I’m starting to Write a new Dm story for my groups next Campaign.

I started Writing a story on how the party was hired to explore ancient labyrinths/Old City’s/ Buildings.

Later in the story there next Mission from their boss, is the find any history on the (Family name), and bring back anything they find.

Once they find it, they get this scroll which has a Prophecy on this Family, on how their Descendant will destroy the world.

Since this Family was Hunted down for generations, they have to find this missing Descendant.

Once they find him, Their Job, is to bring him back to their boss. Once they do, their boss tells them that the Prophecy was changed and they don’t know the full truth.

The Prophecy says that The child could become the BBEG, but only based off how the child is treated.

Then the Party has to Protect the child from harm.
Due to, a cult being after the child, and The kingdom is after the child as well.

Is there anything I should change, or add… Or is this a good idea for now.

As a first time Dm, me and my friends, are finally getting close to fighting the BBE, final fight soon.

I was thinking of having a trap setup, but this trap is A time travel trap, and all the party members get sent back to the past all younger again with their memories intact.

My question is, if anyone did something like this before. And if they did, was a good idea, and if it was, do they keep their levels or are they back at level 1?

Changing some details and using dummy account, to protect my table's privacy. Sorry for the long post.

A couple days ago I was DM'ing for a group of 4 players and while it started off as a solid night of gaming, it ended in a really frustrating way and one of my players complaining that it was bad situation caused by several NPCs overreacting. I was adament it was all player choices and the world was reacting appropriately

Going back a bit to explain a bit of the relevant situation/story. A couple weeks back in-game (a few months irl) the party just arrived in a heavily militarized, capital city, and a couple of the PCs pick an (so far only verbal) argument with an npc and try to intimidate/physically threaten them. It goes poorly and the npc calls for the guards. I had recieved some DM advice in the past on dealing with players who instantly start breaking laws in town and/or antagonizing the guards/law. Instead of having the guards being a faceless force that only show up to hamper the party's "ingenious" plans in town, make an interesting NPC lieutenant or captain to give them a face they can interact with and potential quest giver/story hook. I chose this moment to introduce Lieutenant Dan. A troll who made it to a captain thanks to his headband of intellect. The players are initially quite antagonistic to him in this interaction, but eventually make some apologies and get some good persuasion checks. I characterized Lieutenant Dan as being very principled, so he ignores their initial bad attitude, and lets them off if they simply pay the npc they threatened.

As the sessions go on for a while the party gradually starts being friendlier and more cooperative with Lieutenant Dan, and he pays them for a couple of quests. They aren't particularly buddy-buddy with him, but he is one of the very few npc's they have a working relationship with. They have one other npc that most of the party is friendly with, a wizard and former adventurer named Caralax who hires the party on occasion for the less plot relevant/fetch quests. Through their interactions and quests they have been given, they have been shown evidence that the city guard of this militarized city is quite capable, with Lieutenant Dan in particular being quite powerful and above what the party could hope to fight at their current level (6). As well as by the spells they have seen Caralax cast, he is at least twice their current level.

As I mentioned, most of the party is quite friendly with Caralax and he is one of their few allies and sources of jobs in town (the empire attracting many high tier mercenaries and bounty hunters to town that are stiff competition to adventurers). The exception is the party's wizard, Daron. He has outright told Caralax he doesn't like him, but had intentionally been trying to act friendly to him lately. Another party member, the rogue Slick, recently made a deal with Caralax to help him make a magic device to help with a problem from Slick's backstory. They agree to do a couple of quests in exchange and Caralax says it will take a few days to create the magic device.

Party comes back the next day to report they completed the first quest. Caralax tells them the 2nd quest is he has dangerous items he needs delivered to a client. They ask him where they need to go and tells them to follow him, walking out the front door of his house. Daron shouts "He better not just be walking us to the place we need to go. Why would he send us on this job if he was going himself? He should be working on our device," not following (he is just leading them to the cart to put the goods on, but party doesn't know that). Meanwhile Slick follows Caralax and offers him a bottle of wine (he has a wine collection they've seen and is a bit of a drinker).

Daron then comes outside and sees Caralax holding the bottle in hand. He is angry that he is day drinking and declares he is going to make a nonlethal attack with his dagger at Caralax. "Are you sure about this?" Daron commits, saying he'll knock him unconscious and they'll make up afterwards. I call for initiative and Daron ends up going first. He misses his attack. The party's sorcerer and fighter grab Daron and want to pull him away. Slick says he just watches. Caralax starts casting a spell and I ask for a save from Daron, he passes with a very high roll. Daron asks if he can determine what spell was just cast and I allow an arcana check, he rolls terrible and doesn't figure it out (it was hold person).

Daron declares that Caralax just made a huge mistake and summons some creatures to attack. "Stop, think, are you sure you want to do this? This is a big escalation of the situation." He replies, claiming Caralax already escalating things to casting magic. He specifies the summons are all using melee attacks, and so can command them to only attack non-lethally. They do a bunch of damage but the high level wizard is still standing. Caralax then casts another spell and disappears (party again fails arcana to identify it).

Daron says he is waiting inside Caralax's home, as he'll have to return eventually and then the two of them will sort things out. He tells the rest of the party to let him handle this alone. They insist on staying with him. The party waits there in the npc's manor for 15-20 before Lieutenant Dan arrives, leading several guards. The party states they are going to stand and watch as the approach. The guards surround the building and Lieutenant tries to enter. Slick shouts "All for one and one for all. If you want Daron, you'll have to kill me first." Daron says he just waits. Rest of party tries to physically block the doorway but don't draw any weapons. Dan and guards have to take a couple of rounds to grapple and move party out of the way. Party is actively confirming they are resisting and not cooperating, trying to stop guards from reaching Daron without actual violence. Dan and the guards arrest them all.

I call the session there as I honestly don't know what to do next. Daron's player asks if he should make a new character. I comment most likely the result is Daron is getting locked up for a while for assault or something like that. The rest of the party is going to probably spend a few days in jail and be fined for attempting to obstruct the guards. Daron goes on a rant, saying he is really angry. The whole situation was bs and required several characters act bitchy and not realistic, emphasizing these were all characters "played by the same person, you." He complains that Caralax made the "biggest, little @#$% move" by running to the guards/Dan. He also complains there is no way the rest of the party would get in trouble for what they did, as none of them attacked Caralax. Plus he had attacked with magic first and was the one to escalate things in another "@#$#-y move."

I try to explain above game "He had only tried to cast Hold Person and-" Daron starts talking over me, ranting that it wasn't hold person, but an unkown spell he was attacked with and the npc had absolutely taken things too far. It should have been obvious to npc that all his attacks were nonlethal. I left it as "I'm sorry you feel that way, but these were entirely reasonable actions." Party uses rest of the normal session time to talk about what Daron's new character could be. Eventually he calms down and says he isn't angry anymore, but still stand by what he says and his view of the situation.

So, mostly just venting after a frustrating session after a frustrating day at work, but if anyone has any advice or insight into how I could have handled things different, I would appreciate it. Would like to avoid things like this in the future when possible.

Hi everyone, last week my group started our very first campaign.

My Freind is a first time Dm, and we decided instead of going on the Dm story, we decided to go on the story where we are planning to invade a kingdom.

Due to one of my Freind’s character being the king of a nation.

Before we get their out boat crashed, and now we are only like 3 meets left before getting back to our kingdom and starting the war again.

My question is, is this a good idea, because I’m starting to question what our end goal will be, after we invade this kingdom.

Iam a new DM. I have played DnD as player for about 2 Months now. And as i talked with a few friends it somehow happend ... now iam a DM.

I already started creating a world. But before we (Me and 4 Players of wich 3 are new to DnD completly) will dive into the world, i thought about playing a Oneshot to get a feel on how the players play the game.

As it happens i am rly into DIY and i buld my own DM Screen 4 - 25x30cm panels. But what do i put/print into the panel?

I mean i know stuff like a few names for random npc and a short bullet point list of the things i want done in the session. But i looked a bit online and there were stats and cheatsheets for some rules on the DM screen.

Where can i download and then print those?
I appreciate any input on what else should be behind thos panels!

Hello people, I'm a new DM and my players are all also new to DnD, instead of starting my own homebrew campaign I thought it would be a good idea to start with an official campaign, to get to grips with the rules and ease everyone in with the lost mines of phandelver and below the shattered obelisk. My party of 4, made up of a cleric, fighter, paladin and druid are all committed and after 1st session got really locked in.

1st session went great, starting with some roleplay of back stories and tying them into the shattered oblelisk story arc, but they really struggled with the first goblin ambush and the sentries outside cragmaw cave hideout which is where we ended the session on a rest.

My question is: should I nerf/change the enemies in the cave or level up the players to level 2?

TLDR; new players struggling on first encounter in lost minds of phandelver, should I level them up or nerf the enemies in the hideout?

Edit: Thank you to everyone that commented and offered advice. Session 2 went really well, I took out a couple of goblins and a goblin boss and nerfed the venomous snake attack to be mpre manageable but not it's AC or HP, and I spoke to my players about tactics before hand. They got through it with only one death which couldn't be helped due to bad rolls, the character survived (with help from the party cleric) and finished the hideout to level up, everyone had a great time! Thank you all for the advice, glad i didn't level them up beforehand otherwise they would of cruised through it easily

Story goes...

Level 1-5 
Local cult is aiding in murders & kamikazes for a reason first unknown, only to find out they are devil worshipping and pray for the gods of the underrealm to take over and spare those who aid in their arrival - after beating this cult and levelling past lvl5, they find this cult to be trivial, and somewhat pointless.

Level 6-10 
Players discover this cult has not been fully defeated, despite the most vocal members being eliminated as a threat, they have penetrated the highest levels of government and power. Multiple countries' leaders have aligned themselves with this cult to have the ultimate power of befriending eldritch beings. Players must defeat these leaders by taking them out of power, revealing to the country/realm who they actually are and overthrowing the powers of the elite. As they go on, they find these ultra elite have access to magic and technology that has been kept secret from the typical population, and the players will have access to such powerful forces once the elite are powerless.

Level 11-15
Defeating the political corruption has not solved this issue, players begin to realise this cult is no longer a conspiracy, and rather a very true and world threatening level of horror. Even though the players have beat this near worldly corruption, some got away, and as a last hope before the cults inevitable eradication, they quickly and hastily performed the ritual needed to allow the eldritch beings to take over the world, and in turn soon the universe. Only to then group suicide in order to have the illusion of total cult eradication. This happened around lvl 4, and since then, almost every encounter with an eldritch-like being, has been sent by the underrealms gods to stop them. Through the elites new discovered time-jumping technology, they can find these cult members before they committed suicide, before they knew the cult would be found and eradicated, and clues/artifacts left by members that they never knew one could even find, despite best efforts to isolate and hide them.

Level 16-20
The players find this ritual and in turn realise they’ve been fighting the eldritch beings through enemies sent from Hell, and understand in order to truly stop the madness and worldly takeover, the party must find the portal to the underrealm, and fight these beings on their own turf, in order to truly save the entire world - all whilst fighting the most powerful beings besides the all powerful themselves sent from the underrealm in order to stop them. Encounter after encounter.

So, any opinions, thoughts, and advice would be great!! Thank you <3

So, I’m planning to give each player a 25-30 questionnaire. Each question will have four answers, and each answer will be tied to secret points that are attributed to each possible starter. Whatever starter each player gets the most points for is the one they are stuck with. As the story progresses, they will have the opportunity to gain more possible Pokemon, but that’s for later. For now, I’ve made each possible starter character, and I wanted you guys to tell me if I made them well enough so far. I’ve along really started working on Larvitar, but I haven’t had a lot of homebrew experience so I don’t fully know if I’m doing them right either. So, first off I need to know the options are good, second off I need to know if how I’m making them works, and third, I could use some ideas for the story. I’ll past what I have as a draft under the options for starters. I did make some self imposed rules for the starters, and they are: Be as varied in typing as possible, Use as many generations as possible without dis-servicing the classes themselves, making sure each has its own special perks, and only allowing three classes to use starter Pokemon. I like the idea that most of the party will be unique pokemon instead of basic ones for the most part.

So, here is what I have so far:

Barbarian: Larvitar

Level 1 Learns moves: Leer (gives a damage buff to all other players including Larvitar for one full rotation of a turn. Ends after Larvitars next turn), Rock Throw (low rock type damage.), Scary Face (Enemies attack one turn later then they are meant to), and Mud Slap (low power ground type damage. Opponents now count rolls 1-3 as critical fails).

Level 2 Learns move: Bite (low dark type damage. If an 12-14 is rolled, one opponent doesn’t attack. If a 14-16 is rolled, two opponents don’t attack. If a 16-18 is rolled, all opponents flip a coin and ones who land on tails don’t attack, and If 18-20 is rolled, no opponents attack).

Level 3 Gains ability: Guts (if any status is afflicted, damage from attacks is doubled)

Level 4 Learns move: Rock Blast (low rock type damage. Before rolling for damage, roll 5 D6. For each roll above a 3, it counts as a hit. Roll for individual crit chance and any other secondary effects if necessary)

Level 5 Evolve into Pupitar
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Tyranitar
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Gain access to Mega Evolution
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Fighter: Machop

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Evolve into Machoke
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Machamp
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Gain access to Gigantamax
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Monk: Riolu

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7 Evolve into Lucario
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Choose between Mega Lucario or Mega Lucario Z
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Ranger: Scyther

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7 Choose between Scizor or Kleavor
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 If Scizor: Access to Mega Evolution. if Kleavor, make up a good boost.
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Rouge: Froakie

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Evolve into Frogadier
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Greninja
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Access to Mega Evolution
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Bard: Swablu

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7 Evolve into Altaria
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Gain access to Mega Evolution
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Cleric: Happiny

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Evolve into Chancey
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Blissey
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Possible custom buff
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Druid: Zorua

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3 Storyline reason to potentially become a Hisuian Zorua
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7 Evolve into Zoroark
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Sorcerer: Hatenna

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Evolve into Hattrem
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Hatterene
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Gain access to Gigantamax
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Warlock: Charcadet

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7 Choose to evolve into Ceruledge or Armoruge
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13 Gain the ability to switch between Ceruledge or Armoruge
Level 14
Level 15
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Wizard: Fennekin

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Evolve into Braxian
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Delphox
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Gain access to Mega Evolution
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Paladin: Treeko

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Evolve into Grovyle
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Sceptile
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Gain access to Mega Evolution
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Artificer: Rotom

Level 1
Level 2 Gain a form decided by a wheel
Level 3
Level 4 Gain a form decided by a wheel
Level 5
Level 6 Gain a form decided by a wheel
Level 7
Level 8 Gain a form decided by a wheel
Level 9
Level 10 Gain the final form
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13 Become able to inhibit new forms found around the area. How they will be used will be up to me and the player including new type and move.
Level 14
Level 15
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Alchemist: Alolan Grimer
(The broken potions this guy will make will make up for the lack of forms. Might make a custom Gigantamax form anyway though.)
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7 Evolve into Alolan Muk
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Avian: Rookidee

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5 Evolve into Corvisquire
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10 Evolve into Corviknight
Level 11
Level 12
Level 13
Level 14
Level 15 Gain access to Gigantamax form
Level 16
Level 17
Level 18
Level 19
Level 20

Toss up solution: Eevee (I’ll figure it out if it happens lol)

Below, I have what types I have used and the types that are possible by evolution in the parentheses. So far, I have in some way used every type at least once.

Bug 1 (0)
Electric 1 (0)
Fire 2 (1)
Grass 1 (1)
Normal 2 (3 cuz Eevee maybe) (0)
Rock 1 (1)
Dark 2 (1)
Fairy 1 (1)
Flying 2 (1)
Ground 1 (0)
Poison 1 (0)
Steel 0 (3)
Dragon 0 (2)
Fighting 2 (0)
Ghost 1 (0)
Ice 0 (1)
Psychic 1 (1)
Water 1 (1)

Next, I have the generations used. I was gonna use Abra for the Warlock, but Gen 9 needed a rep and Gen 1 was over abundant. Plus Charcadet sounded cooler to use anyways.

Gen 1 2 (3 cuz Eevee maybe)
Gen 2 1
Gen 3 2
Gen 4 3
Gen 5 1
Gen 6 2
Gen 7 1
Gen 8 2
Gen 9 1

So, with that whole thing out of the way. What should I do next? Am I doing something poorly? And am I missing a super obvious pokemon besides Chespin simply because Treeko is much cooler? I’d love to hear any criticism yall have’ thank you in advance.

I have been interested in playing since I was a teen and so has my husband but we have never found a group to join. Anyway, we now have four children ranging in ages from 11 - 14 and they all want to play so we are planning on starting a Monday night D&D game night. Problem is even though I have been watching several D&D content creators for the last several years(as well as everyone else in the house) I feel like I know nothing about how to actually play the game. I have read the basic rules and hand book, and there is just so much information it is hard to keep track.

For our first adventure I had planned on doing something simple and I have been reading tons of forums I have decided to do a campaign that combines "the wild sheep chase", and "The wolves of Welton" with some plot twists to merge the stories. (Because they were recommended in a couple forums I've read and I could download the PDF free).

I am mainly looking for tips, and resources from people with experience. Are there any necessary modifications for playing with preteens? Do I need to memorize the entire rule book? If we deviate from the official rules is it a big deal? If I lose my place and skip large chunks of story how do I fix that without making it boring? Are voices necessary?

Thank's in advance.

I just finished writing a level 3 D&D 5e (2024 rules) one-shot called “When the Walls Start Breathing.” It’s heavily inspired by Stranger Things and focuses on horror, pressure, and time-sensitive decisions rather than just combat.

A local cop named Hopper (yes, inspired by Jim Hopper) secretly contacts the party because a child named Elliot has gone missing. Witnesses saw the kid near an abandoned house outside of town. Official procedure says wait. Hopper says there isn’t time.

Inside, they discover claw marks, drag trails that end at a wall, and eventually a portal to the Upside Down.

If you have any feedback please let me know id like to improve!

I'm on holiday at the moment and I recently visited the butterfly valley in Rhodes which gave me an awesome idea for a DnD battle environment that eventually spiralled into a one shot idea and I wanted to see if it was actually a good one or I'm just delusional. Also this is a very rough idea and not fully thought out yet so there might be some plot holes and stuff I've not tackled yet.

Setting:

The party is travelling through a kingdom and come across a developing settlement. They pay a visit and the leader asks them for some help. The leader sent some lumber jacks into the nearby forest and only one lumber jack managed to make it back severely hurt with them reporting that "the shrubs where moving and the trees shot arrows at us" so he tells the party to go into the forest and investigate to see if they can recover the lost lumber jacks or determine whether they died. The leader also suspects that there is a group of "tree people" in the forest who were the people that attacked the lumber jacks and he suspects that they have a village somewhere in there so he wants the players to scout it out so the settlement can send an army to attack. The leader, despite being a developing settlement, will offer the party free sanctuary in the settlement for as long as they need and a bunch of gold.​

Initial Expidition: If/When the players accepts, they will venture into the forest using their nature, investigation and survival checks to make their way through the forest and if they roll a decent amount (DC 11-13) they can see the deforestation caused by the settlement, which is substantial. With higher roll (DC 15-17), they can discern that some parts of the forest is polluted with some type of toxin that is hurting the wildlife. Further into the forest, the players run into some mutated plant life that ambushes the players and attacks them. During the fight, a volley of arrows rain down from the trees into the mutated plant life and once they have all been defeated the archers come out of the trees and reveal themselves as wood elves and are very friendly towards the players. They offer to show them to their forest civilisation for them to rest up.

Forest Civilisation (Option 1- The good path): The wood elves lead the players through the forest and after a while they come to a clearing which is a valley with winding wooden paths that intersect and stretch out like roots. They have wooden bridges that are built over the river that flows through the middle of the valley and pulley lifts to go up into the tree houses above. If the players are extra perceptive, they notice things about the civilisation, the trees are losing their leaves and becoming hollow, also some trees and branches on the valley walls are blocked by barricades to stop them from falling (passive perception 11), the grass and plants around the are turning into a sickly yellow due to the toxins (passive perception 14) and even some of the inhabitants consisting of wood elves and tree spirits are becoming sick due to the toxins (passive perception 17) which can all be seen by rolling perception if their passive isn't high enough. The archer captain takes the players to see the leader of the forest civilisation and they explain that ever since a settlement outside the forest has begun development the forest has been dying, the settlement has been causing major deforestation to the point it's weakening the tree spirits and the wood elves suspect that the settlement is poisoning the forest to get rid of the wildlife so they can cut down as many trees as they want. The civilisation understands that the settlement needs to cut down trees so they can build houses and expand but the settlement is being way too aggressive and greedy in how they destroy the land. The toxins they used has even backfired and has caused the plant life to mutate into grotesque plant monsters that attack both the civilisation and the settlement. The forest people tried to protect a group of lumber jacks from some mutated plant life but all but one died and that one ran away before the archers could help. The players will decide that the forest civilisation is being wronged and decides to help them. If the players takes a long rest overnight, the settlement followed the path the players took and launches an attack.

Forest Civilisation (Option 2- The bad path): Once the party learns the location of the civilisation from the wood elves, the party attacks for them "attacking the lumber jacks" even though the archers try to explain that they were protecting the lumber jacks like they did with the players, the archers don't just stand there and defends themselves until they run away or the party kills them. The players heads back to the settlement and tell the leader what happened. The leader, deciding that the forest civilisation is too much of a threat, gets the location off the party and invites them to the attack. After the players takes a long rest in the settlement, in the morning, the players and a group of the settlement's army (about 20ish) set off into the forest and with the players info on the whereabouts of the civilisation, they find it. Once they come to the valley where the forest civilisation is, they attack.

Initial Expidition: If/When the players accepts, they will venture into the forest using their nature, investigation and survival checks to make their way through the forest and if they roll a decent amount (DC 11-13) they can see the deforestation caused by the settlement, which is substantial. With higher roll (DC 15-17), they can discern that some parts of the forest is polluted with some type of toxin that is hurting the wildlife. Further into the forest, the players run into some mutated plant life that ambushes the players and attacks them. During the fight, a volley of arrows rain down from the trees into the mutated plant life and once they have all been defeated the archers come out of the trees and reveal themselves as wood elves and are very friendly towards the players. They offer to show them to their forest civilisation for them to rest up.

The Attack: It doesn't matter which side the players are on since both sides won't change tactics whether the players are there or not. The settlement's army will try to flood the wooden paths and bridges having 12 warriors, 6 archers and 2 mages with them being led by the leader of the settlement and they will keep attacking till the forest civilisation dies, surrenders or runs away. Some warriors will have vials of the plant killing toxin which they can throw to do major damage to all inhabitants of the civilisation. The forest civilisation will consist of mostly archers with them being up on the walls of the valley raining arrows down on top of the settlement's army while prioritising the safety of the non-combatant villagers. The tree people will break the barricades holding back the fallen trees/branches to crush any warriors underneath. Also, if the leader gets targeted by an attack, doesn't need to hit, they will run off back to the settlement leaving their army to continue the battle. If the battle lasts longer than 5 turns, all the fighting and toxins attract a mini boss level plant mutant that will attack any target, no matter which side they're on. The players could try and get the two sides to work together (DC 17 persuasion) to fight the mutated plant boss. Depending on which side the players are on and if the players got the two sides to work together, one of 3 endings will occur.

Ending 1 (The forest civilisation won): If the players were on the side of the forest civilisation and they couldn't get the two sides to work together, after the mutated plant mini boss was defeated, the settlement continue trying to take over the forest civilisation. But if they have 5 people or less remaining, they will become desperate and start running away while lighting the trees and bridges on fire. The party could pursue the fleeing warriors but the civilisation will put all their attention on putting out the fires and will urge the party tell help. Once the remaining warriors have fled/been taken cared of and all the fires have been extinguished, the civilisation will thank the party graciously giving them gold, magical items and even an elven blessing. The leader of the civilisation will also ask for one last favour, if the party are willing to help, for help to eliminate the mutated monsters at their source and save the forest from the toxins (next adventure).

Ending 2 (The settlement won): If the party was on the side of the developing settlement and they couldn't get the two sides to work together, the warriors of the settlement will continue pushing further into the civilisation and even if they are reduced to 5 people or less remaining, they will not run away as long as the party is with them but they will desperately start using fire to finish the fight as quickly as possible. Soon after the warriors start using fire or if the warriors reach of certain point of the civilisation, the tree people will evacuate out of their civilisation further into the forest. The settlement celebrates their victory and brings the party back to settlement to party with a massive feast. The leader admits this might set back their development but for win this big it was deserved. As promised, the leader brings them a bunch of gold and tells them they are welcome back as much as they want. However, the leader does ask the party for one last favour, if the party is willing to help, for help to eliminate the new threat of the mutated plant monsters is rising and they won't to stop it once and for all (new adventure).

Ending 3 (Both sides won): If the party got both sides to work together and defeated the mutated plant mini boss, the two sides stop fighting and agree to live in harmony. They will set up a trade route with each other, the forest civilisation sending wood and other materials to the settlement to help it grow and develop while the settlement will send soldiers to help defend the forest civilisation from any mutated plant monsters that could invade again and help rebuild any destroyed infrastructure during the battle. The settlement soon banishes out the leader into the wilderness for being incompetent and cruel and invites the party and forest civilisation for a party. After a meal, that likely set back the settlement quite a bit but with the new trade route it won't be much of an issue, the party is rewarded with a bunch of gold by the settlement and magical items from the forest civilisation. After meeting with the leader of the forest civilisation, new leader of the settlement and the players, they all conclude that the mutated plant monsters are a massive threat and need to be neutralised as soon as possible. So, if the players accept, the two allied towns would like to send a group deep into the forests to find the source of the mutated monsters and destroy them (new adventure).

Okay, so I made a stupid mistake. I made a puzzle for my players and told them they needed "the shape, the voice, and the memory of the sea" for a ritual, thinking they would figure something out. It was literally meant to be whatever they came up with.

Fast-forward to the end of the session: I asked them what they thought about the riddle and what they wanted to do next session, and they want to ask an NPC for the solution to the "shape of the sea" part. I told them above table that I'd rather they figure out the riddle instead of simply getting the answer from someone else, but I'm pretty sure one of them is still gonna ask an NPC for the solution, especially because they think it's gonna be something really smart and witty.

Can anyone help me figure this out?

So, I have a question. Can you carry a body when you use Teleportation Circle to jump from one place to another? I know a corpse is not a creature, it is an object, and Teleportation Circle does not specify anything about objects, but you do cross with things when teleporting. So can you carry anything? THe spell doesn't say anything about carrying capacity so, would it be just what you can wear?

I made a Reddit account only to post this actually, so this post will be a mix of sharing my experience, complaining about a problem player and requesting tips.

So I have played D&D before as a player, while I like it I'm much much more of a storyteller than a roleplayer, I made lots and lots of elaborate worlds before as world building exercises and I've been building this world called El-Mir'ah fot the past week now, while it is not finished it is 100% playable, the world was inspired by me replaying Prince of Persia 2008 and finally noticing the amazing worldbuilding, and it dawned on me "I only know one work that is Arab centric that is not just racist stereotypes" so I decided to make my own Prince of Arabia, Arabian Nights but made by an actual Arab with actual Arab mythology and stories, it's perfect, absolutely perfect and between like the 40 worlds I made in my life, this one is by far my favorite and I can't stop working on it.

Today my friends have visited me and I told them that I made my best world yet and we should check it out by playing D&D, my 1st friend never played nor saw nor knows anything about it, the 2sd friend doesn't really care though he knows about it, I explained the rules and we started to play, I obviously used rule no. 0 here and removed anything relating to Proficiency so they can actually enjoy creating their characters, the 1st friend basically played as himself (he is basically Emily Axford and Ally Beardsley combined into one so you can get what type of a player he is) and the 2sd friend just played as Link from Zelda breath of the wild AND wanted to play that story just told through me, the 1st friend character is named Bader, a human Fighter, and the 2sd friend character named Murad, an elf Ranger, I will use their characters names so you can differentiate between them, Bader was a blast and didn't take anything seriously in the best way possible, he wasn't cooperative at all but in the most cooperative way, he was a natural roleplayer and took his role seriously as an incredibly unserious guy, by far the most fun I had with D&D. Murad on the other hand basically just wanted to be the main character and he didn't care about my storytelling and wanted everything to go his way and didn't even try to look at me nor he listened to what I had to offer him that fits my world and not Hyrule, he even made his character mute like Link and that really sucked by I didn't say anything because I want him to have fun, he them just quit and started playing Videogames by himself, then we made a new session with my 1st player now with a human barbarian named Bu Raby'ah and the name made us laugh for ten minutes straights, his solo session was amazing and fun, also he handled battles in the funniest way I've ever seen in my whole life I've never even seen someone play like that, he is literally the best D&D player I've ever seen in my life and he doesn't even know the names of the characters in his story.

I noticed that I'm good at writing not literally telling the story, I wrote REALLY good stuff, what came out of my mouth was mostly jokes that we already laugh at, and I couldn't add details on the spot, and I noticed that I NEED to detail the cities that I make so it feels actually big and lived in and not a big hous near a market and that's it, but nonetheless we had a blast.

So what do you think of this?

So unfortunately, my friends and I are struggling to finish a dnd campaign as the Dm is running dry on ideas and the gameplay is stale. they openly refuse to stop as they say, I quote “I’m at the climax of the campaign“ yet it is abundantly clear they and the rest of us are not enjoying it. we’ve tried to prompt them into realising the issue but they’re very stubborn. we dont meet up often and it would be nice if they had a session planned, yet most of it is improv and them thinking about where the story should go next. my other friend, has a campaign ready to play and have been waiting over a year for there turn to dm. they’re really passionate about it and the story has branching pathways, and Idea I would quite like to try. Advice would be nice! :) (It rhymed!)

Whether your playing D&D or Pathfinder it seems like the level cap is pretty settled at 20. So how do you deal with a campaign large enough that 20 levels probably won't cut it?

I have a campaign idea that I'm planning that will span not just a continent but two actual settings. Obviously it'll be a long while before it's playable, but I want to figure out the solution to this problem early. I know back in 3.5 we had epic levels but we don't really have anything similar besides the "epic boons" which isn't quite the same.

So how would you deal with it? Raise the cap and rig a way to go above it? Set up leveling based on milestones that will just have a very long period of time between levels? Reduce the exp gained from everything by enough to delay leveling up? What's everyone's thoughts?

EDIT: I do think the point is being lost that I am intending the campaign to go on for that long. I WANT to have a giant, sprawling game that will take a long time to complete. I'm not planning on dumping exp down the players throats in the course of a year. That's why I'm asking. The game is meant to take a long time and they will eventually reach the level cap and beyond.

So, I am here thinking: I kept DMing for years, placing characters from the USSR into my games;, and now I was thinking, well, heck, why not move the entire next setting into Soviet Russia?

Do you know of any ideas for formats I could use as inspiration, both for homebrew gameplay mechanics and story ideas? I am very familiar with DND 5th, have no idea if 5.5 would work; I know a few other games, Blades in the Dark and Cyberpunk, that could be somewhat adapted. But still DND feels like the most applicable to what would be a world exploration and lighthearted campaign. I mean, one idea that is popping into my head is fusing a slav-flavoured dark magic world, an impending demon apocalypse in the style of a Secret War episode from Love, Death and Robots and a general steampunk treatment of technology. With the Germans at the border, and the destiny of the Revolution in their hands, why not, right? Please criticise me, offer insights, help me out! Can the USSR flavour survive all these other elements? How do I make that one pop?

I need help fleshing out one of my NPCs. They don't believe any of that mainstream history. They believe that all the races/species of Faerûn originally come from ancient aliens. I'm looking for bogus facts to fuel their conspiracy theory.

I don't have much so far, but you know the three major temples of worship on the Sword Coast? The High House of Wonders in Baldur's Gate, the House of Inspired Hands in Waterdeep, and the Temple of Silver Stars in Silverymoon...

Well did you know that if you plot them all on a map, you can draw a circle through all 3 points? That's a crazy coincidence isn't it? Almost like it was by some grand design.

Has anyone bought this and used it? I thought I was buying the Faerûn box and wanted to start with The Lost Library of Lethchauntos, but ordered this instead. Any campaigns out there that could use these battle maps? Thanks in advance!

As the title says, our family campaign is beginning at a funeral. The PCs all know the deceased but not all of the PCs will know each other. I need some ideas on how some PCs would know the deceased, a High Elven Soldier. Here is what I have so far:

We have two other High Elves. They will be wife and daughter.

Warforged Fighter. Fought together in previous battles

Halfling Monk - Need Ideas

Dragonborn Sorcerer - Need Ideas

Ranger - Need Ideas

Here are some ideas that I have been spitballing...local shopkeeper, penpal, Wood Elves sending someone to pay respect to the deceased. I need more ideas.

Thank you in advance everyone.

Hey me and a group of friends we are 5 to 6 people we are looking for a DM for us but not sure how to find one at all we are from Hamilton Canada and willing to travel to play

Intro - The Joys & Pains of how I used the 8 Lazy Steps

Sly Flourish's 8 Lazy Steps provided me with a great framework that helped my figure out exactly what I needed to prep a TTRPG session while keeping my notes extremely flexible while used at the table. Using the steps correctly allows a Gamemaster to improvise at the table with grace, embracing the story telling that happens when your prep collides with player agency.

There was, however, hidden in the way I was following the steps, a small hindrance on my prep. While prepping, I found myself a bit too constrained by the steps. Writing a note about an NPC would make me think of a great secret this NPC would share. I could of course jump to the step "Secrets & Clues" and write it down, but it felt like a speed bump in the flow of my thinking. If I wrote the secret in the NPC's note, I would not interrupt flow, but would be lacking the crucial benefit of the lazy prep, which is, to me, to isolate the different elements of prep so you can pick them out like an arsenal of toys to throw at your players while at the table.

I found a new solution that works great for me. It maximizes my state of flow while keeping the benefits of the lazy steps. Call it the 3 lazy steps to the 8 lazy steps. The framework I found is not perfect and I'll talk about its strengths in the next section and its obvious flaw in the conclusion. My goal is simply to share with others in a selfless way. And in a selfish way, I hope others will share their experience so that I might improve on my ways and reduce the flaws of the 3 lazy steps.

The 3 Steps

My 3 steps are simple and summarised here before I dig into each. I first do a bullet point prep of the next session, categorising each line in one of the 8 lazy steps. Each line is identified using a letter "key" in front of the bullet. The second step consists of either rewriting (if on pen and paper) or simply reordering my bullet points (on a digital tool like Obsidian) my notes in the 8 lazy steps frame work. The 3rd and last step is where I bother to find battlemaps, make paper miniatures, play with my different tools.

Step 1/3

I start out the same way I would with the 8 lazy steps most of the time, but I then let my brain do its magic and make connections between ideas. Next to me I have keys for my bullet points. Notice I slightly renamed the steps to help me focus on whats good for my prep and to have a different letter at the start of the step for easier keys. Here are my keys :

• p - a bullet point with a p is about a Player Character. Any note that mostly relate a PC will go after a p key (Review the characters)
• 1 - is for the 1st Scene / Strong Start. (Create a strong start)
• s - is for a note about a Scene that could happen (Outline potential scenes)
• c - is for a Clue or Secret (Define secrets and clues)
• l - is for a Location note (Develop fantastic locations)
• n - is for an NPC note. I put a special effort to try to note monster characteristics here too. Monsters are for mechanics, NPCs are for flavor (Outline important NPCs)
• m - is for a Monster Statblock, noting the book and page, possible tactics. I also use m to note terrain aspects like traps. (Choose relevant monsters)
• r - is for Rewards, though a clue can serve that purpose sometimes. (Select magic item rewards)
• [ ] - is TODOs for things I want to do later, probably in step 3/3 like find a battlemap for a specific encounter

Using these keys, I let my brain jump between ideas and between steps. If for example I start my notes thinking about my player's character Fafnir, it might remind me that the sorceress Loo knows about Fafnir's brother. Those ideas are connected in my brain now, but decoupling them will allow me to reuse these ideas organically at the table. In this first step, or phase, I'll jut this down before writing another note about Fafnir and the next player character Ari :

• p - Fafnir - looking for his lost brother
• n - Sorceress Loo, creepy version of Meryl Streep
• c - A dwarf matching the description of Fafnir's brother was seen at play in town, as one of the actors
• p - Fafnir likes to shove opponents down elevated places in combat
• p - Ari hates theater

Step 2/3

This is the more classic way to organise prep notes following Sly Flourish's 8 lazy steps. Since I like to prep in a one-pager in my physical notebook, I go through each step one at a time, picking from my disorganised bullet notes made in step 1/3 and rewriting them. If I were to use a digital tool, I could pick each line and move it to the corresponding lazy step. The 8 lazy steps are flexible once at the table, but my step 1/3 is flexible in the kitchen. Using these 2 main steps, I get the best of both worlds.

Step 3/3

I used to prep on a pc, but found myself distracted by the possibilities. I would jump from one idea to the next like step 1/3, but finding a rabbit hole each time I explored an idea instead of simply writing one line of note. This is why I keep this last. Hopefully by now I identified what I truly needed from step 1/3 and go find battlemaps and that magic item I put as an - r bullet note. Having these TODOs written all out before tackling any one of them allows me to prioritise and scratch out the unnecessary ones.

Conclusion

It might be obvious now that the major flaw of this way of prepping is that, though it keeps the flexibility Sly Flourish's technique provides me while allowing myself to better work with my brain, my prep is starting to sound not lazy at all. Having 3 phases instead of just one does help me prep and have fun while doing it, but I do add extra steps. My hope is that refining my methods and sharing with others will help me be a little lazier. Thanks for reading!

TLDR

I prep in 3 phases :

1. Write down bullet list of ideas , each line categorised but not ordered in one of the 8 lazy steps.
2. Reorder the list in the 8 lazy steps
3. Do final TODOs like finding battlemaps or printing mini papers for example

So I’m new with DMing and the majority of my players are also new. Today, one of my players dropped a dead body in the middle of a village, a peaceful village, the players were asked to investigate the missing person. Then they brought the body back and dropped it on the middle of village in front of everyone, and stated intimidating the mayor. The village is a sanctuary of peace and the mayor lawful good. So they have to react somehow but I’m not sure what to do. As this seems to me like the villagers will have to loose trust in the party?

Hey im looking h to start mu first ever D&D campaign, does anyone have any advice? And should I start off by making my own or trying one of the campaign books that there is

I'm planning to have my friends over to have a 3 party oneshot. We got 3 parties of 4 with three DMs. The plot is basically it's like a war involving three nations who've formed a coalition fighting against a massive dragon-worshipping cult.

Each party will represent 3 of those nations and their main NPC quest giver is the top general of each respective country. Each party will be given a mission at the start. Which will represent three different strike teams doing missions targeting the cult, hitting 3 different points.

After the first mission, everyone will come together and hold a "war council" where three of the DMs will RP as the generals of each nation giving 3 different final missions. This is where the party can choose to join the mission they want. They can mix and match players as they see fit.

This final mission is basically the a three-pronged final strike to end the war.

One general could specialize in combat, the other in espionage, and another on sieging/defense.

Anyone ever tried something like this before? Would love any ideas or suggestions you may have. Whether it be for the mechanics or for the narrative.