DM Academy

For those of you who don't know about this yet, this is Fast Character! Quickly generate a DND 5e character for your campaign! As a DM, I've been using it to make NPCs in an army that my characters are fighting against.

I hope you can find it as useful as I did :)

Do you have a list of tasks you do every in-game morning as a DM? For example:

• roll for weather
• keep track of that curse time bomb
• roll for encounters for the day
• check for public holidays
• ....

I want to make my game more consistent and feel more alive. I'm wondering if there are things I should be tracking to achieve the feeling that the world is moving no matter what the players decide to do that day.

I've only DM'd for ~3 times so far, and only once in person (this past weekend). I was introducing two friends to the game, and we're all excited to continue.

Originally planned for a one-off (we're doing Mines of Phandelver. I aimed for it to be more introductory but the PCs are interested in continuing with what we have!)

So, with the second session booked, I'd like to scale up my setup to help be more immersive. I have a lot of work ahead (reading, notes) so I'm in a better position. I've discussed with a DM friend of mine with decades of experience, and I'd love to hear what people suggest.

Currently, I am aiming to purchase:

• "wet" battle map (dry-erase)
• tokens for characters/creatures (hoping to find dry-erase ones here, too)
• basic 'tiles' set for when the the scenery is more generic (optional)
• figurines for the PCs (optional)

I was thinking the figurines would be unpainted, and I'd love to find a company that sells them individual, with generic designs for race/class, that I can go back to again and again as my campaigns diversify.

Am I heading down the right path? Any other suggestions?

Welcome to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

The Lost Mine of Phandelver is a classic, one of the very first Mini-Campaigns that new DM's run. Hell, it's part of the starter set after all! The issue though, as with many other Campaigns, is that it doesn't describe the best way to transform the contents of the book into an actual session. The Book to session conversion can be difficult. Between figuring out when things should happen, to understanding motivations and even balancing encounters.

Well fortunately for you 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:

1. Consider the needs of your group. As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign you'll have to make tweaks here and there. (Bonus points if you include your players' backstory)
2. These notes aren't meant to be end-all be-all. Tweak to your heart's content and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me, having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things were meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for The Lost Mine of Phandelver (Part 1 Cragmaw Hideout): DM Notes
• Link to: Intro + Cragmaw Hideout Playlist
• Link to: The Complete Collection

Included in The Complete Collection are:

• A Word document with all my notes including a link to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDFs for all the encounters. This includes all the enemies' stat blocks organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP.
  • An additional PDF with Sildar's stats should he join the party as an ally
• A map of Cragmaw Hideout. I enlarged and printed this out for my players as a battle map!

Index:

The Lost Mine of Phandelver Index

• Part 1 - Intro and Cragmaw Hideout
• Part 2a - Phandalin (Coming Soon)
• Part 2b - Redbrand Hideout (Coming Soon)
• Part 3a - Reign of Iron (Coming Soon)
• Part 3b - Ruins of Thundertree (Coming Soon)
• Part 3c - Cragmaw Castle (Coming Soon)
• Part 4 - Wave Echo Cave (Coming Soon)
• Part 5 - Side Quests (Coming Soon)

Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:

• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• Death House - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• Moon over Graymoor - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• A Prison Break One-Shot - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,

Advent

I want to have my players travel through the Elemental Plane of Fire for a short period of time. None of them are immune to fire damage. How could they prepare themselves to survive this ordeal?

We have a wizard, a bard and a monk. They will be traveling with a Fire Giant to guide them.

I found the Resilient Sphere spell that the wizard could learn. I could drop that in as a boon for an earlier quest so that they have it handy... but I'd like some other ideas.

How would you handle this?

How do you all handle ready action for your players? Do you only allow calling of a single scenario or multiples?

I’m think of implementing a rule at my table where a player that readies an action can calls out a scenario and a “otherwise” option. The reason is that, we as players, often think about our options on our turn and strategize - simulating a character deciding what they would do in that moment.

An example of how I’d see this idea in use: Your character is next to a monster but there are a couple of enemies closing in that could choose you or a teammate. You ready an action so that you use Dodge if the enemy closing in reaches you to attack OTHERWISE you will attack the creature you’re engaged with when it makes their next attack.

Thoughts?

The party in my game (8 12th level characters who have a lot of items) stole some items from one of Mammon's vaults in Minauros. Now there are bounty hunters after the party. One is an Arcanaloth, and another is an Ultraloth, but I'm trying to flesh out the rest of the group. I'm trying to think of interesting additions, or maybe gear they might have. Anyone have any suggestions?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3: Gem Dragons

Part 4: Greatwyrms

Part 5: Deep Dragons and Sea Serpents

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1422655

Will be running my players through the Seagrow Caves from Dragons of Stormwreck Isle this weekend.

The area is mostly Myconid themed and I was thinking of planting a magic item for them as a reward for completing the quest, but what kind of magic item would a colony of Myconids have on hand to give away?

A short-ish video on the very basics of combat in TTRPGs. Got a new group and some players that absolutely insist on moving their wizard out to the front, being hacked apart within seconds?

Maybe this video can help steer them into a safer code of conduct!

Disclosure: I know the guy who made this, he's a DM of mine. Show him some love.

My players have recently become the heads of a mercenary company. I’d like to use this opportunity to involve the players in a bit of world building of sorts that might also be a rewarding minigame.

They’ll be responsible for assigning teams of NPC mercenaries to tasks. I’ve yet to decide exactly how this works and would love to pick the brains of you lovely people.

My thoughts are it might be fun for the players to be either “interview” NPCs and assign them teams and then assign those teams to tasks. But maybe they want to each bring a few quick-generated characters to the table that night and “interview” each other.

My group is very RP heavy and love inter-character dialogue. This session is also a bit of a cool down after defeating a major enemy in the last session.

Thoughts on how I can make this a fun experience but also lend to building the world? How can I help make the “minion assignment minigame” rewarding and fun as well throughout our campaign?

Thanks!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1312322

I've been DMing a small group of new players. They've been literally "hit or miss" with combat. I know at least one is getting frustrated with combat because he can't roll to save his life. I'm planning on throwing a swarm of small creatures at them next session. goblins, spiders, whatever. just small easily killed, easily hit creatures. Thing is I don't want to do 'initiative' per se as I'm considering having a ton of these things. Anyone have any pointers?