Baiting the Hook: How to Create Immersive Adventure Hooks When Running the Game and in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

All kidding aside, putting the time into creating a believable, character-centric hook to the upcoming adventure does a lot of the heavy lifting for you by increasing player buy-in to the story and giving them a seriously good reason to risk life and limb to go adventuring.

My Name’s the Teacher: Making Leveling with Character Abilities, Oaths, and Patrons Matter in your Dungeons & Dragons Campaign

We can all understand that Fighters and Rogues just get better at doing the things they do, but what about Paladins, Warlocks, Clerics, etc… characters that gain incredibly powerful class abilities that are not of this world? In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss how they make character choices in leveling matter more when it comes to BIG class changes.

It’s So Easy: 3 Wise DMs 18 Favorite Dungeon Master Hacks To Help Make Running Your TTRPG Game That Much Easier

Running a game is a lesson in balance. There are so many dials and mechanics that you need to play with while also focusing on what Gary Gygax referred to as being “the Shaper of the Cosmos.” Anyone who has started running games or has been running for decades has found hacks to make running the game that much easier and streamlined. In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss their favorite DM hacks that we’ve employed in our games.

The 3 Wise DMs Adventuring Party Grows!

The 3 Wise DM’s have always been about helping Dungeon Masters get the most out of the game we all love. We take our place in the community very seriously. Nothing we do matters if you don’t trust us to provide you with the advice borne of three real DMs sitting around a table. That’s … Read more

When Good Gaming Groups Go Bad: 3 Wise DMs Tips On How To Continue Your TTRPG Campaign With Only One Player

Game groups fall apart. It’s as inevitable as the rain. What do you do when your current group goes south, but you still have a player who wants to continue? Do you continue with the current campaign? Do you now run the entire rest of the party, the monsters, and all the NPCs? The 3 Wise DMs answer long-time listener Jared’s question about his Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign and delve deeper into utilizing Sidekicks, DMPCs, and other tips with one-on-one gaming. And, as an added surprise, we introduce our newest co-host…

Just Do It! 3 Wise DMs Interviews a Brand-New D&D Enthusiast About the 13 Tips and Tricks to Mastering the Dungeon

New DMs. It’s easily the most discussed topic in the TTRPG hobby. We’ve talked before about tips and tricks for new DMs looking to run their first games. However, this week, we got the chance to sit down with our return guest Chris and his brand-new to all things fantasy, D&D, and DMing friend, Lenny Szot… who decided to dive into the deep end and run his first game ever! Throughout the episode, we detail 13 tips and tricks to help but, in the end, Lenny’s advice is the most succinct: Just Do It!

Terrain, Maps & Minis, Oh My! The Long Tradition of Using Terrain and Minis in D&D to Enhance Your Game

In this episode, Tony and Dave sit down with our good friend and fellow gamer, Scott Washburn of Paper Terrain to discuss the tradition of using terrain, maps, and minis from the earliest days of the game up to our current times. Along the way, we discuss how we have used and continue to use physical props to enhance our games as well as the tips and tricks to ease the burden on the DM.

Strahd’s Maker: How 3 Wise DMs Kitbashed an Epic Finale to Their Curse of Strahd D&D Campaign

It’s easily one of the most iconic settings in all of D&D history and we’ve gone into detail about how we homebrewed sections of Curse of Strahd for our table. But, what do you do when the long-running adventure you’ve been running ends at around 10th level? How do you handle it when your players want to continue with this set of characters and take it all the way to epic tiers?

Back in Black: The Players Wrap-Up to the Absolutely Epic Curse of Strahd Finale with Vampyr, the Star of Blood

Hello and welcome BACK to 3 Wise DMs! It’s been quite some time and we’re glad that we’re back… Back in Black, that is – like Vampyr, our epic, final BBEG to end all BBEGs in Barovia. We thought that it worked out well that the absolute, final ending to our 2+ year Curse of Strahd campaign coincided almost perfectly with the initial launch of 3 Wise DMs – and that deserves a proper sendoff.

“Heeeere’s Johnny!”: The Long-Awaited Return of 3 Wise DMs

After several months off, and the start of a brand new year, DM Tony and DM Dave are pleased to announce the return of the 3 Wise DMs podcast!