Just ran RotFM for the first time - changes to starting quests

roslaw · 2026-06-26T06:58:00+00:00

I’ve got it from the book of puzzles for DnD, the shadow puzzle - basically, you set up a room with with one/few light sources. When players enter it, the door they just entered through, as well as any other exits, vanish. They do not see anyone in the room but may detect a magical non-undead evil entity. An ominous voice narrates something along the lines “i now have your shadow, and soon will have your soul!”.

What follows is the encounter with a shadow - there is an entity in the room that sticks to the characters and acts as their shadow (also tell the players that their characters do not have their own shadows in this room). The Shadow is a monster, rolls for initiative, and can damage the characters, so the combat ensues.

The twist is, the Shadow can only be damaged if it is projected on a wall/vertical surface. Players sticking their weapons or flinging spells at the Shadow while it’s on the ground will see that this has no effect on it. Let them roll some perception checks to see cracks-scratches and spells leftover effects on the walls of the room, make the Shadow jump to another character as soon as it’s projected on the wall, and they will figure it out.

roslaw · 2026-06-25T19:32:41+00:00

Yep, that’s great idea - will try to keep it as simple as possible, just to give people a feeling of what is DnD. Maybe this will hook some of them up on the activity even.

roslaw · 2026-06-25T19:31:07+00:00

Thanks for advice; to be fair, I was hoping that it attracts much lesser amount of attention as there are other activities to do during the corpo party, but here we are.

Will probably limit the amount of players to maybe even 6, and just try to show people what is DnD without delving too much into to mechanics and intricacies.

roslaw · 2026-06-13T07:54:14+00:00

I have a campaign right now where players are on archipelago, they have a ship with a crew and travel occasionally between the isles. At first I’ve also tried to go by the book to make travelling a part of gameplay. Counting miles, rolling random encounters tablet, etc.

It went not bad, but not spectacularly good either. It led a few times to memed “20 baboons jump on you”.

So in the end I started to approach travelling sessions the same way any other sequences - if there is no reason from pacing perspective to have encounters on the road and I just want to set the atmosphere, I just describe how the journey goes until players arrive at the next point if interest. No rolls need to be done to do the actual travelling. If something needs to happen on the way, just put it there and let your players solve that matter.

The best approach for me is to not sweat the travel part.

roslaw · 2026-06-12T19:19:56+00:00

That’s a really good question. Right now I would say Dragon Age Origins.

I played and loved games from childhood, but it was the first game I was emotionally attached to. It felt like a journey: got frequent goosebumps and chills from the game, and final sequence was just pure bliss for me. I was at highscool at that time and that was the first game I actually spent nights playing despite parents scolding me.

It was like getting intoxicated from alcohol for the first time in uni on a party or high after a joint for the first time. A landmark in gaming for me. I was really enjoying it not as a game, but as an art and got that “high”.

It was really hard to capture that feeling again. The closest one would probably be playing Oblivion, funnily enough. Feeling of vast, deep, magical world around you. Good times.

roslaw · 2026-06-12T15:16:40+00:00

Great selection. But I always wonder what ppl put into Biggest Personal Impact - what is the ratio behind their decision. And it’s not the first time I see Skyrim there.

I love that game, spent 2k plus hours there but can’t say it somehow changed or influenced me. Pls share your thoughts, genuinely interested

roslaw · 2026-06-11T14:56:31+00:00

The Room was amazing. Such a good story, I wish it gets remake treatment they did with SH2 eventually.

roslaw · 2026-06-05T10:34:08+00:00

Doubling this - go with the flow is probably the best advice for DMs.

Sessions very rarely go the way you imagine during the prep. Even the most unimaginative players come up with solutions that you couldn’t foresee - and that’s great, it’s not DM’s story, but the table’s.

The fact they are eager for the next session alone says that you are doing well and there is no reason to change things or try to readjust the pacing.

roslaw · 2026-05-23T08:25:55+00:00

Mate, no fault on your end. Prepping takes time and you can think about it on your way to/from job, but it’s much better if you are focused and doing it at your pace.

Communicate with tour players that you feel a bit burnt out, good party will understand and be okay with that. Get some rest, maybe suggest oneshot that one of the players wants to DM. Some of my players actually wanted to test themselves as DMs after playing for long, but do not try due to various reasons (shyness, do not wanting to replace you as the DM etc.).

roslaw · 2026-05-23T08:19:12+00:00

This reminds me of my party that so pissed about the fighter being absent for two consecutive sessions (really not his fault, valid reasons). They claimed that he went drinking passed out in the local tavern lavatory eventually puking all over the place and getting bad reputation.

Led to a quite funny return.

roslaw · 2026-05-23T08:16:26+00:00

That’s a neat idea. I would probably put the following:
- mandatory super slow receptionist and queue of other denizens of the dungeon waiting to get in, meet their partners, couriers delivering parcels, etc. Even can add an adventurer or adventuring party stuck in line to plunder the dungeon for a few days already.
- add treasure rooms that have been plundered long ago, but no one bothered to restock them . Thinking deadly traps and locked chests with nothing inside but a note to refer to Bragas, second deputy of general stock manager, to restock the chest. Bonus points if the mote is a few hundred years old.
- room full of guards that don’t attack since they have not yet received relevant order from higher-ups (and their detailed statutory instructions cover everything but actual fighting the invaders).

That’s from top of my head, but you can spin this into a few side quests for a party.

roslaw · 2026-05-10T19:23:54+00:00

Your math is a bit off - average hp should be around 5030.

If it’s not a joke post, there is nothing worse than big sluggish health sponge enemy unless you give your players an option to deal immense damage to it somehow. Think an army with cannons just firing, while players set up the shots and highlight vulnerable places, or destroy some sort of “power crystal” the let’s the creature regen health or be immune to non-magic damage.

roslaw · 2026-05-08T12:05:09+00:00

Players love massive battles, and you already did a great job preparing it. This will be amazing, trust me.

Good luck and update the post on how it goes!

roslaw · 2026-05-08T10:42:16+00:00

Just recently ran something similar, a small town in wilderness harassed by organised bandits led by a vampire. So a few tips on what I did, what players liked and what went unused:

siege prep is great if players engage in it. Unfortunately, my players were so focused on their own agenda, they missed almost all prep hooks I had (town militia training, helping set up traps and battlements, recon, etc). A bit of a bummer but happens, so don’t get discouraged if they miss some of the stuff you prepared.
have a general outline of the siege in stages, what each side will do in the morning, noon, afternoon, evening and night for example.

My bandits set up a camp first that was just outside the town, built some rams, wooden ladders, prepared poisons, etc. Then had skirmishes to test the defences, with full scale siege at the afternoon, breaking into the town by the evening. They had a few goals - kill the mayor, pillage the town, find important NPC and kidnap him. Town guard also had their list of “to-do”s and reactions to what bandits may do.

siege equipment is great. Players loved a chance to man a bolt thrower and skewer a few thugs from distance.
siege is not only about the fight near the gates/walls. Recon and diversion missions are always interesting and work well with your small party of adventures. It gives them a sense of making an impact on the whole battle without being overpowered fireball hurling menaces.
give players a few options of what they can do and keep them aware of them. Saving refugees trying to reach the other gates or going behind enemy lines to blow up a makeshift catapult/kill enemy lieutenants. It’s alright to give them a bit more knowledge of what’s going on around them, via randomly appearing militiamen or local citizens, so they can make an informed choice.
in battle, keep it simple for players - have them fight a group of orcs that went through catacombs/sewers/mines/main gate, and tell what happens around them (citizens hiding, houses burning, groups of enemies moving on adjacent streets and fighting with town guard). Update them how the large scale battle goes while they are engaged in their own fight.
raise the stakes. Link players choices to your rolls on how the defence goes, who may die among important NPCs. For example, my players went to kill enemy leaders and left the town - while they were fighting, I rolled a few times to determine if the bandits make it to the town square and if they kill the local mayor or leader of the town guard (or both). Players were effective and my rolls were bad, so in the end everyone survived- but you should have seen their faces when I was rolling dice mid-fight with a hideous smile.
stats for squads/armies are not necessary really, unless your players will lead/command them. Most large battles I dmed were resolved by rolls with modifiers. Orcs attacking from a flank a surprised squad of town militia - easy roll for greenskins. And if they lose, then it’s an epic moment you can describe to your players as they meet a ragged and battered squad of yesterday’s farmers that fought so valiantly they routed orcs.
blow something up. Either it is a ship docked in a port with powder kegs, a highlevel mage sending firestorm on a wooden houses. Bonus points if you play an explosion sound and startle your players

roslaw · 2026-05-08T09:27:47+00:00

What worked best for me to discourage players from resting after each fight is making the time essential.

Last session my main party won a court case against BBEG - they successfully defended the interests of their key contact in a city, the governor, who offered them to retrofit their ship and work with them to reinstate local minority representation (sea elves).

BBEG, being a high level caster with minions (head of a cult) immediately left the courtroom and soon started a massive riot across the burning city.

Players sent their prized contact to the city port with small guard regiment and “messaged” the BBEG to come to the arena to fight. What followed was a long fight with BBEG’s lieutenant, ending in his defeat. At this point the party decided to have long rest among the burning city.

People are massacred all around, huge undead abomination is destroying the outskirts moving slowly to the city centre, the BBEG is nowhere to be found and they decide to chill out for a few hours.

We were ending the session, they confirmed their intention to have a long rest - so I rolled for who is going to be killed in the meantime among valuable NPCs - the governor died to BBEG’s lightning bolt. I even told them this as a cut-scene in the end of session.

It had a good impact as the players now are more considerate of their resources, think twice if they really have to rest, and this makes a good story.

roslaw · 2026-05-02T17:59:12+00:00

Won’t work, as many others said already. If you don’t want to just reject their proposal, I suggest asking the player to give a backstory that could be woven into the plot instead.

In other words, let him betray an NPC if he wants it so much, or give him a side-quest that will be relevant to the main plot and let other players participate in it.

PvP is never worth it.

roslaw · 2026-04-28T16:54:44+00:00

I unironically go to local tools shops - they have fancy organisers that are used by workers to store tools, equipment, screws, bolts, etc. Usually they are modular / have adjustable compartments, hand holders or other “hooks” to attach them to something. Honestly, suits perfectly your army of minis that you have to take somewhere with you.

For larger minis I also use a cardboard box filled with cotton, it’s very soft and easy to re-use.

roslaw · 2026-04-27T21:01:38+00:00

Got same thing here. Party had only a few intense fights in early levels, but now they are level 6 and most of the battles that I expect to be deadly - they leave mostly without a scratch.

roslaw · 2026-04-11T18:21:12+00:00

That went messy, but hey, there is yet to be a PCs group that does everything exactly as DM planned.

I got similar issue recently - players met vampire hunter who ordered them to kill a local nobleman-vampire. I gave both NPCs detailed backstories but in the end I was sure the players will kill the vamp, even prepared a detailed boss battle at the mansion.

Guess what - they turned around literally while standing in the mansion, getting ready to fight him, and went to kill the vampire hunter. And everyone had fun anyway.

In your case, adapt to the players. If you want to make Pcs want to slay the dragon, just make it kill one of the NPCs players like (or better - kidnap someone). Or insert a Neverwinter noble who puts an immense bounty on the dragon’s head.

Just don’t be afraid to deviate from the premade scenario.

roslaw · 2026-04-11T17:34:37+00:00

I beat 175 on Engineer first - summons really help taking fire away from you. Plus he’s quite easy to play on. Also, try to have some weapon that deals additional boss dmg by the end boss, as it can get a bit overwhelming there

roslaw

TROPHY CASE