Prepping for a session and an amazing find

D&D, RPG

Every now and then it has been known for the YouTube recommendations to recommend a hidden gem.

This morning it recommended a doozey

I like seeing and reading about how other DM’s prep for a session, or what they have in their DM tool box and the contents of their DM folder. They are great for stealing ideas from.

Every DM is different, the way they prep, the tools they use and the contents of their folder is unique to them. What works or is useful to one DM may be completely wrong for another. Plus the way they prep, the tools and content is constantly evolving. So whenever you get to see what another DM does, it is always just a snap shot of what they currently do. Come back a month, six months, a year later and it can be completely different, or there might be bits you recognise.

Back to this morning. After I refreshed my recommendations page on YouTube, I scanned the thumbnails for something interesting to watch. There amongst the usual mix of football analysis, recipe videos, and boardgaming/RPG videos was one from a channel I hadn’t seen before aFistfulofDice about prepping for an RPG (here is the actual video).

Yeah I’d seen the videos of how Matt Colville (yep worked him into the conversation) and how he preps for a session. I’d read The Lazy DM books. So my interest was piqued for how this DM went about prepping for their sessions.

The DM/GM who produces the aFistfulofDice videos uses notebooks (who doesn’t? Even in this digital age they can’t be beaten for easy of use and portability). And a combination of the Lazy DM, the 3-3-3 method and they talk about the IARR method.

Now my prep workflow (yeah let’s use some hip sounding jargon) is very personal to me. I use this blog to record ideas, think aloud and one day possibly get some comments, suggestions, about my up coming session. I capture notes for the session in Scrivener.

The image below shows the project structure I have for the current campaign.

Each session has it’s own folder. Plus the general research folder. Which is where I capture any relevant notes to the campaign, like webpages with useful info on.

Each session folder then has several documents inside it that contain my notes for each of the encounters for the session.

One of the nice things I like about Scrivener is that I can export just the pages for the session as a pdf. I have total control of what makes it into the final document. Which for me is the notes for the up coming session.

My notes vary in detail for each encounter. If I’m using a new mechanic, like the exploration or group challenge in the previous session, my notes will be more detailed. Otherwise they can be just a handful of words. I have noticed that I have been writing less detail in the notes compared to my first session.

I also use GoodNotes as a general digital notepad for the campaign. I use Excel to keep an up to date table of the players stats. I did use it to record the stats for each encounter as well. But I’ve moved away from that now I have the monster cards. I just make sure I have the relevant card handy, and just track the individual monster hit points during a combat.

But that’s enough of my process for the time being. I can write a longer more detailed post at a future date.

I naturally went to the channel page for aFistfulofDice and found a video they had done on their DM folder. That was very interesting. Well to me it was, granted it may not be for most people.

That DM folder idea was like striking a rich vein of gold. It came across that they used the folder more as notes for creating adventures than running them. Although with the info there it has (and I’m pretty sure they have), could be used during a session to generate something on the fly.

The find (ok it’s not exactly hidden) of the Lazy DM cheat sheet with NPC and adventure hooks was a great one. I’m going to get that printed out and added.

In the video they use some tables from the dungeon toolbox from the Pathfinder Games Master Guide. So I went and got a digital copy and boy am I glad I did. This book is a gold mine of useful info for a GM. The running the game chapter alone is worth the price of admission as they say. It’s fairly generic guidance, and easily applied to other systems. There really is a lot to love about the chapter, from the adventure structure to the emergency game prep advice. And advice on TPK’s! Then we have some tools for GM’s. These are tables and charts to act as inspiration for a GM. These too are generic and usable in any system. The cultural titles tables are fantastic, want to know the Chinese equivalent of a knight? These are the tables to refer to. But my favourite table has to be Words Every Game Master Should Know. Wow. Love, love, love it.

This is just a wealth of info and inspiration. I will be talking about one or two of them in future posts. Yes Pathfinder is not D&D. This Games Master Guide is for the first edition of Pathfinder. Which happens to be based on D&D 3.5. With the Pathfinder second edition now out, it should be possible to pick up second hand copies of this on the cheap. But the electronic version is not that expensive.

Another source of tables to use while creating an adventure that the video used was the Dungeon Alphabet. I’ll look into that one, it sounds interesting and useful.

It’s been a good morning for being inspired.

Update on planning session 4 #1

D&D, RPG, session planning

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

This next session is going to be interesting, two new members join the group for the first time.

The hook has been seeded for the party to meet up with the new members. Where it goes from their who knows?

So planning wise I need to have more options planned than I would normally. Well I say normally, but considering how new I am to being a DM and this will be my fifth session (including the taster) as such, is there really a normal? I am still after all finding out who I am as a DM, learning a little bit more each session as I journey along that path.

But so far I have used the information from the previous session to guide which hooks encounter I prepare for next.

All I know is at the moment that the party are going to the tavern to meet the new characters. Will they help them with their caper? Which is to steal a boat from the docks that belongs to Angrath?

Luckily the Lazy DM Workbook (LDW) has a docks map I can use. I just need to populate it with pirates.

I have new hooks to seed during the session. One of which uses another map from the LDW. That will also use a puzzle. And I have found the perfect puzzle to use.

I’m trying to build up the tools I have at my disposal to make sure that things are not predictable, keep the players engaged and are hopefully fun.

Thanks to the players coming up with their own hook in the last session, I’m going to push that a bit more as well, and provide a poster to the players promoting a “royal rumble” type event where the winner gets some awesome magical prize. It will be a non-lethal event, no deaths, so if they get to zero hit points they are unconscious and removed from the arena.

The Dungeon Dudes have a great video on YouTube entitled “Five Low Level Magic Items for Creative Players in Dungeon and Dragons 5e“. I might present those five items to the players if they win in the gladiator arena, and get them to pick one.

But it really is useful watching videos like the Dungeon Dudes to get inspiration. Another one I found interesting and relevant to this campaign is their video “Five Deadly Low-Level Monsters in Dungeons and Dragons 5e“. An interesting list, and discussion for sure. I’d already got kobolds and the gelatinous cube in the index card box ready to call on at a moments notice. But the other three on the list I hadn’t considered. Well not entirely I had considered a swarm of rats at some point. But their suggestion of a swarm of rot grubs warranted further investigation. So off to Volo’s Guide it was. Wow what a nasty little creature. Something like that would need telegraphing big time before hand. I’d almost be clumsy about it having the party witness an npc being killed by them. Say have them in a tavern, in barges a group of farmers carrying a body. It’s still alive. They are calling for some-one to get a cleric. Have the cleric arrive too late, but describe what is happening to the body. Have other npc’s shout advice etc.

Luckily between starting this post and finishing it off I remembered that our druid can now change shape. So now I need to consider what beasts are scattered through out the campaign to feed that ability. At the moment they can chose an ox!

But this does present an interesting situation. Which will require me to discuss with the players before hand if they will be comfortable with the subject matter. That sounds all ominous, but not really. Just the considerate thing to do. Being in Mintarn and this being a Western European fantasy setting, one way to allow the druid to see a beast such as a bear is to have a performing one, or have them fighting other beasts in the gladiator arena. It presents a situation that the players will have to handle that has a moral element to it. And is definitely a subject matter that I’d like to as a DM to discuss with the players before hand.

On when the next session will be I started that discussion off on the Messenger group this morning. No one had made a move. And it needed starting. I also proposed a date in December also for the 5th session.

I’ve also mapped out when the players will level up based on each session being worth 2 points (remember we are using the adventure league way of levelling as described in the appendix of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything). It means our new players will level up the session after the others have. There will always be that little bit of drag.

Meet Thy Doom – on a single page

D&D, RPG

With the general election in full swing now, battle lines are being drawn. Lies and smears of the elite are being thrown at the threat they see from Corbyn. Which will only get worse as the election goes on.

MP’s shout sound bites into the void of social media, hoping that the half truths and out right lies stick. Aided by a compliant press unwilling to pull them up on it.

It’s all too depressing really.

The title of this D&D 5e homage to the video game classic Doom seems so apt.

So what we have below is a first attempt to make this a one page adventure.

It was definitely an interesting exercise trying to fit everything onto a single page. I did this version in Pages on the iPad. The results are so so at best.

So next I tried using Word on the iPad.

I’m happier with the results. But still not brilliant.

2020 The Year of Commander

magic, MtG, news

Wednesday was a big big MtG news day for Commander players.

Some what unusual for WotC they announced their product plans for the format months in advance.

Thanks to the Command Zone I can “borrow” their summary timeline from their announcement video. Ok “borrow” implies I may have asked. And I didn’t I just took it.

As you can see the Commander goodness kicks off in April next year when we get the Commander pre-cons early. Which is nice because they will have arrived just in time for my birthday. This time around we are getting five, yes five Commander decks. Which will be themed around the Ikoria set that comes out at the same time. Not only are we getting that additional deck, but there will be 71 new Commander cards spread amongst the five decks. Plus reprints. Oh and we can buy the new Commander decks prerelease weekend. Sweet.

The third quarter of 2020 sees two more Commander pre-cons released along side the Zendikar Rising set. These will be themed around Zendikar Rising, contain three new cards each. The major difference will be the packaging. There will be no large foil Commander card, and will be packaged more like the Brawl decks (apparently). These decks will replace the Planeswalker decks for this set.

For the last two years we have had Planeswalker themed spellbooks. They have been replaced with a green themed Commander Collection. Eight reprinted cards from the history MtG for the Commander player. I believe there will be a foil and regular version of this if I heard right in the video.

Then a biggie drops in the final quarter of the year (just in time for Christmas I bet) Commander Legends. Apparently this is draft meets Commander! 70 new Legends to build with. A booster box is 20 packs, with each pack containing a foil and two legendaries.

Along side Commander Legends comes two more Commander pre-con decks. Which get the same treatment as the Zendikar Rising decks.

So it looks like WotC are targeting Commander players in 2020. Not surprising it is their most popular format.

So if my maths is correct, over the year we are getting nine new Commander pre-con decks. That sees 83 new Commander cards. Add in the 70 new Legends from the Commander set, and that rises to 153 new cards. And we are not even taking into account any obvious new Commander cards in the regular set releases or any Brawl decks (we know it’s dead). That’s a massive number of cards to add.

I like that the four pre-cons out side of the big annual Commander release are meant to be starting off points, and not part of that designed to be played against each other design of the main release.

It also nice to see that WotC want to make it easier for players, especially new ones to get their hands on Commander staples. Does that mean we will get to see some of the more expensive lands reprinted, or the likes of Cyclonic Rift? I can see the recent Brawl cards that Commander players went crazy over making it into these pre-cons. I don’t think we will see any big reprints in the decks themselves. But Commander Legends is another matter indeed.

There is no doubt that this stuff will sell. I just hope they print enough to meet demand. To make it accessible for that new player they need product on shelves, selling at the retail price. Yes I know that WotC dropped MSRP, then put up the cost to distributors, and that ripples down the supply chain to the consumer paying more at the till. But let’s assume the set pre-cons should be selling for around £30, then they should not be being sold for £50, £60,or £90 just because WotC got the demand wrong, and didn’t print enough copies. Even if that was the case, and WotC did a large print run that still didn’t meet demand, which is likely. They need a second (even third) print run hitting stores ASAP after the release date. Eliminate that window of scalping, or reduce it to the shortest period possible.

You can read the official post which has the Command Zone announcement video and previewed art HERE.

In other big MtG news. Somehow an individual got their hands on a handful of Theros Beyond Death boosters, and posted photos of the cards.

I’ve had a brief look at the photos that are circulating on line to see what new and returning mechanics there are.

If you liked Sagas from Dominaria then you will be pleased to know that they are returning in Theros Beyond Death. Have to admit they are a bit of fun to play.

The Constellation mechanic is making a return. Does this hint that enchantments will be a bigger thing in this set?

There is an Omen enchantment cycle. Which has an appropriate colour etb effect, and then a 3CMC sacrifice the card to Scry 2, and they have flash.

Escape is a new mechanic being introduced that allows you to cast a card from the graveyard. You exile four other cards from your graveyard and pay the escape cost of the card to be able to cast the card from the graveyard.

One or two of the leaked cards look sweet. But the take home is the above really.

Let’s stock a 5 Room Dungeon!

D&D, RPG

Ok before I start stocking the 5 Room Dungeon Meet Thy Doom. My homage to the classic FPS shooter Doom from iD Software.

I thought I better share the “final” map for the dungeon.

Yeah I updated it again after yesterday’s post. The additions are some secret compartments that items and monsters can be hidden in. Plus I show where the trigger is in the red room (door 4). It will be a light beam or some other trigger. I’ve also show in the blue room (door 3) that potion(s) are locked behind the portcullis wall on the raised platform in the room. I’ve also decided that the Green room (door 1) will operate slightly differently. Once they get the key the walls won’t disappear. But the secret doors will still open releasing the monsters inside them.

Ok in D&D sadly looking through the Monster Manual (MM), Volo’s Guide to Monsters (VGM) and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (MTF) an imp like the ones in the game.

However I did find in VGM a Kobold Scale Sorcerer. Which can be used as is, or re-skinned as the imp from Doom. The Kobold Scale Sorcerer is a level 3 spell caster and has a CR of 1. It knows the fire bolt cantrip.

Although if you want something a little easier Magmins from the MM would be worth a look.

Once again there is no Lost Soul but we do have a Flameskull in the MM. It is a CR4 creature, but it’s AC is 14. So not hard to hit. It’s 40 HP and spells (5th level spellcaster) and only destroyed with holy water. Does make it a bitch to kill off.

Shotgun Guy/Zombieman once again classic Doom characters. Which we need to map across.

For these two classic pieces of cannon fodder I’m going to suggest using one or two of the NPC’s from Appendix B of the MM.

For the Zombieman I’d use maybe a Scout, Thug, Bandit or Guard. The CR for these are all under 1. So you could throw a few of these at the players.

For the tougher Shotgun guy I’d use possibly a Bandit Captain, Berserker, Knight or Veteran. Which have a CR of 2 or 3. Possibly even a Gladiator if I wanted to increase the challenge with a CR of 5.

There are no Cacodemons in D&D but there are Beholders and Spectators. Not exactly the same. I’d go with the CR3 Spectator. But like all things it depends on the level of the party tackling the dungeon. I might change the eye rays of the Spectator, and look at what options I had from the related Beholders.

So which monsters go into which room?

Red Room (door 4): Imps

Blue Room (door 3): Lost Souls

Yellow Room (door 2): Mixture of the previous three rooms monsters spread amongst the platforms.

Green Room (door 1): Shotgun Guy and Zombieman.

Hallway: Cacodemon

I do think that there needs to be clues/warnings spread through out the level foreshadowing what they will be facing. So maybe tapestry’s or murals on the the walls.

Which D&D monsters would you use and for which classic Doom creature?

Progress on works in progress!

D&D, RPG

I was going to write a post on my prep for session four of the campaign.

But those works in progress are so much fun to work on.

The Temple of the Slaad has got to a stage now where it needs words to bring it to life.

I think this list naming the rooms gives an idea about each rooms use.

Room 1: Slaad Temple

Room 2: Crypt

Room 3: Living quarters

Room 4: Storage room

Room 5: Inner Slaad birthing room

Meet Thy Doom

So the following brief notes give an idea how I see each room working.

The players start in the hall way, with the double door behind them sealed shut. No matter what they do the door will not open without the correct key.

In front of them four coloured doors, (from left to right) red (4), blue (3), yellow (2) and green (1). The only unlocked door is the green door. The rest need the appropriate coloured key to open.

Behind the green door: once the players pick up the red key the maze walls disappear, monsters appear.

Behind the red door: when the players step into the room the platform at the far end of the room lowers revealing the key and monsters.

Behind the blue door: monsters in this room are contained within portcullis like cages. The room is flooded, but it’s shin deep. On the altar in the middle of the room is a button. When pressed it lowers the portcullis like cages, freeing the monsters.

Behind the yellow door: on the four platforms (not middle one) are monsters. Once defeated a second portal opens to take players to next platform in the sequence.

I might tweak the map adding in some secret recesses that will hide monsters (green door room) and potions and scrolls.

Some works in progress

D&D, RPG

I thought I’d share with you today a couple of 5 Room Dungeon ideas that I’ve had floating around in my noggin for the past week or so.

This first idea was inspired by the Slaad and the Slaad tadpole inparticular, and the movie Alien.

I have a name for the dungeon Temple of the Slaad.

The scenario will start out with the party standing in front of a rather large statue of a Slaad, the doors behind them locked. They hear screams of agony coming from the altar area at the back of the temple. When they get there there is a monk writhing in immense pain on the altar. Imagine that John Hurt scene from Alien when the chestburster popped out. Except it’s a Slaad tadpole.

That’s as far as I’ve got with it in my mind. I’ve not worked out what the rest of the rooms are, and how I’m going to recreate that intense suspense for the dungeon yet.

This second idea only clicked last night while I was drifting in and out of sleep. It’s a dungeon inspired by the classic video game Doom, entitled Meet Thy Doom.

It is definitely going to be a meat grinder of a dungeon. Players will need to get the coloured key to unlock the door of the same colour. But like Doom there will be a crap load of monsters, and a healthy supply of healing potions.

Mystery Solved – Inside my DM Folder and Index Box

D&D, RPG

I promised this post yesterday in my rather long session post-mortem.

My DM folder is I think a cross between the Jim Murphy one (video below) and the one used by Dael Kingsmill. But I think every DM’s folder will be unique to them. However they will have some common elements.

I always think it’s of use to get a peak behind the curtains and see what other DM’s are doing to get ideas and inspiration. It’s why I have written so much about D&D recently. The posts are acting as notes for me, and I hope are of use to others.

So what is in my DM folder (currently)?

It starts with some pages printed from The Lazy Dungeon Masters Workbook. The pages I picked out were ‘The Lazy DM Preparation Process” (Page 3), and pages 5 -7 and 10 of the Fifth Edition Reference. I wasn’t interested in the madness pages from that section (at this point in time). There is also a copy of the 5e Campaign Worksheet that I keep handy during sessions.

These are followed by my own created DM cheat sheets that summarise various rules like running the types of ability checks, and how to calculate the various checks.

I then have a print out of the player spreadsheet I have that lists each players stats, passive perception and saving throw target for spells.

Next I start on the current campaign specific stuff, like sailing terms, player handouts.

Those are followed by a print out of Appendix B: Nonplayer Characters from the Monster Manual. Along with stat blocks for creatures like crabs, sharks and seals.

Then I have a print out of a Dragon Magazine about the “Red Rage”. This is campaign background info.

I have a print out of the town I’m using as Mintarn which has the building key on it. Plus the Dragon Magazine article that describes each of those buildings.

I have my session notes printed out, and I make notes on these, and keep these in the folder.

These are followed by dungeon maps used so far in the campaign.

We then hit a final section aimed at new players and character creation. This contains a check list of things to point out to new players about playing the game. Just added are copies of the cheat sheet I did for Jonathan. A character creation cheat sheet and some blank character sheets.

I think after looking at the above it’s fair to say that my folder breaks into three logical sections. The first section is obviously general DM aids, the second section is campaign specific stuff, and the third and final section is new player and character creation.

The inspiration for the contents of my index box comes from this Jim Murphy YouTube video.

As you already know I have the initiative and combat reminder cards from the D&D Essentials kit in there. Along with a handful of dry erase index cards.

The first section I have is a maps section, that like the rest of the sections currently looks very sad (I have only just started this remember).

The second section is for Traps, followed by a section for Plot Hooks.

Section four is for Monsters and contains a selection of D&D Monster stat cards. These are campaign related, but also fairly generic. So there are goblins, orcs, kobolds etc. And they cover being at sea, forests and dungeons.

In the following spell section I have some spell cards that the monsters use. Saves me having to look them up.

After that I have a section for the Essentials Kit side kick cards.

I have a potions section next, that at the moment just has three cards in for potions that came from DnDice when I bought my folding dice tray from them at this years UKGE.

Remember I’m trying to work on improving my descriptions. Well this next section is aimed at helping me with that. It’s a description section that is home to cards with words and descriptions to aid me describing various environments.

Empty at the moment, but that python script will help fill it up, is a pre-generated character section.

And finally for now there is a magic item section.

So that’s my DM folder and Index Card box. The contents of both is fluid. Over time they will shift and change as my experience as a DM grows, and my needs change. But it’s an early snap shot. One that I hope others find interesting.

When we last left our heroes… #3

D&D, post mortem, RPG

In this session our party left Queen’s Cove to escort the town contribution to the islands tribute to the Red Rage. Their journey started off eventfully with Sahuagin attacking just before dawn. They also had to clear the road from a fallen tree. And discovered an abandoned guard tower. At Mintarn they were rewarded handsomely for their efforts, and got a chance to spend their reward in a bustling market.

Post-mortem

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this part of the post and join me in a future one.

So session 3 has happened.

If you remember in the past week I wrote about alternate methods to handle travel within D&D (you can read the post here). For this session I went with the method described by The Angry GM. The other link that summarises the method was really handy in prepping.

It allowed me to produce the following notes to refer to during the session.

For the encounters I went with rolling a d4 to chose which members of the party were on watch if/when the encounters happened at night.

Before the start of the session I made the decision that even if there was going to be no encounter during the travel that I’d have the tiles out for camp. Otherwise if I only put tiles out when there was going to be an encounter I’d be sign posting to the players something was going to happen. This way I felt it’d be less obvious when or if an encounter was about to happen.

Instead of rolling a random encounter if need be. I had a page of about four encounters noted down. I knew that the Sahuagin was going to be one, and then I chose three other creatures that could possibly attack. My notes for these encounters were so simple, the name of the monster and the quantity. With the official D&D Monster Cards for each of the monsters at hand I didn’t need to open up the manual, or as previously make note of the stats. All I did was note down the HP on a bit of paper, and tracked the damage received on a bit of paper.

The encounters were not just fights, I also had a hazard that needed dealing with. I used a group challenge to clear the road from a blockage. I took this from The Adventures in Middle Earth journey section. I liked that it was not just a simple pass or fail. But had degrees of passing and failing. Which resulted in getting benefits or some kind of set back.

The discovery I had planned was an abandoned guard tower. Which if they checked it out would mean that as the notes show slow them down, but additionally not noted I had them rewarded for checking it once they reached Mintarn.

Overall from my point of view I think the travel went well. I think it was more interesting than the two suggested methods in the DMG. I’d certainly use it again. However I think that the next two bits of travel (depending on the hook selected) are better suited to one of the other alternatives.

Let’s look at the only combat encounter of the session, which was the Sahuagin attack. Mistakes were made. I forgot about the NPC characters with the party. They didn’t actually get involved. This was picked up by a player near the end of the combat. But I explained they wouldn’t get involved, especially the driver who was just a commoner, not a fighter. And that the fighting was what they were getting paid for.

Before the session I had seen that Sly Flourish in his YouTube video about prepping for the Lost Mines of Phandelver first chapter had talked about having an npc somehow cast Aid on the party to help give the level 1 characters a better chance against the threats they would encounter. I thought this was an interesting idea, and made the NPC guard a paladin who knew the spell. Just incase.

Kobold Fight Club had the Sahuagin encounter of three attacking Sahuagin as hard. Four would be deadly according to that. So I erred on the side of caution and had three attack the party. I think this was too easy for the party. It should have been at least four I think. I should have thrown in an extra Sahuagin during the combat.

The players had been warned at the start that there had been reports of the Sahuagin attacks happening along the coastal road. So I was happy I had sign posted the threat enough. Luckily the dice allowed the raid to happen.

If you remember I was using the Sahuagin attack as a hit and run. So I wanted the attack to end randomly with the Sahuagin making a run for it. The encounter would not be playing to it’s natural conclusion. I used the dice countdown as used in the WOIN system. So at the start of each round I rolled the dice pool of 4d6. Because this was a short fast countdown a four or above would result in the die being removed. Naturally the players were unaware of this going on. And I thought it worked really well. Definitely something I’ll use again.

I messed up the attack of opportunity rule! ‘Nuff said about that I think.

There was something new I tried. I picked this up from the Dungeon Dudes from one of their YouTube videos. Not sure which one. And it wasn’t even planned before hand. It was just something that I did out of nowhere. When a character killed a monster I asked them to describe their killing blow. I’m not sure it entirely worked. I’ll give it another few tries to see if it feels better.

Jonathan printed off an A4 sized colour map of the Mintarn archipelago for me to give to the players. Plus he kindly did an A3 sized colour map of Mintarn. I think the island map helped a lot with the players to see where they were in the world. Plus it will allow planning by the party when they get adventure hooks. The town map was very handy for the players I thought for showing where they were within the town. I used coloured cubes to represent the characters on the map, and show their individual locations. The draw back was that players got distracted by features in the map they hadn’t come across. But it did allow me to point out points of interest as they were taken through the town.

I am trying to encourage the players to make the maps their own, write notes on them, etc. We will see how this plays out.

I’m really not too happy with how Mintarn played out. Especially the market section. I think it was too open, and the players were almost at a loss what to do. My prep could have been better also. I hadn’t thought about the deities the temples worship. And I was asked that question! I didn’t handle this that well. Could have been a lot lot better, especially with the improve and roleplay.

The session started off with a big foobar, which I realised near the end. I forgot to explain absence of character! Oops.

My descriptions still need a lot of work, the index cards helped. But this is an on going work in progress.

It was interesting when the players searched the abandoned guard tower. Well more looked inside and went up on the battlements. No one searched the room itself. I had a small magic item and some copper coins for them to find as a “reward”. I did drop hints at the end of the session that they should have searched the room. Failing an investigation check is different to not even looking. And those that went in their passive perception isn’t great, so I didn’t feel they would catch the glint of something.

I thought handing out post it notes with hooks on worked well. Although the party has come up with their own adventure hook. They got fixated on the gladiator arena within Mintarn. I will have to work that into the planning.

I did give Jonathan a players cheat sheet. Which summarises what actions can be made, why and what falls under certain ability checks. I’m waiting to get some feedback on how he got on with that.

The players finally got some home made print outs for the magic items they picked up in session 1 in the pirates lair. Which I was happy to be able to do, and I think the players found this useful.

From time to time I’m going to pin to the player facing side of the DM screen reminders of the Matt Colville advice, and this was one of those times. Written on two dry erase index cards were the two quotes “Death is always a possibility…” and “Anytime you are out numbered…”. I think these are useful things to remind players of on a regular basis.

I had a lot less stuff with me this time. Here is a photo of the stuff I took with me, minus my DM folder. Which I did take, and I’ll cover in another post.

1. Sand timers in various time increments.

2. D&D Dungeon Tiles Reincarnated – for this session there were tiles from both the dungeon and wilderness sets. But only the ones I needed.

3. Mechanical pencils for players that needed them.

4. Post-it notes

5. My dice

6. Blank notepads for players if they have nothing to write notes in.

7. Index card box (will a brief describe contents below)

8. Meeples and wooden disks and cubes to represent npcs/monsters, etc.

9. Scatter terrain to populate maps.

10. Folding dice tray and area effect template.

11. Pens, dry markers, clips, ruler, dry marker erazer.

12. Minis of creatures

13. Players Handbook

14. Dungeon Masters Guide

15. Big book of Battle Maps

16. Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Screen Reincarnated

Ok this post is getting long. Luckily it’s not print with limited space.

So what is in the index box?

I have the initiative and combat reminder cards from the D&D Essentials kit in there. Along with a handful of dry erase index cards, a selection of D&D Monster stat cards, plus other useful stuff. But I feel this will need a post of it’s own to do it justice, possibly with the my DM folder.

More D&D Coding

coding, D&D, RPG

After yesterday’s little bit of coding to generate some initiative numbers in python, I decided to do some more coding.

This time it was to generate random D&D characters. Yeah I know there are websites out there that do this already (such as D&D Beyond). And that their results are more complete than mine.

But that’s not the point. This was an exercise to create something that meets my very basic needs.

Here are some examples of the characters it generates at the moment.

At the moment for a half elf it doesn’t do anything clever when choosing which two abilities to give the boost too. It just picks them at random. But ideally it would chose ones that fit nicely with the class. For a human it does the easy to implement +1 to everything.

Next up if I decide to take this further I’ll get it to randomly chose the skill proficiencies, followed by backgrounds. Height and weight might be an interesting exercise as well.

This has been a fun little distraction to avoid final prep for tomorrow’s session. But now I can’t avoid putting it off any more. I need to do those final little bits.