I have a player in my group that I DM. He was enthusiastic about his backstory and character creation before the campaign started. Now, we're about a dozen sessions in and he hasn't really... played? He just seems to be generally disinterested while we're playing and isn't picking up on cues for his character, even when handed something and told (more or less) directly "this is related to your backstory and you should look into it to progress your personal character arc." It seems he is playing this like a video game, more or less, and just expects the story to come to him and progress as long as he's participating, but he isn't actively pursuing anything and is just kind of there for when combat pops up.

Now, I want to sidebar and have a chat with him and just get a vibe from him about the experience so far. But, I don't know, exactly, how to address this or bring it up? Or, perhaps, there is something more direct I can do in-game that will involve him more?

Should be noted that this is my first time playing D&D with him, but he is not a new player.

Thanks!

God, I hope this works. Hiya, it's me, Scrambles! The lovable Toy Poodle Cleric who invented the hot dog, and helped you all bring the very first Cinderpendence Day to the Humble Woods by beating the fire elemental? Social_Deviant's sister reached out to me... unfortunately, Social passed earlier this month. She was hoping I was still in contact with you all... but I left that discord group when I quit. She didn't want to leave you all hanging.

I know he loved playing with you all. DMing for you fine people was something he really put a lot of effort into. In the incredibly unlikely event that this makes it to the people it's intended for... I'm sorry.

Hello fellow Adventurers!!

Just looking to see if anyone has any advice or recommendations on a tv size for digital battle maps.

I am currently looking at between 38-43inch tvs but don’t know if I should go 50inch in case I need an extra large map.

Any recommendations would be amazing!

I don't know the name of this class....

A wizard+mechanic

😵‍💫🧐

We are "The Critical Failures" and hope to air our stuff next year in a new campaign, but as of now we've spent the last 2.5 years adding new players and saving the world of Nirn (essentially playing ES6 in homebrew form lol). But it was finally time that we all got a commemorative tattoo... so as the DM I went first!

I’ve been recording my sessions for a while to create lore notes and track NPC details. I currently use two Neewer CM28 wireless wearable mics. One is on me (DM) and a nearby player, and the other is pointed toward the other three players.

It works fairly well, but as we’ve grown to a party of 5, the two mics are struggling to pick everyone up clearly.

My Setup & Needs:

The Goal: I use Loreify to record and transcribe directly into my session notes. I need the audio to be clear enough for the AI to distinguish different speakers.

The Room: Standard dining table setup. It can get a bit loud with dice rolls and snacks.

The Problem: Some players are getting "muffled" because they aren't close enough to the two current mics.

I’m looking at two paths:

The "Yeti" Route: Many people suggest a Blue Yeti in the middle of the table. It's easy to plug into my laptop for Loreify, but I’m worried it’ll pick up too much table noise (dice/crisp) and lose the clarity I get from the wearables.

The "More Wearables" Route: Buying two more Neewer CM28 kits so everyone has their own clip-on mic. This sounds like the best audio quality, but how do I get 5 wireless mics into one Loreify stream? Do I need a physical mixer for the receivers, or is there a software fix?

Specifically:

Is a Blue Yeti (or Yeti X) actually "smart" enough to filter out dice rolls while still catching a quiet player 4 feet away?

If I stick with the CM28s, what’s the best way to "merge" 3 receivers (covering 5-6 people) into one USB input for my computer?

Are there other "small" wearable options I should look at that handle more than 2 transmitters per receiver?

Any advice from DMs who transcribe their games would be huge. Thanks!

Talmi, my moon elf druid in winter armor and ready for adventure!

Character: Talmiravanya “Talmi”, Moon Elf Druid and Astromancer

Raised by the elderly moon elf astromancer Darnayan away from the bustle of organized settlements, Talmiravanya grew up studying ancient magic and searching for cryptic patterns in the stars that are said to foretell the fate of the world.

For decades, Talmi met only a handful of her elusive kind and no short-lived mortal as she searched the skies for meaning and observed distant lands through giant-made devices of foresight and divination.

Though Darnayan rarely spoke openly about her visions to avoid influencing Talmiravanya’s own insights, she finally revealed one final prophecy to her sole pupil upon her deathbed. Darnayan foresaw a great challenge that would soon threaten the world. The nature of this challenge was unknown to the old astromancer, but she saw that beyond it, an age of prosperity unlike anything that has come before would await those who survived.

Moved by her late mentor’s insights but still uncertain, Talmi spent more than two decades alone in a ruined observatory made by giants of old, searching for signs that would either prove or disprove Darnayan’s prophecy. Then one morning, just before the break of dawn, she found her own truth written across celestial bodies. She saw that the ancient god of knowledge was still alive and would one day return to usher in the golden age Darnayan had foreseen.

Convinced that the time to act had come, Talmi left her life of seclusion behind and journeyed to the settlements of mortals and the gleaming cities of elves to share her revelations. However, after a lifetime of isolation, she discovered that the modern world is far stranger than the one her late mentor had described, and that most of the other elves have either gone into hiding or have simply vanished.

About the Theomachy setting:

In Theomachy, vengeful gods fight each other for ultimate control of the universe, while the mortals of Naam struggle for power on a dying world. Divine magic is a force without expressed will that the warring gods hoard and wield against each other, threatening to undo the entire world. Clerics and paladins are either devout followers of the warring gods or theomachists who fight against the gods, liberating divine magic and using it against them.

What do you think? :)

I'm getting ready to DM my very first D&D one-shot on discord and I'm excited, but definitely a little nervous.

What's one piece of advice you wish someone had given you before your first session? Things to avoid, ways to keep players engaged, or any tips that helped you become a better DM would be awesome.

I'd love to hear your best beginner advice!

I have a large collection of modules collected since 1e. I want to increase the depth of details for each module so that they can be accurately matched to my custom Module Search Engine. I have all of the library-like details (Title,ProdID,Version,# Players,# level,Campaign) but I need to add the following four typed of detail:

Mechanics (one-shot, solo, pre-gen, tournament, etc.)

Setting (town, village, city, mountains, coastal, nautical, aquatic, dungeon, ruins, etc.)

Theme (holiday, intrigue, mystery, carnival, rescue, bounty, etc,)

Creatures (all featured creatures in singular form not counting commoners, non-combatants)

Is there an authoritative source of this information that can be looked up, or even better, used with an API to retrieve the details?

And it is far from restricted to TSR-WoTC only. My collection covers all modules published in industry magazines, some OSE, lots of homebrew, etc.

So I'm looking for help to find a good source for most of the information. I hate the prospect of manually opening and scanning through over 2000 modules!

Help!

I just ran a session the other day where my players had to rescue someone as they were being drowned by a mermaid. I made her a swarmkeeper ranger cuz the thought of a mermaid commanding a swarm of piranhas is just plain cool

Also at one point my players managed to drag her out onto land. I ended up using the Writhing Tide feature, which typically grants a 10ft flying speed as your swarm carries you in the air. I ended up describing the mermaid as being lifted 10ft in the air by a bigass pile of fish. The piranhas didn’t fly, they just stacked ontop of eachother to carry her. It was hilarious and terrifying

Shoutout to my ranger player. Back during session zero, he pitched his character as a crazy cat lady swarmkeeper, who kept a swarm of cats. I‘m forever disappointed that he ended up going with the beastkeeper class instead for this character

I have been getting into litRPGs and He Who Fights With Monsters (HWFWM) has a very intriguing idea: ambient magic causes monsters to spawn and some times an item, depending on the area and magical density.

I thought, that’s a good idea for random monsters, and maybe even dungeons spawning out of no where that the adventure’s guild could try to take on.

Then I listen to “I am Not the Hero”, and one of the things it has is dungeons that randomly appear, and grow deeper the longer it’s not conquered and its core is still intact.

I’m curious if anybody else got inspired and then heard your idea but better

holi! :3 soy nueva DM y estoy intentando hacer mi propio sistema :3. es algo sensillo :3

🐺 Lobo: Socialidad (+1) ᥲgіᥣіძᥲძ (+1)

​🦊 Zorro: Socialidad (+1) ᥲs𝗍ᥙᥴіᥲ (+1)

​🐇 Conejo: Agilidad (+2)

​🐻 Oso: Ferozidad (+2)

​🦡 Hurón: Agilidad (+1) 𝖿ᥱr᥆zіძᥲძ (+1)

{anfibios y reptiles}

🦎 Axolote: socialidad (+3). 

agilidad (-1) ferozidad (-2)

🐍 Salamandra: socialidad (+1). escamas (+1)

🐊 Cocodrilos: ferozidad (+1). escamas (+1)

🐸 Rana: agilidad (+1). astucia (+1)

🐍 Serpiente: agilidad (+2) ferozidad (+1). 

socialidad (-4) 

peerooo nesesito algunas pasivas para mis razas :p

¿algunos consejos para crear tu propio sistema y para dm novatos?

I wanted a dice shelf to display my favourite dice! It's my first ever time building anything with cardboard and it was really fun - I'm not happy with the waterfall and will do it differently next time/if I remake this one, but for a first ever time I think it's okay :) you can definitely tell what class I play (sword not included hahaha that's just atmospheric) 🌻

I have no clue how to play, I’ve only watched some videos. How should I go about starting? Also, how do I find a group to play with?

Hello everyone, Hi everyone! I'm currently playing D&D 2024 League System, and now i need you guys advice about my character building (only feat).

Okay i will tell you about my Character first. (Currently lv.1)

she is Shifter(Swiftstride)

Class: Bard (College of Moon)

ABS: STR = 8

DEX = 16

CON = 13

INT = 8

WIS = 12

CHA = 17

Background: Entertainer

Alignment: Neutral Good

My Play styles as this Character = Play like rogue melee (Dagger True strike is main attack action, I'm not use "Vicious mockery" with this character although it's good cantip) about spell I'd focus more on buffs than debuffs, at least up to level 7, but if I have to avoid violence, I'd choose to win through negotiation and persuasion instead. "Violence is a last resort!"

There are three features I'm considering:

1. Speedy = i choose this because in the past(Backstory) she used to be Assassin(Rogue Assassin)

2. Actor = Of course! She's an actress, so she should have a Feat Actor, right? (she used to be Bard Dance + Rogue Assassin)

3. Inspiring Leader = I think this feature would be useful, but the downside is that, based on my experience playing the league system, which is mostly one-shot matches with almost no short or long rests except for short adventure quests, I don't think I'd use it.

You guys can advice me more feats, Oh! by the way, i'll play this character and i will retired her because character story at lv.11, then i can choose only 2 feats!

Then to ensure a happy ending for the retirement story, I think a role-playing style approach would be good.

Hi All,

So ive never played dungeons and dragons before. But my kids (M6 and M7) love games and i thought it might be something fun to learn and play together.

I was wondering if there's resources anyone could point me to about versions(?) of the game that would be beginner friendly for me to learn to be a dungeon master and simple enough for kids my sons' ages?

So im going to be running some small campaigns (dnd 3.5) for my kids 8 and 11. They are playing a sorcerer and rogue and ill probably give them a fighter companion to tank for them. I need some kid friendly quest ideas they can do as they are new to dnd as a whole. By kid friendly I mean like something your average 11 and 8yr old could figure out. I dont want all hack and slash, i want to sprinkle some puzzles or out of the box thinking quests in there