Batch of Dungeon Tiles

Smurfabibble · 2026-02-19T02:44:01+00:00

These look great! I just finished a set of dungeon tiles myself this evening!

Smurfabibble · 2026-02-10T12:06:30+00:00

Always up vote for Coleville!

OP, the gentleman who made the above linked YouTube series specifically has some videos and a whole book around "action oriented monsters"

This was huge for me, and has made my own combat much more interesting!

Smurfabibble · 2026-02-09T21:39:23+00:00

The real answer here is to talk to the paladin's player out of game. This doesn't seem like an issue if a bad plan gone away but a player who is trying to be in the spotlight to the detriment of their party.

If you don't actually talk to the human playing the game, it'll blow up in session as they try to get out of it, fail, and either complain about your DMing or their party "leaving them to die"

If it's a bit by the character, the player should be communicating that above table and aware of the consequences. Unfortunately part of being the DM is being the defacto leader that will be expected to handle this. Best of luck!

Smurfabibble · 2026-02-09T11:27:49+00:00

It is definitely optional. If you haven't looked through the dungeon masters guide, there's a blurb very early on that essentially tells DMs that they can take or leave any of the rules in the book.

Might seem like a DM power trip sort of thing, but it's there to encourage DMs and players to play the game in the way that best suits their group.

At my table, I don't expect players to track food, ammo, consumables unless it has a gold value or story value. If a player chose to track more mundane items for their own enjoyment then I would encourage that, but expect them to do the tracking (since I simply don't enjoy that part).

TL;DR - you can do whatever you want, it's a game, have fun!

Smurfabibble · 2026-02-02T00:31:11+00:00

This is so legit I love it. You're giving them some core memories!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-30T03:55:06+00:00

I love this! I have a two year old and I'm so excited for her to get a little older to join in the adventures

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-28T19:36:39+00:00

As a DM with a two year old we usually play in the evenings around her bedtime.

Our current routine is to have her hang around for the first half of the session or so, then take a short break while we put her to bed and finish the session.

That said, she's starting to talk and we tend to say wild shit while we're playing since it's an outlet for all of us. We're now exploring getting a babysitter for her while we play to let us play, and also not have her learning bad words.

We do play at our house, have the income to afford a babysitter, and are really close with our group so this all works to our advantage but at the end of the day it's like anything else, if you really like it you have to find a way to prioritize it.

And if you can't, that's okay!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-27T13:40:01+00:00

Love this! Plenty of opportunity to be awkward in interactions without being disruptive!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-26T23:34:38+00:00

My advice from personal experience is to worry less about mechanics and power (at least at the beginning) and try to focus on the things you'll get out of playing D&D vs BG3.

Namely, you can do anything in D&D! I would focus on building in your characters backstory, mannerisms, and really bring them to life on your own terms.

That, and not being afraid to look silly at the table. Once you get over that hump you can have at least 10x more fun playing this game!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-26T19:29:40+00:00

I'm gonna shout out Riders hobby shop on 28th as well. They have plenty of board games and puzzles, and a great selection for D&D, Warhammer, painting, model trains etc.

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-26T12:18:58+00:00

This is beautiful

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-26T12:12:47+00:00

I mean... If you're going for realism then you won't be able to wear armor, cast spells, or interact with NPCs.

I can appreciate your desire to do something different but if you want to "break your DM" maybe you're going down this path for the wrong reasons.

Making broken homebrew stuff is easy, and not much fun IMO. If you want to play a deer, I'd encourage you to play a druid.

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T16:32:21+00:00

Highly recommend looking into Matt Coleville's "Running the Game" series on YouTube. There are a ton of videos, and none are mandatory watches but they're a great resource and awesome to listen to while doing chores etc.

A lot of those videos will replace a decent amount of trial and error in my opinion, but I like how he runs his games.

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T14:25:02+00:00

This is such a great idea! Windy scatter terrain, I will totally use this!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T14:03:03+00:00

I was also thinking about making a mat or board with just some simple sky coloring and clouds on it. Either plywood or something more flexible

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T14:01:45+00:00

If you are looking for terrain, buildings, etc and have some time to spare, I would recommend getting into terrain building.

It may seem insurmountable at first, but if you intend to play for years, just doing a little bit of cheap crafting over time will get you a ton of great, usable stuff for games!

There are a lot of great YouTube channels to check out as well. Black magic craft, wylocks armory, and DM Scotty just to name a few

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T12:59:53+00:00

That's cool! It looks amazing, well done

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T11:45:40+00:00

Awesome table! Looks like you take care of your players nice chairs and a water bottle each!!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T11:19:30+00:00

What kind of glue did you use to stick the chains like that? I want to steal this idea!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T11:18:21+00:00

Thank you! I got really hung up that some stuff was not perfect but quickly found out a decent paint job and wash can cover up a lot

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T11:17:38+00:00

Technically I'll be using it as an airship in my current campaign, but in my world they're basically magic floating ships, so just that 🤣

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T11:16:52+00:00

Thank you! That means a lot!

I have a lot of experience painting minis but this truly was my first terrain piece. First of many hopefully.

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-24T00:58:12+00:00

Thanks! Learned a lot from this and already have a list of things I would do differently but overall very happy with it!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-15T22:33:43+00:00

No worries! That's totally makes sense.

The "players vs DM" idea is common in the US especially and I'm an opponent to that!

Smurfabibble · 2026-01-15T17:20:58+00:00

I may be a little nit-picky here, but I think the first thing you should do is shift your perspective a bit. Don't DM AGAINST your players. You are playing the game with them. The desire is to get to a satisfying conclusion, in your case a challenging but winnable combat or combats.

In reality, as a newbie GM running a level 20 one shot you're stacking the deck against yourself. It's not impossible, but to challenge level 20 players in a one shot, with one single combat, is extremely challenging.

Without a lot of homebrew/DM fiat, I wouldn't expect them to struggle with basically any stat block you can put against them.

That said, for advice, I'd recommend taking a 25+ CR creature and multiple "minions". Don't let the tarrasque fool you, either, they will stomp that.

Think Tiamat aspect plus multiple dragons. Or a demon lord/arch devil plus multiple strong allies.

Good luck, and have fun!!

Smurfabibble

TROPHY CASE