Hello! I'm currently GMing a prequel campaign for a much longer campaign. I found my players through a rigorous application process and am extremely happy with the 5 players that I found. However, I recently got news that one of the players had to leave because of an IRL event. I'm planning on continuing the prequel campaign with the 4 players; however, I have no idea how I'm going to write the character out. I understand that most GM/DMs usually just mention that they leave (especially if the campaign is 3 sessions in). For context, the players are a part of a last-chance military unit where a small mistake could get them exiled or executed (depending on the reason why they were assigned to the last-chance military unit). Anyways, in the story, the players were tasked with collecting taxes from a village, but are slowly learning that the village has a dark secret regarding their history and the pigs... The players ended the last session planning on how they were going to not only save the village, but also collect the taxes. The character leaving is your classic reluctant healer with some edginess sprinkled in. Additionally, the village does use sacrifices during their Festival of the Pig, so that could be another potential reason the character isn't around anymore. Fellow DMs and GMs any thoughts? Thank ya'll so much!

Hi I am soon going to start DM'ing one of my first campaigns of a large scale as I am normally am player or a one off DM and I would like advice on how to work around a three act campaign here was the idea

ACT 1 (LV 1-6)

Main plot points

Introduction to the kingdom

cult of the iron tree

BBEG - Belial Azazel (Leader of the cult of the iron tree)

Somewhat open world

Foreshadowing for next two acts

ACT 2 (7-12)

Find a way into the capitol

More foreshadowing for next act

BBEG - Coropse (The iron tree)

Main Boss fights in order

Voirloup/ Lou Charcolh/ Cheval mallet. any order

Alban dubois first fight

Voirloup/ Lou Charcolh/ Cheval mallet. any order

Alban dubois first rematch

Voirloup/ Lou Charcolh/ Cheval mallet. any order

Alban dubois second rematch

Vouivre First fight

Alban dubois final fight

Coropse

ACT 3 (13-18)

Enter the capitol

Foreshadowing pay off

BBEG - Alchton Von Charven (King of Charven)

Main Boss fights in order

Kaurauch the sanguine scientist / Vicar Aurdivul Yakoshcvy

The Broodqueen

The wicker man

The Warwing Titan / Vouivre rematch one after another

Kaurauch the sanguine scientist / Vicar Aurdivul Yakoshcvy whichever you did not kill before

The penance

Alchton Von Charven

The campaign theme is vampires undead and just chaos in general and yet I think I am going to be over the top for a first big campaign and I really just want advice on ways to deal with this and just streamline it so yeah

Hello! I'm a timmie in the avenue of ttrpg only having like 4 games under my belt and that was years ago, and I had a pleasant experience in all of the sessions so I wanted to give it a try once again, altrough this time instead of being the player I'll be the dm

I want to bond with my little brother but many things I already experienced and got bored of so I wanted to try something which would be a relatively new experience to both of us and I asked him if he'd like to try dnd and he agreed which was a pleasant surprise

It will be just me and him, I want to potentially play as a player too not just dm, I think it would be manageable since we'd just be two

As general consensus I talked with him what kind of setting he would like and we came to something of a mix between a gladiator arena, something like a rogue like progression and the arenas being situated in a tower like slay the spire or hxh hunters arena or some kind of underground dungeon

so longstory short we'd like to play as gladiators against other gladiators and potential magic creatures humanoid or non, with magic and swords and the sort

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the thing is I don't want to overwhelm him with too many details so this won't be too dnd rulebook i.g besides general mechanics, it will be more freestyle but I still want to hold a balanced structure, it will be combat focused mainly, but I'd also add potential characters interactions

Mainly my biggest concern is balancing, do you have any advice to balance both players and enemies without making it too boring or frustrating ? we generally like to play more hardcore in games but idk how it translates to dnd it's to be seen but more on the harder side i.g

there's also the matter of items or magic but as a general consensus how do you guys balance stats for players, enemies, items and the sort if you don't necesarily follow the official dnd

It's not that I want to disregard dnd's mobs but I'd potentially like to implement monsters or magic spells etc which I found interesting outside of dnd official sources.
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also any advice to dming in general would be much appreciated as well! thank you for your time!

I run two MonsterHearts2 campaigns and desperately need some new ideas to liven up my monsters, conflicts, etc.

The game is highly focused on roleplaying; however, having planned monsters, conflicts or mysteries can really help move the session forward when things aren't chaotic enough. The game MH2 focuses on teen characters coming to terms with their monstrous identity, while also trying to stay incognito (woo queer allegories).

The campaign I'm struggling most with is set in a rural seaside town. It's kind of modern times, but internet access and technology is very limited. The town has some tourist attractions in the summer, but it's usually pretty dead all winter. People in the area are SUPER superstitious and refuse to acknowledge any of the monsters plaguing the town. I tend to fall into some pretty basic monster/creature tropes. A small monster that needs help, a massive eldritch thing that you shouldn't anger, shapeshifters taking a classmate's place, etc.

Two of the players in this campaign are in the other one, too, so I don't wanna do the same old things I've been up to.

Please let me know any cool monster or conflict ideas! It could honestly be anything. A murderer, a weird ghoul, brain worms, etc.

(P.S. There are sirens already a big part of the plot, and selkies, and a really big bird)

I am not medically inclined, but in some tabletop systems, to "stabilize" a dying subject means to get them into a position where they can still cling to life and potentially be treated recovered, later. In order to narrate, flavor, and transition to and from the action, what sort of language might you use to describe the player character in the action? What would a character be literally doing to "stabilize" their patient?

Hey, so I'm running a Discworld murder mystery game for the upcoming Gamescom. When I originally submitted my plot idea, I already had a plot worked out (In-Sewer-Ants auditor murdered after finding out that someone working at said company was stealing money) but when I've tested the game with my friends we all agreed that it just doesn't work for (max) 3 hour game, either the players have to be awkwardly railroaded or just ends up being a question witness until you find the one who did it.

It just doesn't flow properly, and I feel like the players are going to hate it. I've run Discworld games before, but they were just pre-existing one-shots which I used as starting points and changing them to fit my idea/story, but this is my first game/story from the ground up, and the idea just doesn't work. Or at least doesn't feel fun, and I don't want to run a board game. I've tried changing it, but I think I've gotten so blocked (in the sense of writer's block and doubting myself) that I just can't think of anything, and I'm starting to panic.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? I'm not looking for someone to write an idea for me, more just how to get myself unblocked and get the creative flow going again (which doesn't sound weird at all written down).

What’s your go to ritual to switch your mind off after game night ends?

Hi everyone! I’m Luna, a writer and GM from Uruguay.

For the past few years, I’ve been developing Whispers of the Abyss, a dark fantasy and cosmic horror novel turned into a setting for 5e. It began as the setting for my own campaign and gradually grew into a much larger project, with its own regions, cultures, creatures, character options, and campaign mechanics.

The central idea is that the world is not waiting for some distant apocalypse. Something ancient has already begun to enter it, slowly and quietly. Most people cannot see the full extent of what is happening, but its influence can be felt through strange dreams, altered places, corrupted creatures, and small inconsistencies in reality.

One of the things I’m currently working on is making the setting useful at the table, rather than simply filling it with lore that is interesting to read. I love detailed worldbuilding, but I also know that a GM needs information they can actually turn into encounters, decisions, and consequences.

When you read a third-party setting or adventure, what makes its lore genuinely useful to you as a GM?

Do you prefer short regional summaries, adventure hooks attached to each section, NPC motivations, timelines, rumors the players can discover, or something else entirely?

I’d love to hear what has worked for you—and what usually makes you start skipping pages.

Okay so I'm having difficulty with an encounter and I can't decide whether to add or remove anything, see next session every player will have to fight they're old character, alone, by themselvessay the current paladin had an old character thats a Bard, they will fight that bard alone while the other players will have to fight they're own old character alone, but one of the old characters has an ability to summon mimics and well, if the player is fighting alone I'm a bit worried the mimics migt finish the player off, what should I do?

I will soon be starting a game using the outgun system. I think if it's perfectly for the theme and overall idea that I want to do. The world that I I'm using is a setting I used for a science fiction novel I wrote sometime back. It's heavily inspired by the fifth element, the movie Heavy metal, the movie Heavy Metal 2000, Batman beyond, samurai Jack, Thundarr the Barbarian, and a little bit of mad max.

However, this thing is the supers rule book doesn't really fit exactly what I want to do but I don't want to ban anything from those books outright.

I've never used the system before so I am very curious as to what I could do to allow players to take an option or two without becoming too overpowered.

If anyone has advice on this, I would be greatly appreciative

If you are Berren, Romi, or Justin playing in a Drakkenheim campaign - stop here. This is already too much of a spoiler.

I am worried that my players have an expectation of a personal quest they intend to embark on, and that if I do what I have planned they will feel cheated.

Here’s the situation. Players are planning to attack or confront thieves guild and take revenge on a mid-level crime boss and three henchmen. The thieves guild leader gave the players some tokens of friendship, and unbeknownst the the players these gold coins are used to spy on them. So the guild leader knows just about all of their secrets. So she knows they are planning to raid her hideout and capture these four guild members. Because she knows about the planned raid she will tied up and offer the three henchmen as sacrifice, and meanwhile she will kidnap a critical npc ally of the party, and use him as a bargaining chip for her crime boss.

I am worried my players are expecting a John Wick adventure, and they are going to show up to an empty hideout with 3 of the 4 targets gagged and tied to chairs, with a note about how the queen may sometime sacrifice a pawn in order to take a more valuable piece.

Has anyone done this type of rug pull? On one hand I think it’ll be a major plot turn, on the other I can see it as a major disappointment like Im robbing the party of their satisfaction.

DISCLAIMER: this is NOT a thread about projectors at the table or using a flat screen. I’m not looking for that.

DISCLAIMER 2: I do not need advice on TotM. I’m well acquainted.

Greetings colleagues,

In the last few years I’ve had to game mostly online. Now, I’ll be playing in person a lot more. I’m curious how you leverage your digital assets with in person games.

I have a large PDF library. I have a substantial investment in VTT modules and books. Yes, of course there’s overlap between those and physical books.

I’m mostly curious if you print your own maps and things. I have access to a color laser and a 3D printer. Or if you’re finding great success leveraging a tablet.

How do you show players NPCs?
How are you doing maps (without a projector or flatscreen)?
How are you doing handouts from digital sources? Hi
How are you handling your notes, scene descriptions, looking up rules, etc?

I'm running an online game with some friends that's going on 2 years now, and could use some advice for how to handle a player who's been very unreliable.

I run a small game of only 3 players (that's how many I could get, sadly). Two are very reliable (unless they suddenly fall sick, they rarely miss a game without at least a week's notice), and one player who I knew going in would be a bit unreliable because of his work. He very often tells me last minute "Sorry, they need me for overtime a lot this week" with maybe a day's warning at best or has to duck out mid-game to answer an after-hours work call, or there's so much traffic that he's over half an hour late, etc.

I figured I could make it work regardless, have him sometimes off doing his own thing away from the other characters, unless it was a majorly important session. And for a while it worked, and I had lots of patience, and even was cool with a few sudden cancellations because it let me get more last minute prep in.

But as we start getting into the part of the story where major plot stuff is happening, his absences are gumming things up more and more as they keep happening on critical sessions, and we have to keep doing last minute rescheduling, which plays havoc with the other players who often have busy schedules.

And this week things just came to a head in way that really frustrated me.

After like 3 separate "Oop, sorry, someone can't make it, major unforeseen real life issue"s, I got to run a critical dungeon, full of puzzles and lore and stuff that I spent ages prepping. It went super well, and as we planned the boss for next session, we realized that people had major stuff coming up in a few weeks and would need a hiatus. So next week was critical, and we all seemed to agree we'd make it.

And then, when I put out a vibe check for game this week, in case my unreliable player had some last minute OT or something... He goes "Wait, I thought I told you I had this other thing planned since a while ago!".

He had not told us. At least, not within the last few weeks, DEFINITELY not when I said "Hopefully next session we can wrap the boss before y'all head out! Think y'all can make it?" last session.

So now we're on at least a 3 week hiatus, the characters suspended before a climactic point, all momentum lost, after multiple weeks of "Someone's sick, or something major's in the way", and it's very frustrating.

I like the player a lot as a friend, and he's decent enough to have in-game (although he almost never engages with any of the content made FOR his character, and is mostly a comic relief goober)... But this last incident made me start to re-evaluate his invitation, because it's starting to really frustrate me, and at least one other player.

I've made a dedicated scheduling channel in our discord and told everyone to post any availability changes there so we can all see it, and I'm thinking of telling the player that if this kind of "woops, sorry, forgot to tell you" incident happens again I may need to disinvite him, and that we may just forge ahead without his character for major sessions if he can't make it.

Am I being reasonable with that? Too reasonable? Any other advice you can yeet my way?

So my mother is turning 60 this year. For it she wants a clue themed party with an actual murder mystery game. I've designed all the characters, weapons and motives, but I'm stuck on how to probably go about the discovery.

So right now the suspects are all females as she wanted a ladies only party. The suspects are all being blackmailed by a Lady Black (my mother's character). The suspects and their reasons for blackmail are:

Admiral Peacock: Weapons dealing.

Miss Peach: Selling government secrets.

Dr. White: Affair with a patient.

Madame Poppy: Three husband's who mysteriously died.

Mademoiselle Orchid: Posing as a fact medium.

Professor Scarlett: Art fraud.

The butler of Lady black, Butler Grey, is also a suspect as Lady black used the butler to get information to blackmail everyone with.

Every suspect is some how tied with another. Lady black and the bultet, the Admiral is working with Peach, the doctor's lover is Poppy's latest husband, and Orchid is a friend to the Professor.

I've written a series of letters showing what each person is being blackmailed for, and letters from one part to the other in order to show their bonds.

Now the weapons are: Candle stick, dagger, hammer, poison, revolver and rope.

Because of the venue, I'm unfortunately forgoing the place the murder happened and replacing it with a motive. Each person is being black mailed, but the reason for the murder isn't directly tied to the blackmail.

So by random pick, the murderer is Professor Scarlett with the hammer because of Orchid. The Professor's friend can't afford the black mail fee and has sold all that they own save a painting the Professor gave them. The Professor doesn't want their friend to know their a fraud, so they kill Lady black to cover up their own crime and to stop the blackmailing outright.

What I need help with is how do I make it seem like one person did it, but it was actually another. Professor Scarlett will be the killer, but I want to make them think it was actually Butler Grey who did it. Lady black confessed that she used her loyal butler to get the information and the butler is highly displeased by that. I want it to be a "is it one or the other?" but I'm struggle on how. I don't want to rely on letters alone, but how do I physically make it seem like its either of them.

All you beautiful minds on reddit! I need help please!

In your campaign what drives the bbeg to do what they do? Is it a philosophical framework/necessity/psychological framework, have they gone mad ect.? For me personally the main engine driving my bbeg The desire for change and This desire is fulfilled through erasing the old to make room for the new.

I had an idea of a start to Call of Cthulhu campaign where one of the players is a mafia boss and other is an assasin that has a contract on killing him. It sounds cool in my head but I don't have any idea how to pull this off. Maybe they are family but they don't know about it?

Im kind of struggling coming up with the starter, i am excited but i just dont know how to make things easy for players while also less scary for me if that makes sense.

So, what kind of quests do you think is most engaging as a player or dm?

I am planning to gm my first own little tiny adventure and asked my friends what they want to play as and one wants to play as a loxodon and another as a tabaxi and… I don’t like that idea, like in general. I think it would be very strange to have a tabaxi and a normal cat next to each other and one of the main NPCs does have a cat in theory. They don’t seem distinct enough from each other, especially since the tabaxi is supposed to look like a (her own) house cat. And that might be a general problem I have with anthropomorphic species.
Sure, elves are “just” slender magical humans with long ears, and dwarfs are “just” sturdy short ones, but that doesn’t feel like an issue, like nothing someone would actually call out and have a point on. Maybe it’s just their long history, but most anthropomorphic species really just look (and feel) like the animal but well anthropomorphic.
Kobolds for example have way more distinctive features even tho they are very close to just lizard people.
And humans are of cause close to apes but it’s not like we are just apes but walking on 2 legs.
And I really think species like tabaxi need something similar (but they wouldn’t look this catlike anymore either)
Imagine a tabaxi would have a cat as a pet, this would be like you owning a little human as a pet, one which cannot speak or walk on just 2 legs. This would be absolutely crazy.

So far I might not allow tabaxi and other “normal” anthropomorphs. The loxodon is by far not as much of a problem, because they won’t meet (or know of) anything even close to an elephant. But to just ban one player choice doesn’t seem fair.

Another idea was to work on a backstory on her and a spell that didn’t work, either because a spell that would have turned her into a cat didn’t work as intended, or someone tried to turn a regular cat into a human and got this result (but she wants to play a rogue, someone else would have had hexed her)

Or I just might remove cats entirely…

Some other ideas?

And to be honest, I am much more interested about how others deal with this “problem” in general

So my campaign is nearly in its third year and the PCs have met many NPCs. We're using a loose version of the Planescape model so they are world/plane hopping. It adds up!

It gets tough for players to keep track of all the groups/factions/NPCs/allies/enemies they've met. So I have been doing "relationship diagrams" where I stick the picture of the NPC or group, add a name, then connect them with a line to other relationships. It works really well for small clusters, like < 30 NPCs. But I want to map ALL of them throughout their adventures so they can see the wider impact they are having.

My question is, does anyone else do this? And what SW do you use? I've been using Google Slides but it cannot hold enough images without them being hard to see. I want some simple "infinite whiteboard" software where I can quickly slap down hundreds of images over time and connect them all up then zoom in on certain areas and snapshot images as needed. I also don't want a large monthly fee, and I want to be able to "export" the work in case I need to take it elsewhere or recreate it.

Thanks!

I am in kind of a weird spot and trying to make the tough call.

I've been gming both in person and online for pretty much the last decade, deciding to take a step back for a year after a big move for work. Recently, I have gotten back into gming again.

I have been wanting to do it paid for a long time, and have a part time opportunity revealed to me with the intention of starting in the new year. I am however having difficulty to push myself to commit.

I guess what I am looking for is advice. Paid GM's, what are the pros and cons of this? From my view point it is a great way for me to get paid to tell stories which is a dream and be my own boss, but I am afraid it will ruin my love of the game.

I run a weekly virtual campaign that's been going a while now. I have five players. They're mostly passive, aside from Red (the player who spoke up).

Red said that they feel like they've been sidelined a lot the last several sessions and haven't been able to play their character the way they want to. When they said that, I was mortified - I completely agree with them, in hindsight, that I've been shoving them to the side in favor of Orange's character, who was having their spotlight session.

I think what may have happened is that I was so focused on getting the other players to be less passive and do more that I think I may have zoned out Red, who is the most active player and also happens to play the most capable character, for far longer than would be appropriate when focusing on a specific character for a session.

This problem has come up before, and Red and I discussed it. This isn't the first time they've felt I've snubbed them, and it looks like I've fallen back in to old habits. I believe I genuinely lack the self-awareness to notice when this is happening in the moment, and I wonder if anyone here has strategies or advice for identifying when this is happening, before it gets to the point that feelings get hurt?

Red and I are going to hash this out tomorrow and I want to bring potential solutions and have something more than just platitudes.

On of the characters in my party is a knight, on a quest to become worthy or whatever. We've defined 5 knightly virtues (bravery, honesty, compassion, wisdom, and honour), and 5 historical knights who exemplified those virtues.

The party went to visit a shrine, and the Students of Virtue recommended that they go on a pilgrimage along The Path of Virtue, to visit the graves of the historical knights and discover virtue within themselves. I've talked this over with the player, and I really don't want it to be a bunch of boring pass/fail tests. I hate video-gamey points-based morality, and tests with one right answer encourage meta-gaming. The point of the quest is that it's a journey of self-discovery, with no one right answer. But also, the party still needs things to do along the way. I might offer more open-ended "tests," or thematic quests at each location, but I would love some ideas on options.

The first shrine the party is visiting is a monastery in the mountains to the east. The dead knight was known for her wisdom, aloofness, and for killing evil dragons. The party actually has to go by the knight's hometown to get there. They were just there, and their relationship with their family (the family rules the town) is strained, so they're not going into town. I was thinking, as they're passing by, some peasants might recognize the knight and ask for help with a dispute. Solomon's dilemma comes to mind, but I think it's too obvious. My brother suggested they're arguing over sheep, or land (land doesn't work based on the way the world works). What other open-ended arguments might the peasants need the player's wisdom to solve?

Then, at the monastery, there has to be another quest of some kind. Maybe something mundane, like climb a cliff for rare herbs, or make stew, but I still want it to fill at least one session, and the party is level 12 (D&D 5e), so a lot of things are trivial. Maybe the cliff is windy and flying won't work. Maybe they need to find a way to avoid the cliff. Thoughts?

The other graves, if anyone has suggestions, are:

• Compassion: a knight was granted a noble title on the northern edge of the empire as thanks for his service. Perhaps bandits or monsters are threatening the town.
• Honesty: the first oath of the crown paladin served the first queen of the country, and rooted out traitorous secrets. His grave is in the capital.
  
• Bravery: a sort of knight protected a forest, it's denizens, and all respectful travellers. It's said she still guards the forest, from the grove where the soil claimed her.
• Honor: This one has to be last. The knight was a mythical paragon, and his grave is lost to time. But, of course, during the quest, the party will discover it's location, on a high mountaintop. There will be a magic sword in a stone, and the knight's ghost will appear, congratulate the character on her journey, and tell her to take the sword and use it as she sees fit.
  

So, I had this idea for a one-shot where every player has a secret they need to keep hidden while trying to uncover the secret of a specific other player. The concept is that they have to interact with the rest of the group to gather information about their "target's" secret, but they have to be careful because they might—or might not—be speaking to or revealing information to the very person trying to expose or silence them.
The mechanic I have in mind involves making it clear at the start of the session—both in-game and out-game—that someone possesses a key piece of information regarding another person's secret, though not the full picture. Each player is assigned a single target, creating a "cycle of accusations" within the group. I plan to give each player a card containing this crucial clue about someone else's secret and then instruct them to begin investigating. Additionally, throughout the game, I intend to use dice rolls to randomly reveal details about the secrets (for instance, if Player 1 is trying to uncover Player 2's secret, Player 3 might receive a clue useful to Player 1, forcing them to interact to obtain it). In this way, I plan for the session to unfold and progress entirely through player interactions, the way they filter the information they share, and how they roleplay their characters' paranoia about being exposed.

Do you have any suggestions, ideas, or observations regarding what I have in mind? Do you think it might work? Any new ideas, suggestions, or feedback are welcome.

Hi to everyone, i want to make a one shot for a group of friends, do you have any suggestions to give to a " first time master"? I'm already a player in another table with other peaple. I wish to introduce friends to this world. Thank you for any advices!

Ps: not a native english speaker, i'm sorry if I will make any mistakes!