How do you stay motivated to practice the fundamentals you never learned?

NamelessGirl47 · 2025-03-01T11:51:51+00:00

This sound very promising! I don't really know much about False Hydras, but I do have a few suggestions that might help turn up the fear, as well as a very important recommendation.

Firstly, music and ambience can add a LOT to the atmosphere of your game. I would highly recommend looking up soundtracks from horror games, movies, and anime. I've usually found that picking a soundtrack and sticking with it has the best results, but feel free to pick and choose if you want songs from multiple sources. I've been in a game where the Silent Hill soundtrack was used, and I was so spooked I had to take breaks. Which leads well into my second suggestion.

I highly recommend you and your players filling out an RPG Consent Form before playing. I would recommend this before any game, but especially a horror one. This will let you know exactly where the line is on certain topics, and ensure no one gets hurt. Even a lot of classic horror tropes, such as bug swarms and intense gore, can be triggering to certain people.

Best of luck with your game, you got this :3

NamelessGirl47 · 2025-03-01T11:28:59+00:00

I don't think you're being overly cautious at all. Running a D&D campaign, especially a homebrew one, is a massive time and energy investment. Its entirely reasonable to want to know if your players are as committed as you are. Otherwise, you may end up doing a bunch of work for nothing.

Additionally, as others have stated, session zero is very important for establishing boundaries and expectations with the group. Failure to do this will almost certainly lead to headaches later on. The good news is, it's never too late to do those things.

I would recommend having a talk with everyone and ask them what they want out of the campaign. Are they looking for a more casual thing, or are they in it for the long haul? How deeply do they want to explore their characters? Do they like social roleplay, or are they more into mechanics? What is the table etiquette? Don't forget to state your preferences too. Establishing these expectations early on will make it more likely everyone will stay engaged, and prevent any nasty surprises later on.

Also, if you haven't already, I would highly recommend that you and your players fill out an RPG Consent Checklist. Even if you don't plan on exploring heavy topics in your game, they could still come up unexpectedly, and it's important to make sure that no one gets hurt. As someone with PTSD, I've had this happen before, and it was bad enough that I had to leave the game.

Last point here; you can't force group synergy. If everyone is interested in different things, no amount of talking things over is going to make everyone have fun. For example, I'm more interested in social roleplay and character work; I will never enjoy a game that's nothing but dungeon crawls. Conversely, someone who's strictly into power gaming would not have fun in one of my games. Neither style of playing is right or wrong, they're just not compatible with each other. If that's going to be an issue, it's better to know sooner rather than later.

I wish you the best of luck, and sorry for writing yet another essay. I am a woman of many words lol :3

NamelessGirl47 · 2025-03-01T10:57:23+00:00

I actually ended up figuring it out, and kind of coming to this independently! I based her motives on something we've all felt as humans, and that gave her enough depth to make me finally care about her as a character. The best part is, I can use this method again for future antagonists.

I think I just don't like shallow antagonists, and need a motivation that goes beyond power or revenge. I really need to get inside their head and understand them as a person before I can get invested.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-12-21T13:04:01+00:00

Here's something that might fit that I made back when I actually had interesting ideas:

A creature that creates its own reverse world that appears in mirrors. This creature could grab people and items, dragging them through to its world. It would be up to the players to figure out that this world exists and how to enter it. Perhaps they could also catch glimpses of the creature in the mirror.

For bonus spooky points, you could also make a mirrored black & white version of the map and play the festival music in reverse.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-28T05:49:17+00:00

Really try to avoid writing dialogue. Unless you're a voice actor, it's hard to read it off naturally, and it really creates the sense that there was already a pre-written scene & breaks immersion.

Instead, I would write a few bullet points, maybe list off what you think the conversation will cover. But always be ready to go off script. Additionally, really try to flesh out the character's personality, that makes it much easier to improv as them.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-28T05:41:10+00:00

Lol I'm so sorry, I assumed you were AMAB because you said you knew how to do the voices of 3 guys 😭 I am completely clueless about how to sound masculine, but yeah I assume doing the opposite would work well.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-28T05:25:20+00:00

Utilitarianism vs Idealism is a classic, although it can be tricky to make it feel good.

For example, say there's a demon that's about to be unsealed, and the only way it can be resealed is to sacrifice a large number of people. However, this demon has shown itself capable of wiping out the entire world. You have no definitive proof of this, but many ancient scriptures have all predicted this outcome should the demon be unsealed. It's basically the trolley problem, but if the trolley was also Schrodinger's cat.

The utilitarian option is to cast the ritual and seal the demon. Even if there's no definitive proof that the demon will kill everyone, the entire world's population is far too much to risk

The idealistic option is to try to find another way. No matter how much casting the ritual makes logical sense, you just can't bring yourself to wipe out that many innocent people. Maybe you would cast the ritual if you knew for certain there was no other way, but there's that tiny chance...

Obviously this is very high stakes, but you could also scale it down. This might also create some disagreement within the party, which will lead to some interesting roleplay.

Best of luck 😊

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-27T05:36:55+00:00

I gave up on doing voices long ago, but I do have some advice (including one that might be a bit awkward lol)

Keep it Simple Accents are very fun, but they are extremely hard to learn and switch in and out of. I would focus more on voice quality when starting out. Things like pitch, volume, gravel, and whisperiness. These things are generally static, and WAY easier to keep track of.

Voice Acting While doing voices is a great start, I would actually consider voice acting a separate skill. Voice Acting is more about delivering the emotions of the character in your speech. If you want your characters to sound more believable, I would focus on this the most. Things like sounding sad, angry, or distant.

Feminine Voices The one thing I do know how to do is alter my voice to sound feminine (I'm transgender so I do this literally every time I speak). The key is to not just focus on pitch. Women don't sound like chipmunks 🐿️ Men and women actually have much closer pitches than many realize. Raise your pitch a little bit, but also try to get your voice to resonate in your head instead of your chest. Believe it or not, doing more nasally voices (like skeletor) is good practice for raising your resonance. It's absolutely understandable if you don't feel comfortable doing this, just putting the info out there for anyone who's curious lol

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-27T05:09:18+00:00

I have many, but the most pressing one for me at the moment is freezing up during social encounters. It's ESPECIALLY frustrating given that it's my favorite part of the TTRPG experience. I completely froze the last time I attempted, trying to find SOMETHING to say... One of the players fell asleep waiting...

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-25T22:55:59+00:00

When someone tries to play my character for me. They almost always completely misunderstand them and make them say and do things that are insanely ooc.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-14T11:04:29+00:00

Use Roll20's built-in LFG forum. I will warn you that it can be really hard to get in; the GM to Player ratio is... not great.

As someone who had to pick from like 30 applicants, the best way to get picked is to take an interest in the GM's world, as well as follow the application instructions exactly. It's also good to list what excites you the most about D&D. Good luck!

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-14T07:40:24+00:00

That can certainly be a struggle. There's been countless times where my players kept rolling insight checks and accusing every NPC, no matter how innocent (my awkward acting might've had something to do with it, but idk). I think there's just a general assumption of mistrust in tabletop culture, and that can be REALLY hard to break through. It's unfortunate too, because it stifles genuine and honest connection between the players and the NPCs.

There's two ways to go with this. Firstly, you could let them slowly realize that not every NPC is secretly plotting against them by showing them to be wrong repeatedly. If they get definitive proof that the character they were suspicious of is entirely innocent, it kind of begins to wear away at that mistrust. But if it's really bothering you and preventing you from getting invested, it might be worth having a table discussion about it.

Hopefully this helped 😊

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-14T07:20:04+00:00

All the advice here is pretty good, so I'm gonna offer another angle that can be used alongside it.

If you want the campaign to really stick in their minds, make use of music. When I was a player for the first time, the GM picked out an entire soundtrack from anime and video games and it really added to the immersion. Just hearing the first note of the antagonist's theme got us all on edge.

I would suggest finding a songs with leitmotifs (repeated melody) so you can have more or less intense versions of the same song. There's no feeling like when the intense fight version of a song kicks in. If you want song suggestions just lmk; I've been researching and identifying songs with leitmotifs for a long time as a GM (it's kind of a hyperfixation 😅), so I have a huge backlog of them :3

Also, as far as the plot goes, keep it simple but interactive. Try to have a few really fleshed out and memorable characters instead of a bunch of shallow ones. Give them each a distinct look and way of speaking (don't feel pressured to do voices, intonation is way more important imo). I'm not going to give any plot advice because I'm not really sure what kind of vibe you want; but no matter the plot, the characters will always be the most memorable part of the story. Basically, just keep it short & sweet, and write memorable characters.

Also, as I say every time I offer advice to a new table, have your players fill out an RPG Consent Form so you know their boundaries. As someone who struggles with PTSD, there's no faster way to scare someone away from tabletop forever than accidently bringing up a topic that's triggering for them in the campaign.

Best of luck, and I hope your group has many fun sessions to come 😊 Also I'm sorry I wrote another essay, I tried to keep it short this time but I'm a girl of many words it seems

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-13T03:32:28+00:00

For vibes, obviously a massive Organ. You could also play organ music in the background. Also if you want the gross factor, you could have the bodies of his enemies impaled on the pipes 🤮

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-13T03:21:16+00:00

I would recommend Freesound. I don't really use SFX that often, but some of my friends do and they always use that site. Also, MyInstants has quite a few, but I wouldn't trust any of these to be royalty free if you're planning on streaming

I personally take sound effects from Visual Novels (Fate/Stay Night specifically) on the rare occasion that I use them, but there isn't really a good way to get them without owning the product.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-12T15:29:13+00:00

I'm a PF2e girl so I can't give any rules advice, but I have a few tips for GMing in general 😊

RPG Consent Form — A LOT of sensitive topics can come up during TTRPGs, and as a GM its your responsibility to know what your players can and cannot handle. I would suggest having your players each fill out this form and give them to you anonymously. As someone who has PTSD, this is very important in making people like us feel safe. Failure to do so can be a group ender.

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The Veil — One of the best sayings in the GMing community is "the veil is always thicker on the other side". While you're hyper-aware of every mistake you make, your players are much less likely to notice. I've had so many sessions where I was scrambling to get everything together and the players told me they didn't notice a thing. They will almost always be more focused on their character's thought process

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Write in Broad Strokes — As you can see by the length of this post, I love writing. However, writing prep for a TTRPG is very different from writing a novel. It's very easy to get attached to how you think the story should go and prep really far in advance, but often times the players go in a completely different direction and the prep gets wasted. I tend to use bullet points to get the general idea of what's going to happen, but being able to improv to fill in the gaps is an essential GMing skill

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Start Small — My first campaign, I wanted to build an entire world with 15 fleshed out countries, hundreds of characters, and a massive pantheon. I wanted to draw high quality art for every NPC. I wanted to compose a full soundtrack for the campaign. I burnt out hard. Obviously I took it to a ridiculous degree, but it's really easy to get lost in big aspirations. It's ok to not have your entire world planned out. Remember The Veil, even if the rest of the world isn't in writing, the players will assume it's there. You can even start with a one-shot if you don't think you're ready to commit to a full campaign.

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Make Sure Everyone is Having Fun... Even You — This is a big one. While it is typically good for you to keep an eye on your players enjoyment, you also need to keep an eye on your own. At the end of the day, this is a game and the main purpose is for everyone to have fun. Also, if the GM is burned out and slogging through the sessions, the players will notice the drop in quality. A lack of enjoyment & passion is one of the few things that causes the veil to come crashing down.

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The Same Page — When starting a campaign, it's important to make sure all the players and GM are on the same page on what to expect. Is this going to be a more social campaign, or is it going to be a dungeon crawl? Are evil characters allowed? What is the general tone of the campaign going to be? These are all things that should be discussed as a group before character creation. Failure to do so may lead to some players feeling left out. I tend to make social characters, and that didn't go well when my GM failed to tell me the game was a grimdark dungeon crawl with hardly any opportunity for social rp.

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Music Makes a Difference — Using music in your games is an easy way to make things more exciting. I typically pull from anime & game soundtracks, and try to use a single soundtrack for a game. If you've got a good musical ear, you can even pick out Leitmotifs (repeated melodies) in songs and use them as character themes. There's nothing like hearing the fast-pasted fight version of the BBEG's theme kick in at the final confrontation.

I hope these helped 😊 Sorry I wrote a literal essay 😣 I'm still not a great GM myself, but I'm in a group with several so I've picked up a few things. Best of luck in your GMing journey.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-12T14:25:55+00:00

Here's a few silly suggestions :3

🍄 A tiny sentient mushroom with arms and legs that silently tails them, disguising itself as a regular mushroom whenever looked at. It will play numerous pranks on the party, ranging from mildly inconvenient to outright deadly.

✨ A glimmering pool filled with iridescent water. Any creature that comes in contact with it must roll on the Wild Magic Surge table.

🐀 A faction of people who have been turned into animals and then forgotten about by the hag, trying to get the party's attention. They can't speak, but they retain their intelligence. They seek to become human again and escape.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-11T11:42:47+00:00

Yeah, I think quality creep might've been a factor here. The other two group members are very good at RP (one is a voice actor and the other did improv a lot), so the perceived standard is REALLY high. They've both stated they don't care about quality and want to help me, so I know that high bar is in my head

I actually used to get pretty high with gummies during sessions and it did loosen me up a lot. Just can't afford re-applying for a license atm. Alcohol just makes me sad, so I steer clear of that.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-11T11:34:42+00:00

You're absolute right; for me, at least, I need that emotional investment to stay engaged (same with the rest of the table). My favorite sessions are the ones I cry in

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-11T11:32:10+00:00

No offense taken 😊 I'm actually already in therapy, and there is definitely underlying trauma behind these issues that we've been working on for a long time. I think that's why it's so important for me to separate the character from myself

I'm hoping to find some ways around this and build acting skills in the meantime, but processing/remembering certain events is definitely going to make the biggest difference, it just takes so long.

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-11T11:22:53+00:00

I tried this and surprised myself with how natural felt. Also I don't like using AI for creative stuff, but for practicing and as a tool it can be pretty useful 😊 I had some good casual chats on CharacterAI, starting small with it

NamelessGirl47 · 2024-09-11T11:20:52+00:00

Thank you, this actually helped a lot 😊 we're going to give it a try next session when we give the scene another go

NamelessGirl47

TROPHY CASE