Ten Cool D&D Things #21-30
This list was emailed on May 21st, 2022.
d4 Caltrops often publishes several d100 tables every week. In this excellent post, they explain their method. Many of the techniques apply to any creative endeavor, so it is well worth reading.
The Dweller of the Forbidden City weighs in on the "D&D is just about violence" debate. His context is 1st edition, but many of his points are applicable across all versions and demonstrate how common house rulings can affect the game's tenor.
Brandes Stoddard shares some tips on home base development, including a bunch of handy tables.
Little details turn a good adventure into a great one. The Gameatory has practical suggestions to buff up your dungeon entrance.
I am very interested in how the new generation of AI-based natural language tools will impact RPG design and play. For example, Paul Bellows has created a very impressive AI-based NPC generator. It is a level above anything else I've seen.
Would you like to play a non-magical Intelligence-based character? Well, you might enjoy the Savant by laserllama! This class would be very suitable for a campaign that emphasized the social and exploration pillars of play.
Bell of Lost Souls identifies the five best steeds in D&D. Number five is spectacular (sorry, I couldn't resist).
From the archive: in 2018, Shawn Merwin shared the lessons he'd learned from four years of designing fifth edition game material.
One of the boffins at the DM Academy came up with an excellent way to handle a PC knocked out by a Mind Flayer. The TLDR is "If you use abilities that remove characters from combat, consider adding a side experience to keep the player engaged while their character is useless."
Free adventure: in X Marks the Spot, a prison escape for an unlikely group of heroes turns into a race for an ancient relic.
This list was emailed on May 24th, 2022.
Johnn Four has some tips about what to do when characters fail an ability check. There are some excellent strategies here, and I encourage you to work them into your game.
This post is one for the math nerds. WOTC released the standalone Monsters of the Multiverse book this week, and Paul Hughes has crunched the numbers to see how well the monster stats match their Challenge Ratings.
The first fantasy map I fell in love with was the 100-Acre Wood, but I was soon after deeply intoxicated by Tolkien's map of Middle Earth. Rise Up Comus has created a collection of digital assets to let you quickly make your own Tolkien-style maps in photoshop.
The gnomes are discussing the pros and cons of shorter or longer games. I do most of my gaming online these days and find that shorter games are better in that context.
Over at Monsters and Manuals, they make a case for running adventure modules as written. I mostly use the longer WOTC hardcovers as a source of dungeons and other self-contained episodes. But when it comes to one-shots, whether written by myself or someone else, I like to have something that you can easily run "as-is."
Would you like to play D&D in the modern world? Want to trade that sword-wielding fighter for a gun-wielding commando? Good news! The Everyday Heroes Quickstart Guide is now available. It is free and fully compatible with D&D Fifth Edition.
I'm a big fan of using the "pillars of play" model to understand your gaming experience. The Lazy Dungeon master shows how you can easily include the pillars in any encounter.
From the archives: A few years ago, there was a "Building a Better GM" challenge floating around the D&D blogosphere. Alex Schroeder's contribution from 2011 is rightly celebrated.
Do you like water-based settings? Ryan Rose presents us with What Lies Beneath, a collection of subclasses and creatures for aquatic adventures. It's lovely, and it's free.
Free adventure: Six Faces of Death is a tier 3 scenario featuring an alien being, dark omens, and a mysterious island. Can you save Faerûn from a terror from another plane?
This list was emailed on May 31st, 2022.
DnD Speak brings us 100 Banned and Evil Tomes. Use this resource to stock a wizard's library or similar with something a bit different. Some of the entries are gruesome, some are funny, and some are both. Does anyone want a copy of 195 Easy Projects with Human Skin?
The Arcane Eye presents an overview of the Warlock's Eldritch Invocations. All DMs can benefit from this material, as you will most likely have a warlock in the party at some stage.
How can you run a murder mystery when the players have access to the speak with dead spell? JVC Parry offers a highly detailed set of options to consider. This article is well thought out and was one of my favorite reads of the week.
Do you want to play a metal bard with a robot roadie and a magical flying guitar? Then check out the "bardificer" by Skull Splitter Dice.
Raging Swan has created a dressing one-pager for a ghoul nest. "Bones cracked for marrow litter the floor, while the ghoul holds a skull up to its face and peers intently into the hollow eyes." It is terrific stuff!
I've only just discovered the Dice Goblin blog. He has crafted a fine set of tables to flesh out the journey portion of a point or hex crawl.
From the archive: Back in 2019, the Bearded Devil gave a detailed description of how he runs his city crawl campaign. I would classify this as "high prep," but the results are impressive.
Sly Flourish explains why you should tie your characters into your campaign theme and gives a few tips on how to do it.
Goblins are the classic (clichéd?) low-level villain. One of the boffins at the DM's Academy says you should forget them and try using Nobles instead.
Free adventure: The Barber of Silverymoon is an adventure for 4th to 6th level characters, featuring mysterious disappearances, memory wipes, and stylish haircuts.
This list was emailed on June 7th, 2022.
RJD20 presents several monsters inspired by the bard class, for example, a goblin warchanter and a troll blood gurgler. The idea of crossing a class with a monster to create something new is excellent.
While we are on the subject of spellsingers, Flutes Loot has a multiclassing guide for bards. Some people feel these guides are only helpful for min-maxers, but I can't entirely agree. The multiclass recommendations are fascinating and have all sorts of narrative potential.
Ryan from 2CGaming is one of the sharpest designers I know. In this post, he explains why the balor is Fifth Edition's best-designed monster.
The Kobolds have created a terrific new cult called The Children of Typhon. Use this faction as defined or massage it to fit into your game world. I'm a big believer in using factions in your campaign.
Now, this is a fun little idea. Dump Stat Adventures has defined a list of 100 D&D tools with a quest attached to each one. It's a bit gimmicky, but I like it.
Master the Dungeon has a 101-level blog post on using enemy spellcasters more effectively. Well worth skimming.
Unlawful Games has a list of d100 things in the ground. Some ideas are more for laughs, but others are clever and worth throwing into your next adventure.
Molten Sulfur has another real-life location they have turned into gameable content. This time, the writers are looking at Highgate Cemetery.
From the archive: A couple of years ago, Nate from Swamp of Monsters shared his best DM tips. They hold up pretty well and are worth a look.
After a long absence, ThinkDM is back with a new post. Yay! This time around, he does a deep dive on the runecrafter featured in the latest Unearthed Arcana.
This list was emailed on June 13th, 2022.
We often learn more from mistakes than successes. DM David shares his five biggest game mastering blunders.
Johnn Four presents six quick tips for tying your dungeon together. By coincidence, I'm currently writing a chapter on this very topic for my next book.
There's been some talk about how the new D&D book, Monsters of the Multiverse, ramps up the use of force damage. Paul Hughes crunches the numbers for us.
Scroll for Initiative has some great advice about playing D&D in the sunshine. A strange proposition for some of us, I know!
Who here is excited for Spelljammer? Rising Phoenix Games collected a bunch of space-related D&D resources. I especially liked the new races.
Unlawful Games created a petty village squabble generator. It's quirky and funny! "The soldier wronged me by gossiping about my fidelity, and they turned me into a newt. So I demand they marry my useless child, you meanie-face!"
Lots of DMs would like to improve their improvisational skills. The gnomes have a lengthy article on how to run an improv game of D&D.
Would your players like a pet? This short supplement by Alan Tucker might change their minds.
Raging Swan returns with another of their wonderful one-pagers. This time we have a vampire's crypt. These sheets are an easy way to turn a lackluster encounter into something special.
Merric is starting a new Greyhawk campaign! In this post, he describes how he plans to manage it. I find these sorts of posts helpful and instructive.
This list was emailed on June 21st, 2022.
D&D Beyond describes how to create engaging scenes for your players. There is a good section on interactive locations, which I also have a chapter on in my Anatomy of Adventure book.
In my home campaign, we've rediscovered the joys of hexcrawling. Justin Alexander just published a terrific article on how to stock your hexes.
I know they cop a lot of static, but I'm definitely in the "rangers are cool" camp. The ranger in my campaign claims MVP honours as often as anyone else. Bell of Lost Souls lists the top five ranger spells. Do you agree with their choice? Reply and tell me which ones they left out!
Old school D&D games have a reputation for being very lethal. Grognardia explains why this is not entirely fair.
Raging Swan presents another one-page dresser. These are so good I have trouble leaving them out of this newsletter! This time they look at a cultist's hidden fane.
See monster kill monster, right? But Dump Stat Adventures has identified five horrific monsters that just wanna talk.
Brandes Stoddard has been playing Minecraft, inspiring him to create several magic items from the malevolent stars. These are tremendous, and they've inspired me in turn.
Sly Flourish is talking about adventure pacing and the importance of beats. I only came across the "beats" terminology a few years ago, but I think it is a valuable model.
I bet you've had this situation. You are deep in the depths of a dungeon when you have to introduce a new character because someone has died or a new player has joined the group. d4 Caltrops presents d100 introductions for newly minted PCs. Some of them are pretty funny!
Joseph Manola is looking at corpse medicine, which is "the early modern practice of using bits of dead people in attempts to cure the living." He has created a whole batch of gameable content from his study.
This list was emailed on June 28th, 2022.
One of the boffins at the DMs Academy shares an excellent way to use a doppelganger in your game. Like all good ideas, it seems obvious in retrospect.
Paul Hughes describes the proper use of traps in D&D and gives examples. Though short, this may be the best treatment of this subject I've seen.
Sojourners Awake shares a delicious recipe for adventure design. Perfect for busy Dungeon Masters!
This article will strongly appeal to some people. Scroll for Initiative has taken the size and weight of all D&D coinage and calculated how much can be carried in various containers.
Crush your players with this monster of gravity - I present to you the Fallingstar Beast!
Sly Flourish has seven tips for better dungeons. I was just writing about tip three myself...
Dump Stat Adventures shares d100 Quests in the Planes. Much work went into these, and they make good use of planar lore.
Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque presents a pair of fascinating factions, the Unholy Order of the Grave and the Ring and Wand Society. I can never get enough factions.
Tabletop Joab tells us what every Dungeon Master can learn from South Park. It's a long article, and I need to absorb the lessons. But he may be on to something.
Need to get somewhere in a hurry? The Bell of Lost Souls has five D&D magic items that will help. Throw one of them at your players and see how it changes the game.
This list was emailed on July 5th, 2022.
Mind your head! Elfmaids and Octopi present d100 things falling from the stars. The first ideas are simple but get more creative further down the list.
Everyone gets stuck during game prep sometimes. Sojourners Awake has some practical tips for getting "unstuck."
A new, free tool called the Monster Shuffler is available. But is it really "the most powerful monster editor for D&D 5E"?
Raging Swan has another handy one-pager, this time describing a city slum.
One of the boffins at the DM Academy has some good advice for handling side quests.
Doug from Nerdarchy suggests you try and run a Monty Haul campaign. Don't know that is? Read the article!
Sly Flourish, the great D&D tip master, has a tip for managing tips. It's meta!
Do you want to play a brain slug? Of course you do! Check out the parasite ancestral lineage for D&D.
Now, this is cool. Dyson Logos is releasing a new five-room dungeon every Monday for the next little while. It sounds like a great way to populate your hex crawl!
Deathtrap Games discusses idea generators and how to use them in your campaign.
This list was emailed on July 12th, 2022.
Social encounters are for town and village, right? Not so fast! Scroll for Initiative lists 22 monsters from the Monster Manual that work better as social encounters.
Reader Dave Clark has created an excellent Tinker background for D&D.
Unlawful Games presents d100 Crazy Castles. "This castle is, in fact, a cocoon."
Not to be outdone, d4 Caltrops has another enormous table, this one describing d100 mercurial mentors and weird wizards.
Have you heard of a hex flower? It's like a random table with a memory. Truly! Rise Up Comus has created a lifepath character generator that cleverly uses a hex flower. It is sci-fi-focused, but perhaps one of my ingenious readers can devise a fantasy version?
A simple but flexible mass combat system for D&D is one of my holy grails. The Dice Goblin describes a system that ticks some of my boxes. I might tinker around with it a bit...
If you are the sort of person who likes critical hit tables, then these are the sorts of tables you'll like.
One of the boffins at the DMs Academy has a tiny suggestion that will add a lot of flavour to your combat.
Looking for something new? Do you find barbarians to be boring, fighters to be flavorless, and wizards to be wanting? Why not try out the Spirit Master class. It's a lovely-looking product.
The Gameatory has some excellent advice about designing your dungeon ecology.
This list was emailed on July 19th, 2022.
D&D Speak brings us 100 things found in a haunted crypt. Number 62 is intriguing--reply and tell me what you think it means!
The mighty Merric is thinking about deadliness, options, and risk in Fifth Edition D&D games.
Bell of Lost Souls has an adventurer's guide to the Raven Queen. I recently finished a campaign featuring her as the big bad. She was disguised as a sentient sword, Black Razor, and the characters carried her unknowingly to the place of the final confrontation!
Speaking of big bads, the Twilight DM rightly points out that villainy knows some bounds.
Everyone is talking about D&D in spaaaaace at the moment. Open Heart Games presents ten Spelljammer story hooks.
I've made good use of Raging Swan's one-page lairs in my ongoing hex crawl. Check out the manticore's lair. What are those yellowish spikes in the tree??
Dump Stat Adventures describes how to stock a dungeon. There are many valuable tidbits there, and it's well worth a read.
Traditional RPGs had the players controlling their characters and nothing else. In the 90s, a new pattern of RPG emerged called storygaming, where "where everyone collaborates on all elements of an adventure." Old school grognards tend to reject storygaming, but Pits Perilous has found evidence of storygaming in D&D way back in the 70s. This obscure factoid is the sort of thing that interests me immensely (I know, send help).
ChicagoWiz reprints an old D&D forum post explaining why dragons should never lose. My level 10 party fought their first dragon the other night, and it was a very close fight indeed. Dragons should be scary.
Have you heard of zero-level gaming? You play a group of D&D commoners going on an adventure, with the survivors "graduating" to level one. Thom Denick created the Zero Level Rulebook for 5E, and it is absolutely free.