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Campaign Inspiration

Tribute to the Greatest Game In The World: The 3 Wise DMs Share The Lessons Learned From Running A 12 Player D&D Game

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12 players. 2 DMs. 6 dragons. Tiamat. 2 birthday cakes… and a whole hell of a lot of fun! As a companion piece to DM Tony’s recent article, the 3 Wise DMs are joined by some special guests to discuss and detail the lessons learned from running our largest endeavor yet – a massive, multiple-campaign ending game that required 2 DMs to pull off. If you’ve ever thought of running a massive Endgame-style game, or toyed with the idea of co-DMing, this is the episode for you!

The Summer Blockbuster: 8 Quick Tips To Running D&D and TTRPG Sessions With A Ton of Players

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One of the hardest decisions a DM can make is deciding on who they plan to invite on their adventure. Because if you have a huge crew who all enjoy gaming, it sucks not being able to include everyone. Scheduling issues aside, ‘why not just invite everyone,’ you might ask? Well my short answer is that most RPGs fall apart when you have too many players faster than Thanksgiving dinner the moment your uncle starts talking about politics. 

Case in point, In August we were staring at the possibility of having twelve character’s in one game. Which, to be fair, lands between a bad idea and a total disaster. Yet, somehow, we were able to gather more characters at the table than was in the Fellowship of the Ring for an evening and have a great time doing it. This is why we have compiled a list of eight tips which will allow you to run a one-shot adventure where you can invite whoever you want as long as you have a big enough place to host.

Cutscenes – How to Deliver Lore and Secrets in Your D&D Games and TTRPGs While Still Keeping Your Players Involved

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Cutscene. In a video game, it’s a scene shown to the player when they reach a particular point in the game, such as at the end of a level or when the player’s character dies. The immense popularity of videogaming and the similarities between them and TTRPGs begs the question: Can you, or should you, utilize cutscenes in your game?

How Low Can You Go? The Things Every DM Needs To Know When Creating Low Magic Settings in Their D&D And TTRPG Campaigns

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Magic. It’s the thing that separates Fantasy RPGs from all others. Every other TTRPG can have combat, exploration, social situations… but magic is the secret sauce that makes fantasy special. Many DMs and GMs toss around the idea of “low magic” worlds, but what does that mean exactly?

Journey & Council: Making Travel and NPC Interactions in Your D&D game Epic Like J.R.R. Tolkien With 2 Simple Mechanics From The Lord of the Rings RPG

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The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Sourcebook by Free League contains new races, classes, rules and generators for D&D 5e to help you bring the world of Middle-Earth to life at your table. It’s available in both hardback and digital copies, but be forewarned that you’ll need access to the rules of 5e as well. The sourcebook only contains the new information and lore, so the basic rules and combat are still handled in the traditional fashion

Come Together: 3 Wise DMs and Tabletop Journeys Come Together to Discuss the Best Tips to Running a Shared TTRPG Campaign World

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At some point, most DMs pursue the idea of a world and/or a campaign where multiple DMs are running the game. This is an audacious and exciting project, so in this week’s episode, 3 Wise DMs teamed up with our friends, Lewanika, Josh, and Glen at Tabletop Journeys, to discuss shared worlds, shared campaigns, and shared universes… as well as all the other discussions that happen when you try to corral six DMs into a conversation.

The Old School Renaissance: 3WD’s Top 4 Pros and Cons to Returning to Basic Dungeons & Dragons With the Basic Fantasy RPG

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A change of pace can be nice, and when it comes to gaming it’s no exception. Case in point, we recently played two basic style D&D games using the Basic Fantasy RPG, and they were interesting to say the least. The rules are based on the Moldvay system from the 1980s which is about as old school as you can get without playing the White Box.  

If you haven’t tried this system, you might have heard things like: it can be a lot of fun, but you better bring several character sheets to the game. Because if you make it to the end of the adventure it probably won’t be with the same character you started the session with. 

So does this classic stand the test of time and is it worth playing today?  To answer this question we put together a list of reasons both for and against so you can be the judge.

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

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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.

D&D Calisthenics: The Benefits of Solo Gaming And How It Can Help You Improve Your DM Skills When Running Your Own TTRPG Sessions

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I can understand why it seems odd to many, but the real secret is that it isn’t really DM-less. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. DM-less and solo gaming help us to learn to use our imagination at run-time. So much preparation is geared towards anticipating scenes and encounters ahead of time that we often feel afraid to let the story run its own course. Using a DM-less system like Mythic Role Playing or a solo system like 5e Solo Gamebooks can help develop your imagination in ways to help improvise while the story is evolving. 

Rewrites: 3 Wise DMs 7 Tips to Craft Your Homebrew Ideas Into a Published D&D Adventure

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Greetings gamers from all systems, places, and timelines! When preparing to run a new campaign, one of the questions you should be asking is how this game will be different from the last? A shift of scenery is nice but it should mean more than just the places and names changing, where instead of being … Read more