Category: DM Resources

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D&D Bingo

One of the things that I really like about the Lair Assault program is Glory awards. These are objectives that the characters can do throughout the course of the adventure that will earn them points. The points have no in-game significance; they’re merely earned by the players for bragging rights. At first I thought Glory was just a nice add-on but after only one or two sessions I realized that the players had their character take actions simply to fulfill the conditions listed on their Glory tracker. The more I thought about this phenomena the more I realized that using something like a Glory tracker in a home game could help the DM guide the party in certain directions without railroading the group. It could also add some brevity to the game as the PCs tried doing all sorts of crazy things simply because it was on their to-do list.

Initially I thought about just creating a laundry list and calling it Glory just like Liar Assault, but then I had a brainstorm: D&D Bingo! As players or their PCs accomplish pre-defined objectives they get to mark off squares as complete. The DM can elect to award prizes if PCs complete a single line, two lines, inside square, four corners, X, T, or full card – it really doesn’t matter. The idea is that once every player has a D&D Bingo card they’ll find additional motivation to do things they might not otherwise be inclined to do.

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DM Resources Player Resources

Magic Items With Charges

Magic wands used to be packed with power in previous editions of D&D. Wands were like loaded guns waiting to go off. Finding a magic wand in a treasure trove was a big deal because if it had the right magic contained within, it could drastically change a party’s balance of power. Now in 4e D&D wands are just sticks that Wizards, Bards, Artificers and Warlocks use to focus and channel their magic through.

Wands and other consumable or limited-use items used to be a big part of D&D. These items could replicate almost every power spell-casting classes brought to the table from healing to flying, from turning someone invisible to shooting fireballs. With the right items you could often make up for an individual character’s inadequacies or an unbalanced party’s shortfalls. No one was forced to play a Cleric when you could just buy everyone a Wand of Cure Light Wounds.

In 4e D&D things changed, and although there are still consumable items they certainly don’t pack the punch we saw in previous editions. By removing the abundance and variety of throw-away items, players quickly realized that there are going to be certain things unbalanced parties simply cannot do on their own.

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DM Resources

5 Reasons Intelligent Undead Became Undead

Becoming undead isn’t something that many PCs aspire to; in fact I don’t think it’s an aspiration anybody aspires to. Death may be terrible and even unexpected, but why would anyone want to become undead? I guess it really depends on what kind of undead we’re talking about and why the individual wants to extend their natural lifespan.

In most cases the transformation isn’t by choice. An unsuspecting victim becomes undead because they were killed by some un-living creature. The most likely possibilities are that you were bitten or scratched by a Zombie, Ghoul, or Vampire before you died. If this happens to a PC it’s game over for that character and time for the player to roll up a new one. The character’s undeath is treated the same way as the character’s death.

For players who really want to play undead characters they have to make that decision during character creation. They can play the Revenant or Vryloka races or they can choose the Vampire class. But if these options don’t appeal to players, a willing DM might allow a few other options. After all there are intelligent creatures that deliberately and often willingly become undead, take the Lich and Mummy, for example.

It’s assumed that a lot of the intelligent undead creatures took deliberate steps while they were alive to ensure that they could live on in undead form. Although D&D usually depicts powerful, intelligent undead as evil monsters, there is a good chance that before this villain became the undead entity the party is desperately trying to defeat he was a mortal being with a solid plan and a good reason for becoming undead.

By identifying the reason behind the transformation DMs can make intelligent undead more than a stat block. After all, the being likely lived for decades or even centuries before the PCs came along. Knowing what drove the monster to become undead will give him a personality and make him a more interesting opponent. It’s even possible that the undead creature doesn’t see himself as evil at all, and if the PCs ever discover his back-story they too may come to that realization.

With that in mind I’ve come up with 5 reasons intelligent undead became undead. I see these examples serving two different proposes. The first is to enrich the undead villain’s background. The second is to act as adventure hooks. Are the PCs trying to help or stop the would-be Lich from becoming undead or willing to take steps to ensure it happens?

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DM Resources

5 Ways to Make Mindless Undead More Interesting

A lot of DMs have a love/hate relationship with undead; I know I do. Whenever I need a monster to round out an encounter I know that some kind of undead will always fill the gap. With so many different kinds of undead to choose from they can easily become the go-to monsters. However, as the party gets tougher I find that I’m less likely to use undead staples like skeletons and zombies. Sure I can adjust their scores to make them level-appropriate for tougher parties but these undead are really one-trick ponies. By the time the party reaches upper heroic tier they know the trick and they’re no longer impressed.

This is why I try to limit how often I use undead creatures in my campaign. Some of the most common undead, at least the ones you’re most likely to encounter in great numbers (skeletons and zombies) tend to be mindless. They rely on their overwhelming numbers rather than any advanced tactics. After all, how can a creature with no brain, or a rotten decaying brain, think at all? This lack of reason makes them boring and predictable.

But undead have their place in D&D and we shouldn’t just cast any of them aside, regardless of the PCs’ level. So in order to make mindless undead more interesting I’ve come up with 5 tips that the players won’t see coming and the PCs will never forget.

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DM Resources Editorial

What a Dick Move Taught Us About Party Goals

I’ve said it many times before: I want the players at my table to play the character they want to play. Unless the campaign revolves around a specific theme (like the last season of D&D Encounters where everyone had to be Drow) or some other facet that the characters need to share, I welcome whatever race/class combo you can imagine – without restriction.

We don’t usually pay a lot of attention to the EXTREME diversity in a party’s composition. Heroes of six different races each of whom represents a different class all come together and go adventuring together. It’s just a part of the way D&D works. Unless you want to make this an important part of your campaign we have learned to just accept it and move on. But for players with considerable experience they’ll often ask questions and dig deeper. What brought theses characters together? Why do they continue to stay together? As a DM and player I’m completely open to this additional character development.

Yet even when the players ask these kinds of questions and look for the deeper motivation or party goals, they know that at the end of the day the party will go adventuring. It’s certainly nice to have a common motivation that will rally the troops into action, but for most of us, most of the time, we just agree that the PCs will form a party and take on the adventure the DM places in front of them. Six strangers will work together, trust each other, and risk their lives for one another along the way because that’s what we do in D&D.

This is the norm. This is what we all expect from the other players at the table. But it makes sense that some players will eventually feel that their character really needs a stronger motivation to keep going. A time when the character will finally look around and realize that he’s got no good reason to stay on the team. The question is what does the player do when he feels his character has reached this unusual predicament?

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Undead of Different Races

When the DM describes zombies, skeletons or any other undead that attacks the party, how often does he mention what race the creature was in life? How often do you even think to ask?

As a player when I hear “skeleton” I always assume it’s a Human skeleton. I never ask if it was originally any other race. The same goes for zombies, mummies, and ghouls. I always just assume that it was human and now it’s undead. Even the description in the Monster Manual and online compendium just classifies these monsters as medium undead. But in a fantasy setting there’s no reason to assume that every undead you face was once Human. With so many other races represented in the world why wouldn’t some undead creatures have once been a race other than Human?

This might seem like a really small detail, but it can really change the way an encounter plays out. Not to mention it can drastically change the mood of the encounter. Think about it, how much more terrifying would a skeletal army be if they were once Minotaurs? What about a zombie horde full of animated Dragonborn corpses? What about Halfling mummies? Or Pixie ghouls? It only takes the DM a few minutes to identify what race the creature was before it became undead yet it can drastically alter how the players perceive the encounter. Where they might rush haphazardly into a group of “normal” skeletons, they may now rethink their tactic once they realize that these undead are special.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

The 5 Ws of Treasure Maps

“Among the loot is a treasure map.”

This statement never fails to get the players’ attention. Suddenly the magic sword and the rare gems are forgotten at the possibility of even greater riches. I’ve seen players expend more energy arguing over who gets the treasure map while other magical treasures on the floor right in front of them go unclaimed. The idea that someone hid something valuable and you could be the one to find it really hits a nerve with players. Why settle for this lame flaming sword +3 when I could have something even better? Ah, the insatiable greed of players.

Personally I love treasure maps. They’re one of the easiest and best adventure hooks in D&D (or just about any other RPG). The promise of something valuable, the excitement of following the map’s directions, and the thrill of acquiring treasure appeals to an overwhelming majority of players. Knowing this, it’s easy for the DM to lead the PCs anywhere he wants them to go, because who can resist a treasure map?

But a treasure map can and should be more than a map with a big X marked on it. It certainly can be this mundane and direct, but if it is then it’s a safe bet when the PCs get there they won’t find anything worthwhile. A good map has a story all its own, a history, a personality if you will. Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide their treasure and then write down the location. The last thing they wanted was for a bunch of idiots (the PCs) to easily find it and steal it just because they got their hands on his map.

Before throwing a treasure map haphazardly into your game you should answer the 5 Ws – who, what, when, where, why (although not necessarily in that order). It may seem like a lot of extra (and unnecessary) work, but believe me it’s time well spent.

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DM Resources

Collaborative Dungeon Design

It’s unusual for DMs to get the players to help them design encounters. After all, part of the fun of being a player is the element of the unknown. Players love it and DMs relish in it. The idea that the DM springs the unknown on the players is practically a mandate of D&D. I know this is how things usually work when I’m the DM. I have a vision of what an encounter will be like or where it will take place and I make it happen. I create the encounters in secret. The last thing I want is for the players to have any foreknowledge of what’s next. In fact I’ve gone so far as to change details if I discover they know something they shouldn’t about the next encounter.

During my recent introduction to the Dresden Files RPG I experienced the extreme satisfaction of being part of the collaborative city creation process. The game takes place in a city that everyone helps develop. The DM (or in this case GM) still has the final say, but all the players work together to make the setting interesting. Of course it didn’t take long to see how this exercise could be just as useful to other games, namely D&D.

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D&D Encounters DM Resources

D&D Encounters Map Gallery

Since the beginning of the D&D Encounter program every adventure has come with at least one full-colour poster map. Regardless of your thoughts on any individual D&D Encounters season or the program as a whole, you have to admit that the maps have consistently been among the best elements of every adventure. The maps have depicted a wide variety of terrain since the program’s inception. Most maps are generic enough that they can easily be used by DM after the D&D Encounters program is done.

Below is a gallery of every map that’s been used (so far) for D&D Encounters. For DMs who have run some or all of the previous seasons of D&D Encounters, this gallery provides you with an easy, quick-reference to the maps. The next time you need a map with certain terrain or other specific features, just scroll through this gallery until you find what you need.

For DMs who have not run a season of D&D Encounters this gallery can serves as inspiration when you’ve got to create maps for your own campaigns. All of these maps were created using Wizards dungeon tiles, so you can recreate them yourself if you’ve got tiles. Alternatively you can draw your maps free-hand using these as a source of inspiration.

Sharing all the maps in this way is also a good advertisement for the D&D Encounters program. One of the reasons I keep running the adventures each season is so that I can keep these great maps. At my FLGS we’re always trying to get new DMs to run a season of D&D Encounters. By showcasing the great maps that come with each season our hope is that new DMs will step up and go behind the screen for a season or two.

The map is one of the most important parts of any encounter. The more dynamic and detailed the map, the better your chances of creating a truly memorable encounter. With a solid map, the rest of the details for an encounter seem to effortlessly fall into place. So the next time you need a quick map, take a look through this gallery and get inspired. After all, no one wants to fight monsters on a map that’s just a big featureless square.

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DM Resources

The New Initiative – Talk then Fight

“Everyone, roll initiative.” When the DM speaks these magic words we all know that it’s time for combat. This is how D&D works. The players determine who goes in what order and then you have at it. Since initiative is tied to Dexterity, PCs with the highest Dex almost always go first. And what do you know, the powers for most strikers – Rogues, Rangers, Sorcerers, Monks, Vampires – are generally tied to Dex so this is usually their best stat. The result is that the PCs who have the best chance of inflicting the most damage will act first in combat more often than not. This is all well and good if your objective is to kill everything you come across, but every now and then don’t you think there should be an opportunity to talk to your opponents before the hot-headed striker does something stupid like acting first and killing something?

We have it so engrained in our D&D mindset that rolling initiative is the natural precursor to killing monsters that very few PCs will take a second to try and defuse a combat situation with words. And those that do usually act so far down in the initiative order that by the time they get to go the fight is already well underway. Yet talking is a free action. In-game, your PC can talk even if it’s not his turn – even if he didn’t win initiative. However, players I’ve gamed with rarely take advantage of this before combat begins. Players roll initiative and want to act in that order. So why not roll two initiatives – one for talking and one for fighting?

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