The Complete Guide to Charms and Enchantments: Part Two

This is the second part of a series on charms and enchantments in 5e. I focus on five spells: suggestion (and its high-level counterpart, mass suggestion), compulsion, geas, and dominate person.

How to roleplay every NPC (almost!)

I recently came across the idea of a psychological gesture from Justin Alexander of the Alexandrian. This is a technique created by Michael Chekhov where actors use a physical action to capture and express their character's main emotional or psychological state. I've been trying it out a bit, and it's fun and really helps me get in character quickly. 

Deeper character creation: dramatic poles revisited

One of the most powerful storytelling tools I’ve encountered this year is also one of the simplest: dramatic poles.

A Complete Guide to the 13 Damage Types in D&D: Part Three

Today is the final article looking at the 13 different damage types in 5e D&D. For this post, I am looking at what I consider to be the four ‘magical’ damage types. These ones don’t actually exist in the real world, so we have a bit of creativity as to how we imagine them.

A Complete Guide to the 13 Damage Types in D&D: Part One

Have you ever wanted to dive deep into the different damage types in D&D? If so, this post is for you. The aim is to help DMs (and players!) understand what damage means in D&D and how best to describe it.

How to stop D&D feeling like a video game

For many people, playing an RPG is about immersion, imagination, unpredictability, and collaboration – and if your game feels like a video game, maybe something is wrong.

Happy birthday, Scroll for Initiative: three years today!

Thanks for joining me along the way. Here are my top ten most read articles in reverse order! 10. How to run time travel in D&D This was one of the most ambitious and daunting sessions I've ever run, because time travel introduces all sorts of complications! In this article, I unpick some of the … Continue reading Happy birthday, Scroll for Initiative: three years today!

How to add depth and drama to your character

Many, many gamers play D&D and nothing else. Some gamers will play anything but D&D. Others will play D&D for the most part but mix it up occasionally with other systems. I’m probably in this latter group. Even if you don’t play other systems, it’s well worth reading them. It’s a great way of sparking … Continue reading How to add depth and drama to your character