#have I dm'd before? no. but. I know how DnD works

[horrorfilmlesbian]

Decided I'd try my hand at DMing and instead of doing the Reasonable thing and using a module, I'm homebrewing a whole Thing and of course this involves creating an entire continent (well. More like developing a whole world bulding exercise I've had kicking)

[roydeezed]

Dungeon Meshi Thoughts 02

Okay, I read another batch of chapters and finished Chapter 28 where they just finished the Dragon fight. And I need to get some thoughts out cause I am filled with "DREAD". Am I just traumatized from other things because I feel an immense sword of Damocles hanging above these character's even though it's mostly just been happy meals together paired with some questionable morals. Also you fans who've replied or dm'd me are really good at keeping a lid on stuff, which I appreciate, cause yall are being cryptic in ways I can't decipher. I feel like spoilers might be a part of reading this so I'll keep in-depth thoughts below the 'Keep reading'.

Love this goofy dude.

Okay, first of all I just want to touch on the immaculate vibes and execution around the sharing of meals. And discovering things through them. Because the core concept of this manga is cooking and learning about creatures no one else has explored, it's able to double up and hide the other core concept. Which is learning about others through sharing a meal. Love is found in sharing food with others and this manga shows that off brilliantly. They sit around a meal and talk and laugh and learn about each other. This manga also executes the goading of friends into eating questionable food so well it sometimes feels like an episode of Parts Unknown. But through cooking together and sharing ideas and that downtime together we find out about our characters in such a gentle way and it's just such a good way of showing it that I'm in awe. But it also only works as well as it does because of the central conceit of it all. I scream at the brilliance.

And speaking of learning about the character's, I am so curious about every single one of them. Especially Senshi. Because he's drawn in such a way that most of his expressions are hidden, he seems enigmatic and detached but his consideration for others and his harmony with the dungeon betrays a sense of empathy. But I wanna know more!!! Like why is he living in the dungeon? Who were his companions? Why does he hate magic? So mysterious and I want to know more.

Also a part of me wonders if I'm reading too much into it or having totally wrong reads like maybe Senshi is just an outright psychopath but I don't think I am because the trail of breadcrumbs I've been following has seemed very purposeful so far.

And speaking of breadcrumbs, It feels like some really dark stuff is being laid out. Like souls can't leave bodies? What in the necromantic hell is going on there? The worldbuilding of this all has been absolutely phenomenal. Like the slow building of spirits to the concept of resurrection that was used as a punchline before being fully explained and then used in the context of a political tool and the master of the dungeons power was pulled off subtly and expertly. It still feels like it's in wait of a payoff so I'm looking forward to how that goes. But this explanation of dark magic that Marcille uses also feels like a tee-up to something deeper.

I also wonder what the payoff of the other adventuring party is goin to be? The ones that Laios's group already passed a few times and stole barley off of. It feels like some misunderstood revenge might be in store for our party.

Okay, so is a dark elf just literally a brown elf? We going oldschool DnD rules (we'll save the drow rant for another time), huh? Jokes aside, this line kinda keyed me into something weird. Dark Elves exist but common people don't know what it means and soon after we get a proper introduction of the kid in the painting but in current times. And it makes sense they haven't aged as much because it was also pointed out how different races age differently. So maybe this elf rose through the ranks of the royals, became court magician and became the master of the dungeon. And being a reader of Solte the Traveller and it's isekai shenanigans makes me wonder if the underground castle was isekai'd into this world from another, cause how do you not notice an entire underground civilization under you?

Also this moment. Is everyone in love with Farlyn/Falin(wikipedia says Falin so I think I'll stick to that)? But her coming back into the group makes me wonder about the dynamic. I thought she was the common sense of the group since it's immediately after she's gone that Laios starts eating monsters and thinking about going solo into a dungeon, but after coming back, she's totally cool with it. Also she seems too gentle to be putting Laios in his place so I wonder if it was one of the other two party member's that aren't with them anymore? Maybe the guy with a crush on Falin that we haven't seen since he split? Anyways, I love Falin and the rest of the group so much already, they're all really unique and likable in their own ways while having flaws.

And speaking of flaws, this guy. I love him so much. Up until the above panel he was a whimsical, daring, detached, morally ambiguous, and hilarious bastard to me. And then this panel happened and now I am fully in. This recontextualized Laios's whole demeanour and also shed a light on how exhausted and haggard the party actually was. It seems that the way the world works in this manga demands a certain sense of detachment from it's inhabitants to stay sane. Death is usually not permanent and weird edible monsters are everywhere and a whole-ass economy has popped around invading this anomaly that just one day appeared in the ground. And our heroes tackle this detachment with humour. But we see how tired they get. Hell it was the first thing they mentioned in the first fight with the dragon. And how desperate they get as they get closer to Falin. The cracks in their whimsy start appearing and bags form under eyes and concessions are made. And when Laios finally hugs Falin I realize that his upbeat attitude the whole way through was hiding his desperation and the weight of having two lives placed on him. That desperation hits a crescendo when he literally jumps in a dragons mouth just for a chance at getting his sister back. They all became desperate. Marrcille used forbidden magic and Chilchuck put himself actively in harms way. They dredged through bones. I am so invested right now. And writing this helps me feel each beat even more. Also one last note. Falin is like half-dragon or something now? She has the magic storage of a dragon or just dragon magic or forbidden magic? That little tidbit is definitely leading somewhere. ALSO WIPE AWAY THE MAGIC CIRCLE BAD ELF ALREADY FOUND IT!!!

[freshcuntgrass]

Hi hello hello excuse me how are you running two hour sessions in dnd? Do your players enjoy it? How many players do you have for this?

It works well for this group, although I tend to prefer three hour games in general (and if I'm being honest, we go 15-20 minutes over pretty often, occasionally a bit more). It's a four-player game, if one is missing we'll often go ahead but not always. Here's what I think makes it work and/or some stuff to keep in mind if you run shorter games.

My players know what they're doing. This group is all experienced and I think most of them have DM'd before, so I do not have to know their character sheets or go over really basic rules. This is huge. (They're also just all really chill and mature, and we get along well. I don't know if this helps with time, but it helps in general.)

We have a really good Discord going. I share one Discord for every party I run, and each party has a role that lets them access designated channels for that party: scheduling, links, notes, chat, memes. Nothing important gets lost, and it's easy to communicate asynchronously through the week, so that...

Housekeeping happens outside the session. My players usually DM me with level-up questions like advice on feats, etc. Any shopping that isn't specifically a fun little interaction or story beat usually takes place in the chat or notes tab. If they've got a big decision on something to make-- i.e. do you want to take the shorter route through the scary-sounding demon ruins, or a slight detour in the town where everything is probably fine? (except the unethical nonmonogamy toxic vampire milf/dilf situation but they couldn't have known about that ahead of time lmao)-- I'll telegraph that far enough in advance that we can debate the decision in the notes over the week, letting me just prep the option they want and saving them half an hour of arguing in character.

People generally know what's going on with the plot. It moves slower than usual in real-time terms, but once they've picked a path for the next arc, that's kind of the arc. Again, having shared links/notes helps, so I can link things like World Anvil articles about whatever they just researched or type out a specific important name, phrase, puzzle, etc. There's also easily referenceable summaries of NPCs and important documents directly in the Roll20 journal tab, and I make the players do the start-of-session summary instead of me feeding it to them, which also forces them to stay aware (and lets me know what they think is important). Generally, I try to make it easy to remember (even though my plots can get pretty convoluted sometimes), but they're also very good at remembering, because...

Sessions. Are. Weekly. This is the most important thing, and I swear by it. We're all busy adults with jobs and lives (hence the 2-hour sessions), so there are some unavoidable off weeks, but a weekly commitment on the same day every time is way easier to schedule around than something that's wobblier. It's a pattern I've seen everywhere: a weekly game will probably happen four out of five weeks, a biweekly game will probably happen like, once a month and eventually peter out due to people filling that time with something else. If you're not playing regularly, you will be rusty on your character sheet, and battles will take forever. If you're not playing regularly, you'll forget what's going on, and not be able to pick up important clues or make decisions that further the plot. A lot of the unfun, frustrating, time-consuming bullshit that can pop up in D&D is a result of not being able to easily jump into the game world when it's game time. It's all about the weekly sessions.

to be fair my job also isn't real and i prep on company time. which helps with everything in general

[tumblemoth4763]

So this past Saturday I dm'd a dnd game for the first time! I'm running strixhaven with some of my friends and my boyfriend and it's going well but...

My boyfriend is a total backseat dm.

He's the forever dm of our larger friend group (not the friends we played with this weekend) and he's been stuck in that position for the entire time I've known him (about 5 years). When I was first figuring stuff out during the last couple weeks I was asking him for his opinion or what he would do, but during the last week with both what he told me and what I figured out myself I wasn't really asking consulting him much, just mentioning vaugely stuff I was excited for him and the others to go through. During the week before the session he kept chiming in on anything I said and trying to tell me how to do it right, which like yeh cool but I know how I want it to work. One thing he kept bringing up that started to really piss me off was him going off on me like 5 different times about how my interpretation of the exams system was wrong and my ideas won't work and like yeh at first I took the criticism, after dealing with that shit for a while I eventually just told him I get to decide how it works and not him cause I'm the dm

And I dunno if that hit a nerve or if he was already pissed but I think that led to him having quite a bit of an attitude when the session came. It was going pretty well, the others were enjoying it, and he was too, but as I started describing the library, he kept interrupting me and saying I was describing it wrong and what I was saying made no sense.

Honestly, if I could have just shown them what it looks like in the book I totally would have cause I have trouble describing stuff like that, and he knows that. It was quite a bit of salt in the wound him just calling me out in front of the table. Throughout this whole part before the scavenger hunt started he just kept acting like everything I said made no sense and I was stupid, like damn bro that hurts a little bit.

Eventually the hunt starts and it goes pretty well, aside from two of my players wanting to kill each other but it's cool. He kept insisting to find the larp kids, I would have absolutely appreciated a heads up before hand cause I could remember anything about the npc in larp club so I made three new ones and thank God he like them but ya'know bullet doged.

They fight the mimic and he immediately stood it from doing anything, while it's the mimics turn and I'm trying to figure out what to do, he keeps going on and on about the smart thing to do would be blah blah blah or blah blah blah and the entire time I wanted to tell him to just shut up and stop back seat dming like Jesus Chris dude

Another thing that I hadn't realized until about now was this mother fucker had already completely read through the book I was running. He knew what was supposed to happen and he knew what characters were supposed to be there and he kept making all the sneering comments because I changed stuff. He was especially making fun of the professor characters I made, which really just dug at me cause he knew they were one of the parts I changed that I was most excited for.

The other two players had an amazing time and I am so glad for that but I swear to fuck, if he wants to be like this and read the book and whine about the stuff I change I'ma go after his ass big time, like as of now he's target numero uno when the next fight starts.

He also didn't say much about my improv after we got done with the stuff in the book. The others wanted to keep going so I humored then for another hour and a half before we closed things down

I know this is hard to read and ranty but it's just been bugging me and pissing me tf off

[loosescrewslefty]

A few TOH fic ideas I have been rotating around in my head for MONTHS now;

Coach Approach

Thanks to Professor Hermonculous' meddling in hopes of getting the team disbanned, the Emerald Entrails need to find an adult to serve as a Team Coach before their first official Flyer Derby Match. Logically, the team decides that it's due time for Darius to make up the whole kidnapping attempt thing to them and step up to fill the role, and Darius agrees to get them to shut up.

How hard can coaching a bunch of kids be, anyways?

How We Roll

(No Magic/High School AU) When Luz is invited to join an online DnD Group DM'd by Masha, she is quick to agree in order to help her sister Vee get closer to her crush. Little does she know that there is plenty of drama and intrigue in store for herself as well as she meets friends, finds love, and lives out an epic story of teamwork and triumph over evil. Both at the table and off.

Make Yourself A(t) Home

Now entering their twenties, Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter have all left their High School days behind them and are starting careers and families. But like Hell is that gonna tear the Dream Team apart. Banding together, the gang work out a way to build a house that exists on both the Boiling Isles AND the Human Realm.

...That's probably fine. Right?

Healing Herbs

Haunted by the memory of Hunter’s brush with death, Willow decides to multitrack and learn some Healing Magic as well. Just so she is better prepared if anyone she cares about is ever hurt again. But is she truly prepared for the changes that this decision brings?

Teaching You a Thing or Two

Faced with the possibility of Luz and Hunter being expelled from Hexside while Amity and the twins are forced to live with her mother once more, Alador and Darius need to work together to prove that they are more capable of teaching Abomination magic to a teenager than Hermonculous is. Easy enough. How bad of a student can this Willow Park girl be, anyways?

[talesfromatabletop]

Am I behind on posting campaign summaries? Yes. So have something totally new instead of those!

I ran a oneshot.

Our usual Wednesday DM was under the weather and knew he wouldn't be able to handle running a session one week. All of us respected that, of course, and were discussing the possibility of "meeting up" (online campaign, but you know how it be) anyway to play some Gartic Phone or something.

A suggestion came up that someone runs a oneshot, and I volunteered. I've never DM'd before but I had this great prewritten adventure that would fit our time slot perfectly and decided to dip my toes into mastering the dungeon. The oneshot was based in the Feywild and had a Brothers Grimm inspiration so I figured we'd have fun - plus our DM could be a player and just chill without stressing!

I had commented to my roommate earlier that day that there was only one way to just totally derail the whole adventure, and that it probably would be fine.

As soon as I introduced the hook - a secret BBEG that was also the questgiver - our usual DM ate it.

Obviously I mean his character, and obviously he didn't REALIZE it was the hook/BBEG. I wasn't going to actively stop him, either. It was a oneshot being purely held to give us some shots and goggles and I was fucking dying that they actually were derailing the session. In LITERALLY three minutes.

Everyone rolled initiative and between the DM's barbarian, a monk, a sorcerer, a wizard, and an additional barbarian to just round it out, they actually did enough damage to absolutely destroy this BBEG despite it's resistances and immunities.

Once it was dead, the group was even nice enough to follow some really shitty directions I nudged them in so the session wouldn't end in under half an hour. These led the party to another NPC that I figured they'd talk to, or beat up and interrogate.

... obviously, not what happened. Instead they knocked her old lady hag ass to the ground SO HARD that she must have broken a hip, because she was grappled or prone from the start of combat to her death.

Overall they completed nothing, but had a wacky time doing it. My DM skills need a lot of work but I think we all had fun and we filled most of the time with DnD...the rest was still done in Gartic lol!

[hills20]

I'd like to build on a few of already great these ideas a bit. I've never dm'd before, I've played the game 2 times and I've listened to some dnd YouTube vids. So I don't know all the mechanical ways to makes this work and I'm mainly speaking as a writer. Oh and not all of these world building details have to be revealed all at once or at all to your players. Just ideas to chew on and set up as needed.

First off, the rats:

It's important why these rats are the way they are for lore and world building reasons and set things up for later. Are they like this bc they were once normal humanoids abd now they're cursed ?( Or a mages negligence?). If so why are they prioritizing getting this inn over turning back to normal ? If not then is this a common thing in this world ? Are they simply intelligent rats or are they wererats or ratweres? Perhaps both are a known thing in your world and if so this could help shape future encounters And NPCs. Additionally if these rats have they're own language then the documents should be written in there own language. Or a copy written in common ( or whatever is the official language for these things) and one in the rats language.

This would force the party to ether trust the rats or figure out how to interpret the documents to be sure that everything is actually legal.

Also this could work for pretty much any weak enemy the party can face, and you could just give the party the option to parlay rather than fight.

If your using other ideas from this list then these rats could tie in pretty neatly with the hedge witch that and tiny sorcerer ideas.

Up next the wizard:

The wizard braking down shouldn't be a sure thing. Depending on how the pcs enter his domain and how well both pc and npc roll ( constitution ? Wisedome ? Dms pls fill me in), should determine if they meet the players with confidence or brakes down in fear.

Non lethal but fear inducing traps could be used. If there are magical items ether have them be made by another wizard or artificer or be crudly made by our oz.

Sneaky and crafty cretures like mites, kenku, goblins, and kobolds would make exilant companions for this wizard. Ading them from the shadows, helping build traps and illusions where magic failed. using sleeping darts to incapacitate Interlopers ECT. Additionally you could have construct minions with the same origin as the magical items.

Fleshing out the origin of the Marauders could do alot for world building and future adventure hooks. Are they simply bandits ? Perhaps this is part of a larger barbarian hoard or tribe. Perhaps another tribe or even a more " civilized" kingdom invaded there lands and this tribe simply fled and invaded this land insted of facing subjection or extermination by the Invaders. Perhaps insted a rich and militarly powerful kingdom feared these barbarians would unite and invade so they played the tribes off each other and this tribe was simply pushed into these lands or both were payed to invade here instead. Another origin could be mercenaries that were stiffed in there pay so they simply took over a nearby city or castle and are attempting to expand.

Is it true fear of the wizard that keeps them at bay? Or a cultural respect for the craft that dose it ?

A careless hedge mage :

Reasons to enter village ( aside from getting payed to investigate); Just passing through and meets strange mutant. The party healer (s) want to get better so they seek the mage out. Sick family member / freind/ guy that highered them to get cure, needs cure. They need to make a macguffin and mage knows how.

To complicate things further the mage could be have memory loss. Ether due to old age, a head injury, unfortunate side effect of one of her potions or just a forgetful nature. How ever the means to reverse her memory loss or make what the party needs to help the towns folk could be in one of her books.

Having other encounters with people being turned into horrible monsters some time before this could help with this encounter. Good monsters being creative necromancers and litches, flesh molding aberitions like mimic bugs or mind flyers, and the dead hand/ false Hydra.

Teeny weeny meany:

Mites and small fey would work amazing for the sorcerer.

Alternatively they could be one of the rats from the first senario, turned somehow by the hedge mage ether accidentally or bc they were a threat. Perhaps the others seek to adjust to life in there new forms or to peacefully return to normal where as the tiny sorcerer seeks wrath and vengeance.

Perhaps have other members of the tiny race aiding the sorcerer, ether bc evil or bc they believe the big folk have wronged them or that the behemoths are divine forces of nature. Or cause it funny

Dispite the small size the behemoths hit like a truck.

Variety in the behemoths apprence would do so much good. Range in size from 2ft - 4, some are cobbled together with scavenged bits of metal and bone where as others are semless masterworks. Maybe raging bulls and dogs and other animals are like great city destroying beasts to them and the mini behemoths are made in there image.

What if another spell caster got ahold of the remains afterwards and built more for they're own ends ? Are those ends good or bad ? Would they be the same size or bigger? Would they replace golems and warforged on the battle feild ?

I might write something with these later if I find the time ( and it isn't eaten by games lol ).

More inadvisable premises for low-level Dungeons & Dragons adventures:

The party has been hired by a local inkeeper to clear a infestation of giant rats out of their basement. Upon investigation, however, the rats demand parley, and produce documents which – they allege – establish that they themselves are the legal owners of the inn. As far as any player character in possession of appropriate skills is able to determine, the documents are genuine.

A group of townsfolk ask the party to liberate them from their terrible wizard-king. When confronted in his private sanctum, the “wizard” breaks down and confesses that he’s a failed apprentice who’s been running a Wizard of Oz scam with the aid of a few minor cantrips. He begs the party not to expose him, claiming that the countryside is home to a band of vicious marauders who’ve only refrained from ravaging the town because they believe he’s the real deal.

The party receives the opportunity to enter themselves into a region-wide martial tournament whose returning champion has promised to bestow her magnificent enchanted blade on anyone who can best her in single combat. The usual tournament shenanigans are afoot, of course, but the true intrigue is that the champion is really just a luckless merchant who’s been possessed by the malicious intelligence of her sword – and it’s looking to trade up to a better host!

A village is afflicted by an apparent curse that’s transforming plants, animals, and eventually people into grotesque monsters. The victims typically aren’t dangerous or hostile – just terribly confused. It’s eventually discovered that a local hedge witch has been improperly disposing of failed personal enhancement potions, and the resulting trasmutative effluvium has tainted the village well.

An evil sorcerer has crafted an army of unstoppable behemoths of iron and bone to rampage through the countryside spreading terror and devastation as a prelude to eventual conquest. However, the sorcerer in question is a member of a very, very small race, so the behemoths are only about three feet tall.