Alkemion

Colorful 15th-century world map known as the Genoese World Map (1457), filled with hand-drawn coastlines, seas, mountains, and fantastical creatures. The map blends real geography with myth and imagination, illustrating how early cartographers invented the unknown as they charted it. Overlay text: “A good map doesn’t describe the world. It invites you to invent it.”

Don’t worry about making your maps realistic. Worry about making them inspiring.

Let strange coastlines, forgotten roads, and odd names push you to create the stories that explain them.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

Painting “Reception of le Grand Condé by Louis XIV at Versailles” by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1878). A grand ceremonial scene inside the Palace of Versailles. King Louis XIV stands midway up a broad marble staircase, richly dressed in gold and white, surrounded by courtiers, nobles, and ladies in elaborate gowns. Below him, the Grand Condé bows deeply in red and white attire, offering a laurel wreath. Rows of soldiers line the steps, holding colorful banners that fill the foreground, while ornate architecture, statues, and paintings frame the scene. The atmosphere is regal, formal, and filled with pageantry. Overlay text: “Players don’t deal with factions. They deal with people. Make every faction personal.”.

Political intrigue only works when it’s personal. A faction becomes real through the faces that represent it.

Give your players someone to argue with, plead with, or betray, and the politics will take care of itself.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

Painting “Field Track” by Jozef Chelmonski (1889). A quiet countryside scene showing a dirt track winding through wide, flat fields under a pale, overcast sky. Wild grasses and small flowers line the path, and the horizon stretches far into the distance, giving a sense of open space and stillness. Overlay text: “Only prep one session ahead. Let the next one grow from what your players did, not what you planned.”

Prep for where the players are, not where you want them to go.

If you plan too far ahead, you start shaping the story to protect your prep.

When you only plan one session ahead, you keep their agency alive and your story honest.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

“Pont Valentré, Cahors, France”, a painting by Joseph Edward Southall (1936). A medieval stone bridge with three tall defensive towers spans across a calm river at dusk. The bridge features multiple Gothic arches reflected in the dark blue water below. Small houses and trees line the distant shore, while a few small figures can be seen on the near riverbank. The scene is painted in warm golden tones against a dusky sky.

Towers do not just appear. Someone paid for them, someone designed them, someone guards them now.

When you know why a bridge has three towers instead of two, you know the history that shaped it. The world starts feeling real.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg

“Heemskerck and Barents Planning Their Second Expedition to the Far North” by Christoffel Bisschop (1862). A painting showing two men in a modest room planning an expedition. One man sits at a cloth-covered table, writing or drawing on documents. The other stands beside him, consulting a large map or chart. A globe rests on the table between them. On the wall behind them hangs another map, and a model ship sits on a shelf above. The scene conveys careful preparation and collaborative planning for a voyage to unknown waters. Overlay text: “Your prep should be a map, not a novel. Know the territory well, but write it down light.”

Good prep means understanding your world deeply while keeping your notes simple.

Know why the villain acts, what the factions want, how the locations connect. But write it down light. A few nodes with clear connections will serve you better than pages of prose.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg

The painting "Burg Eltz" by Friedrich August de Leuw. A snow-covered mountain road leads to a medieval castle perched high on a cliff. Mist and pale winter light surround the fortress, creating a quiet and mysterious atmosphere. Overlay text: “Some ideas don’t begin with heroes or quests. They begin with a place that calls to be explored, waiting in the mist for someone curious enough to climb the road.”

Start with a place that feels alive.

Let the walls, the paths, and the silence hold the first questions.

The story will come when the players start to wonder who built it, who left, and what still lingers there.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

Painting “Ambassador David Jayne Hill” by Anders Zorn (1911). Portrait of a distinguished elderly gentleman with gray hair and beard, seated at a green desk in a dark study. He wears a formal dark suit with a white collar and small red lapel pin. His right hand holds a pen over papers while his left hand rests on the desk. An ornate gold inkwell sits on the desk beside the papers. Behind him are bookshelves filled with volumes, suggesting a scholarly or professional setting. Overlay text: “Build every meaningful NPC with three layers: what they show, what they hide, and what surprises everyone.”

A memorable NPC has three layers.

The surface the players see first.
The details they notice when they pay attention.
The truth they uncover when they dig deeper.

The best characters reveal themselves slowly.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

Timelapse showing how a small situation module created in Alkemion Studio.

The module is a simple illustration (three islands, rival factions, and a missing relic), designed to demonstrate how Alkemion Studio can map out situations with nodes, links, and visual customization.
#ttrpg #dnd #fantasy

Painting of travelers on a rocky forest path with towering trees and snow-covered mountains in the distance. “The Forest of Valdoniello, Corsica” by Edward Lear (1869). Overlay text: “Travel scenes aren’t about distance. They’re about what changes along the way.”

Crossing a map is just logistics.
Crossing a world is a story when something changes along the way.

Weather turns harsh, supplies run low, or alliances crack. The road is another stage for tension and story.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy

Absolutely!
A mystery works better when you have some sense of what’s behind it. And sometimes the best explanation is the one the players come up with during play.

Medieval illustration from The Travels of Marco Polo. On the left, a group of men in robes and hats gesture in conversation near a castle. In the center, unusual animals are shown, including a bird with large wings and two white beasts with long, trunk-like snouts. On the right, two men in red and white hats watch from behind a hill, with another castle in the background. Overlay text: “The unknown is the best treasure. Give players something they can’t explain, and they’ll chase it further than gold.”

Gold spends, magic items break, but mystery lingers. Show the them something impossible, like a creature no one can name, or a ruin that should not exist. Curiosity keeps players coming back for more.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy

“The wreck of the H.M.S. Deal Castle off Puerto Rico during the great hurricane of 1780”, a painting by John Thomas Serres. An 18th century shipwreck in a violent storm, with broken masts and sailors struggling against huge waves, lit by jagged lightning tearing through dark clouds. Overlay text: “Disaster is not the end of the story. It’s often the moment the real adventure begins.”.

A shipwreck, a lost battle, a failed ritual. Dead ends in play are often turning points.

When everything goes wrong, players focus harder. Survival, recovery, revenge: this is where campaigns grow teeth.

Disaster can be used as the doorway to the next chapter.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg

“Blasted Tree” by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1850). A dark, dramatic landscape showing a gnarled tree blasted and broken, leaning over a rocky cliff under a stormy sky with swirling clouds. Overlay text: “Drama grows from cause and effect. Give the world moving parts and let players push them.”

You don’t always need to plan dramatic twists.

Give your world moving parts that react to each other, and let the players push them. A debt unpaid, a secret kept, a favor owed.

When these pieces collide through play, cause and effect will do the heavy lifting.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg

I also really like the descriptions. Feels like the right amount of details to my taste.

A screenshot of an Alkemion Studio board titled The Lost Compass. On the left sidebar is a list of nodes including Isle of Blackpine, Isle of Silvercross, Isle of Blacksands, Warlord of Blackpine, Merchant Council, Cult of the Drowned Star, The Moonstone Compass, and The Broken Pact. On the main board is a stylized fantasy region map showing three islands with forests, mountains, villages, and coastline. Text boxes describe each node, such as the Broken Pact between the islands, the factions vying for control, and the Moonstone Compass at the center. The interface shows the top and left toolbars of Alkemion Studio, along with the list of nodes to the left.

Been playing around with a new adventure board in Alkemion Studio.

This one uses maps from the excellent watabou fantasy region generator, another free gem for the TTRPG community.

Really fun seeing how the pieces fit together.

alkemion.com
#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

“The Master of the House”: a 19th-century painting by Carl Reichert shows a tense standoff between two small dogs and a black-and-white cat perched on a wicker basket. The dogs bark and approach curiously, while the cat arches its back and hisses in defiance, surrounded by fallen leaves on a rustic floor. Overlay text: “Not every monster wants a fight. Some want to run, trade, or talk.”

It’s easy for encounters to fall back on combat.

But they can start in other ways. A sentry may raise an alarm. A rival might parley. Even wolves can be hungry but wary.

Options beyond "attack” can provide great story opportunities.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

“Alchemist with Scale” by Johannes Weiland. Seated gray-bearded man three-quarter view facing right, in black coat with fur collar and cuff, black hat on head, sits at red carpet covered table of books, papers, copper pitcher and dark ceramic jar, holds in left hand a gold scale. Resting on a bench in front of table, a large book and jug with blue glaze marks and glass. Overlay text: “Players forget complicated plots. They remember making hard choices that changed everything.”

The strength of any obstacle lies in the choice it forces.

Not every challenge needs a dozen options, but a good challenge should make players decide something that matters.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

A quick look at styling your story elements in Alkemion Studio.

alkemion.com

Alkemion Studio v0.14.0 Hey everyone! New update today, with some new handy Token customization options for Nodes, as well as some quality of life improvements and fixes. Hope you enjoy!

New update bringing more styling options for designing your TTRPG adventures with Alkemion Studio!

We've added two new token layouts that let you display your content directly on the board. You can now show rich text descriptions with complete visual customization.
blog.alkemion.com/alkemion-stu...

A startled alchemist in a cluttered workshop recoils in fear as smoke rises from an experiment gone wrong. Glass vessels and tools surround him, and an open book lies on a table draped in red cloth. In the background, a woman and child peek through an archway, watching the chaos unfold. Overlay text: “A bad roll should reveal something new, not erase progress.”

When things go wrong, let them go wrong in interesting ways.

A failed roll can mean smoke, explosions, or new dangers instead of shutting the scene down.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

A busy Copenhagen street in 1899, painted by Paul Fischer. People in late 19th-century dress walk on wet cobblestones among bicycles, prams, and horse-drawn vehicles. At the left, a small crowd gathers around a carriage, watching the driver. To the right, a woman pushes a pram and another walks past in a striped cape, while omnibuses and carriages line the boulevard under a cloudy sky. Overlay text: "NPCs are the gears that keep the world moving when the PCs aren’t looking. Track what they do offscreen and show the results.”

Think about what the important NPCs want and what they do when the players are away.

When the party comes back, show how things changed because of it. This makes the world feel real.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

Oil painting from 1886 by Axel Jungstedt depicting Aron Johansson seated on a wooden chair, wearing a dark suit, red tie, and wide-brimmed hat that shades his eyes. He smokes a cigar while playing a mandolin, with his legs crossed and his head slightly bowed in concentration. Overlay text: “A single inspired idea at the table can beat a week of planning. Practice improvising more than scripting.”

No matter how much you plan, players will surprise you.

Keep your prep light and focus on reacting in the moment.

When you improvise instead of scripting every detail, the story stays exciting and alive.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

A bearded traveler carrying a large backpack and walking stick stands on a dirt path at a wooden crossroads sign, gazing up to choose his direction. Golden fields of grain and wildflowers surround him under a partly cloudy sky, with distant trees and a village on the horizon. Overlay text: “A campaign becomes powerful when it echoes the heroes’ memories and ambitions. Make the world care about their history and their hopes.”

In your campaign, let the world remember the heroes’ past and notice the future they chase.

Old grudges, broken promises, and glimpses of their dreams will make every choice feel personal.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg

1519 Miller Atlas map of the Indian Ocean, showing Africa, Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia with sailing ships, castles, animals like elephants and lions, colorful banners, and decorative rhumb lines. Overlay text: “Most of what you prep never sees the table. Spend energy where it counts: NPCs, locations, and the tools to improvise.”

You don’t need to map every hallway or stat every monster.

Prep the pieces that matter: memorable NPCs, exciting places, and just enough tools to react when players surprise you.

The magic happens at the table, not in your notes.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #dnd5e

Painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris of Blackbeard’s capture in 1718, showing him in a red coat and black hat fighting a sailor with pistol and sword, while chaos and combat rage on the ship’s deck around them. Overlay text: “Set the tone early. Players accept the logic of the genre you promise. Swashbuckling forgives wild leaps, while noir demands betrayal and suspicion.”

Players accept the logic of the genre you set.

Swashbuckling works when heroes swing from ropes and escape impossible odds. Noir works when secrets, betrayals, and suspicion color every choice.

Show the tone early and stay consistent.

#ttrpg #fantasy #dnd #dungeonsanddragons

YouTube video by Alkemion How to Link and Style Elements on Your Alkemion Board

This quick demo shows the different ways links can be created between the elements of your board in Alkemion Studio, and how easily they can be styled to fit your design.

#ttrpg #writing #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #rpg #fantasy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPtp...

Screenshot of Alkemion Studio’s board showing multiple examples of a ‘Scientist’ node token in different visual styles and layouts. Variations include icons, text blocks, different backgrounds, borders, and an editor window preview, demonstrating new customization options for node tokens.

Excited to share a sneak peek at the new Node Token customization options coming in the next release of Alkemion Studio!

A big update is to be able to display a node’s text content directly on the board.

Alkemion Studio is a free visual #writing and prep tool for #ttrpg creators.

alkemion.com

Totally agree! Fun always comes first.

Depending on the type of game you run, pacing can stall if too many fights don't connect to the larger story. In my experience, the best fights are both fun in the moment and fuel for what follows. In the end, it's all about balance of course.

A dramatic painting of two mounted knights clashing on a stormy plain. The knight on the left rides a white horse and wears golden armor with a red shield, raising a sword to strike. The knight on the right, in dark armor with a crest and a lion emblem, rides a brown horse and swings a spiked mace. The background shows a turbulent sky and an open countryside. The painting is “Confrontation of knights in the countryside” by Eugène Delacroix (c. 1824). Overlay text: “Combat is just noise until it changes the story. A strong encounter should open doors, close others, or reveal what was hidden.”

A fight should change something.

The best ones move the story forward, show new information or force the players to make new choices.

When every fight matters, the whole game feels more alive.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #fantasy #rpg

Thanks! This is an advice I originally found in "Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering", which is (imho) one of best gamemastering book out there.