Author: Jon

A Plethora of Birds!

The concept for this module was simply to expand on a fascinating creature-type that has the potential to offer so much to a campaign. The 5E Monster Manual has only so much room but offers a few birds to give the DM enough flavour to expand on its hawk, owl, vulture or raven stat blocks. What I was wanted to do was add special skills to each bird and where appropriate give them ample hit points or opportunities to defend itself.

Beyond giving unique abilities to recognizable birds, I wanted to add magical abilities and increase their sizes and challenge ratings. For example I gave the incredibly distinctive bird called the Ruff its own humanoid race. Birds such as Flamingos, Hoatzin and Puffins also get their own magical sub-species. At the most epic end of the spectrum, there are ten legendary individual birds including Nivanda the Wandering Roc and Zephyr the Storm Serpent. All ten get legendary resistance as well as additional magical abilities and attacks.

Beyond their abilities and stat blocks, each bird has a preferred habitat type within the material plane such as cold climate, grasslands, wetlands and forest. They also have a rarity rating, ranging from common to very rare. Finally, they have a Companion Compatibility status. A tame bird can be bought from specialist shops, and a friendly bird is ready to befriend empathetic travels. However, ferocious birds take a lot of effort before they trust someone, and solitary creatures rarely accept a companion. The effort can be worthwhile if it works as each bird has a companion ability that is unlocked when they partner with a PC or NPC.

The module was a lot of fun to create and expands the possibilities of bird interaction within the game. From the Master Crow’s ability to detect traps to the Golden Phoenix Pheasant’s healing powers they can be valuable companions. The can also be formidable opponents, such as the lightning surge of Zephyr the Storm Serpent, and provide fun encounters (who can resent the rolling attack of the Rotund Duck?!).

Birds: Companions & Encounters is available from DMs Guild.

How to Avoid a TPK

Total Party Kill is when the party of adventurers are defeated in a single event, be it combat, a trap or an unfortunate accident. For the players it can be humiliating and for the Dungeon Master, the story ends here. Of course a TPK has its place; the Player Characters are mortal after all, and there are some modules where everyone is expecting a blood bath going into it and will roll multiple characters before the end.

For most cases, however, the Players grow attached to their character and the DM wants to create the story around them. That’s why I decided to create a book that gives the DM an option – a literal last throw of the dice – to determine what happens to the party if they are faced with elimination. And of course, that dice had to be a d20.

The TPK categories I created are:
– Combat encounter
– Construct encounter (being a combination or combat and trap)
– Ensnared by a trap
– Punishment from a geas or through a deity’s decree
– Abrupt end, such as falling from a great height or a spell gone wrong
– Life drain, such as a disease or a cursed wound.

The twenty options apply to each of these categories and in many cases I created multiple options that can be rolled, meaning there is a huge variety of possibilities to play out. Will a party gain help from allies, a magic item, or will there be a malfunction or will opponent in-fighting give them the chance to escape? It’s been a lot of fun to create an provides a solution to the age-old problem, how to avoid a TPK.

TPK Last Resort is available from DMs Guild.

100 Pre-Generated NPCs

After creating the NPC Creator, I set myself a challenge. I enjoyed creating the product, but I wanted to see what NPCs might be created from it. I was intrigued to see what juicy combinations might arise.

The challenge was really useful in terms of tweaking the original NPC Creator, because I could see if there were any errors, but just as significantly, I could see if the stats boosts and options it created made sense.

The first things to change were the stat boosts. The mental stats (Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) were far more likely to come up compared to the physical stats (Strength, Dexterity and Constitution). Secondly some of the options in a table produced the same results (for example, boosting Intelligence by 3 and Wisdom by 2), making the description for the chosen word in the table meaningless. I was able to manage this as I created the NPCs.

The remaining changes were all minor, such as changing an ability’s range or strength, but because there were 100 NPCs to create, it took a long time. As part of the process, I made sure to balance the frequency that each creature came up, and to make sure that no creature type ever had two of the same character class.

I am extremely pleased with the outcome. The final flourish was using midjourney for the character art and including the eight animal companions. Now that the product is complete and released, I really hope the NPCs get to play out in the wild. The idea that Nevi could be a kick-ass companion, or a dangerous villain excites me. What will Grenla find in the woods when she goes looking for the flower in her dreams? Can Kourtan be trusted, or will he use the adventuring party?

There are so many NPCs to interact with, and so many plot hooks to explore. It has been a labor of love, and hopefully a lot of fun for groups out there!

The NPC Centesimo and the NPC Creator are both available on the DMs Guild website, in PDF format.

NPC Creator joins the Series

The concluding part of the Creator Series has been the most intensive of the lot. I’ve released the series as a trilogy, as I will be taking a D&D break to work on my other ideas. But there’s an NPC-related product in the works…

I love creating systems, combining my creativity with a methodical structuring of the material. Providing rollable tables, to me, is bliss. It challenges me to come up with plenty of options for the DM in an overall theming that makes sense.

Testing

For this module, I rolled up the results for 100 different NPCs, including their upgrades and possession (equipment). This was so useful, because I caught a lot of changes either for grammatical errors, or because the result didn’t work as I had originally intended. I also balanced the stat increases, which is big part of the NPC creation process.

Modern applications

I found that two new tools were a massive help in creating this module. The first was midjourney, which gave me so much scope in terms of creating experimental art at an affordable price. The second was Chat GPT. I used it to come up with category lists and character backstories based on my rolls for the characters’ personality and background. I always had to tweak it, but it gave me something to work from.

There’s lots to play with in the NPC module. New actions, character traits and backgrounds combine with classic character classes and creature builds. It becomes an extension of the existing DND experience and will hopefully give DMs another tool when creating their world.

The NPC Creator, and Creator Series Bundle are both available on the DMsGuild website, in PDF format.

The Creator Series

In developing new ideas, I naturally create lists or tables so that I can roll for potential outcomes. Once I had my island palette ready to design new destinations, I had a moment where I realized that this may be a more useful tool for other DMs in its current state than a series of completed island locations.

And so, the Island Creator had begun to take shape. Whilst planning this out I expanded the idea to cities and how the same set of tables could help inform the type of ruler it had, the population and the types of magical or intriguing locations that could be visited.

It was definitely a passion project, and many more weeks followed in which I refined the tables and added additional tables that could bring a little extra detail, if required. They are definitely fun, thought-provoking and descriptive tools for any DM, a way of bringing either random selection into the locations the party visit, or just as likely inspiring ideas that the DM can adapt to their grand design.

Here’s what’s included in the Island Creator:

  • Category. What kind of Island it is.
  • Reputation. Is it well known or a complete mystery?
  • Population. How many creatures live there.
  • Size. The shape and area of the island.
  • Creature Types. What type of creatures call this their island.
  • Magic. Just how wild and magical is it?
  • Secrets. Every island has something mysterious yet to be discovered.
  • Threat. What is the main threat to the party.
  • Quests. Combines two tables to form suggestive titles to kickstart the party’s next adventure.

Here’s what’s included in the City Creator:

  • Attitude – How the city is being run.
  • Boom & Bust – The ruler’s strength and weakness.
  • Population Size – The number of inhabitants.
  • Population Make Up – How expansive or monocultural the society is.
  • Creature Types – What kinds of creatures live and work in the city.
  • City Size & Shape – The amount of land the city occupies and why it grew in the way it did.
  • Population – What creatures reside here and how hospitable they are to outsiders.
  • City Origin and Heritage – Why a settlement was established and how it influences the city today.
  • Unique Traits – What makes the city worth visiting.
  • Main Trade Imports and Exports – The main goods and services that the city needs or generates itself.
  • Places of Interest – Some of the city’s most unique sights.
  • NPCs – A way to quickly build interactions with some of the city’s more intriguing characters, including their race, class, personality type, personal objective, strengths, and weaknesses.

DANGERS – Volume One

The Danger Series now has five modules, with a combination of twenty-five individual adventures! There are five more environments I have in mind for future adventures, but for now, I am pausing production to focus on other creative projects.

With this in mind, I thought it was time to celebrate the series by bringing out a bundle. The twenty-five adventures contain many of my creations from the Deck of Foes collection and many more new creatures and NPCs to suit the adventures I created. Each encounter has a scalable mechanism that means it is suitable for low (levels 1-4), mid (levels 5-8), high (levels 9-12) and epic (levels 13+) parties.

The adventures are themed by five different environments: jungle, city, woodland, wilderness and kingdoms. With this theming, expect more weird and mysterious monsters in the wilds and woodland realms, and more corruption and plotting in the city and kingdom-based adventures.

Focussing on one-page adventures was such a brilliant exercise in creating concise, atmospheric content. I think it shows that a little goes a long way and I’m sure that the usability is intuitive and simple for a DM running the adventure.

Festive Characters

The Hybrid series (The original Hybrid Creatures and the Halloween Edition) has been a delight to create! Not only is it a novel way to introduce new creatures, but it is also a fun way to recycle existing content! Why have a plain Illithid, Witch or Centaur when you can have all three! It even has a simple naming table to accompany it.

The Festive Edition goes one step further than the previous two in the series. I sourced and created the creatures externally from the Monster Manual. This means that each creature has been given 5e stats and abilities. All twenty creatures are well known figures that represent Christmas or Winter, and it was a joy to decide what skills and powers they might have.

You could battle Jack Skellington, Scrooge, or Santa Clause himself. Jack Frost is the personification of Winter and very powerful, while Krampus is a feared demonic figure whose aim is to frighten children.

That’s stage one. Stage two, is combining these legendary entities. How about Santa’s magic, with Krampus’ strength and Rudolph’s speed and ability to fly?!

It was enormous fun to create and I love the idea of new mythical creatures being created in home encounters!

Treasures and Magic Items

Each module in the Danger Series didn’t just come with five adventures, it also came with twenty minor magic items and twenty non-magical treasures, which the DM could add to any adventure as they saw fit.

Now that I have published five separate parts in the Dangers series I have 200 magical and non-magical items, so it felt like the perfect time to focus on these treasured items and give them the spotlight, and I am delighted to have published a separate module for each! Within these products I wanted to add further instructive and descriptive content, as well as tables that order the objects alphabetically and by category. Most importantly, I created a table that ranks the magic items by power, and the non-magical items by value. This means that a player can get that sense of excitement when rolling a d100.

Finally, I was able to do what the one-pager adventures didn’t allow, illustrations. It was fantastic fun finding and choosing graphics to complement the items. It gives the modules much more flavour. The cover and most of the item art come from digital AI sources. I know this is a contentious topic, but as a writer and hobbyist I feel it is my best and most viable option at the moment.

Minor Magic Items is very specific, as I know there are many powerful items already out there. This isn’t what this module is about. The idea in adding additional items to the Dangers Series was always to create items that were unique, strange and useful rather than game breaking. Each items still needs the player to use their ingenuity and cunning.

Treasures: 100 Non-Magical Items aims to add more flavour to the trinkets and jewellery that players find. Rather then depending on the DMs Guidebook and avoiding finding the same purse of gp and ammo on each enemy, there are plenty of useful items here, that are interesting in appearance, application or value.

Above all, these modules are another useful item in the DM’s toolkit. If you include these 200 items, I hope you enjoy sprinkling them into your games!

Hybrid Creatures

What started off as an idea for creatures being scattered in a magical storm (in the Magical Core module) has become a novel product of its own. I love taking elements from different creatures and placing them together for a unique encounter.

Imagine if a Medusa was tiny and flew, or if an Illithid could breath fire. The first of the series, called Hybrid Creatures, took twenty of the best known and beloved creatures in D&D campaigns and split them into three sections, both in terms of body parts and corresponding abilities.

  • The head, aside from physical appearance, defines the creature’s attitude and alignment. It provides the creature with its mental statistics, magical attacks, as well as the number of attacks the creature will have.
  • The torso gives the creature its physical abilities and attacks as well as body makeup such as height, girth, armour class (AC) and hit points.
  • The legs define the creature’s movement, and the physicality that this requires, such as wings or hooves.

The final section of the module became the first part. If you split the creatures into three parts, then why not do the same for naming these creature-combos? For example, combing a Dwarf, a troll and a Lizardfolk would create ‘Dwal Folk’.

The second module in the series is the Halloween Edition. With so many horror-themed creatures, it seemed the perfect series to explore the possibilities. Combining a Banshee with a Werewolf and a Green Hag would create a Bare Hag, with horrifying visage, cursed claws and green legs that move 30ft. per turn. It’s such fun!

The Danger Series

I’m excited to be creating a new adventure series for DnD 5e called the Danger Series. The idea came earlier this year after I created the ‘Deck of Foes‘ book. I wanted to give each of these creations an adventure where players could discover them.

The second challenge I set myself with this series was to keep the adventures on a single page. I am a big fan of the One Page Mage having seen some of their adventures on social media. By designing my own products I had come up with my own series of short-cuts and designs to summarize NPCs and plot, so I was excited to put this into practice.

The Danger Series takes both the Deck of Foes creatures and the One-Page adventure principle to create environment-themed books. I started by creating the ‘Dangers in the Jungle’ and the ‘Dangers in the City’ books, but I have ten such books being planned. Each book contains five adventures. The Deck of Foes creature that inspired it is just one of the encounters to feature. There are also new hazards and NPCs to interact with.

Finally, each book has an Appendix with twenty magical, and twenty non-magical treasures to find. This extra resource gives DMs more flexibility when running the modules. So, if you fancy creating one-shots or side quests with your players, give the Danger Series a look.