Wandering Around Droaam

My characters in Eberron are spending an extended amount of time hanging out in Droaam. Specifically they are in the realm of Kethelrax the Cunning. For various inspiration reasons, I've been gathering notes for Droaam overland travel, the different warlord factions and an extended Kobold fortress.

• A Kobold Cave fortress from the video game "Pool of Radiance" that could be a 5e dungeon with minimal work...
• A list of the Warlords of Droaam, including Kethelrax and Gorodan Ashlord
• A Reddit post about Populating a Droaam Hex Crawl - be sure to check the comments here too

Specific to the campaign I nicknamed Iron & Fire, I haven't updated the listing of characters.

• SGT Jaren Strumchord (Halfling Rogue Urchin)
• MSG Sigro (Warforged Fighter Soldier)
• SGT Wisdom Walker (Deep Gnome Wizard House Agent)
• SGT Yarn Garondel (Elf Cleric/Sorcerer Sailor)

There is much that I could share about their adventures so far (up to 6^th level) and so much more to come, but I'll end here for now.

In Praise of the Dungeon Masters Guild

I can't say enough good things about the Dungeon Masters Guild and the other sites in the family of OneBookShelf.com. Tons of free and paid resources, books and adventures. In fact, as of today I'm looking to add them as affiliate links to this blog. Here's a quick test:

If that worked, something should appear above this paragraph with an updated feed of reviews from their site. Edit: This does not appear to be working, so I'll have to research why later. In the meantime, have a banner!

Hottest New Book "18 Archetypes Bundle by Nicolas "Zehus" L" [BUNDLE]

Merry Christmas - Have Some... Chaos!

Here are some Xmas gifts that GMs can gift to their players (in game). These are all from Brian Patterson's webcomic d20monkey.com, which you should check out start to finish at some point. His art style is great and his writing shines. For a couple years around Christmastime, he would do an interlude comic with a random certificate or item list to gift your players. I've saved all of them that I could find here for my own reference. Enjoy!

• Holiday Break: 2015
  
• 2016 Holiday Certificate
  
• Christmas Interlude 2017
  
• Christmas 2018
  
• Christmas 2019
  
• Twitter: The 2020 d20Monkey Christmas Gift is here!
  

It's always festive to add a little chaos into the game. One of the gifts I received this year was a two pack of the Deck of Many Things and the Deck of Many Fates. So... that's going to have to make an in-game appearance at some point. *mad scientist laughter*

Social Interaction Cheat Sheet

I've been reading a lot lately about how to quickly run social interaction in a D&D 5e game. Obviously, when it's called for, a DM can simply roleplay a social encounter and deal with the consequences in conversation. But if pressed for time or otherwise preferable, it's possible to quickly determine how an NPC would react to a character's request by consulting the chart and rolling some dice. Here's a reference table I found on this Reddit post refactored from the correct tables.

Based on the Social Interaction rules in the D&D 5e DMG, I drafted a small cheat sheet for attitudes and conversation reactions. It simplifies the charts and lists and summarizes the mechanic for a quick view during prep. Hopefully some folks find it useful. Suggestions for improvements are welcome!

Here is the link: Social Interaction Cheat Sheet - Google Docs.

I couldn't embed it so I share a copy here.

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Social Interaction Cheat Sheet

Choose the starting attitude of a creature the adventurers are interacting with. The attitude of a creature might change over the course of a conversation.

• Friendly: wants to help the adventurers and wishes for them to succeed.
• Indifferent: might help or hinder the party, depending on what the creature sees as most beneficial.
• Hostile: opposes the adventurers and their goals but doesn’t necessarily attack them on sight.

When the adventurers make a request, demand, or suggestion, or when the DM decides the creature is making a decision, call for a Charisma check by any character who has actively participated in the conversation. This can use Persuasion, Deception, or Intimidation as appropriate. The creature’s reaction depends on the roll and the extent of the request.

Hostile | Indifferent | Friendly

Conversation Reaction	DC
Opposes the adventurers’ actions and might take risks to do so.	0	n/a	n/a
Offers no help but does no harm.	10	0	n/a
Does as asked as long as no risks or sacrifices are involved.	20	10	0
Accepts a minor risk or sacrifice to do as asked.	n/a	20	10
Accepts a significant risk or sacrifice to do as asked.	n/a	n/a	20

Text and mechanics based on Dungeon Master’s Guide chapter 8.