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Running the Game

Playing With the Future: How to DM Foreshadowing in Dungeons and Dragons and other TTRPG Campaigns

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Foreshadowing is a powerful tool for any storyteller, but it can be hard to use effectively at the campaign table. Whether you’re playing D&D or another role-playing game, you’re really DMing against your players’ distractions. And a table full of food, phones and click-clackety math rocks can hide subtle hints more effectively than the rug you put them under. On the other hand, if you hit your players over the head with foreshadowing, it can ruin your surprises and turn the plot into a running table joke.

DMing Advantage and Disadvantage: How and When to Play With D&D 5E’s Most Elegant Tool

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One of the best new mechanics in Dungeons and Dragons 5E is the advantage/disadvantage system. It’s simple, elegant and we’ve played several other games that have blatantly stolen it. We think it’s here to stay. But the decision of when to apply discretionary advantage and disadvantage falls on the DM, and the many mechanical ways players have to get advantage themselves sometimes conflict with the DM’s intent when awarding advantage. In this episode, hear how Thorin, Tony and Dave handle advantage and disadvantage along with plus and minus modifiers in their games along with plenty of examples from our gaming history (including the time a PC talked the DM into letting him one-shot the BBEG at 3rd level when they caught the guy simply walking across the road).

5 Ways to Strengthen Your D&D Adventuring Party

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Some characters excel while marching to the beat of their own drum but not so much when in a group. The problem is, generally speaking, that D&D is a collaborative game. So, that lone wolf will need to learn to hunt in a pack. This is why we’ve put together a list of tips to help your group of adventurers work more effectively together during whatever path their choices and story takes them on.

The Pregnant PC: Handling Odd Character Creation Requests in Dungeons and Dragons and Other RPGs

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Would you allow a player to bring a pregnant PC into your game? That’s the question listener Joel brings to us for this episode. And while at first, it caught us off-guard, we realized this doesn’t need to be a deal-breaker. In fact, not many PC backstory requests need to be a deal-breaker. It all depends on how you implement them in your fantasy game.

8 Tips for Your DM’s Tool Chest From 100 Episodes of 3WD

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Here at 3WD, it has been our mission to provide DM’s everywhere with content to help them improve both their gaming experience and the experience for all involved. One hundred episodes later, the time flew by, and a lot of ground was covered. Through all the jokes and stories shared, we hope some solid advice was given that you could take back to your groups and use. Building on our 100th Episode Podcast, here’s a deeper dive into some of my most valuable takeaways from the past 100 episodes and the games we played during them.

100 Episodes of Dungeon Master Advice: The 22 Most Important DM Lessons From 2 Years of Gaming and Recording 3 Wise DMs

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What are the most important things every dungeon master (or game master) needs to know? In the 100th episode of 3 Wise DMs, Thorin, Tony and Dave run down the biggest things they’ve learned about running RPGs from Dungeons and Dragons to Marvel to Call of Cthulhu over two years of intensive gaming and discussion on this podcast.

Ending the Campaign: Bringing Your Dungeons & Dragons Story to a Satisfying Conclusion

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Ending a long-running Dungeons & Dragons campaign (or any TTRPG) can be one of the most intimidating moments for a DM. You’ve managed to carry the momentum, tension, and player interest for dozens of sessions over perhaps years. How do you wrap all that up into a few final sessions that leave you and your players feeling like it all paid off?

6 Ways DMs and Players Can Deal with Campaign and Character Fatigue

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Whether you’re running a campaign or playing in one, it can be a huge commitment in terms of real-life time. Case in point, nearly all the games we are currently running have been going anywhere from a year and a half to three years. Over that time, it’s not hard to imagine how playing a character or even the world itself might start to feel a bit stale. However, not all, or even most, of the members of the campaign may feel that way. They could still be having a great time. This is why we’ve composed a list of tips to help both DMs and players overcome the fatigue of their current games until it’s time to bring down the curtain.

Is ‘Don’t Over-Prepare’ the Worst Advice for New DMs?

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DM prep: It can be the most important thing to putting on a good game or the biggest obstacle keeping you from getting back behind the screen. Some DMs say the thing to remember is to not over-prepare, but YouTube DM guru Ginny Di recently called this The Worst advice new DMs hear, and that it actually hurt her development as a young DM. Is “don’t over-prepare” bad DMing advice? In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave take a close look at Ginny Di’s take, the different ways they approach prep, the pros and cons of trying to DM without over-preparing, and how new DMs can find the right level of prep for them.

Are Red Herrings Derailing Your D&D Game? Here’s What to Do About It

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Rich, vivid descriptions bring your fantasy world to life. Unfortunately, they can also lead your players to think that the intricately carved and decorated elven bridge they’re crossing has to be an important clue or secret! If it weren’t, why would the DM have given it such a cool description? This is the curse of the red herring: When you’re casually monologuing details to give the world depth, and the players lock onto something that you meant to be insignificant. Next thing you know, they’re spending 3 hours trying to investigate a mystery that isn’t there. d Dave talk about red herrings they’ve seen get out of control and what they do in their games to try to back to the story … if they can.