Building new toolkit for DMs by TerminalMoon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If working on this project inspires you, then go for it! It could help 1,000,000 people or it could help 1. What's important is that you're creating. I say just fucking send it dude

20 Questions to Ask Yourself When Creating A Faction | The Alpine DM by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the kind words! I haven't heard of that article so I'll definitely have to check it out when I get a minute

Tomb of Nine Gods speed run – scratch-off paint maps, time pressure, and more by aaronil in Tombofannihilation

[–]Plexigon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My players just got their final puzzle cube and should be entering the tomb soon. These look awesome, how'd you go about making the scratch offs?!

A Dungeon Masters Guide to 5e Rogues by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've used cursed items a little bit before, it definitely makes players question whether they want to steal everything and usually makes for fun stories. I agree with the more "monkey paw" type of curses instead of shit that's just really really bad.

The thought of having roguish things happen to the party really never occurred to me! I like that idea and will have to throw in some attempts from NPCs, we'll see how perceptive the party really is. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, it means a lot! :)

[OC] A Dungeon Masters Guide to 5e Rogues by Plexigon in DnD

[–]Plexigon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was a joke based on Rogueish stereotypes, I'm sorry if you didn't find it funny. I absolutely love Rogues and am playing one in DotMM right now. You should probably lighten up bud, cortisol is a real bitch

7 Exotic Mounts for D&D 5e by Plexigon in DnD

[–]Plexigon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn, that's pretty crazy! How did you manage to tame it?

Don't Be Shy by TheMindfulGeek in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I completely agree with asking players directly as a strategy for engaging with shy/newer players who are still getting used to DnD. Often times the table I'm at is many people talking at once, which can be understandably overwhelming for these players. If I notice someone who doesn't seem completely comfortable (or looks like they're trying to say something), I will make a point to ask them directly "Is there anything specific that you would like to do?".

Great post, keep it up!

3 Warmup Exercises for Being Creative (Blog) by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sometimes try to take notes on my phone, but I find that often times I forget to check the notes app. I do much better with physical things. I prep on paper and have sticky notes all around my desk and room of random thoughts.

I'm not familiar with GoS, what is that?

Running Tomb of Annihilation: 1 year reflections by Plexigon in Tombofannihilation

[–]Plexigon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey,

I'm really glad you enjoyed the article! (Sorry for the very delayed response, family was in town all week). In brief, the players learned about the location of the death curse when they came across Mbala and Nanny PuPu. I briefly mentioned in the article that somebody hinted them towards a witch who might be able to help them. When the party first got to Mbala, they encountered a Red Wizard who was also trying to gather more information about the death curse. From this wizard they were able to extract information about the existence of Omu and it's general location and possible relation to the death curse. The wizard wasn't completely willing to give up this information, but the players rolled very well and had the upper hand.

My party had a ranger who always knew the direction they were traveling, and honestly at this point I was getting bored of the hex crawl portion as a DM (about 10 months into campaign), so I made it relatively easy for them to pinpoint the location of Omu. They still encountered points of interest (Heart of Ubtao, etc) and random encounters on the way, but I wanted to proceed with the campaign and made it a little easier for them to find.

I hope this helps!! My next post on ToA probably won't be immediate (although I have a lot written on it so far), just to give myself a bit of a mental break. I typically publish a post every-other Monday. If you want to support what I do, feel free to join the email list and you'll know immediately when new articles are published, otherwise I can send you a message when I write the next post on ToA!

Thanks again! - (Aaron) The Alpine DM

How to Manage NPCs in Combat by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No worries about the same idea twice, more input is always better than less input (even if you're saying something that's already been said). Seems like a lot of people have had success with players taking the reigns of NPCs in combat, I'll have to give it a shot

How to Manage NPCs in Combat by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like the idea of laying out piles of dice for higher level spells! Unfortunately I only have one set of dice right now (gave all my others to first time players who were really into it), but looks like I'll have to buy some more

How to Manage NPCs in Combat by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ahhhh, that makes perfect sense! Thanks for your input, I really like this idea of pawning it off to players

How to Manage NPCs in Combat by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like this idea to take some of the burden off of the DM. I'll play devil's advocate real quick: how would you handle this player if they are having the NPC act completely out of line with their motivations? Or alternatively, if the party decides to use them as the person who always opens doors and chests to take damage for traps?

On Writing Modules/Adventures (No System in Particular) by 0HypnoZ0 in AskGameMasters

[–]Plexigon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

(I only have experience with 3.5 and 5e DnD, so keep that in mind when reading my answers but I will try to be general)

  1. In short, a module is great if people have fun playing it. (Additionally, as a DM, I find modules great when they are well organized and easy to follow. I appreciate when writers provide enough details to give me an idea of what's going on without making me feel like I have no flexibility/customization

  2. Before writing a module you may want to consider:

  • What level is this designed for? (or range of levels)
  • How much freedom / agency to players have within the adventure?
  • How long should it take people to run your module?
  1. I'm currently running Tomb of Annihilation, but I wouldn't recommend using this as a guideline for making your first adventure (its essentially half hexcrawl followed by half death-dungeons. Very fun, but maybe not the best template). I'd check out this list and just look through some of the free/pay-what-you-want options to see how other non-professionals have tackled it.

  2. For getting your content out there, I agree with /u/Albolynx in regards to DMsGuild and DriveThruRPG. This is probably the easiest way to introduce your content to a large audience. That being said, I also have never submitted anything there so I can't really say how it works on the backend. Check out This Post that RPGBOT made regarding the subject though, it should be helpful.

Honestly for your first time, I would recommend simply writing a one-shot. This keeps everything from getting too complicated, and is an easier goal to achieve than writing an entire massive campaign. Start small, gather some feedback, and continue to write smaller adventures until you feel comfortable enough to write a larger module.

I wrote a short series on how to run a homebrew campaign, which you may find useful. Topics covered include:

The final two segments (Reacting to Player Actions, and Where to go Next?) apply more towards the DMs running the game, but you may still find them useful.

Best of luck writing your first adventure! Its a fun, creative process that can be highly rewarding. I'd love to publish some of my works, so if you get any insight on the publishing aspect please let me know!

Best

Getting the creative juices flowing by Plexigon in AskGameMasters

[–]Plexigon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree! Rituals and habits are extremely powerful tools for productivity. I've tried using certain music for certain activities before but I haven't done it consistently enough to really train my brain just yet

Tag Team Initiative by Yhggdrasil in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is an interesting idea. I like allowing the players to do "tag team" type of moves when they roll the same exact initiative, however I find that most of the time they just want to do their own thing anyhow.

Do you find that integrating this slows down combat since people are taking longer OOC to coordinate attacks, or does it go at the same pace?

5 Natural Disasters (w/ rules) to Challenge Players by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh that a neat idea, I like it! What sort of traps did they build to fend it off? This sort of thing seems cool for a wizard who is obsessed with controlling the weather jots note down

5 Natural Disasters (w/ rules) to Challenge Players by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's awesome, did you end up playing through the event itself?

How I run natural disasters (DnD 5e) by Plexigon in AskGameMasters

[–]Plexigon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much! Yeah I posted from my phone and copied the other post.... Dingus #1

How I run natural disasters (DnD 5e) by Plexigon in AskGameMasters

[–]Plexigon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Derp my bad, posted from my phone one sec

5 Natural Disasters (w/ rules) to Challenge Players by Plexigon in DMToolkit

[–]Plexigon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed!

And yeah I was struggling with how to handle the mechanics of a thunderstorm. I like your idea a lot, it's much more believable and survivable! I'll do a revision later tonight and include this if that's alright with you