DMinspo

Monster Poll #22

Thursday is Monster Poll Day! 

Once a week I upload a Running The Monster Manual video on TikTok and YouTube (and Instagram, when Reels isn't crashing), so cast your vote to decide what monster I should cover next.

How it works

I've included some monsters that have been on my mind and in my games recently, but feel free to add more suggestions in the comments. Monsters in the comments will be included in future polls, if I think I can add any useful insights about them.

Encounter - Death on the Road

Pit your players against a terrifying oni in the shadows of an ancient forest!

Death on the Road is a combat-focused travel encounter, perfect for players at Levels 6 and 7. This PDF contains everything you need to give your players a dark and memorable game: a step-by-step walk-through, monster battle tactics, and the potential for a recurring enemy in future sessions.

You'll also find (attached to this post) a detailed battle map, with both gridded and ungridded versions available. Enjoy!

Monster Poll #21

It's Thursday, which means it's time for another Monster Poll!

How it works

Vote below to decide what monster I should cover in my next Running The Monster Manual video on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. 

If you want to see a specific monster included in next week's Monster Poll, leave a comment below and I'll add it, along with the runner-up from this week. As always, the poll will close early on Saturday morning.

**Update on the Chromatic Dragons video**

I'm almost finished the long-form video on Chromatic Dragons (the monster you voted for earlier in the month)! That will be up this weekend on YouTube, but it will be followed shortly by another full-length video on Hags, who came in as a close second on the poll (and are just too cool not to do a big video about). Stay tuned!

Encounter - Shelter from the Storm

Take shelter from the howling storm and uncover the truth behind a tragedy.

This week I thought we'd take a break from our usual combat-heavy encounters, and focus more on roleplay. This is a travel encounter and a ghost story, in which your players can help a restless spirit find peace.

The encounter should be suitable for all levels, and has several possible endings.

New to the DMinspo Patreon?

We've just had another influx of new patrons! If you're one of them, welcome and thank you for supporting my content.

If you've just signed up, it's likely that you're looking for my cooking system, which you can find here: Doomgrinder's Cookbook.

However, you now have access to a lot more than just a cooking system. In the three tabs at the top of the main page, you'll find Encounters (detailed pre-written encounters to liven up travel), Adventures (longer adventures spanning multiple sessions), and Homebrew and Supplements (useful D&D resources, homebrew items, and systems).

Here are a few recommendations to get you started:

• Tome of Towns - a resource for creating cities and towns, with ready-made stores, urban encounters, local festivals, and more.
• Journey Into Darkness - a recent multi-session adventure with a detailed mini-setting in the frozen north.
• The Riftwater Isles - a 65-page guide to a pirate island setting, complete with lore, detailed towns, and a system for seafaring and piracy.

I post new encounters each week and a major upload (like the three featured above) every month. Enjoy!

Thank you!

It's been almost half a year since I launched this Patreon and uploaded my first adventure, and there's now 360+ patrons supporting the content. 

Because of you folks, I'm able to devote more time and energy to creating supplements, adventures, and long-form videos, opening up a lot of exciting opportunities for bigger, more time-intensive projects. 

It still blows my mind that you've all shown up to help make this happen. This post is just to try and express a little of my appreciation. It means a lot - thank you.

Encounter - The Empty Boat

Solve the mystery of the empty boat, and face the evil that lurks below!

This combat-focused travel encounter includes a monster from old Scottish folklore, and is balanced for an average party of Level 5 adventurers. 

As always, I've included guidance in the introduction for changing the challenge rating of the monster, if you want to run it for higher level players.

Enjoy!

Monster Poll #20

It's our 20th monster poll - which means that this Patreon has been active for 20 weeks already! Thank you all so much for supporting my content; whether you're a new arrival here or a day-one patron, I can't overstate how much I appreciate it.

Something different

This week, our monster poll is a bit different. All the options below are what might be considered "iconic" D&D monsters, and the winner of today's poll will be the subject of a full-length video over on YouTube. 

There are many other classic monsters that we could get on here, of course, but I've tried to include ones that I feel I really have a lot to say about. (That's why the noble half-dragon didn't quite make the list. Maybe next time...)

Also, remember that you can vote for multiple creatures, so go wild!

DMinspo - Tome of Towns

Bring towns and cities to life with ready-made stores, merchants, guilds, festivals, urban encounters, and much more!

This 25 page PDF contains everything you need to create detailed and dynamic cities for your players to explore, with minimal prep time.

It includes 19 stores (each with unique merchant NPCs), 18 mini street encounters, and a wide variety of local festivals, trade guilds, and law enforcement agencies — so you'll have plenty to work with.

Enjoy!

Monster Poll #19

It's time for our weekly monster poll!

How it works

Vote below to decide what monster I should cover in the next 'Running The Monster Manual' video! If you want to see a specific monster included in next week's Thursday poll, leave a comment below and I'll add it, along with the runner-up from this week.

As always, the poll will close early on Saturday morning.

Almost at #20!

Incredibly, we're already almost at Monster Poll #20, which means that next week we'll be voting for a monster to be covered in a long-form YouTube video, just like we did with the beholder for Poll #10. Look out for that one; there should be some iconic monsters on there!

Item - Corrupted Blade of Plagues

Unleash deadly plagues upon your enemies with a vile relic from an ancient war!

Download the full item details below.

August 1st - Tome of Towns

Hi folks! I won't be posting our usual Monday encounter today, because all of my energy is currently going into finishing the big release for August 1st: 'Tome of Towns'! 

The PDF — which is out one week from today — is designed to make creating and running large towns and cities both easier and more enjoyable. It contains multiple tables that you can roll on for inspiration and ideas, but also offers a wide array of completely ready-made content: stores, local governments, law enforcement agencies, guilds, gangs, street festivals, and more.

Whether you're building a town from scratch or just want to add depth and detail to a pre-existing location in your own setting, 'Tome of Towns' will be a useful resource. Looking forward to sharing it with you!

Monster Poll #18

Thursday is here again, so it's time for our weekly monster poll!

How it works

Vote below to decide what monster I cover in this weekend's 'Running The Monster Manual' video! If you want to see a specific monster included in next week's Thursday poll, leave a comment below and I'll add it, along with the runner-up from this week.

As always, the poll will close early on Saturday morning.

Homebrew - Doomgrinder's Cookbook

Add depth and flavor to your campaign with a streamlined cooking system and 35 delicious dishes!

While this is framed as an encounter, it's also a supplement - a system for creating meals, leveling up cooking skills, and gaining new buffs and enhancements as a result.

This PDF comes with 35 dishes for the players to learn and prepare, the majority of which provide special bonuses if cooked correctly. However, if you don't want to use the whole system, it will also provide you with plenty of material the next time your players are in a tavern and ask what's on the menu.

And I'm sorry that this one was delayed, folks — though I had hoped to post it on Monday, I felt the system had a lot of potential and so I didn't want to rush it. Hopefully you'll find it a useful and dynamic addition to your games!

Monster Poll #17

Happy Thursday, folks! Time for another monster poll.

How it works

Vote below to decide which monster I should cover in this weekend's 'Running The Monster Manual' video! If you want to see specific monsters included in next week's Thursday poll, leave a comment below and I'll add it, along with the runner-up from this week.

As always, the poll will close early on Saturday morning.

BONUS MAP - City Streets (Day/Night)

I don't normally post maps on their own, but quite a few people have asked me about this one on Instagram, so I thought I'd share it for you folks here. This is one of the maps that will be appearing in the big August 1st upload, Tome Of Towns!

It's a detailed set of city streets, including an apothecary, an armory, and a corner cafe. I'm using this as the scene of a major gang battle in my home-game tomorrow night (following on from the plot I discussed in my recent spidersilk video).

Enjoy!

Encounter - Bonewater Falls

Battle kobolds on a rickety bridge over a raging waterfall, and face a blue dragon wyrmling in an abandoned quarry!

6 pages (+ cover and end-sheet). This encounter is balanced for players at Level 3, and should work in most settings. With a focus on combat across two battle maps, it will provide around two hours of adventure.

Monster Poll #16

It's Thursday, and Thursday is Monster Poll Day!

How it works

Vote below to decide which monster I should cover in this weekend's 'Running The Monster Manual' video! If you want to see specific monsters included in next week's polls, leave a comment and I'll add it.

Branching out

Also, I've been thinking it might be fun to start bringing in some monsters from other official resource books. Maybe 'Mordenkainens Tome of Foes', 'Volo's Guide to Monsters', or 'Monsters of the Multiverse' — I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have!

Item - Giantsdread Greataxe

On the wild borderlands, where fire giant incursions are a constant threat, blacksmiths and battle-mages combine their crafts to create powerful giantsdread weapons.

Download the full item details below.

Adventure - Journey Into Darkness

Send your players to the frozen north to uncover ancient secrets, explore a wintry frontier town, and battle eldritch horrors!

This 30+ page PDF contains everything you need to run the adventure, including monster stats, setting details, pre-written NPCs, and a step-by-step story walk-through.

Journey Into Darkness is balanced for players at Level 6, but the PDF contains suggestions for how some encounters can be rebalanced for different levels. 

It's also designed to be launched from any starting location — you don't need to be running a seafaring or far-northern campaign already. As long as your players are near a coastal region or a major river, the adventure can begin, either as a stand-alone story or part of a larger campaign.

All seven maps needed for this adventure (both gridded and ungridded versions) are attached below.

Monster Poll #15

It's our fifteenth monster poll...

...and yes, our Thursday poll is here on a Friday. I was very caught up with finishing 'Journey Into Darkness' yesterday, and you'll see why when it comes out later today - it's a beefy adventure.

As always, vote below on which monster I should cover in this weekend's 'Running The Monster Manual' video! And if you want to see specific monsters included in next week's polls, leave a comment and I'll add it.

Supplement - The Riftwater Guide to Ocean Combat

Normally on Monday I upload an encounter, but today's a bit different. All of my energy at the moment is going into finishing our big July 1st adventure (I'm very excited to share it, but it's taking quite a lot of effort to complete). 

So instead, today I'm posting my ocean combat system from The Riftwater Isles campaign setting, which I always felt was a bit lost in that original, slightly oversized PDF.

In this upload, you can find all the rules and systems I use to hire a crew, maintain a ship, sail and navigate, run sea battles, board enemy vessels, and engage in piracy. Hopefully having this content in its own accessible PDF is useful to you.

Now - I'm going to go and keep working on this July 1st post! It's a good one.

Monster Poll #14

Thursday is Monster Poll day! I upload a Running The Monster Manual video on TikTok and YouTube every Saturday, so cast your vote to decide what monster I should cover next.

How it works

I've included some monsters that have been on my mind recently, but feel free to add more suggestions in the comments. Monsters in the comments can be included in future polls.

Welcome!

We've had quite an influx of new Patrons over the last month, and so, as I've done before, I wanted to put up a post to welcome the new arrivals and outline what you can expect from the DMinspo Patreon (if you've been here for a while, you already know what I'm going to say, I'm sure!).

For now, there's just one tier, through which you can access all the content. The tabs at the top of the page will help you find things quickly. 'Encounters' is all our weekly posts, 'Adventures' are the bigger monthly uploads, and 'Homebrew' is...everything in-between.

• On Mondays I post an Encounter, which usually contains enough content for a few hours, or even a full session.
• On the first of the month I post a bigger Adventure supplement, usually with enough content for multiple sessions.
• On Thursdays we run a poll to decide what monster gets covered in a weekend video.

When I can, I also post homebrew items and other bits and pieces, but these have less of a specific schedule.

Thank you to everyone who's joined recently, and to everyone who's been here for the last few months; it really means a lot, and I love sharing this content with you.

Encounters - From the Pages of The Codex Necronus

Five unique monsters to add to a horror-themed game!

I love spooky encounters. I've also noticed that creepy, eldritch beings tend to be designed as relatively high-CR monsters.  But I find that a horror plotline can be very effective for low-level players, before they've started to feel invincible (as players usually do later in the game).

With that in mind, here are five low-CR monsters that I hope your players will find suitably disturbing. They're not "encounters", strictly speaking, but they come with lore and loot suggestions, so you should have no trouble building an encounter around each one. 

Enjoy!

Monster Poll #13

Lucky 13! I upload a Running The Monster Manual video on TikTok and YouTube every weekend, so cast your vote to decide what monster I should cover next.

How it works

I've included some monsters that have been on my mind recently, but feel free to add more suggestions in the comments. If I see monsters appearing in the comments that I've not covered, they can be added to future polls.

Encounter - The Mystery of the Missing Potion

An urban encounter, with a mystery to solve and a monster to defeat!

6 pages (+ cover and end-sheet). This is a low-level encounter, ideal for players around Levels 1 or 2. I would run this as an introduction for new players at the start of a campaign, or as a lighthearted one-shot. The encounter is designed to work in a town or city environment. 

Quick update!

Normally on Thursdays we do a poll to decide what monster I'm going to cover in my weekend video, but I'm taking a small holiday over this weekend (off traveling the Scottish islands!) so I won't be able to get any videos out for the next four days. 

I'll be back on Monday 13th, and then normal video production, monster polls, and everything else will resume. 

I'm still bringing out an encounter on Monday though, as normal, so stay tuned for that. Planning to spend plenty of time writing encounters over a glass of whisky or two on holiday.

Stay safe, folks! 

Discord?

Hi folks! Hope you're doing well today. For a while, I've been seeing some chat in my comments about the possibility of creating a DMinspo Discord.

I've noticed that other creators use Discord as a space to help people connect, find games, and just generally hang out, so I'm wondering if that's something we should do!

I'd love to hear from you about what you'd like to see on a DMinspo Discord. How would you use it? What would you want to get from it that you're unable to get elsewhere? 

As with everything I'm doing here, I don't want to launch something unless it's going to be genuinely useful and fun for you folks, so please feel free to comment on this post and voice your thoughts.

Encounter - At The Sign Of The Kneeling Knight

Spend an evening at The Kneeling Knight Inn, and enjoy card games, drinking competitions, a fighting pit, and more!

8 pages (+ cover and end-sheet). This is an encounter that would work for most levels, although it's probably most effective for players above Level 3 and below Level 8. You could run it in a rural area (in a village or by a country road), or in an urban setting, like a town or a city.