How to Hook Your Players in Tomb of Annihilation
D&D 5e’s Tomb of Annihilation is popular, but its call to adventure is lacking. Here’s how to hook characters into meaningful jungle exploration.
Resources for Dungeon Masters
Articles that review and recommend best practices for running a tabletop RPG game like Dungeons and Dragons.
D&D 5e Social Encounter Statblocks: How to Run NPCs Like a Pro
DMs running social encounters must often rely on paragraphs of bullet-pointed notes, creating a loop of forgetfulness, cross-referencing, and clumsy adjudication that can leave any DM frustrated. By contrast, while combat encounters also include many moving parts, the combat statblock helps organize our ability to operate enemies in combat, streamlining our efforts and reducing the mental load. How might we do the same for social encounters in D&D 5e?
D&D 5e Fundamental Combat Tactics for Players & DMs
Like many games, D&D 5e is a strategic and tactical experience—but character-building guides can only take you so far. With these basic tactical options in mind, however, even the most unoptimized PC (or the weakest NPC) can play a powerful role in combat. In isolation, a character sheet and a D&D party are just disparate, lonely pieces. Taken together, however, the integrated whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.
How to Easily Make a D&D One-Shot Using a Three-Act Template
Learn to condense your many ideas and keep creative players on track so your one-shots don’t become two-shots! Use the three-act template for your one-shot preparations.
MAGISEVEN D&D Dice Review: Glass & Gemstone
I review dice by MAGISEVEN’s dice, an online store that specializes in providing beautifully crafted dice of glass and gemstone for D&D.
How to Handle Player Problems at Your D&D Table
Any player can and should try to resolve problems as they arise. Even so—whether for good or ill—DMs are widely expected to be their table’s mediator. But how?
How to Make D&D Combat a Fast & Cinematic Experience
Combat should should feel dramatic, engaging, and deeply personal—a heart-pounding experience (not a slog). Make your players feel like they’re watching a scene unfold on a movie screen. Let’s explore how DMs can develop this experience!
How to Engage Your D&D Players with Dramatic Questions
Dungeons & Dragons 5e teaches players a lot about the nuts-and-bolts of dungeon-, character-, and encounter-building. It offers oodles of options for spells, feats, and mechanics. However, it does little to teach DMs how to engage their players with dramatic quests and encounters. If you’re looking to keep your D&D players engaged—and if you’re looking to build a satisfying combat encounter or non-combat scene—we must first explore a fundamental concept of storytelling: the dramatic question.