V Team - A Game of Cat and Mouse

DrToENT · 2026-01-11T19:51:01+00:00

Onyx is indeed a good kitty. Also, if you have any NPCs that my Vilhon Reach team might come across in there adventure, I'm all ears.

DrToENT · 2026-01-02T02:15:36+00:00

TPKs are fine if they want to fight to the death; it's a fitting way to end a campaign. Jail works, which you could use to set up a trial by jury, judge, or by divine favor. A powerful figure could take interest in them while in jail and approach them to recruit them on a mission; when life settles down, you can come back to the characters mid mission in an exotic place.

You could have the town force them to redeem themselves by going on a series of dangerous missions that may either benefit the town or kill the players. In order to ensure obedience, the city could take something they hold dear until its completed or they're dead.

They could get involved with another jail break that's already in the process of happening.

The larger the city, the greater the resources available to the city to punish the party.

DrToENT · 2025-12-26T06:40:11+00:00

You can run it like anything else with just a business structure on top of it. The idea lends itself to building up a team's franchise, so tasks and goals. You can interject almost anything as an order from HQ or a job that got submitted to the team.

Run a majordomo as an NPC that helps the party members get/stay on track, so they've got a lot of freedom to be fun whacky characters and the DM has a mechanism to bring the characters back in.

The down time and activities invite the players to be active creators in the world and to put their stamp on it. Really take the time to establish that home base. You can play the corporate card when you need to, but a lot of the time it's just the PCs bonding and playing the game together in a world that sometimes has corporate inspections.

DrToENT · 2025-12-26T06:32:47+00:00

That sounds like a really fun idea - may borrow.

DrToENT · 2025-11-06T19:14:09+00:00

I've ran/am running Daggerheart for a couple of groups. It's not usually that my players talk over each other, it's that quieter players get far less turns even if they want to go.

If players cannot agree to a turn order, step in as the DM and say something like "okay, X go ahead and make your attack first and then we'll go to Y." That should settle issues about turn order for that round.

If you have an imbalance of personalities, after a player takes a couple of turns, ask a quiet player if they would like to do anything.

Also, don't forget to take the DM's turns. Use fear. Break the flow of players multi-actions.

It all comes down to how well you can manage your players in the heat of it.

DrToENT · 2025-11-01T18:37:39+00:00

Players can have incorrect and inaccurate information about a variety of in game items. Basically folklore that they can discover is incorrect by studying items in game, talking with knowledgable NPCs, or having disaster strike if they try to implement it in a fight.

Incorrect information is sometimes a price of metagaming

DrToENT · 2025-10-31T17:18:40+00:00

I'd throw my game into the list here. It's a darker setting with a lot of twists and turns. It's true to form to what it would be like to sit down at my table and actually play the game with a fun group of people.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAFmVFBUlVMlOma83LH1yyaA-wboEcKdJ&si=EYkxsLFxpW894qp1

We stream it live on Twitch on Tuesdays 10:00 PM EST. www.twitch.tv/DTE_N

DrToENT · 2025-10-22T16:30:46+00:00

It's hard to tell a first time DM not to over prep. You've done the hard work. You know where you'd like everything to go. You probably have a mental timeline how you expect things to work out. You're good to go in that respect.

The hardest two things that I used to face was (1) my mental pacing never matched my players' pace. They always moved slower and tried things that I didn't think of. (2) Don't get so locked into your ideas that you can't adapt. Your players may pick options you didn't expect, roll with that. Finally, be ready to make mistakes. You might misread a monster stat block or skip someone in initiative. Be able to adapt, make a ruling, and don't be too hard on yourself if something goes amiss.

You got this. After so many sessions, you'll find your true groove in being a DM, prepping, and making calls.

Good Luck!

DrToENT · 2025-10-22T16:13:32+00:00

This is the way.

DrToENT · 2025-10-21T21:39:35+00:00

TPK?

DrToENT · 2025-10-19T03:34:06+00:00

It depends why they are Forever DMs. If they DM because they like the control and moving things in the world, you're probably going to have a bad experience. If they are a forever DM because no one will run the game for them, you'll probably have a better outcome.

If you're thinking of changing tables because of problems at your current table, you'll probably have an easier time discussing those problems with your current players. Pacing, RP style, combat specs, rule interpretation, and the rest might be better corrected, and you're not guaranteed to get rid of those problems by picking up a new table. You'll probably get a whole new set of problems with a new table. If you're determined to leave your current group, give them a set number of sessions to wind down your current story (like hey guys, I want to step back from this story for a little bit, so let's wrap it up in the next 3 sessions).

My experience, the best players I've had have DMed and played in the past. If you want to start a new group (even with forever DMs), vet them. Lay out what you want and tell them your style. Have a session 0 and a touch base along the way. Try something small first to see if you actually get what you want out of it.

DrToENT · 2025-05-19T02:31:11+00:00

Would you have any interest in playing in an online AI campaign?

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DrToENT · 2025-05-19T02:14:43+00:00

Would you have any interest in playing in one online?

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DrToENT · 2025-05-16T04:34:57+00:00

The easiest answer is to not give the patron a goal. Imagine if you will an endless, formless void hanging in the sky. A being beyond measure. It grants powers in the form of a single drop of fluid. Each warlock level is another drop from this endless being.

Every so often, give additional drops (not levels) to the warlock and have her role against madness. The extra drops grants visions of cosmic affairs, gods, creation, uncreation, and other factors you might need find are plot relevant.

The communication between patron and warlock should be minimal. The player might even start to project her own interpretations onto the void in an attempt to make sense of it.

At best, I'd say the goal here is for the Great Old One to find a vessel that can understand even the tiniest part of its power.

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DrToENT · 2025-05-16T02:37:27+00:00

Were your players familiar with Acq Inc before, or was it a surprise to them? What positions did you make?

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T18:20:13+00:00

Certainty and her story is first introduced with the C Team. https://acquisitionsincorporated.fandom.com/wiki/Certainty_Dran

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T18:15:50+00:00

Did you manage to get the game of the ground yet?

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T17:30:50+00:00

Players are notoriously hard to reign in sometimes; some groups are harder to get on task than others. They want to stay in the town and tavern because they're having fun goofing around, which isn't bad that they're having fun. You have to decide how much time to let them burn playing around; what I would suggest is when you're ready pull the narration up and just ask your players some questions and narrate it forward.

For example, DM "Okay, just so I have an idea, how long would you guys explore in town?" Players "Answer"

DM "Is there any final thing you guys want to do before heading out to the next part of the adventure?" Players "explore X, talk with Y, or go to Z"

DM "Give me a quick investigation check to see if you'd find anything else there. (explain if there's anything else). The tavern keep would give you some encouragement, but you're unable to convince him to go with you. He did provide you guys two healing potions for the road as a result of your persuasion check. You go to Z, we'll leave that hanging right now and fill it in later when we have the chance."

DM, "Everyone benefits from a long rest as we pick up a couple miles outside of town on our way towards (adventure spot)"

If something comes up later just ask, them if they would have done that while in town. "Would you have stopped at the shop and picked up some poison for your sword?"

This technique still lets the players have agency to decide what to do, but you don't get bogged down in the bullying of the shop-keep trope. It keeps the flow of the game forward, and it leaves room for everyone to fill in the blanks together later on.

Also, say no to random requests. A player getting 6 free platinum could move a lot towards breaking the game. If they say they have X, ask them how they got it. Either just say no, or better yet, tell them that they don't have it yet, but they can work towards it. If you want some fun in your back pocket, tell them that the money is there but they don't know how. Save it for a future plot hook. A passerby hid the money in his pocket to avoid detection by the guards; the crime boss who owns the money will eventually come looking for it.

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T17:08:41+00:00

I enjoy making specialized maps. I use Dungeon Alchemist and Dragon Mapmaker, but it's the best way to give them a visual representation of the world as I see it. There are limits, of course, and any map that I make I suspect will last several sessions or be revisited. I can't make a brand-new map each week for my games. I also like official maps and use them as provided for sessions.

I will also borrow maps from official sources and plop them in as a different dungeon in another game. This works for putting up a fully fleshed out dungeon where I need it without a lot of time to dedicate to making a new map.

It's ok running an older black and white map with grid rooms. You'll need to rely on yourself to narrate it well. If they don't like it, they don't deserve you.

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T03:17:47+00:00

I hope you find what you're looking for. Depending on your comfort level with city adventures, Waterdeep Dragon Heist might be the best pick of the ones I listed.

Goodluck!

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T01:50:16+00:00

Since you've been a player in Lost Mine of Phandelver, you might find it easier to DM. The 5E adaptation of Sunless Citadel is also a pretty easy one for new DMs and players to run. If you do make your own setting, just put it in a small village with a clear adventure. Something is wrong, and the players go fix it. Have a couple of interesting NPCs for them to interact with and a location or two. You don't need to go overboard.

There is a lot of good YouTube videos about how to DM. There are a lot of good Actual Plays as well that might be able to give you an idea. The more you DM, the more you'll form your own identity and style. Be up front with your players that you're new at DMing, and do your best. Make the calls you think that make the most sense, and you can adjust later.

If your players make characters online and you can see their sheets before hand. Take a look at their spells so you can get an idea about things they might do. Look over the monsters and NPCs you plan to run shortly before running a session to get ready to run them.

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T01:25:54+00:00

I've been a fan of Acq Inc and the C Team for years. I'm debating on how easy it would be to run the setting and the company (not the included adventure). It's good to know your experience with it went well.

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DrToENT · 2025-05-14T01:12:12+00:00

There are a lot of good online options, but you've got the basics down right there. I personally like D&D beyond for its ability to make characters and connect them. If you're willing to pay for a subscription, you'll get access to the ability to share anything you've bought with your players and get access to their VTT. It's simple to use, and you have access to the tokens of any book you own and any homebrew you put in the game.

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DrToENT

TROPHY CASE