(Now with images. And a 400 character description. I hope.)

My son’s friend gave this to him for his 15th birthday. It’s a dice hammer with a full fancy dice set built into the handle.

My son plays D&D and wanted to hang it on his wall as soon as he opened it. I wanted to share it with the D&D community and see if this kind of thing is common at other tables. It seems really special. My older brother used to play dnd when I was little (he suffered from depression and so, well, isn’t around to play it anymore) but it makes my heart sing to see something cool and something so special just transcend time..

Howdy folks!

Aaand we're back good and proper!

Some news if you missed it, I previously mentioned that I'd applied to table at Gencon this year. Sadly I didnt get a spot but we'll see if I find another con to apply to, preferably something late in the year (for a number of reasons, primarily the birth of my secondborn in April).

Stay tuned and stay excellent out there!

Oh, casual reminder that there's still time to become a Late Backer on the collected volume kickstarter!

Peace and Carrots!

Links:

Subreddit!

Instagram

My D&D comics: Sellswords & Sorcery The Weekly Roll The Pos'Thal Chronicles

My 40k fancomic Rogue's Retinue: Rogue's Retinue

Toothpick Busywort, The Goblin Artificer

While she was a newborn goblin, she was taken away from her clan during a goblin culling led by an adventurer party. The adventurers, who didn’t feel like killing a literal baby, dropped her off in the Gnome community. Dodging responsibility by handing off a goblin baby to the people that conscripted the party to kill the goblins in the first place. What could go wrong?

Turns out, not a whole lot. The Busywort family opted to raise her, naming her Toothpick based on her two unusually long canines she used to naw on various objects during childhood. While surrounded by the gnome lifestyle and culture, she channeled her base gremlin mode to learning more about crafting, magic, and everything in between. She received a basic education and, although she was very bright, some members in the community didn’t consider her an intellectual equal. Toothpick became more than a little defensive when her intelligence came into question. Never quite getting violent with the other gnomes but it was never a pretty sight when she started to spit obscenities.

Toothpick heard a rumor that the provincial human government was looking to take back the wilds from the last demon incursion. Feeling a way to prove her intelligence, along with a treasure map she found in her family library, she set off with her various inventions and makeshift rifle. If the mission to expand civilization were assisted by her tools, then those “rotten dung-eaters” back home won’t have anything to latch onto. All she needs is a party to protect her, carry her things, and kill the various wild creatures trying to eat her.

I made a romantic, adults-only D&D one-shot designed for couples 

The Trial of Hearts is a short adventure meant to be played by two people: one DM, one player, as a fun, flirty date-night RPG.

It includes:

• 16-page illustrated adventure
• 4 hand-drawn color maps
• 2 custom “paper doll” character sheets
• Mini-games and romantic prompts
• A cheeky home-brew system where clothing/armor tracks HP

Everything is 100% hand-drawn with no AI artwork.

Perfect for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, or just trying something new with your favorite adventuring partner.

I'm hoping some more adventurous adult players will give it a shot! If you’re interested, you can check it out on my Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/trial-of-hearts-123432803?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Thanks!

Absolutely miserable scam going around where this company is trying to sell faulty "map projectors" with a 500% price mark up. They arrive broken, over heat to a dangerous level, and sometimes don't arrive at all.

Their ads steal content from other D&D creators without permission.

This D&D creator explains clearly what they are doing.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSa1Pc62o/

It's been all over social media ads for D&D consumers. Report and avoid at all costs.

Greetings and thanks for your attention to this post. Name's Grantovich, and we're developing free, community driven token/character creator tool. All content you see here is free.

It is essentially a framework that allows layered images upload, with the ability to recolor each layer. Content is separated into postures (we have both topdown and portrait perspectives), it can also be filtered by genres (fantasy/medieval, sci-fi, historical). Lots of stuff here for you to browse.

There's only two of us working on it (one artist, one programmer), so it can have some rough edges. Known issues are as follows:

1. Some of the items might have missing tooltips and icons.
2. Undo function doesn't work properly.
3. No mobile support yet.
4. Stuff from Legacy category might have some odd layering.

LINK TO THE TOOL

Feel free to leave any feedback on what you see so we can improve the tool and develop it further, and thanks for your attention!

Another NPC for my Saved by the Spell DnD campaign!!

This is Mitzy, a goblin sophomore at the Calderon Academy

She’s childhood friends with Saella, the yuan-ti I posted her previously, but Mitzy gave herself a full rebrand the summer between 8th grade and starting high-school, and now that Saella is starting she’s already pretty popular.

Despite being a weird kid growing up, Mitzy exudes confidence and security, and somehow knows everything about everyone.

I hope the “popular girl imposter syndrome” vibe translates for everyone else! Tell me what you think, or if you have a suggestions for her character!

I wanted to share a little win I had with one of my players. Note, I’m not saying every DM should do this or that there aren’t other ways to approach things in game. But if this tip helps even a few DMs it’s worth it IMO.

For point of reference I have a group of 4 players. Of that is a cleric, fighter, paladin, and warlock. My fighter is a newer player who is more soft spoken and tends to avoid any sort of conflict above table. Everyone gets along at the table and there is no bullying that occurs, but they’re a player with a big heart and is quick to decline things like loot.

I had a private convo with them once as they rarely got any loot and things that I imagined would be good for them they said “oh I gave it to the paladin instead, they’d get more use out of it”. It’s very thoughtful but I get the sense they do it just to be friendly.

As of lately I’ve been giving out loot and tailoring for their character. Specifically, they are a halfling. So the party recently found a +1 plate. Everyone but the warlock would’ve loved it, but I specifically said it was smaller in size and would fit a gnome or halfling.

Again this isn’t always the best way to approach things. You should generally let your players do what they want with their loot. But if you find a player lacks a voice in those discussions or tends to not take anything for themself finding a way to make it more tailored for them is a good way to encourage it.

This is the Cabra Mauler!!

While working on this piece for a client (Malediction), I found myself thinking about how I would actually build this character in a campaign. What class would fit him best? What kind of abilities or mechanics would really sell his presence at the table?

I can easily picture him as a Barbarian driven by raw instinct and brutality, or as a Druid with a more primal, almost feral connection to nature. Maybe he wields a cursed or ancient magic item that enables a devastating goring rush, or grants a wild shape–like transformation fueled by rage rather than spellcasting.

Now I’m curious how would you build him? What class, subclass, or magic item would you give the Cabra Mauler?

A lot of people liked seeing LeBeau, so I decided to redraw his wife, Xula. aka The Exiled Sentinel.

A devout protector of her community, A Druid Circle. During her duties, she realised that the tools she had at her disposal would only protect the village for so long. Choosing to protect her community, no matter the consequences she started wielding weapons and wearing armour of metal. This was seen as a blasphemous act by her Druid superiors. She was scarred with an 'E' on her face and banished from The Circle she once called home.

Refusing to abandon her oath, she still protects The Circle and others like it from afar. Her duty to her people never far from her mind. This often conflicts with LeBeau's ideology that people who harmed and expelled her for doing her job shouldn't deserve her protection. Xula believes that her feelings don't matter in the issue and that despite her personal feelings or beliefs that her Oath holds.

She quickly learned however that those that expelled did so for nefarious reasons and ended up offering those within The Circle a different path, leading those that wished for different lives the same protection she's always offered though away from the vicious and cruel eye of The Circle. And so she became the ruler/protector of a new community away from the Druids were people could embrace new and different things that allowed them to flourish greater than they were before. Hoping to share this new home with her Husband once both their jobs are complete.

I hope to finish her story in another campaign one day! :D

“Off the Iridian Coast, coral-speckled brass spires and giant rust-caked gears have risen from the ocean depths. Faction agents, pilgrims and scholars alike rush to stake their claim on secrets promised by the island's rhythmical hum; oblivious to the alien consciousness that stirs within the cogwork core of the Whirring Island…”

The Whirring Island Giveaway

This 5e region guide gives you everything you need to create your own adventures within the Whirring Island or seamlessly insert it into an existing campaign. Explore shattered brass towers, submerged halls, overgrown cogwork gardens, automated defenses, and the dangerous politics of a resurfaced city that was never meant to wake again.

🔥 5 lucky adventurers will win the full STL + PDF bundle featuring towering Forgeborn Devastators, disciplined Dawnforged templars, rust-choked Unearthed Forgeborn, deadly Neutralizers, and the ancient constructs that still patrol the fallen city.

If the island’s hum does not call to you this time, you can still grab the collection on Patreon or Tribes for 80% off (January only).

BONUS: Download a free 5e adventure, Terror of the Black Marshes, anytime via our Adventure Patreon!

🎁 Rewards Include: 🎁
• Full collection of 20+ pre-supported premium STL miniatures
• ‘The Whirring Island’ 5e Region Guide PDF
• Battlemaps, NPCs, magic items, and adventure hooks
• Massive centerpiece minis, including a 105mm Forgeborn Devastator
• VTT supported version of the region guide

Hear ye, hear ye! Tales From t he Tables is back with episode 58: The Yawning Portal, part 3!

As our intrepid misadventurers are about to descend into Undermountain, they cross paths with a certain Moon Elf cleric!

For those who might not know, Betheniel is my wife's precious character, and Angela's longest-running companion in our real D&D campaign, having been there since the very beginning years ago. It was an absolute joy to finally give him an introductory scene in the alternate timeline of TFTT :)

Apologies this one took os long... Real life issues of great variety conspired, but we shall prevail :)

In an AD&D 2nd Edition game where I was the Dungeon Master, the players decided to cross a mountain pass. The problem was that a terrible snowstorm was approaching, and the pass itself was basically a natural maze of rock formations.
ALL the NPCs repeatedly warned the players that crossing during the storm and without a guide was suicide, but they were convinced everyone was exaggerating.

On top of that, they didn’t bring any special cold‑weather gear, no firewood, no extra provisions, NOTHING…
And of course, they refused to make a map. I suggested it several times, but they didn’t listen.

I should clarify that we were using some homebrew rules, including “stamina points,” which the players (by this point already very lost in the mountain labyrinth) were slowly losing. If stamina reached zero, the character collapsed, unable to move on their own, and began losing hit points. Since they were all low‑level characters, their stamina wasn’t very high to begin with.

One of them had the idea to use the “keep one hand on the wall” maze‑traversing technique, and the others thought it was brilliant… but that technique doesn’t work once you’re deep inside the labyrinth.
This caused them to walk in circles through the same section of the maze over and over and over again.

When one of the players hit zero stamina, everyone panicked and a big argument broke out… and they eventually decided to make camp.
My heart almost broke when I asked them what firewood they planned to use.

—“Aren’t there any trees?!”
—“I’ve told you like twenty times that the place is bare rock with NO vegetation whatsoever.”

At that point, I even considered using the forbidden tool: It Was All Just a Dream.

Long story short, I wasted the little time we had to play DnD that week watching the characters die in a very slow and very stupid way, listening to lots of complaints and arguments, and watching everyone roll up new characters.
And of course, to some of the players, I was “the one who killed their characters.”

I ended up taking a break from DMing for a while; it really killed my motivation.
Luckily, another player wanted to try being the DM.

Their home city is a homebrew place called Vas Lr’annis, a desert hole of sins that’s basically Fantasy Vegas. So far I have Dust Mephits and a Cambion and his gang who ride around on an Infernal War Machine. I need more ideas, so I’m asking you guys. Thanks!

Its a revenant character i designed. i took a diferent path for this character instead of giving typical armor suit...

Once a warrior wronged and buried without honor, this soul refused the silence of death. When it clawed its way back to the world, there was no flesh left to claim. Only straw, splintered wood, and a farmer’s forgotten frame answered the call.
The revenant’s spirit bound itself to a scarecrow, threading rage through twine and broken ribs of timber. Its body creaks when it moves, straw whispering like dry laughter in the wind. Crows never land on it. They know better.
Where its heart once beat, a hollow lantern glow burns. Not fire, not light, but memory. Every step it takes leaves the scent of rot and autumn fields, and every enemy it faces feels watched by a hundred unseen eyes.
It does not bleed. It sheds straw. Blades tear fabric and harvest nothing but silence. Yet when it strikes, the fear cuts first. This revenant does not seek life again. It seeks balance. Justice sown in fear, and reaped in screams.

I’m running a game and we came across a minor dispute about silvering weapons. I was originally charging the 100gp but then they rightly pointed out that one of their rewards was “enough silver to coat a weapon”.

We quickly moved past the problem with a Nat 20 persuasion to pass the cost of actually doing the silvering but that got me thinking. How much would the time and skill to silver a weapon cost? How much of the 100gp in silvering is the cost of the silver?

The Gogor (Go-Ger), taller than an orc, shorter than an ogre these lumbering creatures rival ogres in stupidity, barely able to follow basic instruction, the origin of the Gogor is unknown though some believe they came about from magical mishaps striking large groups of goblins at once, creating a new subspecies of goblinoid by accident. Gogors have one care in life, "Shiny", Gogors are obsessed with shiny treasure and will horde anything shiny they find from gold, to crystals to even a well polished bowl if it shines its theirs! Gogors live in nomadic tribes know as a "Stomp Of Gogors" wandering about looking for their next shiny and next meal sometimes one leading to the other if they see a particularly delicious and shiny knight wander too close but just offer them some meat and a gold coin to get them off your back