Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all

How I mark Initiative

I use a simple system for combat, each player chooses a coloured 3 by 5 index card, I have nine colours to pick from.

I then took 15+ index cards and cut them into three 1 inch by 5 inches strips, these are for marking effects/affects in game.

I fold them in half & tent the index cards on my DM screen, I do the same with my 1 by 5 strip's and write down affects/effects on going in the game.
I use white index cards for monsters.
With this I use it for Initiative, concentration, grappled, bless, etc.....

Below are pictures of how I do this.  

Then when condition that are needed to be marked I can place the strips across the corresponding characters or monsters.

I go left to right on my DM's/GM's screen for initiative.

On the green index card is a yellow strip that says concentration
on the orange index card is a green strip that says dodge
on the yellow index card is a blue strip that says prone
on the red index card is a pink strip that says grappled.

The mini-refrigerator in the back ground has characters that have been killed in past games.

Witcher Game session one & Characters

Witcher Game using the Nightmare Underneath engine

The Characters

Each of the player characters has been in one way or another blessed by either fate or an ancestor spirit. They are the “Touched,” as the other villagers would say, and are viewed with a mix of wonderment, respect, fear, jealousy, and even pity, for the gifts granted by fate always carry a price.

Amie: playing “Placeholder name here,” a Daughter of Mawe’patis, that aspect of the god Veyo’patis which manifests in times of threat, fury, and wrath. Lord of Wood and Water, Veyo’patis is among the oldest of all gods and its worship has been in decline for centuries. Your village of Oderhan is among the safest in all of Velen partly because of the propitiation of Mawe’patis and the battle magics it grants to its Children. On her Name Day (the time when a village child turns thirteen years old and is no longer called by his diminutive name) she was gifted a ka’peche—a vine-dagger used in rituals of sacrifice to honor Veyo’patis in all its aspects—and from that day forth was destined to become one of its Children.

Chris: playing Dexter, a sage and wizard, one of the few male keepers of lore (though the village wise women have their own secrets), he is acerbic and even caustic at times. On his Name Day he was gifted a grimoire that started him on the path of wizardry. He wields among his magics a moderate healing spell and is respected by the village crones for how this magic safekeeps all in the village, and he also serves as an alternate source of lore to the Elder, who prefers to remain undisturbed unless plied with a Trade for his (her?)

​aid

.

Dave: playing Henk, an uncouth blacksmith and village militiaman, hard-headed, practical, with both feet planted firmly in the ground, he has no airs of pretention and suffers none who do. His bloodline is that of

​the

 fabled hero

​,​

Pa’terik (or “Patrick”), a warrior and protector of Velen and its people from generations ago. On his Name Day he was gifted the blade wielded by his uncle Patrick (namesake of the ancient hero), which he bears proudly in the defen

​s

e of his people.

David: playing Hawk, a mixed-breed village militiaman,

​rumored 

to be half feral (the “ferals” are a community of coastal swamp dwellers who rarely interact with other Veleni peoples, except to raid

​, and are said to be occasional cannibals​

), he is believed to be in communion with a mighty ancestor spirit or perhaps even Shouhwah, the Elemental god of Air. On his Name Day he was gifted a

​pearlescent 

seashell and shortly thereafter was called to his father’s people following a terrible tragedy on that side of his family (village gossips

​ whisper of a 

curse

​d​

  family member). After five years

​among his feral kin 

he returned to Oderhan to re-establish his family ties

​ and

 friendships. Remarkably, since Hawk’s Name Day

​,​

Oderhan has been spared any raids by the ferals, and village talk is that there is some sort of pact or treaty centered around a mingling of bloodlines.

And So It Begins...

Gathering a bounty of fish and swamp critters for their larders, the PCs were enjoying their final moments of rest at the end of a long day

​ of hunting and fishing​

when the unmistakable scent of burning thatch roofs was carried to them on the wind. Rushing back to the village they saw that five homes were engulfed in flames and that dozens of villagers had managed to flee from the attack of a strange six-legged panther-like beast that had the ability to flicker from spot to spot in a jarring way. The creature was also noted to have two deadly spiked tentacles that whipped from its muscled neck and torso with

​natural weapons

 it wreaked bloody havoc in the village. The PCs engaged the beast but

​it fled

, wounded and dripping blood, into

​ the surrounding tall grasses and brush, as the last light of the sun waned into full dusk.

After putting out the fires and attending to the wounded, things were assessed: three villagers were dead (including the village headman’s wife and dullard twin brother), dozens more were injured, and ten village dogs had been decapitated by the beast. One villager had managed to strike the beast with a spear and this sheared off, of all things, a collar! Marked with Elven script (deciphered by Dexter to read “

​Blessed Instrument of His Dark Majesty, Coram Agh Tera, my Beloved Spine-ripper

”) it was then decided to take the collar to the Elder, to secure aid in tracking the beast, and this was done by Henk. A Trade with the Elder was made and Henk now has the flawless means to track the beast to its lair.

Next Books for 5e

Wizards of the Coast announced the second product for Fall 2018, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

 http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?5296-Second-Dungeons-Dragons-Product-for-2018-Waterdeep-Dungeon-of-the-Mad-Mage

the first is Dragon Heist 

http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/dragonheist

Re-skinning Spells

As with Re-skinning Monster you can do the same with spells.

What that means is take the classic fireball spell and make it an acid ball.  What changes? the damage type mainly. You can increase the detail and go will splash damage the round after, but that changes the spell by increasing it's damage. A simple way is to decrease the damage by the fireball by two dice and then adding an effect of two dice damage the round after (one dice if you made the save)
Pretty simple.

Examples are,

Burning hands to Lightning damage (if you want to add extra damage to armoured targets lower the DC for it and add a dice damage, or you can give disadvantage to the save for armoured targets.

Ice Knife to Poison Knife same spell but explodes in poisonous damage.

Thunder wave to Necrotic wave, same spell but is Necrotic damage.

you get the picture.

Enjoy!