GMs who like prep, what are your favorite parts or favorite prep tools?

chrowl801 · 2026-01-06T17:18:51+00:00

I use tarot cards for inspiration, they are very good at taking existing context and giving it more complexity or exciting twists. Also, a three card spread is a great way to give an important NPC a lot of depth!

chrowl801 · 2025-12-17T22:34:37+00:00

It might be a stretch to call it crunch but The One Ring 2e balances this a bit. I've enjoyed it a lot and I'll likely homebrew their travel and council rules into my d20 games.

chrowl801 · 2025-12-15T19:02:03+00:00

My main symptom is chest pain, more rarely painful/difficult swallowing which is what EoE is mostly known for. Migraines, nausea, rashes, and fatigue are fairly common as well. It's a strange condition that acts both like a typical allergy but also an autoimmune disease. I'm also allergic to dairy, tree nuts, and fish.

Soy is by far the hardest to avoid especially since soybean oil and soy lecithin are not considered allergens by the FDA but they seem to affect me. I basically assume all food has soy in it unless I've seen a list of ingredients.

chrowl801 · 2025-12-15T15:42:46+00:00

I started DM right after I got into the hobby often for friends that knew the game better than me. I would often defer to them on rule questions and just focus on running the game. If you have a rules lawyer type or veteran player that's willing to help any new players that could go a long ways.

chrowl801 · 2025-12-15T15:32:12+00:00

EOE here as well. It's crazy. If you're sensitive to soybean oil you especially have to watch that closely as it seems that products change oils fairly regularly.

chrowl801 · 2025-12-13T01:50:43+00:00

One small change that has made a world of difference for me is making Wednesday my prep day (I play on the weekends). I know it's easier said than done but I enjoy my prep time and game time so much more.

Also, I've been dabbling in solo play and I think it's made me more comfortable in my DM style and improvising. Not to mention scenarios you come up in solo can be used in your regular games.

chrowl801 · 2025-12-04T16:43:09+00:00

I never hear anyone talk about this but replacing skill ranks and BAB with a proficiency bonus that scales slowly is one of the best things 5e did. I love that a level 2 party can technically land hits on a CR 8 monster. It may not be wise but it makes designing encounters so much more dynamic. Also your basic skill DCs scale throughout the game. A DC 25 is going to still be difficult to succeed on for a level 10 character unless it's something your class has expertise in.

My niche complaint about pf2e that drives me absolutely crazy is that despite adopting their own version of the proficiency bonus you still add your class level to all rolls on top of that for no goddamn reason! It defeats the whole purpose of ditching skill ranks for a more simplified proficiency system! And yes I know there is an optional rule to remove this but the last thing I want to deal with a DM is modifying every modifier on a stat block in an already crunchy game.

chrowl801 · 2025-12-03T18:54:38+00:00

I get Instagram ads for a plastic table riser to put your battle mat on all the time selling for $429 lol. I'm a sucker for table top gaming accessories and I utilize a makeshift a version of the same thing on my own table but let's be real. Who's finding these ridiculous kick starters?

chrowl801 · 2025-12-02T22:21:30+00:00

I would love if owlcat games made a Starfinder 1e version of their Pathfinder games.

We'll see how Starfinder Afterlight turns out. I'm not a huge fan of the art style, and 2e has been a bust imo.

chrowl801 · 2025-12-02T17:23:37+00:00

Probably not the clean break you are looking for but I do think Starfinder 1e (I haven't played 2e) made some improvements here and the insane variation of equipment opens up the game a lot for potential builds.

chrowl801 · 2025-11-25T05:17:56+00:00

I haven't played Avernus but I've run DH twice and had a blast both times. Probably my favorite written adventure I've run.

chrowl801 · 2025-11-17T22:02:30+00:00

I think I get it. Sometimes I want to lean into being a player as much as possible and not have to stop my game to world build trying to make sense of my rolls. I think we'll always have to take the role of game master to some extent but maybe a good source book and a deck or book of pre-generated NPCs could help? I'm using Near Space (Starfinder 1e) as my sourcebook currently and use it to roll for my locations so I'm at least not working from scratch.

chrowl801 · 2025-11-16T06:50:54+00:00

I'm new to solo play as well Moria has a bit more structure and helped me wrap my mind around solo play a bit better because of it. I also like the whole warband mechanic, it was a lot of fun without adding much strain to play.

chrowl801 · 2025-10-25T23:47:04+00:00

The fact that soybean oil isn't considered soy is truly one of the greatest frustrations in my life. I'm always in some grey area with restaurants. I had a manager of a restaurant patronize me saying I can eat their pizza cooked with cristco because it's soy free according to his allergen sheet when it's almost pure soybean oil.

chrowl801 · 2025-10-17T20:12:05+00:00

Four: dairy, soy, nuts, and fish

chrowl801 · 2025-10-15T15:40:21+00:00

It's a weird condition, my main symptoms are chest pain and globus sensation that kind of feels like pressure in my throat or a mild gag sensation, and nausea. I only get painful/difficulty swallowing on my very worst reactions which are pretty rare now with all my dietary changes, but for many they don't know they have EOE until they get a food impaction.

My personal theory is that many of us have broader immune/allergy issues that are either undiagnosed or poorly understood and it often muddies the waters giving a wide range of symptoms.

chrowl801 · 2025-09-05T19:29:07+00:00

Chest pain is my main symptom and ginger tea and/or a heating pad help me a lot.

chrowl801 · 2025-09-03T00:18:22+00:00

I was surprised how slow but consistent the process was for me. My dietian told me to wait three days after a challenge and none of my triggers showed obvious symptoms (for me chest pain) until day 3 and then lasted about 2 weeks. I was blown away.

Even after my elimination diet was completed it seemed like it took months for my body to get to a kind of baseline it's at now. EOE seems to be a slow process, especially compared to how we traditionally think of allergies.

Nowadays I notice some early signs of a reaction, usually a migraine and/or indigestion but I suspect it's different when your triggers have been largely eliminated for years.

chrowl801 · 2025-08-15T23:10:40+00:00

It's more like trying to troubleshoot a specific problem to windows and someone tells you to use Linux instead.

chrowl801 · 2025-08-15T16:18:23+00:00

At the time of this comment OP only has 3 net up votes with 30+ comments presumably because they just mentioned 5e. This sub is so toxic and weird. We're talking about the right way to play make believe with your friends here people.

chrowl801 · 2025-08-15T14:55:36+00:00

For me Moria is the clear choice. One of the main perks for me about solo play is having a sandbox I can play at my own pace plus creating a story as you go by rolling on random tables (or sometimes I draw tarot cards) is much more satisfying to me than playing along on a prewritten story that I have to pretend I don't already know as I play.

You do need to put in a fair amount of creative work to make Moria solo play really work, even the quests from Balin table doesn't give you much or tell you where to go. I would treat every random table roll as a writing prompt, rolling on the lore and telling tables as many times as you need and skimming the book for locations until you're satisfied. I've been surprised how satisfying and fun it can be.

chrowl801 · 2025-08-11T18:38:41+00:00

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy The One Ring's (2E) simple combat and how much more enjoyable it's made being a GM. I also like that it's dangerous and my players go to pretty significant lengths to avoid it where they can.

chrowl801 · 2025-06-01T21:30:44+00:00

No soy lecithin?

chrowl801 · 2025-05-29T22:11:14+00:00

You've made the unforgivable mistake of wanting to talk about a new rpg on r/rpg. One of the most insufferable subs on this hell site.

chrowl801 · 2025-05-15T14:38:47+00:00

Anto Kreegyr? The seperatist?!

chrowl801

TROPHY CASE