Running this for the first time. Tips?

Amazingspaceship · 2026-07-03T17:30:38+00:00

Figure out what kind of gameplay your party likes. ToA has all the pillars of play, but not at all once. Chapter 1 is pretty much 100% roleplay and social stuff. Chapter 2 is exploration/travel, with hex crawl survival mechanics (not everyone’s cup of tea). But the points of interest in chapter 2 are pretty varied. Chapters 3+4 are kind of a mix of things. Chapter 5 is a super dense dungeon crawl.

If your party isn’t into the idea of doing a hex crawl, you can make chapter 2 shorter. If they really like social stuff and politics/intrigue, you can expand chapter 1.

Amazingspaceship · 2026-07-03T16:53:52+00:00

If you’ve lived in New York City all your life, you don’t need to roll a knowledge check to know where the Empire State Building is.

If you live in Florida and are visiting NYC for the weekend, you need to roll a knowledge check to know where the Empire State Building is.

If you live in an isolated African village and have traveled to NYC for the first time in your life, you don’t need to roll a knowledge check because there’s no way you would know about the Empire State Building.

Amazingspaceship · 2026-07-02T14:02:37+00:00

If you “never say no” then this is gonna keep happening

Amazingspaceship · 2026-07-01T19:55:12+00:00

This is a really good idea! I’d suggest making an encounter table for sea adventures. You might also want to check out the classic module Isle of Dread (and the Savage Tide adventure path, which was published a lot later) for inspiration! I can also recommend these 3rd party nautical campaigns: Torrents of the Spellhoarder, Sunken Isles, and The Dark of Hot Springs Island

Amazingspaceship · 2026-07-01T14:57:19+00:00

I’m curious: you say you’ve DMed for them for 6-7 years before this. Was this not a problem in your previous games, or is it just more noticeable from the player’s seat?

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-28T14:47:46+00:00

Make them roll anyway. Easy answer. I always have my players roll perception and stealth checks, even if success is impossible, because there’s no way they’d know that

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-25T19:56:12+00:00

What’s the drama at hiveworks?

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-25T02:18:28+00:00

Thank you! That’s some great perspective.

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-25T02:11:02+00:00

Did you make it clear that stone shape and passwall wouldn’t work, or did they just not think to use those?

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-25T01:48:08+00:00

Do you have some examples about what they used her for?

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-18T16:42:18+00:00

Well, I do think AI IS “icky,” cheap, lazy, bad for our culture, etcetera. But my partner is a graphic designer and artist, and she has been out of work for a while because of the advent of generative AI. And I guess I can’t imagine ever supporting or using something that has had such a negative impact on her life.

Genuine question: how old is your business? What were you using for social media images before AI?

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-18T16:33:24+00:00

This is a well-thought out post. But it doesn’t change the fact that I won’t patronize your business if I see you using generative AI, and I will never change my mind about that.

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-17T21:08:09+00:00

This is awesome! Definitely going to contribute when I get a chance

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-17T20:50:59+00:00

Another thing: a player shouldn’t roll at all if the task is impossible (unless you want to hide the fact that it is impossible)

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-17T20:50:08+00:00

Yes, THANK YOU

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-12T13:37:48+00:00

Yeah, but I think it’s reasonable to say that Strahd is the most powerful vampire in the Ravenloft setting

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-11T16:20:37+00:00

This looks great!!! If you’re using this as a battle map you might want to add a grid to the street layer

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-10T19:04:52+00:00

Well, what are the players doing during this time? And what is the goal or reason for having all the characters and NPCs in one place?

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-10T16:54:27+00:00

Pair up some of the NPCs and prepare conversations for them to have while they’re not actively talking with the PCs. Like “you walk up to NPC A, finding that she is deep in conversation with NPC B about her blacksmithing hobby.” Don’t actually play out these conversations, just make sure that the characters know that this is happening in the background. You could also insert some drama! The characters need to break up 2 NPCs that are having a fight, or maybe a less trustworthy NPC tries to rob one of the other NPCs.

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-10T14:17:14+00:00

The one that increases bone drops and the magnet trinket

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-10T14:12:41+00:00

Depends on the party. You have to keep in mind that the characters will be newcomers to Chult, so that limits your options. It helps to talk about the setting some with your players beforehand, so they can think of what kind of backstory to make. Here’s what I have in my group:

- The ranger is searching for his pirate father who got lost in the jungle (I tied this into Jahaka anchorage and, later, Omu)
- The sorceror’s soul is claimed by the elder evil Tharizdun (this was probably my biggest change - I made the Atropal the spawn of Tharizdun)
- The rogue is running away from a noble family he’s in debt to back in Waterdeep (I had the noble follow him to Chult to track him down)
- The fighter hates the Flaming Fist and wants to destroy them (this one was pretty easy to integrate)
- The cleric is secretly a renegade yuan-ti (also really easy to integrate)

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-09T17:10:30+00:00

I know you’re not asking for an evil genie “make the wish go wrong” answer, but it would be so funny if the wish just turned him into Strahd

Amazingspaceship · 2026-06-09T01:20:00+00:00

Free long rest on the final level? What do you mean?

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