Although it is perfectly possible to run a published adventure as-written, using the various hooks and plot strands to engage the interest of your players, it is also possible to run something richer. To give the players more engagement with the story than just “a guy in a tavern needs you to do a job”. Yes, this is easier to do when you’re writing the … Continue reading Integrating Characters into Published Adventures
One of the most important skills in the Dungeon Master’s toolbox is the ability to improvise. And, based on my long experience with the game, it’s a skill that takes time to develop. Like most skills, you get better at improvisation by actually improvising, and paying attention to what your players think of the result. Many of the games I’ve run have been improvised. Even … Continue reading On the Art of Improvisation
One of my delights in life is introducing the game of Dungeons & Dragons to new players, who then discover that it’s something they want to play again. In this quest, my local gaming store has become integral to the process of acquiring new players. We run D&D Adventurers League games at the store every Wednesday and Saturday evening. The games are a mixture of … Continue reading Introducing Dungeons & Dragons Through in-Store Play
One of the things that occasionally occurs in Dungeons & Dragons games is an outbreak of player arrogance. The belief that the player characters are the biggest, baddest people in the game, and that nothing can touch them. This often ends very badly for the player characters. I’ve been playing D&D for a very long time, and many of my early games were played with … Continue reading D&D Player Tips: Paying Attention
When you run a game of Dungeons & Dragons, the intention should be to make it enjoyable for everyone at the table. The players and the Dungeon Master. There’s little point in running the game if you’re hating every minute of it, and if the players aren’t enjoying it, why should they come back for another game? This is especially important when running D&D Adventurers … Continue reading DM Tips: Making the Game Enjoyable for New Players
Life’s been a little crazy recently, so while D&D games have continued, blog updates have not. Many apologies for that! When we last saw our brave band of adventurers, they were heading off to Vallaki to find a wedding dress for the Abbot’s “Bride of Strahd”, but as it turned out, they decided to go back to the Wizard of Wines winery to pick up … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd, part 4 – Yester Hill
In our previous installment, the adventurers had defeated the druids and blights that had taken over the Wizard of Wines winery. It was now time for them to go to Krezk with the winecarts, fulfilling their pledge to the villagers and thus gaining access. The trip back occasioned a couple of minor attacks by wolves and stray blights, but both those threats were dealt with … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd, part 3: Krezk
Designing a basic adventure for Dungeons & Dragons isn’t hard. Just draw a map, put some monsters and treasure in it, and you’ve got an adventure! It’s one of the reasons that D&D remains the most dominant role-playing game on the market: it isn’t hard to create an adventure for your players. However, just going into a dungeon and killing monsters proves – after a … Continue reading Designing Adventures: Objectives
If you’re new to Dungeon Mastering D&D, the task of designing an adventure can be pretty daunting. After all, you’ve picked up Curse of Strahd or Lost Mine of Phandelver and there are lots and lots of words there. How is a beginner even going to get close to that? Well, you’re not. But then, neither am I. I’ve been doing this Dungeon-mastering gig for … Continue reading D&D for Beginners: Writing Adventure Notes
Vallaki, the fortified town to which the adventurers took Ireena, is an important place in the progression of running Curse of Strahd. It provides a place where the players can rest between expeditions and also provides a number of NPCs who can guide the players towards quests. The Blue Water Inn is the hub of this. We tend to think of adventurers being given quests … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd, part 2
