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 … Read more
In this episode, Tony and Dave sit down with our good friend and fellow gamer, Scott Washburn of Paper Terrain (www.paperterrain.com) to discuss the tradition of using terrain, maps, and minis from the earliest days of the game up to our current times. Along the way, we discuss how we have used and continue to … Read more
Hello and welcome BACK to 3 Wise DMs! It’s been quite some time and we’re glad that we’re back… Back in Black, that is – like Vampyr, our epic, final BBEG to end all BBEGs in Barovia. We thought that it worked out that the absolute, final ending to our 2+ year Curse of Strahd … Read more
How do you bring a 4-year Dungeons & Dragons campaign to a satisfying, epic ending? With an epic, solo boss. Some would say you shouldn’t do that in D&D 5E because the action economy favors a more numerically balanced battle. But with seven level-15 PCs, that’s exactly how we finished off the main quest in … Read more
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 … Read more
Super-powered archmages, alien vampire gods, Tiamat and the devil himself – once your campaign crosses about level 15, it’s all on the table. But the same is true for super-powerful spells, legendary artifacts, and a hundred other things that make the players as tough as your wildest villain creations. This is why epic-tier play just … Read more
Do you walk around talking in funny voices? Are you constantly thinking about how game mechanics apply to real-world situations? Have you ever turned a person or thing you know into a Dungeons and Dragons monster? (Did you have your players kill that monster?) … Then you, too, may be a quirky Dungeon Master. DMing … Read more
Has SEAL Team 6 rolled up on your D&D 5E dungeon yet? You know the party we mean: Archers, wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, ranged assassins … and not a single melee tank among them. Just hundreds of points of damage pouring into your helpless melee monsters from football fields away. It was near impossible to make … Read more
Player character deaths happen in all Dungeons and Dragons games and other TTRPGs … don’t they? Should you be worried about killing PCs, or is it fine to let the dice fall where they may? When is it OK to kill a character and how do you make sure the player is still into the … Read more
Every good campaign — whether it’s Dungeons and Dragons 5E, Call of Cthulhu, Marvel FASERIP, or any other system — has multiple factions for PCs to interact with. You may only need to flesh out criminals and guards, or you could build a world with dozens of competing factions all looking to use the PCs … Read more
