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Campaign Inspiration

The True CR20 Strahd: Powering Up Your BBEG for the Epic Big Battle

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5e’s Curse of Strahd contains a double entendre. While it seems as if the big bad Lord of Barovia is the curse that follows the players around, the deeper truth is that the curse is his own. He cannot leave. Barovia is his prison. Having just completed our run of this infamous adventure, I found an even deeper curse lying within the module: Strahd just isn’t powerful enough to handle the heat of the epic, final battle when the players are level appropriate and have recovered the artifacts.

The Curse of Strahd Postmortem: Our Players Talk About What They Thought of D&D 5E’s Barovia, the Things They Loved, and a Few Things They Didn’t

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You hear The 3 Wise DMs talk about our games all the time, but what do our players really think? In this episode, we have 6 of the 7 players from Curse of Strahd on to get honest with DM Dave about what they thought of his campaign! Along the way, we get into whether you should leave your Tarokka reading random, The Death House, what it was like playing in a low-magic setting, slow leveling, the Amber Temple and much more!

Christmas in Barovia: A Complete Holiday One-Shot For Your Curse of Strahd Campaign

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How do you run a vampire-laden, gothic horror Christmas one-shot, you ask? Quite easily, actually. One has to look no further than the Joe Hill novel, and later television show, NOS4A2. Charlie Manx. Abducted children. Christmasland. A chance to run my Curse of Strahd party against a vampire almost as powerful as the published CR 15 Strahd. So, in its entirety, here is 3WD’s Christmas gift to all of you – a joyful, dread, merry and gothic one-shot that checks all the boxes for vampires and Christmas!

Is He-Man Revelations Worthy of the Title ‘Masters of the Universe’?

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Like many children of the 80s, one of my first exposures to the sword and sorcery genre was from the original He-Man cartoon. This wildly popular show was filled with Sci-Fi and magic and yet still managed to teach lessons of morality. And while it’s not surprising that the franchise was later rebooted, it seemed likely that it would play out in two ways … So, let’s get to the bottom of this and determine if the show does indeed have the power or should be banished to the dungeons of Snake Mountain. 

It Takes a Village: 19 Tips for Building Towns and Cities for Your RPG Campaigns

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What do you need to make a town or city for your RPG campaign? A place for your PCs to hang their hats and rest their weary feet? Stores and taverns for them to unload their loot and pick up new quests? We have warned you not to get caught up in building towns and cities before, but this time a listener asked what needs to be in them when you have to do it. The 3 Wise DMs came up with 19 tips to help you do it in pretty much any RPG.

Will You Answer the Call of Cthulhu? 8 Reasons It May or May Not Be Right for Your Group

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Is the Call of Cthulhu RPG as maddening as its reputation suggests? The system offers a  journey into the Lovecraftian world of mystery and macabre. Because who’s not up for an evening filled with suspense and shoggoths? We put together some points to help you determine if the stars are right for you to introduce the Call of Cthulhu to your players.

Dinner With the Devil: Horror Gaming in 5e’s Curse of Strahd

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discussion centered around the costume dinner party I threw when the players finally accepted the dinner invitation from the Master of Ravenloft, Count Strahd von Zarovich. With all of the players buying in and coming in costume, the table was set for what is, arguably, THE set piece for the entire adventure. What followed was a wonderful session full of tension, dread, laughs and a knock-down, drag-out Round 1 to the epic conclusion of our Curse of Strahd. Here are some points to consider when really playing up the immersion during your horror games.

Horror Gaming for Halloween: How We Squeeze Scares Out of Players Around the RPG Table

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It’s the scary season around our gaming tables, and that brings up one of the age-old questions about DMing: Can you reasonably expect to scare adult roleplaying gamers? Maybe, maybe not. But what you can definitely do is remove the illusion that they’re in control. Undermine that false comfort that their characters will be OK. Whether you’re threatening their hit points, sanity or character attachments, if you can shake the players’ sense of security, then you can scare them — and that’s what Halloween gaming is all about.

6 Ideas to Make D&D 5E Combat More Interesting for Martial Characters

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One problem I have with 5E D&D is that martial combat isn’t that interesting. When I look at the hundreds of years people were fighting with arms and armor, I just see a lot more interesting things we could do with the martial side of the game that I think would add depth and make it more fun.

29 DM Ideas for Spicing Up D&D 5E: New Twists for Campaigns, Combat, Equipment, Magic and More!

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From campaign setting ideas to new weapon rules, combat formations, vampire and dragon age categories, and more, in this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave pitch the craziest D&D house rules and setting features they’d love to play with in the future.