One bard's take on D&D and other things
If you follow D&D streams like Dice, Camera, Action, you’re probably familiar with the occasional guest player—a player not normally part of the group who comes in temporarily to play a character. In DCA, these guest players either play a character of their own creation or an NPC from the adventure Chris Perkins is running.
We can use this idea in our home games, too!
Continue readingI started homebrewing D&D stuff in the first campaign I ran—mostly magic weapons and other items. We’ve talked about homebrew before, but let’s get a little more granular. There’s just something special about designing an item with a specific player and a specific character in mind! More than that, I enjoyed seeing the creative ways that my players used these items.
Below are some resources and advice I’ve found helpful when making items to deploy in my games:
Continue readingAdventure 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!
Continue readingLife 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.
Continue readingEveryone 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.
Continue readingThe 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!
Continue readingAs 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!
Continue readingIf 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?
Continue readingThe Dungeon Master is in charge of many elements of Dungeons & Dragons. They set the scene, call for initiative, and move the game along, all while adjudicating the rules of the game and prepping for the next encounter.
I’ve been watching MCDM’s new D&D stream, the Chain. At one point during the first session, Matt Colville, the DM, describes a short series of scenes for the players. These scenes don’t take place anywhere near the player characters. There’s no way the characters know those scenes are happening. But, for players and audience, those moments give a cinematic feel to the events, and they’re foreshadowing something.
That got me thinking—
Continue readingThe world of D&D would be pretty empty without NPCs (non-player characters)! These people give a voice to your campaign. They’re the personalities that your players will interact with throughout the game. Your players will clash with, negotiate with, protect, fight, and stand beside these characters.
But what makes a good NPC?
Continue reading© 2024 The Friendly Bard's Companion to Various Things
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
