I’m planning a special session for my Campaign where the party starts the session in a dream where they’re essentially living there most deep seated desired life. And I’m wondering if there is a creature already established in dnd that could be used at the culprit for why they’re in this state. This is kinda inspired by the Jinn episode from supernatural where something similar happens to Dean.

I’m considering sending a message to the group to make a copy of their current charter, and make them level 10. Throw together a table of magic items, weapons, you know the candy.
Tell them this is a of a future episode of the campaign.

Scheduling has been tough, level 1-6 went great, but it’s starting to fizzle.

Want to respark the imagination and I’ve got an encounter in mind.

Has anyone had any success with this kind of idea?

Anyone got any advice?

I am running a combat soon where I'm introducing a special mechanic unique to this particular fight. But I could use some outside opinion on execution and/or how much damage this mechanic would do.

Context: The party is entering a village currently under attack from the BBEGs forces. The PCs are attempting to rescue any villagers that may still currently be trapped in the village. The enemy is of course also in the village and the PCs need to fight there way through accordingly.

In addition to those, there is a large battle underway around the village with larger armies clashing. Relevant to the PCs there is friendly lance cavalry in support who are also combating enemy mounted cavalry.

Rather than tracking all those additional stat blocks, I'm planning to use charging cavalry as a environmental challenge rather than an NPC challenge.

The Mechanic (concept)
Every 3rd turn, cavalry will charge down the streets of the village. Anyone caught in the charge, friend or foe, will have to pass a dexterity save or take a certain amount of damage. (half damage for failure?) This is deliberately an abstract way to combine any related damage that might be caused down into a single roll.

The round prior, the PCs will hear thundering hooves warning that a charge is immanent.

How would you change the mechanic (if at all?) And/or, how deadly would you make that mechanic, considering the PCs will certainly have enough warning to get off the street in time?

I have taken to giving the party an NPC who is played in combat by a player who can run two characters and not slow things down. I can override or mandate what the NPC does during combat, but rarely do.

Outside combat, and especially for roleplaying, I "run" the NPC.

This gives me a great tool for injecting information. The NPC usually has a background that gives them a fair amount of knowledge. It's also great for those times none of the PC see the big, obvious, gift-wrapped clue with the flashing neon sign over it. When that grinds things to a halt, the NPC can say, "Hey..."

I let the group form, and then add an NPC who fits well, and maybe adds something that they are weak on. Never flashy or a power player, usually trial the PC by a level or two. In one instance the NPC was an indentured servant they bought and are allowing him to work off the debt. I fell into this accidentally years ago, and have stuck with it.

Anyone else do something similar?

Have any of you run a scenario like Lovecraft’s King in Yellow? If so, how did you execute?

Hiya. I’m starting a new campaign in a few weeks for a group of three first time players. Excited to get them into it. In order to slap all enthusiasm out of them, I’d like to guide them in making their character sheets.

I’ve been using MPMBs sheets myself for years now, but that might be a bit too technical. Other groups have used D&D Beyond, but they’ve run into some issues for some special subspecies or subclasses.

Sooooo, are there any amazing tools I’m missing that are free / open source and can handle some tweaking here & there?

Thanks! 🙏

Thought I'd share something my group has had a little fun with, see if anyone else can make use of it.

Through a series of events that don't matter, the players ended up meeting a simulacrum of a powerful wizard hanging out in a place, casting teleportation circle every day to establish a new one. That by itself was boring, so in the moment I went with him being in existential crisis because he knew that he had three more castings before the wizard who created him would cast the spell again and he'd turn into snow. I got into a whole thing where previous simulacrums had left notes to their successors, telling them about their upcoming doom.

It is now a thing in my world that simulacrums know they are just figments made to do a job, even though they feel like real people. They know that they can't even rise up against their oppressors, because they will quickly have no power, and the person who created them can eliminate them with a single casting, no possibility of stopping it, from anywhere in existence.

Some decide to do the job well, and prove they meant something in the time they had. Some decide to do it poorly, as a screw you to the person who gave them this fake life. Some get depressed quickly and look for a way out.

But all of them have that tie of feeling real but not being seen as real, which is enough of a hook for me to roleplay them differently from the original.

Title is confusing, I know. I’ve got an idea for a pre Last War campaign in the Eberron setting, and could use some constructive input.

I want it to be a political style campaign that takes place in the months leading up to the start of the Last War. Canonically, it is the death of King Jarot that triggers the Last War with the different houses fighting over who is going to rule.

Having the campaign in the months leading up would allow the players to deal with the political tension that builds since his death is expected, and could potentially lead to a sequel campaign during the war itself or after.

My TLDR question: how could I leave the players satisfied with the ending of the campaign without messing with the Eberron Canon and ending the campaign in a sort of cinematic, “the king has died.” type thing.

I have not fleshed out much of this campaign at all yet, seeing as I want to make sure I’m not going to leave my players disappointed in the end. I do think I want it to center around a hidden prototype of a warforged. They don’t actually enter the picture until towards the end of the Last War.

My players are a VERY roleplay heavy group, and are usually down with pretty much anything I throw at them.

Any ideas or thoughts on the matter would be great! Thanks in advance!

Preface this with I’m not a very good DM so this is more of a thought exercise that one day, if I’m confident enough with it, may turn into reality.

Had an idea about running a short campaign where the party had to track a serial killer. Having a hard time trying to come up with motivations, clues etc…..

Be interested if anyone’s done one before or if people have any thoughts on how to approach it?

Thanks

I've been DMing a group for several years. I'm rarely a player, which is fine. I feel like I still have a lot to learn.

Here are places where I've gotten great tips so far: Colville's "Running the Game" and "Campaign Diaries", "So You Want to be a Game Master" by Alexander, "Lazy DM" by Shea, and BG3

I've tried to get into Critical Role or other live play series, but I simply don't have the attention span for 3-4 hour shows. Also, you don't get to see things from the DM's perspective. I can't tell what had to be improvised. I don't know what the DM felt like they had to handle or steer. Colville's Campaign Diaries are great because he tells you issues that arose and how he handled them.

I'm considering joining other D&D groups as a player, just to see how different DMs run things.

Are there other places you recommend I look for DM tips?

Hey everyone!

I'm developing NythraForge, a web app designed to be an all-in-one companion for D&D DMs and players

The idea is to help with both preparation and what happens at the table.

Here's what it currently aims to bring together:

Campaign and session management — keep your adventures, notes, characters, and content organized.

World Atlas — organize maps, locations, and points of interest in your campaign world.

Combat management — handle encounters and combat without having to juggle separate tools.

On-demand creation — need an unexpected NPC, monster, magic item, or quest because your players went completely off-script? Generate supporting content when you need it, instead of preparing every possible outcome in advance.

Content library — keep your creations organized and ready to reuse.

I'm the developer, and right now I'm doing most of the beta testing myself. That's why I'm looking for feedback from people who actually play or run D&D sessions.

I'd especially like to know:

• What tools do you currently switch between while running a session?
• What tasks take up too much of your attention as a DM?
• Which features would genuinely save you time at the table?
• What seems confusing, unnecessary, or potentially buggy?
• What would stop you from using a tool like this during an actual campaign?

I'm not looking for compliments I'd rather hear what doesn't work, what's missing, and what you'd change.

You can explore it here: https://nythraforge.com

Thanks! Any honest feedback would help me make this more useful for actual D&D sessions.

I want to make it clear that this post isn't intended to promote the website I'm developing, but rather to help me improve it. I don't consider it finished yet, and I would never promote something that I don't believe is ready.

Hi. This is my first experience as a DM for D&D, so I am unaware if something like this already exists.

A potion whose effects, once consumed, can be triggered in 1 hour.

If you take damage that would bring you to 0 HP, you immediately gain 1 Hit Dice + CON modifier as Temporary Hit Points, as well as Resistance to physical damage. You also cannot receive any sort of healing. After 1d2+1 turns -- or after the THP gained this way are depleted, whichever happens first -- you fall unconscious and dying, with 2 Death Saves already failed.

For context: the item is for a one shot with 3 level 3 players, and I don't really really care if it's balanced or not, but I want to know if I have understood the power scaling of DnD items, so to say

I used to run every fight from a Google Sheet: monster HP, a damage log, initiative and XP. I've turned it into a small web app called DM Screen and wanted to share it.

- For the DM: monster cards with AC, saves, attacks and HP. Damage and healing go into a log you can undo one entry at a time. You can roll monster initiative with one click, step through turns with Next turn, and see XP and difficulty.

- For players: a link (or a TV screen) showing the initiative order, whose turn it is, and the round number, live. Monsters show only a health bar (and Bloodied or Down on bigger screens). You can give a monster a different name for players or hide it entirely.

It's meant to stay out of your way, not replace your VTT. It's free, with no ads or paywall. It was built with AI coding help, and its optional AI features are off to the side.

There's a Feedback tab built in, and I'd be grateful if you used it. You'll see when I've addressed your feedback, along with my reply. I'd especially like to hear what you'd want from the player view.

https://dm-screen.brackcarmony.com

Hey everyone!

I've seen this ad many times on my Facebook and it seems to offers a lot of material for DMs. I have not dared buy any of these, because I'm a bit fearful of Facebook ads and false representation... Has any of you gotten their hands on these? If so, what is your opinion? Is the content worth it? Is the quality good?

Would you recommend?

Meus jogadores estiveram numa campanha longa desde o dia 10 de janeiro desse ano, e eles se aproximam do final da jornada. Muitas coisas ocorreram, pessoas entraram e outras saíram da mesa, mas a ideia original dela segue a mesma: um jogo medieval com diversas etapas onde ao final só um grupo deve sobreviver.

Porém, há alguns detalhes na história e no plot da campanha que ainda não consegui decidir sozinho, e gostaria da ajuda de mestres mais experientes pra me dar ideias. Alguém teria interesse em me ajudar?

For generations, the isolated village of Hollowmere has sacrificed one of its own to keep an ancient horror imprisoned beneath Saint Harrow's Church. Now a blood-covered survivor has fled the village, claiming that everyone is dead. Something has gone terribly wrong, and the adventurers must uncover what happened before it's too late.

The Red Tithe is a 75-page dark fantasy and folk-horror one-shot adventure for D&D 5E (2014) and 5.5E (2024), designed for 3-6 characters and approximately 4-6 hours of play.

The adventure combines investigation, exploration, roleplaying, moral dilemmas, and challenging combat as the characters investigate an abandoned village, encounter monstrous creatures, and uncover the truth behind a centuries-old tradition.

What makes the adventure different is its multi-tiered structure. The same story can be played at three separate level ranges:

• Tier I: Levels 3-4
• Tier II: Levels 10-11
• Tier III: Levels 17-20

Each tier features appropriately scaled encounters, DCs, and a different manifestation of the main antagonist, the Blood Moon Beast.

The manual also includes 6 custom monster stat blocks, 3 battle maps with 8 total versions, and 4 tokens for tabletop or VTT play.

Whether you're looking for a Halloween horror one-shot or a dark adventure to integrate into your ongoing campaign, The Red Tithe is designed to work in either setting.

I've included several preview pages, maps, and one of the monster statblocks in the images!

You can find the complete adventure on DriveThruRPG!

My Kickstarter for 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E is also live now! The campaign includes a physical hardcover, as well as printed editions of my previous manuals.

You can find more of my creatures, magic items, and manuals on DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or over at r/JonnyDM!