I used to hate gin.  The smell, the taste...I just didn't know what to do with it.
  But the more I learn, the more I can at least come to appreciate gin's palette.  Maybe I was just blind to it before, but there's a secret citrus-y quality to the taste of gin, and at the behest of a certain client, I was inspired to *try* and pair it with something appropriate.

Apparently VERMOUTH goes well with Gin.  Huh.  Two of my hates.  Go well together.  Who knew?
  ...A lot of the bartending community, actually, I'm just biased against ingredients I rarely use, but AFTER this mix and the feedback it received, I may have just opened the door to venture into other pairings with my black cat of an alcohol.

Try this mix out for a refreshing adult summer drink, and if you're down to be little surprised by how beautiful things can pair.  In retrospect, the pairing is obvious, and I'm happy to announce that after simply smelling the two in close proximity, my practice is paying off.  

Again, this one ain't complicated.

3-4 oz Gin
2 oz Sweet Vermouth
2-4 dashes Aromatic Bitters
Stir and pour over some classy ice, then fill the glass with Ginger Beer or Ginger Ale.

A classy gentleman's drink of ginger.  Enjoy.
Drink responsibly.
See you at the table.
​-Adamus

   Now, the reason there’s value in categorizing these roles is to clarify the decisions you're making as well as identify gaps in the party’s performance. Oftentimes, I find that when a party underperforms in combat, it means that somehow the flow of these four roles has been disrupted, either because a party member has been incapacitated or the best person for the role is not fulfilling it (which usually stems from someone unwilling to pivot into a role their character is not built for). That being said, the best combats I’ve participated in have had a combination of understanding with these four roles, as well as having characters built to fulfill them. To understand how to identify characters built for them, here are some characteristics:


+  Damage Per Round     Maximizes the amount of damage they inflict on a single target. Also values a higher attack roll bonus and rare / changing damage types.

+ Tank     Draws attention and potential damage away from other party members. Values a high Armor Class, Hit Point maximum, damage resistance, and damage reduction.

+ Support     Strengthens and heals allies. Usually a spellcaster, although there are some non-casting features that fulfill this role (like a Mastermind Rogue’s Master of Tactics feature).

+ Control     Weakens enemies and influences their behavior. Area of effect spells, like fireball tend to fall in this category because not only can it wipe out many smaller enemies earlier in the fight, “smart” enemies will avoid certain positional patterns to avoid falling into an area that encourages its use.

    And, like I said, there will be some overlap. For example, the druid’s entangle spell creates an area of difficult terrain which can hamper an enemy’s movement (which falls under Control). However, if an enemy gets restrained by the spell, the druid's allies have Advantage on attack rolls against them  (Support). 
    Certain classes will also fulfill these roles more obviously than others. A Barbarian’s high hit points and resistance-granting Rage ability make it a great Tank, and a Rogue’s sneak attack make it great for DPR.  I've also found that players get frustrated when a character class doesn’t perform well in a role the player expects it to (like when a Cleric isn't the best Healer option). 
    Now let’s dive a little deeper into the roles and find character classes that fit them.

Damage Per Round

    This is a short-hand term Adamus and I use with each other to describe when a player is trying to deal the most amount of damage that they can. It comes from the MMO term DPS (Damage per Second), but because 5e is played in rounds instead of real-time, you get Damage Per Round.
    Now, this can also be the hardest role to categorize because it’s by far the broadest. Most characters can deal some kind of damage to an enemy, and there will be times where it’s more efficient to just attack the darn thing instead of create a cockamamie scheme that probably won’t work. However, there are some statistics to consider when optimizing a character for DPR.
    First is the attack roll bonus. It doesn’t matter how much damage you can do if you can’t hit the target’s AC. Usually, this is as easy as investing in the ability score that governs your attack rolls. This same ability score will usually also help you lean into your secondary role, but we'll talk more about that later.
    Second is selecting features that contribute to the amount of damage you can deal. For Fighting Styles, this is usually Dueling or Great Weapon Fighter. For Warlocks, it’s the Agonizing Blast invocation. For Rogues, it’s just investing in more rogue levels to progress your Sneak Attack.
    The third factor is damage type. You either want a damage type that’s rarely resisted to or two damage types you can switch between. For example, eldritch blast is such an effective cantrip because almost nothing in 5e resists force damage (unless you homebrew something), and its damage die is also pretty high. Another example might be picking up Elemental Adept as a caster, meaning that if you love your fire spells, you can ignore resistance a creature may have to fire damage. In baseline 5e, as a weapons class, most creatures aren’t resistant to magical bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, so if you can find a magic weapon you’re usually good for the rest of the campaign (unless your DM homebrews something to make you ineffective).
    And that’s pretty much it for DPR. Like I said earlier, most classes have some kind of DPR option, but that doesn’t mean every class is optimized for DPR. It’s great that a Bard can Vicious Mockery (Psychic is one of those damage types that’s rarely resisted to). However, the 1d4 damage is pitiful, even at low levels, and pales in comparison to a Divine Smite or Sneak Attack. That doesn’t mean the Bard shouldn’t try to deal damage; it just means that they aren’t the “DPR” character of the party.


Tank

    Tanks are much easier to build to. Invest in Constitution to get higher hit points, find some armor or features that grant you damage resistance, and do what you need to in order to invest in Armor Class. I’m a sucker for Unarmored Defense. It’s easy to maintain, can often be stronger than Plate Mail, and it can’t be destroyed by rust monsters.
    With all that being said, viable options for tanking are much fewer than DPR. Barbarians are excellent tanks because of their Rage ability, and their Unarmored Defense keeps their AC competitive. Most of their subclasses also have ways to get more bang for your buck when you Rage, sometimes dealing damage and sometimes increasing the amount of resistances you have. Paladins are also excellent tanks because of their heavy armor proficiency, and because at 6th level their Aura of Protection grants them bonuses to their Saving Throws. Either way, both classes get great durability for relatively little action-investment.
    Now, some critics of the term “tanking” in 5e compare the function of tanks to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, where such characters have abilities that program bigger threats to target them, relieving pressure from a less durable ally. There are some abilities like this in 5e, but because enemies are controlled by a human (the DM) rather than programming, the DM can always choose to target a less survivable ally. 
    This doesn’t mean that building a tank doesn’t have value. In D&D, tanking refers to a character’s survivability, and I’ve seen some ridiculous stunts in my time with 5e. I’ve seen a Barbarian swim through lava, a Barbarian/Rogue multi-class shrug off 100+ points of damage because of stacking resistance with evasion, and a well built sorlock take a meteor swarm to the face and maintain concentration (that was my Sorlock). Accounting for RAW and math, these things can happen, and even if you can keep one ally up by the end of the fight, they can run around and use healing potions to keep incapacitated allies alive. 
    This is also why oftentimes the best support characters also invest in their survivability. A Druid’s Wild Shape is a great tanking feature, and many Clerics have a heavy armor proficiency that lets them avoid damage and heal their allies. Healing does no good if the healer is down, so many forward thinking players build their healers accordingly.


Support

    Speaking of Support, I’m of the belief that this is the most difficult role to play effectively in combat, and is why many players avoid it. It can be a thankless job, and your impact on the party isn’t always immediately felt. A well timed bless spell can be the difference between an attack hitting and missing, and that attack finishing a dangerous enemy or giving them another turn to use legendary actions and wipe the team. There are also many overlaps with Control, so we’ll work to clarify which is which.
    Support is defined as “buffing” your allies and healing. A “buff” is any spell that makes them better at their job, or strengthens them in any way. For example, the bless spell allows those it targets to add a d4 to attack rolls and saving throws, making them slightly more accurate and more survivable. If we look back at the entangle example earlier, if a character can restrain an enemy, it allows attacks against that enemy to have advantage, meaning that rogues get Sneak Attack and everyone is more likely to get a critical hit.
    Healing is a much more nuanced topic. Healing and damage are not created equal in 5e, and it’s always more efficient to prevent damage than to try and heal damage taken. Let’s go back to our example of cure wounds. For a 1st level spell slot, cure wounds heals between 4 and 12 hit points with an average 1st level character. With a 1st level spell slot using inflict wounds (the same resource expended), the spell deals 3d10 damage on a hit, with a yield of between 3 and 30 damage. The ceilings aren’t even comparable. 
    What makes healing so difficult is the required sense of timing on the player’s part. An ill-timed healing word or cure wounds could have no effect at all, especially if the enemy is a real bruiser. Say you see an ally get hit for 15 points of damage. You cast healing word as a bonus action, healing 5 points of that damage. Then the next round they get hit for another 15 points, and get knocked unconscious. That healing word you casted was wasted.
    That being said, let’s look at a counterexample. You see an ally get hit with 15 points of damage and fall unconscious. They make a death saving throw, and unfortunately roll a Natural 1, meaning they have two failures. By casting your healing word at range, the failures are negated, and the ally needs to get knocked to 0 before being in danger again. You probably just saved that character’s life.
    Like tanking, there are few characters that can dedicate themselves to Support, although there are plenty of smaller features that allow an ally to support as a secondary role. Bards, Clerics, and Druids have a plethora of buffing and healing spells, with the Bard’s defining class feature (Bardic Inspiration) being one of the most efficient buffs especially at low levels. However, the aforementioned Master of Tactics feature from Mastermind Rogue and Aura of Protection from Paladin also are great support features. 


Control

    Control characters look at combat differently than the other three. Rather than seeing exchanges as dealing and healing damage, control players view combat as a series of choices and possible outcomes, and work to remove choices from their opponent. While Support is about strengthening allies and allowing them to be better versions of themselves, Control is about hampering the effectiveness of their enemies.
    Is there a major bruiser in the enemy team that’s being a pain? Hold Monster can remove them from the fight. Is the real threat the group of goblins shooting at us from that ledge? Fireball can take them all down at once. Control is about figuring out the enemy’s strengths and using that strength against them. Like Support, what makes Control difficult is that it’s a mindset more than a set of obvious mechanics.
    Some classes are easier to use control strategies than others. The Wizard’s sheer amount of spell access allows it to be an excellent controller, because it can cast the right spell for the right situation. The Druid spell list is similar, in which many of its best support spells also hamper the enemy’s effectiveness (again, just look at entangle). 
    However, that doesn’t mean that to be a Control character, you need area of effect abilities or spellcasting to play this role. If you’re playing a Tank, and you manage to distract an enemy from hurting your less survivable allies, you’re influencing their behavior and removed a choice, leaving their effectiveness up to the luck of the dice. That’s a Control role even though it’s outside of the game’s mechanics.
    Oftentimes, when I design my set-piece encounters, I try to have my enemies not only have a mechanical weakness (like a low stat or some kind of damage vulnerability), but also some kind of personality flaw the party can take advantage of through role-playing. Sometimes that flaw is aggravated through taunting, empathy, or targeting one of their possessions. However, it’s a way to allow any player to assume the control role if they’re clever enough to figure it out.

​Now, after identifying the four roles, the hidden fifth role is that of pivoting. Fifth Edition has classically rewarded characters that are built to specialization rather than versatility. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for adapting to circumstance.
    Let’s say you build a powerful melee weapons character, but you end up in a combat where there’s a ravine or pool of lava separating you and your target. You may have to play a different role in that combat than you’d like to. 
    To prevent circumstances where you’re only viable option is “I take the Dodge action” and don’t participate, I usually advise my players to think through a Primary and a Secondary role their character can play as. This can be as simple as “I have a melee character but I keep a crossbow on me” to “I play support but I can pivot to control as the need arises”. This also doesn’t mean to devalue the specialization this edition rewards. 
    Let’s look at a character I built, Kurama, as an example. Kurama, a higher level Druid, was built in order to cast healing spirit and thorn whip. However, in a well constructed party like Knight Owls, healing spirit isn’t always the most appropriate. Oftentimes, healing is covered by other characters. This means that if enough other people are willing to play Support, I’m freed to pivot to Control in order to maximize our party’s effectiveness. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to hit a big bad with contagion, or pull an enemy with thorn whip so the paladin can smite it. Also, there have been times I’ve been known to deal damage. It’s laughable that I've finished multiple big bads with a 1st level ice knife just because everyone else did such a good job of covering us that I as the Druid was left to just damage deal. These things happen, and the memories made are cherished.
    Hopefully you’ve found some value from this perspective of play, and if you choose a less optimized style of play, you’re doing so intentionally. That’s the whole point of this: clarify your decisions so when you make it, you do so with intention.


Study Hard, Play Hard. 
-John

Today we'll be taking a spin on the Moscow Mule to give you a nice, refreshing drink to add to your 4th of July celebrations, no matter where you are!

This drink utilizes a brighter flavor than the classic mule, so we're switching out the standard base of vodka for MEAD.  Unleash that inner viking and grab some Semi-Sweet or Dry Mead, a small bottle of sweet Lime Juice, a can of Ginger Ale, and some Aromatic Bitters.

RECIPE
4 oz Mead
2 oz Lime Juice
8-10 dashes of Aromatic Bitters
Fill the rest with Ginger Ale and enjoy!

What you'll get is a bright, refreshing drink with a little acid and soda.
Not my usual, but a pleasant diversion.

​If you're looking for something neat and different and fresh, maybe try this one out.
And, as always, Game (and drink) Responsibly.
See you at the table.
​-Adamus

First, some build up.  
For those uninitiated, Gray Owls is a dark fantasy electric-punk D&D campaign that I've been running professionally for about 3 years now.  It is a game of secrets, shadows, and danger.  The magical weave is broken, and magic is wild again.  Throughout all the intrigue, however, there is always the looming threat in the North.  Hordes of swarming beasts from the shattered Shadowfell (yep, obliterated) called The Brood.  After 14 Chapters of huge groups parties and split goals, it became apparent to run two smaller groups instead.  A group to fight "the bugs," (Team Bug, the main subject of this post) and another to rebuild the Worldtree, and deal with threats within the city (Team Tree).
  Chapter 15, the first mission on their own, was some of the best D&D I've run, and it was dark, gritty monster action.  And in a campaign where the majority of threats have been the machinations of other people (monsters in different ways), this was a welcome change of pace.  Chapters 16 and 17 had some huge story thread reveals and plot hole filling, permanently adjusting the trajectory of this group.  The focus shifted from "killing the bugs", to reaping vengeance upon the "grand orchestrator" behind it all, probably preventing future cataclysm and saving more lives.
  But Chapter 18 felt...halted.  In the grand scheme of things, we didn't DO a lot.  There was a fair amount of little reveals, setups, unexpected twists (but minor on the action), and then they met a guy.  Now, I really, really dislike looking at sessions like this, because it skips over any sense of depth while you're in the moment and tends to discount the little things that can really add up.  HOWEVER, what it did reveal was a lack of momentum.  You can have sessions where not a lot happened, but there was enough momentum/release/satisfaction that it FELT like you accomplished a lot...because you did!
  Social development is still development, and combat and exploration still play a role.  In truth, though, it doesn't matter which pillar you're in; each can be momentous and satisfying in its own way, which, in turn, also means that each can lose momentum.  This was a curious case of achieving a set out goal...and then not knowing what to do next.  Now, I try to get homework from players about what they're planning for next time so I can better align to their story, but I admit to missing that beat this time around.  And, upon really thinking about it, I used to ask this question with the players in this team before, and would get minimal response or direction...so I stopped.  When, in actuality, this was the BEST time to bring it up.  We're approaching the end game, and though that final set piece is ready to go, GETTING THERE isn't.  I THOUGHT that we were aware of more of our available resources, that we had built up momentum and expectations, but in reality...I'm exhausted.  I'm overwhelmed with trying to build a satisfying experience, barely sleeping, trying to balance my life and my liberties and my activism and my creativity, all while believing in my soul that I'm just letting everyone down.
  This seeming lack of direction, my exhaustion with running games, a missing player, and then, to top it all off, new perceptions from long-time players about the tone of the campaign and its direction...threw me right off.  Even though folks report to having a good time, I was not pleased with myself.  I've run better sessions, and I was sub-par to my own standards, pushing a combat when I felt I was losing them - even though it wasn't quite appropriate.  But there's so much more to consider here beyond beating myself up.

...not just tying up loose ends.
​  Everyone is moving simultaneously.  These aren't video game NPCs.  These are faction leaders, detectives, bounty hunters...all with their own goals and schemes.  If the players are moving, they're moving too.
  The lack of information plays a role, too.  The players don't know everything, nor should they, but they need to know enough to act.  And what they know and choose to act on can be completely different.  The players decide through their questions and actions what is important to focus on.  This doesn't mean the other content stops moving, it just doesn't need to be broadcast.
  There was a point in each team where the focus shifted away from reacting to dangers and proactively, as a group, making their own plans.  A new surge of purpose; utilizing resources, information gathered, and connections they've built up to make much more informed decisions.  That change in agency fundamentally changes the course of a campaign, and can act as a release of tension - the point when the characters rise above or past the restrictions of lower class or lower levels.  They clarified what they needed to fight for.
  This was Chapter 12 for the Gray Owls.  After 11 chapters of keeping secrets and distrusting one another, we had a whole 8-hour session of satisfying role-playing and putting everything on the table, identifying a target - a clear villain to crush - and coming together as a team.  Discussing with many of my players, this became the theoretical beginning of Phase II in the grand story.  Which shifts the tone naturally.  But there may be other factors that push the lens in unexpected ways.
  We all remember the first "Iron Man," but it can be hard to look at that film now without the grand timeline of the remaining MCU.  And I'm no Marvel storyteller, but many DMs try to interweave and setup hooks with satisfying payoffs, only possible after their players experience the initial setup.  What I'm getting at here is that the story is not over.  Each session, or Chapter in this case, is a singular event - yes - but it is ALSO one piece of a much larger thread.  The same way that our Chapters 3 and 8 - on their own, arguably two of my weakest sessions - only gained traction and value when sewn into the fabrics of Chapters 4 and 9, and beyond.  And unlike a film, with pre-written dialogue and directions, the players and DM heavily influence the trajectory of this story.
  We must also consider the immediacy of this timeline.  Gray Owls functions differently than my broader audience Knight Owls.  The latter takes place over a year of time, with episodes often weeks apart in game time, while the former...picks up immediately where they left off, give or take a few hours.  Meeting monthly makes the timeline feel a little wonky, (something I address below in the last section) but it's valuable to recognize that all of these crazy events are taking place over the course of a month so far.  Meaning, the impressions of certain organizations, big players in the mix, sweeping counter moves by factions seizing power...are all very quick and decisive.  This isn't normal.  Before was normal, we are now in the Aftermath.  Which also means, undoubtedly, there will be a response to this chaos to help restore order...because that's how governments work.
​
  The information of their actions and consequences may paint a curious picture when compared to the expanded lens of the DM, too.  I might see dark machinations brewing, but if the player lens doesn't look for it, it doesn't exist.  Lately I've been practicing being more liberal in dripping content to players during sessions, predominantly through the Whisper Function on Roll20 - both as an engagement and as a reward for their perceptions.  These additional records aid the players in piecing together the cloaks and daggers, but there's much more that can be done.

As I reflect on Gray Owls, there's a lot to commend.  The world built, the course of the players and their characters, the freeing of deep roleplaying, and the overall tone - dark and dangerous.  But something happened along the way, and I'd be remised if I didn't reflect on these observations and think critically on how they may have manifested.  The following comments or questions have come from players as they have observed the campaign as a whole.  

"Is magic broken or not?"
  This one irks me a bit.  Yes.  It has been demonstrated as such; many spells do not behave as intended, some in cataclysmic ways - this fact has never changed.  This discourages magic usage, AND, depending on your socio-economic class, can get you taken by the Vertigo Caste (the world's secret police).  This was demonstrated in Chapter 1.
  HOWEVER, and this is where trajectory and party composition plays a role, some players haven't seen much of those consequences.  In Chapter 2, the party traded two characters out (one would return later, and the cast would continue to rotate, complicating matters and perspectives) for two characters from the noble houses that rule the city.  As established and discussed in Session 0, the rich have access to magic in ways the rest of the city doesn't, and we got to witness the immensely wide gap between the noble houses and the lower terraces of Stormwrack. For the urchins and wanted of the group, this was a safe haven for the first time in their lives, and would become a huge motivator in maintaining that sanction and safety.  In fact, an entire session was devoted to changing their "ownership" from one member of the house to another, so that they could stay for a few more days.  This "headquarters", though, was not my original intention.  Gray Owls was supposed to feel grittier - scraping by on the will of their wits and cut of their blade (reinforcement for campaign 2).  But this became a main focus from the party.  Something sought after enough that it shifted the campaign's focus.  ...But that doesn't mean that magic isn't still a problem for everyone else.
  In fact, on numerous occasions, the party has witnessed the consequences of casting magic in the open, even if the players failed to take note of it.  Characters they've interacted with are now missing.  In fact, people continue to disappear every day.  Just because the players are in their high towers, safe from that scrutiny, doesn't mean it isn't still happening.  But again, the player lens is the view of the campaign.  I can TELL them it's happening, or I can SHOW them.  
Lesson For Self: More Show, Less Tell.  
Next to ponder - how to show if they aren't looking.  ;)

"Just how bad is the Brood anyway?"
In the first campaign of Gray Owls, dubbed Book 1, there has been the looming threat of The Brood in the North.  With all the cloak and dagger politics of the main city, we only hear about these devastating creatures through trickling news reels and shreds of propaganda here and there.  It is known among most people that these "bug-like" creatures move in accordance with a Queen, and are very difficult to kill - for this reason, the city produces through one of its noble houses an elite line of nigh-immortal warrior shapeshifters called Broodhunters.  These hunters come from the Ironwood Family, one of the ruling families of the high court and people with little tolerance for the BS found among other nobles - it wins them respect from the people.
  The Brood were intended to be mysterious.  In fact, there was a chance early campaign that we would never have encountered them.  But then a player made a character from the North - so now there's a vendetta arc - and in maintaining that noble protection, they aligned themselves with the Ironwoods almost without question.  Soon, more and more decisions became influenced by that looming threat, until the invariable beginning of Phase III with the party splitting up core objectives.  One stays in the city, and the other heads North to fight the Brood.
  What we discover, though, is two-fold.  
1) The Brood is coordinated, making moves as strike points, not occupations.  They aren't behaving like a swarm suddenly.  Someone is controlling them.  Most recently revealed: one of the three airship captains of the city is calling them somehow, becoming the Orchestrator of not only that player-character's tribe nearly getting wiped out, but responsible for hundreds if not thousands of other deaths.  

2) The other creatures of the North have been corrupted by the Brood's presence.  Though not under the same control, a rising "infection" in the North continues to spread from even the shadows of a Brood.  
    This second fact -  by the way - has only been hinted at.  It was something I forgot about until I consolidated my notes and went back to the cave for deep prep.  That affliction might have further cemented the danger of the Brood, even if they're being manipulated.  That's an oops for me.

"Choices used to have tragic consequences."
I would argue that they still do.  I have been trying to strike a better balance between appropriate danger to power level, erring on the side of danger *most* of the time.  However, Team Bug's players try to be monster slaying heroes - which isn't really what the campaign was built for initially - and I DO want to give them some measure of that success.  And harder choices are coming...we're just in a low point.  This is also where we have to consider player lens and DM lens - I know what's coming and how certain choices have sent ripples in terrible, delicious directions.  The players won't see that immediately - nor should they.  Yet, I can still think on and plan for ways to show this still to be true.  To show glimpses of it through the player POV.
  The other variable to consider is the other Team in the city.  A common sentiment among the players - happily, by the way - is that although they are high level, they don't always feel as powerful as their character sheet says.  This was a consistent tone.  You might know some cool spells and have great hit points, but you may still lack the resources of your enemy.  Your level and features can be potentially powerful, but you also need to gather information and plan your attack.  Play smarter, not harder.
  Somewhere along the way, that vulnerability left Team Bug.  The moment they left the intimacy of the city, something shifted in the dynamic.  They stopped being in danger, and started becoming superheroes.  And, to them, their choices stopped mattering.  In a way, they lost their sense of mortality.  I will seek to get it back.

"The structure of the session has changed."
I agree.  And that's on me.  The mission doesn't seem clear anymore, despite everything put in place.  Chapter to Chapter, session to session, I've had a much harder time keeping everything straight, even with my notes sitting under my nose.  The pressure of it all became too much, and I started making missteps in preparation and presentation.  This is where I see the most introspective growth and planning moving forward.  I am thankful for the observations surrounding this point in particular, and welcome the focus it brings to the table.

And these observations shouldn't be taken as a twisting of the knife.  
  I'm pretty damn good at what I do, which means anything voiced at this point is actually minor in the long haul, AND if I can pivot and correct THOSE, how much more elevated will all of this be?  But in exploring this path, I "unearthed" something painful.  If you'll entertain me the tangent, I'd like to share a perspective with you.

It isn't something I talk about much, but my greatest fear is theft.  I've had credit card numbers stolen, bank accounts hacked, and my car broken into.  I make sure to be as safe as possible when web browsing and using my information.  And still it's happened.  Multiple times.  It's almost like a running joke now.
  Every time it happened it was smaller, but it didn't hurt any less.  And when you try to live your life honestly and do right by others, it hurts so much to know that to someone else...you're just a credit card number.  The kind of person that thinks that way...I have very extreme responses to.  They hurt me in deep, personal ways that I can only begin to describe and it would be silly of me not to acknowledge that I still seek vengeance and justice over those wrongs, only to be told that the "crime is too small to pursue."  That if I ever met one of these garbage humans that robbed me of my livelihood and thought it was no big deal...I want to hurt them.  I want them to understand the pain that they put me through and how they invaded my life; shattered my sense of self security.  I know that's a visceral reaction.  And I know it pales in comparison to the events and perspectives of today, but it does not invalidate how wrong this act was, and how unsatisfying that lack of justice was.  My pain didn't matter.  That invasion of my soul wasn't valid.  And that erosion of humanity wasn't important enough to seek retribution.
  Last Christmas was the first year where something like that hadn't happened, and it was a bittersweet feeling.  Like somehow that curse had finally skipped me, at least temporarily, but it has been such a stain that now it just looms.  Forever in the background.  So that in my moments of weakness, when I am in a state less than my best, I can have challenging "knee-jerk" reactions to certain stimuli - like other GMs finding success where I struggled.  It is rooted in fear, and stoked by envy.

​I am not a perfect human.  
​And though I do a decent job of mitigating those defense mechanisms before they come out in real life, they are still there and I still deal with them.  It is getting better, and I've thought more and more about why.  There are really two ways I can approach a few recent events.  Through Scarcity and Fear - a belief that we are all competing in our various lanes, threads, and niches for the same acclamation and clientele, there only being room for one at the top of this pedestal.  OR.  Through Abundance and Community - recognition that we all benefit from the accomplishments and accolades of each other in our individual and shared threads, and that their successes augment our own.  There is plenty of room for all of us to lead, follow, create, and thrive.
For some real life examples:

Seeing a fellow GM record sessions and rewrite them as stories, and receive wonderful accolades for that.
Scarcity: Well, I did that with the Knight Owls archive and people complained about "required reading"!  How come when he does it, it's the best thing ever?
Abundance: I have my style and he has his.  We're both growing and learning from each other's journeys.  Everyone has a different presentation, and maybe I can learn something from his success to help breathe new life into my own Adventure Archive.  Good for him, and both still have value.

Opening up the GM's Corner to include other perspectives.
Scarcity: It's my blog and I want my content to be featured!  What if they become more popular than me?  What if they produce more than me when I get really busy?
Abundance: It is still my blog, and it's always been our mission to continue to grow through other perspectives.  A rising tide lifts all ships.  And how beautiful would it be if for every voice we raise up, another player comes to love this game and the value it can add to their lives.  This is a yes/and, and it can only make the site and its mission stronger.

Receiving kind, constructive feedback for your cool campaign.
Scarcity: I ruined the game for them and I don't know how to recover...
Abundance: Every session we run is a rep.  Instead think on how you can pivot to make the next one better, because there will be a next one.  Also, taking space to recharge is not giving up; you haven't failed anyone, you're just growing.

And I still feel those pangs of protective guards rising up around the things I built or pioneered in my little circles, but part of our development as human beings is to become awake to those elements, and open yourself to the hard work of self-improvement.  It is one thing to acknowledge our lack of skill in an area and do nothing about it - or at worse, look for collective affirmation in our ineptitude - and to pursue consistent growth.  ESPECIALLY in our current social and economic climate, a Growth Mindset will be the key skill every human must cultivate entering the new age.

I'm taking my space for the month of July on running big games.  I've been running games almost non-stop for 3 years now.  I need some time to get my head right, and, to take a page from one of my fellow GMs, to "go back in the cave."  I want to do my deep prep in these worlds I've built, instead of feeling like I MUST keep going or everything will fall apart.  
  And when I return, we'll have the best close to a campaign yet and a fine start to the next.

To aid in this, I want to produce a few items.  These will help EVERYONE in immersion, memory, agency, and direction.  They'll also help me tremendously in my development as a GM as I upgrade my consistency, world-building, and custom content (I keep pretty good books for myself, but I need to expand what my players have access to).
And in case it wasn't clear, this is for every campaign moving forward.  That's the goal, and I need time to go deep.

A GLOSSARY OF PLACES, PEOPLE, AND TERMS
It keeps coming up in conversation.  A glossary helps more than a summary.  The players need to know who's who between and during play, and an active document that has this available to everyone at every session is a "no duh" to me for a cloak and dagger campaign.  I have one for myself every session, it's just wicked messy.  It's actually painful that it's taken me this long to compile what I have.  Time to clean it all up, and get back to basics.  I can add and subtract things from the "living document" as players discover things - which is also neat - and that way there's no worry of revealing secrets too early.  This has the added bonus of never requiring notes; there are still players that do that and love it, and still will, but in this case redundancy is fine.  And!  If I misspoke or messed up a term, I can fix that in the running doc.  It ensures that everyone has the same access to information, and removes our initial resistance to immersion.

CHAPTERS AS STORIES or CHAPTERS AS RECAP
This one I'm on the fence about, because our shift to Roll20 changed how we consumed and ran the campaign for both groups.  Some form of recap, either as fiction or summary, is definitely needed, but I need to experiment with what is going to be A) Efficient and B) Creatively freeing.  Before quarantine mode, I recorded the audio of my various games for study and internal consistency, and when I did that I would AT LEAST try to recap Knight Owls sessions here and there.  However, the process was insane.  I'd have to comb through meticulously 6-9 hours of audio every time, and it just wasn't conducive to a consistent workflow.  If I follow it like a fiction, it might be freeing enough to provide a more energizing experience for myself, my readers, and my players, both current and future.

MAPS
I have gone all-in on a map-making software subscription and am designing professional maps for ALL of my campaigns.  It's a blast.  Again, how nice would it be if you actually knew WHERE you were beyond a few sketches.

​WORLD-BUILDING FICTION
For a time there, I was producing 1-3 short stories a month.  Then it became 0-1.  Then 1 every two months.  I had originally planned for 60 entries by Chapter 19, and I'm sitting at 30 at the moment.  
  Writing the fiction grounds the world in my own head.  Remember how I mentioned that the NPCs are always moving?  That's the fiction sometimes.  Other times, it's just lore; stories and news written by other creatures in the setting.  It allows me to shift focus momentarily elsewhere as an act of immersion, and it's fun for me!  So I'm going to go have some fun, and help set the stage for a climactic close for those reading along with the snippets.  :)  

And looking at some of these, I can already see some other GMs shaking their head going "why didn't you have these at the start?"  And to that I meet you with:
Scarcity: ...Mean things to tell myself about missed opportunities...
​Abundance: Players have consistently returned to my table for the last five years for a good reason.  I am good at what I do.  And now I'll be even better.  

See you at the table.
Get ready to rock.
​-Adamus

PS: Feywild and Shadowfell campaigns will continue through July, but on a more limited schedule.

Pugmire, and its accompanying setting, The Monarchies of Mau, are vibrant tabletop settings where you get to take on the roles of anthropomorphic dogs and cats going on quests and adventure.  Want to be a Pomeranian Barbarian?  You got it!  An adorable Pug Pugilist?  Sure thing!  It's...super cute, but not everything is fluffy and cuddly.

See, the world of Pugmire and its sister kingdoms rest in a world without humans.  It's our world, but with a very different future.  We're all dead.
  That's right.  This is a post-apocalyptic scenario.  Ruins of our modern cities dot the landscape and echoes of our technology become great relics of the past to be uncovered by those left behind.  There are only a few animals that "Man" uplifted before their mysterious demise, leaving the rest to either remain beasts of burden or swell to gigantic size and danger.  Dogs, cats, rats, mice, lizards, birds, and badgers all claim the enlightened states of language, skill, and commerce.  There's even a religion in this!  For the noble Dogs of Pugmire, they follow the Code Of Man.

Again, even with the obvious pulls toward dog punnery, there is great depth below these tenets.  This is a world of secrets and great mystery.  It is the Dogs's belief that The Master uplifted them for a reason; maybe to discover the truth about their end, or ensure their return, and not to betray one another as you do so.
  There is a dark evil in the land of Pugmire and the lands beyond it known only as The Unseen - invisible demons and corruption that plague the ruins of Man and forbidden realms that encircle the planet.  No matter their allegiances, all creatures must be protected against The Unseen and the nightmares they spin...

On the surface, Pugmire borrows heavily from 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.  You can clearly see the influence from the public SRD and basic rules.  But it's much more than D&D with Dogs.
  Knowledge of how D&D functions will get you through the mechanics just fine, though.  D20 system, modifiers, 3 death saves, advantage and disadvantage, spell casting, even rage!  
But let's map out what we'll need.

FIRST - CALCULATE ABILITY SCORES
You can roll using any technique you would normally use to generate attributes in 5th Edition D&D, so for our benefit today, we will err on the side of even playing fields and use a Heroic Array.  For those uninitiated, that comes out as: 17, 15, 14, 13, 11, 9.

SECOND - CHOOSE A CALLING
This is what the game counts as a "class," for those looking for transferable terms.  There aren't the same plethora of options here as with D&D, but once you take into account that this game banks hard toward exploration and social interaction over number-crunchy combat (there's still combat, mind you, but we'll get there), you begin to recognize the goal of this game.  It's about story-telling and immersion.  Most of the rules end at Level 10 (not 20; you can keep going, and there have been supplements to expand this, but "leveling" in the traditional sense isn't the target here).  
So let's break down our options.

Artisans (Wizards) - sages and scholars, these are the protectors of knowledge and the arcane.  They are one of two callings with access to magic.  Stamina (Hit Points) = 6 + Con modifier, and they count Charisma and Intelligence as their primary abilities.  Simple Weapons, Light Armor, and (choose 1) Encouragement or Focus Magic.
Guardians (Fighters/Knight) - elite warriors with a code, strong and stalwart.  Stamina = 10 + Con, and they value Charisma and Strength.  Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, Light-Medium-Heavy Armor, Shields, and (choose 1) Fighting Style or Inspiring Word.
Hunters (Rangers) - intelligent trackers and woodsmen, Hunters are quick and perceptive.  Stamina = 10 + Con, and they use Dexterity and Wisdom.  Simple and Martial Weapons, Light-Medium Armor, Shields, and (choose 1) Archery or Natural Explorer.
Ratters (Rogues) - swashbucklers, thieves, and stealthy specialists.  Stamina = 8 + Con, and they use Constitution and Dexterity.  Simple Weapons, Light Armor, and (choose 1) Precise Attack or Second Wind.
Shepherds (Clerics) - divine casters who live the Code of Man.  Stamina = 8 + Con, and you better assume they're using Wisdom and Intelligence.  Simple Weapons, Light-Medium Armor, Shields, and (choose 1) Good Memory or Prayers to Man (magic).
Strays (Barbarians) - just as the nomadic tribes of D&D do not mean stupid or savage, a Stray can be articulate and intelligent.  The defining characteristic is its separation from the civilized society of the kingdom.  Stamina = 12 + Con, and we're rocking Strength and Constitution.  Simple-Martial Weapons, Light Armor, Shields, and (choose 1) Rage or Unarmored Defense.

THIRD - CHOOSE A BREED
This is the game's version of Race, but you're not tied to a high level of specificity here.  You'll gain an ability score bonus (usually a +2 somewhere) and a Trick (a special ability indicative of the Breed).  As the game progresses, you'll pick up new Tricks, but your Breed grants your first one.  I'll give you each Breed, some examples of dog Families (the specific type of dog), the Ability Score Bonus, and the name of your First Trick.

Note about about Family Names: The exact dog that you are is your "family".  So, Yosha Pug's family is "Pug", and that's also her last name.

Companions | Chihuahua, Pomeranian, Pug, Shihtzu.
+2 Charisma
First Trick: Puppy Dog Eyes (advantage on Charisma checks to make friends or be polite)

Fettles | Bulldog, Dalmation, Doberman, Mastiff.
+2 Constitution
First Trick: Hardy Constitution (add 1d4 to all Constitution Saving Throws)

Herders | Canaan, Collie, Sheepdog.
+2 Wisdom
First Trick: Keen Observer (advantage on all checks involving hearing, sight, or smell)

Pointers | Bloodhound, Labrador, Rat-Terrier.
+2 Intelligence
First Trick: Voracious Learner (advantage on Intelligence checks to remember read knowledge)

Runners | Borzoi, Greyhound, Whippet.
+2 Dexterity
First Trick: Speedy Runner (advantage on skill checks to run or chase; also increase walking speed to 35 feet, and all-fours running to 50)

Workers | Akita, Husky, Malamute, Salish.
+2 Strength
First Trick: Brute Strength (advantage on Strength checks to pull, push, or lift)

Mutts | 
+1 to any two ability scores
First Trick: pick one from any other Breed.

A dog's background details what he did before becoming a hero.  It awards two skills they are Proficient in (so they get to add that sweet Proficiency Bonus to rolls for it), a Rucksack of equipment that fits into the background, and a Background Trick.  In this blog, I'll give you the name of your possible backgrounds, their skills, and the name of their Trick

Note about skills and custom backgrounds: If you don't like any of the listed Backgrounds here, you can always make a Custom Background by picking two skills to be proficient in, and selecting one of the Background Tricks found on page 79 in the core rulebook.  All of the available skills are:
STRENGTH - Intimidation
DEXTERITY - Balance, Sneak, Steal
CONSTITUTION - Traverse (like athletics)
INTELLIGENCE - Know (Arcana, Culture, History, Nature, Religion)
WISDOM - Handle Animal, Heal, Notice, Search, Sense Motive, Survive
CHARISMA - Bluff, Perform, Persuade

Acolyte
Skills: Know Religion, Sense Motive
Trick: Acolyte Of Man

Common Folk
Skills: Handle Animal, Survive
Trick: Folk Hero

Criminal
Skills: Bluff, Sneak
Trick: Friend In Low Places

Free Dog
Skills: Know Nature, Survive
Trick: Respected By Strays

Merchant
Skills: Bluff, Sense Motive
Trick: Odds and Ends

Noble
Skills: Know History, Persuade
Trick: Good Breeding

Sage
Skills: Know Arcana, Know History
Trick: Nearby Expert

Soldier
Skills: Intimidate, Traverse
Trick: Rank Has Its Privileges

​The contents of your Rucksack denote your starting equipment.

A dog's Calling and Breed each have First Tricks, but every level a dog can choose a new Trick as part of their improvement or refine one, if it has that option.

You should have your:
Ability Scores distributed, with modifiers (as per D&D)
Your Calling, Two Skills, and its First Tricks (some give a choice between two, so make that choice)
Your Breed and its First Trick
A Background, Two Skills, a Rucksack of equipment, and another Trick
Your Proficiency Bonus (+2, and increases by 1 at 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th levels (to a maximum of +6)
Spells, if you have a Trick for magic.

Now all you need is a name and a backstory, and you'll have the bestest puppy in the land.

In case it wasn't obvious, this post does not replace the core rulebook.  There's a lot I'm leaving out, and if you have the chance to score the book from Onyx Path Publishing, I highly recommend it.

WOOF.
See you at the table.
​-Adamus

Some days are rough, some nights are tough, and sometimes you just need a little sweet and smooth to take the edge off.
Let's try a "cool" hot chocolate with a boozy twist.  
Measurements for this will be less measurement and more pour time (like in spoken seconds, but no "Mississippi", got me?)

First, boil up some hot water and make yourself a "dense" hot chocolate in a mug.  Dense means I'm only filling the mug a quarter and stirring in the mix.  I then pour in two splashes of 2% milk, and stir.  Now the second pours:
2 seconds your favorite Chocolate Wine
4 seconds white chocolate liqueur
4-5 seconds milk chocolate liqueur 
Stir and place in the fridge for a few minutes
Once you take it out you're good to go, but if you're feeling cute, put some whipped cream on top and snuggle up with a short stack of cookies and your favorite show, and enjoy your cheat night.

On rough days, my wife will contact me on her way out of work and I know just what to prepare.  We're simple people when it comes to flavor palettes, and low ingredient count serves us well, both for effect and digestion.

On your next rough day, try this out.

Walk in, drop your stuff, and down a shot of straight Cinnamon Whiskey (Fireball will do just fine).  
Then take a saunter around the house and mix yourself a lovely Disaronno and Coke.  The Cinnamon Whiskey will mix well with the smooth amaretto and peppery Coca-Cola.

And that's all for now from the Moonriver.
Don't forget to love each other, and please enjoy responsibly.
​-Adamus

Enjoy this take from another corner?  Smash that Like button and stay tuned for more every month.  
Other perspectives help us grow as fellow gamers.  :)
Also, if you want to help support the site in a different way, Subscribe to our YouTube Channel, DM Shower Thoughts.
See you soon, and remember to Game Responsibly.
-Adamus

Yes.  I am so far away from the stock moguls of this universe and the next.  I am not a broker, I'm barely a trader, and I am certainly not an entity that possesses the enormous capital required to swell my own ranks in a successful portfolio on the grand stage.
...Which, I think, makes me more qualified to talk about this.
I'm not rich.  Far from it.
  Meaning, if you're reading this, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.  :)

Jumping into stocks and bonds and putting money away, especially in TINY increments - just scrimping and saving literal change at a time - is hard.  You'll try to educate yourself here and there, and though you might pick up a few hints and tricks, a lot of the advice I read first involved investing numbers that there was no way I could achieve in the time frame they suggested.
  It still boggles my mind to think that people would just have $10K to throw around, like it was no big deal.  Maybe, some day, I could get to that point...but I'm in the wrong career and I'd have to be REALLY lucky.

But my focus here isn't to get rich, it's to have something left over, and that's going to be very important moving forward.
I don't want to devote 90% of my day to stocks...I actually have fun things to do.  This needs to be easy, and I want it to work better than a savings account with terrible interest.

The primary marketing strategy with 3/4 of these companies is using a "round-up" mechanic to augment your investments.  How they say it works is that you link a card to your account and it tracks your purchases, "rounding" them up to the nearest dollar.  The difference from the rounding is then set aside into a separate pool.  Once that pool reaches $5, it is automatically deposited into your account.
  Now, upon originally seeing this as a main draw, especially considering the frequency at which each company pushes this agenda, I tried it out.  The way I imagined it would work would be the following scenario:
  I purchase a coffee for $1.62 on my credit card.  
  My card is actually charged $2.00, and that $0.38 is put into a separate pool.
  I make other purchases here and there, and my card is charged the "rounded up" amounts, siphoning the difference into the pool.

I did this for a little while, excited and totally cool with the idea that I would be seeing "whole values" on my credit expenditures and that my balance would have had some incremental gain.  Upon checking both of these things...  Neither was true.

In reality, this is actually what happens.
I purchase a coffee for $1.62 on my credit card.  
  My card is actually charged $1.62, and that $0.38 is just a number, put on a list in my account.
  I make other purchases here and there, and more arbitrary "differences" are put on that list.
  I then must sign in to my account and go through that list, checking box after box of these "differences" until I crest at least $5.  That amount of money is then withdrawn not from my credit card, but from my funding source.  To which, I ask, why didn't I just deposit an extra $5 as a One-Time deposit?
  The Round-Up system uses the rounded differences as arbitrary values to collect in a list that you must then pick and choose which ones to "use" to add up to $5.  Like a game.  A really dumb, boring game that adds extra work to something I could more easily automate using the features I already have.    
  Hmm.  Maybe others enjoy it, but it seemed so pointless once I experienced it.  So, though they'll recommend that you sync a card every time you login, in my experience it's worthless.  The way it is presented and worded gives the impression that the extra deposit comes from your credit card...but it doesn't.  You're just collecting numbers so can do a "bonus" deposit...which you can do anyway, and do better by setting a budget and a schedule.  Duh.

So.  As with most little upstarts, there's a great referral perk program.  If any of these seem valuable to you, I highly recommend jumping in through a referral.  It's a nice bonus for the one giving and the new recruit.
Acorns gives an extra $5 when you sign up.  You get 5, I get 5 if you click here.
Robinhood gives free stock to me and you - here ya go, friend!
Stash gives each of us $20 to invest in stuff, if you're down.
Worthy gives each of us a free bond (they're $10 bonds).

Alrighty.  
Thank you for jumping on to my weird life math lesson.
Puppies and kitties with swords and sorcery are next (Mau!)
See you at the table.
-Adamus

Originally Transcribed on 5/12/20

Originally Transcribed on 5/5/2020
     Besides the official material printed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual, there are veritable terabytes of information out there in the shape of online forums and posts discussing helpful tips to becoming an effective DM.  Immersing oneself into the vast expanse of resources, tools and video-blogs can often be overwhelming, however, and so I find myself forced to turn away from the immense forest that is D&D and start with a single, tall oak tree: the Rules As Written.
    Many people come into Dungeons & Dragons with a sense of inspiration and wonder, excited to be able to tell any story they want in this unique game. All campaigns have the goal of creating a satisfying story for both Players and DM. However, it can be easy to let this unbridled creativity get away from us during play. This is why it is important for new DM’s to mediate and regulate the mechanics of the story through the Rules as Written in order to bring out the best in their Players.
    This is especially true for a table with new Players. I run a home campaign in the Tyranny of Dragons setting, and four of my five Players have no experience with D&D whatsoever. If I were to introduce special homebrew rules, such as drinking a Healing Potion as a bonus action, then I would be setting them up for confusion should they eventually crack open the Player’s Handbook to learn more. Or, if a Player has already done their homework before attending the session, the confusion could bog down gameplay and change the dynamic between Player and DM. 
    Generally speaking, one can look at the game of D&D as a blank canvas, and the Rules as Written as the pencil. When learning to paint, you must first learn to draw, and so you use the pencil to learn the essentials: lining, shading, perspective, and more. Once this has been mastered, you begin to introduce new elements to the game to increase satisfaction and fun. When starting out as a new DM, there are so many other lessons to learn - it’s unnecessary to worry about homebrew at this stage. But don’t worry, there will be plenty of time to discuss that in a later entry. 
Good luck on your journeys.
​- Ian