Tag: dungeon master

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DM Resources Editorial

Dungeon Master – The Little Guy in Red Robes

Remember the old D&D Cartoon from the 80s? Six kids are magically transported into the world of Dungeons & Dragons where they fight the forces of evil while trying to find a way home. (See the cartoon intro below). In the cartoon the Dungeons Master was an actual character. He would appear at the beginning of each episode and provide the heroes with a quest; in much the same way the DM does during an actual game of D&D. The DM served as the guide for the characters in the show and the viewers at home. He’d also step in from time to time and give the characters advice or help them out of a really tight jam.

In 4e D&D the DM is not one NPC, rather the DM takes on the roles of every NPC. But wouldn’t it make things easier if Dungeon Master actually was an NPC in your game?

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DM Resources

More Monster Variety – Put Undead to Rest

When the heroes finish clearing away the rubble they find the entrance to a long forgotten dungeon. As they enter, the stale musty smell clearly indicates that nothing has come in or out of this labyrinth for a very long time.

“Divine characters up front, everyone else get your radiant powers and glow stones ready. It won’t be long before we encounter our fist undead opponents.”

More often then not, when an adventure involves exploitation into a sealed environment, like a dungeon or tomb, the PCs expect to fight undead. And you know what; in almost every example of this scenario they’re right.

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DM Resources Editorial

Greatest Hits 2010: 5 Errors I’ve Made as DM

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2010. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

Nothing helps you overcome a problem like talking about it. After I wrote this article I made a point of referring back to it a lot the next time I took over the DM’s chair. I found that seeing these errors in print served as a good reminder not to repeat any of them. In some cases the learning I’d taken away from analyzing these errors actually let me make the right call the next time thereby making the whole experience better for everyone.

As a bonus, I’ve add a 6th Error I’ve Made as DM to the list below. I hope you continue finding these errors educational and that everyone can learn from my mistakes.

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DM Resources

Greatest Hits 2010: My Campaign Should Be On TV

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2010. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

I’ve always enjoyed Skallawag’s style as a DM. His sessions are highly enjoyable, fast paced and fulfilling. In his article My Campaign Should Be On TV Skallawag reveals some of the strategies that he employee’s when designing adventures. There are no magic secrets, just solid advice to keep your players hooked and begging for more. The method employed, borrow from Hollywood. Take the best strategies for keeping audiences hooked to both the large and small screen and translate those methods onto the gaming table.

I hope you enjoy this revisit to a great piece here on Dungeon’s Master. – Wimwick

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DM Resources Editorial

5 Errors I’ve Made as DM

DMs aren’t perfect. There I’ve said it. Any DM that claims he’s never made an error when running a game is lying. Even the best DMs make mistakes. Over the years I’ve made plenty of errors while playing D&D. I’ve found that the best thing to do in these situations is to try and learn from the experience. So today I’m going to share with you the 5 biggest and most egregious errors I’ve made as a DM. I think you’ll find that these are fairly common mistakes made by DMs across the board.

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DM Resources

My Campaign Should Be On TV

My personal spin as a DM is to think of each individual gaming session as a television episode and have the overall arc of my campaign play like a television season. Television shows such as Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules and Legend of the Seeker have a genre similar to that of Dungeons & Dragons and can provide some insight and ideas into your own campaign.

Here are some basic elements to keep your campaigns fresh so you don’t get “canceled” by your gaming group.

The Dungeon’s Master team welcomes Skallawag into the fold. Skallawag, Wimwick and Ameron have played D&D together for over 20 years. Since Dungeon’s Master launched, Skallawag has provided many insightful comments. It took some coaxing, but we finally convinced him to write an article. We hope that this is his first of many articles and that you find his perspective on D&D as helpful and insightful as we do.

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DM Resources Editorial

Benefits of Random Treasure

The way DMs determine what’s in a treasure horde has vastly improved since the advent of 4e D&D. In previous editions the DM would open up a random treasure table, roll some dice and the PCs would get a mish-mash of random loot. The power level of the items in question weren’t taken into consideration – nothing was. It was totally random. Without a good DM to apply some common sense and adjust random treasure accordingly, things often got out of control in a hurry.

Enter 4e D&D. The DM no longer assigns magic treasure randomly. Random treasure is dead. In its place are treasure bundles. A balanced system in which the party loot is doled out in carefully divided portions. The power level of each item determines whether or not it’s suitable treasure for these PCs at this particular level. No more rolling dice and no more unexpected elements. The inventory of every treasure horde is now chosen by the DM one item at a time. But is this a good thing?

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DM Resources Eberron Skill Challenges

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.

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DM Resources

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.

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DM Resources

Campaign Design: Politics and Groups of Influence

The world is starting to take shape, the geography has been defined and named and you have appropriate resources on hand to assist you. Now comes the time to start breathing life into your campaign setting. This entry in the Campaign Design series takes a look at Politics and Groups of Influence. This is a high-level view at the different powers and factions that exist within the world. We will examine particular individuals and NPCs in our next entry, but today it’s all about the organizations.

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