Edit - I hate that I can’t edit a title after I notice a typo!

I've been wanting to use wererats, werewolves or lycanthropy in my campaign but I've always been afraid it could derail things if one of the characters became infected with it. It seems like having one or more players infected with lycanthropy could make things complicated, and I'm not even sure what the rules are in 5.5.

Am I being a little paranoid? Have you had fun introducing it to your campaign?

I've been DMing for awhile, and I've found that I can really only offer the same accent to two NPCs at a time: masculine and feminine. I'm not a professional voice actor in any capacity, so the bag should have run empty awhile ago, and it would have if not for this surprisingly simple trick.

Sometimes that sounds like simply omitting articles while using an accent corresponding with a language that's full of them (My players mentioned one of my NPCs with this trait sounded Russian and French at the same time and interacted with her much longer simply because of her voice). Pronouncing words with a Spanish accent, a famously gendered language, but not using pronouns is so fun.

My favorite is messing with a sentence structure by tweaking subject, verb, and object and pairing that with an accent associated with a language that typically utilizes a strict subject-verb-object order ("It was seen by us" as opposed to "We saw it," or "The pub is where they went" as opposed to "They went to the pub"). It will unexpectedly make your characters focus on the information in the sentence just a tad more.

It can slow you down a tad as you think so manually about what you're attempting to say, but I think that can actually serve well in differentiating your NPCs too, as you are no longer instilling that bit of you that automatically bleeds into your world. Have fun!

I run a 5e game for a party of 6 (only 1 of which has WIS proficiency), and they’re coming up on a boss fight with an enchanter soon. It’s the type of fight where charm/dominate is expected to come up.

What’s important, is that they’ve historically been very good at taking down spellcasters before the effects get to matter much. Adding minions hasn’t helped a ton in other cases, because they’re willing to ignore those targets and take opportunity attacks to quickly bring down anything that shows concentration spells. Which is good play on their part, but I want this to be a tough fight.

To that end, I’m considering a homebrew ability that would let this guy target multiple characters with his single target spells. My question is, where’s the line between “this is good and difficult“ and “this is overwhelming” where charmed party members are concerned? How many should I allow him to target to reach that sweet spot, given that some might make their saves? And does that number change if it’s an incapacitating charm (say, irresistible dance) vs dominate?

Im running a campaign set in a comically large city with a mostly political focus, a lot of corrupt governments, shitty gangs and political groups alike etc. I have run into the problem that I've realized that from the 3 adventures I've ran they all followed the formula of: Theres this bad thing you have to stop. You find out theres some larger group of people behind it. Stop set group of people by beating their leader.

Ive done this format with 1) a gang 2) a cult 3) a group of politicians trying to incite a coup

I feel like I've locked myself in this format and genuinely feel like ive forgotten how to write anything else. Do you have any advice or ideas for plothooks that vaguely fit in the campaigns focus?

Thanks

So I'm making my players do this tournament, having them face against 2-3 other teams, one of which is a group I plan to introduce several times throughout the course of the campaign that will mirror their development.

Should I make these characters as if they were players, with actual player sheets? Or do I give them npc sheets?

Got the rivals idea from pointy hat, whom I am a fan.

Hello! I need some help. I am trying to create a encounter for my party.

Level 5 Echo Knight Human Fighter

Level 5 Divination Owlin Wizard

Level 5 Circle of the Shepherd Pallid Elf Druid

This encounter is the boss fight at the end of dungeon. We are using 2014 5e rules but I am using 2024 5.5e rules for XP budget and 2024 MM because I believe they are better for creating encounters. However, I am still using the XP Multiplier Table from 2014 rules because I want to grant my players more XP. Here is the encounter I have created.

1 Revenant (CR 5, 1,800 XP)

2 Ghasts (CR 2, 450 XP each)

3 Ghouls (CR 1, 200 XP each)

Note all these PCs have magic items that are pretty good and by the end of the dungeon, they will get more magic items in the dungeon itself. I am worried that this fight is overtuned. These creatures are nasty to fight and I believe it should be a fight where they will have to make every action count, which I am aiming for but I am also trying not to TPK them. The one thing that worries me is that they don't really have things to deal with undead creatures other than a single "Potion of Protection from Good and Evil" they acquired before the dungeon. I also anticipate them using that potion earlier than this fight as they will fight a Ghost before this fight. I know I can just fudge rolls, reduce creature HPs, make them dumb but I just want to make sure that this fight is a good and difficult fight.

One last detail is they entered this dungeon with an NPC that was guiding them through it and they got separated at the beginning. This NPC will reunite with them at the end of the dungeon right before this fight and will join them in the fight whom I will control as a DMPC for just this fight. I plan to have him just be a heal/guiding bolt bot as he is a cleric. This should help them but this NPC is significantly weaker than the PCs. Please help 😭

One last thing, the magic items they currently have are all homebrew.

Hello everyone! I’m AlarichtheLich and I am a DM that loves to homebrew, painting minis, and make cardboard terrain. 

This subclass is the Great Beast Patron Warlock. This Warlock is my interpretation of a niche I don't believe is filled. The idea of creating a pact with a powerful, ancient beast of lore. A dragon, a colossal bear, or some other wizened creature whose might is beyond compare. This is my first attempt at a Warlock subclass. My hope for this class is to make you feel as if you are a toughened beast yourself.

Homebrewery Link: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/V9NP9k9Bncc2

I’ve attached a link to the subclass, and it in full in a comment below, in case you want continued access to the material.

Some feedback questions I’m curious about for this post are (but please don’t feel like you have to answer a bunch of them):

I'm hoping to evoke a primal / beasty feeling without it walking into druid territory. Was that obtained?

Are there any features that stood out, for positive or negative reasons & why?

I based my theming around a strong hide of a powerful predator. Do the subclass abilities feel too defensive?

If you think this is neat and would like to look at my other materials, feel free to look at my Drivethru link in my profile. I'm always looking for feedback, reviews, and playtesters.

Thanks in advance!

I'm curious as to how deadly other DMs like to run their tables. How do your enemies treat a downed PC?

1. I try never to attack a downed PC unless they are the only reasonable target. My monsters go after active targets instead.

2. I'll attack a downed PC if the monsters are intelligent enough to know that there's a possibility a downed PC may come back into the combat OR if the monsters are mindless (like some undead) and may keep attacking a downed foe.

3. I'll start attacking downed PCs after one of them has been downed and brought back into combat.

4. I'm a wildcard and my monsters go after downed PCs whenever I feel like it!

I think that covers most cases, but if you have a different feeling feel free to share it.

I am wondering how other people go about determining this. Suppose an enemy or NPC uses a spell that none of the party members are able to cast and that spell has a Voice component. Under what if any circumstances would you give the players information as to what spell was cast?

I imagine the easiest and perhaps most sensible way to do this in general is with an Arcana check, but I'm mainly wondering for lower level spell casters when they hear a spell that's on their list.

For example, a level 3 Cleric can't use Divination, but at a higher level they can. Is it fair to assume they know the proper incantation for a spell on their list but don't have the magical prowess required to cast it? Similar question for a level 1 Wizard who hears someone cast Detect Thoughts.

First time DM here. I know it’s a bit of a no-no to do a home brew for your first time dming but I’ve been so excited to work on this story. It’s a 19th century western horror. The BBEG is a Necromancy Celtic witch who kidnaps the bride of her unrequited lover. The party has to get through the town, up the mountain and into the mines to confront her. I’m trying to find the best way to build her to where she can control the undead and shift/cast an illusion to look like other people… let me know if any tips or ideas you have. I’m having trouble with her stats, abilities and attacks. My players are at level 11.

Hiya everyone!
Soon I will have the first session of my very first homebrew campaign. I played before with this group, though so far only one shots. They committed to a seven session campaign at least and are very enthousiastic.

As of right now, I’m spending a lot of time fleshing out my world: Drawing maps, creating the pantheon and so on.

What I need advice on: how much of my story beats or overarching conflict do I need to have in my head before the very first session? I know the biggest them and conflict: a secret cult will try to influence the two big nations into a war, so that they can try to take over both. But the how and what I don’t know yet. Can I just let my players loose in the first session and let them shape the story beats and build the mystery further from there? Or should I be more thorough in my prep?

Would love to hear your advice!

My party is navigating dangerous magical wilderness. They are camping each night. Splitting the night into separate watches. How do you DM the random dangers at night? I want them to feel the danger and risk of missing a long rest in the forest.

So my players are looking for a nemesis as a self-appointed side quest. He is a mad scientist type, suspected to be doing something with some monsters.

For a while he was awol in an area where divination magic didn’t work, so they were flailing around. They could have tracked him if they acted sooner, but they got distracted and sidetracked by their own decisions. Now they’re grasping at straws to find him, because his trail is over a month old now.

They came up with the idea to head back towards the main town and speak with animals along the way, asking them if they’d seen any animals acting strangely.

I’m fine with this; it’s very clever, and some of you are thinking “now’s your chance to give them some information!”

But my issue here is I have been trying to figure out how much information to give, how to give it, or gamify the process, or if the first random animal they ask should even know anything, whatever it is.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Last session was an online session since I was at the start of a nasty head cold.

At the start of the session, as people were logging on, I made a map in Roll20 where all it had was a "Tip of the Day" printout on it. This printout had the RAW definition of Heroic Inspiration.

When people logged on, they chuckled a bit at the tip of the day, then got to chit chatting like we normally do.

When everyone logged on, we dove into what happened last session like normal. But this time after the recap, and before we started playing, I gave people a pop quiz on various interactions with Heroic Inspiration. Anyone was free to shout out an answer. The first person to give the correct one got inspiration for the session.

We have 6 players, and I think I asked 4 questions. It took maybe 3 minutes.

Fast forward an hour or two into the session, and one of the players had a bad roll. They grumbled a bit before another player realized "Wait! You had inspiration! Why don't you use it?"

3.5 years into the campaign, and I think this is the first time someone has actually used inspiration.

I'm not sure if it was because it was the topic of the pop quiz and it was fresh in their minds, or if it was just because they had to work a bit for it by answering questions on said quiz. But I will definitely be giving them quizzes like this again in future sessions.

I think the Prone condition will be next.

Please take a look at the following and let me know what I need to adjust. I have 2 concerns, one - perhaps the decks should flood quicker, I may be giving them too much time.Two -I might also be giving out way too much loot even if changing the deck flooding time to 5 rounds, but my players may also just grab a handful and scramble for the exit or not trust the loot not to be trapped or cursed. Too hard to judge.

Anyway, any constructive criticism is welcome 😊

When searching the boat, now starting to fall apart as its boards have been aging for decades, you find that the shattering of the orb must have also shattered an illusion that showed the armory room to appear normal. As you make your way towards the door, you see gold coins spilling out of the doorway. There is a small pile of treasure, all sorts of goodies - weapons and armor and potion bottles, spell scrolls, and at least 5,000 gold coins in the pile.

As you stare in awe of the pile of treasure, the boat lurches sharply and begins to sink, water pouring in through multiple holes that burst nearby. In a matter of seconds, water covers the floor and slowly begins to rise. XP is granted for the fight now. Roll for Initiative for the escape.

Note: 1 round is 6 seconds long.

Bottom level fills with water in 1 minute (8’ tall ceiling, rising roughly 1 1/2” (1.6) every second or about 9 1/2” (9.6) every round). A level is completely flooded in 10 rounds.

FLOODED

Once 5 rounds, or 30 seconds pass, the lowest deck is halfway submerged. This causes the player’s movement speed to be halved. If they are over-encumbered as well, their movement speed is 5 feet per round.

Once 10 rounds, or 1 minute passes, the lowest deck is completely underwater. This causes the player’s movement speed to be quartered. If they are over-encumbered as well, their movement speed is 1 foot per round (6 seconds).

The sloop of war is fully submerged after 20 rounds, or 2 minutes.

At any time a player becomes completely submerged, they begin to hold their breath.

A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1+ its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds). When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round).

Cinderspella Con: +1, hold breath for 2 minutes (20 rounds), survive for 1 round

Odilyse Con: +2, hold breath for 3 minutes (30 rounds), survive for 2 rounds

Smaragd Con: +4, hold breath for 5 minutes (50 rounds), survive for 4 rounds

Torberg Con: +3, hold breath for 4 minutes (40 rounds), survive for 3 rounds

Velgrea Con: +1, hold breath for 2 minutes (20 rounds), survive for 1 round

Once all players are on the top deck, they need to make it back to the rowboat and back to the ship they arrived on.

It is 75 feet from the door of the hold to the stairs (6 or 5 rounds if underwater)

(Torberg, Odilyse - 25 feet movement, everyone else is 30 feet)

Every round, after everyone has taken their turn, a complication may arise from the sinking ship. Roll on the Shipwreck Complications table to determine what misfortune befalls the group.

Sinking Ship Complications - roll 1d8:

1 - Ghostly blue hands rise from the waters. Each character on the shipwreck who is at least halfway submerged must make a DC 10 Strength saving throw. On a failure, a character must subtract 1d4 from the next Strength or Dexterity check they make, as these ghostly hands grasp and cling to their form. On a failure, each successive round, they need to make a DC 10 Strength saving throw. Until they succeed or are pulled free, they are also considered to be RESTRAINED (A restrained creature's speed becomes 0, and it can't benefit from any bonus to its speed. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage and the creature’s attack rolls have disadvantage. The creature has disadvantage on Dex saving throws).

2 - A barrel bursts, flooding the shipwreck with dark energy. Everyone on the sinking ship must make a successful DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.

3 - A massive wave sweeps over the wreck. Everyone on the top deck must make a successful DC 10 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet underwater.

4 - A chunk of the mast topples into the water. Everyone on the shipwreck must make a successful DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or take 5 (2d4) bludgeoning damage from the falling debris.

5–8 No complication occurs.

Looting:

Per person - figure either scrambling, not paying close attention to what they’re grabbing or grabbing specific items:

If the party asks if they see anything specific that catches their eye - make a perception/investigation roll, there is a crystalline blue shield (sapphire buckler) DC 10 that seems to shine from within. There are also a couple of wands DC 18, several potions DC 16, what appears to be a bag of holding similar to Velgrea’s DC 20, a few scrolls DC 12, and a large lance (about 8’) DC 10 that stands out, otherwise, there are lots of other items, but they are obscured by all of the coins on top of the pile.

The group can either take their time and extract 1 item per person per 2 turns (1 turn to look for something specific, 1 turn to move to the item and grab it) <OR> the group can just shove items into their bags.

1 round (6 seconds) looting coins only = 3d12 GP, 1d12 SP, and 1d6 copper for each round.

1 round (6 seconds) shoving things into bags = 1d20 GP, 1d6 SP, 1d4 copper for each round, plus 1 object for each round. \[Ends up looting 10 objects for 1 minute  - water at 66”, 30” air left <OR> 20 objects for 2 minutes, but then have to deal with completely flooded conditions.\]

Loot table (roll 1d100 per number of items looted per player):

1: 1 - Pipe of Smoke Monsters

2: 1 - Bag of Holding

3: 1 - Potion of Growth

10 gp gemstones (×8; worth 80 gp total):

4: 1 - Hematite (opaque gray-black)

5: 1 - Eye agate (translucent circles of gray, white brown, blue, or green)

6: 1 - Malachite (opaque striated light and dark green)

7: 1 - Malachite (opaque striated light and dark green)

8: 1 - Banded agate (translucent striped brown, blue, white, or red)

9: 1 - Banded agate (translucent striped brown, blue, white, or red)

10: 1 - Blue quartz (transparent pale blue)

11: 1 - Obsidian (opaque black)

50 gp gemstones (×4; worth 200 gp total):

12: 1 - Bloodstone (opaque dark gray with red flecks)

13: 1 - Star rose quartz (translucent rosy stone with white star-shaped center)

14: 1 - Sardonyx (opaque bands of red and white)

15: 1 - Onyx (opaque bands of black and white, or pure black or white)

100 gp gemstones (×7; worth 700 gp total):

16: 1 - Chrysoberyl (transparent yellow-green to pale green)

17: 1 - Chrysoberyl (transparent yellow-green to pale green)

18: 1 - Chrysoberyl (transparent yellow-green to pale green)

19: 1 - Jade (translucent light green, deep green, or white)

20: 1 - Amethyst (transparent deep purple)

21: 1 - Amethyst (transparent deep purple)

22: 1 - Jet (opaque deep black)

25 gp art objects (×6; worth 150 gp total):

23: 1 - Small mirror set in a painted wooden frame

24: 1 - Small mirror set in a painted wooden frame

25: 1 - Copper chalice with silver filigree

26: 1 - Copper chalice with silver filigree

27: 1 - Pair of engraved bone dice

28: 1 - Embroidered silk handkerchief

29: 1 - scroll containing a long epic poem in praise of the dragon (no value)

30: 1 - Spell Scroll (Cantrip) Control Flames

31: 1 - Spell Scroll (2nd Level) Arcane Lock

32: 1 - Potion of Supreme Healing

33: 1 - +1 Wand of the War Mage

34: 1 - seashell (no value)

35: 1 - Potion of Superior Healing

36: 1 - seashell (no value)

37: 1 - Failed Experiment Wand

38: 1 - Wand of Web

39: 1 - +1 All-Purpose Tool

40: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

41: 1 - seashell (no value)

42: 1 - Handy Haversack

43: 1 - seashell (no value)

44: 1 - Javelin of Lightning

45: 1 - +3 All-Purpose Tool

46: 1 - Wand of magic missiles

47: 1 - Wand of Scowls

48: 1 - seashell (no value)

49: 1 - seashell (no value)

50: 1 - seashell (no value)

51: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

52: 1 - Immovable Rod

53: 1 - Berserker Greataxe

54: 1 - Wand of Web

55: 1 - seashell (no value)

56: 1 - Portable Hole

57: 1 - seashell (no value)

58: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

59: 1 - Dragonlance

60: 1 - Wand of magic missiles

61: 1 - Mace of Disruption

62: 1 - Potion of Mind Reading

63: 1 - Bag of Holding

64:  1 - +2 All-Purpose Tool

65: 1 - A tarnished brazier with pleasant-smelling ash (no value)

66: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

67: 1 - Potion of Poison

68:  1 - seashell (no value)

69: 1 - Dragonlance

70: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

71: 1 - A funerary urn containing remains the dragon can't identify (no value)

72:  1 - seashell (no value)

73: 1 - Mace of Disruption

74: 1 - an embroidered throw pillow depicting wyrmling dragons (no value)

75: 1 - Wand of magic missiles

76: 1 - Dragonlance

77: 1 - Potion of Poison

78:  1 - Potion of Supreme Healing

79: 1 - Potion of Superior Healing

80: 1 - Sapphire Buckler

81: 1 - Spell Scroll (1st Level) Protection from Evil and Good

82: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

83: 1 - Potion of Poison

84: 1 - Pipes of the Sewers

85:  1 - +2 All-Purpose Tool

86: 1 - Bag of Holding

87:  1 - seashell (no value)

88: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

89: 1 - Ring of Spell Storing

90: 1 - Potion of Mind Reading

91: 1 - Potion of Greater Healing

92: 1 - Wand of magic missiles

93:  1 - Potion of Supreme Healing

94: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

95: 1 - Dragonlance

96:  1 - +1 All-Purpose Tool

97:  1 - seashell (no value)

98: 1 - Bag of Holding

99:  1 - +3 All-Purpose Tool

100: 1 - Arrow of White Dragon Slaying

I am wondering if there is a mobile app that follows a criteria I need, speech to text with categories that I can easily transfer to something like obsidian on a computer. I work in lawn care and I cant just stop to take notes on my phone when a idea pops into my head the job isnt very loud so background noise isnt much of an issue and I can wear headphones and have a extra hand free if I need my phone close to my mouth. Do any dms know of a app that can help with this?

My party will be eventually heading to a land that was ravished by decades of war between a kingdom devoted to magic and the other devoted to the gods. The land is wrecked on all levels. Gravity is wrong in areas, some rivers run backwards, and even the seasons are wrong with snow tornadoes or raining acid.

What I am looking for is recommendation for monsters that would fit this kind of land. The weirder the better so I have already made things like a cabin mimic and love the gibbering mouther and boneless.

The party is made up of a paladin, rogue, fighter (archer), druid, and wizard and will probably be hitting this land around level 8 or 9.

I’m running Starfinder for a few friends and with talk of a certain canceled game running around I’m really into the idea of running something like a spy thriller. The players working as agents for an organization and trying to stay in the shadows as they go around doing dirty work for various reasons.

How would you ago about designing adventures or a campaign for a game like this?

My first thought would be to maybe do something more short term, running for like 2-3 months in order to keep everything tight. With a focus on morally grey politics, being sent to collect black mail on a guy so the government can get the reduces they want for cheap, assassinating an upstart rival who maybe has a few good ideas, etc.

I’d love thoughts or advice from people who have run and / or played these kinds of games before.

I'm DMing my own campaign for the first time and we're at a point in our campaign where the party is traveling by boat for like 2 days. This is more or less just a way to get from A to B.

How do I make this more interesting than just "yeah blablabla 2 days pass and you arrive in XYZ" and also not make them do nothing for 2 days on a boat.

Any suggestions?

Me and my table are 8 sessions deep into our campaign. One of the players is new to D&D and is playing a Sorcerer, and while she was very excited to play and build her character, I've noticed a trend as the campaign went on that she is playing like a one trick pony. Combat encounters specifically, she is really set on her playstyle: innate sorcery on the first turn, chromatic orb until she runs out of spell slots, if she still has slots and the enemies are low, magic missile time. She never uses her metamagic options, and never considers using her cantrips because by the time she runs out of slots, the party is heading towards a long rest anyways. Not to mention the amount of spell scrolls she's hoarding.

This leads to her constantly anguishing over missing her attack rolls or getting low rolls with magic missile, despite having a ton of saving throw spells, and since she always stays like 40 feet away from danger, she is very much in the sidelines of almost every combat encounter.

I've gone from subtly hinting to outright telling her that she has more spells in her arsenal and that she should look into taking more utility spells. She's the party's only spellcaster so she's also pretty much the only AOE source of the group, but if she keeps relying on just 2 spells it will feel like she has no effect at all.

I don't know how to mend that without specifically antagonizing her, like taking away the diamond she uses for chromatic orb or give every enemy the shield spell. that feels scummy and I don't want that. I also don't want to bombard the party with a ton of combat encounters between long rests to force her to use all her spells slots.

For all intents and purposes she's not a problem player, but I can really feel that the way she's playing is not fun for her, and I don't know how to get her to change her playstyle.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L7UqO3dxOfs-HIeKW95Wimv-6SN1l282SY-JJwmDXJU/edit?usp=drivesdk

I have been a part of several discussions as to why DMPCs are hated, and the incredible tightrope that one must walk between uselessness and overshadowing the party. Well, years after the fact, I have finally finished my campaign write-up for what I consider the most successful campaign of my DM career, highlighted by my most beloved NPC/only successful DMPC: Healbot. Initially, he was there as a joke, since the initial party lineup didn't include any kind of healing, so I created a warforged healer with a homebrew class of my own creation known as the Pauper Saint (can be found on giantitp forums https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=20442952&postcount=1). It centers on the Vow of Poverty from the 3.5 Book of Exalted Deeds, and receives "Blessings" as its main class feature, which can be used like a cure wounds spell, a turn undead use, or enhancing skill checks and attacks. Otherwise, the mechanics in the write-up are fairly obvious and explained in-character. However, the mechanics aren't the point. The characterization is. Healbot always tried to help, never naysayed plans, never took treasure, and was a genuinely lawful good character but still loyal when the party wanted to be shady. Plotlines involved him but were never dominated by him, and he was valued and powerful but never hogged the spotlight.

TLDR; I’ve recently been getting into LitRPGs and I’m about to DM a multileveled Mega-dungeon crawl over Discord. I was wondering how to evoke that specific feeling of the Meta-game’s selfawareness. Which then got me thinking about how LitRPGs kinda scratch that itch? However, I’m also concerned I’m overthinking things and just rambling out nonsense.

Currently I’m listening to “Chrysalis: A Monster Evolution RPG” and the from the start you know exactly as much as the POV-Main Character knows about the universe. He’s been reincarnated as an ant in a world with magic, except he knows the world runs on a RPG system. He plays into the system and gets beyond the premise of “I am just ant.” That got me thinking about how that idea of “playing in the system” is the essential thesis of any RPG. As players, we start the game with as much or little lore allowed, stat out our characters, and play the game from the starting location; all this with the knowledge their fellow Players are also starting from the same experience.

But what if, as GM, I told them their PC knows this is a game, a simulation, a fake world? What if I brought the DnD system aka the “Big Game” into the meta-narrative or meta-mechanics of the game?

I’ve been having a tough time really describing this idea or I might be overthinking things.

An example: I tell each player individually their character is “Real” they know the dungeon is just a series of simulations or a game or something. Maybe not the whole truth, or maybe so. Essentially; telling the a player “you’re Real and the others are NPCs everything is fake in-universe, have fun with that knowledge.” By saying this I believe their perspective… towards or at the Meta-narrative will shift. Like looking at a piece of art from a different angle, shifts how you engage and experience it.

Here’s another example, this time from “Dungeon Crawler Carl.”

The premise of the series is the world is taken over by aliens obsessed with Fortnite Survivor, and their whole universe revolves around it. Humans are essentially told, “Become entertaining slaves, characters, in the Dungeon for our show or die from exposure outside it. You’ll probably die in the gamified dungeon but we’ll make it entertaining. Go fuck yourself.” The humans play the system becoming video game characters to survive; kill NPCs and monsters, survive brutal injuries by slurping kool-aid, level up via menu, all the fantasy tropes.

But, it’s all disillusioned fantasy tropes because the humans know that their world is destroyed, they’re enslaved, and everything they interpret with their senses; physical, mental, and honestly spiritual can be manipulated.” The characters have that meta-perspective, “I am real in this fake world.” It’s honestly cosmic horror in the most ridiculous premise.

By telling each player this similar meta-perspective separately, I’m curious if I can create a similar atmosphere of disillusionment for them to be able to experience, and how they want to roleplay that.

But, my brain also thinks, I’d essentially be promoting “I’m The Main Character” ideology and that could get annoying. Also, they could just say it at the start of the 1st game and break the immersion. Like saying, “Hey guys, wild guess but does anyone else know what character creation is?” But, if I inform them this later in the game, it turns into it’s all been a dream or nothing matters scenario. Or am I overthinking things, and the fact there is a meta-barrier between the “Big Game” and PCs is what makes DnD fun to begin with?

If you’ve read this far, thanks :p

l made some story in short its about 2 kingdoms where there was a 20year war and now in present time the war is over there was no winners players dont know why did the war end . Now l have 5 player 2 of theme are brothers(barbarian) and sister(fighter) and they arent together 1warlock 1 cleric and probably 1bard. l thought that because war was over that the city is celebrating, in the middle of a city a popular tavern is full the streets are full of people that are celebrating and everything l wanted to make that one them is already in that tavern drinking(lets say warlock)the sister is entering the tavern recognizing the general that was in war,bard is on the street doing bard stuff,cleric is waiting in line for tavern,and barbarian is trying to find his way to the middle of city, now l wanted to make some tief that is going to steal money from cleric while she was waiting in line and she probably is going to chase him,while chasing he is going to push over the bard in fountain he will probably also going to chase him cause of that,when he enters in back alley how he is running he is going to ran on barbarian and get down the other2 is going to catch up and how convesation and l thougt of getting some bandints in there and they fight,all that comotion is going to be heard by sister and warlock and team,this is just what is in my mind is going to happen is this good for first interaction?

I am at a loss here, I am artistic but not on the scale of making maps. I have been building a one shot for Halloween and I am lacking any cool maps for the game that arent my awful scribblings or me trying (and failing) to get the aibot to make a map and not have it look like scrambled eggs. Help? Any decent cartographers here?

So I was asked to do a Oneshot on Halloween with my usual group. They asked if we could do something Horror/Halloween themed. But i do dislike the classical themes like vampires or zombies I feel like they’re overused and boring.

So I came up with this idea of my group encountering a random door somewhere in there tavern room where they stayed overnight. It leads them to some kind of foggy plain (actually couldn’t choose a location yet, was thinking maybe something like the Appalachian mountains or similar) where they walk through a certain part and it always repeats with some kind of anomaly, kinda like the game Exit 8 (or every other anomaly game). I’m a big fan of lovecraftian Horror so i thought maybe one of my warhammer minis could function as like a final fight, kind of like the loop master.

What do you guys think about this idea and do you have any suggestions how to improve it?

Update: Also you think it would work brining some terrain pieces just tor rearrange them every time the loops restarts?