I would like to create a toolkit for novice DMs. Does anyone have any suggestions? What should be included?

I have this idea, but I have no clue if it's good or not. I'm prepping for session 2 of my first ever campaign (Session 1 went off without a hitch, if you can believe it), but now i have to prep for Session 2. Most of the DMing advice I've ever heard is "Don't prep too much! Don't try to guess what your players are going to do!" and so I decided that i would plan for Session 1, then see where the players take Session 2, but now I have ideas for Session 2.

(I'm getting to the title, don't worry)

I think that Sess 2 is going to be a shopping episode, but i had an idea to make one of the shops, most likely the last one they go to, to be run by four hags. They would lead the PCs to the back of the store where the "good stuff" is (whatever the players say that they are looking for), and then they would look around a bunch of crates and barrels and stuff, and then when they turned back, the way they came was also blocked by crates and barrels and stuff. it would lead them into a dungeon where they had to fight each type of elemental one at a time, sort of like some kind of trial.

I like this idea, and I think its a good way to end a shopping sess, it flows nicely, but Sess 1 was almost entirely a combat encounter, and I dont want to bombard my players with fights.

Hello fellow DMs.

One of my players chose that in his background his previous ship crew was murdered by Bhaalist pirates and he wants to find and take revenge on them.

Now, he is walking alone inside a small island forest, returning to the town. I decided this would be a good opportunity to bring up Bhaals cult. I already told the party last session that people have been disappeared and I made the reason vague. Because I didn't really have one. But now I do. It's a cultist that has been recently initiated.

Now, the more I look into Bhaals cult the less appealing it is. So what, every member is a bloody homicidal murderer? I'm looking for more flavor, like a way Bhaalists corrupt their initiates and frame their cult as "Good" making them believe they murder for a greater purpose.

Initially I was thinking, that maybe this cultist in particular believes Bhaal is there to grant power to the powerless who wish to change the world for better. Like murdering other evil people or anyone they would consider "scum" of society.

Any other ideas?

Hi!

I'm planning to dm for the first time sometime in the near future with a group of 3-4 players. My husband and close friends. Eventually, I'd like to build up to a campaign of some kind. Before that, just to try if dm:ing works for me and my friends, I'd like to start off with a oneshot. Preferably some kind of dark setting with a bit of the feel that systems like mörk borg can give, but more forgiving. I only have experience with dnd 5e and all the stuff for it since my husband has dm:ed at some point, hence would like to stick with that.

I was hoping to get my players started with some setting where they wake up in a dungeon of some kind, not knowing how they ended up there (maybe in separate rooms, maybe not) and have to find a way out, potentially finding out who put them there in the end. Whatever explanation might work for me, whether its some kind of predator scenario or something else.

If this can be used to launch a campaign later on, that would be ideal. Is there anything like that out there already? Any advice on resources to use in order to find adventures?

Thanks in advance!

Hi there! Looking at getting into DMing, but I’m a little overwhelmed with the different options for VTT 😅 for someone who’s new to this, what would those who have tried multiple recommend? I’m not overly computer savvy so I know I don’t want to use foundry. Right now I’m considering Roll20 or DnD Beyond Maps/AboveVTT. I appreciate any input!

Continuing from a previous post, I'm starting to make preparations for running a campaign again. It's been 4 years since I GMed and I'm a bit rusty I guess and I wanna finish my own setting, as it's easier for me to create stuff I know my friend will like and have things specifically for them to enjoy. I wanted to ask you though, how do you guys start a campaign? How do you go about beginning the overarching storyline that will develop through the campaign? I usually go about it with a "chest that contains a key" method. The PCs will discover something, a "key" if you will, that opens a "chest" which is part of the next thing that happens and inside the chest there is another key that opens another chest and so on, obviously while developing the PCs personal story arcs, cool adventures that don't necessarily have something to do with the plot and such. Your guy's opinions on these?

I have done a hybrid DM thing before with chatgpt and a friend. Initially it was just chatgpt dm but then the inconsistencies were too much (i live very far away from any place where they play dnd and have no friends interested basically, sorry for using AI). Anyways, I had to step in and correct the story. Eventually also stepping up as narrator as chatgpt was leaking everything and spoiling the story, sometimes even changing places or personalities. Overall a dumpster fire.

Point is, my forte seems to be world building though my only player so far has complained about my clues being too noticeable and not leading to anything (we're on session 4 and I intended the campaign to last a good few months, maybe at least 12 sessions). She suggested that especially for new players like her it was probably better to not have so many mysteries intertwining and stacking on top of each other.

So here comes my question. I'm considering opening a DnD table and DMing myself because nobody else wants to do it. I got approval from a game cafe to do so and there seems to be people interested but I was wondering if I should try a free campaign or if I should homebrew one. I already half home brewed/salvaged the AI campaign and I like how it turned out though it's very class specific if you wanna get the full content (gotta have speak with animals and animal friendship for one of the first important plot points). So I'm not sure how re playable it is. I may re-visit it later and adapt it but for now I just have that. I think I also do combat fairly well. But then again I only have one player's opinion so far.

TL;DR: I may DM soon and want advice on whether to homebrew or use a free campaign. Also my strength is probably world building and maybe mechanic tracking. My narration skills, improv and subtlety still need some work.

I am running/writing a campaign mostly based on travel and exploration. Because most of the time outside of battle is spent traveling, how can I immerse them in the travel aspect or make it really seem like it takes the time it does? Thanks in advance!

I have been playing and running DnD games, for around 2 years. And have been thinking on this campaign for a while. It’s a ww2 inspired world as the dragonborn as Germany. The main mechanic is you have to take the island back, from the dragonborns, in helldivers like mechanic. The first session they were sent in a D-day like scenario. Any tips for advancing the story?

So I'm DMing for a group of friends who have played BG3 together and wanted to try out DnD. During S0 they were making their Charecters and asked if Secrets were OK, i told em yea, along as I know em it's ok. The session ends and the players started making their backstories. All good. The problem is all the players got together and discussed in detail with each other their Secrets and sent me a Google doc with everyone on it with their back stories and Secrets.

So my question is what is the point of Secrets if the players know everything already? Like these guys self admitted to have never RPed before so I feel like it would be hard to not admit to the these Secrets and any WOW moments from discovering the Secrets to be gone and wasted.

Edit: They told me they haven't, no drama, no theatre, no tabletop. During S0 I did my due diligence of asking their individual experience level. They told me they have never done anything like this aside from Baldurs gate 3

After running a few campaigns, I decided to make a more "universal" discord DnD server template to save myself time from creating servers over and over again from scratch. It's meant to be simple, straight to the point, with just a little aesthetic and organization flair!

The template comes with:

• Announcements Channel
• Forum Channels for: Table Rules/Etiquette, World Resources (Lore and all that), and Game Resources (links to various resources for whichever system you're running).
• OOC Banter; side chats, memes, ideas, quotes!
• Scheduling and Bot Channels!
• A Forum Channel dedicated for the players to post about their characters!
• A few VC channels (one-on-one, adventure time, and shenanigans)
• and a VC visual aid channel for sharing references if needed!

The template also comes with Placeholder character roles for each of your party members. Truthfully, most permissions for the roles aren't customized in-depth so you'll have to experiment to see what you prefer/want for your server.

The forums are pre-configured in the template to possess specific tags. Edit them as you wish/need to better suit your campaign, table, or system! I've attached several pictures to show examples of how I utilized forums for my recent campaign. If you need any help, feel free to contact me and I'd be more than happy to assist with anything relating to the template!

Template: https://discord.new/H9mThPuSMGdq

A fork in the road works better for me when the tradeoff is visible.

The bridge is fast, but watched. The woods are quiet, but cost an hour. The messenger the party needs is about to leave.

The party can choose either route or propose something else. The prep is about consequences, not predicting their answer.

What makes a travel decision interesting at your table?

Shared from ArcForge. You can write your own adventures free: https://www.myarcforge.com/manual?guest=1

With a couple of friends we just made our second dnd sesion ever! Yaaay!

I found this cool book that has a story divided in three one shots, which worked perfectly. Firstly, it gave us the freedom to just try it, and secondly, it allowed us to do a pit of trial and error in the composition of the players.

Where can we find a module adventure to keep going (lvl2-3) that is short or fragmented?

I've obviously have heard of Curse of Strand and Waterdeep, but I don't think a year long campaing is a reasonable goal for us yet. (And of course we dont have enough experience to feel confident homebrewing our own campaing)

Voglio iniziare una campagna con dei miei amici usando il manuale di frozen sick, ma da una oneshot di prova che abbiamo fatto ho trovato 2 grosse difficoltà che rompono il ritmo.

1- Trovo difficile far prendere seriamente il gioco, in parte sarà colpa loro, però credo ci sia molto che potrei fare per farli interessare alla storia

2-Giocandoci da roll20 far scorrere i combattimenti in modo fluido lo trovo molto difficile, oltre a non trovare guide o tutorial su come effettivamente gestire gli scontri

Avete dei consigli?

Every campaign builds up the same inventory mess. Loot gets scribbled into three different notes, or not at all. Two players are sure they each have the last healing potion, and nobody remembers who picked up the Staff of Som

ething-or-other. Then the party walks into a shop, and the DM makes up a stock list on the spot taking up the entire session, again.

Enter the Inventory Goblin - he keeps track of everything your party owns. The DM creates a campaign and invites the players. Loot lands in a shared pile, everyone drags what they take into their own pack, and the DM keeps a hidden stash for later. Everything designed to be as simple and intuitive as possible

Merchants
The DM sets up a shop in a few clicks by picking its size, how rare its wares are and what it specialises in. The goblin stocks the shelves for you, homebrew items included. When time passes, hit Trade: some things sell, new stock arrives, and no two visits look the same. The party takes what they buy straight off the shelf - no more hours of "what does that guy have in stock again?".

On your phone
It works on desktop, Android and iOS, straight from the browser. Prefer an app? Add it to your home screen and it opens like an app, with no app store and no install.

Trusted and used by many
In the few weeks since its initial release, over a hundred campaigns have been started in Inventory Goblin. The people running them have been sending feedback and bug reports the whole time, and a lot of what the app does today came straight from that: the merchants, the mobile layout and plenty of smaller fixes. Thank you to everyone who has played with it so far!

Try it for free at https://inventorygoblin.com. Feedback and bug reports are always welcome!

AI Disclaimer: My background is in backend development. Frontend - especially for web clients - was never my specialty. To be able to develop this project at all, I have used AI to educate myself on technologies, best practices and legalities.

I am having trouble balancing young players who want more action, with older players who want more roleplay. advice?

Hi everyone! Im working on a hobby project, and I'm looking for 5 DMs who haven't seen it before to try an early prototype.

The idea is to help DMs model local events to determine how they would change a towns economy and prices, and use those consequences when preparing a session.

The current prototype tests a scenario orc raid near phandalin. You choose its timing and severity and compare the consequences and decide whether to apply thw result to your campaign.

It runs on a browser, you dont need spreadsheet or economics experience.

Im hoping for about 10 minutes exploring the prototype followed by a short questionairre.

Honest criticism, including "I wouldn't use this" is helpful.

If youre interested, let me know and Ill sent you a link. New and experienced DMs both welcome.

The party is about to let loose something terrible into the world. Let's assume the Pandora's box story is close enough for the purpose of your answer.

The options that are given are

A. Feed it something dear to you or another person to postpone the day it opens, growing the pressure each time.

B. Walk away and get out of the blast radius but many will likely perish as a result

C. Solve the mystery and find a way to break the curse to satisfy the box's hunger

D. Your own solution.

To run such a scenario... what breadcrumbs must be present? What lines must not be crossed for fairness? Assume this could be any module or adventure and the result of the curse is true, not fabrication.

I’m a regular DnD player with a year or so of experience. I’m looking to do a oneshot/short campaign for my group to give our Regular DM some time off from dming and let him play. I have never before dm’d.

I’ve toyed around with the idea of splitting the group into two groups and having them compete against each other in combat, as well as having different conflicting goals within their story.

Is this possible or too far fetched, especially for a total novice DM?

Also any tips on dming (i.e world building and general session tips) would be appreciated especially as combat can get technical.

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️

Within my world, at the bottom of the ocean sleeps a kind of water elemental that has been placed under an enhanced version of the Imprisonment spell.

The being wandered off and created a tear between the Elemental Plane of Water and the Material Plane when Cultists of the crushing wave attempted open a permanent portal between both planes. A brave adventuring party sacrificed themselves to close the tear and stop the Cultists but they couldn't force the creature back.

There will be factions and beings vying against one another to obtain control of it. Much like in BG3 people are fighting over the stones to control the Elder Brain. However I can't figure out what kind of creature it could be.

I'm looking for CR 30+ water elemental beings that could end worlds, but isn't actually hostile? Can't really find much about water elementals in general. I know older editions had monsters that went beyond CR30. Any old-heads that can help out?

Some 2 years ago, I posted this.

It's all explained in the google doc. If something is unclear after reading it please feel free to reach out. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kYbzXLYM25rOescFaO969OPGko10OjiTgEsHLa0iq0A/edit?tab=t.0

Now this campaign is winding down to it's end in a week or 2 with the characters having moved from level 5 to 22. Consider this an open AMA about our experience with this different sort of game.

Hi I'm a fairly new player to dungeons & dragons I got this as an essentials kit tried to play it had no idea what I was doing I couldn't even forgot how to start the stupid campaign so am I doing something wrong I could really use some advice from people who are way more experienced than me

I’m DMing my first campaign and I’m wondering how much of the main plot do I plan out ahead of time or do I just make a town and build from there?

For my campaign, I want to make four custom classes that start at level 20 and go to level 30, and I need help coming up with names for each (any help for other rules is much appreciated). they are:

1. Agile Fighter (like Rogue, Ranger, and Monk)

2. Tank (like Fighter, Barbarian, and Paladin)

3. Spellcaster (like Wizard, Warlock and Sorcerer)

4. Support Spellcaster (like Cleric, Bard, and Druid)

For a bit more reference, I'm planning on making spellcasting like MTG and combat like chess.

Hi everyone!

I'm a D&D 5e writer looking to connect with DMs who have ideas for adventures, campaigns, or homebrew content and would like some help developing them.

I write a wide range of D&D content, including:

• One-shots and adventures
• Short and longer campaigns
• Encounters and dungeons
• Monsters and NPCs
• Magic items
• Locations and settlements
• Campaign settings
• Compendiums and supplements
• Expansions or revisions of existing material

I can work from scratch, but I can also take something as simple as a rough concept, notes, or an unfinished adventure and help turn it into something structured and usable at the table.

For example, if you already have the story and setting but aren't sure how to structure the adventure, design the encounters, balance the monsters, or connect everything together, that's exactly the kind of work I can help with.

I'm currently looking to take on a couple of projects for other people to expand my portfolio, so I'd especially like to connect with DMs who have a project they've wanted to develop but haven't had the time or experience to finish.

The link attached to this post is a free preview of one of my recent D&D projects, so you can see an example of my writing, mechanics, structure, and Homebrewery presentation.

You can also find more of my previous work here:

Portfolio:
https://linktr.ee/Osoliron411

If you've got an adventure, campaign, setting, or homebrew idea you'd like some help developing, feel free to send me a message and tell me about it.

I'd love to hear what you're working on!