I don’t know who needs to hear this but, world building is not session prep. World building is a completely separate task from getting ready to run DnD. World building is important, but it’s no substitute for the traditional session preparations that you need to go through as a DM. Let’s look at the common …
When designing encounters for DnD we typically think about the enemies, their stats, and area they’ll be fought in. These are the basics of any combat encounter, but there’s tons of room for improvement. If you want to really take your encounters to the next level you’ll need to add complexity. Today we’ll be discussing …
Probably one of the most overlooked aspects of DMing is knowing about your players’ stats. You might know a thing or two about them at the beginning and you might have an understanding of their story arc, but it’s easy to overlook a stat sheet. While it won’t ruin your game if you don’t know …
Imagine you’re running a session. You bring your players down a long stone corridor and at the end the path splits in two direction. Down one path you hear the sounds of someone in distress, down the other, sounds of monsters shuffling around arguing. So now you ask the players “What do you want do?” …
Of all the skills you need as a Dungeon Master learning to listen is one of the most critical ones. You might get by just fine as it is, but when you’re running the game you attention can actually be all over the place. It’s really easy for a player to catch you off guard …
Are You a Good Listener? Learn to Listen as a DM Read More »
If you ever find your players looking blankly at you after a long description, take it as a subtle note to try to improve your storytelling. While there’s a million skills you can hone for DnD, storytelling is one of the most important skills of the Dungeon Master. Like any skill, it’s hard to get …
Take 2 Steps to Instantly Improve Your Storytelling Read More »
While Dungeons and Dragons already has an impressive set of weapons to choose from, sometimes you want something custom. You might need a cool set piece or a variant weapon for a player’s character. Beyond just laying out the concept, balancing the weapons cost, damage, and utility can also be a challenge. So we decided …
6 Simple Steps to Create Custom DnD Weapons Quickly Read More »
Our more recent articles have been about brevity and lean storytelling. These concepts help you improve pacing and increase player engagement. While these ideas are helpful, they come at the cost of describing your world to its fullest. Removing irrelevant story elements might improve game play, but it definitely blunts some of the worlds details. …
While not always employed effectively, riddles have a long history in role playing games. But how do you create DnD riddles? Fantasy classics have great examples to pull from, most notably The Hobbit with the riddles Bilbo gives to Gollum. “A box without hinges, key, or lid, Yet golden treasure inside is hid.” Spoilers: the …
Coming up with good character names can be difficult. The moment you go to actually name something you’re met with this weird blank paralysis. Every idea that pops into your head seems wrong, doesn’t fit, or is too silly. The solution to this problem is much like any other: you need a good framework for …
