Tag: DM talk (Page 9 of 11)

Homebrew from Both Sides of the Table

February 8, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

My thoughts on homebrew (custom content) have changed a lot over my time playing and running D&D! This is something that is unique to each person—some DMs start out ready to take on anything the players bring to the table, whereas I was pretty wary of any option that wasn’t from the core books. I’m more confident in running (and making) homebrew content now, since I (like to) think that I’ve got a good handle on the game as a whole.

Let’s talk about using homebrew content on both sides of the table—Dungeon Master and player.

Tips & Tricks for Running “Theater of the Mind” Combat

January 28, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

Hey Dungeon Masters, how you run combat? Do you use grid maps and miniatures or online tools to represent the battle map? Or, do you rely on description only?

If you go with the latter, you’re running “theater of the mind” combat! Let’s talk about it.

Running Pre-Written Adventures: Maps

January 25, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

The great thing about published adventures is that, generally, the maps are already drawn. The important areas of the adventure already have their requisite furnishings and encounters placed. You don’t have to worry about visualizing the space around your adventurers; the adventure designers have done that work for you.

But, how do you use these maps? More than that, how do you run these maps? Let’s talk about it!

DM Tips: Moving Past a Rough Session

January 21, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

D&D is really fun! But DMing is hard, and sometimes a session falls flat. Something happened, and you walk away feeling less inspired and maybe even disappointed. That’s okay!

Nobody is perfect, not even the greatest DMs with the best player group have 100% perfect sessions all the time.

So, let’s figure out what to do and how to improve from a less-than-ideal session.

Session Prep: January CoS Session

January 11, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

Hey! This year, I’m trying to get better at session prep, so we’ll be talking about it every time I run a session.

For last week’s Curse of Strahd session, I didn’t have a ton of time to prep stuff. But, here’s what I did.

Friendly Bard Reviews: Strongholds & Followers by MCDM Productions

January 7, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

When I first told myself, “I’m going to Dungeon Master a game,” I had no idea what I was doing. I’d listened to one campaign and played in another, short one, but that was all the D&D experience I had. I wanted to be a good DM! I had no idea how. Thus, I found myself scouring the Internet for guidance. Among others, I found Matt Colville’s channel and his “Running the Game” series. And so, I started following his videos and other content.

Strongholds & Followers was funded by a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that launched in early February 2018. In December, backers received the PDF in its finished form (with acknowledgement that typos would be fixed before the first printing). It is also available for purchase from the MDCM online store.

After getting the chance to read it cover-to-cover, here’s my review!

New Year’s D&D Resolutions!

January 4, 2019 / Fen / 0 Comments

Well, hope everyone’s first few days of 2019 have been good! I’m not much for making resolutions, but there are a few things I want to focus on improving this year. And those are basically resolutions? Regardless, I hope they will help me continue to grow as this year unfolds!

This year, I want to…

Questions About: Traps, Puzzles, and Tricks

December 14, 2018 / Fen / 0 Comments

A picture of a mousetrap with the text "DM Seeks Trap Advice" over the image

Traps, puzzles, and other exploration-type challenges can make an adventure really stand out. To help out Dungeon Masters, Wizards of the Coast has provided official guidelines for trap design in both the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. But, still, I don’t really “get” trap design.

I can whip up a riddle—a “speak friend and enter” deal—but when it comes to traps or other puzzles, I tend to just avoid them. I’m worried that I’ll make something that either is too difficult (takes too long) or too easy to solve. I want to make something that’s unique and challenging for the players, not frustrate them.

So how do you run traps?

DM Tips: Seasons and the Passage of Time

December 10, 2018 / Fen / 0 Comments

In “How I Take Session Notes,” I talk about the different ways I keep track of campaign events. One of those ways is a campaign timeline, which summarizes what happened on each in-game day in the campaign. This helps us remember our character’s perspective of time passing (common example: “I’ve only known my party members for a month and a half but I Would Die For Them”).

Keeping track of time is also a valuable tool for DMs! You can use the time of year to inform your descriptions of the world around your players.

Words of Creation: Incorporating Rune Magic into Your Campaign

December 3, 2018 / Fen / 0 Comments

Hey, everyone! Last month, I talked about some of the playtest process behind my upcoming homebrew project. Now, I’m excited to announce that “Additional Master Runes” and “Secrets of Rune Magic” are complete!

As explained earlier, this is all inspired from the Unearthed Arcana article about rune magic and the rune scribe prestige class. But, what is rune magic, and how do you bring it into your campaign?