Liar's Dice

I love using props in game; so last night I added a hands on game in the game. The Player’s Handbook offers proficiency with a gamer’s set for some of the backgrounds but I’ve never found instructions for how to play the D&D in game games that it lists. I didn’t want to use chess or have the PC’s play poker with the playing cards because I was afraid that using such everyday games would pull the players back into reality instead of enriching the role-playing. I decided to have the PC’s play Liars Dice in the tavern. Some of you may have seen Liars Dice before; it was featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest. I think this was very successful because it was something different and it fits in perfectly at the port city tavern.

Fae Forest

Last night’s session was so eventful that I’m going to do a couple of posts about it. Everyone, except Omar, had an absolute blast! The PC’s quickly discovered that the forest they entered was filled with fey which Hal, the bard, proceeded to splat against the trees with his Thunder Wave. Before they defeated the fey, a pixie used Polymorph to turn Omar into a mule. Now Omar, in mule form, could have fought the pixie and violet fungus attacking him or even moved away from the fungus, but he chose to wonder around his square eating grass until Tyr slain the pixie who cast the spell on Omar. In the next encounter, Tyr and Hal hacked and slashed away at a Treant until the mighty creature finally fell.

Room Markers and Tabletop

I got tired of my players using post-it notes on the table to mark the dimensions of rooms. My solution was to use stone spray paint on Duplo blocks to make D&D wall markers for our table. As a side note our playing table is upcycled from a coffee table I hated. I took the top off and wood burned in a grid. The squares are 1.5” by 1.5”, perfect for minis.

Dice Tray

So it was one fall that we started playing D&D and Omar keep complaining because the table we were using at the time was padded and he couldn’t hear the dice roll. Now I agree, it’s nice to hear the dice roll but it doesn’t ruin the game for me when someone uses a dice roller or when the table is padded. It was ruining the game for Omar which, because we had to hear about it on every dice roll, was ruining the game for the rest of us. I let them use a decorative autumn tray I had to roll their dice, with the stated expectation that Omar would come up with a permanent tray. That never happened and my decorative tray got ruined. So just yesterday I finally broke down and repainted my tray to make it an official dice-rolling tray. Why we still need it when they can roll on the new wooden table I don’t know but here it is and this is how I made it.

I started by repainting the tray black. Then I printed off the design on regular printer paper and cut it out. I applied a coat of mod podge to the back of the paper and placed it on the tray. Then I let that dry before applying a coat of mod podge over the top. Just a tip: when you print your design let it dry for a bit so the ink doesn’t smear when you do your top coat of mod podge.

Inspiration Tokens

I was inspired by another DM to make these. They are Inspiration tokens made from wood slices embellished by a wood burning tool. Now I have something physical to hand my players when they earn inspiration. I like having props that make the game more tangible.

D&D with Our Oldest

This weekend was our off weekend for our D&D group but we were not without some D&D. Tyr and I have two children and the oldest is six. When we play he watches us intently and has been asking to play for a while now. We let him pick out a dice set at the local shop and I designed a mini-quest suitable for such a young player. It’s a very simple straightforward quest designed mostly for hacking and slashing and it moves along quickly to keep him engaged. I’m actually quite impressed with my little Moon Elf Druid (his choices), he really is paying attention when he watches us play. In addition to the fun, it also reinforces reading and math skills.

NPC Cleric

Over the weekend we started our Ravensrest campaign. One of my favorite parts was unveiling my NPC Cleric to travel with the party. She’s a Moon Elf dedicated to Sehanine Moonbow and a pacifist. She has taken a vow that prevents her from causing any physical harm to another being. Her past is sordid and mostly a mystery but she is a powerful healer for the party. We’ve also decided to convert the campaign from 3.5 to 5e which gives her, even more, depth and mystery.

DIY Potion Bottles

These are super simple to make.

I used the jars from an old spice rack. Wash them out really good and fill them with water. Add a few drops of food coloring and stir with a chopstick. Keep adding water and stirring until you have the shade you desire, then cap with the bottle toppers or use a cork.

Preparing to Begin Ravensrest

I’m preparing to start my next adventure in DMing, which takes place in a realm that is my own creation called Ravensrest. Right now everyone is creating their characters. Tyr will be playing a ranger but I have no clue yet what Hal and Omar will be playing. I have limited each player to one character this time because I want to get everyone deeper into actually role-playing their character. Tyr and Hal should get into it but Omar is extremely rigid and not happy that I’m limiting him to one character. I'm going to be providing an NPC cleric to travel with the party. It should be interesting when they find out she's a pacifist. Right now we play every other week and I’m excited to get this quest underway in our next session.

Making Your Own Parchment Paper

I like using props when I DM and one of my staples is making maps and notes for the players that look like old parchment. Here's how I do it.

When making notes I use my computer to print them out in a font that I feel suits the tone, theme, and purpose of the quest. If you need to find some interesting fonts check out dafont.com for some great ones.

Maps I tend to hand draw on printer paper.

Either way, once you have your note or map you'll want to make the edges less perfect. There are two options that I use. First, you could just carefully tear down each edge of the paper. The second is to burn the edges with a lighter. *Be very careful when doing this both for safety and not to burn away a part of the map or note.

Now to make it look and feel more like parchment. Brew a batch of tea and let it cool to room temp. Once cooled I pour it into a glass baking dish that will fit the paper. Submerge your paper in the tea. Ideally, you want to let it soak over night and I don't recommend putting more than three pieces of paper in. If you don't have over night or just don't have the patience a couple of hours will get you a light version of the effect.

After it's soaked I carefully pull the paper out of the tea and set it on a crumpled up bath towel and use a blow dryer on it until the page is completely dry.

Viola, you've got parchment!

How I Became a DM

This is the tale of how I came to be DM and how our group got started. So in what seems like a far away time and place our hero Tyr, who was laid off, took a temp job and at this craptastic slave pit where he met Omar. Hours spent inside a sweltering box truck got the two to talking and they discovered that they both loved D&D but hadn't had a group to play with in forever. Their problem was that they both came across players from time to time but they almost never found someone willing to DM or that was any good at being a DM.

In the past, on more than one occasion, Tyr had tried to get me into playing D&D but I'd never really had a good experience. While the general rule is that you have to put in some serious time playing before you can think about being a DM, Tyr saw something in me. Over the course of a month or so he talked me into coming up with a quest and being a DM for him and Omar. During that time Omar got in touch with his cousin Hal who also wanted to play. They were both skeptical that a female who had barely any experience could be a competent DM but they were willing to give me a shot since they all wanted to play and didn't have a DM. Both Hal and Omar had played since D&D began and I quickly gained their approval. Hal has played in groups all over the U.S. and says that he's amazed by me. That even though I don't have a lot of player experience I'm one of the best DMs he's ever seen, which to me is some pretty high praise.

Dumb Dwarf came a long a little while later. An 18-year-old nube who we took in and taught the game, his girlfriend was our baby sitter.

And that's pretty much how our group came to be.