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D&D 5E

The Breakup Game – How Constant Splitting of the Party Can Lead to DM Burnout and What to Do About It

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And for our first episode of 2024, we delve into a listener question regarding the players constantly Splitting the Party in their Curse of Strahd campaign and how that’s leading to DM Burnout. But, Splitting the Party is a gift to a DM, isn’t it? I mean, now you can really dial up the tension, right? In a dungeon, or a mansion, or a Keep, sure. But what about when the party is split up into three sections of the campaign world?!

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss strategies for dealing with players who constantly want to run, in essence, three separate games within a single session. Further, we delve again into the very real topic of DM Burnout and finish our Final Thoughts with some prescient wisdom from DM Thorin.

Christmas One-Shots: 3 Wise DMs Top 8 Holiday D&D Plots To Give Your Party A Reason For The Season

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The holidays provide opportunities for many things. Like good food, visiting with friends, and running holiday-themed one-shot games. You know, the kind of games which have nothing to do with the plot of your campaign but are light hearted and fun as hell.

And while this session should be memorable, odds are your schedule was pretty tight before any of the holiday madness even began. To help you make your own holiday-themed game we have put together a list of eight of our plots of Christmases Past which were very successful and a ton of fun. Hopefully these will provide you with a starting point and inspiration for your own adventure or at the very least some amusement.

Damage, Inc. – 3WD Discuss What Hit Points Represent And How To Improve Your D&D Game By Changing Your Perspective

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What do Hit Points represent? Who knew that this was a controversial question on par with asking about Alignment? Following our episode reviewing the Avatar Legends RPG and their use of Fatigue and Conditions, we posed the question regarding what hit points represent on our socials and the response was impressive.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave take a deeper dive into what Hit Points represent in their games, how they describe the loss of them, and how other systems approach one of the oldest traditions of D&D.

DM Chris’ Favorite D&D 5e Subclasses From Sorcerer To Wizard: Part 3 of 3

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Part 1 was the beginning of the class alphabet, Part 2 was the heart of the martial classes, but let me welcome you to Part 3 – the Land of the Spellcasters. Magic holds a special place in D&D. It’s the spark that frees it from the mundane. The classes contained here each take that spark and do something wonderfully unique with it. So as they say, once more unto the breach…

Time Is On My Side: 7 Tips To Run Quick Yet Satisfying D&D Games

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According to the almighty Google, the average D&D game lasts somewhere between four and six hours. This may explain why scheduling is so difficult, because it’s like trying to get your friends together to watch not one but two full games of football back to back. 

So what if carving six hours out of everyone’s weekend just isn’t going to happen? We’ve put together a list of tips which can help you run shorter, but still enjoyable, games. A game that still hits all the beats of a full session (but won’t require everyone blocking off a time slot four weeks in advance that someone will inevitably double book and tell you about the morning before the game). Instead, everyone will just hop on Roll20 or other VTT whenever they are available, for about an hour or two, so the adventure can continue.

Stone Cold Crazy – How a First-Time DM Ran a Crazy One-Shot With Four Kurt Russell’s!

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We recently shared a post about our Halloween one-shot adventure that we started referring to as the “Kurt Russell Campaign.” Four players, all playing one of the legendary roles made famous by your favorite, and ours, Mr. Kurt Russell. The response was fantastic, so we thought we’d do a deeper dive.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave are joined by return guests Bonnie and the Monster Wrangler himself, and now official DM, Matt, who decided that for his first official session behind the screen, he was going to do something that might even challenge even seasoned DMs.

A Murder Most Foul: 7 Tips on Running a Murder Mystery Game in any TTRPG

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Here at 3WD, it’s no secret that we love one-shot adventures and holiday-themed games. They can spice things up or provide a welcome change with the routine of your campaign. And with Halloween having just come, what idea could be more of a low hanging fruit than a murder mystery? However, this being a different style of game, it can be tricky – which is why we made a list of seven tips to guide you through making your own in-game murder mystery something that will be remembered. 

Tumbling Dice – Using Board Games in Your D&D Game To Create Unique And Fun Sessions

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Most of us who enjoy TTRPGs like D&D also love board games… classic board games, strategy games, resource management games, and the list goes on. It won’t take long until you as a DM start thinking of implementing some of your favorite board games or board game mechanics into your D&D sessions.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the ways that they have utilized their favorite board games and board game mechanics to create some incredibly unique, innovative, and fun game sessions, or in the case of our Dragonlance game, the entire campaign.

Happy Halloween: Our Best Tips For Horror Gaming in D&D and a Free Halloween Adventure

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So, just in time for Halloween, here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing, call up your friends, plan a night, and enter into a bone-chilling, creepy, and horrific game session.

Strange Magic – The Best Ways To Adjudicate Spell Effects In Your D&D and TTRPG Campaigns

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Spell effects in Fantasy TTRPGs are easily the times when we as DMs and GMs have to respond on the fly to changing parameters. In systems like 5e, we’ve discussed how they’ve crafted a system that does some of the heavy lifting for you when it comes to rulings. But, no matter how many rules exist, you are going to have times that interesting uses of spells make you have to adjudicate in a completely new way.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss ruling on how spell effects change the landscape and/or battlefield that we ran into in one of our most recent games. Regardless of your newness or your experience, this discussion helps us realize that the old adage of artists is true… “if you want to learn to paint great bricks. Paint one thousand bricks.”