A Simple D&D Adventure Template

By JANicholinni from FictionMission.com
December 12, 2018

Here you are, sitting down somewhere, and you decide to write an adventure but don't know where to begin. I have been there many times until I figured out a Simple D&D Adventure Template. I use this model typically to get the general ideas out of my head and on paper where they can be seen. There is no fancy document or graph. No boring slide presentations, or secret recipes passed down from Dragon parents on the Eve of a summer solstice once every thousand years. There is simply a list of questions to organize your thoughts. The best part is this template works with any setting, genre, or adventure. How does it work with any adventure, you ask? Because all adventures have the same basic components. They are listed below.

The Simple D&D Adventure Template

A word of advice on how to use the Simple D&D Adventure Template before you begin. Creativity and Inspiration come in many forms and not always in an order that you would like. These questions are in no particular order. Feel free to answer them in whatever order is easiest for your style of creative inspiration. I bounce around a lot myself so don't feel like you need to answer them in order.

What Is/Are The Conflict(s)?
What Are The Conflict(s) Win Condition(s)?
What Could Happen If They Win?
What Are The Conflict(s) Lose Condition(s)?
What Could Happen If They Lose?
What Are The Possible Adventure Hooks?
Who Is The Quest Giver?
Where Is The Quest Going To Happen?
Who Is The Villain?
What Is/Are The Villain's Goal(s)l And Motivation(s)?
What Is The Adventure Title? (Optional)
Don't Over Prepare.

What Is An Adventure?

Before we dive into what The Simple D&D Adventure Template is we need to know what an adventure is.

So what is an adventure?

Google Dictionary says:

ad·ven·ture

/adˈven(t)SHər,ədˈven(t)SHər/Submit
noun

1. an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.
"her recent adventures in Italy"
synonyms: exploit, escapade, deed, feat, experience
"her recent adventures in Italy"

verb DATED
1. engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory.
"they had adventured into the forest"

I would consider dungeon diving, traveling cross country, exploration of wilderness, catacombs and ancient ruins all adventures. There’s also the mad wizard’s lab, haunted castles, recently empty graveyards, and all manner of social or royal court-based intrigue style games as well.

Adventure in a fantasy world is much the same as it is in the real world with a few notable changes. Challenges, traps, puzzles, skill checks, saving throws, and battling the monsters or antagonists. A fantasy world is only as rich as you and your gamer friends make it.

Adventure for RPG's is typically a series of related events and challenges. In older D&D editions, a series of related challenges and themed encounters was called a “module”. Each module was an adventure. Some were standalone while others built on previous modules. Each had its own story arc, challenges, unique monsters, NPCs (Non-player characters) and a kick ass title. But don't get hung up on the title. Your group should probably play the adventure first.

Now let's dive into each question so we can understand how the Simple D&D Adventure Template works.

What Is/Are The Conflict(s)?

This question is the meaty core of what your players will see. Is it invading goblins? A storm giant army raining stones from the sky? Archdevil schemes fighting for souls? Maybe an artifact has resurfaced and has begun causing havoc in the city. Could there be a subplot with a Chancellor trying to take over the appointed council thereby overthrowing the current monarchy? Perhaps there's an armada blocking all sea going trade from the harbor.

This question is probably the easiest to answer as this is how most people think in terms of what adventure they want. What game they want to buy, or movie to watch.

There must be conflict. Nobody wants to play a game where you just sit around.

What Are The Conflict(s) Win Condition(s)?

Win conditions can be as simple or complex as you want. A win condition is simply what the players need to do to accomplish the goal. Common goals are things like defeat this enemy, retrieve this item or person, or find information on this. There can and should be multiple ways to achieve a goal. Try to base this off of what type of game style your players prefer.

In my experience simpler is better. No more than three steps to a complex win condition. Any more than that and people get frustrated to the point of not wanting to play. Keep in mind every group is different and every game is different. If everyone has agreed to a heavy court intrigue style game you might be able to get away with more complex conditions.

If it's a hack-n-slash style, then defeating a big bad is usually all the players want. Sometimes I change it up and add a second condition but that condition is obvious.

“You killed the shark demon before they could complete the ritual. However, the portal is still open and the giant yellow eye is staring at you from the other side.”

The next win condition is obvious. Close the portal. The ‘how’ might not be as obvious but be flexible and allow for creative solutions. If they are having to hard a time and failing knowledge checks let time do its work. The power source fueling the portal is spent. Or You interrupted the incantation. Wild fluctuations and spurts of unfocused energy lash out from the portal itself. After a few moments the portal collapses in a blinding flash of white hot light. If you want them to work for it when they search the room or area have them find a letter or notes that reveal a clue on how to close the portal. There are many solutions. Being able to read the table and have multiple win conditions will help make the game better. You add some stress and when they figure it out, they feel like a badass. 

What Could Happen If They Win?

This should be no surprise to any experienced DM or GM. Standard answers include everything from treasure, boons and favors or magical stuff to wishes.

Feel free to get creative with rewards based on how the players handled the situations. If they were doing something in the public's eye, then adjust the reward according to how the population sees it. This can lead to some very interesting role playing encounters with the town's folk.

What Are The Conflict(s) Lose Condition(s)?

Now here is where things can get dicey. Nobody at the table expects the players to lose. To not complete the quest. To team wipe, too (total party kill).

As a storyteller I want my players to succeed. I want them to save the day. I also want to make them use those resources and drop at least one of them to unconscious. It needs to be a challenge.

Occasionally though, they need to lose. They need to be shown that players don't always get to win. You can't be 3rd level expecting to fight a Pit Fiend or a family of 4 Cyclops and survive. Sometimes it's helpful to throw an encounter that can't be won through combat. They need to sneak, avoid the encounter or use their words creatively.

What Could Happen If They Lose?

This is something as storytellers we might not want, but it does happen. So how do we plan for this? The loose conditions are typically the opposite of the win conditions.

• Usually it's as simple as:
• Didn't retrieve the item or person.
• Their charge was killed.
• Didn't deal with or defeat the main antagonist.
• Failed to complete the quest in the allotted time frame.
• TPK just happened. (Total Party Kill)

Depending on what your win conditions are there might be degrees of success and failure. It will be easier for you if you don't give too much thought to the specifics of this as you don't know what the players will do. Surprises happen.

What Are The Possible Adventure Hooks?

An adventure hook is a way for you to suggest whatever adventure it is that you want to run. It's a way for you to entice the players with a promise of adventure, treasure or some other significant reward.

Some sample adventure hooks can be as simple and straightforward as a Wanted poster. A tavern conversation. A note in that coin purse the rogue liberated from a rich noble. Even the town crier can be a quick and simple lead for an adventure hook.

Some hooks require more planning. A letter or ledger implicating someone local found among those bandits’ belongings. Perhaps nothing more than a signet ring. Or one piece to a three-piece puzzle. One of the party's contacts or sponsor's is having trouble. If the players decide not to help they can start losing benefits like discounts and such.

There is an advanced storyteller skill called Foreshadowing. This is a very useful skill and every attempt to develop it should be made.

During an adventure or an adventure closing, drop subtle hints of some seemingly unrelated thing or event that might happen. This thing or event is usually unrelated to the current events. At least on the surface. It depends on your skill as a storyteller.

The key to foreshadowing is to present the information as a side note with other, more pressing information. Say the party is in a powerful monster lair. In the treasure they find the magical Rod they were sent to recover. They also find the recent bodies of another group or small military unit and someone or something they were chasing. There's a letter. Maybe it's in code or just spelled out. It's short and vague. Maybe it’s a list of rare ingredients. There is no way the players know what these ingredients do when put together. It could also be only part of the list. Over the next few adventures, more lists are found. What does this foreshadow? What is the common thread that says these are all the same people working towards a goal? That is foreshadowing. It makes the world feel real. It gives the players a choice to peruse this before it happens and becomes a big problem.

The best adventure hooks pique their interest in some way. Use current events, an aspect of someone's backstory or if you have been listening to their conversations, dangle that carrot. 

Who Is The Quest Giver?

The quest giver can be anyone from a local peasant to the tavern owner to the king. Depending on your group's morality they might work for free a few times. A peasant that cannot pay but his daughter was taken by some raider tribe is a classic trope.

The tavern owner having a giant rat problem can pay with free rooms for a period of time and ale. Don't be afraid to use bartering of services or items other than money. This will add variety and game immersion. Just like a flea market today it's not always about the money. Sometimes it's a service, a boon or material supplies.

Keep the reward in line with the quest giver's means. In other words, don't have a peasant offering keys to the kingdom and don't have a king offering some basic equipment. At least not without some hefty story plot to back it up. Just stretch your imagination a bit.

Where Is The Quest Going To Happen?

This is a great question and one that will help you actually build the adventure in a way that is realistic. 

Dungeons are easy. Underground, usually a little stale and damp. Cooler than the surface or at least the temperature is more stable. There are premade maps all over the internet.

Towns and cities are more complicated; with a local government and such. Hopefully you have already done most of that world building. Most likely, you are giving the quest from a city or town. The possibilities of where the adventure can lead however, are many. Each one of them is exciting.

Let's not forget the many types of biomes. Artic, desert, jungle, and plains stretching as far as the eye can see. Each one has its own challenges. A few minutes of research and drawing upon your many hours of movies and television plus any books you have read should give you ample material to work with.

Are you feeling ambitious? Is your party a powerful one? How about the adventure taking place on an elemental plane? D&D is rich in planes lore.

Who Is The Villain?

The question ‘who is the villain?’ assumes that your adventuring party is largely considered “The Good Guys”. A better phrasing might be:
Who is the antagonist?
Either way somebody wants something and the players are in the way, knowingly or not.

This adversary is the big bad in the adventure. The boss, head honcho, the big cheese. Whatever you call it this is the one that needs to be fleshed out a bit to give your adventure structure and purpose. By defining this question, it makes the rest of your adventure building easier. Check for a later post on making villains. This can be a blog article all on its own.

• So how does having a fleshed out antagonist make building the adventure easier? There are many ways, but the ones that help me the most are as follows.
• Providing a theme for the “bad guys”
• Establishes a level of power for the “bad guy group”
• Helps with improv storytelling by knowing goals and motivations.
• Helps with prewriting a few catch phrases or general dialogue.
• Lets me plan ways to drop future hooks or foreshadow events.

What Is/Are The Villain's Goal(s)l And Motivation(s)?

Goals and Motivations are not the same thing. This is actually a two-part question.

Goals are what the antagonist wants to achieve. This can be anything, from attaining a certain object to world domination to becoming a god or Divine being.

Motivations are what drives the antagonist forward guiding their decisions. Is it greed, revenge or just the need for absolute power. Perhaps they want to exemplify law but in their version. Maybe they plan to run the underbelly of society by taking over one guild at a time.

Does this process seem a lot like building a character? It should because that's what you need to do for your most memorable villains.

What Is The Adventure Title? (Optional)

The title is optional. Veterans of D&D remember adventure titles that were huge in their day. Under Mountain, Temple of Elemental Evil, White Plume Mountain, Tomb of Horrors and many more.
These however, were published adventures. They needed a title by default.

Newer adventures or republished adventures with 5e conversions are titles like Rise of Tiamat, Storm King's Thunder, and Curse of Strahd.

You are in no way obligated to come up with a title unless you want to be published or are streaming the adventure. Titles help us remember what the adventure was about. If you feel like this will help you better organize your adventures, then I advise you to take a few minutes and title your work. I do. I have a series of four adventures that I titled. No, they are not published sadly. I never got to test them first. The point is that titles make organization easier.

Well that's all I have for you now. I know some of these questions lead to more questions if you let them. It all depends on how deep you want to go, but eventually you need to say I have enough info. If you fill in all the gaps, then your players will have nowhere to go. By that I mean you can actually restrict the story unfolding if you have to much information. Leave openings and have multiple ways for events to unfold. Players do things you will never anticipate.

There are times when I don't answer all of these questions. I simply have a few bad guys picked out and a goal. Sometimes I run an adventure with nothing more than an index card with a few bullet points.

Keep in mind I have been doing this for a number of years and have gotten comfortable with improv. With practice and a few simple techniques, you can get there to. The main questions I have answered before any adventure revolve around the villain:
Who are they?
What do they want?
What are they willing to do to get it?

Don't Over Prepare

The above questions are a simple framework to get you thinking. Fill out as many of them as you need to and write that adventure. Remember to leave room for other things to happen. Your players will make many decisions that you didn't expect. Players outnumber the DMs and simple math states they have the advantage of numbers. It's usually four or more players to one DM.

Don't let this bother you. That's the way it should be. You aren't in a competition to win. That's not what D&D or most RPG games are about. It's about sharing a story. Yes, that story involves combat and other obstacles but it's how you interact with each other. It's about how much the dice love or hate you that session. How do your players overcome these situations? At its heart D&D, I believe, is a tactical combat game that allows people to tell an epic story of overcoming the odds.

As the DM you have a responsibility to lead by example. Present a challenge and let the players decide how to beat it. Celebrate in their victories and comfort them in their losses. So don't over prepare. Keep your prep simple. Leave multiple avenues for success. Flesh out that villain and watch as the story unfolds.

Thank you for reading this blog article written especially for ThreadRaiders. You can follow them on Twitter (insert link here), subscribe on Twitch and check out their podcast (insert podcast link here).

You can also follow me on Twitter (@J_A_Nicholinni).
Follow my Fiction Mission Facebook page @JANicholinni
And stop by FictionMission.com for other content and blog articles.

“Writing The Road To Adventure”
Your Gamer Buddy,
JANicholinni

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Why I Chose Hybrid Barbarian Monk for My Character in 5E

For one of the D&D 5E campaigns I usually run as DM, another player has taken over as DM for an adventure arc. As such, I had an opportunity to roll a character based on the legend and lore I already know from the overall story arc. Initially, I opted to try and roll a 5E Paladin of Bahamut with the Archetype Oath of Redemption. My thought process for this was I wanted a Paladin build that could play both tank and absorb heavy damage.

At the time, I had not considered the impact of the Oath features of this Archetype requiring use of a reaction or bonus action. In 5th Edition, action economy is a hugely important piece of the puzzle to effective combat and character usage. The result of this build is in our party’s first real combat encounter during my player’s DM-ed adventure, we were nearly TPKed. While my Paladin did his job, and kept one or two of the other characters from dropping too low in HP, the build struggled to protect more than one character per round. This was an unintended consequence of action economy in combat, and so I rethought the usefulness of the build.

What I’ve decided to do, instead, is roll a new character with the player DMs permission. Due to the overall story arc, I am able to dip into some pretty cool hybrid combinations of classes and backgrounds, and as such I made the decision to roll a Barbarian Monk with the Archetype Way of the Kensei. I brought this build up in the ThreadRaiders Discord channel #ttrpg-classroom for some feedback, and the question came up asking why opt for the dip into Monk as opposed to either straight Monk or straight Barbarian.

Diving into the question led me to compare the three options and what features each provided or did not acquire by 7th level -- the current level of my character. This seemed like a perfect opportunity for another blog post on the ThreadRaiders blog, so how about we dive right into it?

With the bump to 7th level, the straight Barbarian build in D&D 5th Edition receives the following features:

• 4 Rages per long rest with +2 Rage Damage
• Barbarian Unarmored Defense
• Reckless Attack
• Danger Sense
• 1st Primal Path Archetype class feature
• Ability Score Improvement
• Extra Attack
• Fast Movement
• 2nd Primal Path Archetype class feature
• Feral Instinct

With the bump to 7th level, the straight Monk build in D&D 5th Edition receives the following features:

• Monk Unarmored Defense
• Martial Arts with 1d6 Martial Arts die
• 7 Ki points per long rest
• Unarmored Movement
• 1st Monastic Tradition Archetype class feature
• Deflect Missiles
• Ability Score Improvement
• Slow Fall
• Extra Attack
• Stunning Strike
• Ki-Empowered Strikes
• 2nd Monastic Tradition Archetype class feature
• Evasion
• Stillness of Mind

For the sake of simplicity, the build I have chosen will be the one we use for comparison. That build is 2 levels of Barbarian and 5 levels of Monk. Further, I will not be comparing the Archetype options for straight builds or hybrid builds, just to keep this article at a readable length.

With the 2 levels of Barbarian and 5 levels of Monk hybrid build, the character gains the following:

Barbarian (2)

• 2 Rages with +2 Rage Damage per long rest
• Unarmored Defense (Barbarian)
• Reckless Attack
• Danger Sense

Monk (5)

• Unarmored Defense (Monk)
• Martial Arts with 1d6 Martial Arts die
• 5 Ki points per long rest
• Unarmored Movement
• 1st Monastic Tradition Archetype class feature
• Deflect Missiles
• Ability Score Improvement
• Slow Fall
• Extra Attack
• Stunning Strike

The above hybrid dip assumes the character at 2nd level will meet the prerequisite Dexterity and Wisdom scores for the multiclass into Monk (13 for each).

What does the hybrid dip lose out on compared to a straight 7th level Barbarian?

• 2 Rages per long rest
• 1st and 2nd Primal Path Archetype class feature
• Feral Instinct

Before we compare the straight 7th level Monk to the hybrid dip, let’s consider what the loss of the 2 additional Rages per long rest means.

While in a Rage, while not wearing heavy armor the character gains:

• Advantage on all Strength checks and Strength saving throws
• When making a melee weapon attack using Strength, gain Rage Damage bonus as listed in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table (+2 at level 7)
• Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage

It is important to note here the Rage Damage bonus for 2nd level Barbarian and 7th level Barbarian are identical.

This means the dip into Monk with the 2nd level Barbarian does not see a loss of Rage Damage per Rage, but does see a loss of 2 Rages per long rest. If we assume during the 2 extra Rages that the character is using the Attack Action and Extra Attack every round, this equals 4 Rage Damage lost per round during each Rage lost or in total approximately 40 Rage Damage at 10 rounds per Rage, or 80 Rage Damage in total per long rest -- assuming, of course, every attack by this character strikes true on its intended target.

Losing Feral Instincts hurts somewhat, as this means the straight Barbarian would likely act sooner in turn order given the advantage on initiative rolls, but on average only once out of every two combats and even then not necessarily by a large enough margin to consider this a must-have lost feature.

The extra Rage Damage, on paper, looks like an easy choice, but consider that the dip into Monk means 5 uses of Flurry of Blows per long rest, and that damage difference is muted a bit. We will dive into that more further down in the article.

What does the hybrid dip lose out on compared to a straight 7th level Monk?

• 2 Ki points per long rest
• 5 ft of Unarmored Movement
• Ki-Empowered Strikes
• 2nd Monastic Tradition Archetype class feature
• Evasion
• Stillness of Mind

Much like with the 2nd level Barbarian, the Martial Arts die for 5th level Monk and 7th level Monk are identical.

This means the dip into Monk with the 2nd level Barbarian does not see a loss of Unarmed Strike damage per Ki point use, but does see a loss of 2 Ki points per long rest. If we assume the use of the 2 extra Ki points as 2 uses of Flurry of Blows, this equals an average of 7 damage per use of Flurry of Blows to a maximum of 12 damage per use of Flurry of Blows. This extra damage plays out to be roughly 14 damage on average per long rest, and 24 damage at maximum per long rest.

On paper, the extra damage from the additional uses of Flurry of Blows may seem worthwhile, but consider the hybrid dip means the character would also receive the extra Rage Damage twice per long rest while Raging.

Stillness of Mind, Evasion, and Ki-Empowered Strikes are nice, but are only situationally useful. If the character isn’t subjected to a Dexterity saving throw, then Evasion is muted. If the character isn’t affected by any effects causing the charmed or frightened conditions, then Stillness of Mind is muted. If the character’s foes are not resistant or immune to bludgeoning damage, then Ki-Empowered Strikes are muted.

With all of the above taken into account, the real question is what is the average damage output per round given the right scenario?

For this scenario, we will give the straight Barbarian a Greatsword for the slight increase in damage on average over a Greataxe or similar heavy, 2-handed weapon. We will give the straight Monk and hybrid Barbarian Monk a Quarterstaff.

In determining the number of rounds we should compare for this article, I fell upon a few places where most consider the average combat in an average D&D session for an average group of 4-5 characters to last for roughly 5 rounds or fewer.

With this said, we will consider the Barbarian to rage for the full 5 rounds of combat while using an Attack Action each round coupled with the Extra Attack from 5th level Barbarian. We will consider the Monk to use the Attack Action coupled with the Extra Attack from 5th level Monk, and then use their bonus action each turn to Flurry of Blows for the same 5 rounds of combat as the Barbarian. Lastly, we will consider the hybrid to rage for the full 5 rounds of combat while using an Attack Action each round coupled with the Extra Attack from 5th level Monk, and then use their bonus action each turn to Flurry of Blows for the same 5 rounds of combat.

The average attack for the straight Barbarian with the Greatsword is 7 damage. When we add in the 4 damage from Strength modifier, the 3 damage from Proficiency bonus, and the 2 Rage damage, we find the average successful strike while raging to deal 16 damage with a Greatsword. The straight Barbarian does get the Extra Attack from using the Attack Action, so this character’s average damage per round in the above scenario is 32. Not bad.

The average attack for the straight Monk with the Quarterstaff or Unarmed Strike is 4 damage. When we add in the 4 damage from Strength modifier, and the 3 damage from Proficiency bonus, we find the average successful strike to deal 11 damage either using Quarterstaff or Unarmed Strike. The straight Monk does get the Extra Attack from using the Attack Action followed by a Flurry of Blows using their bonus action for a full 4 attacks per round, which equals 44 damage.

Did you see that coming? I was caught off-guard while working up these numbers by the difference between the straight Monk and straight Barbarian when looking at average damage per round.

Now, let’s look at the average damage of the hybrid. The average attack for the hybrid with the Quarterstaff and Unarmed Strike is 4 damage. When we add in the 4 damage from Strength modifier, the 3 damage from Proficiency bonus, and the 2 Rage damage, we find the average attack with the Quarterstaff or Unarmed Strike to deal 13 damage. The hybrid does get the Extra Attack with the Quarterstaff from using the Attack Action with the Quarterstaff followed by a Flurry of Blows with Unarmed Strike using their bonus action, which equals 26 damage with the Quarterstaff and 26 damage with Unarmed Strike, for a total of 52 points of damage on average.

It is important to note I did a lot of research into whether Unarmed Strikes receive the Rage Damage from raging, and since Unarmed Strikes are considered a melee weapon attack, they do.

If we consider the full 5 rounds of an average combat, that is a difference of 40 points of damage between the hybrid Barbarian Monk and the straight Monk, and 100 points of damage between the hybrid Barbarian Monk and the straight Barbarian.

Hopefully, this article can shed some light on a very rarely used multiclass option which as you can see from just the average numbers can be fairly handy at dealing large amounts of damage consistently. This is also without considering the Archetype choices for each build which could change the numbers quite a bit, but then we get into a lot more variables and things become significantly harder to truly quantify accurately.

If you liked this article, feel free to give me a follow on Twitter @SeanRingrose, or hit me up in the ThreadRaiders Discord #ttrpg-classroom chat channel. Also, make sure to check out the ThreadRaiders on Twitter for more articles like this one, as well as plenty of great TableTop RPG content.

Keeping Combat Moving and Players Engaged

Recently in the ThreadRaiders TableTop RPG Classroom Discord channel, the question came up asking for methods to deal with players who tend to wait until their turn in combat to plan out their strategy, movement, and action for their turn. The overall issue focuses on dealing with out of character delays during combat which tend to pull players out of the immersion and intensity of the moment/encounter.

One of the first suggestions shared by Festive Jordan focused on using a physical “turn timer”, such as an egg timer or 1 minute sand timer, and then took it a step further by offering an in-character/in-game method reasoning for use of the timer.

“'For the legends say that too much time spent in the cavern will cause a person to lose their mind. Why, I once knew an adventurer that was in there only 5 minutes before starting to hear things. She came out  a changed woman.”

This is a great example of coupling an out-of-character tool to enhance in-character immersion and engagement. By limiting the time player’s have to think during their turn, it enforces the idea that turns should be quick, and that combat has a natural cadence and flow in, and out of, character. Jordan also noted this method can reduce the amount of table talk, which also can speed up combat fairly significantly.

Another experienced DM, TK, suggested adding in out-of-character timed in-character elements.

“My party last week almost lost their only tank because of quicksand. Their first reaction create or destroy water. I gave them 2 minutes to figure out how to save him in real time, because 140 lbs of armor 30ft cube of water in a 15 foot deep hole that's 2 feet wide, he gonna die.”

What this particular suggestion does is help enforce the concept of urgency in combat, and also in terms of character interactions. Two minutes is a very short time for everybody in a party to yell at each other, all the while one poor PC is sinking deeper and deeper. The next time combat comes up for this party, I suspect the players will be far more aware to be quick with their turns and consistently plan for the unexpected and the unknown.

The point was also raised by Psychotic Monk in the Discord channel about having players roll both attack and damage dice simultaneously in an effort to expedite combat turns even more.

“I for one try to always remember to roll my hit rolls along with my damage rolls at the same time. It saves some time and I have tried to group my dice, even different colors for difference modifiers.. since i am playing a fighter/Brute (UA experimental class).”

Lastly, try to remember as a DM it is your responsibility to set clear expectations about how you expect and desire combat to flow. Just as you can’t read player’s minds, they can’t read yours. If you share your expectations, you’re much more likely to have players try to meet them.

What methods do you use to keep your combat flow moving, and your players engaged during combat? Join the ThreadRaiders Discord today and jump into the TTRPG Classroom channel to share and discuss your methods, or send us a tweet @ThreadRaiders on Twitter.

Also, if you like the content of this post, do us a favor and share it on your favorite social media platform. You can also hit me up on Twitter over @SeanRingrose. Stay tuned to this space, as well, for future posts similar to this one.

--Sean Ringrose

The Thread Raider Extra Life Event Is Fast Approaching!

Can you believe that in less a month, we'll be knee deep into  48 hour Extra Life streaming extravaganza!  Not only that, here at Thread Raiders, any donation made to the Thread Raiders and its member's Extra Life Page will go to Children's Hospital!  If that isn't a good cause, I don't know what is!

You'll be able to find our channel at twitch.tv.threadraiders, where we will be streaming the two day event!  The following is the general run down of what's going to be happening during the Thread Raiders Extra Life:

FRIDAY

 Date: Friday Nov 2nd
 Time: 4:00 pm - 7:30 pm Eastern
 Game: Dueling DMs! (Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition)
 DMs: @Daquine and @ChaoticAnarachy

 Javier The Mighty, the old and dying Warforged Conquest Paladin, has lived a long life full of battle, fighting and conquest.  However, all warriors must  at a ripe old age, he is dying.  Javier’s last wish is to die and be laid to rest at the resting place set for the highest level of his order of paladins, the Temple of Tempus, which is the temple and deity he pledged his life to.
 

 Two Dungeon Masters compete against each other in a marvelous rendition of Alice and Wonderland. Daquine and Chaotic will take us on a horrifically enchanted journey into a much darker version of wonderland. Will you be able to keep your sanity? Let's find out! 

  ---------------------------------------------

 Date: Friday Nov 2nd
 Time: 9:00 pm – 12:00 am Eastern
 Game: Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition : Rebels of Cloudberg!
 DM: @Metzgirl
 Nobles in the town of Clouberg have been having an increasing number of thefts of a specific type of valuable property, and they know it's the thieves’ guild. However, they have no evidence and the town's police won't stir up trouble unnecessarily. The nobles have had enough, so they're hiring a group outside the law to come take care of things.

--------------------------------------------- 

 SATURDAY

 Date: Saturday Nov 3rd
 Time: 12:00 am – 8:00 am Eastern
 Game: Tales from Aud Bin Chuur
 DM: @Murasakininja
 The adventurers have tracked a rash of disappearances across Chuur, down into uncharted miles of the Deep Below. They’ve come across the unknown at every corner, both wondrous and terrifying. As the search comes to an end, what they find might just blow their minds! 

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 Date: Saturday Nov 3rd
 Time: 9:00 am -12:00 pm Eastern
 Game: Honey Heist: Elder Scrolls Theme
 DM: @Dire Foxicorn
 Four adventurers are summoned by Sheogorath to obtain an item for him. Because he likes the look of them. For now. As a reward, he will gift them with something ... golden, glimmering, and beautiful. More beautiful than cheese? Well, maybe. Depends on how they do.

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 Date: Saturday Nov 3rd
 Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern
 Podcast: Nerds from Nowhere!
 https://www.nerdsfromnowhere.com/

 What is a nerd? Someone who loves D&D, sci-fi, fantasy, and video games? While we at Nerds From Nowhere may love all of these things, we like to think of a nerd as someone who is passionate about something. So whether you are a sports nerd or a Star Wars nerd, a fishing nerd or an anime nerd, a music nerd or a science nerd, we want to share that passion and excitement with you. Join us as we discus all facets of nerd culture, even the ones you wouldn't normally associate with nerds.

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 Date: Saturday Nov 3rd
 Time: 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm Eastern
 Game: Truckin’ Turtles!
 DM: Bisonic

 “An action packed adventure with ninjas, ghosts, superbeings, mutants, and danger in the Palladium Megaverse”!

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 Date: Saturday Nov 3rd
 Time: 7:30 pm -11:00 pm Eastern
 Game: Vampire the Masquerade - Emerald City Nights
 DM: @SoMattyGameZ
 Seattle, the Emerald City, bastion of the Grunge movement, lays quiet in 1996 after the unprecedented growth in the mortal population. All the while, the Kindred have seen their numbers dwindle after a string of assassinations and corresponding death sentences. As the long serving Prince struggles to retain her power, a new batch of leaders ascend to bring a new world order to the City on the Sound.

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SUNDAY

 Date: Sunday Nov 4th
 Time: 12:00 am – 3:00 am Eastern
 Game: Hallway
 DM: @Maxine_Baughman
 There is a hallway, with a bunch of doors, all you have to do is go through a door complete the challenge and exit the room. Each room is completely different, but having to do with each type of and counter one may find in a full campaign.
  -------------------------------------------------------

 Date: Sunday Nov 4th
 Time: 4:00 am – 8:00 am
 Game: Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition : Desert Heist Theme
 DM @David Steele

 Wazen Al-Shamuri has had enough of the competition damaging his business and so he has turned to the rogues of the Golden Song to ruin his enemy.

Your goal: rob the famed Lounge of a Thousand Whispers, a pleasure salon that caters to the rich and powerful. Your reward: everything you can carry away before the executioner's blade finds you!

 -------------------------------------------------------

 Date: Sunday Nov 4th
 Time: 8:30 am – 12:00 pm Eastern
 Game: Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition : TPK THEATRE
 DM: @TK (Kanthos88)

 The TPK Theatre, a set of one-shots guaranteed to delight with death and destruction. Made for 1-6 players with interesting ways to role-play and potentially die in fun and interesting ways.

 ----------------------------------------------

 Date: Sunday Nov 4th
 Time: 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM Eastern
 Game: Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition
 DM: @ChaoticAnarachy
 Sponsored by @TabletopLoot – TabletopLoot.com

 The game where the donations change the fate of the characters!! Donate to add dice rolls, monsters, change alignments, and more!

 Fools March a well-known village located on the material plane, where travelers from all realms and worlds far and wide would come to visit and feel accepted. A place known for its charisma and acceptance of all races and class has been cursed and the people have suffered greatly. With no way to hunt for food and water becoming scarce, they have learned to grow radishes, potatoes, and rhubarb to live on. Many, if not all, suffer from malnutrition and most face certain death. The buildings are worn down and need rebuilding. People, who were stuck here during their travels, have no homes and sleep on the streets in groups to keep warm during the cold nights. People have started to lose hope, yet the bond between them is still strong. Will these adventurers be able to lift the curse??? Come find out!

 ----------------------------------------------------------------

 Date: Sunday Nov 4th
 Time: 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM
 Game: Broomsticks and Wands RPG
 DM: The creator himself, @DeathByMage

 Get your wands and spell books ready! The players each get a chance to tell their tale of what happened that day, but who didn’t survive? Find out Sunday night!


To find out more, you can find us here on the following platforms:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/threadraiders
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thread_raiders/
BlogSpot: https://threadraiders.blogspot.com/
Tumblr: https://threadraiders.tumblr.com/
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/threadraiders
Discord: https://discord.gg/qAkRbST

Dungeons and Dragons and Magic The Gathering Have Finally Crossed Over

After so many years of both Magic and Dungeons and Dragons being around, these two worlds are finally coming together in the form of a new book, entitled Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica.

In this book, D&D players will have access to everything they need to know in order to play in the world of Ravncia.  This setting has been deemed a "fan-favorite" Magic setting.

"Fans of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic The Gathering have been asking for years when these two amazing brands would play together," said the director of D&D, Nathan Stewart, "With the huge surge in popularity of D&D and Magic's commitment to bring the lore and storytelling to life, the timing seemed perfect.  Ravnica is full of adventure possibilities and I can't wait for fans to jump in to embody a member of one of the iconic guilds.  I will personally be making a new character for Rakdos."

Aaron Forsythe, Senior Design Director for Magic The Gathering said this:

"We're excited for fans to dive deeper into the robust world of Ravnica as they adventure as a member of their favorite guild.  Picking up Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica is a great way for D&D and Magic fans alike to tell a part of Ravnica's story with their friends around the table."

The release date for Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica is November 20.  Keep a look out for it!

Demystifying the Clunky Episode 1 Shadowrun The world

Thread Raiders has a new video out for you all today!  Hot off the presses is the first of a three part series from Thread Raider, TK (@Kanthos88 on Twitter), where he takes a look at the tabletop RPG, Shadowrun.

We've all heard that Shadowrun is a clunky system to play, but here, TK demystifies the system, and shows us how the game is supposed to be - fun.

Fallout 76 Is Coming!

Ever since its reveal at the Bethesda presentation this year at E3, Fallout 76 has been getting a lot of buzz around the title.  For those who don't know, Fallout is a series that centers around what would happen if America went through nuclear war, and the residual fallout taking place afterwards.

Fallout 76 is the first game in the series since its inception that is going to be an online MMO.  Now, you can survive the wasteland together with friends.  And I have been able to get the game pre-ordered, and now I'm waiting to get into the beta of the game.

As you can see, after completing my order, I received an email from Amazon, where I ordered the game from, and I followed the instructions.  Now, I'm simply waiting for the time in which I can finally get further instructions on how to get my hands on the juicy little beta of Fallout 76.

For a while after the presentation, there had been rumors and speculations on the game, such as the spamming of the new nuke option, which allowed other players to destroy other player's hard made settlements.  Bethesda came out and said that that shouldn't be an issue, as it would take those players a while to find the code necessary to detonate the nuke anywhere on the map.  On top of that, if by chance a player or a group of players discovers that their settlement was destroyed while they were away, rebuilding will be easy.  The settlement will be blueprinted, and the cost to replace your settlement will be cheap.

The map of Fallout 76 is, according to Bethesda, four times larger than that of Fallout 4.

UPDATE: As of July 3, I got an email with the following message:

Bill And Ted Fans Rejoice! The Most Excellent Duo WIll Face The Music

According to an announcement today, Keanu Revves and Alex Winter will finally reunite on the same screen after 27 years after they last appeared as Bill and Ted in a third installment of the Bill & Ted series entitle, Bill & Ted Face the Music!  There's even the possibility that William Sadler could reprise his role as Death.

Here's the official synopsis:

"When we last met Bill and Ted they were time-traveling teenagers trying to pass history class and win the battle of the bands.  Once prophesized to save the universe with their rock and roll, middle age and the responsibilities of family have caught up with these two best friends who have not yet fulfilled their destiny.  They've written thousands of tunes, but they have yet have to write a good one, much less the greatest song ever written. With the fabric of time and space tearing around them, a visitor from the future warns our heroes that only their song can save life as we know it.  Out of luck and fresh out of inspiration, Bill and Ted set out on a time travel adventure to seek the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe as we know it.  Together with the aid of their daughters, a new crop of historical figures, and some sympathetic music legends, Bill and Ted find much, much more than just a song.  The film is currently in pre-production."

Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, the original creators of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, have returned to pen the script, while Dean Parisot was confirmed to direct the film.

Source

Micrsoft, Nintendo and Sony Get A Warning From FTC Regarding Warranty-Voiding Restrictions

You know those little stickers that you see on the back of your consoles that warn you that sending it in for third party repair voids the warranty of the system?

Well, it turns out that, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned companies, some that include the likes of Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony that this policy is actually illegal.
According to a Freedom of Information Act request from Motherboard found that six different companies were given letters on April 9.  Other than the three companies mentioned above, the three other companies sent these letters were Asus, HTC and Hyundai.

The letter stated that the companies have 30 days to change the warranty policies on their websites, or else legal action will be taken by the FTC.

Reportedly, the letter said,

"Warranty language that implies to a consumer acting reasonably under the circumstances that warranty coverage requires the consumer to purchase an article or service identified by brand, trade or corporate name is similarly deceptive and prohibited."

In the letters, it was cited that specific language that violates the law warns against using a sticker as a "seal" to prevent users from opening up the console.  This method, according to the FTC, is particularly concerned" about it.

The FTC is specifically citing the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which doesn't all repair restrictions n warranty for any manufacturer that charges over $5 for a product.

Source

Retroverse Released And In The Wild!

Last week, we interviewed Chris Lock, of Lasers and Liches, who bought the Tales of the Retroverse to us, a retro 80's style twist to the D&D universe.  The details of Kickstarter campaign setting can be found by going here.

Following the initial interview, which took place on Twitch on April 7th, and can be watched in the video below, the Kickstarter was then launched on April 10th, and within just a few days, got over 60% funded!
Stop on by the Kickstarter and join the world of Retroverse!