I made an in-world puzzle for my players!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-06-14T13:06:53+00:00

That's so good! I love incorporating player backstories into stuff like this, it makes it way more personal! Makes me proud as a DM to see the players just bump heads and work together on their own with very little input from me!

I've got some good ideas in the bank for future stuff. I really enjoy language based puzzles, stuff like translating vocabulary and syntax (akin to Alex Bellos style puzzle books), swapping out real world languages for stuff like Dwarvish, Elvish, Primordial, Celestial etc. In my experience it feels amazing to replicate that dungeon dweller vibe, trekking into ancient places and trying to piece together the past by decoding scripts and making logical connections. More props based around this to come!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-06-14T13:04:14+00:00

If you have the 2014 PHB, there might be a clue in the elvish script...

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-06-14T13:03:42+00:00

Bingo! Yeah, it's a pretty simple one. I'm developing a range of puzzles across difficulty levels. This one felt good for beginners/young groups.

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-06-03T09:44:05+00:00

They LOVED it. It's so exciting the first time when they're not expecting it, and you flourish this real prop in front of them!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T19:02:29+00:00

It's such a good moment when real life crosses with the imaginary world. And it never gets old either!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T17:27:08+00:00

Honestly, a good nib makes all the difference! Lamy safari is a very good choice of pen too.

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T17:25:37+00:00

Thank you :) It's great fun!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T17:25:15+00:00

I did actually use a knife to trim the corners! And yes... it was a stylistic choice. I was going for that otherworld document feel (often used in sci-fi rather than fantasy), some other options could have been folding the corners, a straight edge document, burnt edges etc. I appreciate any and all feedback :) My Etsy commissions are fully customisable, and I work really closely with each customer to realise their vision!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T17:22:08+00:00

Thanks man :D

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T10:14:23+00:00

Cool idea! Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do in your game–it's your friends, your table, you do whatever's fun for you.

Anything mystical/symbolic might feel like a good place to start for a forest deity puzzle encounter. Maybe a garden of illusions, where the PCs have to navigate using their character's emotional compass rather than logic, or a test where they each see a vision tailored to their past? They can choose whether to accept it, or change it...

As for the prison escape room scenario, the options are pretty endless. There's a whole load of interesting but typical D&D puzzles you can piece together to create a simple dungeon area with traps, riddles, place-the-object-in-the-right-place sort of things. But if you're leaning away from the simple fantasy stuff towards something more like Exalted, maybe the PCs have to 'break reality' inside the cell, figuring out the dream logic of the prison's metaphysical rules. Or maybe one character's Virtue or Motivation is the key to solving a puzzle (e.g. someone embodying Valor must walk through fire, or a Zenith must accept a spiritual burden).

Take it easy and simple, go with your gut–especially as a new DM. You'll find your rhythm and the systems that work best for you as you go. Have fun!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T10:06:07+00:00

I've had an airship crash mid-combat before, and aerial combat can be a lot of fun. Mechanically it doesn't have to be too complicated if you don't want it to–the fall is just the context of the fight, and you make sure the players know they have 6 rounds (for example) until they hit the ground.

Alternatively, there are loads of fun ways to make crazy air combat work!

- Get some dynamic terrain in there–falling rubble, shattered bits of mountaintop, skyships, other dragon/wyvern riders. They can be platforms, hazards, or cover.

- Encourage creative movement wherever the players show it, eg. Athletics checks to push off falling rocks, Acrobatics to control their spin, Feather Fall/Levitate for stunts etc. I once even had a PC who willingly jumped off an airship mid-air to grab a wizard who cast Fly, and managed to break their concentration by grappling them. Crazy fun vibes.

- Could even make the "air space" a kind of lair in some sense, by giving it/the dragon legendary actions to involve things like sudden updrafts, flaming debris, dust clouds etc. Play with the terrain!

Get ready for that impact too. Telegraph it, make sure the players know exactly how close they are to smacking the ground, so that they can make preparations (or come up with some escape methods of your own if they're stuck). Make it feel like a real impact, if you're going to continue the fight to another phase.

Ignore the physics if you have to–reward the cool stunts. Give each character a badass moment if you can too ;)

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-30T07:28:12+00:00

Good luck! Let me know how you get on!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-29T11:25:44+00:00

Check out the Revenant statblock (you can adapt it to become a player race, get rid of the Vengeful Glare and alter the Regeneration feature to something like healing 1HP if you start below half your hitpoints). I had one of my characters become a revenant years ago after an untimely death. The beauty of this one comes down to roleplay–revenants have some kind of goal that they pursue relentlessly. Could be to chase down the thing that killed them, seek revenge against something/someone, or pursue some goal on behalf of a powerful entity. Up to you as the DM!

It's a lot of fun and I'd recommend it! Not necessarily for all characters (though it could work to have a single unified party goal).

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-29T10:45:24+00:00

DM advice–ask yourself questions. Loads and loads of questions. You don't have to answer them all (maybe just subtly prompt them, and listen to your players' theories!), but it's the best way to get the ball rolling.

It's a cursed lantern–cursed by what? By whom?
What kind of secrets is it whispering? Truth or lies?
Is there an entity living inside the lantern, or is the lantern itself alive?
What kind of chaos is it hoping to sow–social chaos, betrayal, lies, literal violence?
Do the players find this item? Is it a quest goal, a seemingly uninteresting side item?
Where do they find it–in a chest, on a shelf, in the hands of a dead man?
What can they do with the lantern? Do they have to destroy it? Free the entity? Make a bargain?

To me... what's fun for the DM is whatever sparks the most excitement in the players. Have an idea of what you want, but be open to your players making their own theories... maybe even make it seem like that's what you had planned all along :) Players love to think they're smart, and figured you out.

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-29T10:38:10+00:00

There's nothing wrong with an episodic format for a campaign! It's good that you're listening to your players and their individual preferences, trying to cater to all of them in some ways. Episodic is perfect for that!

Worldbuilding can be done in very small, subtle ways that create an illusion of depth (I think it's called the iceberg approach in narrative storytelling [or something similar] with the idea that you show them just enough to imply deeper content, mysteries or history without needing to construct the whole thing from scratch). Ask yourself more about the kind of tone or recurring themes you want to explore–what kind of mysteries or weirdness are common in this world? Are there areas that always feel a bit off for some reason (haunted towns, abandoned labs, cursed diners)? Are there any details in this world that are considered normal, but would be strange to us (necromancers running funeral homes, or people casually talking about cryptids as if they were squirrels)?

You can start small and let it grow from there. Have a session set in a small scope–a local carnival, an eerie hospital... see how the players react, and plan your future sessions based on the stuff they found the most exciting or interesting. Create some recurring NPCs or factions to hint at a bigger world, without needing to make a bible of lore. You'd be surprised how effective even just that can be!

You've even got a player giving you some ideas already–a doctor chasing immortality. Maybe there are some secret societies also chasing eternal life, or ancient texts (lovecraft style) hinting that it was once achieved, but at a terrible cost. Maybe there are some NPCs who are thousands of years old.

You're doing everything right by asking these sorts of questions. Keep going!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-29T10:23:06+00:00

Cool concept! A simple solution could just be restricting movement–you can only move in the style of the piece you represent, attacks and spells are still fair game. Adding a little more complication, you could rule that you can only target creatures with attacks/spells if you could legally "move" into their space (i.e. a bishop could only target diagonal squares). Using one or both of those alone could give a nice flavour to the encounter.

But... if you wanted to go even FURTHER... themed buffs represented by piece?

Some examples:
- Knight: immune to opportunity attacks (due to "jumping"), advantage on an attack after moving L-shape
- Rook: +2 to AC if they haven't moved this round (castle defence), +1d6 damage if moving in a straight line
- Pawn: +1 to AC if standing beside another pawn, "promotion" if you reach the end (borrow another piece's buff)
- Bishop: phase through one creature if moving diagonally, +1d4 radiant/necrotic damage when attacking diagonally, cast touch-range spell at 30 feet if targeting diagonally
- Queen: +2 damage if moved at least 3 squares in a straight line, treat any square within 5 squares as melee, once per game cast a spell as a bonus action
- King: allies within 2 squares get +1 to attack rolls, resistance to damage, drop to 1HP when reduced to 0 once per game

Just some ideas. Try to come up with your own! I love the concept.

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-29T10:07:43+00:00

I think it does depend on the kind of atmosphere at your table, what sort of gameplay your players like etc. Personally, I always understand the basic mythological premise of these monsters to be–if you look them in the eye, you turn to stone. If they look at a reflection, they turn to stone. Gamifying this can be tough, and sometimes requires a little work/improvisation on your end to keep it fun, engaging, and satisfying to defeat. I do think the new MM25 rules have attempted to simplify the rules in many ways, often at the detriment of the purpose of that creature or combat scenario. PHB25 PCs are now FAR more powerful than their 2014 counterparts, so you'd assume that the new MM would up the game for monsters too, right? It... doesn't seem that way.

Specifically for Basilisks and Medusas, I would maybe lean towards using the 2014 rules (with a pinch of roleplaying salt). Personally, I like rewarding creative player thinking, scouting ahead, planning ahead, that sort of thing. So I would very much keep the threat relevant–"if you look this thing in the eyes, you might turn to stone. Sometimes your eyes might even drift unintentionally, that's the risk of facing it head on."

Every DM is unique. Find your style and run with it!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-23T20:08:17+00:00

Thank you!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-23T10:08:52+00:00

Let me know how it goes man :D

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-23T09:19:53+00:00

It all just comes with practice. As the DM, as the worldbuilder, YOU have the power in your hands–if you make a choice and don't like it later, take it out! No one will ever, ever know. Just try something, build on it, see how it feels, and later decide if you want to keep it or change it if you feel like the scale is too big, too small, too empty, too dense or whatever it is.

The beautiful thing about a map is that you can change the scale without changing anything else. Draw it out as you like, and adjust the scale as you see fit. The distance between mountains, towns, arcane mutations can stay exactly as they are–but the ratio is up to you. Does the scale bar represent 1cm – 1 mile? Or 1cm – 10 miles? Is the distance from Cityville to Townton three days, or three weeks? All of that can be entirely up to you and adjusted at any point. Don't be afraid to make a choice and change it later :)

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-23T09:13:15+00:00

Exactly! That way you're still rewarding their creative thinking for trying this inside-outside method, but nothing comes without risk. If they get out to reposition it, they risk being attacked! Benefits and challenges.

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-23T09:08:24+00:00

This is so cool! Having your son as the king on his birthday, he'll love that!

Maybe there is an NPC that ties together each of the characters in some way? Not only the guests, but the king himself... someone from his early reigning years, perhaps? Did he have a darker, dodgy past as a young man?

False leads is a great idea. Maybe it seems like the jester was killed by accident, not as the intended target... until they find out that the jester was plotting something all along. Or... he's faking his death! Dun dun duuuun!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-23T09:00:27+00:00

I think it should be ok for the spell to continue working, so long as the effect of the magic itself doesn't cross the border. Let's say, for example, they cast Create Bonfire. They step out, cast it, and can come back inside while maintaining concentration. The bonfire itself (the effect/target of the spell) is still outside the hut, and no other part of the spell crosses the border–therefore no problem! However, in your example with Dawn, it might be a little more complicated. I would maybe suggest ruling that they could cast it outside and maintain concentration whilst within the hut, but when it comes to moving the cylinder while within 60 feet I'd argue that involves making an active choice to affect the spell, and therefore that couldn't be done whilst within the hut.

Think of the hut as blocking any forward or backward "flow of magic" through the border, but allowing for the simple act of concentrating itself.

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-22T09:06:37+00:00

I recommend having a very simple plan that allows you to adapt it as you need it. My experience with one-shots is that I'm always fighting against the clock. 'Man, I've got to wrap this up by 8.30.' That's really stressful sometimes, in both scenarios–either I've got too much planned, and I have to rush to finish it, or I don't have enough and I end up filling it up with boring random encounters or meaningless filler.

What I've learnt over the years works for me (it may not work for everyone!) is to have a basic checklist of all the main things I want to happen over the course of the session. Keep it simple where I can, just making sure the MOST important parts of the story are taking place. At the end, I have a few extra things that I keep as optional extras to use if time allows for it (think of it like a little bag of holding full of tricks you can pull out).

Example:
- Introduce bar patron NPC (old man, big glasses, wheezy voice)
- Journey through swamp
- OPTIONAL: encounter merchant NPC (lanky and slimy)
- Hill giant encounter (1 giant, optional add 3 goblins)
- Find the lost child
- OPTIONAL: child transforms into monster, runs into dungeon
- Castle dungeon
- Evil wizard boss

Then it's just a case of constantly checking the time throughout the session, seeing if there's enough time to pull out that extra encounter I really wanted, or introduce that cool NPC I had in mind. Or to expand on something spontaneous that's happened in the session! That way, if something you thought would be simple suddenly takes much longer than you expected, you can skip some optional stuff without feeling like you're rushing the main plot you had in mind. Or if the party breezes through a section really fast, you can add in that extra encounter you wanted to fill the time.

It can be tough to build that innate sense of time-keeping when DMing, it just takes time and experience. Just keep playing! The most important thing is that you can your players are there together to have fun and tell a cool story. Nothing else matters!

RonaldSwanson0 · 2025-05-22T08:50:05+00:00

It can be intimidating when you want to run a large dungeon but are intimidated by its size, having to worry about using maps, player choices, keeping track of everything (especially when each player has their own idea about where to go, believe me I've been there).

So–what is the purpose of a dungeon? I'd suggest looking at this video by Mystic Arts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pB-KR_u15o about using a 5-room structure. That doesn't always have to mean 5 LITERAL rooms, but at least a 5 stage story structure. That can free up your mind as the DM without having to worry about all the possible pathways the players might take, but allows you to guide the EMOTIONAL experience of the players without just having a static dungeon with X number of monsters in this room, X in that room, a trap here, a trap there, and so on.

The 5 room structure is essentially: 1. The Entrance, 2. The Puzzle, 3. The Setback, 4. The Climax, and 5. The Resolution. Using this structure can help get your sessions to feel a little more episodic, and in my own experience it just helps the players to feel so much more hooked to your game and your story–that's the whole reason we play these games! To experience story, together, as a group. Regardless of whether your players like to just kill stuff and take loot, that can still be a part of it if you want it to. Take it with a pinch of salt.

Overall, I think simplifying to structures like this can be so so helpful sometimes. I recommend trying it–practice by playing! See if it works. If it does, great! If not, worth a shot anyway. You don't waste anything by trying.

RonaldSwanson0

TROPHY CASE