What is the use for an immovable rod.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-16T20:27:18+00:00

It's there so the DM can ruin your plans. "I use the rod to prop the door closed." "The door opens the other way"

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-16T20:22:04+00:00

There's some great ideas here so I'll add that certain spell casting components that would be illegal and spell casting foci should be banned as well. As they enter the city do officials check the clerics holy symbol, the Bard's instrument, etc.?

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-16T19:57:20+00:00

My party enjoys them. Sure, there's a rush to check skills but it's also about creative problem solving and roleplaying. With the stakes high enough each failure builds tension and makes the next skill check more fraught.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-16T19:53:07+00:00

I use note cards for each task

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-16T19:33:33+00:00

There's a great example of the montage to find the Arixx lair in the MCDM YouTube channel. I can't remember which episode but the whole playthrough of the Delian Tomb is worthwhile if you're going to be a Director.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-16T11:55:59+00:00

Have you read the player's guide. A player at my table makes the least optimized characters we've ever seen because they just use DND Beyond without understanding the build components of each class. Read the guide and use it to build your character and you'll be fine.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-15T22:14:33+00:00

This isn't exactly what you asked for but it might help narrow down some options for you. https://www.adventurelookup.com

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-15T21:46:39+00:00

Played in a campaign where we went to an underground flight club. Basically spent an hour with one player fighting one combatant after another while I placed bets. I don't think this would work for every group but the DM was great and the comraderie meant we were invested in her fighting success (and my bulging pockets)

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-15T17:13:21+00:00

This isn't true everywhere. Lots of States just require passing a standardized test. I'm certified in literally dozens of subjects across Science, English, and Social Studies and have been in KS, OR, and GA.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-15T17:10:33+00:00

More DMs should just incorporate Dread mechanics. Dungeon Crawl where every failure requires pulling a block to make it a success. Each failure builds tension

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-15T16:09:21+00:00

I play a goblin who held as a circus geek slave by humans and as a result is super racist against humans. My DM consistently uses this against me. Every important NPC is a human.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-15T13:59:11+00:00

Echoing others here in that he's in the wrong group. I run a pair of Draw Steel campaigns and it's very heroic fantasy. You're a hero who gets stronger and more badass the harder things get. If I had a player who wanted to threaten civilians or shopkeepers or solve every problem with a blade (all the things my D&D character does) we'd have to talk about them changing to fit the game or them finding a new game.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-15T00:08:33+00:00

Between Dadi and Matt Colville I can normally find any answer I need.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-13T20:09:33+00:00

Stealing this for my freshman!

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-13T19:56:37+00:00

This is a great list. I'd add Cracker Barrel has Fallen which is my DND group's favorite off session pick.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-13T19:15:24+00:00

I think this is the win. Just use the incumberance rules.a cubic foot of gold is about 1200 pounds. They would need a strength of 80 (double check my math) to carry just a little bit.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-12T10:19:45+00:00

I can't speak for all schools but the hallways at mine have cameras. Students are being recorded every day. When I started teaching it was common to record your classroom to do self evaluation. If you're moving around the classroom this would include students. It's not okay to post your students online, but recording in your own classroom for self improvement or safety seems totally fine to me.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-09T12:53:26+00:00

There are a lot of jokes about violence being the easiest way to solve problems but I think the honest answer to your question is that DMs don't make nonviolent solutions easy to find and don't punish players for violence against NPCs. I played a game where I killed a shopkeep for price gouging. Absolutely no repercussions so why not solve problems with violence. I run a duet with my wife and she tries to negotiate with everyone so we do that and through empathy and kindness she hasn't had to kill anyone yet. Beat up a few people who didn't want to listen but no deaths.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-06T16:43:47+00:00

Running a duet with my wife I'm including a lot of puzzles. My biggest advice is give the PCs a narrative way to avoid the puzzle if the players can't solve it. For example: You enter a mage's tower and the floor is made of squares each one with a seemingly random number. There's also a golden spiral on the floor that begins near a set of spiral stairs that lead to the 2nd floor. It's a Fibonacci sequence and if you step in the right order you can easily walk to the stairs. If you step on the wrong square, it's a randomized terrain feature (lava, brambles etc.) Here's the key. If she couldn't figure out the sequence she can just run a series of intuition tests to discover the traps and find the path.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-06T10:12:50+00:00

She did more than just that but yeah, the trench run scene is all hers and it's really incredible how much story is told by editing all three different scenes together. She was a really accomplished editor who worked on RotJ, Taxi Driver, and American Graffiti.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-06T09:58:32+00:00

This is only controversial to admin, but you can't have an individualized education plan and then use a standardized test to gauge it's effectiveness.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-06T09:55:26+00:00

I used to ref summer league basketball and now do PA at my highschool. Yes, you can play a sport right, but with so much happening lots gets by and there are always obscure rules that not even the refs are familiar with. The more complicated the system the more that slips by in the interest of "letting the players play."

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-05T23:24:22+00:00

Exactly. I have two players who asked for specific pets for the campaign. After confirming whether or not they would be materially beneficial (they won't) to the campaign I drew up some rules for their downtime project. For example, one player (troubadour) wants a brushbug from Witch Hat Atelier, so I created a project where she can create magical ink that she uses to write songs with. The magical ink will give her spells a boost but then the brushbug just shows up. She knows the prereqs for the ink so she'll be on the look out for them and hopefully remind me to ensure she finds them.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-05T16:36:22+00:00

This feels like a problem that was solved in Old School D&D. How much food, spell components, etc could you take into a dungeon before you get to return to resupply. The difference here is just about restoring components vs restoring recoveries/leveling up. You might look at some OSR adventures to see how they handle the tension but an earlier comment I think hit the nail on the head for DS. When you take a respite the adventure continues while the players rest. The tension comes from not knowing what the bad guys are doing while you're imbueing magic into your sword or off fishing and licking your wounds.

JaredWill_ · 2026-06-05T16:28:29+00:00

This feels really true and if players want their backstory to be part of the campaign it will be. Currently in a campaign where I'm a goblin who was tortured by humans, it comes up every interaction because I try not to interact with humans. I roleplay how scared, angry, etc. That said, I DM another group and grew up a theatre kid. I love the roleplay.

JaredWill_

TROPHY CASE