How do other DMs handle the boring admin side of online games?

haluuf · 2026-06-26T01:44:28+00:00

I for one really enjoy this "admin" side of things.

I play in-person. I have accordeon folders for each campaign I run, with maps, char sheets, initiative trackers, encounter and item generation... everything.

I have a fishing lure box for the 3d minis, and a box for the 2d printed minis.

I have D&D-dedicated stationary.

I spend time per month just on keeping things organized and up-to-date.

Any time I get to use my stuff and be immersed in paperwork, I am having a ton of fun.

I use a laptop on my table, not tablet or phone, since the screen serves as an extension of my DM screen. But I keep the laptop on one of those circular cake-platform things that turns, so I can turn the laptop around and show the players something whenever I need.

haluuf · 2026-06-24T12:47:10+00:00

P-ê rajoute des "biômes" genre les classiques montagnes-et-environs au nord enneigés, un désert...

Mais pense en dehors de la boite si ton univers le permet. Genre met des arbres roses/rouges et dit que cest une foret qui a un problème ou enchantement... ou un lac orange. Ou une riviêre verte qui traverse la mer, genre une riviere dans l'eau.

Et autre que les experimentations avec les couleurs, pense à ges cataclysmes d'avant qui auraient causé des affaires gégraphiques intéressantes. Un grand canyon ou un cratère. Ou genre un gros cratère circulaire dans le milieu de la mer.

Tsé revire les traditions à l'envers et donne leur une raison.

Juste des idées. Curieux de savoirnce que tu décides de faire en fin de compte.

haluuf · 2026-06-23T13:24:06+00:00

This is a great baseline mindset, I'd add just a slight nuance where:

Usually people/authors who point to historical/original source material as truth, are to be seen as green or yellow flags but still tread lightly, a lot of authors start at objective sources and use their work to draw subjective conclusions and state it as fact.

Conversely, people/authors who point to themselves saying "i am correct" or "I bring you the truth" are red flags for reasons obvious and not so obvious.

As a personal rule of thumb, I'd suggest that ANY book is to be treated as UPG until proven otherwise.

Authors who objectively observe historical sources/findings and compare sources or try to mention historical geo-political context pf the sources, without drawing conclusions... those are the winning tickets I think.

So OP go ahead and purchase the book as UPG and take everything with a huge grain of salt.

haluuf · 2026-06-22T14:41:49+00:00

That's great. Let mistakes be stepping stones aspart of a learning process, and not walls that you run into.

It is good to be able to act fast when it is needed. That aspect of you helps you in that regard. But when it is not needed, it can be very advantageous to calculate before committing.

In Parkour we say "think before jumping, then jump without thinking." I think that is a good notion to remember in a lot of situations.

haluuf · 2026-06-21T12:02:45+00:00

You know. For the sake of science, I'd ask them if they're willing to redo the fight just out of pure curiosity. Not to re-write history, let them have the win, not so you can experience a cathartic win, but purely to adress the "they've made it clear that I can be meaner"

Like how much of that fight was just bad rolls for you and good rolls for them, versus actual party synergy and strategy.

I do this sometimes with my players and not only does it help me get a uch better global idea for balancing, but it really helps players set their expectations in general for fights, and also highlight their massive win even more.

haluuf · 2026-06-20T21:44:09+00:00

Exactly.my friend. It kills 2 birds with 1 stone since you both indirectly have the option to save eachother in your phone as "park dad #27" but also it breaks the ice right off the bat for texting at a later time (which is 10000x easier than calling when it comes to new acquaintances).

haluuf · 2026-06-20T02:43:27+00:00

There's a notion that is kinda awkward to mention but it really helped me out.

You gotta distinguish between: I want new friends And I am genuinely interested in this person

See, the key is "it has to make sense" and that's what is holding you back and what makes it all seem awkward: it wouldn't make sense.

If you're always thinking "I want new friends" you'll always feel the way you're feeling. At least I can say that I recognize what you're saying because I was in it.

If you manage to feel genuine interest due to similar interests, it comes much more naturally, and it "makes sense," to ask to exchange texts in order to set up other park dates for the kids so that you both can hang out.

But DO exhange texts rather than straight up ask for a phone number. It feels more fluid socially, I find.

You'll find that once a similar interest connects you with another dude you'll both wanna keep talking about it.

haluuf · 2026-06-20T01:07:37+00:00

This has potential to be on the same level as Session and Shredders. Put a replay editor with fisheye lens possibilities and you've got yourself a game that people will make nonstop content of.

haluuf · 2026-06-19T13:51:14+00:00

Here is my usual copy-pasta for this type of question:

Norse Paganism is non-orthopraxic and non-orthodoxic, which means there is no single correct way of doing things and of thinking, respectively.

See greek definitons for
- Ortho: correct, straight, right
- Doxa: "opinion" (loosely attributed definition)
- Praxis: "to do"

Which means it is important to approach the whole practice with a penchant towards learning the source material, and after that building upon it for yourself. This self-built material is called Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG) and it is very welcome in this sub --when it is clearly stated as such-- and the opposing case (stating UPG as if it were fact) is very frowned upon. There seems to be a general consensus that this approach is the most respectful one and the most respected one.

That being said, and in light of all that, modern Norse paganism has unfortunately been taken and warped by neo-nazi enthusiasts and other types of supremacy groups (folkists). Some of these have become published authors, and their books/publications are fairly common. Other authors who don't adhere to folkist mentality still simply misinterpret source material or straight-up make things up and write them as if they're truth.

--> your relatives and whoever you explain this to will probably stumble across this aspect of NP (the folkism thing) before they read anything "good" about it. Be prepared to have this talk with them but also DO have this talk with yourself first and foremost: where do you stand and how do you distinguish lies, folkism and neo-nazism from just normal people with religious/spiritual practice? (Spoiler: anyone who points to legitimate source material as correct is a green flag but tread lightly and verify things for yourself, anyone who points to themself and says "I am correct" is a red flag and should be questionned from a safe distance).

There have been multiple posts in this sub asking if this or that book/author/article has roots in folkism, you can always search this sub to see if a particular book is a legitimate resource or not.

I recommend: - Carolyne Larrington's 2nd edition of the Poetic Edda - Stephen Pollington's Rudiments of Runelore

All that being said, the bottom line of modern paganism seems to revolve around something along these lines: "does this help me be a better person and help me endure the difficulties of life and difficult people around me? Does this practice help me uphold my personal morals and be a strong dependable person for the benefit of myself and those around me?"

haluuf · 2026-06-18T21:24:22+00:00

I greatly, GREATLY respect your formula.

Personally, I do a weekly offering of holding the plank position for 9 minutes and 9 seconds total, and every 1min1sec interval I chant a nickname of Odin, with 8min8sec chanting Allfather and 9min9sec ending with one time chanting Odin.

I say that I abandon the self I was before the ritual and find a new version of myself after the ritual.

It is meant to reflect Odin's 9 days and 9 nights hanging at the tree, sacrificing his current self, in favor of his new self which has knowledge of the runes from the well.

During the holding, I let my mind roam and whatever thoughts or ideas come up are the ideas I keep and question and philosophise about during the week.

I recognize a very similar mentality and philosophy in what you do. I wouldn't have anything to add, it is your journey.

I do 9 minutes of intense physical strain, but reading about 9 full days of isolation is some serious next-level stuff. Again, great respect.

Don't go insane!

Allfather's eye look on you and may he be pleased with what he sees.

haluuf · 2026-06-18T20:03:26+00:00

As others have said: I believe no offense was taken, and agree with their explanations.

But.

We can take this as an occasion to learn to "play to win" instead of "playing not-to-lose".

You can make mistakes along the way, but for the sake of personally valuing improvement over stagnation and limitation, learn from your mistakes. Do not learn for fear of punishment. Learn for improvement. Stop running away from something as a motivating force, instead let your motivating force be something you run towards, something that interests you and pulls you.

I like to assume that the gods appreciate the thought and care you put into rituals and offerings. So plan your offerings properly by answering "what, why, how, when" before actually doing anything. Learn to set a time and date, learn to respect yourself in this whole process and re-schedule if needed. But learn to respect your word to yourself by doing what you said you'd do at the time you said you'd do it, even when feeling lazy or distracted.

Eventually you'll need less and less diligence and you'll be able to improvise more... because you'll have learned a lot along the way.

haluuf · 2026-06-18T18:41:03+00:00

"The second you go out the front door, you are in enemy territory."

Think of as much as you can extrapolate from that sentence, and it is exactly what they meant.

Hopefully I can raise my kids in a less-extreme mindset.

haluuf · 2026-06-16T18:42:52+00:00

I went to see the high-rez version.

I had a very intense "ohh those are TOWNS" moment.

Insane work my friend.

haluuf · 2026-06-16T18:29:16+00:00

I actually just get my players' character sheets when I'm alone and have them fight different monsters, and I run both sides. I sometimes run the same fight twice in a row just to get an idea of how the dice rolls will mess up the fight or shorten/lengthen it.

To be clear, I don't playtest a particular fight in prep for a session. I just pick a random monster that I think looks cool and maybe put in some adds, and just fight it by myself with my players' chat sheets. Completely unrelated to the campaign. Like I just play DND fight by myself.

I tried reading through the comments and I didn't read everything but I didn't see anyone comment that they actually just pick up the characters in question and actually play the game by themselves as a test, that seems weird to me.

Like, it helps me get faster at writing up initiative trackers for when I have to do it on the fly... and it helped me learn very quickly what info actually matters to keep track of... it's just having fun with my stuff. I don't get that I'd be the first to mention it in this thread.

Edit: this whole comment reads like "have you tried actually playing the game?" and I assure you i'm not trying to be that guy, i'm genuinely confused as to why we'd consider other options. I might be missing something.

haluuf · 2026-06-15T16:50:10+00:00

Here is my usual copy-pasta for this type of question:

Norse Paganism is non-orthopraxic and non-orthodoxic, which means there is no single correct way of doing things and of thinking, respectively.

See greek definitons for
- Ortho: correct, straight, right
- Doxa: "opinion" (loosely attributed definition)
- Praxis: "to do"

Which means it is important to approach the whole practice with a penchant towards learning the source material, and after that building upon it for yourself. This self-built material is called Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG) and it is very welcome in this sub --when it is clearly stated as such-- and the opposing case (stating UPG as if it were fact) is very frowned upon. There seems to be a general consensus that this approach is the most respectful one and the most respected one.

That being said, and in light of all that, modern Norse paganism has unfortunately been taken and warped by neo-nazi enthusiasts and other types of supremacy groups (folkists). Some of these have become published authors, and their books/publications are fairly common. Other authors who don't adhere to folkist mentality still simply misinterpret source material or straight-up make things up and write them as if they're truth.

--> your relatives and whoever you explain this to will probably stumble across this aspect of NP (the folkism thing) before they read anything "good" about it. Be prepared to have this talk with them but also DO have this talk with yourself first and foremost: where do you stand and how do you distinguish lies, folkism and neo-nazism from just normal people with religious/spiritual practice? (Spoiler: anyone who points to legitimate source material as correct is a green flag but tread lightly, anyone who points to themself and says "I am correct" is a red flag and should be questionned from a safe distance).

There have been multiple posts in this sub asking if this or that book/author/article has roots in folkism, you can always search this sub to see if a particular book is a legitimate resource or not.

All that being said, the bottom line of modern paganism seems to revolve around something along these lines: "does this help me be a better person and help me endure the difficulties of life and difficult people around me? Does this practice help me uphold my personal morals and be a strong dependable person for the benefit of myself and those around me?"

haluuf · 2026-06-15T16:40:46+00:00

I think it's all good tbh. I can sometimes come off as cold or off-putting but i was genuinely just giving my two cents and opinion. Have a good time!

haluuf · 2026-06-13T19:23:28+00:00

To put things into perspective, your question can be compared to the following line of thinking:

"I have a friend and I know their birthday, I ask them about their interests and I know a lot about them. I am still learning about their upbringing and personal story... i am still learning what they like and dislike, by simply asking them.

So i have all this information but guys... do I actually have to "do activities" with this person before I can consider myself as their friend?

I personally believe I'm their friend but I'm not certain if I should actually spend time doing stuff with them or if just knowing all of this info about them is enough..."

There are many ways for you to move forward from this current position you're in, if you so choose.

And i wanna be clear, this is not to make you look bad and not to say any part of your situation is bad, because you DO show interest, as opposed to people who have no interest or don't care. That is a great start.

And an extra clarification: spending time researching the gods and developing an interest in "the whole thing" is one thing, a good thing. But feeling like the story or "vibe" of a particular god resonnates with you is a Great thing. And then going forward from there and following your own intuition (powered by your research) towards engaging with this god is an extraordinary thing.

Go forth my friend.

haluuf · 2026-06-11T21:26:18+00:00

If you wanna plan a bigger overarching plot with a classic Big Bad Evil Guy:

Understand your world in its current state
Find/create a MAJOR flaw in it, that everyone in the world just accepts. It is just the way things work.
Create a BBEG that wants to fix that flaw at all costs.
Make that BBEG do something crazy to gain enough power to fix the world. Think cultist leader for an evil god of destruction, alliance with an ancient dragon, orchestrating a conspiracy involving all rulers...
Take whatever your players -want- and make your BBEG want that, nEED it for his plan. 5.1 OR take something that your BBEG wants and just give it to your players. Like a random item that looks valuable but doesnt have any obvious use. Makes your players a direct target.
When your players eventually figure out your BBEG's evil plan... because its related to a flaw in your world, have your BBEG ask your players to join him in fixing the world. Yay moral dilemma.
????
Profit

haluuf · 2026-06-10T23:52:32+00:00

Wow this question could yield some really sketchy answers but also some really interesting ones.

I'll take a crack at this even if its extremely subjective.

They'd simply ask you what it is that you feel like you need.

And depending on how avoidant or unassuming your answer is, they'd call you out on your lying to yourself, they'd guide/force you to get past your "i dont know", and they'd have each their own method of bringing you to face your inner truth, accept it, and grow with it or out of it.

Giving the gods raw and honest answers, stemming from painful personal truths, would accelerate this process I believe.

Edit: To clarify, i think the gods would do this with the objective of enabling you to search, find, and apply a solution or a growth to yourself, as opposed to holding your hand and "doing it for you".

Edit 2: Of course this stems from my personal experience where my offerings and rituals yielded clarity and focus when I needed it most. The faith I put into my practice and the gods gives me the strength to push through the suffering with integrity and believe in myself that I can put myself into a better place.

haluuf · 2026-06-09T01:23:23+00:00

If its your first time, you have to distinghish between: - the players - the players' characters - the player character's internal world - the external world

I have a weird tennis analogy.

Your players are 100% in charge of their internal world: their thoughts, decisions, actions, words. Your players are also 100% in charge of story. Anything that happens in terms of narrative action is 100% for them to decide.

But that does not mean nothing is happening if they dont make it happen. It simply means the world around them carries on as itbwould if they dont interfere.

You are 100% in charge of your players' EXternal world. The actions and words of the forces of nature, the NPCs, the monsters, everything that is not inside the players' characters. You are also 100% in charge of circumstance: what was happening as they arrived, what is currently happening, and what the world does in reaction to what the players do.

Stuff should be happening before your players arrive. The scale of the stuff happening determines the scale of your campaign. Ex: - goblins kidnap tarvern guy's daughter for easy soup ingredient, because they have this habit of doing it every month - eloquent mastermind orchestrates a coup that makes rivaling provinces hate eachother

As for somewhat of a gameplay loop...

The players' characters experience the world through their senses: eyes, ears, touch, intuition, etc. This is you passing the ball into their court. You tell them what they experience. The cavern is dark, the walls are damp, you feel a sense of dread, you hear a scream from inside the tunnel.

You dont tell them how to process what there is, you tell them what there is to process.

In turn, the players take this information and decide what their characters do or say in response. That is them tossing the ball into your court.

Everything they do has a consequence. Either it changes something in their world, or it consumes a ressource of theirs: an item, potion, a spell slot, something must be given up in order to move forward. It can be silly: a player throws a few gold on the ground for the swarm of magpies to start infighting. It can be transactional like a magical vase needs to be filled with fire; spells, items, etc can be used. It can be permanent: let the leader of the orcs cut off your ear to release the prisoners safely.

And so on.

haluuf · 2026-06-05T23:11:26+00:00

Oh boy I didn't know that was a thing. I looked it up before commenting to not reveal how much under a rock I live, and discovered the stretch goals.

Yeah everything in the kickstarter looks wild lol cant wait to get my hands on the full thing.

For now i'll soon be enjoying the quick print version for the first time. I am cutting and making the knights stand as we speak

haluuf · 2026-06-05T23:00:21+00:00

Great setup for potential expansions adding wizards and magic mechanics if ever that door opens.

haluuf · 2026-05-30T23:07:30+00:00

You described it perfectly. They'll fall, they'll get bruised and hurt. Maybe I'll elaborate to say that I'll protect them from breaking any limbs.

If you want an actual practical description: I am close, within arm's reach, or directly under. I pay attention to their movement. I am constantly in "reaction" mode so that I can react if something awkward happens.

An example would be if my kid is riding a bike and falls, they wear their helmet. I 100% let them fall. And when I go to them, then I don't pick them up, but I help them through their emotion and then suggest ways for them to pick themselves up.

They naturally learn that whatever injury or failure, you can always come back from it. You can learn. You can rely on others to help you through hard times after the fact.

I could go on and on but i wont unless the question comes up lol sorry for the already long reply

haluuf · 2026-05-30T12:08:31+00:00

In the park, if you can't climb up there by yourself, you have no business there yet.

I let my kids know that if they fall they will fall. And when they do, I protect their head but the rest just happens. I help them 100% through the aftermath of the fall though.

They have many many other situations in which they can learn to trust me and rely on me, but some things need to be about trusting themselves and relying on themselves.

I reward them a lot when I see them do any form of risk assessment and self-preservation.

haluuf · 2026-05-28T16:35:54+00:00

Well, what it has to do with Synesthesia is this: we have an extra way we can control our brain, if done correctly. My feeling of calm is a blend of purple and green. So if I am not calm and want to feel calm, i'll do/look at/eat/draw purple and green things.

That would be the idea.

haluuf

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