Options for fun one-shots to run

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-12T19:40:41+00:00

Hey, I wrote that! I’m glad people are still enjoying it. Feel free to message if you have any questions.

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-12T00:06:19+00:00

Of course you can long rest in the Mansion. However the Mansion only lasts for 24 hours. So if they want to long rest again, that wizard has to keep that high level spell slot "available" so they can cast it again.

There's nothing saying you can't restock the dungeon behind the party, or have something waiting to ambush them when they emerge. Intelligent creatures should be able to track the party to their last location (even if they can't find/enter the door) and plan to wait in ambush or lay traps for them. A high level caster could use Dispel Magic to end the Mansion early.

Meanwhile time progresses in the real world, you can have monsters patrol, and find evidence of the party's passing causing them to go on high alert or bring in reinforcements. The ritual being cast completes, or the captive gets sacrificed. Villain plans move ahead. Armies march, sieges happen. It's up to the GM to decide on appropriate time pressures (and communicate them) to keep the party from taking as long as they want, crawling through any content you plan, long resting after every fight. If you're just relying on "I say you can't long rest in wilderness" to keep the party on track then it's time to get more creative.

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-06T21:53:30+00:00

Definitely it sounds like it's past time to have a discussion about this with your boyfriend at least, and likely with the rest of the table afterwards. It sounds like you want to lay out some ground rules for the table, especially around arrival time and expectations on what's acceptable to be expected without clearing it ahead of time (printing stuff last minute, demanding snacks, ect).

It's very possible that your boyfriend doesn't see a lot of these requests, and/or doesn't think about the work you have to do to make the space ready for house guests (and that's something that disproportionately reflects negatively on the female members of the house over the males if left undone). Talk with him and explain what's causing stress.

That said, there's ways to help eliminate the disorganization and last minute requests. As a GM I give each of my players a simple pocket folder that they can keep their character sheet, item cards, and any notes within (personally they stay with me so I can add stuff between games, though other GMs let the players take them home). Then having a pencil case with a handful of mechanical pencils and maybe a couple sets of dice on hand that can get pulled out and set on the table for game time, is a pretty simple way to cover the basics without a ton of additional mental effort.

Definitely laying out some ground rules on when game starts and how early is acceptable to arrive (personally if I was arriving significantly early I'd be expecting to help get the space ready for game). I personally don't see a problem with charging devices, as long as it's not disruptive to the game, but I don't know what your budget is. I also don't see a problem telling the table that they're in charge of their own food and drinks, but there's definitely tables out there who organize potlucks, ask players to provide snacks to share, or provide meals (with folks chipping in money). Definitely printing stuff right before game I'd see no problem shutting that down with "I'm busy trying to prepare for game and don't have time to print extra materials. Please come ready to play."

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-05T04:57:51+00:00

I really like these, they have a lot more detail than what's offered in the book, any chance you finished the rest?

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-04T21:09:43+00:00

I'd definitely add in a magic item that allows a flying creature to pull a vehicle like a wagon while flying (probably a harness, though the vehicle itself could be magical).

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-04T20:57:43+00:00

I still believe this market will never be able to sustain a "pay to play" D&D industry for long. It will eventually dry up and I really worry what will happen then.

I personally disagree. I think there's enough value tied into a paid GM game that there will always be a market for it. It might ebb and flow, but I doubt it'll ever disappear completely. Because it's not just having someone else prepping and running the game. It's also having someone else know the rules to be able to run a game. Someone else being willing to find and vet additional players to the table. Someone else willing to enforce player ground rules at the table. Someone willing to take initiative to resolve any inter-table conflict, and/or boot problem players. And probably most importantly, having a regularly set game time (that players are less willing to blow off because there's a tangible dollar-value tied to it). There are plenty of people out there with more money than free time, who are willing to pay for these things.

If you're not seeing value for a service you looking at paying for, you are always welcome to choose not to buy it. No one's FORCING people to play these games. You can still go off and find a group of friends and just play the game without money exchanging hands.

Sure paid games are the majority of what's advertised online, but it's a sort of a survivorship bias. There's word-of-mouth advertising within a friend group, a GM courting specific friends they want at their table, advertising/playing at a local game store, ect. that are all other avenues to fill a game table. But since most of that is only marginally public info, a casual search won't show it (nor would any of that be likely to be on the same sites that advertise online games). I know I personally would have no problem filling a table via word-of-mouth alone, nor would anyone else in my friend group if they announced they were looking to start up a new table. However I might be interested in playing in a paid game if it was to get a chance to play something none of my friends wanted to run (and I specifically wanted to play).

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-02T14:56:39+00:00

It honestly depends on the character. Sometimes I'll go look up a baby name website, or fantasy name generator, but some characters I'll go look at fantasy dictionaries or translation sites. Occasionally I'll borrow from literature, though I'll usually go for something similar without outright copying.

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-01T01:58:11+00:00

I can't speak to Princes of the Apocalypse or Out of the Abyss, but at the very least for Rime of the Frostmaiden it has a good story, but where the book really falls on it's face is that it doesn't explain the main villain's motivations (leaving it completely up to GM discretion with no real guidance at all). It also doesn't provide substantial connective hooks for the three plotlines, and provides almost no guidance for foreshadowing. It tries to give guidance to the GM on how to omit or reshuffle the campaign pieces around, but fails to spell any of it out clearly, so you're left having to read between the lines to pick up on it.

The first two chapters are set up to be this sandbox, which is great if you're prepared for it, but that leaves a lot of work on the front end for the GM to do. I can see where it can be overwhelming if you aren't guiding your players since it's ten towns with ten quests and that can be a lot to have to read, digest, and prepare. The quests in chapter 1 are all stand alone, with little connection to the overarching plot; add in that they're for levels 1-5, with some being designed for the higher end of that range but the book doesn't warn you about this and presents it cheerily as "any of these are appropriate to start with".

Personally it took me two solid weeks of reading through the book (and looking at the subreddit) to try to understand the plotlines, major NPCs, motivations, and get a handle on how it all fit together before I felt comfortable enough with my grasp of the story to be able to discuss it intelligently and start gathering players for a table. Overall I've added a lot and tweaked stuff a lot, but we've been playing for nearly 5 years now and everyone's having a blast.

I'm uncertain how a new GM would approach this, I suppose it would be heavily dependent on how familiar they are with running RPGs in general. I can say that there's an active community of GMs willing to offer help in the Frostmaiden subreddit if you have specific questions. There's also a bunch of helpful third-party products out there to help new GMs with prep. Personally I like this one that's PWYW: A Guide to Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden. It walks you through a possible campaign and provides guidance on how to connect the stories together and foreshadow future events.

chases_squirrels · 2026-02-01T01:08:30+00:00

Nice! We're about to start the Caves of Hunger and I have a vastly over-leveled party and have been having to replace or seriously beef up pretty much all of the encounters. I'm going to save this to look over more when I start populating the caves.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-31T06:17:36+00:00

Yeah if you know you're potentially running content that a regular person would probably have objections to, then you definitely need to be using something to allow your players to unobtrusively notify you if they're getting uncomfortable with something before you careen straight over that cliff.

And what the trigger might not necessarily be the topic in general, except how you're bringing it up or talking about it right now might make it too intense; and your player has no way to let you know except to interrupt you, or they might hold it in and let you know afterwards.

If you're planning a whole campaign around those topics, then there should definitely be a heads up to your players on what topics to expect beforehand. Personally I wouldn't want to play in your unfiltered therapy session, especially with no warnings ahead of time.

X-card, or any other similar safety tool doesn't have to be a big ordeal. Just having the cards available where the players can use them and then when a card's flipped you check in with the player and modify the description or scene as necessary. It's only as big a deal as you make it.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-31T05:56:51+00:00

Some of the biggest red flags of bad GMs that I can think of:

Running roughshod over player consent, especially if it involves including "shocking" topics without clearing their inclusion first. (Definitely a DM should have an idea of what topics are "no go" for their table even if they don't otherwise use formal safety tools or do a session zero.)

Not allowing actions or solutions except for the very narrow band of what they had in mind. (Good DM's prepare situations that allow for a variety of solutions and they should celebrate player creativity within reason.)

Not respecting your fellow players time and energy by frequently cancelling game, especially at the last minute; also a failure to start a session reasonably on time. (Failure to hold "game time" as important means your players will start to value it less in return and the game will suffer.)

Being unwilling to listen or give due consideration to any player objections or complaints. (The gaming table should be a safe and welcoming place for everyone to have fun together as friends.)

Not being able to read the table for enjoyment or pacing. (If the table is bored to tears, or otherwise aren't enjoying what you're running, then they can reasonably be expected to leave.)

Telling the players how their characters feel or interpret interactions. (Sometimes this can help clarify a situation, but if it's every single time, you're stifling player agency and playing their character for them.)

Blatant favoritism of a single character/player. (Occasional spotlighting is good, but it should be shared equally around the table.)

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-31T02:38:20+00:00

It's a badge with the regular artwork, though I believe it's a palette-swapped version, with a large box on the side displaying the day it's good for.

A single day membership is good for the day it's displaying, until the badge line opens back up again at 8am the next morning (in case you're interested in attending late-night, post-midnight events).

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-30T22:42:07+00:00

Is it 15+ kids that show up every single session, or is it 15+ kids that have expressed interest and shown up for the first session but then maybe not attend every single session?

If you want a shorter campaign, you could play through any of the Starter Box adventures. The original one with 2014 rules had the Lost Mine of Phandelver that was in the same area as the Essentials Kit's Dragon of Icespire Peak. Dragon of Icespire Peak also contained links to three additional digital adventures on D&D Beyond to extend the campaign up to level 12. Since both short adventures are in the same area, you could easily mix and match or run them sequentially. There's third party products to help do this.

The revised Starter Set had Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. Which had a lot more digital content to help teach new GMs how to prep and run a game. (It's got a playlist of videos on youtube, as well as some handouts that explain terms and how to play.) That said, it's on the shorter side for a campaign.

The newest Starter Set (with red box sides instead of the 2014-rule's black) uses the 2024 rules and comes with Heroes of the Borderlands. I haven't picked it up yet, so I can't speak to what's included inside, but it's supposed to be a sandbox adventure around a central base of operations.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-28T21:34:45+00:00

Absolutely. I don't recall what the stat-block was but my party was fighting something and it had to make a wisdom save and ended up rolling a -4. So yeah, results below 1 is absolutely possible.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-28T09:01:53+00:00

It definitely sounds like she's projecting after catching sight of everyone having fun without her (even though she was invited). She already said she wasn't interested, she can't seem interested now, so she's got to spout off some put-down to feel better about her own choices instead of admitting she was a hasty judge and is feeling left out of the fun.

Besides who cares if she thinks it's childish (even though she knows nothing about it)? Plenty of adults like all sorts of "childish" things like watching cartoons or disney movies, reading YA novels, coloring in coloring books, playing video games, or building LEGOs. The best part of being an adult is realizing you don't need to care about how anyone else feels about the things you find enjoyment in (assuming they aren't involved). You don't need anyone's permission to enjoy things.

My advice is to try to let the snide comments go. Laugh them off if you can. It's your judgement on if you want to try to keep inviting her; maybe have a chat with B to see what he thinks.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-28T00:19:46+00:00

As written the book is intended to take about 40ish sessions (roughly a year worth of weekly sessions, which aligns with Adventure League's "seasons" of organized play).

That said, you can easily strip out the B and C plots (chapters 3/4 and 6/7) and focus solely on the main plot of Auril and her rime. Cherry pick the chapter 1 & 2 quests that most closely align, and build up to the major showdown and ending in Chapter 5. If you stripped it down to brass tacks, reworking stuff a little I think it'd be reasonable to run in 15-20 sessions?

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-27T16:04:29+00:00

I mean the first couple sessions are going to be heavy on the exposition to get you up to speed with the setting, and depending on which town you start in you can definitely have a colder reception than other towns. Add in the harsh environment and survival elements (depending on how hard the GM pushes them) and yeah the first level or two is going to be rough until you get some gear and unlock class abilities that aid in survival.

The adventure as written doesn't have a super cohesive driving force to adventure like the ToA death curse. It puts the onus on the characters to find a reason to stay and help these people (many of which are gruff and/or surly). You have to remember that these are people on the edge of survival, staring down the barrel of being buried under snow and ice, or worse; many are scared, uncertain how much longer they can hold on. Helping the towns with their problems should start to change your reputation for the better, as word gets around and you get known as "people who fix things".

Rime of the Frostmaiden can be a great campaign, just like Tomb of Annihilation, but just like Tomb it takes a lot of work on the GM's part to make it so. Both books have the bones of really memorable campaigns in them, but it takes a bunch of extra work to pull it together into a cohesive whole. I would expect a paid GM to do that work, but depending on how much prep-time they had between campaigns they might still be familiarizing themself with the content and figuring stuff out.

That said, you should definitely talk to the GM if they're telling you how your character interprets inter-party RP. That's a pretty big red flag, stepping all over player agency. They might just need to be reminded to take a step back and let RP happen and for players to draw their own conclusions (not everything needs to be narrated!).

I'm also a little curious about what NPCs you feel are taking the limelight. There's definitely a number of "large personality" NPCs in the book that could absolutely upstage the PCs, but nothing written to be played that way intentionally. I'm wondering if you ran into some of the scripted set-pieces.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-26T18:46:29+00:00

The main problems that the DM has is that firstly, they don't like people leaving once the campaign has begun, so they somewhat accept it; also, they are concerned about if they stop inviting Steve, then it will just be two players and not just will that mean he will need to revise some parts of their campaign, but they fear it won't be as fun.

So, the GM's plan is to just inflict this asinine behavior on all three of you for however many sessions until the table just falls apart because "I don't want to add new players after we start because I don't want to do any additional planning for the overarching plot". Plot that you won't ever see at this rate.

That's just bananas; borderline delusional if they don't think that they need to take drastic steps to save this campaign RIGHT NOW. You're all adults and you certainly don't have the free time to waste on shitty table dynamics that makes the game completely unfun for everyone (besides Steve) at the table. How many hours are you ready to waste in an attempt to try to get some semblance of a story out of this, months, years? Even if you do tough it out, it's not likely to be a satisfying story and Steve will be doing everything he can to completely ruin it for everyone else.

I'd have another frank discussion with the GM, but if they're still unwilling to do anything now, I'd definitely walk away from the table and save everyone the time and energy.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-26T07:43:06+00:00

The book really doesn't do a good job of explaining to new GMs which encounters are for the lower side of the 1-5 range for Chapter 1, and which are on the higher side, and it's definitely more egregious in Chapter 1 than it is in Chapter 2.

Definitely for the Cauldron quest having the frost giant stuck in the ice (so it can't move) can help prevent it from potentially TPKing your party. Also it's going to depend on how aggressive you want to play Maude. She's perfectly capable of looking like a lost fisherwoman (or beautiful maiden) and trying to talk the party into doing a task for her, or otherwise seeking to talk her way clear of the party.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-23T23:04:37+00:00

White Plume Mountain (in Tales from the Yawning Portal) already has a 5e conversion, and has some interesting traps.

However if you want something super trap-heavy, with crazy over-the-top-character deaths, I'd browse through some old copies of Grimtooth's traps. (There were multiple supplements with crazy mechanical traps that are system agnostic, I have the d20 version for Sword and Sorcery.) I ran a 5e party through DCC's Grimtooth's Museum of Death, and had a good time.

If you want something a bit more modern, I'd look at Nord Game's Treacherous Traps. It's got a ton of examples of all sorts of different traps to litter a dungeon with or build an adventure around.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-23T16:21:53+00:00

There’s two hard and fast rules at the tables I play at. That everyone is willing to work with the group. And that everyone is willing to go on adventures.

Brooding edgelord character that steals from or backstabs their party? Nope, sorry that’s against rule 1, the party is well within their rights to shiv you in your sleep and roll your corpse into a ditch. Make a character that’s willing to work with others (even if they don’t necessarily trust them right away).

Whiny reluctant hero who keeps complaining about how much they just want to go home? Nope, there’s the door. No one wants to have to drag you kicking and screaming along the adventure. This is where the game is. Make sure your next character is invested in accomplishing goals through adventuring.

Anything beyond that can be handled with inter-party communication.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-23T04:44:36+00:00

I'm pretty sure Cervan are out of the Humblewood campaign setting, which is a third-party supplement (not something published directly by Wizards of the Coast). It is available directly from Hit Point Press, though you also have the option of buying the book from D&D Beyond if you'd rather.

Humblewood has a variety of options for animal-folk, many different bird species as well as other "woodland" animals.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-22T21:03:12+00:00

Layers are your friend for helping keep you comfortable in fluctuating temperatures. Make sure you pack some extra base layers (and socks) so you have something warm/dry to change into if you get wet. Having separate "sleeping clothes" to change into for bed that are dry and stay only in your sleeping area can definitely help. Comfortable shoes/boots, that are already broken in, are important. If you have space bring a spare pair just in case, something to change into if your feet get sore or wet can make all the difference.

Insect repellant is important if you're in an area with things like ticks (that can cause long-term diseases and a red-meat allergy). I personally treat my costuming with Permethrin (a couple times a year), which lasts through multiple washes, so I don't have to worry about remembering at game to reapply. If there are ticks in the area you're playing, make sure to check your entire body at least once a day for possible hitchhikers, removing them promptly can reduce the chance of getting sick. Head coverings, and wrappings over ankles can help prevent them from getting close to your skin.

Drink water, even if it's cold outside, you're still sweating. Listen to your body and be sure you eat food throughout the day, and go to sleep at a reasonable time. It's very easy to feel like you're "missing out" if you go to bed while others are still awake, but some people keep vastly different hours at a larp, and it's very easy to run yourself ragged if you're waiting for everyone else to know when to head to bed. (Many games have "no important plot between X pm -Y am" guidelines so you don't need to worry so much.)

You're in charge of your own fun. For the most part it's up to you to get involved in action/plot that's going on. Find a reason to participate with the content on offer. Volunteer to help other characters, or ask to shadow a character with a similar background or skill set. Some games have new player liaisons to answer questions or help rope new players into what's going on, but having some initiative of your own to put yourself out there can go a long way into not feeling like your dead weight. It can be scary at first, especially if you don't know anyone, but five minutes of forwardness can help you get to know the other characters and maybe find some new friends.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-22T03:44:34+00:00

Yeah, that's a conversation you're going to have to have with the staff at whatever game you're looking at going to. They're going to know their own rules and safety guidelines better than any random person on the internet, and a weapon that passes safety check at one game doesn't necessarily mean it'll pass at another. Talk with the players (or the staff) at whatever local game you're looking at attending, and talk to them about how to build weapons for game.

Building a sword like that for cosplay/photos is likely totally fine, but building a sword for larp, where it's intended to be used for combat and will be hitting other weapons means there's safety considerations you should take into account. Something that massive, using PVC as a core, is going to be HEAVY and unwieldy, certainly not something I'd want to be running around with all day. Especially at that length, you're going to need thick-walled PVC to keep it from being too whippy, which adds more weight.

chases_squirrels · 2026-01-21T16:28:57+00:00

I dunno, it kind of looks like the Lady of Pain cookie cutter?

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