Comments on: Share your D&D knowledge and win!

By: Linky love from a papercut DM! : Critical Hits

Linky love from a papercut DM! : Critical Hits — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:54:15 +0000

[...] up is my friend’s Yax recent call for DM tips over on his blog in exchange for a chance to win his Comp copy of D&D’s Exemplar of Evil. [...]

By: Ian Winterbottom

Ian Winterbottom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:27 +0000

@ Zafafa,
Regretfully the contest is over, but your post remeinded me. My best ever dungeon/Campaign was The Mystic Maze of Magister Martin, AKA 4Ms, exactly what you describe, a labyrinth made from a hollow mountain by a ?? level Wizard who’d popped his cork and decided to build an Assault Course for PCs. He had Omnivision like CCTV all over the Dungeon and was one of his own Wandering Monsters, you could meet him in full uniform as Gandalf/Ming the Merciless, or as a little bloke in overalls with glasses and a +4 Sonic Screwdriver, tinkering with something in a wall or whatever. As soon as encountered he would vanish, unless there was something I wanted him to do! You could also meet his Wicked Apprentice who occasionally teleported in and out of the place making mischief, and sometimes allied himself with player Parties, trouble was that all the spells and monsters in the place recognised him and targeted him on sight! (To the detriment of anyone with him!) Other “Wanderers” included a little guy with a wheelbarrow marketing random Potions and Magic Items, not too powerful and often embarrassing! (Non vulnerable to attacks of course!) There were also “Normal” Wanderers and a special Cleanup Crew, Gelatinous Cubes, Ghouls and other rubbish-removers! Also several intelocking and random Teleport systems,, one of which was in fact a Lift!
It made for some dingdong adventures as people tried to get themselves and their stash out of Seventh Level!

By: zafafa

zafafa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:41:12 +0000

contest is over but i like the idea of a forest or lsbyrinth gouver by a kind of mage that see everything the pc’s are doing so it can alter the place each time a player takes some specified action set by you ( DM ) on the fly or not … Its kind of a : beware this place maybe aint for you yet without killing them … stuck one of them in a wall for half a day …

By: Scott Sveter

Scott Sveter — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:37:28 +0000

I am currently running a 3.5 D&D campaigne. One of the hardest things to do is be creatively realistic. What I mean here is the world you build has inhabitants. The PC’s interact with these inhabitants, results not withstanding, both sides learn from each other. For example, the goblin chieftains patrols do not come back on time, instead of simply blowing it off the chieftain would send a better armed group to find out why the patrol hasn’t returned, and set the base camp onhigh alert.

When starting a campaign with new PC’s I have a question for each players character…what’s their motivation; what makes a person leave the relative safety of home to seek out and battle creatures that may consider you a snack. What I get as a DM is plot seeds. These little tidbits of knowledge allow me to make a whole adventure sometimes.

The last thing is give each of your players a chance to shine. There is nothing worse than a player sulking because they didn’t get to get their licks in. So get your sorcerers to sorce.

Check out my Obsidian Portal for ideas, hints, and follow the progress of our intrepid band of explorers

By: bea7d0wn

bea7d0wn — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:27:31 +0000

this goes along w/ my earlier comment , dont get frustrated if a encounter doesnt go the way u want. some dm’s will plan this whole big thing 2go dwn then if the players choose somthin else the dm either gets mad/frustrated or finds another way 2 make them do it. or theres no choice at all. be more open! make everything a varable, w/ multiple outcomes, so the players havemore choice.

By: bea7d0wn

bea7d0wn — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:21:16 +0000

i think story line can be to constricting. ive played w/ some dm’s who if u dont follow the story line, they just re-route and ur following it anyway. as a dm i, plot the story as it goes along. if they forego involving themselves in certain events cuz there wraped up in other stuff the story goes on! they might get a chance to influence events later but not always . then they find out later wat went on and wat they cud have done to change it!

By: d

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:27:59 +0000

Have your characters really think about their backgrounds and reward them by incorporating it into your storyline. It makes the players feel more involved with their characters and gives you even more inspiration for your game. I once even had my players fill out a little sheet I had created that asked very general questions i.e. What is your characters goals, dreams, or ambitions? What is their greatest strength? Weakness? Do they have any phobias? Almost like a mini personality quiz or survey. The players really enjoyed the exercise and it made for a much more interesting and involved RPing experience.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:29:18 +0000

When constructing a campaign, get a feel for what your players like and dislike early on. The best way I have found to do this is choices. Players want to feel they are in control of the experience. THEY want to decide what the next quest will be. Don’t overburden them with choices but give them options. It is OK to steer them down a path but let them be the leaders of the missions. It is helpful to remind them of what they know and don’t know when making difficult decisions but let them decide. Nothing is worse for a player than being along for the ride. Once you get a feel for what they like and dislike, it is easy to manipulate decisions by giving them one or two actual choices and one or two garbage ones.

By: Eddie

Eddie — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:02:36 +0000

Why does every campain have to be about medevil why not western or space or cave men. well my tip is experiment with different types of setings not just medevil fantasy

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:30:05 +0000

The best tip I have after many years of GM’ing, not just DnD but many RP systems is to keep things loose and relaxed. Don’t get caught up in rules, stats and numbers. It just bogs down the game if you are constantly looking up rules or the like. If you cant find your page in under a minute, just fudge it and move on. Its much more fun to have a loose and flowing game than a strict and choppy game.