On July 3rd of 2024, D&D 5e will turn 10! While it has taken some hits in those ten years, no one can deny the positive effect it has had on our TTRPG hobby, bringing in an entire generation of new players. With this anniversary, we started to reflect on what we have loved, what … Read more
Greetings, 3WD-verse! DM Chris here. As you’ve no doubt picked up from some of our #MinisMonday posts on social media, me and the boys have recently picked up a mean Warhammer 40K habit. Credit to the Wizard Washburn, as Scott has assisted in our introduction to the wonderfully addictive wargame. Although it can get pricey (I think of it a lot like golf for geeks), the combination of modeling, painting and battling with your army is a rush that tugs at the heart-strings of gamers like us who love minis and combat.
But what does that have to do with D&D, and more specifically how does that help us as Dungeon Masters, Chris? That is a legitimate question. I’ve been wrestling with it myself. As with any of my hobbies, I love to talk about it. But that’s not enough. We pride ourselves on providing advice to DMs with problems. There wasn’t an article there, or at least there wasn’t until Me, Tony, Dave and Scott had fought several battles. Then the article idea appeared to me in a Warhammer-influenced daydream.
I think of it a lot like plyometrics. If you want to jump higher, then exercise by jumping. That is a gross oversimplification, but the essential idea remains. Every game session, D&D or not, is exercise for your gaming, and by proxy DMing, skills. We’re always learning and evolving. The beauty of our game is how easily it lends itself to the little tweaks and homebrews we imagine as we play other games. So herein lies the little nuggets that I’ve pulled from my recent Warhammer experiences and added to my bag.
Either in realistic settings, or fantastic ones like Middle Earth or Star Wars, there is nothing quite as visually awesome as an epic battle between grand armies, as these are often the main events within stories which can include a cast of hundreds or even thousands. Soldiers will cross swords, exchange gunfire, or dog fight in space fighters in a spectacularly cinematic fashion as the fate of the universe or world hangs in the balance. So, it makes perfect sense that you would want to bring this to your tabletop RPG, but this can be easier said than done.
Regardless of the system you have been running your players through, there are plenty of rules you can find to handle a mass combat scenario.
However, this style of event is significantly different from what your group is used to and, likewise, may not be something which you want to attempt a cold open for in a pivotal moment of your game. This is why we have drawn up a list of different ways this can be approached so that, when the Gates of Mordor need to be stormed, you will use the way which works best for both you and your players.
With our recent Forged in Fire article series, DM Chris realized how many Conditions that monsters have resistance and immunity to, especially in 5e. With that, we began to discuss how much (or little) we play with Conditions in our home games, and how that might be limiting what we can do to craft engaging, thrilling, and challenging encounters.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave delve into the Conditions mechanic (both in and out of 5e), the issues we have with some of them, what ones we find to be somewhat limp, and the ones we would love to use more. We also delve into what we have found is a Condition we often times inflict on ourselves as DMs: Expectations.
If you’ve listened to the podcast, you’ve heard me talk often about how I feel my weakness at the table is combat. As funny as that seems, with D&D being spawned from wargames, I didn’t think my combat encounters had the verve or excitement that I experienced as a player in other campaigns. Roleplay, NPC interactions, exploration, description – those came more naturally for me. Truth be told, I’m not a very tactical guy.
Now, I could have pouted about it, but the more I’ve DM’d, the more I’ve come to discover that the learning never stops. Real wisdom, unlike its ability score equivalent, is gained over time and through trial. So first, I studied at the table, watching other DMs run their combat encounters. Then, I went out to the internet and researched how the larger community handled combat.
I’ve distilled all of it into these five simple concepts for now – Tempo, Deployment, Control, Deception, and Expectation. The overall theme is pulling back the player’s security blanket just enough to get the blood pumping. Maybe this is old news for you, but if you’re a little like me, maybe this gives you an idea or two on how to improve your own combat encounters.
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.
In our most recent episode, we reviewed our experience with playing the Starter Set for the new Avatar Legends RPG developed by Magpie Games, as well as the tips, tricks, and pitfalls we’ve found with running brand new systems that are very different from traditional d20 systems.
During the episode, we got into a discussion regarding one of the mechanics that we were a bit divided on. But I thought it was an interesting way to make the effects of combat more cinematic and narrative, as opposed the the tried-and-true mechanic of hit points.
So, I thought I’d break out the mechanic a bit more in this article to introduce you to something that might inspire you to look at your combat encounters in a slightly different way: Fatigue and Conditions.
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…
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.
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.”
