Thankfully, it's a pretty broad point of balance. Based on my research, as long as you aren't exclusively running single encounter adventuring days the impact on combat balance is small. For reference, the number of magic items the PCs have generally produces a bigger effect.
Shows the distribution of encounter difficulties in Curse of Strahd for each level, following the suggested levels in the adventure's introduction. Trivial encounters are the most common, but the rest of the difficulties are represented in roughly equal numbers overall. Levels 3 and 6 stand out as the most difficult overall.
Plots the cumulative distribution of encounter difficulties in terms of their XP ratio. The distribution for Curse of Strahd is quite similar to Tyranny of Dragons and Tomb of Annihilation. Storm King's Thunder skews significantly harder while Princes of the Apocalypse is significantly weaker.
Just finished compiling encounter data from Curse of Strahd. When following the level suggestions laid out in the introduction the campaign is pretty average in terms of its difficulty. I image its open world nature is what makes it feel like one of the deadlier campaigns.
Happy New Year from Lazy Wolf Studios lazy-wolves.ghost.io/happy-new-ye...
Shows the average number of saving throw proficiencies monsters have at each challenge rating for the 2014 Monster Manual and the 2024 Monster Manual. For monster from the 2014 MM, the number increases linearly with CR until saturating around 4 at CR 15. And for the 2024 MM the number follows a similar trend until CR 10 where it plateaus around 2.5.
Show the fraction of monsters from the 2014 Monster Manual and 2024 Monster Manual with different numbers of saving throw proficiencies. In both books the majority of monsters have no saving throw proficiencies. But, for those who do, 2014 monsters are most likely to have 3-4, while 2024 monsters are most likely to have either 2 or 4 with 2 being around twice as common.
I recently revisited my 2024 Monster Manual dataset and came across these extra plots on monster saving throw proficiencies.
Finished going through the encounters in Tomb of Annihilation. The average difficulty in those first few levels is noticeably higher than it is in the later ones, but that'll probably come down after random encounters are added in. PotA is next.
D&D SRD 5.2.1 localized to French, German and Spanish! Available now. #dnd #d&d #ttrpg www.dndbeyond.com/srd
I get crafty and find an excellent way to track initiative in the Draw Steel #ttrpg. I share how I made it, so you can too!
alphastream.org/index.php/20...
#DrawSteel
New post analyzing the accuracy of D&D 5e's XP values for encounter building. To my surprise, it may also explain why the 2024 encounter rules were able to drop the encounter XP multiplier.
tomedunn.github.io/the-finished...
#dnd #math #ttrpg
Shawn is running Teos through a solo D&D game. Superimposed between them is a green ogre type creature holding two gingerbread cookes. Art is from the Dragon Delves adventure they are playing.
Solo Actual Play with Dragon Delves!
Can solo play work? Shawn runs Teos through Dragon Delves. See their antics and what they think about the design!
Listen or watch:
masteringdungeons.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1wl...
#DnD #TTRPG
A mockup of the four thick Designers & Dragons: Origins books adorned with colorful illustrations in gold and purple depicting dragons of various ages stalking and frolicking. In the background, a mosaic of product covers from TSR's early years.
Delve into the early history of the hobby. Designers & Dragons: Origins examines the inspiration, design, lore, and stumbles behind *each and every product* TSR published for OD&D, Basic D&D, and AD&D 1E.
Pledge today to access the expanded 140 page backer-only PDF!
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...
Designers & Dragons: Origins is on Backerkit.
We're $3,000 from the next stretch goal, and me writing a few notes about more adventures.
The covers of the CORE20 playtest PDFs, with art with Xavier Beaudlet. The “Playtest Player’s Guide” features an adventurer and their white tiger companion looking out at a haunted tower. The “Playtest Magic Grimoire” features an adventurer stepping into a glowing portal in a dark forest. The “Playtest GM Guidelines” features a shadowy archway opening up into a jungle ruin. And the “Playtest Creature Package” features a red dragon awaiting an adventurer standing in the entrance to their cavern lair.
The #CORE20RPG is a new approach to d20 fantasy, built on a foundation of freeform characters with no classes and no levels. It turns the aging “pass/fail” core d20 mechanic into fuel for shared storytelling — and you can play for free right now!
core20rpg.blogspot.com/p/the-core20...
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I do this with my campaign notes too. My favorite part is getting to cross off things after I use them. It makes prepping for the next session so much easier.
The conference software selected the wrong mike, so I sound like I'm yelling into a landline telephone, but otherwise I had a terrific conversation with @superdan.net and @paulsgameblog.bsky.social of Wandering DMs.
I just got my physical copy of Adventures in Faerûn and I couldn't be happier with it. It's filled with short adventure outlines and key location descriptions, making it perfect for kitbashing. It's like it was written with my DMing style in mind!
Wish Halloween lasted longer? Don't forget Sunday we'll chat with @themonstersknow.com about his new book, Making Enemies, so you can keep surprising players with new monsters in D&D and any RPG. Pose your questions in the live chat! #dnd #monsters #halloween www.youtube.com/live/X_MndUp...
Tonight we have @zigorously.bsky.social & @glyphtide.games joining me to talk about each other's games in this episode of Now You've Zine It! A monthly show where we talk two creators explore and ask questions about each other's work.
At 7p et we explore ChainXLink & Rillem!
twitch.tv/tonyplusone!
An image from Draw Steel of a female warrior in red, gold, and black armor is superimposed between Shawn and Teos. The warrior is holding her sword forward and shouting a challenge.
Draw Steel Combat Basics!
Teos and Shawn examine how Draw Steel creates tactical, cinematic, and heroic play with its combat system!
Listen or watch:
masteringdungeons.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlrI...
#DnD #TTRPG #DrawSteel
Justice Arman, Shawn Merwin, and Teos Abadia are all laughing as they discuss a design topic. An image of the new Heroes of the Borderlands box is superimposed between Justice and Shawn.
Inside Heroes of the Borderlands: Justice Arman on creating D&D’s new starter set!
The fascinating project to create a new starter set updating the famed module B2, The Keep on the Borderlands!
Listen or watch:
masteringdungeons.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKZP...
#DnD #TTRPG
Help me pursue my dream and get ready to back this, what whaaaaaaat
Hey friends, seeking your help. What should Lazy Wolf Studios do next? Share your opinion on the current #TTRPG projects being developed and help choose which one goes next: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Teos and Chris Honkala, aka Treantmonk, discuss the Acquisitions Incorporated news. The logos for Acq Inc and Daggerheart are superimposed.
Treantmonk joins us for UAs!
News: Acq Inc Switches to Daggerheart!! Stranger Things at Target! And more!
Listen or watch:
masteringdungeons.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Gv...
#DnD #TTRPG #Daggerheart #AcqInc
Acq. Inc. finished at PAX with plunging a dagger into a heart and are switching to Daggerheart with Christopher Perkins running.
There isn’t a web post on it yet that I can find.
Link below starts at the news item 7:23 in the video
#pax #daggerheart #acqinc #ttrpg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Gv...
The PREQUEL pre-order store is now open on Backerkit until Sep 19! Get your copy of this tactical storytelling game of historic sacrifice!
The digital version of this game is going out to backers this week! Print versions of the game will go out later this year.
Shawn and Teos discuss Draw Steel! The book cover for Heroes is superimposed, depicting forces of good and evil in battle.
Draw Steel Negotiations and Montages!
We discuss how Draw Steel’s new systems for montages and negotiations felt during our recent game, reviewing the lofty goals and interesting design.
Listen or watch:
masteringdungeons.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Mw...
#DnD #TTRPG
It's worth mentioning that the adventures in those books are adaptations of adventures from previous editions. It's not surprising they would follow different standards than the ones made just for 5e.
Plots the amount of combat XP, in terms of full adventuring days, for each level across several official 5e adventure modules. Most of the adventures have around 1 adventuring day worth of encounters at 1st level, with the amount increasing to 4 adventuring days by 20th level. Three adventures stand out as outliers: Tales from the Yawning Portal, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and Quests from the Infinite Staircase. All three of these adapt adventures from previous editions, while the others do not.
I've finished compiling encounter data for all seven 5e anthology adventure books, as well as two campaign modules. This shows how much combat the PCs could face at each level for each book (including optional encounters). TftYP, GoS, and QftIS stand out as offering substantially more than the rest!
Today on the Lazy Wolf Studios YouTube Channel, I take a deep dive into @koboldpress.com' Game Master's Guide for Tales of the Valiant and talk about why, for me, this is an essential #TTRPG book.
Are you going to Gamehole Con? I am too! Come play games with me! www.gameholecon.com/events#conID...
