Interesting random tables

 

https://d100tables.com/t/trinket-table 

1. A glass orb filled with moving smoke 
2. A piece of crystal that faintly glows in the moonlight
3. A brass ring that never tarnishes 
4. A shard of obsidian that always feels warm to the touch (((like a ring of warmth)))
5.  A whistle made from gold-colored wood (((reminds me of the brother's dream, lizardman partner... a whistle around neck of the barbarian)))
6.                            

https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/26392-a-d100-non-combat-random-encounter-table

1. Earth shakes.
2. Dark shadow covers the party momentarily. 
3. Dense fog rolls in, preventing travel. Can't see past arm's length. 
4. A lone yellow flower is growing in the middle of the path.
5. A pool of blood.
6. The sun bursts through an overclouded sky.
7. You were travelling in the wrong direction. Add a day of travel to your journey.
8.  A line of Goblin heads on spikes line the road. A sign written in Goblin next to them says “Traitors of Yeemik”.
9. The party finds a sword in a stone. A DC15 Strength check pulls it out. It is a +1 Longsword.
10. Shrine to Mask - If the party makes an offering, they get a surprise round in their next encounter.
11. Shrine to Mystra - If the party makes an offering, all spellslots are recovered. 
12. Abandoned, unidentifiable Shrine - If the party doesn’t make an offering, they trigger a combat encounter. 
13. DC15 Per check or whole party snared by net, roll combat encounter.
14. A DC10 Perception check spots a small chest hidden a tree. It contains a gold ring worth 20gp.
15. The party notices that they are being followed by a bush, which runs into the forest when they attempt to investigate. If they pursue, they find a goblin, that throws a gold coin at them to make them go away. 
16. 
    

Has similar ones as the one above, maybe not as good so far: https://www.finalparsec.com/random_tables/generic_complications_that_can_affect_an_adventure

1. A dense fog rolls in, obscuring everything beyond arm's reach.
2. The ground trembles as a colossal shadow looms overhead.
3. A once-dormant volcano erupts, cutting off familiar routes.
4. Local wildlife begins communicating ominous warnings to anyone who will listen.
5. 
   

D1, D2, D3 modules, 11 hidden things

 Via GG https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fK7hpXymKUA

Notes for later! 

D&D cartoon fanmade into Heroquest - free PDFs, printouts

Definitely this  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDE0OU2B4A

• Free pdf downloads to print out. Apparently it's a fan made addon to the Heroquest boardgame, which is kinda like D&D 
• one player plays all the monsters (like a DM)
• one player plays all the heroes
• you don't level up, etc., it's more simple. Board game. 
• easier/quicker to get started than a TTRPG. Youngsters can play. 
• There are fan mods to make it complex. 

Maybe 

 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QfrJg3XtjBY

Talking TSR’s “our top 10 classic modules”

 Talking TSR’s “our top 10 classic modules”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GDe1jUH7AmU

Words for dnd

 Goodman games talking TSR on Temple of Elemental Evil

Btw, druidism followers in an area. 

Vocab from Temple of Elemental Evil- 

• Turret
• Hale
• Jape
• Mote - tiny specks 
• Chaise lounge
• Divan
• Parapet
• Cassock
• Ewer
• Fortnight
• Aperitif
• Splay
• Plinth

Does a parapet change depending on the type of wall??

Lich 2024 version tips for DM

 See Slyflourish’s yt on it

Experiences running the d&d 2024 lich lazy dm tip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q15sghfhDQ

Watch from 5 min to 10 min. 

• Eldrich burst cant be counterspelled
• Eldrich burst can pierce theu globe of invulnerability 
• He didn’t use Shield, thought too hi AC then, but he wanted 22 AC up from 20. 
• He thinks fine to let it do eldrich burst x 2, then fireball in same round. But not lvl 5 or 6 spells. 

Remember fear is 30 ft cone for lixh. 

2d6 Encounter Reaction Options - how it might play out

 Back on the 2d6 Encounter Reaction for D&D. This YumDM guy has me thinking with this complex roll system... makes me want to list some things that could happen. Let's consider using the following roll rules... although I'll likely do a -2 for mean things. 

• 2      = attack (immediate)
• 3-5   = likely aggression (hostile, possible attack)
• 6-8   = neutral (uncertain, monster confused)
• 9-11 = curious (no attack, monster leaves or considers offers)
• 12    = friendly (Enthusiastic friendship)

Goblins (Kobolds?) - they fit perfectly into those rolls b/c they are "weak" monsters that might negotiate or be intimidated, but are evil and would love to attack. See yumDM's conversation with goblins, great example. 

Snakes - they do not fit into any negotiation. 

• So, 2 = attack immediately, would mean you might have stepped near them/on them. Or maybe you disturbed a fallen branch which caused them to move from their congregation and since snakes often don't see well, they just mistakenly head towards you, but once they get close they flip out an attack. 
• 6-8 neutral would mean, they are standing their ground. Maybe unaware of you... don't mess with them, you need to walk well around them carefully. 
• 12 would mean, they just simply leave in the opposite direction. 

Bear/larger land animal - no negotiations (or would food work? What about a druid and Animal Friendship spell), what would they do? 

• 2 = attack. You surprised the bear. Or it's defending it's territory. Or it thinks you are food. 
• 6-8 = neutral. Stands its ground. You can't act like prey. Depending on bear species, you might walk backwards slowly. 
• 12 = "friendly", would just translate to it isn't interested at all. Leaves in a direction away from you. Or it could chase off a bandit that was tracking you!

Owlbear - vicious and evil-tempered, if not actually "evil". They are very likely to attack, I'd say -2 penalty at best on the reaction roll. 

1. An owlbear pair claims a territory of one or two square miles and will vigorously defend this territory against all intruders.
2. An owlbear's main weakness is also its greatest strength - its ferocity. Because owlbears are so bad-tempered, they stop at nothing to kill a target. It is not difficult to trick an owlbear into hurling itself off a cliff or into a trap, provided you can find one.

Roc - no negotiations, thinks more like a regular animal. And see adnd 2e's Roc for how it acts and attacks. 

• 2 = attack. In 2e it imposed a -5 penalty on party's surprise/detection roll, since it is fairly stealthy (sound-wise, plus it can see far away so can plan to approach from behind). 
• 6-8 neutral . Meaning, you better not act like prey. Would be a good idea to hide in the trees to make it inconvenient for the Roc to strike. 
• 12, friendly. As in, it looks at you, no interest, moves on. Heck, maybe it spots 2 goblins hiding in a tree wanting to ambush you and manages to grab one of them in a big swoop down!

Gnolls/Orcs/Trogs - they are extra mean and evil, they aren't going to play nice. Probably do a -2 penalty vs. a good aligned party. 

• 6-8 neutral. They look for a weakness but aren't going to attack yet. 
• 9+, they leave the area, don't want to fight. Maybe the party looks too tough or maybe they've already been in a scrap recently. 

Lizardmen - if they aren't influenced by an evil dragon, I could see them running the full 2 to 12 range. 

• 2-5, hostile and likely attack. They aren't trusting the party. Maybe they've never had good interactions with humans or other races in general. 
• 6-8 neutral. Stand their ground. Can you communicate with them? If not, better leave and make it obvious you want peace... weapons sheathed, hands open palms in the air or something. 

NPC types/Lost Travelers - humans and demi-humans. Maybe a +1 bonus for good parties. 

• 2-5 hostile. They probably think you are bandits, showing defensive powers, won't trust you. Press them and maybe they even fight. 

Pixies/Dryads/Neutral non combat vs. human inclined types - these kinds of creatures aren't warlike, but they are fickle. What might they do? See 2e monster compendium for varieties and alignment. 

• If a negative roll, for pixies go with the harassment stuff they like to pull. Quote, "The naturally invisible pixies are perhaps the most intelligent and mischievous of the faeries; they dwell in idyllic woodlands and delight in harassing travelers with their pranks."
• Sprites including Pixies like druids. 
• If a negative roll, dryads might Charm someone. They hate forest destruction... so don't break too many branches or make too many fires. 

Zombies - anything you do to get their attention causes attacks. Maybe slow attacks. -2 penalty on reaction roll. 

• Anything on the neutral or friendlier side just means they didn't see you yet. You need to sneak away carefully or they'll detect and attack. 

Talking TSR’s classic encounters, and Monsters

Btw, wild encounter change it up ideas- https://www.roleplayingtips.com/players-characters/6-methods-for-making-dungeons-more-interesting/

Encounters  https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=LL

• Night’s Dark Terror module is v good - https://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/2013/02/review-b10-nights-dark-terror.html

Monsters https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IKXgw7vF5ZA&list=LL&index=2&t=1813s&pp=gAQBiAQBsAgC

Ideas for memotable encounters.

• Orcs swinging from rooes w soears, charge attack round 1. Then pc can cut rooe maybe, chasm. 
• Normal govlin fight, attracts Ankhegs… fight them. Then Bullette is attracted to the Ankhegs, fight 3!

Underutilized monsters

• Rakshasas
• Nixie - (Chris Doyke was an aquatic biologist)
• Groaning spirit - quite deadly tho
• Slithering Tracker
• Cateblepus
• Ixitxachitl
• BEHOLDER- make some memories! His story… 200 dead goblins, tents burning. 15 minutes fresh. Beholders, two show up. Talk big. Use disentigration ray to slice off side of cliff the party is on (make jump rolls to survive)… as beholders leave. 
• DRAGON
• HYDRA - heads growing back
• Lucrada - bony ridge not teeth. Mouth ear to ear. Pliny the Elder book. 
• Dragon Turtle. V hard. 
• 
  

His story

Our Hexcrawl, super easy mode for the DM

So before reading up on the official "how to do a hex crawl" I drew up a "hex crawl" and got the kid to help populate the two random tables. We'll be sticking to our easy basic hex crawl mostly, but in the previous post I found those nice free (or PWYW) PDFs that will be very nice to give further ideas as needed. 

Goals:

1. Easy to run as a DM.
2. Easy to run, really.
3. Flexible. We'll learn as we go. 
4. Basically a one-shot (maybe over a couple of days). 
5. Playing 5e, level 3 characters, so we want a good few encounters. I want it to be maybe 15% chance of a TPK from start to finish. 

So I made the map look like, top to bottom (so kinda backwards, see picture above), something like this:

• Final Area (circle/hex) and the kid as DM fills in the blank here.
• 3rd areas that lead to Final are any of the 3
• Cross a river - big river, bayou, or small creek... maybe a ferry, swim, rope, log... whatever you like. 
• Forest trail
• Rocky hills
• 2nd areas
• Swampy
• Pine forest trail
• Cave
• 1st area outside a village is only one
• Mixed forest trail
• Starting area, only one
• a Village

So we are playing fast and loose. To get from one area to another, it might be 4 hours (and 4 random encounter checks) or it might be more or less. We don't know, going to wing it. 

Rules we made up/borrowed:

• 1d10, on a 1 you have an encounter. Do that once per hour. Assuming it takes an hour to move through an area. If you are in the labeled "swampy area" for instance, maybe that's 4 or 8 hours of swamp. 
• Worth clarification... one circle on our "hexmap" is not one single encounter... it'll take 4 to 8 hours to get through there, so 4 to 8 encounters. We think that many, going to find out... we want a good few encounters. And I think the kid has a couple of "automatic encounter areas" with more complex stuff. He's good with a fancy cool set up.  
• The river is probably the exception... doubt it'll be that many encounters, but it's trickier so, yeah. 
• The cave is probably at ground level, and the exit of the cave is deeper into rocky hills... maybe it cuts through a hill. 
• 1d20 (maybe 1d24, borrowing DCC dice) to see what the encounter is. See below. Wanted one to be a dragon, AKA super impossibly hard, and then a mix. 
• Distance of encounter, 1d6; 1 = close, 6 = 500 feet. 
• 2d6 reaction/morale check at start of encounter. Using the B/X rules for that... I thought it was something like the following, but each edition is different it seems: 
• 2      = attack (immediate)
• 3-5   = likely aggression (hostile, possible attack)
• 6-8   = neutral (uncertain, monster confused)
• 9-11 = curious (no attack, monster leaves or considers offers)
• 12    = friendly (Enthusiastic friendship)
• Tenkar's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_wY-dP17e8
• 
  
  
  
  
• This blog fellow has one that is fairly good, and 5e here also good:

• 2d6       Reaction

  2-3        Hostile

  4-5        Unfriendly

  6-8        Neutral

  9-10      Friendly

  11-12    Helpful

• This guy has info on the 1983 Mentzer Basic more complex one: https://yumdm.com/reaction-rolls/
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• And this one, I kinda like it for "monsters" specifically (more hostile), came from https://illusoryscript.com/2d6-reaction-roll/

I made two random 1d20 (or 1d24) tables, I'll list the ones I have, but the kid has 8-16 secret ones. 

FOREST OR HILLS (+CAVE) 1d20 TABLE:

1. Green dragon
2. 1d6+1 bandits
3. 1d2 owlbear
4. 1d4+1 hobgoblins
5. 1d6+1 guardsmen/soldiers from village
6. Animal trail, leads to a hidden loot stash (wooden doors into the ground, weird and cool)
7. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
8. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
9. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
10. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
11. 1d6 gnolls + 1 hyena
12. 1d6 lost travellers
13. 1 orc shaman + 1d4 orcs
14. 1 goblin adept + 1d4 goblins
15. Bear
16. 1d6 snakes (has to be extremely close, can't be 100+ feet away)
17. 1d6 brownies
18. 1d4 helpful fairies
19. Ancient ruins
20. Roc (can be extremely far away, since you can spot one miles away in the sky, if you have sky)

SWAMPY (+RIVER) AREA 1d20 TABLE:

1. Black dragon
2. 1d6 Lizardmen
3. 1 giant alligator (or croc)
4. 1d4+1 gnolls
5. Pixies
6. Rope ladder tree, leading to a box (maybe roll 1d6 to see what's in the box)
7. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
8. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
9. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
10. ? kid's secret since he is the DM for this
11. 1d4+1 troglodytes
12. 1d6 lost travellers
13. 1d4+1 cultists
14. 1 kobold sorcerer and 1d4 kobolds
15. Blackscale lizardmen (see 3.5e or 5e stats, the big lizards)
16. 1d12 stirge (wide number variation here, how easy or hard will this be?)
17. 1d4+1 militia
18. Giant crawfish
19. Ancient Ruins
20. 1d6 zombies

UPDATED MONSTERS FOR ANOTHER TABLE

1. Giant snail
2. Bullywugs
3. 2e adnd Mystara minster list has lotsa good ones
1. REMEMBER CONVERT B/X to 5e: 
1. AC IS  19 minus the old AC; 
2. HP is double the avg or so, maybe 150% of max of old
3. To Hit is 20 minus ThAC0 
4. Dmg is about double the old dmg 
4. Acaeon - Elkman, 11 hitdice eh?
5. Agarat - Undead midlevel, temp lvl drain i like
6. Decapus
7. Dusanu

11 hitdice elkman https://www.completecompendium.com/catalog/ms/2501/actaeon/

1. 
   

   Undead w temp lvl drain https://www.completecompendium.com/catalog/ms/2501/agarat/

   
   

   Decapus (not octo) https://www.completecompendium.com/catalog/ms/2501/decapus/

   
   

   Dusanu, Spore weilding undeadish https://www.completecompendium.com/catalog/ms/2501/dusanu/

UPDATED BELOW, IDEAS

• Monsters running back to a prepared area for defense
• Monsters can have loot, else party only avoids them
• Running into a fight between 2 things or teams
• Signs of something 
• Dew on grass spider webs disturbed 
• Freshly cut or brushed aside vines
• Autumn leaves crushed underfoot
• Crows startled and fly away in distance
• Vultures circling
• Wolves running away from something 
• Insects on carvass = older (depending like maggots), or Lack of = recent
• Urine on trail (smells like canine, or amount indicating horse,… or perhaps in a place likely a humanoid)
• Ants on breadcrumbs/ no ants on crumbs means very recent (15 minutes)
• 
  

MY PARTY

• Wizard
• Druid or cleric
• Cleric or fighter (ranged focused?)
• Fighter

Procedure OSR Hex Crawl - Free PDFs

 Tenkar's link, if you google those four words: What is a HexCrawl and Why Should You Run One  

His video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raRxoj5lXl0

TWO FREE PDFs on the topic:

• Hexcrawl basics, Tenkar's link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/290915/hexcrawl-basics?affiliate_id=1446
• Blackmarsh, Tenkar's link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/89944/blackmarsh?affiliate_id=1446

So yeah, we are about to do our own version of a hex crawl. Thought we had enough ideas to go forward, but it cannot hurt to see what all of this is about. Free info is good info. 

Balrog paintings

 Hard to find

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/ted-nasmith-the-balrog--475059460667901636/

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/497084877605856304/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/lord-of-the-rings-artwork--2744449757788691/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/496240452682334561/

https://ar.inspiredpencil.com/pictures-2023/gandalf-balrog-wallpaper

Saw on Nerd of the Rings yt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Ia5vl32qQ

Tenkar’s… 3 page DM prep

 I need to rewatch. Want to use some of these techniques. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfG71-cWVmg

6 keyed things. That is 6 things/locations where a decision needs to happen by party. 

Map

3-layer approach, like before but…

• Obvious 
• Truth under surface
• If it goes sideways

Tenkar’s Tavern - how to do secret doors

 I love it, great ideas.

This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoL09L7mKKE&t=191s&pp=0gcJCU0KAYcqIYzv

Probably this - https://www.tenkarstavern.com/2018/01/on-secret-doors-and-why-i-detest-thrm.html

• Concealed doors? Now THAT is something I can get behind. Look behind that armoire. Why are there curtains on this wall? What's under this rug? Good play will reveal with concealed doors what dice may otherwise steal with secret doors.
  
  Besides, I never understood elves uncanny ability to see secret doors when others can't...
• 
  

Maybe this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoL09L7mKKE

Players say their intent… more than just “i search the room”. Too much rolling is bad… he Never rolls for hidden doors. 

• DM describes rm
• Player describes how searching.
• Maybe player urinates to look for seams and holes. Hey why not. 
• Checking drafts. 
• Any furniture moved?
• Something new in room?
• Something out of place?
• Clues
• Mortar on one side is newer
• Thing on mantle was disturbed 

One commenter even said elves will notice scratches near furniture or seams in walls or a draft… but still gotta figure out how it works.