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What is Victory?
What is victory in Dungeons and Dragons? For some, it’s when the last monster or villain is felled. For others, it’s the rescue and release of a village captured by slavers. There are even a few who never seem to experience victory. But, what does it mean to a group of adventurers seeking to delve into damp dark dungeons risking life and limb?
How to Create Cute and Lovable NPCs in Dungeons & Dragons
Do your characters look forward to seeing some of your NPCs again? Well, strap in! Today we discuss how to fill your world with Cute and Lovable NPCs that the players will love.
Build through connections in a natural way
A great example starts in a tavern. We all know that Innkeepers have an interesting past, we just don’t delve into it. What if each time the characters came to the inn, the innkeeper offered them a free meal to listen to a story of hers? If they don’t take the hook, then no biggie. But if they listen to the story she shares about some grand adventure or heartbreaking romance it will draw them in. Then repeat this every time they visit the Inn. Free meal for a short story. Great opportunity to expand on the lore of the world in a natural way too. Then, one day they come in, and the innkeeper doesn’t offer them the meal for a story. If the players have shown interest, they may ask what is wrong, and boom instantly lovable quest giver…
Adventure Cookbook 2: An Adventure Outline for Any Fantasy RPG
Part two in our Adventure Cookbook Series!
Creating an entire, well-designed, and well-thought-out adventure for your favorite Roleplaying game is a lot of fun. With that fun, comes hours of dedicated writing, cramped hands, and blank stares at the paper or screen. Well, with this powerful outline, an “Adventure Cookbook” will give you all the ingredients of a unique adventure or campaign. All you have to do is fill it in with NPC and location names of your unique world. Then top it off with a few monsters and you’re ready to roll.
Better D&D 5e Backgrounds
Better Backgrounds is a 5e book full of backgrounds that give you fun new things to spend your hit dice on. You could take the ordinary boring Soldier background from the PHB, which gives you two skill proficiencies and a bunch of other junk you'll never use, or you could take the Soldier background from this book, which gives you the same two skills but also lets you spend hit dice on Battlemaster tactics or extra attacks. The noble background can spend hit dice as a reaction to mimic the Leadership ability that you see in NPC stat blocks sometimes, and a folk hero can permanently reduce their hit dice - but not their HP - for additional save proficiencies.
Religious Quests for Divine RPG Characters
Many divine classes such as clerics, paladins, druids or anyone with the acolyte background are often required to undertake tasks to prove their devotion to their deity. As GM, work with your players so that you can tailor the quest to their unique character. The focus should be a test of spiritual strength and commitment to whatever beliefs the character holds.
We’ve put together a list of quests with a variety of approaches you can use to fill out the character’s spiritual needs.
Adventure Cookbook: An Adventure Outline for ANY Fantasy RPG
Creating an entire, well-designed, and well-thought-out adventure for your favorite Roleplaying game is a lot of fun. With that fun, comes hours of dedicated writing, cramped hands, and blank stares at the paper or screen. Well, with this powerful outline, an “Adventure Cookbook” will give you all the ingredients of a unique adventure or campaign.
Stair and Ladder Alternatives in D&D
Are you tired of using boring stairs, ropes and ladders for your D&D adventurers to traverse the multiple levels of dungeons? Well then, stick around as we delve into Chutes, Ladders and Stair Alternatives for your Dungeons and Dragons Game
D&D: Lore and Legends: The Far Realm
The mortal realm of Dungeons & Dragons is vast and full of adventure. Dangerous beasts stalk the lands, powerful necromancers seeking to conjure an undead army, and hordes of goblins and orcs raiding villages are just a few of the common experiences many adventurers face throughout their journey.
Despite its size, the mortal realm is just a small piece of a much larger cosmos. With the introduction of Spelljammer, the scope of adventures has grown to include worlds from every part of the multiverse. However, we can’t forget the myriad of realities that are the foundation of existence in the D&D world. All of these realities that exist beyond the mortal realm are known as planes.
Money Master's Guide: Game Mastering For Fun And Profit
Money Master's Guide: Game Mastering For Fun And Profit
We all hope to someday turn our hobby into a full-time job. Most of us don’t hope to get rich, but enough to pay the bills by doing what we love is a great start. Arjade Productions presents Raymond Hick’s Money Master’s Guide - Game Mastering for Fun and Profit gives you all the tools and details you need to help get you started if you’re in the tabletop gaming industry.
Since we are a D&D 5e show, the most obvious focus for our topic today would be the chapters that cover closely related topics. Of the 12 total, they ALL apply. So, instead, we are going to focus on a few that really stand out, and those, that we believe to be the best starting point.
D&D PVP: 5e Team Deathmatch
5e Team Deathmatch is a team-based, PvP competitive tabletop arena for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.
This game is an action RPG about strengthening the bonds you already have with the friends in your gaming group, or forming new bonds of friendship, in the face of shared adversity and the greatest challenge. Nothing beats the thrill of coming together to defeat a seemingly insurmountable foe. 5TDM doesn't throw any punches. It puts you through the wringer and lets your group emerge closer to each other than ever. It is competitive, but not toxic.
Small groups of player characters are pitted against each other in a no-holds-barred frenzy of carnage in a team-based, player-vs-player competition. 5th Edition Team Deathmatch is a contest of skill, wits, and luck. 5TDM is about winning the world's most popular roleplaying game.
Great Adventure Structure for your Roleplaying Games
Arguably one of the best parts of any Dungeon Master’s prep in Dungeons and Dragons is the design, creation, and fleshing out of a great and thrilling adventure. This can be a struggle for some DMs, while for others it’s as natural as breathing. Well, I’m not gifted in this respect, so I rely on guides and tools to ensure I put together fun and engaging stories for my players. For this, I scour the books I’ve collected over my 20+ years of D&D. During this search I uncovered a solid bit of advice from one of the most hated versions of the game, Fourth Edition. Join us live as we go into detail on each of these points further on our Youtube Channel.
D&D 5e Toolkits, what are they good for?
In D&D tools help you to do something you couldn’t otherwise do, such as craft or repair an item, forge a document, or pick a lock. Your character features give you proficiency with certain tools. Proficiency with a tool allows you to add your proficiency bonus to any ability check you make using that tool. Tool use is not tied to a single ability, since proficiency with a tool represents broader knowledge of its use. For example, a GM might ask a player to make a Dexterity check to carve a fine detail with their woodcarver’s tools, or a Strength check to make something out of a particularly hard wood.
Resources and Resolution. In addition to the appropriate tools for the item to be crafted, a character needs raw materials worth half of the item's selling cost. To determine how many workweeks it takes to create an item, divide its gold piece cost by 50. A character can complete multiple items in a workweek if the items' combined cost is 50 gp or lower. Items that cost more than 50 gp can be completed over longer periods of time, as long as the work in progress is stored in a safe location.
-Xanathar’s Guide-
Below is a short list of just some of the things you can do with the different tools. Some of which, aren’t as obvious. Xanthar’s Guide gives us a great start. Join us, as we discuss these options and add our own ideas into the mix.
How to Dungeon Master
Can you be a Dungeon Master as a Beginner?
Yes, absolutely you can. There is often mystery surrounding the great and powerful role of being a Dungeon Master, and honestly, it’s not really a big deal. So long as you know that there is a bit more work when it comes to your role in the game, you can do it with no problem. The job of the DM is to herd the players through a fun and enjoyable night of gaming. So long as you do that, you will do fine. As a new Dungeon Master, I want to give you a few things to remember. Just remember that there are a few key things to note.
You don’t need to know all the rules to get started. Does it help? Sure. Is it necessary? Not really. There are a lot of rules, and not everyone can spend hours upon hours reading a book before getting started. The starting adventures that Wizards of the Coast releases are designed for the DM to have ZERO experience. So just go for it.
The NPC Handbook: How to build Quality NPCs for your Dungeons and Dragons Stories
D&D: How to Create an NPC
No NPC needs the depth of background, personality, and statistics that a well-crafted player character has. Many NPCs just need a name, a couple of skills, and a word or two about their place in the world and how it relates to the characters. For example, the town priest Volund worships Mielikki and has a number of magic scrolls that he can use: scroll of spike growth, scroll of conjure animals, scroll of lesser restoration, and scroll of cure wounds (6th level).
We discuss a simple seven-step guide to summarize an NPC’s essential elements so that they can interact with the player characters in a meaningful and memorable way.
5 Tips For Being A Better Dungeon Master
5 Tips For Being A Better Dungeon Master
So you want to be a Dungeon Master, eh? It's not an easy job, but it can be incredibly rewarding. Here are a few tips to help you get started on the path to becoming a great Dungeon Master.
1. Be Prepared
This one seems like a no-brainer, but it's surprisingly easy to let your preparation fall by the wayside. When you're running a game, there are a lot of moving parts and it's easy to get overwhelmed. Make sure you take the time to plan out each session in advance. Write down what you want to accomplish and what challenges your players will face. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. Your plans don’t have to be dozens of pages, just simple bullet points are more than enough. For example, if you use miniatures for encounters, make sure to prep a map in advance so that you aren’t wasting precious table time drawing out complex maps.
D&D: Monster Hunter 5e
In Monster Hunter, the player takes the role of a Hunter. Slaying or trapping large monsters across various landscapes as part of quests given to them by the locals. As part of its core gameplay, players use loot gained from slaying monsters, gathering resources, and quest rewards to craft improved weapons, armor, and other items that allow them to face more powerful monsters.
Inside Amellwind's Guide to Monster Hunting you will find over 150 pages full of new races, factions, feats, equipment, monsters, and more. For this show, we are going to focus on the hunting and crafting aspects, but there is much Monster Hunter goodness to be found beyond this.
5 Tips for Dungeon Masters Who Want to Improve their Game
5 Tips for dungeon masters who want to improve their game
Are you a dungeon master who wants to take your game to the next level? If so, then you've come to the right place! In this blog post, we'll give you five tips that will help you engage your players and create a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Let's get started!
1. Make sure to set the tone of the game early on.
The first few minutes of the game are crucial in setting the tone for the rest of the session. You want to make sure that your players know what kind of game they're in for, so be clear about the type of language and behavior that is and is not appropriate. If you're running a lighthearted game, then don't hesitate to crack a few jokes. However, if you're running a more serious game, then it's important to set that tone from the beginning as well.
Better D&D 5e Boss Battles with Home Field Advantage!
Homefield Advantage!
Lair actions, introduced in D&D 5th Edition, give shape to epic battles by introducing new gameplay mechanics which the players will associate with a boss monster for years to come. However, despite the fact that player characters face off against boss monsters at every tier of play, only a small portion of creatures, most of which in the 3rd and 4th tiers of play, were given lair actions.
Homefield Advantage provides a collection of over 250 unique sets of lair actions, covering more than 320 of the most iconic D&D creatures, so that you can create thrilling boss battles for every tier of play, and breathe new life into some of your old favorites.
D&D: How to Create a Seedy Dive in Dungeons and Dragons
How to create a Seedy Dive for Dungeons and Dragons
The best information adventurers in Dungeons and Dragons seek isn’t found in a Tavern or an Inn but inside a seedy dive. Stick around as we delve into how to create a great seedy dive for your more unscrupulous characters to gather information or pass their downtime.