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Dawnfist Newsletter - Simplified Travel, Boss Advice and a Strange Brooch
This month's 5 community gems, GM advice and a new shiny thing!
Sebastian Grabne
May 30, 2025
Welcome to the monthly Dawnfist Newsletter where we share community gems, helpful advice and always bring you a new creation of our own! If you aren’t already subscribed, click on the button below.
Our 5 Favorite Community Gems
Every month, we sift through all the goodness from the TTRPG community and handpick our five favorites — the ones we believe are the most useful and valuable.
This month we found a lot of truly fantastic content, and devoured 197 articles, blog posts, threads, and videos to bring you the five absolute standouts. Because that’s the purpose of this newsletter, to save you valuable time and help you find some golden nuggets.
Alphastream uses the 5-Room Dungeon concept to teach TTRPGs.
PHD20 reimagines overland travel by applying dungeon crawl principles to the journey itself, a great way to simplify travel without relying on complex rules or detailed hex maps. Overland travel often falls into one of two extremes: it’s either completely hand-waved, or heavily prepped with travel mechanics, watch rotations, and specific roles. But it doesn’t have to be either, and I think most GMs are actually better off aiming for something in between, and that is exactly what PHD20 offers, a clever middle ground that keeps travel engaging without bogging it down.
Sly Flourish offers a simple yet powerful tool for making combat exciting at any power level: More Monsters! It takes most GMs a few sessions to learn the hard truth; single boss monsters rarely feel dangerous. They get steamrolled by the action economy. Meanwhile, a swarm of weaker enemies can result in a party wipe. Even once you’ve internalized this, it’s easy to forget when prepping. This post is a great reminder. Sly not only explains why more enemies = better fights, but also gives solid advice for running stronger boss encounters. The best tip? More Bosses! That terrifying dragon? Split it in two. Give the enemy side more actions, not just more HP. It’s an easy way to create tense, dynamic fights that don’t fizzle on round two.
The RPG Gazette makes a compelling case for running sandbox-style campaigns, a favorite here at Dawnfist Games. The article opens by explaining what defines a sandbox and why it’s worth the effort. It’s honest about the upfront prep required, but highlights the long-term payoff: once the foundation is in place, session prep becomes much lighter. This isn’t a how-to guide—it’s a persuasive pitch for any GM who hasn’t yet tried the sandbox approach. If you’re on the fence, this might be the push you need!
Sly Flourish was on a roll this month, and deserves two spots! The second one is a video he made on the topic of improvisation. Sly is the creator of the “8 Steps of the Lazy Dungeon Master”, a great framework to make sure you don’t prep anything unnecessary, and aren’t lacking anything vital to running a great session. In this video he gives concrete advice on improvising during play, which is a critical part of being a GM, even if you’ve followed his 8 steps. It’s a short video, but full of good ideas and reassuring teachings.
Alphastream uploaded a video about how to use the very well-known concept of the 5-room dungeon to teach anyone how to play TTRPGs. The 5-room dungeon is certainly not a new topic, but the angle of this video is new, and it does a really good job of explaining how to use the 5-room dungeon framework to put your players in front of all the classic elements of a TTRPG, making them go on a crash course in understanding the hobby.
Last chance to get Adventurous for just $2!
Two years ago, we launched Adventurous Fantasy RPG, a rules-light TTRPG, designed to get you playing fast and keep the focus on fun. Adventurous offers a streamlined experience with eight iconic classes and a D6 dice pool system that handles everything from combat to exploration.
To celebrate our anniversary, we're offering the Adventurous PDF for just $2! (down from $8.50). But today, May 30th, is the last day of the sale.
Monthly Dawnfist advice
Everyone was new at some point, and based on polls we’ve run, many of our readers are fairly new Game Masters, so it makes sense to recommend our article containing tips for beginner GMs. But even if you are a veteran in the hobby, you’ll surely find something useful.
The new thing - 3 unique magic items!
Here are 3 new magic items, each one designed to be more than just a stat boost. These are items that invite creative use, spark story hooks, and add flavor to your world.
Name | Description |
|---|---|
Mouth of Moss | A lichen-covered brooch shaped like a small, yawning mouth. It feels damp to the touch. Effect: When pinned to clothing, it absorbs nearby sounds. Once per day the wearer can choose to release a single absorbed sentence or sound, either as a whisper or shout. Catch: The trinket has a sense of humor and might pick the most inconvenient sound, unless soothed with fresh water and shade before use. |
Thumper | A dented round shield with a springy wooden core. Feels oddly bouncy. Effect: Once per day, when you block a melee attack, you can rebound the force, pushing the attacker 5 feet back. |
Whisperfang | A slim, silent dagger with a soft hum when held still. Effect: The dagger makes no sound when drawn, dropped, or used—perfect for stealth. Special: Once per day, silence the target you strike, lasts 3 rounds. |
Thank you for reading and don’t forget to explore our games, modules and supplements on DriveThruRPG via the button below. See you next month!
///Sebastian Grabne - Dawnfist Games