Welcome to the 2022 Scroll for Initiative Holiday Gift Guide! No affiliate links, no product endorsements, just well-intentioned, thoroughly researched advice!
The 2022 Holiday Gift Guide
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?
Coming soon: Adventures in Hawk’s Rest!
I’m disappearing for a bit but excited to share my latest project with you!
5 Ways to Make Cave Adventures More Interesting
Caves have been one of the ‘go to’ dungeons since the earliest days of Dungeons & Dragons, and some of the most famous dungeons in the game are caves. If you play through the D&D starter set, Lost Mine of Phandelver, the first and last adventure are both caves. They’re iconic. So why don’t they … Continue reading 5 Ways to Make Cave Adventures More Interesting
Awesome, free adventure hooks from the Monster Manual
Have you ever read the Monster Manual? From cover to cover? If not, you really should. It’s a gold mine of inspiration and ideas, easily my favourite of the core rulebooks. Here are 64 mini adventure hooks I found there.
Happy Belated Birthday, Scroll for Initiative!
Whoops: I missed my second anniversary. Can’t believe it’s been two years! Thank you for reading, sharing, and commenting. To celebrate, here are my top ten posts. 10. How to Run Time Travel in D&D This was quite a personal one for me. I had been playing D&D for 20 years and never used time … Continue reading Happy Belated Birthday, Scroll for Initiative!
What is Wizards of the Coast’s favourite dragon?
Dragons: they’re half the name of the game. But how often do you encounter them during play? I thought it would be fun exercise to go through the official Wizards adventures and count up how many you find.
The One Ring, 2nd edition: a charming and visually stunning love letter to Middle Earth
A few weeks ago, the fine folks at Free League very kindly sent me a review copy of The One Ring: the core rulebook, the DM screen, and the starter set. Regular readers will know that I rarely review things I haven’t paid for, so I have tried not to let this influence me too … Continue reading The One Ring, 2nd edition: a charming and visually stunning love letter to Middle Earth
The Best (and Worst) Products of 5e So Far
5e was launched in 2014. Since then, in addition to the three core rulebooks, we’ve had 17 hardback adventures, seven campaign settings, and at least seven other supplements – and as with any product line, quality varies. So which books are ‘must buys’ and which should you avoid? As with my holiday gift guide, it’s … Continue reading The Best (and Worst) Products of 5e So Far
Seasons, one-shots, and epic levels: campaign length for beginners
How long should a campaign be? Tl;dr answer: as long as you want, of course. But it’s an interesting question. Ultimately, it comes down to five things: How often do you play?How long are your sessions?Do you use XP or milestones?What level do you start at?What level do you want to reach? Think of these … Continue reading Seasons, one-shots, and epic levels: campaign length for beginners