Author Archives: Brent
Faction Friday: The Frost Trolls
The Frost Trolls can be used either as a friendly faction that sends the PCs out on a mission, or as a foe that the PCs must overcome. It is led by Dolom, an unusually intelligent male troll. The group bases itself in a small, magical cave complex. As a friendly faction, the Frost Trolls are magical, neutral beings of … Continue reading
How to Prep a Spellcaster for Combat in D&D 5E
If you’re running D&D 5E combat that includes an enemy spellcaster, you may look at its stat block and secretly despair. Spellcaster enemies often have a dozen or more spells available to them. How on Urth do you decide which ones to use in combat? Do you go over the list every round and decide which one is … Continue reading
Buffing D&D 5E Fights without TPKs
Let’s say your PCs are waltzing through combat in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. How do you make fights harder without accidentally annihilating the PCs? Let me introduce you to Dale. Dale tried a bunch of different approaches. This is his story. Increase AC First, Dale increased the AC of the monsters in the battle. This … Continue reading
The 5 Minute Dungeon
Oh no! Your players are coming over and you haven’t prepared! Or they’ve gone way off the map! No problem. Here’s how to build a simple, effective dungeon in under 5 minutes. Setup Grab a piece of paper, and draw a small box at the top of the page, just large enough to fit about … Continue reading
Monster Monday: Kala Archer of Tarakona
The savage continent of Tarakona, where draconic races battle for supremacy! The fearsome, combative, plains-dwelling Kala people (think lizardfolk) use well-trained archers to overwhelm enemies from the back line. As noted for kala warriors, kala prefer to find the most powerful enemy—that front-line barbarian, fighter, or paladin—and swarm him or her. The archers follow this strategy, … Continue reading
Faction Friday: The Wizard’s Tower
Coril Hawklight, a high-level wizard, lives in this classic wizard’s tower. He can be run as either friendly to the PCs, in which case he will ask them to recover powerful magical artifacts in return for a useful artifact from his own collection, or as an antagonist who has stolen a powerful artifact and keeps it in … Continue reading
GMs: Ask These 3 Questions At the End of Every Session
“What was your favorite part of the session?” “What was your least favorite part of the session?” “What do you want to see happen next?” Of course, you don’t have to ask these questions. But if you don’t ask for feedback, or the feedback you get isn’t helpful, these questions tend to get to the … Continue reading
The Scheduling Post
Feel free to steal/modify this for your group: Hi there! I know it can be hard to find time for gaming. But I need to establish a few ground rules. From now on, at the end of each session, we’re going to agree on a date and time for the next session. By that … Continue reading
How to Get Minis 3D Printed
You’ve probably heard about 3D printing, and you’ve probably thought about 3D printed miniatures or terrain, but you probably don’t own a 3D printer. What to do? You’ve got roughly four options, which I’ll describe here from the easiest (and most expensive) to the cheapest. If you have no files and nothing to start with, just an … Continue reading
Monster Monday: Kala Warrior of Tarakona
The savage continent of Tarakona, where draconic races battle for supremacy! The fearsome, combative, plains-dwelling Kala people (think lizardfolk) pride themselves on their fierce warriors, who wade into battle and gang up on the most powerful enemy. It’s easy for melee combat in D&D and other fantasy RPGs to get predictable. Melee monsters spread out amongst the … Continue reading