CHAINMAIL: 04.07.2024

Random GM Tip: What Are You Looking For? - The Alexandrian

This might be one of my signature phrases as a DM. "What are you trying to do?" is a variation of this. Sometimes your player's will say that they want to do something or that they want to discover a piece of information and they might be a bit vague or the ask might be overwhelming to the DM.

"I'd like to go the library and check out every book I can on Occultism."

"Ok, what are you specifically trying to find?"

Instead of coming up with a bunch of random book titles on the spot that cover a bunch of random occult topics, get to the root of what they are trying to accomplish. When they say, "I want to discover any clues about the true names of the Bleeding Sisters," you can say, "Of course! The librarian brings to a a single bookshelf in the far back of the building, chained with lock a key...He removes a book, made of stretched skin..." and just cut to the good stuff.

"You shouldn't use DnD for narrative campaigns." - Questing Beast

There was a bit of a riot on Twitter recently based around a statement Brennan Lee Mulligan made about rules and how they abstract parts of the game. I agree strongly with his take and this video does an excellent job of breaking it down and highlighting other articles and blog posts (most of which I have included in earlier Chainmails) that go deeper into the topic.

Coins In the Dungeon - Dice in the North

This is a fun article giving a bunch of uses for pocket change. In my opinion, one of the biggest issues with 5E is how it trains players to look to their character sheet instead of the game world to problem solve. So many times I have had players say, "I'm out of spell slots, I can't do anything!" Of course you can do something! You're in a dungeon full of weird mechanical contraptions and you have an explorer's pack with rope and climbing pitons. Come up with creative and interesting solutions to problems, not just the solutions the game provides to you. Send this to your players and hopefully they will be a little more creative while exploring dark, dank places.

Recently, on a Twitch live stream, I tasked myself and the community the following goal:

In one stream, can we conceive, design, and publish an RPG that can be printed out on one page?

After 8 hours, we answered that question with a resounding YES!

Introducing Avast, Scoundrel! a card-based RPG about crooks and roguery! Designed and published in one day with the help of the Hothead community. Download it for free now and see what crimes you and your friends can get up to!

I hope these resources inspire you! If you haven't already, the best way to stay up to date with everything hothead related is to join the discord. See you next week!