Player Journals

Despite spending more time on the other side of the DM Screen, one of my little obsessions it finding the best way to organize everything as a player. This has led to a few researching endeavors such as planning out my own D&D table to backing a multitude of interesting Kickstarters. Player Journals being one that I have collect quite a few of now and I just wanted to share my thoughts below.

Arcana Note Journal by Arcane Goods

Easily my favorite of the bunch. It just checks so many boxes. Leather cover, pockets, character sheets, dividers for organization, spell card slots, a FREAKING DICE TRAY, mini DM screen, initiative/condition/spell cards, basic item and combat reference pages, and colored rubber bands! Then you even have a nice pouch the keep it all in. Not a bad deal for $59.

Also comes in a felt cover

Hero Book by Material Components

Not every character deserves the extravagance of an Arcana note and maybe you're looking for more references on your character. In comes there HeroBook. Made with a special binding so it always lays flat (which is oh so nice to have when you aren't using a binder type book), the HeroBook's first half is filled with SRD content on Races, Classes, and game mechanics. You wouldn't believe how nice it is to use instead of flipping through the PHB. The front pages are made of a dry erase material and contain your Character Sheet info, a quick reference sheet behind that for combat and movements, and finally an index you can fill out, starting with the SRD content mentioned before. On the otherhand that means the latter half is just blank pages and blank grid pages, other than a few basic character reference (probably for party members). The back has another quick reference for conditions and another set of dry erase pages with a grid.

I think this was about $30 but the prices are missing on the shop right now. 

Character Journal by Dandy Beyond

At $10 on Amazon, this is the Christmas gift I gave my D&D group. Also despite the price its also somehow one of the larger Journals at about 10x7. There is no SRD content in this one but it has the basics of what you need. There is a Table of Contents at the front which has all 5 (yes 5) character sheet locations, 1 in the front the other 4 in the back, each with 7 pages going over backstory, Class/Race, inventory, Ability scores, Traits, and Spell sheets. Everything else between is simple lined paper and a handful of grid paper towards the back. For the price its an absolute STEAL.

Erasable D&D 5e Character Boards by Khephri Creations

Ok so its not really a journal but a big dry erase character sheet made out of laser engraved wood that was sandwiched together with some counter wheels in-between for HP and even had a spellsheet add-on. Unfortunately due to severe difficulties with production he isn't making any more of these. Still pretty cool

Far Travelers Notebook by The Rook and The Raven Publishing

This one honestly ended up somewhat disappointing and the delays in the kickstarter hurt it a lot. Basically this is series of 5 smaller notebooks (5e character, session notes, lorekeeper, spellweaver, and the KS exclusive Grand Explorers insert) which use a unique system of elastic bands to bind them inside of a beautiful leather wraparound cover. One notable thing about the character insert is that it has clear pages you can use to not actually write on the character sheet. One of the few times I've seen this method, but normally because it slides around and doesn't match up, which this also fall victim to. In practice this thing is a mess to use either inside the leather or even as 5 separate books. Combined with the expensive $75 price tag and it falls short in everything but looks. 

Character Campaign Journal by Tim Krause

This was the largest offering I have acquired at a full 8.5 x 11 paper size, but space utilization inside made it feel a lot smaller. For example the character sheet is actually just a standard 5e character sheets but is sized so its only 6 inches wide. I'm not the biggest fan of the style that this journal went with as it organized rigidly into 12 adventure sections each containing: Other characters, small section of notes and NPCs, Monsters, Treasure/magic, a dungeon grid, a wilderness hex, and an illustration sort of in the same style as on the front, Finally it has notes and illustrations pages in the back as blank pages. At $15.99 its not bad, but does not seem like it will fit the style of sessions I normally run in.

RPG Campaign Journal by Crit for Brains

To my surprise this was designed for DMs rather than plays and includes random tables and dungeon designs. So I'll save my thoughts on this for now.

Tome of Delving by Dungeon Notebook

One of the only hardcover books of the bunch was the Tome of Delving which came in at a surprisingly cheap $20. The main thing I've noticed about this book is that it was MADE for tracking things. Animal Companion? Check. Wild Shapes? Check. Money ledger? Check. As a bonus it has refences on the inside of the cover for actions, weapons, and items, while the back has more in depth descriptions of actions and combat like 2 weapon fighting. It give a lot of space to just about everything. There's like 3 pages just for computations like investigation stats, all your saves, and skills. I was a bit worried that because of that everything was spread out too much but between the painted edges for sections and the 2 book marking ribbons, you should be able to find your way through this Tome.

A Better DnD Campaign Notebook by Griffin Ess

Cant find it. 

Rover Book by Dungeons and Stationary

Cant find it.

Adventure Journal by Table Titans

The second hardcover book at a smaller size. Actually has enough space for 3 characters with plenty of dedicated space for notes and maps. The character stats section isn't particularly expansive and is compacted to 2 pages for stats, 2 pages for inventory, and 2 pages for flavoring (including a last will and testament section). While it is missing an index of some sort it does have a bookmark ribbon. As you might expect it is littered with drawings from the Table Titans series. Its respectable at $20 for this 8x5 book, but pales when we compare to the Tome of Delving from before.

Unfulfilled still

Theorycraft Character Planner by Theorycraft

Hoard of the Dragon Queen Preparations Ep 1

Campaign Prep - Ep 1

Ill try to write my thoughts on preparing for episode one as well as advice for any new DMs looking to run HotDQ with new players.


As a new DM with new players, I think its best to use this episode to get a feel for encounter difficulties as well as the playstyles of your players. You dont need to work in a lot of extra stuff at this point before you know if your players will bite.

As it stands I should have 6 players in what is "supposed" to be made for a 4 player party. Having 6 should reduce some of the difficulty, but I also have implemented some extra abilities for some of my players that should help improve their survivability. I've noticed many seem to choose the path of including healers or healing potions along the way, which I'll probably do as well to a lesser extent (I'm looking at 1 healer in the keep and another they rescue from the sanctuary, full healing on a level up short rest, but no healing potions), but I feel that that type of mechanic doesn't really work to solve the issues as fluidly and feels like an obvious gimmick.

Most of my players come from video gaming background. This tends to lead to a certain progression if left unchecked. For example: In Lost Mines in Phandelver there is a goblin cave that players need to investigate in the first part of the adventure. In almost every case players of this type have entered the first cavern on the right with the wolves, the proceeded to climb up the hidden* chimney and end up fighting the bugbear (the BBEG of the section) almost immediately before exploring the rest of the caverns. They always took the first turn and never looked back. Now perhaps its my fault for making it too obvious that there's a passage since this was normally played on a map. On the otherhand there are probably a few deterrents I'd think of now such as having the pet wolf be heard barking or even appearing over the ledge, maybe even have the bugbear dispose of a carcass over the ledge or other objects being thrown. Basically something that makes them think again about taking that route, but nothing that would prevent them should their minds be set. 

So I read the first grueling episode a couple times, then finished the rest. Some thoughts:

• Ep 1 is tough

 Its not meant to have everything completed, it just too much for level 1-2 character without access to long rests. I'd like to get as much in as I can though.Too many make the mistake of trying to cram all the content in as well as playing RAW. THAT IS A MISTAKE. This adventure was written while the official rules were still being made and before the DMG and MM. Thats not to say you need to rewrite the whole thing, it just needs some tweaks here and there to work reasonably well. Some of it come from the combat difficulty which isn't as much of an issue with a party of 6. Generally you want to check the challenge rating on kobold fight club or even just roughly compare the head count to your your party. Being outnumbered is a rather significant disadvantage.

• Hooking the characters

This takes a little work. It honestly takes a special kind of person (lawful good) to dive into a town being attacked by an adult dragon while still level 1. Fortunately Appendix A give some easy hooks through bonds you can add or replace, or features you can add to characters. These will get characters involved with Greenest or at least the Cult. I hooked mine with the kobold infiltrating the Cult and meeting with the Knight who was tasked with investigating the Cult. Our Cleric was also a bounty hunter whose target was Cyranwrath.

• Reach the Keep

Despite entering from the west or south, Every game should open with the kobolds attacking the Swift family. This does not have to be the immediate bloodbath some make it. The kobolds notice the characters, but continue to focus on the Swift family, due to assuming that you are cultists (which are all dressed normally, not in culty looking clothes fyi) If you want a darker tone you can start with them killing the family but otherwise you can stretch it out with some taunting and only the occasional hits, maybe some intentionally missed sling shots. This should easily segway into an escort mission to the keep. You may want to use this opportunity to use the NPCs to advice the characters to sneak using the dim light maybe bypassing one of the encounters.

• Inside the keep

Depending on the wounds, you may want the family to introduce the party to a cleric inside. I randomly generated a level 3 cleric of Chauntea named One-eye Philip. He liked to give hugs and said "if the gods will it" a lot. Let your NPCs have some personality :)

 Have the Governor seek them out after hearing some "well equipped adventurers" arrived. He can give them the missions and introduce them to Castellan. Most adventurer's are unlikely to continue without some sort of reward promised however. (i recommend free food and lodging at an inn or his mansion) Most of the time I try to send them down the old tunnel as its an easy mission to set up later ones.

• I made a timetable to show the optimal time usage over the course of the night and they would get ~3 short rests and probably gain a level shortly after reaching the keep
• Nightfall: Seek the Keep
• 9 pm: Meet Nighthill+get prisoners quest+meet Escobert+Old tunnel Mission
• 10 pm: pull characters back for Sally Port mission
• 11 pm: Level up Short rest
• 12 am: Dragon attack ( dragon leaves- they feel safer going out, likely undamaged)
• 1 am: Sanctuary
• 2 am: Short rest
• 3 am: Save the Mill
• 4 am: Dragon Champion (they should be exhausted at this point, maybe heal a heroic character beforehand)

• Old tunnel mission

I've seen a lot of people advocating removing the rats from tunnel. DON'T. This is often one of the most memorable moments. The tunnel is just wide enough for single file passage, but since I have 6 I will probably open up the last few yards to 2 wide. 2 swarms of rats inhabit the area and attack if disturbed, so I generally go with any loud noise. Keep in mind they can inhabit the same space as a character, so they dont block the way and multiple characters can attack them even if single file. They have resistance to most physical attacks and immunities to conditions. With that in mind, dont roll for their HP, leave it at 24 or less. They also flee at 12 HP.

• Sally Port

After they unlock the door (skip any fights outside for now, maybe later), have a villager or one of the Swifts bring them back to the keep and run the Sally Port mission (or tease the sighting of Fraulam). The sally port is an external room beside the main doors that is used as an extra area to reach invaders attacking the main doors. This is NOT visible on the overmap. You will need to create one or imagine it. This is pretty easy to run and can teach the importance of non combat spells. After this most people should hit level 2 by my count based on my party of 6. A party of 4 may have hit it after the old tunnel mission.

• Custom level up rule: You need a short rest to get your level increase benefits. Spellcasters regain half max spell slots. Full HP and Hit Die.

Ahhhhhh rest......

• Dragon attack

Snap back to reality! This section can be a little difficult to run since it can be VERY deadly. I put a ballista (the crew just got fried with the captain) on the wall from the DMG (pg 255) 

+6 attack, 3d10, 3 actions, 1 to load/1 to aim/1 to fire

You can also have charismatic character rally the troops:

30 troops (1d4 die every breath attack and 1d6 injured)

Take cover (dc 12) success means half the normal amount will die and be injured

Fire (dc 12) 3d6 - 1d6 per 10 deaths/injury

Hold the line (dc 14 after death or failed fire)

Dont ever use the breath attack directly on the PCs. It WILL KILL THEM. Key them in when a breath attack might come (hair stands up) and remind them to duck.

I can GUARANTEE someone in my group will try to talk to the dragon and there is no reason why it shouldn't converse. I mean it clearly doesn't want to be here. Maybe have some deal with the necromancer or offer warlock powers....

• Random encounters

If stealthy roll checks every 100 feet, if more than half fail then roll a d6 and if below 4 roll an encounter. if not stealthy just do the d6 every 100 feet. Its dark, give them advantage on any stealth checks. You probably shouldn't do too many of theses give the difficulty of the night in the first place, but if you do....I recommend the pendragon hack. Its a rolling encounter table that includes other events such as lightning and various combat setups.

• Sanctuary

You can probably tease this by mentioning there is another cleric (aka heals) probably there. This is one of the more involved and well designed missions as it has moving enemies and a perceived time limit. One of the biggest things here for the DM is to get the party to observe long enough to make a plan. Once inside the the door ramming is occurring, a visible timer can up the ante.

• Save the mill

Ah the ambush mission. One of the things to keep in mind here is that you want them to notice that is something isn't quite right with the mill burning (or in reality, not burning) getting them to observe and investigate.

• Dragon Champion

He's gonna kill a character. Make a big deal about. Make them hate him. The biggest shame is that he doesn't really have any story impact. He appears in Ch 3 as part of a mob to be killed. You might want to keep him around as a constant BBEG. Not everyone is a fan of this being what is basically an impossible fight, but i think it can hook the characters in deeper to the story. (just don't actually kill your PCs)

Other things to think about

• Enemy HP - probably going to go standard and adjust up as i feel, randomized for random encounters
• Starting point. I was seeing where a lot of DM's were starting the campaign on the west side of town rather than the south side. Might make it so its player choice or split groups if things dont work out for the first session. West side seems to allow more area for encounters
• Fog of war. I'm just going to say that they have the rough layout memorized when the come over a hill looking out at the town so I dont have to mask everything. Enemies will be hidden though. Not enthusiastic about having to deal with dark vision vs normal vision. 
• Exploration initiative is set by marching order, shouldn't be an issue in this ep.
• Not a whole lot of items in this, just some healing potions or healers
• I will have a brazier in the keep for the necromancer to use find familiar.
• NEED TO REMEMBER
• Kobolds (including the necromancer) have pack tactics
• Elf, Kobold, and Tiefling have Darkvision
• Human, Goliath, and Hafling do NOT have dark vision
• MEANING: DISADV on sight perception checks -5 PP

Important Characters

• Tarbaw Nighthill (Found pic)
• Human Male (60) Governor of Town
• Right side of face and head bandaged 
• Bloodstained light blue tunic
• takes characters to parapet to talk and see Faulam Mondath
• Believes raiders dont intend to attack deep, just want loot
• Old Man voice?
• Castellan Escobert the Red
• Keep Guard?
• Dwarf with tangled red hair
• has key ring
• mainly for tunnel info and sally port mission
• Grunty dwarf voice?
• Lilan Swift and Cuth Swift
• seek the keep mission
• Cuth limp
• Lilan has some training but is commoner
• Lennithon (24HP 19AC)
• adult blue dragon
• unenthusiastic
• mostly using frightful presence
• Deep voice? (Clownfish changed?)
• Frulam Mondath
• Purple robes
• Seen in distance
• Rezmir
• Dragon lady
• Black Half Dragon
• Sentient greatsword
• Not seen but mentioned
• Big Bad of this module
• Langdedrosa Cyanwrath
• Half blue Dragon champion
• might make reoccurring (bounty for war cleric)
• normally miniboss in ep 2 dungeon
• Cocky deep voice?

At this point its still a work in progress. Lots to do, but at least still plenty of time. Until I start forgetting...


UPDATE PART II

I came across this blog entry:
http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/p/hoard-of-dragon-queen-index.html

Which include a lot of advice and serious tweaks. More than I'm willing to do since I want a somewhat vanilla D&D experince for first time players, but there were some useful bits here and there.

Characterization of Tarbaw Nighthill
"Govern Tarbaw Nighthill: 60 years of age. Wounded->(Broken Right arm, bleeding from face). Adding the trait of "Swears Dramatically" and the personality of calm and pontificating. Short list of swears:

• "By the shadows of Mask's ass!"
• "By the black hand of Bane!
• "What in the ass of the abyss are/is. . . "
• "I'll be smacked with the c*&k of Tempus!"
• "By the hairy pair of Moradian. . ."
• "Great stinking balls of Tempus!"
• "By Mystara's ice-cold brass tits!"
• Explitives
• "Tymora's Tits!
• "Orcsucker!"
• "Smoke and ashes!"

He says these in a completely calm conversational tone (calm) and goes on about the greatness of the players and his plan and the need for their help (Pontificating)"

Not as thrilled with Castellan. Do need to come up with a reason for the "Red" moniker. Probably related to drinking or something. I dont see why i cant just make run him as a generic type dwarf for my group.

He also outlines consequences and that result in how many people are saved as well as other modifiers. 

Pre-gaming

Campaign Decisions

Time to talk about about what decision I am making before the game and why.

Why HotDQ?

Because one of my players bought the book and gave it to me.

Homebrew?

No, I'm not allowing it for now. At least not at character creation. Given how new my players and I are, I'd like for us to get a feel for the game and the natural balance before changing things up too much. I am allowing all core content so the PHB, Sword Coast Adventurer's guide, Elemental Evil Player's Companion guide, and Volo's Guide to Monsters.

UPDATE: So a little change here to satisfy my players to help them "feel" like their classes and balance characters a bit. I have allows small parts of UA content like starter spells and Lost book of Spells as well as some Feature ideas.

Why Fantasy Grounds?

1. I got the ultimate license. 
2. The Druid would have to play remotely anyways. He hasn't been able to join but 1 session up to this point, and even then it was remotely. 
3. The automation take a lot off my back, especially now that I learned a bit of the programming to make effects and the like. 
4. I learned about it before Roll20 and it had licensed content.

Greenhest is tough for level 1 characters. Why not bump them?

Originally I only had 4 players and I might have then. Then we got 6. I added some powers and spells, they'll be fine. I can adjust on the fly. Not to mention near death is kinda fun. (At least I think they are ok with it)

Characters

Now that I have most of the characters created there are a few things i'm making allowances for listed below.

Kobold necromancer - Sage NE

He's evil, so i fixed that with a Geas spell tying into his background. Originally part of a kobold clan living beneath a town who were on good terms with the citizens. At least until this kobold "helped" by attempting to raised a man's dead wife. The situation was taken care of by a traveling knight. To make peace with the people, the clan shaman cast a 9th level geas, commanding the kobold to obey the knight. So he leaves and travels with the knight. He later infiltrates the Cult of the Dragon under her orders and is to meet her at Greenhest....

Also necromancy is boring until level 5 when he can raise the dead, so i opened up the option to get spells from other sources like the "lost book of spells" and "The (not really) Complete Tome of Spells. Give more spell options is all I have to do since he's a wizard. Almost comedic in his world domination complex. Combine that with a strength score of 6 and it should be interesting.

Also boosted from the release of Xanathars guide. Toll of the dead is stupid strong.

Human Purple Dragon Knight LG

This is the Knight in question from the Kobolds background, therefore her Lawful good alignment should keep him under control and alive.

Soooo she doesn't actually choose the archetype until level 3. To maker her feel more knightly and fit her kit, I added a daily power from 4e called Heroic Rescue at level 1 as suggested by Matthew Coville in his Video. Its a fun power that keeps people alive a bit better in what is a tough first level as well as meshing will with the PDK kit.

Wood Elf Monk - Hermit? NG

So I've got a soft spot for these melee/weapon classes and I dont want them to just "swing my sword" in combat so I game him a daily power where he regain temp HP after loosing half his HP and gains damage while it lasts. Some sustainability with a twist. Still working on specific but sound like he is going to be totally new to the concepts of civilization

Goliath War Cleric - Urban bounty hunter (bounty: Cyanwrath) LN

He's a giant, honor-bound, unflinching, family-man. Think of it as a Kratos with a greatsword. Given that his sword is 2 handed, he prefers spells that only have a verbal component.

No real changes here since he has spellcasting+heals+AC+weapon damage. Fortunately he really wants a cool greatsword, and there is a sentient one within the campaign I'm going to catch his eye with.

Ghostwise Hafling Moon Druid - Far Wanderer N

No changes here. Just give him the list of animal, maybe limit it so he has to find some. Silent Speech is HUGE for his combat wild shape. Produce fire cantrip should work great to keep him alive at level 1 before he gets to shapeshifting.

Tiefling Rogue - Far Wanderer exile CN

Stereotypical, but it doesnt matter since we haven't played! It works! Sneak attack makes it so I dont need to help her out any as well as the fact that she has her favorite cantrip "vicious mockery"

On the Subject of Magical Items

Lets list the items that exist specifically in the game:
Ep6
Dagger of Venom - Chapel 1L

EP 7
wand of winter - talis the white EP 7
+1 scale mail - talis the white EP 7
Dragongleam Spear - Ep 7 armory (daylight)
+1 chain mail - EP7 talis Bedchamber
Arrow Catching Shield - EP 7 Peryton Roost

EP8
Tankard of plenty EP 8 Parnast
Bag of holding EP 8 (area 22)
+1 longsword EP 8 Dragon hoard
+1 longbow EP 8 Dragon Hoard
+1 leather armour EP8 Dragonhoard
Bracers of Defense EP8 Dragon hoard (+2 ac)
Hazirawn- rezmir
insignia of claws - rezmir +1 unarmed

LIKELY MISS
black dragon mask - rezmir
Staff of fire - rath modar
Talis's equipment if PCs accept deal or miss lodge

RISE OF TIAMAT ITEMS
dragontooth dagger - - +1 extra d6
+1 armor
+1 weapon
arrow of dragon slaying
bag of holding
belt of hill giant str (21 str)
driftglobe
elemental gem (conjure elemental)
plate armor of lightning resistance
ring of cold resist
ring of poison resist
staff of fire - rath modar
wand of fear


So within HotDQ there are not a whole lot of items and even then they dont show until Ep 7. when PCs are normally level 6 or 7 and should have picked up some before then.

So I wanted to make sure that my characters got some items before then as well as making sure they didn't outshine the magical items already in place. So I looked at a few tables

From the DMG

MAGIC ITEM RARITY
Rarity      Character Level   Value
Common       1st or higher    50-100 gp
Uncommon     1st or higher    101-500 gp
Rare         5th or higher    501 -5,000 gp
Very rare   11th or higher    5,001 - 50,000 gp
Legendary   17th or higher    50,001+ gp

From an enworld thead analyzing magical item distribution in the DMG

Consumable Items

Level   Every Level 
1-5     1 common 
6-10    1 uncommon 
11-15   1 rare 
16-19   1 very rare 
20      1 legendary 

Permanent Items

Level   During this range 
1-4     1st uncommon 
5-7     2nd uncommon 
8-10    1st rare 
11-13   2nd rare 
14-16   1st very rare 
17-19   1st legendary 

From the looks of it, it seems to be common to award consumable magical items (like scrolls and potions) around once every level. So mostly potions of healing/climbing, and spell scrolls of 1st level or cantrips. Then finding 1 uncommon by level 4. That works out really well since i was thinking of awarding them as prizes as part of Ontharr Frume's games in EP4. Figured it might be fun to give them an item tailored somewhat to them and it may make sense as well.

Some uncommon items I picked out as possibilities:

10x +1 arrows ROGUE

quiver of elonha ROGUE

adamantium armor (negate crit) CLERIC OR FIGHTER

mithral armor (allow stealth)CLERIC OR FIGHTER

bracers of archery (+2) ROGUE

Bag of Tricks 

Boots of elven kind (silent)

Boots of striding and sprinting WIZARD

Circlet of Blasing (scorching ray once)

Cloak of elvenkind

Cloak of Protection

necklace of adaptation

robe of useful items 

armor of resistance

Staff of woodlands or swarming insects DRIUD

Staff of the Addler DRUID

Later on I might roll for something to put in Pharblex's chest in his sanctem (EP6) as the 2nd uncommon, otherwise its an empty chest. How cruel. In EP8 I might have something in the white dragon's hoard in skyreach castle as their first rare.

Being their first time, I want to keep the loot reasonable, so they don't scoff at a +1 weapon or something later.

Tools of the Trade and New DM advice

One of the things I really wanted to write about is the tools that I will be using and the reasoning for some of my decisions for the game.

New DM and New Players

So if you are like me then nobody in your group has ever played before. You may all be familiar with RPG video games, but tabletop games are a new thing for everyone in the group. My advice? First grab the FREE BASIC RULES for 5e that wizards of the coast offers online along with pregenerated or blank character sheets.. Everyone can read this with no investment whatsoever and get a feel for the game. The format is simple and is far less intimidating than the player handbook (or the multiple PHBs that previous editions had). At this point a creative DM brimming with ideas could start coming up with ideas and making a campaign. I was not that guy.

That's where the Starter Set comes in. It offers a small level 1-5 campaign with pregen characters, includes a hard copy of the basic rules, a DM screen, dice set, and the campaign is very well made for people new to the game. Whats so great about it? 2 things. It has lots of detail as well as tips for a new DM. The other is that the progression is made to teach players about the game. Try to run a few sessions through it and experiment with theater of the mind, maps, or virtual tabletops like Fantasy grounds or Roll20 - both of which have the campaign available for sale.

Also keep in mind on how your players might play and approach things. Many players are going to start off with the simple motto of killing and looting. Expecting them to pick up on more complex scenarios will take some help and conditioning. In the same way - NPC interactions could be difficult as this is very reliant on the DM and how they play NPC's and certain things may throw up flags for the player but may actually mean nothing. Its something I haven't quite come up with a solution yet for.

Fantasy Grounds

So as you may have learned by now, I use FG to run or augment my games. Its a Virtual Tabletop software that simulates dice rolling, automates the rulesets, and uses visual games.

Let me explain the cost real quick though. There are 3 versions: Free/Demo, Paid($40 or $3/mo), Ultimate($150 or $10/mo) . Free cant be a DM and can only connect to Ultimate license users games, they can connect to Paid but it goes into demo mode, doesn't save, and only 1 Free client can connect. Paid clients can host games minus the free user limitation, and the Ultimate license allows free users to play in your game.

Basically if you want to try a playing a game you get free, paid users always can play and can host games, while ultimate users are serious DMs and can have new free users in their games.

But wait, the $40 cost doesn't get you everything. What it does get you is the ruleset automation and (for 5e) the System Reference Document (SRD) which is a document that contains a sampling of the the full PHB and is meant to the basics of 5e characters/spells and the like, so its more for a basis of creating your own content rather than full 5e material. Now a DM will often share with you a library that you can use to create your characters which contain all the information on the classes/races an the like, but if you want to make characters on your own you would need to buy the D&D Complete Core Class Pack ($50). So at least the DM would need to make a $90 to $200 investment to play with the basics on Fantasy grounds or everyone pays a subscription fee to play and the DM gets the extra $50 pack.

Sounding a little expensive? It is, which is why many play totally free at roll20.net. (granted over there all the cool feature like dynamic lighting are paid). So what do you do? Wait for steam sales. I got a 4 pack of paid licenses for about $80 ($20 per person), the core pack at $25, and later picked up an ultimate license for $87. Also they offer the complete 5e bundle at 25% off FOREVER. The longer you wait, the more the price goes up though as the continue to add content. Once you got the bundle, any new 5e releases are already discounted 25% + whatever the sales is and you don't even have to buy the new stuff to get the discount. Overall though its an investment but the automation is amazing if you are terrible at math or you get bogged down by combat nuances and want to keep a game flowing. Give the free version a try and maybe even join the forums to find a game. Most DM's will have an ultimate license so new people like you can try.

Teamspeak 3

This is my VOIP solution of choice. There is an official channel that you could use, and probably will if you join a group from the forums. I did buy my own on a 2 year subscription and I have a music bot i plan on using.

teamspeak.com/downloads - Client download (server downloads also available)

light-speed.com - TS3 Hoster

ts3index.com - Music Bot

I also use a add-on called Clownfish voice changer. It allows you to adjust the pitch of your output from below Darth Vader lows to above helium-induced highs, and some customs in-between.

Evolve

I run my games from internet tethered to my phone. So i can't really do the necessary port forwarding that is required to run a game on FG. Evolve is a game-centric VPN client that i prefer over Hamachi. It works by everyone joining a party and shows your VPN IP's that you would use to connect to a host in FG. I has some voice capabilities, but i haven't tried them. Warning - It does drop connection every once in a while or the network slows and actions freeze in FG, but it comes back pretty quick. Premium does not seem to help quality.

Tunngle

Evolve died a while back then returned. By that time though I had switched to Tunngle where I can always have private password protected room open and ready for my players.

SL

Hello world

Hello absolutely no one.

I call myself Shadow Links and this is my blog where I plan on documenting my experiences attempting to DM D&D. For the most part this will be for myself and a record of the adventures, but hey, maybe someone would like to read it.

So just a little about myself, I had never played D&D until recently. It was kind of an odd think that one day one of my friends was like "Hey, I'd like to try it sometime, it should be fun!". Nothing happened of coarse for quite sometime. The topic was breached again when we found out that someone we knew (older than us) and one of my old coaches played and co-DM'd. This sparked a renewed interest and I started researching, learning about the different editions and the like. Hearing that 5e was really good for new players and the fact that it DIDN'T have a bazillion rulebooks like 3.5, nor did it have the bad stigma associated with 4e, help me settle on choosing 5e and working on convincing my friends of the same.

So I went and bought the starter set and the PHB. Let me tell you, I think the starter set was the best decision I could have made, but more on that later. With material in hand, we needed to decide who would DM. Being the one who bought it and I didn't mind, I was selected. So i started poring through the DM and Mine's of Phandelver guide that came with the starter set, while enjoying the feel of rolling the accompanying dice set. We began this game and only ended up doing 2 sessions. One done theater of the mind the other on a digitally masked map. Both went rather well but given the "gamer nature" of me and the players, combined with my lack of confidence in describing the area and keeping track of it, most of out later adventures were carried out digitally with the help of Fantasy Grounds.

Fortunately I had some friends in the group that also got interested in taking up the DM mantle, which I was more that happy have so I could be a player. The first one was someone we didn't particularly like, but we worked with him and had similar interests. The session was awful, part of it being the level 1 section of Princes of the Apocalypse being rather pointless combined with the DM's specific roleplaying choices which involve forcing characters to puke at a smell randomly, NPC's gagged when hearing that a PC spent a night with a apparently ugly female, selling us hard on a 1 room cavern that had nothing in it but monsters, and stubbornly keeping a deadlock with no options when a PC levitated a bear in the middle of a fight in a bandit camp. It was just unfun. 1 session and done.

Another friend learned from this experience and started the Curse of Strahd campaign. Unlike the previous games he allowed homebrew characters, a modified ranger class, and unique weapons, like a dragon jawbone greatsword that the party barbarian eventually started to attune to as he realized it had some dragon magic left in it and could release acid, as well as a warlock pact weapon scythe that had reach and 3d4 damage. He accelerated at describing fights and always had a unique effect on 1's and 20's. He later started doing voices for NPCs and it was a lot of fun. In fact we are still working through the campaign and are at level 4 and we try to meet about once a month.

And so it begins...

Which brings me to the campaign I am currently working on putting together - Hoard of the Dragon Queen and later - The Rise of Tiamat.

Thanks for reading this first post!
-SL