10 Do’s and Don’ts for DMing Power Gamers
Here are 10 do’s and don’ts for DMing power gamers that will let everyone – including you and the power gamer – show off and have fun.
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What Makes Good Players and Problem Players for a DM?
Thorin, Tony and Dave reveal their player-DM relationship struggles, what makes good/problem players, setting your XP pace, and what to do when players turn on each other.
Your Campaign Isn’t Broken: Recovering From a TPK
So you killed the party? Or you overpowered the party? Or they killed something they shouldn’t have? Or they ruined your story? Campaigns broke, and it’s time to restart! … But is it? In this series, we’ll look at different ways to save campaigns you might think are broken, and we’re starting off with the first campaign killer new DMs run into: The Total Party Kill (TPK).
Our Biggest DM Mistakes and What We Learned From Them
From accidental party kills to evil campaigns that went … well, evil … we’re only Wise DMs because we’ve made all the mistakes more times than we care to remember. What happened, what did we do about it, and what do we wish we’d done differently? We get into all the details and what we’ve learned from them.
Skills, Saves, the Impossible and the Rule of Cool
What do you do when the game rules clash with the continuity of your world? Lean into them.
Rules vs. Continuity: Managing the Verisimilitude of Your Game
The 3 Wise DMs talk about their own problems with continuity and verisimilitude, when it becomes a problem, and how they manage those issues and the players they effect.
Can Good DM’s Fix D&D’s Racial Stereotypes Issues?
In this episode, the 3 Wise DMs talk about what’s happening, why it’s about time, and how hackneyed racial stereotypes don’t belong in your fantasy world any more than they do the real one.
Never Let the Dice Run Your Game
When we swap stories of games that went wrong, they usually have one thing in common: The players missed (possibly incinerated) an important detail. Which raises one really important DMing question: Why was it so easy to miss (or destroy) that detail? If your plot was ruined by a die roll, you have DMed poorly. … Read more
D&D Kit-Bashing: 3 steps to utilizing published material in your homebrew world
DM Tony and I have had several wonderfully reminiscent conversations about the great TTRPG that TSR produced in 1984 at the height of D&D’s popularity – entitled, Marvel Super Heroes (MSHRPG). We’ll dive deeper into the eponymous FASERIP system in future episodes and articles (maybe even a 3WD One-Shot!), but I’m bringing attention to this … Read more
Unclog the Slog: Tracking Initiative and Managing Combat in D&D 5E
Nothing kills a Dungeons & Dragons 5E game faster than combat becoming a bore. And nothing makes combat more boring than long turns, people not knowing who’s up next, and, the worst, a DM who takes longer to move his monsters than the party takes to kill them. The combat slog can turn into Artax … Read more