Greetings fellow DMs! I had the idea for a game I am starting this weekend to have a shop for my players to visit that is a complete scam. Basically, every item in this shop looks like an average item or weapon that a PC might want, but they range from only moderately effective to completely useless to has a hilarious side effect. I don’t really want it to be dangerous things that will seriously hurt my players, but I want funny things to happen. What kind of homebrew prank items should I include? All ideas are welcome!

I’m running an Avernus game and there is a homebrew imp NPC that sells various magic items to the team. He had a pair of gloves of thievery that were cursed to send anybody who put them on to Avernus for a day. However after the PC stole them they forgot about them and didn’t put them on until the team was already stuck in Avernus. So I need help coming up with a different curse for the gloves. Nobody has inspected them or cast any spells to identify even if they are cursed yet.
I was originally looking for something that would be very inconvenient & mildly dangerous for a short time but give the PC intel on what it takes to survive. Ideally I want the curse to teach the players a lesson that they aren’t dealing with humans and that there is a full blown war going on everywhere.

Ehi guys! I'm quite new here, I've discovered this app just 2 days ago.. Could be possible to create an homebrew creature as a companion that take his Bonus based on PC?
I'm playing an Artificer and I'm trying to let the Homunculus take is bonus from the PC proficiency but seems not to work..
thanks in advance! :D

There was this situation that bothered me and I'm wondering if I'm unreasonable here or if me being annoyed by this is justified.
It was in this campaign that mostly takes place in one specific town where our characters live, so they are not traveling a lot but have a home and their own rooms, whereby it’s not necessary for them to always carry all their belongings with them. We are a small group of three people with two PCs having a noble background and my PC basically not having any money. This is also not a setting where the characters often get the chance to acquire large amounts of money. My character then acquired several hundred gold pieces, which to him is a LOT of money. To me it was completely obvious that he wouldn’t walk around with a pouch containing several hundred GP. I had decided that he would usually just carry 10 GP and keep the rest safely stashed in his room. I kept track of that in my notes but did not put it anywhere in his character sheet because I did assume the money in the inventory was simply the money he owned and not necessarily the money he kept on his person. (Dndbeyond doesn't have an option to make a distinction there.) One time our characters did travel somewhere and I told the dm that my character would take 100 GP with him. I only said it but again did not note that in the character sheet. During that adventure my character walked through a portal that caused him to lose all money and gemstones he was carrying, including what was left over of the 100 GP he had been carrying.
Then one day my character’s money pouch got stolen while he was at the market. I shrugged it off and was like “That’s annoying but there were only a few gold pieces in there, so it could be worse”. But then the dm told me that no, ALL his money had been in the purse, since I had not stated otherwise in the character sheet. I said that made absolutely no sense, why would my character carry all his money with him? Of course he would keep it safe in his room. The eventually decided that my character had only carried half of his money with him, so I was allowed to let keep half.
I wasn't happy with the solution but accepted it because I didnt want to cause an argument and derail the session. But it still bothered me.
What annoys me about this is that sometimes it seems to be super important what is in the character sheet and other times it’s not. If they made a point of it being very important to them to have everything accurate in the character sheet and they expect us to keep track of everything 100% all the time, then I would have been like “Damn, that was an oversight on my part. I get it, I messed up here”. But to me it seems so random when something is supposedly important and when it’s not. There have been instances where they berated me for not having a certain weapon equipped (when I was still very new to combat) and then another instance they explicitly said equipping weapons in the character sheet wasn't important and it didn't matter.
There could be a possibility that they told me somewhere along the way to put the money stuff in the character sheet in the future that I don't remember. But even in case they did it still wouldn't feel right to me because they CONSTANTLY forget stuff, like incorporating homebrew stuff into the game and then not adding it on dndbeyond after being reminded several times. I am very understanding of them not always remembering things, so it doesn't sit right with me for them to not be understanding when I (possibly) forget something and make it have negative consequences for my character.
If I were the dm I would just trust my players to be honest about this. If I were a player who is known to cheat, the kind of person who would decide their character carries all their money but then upon hearing that it was stolen would suddenly pretend that their character of course would only carry a small amount… then I would understand why the dm would decide that way.
But I am the opposite of that. It is very important to me for things to be realistic. So even if everyone at the table had been aware that my character usually only carries 10 GP, if I had decided that on that specific day my character would have taken 300 GP extra with him because he wanted to buy something specific later that day, I would have reacted with “Oh no! He took 300 GP today! And now it’s all gone!!”. Even if I had not mentioned that he had taken 300 GP or that he planned on buying something and could totally get away with just changing it and not mentioning it. But I don’t do that. I’m honest about this kind of thing and I feel like the dm should know that. I even reminded the dm of a specific magic item that my character was carrying when something happened that I feared would affect the item. An item which I was very worried about my character losing. And still I mentioned it being there because if it’s there, it’s there. Cannot change that.
So to me it just seems random and petty and like I’m being punished for not explicitly stating something in the character sheet.
I can live with both the character sheet having to be 100% accurate and with it not mattering. But it sometimes having to be accurate and sometimes not and me apparently having to know when which applies and getting punished when I don't magically know that just really bothers me.
Am I being petty and unreasonable here? Is that just how the game is and my dm was justified in deciding that way, or is it understandable that this bothered me?
Tl;dr DM decided all my character’s money was stolen from his pouch despite me saying that my character doesn’t carry all his money with him. DM said since I didn’t explicitly state that in the character sheet they’ll go by the assumption that my character carries all his money and therefore it’s gone. Sometimes they say the character sheet has to be accurate and other times they say it doesn't matter, so it seems very random to me. They also constantly forget stuff and I am very understanding of that, so I feel like they’re being petty and unjustly punishing me for failing to put something in the sheet.

Howdy Once again reddit I'm looking for someone to fill an empty spot in my Monday group for DND 5E
For some context: One of our group members has gone MIA for over a month now, he was the heart of our party and it was very much unlike him to just ghost us out of the blue like this. Our worries aside the game has gone on due to factors I'll be listing below. Normally we would wait a bit longer for him, but during this weeks session a PC died so I figured it was a good time to get a new player to introduce along side the other player whos making a new character.
Things you should Know:

• Homebrewed setting, specifically in the homebrewed version of the Underdark known as the Underdeep. a vast, mostly alien subterranean world. I do have Documents that are OPTIONAL READS if you want to know more about the setting(I know some DM's make those mandatory to play and can be a turn off) While the Underdeep is the Primary setting of the campaign originally I will say expect to leave it in bits and pieces from this point as the hunt for the big bad will likely involve going to other planes and the like. High fantasy stuff.
• Party is now Level 8 as of last session and the bigger plot of the campaign has officially begun to unfold as the group is setting out to hunt down a powerful pseudo-lich who tricked them into reviving him and was responsible for the previously mentioned PC's death.
• The original concept for this campaign was to have two groups operating within the same setting at the same time and eventually would have them meet up for one big final battle but that plan is half out the window at this point. the main rule thats come as a result of this is no inter-campaign spoilers with the wednesday group.
• I am RP focused and looking for players who can quickly immerse themselves in the world and the roleplay. There have been times were the group can go multiple sessions without combat and just deal with inter-character drama or planning.
• The entirety of the game is handled via Discord and google Docs. No Roll20 or other such VTT sims. I have never had the patience to figure those out... As such, working Mic is required.
• I need to Preface that the discord server in Question is originally a NSFW art community, as such all applicants are to be 18+. Though the Subject matter of the campaigns themselves is NEVER to exceed PG16 at the worst. (SFW role that hides the NSFW content is available upon request)
• As stated in the title, we have our games every MONDAY at 7PM EST. I am looking for someone who can consistently make that day every week.
• While you will be joining the campaign fairly late (Original intended level range was going to be level 10, though now is more realistically looking to be around 13-14) Know that the campaign will likely continue for a number of months ahead, so please do not be dissuaded by the fact your a late joiner.
• All Applicants are welcome to stay in the discord server as One shots are held on the occasion and we have other people who host other DND games in the server as well (we currently have a Curse of Strahd game going thats ran by one of the wednesday guys.) We are a DND community and we welcome whoever wants to stick around. we also host movie nights and game nights regularly so even if you arent chosen for the Monday Night games your free to spectate the other DND games hosted on the server or participate in the other activities and conversations held in the server. While it started as a NSFW art community (and still does host NSFW content, fair warning) Its no longer just that and serves as a bigger gaming community.
• LGBTQ+ Friendly

That is all. If you wish to Apply, add me on Discord and shoot me a DM. My name on there is "Ceekon". I hope to see you there and hope you have a good time :)

This story takes place over the course of about 2 ish years so details may get a little jumbled, so please bare with me. Let me start this story by setting the stage and important characters.
Dm - pretty okay guy but a little hot headed at times (This is mildly important)
Me - warlock fighter multi class
K - monk and problem player
There are a few other players but they don't really play too much of a role in this story, so I'll bring them up as needed.
We were playing Rime of the Frostmaiden, my first long term campign and the first character that I geniunely enjoyed and charished. Like I said above, I was playing an Aasimar warlock fighter, who was in the rime escaping a bounty on her head and was making ends meet by smuggling goods in and out of the ten towns. I loved her so much.
The campign starts and everything is fine for the most part, there are some in character disagreements but it was all in good fun, or so I thought. K's character constantly called my character evil for worshipping the Raven queen (hexblade warlock), before any of the problems actually start to arise its non stop and I quote, "Your a smelly stinky warlock drow!" I worked with my dm when making my charcter, and we decied that she was techinally a half helf, her fatehr being a dark elf. The only thing that made her stand out as anything else was the fact that she was well over six feet tall and build like a brick shit house.
I found out after these first few sessions that this player was the kind to run ahead of the party, without telling anyone in character, and get into trouble. The first time this happened and they showed their true colors was when we were exploring a mineshaft and turns out there was a Grell hiding in there under the specific condition, written IN THE BOOK mind you, that it would only come out if someone were in the room ALONE. Can you guess who found it and almost died as a result? If you guessed K, then you would be right. After a battle and K almost going down, almost, they start to raise hell and say that it wasn't fair and they couldn't do anything (The grell had them grappled and held in the air the majority of the fight while everyone else peppered it with spells). The DMm had to tell them that it wasn't an encounter that he made, that it was in the book and supposed to be there.
We continue with our sessioned and what not, having an occational out burst from K about the game being too hard from them splitting the party and running off. Things do start to bubble when the dm punishes K in game for their antics. For example, they start acting out of line with their gods beleifs and their god stops talking to/interacting with them, to which K whines and throws a fit over. A few more issues that we run into along the way include, but are not limited to

• K threatening to burn down a mans house because they losyt a fight. This fight was something set up by a fight club, with rules. The whole point of the fights were to rank up and challenge the champ.
• K breaking into their moms house through the chimmney and getting their ass lit on fire.
• K constantly stealing from the people of the ten towns, which if you know, are starving and activley dying.
• K complaining during almost every combat that it was unfair, unbalanced, and not fun. All the while everyone else, myself included, was having a great time
• K leaving call multiple times during session, espesially during combat, and blaming it on ADHD. This specific one pissed both me and the dm off, who I stated was a hot head before. He did not take kindly to his time and resourses being wasted. I was upset because I also have ADHD and found a ways to manage it during sessions, even offered to help K! But they always turned me down and just continued with leaving session and upseting the dm over it, while contining to blaim it on a mental illness that them and I shared.

The major two events that earn this post its title goes as follow, in this order.
My charcter was assasinated.
Her past caught up with her and she was killed, bled out in the middle of the tundra. But the dm and I talked about this, and it was meant to happen. You see, the dm sent me some cool prostetic homebrew that I really wanted to use. So we made a plan for my character to get killed, lose an arm in the process and be brought back as a reborn with an arm made of magic from the Raven Queen. What I wasn't expecting was the dm to give me a choice in letting my character die or taking the reserection in exchange for soemthing. The original trade would have been that she comes back to life but no matter what she or her father did, she and him would forever have their fates severed and couldnt do anything to save eachother.
This is a deal my character would not have taken, and I would have let her stayed dead to keep in charcter. But the dm threw me a bone and gave me a different deal instead. To which every time she died here after, she would have to stay dead for a longer and longer time, each time. Like that stop motion Pinoccio moive if you've seen it. While the dm and I were talking about it, I thought it would be funny to just roll new stats to keep everyone on their toes as we ended session before I made my decision.
Que K absolutly losing their mind in our general chat, saying that if my character dies then they wanted a new character too. The only reason this would be an issue was because we had lost a lot of the original party, K and myself being the only characters left. The Dm had even stated a while before that if we lost all the pcs that he would consider ending the campign, as no ones character would have the same inititave to act and all that. So K threaning to make a new character because I might make a new character, made things more complicated. I had put almost a year of my time at this point and didn't want it to go down the drain because of this. Which also plays into why the dm game be an easier deal for my character to take for her life back.
They had an actual break down over this, why? I still have no clue.
The second event was a dragon encounter. An Adult Black Dragon that was destorying the Ten Towns.
It was the most high stakes encounter we had ever had at that point, and everyone was stressed to say the least. My self and the artificer cast fly on eachother so we can actually reach the dragon who keeps doing fly by breath attacks. After almost an hour and a half of combat we finally slay the dragon, with myself landing the final blow. I was fucking estatic! My first dragon encounter and was the one to kill it. K however, wasn't happy.
Imeadiatly they start screaming about how they couldn't land a hit on the dragon and were useless for the fight. Saying that the Dm ran the encounter wrong, which upset the dm who was once again running a written encounter from the module. They kept screaming over the vc while we all tried to calm them down. It ended with the relativly calm barbarian pc who snapped and went off on them. There was so much yelling and fighting that I just left. I heard from the dm after the fact that K threatened to leave, which I guess they thought would work like it had in the past, but everyone who was left in vc told them to go ahead.
They stayed and we continued to have issues with them threatening to kill off their character if things didn't go their way or they weren't the mvp of every session. Needless to say, the dm kicked them after a few more sessions.

Okay, I have a weird question for those familiar with the old PC MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot.
Do you think it'd be possible to homebrew a DAoC warlock in 5th edition? Specifically how they handle their spells.
My brother asked me and I couldn't find anything about this being asked and/or attempted already, so here I am.
Context for those unfamiliar with DAoC warlocks:
They can combine two spells (certain spells being the primary and others secondary) into "chambers" that can then be instantly released at a later time. The chambered spells turn into little orbs that float around them until released, and I believe there was a short delay in between releasing them.

Long time lurker, first time redditoposter. I've been listening and reading a lot of these horror stories and figured it might be fun to share mine.
I haven't actually played a game of DnD or DnD adjacent since about 2020/2021, mostly because of what transpired during the games I actually did play before that. I love the concept, I love creating characters and stories and worlds, but I get a pit in my stomach when I actually try to play again.
I had my first opportunity to play DnD my freshman year of college. I dropped in on the campus tabletop club and I was quite anxious. I was the only girl in the room, everyone seemed to have known each other or clicked well, but I wanted to branch out of my comfort zone. The first night went well! We played a very quick heist one shot where we made a character with one flaw and one interesting trait. Through unfortunate rolls and circumstances, we had a TPK, but it was a fun time. I was invited afterwards to join a Pathfinder campaign that a few of the members were going to start up for the new semester, and so I scheduled a time to meet with the DM and create my first full fledged character.
Now, the DM was kind of eccentric, a little whack if you will but very excited to help me make my first character. I thought he was just goofy and really into the game. God I wish I picked up on all the red flags that would come.
He first asked me what kind of race I'd like to play as. I had always been drawn to tiefling characters because I liked the aesthetic. His eyes lit up at that for some reason. Then he asked what class I'd like; if I'd like to be primarily a support or tank or what have you. I didn't want to get overwhelmed in my first game and thought support might be nice. I could watch how combat worked while just keeping everyone going and buffed. I said let's try bard! The grin that crept up on his face...
He immediately started talking about how saucy that would be, how my character would be so flirty and fun. I expressed some discomfort in having my character immediately fall into the "h*rny bard" category I had seen meme'd on so much, but he laughed and waved it off by saying he "was a theater kid in high school! Everyone was super h*orny and making out backstage all the time. It just comes with the environment!" Being a new player, and wanting to fit in, I pushed down my discomfort and thought okay, I'll play her as a joke character I guess.
For awhile it was fine, I got to play her as a dancelyre player who was part of a traveling circus. Nothing weird was coming up the first few sessions. Most of the other PCs either joined together by taking quests from the town job board, or had ties built in to their backstory. My first red flag should have been that the DM, despite constantly raving about all his planning, was frequently skipping around the story. He would suddenly decide the plot point we were on wasn't interesting enough for some reason, and just throw us into another scenario. We left so many lose ends because he just didn't feel like finishing them, regardless of if we were engaging in it or not. But hey, he's the DM right? That's what I thought, he had the right to change it. I had no prior experience to see this was just bad DMing.
We ended up joining an archery competition as we were tempted by a mystery grand prize. At the sign up table, out of nowhere, the DMPC attending to registration suddenly starts flirting with my character. I got flustered in a negative way because this DM got very into character (giving me looks, leaning in as he spoke to me, the whole shebang). I panicked, all of a sudden being the focus of a room full of men seeing how I'd react to it. I again, stupidly, went along with it. I had her (nervously) flirt back lightly, and I was relieved it didn't go much further at that point. Skipping to the end of the archery competition, my bard ended up in the final two and sabotaged an assassination on the town's mayor mid competition. The party was invited to a celebratory dinner at the mayor's house afterwards, where we once again ran into the NPC that flirted with my character at registration. He invited her to bed, and again I got extremely uncomfortable and flustered. None of this was discussed beforehand, nor was I even asked if I was comfortable with such topics before joining the campaign. The guys at the table were egging me on, and I felt pressured to accept. With a few hoots and hollers, we had a fade to black scene (thank god). I went home feeling very icky, but convinced myself I was being a wimp. And the table had enjoyed my antics that night, so I should be grateful.
I had the thought between sessions to write in a childhood friends to lovers interest for my bard to try and avoid any more unexpected encounters like that again, thinking if the DM had another character to play as with some personal tie to my bard, that would make be feel better about the interactions. He was brought up once, where I milked the f*ck out of my character's attachment to him, hoping to drive home that this was juicy potential relationship to build over the campaign. He never came up again during that campaign. The DM also completely disregarded many of the notes I gave him detailing this love interest's personality, and took many 'creative liberties' with him, but not enough where I would decide to say something.
Another few sessions happened where we struggled through the DMs inconsistent storytelling and jumping around to whatever plot point had his interest at the moment. He was constantly putting us in fights we could not hope to win, way too challenging for our lvl. 1-3 party. We often sat around the table in disappointment and defeat as we got absolutely destroyed by monsters (no one being able to land hits for sometimes 3-4 rounds at a time because of how high the AC or CR was), while the DM laughed and basked in the dreary nature of the table. He would usually eventually fudge rolls to give us an out when we were close to TPKs. He even gave us a deck of many things and insisted our PCs "felt compelled" to pull cards despite the players disagreeing they that wanted to. He attempted to force my character to drastically change her alignment to an evil one for shits and giggles because of one card pull (later allowed me to ignore it because I didn't even WANT to use the deck), and got three of us killed by having them pull a card that summoned the highest CR monster you could use.
One night he texts the group chat that he decided he's done running that story, and wants to run another one shot instead. We had one last session to "close" that first campaign and discuss the one shot options. During our meeting, he gleefully admitted to me that he had planned for my bard to get PREGNANT in that one night stand with the NPC from the archery competition. Not only did he plan to do that without my consent or knowledge, he had planned for it to be a HAG baby that would have entirely f*cked my PC up (he explained it as the man having been a witch in disguise or something?? And said that's how hags are made? Which to my knowledge is entirely incorrect. Maybe it was a homebrew rule, but regardless, I was mortified. And now very grateful he lost interest in that campaign).
Moving on to the one shot, another player decided to try DMing, and so the Problem DM had a chance to be a PC, yay! He privately messaged me and asked if I'd be interested in connecting our characters and their backstories. I said yes and we got to work. We spent a few nights discussing their dynamic and I was really excited to go into this game. Well, come the night of the session, we were going around the table introducing our characters. The Problem DM went before me, and introduced an entirely different character than the one we discussed, and one that would often almost kill us during the one shot (to which the guy would cackle and mock us for getting upset each time). I asked him what happened to our plan, and he said earlier that day he decided he wanted to do something different. I sighed and let it go, because at least it was just a one shot and my character could still function without his connection to the other PC. Another one shot where the Problem DM got to be a PC, he seemed to make it his goal to be the biggest asshole to everyone else's character. My PC was an archaeologist, and when she excitedly discovered some old pottery in a dungeon, he had his PC run up and smash everything and laugh in her face.
The next campaign we tried that had issues was a Starfinder campaign. Our party was considered its own crew for a space ship, plus one DMPC that was placed into the mix supposedly to help us if we fell short, since we were all unfamiliar with Starfinder and spaceship battle mechanics. She was honestly a really cool character! And we had one or two sessions to establish the story and how the crew interacted. Now, this was my mistake, not taking any of the other creepy habits of the DM into consideration, but I offhandedly mentioned to the table at large that my PC (a woman) might be developing a crush on this DMPC (also a woman). They had gone through a lot together in-game at that point and it felt natural. The next session, you'll never guess, the DMPC started flirting hard core with my character. I was confused and asked the DM what that was about, as we had never had any interactions between those two that would be read as romantic. Even if I mentioned my character was crushing, she had never let it on, and the DMPC had never indicated she felt a similar pull as well. The DM didn't really have an explanation, just that apparently in-universe, the DMPC had been flirting more and more with my character since their last adventure together alone. I thought, okay, I guess...
Honestly? What transpired would have been an insanely cool plot twist if we had had the time to actually roleplay and develop the relationship between my character and the DMPC, as well as the crew at large and the DMPC. She ended up being part of a cult that wanted to steal an artifact we had acquired. She was apparently trying to 'romance' my PC because my PC was the one who often guarded the artifact, and needed her to let her guard down. It would have been a super impactful betrayal, but it was literally only a handful of sessions between the first meeting, and the plot twist. We just had to trust the DMs word that we had all gotten super attached to her between actual session meetings and we all should feel like we were stabbed in the back by this trusted individual. And I especially should feel heartbroken because she never really was interested in me anyway.
Later on down the line, despite some very interesting story points, it got creepy again. Our PCs ended up being sucked into a death game show, and isolated from the outside world while being broadcast to universal TV stations. At some point we were all given access to the internet after a few weeks in isolation to search up anything we wanted. Everyone searched up their names among other things. The DM described us finding our newly formed fanbases. He described the other PCs fanbases (men played by men) as having hot debates on their intelligence and decisions during the show, or bets on if they'd be the last ones standing; that sort of stuff. He described my fanbase as leering creeps saying the most unhinged things about what they wanted my PC to do to them s*xually, as well as some spreading photos of my PC without her face covering (she was a Kasatha, which canonically keep their mouths covered. But she had been forced to remove it briefly when it almost waterboarded her after she fell into a river).
Eventually, we weren't able to meet consistently enough to warrant running campaigns anymore, and I fell out of touch with all involved. Oh, we also lost a player at some point right after he confessed to me and I declined his interest.
I went another year not playing before another friend group of mine invited me to play as a guest character. I thought this would be a nice way to ease back into the game slowly after my horrid experiences before. Rather than make an entirely new character for one or two sessions, I brought back my tiefling bard because I still really liked her character, and had started to reshape her personality without being pressured to have her be a s*xual chess piece. The new DM dropped my character in a labyrinth their current party had been trapped in for awhile. I was made to be a level or two higher and be an ally they encountered to help them escape. We did, it was fun! But I was only there as a guest, and had only planned my character to be in one to two sessions before leaving. I was consistently mentioning to the party that my PC would be leaving as soon as they get to her major city, but either they didn't think I was serious or didn't remember. I may have been convinced to come on full time, but unfortunately, history repeats itself. We got to a session where the party got to a tavern and drowned their sorrows and nursed their labyrinth bruises with beer, and the idea of a threesome was thrown in the air between my PC and two others. Now, half of this group were dating someone else in the group, and seemed very comfortable roleplaying casual s*x between their PCs because of it. They started a damn chant pressuring me to say yes, already trying to roleplay it, and I felt sick. I was too anxious at the idea of saying no with how aggressive everyone was for me to agree, so I tried to "roll for yes or no" as an out; the dice failed me, and it rolled a number assigned to yes. I was very quiet the rest of the session, and afterwards messaged the DM that I want my character to leave at the beginning of the next session.
The DM then tried to convince me to stay, despite me saying a clear no multiple times within the same conversation. They begged me to stay saying the party loved my PC a lot, and they would hate to lose me. When they finally relented, they then tried to smoothly transition to talk of making me a new character so I could permanently stay with the party, without compromising my bards story and decision. I kind of got on their case about that, and told them to stop pressuring me and I did not want to play with that group anymore. Eventually, they gave up, but not without some low key guilt tripping.
I tried playing with one more group after this, and while it didn't get creepy, it was also a disappointment as none of the players seemed to care besides me and the DM, despite everyone having encouraged starting the game because they wanted to learn how to play for the first time. Players slowly started ghosting us, drama happened between two players that joined just to have an excuse to talk and try and date (which ended up very messy and they both left), and the new players would get angry at me or the DM if they got confused with the rules or combat dynamics (the wizard rushed ahead of me, the tank barbarian, and then acted like it was my fault when they nearly got killed in the first round because "the tank is supposed to protect the damage dealers").
The DM and I stayed in contact after all the other players ghosted the chat, and ended up bringing over some other new players who had also played before, and re hauled the campaign. This one had so much promise...then quarantine hit, and we couldn't keep up with regular meetings.
At this point, with all my games ending with creeps, messy player dynamics or falling through, I decided maybe these kinds of games weren't for me.
I have new friends now inviting me to play, who have very functional groups (experienced professional DMs, closeknit friend groups, long-running campaigns), but I am too wary to accept any more offers for games, despite deep down really wanting to try again and be part of something I know can be amazing. Maybe I will one day, but until then, I just have these horror stories to think about.

The Pitch
It is an Age of Chaos.
Good King Omund is dead, and with him died the rule of law in the land. The Duke of Bedegar is dead, his family ambushed and murdered. The Wild seeks to take back everything that once belonged to it. The remaining dukes fight to preserve what civilization is left, but they are distant and isolated. The roads are in disrepair, danger lurks around every corner.
Ajax, called Invincible, now rules here. He pits the different peoples of Vasloria against each other. Elves and men and dwarves; no one quite trusts anyone. This is Ajax’s goal. Religious institutions are outlawed, their churches left in ruin. The old orders are disbanded or subjugated, few continue their attempts to keep the peace and protect the people. The Iron Saint binds the land.
You are a recently founded band of ratcatchers, problem solvers, necessary but apart from proper society. You overwintered in the inn of the Green Dragon, a quiet place in the town of Arlone, east of Bedegar Keep. Now, with the onset of spring, you can set out again towards fortune, glory, honor, hope, or any other grand imaginings. How did you come to be here? Why can’t you go home and live a normal life? What do you want to make of yourself?
The Caelian Road goes south, the way engulfed by two wodes, a savage wilderness where Elves hunt those who enter. Monsters walk the wood. Civilized people do not go there. To the east lies the Dutchy of Faroe, a narrow pass for fools and traders flanked by high mountains teeming with serpents and warring tribes. The Overmen watch keenly from their high aeries for dissidents and outlaws. The vast sea to the west is traveled rarely, only the Overlord’s ships and the less-sane of the Vanirmen dare the dark waters. Things dwell in the deep. North is the powerful Dutchy of Dalrath, with the impenetrable Great Wode beyond. There Civilization and the Wild fight in open war, stone and steel against fangs and demon-flames.
In Bedegar, many small towns sustain themselves against the ever encroaching wilderness, old traditions and ancient pacts seeing new light in the trying times. Some people band together for safety, others stand on the shoulders of the drowned. All will be tested soon enough.
The Campaign
I'm planning to start with a sandbox style of game seeded with lots of classic, modern, and homebrew adventures. Very much D&D-ish pulp fantasy, but with a bit more narrative bits and the pulpy Savage Worlds system.
Some self direction, some encroaching events, lots of interesting roleplay, delving into the wilderness, and the freedom to get yourself into trouble. It’s up to you which fires to put out or threads to pull, and there’s no way to solve every problem or get every treasure. Players will have the opportunity to become embroiled in duchy politics, build alliances, save enemies, join guilds, and fight lots of crazy shit. Later on the threads will turn more towards a linear adventure, as I want to run The Red Hand of Doom once the PC’s have gone around and have a reputation.
Player Buy-In: The pulpy style of play where the GM just drops you in a town with a bunch of hooks and a wild land, then you have to work out your own shit out has to sound cool. Being interested in having your own goals and ambitions and working to fulfill them is always helpful, but just wanting to pull on threads also works. Likewise, wanting to engage and invest in other player's characters and NPC's is the best. Your characters should give a shit, they don’t need to be selfless paragons, but they should be connected to the local area enough to care what happens to it.
Logistics
System: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE), with some Fantasy Companion content and a bunch of my own homebrew. Those new to the system are welcome.
Format: Mostly over Discord voice with SavageBot to handle dice/cards. Owlbear Rodeo for battlemaps.
Date/Time: Looking to have a session zero on Friday the 17th, at 7:00 PM CST. Following sessions will be weekly on Friday's at the same time. Sessions will typically be around 4 hours long. This will be a long term campaign, so regular commitment will be required.
Players: Currently three have joined up, two from old campaigns and one new player, looking for probably one or two more. 18+ preferred, due to a small amount of adult content and themes.
Feel free to ask questions, if interested DM me with your preferred name/pronouns, your level of experience, a bit about yourself, what you like in a game, and your Discord.

The Pitch
It is an Age of Chaos.
Good King Omund is dead, and with him died the rule of law in the land. The Duke of Bedegar is dead, his family ambushed and murdered. The Wild seeks to take back everything that once belonged to it. The remaining dukes fight to preserve what civilization is left, but they are distant and isolated. The roads are in disrepair, danger lurks around every corner.
Ajax, called Invincible, now rules here. He pits the different peoples of Vasloria against each other. Elves and men and dwarves; no one quite trusts anyone. This is Ajax’s goal. Religious institutions are outlawed, their churches left in ruin. The old orders are disbanded or subjugated, few continue their attempts to keep the peace and protect the people. The Iron Saint binds the land.
You are a recently founded band of ratcatchers, problem solvers, necessary but apart from proper society. You overwintered in the inn of the Green Dragon, a quiet place in the town of Arlone, east of Bedegar Keep. Now, with the onset of spring, you can set out again towards fortune, glory, honor, hope, or any other grand imaginings. How did you come to be here? Why can’t you go home and live a normal life? What do you want to make of yourself?
The Caelian Road goes south, the way engulfed by two wodes, a savage wilderness where Elves hunt those who enter. Monsters walk the wood. Civilized people do not go there. To the east lies the Dutchy of Faroe, a narrow pass for fools and traders flanked by high mountains teeming with serpents and warring tribes. The Overmen watch keenly from their high aeries for dissidents and outlaws. The vast sea to the west is traveled rarely, only the Overlord’s ships and the less-sane of the Vanirmen dare the dark waters. Things dwell in the deep. North is the powerful Dutchy of Dalrath, with the impenetrable Great Wode beyond. There Civilization and the Wild fight in open war, stone and steel against fangs and demon-flames.
In Bedegar, many small towns sustain themselves against the ever encroaching wilderness, old traditions and ancient pacts seeing new light in the trying times. Some people band together for safety, others stand on the shoulders of the drowned. All will be tested soon enough.
The Campaign
I'm planning to start with a sandbox style of game seeded with lots of classic, modern, and homebrew adventures. Very much D&D-ish pulp fantasy, but with a bit more narrative bits and the pulpy Savage Worlds system.
Some self direction, some encroaching events, lots of interesting roleplay, delving into the wilderness, and the freedom to get yourself into trouble. It’s up to you which fires to put out or threads to pull, and there’s no way to solve every problem or get every treasure. Players will have the opportunity to become embroiled in duchy politics, build alliances, save enemies, join guilds, and fight lots of crazy shit. Later on the threads will turn more towards a linear adventure, as I want to run The Red Hand of Doom once the PC’s have gone around and have a reputation.
Player Buy-In: The pulpy style of play where the GM just drops you in a town with a bunch of hooks and a wild land, then you have to work out your own shit out has to sound cool. Being interested in having your own goals and ambitions and working to fulfill them is always helpful, but just wanting to pull on threads also works. Likewise, wanting to engage and invest in other player's characters and NPC's is the best. Your characters should give a shit, they don’t need to be selfless paragons, but they should be connected to the local area enough to care what happens to it.
Logistics
System: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE), with some Fantasy Companion content and a bunch of my own homebrew. Those new to the system are welcome.
Format: Mostly over Discord voice with SavageBot to handle dice/cards. Owlbear Rodeo for battlemaps.
Date/Time: Looking to have a session zero on Friday the 17th, at 7:00 PM CST. Following sessions will be weekly on Friday's at the same time. Sessions will typically be around 4 hours long. This will be a long term campaign, so regular commitment will be required.
Players: Currently three have joined up, two from old campaigns and one new player, looking for probably one or two more. 18+ preferred, just due to a small amount of adult content and themes.
Feel free to ask questions, if interested DM me with your preferred name/pronouns, your level of experience, a bit about yourself, what you like in a game, and your Discord.

Hello everyone,
for the past years I have been working on two big Homebrew projects in my spare time:

1. An as of now 90 Page Document that includes Options for Players, Advice for DMs aswell as new Monsters (mostly humanoids), that are all based on the Fire Emblem Video Games Series. To clarify this is not a new TTRPG nor a Homebrew D&D World, this is all 5E compatible content, that is meant to be easily implementable in any D&D Setting you play in.
2. A series of documents explaining how to play a Pokémon D&D Campaign, which I am also currently actively running for my group. The basic synapsis is, that each PC is a Pokémon using a regular D&D class, with some minor changes to fit the setting, and that they are playing in a custom version of the Galar region where the players are themselves a group of Pokémon that do Gyms and get badges. All NPC statblocks used in in this campaign are custom made by me.

First and foremost I created these homebrews for myself for fun and secondly of course also for my players. But having put so much effort into these, I am left wondering whether others would be interested in these aswell. Which is why I am now thinking about where to post these online. My first thought was to post these here, but there are a few issues preventing me from doing that, which I will list below.
Can anyone tell me how I can resolve these issues or if there are any valid alternatives where these documents could be posted without a second thought?

• The documents are in German, as me and my players play in German. The only exception are the statblocks who have been made with Tetra Cube. I do not intend on translating them. So these are either only for German readers or Englisch speakers willing to translate them themselves.
• The Rules of this subreddit specifically say that files need be accessible directly in a browser, however my files are PDFs and I really don't plan on going through the effort of converting these to something like the Homebrewery. Can I just upload these PDFs somewhere and post a link here? Which site would be a good choice for that?
• The documents are about Copyrighted Material owned by Nintendo and also include images and Screenshots from these Games Series. Would this be against the rules of the subreddt? I don't see this stated outright in the rules, but I am still unsure about it.
• The Fire Emblem Document in particular isn't what you would call 'finished'. Many parts are still really conceptual or undefined. But it might take many more years until it would even come near to a fully fleshed out version. I believe it's best to publish a first version of it as it is, as it easily offers enough content to make entire campaigns from it. Would it be wise to publish such a draft-like document or would it be best to split it up into parts, that are themselves mostly finished? This would however again be some extra work for me, that I don't know if it would be worth putting in all the effort.

Having said all of that, the most important question of them all for me would be: Are anyone of you even interested in getting their hands on one of these documents?

Hello,
Is there any homebrew to check for available updates of installed games? Or soft on pc to check pkg?

Hi there ! First of all, if your group finished Curse of Strahd as part of the "Eyes of the Night" group, stop reading here.
I'm trying to create the world of my first homebrewed campaign, and the best candidate in my setting for my BBEG is the sole survivor of an ancient race well versed in soul magic.
Basically, as this race were invaded by the current reigning empire, they tried to harness the power of a local deity linked to souls to turn the tide of the war in their favor. But it backfired, trapped the deity in a giant, cocoon-like body under the kingdom, and left their prince as the sole survivor. He managed to safely store the souls of his people in some sort of stasis in a cristal or something.
I imagined putting an emphasis in "soul magic" in this setting, with stuff like having a ferryman-type character for the souls of the deceased trying to assume the job of the now-trapped deity, or having witches practicing the art of "Borrowing" bodies from animals like in Discworld. The main issue is balancing all of this stuff, so if anyone here encountered similar focused spells or anything of the sort I'd be interested in reading about it
My other issue is about my BBEG. He went into hiding, and his goal is to complete the ritual as a way to force the souls of his people in the bodies of everyone in the Empire, in order to effectively "revive" his race.
But I still don't know if I should play him as this possessing, hidden entity controlling one important NPC at a time since the demise of his race, or to give him a proper body and make him a manipulator and scheming character. I'm aiming for a Dark Wizard archetype, but I don't know what pitfalls I should avoid and how to make him interesting and interact with the PC during the whole campaign. Have any of you played with similar BBEGs ?
Thank you in advance, I will take every criticism I can get (and sorry, English is not my first language)

Game System: D&D5e with extensive homebrew Platform: Roll20, Discord VC When: 7:00/8:00 PM EST, day of week TBD Format: Long term campaign Openings: 3-5 Experience Required: Should be familiar with 5e and roleplay as a whole. Should be comfortable with homebrew. Nothing against new players but this won't go smoothly without some amount of previous play.
Game Summary
The way that I DM is almost entirely player driven. To describe briefly I find that plots and conflicts contrived by me are boring to DM. It never goes exactly the way I planned and I might as well write a book instead. Instead I help my players make fully fleshed out characters with internal desires and potential conflicts, then the way my party interacts with each other and the world drives them, instead of some random bbeg I've designed and forced them towards. Your decisions, your past, your enemies, your friends, and most importantly the consequences of your own actions will direct you.
My world is in the setting of classic D&D Forgotten Realms (extensively homebrewed) with cities, dungeons, adventure, and conflict available, so long as you look for it. It is high fantasy, with fleshed out history, lore, and secrets hidden within. As a DM of ongoing 9 years now, I’ve had quite some time to develop past the bare bones offered in the original world.
The homebrew I run is both system, monsters, and for the pc’s characters (if requested). While extensive, once understood is relatively simple as it is all an attempt to more fully develop existing systems rather than making random hardships to antagonize players.
Additionally it is important to note the extent of what I expect in character creation. Personal lore, family, friends, locations you've traveled to, anything that you put in your backstory will be developed and you will effectively be playing a real person. This is the most difficult hurdle for many, and I’ve had many a player quit because of this as well. The second most important quality in a player for me is creativity, whether that's not making cliche stories, bouncing back and forth ideas fluidly, or just making simple stories real. However, the *most* important quality is commitment, even if you aren’t the most skilled writer in the world (which I am not as well), if you keep trying, it’ll come together eventually. If this daunts you I will be helping you at every step of the way, but if this bores you, or if you think that you won’t be able to keep up then please stop here.
As a group outside of games, I also think its important to mesh well outside of session hours. I'd like for us to be able to play party games/video games during character creation leading up to the game, or when we can't session because of a missing player. Even better if we become friends that hang out outside of scheduled hours as well. A good friendship is a core foundation to good roleplay in my opinion, and I would hope all applicants share in this view. While there's nothing wrong with only seeing each other strictly within session hours, personally I find it a little cold to be a part of, and builds much less natural investment in each others' as well as the party's continued story/ies.
Game Guidelines
Sessions will be once a week. Timelines are still flexible as I haven't found my players as of yet, but will start at around 7-8pm est, and go for 3-6 hours (4 on average). During the summer months of the northern hemisphere, we may even attempt twice a week sessions given availability.
Every player is expected to be on time, and give notice in advance should they be late/unavailable. This is a hard enforced rule in my games, as I find flippancy with the time of others to be extremely disrespectful.
All sessions will be in a discord vc within a server dedicated to the game, and battlemaps as well as occasional rp maps will be represented with roll20. Character sheets and rolls are also within roll20. Out of session text-rp channels will be made available by player request, as a way to flesh out moments in time that may otherwise be summarized and skipped for the sake of the group. I will also participate in the form of NPCs whenever asked. Additionally, there will be a player only channel, that I will not have access to (by virtue of my alt having server ownership) that can server as a place for chatter mid session, out of session planning, group note taking, etc...
Should players be comfortable, I would also like to broach the topic of cam on during sessions also. Facial expressions and body language are huge components of RP that I would like to make use of as well as see players participate in. This can be a topic we revisit deeper in the game if desired as well.
Game Restrictions
To be discussed once players are chosen, but all players should be over 18.
TLDR: heavier topics are to be handled with grace, players should respect each other as well as the dm (and vice versa), all content and final decisions will be handled by the dm, and be comfortable with self-advocation as well as constructive criticism.
How to Apply
Please fill out this form instead of DMing me, or using this post as an application. Further contact is described in the text of the form itself.
https://forms.gle/6sskK2aVBnsPgpCj9

Game System: D&D5e with extensive homebrew Platform: Roll20, Discord VC When: 7:00/8:00 PM EST, day of week TBD Format: Long term campaign Openings: 3-5 Experience Required: Should be familiar with 5e and roleplay as a whole. Should be comfortable with homebrew. Nothing against new players but this won't go smoothly without some amount of previous play.
Game Summary
The way that I DM is almost entirely player driven. To describe briefly I find that plots and conflicts contrived by me are boring to DM. It never goes exactly the way I planned and I might as well write a book instead. Instead I help my players make fully fleshed out characters with internal desires and potential conflicts, then the way my party interacts with each other and the world drives them, instead of some random bbeg I've designed and forced them towards. Your decisions, your past, your enemies, your friends, and most importantly the consequences of your own actions will direct you.
My world is in the setting of classic D&D Forgotten Realms (extensively homebrewed) with cities, dungeons, adventure, and conflict available, so long as you look for it. It is high fantasy, with fleshed out history, lore, and secrets hidden within. As a DM of ongoing 9 years now, I’ve had quite some time to develop past the bare bones offered in the original world.
The homebrew I run is both system, monsters, and for the pc’s characters (if requested). While extensive, once understood is relatively simple as it is all an attempt to more fully develop existing systems rather than making random hardships to antagonize players.
Additionally it is important to note the extent of what I expect in character creation. Personal lore, family, friends, locations you've traveled to, anything that you put in your backstory will be developed and you will effectively be playing a real person. This is the most difficult hurdle for many, and I’ve had many a player quit because of this as well. The second most important quality in a player for me is creativity, whether that's not making cliche stories, bouncing back and forth ideas fluidly, or just making simple stories real. However, the *most* important quality is commitment, even if you aren’t the most skilled writer in the world (which I am not as well), if you keep trying, it’ll come together eventually. If this daunts you I will be helping you at every step of the way, but if this bores you, or if you think that you won’t be able to keep up then please stop here.
As a group outside of games, I also think its important to mesh well outside of session hours. I'd like for us to be able to play party games/video games during character creation leading up to the game, or when we can't session because of a missing player. Even better if we become friends that hang out outside of scheduled hours as well. A good friendship is a core foundation to good roleplay in my opinion, and I would hope all applicants share in this view. While there's nothing wrong with only seeing each other strictly within session hours, personally I find it a little cold to be a part of, and builds much less natural investment in each others' as well as the party's continued story/ies.
Game Guidelines
Sessions will be once a week. Timelines are still flexible as I haven't found my players as of yet, but will start at around 7-8pm est, and go for 3-6 hours (4 on average). During the summer months of the northern hemisphere, we may even attempt twice a week sessions given availability.
Every player is expected to be on time, and give notice in advance should they be late/unavailable. This is a hard enforced rule in my games, as I find flippancy with the time of others to be extremely disrespectful.
All sessions will be in a discord vc within a server dedicated to the game, and battlemaps as well as occasional rp maps will be represented with roll20. Character sheets and rolls are also within roll20. Out of session text-rp channels will be made available by player request, as a way to flesh out moments in time that may otherwise be summarized and skipped for the sake of the group. I will also participate in the form of NPCs whenever asked. Additionally, there will be a player only channel, that I will not have access to (by virtue of my alt having server ownership) that can server as a place for chatter mid session, out of session planning, group note taking, etc...
Should players be comfortable, I would also like to broach the topic of cam on during sessions also. Facial expressions and body language are huge components of RP that I would like to make use of as well as see players participate in. This can be a topic we revisit deeper in the game if desired as well.
Game Restrictions
To be discussed once players are chosen, but all players should be over 18.
TLDR: heavier topics are to be handled with grace, players should respect each other as well as the dm (and vice versa), all content and final decisions will be handled by the dm, and be comfortable with self-advocation as well as constructive criticism.
How to Apply
Please fill out this form instead of DMing me, or using this post as an application. Further contact is described in the text of the form itself.
https://forms.gle/6sskK2aVBnsPgpCj9

As I've been GMing a Daggerheart campaign, I've had to throw together a few homebrew things in order to keep things fresh and engaging for my players as well as scale some things on the fly that weren't covered by the existing text. One of those bits are Environments, which I absolutely love (and so does this Reddit if a few topics are any indicator). So I'm making this topic to discuss how I go about making my own environments and what I've extrapolated from pre-existing ones in the Playtest material.

Breaking Down Pre-Existing Environments: Base Stats

To make an environment without rules or a template, we need to take a critical eye to what is being provided and see if we can't figure out general "guidelines" on how the developers make them. The most obvious stuff is that we need a Tier, Type, Difficulty, and Potential Adversaries to form a statblock.
The golden rule about environments is that an environment's effects need not be necessarily detrimental to the players. A variety of environments offer beneficial effects to PCs, though this is predominantly through environmental passives - more on that later.
Tier is simply what level your party is at. This information is covered in the playtest material more in depth as to what tier your players should be encountering, but a general rule is that the environment will match the same tier as your adversaries.
Type is broken down into four categories:

• Exploration: For when your party is moseying about to get from one destination to another. This should not be confused with Traversal which is a more specific environment that can be within another environment.
• Social: For when your party is in a populated environment where there isn't as much of a risk of expected dangers. These environments are good for cities, towns, tribal camps, etc.
• Traversal: These environments are fairly specific and are meant for environments that impose some measure of difficulty or danger to your party within that contained environment. Steep mountains, canyon cliffsides, raging rivers, thorny brambles, etc.
• Events: These are likely the least common as they pertain to a particular event (hence the name) that occurs in the course of the story. It need not be specific to a certain biome or challenge and for the most part will be the result of the story culminating from adversarial gatherings (Cult Ritual), a festival, or otherwise.

Difficulty is simply the "goal" or number that players' rolls typically have to meet in order for an environment's conditions to proc, but as stated in the playtest material, an individual adversary's difficulty may differ.
Potential Adversaries are exactly that! Your adversary choices should roughly be made to fit in the environment. While having your party encounter Pirates can be novel and fun, it wouldn't make much sense to have Pirates in a Desert environment without some decent story-telling and worldbuilding.
The stats of our environment are ultimately the mechanical side of things, but they help to express how dangerous that environment is. A peaceful city is a much different environment than a pirate haven much the same way that a cordial shop is much different than a royal court! Consider how our stats express how dangerous or challenging the environment is for our players, respective to their tier.
On the subject of the stats expressing the challenge of your environments, we need to ask ourselves some questions about how that environment is defined: If our Forest Meadow is Traversal (which as you'll remember tends to be more difficult/dangerous than Exploration), what is it that makes it a Traversal environment? Perhaps the grass here has a toxic pollen that hampers the PCs, causing them to mark Stress on failed Strength rolls when they breathe it in as their fortitude fails them! Or maybe the meadow has secret pitfalls at every turn that risk characters twisting an ankle if they aren't savvy enough to spot them through the foliage!
Difficulty is a bit more of a consideration. To start, remember to stick to our party's Tier and base it on that. This is actually covered in the Playtest document with a general baseline by tier, but we can have a range if we want something a little more or less significant. I recommend a range of -/+1 and no more than that. Your environment can be easier to overcome with not-so-hostile effects, or it can be particularly challenging and harsh on failure! I personally like to contrast my difficulty values with my damage values, with lower difficulties having higher damages and vice versa.
Damage is a tricky part. As mentioned, I like to scale difficulty and damage contrasting one another, but generally speaking, our environment should not do more damage than is necessary to impose a Major threshold's worth of damage. For this, I like to have higher difficulty/lower damage focus on the Minor threshold, and higher difficulty/lower damage focus on the Major threshold. A strange consideration in the playtest material is that the Tier 3 guidelines suggest a whopping 4d12 damage base which is fairly reliable for nailing the Major threshold, so my suggestions alter from the norm there to account for it as the highest possible damage output.
To simplify all of this, let's put it in a table:

	Tier 0	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3
Playtest Suggested Difficulty	11	14	17	20
My Suggested Difficulty	10 - 12	13 - 15	16 - 18	19 - 21
Playtest Suggested Damage	1d6	2d8	2d12	4d12
My Suggested Damage	1d4+1, 1d6, 2d6+2	1d8, 2d8, 2d6+5	1d8+1, 2d12, 2d12+5	2d6, 4d8+7, 4d12

An Example: I've made an environment with a Difficulty of 13, which is slightly less than is suggested for a Tier 1 environment. To compensate for an easier difficulty to overcome, I've scaled the damage a little higher to potentially dip into Major Threshold territory. This signifies that my environment - while not as overtly challenging - is still quite dangerous if the character doesn't take it seriously!

Passives, Reactions, Actions, and Fear

Now we're getting into the true meat and fun part of crafting an environment. We need to consider what happens in our environment, but to do that we need to take a magnifying glass to what makes an Action... well, an Action! We'll look at a few examples provided by the developers and see how we can draw inspiration from those.

Passives

Passives are typically fairly mundane and non-hostile to our players. In fact, many Passives are actually quite beneficial to our players in certain conditions! Environmental passives can offer beneficial effects on trait rolls for players, such as having advantage on a trait roll or a beneficial modifier to those rolls. However, to gain these, players typically have to sacrifice something of value or put in some measure of work to get them. This can either be offering up gold (such as the Bustling Marketplace) or by doing some investigative work with a Presence roll (such as the Local Tavern).
Now, an important distinction for Passives is that it largely depends on the environment's type. Whereas Social environments tend to offer players beneficial effects, Traversal are quite the opposite! Traversal passives can sometimes include a Progress Countdown, requiring players to perform several trait rolls in order to overcome the environment's passive condition. A good example of this is The Climb passive of the Cliffside Ascent, which requires players achieve multiple successes to reach the top. Otherwise, they might not reach the apex or, worse, fall to their deaths!
When making passives, consider if the environment would play to player's favor or if there is some challenge to overcome.

Reactions

Reactions are a bit uncommon, but do have a place! Reactions generally are what happens if a PC engages in a certain activity. Maybe they've failed a roll and some negative consequence occurs as a result (such as the Gossip reaction of the Baronial Court). Maybe they've ventured off by themselves and become separated from the party (such as the Crowd Closes In reaction of the Bustling Marketplace).
Reactions typically only incur a Stress mark on failure for the offending player, but they can affect multiple players at once depending on the circumstances. Remembering our golden rule, however, these reactions may not necessarily be damaging to the players! A player might perform an action in an environment that denotes a beneficial result like turning a Fear roll into a Hope roll (such as the Relentless Hope reaction of the Hallowed Temple).
When considering Reactions, think about something a player is likely to do in that environment. A sacred garden with lots of lowers might prompt a player to smell the roses, but if those roses are living and don't want to be disturbed, they might be a bit more prickly than the player expects!
Reactions can come with a Fear cost, but most of what I'll talk about with that will be covered in the Actions section, so keep reading!

Actions: True Actions and 'Fearful' Actions

Actions, in a word, are diverse in their application, and are the bread and butter of your environments. They are generally how the GM influences the story directly in a way that ups the stakes. This is primarily through the use of GM Moves and Fear tokens and serve as a fantastic way for the GM to utilize these resources outside of combat. To clarify a few things, I've divided actions into two types: True Actions and Fearful Actions, to help denote which ones use which resources.
To start with True Actions, an important distinction for them is that they may be used even without an action tracker in play and regardless of action token costs. This means that a GM can utilize their resources even out of combat! Super handy for when you're capped on Fear and still want to twist the narrative a bit.
Actions in environments are generally how the GM influences a scene by imposing some adversarial encounter that may not necessarily result in a combat encounter. They can be used to summon potentially adversarial NPCs/adversaries to confront the players for a variety of things (such as the You Are Not Welcome Here action in the Abandoned Grove or We Met Again in the Baronial Court). This can be a social confrontation or even a direct, non-violent removal of the players' items (such as the Sticky Fingers action of the Bustling Marketplace).
True Actions are also ways to make things much more difficult for the players through the environment itself interfering with them, imposing trait rolls that come with status conditions on failure (such as the Grasping Vines of The Burning Heart of the Wood). We can also utilize them to keep our adversaries in play, healing their damage or removing their Stress (such as the Aura of Death of the Necromancer's Ossuary).
Yet, our golden rule still applies here, as we as GMs can utilize True Actions to coax the players into things that may benefit them, like finding a rare(r) item they might need/want (such as the Unexpected Find in the Bustling Marketplace).
Fearful Actions are much more insidious and do not benefit the players. These actions require spending Fear tokens and come with nearly guaranteed negative effects toward the players, manifesting primarily as direct summons of adversaries to oppose them or truly difficult circumstances that can include damaging effects. Fearful actions are how we as GMs take a hard narrative twist to directly challenge the players.
These actions are much more narrow in scope but can impose a Progress Countdown to resolve (such as the Framed! action of the Baronial Court) or worse yet, cause direct damage to the player if they fail a trait roll or are not aided in some way (such as the Fall action of the Cliffside Ascent). Moreover, Fearful Actions can even give Adversaries some beneficial effect on spawning, such as coming in unbeknownst to the players or using one of their actions without a cost right off the cuff!
When considering the creation of these actions, consider how the environment or adversaries could impose incredibly difficult circumstances on the players that need not necessarily come from the mechanical stats themselves. Having a Chaldworm pop up immediately with its Superheated buff already going is a huge way to ramp up the stakes in an encounter the players never even knew they were engaged in!

Special Note: Progress Countdowns

Its special because Progress Countdowns are the culmination of long-term effects that the players have to resolve, and should be used sparingly! These can either be attributed to an environment's Passive or Action, may have a Fear cost, or other various circumstances. Ultimately the big consideration here is that Progress Countdowns are a bit of a wildcard but are generally included to up the stakes for the players in a way that goes beyond just the one scene. They may be spending quite a bit of time tracking down that thief that stole their goods (such as the Sticky Fingers action of the Bustling Marketplace)!

Summary

So now that we have an idea of what considerations go into making environments, let's summarize so we can quickly make some environments using the information we've already gone over!
Tier: Base this on your party's level! Type: Refer to prior Type breakdown! Difficulty: Refer to prior table! Potential Adversaries: Specific to your environment and creativity!
Environment Features:

• Pick a combination of no more than five (5) total different Passives, Reactions, and Actions.
• You'll want 1-2 Passives which define the general aura of the environment itself and how it interacts with the players
• 1-2 Reactions if the players are likely to engage in a particular activity. Remember that these can have Fear costs if they're more challenging!
• Fill the rest with Actions that express how the environment is interacting with the players either through the environment itself or through NPCs/adversaries!
• If your Action summons NPCs/Adversaries to confront the players in a way that it not necessarily violent, use a True Action (with action token costs)
• If your Action summons Adversaries to violently confront the players, use a Fearful Action (with Fear token costs).
• When utilizing Actions, remember that you can use them as a means of influencing the challenges players face by directly imposing difficulty on them without the use of an adversary/NPC!
• If you utilize a Progress Countdown, remember it can come with either an environmental Passive or as an imposed Action.

Above all remember the golden rule! Any and all environment effects can benefit the players somehow. Your environments need not necessarily be adversarial to your players; be kind to one another <3

I’ve been working on a few homebrew classes but I can’t figure out how to make them work and make them balanced. The classes I’m working on are

1. The orbiter who has an orbital chain which allows them to control gravity around themselves (not spell-caster)
   
2. The ghost who is a ghost and has ghost abilities. I’m making it as an option for a new character if my PC’s die.
   
3. The charlatan who is a class kind of like the rouge but counterfeit money (not spell-caster)
   

So I'm 29 I turn 30 near end of June. I live in Utah but not limiting to just the state I can handle a Long Distance Relationship.
I love to play video games, I play Xbox (Series S), Switch, and pc (Only got a gaming laptop but still works great) watch movies, binge series, I love all movies really and watch almost anything and for series kinda the same favorite are animes, fantasy, comedy. and write (Stories, poems, and d&d campaigns) I love to play d&d and other ttrpgs as well as run them and even make my own homebrews. I love the outdoors from hiking to camping to backpacking, love to fish and go shooting targets. I love to cook and come up with new recipes, I also love to eat and try new things and love to eat everything besides canned spinach (love fresh spinach)
I'm looking for a partner in life someone that I can go camping with, hiking, or plan backpacking trips. Someone to game with or just spend days cuddling doing our own things. Someone to try new foods and cook and bake with, go try new restaurants. I'd love to play d&d with them even if I have to teach them about it I'm used to new players and it's a very fun and connective thing I feel.
I currently work for Redmond Life which is a Salt Producer, I work as a production simply fulfilling orders and making products. I also am a part time private chef for them cooking for several classes they offer and work events. I'm currently trying to get a job as a chef to use my trade and schooling. I'm 6" tall weighing about 200, I love to workout even though I tend to use my VR for it.
If any of this speaks to you send me a message either private or just a chat. If you've read this all why not starting with your favorite type of food.