Hello AGM!

My players have not encountered each other, but are engaged in their own individual plots. At some point, I'd like them to be a part of the same colony, without forcing it (IE get them to becoming a "party" and working together).

I think I've hit a point where each group needs something from the other:

• Group 1 has safety and weapons, but no food
• Group 2 has safety and food, but no weapons
• Group 3 has food and weapons, but no safety

This setup was entirely on accident, but I think it will lead to them all running into each other for different reasons.

At this point, should I just airdrop hints that the other group(s) have what they need? Or how can I get to the end goal of unification?

The Zombie TTRPG is a homebrew that I made, rules are here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RA-EjXm6qTo3BljSlnrYvqKnGVrDAJuI6epC7aassP4/edit?usp=sharing

If you need any additional info, ask away.

Hi, everyone, thank you for your time.

There is a ton of info on how to run modules or steal ideas and encounters from them. However, I am looking for advice on the exact opposite and haven't had any luck.

The question in short:

How do I go about writing published adventures for other people to pick up and run? What info is necessary, what info is unnecessary, and what is just distracting?

Tangential background:

In my decade of GMing I have used a published adventure exactly once - it was an awful experience, nothing went to plan, and I felt much more prepared than I actually was. I have never done it since.

However, I am currently writing my own ttrpg system. It's going along great but before I even think about promoting an alpha release, I want to create a "Pick up and play" set - including basic, pre-created character archetypes and an adventure/mission, so you could jump in and try it out whenever.

I usually throw my players into a sandbox and plan every session indivi

I'm curious about your opinions on this topic.

All scenarios I've run so far have had a minimum of discrimination. (Religious/racist prejudice only against those that were actually fanatic/inherently evil. 'Race' as in 'species', not colour of skin or whatevs.) But I've been wondering what can be done with it as a feature of a RPG world or factions within it. In which cases does discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion etc. make for 'good' story elements, so 'good' that it's worth to actually implement despite it being a horrible thing by design? Granted that all players agree beforehand.

The other thing are (especially historical) terror methods. Again the question: What would justify to use such elaborate cruelty in a fictional setting? This came up when I thought about using aspects of the 'Zersetzung' ('disruption'/'decomposition') in a game as part of the BBEG's tactics. ('Zersetzung' was a catalogue of terror methods applied on people that were deemed

My D&De campaign wrapped up at level 20 after five years of regular play, and we are playing some one shots and stuff as a break before we decide what to do next. The D&D DM volunteered to GM again.

I think it's only fair that we players try to run some games to give the GM a break! I played in a FFG Edge of the Empire game for a few weeks many years ago with a different bunch, and had a great time. I bought the beginner box, which has four characters built, maps, an adventure, and the infernal dice. We will have five players, but one of our members played in my previous game so he can probably re-use his old char.

It's a fairly interactive system, requiring creativity from the players and GM to use the Advantages and Disadvantages in cinematic ways. I'm hopeful this bunch can do it. I didn't think any of them were particular Star Wars nerds, but I can keep Wookipedia open if I need background info on aliens or something.

Any tips for a new GM running through a beginner module, o

This system is really cool, but it seems like not that many people are playing it. I think the name "suited" is probably not helping the matter... While clever, it makes it kinda hard to google.

It's somewhat of a "rules-lite" type, with all the pros and cons that come with that. One of those cons being that most things are sort of up to the GM's judgement, and I am very new to GMing. With a lot of other similarly rules-lite systems, there's a community offering their experiences and things they found helpful. Suited doesn't seem to have much of that, but maybe some people here have played it and would like to share?

Hey there, I'm new to PF2E, but not to GMing. Played PF1, shadowrun, star wars, 40k etc. etc.

I've done a bit of Trouble Under Otari just to get used to the system and give the players a base to work out from.

The big campaign I'm running is Abomination Vaults. I got the module on foundry and have skimmed it and will run it.

I have a barbarian, bard, wizard, gunslinger and NPC rogue for the party.

Any suggestions or tips for what's ahead? As mentioned, I haven't run pathfinder before and I'm leaving it to the players to know their class and feats etc. but it'll be nice to know if anyone else who has run this module says what to look out for. My players are all adults and communicative so no hostile shennenigans are expected.

Edit: Any tips for actually running PF2E appreciated too!

Hey everyone! Let's try to get some more activity in here. I was wondering what kind of rulers you have all created. I realize most medieval settings will probably have a monarch rule the lands, but this does not have to be the case. So, what kind of governing systems have you created in your worlds?

I'll start off as I am making the post. My players are in an archipelago divided into five inhabited sections. One of them excersizes a system I have dubbed "Elected Sacrificial Monarchy." Bit of a mouthful, but the principle is simple. The people elect a mostly absolute ruler who will rule for five years. They can be granted two additional years in a re-election if they are popular enough. When their term, extended or not, ends, they are beheaded in public after a new leader has been chosen. There are clauses that can give exceptions in dire cases (defensive war or some other disaster), but they are rarely invoked.

The principle of this is that only those who wish to better their nation

I will be DMing a DnD 5e adventure going from levels 1-12 starting this week. I am finishing up the personal quests for each character to help tie them in more into the adventure and give them something to look forward to for themselves. Most of the characters were pretty easy to work with, but I am somewhat stuck on the Armorer Artificer.

They have stated that their character's dream is to create a legendary item. Whether it be an artefact or just some other powerful magic item, doesn't matter too much to them. Handing out a powerful magic item as the final reward for a personal quest is very classical anyways, so I'd love to go with it.

The problem is, I can't think of anything fun to give an Armorer Artificer. They have lots of stuff to work with on their own, so neither a weapon nor an armor is really going to be of interest to them.

Have any of you homebrewed some fun items just for Armorer Artificers or have any idea for existing (be it Wizards stuff or homebrew) stuff to hand

You know that situation. You have a player or players doing something awesome. You give them an inspiration. And they say : I already have one.

It sucks because the system is made that you can only have one at a time. Sure it encourages them to use them, but not always. And if a player is awesome twice without a big die roll he just won't have the time to use it.

One time I was fed up and made this item on the fly : the bottled inspiration.

Its an item that you gain when you get an inspiration and already have one. Its weightless. It takes an action to "drink" it and regain an inspiration, so you cannot do it back to back. And there is no limit to how many you can carry. One of my players made it to 8 one time.

I never had the displeasure of not being able to recompense a player and its been over 2 years using them without drawbacks.

I highly suggest to think of this next time you hear that sad response of already having one.

Lately I've been using solo play tools more and more in my prep. For example instead of just pulling a town out of my imagination or from a bunch of tools. I've (mainly) used Ironsworn to solo play some episodes in that town. Creating details about it as I've gone along. Also used Artefact (more of a journaling game) with good effect to create legendary items. To get into the Glorantha setting, get into the "right" mindset, the solo choose-you-own-adventure I've found great.

But I'm always looking for new tools to, if nothing else, get new perspectives on things. My default Ironsworn is leaning kinda heavily into more perilous and grim episodes.

Happy for any and all recommendations!

SuperGeek Mike knocks it out of the park with this video, featuring a really useful set of tips!

I was thinking of an idea of having one of the PCs experience by visions of dark future - sudden attack, party dead, all their beloved npcs killed, their home base destroyed. Visions would be sent by BBEG to tell that PC "if you won't join me, this is what will happen".

I was considering few options how to implement this in session, weighting ups and downs of each and thought to ask your opinion which is best

• A vision is simply narrated to the party or that player in a solo session
• Run a game where suddenly party is attacked by an overwhelming force and killed in combat, with that PC being last one standing, then reveal its just a vision they experienced and everyone is fine
• As above but in secret talk with that pc's player beforehand and tell them this is going to happen and is not the first vision they had like this, but 2nd or 3rd
• Warn the party in advance either there will be a fake tpk or some "dream/vision shenanigans"
• Tell all players except the one whose pc will

So, this started with a notification I got on Kickstarter about The Secret Art of Gamemastery . Is this worth picking up? Do you have any better suggestions for DMing advice?

Hi there, fellow DMs!

I'm a fairly new DM (as in: I have around 20 sessions behind my back), and while my players seem to be enjoying the campaign, I've run into a bit of a problem.

Namely, that the three godsdamned paladins are trivializing most combat encounters.

They just leveled up to level 8, but even at level 7:

• Attack rolls against them? LOL, CR 7-9 enemies usually have +6-+8 to hit at most; they will miss the paladins (and the cleric) in plate armor + shield 60-75% of the time.
• Saving throw abilities and spells? Fuck me, aura of protection, everybody gets +2 or more to all their saves.
• Even if a spell slips through? Ancients paladin. Whoever came up with the Aura of Warding at WotC deserves a kick in the head. Everybody near the paladin takes half damage from every spell (quarter if they make the save) because balancing encounters is soooooooooooooo easy!

And that is just their passive abilities. There's of course the usual issue of smites (the three of them can ea

Hello everyone!

The BBEG of our ongoing campaign is not carved in stone yet, so I'm looking for some inspiration. As far as I've encountered them, the overwhelming majority of evil masterminds in pop culture and fiction are male. I'd like to have anything different than that, but at the moment, I can't think of many examples to draw inspiration from.

I don't have a lot of specifications for what I'm looking for. Apart from not being male, they should just be examples of true spite, not someone who can be bargained with. And they shouldn't be the right hand of another greater villain, but stand on their own feet in terms of scheming and orchestrating bad stuff. (So no Darth Vader, but an Emperor. An Empress, actually, or really anything but a dude.) They can come from any genre, media and setting. Favorable if they can pack a punch or two or more, though not mandatory.

D&D has Tiamat and Lolth, Star Trek TNG has the Borg Queen. But other than that, my mind's completely blank righ

So, I have this world that was perfectly at peace, until the party came around. Now, It's basically MWW (magical world war). And my players are looking foward to some trench warfare in dnd.

Why trench warfare? Because mold earth is a cantrip and it is always better to have cover. I have a couple of basic ideas.

The bullet points are:

Scrolls, rare magic items and more than lv5 npcs are hard to come by, because they are strategical game changers froom both sides.

There is gunpowder in the world and the spell detect traps actually detects traps (location of all in an area), so, landmines are a thing.

Someone as figured out ballista machine guns, so charging is unadvised.

I'm looking for tactics and general suggestions.

Hello all,

I have been running a level 20 epic campaign where the party is trying to defeat a lich who has ruled over a land full of monsters for hundreds of years blah blah blah etc etc. Anyways to make things fun as they have been hunting for the lich's phylactery I also chose to send the Grim Reaper after them since we are using Pathfinder 2e and he has a stat block in that game.

So they eventually discovered a Sphere of Annihilation that I put in the game cause it seemed like fun and the players got an idea. They got a wonderful, terrible idea.

The Grim Reaper followed them to this sphere, then they ambushed him and managed to shift the Sphere over to him and annihilated him utterly. Unfortunately they also destroyed themselves in the process. It is a party of seven and four of them were fully annihilated, two are out of range and have survived, and one has attempted to use dimensional anchor on themselves and is hoping that in my benevolence I will allow him to survive. He

TL;DR Cult of Dragon / Wizards of Thay have captured my level 19 party. Meant to have cult leader be the mastermind (which would have made plenty of sense) but "accidentally" had the leader of all of Thay be there instead. Looking for good story-hook to have him involved to keep from having to retcon half a session (and possible compelling storyline)

First off...... I sincerely and genuinely apologize for being wordy in the following....

Background for context: My 5 players are all level 19 (leveling to 20 next time the can take a break). They've gone through all of the official Rise of Tiamat material and have finished several months of homebrew stuff to get them from lvl 15 to 20, culminating with them gathering spell components for Blackstaff to protect Waterdeep. Some months back, the wizard had gotten disintegrated by the cult and the cult of the dragon had recovered his gear, notably including a Staff of Power, +2 Ring of Protection, Ring of Spell Storing, a bag of holding, Rin

You know that place in Dragonball, the time temple near God that gives a fighter 1 year of training for one day outside ?

I kinda did this for my players.

I gave them permission for the full week to interact through roleplaying on the Discord channel of roleplaying as if it was happening instantly.

Why ?

Because we were at a very very very important crossroad for everyone and there wasn't a single second to discuss it at the start of the next session, which was starting with a battle that included 4 dragons, one of which was an ancient red.

And... well, it's both important and just fun to discuss in character of what to do when shit hit the fan, especially when you see a few ways the whole campaign could go to and you don't know for sure which is the actual good one for everyone.

It worked... sorta. Not everyone was on the same side, 2 of them prefered to leave the group and 2 joined with the bad guy that was their boss at the moment. And since the direction the campaign took th

There was a link to a somewhat old blog post about 10 wizard illnesses/diseases that I saved and then lost the link. Does anyone have it? They were really creative and the writer had published a bunch of stuff on Drive Thru RPG. Might have been D&D or OSR.

One of them involved a contagious disease that eats your spell slots one by one and when you lose all of them you transform into a froglike creature that only says one word?