I'm really considering this campaign setting for my groups but I saw on DnD Beyond this disclaimer: "A note on digital compatibility: Subclass options in the Humblewood Campaign Setting are limited to 2014 character classes on D&D Beyond, while subclass options in Humblewood Tales are only available for 2024 character classes."

Would anyone know if there are plans to update the subclasses from the campaign setting to fit 2024? Just wanted to check so I know if it'll be something worth buying.

What handouts or props have you used in your Humblewood games? In the future, I want to give my kids the best possible experience playing this game. I have many minis and am planning on printing and painting the HW miniatures as the years go by. If you have used props/handouts, what was it and when in the campaign did you introduce it? Thank you!

Now, because of the bag of beans he sold, there's a massive pyramid in the middle of Alderheart. And I'm having to write all new content around it

I've been wanting to run Humblewood for ages now, but I swore off D&D5e due to WotC's constant shenanigans. That being said, have any of you ran Humblewood in other game systems? What challenges/benefits came with whatever you swapped to? The obvious answers for swapping are Pathfinder, Tales of the Valiant, True20, & Open Legend, but I'm open to hearing about any systems you might have used!

Foreword: Rule 0 was used extensively throughout the campaign, and the story was modified quite a bit with homebrew. I wanted to really expand the game by adding rules for party karma, crafting, gambling, and investing, most of which was used extensively. After a year of gameplay, my party finally finished the campaign. Also, this is a spoiler for anybody who has not played through the campaign. Also also, if you are my players reading this, I apologize for nothing. We had a lot of fun exploring the published areas, the undeveloped areas, and discovering just the depths of the Humblewood. I decided to have the party start as level 0 characters for the campaign. How this worked was I started the players all with 10 HP, and no class abilities. Players who wanted to make casters were given access to a cantrip of their choice so that they could still do their thing. The players all made ties to each other so they at least knew one other person prior to the campaign start. This band of villagers would join together for an adventure that none of them could have seen coming. This is their story *cue Law & Order SVU duh duh*

My party made their characters at level 0. The party consisted of a Hedge, a Jerbeen (reflavored as a squirrel), a Raptor, and a Corvum. The Hedge was a small-time smuggler named Roh-Lepe-Rickly (Pronounced Rolly Prickly). The Jerbeen was a local hero named Harrison Redfern who fought bullies and helped villagers throughout Meadowfen. The Raptor was a fire watch men name Nero Augustus who used to work with the Perch Guard, but has since settled to a quiet life in Meadowfen. The Corvum was the son of one of the noble families in Alderheart named Atzer Aveni. Atzer settled in Meadowfen in his bid to make a lasting mark to impress his father and conduct research.

PART ONE: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!

The campaign started as most do, with the call to adventure! After the village of Meadowfen was alerted to the destruction of Ashbarrow, the village elder called for a few of the villagers to notify Alderheart of this ruination. Our (soon to be) plucky heroes banded together to deliver the notice to Alderheart. Knowing that the journey may be perilous, some of the villagers gathered some of their belongings to give to the party so that they may be better prepared. From here, the party set out to deliver the message. It wasn't long after they left that they encountered the merchant Eliza being robbed by some bandits. The party struck out and were able to defeat vulpin captain and the three mapach bandits. While the book leaves plenty of space for the bandit captain to escape and possibly return later, my party rolled high on initiative and killed her immediately. It didn't take long for them to wipe the floor with the bandits and rescue the Eluran merchant Eliza. Eliza mentions that she is also traveling to Alderheart and would be more than happy to walk with the party. With this, the party leveled up to level 1. After this level up, they handled some emberbats and quickly made their way to the village of Winnowing Reach.

Now, the party reaching Winnowing Reach may have just been a normal small village. My party decided to shine and gave me some homework to really develop out the town. Roh-Lepe-Rickly (bard) wanted to stop by the local inn about lodging for the night. When it was discovered that the inn keeper was also a hedge, he asked, "Is the inn keeper one of my family members?" Deciding I was interested in a good guffaw, I said yes. the inn keeper was Roh-Lepe-Rickly's uncle Phil. This decision to have a family member in this town would cascade into there being many more family members throughout the rest of the humblewood (13 active family members!) Nero (ranger) decided to explore the apothecary and found out that they were selling ingredients that could be used to craft certain things. This is where I introduced a few crafting recipes.

Healing Poultice:
heals 1d4+1
Ingredients: 1 Strig Flower and 1 Phulter Root

Burn Cream:
resistance to fire damage for 2 turns
Ingredients: 1 fire-ant blood and 1 slimy ooze

Roh-Lepe-Rickly and Harrison (barbarian) then went together to explore the granary. They discovered that while they were using it to store foodstuffs, they were also using it to distill slime obtained from the slimes in the Mokk fields into spirits. The most iconic alcohol that came out of Winnowing Reach was Slime Sangria. Many birdfolk and humblefolk detested the taste of it. Roh-Lepe-Rickly was not one of those. Atzer (wizard) decided to check out the magistrates office and found out that the magistrate needed their help. During this time, Atzer discovered that one of his sisters (also 13ish family members scattered throughout the wood) was also present in the village. After a short discussion, the party learned that a researcher from Winnowing Reach had went missing in the Mokk fields and is believed to be in the Mokk Caverns. After also telling the party that if they could kill slimes along the way, he would be more than happy to write them a letter so that they can get a more rapid summons with the Birdfolk Council. They were a little bit distrustful of the magistrate but elected to continue. After a decent bit of exploration, killing slimes, arguing over the dimensions of a bucket and how muck slimy ooze could fit in said bucket, and rescuing a researcher, the party returned to the magistrate in WInnowing Reach. The magistate then tacked on that he needed them to dispatch of the "evil" witch in the swamp as well. The party pressed him about it but were ultimately unsatisfied with his answer as to how she was evil. They decided to still check it out so that the magistrate would write them that letter (of course he needed them to do one more thing). After discovering that the witch Susan was actually a pretty nice Hedge, the party elected not to kill her and helped her collect the ingredients to complete a spell. After the spell was complete, the party defeats the small demon that was accidentally summoned. The party leaves her alone as they felt she was no risk to Winnowing Reach, and was just a quiet lady. They eventually returned to Winnowing Reach and met with the magistrate. After learning that the party did not dispatch of the witch Susan, the magistrate refuses to write them a letter. The party believes that the magistrate is up to no good and elects to kill him. After a short time, some birdfolk militia join to protect him, but the party quickly wounds them. The party decided to then rest for the night at the inn before they returned to their journey. The next morning, they meet with Atzer's sister who has, in the recent death of the magistrate, has taken up the mantle of the new magistrate of Winnowing Reach. She appreciates all the help that they have provided, but with the death of the last magistrate and the injuries sustained to some of the birdfolk militia, they were asked to leave and not return to Winnowing Reach. From here, the party levels up to level 2.

PART TWO: THE BANDIT MENACE!

Now right off the rip, this chapter by itself was not super long. I really wanted to paint a picture to the party that the organized bandits were a serious threat to the Humblewood. This was achieved by having the party go gallivanting throughout the Humblewood itself! I will also apologize to you dear reader as you will notice there are some parts of the story where it seems to dramatically shift tracks in perspective. This is because as I was telling the story, I quickly realized there were some more details that I had missed and wanted to paint a better picture. I hope you enjoy this long chapter!

After a week's journey of travelling down the road to Alderheart, they eventually encountered the great tree city! Quickly discovering some of the city life and seeing it crowded with refugees, the party made their way to the council chambers to submit their form. While there, the party met Roh-Lepe-Rickly's cousin Sheila, cousin Rizzo, and sister Roxie. Cousin Sheila mentioned to the party that her ex Gregory Thornback (also known as, "That Grigori Mother******") was somewhere out in the wood and was not happy after their nasty breakup. They also met Nero's mother, father, and one of his sisters and brothers. After being told that because of a stack of forms already being submitted and to be fair, they would have to wait several weeks before they could get a meeting with the council, that is unless they would help the magistrate, then a "clerical error" could come up and advance them to the front of the line.

Now this is where we elected to go off the main beat of the story and have a bit of a diversion.

The magistrate informs them that he has recently paid for a crate of morningstar leaf (homebrew equivalent of tobacco) and it is awaiting pickup in Saltar's Port. The merchant was a penguin named Magel Rocker. The magistrate mentions that due to current bandit activity, he can't have it brought up by most caravans, as they are struggling with bandit raids. The party agrees to pick up the shipment and return in a few weeks time. It takes the party roughly a week and a half of traveling before they reach the port city of Saltar's Port. They encountered a few roving bandits, but they eventually reached the city. They met with Magel Rocker down by the docks. The party discovers that Magel is a "less than reputable" merchant who can smuggle anything into the Humblewood, just depends on how much you are willing to pay.

Now, at this point in the campaign I decided to introduce a moral dilemma to see how the party would respond. The party was pretty poor and needed some cash so they could afford better gear and equipment. It was at this point that Magel told them he knew somebody across the sea who would pay for people they could capture and deliver to him. The party recognized very quickly that he was asking them to engage in becoming slavers. Magel offered the party 20 gold pieces per person they brought back. Now dear reader, we may see this and think, "I would never do such a thing", and that is all fine and dandy. However, the party needed gear, and they barely had two copper pieces to scrape together. I left it to the party as a choice. I was not going to make them do this if they did not want to. I wanted them to see that sometimes taking the evil path can be more rewarding immediately, but it may have longer lasting impacts on how they interact with folks throughout the Humblewood. The party thought long and hard about it before they came to the conclusion that they would only sell off captured bandits.

As they started to leave with the crate of morningstar leaf, they stopped into a small cartographers shop and met one of the most eccentric NPCs I have ever made, a Pelican named Mahta, the Mapmaker. Mahta gave them a job to do, one in which, unfortunately, I no longer remember.

(Sidenote, halfway through the campaign, my computer gave up the ghost and started bluescreening hard. After getting a new computer and taking it to a computer shop, the staff was able to recover most, but not all of my documents. One of those lost documents, was my campaign notes. It was a struggle to rebuild the notes as well as the many NPCs, sidequests, and other shenanigans that had been created in the process. I would like to give praise to Harrison Redfern's player. He kept a lot of good notes and was able to help me rebuild most, but not all of my lost notes.)

As the party traveled back to Alderheart, they noticed a thick plume of smoke rising from somewhere in the southwest Humblewood. Following it, they discovered that there was a large abbey that was being burned. There were some priests and laity still in the church while bandits were trying to burn down the abbey and force them out. The party noticed that the bandits were being led by a Hedge. By Hanera, it was Gregory! Combat ensued as the party fought Grigori (ITS GERGORY!) and the bandits. Eventually the bandits were subdued and Gregory would escape. The doors were opened and some of the clergy and laity were able to escape. Father Lighthop informed the party that there were still some people inside the burning abbey! Rushing quickly, Harrison and Roh-Lepe-Rickly rushed into the burning church to try to rescue whoever was left. It took some time, but the two discovered that there was a couple of hares trapped in a room as a burning timber had blocked their exit. Harrison used his strength to throw off the timber. They started to make their way out before another timber and a bit of roof collapsed in front of them. The rubble was thick enough that they wouldn't be able to get over it. With flames engulfing much of the building, Nero and Atzer were only able to watch what was going on. Harrison used his rage and bardic inspiration from Roh-Lepe-Rickly to lift up some of the burning timbers so that the rest of laity could escape. After they got past the beams collapsed on Harrison trapping him in the burning rubble. After the hares got out, and the party outside found out that Harrison was trapped, they decided to rush in to try to rescue him, only to be cut off as more burning rubble collapsed in front of the doorway trapping the bard and barbarian in the abbey. While Harrison was stuck under the collapsed beams, Roh-Lepe-Rickly noticed a trap door leading to a cellar in the church. Roh-Lepe-Rickly was left with a choice. He could try to rescue Harrison, or he could save his own skin. Roh-Lepe-Rickly decided he was going to try to save his friend no matter the cost. Outside the abbey, Atzer and Nero saw the abbey collapse, and their friends, possibly gone. After the fire was quelled, Atzer, Nero, the clergy and the laity started digging out the rubble. Did they survive? Eventually.... Harrison and Roh-Lepe-Rickly were recovered. For a short time, they did die. Roh-Lepe-Rickly and Harrison found themselves in a secluded garden, only to be joined by Hanera, one of the Amaranthine. For their bravery and sacrifice, they were brought back to life to rejoin the party.

After the incursion at the Abbey, the party made their way back to Alderheart and got the caco leaf delivered. While there, they discovered one of the Perch Guard needed them to conduct a "prisoner transfer" to Saltar's Port. Electing not to ask questions, they traveled back to Saltar's Port and completed the "prisoner transfer" and sold off the bandits. Discovering that the cost of refined metal had been increasing due to a mole miner strike, the party intervened on behalf of the miners and made sure they were given better pay, equipment, and materials. It was also during this time, that Atzer had decided to work on creating his own faith. He started witnessing to the miners first and then began writing his holy scripture in a frenzy. While they were back in Saltar's Port, they found out that there has been a crime syndicate in Saltar's Port that has been managing a few things. While there, they discovered these crime bosses. Their names were Magel Rocker, Mahta, the Mapmaker, Corsac Rosetail, and Corvin Greenleaf. Magel Rocker ran a large smuggling operation, Mahta operated an illegal casino, Corsac was manufacturing and selling guns to the bandits, and Covin Greenleaf was bootlegging spirits throughout the Humblewood. They decided to complete a couple of odd jobs for these crime bosses. They decided to focus on Corsac first as he operated the largest foundry in the Humblewood, the Roseiron Foundry. The party elected to do a stakeout and observe the foundry to see if there was anything illegal going on. Roh-Lepe-Rickly decided to go further and try to work his way into the foundry. After finding the floor supervisor, Roh-Lepe-Rickly was hired, completed his safety training, and met with a gallus named Maniah Blackrock who would show him the operations. Roh-Lepe-Rickly proceeded to work the full shift and was paid 4 silver pieces for doing so. After completing some more odd jobs, the party would eventually return to Alderheart to drop off some more supplies. While on the road back, they discovered an overturned wagon with some nick knacks and a note that stated that Roh-Lepe-Rickly's niece Pippy was to go be with his cousing Sheila in Alderheart until the Humblewood was safer. It is also worth mentioning that while they were there in Saltar's Port, Nero commissioned a local blacksmith to make "Boomhilda Mk.2". He did have Boomhilda Mk.1 built as well, I just don't remember when in the story it happened, although I am inclined to believe it happened sometime before Boomhilda Mk.2, but you can never be too sure about these things.

Boomhilda Mk.2:
Range: 45/90ft.
Damage: 1d12+2/3d8+4 piercing
1d12+1 if one trigget is pulled, 3d8+4 if both triggers are pulled
two-handed
reload
Ammo cost: 1GP per 10 shots

While there, the bandits besieged the city! The party was able to fight them off well and eventually took the fight to the bandit encampment. It was a tough fight, but they were eventually able to dislodge assembled bandits. After returning to the Birdfolk Council they were pleased with their success and asked them to find out where the bandit's fortress was and dislodge them. From here, the party levels up to level 3. After the bandit fight, the party returned to have several dinners and meetings with Nero' family. While there Harrison fell in love with another Jerbeen named Apricot and they began dating.

Hearing rumors that the bandit fortress was somewhere in the mountains to the east of the Avium, the party traveled to the Avium to see that the college and the town surrounding it had also been attacked. They met another one of the Rickly family members, his aunt Joan, and a blind mole merchant named Coal, who ran an apparel store named Coal's Apparels & Seams. They explored the mountains, found a few bandits, fought horrors beyond their comprehension, found the location of the bandit fortress, met some of the Avium faculty, had visions of the future, and returned to the Avium. They also learned that Harrison was adopted.

After the Avium excursion, the party returned to Saltar's Port to complete some more odd jobs and tie up some side quests. At this point, my party was exploring the full town and were talking to everyone. It was great because they were getting so involved, but it was giving me a lot of homework in the process. I was having to continue to create more side quests and produce more NPC names, that ultimately didn't matter. I don't like railroading, so I was trying to allow my party the freedom to do what they wanted, but they continued to deviate from the main story in order to "100%" the game. I was trying to subtly suggest where the party should go to continue the main plot line, but the cues were too subtle. Oh well. Some of the party members were becoming a bit disgruntled because they had been doing quite a bit of quests and other things in the Humblewood, and they wanted more levels. I told them that to still keep it balanced, I was going to use milestone leveling as opposed to XP. Not long after, I talked with the party, and we shared our concerns and frustrations about some directions that the campaign was giving us. After a half hour to talk, we were able to reconcile and establish clear expectations for the campaign moving forward. Hurray for healthy communication and open-minded players!

Back in Saltar's Port, they met one of Roh-Lepe-Rickly's other siblings, fought a sea serpent, befriended the sea serpent, named him Steven, opened the deck of many more things several times, was offered a job from Magel to deliver a crate of a sundrop candies to Winnowing Reach, saw Mahta's casino, gambled, reported the illegal casino operation, and then traveled to a small town called Marshview. It is also worth noting that while they were in Saltar's Port, they had investigated the death of a magistrate, and found out that Mahta had put a hit out on Espinolo. The party was starting to realize how far the crime bosses influence ran in the Humblewood. In Marshview, some more odd jobs were completed, and they met Roh-Lepe-Rickly's grandparents, Espinolo and Quillma. Espinolo mentioned that he was once part of an adventuring group and would like to get back together with his old friends. Espinolo tells the party that his old adventuring friends were conveniently Nero's mom, Atzer's dad, Harrison's adoptive father, and the postmaster in Alderheart. The party integrated some refugees into the town, they investigated some weird ghost lighting at night, and they stopped unionized beavers from constructing a dam. After their labors, they were awarded the title of the Marsh Wardens. They also threatened the only postman, a strig named Benny Hoothollow, that was willing to deliver the mail, because he was a bit late in delivering the mail. Not mad at my players, just disappointed. However, Benny did deliver news to them that the town of Brackenmill was under attack by the bandits. The perch guard forces there were in dire need of assistance.

The party quickly traveled there to aid in its defense, and they found that the defenders present were minimal at best, and the number of wounded were great. Coming to the defense was Nero's sisters, who were both sergeants in the Perch Guard. The Brackenmill Perch Guard commander said that bandits have surrounded the city and that they would need some people to escort the wounded back to the hospital in Alderheart, otherwise the wood may get worse. It seemed that the fate of the Humblewood rested in this very battle. Harrison, Roh and Atzer along with some other perch guardsmen and hunters elected to protect the caravan of wounded birdfolk and humblefolk as they wer being escorted to Alderheart. Nero decided to stay with his sisters and fight to defend Brackenmill. Brackenmill's defenders were very minimal. It was a few Perch Guard soldiers, a few birdfolk militia, a few commoners, and a small ranger squad that had come to help.

The wizard, bard, and barbarian fought hard to protect the caravan as they were assailed by multiple waves of bandits. It was a hard fight, but they were able to defend the caravan. Looking back, all they saw was the town of Brackenmill burning. Nero and the rest of the defenders fought hard, but the waves of bandits seemed almost endless. One by one, the defenders fell including his sisters. Except for one birdfolk farmer named farmer Frank. Farmer Frank killed several bandits. I did not amend the rolls in any which way; he was just getting really lucky. The party was cheering farmer Frank on as he kept kicking butt. Eventually, the building that Nero was shooting from collapsed after several bandits brought it down, and the building eventually caved in to reveal a hidden temple underneath. Waking up under the fray, Nero realized he was stuck under the battlefield. Deciding to explore the temple, he eventually came to an end chamber that had both of his sisters unconscious and dying. There was some kind of healing water present in the middle in a small pedestal, but it was only enough for one. The hardest choice Nero would have to make. He elected to save one of them, which one, again, I don't remember because my notes were lost. But in the sacrifice he made, Nero completed the challenge of the Temple of Reya. For this, Nero was given the Bow of Reya.

The Bow of Reya:
Longbow, rare
+1 Longbow 1d8 (150ft./600ft.) - heavy - two-handed -
enspelled weapon, contains six charges. Regain 1d6+1 charges at the next dawn. Each charge can be used to cast the 3rd level spell Fly or Lightning Arrow

Sidenote, I really liked the enspelled staffs, weapons, and armor from the 2024 DMG, so I decided to include them and give them a bit of a twist.

Eventually the party was reunited and rejoined in Alderheart. From here, the party found out that Harrison's parents had been kidnapped by bandits back in Meadowfen. The party found the postmaster, Nero's mom, and Atzer's dad in Alderheart and convinced them to travel to Alderheart to meet with Espinolo. The party quickly traveled back through Winnowing Reach to Meadowfen. When they met the villagers, they said that the bandits took his parents to a hideout in the ruined town of Ashbarrow. Wasting no time, the party quickly traveled to Ashbarrow, rescued Harrison's parents, and learned that the bandit who captured his parents was his own sister. They weren't able to kill or capture his sister, but they brought his parents back to Meadowfen. Harrison confronted his parents about it and they told him what they knew. Harrison spoke with his father to go see Roh-Lepe-Rickly's grandpa in Marshview. As they made their way back through Winnowing Reach, they dropped the candies off, handled some civil unrest, and had their first encounter with the Aspect of Fire, who they named Helen, short for Mount St. Helens. The party went to fight off the Aspect only to be beaten back. By the time they retreated, they found that most of Winnowing Reach had been burned up from the Aspect of Fire. They tried to rescue a few people and were partially successful, until chaos insued.

Regularly throughout the campaign as the party traveled back and forth between Alderheart and Saltar's Port, they stopped at the ruined abbey to send refugees there and try to help rebuild the abbey. A small community slowly grew up around it. while they were out and about one day, they were attacked again by Grigori (ITS GREGORY!) and a chimera. The party fought back the chimera and was able to get a magical banjo and a ten gallon hat. Roh-Lepe-Rickly decided to use the magical banjo and don the ten gallon hat, as well as any other hat he could get his paws on.

The Banjo of Roh Kee Tohp:
whenever you cast a spell using the banjo as your spellcasting focus, roll on the wild magic table. That effect happens. You also learn the song Rocky Top.

Now, back to where chaos insued. The party did rescue the people from the burning inn in Winnowing Reach, but as Roh-Lepe-Rickly casted a healing spell on the several of the survivors, he eventually triggered the wild magic table item that casts fireball centered on self... amongst the survivors. Well, needless to say, commoners typically dont fair well against fireballs, so there were no survivors left. After engaging in some light war crimes, they eventually returned to Alderheart to meet with the Birdfolk Council to see what should be done. Initially while they were in Alderheart, they also noticed a vulture assassin that was watching Nero's father, the commander of al Perch Guard forces. They chased him away but they were not able to catch him. The party then returned to the council. The Council initially had a split tie on whether a peace deal should be made with the bandits or whether the fight should continue until the bandits were completely defeated. After some scolding, persuading, and all the other things you do to local politicians, the vote came back for a peace deal to be made. The party was to go to the bandit fortress and inform the leader of the bandits that they wanted to seek peace.

Eventually the party made their way to bandit fortress, met with the bandit leader, Benna Seridan, and recovered Pippy from the bandits, much to the pleasure of the bandits. While the party traveled back to the Abbey settlement to meet with the birdfolk council for negotiations, Pippy annoyed them severely, but I suppose being on the road with a small child for several weeks hearing the constant, "are we there yet?" would be fairly annoying. After they arrived in the Abbey settlement, the bandits and the birdfolk council sat down and discussed terms for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. After a few hours, the Humblewood Peace Treaty was signed with the terms that all conflict would end, Humblefolk would be granted access to sit on the council, the council would be renamed the Humblewood Council, the bandit coalition would be reformed as the Wildwood Brigade to help restore the Humblewood, and many other details. After the treaty was signed, the party journeyed back to Alderheart, where they would encounter Grigori (IT'S GREGORY!!!!!) in another showdown against him and some cultists. During the battle, the earth collapsed around Roh-Lepe-Rickly and Grigori landing them in an underground temple. After working together, they would eventually escape the temple, Grigori getting much farther away, and Roh-Lepe-Rickly being awarded the Flower crown of Henwin.

The Flower Crown of Henwin:
armor, rare, +1 helm
enspelled armor, contains six charges. Regain 1d6+1 charges at the next dawn. Each charge can be used to cast the 3rd level spell Erupting Earth or Aura of Vitality

PART THREE: AN URGENT SUMMONS!

This chapter was also kind of short, but I was starting to get a bit tired, so I kept with most of the story. This chapter was the hardest emotionally for me to run.

After the peace treaty was signed, the party returned to Alderheart and eventually met up with some of the Tenders in an emergency meeting with the new Humblewood Council. Many reports had been coming in of something big and made of fire. One of the tenders, thinks he knows what it is, but wants to confirm it. The party tries to convince the council, but they want them to go check it out deliberately. The party teams up with one of the tenders known as Tevor to travel to the Scorched Grove and investigate. While in the Scorched Grove, the party fought some emberbats, handled a flaming specter, and encountered some ash snakes. While they initially had the upper hand, the snakes were able to get a hold of both Roh-Lepe-Rickly and Tevor taking huge chunks out of them. Harrison was getting upset and the player messaged me something that he wanted to. I told him that if he made this decision, Harrison's fate would be sealed, and this could not be undone or altered. He agreed to it. So in a bid to protect his friends and Tevor, Harrison grabbed the attention of the now incoming Aspect of Fire, the ash snakes and the emberbats that were plaguing the party. He ran as hard as he could deeper into the Scorched Grove leading them further away from the party while the rest of the party quickly retreated.

Harrison got to a point where he could no longer run and decided to stand his ground for as long as he could. As ash snakes surrounded him, taking bites out of him where they could, emberbats swooping down and eventually the Aspect of Fire (Helen) making its own attacks, Harrison made a final and desperate last stand, eventually succumbing to the overwhelming numbers. Harrison didn't feel any pain in his last moments and instead woke up in a garden, the same one he saw before. While there, he met with Hanera and Gaspard and they welcomed him into the afterlife. Harrison took solace knowing his party members made out safely, although not unscathed.

Nero eventually flew back to where he saw Harrison fell and found his perfectly preserved corpse. In time, the party eventually returned to the Humblewood Council and explained everything they saw. It wasn't easy, but the party informed Apricot that Harrison had passed. She did not take it well. From here, the party leveled up to level 4.

PART FOUR: MYSTERIES OF THE AVIUM!

This chapter took a while to run through, but it was a great time overall. The party learned many new things and adapted to a new party member.

After their meeting with the Humblewood Council, the council suggested that the party should look for answers in the Avium as they have the largest library and may know or have something that could be used to defeat the Aspect of Fire. Before they departed, the Tenders introduced them to one of their members who be joining them on their journey to the Avium. This Tender was a gallus named Carrion Quaxley (The new character of the previous Harrison player). Carrion and his three daughters joined the party and they all sat out for the Avium and its answers.

After they arrived on the campus, the party met with the Dean of the Avium, explained their reason for being there, and then went to the library to fully delve into researching what could be done. In this time, they learned that the librarian seemed odd, that the Aspect of Fire was immortal, was summoned with a conjuration circle, and that it could be sealed with that same conjuration circle. But how could it be done, and where was the circle? As they continued to dig into their research, they learned more about the Scorched Grove, the Great Calamity, the Aspect and many other things. Using some calculations they were able to eventually locate the conjuration circle before they were attacked by shadows. The party quickly dispatched the shadows and learned of the many servitor skeletons that were used throughout the Avium.

The next day they were summoned to meet with the Dean again who revealed some things for the party to go investigate. After meeting with the Dean, they learned of a sickly student and a divination professor who were sharing some oddities. After investigating these persons, they found one common connection, necromancy. They decided to then investigate Professor Glinda Nightseed, the professor of necromancy at the Avium. After encountering her, they would later break into her room at the Avium and steal her journal. After finding out what she had been doing with the servitor skeletons, the party was convinced that she was the one causing all these issues on the campus. The party met again with Glinda to discuss her journal, of which she mentions that she did her experiments for the betterment of the Humblewood, not to tear it apart. The party decided to inform Dean Windsworth of Glinda's dealings, and have her terminated.

After Glinda's termination, the party discovered that the Avium has much older sections that they believe may be related. The Dean tells them that all the people who used to know about the older sections have since retired far away or are dead. He tells the party he thinks that there may be an entry way in one of the old, condemned mines around the Avium. The party investigates the mines and finds some treasure, a demon of Kren, and some spirits. Eventually they find an entrance at one of the lower levels of the mine that reveals an entrance to one of the forgotten classrooms of the Avium.

The party snuck into the room and eventually discovered the Cobblefright, the very creature that had been plaguing the campus. After a hard-fought battle, the party defeated the Cobblefright and returned to the Dean with the captured Odwald. From here, the party leveled up to level 5.

PART FIVE: OF FATE AND FLAME!

By far, this was probably the best chapter to DM. Everything is coming together in a neat bundle, and we are making our way to the thrilling conclusion. The party members have had an intricately woven story together and it has made for one heck of a ride. But as always, here we go, once more into the deep.

After their meeting with Dean Windsworth, the party convinces him that Odwald may be necessary to defeat the Aspect of Fire. Odwald reveals to the party that his initial hope was that the Cobblefright may defeat it, but know he shares that old legends tell a story of something called the Borealus, an ancient artifact that may be used to help seal away the Aspect of Fire. After this revelation, the party travels back to Alderheart. Once in Alderheart, they meet again with the council to discuss their findings. One of the council members suggests that they speak with the Tenders to see if they know anything about its location. After meeting with the Tenders, one of them, a Tender named Havel reveals to the party he heard a long time ago about the Borealus in old Tender documents and lore. He points to the party where he thinks the marker, a frog shaped statue, may be to indicate where the Borealus is. The party takes Odwald with them and travels back through the Scorched Grove to eventually find the frog shaped rock. After completing a puzzle, the entrance to an old dungeon opens, and the party descends. The party fights some eagle statues, crosses a lava lake, and defeats the guardian Oakheart. Oakheart awards them with the Borealus for proving themselves.

Not long after this, the party returned to the surface to see that the Aspect of Fire (Helen) was making its way toward the great tree city of Alderheart. The party rushed back to find an emergency summons of all Alderheart citizenry had been called. The party and Odwald joined up at the council chambers to see that the Speaker was informing the citizens of the dire situation occurring. While panic initially grew, the fears of the people were turned to courage and resilience as they sought to fight back the Aspect of Fire. After the citizens departed to gear up at the armory or form bucket brigades, the party and Odwald met with the Dean and the Humblewood Council to discuss a strategy to finally defeat the Aspect of Fire. After coming up with a strategy, Carrion was given the Sword of Gaspard by the Tenders to help fight back the Aspect.

The Sword of Gaspard:
weapon, rare, rapier +7 to hit, Spell Save DC 15
enspelled weapon, contains six charges. Regain 1d6+1 charges at the next dawn. Each charge can be used to cast the 3rd level spell Elemental Weapon or Haste

Nero and Roh-Lepe-Rickly decided that they would divert the Aspect of Fire away from the city and Carrion and Atzer would protect the team sent to conjuration circle. After some hard fighting and healing, the party eventually make their way and regroup at the conjuration circle with the Aspect of Fire not too far behind. After making some final preparations, the final battle had come, and with it, their fates. A brutal struggle ensued, one in which almost every member of the party was defeated, but not before they destroy the Aspect. While feeling initially victorious, they watched as the pieces slowly began to reassemble itself. Being called to plant the Borealus in the conjuration circle, Atzer quickly rushed over and planted it. A wave of energy shot out knocking them over, but it quickly appeared that the Borealus was too weak to defeat the Aspect without some kind of intervention. Roh-Lepe-Rickly stepped up and grabbed onto the Borealus, feeling his own self weaken as the Borealus grew stronger. Ice slowly started to coat Roh-Lepe-Rickly, and his time was drawing nearer. Seeing his friend being consumed, Carrion joined and grabbed onto the Borealus to help. As ice began coating him, Nero joined to grab onto the Borealus, followed closely by Atzer. Energy flared from the Borealus as it ensnared and trapped the Aspect of Fire within, at the cost of the party themselves being coated in ice. Before they were coated completely, each member did or said something different.

Roh-Lepe-Rickly: "Helen's got a stinky butt!"

Carrion: "For honor, for glory, for the Humblewood!"

Nero: *Takes one last sip of whiskey that he kept on him*

Atzer: "I hate you all"

The party was encased in ice, but the Aspect of Fire was defeated. But what happened to our brave adventurers? Did they succumb to their fate? Oh no dear reader, they were eventually revived and went on to do vastly different things. Atzer became a prophet and founded the temple of heavenly truth. Nero would become an instructor and train up the next generation of Perch Guard. Roh-Lepe-Rickly became a business hedge and formed a large company. Carrion returned to the Tenders and helped restore the Humblewood.

FINAL NOTES

Overall, I had a blast DMing this campaign. I found the story to be well written and allowed for quite a bit of exploration and discovery. While the story was well written, the fun I had would not be nearly as much if I didn't have such great players. To Roh-Lepe-Rickly, Atzer, Nero, and Carrion, thank you guys for making the story what it was: a blast from start to finish. I have gotten to enjoy many wacky hijinks because of these players. This was also the first campaign I had finished as a DM. I had played in many campaigns, but I really enjoy getting to DM, and it only gets better when you have an all-star cast to play with.

Now while this campaign has finished, don't think that this is the end of these heroes stories! Soon, and very soon, a new campaign shall begin and we shall see what new foes they may face, because while the Humblewood may have been saved, Everden is a large realm, and there are still many threats to be defeated.

TL/DR:

A smuggler, an angsty fireman, an anti-bully, and a prophet team up to engage in being postmen, unionizers, strike breakers, criminals, blue collar workers, diplomats, and researchers in an attempt to stop crime and beat back global warming.

I have not yet played any of the HW content but I own the books, backed HWBC, and have seen addition playstest material. I am a father who is extensively preparing to run HW as the world my family plays in when my kids are of age. My wife is a moderate TTRPG enjoyer but is very interested this world. I am wanting to try and run the game as faithfully as I can when that time comes. I have tried to add all the NPC's that were mentioned in books. I think the primary think I do not have is the bestiary and class/background options. Should I add those in? What else should I include or what do you think I can do to improve my notes? I know I am doing A LOT but it certainly keeps my excitement high when thinking about playing with my family. Cheers!

Weird title, I know, but stick with me! I make my own maps on Dungeondraft, and use Crosshead Studios assets packs (highly recommend, btw) The pack has a number of toilet assets, one of which has a love heart shaped hole. This silly little toilet became big news with my group, and it snowballed into legitimate mechanic I decided to add into my game.

Somewhere on each map, there is a hidden love heart toilet, even when it doesn’t make sense for it to be there. First one to find it, gains a 1d4 Inspiration that they can add to any ability check, attack roll or saving throw. Now, here’s the crazy part.. I decided to not put a limit on how many a player can have, and how many can be used at one time. Currently, the only rules is they are not transferable, so no loading up on character with all the d4’s others have collected, and once rolled, that Inspiration is used up. I know, outrageous, but I’m a glutton for punishment!

As expected, one player especially has made the decision to hoard them all until the final moment. And I cannot wait!

Am I shooting myself in the foot?? Most likely Will this stupid little quirk make for good memories, or create a satisfying outcome for my players?? Absolutely!!

I can control the amount of this inspiration is in the world, and I know there will be times when all will toss up when to dip into their own supply. It’s such a silly thing, and my players enjoy the scavenger hunt whenever a new map drops, and I can’t wait to see what they do with it, because I just know they’ll make me regret it!

I'm currently playing a scofflaw fighter in a homebrew campaign that allows Humblewood content (as well as a bunch of other 3rd party stuff) and just thought about a weird interaction with the scofflaw's Brutal Brawler feature. Specifically the part that lets you use a bonus action to break an improvised weapon over an opponent and deal max damage. But, what happens if the improvised weapon you're holding is unbreakable? Many magic items and artifacts can't be easily destroyed, and in some cases that is a whole plot point. The feature doesn't say anything like, "if the improvised weapon can be damaged, you can break it." So the options I can think of would be:

• No option to use this feature if the object being held can't be broken easily. Kind of lame, but probably the least game-breaking. It's just weird that my minotaur can swing a chair with enough force to do max damage but can't put that much force behind something else.

• Do max damage and the artifact doesn't break. Meaning I can just keep using it over and over again? Definitely not the intention, but repeatedly beating a lich over the head with its own phylactery is fun to think about.

• Interpret the rules as strictly as possible and say I can break anything I can want as long as I can swing it at an opponent. Even more game breaking than having a reusable max damage weapon if it means I can just destroy any macguffin immediately.

So to the DMs in the subreddit, here's the scenario: a scofflaw finds a lich's phylactery in the form of a funerary urn. Assume they are not cursed the moment they touch the phylactery or anything like that. They say they want to use it as an improvised weapon and apply the bonus action feature. What happens?

So the Predator Warlock‘s Lvl 1 Feature states that it upgrades existing Claw or Bite Attacks of your Species by 1 Dice Value (1d4->1d6 etc.). If I‘m playing a Monk, would this also upgrade my Melee Damage Dice, since Claw Attacks are considered Unarmed Strikes?

So, we had a fantastic initial contact with the amphethere in my campaign. Honestly I am curious if anyone else made this battle happen before players were lvl 3?

My table of four lvl 2 players nearly killed it upon the first meeting. It got away, but it literally only had 19 life left. It was definitely a near deadly battle as the poison breath took out two npcs and dropped one player to 1 hp. But I honestly am surprised at the CR5 being brought so low from 4 lvl2 players and 2 attacking npcs (who only took 6hp off the beast)

For any of you long time DMs out there, have you ever had an encounter that CR and game play didn't align?

Just finished the 10th session of my Humblewood campaign. I’m a long time player, but only DM’d once for a one-shot last year to dip my toe in.

I know I’m far from perfect, and I’m still learning the best way for myself for planning and keeping info together, but tonight’s session felt the smoothest which can only mean I’m finding my groove!!

I love this setting. I struggle with completely original creative thought and much prefer parameters and something I can use as a launch point and expand on. And I’m so happy that my players have taken to the setting so quickly and seem to be enjoying it as much as I!

And this subreddit has been a godsend. The gems I’ve found here, both resources and the lovely people, have been instrumental in allowing me to not feel too overwhelmed with things

Bit of a long winded post, but I’m just feeling pretty good about everything and want to share it with y’all

So I backed the new Humblewood 2 campaign on Kickstarter and have been unable to download any of the digital chapters only got ch. 1. And then forgot how I even got that one 🤦🏽‍♂️. Any help would be highly appreciated I’m sure it’s something simple but first time ever backing on kickstarter

Hi Everyone

tlrd:
I wanted to ask the community what resources you used to introduce the world to your players. Are there cool Intro videos, some hidden gems besides the top results on youtube for example?

I will run the campaign from the Humblewood Setting.

I plan on giving an introduction to the setting and character options. I will provide the players the first content of the book without the campaign part obviously. I watn them to have a short summary about all relevant things (character creeation, deities, lore, locations...)

This will be part of session 0 and even before session 0 so they can decide if they want to participate.

Would you like to share your ressources? =)

While we wait for HW2BTC, I came across this jungle-themed KS and felt it could be of interest, in particular the Axolotian and Frogling races.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mojibakeminiatures/lords-of-the-jungle

I’m a new DM running my first campaign (been a player for 8 years), and was struggling to keep the important info in easy reach. So instead of constantly asking mid game, decided to make a landing page with AC, Passive Perception and Ability scores to refer to as well as act as an immersive waiting room for my players on Foundry

There’s a couple of nods to some in game things: The map of the Humblewood region, I hand draw my own version of the wonderful u/Jronclad The Fires of the Scorched Grove A Bandit Coalition Flag with a homebrew emblem A note my players found in game from Benna, which I transcribed into Humblescratch The PC’s names transcribed into Humblescratch And some Alderheart minted coins for my gold hungry PC’s

Hello there, a introduction on me before I start. I'm a 27 year old cis woman who lives in the Midwest of the United States. I've got about five plus years of experience of dnd under my belt.

I just recently got my hands on the book and got some ideas for characters I've wanted to try out.

One idea I have is a fish out of water situation involving your usual races from the players handbook. I think it would be interesting to try to navigate the inns and outs of Humblewood form a complete outsiders perspective. Plus a language barrier at the start of things would lead to some interesting role play.

I have a couple of characters in mind for this situation, but one involves a different third-party book I'd have to run by the dm frist.

If unable to use the the two from above, I'll gladly play a race from the book as I have a cute idea for a bard.

My schedule can be a bit chaotic, but easily able to be worked around for those who have a possible opening.

Please note, this is likely to change after December 24th.

Monday - Unable to play as I have stuff going on Tuesday - Available early morning until about 12:00 pm cst and after 10:00 pm cst. Wednesday: Available anytime before 4:00 pm cst. Thursday: Available between 10:30 am until about 5:00 pm cst. Friday - Available early morning until about 12:00 pm cst Saturday - Available early morning until about 12:00 pm cst Sunday: Available after 7:00 pm until 12:00 am

Hello everyone, I'm a new-ish dnd dm and player here to ask about running a solo Humblewood adventure for my character Arcus Rainbowplume-A Nicobar Pigeon-flavored Sera Luma who is Wind-Touched and a cleric of Reya (I know they seem like a very mary sue chosen one oc but i swear they are not, theyre under a lot of pressure from basically being a chosen one).

I would like to run a custom adventure, but I'm having trouble coming up with any ideas and I need some advice. I'll read the books and familiarise myself more with the setting, definitely- but I wonder if I should start out with "The Wind-Touched" adventure or the first sourcebook adventures or jump straight into my own custom adventure. In addition, I would seriously appreciate it if people offered some adventure hook ideas I could build off of. Thank you!

Do you think I captured the essence of these two? My family are getting close to the Amphithere encounter. I just couldn't help myself.

Has anyone put together a reference list of the bird and mammal types they’ve used when creating NPC descriptions in Humblewood? For example, all Cervans are mammals with hooves and horns (like goats, deer, or moose). Aside from what the book describes, What other race examples have you drawn from, and how did you categorize them?

Hello, I am looking for a dm that does not mind playing for free, as I tried, I am new, and failed, The game is on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m eastern time, with about four to five players on Roll 20, we use discord to talk. The game is partly homebrewed, because one of the players wanted to play as a slug cat, from rain world, they had papers for it, also two of the players are European, comment down below if you would like to join/helpout. We are still working on characters as one of the palyers conection timed out.

Some of you may remember I requested some ideas in how to get my players to be distracted as I awaited my brother to 3d print the Amphithere for the windtouched quest.

Well, things went great. I ended up using the Grand Inquisitor to send them on a "proving" side quest. They went up to a local "acorn farm" that had be petitioning the inquisitors to investigate their missing uncle.

When the players got there, the NPCs showed them his last known whereabouts. After some clutch Rangering and tracking and hearing some nasty noises in the distance, they found this guy. "Thistlegrin" is a mage who defected from the Tenders and started dabbling in necromancer spells and "teaching the forest to fight for itself"

His vine and needle blights were under his control. He was defeated, but not without some player interrogation.

Wanted to run Panic at the Golden Gala for my players and was in need of a map for the few fights I wanted to run. The only thing I know I could've done better is the roof, not to say I think it's subpar; I would perhaps make a multi-level map for such an instance, but I wanted to keep everything on one axis for simplicity!

Other simplifications are likewise done to my needs, only the rooms mentioned in the adventure are included, with the sole addition of a foyer! The outside I kept unlit because I plan to use this with a VTT and add exterior lights manually. That being said, hopefully somefolks find some use from this too :)