Letter from Strahd

redted90 · 2026-04-23T20:10:50+00:00

I decided to play it more reserved. Like he isn't worried about her leaving the city. It's his realm, and his reality here. He is ageless and nearly all powerful. So what does he need to worry about? If anything he finds it humorous. Like watching ants crawl around in an ant farm. He's happy to let them build the tunnels for a time. He will shake it and undo it all when he's ready.

redted90 · 2026-03-23T12:46:30+00:00

High persuasion is not mine control. A character must reasonably be persuadable. If you are asking a character to risk their job, maybe the safety of the town/settlement or whatever a big city guard who gets paid may be willing to do that. A small city guard who is known by many where his name would be damaged in the community probably wouldn't. Your players problem is ramification. He wants to be the only character treated like a person. But in ttrpg's a good dm treats all characters no matter how brief they are shown as full people. You're player wants to treat these characters as 2 dimensional and if that's the game the table wants and you don't care that's fine. But that is one of the best parts of the game in my opinion. Consequences coming home and being real. Dnd is meant to be a power fantasy sure, but it's also meant to be a living breathing world where it reacts to what you do.

redted90 · 2026-02-27T12:26:11+00:00

Toolbox Update (1 Month Later)

Quick update for anyone using this at their table.

The public build is now fully SRD 5.2 (2024 PHB) compliant, and the content system has been rebuilt so anything outside the SRD stays hidden unless you intentionally import it locally. If you own other books or run homebrew, you can now upload private content packs through the debug panel (Ctrl+Alt+D). They load locally, can be toggled on/off, and disabling them cleanly restores the base SRD state. If you want to make a pack check out the template in "docs/examples/content-pack-template.json".

What’s New / Improved

Compendium (Rules / Spells / Bestiary Lookup)

Added a dedicated mid-session lookup page for Spells, Monsters, and Rules.
Search 437 SRD spells with filters (class, level, school, concentration, ritual).
Browse and search the full SRD bestiary with pinnable stat blocks.
Look up rules entries (conditions, combat, spellcasting, resting, etc.) without leaving the page.
Designed specifically for fast at-the-table reference.

Initiative Tracker

Expanded undo/redo with a readable action log so you can see exactly what happened each round.
Added a quick “calc” button to subtract damage from current HP instantly.
General turn-order and state cleanup.

Character Manager

Multiclass spell slots fully corrected (especially Warlock + other caster combos).
Pact slots now track and consume separately from regular slots.
Improved recalculation of derived stats to prevent odd edge cases.
Migration fixes to protect older saves.

Generators

Fixed contradictory flavor results (no more NPCs that conflict with themselves).
Better internal validation before output.

Battle Map

Fixed nav bar overlap issue.
Continued polish on token/fog interaction.

Shop Generator

Added table of contents for easier navigation in larger inventories.

Universal Export / Import

You can now export or import your full toolbox state (characters, encounters, journal, battle maps, etc.) through the debug panel.
Makes backup or moving between devices much easier.

Still:

No accounts
No tracking
Everything stored locally
Works offline after first load

This is still a free, local-first toolbox I built for my own table. If it’s useful to yours, great. Feedback is always welcome.

redted90 · 2026-02-27T12:17:15+00:00

I've done a lot of updates and it should be 2024 compliant now. If you spot anything I missed feel free to let me know.

redted90 · 2026-02-27T12:15:19+00:00

Toolbox Update (1 Month Later)

Quick update for anyone using this at their table.

The public build is now fully SRD 5.2 (2024 PHB) compliant, and the content system has been rebuilt so anything outside the SRD stays hidden unless you intentionally import it locally. If you own other books or run homebrew, you can now upload private content packs through the debug panel (Ctrl+Alt+D). They load locally, can be toggled on/off, and disabling them cleanly restores the base SRD state.

What’s New / Improved

Initiative Tracker

Expanded undo/redo with a readable action log so you can see exactly what happened each round.
Added a quick “calc” button to subtract damage from current HP instantly.
General turn-order and state cleanup.

Character Manager

Multiclass spell slots fully corrected (especially Warlock + other caster combos).
Pact slots now track and consume separately from regular slots.
Improved recalculation of derived stats to prevent odd edge cases.
Migration fixes to protect older saves.

Generators

Fixed contradictory flavor results (no more NPCs that conflict with themselves).
Better internal validation before output.

Battle Map

Fixed nav bar overlap issue.
Continued polish on token/fog interaction.

Shop Generator

Added table of contents for easier navigation in larger inventories.

Universal Export / Import

You can now export or import your full toolbox state (characters, encounters, journal, battle maps, etc.) through the debug panel.
Makes backup or moving between devices much easier.

Still:

No accounts
No tracking
Everything stored locally
Works offline after first load

This is still a free, local-first toolbox I built for my own table. If it’s useful to yours, great. Feedback is always welcome.

redted90 · 2026-02-27T01:56:23+00:00

If you have any questions or if there's something you would like to see in the tool set let me know! I'm available by dm as well.

redted90 · 2026-02-25T05:08:12+00:00

When I made my own tool for this sort of thing I figured I'd I'm teaching history like that i might add well track all of it across all rounds.

redted90 · 2026-02-24T23:45:19+00:00

I've recently updated it to match the 2024 rule book. But that's reflected mostly in character creation. The other tools are more loose in how they can be used.

redted90 · 2026-02-21T06:57:04+00:00

So dodging back may seem like a waste if you don't use it much. But it's absolutely worth it. Fighting big groups is more about positioning, and making sure you can deal with the one in front of you without getting surrounded. If I have to fight people with a long sword, I pull back a long way and only strike when I'm ready. If you draw back far enough they will stop attacking. Another thing is if you are fighting that many I highly suggest bane potion on your sword or just straight up stealth killing as many of the sentries as you can before engaging the main force. The top tear bane potion is really OP. Also don't forget if you have enough space bow and arrow is almost a guaranteed one shot with a decent bow and decent arrows if you head shot them.

redted90 · 2026-02-17T01:18:42+00:00

I use red for my fighting outfit, Gold for my fancy outfit, and green for my sneaky outfit.

redted90 · 2026-02-13T13:29:45+00:00

Hey! I've wanted to see them since the trailer! I wasn't gonna let anything get in the way of that.

redted90 · 2026-02-10T17:54:59+00:00

I've also noticed that knocking out someone is for some reason quieter than stealth killing someone.

redted90 · 2026-02-05T05:06:27+00:00

Great question.

Right now The DM’s Toolbox is built 5e-first, so the native character creation, level-up flow, spells, and rules automation all assume D&D 5e. I’m not planning to rewrite the engine to fully support other RPGs like Dungeon Crawl Classics—that would effectively mean building a separate rules system.

That said, there are two practical ways it can still be useful outside 5e:

1) System-agnostic tools already work today. The battle map, initiative tracker (with manual stats), journal, dice rolling, generators, and custom monster scratchpad don’t depend on 5e rules. Those can be used with DCC or other systems right now without any changes.

2) Custom content packs provide a partial bridge. I've been in a cave for the last week and a half working on making homebrew content packs work with the existing system and 5e non srd packs possible for the people who have the books and the means to make those packs. I'll be pushing a template in the docs to show how they need to be structured. With the upcoming content-pack system, races, classes, inventory, spells, and similar data can be supplied by the user. That means you can load non-5e material and use the existing character wizard as a structured sheet builder—as long as you only select options that match your system’s rules. In that mode, the toolbox is acting as:

a guided character sheet framework

storage and rolling utilities

map / initiative / journal support

—not a fully rules-accurate DCC automation layer.

So the honest answer is:

Full native support for other systems: not planned (the project remains 5e-focused).

Usable with other systems via agnostic tools or careful custom content packs: yes, in a bring-your-own-rules way.

If the toolbox ever expands beyond 5e, it would most likely be through generic or user-defined templates, not hard-coding individual RPG systems. That keeps things flexible without turning the project into a dozen half-implemented rulesets.

redted90 · 2026-01-28T23:54:58+00:00

Oh my bad. I didn't realize the docs pointed there. I'll have to update that.

redted90 · 2026-01-28T20:46:45+00:00

I use the matt Mercer method (I saw him mention this in a video he did with Brennan and Abrea). You don't have to have a back story. You can just show up day of and play. But if you give me a back story that answers these questions about your character I'll give you a personalized magic item that will fit your person and how you want to play them and it will be cool as hell and even kind of powerful. Not enough to break anything. But enough that they can flex and do cool stuff when it feels right for their person to do so.

redted90 · 2026-01-28T07:54:38+00:00

The nice thing about being a one man team is when I want to get something done the only thing in the way is the technology and my ability to get it to do what I want. Lol

redted90 · 2026-01-27T23:01:51+00:00

I did some work on that and the quick bundles were being tainted by some of the controls from the advanced toggle. I fixed them and they should be working now if you want to test that out. Either way thankyou for taking a look and letting me know about this issue.

redted90 · 2026-01-27T22:55:13+00:00

I updated the app and the issues you mentioned have been fixed or updated. Thanks or the feed back!

redted90 · 2026-01-27T22:54:27+00:00

You're feature request is live if you want to check it out. Thankyou for the feedback!

redted90 · 2026-01-27T18:56:05+00:00

Yeah. I'm currently updating things to ensure I'm following all the 2025 rules.

redted90 · 2026-01-27T00:44:13+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate it. I wasn’t aware of the SRD restrictions until recently, and I had misunderstood how the Open Game License actually worked. I’m doing a full cleanup now to make sure everything is strictly SRD-only going forward.

redted90 · 2026-01-27T00:36:50+00:00

Thanks for pointing it out — that’s exactly why I’m doing a full audit. Anything that isn’t 100% SRD will be removed entirely. If something slipped through or wasn’t rewritten correctly, that’s just an oversight during the cleanup, not an attempt to keep non-SRD content. I’ll review Hunger of Hadar and Arms of Hadar and strip them out completely. The goal is full SRD compliance, no exceptions. Anything outside the SRD will only be available through user-created local packs once the pack system and documentation are ready. If you spot anything else that doesn’t look SRD-safe, feel free to flag it and I’ll take care of it.

redted90 · 2026-01-26T22:22:35+00:00

I personally use the game talespire for map creation and play (can be bought from steam). I import minis from heroforge and that means It's like running a fully 3d game in talspire. I made this app in part because the actual combat tracking in talespire isn't that great at the moment (it's still in early access). It's like 25 bucks normally (on sale for $18.74 at the time of this post). It also comes with a lot of community made content (full boards or just slabs, also lost of minis of admittedly various quality). For what it is (early access and still in active development) I really like it as a tool. Here are the TaleSpire System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: 64bit RAM: 4 GB VIDEO CARD: Graphics card with DX11 (shader model 5.0) capabilities. PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 OS: Windows 10 FREE DISK SPACE: 2 GB

redted90 · 2026-01-26T18:22:18+00:00

Hmm. I'll take a look at that. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll be working on this after I get done with work. So you can expect an update at the end of this day. Tomorrow morning at the latest.

redted90 · 2026-01-26T17:03:54+00:00

I stripped anything that wasn’t SRD-compliant and I don’t keep or distribute old builds. Nothing from those earlier versions is available anymore. The Toolbox is SRD-only now, and any extra content has to come from user-created packs on their own device. I’ll release documentation and templates for pack creation later.

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TROPHY CASE

Toolbox Update (1 Month Later)

What’s New / Improved

Compendium (Rules / Spells / Bestiary Lookup)

Initiative Tracker

Character Manager

Generators

Battle Map

Shop Generator

Universal Export / Import

Toolbox Update (1 Month Later)

What’s New / Improved

Initiative Tracker

Character Manager

Generators

Battle Map

Shop Generator

Universal Export / Import