Author Archives: Law

Creating Bosses: Making a Concept

Stealing boss ideas is easy once you get used to it. A DM can pick up almost any game with a boss, pick almost any boss in that game, and apply it to their game for a fun encounter. But, … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Comments Off on Creating Bosses: Making a Concept

Stealing Boss Encounters

Boss fights are hard. Most editions of D&D really aren’t designed to handle them, so there’s no simple math you can do to turn a fight into a boss. You could just apply a template to a monster or give … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | 1 Comment

When Anton Met Pepper

Players love messing with NPCs. That’s kind of their thing, perhaps even more than petty crime and distributing loot. Whether the DM presents a haughty nobleman or a vicious warlord or even a curmudgeonly shopkeeper, the players feel it’s their … Continue reading

Posted in Campaigns | Tagged , | Comments Off on When Anton Met Pepper

The Vampire Ambush

I’m something like a recovering simulationist. I’m happiest with a campaign when it makes sense, when causes lead naturally to effects, and when I don’t have to leverage my willing suspension of disbelief too much. I do understand that we … Continue reading

Posted in Campaigns | Tagged | Comments Off on The Vampire Ambush

Selling

A few actual, non-hyperbolic years ago, I said this: Yes, having an odd ability score as an ability damage buffer is a type of metagaming. But it’s also a way of defining a character. As in, “Rock Hardslab is so … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Comments Off on Selling

The Principle of Explosion

DMs are wary of giving power to players, partially because few DMs can prepare for or react to players with too much freedom and partially because players are guaranteed to abuse it. This is why wishes are granted so rarely, … Continue reading

Posted in Campaigns | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Principle of Explosion

Slyghen the Unfortunate

Sometimes I forget just how much DMing I’ve done. I have loose numbers in mind, like the number of campaigns I’ve run, but the weight of all the time and effort I’ve spent usually escapes my notice. I only think … Continue reading

Posted in Campaigns | Tagged | Comments Off on Slyghen the Unfortunate

The Many Tones of Shade

I’ll admit the name of the last post inspired this one, but its a valid topic besides. I have been fortunate in my DMing career in that I’ve rarely had to deal with players who cannot stand each other. It’s … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | 1 Comment

The Many Shades of Tone

I’ve begun a new campaign, because I am very dumb. While Faith is closing out its first season I’ve also put together Under the Stars, a campaign I loosely described to the players as Breath of the Wild meets Ni … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Comments Off on The Many Shades of Tone

Apparatus of Kwalish

Every player can recall a moment when they latched onto something in a book, never to let it go. In fact, each player probably has several. Something about a class or a race or a spell tickled their brain and … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Tagged , | 3 Comments