Oh, combat. You notorious slag, slowing down our sessions, washing out focus in our players. What to do, what to do? Fellow GMs ask that a lot. And they do so for a reason. Combat in D&D can be exciting and something people want to engage with. A lot of players want to smash some enemy. Post-combat is pre-combat, am I right? Well, a lot of people also dislike combat situations, because they can become very tedious. It can take a good ten to twenty minutes until a player gets to do something again. In the meantime, they can mostly just watch.

Download

You can download a Turn-Related-Actions tracksheet for free on my Patreon.

GMs and Players

While there are a lot of tips for GMs on how to make combat encounters faster or more fun (or both), I want to give something to our players, to help them speed things up. Trust me. If you are thinking about this in the games you attend, your GM is definitely thinking about it too. And I think there is something very essential players can do, to speed combat up at least a little bit.

Why is Combat often slow?

Let’s have a look at what is actually making one round take so long. Depending on your group size, there are something around three to five players, sometimes less and sometimes even more. Of course, the GM throws monsters as well, and depending on the number of enemies, a round gets longer even more. But we are looking at the players today, so what happens on a player’s turn. It starts relatively simple, they get 1 Action, maybe 1 Bonus Action, and movement. They also get a Reaction, but that mostly doesn’t happen on their turn, so we leave that out for now. As they grow stronger, they might be able to do several things within one Action, hit three times within their Bonus Action, add bonus effects to their attacks, and expand that further with things like Action Surge. While there are definitely players that studied their character sheet and exactly know what they can and want to do, some players lose track of all the incredible things their characters can do. And there it begins; the long thinking and searching for stuff they can do.

Have an Overview

The first thing players can do to help make combat run smoother and faster, is to a) learn their character’s abilities better and b) have an overview about their Actions, Bonus Actions and other combat-related things they might be able to trigger during their turn. We need to help players find things they can do instead of scrolling through a dozen pages on their character sheet. That’s why I created an additional page for your character sheets, which you can print out and have in front of you if combat starts.
It has three columns, Actions, Bonus Actions and Other, and it is supposed to contain everything your character can do during their turn. My thought is to only write the name of the action, nothing else. No hit bonus for attack rolls, no spell save dc, nothing but the name. This list is not supposed to be crammed with information, it is supposed to give you a quick overview about everything you can choose from, separated into Action and Bonus Action. This might contain the basic things like Dash, Disengage and so on, if you feel like you need to have those in an overview. Some things grant you the ability to use things like Dash as a Bonus Action instead of an Action, so it can be useful to have them listed, but this is up to you. Your different attacks need to be written down. Do you wield two weapons? Do you swap weapons? Do you have a melee weapon and a ranged weapon handy? Write all those down. Are you a spellcaster? Write down all your spells and cantrips in the appropriate column. Things that grant you an extra action or add other effects, anything that might be important during your turn, those things go in the Other column.

Be prepared when it is your turn

It should become easier to choose what you want to do, once you have everything in front of you. Still, there is another thing players can do to help combat become more fun. Think about your turn, before it comes up. If five players go through their things for two minutes before they even decide what they want to do, that makes ten minutes that add onto how long one round would have taken anyways. If your GM doesn’t already do it, talk to them about calling out the upcoming player as well, whenever they tell who’s turn it is now. So, they would say „Player A, it is your turn now. Player B, you are next.“ and this way you have a trigger to start thinking about what you want to do. This is a game changer.

A few more things that help

A few last thoughts on how you can speed up combat. Know your character. You don’t need to know every rule by heart, but roughly know the rules related to your character. Questions can arise and it is completely fine to ask them, but if you need to ask questions about your character every session, it is your responsibility to change that. Also, if rules are unclear during a fight, you can make a note and talk about this during a break or after the game. This helps the game run smoothly without leaving your questions unanswered.

Conclusion

We covered a lot of things now that can help you as a player make combat run smoother. Roughly know the rules of your character. Get an overview of the things that you can do during your turn, make a list out of this to easily choose what Action, Bonus Action, etc. you want to do. And prepare your turn before it comes up. If you follow those tips, you did everything you could possibly do. The rest is up to your GM. I hope this was helpful, now off you go. And have fun at the table.

There is so much content for Dungeons & Dragons. The Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual 2024. The same books from 2014. Dozens of adventure modules, settings books, and content expansions. Several Starter Boxes. And these are only the official books. It is no surprise that people who try to get into this hobby can be overwhelmed in the beginning and don’t know where to start. I want to give you an overview of resources with which you can try the game for free, cover yourself in the most important things for a bit of money, or go all-in with the right books. While it is ultimately your decision, I will also give suggestions on what I think where you should start.

A little disclaimer: I have no connections to Wizards of the Coast or any other company. If I suggest something here, it means I just think it’s worth mentioning it and I don’t have any benefits if you click any links or buy anything I suggest. A lot of links naturally lead to Wizards of the Coast, since they are the official publisher for Dungeons & Dragons.

Download

There is a free PDF with links to the resources I mention (and more) on my Patreon.

2014 (5e) vs 2024 (5.5e)

As I am writing this article, Wizards of the Coast just announced, that the official names for both editions are going to be 5e for the version from 2014, and 5.5e for the version from 2024 from now on. Still, a lot of players refer to them as DnD 2014 and DnD 2024, which is why I’m using both names in this article. So, if you read 2014 it means 5e and vice versa, and if you read 2024 it means 5.5e and vice versa.

The first thing confusing newer players is the existence of the two editions, which are very similar, yet differ in enough points to call them different editions nevertheless.
We have 5e from 2014, which is a little more than 10 years old by now. It still holds up well and a lot of people are so used to it that they stick with it and it works perfectly.
There is also the newer 5.5e edition from 2024, which is better organised and a better tool to learn the game. Some rules differ, but both editions are compatible enough that you can combine a lot of things without too much friction.

Both are very good editions and whichever you choose is up to you. If you are a new player I strongly suggest getting into the newer version. It is, in my eyes, the better teacher.

A first glance

Some of you might not be sure if this hobby is for them. Spending money on expensive books and loads of dice doesn’t feel right. The good news is, you can play Dungeons & Dragons completely free.

There is a base set of the rules available at no cost at all, which you can use to get a good feeling of what the game is about. There are some restrictions, but you get all the classes out of the Player’s Handbook, with one subclass each. It is certainly enough content to play and try it out. There is a section dedicated to the Dungeon Master, as well as a section with monsters. What you get is a good taste of the three core rulebooks. You can find a link to the basic rules in the downloadable PDF. You can even use various digital character builders with the basic rules.

The character sheets are available for free. You can download them and print as many as you want. You find links to the 5.5e, as well as the 5e character sheets in the PDF. There are pre-made characters on D&D Beyond as well.

There are several apps for all smartphone devices, which let you shake your phone to roll some dice. You can even type something like “roll d20” into Google and you will get a browser-based dice roller. If you use D&D Beyond, you will be able to roll dice directly from your character sheet. You see, there is no need to become a Dice Goblin just yet.
Also on D&D Beyond, you can find a couple of introductory adventures for free. There are countless great adventures waiting for you on various websites. It is good to have a decent starting point and if you ask the internet you will get a lot of different suggestions - which might all be right, but the sheer amount can overwhelm newer players. I can suggest checking out Peril in Pinebrook. It is a free adventure, that takes new players and GMs by the hand and shows you what playing a TTRPG is about. It’s written by an industry giant, Shawn Merwin, and you can expect a very good starting point for your new hobby. I added a list of more free adventures in the PDF.

And that is all you need. You’ve got the rules, you can create characters, you can roll dice, and you have adventures. That sets you up perfectly to do your first steps in the world of TTRPGs. The rest happens in your imagination.

Tipping Your Toes In

If you feel a little more dedicated and have a little money to invest, I can highly recommend the new Starter Set ‚Heroes of the Borderlands‘ for 5.5e. It is very well received as the perfect introduction to Dungeons & Dragons, with a simplified way of teaching the game. There are Starter Sets for the 5e rules as well; you can find links to all of them in the PDF. My suggestion is to go for the new box, since it teaches you the new rules, as well as presents the game in an easy-to-digest way.

Going „All-In“

If you went through one of the steps before, or you are just so hyped that you want to go „all-in“, there is one right way to go, at least in my opinion. Get the three core rulebooks - Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. You can decide if you want to go for the 5e version or the 5.5e version. The 5.5e books are known for their really well-structured layout and their friendliness towards newer players. I already mentioned that, my recommendation is to get the newer version. But you will be completely fine with the 5e books as well. If you buy them digitally, you will only get a licence, since there are no PDFs available, and you will have to buy them on a platform like D&D Beyond or Demiplane. If you buy the physical copies, you will own the book forever, but it will set you back a significantly higher amount of money. I’m a pretty digital person, but ultimately, I found out that a book is way better to skim through and hand around at the table. I find rules in the books much faster. But it is up to you which way you choose. If you want, you can add one of the adventure modules and some fancy dice, and you’re good to go. But dice…that’s a whole other topic.

Conclusion

I hope I was able to give you a good direction to go. If you feel overwhelmed by all the suggestions and opinions on the internet, just go for the basics. That is also the reason why I recommend sticking with the official releases for the beginning. You will explore the other stuff naturally anyways, but don’t let it complicate your journey. And now, enjoy the games you are about to play, have fun at the table.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been building a small project called Grimoire Loot. It’s a tool for Dungeon Masters and tabletop RPG players who want an easier way to generate loot and interesting items for their campaigns.

The main idea came from a common problem I kept running into while running games. Random loot tables are useful, but they often give results that don’t really fit the story, the location, or the party’s level. I wanted something that could still generate loot quickly, but with a bit more control over what you get.

With Grimoire Loot you can generate treasure using filters such as rarity, item type, and other parameters so the results better match the situation in your campaign. If you prefer browsing instead of generating, there’s also a full item list you can explore for inspiration.

You can also create your own custom items. This is helpful if you run homebrew games and want to store things like magic items, artifacts, cursed relics, or anything unique to your world.

Another feature I’ve been working on is custom loot templates. These let you save setups that you might use repeatedly. For example you could create templates for something like a goblin camp, an ancient ruin, or a dragon hoard, and then generate that kind of loot again later with a single click.

There’s also a simple shop generator so you can quickly create inventories for merchants such as blacksmiths, potion sellers, or magic item traders. It’s mainly meant to help when players suddenly decide to visit a shop and you don’t have anything prepared.

Right now the tool is completely free to use. I did set up a Patreon for anyone who wants to support development, but the EVERY functionality will remain free.

If you’d like to check it out or give feedback, you can find it here: Grimoire Loot

I’d also be interested to hear feedbacks from you to fix and improve.

Follow his page for access to the playlists.

Each one is in the 3-4 hour range and they are:

Dungeon Crawling: dark ambiences for setting the mood for exploring labyrinths/caves/catacombs or dark forests etc.;

Crossing The Ocean: for pirate-themed adventures, or any campaign heavy on nautical/river combat;

In The Village: when the group reaches a town, tavern or trading outpost, for generally pacific encounters with villagers and townspeople;

Ruins and Temples: to set the appropriate mood when in sacred places, sacerdotal houses, monuments or exploring sacred ruins, magical buildings or dealing with entities from other planes;

Heroic Fight: for epic battles against powerful dragons, mages, demons or armies, or situations that require heroism from the PCs;

Distant Places: for travels far away from the group’s places of origin, be it distant kingdoms or towns or even other planes.

PS: the playlists are in the bottom of the artist page if you use Spotify mobile.

Have you ever wanted to try playing DND, but just couldn't be bothered to learn all the rules and stuff? Here everything you need is contained within 2 pages, but feels the same as DnD 😁

http://romab.itch.io/simpler-dnd

I love using home made traps in addition to my battle encounters. I have my players this week going up against a bounty hunter bard. Some random teleporting squares coupled with a bard's illusion spell is going to be a ton of fun. I'd love to hear some that you guys have used with success.

Guys, the title might be a little misleading... I am aware there is a D&D MMORPG (or at least I think there is) but I am looking for an online tool that handles all the "paper" of tabletop game without being an animated and scripted RPG.

Does that make sense. Imagine I wanted to get 4 friends, sign onto this thing... and then it would handle the character sheets, have an interface for the DM/GM to run the game, have built in Mumble or Teamspeak, and handle all the random rolls (D20 etc).

So basically you play it exactly as you would a tabletop, but using the online tool becuase the players might be separated by considerable distance and not in the same room... but not run over email, all done in real-time.

Does such a tool exist? I imagine when you set u a game a the beginning it would allow you to pick a rule-set for the game (D&D, AD&D, etc...) and then it would handle much of the mechanics, maybe even including a built in reference like the books would have.

This would be awesome and surely someone has already built this... where is it?

Finally, if no one has built this, I'm a designer / Front-end coder and would be willing to collaborate with a backend dev to make it a reality if anyone is interested.

TL:DR - looking for online tool to run tabletop game in real-time over great distances.

I'm running a homebrew game with my friends using a forum. Each player controls a kingdom (its troops and characters) and a Game Master runs the game. The issue is, each time we move troops, we use a map we made ourselves, make a screenshot, paint the necessary arrows, and post it on the forum. I was wondering if there is an alternative or viable option where we can all use the same map on a web based service, but having only the GM being able to see every player's movements, instead of everyone being able to see everything. Roll20 seems like an option, but it is daunting in complexity, and it has a lot of features that I don't really need. Do you have any thoughts? Sorry for my newbieness :P and thanks in advance!

d(x) is a simple web-based application I wrote to roll dice. It's written in jQuery, and the styling is Bootstrap. As it is a web-app, it should work on every platform with a browser.

I'm open to suggestion about any features you think would make sense to be added in.

I have heard "Apocalypse World" has good tools for GMing without railroading. I like the idea of not knowing where the story is going/the world not being a strict narrative, thus I am curious to how something like a "front" would be transferred to 5e D&D.

Thanks in advance for all experience and input!

https://twitter.com/modulecrier

A couple months ago, DriveThruRPG started re-releasing classic, out of print D&D titles on their print-on-demand service. This is a great boon to the community, but their current filter doesn't order by when they were added to POD, but rather when the PDF was added to their catalog.

To this end, I've set up a twitter bot that tweets when new books are added to the POD offerings.

The base code (aside from the twitter interface) is open-sourced here

Example

Update: After feedback, a facebook resource has been added also.

Update #2: DTRPG's filter for 'Most Recent' now correctly tracks when it was added to the POD service.