Download a free version of these maps and read more about it in our Blog.

These awesome cartography pieces were featured in one of our full-ledged adventures, House of Krampus. On our Patreon page you can get it in PDF format. The downloads include hi-res images for the maps. There are two PDF variant versions, designed for Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowdark RPG.

My Tomb of Annihilation game will wrap up eventually so part of me is interested in running the Campaign through Tiers 3 & 4, and so I am coming up with a story that I think will satisfy.

It will involve an ancient plot to unleash Dendar the Night Serpent by The Sarrukh (ancient creator race for the Yuan-ti)

Part of it I'd like to send them to check on the integrity of Dendar’s prison by crossing The World Tree where it intrudes into the Prime Material.

The Ice Giants are (borrowing from Norse Mythology) afraid of Ragnarok when the Dragon Niddhogg is prophecised to gnaw through the roots of Yggdrasil - a cultural reflection of Dendar caught in Ubtao's trap in the lower Plains - as a part of The Apocalypse.

Anyway I'm having not much luck finding adventure material for a high level juant across the bows of The World Tree that I could either incorporate or use for inspiration.

So, Reddit any ideas?

Over to you.

If you’re in my party and you see this, shoo. Go on, git.

I’m about to start running Curse of Strahd with a party of three people! Session 1 is this weekend. Two of them are very new to DnD so these are only their second characters ever. We have a necromancer, wild magic sorcerer, and a battle smith artificer. None of them are really built for the front lines, so I will definitely need to adjust some combat to avoid them getting stomped. I don’t want to make every battle design long-range or soften it so much that it’s no longer challenging.

I’m considering starting them off with a limited DMPC whose sole purpose is to take close-range punishment in combat and take some heat off the PCs. Not a damage dealer, just a meat shield. He’s not going to butt in on any roleplay/decision making and I won’t force him to stay with the party if they want rid of him. I might kill him off for the plot once it feels like a good time to take off the training wheels.

What do y’all think? Would this be a good or bad idea? Any other suggestions for how to accommodate this type of party in a way that feels natural? Thank you all for the help!

EDIT: maybe DMPC is too strong of a word for the idea! If I give them any sort of companion/NPC I’d want them to be as unobtrusive as possible. But yall are making very good points about that idea, so thank you for giving me a lot to think about!

This is the first long term campaign I have done (3rd time as a dm). I am doing a bit of home brewing by mixing water deep dragon heist and curse of stradh.

The basics are that before it was waterdeep, it was barovia and a group stood as a resistance. They created a ritual spell of banishment and planar shift to get rid of strahd and all the vampires he ruled. While trying to finish the spell there was something that had gone wrong and it teleported part of barovia (which is now the harbor of waterdeep) but strahd was not part of it. He has been in waterdeep the whole time due to being weakened by his separation from his powers. He has tried to get back, but the way to get back is to break the spell book that first cast the spell, which was locked in the vault. He has since taken control of and is leading the zhents in waterdeep to look for the spell book which he knows is in the vault.

The stone of golor is a medium that shares part of the memories of the time when they were ruled by strahd and it shares the location of the keys (which will be vestiges from the party that fought him and made the banishment spell). Each key is made to fit the players class and backstory, each will be a tool of some kind that exposes one of strahds weaknesses.

Strahd will assist the players throughout the game until they get him in the vault, where he will help kill the dragon with the players or by himself to get to the spell book. He will break the spell and this will send them all to barovia where we will start the curse of strahd campaign. His goal in the pocket barovia is to amass an army, return to waterdeep and take over the continent.

Ive never played DnD before but really wanna get into it. Id like to get into the game by just playing a few oneshots, but finding a group has been hard. I heard that people are always looking for Dms so Ive considered just doing it myself, since I wanna be a Dm at some point anyways. Am I in over my head as someone who has never played before and isnt a particularly good roleplayer?

I started DMing in January for my husband and my son. I was nervous about it, because although I'd played for years, I'd never run a game before.

I ran a couple sessions from DOIP, and was bored with the story, so I made changes. Those changes evolved into a whole new storyline, set in an alternate reality along the Sword Coast.

After about 6 sessions, a few of our friends asked if they could join my game, (bring our PC total to 8) and things got more involved and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Lately, one of my players has been having a lot of issues getting to our game, or not feeling good and so we end earlier than we'd planned to. 2 of my players are in it for combat more than story, and I'm ok with that.

But the last couple sessions, no one seems to be interested in more than bare essentials, and I really want to be able to highlight the intricacies of the storyline.

To be clear, the players have been deciding where they go and how they do things, not me. I've woven in backstory for the players who've given me one, and done all I can to give each player decent table time, and moments for their characters to shine.

Any suggestions on how to increase the excitement?

In my campaign, my players will unlock memories of the lost dwarven city of Khaz’Mithral. If I do a lore dump, it would be like they are witnessing memories of the past while I narrate what happened. The other option is letting them actually play through those memories as they happen, experiencing the city, the people, and the events firsthand, but they wouldn’t be able to change the outcome.

Would you rather play through the memories and experience the lore yourself, or just sit and listen to a 15-minute explanation of what happened?

​Hey everyone,

​I could really use some advice on how to upgrade my tabletop setup. There are so many ways to go about it, and I’m completely torn right now.

​Currently, I’m just using a standard dry-erase battle map and throwing some scatter terrain on it. It works and it’s okay, but it’s just not that awesome. I want to take my game to the next level (I briefly thought about a TV table, but decided against it for now).

​I’m currently debating between two main approaches and would love your input:

​Option 1: Crafting DIY Terrain (XPS foam or cardboard)

​The Pros: Total creative freedom. I could easily make curved walls, round rooms, and custom shapes.

​The Cons: It’s a massive time investment per piece. Also, if I want different biomes or ground textures, I’d have to craft a ton of different pieces. Plus, they don’t naturally interlock, so I’d probably have to mess around with magnets to keep the board stable.

​Option 2: 3D Printed Systems

​I’ve been looking into 3D printed tiles (like OpenForge Click & Lock, or grid systems where you can insert individual floor tiles and attach walls).

​My Ideal Setup: I’d love a system with a base grid where I can just swap out the floor plates (water, swamp, city streets, cave floor, etc.) and securely plug in walls, hedges, and pillars so they don't constantly get knocked over during play. (Obviously, I could still just place regular scatter terrain on top of it).

​The Cons: Everything seems so strictly square! I can hardly find any curved tiles. Furthermore, there are so many different systems out there. I haven’t found a perfect "all-in-one" system on Maker's World yet (maybe I’m just using the wrong search terms?).

​The Question:

​I am going back and forth on this. What do you guys use and what would you recommend?

​Should I start crafting and use magnets? Should I go for a 3D printed Click & Lock system? Or a Grid system with inserts?

​Any advice, system recommendations, or specific search terms would be highly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

https://reddit.com/link/1v3ltjo/video/pwjfvrgk9teh1/player

So many changes in so many playlists is difficult to keep track. Of immediate notice, links to Charles Dexter Ward’s and The Maker And The Source’s profiles with dozens of curated lists. Obviously the playlists include some of my own projects so you’re warned. Let me know what kind of music you need right now, I have over a thousand playlists, I should have over that fits like Strahd’s gloves!

Here are some works-in-progress and pencil maps that Angela and I have been working on over the past few weeks (the maps currently lack the text, which will be added digitally at a later stage)... We hope you find them interesting and enjoyable...🧭🗺️🏰

Support our art on: https://ko-fi.com/morenopaissanmaps/shop

How many of you employ "behavioral guardrails" on your sessions? In particular, restrict the use of phones/laptops while engaged in play. Not talking about maintaining contact with loved ones or something like that, a game always takes a back seat to that. (Need to take or make a call use the phone step away from the table type stuff)

How many of you have had to call BS and institute such guardrails after players have demonstrated they will repeatedly behave this way?

And perhaps the most important question, is how have these efforts helped or failed to help your group's fun level?

Edit- It is interesting that so many posters have something to the effect of "I don't..." Not talking about you as you likely are on top of what's going on. What about the ones who, when asked "ok, what do you do?" reply with "So, what's going on?"

There have been other comments well the game is simply not engaging enough. Maybe. But- if you are told "this is freakin awesome!" and still behave this way??

So the paramount question is IF you'd have to do something like this, what was the outcome?

I keep an invisible loyalty score for recurring NPCs. Merchants, hirelings

Not every shopkeeper and guard needs one. I only use it when the party interacts with someone repeatedly, becomes invested in them, recruits them, or depends on them to do work off-screen.

The idea grew out of the old reaction and loyalty systems. Daddy Gygax tied hireling loyalty to things like Charisma, pay, treatment, alignment, and behavior in the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide. Baldur’s Gate 3 uses a modern visible version through companion approval.

At my table, the players never see the number.

I usually treat it as roughly a +5 to -5 scale, but I don’t use a rigid formula. A meaningful event might shift it by two or three points. Sometimes I roll a d4 when something big happens. Most of the time I move it according to the NPC’s wants, needs, and red lines.

That last part is the important one: the same action should not affect every NPC equally.

Killing an innocent might be a catastrophic loss for a paladin friend of the party. Giving away valuable services without getting paid might be the equivalent offense to a hardened fence. Loyalty is not a universal morality meter. It measures what this particular person thinks of their relationship with the party.

When the score reaches the bottom, NPCs also break differently:

- Some stay and begin undermining the party. I would highly recommend this one at some point.

- Some attack immediately.

- Some leave quietly in the night.

- Some leave after taking whatever they believe they’re owed.

- Some defect to someone who understands what they want.

Always take notes on the ones who leave badly. They’re callbacks waiting to happen. When they show up working for the bad guy, whether it's knowingly or unwittingly through the player's actions, the juice is worth the squeeze. When done correctly.

One of my favorite examples was a rogue who brought nearly all his stolen goods to the same fence. They had a deal. The Fence could pick through all of the stuff that they bring back first and get the best bits. The rogue became reliable business and effectively the fence’s only major client. Loyalty climbed, prices improved, and the fence became more willing to take risks for him. Do favors, risk his life perhaps.

But what would destroy that relationship wasn’t the same thing that would offend a lawful NPC. Working with the authorities or breaking the fence’s professional code would do it. If the score hit bottom, this person wouldn’t challenge the rogue to a duel. They’re thieves. Things would quietly start disappearing from the party. Oceans 11 the bastion.

The system cuts both ways.

A high-loyalty NPC with a habit of scrying everything AND on the party once noticed that a character had been ambushed alone in a marketplace. Assassin that had been shadowing them since session zero. Absolutely gutted a player in a crowded marketplace. That NPC’s intervention via loyalty, plus merciful dice, saved him.

The best consequence came afterward. Nobody introduced a travel rule, but the party started moving through town in pairs or trios. The world had pushed back, and their behavior changed naturally.

The score itself isn’t the game. It’s a reminder that recurring NPCs remember how they are treated and make decisions when the party isn’t watching.

Do you track relationships mechanically, by instinct, or only when a specific NPC becomes important? Anyone else have a brew like this?

-LIDM

Hi all,
My first homebrewed campaign/world was a low-medium magic setting.
For my second, I want it to be medium in present day, with traces of higher magic from previous centuries.
I’m having trouble with ideas on how to get this done in an interesting way.
Any ideas and resources appreciated!

So in my game last night i was dm for my friends and i was a little confused on one part of the combat. The creature i was using has a weak spot on its eyes and when the hp of the eyes goes to 0 and it becomes blind. The only sense it has left is a tremor sense (it's a huge insect monster). Does it still suffer from the blind condition if it still has tremor sense and get the negative effects of it like having disadvantage on attacks and advantage on attacks against it? Or do those effects only occur outside of it's tremor sense?

See I'm doing a (maybe) lvl 20 or 15 campaign with a detective noir theme but I'm stuck because there's this npc i wanna make thats a knowledge cleric who casts spells with a magic cigar of his, who also multiclases as artificer with artillerist, he'll be there to add background and context thats supposed to be there without giving my players a 5 page dossier on their career history, as well as explaining things about the world that the characters should know but my players don't.

only problem is I can't figure out why he can't actually help with the investigation himself despite being a knowledge cleric stat wise, I'm gonna flavor it so he just works for the government or smth. In any case I'm stuck on how he'll be there to be the "living encyclopedia" without breaking the game.

So a little background. This is my first time running a campaign, but I've played with this group for a couple of years. There's one guy in the group playing an Oath of Glory Paladin. From what I understand-

Actions over Words. Strive to be known by glorious deeds, not words.

Challenges Are but Tests. Face hardships with courage, and encourage your allies to face them with you.

Hone the Body. Like raw stone, your body must be worked so its potential can be realized.

Discipline the Soul. You must marshal the discipline to overcome failings within yourself that threaten to dim the glory of you and your friends.

-are the main tenets a Paladin should live by.

So far the Paladin's player has tried to run away from two different scenarios, including the latest being leaving a town full of people to be killed by a bomb (bare minimum, their entire town would have been destroyed), preventing one player from helping another player, making snide comments putting down other Party members, and just generally not really seeking glory for himself or his team.

In his own words, 'can't get famous if I die,' but he's constantly trying to run away from fights. I'm just debating, at what point has he broken his oath, and how can I integrate that into the campaign? Either with him being reprimanded by a spirit of glory or something. His Paladin has no god, he said, so I can't really communicate he's betraying his Oath through that.

I just want some advice on how to approach this from other, more experienced DMs. Thank you.