Ten Cool D&D Things #31-40
This list was emailed on July 26th, 2022.
There's been some discussion about traps rattling around the D&D blogosphere. Rise Up Comus presents ten traps that don't suck. I like his approach.
Have you seen the D&D movie trailer yet? Think DM explains why wildshaping into an owlbear won't break your game.
I've had fun using skill challenges in D&D. The kobolds have defined a set of skill challenge rules for 5e. And I think they did a fine job.
One of my celestial friends has some tips for running pre-written adventure modules.
Hags are an important part of my Iskandar campaign setting. Dumpstat Adventures does a deep dive on these underutilized creatures.
Want more crunch with your martial characters? Taylor Reisdorf just released a 60-page supplement called "The Complete Warrior," and it is all free.
Sly Flourish shows you how to add progress clocks to your D&D campaign. They are well worth exploring at your table.
Zeeko presents 19 new backgrounds in the Background Omnibus. There are some excellent ideas in this supplement.
Are your caves a little bland? Scroll for Initiative has five tips to make cave adventures more interesting. These are simple but worthwhile strategies.
d4 Caltrops has another d100 table: where is the key for this locked door?
This list was emailed on August 2nd, 2022.
DM David has divided every official Fifth Edition monster into various functions, such as guards, masterminds, spies, etc. Just reading through this list suggested many adventure ideas. Very worthwhile!
Sometimes you don't realize you need something until you see it. Fun_Kayy presents 40 rocks for D&D. You know you want to click on it...
This blog post is a few years old but is too good to neglect. Bastionland devised 21 cheap tricks for DMs. There is some excellent advice in this list.
Here is some news you can use. My compatriot, Alex Caton, shows you how to make PvP work in Fifth Edition.
Brandes Stoddard shares some evocative underwater locations from his upcoming book. Check them out and get inspired.
Scroll for Initiative has a fantastic bread-and-butter post explaining how to balance encounters in D&D.
This blogger looked at the depiction of dragons throughout European history and noticed something surprising.
Mike Shea has some more tips for us. This time he explains how to run a one-on-one D&D game.
I wish there were more posts like this. Coins & Scrolls gives us a behind-the-curtain look at their prep for an upcoming game session.
You thought I'd forgotten your d100 table, didn't you? Never fear--d4 Caltrops presents 100 magic gloves and gauntlets.
This list was emailed on August 9th, 2022.
Brian from Deathtrap Games wrote a long article describing how to use gossip in your campaign. It includes a lot of sound advice, and I like his rules of thumb for constructing a gossip table.
Veteran designer, Creighton Broadhurst, is writing an adventure and offers us a sneak peek into his "scrabbly" design process. These sorts of articles are all too rare, especially from pro designers.
DnD Speak brings us d100 dungeon dressings. Enough said!
The Dweller of the Forbidden City makes a strong case against fudging dice rolls. Do you want to ride a horse or spin a plate? Hmm?
Sly Flourish tells us about the only D&D subsystem you will ever need. And I think he is right.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to put plausible puzzles into my D&D adventures. One of the boffins at the DMs Academy suggests creating abstract puzzles to model certain ability checks. I need to spend some time thinking about this, and I'd appreciate your thoughts!
Ryan Rose has created a 90-page supplement for Fifth Edition called the Player's Handbook Retold. It is full of useful ideas, including optional class features and rules for epic-level play. Best of all, it is completely free!
Most DMs start rolling their own monsters sooner rather than later. It is lots of fun, and I recommend it! Dump Stat Adventures shares 30 generic legendary actions for your homebrew boss monsters.
The Alexandrian has an excellent post on boxed text pitfalls. I agree with his list of problems, and they are things I'm mindful of when crafting boxed text in my commercial adventures.
Finally, Elven Towers has a free adventure for level 3 characters called Distrustful Hosts, featuring a cool isometric map. It is an entertaining little scenario you can drop on the characters when they enter a new town.
This list was emailed on August 16th, 2022.
D&D Speak has created 100 interesting statue descriptions. I consider statues an essential part of dungeon dressing, and I love having tricks, traps, or bits of lore attached to them.
DM David shares six things every 1st-level adventure should have. It's fantastic advice!
Merric provides a practical example of writing a home encounter vs. writing a published encounter. I enjoyed this; he raises the fundamental question of how many contingencies you must allow for in a published adventure. I lean toward trusting the DM in these instances.
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned my quest for a solid D&D mass combat system. I recently came across this supplement, which treats armies like enormous monsters. It's an approach I like, though I haven't playtested it yet.
Ryan Servis is a skilled game designer, and it's always worth listening to him. In this blog post, he discusses the problems with the "stunned" condition and suggests some fixes.
Speaking of skilled game designers, Monte Cook just published a rare blog post, this time comparing the sacred and the profane in game design. I'm still digesting this one.
Bell of Lost Souls has created statistics for Gorr the God Butcher, the villain from Thor: Love and Thunder. In my experience, players enjoy encountering creatures from pop culture. What's your experience?
Many people write in to ask where they can get my old "ten things" lists. I've slowly started publishing these on my blog. Here is a list from six months ago. It has some fun links that are worth another look.
Playstyles are nothing new, but Flutes Loot has a fresh take on the idea. The class profiles and examples are top shelf.
Improvisation is challenging, but it is an excellent skill for a DM to master. Dump Stat Adventures shows you how to up your game.
This list was emailed on August 23rd, 2022.
Scroll for Initiative presents the D&D house rules he loves and loathes. I always appreciate reading about house rules, and there were a couple I hadn't heard of before.
No point keeping you waiting. Konsumterra has assembled d100 goblin peddlers. Very creative!
Deathtrap Dungeons has a fascinating post about the reproductive cycle of dungeons. Cool title! He explains how, in a hexcrawl, dungeons tend to beget other dungeons. This is my experience too.
What is the secret of good DMing? J.R. Zambrano says it is weird little guys. Tell me he's wrong.
Do you want 280 pages of FREE cyberpunk goodness for Fifth Edition? Yep, I said FREE! Check out the Technomancer's Textbook. Even if you don't run a cyberpunk game, there are lots of ideas you can steal. I want to convert that drone master ranger to my fantasy game.
You probably know that WOTC just released Spelljammer Fifth Edition. Mike Bernier has created a short primer on Bral, which is like the Waterdeep of Wildspace. Even if you aren't into the setting, it's worth reading just to see what the fuss is about.
Here's my little contribution to the "railroad adventure" debate. It's a short explanation of encounter networking in D&D scenarios.
Do you want an epic session of D&D? Stephen Bandstra says you've got to shoot your monks. No, not like that..!
Grognardia has a thought-provoking article about mapmaking as a game within a game. Modern VTTs (with dynamic lighting) provide an excellent incentive to revive the lost art of player cartography.
There has been much excitement with the announcement that Planescape returns to D&D next year. To get ready, check out this beautiful, interactive map of Sigil, the famed City of Doors.
This list was emailed on August 30th, 2022.
Sly Flourish shares a meaty article that explains how to run a D&D dungeon crawl. There is so much good advice in this post that I recommend everyone check it out.
Fifth Edition flanking is a bit of a contentious topic. One of the boffins at the DM Academy suggests a flanking rule variant I've never seen before.
A friendly gnome has some tips for tying your player characters into your starting campaign. Doing this makes a significant difference to your game, believe me.
Jason Lutes explains how he runs a "west marches" style campaign. Articles like this are rare and valuable, and it is a must-read if you've ever wondered about this style of D&D play.
"Can I make a Persuasion check?" I bet your face player has asked that more than a few times! Mike Bernier has some ideas to make social encounters more than a charisma check.
I have a chapter in my book called "The Dungeon as Toy," which is about making dungeon locations interactive. In the same vein, d4 Caltrops presents d100 investigative scenery & interactive decor.
My colleague, KibblesTasty, has created a Fifth Edition Warden class. Some great ideas, very nicely presented, and all free!
A batch of playtest material for the next version of D&D dropped last week. DM David explains why he likes the controversial new critical hit rule.
Explore a treacherous tomb in The Kings of Yore, a free level 10 adventure by ElvenTowers.
Tabletop Joab has identified the ten best villain spells in Fifth Edition. Some of these are nasty.
This list was emailed on September 9th, 2022.
One of the boffins at the DMs Academy has some welcome words for stressed-out DMs.
Mike Bernier from D&D Beyond presents several tips for running one-shot adventures.
Flutes Loot has a lengthy article on advanced D&D adventure design. While I see some problems with how they impose a dramatic arc, it's a fine piece that introduces useful terminology and nicely complements some material in my book.
Are you starting a new campaign as a player? Johnn Four has six tips for a player's first session.
Are you starting a new campaign as a DM? Merric has sound advice about monster choice in first-level adventures.
Raging Swan returns with another one-pager, this time describing a ruined castle. These are terrific resources to populate your hexcrawl.
Would you like a free supplement? In Compendium of the Dark Arts, you get 20 pages of new subclasses and spells. Clerics, beware the domain of blasphemy!
DnD Speak presents 100 feywild encounters. Some of these are delightful!
Līber Lūdōrum explains how to facilitate character depth and roleplay in your game. The article waxes lyrical about Forbidden Lands, but there are ideas you can easily incorporate into your D&D campaign.
The blessed Celeste gives some tips on quick and dirty encounter prep. Let's be honest; we all need a bit of that sometimes.
This list was emailed on September 13th, 2022.
Science has shown that pirates are a great way to spice up any D&D campaign. To help you out, Lawful Games has created 100 peculiar pirates.
Want a creepy location for your Ravenloft-style game? Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque presents Maximilian's Waxworks.
Here's a post that's close to my heart. Creighton describes six adventure presentation mistakes to avoid. I agree with five of his points and disagree strongly with one. Can you guess which?
How about a dash of inspiration for that treasure chest? Check out Dan's all-purpose green box. Some items have a sci-fi flavor, but you can readily convert them into fantasy analogs. For example, the VHS tape could be a magic memory container made of onyx.
Some of you have always wanted to build your own D&D world but were unsure where to start. The Alexandrian has some tips for fast and furious world creation.
Beth and Jonathan have all sorts of advice for one-on-one D&D games. In this recent article, they discuss the proper use of allies.
Derek has another free mini-adventure, this one called The Death's Pass. You could easily drop this into any wilderness campaign.
Time for a free supplement! How do thirteen new subclasses sound? These don't take themselves too seriously, but there are some fun ideas.
The irrepressible Mike Shea describes how to build resilient campaigns. This article is advanced stuff.
Finally, Dump Stat Adventures has a long post comparing the investigation and perception skills. It is worth checking out, even if you are confident with this material.
This list was emailed on September 20th, 2022.
Over at the DM's Academy, they've compiled a fabulous list of dialog lines to put in the mouths of your NPCs. I'm certainly going to use a few of these!
Do you know what your D&D game needs? More dragons! And do you know what else you need? 100 unique dragon hoards.
The Alexandrian shows us how to craft long-term scenario hooks. Use these to prevent your campaign from feeling like a collection of one-shots.
Mystery adventures are hard to pull off but are deeply satisfying when they work. Johnn Four presents 11 ways to make mysteries magnificent.
Would you like a worldbuilding recipe for a "wonderful place?" Hmmm... sounds delicious!
Here are some game statistics for the Predator. I bet there are a few fans out there, so why not add it to your next game?
Campaign Mastery has an excellent article about using sensory surprises in encounters. I've done this unthinkingly in the past, but I want to get more systematic about it. Seriously, great article.
Sly Flourish has a handy post showing you how to improvise monster abilities. Little touches like this make a big difference to the play experience.
Flutes Lute presents a description of the lower planes. There are some terrific plot seeds and encounter ideas in this article.
While we are on the topic, would you like a fascinating new class for a planar campaign? Try out the Planescaller.
This list was emailed on September 27th, 2022.
The Alexandrian explains a method to spice up D&D fights, which he calls "clever combat." He includes a couple of excellent examples, though I'd like to see more.
And since we are speaking of combat spice, Tabletop Joab has written a long article that describes how to keep combat engaging in your D&D game.
DM David has sound advice for those doing old-school dungeon crawls: you don't have to explore every room. I have to admit that we made that exact mistake with Barrier Peaks back in the day.
One of the writers at Dump Stat Adventures has devised a guide for creating quests.
Ye Old Dungeon Master revisits astral adventuring and has created a ship-to-ship combat guide for Spelljammer. It's 24 pages long and 100% free.
Raging Swan has a one-page guide to a pixies glade. I've always been a sucker for this sort of fey stuff.
Remaining on theme, this table has 100 things in a typical faerie house.
Wishes are fun, and you should not be afraid to give them out. Tegeus has summarised several general principles to apply when adjudicating a wish. He also, very usefully, describes how this played out in a recent game.
dScrybe has a long and valuable piece explaining how to write boxed text for your favorite RPG. It's a top-shelf article, and the recommended reading list is fantastic. Thanks to reader Seth for this suggestion!
Stuffies_12 has written The World From Tomorrow, a Fifth Edition compendium of options based around the future. It includes 68 pages of content, and it's all free.