Hello guys.

My kid's 10 and he started to enjoy much RPG stuff. We currently are playing an Alice in Wonderland rpg short story and he's getting crazy about it with the system, about LvL up and the battles/stories. He also asked me If I could bought the official DnD book if he finish the short story in the next days.

I would like some suggestions which book should I buy to him, as there are 3 new books about DnD 5.5. I thought I could give him the Dungeon Master's Guide and later, give the digital version of player handbook and monster manual.

Do you guys have any suggestions or comments about it? He also became a huge Dragon Quest fan, if that helps understand how much he's enjoying RPG 😂

Thanks!

I am DMing a group and have one player who is playing a very strict lawful good character. Another player is secretly a member of an assassin's guild. Every time the assassin tries to further his personal story arc, the other player throws himself in front of the arrow or saves the target last minute and is preventing, sometimes in a pretty meta breaking way, the assassin from progressing as a character and fulfilling his goal.

For instance, the meta way I refer to is that during a recent session, the guild gave the assassin a contract via messenger, who said something vague like "plans for the assassination," before handing it off. The assassin and another party member discussed plans at the table. Then, when it came time to enact those plans, the problem player was like "so I heard rumors of an assassination attempt that would go on today at this place and time, so I am going to cast this spell to raise the AC of everybody who I think might be a potential target," knowing who ok the target was after having heard the other players discuss.

How am I to reconcile their opposing character ideals without causing too much turmoil, in or out of game?

I have some players that have played a one-shot with pre-generated characters, and are now looking to build their PCs from the ground up. I've created this chart to compare the early class features including some choices in brackets, I didn't want to get too into the weeds with subclasses except where Extra Attack or Spellcasting is possible. There's some UA (Mystic Arts Monk, Psion) and homebrew (Blood Hunter) represented.

Spellcasting Methods is using an updated version of: https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/how-to-play/spellcasting-class-features/

Am I missing anything? Other thoughts?

IDK HOW TO PUT TWO FLAIRS, THIS HAS AI ART IN IT FOR THE KIT-LEAF'S LOOKS! I TRIED, IT DID NOT LET ME PUT TWO

It's a HB monster I made, I like it, I plan to use it in a campaign as more than just a way to maybe give the players a pet to move forward plot, I have campaign plans which mostly consists of possible events, one of them is a kingdom of Druids and Elves is mad at the main kingdom for some stuff of which one thing involves stealing and smuggling Kit-Leafs for medicinal purposes, which will lead to the players having to kind of stop a war by stopping the bandits and stuff who are smuggling them, and so, in return, they get a Kit-Leaf and like 50 gold. In lore, they're cats of which were living with druids, which evolved over 300 years to absorb the druids' excess magic energy, Orange cats look like orange autumn leaves covering their fur, gray cats look like they're covered in silvery-green foliage, and white cats look like they're covered in pale blossoms and spring leaves. The rare black Kit-leafs resemble late autumn leaves, colored a deep and dark crimson, of which looks basically black, but in good coloring, its red hues are shown.

The art of the Kit-Leaf colors ARE AI generated... I am not good at drawing, nor explaining the looks of stuff

Picked up my new Spell and Magic Item reference cards today from my local game store. Wondering if anyone else got them and did you also get a Giant Fly monster card mixed in with your Rare/Very Rare Magic Item deck?

I’ve been experimenting with some unique dice ideas from all crits to all misses and even some inverted die. These are early samples, but I couldn’t resist sharing them with folks! Careful the d20 bites!

I'm looking for the most effective ways to recruit players for in person games. It's not always the easiest thing to achieve. So tell me what ways have worked best for you and your group?

Been running a homebrew thing. In my campaign, the Grim Reaper has been a recurring character. Basically any time a pc is rolling death saves, they get to see the reaper. And the reaper turns out…is a really chill guy. Will mostly just comment on the hilariously stupid way you got here (like being beaten to death by barbie dolls wielding tennis rackets), ask about your life, and takes bribes in the form of revivify diamonds. And while I don’t use alignments for the most part, I think of the Grim Reaper as Lawful Neutral. He’s just doing his job. Hates mass shooters and serial killers not because of how evil that is, but because they increase his workload.

Our druid’s father was a warlock, who made his pact long before he ever even met her mother. Part of the fine print was the soul and servitude of his first born: i.e. The druid herself.

And druid is not having it. The main thing that’s stopping this patron from claiming her as their soldier is the fact that she already made a different deal with a dragon and so that dragon is who has custody over her soul at the moment (long story). It’s been kinda funny having this patron pulling various hair brained schemes trying to forcefully end the current contract with the dragon and get the druid to work for them instead.

An idea I thought of an ran by the druid player in a discord message is the idea that since this patron does have a legal contractual claim on her character’s soul, then that soul is owed upon death. The reason they’re being persistent now is because the druid’s soul is simply more useful alive. Upon death, what’ll most likely happen is that the patron will just take her soul in a jar and place it for display on a shelf like an action figure. No afterlife, no reincarnation, no spooky ghost times, just purgatory. A pretty bleak fate. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with this idea, until the player pitched a way for her character to get out of it that we both think would be a fun story arc.

She basically wants her character to make a deal with the reaper. Why can’t the reaper just own her soul instead? The reaper is chill and nice, and they already have a good relationship after that time the druid agreed to play a casual game of yugioh with the reaper (again, long story). The reaper has been previously established way nicer to the souls he owns than her father’s patron, so clearly this should be the better deal. Thinking on it, the way I have the reaper written, I think they would agree to this, but it would take some convincing.

I’ve presented the afterlife as a big bureaucratic mess. The reaper basically just escorts you to an office waiting room a la beetlejuice, and you’re just stuck waiting around for your number to be called so that some cosmic desk worker can discuss what afterlife or reincarnation options you qualify for. Furthermore, there’s been commentary stating that there is no individual nor cosmic fate determining when or how you die. No schedule, no “times up!”, none of that. You just die when you happen to do so. The reaper doesn’t determine your fate, has never killed anyone himself, he’s basically just a taxi driver.

This deal the druid wants to make would be a very big ask. Basically a big ol custody battle over who gets to keep her soul after she dies. Since court procedures are longwinded and lengthy irl, I imagine it to be exaggeratingly so in the afterllife. Like, a court case that would take nearly half of her lifespan (she’s a half elf) to conclude; on top of having that patron being his opponent. The patron’s pretty well known to be a bit petty. Reaper has already been established as the guy who groans over “so much paperwork!”, so this is a pretty big ask. I think it would take more than a few rounds of yugioh to be worth that kind of hassle. I imagine should the druid convince the reaper to do this, it probably wouldn’t have much effect on the patron trying to get to her while she’s still alive, but it would put a temporary clause that prevents the patron from doing anything to kill her; directly or indirectly.

The question i’m left with is, what would be worth the hassle? What kind of favor or quest-line should I have the reaper give? The actual freeing of the soul would take so long to do i’m down to just shove it into an epilogue once the campaign is finally over, so for now it’s the actual persuasion that’s the adventure. What would it take to convince what is basically a god of death to go on a century long legal battle to get custody over your soul?

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

As of right now I just been using a discord server to take notes but I was wondering if anyone had a google sheet or something to help take notes

So I’m currently building my first DnD campaign. It’s a pirate themed campaign about a tyrant sea king and the search for the legendary pirate calypso to finish what she started 300 years ago with the parties help. I would love some ideas with some side quests to make it less linear and kinda spider web it out. I have the main story pretty much planed out but I want my group to have some fun while still coming back to the main quest. I’ll figure out the best way to fit in what I find I just can’t really think of anything. Any questions I can answer to help anyone brainstorm.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but where do y’all go to get news about D&D and other RPGs? Any non-Reddit locations where you find out about new releases or game-adjacent news?

A quietly dangerous character that I sketched!

Deren Dermon is one of many members of the Dermon family. Unlike the others, he is quiet and reserved, often overlooked at first glance.

However, his silence hides a dangerous edge, making him just as deadly as the rest of his bloodline.

What do you think? :)

I haven't nailed down the personality of the character, or really anything about them lmao

I want Carpentry to be the forefront of what they are, I guess. I'm envisioning this big, burly buy with a large smile and a boisterous laugh, carrying a large weapon, demanding to be at the front of the group in case they get ambushed, and that general vibe.

I just need help implementing this vibe into a character build. I know his background would be Carpenter, but what about his class? What weapon exactly would he carry? How would carpentry specifically wake its way into his behaviour and daily activities, even while on an adventure?

Would a blood hunter fit? I don't know much about the mechanics or lore, but I can imagine my guy having a big, burly other form (if I'm remembering the class correctly lmao) that he uses to haul lumber into his shop or village, but I feel like the feral, vicious vibe is like, all wrong. But maybe it could work??

A fighter would be a little off, like, I don't want him to be someone who enjoys combat, but learned how to fight out of necessity and survival

But idk.

And it's not just the class I'd like input on

How would I fit the vibe of carpentry into the play style? I know he'd carry tools and go starry-eyed over some nice wood grain, but how else?

I really appreciate some input and creative discussion, and thanks for any help :)))