Running the Game

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. 

When Good Gaming Groups Go Bad: 3 Wise DMs Tips On How To Continue Your TTRPG Campaign With Only One Player

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Game groups fall apart. It’s as inevitable as the rain. What do you do when your current group goes south, but you still have a player who wants to continue? Do you continue with the current campaign? Do you now run the entire rest of the party, the monsters, and all the NPCs? The 3 Wise DMs answer long-time listener Jared’s question about his Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign and delve deeper into utilizing Sidekicks, DMPCs, and other tips with one-on-one gaming. And, as an added surprise, we introduce our newest co-host…

The Fine Line: 3 Wise DMs List of the 5 Most Overpowered Feats and Abilities in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

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With 5e being an arguably complicated system, not every rule or power is going to be perfectly balanced. However, some defy reason making them so wildly powerful that it’s hard to believe they not only made it into the Player’s Handbook but were never amended. This is why we have put a list together of five things everyone enjoys having in their campaign – except, possibly, the DM. 

Just Do It! 3 Wise DMs Interviews a Brand-New D&D Enthusiast About the 13 Tips and Tricks to Mastering the Dungeon

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New DMs. It’s easily the most discussed topic in the TTRPG hobby. We’ve talked before about tips and tricks for new DMs looking to run their first games. However, this week, we got the chance to sit down with our return guest Chris and his brand-new to all things fantasy, D&D, and DMing friend, Lenny Szot… who decided to dive into the deep end and run his first game ever! Throughout the episode, we detail 13 tips and tricks to help but, in the end, Lenny’s advice is the most succinct: Just Do It!

Strahd’s Maker: How 3 Wise DMs Kitbashed an Epic Finale to Their Curse of Strahd D&D Campaign

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It’s easily one of the most iconic settings in all of D&D history and we’ve gone into detail about how we homebrewed sections of Curse of Strahd for our table. But, what do you do when the long-running adventure you’ve been running ends at around 10th level? How do you handle it when your players want to continue with this set of characters and take it all the way to epic tiers?

“Heeeere’s Johnny!”: The Long-Awaited Return of 3 Wise DMs

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After several months off, and the start of a brand new year, DM Tony and DM Dave are pleased to announce the return of the 3 Wise DMs podcast!

Not Just For Beginnings: How Session Zero Can Serve As An Ongoing Tool In Your D&D Games (And Other RPGs)

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Does what you’re currently running still feel fresh and fun? Are your players as invested in it as they were in the beginning? Does something feel missing? Are you burning out?
Beginning to look at what Session Zero does for us at the start of a campaign can assist us in gauging what is happening in an ongoing campaign.

Finish Your Homebrew D&D Campaign With a Bang: DMs’ Breakdown of the Epic Ending of the Woodstock Wanderers

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Like Thanos said, in a homebrew campaign, reality can be whatever you want it to be.

We realize that reviewing a homebrew campaign is different from Curse of Strahd or Storm King’s Thunder – after all, you can’t go pick up the contents of Thorin’s head at the bookstore. But everyone should try their hand at homebrew at one point or another, and this episode is choc full of tips and feedback for creative DMs everywhere. That includes frank discussion of what worked, what didn’t, our biggest challenges (looking at you, Roll20), where the world seemed too shallow, and what was most interesting in this long-running homebrew D&D campaign. We hope it helps you craft even better games for your table.

7 Ways Better Leadership Will Improve Your D&D Games and Any Other RPG

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Party leader is part commander, part babysitter.

You may be asking, “How in the Nine Hells could leadership skills improve a collaborative interactive tabletop game between friends?” It admittedly sounds strange, but hear me out, because the answer is it can improve your game in many ways. This is why we’ve composed a list of 7 common sense leadership techniques that will help you improve both the flow and fun of your games.

Will Player Character Secrets Ruin Your RPG Campaign?

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What gives RPG players feelings of power? When they have secrets the rest of the party doesn't know.

Secrets: Are they powerful character-building tools or TPK time bombs waiting to destroy your RPG campaign? We’ve seen it go both ways, from character background secrets that added depth and immersion for the player to secrets pacts that saw PCs murdered in-game by other PCs. Is that second one a failure? That depends on your group, but it certainly wasn’t what the DM had in mind.