Do you need a character backstory? Here are the questions that are worth answering.
How To Make A Compelling Backstory
What does your favourite character look like?
One of the most popular articles I wrote last year was a bit of a surprise. Inspired by Legend of the Five Rings, I came up with 20 questions for deeper character creation. A year later, it is the most-read page on my site! The first question in the article is ‘What do you look … Continue reading What does your favourite character look like?
Make your own megadungeon with Dungeon 23
It's 2023, and many people in the tabletop RPG space have decided to do 'Dungeon 23'. The principle is simple: a 365-room megadungeon, with one room for every day of the year. What a great idea!
Treasure Hoards and Magic Items in 5e
How much treasure should your players receive in D&D? Gems, coins, art objects, magic items? The answer might surprise you.
How to make D&D challenging at higher levels
If you have played 5th edition D&D in Tier 3 or 4, you will know how difficult it is to challenge players at these levels. A well-optimized party can steamroller through encounters without breaking a sweat. So how do you stop the game getting stale?
How to run low fantasy D&D
Low fantasy is gritty, grounded, and high stakes. How can we make that work in 5th edition D&D?
Make Your Goblins Unique: Thinking in Depth about Monsters and Factions
I have recently enjoyed watching Baron de Ropp’s YouTube videos about fantasy geopolitics, and it got me thinking about how we can do so much more with the monsters and factions in our games. I wouldn’t necessarily say that this post is ‘geopolitics’ per se, but that's certainly part of it. I think this approach … Continue reading Make Your Goblins Unique: Thinking in Depth about Monsters and Factions
How to run Strahd von Zarovich as the ultimate Halloween villain
With just one week until Halloween, many of us will be getting ready to run Ravenloft again. Widely considered one of the greatest adventures ever written, the original I6: Ravenloft was updated to 5th edition in 2016’s Curse of Strahd. It’s a lot of fun, and many players and DMs have said that it’s their … Continue reading How to run Strahd von Zarovich as the ultimate Halloween villain
How to make Halloween D&D spooky
Just two weeks until Halloween! How do you run a spooky four-hour game that's easy to run without upsetting anyone?
Twelve Tips for Great Description on the Fly
Description is probably the most powerful tool we have at our disposal at the table. But it's hard. How do we get better at it?