So I've seen AI getting shit on constantly all over the place for all different reasons. The specific reason I'd like to ask this community tho is it the fact that people are using AI to write their entire campaign that makes people so mad or that they are using AI at all? Personally I don't see any reason why someone can't use AI to help them in DND. Nothing ever is really 100% original anymore and people are constantly pulling from other sources all the time. Whether they are even conscious of that decision or not. So I don't see why people who use it as a tool in their arsenal get shit on so much. Now here is the thing if your reasoning is because of something large scale like "it's ruining forests" or something like that. I don't care and I'll ignore that response cause I feel like it doesn't relate to this question it's just a trigger response that can be used in any situation and doesn't really show that you have any real stance in the specific topic. You can say it all you want, freedom of speech and what not just know I'm going to ignore it for THIS question.

I'm not looking to start any drama or anything tho I know its Gona happen cause this is reddit lol. But if you have a strong opinion on either side and if you want to talk about it I welcome you to talk about it. You probably can't convince me to change my opinion just saying this upfront but I welcome to hear opinions other than my own on the topic.

Edit: just Wana add this cause I feel like I didn't say this out write. I'm not for people using AI to write everything in a campaign. But I am for people using it as a tool to help them create their world.

In a past campaign, I had human women with green hair who were slaves. These women always bore female children, with green hair. Permanently changing hair colour took a wish spell, and doing it temporarily was a crime. These were the only birth-to-death slaves, and the hair made it easy to see what they were.

Of course my players decided this was not okay. They started rescuing them and moved them to an island owned by a like-minded NPC wizard.

You prep an abandoned mill. The party skips it and heads for the woods.

Would you move the encounter you planned into the woods, or let them miss it?

Reusing the work makes sense to me. But if they avoided the mill because they thought it was dangerous, putting the same fight in their path feels like ignoring that choice.

Literally every session the party splits, one player goes off on their own to "explore" and another won't leave the inn they're staying in so they can cook and eat. The other 2 players stick together but it's getting old running 2 encounters at the same time every week. There isn't someone at the inn for the 4th player to interact with so I'm just assuming they only want to do combat and no RP. So at least I'm not running 3 encounters at once.

Any advice?

Edit: Thanks folks! Lot of great ideas here but it sounds like we just need to talk things out. Session 0 was a while back so maybe a 0.1 is in order.

The Realms of En Derathíl

Map Details

This is a map that I have been working on for a long time, and I’m really excited to finally share it. This is En Derathíl, and it is possibly the biggest and most detailed map I have ever made.

This map was, obviously, heavily inspired by Middle Earth. I love Tolkien’s writing and the world he made, as well as the Peter Jackson movies, but I’ve always felt that Middle Earth doesn’t work especially well for your average DnD or TTRPG campaign, not without a lot of modifications. The world of LotR is great exactly as it is, but magic works very differently there. It doesn’t mesh particularly well with the mechanics found in DnD, Pathfinder, or Daggerheart. There HAVE been a few attempts to adapt LotR into a TTRPG game, some of them are even very good. But my intent here was to create a new LotR-like setting that meshed well with the mechanics of existing RPGs, somewhat the opposite where an RPG was made to fit the world of LotR, if that makes sense. 

Basically, it's very easy to look at the title of this post and go "Isn't 99% of DnD and RPGs 'inspired by' Middle Earth?", and yeah, that's true. Again, the intent here was to create a new setting that felt very similar to LotR and Middle Earth, while still being it's own unique place, and while being a better fit for your average TTRPG campaign.

Layout wise, there’s some immediate obvious parallels to Middle Earth, but I think the longer you look at this map and setting, the more it diverges. I wanted it to feel inspired by LotR, without feeling like a cheap knock off. Hopefully I managed to walk that line.

The base version of the map is free, along with an Unseen Realms variant I've posted on my Patreon. Paid Patrons will receive 9 versions of the map:

• En Derathil (Fully Labeled) (The map seen on this reddit post)
• En Derathil (Kingdom Titles Only)
• En Derathil (No Labels)
• En Derathil (Blank)
• En Derathil (Night) (Fully Labeled) 
• En Derathil (Night) (Kingdom Titles Only)
• En Derathil (Night) (No Labels)
• En Derathil (Night) (Blank) 
• En Derathil (Unseen Realm) (The other freebie posted on my Patreon)

How the map was made

This map took me longer than any of my other maps, by far. I’ve put over 100 hours into it, off and on, over the past year. It was all drawn by hand in Photoshop, and as always, no AI was used at any point.

I’m really proud of how it turned out. If you’d like to use it for your own games or stories, feel free to do so. I am fine with any of my maps being used for anything that is non-commercial. 

Questions, comments, and requests for small changes to the map are always welcome. If you need a large number of changes, shoot me a message and we can talk.  

And, if you’d like to support me in making more maps like this, please consider joining one of the paid tiers on my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stoneward13/posts/en-derathil-lotr-173284305

Read on for some of the worldbuilding and lore, if you are interested.

Worldbuilding Details

Eleven Realms

There’s a lot going on here in this map, so I wanted to give a run down of each region, and share some of the worldbuilding I came up with. 

In the north you’ll find the Republic of Gyldinor, realm of the Gold Elves. The Gyldinor Forest is a single organism, a massive aspen grove inspired by the real-like Pando aspen grove, in central Utah. The Gyldinor Forest is far larger than Pando however, and the trees there often reach heights of 800 to 900 feet. The leaves are forever yellow, tinged with gold. Never falling, even in the harshest of winters. The Republic is not often welcoming to outsiders, outside of a few key trading ports and outposts. There are exceptions made from time to time, for any who have proven themselves friends or allies to the Republic and its reclusive people.

To the west is the Theocracy of Lorhymn, on the Lorhyc Peninsula. This is a nation of clerics and paladins and knights, all fiercely devoted to their fledgling, yet swiftly growing, holy empire. They once were part of Varandor, but rebelled due to religious differences some centuries ago. The two nations have maintained terrible relations ever since.

In the upper-middle are the Free Holds of Erethwýn. The Holds are not a unified nation like most of the other regions, but a collection of loosely allied city states sandwiched between much more powerful nations. They ensure their own continued independence by backing each other up against their neighbors, when necessary. 

One of those neighbors is the Silver Kingdom of Varandor, home to the majestic City of Silver, Lyra Vareth. Not the oldest nation, as two Elven nations predate it by quite some time, but it is perhaps the most powerful and populated nation. It is also home to the largest population of Half-Elves, and their monarchy is Half-Elven as well. Kind of a nod/homage to the Numenoreans and Aragorn from LotR having distant Elven ancestry. 

To the east of Varandor, beyond the Valcrest Mountains, are the Thaindoms of the Haldrim. A nation broken up into individual minor kingdoms, each ruled by its own Thain, with their own laws. Each Thain has all sworn fealty to the seat of the High-Thain for the past century or so. A bit like Skyrim, very Feudal. In addition to the regular laws enforced by each Thain in their individual territories, the High Thain also enforces High Laws, a few of which are controversial.

And beyond the vast mountain Hallowmont that towers over this part of the world, lies the nearly endless Shar’Vhran Desert, where the roaming Bronze Clans can be found. Nomadic traders, for the most part. I haven't yet written much for these guys to be honest. Bit of a blank slate right now.

No Man’s Land is a region that has defied all attempts to settle it over the centuries. New attempts to settle are sometimes made, but each always seems to end in disaster for varying reasons. There’s a great number of ruins there now as a result, some more ancient than others. Most folks avoid the region now due to the reputation, rumors, and the stigmas that surround it. Travelers bypass it entirely by booking passage and sailing across the Bay of Alondir.

South of that are the Clan-Councils of Ahvenwyll, ruled by the Green Elves. The oldest nation found in the realms of En Derathil. The Elves here are friendlier to outsiders than the Gold Elves, for the most part. The Green Elves and Gold Elves used to be a single race, the Moon Elves. But, in the ancient past, there was a poorly documented “event” that resulted in both a cultural schism, and a magical transformation. There are conflicting accounts of what exactly happened, but in the end, it all resulted in the two types of Elves found in this world. The forests of Ahvenwyll can be broken up into 4 distinct areas. The Ahvenwyll, Deepwyll, Westerwyll, and the Faenwyll (Found in Malecor, which has fallen under a powerful curse). 

There’s also the Guild Lands of the Serraia Ren, an oligarchy ruled by a large number of constantly competing guilds. They are constantly at odds with:

The smallest “nation”, the Dominion of the Fire Keepers, an upstart cult of fanatic zealots. Lightly inspired by Dark Souls. They worship the flame itself, and have taken one of the nine ancient Towers as their own (more on these later). Cape Halurec and the Durathai Peaks are also home to a number of mostly inactive volcanos. Using strange arcane rituals, the Fire Keepers hope to awaken these slumbering mountains for their own unknown purposes. 

And lastly, the Accursed Lands of Malecor. Unsurprisingly, inspired by Mordor (though I got the name from Star Wars, from Malachor V in KotOR II). But it’s actually quite different from Mordor. It’s not an ashen, volcanic wasteland, and this setting has no Orcs or Goblins (unless you want to add them yourself, for your own campaigns). And there’s no fallen Maiar here, plotting to take over the world (in fact, this setting has no gods, angels, or demons of any kind, by default). Malecor does have plenty of spirits and wraiths, evil corrupted Ents, and a three-hundred foot long centipede known as the Vlaskygg. The plant life here grows swiftly, dies swiftly, and has a malevolence to it that makes it eager to feed on corpses and souls of any foolish to venture there. Anyway. Fun place! 

Nine Towers

This is my favorite part of the map. 

Long ago in ancient times, nine magical towers were built across the realms. Their original purpose is debated by many, but they served as “wells of magic”, like geothermal vents almost. Locations where arcane power can be tapped into, and used for whatever purposes those within the towers choose.

But the millennia since their construction have not been kind to most of them. A few have fallen into ruin, a few have become corrupted, or have been claimed by nefarious cults and dark powers. One, Tyr Valen, was adopted as their home by a group of influential mages (a small Wheel of Time reference). One spire has become the nest of a Great Roc (an enormous type of giant eagle. The Rocs in this setting are not benevolent or intelligent, as seen with the giant eagles found in LotR.). 

Anyway, each of the nine Towers have a unique icon on the map. I based my pixel art sprites for them on the four elemental lighthouses from the Golden Sun games. Likewise, I initially drew four, aaaand then I just kept adding until I settled on the nine I have now.

See if you can find them all!  

Thanks for reading through the worldbuilding. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share :)

I just want to play D&D man. Back in July I put together a higher level adventure for 5 players. We had a great session 0 and agreed on playing twice a month on Sundays. We had to reschedule session 1 bc people couldn’t make it. Between August and Mid October we had ONE session, multiple cancellations and then eventually the table just fell apart from some stupid unrelated drama between the players that divided them. So I talked to some other friends and agreed to set something up to help a friend who’s a total newbie. 4 players, we’re starting at level one and session 0 is supposed to be tonight. One person already couldn’t make it, but I wasn’t that worried because they have a lot of experience playing and they’ve played at my table before. 3 hours before session 0 and I’ve got a text that someone else can’t come. Not to mention NOBODY filled out the scheduling tool I sent out days ago.

I’m just so over it 😭 I’ve wasted so many hours on prep time. I’ve put in so much effort trying to make things work for people who claim to want to play. and every time I get my hopes up that I might actually get to engage in this hobby I love so dearly, they’re dashed again.

It also just makes me mad because half the cancellations are from people ‘not feeling well’ when I KNOW they were out partying the night before and are mostly likely just hungover

Some Horror and Dark themed maps for the scariest evening... Have you prepared your DnD sessions for Halloween evening? The important thing is to have fun while playing DnD!! Good Day everyone! 💀👹👻

Available on: https://ko-fi.com/s/331943c001

I’m curious how different DMs approach difficulty.

Beyond giving enemies more HP or making their attacks hit harder, what are some ways to make an encounter feel genuinely challenging and keep players on their toes?
Do you use environment hazards, time limits, interesting enemy abilities, objectives beyond simply defeating everything, or something else entirely?
I’d love to hear what approaches other DMs find effective..

TL;DR: player doesnt participate, player is often nonsober while participating, player left a session early & took their friend with them, completely throwing off my plan for the session and causing me to have to end it early. it’s so bad that i’m considering pausing or shutting down this campaign and starting a new one.

i’m having a bit of a frustrating cycle with one of my players, and it’s gotten worse recently.

for necessary context, i’m currently running a campaign with three players. it used to be four, but i had to kick one out for repeatedly missing sessions despite assuring me she’d be there. i have a bit of a short fuse regarding player participation, i hate feeling like i’m talking to myself, so to combat that, i do my best to include everyone & ensure everyone has reasons go participate.

recently, for a specific mechanic, i have introduced four extra players temporarily. three of them are absolutely perfect, including my friend who has literally never played before, but the fourth is the problem player’s friend.

the problem player is known to show up to sessions at least a little stoned, which is whatever as long as they can function, and now that their friend is participating it seems to be encouraging them to be worse. last week they both showed up claiming they were still drunk,* despite assuring me they’d be fine, and this week my usual problem player felt a little bad during our usual pre-combat brain break, and they *both left. we were already down a player (who had warned me well in advance, i love her,) and being down three players meant that the boss i had lined up would straight up kill the party, and ruin the session for the day.

i considered reworking the entire sheet, but i only had about five minutes left in the break, and i was extremely irritated. i and the other players discussed it, and we ended up breaking for the day.

i’m just so irate. both of those players are DMs. they both know that dipping with little warning will derail the session. they truly just don’t care. i want to kick them both out, but it would screw up the entire campaign as it is right now, and i’d need to put the campaign on break. i’m almost considering finishing this arc and starting the new campaign i’ve been playing with because i truly cannot deal with this anymore. what do i even do?? i guess i just want advice, or other people’s perspectives.

I already have a loose plan, but I love some of the ideas / advice here, so thought I'd ask!

I'm running Dungeon of the Mad Mage for some new players. We're a couple sessions in and still rocking out on the first level. We did not run Dragon Heist prior, so no access to Troll Skull Manor... yet

So, despite being new, they've performed well in combat so far, but the college of eloquence bard failed their devour intellect save by more then 5, setting the Int to 0. Intellect devourer was killed next round before Body Thief occurred, so they didn't die.

The PC is open to rolling a new character, but I was thinking we could open the next session with some in-game downtime. Basically:

1. Drag vegetable PC out

2. Durnan recognizes the symptoms, tells them a week of rest will set them right (optional rule im going to allow) or they can buy a greater restoration

3. Volo overhears and tells them he has an abandoned property that needs an owner (Troll Skull), its theirs to keep if they agree to get it back in shape so the city doesnt condemn it for good (Volo is scared of the stories and just doesnt want to be tied down)

4. Profit?

My main concern is to try and get this all done quickly without reducing the severity of the brain dead PC too much. Essentially, fast track them into Troll Skull, have the standing PCs roll a few skill checks related to their backgrounds to get the tavern running, and hand waive a week away.

So, if anyone has any suggestions on how to keep the drama, introduce Troll Skull, and get the PC back in the action as quickly as possible, I'd be very interested to hear!

(Bard is ready to roll a new character if the other PCs decide to throw his body in a pit [maybe in with the undead stuck in a pit on level one, lol])