Best D&D Source Books & Modules for DMs | "Can't" Kick a TOXIC PLAYER | Running Helper NPCs 

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Re: "I'll take his sister out, too" - invite dad to either explain to daughter why she's being punished for brother's bad behavior, or insist dad actually play in the game to monitor brother's actions. I think dad just wants free baby sitting.

"Well, sadly, Good Player, your brother is being a brat and your father is punishing you for it. If you can talk some sense to him and can play without your brother you are welcome back anytime."

Kick the toxic player but have a discussion with the sister first so if she does get removed she knows exactly why and can shit on them for it

Luke - thank you for your frank advice re: the toxic dad. I see so many young people in our hobby who need help drawing boundaries. Thanks for being an excellent mentor!!

Regarding toxic players I highly recommend Ginny D's video on how to talk to problem players Sounds like there was a conversation and an attempt since the matter reached the father and he made that threat Bottom line: This is a game, the objective of a game is to have fun. So a toxic player is counterproductive. After exerting an appropriate effort to fix this issue. If for whatever reason it does not work. Do not feel bad for kicking the source of toxicity / negativity out because the objective is not being achieved which is having fun. Might sound harsh, but it is what it is. Think about the players and the dm who are dealing with negativity and toxicity in their work place, paying bills, blood relatives, etc. And this safe space just turns into a chore rather than a fun relaxing experience ? That is truly harsh. That is why kicking the player out in that case is appropriate.

“To me this kinda feels like a Nickelodeon type thing…I don’t even know who Rick and Morty is…” 🤣🤣🤣

It sounds like the son got his toxicity from his father. Edit- Oh, he addresses that point.

I feel bad for the sister but the dad is asking for his daughter to have very negative feelings toward him in the longrun and if I was that DM, I wouldn't be shy and state that immediately because at the end of the day, it's not my fault that a grown adult wants their son to be a bully to a degree that his actions ruin his sister's life. Like how would he feel if his daughter was in a relationship with a bully because that's a scary possibility with how he's showing his kids how to act and what is acceptable.

He says „weaki“ 😂 I like it.

❤ *I love this rant near the end about the toxic player & his sister .* *An absolutely agree with luke .* *Sadly the sister suffers regardless .*

If all you want is a ton of Forgotten Realms info, get the tan & brown 3rd edition book.

Mordekainen's is very optional IMO, Volo's has a lot more use for a DM (just that bunch of NPC stat blocks at the end is awesome). Tasha's is unnecessary, I agree with you. XGE I've used quite a bit but you're right - you can basically can get all of it from UA or free online resources. I think Ghosts of Saltmarsh is another very good buy for a DM because of how much it has in it for any kind of naval campaign, random island generators, the town of Saltmarsh is very good, and if you don't have Volo's then you get quite a few monsters from Volo's in Ghosts of Saltmarsh as well. There are a bunch of third party books that IMO are more useful than official books (Lazy GM's Guide, Tome of Battles, etc.).

"i plead the fifth" Never thought i'd have to dig through my knowledge on US Amendments from 8th grade history for context in a D&D video over summer vacation, and yet here we are.

I’ve only ever read from cover to cover the Player’s Handbook. I read most of the DMG but PHB definitely seems more useful. As for Rime of the Frostmaiden, I adore this module. My first and only ever experience with D&D. The secrets and variety of characters gives great backstory opportunities, and it left enough room for me to develop my first ounces of home brewing/retooling.

I once had a player who had 2 brothers also in the game, we played 1 session before he joined and we loved the game. When he came, he just wanted to kill, kill, kill, he wanted to kill every npc, steal everything valuable and he only contributed once in 3 hours to making the game interesting. I told him dude, you're chaotic good, he then responded, "Can someone else do it then?". I'm sort of glad we tpked that session.

As someone who has bought too many (almost all) of the sourcebooks, I'd strongly recommend making Xanathar's your first choice after the core three (PHB, MM, DMG), which you can get for free. Honestly, those four alone will get you at least 90% of the way to wherever you want to go. Volo's and Mordenkainen's can offer lots of material for the DM to use. Everything else is strictly extra, bonus stuff.

Other than looking up magic items I rarely look at my DM guide. I would say PHB, MM, then XGtE and Tasha's, just because I need access to spells and class info. in those 2 manuals. Then Volos and Morden's.

Damned right Luke. My DM passed about 10 years ago. Group drifted. Been looking for one on and off for a freaking DECADE!

I've tolerated unrepentant toxic players in the past, and after good faith effort it isn't worth it. Threats, however, cannot be accepted.

Xanathar's is most useful for the name chart in the back. Having a chart of names to open and grab from immediately is amazing and I would never have the initiative to compile and print my own.

I ran Curse of Strahd as my very first campaign, but I understood from reading through it before the campaign started that I was going to need a lot of stuff ready to go in case my players took off in an unexpected direction. I got a head start on map-making and made a binder of all the monster stat blocks I would need, so I was able to adapt pretty easily to whatever my players decided to do (it helped that I had some veteran DM players who stayed pretty solidly on track). Looking back though I guess that's a lot to ask from a new DM.

When my group has a NPC join them in the party, I usually roleplay the NPCs out of combat, but during combat, I give one of my players the choice to play the NPC in battle and I give them their statblock.

This is 30 minutes of very interesting D&D topics! Thanks!

In the shoes of the player who's being threatened by their dad, I'd tell him this. "It's my game, so you don't get to choose who stays and who leaves. I have every right to remove players if they choose to be disruptive *and ruin the game for everyone else* after telling them to stop worsening the game for everyone."

I've run The Rick & Morty one. It's a good fun one. Probably good for the DM to be a fan of the show at least. Players who may not like the show would probably enjoy it. I had a good player that's not a fan of the show have fun playing it. It can be a short one shot or take a few sessions depending on your group. It's a good and fun module. It's based on an adult show. It wouldn't really give off Nickelodeon vibes.

Ravnica for setting and Monsters of the Feywilds for monsters. My favorites.

Re: Dungeon of the Mad Mage--if your players want to do a megadungeon, the only hook they need is "Hey, there's a megadungeon over here!" My crew derailed a Storm King's Thunder campaign to go down there and poke around when they were in Waterdeep. ("You *said* it was an open campaign!")

I almost started Hoard of the Dragon Queen went with Against the Cult of the Reptile God instead and still thought that was better.

100% agree with removing toxic players. I would not tolerate having the sister (and the other players) playing in a poisoned game. The toxic player and you (as DM) don't mesh. No reason to make yourself miserable. The sister can find other RPGs to play under other GMs and have sis deal with the dad's edicts about how the DM runs their game. DMs have to have autonomy or the game and the DMs efforts are wasted.

If I could do it again with what I know now? Players Handbook (A-Men... buy at a used book store and get it cheap) Monster Manual and then Flee Mortals (skip the Tomes from Kobold Press- not because they aren't good but because Flee Mortals is so better once you are used to running a Monster Manual Monster) Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master by Sly Flourish Get an Anthology of different adventures (Loot, Lore, Lairs and Legends goes out of it's way to cover different types and lengths of adventures- which is cool) Get a big Campaign from 1-10++ level (two at most). There are some that are very specific to an Environment which are probably the best... The environment becomes an NPC by itself and like... The Good parts of IceWind Dale (Tundra/Glacier, Point Crawl), Annihilation (swamps, hex crawl), Old Margreve (Kobold Press Forest), Get one (not more) Pre Made World like Eberron, Tal'Dorei, or Midgard to play inside it or get ideas about society and world building and factions and stuff. Now that you have looked at a FINISHED WORLD, you are gonna want to make your own world. So there are a lot of world-building books. Easies to use is The Game Masters Books of Astonishing Random Tables.

Gonna be honest I always assumed this guy had like a million subs

Tasha's has some good info and options for players on subraces beyond what is in the PHB. But yea, not super essential for DMs. I don't know if it was out when this vid came out, but the Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is pretty cool, has a lot of updated lore on dragons, draconians and dragon subraces lairs, etc. It is not essential but if you are running a campaign which features dragons, it is nice to have. I also recommend the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide if you are not familiar with the default 5e setting, some people look down on it, but I think it is a good supplement and actually has good info on the races in the Forgotten Realms and a neat guide on how to port them over to other settings like Eberron, Dragonlance or Grayhawk.

🌟 *For players ( in order / most important to least ) .* *Player's handbook -> Xanathers guide to everything -> Tasha's Calderon of everything -> Eberron : Rising from the last war -> Explorers guide to wildemount -> Mythic Odysses of theros -> Guildmaster's guide to Ravnica ->Acquisitions incorporated -> Sword coast Adventures guide .* *Van richten's guide to Ravenloft is not listed as it is new & i have not read through it heavily .* 🌟 *The DM list is in order from best to worse .* *Player's handbook -> Monster manual -> Volo's guide to monsters -> Mordenkainan's tome of foes -> Xanathers guide to everything -> Tasha's Calderon of everything -> Eberron : Rising from the last war -> Explorers guide to wildemount -> Mythic Odysses of theros -> Guildmaster's guide to Ravnica ->Acquisitions incorporated ->Van richten's guide to Ravenloft -> [ Adventure Module(s) -> Sword coast Adventures guide .* 🌟 *Adventure modules .* *No list as i do almost all homebrew worlds ( D&D ) and hence can't list them .* *Other systems are a different story .*

I wonder if the DM has talked to the brother? I wonder if he could give one last chance but sit him down and explain not only about his behaviour and its effects on the other players, but more specifically the potential consequence for his innocent sister. Of course, especially considering his potential parental influence, this could cause a backlash. But hey, you tried.

1st - Player's Handbook 2nd - Monster Manual *****3rd - DMG (D&D 4th edition)***** 4th - DMG for whatever edition you are actually playing. The 4th edition DMG was the best written guide to player types, character types, and encounter building that I have seen in any game. The advice given in that book is applicable in all RPG settings.

3:15 Strictly speaking... I agree... BUT, I run an adventurers league group on Roll 20 and I need these for my players.

The must have books for DMs are the player's handbook, Ravnica, Theros, Eberron, and the monster manual. In that order. The dungeon master's guide has some useful bare bones starting points for optional rules, but the best of those rules are only truly fleshed out and developed in Ravnica, Theros, and Eberron. If I had to buy my 5e collection again, the second book I'd buy would be Sly Flourishe 's The Lazy DM's Workbook. Lazy dm's workbook has all the useful tables and rules in the DMG in a compressed 48 page paperback for one quarter the price.

Here's a hack for minimal physical resources to buy for 5e: get a second hand copy of the rulebook from the Essentials Kit and get the levels 0-5 Monster Cards from Gale Force 9. That gives you 5 classes with 10 subclasses, 4 playable races, and 170+ monsters for 1st-6th level game play for about $15-$20. Or get the Essentials Kit and the monster cards for about $25-$30, and that will include dice, blank character sheets, maps, and a module, too. Sadly, I've never found a way to get the free 180 page basic rules printed and bound for less than about $30, but if you are good with using them on a computer or tablet, there's no reason to pay WotC anything to play the game all the way to level 20.

Great advice as always. I liked the part discussing the different modules. I used Twisted Caverns from Mad Mage in a recent game in the depths a Dwarven stronghold. Most of my campaigns are set in Mystara, so there is a lot reworking locations and such with the new 5e modules. As to what to get first? Totally agree with the order. I had nearly the complete set of books from the old BECMI. When we swapped, that’s were I started….and ended with the total package on D&D Beyond because I have issues.

My reccomended order would be: PHB, MM, DMG, module you're running (If you're paying for a module), TCE, XGE, world you're running (If you're running a published world), VGM, MTF Although the last 5 will depend on your priorities. This list prioritises mechanics, if you want a variety of foes replace one of the "everything" books with volos. After that you should be out of money.

I think the books are on sale on Amazon for like 25 to 30 bucks. That might also help some players out to if they're on a budget.

I'm a huge fan of the Theros book for making epic monsters, the supernatural gifts, the piety rules for gods (if you're in need of some cool stuff for a God heavy campaign) plus reskinning the monsters for other campaigns is just awesome and usually a curveball.

As far as Descent into Avernus goes, I found it unbalanced, messy and a kind of kindergarden version of what hell is supposed to be. The quest itself have way much more potential than what we got. To reach it, you definitely need to homebrew quite a few things.

I like to have as many of the "players source books" as I can in case my players are on more of a budget than me

Bob World Builder gives a good review of all dnd 5e books

Wish I'd had that recommendation about Curse of Strahd say... 2 months ago.

When I ran a home brew game I had a DMNPC that would only offer advice when it cane to how the party could use his spells. He helped round out the party and gave me a way interact with the caricatures, but never stole their thunder and I was ready to shove him to one side if the players got sick of him, but talking with everyone after the complain is over, non of them had a problem with him.

I'm just buying up the books. Even if I don't read thru them or use them all, they will look nice on my shelf. They are kinda neat and collectable. But I probably will read thru them.

I just started Curse Of Strahd. I have players playing Ireena & Esmeralda. I ran Waterdeep Dragon Heist first and that had a moment with gaurds having the players pilot the combat is a good idea. I'll start doing that.

as dm or player, the starter or essential box set(s). they get you into the game and playing -quickly! anything else adds to the game, but isn't necessary.

I'm running Ghosts of Saltmarsh. You could run it cover to cover but it works better if you alter/pick and choose. You also get some mechanics for ships.

Actually, the new gold standard on campaign settings I would say is Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft now where 90% of the book is lower and is mainly edition agnostic. Only about 10% if specific to 5E, the remaining 90% can be used in any edition of D&D as it's all informational/lore.

I had Ismark and Ireena level with the party (Ireena started out as a Commoner, Ismark a Champion Fighter), and they were effectively "DMPCs" except, like you said, they didn't have strong opinions on what the party should do next (other than "keep Ireena safe"). I also never gave loot *Specifically* for them, (or really, anyone), just gave loot to the party, and the players got to decide who got what. Ireena and Ismark never got their gear upgraded :P Then Ismark died vs Baba Lysaga, still swinging his starting Scimitars...

For Xanatar's I use the names at the back of the book for npc's a lot

My response to the father: she's always welcome back at my table, and if you want to explain to your daughter why she is being punished for her brothers actions that's on you. I'm not kicking her, but I am kicking him, and I'm not backing down on that.

I think there is a number of 3rd party books that are useful for DMs for running d&d, mostly for things that main books don't adress. Scribble's Codex of Companions for getting pets (or is it just my PCs who are obsessed with pets?), Heliana's Guide for Monster Hunting and Grim Hollow Bestiary on harvesting monster organs and making stuff out of them, Strongholds and Followers for giving PCs their own location with servants, Pirate Campaign for Pirate game, the Monsters Know What they're Doing for monster tactics.

I liked Ice Wind dale, but only till level 5, I was playing a homebrewed version of the undying warlock because the original has great flavor, but no mechanics to back up that flavor. My character was a cultist of vecna and as a changeling was disguised as a dwarven gravekeeper. The DM left the encounters completely uncut and the other players were murderhobos meanwhile I was a very social character, but the module while good with the right group, is very difficult to have fun in without a great group.

Fantastic video, thanks for the gift!

As a brand new DM I still find the encounter tables in Xanathar's really helpful, but I understand how it's less useful for experienced DMs who can work that out off the top of their heads a lot better 😅

All material is good material as you go on. As you get comfortable you will find goodness everywhere that will save you time by hacking out parts of something and using it to build your adventures with...just get the best price you can on everything you buy so that you never feel burned by buying something that isn't immediately useful. (-:

I don't negotiate with terrorists.- Love that mentality

tasha's subclasses make for interesting NPCs which I use it for regularly. I created an entire orginization that works under the queen in my campaign that are some kind of psychic subclass. they are great for subterfuge and espionage.

I would say Waterdeep Dragon Heist is the best begginer DM friendly. Easy to run & if you run it more then once there are other villains you can run so it doesn't have to be fully the same twice.

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

Xan is nice for traps. There are some nice ones I've used in a dungeon. Tasha I liked because I like having the optional class rules. And I created a quest involving a tattoo artist. SCAG I use the most because I like making my own quests and campaigns that I pepper with parts of modules. I prefer sandbox. With SCAG I use Volo's Guide to the North to create adventures

I would tell the father “I’m the DM and this is my game. I’m not going to sit here and let you tell me who I can and cannot kick from my game. And you most certainly cannot coerce me into keeping your son in the game by threatening to pull your daughter out of the game. If I decide to kick your son from the game, that’s my choice and if you want to pull your daughter out too, so be it. I have spoken with your son about his bad behavior several times and tried to explain to him that he was ruining the game for everyone else, but it isn’t working. I’m sorry, but I have to kick your son from the game”. I would also tell the daughter what was happening and that she was welcome to come back to my game anytime. It’s sad that the father seems to encourage the son’s bad behavior rather than punish him for it. Also, I don’t think it’s fair that the daughter is punished for her brother’s bad behavior, but I can’t tell people how to raise their children.

You are missing out on a lot of good stuff by dismissing Tasha's. Group Patron rules give a lot of nice options for worldbuilding, but also provides a nice basis for which to design a campaign around. Patrons can have their own agendas while providing great benefits. Having multiple factions vying for PC attention is a beautiful way of making the players feel important while also testing their allegiances. The extra magic items are fun. The DMG is great and filled with magic items, but it's always good to have more pools of inspiration to draw from. Magic tattoos being ironed out is also quite a nice way to add magic to an otherwise non magical monster. Imagine a Orc Chieftain with the Ghost Step tattoo. It's unexpected, adds a bit more edge to the battle, and creates a potential for story telling based on what the tattoo is and how the Orc got it. Tattoos also allow you to magically buff up your monsters without fearing that the players will become OP if they take the magic item from them after. The Environmental Hazards table is just fun. I like having a way to infuse some unique hazards into the exploration side of the game. It keeps the players on their toes, and can allow for indirect worldbuilding. The natural hazards table is also a nice touch. Its a good quickguide for making the environment play a more direct part while keeping the rules familiar. Puzzles are nice. Thinking up one's own puzzles is a time consuming affair, so more inspiration is always nice. And the spells are really good too. Don't make the mistake of thinking the spells are only for players, there are some potent ones you can throw at a party that will take them by surprise, and a nice number of them require the ever maligned Intelligence save. And the new summoning options make summoners so much less difficult to work with. They are just a nice option to have as a DM. Also, think about this from the perspective of a new DM. The rules for Parleying with Monsters is going to be useful to someone who doesn't really know how to think like the creatures in there, or who is trying to get to grips with the knowledge skills. Similarly information on how to run a Session Zero is going to be really useful for new DMs. That's the kind of stuff that no one really tells you until you get it wrong. Tasha's is a lovely book. Have another read through it, you can't have seen it properly if you think it's mostly for players.

I would make it clear to the father that in the end the only person he’d be hurting is his daughter…..

You can tell when a creator has a real vision. Ebberron is now what dragonlance was back in the day

Hahaha Strahd not reccomend for beginner DM's *Laughs nervously that was my second run Adventure. XD

Is there a manual that teaches me more about fighting the RU-vid Algorithm? I'm still standing my ground, but the Algorithm is a powerful encounter indeed!

Player's, DMG, mm. After that it depends on the campaign.

I have used the trap stuff in tasha’s quite often

If you must buy something then the phb is it. For everything else, wing it. I'm presently running dnd without owning any of the books. Dnd beyond has monster info available. You don't have to spend much money to enjoy dnd. Suggestion for a video:Dungeons and dragons on a budget, showcase cheap or free ways of getting dnd moving.

The adult version of the brother-sister situation is when you want to kick one half of a couple.

Based. Only need two books if you're good. One if you're really good.

Great video!

Which DnD books should you buy? Adventure modules and maybe monster manuals.

What order do u need to buy the books, you don't need any of them the number of people I've met who don't buy any of them DM and Player alike and just have their smart phone, I remember the days when I could say no phones at the table and not start WW3, that said I buy every book but I have a problem, I haven't opened half of them but need all of them I played under a DM who never prepared, he told me modules are for lazy DM's (I'm the DM that runs 80-90% modules) he decided to run Curse of Strahd randomly, he quit D&D after session 3, he never read the book...I really want to play but I've gotten to start CoS twice and both times the DM's quit early in Also I hate parents who use game stores as babysitters, I quit running at game stores because of chaotic kids...it's always young boys I don't want to be sexist, I've ran for 12 year old girls not a problem, every boy under 16 anarchy...in my experience Hey I also run DMPC's by making the players run them in combat, I also let players run absent players that way too, with the rule that they can't suicide or use them as shields, the druid in our party has medical issues and she earned a damage cantrip through RP and often becomes a mobile turret/med station is she's unavailable

talking about the toxic son, sounds like the dad is where the son learned it from.

The only ones you really need are the first 2. 1. Sly Flourish’s Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master’s Guide. 2. Monster Manual 3. “Monte Cooke’s Your Best Game Ever 4. Dungeon Master’s Guide (loot and reference tables are helpful) 5. Player’s Handbook (you’ll just google the spells and basic items anyway as the GM so I highly disagree. It’s worthless as a GM.) 6. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (has some useful tools, but it’s definitely superfluous.)

What about Chapter 4 of Tasha's where it talks about magical phenomenons?

I could of used this 2 years ago, but i already own all but 5 of the books lol. Plus a lot more came out over the time ive been dming, so i guess it worked out.

Rime of the Frostmaiden is 100% worth it. It's very customizable.

13:40, I thought he said, "Dragon Drop" and I thought, "yeah, I get what he's saying.ç

I wonder if there's any guides on RU-vid to buying books that don't include the core books or starter kit or essentials kit which I already have.

*I'm always odded out by the statement that DM's are rare .* *But that's not the situation i'm in .* *As i'm in the rare spot ( apparently ) that i'm in a group that is all DMs .* *But that might be because i'm from southeastern wisconsin .*

Of course Luke pronounces it "weekee"... "ee" is how the letter "i" is pronounced in Romance languages.

I definitely feel sorry for the sister in that situation

What about Gygax's books? Like his books about games not the dnd specific ones.

I’d take the dmg over the monster manual. It’s super simple to google monsters and get access to ones even the mm doesn’t have.

I'm sorry but, I read so many of these stories that have the same formula of " I have a toxic player but I can't kick him out because..." that I am convinced that almost all are made up lies. I've been playing for over 30 years, I play with friends, I play at the LGS and my real life network of D&D is broad, but I have never actually seen or heard about this scenario from a reliable source. But this unlikely situation comes up almost everyday somewhere over the internet. Yeah, I don't think so. Good advice though.

I feel you would enjoy watching Rick and Morty and enjoy many ideas and cheekiness from it

The father made it obvious where his son learned to be toxic.

I'd have that talk in front of the children, so the father can't poison the good player against the DM. then, it's his issue with his children.

👽🚀 *Rick & morty is a show on Adult swim .* *It's more of a nerdy adult cartoon .*

Rick and Morty nickelodeon? 😂 Not even close but it was a fun run

Wilderness Survival Guide or Sword Coast Adventures. I think there's a Dungeoneer's Survival Guide too. I would say it's pretty sad how unimportant it is for the DM to have a DMG. Oh, I see that you have a negative opinion of SCAG. I don't have it, haven't looked at it at all, but you wouldn't recommend it.

When you say the combat encounters are deadly in Icewinddale, is that based on challenge rating?