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Category Archives: DMing
Cooperative Session Design (or, Everybody Has a Plan Until Players Show up)
Preparing for a session is hard, not least because it’s rarely clear what a DM needs to prepare. If you spend hours mapping out the sewers where bandits are hiding, you can be sure that the players will instead look … Continue reading
Posted in DMing
2 Comments
“Rules as Written” (or, Hate the Playa, not the Game)
I was loitering at my friendly local gaming store (patronize it with money!) lately, and a conversation sprouted about play styles. Specifically, we discussed a particular style of play formed around building powerful characters and having them do powerful things. … Continue reading
DM Mentors
Gnome Stew had an article recently on the concept of the GM Confidant, which is a GM that assists another GM with the campaign without actually participating. A confidant is there to discuss ideas, add to existing concepts or create … Continue reading
Making Death Interesting
I’ve died six times. Given the amount of time I’ve been playing D&D, it’s a little surprising that I’ve only died six times. One was from a TPK during the first session of a campaign, and I decided that maybe … Continue reading
Published Adventures
My opinion on published campaign settings is documented and correct (because it’s my blog and I can say things like that). But published settings go hand-in-hand with something that I’ve never discussed: published adventures. Stargazer’s World talked about them recently, … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, DMing
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On the Talkative Tavernmaster
The problem with providing any sort of advice on DMing is that inevitably you’ll come across something that can’t be explained in a thousands words via a blog. I would love to give tons of information on how to actually … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, DMing
6 Comments
Alternate Hit Point Systems (or, Various Ways to Make Crits Stop Being Fun)
There’s a quiet assumption in 3rd Edition and its related systems that hit potions don’t actually keep track of damage. Getting cut by a sword is normally quite severe if not fatal, and gunshots and firealls aren’t any better. Rather, … Continue reading
Players Making Failure Interesting
So we had a TPK on Saturday. The party came across the guardian to a gate we had to open. In the first round, the fighter won initiative, charged, and did 75 points of damage in one hit, dropping the … Continue reading
On The Dungeon Master Experience
Chris Perkin’s penultimate article came down last week, which bothers me. As soon as I find an article on Wizard’s site that’s worth reading, it goes away. It’s like Leverage all over again. I was going to link to his … Continue reading
Posted in Commentary, DMing
3 Comments
On Inspiration
Left Oblique and I go back and forth a lot on what systems, players, DMs, and gaming in general are and should be. A lot of it comes down to simulationism versus narrativism, but it’s not always that clear-cut. One … Continue reading →