THE REFERENCE BLOG

OVER 300 DOWNLOADABLE & PRINTABLE D&D CARDS!

I made over 300 of these bad boys to better help new players understand equipment or simply to add a more organized way of playing. All equipment, items, gear, vehicles, weapons, and armor are included in the free PDF with the google drive link below.

PDF DOWNLOAD https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzlzB4FzIyPQenZJaE00aV93VlU/view?usp=sharing

go here

http://www.myscriptfont.com/

instead of printing it off just use this blank thing that way you dont have to scan it or anything

so fill that out by pasting it in any art program and whatnot

then save it and upload it to that site

and itll give you an option to download it

ehh

Something that’s also worth noticing is what the brown people think about their painting in the original material. I know a couple of characters that are awfully colored in the source material and not a realistic color at all!

If you have any tips on organizing/keeping track of thoughts for different NPCs it would be appreciated.

To me there’s two different problems at work here, requiring two different skills to be sharpened. 

1) Most NPCs don’t actually have their own thoughts, and are just vessels the narrative takes while communicating what information the players need to know. While you might give the important ones motivations and backstory to color their expression, they’re still masks you as the DM use in your role as storyteller to direct the plot in different ways. 

Say you’ve got an adventure involving a particular ghost-haunted ruin you want the players to explore. What you need is a particular “story beat” to get the party where you need them to go, but this beat can take innumerable forms before your party decides to either bite on the right adventure hook or abandon it for another storyline they become more interested in. It can start as a rumor overheard in a tavern, then into a request for esoteric materials by an enchanter, finally a plea from a wealthy town elder to rescue their loved one. You don’t need to keep track of who “knows” the beat, only keep it in circulation among your other ideas until it’s needed. 

2) When and how to dole out information to your party, including deciding how many hoops they need to jump through and when to get it. 

I like to separate “hidden” information in my campaigns into three distinct categories:

A, Specialized knowledge: The kind of thing not everyone would know, necessitating the party seek out an expert. ( Ask around and have an encounter with an NPC, gain entrance to the archives etc) 

B, Privileged information: Things other people DON’T want you to know, requiring the party to make specialized contacts, or slip past the people who guard said information . 

C, Forgotten Lore: Information that is flat out a mystery, requiring the party to unravel conspiracies or go on full out adventures to gain access to.

When I make an adventure, generally the ways to avoid obstacles and get one’s bearings is only rank A, only an encounter with a single NPC away from being solved, where as true motivations and unseen factors are rank B. Information involving major story events is relegated to rank C. 

Here’s the trick, when the party progresses the story, all that information slips down one rank: That which is hidden is discovered by those in the know, who can drop hints about it while the party is seeking them out for more relevant knowledge, where as that which was previously valuable information becomes common gossip. 

Say there’s a murder plot going on that you want your party to be involved in after this campaign arc. It starts as forgotten lore, something the party stumbles on only if they happen to find a secret treasure trove of information, and then only as a hint. Later, as the party get closer to the murderplot, important npcs begin to know something about it, perhaps asking the party to check in on it in exchange for what they know.   If the party blithely ignores the plot, it’ll eventually become common gossip, something that NPCs can’t help but blab about for the party to overhear. 

Every website uses a language called JavaScript; long story short it’s a website language that allows developers to do the crazy shit you see on websites. Now the easiest thing to do is to disable JavaScript to stop them from knowing you have an adblocker:

Oh no! I’m blocked from viewing the website. It would be a terrible shame if I were able to right click and select the “inspect” feature

Click the three dots in the top right and open the “Settings” Menu

And then scrolled down to “Debugger” and checked the “Disable Javascript Option”

And then just refreshed the page

Spotify has a ‘Spotify for Developers’ platform, which enables independent developers release cool ways for users to interact, visualize, and interpret their streaming history, current library, or any track of their choice. Here are some of my favorites:

Klangspektrum: Enables Spotify users to analyse their musical behaviour based on song attributes, such as their energy, danceability, or the levels of instruments

Discover Quickly: Pick a song, or an album, or an artist you like, and from there jump quickly to something you might like! It’ll automatically play, and from there you can decided if its your thing and add it to a playlist or like it, and if not, move on to the next!

Replayify: This is your Spotify Wrapped right at your fingertips, daily. You can see top artists, tracks, for all time, the past 6 months, or the past month. You can also see your recently played, down to the time and date. 

Playlist Souffle: Take any playlist you have, and mix it up. Playlist souffle takes playlists you have, and swaps out the songs with ones that are by the same artist, or on the same album. Same feel, different songs!

Musicscapes: Visualize your recent listens with a minimalistic landscape, and see how it changes when you listen to a few more!

Dubolt: Find music based on an artist you like, and narrow it down based on the vibe you’re looking for!

Mangomoji: Combine emojis together to find the song that fits the feeling you’re going for!

Setify: If you’re reminiscing on your last live event, you can go back in time to a concert or festival, and find a playlist with the setlist for the event!

Playlist Manager: Playlist Manager merges the songs of selected playlists into one view, allowing you to easily add and remove songs from different playlists.

Organize Your Music: You can organize all of your music or just subsets, and you can even slice and dice it by genre or energy, or other properties. It can help you categorize your music in ways you didn’t think you could.

How Bad Is Your Spotify: This fun, judgemental AI tells you how bad your Spotify really is. It will poke fun at you, and give you a horrifyingly accurate roast on your spotify and music choices.

Follow for recipes

hello, and thank you! i’m in a bit of a slump myself, so hopefully these themes can help us both. 

JOURNAL SPREAD THEMES + suggested things to add

hogwarts house colors

you could do one color at a time, or multiple!

house mottos

house aesthetic pictures

4 seasons

season aesthetics

simple doodles 

goals for that season

space theme

describe your ideal planet

space doodles

doctor who quotes maybe?

library theme

different books you want to read

book quotes

art appreciation

museum pictures

museum tickets if you have them

different art pictures

abstract/detailed doodles

cursive, small lettering

different biomes

underwater, mountains, jungle, etc. 

animal pictures

have the colors match the mood

pastels 

one color or multiple 

cute quotes/doodles

sticky notes

small lettering

bold colors

one color or multiple

bright pictures

big lettering

earth tones 

plant pictures

browns/greens/etc. 

plant washi 

different brands 

cutouts of tags/brand names

simple layout 

success quotes 

stick to one color 

simple theme

sticky notes to match color 

cute doodles

cursive and regular lettering

garden theme

flower pictures/doodles

plant washi

growth quotes

cursive lettering

places you want to go/travel  

pictures of where you want to go

plane/train/boat doodles

vast array of colors 

lists of where to go 

budget to travel 

retro theme

retro colors

retro anime/show pictures

quirky or block lettering 

academic theme

list of classes and professors

task lists and test dates 

scholar quotes

school-themed doodles 

assignment trackers 

I'm not good at it so dont expect anything fancy. Send me recs of critical role trios and which pose and maybe I'll post it and embarrass myself

family/friends/personal

someone close to you is sick. you need to adventure to find a cure

someone stole something important from you and you need to find it

you’ve received a message from a long lost relative and are trying to find them

someone that you love has been kidnapped (maybe you have to earn money to pay a ransom or complete some deed…)

adventuring runs in the family! everyone is expected to complete one quest in their lives

your family/culture sends people out to complete certain tasks when they reach a certain age as a rite of passage

another player’s character saved you in the past so you feel indebted to them and travel with them, protecting/aiding them

there’s a magical drought in your hometown and you have to fix it

your hometown doesn’t have a lot of jobs so you have to travel and send money back home

some childhood friends and you made a “scavenger hunt” where you try and complete a checklist of certain tasks (ie. defeat a barbarian in hand to hand combat, steal x amount of gold, slay a dragon, etc) in an allotted amount of time

quests/jobs

a god/patron has sent you on a quest to do something for them

you’ve been hired by someone to complete a task (and you get sucked into the big adventure along the way)

you’re on a quest for knowledge. maybe it’s to learn the best ways of fighting, maybe it’s something more academic related

your priest received a vision from your god and they sent you on a quest

you’re writing a book about the world and different cultures and you need first hand experience

you’ve found every map you’ve come across is shitty, so you decide to become a cartographer and make your own

you’re a detective who helps solve crimes and need to travel to solve a particular case

you’re a collector of a certain object and travel across the land to find it

you’re apart of an adventuring academy and have to complete a quest to graduate

you’re an artisan and you travel with your wares, trying to sell them. alternatively, you’re trying to spread word of your business and gain new business partners

you worked at a tavern your whole life where an old bard would sing songs of their adventuring party and that inspired you to go and do some adventuring of your own

feel free to add some of your own!

I do love warlocks thematically. They’re all scratchy and full of thin sorrows and toothy things

(Left out Celestial and Hexblade because my brain bounces off them a bit. Added in Lurker because lovecraft and oceans and tentacles, hi, yes please)

Fiend

For faustian bargains and occult dabblings:

A gambler who made an ill-advised wager and now must send 13 monstrous souls into their patron’s keeping, for those souls have their own debts to pay, and devils don’t like to be cheated

A literal fire-and-brimstone preacher who, knowing themselves already soundly damned, has decided to try and spare others by showing them exactly what they wish to bargain with

Archfey

For all your favourite twisted fairy and Arthurian tales:

A jaded, weary knight who met a lovely lady in the woods who told them that she would give them great power and prowess if only they would serve as her champion(/lover) for a year and a day

An embittered courtier who made a bargain with a fey sorceress for the ability to play the game better, in exchange for half their heart (and their ability to feel pity)

A feisty young brawler who wrestled a shapeshifting fey into submission and won beguiling spells in exchange (the fey may or may not have deliberately thrown the match)

Great Old One

For all your Lovecraftian horrors and eldritch bargains:

An absent-minded astronomer who looked through the wrong telescope at the wrong time, and now bears a dark mote in their eye, and the attentions of a far-off, unnatural star

A prisoner left to starve to death in a mouldering dungeon who felt the foul touch of something that matched and exceeded, a thousand times, any mortal hunger, and offered means to satiate it

A cool-headed merchant who bought an eldritch artefact, and is currently pitting cold logic and icy sanity against increasing gibbering horror in a (semi-genial?) battle for their mind and soul

Undying

For all your Egyptologist/Universal Horror needs:

An archaeologist who fell in love with an ancient priestess from her writings, and then unearthed her tomb only to find her still awake, patient and undead, and needing a gallant to go forth on her behalf

A dragonborn sage who was deeply upset that dragonborn lived so much shorter lives than dragons, and who searched for and gained the patronage of an ancient and sympathetic dracolich

Lurker in the Deep (UA)

For all those lovely eerie maritime mythologies:

A construct (warforged) built centuries ago to dredge a long-lost harbour, who has wandered the sea floor until gradually it gained sentience, and the friendship (?) of something else long since sacrificed to the deep

001. Analyze - Break into separate parts and discuss, examine, or interpret each part.

002. Compare - Examine two or more things. Identify similarities and differences.

003. Contrast - Show differences. Set in opposition.

004. Criticize - Make judgments. Evaluate comparative worth. Criticism often involves analysis. 

005. Define - Give the meaning; usually a meaning specific to the course or subject. Explain the exact meaning. Definitions are usually short.

006. Describe - Give a detailed account. Make a picture with words. List characteristics, qualities, and parts. 

007. Discuss - Consider and debate or argue the pros and cons of an issue. Write about any conflict. Compare and contrast. 

008. Enumerate - List several ideas, aspects, events, things, qualities, reasons, etc.,

009. Evaluate - Give your opinion or cite the opinion of an expert. Include evidence to support the evaluation.

010. Explain - Make an idea clear. Show logically how a concept is developed. Give the reasons for an event. 

011. Illustrate - Give concrete examples. Explain clearly by using comparisons or examples. 

012. Interpret - Comment upon, give examples, describe relationships. Explain the meaning. Describe, then evaluate.

013. Outline - Describe the main ideas, characteristics, or events. 

014. Prove - Support with facts.

015. Relate - Show the connections between ideas or events. Provide a larger context. 

016. State - Explain precisely.

017. Summarize - Give a brief, condensed account. Include conclusions.

broke d&d taverns: filled with 50+ people yet only one barman (is often the landlord is just always on shift???) and one floor staff, chef is  n e v e r  heard of, is there even more than one chef? How long are the shifts? Drinks are a pathetically small menu with barely one of each kind of beverage, usually just called ale (wtf just ale? is it dark, amber, light, hoppy, malty??), elvish wine, mead, and dwarven ale. Food? okay, basically just full englishes at any given hour, not healthy or diverse but enjoyable enough if you don’t visit regularly (would explain lack of chefs!). What’s the service time on that food? I hear people be picking bacon off trays as it’s carried past?? HOW ARE THEY CHARGING FOR THAT SHIT?? WHO’s KEEPING TRACK OF THE BILLS?? Also open in at least half capacity all night long every night!?!

I SEE YOU JERRY ‘ONE WOMAN RESTAURANT-PROPHETESS DRAN’ HOLKINS! 

I SEE YOU MATTHEW “1 BARMAID, 1 FLOOR STAFF YET INSTANT FOOD” MERCER!

NO ONE IS SLEEPING IN A TAVERN OR PUB IN THE DINING AREA, YOU GET TOLD TO LEAVE IF YOU TRY THAT ANYWHERE

woke d&d taverns: 2 bar staff, 2-3 on floor, uncoordinated checkbacks, the party is bothered at least twice. You can hear violent yelling from at least 2 kitchen staff whenever the kitchen door swings open. Opens at 8-9am (small crew of 2-3 people) shift changes at 10am (couple more), 3pm (openers leave) and 6pm (night staff). The staff are all vaguely passive aggressive when party are like that. Five meal options, and 2ish light bites. DM gets to create bunch of silly drink names and uses them interchangeably between pubs depending on regions. 5 beers, 4 whiskeys, 3-4 ciders, 2-3 wines, and a brandy. ORDER AND PAY AT SAME TIME!  How often do they have music? No motherfucker is playing lute at 11pm on the regular at the local.

“LAST ORDERS!”…half hour later *waitress* “if you ain’t got rooms GTFO now! I have kids and need to be up at 6am! *Points at barman* “He doesn’t have kids but he’s covering an midday shift so he should have been gone an hour ago!”

ADDITIONALLY: There is a union/guild called HAMAG; Hospitality Against Mercenaries and Adventurers Guild, that makes sure all adventurers are legally contracted to sign a waver and deposit gold as insurance for damages because of the sheer ridiculous amount of violence these people bring to the industry. Spontaneous pub brawls are cracked down upon, there are bouncers, and all staff have cudgels. Absolutely no motherfucker is going to run a pub when it’s at constant peril of being vandalised by nigh unkillable magical superheroes every week.

The long and short, I am  V E R Y petty when it comes to logistical details about the service/hospitality industry. And before you @me I am aware pubs and taverns are filler backdrops for revelry/meet-ups and whatever but my gods the fiscal irresponsibility kills me!