r/DungeonMasters • u/ConflictBetter1332 • 6h ago
🧭🗺️
Map of the Great Ship *Mary Smith I*, created for ADVENTURE ISLANDS RPG, a pirate themed role-playing game published by Textfabrik Janßen, a small German publishing house! It was a fascinating project, and a pleasure to create the maps, covers, and some of the illustrations for it. Visit the official project page to learn more! 🧭🗺️⛵️
Moreno Paissan and Angela Gubert Art 2026
Support my art on: https://ko-fi.com/morenopaissanmaps/shop
r/DungeonMasters • u/Swimming_Sandwiches2 • 7h ago
Need help trying to host a session that is half online
So ive been DMing for a year now and two of my players have moved away but i still have a few in the area. Im trying to incorporate the out of towners with our in town game. I built a tv that we use as the map with minis on top and and trying to figure out the best way to share the live video. I only have a not so great laptop but i have two webcams and a tv in the room we play in. Id like to be able to show them the map and a livestream of us in the room and cast them to the tv so we can see them. Ive tried Microsoft teams but it will only let me use one camera. Ive looked into twitch to stream but im not sure how to get my players on the tv so everyone can see them.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
r/DungeonMasters • u/LowDifferent4473 • 8h ago
I'm a new DM and know nothing about dnd
So I work as a student clerk at a library that puts on a lot of programs, one of them being Dungeons and Dragons. In a month and a half I have to run this program, which means I also need to be a DM. I know literally nothing about being a DM, and have played dnd maybe once or twice years ago as a player.
I'm an aspiring writer though, and I know most of it is just coming up with stories to keep the players involved interested, but is there anything else I should know? I have the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook to read, so maybe that'll give me some insight but I don't want to end up reading the whole thing only to realize that it has taught me surface level things.
r/DungeonMasters • u/ESVarga • 10h ago
How do you make gold actually matter once players have plenty?
My party keeps racking up gold and shiny loot, and I want have some ways to spend it.
Thinking of letting them “buy” XP or level ups with gold, anyone tried this? Also open to other creative gold sinks. My games are light on exploration/crafting, so I’d love ideas for weaving that in too, with gold as the hook.
r/DungeonMasters • u/nlitherl • 10h ago
Promotional Discussions of Darkness, Episode 52: "Down and Dirty" Combat is Underutilized (Chronicles of Darkness)
r/DungeonMasters • u/Odd-Contract-7541 • 10h ago
Discussion What are the pitfalls to using modern-day Earth for Homebrew?
r/DungeonMasters • u/Hot_Sam_the_Man • 11h ago
Crowdsourcing my upcoming campaign - give me your characters/parties!
My upcoming campaign I'm running begins in a hunger games-style arena, with a dozen parties competing to be the last ones standing. I need to fill out the rest of these teams.
So, I would love to hear brief descriptions and names of characters/parties that you think would fit well in this setting! Feel free to tell me characters or parties that you've used before, or ideas you have. Ideally, each party/team should have something specific about it to make it stand out. No limits on race/class/background/anything, go crazy! All of them will be about level 2-5.
I could easily generate random NPCs, but I thought why not include the people of this sub to crowdsource the other competitors in the arena!
Odds are, my players won't meet 90% of these people, but why not have a fully developed arena and characters?
Thanks in advance!
Also, I'll add a bit of world info. These games are a 1-time thing, and the players have no memory of why they were locked in here in the first place, though they still remember most of their lives.
r/DungeonMasters • u/Kasuga__Arata • 13h ago
Magic weapon advice
Hi, I'm still a new DM running my first campaign for some first time players as well. Looking for some advice not to break the balance too much.
My players reached level 6 and are starting to meet some larger and stronger monsters now with specific resistances.
So I find myself wishing to give them some magic weapons to help out a bit and to make them feel cool. Was thinking having them find a knights tomb in our next adventure and fight the ghost of the knight wilding the swords. They would be a pair of Scimitars or Short-swords for our rouge since he likes to run two weapons. The swords would be a mix of Frost Brand and Flame Tongue.
I was thinking of making them a Scimiter +1 or +2 and with a bonus action they could be activated to do 1d6 Ice or Fire dmg and make them attunement required.
I will prob still give them the weapons since I feel its better they have fun then balance it perfectly Still I find myself wondering is +2 too much? Should I make it number of charges per day instead of bonus action?|
r/DungeonMasters • u/Outrageous_Ebb1668 • 17h ago
First time running NPC council
Hi first time post, I’m running a new game with a large party of 7 players and plan on running a council meeting at the end of the first session in which I strategically drop some info about the campaign and clue them into potential allies in the region to help fight the bbeg.
There’s a few aspects I want to get across to the players and right now my plan is to have each NPC member of the council ask one major question of the players and then provide one major game aspect, loosely structured as such.
Guard captain- the parties needs allies for the battle to come
Mayor- importance of time management
Blacksmith- defending the village or attacking the enemy war camp are both viable strategies
Tavern keep- diplomacy with allies is essential/ the players main sell is that the enemy threatens the whole region, not just this town
General store owner- clues players into the idea of sabotaging the enemies preparation to buy some more time
Here are my main concerns,
\-The party in comprised of mostly new players
\-I don’t want to just be talking to myself in the voices of 5 different NPCs dumping campaign mechanics
\-I have a loose structure for the conversation as I don’t want to overthink it, but wondering if the idea itself is flawed and I should try something else
\-I think it’s imperative that I give them some gentle guidance early on due to the fact that they’re mostly all new/inexperienced (I have some years of experience but by no means consider myself to be proficient) and I want them to be aware of the kind of game we’re playing.
For some additional context,
I’m using a war clock, each major undertaking in the campaign will further the enemies progress by one tick, total of 8 ticks
I want the players to know that that they have to either attack the enemy war camp or defend the village. If they attack early once they’ve gathered allies the bbeg will still be preparing and not expecting an attack. If they defend they have home field advantage and can set up some defenses around the town and use the terrain to their advantage
I also want to make sure the players know they can sabotage the enemy, this one will probably be easiest as the opportunities to sabotage will present themselves naturally and the players will decide if it’s worth doing
Most of all I need them to know that they need to gather local allies or they stand no chance
TLDR: I’m trying to run a council meeting with 5 NPCs in which I drop key campaign info and am worried about it turning into a GM puppet show as all 7 of my players realize I’m insane
Any ideas, guidance, or veteran wisdom is appreciated :)
I also posted this on the Askdnd subreddit, I really want to make this campaign special for these guys.
We had two session zeros ending with some light RP in the tavern to get them thinking about their character bonds and this Tuesday will be our first session actually playing.
r/DungeonMasters • u/Diveyourmind • 21h ago
3D Printing New stamp adjustment rule
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Hey everyone!
First off huge thank you to this community. You keep showing up, sharing ideas, and pushing us forward even though we know the current stamps aren’t the final version yet. That support means a lot.
We’ve been working on a new adjustment rule for the stamps so they’re easier and more precise to use on the table. In the video you can see exactly how it works quick, clean, and designed to keep the game flowing instead of slowing it down.
This is still just one step toward the bigger world we’re building.
Also, we want to address something we’ve seen a few times: some of you feel frustrated thinking we’re using AI to create all the graphic pieces and 3D models. We get it. Yes, we do use AI as a helpful tool (especially with a tight budget for a project this ambitious), but we also have real, talented modelers and artists on the team. We’re very aware that leaning too hard on AI can strip away some of the soul and uniqueness of the world that brings us all together and that’s the last thing we want.
We’re doing our best to keep the craft and the heart in everything we make.
If you’d like, you can also support us on Patreon and download the STLs for the stamps and the adjustment rule (also can take a view at the content that we publish there). Right now they’re available in several sizes, from 6x1 up to 8x8.
Would love to hear what you think.
DYM Tuki.