I run most of my Dungeons & Dragons games as Theatre of the Mind; that is, I don’t use miniatures. This does not imply that we end up using a lot of description to enliven the combats. In fact, my groups tend to be brutally efficient about most of them, except for the odd combat where we decide to put more effort into it. I … Continue reading A Quick Word on Theatre of the Mind
Why do you put a puzzle in a game of Dungeons & Dragons? The answer: To challenge the players. I feel it is a great mistake to believe that it’s there to challenge the characters. They’re imaginary. They’re not playing the game. It’s the players sitting around the table with you who the puzzle is for. And, if your players don’t like puzzles, it’ll be … Continue reading Decisions and Consequences
As your players get more experienced, they get very good at destroying the monsters you set in front of them. Unless it’s a surprise attack, players are great at identifying the main targets and using their swords and spells to take them out with brutal efficiency. Had you an ettin as the main monster of the combat? Unfortunately, it didn’t get even one chance to … Continue reading Dungeon Master Tips: The Power of a Second Wave
Tomb of Annihilation is a big book, isn’t it? It feels really heavy. I mean, it should weigh about the same as Storm King’s Thunder, but for some reason it feels heavier to me. Guess what I start running this Saturday? I tend not to overprepare published adventures; giving them an examination to understand the underlying structure and then examine various encounters with more detail … Continue reading Preparing for Tomb of Annihilation
My latest session of Lost Mine of Phandelver found the player characters in the hills, having run out of clues and not sure of where to go next. Whenever a mystery needs to be solved for the plot to progress, you have the potential that the players reach a dead end. They might not have found the clues, they might have killed the NPCs rather … Continue reading Examining Phandelver: Getting Back on Track
My ongoing Greyhawk D&D campaign continued last night with the characters scouting the borderlands of Iuz. Iuz, for those of you unaware with the World of Greyhawk is a land ruled by an evil demi-god (Iuz!) that borders on one of the major good kingdoms of the world, the Kingdom of Furyondy. The new King of Furyondy is somewhat foolish, and, upon receiving a lost … Continue reading Greyhawk Campaign: Scouting the Lands of Iuz
One of the excellent aspects of Lost Mine of Phandelver is that it includes a number of side-quests. These are quests which don’t advance the main storyline that you can get from NPCs you meet. Side quests allow a Dungeon Master to present a view of ongoing life in the world. Necromancers investigate buried ruins (and cause problems with wandering zombies), orcs strike from a … Continue reading Examining Phandelver: Side Quests
I run a lot of published adventures. I’ve run most of the official D&D adventures, most of the D&D Adventurers League adventures, and a few adventures I’ve acquired from other publishers. And one thing happens to me again and again: A player asks a question, and although I know it’s somewhere in the adventure, I don’t know the answer. This is incredibly common. D&D adventures … Continue reading Dungeon Mastering Tips: Hey! That wasn’t in the adventure!
There are people in this world who are great at role-playing NPCs. They imbue the characters they assume with passion, vitality and bring forth the true essence of their personalities. That’s not me. I do funny voices and occasionally remember the voice I should be using two sessions in a row, so players can get familiar with the character’s portrayal. The fact is that most … Continue reading Dungeon Master Tips: Funny Voices and Roleplaying NPCs
In Dungeons & Dragons, there are many times you don’t want the monsters to see you. The rules for hiding are written deliberately to leave a lot of power in the hands of the Dungeon Master. Basically, if the DM thinks the situation warrants that you can hide, you can make the check. Otherwise you can’t. This is one of the areas where Passive Perception … Continue reading Examining Passive Perception and Opposed Checks
