Metroid is a staple of classic 2d dungeon crawlers. The original game, as well as many of its squeals, were groundbreaking in how to explore 2d dungeon space. These early video games have a lot to teach us about dungeon design mechanics that easily translate into the world of DnD. Dungeons and Dragons games today …
Patrons and Warlocks, Warlocks and Patrons. The two are intrinsically tied together in 5e DnD. But patrons themselves are a mysterious part of the game. While the rules do paint in the general brush strokes of what patrons are and how they provide warlocks with power, they leave a lot of gaps for you to …
Whether it’s designing an NPC or making a new player character, it can be hard to create characters with personality. Despite being a core part of the Dungeons and Dragons experience, many players and DMs create and run boring, one-dimensional characters. No one wants to do this, they often just don’t know how to build …
Spells are a core part of most DnD games. They fill the world with magic. They enhance combat. They even lend large parts to your story. With DnD 5e you have over 450 spells to choose from in the game. This doesn’t even include all of the Unearthed Arcana, companion material, or official third party …
When you start a new campaign in a custom-built setting, there’s always an adjustment period. Initially your players don’t know anything about the setting and they need to learn a lot just to interact with it. You’ll want to find the best way of introducing players to your world without overwhelming them. Building Background Information …
A certain amount of meta gaming is expected as a dungeon master. Your role is to not only know the plot, but players, villains, and everything in between. By default you have to do some meta gaming to maintain the game state and keep players on track. Even if you let your players go off …
DnD is not all fighting monsters, but a great deal of the rules for the game are combat focused. While DnD is a role playing game, very few campaigns exist without combat encounters. It’s certainly possible to do, but there are a number of challenges presented when you look for rules for DnD without combat. …
In a previous quick tip article we mentioned wave based encounters as a method for handling issues with party balance. There were some questions about wave based encounters and it seemed people didn’t know how to set up or run them. This quick tip covers how to use wave based encounters step by step. Setting …
Everyone who’s played a table top role playing game has come across a min-maxer in their time. These are the players who derive joy from milking the rules of a game for every advantage they can get. They often build their characters towards “optimal” power curves, attempting to make sure they are the strongest players …
Scheduling DnD sessions can be a nightmare. This is one of the biggest complaints that Dungeon Masters have and easily one of the more regrettable. Even if you have a solid group of players who really want to spend time playing, making people’s schedules align is a difficult task. We’re not going to claim this …
