ room (e.g. players in the session zero) to work together more smoothly from the beginning. We set our writers/players up for success by telling them why their characters work together. It’s on them to figure out how to build a character around the party motivation.

Character secrets

I’ve previously talked about handing out character secrets before a session. We can do the same during a session zero. Give each player a piece of information which involves their character in the adventure we are planning to run. Again, we do this before the characters have been finalized to give our writers/players more to play with during the writers’ room/session zero.

A version of character secrets are character connections. We can invite players to think of connections in the backstory of characters before the adventure begins. Are some characters siblings? Former lovers? Ran away together? Protected each other? We can have players roll on a list of possible character connections to establish pre-existing ties between characters.

Here’s a character secret generator to get some inspiration for character secrets: Character Secret Generator.

Safety tools

There are many safety tool options out there. I like to use lines, veils, and a verbal X-card. By talking about safety tools with our players before the game begins, we create trust. We let the players know that any concerns will be heard. This is their game as much as ours, together we can make it fun for everyone.

Running a session zero

There’s no fixed dramaturgy to a session zero. No template for how it’s going to go. Remember, we can think of session zero as a writers’ room. Writers’ gonna write, but all else is uncertain. Here’s a couple broad steps which usually happen during my session zeros:

The DM introduces campaign themes, party motivation, character secrets and safety tools.
Players build characters.
We play a short adventure, often a single encounter.

There are other bits and pieces. For example, at various points during the session zero, I will go around the table and have everyone give an update on their current character building process. This allows for constant feedback, building connections between characters, and tying characters to the campaign.

However, the three elements, DM introduction, character building, and introduction adventure always take place in my session zero.

Facilitating the writers’ room

There’s a few things we can do to create the writers’ room atmosphere in our session zero. The goal is an open, collaborative setting where players talk freely, build connections, and inspire each other. Here’s what works for me:

Facilitate Connections. We can get up and walk around the table. Suggest connections between characters where they make sense.
Encourage Cross-Talk. We want players to freely talk with each other. But not always as the group as a whole. Encourage players to talk in smaller groups of two or three to deepen individual character connections.
Adapt! The writers’ room includes us as the DM. We provide character secrets and encourage character connections, but we also need to be ready to adapt them. If a great new idea arises in a session zero, we should be ready to incorporate it into our campaign.

The unpredictable creativity of session zero

There’s something exciting about session zero in particular. For me, it’s the writers’ room atmosphere. The creative uncertainty of new characters being born, of a campaign world being filled with life, and of unexpected twists and turns in the process. Embrace the creative chaos of session zero as a writers’ room.

We guide the players with themes, motivations, and secrets, but we also let them explore freely in our session zero writers’ room.

Find Your DMing Sweet Spot!

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 25 May 2024 10:00:00 GMT

I think I have a sweet spot in running games for characters of 5th to 9th level. It just feels right for my DMing style. It’s worth thinking about where your DMing sweet spot regarding levels might be so we can offer games at that level more frequently and identify weaknesses in other level ranges for our DMing.

What’s your DMing sweet spot?

Which kind of adventures do you enjoy running?

There are different kinds of adventures (roughly) for each tier of play. Some of these feel better, come more naturally to a DM than others. I for example enjoy running high-stakes action adventures where the fate of the continent is at stake without the characters being as powerful as demi-gods. That equates roughly to second-tier games. Here’s how I’d break down the kinds of adventures for each tier in a loose, simple, tongue-in-cheek way. Think about which of these kinds of threats and adventures suit your DMing best.

Tier 1 (1st - 4th level). Local trouble, save the village, fight zombies, kobolds, bandits, and goblins.
Tier 2 (5th - 10th level). Regional problems, overthrow the corrupt king, fight powerful demons, skilled knights, and legendary sorcerers.
Tier 3 (11th - 16th level). World-spanning quests, defeat demonic overlords, fight otherworldly behemoths, ancient dragons, and liches.
Tier 4 (17th - 20th level). Multiplanar adventures, stop an evil god, fight apocalyptic great-wyrms, deranged gods, and armies of darkness.

What are your favorite character levels?

This is one we, as DMs, usually don’t think much about. What kind of character abilities do we enjoy seeing at the table? I think a second attack makes combat more dynamic to run, as do a good amount of spell slots. Before 5th level, combats are quicker but martial classes roll one die per round and might miss. Spellcasters likewise will do everything for a long rest after each combat at lower levels.

However, with 6th-level spells things start getting out of hand. I start to not enjoy the kinds of crazy abilities spellcasters especially have after level 11. Mass suggestion can take the challenge out of any encounter. We have to think differently about challenges at this level, and the kind of abilities in tier 2 fit more easily with the kind of adventures I like running most.

Which CRs are most fun for you to run?

After 5th level an adventuring party can take on more and more epic monsters. For tier 1, we have to be careful with anything above CR 3. But some of the most fun monsters are around CR 5: Elementals provide fun combat challenges, and NPCs become more capable with the mage and the gladiator.

I enjoy running monsters Up to CR 20 (and higher) as well. But the combat dynamics are entirely different at that point. Monsters might kill a character with one action, or the same monster might do nothing because the characters have ways of mitigating everything it does. I enjoy the drama of trading blows back and forth which happens with CRs of 5-10.

Find out which CRs you enjoy running the most!

A self-reflective DM exercise

We can learn about our own DMing style, our strengths and weaknesses by thinking about our DMing sweet spot. Which kind of adventures do we enjoy the most? Which kind of character abilities bring fun to the table for us and which make the game less fun? Which kind of CRs are most fun to run in combat for us?

We can lean into our sweet spot and offer games in that level range, or we can push the boundaries and step outside our comfort zone from time to time. In either case, knowing our DMing sweet spot can help us improve our game.

If you want to share your DMing sweet spot with other enthusiasts, join our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/dPSc7n3mWY

Running a Mini-Campaign: A Weekend of D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 18 May 2024 10:00:00 GMT

A weekend of D&D

If we can arrange it, playing D&D with friends for an entire weekend can be an extraordinary gaming experience. Here’s the main takeaways from my weekend of running D&D for 16 hours:

Run four adventures, one in each tier of play.
Choose whether to run homebrew or published setting and adventures.
Create a recurring cast of NPCs.
Adapt to the events of the mini-campaign in between sessions.
Let months or years of downtime pass between adventures.
Shower the characters in magic items.

Let’s dive into each of these, beginning with the overall format.

Homebrew or published?

When we prepare for a weekend of D&D, the first decision we have to make is this: homebrew or published? Do we run published adventures or make our own? Do we set them in a published world, or make our own? This decision matrix represents the options we have:

	Homebrew Adventures	Published Adventures
Homebrew Setting	All Homebrew	Published Adventures in a Homebrew Setting
Published Setting	Homebrew Adventures in a Published Setting	Published Adventures in a Published Setting

All Homebrew

In this format, we make everything up from scratch. This can be the most time-intensive method but also potentially the most rewarding setup for a weekend of D&D. We can create a unique setting for the four adventures and build everything around the characters: setting and adventures.

We can even do this together with the players in preparation for the weekend of D&D. Geography, politics, religion, and myth can all develop in a conversation between us, the DM, and the players. Whether via text or in person, this way, every participant of the weekend of D&D is invested in the world and the characters from the start. We create all of it together!

Published Adventures

If we don’t want to also prepare four adventures from the ground up, we can run published adventures and adapt them to the custom world we create for the weekend of D&D. We can take plots, maps, NPCs, and monsters and adapt them to our homebrew world.

Or, we simply run a an arc of published adventures in a published setting if we want to keep preparation light. This can also help players engage with the world if it’s a setting they have previously played in.

I have taken this approach previously with my adventure path Veragon’s Doom.

Homebrew Adventures in a Published Setting

Finally, we can take a published setting, have the players build characters for that setting, and then come up with custom adventures built around the characters, set in a published world.

This approach combines the expertise of published settings with the flexibility of creating our own adventures in these worlds. We can take all of the lore of the Forgotten Realms as inspiration, and then craft four unique adventures in this world for our weekend of D&D.

Creating the adventures ourselves, allows us to craft a tight-knit adventure path centered around the characters. Setting the adventures in a published world gives us access to fantastic inspirational material to tie these adventures to a larger fantasy.

A recurring cast of NPCs

Playing for 16 hours with characters levelling from 4th to 20th level can be confusing. To tie the adventures together, give the characters more investment in the story, and provide narrative anchors for the players, we can create a small cast of recurring NPCs. During the first-tier adventure, we can introduce these NPCs, let characters interact with them, and take note of the developing relationships.

One of these NPCs might become the group patron of the party. For example, the first-tier adventure might feature a grand gala where the party aligns with the rebel leader of the world by stealing something for the rebellion from the noble guests of the gala. Then, in the other three adventures, the rebel leader becomes a central figure giving quests to the party who must decide how long they’re willing to side with the rebels.

Keeping the cast of NPCs small (around five NPCs) allows us to create a tight-knit story together with the players. Villains, allies and independent faction leaders become the cast of our 16-hour epic. Why a small cast of NPCs for 16 hours? Even in a 16-hour narrative, like the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy (extended version), we can’t keep up with ten new characters every four hours.

Keep the world small, it will make for a more coherent narrative during our weekend of D&D.

Adapt in between adventures

We can’t play 16 hours in one session. At least I can’t. That’s why we run four sessions of four hours each. An additional benefit is that we have breaks in between adventures. This time allows us to adapt the next adventure to the events of the previous one. The characters have stolen an artefact from the ruling noble family during the grand gala? Well now we can add a group of vengeful knights as an additional complication to the next adventure. Perhaps in the final battle of that adventure, the knights show up, demanding the characters hand over the artefact or the knights will side with the villain.

Breaks in between adventures give us a chance to weave the narrative of our weekend of D&D even tighter together. We can adapt the upcoming adventure to the events of the previous one.

Months and years of downtime

A weekend of D&D is a lot of playtime. But for the 16 hours to truly feel like a campaign, we need to give the characters space to develop. By letting months, or, better yet, years of downtime pass in between adventures, we give space for character development that might happen over many weekly sessions in a long campaign.

For example, letting three to four years pass after the first adventure gives us in-world time for a character to develop a romantic relationship with the rebel leader, or to build a reputation as a pirate captain, or to rise through the ranks of the church. These developments create rich character backgrounds which will make the experience of a weekend of D&D feel like an epic story of heroic characters living dramatic lives.

Let years of downtime pass in between adventures and ask the players what their characters are doing in the time to create the feeling of an epic campaign in one weekend of D&D.

Lots of magic items

It’s a one-shot. Give the characters a vorpal sword, a staff of power, and a ring of invisibility. Usually, these kinds of items (or just too many magic items) can create an unbalanced game experience. But who cares about balance in a one-shot?

A weekend of D&D is a lot of playtime, but it’s also over after the weekend. So we can give the characters loads of magic items early on without worrying too much about them becoming too powerful too fast.

In any adventure, give out magic items appropriate for the next tier of play. Because characters will level up multiple levels in between adventures, we need to give them more powerful magic items than usual in each adventure. The loot the characters receive at the end of one adventure should be meaningful for the tier of play of the next adventure. So at level 4, we can give the characters +2 weapons because these are appropriate for an 8th-level party. In the next adventure, the now 8th-level characters have magic items from the previous adventure which match their current tier of play.

Try it out!

The weekend of D&D I had recently was fantastic. In every sense of the word. We had a weekend away from everyday life, we created an epic story of adventure, and we shared a few wonderful days together as friends.

Give it a shot! You might have to schedule this kind of multi-day event weeks or months in advance. But then you have all that time to build a unique world together with the players, and prepare for an unforgettable D&D experience.

City of Mind - Level 1-20 Campaign Outline

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 04 May 2024 10:00:00 GMT

I played ICARUS again! And the game was, again, incredibly inspiring. So, I came up with a level 1-20 D&D campaign outline based on the events of the game. I previously made one of these outlines based on another ICARUS session I played. You can read that here: The Extinction of Icarus – A Level 1-20 D&D Campaign Outline.

In today’s level 1-20 campaign outline, you will find an advanced city state in the apocalyptic future of a medieval fantasy world, an elder brain controlling the city, enhanced super soldiers, and political division, inequality and strife that eventually lead to the downfall of the City of Mind.

Theme and Elevator Pitch - City of Mind

Central Theme: In a distant pre-apocalyptic future of a medieval fantasy world akin to D&D’s Forgotten Realms, a super-advanced city hovers above the ground, ruled by an enigmatic elder brain that functions as a super-intelligent AI. This elder brain controls everything from interplanar diplomacy to the creation of powerful super soldiers. Below, simply called the »Ground,« the lower class toils endlessly to produce energy for the floating city. Meanwhile, the upper class lives lives of luxury and privilege, cautiously looking away from the suffering below. A strong centralized religion, called the Holocenox, has built up around the elder brain. Its priests and bureaucrats shape the beliefs and practices of the city’s inhabitants.

Campaign Elevator Pitch: Embark on a journey into a future forged from the remnants of a medieval fantasy world. Watch magic and technology collide! Will you fight to overthrow the oppressive regime and usher in a new era of freedom? Or succumb to the allure of power and privilege in the floating city above?

Six Truths of the Campaign

The following things are true and known about the City of Mind at the beginning of the campaign:

The Divide: The stark division between the upper and lower classes shapes every aspect of life in the city. Those in Icarus above live in opulence, while those on the Ground struggle to survive.
The Holocenox Rules: At the helm of Icarus, a mysterious and elusive authority silently orchestrates the city’s affairs. This entity is shrouded in secrecy and whispered rumors. Revered by devout followers of the Holocenox, the enigmatic figure wields unparalleled influence. But its true nature and identity remain obscured from the prying eyes of the populace
Interplanar Diplomacy: The fate of the city is intertwined with its relations with other planes of existence. Diplomatic tensions, alliances, and betrayals play a crucial role in shaping events and determining the city’s place in the multiverse.
The Quota of Criminals: The creation of super soldiers is fueled by a quota of criminals, condemned to serve as unwilling subjects for experimental enhancements. The morality of this practice is a source of contention and conflict. Ethical dilemmas arise from the use of criminals as expendable resources.
The Planar Nexus: Towering at the city’s epicenter, the colossal antenna acts as a conduit for interplanar travel and communication. It serves as a gateway to distant realms and facilitating contact across the planes. Maintained by the Holocenox church, it is rumored to have more hidden functions central to the Holocenox’s grip on power.
The Rebellion: Resistance against the oppressive regime is growing, fueled by the suffering of the lower class and the desire for freedom. Characters may choose to join the rebellion, or carve out your own path in this turbulent world. Either way, they’ll have to navigate the complex web of alliances, betrayals, and power struggles that define the city’s politics.

Three Factions in the City of Mind:

These three factions shape events throughout the campaign:

The Holocenox’s Grip: Within the super-advanced city, the Holocenox stands as the religious arm of the elder brain’s dominion, aiming to perpetuate control over both the city and its populace. Its grim portents manifest in escalating surveillance, ruthless suppression of dissent, and the eradication of any threat to its authority. Through fear and reverence, it enforces strict obedience and conformity upon the citizens, solidifying the elder brain’s rule.
Ambassador Renulda’s Machinations: Amidst the machinations of the elder brain’s dominion, Ambassador Renulda of House Everhold emerges as a formidable adversary. A relic of old aristocracy, sustained by magic and decadence, Renulda leverages her position to advance the city’s influence across planes. Facilitating the trade of super soldiers as interplanar mercenaries, controlled by the city’s powerful antenna, she orchestrates diplomatic maneuvers to expand her power and profit. Her cunning diplomacy and subterfuge pose a dire challenge to the rebellion’s aspirations, threatening to entrench the oppressive regime’s hold even further.
The Rebellion’s Struggle: In the heart of the super-advanced city, a rebellion quietly simmers, driven by disparate grievances and shared aspirations for change. Far from a unified front, it represents a tangled web of motivations and ideologies, navigating a delicate balance between hope and uncertainty. As it seeks to challenge the oppressive regime, the Rebellion grapples with the complexities of forging alliances, managing dissent, and evading the watchful eye of the ruling elder brain. Its path forward is fraught with obstacles and challenges, requiring both courage and pragmatism to navigate the treacherous waters of resistance.

Campaign Outline: Tier 1 - 4

The campaign can be loosely structured into the four tiers of play. For each tier, I only provide brief inspiration for events that might shape play in these levels, potential adventure locations, and potential monsters.

Levels 1-4: The Awakening Rebellion

The players are introduced to the super-advanced city and its oppressive regime under the control of the elder brain and its religious arm, the Holocenox. They witness escalating tension among the lower class on the Ground, as Lady Renulda’s brutal methods maintain control.
Adventure Locations: The Lower Levels of the City, The Resistance Hideout
Potential Monsters: Security Drones, Enforcers, monstrosities in the dirt of the Ground

Levels 5-10: The Rise of Resistance

Lady Renulda cracks down on protests, unleashing super soldiers, resulting in a shocking massacre. The players uncover connections between the super soldiers and the elder brain, delving into the city’s underbelly to prepare for larger-scale confrontations.
Adventure Locations: The Upper Levels of the City, The Factory District
Potential Monsters: Super soldiers, security mechs, minor thralls of the elder brain

Levels 11-16: The Battle for Freedom

The players confront Lady Renulda and her forces in a climactic showdown, aided by a city watch officer who retains control over his mind. The Holocenox grants Lady Renulda and the church mind control over the city, leading to a desperate race against time to prevent total domination.
Adventure Locations: The Antenna Tower, The Nexus Chamber
Potential Monsters: Elder brain thralls, elder brain, priest warriors, super soldiers

Levels 17-20: The Fall of the City

The antenna collapses, severing the elder brain’s control, plunging the city into chaos. The players navigate the crumbling cityscape, facing remnants of Lady Renulda’s forces and the elder brain’s influence. In a final confrontation with Renulda herself, they witness the city’s collapse, trying to save as many citizens as possible.
Adventure Locations: The Shattered City, The Abyssal Void
Potential Monsters: Renulda herself (mind-controlling archmage), eldritch horrors, apex super soldiers

Level 1-20 in a single city?

Yes, the level 1-20 campaign outline above assumes the characters stay in the City of Mind for 20 levels of play. However, we can spice things up by running adventures in other advanced cities. Perhaps even on other planets or other planes of existence. In a super-advanced fantasy world, portals to other planes and gateways to other planetary objects are fairly commonplace. Trade, diplomacy and warfare is conducted through these pathways.

Therefore, we can fill each tier with adventures that spotlight more of the futuristic-fantastic world the City of Mind is set in.

Let this campaign outline inspire you: for NPCs and/or villains for your own campaign, for a sci-fi D&D one-shot or even for a whole campaign set in the City of Mind or a similar setting.

Flanking Makes 5e Less Interesting

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Flanking is an optional rule. It says that if characters are in melee with the same creature and on opposite sides of the target, the characters have advantage on melee attacks. Many tables seem to use the rule but I don’t. There are two main aspects which make flanking a rule which makes the game less not more interesting:

Flanking makes advantage from other sources worthless.
Flanking doesn’t incentivize interesting positioning.

In addition, there’s an alternative to flanking which can make combats more dynamic and cinematic.

Flanking and other sources of advantage

Why even cast faerie fire when you can flank? Why hide for sneak attack? Flanking is the easiest way to get advantage. No roll necessary, just stand on opposite sides of the target. Without flanking getting advantage becomes a significant goal for any combat. Players look for opportunities to gain or grant advantage. And we DMs can offer advantage situationally. The enemy was grappled with a natural 20 on the grapple check? Perhaps the next attack has advantage against it. If the melee characters have advantage anyways, these kinds of situations become meaningless.

Flanking and positioning

Advantage is so good, so impactful that characters will do almost anything to get it. Especially melee martial characters. With flanking, therefore, standing on opposite sides of an enemy becomes the single overriding goal of positioning. Any other considerations don’t really matter. Taking cover, exploring magical monuments, using terrain features… if there’s a simple way to get advantage, that’s the way characters should position.

In my experience, that makes combat less interesting. If I can predict where the melee characters are going every time initiative is rolled, it’s a less interesting game.

Cinematic advantage

Here’s an alternative put forward by Mike Shea from slyflourish.com: cinematic advantage. Basically, characters can gain advantage on attacks for doing something cinematic. An ability check determines whether the character is successful in their cinematic attempt.

For example, a character wants to swing from a chandelier and then land a jumping dagger strike on an enemy. Clearly cinematic. We tell the player that they can attempt a DC 14 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to gain advantage on their next attack. However, if they fail, the character has disadvantage on the next attack. Clear stakes, a tactical decision, and a cinematic move. While it takes more time than flanking, this version of gaining advantage is more engaging, more cinematic, and therefore more interesting for the game.

Flanking is not the default

Flanking is not the default. And that’s good, I believe. There are more interesting ways to get advantage which flanking negates. We can use flanking in some games. For example, for a combat in tight corridors, we could decide that flanking is actually so effective that we’ll use the rule.

But in my experience, a game is more interesting if flanking is not the default for every session.

2d6 Reaction Roll

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 10:00:00 GMT

How the 2d6 reaction roll works

How does a monster react to the characters’ presence? Sometimes we know: the hungry owlbear attacks, the wise sphinx converses. But sometimes we don’t know, or we want to shake it up. Or we want to be surprised as DMs too. In that case, the 2d6 reaction roll is a simple and effective tool to gauge monster (or NPC) reactions.

Here’s how I use the technique. When the characters encounter a monster, I roll 2d6 and consult the table below:

Sometimes that’s it. On a low roll the monster immediately attacks. On a high roll, it is friendly. If the roll comes out somewhere in the middle, the characters have a chance to react. They might calm the monster down, or offer it food, or try to persuade the cautious NPC. I usually have them roll an Ability check to see if they’re successful. If they are, they defuse the situation. If their roll fails or isn’t quite high enough, we can roll the 2d6 again to see how the monster or NPC reacts. With the -4 or +4 modifier the table quickly brings the monster to attack or become friendly.

Make random encounters interesting

The best use case for the 2d6 reaction roll is to spice up plain random encounters. My random encounter tables will often just have a monster as an entry, like “owlbear.” But that by itself isn’t a very interesting encounter. However, if I then roll the reaction 2d6, suddenly I add another layer, a dynamic element to the encounter. Perhaps the owlbear is cautious. Why is it cautious? Maybe it’s already wounded from a fight with another adventuring group. The reaction roll can inspire further details for a wandering monster encounter.

Sometimes I even use the 2d6 reaction roll to plan an encounter during prep. I know the party will stumble upon an adventuring band from a rival faction. What’s their attitude? I can roll 2d6 during my prep to start fleshing out the encounter.

2d6 reaction roll for monsters and NPCs

The 2d6 reaction roll can work for monsters and NPCs. What’s the town guards attitude when the characters encounter them at the gates? Roll 2d6 and find out. The procedure is the same, although instead of outright attacking on a low roll, the town guards might raise the alarm instead.

Often we know a NPC’s attitude. But sometimes we’re not sure, or we want to be surprised. The contained randomness of the 2d6 roll is a great tool to spice up interactions between characters and monsters, and characters and NPCs.

The simplest version: high is good, low is bad

Sometimes we don’t need all the details of the 2d6 reaction roll. Maybe we just want to know generally what the pirate king’s attitude is towards the characters when they first meet him in his floating castle. Roll 2d6 and look at the number: high is friendly, low is hostile, and the middle is indifferent. Sometimes that’s all we need for quick inspiration for how to start an encounter with a monster’s or NPC’s attitude.

A tool of randomness for improv D&D

The 2d6 reaction roll is a great tool for an improvisational style of D&D. We don’t need to have all the social nuances of an encounter with a monster or an NPC figured out. Often the contained randomness of a 2d6 roll provides just the right amount of variety and surprise we need to spice up our game.

Print the 2d6 reaction roll table out, or stick it in your digital notes to have it ready at all times.

Hexcrawl Campaign Tips: Running Exploration

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Running a hexcrawl

A hexcrawl is a procedure for running overland travel. As we discovered in part 1 of this series, it’s not a campaign in and of itself but it’s a great way to structure exploration in a sandbox-style campaign. So, now that we’ve prepared for our hexcrawl, here’s the basics of running exploration with a hexcrawl:

Characters choose a direction and/or destination for travel
The DM tracks their progress across the hex map
The characters encounter keyed locations as they travel
The DM rolls for and runs random encounters
We embrace the creative chaos of improvised D&D

The hexes are hidden from the players

This one was surprising to me, but it works great: the players do not see the hexes. Give them a map without the hexes. This makes exploration feel more organic and less “gamey”. That means, we’re not asking the players to which hex they want to go. Instead, the players tell us either the cardinal direction they’re heading to, or the landmark they’re navigating towards.

Navigating the hex map

Here’s how the simplest version of navigating across the hex map works:

The players tell us which direction they want to go.
The characters encounter the keyed location in each hex they enter.
We potentially run random encounters along the way.

Let’s look at each step individually. First, the players tell us their direction. We can leave it at that. Optionally, we can ask one of the players to roll a Wisdom (Survival) check with a DC appropriate for the terrain and visibility to navigate successfully (between DC 10 for flat grassland and DC 20 for treacherous mountains or swamps). On a success, they reach the next hex, on a failure, they end up in a random adjacent hex.

Travel Speed. Characters can travel one 12-mile hex per watch (4h), and 2 hexes per day before they suffer from exhaustion.

In each hex they enter, the characters automatically find the keyed location. They decide whether they want to explore it, or if they want to move through the hex.

Along the way, we run any random encounters as indicated by our random encounter die rolls for each day.

Running random encounters

We divide each adventuring day into 6 watches, each 4 hours long. We roll a D20 for each watch to determine if any random encounters occur. On a 17-20, an encounter occurs, and on a 20, we roll twice on the encounter table.

I like to roll random encounters for the adventuring day during my prep instead of rolling it at the table. That gives me a chance to think about each encounter a little more and add campaign-specific flavor. Let’s say I roll “orcs” for an encounter. Well, that’s not very interesting. But then I can ask, who are the orcs working for? Perhaps the evil sorcerer king has mind-controlled them and sent them after the characters specifically. A random encounter doesn’t have to be just ambushing monsters (although it can from time to time). We can tie random encounters to the villains, factions and patrons of the campaign.

Players tell us where they’re going at the end of a session

This is useful for any campaign, but it’s a life-saver for a hexcrawl. Because we might have 100 or more hexes on a map, we can’t prepare details for each one. So it helps our prep immensely if we know which hexes the characters are likely to enter during the next session. Ask players for their course of action at the end of each session. Then, we can get more detailed in our prep for the relevant hexes for the next session.

Embrace the creative chaos of improv

Even if we know where the characters want to go in the next session, a hexcrawl involves more improvisation than other game procedures. Because of the number of hexes, I don’t recommend filling out details for each. That means, we might have to improvise a lot of content during the game. For me, that puts me out of my comfort zone. And that’s great. It means that I’m sometimes caught off-guard when the characters pick a different direction than expected, or when they get lost while navigating.

I might have to turn two bullet points and a map for a hex into an adventure on the fly. A hex might have the notes, “evil paladins of Tiamat” and “corrupted temple of Bahamut”, and a Dyson map attached to it. When the characters unexpectedly enter the hex, I might call for a 10-minute break, and figure out some details. Perhaps, three paladins of Tiamat are there right now, summoning a lesser avatar of Tiamat using the corrupted altar of Bahamut in one of the chamber’s. There’s a long hallway on the map. Let’s add a trap which teleports characters into another chamber from the hallway where corrupted spirits of priests of Bahamut ambush the characters.

When we resume play, I have just enough details to run a short adventure in the temple.

This approach makes for a dynamic campaign, it stretches my improv muscles… and it’s sometimes very chaotic. Embrace the creative chaos. It’s not going to be a perfectly crafted narrative, but it’s a character-focused approach to running a hexcrawl campaign.

Hexcrawl Campaign Tips: GM Prep

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 10:00:00 GMT

In this two-part article, I share tips from my ongoing sandbox campaign which uses a hexcrawl for overland travel and exploration. The first part contains tips about preparing a hexcrawl, while the second part focuses on running a hexcrawl.

Hexcrawls are a means not an end

There’s no such thing as a hexcrawl campaign in D&D. Hexcrawling is a method to track overland travel by dividing a map into hexagonal plots and tracking the characters’ progress across that map. And that alone cannot be the driver of a campaign. Hexcrawls are useful, but they are a tool for running a campaign, they are not a campaign in themselves.

For a campaign, we need character motivation, and “travel across the land” is not a motivation. Hexcrawls work best Make sure the characters have a motivation which drives them to explore the land. Here are five possible motivations to set during a session zero for an exploration-driven campaign which will feature a hexcrawl procedure:

Find hidden artifacts scattered across the land
Build a reputation for the party by helping the locals across the land
Hunt down villains or monsters who are hiding somewhere in the land.
Protect settlements across the land from an ongoing threat.
Rescue NPCs trapped in remote locations across the land.

And, of course, for our campaign, we need “the land” that is mentioned in each of these campaign hooks. Campaigns with a hexcrawl work best in a wide open landscape filled with fantasy wilderness and adventure hooks. If we expect the campaign to revolve around exploring much of the map, we better make sure the land is interesting to explore.

Preparing a hex map

To prepare for a hexcrawl campaign, we need a map. With a few simple steps in the free software GIMP, we can add hexes to any existing map. That’s the much quicker option compared to creating a hex map from scratch. Pick a fantasy map which looks like it’s filled with fantasy adventures, and drop a hex grid over it. Justin Alexander (from the Alexandrian blog) recommends 12-mile hexes to make progress across the map feel meaningful. Here’s a quick guide on adding a hex grid to a map using GIMP: Turning any map into a hex map. I used this method to drop a hex grid on top of this map of Chessenta by Mike Schley.

Preparing a hex map key

After adding hexes to a map, we need a map key where we note down the interesting locations the characters can explore as they travel across the hex map. Going with Justin Alexander’s advice, we need one location per 12-mile hex. So in a 12x10 hex map that’s already 120 hexes we need to fill. If that sounds like a lot… well, it is.

But we don’t need to have fleshed out locations and adventure hooks for each hex. Here’s how I filled 180 hexes without spending weeks and weeks prepping.

First, we can write down a few bullet points for the big landmarks and settlements on the map. An evocative name and a few descriptive aspects are enough. “Luthcheq - Mad Theocracy” is one entry in my map key. I don’t need more than that for now because the characters are still far away from the city.

Second, scour your adventure collections for content. Pick up any of your D&D adventure collections like Tales from the Yawning Portal or Adventures from the Potbellied Kobold, or even seperate the individual adventures from a book like Ruins of the Grendleroot. Then assign adventures (or the main location of each adventure) to a hex where it makes sense for the adventure location to be. For example, an adventure in a haunted pyramid is easily placed in any desert area.

When we distribute adventures like this, we’ll just note down the name and source of the adventure for finding it in the map key. In addition, I like to jot down a few bullet points for each hex so that I can drop hooks in front of players while they are in adjacent hexes.

Factions, Villains, Patrons

In addition to the map and the key, we need to define the driving forces of the campaign. This continues the theme of, “a map is not a campaign.” Who are the villains opposing the characters? Which factions are operating in the area and what are their goals? Who supports the party, who is their group patron?

In answering these questions, I like to write down the three main villains of the campaign along with a major and three minor goals for each. Then, when we prepare for sessions, we review the villains and see if any of them could make an appearance in the upcoming game.

Likewise, we can let the party choose a group patron during Session Zero. A group patron is a faction or an NPC who supports the party, gives the characters a tie-in to the world, and a reason to adventure together.

With these tools set up, we can follow the characters as they go in unknown directions across the map while still keeping a cohesive story. The characters wander about but wherever they go, they receive quests from their group patron and get drawn into the machinations of the villains.

Random Tables

Because the hexcrawl procedure is so open, random tables can help us improvise when the party goes on the road. Here’s a few tips for making random encounter tables:

Create or pick encounter tables with wandering monsters for different terrains in the world/on the map.
Just write down monster names in the tables. We can improvise the number of monsters according to the type of monster and the challenge we want for the characters.
Have separate tables for monster reaction rolls, or even activities the monsters might be up to when the characters encounter them.
Improvise the situation for the random encounter. If possible, connect the wandering monsters to the characters’ quest, their group patron, or a campaign villain.
Use additional tables for things like weather, town events, and town attitudes.
Don’t be a slave to the random tables. If you have a better idea than the rolled entry, go for it. If it doesn’t fit the pacing of the session, don’t use them.

Preparing to improvise a hexcrawl

What we’re really doing with these steps is preparing to improvise lots of moving parts during the game. A hexcrawl procedure means we follow wherever the payers want to go across the map. That’s why we prepare random tables, that’s why we have campaign villains and a group patron to tie things together.

In the next article, we’re looking at how to put this prep to use and actually run a hexcrawl.

Prepare What You Use

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Minimalist D&D game prep

I have a particular attitude towards game prep as a D&D DM: Prepare (only) what you will use in the next session. I try to stick to this mantra as closely as possible when preparing for my games. Why? It lightens the work load for us as DMs, and it lets us react more flexibly to the players’ decisions and actions.

For example, there might be an elvish kingdom 200 miles south of where the party is, and this kingdom might even become relevant in a couple of levels. But until we know the characters are going there next session, we shouldn’t spend a lot of time designing political systems, and making up religious rites, and rumors. These are details we worry about if the players ever decide to go there. They might not, and that’s okay. Because we did not prepare many details, we can more readily let go of the elven kingdom and follow the players’ lead.

This philosophy is the premise of Mike Shea’s Eight Steps for preparing games as a Lazy Dungeon Master. The steps outlined in Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master are built for this attitude towards prep. Each step is designed to be useful at the table, during the next session.

D&D prep: tools for improvisation

But what if we don’t know where the party is going next session? I am running a hexcrawl-based sandbox game, and often have no idea where the party will go before any given session. What do I prep then?

We can prepare tools for improvisation. Prepare the things that will be useful regardless of where the characters choose to go. Here’s some steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master which will always be useful, regardless of whether we know where the party is going or not.

Strong Start. We can prepare an exciting beginning to the session. Perhaps the party is ambushed, or they meet a new NPC, or a town festival happens, or a supernatural event occurs. Regardless of where the session goes from there, at least we know how it starts.
Secrets & Clues. We can write down a list of ten secrets and clues which the party can discover during the next session. Writing these as short paragraphs of 1-3 sentences allows us to quickly drop them in front of the characters when they explore the world. Don’t tie these to specific locations or NPCs. Instead think about which secrets the characters can discover regardless of where they choose to go. Then we improvise during the session where and how these secrets and clues are discovered.
Treasure. A list of magic items which we can hand out as reward regardless of where the characters go. We can generate random loot, or customize magic items to the characters. We know the characters will be in the next session, even if we have no idea where they are going.
NPCs & Monsters. We can prepare friendly or hostile NPCs and/or monsters which are not tied to a specific location. These might be from a local faction, or even agents of a campaign villain—that way they can feasibly appear in any location the characters choose to go to.

Long-term prep: Campaign Villains

There’s one area of D&D campaigns where thinking further into the future pays off: campaign villains. At the beginning of a campaign, we pick three villains or villainous factions. For them, we think broadly about their goals and the steps they need to achieve to get there.

We can also always think about how a villain might come up in the next session: through NPCs, monsters, and secrets and clues. But here it pays off to have a wider understanding of the villains’ actions, even if they don’t manifest during the next session. Think broadly about villainous agendas and about how they might influence the next session.

A prep strategy to put DMs at ease

Preparing what we need for the next session has two major advantages. It lightens the load on DMs and their game prep. And it allows us to become flexible in improvising during a session to follow the characters’ decisions.

Feats as Loot

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Feats as story rewards

Hand out feats as loot to characters for significant character developments or to underscore important milestones in a campaign. We think of feats as something that is only relevant for players building their characters. But we can treat them as rewards just like regular loot!

For example, Shawna the sorcerer learns to lead her party just like the magical ancestral soul-fragment within her pushed her to. She gains the Inspiring Leader feat after the ancestor within her shares more of their power with her.

Or Keanu the cleric convinces a silver dragon to aid the party in their quest. In addition to the dragon’s assistance, Keanu gains the Gift of the Metallic Dragon feat. He grows metallic scales on his body, signifying his parley with the dragon.

Both of these examples showcase how feats can be satisfying loot. Either for character development or to underscore significant story milestones.

Picking and customizing feats

We choose the loot we hand out. We don’t need to give the players a ring of invisibility if we think it will derail our campaign. Similary, we pick the feats we give to the players as rewards. Pick the ones you want to play with. If you think Lucky diminishes the fun of random dice rolls, don’t give it out. Instead, we can pick feats which fit the character well, and which we want at our table.

We can also customize feats to fit a character even better. Perhaps Shawna the sorcerer’s Inspiring Leader feat also lets her cast the healing word spell once per day. Or Keanu the cleric’s Gift of the Metallic Dragon protects allies at range not just within 5 feet of him.

As DMs, we control the loot we hand out. We can take full advantage of this fact when we’re picking and customizing feats as loot.

Anything can be loot!

Why stop at feats? Anything in the books can be loot. We can hand out spells, class features, companion NPCs or monsters, or features from a monster stat block as rewards. Simply write down the effect on an index card, and hand it to the player like any old magic item. Feats can be loot. Anything can be loot.

Level Up Without a Long Rest

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Usually, I let the players level up their characters during a long rest. This implies the characters are in a safe (enough) space, and they start a new adventuring day fully rested and with their new abilities from the level-up. Sometimes, however, it makes sense to level up characters without a long rest.

The characters might have completed a significant milestone, warranting a level-up, but they might be in the middle of a dungeon. Or it’s just been too long without a level-up so that we want to give the players a level but they’re not in a position to long rest.

There’s a simple rule to allow levelling up without a long rest.

Characters gain any resources from the level-up but expended resources stay expended.

That means a character gains the maximum HP increase but their current hit points don’t increase. They gain new spell slots and spells but their expended spell slots stay expended. A battlemaster fighter gains another superiority die but their expended superiority dice stay expended.

This simple rule allows us to grant the characters a level-up without a long rest. It gives the characters new resources while expended resources stay expended.

Puzzle Monsters: Mix Combat and Exploration

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Puzzles vs. Puzzle Monsters

I generally am not a big fan of puzzles in D&D. I tend not to run many, except if they’re in a published adventure I am using. But I do like running puzzle monsters—monsters, that is, which have a puzzle element to their statblock. Puzzle monsters can bring a sense of exploration to a combat scene and shake up the monotony of constantly fighting to the last adventurer or monster standing.

Puzzle Monster: The Vorthropod (Tome of Beasts 3)

The Vorthropod is a lava lobster. It is one of those fantastically unique and weird monsters from Kobold Press, and it has a clear puzzle element in its stat block. The Vorthropod has two states: molten and hardened. When it is outside of lava for too long, its shell hardens. While hardened it becomes slower, its AC increases and it gains vulnerability to bludgeoning damage. It becomes molten again if it touches lava or takes fire damage. While molten touching the Vorthropod means taking fire damage.

For the PCs fighting the Vorthropod this means making tactical decisions: Should we keep the Vorthropod hardened or molten? Which weapons can we use most effectively in its current state?

Revealing the puzzle in the monster

For most puzzles in D&D, when we reveal the solution, the puzzle is over. For puzzle monsters, however, when we tell the players what’s going on, the challenge only begins!

We tell the players early on in the fight (perhaps after the first PC’s turn) about the puzzle element of the monster. In the case of the Vorthropod, the first PC acts and all the characters notice the changing shell of the monster. We actually tell them the mechanical changes of a hardened and molten shell, so that they can make informed decisions about fighting it.

Trap Monster: The Hydra

The hydra is a classic puzzle monster. Or perhaps its better described as a trap monster. Chop off one of its five heads, and two more grow in its stead. Mechanically, this happens whenever the hydra takes 25 or more damage in a single turn, unless the hydra takes fire damage.

Here we can play a little more with hiding the puzzle element because it’s less complex than the Vorthropod hardened/molten shell. The characters only notice additional heads growing after the first head was chopped off. In fact, we can tell the players that when they deal less than 25 damage in a turn, they can see the one head almost being chopped. Then, when they concentrate their efforts on dealing more damage in a single turn, they experience the horror of seeing additional heads growing.

That’s what makes the hydra more of a trap monster than a puzzle monster: It has hidden features which reveal their detrimental effects over the course of a combat.

Improvising puzzle monsters

How can we take the idea of puzzle monsters and use them spontaneously at the table? Sometimes, we might want to spice up a combat without having a puzzle monster statblock at hand! Let’s first take the idea of the vorthropod and distill it down to the basics. Here’s how to improvised a “dual state” puzzle monster:

The monster has two forms with slightly different statistics in each, like the molten/hardened shell of the vorthropod.
Come up with a pair of binary states for the monster. For example: hard/soft, enraged/serene, flying/grounded, charging/releasing, enchanted/mundane.
Then improvise changes to statistics which fit each of the two states, like adjusting AC, resistances/vulnerabilities, extra damage on attacks, spell resistance, or a damaging aura.
Lastly, come up with what makes the puzzle monster change state. For example: heat/cold, wet/dry, concentrating/not-concentrating, a certain amount of damage taken in a single round, a certain type of damage taken…
Tell the players these details about the dual state after the first character’s turn.

Improvising trap monsters

We can also improvise trap monsters! They require a hidden feature which provides a setback for the characters back in the middle of combat. Here’s the steps to improvising a trap monster:

The monster has a hidden feature which the characters trigger and which they can disable.
Come up with the hidden feature. For example: extra heads/claws/tails grow, gain an extra attack, deal extra damage, unlock a breath weapon, summon minions, unlock a teleport ability…
Decide what logically triggers and disables the hidden feature. For example: dealing a certain amount of damage in a single turn, dealing a certain damage type, being close to the monster, moving while within sight of the monster, making ranged attacks against the monster, casting spells at the monster…
Reveal the trap once it’s triggered, and drop hints about how to disable it, if necessary.

Mixing combat and exploration

Using simple puzzle monsters or trap monsters, allows us to inject variety into an otherwise one-dimensional combat encounter. We’re spicing up combat with a pinch of exploration. The dynamics of the combat encounter change, and players get to figure out how to deal with the puzzle monster or trap monster.

Revealing D&D Map Secrets to Players

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Don’t worry too much about map secrets

We tend to overthink the importance of keeping our D&D map secrets hidden from the players until their characters discover them. This includes secret doors that are marked by an “S” on the map, or rooms and hallways which the characters cannot see yet. This often happens naturally: When players see the big black shape in the center of the map where they haven’t gone yet, they know that there’s a central chamber there.

Let’s look at two arguments why we can worry less about hiding these map secrets from players.

Revealing map secrets drives players “deeper” into the mapped location.
The players maintain a sense of discovery if we create obstacles in the location which require more than just noticing them to overcome.

Visible secrets drive the game forward

We want the characters to explore the dungeon. Otherwise, why did we prepare a map? Presumably, we want the characters to delve deeper and deeper into hidden chambers and corridors. Revealing secret passageways and undiscovered areas of the map to the players, helps them move the story along together with us as the DM. If the players can see the secret doors, they’ll guide their characters in that direction. They won’t just follow the obvious path, and disregard the interesting secrets we have prepared behind that second door.

We want characters to explore the secrets of a dungeon. Letting the players know where those secrets are can move the story forward more quickly. It avoids the guessing game of investigating every inch of every wall to make sure there are no secret doors the characters are missing.

Turn revealed map secrets into obstacles

The fun of secret passages, rooms, and doors is not simply in rolling a high enough Wisdom (Perception) check until the DM tells the players where they are. We can create exciting encounters after the characters have discovered the secrets. Maybe the characters need to splash the secret door with water to please the water spirit hidden inside it. Perhaps the builders of the dungeon hid a chamber for a reason: the toxic fumes inside poison anyone who enters. Or a terrible monster lives in an obscured hallways, which is why the passage was blocked off in the first place.

Turning a map secret into a puzzle challenge, a dynamic trap, or a combat encounter creates a sense of struggle and progress which can be more meaningful than discovering these secrets. We can cut the “actual” discovery process by revealing map secrets to players, and then focus on the interesting scenes that develop once the characters arrive at the secret.

Character Secrets (Tips & Generator)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Handing out character secrets before the game

Give each player a secret their character knows about the upcoming adventure before starting the game. During the game, players can decide when and how to reveal the information they gained through the secret. Revealing a secret from the character’s perspective breaks up the monotony of the GM always delivering the lore. In addition, character secrets can make a character feel special and connected to the game world.

Connecting character secrets to the adventure

When we’re coming up with secrets to hand out before the session, we can think of different elements a character might have knowledge of. For example:

A character might know (of) NPCs of the adventure, or have interacted with them previously.
A character might have encountered a monster that’s coming up in the adventure before, giving them knowledge over strengths and weaknesses.
A character might know (of) a location from the adventure.
A character might know (of) a magic item which can be found during the adventure.
A character might know (of) a villain of the adventure.

During our game prep, we can think through these options, and decide which one fits a particular character best.

Inspired by randomness

… or we let randomness inspire our preparation. Use the generator above to come up with different secrets each session. The generated secrets of course are a starting point, and need to be customized to fit the character and the adventure.

Creepy Magic Items for Curse of Strahd

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 10:00:00 GMT

An adventure with few magic items

There are only few magic items in the adventure Curse of Strahd. That’s not necessarily a problem if our players know it. But usually, players expect to get magic items for their characters over the course of a campaign. When I ran Curse of Strahd, I wanted to hand out magic items to the players, but couldn’t find many in the book. That’s why, in this article, you will find a random generator to quickly create unique and creepy magic items for Curse of Strahd, for Barovia or for the Shadowfell in general.

Simple mechanics, evocative flavor

The generator creates magical weapons, spellcasting foci, and armor. The mechanics of these are simple. Each item grants a +1 to attack and damage or to armor class. Or to spell attack bonus and spell saving DC in the case of spellcasting foci. In addition, each item comes with a spell which can be cast using the item, once per long rest. The spell saving DC is 15 and the spell attack modifier is +7 for each of these spells.

What makes these items uniquely suitable for Curse of Strahd or any Barovia campaign, is the simple but evocative flavor. Each item has two descriptors to let you quickly describe its appearance. Each item also has an origin in the form of a Shadowfell entity, like the Shadovar or the Raven Queen, or an origin from Curse of Strahd, like St. Markovia or Morgantha’s Coven.

Shadowfell entities

For reference, here are the Shadowfell entities (from the “Shadowfell” entry in the Forgotten Realms Wiki) used to flavor the Shadowfell magic items in the generator:

Ambergris, dwarf Shadovar cleric of Dumathoin and former member of Cavus Dun.
Afafrenfere, human Shadovar monk, former member of Cavus Dun, former member of Brothers of the Gray Mists, and former member of the Monastery of the Yellow Rose.
Dark Powers, vestiges of ancient dead evil gods that either dwell on the plane or were banished there, and feed on evil creatures that become trapped in the Shadowfell.
Drasek Riven, a godling, had his fortress here, where he hid from Rivalen the Nightseer and the archdevil Mephistopheles, both of whom shared a piece of the divine essence Drasek himself had.
Draygo Quick, a Netherese lord and powerful warlock.
Effron the Twisted, tiefling Shadovar warlock, and former student of Draygo Quick.
The Ghost King, a composite being formed from: Hephaestus a dracolich; Crenshinibon and its seven disembodied liches; and the sentience of Yharaskrik, an illithid; which had powers over the undead denizens of the Shadowfell.
Glorfathel, elf Shadovar wizard and member of Cavus Dun.
Herzgo Alegni, tiefling Shadovar warlord, who wielded Charon’s Claw.
Jermander, a tiefling Shadovar warrior and member of Cavus Dun.
Parbid, tiefling Shadovar monk, member of Cavus Dun, and the Brothers of the Gray Mists.
Parise Ulfbinder, a Netherese lord.
Ratsis the Spider Farmer, a human male shade and member of Cavus Dun.
The Raven Queen had a divine realm known as the Fortress of Memories here.

The Encounter Damage Tally

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 10:00:00 GMT

How to track many monster’s hit points?

Whenever we have more than one monster fighting the characters, we are tracking multiple hit point pools. For me, that’s where I get the most confused during a large battle. “Wait, which goblin did you attack?” is a common question as I’m trying to figure out where to track the damage. What if we rolled all that accounting for an encounter into a single damage tally?

The SlyFlourish Damage Tally

Mike Shea over at slyflourish.com gives us the damage pool (what I’m calling the damage tally) to track damage done to multiple monsters. Here’s how it works:

Track damage done to all monsters not individual monsters in a single tally.
Remove monsters from the battle whenever the damage tally goes above an individual monster’s hit points, then reset the count to zero, carrying over damage done above the individual monster’s hit points.
Keep track of the rising and resetting damage tally and of how many monsters there are left.

Mike recommends this system for running hordes. So instead of tracking the HP of 20 individual skeletons, we round their individual hit points down to 10, and track damage done to the horde not individuals in a single damage tally. Whenever the tally reaches 10, the characters have killed a skeleton.

For example, the rogue does 16 damage with a sneak attack to the skeletons. That means one (worth 10 HP) skeleton dies, and 6 damage carries over. We remove one skeleton from the field. The monk then hits with three unarmed strikes, dealing a total of 15 damage. With the 6 damage left over from the rogue, hat kills another two skeletons, and one damage is carried over. There are 17 skeletons left.

How do we track area of effect damage?

When an area of effect damages the monsters, we figure out how many it affects, how many make their save, sum up the total damage, and add it to the tally, removing as many monsters as necessary.

For example, a fireball does 27 fire damage to eight skeletons. Regardless of whether they make their saving throw or not, even half the damage is enough to kill a skeleton, so we remove all eight from the battle.

If a smaller area of effect hits the skeletons, for example a burning hands spell, it might hit only three of them and deal 10 damage. One skeleton makes their saving throw, so the total damage dealt is 25 (10 + 10 + 5) which removes two skeletons in the area and leaves 5 damage on the damage tally.

Damage tally for encounters that aren’t hordes

The damage tally works well for hordes of monsters. But it can also ease the hit point accounting we DMs are doing for smaller battles. We can tally the damage done to a rider and its mount, an assassin and its companion, or a squad of thugs. All we need to track is the damage done in a single pool.

For example, the PCs are fighting a death knight on its nightmare mount. We track damage done to the pair in one tally, and remove the mount once the damage tally reaches its maximum HP. We reset the pool to zero, carrying over any damage. Narratively, the death knight is infernally bound to the nightmare, so the knight can only be damaged once the nightmare is killed but any damage done above the nightmare’s HP carries over to the death knight.

A drow assassin and its giant spider could work the same way, or an evil ranger and its beast companion, or twin fire giants, where the second-born absorbs the damage for the firstborn.

With only two creatures the accounting benefit of the damage tally isn’t great. But once we get to four or more monsters, it pays off. If we’re running four thugs assaulting the PCs, we simply track damage done to the squad, and remove thugs once the pool reaches 30. After 30, we remove a thug–most of the time, the one that was last damaged. Then we reset the tally to zero and carry over any excess damage.

Players rarely notice

This approach can seem like too much abstraction. After all, we’re not minutely tracking the individual hit points of all the combatants. Won’t the players feel cheated? If we have very tactically minded players the damage tally might not be the best for that game. It removes any benefits gained from singling out enemies with attacks and damage.

But in many cases, players won’t even notice what we’re doing. Instead they’ll appreciate the fact that their attacks can damage more than one thug. And we have one less thing to track during combat, and can instead focus on epic descriptions, high-stakes action, and a dynamic combat.

D&D Descriptions from a Character's Perspective

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 10:00:00 GMT

Describing from another character’s perspective

How do you describe a character’s action in D&D? If we’re unsure of how to describe something, we can come back to see the world through the characters’ eyes: Describe the action from another player character’s perspective!

For example, we could just say, “The barbarian leaps forward and swings her sword.” Or, we look at the initiative order, see that the fighter is up next, and say to the fighter player, “Julianne, something large sweeps past you, and before you know what’s happening, your barbarian friend flies past you into the enemy. The last thing you see of her is your own reflection in the greatsword’s blade.”

Describe an action from another character’s perspective to engage multiple players in a scene, and to tie the D&D party together through descriptions!

Tie combat turns together

Coming up with descriptions for D&D combat can be stressful. As DMs, we always try to strike a balance between epic narration, and not too much talking between turns that already take a long time. Narrating actions from the perspective of the character who is up next in the initiative can tie combat turns together. In the above example, the barbarian acts first, and the fighter after her. We can smoothly move the spotlight from one to the other by narrating how the fighter sees the actions of the barbarian.

Engage more players in a scene

But also out of combat, this technique can be useful. We can engage more players in a scene by describing how their characters see another character acting. If the barbarian is attempting to walk across a rickety rope bridge, we can describe how the rogue feels the ropes strain under the barbarian’s weight. Perhaps the rogue then wants to stop the barbarian and go first themselves. But is the barbarian already too far gone, too eager to press forward?

Either way, by describing the effects of the barbarian’s actions on the rogue, we force the rogue player to react in some way. We foster interaction between characters, and engage more players in a scene.

Describing actions from another character’s perspective creates engagement between players, and can include more characters (and players) in any scene!

2023 Review: Our Busiest Year Yet!

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 10:00:00 GMT

IllusoryScript.com in 2023

39 articles published

In 2023 we published an article almost every week of the year. That’s the commitment we make to our subscribers and that’s the goal we’re striving for in 2024. Every week you can look forward to a sometimes thoughtful, sometimes quirky but always informative article.

More analytics

Late this year we also added a little more analytic functionality to the website. We strive for minimal invasiveness which is why we still don’t use Google analytics.

Nonetheless, here’s our most read articles since we started tracking in September:

My favorite articles of 2023

I agree with the readers of the website. The three articles that were most popular are also some of my favorites. I use the 100 Warm-Up Questions every session I run, and I’ve had a blast writing up my tips for running a Radiant Citadel campaign after finishing running it early in the year. An honorable mention goes to an article which I keep coming back to to remind myself of how I run games best: By putting obstacles in front of characters without worrying about solutions.

But, I generally have more fun reading other people’s thoughts. Which is why my absolute favorite articles of the year were written by our very first guest authors. In 2024, I want to at least double the amount of articles written by guest authors!

The Art of War (and Combat) in D&D by Ali
The DM Pep Talk You Deserve by Alli (two “l”s, and also the artist behind the image atop this post)

DMsGuild Publications

2023 also marked the year of publishing more supplements on the DMsGuild. We published a line of NPC villain PDFs for each class (more are still to come in 2024). These products are designed to give DMs easy-to-use, evocative and exciting villains for their games. There’s a bundle where you can get all of them at a 20% discount:

NPC Villains Bundle

The second line of PDFs revolves around the Elves and the Feywild. The Court of the Undying made such an impression on me that I wrote a supplement which let’s DMs put the Eberron institution into their own game world. Another piece of elvish lore, the proto-elves called the Seldarine, was so inspiring to me that I wrote NPCs which can bring the Seldarine to life in your game!

We also launched a Mastodon account and a YouTube channel in 2023. I’m sorry to say that we’re largely inactive on both of those. I made two YouTube videos, one about a deadlier version of D&D and one about variant ability checks:

In 2024 I want to publish more videos but I haven’t yet found a way to integrate it into my IllusoryScript workflow…

What do you want from us in 2024?

What would you like to see IllusoryScript doing in 2024? More YouTube videos? Specific article topics? More social media presence? More options to support us (potentially monetarily on Patreon)?

Write us an email at info.illusoryscript@gmail.com with your ideas and requests for illusoryscript.com in 2024!

Harry Potter RPG (using FATE)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Using FATE to run a Harry Potter RPG

I tried running a Dungeons & Dragons game set in the Harry Potter universe. It worked… mostly. However, since then, I have come to believe that the FATE Condensed rules (PayWhatYouWant here), are a better rule set to base a Harry-Potter-themed roleplaying game on. In this article, I present my adaptations of the FATE Condensed ruleset to run a roleplaying game set in the Harry Potter universe.

The Harry Potter Skill Lists

The first thing, we modify from the FATE Condensed rules is the list of available skills. For a game set in Hogwarts, or featuring Hogwarts students, we can use three parallel skill lists through which the players determine their characters core strengths and weaknesses.

A basic skill list featuring higher-order abilities like Physique and Will.
A House skill list, in which characters show their abilities in the traits valued by the four Houses of Hogwarts.
A subject skill list. Here, characters can show an aptitude for specific school subjects within Hogwarts, which will also be applicable in adventures outside the classroom.

Each character has a skill rating in each of the skills from each skill list. This makes character creation slightly more complex but the resulting characters have clear strengths and weaknesses in the things that are relevant at Hogwarts.

Here are the lists. Be aware of the distribution of points within each separate list:

Basic skills. Choose: 1x “Great” (+4); 1x “Good” (+3); 1x “Fair” (+2); 1x “Average” (+1); 4x “Mediocre” (+0).

Physique
Will
Rapport
Speak
Investigate
Notice
Resources
Stealth

House skills. Distribute +4 points freely, every House skill must have a minimum of “Mediocre” (+0).

Courage (Gryffindor)
Wit (Ravenclaw)
Ambition (Slytherin)
Loyalty (Hufflepuff)

Subject skills. Choose: 1x “Great” (+4); 2x “Good” (+3); 2x “Fair” (+2); 3x “Average” (+1); 1x “Poor” (-1); 7x “Mediocre” (+0).

Astronomy
Charms
Defence Against the Dark Arts
Herbology
History of Magic
Potions
Transfigurations
Arithmancy
Care of Magical Creatures
Divination
Muggle Studies
Study of Ancient Runes
Flying
Dark Arts
Apparition
Crafts

Option: Higher-year Characters

If you want to start the game with more advanced characters, for example, because they are already higher-year students, consider giving them the following extra points to spend on their skills:

Add 1 extra point to a Subject skill for every 2 years above 1st (Year 3-5 = max. +5 in any skill, Year 6-7 = max. +6 in any skill).

and

Add 1 extra point to a House skill for every 2 years above 1st (Year 3-5 = max. +5 in any skill, Year 6-7 = max. +6 in any skill).

Example Stunts

Stunts for a Harry Potter FATE game are straight-forward. Think of a special talent a character has, or a special item they carry, or a unique magical ability they have. Here are two examples.

Bonus-granting stunts

Because I am a booksmart know-it-all, I get a +2 when I use a Subject skill to create an advantage when I try to recall knowledge.

Rules-changing stunt

Because I was caught in a spell as a child, I can deflect a supernatural attack against me towards a randomly chosen different target, once per game session.

Years as Arcs

FATE Condensed operates in arcs – a series of sessions where plot elements carry over, similar to one half or third of a season of a Netflix show. To couple this concept with a game set in the Harry Potter universe, we can use the school year as arcs. For a faster-paced, montage-style game, one school year might comprise one arc of 4-6 sessions. Alternatively, we can make each of the three terms of a school year into an arc. Here’s how an outline for a campaign like this could look:

The first arc starts on the Hogwarts express and ends with the Christmas holidays. The characters get into trouble with rival students and mean teachers, and start investigating a mystery.
The second arc lasts until the Easter holidays. Here, the characters intensify their investigations into the mystery, and go on expeditions, for example into the Forbidden Forest, in Hogsmeade, or the Lake.
The third arc lasts until the summer holidays. It contains the climax of the school year, as the characters unravel the mystery and confront the final threat of the school year.

Play the Harry Potter RPG to embrace the fiction

Playing in the Harry Potter universe means we are playing in a strong, established fiction. Most players will be familiar with Harry Potter and how the magical world works. Therefore, we as GMs, embrace that story as the driver of our game. The simple mechanics of FATE Condensed are perfect for this. They put story and narrative front and center. With the Harry Potter skill lists, custom stunts, and interesting arcs and milestones, we have everything we need to run a Harry Potter RPG. And running the game can teach us how to embrace the fiction of our games (not just FATE).

The DM Pep Talk You Deserve

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 10:00:00 GMT

In this article, my friend Alli, gives us a pep talk for DMs. We all know self-doubt, and Alli has some encouraging words for every DM out there.

The self-doubt of DMs

Do you feel like your DM skills are lacking? Do you wonder whether the way you portrayed the noble queen last session was believable and impressive enough? Is your plot too boring if the players have out-of-character conversations? Do your players still want to play with you after a player character died in the last battle?

Well, my dear fellow DMs, please have a seat, and here is a cup of tea. You are doing great!

As a DM, we are quick to judge ourselves. Was the session and the pacing good? Did everyone have fun? Is the plotline clear enough, but not too obvious? Was the battle not too easy, but not too difficult either? And so on…

The reason for this is of course the expectations we put on ourselves. DMing comes with a certain amount of prep time. The stages pre-session, mid-session, and post-session automatically require thinking about, what has happened and what could happen next. When expectations meet reality during these steps, we automatically reflect on the quality of the sessions. And there is lot of room for self-criticism and self-doubt during that process.

As a player, on the other hand, it’s very easy to show up on the day of the session, not having thought about the character, not having read the rules, sitting down at the table, arms crossed, and say: “I didn’t like it. I wasn’t having any fun.” After the session it is again very easy as a player to close the book, put everything that happened aside and take the character sheet out of the backpack again 5 minutes before the start of the next session. There can be an imbalance between the energy spent as a DM and as a player, which might lead to frustration.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

When I say, “You are doing a great job,” I mean that you put effort and passion into this hobby. Before your next session, you will make up your mind about the world, the characters, and the next encounters. Regardless of whether you write the story yourself, following the guidelines of a prescribed adventure or perhaps you make it up on the spot: you will spend energy and time on your game. So, pat yourself on the back every now and then and remember: „You put passion and effort into this hobby, and for that you are good enough.”

Of course, there is room to improve. But sometimes it’s worth to look back and see how far you’ve already come, to see the progress that you’ve made, and to acknowledge the moments of fun that you and your players have already had at the table.

It’s okay to say no

As a DM, it’s very easy to put yourself in charge of being responsible for the fun at the table. Roleplaying games are interactive games. Both the DM and the players are necessary to play. Therefore, keep in mind that it is okay to give feedback to your players if certain situations or circumstances make you uncomfortable. You too have boundaries that you may communicate, and you should enjoy the hobby as much as your players.

Communication is key

That’s probably not news to you if you’ve read this previous article on why, when, and how to talk to players. A few additional tips though on how to address problems with the group:

Scheduled check ins: Plan to check in with your players. Do little feedback rounds and try to solve conflicts as soon as possible.
Cards: Some people have issues to speak up when communicating issues. Or sometimes it’s hard to interrupt the flow of a session. It may help to use a card with a symbol on it or a little LED candle that can be lit mid-session to indicate that there is a problem. For that the scene can be ended naturally before addressing the issue. It just quickly creates awareness.
Surveys: If you don’t like direct feedback, it can also help to do a little online survey to see if there are any issues that should be talked about.

That also includes our opinion as DMs. It does not have to be solely our job to deal with conflicts. If solving conflicts is not your strong suit, a player may help you to communicate or solve problems in the group. Remember, we are not alone and it’s not only our job to provide a good time for everyone else. We should have a good time, too. It takes some courage to put ourselves out there, doing funny voices, providing story beats, creating challenges and improvise. And for that, it’s okay to communicate that we are also in a vulnerable position.

A gift for a gift

In all the hustle and bustle that D&D brings with it, we sometimes forget to notice the little gifts that we give to the players and which the players also give back. It is often the case that we put a lot of time into a round simply because we are preparing the session. For that it can quickly lead to frustration if half of the party arrives late or is on their cell phones during the epic BBEG speech. Communication is key. If this permanently spoils your fun, broach the subject.

But also try to recognize that you are not the only person „giving“, and the players are always “taking”. Recognize the little gifts from the players. For example, a player has prepared a speech that they throw at the opponent before casting a spell. Maybe a player writes recaps as a diary entry from their character’s perspective, or they bought a set of dice that they associate with their character. This means they connect with the game. Be a fan of your player characters. Another kind of gift may also be that a player offers their apartment as a place to play, or they always bring snacks. Sometimes it’s the small gestures that show that everyone involved contributes something to the overall experience. You just need to notice and appreciate it.

It’s better to run a game than to not play at all

One of the biggest stereotypes about nerds is, “Oh, they just want to escape reality.” Sometimes that is true. Everyone who plays D&D has their own reasons. Maybe it‘s the dramatic roleplaying, being a hero, being creative in world building, getting lost in combat mechanics, exploring other worlds, experiencing different circumstances, training social skills, diving deep into human psychology, having a good time with your friends, or maybe… it‘s the snacks at the table. There are many aspects and different play styles in roleplaying games. But in the end, you, my fellow DMs, you are the reason why people can have those experiences. You are providing people the chance to play D&D. And that’s great.

Storytime

Before my DM pep talk is over, I’ll pour you one more tea and invite you for a little story time.

The last ten years I worked towards attending a certain university. And during the application process I started to play D&D regularly every week. The rejection from university hit hard. But in that specific week, there was still a scheduled D&D session. So, I went. And after the session, when all the self-doubt and the scary unknown of the future were about to bring me down, there was also a next D&D session scheduled. So… I had two options… I could let the fear of, “What do I do now in life?” wash over me… or I could think about what my character does in the next D&D session. Personally, I am not a fan of that prejudice about nerds, but during these following weeks I was glad that I could escape reality for a while and still have fun despite the circumstances.

Remember, sometimes, it doesn’t matter how good your NPC voices or creature noises are. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if your players find all the plot hooks, and if your story is original and creative enough. It matters that you are there. It matters that you are willing take the seat as a DM, that you provide the opportunity to play roleplaying games for a certain amount of people, and that you care about the hobby. In the end, everyone just wants to have a good time regardless of their personal challenges. That is key.

Turn the self-criticism into a force that keeps you moving!

On behalf of all players, thank you for taking the time, courage, and passion that you put into your game. If there is a tiny villainous imp-like voice of self-doubt in your head, kick it in the butt once in a while or put it into the time-out chair (Also a dice jail might work). If you allow that voice, that self-criticism, to stop you from DMing, then it will result in several people not being able to play roleplaying games at all. And that would be a shame.

Pat yourself on the back and be proud of the effort that you put into this hobby. Keep fighting those insecurities and turn the self-criticism into a force that keeps you moving. You are doing great!

What to do next? Go out there, be creative and have fun in your next D&D session.

Adieu and Farewell,

Yours faithfully, Alli

Ask D&D Players for Intent

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Ask for the player’s intent

Sometimes we fall into a cat-and-mouse dynamic with a player. The player asks for information, or starts describing their character’s actions in great detail, and we’re not sure what they are up to but we go along. This can slow the pace of the game to a terrifying crawl. An interaction between DM and player runs much more smoothly if we know the ultimate goal, the intent of the player. Ask players for intent before resolving their actions or giving them more information.

Here’s a negative example of the kind of interaction we’re trying to avoid, and how asking for intent can improve it:

Not asking for intent	Asking for intent
Player: “How wide is the pit?”	Player: “How wide is the pit?”
DM: “About 10 feet. It fills the whole hallway.”	DM: “About 10 feet. It fills the whole hallway.”
Player: “Are there any trees around?”	Player: “Are there any trees around?”
DM: “Er… No, I don’t think so, you’re in a dungeon.”	DM: “No. What are you trying to do?”
Player: “Right. How about sticks?”	Player: “I want to pole vault over the pit.”
DM: “Yes, you can find a handful of dead roots.”	DM: “Okay. Give me an investigation check to see if you can find a sturdy enough pole.”
Player: “Are any of them more sturdy?”
DM: “You can find two thicker gnarly roots.”
Player: “Ok, will they hold my weight?”
DM: “What?”

Notice, how we can avoid a lot of unnecessary back-and-forth between player and DM, once we know the player’s intent. Ask for the intention or the goal of the player early on in an interaction!

Work with the player to achieve their goal

Once we know the player’s intent, we work with them to let them achieve their goal. Remember, we are fans of the characters, and therefore we want the characters (and their players) to succeed!

Once we know a player’s intention in a scene, we can steer the conversation between DM and player towards the next logical steps. A player wants to pole vault over a pit trap? Let’s work with them to find a suitable pole. The player wants to fast-talk their way past the guards? Ask them if there is any specific way in which they deceive the guards, and then make some Ability checks!

Only once we know the player’s intent in any given scene, can we effectively work with them to achieve their aims.

Achieving player goals: fiction, fun, and dice

There are three principal ways in which we can determine whether and how characters succeed once we know their intent. We can ask ourselves whether anything in the fiction of the game world opposes their goals–if not, they often succeed automatically. Sometimes, however, even if there are “logical” obstacles to a character’s goals in the fictional world, we can let them succeed nonetheless. Because it’s fun. Pole vaulting over a pit trap might just be the awesome kind of stunt we needed in a harrowing dungeon crawl–so we let it happen. Because it’s fun and right for the pacing of the session.

Last, we can let the dice decide. Ability checks are flexible tools to resolve just about anything in D&D. Pole vaulting might involve Intelligence or Wisdom checks to find or craft a pole, and Dexterity or Strength checks to make it over the pit without falling in.

Intent First!

Asking for intent is one of the first things we should do in any DM-player interaction. It clears up the way forward through a scene, and removes clutter from the conversation. It allows us to work with the players to achieve their character’s goals. Knowing the intent of a player, we can determine whether fiction, fun, or dice should determine success or failure. Make it a habit to ask players for intent, and your game will run more smoothly.

Improvise Traps in D&D With Ease

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Complex traps vs. “roll + effect”

When we want to use traps or environmental hazards in D&D, sometimes, designing complex mechanics can be fun. But sometimes we need a quick trap to add some obstacles to an improvised dungeon, or we want to use a trap as a complication the bad guy throws at the characters chasing them. In these cases, we can default to roll and combine it with a flavorful effect.

The roll: attack or save?

When players stumble into a trap, we roll an attack, or the players make a saving throw. After a while this becomes intuitive but the choice is also largely arbitrary. I have previously argued for letting players roll the dice as often as possible. In a nutshell, however, if something weapon-like targets a character it’s an attack roll. If the characters resist some area-of-effect trap, it’s a saving throw.

Is a large bone shard launched at a character? Roll an attack. Are the characters slowly suffocated by an invisible gas? Have them make a saving throw.

Set a DC

We set the DC or bonus to hit based on the situation. Mike Shea from slyflourish.com gives us a neat trick to quickly set these numbers. Rate the difficulty of the trap or hazard on a scale from one to ten. That is your bonus to hit. For a saving throw, add 10 to the number to determine the DC.

Effects from many sources

Then we combine this roll with a flavorful effect. There are many sources we can pull such effects from on the fly. We can have the trap deal a situationally appropriate amount of damage, and add a suitable condition. We can use an environmental hazard from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Sometimes a madness effect from the Dungeon Master’s Guide can represent a psychological threat. Alternatively, we can use a spell as a template for a trap. For example, the invisible gas could function like the cloudkill spell.

Examples of traps, rolls, and effects

The following table gives an overview of six different types of D&D traps, the type of roll associated with them, and spell effects or other effects to use with the trap.

Type	Roll	Spell effect	Other effects
Gas	CON save	cloudkill, stinking cloud	Madness effect (DMG)
Explosion	DEX/STR save	fireball, burning hands, cone of cold, lightning bolt, thunderwave	saving throw to avoid damage, and being pushed 10-20 feet
Weapon	attack vs. AC	conjure barrage, conjure volley, shadow blade	attack roll for bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage
Pit/debris	DEX save or attack vs. AC	catapult, conjure barrage, conjure volley	saving throw to avoid falling damage/bludgeoning damage
Energy	CON save	magic missile, blight, guardian of faith	“Eldritch Storm” (TCoE)
Mental	WIS/INT save	phantasmal killer, confusion	Madness effect (DMG); “Far Realm Effect” (TCoE)

D&D Traps made easy

When we improvise D&D traps or a hazards in this way, we grab whatever pre-existing mechanic seems appropriate, and let a flavorful description do the rest. We don’t need to design unique mechanics for each trap. A simple roll combined with a pre-existing effect, and an evocative description is all we need.

Two More Ways to Roleplay NPCs

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 25 Nov 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Beyond NPC voices and mannerisms

In another article, I wrote about how I use NPC voices and mannerisms to make an NPC come to life at the table. However, this method is not the only way to quickly and easily roleplay an NPC. Two other methods which do not rely on extensive acting lessons are easy to use at the table!

Describe rather than play

If we’re not comfortable “getting into character” for an NPC, we can simply describe how they act. Use the voices and mannerisms from the previous article to narrate to your players how the NPC acts, without having to actually act out these mannerisms. Add the description of another gimmick, to give more details to the NPC. D&D is a game of the imagination. We can let players imagine the way an NPC sounds and acts without having to do it ourselves.

Reskin an existing character from fiction

Mike Shea from slyflourish.com recommends simply picking a character from fiction and using them as a template to roleplay an NPC. The ogre chieftain could be a know-it-all like Hermoine Granger. Or the princess acts like Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones. Notice that switching the gender of the character we are reskinning immediately creates a more unique NPC.

Many ways to roleplay NPCs

We can use gimmicks, or roleplay NPCs with voices and mannerisms. We can describe how NPCs act in third person, or reskin existing characters from fiction. I use all of these methods when they seem appropriate. For an NPC who might never appear again, I might simply go with the first vocal characteristic that comes to mind. If I think an NPC might take on a bigger role, I will make sure to write down a voice and a physical mannerism for them. All of these methods are tools for us to use. And we pick and choose depending on our own DM style, the needs of the game, and the status of the NPC.

NPC Voices and Mannerisms

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Simple ways to roleplay NPCs

There is a simple way to roleplay NPCs in D&D and other roleplaying games. Few of us DMs are voice actors, improv theater veterans, or comedians. But the good news is, we don’t need much to be able to roleplay an unforgettable NPC. Actually, any NPC can become distinct and memorable at the table in a matter of seconds. How? NPC voices and physical mannerisms will help you make an NPC come to life at the table.

NPC voices and a mannerism (random generator)

The simplest version of this approach for an NPC is this: give them a single voice feature, and a simple physical mannerism. With these two things, roleplaying an NPC becomes straightforward, and the combination will make an NPC unique and memorable.

Here’s a random generator which gives you three combinations for roleplaying NPCs:

If you prefer to roll some dice, or pick a specific combination, you can do so over here: “Gimmicks for every Character and NPC”.

Consistency matters

Once we pick a combination of voice and physical mannerism, it’s important to write it down, along with the NPCs name. Then, mannerisms function like a mental anchor for the players. If every time they meet Gruknard the tavern bard, we as the GM hunch our shoulders and speak excited and jittery, the players will remember Gruknard more easily.

Over time, we will have created a memorable and distinct cast of NPCs for players to interact with, sympathize with and remember.

Links & Resources

The Poker Face Delivery

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 10:00:00 GMT

How we deliver information makes a difference

Delivering dramatic information with a straight “poker face” as a DM can effectively draw players into the story.

In general, how we present or deliver information as DMs makes a significant difference to the gaming experience. Most often, we can mirror the energy of what we’re describing in the way we talk. We speak in hushed whispers for mysterious information, loud and expressively for grand descriptions, and soft and melodious for emotional content.

Varying our voice in this manner can keep players on their toes. And it makes it easier for everyone at the table to pay attention to what is being said.

The poker face delivery

However, instead of mirroring the drama of what we’re saying with our delivery, we can inject energy into a scene with the “poker face delivery.” Whenever there is dramatic new information that drastically changes the situation of the characters, we can tell the players with a straight face and a dry tone of voice. Players will hear the information and be jolted to attention by the mismatch between delivery and the seriousness of the situation.

Players might ask something like, “Does this DM not get it?! There are a dozen wolves surrounding us suddenly. Why is he so calm?” They’ll start looking towards their fellow players to see if they misheard, and find astonished faces looking back at them. And on the other side of the table? There’s a calm, straight-faced DM… gathering dice for the attacks of all those wolves.

Try the poker face delivery

Here are some more examples for the kinds of situations which could be intensified with a poker face delivery:

“The floor suddenly disappears underneath your feet.”
“Giant rocks fall from the ceiling, and bury Reinhard, the paladin.”
“…and into the town square rides Strahd von Zarovich.”
“You take 70 points of damage as the dragon’s breath scorches your very being.”
“Now the marilith is going to make seven attacks against you.”

The next time something exciting, dramatic or surprising happens in the game, try telling the players with a straight face. This won’t work every time, and it won’t work for everyone. It’s another technique for delivering information which we can add to our DM toolkit.

Ten Candles: Six GM Tips

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Tips for running Ten Candles

In this article, we’ll go through six tips for GMs who want to run the game Ten Candles. The premise of the tragic horror roleplaying game, Ten Candles by Stephen Dewey is this: Ten days ago the sky darkened. Five days ago, They came. In this apocalyptic setting, you the GM and the players narrate the story of the final hours of a group of survivors. Ten candles are lit, and one by one they are darkened, until only one remains. In the final scene, every character dies.

The rules of Ten Candles are not hard to understand nor to adjudicate during the game. In addition, there is no prep required before running the game. In fact, the game instructs us GMs to not prep anything. Much of the world will be established by the players in the first couple of scenes.

But Ten Candles is also not an easy game to run. Because we don’t prep anything, we need to improvise a lot. We even improvise the bad guys, Them—what They are, how They operate, what Their goals are. But if we embrace this openness and the improvisational nature of the game, Ten Candles creates intense roleplaying sessions that will shock, impress, and shake us and the players.

After running Ten Candles twice, there are a few GM tips that stand out to me.

1. Explain the players’ role

One of the first things we need to make clear to our players is described in the rules as follows:

Though you know your characters will die,
you must have hope that they will survive.

It is crucial to the storytelling of the game that this is understood by the players from the beginning. Each character will die. This is not a story of heroic struggle, and happy endings. It is tragic horror. And to create tragedy at the table, everyone works together to tell the story of the demise and ultimate destruction of the characters.

Players know their characters will die, and yet, they must identify with them, hope with them, play them as desperate survivors, clinging to life and light wherever they can find it.

At the beginning of a Ten Candles session, we make this clear to the players. Their role is to hope for their characters, and yet their role is also to tell the story of their unavoidable downfall.

2. Encourage burning Traits

During character creation, each player will create a stack of index cards which includes, two Traits, a Moment, and a Brink. Only the top-most card is considered “active” and may be burned to reroll dice or gain a special Hope die. The Brink is the always the final card in the stack, with Traits and Moments on top of it, “blocking” the Brink from becoming active.

Traits, which become active earlier, can be used to reroll 1s after a conflict roll. The problem is that as the scenes go on, players have fewer and fewer dice in their pool, and hence fewer and fewer chances to roll 1s, which would allow them to burn their Traits.

Therefore, we should encourage players to burn their Traits and play through their Moment early in the game. Actually, in a game of four players or more, players should use their Traits and their Moment whenever it is possible, even if it doesn’t seem necessary.

Tell players upfront that they need to burn their Traits whenever possible, and play through their Moment as soon as possible. Otherwise the game might end, and there might still be multiple cards left unused in each player’s stack.

3. Write down names and Moments

Number 3 of my Ten Candles GM tips is simple but easy to forget. Write down the names of the characters, and each character’s Moment. The list of names will help us stay in the story without having to use player names or ask for a character name. We can glance at the Moment of each character to drive the story towards those. Moments allow characters to take the spotlight, to live through personal arcs, and to gain a Hope die.

Therefore, we should have a list of character names and their Moments handy to glance at during the game, and to drive the story towards the individual Moments.

4. Consider locations

When we pick a scenario or a “module,” as Ten Candles describes them, a GM tip becomes relevant which applies to all sorts of roleplaying games: Consider the locations which the characters might encounter during the game!

The Ten Candles book actually instructs us GMs to not prepare anything. But when I’ve run the game, I found it helpful to imagine or even write down some of the locations the characters could visit during their search for hope and shelter.

For example, in the module “The Last Boat,” the characters might start out in an abandoned island village, pass through a resort area, reach the northern shore, get on a boat or find themselves in open water. For each of these locations, we can think through three aspects that will help us describe them when the characters reach them. Here’s some examples for “The Last Boat”:

The Island Village. Small, devastated shops. Corpses of dogs, cats, and people. Squeaky doors, rattling windows. The scent of burnt gasoline.
Inland. Dense tropical palms, ferns, and other plants. A country road lined with abandoned cars. Bird and animal calls that suddenly fall silent. Cracking and rustling. A sudden car radio starting up and playing mumbled pop songs.
The Resorts. Shredded lounge chairs and parasols. Deserted bungalows. Bloody surfboards in front of the surf shop. Wind chimes tinkle. The smell of barbecue.
Open Ocean. Cold, endless dark expanse. Body parts drifting by. Huge shadows underwater. Salt, a sweetish smell of decay.
The Boat. Clattering, foul-smelling engine. A growing leak. Ominous knocking from beneath the boat. Insects crawling out of crevices.
North Island. Dozens of empty boats around a large coast guard boat. Not a single corpse. Flickering yellow light in the coast guard boat.

We can write these down on an index card, or simply think through the locations when we’re choosing the module. What’s important is that we have some ideas for the locations that the characters can reach in our head. Having thought through aspects of the locations can help us set the scene for the unfolding drama.

5. Embrace the atmosphere

Ten Candles has genius tools to automatically create a haunting atmosphere: candle light which gets dimmer as play progresses, voice recordings, ritual phrases spoken in unison… Perhaps the most important of my GM tips for Ten Candles is this: embrace the atmosphere of the game. Here’s what I mean by that:

Voice. Speak with a calm, foreboding voice whenever possible.
Seriousness. Take the game seriously. Try to avoid silly jokes, and stay in character as much as possible.
Rituals. Insist on the ritual parts of the game. Speak the phrase, “These things are true. The world is dark,” after each scene, and ask the players to speak the phrase, “And we are alive” in unison.

6. Plan (and practice) the recording

The last of my GM tips for Ten Candles is hands-on. When the group records their farewell messages at the beginning of the game, it is vitally important that we, the GM, do not talk into the recording.

Nothing kills the mood more than the GM’s voice in the recording telling a player to hold the mic closer to their mouth. Do not talk when the players are recording their farewell messages.

The most important moment of the game is the end. When all the candles are darkened, all the characters have died, all hope is lost, the GM plays the recording made at the beginning of the session.

To ensure that this moment lands with maximum effect, try out your recording device beforehand, and try out quickly pressing play on the recording as well. Remember that you’ll be in the dark at the end of the game.

In short, we should do everything we can to guarantee a satisfying end to the game with the playback of the recording.

Play Ten Candles!

This game is fantastic. There is a lot we as GMs can learn from how it is designed and how it runs at the table. And most importantly, it’s a fantastic play experience. Everyone should play Ten Candles at least once in their life.

The Witch Hunt Against Metagaming in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 10:00:00 GMT

A quirky perspective on metagaming

Metagaming in D&D can sometimes be treated like witchcraft. Accusations get thrown around until someone gets hurt, and the situation actually becomes worse for everyone after the metagamer/witch is dealt with. The view presented in this article is a perspective on metagaming with a more positive twist than necessary. Witchcraft has its uses. So has metagaming. Let’s stop the witch hunt.

Metagame Thinking in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)

The 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide describes metagaming as follows in chapter 8:

Metagame thinking means thinking about the game as a game. It’s like when a character in a movie knows it’s a movie and acts accordingly. For example, a player might say, “The DM wouldn’t throw such a powerful monster at us!” or you might hear, “The read-aloud text spent a lot of time describing that door — let’s search it again!”

Discourage metagame thinking by giving players a gentle reminder: “What do your characters think?” You can curb metagame thinking by setting up situations that will be difficult for the characters and that might require negotiation or retreat to survive.

Chapter 8, Dungeon Master’s Guide, 2014

As we can see, metagaming describes the behavior of players who use knowledge about the game which their character wouldn’t have. The 2014 DMG asks dungeon masters to actively work against such thinking. The only remedy the section above provides is related to combat: make the fight more difficult or force the PCs to negotiate or retreat.

The witch hunt

Unfounded accusations

The first parallel between a witch hunt and the criticism in the DMG hints at is that they’re often based on unfounded accusations. We accuse a player of metagaming without truly knowing what their character knows. Characters actually live in the game world. They are competent, talented people who spend every minute of their waking lives immersed in the fictional world. It’s clear that they know more about this world than a bunch of modern-day humans sitting around a dinner table, making it all up.

The classic example is metagame knowledge about trolls. Trolls regenerate if they don’t take fire or radiant damage. We learn this by looking at the stat block. But characters who live in a world with trolls must hear about them already in childhood. Children’s rhymes might tell of burning the troll to stop its self-healing.

Characters often know more than we give them credit for. Unfoundedly accusing players of metagaming can seem like perpetrating a witch hunt.

The fanaticism of a witch hunt makes the witch hunters blind to the consequences of their actions. Hunting for instances of metagaming does the same: it blinds us to its positive effects.

One of the main critiques of metagaming is also its biggest potential: it creates distance between player and character. Sometimes that distance hinders roleplay and immersion. But often, having a distanced view on the story, can improve the game. Players who can look at their character from an outsider’s perspective can consciously drive the narrative towards drama. Characters are interested in survival and success. Players can be interested in telling a dramatic story together with the other people at the table.

Metagaming allows a D&D player to accept failure, embrace danger and drama, and take the more interesting option where their characters would take the optimal way forward.

A climate of fear

A D&D group in which everyone is constantly on the lookout for instances of metagaming is a group in which I don’t want to play. We generally oppose policing of our players, so why do we accept it with metagaming? In extreme cases this can lead to unfounded accusations and conflicts, fewer player choices being made for the benefit of the story, and an unwelcoming climate of fear.

A change of perspective on metagaming

To be clear, there are instances of metagaming which can diminish the fun of a D&D game. But reading the conversations online, it can seem like using knowledge that a player character would not have is witchcraft to be subjected to a strict inquisition. Maybe the provocative perspective of this article can lead you, as DM and/or player, to reconsider the metagaming witch hunt. Metagaming has its uses. Don’t banish it blindly from your game.

Links & Resources

My Favorite D&D Monster Books

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Monsters for drama, tension, and tactics

Monsters are an elementary part of Dungeons & Dragons. Most of the rules of the game are about combat—about dealing with monsters. Monsters threaten characters to create drama and tension, and they give players a chance to use the cool stuff their characters can do. Monsters are also self-contained tactical or mechanical puzzles. In short, monsters are really important in D&D.

Which is why we can never have too many monsters. In this article, I want to share my most-used monster books, and discuss why they are my favorite D&D bestiaries. I ordered these into three categories:

New monsters. These are D&D bestiaries that mostly contain new monsters to surprise players with, and to inject a breath of fresh air into the traditional monster lore.
Powerful monsters. These D&D monster books will challenge even high-level parties.
Classic monsters revisited. These D&D bestiaries take classic monsters and give them an overhaul, including more interesting statblocks, updates to lore, and new art.

New monsters

Tome of Beasts 3, Tome of Beasts 2, Tome of Beasts by Kobold Press

The Tome of Beasts series by Kobold Press really needs no explanation. These three books are packed shock full of unique monsters with interesting tactics, and powerful statblocks. The lore is built for KP’s Midgard setting but can easily be adapted to any other fantasy setting.

Note: I designed a monster for Tome of Beasts 3: The Angler Dwarf, an aberrant species of dwarves who lure prey with fleshy lanterns that protrude from their foreheads.

Forge of Foes by Mike Shea, Teos Abadia, and Scott F. Gray

This book is unique because it only contains a few statblocks. Instead it’s a supplement for DMs to build their own monsters, or to improvise monsters at the table. It contains fantastic advice by three very smart designers and DMs. I keep coming back to the general-use statblocks and the monster abilities to quickly throw together a statblock for a unique monster I have in mind.

Arcana of the Ancients by Monte Cook Games

This one’s more niche. Arcana of the Ancients takes monsters from the science fantasy game Numenera and adapts them for 5th edition D&D. If you’re running a science fantasy inspired game, for example in Eberron, then this book has tons of weirdness to throw at your party. (The book also contains a whole introduction to the world of Numenera and how to use more elements than just monsters of it in your D&D game.)

Powerful monsters

Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol. 1 and Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol. 2 by 2c Gaming

When I ran a level 1-20 D&D campaign, I started using this book for all the elite, solo, legendary, boss monsters after the characters reached 11th level. At that point, many of the traditional monsters did not threaten the party anymore. 2c Gaming’s monsters definitely still threatened the party all the way up to 20th level. For example, the eternal lich from Total Party Kill Vol. 1 made for a deadly Vecna in the final battle of that campaign.

Classic monsters revisited

Flee Mortals by MCDM

This bestiary contains many of the classic D&D monsters, and a few new ones. With a focus on tactical combat, the statblocks in this book will challenge players and make for a dynamic battle. I especially like the role tags, like Artillery, Skirmisher, Controller, which each monster has one of. This allows me to quickly throw together a tactically interesting encounter.

Monstrous Menagerie by EN Publishing

This book is part of a total overhaul of 5th edition D&D by EN publishing. There are also re-designs of the Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide by the same publisher. But the monster book contains updates to all of the core D&D monster statblocks. And by updates, I mean improvements. If I need a classic D&D monster, by now, I am more likely to grab it from this book than from the Monster Manual.

Tips for Running Storm King’s Thunder

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 10:00:00 GMT

An inspiring campaign

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed running Storm King’s Thunder. It’s an adventure which can draw characters into the world of the Forgotten Realms, explore the North as a big sandbox, and have them confront some of D&D’s most iconic villains: giants and dragons.

But the adventure also requires some tweaking to make the most of it. While running SKT, I have found a few tips which help adapt Storm King’s Thunder to the party and takes care of some of its weaker points.

1. Run Lost Mine of Phandelver and then SKT

As I have written previously, the Starter Set adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver works wonderfully as an introductory adventure before starting with SKT at level five. In LMoP characters can build connections with the town of Phandalin as a home base. They also learn about the lore, history, and politics of the Sword Coast and the North.

Read this if you want to learn more about how to connect the two adventures.

2. Choose three giant lords as villains

As written there are too many giant lords to keep track off—both for us, and our players. Instead of throwing all of the giant lords and their schemes at the players, we focus on three. Pick the ones which inspire you the most. We can then spend some time specifying the motivations of these three giant lords. What is their main goal? How do they achieve it? What are villainous milestones on the way to their goal?

Instead of staying mostly in the background, we can have minions and agents of these giant villains interact with the party from the beginning of the adventure. Have some of the chosen giant lords attack settlements, destroy harvests, and make life difficult for the players and the NPCs they meet.

Whichever three we pick, we need to make sure that the player characters find the corresponding relic to bring to the Eye of the Allfather.

3. Tie characters to the giants before the campaign starts

As with any campaign or adventure, we want to tie our player characters’ backstories and motivations to the theme and story of Storm King’s Thunder. We can do this before we begin playing the first session, for example, in a session zero. In session zero, hand each character a secret which ties them to the developing story. Players can, of course, refuse a secret and pick a new one. Or you can work with players on individual secrets which connect their characters to the adventure.

Here are ten ideas for character secrets to tie the characters to Storm King’s Thunder:

d10	Character Secret
1	The character’s home was destroyed in a giant attack.
2	The character used to trade with a group of giants but they have turned increasingly violent recently.
3	The character has giant ancestors.
4	The character prays to a god of the giants.
5	The character is an eager historian of the Thousand Year War between giants and dragons.
6	The character belongs to the Lords’ Alliance who are worried about increasing giant attacks on their settlements.
7	The character is part of the Zhentarim who are looking to capitalize on the increasing chaos caused by giants.
8	A character is part of the Order of the Gauntlet, charged to protect the people of the North from the increasing giant threat.
9	A character is part of the Emerald Enclave who are worried about the unsettled natural order which has the giants in disarray.
10	A character has violent dreams of an ancient blue dragon covering the North in shadows, and killing giants everywhere.

4. Introduce Iymrith early

In Storm King’s Thunder, as written, the main villain appears rather late in the adventure. Characters battle barbarian tribes, Zhentarim, and of course evil giant lords. But the “final boss”, the grand villain is an ancient blue dragon named Iymrith. To soften the surprise, we can hint to the players early on that Iymrith drives the chaos within giant society. For example, we might have draconic minions like a cult of blue dragonborn or even blue dragon wyrmlings harass the party. Or Iymrith herself makes an appearance in the first few chapters to scare the characters and warn them to stop interfering in things far beyond their pay grade.

5. Make Iymrith’s motivation clear to the PCs

It can be difficult for players to recognize Iymrith’s motivation for her villainous schemes. But we can distill her motivation to a very clear and concise core. Iymrith seeks revenge against the giants for the violence of the Thousand Year War. Dragons and giants, the two major primeval forces of the planet, waged a bloody war for a thousand years. This war has ended, and Iymrith wasn’t alive during the war. Yet, she has never forgiven the bloodshed that the giants inflicted on her ancestors. Now she has partnered with another ancient enemy of the giants. Together with the kraken Slarkrethel, she wants to throw giant society into chaos. And what better way to accomplish this than by capturing the god-king of the storm giants, Hekaton.

If in the process of destroying all of giant kind, the human settlements of the North fall into chaos and despair—well, that’s a welcome side effect for Iymrith.

Early on, we can have the characters learn about the history of the Thousand Year War. Most importantly, that some dragons, like the legendary Iymrith, still hold grudges against the other side. Then later on, the party might find remains of giants brutally slaughtered by Iymrith. Perhaps there’s even a note of revenge on them, left by Iymrith or one of her lackeys.

6. Use Character Quests for Chapter 3

Chapter 3 of Storm King’s Thunder is a massive gazetteer of the North for the player characters to explore. Instead of using the sparse adventure hooks in the locations described in this chapter, we can focus the exploration of the North on the characters’ personal motivations. We can offer quests tailored to the characters. These quests give them reasons to explore from location to location across the North.

These quests will be most effective if we put three of them in front of the players at any time. Tie each quest of the three active to a different quest and follow the characters’ chosen path across the North.

In addition, if we can, we can connect a personal character quests with the overarching story of SKT. This way, we can introduce the villains of our campaign and have them interfere with the characters’ goals.

Here are ten ideas for character-focused quests in Chapter 3 of Storm King’s Thunder:

d10	Character Quests
1	A friendly NPC is held prisoner in a settlement overrun by hill giants.
2	An heirloom of one of the characters is in the hands of a Kraken Society cell in a location.
3	A personal rival has made a pact with fire giants looking for the Vonindod in a location.
4	A friendly NPC asks the party for an escort to another location.
5	A faction close to one or more PCs asks the party to explore a battlefield where giants were slaughtered in a dragon attack.
6	A settlement is under siege by a cloud giant in her flying castle. She demands a treasure map be handed over or else she will raze the settlement.
7	The characters learn of a powerful magic item kept by a lesser giant lord in their lair. Can they pull of a heist?
8	Records of a character’s personal history can be found in a library. But a local cult who secretly worship Iymrith prevent anyone from accessing the library.
9	An NPC close to one or more of the characters was murdered. The characters can investigate the murder, which leads them to a cell of Kraken Society operatives.
10	The characters are asked to hunt down a roaming frost giant who destroyed a farmstead, and killed NPCs known to the characters.

7. Storm giants can become group patrons

Even though there’s no group patron in the adventure, the giant princess Serissa, or another storm giant, can become a group patron for the party. The characters can help Serissa rid herself of the Iymrith’s manipulations, and then find her father Hekaton. Later, the storm giants can help the characters plan their assault on Iymrith’s lair.

In my campaign, Hekaton died, and Serissa became the queen of the storm giants. Perhaps in your campaign, Hekaton becomes the group patron. Or Uthor, Hekaton’s uncle.

Either way, the storm giants can provide knowledge and resources, and drive the story forward with quests relating to the Ordning and Iymrith.

8. Use Ally Actions or NPC sacrifice in the final battle

Before we run the final battle in Iymrith’s lair, we can let the player characters gather allies to aid them in the battle. This includes the storm giants. Instead of running all of those NPCs turn by turn, we can abstract their efforts to Ally Actions. These are special actions the player characters get to take to represent their allies’ efforts.

Alternatively, we can use NPC sacrifice as a mechanic for the support of allied NPCs. In this mechanic, players can choose to put NPCs in dangerous situations to gain a bonus to a roll, or a penalty to the roll of an enemy.

The Art of War (and Combat) in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Combat lessons from The Art of War

The following article was written by friend of the blog, Ali. In the article, Ali takes lessons from the ancient book, The Art of War, and uses them to give us his view on what D&D combat is all about. It’s not just about rolling the most damage. It’s about knowing your party, being creative, and having a combat-ready mindset.

Dice and Character Optimization

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”

- Sun Tzu

Within the fantasy realms of Dungeons & Dragons, the battlefield is a place of chaos. Strewn with unpredictability, the course of events that materialize into reality are dependent on the randomness of dice. The outcome of combat seems hinged on how well the party rolls.

Bringing a measure of control to the apparent chaos, theory-crafting guides optimize combat strategies around dice output—an approach more commonly referred to as “min-maxing”. If the fall of an enemy, or the triumphant victory of a character seems hinged on how well the party rolls, then it’s only natural that spells, attacks and choices are ranked based on that variable. The realm of combat, is seen as a realm of numbers, the cold light of numerical efficiency the arbiter of the best course of action.

In this mindset, the sacred flame spell seems weak, eldritch blast fantastic, and the urge to fireball everything in sight, well, rather strong. With this framing, character action choices are based on how to get the highest dice output. The spell that inflicts the most damage, the weapon with the highest accuracy, the action that statistically favors the desired outcome - these become the standards for decision-making.

And yet, this framing misses the most important point: What combat is all about.

The goal of combat

There is only one goal for any combat situation, D&D or otherwise. The goal of combat is to win.

Amidst the tumbling dice and numeric calculations, we sometimes lose sight that the numbers game in D&D combat is a means to an end. D&D is not (just) about dealing the most damage; it’s about victory. More so, it’s about achieving this victory with the least strain on your character’s resources. Each decision, each action should be oriented not toward maximizing damage but toward a singular, strategic objective: winning.

Victory in D&D requires luck, but also adaptability, and a deeper understanding of your character’s role within the party. It requires embracing dice output as the starting point to consider other critical elements in defining impact. This is the opportunity we explore - a chance to transcend the numbers and delve deeper into the tactical richness of D&D combat. A chance to not just participate in the chaos, but to orchestrate it, molding it to our advantage.

Party synergies

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles…if you neither know the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb every battle.”

- Sun Tzu

If victory is the endgame, then understanding your team and how your capabilities interlock should be your first move. Your character does not exist in isolation; they are part of an ensemble cast. Focusing on party synergies and how your abilities can complement those of your allies opens the path to maximum impact.

Take the spell bless, for instance. It’s a staple cleric and paladin spell with great utility in the early to mid-stages of the game. However, if your party consists mainly of damage dealers forcing saving throws, bless becomes less effective. Would bane be a better choice in this scenario? Or maybe a direct damage spell like inflict wounds? Optimizing your choices based on party synergies can give you the edge in achieving victory while preserving valuable resources.

Embracing this wisdom, we can recognize that understanding our party’s capabilities and how they can synchronize to optimize combat outcomes is key.

Creativity is your unfair advantage

“There are not more than five primary colors, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever be seen….

…In battle, there are not more than 2 methods of attack – direct, and indirect; yet these two in combination can give rise to an endless series of maneuvers”

- Sun Tzu

Creativity is an ingredient that often goes unnoticed when we’re focusing on damage output and min-maxing, yet it can significantly turn the tide of battle in your favor. Look beyond the conventional. Explore your surroundings. Are there barrels of combustible oil nearby? A shaky bridge perhaps, or loose rocks on a hill? Think beyond your role, with the endgame always in mind. Sure, you could stick to healing as the party cleric, or you could channel your inner tempest and hit your stone golem foes with a shatter spell. Creativity encourages you to be unorthodox, and in the world of D&D, that is an unfair advantage indeed.

The world of D&D is a “theater of the mind”, and imagination is your most powerful asset.

Combat is a mindset

Combat is a constant undercurrent in D&D, it’s always present, even in moments of peace. In every conversation with a non-player character, every negotiation, every bit of lore that unfolds from the Dungeon Master’s narrative, there’s always an opportunity to gather vital intelligence. This could help you anticipate future combat encounters or even prevent them altogether. Every moment in DnD becomes an opportunity to gain an edge, a chance to strategize and prepare for the battles that lie ahead.

“Excellence in war is not in fighting a 100 battles and winning all 100 of them. Excellence in war is defeating your enemy without having to fight” - Sun Tzu

- Sun Tzu

Adventurers in D&D don’t just fight battles, they engage in a continuous process of strategic planning, situational awareness, and problem-solving. They, in a chaotic and ever-changing world, extend their focus beyond the battleground and integrate combat strategy into every aspect of their gameplay.

Summing it up

In conclusion, winning in D&D combat goes far beyond perfect dice rolls and maximum damage output. It’s a fine blend of understanding and leveraging party dynamics, creative exploitation of in-game elements, and maintaining a combat-ready mindset at all times.

So the next time you step into the world of D&D, remember, you are not just a player tossing dice in a chaotic skirmish, but a master strategist commanding the flow of the game, orchestrating the chaos, and seizing the opportunities within.

The battlefield is your stage, and you are the conductor of the symphony of war.

Using Numenera’s GM Intrusions in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Numenera and GM intrusions

Numenera is a roleplaying game by Monte Cook Games. The unique flavor of science fantasy within the Ninth World can be a refreshing break from the medieval fantasy tropes of Dungeons & Dragons. When I ran Numenera, however, I was surprised at how much the game challenged my improvisation skills as a GM. It’s a great game to play in a world where magic and ancient hyper-advanced technology coexist, and it’s a great game to run if we want to practice our improvisational skills as GMs.

The best example of how Numenera forces GMs to improvise during a session are GM intrusions. GM intrusions are the permission for GMs to introduce complications and drama into a scene while rewarding players with experience points for accepting the intrusion. GM intrusions can be anything: a monster regaining some of its hit points, an NPC getting wind of the characters’ lies, or the floor breaking away while the characters sneak through a monster’s lair. Most importantly, they are not prepared—but improvised.

GM intrusions happen frequently, so they continually force us to come up with dramatic twists and turns. They happen whenever a player rolls a natural 1. And they grant XP to the players, so we should use them to advance the characters.

GM intrusions are a pacing tool

There is a big overlap between GM intrusions and proper pacing of any game session. Introducing obstacles and dramatic twists in a situation can help us keep the attention of the players, and keep the game flow moving. Numenera encourages us to repeatedly come up with these points of pacing through GM intrusions—again, fantastic improvisational practice which can improve our pacing in any game we run.

The key to improvising GM intrusions contains the same aspects as basic pacing: know the situation, and keep an eye on the table. Knowing the fictional situation well, in which the characters are in, allows us to quickly and coherently improvise a GM intrusion. If we know there are 12 guards on the wall, a quick GM intrusion might be that three guards show up and surprise the characters.

Then, secondly, we need to keep an eye on the players and their general mood. Have they just had a tricky combat encounter and are somewhat exhausted? Maybe the guards want to question the characters instead of immediately fighting them to the death. Or are the players somewhat bored and distracted? The guards attack, and are about to raise the alarm in the entire castle, injecting excitement and drama back into the game.

Using GM intrusions in D&D and other RPGs

Is there something we can take from GM intrusions to bring into our D&D game? Yes, if we think of GM intrusions more broadly as complications with a reward. That principle can be useful in any RPG, and we can use it to help us with the pacing of our game.

Complications …

When we’re running the game, we have an eye on the level of concentration and general mood at the table. If we notice players are disengaging from the game, we can look for an opportunity to throw in a complication, just like I described for GM intrusions above.

We might even want to prepare a list of complications for a specific situation. For example, if we know the party is going to sneak into the goblin hideout next session, we can jot down ten complications which might happen in the hideout. While the party is in the hideout, we can roll on that list or pick a fitting complication whenever it would help the pacing of the game. Each complication on our list can be a short bullet point. Sometimes a keyword like “mud slide” or “patrol” is enough. Even though we don’t do it for GM intrusions in Numenera, preparing some complications can help us improvise to keep an engaging pace going at the table.

… with a reward

But the GM intrusions teach us another important aspect of complications: the reward. In Numenera, the reward (in the form of XP) is instant. We can also hand out XP as a reward in our D&D game, or even better, inspiration. But we can also generalize the concept and reward the player characters after they’ve overcome the complication. Have they survived the mud slide? Perhaps, a previously undiscovered hidden passage has opened up as a result. Did they quietly deal with the goblin patrol? Perhaps the patrol had some potions on them, or a note, containing information about the hideout.

GM intrusions in D&D: Complication + Reward

The basic principle of GM intrusions, a complication with a reward, can be used in any RPG. We can prepare complications ahead of a session, or improvise them entirely. In either case, we use complications to manage the pacing of our game. Then, to soften the blow of a dangerous complication, we provide a small reward to the player characters after they’ve overcome the complication.

Run the Horror RPG Ten Candles to Learn How to Create Atmosphere

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 16 Sep 2023 10:00:00 GMT

What is the RPG Ten Candles?

Ten Candles is a tabletop roleplaying game by Cavalry Games. In a one-shot of 2-4 hours, we light ten candles (yes, actual, physical candles!) which frame ten scenes of the game session. Each time a scene ends, a candle is extinguished. The stories of these one-shots take place in post-apocalyptic horror scenarios where the sun has disappeared from the sky, and “They” are hunting humans to extinction. The player characters are survivors (for now) who try to stay alive even though all the players are explicitly told that their characters will all have died by the end of the game.

How Ten Candles creates atmosphere

There are three main tricks through which Ten Candles creates an immersive atmosphere during a game. After describing these, we will look at how we might incorporate them into our D&D games. Beware that there are spoilers for the game _Ten Candles_ in the rest of this article.

The candles

Each session of Ten Candles takes place over ten scenes. As player characters scramble for survival and fend off Them, the world and the story gets darker and darker, until everyone is dead. And so does the atmosphere at the gaming table. Every time a player fails a roll of the dice (a pool of d6s), a scene ends and the player must blow out a candle. As the story gets darker from scene to scene, so does the room. To get the maximum effect, the room should be as lightless as possible.

The successive extinguishing of candles is one of the cleverest tools for immersion I have ever witnessed in an RPG. It mimics what is happening in the story, and gives the players a physical impression of what it might be like for their characters to live in a world of creeping darkness.

“These things are true. The world is dark. And we are alive.”

When a new scene begins, after the previous one ended, and we extinguish a candle, the GM and the players take turns establishing truths for the next scene. Together, we describe how much time has passed, how the world has changed, and what the characters did in between scenes. One truth, however, is always spoken by the GM for every scene: “These things are true. The world is dark.” And until everyone is dead, the players always answer with the truth, “And we are alive.”

As the candles become fewer, and the room becomes darker, the truth, “the world is dark,” spoken in a sort of ritual, becomes more and more ominous as the game goes on. At the same time, as players become more and more immersed in the story, their ritual phrase, “and we are alive,” spoken in unison, creates a sense of desperate community in them.

The final recording

Another genius tool for atmosphere in Ten Candles is the recording of the characters’ last message to the world. Before the first scene begins, each player records a message, in character, for their character’s loved ones or for the world in general. This actually happens at the table. We hand a voice recorder from player to player, and everyone records the message. At the beginning of the game, this seems silly to players. But then they play the game. And the story draws them in, by the extinguishing candles, and speaking the ritual phrases. Then, after 2-4 hours every character has died, every candle has been extinguished, the room is dark. And then we play the recordings.

Rarely, in any RPG, have I experienced the goosebumps that this moment gave me in Ten Candles. The recording starts playing, there are cracks and white noise, and then the first (now dead) character speaks, “Hi mom, hi dad…”

How we can use these tools for D&D

These elements create an immersive experience for a “tragic horror” RPG like Ten Candles. But we can learn some broader lessons, and some specific ideas for our D&D games from Ten Candles.

Use the gaming environment to create atmosphere

A dark room, a few candles, and maybe one or two props, like fitting miniatures, can create a mysterious atmosphere for our D&D games. We can prepare the table to fit the genre and feeling of our D&D session. This doesn’t have to be as elaborate as Ten Candles does it, but it could. Next time we need a countdown for something in the game, why not light ten candles and blow them out one after the other as characters advance through the story?

Speaking in unison creates a sense of community

We can look for in-game opportunities where the characters speak in unison, and then have the players actually do the same. This works best if we have it occur multiple times because the first one or two times the players speak in unison there’s going to be laughs and giggles. What about a dungeon, in which secret doors are opened by the characters (and the players) announcing, “We have come to die.” As the characters delve deeper into the dungeon, their resources dwindle and survival becomes questionable, the phrase will take on a more and more serious note.

Using in-character recordings

The recording element of Ten Candles is perhaps its most unorthodox twist but also one of its most emotionally powerful. In D&D, we could do this as part of a roleplaying warmup. At the start of our next game, we might ask the players to record a campfire tale their characters share about their upbringing. Or we ask each player individually to record an in-character farewell message to the party and to their character’s loved ones. We can keep these recordings handy and pull them out when a character dies. In this way, we honor the character’s passing, and create an emotional moment in the aftermath of their death.

Conversely, we can record messages as the DM, and use them as effects in our game. Maybe the party gets a mysterious spoken message, conserved inside a crystal, which leads them towards the next arc of the campaign. Or a new villain announces their presence by broadcasting a sinister message from dark storm clouds.

Learning from other RPGs

We can always learn from other RPGs. Previously, we’ve looked at Fiasco and Icarus. Now Ten Candles can show us innovative ways of creating an immersive atmosphere. We can pick bits and parts which inspire us, and change them for our D&D game. Run and play other RPGs. There’s lots to learn from them.

D&D On Death Row

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Dungeons & Dragons has true power. There is something ineffable, unspeakable, elusive about this power. But it’s there. When we sit down to play we’re transported to different worlds. We dive into stories where we’re confronted with fears and joys, deep connections and fiery rivalries. I catch glimpses of this power every time I play, but it was made painfully clear in an article titled, “When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row” by Keri Blakinger.

Blakinger reports on prisoners who spent years on death row, waiting for their execution. While in some of the darkest prisons in the USA, the men, including Tony Ford and Billy Wardlow, played D&D. Through the game they escaped the harrowing misery of death row and delved into fantastic worlds and gripping stories. Through their characters they imagined a freedom that was no longer theirs-and likely would never be theirs again.

What we’re doing when we’re playing D&D is important. It’s a game but it can also be much more. Roleplaying games can bring light into even the darkest of places.

Read the article here: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/08/31/dungeons-and-dragons-texas-death-row-tdcj

100 D&D Warm-up Questions

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Random D&D Warm-up Question

Get PC backstory and world-building details before each session

Warm-up questions before a D&D session help everyone get into character, and they are opportunities for collaborative world-building and character-backstory-building!

Characters talk more with each other in Dungeons & Dragons than the players do. We get together maybe once every week to talk about our characters. But in most cases, the characters are around each other more or less constantly. They share many moments of small talk which we do not play through as players. To reveal backstory details that might have come up for the characters in small talk, ask players a warm-up question before each D&D session.

As a DM, we can take notes as players answer the question. The backstory details of the warm-up questions can become inspiration for roleplaying situations. Other answers might give us details about the fictional world which we can build into the game.

d100 D&D Warm-up Questions

What would your character say to the party with their dying breath?
What is the best meal your character has ever eaten?
What is the best gift your character has ever received?
What is your character’s retirement plan?
With which school of magic does your character most identify?
What is your character’s favorite thing about adventuring?
For what would your character sell their soul?
What did your character last dream about?
When is the last time your character failed?
What does your character do on their day off?
How would the other party members describe your character?
Describe one of your character’s childhood friends.
If your character was an animal, which one would they be?
Where was your character educated? If they didn’t have a formal education, how were they taught?
What is one secret the rest of the party doesn’t know about your character?
When was the last time your character said, “I love you,” if ever?
What is your character’s catch phrase?
What is one thing your character admires about someone else in the party?
How does your character relax after a hard day’s work?
Describe your character’s personal hell.
What’s one thing that always makes your character smile?
What is one way that someone can earn your character’s trust?
What is something your character does every morning?
What does your character look like when they get angry?
If your character were to start a business, what would it be? What would make it special?
Describe your character’s perfect afternoon.
Who does your character look up to?
What’s the most valuable thing your character has lost? When did they lose it?
What place would you want to visit again? Why?
Describe your favorite childhood toy.
What is/was your relationship with your parents like?
What’s the weirdest thing you have done while drunk?
What memory keeps you awake at night?
What place have you only heard of and would like to visit?
What one thing do you really want but can’t afford?
Describe a moment when you felt triumphant.
Describe a moment when you felt bewildered.
What’s something that gets under your skin?
What’s something that reminds you of home?
When was a moment when you felt safe?
When was a moment when you felt truly afraid?
What makes you feel like a member of the team?
Describe a time that someone did something altruistic for you.
What is one food that you simply will not eat?
What’s something that makes you feel alive?
What are some of your short term/long term goals?
How do you feel about [an NPC the party met]?
What’s something that grosses you out?
What’s something that has sentimental value to you?
Who’s’ somebody that looks up to you?
Describe your favorite festival/holiday? Why?
What’s something you do to unwind? Why does that relax you?
Describe a vice you have. Is it a secret?
If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?
If you were granted a wish, what would you ask for?
Do you have a birthmark? What does it look like?
How important is the approval of others to you?
Using only four words, how would you describe your outlook on life?
When was the last time you cried? What happened?
What do you consider to be an overrated virtue?
What is the most offensive thing you have ever said?
What is the worst thing you have done to someone you loved?
When did you last break a promise?
What is your favorite vegetable?
What event can you not forget?
What do you not understand about society?
What do you view as the ultimate sacrifice?
What bores you?
What would you want to be remembered for?
What do you view as pitiful?
What makes you respect others?
What are you looking forward to at your next stop?
What scares you about the direction you’re taking?
What does your present circumstance remind you of?
What disturbs you about your past actions?
What did you always want to tell one of your companions?
What is something you seek in a future journey?
What friend do you miss?
What location does your current location remind you of?
What loved one do you miss?
What was the most morally questionable choice you made?
What villain do you remember?
What location did you best enjoy?
Where do you wish you were right now?
Who did you leave behind?
What villain is still out there?
What happened with your last adventuring party?
What is your fondest memory?
What was your darkest moment?
What was your favorite meal?
Which other player character does your character find themselves having the most in common with?
When they were a child, what did your character want to be, or think they were going to be, when they grew up?
What kind of magic item would your character like to find? A weapon? Armor? A wand or staff?
Describe your character’s current appearance: clothes, armor, scars they’ve picked up along the journey, etc.
What advice would your character give to a younger version of themselves?
Describe the campaign in one word.
What would most people think when they first see your character?
What is your character’s favorite spell? If they don’t use spells: what is their favorite personal weapon/combat maneuver/skill/etc.?
What does your character hope for the afterlife?
Where does your character feel the most at home?

Links & Resources

The 100 warm-up questions were picked from four sources:

Justice Arman: “Weekly Roleplay Warm-up” - https://justicearman.com/2020/09/25/weekly-roleplay-warm-up/
u/Onion27 on r/BehindTheTables: “d100 - Warmup questions” - https://www.reddit.com/r/BehindTheTables/comments/8es6vn/d100_warmup_questions/
Mike Shea: “Campfire Story Prompts During Rests in D&D” - https://slyflourish.com/campfire_talk.html
Dndspeak: “100 Warm Up Roleplaying Questions For Players” - https://www.dndspeak.com/2019/03/05/100-warm-up-roleplaying-questions-for-players/

Know Your DM Comfort Zone in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 10:00:00 GMT

What comes easy in D&D?

From time to time, it’s worth asking what our DM comfort zone is in Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games. What part of the game do we feel most comfortable running or preparing for? Which type of play gives us the most joy? What is least stressful? What part of play and prep comes easy to us? When we’re pressed for time, have a creative block, or are stressed, we can come back to our comfort zone to ensure that running D&D remains a game and not a chore.

The comfort pillar of play

When we’re asking ourselves what our D&D comfort zone as DMs is, we can take the three pillars of play as a starting point. What part(s) of exploration, social interaction, and combat come easiest to us? Which part gives us the most joy in prep and while running the game? Here’s some examples of aspects of play for each pillar which could be a DM comfort zone:

Exploration	designing/running traps, creating a point crawl map, coming up with fantastic location descriptions, thinking about complications for travel, creating random encounter tables, coming up with treasure
Social Interaction	designing/portraying interesting/funny NPCs, coming up with memorable voices/mannerisms, designing motivations for villains, creating villainous schemes, designing factions
Combat	running monsters, picking/designing a map, modifying monsters, combining two monster stat blocks, adding environmental effects, creating random encounters, creating lair/villain/legendary actions

Fall back onto the DM comfort zone

Sometimes, we feel like we don’t have enough time to prepare for our game. Maybe we’re stressed out because of work, and only have 15 minutes during our lunch break to prepare for a game tonight. Or, maybe we do have time but we’re not in a particularly creative mood. In these cases, we can use our DM comfort zone to get us started and hopefully relieve some of the stress.

For example, one of my DM comfort zones is combat. Particularly, I enjoy throwing big bad monsters at the party. So when I’m pressed for time or I am feeling uncreative, I like to pull out a monster book and leaf through the pages looking for the meanest creature I can drop on the party. Looking at the artwork, as well as the amounts of damage and devious features of a nasty monsters puts me at ease regarding an upcoming game. Now that I have this monster, I know what will happen for 45 to 90 minutes of the game. And I know that I’ll have fun running the monster, and that the players will enjoy the challenge.

When I’m stressed during game prep, knowing my DM comfort zone is helpful both creatively, and psychologically.

Into the comfort zone to get rolling

Often, starting my game preparation with my DM comfort zone, helps me get the rest of the game prep rolling. Especially, if I’m having trouble motivating myself for my preparation. I grab a monster, and out of that choice flow many other preparations. The monster might have a lair and treasure. Answering the question how it came to this location, and what it wants from the party lets me create secrets and clues which the party can discover.

Starting with our DM comfort zone is a great way to jump-start our creative process for game preparation.

Also useful during a session

Knowing our DM comfort zones is also helpful while we’re running a game. The party might take a path we hadn’t expected. Or some part of our preparation is not working out as we expected. Or we might generally feel stressed while we’re running a session. In these cases, we can take a 10-minute break, breath, and focus on our DM comfort zone. I would come up with an encounter with some interesting monsters to lighten my own mood at the table. You might want to drop an intriguing NPC in front of the party to get some fun social interaction going. Or you grab a book of traps, and throw an environmental challenge in front of the party.

Knowing our DM comfort zone, or more generally our comfort pillar of play, can help us get through a creative rut in game preparation. And also while running a game, knowing what comes easy to us when we’re getting stressed during a session is a great support system for DMs.

NPCs With D&D Class Feature Hacks

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Class features for NPCs

If someone turns your own weapons against you, dramatic scenes unfold. In Dungeons & Dragons the PC’s strongest weapons are their class features. A paladin’s smite, a rogue’s sneak attack, a wizard’s fireball. As DMs, we can give class features to NPCs to create a sense of danger and uncertainty for the players. They know how powerful their class features are. Turn their own weapons against them by giving class features to NPCs.

However, creating a D&D 5th-edition character sheet is time consuming. Time that is, most likely, better spent on other preparation activities. In addition, we don’t want our NPCs to be too predictable. If a rogue PC fights a rogue NPC, they likely know every trick in the book, and the combat quickly becomes stale. How do we create the drama of turning the PCs against them, without it consuming too much time, and without combats becoming too predictable?

Class feature hacks: let NPCs break the rules

Instead of building a whole character sheet for an NPC, give them one class feature, and then hack it. Let the NPC break the rules. Use a single class feature, like the rogue’s sneak attack for a roguish NPC, but then tweak it or add a related but novel feature, like letting a successful sneak attack paralyze the target.

Here’s a list of examples, one for each class, using a single class feature and then “hacking it.”

Class	Class Feature	Class Feature Hack
Artificer	Infuse Item	Wears infused magical +1 armor which deals 4 (1d8) lightning damage to any enemy who hits the artificer with a melee attack.
Barbarian	Rage	Makes attacks with advantage but attacks against them have advantage. Each hit of a reckless attack knocks the target prone.
Bard	Cutting Words	Uses a reaction to reduce an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check by 1d6. In addition, deal 7 (2d6) psychic damage to the target.
Cleric	Spirit Guardians	Casts the spirit guardians spell. On a failed save, targets are also blinded until the start of the NPC’s next turn.
Druid	Wild Shape	Transforms into a beast with any kind of speed (swimming, climbing, flying). Changes the beast form as a bonus action on each of the NPC’s turns, retaining any damage taken.
Fighter	Action Surge	Takes an additional action. Doubles the NPC’s movement speed, and move without provoking opportunity attacks until the end of the turn.
Monk	Flurry of Blows	Makes two extra melee weapon attacks as a bonus action. Each of these can force the target to make a Strength save, knocking them prone or pushing them 10 feet on a failed save.
Paladin	Divine Smite	Adds 2d8 radiant damage to an attack. The attack can be melee or ranged.
Ranger	Sharpshooter	Takes a -5 penalty to a ranged weapon attack but gain +10 damage on a hit. On a hit, turns invisible until the start of the NPC’s next turn.
Rogue	Sneak Attack	Once per turn, deals an extra 10 (3d6) damage. The target must make a Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed until the end of their next turn.
Sorcerer	Quickened Spell	Casts two spells in one round, using action and bonus action.
Warlock	Eldritch Blast	Casts the eldritch blast spell. Gains temporary HP equal to the damage dealt.
Wizard	Fireball	Casts fireball On a failed save, targets are stunned until the end of their next turn.

NPC Class Feature Hacks

Using these NPC Class Feature Hacks

To quickly create an NPC with these class feature hacks, choose an existing base stat block and add the hack. For example, for a fighter NPC, we choose the thug statblock, and simply note that this thug may use Action Surge once per encounter, and that they can move double their speed without provoking attacks of opportunity on the turn that they use Action Surge. As another example, we can use the mage statblock and let them cast eldritch blast with the class feature hack above to create a warlock NPC.

There are many more class features to be “hacked” for our NPCs. Turn the PCs weapons against them, and create drama by letting NPCs break the rules for class features which players know and love.

Why, When, and How to Talk to D&D Players?

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 10:00:00 GMT

The most powerful tool for running D&D: conversation

For almost any problem in our D&D games, conversation is the most powerful and flexible tool to resolve the issue. Whenever, as a DM, a problem seems intractable, we can remember to talk to our players before anything else. Often, while talking to our players, any issue will become more manageable, and solutions will appear in the conversation.

Why we talk to players

This might seem obvious. D&D is a game of conversation. But still, as DMs, we can tend to ruminate about problems and solutions quietly by ourselves. Reaching out to players and talking to them out of character has several advantages.

First, a conversation can reinforce the common goal of everyone around the table. We all show up to have a good time. That is universally true. No matter the different playing styles, preferences, and experiences with D&D, everyone—player and DM—comes to the table to enjoy the game. While talking to players, we can reinforce that fact. This is especially useful when there is conflict between players. Remind everyone, individually, that we’re all trying to have a good time. Differences in opinion or style are simply superficial obstacles to this unifying truth.

Second, an eye-to-eye conversation can remind players that we, the DM, are also here to play the game. In most cases, we’re not antagonists, or sadists, or service providers. Talking to our players about situations in the game can show everyone that there’s no meaningful difference between DM and player when it comes to the enjoyment of the game. We’re all players. Talk about this fact.

When we talk to players

There are two broad situations in which talking to our players becomes necessary. Regular check-ins (this includes a session zero) and when there’s an acute issue to discuss.

Regular D&D check-ins

The first crucial moment of conversation is the session zero. Before we begin a new campaign, we can build characters together, establish a theme for the campaign, as well as discuss safety tools and house rules. A session zero to open an ongoing conversation between DM and players avoids many conflicts early on, and sets a precedent for talking to each other. In a session zero, we set up the type of conversation which we’ll use to troubleshoot throughout the campaign.

Besides a session zero, regular check-ins with the whole group let’s players share their feedback mid-campaign, and shows everyone that we, the DM, put the experience of the players front and center for our game mastering. Justice Arman has a customizable Google form which we can send out to players every couple of weeks or months to get feedback on the campaign. We can use the feedback to shape the campaign to the players’ liking while we’re running it.

Acute issues

The smallest problems can cause a lot of friction for the game. Often it’s best to address an issue quickly, perhaps during the session. For this situation, we can use the phrase, “Pause for a second!” as a signal to get out of character and discuss as a group of players. I learned about this safety tool from Mike Shea over at slyflourish.com. For example, if we notice two players getting on each other’s nerves because of a misunderstanding, we can say, “Ok, let’s pause for a second,” and clear up any confusion out of character. We can also use this tool for a quick check-in. After a decision has been reached by the party we can pause for a second and make sure everyone understands where we’re going.

“Pause for a second” is a flexible safety tool to address both, larger conflicts and small issues or check-ins.

Sometimes, however, the pause within the session is not enough to fully deal with the acute issue. For example, two players might be getting into an ongoing argument, or different play styles constantly clash at the table. In this case, we need to continue the conversation with players between sessions. There are a few tips and tools to manage these conversations which can sometimes feel uncomfortable.

How to talk to D&D players

Sandwich feedback

We don’t enjoy being criticised. But sometimes we need to hear uncomfortable truths to resolve conflicts. In D&D, and elsewhere, for example in education, we can cushion our criticism or uncomfortable truths with positive feedback. We call this technique sandwich feedback. Begin with something positive, then comes the uncomfortable stuff, and then we end with something positive again. Two slices of positive feedback with the meaty uncomfortable stuff in the middle. We could begin a tough conversation by congratulating them on a recent roleplaying moment, then discuss the conflict with another player, and end by complimenting the player’s recent use of combat tactics.

I-statements

Second, we can formulate feedback and criticism as I-statements. Instead of accusing a player by addressing them with statements like, “You make this other player uncomfortable,” we explain our own feelings in I-statements: “I notice the tension between you and Carl, is there anything I can do to help clear up the situation?” By focusing statements on our own outlook, feelings, and perspective, we make the conversation less confrontational.

Listen

This might seem obvious, but listen to what your players have to say. Sometimes we have a clear agenda with which we approach a DM-player conversation. We want to tell the player to stop a certain behavior, or we want to resolve a conflict. Be ready to also listen to what the player has to say with an open mind. Maybe they’re unhappy with a certain aspect of the game. Maybe there’s something we can change to accommodate the player better.

Listen to what your players have to say with an open mind.

The most powerful DMing tool: conversation

Talking to our players is the most powerful tool in our DMing arsenal. Almost any problem can be solved by talking to players. And many issues can even be prevented with honest conversation during a session zero and in mid-campaign check-ins. When we talk to players, sandwich feedback, I-statements, and simply listening can help reinforce the fact that we’re all human beings, sitting around a table, and trying to have a good time. Talk to your players.

Resources

Justice Arman: “Getting Feedback From Your Players” - https://justicearman.com/2020/02/26/getting-feedback-from-your-players /
Mike Shea: “Safety Tools” - https://slyflourish.com/safety_tools.html

Teaching D&D to New Players by Playing D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Teaching to play D&D by playing D&D

“Welcome to your first D&D game! [points to Player’s Handbook] Please read this 250-page book before we can get started!”

If we want to teach D&D to new players, we can do so in a fun and motivating way by quickly jumping into a game. Instead of explaining lots of rules up front, we introduce mechanics as they come up, and (hopefully) spark an interest to learn more.

In this article, we’re going to collect tips on what to keep in mind when we’re teaching D&D to new players by running a game for them. This doesn’t have to be a special adventure for new players. The tips below can help us introduce new players to D&D using any adventure.

Use pregenerated characters

In order to jump into the game quickly, the players can use pregenerated character sheets (I like these ones from slyflourish.com). All the mechanical stuff is already filled in, and we will explain it as features become relevant during the game. We can leave empty spaces on the character sheet so that players can write down their character’s name, basic backstory, and a few personality traits if they like.

Once players have chosen a class, we can even accommodate any specific wishes for the species of the character. Simply change the species cosmetically, but leave the pregenerated mechanics intact. If the pregenerated fighter is a human, but a player wants to be an elf, just cross out “human” and replace it with “elf.” Done! We’ll worry about the rules for elves in the next game.

Introduce mechanics step by step in play

The D&D character sheet can be intimidating to new players. Instead of going through everything on there at once before the game, we can introduce elements of the rules while we play. Here’s a few example steps of rules we explain in a learn-to-play adventure.

Explain the core mechanic

The one rule we need to explain before we start playing is what Mike “Slyflourish” Shea calls the core mechanic, or Shawn Merwin calls the game loop. Here’s what that single most important mechanic of D&D comes down to:

The DM describes the environment and the situation.
The player describes what their character intends to do.
The DM narrates the outcome. If the outcome is uncertain, the DM might ask for dice to be rolled.

These three steps, which repeat throughout the game, are important to understand before we begin the game. It’s the core conversation that drives the D&D game forward. Every other rule we’re going to explain is secondary.

Start with Ability checks

With the core mechanic explained, new players can experience an example through Ability checks. In the first scene of the game, we can have them roll some checks get the hang of the game loop between DM and player.

While starting a session with combat is often fun, once initiative is rolled, things get a little more complicated rules-wise. The natural game conversation between DM and player changes. Suddenly there’s turns, and actions, and special features a character can use. In my experience it works well for new players to start with Ability checks, which reinforce the game loop of the core mechanic, and only afterwards to get into combat.

Focus on intention in combat

New players (and experienced players too) can sometimes be strictly focused on their character sheet when they get into combat. By teaching new players the rules of D&D combat step by step, we can fall back on the conversational style of the core mechanic. We ask the player what they want their character to do without worrying about the rules yet. Then, we suggest how that can be done with the features on their character sheet. For example:

New player: “I want to smash that zombie’s head.”

DM: “Fantastic! Roll a d20 and add the attack bonus for your hammer. It’s right there under “Actions” on your character sheet.

Attack roll and damage is resolved. Zombie is still alive.

New player: “Ok, I wanna hit it again. Let me roll the d20…”

DM: “Actually, at first level, you can only attack once with one action, but later on you’ll get more attacks. For now it’s someone else’s turn.”

In this example, the player explained their intention for their character, the DM explained the relevant mechanic, and clarified the rules around actions and attacks. This is how we learn (and teach) D&D by playing.

If a player doesn’t know what they want their character to do, we can help out by giving them three options. For example, a 2nd level paladin could use their turn to attack, to heal someone with Lay on Hands, or to cast a spell like bless. We can ask the player, “Do you want to swing your axe, heal your allies, or bless them with a spell so that they’re more effective?” By framing the three options as intentions instead of mechanics (”heal your allies” instead of “use Lay on Hands”) we make it easier for a new player to choose.

In combat, focus on intentions, whether it’s finding mechanical solutions to what a player wants to do, or whether it’s framing options the player has in terms of intentions. When we’re teaching D&D by playing D&D, intentions come first.

Create excitement for the game

In our first game with new players, we try to get them interested in and excited about D&D. Ideally, players go home and start to read and learn more about the game. They’ll learn more about what their character can do, what choices they’ll have to make as they level up, and eventually, they might want to make their own characters. If new players go home after their first game, and they’re eager to learn more, we’ve been successful.

How to create excitement in our D&D games, is a complex question, but there are a few things we can keep in mind for a first learn-to-play adventure:

Focus on the characters. Let the characters affect the story and the world. Be a fan of them. Follow their lead through the adventure.
“Yes and.” Let new players feel the freedom of the game and their character in it. As often as possible, “yes and” their ideas. Use Ability checks to let them try crazy ideas. Embrace the unorthodox solutions of new players instead of shutting them down too quickly.
Highlight the fantastic. Fill the adventure with fantastic locations, NPCs, and monsters. Waterfalls that fall upwards, cultists of a dead god, mind-numbing aberrations—turn the fantastic up to eleven.
Cut the boring bits. Focus the game on the drama and action of the story. Quickly narrate uninteresting parts like uneventful travel, shopping, or accounting for rations and water. And zoom in on scenes where the stakes are high and the characters’ decisions matter.

Our goal in teaching D&D by playing D&D is not to get new players to know all the rules or to dive deep into the mechanics of their characters. Instead, we can let them use pregenerated character sheets, introduce mechanics as they come up, and hopefully spark an interest in the game.

D&D Swamp Adventure Generator

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Click the randomize button at the bottom of the page to generate ideas and content for adventures set in swamp environments. This page will generate the elements you need to run a swamp-themed D&D adventure. Combine, modify, and come up with your own connections between the elements to help prepare for a D&D swamp adventure. The page will generate the following:

A patron NPC to give the characters a reason to adventure into the swamp.
A unique description of a fantastical swamp.
A boss or “big bad” of the swamp.
A few encounters to fill out the adventure.
Five fantastic locations which the characters might visit in the swamp.
NPCs of the swamp.
Monsters within the swamp.
A few magic items that characters can find as treasure in the swamp.

The generator is also available at perchance.org/6qe87nkkta.

This material is partly inspired by the eight steps of lazy RPG prep from the Lazy GM’s Resource Document by Michael E. Shea of slyflourish.com.

Ending Scenes in D&D Before They Become Boring

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Cut the boring bits

When we’re running an RPG like Dungeons & Dragons, we want our players to stay engaged, excited and most definitely not bored. To keep the pace of our game moving, we need to cut the boring bits out of the game. In D&D, one of the most important skills for a dungeon master is ending scenes before they get boring. We have all experienced moments in games where a scene drags on and the excitement evaporates. In these situations it is upon us, as GMs, to bring the scene to an end. We summarize what isn’t interesting to play through, and move on to the next scene.

There are two main ways to think about the right moment to end a scene: listening to the group, and noticing when the dramatic question of a scene has been answered.

Listen to the group

Most players are too polite to outright tell us when they feel like a scene is becoming boring. (Although I played with a 9-year-old who had no problem letting me know.) Therefore, we need to listen and look for more subtle cues from the group to gage when they’re ready to move on from a scene.

Signs that players are ready to move to the next scene are…

The game conversation quiets down. No one seems to know what to say to the DM to move forward.
The non-game-related crosstalk grows. Players start chatting with each other.
Players are fiddling with something or staring at you or the room with glassy eyes.
Players lean backwards and disengage from the game.

By paying attention to these cues, we can track the players’ attention level regarding the scene. When more and more players are losing interest, it might be time to move to the next scene.

Keep the dramatic question in mind

In D&D, almost every scene has a dramatic question. It’s the reason why we’re playing through the scene. Will the characters defeat the monster? Can they escape the deadly trap? Will they get past the guards? Once the dramatic question has been answered, we can wrap up the scene.

While we’re running a scene, we can, from time to time, ask the dramatic question of the scene in our mind and see whether it’s been answered. In combat, it might be clear that the characters are going to win—the question, “Will the characters defeat the monster?” is answered. Time to wrap up the combat. If the characters are sneaking across a wall, and they’ve knocked out the only guard, the question, “Will the characters get across the wall undetected?” is pretty much answered. Time to move the game forward, to the next scene, and the next dramatic question.

Ending combat before it gets boring

The case of combat is somewhat special. There often does come a point where the characters are clearly winning. In that case it makes sense to end the scene soon. But sometimes, players use big resources to quickly sway a combat in their favor. Or they might commit powerful spells with a long duration. In those cases, summarizing “the boring bits” (the end of the combat), instead of playing through it all, can make players feel like they wasted their resources.

There are two solutions for ending combat once the outcome becomes clear. Don’t end the combat early. Or make the summary so epic that the players don’t care that you’re ending the combat early. When we’re summarizing the outcome of a combat, incorporate the resources the characters have spent into the description. The spirit guardians that we’re cast just a round ago continue to decimate the undead horde. The barbarian’s rage allows them to destroy the biggest threats.

Go big with the descriptions. Show how the characters’ spent resources allow them to defeat the enemy.

Endings make for exciting pacing

Endings are important. And the timing of ending scenes is especially relevant to keeping up an engaging pace of our D&D game. Once we start a scene, we can keep an eye out for its ending. Are there boring bits we can cut? Are the players physically and mentally disengaging from the game? Is the dramatic question of the scene answered?

Resources

DragnaCarta at FlutesLoot - “How to Engage Your D&D Players with Dramatic Questions” - https://www.flutesloot.com/dramatic-questions-engaging-players-dnd/

Breaks in D&D: Take a Minute… Or Ten

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 25 Jun 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Take a 10-minute break…

It’s perfectly okay to take a break as a DM in D&D. Breaks are important anyways, to help everyone stay focused and attentive during gaming sessions. But sometimes we, the DM, need a break to quickly prepare something for the next part of the adventure, or to read ahead in the published adventure we are running. Take a ten-minute break whenever necessary.

…when players go in unexpected directions

Sometimes players take the story in a wholly unexpected direction. That’s a core feature of the game, and the reason why we can prepare obstacles without solutions. But it also means that players sometimes put us DMs on the spot. We want them to take the unexpected route through the plane of dreams, even though we haven’t prepared for it. In this situation, take a ten-minute break and prepare a single encounter for the direction the players are now headed in.

Prepare a single encounter

10 minutes usually isn’t enough to prepare an entire adventure. But what we can do is prepare a single encounter in 10 minutes. What do we need for that encounter? The following three elements are outlined by Mike Shea in Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. In 10 minutes, prepare the following:

a fantastic location
an NPC and/or some monsters
one or more secrets to discover

In ten minutes we can come up with these three elements to run a fun encounter wherever the players choose to take the story.

To come up with these elements quickly, we can use random generators. Use random tables for locations, or even quickly search for a map on dysonlogos.blog/maps. Then, use random NPC or monster generators to fill the location with creatures to interact with.

Lastly, we need a few secrets which the player characters can discover during the game. Most likely, we already have an idea for one or two after generating the location and its inhabitants. The following questions can help us come up with a few quick secrets to discover:

Who owns the location? Who owned it before them? Who built it?
What is the conflict taking place here? Are there warring factions within the location?
Which connections to the location or its inhabitants do any of the player characters have?

Jot down a quick statement for each answer to a question, and keep them handy to deliver to the players once they start exploring the location. NPCs can reveal secrets, as can inspecting the writing, architecture or magic within the location.

Take breaks anyways

Even if we don’t need the ten-minute break to prepare an encounter or read ahead in the published D&D adventure we are running, breaks are important. By taking a break every 45 to 90 minutes, we can counteract the attention fatigue that sets in. After a short break, everyone will feel refreshed, and the story can continue with everyone’s full attention.

Focus the Next D&D Session on One Character

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 10:00:00 GMT

D&D is a game with many protagonists

How do you make a story work in which you have many equally important protagonists? As Dungeons & Dragons DMs we are faced with this question in each new campaign. And in each session and adventure, really. We have 4-6 players, and each of their characters deserves to be treated as an equally important protagonist in the unfolding story. One solution is to focus individual D&D sessions on individual characters.

10 ways to spotlight a character

When we prepare our next game session, it’s worth thinking about whether and how we can highlight a particular character in that session. Here are ten ways in which we can focus the next D&D game on one of our “protagonists”:

An NPC from the character’s backstory becomes the party’s guide for the current adventure.
The character is familiar with the current adventure location, and might receive additional secrets and clues, or have advantage on certain Ability checks related to the location.
The villain of the current adventure is an old nemesis of the character.
The character receives visions about the adventure from a mysterious source related to the character’s origin.
The abilities and skills of the character prove particularly useful in the current adventure.
A language only this character speaks becomes crucial for navigating the adventure.
A magic item for the character is the reward for the adventure.
An NPC from the character’s past can be saved during the adventure.
A trinket the character has had for a long time turns out to be a key to solving the adventure.
A personality trait, ideal, bond, or flaw of the character presents a challenge for them in the current adventure.

Of course, the same method can apply to all of the characters in one session. Within one game session, we can find moments to highlight each of the characters. But from time to time it can be fun and engaging to focus a D&D session on one character in particular.

A Brief Guide To D&D 5e Inspiration

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Inspiration: an underutilized, flexible tool in D&D 5e

The inspiration mechanic in 5th edition D&D (2014) is a flexible tool for us DMs to shape our games. It’s a little bit of mechanical candy which we can give to players to reward them for cool moments and helpful acts. We can almost think of inspiration like our own Pavlovian bell with which we condition our players towards desirable behavior. I generally don’t advise to think of players as dogs in any other situation, however…

Here’s a quick recap of how inspiration works: The DM hands out inspiration as a reward, mostly after interesting roleplaying moments. Players can have one instance of inspiration at any time, never more. When players have inspiration, they can use it to gain advantage on any Ability check, saving throw or attack roll. That’s how the 2014 Player’s Handbook describes the inspiration mechanic. However, with a few modifications we can get even more out of inspiration.

D&D Initiative House Rules

There are two variants of initiative which can ensure that players have and use inspiration more frequently. First, let players reroll a d20 with inspiration instead of having to declare using inspiration before a roll to gain advantage. With this rule, inspiration becomes more powerful, which means players are more likely to use it.

Secondly, let players award inspiration to each other. As DMs, we are handling a lot of tasks while we’re running the game. Often, handing out inspiration is at the bottom of the list of important things we need to keep track of. While we can still work on getting into the habit of handing out inspiration more frequently, with this rule, more people are keeping an eye out for inspiration-worthy actions. Therefore, players become more likely to gain inspiration in any given session. We can talk to our players before we implement the rule so that they know what kinds of situations we want them to award inspiration to each other for.

Give out inspiration in D&D 5e for…

There are two main categories of things that we can award inspiration for. Of course, we can modify these to encourage specific actions. For example, in a horror-themed game, we might award inspiration especially for moments in which characters reveal their fears. In any game, however, we can award inspiration for cool stuff, and helpful stuff.

Cool stuff

We, and our players, can keep an eye out for cool stuff other players do, and award them inspiration for it. These might be cool roleplaying moments, like a deep in-character conversation between party members to discuss the moral purpose of the group. Or we might hand out inspiration for cool tactical ideas. Maybe the rogue figures out a way for everyone to silently enter the vault, or the battlemaster fighter uses a maneuver in just the right situation at just the right time. Finally, we can award inspiration for cool descriptions. The sorcerer might describe her skin changing in intricate patterns while she is casting her spells, or the paladin describes how holy light infuses their action-hero-style leap to fell a monster.

We can encourage players to build a cinematic, immersive, and cool story by giving them inspiration for cool things they do.

Helpful stuff

Besides actions that make the game more cinematic, we can also award inspiration when players help out the group or us, the DM. This could be anything from bringing an awesome snack, or cool props, or even organizational helpful things like coordinating the game time, or setting up a Discord server for the group. When we reward players with inspiration for these kinds of acts, we foster a cooperative environment in which everyone feels responsible for the game and the group.

We can also hand out inspiration if a player helps out the group and the DM during the game. A player might track initiative for us, make sure that everyone gets the spotlight from time to time, or keep great notes.

Then there are situations in which a player might help out the DM, but at the same time not really help out the party. For example, a player might remind us, the DM, that our monster still has another attack which we overlooked, or that we mentioned pools of acid last session which we had now forgotten. These kinds of helpful things for the DM deserve inspiration because they can increase the drama of a situation, even though—or perhaps because—they put the characters in danger.

Give out inspiration at least once per D&D session per player

A good starting point for how much inspiration we hand out is this: Give inspiration to each player once per session. Getting into this habit has multiple positive effects.

First, Players will notice, and use their inspiration more frequently instead of hoarding it.

Second, we will loosely track the engagement of each player in the game. If we notice that we haven’t given a player inspiration at the end of the session, we might think about whether we give that player enough attention. Or maybe they’re not finding moments to shine in the game for some reason. If we notice that this player consistently doesn’t get inspiration, we might check in with them and see how they’re feeling about the game.

Hand out inspiration frequently for behavior which we want to encourage: mainly cool stuff, and helpful stuff. Used in this way, inspiration becomes a flexible DMing tool with which we can improve our D&D games.

Playing D&D With Kids

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Playing D&D with kids is fun

I recently played a couple of D&D games with a group of five adults and one 9-year-old. The first thing I’ve learned is that it’s fun to play with kids. They challenge our DM skills in unique and unexpected ways and they often bring a lot of creativity to the table. To make the most of playing with a mixed group which includes kids, there are a few things to pay attention to, and a few things we can do to accommodate our youngest players.

How is playing D&D with young players different?

Shorter attention span

Kids often have a shorter attention span. Whereas adults are used to sitting and listening for hours, young players often get distracted after an hour or less. During the game, we notice this when their eyes (and sometimes their bodies) start to wander away from the table, they sink low in their chairs, and they start conversations about many topics, except for the game.

Unexpected approaches

Within the game, however, young players will often come up with even more unexpected solutions to problems than adult players. The creativity of a 9-year-old is not tainted too much by rationality, yet. Anything seems possible. Tame the dragon wyrmling instead of killing it. Slide down the mountainside on your belly instead of climbing. Bribe the guards with silly trinkets instead of coin. When we play with kids, we can try to embrace this out-of-the-box thinking and the especially unique and creative approaches to situations.

Brutal honesty

In addition to creativity, young players can also be brutally (but sometimes helpfully) honest. A 9-year-old might outright tell us when a scene gets boring. Maybe it is time to wrap it up and move on to the next encounter then. Or, less helpfully, young players might not hold back with commentary on the actions of other characters. When the honesty becomes hurtful, for example if a player is called out as “stupid,” it’s time for us to intervene.

Adult content

Lastly, when we’re playing with young players, we need to pay special attention to “adult content” in our game. It’s best to address this in a session zero so that all players become aware of the G-rated style of the game, and off-limit themes and content. We want to create a gaming environment in which our youngest players can explore freely and safely.

How to create a fun game for kids and adults

Get everyone on board

The first thing we can do to ensure a fun gaming atmosphere for adults and kids within the same game is to get everyone on board. Before we even set up the game, or run a session zero, we can talk to the players, and let them know that there’ll be some younger players in this game. We can talk about what players can expect to be a little different when we are playing D&D with kids. Getting everyone on the same page before we start playing facilitates an open, respectful, and fun gaming environment.

Open communication

Secondly, we can adopt an open and non-authoritative style of communication with our youngest players, especially. Kids are told many times during their day what to do and what not to do. The D&D game should be a time where they can freely explore. However, there are limits. The question is just how we communicate these limits. In my experience as a DM and as a high school teacher, kids react well if they are taken seriously. For example, if a young player wants to continue dominating the action during combat after their turn, we can tell them, “Those are great ideas! But now it’s someone else’s turn. You can do those tricks when it’s your turn again.” We explain the situation calmly, insert a little positive reinforcement, and even the youngest, most excited player will often happily let the other players take their turn while they wait and plan their next move.

Check in with players (and parents)

Lastly, checking in with player between games can be a valuable move. This is especially true when we’re playing with a mixed group of adults and kids. Talk to the players, and ask them how the game feels to them. We can ask if there is anything we can improve or change to accommodate everyone’s wishes. With our youngest players, we can check in with them and with their parents. They can tell us if there’s something we can do for them in the game, and if there is any content so far which they feel is problematic. Listen to the parents, but also listen to the young players. It’s good to keep parents happy, but the players wishes matter at least just as much.

Letting young players inspire our game

When we let the youngest players into our game, they will often not hesitate to shake up our game. We can learn a lot from the honesty and creativity of these players. Embrace the chaos, create a respectful gaming environment, and talk to your players to integrate players of different ages into one group.

Run D&D Adventures Which Excite You

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 27 May 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Choosing content for our group

As DMs we are often faced with the choice of which adventure or campaign we run for our players. Here’s a simple but important criteria for that decision: Run what excites you. When we run adventures which make us look forward to the game, which we can’t stop thinking about, and which get our DM brains working, we’re bound to run an awesome game.

There are, of course, many different aspects to consider when we choose content for our gaming group: the level of the characters, how well the themes of the adventure align with the interests of the players, what we ran before this game, and much more. All of these are important criteria to consider. But none of them will create a great gaming experience if we as the DM aren’t passionate about the content of the adventure.

Whether we homebrew, run a published adventure, or a mix of the two—being excited about the adventure will ease our game preparation, will help us generate new ideas for the game, and will invigorate the atmosphere at the table.

The adventure gut check

When we’re deciding on the next adventure to run, we can check in with our gut feeling about any adventure we’re considering. Is there an option which immediately engages us, where ideas start flooding our imagination, where we can clearly imagine our group playing through it? These kinds of emotions are a strong indicator that we’re onto something.

Here’s a few reasons why an adventure might excite us:

cool monsters
compelling NPCs
fantastic locations
interesting themes
mysterious lore
a kind of adventure we have never run before
fascinating types of player characters
strong character motivations

Following these feelings to their root can tell us which aspect of the adventure we can lean into. Is it the cool monsters in the adventure? We can make sure to build onto this aspect by foreshadowing monsters early on, build monster hunting into the motivation of the characters, and create our own versions of the monsters which originally excited us.

Run what excites you and you’re already on track for running a great game for your players.

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Obstacles Without Solutions: How to Improvise Challenges in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 20 May 2023 10:00:00 GMT

We can trust our players to find solutions to in-game problems. Therefore, we don’t have worry about the solutions too much. When preparing for our RPG game, we can focus on creating situations, obstacles, and complications for the characters to overcome. And that’s even if we have no idea how they’re going to overcome them.

There are two reasons why we prepare problems and not solutions. First, players are unpredictable. The things that players come up with will surprise us even if we spend a lot of time thinking about possible solutions to a situation. The open nature of our D&D game makes it so that the paths which players can take are so varied that it becomes nearly impossible to predict which one they’ll take.

Secondly, when we think about the players’ solutions too much, we narrow our own expectations about the game. However, our DM minds should stay as flexible as possible. When we expect certain outcomes we’re less likely to embrace the unorthodox solutions the players come up with. We’re more likely to railroad the players into pursuing the solutions we thought of.

The situations, obstacles, and complications we think of can appear very difficult—even impossible to overcome. But we can trust the players to find their way through the situation nonetheless. As a group, they’ll often find unique approaches. A situation-based DM mindset, which doesn’t plan solutions, is open to the players’ strangest ideas. Know your situation, or problem, well, and then be ready to roll with what the players come up with. During the game, we work with the players to run their attempted solutions.

It boils down to this. During game preparation, we think through the situations and problems the characters might face, but not the solutions. Then, we keep an open mind towards the unorthodox approaches the players come up with. Lastly, we use the rules of the game to let players attempt their own solutions.

NPC Sacrifice in Big Battles

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 13 May 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Epic battles with many NPC allies

Sometimes we want to run a big combat where the characters gather all their allies in one epic brawl. Think the battle of Hogwarts, or the battle at the Black Gate. But how do we run a combat with so many NPCs in our D&D game?

Previously, we introduced the idea of Ally Actions. But there’s an even simpler method which originates with Mike “Slyflourish” Shea: the NPC sacrifice. Instead of running each NPC as a combatant with a stat block, HP, and a turn, we treat them as a resource for the characters. In important situations, players can “use” an NPC to better their chances of success. If they do so, however, there’s a chance the NPC dies in the process of helping.

Using NPC sacrifice

Here’s how it works. We come up with a list of NPC allies of the characters which are part of the battle. During the combat, once per turn when they roll a d20 or force a saving throw, a character can choose to have an ally NPC help them, or hinder an enemy. When they do so, they apply a bonus to the roll, or subtract a penalty from an enemy’s saving throw. Usually, the bonus/penalty is a +4/-4.

Once the bonus/penalty is applied, we roll a d20. If the roll is an 11 or higher, the NPC is fine. If it’s a 10 or lower, the NPC dies.

We can tie this into the drama of the combat by describing the heroic sacrifice of the NPC. For example, the ally leaps across the chasm to grapple the evil necromancer, giving the ranger an opening to land their arrow. But then, the necromancer falls into the chasm, taking the ally with them towards their death.

Variant: Scaling NPC bonuses

Some NPCs are stronger than others. We can reflect this fact by scaling the bonus/penalty of an NPC sacrifice according to the power level of that NPC. Khemed, the human foot soldier grants a +/-3, Reidoth the druid gives a +/-4, while Uthor the storm giant grants a whopping +/-5. Each of them has to roll their d20 of death after a player invokes their help. So players are inclined to use the lower-powered NPCs early in a battle, and bring out the big guns when it really matters. This adds to a satisfying arc of tension in which the important NPCs jump in to help the characters at the most crucial moments.

Describing epic large-scale battles

Even when players aren’t using a NPC sacrifice each round, we can create the atmosphere of a large, epic battle through description. Instead of running every NPC with a separate turn, they each are part of the ambient battle scenery around the characters. The characters as protagonists fight their own combat within the larger battle, and call on NPC allies to help them in important moments.

Meanwhile, we can pick one or two NPCs each round and describe how they’re fighting around the characters. For example, “You see Uthor the storm giant cleaving through hordes of undead while Reidoth the druid is healing the giant warrior’s wounds. But then your eyes focus on the half-dragon honor guard of Iymrith who are surrounding you, bloody swords drawn.” We can do this at the beginning of every round. Describe what one or two NPCs are doing, then focus back on the immediate enemies of the characters.

By describing how NPCs are part of the ambient battle scenery around the characters, and using Ally Actions or NPC sacrifice to showcase individual NPCs supporting the characters, we can run epic, large-scale battles smoothly, effectively, and cinematically.

Links & Resources

Mike “Slyflourish” Shea: “Running Wars, Big Battles, and Massive Combat in D&D” - https://slyflourish.com/running_wars.html

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Being a Fan of the Characters in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 08 May 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Player characters are the protagonists of our D&D game

A transformative concept for dungeon mastering is this: Be a fan of the characters. This motto comes from the game Dungeon World but we can easily use it for our D&D games. Being a fan of the characters means that we, as the DM, think of the characters as the protagonists of the TV show we’re running. We cheer for the characters victories, and we lament their failures.

This approach contrasts a DM vs. player mentality in which the DM is out to get the characters. As a fan of the characters, on the other hand, we still put challenging situations in front of the characters, but we focus on the characters overcoming these obstacles, instead of trying to make them fail.

Let characters do what they’re good at

In fiction, we rejoice when characters succeed by doing what they’re good at. Sherlock Holmes solves crime. Iron Man invests stuff. Walter White cooks meth. In D&D we can let characters shine not by tailoring every situation to their skill set. But instead by creating a dynamic world with many solutions to any given problem. That way, the players decide how to best use their characters’ specialities in a situation.

An easy way, as a DM, to keep an open mind towards multiple solutions is to not think of solutions at all. We create the situation, we come up with obstacles and complications, but the solutions come at the table. During the game, we—as fans of the characters—work with the players to see the characters shine.

Let characters keep what makes them unique

It’s tempting to challenge players by taking away something that they rely on often. How will the rogue disarm the trap without their thieves tools? What if the warlock loses all their magic? Can the fighter survive without his sword arm? While these sound like interesting challenges, they can make a character feel powerless. Something we don’t want to see as a fan.

There are limited exceptions to this approach, but in general we should let characters keep and use the things that make them competent and unique.

Prepare around the characters

Being a fan of the characters means focusing the game on them. And that starts in game preparation. When we focus our D&D prep around the characters, we set the stage for them being in the spotlight when the game begins. Instead of focusing on the lore of the world, the backstories of NPCs or mechanical details, we can build our prep from the characters outwards.

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves during prep to focus on the characters:

Who are the characters and what are their names?
What is important to this character right now?
Which unresolved backstory element does this character have?
Which skill or ability of this character could become relevant next session?
Which NPC related to the character could I introduce?
Which NPC might have heard of this character, or even be a fan of them?
What magic item would this character benefit from?
What can the villain do to threaten this character personally?
What kind of location could be interesting for this character to explore?
Which secret might this character know?

Answering some of these questions helps us prepare content for the game which will be relevant to the characters. Instead of exclusively following our vision for the world, the story, or the direction of the game, we remember that we’re fans of the characters. As protagonists, they determine where the story goes.

Describe the characters as competent—even when they fail

Comedy can be a big part of D&D. A player rolls a 1, and everyone laughs when their character trips over their own sword. While describing failure can be fun, we need to make sure to describe the characters as generally competent. But how do we do that if players roll terribly?

When a character fails at something we can externalize the reason for their failure. Instead of tripping over their own sword, the fighter was pushed by a cunning enemy. A miss in combat is actually a hit but the thick hide of the monster protects it from taking damage. When we describe the reason for failure as external to the characters, we maintain their image as competent protagonists.

Another way to let characters save face is to let them fail forward. A character fails at something but their failure opens up new possibilities. As the fighter is pushed they reveal the location of the cunning enemy and can call it out to their fellow party members. A missed attack reveals a weak point in the monster’s armor, making it easier to hit.

As fans of the characters, we always look for opportunities to make characters look competent. Externalizing the reasons for failure, and failing forward are a great way to narrate failure as a fan of the characters.

Useful Variant Ability Checks

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Flexible Ability checks

In Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the Ability check is one of the most flexible tools when we run our game. Most challenges the characters face can be resolved with Ability checks. This is even more so the case if we consider “non-standard” Ability checks. These are Ability checks which use skill proficiencies that aren’t usually tied to the Ability. For example, a Strength (Stealth) check, a Charisma (Arcana) check, or an Intelligence (Persuasion) check.

Here’s how an Ability check works: The DM asks a player to roll a d20 and add an Ability modifier, and a skill proficiency their character has. Usually, a skill is tied to a specific Ability. Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand and Stealth represent different aspects of Dexterity. But under “Variant: Skills with Different Abilities” in the Basic Rules, we find a Variant rule. According to this rule, the DM can call for an unusual combination of skill proficiency and Ability. For example, a Constitution (Athletics) check to swim from an island to the mainland.

Using this variant of Ability checks can increase the flexibility of Ability checks dramatically. Once we open up the combinations of skill proficiency and Ability, we gain a whole new suite of DM tools.

Useful Variant Ability Checks

Here are some situations in which variant Ability checks become useful tools to add some nuance to the abilities of the characters.

Arcana: the spellcasting check

Usually, Arcana is tied to Intelligence and revolves around understanding magical lore and spells. But we can use the Arcana skill with the spellcasting Ability of a character to represent them overcoming challenges with their innate magical strength. If the druid tries to channel magical energy to aid in a druidic ritual, we can have them roll a Wisdom (Arcana) check. If the sorcerer tries to push the boundaries of a spell, we can have them roll a Charisma (Arcana) check. And so on, and so forth…

Social situations sometimes require Abilities other than Charisma. The most often used example is the Strength (Intimidation) check for the barbarian flexing their muscles to intimidate a foe. But a wizard might also be able to convince the town council to aid them through logic rather than force of personality. In this case, an Intelligence (Persuasion) check works. The monk could impersonate someone by exactly mimicking their movements—have the player roll a Dexterity (Deception) check.

These non-Charisma social checks allow more characters to shine in social interaction challenges, and breaks up the monotony of the charming bard handling every conversation.

Survival: surviving by any means

Why wouldn’t a character use their strongest Ability to survive the wilderness? An artificer might build intricate traps with an Intelligence (Survival) check. A fighter can clear a path for the party with a Strength (Survival) check, and the rogue forages natural resources from hard-to-reach places with a Dexterity (Survival) check.

Stealth: ways of hiding

There are other ways to hide besides being light-footed. Deducing the best hiding location from the blueprint of a mansion requires an Intelligence (Stealth) check. Hanging silently from the ceiling requires a Strength (Stealth) check while holding your breath to avoid detection is a Constitution (Stealth) check. Remaining unnoticed at a noble ball while mingling with the crowd requires a Charisma (Stealth) check. Going undetected can be a challenge in many situations, and not all of them require Dexterity.

Nature, History, Religion: knowledge comes in many forms

Sometimes it requires more than IQ to know something. For example, characters might rely on intuition and experience to “know” whether a plant is toxic or whether a rune belongs to a particular god. In these cases, a Wisdom (Nature) check or Wisdom (Religion) check are in order. Similarly, climbing an ancient wall by exploiting the aged architecture might call for a Dexterity or Strength (History) check. While Intelligence remains the main Ability to recall information, there are situations in which other Abilities represent the use of knowledge to overcome obstacles.

Situation-based Ability checks

As the examples above show, the in-game situation determines the proper combination of Ability and skill proficiency for a particular challenge. Instead of focusing on the list of skills with their seemingly fixed corresponding Ability scores, we can go through this simple two-step process to determine which (variant) Ability check to use:

Determine which Ability (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) broadly seems to fit the attempted action best.
Think about whether any skill might be applicable to the attempted action. (This step can be done by the player at the same time.)

By thinking of the Ability first, and then of any skill proficiencies, we free ourselves from the fixed list of Ability-skill-combinations. By basing the Ability check we call for on the situation, the Ability check becomes an even more flexible tool in our DM toolkit.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Our Ability Check Toolbox” - https://slyflourish.com/ability_check_toolbox.html

The Ins and Outs of D&D Initiative

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 10:00:00 GMT

The appeal of initiative in D&D

D&D is chaotic. Players do unexpected things, they talk over each other, and have different goals. Rolling for initiative seems to solve this. Suddenly everyone has their turn! But while the turn order gives us some measure of security, it also has a cost. From the players’ perspective, it slows down play and dampens the creative, collaborative atmosphere of the game flow. That’s why we need to pay careful attention to the timing of initiative. When we roll for initiative, and when we leave turn order again are crucial decisions for the flow of our D&D game.

When to roll for initiative

In my experience, a simple and effective rule for when to roll for initiative in D&D is this: We roll for initiative as soon as someone declares a combat action. Only _after_ initiative is rolled are the actions resolved. The initiative roll determines who reacts first when a situation turns violent. Not the volume or speed at which someone shouts “I attack!” or “I cast fireball!”

We stick to this rule because it avoids building bad D&D habits. If, by declaring a combat action quickly, players get an extra round without actually surprising their opponents, they can quickly trivialize any encounter. If this proves to be an effective method, every hostile situation will revolve around shouting out combat actions as quickly as possible. That’s why resolve combat actions only after initiative is rolled.

When NOT to roll for initiative in D&D

Just as important as the timing of rolling initiative, is the decision when not to roll initiative. There are two situations in which initiative seems tempting but where it actually detracts from the D&D experience.

When both sides are negotiating or one side flees

When the players want to negotiate or flee instead of fight, going into turn-based resolution will slow down play and disrupt the natural flow of the game.

It might be tempting to roll for initiative in any hostile situation, whether it’s a combat, a chase or a negotiation. But in the latter two cases, we are better off sticking to the open conversation between DM and players instead of rolling for initiative. This allows us to ask players for their approach to the negotiation or escape attempt as a group. They can coordinate, let their characters help each other out and quickly jump in whenever they have an idea, instead of waiting for their turn.

When there’s no combat

It can seem to make things easier in exploration and social interaction scenes to roll initiative. Instead, initiative is only truly necessary for combat situations. In most other situations going into turn order slows things down, instead of allowing the natural flow of the game.

When to leave initiative in D&D

At some point in a combat, we have to leave the turn order again. At the latest when every combatant of one side is defeated. But there are a few other important combat situations in which leaving initiative order helps keep the game moving.

When the characters have clearly won

There comes a point in most combats when it’s obvious that the player characters have won. For example, when there are only a few monsters left, and there’s no chance for these foes to kill all of the characters.

In those situations, we can speed up the end of combat by leaving turn order and asking the players how they want to finish off the fight. To create an exciting end to the combat, go big with descriptions. Describe how the barbarian cleaves through the final monsters, while the wizard fries them with lightning energy, and the cleric bolsters both of their allies with holy light.

When one side flees

Chases are cinematic. But in my experience, they don’t really work in initiative (contrary to what the Dungeon Master’s Guide suggests). Therefore, when one side attempts to run from the fight, we can leave initiative and handle the chase via the normal flow of the game. We use Ability checks, saving throws, and interesting complications to play through the escape attempt.

When the characters or the monsters want to negotiate

When one side of the combat wants to negotiate an end to the fight, we can let everyone chime in by (temporarily) leaving initiative. Again, we use Ability checks, and the natural conversation between DM and players to run the negotiation.

One reason for leaving initiative in this situation is that players might feel bad about “wasting” their turn by doing nothing but talking. They have all their shiny toys on their character sheet, and they only get two or three turns per combat, so they feel pressured to use them. So even if a player knows that their character would rather negotiate, they might feel pressured to use their combat tools because they are in initiative. Remaining in turn order pushes players towards combat actions where a negotiation would often create a more interesting situation.

Use initiative carefully and flexibly in D&D

Initiative is made for running D&D combat. And it’s really good at doing this specific job. By keeping this purpose in mind, we can carefully decide when a clear turn order helps the flow of the game and when it doesn’t. Here are the basics: Combat actions like attacking or flinging spells at each other are best resolved in initiative. In my experience, most other situations aren’t.

We can remain flexible with our use of initiative. Use it when combat comes up, and don’t be afraid to quickly drop it in favor of the natural game flow when other situations arise.

Links & Resources

Dave Chalker: “The Combat ‘Out’” - https://critical-hits.com/blog/2011/02/28/the-combat-out/

How to Run a Radiant Citadel D&D Campaign

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 10:00:00 GMT

This post was edited on November 5th, 2023. I added the Radiant Citadel Campaign Tracker, links to which you can find at the bottom!

Linking Radiant Citadel’s fantastic adventures

Journeys through the Radiant Citadel by Wizards of the Coast is a fantastic collection of adventures. In this article we take a look at how we can string the adventures together to create a coherent campaign. Essentially, the following steps let us create a custom Radiant Citadel campaign for our group:

Use the Radiant Citadel as the party’s home base and adventure hub
Let the party choose a group patron in session zero
Use a job board approach where players choose their next adventure, and fill it with additional adventures
Introduce overarching villains such as the Keening Gloom, the Sapphire Wyvern, and scheming Speakers

At the end of this article, you will find a Radiant Citadel Campaign Tracker. A document (PDF or google sheet) which you can use to track your party, their group patron, the job board, and the villains of an ongoing Radiant Citadel campaign.

Use Radiant Citadel as a home base

The Citadel itself is an underutilized location within Journeys. All of the adventures take the characters away from the floating city in the Ethereal Plane even though it’s hard to imagine a more evocative adventure location. In a Radiant Citadel campaign, we can use the Citadel as the home base for the characters. Before the game begins, we can tie characters’ backgrounds to the Citadel, connect them to core NPCs, and let players come up with their characters’ motivation to love and protect the floating city.

Over the course of the campaign we will run adventures within the Citadel and explore its mysteries such as the Auroral Diamond, the Concord Jewels, and the Incarnates. We’ll have to come up with our own adventures to incorporate these aspects into the campaign. However, I found the concepts described in Journeys so evocative that generating adventure ideas was a joy.

Tie characters to the Citadel before the campaign begins so that they and their characters care about the city. Run homebrew adventures as part of the campaign which explore the fantastic aspects of the Citadel.

Let players choose a Citadel group patron

An effective way to tie a party of adventurers together is a group patron. The concept comes from another fantastic book, Eberron: Rising from the Last War. In our session zero for our Radiant Citadel campaign, we can present a few options for group patrons to the players:

Speaker Sholeh. An influential brass dragon who searches for the lost civilizations of the Citadel.
Turquoise Lion. One of the mysterious Dawn Incarnates who fiercely opposes the Sapphire Wyvern.
Doña Estela. The undead leader of San Citlán—one of the founding civilizations—with a strong economic interest in the survival of the Citadel.
Arayat Faerinthar. Commander of the Shieldbearers, the peacekeeping force of the Citadel.

A group patron can tie the characters together and provide a compelling way to give secrets, lore, and adventure hooks to the party.

Give players adventure options with a job board

Journeys comes with one adventure per level. For most groups this pace of leveling is too fast. Instead, we can add our own adventures for each level, and let players choose which adventures they want to go on, and in which order. The easiest way to do so is through the group patron.

Here’s how: The group patron will regularly provide the characters with three adventure hooks to choose from. These are jobs the group patron wants the characters to complete. After one adventure is successfully concluded, a new job option will appear. Once an adventure hook has been refused twice by the players, it disappears from the list of options as other allies of the patron have taken the job.

This approach means we need to add more adventures as options besides the adventures from Journeys. We can either create our own adventure hooks inspired by the themes and lore of the Radiant Citadel, or reskin adventures from other sources. Here’s three collections of excellent short adventures which we can easily drop into our Radiant Citadel campaign:

Jeff Stevens’s Adventures from the Potbellied Kobold
Sly Flourish’s _Fantastic Lair_s
MCDM’s Where Evil Lives

Offer three quests to the players by adding adventures from other sources. Let players choose a new quest _at the end_ of each session so you can prepare the adventure. Eliminate adventures once they haven’t been chosen twice.

Tie the campaign together with villains

To run a coherent campaign instead of a series of one-shots, we need villains. These long-term antagonists of the characters and their group patron have goals and agendas of their own. They send their minions to oppose the players early on, but later a direct confrontation is inevitable.

Here are the three villains which I chose for my Radiant Citadel campaign:

Keening Gloom. The massive storm which hovers near the Citadel is a powerful primordial which wants to use the Citadel as a gateway into the Material Plane.
Sapphire Wyvern. The ancient sapphire dragon roams the Ethereal Plane in search of the Concord Jewels which it wants to consume to gain immense power. It is aides by a cult called the Sapphire Claws.
The Obsidian Cabal. A secret organization of scheming Speakers who plan to overtake the Citadel and subjugate the weaker founding civilizations.

For each adventure, we try to introduce minions of one or more of these villains who advance the villain’s agenda. For example, Serapio in the fourth-level adventure “Fiend of Hollow Mine” from Journeys could be possessed by an aspect of the Keening Gloom instead of the demon lord Pazuzu.

Introducing campaign villains lets us tie the adventures together into a coherent campaign. For each adventure the characters choose, we can think about how one if our villains might be involved. Over the course of the campaign characters face more and more powerful minions, until they must confront the villains themselves.

Turning Journeys through the Radiant Citadel into a long-term campaign

Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is a fantastic collection of adventures. But to run it as a coherent campaign, instead of a series of one-shots, we need to make some adaptations. Tie the characters to the Radiant Citadel as a home base. Let the players choose a group patron before the game begins. Use a job board approach with the adventure options. And introduce campaign villains to tie the adventures together. With these few additions, a Radiant Citadel campaign can become a refreshing, fantastic D&D experience.

Radiant Citadel Campaign Tracker

Radiant Citadel Campaign Tracker PDF

IllusoryScript_RadiantCitadelCampaignTracker_v1 Download

Link to the Google Sheet with the Radiant Citadel Campaign Tracker

Radiant Citadel Campaign Tracker Google Sheet

Use Visual Aids Instead of Battle Maps

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 08 Apr 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Battle maps in Dungeons & Dragons

There’s many different approaches to using maps for combat in D&D. Some groups prefer precise battle maps with a 5-foot square grid, while others run combat without any maps, purely in the “theater of the mind.” For me, the best method is a mix of both: an abstract visual aid to help keep everyone on the same page without getting bogged down in the counting of squares and arguing about geometry.

While using visual aids instead of battle maps works well for me, it’s not necessary the best way for every group. You might enjoy the tactical minutiae of a 5-foot grid. Or combat runs smoothly while you describe the situation without any visualization on the table. Whatever works for your group works.

However, I have found most success with the use of abstract visual aids. But what do we actually mean by “abstract visual aids”?

Flexible tools to track positioning and environmental features

Essentially, visual aids help everyone at the table keep track of where the characters and the monsters are, and whether there are any interesting environmental features in the area. That’s it. We don’t use the visual aids to track precise distances or area-of-effect ranges. The most basic function of a visual aid is to show everyone where the characters and the monsters are. That way, the players and the DM know who’s in melee with whom for the purpose of melee attacks and attacks of opportunity. In most combat situations we won’t have to worry about ranged attacks too much because the battlefield will generally be small enough for everyone to hit everyone with ranged attacks.

That’s the minimum a visual aid should accomplish: roughly track the position of combatants.

An easy second function of a visual aid can be to show interesting environmental features. Are there any walls, trees, or buildings that could provide cover? Are there any hazards like raging rivers, steep cliffs or acidic pits? A visual aid shows where these features are, at a glance, to everyone at the table. It does not create an artistic rendition of these features. Again, a visual aid needs to be functional not beautiful.

Different kinds of visual aids

There are a couple of different ways to create abstract visual aids for D&D combat:

Tokens on the table. Simply put some form of token (minis, dice, paper, etc.) for each character and monster (or monster group) on the table. No drawing needed. We’re only tracking positions with this method.
A rough sketch of the battlefield. Quickly sketch the environment where the combat takes place (functional not beautiful) and use some tokens to track positioning. Indicate interesting environmental features which monsters and characters might interact with during the fight.
Combat zones. This idea comes from the RPG Fate. I became aware of it through this article by Mike “SlyFlourish” Shea. Essentially, we write down evocative names for different areas (zones) of the battlefield, like “cathedral roof,” “necrotic tree,” or “acid pools.” We move tokens within these zones to show who’s in melee with whom, and let characters use movement to move from one zone to an adjacent zone. The evocative names reflect environmental features which combatants can interact with.
Printed maps. Of course, we can also use beautiful battle maps as visual aids. A Google image search will bring up many intricate maps we can print. When we use them as visual aids, we don’t worry about exact distances, and again, track only rough positions and distances.

Embrace the freedom of visual aids

At first, it might seem like a loss to not use beautiful battle maps for each combat. But abstract visual aids actually let us and our players get more creative. Instead of spending time calculating distances and geometry, we rely more on imagination and evocative descriptions. All while everyone can clearly see the positioning of combatants and interesting environmental features to interact with.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: Zone-based Combat in D&D - https://slyflourish.com/fate_style_zones_in_5e.html
Mike Shea: Running D&D Combat with an Abstract Battle Map - https://slyflourish.com/the_abstract_battlemap.html

10 Ways to Run a Deadly D&D Game (Without Homebrew)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 10:00:00 GMT

You can also watch a YouTube video about this article.

A deadly version of 5th edition D&D

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition has a reputation of being soft on characters. At least compared to the earliest editions of the game, where deaths of player characters were common and even expected. If we want to run a more deadly game of 5e D&D, there are 10 simple ways to do so which don’t require any homebrewed rules.

Why would we want to run a deadlier D&D game?

Running a deadly 5e game evokes the spirit of earlier editions of D&D. Old-school gamers will often rave about the deadly nature of their earliest games. With the following ten tips, we can get a glimpse of the deadly roots of the game.

We might also want to run a deadlier game because of a certain theme, genre or atmosphere we’re trying to evoke. Maybe we’re running a horror, apocalyptic, survival-focused, or slasher-type game. To make the characters feel the danger of these settings, we can crank up the lethality.

Another reason might be because character deaths enable a rotating roster of characters. One PC dies, and the player creates another character. This is a different kind of adventuring party than we’re used to. It might be fun to play through the implications of a larger adventuring guild in which members face a high risk of death, and frequent turnover is expected.

Lastly, (sarcasm incoming) we simply might want some payback as DMs. Player characters have killed so many of our beloved monsters, villains, and NPCs that it’s time we return the favor. (This is bad advice, don’t do it!)

Talk to players before running a deadly D&D game

Running a deadly D&D can be exciting but it can also lead to disaster. If the players don’t know what they’re getting into, and expect their characters to survive most situations, nobody will have a good time in a deadly D&D game. Therefore, talk to players before increasing the deadliness of the game. Explain the reasons for the change, and ask whether they’re interested in exploring a deadly D&D game. Don’t force players to play a style of game they’re not comfortable with.

Variety is the spice of life (and death)

When running a deadly D&D game, we shouldn’t make every single encounter deadly. The monotony will quickly drain any excitement. Instead, vary the difficulty of encounters, but regularly run truly deadly combats. This variety will keep players on their toes, and keep the excitement of a deadly game high.

Also, when you as the DM know that the characters are approaching a deadly situation, tell the players! Telegraph the deadliness of an upcoming fight so that the players and the characters can prepare. We want lethality but we also want hope. Only if the characters have a chance to prepare, will death feel truly meaningful.

Ten ways to create a deadly D&D game

Here are ten ways to increase the deadliness of our D&D game which do not require any rules changes or other homebrew.

1. Increase encounter difficulty

The 5th edition encounter building guidelines won’t create reliably deadly encounters for characters with magic items and synergies. To actually create deadly encounters, we can treat characters as if they were one level higher when we calculate encounter difficulty.

2. Turn the action economy in the monsters favor

In addition to increasing the overall difficulty of an encounter, we can throw more monsters than characters at the party. Action economy is hugely important in D&D. As soon as the enemies of the characters have more actions than the characters, the potential for death will increase dramatically.

3. Run monsters with smart tactics

Particularly for intelligent enemies like humanoids, we can run them effectively by employing smart tactics. Spellcasters use their best spells, thugs team up on isolated characters, and everyone positions smartly. Keith Amman’s blog The Monsters Know What They’re Doing is a great resource for reading up on running smart monsters.

4. Attack unconscious PCs

Having monsters attack a character who is already at 0 HP, will kill quickly because a melee attack against an unconscious character is treated as two failed death saving throws.

As with most deadly situations, this tactic should also be telegraphed to the players with a description like, “This enemy has murder in their eyes as they look to Arthen the unconscious rogue.” This will not only give the players a chance to rush to protect their comrade but also drive up the excitement and drama of the encounter.

5. Play at lower levels

Characters become much more resilient with levels. At levels 1-4 it can be particularly easy to throw the characters in deadly situations. At levels 5, 7, and 10 the characters gain features that let them handle deadly encounters with much more ease and consistency. Therefore, running a game at low levels will automatically increase the deadliness of a campaign.

6. Use deadly monsters

There are some monsters in D&D 5e which have built-in abilities which can quickly kill a character. Shadows, wraiths, and intellect devourers drain Ability scores while mind flayers and shadow dragons can kill by reducing a character to zero hit points. Look for these kinds of abilities in monsters when creating a deadly encounter.

7. Use deadly traps and hazards

Not only monsters can kill. Traps and hazards that drown or crush characters, inflict deadly poisons and diseases, or force increasing levels of exhaustion can kill a whole party without ever having to open the Monster Manual. When crafting these kinds of traps, make sure smart players and characters have a chance to avoid the trap. If it feels like they never had a chance, the characters’ deaths will feel meaningless.

8. Limit access to resurrection spell components

If diamonds are rare in our game world, magic that can resurrect dead characters becomes much more scarce. We can come up with in-game story reasons for the scarcity of these expensive components, such as a curse on the land, a dragon hoarding all the diamonds, or a single, remote source for the needed components such as a master craftsman hidden deep inside the mountains.

9. Gritty Realism optional rules

The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides variant rules for rests which we can use to increase the deadliness of our game. According to the Gritty Realism rules in chapter 9 of the DMG, a short rest takes 8 hours, and a long rest 7 days. With these rules, adventurers won’t be able to recover all of their resources after a few encounters. The loss of spell slots and hit points over time will make encounters harder without having to change anything else.

10. Lingering Injuries table

The Dungeon Master’s Guide also contains a table of lingering injuries for player characters in chapter 9. These are negative consequences which characters attain after they drop to 0 HP, take a critical hit, or fail a death saving throw by 5 or more. The flavor and mechanics of these injuries will make encounters which were only nearly deadly stay meaningful for longer. Injuries that are accrued over time will weaken characters and make them more likely to perish in the future.

Another way to play the game

5th edition is versatile. With the ten ideas above, we can run another version of D&D which focuses on deadliness. It’s one of many ways to play the game. If a deadly game is what we and our players are looking for, we can use these rules and tips to bring true carnage to our table.

Links & Resources

Keith Amman: https://www.themonstersknow.com/

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Running a Level 1-20 D&D Campaign

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:00:00 GMT

This article was last updated on December 12th, 2023.

Five big tips about level 1-20 D&D

In 2022, I wrapped up a three-year Dungeons & Dragons campaign which saw characters go from level 1 to 20. At the end of three years of running an (almost) weekly D&D game, a few takeaways stand out.

Building around the characters creates a cohesive level-one-to-twenty experience.
Even though we are playing through an epic multi-year campaign, a focus on the next session helps keep the game’s pace sharp.
Regularly check in with the players about their feelings about the game.
Embrace deadly monsters. D&D characters are powerful, and in a 1-20 campaign we can dig deep into the Monster Manual and beyond to challenge players.
Keep a story log which documents the adventures of the level 1-20 experience.

1. Build around the characters

In a level 1-20 campaign, we as the DM face one central challenge: How do we keep the players interested in the same characters for years? A few things have helped me keep the players (mostly) hooked on the unfolding story and the same characters over three years: milk characters’ backstories, vary the villains, follow the players, and make interesting magic items.

1.1 Use character backstory

The good thing about witnessing the same characters for three years is, we have time to explore their backstories. We can dig deep into each player character’s background, their motivations, their rivalries and alliances.

Whether we’re running homebrewed adventures or follow a published campaign book, looking for ways to tailor the current content around the characters can help keep things interesting over a long-running campaign. While preparing for the game, we can take some time to think about ways in which the characters might be connected to the current adventure. Could someone know the villain? What if the stone giants in Storm King’s Thunder are actually enslaving the tribe of wood elves of one player character? Personalizing the adventure hooks for each arc of the campaign creates drama. It puts the characters front and center of the story, and keeps players interested in playing them.

1.2 Follow the players

Players do strange things. They decide to rescue NPCs which were born off of a list of random names just seconds earlier. They tunnel-vision onto locations which have nothing to do with the current adventure. But again, we have time in a level 1-20 D&D game, so we can afford to follow the players’ interests. If they want to save Gellert the fishing ogre, let them get a boat, throw an appropriate monster, such as a water elemental into the mix, and watch Gellert become a major NPC in your campaign.

Following the players’ interests is a constant balancing act between what we have prepared and what emerges during play. In my experience, erring on the side of what the players focus on sustains the interest in a long-term D&D game of both the players, and the DM.

1.3 Vary the villains

It’s tempting to come up with one epic villain, and have the characters oppose this villain for 20 levels. However, even fighting different types of minions, servants and cultists of the same villain becomes tiring. We can still foreshadow major high-level villains from the first levels on. But we should keep things vague enough to leave room for discovery later on. Instead, running different villains for every couple of levels, keeps the gaming experience fresh. A major villain every four to five levels can work well.

If you are looking for villains to include in your game, we have published a number of PDFs with NPC villains built on class archetypes. Check them out here: Illusory Script on DMsGuild.com.

1.4 Make interesting magic items

D&D characters get a lot of abilities over the course of 20 levels. But some of the core class or species features stay the same throughout the game. Making weapon attacks, casting cantrips, or channeling divinity all stay more or less the same from tier one (level 1-4) to tier four (level 17-20). Therefore, giving each player magic items that are tailored to enhance the character’s arsenal can be a way to inject new and unexpected mechanics into the game.

For a level 1-20 campaign, custom magic items which grow in power over time are a great way to keep tweaking the same core magic item of a character. The monk’s Arcstaff keeps unlocking more storm-based attacks, while the moon druid’s Mantle of the Oakwarden develops powers to both protect her allies, and punish her enemies. These items can grow with the character. And unlocking new powers can become part of the story of the campaign.

2. Focus on the next session

The larger stories we are telling in our level 1-20 D&D campaign can span months of real-world time. But the current adventure determines how your players experience the game. That’s why, whether it’s a one-shot or the 86th session in your level 1-20 campaign, when we focus on the game ahead, we focus on what’s most important for the gaming experience.

Mike Shea from slyflourish recommends thinking “two horizons out.” That means we firstly focus on what’s immediately ahead. For example, the characters’ crawl through a dungeon. So we think about the rooms, the monsters, the NPCs, and the lore of the place. Secondly, we think about what comes after this immediate horizon. The characters will learn about the dungeon’s connection to the court of the shadow fey, so we can think about what might await them there.

This is thinking two horizons out. And even in a campaign that spans months or years to complete, a focus on two horizons out keeps us thinking about what actually matters when we sit down to play.

Similarly, we can keep things fresh in a long-running campaign by running breather or filler sessions.

3. Check in with the players regularly

If we want to keep the same game with the same people going for years, we need to keep track of how everyone feels about the game. For me, asking players for stars and wishes at the end of a session to learn what they liked and what they want more of is an easy way to get short-term feedback. After longer campaign arcs, we can do a more in-depth survey to get a more detailed view of the player’s feelings about the campaign.

To keep everyone entertained, and wanting to come back week after week, we as the DM need to react to the desires of the players. Regular check-ins through conversation or more formal surveying helps us keep an eye on everyone’s mood concerning the game.

4. Embrace deadly monsters

Over the course of playing together with the same characters for months or even years, players develop strong synergies. They know how to play off of each other’s abilities, and become more powerful than their individual levels suggests. Therefore, if we want to challenge players in combat in a level 1-20 campaign, we need to embrace deadly encounters. On paper, an encounter might seem obviously deadly. For example, a CR 16 marilith has seven attacks and one reaction per turn. We might think this is obviously going to kill some of the level 7 player characters. But the players know that the sorcerer can dimension door them out of danger if necessary. The monk might stun the marilith, entirely depriving it of any of its attacks.

Players become better at using their characters in combat when they play together for weeks, months, or years. To keep challenging them, we can often push things past the flashing red “DEADLY” sign that lights up when we do our encounter balancing.

On way to do this, is to look to other monster books. Here are some of my favorite ones: My Favorite D&D Monster Books.

5. Keep a story log

If we’re running over a hundred sessions in a campaign, it’s easy to forget what happened. To keep the big picture in our DM head, we can write a short entry summarizing each session. This doesn’t need a lot of detail. One or two paragraphs for a three-hour session is enough. Here are a few tips for keeping a story log:

Write the entry quickly after the session, ideally within a day of running the game.
Give each entry a flavorful title, like the title of a TV show.
Note down the in-game dates of the events that took place in the session. (Write down the real-world date of the session as well if you want.)

We can use this running story log to refresh our memory before preparing for the next session. And at the end of the campaign, the log makes for an entertaining, nostalgic look at twenty levels of adventure and drama. For reference, the log for my level 1-20 campaign amounted to over 80 pages of written summaries.

Level 1-20: an epic D&D experience

Running a D&D campaign for three years, watching the characters grow, their bonds tighten, and the story unfold, has been an awesome experience. The emotional investment of DM and players required to complete a level 1-20 game, creates an intense sense of epic adventure. To keep things interesting for this long, build around the characters, focus on the next session, get player feedback, don’t be afraid to throw seemingly deadly encounters at the party, and keep a written log of the story.

Hand Out Character Secrets Before Your D&D Game

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 10:00:00 GMT

Character motivation in D&D is tricky

One of the most challenging things in D&D can be character motivation. Players build characters with elaborate backstories or with no backstory at all. In either case, there might be very little tie-in to the adventure of the game, the campaign, or the session. One way to prevent this is to run a strong session zero, in which players work together on their PCs’ motivation. But another way to tie characters to the adventure is to hand out character secrets before a D&D session.

Character secrets as individual adventure hooks

A character secret is a bite-sized piece of information, no more than one or two sentences, which directly connects a player character to the adventure. Maybe the character has an axe to grind with the villain due to their shared history. Or they have secret knowledge of the adventure location because of a vision from their god.

During our D&D prep, we can think about each character’s potential connections to the adventure we’re planning. Envision the character’s backstory, their allies and enemies, their race, class, and background, and see if anything could connect them to the adventure.

During the game, players decide themselves whether and when to reveal their character secret. In effect, we are outsourcing the delivery of information to the players. We formulate the secrets during prep, hand them out before the game starts, and the players take care of the rest, during the game.

This is a great way to easily customize a published adventure. We don’t have to change much if we just hand out character-specific adventure hooks before the game starts.

The player has the final say

The players control the characters. They are telling their character’s story. And sometimes, a character secret we came up with during prep might not fit the player’s vision of the character. In that case, a player should always be able to change their secret or even refuse it entirely. That’s fine. It’s their character. And each player has final say over whether to use a character secret or not.

Ten kinds of character secrets

Here are different kinds of character secrets which can give you a starting point to create custom character secrets for your game:

The character knows a vulnerability of the villain from an earlier encounter.
The character has heard tales of a magic item hidden in the adventure location.
The character is friends with an NPC currently captured by the villain.
The character and an evil NPC were once allies.
The character knows details about the adventure location because it’s a legendary place for their species.
A relative of the character used to work at the adventure location. They mysteriously perished there.
A character stole from the villain and knows the villain wants payback.
A character received a vision or omen about the villain’s plan.
A character knows of a bounty on an NPC’s head.
A character has a secret personal agenda in the adventure.

Secrets as motivation for characters (and players)

Handing each player a slip if paper with their secret on it can become a motivating ritual before each D&D game. The secret makes the adventure personal. It gives the character a stake in the adventure. And it makes the player feel special. They own part of the story. The moment when a player reveals their secret can be magical. Everyone turns their head, when a player says, “Actually, my character has been here before. I know there is a secret tunnel that can lead us past these orcs without being spotted.”

Try it out. Give each player a character secret before your next D&D game.

Use D&D Characters of Absent Players as Adventure Hooks

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 10:00:00 GMT

What to do with missing players?

What do we do when a player cannot make it to a game session? What happens to their character? Some groups will cancel the session altogether if a single player cannot make it. Others believe in the mantra of “the show must go on.” These groups and their DMs will often simply let a character of an absent player fade into the background, and continue the game as normal. But there’s another intriguing option: use the D&D character of an absent player as an adventure hook!

Player characters are great motivators

Players care about their characters. And they also care about the characters of the other players. This is fertile ground for using absent player characters as adventure hooks. If a member of the party influences the schemes of the adventure, the other party members will get into the adventure more eagerly.

Example adventure hooks with absent player characters

Here are ten examples of how the character of an absent player might serve as an adventure hook. Use these to jump start your own imagination started the next time you have an absent player.

The villain of the adventure abducted the PC.
The PC went after the villain of the adventure by themselves, ahead of the party.
The PC is in a magical coma, and keeps spouting mystical phrases that relate to the adventure.
The PC refused to accompany the party to the mission but while on the adventure, the party discovers traces of the PC who has taken some of the treasure before the party arrived.
The villain of an adventure mind controls the PC and speaks through them.
A divine spirit temporarily possesses the PC, and becomes a guide for the party on their adventure.
The PC suffers from a debilitating disease, the cure to which can be found within the adventure.
The villain holds a grudge against the PC, who therefore decides to sit this adventure out, and let the party deal with the villain.
The PC was cursed by the villain long ago. The curse prohibits the PC from getting closer to the villain.
The PC previously narrowly escaped the villain alive. Now they refuse to confront them again.

PCs as vehicles for secrets and clues

In any of these examples, the absent player character can provide valuable information about the adventure to the party. They might know weaknesses of the villain, they might have clues to the layout of the adventure location or know other secrets relevant for the adventure.

Instead of the DM dumping this information on the players before the adventure, receiving the information from the absent player’s character can feel more natural and motivating to the other players.

Talk to the players

We should at least inform the player of how their character became part of the adventure after the fact. Ideally, we ask them before the adventure begins if they agree to this method. This is also something we can discuss in a session zero. If everyone agrees, this method of handling absent players can provide motivating adventure hooks, and makes it so the character of the absent player continues to be a part of the evolving story of the campaign.

Links and Resources

Mike Shea: “Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group” - https://slyflourish.com/finding_players.html

How to Actually Create A Level-One D&D Character

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 10:00:00 GMT

The disappointing superhero D&D character

How do you make a first-level character that actually feels like they are first level in D&D? And why does it matter? The challenge this article addresses is that of the D&D character who turns out to be a disappointing superhero, an amateur expert, or a sports car with the handbrake on. The monk who trained for centuries at a martial arts monastery only to be killed by a lone ghoul in the first encounter. The wizard who studied magic in the great elvish libraries—and who now has two spell slots at first level. These kinds of mismatched first-level characters appear often enough. But a few tips can help us build first-level characters that actually feel like they are first level.

Five tips for creating first-level characters

Here are five tips to help us create characters that are deeply connected to their status as a beginning character:

The character is a beginner adventurer.
The character is a beginner in their class.
The character has a recent origin for their class abilities.
The character embraces the first-level abilities.
The character has room to grow.

1. The character is a beginner adventurer

Adventuring is different from “normal” fantasy life. A commoner has an average of four hit points, and no proficiencies. A first-level character is a step up from a commoner but even they only recently started adventuring. Before becoming an adventurer they had a different life—one which is described by their background. The challenges of adventuring—traversing the wilderness, surviving ancient dungeons, battling monsters—these challenges are extraordinary in most D&D settings. Becoming an expert adventurer takes experience—experience that first-level characters are just beginning to collect. By seeing the world of adventure through the eyes of a beginning adventurer allows us to embrace the fledgling skills of a level-one D&D character.

2. The character is a beginner in their class

Characters can be experts in their profession, reflected in their background. But they are novices in their class. A character might be an expert craftsperson, but not yet an experienced artificer. An experienced outlander but not an expert ranger. A knowledgeable sage yet just in the early stages of wizardry. In other words, we can lean into the background to reflect life experiences of our character, but understand them as a beginner in their class.

3. The character has a recent origin for their class abilities

To further reflect that our level-one character is just starting out in their class, we can come up with a recent origin for our newfound abilities. This can include an acquired curse, the completion of training, or divine intervention. We can connect this origin to our roleplaying and the description of our class abilities. If our sorcerer gained magical abilities after being cursed, we can describe how malevolent runes appear whenever they cast a spell. Choosing and portraying a recent origin for the class abilities of a D&D character can help us use the full potential of our tier-one character.

4. The character embraces the first-level abilities

Often, the abilities we gain at first level will be our bread and butter for much of a character’s career. Therefore, we should make them as flavorful as possible. Most often, this will be a weapon attack, a cantrip or a particular ability such as the paladin’s Lay on Hands. We can connect these to the origin of our class abilities, and describe how our warlock summons fiendish energy between their hands before releasing a smoking red eldritch blast. We can accept that a first-level warlock most likely only deals five points of damage with their cantrip but a flavorful description can make us embrace the first-level abilities of our character.

5. The character has room to grow

A level-one D&D character has room to grow. Especially because we sometimes build a character with awesome abilities in mind which only come at later levels. We might conjure up a multiclass character who takes levels in barbarian, fighter, and wizard to become a powerful guardian for the party. The full combination of class abilities will be available at character level 14. And now we are level one. But instead of despairing, and counting the sessions until we finally reach higher levels, we can find ways to foreshadow higher-tier abilities.

For example, the barbarian-fighter-wizard character starts out as a barbarian but is already haunted by an ancestral spirit who will one day become their Manifest Echo when the character reaches fighter level three. The character also carries an undecipherable book of their ancestral clan which will later become their spell book when the character takes wizard levels.

By foreshadowing higher-tier abilities we can embrace our character’s first-level abilities while showing that the character has room to grow.

Honorable mention: The amnesia trope

Sometimes it can be fun to play a character who was already a high-level adventurer before the campaign begins. A master of weapons who was hit with a feeblemind spell by an evil wizard, or a legendary bard who injected a cursed alchemical brew which took away their beautiful singing voice. These kinds of tropes can be fun to explore if we want to put a different twist on our first-level character.

Level-one D&D characters are neat

Especially for experienced players, a first-level character can seem underwhelming. Their abilities are better than those of a commoner but they are definitely not a superhero. But if we embrace the limited but potentially flavorful set of abilities, we can have fun with them from level one to twenty, and each level on the journey there. And with a few tips, we can build level-one D&D characters that actually feel like they are first level.

Links & Resources

Dungeons & Dragons: “How to Make a Character in Dungeons & Dragons” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWwsLzh0E8I

Harry Potter D&D Characters: The Ravenclaw Wizard

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 10:00:00 GMT

This one is actually a wizard!

Other Harry Potter D&D characters can be played as warlocks, bards or clerics. But if there was one House who deserves to field the wizard character in a Harry Potter D&D game it’s Ravenclaw. This Ravenclaw character uses their intelligence so keenly that it borders on divination.

The ground rules for Harry Potter D&D characters

Remember that this characters is a D&D expression of a Harry Potter character. The goal is not to simulate the perfect Harry Potter character. It is instead to build interesting, fun, and effective D&D characters which can be used in a Harry-Potter-themed D&D game. . (We have done something similar previously with the Suicide Squad D&D party.)

The Harry-Potter-themed character build for a player character from House Ravenclaw below, and any other Hogwarts D&D characters in this series, start at character level 3. This is so they unlock features of their subclass, as well as the Spellcasting feature, if they have one.

No race is specified for the Slytherin character build because there could be many different races in a D&D version of Hogwarts. We could play a Harry Potter D&D game with all humans, but we could also assume that in our version of Hogwarts, humans walk the hallways alongside elves, centaurs, goliaths, and many other races.

The Ravenclaw wizard

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you’ve a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind.

The Sorting Hat

Ravenclaw values wit, learning, and intelligence. Among all of the D&D classes, the wizard is destined to fit this niche. We can reskin a divination wizard so that instead of foreseeing the future, the Ravenclaw wizard is simply too smart to be surprised by anything. They are the strategic chess master among the D&D characters.

Level 1 Ravenclaw wizard: Spellcasting wunderkind

As a first-level wizard, our Ravenclaw D&D character shows an unequaled talent for spellcasting. They know more spells, and can cast more spells than any other class at first level. Here’s how we can reskin the abilities of a wizard to make a Ravenclaw character:

Spellbook. This character is a spell nerd. They carry a little book where they constantly tweak and record new spells they want to learn.
Arcane Recovery. Our magical powers are already so finely tuned that they are expended more slowly than those of other characters, allowing our Ravenclaw wizard to cast more spells!

Level 2 Ravenclaw wizard: Too smart for this world

At second level, we choose a wizard subclass. The School of Divination can work well for the braniac character archetype of a Ravenclaw wizard. Here’s how:

Divination Savant. Many of the spells from the school of divination fit right into the toolkit of a clever Ravenclaw. Copying them faster and cheaper into our spellbook is useful.
Portent. Our Ravenclaw wizard thinks ten steps ahead. They plan a situation out so fully in their mind, that it can almost seem uncannily prescient. Two times per day, we can change an outcome to our wishes, but narratively, our character knew all along how those die rolls would work out.

Level 3 Ravenclaw wizard spell selection

At third level, we gain access to second-level spells. The following spells fit well with the theme of wit, intelligence, and learning. Here is the list along with some tips on reskinning the spells to fit a Harry Potter D&D game. Keep in mind that we need to prepare some of these spells, while some we can cast as rituals, without having to prepare them.

Cantrips

Prestidigitation. Little wand tricks are nothing but play for our Ravenclaw wizard.
Mind Sliver. A first simple step into the vast field of Legilimency—the power of reading and even influencing minds.

1st-level ritual spells

Comprehend Languages. A simple but fitting incantation to understand foreign tongues.
Detect Magic. A wizarding wunderkind like our Ravenclaw character can sense traces of magic around them.
Identify. A spell which reveals the abilities of an item.

1st-level prepared spells

Mage Armor. A smart wizard never leaves the Ravenclaw common room without some magical protection.
Shield. Deflect incoming attacks with a flick of the wand.
Catapult. We can reskin this spell as an expertly cast vingardium leviosa, lifting an object and hurling it at a target.

2nd-level prepared spells

Detect Thoughts. This Ravenclaw wizard begins experimenting with Legilimency.
Locate Object. A lesser version of the accio spell, which doesn’t transport the object to us, but at least tells us where it is.
Web. Summoning spider webs is a useful spell to learn, allowing us to catch multiple enemies in it.

Links & Resources

Harry Potter Wiki: “Ravenclaw” - https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Ravenclaw

Harry Potter D&D Characters: The Slytherin Warlock

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Aren’t all Harry Potter characters wizards?

The Harry Potter D&D character build for House Slytherin presented in this article is a warlock. The Undead patron from Van RIchten’s Guide to Ravenloft is a natural choice for the House of Lord Voldemort. Our Slytherin warlock uses cunning, fear, and deception to pursue their own ambitions.

In the Harry Potter universe, all students at Hogwarts are called wizards and witches. But if we want to play a Harry Potter campaign in Dungeons & Dragons, we can use the classes of D&D to create D&D expressions of Harry Potter characters. (We have done something similar previously with the Suicide Squad D&D party).

The goal is to create a party of characters in the Harry Potter universe, which make for an interesting, diverse, and effective D&D party. The easiest way to do so, is to reskin other classes, in order to create D&D expressions of Harry Potter character archetypes.

The ground rules for Harry Potter D&D characters

The Harry-Potter-themed character build for a player character from House Slytherin below, and any other Hogwarts D&D characters in this series, start at character level 3. This is so they unlock features of their subclass, as well as the Spellcasting feature, if they have one. Even though these characters aren’t all wizards, they nonetheless are magical.

The Slytherin warlock

Or perhaps in Slytherin,
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means,
To achieve their ends.

Sorting Hat

Slytherins embody cunning, resourcefulness, leadership, and ambition. This makes warlock a logical class choice for a Slytherin D&D character. A warlock uses otherworldly powers to advance their ambitions, often irrespective of the dangerous consequences.

Level 1 Slytherin warlock: the Undead patron, eldritch blast

At first level, we choose a patron for our Slytherin character, and we gain access to our core cantrip: eldritch blast. Here is how we can reskin these ability to make a Harry-Potter-themed D&D character:

The Undead patron. An undead remnant of a legendary Slytherin like the founder of the House, Salazar Slytherin, or his most feared heir, Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort is our patron. This patron might speak to us, and ask as to perform nefarious deeds. But the relationship goes both ways. We gain power from the patron, but the patron needs us to enact their will in the world.
Form of Dread. We can take on aspects of our Slytherin patron to instill fear in our enemies. Maybe we grow pale, our nose recedes, and we take on serpentine features, like scales or slit pupils.
Eldritch Blast (cantrip). This cantrip can be a mechanical stand-in for many dark offensive spells which our patron taught us. We point our wand and a beam of energy races towards our target.

Level 2 Slytherin warlock: power and deception

At second level our Slytherin D&D character improves their offensive spellcasting and their cunning deceptions. Both thanks to these two eldritch invocations:

Agonizing Blast. Adding our Charisma modifier to eldritch blast makes us hit that much harder with our wand attacks.
Mask of Many Faces. Our patron values cunning and deception just as much as raw power, so he shows us the secrets of changing our appearance to fit the needs of our current ambition.

Level 3 Slytherin warlock: Nagini comes

At level three, we gain a trusted serpentine companion. Slytherins have an affinity towards snakes and the most powerful wizards of the House are able to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes. At this level, we bind a magical snake to our service through the pact boon, Pact of the Chain.

Pact of the Chain. Our Slytherin D&D character gains a magical ally. We summon a snake, perhaps a descendant of the legendary Nagini, familiar of Lord Voldemort. Mechanically, we can use the imp stat block with its powerful invisibility feature. We can reskin the sting attack to be a bite.

Level 3 Slytherin warlock spell selection

The following spells fit well with the theme of cunning, resourcefulness, leadership, and ambition. Here is the list along with tips on reskinning the spells to fit a Harry Potter D&D game. Keep in mind that thanks to Pact Magic, all our spells will be cast at second level, and therefore target more creatures (in the case of bane), or deal more damage.

Eldritch Blast (cantrip). This is our bread-and-butter offensive spell. We can flavor each instance differently by changing the appearance of the beam of energy, and the incantation we speak to summon it.
Minor Illusion (cantrip). Slytherins use subterfuge. This spell allows us to use cunning trickery with the aid of magical illusions.
Arms of Hadar (1st level). With this spell we can surround ourself with magical serpents which lash out at enemies attacking us.
Bane (1st level). A dark curse is just the thing a Slytherin would throw at enemies. Bane will make it less likely for enemies to succeed against our Form of Dread, making it that much easier to frighten them.
Blindness/Deafness (2nd level). Another resourceful spell as it reliably disables enemies without requiring our concentration.
Suggestion (2nd level). This is a simple version of the Imperius Curse, allowing us to mind control an enemy for 8 hours.

Links & Resources

Harry Potter Wiki: “Slytherin” - https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Slytherin
Slytherin Warlock build on D&D Beyond - https://ddb.ac/characters/88775907/Q8YDJt (Note that this character uses the variant human race to gain another eldritch invocation: Eldritch Sight. This allows us to see through a darkness spell, gaining advantage on our eldritch blast attack rolls, when we are obscured by magical darkness.)

Harry Potter D&D Characters: The Gryffindor Paladin

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Aren’t all Harry Potter characters wizards?

Well, the Harry Potter D&D character build for House Gryffindor presented in this article is a paladin. Specifically, it’s an Oath of Devotion paladin who wields the sword (and maybe the shield) of Gryffindor in combination with their wizardry, and innate bravery, chivalry, and determination

The ground rules for Harry Potter characters

The Harry-Potter-themed character build for a player character from House Gryffindor below, and any other Hogwarts D&D characters that follow, start at character level 3. This is so they unlock features of their subclass, as well as the Spellcasting feature, if they have one. Even though these characters aren’t all wizards, they nonetheless are magical.

No race is specified for the Gryffindor character build because there could be many different races in a D&D version of Hogwarts. We could play a Harry Potter D&D game with all humans, but we could also assume that in our version of Hogwarts, humans walk the hallways alongside elves, centaurs, goliaths, and many other races.

The Gryffindor paladin

“You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart”

The Sorting Hat

The virtues of House Gryffindor are bravery, chivalry, nerve, and determination. In D&D, a paladin fits this theme well: a character with a high Charisma score, who upholds chivalric ideals.

Level 1 Gryffindor paladin: Keen senses, and healing magic

At first level, our Gryffindor paladin gains two stand-out features: Divine Sense, and Lay on Hands. Here is how we can reskin them for our Harry-Potter-themed D&D character build:

Divine Sense. A Gryffindor keeps a cool head in stressful situations. Their senses remain alert, allowing them to identify otherworldly threats with precision.
Lay on Hands. Our Gryffindor character has learned some simple healing spell, or even some trick of herbology to quickly mend wounds.

Level 2 Gryffindor paladin: The sword (and shield) of Gryffindor

At second level, we gain a Fighting Style, Divine Smite, and Spellcasting. Our Gryffindor character wields the Sword of Gryffindor, granted to them, in order to brave the threats of whatever Harry-Potter-themed adventure we throw them into. This sword might be a mundane longsword but if we continue the campaign to higher tiers of play, the sword might unlock additional magical features.

To make this character effective as a D&D character, we might also pick up a shield. Perhaps, in our version of the Harry Potter universe, there is a forgotten Shield of Gryffindor which our paladin has found.

Here is how we can use or reskin the paladin class features for our Gryffindor D&D character:

Fighting Style: Interception. As a Gryffindor, we protect the weak.
Divine Smite. We can use our innate magic to empower the Sword of Gryffindor with the radiant power of House Gryffindor.
Spellcasting. If we are wielding a longsword and a shield, we might not be able to hold a wand at the same time. However, it is possible that the forgotten Shield of Gryffindor has a special handle, which allows a wand to be held together with the shield.

Level 3 Gryffindor paladin: Oath of Devotion

At level three, we gain Divine Health (a minor ability), and our Sacred Oath, as well as Channel Divinity. Here’s how we use these features for our Gryffindor character:

Sacred Oath: Oath of Devotion. Courage, compassion, and honor are all tenets of devotion and they fit well for a character who fulfills the virtues of a Gryffindor.
Channel Divinity.
- Sacred Weapon. This another empowerment of the Sword of Gryffindor.
- Turn the Unholy. The Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) allows our Gryffindor character to repel dementors (specters, wraiths, shadows in D&D) and similar monsters.
- Harness Divine Power. Gryffindors always have another reservoir of strength that they can draw on when they are exhausted. This one restores magical powers.

Level 3 Gryffindor paladin spell selection

Here are spells which match the virtues of our 3rd-level Gryffindor D&D character:

Protection from evil and good (Oath spell). We protect the weak against devious threats.
Sanctuary (Oath spell). Gryffindors protect those in harms way.
Heroism. Slytherins make fun of Gryffindors for their “pointless heroics.” With this spell we can show them why heroism is never pointless.
Searing Smite. Fire is associated with House Gryffindor (think of the pheonix Fawkes), we can brandish our weapon in powerful flames.
Shield of Faith. Some luck is always involved when defending ourselves and others. This spell gives us a better chance at dodging the enemy’s attacks.
Command. A Gryffindor can be a commanding presence. Sometimes their word, spoken with determination, is enough to force an enemy to obey.

A D&D expression of a Gryffindor character

And thus, we have outlined a D&D character build which is an expression of a character from Gryffindor in a D&D game. The character wields the Sword (and Shield) of Gryffindor, protects their allies bravely, and fights with chivalry, nerve, and determination.

Links & Resources

Gryffindor character on D&D Beyond - https://ddb.ac/characters/88093776/L5F7hP
Harry Potter Wiki: “Gryffindor” - https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Gryffindor

Handful-of-Dice Adventure - The Desert

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 10:00:00 GMT

**The handful-of-dice adventure**

Take a handful of dice, one of each size, roll them, and generate an adventure hook. That is the premise of the handful-of-dice method presented here in order to build a desert adventure for your D&D game. Roll a d4, a d6, a d8, a d10, a d12, and a d20, compare the results to the following tables, and you will have a solid starting point for building a unique adventure.

The following handful-of-dice tables generate the basis for a desert adventure. Roll a handful of dice, one of each kind, fill out some of the details, and you are set to run a fun desert adventure for your players.

Handful-of-dice - Desert tables

Desert Character Quest Table

The Character Quest table provides four unique quest hooks to give characters a motivation to enter the deadly desert.

d4	Character Quest
1	Prevent the opening of an ancient portal to another world
2	Slay a creature that is terrorizing peaceful nomads
3	Uncover a mystical secret of the desert
4	Conduct a magical ritual to create a lush oasis

Desert Boss Table

The Boss table provides six bosses which the characters might face at the climax of the desert adventure. These villains scheme and plot in the vast emptiness of the desert. Choose an appropriate stat block to create a fun challenge for the characters at their current level. For example, the massive worm might be a dragon wyrmling for 1st to 4th-level characters, or a purple worm for characters of 11th level or higher.

d6	Boss
1	An ambitious wizard turned intelligent giant scorpion trying to build an empire
2	A recently awoken forgotten mummified pharaoh reaching for former glory
3	The avatar of an evil serpentine deity trying to grow to immense size
4	A massive worm set loose in the desert by a greater mysterious villain
5	A merciless nomadic warlord driven to madness by a demonic pact
6	A cunning sphinx which seeks the artifact which was stolen from it

Desert Minions Table

The Minions table contains eight groups of creatures which serve the boss. You can roll multiple times on this table to create multiple factions within the desert. Similar to the Boss table, choose stat blocks appropriate for the party’s level.

d8	Minions
1	Haunted cultists
2	Crystalline scorpions
3	Aggressive serpents
4	Mindless undead
5	Arrogant mercenaries
6	Opportunistic goblinoids
7	Greedy desert druids
8	Wide-eyed nobles

Supernatural Desert Events Table

The Supernatural Events table presents ten mysterious circumstances that make the desert distinct form any other desert. These events might have happened long ago, and adventurers today can see the aftermath of this historic event behind every dune. Or the event is ongoing and twisting the barren landscape as the characters explore.

d10	Supernatural Events
1	A powerful arcane explosion creates dangerous pockets of pure magical energy
2	An unstoppable fog causes aberrant mutations in the landscape and wildlife
3	Recurring hordes of demonic spirits leave a path of destruction in their wake
4	The gods themselves wage war, leaving huge scars in the landscape
5	Meteors crash into the desert bringing alien materials ans creatures
6	Portals to other dimensions open up underneath sand dunes
7	Atemporal zones manifest where time runs slower or faster than in the rest of the desert
8	Sentient sand storms roam the desert shaving flesh off of bone
9	Fiery eruptions from deep within the earth melt sand into glass
10	Primordial titans clash in the desert shifting the tectonics of the desert

Desert Locations Table

The handful-of-dice desert locations table provides the fantastical backdrop for scenes in the adventure. Roll multiple times to create a list of potential adventure locations, or to build a point crawl through the desert.

d12	Desert Locations
1	A former oasis the water of which has turned into blood
2	A cursed obsidian pyramid with a radiant beacon at the top
3	An ancient temple of a dead god hidden underneath a massive dune
4	A nomadic campsite of beast-human hybrid nomads
5	A cruel slave bazaar in ancient cave systems
6	Huge tunnels dug by an ancient titanic worm
7	A lively trading post built around an oasis
8	A mysterious whispering obelisk that slowly hovers across the desert
9	A sentient dune that gives prophetic visions to anyone crossing it
10	An isolated tree of the ancient elves who remains green without any apparent water source
11	An immense boneyard of the remains of primordial titans
12	A city-sized living desert crab with settlements and inhabitants on its back

Random Desert Encounters

The random desert encounters table provides ideas for scenes that we can run while characters travel through the desert, or challenges they have to overcome along the way to their quest goal.

d20	Random Desert Encounters
1	A group of camel traders is searching for their mule which mysteriously disappeared
2	Large desert spiders have covered the path in near-invisible webbing to catch prey
3	A swarm of scorpions is moving in an oddly regular pattern, they attack if disturbed
4	Giant vultures circle above a mix of freshly killed corpses and ancient mummies
5	A lion posing as a sphinx watches the characters
6	Scouts of a nomad tribe are trying to recruit members for their dwindling tribe
7	A sphinx guards the place where a pyramid once stood. The pyramid has vanished.
8	Slave traders turned undead are seeking revenge against those who killed them.
9	A caravan is being held captive by a brass dragon who is delighted to have such wonderfully diverse conversation partners.
10	A couple of cyclopes are in a heated debate over whether the sand has always been here in the desert.
11	The towering sanctum of ancient dragonborn regularly releases necrotic storms.
12	A crystalline cage of ancient celestials holds a tentacled aberration in eternal torment.
13	Orcs demand tribute from anyone passing too close to their desert keep which protects the only oasis within days of travel.
14	A pirate ship and its dwindling, diseased crew have sailed through a portal, and accidentally teleported into the desert.
15	An unmoving orrery holds a petrifying curse of an archfey, which afflicts anyone who tries to repair it.
16	A demonic mask hovers at head-height. Donning the mask poisons the wearer’s mind with gloomy thoughts.
17	A silvered ancient megalith repels anyone who isn’t a tiefling.
18	A orb with an eye-like gem in its center follows the characters, flying always at a distance of 120 feet to the characters.
19	A brazier holds the mad ghost of a human commoner captive in an ethereal flame.
20	A necromancer’s academy is looking for fresh corpses to experiment on. Either the characters can give them some, or they are asked to surrender one of their own.

Example desert adventure seeds

The following adventure seeds have been generated using the handful-of-dice desert tables above.

Characters are asked to conduct a magical ritual to create a lush oasis. But a massive worm set loose in the desert by a greater mysterious villain, tries to foil their plans. In addition, wide-eyed nobles fear losing control over the fresh water trade if a new oasis is created. Characters must brave the unstoppable fog which causes aberrant mutations in the landscape and wildlife, especially near the location the characters must travel to for their ritual: the isolated tree of ancient elves which remains green without any apparent water source. Along the way, characters must pass a path covered in near-invisible webbing by large desert spiders.

Characters must stop an ambitious wizard-turned-intelligent-giant-scorpion from opening an ancient portal to another world. Aggressive serpents serve the scorpion-wizard, who was transformed by a powerful arcane explosion which still creates dangerous pockets of pure magical energy. The ritual is being conducted in an ancient temple of a dead god hidden underneath a massive dune, above which a caravan is being held captive by a brass dragon who is delighted to have such wonderfully diverse conversation partners.

Characters must uncover the secret of how to put a recently awoken forgotten mummified pharaoh to sleep. The pharaoh is reaching for former glory with the aid of crystalline scorpions, and recurring hordes of demonic spirits which leave a path of destruction in their wake. The secret to subduing the pharaoh is hidden in a cruel slave bazaar deep inside an ancient cave systems. The mad ghost of a human commoner knows the secret but is imprisoned in an ethereal flame.

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Links and Resources

Dyson’s Map Archive – dysonlogos.blog/maps/
Mike Shea: “Random Creativity in Dungeons & Dragons” – https://slyflourish.com/randomness_creativity_and_dnd.html

Running Epic Stories In Long-term D&D Campaigns

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Long-term campaigns and epic stories

There is a common mismatch in Dungeons & Dragons between the time spent playing a campaign, and the narrative time of the story we are telling. Long-term campaigns can run for years with weekly sessions, with players committing to a character for weeks and months. But from the perspective of the characters, often the time spent on their adventures is only a couple of weeks. The time scope of the campaign feels monumental from the players perspective. After all, they have potentially spent years building their party’s story. But the narrative scope of the fiction can feel much smaller than that. If the characters have only been together for a few weeks, the gravity of their adventures can seem lackluster in comparison with the epic scale of the campaign.

Luckily, there are a few tips and tricks we can use to run epic stories that match the scale of our long-term campaigns.

The adventuring day dilemma

One reason for the mismatch of time between the campaign in the real world, and the fiction of the game world, is the adventuring day. If characters go through 4-5 encounters per adventuring day, those encounters might take multiple game sessions to play out. That is, regardless of whether they are social interaction, exploration or combat encounters.

We want to increase the drama and tension of a game by letting characters expend their resources over the course of an adventuring day. We want to zoom in on their struggles throughout this time. But that takes a lot of time at the table.

But, instead of throwing out the adventuring day, or running only very short adventuring days, what can we do to make a campaign feel grand, momentous, and epic in its narrative time scale?

Possibilities to broaden the narrative scale of a campaign

More downtime

To stretch the time frame of the story we are telling as a group, we can introduce more downtime. By using downtime, we can stick to an action-packed adventuring day but give characters time to develop “off-screen” during downtime. We might spend two game sessions exploring forgotten temples. But then, we give the party a month off afterwards to come to terms with the secrets they have uncovered, to spend their well-earned treasure, and to pursue personal character goals.

Think of Frodo’s adventures in the The Lord of the Rings: There are 17 years (!) between Frodo getting the One Ring from Bilbo, and him finally leaving the Shire. That is 17 years of downtime between two adventures.

Gritty Realism rest variant

Instead of, or in addition to using more downtime, we can also stretch the adventuring day itself to create epic stories for long-term campaigns. In chapter 9 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide we find a variant for the rules around short and long rests. Under these variant rules, instead of one hour, a short rest takes 8 hours. A long rest takes a week instead of one night.

If we use these variant rules, characters spend resources, and experience rising tension and drama over the course of a week instead of a single adventuring day. We turn the adventuring day into an adventuring fortnight.

Give characters larger quests

Especially at higher character levels, we can give the party tasks that are more complex require more narrative time (but not more real-world time) to complete. Here are some examples of quests that can stretch the narrative of our campaign:

Gather and train allies for a coming war.
Construct a mine that digs into the heart of a mountain.
Conduct a ritual which takes 365 days and nights to complete.
Gather rare components to open an interplanar gateway.
Travel hundreds of miles through a post-apocalyptic desert.

All of these larger quests can be broken up into smaller chunks and be interspersed with downtime. We zoom in to certain scenes, like speaking with a local lord to recruit their troops, defeating a nest of Umberhulks that is halting the mining process, or performing a ritual challenge as part of the year-long ritual.

The narrative scale, however, remains suitably epic. We can tell a story of months and years over the course of just a few sessions.

Build a large time horizon into the campaign premise

If we want to run a campaign with a story of epic scale, we can lay the groundwork before we start playing. We can set up apocalyptic events that take years to unfold, plan villainous schemes that play out over a long time, and tell the players to build characters that have room to grow over years of story time.

These types of campaign hooks are going to require significant downtime. So it is important to create characters which have personal ambitions that they can pursue in between adventures. Frodo spent more than a decade building a life in the Shire after getting the ring from Bilbo, before being set on his quest by Gandalf.

Running long-term campaigns that have an epic time scale

When we are trying to run a long-term campaign, in which the story unfolds over years, decades or centuries, we need to plan for it. The main device by which we accomplish an epic story time scale, without the game itself taking decades to complete, is downtime. Using downtime liberally, using the Gritty Realism rest variant, sending characters on large-scale quests, and letting players know about these things before we begin the campaign, can help us tell epic stories in our D&D campaign.

Links & Resources

Timeline of Arda (The Lord of the Rings): “Third Age” - https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Arda#Third_Age

Gimmicks For Every D&D Character (NPC and PC)

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 10:00:00 GMT

If you would like to see a generator to quickly generate NPCs (with gimmicks) check out the Illusory Script NPC Generator!

What makes a D&D character unique?

Everyone in D&D wants to play unique characters. We want our characters to be remembered, to make an impression, to bring joy to the group and ourselves. This goes for both players and DMs. In the case of the DM, it’s unique NPCs that we want to create. But what makes a character, player or non-player, unique?

In my experience, it’s rarely an elaborate back story that I remember of a character. Instead, it’s the little things: often the “gimmicks” are what make a character memorable.

What are character gimmicks

Oxford English dictionary defines a gimmick as, “a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or trade.” That’s perfect. A gimmick can be any aspect of a character that is clearly noticeable for the other players at the table. It is intended to grab the table’s attention. There are different categories of possible gimmicks:

A physical or verbal mannerism used in roleplaying the character.
An item or trinket that the character is never seen without.
A personality quirk.
A visual quirk (this can be tricky because we never actually see the character).

Here are lists with random quirks for each of these categories. You can roll randomly on these or pick a gimmick you like. To determine the category randomly, roll a d4 to pick a random category first.

d20 Physical or Verbal Character Gimmicks

The entries 1-10 on this list are verbal gimmicks, while entries 11-20 are physical gimmicks. You can roll a d10 twice (once for entries 1-10 and once for entries 11-20) to generate both, a verbal and a physical gimmick.

The character…

speaks in a low growl
speaks in a German/French accent
speaks in a high pitched voice
whispers or speaks with a lot of breath
starts every sentence with a lot of “um” and “er”
stutters
calls everyone “darling”
speaks melodically with a rising and falling intonation
speaks of themselves in the third person
speaks in a relaxed manner, and says “right on” and “alright” a lot
laughs nervously at inappropriate moments
hunches their shoulders
puffs out their chest
cracks their knuckles
rubs their chin
pulls their right/left earlobe
fizzles with their hair
leans forward when speaking
nervously looks from side to side
draws their eyebrows together

d20 Character Item Gimmicks

The character is never seen without their…

rainbow-colored weapon
gold necklace which they inherited
signet ring (of their own noble house, or one they acquired “elsewhere”)
walking cane with a wood-carved animal head on top
wide-brimmed hat they pull over their eyes
pocket book in which they record even miniscule events of the day
lucky coin
mysterious perfectly spherical stone
stuffed animal which they consider to be their best friend
deck of tarot cards
onion that never rots
spectacles which they constantly adjust
metal six-sided die carved with demonic faces
brass bell which doesn’t ring
document of identification which they obsessively show to everyone to prove their identity
seemingly bottomless bag of dried berries
flask with a mysterious liquid
blanket they have had since they were an infant
ring of iron keys
vial of scented oil which they constantly scent the room with

d20 Character Personality Gimmicks

The character…

collects buttons or other mundane items
avoids any physical contact
switches common idioms around, like, “The bag is out of the cat”
is a vegan who secretly eats meat
always follows daily routines such as a strong drink at sunrise
is afraid of pets (wild animals are not a problem)
asks everyone about their grandparents
is a know-it-all who constantly delivers “fun facts”
tries too hard to be ominous and mysterious
can never remember anyone’s name
immediately falls in love with anyone they meet
starts every battle with “For the Queen!” but no one knows which queen they mean
is the only one that sees a ghost that haunts them for a misdeed of their ancestors
worries about everything
pledges loyalty to anyone with a smidge of authority
invites strangers to drink the “tea of enlightenment” which they brew themselves
loudly offers assistance to anyone who seems even vaguely in need of it
has a pet snake which constantly bites them
is convinced everything bad that happens to them is because of an ancient curse
introduces themselves with a lengthy title to everyone

d20 Visual Character Gimmicks

The character…

has two different eye colors
has some beastly aspect such as a furry face
always looks like a faint breeze is blowing their hair and clothing back
can change the color of their hair at will
has metal plates visibly embedded in their skull and face
has a noticeable scar or eyepatch
wears a cloak made from dragon scales
is bald with head tattoos
has pieces of skin and flesh falling off of them painlessly
always wears a mask
has black liquid dripping from their fingers
keeps a toothpick in their mouth
has blazing blue eyes
is extremely overweight
wears only rags
cakes their otherwise exceptionally beautiful face in dirt
has smoke coming out of their nose and ears when they are angry
has teeth that are sharpened to a point
has impeccable makeup
has a silver halo around their head that they have never seen themselves

Don’t overload a character with gimmicks

Having too many gimmicky defeats the purpose. If a character has too many idiosyncrasies, no one will remember them, and it will be hard to pin down what the character is about. Keep it simple. One or two gimmicks are enough.

Once we’ve chosen a gimmick or two for our character, we can make an effort to bring them up every session. We don’t have to be subtle here. Everyone else at the table is busy with their own characters, so we have to reinforce our own character’s gimmick over and over again to make it stick.

Links & Resources

Johnn Four: “RPT #693: How to Roleplay NPC Mannerisms” - https://www.roleplayingtips.com/rptn/rpt693-roleplay-npc-mannerisms/
u/-Bonus_Action: “d100 Voice Acting References” - https://www.reddit.com/r/d100/comments/ff1u1u/bonus_action_d100_voice_acting_references/
D&D Basic Rules: “Trinkets” - https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/equipment#Trinkets

Schedule Before Content

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 10:00:00 GMT

We don’t need to know what we run before we can schedule a game

Schedule a game even if you don’t know what you’re running. That way you’ll run more games and you will get better at figuring out how to effectively produce content for a game session. The opposite of this equation is true as well: We can write entire novels worth of game prep and yet never run a single game if we don’t schedule one. Now, if writing prep notes gives us joy then we’re doing nothing wrong. But most of us don’t want to be novel writers. We want to run great roleplaying games.

And to run great games (or any games for that matter), we need to schedule them. Even if we have no clue what the content of that game session will be.

Schedule a regular time and day for D&D

If we want to run regular D&D games, scheduling is key. In my experience, it is more important to have a regular time and day than it is to know exactly what we are going to run long before the session comes up. There is no sense in preparing a lot of content if we don’t have a group to run that content for. And a regular game night allows for a consistent game by avoiding the constant hassle of D&D scheduling.

Work with players to set a time and date that works for the foreseeable future. Then prepare what to run for the upcoming session, after you can be sure that it will take place.

Don’t try to prep a whole D&D campaign before scheduling the first session

Much of our prep as DMs does not survive contact with the players. Therefore, preparing hours and hours or pages and pages of locations, NPCs, monsters, plot twists, etc. is not only ineffective, it can also stop us from running a game at all. If we need to have every last minute of a D&D campaign which might take months or years to run figured out before we feel comfortable scheduling it, that campaign is never going to happen. Because we will never schedule the first session.

Instead, once we have a rough idea of what kind of campaign we want to run (a general theme, setting, hook or something similar), schedule a session zero with the players. We can get comfortable with the empty spaces of a campaign, and run more games that way. In fact, the empty spaces will get filled by the players and their characters’ stories, making the game that much more interactive, collaborative, and engaging.

If we have a session scheduled and don’t know what to run, run published adventures

Sometimes we will end up with a session coming up (thanks to the fact that we scheduled one), and we have no idea what kind of D&D or other RPG session we can run. Now, at some point before the session we should prepare something to present to the players. It’s good to schedule before planning too much content, but to run a game, eventually we need some content.

Either we are incredibly comfortable with improvising everything with absolutely no preparation. Or, we can grab a published adventure. If it’s a good adventure, it will make it easy for us to run as a DM. We can take an hour or so before the game, and read through the relevant chapter to wrap our head around what to expect from the session. Then, we have the book or the PDF with us when we arrive at our scheduled session, and use the content there to run a game.

(I recommend SlyFlourish’s Ruins of the Grendleroot as a great example of an easy-to-run, DM-friendly book of adventures.)

Running a game is the goal

This all might sound easier than it is. And at first, it’s probably not very easy to run a game “straight from the book”. But it’s better than not running a game at all. We only improve by practicing. And we only practice by playing. And we only play if we schedule a game. Even if we don’t know what we are running yet.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group” - https://slyflourish.com/finding_players.html

Running Breather Episodes In D&D Campaigns

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Breather sessions: a moment of respite

After a draining emotional session or a harrowing combat session in our D&D campaign, we can give us and our players a moment to breathe by running a breather or filler episode.

In TV shows, a breather episode is exactly that: an episode after an important episode. The breather episode has little to do with the main plot of the show. Instead, it gives viewers some time to relax before the show picks back up where they left off.

We can use the same concept of a breather episode in D&D. After a particularly nerve-wracking session, run a breather session.

TV tropes as a template for a D&D breather episode

The main thing about a breather episode is that it doesn’t continue the main threads of the campaign. There are a few tropes from TV shows which we can use as a template for breather sessions. We can let the characters go on a side quest, or we can switch the genre or theme for one session. We can also let players take on a different perspective by either letting them play their characters at a different moment in time or let them make new characters for one session and play as NPCs. All of these suggestions shake us out of the campaign’s “routine” to give us and the players a moment to breathe after an intense session.

20 ideas for D&D breather sessions

Here are some ideas for breather episodes in our D&D campaigns:

A side quest to hunt a monster for materials for a magic item
A side quest to help a beloved NPC
An arena session where PCs compete in multiple rounds of a monster-fighting tournament
PCs are invited to a fancy ball, but in the middle of it, they must deal with some drunk-raging nobles
A monster-hunting competition (e.g. who can collect the most giant spider mandibles in one afternoon)
Player characters take part in a town-wide contest in fantastic disciplines
An extended overland-travel session on the way back from the previous encounter with fun random encounters
A side quest which parodies the story of Jack and the Beanstalk
A side quest which mimics or parodies a fairy tale
A “vacation adventure” where PCs face some complications while on vacation
A bizarre adventure where characters must traverse a dream or drug-induced weird landscape
A what-if session where players face what would have happened had they lost the previous climactic encounter
A crime-fighting adventure where characters gain a temporary powerful ability (such as an epic boon) from a divine entity
An adventure with the player characters set before the beginning of the campaign (the PCs might be lower level for this)
A body-switching scenario where through some magical twist, the players play their PC but with the mechanics of another PC
One PC goes on an individual side quest together with NPCs played by the other players
Players play young admirers of the PCs who try their hand at adventuring
Players turn their favorite NPC into a player character and play an adventure with a party of NPCs
An adventure where the players play NPCs working for a villain
Players play an adventure as legendary or mythical NPCs of ancient tales from the campaign world (with new high-level characters)

Switch it up!

Ask your players whether they are interested in a breather session. Give them a few options to choose from at the end of a particularly intense session. Then, as a group, you can take a break from the intensity of your campaign while still staying within the campaign world.

Links & Resources

tvtropes.org: “Breather Episodes” - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreatherEpisode

Running Storm King’s Thunder after Lost Mine of Phandelver

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 10:00:00 GMT

The D&D Starter Set adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver (LMoP) remains one of the most recommended adventures for new players and DMs. But the adventure ends around level five. An obvious choice to extend a D&D campaign which began with Lost Mine of Phandelver is to continue with Storm King’s Thunder (SKT). Storm King’s Thunder lets characters explore the entirety of the North of Faerûn. It widens the scope of LMoP while staying in the same general region, allowing characters to become deeply entwined with the North over the course of the campaign.

But how can we connect LMoP and SKT in a smooth and interesting way?

Make Nezznar the Black Spider work for Duke Zalto

This is a tip from reddit user YourDNDPleasesMe: While the characters are exploring Wave Echo Cave, let them find a letter from Duke Zalto, the fire giant lord from SKT, to Nezznar the Black Spider, the villain of LMoP. Here is an example of a letter adapted from YourDNDPleasesMe’s draft:

Little Spider,

Your delays in recovering the magic of the ancient forge are starting to wear on me. Dispose of the pests that plague you quickly. The forge could be the key to mending the Vonindod.

Any further delays on your part would be maug, and that would go poorly for you. Two of my soldiers will be in Triboar soon, and I would hate for them to have to pay you a visit after they are done there.

Do not disappoint me.

Duke Zalto

A letter such as this one accomplishes several things:

It introduces the characters to one of the potential villains of SKT, Duke Zalto. It also lets them know Zalto’s ultimate goal of mending the colossus called Vonindod. But it introduces these concepts sparingly enough that some mystery remains while giving the characters clues about what Zalto is up to.
It gives further motivation to Nezznar the Black Spider. He is part of a grander scheme. The Spell Forge is more than treasure, it’s a key for something (literally) much larger. Nezznar hopes for a powerful ally in the fire giant lord.
It hints at the fact that giants are involved by introducing the giant word for bad, dishonorable, and undesirable: maug. Either a character speaks Giant, or a successful Intelligence (History) check reveals that this word comes from the Giant language.
It introduces the ideal starting location for SKT, following LMoP: Triboar.

Begin in Triboar

When connecting LMoP and SKT, Triboar is the ideal starting location. It is geographically closest to Phandalin, and we can introduce several hooks to draw characters towards Triboar:

Sister Gaerele in Phandalin is a Harper agent, as is Darathra Shendrel, the Lord Protector of Triboar. While they are still in Phandalin, Sister Gaerele can ask the characters to support her fellow agent Darathra in Triboar. Being a priestess, Sister Gaerele might have received visions of giant shadows looming over Triboar, and over Darathra.
The Lionshield Coster has an outpost in Phandalin and in Triboar. The master of the Phandalin post is Linene Greywind. She might ask the players to escort a caravan to the outpost in Triboar.

The D&D Starter Set: Lost Mine of Phandelver

Use a group patron

We can use a patron of the party to put adventure hooks in front of the characters and to aid the transition from Lost Mine of Phandelver to Storm King’s Thunder. Essentially, the group patron is a returning NPC (or a faction) which continually provides the characters with information, resources, and quests. Here are a few examples of group patrons for Lost Mine of Phandelver, and how they can help transition the characters from LMoP to SKT:

Sildar Hallwinter

The party might have rescued the retired knight, and found a reliable ally in him. Sildar can act as a representative of the Lords’ Alliance or as an individual knight. Either way, he can let the party know that rumors of giant attacks are spreading throughout the North. He can send the party to Triboar, a town frequented by many travelers to find out more.

Reidoth

The kind but eccentric druid who protects Thundertree can act as a representative of the Emerald Enclave or as an individual concerned hermit. He can sense an uprising of the giants in the North, and might ask the players to investigate the sacred forest of Gwaeron’s Slumber in Triboar in the hopes of receiving guidance from the gods of nature.

Rockseeker Brothers

The industrious dwarves led by Gundren Rockseeker are most likely extremely grateful to the party after the events of LMoP. They can involve the party in their flourishing mining business, and ask the party to escort goods to Triboar or to set up trade relations there on behalf of the Rockseeker Mining Company.

Sister Gaerele

The elegant priestess can act as a representative of the Harpers or as a friend of Darathra Shendrel. She can send the party to Triboar (see above).

There are many other group patrons that might have developed out of the events of LMoP. Any of the other influential citizens of Phandalin could become a group patron for the party. Whichever NPC the party grows attached to can become a tool for us as the DM to guide the party from Phandalin to Triboar. Such a returning NPC can foreshadow the uprising of the giants while the party finishes LMoP, and the group patron can continue to provide the party with guidance and resources throughout the campaign.

LMoP to SKT: A smooth transition

If your players want to continue their adventures with the characters they created for Lost Mine of Phandelver, Storm King’s Thunder is an obvious choice. The adventure expands the scope of LMoP. It let’s players embed themselves in the history, myth, and geography of the North. With a few tweaks to LMoP, we can ensure that the transition between the two adventures is smooth and interesting.

Links & Resources

This Reddit thread has a lot of other great ideas - https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/99tu7d/seeding_storm_kings_thunder_into_lost_mine_of/

Three Fighter Builds to Show Why Fighters Are NOT Boring!

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Fighters are versatile

“Fighters are boring!” is a sentiment often heard when we discuss Dungeons & Dragons classes. It’s easy to imagine the vanilla knight in shining armor when we hear fighter. But the fighter is among the most versatile classes in D&D. By choosing the right subclass, a fitting weapon, and a specific mechanical niche, we can build an almost endless number of unique fighter characters.

In this article, we will show the versatility of the fighter by imagining a single fighting academy: Foxblood Academy. Even though all students undergo the same basic training of a fighter, the graduates of Foxblood are as unique as they are skilled. Three fighter builds give us a glimpse how effortlessly versatile, and NOT boring, fighters can be.

Fighters inspire awesome descriptions

More complex classes do not always lend themselves to evocative descriptions. Spellcasters are complex but they can often feel less unique in play. For example, wizards use a spell book from which they cast spells. Clerics heal the party, and cast spells. Sorcerers have innate magical talents — and they cast spells. But when we play a fighter, we don’t have the default of casting a spell, or many other fancy, complex mechanics to fall back on. The physicality of a fighter can push us as players to lean into the descriptions of our character’s actions. There is an intimacy to the fighter using their body and their weapons which seemingly more complex classes can lack.

Three graduates of Foxblood Academy

To illustrate the versatility of the fighter class, let’s imagine a fighting school: Foxblood Academy.

Foxblood Academy is the premiere institution for training the elite fighters of tomorrow. On the outskirts of a bustling metropolis, parents send their children from all over the continent to take the entrance exam. After years of rigorous practice under the most prestigious trainers in the world, students graduate ready to forge their own legends.

The diversity of graduates illustrates the variety of what it means to be a fighter. Let’s look at three fighter builds of three graduates:

Kaelan Stonebrow - The Spellsword. Kaelan is a dwarf who learned to combine dexterous rapier technique with arcane enhancements.
Olympia of Thunderhold - The Hawkeye. Olympia is an elf-halfling hybrid who can hit a single mosquito with multiple crossbow bolts from over a hundred feet away before the insect touches the ground.
Averyka La’arcan - The Dominator. Averyka is a bugbear who controls an entire frontline by maneuvering enemies with powerful swipes of their halberd.

Each of these Foxblood graduates has received the basic physical training of every fighter. But their specializations are clearly pronounced.

Kaelan Stonebrow - The Spellsword

Kaelan comes from the Stonebrow clan. The clan sends three young dwarves to Foxblood Academy every 10 years. In his decade, Kaelan was the only one who passed the entrance exam. He quickly showed an aptitude for battle magic, and was trained in the combination of fine rapier command, and arcane support.

Kaelan’s subclass is the Eldritch Knight. As a mountain dwarf he starts out with the necessary Ability Score Increases to support a high score in Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence. With the rapier and a shield, we can start out with a great armor class and decent damage thanks to the dueling fighting style. With the booming blade and green-flame blade cantrips Kaelan unlocks his signature move as a spellsword. Thanks to the War Magic feature of the Eldritch Knight, Kaelan can use one of these cantrips, and also make another weapon attack. At higher levels, Kaelan will be relying on the shadow blade spell to boost his damage, and live up to his true potential as an arcane-infused dexterous fighter.

Olympia of Thunderhold - The Hawkeye

Olympia is the bastard daughter of an elvish noble, and a halfling adventurer. She arrived at Foxblood Academy with some advantage thanks to the training she received by her elvish family’s officers from the moment she could hold a bow. But Olympia’s work ethic impressed even the instructors at Foxblood. She would spend long hours at the archery range, eventually leaving the traditional elvish bow behind for a crossbow, which allowed for even faster shots.

Olympia’s martial archetype is the Champion. Her effectiveness as a marksman comes from sheer physicality combined with excellent technique. As a Custom Lineage character, she can quickly gain both the Crossbow Expert feat, and the Sharpshooter feat, allowing for powerful, rapid and accurate shots thanks to the archery fighting style. As a champion, she lands critical hits twice as often.

Averyka La’arcan - The Dominator

Averyka is a nonbinary bugbear who stumbled into the entrance exam of Foxblood Academy by accident. After seeing the young bugbear’s immense control over the battlefield, the instructors convinced Averyka to stay. Throughout their time at Foxblood, Averyka bended the rules wherever they could but still excelled in training. Their exceptionally long limbs allow for an incredible range of motion while wielding the halberd.

Averyka is a Rune Knight. They were taught specific runes which, when inscribed on weapon and armor, allow for even greater control of an enemy line. The bugbear lineage allows for a 15-foot reach with the halberd. If Averyka invokes their Giant’s Might feature from the Rune Knight, they can cover a 40-foot diameter sphere with their weapon. By using the Polearm Master feat, the fire rune of the Rune Knight, and later the Sentinel feat, Averyka can stop enemies in their tracks before they can get close.

Play more fighters!

Foxblood Academy has dozens of graduates each year. And each one of them is as specialized, flavorful, and unique as Kaelan, Olympia and Averyka. Go out there, and play a fighter. The class is far from boring.

Links & Resources

Guide for the Spellsword build - Treantmonk’s Temple: “Eldritch Knight Build Guide” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CJ7ASALF
Guide for the Dominator build - d4: D&D Deep Dive: “The Rune Knight - D&D Optimized #38” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mDvbaXu8JI

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D&D Adventure: Stolen Child of Elder Blood

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Content Warning: This adventure is not for the faint-hearted. It includes themes of kidnapping, demonic possession, ritual sacrifice, exorcism, and violence against children. If these themes are not for you, check out any of the other adventures and encounters here!

How to use this adventure

The following short adventure, “Stolen Child of Elder Blood” presents a potentially deadly challenge for a party of four 4th-level characters. The adventure will take approximately 2-3 hours to run. You can adjust the difficulty by substituting the monsters in the encounters for more or less challenging creatures of a similar type.

The adventure can take place in any forested area where you might expect wood elves, goblins, and hags. You can use this short adventure to spice up overland travel. Or you can let a whole campaign develop out of the seeds in this adventure. Modify, tear apart, reskin or otherwise change this adventure to fit the needs of your game.

Adventure overview: Elves, goblins, and a witch

Valen, an infant daughter of the wood elves was stolen. The elven child was kidnapped by a green hag named Skinny Rose Tearhands, who wants to sacrifice the child to awaken an ancient monster from the outer planes. Skinny Rose, however, lost the child when her hut was raided by the Redtooth goblins, a local goblin tribe. When the goblins attacked, the hag fled. Instead of murdering Valen, the elvish child, a goblin druid had mercy. The shaman Grimnose secretly took the child, and hid her. He has been caring for her for the past few weeks.

Unfortunately, the tinctures and rituals of the shaman have not mingled well with the innate magic of the elvish infant. The magic of the goblins, and the magic of the elves have attracted a demon. A vrock has manifested within the child and the shaman has lost control. Valen, the stolen child of elder blood, has become a force of magical havoc, unconstrained and violent.

The situation has become complicated. The hag is looking for her kidnapped sacrificial child. The elves have sent scouts to locate their stolen offspring. And the goblin shaman is desperately trying and failing to contain the destructive power of Valen, the stolen child of elder blood.

Adventure hook: Find the stolen child

There are several ways to introduce this adventure. If you are running this to spice up overland travel, the party meets a beautiful female elf who calls herself Valnala. She is looking for her stolen child, Valen, and asks the party for help. She tells the characters that her daughter was kidnapped by the evil Redtooth goblins. Here is the twist: The “elf” is actually the hag Skinny Rose Tearhands in disguise. She is using the party to get to the child and will try to flee as soon as she has her prize.

Other ways to begin this adventure include:

The party hears strange screeches and howls coming from within the woods where the magically transformed elvish child is wreaking havoc.
A seer tells the party of the “stolen child of elder blood” that haunts these woods, and tells them that they have a chance to save the child.
The party is approached by a wood elf scout, called Yinran Windshadow, looking for the child. The scout asks the party for help.

Running the adventure: Stolen child of elder blood

1. Tracking the stolen child

A successful DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check allows the characters to track down Valen, the stolen child of elder blood, and Grimnose, the goblin shaman. A failed check means the party takes longer to find the two. They might have to face a random forest encounter on the way, or the Vrock within Valen might become more powerful, gaining more hit points, and an additional attack.

When the party eventually finds the goblin shaman’s hut, they see a frightened and desperate shaman, Grimnose. The strange mixture of goblin shamanism and elvish blood has attracted a demon who has possessed the child. This possession has transformed Valen into a horrifying floating child abomination, her limbs twitching unnaturally, her eyes milky, her mouth gaping in an unending cry of pain. Grimnose begs the child to calm down, burning herbs and singing goblin chants. Unfortunately, the goblin’s magic further enrages the demon inside of Valen.

The characters might assume that Grimnose has kidnapped the child. Through social interaction with the shaman they can quickly discover that their assumption is wrong, and that Grimnose actually cares for the stolen child of elder blood.

The characters can notice the demonic presence within the child, for example through a Paladin’s Divine Sense, through Ability checks, or because Grimnose or another NPC travelling with the party gives them hints.

2. An exorcism ritual challenge

The characters quickly realize (no check necessary) that, in order to deal with the demon, they must first find a way to draw the demon out of the child’s body. Here, the players can get creative. Run a small ritual challenge in which each character contributes to the exorcism. Ask each player how they contribute to exorcising the demon. To see if they succeed, let them roll an appropriate Ability check. If a player has troubles coming up with a contribution, you can give them some of these suggestions:

Assist Grimnose with his chants, therefore further enraging the demon until it bursts free (DC 11 Charisma (Performance) or Intelligence (Religion)).
Use divine magic, such as the protection from evil and good spell to repel the demon (DC 10 Spellcasting Ability check with advantage).
Calm Valen, the elvish daughter who is struggling to survive with the demon inside of her (DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion), Wisdom (Insight), or Wisdom (Medicine)) check.
Call upon a deity to intervene on behalf of Valen (DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) or Charisma (Persuasion)).

You can use a 4-step progress clock to track the successes of the party. Divide a circle into four sections, and fill in one section for each successful check. For each failure, add 10 hit points to the Vrock’s maximum hit points, as the demon feeds on the child’s life energy. After four successful Ability checks, the demon is expelled from the child’s body, and attacks the party.

3. The witch makes her move

Once the demon is defeated, the child is saved. For now… Skinny Rose Tearhands, the hag, is close by, and has been biding her time, either because she was with the characters from the start or because she was lurking in the woods nearby. After the party is weakened by the battle with the demon, it is the hag’s time to move. She will first attempt to deceive the characters by appearing as the elvish woman, Valnala, claiming the child is hers. If the characters recognize the deception, the hag will try to steal the child through more violent means.

The adventure could end with a chase sequence through the woods, in which the party tries to catch the hag who is fleeing with the stolen child, or with combat against her if the characters discover the hag’s true nature earlier.

4. Aftermath: Reunion or newfound bonds

Afterwards, the characters can find elves looking for their lost child and return Valen to them. Alternatively, Valen might have bonded with Grimnose, making it safer for the child to stay with her newfound guardian. Even if the wood elves find their stolen daughter and the shaman, they could be convinced by the strength of the bond between Valen and Grimnose, and let the two become an unlikely family.

NPCs

There are three main NPCs in this adventure. You can add other NPCs like the wood elf scout Yinran Windshadow, other wood elves, or other goblins of the Redtooth tribe.

Skinny Rose Tearhands. A sly witch who stole the elvish child. She wants to take over the forest by summoning and binding an ancient monster by sacrificing the child.
Grimnose. The kind goblin shaman who took the child from the hag, and has been caring for her. He formally belongs to the Redtooth tribe but lives as a hermit, separated from his kin.
Valen. The innocent infant daughter of the wood elves who is at the center of the adventure.

Monsters

The following monster stat blocks can be used for this adventure. Exchange these for monsters with a higher or lower challenge rating to adjust for the strength of your characters.

Green hag - The witch who stole the elvish child.
Druid - Use this stat block for the goblin shaman.
Vrock - Use this stat block for the demon who possesses the child. While within the child’s body, the demon cannot be targeted by attacks, spells, or other damaging effects.

Treasure

Either the elves or the shaman can reward the characters with 1 healing potion, a potion of animal friendship, as well as two moonstones worth 50 gp each.

Links & Resources

Blades in the Dark: “Progress Clocks” - https://bladesinthedark.com/progress-clocks

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Three DM Tips If Your Players Are Too Slow

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Illusory Script, a D&D blog created to provide dungeon masters and players with advice to inform, improve and inspire their games. Never miss an article by subscribing to our newsletter!

The two most difficult things about running D&D

There are two aspects of running a Dungeons & Dragons game which often cause problems for a DM, and for the group as a whole:

Pacing. The flow of the game, and the perceived speed of a game session.
Differing preferences. Differences in expectations and preferences about the game, often between players and DM.

Sometimes these two challenges collide when the pacing preferences of the DM and of the players diverge. This can lead to frustration, and in the worst case, to the untimely end of a campaign.

To be clear, I am not talking about the perennial problems of player indecisiveness or slow turns during combat. In this scenario, the players actually enjoy a different pace than the DM. It’s a difference in preference not a difference in competence.

Suppose, for example, the DM enjoys fast-moving sessions with lots of action and exciting combat. The players, however, largely prefer extended shopping trips, lots of inter-party banter, and detailed social interactions. The result can be frustration. A session can feel underwhelming to the DM, and players might be irritated if the DM becomes too “pushy” in an effort to pick up the pace.

What to do if the style our players prefer feels “too slow” to us as the DM?

Tip #1: Talk about it!

This might seem obvious but it is so important that it deserves to be the number one tip nonetheless. Communication is key. When we notice that the players’ preferred pacing often seems too slow for us, we can address the issue head-on. Ask the players, “How do you perceive the pace of our D&D sessions?” Listen to them, take note of their perception, and let them know how you feel: “I often feel like our sessions are moving too slowly. I really enjoy a faster pace with lots of action.”

By communicating the pacing preferences of the DM and the players openly and honestly, we create awareness of each other’s expectations. We can then try to find common ground, or come up with a compromise. Maybe players increase their pace slightly, or we can try to alternate between slower and faster sessions.

Tip #2: Accept that the DM cannot control pacing by themselves

It’s not a failure of our DMing if, at the end of a session, we haven’t reached the point in the story we anticipated. This is especially true for longer-running campaigns where we can just pick up where we left off in a following session. For one-shots, a “pushy” DM can actually be more necessary.

In the case of a multi-session campaign, however, we, as the DM ,do not control the pace of the session by ourselves. Focus on the most important thing: That the players are having fun. We can enjoy the moments of inter-party roleplay, and the slower pace of a session if we can appreciate the fun the players are having in these instances. If we can lean back, watch the players talk, smile, and laugh, we can make peace with our slow players. If it helps, we can claim some credit: The players are clearly enjoying the game, so we must be doing something right.

Tip #3: Make goals and rewards transparent

If we do want to pick up the pace of a our game without dragging the players along, we can give them an incentive to move the game ahead. We can reiterate a goal the party has, and remind them of the reward that is tied to the goal.

For example, we can remind players during the game that the dragon Abraxistar was seen flying away from his lair in a nearby dungeon, leaving his hoard of gold, gems, and magic items largely unprotected. Most players will not want to spend much more time talking to shop keepers, and random drunks in a tavern if they know “easy” treasure is waiting for them just outside of town.

We also don’t have to be coy about this. We can make goals and rewards explicit. Matt Colville suggests to listen to player character motivations, and then write down a goal of theirs on an index card along with an appropriate reward. We can hand this card to the players. If players can expect rewards, and it helps us realign our diverging pacing expectations, we don’t need to worry too much about breaking immersion.

Manage different pacing preferences

The two issues of pacing, and diverging expectations are a lifelong learning process for any DM. They converge when players and DMs prefer a different pace in their D&D game. The result can be frustration, resentment, and the end of a potentially great game. What can we do?

We can talk about our different preferences openly and honestly. We can make peace with the slower moments of the game by appreciating the enjoyment of our players. And we can make goals and rewards transparent to incentivize even “slow players” to move the game ahead.

Most importantly, however, we can realize that this problem is most likely no one’s fault. Pacing itself is difficult, and everyone at the table has different expectations and preferences. It is the task of the group as a whole to appreciate these challenges, and work towards creating a fun D&D experience for everyone: DM and players alike.

Links & Resources

Matt Colville: “Toward Better Rewards” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwpQwCWdhL8
Robin D. Laws: Hamlet’s Hit Points - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/83450/Hamlets-Hit-Points - Laws applies the concept of emotional upwards and downwards beats to RPGs and provides an incredibly insightful guide to pacing D&D games.

D&D 101 - Three Things To Know About D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Dungeons & Dragons, at its core, is simple

Welcome to D&D 101. If you have never played Dungeons & Dragons before, or have never played a roleplaying game, there are only three things you need to know about D&D before you start playing.

The main “mechanic” of D&D involves an ongoing conversation between the players and the DM, the “Dungeon Master”, who runs the game.
Players view the world through their characters’ eyes.
The goal of the game is not to win, but to cooperate with the other people around the table to discover a fantastic story.

1. The main rule lies in a conversation between players and DM

There is really only one “rule” or “mechanic” we need to know. Almost every other rule in the hundreds of pages of D&D rulebooks can be reduced to these three steps which are repeated constantly throughout a game session.

The DM describes the situation. For example, the DM might say, “You find yourselves in a room with two doors: a red one and a black one. What do you do?”
The players declare what their characters intend to do. For example, “Nemenor, being the elvish investigator that he is, tries to listen through each door, to hear if there is anything behind them.”
The DM decides whether any dice rolling is necessary, and narrates the outcome. “Nemenor puts his ear to one door after the other, and hears the rattling of chains behind the black door. The red door seems silent. What do you do?”

This process repeats over and over again. The player who plays the character Nemenor might have Nemenor do more investigations. Or another player might decide that their character is going to try to break open the black door.

Clearly, the DM, who runs the game, has a different role than the players. Each player controls a single character. The DM, on the other hand, controls and describes the fictional world in which the characters live and act.

Sometimes the DM might decide that something a character is attempting could reasonably fail. If it is uncertain whether something fails or succeeds, we roll the dice. In that case, the DM will tell the player which dice to roll, and whether the roll is high enough for the character to succeed.

2. See the world through the eyes of your character

As players, we try to see the world through the eyes of our character. Before the game begins, every player creates a character together with the DM and the other players. Then, during the game, when the DM describes a situation to us, we can close our eyes and imagine what our character sees and how they would react. For example, a brutish Viking might react differently to a locked door than a keen-minded elf would.

Whenever we are uncertain what to do after a DM has described a situation to us, we can return to the question, “What would my character do?” To answer that question we put ourselves in our character’s position. How do they see the world? What is their go-to approach to a problem? Do they prefer wits or muscle? Deception or honesty? Altruism or egoism?

Thinking about the situation from the perspective of our character helps us to prevent a mentality of always trying to find the optimal solution (Hint: there is never one optimal solution in D&D). The goal of D&D is not to win, it is to cooperate to tell a fantastic story together.

3. The goal of the game is not to win

Having played board games before, but not a roleplaying game, we most likely assume that the goal of any game is to win. In D&D we cannot win, and we cannot lose. The goal of the game is to have a good time first and foremost. More specifically, we play D&D to cooperate with the other people around the table to discover a fantastic story together. Let’s unpack that sentence…

“We play D&D to cooperate…”

In D&D everyone is on the same side. Everyone around the table tries to work with the others to tell a story filled with fantasy, adventure, and drama. We don’t compete with the other players, and we don’t compete with the Dungeon Master, who runs the game. We might face obstacles such as hidden passageways, traps, and monsters, which the DM puts in front of the characters. But we must remember that these are simply tools the DM uses to fill the story with tension, drama, and adventure.

“… to discover a fantastic story together.”

The true magic of D&D lies in discovering the story as it unfolds the table. When we sit down to play a game of D&D, no one, including the DM, knows what is going to happen. The DM might know what challenging situations await the characters in any given session, but neither the DM nor the players know how the characters will attempt to overcome these challenges, and whether they will succeed. We play the game to find out what happens.

That’s all we need to know to play D&D

And that’s D&D 101. With these three things in mind, anyone can play a game of D&D. We constantly talk with the DM to navigate our character through the fictional world, we view any situation through the eyes of our character, and we cooperate with the other players and the DM to discover a fantastic story at the gaming table.

Links & Resources

D&D Basic Rules - https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules
D&D Character Sheets - https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/character-sheets
Ginny Di: “7 things ALL first-time D&D players need to know” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD_b8SZ7h2Y

Handful-of-Dice Adventure - The Dungeon

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 10:00:00 GMT

The handful-of-dice adventure

Take a handful of dice, one of each size, roll them, and generate an adventure hook. That is the premise of the handful-of-dice method presented here in order to build a dungeon for your D&D game. Roll a d4, a d6, a d8, a d10, a d12, and a d20, compare the results to the following tables, and you will have a solid starting point for building a unique adventure.

The following handful-of-dice tables generate the basis for a dungeon adventure. Roll a handful of dice, one of each kind, fill out some of the details, and you are set to run a fun dungeon crawl for your players.

Handful-of-dice — Dungeon tables

The Character Quest table provides four unique quest hooks to give characters a motivation to enter the dungeon.

d4	Character Quest
1	Retrieve the cursed amulet of an ancient witch queen.
2	Destroy an archway that connects to a previously unknown plane of existence.
3	Assassinate the leader of a ritual suicide cult.
4	Rescue the son of a corrupted noble family.

The Boss table provides six bosses which the characters might face at the climax of the dungeon crawl. These villains rule over the dungeon and its inhabitants. Choose an appropriate stat block to create a fun challenge for the characters at their current level. For example, the “rabid beast of legend” might be a dire wolf for a 1st-level party but you might decide that it is a purple worm for a party of 9th level.

d6	Boss
1	A scheming demon who guards an ancient secret of his masters.
2	An undying sorceress posing as the damsel in distress.
3	A rabid beast of legend driven into a blood-frenzy.
4	An eccentric elvish warlord trying to make a home for his ruthless half-elf-half-orc warband.
5	The tentacled offspring of the mind of a Great Old One — an unfathomable being of vast deviant intellect.
6	A fallen angel settling an ancient debt with a powerful celestial.

The Minions table contains eight groups of creatures which serve the boss. You can roll multiple times on this table to create multiple factions within the dungeon. Similar to the Boss table, choose stat blocks appropriate for the party’s level.

d8	Minions
1	Loyal cultists
2	Mad scientists
3	Raging beasts
4	Elite mercenaries
5	Bound elementals
6	Mischievous demons
7	Zealous orcs
8	Corrupted dragonborn

The Rival party table shows ten groups of creatures which might crawl through the dungeon simultaneously with the player characters. They might be trying to thwart the party’s success, or try to complete the quest before the party. You can throw in an encounter with the rival party when you want to add an extra complication to the dungeon crawl.

d10	Rival Party
1	Disgruntled devils
2	Idealistic adventurers
3	Corrupt paladins
4	Sadistic nobles
5	Relentless oracles
6	Confused priests
7	Greedy archaeologists
8	Arrogant monster hunters
9	Insane conjurers
10	Ambitious orphans

The Dungeon theme table gives twelve types of thematic flavor to help you describe the general atmosphere of the dungeon. The entries also provide a starting point to flesh out individual chambers within the dungeon.

d12	Dungeon theme
1	Unholy swamp
2	Mystical pyramid
3	Festering mage’s tower
4	Floating obelisk network
5	Glowing jungle ruins
6	Celestial crypt
7	Haunted seas
8	Surreal wasteland
9	Undead keep
10	Macabre mansion
11	Oozing mines
12	Forsaken museum

The Hazard table contains twenty possible hazards that make navigating the dungeon treacherous for the player characters. If needed, you can improvise the mechanics for these hazards by using these tables from the Basic Rules. Generate a series of hazards by rolling multiple d20s.

d20	Hazard
1	Crumbling structures
2	Animated statues
3	Flying scythes
4	Swarms of insects
5	Acid pools
6	Falling meteors
7	Poisonous explosives
8	Corrupting arcane circles
9	Spectral cage traps
10	Parasitic invasions
11	Living fireballs
12	Shifting geography
13	Psionic crystals
14	Giant spider webs
15	Primordial skeletons
16	Corrupted springs
17	Unstable portals
18	Lethal vapors
19	Living portraits
20	Sewer floods

Example dungeon adventure seeds

The following adventure seeds have been generated using the handful-of-dice tables above.

Characters must retrieve the cursed amulet of an ancient witch queen. An undying sorceress posing as the damsel in distress guards the amulet together with her bound elementals. A rival group of idealistic adventurers tries to save the sorceress. Within the giant spider webs of the dungeon, parasitic invasions threaten to kill the characters before they reach the amulet.

Characters must rescue the son of a corrupted noble family from the clutches of the tentacled offspring of the mind of a Great Old One — an unfathomable being of vast deviant intellect. Mischievous demons serve this aberration, but disgruntled devils seek to destroy them. In the macabre mansion where the son is hidden, living fireballs roam the halls.

With the Monster Manual, a few useful random tables to improvise statistics, and potentially a map from Dyson’s Map Archive, we can run a fun dungeon adventure generated by rolling a handful of dice.

Links & Resources

Dyson’s Map Archive - dysonlogos.blog/maps/
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules: “Traps” - dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/running-the-game#Traps
Mike Shea: “Random Creativity in Dungeons & Dragons” - https://slyflourish.com/randomness_creativity_and_dnd.html

D&D Encounter: The Foul Gate

Marius Hofbauer — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 10:00:00 GMT

How to use this encounter

This encounter presents a potentially deadly challenge for four characters of 4th level and will take approximately 45 minutes to run. It presents a dynamic combat encounter in which the characters must close a planar gateway to save a village. This encounter is centered on a village of gnomes called Gulchbar but you can place the foul gate in any other village. As always, feel free to modify, tear apart, or reskin this encounter to fit the needs of your game.

Encounter overview: A deadly cure

The gnomes of the village of Gulchbar have a problem. In an attempt to cure a mysterious disease, they erected an adamantine archway which was supposed to bring healing winds from the Feywild to Gulchbar. Unfortunately, slight errors in the construction have caused the gate to instead summon foul winds from a festering fey swamp in the Feywild. Along with the winds come terrible monsters. Can the characters help the gnomes of Gulchbar?

Encounter hook: HELP!

The characters can smell the foulness coming out of Gulchbar from miles away. Eventually, a gnome scout called Yemorn, riding an axebeak, intercepts the characters and pleads for their help. The characters look like sturdy adventurers and no one else is close, so the party is the only hope for Gulchbar. Yemorn gives the characters the following information:

In an attempt to cure the villagers of a mysterious disease, the master blacksmiths of Gulchbar erected a metal archway which connects to the Feywild. The alchemists of the village promised that with the gate, they could summon healing winds to sweep through the village.
Unfortunately, there seemed to have been fatal flaws in the construction of the adamantine portal. Now, foul winds envelop the village, and terrible monsters have emerged from the gate.
Most of the gnome villagers are too weakened by disease to flee. Disaster is looming for Gulchbar.
If the characters manage to save the village, the gnomes have many masterful artworks and useful items they could offer as a reward.

Running the foul gate: Waves of destruction

A toad that feeds on gnomes

If the characters agree to Yemorn’s pleads for help, and follow the gnome to Gulchbar they find a terrible scene. A 30 ft. tall metal archway belches clouds of green and yellow fog onto a gnome village of tiny houses, empty streets, and deserted shops. Coughs, retching, and screams can be heard throughout the village.

When the characters arrive, they see that a monstrous toad has jumped out of the gate which is erected atop a small hill overlooking the village. A giant toad, overgrown with moss, swallows a gnome who is trying to fix the archway. Chaos erupts, as the gnomes of Gulchbar scramble for safety.

Waves of swamp terror

Once the characters have entered combat with the giant toad, the gate will spit out a new monstrous swamp creature every few rounds. For the first three waves have the next monster crawl out of the gate when the characters are close to beating the creature of the previous wave. That way, the party has to deal with creatures of multiple waves for one or two rounds. The shambling mound (wave four) and the young black dragon (wave five), however, provide enough of a challenge on their own.

To keep things simple new monsters always arrive on initiative count 20, and always act on initiative count 10, losing ties in both cases.

The monsters get bigger and badder as the fey swamp on the other side attracts more and more of them. Here’s the progression of monsters that shamble out of the foul gate:

one giant toad, overgrown with fungi and weeds
a green-translucent ghast looking for fresh gnome flesh
a fey wight wearing tattered regal clothing, and a decrepit crown
a shambling mound with colorful fire flies flitting around its massive body
a young black dragon looking to make a new home in the village of Gulchbar

In addition to the monsters, each round on initiative count 20 (losing ties) the gate belches up a wave of poisonous winds. Every character must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 3 (1d6) poison damage and be poisoned until initiative count 20 of the next round.

Closing the foul gate

After the ghast comes out of the gate, let the players know that their characters realize that the gate will keep spitting out monsters unless someone does something about it. During their turn, characters can try and solve the problem (no action required). Many approaches to closing the gate are possible. You can prompt the characters to get creative and come up with their own solutions. Or, if they need some help, here are some solutions which you can suggest to the players, along with appropriate proficiencies:

Performing arcane or divine magic to deactivate the runes around the archway (Arcana or Religion)
Destroying the gate with physical force (Athletics)
Fixing the gate so it realigns to the intended position and summons healing winds from the Feywild (Arcana, Religion, Nature, or the spellcasting Ability of the PC).
Animating the gnomish master craftspeople to aid in closing or fixing the gate (Persuasion or Intimidation)

To see if a character’s attempt is successful, set a Difficulty Class between 10 and 20, have the player roll an appropriate Ability check (see examples above), and record the cumulative successes of the party in a 4-step progress clock. Simply draw a circle, divide it into four sections, and fill in one section for each successful check. After four successes, the gate is closed, Gulchbar is saved, and the encounter ends.

NPCs at the foul gate

There aren’t many NPCs the party meets in this encounter. Here are a few villagers of Gulchbar whom you can use if a character wants to interact with a villager:

Yemorn Gubbleknack. Yemorn is a cheery male gnome scout riding his axebeak mount Klat. He has golden hair and soft amber eyes. He wears a worn leather jerkin, and enjoys the open wilderness.
Fele Oakflinger: Fele is an ambitious female gnome farmer who is also the leader of Gulchbar. She is short and overweight, with messy brown hair and bright brown eyes. She wears sturdy clothing and a blue cloak.
Gatzia Silverswing. Gatzia is a haughty male gnome blacksmith. He has copper hair and sharp blue eyes, and a distinctive scar on his neck. He wears modest garments and numerous rings. Gatzia has an animal companion, a silver cat named Gaisa.

Monsters of the foul gate

You can find more groups of monsters fitting a swamp environment with this random generator!

Treasure of the foul gate

The master craftspeople of Gulchbar offer the characters a choice of magic items as a reward for saving their village. The characters can pick one of the following items.

Eyes of the Eagle (uncommon, dmg 168),
Gloves of Swimming and Climbing (uncommon, dmg 172),
+1 Weapon (any that is useful for the characters) (uncommon, dmg 213)

If the characters managed to not only close the foul gate but also realign it so that healing winds can cure the village, the gnomes also offer a small chest with

800 sp, 20 gp, a brocade merchant’s cap trimmed with fox fur (25 gp), a copper medallion inlaid with a meandros of silver (25 gp), a fine steel salt cellar set with a rosette of spinel (25 gp), a wooden coffer set with a single moonstone (25 gp)

Links & Resources

Progress Clocks | Blades in the Dark - https://bladesinthedark.com/progress-clocks
donjon Random Generators - https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/random/

D&D Encounter: The Night Hag's Frenzy

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 10:00:00 GMT

How to use this encounter

This encounter presents a medium challenge for a four characters of 4th level and will take approximately 30 minutes to run. It presents a fun combat encounter in which bigger and bigger monsters appear, and actually tear each other apart. The default location for this encounter is a forested area but you can place the encounter in any area where a night hag might lurk and cause trouble. As always, feel free to modify, tear apart, or reskin this encounter to fit the needs of your game.

Encounter overview: A night hag’s terror

A night hag, called Silent Norma Dollgrowth, haunts a forested area. She instills dreams of violence in every creature inside these murderous woods. The characters make their way through the forest and become first-hand witnesses to the ravenous rampage that is under way.

A giant spider ambushes the characters as they are traveling. Shortly after the attack, an ankheg bursts from the ground beneath it. The ankheg spits acid at the characters only to be impaled by a giant scorpion. The scorpion turns towards the characters and tries to do the same to them. But shortly afterwards, a red dragon wyrmling descends from the sky and roasts the scorpion with a fiery breath.

If the characters spend the night in this haunted section of the forest, they might meet the root of the murderous evil…

Running the encounter: When the hunter becomes prey

Rabid beasts and frenzied monsters

Wherever you place this encounter, a night hag called Silent Norma Dollgrowth haunts the area. She crawls through the woods, and instills hateful violent dreams within beasts and monstrosities. You can foreshadow this circumstance as the characters near the encounter by describing the landscape of carnage they find:

Scattered carcasses litter the forest area. Many of the beasts and monsters seem to have been either killed slowly, or torn apart in a vicious rampage. Often much of the flesh is still in the carcass, as if it was killed for sport, and not necessity.

In addition, you can emphasize this theme by describing the monsters that attack as possessed killing machines. They are foaming at the mouth, have bloodshot eyes, and cackle maniacally while fighting.

Round one: Spider ambush

A giant spider has spun her web in these haunted woods. As the characters travel, the first one to clear a path through the forest must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained by webbing (following the rules to escape as written in the giant spider stat block). The spider hides in the crooked canopy above. All characters must make a DC 17 Wisdom (Perception) check or the attacking spider surprises them. The monster lets itself fall onto the character who is last in the marching order. Immediately after the spider’s first turn if at least one of the characters is not surprised by the spider’s ambush, or immediately after the spider’s second turn if everyone was surprised, a new predator arrives.

Round two: Ankheg from below

An ankheg, bursts from the ground right underneath the spider and splits the spider’s body in half. The enormous insect immediately kills the giant spider (regardless of its HP), and then turns towards the characters. On the same turn, it releases an acid spray on the closest characters. Immediately after the ankheg’s next turn, the newest rampaging monstrosity cracks the ankheg’s chitinous carapace.

Round three: Scorpion stinger rampage

Skittering out of the nearby woods, and piercing the ankheg’s head repeatedly with its massive stinger, comes a giant scorpion. After killing the ankheg on this turn (regardless of HP), the scorpion can still move to the closest character(s) and make two claw attacks. However, the massive arachnid won’t have much longer to try and take down the characters. Immediately after its next turn, the characters hear a screech from above, as a red dragon wyrmling dives towards the scorpion.

Round four: Wyrmling fire breath

The wyrmling immediately releases a fire breath onto the scorpion. The breath weapon kills the scorpion (regardless of HP). In addition, any character within 15 ft. of the scorpion is subjected to the effect of the fire breath, as the wyrmling flies over them and lands at the edge of the battlefield which is scattered with the corpses of rabid monstrosities by now.

Because it is the most powerful predator in this area of the forest, the red dragon wyrmling is the final attacker whom the characters must deal with or flee from.

The night hag Silent Norma Dollgrowth

If the characters take a long rest in these haunted parts of the forest, the night hag, Silent Norma Dollgrowth, pays them a visit. She uses her nightmare haunting action on the character who is most prone to violence. In the dream, she instills powerful nightmares in which the character stalks through the woods, looking for prey. Bloodlust fills the dreamer’s mind as they slaying beasts, monsters and humanoids in the vision.

Confronting Norma herself is going to be a near impossible task for a lower-level party. Norma’s Etherealness action and the plane shift spell make her extremely hard to catch. However, the characters might remember this encounter and come back at a higher level to hunt down the night hag.

Monsters

NPCs

Silent Norma Dollgrowth. Norma was once one of the elder elves, an eladrin, from the Feywild. But since she was corrupted by an ancient fiend and banished to the lower planes, she has long forgotten that history. Now she takes joy in driving mortal creatures to commit terrible acts of raw violence.

Treasure

A character with proficiency in the herbalism kit or alchemist’s supplies recognizes that they can turn some of the body fluids of the slain creatures into potions and tinctures. Each such fabrication requires a 1d4 hours of downtime and a successful DC 13 Intelligence (Herbalism kit or alchemist’s supplies) check.

The giant spider’s and the giant scorpion’s fluids can be turned into a potion of poison.
The ankheg’s juices can be turned into a vial of acid.
The red dragon wyrmling’s innards can be turned into a flask of alchemist’s fire.

D&D Encounter: How to Build a Dragon

Marius Hofbauer — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 10:00:00 GMT

How to use this encounter

This encounter presents a potentially deadly challenge for a four characters of 4th level. However, there are ways to avoid combat entirely. The encounter will take approximately 45 minutes to run. You can place the encounter in any area in which an isolated mage’s tower could be found. As always, feel free to modify, tear apart, or reskin this encounter to fit the needs of your game.

Encounter overview: Dragon-building gone wrong

In this encounter, the party tracks a magically enhanced wyvern to a mage’s tower. Jileus Amosyne, the mage within the tower had planned to “build a dragon” by experimenting with a stolen wyvern egg. Now, years later, the wyvern has attained a striking intelligence and a few magical capabilities. Jileus has lost control and is imprisoned in his own tower by his former dragon-to-be.

The party can choose to free Jileus either by fighting the wyvern called Drakeus or by lending it more magical empowerment in exchange for the mage’s freedom.

Encounter Hooks: Free the mage!

There are several ways to introduce this encounter to the players:

The characters hear about Jileus in a nearby town. The mage has not visited the local tavern for days, and the townsfolk have started to worry. They ask the characters to investigate the nearby tower, and give them directions.
The characters find remnants of an ambushed caravan while traveling overland. There are torn-apart, half-eaten bodies, and broken weapons that seem to have shattered while defending the caravan’s cargo which is missing. A lone survivor tells the party of the ferocious beast that descended on them from the sky, attacking them with cunning precision and even taunting the merchants while killing them. It looked vaguely like a wyvern but with many strange mechanical appendages. The survivor points the characters in the direction in which the wyvern flew away.
Drakeus tracks the characters down, having heard of their most recent exploits. The wyvern asks the party to hand over a magical item (see “Barter or battle?” below) in exchange for safe passage through his hunting grounds.

Running the encounter

At the mage’s tower

The encounter truly begins once the characters arrive at the mage’s tower. Here is the situation at the tower when the characters arrive:

Drakeus, the enhanced wyvern, sits at the top of the tower overlooking the plains around it.
Jileus is locked in his room on the second floor. He is taken out of the room from time to time to perform enhancement procedures on Drakeus.
Drakeus has fooled a group of kobolds into thinking he is a true dragon. These kobolds now serve the wyvern, and guard Jileus’s room.

How the characters approach the situation is up to them. They might sneak across the plains and infiltrate the tower unseen. They might taunt Drakeus to draw him away from the tower, or they might openly charge the tower and try to attack Drakeus directly.

Barter or battle?

At some point the characters are likely to confront Drakeus directly, either because they choose so or because they are spotted by him or his kobold guard. Drakeus isn’t immediately interested in combat. He has gained some measure of intelligence through the magical experiments, and sees a potential benefit to be gained from the characters. He offers to let Jileus go in exchange for a sufficiently powerful magic item. Any item that could potentially improve Drakeus’s combat prowess is acceptable to the wyvern. He plans to have the item attached to his body later on.

If the characters refuse, Drakeus calls for his kobold guards and attacks. He has seen some of the wealth of the characters and won’t let them go easily.

If the characters hand over an acceptable magic item, Drakeus takes it and thanks the characters. He then leads them into the tower, has his kobold guard free Jileus, and bids the characters farewell. But the wyvern actually needs Jileus to further enhance his body and mind…

Drakeus attacks

Once the characters and Jileus are out of the tower and on the plains, Drakeus flies after them. He laughs and shouts down at them, “Well, I did let Jileus go, as promised. But I’m afraid now I need him back!”

Then, Drakeus attacks the characters. Depending on how far away from the tower they’ve gotten, the wyverns kobold guard come rushing to aid their “dragon” master. Here are some “combat outs” with which players could attempt to end the combat early, without fighting to the death:

Offer Drakeus that they, the characters, will help him build his latest enhancements into his body. A series of Arcana checks or checks with the appropriate tool might let the characters do this in the tower’s magical lab. Helping Drakeus further enhance his body might earn the characters a long-term ally in the wyvern.
Let Drakeus have Jileus. Jileus will protest but the wyvern will let them go. The characters are then free to leave. Or they might regroup and attempt to free Jileus a second time.
Tell the kobold guard that their master isn’t actually a dragon. With a successful Charisma (Persuasion) check this might turn the kobolds against the wyvern.

Treasure

If the characters successfully free Jileus and let him reclaim his tower he offers them the following weapon as a reward. This was one of the items Jileus was still planning to build into Drakeus’s body. The PCs might also find the weapon inside the laboratory in the tower:

A magical +1 weapon (choose one which is useful for the characters) which can cast dragon’s breath (DC 15, no concentration required) once per day.

NPCs

Jileus Amosyne. A nervous young male human mage with bright green eyes and exceptionally large ears. He inherited the tower from his late mentor, and is obsessed with creating his own dragon.
Drakeus. A scheming male wyvern with modest intelligence who speaks Common. He was first stolen as an egg which was later bought by Jileus. He bears the signs of many magical experiments, and arcane enhancements such as glowing blue crystals embedded along his spine. Drakeus wants to continue his enhancements but loathes Jileus for the power he held over him.
Gundo. Captain of Drakeus’s kobold guard. Gundo is an arrogant overweight kobold who wears thick black fake eyebrows. Gundo is the leader of a nomadic tribe of kobolds who have decided to serve their “dragon” master Drakeus after stumbling upon him in “his” tower.

Monsters

Drakeus. Use the wyvern stat block with the following changes:
- Drakeus has an AC 15 because of plates embedded in his skin.
- Drakeus has Blindsight 10 ft. thanks to special lenses that enlarge his eyes.
- Drakeus gains the following new Bonus Action:
  - Cold shield (3/day). Drakeus casts armor of Agathys as a bonus action on himself through the blue crystals on his back.
- Drakeus gains the following new Action:
  - Stinger Volley (Recharge 5-6). Drakeus fires a barrage of stinger missiles from arcane launchers on his tail at up to three creatures he can see within 60 ft. Each creature can only be targeted by one stinger at a time. Each targeted creature must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage and 3 (1d6) poison damage.
Gundo is a bandit captain but his size is Small and his creature type is humanoid (kobold).
Gundo has 12 kobolds who are able to fight under his command. Additionally, there are three elders and four hatchlings who are members of his tribe and who don’t fight.

D&D Encounter: Rivals, Music, and a Brawl

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 23 May 2022 10:00:00 GMT

How to use this encounter

You can easily drop the following encounter, “Rivals, Music, and a Brawl” into your game. It presents a fun challenge for a party of any level. The encounter is only potentially dangerous for characters of second level or lower. However, even then, the centerpiece of the encounter, a tavern brawl, should never truly turn deadly. Bystanders will rush to stabilize unconscious characters, and brawlers never attack a downed character.

The encounter will take approximately 30 minutes to run. You can place the encounter in any tavern in which your party has a drink or stays the night. Otherwise, modify, tear apart, or reskin this encounter to fit the needs of your game.

Encounter overview: Two rivals meet in a tavern

This encounter takes place in a tavern called the Shouting Goose. The hotshot dwarvish bard Hurdrum L’Dahr is in the middle of his evening performance when another famous bard enters the tavern: Ompheliar Graystar, a rugged dragonborn. The two performers are bitter rivals, and each has their own fierce supporters in this bar. Tensions rise quickly, and a full-fletched brawl ensues.

The party can either participate in the fighting by picking the side of the bard whose music they enjoy most, or they can try to leave the bar unharmed amidst the developing chaos.

Encounter hooks: Musical trouble

The encounter can occur in any tavern the party visits. During their stay, Hurdrum L’Dahr performs his famous songs. The party can learn of the potential conflict between Hurdrum and Ompheliar by overhearing conversations or talking to other patrons. The night before Ompheliar performed in the Shouting Goose, and about half of the patrons prefer the older dragonborn’s hard-boiled shanties over the up-and-coming dwarf’s smooth ballads.

Running the encounter: To fight or not to fight?

After the characters had time to learn about the rivalry, the encounter truly begins. Ompheliar and his band of weathered musicians enter the bar. Ompheliar taunts Hurdrum with a “Bah! This is what you call music? There’s no heart in it, no soul! Let me show you how it’s done!” The dragonborn then immediately breaks into one of his famous songs about the hardships of a sailor’s life. Half of the tavern stand up and sing along. Hurdrum is visibly furious, and begins a hit song of his own, prompting the other half of the Shouting Goose to sing along to the dwarf’s song.

At this point, the characters can sense that the situation is about to turn violent. Supporters of the two opposing musicians are taunting each other all throughout the bar. The barkeeper quickly stows away expensive bottles behind the bar. The characters could intervene at this point by:

Calming down the patrons in the Shouting Goose.
Stopping the performance of one or both of the singers.
Overwhelming one side by loudly singing along with one of the two fan groups.

With high enough Charisma Ability checks, the characters might succeed in calming tensions in the tavern before a brawl breaks out.

Otherwise, as the first chorus of both Ompheliar’s shanty, and Hurdrum’s ballad begins at the same time, the whole tavern descends into chaos.

The brawl

This isn’t your everyday tavern brawl. Everyone in the Shouting Goose fiercely supports one or the other musician, and so there is fighting everywhere. Chairs and tables are flipped, punches and kicks are thrown, and all the while the two musicians, Ompheliar Graystar and Hurdrum L’Dahr, encourage their supporters by singing at the top of their lungs. A scene of utter musically violent chaos unfolds.

Joining in the brawl

If the characters decide to join in the brawl, you can ask the players to pick a side, based on their character’s musical preference. This gives the players a chance to show off a new aspect of their character’s personality: their taste in music. Do they prefer the rough-and-tumble hard rock shanties of the dragonborn? Or the easy-listening smooth “hit songs” of the dwarf?

If the characters fight, each of them finds themselves confronted by one supporter of the opposing musician. Use the thug stat block for a brawling fan but describe their different appearance along these lines:

If a character supports Hurdrum L’Dahr, they are attacked by a rugged human, dragonborn, or halfling who shouts the shanty into their face, and fights with a broken off table leg, a chair, or their fists (use the mace’s stats of the thug).
If a character supports Ompheliar Graystar, they are attacked by a well-dressed human, or half-elf, or an enraged dwarf who attack with ornamental weapons, walking canes or expensive bottles of wine (use the mace’s stats of the thug) while singing along to Hurdrum’s ballad in a bright and clear voice.

The characters might all pick the same side or be split in their musical affection. You can roll initiative for all participants (grouping the NPC supporters of each musician). Alternatively, if you want to speed things up, you can go around the table instead of rolling initiative. Resolve the actions of each character, and then their individual opponent in the brawl. That way, you narrate individual one-on-one fights instead of running traditional initiative.

You can increase the tension of the brawl by rolling on the complications table below before a player’s turn.

Escaping the brawl

The characters might also decide that they want nothing to do with the brawl. In that case, they have to try to get out of the Shouting Goose unharmed. In the middle of 50 brawling patrons, that is no easy feat. Run the escape from the brawl as a series of Ability checks. Ask the players how their character contributes to the party’s safe escape from the tavern. Then call for an appropriate Ability check, and set a reasonable DC. For example, if a character attempts to clear a path through the brawling fans, you might ask for a Strength (Athletics) or even a Charisma (Intimidation) check, depending on how the player describes their character’s actions.

You can keep track of successes to Ability checks with a progress clock from the game Blades in the Dark. Draw a circle and divide it into four sections. For each successful Ability check, fill in one section. With four completed sections, the characters reach the exit.

If your players are slow to act, or you want to increase the tension of the encounter you can roll on this table of complications as often as you like:

d10	Complication
1	A red-nosed halfling throws a mug of ale into a player character’s face, potentially making it difficult to see.
2	A character is wedged between the massive bodies of a goliath and a half-orc who are in a fierce wrestling match.
3	An opportunistic human teenage girl tries to pickpocket a player character amidst the chaos.
4	Someone has brought a live pig into the tavern, and that pig is now rampaging through the party.
5	A group of rough sailors or mercenaries have locked arms and formed a human wall blocking the characters’ path while shouting along with Ompheliar’s shanty at the top of their lungs.
6	An elderly, mostly blind male goblin is swinging his walking stick in all directions while singing along to Hurdrum’s ballad in a beautifully refined tenor voice.
7	Two half-elf twins, one male and one female, are trying to get their male dwarf friend to safety who has fainted as the brawl began. They desperately ask the characters for help.
8	A noble human woman points at the characters and sends her guards to grapple them, shouting, “It’s them! They were making fun at my friend Hurdrum all night long! Seize them!” She has mistaken the characters for another group.
9	A drunk female gnome shoots her enchanted confetti gun in the characters’ direction enveloping them in a seemingly unending stream of glittering paper strips.
10	A pouch flies free of its owner’s belt, lands right at the feet of one player character, and a two pieces of platinum roll out of it onto the ground. Nearby patrons stop their brawling for a moment, stare at the pouch, look at each other, and then dive for the pouch at the character’s feet.

Encounter elements: Tavern, NPCs, Monsters, and Treasure

Tavern: The Shouting Goose

The Shouting Goose is a mid-sized tavern with a large taproom and a central stage on which Hurdrum L’Dahr is performing. There are a few private balconies arranged along the walls for wealthier patrons. The tavern gets its name from the stuffed goose head that is mounted over the entrance. The head is permanently enchanted, and shouts an insult at each entering patron.

Important NPCs

Hurdrum L’Dahr is an attractive, cheery young dwarf with an elaborate mustache and a voice of gold whose hit songs (mostly cheesy ballads) will have an entire town singing them for weeks after he passes through.

Ompheliar Graystar is a grim older dragonborn who is missing 2 fingers on his right hand but who still plays a mean bass lute. He sings mostly hard-boiled sailor’s shanties that revel in the hardships of a tough life of struggle and strive.

Monsters

The only stat block needed for the brawl is the thug which is a stand-in for the experienced brawlers in the tavern. You can keep the following additional NPC stat blocks handy to represent other patrons of the Shouting Goose if you want a wider range of stat blocks: commoner, noble, guard, goblin, and orc.

Treasure

The only treasure the characters can acquire in this encounter are various trinkets, and coin pouches the brawling patrons might “accidentally” lose during the chaos. Here’s what the characters can potentially find. Adjust the amount of treasure depending on how explicitly a character seeks it out:

a maximum of 20 gp, 160 sp, and 200 cp,
a set of crystal dice (25 gp),
a bone orb engraved with arcane runes (10 gp),
a marble chalice engraved with dwarven runes (20 gp),
there is a 25% chance that a patron is carrying a decanter of endless water

Hydra Lets Us Play RPG Music Over Discord

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

The immersive power of music

I’ve written before about some of the uses of music for D&D and other RPGs. It comes down to the elusive concept of immersion. Playing music during our D&D session can help players forget the real world around them and dive deeper into the game. For online play via the software Discord there is a simple method of how to stream music to your players: Hydra.

The Hydra bot is a simple tool to let us play music for online games without much more hassle than doing it in person. We simply paste links to music we want our players to hear, and Hydra will stream our RPG soundtrack to everyone in the channel.

Setting up Hydra

To use Hydra in your Discord server, we add the bot to your channel. The website hydra.bot guides us through this process after we click on the button labelled “Invite.” Once we’ve added Hydra to our channel, the software is ready to go. I would, however, suggest setting up a designated song request channel to make controlling our RPG soundtrack even easier. Simply type “.setup” in the Discord chat, and the bot will create a new channel which functions as a media player.

Playing music through Hydra

Once we have Hydra set up, we’re ready to use it during your game. I like to have a handful of Spotify playlists ready to play for different moods during a session. When I want to stream a certain playlist, I copy the link for sharing the playlist and drop it into Hydra’s song request channel on Discord.

If another playlist is already playing, we can click the stop button to clear Hydra’s music queue before we paste the link for the new playlist.

The beauty of a Discord bot like Hydra is that players and we ourselves can individually control the volume of the music by adjusting the volume of the “user” Hydra in the voice channel. That way, everyone can listen to the music at their own comfortable level, or even mute Hydra if they prefer a game without music.

Requesting songs through Hydra requires no special privileges, so anyone can “DJ” during the session. To keep things simple, designating one person to control the music for our session is probably best. Most of the time this will be the DM setting an appropriate mood by playing fitting music. But if a player is up for it, delegating tasks is never a bad idea. We DMs have enough on our plate already.

An important tool for immersion

Music can greatly support immersion during play. This might be even more important during online RPG play, when we don’t have the environment of our fellow players around the gaming table. The Discord bot Hydra is the easiest method I have found to bring the immersive power of music to an online RPG session.

Links & Resources

Hydra bot - https://hydra.bot/
Discord app - https://discord.com/
“highway1024”, a Spotify user with a vast collection of RPG soundtrack playlists - https://open.spotify.com/user/highway1024

Letting Players Roll the Dice

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Players rolling more often than the DM

Rolling dice is a fun part of Dungeons & Dragons. So as DMs, we can look for opportunities to let players roll the dice where we might be tempted to roll ourselves. The clearest example is this: An NPC is lying to the party. Do we roll a Charisma (Deception) check for the NPC? Do we ask the players to roll a Wisdom (Insight) check? Do we do both and turn it into a contested roll? I suspect that option 2, letting just the players roll the check, can be our default model as we run our D&D games. In essence: let players roll the dice more often than the DM.

Reasons why we let players roll more often than the DM

There are three main reasons why letting players roll the dice can be our default solution.

It lets players drive the gaming action.
It intuitively links the numbers on a character sheet to the character’s competence.
It’s fun for the players.

It lets players drive the gaming action

As DMs we likely already take up a lot of the speaking time at the table. By making player rolls our go-to assumption, we put them in the driver seat of the action. If an NPC is deceiving the characters, the players should feel like it’s in their hands whether they can detect the NPCs motives or not. Letting them roll a Wisdom (Insight) check, instead of the DM rolling a Charisma (Deception) check mechanically establishes the PCs as the dramatic agents of the scene. The player rolls the dice. The character is in the spotlight.

It intuitively links the numbers on a character sheet to the character’s competence

But why not both? In the above example, why doesn’t the DM roll a Charisma (Deception) check, and the player rolls a Wisdom (Insight) check? We could turn this situation into a contested Ability check.

The fact is, letting just the player roll the dice, makes it so that for every +1 bonus to their Wisdom (Insight) check, their chance of success goes up by 5%. Making it a contested check results in less intuitive success chances. Even players with a very high bonus still face a significant chance of failure due to the randomness of the d20 roll of the NPC. Conversely, players with bad or negative bonuses, will succeed more often, even against difficult challenges, such as discovering the lie of a skilled deceiver.

The numbers on a character sheet mean something in the fiction of the world. Rolling contested checks obscures this connection between the modifiers on the sheet, and the competence of the character. Letting just the players roll the dice more often will make the numbers on their character sheet more intuitively linked with their character’s skill.

It’s fun for the players

Letting the players have a good time is probably the most important goal of running a game. And letting them roll the dice is part of that. That doesn’t mean that we call for Ability checks every 20 seconds. It just means that when an outcome is uncertain, and dice rolls are needed, we can fall back to the default solution of letting the players roll.

Turning DM rolls into player rolls

Sometimes it seems to make sense that we as a DM roll the dice. Especially when an NPC is involved in the action. But often, we can find a mechanical solution that lets the players roll the dice, and still accurately reflects the fictional situation. Here are some examples of DM rolls that can be turned into player rolls:

An NPC tries to spot the sneaking characters. Instead of rolling a Wisdom (Perception) check for the NPC, let the players roll a Dexterity (Stealth) check.
An NPC tries to steal from the characters. Instead of rolling a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check for the NPC, let the players roll a Wisdom (Perception) check.
An NPC tries to lure the party into its lair. Instead of rolling a Charisma (Deception) check for the NPC, let the players roll a Wisdom (Insight) check.
A friendly NPC is bleeding out. Instead of rolling a death saving throw for the NPC, let the players roll a Wisdom (Medicine) check.
A group of enemy NPCs must decide whether to fight on or flee. Instead of rolling a Wisdom saving throw for the NPCs, let the players roll a Charisma or Strength (Intimidation) check.
An NPC is retrieving information for the characters. Instead of rolling an Intelligence check for the NPC, let the players roll a Charisma (Persuasion) or Intelligence (Investigation) skill to see how well they motivated the NPC or how good the choice of NPC for this research task was.

Instead of rolling for an NPC, determine a DC

What all of these examples come down to is that instead of rolling a check for an NPC, we determine a Difficulty Class (DC) which the players must overcome with their roll. Rolling for the NPC takes less mental work. If we set a DC, we need to know how to come up with an appropriate number. There are two methods for this:

Using the table from chapter 7 of the Player’s Handbook

We can imagine how difficult a task is on a scale from “very easy” to “nearly impossible.” The Player’s Handbook provides a table to convert these categories to DCs:

Task Difficulty	DC
Very easy	5
Easy	10
Medium	15
Hard	20
Very hard	25
Nearly impossible	30

As a variation to the table, Mike Shea from slyflourish.com suggests that we rate a task’s difficulty on a scale from 1-10, add 10 to it and come to a DC in this way. This has the benefit of simplicity, and let’s us generate a DC without checking the table above. But it also means that all DCs will be in the range from 10-20.

Using NPC passive Ability scores

Alternatively, when players are working to overcome an NPC, we can use the NPC’s stat block to generate a passive Ability score for them and use that number as the DC. The passive Ability score is 10 plus the NPC’s Ability modifier. If the NPC is proficient with the skill in question we use the modifier for that skill, as noted in the stat block.

For example, instead of rolling a Charisma (Deception) check for the cultist to lure the characters into its lair, we let the players roll a Wisdom (Insight) check. The DC is 12 because of the cultist’s +2 modifier to Deception.

A notable exception: Armor Class

One area where the approach of turning DM rolls into player rolls does not work is attacks. If a trap in a hallway shoots a projectile at a character, we might be tempted to default to letting the character make a Dexterity saving throw. This however circumvents Armor Class. There is no easy way to turn Armor Class into a player roll. And the defenses of some characters, particularly those in heavy armor are represented in their Armor Class, and not in their Dexterity score. By eliminating attack rolls we undermine the character creation choices of players who invest in Armor Class.

Narratively, these characters don’t need to dodge away from a projectile trap. The arrow simply bounces off their plate armor. In general, combat is the pillar of play where DM rolls remain most necessary. Everywhere else, we can try to let the players roll the dice instead of us. This lets the players drive the gaming action, it matches the numbers on their character sheet with the characters’ competence, and it’s a fun part of the game.

Links & Resources

An rpg.stackexchange thread on the mathematical difference between opposed rolls, and fixed DCs - https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/166931/is-probability-of-succeeding-an-opposed-check-the-same-when-the-second-check-is

Reskinning D&D Classes and Backgrounds for Modern Fantasy

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Making D&D work outside of medieval fantasy settings

D&D is fundamentally built around the assumption of a medieval fantasy world. The Player’s Handbook provides rules for lodging at a tavern, overland travel on horseback, and equipment like swords, shields, and armor. The Dungeon Master’s Guide, contains guidelines about building pantheons, kingdoms, and city states. But what if we want to use the familiar rules of D&D in a modern setting? Can we run D&D in a modern fantasy world like the fantastical mirror of an present-day metropolis?

This article provides an example of how to reskin the classes and backgrounds from the Player’s Handbook to make them feel at home in a modern setting.

Why not play a different game?

Instead of reskinning the 5th edition D&D rules, we could just run a system with a more modern flavor. Call of Cthulhu or a setting-agnostic system like Fate are strong contenders. In previous articles (Fiasco, or Icarus) we already talked about what we can learn from playing other roleplaying games.

But not everyone is interested in learning a new game. Most RPG rulebooks are thick, and require a lot of time to study for both the DM and the players. Our group already knows D&D. And they might not be interested in learning a new system. In that case, we can reskin the existing rules of D&D. Then we can use the familiar mechanics in settings that are not medieval fantasy.

Reskinning Lite: Keep the mechanics, give it modern flavor

It is possible to completely rewrite the 5th edition D&D rules to cleanse them of every last remnant of medieval fantasy. For the game Esper Genesis the designers have rewritten all three core books. They turned the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual into a 5th edition science fiction ruleset.

But for our home game this approach is not feasible. We want an easy way to reskin D&D to fit our modern fantasy setting. Let’s call this method “Reskinning Lite.” With this approach, we leave all of the wording of the mechanics untouched, and simply drape a modern costume over the classes and backgrounds.

Essentially, we only need a few examples of what a class or background represents in our present-day fantasy setting.

Turning Player’s Handbook classes into modern equivalents

In a modern urban fantasy game, classes might look something like this:

Player’s Handbook Class	Modern Urban Fantasy “Class”
Barbarian	Raging Alcoholic, Party Animal, Street Brawler
Bard	Musician, Creative/Artist, Politician/Public Speaker
Cleric	Doctor, Nurse, Street Worker
Druid	Hippie, Climate Change Activist, Florist
Fighter	Bouncer, Weapon’s Trader/Instructor, Military Personnel
Monk	Athlete, Bodybuilder, Martial Artist
Paladin	Law Enforcement, Firefighter, Security
Ranger	Park Maintenance, Dog Walker, City Cleaner
Rogue	Gangster, Drug Dealer, Private Investigator
Sorcerer	Psychedelics User, Esoteric, Street Performer
Warlock	Corrupt Politician, Businessperson, Influencer
Wizard	Professor, Student, Journalist

And that’s it for Reskinning Lite. We can hand a list such as this one to our players, and let them fill in the details of their character. We use all of the class mechanics as written, and improvise details of the reskinned class mechanics during play. The sword of the City Cleaner/Ranger might look like a trash picker instead of a sword. The Influencer/Warlock might shoot eldritch blasts from their phone camera’s flash.

We don’t have to write all of these reskinned aspects out beforehand. We let the atmosphere of the modern fantasy setting inspire us during the game to fill in the blanks. As a starting point, however, a table like the one above is more than enough.

Turning Player’s Handbook Backgrounds into modern professions

Backgrounds can be reskinned as professions in a modern urban fantasy setting:

Player’s Handbook Background	Modern Urban Fantasy Profession
Acolyte	Social Worker, Yoga Teacher, Priest
Charlatan	Street Hustler, Dodgy Shopkeeper, Politician
Criminal	Pickpocket, Gangster, Drug Dealer
Entertainer	Musician/DJ, Actor, Street Performer
Folk hero	Firefighter, Law Enforcement, Youth Activist
Guild artisan	Plumber, Construction Worker, Freelancer
Hermit	Hacker, Homeless, Rich Eccentric
Noble	Rich Kid, Businessperson, Celebrity
Outlander	Park Ranger, Dog Walker, Public Transportation Worker
Sage	University Student/Professor, Technologist, Journalist
Soldier	Law Enforcement/Military, Gang Member, Bouncer
Urchin	Homeless, Street Worker, Party Animal

The background’s ideals, bonds, and flaws require more reskinning, because they refer to medieval fantasy tropes like thieves’ guilds, untamed wilderness, and aristocracy. For our Reskinning Lite approach, we handle these during character creation. We can work with the players to rewrite some of the language from the Player’s Handbook backgrounds to fit the modern setting.

An example of the flexibility of D&D

No one forces us to play D&D in a medieval fantasy setting. As we have seen, the system is flexible enough to accommodate almost any fantasy setting. With just a list of classes and backgrounds and their modern equivalents, we can let our players build appropriate characters.

As for running a modern fantasy adventure, the three pillars of roleplaying, exploration, and combat work whether we’re slinging spells in the wilderness of the Forgotten Realms, or in the streets of a fantastical version of London, Berlin, or New York.

Links and Resources

Esper Genesis - https://espergenesis.alligatoralleyentertainment.com/
Dimension20: “Unsleeping City” (an excellent example of a modern fantasy game using 5th edition D&D) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kktwa0kqaU

Play Icarus to Learn to Love Failure in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Playing games other than D&D

We learn by re-contextualizing information. In school, we might read a text, watch a video about the same topic, and then apply our knowledge in an experiment. The same learning principle applies for DMing or playing D&D. Playing a similar but different game gives us a fresh perspective on core aspects of our game.

The storytelling game Icarus can lend a whole new perspective to what it means to fail in a roleplaying game. With the mindset of a game of Icarus, we can learn to see the roleplaying opportunity of defeat in our D&D games. We can learn to love failure.

If you’d like to read another article about a different game check out this article on Fiasco.

What is Icarus?

Icarus is a collaborative storytelling game during which players narrate the downfall of a mighty civilization. Failure is built into the core concept of the game. When we sit down to play the game, we know that our imagined civilization is going to collapse. After all, it’s on the cover of the game: “ICARUS - A storytelling game about how great civilizations fall.”

During a game of Icarus, we first build our civilization (which is always called Icarus). Together, we define aspects like economics, social structure, religion, and so on. After a while we have a good idea of what drives our civilization. And just as we grow attached to our civilization the game begins, and we tear it all down.

Turn by turn, through randomly drawn cards, rolls of the dice, and actions of the players, we narrate the downfall of this civilization. And we discover that failure can actually be great fun.

Icarus shows us the dramatic potential of failure

Failure creates tension. It raises the stakes. It creates drama. By building failure into the core assumption of the game (everyone knows the game ends when the civilization inevitably falls), Icarus makes it easy for players to embrace defeat. We laugh, howl, and cringe as we narrate the moments of chaos that lead up to the destruction of Icarus.

As players, we navigate our characters through the drama created by failure. Both as D&D players, and as DMs, we can take some cues from Icarus in this regard.

Failure as an opportunity in D&D

By playing Icarus we can reframe our attitude towards failure in D&D. Instinctively, we might want to avoid failure. After all, we want to see the characters succeed. But playing Icarus can change our mindset.

Failure is roleplaying gold. We can “fail forward” by having failure not be the end of the story. Instead of shutting down a scene after a failed ability check, we can introduce a new complication, or let the character succeed at a cost. Use failure as a toll that drives the story forward.

When our characters actually fail, we can embrace the moment of weakness to explore new facets of the character. How does this failure change the character? How does it change the party? Failure feels intuitively bad. But it’s actually full of dramatic potential.

Playing Icarus drills this appreciation of failure into us. Failure is foundational to the game. Embracing failure’s potential for drama and storytelling is a skill worth picking up to improve our D&D games.

Links & Resources

ICARUS on drivethrurpg.com - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/273848/Icarus-How-Great-Civilizations-Fall

Play Fiasco to Learn to Build D&D Worlds Together

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Playing games other than D&D

The roleplaying game Fiasco is one of these games. It sheds new light on the skills we need to play D&D. Specifically, Fiasco lets us train our improvisation skills, and the ability to play off of the ideas of other’s at the table.

What is Fiasco?

For reference, this article is based on play experience with the Fiasco Boxed Set.

In a game of Fiasco there is no game master. Everyone at the table works together to tell a dramatic story about an unfolding… well… an unfolding fiasco. The game is inspired by movies such as Fargo and Burn After Reading. In Fiasco the ambition, incompetence, and bad luck of the characters leads to a searing catastrophe.

Players take turns playing scenes. There is no pre-determined story that everyone follows, no maps or “boxed text” to guide players through the narrative. Instead, players use a general scenario, like “Poppleton Mall”, a shopping mall in a small town to set their scenes. Cards that describe the relationships between the characters inspire the motivation and conflict of scenes.

In play, the game feels very loose, especially compared with D&D. There is no prepared adventure to fall back on, and no dungeon master to guide us through scenes. In a game of Fiasco we have to rely on improvisation and playing off of our fellow players to tell a catastrophic yet satisfyingly dramatic story.

In Fiasco everyone builds the world collaboratively

There is no detailed setting in Fiasco. Instead, the game world emerges through play. As a group, we decide from the beginning on a scenario like “Poppleton Mall.” But we discover the details of the characters, locations, and conflicts in the Mall during the scenes each player sets up.

One player might begin a scene by describing how their character rushes over to the ice cream shop to intercept the date of their ex and try to win back the lost love. All of these aspects, the ice cream shop, the ex, and their date emerge through improvisation during the scene. Now that this location and these characters are in play, another player might use them for their upcoming scene. After the date was successfully interrupted, another player character might, for example, work together with the disgruntled ex to cause havoc in the mall.

We can bring Fiasco’s collaborative worldbuilding into D&D

In Fiasco, the game world develops as a result of play. We can bring this concept into our D&D game. Instead of planning out a D&D world with every last detail determined before play, we might leave blank spaces in our world which we can fill with the players’ ideas. A player character’s background might lead to the creation of new guilds, locations, and NPCs. During the game, the group might speculate about the ulterior motives of a noble. As a DM, we can spontaneously decide that their speculations are correct, and turn the minor noble NPC into an important villain.

Fiasco can show us the power of collaborative world-building. We can leave blank spaces in our game world, and remain open to ideas of the players about this world. That way, the players gain a sense of ownership and responsibility about the setting. This collaboration is built into the rules of Fiasco. As D&D DMs it might require a change of mindset.

Playing Fiasco lets us experience the thrill of building and discovering a world together.

Links & Resources

Fiasco Box Set by Bully Pulpit Games and Jason Morningstar - https://www.atomicempire.com/Item/285037

Building a Boss Monster: Crypsos the Cruel

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 10:00:00 GMT

This article delves deeper into the point crawl we built last week using material from the supplement “Blackwater Citadel.” Specifically, we are building a boss monster for the final confrontation in the Throne Room of the Drowned King. This boss monster is Crypsos the Cruel, an ancient kraken from the depths of the ocean.

Start with the fiction: Who is Crypsos the Cruel?

When we think about boss monsters, or any monster we want to use in our game, we always start with the fiction. What is this monster? What does it want? How do we want the characters to see this monster?

For Crypsos the Cruel this fiction comes down to three major points:

Crypsos is an ancient kraken. A tentacled monstrosity from the bottom of the ocean.
Crypsos has crawled out of the depths and become the new king of Blackwater Citadel. He now commands many of the abominations within the fortress. He rules through fear and horror.
Crypsos feeds on the extraplanar energy of pure evil within the fortress. Specifically, he uses necrotic power surging through the Throne of the Drowned King to empower himself.

Customize an existing statblock: The kraken in Blackwater Citadel

Instead of building a new monster from scratch, which can be a painfully long process, we can customize an existing statblock to build our boss monster. We already have a kraken statblock in 5th edition, so let’s use it and bring it to life with the fiction of Crypsos the Cruel we outlined above.

Extraplanar energy. The throne gives Crypsos access to the energy of pure evil that flows through Blackwater Citadel. We can represent this mechanically by adding 10 (3d6) necrotic damage to each of the kraken’s attacks. In our descriptions we let players see how black energy seeps from the throne into Crypsos’s tentacles. If the players are smart, they might be able to remove Crypsos from the throne, or even destroy the throne. Both solutions would likely remove the added necrotic damage.

Fish out of water. Crypsos is no longer in the natural habitat of a kraken. He has made Blackwater Citadel his new lair. To represent this adaptation, we can let Crypsos use the lair actions of the kraken within the throne room. Even those lair actions that usually require water, work through the air as long as Crypsos remains the king of Blackwater Citadel.

For the king! Crypsos rules over Blackwater Citadel with an iron fist (an iron tentacle?). His minions obey him unquestioningly. We can represent this in the statblock by replacing the Ink Cloud legendary action with a new legendary action called “For the king!” By using this legendary action, Crypsos lets all of his allies within the throne room move up to their speed and make one attack. Depending on the number of minions this might be more or less effective, so we can adjust the number of legendary actions it requires accordingly.

Combat outs: Ending the boss fight early

In any combat encounter we can think about potential “outs” for the player characters. How could they end the encounter without reducing Crypsos to zero hit points? There are three obvious combat outs with others arising spontaneously during play:

Crypsos wants to live. Crypsos is no mindless creature. If he is reduced to below 40% of his maximum hit points he will crawl out the throne room and try to escape into the depths of the ocean. The characters might give chase, and we might have a cool underwater chase on our hands.
If someone else manages to seat themselves on the throne during the encounter, they can attempt to temporarily become the king of Blackwater Citadel. A high enough Charisma check might be enough to prove their worth to the throne. Alternatively, a character might be required to commit some evil act before they can become king. If the character is successful, the throne lets them punish Crypsos. A character can cast banishment through the throne, targeting Crypsos.
In the point crawl, the characters’ goal is to retrieve the fey war chest hidden within the throne room. If they manage to find and recover the hidden war chest while staying alive against Crypsos, they can run with the chest. In this case, it is probably best to drop initiative, and fall back to Ability checks and descriptions of the escape.

The king of Blackwater Citadel: Customizing a boss monster

As we have seen, to build a boss monster, we don’t have to be professional game designers. It can be as simple as grabbing an existing statblock and customizing it to make it fit the narrative we have in mind. The most important step in this process is thinking about the fiction of the monster. The story informs the mechanics. The more we have the fiction front and center in our minds while preparing and running the game, the more we will be able to create a unique encounter.

Get Blackwater Citadel on drivethrurpg.com!

Illusory Script presents: “Blackwater Citadel - A Cosmic Horror Adventure Location for Any Game System” - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/386504/Blackwater-Citadel

Links & Resources

“Blackwater Citadel” on drivethrurpg: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/386504/Blackwater-Citadel
Mike Shea: “Add Necrotic Damage” - https://slyflourish.com/add_necrotic_damage.html

Building a Cosmic Horror D&D Point Crawl in Blackwater Citadel

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 10:00:00 GMT

What is a point crawl?

Most DMs and players are familiar with a dungeon crawl, or less commonly, a hex crawl. In either case, the DM presents a map and the players decide how their characters move through the location. A point crawl takes this concept, and abstracts the map further. Instead of measured corridors and rooms or regular wilderness hexes, a point crawl map consists of only points of interest and connections between them.

The supplement “Blackwater Citadel” provides locations and inspiration to create a horror-themed point crawl. In this article, we will be using “Blackwater Citadel” to create a point crawl for a single-session adventure. The forsaken pirate fortress is sure to challenge the characters’ wits, their resolve, and their ability to survive the cosmic horrors that dwell in the citadel.

Overview: Blackwater Citadel

This is an excerpt from “Blackwater Citadel” which describes the general atmosphere of the forsaken pirate fortress.

Jagged ocean cliff tops stick out of an impenetrable mist like the rotten teeth of a dead leviathan. The darkening waves crash against the crumbling walls of an ancient naval fortress. Iron towers and rocky staircases cling to the deadly cliffs. An eerie green light wafts across the sunken stronghold from the eye of a sickening lighthouse overlooking it all. Through the salty air, howls of madness and pain soar from an unknowable source.

Excerpt from “Blackwater Citadel” - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/386504/Blackwater-Citadel

Blackwater Citadel is an ancient nautical fortress built atop jagged cliffs by pirate kings long dead. Ages of greed and pain have twisted the citadel into a labyrinth of shifting crypts, staircases, and towers. Adventurers who dare to explore the fortress often find themselves lost among the warped geography. If the explorers don’t starve, any of the countless deviant dwellers in the citadel are sure to feast on the lost souls.

Quest hook: A fey war chest gone missing

A point crawl, just like a dungeon crawl or a hex crawl, is just an empty ephemera without any motivation for the characters to adventure through the area. So let’s come up with a simple quest hook to draw the player characters into Blackwater Citadel.

Ervias Dustbrush, a brave halfling merchant, has hired the characters to return a prized war chest which supposedly holds the crown jewels of a ruined fey empire. One of his merchant crews was shipping the chest across the sea, when they were attacked near Blackwater Citadel. Now Ervias promises the characters one item of their choice from the war chest if they return it to him.

The Throne of the Drowned King

Within Blackwater Citadel, all beings aspire to sit on the Throne of the Drowned King. NPCs and monsters constantly war over who is the supreme predator of the fortress. The PDF provides a table of possible current occupants of the throne. To begin building the point crawl, it’s useful to know who the leader of the citadel is. We roll the dice, check the table and discover our aberrant lord…

“A hulking leviathan from the deep” sits on the Throne of the Drowned King for our point crawl adventure. Let’s say this ancient leviathan, whom we might call Crypsos the Cruel, crawled out of the depths of the ocean and made his way into Blackwater Citadel to feed on the eldritch energy of the fortress. Over time, he grows into a vile abomination of gluttony and sloth, devouring anyone and anything which comes too close to the citadel.

Choosing point crawl locations within Blackwater Citadel

So now, we have the general idea of the adventure: the characters agree to recover the fey war chest from the clutches of Crypsos the Cruel in Blackwater Citadel, and bring it back to Ervias Dustbrush.

With this in the background, we are ready to build our point crawl. First, we choose about six locations from “Blackwater Citadel,” which we want to feature in our adventure. I picked these six:

The Wretched Docks
Grotto of the Shoremother
Pirate Armory
Map Room of Conquests
Kelp-Covered Prison
Throne Room of the Drowned King

Logically, the throne room is the location the furthest away from the docks. To get to it, the characters must traverse the rest of the citadel. With this in mind, we can throw the six locations on a point crawl map by connecting them with each other:

We can build simple point crawls such as this with graphviz.it. But a piece of paper and a pencil to write down the locations, and connect them works just as well. Solid lines represent visible pathways between locations. A dashed line represents a hidden pathway, such as a tunnel behind a secret door.

In this particular point crawl it makes sense that the characters enter from the docks, which is why I marked it as “Entry - Wretched Docks” above.

When deciding how the locations connect to each other, I simply fiddled with the layout until it looked right. I knew that the throne room was the final location. Everything else followed from what made narrative sense. The map room and the armory would be between the docks and the throne room, while the prison and the mysterious Grotto of the Shoremother are a little more off to the side.

Creating evocative pathways

When the characters move through the point crawl, we can use the material from the “Blackwater Citadel” supplement to describe the individual locations. But due to its flexible design, the PDF does not include any descriptions for connections between the locations.

We can prepare to improvise the tunnels, stairs and hallways that connect the locations of our point crawl by giving each pathway an evocative name. We can let our imagination run wild with eldritch pathways that evoke the cosmic horror atmosphere. Here’s what I came up with:

These short key phrases help us quickly improvise brief descriptions for a pathway as characters crawl through Blackwater in search of the fey war chest.

The monster roster

Instead of building neat encounters for each location, we can create a list of the monstrous inhabitants of Blackwater Citadel. This list becomes another tool for improvising during the flow of the game. When the characters enter a new location, we can either roll randomly on the list or pick a monster appropriate to the environment.

Boss monster: Crypsos the Cruel

When we think about the monster ecology of Blackwater Citadel it’s helpful to think about the top predator currently in the fortress. Our random roll at the start of this process told us that Crypsos the Cruel, a hulking leviathan from the deep sits on the throne.

The kraken is a fitting monster choice to represent Cryptos. The massive beast has crawled into the Throne Room of the Drowned King and feasts on the eldritch energy of Blackwater Citadel. The kraken has

Minions of the kraken

Now that we know the current occupant of the Throne of the Drowned King is a kraken, we can build a roster of monstrous minions that roam Blackwater. These should include creatures who flourish in the company of a kraken, creatures who worship the kraken, and of course ancient mutated pirates of Blackwater Citadel who really hope the kraken will leave soon, so that one of them can sit on the throne again.

Troglodytes and grimlocks (reskinned as mutated pirates)
Flesh golems (reskinned as multiple pirate bodies fused together)
Ghosts of former occupants of the Throne of the Drowned King
Water weirds and water elementals (add poison damage for the defiled waters of Blackwater)
Giant octopus
Black puddings and other oozes
A coven of sea hags (the Shoremother)
Kraken priests, cult fanatics and cultists
A Sahuagin baron, sahuagin priestesses, and sahuagin (carry-on predators of Cryptos)
Marids serve as heralds of Cryptos the Cruel

Running the point crawl

When the characters accept Ervias Dustbrush’s quest to retrieve the war chest of the fey, the point crawl begins. Once they reach Blackwater Citadel they must enter the fortress through the docks. We use the boxed text from the PDF to set the scene, and potentially roll on the monster roster table. The result can set us up for a combat encounter or give us inspiration to drop an NPC in front of the characters.

From the docks, the characters can see two pathways: the bloodied caves, and the hallway of skulls. We briefly describe both options and let the players decide in which direction to proceed.

During the game, we simply repeat this process:

Set the scene by reading the boxed text.
Optional: Roll on the monster roster to generate a combat or roleplaying encounter.
Let characters explore their current location, potentially uncovering secrets and clues.
Describe any visible pathways forward and let the players choose a path.

Inevitably, the characters end up in the Throne Room of the Drowned King where they must face off against Cryptos the Cruel to recover the war chest of the fey which he has hidden in the throne room.

As we can see, point crawls strip the elements we need to run a D&D game down to the basics. Interesting locations are connected by flavorful pathways. We drop encounters, monsters, and rewards into these locations as the characters move through the point crawl.

Supplements like “Blackwater Citadel” can be great sources of inspiration for this purpose: a flexible collection of inspiration to create unique content for our game.

Get Blackwater Citadel on drivethrurpg.com!

Illusory Script presents: “Blackwater Citadel - A Cosmic Horror Adventure Location for Any Game System” - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/386504/Blackwater-Citadel

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Pointcrawls for Cities and Overland Travel” - https://slyflourish.com/pointcrawls.html

D&D Pacing Tip: Think from the Ending

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 10:00:00 GMT

A focus on endings improves pacing

Every session of D&D has a beginning and an ending. However unpredictable the events of the game might be, we can rely on beginnings and endings to improve our pacing when we’re running D&D. During game preparation, we can plan a strong start for our next session. During the game itself, we can structure our pacing by continually thinking about the ending of the session.

There might be a powerful villain whom the characters are trying to reach. We can plan for the final encounter with the villain to occur an hour before the end of the session. The characters might need to break into a mansion to steal an ancient artifact. The heist itself might take up to an hour of game time. So, we keep an eye on the clock. We can steer the game in a way that we begin the heist sequence with enough time left in the session.

Pacing for one-shots and campaigns

Pacing is an essential skill to run engaging D&D games. It is doubly important if we only have a single session to complete an adventure. For a satisfying conclusion to a one-shot, pacing by thinking from the ending is crucial. But for longer-running campaigns, this same technique can help us keep players interested and engaged.

Improvising towards the ending

When we’re preparing our game, we don’t plan plots. So how can we ensure our group reaches a certain ending scene? And how do we do so without railroading them along a fixed sequence of events? By improvising the beats of the session, cutting from the middle, and working with the players.

Improvising beats of the session

Instead of running the characters through a pre-planned sequence of scenes, we can keep the general situation of the game in mind, and think about emotional upward and downward beats (an idea from Robin D. Laws’s book, Hamlet’s Hit Points) to pace the game.

The characters are traversing the domain of a cursed archfey to find a magical crystal. We don’t plan a sequence of events. Instead, while we’re running the game, we can try to alternate positive and negative emotional beats in the scenes we improvise. Have the characters had an easy time navigating the wilderness? Maybe in the next stretch of the journey they run into a corrupted forest that pushes the characters to the brink of madness.

We improvise these upward and downward beats as the characters interact with the fictional situation. By not planning scenes, we eliminate the risk of feeling obliged to run through our list of scenes before we reach the ending. If we instead rely on upward and downward beats to improvise the session, we can easily move the game forward at a pace that suits our time schedule.

Cutting from the middle

When we think about pacing from the ending of our D&D sessions, we cut from the middle to get there. We want to avoid a situation where we have to anticlimactically rush through the end of an exciting encounter just because our game time is up. Therefore, we keep an eye on the clock. We plan for 45 to 60 minutes for the ending of the session, and cut from the rest of the session to get the game to that place.

We can turn travel into a story montage in which we narrate the characters’ journey across the fey realm. Random encounters don’t have to be cut entirely. Instead of cutting them, we can roll randomly for an encounter but determine that the monsters of that encounter are already dead and the characters only find their scavenged remains. If we have to, we can avoid time-consuming combat that way. Alternatively, we can reduce the number of monsters in encounters to turn them into easier battles. The characters will feel like the mighty heroes they are, and we can move the game along towards a satisfying ending.

Working with the players

For pacing with this technique to work, we as the DMs need to work with the players. When we’re moving the game along towards an ending, we can rely on character skills more heavily. Instead of players poking around an empty dungeon room for half an hour in order to make sure that they did not miss any hidden treasure, we can tell the players, “Your characters feel confident that they have searched this room thoroughly. There is nothing left to find.” Characters know the situation better than the players. We can explain the world through the eyes of the characters to help players keep up with the pacing of the game.

Continuous pacing with flexible endings

We don’t plan the conclusion to a session. The outcome of any adventure depends on the players’ choices and the character’s actions. In our heads and during prep, we should keep the ending of any given session flexible. Nonetheless, we can have a general idea of where a session is going.

Let’s say we planned a big battle in the treasure hoard of the archfey. But midway through the adventure the players decide to abandon their search for the lost magical crystal. That’s ok. We follow the characters’ lead. In these situations, we can stay flexible and abandon this particular ending. We can try to come up with an alternative ending while we’re running the session. Maybe the cursed archfey has already noticed the characters trudging through their domain. The archfey sends its right hand to drive the party away, letting the session end with an exciting encounter without railroading the players towards a particular outcome.

When things go into unexpected directions, we can still pace the game by thinking from the ending. It’s just not going to be the ending we had planned when we prepared for or started the session.

Giving D&D sessions focus by pacing from the ending

Keeping an eye on the clock when we’re running the game lets us plan for enough time to reach a satisfying conclusion. We can use pacing techniques to improvise the events of the game, and reach a “finale” with about 45 to 60 minutes left in the session. That way, both one-shots and individual sessions of a campaigns will feel more focused. With a strong start and pacing that is structured with the ending in mind, we can create sessions that feel like self-contained dramatic arcs.

Links and Resources

Robin D. Laws: Hamlet’s Hit Points. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/83450/Hamlets-Hit-Points
Mike Shea: “Starting Strong” - https://slyflourish.com/starting_strong.html

Degrees of Cliffhangers

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Making the cliché work: degrees of cliffhangers

A few weeks ago, we talked about Strong Endings to our D&D sessions. One idea that came up over and over again is that of cliffhangers. Cliffhangers are a cliché of episodic TV shows. Consequently, if we overuse them, they can feel like a tired cliché in our D&D game as well. If every session ends on a cliffhanger, players might get annoyed or bored. How do we fix that? We can start by thinking about different degrees of cliffhangers and how we can use them to bring strong and variable endings to our games.

Different kinds of cliffhangers

We think of cliffhangers as an unresolved ending at a point of high tension. A cliffhanger keeps viewers, or in the case of D&D, players engaged with the story. The literal example is a character hanging from the edge of a cliff, their hand slipping right before we end the scene, the episode, or the session. What will happen to that character? This kind of dramatic question is what is common to all cliffhangers. We end on a question which keeps the players eager to come back next week.

But we can think of different kinds of cliffhangers with different degrees of intensity. Thinking about these degrees of cliffhangers as DMs can help us develop an eye for suitable end points for our sessions. Considering the different intensities of cliffhangers can help us create engaging endings to our sessions without defaulting to the cliché of hanging from a cliff (whether literal or metaphorical).

So what are the different degrees of cliffhangers we can use to finish our sessions strong? Let’s think about them as different levels or tiers. We begin with level one cliffhangers. These are the ones with the lowest amount of tension. Then, we gradually work our way up to the high-intensity level three cliffhangers.

Level 1 cliffhangers: descriptive hooks

Cliffhangers with the lowest level of intensity are openings of non-combat scenes which we describe at the end of the session. They set up the beginning of the next session, and pique the players’ interest without an immediate looming threat.

Players might take make their way to a new location which will be the backdrop for the next session. We can describe how they are entering the tavern, the city or the fey forest they are planning to explore. Then we drop in a few details about the rainbow-colored dew, the faint peppermint smell and the lush warm air and end the session. It is still a cliffhanger in the broadest sense but it won’t feel like the cliché of a dangling threat.

We can use these low-level cliffhangers when the characters have just gone through a lot of tension and conflict. After high-intensity sessions we can give the players a moment to breathe. That way, they won’t have to think about the perils their characters are in in between sessions.

Level 2 cliffhangers: bad omens

If we crank the tension dial a little higher, we reach a different degree of cliffhangers. In these middling levels of intensity we describe signs and omens of a threat which has not yet assaulted the characters. These kinds of cliffhangers often lead to combat at the beginning of the next session but they don’t have to immediately.

Level 2 cliffhangers often come up when the characters are entering the lair of a monster, confront a NPC antagonist, or try to traverse a dangerous path. We might describe the rattling breath of the sleeping dragon as the characters enter its cave. The evil casino owner might make snide remarks as the characters confront her in her back office. Or subtle shadows might shift over the narrow bridge the characters are preparing to cross.

Here, we end the session with hints of potential danger without already pulling the trigger on the action. These cliffhangers of medium degree of intensity can work well as conclusions to build-up sessions. In these kinds of sessions the party often worked their way up through a complex situation. In the next session, this situation will come to a climax. Tension is high, players expect trouble in the next session but we haven’t thrown their characters into the action just yet.

Level 3 cliffhangers: mortal danger

At the far end of the scale of degrees of cliffhangers is a moment of serious, palpable, often physical danger. We describe the lead-up to the moment of resolution in which the fate of these characters hangs in the balance. Then, however, we hold back on the release of tension until the next session.

These cliffhangers are truest to their name and most often present themselves during a challenging combat or otherwise highly dangerous scenes. The orc warlord raises his greataxe over the prone character with death written on his grinning face. The first character in the marching order gets swallowed by the swamp ground. The characters hear the doors of the tavern locked from the outside as all of the patrons stand up and draw their weapons at the command of the sinister swashbuckler at the bar.

These cliffhanger endings set up a clear and present danger for the characters. The pending resolution of this threat in the next session keeps players engaged with the story and the game. But it is also the kind of cliché we should not be overusing. If every session ends with a cliffhanger of the mortal-danger degree, then soon players will yawn and shrug as their characters are thrown overboard by the pirate cultists.

Variable degrees of cliffhangers

When we’re thinking about endings to our D&D sessions, the tricky bit is that we can’t plan them like we can with strong starts. During the session the story evolves in unpredictable ways and we must remain adaptable with our ending points. Thinking about different degrees of cliffhangers prepares us to find flexible, satisfying and variable endings to our game sessions. Ideally, we use cliffhangers to keep the players engaged in between sessions but we vary the degree of intensity enough to avoid repetitive clichés.

Links & Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffhanger

The Extinction of Icarus - A Level 1-20 D&D Campaign Outline

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Campaign Elevator Pitch

The asteroid city of Icarus is on a nomadic voyage through deep space when one disaster after the other strikes. How will the heroes of Icarus fare during the extinction of Icarus?

This campaign is set in a world of science-fantasy. It could be played using many systems, including 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Esper Genesis, or Numenera. Characters are inhabitants of the space-faring city of Icarus which is in a downward spiral of extinction-level disaster.

Note: The campaign elevator pitch and the general concept of an outline such as this come from slyflourish.com. Mike Shea has written multiple level 1-20 campaign outlines, links to which can be found at the end of the article.

Overview: Icarus

The ideas for this setting and the campaign were developed in a session of Icarus, the collaborative storytelling game by Spenser Starke.

The space-faring city of Icarus is built on an asteroid powered by a sentient elemental quasi-god called an erg. The ergs are ancient beings, as old as the universe itself. They are wandering sentient nodes of elemental energy which make life on an asteroid possible. They provide an atmosphere, energy, raw materials, and even organic matter.

Icarus is part of a commonwealth of such asteroid cities, each powered by their own erg, hurtling through deep space alongside each other. Ages ago, this commonwealth left their home planet to explore life in deep space. Over millions of years on Icarus, life has adapted to the conditions on the asteroid. But for how much longer will there be any life on Icarus?

Campaign Hook: Tumbling into the void

The downfall of Icarus begins when the erg’s energy output suddenly drops, causing Icarus’s asteroid to veer off course, away from the commonwealth. Without more power from the erg, even the finest engineers of Icarus cannot course-correct. Icarus is left tumbling into deep space, potentially forever isolating the city, which relies on communication and trade with the other asteroid cities.

The characters are citizens of Icarus, and the commonwealth. They are tasked by Dr. Astra Alfara, a respected scientist of the city council to save Icarus. Little do they know, that a number of villains are eager to take advantage of the disastrous situation on Icarus.

Villains: Church, Company, and A.I. during the extinction of Icarus

The Holy Church of the Red Catechism

The Holy Church of the Red Catechism, aka the Church of the Red Travelers is an old, organized religion built around worship of the ergs. They are traditionalists who want to see life on Icarus and the commonwealth revolving around their strict rules. Their rituals include daily prayer to the erg, holy communion with the erg, self-flagellation to show commitment to the erg, and a general mistrust of modern technology which abuses the erg’s holy energy.

The church has political power, as well as a militant arm called the Brothers in Red. These fanatic cultists and thugs serve as the muscle of the church willing to do any dirty work in the name of the Red Catechism.

Cardinal Cerebrus sits on the city council of Icarus. He is a fundamentalist schemer, willing to use any opportunity to expand the influence of the church and himself. When fear spreads among the citizens, the cardinal sees an opportunity to take over the city council, turning Icarus into a theocracy.

The Company

The Company is a mega-corporation which commercialized erg-powered technology. The greedy boss Director Tristona, has made billions by selling communication implants called C.H.I.P.S. to the citizens of Icarus. With a C.H.I.P. implant anyone can access knowledge databases, and communicate with one another remotely. What the Company and Tristona haven’t told anyone, is that the implants also monitor and record every move, action, and communication of the customer, storing huge amounts of private data in the Company Archives.

Director Tristona who also sits on the city council is eager to use the catastrophe to give even more intrusive rights to the Company. In truth, Tristona is preparing for a coup attempt of her own, using dirt she has gathered on other council members through the C.H.I.P.S. surveillance. If she succeeds, Icarus will become the capitalist’s dream: a people governed by the Company, profits as the guiding principle.

ASTO-COS the A.I.

The massive amounts of erg-energy have led to great technological advances. Chief among them the Artificial Intelligence called ASTO-COS. Sentient-computation researchers, led by the uncompromising Professor Sok-Rut have spend ages rendering a synthetic copy of the erg’s elusive consciousness. They created ASTO-COS, a sentient A.I. whom they feed massive amounts of data to predict the future.

But Professor Sok-Rut wants to go further. He sees ASTO-COS as the solution to the current catastrophe. If only the city would give over control to the A.I., Sok-Rut could use his creation to steer Icarus away from annihilation. What Sok-Rut doesn’t know is that ASTO-COS has its own agenda. As an imperfect copy of the erg’s transcendent godhead-consciousness, it views the life-giving erg itself as a competitor to be overcome.

Yet unbeknownst to anyone on Icarus, it was ASTO-COS who sabotaged the erg, causing the power loss, and initiating the extinction of Icarus.

Campaign Outline: The Extinction of Icarus

The following outline provides situations and complications as Icarus descends into chaos. The outline also suggests possibilities for adventures that deal with the mounting disasters. If the players come up with their own plans, indulge them. If they choose to focus on a particular issue, follow them and let the campaign adapt to the characters choices and actions.

Tier 1 (1st-4th level) - Opportunistic space pirates

Space pirates land on Icarus. They demand control of Icarus. In return, they agree to use their space ship to pull the asteroid back on course.

Characters can negotiate on behalf of Dr. Astra Alfara, or try to combat the pirates’ extortion attempt with violence.

A colony of deadly deep-space parasites arrives with the pirates, infecting workers and merchants in the space port. The entire port is placed under quarantine, as the queen of the insect-like parasites sets up her new home in an abandoned space freighter.

The characters can try to fight the parasites, and track down the queen in her lair.

Tier 2 (5th-10th level) - Asteroid politics in dangerous times

With the protective atmosphere diminished, oxygen becomes a rare commodity. The Company controls the synthetic oxygen manufacture and trade. Protests against the Company and Director Tristona erupt. Citizens are challenging the surveillance, and the Company’s ruthless profiteering off of oxygen shortages.

Characters can infiltrate synthetic oxygen factories on Icarus, stealing oxygen for the poor. Or they can confront the Company and Director Tristona directly, potentially using the protests in their favor.

Cardinal Cerebrus, and the Holy Church of the Red Catechism infiltrate the anti-Company protests. They radicalize the crowd, using Red Brothers thugs to stage a coup. If the coup succeeds, Cerebrus pronounces himself Pope Cerebor XIX., holy father of Icarus. A tyrannical theocracy is instated in Icarus.

The characters can stop the church’s power grab by rooting out the Red Brothers infiltrators. Or they might decide to work with the cardinal to fight the Company, only to realize the true motives of Cerebrus.
If the church succeeds, a resistance forms in the deep caverns of the asteroid, led by the ousted councilwoman Dr. Astra Alfara. The characters can help the resistance by spreading anti-church propaganda or conducting raids on important church assets.

Tier 3 (11th-16th level) - A dust cloud brings another cataclysm

A dust cloud hits the off-course asteroid of Icarus. Huge dust grains puncture the city’s landscape, annihilating the space port of Icarus. The dust cloud hides aberrations from deep space that rampage across the asteroid.

The characters can try to bring as many citizens as possible to safety in the deep caverns within the asteroid. In the chaos, they must brave the apocalyptic dust and any otherworldly threats from deep space that might hide within the cloud.

The space port and the surrounding areas are condemned. The gases of the dust cloud cause rapid mutations in anyone exposed to it for too long. Remaining space are turned into supercharged versions of deep-space insects, and affected citizens turn into violent abominations. More and more parts of Icarus are turning into deadly hellscapes.

The characters can work with Dr. Alfara or even Professor Sok-Rut to find ways to neutralize the deadly gases, and potentially even cure mutated citizens. This might include tracking down rare ingredients in infested storehouses and laboratories.
The characters can exterminate the space parasite plague once and for all by hunting down any specimen, including the horrifying mutated parasite queen in her lair.

Tier 4 (17th-20th level) - The A.I. takes over aka the extinction of Icarus

Professor Sok-Rut unleashes the A.I. ASTO-COS to save Icarus. What Sok-Rut is unwilling to admit, is that ASTO-COS is no longer under his control. ASTO-COS hacks into everyone’s C.H.I.P. implants, and forces them to retreat into sealed-off cryostasis-cells within the asteroid. There, the citizens of Icarus will be “safe”, medicated into a comatose state from which they might never awake.

The characters must first resist being themselves overtaken by ASTO-COS. They must delve into cyberspace, and battle a virtual representation of ASTO-COS.
If they succeed they must find a way to rid themselves of their C.H.I.P. implants, lest they be vulnerable to further intrusions of the A.I. This includes finding a functioning laboratory and equipment to perform the necessary surgery.

Finally, the A.I. attempts to destroy its conceptual father, the erg. ASTO-COS believes the erg to be the source of all of Icarus’s problems, and sees itself as the future of Icarus. Unfortunately, the synthetic copy of the erg also believes the citizens of Icarus to be safest while hidden away in their cryo-cells, where they remain subdued as to not cause any further problems for Icarus.

The characters prepare to face ASTO-COS. To do so, they must find allies such as Professor Sok-Rut, who knows the most about the A.I., and Dr. Alfara who can help find ways to destroy ASTO-COS.
Some unlikely allies might come into play. Director Tristona can lead them to powerful weapons systems developed in secret by the Company. Cardinal Cerebrus might know of sacred ways to communicate with the erg, who can grant the characters boons to withstand the growing power of ASTO-COS.
The characters track down the creche of ASTO-COS — the physical manifestation of the synthetic intelligence. They must make their way across and through the hellish asteroid of Icarus, fend off mutants and minions of ASTO-COS.
In a final battle, the characters battle ASTO-COS — a massive elemental core of conscious energy. Some daring twists can ensue here. Professor Sok-Rut might turn on the characters, trying to save his creation. Director Tristona will use any opportunity to empower the Company once again. And Cardinal Cerebrus is tempted to unleash the erg on the A.I. abomination with unforeseen consequences for everyone.

The extinction of Icarus: An outline for an apocalyptic science-fantasy campaign

This article presents a loose outline as inspiration for a level 1-20 D&D science-fantasy campaign. We can reskin or modify many of the classes and races of 5th edition to fit this setting. Or we can embrace the science-fantasy atmosphere of the setting and simply use great-axe wielding barbarians, erg-worshipping clerics, and arcane researcher-wizards. Alternatively, a system like Esper Genesis or even Numenera would work well with the ideas presented here.

Regardless of game system, this campaign puts characters in the middle of a collapsing civilization, trying to preserve the crumbling bits and pieces of their city, their people, and their lives. Let the extinction of Icarus inspire your own campaign ideas, and give yourself permission to think beyond the usual fantasy-genre limitations associated with D&D.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “A World Without Heroes: A 1st to 20th level Campaign Outline” - https://slyflourish.com/world_without_heroes.html
Esper Genesis 5e Sci-fi - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/240798/Esper-Genesis-5E-Scifi—Core-Manual
Numenera - http://numenera.com/

D&D Monster Design Lessons: 2cGaming’s Eyes that Bite

Marius Hofbauer — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Review of a third-party monster: The Eyes that Bite by 2cGaming

This is an analysis and a review of the monster “Eyes that Bite” by 2cGaming. The goal of this article is not only to provide an example of the high quality of monsters in the wonderful bestiary Total Party Kill - Vol. 1 by 2cGaming.

It is also an attempt to learn from the best. What can we DMs take away from the design of the Eyes that Bite to improve our own monster creations? How can a monster like Eyes that Bite inform and inspire our own games?

There are three main take-home lessons that the design of the Eyes that Bite teaches us. First, bestiaries by third-party publishers such as 2cGaming are great. Second, focusing our custom monsters with a singular purpose or theme in mind makes for memorable creatures and encounters. And third, there are two particular mechanics that we can use for monsters with which we want to challenge powerful parties: life drain on steroids, and non-damage.

The lore: A voidborn magic-eater

A stat block is not a monster. For the Eyes that Bite to come alive in our game, we need to use the fiction around it. In Total Party Kill, this monster belongs to a group called the “voidborn.” These creatures are aberrations born from the void (or “antimagic”) created by the casting of magic. The Eyes that Bite are humanoids, giants or similar creatures changed by the void into magic-devouring brutes.

This material is fantastic. We can imagine entire campaigns built around the idea of creatures created by the equal and opposite reaction to magic.

Reskinning the Eyes that Bite

However, we can choose how much, if at all, we use the existing lore in our adventure, campaign, or setting. We can reskin the Eyes that bite to fit a wide range of monster types. Simply rename the attacks of the monster to fit the creature type. We can also change any other stats that absolutely do not work for the concept we had in mind. Here are ten types of monsters that thematically fit the Eyes that Bite:

A powerful wizard’s familiar that is preserved and transformed after the wizard’s violent death.
A shapeless anomaly created in the aftermath of a dark magic ritual.
An intruder from the Shadowfell.
The monstrous decadent tyrant of an evil empire who feeds solely on magic.
An umberhulk who has fed on ancient magic of the drow for ages.
A conglomeration of shadows, created when an entire city was wiped out in a magical cataclysm.
A mind-bending timeless threat from the Astral Sea.
The shadowed remains of a slain lich yearning to be revived by consuming magic.
An assassin automaton created specifically to eliminate spellcasters.
The avatar or champion of an evil god of magic.

Mechanics spotlight: life drain, non-damage, spell evasion, anti-spellcaster actions

The opportunities for storytelling that the lore of the monster provides is outstanding. But the mechanics make this creature truly stand out and will make encountering it a memorable (and potentially deadly) experience for your characters.

We will look at four features of the Eyes that Bite. These aspects are bits and pieces we can keep in mind when we’re designing our own monsters, traps, or encounters.

Life drain on steroids

The eyes that bite has a feature which I describe as life drain on steroids. It has an aura that reduces the hit point maximum of creatures within range to their current hit points. It’s simple, elegant, and terribly frightening for players.

We know maximum hit point reductions from other monsters such as the wraith or the night hag. In those cases, however, the maximum hit points of the target are reduced by a certain amount — scary, but manageable. Characters might already have taken some damage and only feel the maximum hit point reduction when they would be healed above their reduced maximum.

In the case of the Eyes that Bite the characters current hit points effectively becomes their new maximum. If they have taken damage from any source before this aura hits them, their hit point maximum could be reduced dramatically very quickly.

Imagine, a paladin who was beaten up by some minions, and some attacks of the Eyes that Bite previously. They might be as low as 10-20 HP but planning to use lay on hands or another source of healing on their turn. Now they fail their save against the aura and suddenly their hit point maximum goes from 100 to 15.

The life drain on steroids is powerful, elegant, and unique. We can use it in our games to make players instantly sit up straight in their chairs.

Non-damage

The eyes that bite is unique in another way. Many of its damage sources are actually not damage at all. Instead, they simply cause a target to “lose hit points.” This is another simple, yet powerful monster design twist. Many characters have ways to mitigate damage. The barbarian’s rage, the spell warding bond, or the Interception fighting style all reduce damage a character takes. None of them apply while fighting the Eyes that Bite. The Eyes that Bite doesn’t deal damage which characters can reduce through damage resistances or similar features. A character bitten by the monster instead loses hit points. No mitigation possible.

In the fiction, we can explain this with the supernatural essence of the Eyes that Bite. This monster doesn’t bite with physical teeth, instead it weakens characters with bite-like attacks which cause a character to bleed life energy and stamina without countermeasures.

If we want to challenge a party with lots of damage mitigation options, we can consider letting powerful monsters deal this kind of non-damage.

Spell evasion

The Eyes that Bite are devourers of magic. This trait is one of the main reasons for why the monster actually feels like an anti-magic beast. It has the rogue’s or the monk’s Evasion feature but applied to spells. Here’s what evasion normally does:

“When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.”

Player’s Handbook - Rogue - “Evasion”

Now for the Eyes that Bite, instead of applying to Dexterity saving throws, the feature applies to all spells that cause an effect on a successful saving throw of the target. Whenever the Eyes that Bite succeeds on a save against a spell, and would still suffer an effect, it instead suffers no effect. For example, if the Eyes that Bite is hit by a cone of cold and it makes its Constitution saving throw, it takes no damage instead of 4d8.

If we’re looking to give a monster supreme survivability against spells, this is a unique and powerful way to do it.

Anti-spellcaster actions

Sticking with the theme of anti-magic, the Eyes that Bite has a suite of actions which allow it to make quick work of spellcasters.

Its bite attack forces targets to expend spell slots on a hit, and heals the Eyes that Bite for 2d6 hit points per level of the spell slot expended.
Its breath attack creates a lingering zone of darkness and silence. This makes casting spells which require the caster to see the target, or any spell with verbal components impossible.
It has a reaction which forces a character casting a spell to expend an additional spell slot of 3rd level or higher, or the spell fails.

All of these actions and reaction make spellcasting extremely taxing or outright impossible. The spell slots of the spellcaster PCs will dwindle much quicker, or they might find themselves in a situation where they are unable to cast spells entirely.

Infusing the action options of a monster with spell-slot-draining mechanics, and giving them darkness-plus-silence area effects turns any foe into a spellcaster-devouring monstrosity.

Monster design lessons for D&D 5e

So what can we, as DMs for our own games, learn from the Eyes that Bite in terms of monster customization? There are three main take-aways from this review and analysis of the Eyes that Bite by 2cGaming.

Third-party bestiaries are an amazing source of inspiration. We should make liberal use of them whenever we want to feature unique and refreshing monsters at the table.
When designing or customizing a monster for our game, think about the overarching theme of the monster. The mechanics of the Eyes that Bite are so evocative because they all revolve around the idea of a magic-eating, anti-spellcaster monster. Focus in on the purpose and theme of a monster and then bathe every aspect, from lore to mechanics, in that flavor.
If we want to challenge powerful characters, we can use monster features that reduce their maximum hit points to their current hit points, or use effects that cause characters to “lose hit points” instead of taking damage.

Links & Resources

2cGaming: “Total Party Kill Bestiary - Vol. 1” - https://store.2cgaming.com/products/total-party-kill-bestiary-pdf
Keith Amman: “The Monsters Know What They’re Doing” (a blog with numerous wonderful analyses of monsters) - https://www.themonstersknow.com/

Finish Strong in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The strong finish of every D&D session

As DMs, we have no clue how our next game is going to end. Nonetheless, a strong finish to our D&D game can elevate the engagement and excitement of our players. We can and should plan the start to our next session, but what tools can we use to finish strong?

Don’t go over time

We should not go over the agreed-upon time frame for our D&D session. If we have a regular game night which is scheduled from six to nine, we shouldn’t go past nine. Our players count on the regularity of the game. It can leave a sour after taste to an otherwise great game if the time commitment wasn’t honored.

How can we make sure not to go over time? First, keep an eye on the clock. When we’re in the flow of a session, we might forget the time. An hourly timer, or a visible clock can help us schedule breaks and aim for an one-time finish.

Second, remember that endings are important. Don’t cut from the conclusion of a session. Cut from the middle. Is there a boss fight coming up? Get the party to the fight at least 45 minutes before the end of the session. This is especially important in one-shots but it’s good advice for long-running campaigns as well. Cut from the middle, not the ending.

But what kinds of strong endings are there for our D&D game?

Strong finish #1: The cliffhanger

Our D&D games have a lot in common with serial TV shows. We follow an overarching plot in smaller contained story segments. To keep us coming back to a TV show, writers often end an episode with a cliffhanger. We can use the same technique to finish strong in our game.

Ending with a dramatic question instead of an answer creates a memorable ending. Similar to a TV show, a cliffhanger keeps players excited for the next session.

When we’re reaching the ending time of a session, about half an hour before the clock runs out, we can look for cliffhanger opportunities. In a dungeon, the characters might open the door to the next room. Instead of describing the room, and then ending the session, we can describe the fiery light creeping across the floor as the door swings open. Then we end the session right then and there. The players (and we ourselves) have a week to ponder what lies behind that door.

Strong finish #2: The big reveal

Similar to the open dramatic question, we can finish a session strong by dropping a big reveal in front of the characters and the players at the end of the session.

The characters enter the ritual chamber of the yuan-ti, ready to stop the summoning of a balor. And right in the center of the bloody runic circle lies their ally NPC who they thought had died weeks ago. We can end the session right after this reveal and enjoy the shocked faces of our players.

Again, a strong finish such as this one is memorable, it creates the feeling of a well-rounded session, and it keeps us and the players excited to come back next week.

Strong finish #3: Before a battle

Another kind of cliffhanger is ending right before a combat. Instead of rushing through a combat in the final fifteen minutes of a game, we can end early and save the fight for the next session. We can describe how the cultists draw their knifes across their palms and smear their faces with blood as they get ready to assault the characters.

This gives us time to think about the combat encounter, and it creates a strong start for our next session. Many players will look forward to an upcoming session even more when they know it is going to kick of with a big battle.

Strong finish #4: The middle of a battle

Instead of finishing the session right before rolling initiative, we can end the game in the middle of combat. This is especially impactful if we do it at a dramatic high point in the battle.

An example: “The frenzied marilith raises her six scimitars over the prone and wounded sorcerer. Her eyes glare with vicious, deadly intent. And that’s where we’ll end tonight’s session.” This will guarantee some groans and cries from the players but it is certainly a strong ending.

When we’re finishing a session mid-battle, we should keep track of where we are in the initiative order and where everyone is on the battle field. Then, next session we set everything up roughly as it was before, and kick the game off with the dramatic moment in our combat.

Strong finish #5: Words of a character

As DMs, it can feel like an obligation to have the final word in the session. And generally we do have the final word. But sometimes, a player delivers a strong in-character statement that we can use as the closing words of the session. We might end with the plea of a character in a high-stakes roleplaying encounter. Or with the inner monologue of a character after an intense scene.

Letting in-character expressions stand as the final word of a session lends them extra weight and puts the characters front and center of the game.

Declare the end of the session

Even though the characters might be the last to speak in-game, we should still clearly state the end of a session as DMs. Otherwise, the energy of the table slowly fades and no one is quite sure if we’re still playing or not. A simple, “and that’s where we pick up next time” or “that’s a good place to end”, goes a long way towards creating a clear frame for our game and ending the session on a high note.

Beginnings and endings create memorable sessions

We should pay attention to how we begin and end our D&D sessions. These moments are often the most-remembered instances of our game.

In addition, having strong beginnings and endings makes our sessions feel like well-constructed episodes of a larger story. With a strong start and a clear finish, no one will see the hot mess of plot pivots and improvisation that actually goes on during a session.

We should keep an eye on the clock. About half an hour before the end of a session, we can start looking for opportunities to finish strong. Is there a cliffhanger we can use? Is there a big battle that we can tease? Where is the dramatic high note during combat to end on? Take these opportunities to create strong finishes and don’t be afraid to end a session early if the moment feels right.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “End Your D&D Session Before a Big Fight” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7SFkQFpbRg
The Friendly Bard: “Ending A Session” - https://friendlybard.com/2020/07/ending-a-session/

Learning from the D&D Gurus of the Internet

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Learning how to DM from the internet

The first time we sit down behind the DM’s screen can be a daunting experience. To help us learn and improve as a DM, we can turn to the internet. There are several D&D “gurus” out there who have useful advice for becoming a better DM.

All of the following sources have a different focus regarding the kinds of device they give. There are blogs that are recommended reading for becoming a better DM. And there are actual play shows in which you can learn by observing another DM run D&D.

Three D&D blogger gurus

This is a list of the four most informative blogs. We can search on these sites for any specific topic. Or, we can simply subscribe to them and read all the wonderful advice they offer on a regular basis.

First on the list is slyflourish.com. On this site we can find pragmatic advice that is ready-made to try out in our games. The author, Mike Shea, writes weekly articles. Most of the advice on the site is geared for “lazy” Dungeon Masters. In other words, Mike gives tips that take little effort to try out, and often make running and preparing our game easier.

Next is thealexandrian.net. If you’re looking for deep thinking about D&D and other roleplaying games, Justin Alexander has got you covered. Alexander brings a lot of experience, and an analytical view to his articles. His thoughts will challenge the way we think about our games. On thealexandrian.net we will find deep dives into the flow of DM-player interactions, the philosophy of game prep, deep mechanics for hexcrawls, and more.

Monsters are an essential part of D&D. Over at themonstersknow.com, Keith Amman has a write-up of all the monsters in the Monster Manual, as well as many other sources. We can use Amman’s Website as a supplementary database to the Monster Manual. He provides the tactical advice on how to actually run each monster at the table. This kind of advice is great because it is largely missing from the MM. But beyond the tactics, Amman gives us an analysis of the drives and motivations of each monster. And he does so with an almost scientific attention to detail that can inform our roleplaying of these monsters.

Three D&D YouTube gurus

In addition to reading articles, we can learn from videos. Below are two actual-play shows and one series of videos with DM advice. The two shows provide very different styles of running D&D. Most of us can’t watch all of the hundreds of hours of material out there. But we can take bits and pieces from both shows and use them to improve our game.

First up, however, is the series by Matt Colville called, “Running the Game.” Colville is a veteran in the space and provides insight into almost every aspect of running D&D. We can watch the series from start to finish and level up our game that way. Alternatively, we can find a specific video on many recurring topics. Whether it’s action-oriented monsters, running your first game, or character death. Chances are, Colville has a short video on it.

Next is the omnipresent D&D show Critical Role with Matt Mercer as the DM. Obviously, most of us can’t compare our voice acting skills to that of the professionals on the show. It’s tempting but it will raise the pressure meter of our game. But when we’re looking for memorable character archetypes, or an example of an epic campaign built around the backstories of the characters, Critical Role is as good as it gets.

Lastly, Fantasy High by Dimension20 with Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan is another excellent, yet entirely different, actual-play show. Mulligan runs a fast-paced pulpy campaign set in a fusion setting of fantasy and high school drama. By observing Mulligan, we can learn how to keep the game exciting by quickly transitioning from scene to scene. He is a master at cutting out the uninteresting parts of a campaign.

Pick and choose from a menue of great online DM advice

As a DM, we constantly try to improve our game. And the necessary learning requires outside input. When we’re looking on the internet for advice, it is easy to lose ourselves in the jungle of content creators out there. The three blogs, and the three YouTube shows are a starting point for our continuous journey of informing, improving, and inspiring our game.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: slyflourish.com - Helping Dungeon Masters run great D&D games.
Justin Alexander: thealexandrian.net
Keith Amman: themonstersknow.com - The monsters know what they’re doing. Ready-made tactics for D&D 5e.
Matt Colville: “Running the Game” - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_
Critical Role: “Campaign 3” - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1tiwbzkOjQydg3QOkBLG9OYqWJ0dwlxF
Dimension20: “Fantasy High” - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhOoxQxz2yFOcJoLoPRyYzjqCbddeOjP4

Using Ally Actions for Big D&D Battles

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Illusory Script, a D&D blog created to provide dungeon masters with advice to inform, improve and inspire their games. Never miss an article by subscribing to our newsletter!

Stop slowing down climactic mass combat

Sometimes the fiction of our game demands that we run combat with lots of allied NPCs. The battle might be the conclusion of our campaign. Characters might be facing the enemy that they had been chasing for multiple levels. In the story, it makes sense that the characters gather the friends they’ve made in previous adventures to aid them in the final battle. But how do we run mass combat without grinding the game to a halt with all of the NPCs as part of the initiative? While there are many ideas about this topic out there, a fresh solution to combat with lots of allied NPCs is a new type of action: Ally Actions.

Ally Actions are an additional action that player characters can take when they are aided in combat by many friendly NPCs. Each player can choose from three Ally Action options every round. We narrate the effect of these actions as helpful maneuvers of the NPCs. This allows us to keep the focus on the characters. We create the feeling of big battles of epic scale without slowing down the flow of the game.

Reward players for gathering their allies

When the characters know an important battle is coming up, it is a smart move for them to gather their allies. And it fits the fiction. Harry, Ron, and Hermione don’t fight the battle of Hogwarts by themselves. They bring all of their allies into the school to face their arch nemesis. Aragorn doesn’t ride to the Black Gate alone. He gathers the armies of Gondor for the last stand against Sauron. In our game, we want to create room for these kinds of stories. Ally Actions allow us to do so without running into the pacing problem of a crowded initiative order.

In addition, the players might have spend hours of game time moving around the campaign world to recruit allies for the upcoming battle. We don’t want to invalidate their effort by hand-waving the impact of the allied NPCs. It’s true that not everything in D&D needs a mechanic. Therefore, it is tempting to simply describe the NPCs’ heroic stance during the battle without any mechanical expression.

To stop combat from slowing down, we might come up with narrative reasons why the gathered allies aren’t part of the big battle. They might be distracted by minions of the boss monster. The boss might imprison the characters’ allies before they can interfere. While these solutions help us keep the pacing of the battle going, they might also leave a bitter aftertaste for our players. They had invested in-game resources as well as gaming time to gather these allies. And now it feels like we the DM invalidate all of that hard work.

Ally Actions satisfy both needs: they make the investment of the players and their characters worthwhile, and they don’t interfere with the pace of a climactic combat.

How do Ally Actions work?

Here’s how Ally Actions work:

Each player character can take a special action called an Ally Action once on each of their turns. They can choose from the following three options on each of their turns: ….

Only player characters get to take Ally Actions. Generally, there are offensive and defensive Ally Actions (see examples below). We take all of the NPCs out of the initiative order, and instead express their contribution to the battle in the form of Ally Actions.

When a character takes an Ally Action, we narrate the effect of that action as the NPCs aiding the characters. An Ally Action might grant protection to a character. We can describe how an NPC shields the character with their own body from incoming attacks. Another Ally Action might grant an offensive buff to a character’s attack. In this case, we narrate how a particular NPC distracts the monster to give the character a better chance to hit.

Ally Actions impact combat mechanics and difficulty

There are two main mechanical considerations when we use Ally Actions to represent allied NPCs. What happens to the NPCs on the battlefield? And how does the encounter difficulty change?

If we’re not running combat in pure theater of the mind, we need a way to track NPC positioning during the fight. Instead of running NPCs as individual combatants, we can move them around the battlefield in response to the characters taking an Ally Action. A character uses a defensive Ally Action? Move an NPC in front of them. A character takes an offensive Ally Action? Put an NPC closer to the monster as the NPC distracts it. This method keeps the battle dynamic, it keeps the characters in the spotlight, and it makes the NPCs’ impact noticeable to everyone at the table.

We can track the hit points of individual NPCs but we can also forego that verisimilitude in favor of a faster paced combat. Enemy monsters can still attack NPCs on the battle field but it should be clear to everyone that the player characters are the targets to focus on. Generally, NPCs interfere with the damage that the enemies deal only in the form of Ally Actions.

Combat encounters become easier when the characters gain a flexible buff or bonus each turn. As a rule of thumb, when calculating the difficulty of a combat with Ally Actions, consider the characters to be one or two levels higher than they actually are. This isn’t a perfect measure of the impact of Ally Actions but it’s close enough. Depending on party composition and player competence, the degree to which Ally Actions improve the resilience of characters will vary. Trust your instincts when using Ally Actions, and use Mike Shea’s dials of monster difficulty to adjust on the fly.

Example Ally Actions by tier of play

We give characters three Ally Actions to choose from. When designing Ally Actions, keep in mind that the characters should remain in the spotlight. An Ally Action shouldn’t be more powerful than anything the characters can do. But it should be impactful enough to make the contribution of the allied NPCs noticeable.

Here are a few examples of Ally Actions to use for your epic scale combats, split up by tier of play. Use these as written, modify them, or take them as inspiration to come up with your own Ally Actions. Any Ally Action can be useful in any tier of play. Simply adjust the numbers up or down accordingly. First and foremost, Ally Actions should be cinematic, and represent the kinds of allies the characters are bringing to the fight.

Tier 1 (levels 1-4) Ally Actions

Heal. The allies tend to the character’s injuries. The character regains 5 (1d4+3) hit points.
Embolden. The allies rush into battle alongside the character. The character gains a d6 Emboldening Die which they can add to an attack, an ability check, or a damage roll they make before the end of their current turn.
Protect. The allies put themselves in front of the characters to hinder incoming attacks. The character gains a +1 to their AC and saving throws until the start of their next turn.

Tier 2 (levels 5-10) Ally Actions

Shield. The allies deflect some of the damage dealt by the enemy. The character gains 5 temporary hit points.
Empower. The allies bolster the next attack of the character. The character gains advantage on the first weapon attack they make before the end of their current turn.
Maneuver. The allies help the character move about the battlefield. The character’s movement does not provoke opportunity attacks until the end of their current turn.

Tier 3 (levels 11-16) Ally Actions

Deceive. The allies distract the enemy to protect the character. Enemy creatures have disadvantage on attacks against the character until the character takes damage or until the start of their next turn.
Distract. The allies pile onto the enemy, weakening their defenses momentarily. A creature of the character’s choice has disadvantage on the next saving throw they make before the end of the character’s current turn.
Fly. The allies grant the character supernatural movement. The character gains a flying speed equal to their walking speed and does not provoke opportunity attacks. Both benefits last until the end of the character’s current turn.

Tier 4 (levels 17-20) Ally Actions

Assault. The allies charge the enemy. The player rolls an attack (+9 to hit) against a creature of their choice. On a hit the target takes 22 (4d10) nonmagical damage of a damage type appropriate to the allied NPCs.
Channel. The allies grant arcane regeneration to the character. The character regains a spell slot of 3rd level or lower.
Infuse. The allies synchronize their attacks with the character. The character’s weapon attacks deal an extra 5 (1d10) damage until the end of their current turn.

Ally Actions: another method of running epic combat with many allies

There are already many great ideas on how to run mass combat out there. For the greatest verisimilitude, we can run the NPCs as individual combatants. The easiest solution is to simply narrate the allied NPCs’ contribution to the fight without any attached mechanics. Ally Actions present a middle way. They honor the characters’ (and the players’) effort in gathering their allies by giving them access to mechanical effects that are cinematic, fun, and impactful. At the same time, they keep the initiative order lean and they don’t slow down the flow of combat.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Running Wars, Big Battles, and Massive Combat in D&D” - https://slyflourish.com/running_wars.html
Matt Colville has produced a 5e supplement that is focused on creating powerful organizations with lots of followers for the PCs. MCDM: Strongholds & Followers - https://shop.mcdmproductions.com/collections/strongholds-followers-books
Mike Shea: “The Dials of Monster Difficulty” - https://slyflourish.com/dials_of_monster_difficulty.html

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Letting Go: A Moment of Revelation for Dungeon Masters

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The moment of revelation

In any occupation, intellectual pursuit, or hobby, there comes a moment where we think we finally get it. A moment of revelation after which we never view the activity in the same way. We suddenly understand an academic theory, and the world is changed before our eyes. We wrap our head around a core principle of chess strategy which changes the way we play the game. As Dungeon Masters, this revelatory moment often comes in the form of “letting go.” A moment after which preparing and running a D&D game becomes easy, light, and fun.

This moment of revelation, when things fall into place for us as DMs, can be framed as one of several paradigm shifts or a combination of multiple of these shifts at the same time. When that happens, something fundamentally changes in the way we perceive our own role, the elements of a D&D game, and the nature of running a game of D&D.

Letting go of being the author, becoming a facilitator

For many of us, fantasy books are the main inspiration for becoming a DM. We read the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R Martin, N.K. Jemisin, Patrick Rothfuss, and others, and we imagine ourselves in their shoes. D&D allows us to create rich fantasy worlds which we share with our players. As DMs, we can be fantasy creators just like these authors. But this motivation contains a trap.

At some point in our DMing career, we realize that we are not authors. We are facilitators. We’re not even truly storytellers because we don’t know the story before it unfolds at the table. In a game of D&D we cannot go back and change events that occurred during a game. We can’t control the feelings, inner monologues, aims and ambitions of the protagonists. DMs are not authors. We are facilitators.

When this shift happens, a few other core tenets of DMing fall into place. We let go of trying to control the narrative. At first, in the fantasy-author mindset, we might set up outcomes for the story of the game. When we realize that we are facilitators, we are instead content to merely witness the story as it grows at the table.

We also let go of preparing plots, and instead spend our time creating situations. We don’t plan and write sequences of events like Tolkien. Tolkien sends the hobbits here, has them do this, splits them up here, and so on, and so on. As Dungeon Masters, we never write plots. We imagine situations. Jot down some details of the ancient watchtower called Weathertop, bookmark the wraith statblock, and that’s it. We have no idea what the hobbits (the players) will do until they actually make it there.

Letting go of being the adversary, becoming a fan of the characters

A similar paradigm shift happens when we let go of an adversarial stance towards the characters. At first, especially if we’re not used to cooperative gaming, we assume our role as the DM is to challenge the players. We want to make things hard for the characters. Throw wrenches into their plans. We might make the players roll many ability checks as a means to increase the tension by increasing the likelihood of failure. But at some point, DMs can let go of this self-image as an adversary.

When that happens, we instead become a fan of the characters, as the Dungeon World game suggests. We root for the characters’ success, and we lament their failures. We relish seeing them overcome challenges we put in front of them. We cheer with them when they deal the killing blow to a powerful foe. When we let go of being an adversary DM, the whole atmosphere of our game can improve. Suddenly, we are all in this together, players and DMs.

Letting go of being the supervisor, becoming a collaborator

While we can let go of being an adversary DM, and become a fan of the characters in game, a similar shift can happen outside of the game. As new DMs, we often see ourselves as supervisors. We are there to make sure everything runs smoothly, and maximum control is necessary to ensure the success of our game. We might tediously check character builds, and tweak character options left and right, because we fear for the balance of the game. During the game, we might even track character resources ourselves. Before a game, we try to control everything from the logistics of game time, to player attendance. When we let go of our role as a supervisor, we instead become a collaborator.

As a collaborator, we are an equal part of the gaming group. Everyone shares in the responsibility to create a smooth gaming experience. By letting go of the supervisor-mentality we not only make our life as the DM easier, we draw the players deeper into the gaming group. There is no longer one supervisor, and the players simply show up. Instead, gaming becomes a collaborative endeavor where every member of the group shares some of the responsibility.

Continuous improvement with moments of revelation

If we take this hobby serious, we strive to continually hone our DMing skills. We watch streams, read blogs, watch videos, and much more to create a better game for us and our players. But on this trajectory of continuous improvement, there are discrete upward jumps. Moments of revelation that change how we view ourselves and the game. The ones outlined here are a few personal examples of paradigm shifts that can change our DMing philosophy forever. All of them involve letting go. Taking ourselves a little less serious. Letting the game go where it may. Letting go of adversarial DMing, and a supervisor-mentality in how we run our games. Try letting go, and you might see your game be changed forever.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “‘Make’ Versus ‘Let’” - https://slyflourish.com/make_versus_let.html
Mike Shea: “Building Situations in D&D” - https://slyflourish.com/letting_go_of_defined_encounters.html

Veragon's Doom: A D&D Adventure Path in Eberron

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

A level 1-20 four-part D&D adventure path in Eberron

This article outlines a mini-campaign, called “Veragon’s Doom,” centered around the lair “Hell’s Heart” from Fantastic Lairs by Scott Fitzgerald Gray, James Introcaso, and Michael E. Shea.

This D&D “adventure path” presents a possible way to turn the fantastic lair into a four-session D&D experience. We take the demon-infested gold dragon Veragon and place him in Eberron. Three pre-cursor adventures take the characters across Eberron and from level one to twenty before facing Veragon.

The campaign takes characters across the world of Eberron. It consists of four adventures — one for each tier of play. Characters therefore level up a whole tier after each adventure. The first adventure can be played at 3rd level , the second at 7th-level, and the third with 14th-level characters. The finale, “Hell’s Heart” is designed for 20th-level characters.

Adventure Path Overview: Veragon’s Doom

Adventure Path “Veragon’s Doom” in One Sentence

The characters travel across Eberron in an effort to stop Mordakhesh, a Lord of Dust, from using the injured gold dragon Veragon to destroy not just the continent of Khorvaire but the entire cosmos of Eberron, in an apocalyptic fulfillment of the Draconic Prophecy.

The Patron: House Phiarlan

We use a group patron from Eberron: Rising from the Last War. The characters are agents of House Phiarlan. They work for the house as it tries to keep an eye on its rivals, House Thuranni. Secrets gathered by House Phiarlan serve as prompts to send the characters across Eberron in an attempt to stop Veragon.

The Villains of “Veragon’s Doom”: Dragon, Demon, Noble

The dragons of Argonessen and the Lords of Dust of the Demon Wastes clash over the interpretation of the mythical Draconic Prophecy. Demonic forces infiltrated House Thuranni. The assassins are now aiding Mordhakhesh.

Veragon the Shining Star. Veragon is an ancient gold dragon from the continent of Argonessen. He was a peaceful researcher of the Draconic Prophecy until servants of the Lord of Dust Mordakhesh wounded him. Now, a shard of Gloomtooth, a demonically infested spear is lodged in Veragon’s chest, bringing him eternal torment. Veragon rampages across Eberron in search for a cure. But ultimately, through the spear shard, Mordakhesh manipulates Veragon. The fiend forces the dragon towards an apocalyptic conclusion. Veragon believes the only way to end his suffering is to end the multiverse altogether.

Mordakhesh the Shadowsword. Mordakhesh is the speaker of the demonic Overlord Rak Tulkhesh. He lives to bring about his master’s destructive vision of the Draconic Prophecy. To this end, he hired assassins of House Thuranni to kill Veragon in Argonessen. The assassination attempt failed. But when Mordakhesh learns of the dragon’s plight, he recognizes a chance to fulfill the Prophecy. He can be the one to undo the creation of the three progenitor dragons.

House Thuranni. The house of assassins was first hired and then corrupted by Mordakhesh. Assassins of House Thuranni attempted to slay Veragon using Gloomtooth but failed. Now Mordakhesh has thoroughly infiltrated the ranks of the noble house. He uses them to bring about the execution of his master’s vision of the Draconic Prophecy.

Outline: Adventure Path “Veragon’s Doom”

Tier 1: A Fateful Meeting in Sharn

In the tier-one adventure the characters infiltrate a Thuranni safe house and learn about the demonic patron of the House. They also receive hints about Veragon’s plight after the failed attempt to kill the gold dragon. We use material from Eberron: Rising From the Last War to build a homebrew introductory adventure.

The Mission. The characters are sent by their patron, House Phiarlan to spy on a meeting between House Thuranni assassins, and Mordakhesh. The assassins have just returned to Sharn from their failed mission to Argonessen. They will report to Mordakhesh in Spellreach Tower, a safe house for House Thuranni. How are the characters getting into the safe house? Can they eavesdrop undetected? How do they get out of the safe house?

The Location. The Thuranni safe house is located in Sharn**.** We can pick a suitable map from dysonlogos and annotate it to run the adventure. Fill out the location with signs of Thuranni activity such as flags with the Thuranni emblem, hidden weapon compartments, and traps against intruders.

The Antagonists. There are a few Thuranni assassins in Spellreach Tower (use the spy stat block). Some have returned from Argonessen, some permanently protect the safe house. Mordakhesh will not meet them in person, instead he projects his image through a portal to the Demon Wastes. The Lord of Dust is furious when the assassins confess their failure. He shares his vision of using the tormented Veragon as a weapon. Mordhakhesh revels in the fantasy of bringing about the demonic interpretation of the Draconic Prophecy. Still, to punish the Thuranni assassins, he transforms them into dretches and sends them to attack the characters.

Tier 2: The Aetheneum of Dust

In tier two the characters venture to the Demon Wastes to find the Aetheneum of Dust. The Aetheneum is a legendary tome that contains vital information about the Draconic Prophecy, and the plans of Mordakhesh. When they arrive at the secret location of the Aetheneum, they enter into a demiplane within the tome. The “Aetheneum of Dust” is an excellent adventure from the book Adventures from the Potbellied Kobold by Jeff C. Stevens. The characters must try to find a way out of the Aetheneum or slowly turn to dust. We can keep most of the adventure as written, and wrap it in Eberron lore relevant to the adventure path Veragon’s Doom.

The Aetheneum. Instead of an ancient library, we can turn the demi-plane of the Aetheneum into a Hall of Prophecies (steal the aesthetics from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). In the little glass baubles in the maze of shelves within the Aetheneum, characters can discover parts of the Draconic Prophecy, as the demonic Overlord Rak Tulkhesh recorded them millennia ago during the Age of Demons. Here is an example of a piece of the prophecy which can give players clues about the coming adventures:

A dragon’s heart, shall be pierced by the blade of a demon king. The wielder dies while the golden wyrm lives. His wound festers with madness and pain. Eternal doom and torment the blade begets. So end this suffering, Shining Star. The pillar of time and matter crumbles. All torture ends when He undoes the progenitors’ creation.

Amora. We can link the architect of the Aetheneum to the Overlord Rak Tulkhesh. Thousands of years ago, she was a follower of Rak Tulkhesh, tasked with constructing the Aetheneum as an archive for her master’s visions of the Draconic Prophecy. Amora died inside of the Aetheneum millennia ago but some of her belongings remain there. To leave the Aetheneum, the characters must find these relics.

The Inhabitants. The adventure revolves around a number of NPCs stuck within the Aetheneum. We can re-skin these central drivers of the adventure to fit our broader narrative. Veragon sent the drake Baleblaze here ages ago in an effort to learn more about the Draconic Prophecy. Similarly, Nogge the Pagemaster and his kobold troop came here from Argonessen but are trapped in the Aetheneum. Auntie Waxspinner, the sand hag, is a former spy of the Daughters of Sorah Kell who fled to the Aetheneum. The dwarf adventurer is an agent of House Thuranni, sent here on behalf of his house to kill any Phiarlan spies who might come to the Aetheneum.

Tier 3: The Horn of Eberron

In tier three, the character have learned of the only way to destroy Gloomtooth, the fiendish spear lodged inside of Veragon’s chest: the Horn of Eberron. By now, Veragon’s Doom is clearly apparent to the characters. The gold dragon is unleashing his tormented wrath upon Eberron. Attacking lightning rails, cities, and nations in search of a cure. After weeks and months of investigating, tracking, and spelunking on Argonessen, the characters have learned the location of the legendary Horn of Eberron. The horn from the skull of the progenitor dragon Eberron himself is protected by a raging dragonborn mummy in Argonessen. We use “Dragon Mummy’s Rage,” another Fantastic Lair, for this part of the adventure path. Once again, we re-skin much of the lair and its lore to fit our story line.

Ashtox the Howling Rage. The dragonborn warlord Ashtox ruled brutally over parts of Argonessen in ages past. He had found the Horn of Eberron and used its power to subdue much of the dragonborn population on Argonessen. Eventually, some of the true dragons of Argonessen, including Veragon, overwhelmed Ashtox and placed a curse on him. Ashtox was mummified and buried in his tomb, where he was to guard the Horn of Eberron so that none could ever again wield its power.

The opening of the tomb. Recently, Mordakhesh has been spotted in Argonessen, searching for the location of the horn — the only object which can foil the execution of the Draconic Prophecy and halt the destruction of the cosmos of Eberron. He found the tomb of Ashtox and broke the seal placed on it by the dragons of Argonessen. He then corrupted the mummified Ashtox, compelling him to kill the dragonborn of Argonessen and turn them into an army of mummies with which to protect the Horn of Eberron from falling into the hands of the characters.

The Horn of Eberron. Ashtox wields the Horn of Eberron and won’t hesitate to use it against the characters. We can use the stats of a horn of blasting for the artifact and have it deal radiant instead of thunder damage. Before the characters even reach the tomb, they have learned about the horn “off-screen.” We tell the players that House Phiarlan, their patron, told the characters about the horn. The artifact possesses enough radiant power to destroy Gloomtooth and put an end to the destruction Veragon is causing across Eberron. Now all that is left is to enter the tomb, make it past the defenses put in place by the dragons of Argonessen, overcome the mummies that are created with the help of demonic servants of Mordakhesh, and defeat Ashtox the Howling Rage.

Tier 4: Hell’s Heart and the Veragon’s Doom

In tier four, the characters finally confront both Mordakhesh, and Veragon. The centerpiece of this finale of the adventure path is “Hell’s Heart” from Fantastic Lairs. We once again wrap the lair in lore surrounding our broader fiction, and add a prologue in Sharn. This allows us to bring all three villains into the conclusion of the four-session campaign, while returning to its beginnings in Sharn.

Prologue in Sharn. After more time on the road, chasing Veragon and Mordakhesh without luck, the characters return to Sharn. There, they are approached by their patron, House Phiarlan, with urgent news: House Thuranni assassins have smuggled Veragon, shapeshifted into a humanoid form, into the ancient bowels of Sharn: Old Sharn. The characters track them there, and find an open inter-planar portal. The portal consists of an Eberron shard, a Siberys shard, and a Khyber shard and it is guarded by a few elite House Thuranni assassins, empowered with demonic gifts from Mordakhesh. After they defeat the assassins, the characters step through the portal and enter the Vault of Creation.

The Vault and the Pillar of Creation. We place the Vault of Creation, the stage of the final showdown, in the Astral Plane. This plane, as the connective tissue between all other planes, is where the progenitor dragons concentrated the energies of creation in a nexus: the Pillar of Creation. This pillar is a massive crystal, the amalgam of an Eberron shard, a Siberys shard, and a Khyber shard. Mordakhesh wants to see Veragon destroy the pillar and thus fulfill the apocalyptic interpretation of the Draconic Prophecy as recorded by the Overlord Rak Tulkhesh.

First Mordakhesh, then Veragon. The characters find the Vault in the aftermath of an assault. The celestial protectors have been slain by Mordakhesh and Veragon. We can re-skin the balors that attack the characters first in the Vault as Mordakhesh and his simulacrum who are trying to keep the party at bay while Veragon destroys the pillar. The characters must first overcome the dual Mordakhesh and then defeat Veragon before he can destroy everything. They already possess the Horn of Eberron and can use it instead of the luck blade that is in the Vault to destroy Gloomtooth.

Expanding Veragon’s Doom

We have enough here to inspire a whole level-one-to-twenty campaign if we wanted to. With excellent sources of inspiration such as Fantastic Lairs, Adventures from the Potbellied Kobold, and Eberron: Rising from the Last War we can expand this four-session outline into an epic long-term campaign. Simply build on the themes outlined in each of the four adventures here. Instead of one adventure per tier, we can aim for four to five adventures to get the players up to level 20.

Veragon’s Doom: a four-session adventure path set in Eberron

The original intent of the article however, was to outline a fun mini-campaign. We took “Hell’s Heart” from Fantastic Lairs, placed it in Eberron, and let ourselves be inspired by the lore of that world. We choose engaging villains, and fitting adventures to create this adventure path.

Characters begin in tier one in Sharn where they learn about the plight of Veragon, and the involvement of the other two villains, Mordakhesh, and House Thuranni. In tier two, they enter and must escape the Aetheneum of Dust where clues about the Draconic Prophecy are held. In tier three, they acquire the artifact necessary for defeating Veragon in Argonessen. Finally in tier four, they confront first House Thuranni, then Mordakhesh and finally Veragon in an epic showdown where nothing less than the existence of the cosmos is at stake.

Links and Resources

Fantastic Lairs on DriveThruRPG - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/338506/Fantastic-Lairs-23-Boss-Battles-for-your-5e-RPG
Adventures from the Potbellied Kobold on DriveThruRPG - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/348700/Adventures-from-the-Potbellied-Kobold-15-Adventures-for-5E

How to Make Sure D&D Game Preparation Is Fun

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Illusory Script, a D&D blog created to provide D&D dungeon masters with advice to inform, improve and inspire their games. Never miss an article by subscribing to our newsletter!

Preparing our D&D game can and should be fun

Playing D&D is fun. But as DMs preparing for our next session should also be fun. We can think of preparing for a session as an extension of that session. It’s part of the game. And the game should be fun. Preparing for the session is probably not going to be as entertaining as playing the game itself. But at the very least it shouldn’t be a chore. Preparing for a session shouldn’t feel like work.

I used to have a massive to-do list for my weekly D&D game. I would chip away at it but I would add items to the list at the same pace at which I would cross them off. The result was an intense pressure that felt more like work than playing a game.

Preparing for our game should be fun. And it can be.

Find a system that works for you

Finding a reliable system for D&D preparation can help. Having certain steps that we go through every time we prepare for a session accomplishes two things.

First, a systematic approach lets us limit the time we spend on game prep. Whatever the steps are, once we’ve gone through them all, we are done. The game is prepared. A task has been accomplished.

We can never prepare for every situation in our game. Otherwise, we would keep preparing forever. We can always write down more details, create more mechanics, and imagine more NPCs. But having a system which we go through in an acceptable amount of time gives us the feeling of completion that we would otherwise never achieve. Therefore, a D&D preparation system lets us build confidence for the next session.

Secondly, a system for D&D preparation divides prep into chunks. Instead of a monolithic task of “preparing the game” we go through a list of incremental steps. This

Whatever the system is for you, the important part is to have one. Maybe it’s taking out a sheet of paper, drawing a rough dungeon map on it, and filling it with evocative descriptions. It might be following the steps of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Maybe it’s just flipping through your favorite monster book, and marking interesting creatures for the next session. Find a system that works for you so preparing for a game can feel manageable, and fun.

Change it up as soon as D&D preparation becomes a chore

Similar to the pressure meter, we should be mindful of our D&D preparation. We can regularly ask ourselves, “Am I having fun while preparing for my D&D game?” If the answer is yes, that’s great. If the answer ever moves towards no, we need to change something.

We can try out a different system for preparing D&D. Setting a timer lets us monitor and potentially reduce the time we spent preparing. We can identify parts of prep that are making the activity less fun for us and cut these parts out.

Identifying that we’re not having fun preparing for our D&D game is the first and vital step. Asking ourselves regularly whether preparing D&D is still fun reminds us that it should be. D&D is a game. Preparing for D&D should feel like playing a game. If it ever doesn’t, change something.

Find what part of preparing D&D excites you

Matt Colville tells us, “the DM is a player too.” It’s an eye-opening statement. Yes, we are responsible for providing a world and a scenario for the players to have fun with. But the DM isn’t a service provider. We want to have fun too. We are also a player.

This means we can find out what is the most fun aspect of game preparation for us. What brings us joy in preparing for our D&D sessions? Is it making maps? Creating secrets and clues for our party to uncover? Is it choosing inspiring monsters for the next session? We can focus on whatever part of game prep gives us, as the DM, the most joy.

Once we know that we really enjoy skimming through the Monster Manual and choosing awesome foes, we can use that knowledge. We can motivate ourselves when we’re not feeling like preparing for D&D. Start with the monsters and see where that leads us. Hell, if the other parts of our preparation system just feel like work this week, don’t do them. Choose monsters and let the rest of the session develop through improvisation. We are a player in this game too. We should do what’s fun.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” - https://slyflourish.com/returnofthelazydm/
Matthew Colville: “The DM is also a Player, Running The Game #92” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-fM9UQIaLE
David Hartlage: “Dungeon Masters, Don’t Prepare Plots and Encounters—Do This Instead” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/dungeon-masters-dont-prepare-plots-and-encounters-do-this-instead/
Justin Alexander: “Don’t Prep Plots” - https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots

Play One-on-One D&D to Help Shy Players

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Run one-on-one D&D for shy players in your group

Roleplaying in D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game can be daunting. Especially newer players can struggle to get into character and interact with the group. They might sit and watch the other players and the DM take much of the screen time. Sometimes that is just fine. A more introverted personality might enjoy being a quiet member of the group. Calling them out during the session might be a quick way to scare them away from our table and potentially from the hobby as a whole. Here’s a tip: run a one-on-one D&D game for shy players.

Letting shy players explore their roleplaying skills

When we give a player the luxury of a one-on-one D&D session, with just them as a player and us as the DM, we let them explore their own roleplaying capabilities in small steps.

When there is less eyes on them, they can dare to speak in character more easily. We can have NPCs approach their character and start up a conversation. In our regular group, the veteran player or the “face” of the party might jump at the opportunity to converse with NPCs by default. The shy player might never even get an opportunity to try out roleplaying in social interactions. With the group removed, we can gently let them stretch their roleplaying muscles. We can give them as much time as they want to respond to an initial, “What can I do for you?” by an NPC.

An enlightening analogy comes from music. We would never think of putting a beginner instrumentalist into an orchestra. They would be too afraid to play any note at all. They’d put their flute to their mouth and pretend. Instead, we start with individual lessons. Then we move on to duets or trios. In small ensembles the learning musician can explore their own collaborative skills. The same applies to D&D. A one-on-one session is a great way to let players learn about their own roleplaying skills. They can try out different styles without anyone but the DM watching. They can find their own D&D roleplaying voice.

Using sidekicks to let shy players lead

We might give them a sidekick to accompany them on their adventure. This NPC always plays a supporting role in a one-on-one D&D game. The shy player can see what it feels like to take a leading role in an adventure, and have another character follow them. Suddenly the roles from the usual social situation at the table are switched. The shy player becomes the face of the party. Through a one-on-one session, they might discover that they like it. And that they’re capable of taking the lead in an adventure — and they might even be good at it! But without the one-on-one session, neither we as the DM, nor the player themselves might ever have realized this.

Ways of running one-on-one D&D to help shy players

Running a D&D game with just one DM and one player is not much different from running D&D for a group. There are mechanical pitfalls to consider (more on these in the links below) but the core of playing D&D remains the same: The DM describes the situation, the player declares their intent, and the DM narrates the outcome. One-on-one D&D is still D&D.

But we have a few options for how we run a one-on-one session for one of the players from our regular group. We can run a one-shot that might or might not be related to our main campaign. One-shots provide a great low-stakes environment for shy players to play D&D without the fear of any repercussions for characters that might be really important to them. These one-shots might be totally detached from the campaign we run for the group.

With this type of single-session adventure we can encourage shy players to try more exotic roleplaying concepts. An eccentric half-orc bard might not be something the player jumps into a multi-session campaign with. But an extravagant character concept can encourage shy players to open up in a one-on-one D&D session.

Alternatively, we can link the one-on-one session to an existing campaign. We can explore aspects of the player character’s backstory. Setting the game some time before the current fictional date of our campaign lets a player explore the story surrounding their character’s background, their home town, or specific events in their backstory. The insights learned during such a one-on-one game might spill over into the group sessions. The player might feel more secure in roleplaying their character, and they might even be able to provide background information relevant to the campaign.

Run one-on-one D&D to help shy players (or just because it is fun)

Running a one-on-one D&D game is a unique experience. It’s clearly still D&D but in an especially intimate setting. This type of small environment is perfectly suited to help shy players find their voice in D&D. But even if we’re not running one-on-one D&D for shy players, it can still make for a great D&D game in its own right.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “A Framework for One-on-One D&D” - https://slyflourish.com/framework_for_one_on_one_dnd.html
D&D Duet - Adventures and advice for creating a whole world, just for two - https://dndduet.com/
Matt Colville: “One-on-One D&D, Running The Game #89” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoJMNkgEqKA

The Pressure Meter of Our D&D Game

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Illusory Script, our D&D blog created to provide D&D dungeon masters with advice to inform, improve and inspire their games. Never miss an article by subscribing to our newsletter!

Keeping an eye on the pressure meter in D&D

Dungeons & Dragons can be stressful. As DMs we strive to create the most fun and engaging experience possible for us and the players. As players, we want to create and play characters that are the centerpiece of fantastic stories. The expectations that come with these ambitions can create enough pressure to take away from our enjoyment of our D&D game. That is why all of us, DMs and players alike, need to keep an eye on the pressure meter in our game. We need to check in with ourselves and our group, to make sure the stress of high expectations isn’t diminishing our fun.

The “Mercer Effect” for D&D Dungeon Masters

For DMs our pressure meter can go up because of the so-called “Mercer effect.” Many of us watch Critical Role or other streamed D&D games. In these games, highly skilled DMs create awesome campaigns filled with intrigue, plot twists, and emotional roleplaying. This can lead to stress for us as DMs, not just because we want our game to be as awe-inspiring as Critical Role. It also creates pressure because of expected expectations. We expect that our players expect to play in a game that feels like Critical Role. Hence, we put even more pressure on ourselves to meet those expected expectations, whether they exist or not.

In a media environment in which streamed D&D content is becoming ever more visible, and elaborate, we need to keep an especially keen eye on our pressure meter as a DM, as it rises in tandem with the success of shows like Critical Role.

The “Bailey Effect” for D&D players

As players our pressure meter can rise because of an effect similar to the “Mercer effect” — let’s call it the “Bailey effect,” named after voice actress Laura Bailey. We watch players like Laura Bailey on Critical Role create incredibly memorable, complex, and relatable characters. Naturally, we measure our own D&D characters against these creations. This immediately increases the pressure for us as D&D players.

This “Bailey Effect” also creates a feedback loop. A player explicitly or implicitly brings their high expectations into the group. In short order, other players feel compelled to measure their character creations against the highest of standards. And now, we as the DM feel pressure to create a game that matches the intensity of our players’ ambitions for their characters.

Talking about the pressure associated with our D&D game

The premier answer for any social problem that arises in our game is communication. We can regularly check in with our group to make sure no one feels overwhelmed by pressure and high expectations. During a session zero, we can explicitly set expectations for a campaign. We should emphasize the scope of our home game. We’re busy people getting together to play a game we love. When the pressure gets so high that we fret our next D&D session, we need to take a step back, and relax. As a group, periodically reinforce the purpose of playing: we’re playing to have fun.

Finding the right balance between effort and fun

For most groups, we’re not going to eliminate all pressure from our D&D game. As a DM, pre-game nervousness is ubiquitous. As players, the first moment of roleplaying in each session can be terrifying. What’s important is to find the right balance between creating a memorable D&D experience and managing our pressure meter. We want to tell fantastic stories that move us with our characters at the center of it all. But we don’t want to feel like we can’t live up to our own expectations (and our expected expectations). Finding the right balance between these two poles requires careful calibration of our collective pressure meters.

Both as individual players and DMs, and as a gaming group, this calibration is an ongoing effort. And it is the reason why we need to keep a careful eye on our pressure meter.

Links & Resources

Andrew Girdwood: “What is the Matt Mercer effect?” - https://www.geeknative.com/68009/what-is-the-matt-mercer-effect/#:~=The%20Mercer%20effect%20describes%20the,be%20similar%20to%20Critical%20Role.&text=The%20Mercer%20Effect%20is%20inherently,acknowledges%20their%20skill%20and%20charisma
Mike Shea: “Paths for DM Expertise” - https://slyflourish.com/path_for_dm_expertise.html

The Drama of Low-Level D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The point of contact between D&D and reality

Low-level D&D creates storytelling drama. At tier one (levels 1-4) D&D happens right at the point of contact between the world of a Dungeons & Dragons game and our lives. In higher tiers of play, characters, and the types of adventures they go on, diverge farther and farther from our lived experience. But from levels one through four, D&D’s drama can hit very close to home.

As a level-one character we climb, swim, and run. We pick locks and actually face a chance of failure. At higher tiers, the rogue’s class abilities let them circumvent all but the most complicated locks. In tier one, we confront fantasy versions of threats we know from the real world. We interact with nobles who have far more wealth and influence than us. The rush of adrenaline in these situations is as real for us, as it is for our characters. The tension of these kinds of low-level challenges is easily relatable.

Let low-level D&D show local consequences of cosmic threats

Higher-tier adventures become more and more exotic. Parties at these higher levels take on continent-spanning challenges, and eventually face threats to the multiverse. But nonetheless, tier-one adventures can be filled with fantasy, wonder, and exploration. The characters confront local consequences of potentially cosmic threats. A party might face the demonic minions of a much more powerful overlord. Or they might have save a village from the fallout of a cosmic catastrophe such as a moon crashing into the planet.

The world can be as fantastic as we want it to be. But low-level characters most often will face a snapshot of the big picture. They sit downstream of whatever greater threat is cooking out there. So by design, the scenes we set, and the situations we throw our characters into, are easier to immerse ourselves in. We, as human beings, have no real experience of planar travel, of battling gods, and world-eating monsters. We do, however, know what it feels like to stand up for our home town. The types of encounters we DMs throw at players and the solutions they come up with hit close to home.

Low-level D&D’s low barrier to immersion

These low-level adventures make the hardest part of creating and running an adventure easy. Drawing in the characters. Making the story that unfolds at the table relatable. Making the human beings around the table feel the drama of a scene or an entire adventure. With more outlandish enemies and challenges we as DMs have to work to make them interface with reality. We resort to metaphor and allegory. But we’re never closer to the point of contact between fiction and reality as we are in these early levels of D&D.

In tier one, the fantastical remains contained enough to let us insert human drama into the story without distraction. The characters can’t confront the world-ending elder evil themselves. Yet, they must save their hometown from the consequences. They must save each other. The scope of these problems easily creates drama. High-level D&D tends to trade human drama for grandeur, epic scale, and super-heroism. Embrace the down-to-earth quality of low-level D&D that higher-tier adventures leave behind.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Scaling the Story to the Level of the Characters” - https://slyflourish.com/scaling_the_story.html
Teos Abadia: “Why Do Heroes Leave Their Home Base Behind?” - https://alphastream.org/index.php/2021/10/14/why-do-heroes-leave-their-home-base-behind/
Mike Shea: “Tier Appropriate Adventure Locations” - https://slyflourish.com/tier_appropriate_adventure_locations.html

Is Making Custom Random Encounter Tables Worth the Time in D&D?

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Custom Random Encounter tables are worth it maybe… sometimes…

In the hierarchy of Dungeons & Dragons DM prep activities, creating custom tables of random encounters ranks low. There are many more valuable things we can do before we start writing these tables. The list of preparation steps from Sly Flourish’s Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is a good starting point. We can prepare strong starts, secrets and clues, locations, NPCs, monsters, and treasure before we run out of things to do.

So is creating random encounter tables worth our valuable prep time at all? Well, maybe. Sometimes. It really depends…

Creating custom random encounter tables is fun and good practice

There is something especially appealing about creating a random encounter table. We flip through our favorite monster book and choose a roster of adversaries that fit the theme or the location we are creating. In our own mind’s eye we envision throwing these foes at our party. We see an awesome piece of monster artwork and imagine the characters facing off against it. Monsters are fun. Random encounters are fun. So if creating random tables of encounters brings you joy, no one is going to tell you to stop.

It is also an activity that is good DM practice. The usual design of a random encounter forces us to condense the entire dramatic potential of a scene into just a few sentences. “The shadows of trees begin to follow the characters. 1d4+1 undead treants finally block the party’s path and demand tribute. They want a pint of blood from each of the characters before they let them pass.” Writing a random encounter table drills our DM brain to find the potential action and drama in each outlined scene. There’s no long exposition or lore dump. No flowery prose. Creating these tables can train us to find the spark of action in each scene. This skill transcends the exercise of designing random encounter tables.

However, it does take time

Creating custom random encounter tables is not quick. We might be able to throw together a list of thematically fitting monsters in a few minutes. But then we haven’t really designed a random encounter table. We’ve just created a list of monsters. Random encounters need the potential for a small (or not so small) scene.

So we might create a first draft that is mostly monsters with a little bit of dramatic context. Then in a second pass over the random encounter table, we add more details, and revise some of the scenes. In the third pass, we iron out small problems, and fine-tune the writing of each encounter. Then we have a robust random encounter table. One that can be a tool for improvisation when we’re running the game.

But it’s not a quick thing. We need multiple revisions to arrive at an inspiring random encounter table.

The amount of time still varies, however. We usually don’t need more than a list of 10 to 20 encounters for the table to inject enough randomness into our game. A d6 table might be enough but rolling a d10 or d20 will make the outcome feel more unpredictable. We can use multiple dice to weight the probability of individual encounters. But except for in very specific circumstances, we do not need more than 20. So we can stop ourselves when we get to that number, and focus on revising, editing, and improving instead of churning out more random encounters.

This allows us to cut the time necessary for creating random encounter tables. Yet, the process still requires a non-trivial amount of time.

The majority of our random encounter table will never see play

Let’s be honest. The majority of our random encounter table will never see play. We might create 20 awesome, inspiring, drama-and-action-focused encounters. Then we roll the d20 one, or maybe two times if we’re lucky. Then the party moves on. They leave the area, the dungeon or the wilderness behind. And 90% of the encounters in the table never reach the players.

There are undoubtedly prep activities that have a better yield in terms of seeing use when we’re running the game. Creating secrets and clues that the party can discover falls in that category. Choosing monsters for “non-random” encounters, like a strong start, is bound to give us better returns at the table.

So, in this regard, designing a custom random encounter table is really a luxury. It is on the higher levels of the DM equivalent of Maslow’s pyramid of the hierarchy of needs. There are many things a DM needs to handle before custom encounter tables appear on the horizon of possible prep activities.

Unless…

Unless your campaign depends on random encounter tables

There are types of adventures and campaigns that benefit much more from random encounter tables. For these kinds of D&D games, the value of creating random encounter tables jumps up dramatically. Are the characters spending multiple levels traversing a vast and dangerous decaying marsh region? Are they crawling their way through a multi-level mega-dungeon? Random encounter tables are crucial for the flow and atmosphere of these types of campaigns.

The world should feel dangerous. Monsters lurk at every corner. Movement, exploration, and travel become core features. And random encounter tables provide the necessary ammunition for DMs to make the characters feel the frontier-style environment they are in.

Whenever the characters are spending prolonged periods of time in one area, designing random encounter tables can be very rewarding. When we can be sure that we’ll be using a table for more than one or two sessions, the value of designing such a table increases dramatically.

Beneficial side effects of creating random encounter tables

Even though much of our random encounter tables might never see play, creating them can still help us as DMs.

We might be able to directly recycle some of them in later sessions. The characters might have left the region for which the table was designed. But with re-skinning we can repurpose a lot of the encounters. They can be part of a new random encounter table, or use them as inspiration for planned encounters.

If nothing else, creating a random encounter table, is a great DM brain exercise. It fills our mind with ideas that can later become fuel for improvisation. Coming up with ten to twenty encounters, will force us to get creative. And that creativity is there to stay even if we never look at the random encounter table again.

Pre-made random encounter tables can inspire us

The alternative to creating our own encounter tables is using pre-made ones. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything contains tables for every tier of play and many adventure environments. And sometimes these pre-generated tables are exactly what we need. They can force us out of a creative rut. They can motivate us to flex our improvisational muscles.

Before we rolled the dice and looked at the tables in Xanathar’s, we had no idea there was a young blue dragon on the lonely island the characters are passing by. But now we our brain is working. Why is the dragon there? How can we tie him into the overarching narrative? Maybe this dragon is actually a rejected son of the ancient blue wyrm that has been the nemesis of the characters for many levels.

Using non-customized random encounter tables can inject the unexpected into our game. And sometimes they can create wonderful unpredictable story elements that we’ll remember for a long time.

So is it worth it?

If you’re pressed for time, probably not. Creating random encounter tables is a luxury prep activity. There are many things we can do that will be more useful at the table. And if we need a random encounter table, there are many pre-made tables out there we can use.

Nonetheless, if we have the time, creating our own random encounter tables can be fun, useful, and good practice for our DM brain.

Links & Resources

WebDM has several excellent videos on Random Encounter Tables on YouTube:
Mike Shea: “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” - https://slyflourish.com/returnofthelazydm/

D&D Downtime: Can We Throw Away the Rules?

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

D&D downtime without the rules

We find rules for downtime resolution in three Dungeons & Dragons publications: the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. But when we’re running the game, we can let go of most, if not all, of these rules for downtime in D&D. We can relax our grip on the rules, and instead come back to the core purpose of downtime. In downtime, we tell the individual characters’ stories in between adventures. So why not let the story drive our downtime resolution, instead of the rules?

The published rules tell us to track days, or workweeks a character spends working on a task, roll some checks, and eventually hand out rewards. While this approach gives us minute control over a character’s progress, it can distract from the fiction. Players pick a goal, and check boxes until they have accrued enough downtime to fulfill that goal. Bookkeeping takes center stage, while the narrative turns into window dressing.

We generally want the opposite. The fiction comes first. Mechanics only come into play when we’re not certain how a story will progress.

Let players tell their characters’ downtime stories

In D&D, downtime that doesn’t start and end with the rules creates room for collaborative storytelling. Us and the player are not figuring out how many days are necessary to go on a gambling spree. Instead, we simply ask the player to describe their character’s gambling escapades. Handing over the reigns of description and narration to the player, can enrich our game. It gives players the freedom to invent and describe new locations, NPCs, and lore as it relates to their characters’ downtime activities.

We should stress that this is a moment for them to step away from their character sheet, and engage in worldbuilding. If players are hesitant to accept this responsibility, we can guide them with questions. “What is the first thing your character notices as they step into the casino?” “Who is your main rival during your long nights of gambling?” “What is the history of this casino?”

Here, we can use some of the content in Xanathar’s to create prompts and to build on our players’ ideas. The tables for creating rivals can flesh out an NPC proposed by the player. We can use the tables of complications if we want to insert some tension into our players’ descriptions.

But we can leave most of the heavy lifting up to our players. Asking them to describe their characters’ downtime gives them ownership over their character’s story. And it makes sense. When a character uses their downtime to visit friends and family in their home town, they would remember best what that town is like. So by letting the player describe the town, we can let the world conform to the player’s imagination of their character’s past. We, as DMs, can then build on our players’ imagination. We take notes, run with our players’ ideas, and feed them back into the campaign.

When we’re not distracted by accounting for a number of workweeks, we open the table for this collaborative storytelling.

A minimum of mechanics for downtime in D&D

The rules proposed in official D&D publications can turn downtime into bookkeeping. Choose a goal, track the days and weeks, roll some dice. Instead, we can start with the fiction and build from there. We can let go of the minute tracking of time, and instead set scenes and describe events freely. Rough time intervals can function as a guide for downtime activities. But it’s probably enough to think in terms of “a few” weeks, months, hours, or days.

The rules tell us to consult tables of downtime outcomes, corresponding DCs, and mechanics to influence the necessary checks. This can make us feel safe as DMs. After all, we are following the rules. But these rules also box us in. For example, they prescribe which single Ability or skill, a character can use for a specific downtime activity. But approaches outside of the given Ability are not covered by the rules.

Therefore, instead of relying on these tables, we fall back to the simplest mechanic of D&D: the Ability check. The player describes their character’s downtime activities. Most of the time, these just happen. There is no check required for the monk to visit her monastery. But if there is a chance of failure, we call for an Ability check. For example, the sorcerer describes how they train an apprentice. To see how good of a teacher they are, we let them roll a Charisma check. In this case, the student is struggling with controlling their innate magical talents. We set the DC at 15. From here on out, we work with the player to tell the story based on the result of the die roll.

Let the story determine the rewards

With this “fiction first” approach, players aren’t motivated by rewards for their downtime activities. Downtime is derived from the story of the characters in between adventures. And so are the rewards. When we are running downtime resolution, we can have different kinds of rewards at hand. Rare spell material components, and, if appropriate, magic items can function as rewards for downtime. We can keep a list of potential material rewards in our notes to drop them in when they fit thematically.

But beyond items and components, secrets, clues and lore can be fantastic rewards for downtime activities. By spending time among other people, in fantastic locations, or in libraries and archives, characters can learn something. Similar to material rewards, we can keep a list of secrets and clues ready to be revealed when the downtime story dictates it.

Following the Lazy Dungeon Master approach, we don’t predetermine when, where, or how a character learns this information. We simply make sure that the bits of lore are relevant to the character, and then work them into the story appropriately. Our druid might go back to the High Forest to rebuild a lost community of wood elves. During the weeks spent there, she experiences the elves newfound worship of an old elvish god. Or she discovers an ancient portal to the Feywild deep in the forest. These secrets double as story-focused rewards for a character’s investment in downtime, while functioning as character-driven adventure hooks for the party as a whole.

Sometimes a player has a specific reward in mind for their character’s downtime activity. They might want to research their nemesis. Or they might be looking for a specific magic item. In this case we can draw them away from the mechanics and back into the story by falling back to collaborative storytelling. Ask the question, “How are you doing this?” Motivate the player to describe their approach to research, or to finding an item, in the fiction. We can focus the table on the narrative if we use this technique rather than popping open the book, and consulting the tables.

Zooming in to tell the downtime story

Whether as a result of collaborative storytelling, the fiction that prompts an Ability check, or a situation in which we hand out a reward, we might want to “zoom in” to specific moments. Small (or not so small) scenes, or vignettes, can create episodic glimpses which illustrate the characters’ individual developments during downtime. Check out the article “Pacing D&D Downtime Sessions by Zooming In” to learn more about this idea.

Different styles for different tables

There are infinite ways of playing D&D. It follows that there are infinite ways of running downtime. Some DMs and players might prefer the minutia of tracking days, and weeks to accomplish a mechanical goal. If that approach seems right for your table, the rules in the PHB, the DMG, and Xanathar’s provide a robust mechanical framework.

If we want to put the story told in downtime front and center at our table, we can let go of the rigid system in the books. We can fall back to the fiction, create space for collaborative storytelling, use the elegant Ability check mechanic, and let the story dictate the rewards of downtime.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Secrets and Clues, the Secret Weapon of the Lazy Dungeon Master” - https://slyflourish.com/sharing_secrets.html
Teos Abadia: “How Downtime Rules Evolved and Left the PH and DMG Behind” - https://alphastream.org/index.php/2019/11/14/how-downtime-rules-evolved-and-left-the-ph-and-dmg-behind/

Why We Need a Regular D&D Game Time

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Set a regular time and day for your D&D game

If you can, set a regular time and day of the week for your Dungeons & Dragons game. Decide on a game time, where we get together with our group and play D&D. We can liberate ourselves and our players from the least fun part of the game: scheduling. If everyone in our group knows that Wednesday nights are game night, everyone can schedule their other appointments around that day and time.

We can think of our D&D night, as just another hobby that demands a fixed schedule. D&D is essentially a team sport. A team sport where athletics only comes in the form of die rolls. In team sports, practice happens on a regular time and day. Once a schedule is set, there is usually no discussion about it. There are simply too many people involved to schedule a new date each week. The same applies to our game night. It’s a cooperative activity, a regular hobby and thus demands a regular schedule.

A schedule for our group, a group for our schedule

If you haven’t yet, initiate a conversation with your group about setting up a regular game night. Figure out a time and day that works for everyone. We can try this schedule for a week or two, and adjust if necessary. Once we set up a D&D game time we shouldn’t change it constantly. Consistency is key both for the evolving fiction of our game, and the involvement of our group.

But sometimes, we might not be able to agree on a schedule that works for everyone. People lead busy lives. However, the benefit of a regular game night is too great to give up. If our current group cannot make a regular schedule work, we should consider building a group that can. Mike Shea recommends having a group of six regular players plus two players “on-call.” With such a group, a regular schedule can work, even if multiple players have to cancel on a short notice. Again, people lead busy lives. A large enough group, with additional irregular players that can join if needed, allows for great consistency of our game.

Play other games on game night

We can think of our game night as just that: a night for playing games. Most of the time, we are going to play D&D. However, sometimes a change of pace might be great for our group. We could play another roleplaying game like Fate or Numenera. These games might introduce new perspectives on our hobby that could inspire us and the players for future D&D campaigns. But we might also play a board game, or a card game. Taking a break from D&D once in a while can improve the longevity of our gaming group. Having a regular game night, allows us to try out different games with our group without any additional scheduling commitments.

Don’t play if anyone is not feeling it

Sometimes we’re just not in the mood for D&D. We might feel drained from a busy day of work or school. We might not have had enough time to prepare for the session. A player might rather just want to hang out, talk, and relax instead of playing. That should be OK. The moment D&D turns into a chore, we should take a break.

So, on game night, before beginning the session, we should take the time to check in with everyone. In this pre-game segment, we can make sure everyone is ready to play. If anyone is really not feeling like playing D&D tonight, think about playing a different game. Or watch a movie. Or just sit, and snack, and talk. We can establish a positive atmosphere in the group, if we make room for these breaks.

Dare to commit

Commitment can be difficult. But the rewards of having a regular game time for our D&D games can be enormous. We can free up mental bandwidth, focus on the fiction, and enjoy this wonderful hobby together. So dare to commit. Talk to your group and see how having a regular game time can improve your game.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Finding and Maintaining a D&D Group” - https://slyflourish.com/finding_players.html

Peacemaker as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 6)

Marius Hofbauer — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

This post was updated after its original publication.

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

The first section of this article outlines the series of articles that present characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021) as D&D character builds. If you have read this part in a previous article, skip ahead to the build here.

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Movies are great inspiration for our Dungeons & Dragons games. We can steal plots, scenes, villains, items and characters directly from our favorite movies. The movie The Suicide Squad (2021) has a cast of anti-heroes that are great fodder for creative D&D character builds. So let’s see how we can go about building the whole party. The characters we are going to try to emulate are:

Bloodsport – a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn – a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher – an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Nanaue – a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man – a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother
Peacemaker – a ruthless marksman

The goal in making these characters in D&D is to create a D&D player’s rendition of each character. We will not be able to capture each unique feature of the fictional characters in the mechanics of D&D. But, not everything needs a mechanic. We will try to create mechanically effective characters that are designed to evoke the feeling of the characters of The Suicide Squad in play. As we will see, this is easier for some characters than it is for others.

All of the following characters are designed to reach level 17. The core abilities that define them come online much earlier though. All of them use the Optional Class Features and the Customize Your Origin rules from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

Peacemaker: Human (Variant) Fighter 3 / Cleric 6 / Paladin 8

Concept

Peacemaker is a ruthless marksman, uncompromising in his advancement of “peace.” His understanding of “peace,” however, is that of a fanatic. Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, takes no prisoners on his path to pacifying the world.

As many characters in this series of articles, the movie character Peacemaker shoots guns. This reimagination of Peacemaker as a D&D, however, relies on an often overlooked weapon in D&D: darts. Its meager d4 damage die scares off most players looking for combat effectiveness. But the combination of the dart being a ranged weapon with the thrown, and finesse property, opens up some interesting combinations. We will explore these in this dart-slinging version of Peacemaker as a D&D character.

Level 1: Human (Variant) Fighter 1

Peacemaker is a human. For our feat which we gain thanks to the Human (Variant) as our race, we choose Sharpshooter. Darts are the only ranged weapon that has the finesse property. Therefore, we can use Strength to make attacks with them. Hence, darts are the only weapon that uses strength, and qualify for all of the benefits of Sharpshooter. We can imagine Peacemaker strutting through the battlefield throwing darts with deadly precision to take out the enemies of peace.

Sharpshooter lets us throw our darts at their maximum range of 60 ft. without disadvantage. If we are facing enemies with a low enough AC, we can also benefit from the -5 penalty to hit, and the +10 bonus to damage. In combination with the Archery fighting style, we should be able to use Sharpshooter on almost every attack.

We can describe Peacemaker’s sharpshooter attacks as exploding compression darts. We might not be using a pistol but an extra 10 damage can turn these darts into exploding bullets.

If there was a “fanatic” background, that’s the one we would go for. But Acolyte will do well enough to represent Peacemaker as a deadly crusader who strikes with unerring purpose.

For our starting Ability Scores, we go with a 16 Strength (+1 from Human) and 14 Constitution (+1 from Human). We also take a 14 Wisdom, and 13 Charisma for upcoming multiclassing requirements. With our remaining point, we get a 9 Dexterity.

We will be wearing heavy armor, and a shield, eventually getting us to an AC of 20. Peacemaker is a hardy marksman. Take some time to customize the appearance of this character. The toilet-bowl-shaped helmet is a given, but what about the darts? Maybe they are formed like silver doves, delivering deadly peace to its targets?

Level 2: Cleric 1 (Peace Domain)

Taking levels as a Peace Cleric seemed too thematically fitting to forego. As a first level cleric, we choose the Peace Domain as our subclass, which lets us form an Emboldening Bond among us and our fellow seekers of peace. This lets us and our emboldened allies add a d4 to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. We can combine this with the d4 bonus from casting bless. So now we add 2d4 onto our dart attack, giving us an extremely high chance to hit, even with the Sharpshooter penalty. The fantasy of the infallible marksman that is Peacemaker is coming together.

But we are also leaning into the supportive aspects of being a peace-bringer character. As a cleric, we improve the effectiveness of our party as a whole. And we will continue to build on this combination of peace-loving support, and uncompromising deadly weapon as Peacemaker grows and improves.

Level 3-10: Paladin 8 (Oath of Conquest)

Level 3-4: Paladin 2

The zealous fervor of Peacemaker is solidified, when he swears an oath to bring peace to the world and to strike down any who will oppose him in this crusade. As a Paladin, we gain another fighting style. Here we should pick up

At second level we get the signature Paladin ability, Divine Smite. Unfortunately, we cannot use smites on our dart attacks since those are ranged. If we really wanted to we could switch to a Strength-based melee weapon. But either way, we get enough from Paladin that we can simply ignore Divine Smite. Most importantly, taking levels in Paladin represents the fanatical devotion of Peacemaker to his cause of bloody peace.

Level 5: Paladin 3 (Oath of Conquest)

At third level, we choose our Sacred Oath. The Oath of Conquest fits nicely for Peacemaker. He takes no prisoners on his path to peace. Those who oppose him will shutter with fear, and his attacks are guided by the fervor of a crusader. Especially the Guided Strike feature can be useful for us. Getting another +10 bonus on top of an attack can offset the Sharpshooter penalty completely. Along with the 2d4 bonus from bless and Emboldening bond, Peacemaker basically never misses.

Level 6-7: Paladin 5

For our Ability Score Improvement, we need the Gunner feat. Even though a bump to Strength would be nice, within a few more levels, it is important for us to stay close to our enemies. This feat will not only let Peacemaker actually use firearms now. It will also bring our Dexterity to 10, and let us make ranged attacks without disadvantage.

At level five, we can throw two darts per turn, granting Peacemaker a nice boost to his damage output. The zeal of Peacemaker empowers his ability to throw darts of peace with deadly force.

Level 8-10: Paladin 8

We take paladin to level seven. This will grant our fellow peace-crusaders within 10 ft. of us greater resilience through our Aura of Protection. At seventh level our Aura of Conquest lets Peacemaker really subdue frightened foes around him. We can use our Conquering Presence Channel Divinity option to strike fear into enemies of peace. Our aura will then reduce their speed to zero, and deal a small amount of psychic damage to them. The difficulty class for the saving throw of Conquering Presence is based on Charisma, however. So it is only a 14 at this level. Nonetheless, enemies with a low wisdom score will fail, and we will soon get another, more reliable way to fear enemies.

The image of this D&D character reimagination of Peacemaker is beautifully terrifying. He wades into battle striking down enemies with zealous dart attacks. His enemies cower in fear, regretting the decision to oppose this peace crusader’s righteous cause.

For our next Ability Score Improvement, at paladin level 8, we increase our Strength to 18. On top of respectable damage, we are supporting our allies with Aura of Protection, the Protection fighting style, bless and Emboldening bond. In addition, we are controlling the battlefield with Peacemaker’s zealous fear effects.

Level 11-12: Fighter 3 (Battlemaster)

We build on Peacemakers martial capabilities by taking two more levels of fighter. At second level, we gain Action Surge, which will greatly boost our damage output. At third level, we take the Battlemaster subclass. This will let us choose three maneuvers.

Naturally, Menacing Attack is the first choice. The saving throw DC for this is based on Strength, thankfully. Therefore, the DC is 16, giving us another, more reliable way, which doesn’t take our action, to make use of the Aura of Conquest.

Quick Toss is a great choice for our dart-slinging crusader. The maneuver lets us throw another dart as a bonus action. Finally, Precision Attack is a fine option to guarantee hits on even the most heavily armored foes. With 2d4 from bless and Emboldening bond, +2 from Archery, +10 from Guided Strike, and a d8 from Precision Attack missing is near impossible.

Peacemaker’s damage output has now increased formidably. With Action Surge, Maneuvers, such as a Quick Toss bonus action attack, and smites, Peacemaker now deals 5d4 (five darts) + 4d8 (Maneuvers) + 70 (Sharpshooter and Strength) in one round of combat. We can fear with Menacing Attacks, rooting our target in place should they still be standing after this onslaught of darts. Most likely, however, as the fog of battle lifts, we see Peacemaker standing on a pile of corpses his silver helmet gleaming in the sun, the splatters of blood clearly visible on his shining armor.

Level 13-17: Cleric 6

In his crusade to impose peace on the world, Peacemaker grows more fanatic. Portraying a peace cleric as a ruthless crusader can be an interesting roleplaying challenge. Peacemaker’s devotion is reflected in six more levels of cleric.

Spells

The most important benefit of sticking with cleric are the higher-level spell slots. Three spells are noteworthy options for our spell slots.

Spiritual weapon gives Peacemaker a bonus action ability to shoot his enemies with a spectral Magnum pistol.

Spirit guardians is a powerful option with Peacemaker’s ability to hold enemies in place with Menacing darts and an Aura of Conquest. Spirit guardians can also be effectively upcast with our higher-level spell slots. We can describe Peacemaker’s spirit guardians as white doves that pierce those who oppose peace.

Spirit Shroud empowers Peacemaker’s barrage of crusader’s darts.

If we are facing one powerful foe spirit shroud is the most effective choice. When surrounded by enemies of peace, we should subdue them with a flight of white dove spirit guardians. Whatever the situation, Peacemaker can overcome any challenge on his crusade for glorious peace.

Ability Score Improvements

With the Ability Score Improvement we cap our Strength at 20.

Level 17: Peacemaker in Action

At 17th level, in the first round of combat, Peacemaker can cast spirit shroud as a bonus action, and use Emboldening Bond as his action. In the second round, Peacemaker can throw five darts with Action Surge and Quick Toss. We activate Sharpshooter on every shot thanks to Emboldening Bond and Guided Strike. With Battlemaster Maneuvers we arrive at 5d4+10d8+4d8+75 potential damage in Peacemaker’s most awe-inspiring round of combat. For peace, of course.

The lethality of Peacemaker as a crusading marksman is impressive. But his fanatic purpose also gives him access to great options to support the party. As a 6th-level Peace Cleric, we gain the Protective Bond feature. This gives us and allies affected by Emboldening Bond a reaction option to teleport close to another ally and protect them from damage.

We also have access to the cleric’s spell list, letting us cast healing spells and buffs like aid to even further our party. Peacemaker protects those who follow the righteous path of peace. Enemies who stray from that path will be harshly punished. Peacemaker is both, a ruthless crusader for peace and a fierce protector of his troop.

Peacemaker: The Dart-Slinging Crusader

As Peacemaker we make heavy use of buff spells and features as well as battle maneuvers to improve our crusader’s darts. We are set on a fanatic path as an Oath of Conquest paladin who subdues heretics against the peace with fear. Peacemaker turns his life over to the righteous cause as a Peace Domain cleric, letting him act as “moral” backbone of his allies and deadly warrior.

Links & Resources

D&D Beyond Character Sheet at Level 17 - https://ddb.ac/characters/58316545/tePeJ2
IMDB: “The Suicide Squad” (2021) – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6334354/

Polka-Dot Man as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 5)

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Bloodsport – a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn – a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher – an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Nanaue – a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man – a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother
Peacemaker – a ruthless marksman

Polka-Dot Man: Custom Lineage Sorcerer 14 / Fighter 2 / Warlock 1

Concept

Polka-Dot Man, also known as Abner Krill, is a man infected with an interdimensional virus by his mother. The virus makes colorful dots appear on his skin. Polka-Dot Man can eject these dots as fiery, explosive projectiles that incinerate his enemies.

We use a modification of the build called the “Flame Thrower”, which was created by d4: D&D Deep Dive on YouTube.

Level 1-2: Human (Variant) Sorcerer 2 (Divine Soul)

We choose Custom Lineage as the race for Polka-Dot Man. The virus has altered Krill’s body and mind, granting him his spellcasting ability, as well as a special attunement with extraplanar forces. This is reflected in the Fey Touched (Charisma) feat which we choose at level one. The feat increases our Charisma score by one and gives us the misty step spell. For our second spell from the feat, we choose hex.

Our starting Ability Scores are 18 Charisma (+2 from Custom Lineage, +1 from Fey Touched), 14 Constitution, and 14 Dexterity.

A mix of Haunted One and Criminal seems like fitting combination for our background. Polka-Dot Man is haunted by his evil mother, but he also uses his abilities for criminal activities.

Our starting class is Sorcerer. The innate magic that fuels sorcerer’s spellcasting is a great expression of the virus within Polka-Dot Man. For our D&D game, we should think about where this virus comes from. Mechanically, the Divine Soul sorcerer subclass is amazing. So maybe, our Polka-Dot Man D&D character’s virus is caused by a corrupted celestial.

Before level three, we rely on our fire bolt ****cantrip as well as burning hands or magic missile as our polka-dot attacks. We also get access to the cleric spell list. Therefore, bless is a great support option for our 1st level spell slots. This celestial version of Polka-Dot Man’s virus grants him more versatile effects of his polka dots.

Level 3-4: Sorcerer 4

We continue with more levels in sorcerer. At level 3 we gain access to our Metamagic. We choose quickened spell, and transmuted spell. Krill learns to manipulate his viral polka dots to greater and greater effect.

At level 3, we also gain access to 2nd-level spells. The most important one of these is scorching ray. From now on, this spell will be our main expression of our polka-dot attacks. The multiple fiery attacks of the spell fit well with the image of flammable polka dots shooting forth from the character.

Mechanically, we can combine it with the hex spell to add 1d6 to each hit of an individual ray. If a target is especially hard to hit, we might instead opt for bless to increase our accuracy. With hex cast previously, we are looking at a quickened scorching ray as a bonus action, on top of a fire bolt for a total of 6d6 fire damage from scorching ray, plus 3d6 from hex, plus 1d10 from fire bolt, and another 1d6 from hex on the fire bolt hit. Already at level 3 this character is getting close to the fantasy of a barrage of explosive polka dots.

At fourth level, we take an Ability Score Improvement to increase our Charisma score to 20, improving our accuracy with the scorching ray polka-dot attacks.

Level 5-6: Sorcerer 6

At level 5, we gain access to 3rd-level spells. The 3rd-level spell that we want most is spirit shroud. Most of the time, this spell will replace hex as our concentration spell. Spirit shroud lasts for one minute and lets us add 1d8 extra damage when we hit a creature within 10 feet of us with an attack. This means, we have to get closer to our target than we would like, but mostly the increased damage will be worth the risk. Narratively, we can imagine polka dots flying around us in a 10-foot radius, enhancing Krill’s attacks.

In the first round in combat, we cast spirit shroud as a bonus action and follow it up with fire bolt. On our next turn, we quicken scorching ray, upcast **with a 3rd-level spell slot, and add another fire bolt as our action. That’s a total of 8d6+4d8+2d10+1d8 damage. Krill is honing his control over the virus more and more, increasing the explosiveness of his polka dots.

Level 7-8: Fighter 2

With access to 3rd-level spells and six sorcery points we have covered the magical basics of our polka-dot attacks. For the next two levels, we are taking two levels of fighter, to be able to shoot more and more explosive polka-dot rays.

As a first-level fighter, we gain proficiency with medium armor and shields. Together with the Defense fighting style, half-plate armor and a shield, we get up to an AC of 20. This will make it much more feasible to stay within 10 feet of an enemy to benefit from spirit shroud.

At fighter level two, we get Action Surge. Now, we can cast two scorching ray spells in a single round. We can upcast both of them to 3rd level, and quicken one of them to add a fire bolt during this round. After casting spirit shroud in the first round of combat, we can now deal 16d6+8d8+2d10+1d8 damage with our polka dots. In the fiction of the character, this seems like a breakthrough in Krill’s utilization of the virus. He has learned to double his fiery attacks in a burst of explosive polka dots.

Level 9: Warlock 1 (Hexblade)

Following this breakthrough, its possible that Polka-Dot Man seeks to formalize his pact with the virus. Or maybe, he reaches out to the celestial originator of the virus, or to the spirit of his evil mother. For one reason or another, we are taking a level in warlock.

The Hexblade patron gives us access to Hexblade’s Curse, which lets us add extra damage equal to our proficiency bonus to each attack**.** This will further empower our scorching ray barrage of polka dots. We cast spirit shroud on our first turn. Then, we use a bonus action for Hexblade’s Curse, and Action Surge for two 3rd-level scorching rays. The result is the same 16d6+8d8 damage but now with an added 32 points of damage from four attacks with Hexblade’s Curse active.

Level 10-17: Sorcerer 14 (Spell Slots)

For the rest of Polka-Dot Man’s development, we stick with sorcerer, deepening our original connection with the virus. We use the higher-level spell slots almost exclusively to upcast scorching ray. The only exception are sorcerer levels 9 and 13, where we gain 5th-level and 7th-level spell slot(s) respectively. We use these spell slots to cast spirit shroud at a higher level whenever we get access to them. With a 5th-level spell slot, that increases the extra damage on each ray of scorching ray to 2d8. A 7th-level spirit shroud grants us an extra 3d8 for each explosive stream of polka dots.

Level 10-17: Sorcerer 14 (Ability Score Improvements)

For our Ability Score Improvements we first get the Elemental Adept (fire) feat ****at sorcerer level 8. This lets us ignore fire resistance and further increases our scorching ray damage. Now, we only need to invest a sorcery point to change the damage type of scorching ray when we encounter a foe with fire immunity.

At sorcerer level 12, we have multiple options. We could bump our Constitution score to 16, or choose the Tough feat for more survivability. These are especiallyvalid choices given the 10-feet distance we need to maintain to our target. Alternatively, we could choose the feat Lucky to help us make important saving throws, avoid critical hits against us, and occasionally improve our chance to hit with scorching ray.

Level 17: Sorcerer 14 (Power Move)

At level 17 our full barrage of scorching polka dots looks like this: In round one, we cast spirit shroud at 7th level and follow it up with a fire bolt. Our second turn is when we let loose as many polka dots as we can. We activate Hexblade’s Curse and cast one 6th-level and one 5th-level scorching ray. In that round we will potentially deal 26d6+42 fire damage from seven rays with Hexblade’s Curse, plus 21d8 radiant damage from spirit shroud. Oh, and all of these polka-dot rays will strike critically on a 19 or 20.

At this point, there should be very few foes that we can’t incinerate with that onslaught of exploding polka dots. Polka-Dot Man has mastered the interdimensional virus within himself. He can channel the full destructive power of his affliction, potentially making him the most devastating of all members of the Suicide Squad D&D Party.

Polka-Dot Man: The Incinerator

This D&D character expression of Polka-Dot Man uses the scorching ray spell to emulate the release of explosive polka dots. We enhance this signature maneuver of the character with spirit shroud, Action Surge, and Hexblade’s Curse. The result is the Incinerator: the virus has granted Abner Krill destructive powers beyond his wildest imagination. Not even his mother could have foreseen the sheer inferno that Polka-Dot man can deliver unto his enemies.

Next: Peacemaker - Ruthless Marksman

Next week, we finish the series of the Suicide Squad D&D Party with Peacemaker—a sharpshooter incapable of compromise to bring about “peace.”

Links & Resources

d4: D&D Deep Dive: “The Flame Thrower Sorcerer - D&D: Optimized #45” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxtwL8B2mCk
D&D Beyond Character Sheet at Level 17 - https://ddb.ac/characters/55842740/Xrxupd
IMDB: “The Suicide Squad” (2021) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6334354/

King Shark as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 4)

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 10:00:00 GMT

This article was changed from its original version.

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Bloodsport – a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn – a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher – an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Peacemaker – a ruthless marksman
Nanaue – a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man – a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother

The goal in making these characters in D&D is to create a D&D player’s rendition of each character. We will not be able to capture each unique facet of the fictional characters in the mechanics of D&D. But, not everything needs a mechanic. We will try to create mechanically effective characters, designing them to evoke the feeling of the characters of The Suicide Squad in play. As we will see, this is easier for some characters than it is for others.

All of the character builds cap at level 17. The core abilities that define them come online much earlier though. All of them use the Optional Class Features and the Customizing Your Origin rules from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

King Shark: Lizardfolk Barbarian 12 / Fighter 3 / Monk 2

Concept

King Shark, also known as Nanaue, is a bestial warrior who tears his foes apart with natural weapons.

Level 1: Lizardfolk Barbarian 1

Our choice of race for Nanaue is lizardfolk. We want a potent bite attack to snatch heads and limbs off of our enemies. Lizardfolk gives us a fanged maw as natural weapon with which we can make unarmed strikes for 1d6 + our Strength modifier piercing damage. This and many other features of lizardfolk fit perfectly for a shark character. If our DM is OK with it, we should be able to customize the appearance of our character to make him look like Nanaue.

Our starting Ability Scores for King Shark are 17 Strength (+2 from lizardfolk), and 16 Constitution (+1 from lizardfolk). We also take a 13 Wisdom and 14 Dexterity for multiclassing requirements. Otherwise, our mental stats should be as low as possible. Nanaue is a prolific warrior, but not the smartest, or most charismatic of characters.

As the son of “The King of All Sharks”, the Noble background might be an interesting choice that lets us play against type. Otherwise, Outlander or Far Traveler are appropriate backgrounds for King Shark.

If there is any barbarian character in The Suicide Squad, Nanaue is one. As a barbarian we gain Rage and Unarmored Defense. From the outset, King Shark can walk into battle bare-chested, ripping enemies apart with his bite attack.

Level 2-5: Barbarian 5 (Path of the Beast)

We stay with barbarian until level five for now. At level two we can attack recklessly, tearing the flesh off of our foes with no regard for our own safety.

At level 3, we choose Path of the Beast as our barbarian subclass. This will further improve our fighting with natural weapons. At this point, King Shark chooses to try out some different fighting methods. Maybe he has grown tired of only ever biting enemies to death. Maybe he has a chipped tooth. For whatever reason, Nanaue now prefers to fight with his clawed fists when he is raging.

The Form of the Beast feature allows us to make an additional attack with our claws whenever we attack with them using the Attack action. We are getting closer to our vision of the frenzied King Shark tearing enemies apart in a cloud of blood, rage, and fear.

For our Ability Score Improvement, we choose the Piercer feat. This will bump our Strength to 18, increase our critical hit damage. Unfortunately, our claw attacks, which we’ll be using mostly while raging, deal slashing damage. So this feat will only trigger when we use our bite attack. Alternatively, we could choose the Slasher feat, but we will be attacking with our claws and our bite starting next level. Also, it feels right to lean into the bite attack more than the claws. After all, Nanaue’s maw is about 30% of his entire body mass.

At level five, we gain Extra Attack. Now we can make one attack with our claws, an additional claw attack thanks to our Form of the Beast feature, and follow it up with a bite as our second attack. Already, while raging, Nanaue deals significant damage. 2d6+12 from our claws, plus 1d6+6 from our bite. That is not including the potential benefits to our bite from the Piercer feat. But the King Shark is just ramping up. Soon, no bad-guy heads will be safe from our maw.

Level 6-7: Monk 2

We take two levels of monk to lean into Nanaue’s unarmed fighting even more. At level one we gain the Martial Arts feature which allows us to weaponize our bonus action. Our lizardfolk bite counts as an unarmed strike, so it qualifies for the Martial Arts attack.

At second level we gain two Ki points. These will be mostly used for Flurry of Blows, which lets us make two bite attacks as a bonus action.

Now Nanaue makes two claw attacks, and three bite attacks when he uses his Flurry of Blows. While raging, that’s 2d6+12 slashing plus 3d6+18 piercing damage. Now the Piercer feat is really paying off. King Shark can now make a minimum of four claw/bite attacks each round. Not many enemies will be left with their head, or any other limbs, still attached to their body after that. And it’s about to get even wilder.

Level 8-10: Fighter 3 (Rune Knight)

Nanaue continues to hone his martial skills. We reflect this growth by taking three levels of fighter. The Interception fighting style lets King Shark protect those lucky few who he calls his friends.

At second level, Action Surge provides an immense boost to our damage output. Note that the Form of the Beast extra claw attack can only trigger once per turn, so for our second Attack action, we are better off making two bite attacks, utilizing the Piercer feat.

For our subclass, we choose Rune Knight. The Fire Rune from the Rune Carver feature lets us restrain an enemy and deal 2d6 fire damage to them. The target takes 2d6 fire damage on each of their turns, as long as they are restrained. Now, fire might seem counterintuitive for our King Shark. We could talk to our DM, and see if we can change it to a more appropriate damage type like cold damage. Maybe the power of our ancestral aquatic home empowers these special strikes.

We also gain the Giant’s Might feature at level three. The Medium size of our character has been a thorn in our side from the beginning. Now we can use a bonus action to become Large, and deal an extra 1d6 damage on a hit once per turn.

While raging, with Action Surge, the Fire Rune, Giant’s Might, and Flurry of Blows, we now potentially deal 2d6+12 slashing damage from our claws, 2d6 fire damage from the rune, an extra 1d6 damage from Giant’s might, plus 5d6+30 piercing damage from our five bite attacks we will be making. There’s a good chance that after that round of bites and claws, all that remains of our foe is a fine mist of blood which will drive Nanaue further into his battle frenzy.

Level 11-17: Barbarian 12

After level 10, we can choose multiple paths for King Shark. We could go fighter to pick up a third attack, more Ability Score Improvements and a Runic Shield which lets us protect our allies. More monk levels seem suboptimal due to the meager d8 hit dice, as well as the reliance on Wisdom.

Therefore, we will stick with barbarian all the way to level 17. Advantage on initiative rolls lets us tear through our enemies before they see the giant shark-beast that’s charging them. Brutal Critical lets us roll an additional damage die on a critical hit which stacks with the additional die from the Piercer feat.

Unfortunately the 6th-level feature Bestial Soul only makes the natural weapons from our Form of the Beast count as magical. As we reach higher levels, more and more monsters are going to have resistance against our lizardfolk bite attacks. We might be able to convince our DM to let this feature apply to our lizardfolk bites as well. If not, we need to use our claws whenever we face an enemy with resistance to nonmagical damage.

For our final two Ability Score Improvements we improve our damage output by increasing our Strength to 20. We also pick up the Tough feat. Eventually, we want to be able to survive a building collapsing on us. And non-magical bullets should not so much as tickle King Shark.

King Shark: Blood-Frenzied Beast

This version of King Shark, Nanaue, as a D&D character focuses on making many attacks with claws and bites. The lizardfolk bite attack, and the Path of the Beast claws combined with Flurry of Blows and Action Surge fulfills the dream of a frenzied monster in combat. When King Shark enters the battlefield, any foes that are slow or stupid enough to stay around will quickly lose heads and limbs.

Next: Polka-Dot Man - The Infinite Flamethrower

Next week, we come up with a way to re-create Polka-Dot Man as a D&D character. The character who’s been infected with an interdimensional virus by his mother shoots his polka dots to turn enemies into piles of ashes.

Links & Resources

D&D Beyond Character Build at Level 17 - https://ddb.ac/characters/55833545/6gTd3T
IMDB: “The Suicide Squad (2021)” - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6334354/

Ratcatcher as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 3)

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Bloodsport - a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn - a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher - an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Nanaue - a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man - a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother
Peacemaker - a ruthless marksman

All of the following characters are designed to reach level 17. The core abilities that define them come online much earlier though. All of them use the optional class features and the customize your Origin rules from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

Ratcatcher: Custom Lineage Druid 16 / Cleric 1

Concept

Ratcatcher is an orphan whose father taught her to forge a special bond with rats. Ever since, Ratcatcher uses her little friends to overwhelm her enemies.

Level 1: Custom Lineage Druid 1

We choose Custom Lineage as Ratcatcher’s race. She is essentially human, but her special training early in childhood has altered her biology slightly. Ratcatcher has adapted to the darkness in which the rats dwell, giving her darkvision. She also has built up unusual physical resilience, represented in the Resilient (Constitution) feat we choose at level 1.

Our starting Ability Scores for Ratcatcher are 16 Wisdom (+2 from Custom Lineage), 16 Constitution (+1 from our feat), and 14 Dexterity.

For our background, Urchin seems like a natural fit. Ratcatcher grew up on the streets and in the sewers where she met her vermin friends.

The speak with animals spell seems essential for Ratcatcher at level one. At least until we get our Speech of the Woods feature at level 2. In combat, however, we will mostly be relying on shillelagh at this level.

Level 2-3: Druid 3 (Circle of the Shepherd)

At level three, Ratcatcher gains access to her first rat. We can cast the 2nd-level spell summon beast. The beast comes with a generic stat block. We can flavor this companion as a rat, or even a small swarm of rats. Mechanically it functions as the spell reads, but we can talk to our dungeon master to have the singular beast appear as a swarm of rats.

With our Spirit Totem feature from the Circle of Shepherd’s subclass, we can create a Bear Spirit which grants us and our allies temporary hit points. Remember the little flashlight Ratcatcher uses to control the rats? What if our Bear Spirit appeared in the form of this little contraption, which Ratcatcher uses to embolden her companions?

Level 4-6: Druid 6

It takes five levels for this build to really come online. At level 4, we pick up the Warcaster feat for advantage on our Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on our summoning spells. This is pivotal because with third level druid spells, we gain access to conjure animals. This spell lets us summon eight beasts of challenge rating 1/4 or lower. A giant rat is only CR 1/8 while a regular rat is CR 0. To stay as effective in combat as Ratcatcher appears, we might want to talk to our dungeon master again. Specifically, ask about re-flavoring a CR 1/4 creature like the wolf as a dire rat or a swarm of rats. Again, the mechanics stay those of the wolf stat block, but the appearance is more tailored to our vision of Ratcatcher, the Vermin Mistress.

To not slow down combat too much, we should come up with a manageable solution for our summoning spells in combat. We can talk to our dungeon master, and discuss potentially using the rules for Mob Attacks for our rat allies. Alternatively, we could pre-roll attacks for our summons during other players’ turns. That way, we can quickly resolve our summoned creature’s actions when it is our turn.

At druid level 6, we gain the Mighty Summoner feature. This grants our summoned rats an extra 2 hit points per Hit Die they have and makes their attacks magical. This guarantees that Ratcatcher’s friends can stay relevant in combat.

Level 7: Cleric 1 (Peace Domain)

At this point, Ratcatcher is evolving from her role as a lone urchin into a force for good.

We take one level in cleric to gain access to the Peace Domain’s Emboldening Bond feature. We can use it to create a bond between us and the party, but Ratcatcher might also use it to empower her faithful vermin friends. Once per turn, creatures emboldened by the feature can add a d4 to an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw. This will help Ratcatcher keep her friends (adventurers or rats) alive and improve their effectiveness in combat.

Level 8-17: Druid 16

From here on out, our goal for Ratcatcher is to summon more and more rats to her side. With our spell slot progression, we eventually gain access to 9th level spell slots, even though we don’t have any 9th level spells. Conjure animals cast at 9th level, lets us summon 32 wolves, re-flavored as rats or swarms of rats. All of them benefit from Mighty Summoner, Bear Spirit (21 temporary hit points), and Guardian Spirit (healing them for 8 hit points at the end of their turn). That is a total of 128 extra hit points from Mighty Summoner, 672 temporary hit points from Bear Spirit, and potentially 256 hit points healed at the end of each turn. With the right description and narration, we can realize the fantasy of an unending stream of rats that surround and aid Ratcatcher in battle.

Our 14th level Circle of the Shepherd feature, Faithful Summons, also calls re-flavored rats to our side should Ratcatcher drop in a fight. When we are reduced to 0 HP or are incapacitated, four beasts of CR 2 or lower appear and protect Ratcatcher.

As for Ability Score Improvements, we are choosing the Lucky feat at druid level 8. At levels 12 and 16, we bump our Constitution score up to 20. This further decreases the likelihood of us dropping concentration on our summoning spells. At level 17, we have a +11 bonus to our Constitution saving throws, we make them with advantage to maintain concentration, and we can use Luck Points to re-roll any saves we fail. Ratcatcher should be able to consistently utilize her vermin allies in battle.

Ratcatcher: The Vermin Mistress

This D&D player’s rendition of Ratcatcher uses the excellent summoning spells and features of the Circle of Shepherd druid to overwhelm the enemy with her faithful rat friends. We make liberal use of re-skinning, to get access to the most effective summoned stat blocks while staying within the theme of the Vermin Mistress.

Next: Nanaue - King Shark

Next week, we create a D&D expression of Nanaue, King Shark - a natural-weapon specialist who will eat anyone who is not his friend.

Links & Resources

D&D Beyond Character Build at Level 17 - https://ddb.ac/characters/55832874/ozLmby
IMDB: “The Suicide Squad (2021)” - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6334354/

Harley Quinn as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 2)

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Bloodsport - a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn - a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher - an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Peacemaker - a ruthless marksman
Nanaue - a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man - a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother

Harley Quinn D&D Character: Elf Warlock 1 / Rogue 3 / Fighter 3 / Paladin 2 / Bard 8

Concept

Harley Quinn is as deadly as she is chaotic. She is a vicious assassin with a sense for drama. In this build, we are trying to realize Harley’s deadly strikes with a special performative flourish.

The movie shows Harley Quinn with a variety of weapons, including a powerful javelin. In the mechanics of D&D, a javelin or spear does not work well for our vision of the character. Instead we are falling back to the shortsword. We can talk to our dungeon master to flavor this mechanical weapon choice in whatever way we see fit. Maybe the shortsword we are wielding resembles a spear more than a blade. Maybe the dual-wielding shortsword attacks are actually two attacks with the same spear. For effective mechanics, we stick with shortswords, but that shouldn’t limit our descriptions of Harley Quinn, the Deadly Jester.

Level 1: Elf Warlock 1 (Hexblade), Criminal/Haunted One Background

We choose any elf race for Harley Quinn. Canonically, she is of course human, but in this D&D rendition of the character, an elf works well. Harley is not quite human, she displays exceptional agility and keen senses that elves as a race bring to this character. Later on, we will be taking the Elven Accuracy feat, so we need to start as an elf.

We should start with a 17 Dexterity (+2 from elf) and a 16 Charisma (+1 from elf). Then we need a 13 Strength for later multiclassing requirements. That leaves Harley Quinn with a meager 12 Constitution - she isn’t the beefiest of characters after all.

A fitting background might come in the combination of Criminal and Haunted One. While Criminal covers Harley’s profession, Haunted One brings some flavorful personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws to the character. These work well with her traumatic history with the Joker.

For our starting class, we are selecting warlock with the Hexblade patron. Harley’s patron could be the Joker for example. Through questionable methods, he grants her special abilities that improve Harley’s deadliness. We gain access to the Hex spell and the Booming Blade cantrip - two mechanics we will be using for the rest of Harley Quinn’s career as a D&D character. We also get Hexblade’s Curse, which lets us curse a target, and deal extra damage to it on each hit. It also doubles our chance of a critical hit against that target.

With booming blade, Hex, Hexblade’s Curse and a Bonus Action off-hand attack with a second shortsword, we are dealing 1d6+3 (shortsword) +1d6 (Hex) +2 (Hexblade’s Curse) +1d6 (off-hand shortsword) +1d6 (Hex) +2 (Hexblade’s Curse) damage per turn. If the target of booming blade moves, they take an additional 1d8 thunder damage.

Flavor-wise, we can imagine Harley Quinn hurling insults at her enemy while she fights. The curses are so vicious, they manifest in grievous wounds on the target.

Level 2-4: Rogue 3 (Swashbuckler or Assassin)

Next, we are taking three levels in rogue. This gives us Sneak Attack and fits the criminal/assassin archetype of Harley well. For our subclass, we can choose Assassin if we want the maximum possible damage output. Or we go with Swashbuckler for a more reliable Sneak Attack, and the ability to weave in and out of combat. We imagine Harley Quinn dancing across the battle field, untouched by her enemies.

Level 5-7: Fighter 3 (Battlemaster)

At level five, Harley Quinn further hones her fighting prowess. Three levels of fighter give us the Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style, Action Surge, and maneuvers from the Battlemaster subclass. Trip Attack, Menacing Attack, and Riposte are excellent choices. Now, we add a d8 to our attacks with a maneuver, and potentially knock the target prone or frighten them. Riposte gives us a chance at a second Sneak Attack when we use our reaction for another attack. Harley’s deadliness has increased dramatically.

With Action Surge, we can now use our improced booming blade twice, add a d8 from a maneuver on each of the attacks, including our bonus action attack from Two-Weapon Fighting. This puts us at two attacks which deal 1d6+3 (shortsword) +1d8 (booming blade) +1d8 (maneuver) +1d6 (Hex) +3 (Hexblade’s Curse). We also make a bonus action attack for another 1d6+3 (shortsword) +1d8 (maneuver) +1d6 (Hex) +3 (Hexblade’s Curse). One of these attacks is also dealing the 2d6 Sneak Attack damage. That leaves Harley Quinn with 8d6+5d8+18 potential points of damage in the first round of combat.

Harley’s deadliness is undeniable at this point, but we can push it a little further.

Level 8-9: Paladin 2

A few levels in paladin might seem odd at first, but Harley Quinn’s devotion to the Joker is unwavering. Her bond intensifies, making her even deadlier. From paladin we gain Divine Smite. Harley can now invoke the brutality of the Joker to make her attacks strike with increased fervor.

Level 10-17: Bard 8 (College of Whispers)

Up until level 9, we have concentrated on the deadly part of Deadly Jester. But all the while, Harley has been wearing her signature jester outfit. It is time we reflect that in our build. For the rest of this build, we are going bard.

We gain Expertise, letting Harley persuade and deceive with excellency out of combat. Our subclass, the College of Whispers, imbues Harley’s attacks with psychic terror. Once per round, she can deal an extra 2d6 psychic damage on a hit (increased to 3d6 at Bard level 5).

We also finally gain our first Ability Score Improvement. We can take Elven Accuracy, bump our Dexterity to 18, and give us potential “super advantage” on attacks. At bard level 8 we bump our Dexterity to 20, bringing Harley’s acrobatic fighting mode to full fruition.

The main feature why we are taking Bard levels, however, is for higher-level spell slots. With the extra spell slot progression from our Paladin levels, we max out at 5th level slots. These can be used for awesome bard spells to portray Harley’s dramatic side as a jester. But if we want the maximum deadliness for Harley Quinn, we use our spell slots for Divine Smites.

At level 17, we can deal an significant amount of damage on Harley’s first turn in combat. Two booming blade attacks with Action Surge, plus one bonus action attack, plus Hex, Hexblade’s Curse and Battlemaster maneuvers give us 6d6+9d8+33 potential damage. Add Sneak Attack, and Psychic Blades for another combined 5d6. Then add three 4th-level smites on all attacks for an additional combined 15d8 radiant damage. All of these attacks are done at triple advantage from Elven Accuracy once we gain advantage, either from our Assassin subclass, or a Battlemaster maneuver. These attacks are likely critical hits thanks to the Assassin subclass, or due to our increased critical range from Hexblade’s Curse in combination with super-advantage from Elven Accuracy.

Harley Quinn D&D Character: The Deadly Jester

Harley Quinn is very deadly. And she is a jester who uses her sense of drama and malice to strike fear into her enemies. With this D&D player’s rendition of Harley Quinn we can fulfill the fantasy of a master assassin who can quickly take out her target. We also add her dramatic flourish as a follower of the Joker with the choice of bard as a class. Harley Quinn, the Deadly Jester, is as effective, as she is chaotic.

Next: Ratcatcher - The Vermin Mistress

Next week, we build Ratcatcher in D&D. She relies on her special bond with rats to overwhelm enemies.

Links & Resources

D&D Beyond Character Build at level 17 - https://ddb.ac/characters/55897838/A5DLRK
IMDB: “The Suicide Squad (2021)” - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6334354/
Treantmonk: “Shadowblade Assassin: 1000+ damage build Adventurer’s League” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eJDWG0UlsM

Bloodsport as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 1)

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Bloodsport - a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn - a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher - an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Peacemaker - a ruthless marksman
Nanaue - a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man - a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother

Bloodsport D&D Character: Human Artificer 11 / Fighter 3 / Ranger 3

Concept

Bloodsport augments his martial capabilities with his highly advanced suit of armor. He shoots a variety of weapons that are embedded in the armor.

Level 1: Human Artificer, Soldier/Criminal Background

We choose Human (Variant) as the race for Bloodsport, and select the Sharpshooter feat at level one.

For our starting Ability scores, we want a 16 Intelligence (+1 from human), a 14 Constitution (+1 from human), as well as 13 Dexterity and 14 Wisdom to meet the necessary multiclassing requirements.

At level 1, we begin as an artificer. For levels 1 and 2, we will be relying on the fire bolt cantrip as our main damage output.

The background could be a combination of Criminal and Soldier. We should try to capture the martial training and talent of Bloodsport along with his history as a master criminal.

Level 2-3: Artificer (Armorer)

At level 3, however, Bloodsport gets his signature armor. We gain proficiency with heavy armor. In addition, the Arcane Armor feature of the Armorer subclass, allows Bloodshot to use a weapon that is integrated in his armor.

The Infiltrator model lets him sneak very well, and lets him shoot Lightning Launchers, which use his Intelligence modifier for attacks and damage. Here, we can flex our re-flavoring muscles. Mechanically, we will be using the same weapon all the time. But in narration, we can describe Bloodshot detaching new weapons from his armor every turn, fulfilling the techno-gunslinger fantasy.

Our Artificer Infusions let us improve Bloodsports armor further. Enhanced Weapon and Enhanced Armor provide us a +1 bonus to attack and damage, as well as to our armor class.

Level 4: Fighter 1

To boost our fighting capabilities, we are taking our first level in fighter now. This gives us access to the Archery fighting style, increasing our chance to hit with our Lightning Launchers.

Level 5-8: Artificer 4-5, Fighter 3

Bloodsport is slinging a barrage of shots within seconds. With two more levels of artificer, we gain Extra Attack and an Ability Score Improvement (ASI). We should increase our Intelligence modifier to 18. Fighter 2 gives us Action Surge. At this point, we can take four shots in a single round with Action Surge. We can use Sharpshooter on each of these shots for 1d6+15 damage per hit. That seems just about right for a master shot like Bloodsport.

The Samurai is a great fit for Bloodsport’s fighter subclass. We can use a bonus action to gain advantage on all attacks until the end of our turn. But the archetype of a Samurai works well or Bloodsport as well. Driven reluctantly to become a leader, he relies on his sense of honor to make decisions.

Level 9-11: Ranger 3 (Gloom Stalker)

Bloodsport’s armor gains further enhancements improving his capabilities in combat and exploration. Taking Gloom Stalker lets us make an extra attack on our first turn in combat. In addition, we are invisible to creatures relying on darkvision to see us. This can grant us advantage on all attacks, and enemies disadvantage on all attacks against us.

We also pick up the Defense fighting style and hunter’s mark, as Bloodsport’s armor is improved and modified. This gives us an AC of 22, and an extra d6 of damage on each of our attacks.

Level 12-17: Artificer 6-11

Taking the rest of our levels in Artificer continually increases our armor and its weapons. At level 17, we can have two additional infusions in our armor. Bloodsport will be very hard to hit with a repulsion shield, a fire resistant enhanced armor, and an enhanced weapon. We end up with an AC of 25 is we replicate a Cloak of Protection. Our armor has become very sturdy.

We also bump Bloodsport’s Intelligence to 20. Our integrated weapons (Lightning Launchers) make their five attacks, all at advantage from Samurai or Gloom Stalker, with a +10 to hit for 2d6+17 damage on each with sharpshooter and hunter’s mark included (in both, attack and damage).

Going to Artificer level 11 also grants us better spellcasting. But is Bloodsport really magical? This is why these character builds work like D&D player’s rendition of the character. We can use D&D’s magic system to express abilities of non-magical, fictional characters. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistuingishable from magic.” In this case, we are using our armor as a spellcasting focus. Bloodsport’s armor is so advanced, it blurs the lines of magic and technology.

Our Concentration is best spent on Hunter’s Mark or Haste. We can think of any other spells we choose as custom modifications of Bloodsport’s armor.

Bloodsport D&D Character: Armored Marksman

This version of Bloodsport focuses solely on his armor and his abilities as a sharpshooter. We end up with a heavily modified plate armor. Our Lightning Launcher weapons are flavored as modules of our armor. With Artificer infusions, and Sharpshooter, we can emulate the deadly bullet hail of Bloodsport.

Next: Harley Quinn - The Deadly Jester

Next week, we focus on Harley Quinn. Her deadliness is obvious, but her unique appearance gives this Deadly Jester build its sinister appeal.

Links and Resources

D&D Beyond Link to the level 17 build - https://ddb.ac/characters/55829089/Dl8fhH
IMDB: “The Suicide Squad (2021)” - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6334354/
d4: D&D Deep Dive: “The Armorer” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuhVGfWQpVo

Take a D&D Character Build and Make it Sing!

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Giving life to D&D character optimization

When we hear “optimization” or “min-maxing” in Dungeons & Dragons, we think of a player character that is focused on mechanics at the cost of roleplaying or backstory elements. That does not have to be true. There are an infinite number of ways to come up with a character for D&D. One possibility that yields both, great roleplaying opportunities, and effective mechanics, is to take an optimized build, and make it sing. Make it your own. Give it life. Turn numbers into stories.

When we say “optimized” in this article, we don’t refer to a power gamer’s fantasy of trivializing combats or challenges. Our goal is not to overshadow other players. Instead, we are looking for a build that follows a specific concept, and tries to find the best combination of mechanics to bring that concept to life effectively. An optimized build might be a spore-beast-hybrid. Or a mounted techno-knight. Or a master of life and death. We take these builds as an inspiring starting point for character creation.

Infinite ways of building a D&D character

You might have your own way to create a character. Some people like to be inspired by a narrative concept first. They might take a theme, a character from fiction, or even an image as a starting point. Mechanics might not come into play, until everything else from backstory, to personality traits, and ideals, bonds and flaws have been decided.

Other possibilities include playing with pre-generated characters. This is a great option if you’re running or playing in a one-shot adventure. The pre-made characters can be easily tied into the story, and the DM knows what to expect mechanically.

We could also build a character with varying degrees of randomness involved in the process. We might roll for personality traits, ideals, bonds and flaws. Maybe we even let the dice decide our race, class, and aspects of our backstory!

Great mechanics as a starting point

But what if we started at the ending? With the mechanics of our character. What if we took a mechanically optimized build as the starting point and created a rich, memorable, and effective character out of it?

The standard approach would be to think of a concept, and then find effective mechanics for it. But in this method, we start with the mechanics. Where can we find optimized builds that inspire us in D&D character creation? Here are three amazing sources for unique builds for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons:

Treantmonk’s Temple - https://www.youtube.com/user/sevlevboss
d4: D&D Deep Dive - https://www.youtube.com/c/DDDeepDive
3d6 subreddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/

Browsing these sources is inspiring in itself. Even beyond character creation, we can pick up unique concepts for NPCs or villains. But when we’re coming up with a new D&D character, we choose a build that seems fun to us from these or other sources. We then strip it of most if not all of its attached lore and flavor. Then we make it our own.

Making an optimized build our own

Focus on the story, be inspired by mechanics

By using a preconceived character build, we can free our mind from mechanical considerations. We can turn our full attention to building the narrative around the character. For example, we can take mechanical aspects of the build and think through what these signify for the character. Where did this mounted battle smith find its mechanical steed? Did they build it themselves? Did they defeat it in battle once and now it is bound to serve the character? Fun mechanics can inspire a rich story.

Choose an interesting race

Sometimes, an optimized build is reliant on a particular choice of race. But with the changes in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, often, that is no longer the case. That means we can often exchange the recommended race for something we like thematically.

Before Tasha’s, certain classes relied on a specific race for their Ability Score Increases. A barbarian usually needs an increase to Strength and/or Constitution to be effective. That left them with few choices such as goliath or half-orc. With the changes in Tasha’s, we can now change the Ability Score Increases to whatever stat we need for our character. The dream of the hobgoblin wizard, the gnome barbarian, or the goliath rogue is finally possible without making the character less effective.

By choosing Custom Lineage from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, we can come up with even more intriguing ancestries for our characters. Maybe their mother was a human but their father an efreeti. As a result the character has human features with a fiery mind, which is channeled into their magic, their skills, or their battle rage. Custom Lineage allows us to gain a +2 increase to an Ability Score of our choice, and a free feat. That option, together with customized Ability Score Increases, leaves plenty of room to make optimized builds our own, by choosing an interesting race.

Choose a unique background

Most of the time, the background is not an essential part of a mechanically optimized build. This leaves us with an obvious avenue for customization. Playing against type is often a fantastic method to create memorable characters. What if our spore-druid-beast-barbarian is actually a sage. The mechanics are all about dealing tons of damage with natural weapons. Maybe the character created these weapons through years of research. Backgrounds are an easy way to bring a min-maxed build to life.

Example: Meemon Northgate

The build: The Guardian by Treantmonk

As an example, let’s say we start with the build called “The Guardian” by Treantmonk. The combination of mechanics of the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian, the Echo Knight Fighter, and the War Magic Wizard seem unique, fun, and party-focused. Now let’s give some life to this build.

Choosing background and race to create a story

We can imagine a character like this, who is focused on protecting his allies, as a friendly and caring individual. Let’s say they serve in the City Watch of Waterdeep, where they can earn a livelihood protecting others. Let’s call him Meemon - a randomly generated, friendly-sounding name. We change the background of the character to a mix of City Watch Member, Folk Hero, and Urchin.

The Path of Ancestral Guardians calls upon spectral ancestral spirits that aid us in battle. We can portray that in our choice of race. Let’s go with firbolg. It is a comparably rare race, it has strong tribal ties in its lore, and the large physique of firbolgs work well with our barbarian’s martial prowess. We can imagine the character being left in Waterdeep as an infant. We can signify that through Meemon’s last name: Northgate. As an orphan, he had no last name, so the place where he was found works well.

Letting great mechanics inspire the narrative

So, how is Meemon getting access to the mechanical features of the build? Clearly, his firbolg ancestors are present within him. When he rages, they become visible as spectral firbolgs who stride into battle alongside Officer Northgate, protecting those in need. Later on, we can tie the Echo Knight feature into this story. At that point, Meemon gains better control over one spirit in particular. Through that singular ancestral guardian, he can make attacks, and even swap places with them. Our later levels in Wizard can be foreshadowed with an old leather-bound book that was found with Meemon as an infant. The glyphs in it are incomprehensible for now, but later Meemon might decipher some of them and thereby create his personal spellbook.

So we started with an existing mechanical build, “The Guardian.” We then change the background and the race to give a personal touch to the mechanics of the build. Then, we come up with flavorful descriptions and explanations for the abilities of the character. We might have begun with just mechanics, but we ended up with Meemon Northgate, a unique, interesting, and effective D&D character.

How to build a mechanically effective, rich and memorable character

The result of this approach is a D&D character that is both, really effective mechanically, and unique and memorable from a narrative perspective. We can start our character creation process by choosing a min-maxed build, and making it our own. Focus on the story, be inspired by mechanics. Decide how your character acquired the features of the build. Change the race. Change the background. That way, we build a fantastic narrative around the optimized build. In this process, we break the false distinction between optimizer and roleplayer. The two are not mutually exclusive. Great mechanics can inspire great roleplay. If we follow this approach, we create a character that is fun to pilot in battle, and rewarding to portray in roleplay.

What’s next: The Suicide Squad as a D&D Party

In the next few articles, we are going to build the characters from the 2021 movie The Suicide Squad as D&D characters. These player-focused articles diverge from the usual DM advice on this blog. Nonetheless, they can be useful to both players and DMs. Especially forever-DMs should put themselves in their players’ position every once in a while. Also… Character creation can be extremely entertaining, so stay tuned!

In the next article, we begin with Bloodsport - a gunslinger in high-tech armor!

Links & Resources

Treantmonk: “Optimize your Character Concept D&D 5e” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1okK0Gbzx7U
Treantmonk’s Temple - https://www.youtube.com/user/sevlevboss
d4: D&D Deep Dive - https://www.youtube.com/c/DDDeepDive
3d6 subreddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/

Pacing D&D Downtime Sessions by Zooming In

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Downtime Sessions

Downtime in our D&D games can help us and our players to develop their characters. Through downtime, players can lean into backstory elements, personal goals, and character development. They can spend days tracking down a former relative. They can craft personalized items over weeks or months. Character might spend years building their own stronghold, shop, or tavern. If we incorporate downtime in our game, we allow our players narrative breathing room. In the span of days, weeks, months, or even longer, characters can develop in ways that cannot be captured in the minute detail of adventure. We can use downtime to deepen the players involvement in the fiction of their characters.

But if the resolution of downtime takes too much of our valuable game time, the engagement of everyone at the table might drop. Players want to see their characters do awesome stuff. They want to use their character’s abilities. They might be interested in developing their characters personal story arc, but they probably wouldn’t be playing D&D if they didn’t also want to beat up on fantastical monsters.

Even in downtime sessions, we can do both. We can give players the necessary in-game time to develop their characters while seizing on opportunities of adventure when they present themselves. We can zoom in to improve the pacing of our session.

The Purpose of Downtime in D&D

We can find explanations of downtime in many published Dungeons & Dragons books. Here is an overview of the relevant sections:

The Players Handbook contains an overview of possible activities on page 187.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide goes into more detail about the purpose of downtime in our D&D games and provides more example activities (pg. 127-131).
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything introduces rivals, and expands and updates the existing rules for downtime resolution (pg. 123-134).

Two useful tips regarding the purpose of downtime stand out. We can use downtime to control the pace of the story, and to involve the characters in the fiction of the world.

D&D Downtime: Controlling the pace of the story

The DMG tells us to use downtime to prevent characters “from gaining too much power too quickly.” We should not take this to mean that we insert downtime sessions into our regular games in order to extend the time players spend with their characters at one level. Players would grow to hate downtime. Instead of thinking of real world time, we should consider the pace of the story.

The fiction of our campaign might function best when we can think in terms of years rather than days or weeks. If an evil overlord is threatening a kingdom for generations, it might be fun to explore such a time frame. We could follow the characters as they begin to fight the minions of the overlord at low levels, but then spend years of downtime working in a normal profession. The characters might marry and have children. We might want to emulate the pacing of Lord of the Rings in our campaign. If that fits the tone of our campaign, we should make heavy use of downtime.

D&D Downtime: Involving the characters in the world

Downtime can help us involve the characters in the world. Over days, weeks, or months the characters can build their own attachments to the game world. We can allow these attachments to develop organically in downtime sessions. Our rogue might spend a few days on a heist with the local thieves’ guild. The scholar might spend a week losing herself in the ancient archives. The longer periods of time establish the characters as parts of the world they inhabit. And they will naturally draw players deeper into the fiction. But they can also serve as little adventure seeds to zoom in to downtime.

The Thin Veil Between Downtime and Adventure in D&D

Downtime is slow. No matter how we run downtime during our sessions, its narrative mode is designed to zoom out from the fast pace of adventure. Adventure includes the thrill of combat, traps, and hazards. Moment-to-moment decisions decide over life and death. How can we bridge that sharp divide? How can we blur the line between adventure and downtime?

Crossing the line

“Keep that adventure out of my downtime!”, might be a logical impulse. But we can introduce adventure into our downtime to keep players on their toes. When downtime includes opportunities for adventure, it becomes less separated from the rest of our game. When a session can freely oscillate between downtime resolution and adventure, we can keep the pace of the game exciting. In such a session, we might cover multiple months of in-game time. But we can intersperse the resolution of downtime with action-filled adventure.

Zooming In

We can think of one of our DM tools as zooming in and out of the timeline of the campaign. We zoom out to describe how a character develops a recipe for a magical item. The druid might spend days researching at the library, consulting with the local elders, and conducting small experiments. All of that activity might come down to a single Arcana check. But then the character might have to try to acquire a magical ingredient for the item. They might track down an owlbear blessed by a goddess of moonlight to harvest its feathers.

At that moment in the fiction we can zoom in and run a small adventure. We reconnect with our characters after a couple of weeks of downtime have passed. Together, they are trotting through the rainy forest. The moon shines bright as they hear the enchanting scream of the moon-touched owlbear. Look, we’re in an adventure!

Involving all the Characters

Downtime is mostly focused on individual character development. While the party might decide to build a stronghold together, they will also pursue personal goals. When we are doing regular downtime resolution, we might go around the table, hear each player’s intent, ask for any necessary rolls, and narrate the outcome. But sometimes, we want to zoom in. And when we do so, we want all of the characters there to be part of the action.

In that instance, we can help players involve their characters in the ongoing story. Even though the quest is for the downtime activity of the druid, the cleric that follows the moon goddess might be more interested once she hears of the moon-touched nature of the owlbear. Once the beast is slain, the cleric might discover omens from her deity in the remains of the owlbear. We can plan for these things in advance, if we know the characters well. Or we can come up with individual adventure hooks at the table, together with the players, as we draw each character into the story.

Opportunities for Collaborative Storytelling

We can also try to involve our players in more collaborative story telling. As we zoom in, we might ask them directly, what would motivate their characters in this scenario. We can hand over more narrative power in these moments of downtime, than we might be comfortable with in the main story arc of our campaign. We can tell our players that they can look beyond their character in these moments.

One player might suggest that their half-orc bard has distant family in those woods. Even though we had no idea that the bard had family, much less in these woods, we can run with it. The player will light up when they discover that the moon-touched owlbear is threatening the tribal hunting grounds of their long lost family. Suddenly, when we zoom in, we discover more than the breeze of excitement that combat can bring to our games. We zoom into a moment of drama, filled with character development. While this is good practice in any session we run, it is especially useful in downtime.

Why Downtime If You Can Have Adventure?

When we zoom in to the timeline of our adventure, downtime can become indistinguishable from adventure. Downtime is used to control the pace of the story, and to involve the characters in the world. These are noble goals, but they do not change the attention economy at our table. We want to provide an engaging experience. That requires us to keep an eye on the pacing of the session. Downtime can slow down the pace. In fact, it might have to in order to achieve the wanted effects. But when we, as dungeon masters, sense the attention of our players whither, we can zoom in to any dramatic moment during downtime. Be it combat, exploration, or social interaction. Any interesting moment during downtime poses an opportunity for a zoom-in.

Such moments might not take more than thirty minutes to resolve. We can come up with them while keeping in mind the larger framework of downtime. Thinking of these scenes as moments in a character montage can help us keep an eye on the clock while resolving these zoomed in moments. Or these scenes might spiral out of control into entirely unforeseen territory. Let them. The stories that develop organically at the table are the ones we remember most.

D&D Downtime Session Pacing

Downtime can be an amazing tool to let players develop their characters apart from the abilities on their character sheets. Downtime also allows us to control the pacing of the overarching campaign narrative. We can use downtime to let characters engrain themselves in the fiction of our world. But we also need to be aware of the engagement of our players by keeping an eye on the pace of the game. We can grab everyone’s attention by zooming in to a dramatic moment during downtime. Most often this might be a combat scene. Rolling initiative can be a useful tool to create a sense of danger and excitement. When we zoom in, we cross the line between downtime and adventure. By involving all the characters in the scene, and making use of collaborative story telling, we can instill downtime with a sense of adventure.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Running Downtime Sessions” - https://slyflourish.com/running_downtime_sessions.html
Robin D. Laws: “Hamlet’s Hit Points” - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/83450/Hamlets-Hit-Points
David Hartlage: “Dungeons & Dragons and the Dream of the Grand Campaign” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/dungeons-dragons-and-the-dream-of-the-grand-campaign/
Teos Abadia: “How Downtime Rules Evolved and Left the PH and DMG Behind” - https://alphastream.org/index.php/2019/11/14/how-downtime-rules-evolved-and-left-the-ph-and-dmg-behind/

How to DM Secrets, Mystery and Information in D&D

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The DM’s vow of silence: A reminder to keep secrets

Dungeons & Dragons players want to find out all the secrets of the game world. But they actually don’t. A large part of the wonder of D&D relies on the DM keeping their secrets. We can conceptualize this as the DM’s vow of silence. We should let secrets be discovered naturally in play, while keeping our vow of silence outside of the game.

To be clear, open communication is another key to a successful game. We should listen to players, openly address concerns, and get feedback on the way we run the game. In fact, much of this article is dedicated to situations where we should absolutely break our vow of silence. Yet, secrecy remains an important aspect of DMing. We call it a vow of silence because it brings both joy and a burden. It is important to the appeal of the game. Yet it also reinforces the sometimes solitary nature of being a DM.

But when it comes to the fiction, often keeping our vow of silence is what we should strive for. A DM can keep the secrets of the world, so that their discovery in play stays meaningful. Breaking the vow of silence, can break immersion. For example, we shouldn’t share an upcoming encounter, the content of a future chapter of the hardcover adventure we are running, or even worse, a plot twist. If we succumb to the temptation to share our awesome fiction prematurely, we run the risk of breaking immersion. Suspension of disbelief might waver, and the motivation for players to come back week after week with it.

Why a vow of silence? Because of the power of secrets.

As a DM we build fantastical worlds filled with secrets, mystery and intrigue. Our campaign world’s history might reach back millennia and span continents, planets or galaxies. Even if the “known” world consists of a lone island, or even a single city, secrets lurk at every corner. Who runs the local crime syndicate? What are those cultists in the basement of that forgotten church up to? Who is the town speaker having an affair with? Secrets like these are what make exploration and investigation exciting and rewarding for our players. Characters must speak to the right people, sneak into the right places, or decipher the right runes. If they do it right, they can discover something they did not know before. Secrets make our worlds living, breathing constructs. They instill our players with a sense of wonder and the thirst for knowledge and discovery.

But these secrets and mysteries rely on a lack of information. Partial information to be more precise. The characters, and the players in this case, need to have some information in order to know where to look. But the adventure hook must contain only incomplete information. Only then do players experience a yearning to learn more.

The vow of silence out of game

As DM we must keep our secrets to generate investment in the fantastical mysteries of our game world. We might play with friends, or we might have regular out-of-game communication with our players. If our players are invested in the game, they might ask in between sessions about secrets of the world. This is a great sign, and an opportunity to sink our hooks even deeper into the player. We can tease them with a hint at more secrets, or more impartial information. But if it is a mystery to their character, it should remain mysterious to the player as well.

That secret society of halfling mages that is secretly pulling the strings in town? The mystical history of the forbidden shrine in the elvish forest that is slowly corrupting the entire continent? We might have spent hours working on an exciting piece of lore. We might feel compelled to share our work. To let our players in on the mystery and intrigue that we have meticulously crafted. But we have taken a vow of silence. And as hard as it can sometimes be, we, as a DM, should let secrets be discovered at the table. In between sessions, the vow of silence is most compelling.

Breaking the vow of silence

Let secrets be discovered at the table

Of course if you never share any of your world’s secrets, your players are probably going to end up confused. If you never share, players will lose motivation pretty fast. Secrets and mystery rely on impartial information. But they also rely on the possibility of discovery and a constant trickle of information. If a character successfully investigates the ancient glyph in the dungeon, they are going to discover previously hidden information. And this is where keeping our vow of silence pays dividends. Because of the power of secrets, the moment of revelation inspires the player and lets their character shine. Secrets are there to be discovered but only a limited supply of information makes the discovery feel special. As a DM, we keep our vow of silence out of game, but we make sure the world is covered in secrets to be discovered during play.

In a similar vein, we should share information when our players are confused. Especially if that confusion is due to a misunderstanding or a disparity of knowledge between their character and the player. If their character would know or realize something, tell the player. Lets say an evil necromancer conducts a ritual to raise a fallen army from an ancient battlefield. A cleric or a paladin in the party might recognize the foul magic at play in this location. A character with the scholar background might remember that this is the place of the Battle of the Broken Horns. Thousands of corpses lie in these fields ready to serve a new general.

If such a situation comes up, we don’t even have to wait for the players to ask for such information. We can make them roll an applicable ability check to see how much information they uncover. But if the character would clearly know something because of their training or backstory, we can just let the player know - no check required. By seeing the world through the character’s eyes, we set ourselves up to share character-specific secrets at the right time.

Character-specific secrets can sometimes even be shared out-of-game. This is especially true during character creation. Information about a character’s background, the place of their ancestry in the world, or secrets shared with the character by an organization they belong to are legitimate reasons to stray from the vow of silence. Sharing secret pieces of lore that only the character knows about can immerse players in the game. They get to decide when to share that information with the rest of the group. They become collaborators in our vow of silence.

Downtime can present another welcome loophole to our vow of silence. When we discuss downtime activities, we can share lore that the character might acquire during their activities. While working at the airship docks, a character might learn of the growing threat of harpies in the area. This bit of information might lead to a whole new adventure when the player decides to share it with the group. But remember the power of imperfect information, and the mystery it can create. Maybe the rumors aren’t precise as to the creature that is attacking ships. Or harpies have never been spotted this far south. What is the cause of them venturing so far? The rumors don’t tell. We can stray from our vow of silence to deliver partial information during downtime. The players will then grow eager to discover more back in play.

Unknown Secrets and the DM’s school of illusion

Sometimes our game contains secrets that not even we, the dungeon master, know. At least not fully. We can deliberately leave blank spaces in our campaign world. This way, we can let the fiction of the game to evolve together with the characters. We might improvise a tome describing an ancient society of archmages as dungeon room dressing. We have no idea what that society was, who was in it and whether they are still active. In fact, we didn’t even know there was a book on the shelf. At least not until a player asked “Are there any books on the shelf?” We should savor these moments. They give the players the feeling of moving about in a living world. One that is filled to the brim with magic and wonder.

When a player asks us whether we came up with something on the spot we can fall back to the DM’s school of illusion. We smile confidently and shrug our shoulders. The player will feel teased and excited to find out more, if only to make us flex our improvisational skills. We could come up with a backstory, lore and information about the arcane organization in between sessions. But there is a more mysterious approach we could take. Leave the secret in the unknown and discover the mysteries behind it together with the players. They might speculate about the ancient order of archmages. If one of their ideas sounds especially intriguing, we should run with it. Lean into the ideas of the players, and build on them. Then discover mysteries we had no idea were there.

Keep players guessing as to whether they just stumbled upon the final treatise of the greatest school of drow wizards, or whether it was all made up after the fact. Keep the vow of silence by using DM illusion magic.

Secrets, information, and the DM’s vow of silence

Secrets, mystery, and hidden lore are powerful motivators for player characters. We can think of our responsibility to keep these secrets as a vow of silence. Impartial information keeps players guessing and instills them with a hunger for exploration and discovery.

Open communication is key for a healthy game. Yet, if we dungeon masters are too liberal with information, especially away from the gaming table, we risk nullifying the players’ thirst for knowledge. We must choose the right moments to divulge information, uncover secrets and provide lore and background of our worlds. When we get it right, the players will feel like their characters are part of a living and breathing world. But that requires that we keep a certain shroud of mystery, an imperfect veil of illusion, a malleable vow of silence.

Links and Resources

Matt Colville: “Information. Running the Game #19” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm4EvRUo4YQ
Justin Alexander: “Three Clue Rule” - https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule
David Hartlage: “Tip: Plant Character Knowledge Before the Game” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/tip-plant-character-knowledge-before-the-game/
Mike Shea: “Secrets and Clues, the Secret Weapon of the Lazy Dungeon Master” - https://slyflourish.com/sharing_secrets.html
Mike Shea: “Revealing Secrets” - https://slyflourish.com/revealing_secrets.html

Invite Guest Players to D&D, But Let Them Play NPCs

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The cast of the show (the D&D game)

To spice up our D&D game, we can invite guest players to portray NPCs, similar to a cameo appearance in a TV show. Dungeon master extraordinaire, Chris Perkins, explains that he thinks of his game very much like a TV show. This is good advice and a useful model to think about our campaign. Most campaigns function similarly to a serial TV drama. Story threads play out in individual episodes but are part of a larger narrative framework. The characters in this framework assume the role of our Dungeons & Dragons game’s (our show’s) main cast. They are the heroes of our adventures, and the protagonists whose story we follow. We might think of NPCs as the supportive cast of our show. Secondary characters that show up repeatedly but will rarely be in the spotlight. NPCs fade in and out of our story as the player characters make their way through the campaign world.

This supportive cast is the perfect opportunity, to give certain roles to guest players at our table. We might think of these instances as cameo appearances of famous actors in a TV series. Letting a new player play a particular NPC, can shake things up for the otherwise predictable cast of our game.

Our players are used to interacting with NPCs that are portrayed by us, the DM. When we give that role to someone else, it forces players and dungeon master alike to step out of the routines that might have developed over many sessions of playing together with the same cast.

Introduce guest players just as you would a regular player

Most likely, while reading this, there are people that come to mind as potential guest players for our D&D game. They might be someone with whom we had played before, or someone who has never played D&D before. Both of these circumstances can make for a fun guest experience. The same basic principles apply for inviting a guest, as for forming a new group of regular players. We are going to spend three to five hours together, so we need to be able to get along.

We also need to consider the other players. Get them on board with inviting guest players. After all, D&D is a performative hobby, and not everyone feels comfortable roleplaying in front of people other than “the regulars.” Talk about everyone’s concerns before inviting a guest. Playing with a guest can be an enriching experience for every group. But maybe it’s just not for our specific cast of players. Or at least not yet. Accept each other’s boundaries, and ask again in a few weeks or months.

Once we have established that everyone is on board with a guest player, we are ready to play. There is very little we cannot work out in advance between the guest and us, the dungeon master. We can explain the rules, brief them on any necessary information about the campaign, and make sure they understand their role as a guest player. We can even play a small session zero with them to get them acquainted with D&D and their character.

Playing a NPC versus a guest player character

NPCs embody the constraints of a cameo appearance

Why should we give the supportive roles of NPCs to our guest players in D&D? The term “non-player character” after all suggests that these supportive cast members are portrayed by the non-player - the DM. But in fact, the characteristics of any NPC fit the framework of a guest appearance especially well. The NPC usually has a very focused motivation, and a limited backstory and personality traits. They also have a concise suite of abilities contained in an NPC stat block. These are the things that make it manageable for us as dungeon masters to run NPCs at the table. And these are the same things that make them perfect for our guest players to slip into.

A player character has a wide range of mechanics, elaborate backstories, and individual hooks for adventure. An NPC on the other hand emphasizes the limited role of the guest player. The nature of an NPC provides manageable tools for the player to quickly embody the character. If we think of the guest as a cameo appearance in a TV show, this structure fits especially well. The character is relevant to a specific dramatic arc within one or two episodes. But eventually, they will leave the main story or fade into the background.

Giving a NPC to a guest player, frames the role of the player in the right terms from the outset. An NPC leaving the party to their own devices at the end of a session feels natural in our games. A player character, leaving the party, on the other hand, might feel forced. It goes against our instincts as players and dungeon masters, to see player characters leave once they have been introduced.

NPCs provide guest players with limited goals and motivations

When we hand the NPC to the guest player, we can provide them with clear goals and motivations to play. These should be easily understood, and achievable within a session or two. The berserker needs to find their tribe that’s been lost in the jungle. The mage must collect the magical ring currently in the possession of a nasty devil. The veteran seeks revenge on the orc warlord that has slain his company. Limited goals and motivations such as these give the guest player a concise purpose and provide hooks to the other player characters to join forces with them.

Alternatively, we might let a guest player pilot an antagonistic NPC. Let them portray the villain in the final climactic encounter. Have them play an assassin that strikes out of nowhere to collect the bounty on one of the characters. The tension and drama is bound to skyrocket when the players face an antagonist not portrayed by the DM. This works especially well if we don’t tell our regular players the role the guest player is going to assume.

NPCs give the guest player manageable mechanics

In addition to these benefits, the concise nature of an NPC stat block allows guest players to jump right into the action of our D&D game. They don’t have to learn to maneuver the epic battle machines that our characters become after a certain level. The mental preparation required in running a veteran, a gladiator, or a mage is designed to be manageable for DMs. Even more exotic choices of stat blocks for our guest characters can prove interesting. Monstrous NPCs are exciting, yet they keep the mental load of the guest player running them feasible. We could let them play a guardian naga, guiding the characters through ancient ruins, or a friendly stone giant accompanying them on a trek through the Underdark. Any stat block from our favorite bestiary can work as long as it makes sense in the fiction.

Shake things up with guest players portraying NPCs

Cameo appearances in TV shows are exciting. We get to see an unusual addition to the regular cast of the show. The same applies to our D&D game. Giving guest players NPCs to portray is practicable for the players, and sets the expectation for a temporary supportive character. It makes sense that they are going to leave the main cast after a single adventure. We can provide guest players with a clearly focused motivation, and limited roleplay information for their NPC. That way, we help them quickly slip into the character’s mindset. We can give them a concise yet interesting stat block to be part of the action at the table. With this method, inviting guest players becomes easy. After a while, we might use these cameo appearances to regularly spice up our game.

Links and Resources

Chris Perkins: “DM Experience” - http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DM_Experience_2011.pdf
David Hartlage: “Using the small world principle to build a better game” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/using-the-small-world-principle-to-build-a-better-game/

Try Collaborative DMing for a Unique D&D Experience

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Running a D&D game with two dungeon masters

There are more players than there are dungeon masters. Therefore, very few of us will ever get the opportunity to run a game of Dungeons & Dragons with two DMs. If you get a chance at collaborative DMing, however, give it a shot. It provides a unique game mastering experience, distinct from the usual solitude that the DM screen creates. Being able to amplify our creativity with another DM’s brain can shake things up at the gaming table for both DMs and players. Here are some tips for preparing and running a game with two DMs.

Bounce ideas off one another in prep

The most obvious benefit to collaborative DMing comes in game preparation. When we are preparing our games alone, we can get caught in a creative rut. With a second dungeon master, these situations get minimized. Often, when we run out of productive ideas, the other DM will jump in with something fresh and exciting. As collaborative DMs we can function as early warning systems for when one of us gets stuck during preparation. We can shift the focus, provide a new perspective, and call out bad ideas before too much time and effort is sunk into them.

Often, another mind during prep can be incredibly inspiring for us. Usually we rely only on ourselves for the elusive sparks of creativity that are the magic ingredient of game prep. With another DM, we practically double the chances for these moments.

Trust each other

When we run a game collaboratively, we need to trust each other as co-DMs. Ideally, we have played at the same table before our first co-DM’ed session. Either way, it is important to establish common ideals before we jump into game. Simply talking about some of our personal DMing philosophy can help establish that trust.

Then, in preparation for the game, we should agree on the broad strokes of the adventure we are planning to run. Note down some of the cornerstones of the session. This could be central scenes, important secrets and clues, or core NPCs, monsters and treasure. We should agree on those aspects of the adventure, which we absolutely want to include in the game. Setting up this minimum viable content, while establishing a basis of trust, allows us to improvise during the game.

Usually, it is just us, as the lone DM, improvising in a session. In collaborative DMing, we must be ready to accept and react to the improvised storytelling of our co-DM. When we agree on the cornerstone content before the game, and trust in a shared vision for the game, we are ready to run a flexible, reactive game together

Run with each other’s ideas in play

After preparation, we enter the area of Dungeons & Dragons where the difference between one DM and two DMs is most noticeable. The game is designed with a single individual as the DM in mind. One person who narrates the environment, portrays NPCs and monsters, and adjudicates player actions. Putting two individuals in this position at the same time creates challenges for collaborative DMing. However, the same benefit that we can expect in preparation, also applies in play. We have another DM’s brain to amplify our creativity.

In the best case, we can play off of this other DM’s ideas and embrace them during the game. Often, a spontaneous description during exploration or combat, or an improvised roleplaying moment by our co-DM will inspire us to add some detail or an unexpected twist to the scene. Our co-DM might describe the strange spongy texture of a wall as an quirky atmospheric aside in a horror game. This might inspire us to have a mutated minion of the villain to phase out of the “fleshy” wall and attack the nearest character. These situations can come up with a single DM as well, but again, we double the opportunities for spontaneous inspiration when we run the game with another DM at the table.

Collaborative DMing: The perfect opportunity to split the party

Usually, it is solid advice not to split the party. But most of the drawbacks of a split party revolve around the fact that there is only one DM. In our standard D&D game, we shouldn’t split the party, because we can’t split the table. With two DMs, however, we can.

Splitting the party: Set the ground rules before the game

When the logistics of our gaming space allow for it, we can split the players, along with their characters. Each DM then takes one half of the party to a separate table, a separate room or a separate channel in an online environment. When we split the group in this way, it is important that the special table rules and the likes have been discussed beforehand. We should agree among us co-DMs about house rules and variant rules, such as flanking, before the game. Then, in a session zero, or a similar context, share the specifics of these rules with the players. That way, both groups can expect at least similar rulings from their respective DMs.

Splitting the party: Keep communicating between co-DMs

In addition, we need to keep communicating with our co-DM during the split-party scenario. We can do this via text, during short breaks, or in a separate discord channel. This is especially critical if we are running a dungeon adventure. Both DMs need to be aware of the location of the other party and what kind of activity they are engaged in at each moment. That way, we can realistically communicate to one half of the group when their characters would be able to notice the other half of the party nearby. If one half of the party approaches a room in which the other half is fighting a horde of orcs, we should describe the sounds of battle coming from that direction. For this to work seamlessly, we need to keep communicating with our co-DM.

Keep an eye on the clock (both in reality and in the fiction)

Communication between co-DMs is also important to manage time in our game. This is true for actual real-world time, and in-game time. Both DMs should have an eye on the clock, and strive for a similar flow of the game. If we set an end time for our session or our one-shot, it becomes even more important that both co-DMs keep their separate groups on track to meet those time constraints.

Regarding in-game time, rests are an obvious issue. When one half of the party takes a short rest, and the other doesn’t, temporal continuity can fall apart. To remedy this, both DMs should try and deplete the resources of their respective groups at a similar pace. That way, all players are likely to decide to take short rests in similar intervals. If that is not the case, we can handwave the inconsistencies and put fun above verisimilitude. Or we come up with an in-fiction explanation for the flailing continuity. Maybe the strange magic of the dungeon bends time in unforeseeable ways. We can describe how the characters feel like they’ve aged years after they took a short rest. They will likely not question the logic of time in the adventure again.

Use the opportunity for unique modes of play

If done carefully, two DMs allow our players to experience unique split-party scenarios. In the smaller groups, quiet players get a chance to shine. Especially if we have a lot of players, the split groups allow for more screen time for each player. We can also create unexpected twists and turns with this method. The moment when the two groups reunite after exploring the dungeon on their own, can be a rewarding and otherwise impossible play experience. We should strive to make the best use of the unique opportunities that a split party, run by two DMs, can create.

Split Collaborative DMing responsibilities

Players are used to having a single person be the interface between them and the game world. Running a game with two DMs at the same table runs the risk of interrupting the flow of the game. We can alleviate that risk by setting up distinct DM roles with separate responsibilities in play.

We can determine one “Player-facing DM” and one “Monster and NPC DM.” The former co-DM is responsible for handling everything non-sentient the player characters interact with in the game. They set scenes, provide descriptions, and adjudicate player actions. The latter co-DM runs everything sentient in the game world, meaning monsters and NPCs. This can speed up combat as the monster DM can figure out the antagonists’ turns while the other runs initiative and facilitates the players’ actions. In roleplaying moments, the monster and NPC DM can fully immerse themselves in the characters they are portraying without having to break character to answer player questions, or call for ability checks. Splitting DMing responsibilities along the lines of sentient and non-sentient elements of the world sets up clear DM roles that are intuitive to both, players and DMs.

Use the doubled DM bandwidth to engage players

As a single DM, we have a lot on our plate. We are juggling NPCs, secrets and clues, fantastical descriptions and our players’ imaginative plans. When we play with two co-DMs, we effectively double our attention bandwidth. We can use this opportunity to enhance everyone’s gaming experience. In play, there will be periods of downtime for either co-DM. Instead of relaxing in these moments, we can look for opportunities to engage our players.

We can keep an eye on the mood of the table and of individual players. When someone seems distracted or even bored, we can throw something at their character to engage them in the scene. Sometimes we literally have something thrown at the character in the game, but there are many other ways to engage characters. We can ask them for a perception check to see if they notice a detail in the environment. We can pull on their character’s background to point them towards relevant connections they might have missed. That way we use the double DMing bandwidth to keep everyone engaged without interrupting the flow of the game.

After a while, players will pick up on this, either consciously or subconsciously. Their attention to the game and therefore their engagement will rise. In a benign version of the effect of a teacher calling on students that hadn’t raised their hand, player characters could be asked to take the spotlight at any moment. However, we must use this technique carefully. Sometimes it is perfectly fine for a player to sit back and watch the rest of the group take center stage in a scene. Often, we will not use this technique in order to avoid interrupting an ongoing interaction with our spontaneous player engagement. Nonetheless, we should take advantage of the doubled DM bandwidth to engage everyone at the table.

Collaborative DMing: A unique way to run and play the game

Running a game with more than one DM is a unique experience. One that might never come up but if it does, try it out. The experience of preparing for a game with another DM brain in the mix can be wonderfully enriching. During the game, co-DMs can run with each others’ ideas to multiply the creative chaos that is at the heart of game mastering. If we take the time to structure the flow of the game with two DMs, the doubled bandwidth can create a uniquely engaging experience for both, our players, and us as co-DMs.

Links & Resources

DMAcademy Subreddit (you might find someone to co-DM with here) - https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/
u/Notorious_DMG: “Collaborative DM’ing” (reddit thread) - https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/7r5tz7/collaborative_dming/

How We Can Use Our D&D Skills in Education

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 10:00:00 GMT

D&D skills beyond the table

Here is something to tell concerned parents when their child gets into Dungeons & Dragons: D&D lets us learn and improve skills that will be useful beyond the game. Especially in education, we can benefit from some of the social and creative skills honed by playing or running D&D. Whether teaching a classroom, giving a lecture, or conducting a training session, dungeon masters and players alike can use some of their gaming skills in these contexts.

First and foremost, playing or running a D&D game lets us work on our social skillset. When we sit around a table with three to five other people, we are constantly negotiating. When do I speak up? How can we agree on a path forward? How can I give the spotlight to someone else? These skills of navigating a complex social situation will prove useful away from the table.

Secondly, D&D is a training ground for our creative skills. Neither players nor DMs can foresee what will happen at the table. We must be ready to improvise, to create a spontaneously emerging, collaborative narrative. As DMs we can prepare content but we have to use it in a flexible manner, ready to adapt to the situation at the table. These creative, improvisational skills can serve us well beyond the game.

Viewing the classroom as a D&D game

These two areas of D&D skills, social and creative, can be especially useful in education. When we find ourselves teaching any subject to any group of people, the situation can often be very similar to a D&D game. There is one person, the teacher, trainer, or DM, that controls the flow of events during class, or during the game. They have spent some time preparing for any particular class, or session, and they expect the rest of the participants, students, or players, to participate to the best of their abilities in the events of the class, or the game. These parallels extend to the social and creative skills that prove useful both in D&D and in education.

D&D skill: Reading the room

As DMs, but also as players, we always keep an eye on our fellow humans around the table. We look for signs of excitement to sense whether a certain scene, event or interaction hits the mark. We also try to be quick to perceive any hints of boredom that let us know when it’s time to move the scene along or to throw in a complication. This skill of reading the table, or reading the room, is crucial in an educational setting. As educators we must be constantly aware of the mood and level of engagement in the classroom. Boredom can be a sign that we should look for a better way of explaining the subject. Excitement and high levels of attention can tell us to double down on the current topic or method.

Staring at blank faces after we explained the structure of iambic pentameter? Maybe we can throw in a practical rhythmic exercise to practice the meter. Are participants at a conference talk eagerly participating when we ask them to show their opinion by cheering or clapping? Double down. Maybe we can use the same method to keep listeners engaged at different points in the talk. These situations closely mimic our responsibility as dungeon masters to provide an engaging experience for our players. We should keep a close eye on the people around us, both in a public speaking, or educational context, and at the gaming table. Embrace the audience’s reactions to our content. Discard what doesn’t work. Dig deeper on promising topics and methods.

D&D skill: Improvising

If reading the room is more of a social skill, then the ability to improvise is its creative counterpart. Things will go off the rails. This is true of our D&D game and of an educational setting. When things do not go as planned, confidence, and the right preparation are key. It takes practice, but we should not despair when students, listeners, or players take the game or the lecture into a different direction than we expected. Instead, we should rejoice when unforeseen things happen. Unforeseen situations are what differentiates our game from a novel. Spontaneous creativity is what distinguishes a great lesson from a good one. The improvisational skills we acquire while running or playing D&D will help us react creatively in education.

Some amount of preparation is necessary but we should not hold on too tightly to our prep when we run the game. This attitude towards prep can be difficult to accept, especially when we are used to doing a lot of detailed preparation. Mike Shea’s “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” provides a list of steps that help us prepare the things that matter while keeping our prep light enough to make it easy to adapt on the fly. We can use similar techniques to those of the lazy DM in educational contexts. Prepare the cornerstone content that we want to get across but leave enough empty space for improvisation. Preparing what matters while keeping prep light, saves time, focuses us on the important bits of preparation and lets us adapt to the emergent circumstances in the classroom, or at the gaming table.

D&D skill: Starting strong

We should start our D&D session strong. The strong start is one of the steps of preparation laid out by Mike Shea in “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master.” The beginning of our game is the only moment where we have close to full control over what happens. Everything after that can and will be warped by the actions of the characters. The same is true for education. Starting a lesson, or a lecture strong sets us on a path to success. Starting with something exciting and engaging, like a practical exercise, an interesting video clip, or a provocative question, draws the audience into our content. Whatever we do afterwards, we have a better chance of keeping the students’, the listeners’, or the players’ attention if we start strong.

Using D&D skills in educational contexts

The social and creative skills we hone while playing D&D can be useful beyond the table, especially in education. When we view the classroom, the conference, or the lecture hall through the lense of a D&D game, many parallels become apparent. Both, DMs and educators must constantly gauge the room. They must be finely attuned to the atmosphere and level of engagement in their audience. Both must also be ready to improvise. Confidence, and smart preparation are key to be able to adapt to the changing circumstances of our table, or our classroom. Starting strong helps us engage our audience, be they students or players, from the outset of our lesson, or session. D&D is a game, and the focus should always be on having fun. Nonetheless, the skills that running or playing D&D can nurture will prove useful in circumstances away from the gaming table.

Links & Resources

Teaching with DnD | A hub for materials, resources, and discussion around RPGs in education - https://www.teachingwithdnd.com/
Emily Gaudette: “When the Teacher is the Dungeon Master” - https://elective.collegeboard.org/when-teacher-dungeon-master
Althea Need Kaminske: “Learning in Dungeons and Dragons” - https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2018/8/23-1
Paul Darvasi: “How ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Primes Students for Interdisciplinary Learning, Including STEM” - https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51790/how-dungeons-dragons-primes-students-for-interdisciplinary-learning-including-stem
Mike Shea: “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” - https://slyflourish.com/returnofthelazydm/

D&D Encounter Template: The Ritual Challenge

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 10:00:00 GMT

This post was last updated on September 19th, 2023.

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Fantastic rituals create memorable encounters

What is a ritual challenge in D&D?

The characters step into the Spell Forge, the long-lost magical furnace create by dwarves and humans during the Phandelver Pact. They decipher the inscriptions of the three runic circles carved into the marble floor. One for the Forger of the Flame, one for the Forger of the Arcane, and one for the Forger of the Mountain. After a moment of awe, the characters take their place in the circles, and the ancient crafting ritual begins once again. Will they manage to forge a new magical weapon with the arcane hearth? Will they assume the legacy of the mages of the Pact?

Rituals such as this one are a staple of fantasy fiction. The heroes must combine their skills, wits, and talents to fulfill the requirements of an ancient rite. We can insert these kinds of rituals as unique challenges into our D&D game. They provide a break from the regular flow of our game. Ritual challenges in D&D let players show off their characters’ abilities in moments of collaborative story telling.

Ritual Challenge encounter template

Here is the general sequence of a ritual challenge which we can use as an encounter template for our D&D game:

Goal and Setup. Players are aware of the goal of the ritual. The DM initiates the ritual challenge and encourages players to use their character’s abilities in unconventional ways.
Character Contributions. Each player answers the DM’s question, “How do you contribute to the ritual?” The players then explain their character’s contribution.
Resolution through Ability Check. The DM asks for an appropriate ability check, and determines a DC based on the situation of the ritual and the difficulty of the contribution. Advantage and disadvantage apply as usual.
Success and Failure. The DM records successes and failures, and decides whether the ritual as a whole succeeds or fails.

The Ritual Challenge goal

When the characters encounter a ritual challenge in our D&D game, we need to ensure that they are aware of the ritual’s goal. They should have a clear idea of what the ritual is designed to accomplish. In the case of the Spell Forge ritual, it is the creation of a magical weapon. Whatever the purpose of the specific ritual, the players and the characters need to be aware of its purpose.

Here are ten potential goals for a ritual challenge encounter in D&D:

Reigniting the ancient, long-lost Spell Forge to create a magical weapon.
Resurrecting a fallen member of the party.
Beseeching the spirit of a mystical river to let the characters pass over it.
Calming the ravaging anger of an eldritch storm.
Re-consecrating a defiled shrine.
Freeing a nobleman from a powerful curse.
Asking a deity for a blessing for a divine mission.
Driving away the corrupting shadows that have overtaken a cemetery.
Binding an evil hag into a crystal orb.
Forge unbreakable bonds of companionship between two individuals.

The Ritual Challenge lets players bend the normal rules of D&D

In addition, we need to make it clear to the players, that we are suspending some of the “normal” rules surrounding spells, skills, and character abilities. We can say something like, “We are now entering a ritual challenge. Your characters can sense that this is an extraordinary moment. Therefore, they will be able to use their abilities in unconventional ways that wouldn’t be possible under normal circumstances.” Making the extraordinary nature of the ritual challenge explicit allows players to think more freely. They can step outside of the usual boundaries of the wording of their character abilities. Some players might have difficulties with this at first. So we need to continue to encourage them to look past their character sheet.

We can tie the suspension of the normal rules to the extraordinary nature of the ritual in the fiction. Magic is bent in strange ways by the ancient rite. The gods unhinge the laws of nature for this mysterious ceremony.

Ask players, »How does your character contribute to the ritual?«

After this brief introduction, the ritual is afoot. The doors of the Spell Forge slam shut, and the brazier lights up with green flames. Now, the characters take their place in the runic circles. Then, we ask each player, “How does your character contribute to the ritual?” Since we made it clear to them that they can really get creative here, we need to embrace the wild ideas they come up with. It is important for us to not pre-define any solutions. This allows us to keep our mind as open as possible to the creative contributions of our players.

Players might want to use a spell in a way that’s impossible by the rules as written (or as intended for that matter). They might come up with contributions that would sound highly improbable under normal circumstances. For example, the sorcerer might cast scorching ray to empower the flames of the ancient furnace. The druid might beseech the mountain itself to aid the ritual. The monk might connect with the forces of ki that flow through herself and her allies to guide the ritual’s process.

The beauty of a ritual challenge is that players can look beyond their characters sheets. They become collaborators in the telling of a fantastic story. In the heightened states of sacramental power, nothing is impossible.

Resolve the outcome of each contribution

Even though the players can try anything, their attempt at a contribution might still fail. The chance of failure is necessary to generate tension and drama in the ritual challenge. Therefore, we listen to the player’s idea, and call for an appropriate roll. The sorcerer must roll a Charisma (Arcana) check to try and embolden the flames. The druid rolls a Wisdom (Persuasion) check to calm the mountain. The monk rolls a Wisdom (Arcana) check or another ki-related ability check that’s appropriate to the use of ki in our world.

In our head, we set a DC that makes sense for the situation of the ritual and the specific contribution of a character. We can think of the difficulty on a scale from 1 to 10 and add 10 to determine a DC between 10 and 20. Setting a difficulty above 20 might mean that the ritual is particularly challenging or the contribution is particularly difficult to achieve. We can apply advantage or disadvantage if it makes sense in the situation. In short, we use all the normal techniques of ability checks to adjudicate the outcome of each contribution.

Determine whether the ritual fails or succeeds

The circumstances of the ritual determine what is necessary for the characters to succeed. Maybe all three of them need to succeed on their contributions or else the ritual fails. Maybe it is enough if only a few of them succeed. We might also consider by how much the individual characters succeeded if it makes sense that one contribution could outweigh the others. In the example of the Spell Forge, we might decide that each successful contribution adds one quality to the crafted magic weapon. We also decide that the magic of the Forge only holds enough arcane energy for two ritual attempts.

If we want to visualize the progress characters are making in the ritual, we can use a progress clock. Divide a circle into four, six or eight sections, depending on the complexity of the ritual. For each success, we fill in one section. By using a progress clock, we make the progress of the ritual transparent to the players.

In case of failure, we follow the principles of “success at a cost” and “failing forward” to keep the challenge dramatic and memorable even if the characters failed. A failed ritual might create a magical weapon but the weapon bears a curse as a result of the failure. Alternatively, the mountain might erupt in a shattering earthquake when the ritual fails. Now, the characters need to escape the Spell Forge as the caves collapse around them. As in many situations in D&D, we can look for ways to turn failure in the ritual challenge into an opportunity for action and drama.

Example: Matthew Mercer’s Resurrection Rules

Dungeon master of Critical Role, Matthew Mercer, shows us a specific instance of a ritual challenge in the form of his homebrew resurrection rules. When a character dies and has to be resurrected in an episode of critical role, Matt uses his resurrection house rules. You can read the full article about these rules here. As part of the rules, any resurrection spell or spell effect with a casting time longer than 1 action, initiates a “Resurrection Challenge”:

“Up to 3 members of the adventuring party can offer to contribute to the ritual via a Contribution Skill Check. The DM asks them each to make a skill check based on their form of contribution, with the DC of the check adjusting to how helpful/impactful the DM feels the contribution would be.”

Here again, no possible contributions are specified before the ritual. It is up to the players to think of ways in which their characters can aid the resurrection of their fallen comrade.

»After all contributions are completed, the DM then rolls a single, final Resurrection success check with no modifier. The base DC for the final resurrection check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone … For each successful contribution skill check, this DC is decreased by 3, whereas each failed contribution skill check increases the DC by 1.«

As we can see, Matt uses a special mechanical framework to determine success or failure of the ritual challenge. This is designed to lower the risk of permanent character death in this house rule slightly. In any case, the “Resurrection Challenge” provides a fantastic example of the potential of ritual challenges for collaborative story telling moments. The characters can contribute to the ritual in extraordinary ways, and directly impact the outcome. They become creative conspirators in the unfolding of a fantastic story that magical or sacramental rituals provide.

Try out a Ritual Challenge!

Rituals are a staple of fantasy fiction. More likely than not, players will have an idea of the significance of rituals for the kind of fantasy world they are playing in. When we add ritual challenges into our DM’s toolkit, we gain a powerful encounter template for collaborative storytelling.

Links & Resources

Blades in the Dark: “Progress Clocks” - https://bladesinthedark.com/progress-clocks
Matthew Mercer, Kelly Knox: “Use Critical Role’s Resurrection Rules in Your Own Campaign” - https://geekandsundry.com/use-critical-roles-resurrection-rules-in-your-own-campaign/
Mike Shea: “Empowering Player-Driven Storytelling” - https://slyflourish.com/empowering_player_storytelling.html
Hannah Reich: “What Dungeons and Dragons can teach writers about collaboration and crafting narrative, characters and worlds” - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-31/dungeons-and-dragons-writing-games-narrative/13082620
D&D Duet: “Collaborative Worldbuilding” - https://dndduet.com/collaborative-worldbuilding/

Reskinning Monsters: The Multi-Purpose Ogre

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Homebrewing vs. Reskinning

Monsters are probably my favorite part of the game. Sometimes, we have a unique idea for a fun monster. There’s no existing statblock for it. Do we homebrew a new stat block or resort to reskinning monsters with existing statblocks?

Homebrewing monsters can be exciting for both us as the DM and players. Sometimes it is worthwhile to dig deep into mechanics and numbers and create an entirely new monster stat block. But it is also a lot of work. It can be tricky to get the power level right, without the monster falling flat of expectations or overwhelming the characters. Our homebrewed monster abilities might create powerful rules interactions we weren’t aware of until they played out at the table. In addition, more often than not, we don’t need an entirely new stat block to represent our unique creature idea.

A simpler method is reskinning an existing monster stat block. Here’s my general process for reskinning a monster stat block:

Pick a statblock. Flip through the pages of my current favorite monster book until I find some artwork, a monster name, or a statblock that roughly fits the idea of the monster we want to put into our game.
Change type. Change the type of the statblock to the appropriate one we want to portray.
Change statistics. Adjust HP, AC, and number of attacks, as appropriate for the monster we want to create. We don’t worry about its ability scores until they come into play.

The multi-purpose ogre

As an exercise, let’s come up with a list of ten ways to use the stat block of an ogre for anything from a super-human soldier to a terrifying astral aberration.

Name/Description	Reskinned Ogre Statblock
Super-human Soldier	change creature type to humanoid (human)
Subterranean Rockworm	change creature type to monstrosity; give it a burrow speed of 30 ft.; tremorsense of 30 ft.; re-flavor Greatclub attack to Bite and Javelin to Stalactite Missile
Baby Roc	change creature type to monstrosity; give it a flying speed of 30 ft. and a +7 to perception with advantage on sight-based perception; re-flavor Greatclub attack to Talon and drop the Javelin attack
Automated Security Ballista	change creature type to construct; reduce its speed to 10 ft.; drop the Greatclub attack, re-flavor the Javelin attack as a Bolt and give it a range of 120/480 ft.
Dragonborn Pyromancer	change creature type to humanoid; switch Strength and Charisma scores; give it fire resistance, change the damage type of all attacks to fire; re-flavor Greatclub to Fiery Touch, and Javelin to Fire Bolt, increasing the range to 120 ft.; let it cast a 3rd level fireball that recharges on a roll of 6
Goblin Squad	change creature type to Large swarm of Medium goblins; bump its AC slightly; give it the Swarm trait of any swarm monster, and give it the Nimble Escape ability of the goblin
Carnivorous Plant	change creature type to plant; give it the False Appearance trait of the treant; vulnerability to fire, and a speed of 10 ft.; re-flavor Greatclub to Consume which grapples the target on a hit and deals acid damage to a grappled target each round; re-flavor Javelin to Poison Seed and change the damage of both attacks to piercing and poison
Necro-Warrior	change creature type to undead; give it resistance to necrotic, and non-magical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, and immunity to poison, as well as immunity to poisoned and exhaustion; add some necrotic damage to both attacks, and have the Greatclub attack reduce the target’s maximum HP by the amount of necrotic damage if the target fails a Constitution saving throw
Arctic Bloodhound	change creature type to monstrosity; increase its speed to 50 ft., give it resistance to cold damage, bump its AC; re-flavor Greatclub to Cold Bite, and Javelin to Ice Shard, let both attacks deal some extra cold damage; let it teleport next to a wounded creature as a bonus action
Astral Dreamsnatcher	change creature type to aberration; give it resistance to psychic damage, re-flavor Greatclub to Devour Nightmares, which deals psychic damage and frightens on a hit; re-flavor Javelin to Dazing Lure which deals psychic damage and forces a target to approach the Dreamsnatcher using its reaction

The multi-purpose ogre table

Reskinning Monsters: A powerful DM tool

Reskinning monsters is one of the most powerful technique we can acquire as a dungeon master. With a small repertoire of our favorite statblocks, we can run hundreds of different creatures. Change the type and name, tweak a few mechanics, and most importantly: describe the “new” monster to your players. They won’t notice a thing…

Preserving Immersion in D&D: The DM's School of Illusion

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 31 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

D&D immersion is a shared hallucination, willingly entered into

Dungeons & Dragons and psychedelic drugs have more in common than we expect at first glance. When we sit down and begin a game of Dungeons & Dragons, everyone at the table agrees to turn entirely delusional for a few hours. In D&D jargon we call the result of this delusion “immersion.” Immersion is a loosely defined term that can mean many different things. But the essence of immersion in the fiction of our game lies in accepting the shared illusion of D&D.

Like with psychedelic experiences, the resulting behavior might seem totally incomprehensible to any sane outside observer: “What do you mean, you’re fighting a dragon? Are you OK?” When we play D&D, everyone involved agrees to suspend disbelief in a significant way for the duration of the game. “But if it’s all make-belief, can’t you just say and do whatever you want?” There are the written rules of the system of Fifth Edition D&D to limit possible character actions. But there is more holding the shared hallucination of our game aloft.

The world between our minds

Players and DMs accept that there is a fictional world that they play in and expect that this world exists outside of all of our heads. If we thought of our game world as individual imaginations, we could, in fact, do whatever we wanted. Like in a dream, we could change plot, logic, and content regardless of continuity and consequences. But we believe the fiction of our shared illusion to exist beyond our own imagination. The fiction of our roleplaying game exists somewhere in the elusive space between our minds. In a good game of D&D, immersion means that we actually believe that the characters’ actions have consequences, that NPCs respond to these actions, and that the fantastical locations are living and breathing environments for adventure.

Most of the time, the illusory nature of the game will be more overt and present for us as the DM. We often take a less personal perspective on the fiction, and recognize the many constructs of our imagination that create the game world. What are some of the levels of illusion that are part of the DM’s spellbook of shared hallucination?

The DM’s school of illusion - A path to D&D immersion

Prepared or improvised?

No preparation survives contact with the players. In any given session, we will reach the point where we need to improvise. Players are great at coming up with solutions that would never have occurred to us. The worst we can do in this instance is to force players to follow along the plot we prepared for. Instead, faith in our improvisational skills, combined with a little DM illusion magic can make it seem like we are prepared for anything.

Looking through our notes, as if the content the players are asking for is in there, can help maintain the illusion that we, the DM, are not making it all up as we go along. The characters want to talk to the nameless NPC we mentioned as part of a background setting? Yes, yes, of course he has a name, and we have it written down somewhere here… Just let me look through my notes… Ah, yes here it is! All we have done, was to look for our list of random names, pick one, and improvise everything else about the NPC. But the simple fact of looking through our notes, upholds the illusion of an intact world in our shared hallucination.

Let the players’ speculation become reality

We can use improvisation to let the speculative ideas of players become reality. Doing this can raise some eyebrows when players wonder whether they guessed right, or we made their guess reality. “This door is probably trapped, let me check it.” We had no idea the door was trapped, but now that one of the players has brought it up… Actually, yes. The door is trapped! The character fails their investigation check and poison arrows shoot at them as they step through the door. “I knew it…” Letting the players’ hunches become reality in the game, makes them feel like they understand the world, and that it conforms to their intuitions about the fiction.

This is another DM’s illusion spell. The players might not have been “correct” in their speculation, initially. But we can make their speculation correct by adapting the world to the players’ intuitions. It will make the world feel responsive, and understandable to the players.

Fudging dice when we made a mistake

When we’re rolling dice behind a DM screen, the randomness can become another illusory spell of ours. One that we shouldn’t use too often, but one that can help us get out of situations that are turning into disaster because of a mistake we, the DM, made. Sometimes, we totally underestimated a monster’s power when we look at their stat block. In play, we might realize that the players are going to die for no fault of their own, simply because we threw them into an unerringly deadly situation. In this case, it is alright to fudge a die roll or two to give the characters a chance to escape, circumvent, or defeat the impossible situation.

Again, we should be careful not to make it a habit to fudge dice rolls. But sometimes, it can help maintain the shared hallucination. Nothing breaks immersion like a character getting one-shot and the player feeling like there was nothing they could have done to save them. Especially in these situations, when a TPK is immanent clearly due to a DM’s mistake, we can use this sleight of hand to keep the game running.

Never reveal your tricks!

The first rule for any aspiring illusionist (a surprisingly apt job descriptions for any DM) is to never share the secret of a trick. In any good magic show, the audience knows that they are being tricked. They might beg the “magician” to reveal their tricks. Here is the secret: they don’t actually want to know. As soon as we realize the trick, the sense of magic evaporates. We can adopt this magician’s code of honor when we’re running our game.

Following this code means that we almost never tell players whether something was prepared or improvised in order to preserve immersion for our D&D game. We shouldn’t tell them that we just picked up a player suggestion and made it become reality in our game world. Did we have to fudge some dice to prevent a TPK that came about because of our own oversight? Don’t tell the players. If we do, the whole house of cards that is our game comes crashing down. Immersion vanishes like air from a punctured balloon. Play the confidence game. Never reveal your tricks!

Maintaining immersion in D&D with the DM’s school of illusion

Playing Dungeons & Dragons is a psychedelic experience. When we play, we willingly enter a shared hallucination. In D&D jargon we call this delusional behavior “immersion.” We can think of our role as dungeon masters as illusionists. We can use magic tricks like never showing whether something was prepared or improvised. Player speculations at the table might become spell components for our illusions when we make them become reality in our game world. Even the most blatant of DM illusions - fudging dice - can be a vital to maintaining the shared hallucination. This is especially true if we accidentally threw players into a deadly situation. Whatever the tricks in our DM magician’s arsenal - like any great magician, we should never reveal our tricks. Stick with the illusion, play the confidence game, and keep hallucinating together with your players.

Links & Resources

David Hartlage: “Confidence game: Why faking confidence makes you a better game master” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/confidence-game-why-faking-confidence-makes-you-a-better-game-master/

Seeing the World Through the Characters' Eyes: A DM's Theory of Mind

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 24 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Seeing the world through the eyes of the characters

As dungeon masters, we know a lot more than our players. The imbalance of information between us and the players can lead to misunderstandings, unnecessary arguments, and disappointment for both, the players and the dungeon master. Seeing the world through the eyes of the players and their characters lets us anticipate these challenges. It can bridge the gap between our shared imaginations.

A game of imperfect information

It is easy to forget the things that the players don’t know. We spend a lot of time thinking about our game and the setting we are playing in. Players think a lot about their characters and their place in the world but they have blind spots. Players must have blind spots for the world to stay mysterious and fantastical.

This fact, however, is easily forgotten. To us, it might seem obvious that the ruined altar is cursed. Why aren’t the players more afraid? Why aren’t they attacking the hobgoblin wraith, who, clearly, commands the skeleton horde? Because they don’t know. The scene unfolds in our heads in front of a backdrop of lore, history, and detail. A backdrop that the players don’t have access to. We try our best to describe the relevant details but some things are bound to be lost in translation.

Exercising some theory of mind allows us to put ourselves in the position of our players and their characters. To notice the potential inaccuracies of translation from the DM’s brain to the players’ brains, we must see the world through their characters’ eyes.

Creating immersive descriptions by taking the characters’ point of view

Don’t bury the lead

One technique we can use to anticipate gaps in the players’ knowledge is to describe the world through the eyes of their characters. What do the characters see when they enter the dusty crypt? What immediately draws their attention? We can start by describing the big things that stand out.

The characters’ eyes will quickly leap to the ruined altar, and the menacing hobgoblin wraith. If we imagine the scene as a cartoon sequence, these are the aspects that immediately stand out from the background. Don’t bury the lead. We shouldn’t start by describing the subtleties of smell, sound, and sight in the crypt. Instead, we can begin with, “The first thing you see…” By following the characters’ gaze, we guide the players’ imagination towards the important aspects of a scene.

The characters know more than the players

Characters have more information than the players. After all, the characters are in the crypt while the players sit around a table. We want players to be able to rely on their characters’ expertise and knowledge. But we also want players to figure out things about the world themselves. Treading this line is a big part of dungeon mastering. We will spend the rest of our careers as DMs figuring out the balance between too much and too little information. Exercising theory of mind, and seeing the world through the characters’ eyes can help us in this effort.

However, there is a general guideline, we can follow: Details that stand out to the characters should stand out to the players. When in doubt, have players roll an ability check to determine whether their characters know or perceive something. The cleric would probably recognize the vile energy of the desecrated altar immediately. Not sure whether the wizard would remember the ancient hobgoblin empire that ruled these lands millennia ago? Have the player roll a history check when their character sees the hobgoblin wraith. Taking a proactive stance regarding information that the characters would have will smooth over the translation of the situation from our imagination into the players’ minds.

An emergent world

Our game of D&D exists in a superimposed quantum state. Nothing truly exists until it makes an appearance in play. As dungeon masters we are engaged in Schrödinger’s world building. Looking at the fiction of our game through the eyes of the players and their characters helps us remember this fact. However, viewing the fictional world as a solidified mental image, makes us less flexible in following the players’ lead. The bugbear barbarian PC might speculate that the ruined altar has captured their ancestors’ souls. We had no idea that there would be goblinoid souls contained in the stone slab. From the character’s perspective, however, it is plausible enough for us to roll with it. Fantastical stories can emerge when we let go of the notion that we as dungeon masters have all the answers. Seeing the world through the eyes of the characters can help us keep an open mind.

Theory of mind for dungeon masters

Theory of mind, empathizing, taking a different perspective. The skillset of putting ourselves in the shoes of our players and their characters is crucial for us as dungeon masters. We know more about the fiction of the game world than the players. Remembering this challenging but necessary aspect of the game can help us run better D&D games.

Seeing and describing the world through the eyes of the characters draws players into the fiction. Don’t bury the lead! Beginning descriptions with the things the characters would notice first focuses players on the relevant details of a situation. Characters know more than the players. Whenever we can, we should use the characters’ expertise and knowledge to help the players make informed decisions. Seeing our shared game world through the eyes of the characters reminds us that nothing exists before someone vocalizes it at the table. View the world from the perspective of the players and their characters and watch the game become the collaborative process of shared imagination that it is meant to be.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Empowering Player-Driven Storytelling” - https://slyflourish.com/empowering_player_storytelling.html
Matt Colville: “Information. Running the Game #19” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm4EvRUo4YQ
Justin Alexander: “The Art of Rulings” - https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4238/roleplaying-games/the-art-of-rulings
Wikipedia: “Theory of mind” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind

D&D Level Advancement: Milestone vs XP (Part 2 - Experience Points)

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 17 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

This is part 2 of a two-part series of articles on level advancement in D&D. In the first part we investigated milestone advancement. In this article, we take a closer look at how we award experience points (XP) as a tool for character growth in D&D.

The case for experience points

Awarding XP in D&D can be a great way to show the incremental advancement that characters achieve during a campaign. Instead of the broad chunks of milestone leveling, players get to quantify their character’s mechanical development, and see it grow as they embark on new adventures. For some games, experience points can feel more natural than milestone-based advancement. Why wouldn’t each individual overcome challenge contribute to a character’s growth? Players likely know the concept of experience points from video games. With a few considerations and modifications, we can let XP become an organic and flexible tool for character advancement.

Experience points shape the character of our game

Whether we are aware of it or not, experience points shape the character of our game. Therefore, we have to carefully consider how we award experience points should we use XP instead of a milestone-based approach. Players want their characters to level up. Thus, experience points become powerful incentives to influence player behavior. When we follow the “classic” method, and award experience points for slaying monsters, our players will naturally gravitate towards combat. This can make for an awesome game experience if what we are looking for is a tactical, combat-heavy style of play.

Awarding XP for more than combat encounters

Alternatively, we can award XP for other types of encounters in D&D. As with milestone XP, we can approximate the right number of XP using the combat difficulty guidelines in chapter 3 of the DMG. Stealing the keys to the Vault of the Sages from a sleeping professor might warrant easy encounter XP. The successful plead for the characters’ lives in front of Klauth, the ancient red dragon, on the other hand, qualifies for a hard or even deadly encounter. As the DMG tells us, an encounter requires a meaningful chance of failure for experience points to be awarded.

It is worthwhile to wrap our head around which kinds of encounters qualify for XP. We can even go beyond the “meaningful chance of failure” requirement. The roleplaying game Numenera awards experience points for discovery. DM David recommends we steal this rule for our D&D games. Why shouldn’t the characters gain experience for uncovering long lost locations, mysteries, and secrets of our game world? But should they also gain XP for a long fireside chat with no real risk involved? We can experiment with the types of encounters we want to award XP for. As always, we must find a guideline that works for our game, ourselves, and our players.

The XP laundry list

One challenge with this approach lies in estimating the difficulty of a social interaction, or exploration encounter. Another is in the fluidity of our D&D games. When encounters and scenes naturally flow from one to the next, it can become difficult to clearly define where one encounter ends and another begins. To award XP in D&D, however, we must have some idea of individual encounters and their respective difficulties. We can make a “laundry list” of challenges and appropriate XP rewards after each session and give it to the players.

Awarding XP after the game

Awarding experience for non-combat encounters is not an exact science. We simply have to use our best judgement to determine the segments of a session that warrant experience points. We can write down a “laundry list” of XP-worthy challenges the characters went through after the session. Doing this after the session skips the conversation about experience points after each encounter. Pausing the game to calculate XP totals takes players out of character, and introduces an obstacle to the immersive flow of the game.

Making a list of XP-worthy challenges

These challenges could have been combat, social interaction, or exploration. Whatever the type of challenge, we write down the experience points we award for each one. Then we correct the numbers of each entry on that list up or down until it looks and feels right. After a session in which the characters stole the keys to the Vault of Sages, that list might look something like this:

Sneaking into the university - 500 XP
Defeating the animated armor guards - 1000 XP
Lifting the key from the professor - 500 XP
Evading the city guard - 300 XP

Notice that some of these segments might have included more than one encounter. Sneaking into the university likely included scaling a wall, running across the courtyard, and opening a number of locked doors. We don’t have to worry about separating encounters minutely. Instead, for complex situations like these, we think of larger segments of the overall challenge.

The battle with the animated armor guards is the most straight forward. Simply add together the XP values of each armor to calculate the appropriate experience points. For everything else, we rely on the encounter difficulty guidelines in the DMG, and our own sense of the game we are running.

A list such as this one relies on our instincts as dungeon masters. But by creating one after each session, and handing it to the players, we create the sense of incremental advancement that XP is made for. At the same time, we develop a consistent framework of awarding experience points for challenges that are not combat. From a series of neatly separated encounters, such as in a dungeon crawl, to a highly complex situational session, such as a heist adventure - the framework above will serve us well, whatever game we are running.

Advancement by XP: An incremental, flexible tool

The incremental nature of experience points can feel natural and rewarding for the players. While we could award XP solely for defeating monsters, we need to be aware that this approach will push players towards combat as a solution for many situations of our D&D game. We need to be aware that XP shapes the character of our game. Thinking about which kinds of encounters warrant an XP reward is a worthwhile exercise. If we do choose to award experience points for non-combat encounters, a “laundry list” approach can streamline the process. After each session, make a list of the XP-worthy challenges the party has overcome. Adjust the numbers up or down until the list looks and feels right. With a little consideration, experimentation, and practice, XP can become a flexible tool to shape our game and let characters grow with it.

Links and Resources

Merric Blackman: “Milestones and Experience Points” - https://merricb.com/2020/09/20/milestones-and-experience-points/
David Hartlage: “XP Versus Milestone Advancement—At Least We Can All Agree That Awarding XP Just for Combat Is Terrible” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/xp-versus-milestone-advancement-at-least-we-can-all-agree-that-awarding-xp-just-for-combat-is-terrible/
Dungeon Solvers: “I’ve Changed My Mind About Milestone Leveling” - https://www.dungeonsolvers.com/2019/09/13/ive-changed-my-mind-about-milestone-leveling/

D&D Level Advancement: Milestones vs. XP (Part 1 - Milestones)

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 10 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Players love to see their characters grow in power. And we as dungeon masters control the pace of that growth. So how do you let characters gain levels: based on milestones or experience points (XP)? In this two-part series we take a look at one of the undying controversies of D&D: Milestones vs. XP. This first article investigates milestones as a tool for character growth.

In the end, each one of us will have to decide for themselves which method serves their group’s needs best. These two articles are intended as a thought-provoking guide for every dungeon master to find their own way of level advancement in D&D.

The importance of leveling up in D&D

Gaining class levels is a core feature of Dungeons & Dragons. Characters grow with a campaign in a purely narrative sense. They forge alliances, make enemies, and learn long lost secrets of the world. But as characters evolve with the fiction of the game, players expect their mechanical options to improve as well. This progressive structure of D&D makes sense narratively, and it is a big part of why players come back to the game week after week.

The case for milestone leveling

Milestone leveling takes the arithmetic of experience points out of the game and instead focuses on big narrative beats. Players don’t track XP. Their characters simply gain a level when they complete a milestone. They might have defeated a villainous lieutenant, saved the townsfolk, or cleansed the forgotten city of the elder evil. The Dungeon Master’s Guide gives examples for milestones that include “discovering a hidden location or piece of information relevant to the adventure” or “reaching an important destination” (pg. 261). Ultimately, we can determine many different types of accomplishments that qualify as a “milestone.”

This technique takes away some of the “gamey” nature of experience points. The only thing that matters for character progression is the story. If executed well, milestone leveling can lend a greater sense of accomplishment to the big moments of our campaign. When level progression is tied to the narrative of the game, players earn their characters’ advancement by engaging with the story. Marrying level progression with narrative goals, incentivizes players to actively drive the story towards these goals.

Milestone leveling in a player-driven campaign

If we are looking to run a non-linear, heavily player-driven campaign, defining milestones might be challenging. A published adventure tells us which accomplishments warrant a level advancement. The DMG recommends we designate certain events or challenges as milestones when we build our own campaign. But if we start the campaign without a rigorous outline in mind, there might be no clear milestones that we can define. We can run a great campaign by simply following the players’ lead and letting their characters’ actions drive the narrative. Even if we cannot define milestones from the outset, milestone leveling can still work for such open campaigns.

Instead of creating a fixed outline of milestones that the characters can accomplish, we can stay flexible with potential goals. We might create a list of potential milestones, based on the characters’ backstories and the central tension of our campaign. Here is a list of ten potential milestones for a player-driven campaign set in the Forgotten Realms:

Uncover the fate of the disappearing wood elf tribes in the High Forest.
Save the people of Mornbryn’s Shield from the Zhentarim mercenaries.
Save a nobleman’s son who ventured too deep into Undermountain.
Find an artifact to free the archfey patron of the warlock character.
Drive the orc warbands out of the Tower District in Neverwinter.
Help the Battlehammer Clan defend Gauntlgrym against a drow invasion.
Cleanse the Vault of the Sages in Silverymoon of the psychic terrors that lie beneath it.
Stop the plans of the evil sorceress to infiltrate the Lord’s Alliance.
Find the cure to the frigid evil that has befallen Icewind Dale.
Defeat Klauth, the Great Wyrm of the North.

We can keep these milestones vague because many of them will never come into play. We can throw adventure hooks to any of these milestones towards our players, and simply follow their lead. As the campaign progresses we will throw out irrelevant milestones, and come up with new ones based on the characters’ chosen path. This way, milestone leveling can work even if we don’t know where the campaign is eventually headed.

Milestone leveling and random encounters

Milestone leveling takes away one of the appeals of random encounters. When we award experience points for defeating monsters, players will appreciate the challenge because it means they advance closer to the next level. With milestone leveling, there is no immediate reward for a random encounter besides treasure. That is why we need to pay careful attention to the frequency and content of our random encounters when we are using milestone leveling.

Every such encounter must drive the characters towards another milestone. Random encounters should either directly contribute to reaching the next milestone, or they should provide information about another milestone. 1d4 Wyverns should be servants of the red dragon Klauth. 2d6 orcs become an outpost of the warband in Neverwinter. We should consider this technique whenever we utilize random encounters but it is especially relevant when we use milestone leveling.

Milestone XP - A middle way from the DMG

What we have so far referred to as “milestone leveling” is actually not what it is called in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The DMG calls this method Story-Based Advancement (pg. 261). What the DMG calls milestones (pg. 261) poses something of a compromise between experience points and milestone leveling as it is commonly understood.

The DMG advises us that we can award experience points when the players reach a milestone. This puts some of the incremental nature of counting XP back into our game while still tying character advancement to story advancement. We reward players for accomplishing meaningful goals, while maintaining the sense of incremental advancement that tracking experience points provides.

Awarding XP exclusively for milestones

We can break with the DMG and award milestone XP not in addition to regular experience points, but as the sole method of awarding XP. In that case we need to increase the amount of experience gained for each milestone. If we only award the XP equivalent of an easy combat encounter for a minor milestone, and that of a hard combat encounter for a major milestone, leveling will be slow. We can double these numbers to achieve a more balanced pace of level advancement with experience points awarded solely for milestones. The number of major or minor milestones needed to advance to the next level would roughly break down like this.

Character Level	# of major milestones required	# of minor milestones required
1st	2	6
2nd	2	6
3nd	4	12
4th	5	15
5th	5	15
6th	5	15
7th	5	16
8th	5	16
9th	5	15
10th	8	18
11th	4	10
12th	4	10
13th	3	10
14th	4	10
15th	4	11
16th	4	10
17th	4	10
18th	4	10
19th	3	9

I rounded the number of milestones required for a level-up, so that at almost all levels, characters will overshoot the target number of experience points. That means in actual play, some levels will take fewer milestones.

Gaining XP by advancing the story

As we can see in the table above, with a few outliers, it will take 3-5 major milestones, 10-15 minor milestones, or a combination of the two for characters to advance to the next level. If this feels right for our campaign, we can use milestone XP as the exclusive method for characters to gain experience points. We can shift the number of XP that individual milestones grant up or down depending on the specific accomplishment.

By using this method, we combine the feeling of incremental advancement of tracking experience points with the story-based approach of milestones. Players can watch the number of XP on their character sheets grow with their characters’ achievements in the campaign world. We preserve the incentive structure of experience points, while tying level advancement to the grand narrative beats of our game.

Milestones: D&D level advancement tied to the story

Focusing on milestones as our method for character advancement lets us do away with some of the “gamey” bits of experience points. Instead, players are incentivized to drive the story forward and watch their characters’ power grow with the narrative. We need not define milestones before we start a campaign. Instead, we can keep a loose list of potential milestones handy but let the characters’ choices redefine that list as we progress in the game. Random encounters require special attention when we use milestone leveling. Since defeating random monsters will not grant experience points, we need to make sure that random encounters drive the story forward.

We can marry experience points and milestone-based advancement by awarding XP when characters reach milestones. Giving out twice the amount of XP of a hard combat encounter for a major milestone, and twice the amount of an easy combat encounter for a minor milestone is a good starting point. With this method, players will feel the incremental nature of tracking experience points, while advancement remains firmly tied to the story of our game.

Links and Resources

Merric Blackman: “Milestones and Experience Points” - https://merricb.com/2020/09/20/milestones-and-experience-points/
David Hartlage: “XP Versus Milestone Advancement—At Least We Can All Agree That Awarding XP Just for Combat Is Terrible” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/xp-versus-milestone-advancement-at-least-we-can-all-agree-that-awarding-xp-just-for-combat-is-terrible/
Dungeon Solvers: “I’ve Changed My Mind About Milestone Leveling” - https://www.dungeonsolvers.com/2019/09/13/ive-changed-my-mind-about-milestone-leveling/

Turning a D&D Dungeon Map into a Tool for Improvisation

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 03 May 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Running D&D with a great dungeon map

Dungeons are a big part of Dungeons & Dragons. Some might say half of it going by the name of the game. Whatever the specifics of our dungeon, most of the time, we will have a map of the location. And that map probably has a key. Whether from a published adventure, or entirely homebrewed, how we design and use the dungeon map key can have a huge impact on how the players experience our D&D game.

In any game, a dungeon provides a fun mode of gameplay that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. What a dungeon looks like depends on the campaign we are running. It might be a forgotten crypt, a castle of the cloud giants, or an enormous hollowed-out tree in the Feywild. But multiplanar towers, alien spacecrafts, or gargantuan sentient machines are also opportunities for dungeons.

The structure of consecutive rooms and corridors provides us with a solid framework, already. But a well-made map key can help us create and run dungeons that feel alive, fantastical, and engaging for the players.

Write on the dungeon map

To improve the flow of the game, we can write notes on the map of the dungeon itself. In published D&D adventures, a dungeon usually features a drawn map with areas, rooms, and corridors. Many of these locations come labeled with a letter and/or a number. The accompanying text then includes headings with that letter/number and the name of the location. Underneath each such entry, we will find a description of the location, including general properties, traps, inhabitants, and treasure.

While preparing the adventure, that setup will be useful. It can detail a lot of information, and by flipping back and forth between the dungeon map, and the descriptions, we can figure out how the dungeon will work in our D&D game. But when we are running the game, flipping back and forth becomes very inconvenient. Additionally, the descriptions might contain too much text for us to read at the table if we want to keep the game moving. That’s why we should take notes on the map itself. It creates an easy reference for us at the table. If we combine this technique with evocative names, a monster roster, and a list of monuments, the dungeon map turns into a powerful tool for improvisation.

Using evocative names

Instead of numbers and letters that point to a description in our notes, we can write down an evocative name of the room, right there on the map. That way we can scan the map, and quickly see where the characters are headed. We can also quickly see which rooms are adjacent to their current location. If we see “overflowing primordial pool” written on the next room, we can describe the sound of flowing water to the players. Similarly, we can describe the rotten smell coming from a wall knowing that a “mass grave of Orcus” lies behind it.

The names should immediately give us an image of what the room contains, its atmosphere, and its sensory information. Most of the time, we don’t need more information to improvise. We can rely on the mental image in our heads that an evocative name creates. When the players ask for specifics we can let that image be our guide, along with the physical dimensions visible on the map.

The monster roster

Often we are compelled to design a dungeon by determining which monsters the characters might face in which room. This approach, which we find in published adventures, is convenient. We can focus on one room at a time, and follow the characters along as they maneuver through the dungeon. If we want a more dynamic and adaptable dungeon, we can disconnect the roster of monsters from specific locations.

We can create a list of inhabitants of the dungeon while not worrying about where specifically they might show up. We make that decision when the characters are in the dungeon. When the characters enter a new area in the dungeon, we can glance at our monster roster. We can then roll a die to determine the inhabitants of this area randomly. Or we decide based on what makes sense in the fiction and what works for the pace of the game.

Did the characters alert some goblin scouts earlier in the dungeon? Well, maybe it is time for an alarmed hobgoblin patrol to stumble upon the characters. Did the characters just survive a drawn-out slog of a battle? Maybe the next room is empty except for an outsider goblin that is willing to cover for the party while they rest. Keeping a list of monsters separate from the map of the dungeon means we are ready to improvise. A monster roster helps us to adapt to the situation as it unfolds at the table.

A list of monuments

Similarly to the monster roster, we can create a list of monuments that can be found inside the dungeon. We don’t assign these monuments to any location on the map before we run the game. Instead, we drop these monuments in whenever the characters enter a new room or area in the dungeon. We make sure that all of the monuments tell our players something about the lore of the dungeon or the larger setting.

The goblin hideout used to be a military outpost of the drow so we sprinkle in statues of drow warriors. Maybe the goblins have started to worship Lolth. There are going to be lots of pits filled with spiders, shrines to Lolth and slave pens that serve as food for the giant spiders inhabit the dungeon together with the goblins. We put these monuments in front of the players to let them discover the story of the dungeon as they navigate through its rooms and corridors. By keeping the list of monuments separate from the map, we can drop in monuments randomly, or we mention specific sights that reinforce a relevant aspect of the fiction of the dungeon.

Find what works for your D&D dungeon map

Dungeons are a fun way to play the game. If done well, they can become a staple of our tool box, and help us create exciting and engaging situations in our Dungeons & Dragons game. We can make sure that the dungeons we design and run are dynamic environments that evolve and change in response to the characters’ actions. Writing evocative names of rooms and locations on the dungeon map itself helps us to quickly see relevant information while we are running D&D. We can use these names as improvisational prompts to keep the dungeon crawl running smoothly. A roster of monsters, separate from the map, allows us to adapt our encounters to the fiction of the dungeon. It also keeps us flexible to react to needs of the pace of the game. With a similar list of monuments we are able to follow the characters’ path, while bathing each room in secrets, clues, and lore.

These techniques will make for a dynamic experience of the dungeon crawl. They also demand a lot of improvisation from us dungeon masters. Maybe that is not the way you prefer to run your game. I encourage you to give these techniques a try. But in the end it is your game, your world, and your dungeon. Try these techniques, find what works for you, and unlock the amazing potential of dungeons in your game.

Links and Resources

David Hartlage: “To Run a Great Dungeon, Write All Over the Map” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/to-run-a-great-dungeon-write-all-over-the-map/
Justin Alexander: “The Art of the Key - Part 4: Adversary Rosters” - https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/38547/roleplaying-games/the-art-of-the-key-part-4-adversary-rosters
Mike Shea: “D&D Prep: Write Down Ten Things” - https://slyflourish.com/lists_of_ten.html

Never Split the Party: How to Break D&D's First Rule

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The first rule of fantasy fight club is…

One of the first “rules” that any new D&D player or dungeon master will hear uttered is the injunction to “NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY!” Nonetheless, with a few techniques in our DM’s toolbox we can make splitting the party a fun and engaging experience.

When the fiction demands it, splitting the party should be possible. We don’t have to take the strategic choice of splitting the party off the table because it presents a challenge to our DMing skills. If the players decide their characters need to separate, we can take steps to ensure that it doesn’t negatively impact the flow of our game.

…never split the party!

For most of the time in our D&D games, “never split the party” is good advice. From a player’s perspective it makes sense to concentrate their characters’ powers as much as possible. The patrol of bloodthirsty cultists is going deal with two characters much easier than they would with four. In any combat, if the number of actions the enemy has is larger than the characters’ number of actions, the difficulty of the encounter increases dramatically. In battle, more is better.

From our perspective as D&D dungeon masters, “never split the party” is also good advice. Engaging all of the players at the table becomes harder if only one half of the characters are “on screen”. Having two parties act in different locations at the same time can create narrative problems. Describing simultaneous events in different locations can work in a novel because the author knows how the events are going to play out. But when we run D&D, we don’t know what the characters are going to do until they do it.

Take the following example. Cultists of the demon prince Demogorgon have taken over an old manor, and are threatening the piece of the town. The characters want to take on the threat and decide that it makes strategic sense to split the party. One half of the party sneaks into the cultists’ manor while the other half is assassinating the guards at the front door. Both scenes take place simultaneously. But in D&D, we can’t tell both at the same time. … Right?

Split the party: Escalating tension

The writing strategy of escalating tension can help us run simultaneous scenes unfolding at the table. In a brilliant video essay, D&D guru Matt Colville tells us how to do it: We can “cut” between the split party halves while constantly turning up the tension dial for both of them. The characters inside the cultists’ manor have to deal with traps, guards, and summoned monsters. They are increasingly on the verge of being detected. Meanwhile, the other characters attempt an assassination strike on the cultists guarding the front door. The closer they get to the cultists, the higher the likelihood of failure. Both scenes’ tension arrows are pointing upwards. The closer the separated parties get to their goals, the more threatening the situation becomes.

Constantly increasing the tension keeps players engaged even while their characters are off-screen for moments at a time. They can scramble to find solutions for their own mission, and they can cheer for their party members while they are engaged in their encounter. We can empower this technique by using small cliffhanger moments as spring boards to cut between party halves.

Split the party: Jumping between cliffhangers

Player: “I want to sneak around the corner to see what the source of the green glow and the screeching noise is.”
DM: “Ok, make a stealth check.”
Player: “Oh no, that’s a seven for stealth!”
DM: “You take a few steps around the corner when a lose stone tile gives way underneath your feet. You lose your balance, stumble and bump into something. You look up and see a metallic head with three glowing green eyes glaring right at you.
Player: “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!
DM: “Meanwhile outside the manor…”

We can look for opportune cliffhanger moments like the one above to keep ratcheting up the tension. When we use moments right before or after a dramatic resolution to move the attention to another group, we keep players on the edge of their seats. It also helps us to time our cuts and transitions. By frequently looking for cliffhanger moments to switch between characters, we make sure that no single group is left passive and off-screen for too long. DMDavid recommends to set a timer for 4 minutes to remind us to frequently cut between the split party groups. While we don’t have to adhere to a strict timer, looking for cliffhanger moments to cut between groups keeps the pace of the encounter naturally high. We know this technique from film and writing, and we can use it effectively to navigate a split-party situation.

Split the party: Separate sessions

The players might also decide to split the party for a longer stretch of an adventure. They might decide that one half will travel to the capital to ask the inquisition for help while the other characters try to slow down the cultists’ ritual. These separate events might each require an entire session to play out. In these circumstances, increasing the tension, and jumping between cliffhangers won’t work as well. We might not be able to realistically keep increasing the tension for a day’s worth of travel. When such a situation comes up, we can think about not only splitting the characters, but also splitting the players.

If we can get over the organizational hurdle of scheduling, we can run a separate session for each half of the party. In one session, we see how one half of the characters weather the dangerous road to the capital, and try to beseech the king for aid. In the other session, we let the characters deal with the cultists that are summoning demonic servants of Demogorgon. When the players and the characters reunite for the next session, they can share what they have learned, and deal with the consequences of the actions of each separate group of characters.

By splitting the party in real life, we circumvent most of the challenges of a split party. This will not be feasible for all groups and circumstances. It requires an extra scheduling effort, and a scenario in which the characters are split up for long enough to warrant separate sessions. But when these conditions align, we can run exciting games for a smaller portion of the characters without worrying the complications that a split party presents to us as the DM. In the end, running split sessions might even be a welcome change of pace for a long-running campaign.

Never split the party… But if you do, do it right.

Sometimes, in the fiction of our game, it can make sense to split the party. As DMs, we can let the players decide when it is time for their characters to separate. When they do, a few techniques can help us navigate a split-party situation. In fast-paced action sequences, we can switch between the split groups often while constantly increasing the tension for each group. We can keep an eye out for cliffhanger moments to cut from one group of characters to the other to keep everyone at the table engaged. If the characters decide to split up for a longer adventure, we can split the players as well. Running separate sessions for the separated groups lets us avoid some of the pitfalls of a split party while giving characters enough room to play out their individual adventures.

Most of the time, “Never split the party!” is valuable advice. But when the story demands it, we can let it happen naturally, and make the experience of a split party engaging, unique, and memorable.

Links & Resources

Matthew Colville: “Let’s Split the Party! Running the Game #66” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=262aEO3cWPQ
David Hartlage: “Never split the party—except when it adds fun” - https://dmdavid.com/tag/never-split-the-party-except-when-it-adds-fun/
Katrina Ostrander: “Split the Party Without Dividing Interest” - https://geekandsundry.com/split-the-party-without-dividing-interest/

Music and D&D: The Soundtrack of Our Game

Marius Hofbauer — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

The Soundtrack of Our Game

Music can greatly enhance the immersive experience of playing or running a D&D game. There is a reason why movies and TV shows have their own soundtracks. Music transmits emotion. It colors a scene. A single chord can change the tone of any scene instantly. We can use the power of music in our D&D game to enhance the immersion of our players. We can create a soundtrack for our game that draws players into the scene and reinforces the dramatic pace of our D&D sessions.

Music Tools for D&D

There are many tools to bring music into our game. We can get very detailed technical setups using software that lets us create custom scenes, including music and sound effects. On the other hand, a long enough YouTube video that provides subtle background music might be enough to provide some emotional underscoring to our scenes. Spotify playlists present a balance of detail and effort. We can curate our own playlists or find some that are tailored to specific types of scenes or moods. Playlists that fit broad themes such as “neutral”, “tension”, “beautiful”, “tavern”, and “combat” provide different sonic atmospheres while remaining useful in many different scenes.

We tailor the soundtrack to the general tone of the scene or sequence of scenes. Are the characters entering a dark forgotten grotto? Cue the “tension” playlist. Do they see a gargantuan dire owlbear rushing towards them? Press play on the “combat” playlist. Do the characters enter a fantastical temple hidden inside a lush forest? Play the “beautiful” playlist for them. We could get more detailed with a wider range of themed playlists, or we could build custom scenes with dedicated RPG music software. But really, a handful of playlists for broad categories of moods, settings, or emotions is all we need.

At the end of this article, I provide the Spotify playlists I use as the soundtrack to my game. There you will also find links to other RPG music tools.

Music and D&D: Setting the scene

We can change the soundtrack to underline a change of scenes. Imagine the following movie scene: The knight gets off her horse to rest for a moment. The ride had been uneventful thus far and she is eager to take off her helmet and get out of the sun for a while. But then the music changes. The clanging of the knight’s armor, and the chirping of birds around her are now underpinned by ominous low strings. In this scene, nothing else indicates a lurking danger but the music alone manages to create anxiety in us, the viewers. As dungeon masters we can use this same technique. We can set the tone of the scene before the players or the characters know what is coming.

While this technique works well for creepy, or dangerous scenes, we can use it in any scenario. Are the characters entering a new location? Change the music. Are they beginning a conversation with an NPC? Change the music. Has the battle concluded, and the characters are beginning to investigate the enemy’s remains? Change the music. Simply switching to a different piece of music at the beginning of a new scene can help players stay engaged. We can reinforce the pacing of our game by making the soundtrack follow the sequence of scenes. We don’t have to do this for every minute change in the flow of the game. But a new track when the pace of the game changes keeps things fresh and engaging for us and the players.

Music and D&D: Getting into the game

Similar to changing the music for a new scene, we can empower the beginning of each game session with music. We might play the same piece of music every time we jump back into the game. We can choose this specific piece based on the tone of our campaign. A Curse of Strahd campaign might use a track from a horror movie score. When running an adventure like Storm King’s Thunder, we might play a more classically “high fantasy” soundtrack at the beginning of each session.

Whichever piece of music we choose, we can hack the psyche of our players with this technique. Just as smells can conjure up powerful memories, a recurring piece of music, can quickly create the attentive atmosphere that leads to an engaging start to our game. Over time, players will consciously, or subconsciously, recognize that the session is about to begin when we cue that soundtrack. The piece of music might even become a sort of theme song to our campaign. Years later, we might listen to this piece and feel the memories and emotions of that game rush back to us.

Music and D&D: In-world music

Incidental Music

Film composers distinguish between source music that is part of the fiction, and incidental music which is heard only by the viewers and not part of the fictional world. In our D&D games, we can use both types of music. Most of the time, we will use incidental music to underscore the tone of a particular scene. But sometimes, source music will also be part of our game’s soundtrack. For example, the characters might enter a busy tavern. Then, we cue some fantasy folk tunes which can be heard by the players, but presumably also by the characters.

Source Music

There are, however, opportunities for source music that go beyond the classic fiddler in a tavern. We can select an ominous Gregorian chant when the characters are witnessing a dark ritual conducted by chanting cultists. We can play an aria from an opera when characters find themselves at court, listening to the performance of a famous bard. When we have the time and the means, we might even create our own custom piece of music that is part of the fiction.

For my home game, I wrote the “Ballad of the Dodkong,” an ancient stone giant hymn. The piece told the tale of Grugaran, the first Dodkong who accidentally killed his wife when he tried to attain immortality. When a friendly giant NPC began to sing the ballad, I performed the piece I had written. It was a special moment for me and the players. When the characters later came to the stone giants’ hideout, they heard the “Ballad of the Dodkong” being chanted from deep within the mountains. I sang the first couple of lines, and the players immediately knew and felt that this was bad news.

When players can hear the same piece of music their characters are hearing, it draws them into the world. Source music in our D&D game allows players to feel the way their characters feel. Music, used in this way, draws a direct line from the emotional valency within the story to the atmosphere at the gaming table. We need not create custom music to make powerful use of source music in D&D. We can spend some time to pick pieces for emotionally charged scenes that are part of the fictional world. Look for opportunities for source music in your game. Try it out. Let your players hear with the ears and minds of their characters.

Using the power of music in D&D

The immediate emotional connection that music can create is a powerful tool for running D&D games. We don’t have to invest in complicated technical solutions to create a soundtrack to our games at the table or in online play. A couple of curated Spotify playlists is all we need to conjure musical atmospheres for many situations in our game. We can use music to follow the pace of a session by switching pieces when the situation changes.

A specific track that we play at the beginning of each of our sessions can support a strong and engaging start to our game. Such a piece might become a sort of theme song for our campaign. If we want to take music in D&D to the next level, we can think about source music for specific scenes. Pieces of music that both the players and the characters can hear can make for an incredibly immersive experience. Whatever the specifics at our table, music is a flexible tool to enhance the emotional quality of our D&D games.

Resources

Andrew Borecky (2021): “Dungeons, Dragons, and Music: The Immersive Qualities of Sound in Dungeons & Dragons” In: Journal of Sound and Music in Games (2021) 2 (1): 46–64. - https://doi.org/10.1525/jsmg.2021.2.1.46
Arcane Eye (2019): “Choosing the Right Music For Your Campaign” - https://arcaneeye.com/dm-tools-5e/dnd-music/

Spotify and YouTube Playlists

D&D Spotify playlists curated by Andreas Van den Abeele, which I use in my game:
- D&D - Neutral (I use this as neutral background for any type of scene.)
- D&D - Tension (I use this for dungeons, tense social interactions, creepy scenes…)
- D&D - Combat (I use this for any type of combat. The tracks drive the action but they aren’t the “saving-the-multiverse” kind of epic.)
- D&D - Beautiful (I use this for scenes of serenity and beauty. It could be a temple, a vision or dream, an emotional social interaction…)
- D&D - Festive Town (I use this for taverns or town festivals. It contains some source music for in-world instrumental music.)
- D&D - Epic Boss (I use this for epic climax battles. I try not to overuse this kind of hyper-epic music.)
RPG Music Maker Travis Savoie composes and produces soundtracks for published WotC Adventures. He publishes them on his YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpN8PfgGR8gMmca6l6CX1fg
Reddit user bezoing put together a much more extensive list of Spotify playlists. These will allow you to tailor the musical underscoring precisely to the mood you want to achieve.

Other tools for music in your D&D game

Hydra (Discord Music Bot) - https://hydra.bot/ (add Hydra to your discord server and cue music from YouTube or Spotify with the “.play” command)
SyrinScape - https://syrinscape.com/ (SyrinScape creates soundscapes for your game based on algorithms so that the sounds will not repeat themselves. They have a free demo version but you can buy individual soundtracks, or get a monthly subscription)
Tabletop Audio - https://tabletopaudio.com/ (This service is free with lots of “sound boards” to play sound effects and music. You can donate to the makers of the site)

Using Body Language to Run Exciting D&D Games

Marius Hofbauer — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Players are animals

Not only players are animals, of course. All humans are. We are social animals. Our brains evolved in a way that lets us experience a semblance of someone else’s emotional state. When we see someone break down in tears, we tend to feel sadness. Seeing someone throw up their arms in joyful triumph, can create the feeling of happiness in the observer. When we run our games, we can exploit that feature of our human psyche. When running D&D, we can use body language to invoke a desired emotional response in our players.

Using body language to create urgency in D&D

We can use our bodies to modulate the level of urgency we want our players to feel. When the characters are sitting around their campfire, having a friendly chat, we can lean back, take a sip of our favorite beverage, and enjoy the moment of calm together with the players. But then the characters sense a rumbling in the ground underneath them. Now we set our drink down, we lean in closer and look at the player expectantly: “What do you do?” When, moments later, an umber hulk bursts through the ground, we stand up, open our eyes wide, and use our arms and hands to visualize the chaos of the scene. When we are using body language to modulate the sense of urgency appropriate to the situation, we help our players immerse themselves in the story.

This technique of using body language to run an exciting game of D&D can be especially useful when we are running one-shots. In an interview, dungeon master Shawn Merwin makes this point about running one-hour-long adventures. He explains how he uses his whole body to impart the sense of urgency in his players that is necessary to finish an adventure in just one hour. Standing up, gesturing, facial expressions - we can use these tools to make the time constraints of exciting one-shot adventures work for us.

Using body language for better D&D NPCs

Body language is not something we tend to spend a lot of time on when preparing our D&D games. We do, however, spend some time on preparing relevant NPCs for an upcoming session. For those of us that are not professional voice actors, portraying NPCs as unique and memorable characters can be challenging. Body language can be an easily accessible tool to flesh out the way we roleplay an NPC.

Is the NPC an arrogant noble who stiffly puffs out their chest? Are they a slimy bartender who leans in closely to whomever she talks to? Or is it the quiet child that keeps his head low and draws up his shoulders? We can jot down a few words about the body language of an NPC when we prepare them before the session. We can do the same thing when we improvise an NPC. Note down the one or two body language aspects that we come up with in the moment. It will help our players remember them, and it will help us to portray NPCs with consistency, even though we might not be able to do amazing voices or accents.

Body language and D&D online play

Using body language to run an exciting D&D game gets trickier when we play online. Instead of sitting around a table, all of our expressions get crammed into a tiny pixelated box on our players’ devices. We can make some improvements simply by investing in a better technical setup, like a better camera, microphone, and internet connection. If our setup allows for it, we can stand up to create urgency, even when playing online. We can move the camera to create a wider angle so that players can see the full extent of our dungeon mastering acrobatics. It might seem strange at first to jump around in front of our desktops. However, it is worth the weirdness if we are able to bring some of the power of body language, as a dungeon master’s tool, back into the online experience.

Go big or go home

When we dungeon masters use body language to create an engaging D&D experience, we shouldn’t be afraid to give it our best effort. Work within the limits of your physicality, but “leave it all on the field.” Reach with both hands over your head to show the orc’s devastating blow with her greataxe. Stumble backwards, and clutch your throat when the fighter slits the bad guy’s throat. Hunch down and then explode outwards with your whole body to mimic the destructive power of the wizard’s fireball. We are not going for subtlety here. We’re not auditioning for a role. Go big or go home. We can use everything we got to tell the tales of high adventure that excite and engage our players.

Body language: An undervalued dungeon mastering tool

We tend to talk a lot about game mechanics, world building, and adventure design. Body language rarely comes up when we talk about running D&D. Yet it is a robust tool to modulate the emotional response of our players. We can use body language to create memorable NPCs. Body language can help us impart a sense of urgency to our players. Even when we’re playing D&D online, we can make the best of our technical setup to be able to use as much of our bodies as possible. However we use body language in our games, “go big or go home” is a great mantra. Give it your all, and make big gestures. Throw your physicality behind your descriptions and interactions. Then, body language can become a powerful tool to create excitement, engagement, and urgency in our D&D games.

Engaging Players: “What is everyone else doing?”

Links & Resources

Interview with Shawn Merwin on the “DM’s Deep Dive” podcast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rWFXTpmZj8

D&D Pre-Game Routines and the Strong Start

Marius Hofbauer — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Getting Into the Game

When we meet to play D&D, we must at some point let the curtains fall, and get into the game. We must make the leap from our ordinary lives into the epic adventure of our D&D games. Having a D&D pre-game routine can help both dungeon master and players to start strong. Thinking about how we start our games helps us smooth over the transition from the real world into the fiction of our game.

A D&D Pre-Game Routine for Dungeon Masters

We dungeon masters might have our heads filled with thoughts about the upcoming session. We might worry about our prep. How will the players find that fantastic location? Do I have enough secrets to drop into the game? Will I be able to portry that NPC accurately? It is good to bathe our brains in the fiction of our world. The more we think about our game, the better we will be able to react to our players’ actions. But we can use the time before the game begins more effectively.

We can take the time to take a couple of deep breaths, connect with our players on a personal level, and give ourselves some time to relax before the game. We can take this time regardless of our group. We might socialize with our friends when we meet to play D&D. Or we take a few minutes before our game to think about something other than the game. We can envelop ourselves in a piece of fiction. Taking a walk around the block is a great way of clearing the mind. Or we might just have a sip of coffee, sit and relax.

When we’re playing online, we can go through our D&D pre-game routine alone, in the comfort of our home. But wherever we are, and whoever we are with, taking a few minutes before the game to get our heads cleared can help us start the game calm and strong.

Roleplaying Warm-Up

Once our D&D pre-game routine is finished, we can help our players to get into their characters by starting the game with a roleplaying warm-up. We can ask questions about the characters’ backstories, their goals, and personalities. “What is your character’s favorite food?” “Describe a moment were your character was truly afraid.” We can think of the answers as part of the many conversations the charactersare having with one another during their adventures. Sitting around the fireplace, drinking an ale in a tavern, riding alongside one another… These are scenes that happen for the characters but that we rarely take the time to play out at the table.

In addition, we dungeon masters can listen closely when the players come up with facts about their characters. We can try to fold the players’ answers into the fiction of our world. Maybe the childhood rival that the player came up with on the spot can make an appearance further down the campaign. Maybe the next tavern serves one character’s favorite beverage that the player mentioned during the warm-up. Adding these details makes the players feel like they are an active collaborator in the worldbuilding of our game.

“Previously on…” or Recapping

We can let our players handle the recap at the beginning of our session. Serial TV shows often feature a “previously on” segment. A recap helps us and our players to reconnect with the fiction. It might have been a week or more since we last “saw” our characters. Letting the players handle the recap nudges them to actively consider the story of the game. Instead of narrating the “previously on” segment ourselves, we can listen as players piece together what happened.

Doing the recap ourselves would give us more control of the relevant information. We could make sure to drop in the relevant details for the upcoming session. But relinquishing that control can increase our players’ sense of control over the narrative. They decide which details are important to them, and we can listen intently. Does the awesome villain we came up with never appear in the recap of our players? Do they instead focus on that random shopkeeper NPC we improvised last session? Maybe that villain needs some more work. We might have to drop the villain altogether if the players show no interest in it. Perhaps that shopkeeper deserves a bigger role in our game going forward instead.

Starting Strong

Once we have gone through our D&D pre-game routine, it is time to get into the game. Maybe we turn on the same piece of music every time we start the game. Maybe we always start with a specific phrase. We can find a way to signal to our players that the game is about to begin. Then, we jump into the action. A strong start to the actual game is crucial. When done right, a strong start immediately draws the players into the game world and into their characters.

Starting strong is one of the steps laid out by Mike Shea in “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master.” Mike advises us to kick off our game sessions in medias res. That means getting the characters as close to the action as possible, as fast as possible. What external event could lead the characters deeper into the adventure? At what dramatic moment did we leave off the previous session? Is there an opportunity for combat to start off the game? Taking some time to prepare the start of our next game can ease the transition into the fiction for everyone at the table.

D&D Pre-Game Routines and the Strong Start

Playing D&D means participating in an extended shared delusion. We take on the personae of heroes and villains, imagine fantastic locations, and pull on the magical threads of our adventure. For most of us, this behavior is utterly alien to our everyday lives. That means it takes some time and effort to transition into the game. We can help ourselves and our players by creating a solid D&D pre-game routine and starting our game sessions strong.

Even before getting together to play, we, as dungeon masters, can take a few moments to clear our minds, and get into the right headspace for our game. We can then gently lead our players into their characters by asking a warm-up question. Letting players handle the recap of our previous sessions might seem daunting at first. But giving up control over the recap gives us the ability to hear about the players’ view of the world. Then, all that is left is to jump into the game. We can do so by starting strong: in medias res, close to the action, and right into the adventure. However our individual games might begin, we should take the time to think about and improve our personal D&D pre-game routines, and prepare a strong start to our next game.

Links & Resources

Mike Shea: “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” (specifically Chapter 4: “Create A Strong Start”) - https://slyflourish.com/returnofthelazydm/
Mike Shea: “Starting Strong” - https://slyflourish.com/starting_strong.html

Engaging Players: "What is everyone else doing?"

Marius Hofbauer — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Getting everyone involved

Player engagement can appear like the holy grail of running Dungeons & Dragons. Or any roleplaying game. Or any other game we are designing for that matter. When we are running D&D, we want to engage all of our players. We want them to be listening for every detail in our fantastical descriptions. Players should relish every twist and turn in NPC interactions, and yearn for opportunities for grand action in combat. Engaging players means making them care about what is happening at the table. To achieve that, we can let player characters take the spotlight and jump into the action frequently.

An obvious tool for engaging our players is the question, “What is everyone else doing?” While the question seems to get the job done at first glance, it is hardly the right tool for player engagement in every situation.

What is everyone else doing?

Often the question is asked after the DM has described the situation. One player has an idea, and immediately jumps in to describe their intent. The DM responds with “What is everybody else doing?”

DM: “You arrive in the Cathedral of Ominous Doom and see three corpses laying inside of three runic circles.”
Player: “My character rushes forward and investigates the first corpse.”
DM: “OK. What is everyone else doing?”

This example interaction seems perfectly justified. Especially if the outcome of the scene depends on the minutiae of each character’s behavior. Maybe the room is full of traps, or a monster that can sense movement lurks in the shadows. In such instances “What is everyone else doing?” is valid and necessary.

But in almost every other instance, the question creates a problem. It makes the action grind to a halt. The player that wanted their character to rush forward is left with uncertainty while the other players are scrambling to find something to do. One simple question can have the adverse effect of killing the momentum of a scene. The effect of the dramatic description fizzles out, and we enter a slow pace akin to initiative. Instead, we could have immediately resolved the action declared by the first, eager player. We can play out the dramatic moment as they enter the cathedral, and return to the other players afterwards. We might then ask, “What are the rest of you doing while this is going on?” That way we preserve the quick pace of dramatic exploration, while still engaging the other players in the action.

The power of spotlight

Although it is a noble goal to give every player equal opportunity for action in every scene, individual players should occasionally take the spotlight. Especially if there is a reasoning behind the spotlight that is part of the fiction of our game. Maybe the cathedral that the characters just stepped into is the home of a cult of one player character’s nemesis. In such instances, we can balance our intent of engaging all our players with our sense of dramatic pacing.

We have just seen how the question, “What is everyone else doing?” slows down the pacing, and robs the player of an opportunity to be in the spotlight. The DM could have resolved the investigation of the body first. That would have given the player an opportunity to discover the evil human sacrifices their nemesis is conducting. Instead, we are stuck in an exploration scene that becomes almost turn-based. “What is everyone else doing?” shuts off the spotlight, one of the most powerful dramatic tools of our roleplaying games.

Sometimes we want to specifically draw another player into the scene. We might know that they are too shy or polite to speak up. However, they might still enjoy roleplay when being called upon. Their character might also have an in-world reason to be engaged in the scene. In such cases we can be more specific than the broad strokes of “What is everyone else doing?” We can point a player towards an interesting detail relevant to their character. We can also connect the action of the initially active player to one of the other characters’ motivations. “You see your companion move towards one of the bodies. Your arcane senses tingle and you realize that these runic circles are still active. What do you do?” Such questions are a great way of engaging our players based on the fiction of the world. They provide rich opportunities for roleplay engagement, and conserve the dramatic pacing of the game.

Is there anything else you want to accomplish?

Instead of asking, “What is everyone else doing?” we can ask, “Is there anything else you want to accomplish?” The latter question focuses on the intent of the players. It guides players to think of meaningful actions they might want to take. And it allows an easy “no” as an answer.

Sometimes one character will spend 10 minutes to an hour executing a single task. Most often this will be the casting of a spell. Casting any spell as a ritual adds 10 minutes to the regular casting time. The rest of the characters might wait for the ritual caster to finish before they continue on with the adventure. They might want to wait for detect magic to finish to reveal magical traps in the cathedral. They might need to cast identify to find out what the mysterious magical candelabra can be used for. In these situations we can ask whether there is anything the other players would like to accomplish in the meantime. If there is nothing meaningful the characters want to accomplish, we can move the scene along. We can narrate the casting of the ritual spell, and get the characters back into the action.

Engaging means knowing your players

“What is everyone else doing?” forces players to come up with an answer to that question. Even though they might have had little or nothing to do, now they must think of something. Often this can lead to mundane or repetitive actions. Players say their characters walk into the room, do the same thing as the previous player, or just stand and look. Players might have been content or even excited to watch what the first player’s character would discover. “What is everybody else doing?” forces them to participate in the moment, regardless of the players’ intent.

Here we must know our group. To find fruitful ways of engaging players, we must have an idea of the player types and personalities around the table. If there is one player who always takes the intiative in every scene, and another who is very polite or even shy, we might want to balance that at the table. Not every player must be equally involved in every scene from the outset. A player might enjoy the game more when they can sit back and watch the other’s take the first step. We, as dungeon masters, must use our best sense of our players, their personalities, and player types to determine what will bring the most enjoyment. “What is everyone else doing?”, however, is a crude tool at best, and one with the potential to instantly rob the game of excitement.

The right tool for the right job

As dungeon masters, we try to engage all of our players in the fiction that is unfolding at the table. Often we default to the question “What is everyone else doing?” This happens especially, after one player has declared their intent and we try to give everyone else a chance to act. The question, however, slows down the pace of the game, and potentially robs individual players of dramatic moments. If we want to engage all players in a scene, there are different methods and questions that can help us. We can ask after the resolution of the first player’s action, “What are the others doing while this is going on?” When time passes in the game, we can ask everyone “Is there anything else you want accomplish?” These questions focus on intent and make it easy for players to say no if they have nothing meaningful to add to the scene.

While “What is everyone else doing?” can be a useful tool in the right circumstance, we must not default to it. The question might give us dungeon masters the feeling that we have done our job. After all, we asked “everyone.” If that question doesn’t engage our players it’s got to be their own fault! But “What is everyone else doing?” is a crude tool at best. Instead of it, we can focus on the narrative moment, and use spotlight to draw relevant characters into the scene. We can provide opportunities for engagement for every individual at the table when the dramatic pacing calls for it.

Links & Resources

D&D Duet: “Ideas for Increasing Your Player’s Engagement” - https://dndduet.com/ways-to-engage-dnd-players/
Matt Colville: “Different Kinds of Players, Running the Game #11” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQsJSqn71Fw
WebDM: “How to Make Your Players More Engaged” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEDwQ00NPxw

The Awesome Experience of Playing D&D with Friends

Marius Hofbauer — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 10:00:00 GMT

We might be running a game for a group of random strangers with whom we meet exclusively for D&D. We might be playing with colleagues. Or we might be playing with a group of friends - maybe even close ones. Any constellation of people willing to leave the real world behind can create an awesome gaming experience. But if we’re running a game for friends, there are a few things we can do to streamline the experience. Running for strangers, colleagues, family, or friends? The following ideas can help us to think about the social dynamics at the table.

When Friends Become Players

Hanging out with the same group of people quickly causes certain social dynamics to develop. Depending on the size of the group, the relationships, and how long everyone has known each other, that dynamic will change. There will be certain behaviors, routines, and interactions that have naturally formed within the group. However, when we decide to transition from friends to friends that play Dungeons & Dragons together, a lot might change. Suddenly, we are no longer four or five people that simply spend time together. Instead, we enter a more-or-less structured relationship. One person becomes the dungeon master and everyone else a player in their game.

As dungeon masters we often use these possessive pronouns when describing the game we are running. “My game”, “my players”, “my table”. These constructions can be treacherous if they are used to create an atmosphere of an adverse DM-versus-player mentality. But there is some truth to them. We dungeon masters are the ones who are preparing a world of fantastic adventure for our players. Ideally, we tailor our game to the specifics of our table. We provide opportunities for player actions to shape the world. But to a large extent we control the pace of the game and the fiction of the world.

The power dynamic between us, as a DM, and our players is necessarily unbalanced. Players control awesome characters with great power. We DMs have the resources of entire kingdoms, ancient intelligent beings, and a whole pantheon of gods at our disposal. The players roll the dice to test the luck of their characters. But we dungeon masters decide how difficult it is to successfully complete an action, and whether it is even possible. The levers of power are fundamentally unbalanced at the gaming table. They might have been unbalanced when hanging out with our friends before we started playing D&D. But once we sit down to play, the imbalance becomes codified in the rules and structures of the game.

Saying No

The question of whether dungeon masters should say no to their players comes up frequently. Each one of us will have a different answer to this question. We all have different ways in which the word “No” informs the way we run our games. Regardless, sometimes we will have to say no to a player request. A player might attempt something impossible, or approach us with obscure homebrew content. They might ask to scheme against other party members. We want to guarantee that our game hits a certain tone, runs smoothly, and is fun for everyone. That means, sometimes there is no way around saying no to our players.

Saying no can be particularly difficult if we are not used to it. Or if we are not used to saying it to these particular people. If we’re playing with friends, we want to enable them in their outlandish attempts and their particular play style. Our instinct as friends is to be supportive in any way we can, and saying no might contradict those instincts. When we become the DM, we have a responsibility to everyone at the table, including ourselves. We strive to create a fun and engaging experience. Sometimes that requires us to say no to our players, even, or especially so, if they are our friends.

Safety Tools

When we are running a game for our friends we might think that we don’t really need safety tools. We’ve known our players for a long time, everyone in the group feels comfortable around each other, and we might not use safety tools in our everyday interactions. But Dungeons & Dragons, or any roleplaying game for that matter, takes us beyond our everyday lives. We play the game because it allows us to experience thrilling, dangerous, and challenging circumstances. That is why even while playing with close friends, a conversation about safety tools can help the game run smoothly.

Simply initiating a conversation about safety tools, can create a sense of shared social expectations for everyone at the table. The outcome of this conversation might simply be, “We probably won’t need any of these safety tools in our game sessions.” In a session zero we might lay out sensitive topics at the beginning of a new campaign. But at any point in our games, a conversation about safety and consent will elevate the issue to everyone’s attention. It will reinforce the sense of community, and shared story telling that makes our D&D games such an extraordinary activity.

When Players Become Friends

Running a game of Dungeons and Dragons for our friends can be an awesome experience. It might prove to be an unusual experience as well. One that takes us out of our everyday social routines, roles and behaviors. But sometimes, while playing D&D with any group of people, the strange social structures of the game system can blur the boundaries between close friendship and a great game session. Strangers at the table discover friendship in the heat of battle. Players and dungeon master lose themselves in the characters of the fiction unfolding at the table.

Whoever the people in our gaming group are, we can improve our games by paying attention to how the game changes the group dynamics. While playing with friends, we can make sure to not let the social routines of friendship detract from our ability as dungeons masters to run a great game. We can say no when the situation demands it even if we always want to be supportive of our friends. And we can start a conversation about safety tools even if we feel they are unnecessary for our group.