probablydidrpgideas

[probablydidrpgideas]

Hey folks! I have more followers on Tumblr, and I'm trying to get on Vgen. If you could give this post a reblog and a like, I just need 100 likes and 5 comments to submit my Vgen application!

My Vgen profile is here: https://vgen.co/lcarts/

Thanks so much! Here's some art I'm proud of:

[probablydidrpgideas]

[probablydidrpgideas]

☆ How to play D&D together as a System ☆

Before you read on, here's some stuff to keep in mind:

⁎ This guide focuses on ways for you and your system to play D&D together ("solo"): not with any external players.

⁎ This might not work for you! Every system works differently, which means something like this might work differently for you personally. Feel free to read on for inspiration and ideas!

⁎ This guide assumes the reader understands the basics of D&D.

⁎ Please keep discourse/syscourse away from this post: this guide is for any system or collective to try if they're interested, regardless of origin.

⁎ Not every point in this post might apply to your situation!

⁎ No, we're not going to suggest using AI.

CWs: Touches on dissociation and switching in the context of how that might impact game sessions.

☆ Discussing ☆

Before you start running away with campaigns and character sheets, make sure you get a feel for how others in the system feel about playing D&D together.

Here are some questions that might help:

⁎ Is there an interest in the system to play together? Which members of the system are interested? How many players might there be?

⁎ Does everyone know the rules of the game? Are aspects of the game confusing or intimidating?

⁎ Are there any younger members of the system who might want to play, but find the rules confusing?

⁎ Will the game/campaign potentially deal with any triggering topics?

⁎ What kind of game does the system want to play? Serious? Laidback? Something in the middle?

If you can, try to deal with any concerns and questions early on.

In our experience, we've found that making a private discord server with PluralKit was incredibly useful for discussing the gameplay, character and plot ideas, role-play limits, etc.

You may also need to look into ways of simplifying the game: looking up D&D resources for new or young players may help! (I might make another guide for simplifying D&D/resources for that; let us know if that's something you'd like to see!)

☆ Campaign ☆

Your next step will be to either choose a prewritten campaign or write your own.

Out of the two, prewritten campaigns save the most time.

You can find loads of campaigns; some for free; on websites like this!

☆ Memory ☆

Another thing to keep in consideration is how dissociative amnesia might play into all this.

For example, we forget things often and use that to its advantage (which, as a bonus, helps us deal with the otherwise unpleasant part of dissociative amnesia). We're writing our own campaign and usually forget what we wrote, which makes playing through our campaign surprising! In cases where we do remember what the campaign notes are, we just view that as following a basic script: and we let dice rolls bring in the element of surprise instead, or go off-script and improvise!

If your system forgets things easily, you might also want to keep session notes: jot down which players were present, character actions, discoveries, etc.

For systems who have low amnesia barriers, then I'd highly suggest reading the next section:

☆ Random Events ☆

Rolling for random events, NPCs and loot can spice up an otherwise predictable game.

As an example: if the campaign you're running puts players in a dungeon, you could have the next room they go to feature a random enemy, rather than anything prewritten.

(Keep challenge ratings and player levels in mind; otherwise you might be sending some poor Level 1 adventurers to fight a CR 13 Beholder.)

I highly recommend donjon for all your random generation needs. You can also look into random tables for DMs, here's a huge masterlist of all sorts.

This can make the game feel a little disjointed and incoherent at times, but that's when you can: make up lore explanations, dismiss any completely unworkable rolls, retcon, or anything else you can think of.

☆ Playing the Game ☆

We play D&D exclusively on our PC, but you could feasibly do all this on mobile or with paper.

First, you'll need character sheets: if you're playing 5e on PC/Mobile, you can find a form-fillable PDF sheet here.

You'll also need dice, maps, and all your other standard D&D equipment (we use online dice, random gens, and move tokens around maps on paint.net).

We also use our private discord server and Tupperbox to role-play as our characters and document our campaign:

(Our campaign is very serious, as you can see 💀)

We take turns playing the GM/DM: sometimes they're also acting as a player, other times they're solely being the GM/DM.

The GM/DM usually also records if rolls have been a success or fail; we used to record what the dice roll result was (we have a separate channel for rolling with the dice maiden bot) but we've stopped doing that as much because our sessions take long enough as it is.

If you decide to play how we do, my biggest advice is: save, save everything, and save often.

Our method also creates many tabs and windows, but luckily, we micromanage all that fine: if you struggle, try grouping tabs if you use Firefox, as well as closing tabs once you no longer need them.

If using discord isn't your style, then experiment with different ways of playing: in a document, in your notes app, with paper, etc.

☆ Scheduling ☆

Unless your system allows for voluntary switches/your D&D party are often co-con, you'll probably find some players will not be available to play when others are.

The way we handle this is by essentially splitting the party up, as well as playing for certain players when they're absent (with their permission).

So far, we haven't even left the starting zone (we're on Session 3), so we've yet to see how much trouble splitting the party might cause. Hopefully, we'll get back to you on that one.

In some cases, where there is only one of us fronting, we just get our character to explore an area alone whilst the rest of the party rests in-game.

Another way to play solo could be to play through a character backstory, or in a one-shot campaign.

☆ Warning + Our Experiences ☆

In our experience, we've found playing D&D together has been really fun, but the one downside is that it has caused a few crowded headspaces. We've got nine players total (not the system total, just nine of us are D&D nerds), and on one occasion six of us decided we wanted to play D&D. We had to step back because that made us incredibly dissociated and switchy.

If you're prone to that, then definitely consider that might happen.

Another problem might come from suddenly switching midway through playing solo, or you might switch out during a session: in that case, you can cut the session short/other players can either take your character with you, or your character can just go back to camp for the rest of the session.

(Or, like we do because we all find it funny: just leave the character where they were before the player switched out.)

For us, that is part of the appeal: we've played with others outside our headspace and have switched midway through playing, where we've then had to figure out what we're doing, what our character was just doing, and who we're in call with. That used to stress us out, whilst this way we can literally just step away/stop playing.

A less serious note is that, like any D&D session, they tend to drag for hours: keep that in mind and don't stay up too late like us! And always hydrate, eat, and take breaks every so often!

☆ Bonus Resources!! ☆

Simple D&D 5e Guide, including tips for DMing: https://easydnd.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/easy-dd-v0.0.pdf

The best generator and D&D websites ever: https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ and https://rollforfantasy.com/

5e Wiki: https://dnd5e.wikidot.com/

Homebrew: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_Homebrew

[probablydidrpgideas]

If you consume fanfic on ao3 and are 18+ and American I need you to lock in and call your senators saying you oppose a federal porn ban. This would effectively ban ao3 and being queer in public, among many other things, due to the intentionally vague language of the bill. I’m counting on queer tumblr and fandom tumblr to help me get the word out that you have to call your senators

[probablydidrpgideas]

Boosting here, for the memes. Vote Circ, AKA Me, for the silliest shit I've participated in for awhile <3 I would love to win it all.

THE FINAL ROUND.

Sorry for the absence -- I just couldn't figure out the best way to ring this bracket in. The final round -- the real determiner, once and for all, on who the BEST syscourser is...

No more bells and whistles. No more competitions. No more beating around the bush.

Get in your votes for either @thecircularsystem or @freezingcoldsystemtakes!

May the best syscourser win.

[probablydidrpgideas]

Wanna rant about my D&D characters, so have this:

Send me an ask with a number 1-18, and I'll share something random about the character it matches to. Character list is under the cut. Feel free to submit multiple or many times.

Emory Damir Wizzle Aerbar Nini Cyros / Praez

Garren Bronson

Remmy Sullivan

Ari Folre

Carla Orina

Annabelle Chazin

Kerran Lorund

Tide

Sabine Serine

Fletch Orryn Ash Seebo Timbers and Feather Broddy Carlin Nim Timbers (they have to go together)

"Bertha"

Dana Lelune

Horbis Rasxilif Neswin Pobo Markus Rigby

Herne "the Hunter" Sundal

Lela and Mana Nyxandras

Varfraor Amberfall

Tvigras

Cyric

[probablydidrpgideas]

[probablydidrpgideas]

✨ You are a natural cutie!

[probablydidrpgideas]

Create an OC with an accurate portrayal of DID, even if you don’t have DID! If you’re a singlet (a term used for those who do not have systems), we still want you to be aware of DID and treating it with the proper care and research. Just because you don’t have the disorder doesn’t mean you can’t learn more about it!

Let this post be a reminder that anyone is welcome on my blog.

[probablydidrpgideas]

Create an OC with an accurate portrayal of DID, even if you don’t have DID! If you’re a singlet (a term used for those who do not have systems), we still want you to be aware of DID and treating it with the proper care and research. Just because you don’t have the disorder doesn’t mean you can’t learn more about it!

Let this post be a reminder that anyone is welcome on my blog.

[probablydidrpgideas]

I love making a gag character for D&D, forgetting they’re just a gag character, and then take a step back to look at the original ref

[probablydidrpgideas]

[probablydidrpgideas]

dorfs

[probablydidrpgideas]

Some of my favorite magic side effects:

-Nosebleeds. Never gets old.

-Coughing up blood. The good ol’ “cough into your hand and pull it back to see blood” also never gets old.

-Headaches. You keep fighting as your head pounds, desperately telling you to take a break. At first they fade within minutes when you stop using magic, but overtime, they become chronic.

-Fatigue. After a big battle, you stand triumphant, and then just fall asleep on the spot.

-In a similar vein, overuse causing you to straight up faint rather than just fall asleep. Darkness begins to overtake your vision in the middle of battle, unconsciousness abruptly looming over you.

-Any of the side effects happening to another person. Maybe two close characters are connected, and whatever side effects character A would normally endure are transferred to character B. When A uses a blast of magic B screams loudly because holy shit that hurt.

-Magic gradually deteriorating your mind. Using it too much eventually caused hallucinations and an inability to retain memories, or even larger scale memory loss. 

Feel free to add more, I’m looking for some to steal

[probablydidrpgideas]

I love making a gag character for D&D, forgetting they’re just a gag character, and then take a step back to look at the original ref

[probablydidrpgideas]

I’ve started playing dnd again and the campaign I’m in has the pitch that we all must be characters from written works. The plot is we got thrown out of our own stories and must find our way back.

I am Hamlet, a warlock who made a pact with his Dad’s ghost (it’s absolutely his Dad’s ghost, he wasn’t tricked at all, ignore the fiend patron type) to get revenge on his Uncle. But this post isn’t about him.

Because our cleric, the one entrusted with keeping the party full of heals, the only person with healing magic, is House MD.

“Wait Iz!” You cry. “House MD is a television show, not written fiction.” You’d be correct. Which is why our cleric House is not from the television show.

He’s from a fan fiction.

It’s as funny as it sounds.