I've been running games for a while, and prep keeps taking way longer than I expect. I'll sit down to plan one session and two hours later I'm still naming NPCs and trying to remember what I said about a town three sessions ago.

I'm curious how other DMs handle it:

1. Which part of prep takes you the longest? (worldbuilding, NPCs, encounter balancing, session notes, tracking plot threads, maps, something else)

2. What do you use right now? (notebook, Google Docs, Obsidian, World Anvil, LegendKeeper, Kanka, AI tools, nothing)

3. What bugs you about those tools? What made you stop using one?

4. If one thing could disappear from your prep, what would it be?

Most of all I'd like to hear from newer DMs who feel overwhelmed. What made your first campaign hard to get off the ground?

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My players have such a bad habit of believing everything that a character says to them, even when that person has lied to them multiple times in the past. Do you ever have this issue and how do you counter it?

Some examples:

• "I know I attacked you last session but I definitely wont this time" - Immediately attacks them
• "Come with me and I'll take you to the <goal>" - sketchy looking bandit takes them to an ambush
• "Faction A are the good guys and Faction B are the bad guys" - Said by the evil faction about the others.

I joke with them that they've got to stop trusting everyone, and usually they regret it when they start getting attacked, but a year of gaming in and they still don't remember. I wonder if I can do anything else to push the message.

As a fellow DM, I was wondering what your favorite starting locations are (other than a tavern of course), and why?

Basically as the title says. One of the player in my DnD group (who just finished his first campaign) came to me for RP question but brought up something only DM should know. I caught this immediately and he admitted checking out some of the background info I had given them for character creation online, which were paraphrased directly from the campaign book as far as I can tell.

I am willing to believe that the player is just excited and it was probably a honest mistake, but I do have to call off the 1st session to make adjustment on the campaign plot and it will be difficult because I don't know how deep he had read.

I am a new DM myself so I should take part of the blame for not formally telling my players to avoid any DnD lore entry related to the incoming campaign rather than just the campaign book itself.

Lastly, I need some advices on how to mitigate the potential impact of one player meta-gaming for the first three session at least.

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Just got the latest Humble Bundle for Frog God Games. I love their stuff but I have another 40 something Frog God items from their last bundle. I am constantly tweaking my folders, currently its:

• Adventures
  • Tiers
• Settings/Locations
• Groups/NPCs
• DM Tools
• Other Systems

Does any have a magic system that makes sure you actually end up with a Library of Useful Material rather than a 'pile of PDF files'

So, acknowledging the wealth of advice around never splitting the party, but in the case I want to do it on purpose. We have a heavily scheduled table and finding a time for everyone has been a nightmare.

To accommodate this, the only way we can all play is separately but on parallel tracks. I want to add little clues and things so that the party feels like they're accomplishing a shared goal. An A-Team and a B-Team. This works really well in co-op video games so taking inspiration from that. (It Takes Two, Mass Effect, etc.)

What is your experience splitting the party intentionally? How do you think about shared objectives, particularly around one that needs shared successes?

We do plan on reconvening. And it was either this or do nothing (it's been five months...)

During one negotiation with faes, one of them asked the bard in my party if they can keep a secret. She said yes and in fae logic that is something binding. I dumped on her (through the fairy) a bunch of information, including that a place that another PC wants to travel to is a trap that might get him killed. Right after she learnt this secret, the other PC traded for a map of this place.

So now she's torn. She can't tell him, and she can't act in a way that is too obvious that she knows a secret related to this place, but she wants to protect the other PC.

For now I'm ruling that she can do things because of what she knows. But if her actions lead to someone working out the secret, that counts as breaking the promise to the fairy.

My questions:

1. What should I do if she breaks it?

One option is that she loses the ability to deceive, automatically failing all her deception checks, but she's the bard and the face of the party so that might be brutal. The other option is that she won't be able to outright lie anymore, but can use deception through misdirection and technically true statements.

2. She now wants to secretly try and steal the map. She asked me in private if she could steal it herself (but that would risk giving away the secret) or if she could bargain once more with a fairy borrower who could steal it for her, but at the risk of being outed by the fairy.

How would you handle this situation?

Just to be clear: I'm not taking away players' agency, the PC can still travel to that place and survive, but he will be honey trapped and the deck is stacked against him. Mine was more of a warning trying to give the bard a moral dilemma.

Heya guys i was considering having a rule for using material components where for example ‘this spell costs a pearl worth 100GP’ you could instead substitute the pearl for something else worth more GP- lets say 25% more.
So if you’re in a dungeon, and noone has the chance to find a diamond worth 300GP for revivify the party could instead use 375GP to revive them (the coins getting disintegrated, made useless, or plucked away by spirits or smth).

Anyways thats the basic idea any thoughts?

Hello! I'm extremely new (GM'd only one session thus far) to both running games and this sub.

I have a player who wants to play a plasmoid-like character. I loved the idea and so I allowed it, though, looking at the traits on Wikidot seemed just way too limiting... I get it's supposed to be balanced, but both the player and I want this slime character to FEEL like a slime. And so I decided I would undertake the daunting task of trying to homebrew/modify some things about the species:

Shape – ACTION

You have a sort of rubbery skin consistency. You can soften but not harden, and can essentially Jake-The-Dog your body.

Roll a DC10 CON Save to vaguely resemble a simple object or creature of your size. It lasts 1 hour before you revert. you cannot form convincing facial features, even if you roll a natural 20 Deception check. (Though, the disguise self spell is particularly useful for plasmoids, as they can use it to not only look like creatures, but objects as well.)

Squeeze – ACTION

You can fit your body into spaces as small as 1 inch (ask to roll a DC15 luck check flat roll to see how small the space is), as long as you aren’t carrying or wearing anything.

Stretch – MOVEMENT

You can use all your movement to instead stretch 1 part of your body that distance (an appendage or torso). You can also use a Bonus Action such as Cunning Action (rogues) to retract that part back to you.

Can use this to pull yourself and allies up walls, attack from a distance, etc.

Absorb Blow – REACTION

If you succeed on a DC15 CON Save, you can soften your body and halve the damage from a bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing attack. If you fail the Save, the attack auto-crits (max + damage roll). You can use this equal to your proficiency bonus, and it recharges after a Long Rest.

(These features are the ones I'm contemplating, the following are basically the guaranteed ones I'm keeping)

Darkvision (60ft)

You can see 60ft in total darkness.

Natural Resistance

Acid and poison does half damage.

Oddity

You are visually exotic, and draw attention to yourself, sometimes the unwanted variety.

Snail Trail

You leave a trail, a thin layer of slime wherever you go. This will make stealthing more difficult.

You can largely negate this by wearing boots and/or entirely negate it with armour.

Cold Sensitivity

You are sensitive to the cold. Cold-related magic does double damage.

Extreme cold weather will halve your movement speed (30ft down to 15ft).

My other players are also getting some homebrew/modified features, so please don't think I'm favouring anyone. I absolutely don't want my players to feel overwhelmed with mechanics or feel like I'm favouring anyone.

I'm wondering if I should take away anything or how I can nerf these features in such a way as to successfully make the plasmoid feel cool but not OP and crunchy.

Any help will be greatly appreciated! :)

Edit: meant luck check as in just a flat roll, sorry!

Context on my experience level :

- Been a dm for 6y

(Mostly a DM , I'm a bit too much as a player regrettably)

- lots of homebrew & improv

(I've done acting work/ an enjoy hobby writing)

- better at storytelling than game balance

(Lots of rule of cool, and rule bending for players sake)

Mainly looking for feedback on stuff marked with : ❓

And ideas for stuff marked with : ❗

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Setting background / idea :

noble dark fantasy, players are the last of the age of heroes, seeking to hunt disparaged divine entities in a gambit to fix their world, the barriers between planes begin to blur without the power that is, smothering the world in a great cataclysm.

Level 15 (3 to 4 players) (might get more)

❓Starting epic boon

Each "God" hunt takes the players to a land warped by another plane / planes spilling into the region, were they must reach / get too a divine boss monster / character

Overarching goal of collecting planar shards off the gods to fix the cataclysm

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Hunts loop :

❓Players get a choice of magic items from a list catered to them and the area at the start of the hunt and it's returned by the end.

❗ items suplied by "goodseeker karn" who is shady & obviously totally evil but not a threat, more of a; enemy of my enemy thing

Areas are themed around specific mechanics or ideas, trying to keep encounters short, sweet, and flavorful

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Starting area :

Starting hunt is an unearthly coast draped in endless starlight, more of a peaceful and tragic feeling, the region was drowned and warped by the astral and water planes, PC's are after a celestial dragon (edit to a lunar dragon stat block) sitting atop a sea spire, to reach the spire they have to

❓ Lunar dragon boss edits, breath weapon has similar effect to spell distort distance & a (heavily nerfed) version of vision of elapsing eons

❓the boss is themed around isolation and despair, and visually reflections and mirrors it would be implied reflavored versions of cold light walkers (RotF) in the area are people who gave into the despair inflicted by the regions deity

Themes : cold starlight, crystals, reflections, aberrations, the dangers of cosmic beauty

Reach an observatory on the beach that points them to the sea spire and gives them the information to properly reach the spire

❗Observatory puzzle to get a constalation or star map that safely leads to the sea spire

❗Using portal network to hop between islands to reach the spire

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So so sorry if this is a lot

I'm sure I'll be fine, Ive got a lot of prep done already and I'm confident in my ability to improv and tell a story my players will enjoy

I just also like feedback and hearing others, Imainly need help with the puzzle bit, not the best at making those