#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)

[mattimeo-memoriam]

Sunday, March 23, 2025

I'm considering impulsive actions. I'm so tired. My sleep schedule is fucked. I go back to class tomorrow. I want to skip english class again.

I managed to get the DnD session out on 2 hours of sleep. Bunny missed the game because I shittalked him before it started. It was fine. He wasn't necessary for the current session.

It sounded like everyone had fun, but doubts are creeping in. A big part of our campaign is that the starting city is massively xenophobic and racist, specifically towards a certain kingdom that they have been enemies with for centuries. Imagine american red scare era of xenophobia. I try to seed dount in my players within that one kingdom by creating a suspicious antagonist from that kingdom. Our current session has them travelling to a kobold village who moved out from that kingdom because they didn't like how they were ruled, just to create more suspicion. However, there was one scene of another group of adventurers running into them and seeing their kobold guide and our dragon-like player. Really badly planned racism insues. The purpose was to give reasons WHY the kingdom was untrustworthy, but I forgot to actually write the dialogue and I was on 2 hours of sleep. Some of my players were genuinely screaming during the argument. It was terrifying. I didn't know what was their real feelings or just roleplay.

Immediately after the session, I fell back asleep. I had a dream where they called me back to the vc to talk to me. They hated the way I dm'd and that I was too controlling and hateful and a few other things I can't remember. I woke up thinking it was real. I doubted the validity when I picked up my phone and realised that I didn't recognise the feeling of those motions. It's hard to explain. However, it all still felt so real.

When I woke up, my dad was yelling at me to vacuum the house. He's been telling me to do that since the day before and he was really pissed about it. I got out a cry and went to do it. He was mad that I took so long again.

I think I fell back asleep and woke up at around midnight. I figured that if I'm going to do any homework, I have to do it now. I quite literallt had the entire day to do it. I couldn't do it. Time passed until it was already 10 AM. I gave up and fell back asleep.

You know, I never wanted to go to college. I've always wanted a trade school. I love doing work with my hands and being able to work with physical items. My parents hated that idea. They believed that sort of work is only for poor people who aren't smart enough for college. I think I want to get tonmy senior year before I kill myself. I want them to take on all the debt I never wanted. It was all their idea anyways. I want to do anything else. Woodworking, welding, electrical, plumbing, hell let me tan leather or anything else that isn't all this mindless work. I hope they die on that plane to europe.

[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

[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?

[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!!!

[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!

[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