Month: March 2019

Running Pre-Written Adventures: NPCs

March 29, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

Adventure design has a lot of moving parts, so using a pre-written module can make things a lot easier. Additionally, your party might be excited to take on iconic D&D villains like the fearsome Tiamat in the “Tyranny of Dragons” storyline, the deadly Acererak of Tomb of Annihilation, the cunning Count Strahd in Curse of Strahd, and so on.

As the Dungeon Master, you get to bring these (and many other) characters to life—an opportunity that can be both exhilarating and intimidating. Running NPCs from a module feels a little different than running NPCs of your own creation, so let’s talk about how you can prepare to run them!

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“Flavoring” Your Character’s Actions

March 25, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

With just a few words of description, you can make your character’s class abilities unique from other characters of that class, without changing any of the mechanics. Personalizing your character in this way can emphasize that your character is a creation all your own!

Handling Player Absence in Your Game

March 22, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

Life happens. Sometimes, life happens to get in the way of your regularly scheduled D&D session, like a springtime deer in front of a minivan. (Alternatively, like an unassuming squirrel, and you only have to put the brakes on a bit to let it go about its business.)

Regardless—you’re going to have to do some maneuvering.

Engaging Different Types of D&D Players

March 18, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

Everyone around the table playing Dungeons & Dragons wants to have fun! But, we’re all aware that “fun” is different for different players. The good thing is that one session (and one campaign) has multiple encounters that can play to those interests.

D&D and other TTRPGs have been around long enough for people to discuss these different players, breaking them down into types.

SBotLL Campaign Diary: Stealth Mission Round 2

March 15, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

Another month and another good squad session! This time, we had a some of everything—some roleplaying, a bit of combat, and a lot of exploration.

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Comparing the Old and New Artificer

March 11, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

The new Artificer Unearthed Arcana is here! It’s been a while since we’ve gotten an update on the Artificer class, so I was excited to read through this article.

This version of the Artificer overall seems to have more linear progression and beefier spellcasting abilities. The Alchemist subclass got some major changes, while the previous Gunsmith subclass has been transformed into the Artillerist. The Artificer class now prepares spells from a wider spell list (like the cleric and wizard) instead of knowing spells (like the sorcerer and bard). As well, the new Artificer gets their subclass at 3^rd level instead of 1^st.

“Well, hey,” I thought, “why don’t I compare the old and new Artificer and post what I find?”

Turns out, there’s a whole lot different!

Session Prep: March CoS Session

March 8, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

The Curse of Strahd campaign had a break in February, but we’re back into it now! The fates conspired to ensure I also didn’t have very much prep time for this session. Let’s get into how that prep turned out!

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Let’s Talk: Roleplaying Higher Powers

March 4, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

As a DM, roleplaying deities can be intimidating, because the perspective a deity has and the power they wield is quite different from our own. But unless your setting says otherwise, you’ll probably have to roleplay a god or other higher power eventually—especially if your PCs are clerics, warlocks, paladins, et cetera.

So, let’s talk about it!

Trinkets in Dungeons & Dragons

March 1, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

If you crack the Player’s Handbook open to about halfway through, you’ll find the Trinkets page—a full-page spread d100 table of a bunch of strange items. The accompanying text reads:

When you make your character, you can roll once on the Trinkets table to gain a trinket, a simple item lightly touched by mystery. The DM might also use this table. It can help stock a room in a dungeon or fill a creature’s pockets.
Player’s handbook, chapter 5

Do you use trinkets in your game?