About six months ago I came up with this idea that it would be really cool if a fantasy economy I was building could actually feel a bit more alive.

Like, if a dragon takes over the main iron mine for a region, what happens?

Iron gets more expensive, of course. But then how does that translate to steel, swords, armor, tools, etc?

And what if one town is under siege while another one has plenty of supplies?

Instead of making a giant spreadsheet to keep track of all of that, I thought it would be fun to turn the idea into an app.

That eventually became this app I've built called World Pricebook.

You can define how things in your world are made using materials, crafting recipes, and labour, then change something in the world and see those effects work their way through the economy.

So if you have:

iron ore → iron ingot → steel → longsword

and something happens to the supply or price of iron, the things that depend on it react too.

The first screenshot is an example of that with Mithril Chainmail. It takes 8 Mithril Ingots and 10 hours of smithing directly, but once you follow the ingredients further upstream, the whole production chain represents 322 hours of labour.

The part I think could be especially fun for DMs

You can take that economy and build actual shops from it.

Shops can have their own inventory, pricing, and local conditions. You can customise the storefront too, then share it directly with your players.

The second screenshot is one of those player-facing shops.

So a blacksmith in a mining town and a weapons merchant in a city under siege can actually behave like they're in two different places, rather than just having the same equipment list with the same prices.

There's a 5e-compatible starter if you want to mess around with an existing economy instead of building one from scratch, plus basic fantasy and sci-fi starters.

It isn't limited to fantasy either. The underlying system can be used for pretty much any made-up economy.

You can explore the starters without creating an account:

https://worldpricebook.app/

It's free during the launch preview. Right now I'm mostly trying to get it in front of actual DMs and see whether people find the whole living-economy idea useful.

Small transparency note: some of the prototype storefront artwork is AI-generated. If people actually use this and the project turns into something with a future, I'd much rather commission an artist to replace it.

If anyone tries it with their campaign, I'd genuinely love to know what you end up doing with it, especially anything that makes you go "wait, that price makes absolutely no sense" 😂

I've always thought Pandora's Box would make for a fantastic item in D&D, so for my latest project, I decided to turn it into a fully playable 5e artifact, trying to preserve both the original myth and its potential as a major plot device.

The box has several interesting properties. While closed, it grants its bearer powerful protection, but opening it even slightly releases lesser evils that can afflict nearby creatures with various conditions. Opening it completely, however, is another matter entirely: it unleashes a catastrophe upon the world, potentially bringing plagues, wars, famine, or other disasters.

There's also a curse that gradually tempts its owner to open it, making it particularly dangerous even in the hands of otherwise sensible adventurers.

One aspect I especially wanted to explore is Hope, which remains trapped inside the box. In the original myth, its significance is surprisingly ambiguous, and I think that opens up some fascinating possibilities for a campaign. Perhaps Hope is a benevolent spirit capable of reversing the devastation, or perhaps its continued imprisonment serves a much more mysterious purpose.

This is one of the artifacts from my 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E Kickstarter, which is currently live! The book features hundreds of items inspired by Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, and many other mythological traditions, with both their original lore and playable mechanics.

You can find the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythoschronicles/300-mythological-items-for-5e-and-2024

Have a great day!

I keep seeing ads for Pocket which I guess is a tool for taking notes during meetings? It looks like it has a ton of tools that would help post-session, like doing recaps and stuff like that. Has anyone tried it?

RAW makes no mention of it, but might not being imprisoned for years, or centuries, take a mental toll? Aside from the slumber option, the individual is fully aware.

Burial would be the worst, but I think any of them could lead to madness over enough time.

So fun idea: A group of very powerful individuals who saved the world from whatever decide to be put into a Hedged Prison until they are needed again. They get a lovely place in demiplane, and settle in for a well-earned rest. But the world doesn't fall apart again for a very long time, and when the trigger that ends the spell is finally met, they are all varying degrees of insane. (Think the Heralds, from The Stormlight Archive.)

A few more shots of my ruined city! There are so many little details scattered throughout this scene, and I had a lot of fun bringing everything together.

Hope you guys like the pics!

It's currently live on Kickstarter if you want to check it out

And there is a free tower STL!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grimrotcollective/the-ruins-of-lumenfall-2?ref=3cjs9m

Unethical DM tip: print off your rosters and add them to your DM binder. Whenever your players meet an NPC you didn't have a name for, just pick a random kid.

"This is Abigail. But spelled A-B-Y-G-A-Y-L-E"

"GM this is the 4th version of Abigail we have met in the last month, how will we remember them all?"

"Just wait until I get to the Liam's..."

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am coming for advice on how to give my players a good way to interact with each other?
We have recently kicked off our campaign with a one shot adventure leading into the happenings of dragon of Icespire peaks and they will have made their first big victory and gotten to see each others abilities.
We are under no time pressure to proceed so I would love it to find some down time or an activity, that invites my characters to get to know each other better.

Im starting my own DM campaign for the first time. Its a fairly intricate world with political powers, factions, armies and such. Its a lot of information to keep track of. Im currently putting it all into a Google Drive but was looking for something better.

Im using Foundry for my maps. Doing in person with a TV for display. I have used several map making programs. Im really just looking for something to track my lore, faction changes, territory changes, NPC relationships, etc. Magic comes with a consequence so I have a consequence tracker I need to keep up.

Budget friendly. I dont mine one time purchase programs. Subscriptions are a pain but I can do.

Thank you.

hello again fellow game masters and adventurers, i’m back with another fall festival minigame. A ring-toss game, designed for one participant at a time, that asks them to gamble their points in hopes of a big prize..

Most of the other games I’ve made were for small groups of in-person players. When designing this, I tried to keep in mind those individuals who play online. I think this one can be translated well, requiring only a 3x3 grid, some dice, and use of your GM layer vs map layer…If you try this over Roll20 or other apps i’d love to hear feedback.

As always i’m having a blast writing d&d content, and i’m coming up on my 1 year anniversary writing d&d content for my patreon. :’) Wow time flies.

Anyways, hope you enjoy! ❤️

I know this is a hot topic.

I run a large screen for the players, and provide a lot of images. It adds a lot to the game. Even if I were at all artistic, which I am not, the time it would take would be unacceptable. I've learend to get good images, as I want them, from Gemini.

Recently I converted several views of a place into top-down battle maps. I give the AI the image and a rough top-down map. Been very happy with the results.

So have at me!

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc., and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more, so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

*New 2026: For 2026, I'm updating all my old work to include a Pre-Session Checklist that will include a list of all miniatures you may need, maps, handouts, possible loot, a link to a playlist, and more to make it even easier to start your session!

We're back at it again with one of my favorite creators, Winghorn Press, from the much-loved A Wild Sheep Chase! This Level 2 One-Shot is not for the faint of heart!

When a group of archaeologists put out a call for adventurers to help them escort a valuable artifact back to civilization, nobody expects anything out of the ordinary. However, our heroes have more than mere bandits to deal with at Havel’s Cross…

Undead monsters roam the night, and an ancient artifact stirs within a long-forgotten temple. Getting to the bottom of the mystery will require a strong sword arm and an even stronger stomach.

\Average Session Length: 2hrs*

Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for Horror at Havel's Cross: DM Notes (Preview)
• Link to: DM Notes for the Visually Impaired
• Link to: Horror at Havel's Cross Playlist
• Link to: Horror at Havel's Cross PDF
• Link to The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• Downloadable copy of DM Notes, including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• DM Notes for the Visually Impaired
• (New) Pre-Session DM Checklist
• Special PDF for all encounters. This includes the enemy stat blocks organized neatly, along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Spell List for Caledor
• Custom Maps

Over 8 dozen other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and Campaigns: Click Here

As always, if you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc., please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early, feel free to check out my Patreon!

Cheers,
Advent

The world of Fairy Tales is usually bustling with excitement around this time of year. Snow is in the air, Holidays are on the mind, and Winter Break grows near. But something else grows in the shadows as well, threatening to destroy a beautiful way of life. This unseen fog creeps across the borders of the kingdoms. Creeping ever closer, it causes an impending sense of doom as it infects the houses of some of the most influential people in the kingdoms. Rage, jealously, and fever make their way through these houses and the people in them. Trapped and alone, the royalty in these houses start to lash out at anyone and everyone. With no way to stop them, the citizens turn to their children to figure out what's wrong and make things right again. The children of these royal families must find the source and cure for this contagion before it's too late.

Number of Players: 1/5

Type of game: online

Setting: Ever After high

Homebrew: With DM Approval

Time: 1:00 pm

Date(s): Saturday

Region: EST

Paid or Free: Paid, $20 per person per session

Session Duration: 3-3.5 hours

Listing: https://startplaying.games/adventure/cmvbiy8sm00ujjg08shod3pbg

GM Profile: https://startplaying.games/gm/madelinewonder

Well, it doesn't happen as often as it used to, but I recently found myself enamoured with a video game. Last time it happened, near the beginning of the year I think, the game in question was Cyberpunk. This time it's all about Suzerain.

For those of you who don't know, Suzerain is a political simulator visual novel that puts you in the shoes of Anton Rayne, the newly ellected 4th president of the Republic of Sordland. The country is on the precipise of economical collapse, internal political tensions and external threats of both military and economical war. You are in charge of navigating this environment and you have a somewhat free hand to do so in a multitude of way, as you can try and be a reformist, a traditionalist, left wing, right wing even a full blown dictator.

So I am having a good time with the game, "what's any of that have to do with TTRPGs?", I hear you ask. Well, as I tend to do with most media I enjoy, I quickly started to think of ways in which I can bring the things I like about this game into the games I run.

This article is the result of that particular thought excercise and the answer I arrived at is, if you will indulge some degree of self flattery, as simple as it is brilliant. Have politics be a B plot for your games. With factions, with a main conflict and all the song and dance. But not in the limelight. The players go about their adventuring, and from time to time they get offered a job by one faction or another and by doing said jobs they tip the scales of power.

I go into quite a lot of detail on how you should go about making this work and making the most out of it and honestly, I think most of you will like it! At least I hope you do! Till the next time, thank you for reading and have a wonderful weekend! Cheers!

I’m starting a new homebrew campaign (levels 3–12ish) and trying to be much more considered in how I design the overarching campaign, its adventures, and individual sessions.

I have a fairly developed setting, major villains, factions, fronts, and several potential storylines. What I’m toying with is how to structure the progression of the campaign, particularly how individual adventures contribute to the bigger picture.

Some context on my campaign:

The campaign takes place on a huge island isolated from the rest of the world by a magical storm. The storm also crosses planes, severing and shattering the local Feywild.

The remaining fragments of the Feywild are slowly being consumed by a curse that drains the life from everything it touches.

One of the surviving archfey, ruler of an Unseelie Domain of Delight, has decided the Feywild cannot be saved. Instead, he plans to createb a new one.

His plan involves three ancient stones, each placed on the Material Plane with a corresponding anchor in the Feywild. A ritual performed at each stone triggers a “Bloom”, bringing part of the Feywild into the Material Plane.

Once all three rituals are complete, the Blooms will connect and spread uncontrollably, eventually consuming the island and transforming it into a new Feywild. The archfey will then sever the crossings to the old Feywild, abandoning the curse and saving his people at the expense of the Material Plane.

The players could confront him directly, work with other fey who oppose his plan, investigate the origins of the curse, or find another solution entirely.

My approach to adventures:

I loosely follow Sly Flourish’s 3-2-1 quest model: offer three adventures, let the players complete two, discard or evolve the third, and introduce three more. Obviously this is flexible, and I follow whatever interesting threads the players pursue. And plenty of side quests dotted about too.

I also like relatively short adventures, usually 2–4 sessions, because I want the players to regularly achieve something tangible and feel like they’re having an impact on the world.

Here’s what I’m wrestling with:

Technically, I could resolve the main campaign premise in half a dozen sessions: discover the plot, stop the rituals, confront the archfey, potentially reverse the curse.

But I’d like this to be a much longer campaign, with plenty of adventures along the way, without those adventures feeling like filler or the main narrative becoming stagnant.

My questions:
1. Connecting adventures to the campaign: How do you decide which adventures should directly advance the central narrative, which should connect indirectly, and which can be entirely independent? Do you have a framework for making those decisions?
2. Building towards the bigger picture: How do you plan the gradual discovery of information, clues, revelations, factions, and threats across multiple adventures? How do you make each adventure contribute to the players’ understanding of what’s really happening without revealing everything too quickly?
3. Pacing and progression: How do you sustain a central threat across a long campaign while ensuring the players feel they’re making meaningful progress? Do you use milestones, escalating fronts, villain timelines, changing world states, or something else to structure that progression?

My last campaign involved a lot of winging it, which was fun, but I’d like to develop a more deliberate approach this time without sacrificing player agency or flexibility.

I’m particularly interested in practical frameworks or planning methods people use, rather than specific plot ideas. How do you actually organise and think through this stuff when building your own campaigns?
(Though if you have any cool ideas for adventures related to the premise above - I’d love to hear em too)

TL;DR: Starting a new homebrew campaign (levels 3–12) and looking for practical frameworks to connect shorter adventures to a larger narrative, gradually reveal the bigger picture, and maintain meaningful progression without railroading or dragging things out.

There are just so many laws around here, how was the party suppose to know about the 'Unattended Spoon Law from the incident of 1386'. However, they should have known fighting the guards was illegal.

This release is something that can get more use than the party plans for, A Jail and Prison scene.

Town Jail and Prison Scene List
Jail Main Room - Regular+Bloody Escape
Jail Cell - Regular+Bloody Escape
Prison Main Hall - Regular+Bloody Escape
Prison Cell - Regular+Bloody Escape
Prison Cell Doors - Regular+Bloody Escape
Bonus : Spooky Specter Jail and Prison (Cinematic Only)

me and my friends have been playing dnd and normally im a player but our normal dm has been facing burn out so while my other friend was going to take over he just isn't consistent so it fell to me and while i don't hate it it just takes me awhile to make the next session and its been two weeks since my last session but i have no clue like i wanna make more but im not satisfied with what i wanna do like when i ask my friends if they liked the session they always say they do but after each session im left feeling disappointed i want it to be good but each one feels disappointed and i have no clue why so any advice how to stay motivated or not hate what i make? any advice would be nice, thx in advance.