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9 Alternate D&D Rules to Try: Our Favorite Optional Mechanics From the DMG, Homebrew and Other Games

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Vanilla Dungeons & Dragons 5E is a fine game, but depending on the atmosphere you want to set and the possibilities of your setting, there are a lot of alternate rules that can bring your game to the next level. The D&D 5E Dungeon Masters Guide has some great optional rules you can use to bring different genres of games to life by playing up things like honor and horror. Beyond D&D itself, a lot of other games use mechanics that are worth porting in to create certain effects in your campaign world. Your own unique homebrew mechanics can be even more powerful tools for bringing your setting more to life. In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave talk about their favorite optional rules, how to use them and when.

Learning From the Legend: 3 Lessons The Legend of Vox Machina Reveals About DMing Your Best D&D Game

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I’ve made no secret of the inspiration and enjoyment I get from being a fan of Critical Role, the D&D live-play stream that has taken the TTRPG world by storm. Now in its third season, the show’s creators unveiled the much-anticipated animated series on Amazon Prime, The Legend of Vox Machina, dramatizing (or comedyizing?) some of the adventures in their first season. There are things to learn about ways to improve our games from these types of creators.

How to Handle a Backseat DM: 11 Things to Know

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Why won’t the experienced DM playing in your game back off and let you run it? A backseat DM can be a frustrating experience and force some difficult conversations — but having an experienced DM on the player side of the table to help lookup rulings and encourage the other players can also be a really beneficial asset in your game. How do you leverage that DM player as a good assistant and not let them become your worst critic?

10 More Awesome Magical Items, and 4 With Wording and Mechanical Issues 

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The Master Sword, essentially a signature magic item.

In part one of our Awesome Magic Items series, we looked at some magical items that are worth the price of admission and a few that would probably just get both you and your friends killed. In part two, we’ll examine both extremes of the magic item list to determine what’s really good and what you shouldn’t give to one of your in-game friends unless you don’t like them.

Sharing RPG Worlds: Balancing PC Power Levels and NPC Portrayals Across Shared Campaigns With Multiple DMs

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Across the games we’re running and playing, we have several campaign worlds, NPCs, and PCs that cross over between DMs. Usually, this is no big deal, but sometimes what one DM does can unbalance what another DM is trying to do. In this episode, the 3 Wise DMs talk about where the conflicts arise, why they’re a problem, and how they’ve dealt with them so everyone can run the games they want but still dip into the other campaigns in a fun way.

8 Awesome D&D 5E Magical Items and 3 That Are Deadly to the Party and Campaign (Part 1 – A through H)

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One criticism of 5E is that the magical items are lackluster compared to some previous editions. Well, in our opinion, 5E has a great deal of magical items that are nothing short of fantastic, but others don’t live up to their reputation or can even destroy your campaign. This is why we have composed a list of items that are worth the hype and others that prove all magic items definitely were not created equally. 

Does D&D 5E Need Character Levels? Radical (Heretical?) Ideas About Dungeons & Dragons PC Advancement

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Leveling up! It’s synonymous with D&D and one of the game’s biggest contributions to gaming culture. The very idea of gaining a level has become a staple of RPG video games, board games, and even most (but not all, as we’ll discuss) Tabletop Roleplaying Games. But is it the best way to handle character advancement in D&D 5th Edition?

What Makes a ‘Bad’ Spell or Ability?

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In our most recent episode, we talked about character builds and abilities that really tick us off. During that, I called Banishment a bad spell that was poorly designed, boring, and keeps the DM from being able to use a whole class of encounters. “Show us where on the doll Banishment hurt you,” you ask? OK, here’s how I decide if a spell or ability is broken and why I think this spell is bad game design.

How to DM D&D Character Builds and Abilities That Piss You Off

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It’s OK to have a PC build that pisses you off. Whether it’s because they’re unkillable, unhittable, undetectable, unsurvivable, or, like our listener question this week, they passively perceive absolutely frickin’ everything! In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave talk about how to handle builds that piss you off or at least challenge you as a DM. Along the way, they talk about builds, abilities and spells they’ve struggled with and how you can handle the situation without ruining the game for yourself or any of your players.

7 Ways to Make Treasure More Rewarding in Your RPG Campaign

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One of the eternal struggles a DM must constantly manage is to what extent they reward their players. This is why we put together seven tips to help you navigate giving out rewards within your games. Make these a part of your game, and your players should feel both rewarded and motivated without dripping in treasure by the end of every session.Â