Boredom alert! There’s nothing wrong with a game that’s slowing down. Dungeon masters are only human and can’t possibly plan for everything. Dungeons & Dragons players also often have A.D.D. – which is the main reason TSR called the old version of the game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. (A.D.D.) So what’s a DM to do…
Instant Campaign Builder Part X: D&D superstars This article is part of the Instant Campaign Builder Project. It’s tweaking time All the hard work is done. The campaign is almost ready to be unveiled. Almost! There’s still a few things you can do to make it better. In no particular order here are 4 things…
Instant Campaign Builder Part IX: Ending the campaign This article is part of the Instant Campaign Builder Project. Why plan the ending? I strongly suggest planning the ending, the last scene of your campaign before the first game is ever played. Here’s why:
Instant Campaign Builder Part VIII: The First Scene This article is part of the Instant Campaign Builder Project. The first scene This is the first impression the players will get. Blow your players minds and they’ll be much more involved in their characters and your campaign. That should make your game easier to prepare –…
Instant Campaign Builder Part VII: Planting This article is part of the Instant Campaign Builder Project.
Instant Campaign Builder Part VI: Hype This article is part of the Instant Campaign Builder Project. The Buzz Most great events are preceded by an insane amount of publicity, which sometimes generates anticipation. I believe the Saturday morning D&D session can benefit from fabricated buzz and hype.
Instant Campaign Builder Part V: LOCKing scenes This article is part of the Instant Campaign Builder Project. The LOCK technique I read about the LOCK system in a fiction writing book and quickly figured that it would be useful for my D&D game planning. According to this system here are the 4 elements of a…
This article is part of the Instant Campaign Builder Project.Knowledge is power The most important building block in a campaign is knowledge. Your knowledge of yourself, your Dming skills, your players and their characters. If the characters have yet to be created, I suggest you plan a first game around character creation before you start…
Edit: You can now download the complete Instant Campaign Builder. (pdf file) What is the Instant Campaign Builder Project? As a DM I always have 2 objectives when I plan a campaign.
I like to keep my NPC descriptions simple. I think that less is more when it comes to introducing an NPC in a campaign. Whether the character will never be seen again or is the uber-villain you should settle for one – only one – role-playable characteristic. Nothing else matters. The NPC’s motivations or stats…
Cartography is an art and a science, yet adventurers running through a daedalus of underground caves and passages while being pursued by evil creatures draw maps with extreme precision. I hate that. So I have developed a way to screw the players over when they’re trying to find their way out of a maze.
Sometimes I wish I were smarter. I wish I would have come up with the simple D&D flowchart I wrote about a few weeks ago (Smash it with a stick, July 26). I also wish I would have thought about making it better. I’m so glad I don’t have to think anymore Thankfully the Great…
It is impossible to defeat an army of goblins in 5 rounds. It takes at least 6 rounds. Role-playing sucks? They’re called role-playing games but for most of us the fun part is killing stuff. Why else would computer games like World of Warcraft get millions of players? Because they got rid of most of…