State of Play

I've been running my 5e game for a stable group of 6 friends for more than a year now. In the years that I've been playing D&D off and on (since the 4e era), this is the longest a campaign I've DMed has held together.

I am learning a lot. I am also finding that the particular dynamic of this group of players is really different from past groups I've played with and how I personally play.

I'm used to playing with hardcore nerds. Most of my current players have never read a fantasy novel other than Harry Potter, don't like board games and after a year of playing in a weekly game don't know which die to roll when they make an attack.

The two players who are excited about D&D, have bought the books and know what the numbers on their sheet mean, are very much into normie-style, Critical Role inspired adventure paths.

I'm not complaining. I'm lucky to have fantastic friends who will play elf-games with me.

However, my attempt to open up a sandbox and let the players roam has largely fallen flat. My world is too big. There are too many options open. My players don't have character motivations per se and mostly aren't interested in forming them.

It's fine, but I need to do things differently.

My next project is to retreat to a much smaller campaign setting with clearer options and stronger default play loop.

My thoughts so far:

• A detailed town. A small number of shops with an actual list of goods and prices, rather than my current "It's a general store, what do you want?" approach. 
• An explicit list of adventure locations, serving as a menu of options where to go. 
• XP based advancement (my normies will love this) rather than the more ephemeral milestone advancement I've been using. 

The goal would be to have 2-4 options (and only those options) for each session. Players can pick one and I won't depend on them to have a particular motivation.

Any advice and suggestions from other DMs would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you have thoughts!

A New New Crobuzon

Anne (of DIY & Dragons) recently issued a challenge to build a New Crobuzon following the method   Judd posted ten years ago:

So, to make your own N.C.:

1) Take your three favorite human-ish monsters out of the Monster Manual and they are minority citizens in the city. Detail how they get along, how being in the city has culturally changed them and what niches they fill in the city. How do the powers that rule the city keep them down?

2) Take three really bizarre fucking monsters and figure out how they exist in the nooks and crannies of the city and how the powers that rule the city keep these beasts from doing unacceptable amounts of damage?

The challenge has gotten a bunch of great responses. 

• City of Stones and Spirits (from DIY & Dragons)

• New Twain (from Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque)

• The Last City (from From the Sorcerer's Skull)

• The City of Emination (from The Benign Brown Beast)

• Thaw (from Archons March On)

• City by the Styx (from Games of the Rust Medusa) 

• Pandeimos (from Throne of Salt) 

• If you try it, let me know and I'll add yours to the list.

Perdido Street station is one of my all time favorite fantasy novels, so I wanted to try my hand:

Three "human-ish" monsters: Tieflings, Golgari and Golems

Three "really bizarre fucking monsters":  Oozes, the Spider and a pool of Shub Niggurath

Saints

Continuing from my previous post, laying out the first broad strokes of a pantheon for my 5e game.

This time we'll look at a couple saints of the Gothic Church.

Albert Lynch, 1903 engraving

The Lady is the most widely venerated saint of the Gothic Church. In the murky eons of the past she descended from the heavens and led the First Great Crusade and established the Gothic Church as the most powerful human institution on the planet.

Famed for her mercy, adherents of the Church now beseech  the Lady for healing, prosperity and protection. Her shrines feed the needy and her paladins defend the weak.

Critics complain that these charities are merely a covering for a ruthless police state bent on global dominance. These critics never live long.

Symbol: A four-pointed white star on a black field

Likes: Chivalry, monuments, but mostly power

Hates: Chaos, disrespect, mutants, dragons and demons of all sorts

Venerated by: Many clerics, paladins and the unwashed masses of the common folk.

Source: I imagine a slightly fascist mash-up of medieval conceptions of Our Lady with Joan of Arc. The Gothic Church takes a lot of cues from Warhammer 40k.

DM Post-its

I've started using post-it notes to organize my DM notebook.

Often I find that the order that ideas come to me, and the order I naturally write them down makes for cluttered disorganized notes that are difficult to use in play.

By putting maps, encounter tables etc. on post-its, I can rearrange them after the fact into an arrangement that makes sense for quick reference. Also, I fold and stack the post-its to fit a lot more on a page,  then uncover pieces as I need them.

It's also easy to move reusable components into different adventures or carry them forward if they appear again.

It's been helpful so far.

My 5e Pantheon and the Gods of the North

I made a table that suggests deities from my homebrew setting for each class that has an affiliation to a higher power. I think this will help tremendously the next time my players create characters.

I am writing a short description for each one to help players choose.

The Gods of the North:

From Jeffery Thompson, I think.

Ulric:  The Old Northern god of battle, wolves & winter storms. Hot-blooded and beloved of the commoners.  He's a heavy metal Viking badass. 

Likes: Vengeance, personal glory, comradeship

Hates: Caution, schemers, bureaucracy

Venerated by: Barbarians, fighters, paladins and the occasional bellicose cleric.

Source: From Warhammer, but bent back toward Thor. Largely inspired by James Holloway's Patron Deities podcast.

Cruciphere

Warren's Butchery - Upper Floor

This is the fourth part of an adventure that I've been working on for awhile. It is inspired by the Warrens zone of Darkest Dungeon. 

• The first post in this series, describes the enemies encountered.

• The second post describes the exterior areas surrounding the Butchery.

• The third post describes the first level of the Butchery proper. This is where the crawl-able dungeon-proper begins.

On reflection, my earlier posts felt a little over-wrought and were more tedious than fun to assemble. I'll try to stick to the highlights on this one.

This post continues the description of The Butchery, a two story building with a wrap-around porch. The Boss Hog and his Wretch attendants reside here. So does most of the treasure.