Xanathar & How-To DM: Character Creation Guidelines

First and foremost, before I get into anything else, or do anything else, here he is, in all of his hateful and dreadful glory, The Xanathar:

Isn’t he just the cutest?!

Just…that way he looks like he’s going to either not kill you outright or disintegrate you?

And even from the rear, you just KNOW one of those eye stalks are going to turn any moment and hit you with…I don’t know…SOMETHING…and it’s going to be bad either way…ahem.

SO! That’s The Xanathar. He’s done. Finally. It’s been a journey, Dear Readers, but he is totally done, and I’m mostly happy with the job I did. Sure, I could have done a better job with the shading, and I likely will go back with a light gloss over him later, but for all intents and purposes, he’s done. Speaking of which, did you like the base? I was particularly proud of how I did on the base, and will likely paint the edge around it black. If I do, I’ll post pictures, I promise.

Now, for the “How-To DM”!

There are a lot of ways and means to make a character. But what ways do you allow your players to do so for your characters?

Resources

Which resources do you allow? For some venues, the Player’s Handbook may be all that is needed. For some players, though, that’s never enough! And there are a plethora of resources, just from Wizards of the Coast.

Popular ones include (links to buy online at the end!):

  1. The Sword Coast Adventurers Guide
  2. Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  3. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (very popular nowadays)
  4. The Upcoming Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (available for preorder only at the moment)

On top of that, there are other entire settings with character options:

  1. Eberron: Rising from the Last War
  2. Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
  3. Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica
  4. Mythic Odysseys of Theros

Add to that, Wizards of the Coast published several things with just racial options:

  1. One Grung Above
  2. The Tortle Package

So what do you allow? Well, depending on your individual campaign, you may allow some, none, or all of it. Do be wary, however, of what you allow. Something balanced for one campaign setting may not be so balanced for yours…you’ve been warned.

Ability Score Generation

I feel like I’m wandering into controversial territory here, but I shall wade the waters carefully…

There are several ways of doing character creation that I have seen.

  1. Standard array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 then put them where you want them. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.
  2. Point Buy – A semi-complicated system in which all stats begin as 8’s and you have a pool of points with which to buy increases to each stat. You get 27 points and it’s one point per increase. So if you wanted to increase one stat to a 10, it would cost you two points. It nets you the same as the standard array, but gives you a little more customization.
  3. Roll 4d6 dropping the lowest, and do this six times. Easily the oldest and one of the most popular methods of rolling stats, in my opinion. This one goes back many editions. Granted, it used to be sometimes as bad as 3d6 six times, leave them where they lay, in other words, you roll strength first. Roll 3d6. Got a 15? you’re likely playing a fighter-type. Then Intelligence (that used to come straight after Str back in the day). Got a lucky 18 Intelligence? Hoo-boy! Guess who’s playing the wizard! That method fell out of style, but it was interesting.
  4. Some modified form of above. I’ve seen some DMs use a stat array that is higher, like 18, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 to make his player characters truly superhuman (and scaling everything accordingly), and then another making a small modification: 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 because he felt that no hero should have even one stat below that of a commoner. You do you but be prepared for the potential consequences.

Races

With Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything racial ability score changes don’t really matter any more. Now you can play a half-orc with an Intelligence bonus if you like. And that’s fine.

Me? I’m a traditionalist. That’s why I generally don’t allow that option. Heck, it was a while before I even allowed the variant human!

Again, you do you, but beware the homebrew. It is very easy to introduce an overbalanced hombrew race, and I cannot stress this enough. Learn from my mistakes…

Classes

Having class options is important. What those class options are, even moreso.

There is a famous bunch of voice actors that play D&D on a streaming service I follow. The first campaign season of these folks had one player playing a fighter subtype class called the gunslinger. The original needed a bit of work, due to the nature of how powerful the class was, and was revised to where it stands now.

Now, they were playing in a homebrew world with this new homebrew class. If you want your party/allow your players to test new homebrew materials to see how well they work, that’s perfectly fine. That said, the caveat should be that, if things don’t balance very well, then everyone should be willing to reassess the class and try to balance it out more.

Backgrounds

These are always fun, especially with players that put some effort into their character’s backstories. There are many and varied backgrounds, even some tailored to fit with a class.

Then there are those that were made for specific campaigns, but fit well in just about any campaign. Some examples include:

  1. Anthropologist/Archeologist (out of Tomb of Annihilation)
  2. Boros Legionnaire (Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica)
  3. Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion (Adventurers Inc.)
  4. Entertainer (Player’s Handbook)

Note that each background comes from a different type of source. The first comes out of an adventure module, in which the players are exploring a near-forgotten jungle land. The next comes out of a completely different campaign world where the whole world is a giant city, the next from a book detailing how to turn your adventuring campaign into a business. The last comes straight out of the Player’s Handbook. You can find background options in many sources, and not all are balanced for the average campaign setting, or, for that matter, even fit into every campaign setting.

Again, beware of homebrew here. It’s very easy to break a background. Remember that a background is not a class nor a race, and shouldn’t be treated as such. If your homebrew background is giving you stat increases, a hundred gold (after equipment purchases), and major class-features, it’s probably not a good idea to use it…

In Conclusion

If there is one takeaway I want you to have from this, it would likely be to beware of hombrew unless your goal is to specifically test a homebrew race/class/background when doing character creation guidelines for your players. I’m not saying homebrew is bad, or that you should never use it, and far from it. Homebrew is one of the ways we got the current incarnation of the gunslinger, and why the blood hunter class is still being tested. Make sure you keep balance.

What do you think, Dear Readers? Was I way off the mark, or was I spot on? Let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to hit that like if you enjoyed this article, and if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Blog to keep getting regular updates!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

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Tuesday Game: A Player’s Perspective: Licking Wounds & Seeking Vermeillon

We found the Hopeful Dopes caught in a dire situation as their keep, the Dope’s Hope, was ambushed by a hoard of orcs and a werewolf. Several members were fell by this band of muscle and malice, but our weary defenders were able to finally repel them. Several guards, the decorated hobgoblin Grinkel, and the warforged Monk Rain all perished from the battle, but the survivors laid their companions to rest before seeking out their next adventure.

The next page in our adventures was found in a book describing the history of the mountain mining town, Vermeillon.

This town was home to a prosperous platinum mine, but the town found beset by shadowy nefarious forces. Not only did the mine suffer a cave-in but residents and travelers soon began to mysteriously disappearing, and the town was abandoned all together ever since.

The scent of adventure wafted itself into the nose of our group members so they set out for the next town over from Vermeillon, Merin. After several hard days of travel, the group guided itself to the nearest tavern called the Bored Weasel. The party members got to work asking around for any information about the abandoned town, and they were able to find an old bartender, Lucas, who had fled that place when his wife passed in the mining accident and directed them to talk with Astra Vorn. Mrs. Vorn had lived in Vermeillon as a child when all of the disappearances began, so her family left soon after. She warned the group about investigating the mysterious town, but she herself would be interested in what would come of it.

Lukas
Astra Vorn

With few other leads from their investigation, the party moved to travel up the road to the lurking mountain. Shortly after starting their journey, the group found itself assisting several fellow cart guards being assaulted by two large muscular ogres, and they jumped into the fray! After a quick bout with the lumbering hulks, the group was able to slay the beasts before more of the escorts were killed, and several survivors offered to work at the Dope’s Hope after this event. With this encounter to their backs, the Hopeful Dopes continued onward to unravel the mystery of Vermeillon…

Painting Profile: Finishing the Xanathar

Dear Readers,

Today is a landmark day. But also disappointing! I’ll show you what I mean.

You know where we left off, and here’s where we went!

Here we are. We did the shading over the body! I used Nuln Oil (Citadel) shading for the main body, with Argax Earthshade for the mouth and eye stalks!

I think the shading turned out pretty well, myself.

Now for the gloss varnish on the eyes and around/in the mouth.

He’s so cute. I love him.

The gloss worked out very well, especially with the shade dulling him down.

The next bit is the problem…I glued the base to him. And it’s having problems setting up so it’s being propped up by the top of my paintbrush container…

Here it is, in all it’s shame…

This is really frustrating for me as I wanted to show you the final bit. But alas, no.

As soon as it sets up, I’ll get it to you, likely in another post.

Hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did painting The Xanathar!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Rime of the Frostmaiden: The Codicil of the White

When last we left our heroes, they were in the dungeon level of Auril’s Abode…her home. The party had just finished the Test of Preservation, and stood before the entryway to the Test of Cruelty.

The party opened the door and found themselves in front of empty tents…Searching through, they found the Bear Tribe, preparing to kill three elders in order to feed the tribe, as they are unable to find food in the extended blizzard, after having eaten all of the sled dogs. The party, having been seen as emissaries of the Frostmaiden, were ordered to either slay the elders themselves, or walk away. Only two members said nothing and walked away, inadvertently passing the test.

The party, having finished the test and found themselves back in the dungeon of Grimskalle. Having done all of the tests, the party headed to the Vault, where the Codicil of the White was said to lay.

Approaching, the party found that it only opened to the ranger and the paladin/barbarian; the ones that passed every test.

It lay on a strange pedestal in the center of the room. The wizard took it and read through it, seeing the poem of the Rime of the Frostmaiden; the text needed to open the way to Ythryn. The text interestingly also contained a spell of the first order (level one spell: frostfingers).

Going further in, to the next chamber, the party found it was empty, except the broken remains of several ice statues.

Three of the party heard a voice in their minds, whispering: “Will you court death to receive my blessing?”

Of the three, the monk and wizard said yes. Immediately, they failed whatever test was needed, as they turned to statues of ice. The party put them into a bag of holding and continued on, deciding to head back to Brynn Shander to have the effect removed.

Heading there, the party spoke to the priest of Aumantaur, and acquired two scrolls, at a discount after the paladin lectured the priest about not giving more of a discount after saving Ten Towns. Before heading out, the party was approached by Vellynne Harpell who asked if she could show them where, exactly, on the glacier that the opening will be. The two companions restored and Vellynne in tow, the party headed towards the glacier.

Along the way, the party encountered a group of gnolls, which they demolished, and shortly after a blizzard hit, encountered a group of Battlehammer clan dwarves. After the dwarven Paladin/Barbarian had engaged them, the dragonborn, who had secretly been a reincarnated dwarf of the Battlehammer clan, recognized one of the dwarves as a childhood friend. After proving that she was who she was, they caught up on old time, after which the dwarf friend realized that they had a funeral for her and that her parents don’t know that she was still alive, albeit in a different form! After promising to go home to tell them eventually, the dwarves and the party parted ways.

It wasn’t soon later that the party came to the glacier. After the wizard read the Rime of the Frostmaiden, a crack in the glacier appeared and the party headed inside…

Within the first chamber, the party found a crashed skycoach, but were unable to explore it as four flameskulls came out of an adjacent cavern!

Flameskull

The battle was hard fought, and the party was limping away at the end. Checking the ship before resting, they found a safe that their rogue had opened easily enough, finding a bag of holding containing a ring of the ram and four amethysts.

The party decided to rest inside the leomund’s tiny hut that Vellynne conjured outside of the cave.

What will the party find inside the Caves of Hunger? Will they make it through to Ythyn okay?

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Until next time, Dear Readers…

Let’s Do Some World Building: More on the Village of Borest

Last time, we took a look at the concept of world building and applied it to a small town of Borest, specifically the inn. We fleshed out a few NPCs. Now, let’s flesh out some more.

Last time, I said I’d flesh out the town mayor/selectman/elder. The reason I left him off the list is because of what I wanted to expound upon today: the surrounding areas. Adventurers gotta adventure, and who better to give a quest than the town selectman.

As a refresher:

So, who is this person?

Well, today I’ll be using the following resource:

Any purchase from links on my site will provide me with a small commission.

Turning to page 239, I get the 1d100 list of random first and last names!

Rolls percentile dice…Looks like I got the name Azar Frostarm. As good a name as any. And let’s make him an elected mayor. What kind of traits does he have? What motivates him? Let’s make another roll in the book! He has…a posh attitude and clothes to match…who lost their mother’s wedding band…and is being blackmailed.

Let’s peel this back and see what kind of adventuring hooks that we can make out of it, but based on his background, we’ll flesh out the surrounding area…

  1. The town is being harassed or is being extorted by a local goblin or kobold tribe. The tribe claims to work for a powerful enemy, but is lying to get paid by the town.
  2. The mayor is being blackmailed by someone in town. He received an anonymous letter detailing an illicit deed he committed and needs the party to find out who it is and to expose them.
  3. A peaceful group of elves in the nearby forest have turned hostile towards the town for unknown reasons. The characters are tasked with finding out why and restoring the peace.
  4. An earthquake exposes the ancient crypt of a dead hero that the mayor had a statue erected in the town center. The problem is that his ghost keeps harassing the town and it seems that the hero may not have been as good as history had made him out to be.

Let’s now look at some of the locations we have created:

  1. A kobold or goblin lair.
  2. The village itself.
  3. A nearby forest and possibly an elven village/town/city.
  4. A crypt nearby or underneath the village.

There are many tools to deal with several of these locations. The previously mentioned Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator can easily give you the elven village/town/city. Simply place it in a forest. The village is easy as you already have a map of the town and can populate it with even more NPC’s that you can flesh out as needed, further getting the party invested in the welfare of the village and the residents.

This leaves creature lairs and a crypt. There are literally tons of online and other tools to find various maps or create maps of lairs and crypts if you don’t want to make your own. In fact, there are many free ones on Roll20 that you can get, although you don’t get a physical copy. Additionally, you can turn to the DM’s Guild website. They have lots of free and low-cost materials you can get for your map needs. In The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters there is actually a section with temples and tombs, as well as Homes, Hideouts, Labs, and Lairs. I cannot recommend this resource enough for your DMing needs. Lastly, there’s always Google.

Of course, if you are willing to put in the work, you can bust out the old graphpaper and pencil and get to work making your own tomb/crypt/lair. I’ve found that it’s actually nicer to make your own, if for no other reason than you can gauge out encounters much easier.

So, what do you think, Dear Readers? Do you like our town mayor? What would you change about him? Can you think of any other plot hooks that we could garner from this NPC? Let me know in the comment section below.

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Until next time, Dear Readers…

DM Story: The Story of Kief

Back in the day, when I first played Dungeons and Dragons, my group consisted of my cousin Daniel being the DM (he was a few years older than us) and Jack (who was my age). We had many a grand adventure. Jack and I each had two characters, with me playing a thief (what they called a rogue back in the day; there were no archetypes) and a cleric (I loved the idea of a spellcaster that could wear heavy armor!), and Jack playing a wizard and, I believe, a fighter.

We battled across the world, saving maidens in distress, righting wrongs, and thwarting villains. Particularly one villain: Kief.

I’m not sure about the origins of Kief, be it his name or his inspiration, but when I was young and first playing D&D, my DM, Daniel, presented us with our foil: the villain Kief. Kief seemed to be behind every problem our party encountered, and eventually was discovered to be a vampire. It was a wild roller coaster ride of a campaign. But Kief…we hated him. And Kief was more villainous for it.

Remember my article on Creating Memorable Villains? This guy, if there ever was a memorable villain, it was this bastard. Yeah, you heard me.

When PCs Complain Your BBEG Is Too Strong Why Is It Wheneverm Havingtun It's Wrong | DnD Meme on ME.ME

Well, in my own campaigns, I’ve taken that limey bastard and inflicted him upon my players…now he’s been their problem to deal with. And most times, it’s been awesome.

The last time I’ve used him was my Fallout D20 campaign. I used the D20 Modern/Future/Apocalypse rules to create a fallout campaign. There was a Fallout d20 booklet I found online, of course, but that’s aside the point. I mostly used that for rules on super mutants and the Brotherhood of Steel class stats. But that’s aside the point.

Kief was a hell of a bastard in that campaign, and I made sure of it. Even moreso, because I couldn’t make him a vampire, I wanted to make him something diabolical…so I looked at all the available Fallout lore and made him…a synth. A rogue synth that went all sorts of bad. And bad he was.

BBEG *Is Evil the Vengeance Paladin Using 3 Divine Smites at the Same Time Are You Prepared for the Kind of Death You've Earned Little Man? Made With Mematic Based on True

The campaign ended with a large fight between the players in Kief’s compound fort and all of his minions, with Kief at the center of it. The Brotherhood of Steel player had prepped a couple of mini-nukes for detonation if things went sideways, ensuring the destruction of Kief at the very least. The party was about to be overwhelmed (a very bad mix of some bad rolls and some poor tactical decisions), when the Brotherhood character saw the tactical situation becoming untenable. He looked around at his friends and comrades and rushed to Kief…setting off the mini-nukes.

I screamed the whole time. | Fallout | Know Your Meme

It. Was. EPIC! One of the best ends to a campaign I could have imagined, and I wasn’t even the one to come up with it.

What’s next for Kief? I don’t know, but I think I’m going to make him a long-term BBEG in the future campaign when I go back to playing in-person on Tuesdays. What that campaign will be, I don’t know, but I do know that it will involve the master planner, the evil, the diabolically intelligent, Kief…

So, what do you think, Dear Readers? Do you have a recurring villain in your campaigns that you love to hate? Let me know in the comment section!

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Until next time, Dear Readers…

Painting Highlight: THE XANATHAR

Oh, boy, do I have an update for you all today, Dear Readers! I finally got my metallic color paints in!

Here’s an unboxing for you:

This is the box that I finally got in the mail!

A lovely tray, with the lovely colors and the one effect. Additionally the 16 ball barrings that allow the colors to mix so much better. Although they aren’t pictured, of course it came with a small brochure and painting guide.

Here are all the colors and the effect. For those unaware, the Fairy Dust effect is great as it turns any color into a metallic color. It’s pretty handy.

Here’s where we begin. This is how he looked when I last left off:

We start off with his central eye. I’ve put off painting it as I’ve not had the right color to do it.

Notice I’ve left off the eye slit. I’m not too good at painting it, so I’m putting it off.

Now for the rings to be painted, as the Xanathar wears a ring on four of his eyestalks.

Notice that I had originally missed one of the rings. Yeah, I’ll get to it in a bit.

Now for the eyes on the eyestalks:

I finally got the ring. Can you see it?

Now for the central eye slit…

There is the central eye. I free-handed it, and I think it turned out great.

So what do you think, Dear Readers? How do you think it’s coming along? I’m going to do the shading and such next, and will update everyone next week!

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Until next time, Dear Readers…

P.S. – I have some links to some of the products I use. I get a small commission if you buy anything from my link:

The Army Painter Wet Palette - Premium Brush Storing Palette with 50 Palette Sheets and 2 Sponges for Wargames Miniature Model Painting

Rime of the Frostmaiden: Tests of Auril

When we last left our heroes, they were preparing to battle two frost giant skeletons wielding anchors on long chains.

The heroes fought hard, and the frost giant skeletons fought just as hard. The party played it smart, though, and came out victorious.

Heading further in, they found a female Frost giant, completely encased in ice. Knowing a bit of religious lore of Frost giants, one party member looked up and noted that the face of the frost giant deity was marked on the ceiling, and filing this Frost giant Queen’s resting place would have dire consequences. Heading to the last chamber, the party found an ax in pristine condition, leaning up against the wall. Checking on its magical abilities, the party found that it was a cursed item, but still valuable in its own right. Deciding to put it into their bag of holding, the party headed back out into the central chamber, where the walrus still frolic and played.

Looking at their options, the party decided to head to the next chamber over. Entering inside, they found another doorway with the word “Endurance” written on the lintel. Opening the door, the party was transported to a group of Reghed Barbarians of the Elk Tribe. Realizing that each of them had a glowing snowflake above their heads, the party realized that this was one of the tests of the Frostmaiden. It seemed, through further discussion with the clan chief, that they must help pack up the tribe and move them to the new location closer to the reindeer that they hunted for food. Additionally, they had to do so through a blizzard that rendered their use of magic null. The trek was hard, and several of the party members ended the journey exhausted to the point of being near spent, but they all survived. Upon helping them unpack, the party was transported back into the chamber where they had begun.

The next chamber had the word “Isolation” about the lintel. After opening the store, they found themselves in the camp of the Tiger Tribe, with the queen of the tribe asking the party to watch the camp while they raided the Elk Tribe for food. The waiting provided time to rest from the arduous journey they had made during the test of endurance. But the waiting also proved to be a curse. After a few days, one of the party members disappeared without a trace. The next day, another party member disappeared. The Tiger Tribe Queen arrived, albeit 3 days late, with the missing party members in tow having found them wandering in a days in the snow. After gathering themselves, the party found themselves again back in the chamber they had been in when they had opened the isolation door.

The next area they found was a volt of some sort which declared the way barred for those that have not passed the tests of cruelty, endurance, isolation, and preservation.

Moving onward, the party found themselves in front of a doorway marked “Preservation.” Opening the store, they found themselves in the middle of the camp that had been slaughtered. After fighting off a group of large vultures, the party found a single survivor: the nine year old son of the clans chieftain, named Aerix Vokototh. Due to having been born on the midwinter, and therefore having resistance to cold, the young lad hit himself in a snow bank during the slaughter. It was at this moment that a human howl came from the outer skirts of the camp. It seemed that the clan chieftain that had ordered the slaughter of this tribe found that the young boy had survived the attack and decided that he himself must come to ensure the job was done. The party was prepared though, and as soon as he appeared, cut him down like the dog he was. some clan chieftain of a Wolf Tribe he was…

It seems that the only test remaining for the party will be the test of Cruelty.

What lies in store for the party for that test? What sort of things will the Frostmaiden demand of those wishing to seek out the Codecil of the White?

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Until next time, Dear Readers…

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How to DM: Forming a New Group

Today’s installment is on forming a new group; what to look for and what to avoid. I hope this helps you in forming your own future groups!

Determine the Sort of Game You Are Playing

This is the first and most important step in finding a new group. What kind of game are you planning on playing? Is it going to be role-playing heavy, or more laden with dungeon crawling? Will it be a serious roll through the campaign or more lighthearted? The group makeup will largely determine the makeup of your group, as well as managing expectations.

How most D&D groups begin, but... | Dungeons and dragons memes, Nerd humor, Dragon memes

Manage Expectations

Now that you have the type of game you are playing, set up your ground rules. Do you have specific house rules you use, if any? Who brings snacks? Are snacks allowed at the table? Where will you meet and how often? Is this a one-shot game or an extended, long-term campaign? These are all things to consider.

Where to Look

Oftentimes, there are many places to look for groups. Discord is a great place if you are looking for a virtual game, as is Roll20. I’ve also found that the dndbeyond.com forums are a wonderful place to find virtual groups to play with. For live play, some of the forums are good to place a LFG post, but your local game store is a great place to find players and play your game. There, you can find players at Adventurers League as well. Lastly, conventions are also a good place to find new players

Types of Players

You’ve found a pool of players, and you’ve established ground rules and know what kind of game you are playing. Now to the players themselves. Obviously, you want to find players you get along with that have a good temperament. Oftentimes, the best way to find out these things are to run a game with folks (as a test run), or to play at a table with them. With my personal game, I have either run an adventure with Adventurers League or my Adult D&D night. Very rarely, I’ve taken someone on the recommendation of another player, but I know that in those cases, I’m both taking a chance, but putting trust in a player that I already trust. Thankfully, it’s worked out pretty great (you’re the man, Darren!). You definitely want to find a nice diverse group as well.

That said, here are some folks you may want to avoid…

The Alpha Gamer

You know this player. They are an attention hog and like to min/max their characters for maximum benefit to themselves. These people often overshadow more polite and shy players. They also have a tendency to bully other players into doing what they want. I’ve had one of these in my games on my Adult D&D night and he wasn’t much fun. This isn’t to say that players who like to maximize their builds are bad, but that those people who want to “win” at D&D are to be avoided where possible.

Dnd meme dump | Dragon memes, Dnd funny, Dungeons and dragons memes

The Reluctant Player

These players don’t actually want to be there. Maybe they came as a favor to you or another player, but they would rather be doing something else. This is the kind of player that is on their phone most of the game, and barely, if at all, pays attention to what’s going on.

Sorry I'm late I don't want to be here. Will Ferrell | StareCat.com

The Angry Player

This is the player that gets angry at the slightest provocation. Like…they roll a 1 and rage. They yell at a player when they make a “mistake.” It goes without saying that this sort of player should be avoided or dealt with quickly in other instances of open play (like Adventurers League), but should be avoided for private play.

rage quit - Rage Quit | Meme Generator

The Rules Lawyer/Argumentative Player

I really hate these kinds of players. As the DM, one of my expectations is that my ruling is law. Period. And I’m not talking about the ones with encyclopedic knowledge of the game that helps me with a ruling at my request, but the ones that insist that things work a certain way, regardless of what the story or adventure says!

Let’s say magic works different in a certain place. The rules lawyer would argue that it works the way they want it to, specifically in order to benefit themselves. I’ve found that some rules lawyers are also Alpha Players. I avoid these at my personal tables.

When the rules lawyer gets a bit too annoying : dndmemes

Other than that, most people who want to play D&D are pretty cool people. They come in all other sorts of great personalities and experience types. Choose those folks.

So what do you think, Dear Readers? What kind of groups do you like?

Let me know in the comment section below, and don’t forget to hit that like button, and if you want to support The Blog, consider picking up a Premium Subscription to get access to more behind the scenes and other cool stuff!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Tuesday Game: A Player’s Perspective: Elemental Intrigue & Return to Shadowhold

Our adventuring party found itself once again at the Three Wolf’s Head Inn and Tavern as they made their way to Waterdeep to seek out work and investigate the cultists of Imix they had encountered previously. Their interrogation of a cultist led them to seek out the Troll Skull Inn & Tavern, and they were greeted by a 7 ft half-orc bouncer by the name of Gronk. Gronk only asked that no be troubled be caused, and invited the party to come in to enjoy themselves. Soon after, the group curried favor with the halfing proprietor, Kade who began to regale tales about his time as an adventurer. When inquired about possible cultist activity at his establishment, Kade the bard was shocked at the depravity of the cultists using him to further their agenda, and he immediately offered to help the group seek out further information.

Trollskull Tavern Management (ENG/ITA) - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

The gang next investigated a meeting house for the Imix cultists. Several members of the group cast up cultists disguises, and they proceeded to enter the abandoned quarters. Searching the residence only found a false floor which contained an easily disarmed trap and a grimoire containing prayers/doctrine for followers of Imix. Shortly after entering, the group heard several voices outside stating that whoever is in there should come out immediately! The group obeyed the commanding voice to find themselves confronted with several figures in blue robes who had to followers of the primeval element of water, Olhydra. The tiefling warlock, Ecras, thought quick on his feet, and was able to diffuse the situation and convince the cultists of the crushing wave that they were brethren who had infiltrated the Imix cultists’ compound. Ecras was also successful in discovering the Olhydra cultists used the stables at the Yawning Portal tavern as a dead-drop for communicating with one another, so the adventures made for the tavern.

The group walked into the Yawning Portal tavern to find all the fantastical tales told about this place to true with several levels for different atmospheres as well the iconic well that leads to the adventures of Undermountain! With no more additional leads on the cultist activity in Waterdeep, the group sat down at a table and proceeded to order food and drink until an opportunity presented itself! As luck would have it, the group would not find themselves without work for long, for a female moon-elf by the name of Eliyana requested the adventurer’s assistance on a matter at an all too familiar place. The moon-elf requested help in searching and returning her scribes who were conducting research in the dark town of Shadowhold.

7 Waterdeep: Dragon Heist ideas | dungeons and dragons, forgotten realms, character art

The group explained their past dealings with that dreaded town and accepted to help the elf, but warned her to prepare for the worst as that town was not friendly to those snooping in the ruins. This was still the case for after several days travel to the town, the brave adventures found themselves on guard as they entered, and investigated an eerie disturbance in the town’s outskirts. The disturbance turned out to be several deranged individuals trying to silence a family held as prisoners, so the party quickly disposed the degenerate captors, but they found themselves in the middle of a more complex plot. Soon after entering, the audible screams of other people could be heard from the town center. The group dashed down the alleyway to the town center only to find an even grimmer situation was developing…

adventure D&D d&d stories d and d Dear Readers DM dm story dnd d n d dragons duneon master stories Dungeon Master dungeon master story dungeons dungeons & dragons Dungeons and Dragons dungeons and dragons story game game session game story game summary gaming how-to Inglorious Ingrates Ingrates miniature miniature painting mini painting minis painting painting minis podcast role playing role playing game RP rpg story tabletop game table top role playing game table top rpg tabletop rpg thank you ttrpg Tuesday Group you all are amazing

How-To DM: Dealing With Player Issues

Dear Readers, our usually scheduled “Player Perspective” is not available today due to the writer being unavailable. As such, I am doing an early edition of “How-To DM.” I will return with “Player Perspective” when the player is available next, and tomorrow will be a painting update on the projects I am trying to finish. Thanks for your understanding.

Dear Readers, I’m a little rattled today, and I was so more last night. Last night, there was an incident between two players, one who was able to be there and one who was not. I’m not going to identify the players or what was going on but I was put in the middle, and not as an arbiter, but blamed. It was a case of a misunderstanding, to be sure, but this is someone I’ve known for years, and the interaction stopped the fun of the game and the session altogether.

And it made me think: how many player interactions have I had of a similar vein? None that I can recall. I wondered what I had done to warrant such a response. My other players assured me that I hadn’t done anything. Yet here I am, it having really gotten to me.

I want to reiterate that this player is not a bad person, by any stretch of the meaning. They are usually a likeable and affable person. And then there was last night.

So today, I want to discuss what do do with three types of player issues.

Issues Between Players AT the Table

This should be a fairly simple to fix. As the DM, you are more than within your right to adjudicate any kind of disagreement or problem between players. This kind of issue can usually be fixed by reminding everyone that it’s a game, particularly a cooperative game, and that everybody just wants to have fun. Additionally, having established rules for inter player and interparty combat can head off a lot of issues as well. Hearing a lot of “it’s what my character would do” comes into play here.

Issues Between Players NOT at the Table

Sometimes, because people are people, there are disagreements between players when they are not at the table. Oftentimes, these disagreements have nothing to do with the game itself. When those disagreements and associated feelings spill into the game table, that is a problem. Talking with the players individually often helps the situation. I recommend remaining neutral in any disagreement between players when at all possible. It often helps to use one’s DMing skills to help arbitrate a piece between the two players. If that doesn’t seem possible, then reminding them that you guys are there to play and should leave interpersonal issues at the door can definitely help as well.

The Rules Lawyer

I’m not talking about the kind of player that helps the DM remember an obscure rule. I’m also not talking about the player who happens to know, offhand, what the armor class is of a troll. No, what I am referring to is the type of player that interrupts gameplay with a demand to follow the rules. When the DM rules on something, This type of player argues with the DM, usually to get a favorable ruling for themselves. I really can’t stand these kinds of players and establish very early on that the DM’s ruling is law. Usually, but not always, these players are also min/max players with the most optimal build ever made. You know the ones I’m talking about.

So what do you think, Dear Readers? How do you handle these sorts of situations? Let me know in the comment section below.

Don’t forget to hit like and to subscribe for more great articles.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Rime of the Frostmaiden: Assaulting Auril’s Abode

When last we met, the party had decided to head out to the island known as the Isle of Solstice, upon which sits the ancient fortress called Grimskalle. Their transportation? The whale Angajuk, who has a magical boat upon his back.

The party travelled for three days, Angajuk playing the tour guide, showing old shipwrecks and ancient ruins of the nearly forgotten giant empire known as Ostoria.

Arriving at the island, the party took stock of their surroundings. Seeing two shipwrecks that apparently begged to be looted, the party headed to them. In the first, jackpot! A large helping of treasure was found and split between the members. In the second, however, two giant sharks, each the size of Angajuk, swam in the hold. The party decided that discretion was the better part of valor and left them be.

Continuing on to the island, the party came across an ice mephit, apparently bored and willing to play the part of tour guide for the island. Telling them of a person who’s ship crashed but who managed to make it to shore (freezing to death in the process). Deciding that was worth checking out, the party reboarded their ride (the whale) and set out to the northwest corner of the island.

Landing there, they found the ship as well as the tracks from the “survivor.” Following the trail, the party came to a gruesome sight: a man half buried in the snow, clutching an orb of some kind, frozen stiff with a snow white weasel nearby, alive.

Surprisingly, the orb began speaking! It introduced itself as Professor Skant, a type of sentient magical item known as a professor orb. This item’s sentience has a lot of knowledge regarding a few obscure subjects. Of note, it knows how to reach the lost city of Ythryn, the fall of the empire of Netheril, the making of a specific elven wine, and the tarrasque.

Then, once they took the orb, the ghost of the deceased and frozen corpse appeared. Apparently, the body was Nass Lantomir, yet another wizard of the Arcane Brotherhood who was sent to seek out Ythryn. He claimed to not be able to be at rest until The White Codicil was found. The cleric, Horris, volunteered to be his host to hunt for it.

The party, having gotten what they came for, crossed the icy island, coming across beings and creatures encased in ice! Not daring to touch anything, the party was nevertheless attacked by an ice troll that they fought, with some difficulty, needing a rest before heading onwards.

They next came across a field with beautifully carved statues that were so lifelike it nearly brought tears to your eyes.

The party wisely chose to not touch any of the statues and moved onward to the path that led up to Grimskalle.

Meeting no resistance, the party continued in word until they opened a door and found an old, grizzled, blind, and death frost giant. After attempting to engage in conversation, wearing the giant roared declaring that he finally had the opportunity for a noble warrior’s death, the party engaged in combat, choosing to knock him out instead of killing him outright. After reviving him, the party promised a swift and merciful death in exchange for information. They learned that the roc, located at the top of the fortress was key in Auril’s plans to continue keeping Icewind Dale in a perpetual frozen darkness. If it were killed, she’d be unable to continue the curse. Additionally, on the basement level, lay The Codicil of the White, the object they sought, in a vault that required passing Auril’s three tests.

Deciding to begin with the Codicil, the party headed downstairs. Upon reaching the bottom, the party was met with a curious sight! A walrus dancing and playing and rolling across the ice-covered floor, who payed no heed to the party’s presence!

Seeing six passages on each major compass point, the party began north. Upon the door lay an engraving, in giant speech:

In ice and blood, our folk are born.

To our great queen, we raise our horn.

We’ll fight and plunder in the morn.

To Vassavicken, we are sworn.

Opening the door, the party was met with a pair of frost giant skeletons that moved forward with ill intent anchors on chains as weapons…

Will the party survive the encounter? What will they find behind the door? Will they recover the Codicil? When will Auril come home?

Find out next week!

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Until next time, Dear Readers…

Quick Painting Update: The Shame Lessens

As most of you may know, I have a number of miniatures that I had begun to paint, but had abandoned for reasons like: “Gah, this isn’t as fun to paint as I’d thought it’d be,” and “This mini sucks. Why did I buy it?” and my personal favorite “I have so many minis…so many…OOH! SHINY NEW MINI, MUST PAINT!”

Thus began my shame collection. The collection of half/partially painted miniatures that I have yet to finish even the base coats, let alone any detailing/drybrushing/shading/etc…

The Night Hag was one of those. BUT! I actually sat down and worked on her before pulling out a new miniature to paint. Here she is:

As you can see, she’s coming along nicely. I’m sdone with the skulls, did some touchups on her face, worked on her horns, touched up her robe and hair, and began her belt/braids.

As you can see, she still has quite a ways to go, but she’s getting along well.

I hope to have her done by next week, so I can show you how nice she can look.

Oh, and before I forget, if you want to see the work I’ve done painting a marilith, subscribe to our premium services! You get an extra post every week, detailing a special miniature I’m painting, premium giveaways, and sneak peaks into our future projects!

Speaking of giveaways, our 100 subscriber giveaway is still ongoing! Tell your gaming friends and get them to subscribe and one lucky subscriber will be getting a free Daily DM T-Shirt!

Thanks again, you all are amazing!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

DM Story: When a New Player Decided to Grapple a Troll at Level 1

I had a group of players who were literally ALL new to D&D. Super eager to learn and loves to play. And they do things that NO VETERAN PLAYER WOULD EVER consider doing.

I was running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and they are just starting. They deal with the bar right easily enough, and the troll/stirges come out of the entrance to Undermountain.

For those unaware, the troll is kind of underpowered, starting with 6 stirges on it, who fly off back into Undermountain the next round, and who only starts with 44 hp.

Anyhow, I have described these things to the players. One of the fighters literally decides to grapple the TROLL! I can’t make this up!

The best part?! He maintains the grapple the entire fight! Avrae dice were with him on that ONE thing. Then, another player gets the idea to take one of the lit oil lamps on the table, and break it on his sword to make his sword flaming and thereby hit the troll and keep it from regenerating.

I am geeking out at this point. I’ve played for YEARS and have NEVER seen anything like this. Ever.

Their last bit of strategy? While the troll is unable to regenerate one round, to YEET IT INTO THE PORTAL TO UNDERMOUNTAIN!! They try for a couple of rounds, Avrae being fickle. But they do it. They actually do it.

It was so awesome…

How-To DM: Using a Random Encounter Table

So, you have a great campaign, maybe one you wrote, maybe a prewritten one. Who knows. And you have a random encounter table. The question usually comes up: what do you do with it and when do you use it…

Here are some ideas:

The Players Derail the Campaign

So the players have gone totally off the rails. They made a left when you and the story pointed them right. Whichever. In any case, the players are off the charted part of the map.

Toss them a random encounter while you go about trying to figure out how to get them back on track.

dungeons and dragons - cartoon - The chaotic good war cleric chilling in a tavern and being approached by a terrified villager telling her the paladin and the warlock hearded and entire village into a church and burning down said church Nude Wait, What?

Pre-roll It

You don’t want the game to grind to a halt while you look up the table and roll on it. Pre-roll the table and know what encounters that the party can possibly run into. Make a list. You can either pick your favorites, or you can just roll each one and jot it down ahead of time, marking them off as you go along.

Twenty-Seven DnD Memes Full Of Strength And Dexterity | Dragon memes, Dungeons and dragons memes, Dnd funny

You Didn’t Prepare as Well as You Should Have

Sometimes it happens. You were busy and totally forgot to prepare for this week’s game. Well, shoot. Now what? Random frickin’ encounter tables, folks. Throw a random encounter to them. Improve some roleplay. Take a story hook and roll (no pun intended) with it.

dungeons and dragons - im a mountain biking vampire - Bitchy and Defiant to the Bitter End Your First Pc Hi I'm a Human Fighter avenging the death of my father Your Fourth Pc I'm a mountain biking vampire witch from the future Gif

Toss a Deadly Encounter

Teach players the benefits of occasionally running the heck away. Or maybe the massive giant dismisses the players as inconsequential and not worth its time. Maybe they find it, but it’s dead, having fallen to something even worse than that. Maybe it’s something that explains, in no uncertain terms, that they should just move along.

dungeons and dragons - attacking russia in the winter - witchdoodle the only valid d&d experience dm this npc's name is jamedi cosko players right, jumanji costco

Take Some Time For Character Story Advancement

I totally forgot to prep for the week. See above. In any case, I had a random sidequest involving an inn that had been taken over by a trio of werewolves using it to have meals come to them. During dinner, the werewolves attacked. During the melee she got bitten. She’s now dealing with the reality that she is a were-creature. She’s already been having identity crises, and this just added to the problem. The player is currently enjoying the character development. Now she, a paladin nonetheless, is having another issue to deal with.

dungeons and dragons - open the gates meme - There'S An Npc Open The Gate! He'S Almost Definitely Evil Wen Close The Gate! He'S Got A Really Funny Voice Open The Gate A Little! melip.com

Speaking of Role-Playing Encounters…Make the Encounter an NPC

It’s really interesting to have a memorable NPC encountered along the road/trail/in the middle of the wilderness. What are they doing out here? Why do they engage the NPCs? Maybe they have a wonderful side-quest that the party can go on while you are developing the story (see above reasons).

dungeons and dragons - dnd dm memes - Carefully Created Plot Threads My Players imgflip.com

Give Them a Solveable or Unsolveable Mystery

Maybe they find a strange rock. The party will spend tons of time trying to figure out what it’s all about. Why would the DM describe this random thing in such detail? It’s a great way to get some time while you are prepping the next planned encounter. It’s a great time-filler when you need one. This kind of thing can be just about anything. A set of standing stones. A large skull of a long-dead creature. Etc…

dungeons and dragons - intuitive interface kitten - Dm makes puzzle really easy players spend 3 hours finding terrible solution

So, what do you think? Do you use random encounter tables? How do YOU use them? What kinds of reasons do you use them for? Let me know in the comment section below!

Don’t forget to hit that like button and subscribe to get more great content!

dungeons and dragons - When three consecutive Strength checks fail to break down the door... that was unlocked Nord berlins Ga Am screams internally
Just one more D&D Meme for the road…

Until next time, Dear Readers…

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Tuesday Game: A Player’s Perspective: Forest Defenders and Lost Children

Previously, the Hopeful Dopes found themselves inciting a goblin rebellion against their hobgoblin leader, but the hobgoblin quickly dispatched the rebel scum before being knocked out himself. The group proceeded to take their captive back to Dope’s Hope, and they then questioned him for any intelligence on this mythical goblin king he served. Unfortunately, the hobgoblin proved to be too fanatical to divulge his master’s secrets, so the companions decided to leave him in their dungeon cells until he felt more inclined to share.

With a dead-end on what they could do next about the goblin king, the compatriots decided they would venture back to Waterdeep in the hopes of find work as well as generate interest in bring settlers to their keep. This found the adventures taking the dusty path known as the Hermit’s road which is surrounded by a pinewood forest where the trees stretch to jaw-dropping heights equivalent to the tallest trolls!

Their journey along Hermit’s road was interrupted by a foolish trio of sprites who tried to ambush the party while declaring they will stop the “Imix Lovers!” Luckily, the companions were able to convince the sprites they were no cultist of Imix, and the party learned that the sprites had overheard travelers that the cultist would arrive soon to burn the surrounding woods. Seeking to stop the threat of the cultist before they did any damage, the group helped lay another ambush that would hopefully capture the cultists as the sprites had intended.

Sprite - Monsters - D&D Beyond

Shortly after the last of the preparations had been made, the group hid in the forest as a small legion of cultist following two leaders made their way along the dusty path. The leaders blinded by their zealous, missed the traps set by the party, and the cultists were quickly dispatched in a deadly display of magic and metal. The group was even able to capture a deranged cultist alive who revealed, with some magical persuasion, that his group was from Waterdeep, and they were part of a even large network of cultist claiming to follow the will of Imix, the primeval elemental of fire! With this new information, the group moved further toward the city of intrigue in the hopes of investigating the threat these cultists posed.

Yet before the group could go much further, they happened upon an older human male who claimed he could not find his children after he had let them out to play. The party heard the father’s distress and vowed to help find them and return them safely. Using their exceptional skills of perception and attunement to the forest landscape, the adventures were able to locate tracks that likely belong to the young ones, so the party followed the footsteps all the way to the mouth of a large cave. This caved served only to bring dread to the adventures’ hearts at the implications of what might have happened to the children.

Seeking to find out more, the companions delved down into the depths of the cave, and they soon discovered the ancient remains of a Drow outpost that was located near a path likely leading to the larger Underdark network. Upon closer inspection, this outpost was also the home of one large sleeping troll, and behind it were the three children scared and huddled by a wall. Fearing what might happen to the children, the group devised a way to rescue the children without alerting the troll.

The changeling ranger, Ari, used her magical cloak of the bat to transform into said bat, and she made her way over to the children to quickly push them into the protection of the bag of holding. Once the children were safely into the bag, Ari turned to find herself face-to-face with an awaken and angry troll, and everyone quickly sprang into action to fell the towering troll. Lady luck showed her face once again, for after a short skirmish between the group and the troll, the beast finally fell from a fiery firebolt. The children’s rescuers quickly returned to the worried parents, and they continued on their way to the city of Waterdeep…

Troll - Monsters - D&D Beyond

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Miniature Painting Spotlight: Miniature Restoration – Pegasus

Hello, Dear Readers! I hope your week is going well. I’ve been doing okay, truth be told, and working on a lot of self-care.

In fact, today’s post is about a miniature that is dear to me. It’s my dad’s old mini for one of his favorite characters: the bard Pegasus. Pegasus was an old 1st Edition AD&D bard, where you had to take 6 levels as a fighter, 6 as a thief (rogue), and then 6 as a spellcaster of some sort (he was doing druid). Being a bard was tough back in the day!

Pegasus was a half-elf with golden hair. I know this because, despite the hair being worn away, I called my dad and asked him about the miniature, only to find out which one it actually was!

Here’s where he was and the process I had of restoring him.

One of the “before” photos

And here’s where he ended up going. I tried to color match as much as possible.

He’s like brand new.

I plan to do some minor shading on him and send some pictures to my dad. He was never one of those that painted in a super lot of detail, and he used the old Testor gloss enamel paints, which was interesting. The paints I used covered nicely, in my opinion.

What do you think, Dear Readers?

Let me know in the comment section below, and don’t forget to subscribe!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Not All Puzzles Require Solving

Even though I was unable to play my normal Sunday Adventurers League game (I had to travel again yesterday), I was able to play my Sunday evening Discord game.

I’ve talked about this group before (how the wood elf Elren befriended the tarantula named Benjamin), and it’s a good group. Currently, it’s made of Elren (wood elf monk), Momon (half-elf wizard), Claa P. Trap (warforged artificer), Calla (human paladin), and Gotrek (dwarf barbarian). Last night, Claa and Momon were unavailable, so it was just the other three.

Before you get comfortable, I just want to say that this isn’t a game summary, as such. It’s more of a treatise on the puzzle that they came across.

They came to a room with a corridor leading out of the other side. In the room were three pedestals with objects covered with a cloth, the center one being larger than the others.

As of note, the entire dungeon has been a mishmash of randomness, with corridors and rooms changing haphazardly. Different corridor materials with the most random assortment of creatures. Nothing coherent. Nothing cohesive. Other than the randomness.

So back to the three pedestals.

Three pedestals. Three objects covered in cloths. A corridor beyond, with a stone door bound in iron with no lock and a simple handle (the same make of door that they entered the dungeon through) down the corridor. And the paladin says with a sigh “We’d better go fiddle with these shouldn’t we?”

The first question I asked in my mind was…Why?!

There was, and I made sure to reiterate this, a clear way to bypass the room!

They lift up the center cloth and come face to face with the disembodied head of this (less the mandibles):

Umber Hulk

Of course, as you may have guessed at this point, they get hit with the gaze attack. One of the three didn’t make their save, so the others divert his gaze for him, while not looking at it. While holding the cloth. With it uncovered.

The paladin decides to use his divine sense ability and found that the right cloth covered something undead. Wonderful.

They checked the left one and found that the hair was…bulky. Like they were large braids or possibly thick dreadlocks. Strange. The elf groaned and turned the object underneath towards the umber hulk head. They held a mirror up so that whatever was underneath the cloth on the left would also see itself. You can probably guess what was underneath the cloth…

Medusa

Yeah…That. And because of the mirror, turned both the umber hulk head and itself to stone. Sweet. Maybe.

Then they check the third cloth and found that, underneath…it was smooth.

This was problematic for me. I had, in this dungeon, deadly encounters that the party was not supposed to fight. They were supposed to run away from some things. I was trying to teach them a lesson that no everything was meant to fight.

But NOOOOoooooo. They decide to lift the cloth.

Why, Dear Readers, does every single mystery have to be solved now? Why do they have to be solved at all? Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, why do players feel that they have to do everything? Please let me know YOUR reasoning in the comment section!

In any case, they lifted the cloth.

Demilich

Yes. It is exactly what it looks like: a demilich. One of the most insanely powerful critters in the book. And they were only 6th level. Yeah. But here’s the deal. The paladin has a +5 Charisma modifier. And is 6th level. And most saves are going to be Con based. Versus a monk with a high Con, a Barbarian, and a Paladin. Con heavy dudes/dudettes (the paladin is a female).

We ended on a cliffhanger where they beat the tar out of the demilich (everyone has magic weapons, the monk’s hands are magical weapons, and they were rolling very well for the most part, particularly their saves versus the life drain and the howl abilities of the demilich), but decided that, finally, discretion was the better part of valor and headed for the door. Now they are going to see if it will give chase or not.

So, what do you think, Dear Readers? Would you have walked on by? Would you have decided enough was enough after the first head was uncovered? Would you have left the heads uncovered?

Well, we’ll see what happens next week!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

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Let’s Do Some World Building

Dear Readers, I apologize for a lack of post this last Friday. Both yourdorkmaterials and I were swamped. Thanks for your understanding!

So we’ve talked a lot about building adventures, and encounters, and campaigns, etc…But what if we want to build a world? Well, that’s what we are going to look at doing today, and I’m going to walk with you through this, giving you a sample world for you to use yourself or make your own.

First off, I am no cartographer, by any stretch. So what is a Daily DM to do? Well, you find a tool that helps. And one I like using is Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator. You can literally generate an entire globe with town names, populations, demographics, religions, nation names, etc… Although this can be handy in a pinch, I don’t like building my entire world this way. I’ve tried it once, and it required too much modification to make things function the way I wanted to. Granted, that’s part of what is great about this online tool is the level of customization you can have, but I like doing the majority of the work myself. Besides, we are not going from the macro to the micro.

We are going to start with one little town and work our way out.

So what I did was generate a random small town. I played with the settings long up until I got a little berg that appealed to me. And thus, this town was born:

The Little Town of Borest

What does a town need that any basic adventuring party may want?

  1. An inn/tavern – a place to pick up adventures or to recuperate after an adventure
  2. A town selectman/mayor/elder – someone that is in charge of the town to be a potential solicitor of adventurer services
  3. A general store – somewhere to purchase gear/equipment between adventures

So let’s flesh out the Inn and Tavern today:

Inn/Tavern

There are many online resources to be able to help with Inn/Tavern names. My favorite is Fantasy Name Generator (this link is specifically for inns/taverns). After hitting “Generate” a few times, I found a great one that I can use: The Grey Lamp Inn and Tavern.

What is the theme of this place? The grey lantern with a continual light spell cast in the interior that hangs out front. And to make it better, we’ll say that it’s a rather warm and inviting place, with plenty of rooms, and that it’s along a trade route to give it plenty of traffic to enable plenty of adventure hooks.

I used Tavern Sign Crafter to make the sign. It’s pretty customizable with lots of options.

Now for the proprietor. Male or female (rolls 1d2)…a female! What’s her schtick? Well, I want the party to like her and be invested in her…she’s friendly, if a little gruff at times with rowdy patrons. Let’s see…her husband died in a recent war, and she’s raising their young teen…daughter…alone, ever since.

For her name? I’ll just think up one off the cuff…how about…Angelina Surestout? And the daughter’s name is Sabrina Surestout. And Angelina is 38 and Sabrina is 14. Just old enough to want some independence, but young enough to need an adult. A future adventure hook, maybe?

World Building and Quest Hooks

As we built the basics of the town and worked on the Inn and Tavern, notice how the creation of each step included the possibility of future adventure/quest hooks.

Possible hooks for what we have so far:

  1. Sabrina falls “in love” and wants to run away from home with random boy/traveler/nomad/etc…
  2. Sabrina is out picking flowers and is kidnapped by goblins/kobolds/bandits looking for ransom
  3. The tavern is visited by a rowdy group of travelers making trouble for Angelina
  4. Someone has stolen the lantern after which the inn was named, either as a prank or for other more nefarious reasons.
  5. Trade caravans with supplies for the inn aren’t coming in. Why not? Maybe goblins/bandits/etc…?

As you can see, with a little bit of forethought, even basic beginnings of world building can help with beginning a campaign and create further adventures.

Next week, we’ll focus on the town selectman/mayor and if we have time, the general store!

Until Next time, Dear Readers…

P.S. – don’t forget, our giveaway is still ongoing! The t-shirt is amazing and if we hit that 100 subscriber mark, one of you lucky Readers will win it! So subscribe via email, WordPress, or even better, become a premium subscriber!

P.P.S. – I was unable to play my normal Sunday game due to being out of town and on the road. Therefore there will not be a normal Sunday game summary this week. I will have something else for you guys.

Premium Content: Painting the Marilith

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Miniature Painting Spotlight

So I promised an update on the painting of the female elven ranger miniature that one of our Dear Readers had won in our first giveaway, and here is where she was last…

Well, she advanced some…

She was coming along quite well…

And then I did some more work, getting the base paint on her.

She was really coming together. I enjoyed the use of greens and browns.

But the best is yet to come…

Details are done, and shading has begun.

Oh, Dear Readers, it gets better!

Isn’t she something?

Yeah, I know, there are places I was holding it that weren’t dry and paint came off, particularly on the base. But that’s okay, as I am going to do some terrain work on there.

Now, I cannot claim credit on these last steps. Yourdorkmaterials and I were hanging out with a friend named Darren (the one teaching me the more advanced painting techniques), talking and painting. In fact, Yourdorkmaterials is working on, what I believe, will be an awesome miniature, and I hope he lets me showcase it here! But I digress.

Darren ran the assist and helped (read: did for me!) the shading and highlights. He’s going to do some more of it to make it presentable for our winner! He’s helping while I learn the techniques he’s teaching me. Great guy, right?!

But there she is.

Dear Readers, I hope you enjoyed seeing her as much as I loved painting her. I’ll post up when Darren is done with the touch-up work on her!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Tuesday Game: A Player’s Perspective – Three Grave Road and Goblin Revolt

Last time on DBZ… wait wrong story…

We left our adventuring companions taking on a bandit raid targeting a former raider by the name of Tara Grassel/Lyra Firebrand who was providing food and board for our adventures. The bandits were pushed back with spells and sorcery, and the party was able to put out most of the flames attempting to ruin the farm. With the danger passed, the group asked their host what she wished to do with the leader they captured, and she wished to be left alone to take care of late husband’s farm in peace. Thus, when the morning sun rose, the group got back on the road to make their way back to Dope’s Hope.

A few days travel later, the party was traveling along a road known to be fraught with danger called Three Graves Road. This road had a history for being treacherous from Thunder Storms that had scattered massive boulders throughout the relatively flat landscape, and a particularly nasty storm had claimed the lives of three nameless travelers. Their corpses were subsequently buried, and their graves serve as a warning and place of prayer to all that travel along the route.

One such traveler was a halfing man who approached the changling ranger, Ari, and proclaimed her to be the avatar of his deity, Tymora. As if prompted by otherworldly powers, three ethereal specters rose from the iconic graves, and they sought to bring more travelers to their demise! The party quickly dispatched the ghostly figures, but the monsters soon gave way to three zombies who also wished to drag the adventures to their graves! Yet, once again our heroes vanquished these undead foes put before them, and all seemed peaceful….

Until, the heavens themselves turned dark and the air around the adventures went to a deathly silence as a black cloaked figure with a large scythe materialized before all present. The only figure that could bring all living things to a silent stop was death itself, but this figure was not hear to gather more souls. Instead, death brought warnings that mysterious and malevolent entities were gathering power to bring darkness to the lands, and asked who will be their champion to prevent this calamity? The only one to speak up was the goliath barbarian, Spray, who answered the call to stop this darkness, and he was then given a dark periapt of health. As quickly it came, death then dissolved on the spot leaving the party with ill feelings about what the future held.

Several further days of travel found the party once again at their keep, Dope’s Hope, and the new members of the group were welcomed warmly and acquainted with the surrounding area. After a night of entertainment and comradery, the group decided it would not lie down in wait of the next Goblin King assault, but they would rather go seek out the threat themselves because what could go wrong…

The party’s search for any other goblins was rewarded with fresh goblinoid tracks in the forest surrounding the keep, and the group decided to follow the tracks deeper into the forest. Less than a day’s travel later, the companions were upon the group of goblins and single hobgoblin leader, and they deliberated at what the best course of action would be next. The dwarven artificer, Tywin, suggested a plan involving his magical machinations to sway the goblins to their side considering their outnumbered position. Spray and Ari, approached the goblins with the intent to take over leadership of this goblin gang, but the hobgoblin in charge challenged their true intentions. With the cast of a die, however, the barbarian and ranger were able to convince the goblin subordinates to revolt against the tyranny of this hobgoblin, but the flame for freedom shortly died out as the hobgoblin slew all of the rabble at the cost of several mortal blows to himself.

Seeking to capitalize on the situation, the dragonborn cleric, Quibli, proceeded to put the hobgoblin to sleep, tied him up, and brought him back for interrogation at Dope’s Hope! What opportunities does this loyal follower provide to our compatriots in their quest to vanquish the goblin king? Only the dice gods know…

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Rime of the Frostmaiden: Small Group, Large Deeds

Dear Readers, this week, only three of my players were able to make our Sunday Adventurers League game. As such, this session was much more role-play centered than combat centered.

When we last left off, our heroes were in a lost spire of Netheril, broken off from the floating city of Ythryn when it crashed to Toril all those centuries past.

Seeing that their only path forward was down (up?) a hole in the floor (ceiling?). Going down they found themselves in a large room with mutiple doors. The first door they tried led to another collapsed stairwell. The next door led to a room holding a ghast and…Dzaan? The party was confused as they had seen this man executed by burning at the stake in Easthaven!

Upon closer examination and conversation, this person was actually a simulacrum of the infamous wizard. The party was unsure of whether to trust this being or not. This goes especially for when it found out that there is a chamber that turns illusionary things into real things, with the hope that he can turn himself from a simulacrum into a real person. The only thing needed was the spark of a real living person in order to create the life from the illusion.

The party was extremely suspicious of his motives as well as his intentions, considering the “real” Dzaan had been executed for killing a group of adventurers that had helped him find this spire. Accordingly, the barbarian/paladin expressed that he was, in no uncertain terms, going to help this simulacrum accomplish his goals.

The cleric, however, was willing, so the party went down (up?) further into the spire, to find the chamber in question.

It was here the barbarian/paladin ran into the denizen of that level, a basilisk! The barbarian/paladin and the rogue/fighter made short work of the beast.

Before the last step, the party asked Dzaan’s simulacrum what he intended to do if this was successful. His response was to get a new spellbook, some supplies, and continue trying to find Ythryn.

The cleric advanced forward with the simulacrum, providing the spark by touching him during the process. In the end, the process appeared to work!

Deciding that there was nothing else for them to do, they headed out to deal with the gnoll threat that had been plaguing Caer Konig (although that town was destroyed in the chardalyn dragon attack).

It was difficult to track down the lair without the aid of their trusty ranger, but the party managed.

Senior entrance, the party headed down below to face the looming threat. Only… When they finally came across the brutes… They didn’t attack. They just saw the party looked towards further into the lair, and went back to their activity.

Strange.

Heading to where the gnolls were looking, The party found a particularly nasty one that they handily defeated. Hearing his death throes, All of the others rushed past the party to devour its remains. The gnome, seeing an easy solution to their problem, let loose a fireball in the room, ending the threat. They collected the treasure, which included a magical fishing hook that, when placed in a 10′ cube of water, could pull out a magical fish that would have certain properties or have some other effect.

Easily enough solved.

Looking at their options, the party headed back to Bremen so that they could rest and resupply and figure out their next move. With Dzaan telling them that the White Codicil likely lay on Auril’s Island, the party looked for a means of transport, hearing rumors of a whale at Angujuk’s Bell that talks and can provide transportation!

The party headed towards this location, finding a strange rock formation, with a dock and a bell, as well as a large hole in the ice. The party rang the bell only to be attacked by three large vultures. They were absolutely no match for the party’s onslaught, and fell quickly enough. Soon enough, the whale came, with a strange boat attached to its back!

Parlaying with the whale, they managed to trade passage to Auril’s Abode for a magical fish caught via their new magical fishing hook. After fishing for some time, the party brought up a fish that sprouted wings and began, singing in Aquan, a beautiful song.

The party threw the fish to the whale, who promptly ate it. A magical fish is a magical fish, after all.

Having secured transportation to Auril’s Abode, the party prepared for departure…

Will a party find the Codicil? Well they survived the encounter on Auril’s Abode? What will they find there?

Join us next week to find out!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Remember, if you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out on any of our great content!

PS – the giveaway is still going! Let’s get to that 100 subscriber mark!!

Where to Put Things

Dear Readers, I am not an organized person. I have to leave clutter around here and there, and my desk is barely usable.

So when I decided to organize my miniature painting and modeling supplies, I want you to understand how excited my wife was. My wife is the organizing and storage lover in our relationship.

Up until recently I had a box marked as my miniature painting supplies.

Sad, isn’t it?

And here’s where my modeling tools were…

Yeah. I know. And you cannot believe the pain in the backside it was to pull everything out, try to get everything cramped back in, etc…

So what did my wife do? She helped me look for storage boxes. Knowing that I had new paints on the way, no less than 20 new droppers, I needed a solution, and I needed it fast.

What we settled on was a toolbox. So we headed to Lowe’s. while looking around the toolbox section, one of the associates approached and asked if he could help. We described the situation we were in and what we wanted and he had an opened box toolbox. What he pulled out was nothing short of amazing.

Behold! In all its glory! The daily DMs new miniature painting and modeling box!

No, seriously. This thing is amazing. First off, you can see that it’s lockable. Great for when I’m at the local store and need to step away but don’t want people taking my stuff.

Secondly, the upper storage area is nothing short of huge.

As you can see, I have my Delco locker my enamel thinner and brush cleaner, all of my brushes, my little jar of half done projects my two dice cases that I used to hold newly painted minis when I’m showing them off, an entire role of paper towels my project rag, my nail polish remover, toothpicks, etc… It. Holds. Everything. And I know for a fact that I could put more in there. in fact, I had an extra pallet that I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with but I just put in there as I’m writing this.

Now to the drawers. The first store is where I actually keep my paints and shaders.

It literally holds every paint I own to include the few Citadel paints that I own. The better part is, if you look on the far right bottom, that there’s enough space to put a whole new row of paints on top. They would stack two high. I could easily fit another 32-36 droppers worth of paint in here, at least.

Next is my wet palette and details drawer.

As you can see, my wet palette on the right, the extra hydrofoam and hydro sheets, and my detail terrain and grass tufts.

Lastly is my modeling drawer.

This is all of my stuff for modeling. Files, sanders, tweezers, glue, hand drills, clippers, knives, pliers, etc…

Due to the metal and mostly Sharp nature of most of these objects, I put down a layer of paper towel to protect the drawer. I don’t have foam inserts for it so this is the best I could do.

So, what do you think? As the saying goes rate my setup!

Let me know in the comments section below.

We are still doing our giveaway, so don’t forget to subscribe to get all of our new content as it comes out! Premium subscribers get access to an extra post on thursdays, so consider helping us by supporting us with a premium subscription!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Product Review: Army Painter Wet Palette

Today, Dear Readers, I am doing something a little different. Today I am doing a product review for the Army Painter brand wet palette. As I am a frequent fan of their brand of miniature painting, sculpting, and terrain products, I thought it was time for me to actually tell you about what I think of their individual products. As I was recently introduced to the art and science of the wet palette and having just recently purchased the Army Painter brand one, I figured I would do an unboxing (I’ll do a separate product review post once I’ve gotten a chance to use it)!

Here it goes…

First we have the unboxing. Here’s what I pulled out of the box:

As you can see, it comes with both a miniature painting and assembly guide (they are really great at providing beginner instructions!), as well as the wet palette itself, and the pack of other things.

Let’s check out the wet palette:

First we have an elastic band to help hold the wet palette together. As I soon learned, the palette came in three parts:

After removing the lid (which I would like to add seems like a very sturdy plastic; all the better to preserve the contents!), I was met with a paintbrush holder. I’ve discussed the paintbrushes I use, but I do own a single Army Painter brush that would fit nicely in here. Unfortunately, as I already have a good holder for my brushes, I won’t likely be using this any time soon. Once my current set of brushes need to be replaced, I’ll likely be replacing them with the Army Painter brand sets (of note, the one I have is their Psycho detail brush; I’ll be reviewing their brushes later when I get some more of their detail brushes).

Taking off the next layer, we find the tray for the wet palette itself.

Not much to say here. It looks like it will do the job.

Next let’s look at the contents of the plastic package:

The front.
The rear.

As you can see, there seems to be some instructions contained inside. Let’s take a look!

It looks like it contains a “How to Use a Wet Palette” guide, a guide on using paints, a warranty card of sorts, the hydro-foam mats (x2), and a stack of 50 hydro sheets, and a product catalogue. Let’s take a look at the guides for using the wet palette and paint/brush care.

In my opinion, the instructions seem clear and concise, with appropriate warnings about lack of water tightness. Additionally, it’s nice to have the reminder of brush care, with something I can pass on to new or younger miniature painters.

The last thing in the box was this, probably the most important object in the box:

I have had to use this only twice, and I cannot describe to you how amazing they are with this.

  1. I had a cracked tip on one of my paint droppers. They sent me a whole small bag of paint tips. Holy smokes! All they asked for was a picture of the cracked tip.
  2. My gaming ruler thumb-stop broke out of nowhere while using it normally. I sent them a picture and offered to send it back. They said that was not needed and sent me out a brand new measuring tape!

Their willingness and awesomeness in standing by their brand is beyond anything I have ever seen from any company in my 39 years, and is why I will keep going back to them time and time again.

Well, Dear Readers, what did you think? I’m, frankly, excited about using it, and will be doing just that when I work on the mini for our giveaway winner!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

How-To DM: Combat Encounters – Design — The Daily Dungeon Master Blog

by yourdorkmaterials

A Moon Druid, a Barbarian, a Rogue, a Monk and a Wizard walk into a cave…sounds like the start of a joke, doesn’t it? But a party like this can be a nightmare to build challenging encounters for. The Druid and Barbarian effectively have twice (or even three times at low levels) the […]

How-To DM: Building Encounters – Design — The Daily Dungeon Master Blog

DM Story: How The Daily DM (accidentally) Traumatized a Table of Middle Schoolers

Image is the property of Wizards of the Coast, All Rights Reserved

So, I was DMing a table of mostly middle schoolers (one of them is my son), and very early into the campaign, the party bard was tired of how long it took to get across the city and asked me how much it costs to hire a wagon. According to the PHB, it costs 1 cp per mile to hire a coach. Being as they were tavern owners (this was Waterdeep: Dragon Heist) and had cash to spend, the bard threw 5 gold at him and said “Alright, buddy, you work for us now!” and thus, Greg the Cabbie was born. Greg was a simple commoner with a wagon and two horses to pull it, who drove the party everywhere and had an uncanny talent for (whenever I rolled for it) NEVER being caught by the city watch for his reckless driving! Please keep in mind that this NPC was created on the fly. And the party started wanting to know more about Greg. Greg had a wife and 8 kids. He typically made about a silver a day (standard wages for average joes), until the party hired him to be their personal transport as well as the advertising cab for the tavern. Keep in mind, they hired him on session 2. It’s 4 levels and many sessions later, and the party is heading to the final confrontation. The adventure calls for them to be stopped on the way by minions of the hidden bad guy, to steal the McGuffin they needed to get into the confrontation. The party consisted of a human (that was short and thought he was a dwarf), dragonborn sorcerer, an elven wizard, elven rogue, halfling rogue, elven cleric, elven rogue, and an elven ranger.

Image is the property of its owner; all rights reserved.

So, they were in the wagon. And fanned out in front of them were 8 (in human form) wererats who were standing in near profile with hands below cloaks or behind them. I showed them how they were standing in front of them. The party was trying to talk them down while the bard was whispering into Greg’s ear to bolt and run them down when he gives the signal, which is yelling “FOR GLORY!!”

It is at this point that the wererats are going to act.

I have the song “O Fortuna” playing.

Image taken from Wikipedia

I have been planning this for weeks.

I know when the music crescendos

I am setting out minis and the board.

The cleric tells me he gives the signal to Greg the Cabbie.

And right before the music crescendos, I describe them as the wererats all pull out hand crossbows. As the music finishes building, I describe as the wererats shoot Greg (in serious detail), who death grips the reins of the horses, and the horses rear, and then are cut down by the remaining crossbow bolts. As I go on and on, I watch as each of these kids sit, eyes wide, tears misting their eyes, mouths agape. As I go quiet, they scream, nearly in unison: “NOOOOOO!!! NOT GREG!!!”

The elven rogue’s player throws his d20 against my DM screen and says “ROLL FOR INITIATIVE! I’M KILLING ALL OF THEM!!”

Que epic battle which was absolutely awesome.

NONE OF THE KIDS CAN HEAR THAT SONG WITHOUT A FULL TRAUMA RESPONSE (maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration; they still talk about how awesome that twist was)!!

TL;DR – I as DM plan epic encounter and using music, kills a beloved NPC almost traumatizing a table of middle school players.

Epilogue: the party spent the money to raise him from the dead and apologized profusely. He works for them to this day.

Premium Subscriber Post: When Awesome Campaigns Fizzle Out

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Tuesday Game: A Player’s Perspective – Shadowhold Outcome and Grassel Farm

When last we saw our adventure party, they had found themselves in Shadowhold at the precipice of a demonic statue that held their goal, the sword of Veldspin’s father. Veldspin desired to pull the sword so that she may reunite the lands her father had ruled once before, but her hired help of daring adventures had sensed the sword may be doing more than just decorating this statue. However, the warforged monk, Rain, sought to tempt fate itself, and precariously removed the blade from the statue. Upon the withdrawal of the likely magical blade, the party found itself beset by maleficent and shadowy specters and a demon wishing to cause harm to all living things before them.

The group defended itself with every blade and spell attack at their disposal in the hopes of vanquishing their attackers, and the fates were in their favor as a hulking goliath barbarian, named Spray, barreled down into the plaza launching a flurry of axe slashes and wild magic in the form of lighting streaks from his person. Then, the grung warlock, Natty, called upon her ancient one’s oath to focus a fantastical and fatal Eldritch blast on a shadow specter, and with the intent of finishing off their foes, the dragonborn cleric, Quibli, hurled a divine moonbeam onto the shadow demon. This beam of glittering light dispersed the demon’s form with a satisfying blast, and the adventures were able to catch their breath once again.

After a short rest and some deliberation amongst the group and the priestess, it was decided it would best for them all to leave the sword in the statue, for the group suspected that the sword was the key in holding back the dark forces of the Riven from entering the material plane. Though the priestess was disappointed in not retrieving her birthright, she thanked the companions for helping her connect with her father’s deeds of the past, and she headed on the road home to finding another way of bringing her lands together while the group headed back to the Three Wolf Heads Inn and Tavern.

Upon return to their usual spot, the adventuring party was advised to stop by Grassel’s farm for free room and board while traveling back to their keep, Dope’s Hope. The party rode out for one week until they happened upon the mentioned farm, and they were greeted by an older rugged looking woman by the name Tara Grassel, her young adult son, and an oddly larger-than-normal badger. The farmers provided a quick tour of their apple farm and offered the group stay with them free of charge, but the adventuring party ensured this act of kindness was repaid by at least help in the harvest produce.

An apple picking and farm duty montage later, the dinner bell was rung, and everyone prepared to partake in the feast prepared by the Grassel family. However, the always vigilant cleric detected a poison that prompted the dragonborn to discuss the matter in private with his compatriots. This further led to an awkward situation where the cleric questioned Tara on the purpose of the poison, and she declared that the poison was meant to keep rodents from damaging the crops. However, this answer only served to put the cleric and others on edge for the rest of the night, and it was followed up with further deliberation while standing guard over the farm.

The discussion became so heated and passionate, that even the most perceptive of the group were caught off guard by the sudden arrival of several unsavory guests who yelled out for Lyra Firebrand, head of the Badger Brigade, to show herself. The band of bandits proceeded to descend unto the farm with breaking into Tera/Lyra’s house and setting the orchard on fire. Our adventuring companions responded in kind with fighting back several of the bandits with sword and sorcery. They were able to prevent the unpleasant outlaws from abducting Tera, who revealed herself to be Lyra Firebrand, and the group was able to put out several flames consuming the farmland. The crooks, seeing the tides turning against them, finally fled back into darkness from which they came, and left our travelers with questions they needed answering from Lyra Firebrand…

adventure D&D d&d stories d and d Dear Readers DM dm story dnd d n d dragons duneon master stories Dungeon Master dungeon master story dungeons dungeons & dragons Dungeons and Dragons dungeons and dragons story game game session game story game summary gaming how-to Inglorious Ingrates Ingrates miniature miniature painting mini painting minis painting painting minis podcast role playing role playing game RP rpg story tabletop game table top role playing game table top rpg tabletop rpg thank you ttrpg Tuesday Group you all are amazing

Painting Miniatures: Space Marine

Dear readers, today’s painting installment will be a step-by-step on how I go about painting a Warhammer 40K space marine. These are, in particular, primaris space Marines.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to show you what they look like prior to priming, as I have already primed them. But I will go over how I primed them.

Of course, I started with base coating. For this I used the spray can that Citadel paints offers. Since we are painting Primeris marines, I went with Macragge Blue.

After the base coating, I used the Citadel Balthazar Gold to to do the shoulders and the aquila on the chest plate. When I got these marines, they were already pre-assembled making the job of painting the chest plate much more difficult. had I been the one to assemble these I would have painted this before assembling the blaster. But that is neither here nor there.

As you can see, there are some tiny imperfections; I fixed those after taking the picture

As you can see, it’s a very precise paint job. I recommend keeping a pot of the Macragge Blue on hand to go back over areas you accidentally over paint. The shoulders are a real beast of a job to get without over painting.

As you can tell, the gold is a little more prevalent in this photo that’s because I used Agrax Earthshade to highlight the gold areas to make them stand out a little bit more.

Next, I will move on to the blaster.

We just want to get it all nice and black, using Abaddon Black.

After that dries a bit, we go on to using Leadbelcher to paint the metallic parts of the blaster. Notice also how I used Macragge Blue on the blaster where I did. This will come in later when we dry brush the mini. Trust me.

Again, if this miniature had not yet been assembled, I would have done the painting of the blaster before I actually assembled the mini it just makes it easier to get the entirety of the rifle without having to accidentally paint on another part. Maybe that’s just my preference, but it just seems more logical to do it that way.

I also realized, after taking the picture, that I had forgotten to paint the sidearm he has here’s a picture of the painted sidearm:

You can also see that I’ve begun detailing the space marine. Painting on his backpack the silver ring as well as the outtake vents. Those are both Leadbelcher. This goes with the tubes on his helmet.

Now I’m starting work on the detailing. Notice I painted the pouches Leadbelcher. We’re going to do a little dry brushing on that later.

Yes, I know I missed the top of one of the pouches. I fixed it after I saw it in the picture.

The next thing I’m doing is using Nuln Oil shader to do the flexible bits between armor plating, and around the parts of his armor. I used Agrax Earthshade for shading the rest, except for the helmet. At least yet. We’ll talk about the helmet in the next step.

Now for the eyes.

No matter what anybody says, do not under any circumstance use Mephiston Red for the eyes. I’m going to use the Mephiston Red in other places, which you will see in the picture as well. For the eyes? White. Again, trust me.

Gah, those eyes are hard to paint. My hand isn’t very steady today. MS is kicking my tail!

Notice how I use the Mephiston Red on some details. Now for some more touch-ups and detailing.

For me, dry brushing is one of the more difficult activities in painting. I had not been using the technique due to the fact that I, frankly, suck at it. That said, here we go.

Not bad, if I do say so myself! Aaand now some more detailing and shading…

Lastly, let’s do the base; some basic gravel and a tuft of grass…

So, what do you all think? Did he come out good enough for a mediocre painter?

I hope you enjoyed today’s installment of miniature painting. if you have any constructive criticism, feel free to leave it in the comment section below.

As always come if you enjoy the content we produce feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss out on other awesome content.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Home Campaign Combat and Battle in the Throne Room (Rime of the Frostmaiden)

Home Campaign

As you may recall, my family’s home campaign is the Curse of Strahd. After dealing with the fallen paladin’s of Argynvostholt and gaining their support with defeating the Devil Strahd, the party headed to the Amber temple to retrieve The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, a unique holy symbol created specifically to help in defeating Strahd.

Image the property of its owner, all rights reserved.

The party found a side passage off of the main entrance that had several people speaking of evil things.

The party, thinking of getting the drop on them, headed inside hoping to flank them. The party entered into the main entrance, and found two guard rooms, where the gnome wildshaped into a bug to get into the room with a skeleton holding a wand.

After retrieving said wand, the party went into the temple proper. And all hell broke loose.

First was the 40′ tall statue with blackness where the face should be. Then all the doors and the arrow slits to the northwest with a green flickering light emanating from within.

Image the property of its owner, all rights reserved.

Upon walking inside, a fireball was launched from the statue’s face region. Then, as the party attempted to regroup and figure out what was going there, those berserkers, for that’s what they were, came out of the room the party had earlier spied.

The battle was long and continually fraught with danger. At the end, there was only one being standing, and elderly Man who claimed to be the guardian of this temple. The party did not accept his excuse for attacking and attempted to grapple him, but the man showed uncanny strength for his appearance.

The man turned invisible and disappeared.

Taking stock of their surroundings, the party took a short rest.

Battle in the Throne Room

Xardorok Sunblight, the king of the fortress, stood at his throne, roaring at the intrusion of the party.

The party fought the quaggoths and duergar that flooded into the throne room, the ranger concentrating his fire on Xardorok, while the paladin/barbarian and the cleric/paladin held off the hordes. The gnome wizard lay down a spell to keep the enemy taking damage, sculpting the spell around his allies, preventing their being affected by it.

The battle seemed to take an eternity, with Xardorok falling during the melee.

Bloody but still standing, the party stood triumphant, their foe laying dead at their feet. They claimed his crown and spiked gauntlet, both made of chardalyn, and tended to the myconid sovereign. Communication was easy as it had telepathic abilities.

It told of its capture at the hands of the duergar, and of its desire to return to the underdark. It communicated that their lay a small squad of duergar with a captured umber hulk between its freedom and their current location.

Using a spell of invisibility, the party used mage hand to remove the sack over the umber hulk’s head, letting it wreak havoc among the duergar.

Using the ensuing chaos as a cover, they let the myconid sovereign run to its freedom.

Returning back to the main floor with Grandolpha, the party cut a deal for her to take control of Xardorok’s fortress and forces, clearing out back into the underdark.

Searching throughout the fortress, now absent of any enemies, the party found some decent treasure, enough to share around.

With that problem solved, the party headed back to Brynn Shander to rest and recuperate.

There, they met a woman called Vellynne Harpell, who claimed to be (after much interrogation) part of the Arcane Brotherhood, although not of the ilk of Avarice and her crew. She sought the Codicil of the White, a book she claimed could help end the Everlasting Winter…

Vellynne Harpell

She told them to look for word or clues at a tower that allegedly broke from the Netherese city of Ythryn, landing in the wilderness of Icewind Dale.

Wary of her true motives, The partying nonetheless headed towards the lost spire, beginning to explore its area, only to find that it broke off and landed upside down!

What will the party find? Will they be able to successfully find the codicil?

Join us next week to find out!

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Until next time Dear Readers…

P.S. – our giveaway is still ongoing! Once we get to 100 subscribers, we will be giving away a t-shirt with The Blog logo!

Currently Traveling

Dear Readers, I apologize for the lack of posts today, as I am traveling to take my daughter back to college after visiting this weekend. Tomorrow I will have a wonderful post talking about our home campaign and the awesome fight that happened there in as well as a summary over the events that happened at today’s game.

As always, don’t forget to subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any posts.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

DM Story: Near TPKs

Dear readers, this blog post is brought to you by me using voice to text, so if there are errors or mistakes, blame Android.

There comes a time in a dungeon master’s life where you build what you believe to be a good, challenging, and balanced encounter. Often times, due to the nature of how the dice roll, or can roll as the case may be, some of the more easy encounters can turn deadly. Here are two recent examples of this very story.

Story 1

I haven’t written much about my Tuesday campaign, although our guest writer, one of my players from Tuesday has been writing the player’s perspective of that game. He began covering our Tuesday game after the infamous incident.

The adventure started innocently enough. A woman was asking the party to recover some climbers and explorers who had gone missing in an area. party did some searching, found evidence that these people had been kidnapped and taken towards the mountains.

Heading that way themselves, the party soon discovered a cave complex that led deep into the mountain. Eventually, the air grew hot and the party Saw that the cave opened up to reveal an island filled with treasure in the center of a pit of magma. The party saw the four captives and several people, cultists, looking like they were preparing to sacrifice the victims to some entity. The party began making a plan, only for the goblin to decide to go Leroy Jenkins on the cultists. Absolute chaos ensued.

What the party was expected to do was to sneak around, use the surrounding terrain to make their way close to the center island towards the south end, the party beginning in the northwest corner, and then engage the cultists and the fire newt warlock.

With the goblin acting as he did, he brought in every cultist, the two hellhounds, the fire snakes, and the warlock. Add to that, the ranger, one of the frontline fighters, broke through obsidian glass causing lava to start filling where she was. You can only imagine how bad this went. The level one cleric with the party, a new player, attempted to do what he could to keep the party alive. Despite his efforts, Karthaal, one of the party’s own warlocks, died while valiantly fighting cultists and the hellhounds by herself.

The party won the fight, but it was a pyrrhic victory. One of their own lay dead, the hostages they were sent to be rescued had all died, being thrown into the lava, and the amount of treasure found was not enough to raise the warlock back from the dead.

There were several moments, and if I’m being honest, more than one, where I truly believed that the party was going to be wiped out. Between bad rolls, a poor decision at the beginning, and me playing the cultists intelligently, the party had a very rough go of it.

Story 2

This one is my own fault, and not the fault of the party, especially since the previous story’s encounter had been pre-written. This encounter? This one was made by yours truly. And I almost killed the entire party.

So the group was getting a little bored wandering around Icewind Dale during our Sunday game of Rime of the Frostmaiden. I decided that it was time for them to move along in the context of the main storyline. This involved a party heading out under some pretext towards the fortress of the duergar and trying to prevent them from unleashing the chardalyn construct that was allegedly being built.

How did I choose to do this? I had the big bad guy send an assassination team to attempt to wipe out the party. They weren’t supposed to nearly succeed!

These particular creatures, of course, have the ability to be invisible. they additionally have the ability to grow to immense proportions. I had a squad of relatively low challenge rating critters, plus a warlord leader and a wizard type waiting for the party.

The ranger, with his insanely high perception check, knew there was something going on, but couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Has he moved off to the side, he actually bumped into one of the dark dwarves. Combat followed.

Party members went down left and right. The sorceress who had some healing magic, did her best. The party was drinking healing potions like they were going out of style. Then the sorceress went down. Then the rogue went down. The ranger went down. See where I’m going with this? The barbarian / paladin was up for quite a while, spreading his lay on hands ability as far as it would go, additionally keeping himself up. The dice rolls were not in the party’s favor most of the time.

In the end, the party lay battered and bruised, with their sorceress having bled out, failing her third death save. What should have been a challenging encounter for a relatively powerful, at least at that time, group of adventurers, turned into a bloody slugfest. Almost every member of the party, if I remember correctly, went down hard at one point or another.

This was another time when I thought that the party wouldn’t make it.He would have only taken a few more bad rolls for the entire party to go down. A couple saving graces did help them: at one point, the ranger role the natural 20 on his death save, bringing him back to one hit point. his sniping ability helps save the party almost as much as the barbarian / paladin’s staying power.

Dear Readers, when I say it was close, you got to understand that it was a hair’s breadth from going the other direction for the whole party, let alone the sorceress.

Conclusion

In the end, some of the time the party is at fault for making an encounter harder than it should be. Other times, it’s the luck of the die, or our miscalculation as to the deadliness of an encounter. In either case, It is my opinion that it is better to allow the party to feel their characters mortality then to do anything less than let the dive fall where it may. And in this game, sometimes characters die, and that’s okay.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

P.S. – If you enjoy this and our other articles, don’t forget to follow or subscribe! Remember, if we hit the next milestone of 100 followers, there is a new giveaway. Also, if you subscribe, you get access to our premium content, previews of upcoming projects and access to premium giveaways!

HOW-TO-DM: THE HOUSE RULE

Hello everyone! In this week’s installment of How To DM, I’d like to talk about house rules.

Ah, the temptations of the house rule. Most of us can’t resist the urge to open the Pandora’s Box of Amateur Game Design and homebrew some rules while we’re homebrewing everything else, right?

But fewer things can totally derail a game faster and more thoroughly than bad homebrewed rules or simply too many house rules no matter how well-intentioned.

This post is about my own personal guidelines I use when considering a new house rule. You might have very different opinions, and the number one rule is always – Whatever adds fun to your games is always a good thing. So take these points with a boulder of salt.

I also want to say up front that when I say “house rule” I’m strictly talking about rules that change or add to the existing rules mechanically.

So, let’s talk about house rules in this week’s How To DM!

Never House Rule on the Fly: If I’m considering adding a house rule to my campaign, it’s usually because a player has suggested something, and that suggestion is almost always during play. If I’m not going to disallow it immediately, then I will usually allow the change for one game only and will give my permanent ruling next game after I’ve had a chance to really think about it.

Get Your Players’ Buy In: If I do decide to incorporate a house rule, I usually take a session and let my players test it for me. It’s important that everyone understands how the rule works and when it will be applied. Everyone needs to be on the same page as to how this rule will affect the game. Player input can help you improve on your idea, or even help you avoid something disastrous.

Encourage Good Roleplay By Giving Inspiration:

Ground Rules for House Rules: Here are some specific things I consider before bringing a new house rule to my table:

Can everyone take advantage of it? If you start homebrewing rules for specific classes or species, then it is inevitable your players are going to want something special for their characters too. Pretty soon, you have a dozen house rules that everyone has to keep up with.

Is this house rule really needed? How exactly is a rules change improving the game? Or am I simply fulfilling a player’s wish list because they want their character to be able to do something they once saw in an anime? If it’s the latter, then many of these types of things can be handled using optional rules or simply letting someone occasionally have advantage on something.

For example, I have an Artificer in my current game, and he found a mechanical device he wanted to analyze. Of course, none of the basic skills really cover that sort of thing, but – instead of coming up with a new skill – I had him make a INT check using his proficiency bonus.

Is this house rule going to make things more complex? Is that added complexity (or “realism” as it’s more often called) going to slow the game to a crawl? Have I really thought about how this particular rules change might affect other, standard rules?

What tips, tricks, and advice do you folks have? Put them in the comments below, so we can all share in the info. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next week for another installment on How To DM!

Tuesday Game: A Player’s Perspective – Delving Into Shadowhold

Dear Readers, this post is brought to you by our guest poster (and player at my Tuesday Group), Brandon. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did!

The group found itself gather round the The Three Wolves Head Tavern and Inn licking their wounds after their most recent encounter that cost them a companion. While looking for their courage at the bottom of a mug, destiny decided to present our battered adventures with an opportunity.

A humble woman named Veldspin, dressed in priestess garbs of Lothander, beseeched the adventures to accompany her on a quest to retrieve her father’s sword from the town of Shadowhold to unite her lands. Shadowhold is a town known to historians as a cursed place after the twisted experiments the dark warlock Dhreda Bazmad, and the priestess revealed that her father was part of paladin cohort that sought to vanquish the warlock. She further divulged that after the warlock vanished into the Riven, her father had returned without saying a word about what happened at Shadowhold or his sword.

Seeking to turn the fortunes around, the group took on the priestess’s request and headed several days to the abandoned town of Shadowhold. The influence left by the warlock were apparent in the supposedly deserted town, as destruction and rot were evident in the buildings and waterways nearby. Portals connected to the Riven were scattered amongst the burned out buildings and eerie silence gripping the streets.

Art taken from https://www.deviantart.com/artofreza/art/Abandoned-village-views-01-528546969

No sooner had the group entered into the town, then they were assailed by unholy aberrations and crazed scavengers looking to take down unwary travelers. Unfortunately for these enemies, the group was on a call for redemption, and they struck their foes down one after the other in a myriad display of bladework and magical retribution. After felling the last foe, the group found themselves alone again in this deserted town, and nowhere closer to finding the quested sword.

Art taken from https://www.deviantart.com/devburmak/art/Frostgrave-cultists-2-587023740

As if called by destiny, the priestess inquired down a long alleyway that opened up to a plaza with a statue of demon and magical rift connected to the Riven and shoved into the statue was the sword. The air surrounding the statue reeked of evil, so the group advised the priestess to wait while they ensure no stone was unturned. With due haste, the group searched the remaining buildings that included the town clock tower. Led by the artificer, the group was able to find a locked safe that revealed, with some magical motivation, a trove of supplies and treasure that included a Bag of Lodging!

The group returned to the demonic statue with the priestess staring keenly after the object of her desire, and with few options left available, the Warforged companion volunteered to pull the sword out from the statue. The group waited with bated breath as their mechanical friend pulled the sword from the statue, and no sooner had he touched it, then four gruesome and dark specters rose from the ground yelling “DREHDA!” and seeking to bring doom to our companions.

What will come of this encounter? Will the sword be pulled from the stone? What other secrets is this town hiding? All will be revealed when the die is cast…

adventure D&D d&d stories d and d Dear Readers DM dm story dnd d n d dragons duneon master stories Dungeon Master dungeon master story dungeons dungeons & dragons Dungeons and Dragons dungeons and dragons story game game session game story game summary gaming how-to Inglorious Ingrates Ingrates miniature miniature painting mini painting minis painting painting minis podcast role playing role playing game RP rpg story tabletop game table top role playing game table top rpg tabletop rpg thank you ttrpg Tuesday Group you all are amazing

Painting Update: Fighting Laziness and New Projects

So, here’s some of the projects I have worked on since the Space Marine, using the new techniques for drybrushing that I have learned.

Behold! Manshoon!

I know…it’s kinda pixelated, but I had to work with what I got!

As you can see, the drybrushing/highlighting and shading techniques I learned turned out very well, I think.

Next, we have Artemis Entreri…Gah, I shouldn’t have started this mini. I am so not motivated or ready to paint him, but I added another base coat to get his darker brown areas painted.

Next, we have the project for the winner of our 25 subscriber mark giveaway!

Here you can see, by her shoulder, that I had to fill in an imperfection with green stuff. I thought it turned out okay.

As you can see, I’m going with a green motif for her outfit, making her a forest-y ranger. I’m thinking brighter colors with dark accents.

Let me know in the comment section if you have a better idea!

My last project…by request, is this beauty (gah, I sound like Steve Irwin!):

Apparently, Dear Readers, my post did not save correctly and the end of the post was cut off. Here’s the rest…

So this is my current project list. I’ll also be attempting to shade, drybrush, and thereby finish the tiefling warlock, and I’ll post that up as well. Frankly, I recently saw that I messed up some parts so I’ll be fixing those up first.

As Always:

Don’t forget that there is a premium subscription option that gives you access to the behind the scenes look at what we do here as well as premium giveaways!

Also, there are similar and even more options when donating via our Patreon!

Lastly, our subscriber giveaway is still ongoing, sponsored by our Discord partner Arryn, an RPG gaming server with a fun community. If we get another 70 subscribers (Premium or otherwise!) the next giveaway happens, so make sure to hit that “Follow” or “Subscribe” button!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Rime of the Frostmaiden: “Have Fun Storming the Castle, Boys!”

In our League game, the two female players were unable to make it to our session this week, thus the title.

So when we last left our heroes, they had thwarted the attack on Ten Towns by the chardalyn dragon that Xardorok Sunblight, the duergar king and clan leader in the mountains, had created. The party had decided that enough was enough and that he must be dealt with, and swiftly.

The party headed out only to be stopped by a pair of perytons, which the party dispatched rather quickly, afterwards only taking a short rest before continuing onward towards the fortress known only as Sunblight.

The dwarf in the party found it odd that they had not been accosted on their way up the stairs to the main part of the fortress, and even more perplexed at the lack of confrontation with a seemingly empty guardhouse.

Even more strange was hearing the gates unlock!

The party cautiously entered only to have the guards inside sound their alarm to stop the party. The battle was long and hard fought, but the party was victorious and stopped them from alerting the rest of the fortress.

Going through the level of the fortress that they found themselves on, the party found Xardorok’s war room and bedroom. Looking around they found the very plans for the chardalyn dragon which they figured out themselves.

Duergar

Working further into the fortress, they came across the invisible duergar that let them in. Questioning him, they found that there is another faction of duergar that had no loyalty to Xardorok, but instead to Grandolpha Muzgardt, the paramour of Xardorok, who is a duergar clan leader and merchant head of an Underdark meade business, who also has zero interest in Xardorok.

They sought her out, finding her in a dining hall. There was a very tense standoff, with the party agreeing to parlay with her. She agreed to neither help nor hinder the party’s efforts to defeat Xardorok, and gave the party as much information on Xardorok and his operations as possible, to include what he was and the possible places he could be found. Lastly, she indicated that there were many of Xardorok’s people who were now loyal to her and not Xardorok, who would only fight in self defense.

Looking around the rest of the level, the party found an elevator that went up and down, and knowing that Xardorok was on the lower level, the party headed down. Heading out of the elevator area, the party walked directly into the throne room…there sat Xardorok Sunblight, the ruler of his clan, first of his name…

Xardorok Sunblight

Additionally, a myconid was being tortured in the corner by a number of Quaggoth that were loyal to Xardorok. The party was appalled, and moved in to attack, the gnomish wizard starting the fight with a fireball that was shaped to hit everyone but the myconid.

Roaring, Xardorok headed towards the party, with death and destruction of the party his new priority…

Will the party prevail against their current foe? Will they be successful in stopping Xardorok’s other plans?

Subscribe or follow The Blog to find out next week!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

P.S. – Don’t forget that there is a premium subscription option that gives you access to the behind the scenes look at what we do here!

Also, there are similar and even more options when donating via our Patreon!

Lastly, our subscriber giveaway is still ongoing, sponsored by our Discord partner Arryn, an RPG gaming server with a fun community. If we get another 70 subscribers (Premium or otherwise!) the next giveaway happens, so make sure to hit that “Follow” or “Subscribe” button!

Of Miniatures and Subscriptions

Dear Readers,

As you could tell recently, I had offered premium subscription services. The problem? WordPress.com can be…finicky sometimes. So although you can still support The Blog, you will be getting the premium content via email until I can get things figured out. This is JUST subscriptions via thedailydungeonmaster.com.

I have the subscription on here fixed if you subscribe here on The Blog.

If you subscribe via my Patreon, you get the premium content there. I hope this clears things up.

Now, on to the substance of the day: miniatures!

If you hadn’t heard, we had a winner for our miniature giveaway contest! It was one of our email subscribers. She will be getting the following miniature (the bottom of the two):

Big congratulations!

That will be a project that you all and they will get to see me do, step by step, as I post about the progress of that mini!

New Techniques

Recently, I studied under a rather experienced miniature painter. He paints some of the most amazingly detailed work I have ever seen, to be honest. I hope to get to even a fraction of the experience level that he is at. That said, I learned more than a few techniques from him as well as finding out that I have missed a step in painting my miniatures. That’s aside the point, because I will be attempting to demonstrate this technique in posts to come. Maybe you will notice the difference when I show you the differences.

Many of you may remember this gem from my painting posts:

I enjoyed painting him, but there was something…definitively missing about him.

That said, my master painting teacher got a hold of it and “fixed” him, while telling/showing me what I could do to improve my technique, as well as to improve the kinds of paints I use to prime my miniatures.

What resulted…kind of blew my mind. I present to you: Mimic 2.0:

See? Much better. And a better use of shading than I had used.

The next picture I have for you today strays away from my typical work on miniatures of the fantasy genre.

Yes, I painted a Primaris Space Marine this last week. And it was awesome.

Now, don’t get your hopes up. I can’t afford a Warhammer 40K habit, even if I wanted to (which I do). That said, I got 6/10 of a squad of Intercessors that someone had already put together but had not painted and said, “Here. Paint them for your Blog or something.”

I am using them, therefore, to improve upon the techniques I have been taught.

So, here is attempt #1:

If you cannot tell, there are some issues here. My drybrushing needs work, although I am pretty impressed with my attempt at highlighting and shading.

So what do you think? Is there any hope for this mediocre miniature painter?

Well, we shall see how things improve over the next 5 miniatures.

What would you like to see painted, Dear Readers?

Let me know in the comments section below, and, of course, don’t forget to subscribe to get notifications of each of our posts!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to our newest subscriber, Brandon B.!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

How-To DM: Rainy Days and…What Day is It? Thursday, You Say? Well, Yeah, Those Can Get You Down, Too…

Not sure what the weather is like where all of you are, but today is rainy and dreary. In a word: sucky. At least for me.

That said, when you are having such a day, and you have no games to prep for, what do you do with that extra time when you are in the mood to D&D or other such gaming?

Here are some suggestions:

1) Plan Your Next Campaign

You know you’ve had some great ideas floating around. Maybe you’ve been recently inspired by something you’ve read, seen, or an idea that just popped into your head. Write your idea out in more detail and work on a rough outline! Heck, if you get really ambitious, you could even write up an encounter or two!

2) Campaign Prep For Your Current Campaign

If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now: you can almost never do too much reading up, planning, or writing for your current campaign. Maybe you have yet to write in a way to tie your players’ backgrounds into the campaign. Maybe you haven’t fleshed out the BBEG. Maybe you just need to read ahead in the pre-published adventure you are running. Whatever it is, you can always work on what you are currently running.

3) Brainstorm a New Campaign Idea

If you haven’t read my previous post on inspiration for campaign, read it. I’ll wait.

Did you read it or skim it? If you skimmed, go READ it!

Okay, so now you get the gist. Go dream up a new campaign, write it down, and see #1 above.

Additional resources include:
Old issues of Dungeon Magazine*
Old adventures from earlier editions of D&D*
Lore from campaign guides and adventures
Other pre-published adventures

*Note: 1st and 2nd Edition materials are easily converted into 5e, in my experience

4) Read Up On New Source Materials

I made this separate from the rest, as I see it different than #3 or #1. There are literally TONS of materials to read or gather campaign stuff from. Everything from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, to Tash’s Cauldron of Everything contains a veritable shmorgesborg of materials, from new monsters, example dungeons and lairs, new spells and feats, to bits of lore about this race or that. You can even use the latter of those to create more depth to your NPCs and villians (looking at you, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything; an insight to how Xanathar thinks is littered throughout the book; see Waterdeep: Dragon Heist)

With all of these ideas, no rainy day should get you down or hold you back from getting your gaming on!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Rime of the Frostmaiden: Of Duergar and a Dragon

When last we left our party, they headed for the goblin fortress to make good on the peace treaty.

The party stopped to rest on the way back from Brynn Shander with a herd of goats and a signed peace treaty, the gnome wizard casting Leomund’s Tiny Hut to provide shelter.

One member stood guard outside to ensure the party’s safety upon exit and to watch the herd.

The ranger heard it first, calling to the party for backup. Through the blizzard pair of owl-like shrieks sounded!

Bounding out of the snowy weather across the tundra came a pair of owlbears!

The party, with the paladin/barbarian and ranger’s help, made short work of them, only to face another that was slower on approach.

Afterwards, the party delivered the treaty and goats, and headed back to Brynn Shander.

Duergar

Only…they were being watched.

Along the way, they felt a presence watching them. They could not pinpoint what it was, only that they had people among them…

The ranger moved to have tactical advantage when he bumped into something… invisible. Invisible and big…then they attacked!

A small host of duergar, grown to their giant size, fell upon the party. It was a pitched battle, and the party felt that there was a chance that they would possibly not make it out when the dragonborn sorceress fell, followed by their rogue and ranger. The paladin/barbarian was absolutely essential to the party’s safety and survival. When the snow settled and their foes lay defeated at their feet, dead, while the party lay standing and bloodied or unconscious, the party tended to their wounded only to find their dragonborn sorceress had bled out, perishing. Looting the dead, they found a note from Xardorok, the duergar warlord that was allegedly creating some sort of construct beast out of chardalyn in a fortress called Sunblight, the ambush to destroy the party for their meddling. It also said that they had 4 days before the beast would be unleashed.

Thankfully, though the party cleric was not present, they knew someone that could help: the clerics if Lathander and Aumantur back in Brynn Shander could cast a spell to bring back the dead. They made a speedy retreat back to Brynn Shander and had the spell cast. Due to the taxing nature of being brought back from death, the party had to rest for the next 4 days, a dangerous prospect but unavoidable, to allow the dragonborn sorceress to recover completely.

Knowing the time was short and that It would be a close call, the party made haste on their trusty axe beak mounts towards Sunblight.

The party arrived at the massive fortress in the mountains. It was a tall structure looming far above with a winding staircase to the top landing.

As soon as they began to ascend the stairs, a grating sound was heard, and the massive beast flew off, the party guest, towards Dugan’s Hole.

Chardalyn Dragon

Knowing that the party was going to be unable to get to the town of Dugan’s hole before the dragon, the party decided to try to make a stand in another town, Easthaven, leaving both Dugan’s Hole and Good Meade to the chardalyn dragon’s wrath.

The party arrived just in time, drawing the construct to them with attacks and taunts. It engaged them, taking some damage and doling out damage to the party. Taking off, it headed north to Caer Dineval.

Knowing that they would be unable to keep up with the dragon, the party made a calculated decision and headed straight for the town of Termaline, deciding on making a stand there, having had Easthaven send messengers across Ten Towns to warn them if the threat.

The party, having had no rest, headed towards their destination. They arrived at just in time to have the watch help in engaging the threat. The entirety of the town guard were killed, but the party struck the final blow, felling the foul construct, the shards of chardalyn falling into the lake of Maer Dualdon. Enlisting the aid of “Bob” the awakened plesiosaurus, the party had all of the pieces of chardalyn moved and hidden away from humanoids, under the lake.

The party was furious at the destruction caused, and vowed to take the fight to the duergar.

The party headed to Bryn Shander, apparently the place holding all of the refugees from the other towns, to restock on supplies. The townspeaker offered the party 200 gold pieces each to take out the threat. Additionally, the party found out the tally of the destruction: besides the aforementioned towns’ destruction, both Caer Dineval and Caer Konig had been destroyed, with many of their population having perished, and the towns razed to the ground. Additionally, several beloved NPCs had also perished in the attack.

Turning their attention to Sunblight, the party marched on to war…

How will the party get into the fortress? Will they be able to destroy the threat of the duergar warlord Xardorok?

Until next time, Dear Readers…

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