We take a look at a workflow you can use to make running a campaign with multiple factions more manageable. We implement the concept of user stories, story mapping, and backward planning to create an evolving and flexible campaign.

It's a long one so grab a snack and something to drink. Feel free to use it to help you fall asleep :)

Hey folks! What's better than having a party of optimized characters? Having a party of optimized characters that work well together! Let's look at the concept of T-shaped individuals and how they can help us create parties that are resilient, and can do anything.

Hey folks! Conflicts between player characters are very interesting when it comes to the narrative, but can be dangerous to the health of your gaming group. If you want PvP in your games, you best know how to do it safely. In this video we discuss some strategies to do just that. How do you navigate inter-party conflicts for drama that does not make your group implode?

Hey folks! Here's an approach to roleplaying / finding your character's motivation that you've probably not seen in a D&D or TTRPG setting before. A lot of us, I think, could fall into the skyrim stealth archer trap. We start our campaigns thinking we're gonna play a PC that's unique. But as the sessions go by, we find out that we've been "roleplaying" ourselves after all. With this approach, we learn about the CHAMPFROGS - ten moving motivators that make up most people. With them, we can hopefully stop roleplaying ourselves, and instead graduate to Capital R roleplaying (if that's what we want to do of course - you're not doing it wrong if you're having fun).

Hey folks! We often praise our DMing heroes for their many skills like improv, enhancing immersion, compelling roleplay of believable NPCs, and the like. There are resources aplenty for how to speak in accents, how to not use accents but still have distinct voices, how to plan campaigns, or speed up combat encounters. But are these skills really what make our favorite DMs great? I argue no. I believe great DMs begin with a foundation of values that guide how they use their skills, and I discuss my version of those values here.

Hey folks! This week we explore a potentially controversial topic: Is your D&D Group dysfunctional? If you have that nagging feeling that something is not working well in your gaming group, but you can't quite put your finger on what it is, then this video will hopefully expand your vocabulary and set you on the path to making things better.

I say it in the video, but I will also write it down here explicitly. A dysfunctional group does not mean it's a group made of bad people. It's just a group that does not function as well as it should.

Hey folks, here's a different way of organizing your notes for your campaigns. It actively helps you run the game, rather than just being a big document for you to read. The system only has two rules to follow, but you would be surprised at how much it helps when it's time to actually play. The method itself is also quite powerful when you use it to organize your to do list, especially during the times in your life when things get a bit hectic and overwhelming. I hope it helps!

Here's part 2 of my tactician series, now about generating buy-in. I use these techniques for work. There were times when I caught myself treating my work colleagues better than my friends with whom I play d&d, especially when my tactician tendencies bubbled up. It seems the things I do on the job translate well to my gaming tables, and I hope they can serve you too.

As a DM or a Player, I find tactician players are awesome. However, they seem to have a bad reputation as disruptive, bossy, no-fun party members. In this video I share why I think they are awesome, and instead of giving advice for how everyone else should deal with them, I try to give tips for how the tacticians themselves can get better at tacticianing.

This is part 1 of a loveletter to my older self, in whom I saw tactician tendencies and may have behaved suboptimally from time to time. But when I recognized a few of these things, I've not had bad table relationships since.

Do you have any thoughts on the topic of tactician type players? Do you think the approach I described would help the problematic tacticians you've encountered before?

Here I share the concept of backward planning which, when combined with Story Mapping, allows you to drive towards your singular inspiration without resorting to railroading your players. I hope it helps anyone struggling.

I hope everyone is having a Fantastic December! With the Holidays in full swing, I wanted to give everyone here a present, by doing all the prep work for a fantastic Holiday One-Shot for you! Then, in turn, you can gift that experience to your players! And what better gift is there for players who have been so good, than an opportunity to let loose and be evil for a change! Yes, that's right, The Night before Wintermas is specifically designed for Level 5 Evil/Neutral aligned players.

Thanks to the creative mind of jmanc, you'll bring your players to The Town of Frosthold and join a morally bankrupt Toy and Tabacco company to put an end to Santa's charitable operations by Infiltrating his workshop and dealing with the problem for good!

Experience holiday music to fit every scene, face your favorite Christmas Char

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

We're back at it again with another Level 1+ One-Shot, this time by the amazing Jennifer Adcock! Grammy's Country Apple Pie is the perfect One-Shot to run for a group of kids who are looking to just have some fun. They can go in the hard way and try to fight everything or they can try to practice those bard-like skills and converse their way through the challenges!

In Grammy's Country Apple Pie, a wizard named Tyndareus develops a craving for a special treat from his childhood, he will stop at nothing to get his hands on the best apple pie in the whole&

[OC] Ring of Deadly Digits

Legendary, requires attunement

As an action, the wearer points a digit (finger or toe) wearing the ring at a target, and the digit will glow brightly. On the subsequent round at the beginning of the wearer's turn, the ring will shoot forth the following at the target (roll 1D20):

1-3: Nothing happens (but see below).

4-6: Magic Missile at 1st level spell ability.

7-9: Eldritch Blast at 1st level spell ability.

10-12: Entangle at 1st level spell ability.

13-15: Firebolt at 1st level spell ability.

16-17: Melf's Acid Arrow at 2nd level spell ability.

18: Fireball at 3rd level spell ability.

19: Lightning Bolt at 3rd level spell ability.

20: Finger of Death at 7th level spell ability.

Range is based on the spell effect rolled. If the target is out of range, the effect occurs at the end of the maximum range of the spell effect.

Cursed - This item is cursed. When the item is used, the digit that the ring is on will itself shoot towards the t

These items were all created by a wizard in my game who is insane. He also has a short attention span and left many items unfinished.

Ring of Left-Handed Invisibility - A Ring of Invisibility. It only hides you if your left side is facing someone, and it only works on your left hand.

Right Wing of Flying - A cloak that turns into a single bat wing that lets the wearer fly, but only in a tight circle. The user can fly up to a maximum height of 12 feet. Activates with a command word.

Gauntlets of Halfling Power - Gives the wearer the strength of a halfling.

Clumsy Animated Shield - An animated shield that hovers to protect you, but gives you Disadvantage on attack rolls because it's always getting in the way.

Cloak of the Owl Bear - This cloak turns into an owl bear when thrown on the ground. The owl bear is not under the user's control and will attack anything it can until defeated. It turns back into a cloak when the owl bear reaches 0 hit points. 1 use/day. No

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

It's October, the month of Halloween, so of course I had to prep a spine-chilling One-Shot! The Haunt is one of the highest-rated 5th-Level Horror-Themed One-Shots around by Phil Beckwith. In it, your players will have to survive, solve puzzles, and uncover the mysteries of Montarthas Manor.

In ages past, an ancient town was lost and destroyed by a siege of orcs. Only one building survived and to this day, the manor is the only still standing building to be seen for miles around. Some say it is haunted, a few whisper of great treasures within, whilst others whisper that it is the ma

I had an idea for an offensive consumable item, and I figured I’d share it and get some feedback. Its power scales with the user, so it should presumably be pretty rare. on consuming, it casts a spell, but I didn’t want to make the spell separately so I’m just describing the item as though it was a spell too. it perhaps tries to do a bit too much, but I thought it wouldn’t be the same if I took away any particular aspect.

#The Martyr’s Evil Eye

• range/area: self / sphere 5ft + 5ft for every level of exhaustion sacrificed
• duration: instantaneous
• damage: necrotic / remaining caster HP + 1/3 max HP for every death save sacrificed
• save: CHA save for half-damage

A black marble with faint green swirls, that seem to move when seen out the corner of the eye. With a willing sacrifice of life force and stamina, the marble cracks open and a necrotic aura radiates out, quickly obscuring those within the sphere. Flashes of green light from within briefly silhouette nightmarish creatures

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes fully fleshed-out notes, music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk stems from The Lost Mine of Phandelver a classic and beloved starter set that many new DMs run. Even with this being the most recent release it still has an issue, the same as with many others...it doesn't describe the best way to transform the book's contents into an actual session. The Book-to-session conversion can be difficult between figuring out when things should happen, understanding motivations, and even organizing encounters.

Well, fortunately for you, 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:

• Read the book, I know surprising, but It can be extreme

Have you gotten with Astarion or maybe you were blown up by Gale for the hundredth time? Are your adventures as wild as you had hoped...have you even gotten out of character creation!? Well if you're one of the legendary few who have, why don't you take a step into the real world of D&D so you can go back into an imaginary one!

I get it, DMing for the first time can be scary, you might not even know where to start. The prep alone can seem like a mountain to climb. You find a cool-looking One-Shot open the PDF or book and just think to yourself, how in the heck do I turn this into an actual session?

Well, I've got you covered! I want as many people out there as possible to experience the Amazing world of D&D and most importantly DMing! I've taken the following One-Shots and Mini-Campaigns and fully prepped them so you can run an unforgettable session with ease! The best part, all of it's free for you to use!

Let's dive in:

[A Most Potent Brew:](https://www.patreon.co

Sometimes you just don't want to prep. Sometimes you get a last-minute call to run a session. Maybe it's your first time DMing and you don't know where to start.

Whatever the reason, prep may seem like a mountain to climb. Well, allow me to help you! I remember when I was first trying to figure everything out and I stumbled across The Wild Sheep Chase. It's a fantastic One-Shot by Richard Jansen-Parkes that you can get for free over on the DMsguild. The only issue at times can be how do I convert this pdf into an actual session?

Some DMs have a gift, they can read it once and go from there, some are masters at improv, storytelling, and off-the-cuff humor. Well, I unfortunately don't fit that boat and I'm sure many others out there are just like me. I need a ton of notes; because once I've got things organized, then I feel comfortable taking things in new directions.

So welcome to **Advent's Am