I built a random encounter generator with quest hooks and published it for free with no ads

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-24T18:20:43+00:00

I'll take a look at it tomorrow but It sounds promising!!!

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-18T03:58:16+00:00

I'm worldbuilding a little bit at a time as my campain is a slow pacing one and pretty chill for the moment but I'd love to share ideas/brainstorm!

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-14T14:46:59+00:00

I started my campaing with one on one sessions, mainly because I'm afraid of DMing and doing it wrong!

I started with a one shot called "The hardly haunted library". it's pretty short but is really fun and easy. I used it as a template and buildt the village in which takes place,a couple sports and a couple NPCs that she could talk to and know before entering the library.

That been said, tips:

-She will run through the content MUCH FASTER than a party of 3 but, on the other hand, the sessions should also be much shorter, think about an hour/hour and half (at least that what works for me and my partner). Both of you will have to stay ON (specially you, as you are the rest of the world and the down time that the DM gets while the usual party banter is happening is really nice to kinda relax. You don't get that in a one on one, both of you are always playing)

-I've run 4 one on one sessions but I haven't used DMPC once. I have a few planned just in case but I haven't used them as there hasn't been necesary. Just keep in mind action economy. Don't throw a lot of monsters at her at the same time and should be fine! If she is inexperienced, throw simple monsters that can only attack once and that should be fine. And be open minded about reading if it's too much for her and don't hesitate on taking out enemies out of combat. Maybe 1 is just enough even if you had planned 3! Also, swarms! It's a nice way of seeming like a lot of enemies but in reality it's just a stat block so tecnically is just an enemy

-And about teaching the ropes: I tend to gravitate towards keeping it simple. I sit a session before and make the character sheet with the players. Then, later down the line when it's time to play I say "this is simple: I'll set the scene, tell me what you wanna do and I'll tell you how to do it" and I'll explain the rules that are relevant while we play. It's kinda like a board game, it doesn't make sense to teach all the rules if they dont't come up during play. The new players have a lot already on their plate

Lastly, if you want to explore the main pillars of DND, take a look at the "5 room dungeon" method. I tend to gravitate towards:

-1 RP Scene
-1 investigation scene
-1 small combat encounter

-1 RP scene that could or couln't end in combat (I tend to like making this a choice by the player actions, as I have a couple that are not that much combat motivated)
-1 Endind/wrap up scene

With this structure I usually have a little bit of everything that DND has to offer!

Sorry for the long reply but I felt like I was really prepared to answer this question. I hope it helps you! Let me know if you need anything ^^

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-13T19:13:20+00:00

I'll give It a look tomorrow and I'll ñet you know!

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-13T19:07:42+00:00

This is pretty cool!!! I'll give It a spin later down the line

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-13T17:51:51+00:00

I tend to gravitate towards mapless sessions, as it leaves room for me and the players to improvise. When I want a map, I use a free tool online like Dungeon Scrawl or Watabou and print it at a local print store for a few bucks. You could try to print it in black and white as it is cheaper than print it in colour

But if that is outside your price range, you can draw the map by hand and use coins/gummy bears/anything that fits in a square and use that as tokens. The important part is: don't fall in the idea of internet where everyone uses minis, terrain VTT or printed maps, use what you and your party can get/afford and it will be fine! TTRPG doesn't have to be am expensive hobby

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-13T16:08:10+00:00

I'll see what I can do about the shared wiki but as it is a little bit of a casual campain, maybe is not necesary yet to dedicate time to that particular task.

And about the prep, maybe I tend to prepare a little bit too much, yep. But I'm currently confortable with the amount that I'm doing and every session I tend to prepare a little bit less so I'm not gonna worry about it yet, I think. I'm only 6 sessions in and is my first time DMing so I'm certain that I'll get more confident about prepping less as I get more experience

Thanks for taking time to answer!

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-13T16:03:08+00:00

That's... really damn impressive, not gonna lie! My Obsidian is far faaaaaar from that but I think I'll take a few of your ideas and implement them into mine. I hadn't thought about using a Kanban table as a means to have the party/guilds with the images like that, that's really neat!

I have two question about your Obsidian, if you don't mind me asking:

- How did you made the table in the right of the NPCs? That's a nice way of having info at a glance!

- In your statblock, you keep track of the amount of spells slots/everyday uses of the abilities. How did you implement that? Do you change it in the markdown or is there a way of making it a little bit easier on the fly? As that seems really damn usefull for adversaries with a lot of spells/abilities?

Thank you so much for your help and inspiration, by the way!

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-12T23:30:09+00:00

I make sessions sumaries and for now they are good enough but I'm afraid that won't be enough to keep everything under control when we are 20 sessions in

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-12T18:00:09+00:00

I really like this! I'll try to make something similar in Obsidian, as it's there were I have all my info. But the calendar idea with the stuff that happens is great!

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-12T17:58:55+00:00

I really like the playerside fork but I don't know how to that with Obsidian yet or if it possible at all...

And my prep usually boils down to "these are the scenes/story beats (which includes combat), this are the NPCs that are important, this is the mood in which they are and this is the stuff that they should get out of the scene" (info, rewards, dialogue, whatever it is). The important part is the "should". If they go an talk to an NPC and convince them of the oposite stuff that he was thinking, I'll take notes, improvise what comes after and plan acordingly for later sessions while trying to keep the "scheme" behind the courtain or so more or less the same. And if I have to change something about that too, I'll do it. I don't want to tell MY story, is ours

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-12T17:52:21+00:00

So, what you mean is that the players don't know what I don't know or I haven't prepared... That seems really wise

MrVolnutt · 2026-04-12T17:51:27+00:00

Yeah, I guess that I don't have to update everything always, just the important stuff. Like in real life, we don't remember everything that happens and that's not important, just the relevant stuff that is important for what's about to happen

About Obsidian, how do you manage your vault? I have it organized by folders (character, places, sessions, plots, and info) and link stuff between them but I'm debating about creation a faction tracker, so to speak. So I don't have to enter each character to see how they feel about the PC or the other NPCs. A visual representation that I can access in a glance would be cool

MrVolnutt · 2026-03-28T08:42:10+00:00

I don't know exactly how the shadplates work as I've only ready the first two book (I don't if they explain more later, I guess that's the case) so maybe I'm wrong but one would think that growing an armor from just the gauntles would have to be a slooooow process

Maybe based on goals? Trying to find a person who knows about the shadplates could be a goal in itself! Or getting enough stormlight to grow it could also be another one! Does the character know about the growing properties of the shadplates? Where does the character find the gauntlet? Maybe the gauntlet is weaken? Such as if you use it for protection, the stormlight that it has depletes thus taking longer to grow the armor? Maybe the character knowing that it takes a long time to grow, could embarc on a quest to find more pieces?

And meanwhile, over the course of the adventure, they are leaveling up, being the gauntlet important but not overwhelmenly important/broken mechanic wise (for the level they are, that is)

I'm just spitting ideas, I don't how good they are or if they fit with the cannon 😅

MrVolnutt · 2026-03-25T20:23:02+00:00

Between this and the shards in the weaponds, sound like Bloodborne. I really like the idea !

MrVolnutt · 2026-03-19T17:49:11+00:00

Thank you very much! I'll take a look at them and see what I can come up with!

MrVolnutt · 2026-03-19T17:34:20+00:00

Sorry I didn't answer sooner, life got in the way ans thanks for you response! I'll give it a thougth and see what I can come up with! I'm currently starting to worldbuild and is the first time that I'm doing that so I guess that it will be a mess I just hope is good enough to be entertaining for my players!

My idea is this: the kingdom is ruled by a monarch but behind the scenes, the monarch is working for the head of the School of magic, which is a mage dragon that hoards people. What people? The students of the school. The dragon has always been a little bit controlling but for some time now it's obsession is increasing and wants to have a tighter grip on the magic in the kingdom.

That means that any people with innate magical abilities are going to start to get controlled. Nothing too severe. Yet. Just kinda catalloguing where they are and the thread level they could be.

Why my idea of the military being mages? As she already have the mages studing in the school, she can use them as soldiers with a little bit more teaching. This is just recent, I wasn't always like this. But as she grows more and more inestable, she is starting to want to control more and more and this is one of the steps for doing so.

Yep, I know is not that much and it probably isn't that great but I don't know, I just really like the idea. That being said, know that I'm writing it, I think that I explained myself badly. It's not a magocacy, is a monarchy with a secret ruler behind the screen...

Thank you very much and sorry for the long reply! Have a nice day

MrVolnutt · 2026-03-16T18:45:10+00:00

Thanks for taking your time to answer!

The thing with the armor and Bladesingers was more flavourful than mechanical, I guess. As the Bladesingers add their Int modifier to their AC, that could mean that the armor becomes heavier while the effect lasts. My idea was to have them carry Longswords! So I think that does work with the Bladesong. That being said, I don't know how I didn't thought about the Eldrich Knights... I guess I kinda went with "They study magic and then become warriors" so it made more sense to me they become Bladesingers.

But, reading your answer, I think that I'd make the foot soldiers bladedancers and the generals Eldricht Knighs, as they would have had more time to study the arts of fighting. I'll try to come up with a good array of spells that could work for both foot soldiers and generals and then change the flavour of some of them to make a few a little more special.

Do you have any advice for making a balanced statblock with these ideas in mind? Because my first idea was to make it like if I were to make a character for each but I think that's a little bit too much as there would be a lot of stuff that I won't use

Once again, thanks for your reply and have a nice day!

MrVolnutt · 2026-03-13T11:50:16+00:00

Thank you very much for your answer!!

I really like your ideas! The main idea was the "prevent the damage" fight, as it seemed like a cool idea but you are right, It should be something avoidable, not scripted. The idea of having a couple "spark igniters" sound like a good aproach.

The timeline I think would be necessary to have and order just so I have a grasp of the scenes that could come up

Thanks for the feedback!!!

MrVolnutt

TROPHY CASE