Category: D&D 5E

D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Review

5E Adventure Review: Moonshae Treasure Hunt

Moonshae Treasure Hunt is the first of the Moonshae adventures written for D&D Adventures League play under the aegis of Baldman Games. It is intended to introduce the setting’s themes and presents four 90-minute scenarios written by different authors for beginning characters; preferably level 1 or 2. As you might expect, such short adventures give each designer limited opportunities to introduce characters and themes. All … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Moonshae Treasure Hunt

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D&D, D&D 5E, Play Advice

Structured Dungeoneering

I am extremely bad at this. In the beginning, Dungeons & Dragons had a definite structure for how you handled dungeon exploration. It went something like this: Exploration is broken into ten-minute turns On the party’s turn, they can perform one of these activities: Move up to their speed – assumed to be slowly and while mapping, so 120 feet per 10 minutes was fast! … Continue reading Structured Dungeoneering

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D&D 5E, Design, Play Advice

Using Deities in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign

The original presentation of deities in Dungeons & Dragons is unusual. It was a short description of their combat abilities and not much more. And the book instructed you not to use them in combat, which was odd. Justin Alexander recently talked a little about it in his blog, The Alexandrian. Later games, especially Runequest, paid a lot more attention to the deities and their … Continue reading Using Deities in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign

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D&D 5E, Design, Play Advice

Skill and Ability Checks: Can You Reroll?

“Next time for sure!” One of the aspects of the Dungeons & Dragons rules that is somewhat missing is a discussion of whether or not you can reroll an ability (skill) check. This is something that various editions of D&D have treated differently. In first edition, the rule was generally no. In third edition, it was generally yes – with a few exceptions. So, which … Continue reading Skill and Ability Checks: Can You Reroll?

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Curse of Strahd, D&D 5E, Play Advice, Session Report

Another Visit to Curse of Strahd

On my birthday, we began a new campaign. The adventure? Curse of Strahd. It is the third time I have run the adventure. As I have expressed on Twitter, I delight in adventures that I run more than once – the experience of a role-playing game is something that changes whenever you get a new group. Different things are explored and emphasised. My conception of … Continue reading Another Visit to Curse of Strahd

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D&D, D&D 5E, Descent into Avernus, Design

Thoughts on Designing Adventures for Publication

I am fascinated by the process of designing adventures to be published and used by others. There are many, many factors to consider. I came up with three – which I posted on Twitter – then M.T. Black offered some more. The three I posted: You want to present a path through the adventure You want enough detail so the players can go beyond that … Continue reading Thoughts on Designing Adventures for Publication

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Link to Icewind Dale adventure on Amazon
D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Play Advice, Rime of the Frostmaiden

The Rime with No Name

As a follow-up to my post about the Plotless Campaign, consider running the first chapter of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden in such a manner. In this structure, the characters are wandering adventurers, start each adventure walking into a new town, quickly discovering it has a problem, and solving it. What is different about this from the standard Rime? You ignore the rationale about … Continue reading The Rime with No Name

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D&D, D&D 5E, Review

5E Supplement Review: My Dad’s Monster Manual

My Dad’s Monster Manual is a monster book. It has monsters. It has art you will recognise, coming as it does from the official 5E Monster Manual. And it gets you to look at those bits of art differently. The book started with James Introcaso showing the Monster Manual to his father, and his father coming up with his interpretation of what each piece of … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: My Dad’s Monster Manual

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Play Advice

Running a D&D Campaign without a Plot

There is a style of Dungeons & Dragons campaign that I quite enjoy. It is one that does not use a campaign-long plot but instead provides a picaresque experience, with the adventurers travelling from place to place and dealing with various situations as they encounter them. It is one that is very easy to construct, especially for new DMs. The characters may be heroic, or … Continue reading Running a D&D Campaign without a Plot

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Curse of Strahd, D&D, D&D 5E, Review

5E Review: Blinsky’s Toyshop

Blinsky’s Toyshop is an adventure for level 3 to 7 characters set in the land of Barovia. As it is centred around a somewhat cursed toy shop, I see no difficulty in playing this adventure in most settings, except perhaps Dark Sun. It might feel too light-hearted for there! The basic idea is that the characters visit Blinsky’s Toyshop, one of the more memorable locations … Continue reading 5E Review: Blinsky’s Toyshop

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