Tag Archives: tabletop role playing games

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 14

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Manifesting Dreams

Your adventuring party, tired from an especially challenging dungeon crawl, happens upon an idyllic inn and tavern in a scenic village. They paid for their rooms, enjoyed a meal, and turned in for an early night.

The adventure that followed seemed so real—at least the parts your party could remember of it did, at any rate. The enchanted forest. The spectral dragon who only spoke in riddles. The distant tower, just out of reach thanks to a shattered bridge.

At breakfast the next morning, over light conversation, your party realized they shared the same dream. More peculiar, however, was the arrival of two stone workers who were looking for your party about a bridge that needed mending. With a little collective recollection, the party located the forest…and suddenly found themselves living out the adventure they just had in their dreams. Details, however, weren’t exactly the same. The bridge was more damaged, the tower beyond more ominous, and a dark oppressive presence filled the air like a challenge.

GM Tips and Tools

The goal here is to establish your adventuring party’s collective dream and how it is bleeding into the real world. Showcase this as they rest while trying to make their way to the tower, adding in more details with subsequent dreams.

Additionally, they find that 1) their dream is not the only thing bleeding into reality and 2) nightmares are dreams, too, and one such nightmare has taken up residence in the tower the adventuring party is journeying towards.

Have fun, dream big, and 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 10

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Couldn’t quite manage to write last night, so here we are with two days worth of NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist. Coincidentally, this ended up with more American Gods flavor than I originally intended, but I’m not mad about that.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Anyway? Onwards!

Old Gods and New Truths

Your adventuring party is approached by a cloaked figure at a crossroads late one night while traveling between towns. The party does not know them, but they know the party quite well. And they plead a very compelling case to take this meeting somewhere a little less out in the open. They state they have a request most dire, and they can’t request prying eyes and ears being present.

Should the party agree, the cloaked figure will reveal themself to be an Old God—one from before the light of the earliest stars—and they are desperate to set the record straight.

The Old Gods, or at least the bulk of them, have gotten some truly bad PR over the years. The narrative had been shaped and shifted by New Gods—Gods that crept into existence by way of the hubris of mortals who knew not what they had done at the time.

Does your party accept this perilous quest to face down the New Gods and present the truth to the world? And will they find that there’s more to the truth than what was presented to them by the Old Gods?

GM Tips and Tools

At the risk of sounding repetitive, this is another plot hook that works best with a solid Session 0 foundation. This will rely on having multiple unreliable narrators/NPCs and leaves plenty of room to have fun with what the truth—subjective as it is—turns out to be.

Keep in mind that you’re putting your players up against Gods—Old Gods and New Gods—and that this needs to be conveyed in both subtle undertones showcasing the Gods’ capacity for displays of power as well as overtones (overt threats, moments of their more pleasant facades breaking, etc).

Have fun—build worlds, forge heroes, play god, and of course good luck and godspeed!

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 9

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Preventing Tragedy at the Theater

Hard to believe it’s the 9th day of NaNoWriMo (partially because it feels like this has been going on for ages and yet it also feels like it just started; or maybe I’m just super rusty when it comes to writing regularly). This is a plot hook I used for a Scum and Villainy one-shot…that turned into a multi-session mini-campaign that’s still in need of resolution. So if you’re playing in that, perhaps skip the GM Tips and Tools section of this post. Or don’t. I’m not the boss of you.

Your Crew is called upon by higher-ups in the Resistance for an especially delicate rescue mission. The show that has taken the galaxy by storm, Space Opera: The Musical The Series – A Space Opera is preparing for its final night with the original cast, and a real who’s who of the Hegemony will be there. Among them is a well-known politician and merchant known for sympathizing with the outer worlds of the Empire, an act which draws the ire of his contemporaries.

Rumor is someone within the Hegemony has hired an assassin to make history repeat itself with regards to politicians and misfortune at the opera.

Your Crew is promised transportation to the asteroid on which the theater resides, but finding your way in—coming up with cover stories, determining the means by which the hit is going to be carried out, and how your Crew will prevent this tragedy—is all up to you.

Can your Crew save the sympathetic figure in the Hegemony from those he has made the mistake of trusting, or will a subpar performance not be the only tragedy to unfold?

GM Tips and Tools

This doesn’t lend itself well to a one-shot due to the kind of prep that goes into it, though if you manage to run it as such I tip my hat to you. My best estimate is this works best as a two to three session mini-campaign.

Clocks are your friend. Count down critical details such as arrival time for the various Hegemony goons, the hired hitmen, and the various actions of the actors. The closer it gets to showtime, the greater security will be which in turn will limit the players in how they can enter the venue, blend in without drawing suspicion, and prevent the assassination attempt.

I played this with more absurd tones, as evidenced by the example name given for the show above (I used something similar after a player—one of my GMs—put me on the spot by asking for the name of the show). It can work well with a more serious tone, but as is the case with any game it’s important to establish what kind of tone is expected by the table.

Partial successes lead to some really fun narrative opportunities here, like the Crew getting caught by miscellaneous actors or waitstaff and then having to sort that out (or, if you’re one of my players, addressing it by scaring the hell out of an NPC).

Regardless of the approach, be sure to have fun along the way with your players. Scum and Villainy lends itself well to GM fun due to no rolls being needed on the GM’s part – play into the players antics (or lack there of) narratively. Have fun, enjoy your space crimes, and—as always—good luck and godspeed.

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 6

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Adventure Deja Vu

You meet in a tavern. Your party feels like they’ve been here before, and of course they have. The barkeep is friendly, and clearly knows your party well. The regulars regard you with warm smiles and inside jokes that for some reason don’t fully feel familiar. All is largely well in the Kingdom, even if you can’t shake the feeling you’re being watched.

And all is as it should be.

At least that seems to be the case until your party gradually finds things that are familiar that shouldn’t be. A mighty blade that seems drawn to your Paladin’s hands. A comprehensive book of spells in your mage’s handwriting though they have no recollection of writing it. A small demonic familiar who trails behind your warlock, only just within sight as if expecting commands from their master.

All roads lead back to the King, and the King seems eager to obfuscate and evade such inquiries. What is going on? What does the king know?

GM Tools and Tips

This is a quick route to a higher level campaign by way of a low level start. Leave breadcrumbs helping to indicate the party’s deja vu isn’t simply that – it’s echoes of a past in which they were mighty heroes, powerful and well-equipped, until they suddenly weren’t.

Role play the king as familiar in ways that point to him knowing why the heroes are in the state they are in. Provide quests that take them through their forgotten past until they reach a broken, forgotten citadel in which they finally recall the truth: the King had shown himself to the adventurers as a deposed ruler in need of aid, and so the party as heroic as they were stepped in to aid him.

Upon arriving at the seat of the kingdom, the King revealed himself to be a powerful devil who then sent the adventurers back in their respective timelines, carefully burying details of their identity while leaving some alone so they were none the wiser.

As the adventurers find echoes of their past they then level up and move closer to being who they once were.

As always: take care; good luck and godspeed!

NaNoWriMo with a TTRPG Twist: Day 5

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We’re now five days into November, which means we’re five days into NaNoWriMo. This is equal parts encouraging and terrifying. How are you doing? Remember to be kind to yourself no matter what your goal is for the month! (And hydrate and all that jazz.)

Anyway, without further ado as I am le tired:

Luci and the Sky Diamond

The first game/system specific plot hook/one-shot idea! This is specifically for Scum and Villainy, but you can absolutely use it for any game. It was just written with Scum and Villainy (powered by Forged in the Dark) in mind.

The Hegemony’s upper crust—the most powerful elites among the most powerful elites—have secrets just like everyone else. Your Crew has been hired to get some of those secrets and help share them, as sharing is caring. And this kind of caring will help liberate a number of worlds from Hegemony control and cause chaos for the empire.

However, those secrets are stored in a highly secure vault known only as The Sky Diamond, a space station turned fortress of sorts by a curious data broker only known as Lucien.

The Crew must find a way to charter approved transport to the Sky Diamond, make their way in, and access multiple servers undetected, as the unspoken rules of the establishment are that any caught with mischief on their minds are simply ejected from the airlocks.

Can your Crew sneak in Luci’s Sky Diamond, steal the requested data, and escape? Will the other treasures here prove too tempting and derail the plain? This could be the heist of the millennium, but only if you don’t get caught.

GM Tips and Tools

The prep portion of this job is critical for things to work out. Gathering intel on the Sky Diamond, the relevant data vaults the Crew will have to steal from, and the potential VIPs who may be present and on the look out for suspicious sorts.

Lucien is, fortunately, both incredibly vain and arrogant, and so he is easily played in terms of gaining entry.

This can easily, like many one-shots turned campaign, be a great starting point or an adventure to plug into an existing Scum and Villainy campaign.

Stay safe in your travels among the stars; 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 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.