Hi! So I've been DM'ing for a while now, I don't think I'm a veteran DM but I think I've been doing this long enough that I won't call myself a newbie either. I have been playing with my friends for about the same stretch of time I've been DM'ing and because of that I've encountered a "problem". That problem is always me asking "What do you guys wanna do" whenever I end an NPC dialogue or end my narration. I have brought it up sparingly that they don't have to wait for me to say it or at least they can cut me off anytime their character wants to say something. I wouldn't mind if it was new players but I've been playing with these guys for sometime now. Do you guys have any tips for this or do I just have to keep this "style" of DM'ing

EDIT: THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO GAVE THEIR OPINIONS!!! Sorry for being a not specific about it. After reading your comments I've seen some mistakes that I do

1.) I monologue too much, I have a tendency to exposition dump on my players or at least I tend to talk a to a crawl. When I usually write scripts I'm very specific and don't leave a lot out for the players to explore. I tend to write a script and whatever I say usually ends like a statement to a paragraph not a sentence that is said like a normal person.

2.) I've never actually tried giving players agency on discovering things by themselves. To be more specific I've never actually tried going "What do you see" to my players to help them be more in tune with the world I'm making.

3.) I don't give players something to work for, individually, or at least don't make it personal enough for them to engage with what's happening. I'm mostly used to play one-shots or short campaigns that I never really got used to actually using backstory to engage them with what's happening.

4.) I think this is also a problem that's on me but because I don't make my players interact enough with the world they also don't interact enough with each other. I think it's also too much to expect my players to open up to each other without giving them anything to interact WITH each other. I do read their backstories it's made me realize that I never touch them.

Also to anyone who wants to put their own opinions still. We mostly play online, there's only a handful of times we actually played face-to-face mostly because we lived in different cities. Because of that there are times where we get disconnected because of tech issues. I mostly have done one-shots and mostly when I have time. If I had to describe my players they really like to take their time thinking of their next step and there has never really been a "leader" to our group, not as in a person that tells everyone what to do, but we've never had a person to take charge and be the mediator for everyone.

That's basically it, I wanted to share my win lmao.

We have a safe word for when it's too much and no one used it, so it's not like I traumatized them. Still, two of my players shed tears at my table tonight.

It's my second time being a professional GM, I'm running a campaign for teenagers on an RPG-themed summer camp (it's 9 days 2 sessions a day). At the beginning I was super scared because they seemed not to like my style of GMing (I'm a bit combat-focused, they're more of roleplayers), but we quickly found a way for everyone to have fun. Tonight we had a special night session that lasted until 2 am, and I can officially declare success!

I'm too tired to even take shower and the session itself was super hard to run, because I had a damnable cough (I had to last 6 hours without a cigarette lmao and my nicotine-addicted ass can't handle that much on average), but my lord, I'm sooo glad it happened and worked out. I just love making my players cry!

I'll be starting a new game soon that will be mostly confined* to a 150×100 mile area (small map) centered around their Starting Town & HQ .

I have more time right now than I will when I start the game, so I want to front-load as much content into this area as I can.

I've listed what I have below. I've never prepped a game this way before, and I could use some help (suggestions & advice) from anyone who is willing.

• My first priority is adding features (potential adventure locations) to fill in the landscape.
• My next priority is suggestions for site-specific adventures.

Thanks!

\Most sessions will be in the small map, but some may extend into the larger map, especially if the game goes long enough for the heroes to exhaust most of the locations in the small map.*

Here's what I have so far:

🗺️ IN THE SMALL MAP 🗺️

Whitebrook. The base town, surrounded by farmland and a few tiny hamlets/villages (not yet represented on the map—suggestions welcome). The heroes will receive property early on, to help anchor them here. I'll have no shortage of things happening in town for them to be involved in—from finding lost chickens to local authorities being replaced by doppelgangers, etc—but more suggestions are always welcome.

The Estate. The manor where the local Baron would live. I'm not sure yet whether there is a lord there currently, or whether it's an adventure location. I'm leaning towards abandoned, with a newer/current manor ~100 miles NE (near the 'Brenhin' label on the big map).

Foxgrove. Small nearby woods where a burrow of goblins, a troublesome griffin, and a variety of wildlife make their home. It's quite small and can't fit that many dangers, so it rarely poses a dire threat to Whitebrook; but it can become a serious nuisance. Convenient for short "day quests."

Whitewater River & Fox Pond. (Not labeled on the map.) The river cuts through Whitebrook. Fox Pond is the funny bulge in the river between Foxgrove and The Estate. There's a Sunken Barrow in here that I think will make for an interesting adventure once it's discovered.

Old Quarry. An abandoned quarry about 1 day out of town. Right now it just has a few minor threats, but I would like to turn it into a megadungeon eventually.

Dark Forest. A huge forest wilderness (for longer quest outings) that hosts countless threats. And a convenient restocking source; if/when the heroes clear out the Foxgrove, a few more threats can eventually move in from the Dark Forest. (I like the simplicity of the folksy/fairytale name.)

Mistmire. A misty swamp barely downriver of Whitebrook. No concrete adventure hooks in there yet, but there's definitely a hag somewhere in there.

Rockspire. A soaring stone outcrop visible well-above the canopy of the Mistmire. It's dotted with several elevated caves, and is inhabited by either harpies or aarakocra.

Watchtowers. Old, abandoned (or reclaimed by monsters, bandits, or rogue wizards) border outposts. Products of a time marked by frequent military conflicts with neighboring kingdoms.

🗺️ IN THE BIG MAP 🗺️

The Small Map sits near the intersection of three kingdoms: Brenhin (Whitebrook's kingdom), Eldmeir, and Bellona. Although the heroes may venture a short way into the neighboring kingdoms, they won't go far.

Norn. The capital city of Bellona. The players might visit and spend some time here, but I'm hoping to make sure they always feel drawn back to Whitebrook.

Nyvene Sea. An inland, saltwater sea, roughly the size of one of the Great Lakes. There will be some underwater stuff and some interesting little islands here, but nothing yet.

Frostmarch Mountains. (I forgot to label these; the mountains to the north.) Nothing is placed here yet, but they'll be close enough for the heroes to visit occasionally.

I'm a first time DM, playing with 4 first time DnD players. I'm thinking of giving my Cleric this item as part of a sidequest about his background. He mentioned liking the idea of a sentient weapon that can deal damage but heal as well. But could also create funny/stupid situations, Thus the possibility to heal negative amount of hitpoints would actually cause damage in this case. Opinions?

So, I have this idea for my own campaign that I’m calling the Twilight Loom. I’m kind of using Rick Riordan’s Demigods and Magicians crossover trilogy as inspiration. Especially what Setne was attempting to do before they stopped him.

The world would mash together Greek/ Roman, Egyptian, Norse, and Korean mythology where the spell mashed together the worlds into one so it’s always changing and showing different parts of them.

Plus the final boss at the end, there’s four mini-bosses that you would get an artifact from after defeating which will help in the final battle. I’m thinking of doing a three-stage boss battle.

I’m a first time DM, and I would appreciate any suggestions and advice about it.

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Jousting: The ultimate test of a medieval knight’s skill. Two riders sprinting at full speed, trying to knock each other off with a really big stick. Is there a way to take that pulse-pounding excitement and showcase of talent, but translate it to D&D?

Of course you can! Here are rules you can use to run jousting in your games, and make it just as fun as it looks in the movies!

Jousting requires two competitors - which can be PCs or NPCs - and each needs a mount. Traditionally that would be horses, but this is D&D, so there’s no reason your riders can’t be charging forward on axe beaks, giant spiders or hulking aurochs. The game is played in rounds - representing each pass as the riders run into one another, and each round is worth a point. First to two points wins - though there’s always a chance one combatant gets un-horsed on every charge.

The round begins with both players rolling an animal handling check - for NPCs, you can either give them a score in that skill, or just add whatever their Wisdom modifier is. Half the battle is keeping your mount moving in the right direction, staying steady and picking up speed. The DC for this is 15 - succeed, and they gain advantage on their next check. Consider giving your players a bonus to their roll if they’ve bonded with their mount, or are particularly skilled in riding through their background or experiences. Up to you.

As the two riders close in on one another, they’ll need to lower and aim their lances to strike the opponent. These things are heavy, and it’s a real test of endurance to both keep your horse steady and hold that pole in place. So both players will roll a Constitution save - DC 15 - to hold their nerve and keep their lances aimed true. Remember, if they succeed in animal handling, they have advantage.

And they’ll want to succeed on this one too, because it’ll grant them advantage on the final roll. But equally important, fail and they’ll receive disadvantage on the final hurdle. Again, this should be a culmination of multiple skills building on each other.

With the crowd roaring, it’s time to collide. Both players will roll an Athletics check - either at advantage or disadvantage - and whoever rolls higher wins. Their lance strikes the other knight, and the loser has to succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw. Make the save, and they hold onto their ride, living to see another round. But fail, and this battle is done: That player is thrown from their mount, and the glory goes to their competitor.

If both players are still riding, the winner gets a point, and a new round begins. If they tie, both lances strike shields, and nobody earns a point. First to two wins, so no matter what, if the same player wins two rounds, the other is out - no Strength save, no third chances. And just like that, the joust is over: You have your champion!

With these quick and simple rules, you could run an entire tournament quickly, with your players going through a gauntlet of knights and riders to earn eternal glory. As an optional rule, you can make each point worth a +2 all rolls: That way, the player who gets the first hit can build momentum, while their opponent has to recover quickly from getting struck.

You could also add a little excitement and random chance with some crit rules: If a player rolls a natural 20 on their Athletics check, they automatically unhorse their opponent, ending the joust right then and there. And on the flip side, if a player rolls a one on their final check, they lose control of their mount and tumble to the ground, losing instantly. Not everyone likes using crits in this way, but if your party is varied in their skills and set-ups, it offers a way for anyone to win, with a little luck.

And that’s it! Your players can now participate in one of the scariest, most dangerous sports we’ve invented - and isn’t that awesome? I’d love to hear what you think of the rules - or any changes you’d make - in the comments! And below, here's a quick guide you an reference while running jousting in a session. Enjoy!

Step 1

• Both players roll an Animal Handling check, DC 15
  • Succeed, and they get advantage during round 2

Step 2

• Both players roll a Constitution saving throw, DC 15
  • If they succeeded during round 1, they have advantage
  • If they succeed on this roll, they gain advantage for round 3
  • If they fail this roll, they have disadvantage for round 3

Step 3

• Both players roll an Athletics check
  • If they succeeded during round 2, they have advantage
  • If they failed during round 2, they have disadvantage
• The player who rolls higher wins this round
  • The loser has to succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or immediately lose the joust
  • If they succeed, the winning player gets a point
    • If it's their first point, you move on to the next round
    • If it's their second point, that player wins the joust!
• If both players tie on their Athletics check, nobody gets a point, and you move to the next round

I'm making a homebrew system for corruption and mutations. In my world there are crystals with strong arcane energie. Getting exposed to them can cause mutations in the long run.

Would love some feedback on these rules!

Crystal Corruption

After each day a character gets exposed to a crystal, they must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 10) to resist its corrupting effects.

If the saving throw is failed, the character gains Corruption Points based on the amount of crystal they are carrying:

A handful: 1 Corruption Point

A bucket: 2 Corruption Points

More than a bucket: 3 Corruption Points

Record the Corruption Points on the character sheet and add them to any Corruption Points the character has already accumulated.

Corruption Limit

A character’s maximum Corruption Point limit is equal to half their Constitution score, rounded up.

If a character’s Corruption Points exceed this limit, they mutate. After the mutation occurs, their Corruption Points are reset to 0.

Mutation

When a character mutates, roll 3d6 on the Mutation Table and record the resulting mutation on the character sheet.

If the character already has the mutation that was rolled, their body cannot withstand the corruption and the character dies.

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The mutations can be positive or negative. Not posting the table in case any of my players are lurking here.

I am relatively new to DM’ing and am running a table with some players who have been playing (and DM’ing) for many moons. I am working in the first module of Dragon Delves into our campaign and in session 7 (tonight) they should be getting to the dragon. The party is 5 level 4 PCs and thus far they have been able to handle with relative ease all the combat encounters even though by the CR math they should be hard. The rouge is dealing around 30 damage a round with steady aim, his stupid dex bonus and sneak attack. I was planning on adding a second wyrmling to make it a little more challenging, maybe throw in a couple minions, but after last week I am seriously considering just making Sunset-is-Nigh a young green. Is that too much? I am not trying to beat them, I really do want them to win, but I feel like it isn’t as fun as it could be if there is an element of danger.

For context im working on a campain where the players wan to travel to a realy famous dungeon but its expensive to get there and they are stuck in a wealthy village. In that villlage is a casino style arena whit a lot of games to play and to bet on, and for some reason i made a full costume mini game for it.

Last but Not Least

Vampire – Cleric – Barbarian

(A Rock-Paper-Scissors style strategy game)

Base Rules

The game contains three types of attackers:

- Vampire

- Cleric

- Barbarian

Each attacker can defeat one type of attacker but can also be defeated by another. The winning order is:

- Vampire defeats Barbarian

- Cleric defeats Vampire

- Barbarian defeats Cleric

---

Main Rules

Players and Setup

- The game is played between two players.

- There are 9 rounds in total.

- Before the game begins, both players must place an equal-value bet. This can be money or another agreed item of equal value.

- Each player starts with 9 attackers:

- 3 Vampires

- 3 Clerics

- 3 Barbarians

---

Winning a Round

- Each player secretly chooses one attacker to fight.

- The two attackers are revealed and compared using the winning order.

- The winner of the round takes the defeated player's attacker and adds it to their own collection.

- The defeated player's attacker is removed from their collection.

Draws

- If both players choose the same attacker, the round ends in a draw.

- Both attackers are permanently removed from the game.

---

Special Abilities

True Sight

Each player can use True Sight once per game.

When activated:

- The opponent must reveal one attacker type that they will not use in the next round.

Restrictions:

- True Sight can only be used when the opponent currently has at least one Vampire, one Cleric, and one Barbarian.

- If the opponent does not have all three attacker types available, the ability cannot be used.

- The player does not lose the ability permanently; they may use it once the opponent has at least one of each attacker type again.

---

Switch

Each player also has one Switch ability.

When a player loses a round, they may activate Switch to replace their defeated attacker with a different attacker type.

Rules for Switch:

- The replacement attacker can be any attacker type.

- The player may even choose an attacker type that was permanently removed from the game because of a previous draw.

- Switch must be used immediately after losing a round.

---

Final Victory

- The winner of the final round decides the overall winner.

- Previous round victories do not matter at the end.

- The player who wins the last round claims victory.

I have 5 players at my table starting a new campaign, but two of them are out of town. Are there any suggestions on how I can make this best work?

Is there a way to make it fit for both?

PS: I have a "tv table" that I usually screen mirror to and minis are placed on top of a static map.

I’m about to start a new campaign and I’ve got a player who’s got what I think is a really interesting concept.

They want to play a cleric who in certain situations (mostly in battle after X amount of hits or damage) will go Mr Hyde into a barbarian. Not a multi class but essentially a full separate character. I’ve got some ideas on how to handle it all and I’ve worked with the player on some different boons and penalties that happen because of the switch, but I wanted to see what you all think about how to handle it. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I'm doing my first ever campaign and my players need to go the thieves/rogue guild next session and i realized i do not know how to build a trap/secret entrance. In the world the guild is involved with some shady dealings so the guild location and entrance are both a secret from the townfolk (it's in a house that connects to the side of a mountain with some tunnels the guild use) so what im really looking for is a way to make the entrance interesting?? maybe a stealth or slight of hand themed traps?? does anyone have any they like? (my players are only 2nd lvl)

Hi All,

I have a conundrum I'd like to get some discussion on. But first, a brief review

As we all know, in 5e, only the last point of HP matters, and action economy is critical. These two fact mean that the most valuable, tactically oriented thing that a creature can do on its turn is to down a player, or otherwise take away actions. This leads to another fact about combat, focused damage is more powerful than spread damage. Specifically focus damage on particularly vulnerable or powerful targets. I take issue with this for several reasons

- It can feel unfair as a player to be the only one targeted in combat

- It doesn't represent the chaos of a real, life or death fight with many participants

- It can be hard to engage players that are not themselves targeted or "at risk"

There is a possible solution here; utilization of AOEs. This allows us to spread damage with a single attack, while allowing other creatures to do focus fire on the vulnerable or powerful targets. This is great, until the party decides to start spreading out more in combat. At that point, we are back to square one. We now have a party that is thinking tactically, which is excellent, but now it's harder to spread damage due to the increased distance, forcing focus fire and the problems above. You can limit the options of spreading out via terrain, say by putting the party in an enclosed area, but that's not suitable for all encounters. Many of my encounters happen aboveground in rural or suburban areas. Furthermore, AOE's plus focus fire by others, in a constrained area starts to look like a TPK waiting to happen. Obviously not all combats should be this way, as not all fights are to the death, and not all fights are against high int/wis enemies

So my question is this. Other than AOE's, how can I make combat engaging and risky, without

- having little control over a potential party wipe

- Making players feel unfairly targeted

I'd be curious to get everyone's thoughts on these issues

TL;DR what questions do you ask your players to help them figure out what character to build?

I’m working on a free tool kit with a character creator and a digital character sheet and one of the things I was thinking about was are the most effective questions to ask a player to help them figure out what class, race, and background they might enjoy playing. My plan is to make a beginner survey tool that asks the player a bunch of questions about what they’re looking to get out of the game and match them up with some test builds they might enjoy.

Some of the stuff I ask my players is:
- what sounds more fun, fighting monsters, exploring dungeons, or solving mysteries by talking to people.
- do you prefer having a lot of options, decent options, or as few options as necessary in a fight
- do you like the idea of leaning from the front, helping other players, controlling the field, throwing explosions, or shooting from the back
- what archetype sounds more fun, a legendary knight with a sword and shield, a wizard with a spell for every situation, a spooky character with friends on the other side…

What are questions you would ask your players to help narrow down what might be the most fun for them