The Curse of Strahd campaign is going strong, complete with a new ally and a close brush with death. Here, I’ll talk about what I did to prepare for the session and discuss how that turned out!
Continue readingTag: DM tools (Page 3 of 5)
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!
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Spring has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, like it or not, so that means warmer, weirder weather and no small share of pollen. Do you do seasonal-themed events in your D&D game?
If your game needs some springtime flair, consider these four NPCs below!
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I 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:
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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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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.
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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.
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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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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!
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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?
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