Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

 
The DM is a player too, don’t f*ck with my part of the game and I won’t f*ck with yours - unless you are playing as a Warlock. In that case you pretty much invited me as the DM to use your patron to f*ck with you.

 Fixed that for ‘ya!

Quote from Caerwyn_Glyndwr >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

 
The DM is a player too, don’t f*ck with my part of the game and I won’t f*ck with yours - unless you are playing as a Warlock. In that case you pretty much invited me as the DM to use your patron to f*ck with you.

 Fixed that for ‘ya!

Imma run out of keyboards soon.

better order some covers...

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

 A friend recently bought me Tales from the Yawning Portal for Christmas on roll20, so I'll probably run some of the adventures included in that at some point. I already plan to throw the Tomb of Horrors into the bottom of Undermountain as an optional quest for my main group, as I'm running Dungeon of the Mad Mage at the moment.

I also want to run an open-world hexcrawl. Might use my work-in-progress TTRPG system for that, though.

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

I am mulling that question right now. The end of the big arc on the current campaign is in sight so I gotta figure out what's next

It'll be a more episodic structure, simply because we meet so irregularly that anything more complex plotwise is tough, but I'm kind of torn between using the Golden Vault and other sources, and giving them some kind of patron who sends them on specific missions; or heading to the Dark Domains and doing a Supernatural (the TV show)-esque monster hunter kind of thing

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

 I think I mentioned it earlier in this very thread, but hopefully this summer I'll start DMing my first campaign ever, a homebrew I've been working on for months. It takes place on an island continent ruled by a hierarchy of wizards united under a mage emperor. Seven regions represent seven schools of magic, with necromancy excluded and banned (but not extinct). I've been having a blast writing and developing the social and political ramifications of a particular kind of magic holding sway over a land that includes others; for instance, druids mainly come from an island under the empire's control, and there's division between those who want to work with the wizards for mutual benefit and those who want total autonomy. It's been a great creative outlet already and the prospective players are great friends, so I'm very excited.

Slightly tangential to the Warlock Patron joke, what are people's feelings on religions in D&D? Like, which is your favorite? What setting is it from, and why is it your favorite? 

My personal favorite is the Blood of Vol from Eberron, partially because they began as the "look how evil these atheist necromancers are" faction when they were first being developed back in 3.5e (there used to be no difference between the Order of the Emerald Claw and the main religion), but got over time overhauled into probably the coolest religion in all of Eberron. At least, in my opinion, they're easily the coolest and most nuanced religion in all of Eberron (maybe of all D&D settings. I don't know, maybe I'll find something cooler and more nuanced from an older D&D setting, or there will be one in the future that I'll like more).

There's a variety of reasons why I like them:

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".

 I am currently running a string of one shots for playtest at the moment, but in the not too distant future I plan to run a campaign centered around Giants. How/why they fell from being a major force in my campaign world and became the scattered tribes and clans that they have become.  That is one of the reasons that I am very interested in the upcoming Giant themed book and I was really excited to see the Goliaths so up in the latest UA because it will provide a good foundation to homebrew in the various "half giants" for my players to interact with or possibly play.  I have been planning on doing this campaign for a little over a year now and with our 5 year long campaign wrapped up, these things could not be better timed. 

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

 Thinking about this question, I realised that, after the two campaigns I am currently DMing end, both groups have someone else who has volunteered to DM next.  Presuming they follow-through, that will be my first time ever where I am playing D&D and not DMing at least one campaign. That’ll be weird. 

My tentative plan is to have the party be a group of cadets serving the kingdom, fresh out of their academy.  Over the course of the campaign—stopping rebellions, doing supply runs, other things of that nature—they’ll come to realise maybe their kingdom is not as benevolent as it appears, particularly the further they get from the main cities.  Eventually, they’d have a “wait, are we the bad guys?” moment, where they’ll have to decide where to go from there.

But that would require the right group - and players who wouldn’t be upset with that realisation.  Not every group would be particularly pleased with maybe kind of discovering they were accidentally on the side of evil. 

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

 *coughs, clears throat*

January 6th, 2024 I start running Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities.  Expected to take two years to finish the first campaign, with two sequels sketched out.

Campaign has four main plot lines: Exploration, Change the Empire, Defeat the Dark Lord, and Uncover the the Trouble maker. Those guide a set of 21 distinct adventures covering pretty much every genre, including comedy, horror, western, mystery, heist, blah blah blah. Most of the based on mashups of popular movies in some way, but all very much rooted in the setting.

once they finish that I have the Circumnavigation campaign about half roughed in outline, and then a few ideas for a final piece to the trilogy but nothing more than vague sketches.

I am trying desperately to finish off the Lore Book, Players’s Handbook, and Magical system by the end of April at the latest, March preferred.

20 classes — all from scratch as there are no subclasses. I think 20 species? About five or six of which are essentially kemonomimi. Kinda vague because I am adding one and also a form of Warforged. Spell point magic system where we feel we overcame some of the limitations, but changed a lot to do it — goal was to achieve the things we read in terms of how magic wears down and runs out, but also to have the “we can see you doing magic” thing.  All of it to support the massive campaign, which came first in outline.

It is Not “pure D&D”, lol. 9 key ability scores, but everyone would know the on sight and in action. Made perception a score, added sanity in, created the spell point as a score base for all of it.

magic system has spells, Runes, Words of Power. Working in a psionics system that will function for the Jedi like class and support the monk type class (Nomad and Cenobite, respectively). No artificer or blood knight, though runewrights might work with the clockworks direction instead of alchemy or gemstones for artificer.

starts with a set piece based on the childhood parts of IT, moves into a western, and then does a whole tour of five more of the Seven Cities (Sibola, Qivira, Lyonese, Dorado, Durango, Aztlan and Acadia).

Will also run an open game using the same setting but more standard rules using DDB. Officially, it will be in the dimension of Yrthe, so theoretically possible to cross over starting around 6 to 9 level.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

 

I mean, you can give a 1st level character a wand of fireballs as part of a story (or even a back story), but they will still be first level.

with a bazooka, but still first level. And one never knows — maybe Fate has plans where they will need a bazooka…

 I have done something similar. I gave the party a luck blade with one wish in it. Even though they been in super crap situations and have had party members die, they have yet to use the wish believing that there is some grand plan for it.

Quote from Wysperra >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

 

I mean, you can give a 1st level character a wand of fireballs as part of a story (or even a back story), but they will still be first level.

with a bazooka, but still first level. And one never knows — maybe Fate has plans where they will need a bazooka…

 I have done something similar. I gave the party a luck blade with one wish in it. Even though they been in super crap situations and have had party members die, they have yet to use the wish believing that there is some grand plan for it.

 
I love that.

Quote from The_Leviathan_of_Levistus >>

Slightly tangential to the Warlock Patron joke, what are people's feelings on religions in D&D? Like, which is your favorite? What setting is it from, and why is it your favorite? 

My personal favorite is the Blood of Vol from Eberron, partially because they began as the "look how evil these atheist necromancers are" faction when they were first being developed back in 3.5e (there used to be no difference between the Order of the Emerald Claw and the main religion), but got over time overhauled into probably the coolest religion in all of Eberron. At least, in my opinion, they're easily the coolest and most nuanced religion in all of Eberron (maybe of all D&D settings. I don't know, maybe I'll find something cooler and more nuanced from an older D&D setting, or there will be one in the future that I'll like more).

There's a variety of reasons why I like them:

1.  I love Necromancy not necessarily being evil. I've always thought that Necromancy was all-around a much less "evil" school of magic than Enchantment is, which is traditionally not how the school of magic is viewed in D&D worlds, so Eberron having a non-Evil faction that doesn't think Necromancy and Undead are inherently evil perfectly caters to my tastes. 
2. I tend to find atheistic/antitheistic religions more interesting in fantasy settings. In my experience, you can have more nuance in fantasy religions that deal in uncertainty about the future of their souls and the existence of their gods than you can for settings that objectively have an afterlife and a pantheon of active deities. (There are some exceptions, Nentir Vale from 4e did a really good job of adding nuance to the setting's objectively real gods, but that tends to not be the case in most D&D worlds, or at least older ones.)
3. I like their sense of community. It's just something I didn't expect to be a part of the "undead necromancer transhumanists/Buddhist" religion. There's just something about the fact that "I'll give up my potential godhood in order to become an eternal guardian/guider of our people, and help my peers/descendants achieve apotheosis" that I feel is strangely noble for Eberron's "necromancy religion". It's just something that was a pleasant surprise, and made me appreciate/love them even more. 
4. I like transhumanism and stories about the "unlocked potential of humanity". The Blood of Vol was confronted with dilemma of "worship these gods, that probably don't exist, and if they do, they probably suck, and worshipping them won't even save your potentially immortal soul" and "worship the god that you could become, get magic from your potential of apotheosis, and possibly save your immortal soul through pure will". I know which option I would choose if I lived in Eberron, and it's not even a hard decision. 
5. The Seeker Aasimar are awesome. Way cooler and more interesting than any of the Aasimar subraces from Volo's, even if it is a bit mechanically weaker. 

 
they are very interesting.

I tend to like more animistic ones in general, but I confess I am super tired of personifications and PIE derivatives.

even though I have them as the secondary gods in my upcoming game, lol. 

right now am I wondering how it will be with a Pantheon of 15 Powers, all of whom say they are the only god, who all have all of the domains as an option, and lack any sort of “god of x” kind of thing. I mean they have all known each other for millennia, but they screwed up and now compete for worshippers, lol.

even as a DM, I have played Clerics more often than anything else, and I am kinda burned out on them. Still my fave class to RP, just need a break.

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".

 I don't know when or if I ever will run this, but I think it would be awesome.

It starts with the characters washed up on the shore of a strange island with absolutely no idea how they got there. They remember their whole backstory and everything about themselves, but they have no idea how they got where they are. They will travel across the island, exploring it and saving people like normal, and their backstories would be heavily tied into the story as well, but things would seem weird and off. Completely different, unrelated events will seem to be connected, people they meet might reference or say something similar to what another NPC has said, and they might be no connections between them. They would continue to come across monsters driven into madness, and many things they meet will be searching. Not all know what they are searching for, though some speak of an ancient secret that has existed before the creation of the world, and will exist long after. They will come across nothics and allips who have been transformed and been driven to insanity by the secret. The players will follow the trail, trying to uncover the dangerous and unknown knowledge that threatens the world. Things will seem like some powerful, otherwordly force is manipulating the world and the simplest everyday events that happen for some strange and unknown purpose. That is because there is a otherwordly being in control. Me. I am the otherwordly force, altering the world at my every whim. I am the being who guides the characters through their lives, challenging them, and helping them grow and develop. I am the writer of their story, but they made their own decisions. I just gave them their options. It would end with a massive final battle where I create an avatar of the dungeon master and I send it down to fight the characters. If they win, they have defeated me, and prove themselves as heroes, if they fail, their characters are either driven to madness or slain by my hand. The truth that destroyed them was that they are being played with in a game.

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".

 I don't know when or if I ever will run this, but I think it would be awesome.

It starts with the characters washed up on the shore of a strange island with absolutely no idea how they got there. They remember their whole backstory and everything about themselves, but they have no idea how they got where they are. They will travel across the island, exploring it and saving people like normal, and their backstories would be heavily tied into the story as well, but things would seem weird and off. Completely different, unrelated events will seem to be connected, people they meet might reference or say something similar to what another NPC has said, and they might be no connections between them. They would continue to come across monsters driven into madness, and many things they meet will be searching. Not all know what they are searching for, though some speak of an ancient secret that has existed before the creation of the world, and will exist long after. They will come across nothics and allips who have been transformed and been driven to insanity by the secret. The players will follow the trail, trying to uncover the dangerous and unknown knowledge that threatens the world. Things will seem like some powerful, otherwordly force is manipulating the world and the simplest everyday events that happen for some strange and unknown purpose. That is because there is a otherwordly being in control. Me. I am the otherwordly force, altering the world at my every whim. I am the being who guides the characters through their lives, challenging them, and helping them grow and develop. I am the writer of their story, but they made their own decisions. I just gave them their options. It would end with a massive final battle where I create an avatar of the dungeon master and I send it down to fight the characters. If they win, they have defeated me, and prove themselves as heroes, if they fail, their characters are either driven to madness or slain by my hand. The truth that destroyed them was that they are being played with in a game.

 That's so cool!

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

Mine a dragon based intrigue where dragons are supposedly extinct but are really hiding among humanoids. The campaign would start with some farmer finding "shiny rocks" buried near his field, attracting the interest of the most powerful factions. Which faction the PC work for would be determined by their backstories, and the campaign BBEG would be developed by what the PCs decide to do with the "shiny rocks".

 I don't know when or if I ever will run this, but I think it would be awesome.

It starts with the characters washed up on the shore of a strange island with absolutely no idea how they got there. They remember their whole backstory and everything about themselves, but they have no idea how they got where they are. They will travel across the island, exploring it and saving people like normal, and their backstories would be heavily tied into the story as well, but things would seem weird and off. Completely different, unrelated events will seem to be connected, people they meet might reference or say something similar to what another NPC has said, and they might be no connections between them. They would continue to come across monsters driven into madness, and many things they meet will be searching. Not all know what they are searching for, though some speak of an ancient secret that has existed before the creation of the world, and will exist long after. They will come across nothics and allips who have been transformed and been driven to insanity by the secret. The players will follow the trail, trying to uncover the dangerous and unknown knowledge that threatens the world. Things will seem like some powerful, otherwordly force is manipulating the world and the simplest everyday events that happen for some strange and unknown purpose. That is because there is a otherwordly being in control. Me. I am the otherwordly force, altering the world at my every whim. I am the being who guides the characters through their lives, challenging them, and helping them grow and develop. I am the writer of their story, but they made their own decisions. I just gave them their options. It would end with a massive final battle where I create an avatar of the dungeon master and I send it down to fight the characters. If they win, they have defeated me, and prove themselves as heroes, if they fail, their characters are either driven to madness or slain by my hand. The truth that destroyed them was that they are being played with in a game.

I hope there's a smoke monster

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

For myself, I am not sure. I run three active games - that are all connected to one another (so the events of one game would/could impact the other two games). And I never put anything in solid concrete - so the game is ever flowing. Right now, one of the games is a party chasing a Beholder who has a skull that whispers incredible secrets, including how to achieve godhood - and they're trying to spot him. In another game, there's dragons massing around - and the hobgoblins are trying to resurrect an ancient warrior who once led the hobgoblins to massive victories across the world. The third game, they're stuck on a cursed island - so far, nothing to world impacting as that game pretty much centers on the island.

But whether a dragon war comes to be, or hobgoblins bring back their ancient warrior, or if the Beholder gets to godhood, or close, if there's consequences... I await to see how each of these peak which will definitely paint the picture of what my game world looks like next.

At some point, I would like to run a horror-themed campaign of some kind.  I've already thrown in elements of Ravenloft in my current game, which so far seems to have been fairly well received, so that's encouraging.  I'd also like to revisit my first campaign world eventually, which was a sort of post-apocalyptic wild west/frontier that unfortunately ended when my first group fell apart.

Quote from Caerwyn_Glyndwr >>

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Here's another question- What is the next campaign you want to run?

 Thinking about this question, I realised that, after the two campaigns I am currently DMing end, both groups have someone else who has volunteered to DM next.  Presuming they follow-through, that will be my first time ever where I am playing D&D and not DMing at least one campaign. That’ll be weird. 

My tentative plan is to have the party be a group of cadets serving the kingdom, fresh out of their academy.  Over the course of the campaign—stopping rebellions, doing supply runs, other things of that nature—they’ll come to realise maybe their kingdom is not as benevolent as it appears, particularly the further they get from the main cities.  Eventually, they’d have a “wait, are we the bad guys?” moment, where they’ll have to decide where to go from there.

But that would require the right group - and players who wouldn’t be upset with that realisation.  Not every group would be particularly pleased with maybe kind of discovering they were accidentally on the side of evil. 

That sounds amazing, but yeah, would definitely require the right group. I'd be terrified as a DM I'd inadvertently recreate the Stanford Prison Experiment or something

My next one, when I get the chance, I'm calling Ioun Crowns. The setup is like this: long ago, there were lots of heroes. Fighters, druids, rogues, the whole PHB's worth of em running around. But somebody took the power of class features away, used magic artifacts (the titular crowns) to steal the very ability to have class features. And then gave them to the monsters.

The monsters have formed little kingdoms now, and the humanoids are oppressed. Someone discovers a lost crown that allows a few brave humanoids (the party) to gain 1st level class features, and they set off to steal more of them. When they have enough, the humanoids will be able to fight back.

Essentially it's a little open world with bunch of monster lairs sprinkled around. Classic D&D mooks like skeletons, kobolds, etc. But they all have random class features, as long as their leaders are wearing their magic crowns. And when the party obtains these and gives them to their own leader, they get the class features added to their characters.

It's pretty gonzo. I wanna see weird stuff happen.