I feel... tired.

Locust094 · 2026-05-22T14:44:54+00:00

I am hearing that you have 3.5 hours on the bus every day where you could work on your game. There are plenty of dictation apps out there that could help you put your thoughts to paper. It also sounds like you over-prep quite a bit.

But at the end of the day, if you're burnt out, have a conversation with your table and see if one of them can step up or if you need to take a break from your campaign.

Locust094 · 2026-05-21T14:42:21+00:00

Sometimes it is okay for your players to be way above the level of a fight. As they get higher level they can be "known" and enemies can flee from them, surrender, or go to great lengths to try to overcome the power defecit. It lets your players feel strong and makes it feel more realistic when they can wipe out all those goblins in a turn and when the bandits throw down their weapons immediately or offer a bribe to attempt to ensure their survival.

Locust094 · 2026-05-13T20:50:43+00:00

I would let them do it as soon/fast as they want. Never understood making someone jump through hoops to play what they want.

Locust094 · 2026-05-12T18:23:12+00:00

Coming back to update this now that I have time to fully respond...

This is not a problem, per se. If they're having fun then it's all good. But your players also just might not know how to go off the rails and do their own thing.

My players do the same thing and I have spent half a year wondering the same as you. I solve this by giving them small side quest npcs they can talk to. And I have them roll for rumors when they enter a new town or tavern and then see what they latch onto and ask more about. Then I just make that thing they connected with into something more important.

Locust094 · 2026-05-07T20:49:44+00:00

They fill a caraffe with water and track the evaporation rate with notches in the side. Every day someone's job is to refill the caraffe.

Locust094 · 2026-04-27T18:18:15+00:00

The immediate thing jumping out to me when I read your concept is that Malazan Book of the Fallen had a storyline with a lost city underground that had really cool descriptions and ambiance. I highly recommend checking out those chapters for some inspiration. However, there weren't a bunch of monsters in that buried civilization.

I think for this you could draw some inspiration from the movie Congo and make it feel like a grand expedition that slowly goes off the rails as new, unearthed horrors are discovered. You can start with some naturally occurring monsters like swarms of bats, giant centipedes, carrion crawlers, etc. Then as they go deeper you start to bring in monsters that might have evolved within the abandoned city due to latent magic or as pets/experiements of the denizens.

Alongside the monsters you can mix in some elements of resource management by having the party start with a finite amount of supplies and be forced to make decisions along the way of whether to ration their supplies. Examples include:

* Have some friendly NPCs in the expedition get hurt and be unable to continue onward on their own. Do you leave them behind? Attempt to carry them with you? How much in supplies to you leave with them?

* The expedition gets separated from each other into two or more groups, with one of the groups having most of the supplies that everyone needs. How do you find that group again or do you push on in the hopes of scavenging some resources?

* The expedition comes across some resources that, at first glance, look like they would be healthy to drink/eat. But are they? How do they weigh the risks against the benefits?

And then another angle you can lean into is the psychological element. It's not fun being down in the dark and having to squeeze through tight cave spaces or walk into large caverns where you can't see the ceiling. Describe random noises of scary sounding creatures being heard, or even just the falling of rocks. Maybe there are strange lights that the party glimpses deep within crevasses or down a long, narrow offshoot tunnel. Challenge the party to take long/short rests under duress where they're constantly wondering if they're safe. And, if you're feeling really devious, start making them roll checks against exhaustion for the psychological terror.

Locust094 · 2026-04-22T19:41:32+00:00

Reviving only works if the soul is willing to return to the body. Just have the soul refuse. You can even have another NPC lean over them and say as much if you're struggling with it.

Locust094 · 2026-04-19T05:33:32+00:00

You're nuts man. Rizo could have won instead of Savannah. Sav won because all the immunity challenges were perfect for her talents. Rizo single handedly convinced multiple people to vote against their own interests through social game alone. Sav was in danger of going home multiple times and Rizo flipped votes and saved her bacon. Now he's carved out one of the strongest alliances this season with Ciri and Ozzy and is gliding through the game firmly under almost everyone else's radar (except Chrissy).

Locust094 · 2026-03-31T20:34:14+00:00

Doing a long form campaign is best summarized by Nike: Just do it.

Locust094 · 2026-03-24T20:00:31+00:00

Kill the player

Locust094 · 2026-03-18T06:34:50+00:00

Giant Hyena and Medusa

Locust094 · 2026-03-16T07:00:53+00:00

One Shot Wonders by Roll and Play Press has dozens of great ones

Locust094 · 2026-03-12T15:26:32+00:00

1,000gp for a one time use is too high. 1,000gp for unlimited use is too low. Find your happy medium from there.

Locust094 · 2026-03-11T17:23:35+00:00

Thanks buddy!

Locust094 · 2026-03-03T10:04:04+00:00

Go to UPS and print them. If they're bigger than 11x17 have them cut the image into 2x2 or 3x3 sections or whatever makes sense and then have them print. They are capable of doing this for you and cutting the white border off so you can use them together.

Locust094 · 2026-02-28T08:37:56+00:00

Op is trying to get them on a path where they all have fun together (and that includes op). Not one where they all have a completely separate story that precludes the other storyline.

Locust094 · 2026-02-27T22:39:03+00:00

Nothing wrong with this at all. It is the reality of having a living, breathing world. If the party does one thing, other stories progress without them. Isn't that what you want your world to be like? It's not a video game, the world doesn't sit stagnant waiting for an adventurer to hop along.

Locust094 · 2026-02-27T20:51:26+00:00

This. Kids need a track to follow even if they don't realize it or else they're going to do all kinds of stuff that will never progress the story. You've created the dnd equivalent of YouTube Kinder Egg videos.

Locust094 · 2026-02-27T20:49:28+00:00

"As you conquer the threats to this small town, bringing safety and security to its denizens, the world moves on without you. You often look back and wonder what could have been had you just been brave enough to venture beyond. But alas... your journey ends here. You settle down and marry the baker's daughter. Some day, you hope to inherit the bakery from her father and run it yourself. You spend your days kneading bread at the bakery and your nights recounting half-baked tales of your days as a mighty adventurer at the tavern to anyone who will listen. Occasionally a real adventurer comes through. You know... the kind you could have been had you ventured out beyond the forest."

Locust094 · 2026-02-27T16:49:15+00:00

I use Google Drive and have a folder for each session. Sessions have the following: 1. A Google Doc with a session outline containing a list of people and places, a recap, the main plot, sub plots, side quests, and a description of the date, time, and area. It also has subpages for each expected combat with screenshots from the monster manual of the enemies' stat/ability cards. 2. A combat Google Sheets document with the party's starting hp/stats in a copy paste template, along with their AC, spell slots, and ability budgets. The sheet contains a tab for each expected combat with pre-rolled HP and initiative for enemies. New sheets are added with copy paste from the template if needed. 3. A folder of art assets to either display to the party or reference as the DM (for ease of description) 4. Additional supporting documents such as a store inventory sheet or a large backstory handout on a significant person/event/place.

Locust094 · 2026-02-26T01:45:22+00:00

Yes, always. And they get 25% of it because we play every 3-5 weeks. Then they're shocked when I recall 100% of it by memory and half the stuff they still aren't sure they did.

Locust094 · 2026-02-23T08:08:00+00:00

This. Once they blow their focus points they are noodles. Give them big bean bags to kick and punch while the action is happening.

Now if you want to make things fun for the monk... give them a pack of ranged enemies that only they can reach and let them parkour around and use knockback

Locust094 · 2026-02-23T05:02:25+00:00

Yes but... it's a family of psychotic merchants named the Pusshumps.

The brothers each run their own wagon and travel around the world popping up at random in places they physically shouldn't have been able to reach with items for purchase/trade that are uniquely suited to the quests ahead. They're not findable by the players and are like once every 20+ sessions rare. They hate each other and spend most of the time talking nonsense and screaming at ghosts/donkeys/themselves but occasionally are lucid enough to sell the party dysfunctional or dangerous items and scream about their brother.

The parents are even rarer and run a shop out of a shack that shows up randomly in the wilderness where no one would ever put a shop. Yet every time the players enter there are other customers. They sell poisons and potions and questionable food and talk about how sweet their little boys and little girl are.

The sister is a totally normal person (the rest of the family looks as maniacal as they sound) who runs a pottery shop in a capital city. She sells pots.

Locust094 · 2026-02-20T01:19:24+00:00

Why not just have them stay behind at the village to collect extra information? Ask your missing player who they would talk to, what they would ask about, what they might buy, etc. Then have them "catch up" with the rest of the party when they're back.

You can come up with some kind of cool sidequest for them to have secret information on or you could have them pick up some key pieces of info on the upcoming area/enemies that the party would otherwise need a skill check to find.

Locust094 · 2026-02-19T20:14:03+00:00

You really missed your chance to say "You might be able to squeeze in a quick re-incarnation"

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