A TTRPG and worldbuilding newsletter.
Happy Five Minute Folio Friday! Here are this week's list of TTRPG-related things I've been pondering about and finding useful. Feel free to forward along if you think it might help a friend.
🎲 A Game Master Tip
In games like D&D, rolling for damage for each attack can be a huge time suck and slow down gameplay drastically, especially during large battles or when the players/GM prefer a faster pace. To streamline combat and keep things exciting, you can generalize damage by converting it into a system that tracks the number of hits to defeat an opponent, rather than calculating precise damage points from each hit. Here’s how:
- Average Damage: Determine the average damage a weapon or spell deals, including any bonuses from abilities or enhancements.
- Hit Threshold: Assign each creature or NPC a “hit threshold” based on their hit points and the average damage. For example, a monster with 50 HP facing an average damage of 10 per hit could have a hit threshold of 5. This means it takes 5 hits to defeat this monster.
- Counting Hits: During combat, instead of rolling for damage, you simply track the number of successful hits against each creature. Once the number of hits reaches the creature’s hit threshold, it’s defeated.
- Adjusting for Criticals and Misses: You can still incorporate critical hits and misses for flavor and tactical depth. A critical hit could count as two hits, speeding up the defeat of tougher opponents, while a miss has no effect.
🎥 A Resource I'm Loving
Baron DeRoppe, known on YouTube as Dungeon Masterpiece, explores the art of running engaging D&D sessions. He does a fantastic job of integrating historical insights and geopolitical analysis into fantasy worldbuilding in order to enhance quest design and narrative depth.
Dungeon Masterpiece has plenty of great videos that I’m sure you’ll love including “Prep your next adventure in just 14.27 minutes!”, a rundown of how to session prep quickly, and “D&D Worldbuilding: Lessons learned from Skyrim”, tips for creating engaging and memorable campaign settings.
🗺️ A Worldbuilding Prompt
In your world, how does magic shape societies, geography, and history? Is magic widespread or rare? What impact does magic have on daily life, governance, and social hierarchy. Reflect on magical hotspots and their effects on the environment and civilization. How has magic's role evolved over time? Were there key events shaped by magic?
⛵️ A Plot Hook
A mysterious tower, known as the Tower of Echoes, has appeared overnight on the outskirts of a troubled kingdom, promising the power to alter history to those who can overcome its trials. The kingdom's ruler offers a reward of immense value to whoever retrieves the artifact from the tower's summit. Your party has only a few days before the tower vanishes again.
Shrouded in an unnatural fog and whispered warnings from lost souls, the tower challenges entrants with magical labyrinths, cunning puzzles, and guardians embodying their darkest fears. This quest will test the party's resolve, wit, and unity. Will they claim the tower's power to save the kingdom, or become yet another echo in the mist?
🎙️ A Podcast I'm Enjoying
This week’s featured podcast is Worlds Away.
We’re five close friends who love to play games and create heartfelt stories together. On Worlds Away, we use role-playing games to build new worlds for you and our characters to explore. Join us at the table and discover the futuristic, the fantastic, and everything in between.
My take? This tale of what the not-so-distant future could hold is filled with rich lore, great storytelling, and a fun cast. I can’t wait to listen to more!
Looking for more Actual Play podcasts? I've put together a list of 125+ podcasts you can check out for free.
That's a wrap! Thanks for checking out the Five Minute Folio. If you found this useful, feel free to forward it along to a friend.
Until next week,
Goosidore
P.S. Come hangout in our Discord and chat about all things related to TTRPGs and worldbuilding.
