Tag Archives: DND

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 17

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This is terrifically delayed, and a departure from plot hooks because I’m in need of a palate cleanser. I’m also not as present in the TTRPG spaces as I have been previously and so I’m playing a little catch up on some of the discourse (which should shock no one).

Let’s all keep in mind these are my views and opinions on the topic(s) that follow and that they are by no means the be-all, end-all. At all.

That said?

Let’s talk about the value of Modules, especially for new DMs, DMs who haven’t run 5E as often, or DMs who have been away from running 5E.

Dungeons and Dragons 5E has no shortage of modules and multi-adventure books that can be used as a starting point for longer, larger adventuring campaigns. From as far back as Hoard of the Dragon Queen all the way through recent installments such as Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen or the updated Phandelver adventures, modules have generally acted as a solid foundation upon which DMs could build a campaign for their table.

I could go on about how I feel modules are only as restrictive as you let them be or how they are valuable tools, but instead I’m going to switch to my own perspective and lived experience getting into DMing 5E.

My journey into DMing D&D 5E began with the whimsical, wonderful Wild Beyond the Witchlight, an adventure that takes players through the curious and captivating Witchlight Carnival and into the Feywild where they discover the land of Prismeer has been fragmented by the three witches of the Hourglass Coven into separate domains – Hither, Thither, and Yon. There are clever hooks with which to draw players into making their way to the Feywild and get them on a path to saving Prismeer, as well as different routes to getting the players to the Witchlight Carnival in the first place.

There is also plenty of room to find ways to introduce players into the world at large.

I originally had planned on running the module as-is, prepping meticulously ahead of Session 0 for how I would introduce my players to the Witchlight Carnival and its awe-inspiring inhabitants.

The day of Session 0, much of that was scrapped and gave way to Thistlewood—a little village with its own curious cast of characters, some drawn from previous games I had played in—as a starting zone of sorts. It allowed me as the DM to give breadcrumbs to the players and guide them to the carnival and the circumstances that could lead them to the Feywild. Much of the initial sessions were homebrewed details – including a security system that manifests an illusion of Tiamat, for instance.

Now please note that this is not the way to go for everyone, but if there’s anything you can take from this as a new DM or someone who is less comfortable DMing a module I would like it to be this: allow for plenty of breathing room. D&D 5E, similar to its peers, is still a game of collaborative storytelling and there is a lot of fun to be had with building upon modules with whatever the players come up with along the way.

My Witchlight game is far from over—hell, the players only just arrived in the Feywild and it’s been on-and-off for over a year (life, as it turns out, continues to happen without regard for games and other such things). Though the pacing isn’t quite where I’d want it, I wouldn’t change the experience my table has helped create for anything in the world because it is unlike any other game of Witchlight that’s been played (much like many other such games that take place in this setting have been—their own twist on the module’s material).

Have fun, stay curious, be whimsical, and of course: good luck and godspeed!

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 13

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Happy Monday, fellow adventurers and GMs! I’ve been looking forward to sharing this one, but held off for the 13th…which, in hindsight, doesn’t make as much sense as using this on the 5th or saving it for the 20th. That’ll make sense in a couple of sentences, I promise.

This is another one that you can run in just about any system you’d like with some tinkering and retooling, but it was originally used for one of my favorite, most chaotic 5E one-shots and then for an incredible mini-campaign of Scum and Villainy that’s still waiting to see completion in a third session (complete with a beach episode that absolutely was not a beach episode – surprise!). And so without further delay: I present Charles Edward Cheddar’s Fright Nights (version 1; yeah, there’ll be a second post of this and I’m very not sorry)! (Why yes, this is absolutely a WishDotCom level knock-off of a wildly popular video game series turned major motion picture turned endless line of Funko Pop figurines.)

Charles Edward Cheddar’s Fright Nights

Congratulations on your adventuring party’s new and deeply enriching career path as the night time security guards at a long shut-down but never forgotten tavern and child-friendly gambling facility, Charles Edward Cheddar’s! It’s not enriching in the sense that it will pay well, and the hours aren’t terrific, but it’s a chance to help preserve those fond childhood memories of fun times!

Upon arriving, your party is greeted by the daytime guard, who seemed more than eager to head home—increasingly so as the sun moved closer to the horizon. He explained that things are pretty self-explanatory: keep trespassers out, tidy up any odd messes, don’t disturb Charles Edward Cheddar and his Fun Time Pizza Pals because the animatronics tended to get a little squirrels after what used to be normal business hours. Sure, the owner could have decommissioned them when the place closed down but they chose to keep them around for sentimental reasons.

A little detail omitted from the job listing: your party is locked in until your shift has ended in the morning.

There are odds and ends to be tidied up, a convenient security room from which the whole facility can be monitored…or so it seems, anyway…and a well-stocked snack bar.

However, even as the night is young things started getting interesting. Charles Edward Cheddar and friends seem to have noticed they aren’t alone, and there’s no party scheduled. Can your party survive the night? Or will they find themselves having been made into backup members of Charles Edward Cheddar’s band?

GM Tools and Tips

Charles Edward Cheddar’s Fright Nights is absolutely meant to be the cheesiest, campiest, goofiest TTRPG tribute to Five Nights at Freddy’s (sans the lore depth) possible. It’s terrific fun to run, even if players go into it expecting the FNAF experience, and lends to a lot of fun, silly moments but also to some solid tension building (and, if you play your cards right, the closest you’ll get to a jumpscare in a TTRPG—remember, Session 0 and safety tools are key as always).

This works well in Forged in the Dark games as having clocks for the animatronics antics (their hostility ramping up, their approach to hunting the party, etc. ) as well as how much time is left in the overnight shift, but this plays out just as nicely as a more exploration and RP-heavy 5E game.

Some animatronic suggestions:

Charles Edward Cheddar – the headliner, and definitely in no way a direct rip-off of a real world analogue of near-identical name, Charles is the star of the show. He runs the tavern and is always aware of what’s going on, but does not immediately intervene. He lets his friends investigate first, and then as nights go on he becomes more active (and dangerous).

Pizza Paulette/Pizzapotamus – Pizza Paulette is more of an analogue to Chica from the FNAF games, while Pizzapotamus is…well, a hippopotamus version of such an animatronic. Either approach: this character sure loves all things pizza. Not just the taste and smell of it, but sharing facts about how it’s made, why it’s so darn good, and how well your adventuring party might taste as toppings if you aren’t careful. One of the first animatronics to seek out the adventuring party, often the least subtle, and definitely quick to cause a fright. In my 5E one-shot, Pizza Paulette made it into the security office only to have their face melted off by magic before getting absolutely wrecked.

Carl E Calzone – The surlier cousin of Pizza Paulette/Pizzapotamus and chef of ill-repute, Carl Calzone often keeps to the kitchen and tavern dining areas to watch out for any who might be there to steal his revolutionary recipes. He’s the only one of the animatronics who can be bargained with as, despite what all materials surrounding the dilapidated establishment indicate, he’s “cool with taking bribes”.

The Breadstick Bunch – Once a collection of delightful, sentient foodstuffs, The Breadstick Bunch has gone stale and stabby. They travel in a pack, assessing where the party is and who can be tricked into going off on their own before splitting up to corner and make quick work of them. They are cautious around standing water, not only for their circuitry but because the majority of their bodies are made up of actual breadsticks. Please note that per company policy any penicillin acquired from The Breadstick Bunch is considered an additional dipping sauce, the cost of which will be deducted from your wages.

Shroomy Sal – The bassist of the band and most likely to start a tavern brawl at children’s birthday parties, Sal was often conveniently switched off during Charles Edward Cheddar’s prime. Now online all the time, they are ready to make some noise and break some bones. Sal will often notice the players before they notice Sal and will work to quickly close the gap before dealing as serious damage as possible.

Bits ‘n Bolts – Not an official animatronic, this amalgamation of decommissioned band mates from eras long past has awakened and is out for revenge on a world that took its home—Charles Edward Cheddar’s—from it. Bits prefers stealth and subterfuge, hiding just out of sight in the shadows before luring players into potentially dangerous situations, and often creeps through the ventilation system. Fun fact: this was the one I managed the closest thing to a real jumpscare with in 5E, a personal victory I will celebrate whenever possible.

The above are absolutely loose guidelines and I encourage you to come up with your own pals for Charles Edward Cheddar. Be cheesy, turn up the creepy factor, and ham it up (with or without pineapple). As always; take care; good luck and godspeed!

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 12

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What Slumbers Deep Beneath the Ice

Warmth and life has gradually begun to return to the realm after an especially bitter, cold, dark winter, and with the warmth your adventuring party too finds themselves returning to some of their familiar haunts that were less hospitable in the frigid days.

The scenic village of Umbraport is one of the party’s first stops. Known for its bustling marketplace, love of adventurers, and frequent feasts, your adventuring party finds themselves greeted by a very different tone than they are used to here. Shops closed early or indefinitely, and wary glances from between shutters are the closest the party receives to a greeting until finally a friendly merchant spots them and ushers them into his home.

Umbradeep Lake, he informs them, has been frozen for much of recorded history. It’s a lake so steeped in legend, largely due to its unfathomable depth. No two sources seem to agree on the specifics, but it’s commonly accepted that Umbradeep Lake’s depths are greater than the height of the highest mountains in the realm.

Other legends tell of a horrific creature from ages past that was sealed away beneath the lakes depths by the never-melting ice Umbradeep was famous for having year-round.

The ice, the merchant notes, had begun to thaw, and as it did the villagers noticed strange and worrying happenings. The dark of night seems to arrive before the sun has fully set. Odd shadows and strange sounds prowl the alleys at night, often leaving deep claw marks in walls and cobblestones.

Far beneath the melting ice, or so villagers say, something seems to have begun to awaken.

The ice is still quick dense, but your party feels a sense of incredible unease upon visiting. Will they find a way to stop the ice from melting? Are they ready to confront whatever ancient darkness lurks beneath its surface? Can Umbraport be saved, or is it doomed to be lost to shadow?

GM Tools and Tips

Ease into the adventure with emphasis on everything having warmed and woken from the especially bitter cold that has finally left the world. Give the players a trail of breadcrumbs leading them to Umbraport but allow it to happen organically. If you’re running this in a system that utilizes clocks, now’s a great time to start counting down a few regarding the lake thawing, the strange happenings in town, and so on.

While this is absolutely a more horror flavored bit of fantasy adventuring, please also remember to keep it within the parameters of what’s safe set forth during Session 0 (and this is a great time to remind myself I’ve been meaning to do a post about Session 0 at some point so maybe I’ll sprinkle that in as a bonus post one of these days).

Save the day, stop the thaw, or face the darkness in the depths of Umbradeep. Whatever happens? Good luck and godspeed!

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 4

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A Time Without Heroes

The adventurers find themselves facing down their arch-nemesis after a seemingly endless journey riddled with perilous pitfalls and fearsome foes. They square up, ready to fight, as their arch-nemesis gives the fully-anticipated monologue. Time seems to stand still.

That’s when the adventurers suddenly, inexplicably, fall into a trance-like state. Everything goes black. What feels like an instant later, the adventurers blink away their confusion and find themselves surrounded by their arch-nemesis’s minions. One calls out to alert their boss your party has awoken, and they rush over with a curious expression on their face—not one of unexpected victory or devious plotting, but one of concern.

A new monologue begins, far less villainous in nature. All around the world, other villainous sorts shared stories of the adventurers who were about to thwart their plots—the true end goal of most sinister sorts—suddenly falling out of time. Nothing could explain it and nothing could fix it. It was simply a time without adventurers—without heroes. And in that time greater evils than ever imaginable were able to rise up, and all the monsters, fiends, and villains of the world could do was tend to their heroes and hope the cosmic balance would once again right itself.

Your adventurers find themselves in a weakened state, as though they were fresh to journeying forth to best evil, but this is a world in which evil has been redefined. How do they proceed? Do they have what it takes to save the day and restore the natural order of things?

GM Tools and Tips

Taking this approach will absolutely require table buy-in, but approach it vaguely enough to allow for a surprise. Make sure you talk through starting with high level characters that are going to revert back to lower levels. Then build to that point, allowing players to experience being a fully-powered adventurer.

Play the villainous NPCs as ones that aren’t necessarily easy to trust—think like an unreliable narrator when stepping into their shoes. Everything is seen through the lens of what these villainous sorts do being the right thing, for the greater good, etc. They view themselves as the heroes of their own stories, and therefore are trying to proceed as such. But they are also eager to do what they can to help restore the adventurers so things can get back to the standard good versus evil normal they had come to know and love.

This can easily be used as a mini-campaign or a full-lengthy campaign.

Above all else: have fun! Take care and as always: good luck and Godspeed!

NaNoWriMo With a TTRPG Twist: Day 2

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The Forgotten Starfall and the Glass Expanse

Ages ago, long before the party was soiling wee adventurer diapers, there is a story of a star that fell from the heavens. It was no ordinary star, of course, but a wishing star—the colors that spilled outward from it across the sky as it tumbled to the ground were quite the spectacle, showing any who saw it glimpses of what wonder it could bring to their lives should they manage to retrieve it.

However, the star landed in an especially treacherous desert. None who sought it ever returned, and so the star fell into legend.

Legends, naturally, have a way of creeping back into current affairs, and as luck would have it many years later your adventuring party has been summoned by the Princess of Astertide. The meeting is highly secretive, and your party pledges and oath to not reveal its nature – that she has called upon you brave adventurers to find the star so she may wish her father have a few more good years of life so that the kingdom may ease into his eventual absence.

Should the party agree to this journey, you find yourselves given an abundance of supplies for crossing the desert safely as well as means to get back to Glimmerspire Palace to fulfill your end of the bargain.

The journey through the desert leads to a curious spot not fully depicted on any maps; one where the sand gives way to a place only heard of through rumors and tall tales—the Glass Expanse. This is where the star fell, where its wishes and heat gave way to glass that became a living, shifting castle of illusions and deceptions. Dare you and your party brave a place of reflection and trickery for the sake of the kingdom?

GM Tools and Tips

Begin with the summons to Glimmerspire Palace and allow the players to accept on their terms. Play up the friendly yet guarded nature of the Princess until the meeting begins, at which point her true nature – that of a concerned daughter who wishes more for her father and for the kingdom – is revealed.

The journey through the desert should be challenging, with a number of skill checks to see how the players handle terrain and its denizens that clearly do not want them to be there. This all lets up abruptly upon their arrival at The Glass Expanse…which we’ll cover tomorrow. Stay tuned! Take care; good luck and godspeed.

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 1

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I’m no stranger to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), having participated a handful of times (and having succeeded…most of those times? I can’t remember). Unless the calendar is deceiving me, it appears December of 2023 has arrived, and I happened to have an idea that’s not quite a novel but instead a nerdy act of rebellion to both dust the cobwebs off from the bits of my brain that make writing happen and let me indulge in a little TTRPG-related fun.

This year’s NaNoWriMo will instead, for me, be a plot hook or other TTRPG-related thing per day. This allows me to keep it a little more relaxed since I haven’t written at length in…well, in longer than I care to admit. These are written to be plug-and-play with just about any system unless otherwise specified (because I can’t quite quit 5E despite my better judgement and I’m currently obsessed with ink by Snowbright Studios). At any rate, here’s day 1.

It Began with A Letter

Your adventuring party receives a summons from a powerful archmage to the sleepy, small town of Thistlewood. It promises an incredible journey, grand discoveries, and overwhelming treasure should your party accept.

Thistlewood, at least as it is shown on maps, does not exist upon your party’s arrival. A vast, shallow crater occupies where the town should, a series of islands floating above. The undersides of the islands as well as the crater glow with a dull purple aura of unknown magics.

Similarly suspicious: the archmage is nowhere to be found. The party faces a difficult climb upwards to learn what happened to Thistlewood, if the archmage is somehow behind this or was targeted by whoever or whatever caused this curious situation, and if Thistlewood can be restored to its former peaceful state.

Some GM Tools and Tips:

Setting up this adventure is all about building to the surprise of finding Thistlewood in its shattered state. The letter should be interesting enough to grab attention, followed immediately by a scenic but uneventful journey to the town. Play up the scenery, the calm of the trek from where the party is, and so on.

When the party arrives, allow them to explore freely. Don’t speed to letting them know the broken islands at various heights above are Thistlewood. Drop hints based on how they explore—hints about the islands, indications the archmage was indeed here, and that something occurred to cause this curious calamity.

Exploration of the islands should play out as an open-world dungeon crawl. Utilize enemies that are drawn to increased ambient magic—monsters as well as mages craving power—to help keep players on their toes. Additionally, to help build social and exploration aspects: give players a chance to accept quests from the NPCs (townsfolk as well as those who were visiting and find themselves now stuck in the Thistlewood Sky Islands) that encourage exploration and engaging in other NPCs.

Build to a conclusion that allows for a finale you find most satisfying depending on how you role played the archmage. Perhaps in one play through you’ve made the archmage the source of this calamity and therefore they must be defeated in order to restore Thistlewood. In another instance, the town was razed in such a way to trap the archmage high in the sky until they reveal the secret of why they reached out to your party. Perhaps the archmage accidentally caused this and therefore a third party is involved and must be reasoned with or bested so as to return the town to normal. Keeping this flexible allows to play this out for multiple groups at different points in campaigns as well as making it feasible for its own mini-campaign.

Most importantly: have fun.

Happy adventuring! Check back for Day 2. Take care; and, as always, good luck and godspeed.