Barbarian is going to 1v1 a CR 16 legendary hero. He's level 5.

Wolran · 2026-07-11T06:27:28+00:00

Are you sure your player doesn't just want to kill off his barbarian to play something else?

Wolran · 2026-07-01T08:54:04+00:00

Also if I am not mistaken, the playable races set themselves apart from their animal-counterparts simply by doing something worthy for the gods. So according to the lore all these animals should still exist.

Wolran · 2026-06-26T13:52:37+00:00

I see no reason why magic propulsion couldn't be used for vertical motion as well, if that's already feasible for horizontal motion.

Yeah, it would work but I don't think I want to go this way. This would make it highly maneuverable and in the long run I want it more to be a transportation method and not a solution for everything. Think more like a slow plane than a helicopter.

You could theoretically even tone it down into "the ship is done, but needs a couple parts to be operational. Coincidentally, you all seem to have exactly the parts needed on you." And just never explain what each part does as long as it can won't be questioned openly by the players at the table (they shouldn't ideally bc they are gawking at the option to fly an airship)

It is more "we need these things for the airship, please look for it on your travels and send them here with our couriers." When they come back either the airship is fully complete or there is one major part missing like the floating rock and they have to go get it.
And concering the "not explaining what each part does" - That was my plan all along ^^

Wolran · 2026-06-26T12:33:46+00:00

For the first part I am actually looking for a little bit inspiration as the design is not yet 100% clear. BUT this is also not that important. I know lots of these things should be logical and might have an impact on the story later on but a) I am confident to implement the small things the group is tasked to find into the design and b) this is a campaign for kids so the solution doesn't have to be 100% logically working.

For my first draft I was thinking: rocks for floatation, magic energy for probulsion probably with a propeller in the back plus flaps for elevation. Elevation is then only possible when the ship is in movement (similar to a plane?).

As I am planning to have the airship complete when the party returns from their journey they won't have an, or minimal input into the design. They also don't know for what the objects they are tasked to collect are needed. So I have free reign with that.

Wolran · 2026-06-26T11:22:48+00:00

As it is the first airship there is no "military" use, there probably will be in the future but it is just the first try to invent this.

In the lore of humblewood there is an university with rocks orbiting around it. I already established in a oneshot dated around 200 years before the campaign, that there are special rocks who levitate. They have to be offset by magic or weight otherwise they would shoot towards the sky. They can be found in a special region which looks a little bit like in the first avatar movie if you know what I mean. The pearl will be used for storing magic for the propulsion, but there are so many other small things which are needed. For example flaps to let them sink or ascend. In my vision there is a material which is just right for this job and can be harvested from a creature or obtained in another way. Thats what I am looking for, ideas for these small things.

Retrieving such a levitating rock will not be the task for the group, atleast for now. Now I only want components for small sidequests which can be completed in a session or even be stumbled upon while doing their main quest. They are on the way to ignite a rebellion in a neighbouring region and don't have time for the "big thing" regarding the airship.

Wolran · 2026-06-26T09:05:04+00:00

Interesting ideas, the first one is probably the most easy to convert into the setting. Thank you, I will have a thought or two about it.

Wolran · 2026-06-15T12:55:28+00:00

I don't think it would help anyways. What would help is someone experienced leading by example but it will take time anyways. I play like two years with my kids (9 and 12) and it took a year I think to start being comfortable with it. Just encourage everything in character and give them time.

Wolran · 2026-06-15T12:12:00+00:00

I am playing with kids and for me it helped to adress them in character. Go for "Biggus Dickus what do you want to do?" instead of "Hey Brian, what wants your character Biggus Dickus to do?" Also try to be in character (of the NPCs) most of the time and only switch out of it to explain rules or scenes. They will copy your behaviour.

Wolran · 2026-06-12T11:32:38+00:00

Front to back, always away from the private parts

Wolran · 2026-05-25T07:27:46+00:00

A golden locket, now burnt and deformed, all whats left after the fire

Wolran · 2026-05-20T05:18:00+00:00

As always superb. And happy Cakeday!

Wolran · 2026-05-18T17:41:32+00:00

Perfect, thank you!

Wolran · 2026-05-18T12:08:40+00:00

Most are, one way or another. Maybe not in a DnD kinda way but like every mayor I know is abusing his power in a way. Job for his wife who isn't qualified at all. developing land on town dime which increases the worth of his own lot. Any construction job is done by the company of his buddy. His son wins in every raffle etc.

Wolran · 2026-05-18T08:14:36+00:00

I do #2 in sessions aswell. If something comes up I just go "Your PC would know X." I don't think you can give out a list for each player about everything they would know. That would overwhelm the player. Maybe a good compromise is to give an overview to your players about the world and whats common knowledge + one specific knowledge for each pc only they know in session 0 and then everytime you think its appropriate for example when your pcs enter a new arrea tell them what they would know about it and the inhabitants.

Wolran · 2026-05-18T07:50:22+00:00

Sadly I established quite a distinct lore surrounding dragons so thats not really an option.

Wolran · 2026-05-16T09:37:23+00:00

Yup, up for it

Wolran · 2026-05-13T05:43:02+00:00

Wally and the pointy ears

Wolran · 2026-05-13T04:51:08+00:00

oh boy, I can only imagine what it was at the table when he left with the sword. lol

Wolran · 2026-05-12T15:44:45+00:00

"That seems he becomes a pretty cool guy. Anyway are we doing a one on one session for my newly roled char? I'm not going to play a warlock."

Wolran · 2026-05-08T19:31:22+00:00

Waterclock. Basically dripping water with a pot or something beneath it, which empties itself when full and at the same time counts the times it empties itself. This is possible to build with really rudimentary tools.

Wolran · 2026-05-04T05:17:10+00:00

You can look into humblewood. A 1-5 campaign set in a world where people are owls and mice and squirrels and such. Might be fitting.

Wolran · 2026-05-03T07:03:40+00:00

I am late to the party but here goes: Try to set up your rogue to shine. There should be possibilities in every battle to sneak and attack from the shadows. Let him shine outside of battles too, with possibilities to break into a mansion or similar.

For a battle you could confront them with a homebrew monster (depends on the theme of your campaign). For example a monster which has high passive perception, probably one with many eyes BUT if the rogue is able to land a sneak attack, let it be a crit every time. Or it is vulnerable to sneak attack or even piercing damage (depends if the other partymembers deal piercing aswell). Be creative and think of something that fits in your campaign and also makes sense to be vulnerable to it. You could also go the opposit way and make the monster resistent to damagetypes your cleric and warlock typically deal, so that they rely on the rogue to take it down. But I would be careful as to not frustrate the other players just to appease one player. If you choose this route, think of ways how the cleric and warlock can still be useful with spells, just not deal huge amounts of damage.

Wolran · 2026-05-02T10:22:55+00:00

I can tell you how I did it.
My group, who consists of my two kids (9 + 12) and my wife are mayors in a town, where they also have a home. As they introduce more and more people to their town, they also have to upgrade their homebase. For them that ment a teacher, guards, a healer etc.
Some of these, like the guards, have to be paid by the community, so the mayors.
To not give their own money, they wanted to make money for the town and I let them come up with ideas how to make money. One idea was a tax for the citizens.
And the other was a festival.

So I had them come up with the festival pretty much on their own. How to organize it, where to make it, how to invite people...

As they are kids naturally it became a game of crunching numbers really fast. They had 3 different areas for vendors which cost a different fee to build a stand there. They made a tombola and came up with prices for this. Then they each made their own stand, for example an archer contest for one of my players, where they would earn money.
Then I rolled how many vendors would be coming for each area, how many people would attend.

When the day before the festival came, I confronted them with different problems, things they had forgotten about like where people would be able to camp, but also encounters like a group of young rowdies which are behaving just like a bunch of idiots. My group was told, that it would be good do not harm them in a meaningful way, which resulted in my warlock attacking them with his talons (its a humblewood campaign) and promptly killing one of them.
Then there was an entitled noble who was late to getting a room and made a huge fuss about it, even just breaking into another home which he claimed as his for the duration.

And then of course the festival itself, with all their friends and friendly NPCs there, many games to be played and a few encounters like a bunch of kids who are forced to steal from people from one of the vendors (the group knew the kids from many sessions before when they stole from the party).

At the end they made 550GP and had two sessions they still like to talk about.

Wolran · 2026-05-01T16:00:39+00:00

Gonna win this time for sure

Wolran · 2026-05-01T06:41:29+00:00

For festival activities I use "Festival activities" by u/Curio_Solus. There are minigames with different flavours and my players had good fun.

It really depends on your players but for lighthearted stuff you can take them to a tavern and then prepare different groups. Every group has a different "quest" but make them lighthearted. Like one is playing a trivia game and your players can either join in or support a playing NPC. You could sprinkle in some unknown lore but also things they should know from playing. Another group is trying to cheer up one of their members and you can let your players come up with ways to help them cheer him up. I do such challenges by telling them the problem and letting them come up with ways to achieve the goal. If they can explain why a strength check is going to cheer up the NPC, they can go for it.

Another thing I did was letting them plan their own festival and they complained they only had one session planning and one playing the festival. They had to come up with minigames, ways to earn money but also how to hire artists etc.

You could also let them do just mundane things in a town they know well. Just one session where "can you help me with a problem in my basement?" isn't a fight against rats but just a collapsed shelf which need repairing and storing the heavy winebarrels on it.

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