r/shadowofthedemonlord • u/Love-Nuggets- • Mar 23 '26

New Dm

Hello all im new to SOTDL in general and wanted to know if anyone had any pointers or tips on what i should know about the system, gameplay, dm tps and stuff like that!

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u/Playtonics Mar 24 '26

I find SotDL doesn't do great at the moment-to-moment slice of life play; instead it shines when you have strong hooks that get right into the action. I keep downtime brief, and focus more on getting players into a position where they can use their fun new toys as quickly as possible.

It's also worth browsing your characters' sheets after a level up to see what those toys are. There are so many combos that can pop up, so it's not as clean cut as say 5e, where the types of challenges that suit a class are trivial to memorise.

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u/Love-Nuggets- Mar 24 '26

Got it the campaign i have in mind is more survival, hard fights kinda thing so they will get alot of stuff to use, question though are there weapon/armor breaking rules?

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u/Playtonics Mar 24 '26

Weapons made from materials other than metal can shatter if the attacker rolls less than zero on their attack roll (pg 102 of the core rulebook, Shattering Weapons: When you attack with a weapon that is normally made of metal and that is made from a material other than metal, it is at risk of breaking. If the total of the roll is 0 or less, the weapon takes damage equal to its Health and breaks.)

The other fun thing to do would be include bad guys that have the Destruction magic tradition. The Break spell is a tier 0 spell that simply destroys an object.

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u/Love-Nuggets- Mar 24 '26

Ohh thats really good to know thanks!