So I was commenting on a Post on Reddit about scheduling woes and joked that the hobby is full of theatre kids not only because we are dramatic, but because we know that if we do show the show doesn't happen. It made me think about the hobby and what is a good predictor on who really shows up to games. I did a bit of theatre but also play board games, write, and bounce around with some sort of fitness most of the time. What do y'all do for fun outside of RPGS?

I posted something a few days ago about puzzle difficulty. Here is the puzzle I was thinking about: You go into a room with 5 rows of 5 flags hanging from the ceiling. The flags are all of different colors. Some one color, Black, white, all the colors of the rainbow, and some are patterned. Choosing the right flag leads to success in your objective. Pulling the wrong flag creates a consequence. Pit suddenly opening, a creature appearing or the like. The only clue is... "Who is Robert?" Which flag do you choose?

I'm running Phandelver and Below and am intrigued by some changes I've seen from other DMs running this campaign. Right now, the party has just cleared Wave Echo Cave and is heading back to Phandalin. The module says they return to learn about psi-goblin crimes in town and have to investigate those crimes to learn where the bad guys are coming from. I want to break up the combat and get them a little more invested in Phandalin itself. They've been much more about "hit it with my sword" than "why are they here." They wiped out the cultists at Thundertree without saying a word... The two things I want to change involve having the players compete in contests (skill checks) against local townsfolk and allowing them to use the Forge of Spells to craft magic items. My plan is to have them return to town as heroes to be celebrated at an upcoming Hero's Day festival. During this festival, there will be a competition for each party member, using their highest skill against someone from Phandalin who is an expert in that particular skill. I have plotted out 5 checks for each skill with an increasing DC for each. The player will roll their skill check, as will their competitor, to see who passes. This may result in one, both, or neither passing the check. I'll add up the results to see who wins the contest. For example, my wizard will use his Investigation against the local wise woman in a riddle contest. If the players can solve the riddle, I'll give them advantage on the check. Has anyone run something similar? If so, how did it go? During the ceremony announcing the winner, the psi-goblins will run into town and commit all of the crimes live and in person. The players will hear the ruckus and have to decide where to lend a hand. They'll arrive at the well, the Miner's Exchange, or the Sleeping Giant to see the goblins running. That will roll into the combat encounters from the book. They will then be able to investigate the other crimes as per the module. It seems kind of crazy that the party clears Wave Echo Cave to give the Rockseekers access to the Forge of Spells, and all they get is ~250 gp per week. I want to give them an option to take the cash or have a mage use the forge to craft items for them. My thought process here is to allow common or uncommon items to be requested. They will have to provide half the cost of the enchantment and any item to be enchanted or the gold equivalent. They will also have to wait the number of days to craft the item. I'm a big fan of leaning on Google Gemini and have had it create a table of those items along with the expected cost and time for the enchantment. I've explained they can request one item at a time, and I get veto rights for anything. Thoughts?

Hello fellow GMs. I've been playing D&D for many years and have always wanted to get on the other side of the screen. Sadly, as often happens, our last group fell apart and left me with nowhere to play so I volunteered to DM for anyone who was interested. I dragged a couple of my old college roommates who had never played but were always interested into the mix along with 3 others, including my old DM. It's been a blast! I installed Foundry and started off running one-shots from the One Shot Wonders book to get the new folks familiar with the game and the platform. We'd previously played on roll20. After several of these on-shots, I started running Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. Mostly because it was pre-built in Foundry but also the intro to D&D nature. I'm having a lot of fun and continually try to find ways to improve the experience both from the technical sense of making the most of the VTT and from the players' perspective. There are a ton of resources on the former and I'm excited to have found something for the latter. Looking forward to mixing it up with you all... Rich