About Second Self Studios | D&D 5e Content for Busy DMs

Why We Exist

Games Create Memories

When you inhabit a character (a celestial-touched ranger, a conflicted paladin, a rogue with a secret) you're exploring a second self. A version of you that makes different choices, faces impossible dilemmas, and discovers what you're capable of when the rules of reality shift. That's where our name comes from.

Second Self Studios exists to get more people to the table, more often. The Game Master who almost cancels because prep feels overwhelming? We want them to run the game. The group that only plays twice a year? We want them playing monthly.

🎭

More Than Efficiency

"Less Prep. More Play." points to something deeper: what you do with the time you save. Every hour you don't spend prepping is an hour at the table. Every session that actually happens is a story you'll retell for years.

✨

The Real Product

We don't sell PDFs. We sell game nights that happen. We sell the moment a player makes a choice that surprises everyone, including themselves. We sell memories.

The Problem We Solve

Running a tabletop RPG takes work. Someone has to prepare the world, the characters, the challenges. You have a career, a family, responsibilities. You get maybe an hour or two to prep before game night.

Most published content assumes you have unlimited time to read dense lore, cross-reference rules, and adapt generic adventures to your table. We build differently.

How We're Different

Organization

Buried in paragraphs of lore

Quick reference tables, clear headers

NPCs

Pages of backstory to memorize

Personalities you can voice in seconds

Adventures

Walls of text, find the plot yourself

Session-by-session, beat-by-beat guides

Worldbuilding

Encyclopedia entries about history

Everything creates adventure hooks

Design Philosophy

How We Build Content

Every decision we make comes back to one question: does this help you run a better game with less effort?

🎯

The Active Content Test

Every element must answer one question: "Does this create an adventure hook?" If a piece of lore, an NPC detail, or a location description doesn't drive play, it doesn't belong. No passive worldbuilding. No encyclopedia entries. Everything exists to give you something to use at the table.

⚡

Use What You Need

Every zone, faction, and adventure works standalone or as part of a larger campaign. No required reading to run a session. Grab a piece and go.

🎲

Preparation Pays Off

When players research enemies, scout locations, or gather intel, they get real mechanical advantages. Strategy matters. Planning works.

🗺️

Worlds That Move

Detailed economies, political tensions, and faction dynamics create emergent stories. NPCs have goals and act on them whether players are watching or not.

⚔️

Competence Matters

Characters aren't chosen ones fulfilling prophecy. They're skilled specialists doing dangerous work. Training matters. Expertise earns respect.

Built For Busy Game Masters

Our content is designed for people who run games as a hobby, not a job. You want depth and quality, but you can't spend ten hours prepping a single session. We get it. We're the same way.

This is for you if you:

Prep in stolen moments, not dedicated hours
Want depth without density
Prefer logical worlds over pure fantasy
Like morally complex situations
Value player agency and consequences
Appreciate professional-grade organization

See the Format

NPCs You Can Voice in Seconds

Every character entry is designed for quick reference at the table. Here's what that actually looks like.

Hunter Bram

Local Guide • Blood on the Line

Who He Is

Bram is a civilian tracker who makes his living guiding travelers through the eastern mountain passes. He's not Guild, not Watch. Just a local who knows this terrain better than anyone alive. He operates out of Pinecrest Lodge, the last stop before the wilderness.

Imagine

Bram is made of silence and patience. Around 40 years old, lean as a winter branch, with a face that spent more time in weather than under roofs. He doesn't waste words because the wilderness doesn't talk back much. When he kneels to examine tracks in the snow, he reads them like a book. He sees things others miss.

How to Play Him

Few words. Observational. Let silence do the talking.
Signature moves: kneels to examine tracks, tastes snow and soil, communicates with hand signals
Key phrases: "Not wolf." / "We wait." / "Watch."
When players do something clever, Bram approves with a nod. Make it feel significant.

A World Worth Exploring

The Shattered Veil is our flagship setting where planar catastrophe transformed the world. One thousand years ago, an empress tried to control seventeen planar boundaries at once. She failed.

Now fragments of other planes bleed permanently into reality, creating zones where alignment is geography and survival requires adaptation. Each zone is a complete campaign region with its own rules, societies, and conflicts.

Frozen Fjords

Mount Celestia • 120k+ words

Godsvein Valley

The Abyss • In development

The Thousand Lakes

Elemental Water • Planned

More Zones

17 total planned

The Creator

Josh Brown

Founder, Second Self Studios

I've been running tabletop RPGs for years, but as a busy professional and forever Game Master, I know the challenge: finding time to prepare while still making memories with friends. I built Second Self Studios because I want more people to experience the joy of these games.

The name reflects what happens at every table: you become someone else for a few hours, exploring a second self. My goal is to remove the barriers that keep busy people from the table, so more groups can gather, roll dice, and create stories together.

Coming 2026

Learn by Running Games

The Game Master Academy teaches you to run games by running games. Free video guides cover the fundamentals. Our adventures teach rules in context and prompt your creativity at the right moments. No 300-page rulebooks required.

Explore the Academy

Less Prep. More Play.