Category: DM Resources

Snakes On An Airship

The Lyrander airship cleared the Endworld Mountains and cruised above the Blade Desert. The journey from Q’barra was pleasant and the captain expects to arrive at the Boneyard ahead of schedule. A cry from the crow’s nest signals trouble. Riders are seen in the distance. The number of hippogryph’s is astounding. Ridden by Halfling warriors they quickly form up and attack. Three of the hippogryph’s break off from the main force and pass over the deck of the ship. The riders release a crate that smashes on to the deck below, covering it in very angry snakes.

Tags 4e, airship, D&D, DM, DM Resources, Dungeon Master Resources, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, encounter, Indiana Jones, RPG, Samuel L Jackson, Snakes on a plane

DM Resources

Has Your Campaign Stalled? (Part 2)

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date August 20, 2009
3 Comments on Has Your Campaign Stalled? (Part 2)

Another week has passed and your players have packed up and left. You sit at the table and realize this session didn’t go any better than last week’s. You tried to change things up, but your players still left looking bored and you’re stressed.

You already tried the tips and suggestions we gave you the last time your campaign stalled and they just didn’t do the trick. You made sure you had tougher challenges and you changed the plot on your players. You even made your super-villain run away so he could live to fight another day. Still you can’t help but think that there was something more that you could have done.

Tags 4e, campaign design, D&D, DM, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, resource, Skill Challenge, Skill Challenges

DM Resources Eberron Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Protect The Caravan

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date August 13, 2009
1 Comment on Skill Challenge: Protect The Caravan

Gen Con is here and many loyal gamers flock to Indy on this annual pilgrimage I thought what better way to celebrate than a skill challenge about caravans.

Trade is an integral part of any society. The vital caravans that move goods from one area to another require protection. PCs are often called upon to provide this service. It allows the DM an easy way to move the PCs to a new location or introduce an adventure hook.

Tags 4e, caravan, commerce, D&D, Dragonmarked House, dungeon master, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, protect the caravan, resource, Skill Challenge, Skill Challenges, trade

DM Resources

Game Starts In One Hour And You Aren’t Ready

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date August 12, 2009
7 Comments on Game Starts In One Hour And You Aren’t Ready

Let’s face it we’re all busy. Real life has the annoying habit of being, well real. We need to deal with it and as a Dungeon Master sometimes that means our prep time for our weekly D&D sessions has to take a back seat. So what do you do when work, school, family, video games or any number of other things distract you from preparing your gaming session?

There are a number of solutions and while I won’t promise to cover anywhere near all of them, here are some options for smashing a game together on short notice.

Tags 4e, campaign design, D&D, DM, DM tools, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, lazy dm, lazy dungeon master, prep time, resource, Skill Challenge, Skill Challenges

DM Resources

Has Your Campaign Stalled?

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date August 11, 2009
7 Comments on Has Your Campaign Stalled?

You’ve just finished up a night of gaming. Your players are gone and you’re reflecting on the nights encounters. You go over each encounter in your mind, scratching your head trying to figure out just how the party made it through so easily. They didn’t get a thrill out of the encounters and as you reflect you realize that they were bored!

Just how did your players get so bored with the campaign, how did they get so lazy?

Simple. They followed your lead.

Tags 4e, campaign, challenge, D&D, DM, dungeon master, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, encounter, lazy, RPG

DM Resources Editorial

Adventure Tools Through a Different Lens

Post author By Suddry
Post date August 10, 2009
5 Comments on Adventure Tools Through a Different Lens

Unless you’ve been living inside a portable hole you’ve already heard of Wizard of the Coast’s recent release of Adventure Tools. I am the current DM for Wimwick and Ameron and I have to say that the Monster Builder – even in beta form – is a godsend. Sure the beta has its bugs and missing features but it has already saved me hours of prep time. But that isn’t the point of this article. If you want to hear more about the Monster Builder then search the RPGBlogger community for the many informative Monster Builder reviews out there. What I’d like to do here is take a guess (make a wish?) as to what the other lenses of the Adventure Tool main screen will lead us to.

Tags 4e, Adventure Tools, D&D, DDI, DM Resources, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons & Dragons Insider, Dungeons and Dragons, Encounter Builder, Game Table, Monster Builder, Wizards of the Coast

DM Resources

Condition Tracker

As the DM you’ve got a lot of responsibility. You’re accountable for everything that’s not the Player Characters. It’s a tough job. But today we’re making it a little bit easier by giving you a Condition Tracker.

Tags 4e, Condition Tracker, D&D, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Initiative Tracker, Ongoing Damage

DM Resources

DM Tips for Restarting a Retired Campaign

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date July 30, 2009
7 Comments on DM Tips for Restarting a Retired Campaign

After almost a year we are putting our current campaign on hold, and rather than start something brand new we’ve decided to return to a campaign that we put on hold just before the release of 4e. In many ways going back to a retired campaign can be even more difficult than starting from scratch. As I prepare to put on my DM hat and dust off my old notes I’ve been thinking about all the things I need to do to make this transition run smoothly.

Tags 4e, D&D, DM Resources, DM Tip, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, resource, Retired Campaign

DM Resources

D&D Lego

Just because I’ve seen Star Wars 100 times, does that mean I’m cheating when I play Star Wars Lego? The game follows the plot of each Star Wars movie with incredible accuracy. So does knowing where the game is going give me an unfair advantage? Does my familiarity with the heroes and villains ruin my experience? Not one bit. In fact I bought the games and have enjoyed playing them for EXACTLY that reason.

After playing Star Wars Lego every night for the past week I realized that this familiarity really appeals to me. It doesn’t matter that I know the story backwards and forwards. It doesn’t matter that I know which villain I’m going to face around the next corner. My love for this story and its characters is what brought me to this game and what’s kept me glued to the flat-screen for 50 hours of game play (so far). Upon making this realization my mind immediately started thinking about how to apply this epiphany to D&D.

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Lego, DM idea, DM inspiration, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Lego, resource, Star Wars Lego

DM Resources Editorial

Speed Up Your Game: Know When to Call the Fight

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date July 27, 2009
13 Comments on Speed Up Your Game: Know When to Call the Fight

One of the biggest criticisms I’ve heard about 4e D&D is that the combat takes too long. Sometimes it’s necessary to stop combat, assume the PCs will emerge victorious and keep things moving. When DMs find themselves in a situation where dragging out a combat encounter is just an exercise in rolling dice then it’s time to call the fight. We’ve already shared some of our methods for speeding up your game and as PCs move into the Paragon and Epic tiers of play DMs will find this latest tip more and more useful.

Tags 4e, D&D, DM Resouces, DM Tip, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Fast Combat, Know When to Call the Fight, Speed Up Combat, Speed Up Your Game