Dungeon Master Tips – Page 2

Conflicting Advice for Dungeon Masters

As Dungeon Masters, we’re surrounded by advice: videos, blogs, podcasts, and the insights of fellow players. Some of it resonates immediately—like those classic debates between Rules as Written versus the Rule of Cool. But some advice feels like it’s pulling in opposite directions, and that’s where it can get tricky. For example, one of the oldest debates is…

D&D & Star Trek: Adapting DS9 as a D&D CampaignD

If you’re a Star Trek fan and a D&D player, there’s a lot to love in Deep Space Nine—it’s one of the most layered and compelling series in the franchise, and it’s packed with ideas you can bring into your tabletop campaign. For me, DS9 stands out because it’s not just about exploration. It’s about politics,…

D&D & WWE | Storytelling in TTRPGs & Pro-Wrestling

Today, let’s explore how the world of professional wrestling—especially WWE—shares some striking similarities with the way we tell stories at the tabletop. These two worlds might seem different at first glance, but they actually have a lot in common when it comes to creating engaging narratives, improvising in the moment, and keeping the audience (or…

2024 D&D Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide

With D&D celebrating its 50th anniversary, Wizards of the Coast has released updated versions of the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide. I’ve taken a look at both, and here’s my take! Player’s HandbookThe new edition does a great job of making D&D more approachable and intuitive, with clearer layout and better presentation. One of…

Adapting Castlevania for D&D and other TTRPGs

Castlevania has always had a gothic allure—its moody castles, haunted forests, and monsters lurking in the shadows practically beg to be woven into a tabletop roleplaying game. And with the rich source material from both the classic video games and the Netflix series, there’s plenty of inspiration to draw from. One of the big draws for me…

Saving ChatGPT Prompts for D&D World-Building

Creating a homebrew D&D campaign setting can be an overwhelming task. There’s the high-level concept to figure out—like what kind of world your players will explore—and then there are the many layers of detail: cultures, governments, NPCs, history, and all the little quirks that bring a world to life. Over the years, I’ve come to…

The Game Master’s Book of Astonishing Random Tables

In this video, I take a look at the newly released Game Master’s Book of Astonishing Random Tables—a massive trove of tables, ideas, and modular inspiration for anyone running tabletop roleplaying games. Like the other books in the Game Master series, this one is designed to be a flexible tool, perfect for worldbuilding, improvising on the fly, or…

Look to the Classics for TTRPG Gaming Inspiration

In this video, I dive into one of my favorite ways to spark creativity as a game master: drawing inspiration from the classics! Whether it’s Shakespearean drama, Kurosawa’s cinematic elegance, or the timeless themes in stories like The Great Escape and Seven Samurai, there’s a treasure trove of ideas just waiting to be adapted for your tabletop adventures.…

Using Skill Challenges in 5e

Today, I’m sharing some thoughts about a mechanic from 4th Edition D&D that I’ve found really useful in my 5e games: skill challenges. Yes, 4e was a bit controversial, but there are some gems hidden in that system, and the skill challenge mechanic is one of them. Skill challenges are a way to resolve complex,…

Playtesting Our New Kids TTRPG Setting

Today, I’m sharing a bit of my own geek philosophy about a new tabletop role-playing game sub-setting I’m developing for younger players—Guardians of Getica—and inviting you to playtest it with me. Guardians of Getica is a unique world within a larger fantasy setting, designed to be accessible and fun for kids while also offering depth…