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My first suggestion is that Roll20 is likely to be MUCH easier than Skype. Especially with that many players. It includes everything you need: dice rollers, maps, allowing players to move their own tokens, ability for the DM to set up as much stuff they need to beforehand, etc.

Actual plot seems fairly decent. Just always be ready to improvise if the players do something you don't expect. Because they will do something you haven't planned for.

A ship with civilian passengers is usually large enough to have a brig, or at least a storeroom with a lock for drunkards to calm down in. If the crew is large enough, there can be an official 'security officer' of sorts, with maybe a few other sailors who are trained fighters, even if the general crew is not.

Though the captain may not have a sorcerer on the crew, perhaps a wealthy patron has a wizardly bodyguard who can step in and lend a hand? Or maybe someone has a magic item like a wind fan to blow people off the ship without a fuss.

This is where the spell "Nondetection" becomes my favorite spell in the game. I have several items that I give to enemies that help prevent the players from ever knowing their full strength.

I think the lowest-barrier-to-entry version of a digital conspiracy corkboard is Prezi: https://prezi.com/

Basic use is free.

In business/education it serves the same purpose as Powerpoint but in 3 dimensions with a focus on zooming to different planes of content.

So, for example, you might map out the BIG organizations in the world like the continents and then zoom into a continent to map out the nations inside the continent and then zoom in further to map out the regions controlled by that nation and then zoom in further to map out the cities in a region, then the class factions in the cities, etc. etc.

At any level you might overlay some faction that spans nations, like a merchant guild for example. You might put the guild leader at the continent level, guild members in their respective cities connecting these with lines or color coding.

Finally, Prezi lets you automate one or more walkthroughs of your digital workspace. So, you could create a frame-by-frame organizational overview for the merchant's guild that zooms through every level of the presentation with guild details listed - this also makes a good interactive timeline of world events.

I use a little program called Tomboy Notes - it's not as feature-rich as OneNote, nor as big and slow. But it has basic WYSIWYG text formatting, and, most importantly, WikiWord hyperlinking. So say I'm writing about the BBEG, I can include the line (was born in BigCity to EvilParents). BigCity and EvilParents will become hyperlinkable, and if I click them a new empty window will appear. I can rename these later. It's very useful. Maybe I should give OneNote a try, though I'm partial to FOSS myself.

> 5e D&D is popular now

I second this, and this version of D&D is not as simulative as it used to be. You might pick up the starter set for her as a gift, I think it's $13 on Amazon.

Savage Worlds is another nice option that's very popular. Here is a pdf starter kit that they released for Free RPG day.

If you wanted more crunch, I'd recommend looking at Paizo's Free RPG Day stuff as well, but that's probably beyond what you're thinking of when you say 'D&D'.

Additionally, it's pretty easy to learn from a D&D 5e perspective as its core mechanics are quite similar to D&D. You've got ability scores, skills, feats (called merits) and uses the same dice (sans the d20).

There's a new edition of Savage Worlds is called Adventure Edition, and the latest version of Deadlands had it's kickstarter earlier this year and available on DrivethruRPG. Note, this is a preview, but if you purchase the PDF it'll update once it's fully released. Hardcover release is expected later this year.

I have been using notion as well, and it has helped me out a ton.

I use SlyFlourish's Notion template as a base and built off of it somewhat.. I've populated two campaigns worth of info, and it has really helped streamlined my process.

For me? I guess some of my primary source influences are: Xenophons Anabasis, Plutarchs Parralel Lives, Sun Tzu's Art of War, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Journey to the West (Both historical fiction, but valuable sources on how ancient/medieval people thought their world worked), The Paston letters (Letter between the Paston Family, written in Norfolk Dialect so may be difficult for you to understand but full of great info), The Jest of Robin Hood (earliest written Robin hood Story).

Librivox.org has a great variety of ancient books and old translations turned into public domain audio books, and there's also Voices of the Past. Who has some great narrations of primary sources.

I am terrible at coming up with puzzles, so I generally try to find riddles and dnd puzzles online. Remember, if it's obscure enough that your players haven't seen it, it's okay to borrow it. I personally recommend the 3rd edition supplement The Book of Challenges: https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons/D%26D%203rd%20Edition/3.0%20Adventures/Book%20of%20Challenges.pdf

/u/Listener-of-Sithis and /u/jacobgrey mentioned two of my goto music options with Midnight Syndicate and Tabletop Audio. Both are great. I prefer having straight up moody music so I use Midnight Syndicate in the background a lot for Ravenloft adventures.

This neat little site is good for simple ambient sounds that you can mix and match. If you're using background music like Midnight Syndicate, you can use asoftmurmer.com to add in game effects like rain, wind, campfire, etc. However that's mostly outdoor stuff and tabletop audio has a lot of low music, creepy ambient stuff fitting for dungeons.

If you go to youtube and search for Ravenloft playlists, you will find several that are pretty darn good for any creepy settings.

I've been using this recently, and it seems to work well for me: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/BookIndex

It has all spells sorted by Class, Level and School, which lets you quickly see all the spells available to a 1st level caster, as well as their descriptions. Makes it very simple to choose the 1st level spells that a character starts with.

While the Tabletop simulator you own is good, I don't think it helps in quite a few of the points you mentioned.

Since you're going to start something new (I understand you need to search for a new group, correct me if I'm wrong), I would also recommend Roll20 as /u/No_Down_Boo_Over suggested. It's very easy to use, simple to set up (they have a 5 min intro video that shows you the basics, and you can get more info and commands on the wiki), it has char sheets for many systems, and you can import images for maps and tokens in seconds.

DungeonChannel (linking to the tools) covers a few others quite simply in that page, and you can also find a few maps and tokens for free to get you started using roll20 in no time.

Hope that helps!

What you're looking for is a wiki, of which there are dozens in varying complexity and features. Most assume you will be running the wiki software on your own web host, since wikis are primarily used by organizations & businesses, but are also excellent for D&D notes! You might want to try searching this question on r/selfhosted since wikis come up a lot over there

My first instinct is to check to see if Dokuwiki has a plugin that does this and the answer is there are at least four of them. Dokuwiki is extremely customizable and also pretty easy to install on any webhost (unzip a zip file) so that is a good solution. I'm sure this feature exists in other wiki software, maybe someone else will chime in with another specific one.

Personally I use Outline wiki for my D&D notes but alas, it does not support auto-linking, even though it is a very nice wiki.

For Violet, I would take a look at Glibness.

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Glibness#content

Specifically

> Additionally, no matter what you say, magic that would determine if you are telling the truth indicates that you are being truthful.

I think that is a good addition.

https://framadate.org/abc/en/ is basically a drop-in replacement for old Doodle (before its awful UI overhaul). Developed by a French team, so you'll occasionally run into text in French rather than English, but it's what we've been using to schedule our games ever sense Doodle got shitty.

As a follow up, while I do use digital tools to keep track of campaign stuff, I don't do so at the table. Having used OneNote, EverNote and a bunch of other tools, recently I found Obsidian, which I really like. Here is a great playlist on setting it up for rpg use.

Do you have any kind of a potential budget for this? If you have a TV or a cheap LED Projector to hook up your laptop, you can use the TV for the battlemap for any in house players while you run the game on Roll 20 from your laptop/computer.

For my hybrid setups, I had an omnidirectional mic setup on the middle of our table, but even a USB conference microphone like this could probably work. Set up the microphone as the input source for Discord. Cheaper mics might have more of an echo or quality issues, depends how spread out everyone is/distanced from the microphone.

The remote players join Discord and Roll 20 and the in house players can hear from the TV or laptop/computer speakers via your logged in Discord. Discord's noise suppression works really well and seems to cut down any echo from the players talking from Discord, although they may occasionally hear themselves if an in house player is talking at the same time as a remote player.

We aren't as concerned about webcams since everyone can see the battlemaps and can hear each other, but hopefully this is enough advice to not completely break the bank!

One of thing that helps me with any prep of published adventures is to translate the description. This is usually enough to achieve familiarity with it in three ways: I need to think about what is really meant with the text, I get to think about it in my first language which helps my creativity and roots it to things I know. It also usually leads to me making changes to achieve more natural feel. (https://www.deepl.com/translator is great for translations)

Additionally I try to think one mannerism for each NPC which I will act when speaking as them and write it down: slouching in my chair, constantly changing the player who I stare, standing up and walking circles, snappy answers or just small smirk before I start to talk. These help me and the players differentiate the NPC's even when it might be something small.

I've recently been converted over to Trello. It's free, web-based (so I can update it from anywhere if inspiration strikes, or from the app on my phone), and features organization that I really like. Basically, you make notes that are sorted into lists. So I have lists for NPCs, Locations, PCs, Plot Hooks, etc. Helps me easily reference anything that I need. Plus it has tags, so you can sort that way too, though I don't use them much.

When I use the Fey, I typically like to draw from the wells of Alice in Wonderland and folktales (you can find a big collection here). Though any story with a clear moral focus I like to complicate.

For me, the Fey mean whimsy paired with danger, you can't have one without the other. Pacts and bargains are made explicitly and implicitly. Being of great power can fall easily, and beings of little power live to see another day.

In an urban setting, the Fey are in alleyways, making bargains or hiding in extra-dimensional spaces. They might be bound to service in some strange and complicated way. They might also be a form of respected and feared political power. They might also thrive on the fringes, bays and quays, taverns and farms right outside of castle walls, or hiding under nearby bridges.

Specifically for Dragon Heist, you could change the Cassalanders to be Fey-connected and I could see it still working.

I use a combo of Tabletopaudio.com and youtube.combackground music.

I try and get it right on the edge of perception so it's there, but no intrusive. I've tried SFX before but, it just takes everyone out of the moment and feels very out of place. Also I'm busy juggling actual DM tasks.

While not dnd, there are a lot of rpg like games out there. The most popular is Sorcery.

Another one is called d&d choices.

I'm sure if you Google those apps, someone out there has a list with comparable apps.

Hope this helps!

Sounds like you need a new fantastic point of view.

Really though, check out the Manual of the Planes from D&D 3E for some inspiration. This describes planes that are canonically part of the D&D setting, answering questions like the ones you posed. The "Endless War" could easily refer to the the blood war between daemons and devils (chaos and order). Check out the Nine Hells of Baator (devils), and the Infinite Layers of the Abyss (daemons) if that sounds interesting. Carceri is a prison. All the transitive planes are odd in the way you seem to want. Just thumb through here to decide on a setting that already exists then research that particular setting more once you've selected it =]

So there is wonderdraft which does a lot of thing inkarnate does. Admittedly never used inkarnate though. I really enjoy this software and it is just downright fun to use. Head over to r/wonderdraft and check it out if you haven’t. It is a one time pay to own software but I think for its ease of use and features it is worth it.

https://www.wonderdraft.net/?m=1

Legendkeeper, also has its own sub, allows you import maps and add a sort of GUI wiki for it. It is still in open beta and requires a monthly pattern subscription to use. The developer will directly respond to questions on his sub and also maintains a discord channel for subscribers, of which are very friendly and helpful.

https://www.patreon.com/legendkeeper

When used in tandem, both of these softwares can do MOST of what you ask. Apologies for formatting I am on my phone.

First off, playing online is a thing - everybody just needs a computer and a webcam with a mic, and talking, seeing each other's faces, and having a good way to play a table-top game is totally there.

Second off, 5e is an intermediate-to-heavy ruleset (most people saying it's rules light are just comparing it to previous rules-heavy versions of D&D). Instead of trying to chew off chunks of D&D, why not just find a more rules-light game to begin with? Less houseruling, less figuring out what you're screwing up with balance and whatnot, and more just picking-it-up-and-playing.

There are a lot of RPGs out there, I can think of a few that immediately spring to mind for voice-only roleplaying.

I would suggest looking into this:
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/screenwriting-101-mastering-the-art-of-story
While it is focused on writing screenplays around a cognitive effect (as opposed to themes) some of the principles in how you create your tone, story worlds, characters, and plots can be adapted to interactive fiction such as game sessions.

The sections on screenwriting for television and the idea of story engines are particularly useful for long campaigns.

However, the central technique he uses assumes an ending that is supported by the rest of the work. A gm does not nearly have as much control over the ending as a writer.

In Denver, there is /r/lfg as well as /r/DenverGamers. meetup.com works pretty well in Denver as well.

Also, with the upswing in tabletop gaming, going to a game store with open tables can work again. we have three I would hit up in my area if I wanted to do that.

Good luck!

For really crazy stuff, I use Doodle.

Half of us are freelancers with very flexible schedules. The other have have fixed schedules, so I asked them which day is best given their schedule. And we designate that as our day. If some people can't make it, we just push to the following week.

If you don't want to use Doodle, you can offer 3 options and ask which ones DON'T work.

I use a little program called Tomboy Notes - it's not as feature-rich as OneNote, nor as big and slow. But it has basic WYSIWYG text formatting, and, most importantly, WikiWord hyperlinking. So say I'm writing about the BBEG, I can include the line (was born in BigCity to EvilParents). BigCity and EvilParents will become hyperlinkable, and if I click them a new empty window will appear. I can rename these later. It's very useful. Maybe I should give OneNote a try, though I'm partial to FOSS myself.

> Nuclino

This looks good, but if you spill over the 50 item/2 GB limit, the former of which is easy in when you're trying to detail a setting, each user must pay $60 a year. I just can't imagine many players doing that.

The inclusion on the party of a 3.5/PF prestige class whose name I forgot a long time ago who could shoot arrows at ridiculous distances made me create zoomable maps in which the encounter starts at 1/8th size (each square counts as 8) and gets to normal size as the combatants approached. We've always played on a mondomat covered table.

Pacon 0077810 Paper Grid Roll with 1" Grid Rule, 34-1/2" x 200' Size, White https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000XP23O8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_GX78MFB3CVND9TJKBTR4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Something like this^

When you say 20$ do you mean for one marker or a pack?

https://www.amazon.ca/Wet-Erase-Overhead-Transparency-Markers-Assorted/dp/B00006IFGW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=wet+erase+markers&qid=1604943940&sprefix=wet+erase+&sr=8-3

If you check the various options you can get a 4count for 10$

Honestly, the D&D starter campaign is really good for that. It's $9.99 on Amazon right now, and comes with a few dice and some pregen characters if you want. It's a dang steal.

Plus it has a dragon, which is neat.

Can use something like this printed on card stock:

https://www.patreon.com/PrintableHeroes

Pick up a pack of pawn bases on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.ca/PAIZO-INC-Pathfinder-Pawns-Assortment/dp/1601256698

If you have an android device, you can use that as a real-time voice changing microphone. It won't work for use with voice chat or gaming on the same android device (because of an android limitation - two apps can't use mic at same time), but can use the android device with PC (AUX cable), with PS4 (USB cable, or use AUX/Y-splitter combination), or XBox (AUX/Y-splitter).

Rating is low for the app because many users expect it to work with mobile game apps on the same device (which is not possible with android limitations).

Try the Darth, Kylo, Storm, Phasma, C3PO effects if you want something related to Star Wars.

Talk like Venom, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Bane, Dalek, Stormtrooper, Captain Phasma, Batman, Optimus Prime, Ultron, C3PO, Gollum, Smaug, Borg:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stereomatch.voice.changer.gaming

Voice Changer for Gaming

Now includes Noise Gate filter button.

Click Help - Gaming for wiring diagrams.

I started using the Game Master 5 app. It lets you add player characters, NPCs, enemies, encounters, treasure lists... just a ton of stuff.

I have it separated to use each "campaign" tab as a different section of notes. This campaign tab is my player's character histories, related NPCs, and potential character arc quests. This campaign tab is for shops, NPCs, and sidequests in this particular region. And so on.

The features you ask for may be best served with a VTT. However not too many work on tablets.

I know a few Android Apps that might work for you too.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.GrayLake.ProDnD_1

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hsolucoes.dmg

If you have some money, but not enough for official minis, try something like this:

https://smile.amazon.com/SCS-Direct-Fantasy-Creatures-Playset/dp/B0746TKNSL/ref=sr_1_1

I'm not sure how good a game it is but the SciFi channel (now Amazon?) had a show called The Expanse which was pretty hard sci-fi. They made an rpg from it, which recently completed a kickstarter.

https://www.amazon.com/Expanse-Roleplaying-Game-Steve-Kenson/dp/1934547972

Free quick start PDF. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/247982/The-Expanse-RPG-Quickstart

The Elder Scrolls Online - Volumes I & II: The Land & The Lore (Box Set)

I think this is just one of the sets of books, but they released the ESO Lore books in print to read up on some. I thought it was a cool idea, but will admit I don’t own any so I don’t know if they’re any good. They are exact copies of the in game books from what I understand though.

Perhaps one of these will help limit the time. Put it in the middle of the table and whenever someone wants to get back to the game they can flip it. When its done game starts back up

> would you buy a campaign setting sourcebook?

Yes. Have done so before, will do so again.

> If so, what features would you look for? > If you've bought them in the past, then what made you want to buy them?

Maps! Descriptions of things on those maps. Interesting personalities. Story stuff.

When it gets to mechanical stuff I could live without them.

As a GM I can come up with stats that balance for my group. I can come up with cool toys. I can come up with fun tactical events.

I buy sourcebooks for the content which takes a lot of time to create: The maps, the personalities, the political conflicts, the broader strategic issues that are occurring.

Example: Ptolus. I have used and re-used people, places, and plots from Ptolus in numerous ways. One of my best RPG purchases ever.

I have the smaller size one (23x26 I think), and it fits really well inside the toolbox I keep everything in. Superconvenient that way.

I use the Pathfinder Flip-Mat with some wet markers.

It's really basic, but it's handy and does the job just fine.

I like books like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Most-Evil-Dictators/dp/1405488263/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476721134

For BBEGs.

Also, there is a lot of inspiration in historical events.

Strongly suggest DMGR2 : Castle Guide. TONS of good data. You can purchase or get PDF online. https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Supplement/dp/0880388374

Chapter 5: Castle Construction has everything you want. - Acquiring Land - The Construction Site - Climate Type - Geography - Ground Cover - Resource Availability - The Work Force - Local Social Structure - Worker Skill - Worker Morale - Castle Design - Castle Modules - Average Construction Time & Cost - Works of Art - Overhead Costs - Final Calculations - Monthly Events

If the player can keep his meta-knowledge separate from character-knowledge, and is happy with the situation, then what's the problem?

The player's gotten the happy thrill of "aw yeah I solved this puzzle I am a genius" and you don't have to worry about the puzzle completely falling flat and the plot being stuck because the players can't solve it, even though we have 18 Intelligence Wizard here who theoretically should.

But to your question of good puzzles for characters and players, I'd start moving towards more puzzles with a physical, hands-on component (like those trapped rings or regular old picture puzzles), rather than mental ones. The physical act of having to move pieces around can delay things. The problem is that it'll be more expensive than cryptogram and math puzzles, and the solution is easier to Google the answer for.

One of my favorites was called "Three Days to Kill". It's an old module back when 3e first came on the scene. The thing I liked about it the most is that it was an inspirational look at how to take something like a Tom Clancy mission and turn it into a swords and sorcery affair.

This is an adventure that can easily be sped through and ran in a single six hour session or thanks to things like the carnival and the investigation scenes can be easily adapted to multiple sessions. It also comes with a very fun mini-game clearly set up for creative pen & paper players. You can find a full review, beware spoilers, here.

This may not jive with your setup and how you handle maps but it has been my favorite way to handle mapping and using battle mats.

I have digital maps of all the places I run my PCs through. I will add a layer to it in some free software (I use Paint.Net). I hook my laptop up to a bigscreen TV that all at the table can see easily. As the PCs explore an area, use the erase tool to reveal the map below.

Like this except the grayed out area would be completely black to the PCs until visible

So they're seeing that on the bigscreen while we have a blank battlegrid on the table.

On the table, I've been using this battlegrid for several years. When combat erupts, a player will quickly sketch the rooms dimensions on the mat, easily referencing the area from the bigscreen I've provided.

I've tried lots of different methods for mapping and such and this has been my favorite so far. I also use a program just for initiative for each encounter so we can jump right into the action!

I did a fairly lengthy Shadowfell section in my campaign, I almost exclusively used a 4e book called The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond Comes with some Despair Cards you can get your players to draw from at intervals/exposure to something horrible.

Party size: 3-4 is the minimum, 6 in my opinion is ideal, though CR is balanced around 4. 8 or more becomes difficult.

Starter kit: For 5e, there's Lost Mine of Phandelver, aka the Starter Set. It comes with some pre-made characters(if a player is not confident enough to make their own), a dice set, and a starter rule book, in case you don't have a PHB.

Other things to have: multiple copies of the PHB are probably overkill. One is enough. A DMG is not required to play, and is mostly helpful when you're building your own campaign. In terms of dice, you don't technically need more that 1 die of each type, but for speed of play it's probably best to have a d20 for each player, 3-5 d4, 3-20 d6 depending on the character level, 2-5 d8, and 1 d12. A battlemat is useful for drawing maps for combat encounters, but you could also use graph paper, or even just verbal descriptions if you prefer. I'm not sure what a plotter is, but you could probably use that as well.

Game length: really a matter of preference. Our group plays 5-6 hour sessions, but for new players, try to go for 3, maybe 4 hours. Start with 3, and keep going if they're still interested.

It is an inventory management app with a D&D 5e spell reference list. If you're interested and you have an android phone you can check out the App of Holding. here, or look at my post history for the feature list and some of the ideas I have for future updates

Youtube has lots of sound effects you can use (by using a Youtube mo3 downloader). It's great for adding atmosphere. I use an old Android phone with Custom Soundboard linked to a small bluetooth speaker. Custom Soundboard allows you to loop sounds and to play sounds over each other.

For example I will have a base effect of people talking in a tavern looped in the background. The when I want another sound over the top (a scream or dog bark) I press a button and that sound is played over the crowd but still hear both.

If you're using D&D 5e, then there's an app called DM5E that seems to work pretty well for lots of stuff.

Play Store Link