Have you ever made a new bard character and wondered which musical instrument was a good fit? Have you ever looked at the equipment list in the Player’s Handbook and thought, hey, what even is a dulcimer? Do you want to use musical instruments to add depth and colour to your worldbuilding? If so, this post might be for you!
My real-life job is an English teacher on a secondary school. In the last few years, something we’ve been talking about a bit as a profession is the idea of Tier 2 vocabulary, and in this article I want to explain how it is relevant to your tabletop RPGs. According to this model, there are … Continue reading Enhanced Description: Unlocking the Power of Tier 2 Vocabulary
Do you need a character backstory? Here are the questions that are worth answering.
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?
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?
Many groups handwave wealth and treat gold the same way a video game does: ie, you can carry as much as you like. But what if we’re playing rules as written? In this post, I’m looking at the logistics of D&D numismatics and how our richest adventurers can best manage their wealth.
It’s nearly June – and for those of us in the northern hemisphere, summer! Time to play D&D outside? There are a few practicalities to consider first.
Some players strive to be more than just another elven wizard. The game of 20 questions is a neat concept for building richer, deeper characters.
Today’s topic is something so iconic within D&D that some people have even named their blogs after it: rolling initiative. Using initiative to determine combat order has a history going all the way back to 1977. But do we need it, really? Or is it an unnecessary hassle? The case for rolling There are two … Continue reading Is rolling initiative a pointless ritual?
A combat crib sheet is an order of operations: a brief instruction manual for how to ‘optimize’ my character. For spellcasters, high-level characters, and characters with interesting feats and abilities, it can really come in handy.