Category Archives: D&D

#dungeon23 – A dungeon room a day for all of 2023

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

So yesterday on Twitter I saw a new hashtag that caught my interest. Just what was #dungeon23? Was it what I thought it’d be?

Obviously my thoughts were towards the more innocent geeky interpretation that it was to do with D&D somehow, and not some sexual fetish.

I was relieved to find that it was indeed to do with ttrpg (not specifically D&D).

Apparently #dungeon23 came about from a tweet by the designer of the ttrpg Mothership, Sean McCoy (see below).

This tweet was followed by a couple of tweets of advice/information.

This caught the imagination of like minded folks, and “Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” all of a sudden there is a trending hashtag.

With the growing interest in #dungeon23 Sean wrote a blog post expanding on the idea and giving more pointers.

Luckily I’ve come across this early enough to jump on the bandwagon.

Obviously and luckily for you I’m not going to do a daily post on here.

However I might share a daily photo of my journal on Instagram, with maybe a weekly summary post on here.

I’m not going to use the “fancy” Japanese journal that Sean is using (even if Amazon had one at time of writing).

Instead I’ve ordered a Moleskine Classic Dotted Paper Notebook, Soft Cover and Elastic Closure Journal (it’s just a tad cheaper) and some Black Fineliner Art Pens (to make my art look even crappier).

But I still need to fill it.

Luckily there is plenty of great advice on sources of inspiration.

Then I remembered Kelsey of Arcane Library and one or two of her posts/videos on generating ideas for an adventure.

She used the Tome of Adventure Design. Which I own a copy of.

Plus I wrote a post embedding Kelsey’s videos a while back now. Which you can bet I’m going to go back and rewatch.

Izirion’s Enchiridion of the West Marches has some great advice about dungeon design/creation.

There are definitely tables in the Lazy DM Workbook and Companion that will be of use.

I have the official D&D geomorph tiles that came with the Dungeon DM kit. Plus the two decks of cards for generating random dungeons. So I could use these as the dungeon layout to use, and each day populate a room.

On the way to me are more decks of cards that allow the random generation of bits and pieces that players come across in dungeons. Which can be used to populate the dungeon.

Unlike I think most doing this hashtag I will be aiming to create my megadungeon for D&D 5e. Which means I can also use the recent addition to my DM library Wally DM’s Journal of Puzzle Encounters. Which will most definitely influence some of the design. In fact I suspect my entrance will use the first puzzle from it!

I know some online have started this already but I’m going to start in the New Year, however that may come forward.

But starting in the New Year does allow me time to read a bit, get familiar with Appendix A again, and stuff arrive.

Until the next post…

An Artisan Game Arrives Along With Some D&D Books

D&D, new arrivals

Yesterday I got mail.

Today I get to share with you what that mail was.

I bet you are dying to know.

First up my friend Byron designed and created a boardgame called Rock Hunters.

Byron very generously sent my a copy of the game to play.

I will be writing about that experience in a future post. But in the meantime look at the amazing job Byron did producing the game.

The other thing to arrive yesterday was the new D&D adventure by WotC Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

At the weekend a copy of the Dragonlance Campaign Setting for D&D 3.5 arrived. But I was waiting until now to mention it.

And guess what I’ll be writing about these also in another post!

So what’s the point of this post? Well it’s a “hey look what I got” type post, and a nice change I thought from my occasional “look I’m still alive” type post after I haven’t posted for a day or two.

See you in the next post on here.

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #7

con DM/GM, D&D, D&D Grp2, DM/GM Tips, flgs DM/GM, one shot, RPG, session planning, taster

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Ok technically this isn’t for session 11, but then again the Bagman stuff isn’t possibly either. But these are notes for me to look back on when planning future sessions in the campaign so I don’t forget.

So there I was watching a YouTube about what other DM’s have in their DM kit and I came across the this one by Wally DM.

In it he mentioned that along with the Monster Manual he also includes a copy of his book Wally DM’s Journal of Puzzle Encounters.

“That sounds interesting”, I thought to myself.

So I googled it.

Which lead me to DriveThruRPG (which did not like me trying to log in using my Facebook details, which is how I normally do it!)

After watching the review embedded on the books page I purchased the pdf of the book (I’ll get a printed copy payday).

What sold me was the very first puzzle mentioned in the review using a stone statue of an owl and gems. It reminded me very much of puzzles from an early fps. I wanted to use this.

The Prismatic Owl puzzle (depicted on the cover) as it’s called in the book is one I will be printing out and adding to my folder for new players! It won’t work with Matt Colville’s The Lost Tomb of the Delian Order. But it could work with Frank Mentzer’s Dungeon, or some other maps I have in my DM folder ready to be called upon (you might like this Sly Flourish article on the subject), even maps generated on the fly using the cards/geomorphs I have would work with it.

It’s also something you could use when running a one shot at a con or FLGS.

I will definitely be using it at the first opportunity with my current campaign.

As I work my way through the book I’m pretty sure there will be more than a few puzzles I’ll want to use in the campaign.

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #6

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Didn’t think I’d be posting about this so soon. But my friend Colin did a blinder.

I thought I’d get the model of the Bagman at the next Fenland Gamers club night in two weeks time. There was no way I thought I’d gave it last night. The same day I asked if Colin could print it. He DID!

Bagman

Looks like the party will be receiving a bag of holding sooner than later.

I am leaning towards the troll stat block. The art of the two looks so similar.

However I could take that stat block and use the Lazy DM Companion to adjust it to something more “challenging” for the party and fitting the Bagman. Could the Bagman be a dire troll?

Or I could use the Monster Generator from the Uncovered Secrets Volume 2 (aka Lazy DM Companion Volume 2) to generate a quick and dirty stat block.

There is a bit of advice that does need baring in mind when coming up with the stat block from a Dragon+ interview with the creator of the Bagman.

“Stephen felt that bagman should be an entity with high Stealth,
because nothing’s more disturbing in a horror movie than when something horrible is in the background and the main characters don’t see it.”Dragon+ issue 37, https://dnd.dragonmag.com/2021/04/21/in-the-works-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft-2/content.html[8/19/2022 7:05:37 AM]

That same interview gave an interesting plot hook to explore as well.

“And like an evil parasite, it was committing atrocities while you and the party were asleep in the towns you were visiting? The party might think they’re following a murderer but in reality they’re bringing this killer with them and they’re the problem!
And what if the party becomes paranoid that it’s one of their number who is doing this? Maybe this sneaky, evil being realizes that one of the party members is figuring it out so it decides to try and take them into the bag one night.” Dragon+ issue 37, https://dnd.dragonmag.com/2021/04/21/in-the-works-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft-2/content.html[8/19/2022 7:05:37 AM]

In the meantime I feel inspired to paint a mini!

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #5

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

YouTube threw up a video or two of the Dungeon Dad into my feed and I’m glad it did.

Dungeon Dad does this monster of the week thing looking at monsters in previous versions not in 5e. The one that first caught my attention was his video on the mageripper swarm. A swarm of creatures that attack magic users.

Half the group are magic users.

Now the hard part is where do the party encounter this swarm?

Another video he did was on The Bagman from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. This really did capture my imagination.

Once or twice the party have mentioned a bag of holding. So having a twist that comes with having one is awesome.

I love the idea of showing the players the sequence of art depicting the Bagman coming out of the bag of holding, along with some suitable creepy description of it emerging from the bag.

This might be something I could use to interrupt that long rest in the future.

There is also a 3D stl file that can be downloaded and printed using a 3D printer. Naturally I have messaged Colin with a link asking if he san print one for me.

I’m not sure if I’ll use the stat block the Dungeon Dad came up with or just run with the stats of a troll (one of the suggestions) possibly adjusted.

But still two cool monsters to add to the menagerie to call upon during a session.

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #4

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

This whole American import of Black Friday and the much more recent Cyber Monday and the pre-Christmas money grab that it is I do find kinda obscene and morally questionable.

However overcoming my inner conflict about the whole thing, I did take Monty Cook Games up on their Black Friday discount for getting the pdf version of their Ptolus City By The Spire source book for 5e.

The main reason I did this was to get the stat blocks for the npc cards. However this is a massive book, with a lot of digital extras too. I may just might have to pick up the physical copy at some point.

I already knew the art in the book was gorgeous from the npc cards I bought.

The cool thing is that the npc cards also tell you page numbers of where the stat blocks are. Which is very handy and time saving not having to search through the 679 odd pages that make up the book.

The stat blocks are in the margins of the pages, which works! They usually refer you elsewhere to a common stat block which might be in an official WotC source books, or on a given specific page of the book.

Sadly for me Rullus Hobb isn’t an npc but a player handout with no stats! But now with the sourcebook I can use the appropriate stat block from the book itself or from WotC stuff.

Granted I’m going to have to do some work to gather the relevant info into one place like on a blank card template from Arcane Library for easy reference during a session.

Apart from the npcs I’ll be using this city source book for ideas to use in my campaign. I’m pretty sure I’ll get more than a couple of ideas/hooks from here.

Well before I left to visit Nathan the postie arrived and had the Stormwreck Isle 2D miniatures with them plus the Amazon guy had the Deck of Many Things.

So at least I don’t have to worry about these arriving, and they are ready to be thrown into the DM bag and any session.

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #3

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Well poor communication and the lack of anyone taking the initiative on setting a time means the session didn’t go ahead.

I’ve put up new dates and times for two weeks time. So waiting to hear if they work for everyone else now, and some sort of consensus.

In the meantime I’ve caved and soon a deck of many things will be in my grubby hands waiting for the party to discover.

In the now no longer running other campaign I used a deck of illusions. Which seemed at the time to go down well.

On a practical level the deck of illusions used a bog standard deck of cards. Nothing special about the cards or deck at all. You just have to remove the cards 3-7 of each suit, leave the jokers in to get the 34 cards that make up the deck of illusions. I need to recreate this deck for this campaign.

I know that if/when the party come across the deck of many things that a certain female gnome will not only pick up the deck, but draw a card from it.

The great Matt Colville did a video about the deck of many things years ago now as part of the running the game series of YouTube videos.

Some great advice in there for using the deck of many things. Advice I may just follow.

One of the cards in the deck of many things, the skull summons an avatar of death. I’d love this as a 2D mini (I love these from Wizkids) but to have enough to take on the party I’d need to buy multiple copies. They are also available as 28mm prepainted minis. But that wouldn’t save me much money (even if they were in stock).

Sadly for the group with the delay I have time to weave either or both of these decks into the campaign and the next session.

I like the idea of Rullus Hobb leaving one of these behind after their initial encounter with him.

Which reminds me I really do need to get a stat block for him.

I’m still waiting for the Stormwreck Isle 2D miniatures pack to arrive. It should be here real soon. Well in the next week. Hopefully.

Laters…

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #2

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

I’m not sure what’s happening tomorrow. There has been no chatter on our groups messenger chat.

As if reading my mind or the posts on here, Mike Shea has written an update for the City of Arches about the Sunken Rethrea area of the “under city”.

It’s a separate document at the moment that Mike (as we are on first name terms despite having never met or communicated with each other) has shared with his patreons (that’d be me and many others) to get feedback before adding it to the main document.

Sunken Rethrea is an area that the party will have to navigate through to get to the the vaults to find the key needed for the archway to Choul, and stopping Ibraxus.

With the addition of the following I am a little confused.

“Stairs of Darkspire. The mages of the Tower of Kartan have a narrow spiral staircase leading to the ruined tower of Darkspire. The mages warded the staircase and vaults with powerful magics to prevent the horrors of Rethrea from working their way back up into the lower tower. The mages of Kartan often send adventurers on quests through this staircase with keys able to bypass the wards. These keys only work for a short amount of time lest they fall into the hands of enemies below.”

Does this replace the following from the Kartan, Tower of the Arcane description?

“An ironbound glyphed door on the first floor stands in front of a stairwell leading deep into the ground below where numerous laboratories and vaults of the dark wizards remain largely untouched.”

Or is it in addition?

It’s definitely an interesting part of the city to explore, and as hinted previously an opportunity to introduce horror elements to the campaign.

If we do persue the Rullus Hobb plot thread Temple of the Three Sisters then I need to give Rullus some suitable minions. I see Rullus as some sort of Joker like character capable of the most heinous of acts.

Some of those minions might interrupt that long rest of the party!

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #1

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

It’s suddenly dawned on me this coming Sunday is our planned next session.

I have no idea what we will be doing.

I’m assuming the party will be following the Rullus Hobb plot thread. So I will need to keep a map handy for a temple.

The Dragon’s Rest map from the new Starter Set Dragons of Stormwreck Isle looks just perfect for the Temple of the Three Sisters.

Although the party are taking a long rest. I’m tempted to interrupt it! Allow them the benefits of a short rest, give them exhaustion (using the new One D&D rules for it), and drag them kicking and screaming into the world.

Not sure what or why they get disturbed. I need to think about this.

I had a revelation whilst writing the post about the arrival of two classic adventures that for the ruined cities buried beneath the streets of the City of Arches I can reuse town maps from other adventures.

Why I didn’t think of this earlier I have no frickin idea?

I can repurpose the Ruins of Thundertree from the Starter Set adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver for Sunken Rethrea, and Phandelver or one of the classic town maps for the Lower Reaches.

Bit tired, need to do some brainstorming. Catch you in the next post.

Two New Copies of Classic D&D Adventures Arrive

D&D, DM/GM Tips, new arrivals, RPG

If you have been watching Matt Colville’s Running the Game YouTube videos for anytime you will have seen episode 7 – Your Town (video embedded further down in the post).

In the video he talks about using a town from an existing adventure like Phandalin in the Lost Mines of Phandelver.

Matt Colville – Running the Game episode 7 – Your Town

He then goes on to talk about the three he uses, Hommlet, Orlane, and Milborne from classic D&D adventures.

Now if you have been playing D&D for a very long time you may own the adventures these towns appear in.

However if you don’t (like me) you could go to eBay and pay eBay prices for original copies.

Or you can look on DriveThruRPG get a good quality scan as a pdf for less than £5, and/or (if an option) get a physical copy at a very reasonable price. Which will definitely be cheaper than the eBay prices.

I finally got round to adding copies of The Village of Hommlet, and Against the Cult of the Reptile God, to add Hommlet and Orlane as resources to use.

DriveThruRPG do a good job printing, the copies are stapled together magazine style. Being print on demand the turn around is pretty quick too. These took about a week.

I’m a big fan of the repurposing of existing adventures to save work in my own campaign.

I’ve used maps from Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and Lost Mines of Phandelver in my current campaign.

These two classics join others I have in my “library” of classics to call upon.

There is a copy of the dungeon map from the Keep on the Borderlands in my DM folder incase I need an unplanned dungeon during a session (read here for why).

The Mastering Dungeons podcast did a series of episodes on updating old adventures to 5e. They (along with Seth Skorkowsky) have looked at the Isle of Dread, which I have as the heavy Goodman Press printing, and a copy of the original.

Sadly I’ve had to settle for just the pdf for the classic adventure Pharaoh! It be cool to get a physical copy but not at eBay prices. But it’s more the maps I was interested in. At least with the pdf I can print these out.

It’s worth listening to the Mastering Dungeons series as it will give you ideas for updating old adventures for use in your own campaign, or you might think that sounds cool I’ll get it for the maps.

Old adventures are a great resource to raid for ideas, maps, even adventures to run. Yeah they might require a bit of work to use in 5e, but I think they are worth it.