GM Advice
I Ran Tomb of Horrors, and It Was Awesome. Here’s How.
Recently, I ran the Tomb of Horrors for a handful of friends. They had a blast, and repeatedly said so. For what it’s worth, Tales from the Yawning Portal hadn’t come out yet, so I used a 5th Edition conversion I found online, combined with the original module. In pitching the Tomb to the players, I explained … Continue reading
In defense of the Tomb of Horrors
It’s become fashionable to decry the Tomb of Horrors as a paragon of bad design. It’s got things that will kill characters outright. It’s got things that will kill them without a saving throw, even. Surely that’s a sign of bad dungeon design, right? No, it’s not, given the module’s parameters. I’m going to give you two reasons why Tomb … Continue reading
As the GM, I Split the Party…And It Went Great
My favorite RPG convention panel, “Improv DMing,” occurred at GenCon several years ago. It was mostly a Q&A session about how the panel’s host improvs games. Someone asked what he does when the players ask to split the party. He explained that he tells the group that half of them will have to pack up … Continue reading
“Okay, How Do You Do That?”
Players often get caught up in the game mechanics of what their character is doing and don’t think through the fiction of what they’re doing. A classic example is a rogue who says he “stealths” across a bare field in full sight of an enemy. The GM can check this with a simple question: “Okay, how do … Continue reading