#and one of the other players decided to dm a oneshot for us

[yardsards]

a few days ago i had a dnd session i was in go SO off the rails that my fucked up little gnome -who canonically drinks piss and whose moral compass is founded on "maybe if i prove i am no longer evil hard enough my ex will take me back"- ended up having to be the voice of reason

at the beginning of the session the party bard deliberately assaulted and accidentally killed an orphan and it was just all downhill from there

[hakirachan]

The OM! Boys & Pet names

so, lately I’ve been thinking about different pet names/nicknames (thanks A) and I decided to give some to the Obey Me boys, and what their stance is on pet names/nicknames! (Also some they might call you, I tried to make them all as gender-neutral as possible so they can apply to everyone!)

Btw, feel free to use any of these, whether it’s for a fic, oneshot, hc, or anything else. They’re all SFW, so if you’re looking for something a bit more suggestive, you’ll have to look somewhere else.

I only did the older bros for now bc this took way longer than it should have TvT

LUCIFER

RECEIVING

Doesn’t like being called pet names in public at first, but slowly warms up to it (nothing embarrassing or overdramatic tho)

If you embarrass him in front of his brothers, he’ll take away that privilege though

Is okay with you calling him pet names in private, as long at it’s nothing weird

Thinks it’s cute when you try to fluster him with pet names

Example pet names for him: Dear, Love, Darling, Honey/Hon, Babe

GIVING:

Starts off just using pet names for you occasionally, but uses them more often as you progress in your relationship

Sometimes randomly whispers them into your ear as he passes by to get you all flustered

Just uses standard nicknames for you (bc he’s old)

Pet names he’ll give you: Dearest, Sweetheart, Love, Darling, Precious, Honey

MAMMON

RECEIVING

The first time you use a pet name for him, he gets extremely flustered

Quickly comes back with his own though

(he’ll be blushing the whole time too)

Example pet names for him: Sweetie, Babe, Love, Prince

GIVING

A bit hesitant at first, but once he starts, he’ll call you nicknames whenever he gets the chance

Makes it a point to use them when you’re around other guys to let them know you’re taken

Has spent at least one sleepless night coming up with a list of pet names for you

Example pet names he’ll give you: Precious, Treasure, Babe, My First, Sunshine, Sugar, Princess

LEVIATHAN

RECEIVING

Oohhhh boy

You done broke him now

The first time you do it, he’ll freeze up for a good 30 seconds as he processes what just happened

Once his brain has restarted, he is a blushing, stammering mess.

Why would you call him that out of nowhere? Are you messing with him? Is this a prank?? Wait that’s not what I meant don’t apologize—

No matter how many times you do it, he always turns bright red whenever you call him a pet name

Example pet names for him: Player One, Babe, Boo

GIVING

Doesn’t really give ‘pet names’ as much as he does regular nicknames

Don’t get me wrong, he means them affectionately, just don’t expect him to use any of the cuter pet names other couples use

If he does use a more standard pet name, he’ll be a blushing mess while he does it

Example “pet names” he’ll give you: Player Two, Henry, Normie, Babe (maybe)

Let me know if you want the other brothers and undateables! Also, if you have any other pet names you think they’d give, just tell me in the comments and I’ll add them!

Speaking of… If you ever want any pet names/nicknames, either themed or for a character based on personality, just DM me or put it in my ask box and I’ll give you a list of as many as I can think of!

[joyful-soul-collector]

I fucked Darth Vader in a Dominos

Here's how it happened.

I got off work from where I work at a renaissance fair, and about half of my DnD party was also working today. We went to Dominos together to get pizza, and as we sat down to wait for it, this weird, boss-fight sounding music starts playing from the speakers. I still don't know why it started playing, but it did, and our DM jokingly told us to roll for initiative.

Little did she know that I had my dice bag with me, with exactly enough dice sets for everyone there. We rolled and suddenly we just. Started a mini oneshot, right in this fuckin Dominos. And because my DM is a nerd, and it's May 4th, we started fighting Darth Vader.

Everyone else in the party started fighting him, however my character is kind of the resident slut of the group, and I happened to be using my Slut Dice (my dice that only roll nat 20s when I'm flirting with people for some reason). So of course, I decide to seduce Darth Vader:

Me: "…I want to roll to seduce Darth Vader." DM, in the most pained voice: "Marko… I just--I'm going to need you to say that again one more time." Me: "I Want To Seduce Darth Vader. Please." DM, trying so hard not to just die on the spot: "…Okay."

So I roll to seduce him, and all the other players think it's hilarious, so they stop fighting him to let me try and seduce him. But then I start rolling bad, so one of the other players starts trying to help, seducing him as well. Then another player, then another, and then finally we're all fucking flirting with Darth Vader in a goddamn Dominos.

At one point he put one of us in a force choke and you can imagine that backfired on him completely as that character went "ooh kinky!" and mine said "aww babe you're supposed to do that to me"

And then Vader rolls a nat 1. He cannot resist all of us. We're just too attractive, he cannot handle it.

Darth Vader motions for us to follow him back to his quarters.

The next day we each find a little gift waiting for us: one of us got his boots, the other got his mask, another got his belt, and my character got the chain that holds up his cloak.

Apparently we are allowed to keep these gifts in our real campaign and use them should they possibly help us somehow. I don't know how Vader's cloak chain could POSSIBLY be helpful but I will find a way somehow. My DM is crying in laughter. We're all laughing so much it's hard to breathe. I don't know if those Domino's employees could hear us very well but if they could I imagine they have one hell of a story to tell later.

Anyway that's the story of how I and my party fucked Darth Vader right in a Dominos

May the Fourth be with you all

[foxtriestobiteandmaimandkilland]

ok so like despite spending years being constantly online and looking at the words Dungeons and Dragons, i am at a loss as to understanding what d&d is 😭😭😭 and i like ik you love jrwi so like... care to explain maybe??? i really wanna know fhdgdfkgk 😭😭

OH MY GID HM YMG SO MHYH GMYMDOG HI SAPPHO THANK YOU SI MCUH FOR ASKING ME HJS I AM GOING TO EXPLODE OKAY SO.

As a premise i have played dnd but with a group of my friends for like 3 oneshots where i had no idea what was going on really and the dm was pretty inexperienced SO i am going 2 go off of all ive picked up from jrwi mostly since thats where ive learnt like. Everythin abt dnd. SO I MAY BE WRONG ABT SOME STUFF BUT IM EXPLAINING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOMEONE WHO HAS LEARNT EVERYRHING LIKE THIRD HAND.

BUT. so dnd is. Fuck iidk what term u use to explain it but its basically exactly like playing pretend as an 8 year old except with more rules and its fantasy instead of like lego ninjago or whatever The Council of 8 year olds has decided 2 play today.

Im gonna relate EVERYTHING back 2 riptide btw forrrr ease of access SO YEAH OKAY.

In dnd, there r basically 2 roles u can be. Either the dm (the dungeon master) or a player. Simply these r basically like the narrator and the characters sorta. The players each have their own player characters (pc) that they play and they very rarely change who they play in a campaign. They might get a new pc if their old one dies or smth happens to them where they arent around for a while. The dm however, plays pretty much every single other npc in the campaign (and grizzly, the dm of riptide jrwi, does it so fucking well and he has a unique voice for like 80 different characters or smth hes insane). The dm also tells the story and presents the players w the situations they need to get past. The players then decide what they do. The entire thing however is a LOT of yes anding. For example, the dm might be like "so you step into this tavern and around you you see [description of tavern bla bla bla] and sitting at the tables r groups of people, many of them bald, [bla bla bla more description of everything happening round them]. And then with that the players might decide their characters talk to each other a bit and then slap each bald man, resulting in the dm then later creating a combat with the players fighting against a group of bald men. For example. But yea thats the dm n the players basically n yea

However beyond just usual roleplay of like characters interacting and chilling, theres the whole thing w ROLLING. Bc like. Just ROLL with it. Bc like any rpg every character, pc or npc or enemy or anything. Has stats in a few different skills. Since i barely remember playing dnd myself bc that was like almost 2 years ago or smth fuck if i remember, im just gonna list of what i do remember from hearin shit in riptide. So these skills r shit like charisma and strength and wisdom n acrobatics n whatever yknow and i dont actuallyyy remember but ITS FINE. and then there r 2 ways ppl can roll these things. Either checks, or saves. Its sorta difficult to explain the difference between a check and a save because in terms of technicality i dont actually know the difference. But usually checks are for if youve decided to just do an action, but saves are for if youre trying to negate a negative effect or. Whatever. For example, if youre trying to pick up something very heavy, youd make a strength check. But if you were like trying to. Fuck wait i cant think of an example of a strength save. Errr. Ok fuck it im switching 2 charisma examples. A charisma check would be if ur tryna like idk win someone over, but usually ud make a persuasion check or a deception check fuck wait er idk the difference. OKAY IGNORE ME HERE BC IDK THE TECHNICALITIES OF DND THAT WELL BC I HAVENT PLAYED IT IN A WHILE AND I ONLY DID A COUPLE VERY MESSY ONESHOTS. but a saving throw would be for smth likeee lets say someones tryna possess u and u dont want em to. U would make a wisdom saving throw to try to like Resist the possession. If u win the save, u dont get possessed. If u fail it, u get possessed. And the way u determine if something fails or wins, is with dcs. I do not know what dc stands for but its basically whatever number u have to roll higher than to pass.

ANYWAYS. With rolling n shit, with checks n saves, u roll on a d20 (a dice with 20 sides) and then add or subtract ur modifier in that ability. For example, gillion in jrwi has like a -4 to dexterity or smth absurd bc hes not dexterous at all. This means that if he rolls like a 15 on the d20, thatd become an 11 instead. If it is actually a -4 idk the exact number. Altho, chip jrwi has like a +11 to persuasion because hes fucking insane. So then if he rolls a 15 persuasion check thst becomes a fucking 26. Also, rolling a natural 20 or a natural 1 r like. Sorta big things as they r the highest and lowest u can roll. So like, rolling a nat20 is almost always an immediate success UNLESS whatever ur trying to beat has an insanely high dc. For example, at one point gillion had to make a constitution save with like a dc 35 because he had done some crazy shit. He rolled a natural 18, and with all his spells and all his modifiers to give him some kinda buff, he only made it to like a 32 USING ALMOST ALL HIS AND HIS FRIENDS SPELLS. So in this case he wouldve had to roll a nat20, but without the spells and buffs, that wouldnt have succeeded because it wouldve still been below the 35. Anyways.

Theres also a thing called rolling w advantage or disadvantage which is from whst ive seen, just rolling twice and taking whichevwr roll is best. So if u have like an advantage to a perception check bc like lets sayyy someones also looking with you so theyve given you advantage, you could roll twice and keep whichever roll ends up higher. And then vice versa w disadvantage.

Anyways theres a lotta mechanics i cant rlly fully explain bc i dont fully understand lol BUT smth i can explain to the best of my ability is COMBAT. so with combat, you begin with everything that is going to be fighting rolling initiative. This means player characters who r in the fight, enemies in the fight, and anyone who is going to join the fight later. The initiative rolls the decide the turn order, with the highest initiative going first, then down the turn order to the lowest initiative. Each turn, the character can do a buncha shit which i dont fully know BUT. I do know that everyone gets an action for their turn, so with that they could likee go to attack whatever theyre fighting, or use their movement to get away, or cast a spell to help themselves or their friends out or WHATEVER it can literally be like idk fuckin anything. Ur action could b shootin the bad guy in the face or it could b pullin down the pants of ur enemies. But then, some ppl also get a bonus action or maybe everyone or maybe idk i dont know the logistics but theres a number of Things u can do on ur turn until u decide that ur done doing things or if ur out of actions. Also tho bc its still very roleplayed, anyone can like talk to each other, regardless of turn. So like a character during their turn might shout to their ally, who can talk back instead of being locked in a stasis of Not Their Turn. However the person replying cant act on anything until it is their turn. Which leads 4 some kinds funny dialogue ig. Like 4 example it might be like. "Hey, ally, throw the Object over here !!" "I cant !" "Why not ????" "Its not my turn im stuck in my idle animation for the next 6 seconds !" Or whatevwr the fuck. But then they could throw The Object their next turn. Ummm and yeah. Also w combat p much most attacks have to pass the victims AC which is their armour class. So like, if one person wants to stab someone else, the dm will b like okay roll 2 hit. N if the other persons ac is sayyy a 15 (if they remember 2 put on their leather armour and dont forget to equip it for like 50 episodes) then that roll to hit has to end up above a 15, or itll miss. Or however thwy want to flavour it. Sometimes the miss will be flavoured as hitting armour and just clinking off of it, sometimes itll be the victim dodging, sometimes itll be just a complete fuck up, whatever rlly. And then yeah also in combat, if someones hp is reduced to 0, they do not automatically die unless theyre reduced to under double their max hp i think ? Idk the exact thing but no hit so far in riptide has instakilled i dont think other than one that was like crazy insane but that one was like crazy insane dc104 strength save holy fuck kinda blow. Actually i think its different when it comes 2 enemies bc the pcs have plot armour or smth idk man. But if someones hp is reduced to 0 they dont die, theyre knocked unconscious. And then, they remain unconscious until somebody heals them to above 1 hp, and for each round or smth they arent bsck, they make death saves. Idk if the dcs always the same or if its different for different ppl, it seems to just be a dc10 but idk. But if in total the character fails 3 death saves, they r just straight up dead. But if a character succeeds the death saves, theyre still unconscious, but not dead. If theu roll a nat1, thats automatically 2 failed saves in one. But if they roll a nat20, they recover a singular hitpoint and come back up.

Anyways thats all the mechanics shit out the way i do not understand it that well and a lot of it involves maths that im too scared to find out more abt BUT. in dnd as well there r races and classes. The race is like. Ur species. For example in riptide bc i love my examples, chip and jay r just humans, whereas gillion id a triton, so like. A fish guyyy. But with legs hes not a merman. And he is amphibious. Other races in dnd tho include tieflings and orcs and genasi and dragonborne and goliaths and That One Thing My Friend Was In Our Oneshot I Forgor and tabaxis and halflings and elves and a fuckkk ton of different races dude theres a lot. All of them r fantasy tho other than like. Humans. And also pets if there r any. Sometimes the pets r fantasy too. Like on the crew there was a bluebird called apple and she was just a normal bluebird. Well she had some shit going on but tbat wasnt important bc what was important was that her race was at that time just a normal bluebird. Altho theres also the most specialist girl in the whole wide world called pretzel and shes a frogtopus and she has the head of a frog and rhe body of an octopus but frogtopi dont exist irl but yea.

anyways, classes r different to races in that theyre less to do w genetics n more 2 do w abilities. For example, in riptide once again, chip is a rogue (i think hes taken like 2 levels in sorcery ? But hes primarily a rogue), jay is a hunter/ranger i forgot which one and an artificer, and gillion is a paladin and a sorcerer. These classes affect the abilities these ppl r good at and the things they can do, and if theyre magic, the spells they have and also the beliefs they hold. I thinkkk paladins r known 4 bein v like religious n shit bc a lot of the time the other players have been like Yeah Trust A Paladin To Thank God For Us Saving His Life or smth like that. But other classes include things likeee fighters and bards and warlocks and barbarians andddd i forgot any others becauseeeee yeahhhhhh awesomeeee but yeah!

Andddd yea honestly i think thats all the dnd stuff explained theres a few like other stuff ive probably missed out and ive probably got a buncha this shit wrong BUT this is enough 2 understand riptide atleast. I think. Basically, tldr, dnd is roleplay with more rules and fighting and fantasy and the dm is like god to ur players but like also god of the gods. The end.

[crimsyoko]

SORRY GUYS OMG BRAINROT MOMENT 💥💥💥

So if it wasn’t obvious with the lil Gong Shu asks I’ve been doing more recently YES I PLAY DND but alsoooo I do dm infact I just had my first session today (yesterday)!!

And I feel like going on a tangent really so no LMK content today it’s more dnd stuff I know I knowww

BUT DND OK???

(Ready for my ramble?! Read on!!! Let me know what you think as wellll)

So first right to get this out of the way I won’t go too much into detail what it is about since I believe 2(?) of my players follow me here and I don’t want them to get spoiled for stuff we haven’t reached. But I can share these silly NPCS!!

As well as the oneshot (yes this is a oneshot) is called Stuck in Smiles and is a Horror/Halloween based oneshot 😋

Below thou are three of the NPCS that I get to play! Dinko was and still is currently the players favorite in this household so… I mean i can’t blame them thou. She’s a skrunkly birdddd (she’s not blind btw)

But anyways she’s sorta like a guide basically but the players decided to steal her from the candy shopkeeper and now are in a mysterious mansion in a different Demi-plane 👍

I’m said Demi-plane they meet two other children, I forgot to mention this but all the players’ characters are small children as we have a stat blocker(?) that de-ages them or somethin I don’t remember off the top my head.

But anywaysss they meet other children there which I can’t ramble much about them rn besides the fact that Sha is currently missing and the last time that any of the players saw him was through a keyhole laying on the ground being dragged away…

while Jia um she’s possessing one of the players now 😀 (they volunteered btw I didn’t give them this option) since they want Jia to help find Sha since the two are friends(ish)

Here are their goals though nowww as of Session 1!!

Take care of Jia if anything happens to Sha

Find or Make Jia a new body to possess for herself

Find and Rescue Sha

Make it out of the Mansion

Also yes I am aware my art style looks different in each one of the pieces, my art style fluctuates depending on what I use and the day 👍

[randoimago]

One time my DM(best friend) included a kazoo in our loot and my character (the most sheltered idiot of a Druid) decided that it was her New Thing and was trying to learn how to play it. One of the other players sent me a (really nice!) kazoo in the mail so I started playing it in our sessions 😂 my DM threatened un-inspiration if I kept playing it during inopportune times lmao

I played a bard in a oneshot a while back and decided to use a slide whistle. I so happened to have my own slide whistle and it was so fun to just "play" it for inspo.

Having actual things to make noise with is so fun (well maybe not for the DM 😣). I was tempted to get a rain stick but decided that would probably be a bit much (but a tambourine isn't 😅)

[santiagodeesgeva]

i highly, highly, highly recommend using the Fiasco character creation rules any and all times you have to create characters. this is specially true for oneshots and short campaigns, where making up a whole character and backstory can be a hassle.

in case you don't know, Fiasco is a DM-less role-playing game, where players collectively have a say on the course of the story. the only rules it has are entirely narrative, which means you can adapt them to any system, specifically the rules for character creation.

YOU WILL NEED:

a number of players (n)

(n) pieces of paper

4n d6

a handout containing:

six groups of six kinds of relationships between characters (for example, "family", and under it "siblings", "parent", etc.)

six groups of six needs to be shared between two characters (i.e. motivations)

six groups of six important locations

six groups of six important items

now, you can get creative with the last two. make it important people! myths! memories! whatever you feel appropriate for your specific setting or story. they must all also be numbered from 1 to 6, both the groups and the items within them.

making the characters

the process is simple: sit the players down in whatever configuration they prefer, keeping in mind that players who aren't adjacent to each other won't have a relationship between them. for each adjacent pair of players, give that pair a piece of paper, where they will write down the caracteristics of the relationship between them. then, roll all the dice together and leave them out on the table. each player will take turns choosing one. the number on the die will determine some aspect of their relationship to another player's character. it goes like this:

if one of their two relationships (each character will have one relationship to each of their adjacent ones) isn't established yet, they can establish it. this means taking the number on the die and locking in the category of the relationship (for example, your categories could be "family", "accomplices", "enemies", etc.)

they can define an already established relationship they have (ex. defining a "family" relationship into a "siblings" relationship)

they can deepen a defined relationship by adding either a place or an item important to that relationship (again, you can replace items or locations by whatever you feel appropriate). only one place or item for relationship.

so, the only thing the first player can do is establish a relationship with the player on either side. then, the second player can either define their relationship to the first, or establish a relationship to the next, and so on. i personally like to do it in a snake order, meaning the last player to choose can do so twice, and the order is reversed after that, so instead of 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4, it would go 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1.

once you're finished, every relationship should be defined and have a place or item that is central to it. discuss! these are meant to be building blocks from which to build both the relationships between the characters, and the characters themselves.

of course, this method means you have to be willing to leave whatever character preconceptions you had going into the campaign, since it's inherently a chaotic process. however, it'll also result in characters that are very much entwined, and for me it's always lead to interesting stories, like the one time we ended up with a druid who shared other character's ambition to make as much money as possible (the player decided that it was to build a botanical garden).

[frospino]

Fellow DMs, I need some help with a one-shot I'm preparing - I would greatly appreciate any inspiration you could throw my way! <3 (If you're a player, feel free to toss ideas you'd like to see in a game my way!)

Setting: In my world, fiends roam the mortal realm at night, terrorising the population. Artificer guilds have developed protective runes and portable rune circles, but not everyone can afford the portable circles. Groups of mercenaries and other hired hands specialise fiend-protection for common folk, merchants, artisans...

The group is the crew of a mercenary ship. Their legitimate business is protecting whoever hires them on sea journeys. Their not-so-legitimate-business is smuggling, especially of those who have unjustly been branded a criminal.

Adventure hook: The crew smuggles a teenage runaway. The teen has gold, so they accept the job without asking too many questions. One night, a strange power seems to take hold of the teen. It disables the runes from within. The ship is attacked by a fiend which eventually possesses the ship and effectively traps the players. (The adventure will open with a skill challenge to ward off the demon - how well the players do here will determine how intact their ship is at the end of the adventure.)

The fiend steers the ship to the Grey Isles, a pirate haven.

Act 1: Gather information and allies

The players quickly realise all is not well in pirate haven: a strange force has taken control of their ships and disabled the protective runes on buildings. The pirates are looking for help: a former pirate captain has barricaded himself in a mountain-fortress. The fortress is guarded by friends. The pirates assume this captain is responsible for whatever is happening on and around the Isles. If the players offer to team up, the pirates will test them in a tournament of strength and wits first. <- this is so that everyone gets a better idea of what the characters are capable of - the group was created for this oneshot.

(what they don't openly disclose: They know this for a fact, for a group of pirates has been abducting children from the continent to use them as vessels in blood rituals. The captain just decided he wanted all the power for himself. Who would've thought. Not the pirate king.)

Act II: Gaining access to the fortress

At dawn we plan... One idea I have is that the pirates will offer to engage the fiends in battle, distracting them from the group. The players can then sneak into the fortress via a secret passage. In this scenario, the players would need to find a way to scout the outside of the fortress without being detected.

If you have other ideas for how they could gain access to the fortress, I'd love to hear them!

Act III: Inside the fortress and boss fight

The players will need to find information on the ritual and how to undo it, and then obviously find the Big Bad and fight him and his fiendish bodyguards.

I'm used to designing huge dungeons that would take way too long to complete for a one-shot - if anyone has an idea on how to make this interesting without taking hours of game time, let me know? <3

[isimpfortoomanypeople]

The photo of you- Eddie Munson x Female Reader

Eddie loves you more than anything in the world, he keeps a photo of you in his wallet everywhere he goes. It’s because of his love for you he decided to keep your relationship a secret, sharing small glances across the halls and date nights at one of your houses, whatever he can to stop the torment he was receiving to be thrown upon you. Till one day he photo gets discovered and Jason decides to humiliate Eddie for it.

Warnings: just Jason being an asshole and that’s about it

A/N: I’ve written an angsty Eddie fic so I decided to be nice to everyone and release the happier fic first. I haven’t abandoned my other works in progress it’s just that stranger things oneshots have been flooding my brain. I may have portrayed D&D wrong but I just joined last term (semester) at my uni (college) so I’m still a newbie so sorry if I get somethings wrong. Im Also from the U.K. sorry if it sounds overly British in some parts. Apologies for all spelling and grammatical mistakes as I’m super dyslexic, enjoy

Eddie sighed massaging the stress out of his temples. Tonight was and dare he say it, the worst campaign of hellfire he has ever had the displeasure to DM!

He had to call the campaign off half and hour into the game. Sinclair had a stupid balls and laundry basket game, Erica was sick so she couldn’t be his sub, Mike was spending time with El as he was visiting her for the week. The campaign crumbled the second it started especially without some of its most promising players, so he had to call it quits. Which of course was met by complaints and grumbles from the remaining players as they got out of their seats to leave. Honestly some people think that dungeon master is easily the most laid back role in the campaign but it couldn’t be further from the truth. You have to spend hours perfecting the next instalment so it continues on from where the game ended last time, making character sheets, remembering what has happened to each character and so on and so forth.

Being an dungeon master was no easy feat but Eddie does love it, he loves seeing the engrossed faces of all the players as they’re lead into battle to defeat orcs or dragons, he loves how electric the atmosphere gets when someone has to roll to get a critical hit it’s as if all time stops together and you’re truly there, it blurs the lines between reality and fiction for 2 hours, it’s truly a sight to behold. But most importantly Eddie for 2 hours is able to not be Eddie the freak Munson but rather someone who people regard with respect and admiration, yes he has learnt to grow thick skin just to survive day to day and has learnt to let all the insults and sneers not to get to him. But even the most toughest people deserve that small window of respite.

“Jesus H Christ!” He jumped as he felt a pair of arms circle around his waist pressing their body into his.

“Sorry baby, I didn’t mean to scare you” you giggled, pressing a kiss to his messy curls. You felt him melt into your touch, rubbing small circles into your forearms letting out that sigh he’s been holding in all night.

“What’s wrong?” You questioned not use to seeing him so stressed out especially after hellfire, resting your chin on his shoulder. Inhaling his signature sent of cigarettes which you’ve grown to find comforting, it was the smell of him, it was the smell of home.

“2 members dropped out of tonights campaign, and one of their subs was sick. So I had to deal with the shit of having to cut the campaign short which made the others pissed off at me, if they think that being a DM is easy they’re more than welcome to take over hellfire” he spat out with a mixture of frustration and exhaustion.

You both knew he didn’t mean that, he adored hellfire and all of the members. You sometimes joked to Eddie that he loved Hellfire more than you, which always ended up with you squealing as he peppered your face in kisses till you couldn’t breathe, him proclaiming how much he loved you more than anything in the world.

But you knew he was stressed, you could feel the knots in his shoulders turning to steel as frustration took a hold of every nerve in his body. So you didn’t try to crack your usual jokes as his mind was already burning in a fiery rage.

You placed another kiss to his temple

“How about you come to mine later? My parents are out of town for the week, I can get a six pack and we can watch that film I rented from family video?” You suggested, laughing as you heard his breath hitch in excitement

“You mean nightmare on elm street?” you mumbled in agreement, he sounded like Christmas has came early to him.

“What did i ever do to deserve a girl like you sweetheart” he smiled, turning you to face him, placing a tender kiss on your lips.

It felt good to give him that distraction that he needed, that his sour mood sweeten in a matter of moments. But that’s Eddie for you, he’s like a puppy, he gets excited and distracted by the smallest of things. It makes your heart swell seeing his big toothy grin emerge from the deep frown his face held just moments prior.

“Let’s go Eds” you smiled lacing your fingers through his

——————————————————————————

Yours and Eddie’s relationship was kept a secret, only reserved to giving small waves across the room to each other, when you were both certain no one else was looking. You would kill to be able to kiss your boyfriend like every couple in Hawkins, though kiss wasn’t the right word, sometimes it felt like they were trying to swallow each other’s faces. To be able to go on a date that wasn’t reserved to the four walls of each other’s rooms. You loved Eddie with all your heart, that you make yourself sick with the fluffy nauseating way he never exits your mind, you feel like you’re a freshman all over again .

It was rather Eddie’s idea to keep your relationship a secret, not that he doesn’t love you. He loves you to the point of insanity, that his band has questioned why they’ve recently started to learn ‘I was made for loving you’ by kiss to add to their hideout set list. Eddie couldn’t love anyone other than you, the boy has favoured you over his guitar, if that isn’t the biggest declaration of love from Eddie he doesn’t know what is. He did this all to protect you.

Eddie can handle the insults that is hurled at him without any regards to how vulgar they are, he can handle the way the jocks try their hardest everyday to make his life a living hell.

But something Eddie couldn’t handle was if the insults and occasional punches was targeted towards you. It would crush Eddie in all the ways those insults were supposed to crush him, he wouldn’t allow that to happen to the girl he loved. Even if you were limited to small glances across the cafeteria so be it as long as you were safe.

——————————————————————————

You sat next to Nancy and the rest of the people who formed the school newspaper. Nancy and you became inseparable since you joined the newspaper, she admired your hardworking attitude and that you stuck up for her when no one else supported her idea to write an article on the fires of starcourt mall. The others believed the idea too dreary and bleak especially as Hawkins has a habit to move on as if it didn’t happen last month, you argued that we needed to remember those who we lost so their names will never be forgotten. And ever since then you became close friends.

Nancy was one of the reasons you and Eddie started dating, unbeknownst to her but if she did know she wouldn’t let you forget that it was because of her, so maybe it was best that you Eddie kept it a secret?

She gave you the task to make a small article on hellfire for the schools newspaper, ‘don’t worry about it, it’s going to be a small article as I doubt many people will be too interested in the club’, it did very little to calm your nerves but you were thankful that she gave you a report despite only joining two weeks prior.

For your report all you needed to do was note down about the club and what they did, it sounds simple enough? It would of been an easy write up but you got so distracted by the campaign that it completely erased the reason why you were sitting in the hellfire room in the first place.

Your nerves took hold of you making your stomach contort into knots. Fuck! Your first report and you didn’t write a single thing down! Yep you’re definitely getting kicked out of the newspaper!

“Are you okay?”

You looked up from your notepad, your eyes met by a pair of chocolate brown ones slightly closed in confusion.

“I’m fine, why?” you squeaked your voice failing to hide the rising anxiety that coursed through your body, as your words came out so fast making the pitch become higher with each syllable.

You cringed after realising how your own throat cracked your facade, you darted your eyes towards the floor already feeling the shameful crimson blush creeping it’s way across your cheeks.

“It’s just that everyone else left 10 minutes ago and you’ve been staring into a blank notepad that you’ve been shaking frantically” the brunette stated, his voice heavy in confusion as he packed away the remaining figurines of tonight’s campaign.

“Oh” was all you could muster to say, the temperature of the room increased rapidly, your tongue felt like it doubled in size making your speech incredibly difficult to understand

“You didn’t write any of it down did you?”

You swallowed thickly, weakly shaking your head. Praying to whatever was above to allow the earth to swallow you whole.

Great now he thinks that you’re unfit to be a reporter because aren’t reporters supposed to be good at their job?!

You couldn’t stop your mind from racing, the contents of your stomach slowly rising, you felt like you were on a hellish carousel with no sign of the ride stopping anytime soon.

“It’s only because I was too engrossed in the game, i forgot that I was supposed to write about it”

The room went silent after a few seconds went by, Eddie finally processed what you just said in your anxiety fuelled outburst. The deafening silence was met by a loud thud of Eddie’s book dropping upon the floor.

Did he just hear you right? Y/N Y/L/N seriously just told him that she thought hellfire was entertaining? No surely that can’t be true? Right?

Eddie was so dumbfounded about what has just exited your mouth. All sentences he tried to form broke upon exit, leaving his mouth agape and his eyes wide.

“I’m sorry, you found hellfire entertaining?”

You nodded, still trying to find the words to speak. You’ve never really observed Eddie till this moment in time, how his eyes were rich in its chocolate tone, that his sharp jaw captured his face beautifully or how his hair look soft and luscious-

No no no! You weren’t supposed to find the “freak of Hawkins” attractive, this was far from the plan. Why did you agree to do this article?

“I didn’t write anything down, I wanted to ask some questions and hopefully I can actually write this article” you suggested to Eddie, the subtext of your suggestion was heavily applying that he suggested you should meet up again and hopefully one on one.

Eddie picked up the book from the floor and looked you in the eyes to see if he hasn’t read the situation wrong. But the way you blushed when he looked at you made him realise that the impossible was true, someone in this wretched town actually liked him.

“Well sweetheart how about you ask me these questions next Thursday, say 6?” He bit his lips and looked at you, his confidence fuelling him to make the first move, as the girl he secretly admired from a distance may finally want him back

Eddie carries your photo in his wallet, it’s his most prized possession. He carries it on him at all times not daring to part with it. He took it the night he finally had the guts to ask you to be his, still not believing his luck that the hottest girl in Hawkins is now officially his girlfriend.

It captured you wearing his famous hellfire shirt that he allowed you to sleep in, you were holding a big smile on your face, your hair messily tied up, with one of his rings looped through a necklace around your neck.

While you couldn’t bare to part from the silver around your neck, it feels like he’s always close to you in moments when you can’t be. It’s a way of you saying that your his and you always will be. You have the chain tucked underneath your shirt allowing the cold metal to rest upon your heart.

Eddie was sat at hellfire’s usual table, shovelling pretzels into his mouth rolling his eyes at the sickening posters that decorated the cafeteria, each one advertised the upcoming prom night. All these brightly coloured posters covered the walls, it infuriated him. How dare these couples be allowed to show their love freely while he can’t hold his girl’s hand in fear of her being hurt.

“So are you going to ask Y/N to prom?”

Eddie choked on the pretzels he was just about to swallow. He looked at Dustin wide eyed as if the 15 year old has just lost his mind

“Dude! We’re on about Y/N here, there’s no way” Gareth laughed, dismissing all possibilities that Eddie could get someone so well respected with in the school to go out with him.

“Yeah, she’s friends with Nancy and not once has she mentioned him” Mike added further proving how ridiculous Dustin sounded

“Why would you even think that?” Eddie nervously laughed filling his face with more food, hopefully if his mouth is full he won’t be able to answer Dustin’s pestering and would be able to keep the relationship a secret

“Because when you was stressed the fuck out during the last campaign, you dropped your wallet packing up and I saw her photo inside and she was wearing his hellfire shirt”

If Eddie could strangle Dustin he would, he buried his hands into his face covering up his embarrassment

The table echoing in a series of “whats!” By all the members, all in a serious state of shock that Eddie has been secretly dating you out of all people

“Yes, I’m dating her. But it’s a secret so I swear to god if any of you say anything I’m kicking your asses out of hellfire without mercy”

“Why don’t you ask her to prom?” Dustin question still not letting this go

“The freak is asking who to prom?”

Great! Eddie thought just what he fucking needs right now is Jason to over hear this conversation

“Non of your business Carver” Eddie said his voice laced with sarcasm rolling his eyes at the jock

“Who is this unlucky girl” he smirked, leaning into Eddie in hopes to intimidate him.

Jason cupped his hands over his mouth to amplify his voice, to broadcast what he had to say to the whole room

“Hey everyone, the freak wants to invite a special girl to prom, so go on Eddie ask her?” He mocked as the whole cafeteria erupted in laughter towards Eddie’s humiliation. All eyes glued upon him, willing him to ask this girl out for their sick twisted amusement

Fuck it! Standing from your seat you started to walk towards Eddie’s direction

“Y/N, what are you doing?” Nancy hissed trying to get you to sit back down and avoid the same humiliation Eddie is facing. Yes she can’t stand Jason and his shitty attitude but she understands he’s Hawkins royalty and someone not to be messed with. She didn’t want you to be on the receiving end of Jason’s sick and twisted entertainment

Ignoring your best friend’s cries you still continued your walk towards the hellfire table. You felt nearly everyone eyes upon you, but let them stare. You are done, done with watching your boyfriend being treated like the jocks punching bag, how Hawkins treats him like a laughing stock with no regards to the person that he actually is.

“Aww cat got your tongue? Well that’s okay you don’t need to ask her as any self respecting girl in Hawkins would laugh in your face” he sneered, grabbing Eddie by his collar to face him “you’re nothing but a-“

“Hey asshole” you called towards the blonde who dropped Eddie the moment he heard your voice. This can’t be? Right? No way would Y/N call him an asshole and try to defend the freak?

“The answer from the mystery girl is yes, yes she will go to the prom with him” you snarled giving the jock the worst death stare you could muster

The whole room went silent, no one knows what was more shocking you standing up to Jason? or you saying yes to Eddie to prom?

Jason looked at you in utter shock, his jaw nearly on the floor. You swear that you could see the cogs turning in his brain trying to conjure up a response to what you just said

“Sweetheart what are you doing?” Eddie whispered at you, his voice slightly cracking in fear for what is to happen to you. Could you lie and say this is some form of prank just to save your reputation?

You placed your lips upon his, kissing him with so much force hoping that you could make him believe that this is how much you love him. Sure receiving insults and jokes made at your expense maybe hard to deal with but not being able to be close to the person that you loved was worse, it was worth the sacrifice

“Just so everyone is clear, me and Eddie are dating and I love him so if anyone has anything to say about it well I simply don’t care, so try your worst ” you announced sitting next to Eddie.

The whole room looked at you with wide eyes, still in shock trying to process what they’ve just witnessed

Placing another kiss to Eddie’s lips to help to close his gaping mouth . He blinked back in disbelief

“Did I ever tell you how lucky I am to have you?”

“All the time Eds”

“I love you sweetheart”

“I love you too eddie”

A/N: I hope this was good, I’m super self critical lol

[legendlarkpod]

hi kat! i’m going to be a first time dm this summer and i’m wondering if you have any tips or tricks you’d share.

Sure!

I mentioned this concept in an ask a little while ago, but I'll expand on it a little more here: Know What Game You're Playing.

D&D, and tabletop games more generally, can be a lot of different things to different people. Talk to your players and get to know what kind of game they want to play. Do they want a crunchy, mechanics driven adventure with lots of opportunity to crush powerful enemies? Or do they want a roleplay-centric adventure where they could go a whole session without rolling dice? You'll prep very differently for those games, and the people who would enjoy one probably aren't going to enjoy the other. Here are five things to think about, because everyone loves a list.

1.) Tone - Talk with your players and decide together what the tone of the game is going to be. Is it the adventures of Sandy the Candy Wizard, Gary the Goblin Accountant, and Theodore Palladius the Third, Halfling Barbarian at Large? Or is this more of a Fellowship of the Ring situation, with noble heroes on a quest to save all that is good? This should not be dictated by the DM or the Players - it's something you'll need to all agree upon ahead of time to make sure everyone is on the same page and working collaboratively to build a story you're all excited about.

2.) Pace - Look, if I had know I was writing a five+ year adventure when I started I would have slapped myself directly in the face. Luckily for me we have all loved playing this adventure and stuck with it. However you and your players may decide that you want to do something more modular! Decide if you're going to go for a long form epic where everyone needs to be at each session, a bunch of short quests with a rotating player group, or a blend of the two with modular adventures and an overarching theme or villain.

3.) Safety tools - Talk over what safety tools you will use, even if you think you don't need to. Even the closest friend groups can end up with hurt feelings if expectations on safety aren't established early. Sly Flourish has a great write up on options for the use of safety tools in games. Additionally, have your players agree to a method of arbitration if there are any issues among the group. Roleplaying games necessitate a level of investment that means emotions will run high so be prepared! Agree how you will solve conflicts as a group so you know what to do if anything happens, and no one is caught off guard.

4.) Crunchy or Creamy - Like peanut butter, TTRPGs come in two varieties. Some people want a crunchy, rules heavy game with lots of math and strategy. Some people prefer to play a D&D-Adjacent Game that is only tangentially related to the official ruleset. This goes back to tone-- make sure everyone is on the same page about adherence to the rules. Most games will fall somewhere in between these two extremes, so decide how you will run the game and make sure everyone is on board.

5.) HAVE FUN - Oh man so I wrote all of that out and went "Yikes! That's a lot!" It makes it sound so scary! But the goal of this game is to have a good time with friends! Check in with your players regularly to make sure they're having fun, but also, your players should be checking in with you to make sure YOU'RE having fun! I adore being in the DMs chair, but it's a lot of work. Only do it if you're having fun! If it stop being fun, sit down with your players and try to figure out why. If you get burnt out, see if anyone would be willing to run a oneshot or short campaign so you can take a break! A successful game is one in which everyone walks away having had a blast, and excited to play again!

[calamity-unlocked]

Let’s Play Some Creatures & Caverns!!

Hi everyone! I’m Cal, a big amphibifan and a massive nerd.

I’ve been talking about running some amphibia-themed oneshots for a long time now, and with the hiatus nearly upon us I thought the timing couldn’t be better. So I’m officially opening applications for whoever wants to join!

For the uninitiated, Dungeons & Dragons is a roleplay game in which you create your own character and roll dice to determine the success of your actions. You will be able to create a frog, newt, toad or axolotl character and discover the world of Amphibia for yourself.

These oneshots are beginner friendly, and I am here to help you with anything you need. My Discord is Globetrotted#3497 if you have any questions!

I will run an adventure set in Amphibia each Saturday, starting from December 11! The exact timing isn’t set yet, but will be agreed upon by the group. There will not be a oneshot on December 25th and January 1st, for obvious reasons.

The pitches:

If you want to join one of these oneshots, fill out this form!

https://forms.gle/Jg3xZNsum5zKsHeT7

More information and the rules to participate below cut. This is mandatory to read before signing up.

We’ll be using the basic D&D 5e rules, and you can decide to use an online dice simulator or your own real dice, if you have them. We’ll be using Discord voice chat to talk to each other. Homebrew is not allowed.

I will explain more about the character creation process one-on-one, or, if the entire group is willing and able to do this, during a ‘session zero’, a casual conversation in which the group gets to meet each other and pitch their ideas.

Each oneshot will have four players. You can sign up for multiple oneshots, but if the interest rate is very high I only allow a person to join one game.

Rules:

You must have Discord, internet access and a working microphone

Everyone who wants to sign up must be over the age of 15

You will behave respectfully towards the DM and the other players

The oneshots will take place on a Saturday and will lasty for about three hours each, you must be available for this date and time.

If you run into any problems, both game and communication-wise, you will discuss this with the DM.

To prove you have read the rules: my hair color is red.

[solanj]

Gatewatch&Co playing DnD

Jace

Jace is the forever DM. His plotlines are extremely well thought-trough and his puzzles are exquisite. Prefers detective-style stories and is great at setting up the intrigue. Players never can guess too early. He knows ALL the rules. Is prepping meticulously. He is that type of GM that will hand out actual letters or trinkets to players, if they happen to find them. Every NPC, every plotline, every bit of PC's backstories are accounted for and weaved into the planned narrative. (Of course it all always end up completely derailed) Actively uses illusions for both descriptions and combat and everyone just LOVES that. Still insists on having actual minis, though. After some persuasion from the party agreed to use telepathy to tell players the "only your character knows that" info, which drove his intrigue even further.

Chandra

Chandra usually plays a hotheaded sorcerer. Gender and age may vary, but the sorcerer always falls for whomever Nissa is playing at the moment. Is the most enthusiastic of the group and the #1 reason Jace's thought-through plots get derailed. Because she always invents something crazy and drags the rest into it and even she never knows what her character is going to do until she opens her mouth to declare it. Due to it has the most dead characters among the party - Jace isn't a harsh GM, but he never fudges his rolls. Chandra doesn't sweat it, though, she just brings a new sorcerer next session. She generally ensures a goofy, light-hearted atmosphere and doesn't like it when stories go too dark or dramatic. Never waits for others to make a plan before heading into combat. Has the quickest combat turns.

Nissa

Nissa only agreed to play because Chandra was SO enthusiastic about it that Nissa just hadn't the heart to say "no". She ended up loving it. Doesn't speak much at the table (and her characters are always the quite ones), but has the most carefully crafted backstories. Only uses third-person style, but never speaks out of character during the play time. Actually knows the rules very well and never blunders, but also never engages in rules arguments when they happen. Once all the revelations from her backstory come through her character ends up being everyone's favourite, remembered for a long time.

Gideon

Gideon only plays because he thinks that a common bonding activity such as this is great for the Gatewatch's dynamics. Is usually the one to bring in snacks and to help Jace tidy everything up after the session. Plays martial tanky protective characters, usually goes with the options that PHB recommends. Likes to strategize in-game. Isn't good at roleplaying but is trying his best and everyone appreciates it. Was actually sad when Liliana left the party since her character made it easier for him to engage in conversations and decision-making due to her teasing and provocative nature. (No one knows if that was intentional on her part)

Teferi

Teferi prefers GM'ing but doesn't have the time to prep and run the whole campaign. So he usually runs rather short adventures. He leans towards more humorous style and is a great improviser. Likes to give his players maximum freedom and allows them to goof around all they want, but still manages to make the plot work. His NPCs are usually witty, he does different (and often exagerrated) voices for each of them and players tend to engage into social side of the game a lot because the dialogue scenes with him are just so enjoyable. Loves to mess with the players. Adds red herrings, makes NPS pretend to believe the player's bluff only to reveal the truth at the best possible moment later, hands out tricky magical items (most players learned to NEVER draw cards from unchecked decks, but there is always Chandra...). He is placing the most bizarre and memorable mimics and hilarious traps. But does all that in good faith and with good humor, to make the players thrilled but not annoyed. And it works!

Kaya

Kaya plays exclusively rogues and she probably tried every build possible. Is the min-maxer of the party. Is known for completely decimating the encounters that Jace planned to be extra challenging. Was often splitting the party at first, but agreed not to after some persuasion. Doesn't roleplay much, though she enjoys spectating others do it and never tries to force them to the next scene. LOVES Jace's puzzles and usually finds an unorthodox but interesting and convincing way to solve them. (That's probably why Jace can't really be annoyed with her despite her minmaxing) Has the best luck for crits in combat, but the worst for disabling traps.

Vraska

Vraska rather often misses the sessions due to guild and/or pirate business, but she tries her hardest to have free spots on her schedule during game nights. Is probably the most dedicated member of the group. Grows very attached to her characters and once the campaign ends she never returns to the same archetype, so that the impression wouldn't dilute. And because of it she doesn't have a "type", though her characters are always brave and have troubled pasts. Is the one to commission the paintings of her characters (and sometimes the rest of the party too). Is also quite the shipper (no matter if the character in question is her own, party member or NPC), but keeps it to herself, only sharing with Jace sometimes. She tells Jace everything about her character in the beginning so that he can play it when Vraska has to miss a session.

Ral

Ral played every class in the game that he could more or less convincingly make into a charming bastard. Is prone to hogging the spotlight, but does roleplay so well and is so charming that others let it slide. Often insists on using some homebrewed rules (which he keeps reinventing right during the conversation), giving Jace a headache. Jace gave in once, but during the next several sessions he made sure to stage the situations so that every possible side effect of said homebrew came to bite Ral in the ass (yes, it's where most of his prep time went). Now they usually settle on just some minor changes for Ral's character. Is #2 reason for derailing Jace's plotlines. Unlike Chandra he does this absolutely intentionally, and Jace knows it, but sees as a challenge. His character is the one, to whom all the "curiosity" magic items go. You have no idea what a dedicated Izzet mage can do with a simple unmoving rod. Jace actually throws extra stuff his way just to see what crazy application Ral will come up with.

Liliana

Liliana played a couple sessions once. She made a point of derailing the plotline in a discreet way while staying strictly in-character. Also she made Jace fluster whenever he had to play through a conversation with her via NPC. Decided that it was fun but ultimately not worth it in the long run. (To Jace's relief) Since she never actually plays Jace can discuss with her his plans and plots and sometimes he asks for her input on the villains. Sometimes he even invites Liliana to act out a villain in the dialogue-heavy session and she is VERY convincing. Her villains are always the ones players love to hate. From time to time she GMs oneshots and prefers intrigue- and drama-heavy stories, often horror, that may or may not be inspired by her long and varied life experiences. She isn't a stranger to fudging the rolls or overriding the rules if she feels that the situation calls for it. Is very good at reading the table and the undisputed master of putting her players in heart-wrenching situations faced with tough decisions. They usually love it, but Chandra refuses to play with her anymore because "don't we have enough of that shit IRL?!" She sometimes contemplates running a full WoD campaign, but always decides against it in the end.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Feel free to add your ideas!

[multi-lefaiye]

hi xavier!!! I come requesting your Thoughts if you're up for sharing some thoughts? if not that's totally cool, I just thought I'd ask 'cause I'm curious :3

I'm thinking of running a ttrpg campaign for some friends but I've never done that before and I'm pretty nervous. have you done much in the way of running games n would you have any tips for a beginner? :O

or maybe just, like, as a player what sorts of things can the person running the campaign do to make things enjoyable and engaging? what sorts of things do you appreciate when you're playing?

only if you wanna answer, of course! either way I hope you're having a cool day 😎

hi logan!!!! yes i am definitely up for sharing some Thoughts! i apologize for being a little late asdfjl;k i was going to bed when you sent this in (went to bed before 4 am y'all be proud of me)

ANYWAY omg that's so cool!! sounds like fun!!! okay, first, definitely understandable to be nervous! it's been a hot minute since i actually ran any games but even when i did run games regularly it was always a nerve-wracking experience for me. however, it's an absolute blast and i think you'd really enjoy it!

i'm not the most experienced gm/dm/etc in the world, but i do have some advice i can offer!!! and i know i have some more experienced folks following me so if any of y'all want to throw advice in please feel free.

first, my biggest piece of advice is to try not to get too caught in planning for every possibility--your players are going to do things you won't expect and i guarantee there will be at least one instance where they do something you didn't plan for at all. the biggest thing with any ttrpg, at least in my experience, is learning to go with the flow and improv! it's definitely good to have some kind of plan going in, and ultimately how much you plan is up to you, but don't get too stressed out if things don't go how you expect them to!

another thing i definitely recommend is having some kind of practice run before jumping right into the full campaign. you could try running a oneshot or two, or something along those lines in general, to help build up your confidence as a dm! session zeroes are also good, and you can use them to help introduce the players to each other in-character and to the world they're going to be in for this campaign. they also can help give everyone a feel for the campaign in general before jumping right in.

ok now i'm just gonna list some misc. advice before talking about stuff i as a player like to see happen:

work with your players and cater the campaign to them and their characters. if they have plotlines they'd be interested in exploring, talk to them about it and see if you can find a place for em.

just in general communicate with your players as much as possible--i don't mean in the sense of giving away everything that's going to happen, but just make sure everyone's on the same page, y'know!

definitely take notes!! if you're running a game, ultimately you remembering what happens both with the party and outside of it is important.

how much you decide to follow the rules of whatever ttrpg you're running is ultimately up to you, but in my experience it's a lot more fun to fudge the rules sometimes for the sake of the story than to stick to them strictly at all times.

have fun! remember, you're part of the game too, and the point is for everyone to have a good time telling the story together.

okay now for the player's side of things, i also don't have Much experience on this front, and most of my thoughts are things i already mentioned, but in general what i love to see is when game masters really incorporate the characters into the world they're in. use your players' backstories to your advantage and work them in the narrative where possible, and don't be afraid to really go for the throat with emotional moments.

another thing i appreciate is when the gm talks with the players before everything starts to get a feel for what everyone wants out of the story, as well as any triggers or sensitive content that should be avoided. that's a good way to make sure you know what to avoid and what you can do to make things more engaging for everyone from the get-go.

and uhhh i guess last thing is i just want to reiterate the Have Fun part! because i know there are a lot of things online that joke about how fun it is to make the gm's life hell or treat ttrpgs like a competition between the gm and the players, and really that's not the case! the point is for everyone to have fun, play a game, and tell a story together! if someone isn't having fun, whether they're a player or gm, then something's wrong.

if/when you do run this, i'd love to hear about how it goes!!! good luck and have fun! and i hope you have a cool day as well! :3

[basically-i-write-shit]

PLEASE tell me about the hq dnd au. I’m intrigued

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE

ok but like genuinely I wrote a little oneshot of how I think it would go for tskym week like...three years ago and I'm disappointed it didn't get as much interest as i thought it would. I got really into D&D when I started listening to The Adventure Zone in 2018 (which, I think it's absolutely crazy that was 4 years ago btw) and I've been obsessed with the idea of the hq gang playing dnd for a while.

The premise of the fic is that the reader is experiencing the campaign, not the process of making it, but through a unique lens: we're watching the PCs instead of the characters playing at the table. Each character's PC is of course created with a class, race, and backstory that is different than their own with unique names- but, because it's still a Haikyuu fic, we're still watching the characters go through these situations.

So like, in my example fic, we read and comprehend that "Tsukishima" and "Yamaguchi" are the ones controlling the narrative, but their characters are the ones experiencing the sensations.

Ex:

The way I would work this is by essentially writing a fantasy Haikyuu fic that loosely follows D&D 5e rules/my small knowledge of how D&D works, and include cut scenes like provided in the example to show the "playing" D&D aspect of the fic. This would also be able to excuse any acts that the "Characters" (PCs with their names changed to reflect the person playing them) do that may seem OOC or weird choices for them to make by blaming it on a "bad roll" or "failed check." Essentially bailing the author out if people complain about a character's actions being "totally OOC for him" lol.

"But 12 people is a lot of people for a D&D party, isn't it?" The answer to that is yes. Having all of one team or multiple teams in one campaign together would be near impossible for an IRL game. Like, not gonna lie there. I would probably have the team split into two separate campaigns that occasionally overlap, with other characters from other teams simply being NPCs that the audience, looking at the story from an outsider's perspective, could potentially identify as another character. Great example would be, if the campaign follows Karasuno, seeing a childhood friend duo could imply either Kuroo and Kenma or Oikawa and Iwaizumi or one of the Miya twins and Aran, depending on the relationship of the duo.

I have a lot of feelings about potentially writing this one day, and the ideas are probably confusing if you haven't read the oneshot I did with the concept, but year. D&D AU.

Additionally:

In a Karasuno-centric version of this, Ennoshita is of course the DM.

They host at Tanaka or Daichi or Yamaguchi's houses the most, because they have a lot of space and their parents aren't home often enough for such a large group meet in.

Another way to shrink the group is to just have Narita and Kinoshita have their own separate campaign that Enno DMs on the side, but I like the idea of an even split for players.

Tanaka has played a dragonborn in every campaign he's ever played and has a custom dice set that looks like a dragon's hoard.

Akiteru DMed a mini campaign for Yamaguchi and Tsukki when they were in middle school, and Enno discovering their minis while studying at Yamaguchi's house is how they get their team campaign going.

Hinata, like everything else, is a complete newbie but somehow manages to rock everyone's shit still. Like, everyone's convinced his dice are loaded even after doing multiple float tests, but he just had great rolls. That is, until he needs to have a good roll in the middle of some important combat and he gets a 3 with a -2 add on and nearly beefs it.

Tsukki has healing spells, which he absolutely should not be allowed to have bc he refuses to use them on anyone anyway.

Tsukki and Daichi are very anti-roleplay. Meanwhile, Suga, Tanaka, and Hinata absolutely love it. Everyone else is neutral with a positive lean.

Yamaguchi is surprisingly the one that romances everyone he sees- surprising because of his general demeanor, but also because I genuinely think he either plays paladin, cleric, or monk. Very non-flirtatious beings, usually.

Yachi and Kiyoko are definitely in this somewhere. I can't decide if I want them actually playing or as NPCs somewhere in the story, but they're definitely there.

I like to think that the other teams also have their own campaigns going on, and sometimes they run into one another at a post-session dinner or something.

This could honestly fit into the highschool canon or in like a college AU.

[tinfoil-jones]

Simmons and Caboose canonically both like Dungeons and Dragons

Simmons mentioned DnD a couple of times throughout the series, and Caboose mentioned it before the 'Great Journey' with Tucker, Andy and Crunchbite.

Which means it is entirely possible they play together.

Simmons would definitely be a min-maxxer whose overpowered playable character always gets killed because "It's what my character would do!" Probably uses standard array or the point-buy system for stats. He definitely cares a lot about party dynamics, and (unironically) likes 4th Edition. He could be a Dungeon Master if he wanted but his Campaign settings are almost always Homebrew and really complicated so no one ever wants to play them.

Caboose would be the person who makes a joke character (except he doesn't realize it's a joke character) like, just the worst race/class/background combinations possible. And somehow he makes it from Level 1 to Level 20 every time and Simmons hates this. He definitely uses the 4d6 drop the lowest for stats and sOMeHoW get an 18 every time. He is banned from DMing, and Wizards of the Coast banned him from Adventures League for life, for reasons unknown. 

I don't know who their Dungeon Master would be, it could be Sarge because he loves them both would want to raise morale. He'd be the type of DM who would railroad his own campaign and throws dragons and Beholders at them constantly. The only reasons his players survive is because the challenges he throws at them are so over-the-top, convoluted, and stupid they can just... step around the obvious plot holes. He'd use a Homebrew Campaign with guns and every NPC is basically the same person. His campaigns are almost entirely devoid of actual roleplay. His Big Bad Evil Guys (BBEG’s) are always The Blue Team in some way, shape, or form.

Or maybe Agent Washington, he'd be a level headed DM but kind of a pushover who lets them get away with actions that would normally kill or grievously injure them. Doesn't mind a reasonable amount of Homebrew elements and Unearthed Arcana. Uses Official books only for Campaign but is weirdly fixated on Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Also a lot of his NPC's are Tabaxi, and his campaigns would focus more on roleplay than combat.

Or even Carolina could be their DM, probably while they're on Iris and she relaxes. And she'd be the Hardest-Ass DM in existence. She bans use of Unearthed Arcana and sticks to Official Books only. Character builds only get to use the Players Handbook + 1 other book. Every time a PC makes a decision she ALWAYS cryptically asks “Are you sure.” And every other door and treasure chest is a trap. The trade off is, she also has the best methods of balancing; roleplay and combat are in equal amounts, and the challenge ratings are a challenge but not an outright party wipe unless if the party makes dumb decisions (but they often do).

If the other characters played;

Tucker would alternate between being a melee DPS, and a stereotypical bard. His character always has a sword as a weapon. When he starts playing he is definitely ‘That guy’ but as time goes on he becomes more of a normal player. His roleplay is terrible because he tries to seduce every female character no matter what his charisma score is. Every DM has punished him for this, but he hasn’t stopped.

Grif is on his phone the whole session, and his character is pre-generated by Simmons every time. The few times he does roleplay his character, he always seems to know when something is about to happen such as when an NPC is evil or when there’s a trap. The problem is he never states if he’s speaking in or out of character so depending on who the DM is, they might force the rest of the party to disregard whatever he says. He eats all of the snacks. He has the potential to be an amazing DM, probably the best of the group, but he’s too lazy.

Donut always plays a female character, but has the most variety when it comes to PC’s he makes beyond that. He’s not a min-maxxer like Simmons, but tends to use Quickbuilds more often than not. He always brings the snacks and helps the DM set up the session. He has a tendency to make utility-type characters for if the designated healer/rogue/scout slacks or isn’t there. His characters tend to die but inexplicable come back later. 

Doc is forced to be the forever healer. When his O’Malley personality comes out, he gives the players poison instead of medicine or does unnecessary medical interventions. His character is initially Lawful Good but always ends up as Chaotic Neutral. He ends up dual classing whether he means to or not. In some campaigns, he’s the secret BBEG.

Sister only uses spellcasters, and along with Caboose is probably the most egregious offender of the ‘Chaotic Stupid’ alignment shenanigan's. She ironically hates bards, and her character is always messing with Tucker’s character. She uses Unearthed Arcana every time the DM allows this. She was allowed to DM once for a oneshot, and never again. She’s one of the better roleplayers of the group, able to balance out between ‘what my character would do’ and ‘are you sure?’.

Lopez shows up the the first session, decides everyone is stupid, and never shows up to another session again. His character is always a Warforged.

[pixelatedrose]

Hey hey hey!! Sorry I've been gone for a little while and a half buT HEY REMWMBER CALLAHAN MCBLITHE FROM LIKE FUCKING JANUARY????

NO? YEAH NIETHER DID I-

In OTHER news

I have another new d&d character who I love and adore with all my heart-

Lineless v and stoytime under the cut! (Click or tap for quality!!!)

SO

I had my bro my friend my fam my d&d mate, over last wednesday for a chill hangout.

They're my big d&d friend, as previously stated, as I had untroduced them into the game about a year and a half ago or so, and they promptly got extremely and irreparably obsessed with the game.

And so after like an hour and a half of chattin and showin off art an shit, we kinda...ran out of things to do....so i jokingly said "what if we play d&d lol" and they LITERALLY had like two options for me to pick from in oneshots they just had preped.

The difference between the two was one was an ACTUAL oneshot and one was a condensed version of a couple sessions from an ongoing campaign they were running.

Again, like the fool I am, i made a half serious half very not serious quip about me just straight up joining their party.

Lo and behold, they have a fucking spot open fro the taking and by god did I want it

So me and them started tossing around character ideas, me trying to figure out the rest of the party so i know what kind of character to play, and while this is happening I'm trying hard to think of any characters i had in the wings, ocs i might be able to use or random character ideas that i had never been able to play- and Callahan came to mind.

I pulled up THIS old as shit photo and made a simple comment that i never knew would define my fate for the rest of the entire campaign.

"I mean, I could do Callahan, but it'd be a little hard since there aren't any winged races like this and he's not an Aarakocra. ...well, maybe it could work if he was like an aarakocra dwarf, cause he's definitely a dwarf- he's supposed to be super short and stocky- but its up to yoouuu....oh no."

It was an 'Oh no' because as i look over their eyes are lit UP.

They say "oh this gives me so many ideas"

Never a good thing to hear from your dm

And from there we blasted through making his character an actual d&d character since their next session was in less than 24 hours, and bada bing bada boom my boy Cally-ham was born :]

There were a few crypitic things that my bro my m8 my friend my d&d buddy, had said, among which was them having Callahan make a random d20 roll, the result of which made them tell me that Callahan is not currently aware of his wings, and doesn't have wings currently. And the other came off as very strange for a dm to decide for a player, but i brushed it off because i didn't care that much, and that was them being very specific about Callahan having heterochromia, one blue eye one brown eye.

Now there is a LOT more i can tell about my boy Callahan McBlithe, considering the first session revealed things that caught EVERYONE off guard- but I've been talking for a while now so I'll let y'all be

Stay Fresh and Minty, Folks~ ;D