#dnd tip from the archive: Battle getting stale? Make sure to throw in some visual imagery or story hooks to remind players you're in a story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have your players summarize the last session so you know what they remembered and what is important to them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players about the details and background of their new fancy magic weapons. Put storytelling in their hands!
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't try to steer players away from their character concepts. Try to change your campaign to fit their ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lay out city or region maps before your game to remind everyone how far they've come and how far they have to go.
#dnd tip from the archive: Like Fate Core, award action points when characters put themselves at a disadvantage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on a number of creatures instead of a big powerful one to avoid getting "save or sucked".
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave journal notes on your dead bosses to teach the players a little big about the guy they just killed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Is a scene starting to drag out? Kill an NPC! Blow something up! Open a gateway to hell! Fireball the village! Red dragon attacks!
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of your larger encounter areas like big zones that resemble the levels in Dishonored with lots of different paths.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pair your traps together to keep your PCs on their toes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always know the most important elements an NPC has to relay to a PC during an interaction. Jot them down in bullets.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to skip the boring travel parts of an adventure and get right to the meaty bits.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pair your traps together to keep your PCs on their toes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a set of rich location areas on hand as your players explore areas you hadn't prepared.
#dnd tip from the archive: Skip the boring parts. Use cut scenes, montages, or groupings of skill checks to move to the interesting stuff quick.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down interesting and usable room, zone, or encounter effects on 3x5 cards so players stay aware of them. Thanks @mikemearls
#dnd tip from the archive: The Fate Core zone aspect is a great way to think about encounter effects. Helps you focus on what matters.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running Next, write enemy ACs on a visible 3x5 card so players know if they hit or not. Thanks @jasonmflow!
#dnd tip from the archive: Write enemy ACs on a visible 3x5 card so players know if they hit or not.  Thanks @jasonmflow!
#dnd tip from the archive: Judge in favor of the players in descriptive combat. "Can I get around him without provoking?" "Sure!"
#dnd tip from the archive: Get your players to say "done" at the end of their turn to speed up rounds. This will speed up just about any game with turns.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add layers of history to the areas your PCs explore. Describe ancient statues lost in the forest.
#dnd tip from the archive: The secret accounts and ledgers of your villains can make for excellent handouts containing valuable clues. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare adventure locations that can be used for a variety of situations to keep your game flexible but well prepared.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's no need to be negative about other game systems in order to be positive about the one you love.
#dnd tip from the archive: Rewatch some of your favorite old movies to reinforce story seeds, adventure locations, and rich NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include an appropriate set of treasure rewards in your lazy DM toolkit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even pre-gen characters should have some elements they can customize. Consider how 13th Age handles pregens.
#dnd tip from the archive: For a more open-ended game, keep your adventure locations abstract from the threats or villains they might find there.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep things exciting by describing the actions of your monsters in prose rather than just the math results.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always prepare a strong beginning for your game. No one likes to see a deer in the headlights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking for a good way to handle a travel scene? Try @hellcowkeith's Travel Montage: 
#dnd tip from the archive: If you have the means, adding some 3d components to your encounter locations can really get players excited.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a clear "Game is starting" line to let your players know your game is beginning and side conversations should cool off.
#dnd tip from the archive: Regardless of system, four to six players tends to be ideal to give players enough screen-time during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Another universal tip from @13thAge; ask your players what elements of the story they want to see return in the future.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down the main points you need to get across in your starting scene for your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drive new story elements from the actions and interactions of the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider what fantastic element is taking place.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal the idea of the "living dungeon" in @13thAge to make unrealistic PC-hating dungeons interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your own campaign worksheet that focuses on the elements of your game most interesting and fun for the group.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the true origin of your mysterious villains a secret - even from yourself! Let the truth come as the story expands:...
#dnd tip from the archive: Add one environmental element usable by your PCs and NPCs in every battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Time to dust off your copy of Ravenloft and schedule your yearly halloween game!
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to integrating new PCs into the group. It can be clumsy if you don't clear a good path to tie them together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force a fight over a parlay with a hostile enemy. Let the scene play out from the motivations of PCs and NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on preparing the stuff that most makes you feel comfortable improvising at the table. What you actually use is secondary.
#dnd tip from the archive: When you can, try answering questions with questions to give players the agency to build out part of the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always know what makes any particular battle interesting. Figure out what part of the story you can tell.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try thinking about your settings and locations as their own sort of NPC. What does this dungeon actually WANT?
#dnd tip from the archive: Exploding mushrooms are a great environmental effect for nasty swamps or damp natural caverns.
#dnd tip from the archive: The search for lost magic is always a great motivation for PCs, NPCs, and villains. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Get to a fight in the first hour of your game to keep things interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Come up with improvised interesting terrain effects for the terrain features found on pre-printed maps.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a hand-full of pre-printed maps handy for your next session. Don't feel like you have to use them all.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use Dungeon Command tiles for quick and flexible terrain setups with lots of little interesting details built in.
#dnd tip from the archive: Knowing what to reveal and what to keep hidden is a big part of the art of Dungeon Mastering.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe individual character scenes while waiting for other players to show up.
#dnd tip from the archive: In 13th Age, on an icon roll of 6, give a PC a free skill success on a related skill check.
#dnd tip from the archive: Monster trapped far away? Give it an improvised ranged attack based on the mechanics of its least powerful melee attack.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try out a Theater of the Mind battle in your next game just to stretch your wings a bit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep Theater of the Mind battles simple, fast, and flavorful. Go out of your way to describe the action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep in mind that a player's investment in their character is often greater than their investment in your story.
#dnd tip from the archive: If one PC seems to outshine the rest, ensure you design encounters that let others outshine just as much.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's not enough to write a 3x5 card to prepare for your game, you have to READ the stupid thing DURING the game to get the benefit
#dnd tip from the archive: Finding creative entrances for the PCs of part-time players is a great time to improve your improvisational techniques.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of interesting story bits to drop in throughout your adventure at opportune moments.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find ways for PCs to use environmental hazards to their advantage. Reward them for doing so.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the PCs find a way to circumvent a particularly dangerous threat, let them do so and applaud their ingenuity.
#dnd tip from the archive: Finding the right balance between story and combat can be one of the hardest talents we DMs face.
#dnd tip from the archive: The 13th Age Living Dungeon is a great way to justify your convoluted contrived dungeon tropes. The dungeon IS an NPC!
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes your next battle unique among battles? What element of the story will it move forward?
#dnd tip from the archive: If you're stuck for ideas, go back to the PC's backgrounds and themes and build off of them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Two-stage battles, with the second enemy or set of enemies coming in near the end, makes for a great epic fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Follow the wise words of @rdonoghue and build some of your game off of the PCs' strengths. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Bad guys who surrender are great vehicles to give PCs useful information. It's commonly used but still great.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of character hooks your players care about on hand while pondering your next adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: End your mini-campaign with a "what happens two years later?" montage. Let the players drive it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Listen to the discussion of players to each other to understand what they are really absorbing from your bullshit story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Published adventures make great guidelines but never feel like you have to run them word for word. Make them your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find out what makes each player love their PC. Use that as a cornerstone for the expanding story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Everybody poops! Who is your Lord of Sewers? 
#dnd tip from the archive: A fast and easy way to tie a group to an adventure is to let them, as a group, choose a single faction to already align with.
#dnd tip from the archive: Flash forwards are a great way to show your group the excitement that's about to come.
#dnd tip from the archive: If your players come up with a villain they want to hunt, replace the one you had come up with that they don't know about.
#dnd tip from the archive: Location maps under a plexiglass sheet makes for a great table setting for your D&D game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: If the party splits up during an investigation scene, make sure to switch between the groups often to keep the players engaged.
#dnd tip from the archive: Preparing interesting NPCs, their motivations, and interesting adventure locations is always worth while.
#dnd tip from the archive: Refer back to a nice overland map as the PCs travel throughout the adventure. Give them a sense of place.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be a slave to canon. Your instance of a shared game world is yours to twist and change to keep your game fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes "majority rules" doesn't work for a group's decision. Sometimes it needs to be unanimous if the stakes are high.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your preparation on interesting locations and rich NPCs. Let the story grow naturally at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's always worth reviewing what people enjoyed and didn't enjoy at your game. Don't take criticism personally.
#dnd tip from the archive: How did your past year of #dnd go? How do you want your next year to go? Reflect!
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider the variables that make scenes interesting: environment, NPCs, evolving circumstances.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build opportunities for each character to shine. Give them a chance to be the best in a scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal your favorite adventure locations from any published adventure you can find. Aim for interesting and unique details.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can always steal NPC ideas from your favorite book, movie, or TV characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal NPC physical descriptions from one fictional character and the personality from another so players can't guess who it is.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of plotting out your campaign, set the pieces in place, push it forward with a story hook, and see where it goes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always remember, the PCs are the real heroes of the game. Not your favorite NPC, not your game world, and not your story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Random encounters can sometimes lead your game's story into awesome new directions. Don't fear them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider adding Jarasson, Founder of Guilds, into your city for a bit of added NPC variety. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Railroading isn't always evil. Sometimes your group just wants to watch their PC mechanics work.
#dnd tip from the archive: Is your group taking some time off? Take the time to consider what they enjoy most and developing interesting adventure locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good video games can be an excellent source of inspiration for your tabletop game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always include a clear villain in your game. Moral ambiguity isn't always that much fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: How are the three pillars of #dnd; exploration, roleplaying, and combat;  incorporated into your game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Incorporate in-game holidays to match real-world holidays to give some feeling of seasons into your world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Adventure seeds, fantastic locations, and interesting NPCs are the three cornerstones of a good #dnd adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all groups thrive on difficult choices. Don't overload your players with moral quandaries all the time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always get to the point with your flavor text or narratives. Know the important elements and get them out fast and back to action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take material from any game system. Don't worry about what brand goes with what system, steal from everywhere.
#dnd tip from the archive: If level 1 and 2 feels too wimpy for your more advanced #dndnext players, don't fret starting at level 3.
#dnd tip from the archive: When converting or running old modules, look for the seeds that made them unique and fantastic. Cut the boring shit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seek every chance to get feedback on your game. Always look for ways to improve it and make it more fun for the group.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seize the opportunity to let your players grab the story and run. Don't shut them down to tell your own story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of trying to mold the PCs around your published adventure, mold the adventure around the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always favor changing the story to bring the PCs backgrounds into play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seek to understand what interests each of your players in your game the most and try to give it to them often.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready to abbreviate sections of your adventure to fit the time you have allowed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a break to figure out how to make an unexpected success interesting: 
#dnd tip from the archive: Turn unexpected successes into interesting story turns like @mikemearls: 
#dnd tip from the archive: With any encounter, what bit of information will the PCs learn that moves the story forward?
#dnd tip from the archive: From @montecook, don't ever feel like you have to fill everything out. Leave blanks. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Notes between NPCs are a great physical reminder to players of their potential paths, options, villains, and quests.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every clue needs to make sense at the time the PCs receive it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Combining traps is a great way to make every trap unique and deadly. A spiked pit filled with exploding fire pots? Whooyeaahhh!
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward players with +1 single-use bonuses when they remember NPC names or intricate plot threads.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't forget to use your handouts as a way to organize your game's threads. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Never forget that your primary intent is cultivating a great time with good friends. That, and TPKs...Thanks @theangrydm!
#dnd tip from the archive: How easy or hard it is for your group to uncover clues is an element of your game worth paying attention to.
#dnd tip from the archive: Before you put a lot of brain time into a new campaign, ensure it's the kind of campaign your players want to play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend some time inserting treasure into your adventure. It's easily forgotten. Every sword has a name.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dungeon Command tiles make for quick random encounter maps including interesting terrain features.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's always worth having a few battle maps ready for the areas your PCs may choose to visit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose a different spell or two to differentiate your spellcaster NPCs. Flavor them to the theme of the NPC.
#dnd tip from the archive: The random encounter charts in the original DMG work just as well today as they did 35 years ago.
#dnd tip from the archive: For big events, spend the time to really plan out an interesting encounter. Railroading isn't always bad.
#dnd tip from the archive: Before you plan your campaign, let your players build PC backstories. Use what they build to generate ideas for the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think less of your game as a story arc and more as a free flowing and ongoing tale.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your PCs some piles of mooks to eat through so they can remember what it's like to be powerful
#dnd tip from the archive: Let your players decide what limits you might incorporate into your game such as a limited set of 13th Age icons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Conventions are the perfect time to run that new game system you've always wanted to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know where you might cut your material to get your game to end on time.
#dnd tip from the archive: During your descriptions, don't worry about going from big to small details. Focus in and zoom out.
#dnd tip from the archive: A pile of one-hit bad guys who still can throw out damage make for a fast and threatening encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give Story Cubes to your players and have them describe the history of every bad guy they kill. 
#dnd tip from the archive: If pressed for time, replace monsters with nasty environmental effects like poison gas.
#dnd tip from the archive: When preparing a new campaign, write a short "five things about this campaign" guide to guide both you and your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't veto the backgrounds your players come up with, use them to enrich the campaign all of you build together.
#dnd tip from the archive: When starting a new campaign, pick one particular area and focus on it. Pour in fantastic locations and deep NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend some time coming up with interesting magic items based on the PCs to sprinkle throughout your campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Follow the keen advice of Dungeon World: ask questions and use the answers to build adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend time considering what tools you need to aid your ability to improvise during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's your campaign about? 
#dnd tip from the archive: Take @robheinsoo's advice and don't sweat the results of the @13thAge icon rolls too much. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to the dead spaces in your game so you know what to prep for your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have an idea what your key NPCs are going to say when approached. Nothing's worse than uncomfortable PC / NPC silence.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always have three paths ready to offer in case your group doesn't really know where they want to head next.
#dnd tip from the archive: Experiment with interesting house rules on the GM side of the table but let your players know what you're up to.
#dnd tip from the archive: "What do you think?" and "you tell me!" are fine ways to skirt the issue that you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes your player aren't looking for open-ended storytelling. Give them some plots and fights to keep them engaged.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players what they enjoyed and what they would have changed at the end of each game you run.
#dnd tip from the archive: give your group at least one interesting NPC to roleplay with each game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Get creative with your set-piece battlespaces. Use Legos, Lincoln Logs, whatever!
#dnd tip from the archive: Try to add at least one interesting environmental effect to each battle you run that bit PCs and monsters can use.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe powerful spellcasters as using magical forms of protection to give them such high hit points.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your players 3 + infinite options. They can pick one of three clear paths or choose their own in a new direction.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the first cool scene and setting you want to describe at the beginning of your next adventure?
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time after your game to review what worked, what didn't, and what areas you wish you had spent more time preparing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did your PCs turn 180 degrees away from that awesome dungeon you prepared? Maybe it should move 180 degrees as well!
#dnd tip from the archive: Separate dungeons and encounter areas from monsters and villains to help you customize encounters based on PC decisions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force player participation in group storytelling if they don't want to do it. Some folks want to relax and enjoy the ride.
#dnd tip from the archive: Improving improvisation skills takes practice and time. Be patient and persistent.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep three villains in mind and consider how their actions and motivations affect the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you can't remember the PC's names, you likely aren't paying enough attention to them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Awesome fiction spawns from mashed up ideas. Combine two traps, two characters, two dungeons, or two scenes into one awesome one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use skill checks to uncover parts of a puzzle when players have a hard time figuring it out. Fail forward with hard moves.
#dnd tip from the archive: Split up battles with exploration, puzzles, investigation, and roleplaying to change up the pace of your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep battles interesting by mixing up monster types or adding an interesting dangerous terrain feature.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try to start your game with action. What does the world do? What can the PCs do?
#dnd tip from the archive: Group players together that are working on different parts of a scene so they're not yelling over one another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use skill checks or @13thAge icon rolls to give clues to puzzles when people are stuck.
#dnd tip from the archive: Resist the urge to tell players what they missed or how the story could have gone but didn't based on their actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: @montecook's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil has some fantastic maps to hack into your game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: My most valuable tip: Relax, have fun, and go with what the players give you.
#dnd tip from the archive: "Theater of the mind" combat works well in simple rooms with a single type of monster.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use handouts to organize NPCs, locations, and motivations for both you and your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Check with each of your players independently face to face to see how they feel about the game and the atmosphere.
#dnd tip from the archive: If a player's assumption ends up being better than the truth, go with it. The truth is highly malleable in your #dnd game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill your "theater of the mind" battles with flavor and detail. Bulbous otherworldly spiders slick and dripping with black oil.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always keep track of your time and pacing of your game. Use a stopwatch or alarm to keep track. Thanks @JTGrummell!
#dnd tip from the archive: Get everyone's attention by starting your adventure with some action. Nothing gets a table's attention like "roll for initiative!"
#dnd tip from the archive: Trim down exposition and narration. Stick to important details and turn the story back over to the players fast.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can hide some shoddy story work or poor sandboxing with a beautiful and interesting encounter area. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave open the party's next course of action until the beginning of your next game so there's no way to prep ahead of time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Assign a table auditor to check on those strange character abilities that just don't seem right.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a few groups of monsters at your PC's power level on hand for improvised encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Immerse yourself in great fiction (books, movies, TV shows) and steal liberally for your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to fix small errors in your story threads. Embrace the fun with an old sage named Lord Retcon who fixes truths.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about ways to improvise the goals in battles where slaughter isn't the only choice.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know when to call for a break during your game, both for yourself and for the group.
#dnd tip from the archive: What feature makes your town fantastic and memorable?
#dnd tip from the archive: Take adventure inspiration from interesting tactical maps, miniatures, and artwork you come across.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force the direction of a scene. Progress the scene on the actions of the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Powerful monsters should mean something. Avoid low level lichs, death knights, and beholders.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't eclipse the actions of PCs with the actions of NPCs. The PCs are the heroes of your story, not your favorite NPC.
#dnd tip from the archive: Releasing a bound beast is a great potential "combat out" for an encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players to summarize the game to one another and use what they remember to steer its direction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use @13thAge Icon rolls of 5 to determine which evil agenda moves forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have players describe the history behind weapons or magic items they find.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you stick in a large environmental effect into your encounter, make sure PCs have a way to screw with it. Don't just make it so
#dnd tip from the archive: If you only have one type of monster in a fight, make the fight fast or it will get pretty boring.
#dnd tip from the archive: Combine two encounters, a clear goal, and some interesting encounter effects into your own Lair Assault style scenario.
#dnd tip from the archive: A plexiglass sheet over a blank gridded flip mat makes for excellent dry-erase battle map options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a mix of simple narrative combat with more detailed big-set battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put out interesting terrain into your battle space and let players improvise their use. Say yes!
#dnd tip from the archive: Physical icon tokens in your @13thAge for 5 and 6 rolls gives players the ability to improvise their uses and saves you energy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Comb through old adventures, find interesting rooms, and skip the boring parts.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in an open improvised game, it's important that goals are clear for the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you have more than five PCs, you'll likely have to step up the number of monsters even more to make up for PC synergy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force improvised montages on players. Let them volunteer for it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Key location questions: Why is it interesting? What is it now? What did it used to be? What makes it fantastic?
#dnd tip from the archive: Bosses in boss fights almost always need a way to protect themselves from a PC nuclear strike.
#dnd tip from the archive: Many players don't mind a railroaded story. Some are just happy to enjoy the ride.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's room for interesting choices even in railroad campaigns. NPC interaction, kill or free villains, battle tactics, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players a choice to kill or capture villains on defeat. Dropping to zero hp doesn't have to mean death.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider how NPC's would react to the words or deeds of the PCs. Don't force their reaction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't presume how PCs or players will approach or follow through on a scene. Go with their direction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a portfolio of interesting, relevant, fantastic, and detailed adventure locations always on hand.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write and keep an NPC dossier when building NPCs on the fly. It's easy to forget them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use each battle as a way to experiment with challenge and difficulty. Make small yet interesting changes to see how they work out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every battle needs to be a balanced challenge. Short and easy battles can reveal a deeper world not built around the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give clues into the origins of interesting NPCs to keep your players' guessing. If they guess right, reinforce their victory.
#dnd tip from the archive: break up exposition and narrative by turning the spotlight back to the PCs often, especially if they're split up.
#dnd tip from the archive: Experiment with other game systems and steal liberally to make your main game better.
#dnd tip from the archive: Discovery is a huge draw in our games. What can the PCs discover in your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep note of the names and fates of NPCs the PCs let go. Where are they now? What are they doing?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players a regular recap of the major factions they face and the major decisions that lay ahead.
#dnd tip from the archive: When teaching someone new to #dnd, begin with the concept of cooperative storytelling and explain the idea of rolling d20 checks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Many of the techniques for protecting elite bosses work well in @13thAge as they did in 4th Edition. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use poster maps to give you ideas of the dungeons the PCs may explore.
#dnd tip from the archive: Being distracted players back to the game with a calm "what does your character do?"
#dnd tip from the archive: New players can easily get lost in lingo and acronyms. Take the time to explain them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let new players reference popular examples (Aragorn, Hawkeye, the Hulk) when defining their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go ahead and let your players know how many hit points a monster has. Save your mysteries for elsewhere.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take all advice, including these tips, at your peril. Most tips are hypotheses and experiments stated in the declarative.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep handy a list of monsters appropriate for the PCs to face based on power level or location. Improvise battles as they fit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players decide what loot is in a treasure horde. Build their results into the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Vampires and their spawn make for great waves of monsters that mix into the PCs in mist form.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can railroad your encounters and locations but still give PCs lots of opportunities to make meaningful choices.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't bother doing much more than an outline beyond your next session. A lot can happen between now and then.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use story dice and face cards to help you avoid stereotypical storylines. Thanks @wamplify! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a good handle on the appropriate DCs for your potential improvised environmental effects or challenges.
#dnd tip from the archive: A good evening's adventure has four to six scenes: intro, encounter, exploration, encounter, ending is a solid model.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you see a pile of narrative coming on, ask yourself what meaningful choices the PCs can make as part of it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Staged multi-wave battles are a great way to build huge epic fights without wiping out the party with too many monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your adventures off with some action! Save the background and story for bits and pieces interleaved within action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Send emails to your players with narrative you don't want to bother describing at the table. Work off of what they remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix dungeon tiles, dwarven forge, and dry-erase maps for some really interesting 3d battlescapes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hit points represent whatever you and your group want them to represent. Quit worrying about what the pundits say.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can use @13thAge style distances to speed up your #dnd Next game with "near", "far", and "engaged" distances.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can use #dnd's "inspiration" mechanic in just about any game that doesn't already have something like this.
#dnd tip from the archive: #dnd's "inspiration" can be used in ways outside of just gaining advantage. It can be a license to bend the rules or even the...
#dnd tip from the archive: If you're nervous but curious about narrative combat, try it out on a small battle against a single type of monster in a simple...
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes a boss monster getting killed with a single powerful attack defines the Rule of Cool. Go with it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Video game soundtracks make for great background #dnd music. Try Assassins Creed 4, Borderlands 2, and Mass Effect 3.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always seek to add interesting choices into narrative scenes of exploration. How can the PCs make a difference?
#dnd tip from the archive: Boss monsters should almost always have defending support monsters at their sides.
#dnd tip from the archive: There are few game aids more useful than a Paizo flip mat and a dry-erase marker. 
#dnd tip from the archive: When adding a sixth player to a group, you'll likely need more than just an equal amount of additional monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players choose NPCs to lead charges in an epic battle. Make sure there's good reason to choose the right NPC for the right...
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of your adventure as a current situation with variables rather than a series of scenes one after another.
#dnd tip from the archive: When you have a boss monster, make sure it has minions who can put the threat on those the boss can't attack.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin monsters to create monster-behaving environmental effects like living fire or animated traps.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a moment to restate the layout and situation of the scene to aid wandering minds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Study artwork from other RPGs to fuel your imagination for whatever game you play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make it clear when it's OK to split the party up for multiple lines of investigation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Inattention between GMs and players can self propigate into a viscious cycle. Pay attention to the inattentive player.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask yourself why your players might be thinking that you're working against them instead of with them.
#dnd tip from the archive: The wild magic chart on the new #dnd PHB page 104 makes for an excellent wild magic area effect. @gsllcs was here!
#dnd tip from the archive: Is your world full of excitement and adventure or does it simply make the lives of the PCs difficult?
#dnd tip from the archive: If players are gravitating towards PCs who act like obnoxious asses, remind them of the importance of fun over accurate RPing.
#dnd tip from the archive: If your players struggle for threads of investigation, give them something to grab onto.
#dnd tip from the archive: Its an easy trick to grab attention by starting your adventure off with a battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use @13thage style Icon rolls to keep track of the long-term motions of allies and villains.
#dnd tip from the archive: Five players is really the sweet spot for a fun dynamic game. Keep your group between 4 and 6 players.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's easy to pay attention to the charismatic player. Consciously steer yourself towards the quiet ones.
#dnd tip from the archive: Plot clues may not be nearly as easy for your players to figure out as you think.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared to improvise motivations for PCs to move forward. Why do they care?
#dnd tip from the archive: Running a group to the end of their ropes? Make the story reason's for their fatigue clear.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid repeatedly sending your group against an overpowered foe. Don't make your players feel weak too often.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build dungeons as actual working environments. If this were a real place, how would it work in daily life?
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking for some interesting gang members? Use SAMCRO as your models! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Are players choosing actions well outside of your plans? What has to change to go with their ideas?
#dnd tip from the archive: Feel free to switch from abstract narrative combat to gridded combat depending on what would be most fun at the moment.
#dnd tip from the archive: When teaching new players, focus on the core mechanic and dive into the story. The rest will come in time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the Wild Magic table from the player's handbook to make some fun chaos magic area effects.
#dnd tip from the archive: Feel free to break out of the perspective of the PCs to let them get a glimpse of the villains they face.
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw a handful of random trinkets from the player's handbook into various loot hoards the PCs come across.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add your own villain or henchmen to a published adventure so you have one who is all your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: A good DM plays in other peoples' games and takes notes on what works well and what doesn't.
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw in one to two additional bad guys for each extra PC above five.
#dnd tip from the archive: With the extra room in your 5e game, relax and let players spend some time considering their options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in published adventures there is room to add a fantastic element. You can't go wrong with ancient huge statues.
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't always have to have your players' attention all the time. Sometimes they just want to chill out and check Twitter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add some flavor to your random bad guys. What is the name of the mercenary company? What makes them special?
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking for some great NPC templates for your random mercenary company? Look no further! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build out NPC details and implement them on whichever NPC the PC's attention focuses on.
#dnd tip from the archive: When heading into a location, give players the freedom to plan their course of action. Don't force or promote one particular path.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready to railroad an adventure if your players are becoming decision weary.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add in details for a few colorful NPCs in any group of random attackers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give ambushers with the high ground "advantage" on attacks to make them that much more dangerous.
#dnd tip from the archive: When adding a new player with a new PC, go with whatever narrative gets them into the group quickly.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running published adventures, change the gender of NPCs or villains to shake up outdated stereotypes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Telegraph gameplay styles into in-game choices. Head into the camp for combat, sneak in from the back for infiltration checks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Carefully balance spotlight time for each PC in interaction and RP scenes just as you do with initiative in combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in new monsters if you find PCs facing the same foes over and over again.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give advantage on skill checks when players have a particularly good idea. Use advantage as a reward for creativity.
#dnd tip from the archive: It can be hard to give each PC enough attention when you have more than five players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful not to pick on the one loud and powerful PC in combat all the time. It's easy to do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the dice decide who gets attacked when monsters don't have a super clear target.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try out different combat styles (narrative, loose, gridded) and ask your group what they think of them. Tune to suit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give #dnd PCs options to take short rests in dynamic dungeons. Hidden or defendable rooms for example.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give weary PCs a "battle surge" that acts as an immediate short rest before boss fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan the main points or your narrative ahead of time so you don't spend an hour talking bullshit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players the hit that caves and dungeons may be well trapped so they know to watch out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give every major magic item a history, origin, and a name to make them unique and special.
#dnd tip from the archive: Do you know the names of all the PCs in your game? That's more important than almost any other part of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: NPC wizards might have to rely on Shield to protect themselves. They're big targets.
#dnd tip from the archive: Having trouble coming up with interesting loot for your 5e game while we wait for the DMG? Use the 1e DMG's random loot tables!
#dnd tip from the archive: If you have a lot of players, reveal the defenses of monsters to speed up combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Just because an enemy dropped to zero doesn't mean it died. Maybe it's coughing blood saying "Wait! I have useful information!"
#dnd tip from the archive: How would more vulnerable villains protect themselves from being the lightning rod of attacks?
#dnd tip from the archive: Take your time to read the spell lists so you can get ideas on spells NPCs and enemies would use.
#dnd tip from the archive: Re-flavor spells based on the background and theme of the enemies who cast them. "Tiamat's Wrath!" instead of Sacred Flame.
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes the current location fantastic in the eyes of the PCs? You have a billion dollar effects budget. Use it!
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of a random encounter, plan out a fun one-battle side adventure to throw into your game at the right moment.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all dungeons need to be giant sprawling complexes. Some might be only two or three rooms with a small story attached.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's ok to let your PCs steamroll over an encounter. Some of the most memorable battles are one-sided slaughterfests.
#dnd tip from the archive: Adding PCs above four to your party may decrease the challenge of an encounter more than linearly. Add two beasts per PC.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review your PCs' goals, backgrounds, motivations, and story hooks before you run your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let your players' interest determine which NPCs become the focus instead of you or your published adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read and enjoy #dnd fantasy novels and the Monster Manual to come up with interesting adventure ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: This is a big one. Make sure to reward inspiration to the quiet people at your table. Don't just give it to loudmouths.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look at your list of players and ask yourself who needs more spotlight at your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read published adventures until you can see the fantastic locations in your head. If you can see them, so will your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take note of the quiet gamers at your table and give them good attention.
#dnd tip from the archive: Come up with a loot system that removes any potential bias you might have for one PC over another.
#dnd tip from the archive: In a linear adventure, ensure the players understand the clear mission that sits in front of them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand the proficiencies of the PCs so you know what challenges and rewards to put in front of them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Protect boss villains by having them together in pairs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put out big poster maps of the game world to remind the players where they fit in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Too many players? Create an "on call" list for those who can substitute in when a regular can't make it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Get some one-on-one feedback on your game and really listen to what they have to say about it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Small props can make a big difference in your game. Get some model trees or covered wagons to make a scene pop.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try your hand at narrative combat with a small battle against a single type of foe in an uncomplicated environment.
#dnd tip from the archive: A good play group takes careful cultivation. Learn how to bring them in and quit worrying about how it "should" work.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the current seasons and holidays as models for the seasons and holidays taking place in your fantasy RPG.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use @asmor's CR calculator before you rain Bugbears on your level 3 party. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give out inspiration to players who write the page numbers of their spells on their spell list sheets.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention PC factions and potential renown points when running @DnD_AdvLeague games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't forget the importance of quantitative rewards such as experience, levels, gold, loot, and other tangible rewards.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reading fiction set in your game's world is fun homework for adding depth and details to your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did one or more of your players figure out your secret super early? Don't continue to hide it, make it interesting some other way.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready for your players to say "nah, not interested" if they don't bite on one of your story hooks. What will you do then?
#dnd tip from the archive: Seasons and weather are great ways to make your adventure feel unique and part of a living world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw in side adventures that focus on one particular PC's background. Let one PC be THE hero once in a while.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give weapons fun names like "blacksong" and "vengeance" and "sky's end". They're not just +1 weapons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Old D&D Classic adventures and sourcebooks are a great way to pour yourself into Realmslore. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What is your fantastic location? What did it used to be?
#dnd tip from the archive: let PCs upgrade weapons near and dear to their hearts instead of forcing them to switch to a better one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to make that bad boss last a little longer? Make it two partner bosses instead!
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix limited wishlist rewards with random loot when distributing treasure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Base in-game weather on current real-world weather to help players sympathize with their PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give enemies a cool name even if they're only ever seen once. Everyone and everything has an identity.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the bare minimum you need to have on hand to run a good game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Every magic weapon should have a cool name.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend time understanding the spells best used by enemy spell casters. Play them smart.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find opportunities to slide in personal quests for individual PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix individually-selected magic items with random items to mix balance with random interest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Break up stories into specific clues or tweet-sized lore discoverable with PC skill checks and investigation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start out by digging right into the middle of the action rather than spewing flavor text for 20 minutes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never worry about going outside the bounds of a published adventure. It's YOUR adventure. Feel free to make it your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up weapons on humanoid monsters to add some flavor with a touch of mechanics in an otherwise straightforward battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: What are your villains up to right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Dream sequences where Tiamat wipes out your level 5 party may seem like fun but not everyone will appreciate the nuance.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce campaign villains so your PCs can build their own Kill Bill style "Death List 5".
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if your game is mostly investigation, exploration, and interaction, throw in a battle so the action folks have fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work with great rolls for NPC interaction. Maybe that villain becomes the party's new toady with a well-placed charisma roll.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time to read over the spell lists so you know what options your players have at their disposal.
#dnd tip from the archive: Semi-intelligent weapons are a great way to give PCs a clue they might otherwise miss. It's the literal clue-stick.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use unique miniatures for villains and show them continually so players can remember them visually.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did an unnamed villain escape? What is their name? Where do they go next?
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of having a secret cabal of NPC choose the storyline, put the PCs in the cabal itself! Give them political power.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the story clear but don't shy away from interesting complications. Let the PCs insert these complications as they play.
#dnd tip from the archive: In a published adventure, always feel free to replace a new NPC with an old one that your players know already.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are assassins hunting down the PCs? What clues are they discovering? How are they hunting them down?
#dnd tip from the archive: Large enemy organizations have the same communication problems as real ones. Often one side of an org doesn't know of the other.
#dnd tip from the archive: Running a 5e Mage? Shield, Misty Step, and Counterspell are lifesavers. Consider a quick gulp of a potion of invulnerability.
#dnd tip from the archive: How does your 1,000 year history actually affect what the PCs are doing at your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Follow the story threads between episodes of a published adventure. What HAS to happen to keep things on track?
#dnd tip from the archive: Loose wish lists are a good way to know what treasure you might seed into your adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take inspiration from everywhere. Have a cool mini? Who is the villain it represents?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use miniatures or face cards to represent major villains and reinforce them with your players. Names alone are hard to remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: When designing your own mini-systems to drop into your game, make sure they're easy to take back out if they suck.
#dnd tip from the archive: Test out house rules by trying them in just a couple of scenes or battles rather than an all-or-nothing insertion.
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot down interesting character hooks that come from the PCs as you play. Review them often.
#dnd tip from the archive: Rewire quest lines to fit the backgrounds of the PCs for built-in story investment.
#dnd tip from the archive: Is your published adventure heading to a boring location? Wrap it in your own ideas until you love it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your PCs a stake and vote at bureaucratic council meetings so they aren't jus waiting for orders.
#dnd tip from the archive: In published adventures replace new NPCs with old ones your PCs already know and love.
#dnd tip from the archive: When houseruling, ask yourself what you're REALLY trying to accomplish. Do you really need it?
#dnd tip from the archive: Write adventure summaries between sessions. If they're too long and complicated, that may be an indicator.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sidequests can be fun but give players indicators that it won't screw up main quests if followed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Design encounters so each PC has an opportunity to show off what they do best.
#dnd tip from the archive: Two enemy spellcasters make it much harder to pin down the one big enemy damage dealer.
#dnd tip from the archive: If players stall in a scene, lay out the decisions and give each one a chance to choose.
#dnd tip from the archive: When calling for a player vote, check with the minority voters to ensure their game isn't ruined because of the choice.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players a chance to "flash back" to a city if they forgot to buy something they wish they had.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time to think about what sorts of magical things (if any) are available in small towns or big cities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Using a Mage from the 5e Monster Manual? Give it a 16 Con and +27 hit points to make it a bit more survivable.
#dnd tip from the archive: Another tip for 5e Mages. Shield, Counterspell, and Misty Step are your best defensive spells. Mages also have Mage Armor precast
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your own "random" encounter lists based on the direction and story of your campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid random encounters that have no connection to the rest of the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use "random" encounters as a way to show players the details of the world and its history.
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave open lots of options for PCs to navigate through sandboxed mysteries, heists, and investigations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider how you can incorporate the PCs' backgrounds into your next game session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Combat shouldn't always be a negotiation or stealth failure state. How can combat be a reward instead of a penalty?
#dnd tip from the archive: Spending ten minutes to write a summary of your last session forces you to consider the actions of the PCs rather than just story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the rules for "adjudicating area effects" on page 249 of the DMG to handle blasts, bursts, cones, and lines in narrative.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take your DM screen and lay it flat so you don't build a wall between you and the players. You're all on the same side.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use hoard treasure rewards pg. DMG page 137 every couple of game sessions to make your life easier and the game more interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't have to memorize everything. Know enough of the rules to be confident in moving the game forward. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes your next adventure interesting and exciting? What are the hooks per session and per encounter?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't like the battle you're seeing in a published adventure? What battle do you wish was there? Do that.
#dnd tip from the archive: Is your group a bit more powerful than expected? Max the monster's hit points from their hit dice instead of using the average.
#dnd tip from the archive: When preparing your next game, start with a review of the PCs, their backgrounds, and motivations. Build off of those.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll on tables in the Dungeon Master's Guide to help break out of stereotypes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't like the way a boss battle played out? Maybe they were just a henchman for a silent overseer.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use two interesting monsters in a battle so the PCs don't just focus fire on a single one and kill it in the first round.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to your reference material and DM screen. It's easy to overlook the stuff right in front of you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down the main interesting things you want to get across in your next session. Reference it often during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Switch out NPC and monster weapons to make each one of them unique.
#dnd tip from the archive: Turn maguffins into relics so those useless objects become things the PCs can use. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Dealing with overpowered PCs or a strong group? Increase encounter power by tuning around  one extra PC than you actually have.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use physical clues, skill checks, and NPC narratives to spell out the interesting history of the region.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up two or three ways the PCs can find a vital clue or required physical item.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go with what seems the most fun first and then what makes sense in the scene second.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep light: Where does your adventure start? What are the main scenes? What PC-driven seeds or clues exist? Wing the rest.
#dnd tip from the archive: PCs doing a bunch more damage than you expect? Max monster hit points instead of using the average.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let your players know that flat DCs for skill checks means they don't have to focus just on high attribute skills.
#dnd tip from the archive: Some players don't resonate with open sandboxes, make their potential options clear with opportunities for other ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Attunement to only 3 magic items means you can give out a lot of interesting treasure without fear of overpowered PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down a list of ten or twenty clues PCs might discover anywhere in an adventure that reinforce the story or the background.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of the number of battles between short rests. If it's been more than 3, find a way to give them the equivalent.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are the players trying to find a non-traditional way to deal with a battle? Go with it! Find ways to make it work.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go big with the descriptions of the battle in narrative combat. Ask players to describe their actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even small battles should have something to draw in the players. What are they fighting for? What's the real pressure?
#dnd tip from the archive: No cleric in the party? Probably a good time for the PCs to find boxes of healing potions laying around!
#dnd tip from the archive: More than five PCs? Throw in two monsters per PC above 5.
#dnd tip from the archive: What ten clues might your PCs learn in your next adventure? 
#dnd tip from the archive: 5e uses average hit points for monsters. There's no reason you can't raise or lower it depending on the power of your group.
#dnd tip from the archive: Aerial combat is a great way to shake up a traditional fight now and again.
#dnd tip from the archive: Speed up combat by ignoring the grid and saying what is "within a move action" or not.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill your encounter with objects and "toys" that could be used to improvise actions by either side.
#dnd tip from the archive: All good magic items have names and interesting descriptions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down a list of the magic items you'd like to give away across your whole campaign. Review it before every adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe weapons, armor, or notable physical features as a way to identify one monster from another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force a battle if your players find a creative way around it. Go with the flow of the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give boss monsters max hit points and a couple of 18 attributes to make them a little harder than the standard beastie.
#dnd tip from the archive: Large enemy organizations have the same communication problems and internal politics. That's fun for PCs to navigate.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop a few Fate-like "aspects" into your combat encounter that your PCs can "invoke" to make a battle more dynamic.
#dnd tip from the archive: Round dice pools bigger than six by removing a pair of dice and adding 1 + the max value of the die for each pair removed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat? It's worth printing a poster of the Sword Coast map. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Did your PCs just raid a Red Wizard's library? Write "Red Wizard Books and Scrolls" on a 3x5 card and let them learn from it later
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to let PCs negotiate their way out of a fight even if it wasn't what you planned.
#dnd tip from the archive: Discuss the moral boundaries of the PCs early in your campaign to keep your players happy together at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use miniatures to represent key villains in a campaign. Bring them out regularly to remind the players who they're up against.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use Fate-style "Aspects" to define interesting components in your encounter. Let players improvise how they work.
#dnd tip from the archive: Initiative can have a huge effect on combat. What will you do if all the monsters go first? What if they all go last?
#dnd tip from the archive: Speed up combat by skipping initiative, letting all the players go first around the table, and adding a few extra monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful having boss monsters flee from a fight. Players may rarely consider this a victory.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't try to prevent PCs from finding a creative way to circumvent a major enemy. Sometimes banishing a major demon is great fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players "what did you enjoy most about today's game" to get good, positive, and useful feedback.
#dnd tip from the archive: 5e rule of thumb for building combat encounters: have one monster per PC with a CR of 1/3 the value of the PC's level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to loot rewards. Mix random loot with hand-picked items to give PCs both useful and interesting things.
#dnd tip from the archive: Where does your game start? What are three interesting potential scenes or locations? That's about all you need to run a game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to remember the names of each of the PCs. It's the first step in making the game about them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reinforce the need to build well-rounded PCs that have something they can do in interaction, exploration, and combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: a single NPC mage in a fight is likely to have spells countered continually. Add a second mage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't get mad when your big boss gets disrupted. Limiting the effectiveness of bosses is fun too.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your players a large view of the location and let them decide how they'll get inside.
#dnd tip from the archive: "What did you enjoy most about the game?" is a good positive way to get feedback about what people enjoy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Encounters shouldn't all be well balanced but ensure players get the clue when it isn't.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always look for ways to offer inspiration for players' creative and story-building ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force the PCs to go into that crazy encounter you designed if they aren't headed there already.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players what they enjoyed most about the game. Write down their answers.
#dnd tip from the archive: The less time you spend designing boss monsters the less you'll give a shit when they're killed too easily.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mages won't cast magic missile on other mages unless they're too stupid to know better.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have the freedom to add silly elements into the game like an orc walking into a room in a ruffled apron that says "kiss the chef".
#dnd tip from the archive: Did your monsters get the drop on the PCs or vice versa? Switch to side-initiative and save a bunch of time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Outline your campaign's big beats but don't fill in the details until the PCs are about to get directly involved.
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes your next fantasy location interesting and fantastic?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force the story to ensure a villain gets away but play villains smart. Let the players see how smart they are.
#dnd tip from the archive: 250 word flash fiction in email is a great way to give players a glimpse of the movements of villains and off-camera NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Intelligent magic items are the NPCs that keep on giving. Great for giving clues to the PCs when needed most.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's quite interesting when the alignment of intelligent magic items and the PCs who wield them don't quite match.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use randomly selected targets to ensure you aren't biasing attacks or giving the perception that you are.
#dnd tip from the archive: When you come up with a random name for a random NPC. Write it down. You'll never know when you meet them again.
#dnd tip from the archive: Just like combat initiative, ensure every player gets a chance to do something interesting in a roleplay scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your game preparation by reviewing the PCs and their hooks. Can you build your next adventure off of that?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use pictures from the internet to define key NPCs your players will see more than once.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't punish PCs for splitting up in a town. If they're going to get in a fight, find a way for the groups to get back together.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the PCs split up in an investigation or roleplay scene, ensure each group gets the right amount of screentime.
#dnd tip from the archive: When rolling for random weapons and armor, define the type to make sure it's useful for PCs in need.
#dnd tip from the archive: Send out an email RIGHT NOW to learn the birthdays of your players (and DMs!) and celebrate with a game focused on their PC.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes players are happy to have a clear direction and a set of focused and well-designed encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write out a random encounter list for each level range and location type your PCs are likely to visit.
#dnd tip from the archive: If your PCs are having an easy time with "hard" fights. Treat them as though they have one extra PC for a big difficulty boost.
#dnd tip from the archive: Whenever you're lost thinking of a direction for your story, look back at the PC backgrounds and work from there.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a good gauge of what your group enjoys and what they find too disturbing. Make the game comfortable for everyone.
#dnd tip from the archive: Each encounter or scene should have a seed or series of clues to help the players see the bigger picture.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't bring monsters out one at a time or they're likely to all get nuked one round after the next.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use artwork you find on the web to show your players people, places, and things. Save the ones that matter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use physical coins (like @campaigncoins!) to represent Inspiration, Icon Rolls, or Fate Points in your RPGs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in two types of monsters in a battle to make it more interesting and increase the choices players have to make.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to give a monster a special attack that represents its unique place in the world or the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of each encounter as a puzzle. What do the PCs need to do to succeed? It shouldn't always be "kill the monsters".
#dnd tip from the archive: In 5e, you can use a monsters with CR significantly higher than the PCs above level 5 or so as long as there is only one of them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want some large-scale environmental damage? Use 1d10 per level / 4 and give them a Con save to avoid or half it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix pre-planned treasure designed for the PCs with a good pile of randomly generated treasure for fun weird stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the PCs haven't gotten any loot in a while, give them a roll or two on one of the higher-end loot charts.
#dnd tip from the archive: For interesting environmental effects, tie concentration spells to destructable objects and place them in a villain's lair.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of planning out roleplay encouhters, create three NPCs with motivations and backgrounds and improvise it.
#dnd tip from the archive: At higher levels in 5e, you can challenge tough PCs with monsters with a CR higher than the average PC level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give bosses a way to reroute debilitating "save or suck" effects to their minions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Intelligent weapons are fantastic quest NPCs for side trecks. Give PCs quests to upgrade their intelligent weapons.
#dnd tip from the archive: When you split the party, ensure you take care to give each group their share of screen time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't let NPC's overshadow player characters. Any powerful NPC should be severely limited in a way that PCs can offset.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random charts to avoid cliche grooves we often fall into when forced to improvise stories.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use multiple spellcasters in a fight to keep a single caster from being destroyed too quickly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize monsters by changing weapon types. The gnoll with the two hand-axes and the gnoll with the glaive.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use short flash fiction in email to give players a view behind the scenes only involving the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let humor come spontanously at the table. Don't try to push it away or attempt to plan for it ahead of time.
#dnd tip from the archive: What evocative scene will you open with at the start of your next session?
#dnd tip from the archive: Even the biggest and baddest dragon is likely to have an ally or two in a fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drawing from a spell card deck is a good way to determine a random spell on a scroll. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Villains aren't static. They don't sit on their thrones or in their chambers waiting for the PCs. What are THEY doing?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't box your PCs into a corner. Success should lead down one interesting road and failure leads down another interesting road.
#dnd tip from the archive: What secrets and clues might your PCs uncover in your next adventure? Sprinkle them in wherever they fit. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What opportunities exist in your next game for interesting NPC interaction and fantastic exploration? What will they uncover?
#dnd tip from the archive: Always keep an eye on your players. Are they bored? Frustrated? Disengaged? Draw them back into the game with something they enjoy
#dnd tip from the archive: In scenes of heavy narration or exposition, give your players plenty of meaningful choices to make.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down the names of NPCs who start to resonate with your players. They're likely to come back.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take careful note of the attention you're paying to each player. Don't let any of them get lost in the crowd.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes annoying NPCs can be the most fun for you and your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give flat bonus magic items interesting backgrounds, appearances, and traits. Give them a lot of fun flavor.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show your PCs the value of their gold. If they invest in a stronghold, show them what got upgraded for their cash.
#dnd tip from the archive: Is your villain or NPC unsure how to act? Maybe they ask the PCs for advice!
#dnd tip from the archive: If you find yourself saying "no" a lot when it comes to approaching a situation, maybe you want to make it more open.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give PCs good opportunities to use their crazy powerful abilities. Don't just short circuit them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find opportunities to bring back older NPCs and villains. Don't make your players remember all new people when old ones will do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always find an interesting event going on in town. Town's anniversary? Birthday party for a hero? The pigs got loose?
#dnd tip from the archive: What PC hook ties in to the next adventure you're about to run?
#dnd tip from the archive: Does one PC have a significantly high skill check? Let their obnoxiously high results tell something even more interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dig into the Monster Manual monster descriptions for some great adventure seed ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Princes of the Apocalypse is packed with great NPC monster stat blocks. Reskin to suit your own adventure. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary of using monsters of a challenge rating higher than the PCs' level. Add more monsters, not bigger ones.
#dnd tip from the archive: In narrative combat, give players a choice of 1d6 enemies in a burst if they don't target their friends or 2d6 if they do!
#dnd tip from the archive: Give PCs interesting quests to upgrade their magic items with added artifact-style properties.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use monster groups and themes to give an adventure an overall consistent flavor.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time ahead of time to learn the spells your monsters are likely to use. Write down page numbers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build swarms of ghouls and zombies by re-skinning higher CR monster stat blocks and using swarm traits.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful of falling into the trap of spilling too much narrative when you don't know what to do with the table. Ask for a break.
#dnd tip from the archive: Running Rise of Tiamat? How about sending high-level PCs to the Mausoleum of Ebondeath! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Bring back old NPCs in longer campaigns to reward the players who paid attention early on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build interesting fixtures into a combat area that evoke the details and history of a location.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use emailed flash fiction to give players a sense of the larger picture in their campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Because most magic items in 5e have flat math, don't fret giving too many out as long as they aren't all +3 weapons and armor.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be fans of the PCs first and foremost (thank you Dungeon World!)
#dnd tip from the archive: Know the capabilities of the PCs, not just to thwart them but to give them the chance to show off.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix monster types so they won't all suck at the same thing. Do all your monsters have the same key attributes? Mix it up.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are some of your monsters likely to get screwed by a "save or suck" spell? Consider adding a couple more.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your boss monsters legendary resistance and telegraph it to the players so they don't burn out spells finding out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan loot ahead of time and give your monsters a chance to show them off in a battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need to spice up a boring hallway? Try a random two-effect trap to make things exciting! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Legendary encounter design is a careful balance of challenge and PC empowerment. You must include both.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every battle needs to be a well-designed masterpiece. A quick skirmish is fine if it adds to the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: With legendary monsters, it's easy to forget your lair actions and legendary actions. Give yourself physical tokens to remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to increase a legendary monster's hit points by 25% for each additional PC above 4. Max HP is fine too.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give legendary creatures an extra action for fun things like magic item use or interesting spells.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expect players to pour everything they have onto your legendary monster. Max HPs or rerouting damage can help mitigate.
#dnd tip from the archive: Temporary monsters who come and go can spice up a legendary encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider using a hit point pool when you have more than eight monsters of the same type in a battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: What five fantastic locations will you stage your adventures in during your next game? What makes them fantastic?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a random NPC generator to make every humanoid enemy unique and interesting. 
#dnd tip from the archive: 5e Beholders fight well outside their weight class, especially when they make the most out of flying and the antimagic eye.
#dnd tip from the archive: What three interesting things do you want to ensure you describe to the players when they enter the location for a scene?
#dnd tip from the archive: Try rolling in the open to force yourself to adapt to unexpected dice rolls.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start each adventure prep session by going over the backgrounds and motivations of the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the 5e vampire an extra melee attack, double it's damage dice, and make charm break if the PC takes 10 damage from any source
#dnd tip from the archive: Is an encounter going to start with something other than a straight fight? Jot down some notes on the start of it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never miss an opportunity to foreshadow an interesting enemy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Name every villain by using the Sly Flourish random name generator! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking to fill in a hallway with something interesting? Try a two-part random trap. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your villainous lair in a way that makes sense from the point of view of the villain.
#dnd tip from the archive: An ancient forgotten temple to Shar under Waterdeep makes for a great assassin's guild hall for the Night Masks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to beef up that NPC mage? Start it off with mage armor, mirror image, and greater invisibility.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't give a PC a secret unless you're prepared for the player to not share it.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can almost never go wrong starting your game off with a battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time to prep magic item rewards before the game. Give them to the enemies to use against the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Interesting details in narrative are great, but always try to give players an opportunity to act and make a choice.
#dnd tip from the archive: It is perfectly acceptable for the masked lords of Waterdeep to leave the fate of the city to the choices of the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players the option to get involved in political struggles or not. Don't force them to make a choice if they don't care.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run NPC vs. NPC battles as background scenery or quick single d20 rolls. Don't play them out like regular combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Allow for unexpected outcomes in combat. Don't force "all victory" or "all defeat" as the only options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Waves of enemies can be cool but there should be a limit to them. Mercenaries are expensive.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid battles with more than twelve enemies. Use swarms instead. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a shared hit point pool like 13th Age's mooks when running lots of creatures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if you end a battle early, do it behind thes screen. Don't kill the victory by stating "I'm going to call it here".
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the opportunity to create really fantastic environments when running "theater of the mind" narrative combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the pace of the game starts to slow, move the story forward quickly. Don't force a battle to the end.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always include areas in your narrative to give the PCs choices and let them take actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't give a job to an NPC that can be given to a PC instead.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't put a single monster up against a party unless you want it to die a swift and anticlimactic death.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare for PCs to target the odd person out in a fight. That single mage is tasty!
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each NPC an interesting physical trait, unique weapons, or other mannerisms even if they share the same stat block.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change up weapons and their respective die-types to easily customize NPC enemies.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a break in your game every 90 minutes to two hours so everyone comes back recharged and ready to play.
#dnd tip from the archive: A well balanced #dnd 5e battle takes about 45 minutes. Manage your time accordingly.
#dnd tip from the archive: If a scene seems to start dragging, move on! You are in full control of the pace of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: End dragging battles early by reducing remaining hit points to 1, lowering DCs, or having enemies explode.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be like @SFVDnDAL and stand when you run your games. It keeps everyone's energy up, including your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use your experiences in the games you play in, both positive and negative, to learn how to be a better DM yourself.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in some detailed set-piece battles into your game along with narrative combat for big climactic fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: The dry-erase flip-mat is useful for just about any RPG. It's a big white board you can set down in front of all the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give unique characteristics to each monster so people can say "I hit the one with the tattoo of an octopus on his face".
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the time to pick out interesting treasure before the game begins.
#dnd tip from the archive: As long as they don't abuse it, adjudicate in favor of a PC's awesome actions rather than saying "no".
#dnd tip from the archive: The Doomvault from Dead in Thay makes for an awesome drop-in megadungeon. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Did a PC kill a legendary foe? Perhaps their weapon absorbed part of the foe and became something new and powerful!
#dnd tip from the archive: Many villains, deep down, think they are doing good. What good does your villain think they're doing?
#dnd tip from the archive: Need some good random D&D 5e tables? Check out the Donjon! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Know the motivations of your enemies and, if appropriate, their motivations to flip sides and work for the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let combat flow into the rest of the story if your enemies get caught in save-or-suck effects. Don't just negate it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward PCs with the plans and components to build interesting magical weapons or armor.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never expect a single monster to last very long. Give bosses powerful bodyguards.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use narrative combat to keep the story smooth from scene to scene, blending into exploration and NPC interaction
#dnd tip from the archive: How many targets should an area hit in narrative combat? Somewhere between 2 and 4 depending on the circumstances.
#dnd tip from the archive: What five clues might your PCs learn in your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to read the full Dungeon Master's Guide. There are tons of great ideas you might otherwise miss.
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider carefully whether you should fudge rolls to fuel a fantastic story or let the dice fall where they will and steal thunder
#dnd tip from the archive: Balance the seeds for exploration, roleplaying, and combat in each adventure you prepare.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you feel unprepared for your next game but dive in anyway, you might well be on the path of the Lazy Dungeon Master.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare to give PCs the revenge they deserve against a hated foe. Maybe they live after 0 hp and the PC gets to choose their fate.
#dnd tip from the archive: Solutions often come at a cost. What will the PCs give up to un-petrify the victim of a medusa?
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave enough blanks in your adventure for players to fill with interesting comments, motivations, or backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use interesting props, dungeon tiles, or 3d terrain to build Chris Perkins style battle arenas once in a while.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you build an interesting battle area, start the PCs there but give them freedom to use it how they will.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll randomly for interesting loot and improvise its origin and background story. Where did that +3 battle-axe come from?
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw your players into the story by asking them about the interesting physical characteristics of the enemies they fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are your players considering bailing out on their current quest? Let them. Don't force them to stay the course.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't know a detail about an NPC or location? Ask your players to fill it in for you!
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking to draw out fantasy maps? Check out this site for some great tutorials! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build stories off of interesting random results from things like magic item tables or weird dungeon rooms.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players what the name of their new magic item is. Let them come up with silly ones until a good one comes out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Attacking the PCs with a big pile of low-level monsters? Pool their hit points into a big pool 13th Age style.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build environments with lots of variables instead of scenes with clear paths and solutions.
#dnd tip from the archive: For some variety, give magic items a once-per-day casting of a spell relevant to the item's origin.
#dnd tip from the archive: In every dungeon there are always three hidden levels for each level discovered.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll for magic items when you prepare for your game so you know what weapons your villains possess.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to throw a side adventure into your long campaign. Not everything needs to be tied to the big plot.
#dnd tip from the archive: There is tons of room in #dnd to ask the players world-building questions and use the results in your game. Keep an open mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stick to a single big boss fight in single session. Don't try to pack in more than one or it just overwhelms everyone.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every so often it's fun to build out a @ChrisPerkinsDnD style Acq. Inc. big set piece arrangement. Build UP!
#dnd tip from the archive: Try breaking your reliance on gridded combat with an off-the wall battle that simply can't be mapped out in 5 foot squares.
#dnd tip from the archive: Differences in height can make battles really interesting. Flying foes, high ledges, massive waterfalls.
#dnd tip from the archive: Revel and celebrate when PCs instantly kill or incapacitate a powerful foe. "You feebleminded the wizard! Awesome!"
#dnd tip from the archive: PCs needing to spend their money? Maybe a shady dealer has access to 5 random magic uncommon magic items!
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to make Out of the Abyss a little easier in the beginning? Start PCs at level 3 instead of level 1.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need some good random D&D 5e tables? Check out the Donjon! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to read over a monster stat block in full before you start running it at the table. Some things are easy to miss.
#dnd tip from the archive: What fantastic feature exists in each of your scene locations?
#dnd tip from the archive: Exotic tattoos, weapons, and armor are great ways to tie NPCs to the story or seed all new ones!
#dnd tip from the archive: Good scenes focus on exploration, interaction, or combat. Great scenes include all three!
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to expensive spell components. Some spells aren't as easily cast as others.
#dnd tip from the archive: A small random assortment of expensive magic items from a shady dealer is a good way to shed PCs from their barrels of gold.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let PCs get decide if they want to get involved in far-reaching decisions of politics and war.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't try to negate the PC's awesomely powerful defense. Revel in their power and find a new way to threaten them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a to-do list of things you really want to insert into your campaign at some point. Review each time you prep your session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to write a 3x5 card for each scene's location with its most interesting and fantastic feature.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use war as a huge backdrop for the story with the actions of the PCs steering the larger course.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie powerful concentration spells to physical objects for an interesting twist in a battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even for combat-heavy sessions, try to put in interesting facts or secrets that the PCs can learn.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even legendary monsters likely have a couple of minions around to cause problems for unattended PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: A great battle provides a difficult challenge that leads to a monumental victory.
#dnd tip from the archive: Party having too easy a time with a green dragon? Throw a Storm of Vengeance over the area that only stops on the dragon's death.
#dnd tip from the archive: Improvised monsters only need ACs, hit points, an attack score, some damage, and a unique attack.
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadow upcoming bad guys by giving PCs a glimpse of secret covens or stories of their horrible deeds.
#dnd tip from the archive: A picture is worth a thousand words. Use your cell phone to show pictures of the monsters the PCs encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful using the spell "blink" to protect your wizards. It's powerful but can end up just frustrating players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Too many protections on your Big Bad Evil Guys (BBEGs) can seem more of a slog than a fun fight. It's hard to balance.
#dnd tip from the archive: Attacking the PCs with a big pile of low-level monsters? Pool their hit points into a big pool 13th Age style.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider how you can make the abilities of the PCs shine in combat, exploration, and interaction. THEY are your heroes.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's always better to end a game early than end a game late. If time is short, call it there and prep for the next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Adding more monsters is always a way to make a battle more challenging and is often more effective than using bigger ones.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good ideas come from everywhere. Keep your senses open or you'll miss them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look for interesting people and places throughout your daily lives. Fill your improvisation bucket.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mixing two or three ideas together can often make something new and interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: The easiest way to increase the challenge of a 5e battle is to add more monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't build monsters to thwart the abilities of the PCs. Let battles flow naturally.
#dnd tip from the archive: Scale is an easy way to make an area fantastic. Mile-high waterfalls, hundred-story pyramids, mountainous cyclopean statues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the campaign worksheet to keep a focus on the PCs and how they're bending the story. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't go overboard with sub-systems or strange new rules. Stick to the main mechanics that the players are used to.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your final campaign battles straight forward. Too many twists and turns can ruin an expected climax.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fun should always trump realism when building encounters, spells, traps, characters, or monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Near the end of your campaign, let players tell you what THEY found in the treasure hoard instead of you telling them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid the "blink" spell for NPCs and monsters. It just ends up being a pain in the ass instead of an interesting challenge.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't try to circumvent the ability of the PCs. Let them enjoy their asymmetric advantages and overpowered abilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: The asymmetry of 5e's design is what fuels interesting stories. Don't houserule around it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't counteract the PCs success in avoiding what you thought was going to be a big battle. Go with the flow of the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared with interesting story hooks, interesting NPCs, and fantastic locations in case you start to run out of material.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put in lots of opportunities for your PCs to act in your piles of narrative. PCs don't want to be passive observers.
#dnd tip from the archive: The number one rule to good dungeon mastering? Relax and have fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Legendary actions and legendary resistances are an easy template to drop on potential boss monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random rolls to determine targets and remove your bias to punish the munchkins.
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for the sweet spot of five PCs for your game. The game is optimal for four but you can usually get away with six.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid designing your own monsters and instead focus on reskinning existing monsters in the Monster Manual.
#dnd tip from the archive: The looser you plan your game, the less you care when players go off the rails or bypass battles you expected them to fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: "Your lives end here" is about the weakest thing a boss monster can say. "I murdered your sister" gets more attention.
#dnd tip from the archive: Most game sessions can come down to five interesting scenes. Jot them down on a 3x5 card and you're all set.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal and reskin your favorite rooms and chambers from classic adventures to build fantastic locations on the fly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't fight against the PC's "save or suck" effects. Revel in their joy of the victory!
#dnd tip from the archive: Bloodborne's soundtrack (along with its amazing atmosphere) makes for great D&D background music. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Never expect a single creature to survive if the PCs want to kill it. Instead, expect the threat to come from a group of foes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hit points are a gauge you can turn up or down. The listed amount is the average, not set in stone.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want that Tiamat mini to look really big? Make every square a 10 foot square instead of 5! 
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the winter holiday in your campaign? Perhaps it is Deadwinter Day? 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry about giving out too many magic items. Attunement is a built in limitation.
#dnd tip from the archive: End every campaign with a "three years later" montage driven by the players. Let go and enjoy how their campaign ends.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's nothing like a nice walk sans-cellphone to ponder ideas for your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your primary plot motivations relatively simple but wrap it in all sorts of juicy complications.
#dnd tip from the archive: Deep histories can be revealed through small tweet-sized clues left all throughout a dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Changing the elemental flavor of a monster is a great way to make it feel different with very little effort.
#dnd tip from the archive: "What is its name?" is a great way to help a player bond to the story of a new magical weapon.
#dnd tip from the archive: What sort of hopes and dreams do your notable NPCs have for the new year?
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes threef big chambers tied through with a single hallway is all the dungeon you need.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes its fun to leave major plot elements open but always good to have something ready as a backup.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep good notes when your players give you backstories of your characters. They're full of great story seeds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Asking world-building open-ended questions to your players can be great. Too open and your players will be simply lost.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful putting players on the spot with open story building questions. Sometimes they don't want to make stuff up on the spot.
#dnd tip from the archive: Narrative combat can be fine but many times players are more engaged when they have a pretty map and some minis to look at.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start off your new campaign with some character building and maybe a short battle to get folks into it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every adventure is yours to twist and morph for the fun of you and your group. Never feel you must run it as written.
#dnd tip from the archive: when asking players for improvised stories, let them jump in rather than you call them out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't give your group megadungon access if you don't expect them to start exploring it.
#dnd tip from the archive: If your group starts exploring random rooms in a random dungeon, what story seeds can you plant that gives it some backbone?
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared for your players to hate your quest giving NPC. Find a new way for the PCs to get involved...or not!
#dnd tip from the archive: If you have the opportunity, try running games at your local gaming store instead of just at home. Great exp and new friends!
#dnd tip from the archive: 13th Age style player-driven montages are a great way to enjoy long scenes of travel.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all player-driven improvisation works well but when it does, it's pure gold. Say yes!
#dnd tip from the archive: Cool names add a lot of depth to otherwise faceless enemies. Captain Belmont Graycleaver is better than "leader of the orc mercs".
#dnd tip from the archive: Blank dry-erase maps with interesting textures is a great way to balance flexibility with detail. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if you love narrative combat, some minis on the table can draw in the attention of your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of NPCs and monsters as piles of clay to be molded into interesting beings by the themes, backgrounds, and drives of the PCs
#dnd tip from the archive: A tip from @13thAge: ask players what elements of the game they'd like to see come back in the future.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of the number of magic items PCs have so you know which one could use some magic item love.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use out-of-character scenes to give players a wider view of the big goings ons in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you have one course that is clearly more fun, don't put in an artificial choice. Add more choices elsewhere.
#dnd tip from the archive: Building a Fantastic Location: What was your fantastic location originally? What happened to it? What is it used for now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe profound hits, misses, and even close calls in narrative: "Her blade cuts deep into your left flank!"
#dnd tip from the archive: You can begin your journey of PC-focused gameplay by taking the time to memorize the PCs' names.
#dnd tip from the archive: In any tough fight, always consider how the PCs will fail forward if they happen to get TPKed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Remind players to let you know when they feel like another player deserves inspiration for a cool deed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot down three interesting things about any given location the PCs are likely to see.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add seasons into your game to keep the feeling of life strong in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of the number of magic items the PCs have so you know what to reward next and to whom.
#dnd tip from the archive: Cool magic items are flavored with rich history and their own origin stories that return throughout a PC's career.
#dnd tip from the archive: When reskinning a monster stat block into a new monster, try not to give away the fact that you're reskinning or what from.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the 13th Age style icon rolls to see which PC's background and alignments might come into play in that session's game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down ten tweet-sized secrets the PCs might discover in your next adventure. 
#dnd tip from the archive: If you give your players the opportunity to explore, don't be surprised when they go way off the edge of the map.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's a great way to prepare for your games? Absorb a shit-ton of awesome fiction. SF, fantasy, books, movies, TV, games, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your section off with a bang. Earthquakes, demon lords, castles exploding, crashing airships, whatever.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give vital information to the character with the highest skill roll. That way they get it and get a spotlight at the same time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Love it or hate it, players love loot. Give at least one exciting piece of loot away each session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Follow @sageadvicednd to watch the latest rulings and tips from the D&D designer's themselves.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe problems and enjoy creative solutions.
#dnd tip from the archive: A interesting map needs to be little more than some squares connected by some lines.
#dnd tip from the archive: "Bends" damage is totally appropriate if your PCs quickly swim 100 feet up in the ocean. No, they're not resistance to the bends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good player-driven travel montages can be as memorable as any other scene in your game. Embrace them! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Every feature in your game is a lump of clay forming into a detailed person, place, or thing as the eyes of your PCs behold it.
#dnd tip from the archive: "Describe your killing blow!" is a great way to push players into the creative realm during combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful using "describe your killing blow!" with kids or you're going to hear "I SHOOT HIM IN HIS EYEBALL!!"
#dnd tip from the archive: Can one dwarf use another dwarf as a bludgeoning weapon? Sure! Dwarves might even be proficient. Consider it a two-handed maul.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid boring locations. What makes your location fantastic? Is it enormous? Made of something strange? Does it fly? Is it alive?
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't always have to kill table humor to keep your game going straight. Table banter is much of the fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Encounters with an non-stop stream of bad guys can build an interesting sense of urgency that a normal encounter can't.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can build interesting encounter areas and then fill them up with different types of monsters depending on how your game goes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did the wizard's fireball just kill every bad guy in the room? Don't despair, enjoy the victory!
#dnd tip from the archive: Quality props, maps, and handouts are worth their weight in gold at the table. Physical props even more so.
#dnd tip from the archive: PCs from previous games can become interesting NPCs or even background flavor for current games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not really enjoying part of that published adventure you're running? Throw it out and build something you'll love!
#dnd tip from the archive: Fail forward on failed skill checks. How does a failed skill check escalate the tension?
#dnd tip from the archive: @roll20app isn't just for overhead maps. Drop notes, pictures, and other game aids into a campaign desktop page.
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for a group size of 4 to 5. It's the perfect blend of screen time per PC and a great group of creative minds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Face icons in @roll20app can help everyone identify with each of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend a few minutes before each session refreshing your notes and putting it all back into your mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take every opportunity to shine the spotlight on a PC and their abilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: What secrets will be revealed in your next session and how might the PCs discover them? 
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to read over the published material you plan to run. Even if you don't run it as is, it's great inspiration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clues, PC-focused quests, treasure, NPC actions, and interesting locations are great things to prepare for your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe a combat location and ask your players to draw it out. You get to decide where the combatants start!
#dnd tip from the archive: Rolling in the open makes things exciting for everyone.
#dnd tip from the archive: One to two types of monsters is about all you need in a normal fight. Great big set-piece battles might have three.
#dnd tip from the archive: A trap for trap's sake isn't very interesting. What does the trap tell the PCs about the location or its creators?
#dnd tip from the archive: Did you build out a cool battle arena with 3d stuff and all that jazz? Get the most out of it with multiple waves of monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force a trap's effect on the same PC twice without good reason.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to re-read around the current location in a published adventure in case your PCs take an unexpected turn.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sandwich your looser improvised stuff with solid locations and well orchestrated encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Email some 250 word flash fiction to give your players a wider view of your antagonist's actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Separate fantastic locations from the monsters who may inhabit them to keep your world both solid and dynamic.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try different RPGs and steal the best parts for your own game.
#dnd tip from the archive: When trying a new RPG, try to understand the intent of the rules-as-written before you start changing things up.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of useful magic items for each PC you can draw from when an opportunity for treasure comes by.
#dnd tip from the archive: Convert NPCs in published adventures into those meaningful to the PCs. Fathers, brothers, war buddies, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Along with a strong start, have an idea how the end of your next session will hook into the session after that.
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't have to reskin every monster. Many times players are very happy to fight normal by-the-book monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all players want to join your table-side improv class. Some just want to throw dice, kill monsters, and have a few laughs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep descriptions brief and focus on the most important parts. Add extra flavor as scenes continue to move forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want a bit more Cthulhu / Darkest Dungeon in your D&D game? Stick in the madness rules on page 259 of the DMG.
#dnd tip from the archive: Apocalypse World style threats are one way to keep track of the main baddies in your D&D campaign. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Great tip from Apocalypse World / Dungeon World: Play to find out what happens, don't presume or force a single direction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your attention on the world, the people, and the places that your PCs can lay eyes and hands on.
#dnd tip from the archive: What fantastic location do the PCs head towards? What makes it so? What eight interesting places does it contain?
#dnd tip from the archive: For every room, chamber, or focused location the PCs find themselves in, what are the three notable features that matter to them?
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to inflict trap, obstacle, or angry DM damage? Use 7 * the challenge's CR for one target or 7 * 1/2 CR for multiple targets.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take note of the quiet players and ensure you can find ways to draw their characters into the game. They're easy to forget.
#dnd tip from the archive: A number of portals or rifts are a great way to throw a bunch of bad guys at the PCs in a strange battlefield configuration.
#dnd tip from the archive: End a session before a big fight and you can spend time planning out a nice fun encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Random Spell Scroll (roll 2d4): 2. Bard; 3. Sorcerer; 4. Wizard; 5. Cleric; 6. Wizard; 7. Warlock; 8. Druid
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in set-piece battles, theater-of-the-mind skirmishes, exploration, and roleplaying to give players a wide range of experiences
#dnd tip from the archive: Always look for a way to hook an NPC, plot, or story element back to a PC's background to draw them tighter to the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of vomiting forth narrative, try tying discoveries to the skills and backgrounds of the PCs. Let THEM discover it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have some fun with your players describing the previous ages of the world: the Age of the Old Ones, Age of Discovery, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want your player to put down the cellphone? Ask them an interesting question and listen to the answer. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Battles with multiple waves are great ways to create a really epic battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Players love it when their idea shatters the rules in unexpected ways. Say yes!
#dnd tip from the archive: Designate a player as an arcane archivist to help look up spells when someone has a question.
#dnd tip from the archive: Designate a curio curator to look up magic items in the dungeon master's guide when they come into play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't sweat the details of the rules. Choose a rules lawyer to arbitrate and focus attention on the fun parts of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ware the player who takes advantage of your "say yes" style by getting away with murder. Let the group arbitrate their bullshit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Maybe not all the bad guys are willing to throw themselves onto the PCs blade. Maybe they're double agents!
#dnd tip from the archive: Choosing some interesting treasure is a worthy way to prep your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to impress your players with a cool battle environment? Build it high!
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan puzzles carefully. They're not something easy to improvise right at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of fun and interesting characters from your favorite books, movies, or TV shows to use as NPC archetypes in your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Two big monsters is a good way to have a powerful, explosive fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Rory's Story Cubes are a great way to fuel @13thAge style scene montages. Let them roll some dice and tell you what happened.
#dnd tip from the archive: Here's a quick DM alignment check. How do you feel when a player rolls a critical hit? Do you love it or fear it?
#dnd tip from the archive: Start game prep by looking at the backgrounds and motivations of the PCs for interesting hooks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not everyone will get into your crazy math puzzle. Make it quick so you don't alienate those who aren't into it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in word puzzles and riddles into your more mathematical cypher-type puzzles.
#dnd tip from the archive: When playing a public game, keep your game accessible to those with disabilities. How will it run for someone vision impaired?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use rich narrative when running combat in the "Theater of the Mind" to engage players in the action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Who are the three main threats in your campaign? What are they doing right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Triggering skill checks is a good way to ensure the narrative is relevant to the PCs. What do they discover?
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot down ideas and study the stat blocks for monsters you're likely to run in your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the explosive headline for the first scene in your next adventure? Thanks @monkeyking!
#dnd tip from the archive: At the end of your campaign, ask your players to describe their favorite moments and keep them in mind for your next one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Before ending your campaign, write down the main character threads that should be resolved before it ends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ending a game right at the beginning of a big battle will start your next game off with a bang!
#dnd tip from the archive: Make sure to keep the energy high and be patient in explaining the scene when running narrative "theater of the mind" combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every monster, even packs of wolves, might have interesting names or characteristics. Ask your players to define them!
#dnd tip from the archive: Villainous wolves: Redpaw, Gleamfang, Scar, Cloudeye, the Sisters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did your PCs just discover a scroll? Use this table to determine what it is! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Random Spell Scroll (roll 2d4): 2. Bard; 3. Sorcerer; 4. Wizard; 5. Cleric; 6. Wizard; 7. Warlock; 8. Druid
#dnd tip from the archive: Need to come up with a strange but flat die roll? Use one die minus 1 for the 10s and one die for the 1s. 1d4-1 + 1d10 for 1 to 39
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your narrative on the theme of the adventure. Go fantastic with high adventure and dark with your Ravenloft stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: Wrap counterspell in some colorful narrative to make it not such a fun-sucker. See the Harry Potter spell duels.
#dnd tip from the archive: Madness rules are a rough but powerful set of mechanics to add some Cthulhu into your D&D.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need a quick boss? Double hit points and add an extra standard action of any monster.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus location descriptions on the most important, useful, and fantastic elements of the location.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use Dungeon World style "hard moves" and "soft moves" to fail forward on poor skill check results.
#dnd tip from the archive: Advantage and disadvantage are your core ways to reward good ideas or great skill checks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep some simple mechanics on hand to reward great skill checks or fantastic player ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: The core of our game is telling stories with our friends. Don't let anything get in the way of that.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running narrative combat, be descriptive and high energy. Don't spout numbers, spout action!
#dnd tip from the archive: Be brief with room-by-room explorations. Focus on the important clues. Don't let it become a slog.
#dnd tip from the archive: Going around the table and switching directions is a good way to ensure every player gets deserved screen-time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Cheap tricks work well for horror games. Gross descriptions, false visions, creepy descriptions; etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Beef up the vampire by giving it 21 (6d6) necrotic on its slam attack and increasing the necrotic dam of bite to 21 (6d6).
#dnd tip from the archive: Be aware of people's limits when it comes to graphic depictions of bloodshed. Use an X card.
#dnd tip from the archive: An oldie from Dungeon World: Address the character, not the player.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward players for being willing to move the story forward at the sacrifice of their character's safety.
#dnd tip from the archive: Quick sketches of rooms and doors help even if you're running mostly theater-of-the-mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's no such thing as a generic monster. All of them have interesting characteristics.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pictures, maps, and handouts are fantastic ways to draw your players into your game beyond just words.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the smells, tastes, and senses of touch to make an area come alive.
#dnd tip from the archive: If a published battle call for a single monster but you have more than one extra PC, add a smaller minion for each extra PC.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of the PCs in front of you all the time so you can call out by character name.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let published adventures inspire your own stories. Don't be a slave to the written word.
#dnd tip from the archive: What cults are operating in your campaign? What are their goals? Who leads them? What do they think of the PCs?
#dnd tip from the archive: Action is the name of the game. What can your PCs do in any given scene? What options do they have available?
#dnd tip from the archive: Check youtube to practice interesting accents for NPCs in your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: The dread and depression of Barovia might be too strong for a whole campaign. Add some levity and moments of joy from time to time
#dnd tip from the archive: Always keep a dungeon on hand if a small town gets too boring. Forgotten cellars, old crypts, ruined towers, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give a stat block of combatant NPCs to the player with the simplest PC build to let them run it during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Using 3d terrain? Encourage PCs climbing them with skill checks and gaining advantage for high ground.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't let the mechanics get in the way of a fantastic scene. Use the mechanics to guide the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up gridded, big set-piece battles, and theater of the mind combat to make the most of all of them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to learn the names of the PCs. Can you name them all right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid pitting the PCs against foes they're not supposed to beat. Combat is as much of an option as careful negotiations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down random names you use during the game. Those NPCs are sure to come back.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to underline or highlight important notes in your adventures. These books are meant to be used!
#dnd tip from the archive: Put a large acrylic sheet on your table with the awesome Curse of Strahd map underneath for both atmosphere and utility.
#dnd tip from the archive: In 5e, hit points are the average of a range determined by hit dice. Don't worry about increasing or decreasing them.
#dnd tip from the archive: No matter how lazy, spend time outlining a strong introduction, a few cool scenes, and review your PC names and backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always be careful asking a child to "describe their killing blow". Their responses will give you nightmares.
#dnd tip from the archive: Google image search and deviant art are great places to farm for images to show in your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Video game music makes for a great background soundtrack. Assassin's Creed, Witcher 3, and Skyrim. What are your favorites?
#dnd tip from the archive: How little material can you get away with and still run a fantastic game? What can you add that makes it significantly better?
#dnd tip from the archive: What evocative details can you describe that supports the theme of your scene, adventure, and campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't punish the PCs too much if they split the party. Multiple separate scenes can be cool if juggled well.
#dnd tip from the archive: Kaizen foam with Dungeon tiles can make some really cool 3d elevation for your battle maps. 
#dnd tip from the archive: When a character faces a fear, such as a phantasmal killer, ask the player to describe the fearful images their PCs see.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hag covens are a great example of splitting up a "boss" into three separate monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Litter the land with landmarks of corruption. Ancient sacrificial stones, idols to forgotten gods, unholy circles of ages past.
#dnd tip from the archive: Who are your main villain's top three lieutenants? What makes them unique and interesting?
#dnd tip from the archive: Skills are the PCs' primary interface to the world. Think about how they hook into the world and scenes you create.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down the names of random NPCs. You never know when they're going to come back again.
#dnd tip from the archive: Design relevant terrain for random battles. What interesting statues, old ruins, or arcane circles will they see?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each PC something to do in every session. Note their strengths before you plan the whole session out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Wrap your ruses, tricks, and subterfuge in two layers. Players will easily discover the first, but maybe not the second.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of each scene as its own sandbox with many ways the PCs can act and interact within it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build teeter-totter environmental effects that start out rough on the PCs but, with skill checks, can swing it the other way.
#dnd tip from the archive: Doing less prep doesn't mean doing NO prep. There are a FEW things we should prepare for our next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: When players talk, really listen to them and use what they say to make the adventure awesome.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend some time in the minds of your NPCs before your next game. How will their motivations intersect with the PCs?
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes off-the-cuff joke comments can lead to really interesting in-game situations. Omit nothing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash up the vampire spawn stat block and the stat blocks of NPCs to make a wide range of horrific vampiric NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: The Barovia map in Curse of Strahd is betting to sit under an acrylic sheet on your gaming table.
#dnd tip from the archive: If things are feeling directionless, it might be a good time to work out, with the players, what the current open quests are.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid situations that cut off characters from their powers. Seek situations that showcase them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use ungridded sketches to help people understand a situation without resorting to five foot square bickering.
#dnd tip from the archive: Almost any mechanical problem can be improved with in-story narrative. Overpowered mechanics turn into fantastic scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never forget that the game is about having fun. Smile, laugh, don't take things so seriously.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seek out and latch onto hooks that players reveal. Did they give their sword a name and origin? Work it in!
#dnd tip from the archive: Do everything in your power to make new players feel welcome. Spend little time going over rules and just let them dive in.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend more time listening and less time talking. Give players the parts they need and then let them expand it with their actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if you use narrative combat without a grid, some miniatures can help people understand where they are relatively.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players for the kind of items they want rather than a specific wishlist. Choose within those categories.
#dnd tip from the archive: Vampires make great reoccurring villains. Even if they die, they just reform in their coffins.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw players into the story with easy questions like "how do they die?" and "what do they look like?"
#dnd tip from the archive: If players are frustrated by a vampire's regen, give them a clue or a check to learn the vulnerabilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: If NPCs get involved in combat, give their stat block to a player and let them run the NPC on their initiative.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a gridded battle map for hard battles where players need to micromanage their characters in order to survive.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to refresh yourself on the material you plan to run in your next session. It's easy to forget stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: Vary the difficulty of encounters. Not everything needs to be a life-or-death event.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use weather as an interesting way to add flavor to your next scene or adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a 13th Age style hotpoint pool if you're running more than six of a single type of monster. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on two or three NPCs in any one scene. Any more and you and your players will lose track.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep in mind the threads that bind scenes and locations together as you run each adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use @schley's maps on a tablet when running Curse of Strahd. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin the stat blocks for giants for powerful warlords and champion barbarian NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Over the years, how have you gotten better as a GM? How do you hope to be better in years to come
#dnd tip from the archive: Ancient destructible monuments are a great way to boost monster damage with extra fire, cold, force, or necrotic damage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spill secrets, clues, and lore through the mouths of monsters and villains during combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let PCs interrupt big rituals. Have a plan whether they disrupt it or not with both results leading to cool exciting stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use magic items to share history, lore, and background of the campaign. Did that +2 sword once belong to Strahd's brother Sergei?
#dnd tip from the archive: Using a big detailed 3d battle terrain setup doesn't mean you have to fall to the tyranny of counting 5 foot squares.
#dnd tip from the archive: Interesting locations have layers and layers of discoverable history going back for eons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Flashbacks, visions, and dreams are great ways to give PCs a wide view of the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: PCs having an easy time with zombies or scarecrows? Fill them with swarms of wasps that flood out on slashing or piercing attacks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good scenes have interesting weather, historical features, stressful situations, layers of history, and clear value to the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: What scene do you have in your next game that focuses on or showcases one of the PCs?
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the details of NPCs, whether friend or foe. Use the opportunity for some "yes, and" improv.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let your group and your players be who they are. Don't try to force your group to be something it isn't.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every magic item has a story to tell.
#dnd tip from the archive: Call for actions around the table, even outside of combat, and switch directions to ensure everyone gets the spotlight sometime.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spellcasting isn't just for combat. How are NPC spellcasters harassing your party from afar?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't shy away from PC death but ensure it doesn't ruin the fun of the game for the player. How can they get back in?
#dnd tip from the archive: It's ok to step in and offer a recommended path (or paths) if it leads to a more entertaining game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep an interesting encounter with solid story ties in your back pocket for potential dead spaces in your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Layer scenes with fantastic locations, deep characters, discoverable secrets, and interesting story hooks
#dnd tip from the archive: A single battle with waves of enemies and good story ties can be the centerpiece of a single adventure. Think Helm's Deep.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you're game is running a little short, don't ram in a combat encounter. It might just fatigue people.
#dnd tip from the archive: After your game, jot down some notes on what worked well and what could be improved. Post them to twitter as #dnd tips!
#dnd tip from the archive: Beginning with a battle or ending with a battle is a great way to start strong at the following game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a loose outline of the directions and hooks your campaign might go but be prepared to throw them out the window.
#dnd tip from the archive: Intelligent weapons are fantastic ever-present NPCs who can give quests and relay important facts to the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: This one is for players. Take notes during your game to stay focused on what's happening and help you avoid cellphone surfing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seriously, write down those NPC names. They're easy to forget and it breaks immersion when you stumble to find it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Villains spouting narrative is a great way to keep the story moving while combat is going on. James Bond villains are just fine.
#dnd tip from the archive: The core of D&D is having fun exploring dungeons and fighting monsters. Hang on to that.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you want to see how a game can come alive, watch @matthewmercer run Force Gray. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Overwhelming forces of monsters is ok but don't build expecting a surrender. Prepare for all outcomes. Don't be a jerk.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary of NPCs who travel with the group. Don't let them overshadow the actions of the PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: End battles early by killing monsters on the next hit or have them dissipate when villains fall. No "let's end the battle here".
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up battlespaces from big elaborate 3d terrain sets to "theater of the mind" narrative combat. Experiment!
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your game preparation by writing down the names, backgrounds, and motivations of your PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: The more we talk about #dnd in public, the more likely we are to find new players for our games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run one-shot games with new players to see if they would be a good fit for your regular games.
#dnd tip from the archive: What interesting magic items will you reward in your next session?
#dnd tip from the archive: Interesting scenes could lead towards interaction, exploration, or combat. Let the PCs choose the course!
#dnd tip from the archive: Swap out the monsters in published adventures for monsters you're excited to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Super simple encounter building. Choose one monster per PC with a challenge equal to 1/3 of the PC's level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry about getting voices and accents right. Put yourself into the mind of the character and become them for a short bit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Emailed flash fiction is a great way to keep the game going between sessions. Outline the big points you want to get across.
#dnd tip from the archive: Step outside the narrative of the PCs and foreshadow villains the PCs have yet to face.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use puzzles, riddles, and quests to unlock new powers in magical weapons the PCs love.
#dnd tip from the archive: Replace cash with expensive gems, jewelry, and artwork if the raw coins don't make sense.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use 13th Age style montages to offload interesting travel stories to your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be mindful of the time you spend, and the players' body language, when describing history, plot, or background.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't expect anyone has the time to read that great piece of flash fiction you wrote. You have no right to anyone's time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build traps and obstacles logically and let players come up with interesting ways to get past them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Care not for any monster. For when you do, it shall then be polymorphed into a canary. Love the canary instead.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't circumvent the wand of web. Embrace its creative use.
#dnd tip from the archive: Follow the wise words of @dmdavidblog and highlight the leads in your published adventures. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Abstract your big set-piece locations from your story and plot so you can use them in many potential situations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Players should enjoy their save-or-suck spells but don't let them get away with it all the time. Villains are smart.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ioun stones of greater absorption are powerful weapons of powerful villains and not game-breaking in the hands of PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add legendary actions and legendary resistance to any normal monster to make it a powerful "named" boss version of that monster.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't forget about the lair actions of legendary foes. They're easy to forget.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your game prep notes brief so you can quickly review them before and during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Using monsters with increasingly higher challenge ratings is the easiest way to challenge powerful parties.
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot magic item bonuses for bosses down on a sticky note and stick them on the monster stat block page you plan to use.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you're running a deadly encounter, have a fail forward for the TPK ready to go.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want some monsters the PCs really don't expect or understand? Grab the Tome of Beasts by @KoboldPress! 
#dnd tip from the archive: What dark power seeks out that powerful weapon your rogue just picked up?
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every set-piece battle map actually has to be a battle. Let the players know they have choices other than combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dungeons don't need to be huge labyrinths. Focus on the fun chambers even if its only two or three.
#dnd tip from the archive: Protect elite villains with shield-guardian-like bodyguards that absorb half the damage intended for the villain.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a skilled set of players with some powerful characters? Don't be afraid to go way above the standard encounter challenge.
#dnd tip from the archive: Save hard fights for the ones that are really important. Be liberal with a big bunch of easy fights that showcase the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every player will love your crazy interwoven drama. Some just want to explore ruins and fight bad guys.
#dnd tip from the archive: Thinking through the eyes of your villain is fine until your villains become complete assholes. Keep them fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: The hard choices aren't always as much fun as you think. Don't pile up too many hard decisions in a row.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's good to reconfirm the social contract of your game regularly. Is everyone getting what they want?
#dnd tip from the archive: Flash fiction is a great way to play D&D away from the table but don't expect everyone loves your flash fiction as much as you.
#dnd tip from the archive: When your players remind you of a thread you lost track of, smile slyly, nod knowingly, and write that shit down.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes a straight fight with your adventurers isn't your villain's goal.
#dnd tip from the archive: How can a villain like Strahd convince the PCs to give him Ireena and leave Barovia without a blade being drawn?
#dnd tip from the archive: There's a difference between a smart villain and a total pain-in-the-ass. Always aim towards fun first.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up a bunch of easy and normal fights with a few hard ones. Don't just punish the PCs all the time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Running narrative "theater of the mind" combat means not worrying when the PCs short circuit it with something creative or crafty.
#dnd tip from the archive: A handful of monsters with a CR of half the level of the PCs will be much harder than a single monster with CR equal to level.
#dnd tip from the archive: For a challenging encounter, add one to two monsters per character above four in just about any battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll your d20 before worrying about looking up the DC or the modifier. A really low or high roll means it won't matter anyway.
#dnd tip from the archive: The purpose of a boss fight is to bring a good challenge without removing the key abilities of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready to handle (or accept!) the heavy focus fire on your favorite monster with more than four PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Test your group before a boss fight by putting them up against a similar boss you don't care about.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move the story away from tactical tabletop jargon with some high energy narration about the action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't try to circumvent the awesome random chances that aid the characters in their big fight. Revel in it!
#dnd tip from the archive: Fog cloud and darkness are great ways to clear the field from lots of advantage or disadvantage circumstances.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you run a long series of encounters without a long rest, go easy on the difficulty of those encounters or it becomes less fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go heavy on wild narrative when running narrative "theater of the mind" combat. Describe what happens.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use individual random magic item tables when you want a nice single magic item as a reward.
#dnd tip from the archive: While we heal and find a path ahead, we can find support among friends and family playing the game that we love.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll random magic items before your game and keep rolling until you get something you know the players will love.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know your characters so you know what will make them shine and what will push them to the edge.
#dnd tip from the archive: Remove the troublesome vampire charm with a flavorful, powerful, but not jerky beguiling gaze. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters an opportunity to acquire a map of Castle Ravenloft and save yourself hours of description.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every monster needs to be dropped to zero hit points. Dispel magic on a lich's phylactery is enough if the story is cool.
#dnd tip from the archive: Random targets help avoid DM bias. Roll for monster targets when it makes sense.
#dnd tip from the archive: Awesome circumstances beats out rules of written every day of the week. Don't let the story suffer for the rules.
#dnd tip from the archive: Villains aren't aways afraid to die to the characters. Some know they serve a greater purpose in death.
#dnd tip from the archive: Increase boss hit points and damage by 25% for each character above four in a boss fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Call for skill checks when a player misses what a character might notice.
#dnd tip from the archive: From @dungeonbastard , boss battles are much harder after characters have drained resources on many smaller fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lower monster hit points during a fight if the battle's beginning to feel stale.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll dice before looking up modifiers or saving throws in a book. If it's really high or low, it won't matter what the mod is.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take it easy on your first session. Let you and your players get to know the characters and share some stories.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the first few prep sessions of your campaign focusing in on the PCs and their backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe every attack, spew forth the fantastic.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep as much as you need to feel comfortable, and no more.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep three to five open story threads going at any given time. Refresh to suit the desires of you and the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Re-read the next chapter of your published adventure before the session even if you've read it before to keep it in memory.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players the flexibility to let their characters' backgrounds grow as they play. Don't force a rich background all at once.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters a reasonable appraisal of a difficult battle before they rush headlong into it. Let them make an informed choice.
#dnd tip from the archive: Encourage players to try interesting race and class combinations even if they're not optimal.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players the freedom to change their characters class or builds if they're not having fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let humor spontaneously erupt from scenes as they unfold rather than try to plan it up front.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry too much about continuity when bringing new characters in or dealing with absent characters. Players rarely care.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters some defensive terrain like defending an old keep once in a while.
#dnd tip from the archive: Remind players (and yourself!) that not all battle maps need be for a battle. Maybe some strong conversation takes the day!
#dnd tip from the archive: Use your Forgotten Realms calendars to describe the months and seasons of the times. 
#dnd tip from the archive: You know who makes for a great model for the Zhentarim? The Sons of Anarchy! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Revel in the characters' use of the Save or Suck spell. Describe the muddy naked ogre surrounded by a Crown of Madness!
#dnd tip from the archive: All old castles and keeps have forgotten cellars and secret tunnels.
#dnd tip from the archive: When players feel like they only have one way to go, give some skill checks to discover other options yet uncovered.
#dnd tip from the archive: Besides the giants, who are the three factions working across interests with the characters in your Storm King's Thunder campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your campaign world's month and holiday names handy. Context builds worlds. Here they are for the Forgotten Realms. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Quests need to matter to the characters. No one wants to travel 1,000 miles to deliver some news.
#dnd tip from the archive: Running a looser "theater of the mind" style adventure gives you the agility to react to player decisions instead of forcing them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared with the seeds for your next adventure before you start this one. Think two steps out.
#dnd tip from the archive: A single sheet of laminated paper can be a great portable whiteboard for small maps, hit point records, or diagrams of glyphs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seriously, write down those NPC names. On paper. You're going to forget in like 10 seconds.
#dnd tip from the archive: No game this week? Practice some "lonely fun" gaming by taking an hour to read your favorite D&D sourcebook or adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a picture of your campaign worksheet with character names, backgrounds, plot hooks, and motivations. Review it when bored.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fear not inserting your own cool idea into a published adventure. Fear not cutting what bores you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Quests should have a strong motivation for the characters. Dump or refactor those that do not.
#dnd tip from the archive: Missing read-aloud text in your published adventure? Jot down quick bullets you want to focus on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a few good small dungeon maps handy and use them when you think the characters have been wandering the overland too much.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players make decisions at the end of a session so you have a better idea what to prep for in the time in between.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie secrets, histories, and clues to the magic items the characters discover. They'll love the +2 bonus, you'll love the hook!
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't fret about skipping parts of a published adventure that don't resonate with you.
#dnd tip from the archive: After a game, write down some notes about what went really well and what you wish went better. Review them before your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even the smallest town has some fantastic characteristic that's sure to make it memorable.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down and remember the names of the characters' pets and familiars. They can matter as much as the characters themselves.
#dnd tip from the archive: No single quest or artifact acquisition should spell total success or total failure for a campaign...until the end.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep handy those tools that best help you run your game and eliminate those that do not.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the rule of three when describing a town. Three interesting locations, three important NPCs, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every interesting town has a strange dungeon laying beneath the surface. What is yours?
#dnd tip from the archive: Which character has an old friend or relative living in the town they're visiting?
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of asking "what do you do" when the characters enter a town, give them some options. Rest? Barhop? Investigate rumors?
#dnd tip from the archive: What fantastic feature marks this town as different from any other?
#dnd tip from the archive: Good towns are all about the details. Name the bar, describe the atmosphere, give it detailed life.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the ancient history of this small town or hommlet? How does it reveal itself and why is it relevant?
#dnd tip from the archive: Does this town or village have a powerful artifact they're willing to give to the characters for a price?
#dnd tip from the archive: What rumors or secrets lurk in the town? What do the characters ovehear at the local tavern?
#dnd tip from the archive: What mystery lurks in the shadows of the town? Which inkeeper is keeping the sacrificed corpse of her husband in the cellar?
#dnd tip from the archive: What antagonist of the heroes lurks in the town? Are they covert or overt?
#dnd tip from the archive: Every band of orcs comes from a particular tribe. Define it and make it memorable.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the random name generator to come up with interesting tavern names that tell their own story.
#dnd tip from the archive: What event is going on when the characters come into town? Farm animals on the loose? A crazy parade for the goddess of tricks?
#dnd tip from the archive: Short off-screen stories are a fun way to re-introduce a missing character. Ron Weasley hiding and fighting snatchers in HP.
#dnd tip from the archive: Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men may be the best villain archetype ever. Use him as a perfect NPC assassin.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show flashbacks with one-off battles set centuries ago rather than just tell players about it in narrative.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down a short list of the important parts you need to pass along when describing narrative histories.
#dnd tip from the archive: Characters stumbling into a battle between two other foes is an interesting twist to the monster closet.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your dungeon designs flexible to add or remove rooms as fits the pacing of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hunt for great images across the web to use as show-ems during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay special attention to how long your descriptions or narrative is going. It can get boring very quickly.
#dnd tip from the archive: When describing past events, use a quick summary at the beginning, end, or both, to give players the gist.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even random encounters can expose secrets and clues important to the larger story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every battle needs to be a tactical masterpiece. Some can be funny. Gnolls trying to use ancient dwarven war machines.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even ancient traps can hold clues to the history of its makers and those who attempted to come before.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw maps on a 45 degree angle on your battle map to break people away from the grid.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use email or off-line discussions to cover intermissions between games. Don't expect or rely on a lot of engagement, though.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be nice at level 1 and increase your bastard ranking proportionally to the level of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start building your campaign world around the features that directly affect the characters and spiral out from there.
#dnd tip from the archive: At the start of your campaign, list the top six to ten themes so your players can get a feel for it before they build characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Simplify your DM kit by removing books or tools that don't serve to run a fantastic game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reinforce the growing informal connections characters build between one another as part of the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't punish poor strategic choices done for fun role-play purposes. Let them lead to a fun unpredictable scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: List the ten fantastic features that might come up in various locations in your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pre-roll some of your random charts ahead of time (encounters, NPC names, loot) so it doesn't make the game feel too random.
#dnd tip from the archive: Survey your players with "what did you enjoy the most? What do you want more of?" at the end of each game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Widen the players' view of the world with cut-scenes and flash fiction. Maybe state ancient battles they can participate in.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of fantastic town features you can whip up when characters visit some place you're not prepared to fill out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of seven solid NPC names on hand. Random names at the table can have unexpected results.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even when running theater of the mind, a monster miniature on the table can keep players focused on the situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fleeing from combat with the grand macguffin might be the best victory condition. Make sure players feel it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put in locations and let characters explore interesting places that aren't necessarily part of the main story thread.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin locations and dungeons you find in books and adventures to fit the intricate history of the world you're building.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters wander into existing conflicts between enemies. Fire giants versus gnolls!
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix the features and stat blocks of two monsters in the Monster Manual to build hybrids. Stone giant wights!
#dnd tip from the archive: Use skill checks to let characters directly explore the world around them instead of just telling them everything all at once.
#dnd tip from the archive: Which character's background are you going to directly tie to in the first scene of your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry about filling in details you forgot (or just made up!) in an interesting scene. Your players will forgive you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill dungeons with artifacts that tell the history of the world in which the characters travel.
#dnd tip from the archive: Rarely can a single creature take on more than four characters. Add minions for each character above 4.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill in details of dungeon rooms ahead of time enough to make them interesting but not so much that you mind discarding them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all ghost possessions need be malevolent. Some ghosts just want to hitch a ride.
#dnd tip from the archive: Magic items can tell as much of a story as anything else, and they're likely one players will pay attention to.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the rules of combat before combat begins when using narrative or abstract combat. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Beholders are always likely to use flight as their biggest defense.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choosing different deities is a great way to make unique temple locations for your game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use narrative "theater of the mind" combat when running more than eight or so bad guys. A swarm of 36 stirges? Sure!
#dnd tip from the archive: Connect characters to important NPCs in the story if your one-shot games.
#dnd tip from the archive: How can your villains stop the likely bloodshed in a negotiation with the characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: Putting out a battle map is a clear sign that things are going to get violent. Save it until violence becomes a certainty.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskinning dragons is a great way to get a powerhouse boss monster of any flavor.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your imagery brief and powerful. Stone giants impaled on fifty foot obsidian spikes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make magic items unique by adding a once-per-day spell effect to it based on the theme of the item.
#dnd tip from the archive: The physical appearance of a magic item tells a lot of its story.
#dnd tip from the archive: What fantastic feature does the characters' campsite happen to have? Remember Weathertop!
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared for turn undead to blast away half or more of any undead army you throw against the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: All powerful dragons have spells and magic items at their disposal.
#dnd tip from the archive: Some spells work really well with legendary monsters: Shield, Divine Word, Misty Step, Spiritual Weapon, Counterspell, Smite.
#dnd tip from the archive: The capabilities of your group matter more than any formula you might use for building encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes your group wants a real challenge and sometimes they want just some slaughterhouse fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take two monster stat blocks and mash them together for a unique challenge. Stone Giant Wights!
#dnd tip from the archive: Mark the words of @newbiedm. Focus on the local heroics of your low level characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not digging the way a published adventure handles a location? What if its taken over by your own big bad?
#dnd tip from the archive: Before prepping your game, jot down the names of the characters and their motivations as your initial seed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry about your monsters getting banished, held, blinded, paralyzed, or slain. That's world-breaking fun for players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never fall in love with your villains. Your players will smell it and break your heart.
#dnd tip from the archive: If your game didn't go as well as you hoped, take a step back and do a post-mortem and think about why and what might improve.
#dnd tip from the archive: Some players don't enjoy being pushed to the edge of death all the time. Some just like to relax and kick ass.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes players are distracted by stressful things going on in their lives. Be patient with them.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's fine to give players disconnected pieces of a puzzle but it can help them to know they don't have all the answers.
#dnd tip from the archive: An "Elrond Council" sort of gathering of the important NPCs is a great way to rebaseline the goal of a campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down evidence and clues on 3x5 cards your players can hang onto.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of spontaneous NPC names, you never know who's going to become a star in the players' eyes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Just as a sixth PC adds significantly to a battle, reducing to 4 PCs will reduce a lot of synergy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Help your players build.effective characters for the story you intend to tell. Pacifist enchanters? Not so good against the undead
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe and outline interesting features in each scene the characters encounter. What makes it fantastic?
#dnd tip from the archive: Outline interesting locations the characters will encounter as they travel long distances. Ancient skeletal remains, giant statues
#dnd tip from the archive: Break up descriptive scenes by giving players a chance to jump in with their actions, reactions, or skill checks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every magic item has a story.
#dnd tip from the archive: At the beginning of each character's turn, give them a quick summary of their current situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use descriptions from the Monster Manual and Volo's Guide to seed your mind with adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: From @StvWinter Steeping yourself into a campaign world makes running sandbox adventures much easier.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use sketches of locations when theater of the mind combat doesn't give people a good idea what the hell is going on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review all of your clues and secrets right before you run your game so you're clear on the evidence the characters can discover.
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot down names for potentially named bandits or humanoid enemies before the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Replace NPCs in your published adventure with NPCs important to the characters and their backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: When the characters tend to wander around town, clarify their options or have something crazy happen. DMG page 79!
#dnd tip from the archive: Build interesting features of a location based on the backgrounds of characters. Ancient drow ethereal portal of Maeramydra!
#dnd tip from the archive: Add spell effects to fantastic locations that characters can tap into with a skill check. Ethereal orbs that grant "blink".
#dnd tip from the archive: Differentiate between "quests" and "clues". Quests are clear paths they might follow. Clues are pieces of a puzzle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't push too hard to get feedback. "What did you enjoy and what do you want more of?" is fine and often no answer is ok.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't pile a bunch of high damage monsters on the characters one after another. Mix up hard fights with easy ones.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be mindful of the impact an NPC who travels with the party will have.  Will it overshadow them? Will it complicate things?
#dnd tip from the archive: Always remember that your players aren't there to critique you. They just want to have a good time like you do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't build scripted scenes. Build situations and let the scene play out from the actions of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Nothing beats a strong start to your game. What will start your game off with a blast?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't stick to the published adventure if what is in your head sounds cooler than the words on the page.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your long-term campaign plans light and flexible. Focus two sessions out and let the campaign grow organically.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put Acs and DCs out in the open as soon as it is no longer interesting to hide them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Play D&D like you play craps. Everyone is on the same side and the only villains are the dice.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change up your intricate puzzle if the characters are stuck. Don't admit that you ever did so.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a council meeting with the characters' favorite NPCs to clarify quests and goals. Think Council of Elrond.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bring the NPCs the characters like the best to the front. Bury those who hold little interest to the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Turn old enemies into new friends as the world changes. Cult of the Dragon as an ally? Sure!
#dnd tip from the archive: Use miniatures to represent the main villains in a campaign and keep them out to focus the players' attentions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use collaborative storytelling with your players to turn "ice troll 2" into Doctor Meat Haunch!
#dnd tip from the archive: When faced with a deadly fight, clarify the risk and give the characters a dignified escape route.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all fantastic features in a location need some crazy environmental effect. The shell of an ancient purple worm is cool enough.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did the players come up with a short-cut by teleporting into the final bosses chamber? Go with it! Always aim towards cool.
#dnd tip from the archive: NPCs act from their own motives and interests, not from the direction you want the story to go. Does it make sense for them?
#dnd tip from the archive: Regularly give your players three options plus any interesting ones they come up with on their own.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running Theater of the Mind combat, give players the chance to describe how they want their characters to avoid threats.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give out powerful encounter-breaking magical items with heavy consequences. Let the characters make hard choices.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let your mind wander to fantastic worlds, characters, and stories. Keep them flexible and only make them solid at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash up multiple campaign adventures to give players a lot of interesting and unique options for your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare as much as you need to feel comfortable running your next game ... and no more.
#dnd tip from the archive: The less you prepare, the more room the game has to go in exciting directions at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think through the eyes of your villains. What are they doing right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal what you want from published adventures and throw away what doesn't delight you. Make them your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random tables to inspire and fuel your own creative ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: How will the start of your next session draw your players into the game? What's the hard starting hook?
#dnd tip from the archive: from @JamesIntrocaso. Build a quick NPC by stealing a character from pop fiction and switching genders.
#dnd tip from the archive: What secrets and clues might your characters uncover in your next session? This is the fuel and payoff for exploration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fantastic injuries are an interesting way to have a character change in your game. A mangled arm that sprouts Black Tentacles!
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a set of five scenes in mind on hand for your next game. Why will the characters care?
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down your players' birthdays in your calendar and run special sessions for them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review your characters before prepping and running your session. How can you hook them into the story?
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the ACs of various armor types in mind. Customize the armor of humanoids to keep things interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pound for pound, giants make for fantastic powerful monsters. They hit hard and have tons of HP.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep your game by asking: Where does it start? What 5 fantastic locations do I have? What 10 secrets might be uncovered?
#dnd tip from the archive: "What do you do?" is the key question to bringing the players into the game. Make sure they have good options available.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dungeons don't always have to make ecological sense. Sometimes players just want a funhouse to explore.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try different kinds of adventures, stories, and scenes. Solicit feedback to gauge what types of games your players enjoy the most.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build rooms like large physical puzzles. Use the rooms in White Plume Mountain as examples.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you know you're going to have some big choices of direction in your next game, prepare those directions ahead of time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every good battle has some interesting terrain going on. What are the terrain hooks the characters can use?
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill in parts of the story with flash fiction when you want the game to continue away from the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put your own layer of antagonists on top of the dungeons in published adventures. Zhents invading White Plume Mountain?
#dnd tip from the archive: Show pictures from your books so players can see the monsters they fight or the dungeons into which they delve. Use the art!
#dnd tip from the archive: Put enemies in disadvantageous positions from time to time. Life doesn't always go well for them either.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use gridded combat, abstract maps, or theater of the mind whenever the scene and pacing best calls for it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward dangerous heroics with inspiration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be fair with an enemy's attack. Choose random targets or have good reason to pick on a particular character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Refer to a character's background when relevant to the description in a scene to make them a part of it.
#dnd tip from the archive: As players to describe parts of their own backgrounds relevant the the current story or scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend some time just listening to your players talk about their characters. Just shut up and listen for a minute.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build up a good playlist of music and run it in the background of your game nice and low.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of saying "no" offer a check at disadvantage against a hard DC.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write intelligent weapons down next to your characters on your campaign worksheet. They matter too and are worth remembering.
#dnd tip from the archive: Replace meaningless NPCs in published adventures with NPCs your players know and remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin chambers in published dungeons with those that fit the theme of your campaign. WPM bubble room to submerged giant tomb.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look out for and save great fantasy artwork to inspire you and your players during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your favorite tools on hand to help you improvise during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good dungeon masters are flexible and can adapt quickly to change. How do you stay flexible and adapt during your game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Seek sources of input that bring you the most creativity. Movies, music, books, TV shows; which ones ignite your imagination?
#dnd tip from the archive: Be patient and listen to your players. Let them bring their own creativity to the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Break away from the Facebooks, Twitters, Twitches, and Youtubes for a bit and sit down and read your favorite #dnd sourcebook.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even for the most improvisational DMs, knowing where your game starts is likely a critical bit of prep.
#dnd tip from the archive: Earn the players' trust to run a great game. Play fair and for the fun of all.
#dnd tip from the archive: Battles shouldn't just be filler. What interesting parts of the story will the characters learn in this fight?
#dnd tip from the archive: If you know a battle is going to take place in a certain location, a cool battle setup can add a lot of fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use Theater of the Mind if you aren't sure where things are going or whether combat will turn into a RP or exploration scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Intelligence weapons are NPCs that are always on stage ready to share useful secrets or backstory.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let scenes flow naturally. Don't assume a scene will focus on roleplaying, combat, or exploration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make Dungeon World "Hard Moves" to push the PCs. Swimming salamanders pop the bubble in White Plume Mountain!
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't always have to draw overhead maps. Draw side-views and isometric maps to show the depth of places.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write notes on 3x5 cards or print emails to keep track of away-from-table RP and story developments. Stick them in your DM folder.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every game will be great. You'll have your share of stinkers. Learn from them and let them improve the rest of your games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry too much about overpowered magic items. You can always increase the challenge level and add more monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Oceans Eleven style heists are a great hook for a D&D adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Some situations require more than seat-of-the-pants improvisation. Give yourself the time you need to build out detailed scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lost for ideas? Start with the backgrounds of the characters and see what comes up!
#dnd tip from the archive: Character names are important. Spend the time necessary to commit them to memory.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need a good in-scene gambling game? Try "Gladiators"! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your players three clear options if they get stuck but let them come up with and follow their own if they prefer.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on fantastic locations, motivated NPCs, and interesting situations. Let the characters drive the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Street craps, gladiator dice, and cee-lo are fast tavern-style dice games to run in taverns or casinos in game. Google them!
#dnd tip from the archive: Put action into the hands of the characters. Let them drive the action of the game, not your favorite important NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready of fail forward at any given skill check so a whole operation doesn't fail completely on a single shitty roll.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw maps of locations even for exploration and roleplaying scenes to help players see the scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always be prepared to throw away any big fancy thing you prepared if the story is more fun going off the path.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up exploration, interaction, narrative, and combat scenes to keep the pace of your game moving at a fun speed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use Theater of the Mind, rough abstract maps, and gridded set pieces to fit the battle that brings the most fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your unpainted giant statues unpainted so they can fill in for different kinds of giants or even ancient fantastic statues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Our hobby is constantly evolving. Do not look at how others play differently with scorn but with awe, wonder, and happiness.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use elevation to make a set-piece battle look really interesting. High platforms and tall mountains.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure your fantastic features have hooks relevant to the characters and that hook your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: In every scene, in every narration, ask yourself "why would the characters care?" Give them a reason.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try not to get too crafty or deep into your story. Many players just want to explore a dungeon and kill some goblins.
#dnd tip from the archive: Feel free to dynamically reduce the hit points of monsters to speed up a grinding combat. Don't tell them you've done so, though.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stand up to help your voice project when you're describing important elements of your game. It also keeps your energy level up.
#dnd tip from the archive: When teaching the game, get as fast as possible (like within 10 minutes) to playing the game. The rules aren't that important.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the players come up with a better idea than the one you had, smile, wiggle your eyebrows, and pretend it was yours all along.
#dnd tip from the archive: "I seek adventure" is the best character motivation. Let your own characters' background come as close to this as possible.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready to throw the subtlty and hidden details of your mysterious story aside if the players don't seem to resonate with it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend some time reviewing the quests the characters are currently working on so the players can get a refresher.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure you balance narrative descriptions (you talking) with the investigation, roleplaying, and combat driven by the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use titles and in-world accomplishments as rewards to characters. "Heroes of Gauntlgrym", "Ally of Klauth", etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hard choices sound like fun but they can put a large cognitive burden on the players. Sometimes they don't want hard choices.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare a few relevant encounters to keep on hand if the story's getting stale and its time for a scrape.
#dnd tip from the archive: What are the unique characteristics of the locations the characters will visit. Bar with a sagging upper balcony?
#dnd tip from the archive: Frame your world's history and descriptions from the point of view of the characters, their histories, and their drives.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use elevation to make your combat scene interesting. Foam blocks are a great way to prop things up.
#dnd tip from the archive: What are the big interesting features of your combat area? How can characters use them to do something fantastic?
#dnd tip from the archive: Ancient machinery makes for great objects and areas to explore. How does it work? How does it KEEP working?
#dnd tip from the archive: Just because the characters are level 12 doesn't mean all the castle guards became champions. Use context-relevant monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend time learning the interesting features of popular landmarks of your campaign world. Describe the dank majesty of Skullport!
#dnd tip from the archive: When a player gives you a rich character background, it's a gift! Mine it for interesting story threads to weave into your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the backgrounds of the characters as the lens to describe what they see. Dwarves understand the ancient structure of caves.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use an old black t-shirt or other piece of cloth as a fog-of-war on your 3d dungeon setup.
#dnd tip from the archive: Big maps and 3d terrain setups don't only have to be for combat. Use them for exploration and roleplay scenes as well.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of building your own random encounter charts, spend time building interesting and meaningful encounters you'll always use.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of vague descriptions of long travel, add in one or two interesting specific scenes that happen along the way.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the wild magic table to spice up a battle. Expect the room to be filled with flumphs, however, so prep a fireball.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even without a grid, its fun to see a miniature of a monster you're about to fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give bandits, guards, and other humanoids different weapons, armor, and appearances to spice them up.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't fret the save or suck spells the characters inflict on monsters. Revel in their short-circuit successes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Character rests are a resource. Keep track of them to not overwhelm or underwhelm your characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up hard fights (room full of Slaads) and easy ones (two CR 1/4 guards). It doesn't always have to be perfectly balanced.
#dnd tip from the archive: Epic chamber battles always seem to take place in the doorways. What will draw the characters into your epic chamber?
#dnd tip from the archive: What hooks in your next adventure tie into the backgrounds of the characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: A handful of specific locations with fantastic features helps you fill in gaps as characters explore the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: bookmark individual @DnDBeyond pages to your home screen for a quick lookup during the game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: If a battlespace inhibits movement, make it clear what the characters can and can't do. "Two moves to get to the balcony".
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of the characters on your phone or in your pocket notebook so you can refer to them as ideas come to you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend some time reading through the Dungeon Master's Guide again. There's always ideas you can use to refresh.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every few sessions try a downtime session where characters can spend time in a city on personal quests.
#dnd tip from the archive: During downtime sessions, ensure each player gets time to talk about their actions and goals.
#dnd tip from the archive: Magical scrying is a great way to foreshadow things the characters otherwise might not see.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe rich and evocative locations but be brief, no one wants a 30 minute monologue.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read the body language of your players. Are they into what's going on or tuning out? Adjust as you go.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare your game  just up to the edge of comfort, but not quite fully.
#dnd tip from the archive: Practice voices in your car and by yourself to wire them in.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare for your game by speaking through the voice of the major NPCs. What would they say right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Seed your mind with your favorite source of fantasy art. It serves as both direct inspiration and as mindful priming.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players explore the wonders of the world through the eyes of their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down features of a battle ground useful to the characters so the players can see it and use it. Think Fate-style "aspects".
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe evocative and dramatic details when running Theater of the Mind combat. Don't focus on the numbers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes we must take discontinuities in our story and world and MAKE them true.
#dnd tip from the archive: Improvise the threads that connect characters to the world. We need not plan them all out ahead of time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start managing the time your game is going to take right away. Don't wait until there's 30 minutes left to worry.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the players pick up on a false clue, worry not unless it's going to steer a great deal of the game off course.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dungeon crawls offer an excellent fixed world where the characters can rarely get too off course.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your game as close to the action, any action, as you can. Nothing helps players lean forward right away like action.
#dnd tip from the archive: In a rush to prep your game? What is your strong starting scene and what are ten secrets and clues the characters can discover?
#dnd tip from the archive: From @JeremyCrawford View things as a player. What would hook YOU?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the plethora of live-play games to get ideas how other DMs run their games.
#dnd tip from the archive: From Never Unprepared: 'The true goal of your session notes is to make you comfortable enough to run your session.'
#dnd tip from the archive: From Emily Care Boss in Unframed: "Become an attentive fan of what the players create."
#dnd tip from the archive: From John Arcadian in Unframed: "The least important thing about your game is the plot."
#dnd tip from the archive: From @ChrisPerkinsDnD "Listen more than you talk."
#dnd tip from the archive: Challenge powerful parties with more monsters not just bigger monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't shy away from letting your characters mow through lower powered encounters. It's fun!
#dnd tip from the archive: The listed hit points of a monster is just the average, you are free to adjust them up or down to suit the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep control of the number of rests the characters get to keep the pressure high.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw maps of large areas and denote the main features the characters can explore.
#dnd tip from the archive: Powerful monsters control their terrain. When appropriate, use terrain advantages to put the pressure on the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expect a shit-ton of attacks to pour out of your high level fighters right away with multi-attacks and action surges.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful removing actions and options from characters. Give them the freedom to choose their actions and change the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary of invisibly "wrong" choices. A quick decision shouldn't lead to unknown and irrevocable consequences.
#dnd tip from the archive: Increasing hit points is the most likely way to make a boss harder to plain defeat. Double or triple HP with lots of PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Magic items are a great vehicle for story, secrets, and clues the characters will remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: Great magic items define characters. They become a core component of the character's arc, motivations, and desires.
#dnd tip from the archive: Running combat in the theater of the mind may make you care less when battles don't go as you expect.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use that flip mat in front of you to sketch side-views that show the huge scale of vast halls.
#dnd tip from the archive: When things are slow, the door bursts open to reveal assassins.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of rewarding a straight magic item, consider rewarding parts of a larger powerful magic item crafting quest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe zombies by the people they used to be. Farmers, blacksmiths, tavern waiters, barbarian hunters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Anything we can do to improve our improvisation skills will pay dividends the rest of our DMing lives.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to describe the results of their heroic actions. Let them take control of the scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bookmark the monsters that may show up in your next game and use your MM right at the table!
#dnd tip from the archive: Charmed enemies are a great way to reveal secrets and clues to the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Before you build a super-challenging boss fight, put yourself in the mind of the players and ask if it would be fun for you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Like us DMs, boss monsters will test the characters out with powerful minions or simulacrums to see how they do.
#dnd tip from the archive: There are fewer fun suckers than action denial. Be careful taking actions away from characters in combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read adventures, and the next section of adventures you plan to run, before you run them. There's no good lazy trick.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose the number of monsters during the game based on the need for hopeful (fewer monsters) or fearful (more monster) beats.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good drama comes from an intermix of hopeful and fearful beats throughout the game. Prepare to improvise both.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not every boss fight needs to be a balanced arena. Let the characters set the stage to trap a boss and kick its ass.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop in hard moves when things look too easy or well refined. Two fire giant guards go to fetch Duke Zalto for dinner.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use John Carpenter's "The Thing" to model the stressful situations when NPCs might be possessed by ghosts or Yakfolk.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fire, water, and the limitless energy of undead might all be harnessed to power aspects an ancient dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw vertical maps along with flat maps when the battle space is in 3d.
#dnd tip from the archive: Villains aren't totally omnipotent. What do they know and what is outside of their sight?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players inspiration when they willingly move the story forward and take risks doing so.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find and keep handy the tools that help you improvise during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drape initiative cards with vital character stats over the top of your DM screen.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stat blocks for NPCs are extremely useful for improvising various bad guys. Be familiar with them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep maps for common locations like castle ruins, catacombs, villas, and other common fantasy locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared to improvise for all three pillars: secrets for exploration; random names for NPCs; good monsters for combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the price in blood, flesh, and soul required to forge powerful magic items?
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie NPCs to characters to build meaningful relationships right from there inception.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the time to really read the stat blocks of monsters you plan to run. Then read them again right before you use them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Light prep doesn't mean no prep. Spend the time you need to prepare for a great game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Beautiful maps and 3d terrain isn't just for combat. It works well for exploration and roleplaying scenes as well.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running Theater of the Mind, ask for the players' intent and lean towards saying "yes and here's how".
#dnd tip from the archive: Talk to payers about their overall intent and expectations with the design of their characters. What do they hope to do?
#dnd tip from the archive: When building interactive components of a detailed combat encounter, start with the story and design around it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Miniatures work just as well for table props just to show off villains and keep people's attention on the goal.
#dnd tip from the archive: Begin your game by asking players to describe what happened in the previous session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need a "hard mode"? Switch from average damage to max damage, or add 50% more dice to attack rolls.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even a few 3d props on a battle map can make it pop. A gnarled tree or strange statue are perfect.
#dnd tip from the archive: Native habitats, leylines, ancient monuments; any of these can give monsters an advantage against the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Nothing shakes up a fight like waves of monsters. Have the boss show up on round 2.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even the very walls of a dungeon can lead to exploration of the ancient and the strange.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the time to actually read the Monster Manual. It has hundred of adventure ideas packed into it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Scale up legendary actions and lair actions to account for more than four characters in big battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Elder gods staring out of the abyss make for great powerful environmental effects in a big battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Challenge players in powerful encounters but be wary of taking away their actions and favorite abilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Many encounters without a rest will wear down even the most powerful characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up poster maps and 3d terrain to build large battle areas that pop.
#dnd tip from the archive: Waves of enemies will put a high pressure on the characters in a challenging encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Who doesn't love tentacled horrors? You can never have enough tentacle attacks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Great villains scry on the characters but not all the time. They know a lot but not everything. The chars must deal with scrying.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can paraphrase descriptions from the DMG or Monster Manual almost directly to build evocative imagery to the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: When building a ship, airship, or spelljammer for the characters, let them describe the features of the vehicle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Place situations in front of the characters but not necessarily the solutions. See how they approach the problem themselves.
#dnd tip from the archive: NPCs have cognitive biases just like we do. Sometimes they refuse to believe the truth because its just too painful.
#dnd tip from the archive: D&D is about sitting around a table laughing with your friends. That's the core of our game. Embrace it every session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Boss confrontation isn't about fights, its about the story. What is the boss doing as the characters approach? What do they want?
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes your dungeon unique among all other dungeons? What is its overall big trait?
#dnd tip from the archive: Hunting a lich's phylactery might be a campaign-long adventure. Think Harry Potter hunting horcruxes.
#dnd tip from the archive: What angle might the characters discover that lets them outsmart their villain?
#dnd tip from the archive: What traps make sense for the dungeon the characters crawl? Just write down the idea and improvise the mechanics.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes the characters get the drop on the villain in a really bad spot. Not every boss fight is a huge set-piece encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: A jaunt into the astral plane is always fun for high level characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce henchmen and sidekicks to your boss early and often so the characters enjoy facing them later.
#dnd tip from the archive: Things a bit too easy on the characters? Try using maximum damage instead of average damage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus less on balancing encounters and building mechanics and more on pondering the story of the game that unfolds at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write out one fantastic location and three notable features for every 45 minutes of gameplay you expect to run. Example: Chamber of Orbs; dozen multicolored orbs swirling around the room, covered orb of antimagic in the center, angel of vengeance carved into iron door.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reflavor features of a dungeon to fit the background of the characters. Statues become those of the deities of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations and let the characters decide if they're going with combat, exploration, or roleplaying. Don't presuppose how it will go.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running a legendary monster, take the time to re-read the stat block before combat begins. Don't forget lair actions!
#dnd tip from the archive: What five fantastic locations might come up in your next game? What three notable features do each of them have?
#dnd tip from the archive: Bring up the threat of any boss monster by maximizing its hit points and damage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Boss monsters are more than just bags of hit points and beams of damage. What plot are they setting up to thwart the characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the main hook for your next session? What is the goal?
#dnd tip from the archive: Take inspiration from anywhere. Old cover to an Iron Maiden album? Done! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to throw dozens and dozens of low CR monsters against your high level PCs. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Try out static monster damage when the stakes are low and combat speed is important. It's not as big a deal as you think.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always start by considering the characters, their backgrounds, and their motivations before building your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down seven tips after your D&D game on things you learned and areas where you can improve.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of and cultivate the relationships the characters build with NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give options and opportunities while describing the story. Expect the characters to get involved and change it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Research or make up the histories of the fantastic locations the characters explore in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the individuals of a mob of enemies. Don't make them just a faceless mass. Give a few of them unique character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seek out and show interesting artwork depicting fantastic locations. Change your description to fit the art. It's not canon until it hits the ears of the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players describe the upgrades to their airship or the details of their home, castle, or tower.
#dnd tip from the archive: We can lazy-DM our way through a lot but boss confrontations require some careful planning and preparation. Give them the time they deserve.
#dnd tip from the archive: For major confrontations at high levels, don't be afraid to go well beyond "deadly" encounters as long as you have a vague idea how the challenge will play out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of thinking about a boss encounter as strictly tactical combat, ask what big story element will be revealed during the confrontation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Smart villains know the devastation caused by splitting the party. How can they use that to their advantage?
#dnd tip from the archive: Boss fights aren't just an opportunity to beat the hell out of the characters, its an opportunity for the characters to play true to themselves and their capabilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Wizard and sorcerer villains can use simulacrum to split themselves into multiple headaches for the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: What series of events might cause a boss villain to become an ally of the characters against an even worse foe? 
#dnd tip from the archive: What are your new year's goals for your D&D games in 2018? 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't rob the characters of a killing blow against a boss just because you have some cool story idea on how they die. 
#dnd tip from the archive: End your campaign with some collaborative storytelling asking where the characters headed next in turn; where they went, what they did, where they were one year out. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful with character manipulation at the end of a campaign. Let the player drive their character's actions and desires. Don't tug too hard. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Drive the final boss battle from the story. It doesn't need to be a perfectly well designed combat encounter. The story of the battle matters more than the mechanics. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Defeating a boss doesn't always mean killing it in combat. It could be destroying the boss's plans with a single word, act, or deed. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ancient dragons are really powerful even for their CR and especially the spellcasting variety. Be wary. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Reading sourcebooks, monster manuals, adventures, and campaign books is one of the best non-lazy ways to improve our DM skills. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your session zero with the basic rules of the game. In particular, characters exist to go on cooperative fantastic adventures with their companions. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Intro sessions to new campaigns are the best place to establish the scope, scale, and theme of the campaign for the players and DMs. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a small intro scene prepared for your session zero games just to get everyone started playing some #dnd.
#dnd tip from the archive: Other than a name, we don't need much to improvise NPCs. Jump into the shoes of the character and see how they fill out. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes what players say they want out of their D&D games, and what they ACTUALLY want aren't the same things. Observe their behavior as much as listening to their feedback.
#dnd tip from the archive: Campaigns don't have to be long affairs, build fun and focused campaigns that last about five to ten levels. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes each location in our adventures fantastic, functions, and familiar? 
#dnd tip from the archive: As anxious as we feel about running our next game, we can remember that we're with friends and all of us want to have a good time. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use miniatures to represent the off-stage villains so the players never lose track of who their nemesis is. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Read through whole published adventures before you run them and then read each section again right before you run it to be as familiar as possible. 
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't have to remember every canonical bar and shop in Baldur's Gate. Just make one up. (art from the game Epic Citadel) 
#dnd tip from the archive: Go easy at level 1 and get them to level 2 fast. This is the most deadly level for characters of any.  
#dnd tip from the archive: In the right circumstances, kobolds can always be deadly.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Beautiful fantasy maps can draw your players into the world their characters inhabit. . 
#dnd tip from the archive: Improvise NPCs from your favorite movie or TV characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What features make your mundane locations fantastic? (anyone know the artist?) 
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your session preparation by reviewing the characters, their backgrounds, and their motivations.  
#dnd tip from the archive: At low levels, even a battle against rat swarms becomes a fight to remember. (artist unknown) 
#dnd tip from the archive: If a scene start to feel boring, feel free to jump forward to the next interesting path you can see.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all fantastic items need be magical. A clockwork fish in a bowl can be well loved and remembered.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of copying monster stat blocks down, simply use the actual monster manual at the table. This helps you avoid railroading towards certain monsters if the story ends up in a different direction. 
#dnd tip from the archive: There is little need to build your own NPC stat blocks. Simply reskin one of the NPC stat blocks in the Monster Manual or Volo's Guide. Close enough is just fine.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Battle maps and terrain need not only serve combat but also as visual guides for exploration and roleplaying.
#dnd tip from the archive: The world does not conform to the level of the characters but that doesn't mean the characters don't have a chance to see when they're outmatched.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters aren't always standing guard waiting for the characters to rush in. Sometimes they have other problems.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Weather and celebrations are a great way to add another dimension of life to your adventure.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Players love to have a base of operations to call their own. A dwelling, lair, fortress, or ship make fantastic rewards.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players an expectation of the types of gameplay they might expect in a particular session. If they don't seem interested, consider a pivot.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in upward beats with your downward bits of terror in a suspence or horror session or it will seem like a slog the whole time. Give them some fun breaks.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer inspiration to those willing to step foward into obvious danger to keep the game moving smoothly.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Build murder mysteries by laying out what happened and writing down potential clues the characters can discover that might reveal the true story.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Feel free to change the result of a mystery if the players went down a different and more interesting road.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Two mysteries wound together can add fun complications to an investigation.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the madness effects on hand. Madness is a wonderful universal mechanic for horror in D&D.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend less time talking and more time listening. Enjoy the banter of the players and step in when guidance and direction is needed.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the failed special attacks of monsters as you would the successes so the characters recognize how close they came to the edge of doom.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations, not plots or solutions. Let the players choose how to approach the challenges in front of them.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Give chracters a cool home base they can call their own. Let them customize it how they want and refer to it often.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Tap into the reactions of players to fill in the details of NPCs. If their nickname is cool or funny, let it stick.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Break up travel with a fantastic spooky monument and the monsters to which it calls. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Generate random NPCs to break away from stereotypes or cliches.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Base in-game events to real-world events. On the night of a supermoon in real life, have them fight the beasts of the supermoon!
#dnd tip from the archive: We don't need to write down the stats of our reskinned monsters. Make the changes in your head and use the base statistics at the table.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the pace of the adventure moving fast. Don't linger in one scene when it starts to get stale; leap forward.  
#dnd tip from the archive: This is our monthly reminder to write down NPC names when they appear in our games. Players feel them break apart into ethereal mist when even we can't remember their names.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players plan their approach to invading a small fort, pirate ship, defended keep, tower, or villa. We need not railroad them into one approach. Set the situation and let them choose the approach.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down the hooks that seem to resonate to the players. Let those guide where the game moves forward.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Watch the movies that fit the theme of the adventure you're running to fill your head with ideas you can improvise as you run the game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer advantage on attacks for those willing to perform a skill check to gain an advantageous position in combat. It's an easy mechanic for an infinite range of awesome flavorful situations and attacks.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters don't always make optimal moves. Let them make bonehead mistakes for the fun of the story and the game.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Help players break away from counting squares by letting them move more squares than they normally could so they can actually engage an enemy other than waste a whole turn.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Tell small bits of the story, history, and situation through small bits of lore the characters learn with skill checks as they investigate the world around them.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use video game soundtracks for background music during your game. My personal favorite? Witcher 3! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your group's size down to four or five players so each player gets enough screen time.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Never worry about putting piles of low challenge rating monsters in front of your higher level characters.  
#dnd tip from the archive: We can get away with just about anything for monster miniatures on a map but players really love to have nice miniatures for their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a set of generic pogs or tokens for monster minis when running unexpected improvised combat and keeping the flow of the game moving smoothly. 
#dnd tip from the archive: For a truly lethal game, remember that damage to a character at zero hit points inflicts a death save. An assassin can use all three attacks to kill a downed character outright.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple lines of investigation and let the players follow those that they discover, choose, or enjoy.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Player's don't all seek the same thing from our games. Take their feedback, consider it, and make small changes to improve your game carefully.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Though a player cannot pull the punch on a ranged attack or spell to knock out an opponent, nothing prevents you from asking the player whether the shot or blast killed the character by sheer circumstance.  
#dnd tip from the archive: When planning your game, build sitiuations and have the NPCs act as they would act even if the characters aren't there. Let the characters interact with the situation.  
#dnd tip from the archive: If your characters find a creative way to circumvent a long plot line you had planned, let them! They will find their way to new and interesting adventures. . 
#dnd tip from the archive: If the actions of your characters have a big impact in the world they may not see, break away from their PoV and describe the impact from another character's view.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin scenes and situations you had planned to fit the unexpected direction your characters took. A scene in a ball might turn into a carnival.  
#dnd tip from the archive: When thinking about your game, seed your brain by repeating the names of the characters over in your head.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the players clues that villains may be scrying upon them. Let them worry about it or use it for their own advantage.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Put hard choices in front of the players and don't pre-suppose the answers. Give them reasonable options instead of death behind two of three doors.   
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop clues and lore in random encounters to tie them to the main story.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep inspirational art at hand to help you imagine and enrich fantastic locations.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Encourage the narrative descriptions of attacks and killing blows from your players to draw them into the story.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the tools and accessories that help you run your game smoothly and with the flexibility to change as the story changes. (pic from @newbiedm) 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players to describe interesting sights, sounds, smells, and situations instead of droning through long descriptions of travel.  
#dnd tip from the archive: The limitless age and experience of hags are their ultimate weapon. How will they thwart your heroes from afar?  
#dnd tip from the archive: Go big with fantastic features. Nothing creates awe like sheer size.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters might not be simply motivated to kill the characters. Sometimes they just hate fire and want to put it out...or start one.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus the spotlight on the NPCs the players find the most interesting.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Select the number and type of monsters by the story and situation. Check to see if the encounter is deadly with Kobold Fight Club.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Bring back NPCs from previous campaigns to reward your players for their past stories.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw easy encounters into the mix so the players don't feel like they've had a whole night of getting the crap kicked out of them.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all players enjoy or loathe the same things in our games. Survey regularly and take note of who likes what.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Vary the damage of traps so they don't feel too vanilla. Don't put too many traps in a row.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Pondering how to start a new campaign or fork into a new one from an existing one? Have a new session zero and bring the players into the discussion. Ask them what they want out of it.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Scenes with antagonistic NPCs might or might not turn into a fight. Don't force them one way or the other. Let the scenes evolve as the characters interact.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Printing 11x17 maps from published adventures is a great way to squeeze a lot of the production value of published adventures into our game without breaking the bank. (map by Mike Schley) 
#dnd tip from the archive: Learn from everywhere. Read books. Watch movies. Watch #dnd streams. Take a break from social media and read an actual D&D sourcebook.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of having a high-level NPC save the party, give the stat block to one of the players and let them RUN the high-level NPC in a big battle.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Re-use interesting combat encounter areas by having the characters return to the scenes of old battles to face new foes.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Did the characters suddenly come into unexpected wealth (say slaying a dragon)? Don't find ways to steal all their money. Let them change the world with it.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Make sure the scope of the story matches the level of the characters. Rat swarms are suitable for level 1. Demon princes are suitable for level 20. The scope and scale of the characters' actions should increase proportionally.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use loaded questions to guide character creation "Why does your character want to travel into the jungles of Chult with the rest of the party to stop the death curse?"  
#dnd tip from the archive: Make sure to write down what the players bring to your session zero. It's your best chance to understand what the characters are bringing to the campaign.  
#dnd tip from the archive: A big 36" by 48" sheet of acryllic is a perfect tabletop accessory. You can slide maps, pictures, and handouts underneath. It's perfectly flat and miniatures feel great on it. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Old characters can become the patrons of new characters in a new campaign. Let previous characters have a background impact in the new campaign.  
#dnd tip from the archive: When running a published adventure, make sure to have one or more strong threads that help the players make choices and navigate open worlds.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to paint a Reaper Bone in a hurry and on a budget? Paint it with gray gesso and use an ink wash on it for a nice-looking table-ready gray-scale mini. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Do you have a great idea for an action-packed scene? Don't force the story to lead them there, just start them right in the middle of it! "How did you end up riding a Triceratops in the Unchained dinosaur race?" 
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot down a list of interesting locations in towns or cities in published adventures so you have a quick index and don't have to flip pages. 
#dnd tip from the archive: When running a published adventure, spend time reviewing the next section even if you've already read it. A refresher is always handy. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if you have piles of miniatures, keep some generic monster tokens on hand for improvised battles or small fights that don't demand you dig through the vaults looking for the perfect mini.
#dnd tip from the archive: Adding a daily spell to a magic item is a great way to make it both thematic and mechanically useful.  
#dnd tip from the archive: A strong start is very important. So is knowing where things might go AFTER the strong start. What's next when that scene is done?  
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose the tools for running your D&D game that help you stay flexible and improve your improvisation. Less is more. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Outline important locations in a city and offer these options to players so they don't feel completely lost when exploring this large city. 
#dnd tip from the archive: The soundtrack to Darkest Dungeon makes for some excellent D&D background music. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give magic items a name, a history, and a once-per-day spell effect to make them unique, powerful, and exciting.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep small dungeons on hand when the players want some fun exploring lost ruins, ancient temples, forgotten cellars, and other unexplored locations.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Dark dreams and strange portents are great ways to drop hard clues in on characters.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Zombies are harder to kill than you'd think for a challenge 1/4 monster. Be prepared for a hard slog if it keeps making it's constitution save.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Need some dinosaur minis for your Tomb of Annihilation game? Pick up a sheet of dinosaurs from @TrashMobMinis and @JohnPuhCreation. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend some time describing the grandeour of the characters' location including sights, sounds, and smells.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a careful eye on the challenge of improvised threats. Two CR 5 creatures are definitely too hard for five level 3 characters.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe situations and observations by the context of the characters. The assassin's killer instinct tells her that invisible eyes are upon her.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes a list of ten secrets and clues the characters might discover during the adventure is all you need to run a fun game.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use weather, potential random encounters, the results of exploration skill checks, and interesting ancient monuments to build a rich scene during your exploration adventures.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your preparation by running through the characters to put their stories firmly in your head before you prep anything else.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Make dungeons seem mysterious and real by adding the sound of large wheels, running water, and dropping counterweights behind the walls of the halls they explore.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend a quick moment reading up on the story of a monster before throwing them at your group. You might glean some interesting story hooks from the monster's background.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Low challenge monsters like koblds and goblins can still harass higher-level characters by setting off traps, stealing goods, or alerting larger foes.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Interesting scenes have a lot going on in them. Goblins stealing canoes and blowing a horn to call a t-rex right after the characters left a dungeon. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Some of the most interesting magical items have no combat value but lots of roleplay value.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Only have a few minutes to prepare for your game? Write down a strong start and ten secrets and clues the characters might discover.  
#dnd tip from the archive: In dungeon delves, keep note when the players are rolling like crap and find a way to add some upward beats to keep them motivated to go forward.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in a good bit of non-combat encounters into your random encouters while traveling. Let the characters learn about the world through the creatures they meet.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Give big monsters names that will follow the characters throughout an adventure. Ambereyes the ancient crocadile seeks revenge.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the right combat system for the right situation. Theater of the mind works well for quick skirmishes. An elaborate map and miniatures work well for large cinematic and complicated situations. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Did the characters run into a lot of money or rescue a bunch of prisoners? Use the followers and loyalty rules in the DMG to establish a home base or sailing ship full of hirelings.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Add interesting monuments to random encounters so the place as as much character as the monsters.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Battles aren't always about killing all of the enemies. Sometimes the goal is to stop the goblins from stealing canoes while avoiding a zombie T-rex. (miniature by Ryan Harris) 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to define interesting physical characteristics of monsters to draw them into the story and help you identify targets in combat.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie interesting spell effects to magical items that make sense for the origin of the item. For example, a dwarven elemental breastplate that casts Stoneskin named Mountainhide.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie secrets and clues to enemies with things like strange tattoos or decorative symbols on weapons or armor.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Evil doesn't always wear a black hood and cloak. Evil can lurk in the hearts of the "righteous" lords who send thousands to their deaths based on ego.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes, instead of straight victory, a battle instead gives the players something to learn about the story or the characters something to discover. It's not all about combat victory, sometimes it's about information.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Low challenge battles are a great way for the characters to feel powerful and have opportunities to try other options.  
#dnd tip from the archive: For single-session scenes, along with a strong start, have some idea where the adventure will end. It might change but keep the end in sight when there's a fixed timetable for the game.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll on random encounter tables not necessarily to show the characters what is there but to show them what HAD been there hours or days ago.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill your mind with fantastic fiction; books, movies, comics, and TV shows. Steep yourself in great writing and bring it forth during your game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Turn named enemies into "legendary" versions by doubling their hit points and giving them legendary actions for single attacks or cantrips and resistances.  
#dnd tip from the archive: The story of a monster is more important than the monster's statistics. How does this monster act and react in the world around it? What makes it dangerous?  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use fantastic specifics to describe locations. The smell of ozone. The deep rumbling in the earth. The radiating feeling of electrical dread.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Some villians are most dangerous outside of combat. Only when their plans are either fully disrupted or fully in fruition will they put themselves in harm's way.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Good villains think they're right in what they do. Great villains actually ARE right. 
#dnd tip from the archive: A fantastic feature, a hazard, a hidden foe, and a box of treasure makes for a wonderful focused adventure scene.  
#dnd tip from the archive: What agents seek out the same treasures that your characters seek? 
#dnd tip from the archive: Continually switch genders of the NPCs and monsters your characters face when exploring the world. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare your players for the harsh possibility of character deaths. Suggest they build a stable of characters should one suddenly perish in the darkest depths of the deathtrap dungeon.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Build meaningful but well-hidden treasure parsels and then move them from place to place if the characters don't find them.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for high fantasty and brevity when describing the locations the characters explore.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters a clear reason to explore dangerous locations or don't be surprised if they simply give it a miss.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down ten bite-sized pieces of history the characters can learn when exploring a forgotten location.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Get used to averaging and maxing dice damage in your head to help you streamline rolls and tweak monster damage. Avg dmg = die max + 1 * (num dice / 2). 8d6 fireball = 28 avg or 48 max. 24d10 deadly trap can be converted to 4d10 + 110. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Tweak monsters but consider what these changes mean within the story. Increasing an ogre's AC from 11 to 18 is fine but describe the full plate of iron armor they now wear.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines for running a large number of foes to let your group face huge numbers of low CR monsters. Fighting fifty skeletons is fun!  
#dnd tip from the archive: Prune your miniatures, maps, and 3d terrain pieces by taking out and storing those you tend not to use very often, if at all. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid too many battles of a similar type too close together. Don't run two large battles against hordes of monsters back to back. Shake up small skirmishes, large battles against hordes, and fights against big bosses.  
#dnd tip from the archive: When running a puzzle, make sure there are logical ways the characters can figure it out. Avoid puzzles that require some external force to explain it all to them.  
#dnd tip from the archive: In sandbox games, give players roughly three potential options or paths they can choose from plus any more that they come up with while hearing those options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use small simple sketches to help explain physical situations. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be a slave to a published adventure. If a scene doesn't work for you or the group, change it.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Use small tricks to get players into the story. Have them describe killing blows. Have them identify interesting physical traits of monsters. Have them describe details of locations.  
#dnd tip from the archive: worry less about the damage players roll and, if the story and energy calls for it, call it a killing blow!
#dnd tip from the archive: Use passive insight and passive perception to speed up gameplay when desired. Use them to narrate scenes from the point of view of the characters.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid building encounters with expected outcomes. Let the characters find unique ways to deal with a situation. If they can fly over deadly pit traps, so be it.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Shadar-kai from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes can be reskinned into some pretty bad-ass vampires. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep some quick and loose encounter building guidelines in hand to improvise encounters at the general difficulty you have in mind. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Integrate the story into combat. Let the characters discover interesting secrets and clues or meet new NPCs while combat rages around them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Create "assassin" versions of normal monsters by boosting their dexterity and giving them stealth proficiency, Cunning Action, and Sneak Attack.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make any monster a vampire by giving it regeneration, a bite attack that drains life, movement that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks, and vampire vulnerabilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Random encounters can be a fun way to liven up travel instead of just combat. Flying monkeys can steal the rogue's lucky decksof cards or a curious baby triceratops can wander into camp.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep three paths open in front of the characters so they have meaningful choices that move their story forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Leap on the opportunities to add some roleplaying to combat encounters. Such scenes make battles unique and something to remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: when learning from other DMs, have more questions than opinions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Is the energy around the table waning? Bring some energy back into your descriptions!
#dnd tip from the archive: Do you find joy when your monsters make short work of the characters? Maybe shift your view to taking joy in their victories instead.
#dnd tip from the archive: DMs should know enough of the rules to keep the main game moving but needs little more. Work with the players to adjudicate when it makes sense or make a judgment and move on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to run a shorter adventure? Stick to Theater of the Mind battles with fewer foes to keep things going smoothly.
#dnd tip from the archive: help players navigate the best skill to use for a given situation and don't punish them for exploring options.
#dnd tip from the archive: One-sided battles that favor the characters are just fine when they make sense for the story and give them a chance to see the organic world around them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use flavor descriptions and theatrics to keep people's imaginations on the story when running narrative "theater of the mind" combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stay true to the tactics of monsters. Are they smart enough to know how to dive around melee to attack ranged attackers or are they a mindless hoard?
#dnd tip from the archive: After a session jot down some notes, particularly where the session ended, so you know where to start when preparing for your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the players feel like they're being railroaded, outline some alternative options they might have missed or forgotten about.
#dnd tip from the archive: Celebrate when characters circumvent combat in a creative way. Skipping a fight can be as fun as defeating it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use what the players bring to you but don't screw them with it or they will never speak up again.
#dnd tip from the archive: Refresh your understanding of a monster by reviewing its background in the Monster Manual before you run it at your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use email to interact with players regarding the individual stories of their characters between games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are you prepared to have your battle circumvented with an intersting conversation or some great stealth checks?
#dnd tip from the archive: For new DMs, watch streaming #dnd games like Dice Camera Action or Critical Role to see what this strange game actually looks like when played.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about how the characters are the best ones to handle a particular situation? What traits make them the right folks for the situation at hand?
#dnd tip from the archive: Action doesn't always mean combat. Keep the story moving and interesting with lots of choices and lots of momentum even when the swords are sheathed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find interesting ways to test bosses before a final encounter. Simulacrums, dreams that manifest into reality, lich-like regeneration; any of these are ways bosses can test the mettle of characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Whenever you're hard pressed for original ideas, bring in a bit of randomness and see where your mind goes. Use Donjon; the best #dnd random generator on the net. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Be generous with inspiration when players roleplay their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a step back when into the deep tactics of combat to describe the imagery of what's happening in the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add hidden rooms and secret doors to your dungeons. If they don't find them, move the contents elsewhere.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be really nice to level 1 characters and get them to level 2 after a stern conversation and a dead giant rat.
#dnd tip from the archive: What was your dungeon before it was a dungeon? What was it before that? Layer history over history to enrich fantastic locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't bother building your own random encounters since any you don't use likely end up wasted. Instead, use random generators to give you ideas for building interesting encounters the characters are sure to run into.
#dnd tip from the archive: Random encounters can be friendly parlays, meeting interesting people, or discovering hidden mysteries instead of just combat with monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Track the various factions of NPCs in your game, villians or not. What are they up to while the characters are off on adventures? Where might they come back into play?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use magic items as anchors for the story. A serpent-hilted sacrifical dagger found early on could be a key to unlocking the secrets of Dendar the Night Serpent later on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave blanks in your story. Let the imaginations of the players fill in unsolved mysteries, even at the end of a campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the players hard choices with unseen consequences. Let their own minds imagine what happens based on the decisions they make.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters new forward bases when they've explored deep into a land. Maybe a crashed airship can be their staging ground for a deep dungeon adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask loaded questions to fill out the story of the game. "What ancient piece of civilization do you hide behind when the undead gorilla comes around?"
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the difficulty dials in mind when running combat. Feel free to tweak hit points, damage, and the number of attacks to suit the threat of the situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the Arcana skill to describe how a character can see into or manipulate the Weave; the web of magic that surrounds all of life. Twists, holes, and surges can reveal much of the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Study the stats and lore of the Monster Manual and then reskin to suit your own story as you need.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use strange and dark rituals to restore hit points lost to life drains during the death curse from Tomb of Annihilation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about the vertical axis in your combat encounters. What is above and below? Run battles in stark vertical climbs to change things up.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop hints at the deeper and darker world that exists beyond the horizon. What is that huge shape that stirs storms with each beat of its wings?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use colorful descriptions to off-set seemingly boring monster statistics. Give them improvised abilities or let them use the environment to make them exciting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot down character connections to the story as they occur. Review them while reviewing the characters at your next game prep session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a notebook handy during your game sessions. Write things down and review them after the game is over.
#dnd tip from the archive: Talk to your players about them keeping game journals to tie them to the stories as they occur. Encourage them to draw pictures regardless of "skill".
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the tools and accessories that help you run fun and flexible games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put hard decisions in front of your players but don't shut down creative Kobayashi Maru solutions that get through them.
#dnd tip from the archive: 11x17 color maps are relatively cheap to print and make for great table accessories. Hit up your local print shop.
#dnd tip from the archive: Physical well-made handouts can tactically tie players to the story as it goes on. Write in-character letters with fancy fonts on copper resume paper.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of dungeons as an entire set and situation the characters can thoroughly explore instead of a series of pre-defined encounters. What's happening in the whole dungeon?
#dnd tip from the archive: Reckless attack and pack tactics are some great monster abilities you can drop in when you want to up the threat and when they make sense for the story and situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe actions using in-story narrative, not mechanical or numeric descriptions. Describe the scene, not the numbers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work on projecting your voice. Try standing. It isn't always easy but it makes a big difference.
#dnd tip from the archive: Visualize the scene and situation in your mind's eye and then describe it. Take a moment to imagine things as though you were standing there.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in low challenge monsters and encounters. Don't constantly seek challenging fights one after another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Create fast and hard-hitting combat encounters by increasing damage and decreasing hit points on monsters. You can tweak monster damage within the range of the damage dice and monster hit points within the range of hit dice and still be within the design.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be conscious of the amount of time things take between turns. Players should get more than 15 second turns in between eight minute rounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't make sausage in front of the players. Don't get into encounter design, challenge rating considerations, or what they WOULD have seen if circumstances had been different.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't hide initiative. Use table cards or fold-over initiative markers on the edge of a DM screen so everyone can see when the go in the order and can get ready.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand the capabilities and desires of the characters and set them up for success. Give polearm masters and shield masters opportunities for their benefits.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask for a player's intent when they start asking about the environment. Ask what they want to do and help them do it.
#dnd tip from the archive: If it isn't clear, assume damage hits the most damaged monster. It's what we would assume smart adventurers would do anyway.
#dnd tip from the archive: Each session, ask for something unique and interesting about each character. Learn together as a group what's going on within each character's story and background.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random encounters as a way to expose new information of the story. Perhaps those random kobolds know where the shrines of the trickster gods lie.
#dnd tip from the archive: Frame scenes with interesting weather and the times of the day. Where is the moon in the sky? What does the sunset look like? Is there a contrail from an airship high up in the sky?
#dnd tip from the archive: Each session find a way to draw in one character into their backstory. Do they run into an old friend? Have a prophetic dream? Get hunted by assassins for a crime they didn't commit?
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw side-view maps and isometric maps instead of always drawing top-down. Show the height of things.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give intelligent magic items their own character arc. Where did they come from? What do they want? Where are they going?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players a physical map they can mark up with a pen so it stands as an artifact to the campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go for a walk and think about seven tips you picked up from the last game you ran or watched.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the in-world actions taking place during the game. Who is doing what? What happens? What does it look like? Sound like? Smell like?
#dnd tip from the archive: Recommend to players that they take notes during the game. In particular, note down the names of people and places and how they relate to the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read up on locations around the current position of the characters. Look up places in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and let it spawn ideas for future adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: What trade-off would make a character want to keep a curse or disease intact? What benefits does it provide that they may not want to lose?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use lower numbers for the quantity and challenge ratings of random encounters. Tie them to interesting secrets and clues the characters can uncover.
#dnd tip from the archive: build music playlists for relaxing, tense, and combat scenes to build the right atmosphere for the scene taking place. Witcher 3, Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2, Pillars of Eternity, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Darkest Dungeon soundtracks are awesome.
#dnd tip from the archive: Encounters don't always have to lead to the central story. Some encounters, even random ones, give characters a view of the living world around them. They shouldn't be pointless but they don't have to be laser-focused either.
#dnd tip from the archive: Highlight the other options for ending combat such as saving someone, capturing someone, stealing something, breaking something, staying quiet, being loud, or other such ends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep in mind the motivations for the characters an the ways that can weave into the story. Are they trying to stop someone? Trying to save someone? Trying to make up for the past?
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful forcing high level villains against low level characters to force them into an agreement. Give them an edge that won't make them either agree or TPK.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fighting hoards of low challenge monsters is a great way for mid- and high-level characters to feel awesome.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stay hydrated. Always keep some water nearby when running games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find opportunities for the rogue assassin to get the drop on enemies. We're too quick to ignore surprise rounds and assassinating is their one special thing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep options open in crucial conversations between the characters and NPCs. Always be thinking about the options available to the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: When the characters find themselves facing an insurmountable foe, always make sure they have options available to them. How can they get some sort of upper hand?
#dnd tip from the archive: Remember that random encounters don't have to be combat encounters. How can the characters negotiate with those goblins?
#dnd tip from the archive: If a character finds themselves in a life and death situation not necessarily of their own devices, give them a few chances at saving their lives with multiple skill checks and saving throws.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build scenes and situations without necessarily assuming they will be combat, exploration, or roleplaying. Let the players decide how to approach it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful with tag-along NPCs overshadowing the characters in an adventure. Give NPCs a reason to stay out of the spotlight or leave the party completely. Let them defer to the characters in most scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build terrain setups or maps in a way that lets you store them and pull them out when you need them so you don't force any particular scene to take place.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down a list of the critical scenes you want to see take place over the course of the next few sessions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Opposing factions within an enemy organization is a good way to add some interesting roleplaying and decisions to an otherwise slaughterfest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add two different and viable entrances to your dungeon to help ensure your dungeon isn't a railroad of encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use dieties and powerful patrons as ways to tie into a characters' backgrounds. Visions and portents from their dieties shows you care enough to remember to whom they pray.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix monsters and story-appropriate environmental effects (mad monkey mist with wights!) for an interesting multi-variable encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: If the players get stuck on a puzzle, use active or passive ability checks to drop in hints that help steer them to the right direction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dreams and hallusinations are great ways to impart secrets and clues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try using maps and table top terrain for scenes of exploration and interaction instead of just combat. Use them as a table-aid to draw your players into the story (awesome setup by @Hyperionpdx). 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the right combat style for the right job. Use Theater of the Mind for quick skirmishes. Use tactical gridded maps for difficult battles with lots of moving parts. Use abstract maps when the battle area doesn't fit cleanly onto a grid.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shake up boring battles with flavorful descriptions, intriguing secrets revealed, and interesting environmental options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple solutions to most problems. Can they talk, sneak, or fight their way out?
#dnd tip from the archive: Note down intelligent magic items as you would characters. How do they evolve over the campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Always have an exit strategy for tag-along NPCs. Why does Artus Cimber and Dragonbait want to leave the group soon?
#dnd tip from the archive: Golems with shield-guardian-like hit point sharing options are great ways to protect NPC wizards. An archmage with a pair of iron golems who take her damage for her is a hard foe to defeat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read through sourcebooks and adventures to fire off your imagination for your own game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read sourcebooks and adventures from other game systems. The mechanics matter little and the ideas cross system boundaries easily.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read through and, if possible, try out other game systems to cross-train your DMing skills.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spell descriptions contain bits of story all to themselves. The powerful spells cast by NPCs can change entire adventures. They mean as much to NPCs as PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: NPCs may have spells outside of those in the books. These might be devastating world-changing rituals that must be stopped.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if money is plentiful, expensive spell components might not be. Few 1,000 gold piece bowls exist in the world, even for those with the funds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hit points and damage are two dials we can tweak to increase or decrese the threat depending on the needs of the story. Keep these dials in mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes a hero? How can we tug on that concept in our D&D games? Which antiheroes in our campaign might become heroes? Which heroes might fall?
#dnd tip from the archive: Find ways to shake up your game and the expectations of your players. At the same time, don't forget to keep it familiar and fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Blow up Vulcan. If your game needs to be shaken up, don't be afraid to let the meteors fall. It's your world and huge things can happen in it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write out your ten secrets for your game but then reveal them last to first. Those last secrets are often the doozies.
#dnd tip from the archive: That feeling you have that you're not ready for your game and they're all going to laugh at you? We all feel that way and it's still bullshit. Carry on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take it easy on yourself. Your players want to have a fun time. You want to have a fun time. Breathe deeply and enjoy your escape to a new world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look for small ways to tweak your game and try things out. Make a large number of small changes over time. Make a small change, observe the impact, and then make another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add story-appropriate elemental damage to lower challenge monsters to make them fun tough opponents for higher level characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Constrain your game prep to a single piece of paper to get you to focus on what is most important.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry more about a monster's story and how that fits into the world than it's challenge rating.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add some chaos into your strong start. Entryways collapse, temples explode, Giff show up in a steampunk spelljammer (thanks @navy_dm!).
#dnd tip from the archive: Let your story drive your tools and accessories, not the other way around.
#dnd tip from the archive: For a shot of inspiration, go through old boxes of miniatures or old maps and see what fires off your mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't punish impossible victories. Embrace them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reflavor monsters with interesting weapons and armor. Don't worry about changing the stats.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build trust with your players. You are not their adversary, you are there to make their characters do awesome things.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry about setting a particular atmosphere. Your players will bring their own emotion to the game as it plays out. Follow the group's lead.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a loose grip on the precision of the rules. There's a lot of flexibility built into 5e's mechanics. Allow for it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on what the characters will learn in the next game. Let the future of the campaign expand from this moment forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep an archive of your favorite maps from other adventures. Pull them out and maybe reverse them when you suddenly need a new dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the arc of the intelligent weapon in the character's hand? Where does it want to go? How will it get there?
#dnd tip from the archive: Bring in NPCs that matter to the characters. Let the others fade away.
#dnd tip from the archive: Telegraph what kind of adventure you're going to run. If the theme of that adventure changes, let your players know.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep campaigns short and focused on the theme of the adventure. Work with players to build characters likewise focused on that theme.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down and track the story threads that matter to the characters. Tug on them appropriately.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let villains become allies and allies become villains. The line is thin between sharing a drink and sharing a blade.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep on hand the accessories that help the story unfold at the table. Note which tools help the most and which can go into deep storage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations and let the characters navigate them how they choose with exploration, roleplaying, or combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always keep an eye on the time. Start managing it the minute the game starts and adjust to fit the length of your session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give dungeons, even small ones, two entrances and one secret room. It helps avoid building one-track railroad dungeons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each room in a dungeon at least two interesting features the characters can interact with.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the appearance of skeletons to tell something about the history of the area.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of every encounter, even random monster encounters, as an opportunity for roleplaying or exploration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Share the world through the eyes, backgrounds, and motivations of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about your dungeons in three dimensions. What's above and below?
#dnd tip from the archive: If you have the opportunity, re-running adventures makes them much smoother the second-time around.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in the thick of running an adventure, take note of the hooks the players hand to you and use them later.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't thwart a player's unexpected idea. Embrace it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run monsters as they are in the Monster Manual. Tweak them only when you have a clear reason for it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters' actions uncover secrets and clue. Maybe that last casting of shatter revealed the secret passage behind the wall.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters find creative ways to use the environment to their advantage. Can they use the metal-destroying shield to get past the big propeller? Maybe!
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadow potential deadly threats with dreams, visions, and feelings of dread portents. Let the players know they're walking into a deadly situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure your players are prepared for the type of game you plan to run. Will it be a deep character-introspective adventure? An action serial? A deathtrap dungeon?
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure players have spare characters if you're running a deathtrap dungeon. Tell them not to get attached.
#dnd tip from the archive: Players may love the idea of hardcore deathtrap dungeons but might like to actually play them. Test them out with one-shot deathtrap dungeons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always stay within the narrative of the story. Describe what happens, not the numbers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Address players by the names of their characters (thanks Dungeon World!)
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your list of random names on hand. You'll never know when someone or something, even an old memory, needs a name.
#dnd tip from the archive: Visions and hazy dreams are fantastic ways to project clues or potential dangers. Adventurers are constantly getting assaulted by strange premonitions.
#dnd tip from the archive: pay special attention to new players in your group. There are things they might not get that aren't obvious to you.
#dnd tip from the archive: let the careful plans of the players work out as they would. Don't do mental yoga to circumvent their efforts.
#dnd tip from the archive: sometimes a dented breastplate can be an awesome treasure. Add flavor to every item to make it interesting and unique.
#dnd tip from the archive: size and age are two great ways to make realistic things truly fantastic.
#dnd tip from the archive: use digital pictures on a tablet to show your players fantastic locations or interesting NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Some dungeons, even entire worlds, are characters to consider during your prep. What do they want? Where are they headed?
#dnd tip from the archive: fear not throwing large amounts of enemies at your characters. Use mass combat guidelines to help you adjudicate such big battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the start of your next session. What will draw your players into the game and let them know they're hip-deep in D&D?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the players time to plot and plan their approach. Sometimes such plans go off as expected and sometimes unforeseen variables throw them into chaos.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always keep an eye out for new members to join your group. Even if your group is perfectly healthy, a substitute player always helps and you never know if real life will tear someone away.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expose the history of the world through the backgrounds of the characters. What do THEY know of the strange god-like beings depicted in the frescoes on the wall?
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize monsters with unique armor, weapons, and spells. Give them interesting tattoos, scars, or battle insignias.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe how characters passively perceive something. Do they see cobwebs blowing in a breeze that shouldn't be there?
#dnd tip from the archive: Immerse yourself in the fantastic. Play games, read books, watch great TV shows and movies, soak up fantasy artwork, read fantasy poetry; fill your brain with fantasy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up weapons and armor types among humanoid monsters to make them all feel unique and interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: When a player drops a story element on you, like an NPC from their past, grab it and run with it even if you don't know where it will end up. The story will happen on its own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to reiterate their goals in an adventure. Let the other players fill those goals in. If none of them can remember, that's trouble.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep character and NPC backgrounds light hearted. Not everyone needs to come from a slaughtered village or a bloody altar under a gnoll's knife. Sometimes they come from a family of sixteen.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players specific questions about their characters and listen to what they give you. What did they see in their uncle that got them to start adventuring? What inspiration did they take from their mother's book?
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared for character conversations to go surprisingly well or surprisingly poorly. Not every meeting with a lich ends in death. Sometimes it ends with tea.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need inspiration? Grab the Dungeon Master's Guide off the shelf with some dice, read, and roll some random ideas to see what shakes up your world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take note of the pets of the characters. In many ways players love their pets as much as their PCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful with character arcs. Some players have a clear path they wan to take and shaking it up too much can ruin their fun. Ask them what they want from their PC.
#dnd tip from the archive: Study whole dungeons in published adventures thoroughly and you'll have a much easier time preparing from session to session as the characters navigate it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll on random tables ahead of time so you don't tip your hand showing that the world is just some random nonsense you're coming up with at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Simplify puzzles on the fly if they get boring or tedious. Let skill checks reveal things the players might have missed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal the purpose and origin of a dungeon through it's visible details and construction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Players enjoy dominating what could have been a tough fight. Don't rob them of the easy victory.
#dnd tip from the archive: We get to choose whether to embrace fantasy with either childish wonder or adult cynicism. Open your eyes wide, smile, and be a kid again.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down notes on your last game as close to the game as you can while it's fresh in your head.
#dnd tip from the archive: Who are the characters? What is the strong start? What are ten secrets they might discover in the next session?
#dnd tip from the archive: Add some single-use relics to spice up treasure boards without overpowering your characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Inspire yourself with art.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a mix of props, printouts, music, and narrative to paint a picture in all dimensions.
#dnd tip from the archive: End sessions at the start of a major encounter to start strong at your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the tools that help you create the story at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Relax, breathe deep, you're game is going to be great.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your DM kit small and flexible to let your game go in directions you haven't thought of. You need little more than a white board and a marker.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let music inspire your ideas. Put on some of your favorite tunes, close your eyes, and let the images come to you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hypothesize, experiment, and think about the results. Try stuff out and tune based on your experiences.
#dnd tip from the archive: Explore randomness as a seed for new story directions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about the theme of your campaign and how you express it to your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful with effects that take away actions from characters. They can really bum players out. Give them options. Maybe they take psychic damage to steel themselves and get back into the fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: The only way you'll really know if your players are ok with character deaths is to see how they act when characters die. It can be fun for one-shots but might suck in longer story-focused games
#dnd tip from the archive: Remember that spell effects occur in three dimensions. One can shrink the diameter of a fireball by casting it higher up in the air.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read up on a monster's background and lore before you run it. The stories of a monster can inspire new ideas when you roleplay them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in combat scenes, it's worth knowing what a monster wants or what it needs. Some of the best roleplaying negotiations can happen in combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Break away from your typically story-focused narrative game with a really interesting tactical battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read body language to see what's working and what is not when you're running your game. Are they leaning forward or sitting back, arms crossed, and eyes narrowed?
#dnd tip from the archive: Let go of the tactics and mechanics of your game and lose yourself in the world of fantasy and the story of your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Embrace what's fun for the group and run with it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop circumstances, both lucky and unlucky, into the story. Watch what happens.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use maps, terrain, and miniatures to show off scenes of exploration and roleplaying instead of just combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include two entrances and one secret room in dungeons you design.
#dnd tip from the archive: Cursed magic items are tricky to inject. Think about how they may come into play, how not to overplay your hand, and how to ensure they're fun and not a drag.
#dnd tip from the archive: Cursed magic items are tricky to inject. Think about how they may come into play, how not to overplay your hand, and how to ensure they're fun and not a drag.
#dnd tip from the archive: If your players are getting bored, speed up the pace. If they're getting frustrated, give them a boon. Oscillate the beats between hope and fear.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters a one-use item of power well beyond them. Let them shake the game up in an exciting way.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't fear for your monsters. You have an infinite supply.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read rooms in published adventures ahead of time. Cut or modify the ones that don't excite you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run published adventures more than once if you have the chance. Nothing solidifies a published adventure in your mind like actually running it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sit back and enjoy it when the players are talking strategies among one another. It means they're fully engaged in what is going on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep an initiative order even if the party is split. It helps ensure you're giving each character enough time in the spotlight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Telepathic villains are a great way to torment the characters anywhere they happen to be.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players break the game with particularly good combinations of powers or abilities. Don't let that particular game breaking quality become the new norm.
#dnd tip from the archive: Insert roleplaying into combat. Villains love to banter with their enemies during a fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even the walls in a dungeon tell a story. What do yours tell?
#dnd tip from the archive: The limitless depth of an Abolith's memories are a fantastic way to bring ancient histories to the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: What character options make your campaign interesting? What makes your campaign unique for them?
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadow dangers in dungeons with smells and feelings.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the story unfold at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: A single charm person can subvert a battle against one hundred foes. And that's awesome.
#dnd tip from the archive: Acererak has a lot on his mind. He might miss the small detail of his succubus lawyer getting charmed by the bard.
#dnd tip from the archive: Acererak doesn't hate the characters. He doesn't think about them at all. They are insects hardly worthy of the neurons to consider (does Acererak have neurons?)
#dnd tip from the archive: Before you shut down a player's bullshit tactic, is it actually an awesome turn in the story?
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players what they are and are not comfortable with in the game during your session zero. Pay attention to body language during the game as well; you might have missed something.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let go of your pre-definition of a scene. Combat can become roleplay, roleplay can become investigation, investigation can become combat. Create a situation and let the players define their interaction with it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work with the players whenever it helps move the story forward. They don't always need to roll a skill check to succeed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players negotiate out of potential combat. Not every conflict requires a fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about the tactics and focus on the players' intent. What do they want to do with those eight summoned constrictor snakes? Focus on that.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fewer players give you more of an opportunity to let those characters shine. Try to aim for four or five PCs when you're able.
#dnd tip from the archive: Simple adventures are just fine. Don't worry about including a lot of twists and turns. Sometimes a straight forward but flavorful adventure is all players desire.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if they can't do anything with it, finding a 10,000 gp gem in the bottom of a killer dungeon is fun. Tangible rewards matter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try to reward one meaningful magical item to each character every four levels or so. It doesn't need to be perfectly systematic but that's about the right overall pace.
#dnd tip from the archive: Address the characters, not the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe fantastic locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find a way to help characters shine even if the dice are against them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters stray away from what you've prepared if it makes sense in the story. Prepare to let them wander.
#dnd tip from the archive: Display maps and artwork on tablets to show the players what's going on.
#dnd tip from the archive: High skill checks don't just show them what they can do but what they certainly can't do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie magic items to the story of the adventure and location. Why is it here?
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters spend time figuring out puzzles. If they're all engaged, the game is going well.
#dnd tip from the archive: Remove extranous combat. Maybe the goblins were killed by something else wandering around the dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: One need not run gridded combat in Roll 20. General positioning on a cool background can work for quick combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes it's fun when a monster is down to a single hit point. Sometimes it's better to round down.
#dnd tip from the archive: Vivid descriptions of high action help ensure that theater of the mind combat doesn't feel stale and static. Focus on the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have some cool maps? Use them as inspiration for your fantastic locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Building a huge campaign? Consider focusing first on the characters and their immediate surroundings.
#dnd tip from the archive: Your next game matters the most.
#dnd tip from the archive: Huge epic miniatures work well as centerpiece statues, monuments, or displays in low level games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did a character leave the story and then return? Bring the player in to fill in what happened.
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadowing can come in many guises. Faded images on the wall, haunted dreams, the curious look of a stranger. Everything can be a message.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare enough to feel comfortable letting the characters explore the dungeon however they choose.
#dnd tip from the archive: Modify a published encounter to fit the most enjoyable pacing of the game. Make it easier or harder to fit the current atmosphere at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes you'll want the most elaborate battle environment you can  build. Other times a circle on a piece of paper is all you need.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin spells to fit the flavor of the casters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep musical playlists for suspense, relaxed, and combat scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the time to prepare big boss fights. We can improvise a lot of our game but boss fights require careful planning.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build solid mechanics in your boss fights and include gauges you can turn to raise or lower the threat as needed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Do your traps and puzzles make logical sense or do they simply require random selections to pass them?
#dnd tip from the archive: What does your villain want? What are they doing to try to get it?
#dnd tip from the archive: What makes your town or village fantastic? What features does it have that sets it apart and grabs the attention of the players?
#dnd tip from the archive: Always be learning.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stay in the fiction. Describe what's happening in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never forget that the characters are the heroes of your story. Your universe revolves around them.
#dnd tip from the archive: What drives the characters to dive into your adventure? Why do they care? What do they want?
#dnd tip from the archive: Remind players to leave gaps in their backstories so they can grow into their characters as the adventures move onward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Easy hacks for the fantastic: go big and go old. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash the defining traits of one stat block with another to build something completely unique. Ghoul assassin! Stone giant lich! Goblin veteran! Pick one for base stats and steal defining traits from another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Beholders likely have large physical minions who punch the concentration out of spellcasters while they're within the antimagic cone. Helmed Horrors and Shield Guardians would be particularly nasty against invisible opponents.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay special attention to preparing boss battles. They're not like other encounters. Add dials to change the pacing and difficulty while running the encounter at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Evolve! Take in new experiences and ideas and nudge your DMing style in new directions. Don't throw out the past and don't let the past close you off to new ideas. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Plant seeds early on in an adventure so confrontations with boss battles aren't just straight-up fights. What do the characters possess that the villains greatly desire?
#dnd tip from the archive: As you close in on the end of a campaign, ask the players what remains in their characters' arcs that have yet to be resolved.
#dnd tip from the archive: As a campaign ends, ask the characters where their characters have gone and what they've done one year later. Write it down and email it around as a remembrance.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's ok to have a planned end to a campaign. Let the players' imaginations fill in the future of their characters after it closes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't negate a character's big special ability. Let them enjoy their broken power in monumental scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: When the characters have tough choices ahead, make it clear what those choices are. Don't let them get steered too far away from success or it can get frustrating.
#dnd tip from the archive: Gauge your players' tolerance for character deaths. Do they like it? Do they hate it? You'll only really know when it happens but keep an eye out for it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go easy on first level characters. Watch the damage the monsters do carefully. Ignore instant death if you want to be nice to new players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep meaningful NPCs down to about three in any given adventure. Too many and players lose track of them too easily.
#dnd tip from the archive: Challenge rating is one way to get a general gage of a monster's actual challenge but its hit points and damage output are also important to consider.
#dnd tip from the archive: Your most important session is your next one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build layers in your locations. What is it now? What did it used to be?
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand and reinforce the themes in your campaign. Describe them in your session zero to ensure your players are on board. Is it dark fantasy? Urban intrigue? Jungle exploration? What defines the theme?
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes all you need are two ogres in the woods to see how your players want to interact with the world. Will they attack them? Will they trick them? Will they sneak around them? Will they listen to them? Leave the approach open and build situations instead. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Stopping the dark ritual at the end of a campaign is a poor motivation. Gathering the items to contain the result is a more interesting goal. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to read about the lore of a character's background or origin. Are they elvish? Read the lore about the Fey. Do they have a connection to the Shadowfell? Read about the history of Shadar-Kai. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Stringing characters along the quest to acquire an item they cannot attain can be demotivating and frustrating. Instead, let them gather clues to understand and face the perils ahead. 
#dnd tip from the archive: In early levels, pay particular attention to the damage monsters inflict. It can surprise you how quickly a low level character can go from full hit points to zero. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Dreams and visions are a fantastic way to foreshadow events happening later in the game. They can introduce villains. They can answer questions. They can make the ethereal true. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Need inspiration to draw your players into the action of the game? Review the skill list in chapter 7 of the Player's Handbook and see all of the things they can do with skills.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make sure your players are on board with the theme of your campaign. It's worth a series of conversations even before your session zero.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know the structure of your short campaign. You don't have to fill in all the details but a general outline helps.
#dnd tip from the archive: What interesting magic items might your characters discover in your next adventure?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to give powerful single-use magic items. They can add some chaotic fun without completely breaking an entire campaign. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Oscillate between easy and hard battles to change up the beats in your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't kill off NPCs just to get an emotional reaction out of your players. You can put them in danger and the situation may kill them but don't force the conclusion.
#dnd tip from the archive: The night of or the morning after your game, spend ten minutes writing down what happened in the last session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Some moments in the game will surprise everyone at the table, including you. Let them happen. These are the surprises everyone will remember long after the campaign is over.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build story ideas from old mythological folklore. Seek out Celtic, Greek, African, Native American, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Authorian legends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put in longer moments of rest in between adventures. Ask what the characters did in between these sessions. Let players develop their characters so you and the rest of the players can understand them better.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a structure around your game that you and your players understand. The characters must seek four breakers-magical artifacts capable of destroying the four anchors that bring the Demon Lord to Urth.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good campaign arcs have a single sentence that defines them. Even if the world is wide hope, the players and characters understand their overall goal.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build one fantastic location for every 30 to 45 minutes of expected gameplay. What is it called? What three aspects does it have that will interest the characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: Build out what the characters will see and what is just over the horizon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the characters at the center of your game prep.
#dnd tip from the archive: Delegate rules responsibility to your players. You need not carry that burden by yourself.
#dnd tip from the archive: Break canon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Absorb great fiction and use it to build the texture in your own game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand and reinforce the theme of your campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a sharpie and mark the rules in your book that have been updated with errata. Fear not writing in your books. Remember the potions book of the Half-Blood Prince.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the mythology of your world?
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill your mind with the words and images of the fantastic.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try out a short campaign in which the characters level every session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let go.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shrink your aperture.
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave loose ends loose.
#dnd tip from the archive: Watch their body language.
#dnd tip from the archive: Attack with a horde.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reduce your tools.
#dnd tip from the archive: Simplify.
#dnd tip from the archive: Attack in waves.
#dnd tip from the archive: Deep caverns lie beneath every gnarled tree.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build on the bones of dead gods.
#dnd tip from the archive: Cut off passages and chambers in a dungeon on the fly if it better fits the timing and pacing of the adventure you're running.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to select or build intersting magic items. They matter a lot to your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Balance lore and action. Don't just tell them stuff, let them discover it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look to the DM's Guild for interesting playtested character options that fit the theme of your campaign. Players would love to expand beyond the PhB.
#dnd tip from the archive: Crosstrain with other RPGs. Pick up tips from these other RPGs. What are your favorites?
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players fill in the timeline gaps in your stories with their own descriptions of their character's time off screen.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the story shift direction based on what the players remember and focus their attention on. What do they care about?
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of spending a lot of time building a custom monster, reskin an existing one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking for an interesting variant of a monster, like a wererat assassin? Stick to the normal assassin stat block and reflavor it as a wererat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure your dungeon design makes sense for the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure there's a purpose for a puzzle room. Most lichs likely don't build rooms just to challenge adventurers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about designing a location and its inhabitants around the current power level of the characters. Give them one that makes sense given the current story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Rule number one for running narrative combat: Help characters succeed with their intent.
#dnd tip from the archive: The general flow of narrative "theater of the mind" combat: describe the environment and situation, ask the player for their desire and intent, adjudicate the results favoring the character. Repeat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let monsters act in a non-optimized way if the pace of battle calls for it. Just because a bully wig can swim doesn't mean players want to chase it for six rounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Above all, stay on time. Watch your time throughout the whole adventure. Let players end on a high note. Don't "call it right here".
#dnd tip from the archive: Its perfectly fine to play sub-optimally for the fun of the story and the pace of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe what the characters are seeing or what is happening to them before asking for a roll. Ask that players likewise describe their actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's a fine line between a challenging fight and an annoying one. Keep a careful eye on it so you don't cross it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work with your players, not against them. Help them succeed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Get as close to you can to asking "what do you do?" Give players options often.
#dnd tip from the archive: Just like campaigns, individual adventures can have an overall theme. Paint your adventure from this theme.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's ok to throw in vorpal swords into a short campaign. Even if it's overpowered, it won't be around forever.
#dnd tip from the archive: Gauge your players' tolerance for gore. Talk to them about it before you let the blood fly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time to find interesting monsters to drop into your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend less time finding the perfect monster and go with one that's good enough.
#dnd tip from the archive: Flavor standard monsters with new weapons, interesting traits, notable appearances, new attacks, and dangerous spells.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash two dungeon maps together to come up with something new and unique.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a handful of standard maps on hand so you can quickly drop a dungeon into an improvised adventure. Don't have too many in your kit or you'll be paralized by indecision.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give yourself ample time to include a nice big boss fight at the end of your single-session adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Flavor the details of your location with historical statues, frescoes, and other markings that expand the history of your campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up scenes with opportunities for roleplaying, exploration and combat. Consider multiple solutions to each scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up monster difficulties and quantities. Include some encounters with lots of little guys, some with a few big ones, and some with both!
#dnd tip from the archive: Lower the hit points of monsters to speed up battles when they get boring or tedious.
#dnd tip from the archive: Increase the damage of monsters to make them scarier and increase the tension.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe locations in iconic imagery. A collapsed building that seemed to form a giant screaming skull. A twisted tower that looks like a single finger pointing up to a dead sky. A deep pit that looks like a seeping wound in the earth.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce villains early and keep them present, even if just in rumor or the aftermath of their crossing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe world-changing events that may take place off screen to give the players a view of a living world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stuck for inspiration? Start with five to seven fantastic locations and see what ideas they bring to you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about the situation of a location. What would happen there if the characters didn't show up?
#dnd tip from the archive: A boss arriving later in a battle is a good way to avoid them getting alpha-striked in round one of a battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Inflicting damage when hit is a great way to scale threat with the number of characters. An ancient red dragon with fireshield is a truly deadly experience.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters glimpses of a villain's alternate plans. What if they're planning to escape the world if their sinister plot fails?
#dnd tip from the archive: Improvise the actions and reactions of the characters as though they're balls on a pool table. Who can say where they're going to go until they start moving.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a few basic monsters at your current challenge level available to reskin when you need a creature you haven't thought of. Ogres and giants work particularly well.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put the characters into hard situations that combat simply can't get them out of.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin spells to show off the background and theme of villainous NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Nothing is more stressful than a villainous garden party you can't simply burn down.
#dnd tip from the archive: What can the villains offer the characters that will stay their hand?
#dnd tip from the archive: Illusions that affect some characters but not others is a great way to add some inter-party suspense and fun roleplaying for your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Villains have all sorts of motivations. Some may not realize they're villains at all. What if an innocent person might cause the end of the world?
#dnd tip from the archive: Add your own folklore to your campaign. A black dagger might be a shard cut from the fabric of the night sky.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give yourself time to run boss battles. Expect them to take at least twice as long as a typical battle. Give them the bandwidth they deserve.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the time to understand complicated boss monsters. Read over their stat block again and jot down notes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time to understand the capabilities of the characters. Talk to your players about the choices they've made for their character and what they hope to see them do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Email microfiction to keep the players playing the game even when they're not at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Email a campaign closer that talks about the state of the world six months after the characters finished the campaign. How has the world changed due to their heroic actions?
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider dedicating an entire session to a big boss fight. Multiple waves, environmental changes, big set-piece dioramas; go big with your boss fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review the characters' backgrounds each time you prepare. Give the characters a chance to shine with their background, not just their race or class.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start off with a bang. Get the characters into the action as soon as you can.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your characters a home base they can call their own. Give it to them early.
#dnd tip from the archive: In the beginning of a campaign, let the players choose a faction or organization they all belong to already. Get them started already tied together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write up a one-page handout to help your players understand the campaign and their characters' place in the world. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Get a feeling for whether your group prefers to fight it out or talk through situations. Give them more opportunities for the one they prefer.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters a reason to interact with the scenery in a fantastic location. Why would they risk investigating the strange starscape-filled pool?
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters navigate bottomless pits using reasonably safe ideas without requiring a skill check.
#dnd tip from the archive: Smile. Laugh.
#dnd tip from the archive: In complicated situations players are probably in trouble understanding what's going on about half the time. Keep this in mind and help them out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up situations. Let the players decide how to deal with them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run big battles in the background story. Focus on the skirmishes the characters deal with during the bigger wars.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show art.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spread a thin layer of history and lore over the whole adventure. Let it be discovered through attribute checks and character backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: The world is built upon the ancient remains of a thousand civilizations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Respond to the decisions of the players as the world would respond to the actions of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend ten minutes before your game going over the characters. Who are they? What do they want? What do they like to do?
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal bigger dungeons, particularly dungeon maps, from other published adventures if you're worried the characters will take a dungeon path you didn't expect.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make sure the characters have something to do in each of the locations they might explore. Otherwise they'll just wander through.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward curiosity.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use miniatures or tokens to show positioning. Who's up front? Who's in the back?
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop in one interesting magic item into each session. If you're worried about imbalancing the game, make it a one-use item.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move the spotlight to the NPCs the characters seem to like the best.
#dnd tip from the archive: Before you plan out your campaign, talk to your players and make sure its the sort of campaign people want to play. Do this even BEFORE a session zero (session negative one?)
#dnd tip from the archive: Vary the types of monsters your characters face. Two or three battles of zombies in a row can get boring and repetitive.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add or remove encounters to change up the pace of the game. Too many battles can be weary and too few can lose the action
#dnd tip from the archive: Add magic items that fit the backgrounds and desires of the characters. Let's face it, Sting was made for Bilbo.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let confrontations go from verbal to physical and maybe back again. Don't expect or force a scene to go one way or the other. Let the players choose.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write a one-page campaign summary that focuses on the characters and their role in the campaign. Write it in the second person.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use hand torn crumpled copper resume paper to make cool in world  notes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your session zero relaxed and let your players know not to expect crazy powerhouse action. It's a time to get to know the characters and the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use downtime between adventures as a way for the players to get to know one another's characters. "What was your character up to over the past two tendays?" is a great way to learn more about a character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Nothing beats a body washing up on shore to start a mystery.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change the hooks in published adventures if the one in your head will grab your players more than the one in the book.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make vampires more dangerous by increasing their life draining bite to 21 (6d6) necrotic damage and requiring Greater Restoration to restore the drained hit points.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend time learning how to draw cool maps. Regional, dungeon, and battle maps are a great way to draw your players visually into the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change the weather. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Zombies that explode like fireballs when they finally die.
#dnd tip from the archive: Block and schedule some time in your week to spend real time preparing for your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Award inspiration to reward risk taking that moves the story forward. Putting your head into a well full of poisonous snakes? You get inspiration!
#dnd tip from the archive: Level one is its own special game. It's far more dangerous and lethal than any other level in the game. Treat it accordingly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep an eye on the damage output of a monster. It may swing harder or softer than the challenge rating indicates.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop hints of interesting things the characters might otherwise miss. Strange thudding noises in the attic, strange glowing shining reflections in the mud at the bottom of the well.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie the PCs' backgrounds to future adventures. Maybe one of the characters sailed on the ship that sunk the pirate vessel Tammeraut.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build handouts to draw players into the world. Strange fonts on copper-colored resume paper with torn edges works well.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build two layers of deception into your villains. The first one discovered covers up the second.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review the material on the DM screen every so often to refresh you on the tools you have right in front of you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of character hit points so you can get a more accurate gauge of monster difficulty.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add accessories and details to your terrain builds. The details make it come alive.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use larger encounter areas with a few rooms. Monsters can come from many sides and the characters might need to split up to keep them at bay.
#dnd tip from the archive: When a horde of monsters attack the characters you can assume about 1/4 of them will hit. Edge up and down depending on big differences in AC.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even if you only have ten minutes to prepare for your game, spend those ten minutes on the most important elements of your game prep: Who are the characters? Where will it start? What secrets and clues might they discover?
#dnd tip from the archive: Even rot grub swarms have interesting physical characteristics that separate them from other rot grub swarms (little mohawks, spiral stripes, ugly spots).
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in open sandbox scenarios, it helps to clarify what the characters can and can't do. Give some guidelines so they're not completely flailing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are the players smiling? You're doing it right.
#dnd tip from the archive: When putting a big scenario in front of your players, like infiltrating a villa or invading a pirate ship, take the time to understand all of the variables. How will the NPCs act? Where are they going? What do they want?
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify when the characters have exhausted all the information they're going to get in a scene. "You're pretty sure you've learned everything you can here."
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players discover the number of enemies they're likely to face in a big dynamic area. How many hill giants can they expect to find in the steading of the hill giant chief?
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes skill checks go so catastrophically wrong that it shakes up the whole world. A simple attempted distraction might capsize an entire ship.
#dnd tip from the archive: Help guide the players' discussion of their plans for an infiltration or ruse. Steer the conversation towards what will likely work, away from what won't, and towards what will bring the most fun for the group.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hide your secret villains from the characters and leave clues of their existence and their impact on the surrounding world.
#dnd tip from the archive: In any open situation offer three plausable paths plus any the players come up with themselves.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are the villains in a hard situation? What would you do in their shoes? Sometimes a pirate captain will scuttle their own ship if it means their own survival and killing the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: In "breather episodes" in which the characters return to town, let the players know its coming ahead of time and offer options for downtime activities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change out boss monsters based on the backgrounds of the characters. Is a character hunting a black ship-eating whale that ate her parents? Get that sucker into the adventure!
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadow future adventures with quest hooks and rumors the characters hear about around town.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read one or two chapters ahead in any big campaign adventure you're currently running. Read up the next session within a day of running it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep small add-in encounters to add in when things go quicker than expected in your planned adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expose multiple paths.
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave options open for dialog even after combat has begun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have quest givers offer multiple quests and let the players choose the ones they want.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify objectives.
#dnd tip from the archive: Increase the legendary actions, hit points, and damage of legendary monsters for each character above four.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show maps.
#dnd tip from the archive: In combat, think about how your monsters would act given the current situation. Would they run? Would they stay and fight? Would they surrender?
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up big set-piece encounter areas and leave open lots of potential options. Let the characters approach the situation how they will.
#dnd tip from the archive: Allow for encounters with lots of enemies who act sub-optimally. Sure, there are more than a dozen bullywugs but they're clearly not coordinated.
#dnd tip from the archive: End with a cliffhanger and give yourself a built-in strong start next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Before running any monster, give its lore section in the monster manual a read and see if it fires up any ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Perhaps a malenti, a sahuagin spy and assassin who appears as a sea elf, has infiltrated the local lizardfolk lair as a false ambassador with plans to assassinate the queen.
#dnd tip from the archive: A gelatinous cube with a single-use magical relic floating inside is its own encapsulated D&D adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: A few miniatures on the table just to show general positioning can help players better understand how a battle is going.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand how the action economy affects combat difficulty. The number of actions on each side compared to the ither matters a lot. Four on four is much more balanced than one on four.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the number of items you need to run a game small. Only keep what you need.
#dnd tip from the archive: Award inspiration for creative and detailed descriptions of the previous game session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the NPCs the characters might want to visit in a downtime scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add rumors to your secrets and clues. You never know what you might learn when hanging around down at the docks.
#dnd tip from the archive: What plot is your secret villain hatching right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use strange, wondrous, and horrible descriptions to change up common monsters. There are infinite notable variants of the common swarm of insects.
#dnd tip from the archive: The age of wood and stone has a story to tell.
#dnd tip from the archive: Switch out villains for ones who have a clear connection to the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: In combat, the side with more actions has a big advantage over the side with fewer.
#dnd tip from the archive: A single monster is roughly equivalent to a single character when it's CR is a quarter of the character's level below level 5 or half the character's level if above level 5.
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadow your adventures with sinister weather or the attitudes of the crowds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run small experiments.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your descriptions in the fiction. Don't describe mechanics, describe the story behind them. "You take 8 damage" becomes "The orc's greatsword slashes across your thigh leaving a weeping wound. You take 8 damage."
#dnd tip from the archive: 500 word bits of flash fiction is a great way to give the characters a glimpse of what happened before. Ship's logs, letters, journals; give them a small taste of the larger story.
#dnd tip from the archive: In longer mysteries, hold back incriminating evidence until it's time for the discovery.
#dnd tip from the archive: The warlock's relationship with their patron is a complex one. It can be just as antagonistic as the strength of its bond. Warlocks are not slaves to their patrons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful turning a liked or beloved NPC into a secret villain. Your players may be committed to them and the betrayal might break them out of the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin spells to give villains particularly unique abilities and effects.
#dnd tip from the archive: You need little more than the core books, an adventure, and some dice to run a great D&D game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask what the characters can do in any given narrative scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Model NPCs after interesting characters in books, movies, or TV shows; then change their genders.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are 5th-10th level characters getting attacked by fifty skeletons? Assume one quarter of the skeletons will hit their targets or make their saving throws.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sinister and secret plots sometimes are so secret that the characters never discover them. Expose them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even smart villains make mistakes and reveal too much of their hand. Even powerful villains sometimes have horrible luck.
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw in a random conversational NPC if you find you're having too many battles in a row. The characters sometimes need someone to talk to.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's always another cult.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review the players' character sheets, not to circumvent their abiltiies but to spotlight their specialities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Game time starting in ten minutes and you have nothing prepared? Steal a map, write out a strong start, and write down ten secrets and clues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters a reason to talk to NPCs and vice versa.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal the wider world through ancient relics, statues, tapestries, scraps of old books, and other elements of ancient history.
#dnd tip from the archive: Layer your cultists. What secret does the inner circle keep from the outer circle? What's dark secret lies below the four elemental cults?
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a collection of good maps handy. Every old tree has a dungeon below it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to the players who, through bad luck, roll low or get hit all the time. Give them a boost somewhere else in the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the environment as a tool to tell the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Discern intent
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix good things with bad things in your dungeons. Mix in healing fonts, blessing statues, and powerful relics with your acid-bolos, psychic razor-wire, and ethereal javelins.
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the larger story going on in your dungeon?
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop in secrets in clues into dungeon crawls so the characters learn the story while navigating the dangers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include interesting NPCs in your dungeon crawl such as ghosts, intelligent items, lost explorers, or enemy turncoats.
#dnd tip from the archive: Telegraph to the players when they'll likely be in a resource-draining dungeon with little to no chance for a rest for some time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop in a sentient weapon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drape environments with lore.
#dnd tip from the archive: Note player interests from downtime scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move the enemy's plans forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move things forward in towns while the characters are away.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure everyone gets a chance to describe their actions in downtime scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Did someone die and get immediately revified? How many years did they experience in limbo in the seconds that passed in the world?
#dnd tip from the archive: Make common monsters interesting by shaking up their appearances, weapons, armor, and your descriptions of their attacks.
#dnd tip from the archive: What does that skeleton smell like? What do its fingers feel like when their ragged ends scrape the character's skin? What drips from their open dead mouths?
#dnd tip from the archive: Put something in the hand of your NPC.  Spinning knives, twirling moonlight, cats cradle; anything.
#dnd tip from the archive: A friendly priest casts "aid" on your 1st level party before they begin their adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Highlight three meaningful options for infiltrating the enemies' fortress.
#dnd tip from the archive: Assume the adventurers are smart, capable, and observant. Clarify what they might see that the players might not realize.
#dnd tip from the archive: Players have trouble understanding what your describing about half the time. Be patient and clarify.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters leeway on infiltration missions. The whole dungeon shouldn't come down on the group for a single failed stealth check.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe dungeons in interesting iconography.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change up the number and types of monsters based on the best forward pace of the adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid awarding similar magic items. Give them something new and cool.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie sentient weapon origins to the backgrounds of the character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run adventures twice.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include juicy set-piece battles roughly every other session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read over your players' character sheets and come up with interesting hooks to draw them into the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize monsters with weapons armor and traits from other monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about the histories of your characters and their families while considering the history of your world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sink your adventure hooks deep.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce shady NPCs that can't simply be killed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Inspire yourself with cool maps and art.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running with three or fewer players, tailor the story of the adventure around those characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Simplify.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write for the players at your table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use existing stat blocks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus more on the story and less on the mechanics.
#dnd tip from the archive: When a character counterspells your big boss's big spell, let them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put yourself in the mind of your monsters; how would they behave?
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix monster traits to fit a special creatures unique story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize monsters with flavor.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend less time on Twitter and more time reading your source books.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe enemy spells by the components they use. Let the players guess what they're casting or use Xanathar's rules for identifying spells.
#dnd tip from the archive: Save time and money by using a dry-erase marker and a flip mat to draw monsters. Get cool hero minis for the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple options for the characters in a big assault. Will they protect the gates? Will they stop the sewer infiltrators? Will they hunt down the assassins?
#dnd tip from the archive: Are your monsters getting beaten down too quickly? Give the survivors more actions to account for their dead fellows.
#dnd tip from the archive: More monsters pose a greater challenge than bigger monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Just getting started with D&D? Start with the inexpensive Starter set and the adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe even common monsters with the details and flavor that make them unique to the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shake up the weapons and monsters of humanoids to make them different and exciting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Enemy NPCs can dual wield even if its not in the stat block.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe what's happening in the story instead of the details of the mechanics.
#dnd tip from the archive: Provoke opportunity attacks. Players love a free hit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your adventures simple. Let them get complicated when the characters smash up against them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take some time to research the history and lore (or write it yourself) for the areas immediately surrounding the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepares to shrink your dungeon to its most interesting rooms if time and pacing demand it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players plan a strategy but move things forward if the planning starts to get stale or boring.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tweak monster hit points and damage to suit the upward or downward beat of the scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Smile. Laugh. Have fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Negotiate. Offer deals.
#dnd tip from the archive: Areas of effect can almost always be manipulated to hit a single target. Adjudicate those situations fast and easily.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review your players character sheets. Show off their strengths and note their limitations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid denial fights. Players want their characters to do stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry about matching challenge ratings to character levels. A hundred goblins is an awesome fight against a group of 8th level characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use advantage and disadvantage as easy mechanics for improvised terrain features.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run combat fast and with a focus on the in-world story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fall into the fantasy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the big picture.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep note of who enjoys political intrigue and who prefers more straight forward adventuring. Season to taste.
#dnd tip from the archive: Recap the cinematics of the previous rounds of combat. (Thanks @JoeManganiello!)
#dnd tip from the archive: Know when to stay behind the curtain and when to pull it back. Only pull it back if it brings delight to the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: When in doubt, lean towards revealing too much.
#dnd tip from the archive: Feel free to announce ACs, DCs, and legendary monster status.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskinning is the most powerful of a DM's tools. Skim off of the inertia of others.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start with a combat to get the players' energy up.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep monologues short and sweet. Get to the point.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good villains think what they're doing is right. Great villains might actually BE right.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't assume a conversation won't turn into a fight or a fight might turn into a conversation. Let the pillars bleed together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep some action-packed encounters on hand up the pacing when required.
#dnd tip from the archive: Characters, and players, want to do stuff. Make things happen.
#dnd tip from the archive: Develop a menu of options for downtime scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players describe and upgrade their lair, home, tavern, or ship.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal cities, steal worlds, steal universes, steal the gods themselves!
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a menu of downtime activities tailored for the characters and their interests.
#dnd tip from the archive: The strong start is a great place to use a detailed set-piece battlemap. You already know they're going to begin there so there's no railroading.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the fundamentals.
#dnd tip from the archive: Teach using the core classes.
#dnd tip from the archive: When teaching new players, get into the game as fast as possible.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask for individual character goals and use downtime as a way to explore them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up situations and let the gameplay style find itself during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: When teaching someone new to D&D, show them the core mechanic and then get into the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start with as few tools as you need and add them in when they clearly add to the enjoyment of your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw maps. Leave blanks. (Thank you Dungeon World!)
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review the skill proficiencies of the characters and call upon those skills in the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tailor magic items to fit the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running online, test your audio and video for each player beforehand.
#dnd tip from the archive: Listen more than you talk.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run off-line downtime activities when you can't run a regular session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the game going with email and chat between games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal grim portents.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the story simple. Let the characters complicate it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Denote useful location features.
#dnd tip from the archive: In focused scenes of roleplaying, watch the body language of other players to see if they're getting bored.
#dnd tip from the archive: Manage time early on in your session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Extend or shorten battles behind the screen by shifting hit points to suit the desired pacing and beats.
#dnd tip from the archive: Summarize the current main point of the current story frequently to help players catch up.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take breaks.
#dnd tip from the archive: When characters use encounter breaking spells or abilities, let them. You have an infinite number of monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about tactical challenge and more about what's happening in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let clerics use channel divinity to boost religious checks in circumstances where it makes sense. Blowing up unholy altars and the like.
#dnd tip from the archive: The Dungeon Master's Guide includes a selection of maps perfect for improvised gaming. Review them and keep them handy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even a quick sketch of a map is better than no map at all. It doesn't have to be fancy but should be real enough in your head to make it feel real to the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: The best tools help you improvise during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Encourage at least one of your players to take notes during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to send you pictures of their characters. Use them for initiative tents, character tokens, and other aids. Internalize them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players break out of a fear, stun, or charm by accepting a pile of psychic damage. Maybe 1d10 per CR of the effect.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hang loose.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare the minis you need when you know you'll need them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't assume how the characters will react to any given situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: What would happen in your world if the characters weren't there?
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't steal the kill from a character to support some external story event.
#dnd tip from the archive: What monsters make sense given the situation?
#dnd tip from the archive: Project your excitement.
#dnd tip from the archive: Step away from the news. Grab a D&D sourcebook and escape to another world.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's a time for deep tactical fun and big explosive narrative. Know the difference.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful slamming the same character down to zero over and over again. What should seem dangerous ends up being just annoying.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your exposition and narrative tight and to the point.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players know a downtime session is coming up before they show up so they have some time to consider what they want to do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work with the players, not against them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try keeping your prep down to a single sheet of paper.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask the players regularly what sort of arcs they see for their characters in the campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Adjudicate towards high adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start and end with the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use clear tactical maps for location defense scenarios.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think as your villain thinks. They make mistakes but learn from them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful that your political intrigue doesn't turn into the D&D equivalant of eight hours of CSPAN.
#dnd tip from the archive: Break up political tension with blinding acts of violence.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use face cards when the characters are interacting with a lot of NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the number of front-facing NPCs to around three. Too many becomes too hard to keep track of.
#dnd tip from the archive: You can run multiple battles for a split party simultanously by running one initiative order and jumping back and forth between the two scenes as the init order rolls out.
#dnd tip from the archive: The best improvements to your D&D game cost no money at all.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players use the levels of technology they desire, from integrated Discord bots to rolling dice on the table with a hand-written character sheet.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know when your players want some tense politics and when they just want to fight the bad guy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players what they're enjoying and what they hope for in future games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know the lore. know the situation. Adapt.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the tools and accessories that help you tell a fun, fluid, and flexible game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a realistic reign on social media FOMO. The fanciest dice still roll ones.
#dnd tip from the archive: Craving an old-school feel to your D&D game? Use only the Basic Rules for character generation and cap levels to 6th level. Ignore feats and multiclassing options.
#dnd tip from the archive: How does the world respond to the characters? That's the primary question that helps us run our games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Limit battles to three types of monsters or fewer.
#dnd tip from the archive: When things get stale in combat, change the stakes or switch to fantastic finishes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go with what the players bring you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid a series of hard battles. Let the players enjoy smashing down weaker foes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadow future threats early and often.
#dnd tip from the archive: Help players meet their intent.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand The mechanical abilities are the characters so that you can build scenes to make them awesome
#dnd tip from the archive: How does the world respond to the characters? That's the primary question that helps us run our games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't overuse monster hoards. The game expects between one and twelve monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players what they want from the game as your campaign comes to a close. Give it to them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a fun final battle for the conclusion of your campaign. Give it the time it deserves.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tell your players to prepare for a "one year later" montage at the end of your campaign. Give them some time to consider it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start with the characters and build off of what they bring to the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players adventure options without urgency to see what types of adventures they want to play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the right background music for relaxation, suspense, and combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure there's something for the characters to do in any given location.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even a basic sketch can help players better visualize the details of combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the story go perpendicular. Enjoy the change.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stay in initiative order even in non-combat scenes to ensure every character gets their spotlight.
#dnd tip from the archive: What hook will draw the characters into the adventure?
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay special attention to the backgrounds of the characters. Build your game from them.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running online, use the tools that help you share the story and omit those that use up more time and energy than they're worth.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run for fewer players when running D&D online. Split your groups.
#dnd tip from the archive: Facetime or Hangouts is a great way for an absent player to still play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a long playlist of sinister video game music playing in the background.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't judge your games by what you see on the net. Learn from them but remember, you're doing great.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you have players fooled into thinking you're a good DM, you're a good DM.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players an overview of the structure of the city when running big city adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a solid list of random events taking places in big cities to give them continual activity and flavor.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start your city-based adventures with a big event; a contest, a riot, or a religious festival brings the city to life.
#dnd tip from the archive: Of your three villains or factions, have one that requires no big moral choice to beat the snot out of.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every inn, university, or noble house might have an old forgotten dungeon underneath full of dangers and adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your city-based adventures on a particular region or neighborhood.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your characters an early headquarters in city-based adventures. Perhaps they hang out in the room above an old inn, a old pawn shop, a tea house, or a gambling hall.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every outhouse has a gray ooze lurking in the bottom. Sometimes its an otyugh. Sometimes its a purple worm.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in dungeon delves, ensure there are opportunities for exploration, roleplaying, and combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Two groups seeking the same item is a great way to complicate and otherwise static dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters learn about the world through discoveries in ancient crypts, frescoes on ruined temple walls, and strange tattoos on their assailants.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your default levels of sex and violence to PG-13. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark.
#dnd tip from the archive: Borrow liberally from other RPG products and stick their best pieces into your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to turn a legendary monster into a normal monster? Ignore legendary resistance, legendary actions, and lair actions. Give it an extra attack on its attack action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare one scene for every 30 minutes of gameplay.
#dnd tip from the archive: When playing remote, check in oftem with your players to see how they're feeling about the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review your players' character sheets. Spotlight their strengths.
#dnd tip from the archive: Which movies feed the theme of your campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Play to your campaign world's strengths.
#dnd tip from the archive: What song or album is the theme to your adventure or campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your players a home base. Let them customize it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw players back into the game by asking for skill checks to reveal details about the situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players go shopping before a big party or social event. Ask them how their character prepares for the event.
#dnd tip from the archive: When developing situations, review the character sheets to ensure you have the right hooks to draw in each character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Warn characters when it looks like they're about to bite off more than they can chew. The players may not be getting the more subtle warning signs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Help your players out. They're probably lost about half the time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Develop exploration hooks and reveal secrets during scenes of social interaction.
#dnd tip from the archive: When things get slow, a gnoll kicks in the door.
#dnd tip from the archive: Some monsters are perfectly suited for particular jobs. A mimic spy? Why not!
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up the situation and steer it towards the fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steer towards the action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know the characters' skills. Set up situations that fit them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shift the game continually through the three pillars: combat, exploration, and roleplaying.
#dnd tip from the archive: "What does that look like?" is a great question to draw players into the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set things on fire.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players forewarning of a coming downtime scene and potential options the characters can follow.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw secrets and clues from the intersection of character backgrounds and the lore of the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start strong with an action packed battle against weaker foes to build up the energy of the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know and broadcast regularly what makes your world unique among worlds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a simple visual to show the general positioning of combatants even when running theater of the mind combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep theater of the mind battles simple and straight forward. Focus on the big stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know clearly what drives the characters through the story. Why are they doing what they're doing?
#dnd tip from the archive: Why will your players care about the upcoming story arc and big reveals?
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure each scene in your game has lots of opportunities for the characters to act.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be grand in visuals and specific in details.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal from fiction and mash ideas together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always be ready to grab what the characters bring to the story and wire it into the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer three plausible options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward with tangible benefits.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give 1st level characters five extra hit points.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary of 1st level published adventures. They're often unexpectedly deadly.
#dnd tip from the archive: What ten fantastic features will the characters find in your next dungeon?
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure the characters have things they can do in any given scene. This isn't a movie.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your narration on the most important information in any given scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down the proficient skills of each character. Tug on those skills to bring the characters into the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Remember that players are grasping about half of what you're describing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations and let the players choose their approach.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash together your favorite stories into something entirely new.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use maps to inspire your adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players an overview map of known locations when preparing for a heist.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random tables from the Dungeon Masters Guide for inspiration when preparing adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a backup communication tool if your main one fails during your online game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players options for roleplaying, exploration, or combat when entering into adventure situations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to customize and define their pets, companions, and figurines of wondrous power.
#dnd tip from the archive: If players struggle with plans; restate the goal, clarify the options, let them in on details they may have missed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Chasing a single spy through city streets can be as exciting as a big battle against dangerous foes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw out locations, even if it's just for you, to help them solidify from your fuzzy brain into a real place.
#dnd tip from the archive: Things going slow? Blow something up!
#dnd tip from the archive: Powerful and dangerous magic items are wonderful vehicles for the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reflavor standard magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Two villainous groups seeking the same item in the same dungeon as the characters is a great way to make the whole dungeon come alive.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put something interesting in every room.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stuck for inspiration? Write down ten things for your game. Secrets, locations, hooks, villains, items and so on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write out custom downtime activities for each character based on their own interests and backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes a silly encounter can break up the continual grim nature of most encounters. Use them as a break.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try new tools but don't fool yourself into overweighting their importance in preparing and running a great game. A stack of 3x5 cards can go a long way.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look at each step you take for your game prep and ask if it's really helping you run a great game next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find and refine the tools that help you prep faster and aid in your flexibility and ability to improvise at your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look two horizons out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the tools that you love and that get you excited to prep and play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Strong starts can be good or bad. It may be a parade or it may be a crashing airship full of ghouls.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always be ready to drop in an interesting conversational NPC into your dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the players enough information to make more meaningful choices than left or right.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the tools that keep you and your players focused on the transpiring story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Inspire yourself with art.
#dnd tip from the archive: The main DM mechanic: choose a DC between 10 and 20.
#dnd tip from the archive: What can the characters do in every scene?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the tables from chapters 3, 5, and Appendix A of the Dungeon Master's Guide to inspire adventure ideas you can drop in front of the characters and see what types of adventures they want to go on. Build your own job board.
#dnd tip from the archive: The DM doesn't tell the story. The DM facilitates the story that happens at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure your battles don't continually favor one type of character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seek inspiration from everywhere.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build characters together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the basics in mind: a quest, a location, some monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have one scene in hand for every 45 minutes of gameplay.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations and let the characters navigate them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Improvise encounters based on the situation and evolving circumstances.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change dungeon configurations to fit the pacing and timing of your adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dial back the urgency and let the players choose what they want to do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Provide three meaningful options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Protect your delicate villains. Players love to pin them down and kill them first.
#dnd tip from the archive: Waves of combatants is a great way to put the pressure on the characters without overwhelming them completely.
#dnd tip from the archive: Working off-camera is the easiest way for a villain to screw with the characters and not get instantly killed.
#dnd tip from the archive: What the villains would reasonably do may not be what's most fun for the group. Just as "that's what my character would do" is a BS excuse for players, "that's what my villains would do" iSs a B excuse for DMs. A bad time is a bad time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't force a story angle to happen if the characters can thwart it. Let the thwarting occur and figure out what would happen next.
#dnd tip from the archive: Hordes of monsters don't all act in a well coordinated battle. Some get scared, some run in fearlessly, some act smartly. Get into their heads and act as they would act.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask for stars and wishes. What did the players love in the previous game? What do they want more of in future games?
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary of taking away the characters' stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your descriptions brief and fantastic.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes even dead villains have laid careful traps and plots for the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Villains need not be strong in combat. Perhaps a single blow would fell them. It's the monsters and obstacles they've put in the way that cause trouble.
#dnd tip from the archive: Things getting complicated? Default back to an old fashioned dungeon romp.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop the dungeons from Princes of the Apocalypse beneath any big town or city.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use minis and maps to draw the players into the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: A quick list of who is next to who in what area may be all you need to articulate combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Characters above 5th level? Bring on the pain!
#dnd tip from the archive: Do your characters counterspell? Change how you describe enemy spellcasting to give them time to respond.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give cool magic weapons. Don't be stingy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep one scene for every 30 to 45 minutes of gameplay.
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for six regular players and be willing to run with as few as three.
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for a regular day and time every week or two. Try hard to run at that time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use your favorite image editor (Preview, MS Paint, whatever) to quickly annotate @DysonLogos maps with evocative descriptions for your D&D game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build quests and adventures from the backgrounds and drives of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Rescuing people being attacked is a good way to get characters into the adventure without having them continually beset upon.
#dnd tip from the archive: failed Athletics check? Describe the searing pain that rips down from the side of one's neck to their lower back. A pain that will twinge them awake for three nights.
#dnd tip from the archive: When improvising scenes or situations, ask yourself what makes sense given the current situation. What would be in those sewers? How would the bad guys prepare ahead of time? What makes sense?
#dnd tip from the archive: It's common for DMs is to feel unprepared and nervous before the game and feel awesome during and afterwards. No matter how long you've been running games, that nervousness is always there. It'll be fine.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run published adventures months after their release and capitalize off of the shared experiences of hundreds of other DMs who jumped on it early.
#dnd tip from the archive: End early. Keep your players hungry for more.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful with majority-led choices. Check in with those who haven't spoken up before choosing the path of those who have.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build out cool locations for big boss battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give yourself dials to tune battles as they happen. Tweak damage, hit points, number of attacks, spells, and number of combatants when running potentially deadly encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer character-driven suggestions for downtime activities if you worry players don't have anything in mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add 3 (1d6) necrotic damage to the wights longsword attacks.
#dnd tip from the archive: When needed, beef up monsters by giving them an additional attack as part of their attack action.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose the tools that help you best stay flexible and able to improvise during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Playing D&D is more important now than ever before. Find ways to get together with your friends and family and share tales of high adventure. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a break every 90 minutes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a walk and ponder your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start and end with the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: What would happen in this situation if the characters didn't exist?
#dnd tip from the archive: Write lists of ten. Encounters, monsters, story seeds, locations, secrets, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: What can the characters do in any given scene?
#dnd tip from the archive: What skills are the characters proficient in?
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep some dials on hand to increase or decrease the difficulty of a boss battle while it's going on. Hit points and damage output are the two easy ones.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters see connections between magical environmental effects and your villains with passive Perception checks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think carefully when an enemy would coup de grace one of the characters; telegraph it ahead of time if you can so it isn't a sad surprise.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think less about puzzles the villains would put in place to thwart characters and more about the environment they built for themselves to operate in.
#dnd tip from the archive: Smile. Laugh.
#dnd tip from the archive: Explore other RPGs. Read them even if you don't play them.
#dnd tip from the archive: When using a marilith, have her make her tail attack first to grapple and restrain her enemy and then make six attacks with advantage &gt;=)
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep tabs on which villains the players dig and which can safely fade away.
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim towards satisfying conclusions in battles or be prepared for disappointed players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drive the story towards and from the meaningful actions of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drive towards opportunities for separated characters to get back together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure battles have meaning, purpose, and valuable outcomes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players a mix of easy and hard encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: When exploring a city, make sure the characters' goals and motivations are clear so the characters aren't wandering aimlessly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your players a trusted contact in strange cities to help guide them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Inspire yourself with maps.
#dnd tip from the archive: What monsters make sense for the location?
#dnd tip from the archive: What locations in the city would YOU want to go to?
#dnd tip from the archive: Make city locations fantastic and remarkable.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop in an interesting encounter during travel from one place to another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not comfortable with burning soul coins in Descent into Avernus? Maybe the war machines are powered by demons!
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill dungeons with what would actually be there, not just what matches the characters' level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Help players understand how locations work so they can make better decisions to navigate them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reiterate quest goals regularly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the world through the eyes of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Catastrophe follows a string of failures, not just one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward bold actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Dial up the damage on monsters above CR 10.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find the players who dig your style.
#dnd tip from the archive: Squeeze all you can out of a campaign setting. Let the players experience all that makes it unique.
#dnd tip from the archive: Treat 1st level as it's own tier. Avoid monsters higher than CR 1.
#dnd tip from the archive: Remind the players of what their characters would certainly have remembered.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players warning of potential downtime sessions. Give them suggestions if they come up blank.
#dnd tip from the archive: What ten secrets might the characters uncover in the next session?
#dnd tip from the archive: Every encounter can teach the players something about the world and the campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Want to know the average hit points of a character at a given level? 7 x level + 3 gives you the answer. A handy number to keep in mind when considering traps, encounters, or hazards.
#dnd tip from the archive: Listen more than you talk.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sometimes helping pacifist warforged run a farmer's market is just what we need in our game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build locations your players would want to visit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Beneath the most beautiful garden lies forgotten caves with unspeakable horrors.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use your fastest image editor to drop location names right onto your favorite map.
#dnd tip from the archive: What ten things will the characters find in the next dungeon they crawl?
#dnd tip from the archive: Running lots of monsters? Switch to static damage to speed things along.
#dnd tip from the archive: When it makes sense, give lower challenge monsters pack tactics to challenge higher-level characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: If facing demon princes or archdevils, turn on "hard mode" by doubling the damage they inflict.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build cities with ten locations, monuments, and potential encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer three choices.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill ruined cities with interesting factions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal liberally from your favorite fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Inspire yourself with your favorite books, movies, or published adventures before your prep.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build some encounters from the backgrounds of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: How does your world's history present itself to the characters in the present-day world?
#dnd tip from the archive: When running "theater of the mind" combat reinforce the monks enhanced movement by using the phrase "with your monk-like speed" before describing their options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Darkvision in full darkness means everything is in dim light and thus imposes disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and -5 to passive Perception. Torches are still important.
#dnd tip from the archive: An encounter is potentially deadly if the sum total of monster challenge ratings is greater than half the sum total of character levels, or one quarter of character levels if the characters are below 5th level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a handful of your favorite maps on hand to fill in improvised locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work with the players, not against them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about balanced encounters, encounters per day, and draining character resources. Build encounters naturally from the story and situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider what options are available for the characters to talk, explore, or fight their way out of a situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: When stealing ideas from books or movies, remember that they don't have to play out as they did in the original fiction. Let the characters change how things work out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a break from intricate deep campaigns with a small fun dungeon crawl.
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw interesting NPCs into your dungeons so characters have someone to interact with without stabbing them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking for some solo D&D fun? Build out your character's background using Xanathar's "This Is Your Life" chapter. Excellent random inspiration to build fun backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe dungeons in historical lore. Who built it? Who took it over?
#dnd tip from the archive: Pool damage when running huge hordes of monsters. Every time the pool takes damage equal to the hit points of one monster, remove one from the horde.
#dnd tip from the archive: When attacking or rolling saves with huge hordes of monsters, assume one in four succeeds. Round up or down depending on circumstances.
#dnd tip from the archive: What one word theme summarizes your campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Need a quick dungeon? Grab a map from and annotate it with one or two word descriptions in Paint or Preview.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shake up scenes of combat, exploration, and roleplaying. Avoid runnng a long series of just one type of scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bake in opportunities for roleplaying, exploration, or combat into most scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up combat encountes with lots of low-challenge monsters and a few with big high-challenge monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe how characters might use the environment to their advantage. Offer opportunities for cover or feats of heroism.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer deals for moderately risky skill checks to gain advantage on an attack. Applaud it when the character's advantages lower or even remove the risk.
#dnd tip from the archive: Break up travel scenes with an interesting location backdrop and an encounter that can be approached many different ways.
#dnd tip from the archive: In treasure bundles offer interesting thematically-rich items through which characters can cast powerful spells a single time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tell different players different facts about NPCs they know about out of the game. Let them share their secrets at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Trouble getting inspired for your D&D game? Grab on to the coolest thing in your next session and run with it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare to improvise but if you know something is going to happen, spend the time to make it awesome.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe interesting terrain and offer deals so the characters can use it in cool heroic ways.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up situations and let the characters choose how to approach it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the story unfold at the table. Enjoy the surprises.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build out cities and overland areas with lists of ten interesting locations or features.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal secrets and clues during random encounters to make the world feel chaotic and alive while still moving the story forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: There are few more powerful tools thank curated randomness. Use your creative brains to fill out adventures fueled wirh random tables.
#dnd tip from the archive: Develop three geographic exploration routes with three interesting potential features along each route.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build wilderness encounters from the environment, a fantastic feature, interesting monsters or NPCs, and weather.
#dnd tip from the archive: The best tools are those that help you stay flexible and improvise during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: What choices lie in front of the characters in each upcoming scene?
#dnd tip from the archive: Wrap random encounters in the history, lore, and secrets of your campaign and your world. Every encounter teaches something.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop an interesting encounter in an interesting location in the middle of scenes of overland travel.
#dnd tip from the archive: Having trouble finding inspiration for your game? Roll on some random tables and see what it fires up in your imagination.
#dnd tip from the archive: Having trouble with an adventure concept? Go back to the Dungeon Master's Guide and see what it has to say about it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Diagram multiple paths through a location to help the players make clear decisions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe what spells look like.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take breaks every 90 minutes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Most effective way to deal with counterspell? Stay more than 60 feet away from the counterspeller.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop non-hostile NPCs into even the most deadly of dungeons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Regularly outline the choices in front of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Assume characters act smartly; they see what players often do not.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer choices with enough information for informed decisions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the default tokens in Your instincts tell you to customize every token but the default tokens work just as well and you can better spend that time on other aspects of your game prep.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take notes.
#dnd tip from the archive: How does the next scene propel the story forward?
#dnd tip from the archive: Shift the spotlight of the story to the next most interesting and exciting moment. Move quickly past the mundane.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build out your toolbox with every tool that helps you share stories of high adventure and none of the tools that get in the way.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let go of old ideas, techniques, and tools you find no longer serve you. Be conscious of your own bias towards loss aversion.
#dnd tip from the archive: Get VTT tokens for every D&D monster with the Avrae D&D bot's "!token" command in Discord. See 
#dnd tip from the archive: Reuse and recycle NPCs so the characters maintain continuity with people they've already met.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make sure the players have something to do in any given scene. It's not enough to simply observe the situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the environment to tell the story of the world and its history.
#dnd tip from the archive: Share the history of the world in small bite-sized bits of mysterious and interesting lore.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include secret doors, rooms, and chambers in your locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use maps with short cuts and loop backs to give a sense of discovery.
#dnd tip from the archive: Talk to new potential players before they jump into your game; find out if their style matches your own, the other players, and the rest of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: The best things you can do to improve your game are free.
#dnd tip from the archive: The plural of cyclops is "cyclopes" (sy-klo-peas).
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid decision paralysis by offering useful information to make informed decisions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find the easiest path to bring in a new character and integrate them into the group. The story comes second behind the fun of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include multiple paths, entrances, secrets, and short cuts.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build adventures around interesting locations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare the ingredients you need to cook the story at the table. Don't come to the table with the story already fully prepared.
#dnd tip from the archive: Wrap traditional monsters in the cool and unique flavor of your world. They're not just armored hill giants, they're the armored giants of Maena's Fist.
#dnd tip from the archive: Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide is an excellent resource for generating straight forward adventure ideas. It should be the first chapter DMs read.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lost for ideas? Get back to the basics with a fun dungeon romp.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe locations in layers of history, each peeling away revealing frescos of past civilizations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Size and age are the two easiest ways to make something fantastic.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expect and prepare for challenging battles above level 10 to take some time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your locations hidden shortcuts the characters can discover and exploit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add daily-use spells to typical +1 magic items and a flavorful name to go along with them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the books you need close at hand.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ending early is better than ending late.
#dnd tip from the archive: End a session after major choices and directions have been set. This lets you focus your prep on the right area.
#dnd tip from the archive: End a session before a major battle so you have time to fully prepare it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Talk to your players out of game to see what hooks in the campaign grab them and deserve to be resolved.
#dnd tip from the archive: Easy battles are a great way to let the characters show off what they can do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Scenes can often fall into exploration, roleplaying, or combat. Don't assume a scene will fall only into a single category.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take the time to plan your boss battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of story threads important to the players. Resolve as many as you can by the campaign's end.
#dnd tip from the archive: End campaigns with a "one year later" montage in which each player participates. Warn them ahead of time so they can think about it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Planning a battle with the disruption of a dark ritual? Consider how the ritual works so players can figure out how to disrupt it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Trade skill checks for advantage on one's next attack to inject cinematic action into your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give villains magic items and be sure they use them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Destroying magical objects can usually be done with damage, applicable attribute (skill) checks, or appropriate spells like dispel magic.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work with each player to build a secret for their character they hang onto throughout a campaign. Let them choose when and how to reveal it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a session zero checklist before you run it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have players build characters together during a session zero to integrate their characters together into a cohesive group.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run a short adventure at 1st level at the end of your session zero and get them to 2nd level quickly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters a home base they can build up during their campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Inspire yourself with the sourcebooks and adventures from previous versions of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your campaign from the characters outward. Where are they? What matters to them? Where can they go?
#dnd tip from the archive: Help new players mesh well into your group by remembering that what everyone else knows may be brand new to them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay careful attention to inter-character conflict so it doesn't bleed into inter-player conflict.
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in an established group, going over potentially troublesome subject matter during a session zero is important. Understand what should be handled off screen (veiled) and what lines should not be crossed.
#dnd tip from the archive: When playing online, offset your lack of understanding through body language by checking in with players individually between games to make sure they're enjoying what's going on.
#dnd tip from the archive: When playing online, keep your technology stack as simple as you can make it so people can focus on the game and on each other.
#dnd tip from the archive: Getting lost in the depths of your game? Come back to a fun dungeon romp seeking some treasure and fighting some baddies.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let your game go in whatever direction it heads as long as it's fun for you and the group. Be flexible.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use monsters appropriate to the situation and environment.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about mechanical sub-systems and use flavorful descriptions to get the point across.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build interesting NPCs by reflavoring characters from your favorite books, movies, and TV shows.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give villains three evocative nicknames and a sidekick who goes around towns talking about how dangerous and awesome they are.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players opportunities for roleplaying, exploration, and combat even all within the same scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use rough abstract maps for quick combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend time getting to know your players' characters. What do they want? Where do they come from?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use published adventures as a framework and toolbox to put togeter your own adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Recast the motivations of published NPCs to suit the story unfolding at your own table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players regularly what they want for their characters. Write it down and drop it in when you can.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready to drop in options for exploration, roleplaying, or combat depending on the pacing and feeling of the game at the moment.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe your campaign in overarching themes and atmospheres. Drop in clues and flavor of these themes throughout.
#dnd tip from the archive: End adventure after big decision have been made so you know where to prep next.
#dnd tip from the archive: When stuck for ideas, get back to the basics of monsters in a dungeon guarding an item the characters need.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your narrative towards offering choices and leading to the actions of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in unexpected benefits and unexpected complications to keep the pace of the game exciting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players the information their characters would know. Their characters have a far greater understanding in the world than the players do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Help the players refine their plans towards likely solutions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify the situation as characters develop their plans.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe the world in fantastic descriptions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spice up the world with weather.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go where the story leads.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about balancing challenge and draining resources and more about building fun situations the characters can navigate.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each town its own theme, flavor, and notable landmark.
#dnd tip from the archive: Road ambushes are a good way to squeeze a fight into some travel scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare for characters to try to talk their way out of violent confrontations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be on the players' side.
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking for a more open and flexible framework for skill challenges? Check out Progress Clocks from Blades in the Dark. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a handful of character archetypes from your favorite books, movies, or TV shows on hand to improvise NPC personalities during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let threads die if the players aren't following them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write out a list of ten to twenty cool backdrops for random encounters that make sense for your game's world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use single-use magic items to offer continual rewards without making your characters too powerful.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ambushes are an easy and gripping strong start.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players interesting secrets and clues while battling their foes.
#dnd tip from the archive: During your session zero, ensure characters have a reason and motivation to help townfolk survive the forces of evil.
#dnd tip from the archive: Getting jumped by ghouls is a good strong start.
#dnd tip from the archive: Grab onto beloved NPCs with both hands.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe your whole campaign with a single word.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build the world from the characters outward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw out lots of plot threads and let those die that hold little interest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the right tools for the right form of combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always be foreshadowing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players debate questionable choices. Be prepared to break character and ensure everyone's cool with the result.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are the characters eating through "hard" encounters? Treat them as one or more levels higher than they are when checking encounter difficulty.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let NPCs grow as you roleplay them. You may suddenly find an NPC acting completely differently once you step into their character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be willing to take the thread of a published adventure into a new area you find more interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters make mistakes. Don't be afraid to let the characters get the upper hand.
#dnd tip from the archive: Few creatures are more dangerous than the swarm of rats.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters the opportunity to dramatically change the course of the story with a single action or die roll.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the story and situation drive appropriate ability checks which further drive the story and situation into new areas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of success and failures as analog dials instead of a binary True or False.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build hard situations and help the characters navigate them towards success.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each town an interesting characteristic that sets it apart from all other towns.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use your amazing universe-simulating brain to determine the outcomes of a complicated series of ability checks instead of a narrow flowchart.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ignore complicated sub-systems. Focus on adjudicating the situation, the choices of the characters, and the results of their ability checks. Adjudicate the situation as these things change.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep in the fiction, not the mechanics. How does that dark ritual work in the world? Let the characters figure out how to disrupt it and then work with them to find the right mechanics to do so.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build locations that will make your players say "wow".
#dnd tip from the archive: Change up the situation round-by-round in big climactic battles that take hour to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't drop all of the big story reveals at once. Space the out so players have time to digest and enjoy them.
#dnd tip from the archive: How do the villains relate to the characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give major villains a spokesperson. Antlers the Killer Moose has Thumper, the shit-talking hare.
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan for multiple possible outcomes in any given situation. Ideally, plan no particular outcome at all.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters a home base with a unique fantatic feature.
#dnd tip from the archive: Warn players ahead of time of the potential for downtime so the can plan their actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize a published campaign adventure by tying it to the characters, their backgrounds, and their goals.
#dnd tip from the archive: End at the beginning of a huge battle to build a strong start for your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose magic items both randomly and from those that make sense for the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your villains access to magic items that will soon fall in the hands of the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Potions and scrolls are a great way to beef up a villain.
#dnd tip from the archive: Characters having an easy time? Treat them as one level higher when calculating potentially deadly encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: When in doubt, run a dungeon full of cultists. Everyone loves cultists.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up situations and let the players choose how their characters navigate them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer three options + any others they come up with.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of quest and adventure templates that work well in a variety of situations. Kill the boss; steal the MacGuffin; rescue the prince; stop the ritual; etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look for the spaces in published adventures where you can stick in your own ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your physical and mental toolkit to help you facilitate the stories that bloom at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: End on cliffhangers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add secret doors, secret passages, loops, and short cuts to you dungeon maps or seek those maps that have them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare and be ready to drop in easy battles, hard battles, interesting discoveries, and interesting NPCs into your dungeon crawls.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drive narration from the points of view, backgrounds, and skills of the characters. Avoid passive voice narrrations. Let the characters discover the world around them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give weak monsters circumstantial advantages when facing high-level characters. Cultists can drink demonic blood to give them advantage and extra necrotic damage before exploding into demons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give bosses access to powerful potions, scrolls, and other single-use magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Advantage, disadvantage, inspiration, and the sliding scale of DCs are your tools for improvising just about any situation in D&D.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down ten things you learned after running any given session of D&D.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lean in to the unexpected.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep simple adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add elements of roleplaying, exploration, and discovery inside your long multi-stage battes. You can run an entire D&D game within the bounds of a big battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Breathe deep. Your game will be fine.
#dnd tip from the archive: What did each of your players love in your last game? What do they want to see in the future? Ask them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Adventures serve as inspiration and frameworks for the stories you and your players to share at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run simple adventures. Your players will make them complicated.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep potential quest to around three. Enough to have meaningful choices but not too many to cause decision paralysis.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every few sessions ask players what they're enjoying about the campaign and what they'd like to see in future sessions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your world and campaign from the characters outward. Build for your next couple of adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review your characters first and build in secrets, NPCs, and locations meaningful to those characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Secrets and clues are the treasure and rewards for exploration and discovery.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure your players are on board with the theme and structure of your adventure, whether it's an open sandbox or a story-driven campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the published material that excites you and looks like the most fun to use.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add elements of exploration, discovery, and roleplaying into your huge boss battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal great ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters shine.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash ideas together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players time to consider their options for downtime scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop fantastic locations and monuments along long overland journeys.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to describe their killing blow.
#dnd tip from the archive: Turn killing blows into decisive blows that give defeated bosses an opportunity to negotiate or offer interesting secrets.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put the characters in hard situations and work with them to escape.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe the world in texture and details.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put options in front of the players near the end of your game so you know what to prep next.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie environmental effects from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything to fantastic monuments the heroes come across in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid story-driven thefts the character's can't stop. Give them a chance to stop the theft or chase down the stolen goods.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the villians and minions operate as they would in the world, with the information and capabilities they have. Run them like living people, even in the background.
#dnd tip from the archive: Little is more fun than two brash bandits who overestimate their chances.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations, describe options, reiterate the goal.
#dnd tip from the archive: Highlight the fantastic accomplishments of the heroes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use heralds that build up the villains for the characters. Sometimes they'll be the most hated NPCs in the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down a strong start, three to five fantastic locations, and ten secrets the characters might discover and you're all set.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use critical hits and critical misses as ways to push new directions into the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask specific players for their thoughts on potential options when the group faces multiple paths.
#dnd tip from the archive: When desired, give monsters additional attacks when facing a group of characters alone.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop an interesting location as the characters travel from one main place to another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use rough abstract maps and theater of the mind for smaller battles and more tactical combat for big boss fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run with as few tools as you need to share an awesome story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a group of six players plus two "on call" players and be willing to play with as few as three. It takes six cancellations to not run a game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Captured enemies serve as easy vehicles for secrets and clues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop in single use magical relics with interesting connections to the world and its mysteries.
#dnd tip from the archive: Develop an understanding for the offensive and defensive capabilities of the characters; it serves you better than encounter balance tools and tables.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add fantastic backdrops to your random encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Check in with players often to ensure the game and their character's role in it is going the direction they want it to go.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shift between easy and challenging fights to the players enjoy the full range of their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Suggest players build and level characters together to work towards complementary abilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Regularly reiterate the goals of the adventure or quest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Players understand half of what you're describing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary when taking away a player's agency from their character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reinforce that a character cannot adversely affect another character without their player's permission.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your boss a couple of big dumb brutes to give characters something to banish and otherwise crowd control and a big pile of weak monsters to blast to smitherines.
#dnd tip from the archive: One-on-one games are a fantastic way to focus a game around the story of a single character. It's a different, yet no less fun, way to play D&D.
#dnd tip from the archive: What tools do you need to run a game? What gets in the way?
#dnd tip from the archive: Whenever you have questions, dive back into the story and the NPCs in it. Think through their eyes. What would they do?
#dnd tip from the archive: At 11th level and above, a battle may be deadly if the sum total of monster challenge ratings is 3/4th the sum total of character levels. Or equal to the sum of character levels if they're 17th or above.
#dnd tip from the archive: Save time by using existing maps instead of drawing your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Adding monsters is the easiest way to make a fight more dangerous.
#dnd tip from the archive: Highlight the important points of your narration and keep it brief and focused.
#dnd tip from the archive: 3x5 cards are the DM's secret weapon for preparing and running games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Save time by avoiding transcribing monster stat blocks. Bookmark your books or online pages instead.
#dnd tip from the archive: D&D Beyond, Discord, and Avrae together build an excellent online D&D platform.
#dnd tip from the archive: D&D is, first and foremost, a shared story with random variables. Build out from that core idea.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to describe interesting physical characteristics of monsters beginning with the letter of the monster's token or in your D&D Beyond Encounter Builder roster.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players meaningful options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Handle NPC battles off-screen. Describe the results rather than roll dice against yourself.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run a new session zero as new players come into your campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players time between sessions to consider their downtime activities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Random encounters need not be combat. Sometimes its a friendly merchant. Othertimes its an ancient white dragon swooping down on a yeti.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think big and fantasic with your locations and features. You have an unlimited special effects budget.
#dnd tip from the archive: Seek books, comics, movies, TV shows, and games that push your imagination into wild new areas. Absorb everything and let it fuel your games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find and tie together the intersections between character backgrounds and the stories in a campaign. Is that villain a cousin? Are those prisoners from your village? Is that skeleton a former adventuring colleague?
#dnd tip from the archive: Run turns for downtime scenes for each character like you would for any other scene. Make sure every character gets to do something and doesn't take too much of the spotlight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Warn players ahead of time that you'll be including a downtime scene so they can prepare ahead of time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer custom downtime options tied to the characters and the story. Offer what you think they'd want to do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use an abstract map or some loose visualization for hard fights against lots of monsters so players have a good idea what they face and how they face them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Work with the players' intent when running Theater of the Mind combat. What are they trying to do?
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters need not act optimally in every battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players the option to break out of debilitating status effects like Stun by taking damage to break free.
#dnd tip from the archive: Before your game, spend a minute visualizing you and your friends at the table and ask what you need on hand to run the game. Write a checklist and grab those things before you run the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Things you may need to run your game: numbered initiative tents, character minis, monster minis or tokens, flip mat, 3x5 cards, dry erase markers, sharpies, list of random names, monster books, the DMG, the Lazy DMs Workbook.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let action-starved monsters fire off cool abilities as bonus actions or as part of their attack action so they have a chance to show off their unique characteristics.
#dnd tip from the archive: Copy and paste or highlight useful bits of lore from published material you can expose to the characters as secrets and clues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Interesting and useful lore is the reward for exploration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put yourself in the shoes of the NPC. See through their eyes. How would they act in the situation?
#dnd tip from the archive: End on a cliffhanger and set up strong start at your next game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Delight in the successes of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lean towards revealing too much instead of revealing too little.
#dnd tip from the archive: If a player seems disconnected from the current story, work with them to see how their character might have a deeper connection than either of you realized.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know when to drop in combat, roleplaying, or exploration based on the current pace of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe your adventures in the details of the world and its history.
#dnd tip from the archive: What three villains currently weave their webs in the background of your campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Think through the eyes of your NPCs. How do you think they'll act or react?
#dnd tip from the archive: The day after your game, think about how it went and jot down your own tips.
#dnd tip from the archive: Check your list of secrets throughout the game to see what you can drop in where.
#dnd tip from the archive: Copy and paste text from your published adventures and sourcebooks and format them as handouts you can give to your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose monsters that make sense for the story and situation first and THEN figure out if the challenge meets your intent and the pacing of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put characters first.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep only what you need for your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: You get to choose what's canon at your table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read the monster manual.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expose fantastic lore through secrets and clues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be a kid again.
#dnd tip from the archive: Trade cynicism for wonder.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be brief in descriptions. Get to the action.
#dnd tip from the archive: What can the characters do in the scene? What choices can they make?
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations instead of outlines.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about how things work in the world before worrying about mechanics.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use handouts to organize and focus your game for your players and for you.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's better to end a session early than to end one late.
#dnd tip from the archive: End a session after the characters have made a big decision about where to go next.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change published adventures to suit your players and characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend time understanding how your players enjoy the game. Are they looking for something relaxed and low key or looking for something brutal and hard core?
#dnd tip from the archive: End your session right before a big battle and start strong at your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters hitting below their weight class? Give them an extra attack or two.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build campaigns from the characters outward.
#dnd tip from the archive: For players, taking and sharing notes is a great way to avoid distractions and be even more useful to the rest of the group.
#dnd tip from the archive: Short one on one games are a great way to get in some D&D in a short bit of time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Good cult fanatic tactics: round 1 spirit weapon and sacred flame, round 2 guiding bolt and spirit weapon attack, round 3 inflict wounds and spirit weapon attack.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reflavor a cult fanatics spells to fit the dark gods they follow.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer three choices for new quests and adventures. Prune the options that remain unchosen.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run survival aspects of your game (food tracking, cold weather travel, encumbrance) as long as it's fun and handwave it when it becomes tedious and boring.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer fast travel options such as airships and portals when the world opens up to the characters at higher level.
#dnd tip from the archive: What are the three possible options the characters discover in the next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Your tools and tricks for running great games are there to serve you. You don't owe them anything. Use what works. Modify to suit. Throw things away.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about the hooks the characters might have with an NPC you're going to introduce.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drawing maps may be fun but it isn't necessary. There are hoards of maps out there waiting for you to pilfer.
#dnd tip from the archive: Integrate new characters quickly through trust and companionship. Describe the heroic spark in their eyes and get quickly past initial distrust.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a toolbox in your head of tools and tricks that help you improvise your games at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer customized character options for downtime scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run games and learn from them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer three interesting and meaningful choices.
#dnd tip from the archive: Skip the boring parts.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep an eye on mood, pacing, and beats. Adjust as needed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of locations, NPC's, monsters, and secrets on hand for each session.
#dnd tip from the archive: When using a virtual tabletop, speed up prep time by turning off the visual grid and turning off "snap to grid". Thus you can spend less time trying to line up imperfectly-aligned map.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the world from the eyes, capabilities, and backgrounds of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of locations is the backgrounds to a play. Give each location an evocative name and three interesting features.
#dnd tip from the archive: Looking to add morale to your monsters? The DMG has you covered. Roll a DC 10 Wisdom saving thro when it makes sense for a monster to potentially flee.
#dnd tip from the archive: Non-legendary boss monsters feeling action constrained? Give them an extra action they can take on their turn.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change the number and type of monsters in published adventures to suit the current pace and feeling at your table. Lots of hard fights? Maybe they only run into one. Having an easy time? Maybe it's a dozen.
#dnd tip from the archive: Maps are for more than just combat. Use them for exploration and even roleplaying.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use waves of monsters to keep the pressure up in great big battles. Bring out the boss last.
#dnd tip from the archive: Subtlety often gets lost in the translation of ideas from DM to players. Sometimes you need to be direct. Describe what their characters notice.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pool damage done to an entire horde of monsters instead of individually. Every time they take damage equal to the HP of a monster, remove a monster. Round HP to the nearest 5 or 10 to make life easy. Horde hit with an AOE? Remove those who fail their save.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go with the flow of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep published adventures from the path the characters are likely to take.
#dnd tip from the archive: Alternate between hard battles, potentially easy battles, roleplay scenes, and exploration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build paths and choices based on different types of gameplay so players can choose the type of game they enjoy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer suggestions if the players seem to miss obvious solutions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Treat the characters like experienced adventurers facing life and death decisions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find the easiest way to bring in a new character and note the heroic spark in their eye to avoid thirty minute of suspicious questioning.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give NPCs interesting details to make them easier to remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down NPC names as soon as they're exposed to the players. They've become real at that point.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters use the environment to get the edge on their foes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Characters getting thrown off a cliff? Give them an athletics or acrobatics check to catch themselves and only take a little damage instead of a 20d6 fall.
#dnd tip from the archive: For a series of ability checks, think about how the situation works in the world first and what needs to be done. Then assign DCs and ability checks to the in-world situations.
#dnd tip from the archive: When revealing vital but hidden information, call for a group ability check and give the highest roller the information they see.
#dnd tip from the archive: Call for ability checks and let the players bring forward skills that may be applicable and how they'd use them in the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make quick legendary creatures with three legendary resistances and three legendary actions per round with their most appropriate single attack and a non-provoking move.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add interesting environmental details for big boss fights. Improvise how they behave when the characters mess with them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take turns going through downtime scenes. Rely on your abstract secrets and clues to fill in interesting details the characters learn during downtime.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't overdo NPC to NPC discussions. Involve the characters as much as possible.
#dnd tip from the archive: Though you may find yourself in the DM chair because no one else would take it, you may find DMing to be an incredibly rewarding experience. Lean into it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the characters. Build the story from them. Keep them in the spotlight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid DM PCs and tag-along NPCs. Keep the focus on the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Experiment with jump-cuts into high action scenes. "A yeti punches you in the face"".
#dnd tip from the archive: Run multiple non-legendary bosses simultaneously when characters hit 7th level and above.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't get frustrated with banish. Embrace it in the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expect the whole feeling of the game to change at certain level increases. 5th feels very different than 4th. 7th feels different than 6th.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build situations, see how the characters choose to interact with it, adjudicate the world's response.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your notes a quick read-through right before your game to internalize what's important.
#dnd tip from the archive: Higher levels is more than harder monsters. The scope and scale of the whole story should change.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a moment to consider the mood and energy level of the table and adjust accordingly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters opportunities where time isn't a factor and they can take their time to decide on their approach.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give lots of chances to fail forward in conversations with NPCs. It doesn't have to be one check and done.
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider what choices and opportunities for a character's action exist in any given scene. Narrative-only scenes get stale fast.
#dnd tip from the archive: Jot down three bullets of interesting features for each fantastic location you intended to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Listen to audiobooks to hear how narrators describe high fantasy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider how random combat encounters reveal secrets to the characters as they do battle. What can they learn from the fight?
#dnd tip from the archive: Is a player rolling terribly in a battle? Call on their character to discover interesting or vital secrets during the fight.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up easy battles and hard battles; battles against many foes and battles against a few.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up scenes of roleplaying, exploration, and combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in random treasure and treasure selected to support the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make magic items unique with an origin and a condition. Add history and a cool name.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include secrets about NPCs, locations, history, gods, villains, and plots.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expose secrets through artwork, NPCs, magic items, books, scrolls, dreams, portents, and characters' historical knowledge.
#dnd tip from the archive: Scale up the story of your campaign by orders of magnitude as the characters reach 5th, 11th, and 17th level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Study the capabilities of the characters both to help you challenge them and let them shine.
#dnd tip from the archive: Enjoy connecting larger campaign adventures and sharing those connections with the players even if the characters don't understand the connections.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare for any single powerful creature to get banished once the characters reach 7th level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Three bosses are better than one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the characters' skill proficiencies and passive ability checks to share information as they explore the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Share the world through the eyes of the characters. What do they see? What do they notice?
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize published adventures around the backgrounds and drives of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep things simple. Sometimes a straight-forward dungeon crawl is just the thing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure friendly NPCs show up even in the darkest dungeons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build interesting variant monsters by applying traits from one monster stat block to another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to jack up that damage dial on monsters above CR 10.
#dnd tip from the archive: If you offer a choice, expect players to choose either one. Prepare for them to dive into the wrong answer.
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize monster stat blocks on the fly. You know better than anyone how a monster might work at your own table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be stingy with magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need to roll a d20 but don't have any dice? Use a stopwatch. Look at the tenths and hundredths digits. The hundredths is the single digit. If the tenths is even, that's a 10 + the hundredths. If it's odd it's 0 + the hundredths. A .80 is a 20! 
#dnd tip from the archive: Dragons make great quest-giving NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Identify legendary foes.
#dnd tip from the archive: In big challenging fights, give the characters enemies to crowd control.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand the damage output, hit points, and combat capabilities of your specific group. This offers much greater insight than overall challenge ratings.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give legendary monsters a physical in-world representation of their legendary resistances such as tattoos that wink out, floating ioun stones that explode, or gemstone teeth that crack. Thanks Level-up A5E!
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare some in-town events for downtime scenes. What might the characters see or learn about while engaging in their downtime?
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about how a tough combat challenges the characters instead of just worrying if it's tough.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use exotic spells from non-core books and third party publishers as a special type of loot.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie third-party spells to single-use magic items. That way, if its totally broken, you only have to deal with it once.
#dnd tip from the archive: End at the beginning of a battle so you know you're going to start strong.
#dnd tip from the archive: Initiative begins the minute one creature commits a hostile act against another.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use, re-skin, and tweak existing monsters instead of building your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Quick monster stats: AC/DC = 12 + 1/2 CR; HP = 15 * CR; Attack / Proficiencies = 3 + 1/2 CR; Damage = 7 (2d6) per level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up opportunities for exploration, role play, and combat even when dungeon delving.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to the skill proficiency selections of the characters so you know what to tug on during the game
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify choices
#dnd tip from the archive: Represent legendary resistance in-world. Glowing ioun stones, glyphed teeth, stone obelisks, runed scales, layers of magical protection.
#dnd tip from the archive: Identify legendary foes so players know what to expect.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand how the urgency of the story affects the choices of the characters. Turn that urgency dial accordingly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't worry about having to read up on a room when the character enter it in a dungeon crawl. The flexibility of going anywhere is more important than being perfectly prepared.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use single use or permanent magic items as hooks to explore risky or dangerous situations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prompt individual characters on their thoughts about what to do next.
#dnd tip from the archive: Players used to playing online often stay silent to avoid talking over one another. Ask individuals for their thoughts and choices.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random encounter tables to show battles that happened before.
#dnd tip from the archive: All non-core books are optional. Choose which books and material to include into your campaign instead of allowing everything and having to exclude stuff. Flavor your campaign by the sources allowed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tailor your campaign's theme with thematic third party material. Kobold Press in particular. Their stuff is awesome.
#dnd tip from the archive: Scheming NPCs act in their own best interest. Betrayal isn't inevitable.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go with something cool or fun even if it breaks some realism.
#dnd tip from the archive: In more open-world adventures or cities, think about the three places the characters might go in three different directions.
#dnd tip from the archive: "Pause for a minute" to break character and, as players, discuss and resolve inter-character conflicts.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters see random encounters wandering by and let them decide if they want to engage them or not.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be careful dropping traps and surprise attacks on the character whose player is willing to use them to propel the story forward. Don't regularly punish characters for taking initiative in the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take breaks every ninety minutes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the world through the eyes, backgrounds, and proficiencies of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add monsters designed to eat the characters' favorite save-or-suck spells like Banish, Polymorph, Hypnotic Pattern, or Stunning Strike.
#dnd tip from the archive: Beware the too-long monologue. Let the characters jump in and punch the monologuing villain.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spells or powers seemingly too good to be true often are. Give them a quick read to see what's being missed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Greater challenges most often come from more monsters but so too does the duration of the battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the prep time and materials that bring the most fun to your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use rough abstract battle maps with relative distances when players can't visualize pure theater of the mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask yourself if all the time spent setting up dynamic lighting actually makes your game better.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your time and attention on the parts of your campaign you love the most.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not digging what you read in a published adventure? Wish it was something else? Do that instead.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use published material as sources of inspiration to fuel your own adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be prepared for the characters to attempt negotiation with every monster you drop on the table even if a fight is what they're really after.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expand or reduce future battles based on the results of the previous. Did they have an easy time? Beef things up. Did they have a rough time? Drop it down.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reducing monster hit points is the easiest way to tune down the length of combat. Increasing damage is the easiest way to increase danger.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep descriptions down to three sentences. Make them fantastic, useful, and oriented towards the characters' actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players what they hope for as you come to the close of your campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider the arcs of each character as you come close to the end of your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Waves of combatants is a great way to challenge powerful parties without dumping everything on them at once.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure the story evolves in long combat. Give players the opportunity for exploration and roleplaying even as combat rages on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Low hit points and high damage make for great minions at high levels.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add 2d6 elemental damage to a monster's attack to boost their threat. Flavor their attacks with the type of element. Dripping acidic claws, necrotic blades, blazing axes, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the world from the characters' point of view.
#dnd tip from the archive: A "one year later" montage is a great way to hand a character's arc over to their player at the end of a campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Challenge high-level and high-power characters with waves of enemies in a single battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add groups of monsters in big piles the characters can blast or control for fun and profit.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie level progression to specific quests or accomplishments in the story of your game. Articulate them up front. Thanks @mattcolville!
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave at least 30 minutes for the end of your campaign after the final battle. Give the players time to breathe and enjoy their victory.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build off what the players bring to the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Improvise multi-success or failure progress clocks to mirror complex situations in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Internalize the mood, theme, and atmosphere of an adventure and campaign as much as the details.
#dnd tip from the archive: During your session zero, focus the characters motivations around the theme and drive of the campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put yourself in the shoes of the NPCs and act as they would act.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a "pause for a minute" voice queue so you or any player can break character for a moment, address any issues, and ensure the game is on the right track.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe the world from the point of view of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of the skills and languages each character knows to aid you in describing the world without breaking to ask.
#dnd tip from the archive: You have what you need. You'll be great.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players know when it's safe and not safe to split the party.
#dnd tip from the archive: Remember, it's just a game. Do what you need to do, in or out of character, to keep the game running smoothly.
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider carefully how you treat the theme of the scene, the adventure, and the campaign. Small changes can have big effects.
#dnd tip from the archive: From Shawn Merwin's idea of the "unity of effect" - Everything in a scene should (and does!) reinforce the theme and tone of the adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Check in with your players each session to make sure they're happy with the direction things are going.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know which clues are vital and be ready to drop them in in many different places.
#dnd tip from the archive: Share too many secrets instead of too few.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify the theme of your adventure and campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: You're campaign's theme counts for about half of a player's engagement with the game. The other half focuses on their character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make things happen. Let things happen.
#dnd tip from the archive: The moment a player's character receives a fun single-use magic item is the most enjoyable moment. If they hoard it, that's fine.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe. Listen. Respond.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about overpowered single-use magic items. They may unbalance one battle but that makes a remarkable story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify choices.
#dnd tip from the archive: First and formost, players want to watch their characters do cool stuff.
#dnd tip from the archive: Get the scene to the actions and decisions of the characters as fast as you can.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players to describe their characters' new tricks when they level so you know what the players are excited about.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash up your favorite adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players what their characters think of their current situations and views of the road ahead.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll random encounters ahead of time and see if they spark your interest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie random encounters to the rest of the story with well-placed secrets and clues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep an eye on the pacing and feeling of your session and steer it in the right direction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Strong starts don't need to be combat. The main theme of the strong start is "something happens".
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep some fun encounters on hand and drop the right one in as needed during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't owe anything to your game preparation. If it's working for your game you're doing it right.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's the one-word theme of your campaign? Write it down and keep it in front of you while preparing and running your games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the characters in front of you at all times. You never know how how you can draw them into the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stuck for an idea? Write down 10 ideas as fast as you can and see what your brain comes up with.
#dnd tip from the archive: Grab the knives the players give you but don't stab too deep or they won't give you another.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's cool? What's fun? What's funny? What makes sense for the situation?
#dnd tip from the archive: Fun is more important than realism.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build dungeons quickly with a map, some one- to three-word room descriptions with fantastic monuments, and a handful of potential encounters (good and bad).
#dnd tip from the archive: Note the players' interest in particular NPCs and double down on them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down NPC names as soon as they're spoken.
#dnd tip from the archive: End some games early so you have times to ask for stars and wishes. What did each player enjoy so far? What are they hoping for or looking forward to?
#dnd tip from the archive: Relax and focus on the basics.
#dnd tip from the archive: Just because a creature has multiattack doesn't mean they have to use it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use NPC personalities that reinforce the themes and feeling of the campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's the one thing you learned from the last game you ran?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players the option to declare enemies either killed or "knocked out" even with spells or ranged attacks. Give the players agency over the world to decide if such things happened.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down NPC names as soon as they're spoken.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put yourself in the point of view of the characters and NPCs. What does the world look like to *them*?
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop friendly or useful NPCs into enemy territory like dungeons or villainous lairs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Listen. Adjust.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters take out enemy combatants with good ideas and ability checks instead of just damage. "I pick up and body-slam that bandit into the lake."
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random tables to shake up the status quo.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lose yourself in the world and the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take note of who's been quiet. Ask them what their character thinks of the current situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up an easy and fast system to take notes during the game. Use it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't overstay the welcome of any one scene or situation. Know when to move things along.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show pictures.
#dnd tip from the archive: NPC stat blocks are the most reskinnable in the game. Know then and use them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to fill in details of the world around them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Glance at a monster's defenses and damage output along with its CR to gauge how it might play out when it hits your table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make a checklist of the things you need to run your game. Check it ten minutes before the game begins.
#dnd tip from the archive: Alternate between easy fights and hard fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of treasure you can drop in for the right upward beat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be ready for a change in the story's direction when the characters roleplay with important NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep your toolbox lean and focused on running an awesome game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ride the flow of the story of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tokens printed on photo paper and sealed using a 1" epoxy sticker and a 1" circular adhesive magnet are a great alternative to miniatures.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's the situation? What's the location? What's the goal? Who are the inhabitants?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use handouts to draw players into the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Omit what distracts from the story you share.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the characters' names in front of you all the time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters get the edge on their villains.
#dnd tip from the archive: Replace published NPCs with those who matter to the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be liberal awarding partial cover when characters seek it out.
#dnd tip from the archive: If your game jumped forward 14 months into the future in the middle of a session, would you be ready to keep running?
#dnd tip from the archive: It's really hard to beat the flexibility, portability, and cost of a dry-erase flip mat and some dry-erase markers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose tools that help you improvise during the session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run with scissors.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep some generic tokens or miniatures on hand for improvised battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Wrap fantastic locations in the lore of gods old and new.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer three options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw player in through the skills of their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Address the quiet player.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of the characters in front of you at all times.
#dnd tip from the archive: Refine you tools.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players what they enjoyed and want more of.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make boring monsters fantastic in your story and narrative.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify when characters get info from unreliable narrators.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix monster stat blocks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use tabletop terrain as scene set pieces, not just for combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start and end with a bang.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reintroduce NPCs the players know and love, even love to hate.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show character secrets through dreams and visions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a walk and think about the drives and backgrounds of the characters in your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try a small new thing in every session.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's the coolest thing in your next session? Double down on that.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move quickly to the actions and decisions of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build custom magic items for your characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focusing on the characters may be the biggest impact you can have in your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters a headquarters. Let them customize it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Watch the time.
#dnd tip from the archive: For some encounters, give players the choice to engage in combat, roleplaying, or skip them completely.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every scene is an opportunity for the characters to learn something.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move mysteries forward one clue at a time. Enough to learn something new but not enough to see the whole picture.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reinforce the theme and feeling of your campaign with each NPC, environment, and worldly description.
#dnd tip from the archive: Thank your players for taking the time to enjoy a game with you.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill your mind with great books, movies, shows, and games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find the right music to add atmosphere to your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reflavor animated armor with origins, conditions, and elemental damage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players respec their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tailor magic items to the backgrounds and interests of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Quick monster stats: AC / DC = 12 + 1/2 CR; HP = 15 x CR; Attack Bonus / Prof Saves / Prof Skills = 3 + 1/2 CR; damage = 7 x CR
#dnd tip from the archive: The heist model is a nearly perfect D&D scenario. Choose a goal, choose a location, add inhabitants (some known, some a surprise), allow for some planning, complicate the situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's your villain doing right now? What do they want? What steps are they taking to get there?
#dnd tip from the archive: Run small experiments.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about what cool magic items fit the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Peek at the players' character sheets to fuel ways to spotlight their coolest features.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix equal parts humor and sinister.
#dnd tip from the archive: What tools help you best share stories of high adventure with your friends?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use dirty tricks to help you improvise during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Start and end with the fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: What stats do you *really* need to run a monster?
#dnd tip from the archive: What choices or actions can the characters take in this scene you're building?
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer three options to fuel the players' ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let time expand or contract to support the pacing of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: What are you most excited about in your next session?
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the fun parts of your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: You don't need new mechanics for every new situation. Let ability checks guide new actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't shame players for missing things. Give them opportunities to refresh their understanding.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run NPC vs NPC combats in the narrative. Don't bother to roll attacks back and forth.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up scene types between roleplaying, exploration and combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid more than one red herring in a row.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify choices in any given scene. Get quickly to "what do you do?".
#dnd tip from the archive: Break symmetry.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build great dungeons with clear goals, a cool map, fantastic locations, secrets and clues, interesting NPCs, and dangerous foes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop an interesting location and situation in the middle of travel.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep monsters, secrets and clues, and interesting NPCs abstract from the location so you can drop them in anywhere that fits the story and pacing of your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tweak monsters to fit their place in the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build encounters around the location and situation in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let arcane boss monsters redirect damage done to them to their nearest hapless minions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give boss monsters multiple concentration spells tied to nearby destructible pillars.
#dnd tip from the archive: What groups operate in opposition to the characters' goals?
#dnd tip from the archive: Skim-read the next part in your published adventure shortly before you run it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Highlight and take notes in your published books. A mass-produced book just became a unique one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a moment to check in with players to make sure everyone's enjoying what's going on and has an avenue to give you feedback.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to reiterate your safety tools mid-adventure or mid-campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players know if the theme of your campaign is going to shift. Ensure they're still into it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every NPC has a name and a title.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give monsters extra attacks or take them away to help balance an imbalanced economy of actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Flavor each room or chamber to reinforce the theme of the adventure or campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward characters who takes risks and move the story forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each character a chance to shine both mechanically and in their story each session.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's easy to get excited with an NPC you love. Don't overblow your monolog.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure characters have meaningful choices in each scene you run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure roleplaying scenes give characters useful information.
#dnd tip from the archive: Who hasn't gotten a magic item recently? Add one they're sure to love.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin monsters into creatures unique for your setting and adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare for your big surprise to get blown early. How does your campaign keep moving forward even if the characters know the answer?
#dnd tip from the archive: What NPC are you most excited to roleplay next session?
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin monster stat blocks into your own twisted horrors.
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for more episodic sessions when you know players can't make it from session to session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal secrets before the players figure them out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan and prepare scenes you can't wait to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move the features of dungeon chambers to the rooms you want them to be in as you play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down one to three interesting features for each chamber in a dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's easy for people to talk over one another when playing online. Interrupt the interrupter and pass it to the original talker, then back to the interrupter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a session zero conversation about lag, conversational interruptions, and how you'll deal with it for online games.
#dnd tip from the archive: During scenes of rest, ask the characters how they feel about the current situation and what it makes them think about from their past.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to give out vorpal swords. Let them run with scissors.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give knives, just don't take them. Give your characters campaign-breaking items, alliances, and powers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Strip down your NPCs to those your players can remember.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of sub-systems focus on ability checks, roleplaying, and your facilitation of events.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make a checklist of the things you need to run your game. Check it before the game begins.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use adhesive book tabs to mark monsters in your monster books and make them easily accessible during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Few tools are as usable and flexible as the humble index card.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use "pause for a minute" as a verbal queue to break character and address situations as players outside of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Maps or terrain need not just be for combat. Give the players a cool view of the room in which their characters engage in crucial conversations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal the world and situation through the backgrounds, skills, and proficiencies of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to end a game early if the timing is right and the situation works better at the beginning of the next game instead of the end of this one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players early warning to think about their "one year later" montage at the end of a campaign. Should they survive, where might they see their characters one year after the events of the campaign?
#dnd tip from the archive: Important enemies might not die on the final blow. Let them offer one last bit of NPC interaction before they expire.
#dnd tip from the archive: Read published adventures. Take the parts you like and reshape them into what you want to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down the targets of past foreshadowing so you remember to bring them back into the story later.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't steal the characters' final blow against a big villain by giving it to an NPC or some other external event.
#dnd tip from the archive: "Pause for a minute" to make sure the players are all good with the characters finishing off a villain.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify the choices the characters currently face.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add interesting phases to big battles. What new thing happens each round, good or bad?
#dnd tip from the archive: Add one or two interesting environmental features to big battle arenas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters interesting options, even at the very end of a campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't spend a lot of time with monsters attacking monsters. Go with the narrative and put the spotlight back on the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give bosses legendary resistances but clearly delineate them as legendary so players don't waste save or suck spells on them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Follow Level Up Advanced 5e's idea and tie legendary resistances to in-world features like glyphs on a sword or ioun stones floating around one's head.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie spells from third party products to scrolls and magic items to gently introduce new features the players haven't seen before.
#dnd tip from the archive: Modify and customize published adventures based on the characters the players bring to the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add in fun NPCs and villains into published adventures and campaigns to make them your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of the players and characters in front of you during your prep and during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players for pictures of their characters so all of you have visuals in mind.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think of a published campaign as one arc in a bigger story you're going to put together as the game moves forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Limit character creation source material to steer each campaign in an interesting direction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bring interesting third party material into your games. There's a world of fantastic options for our D&D game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review a checklist of what you need to run a great game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce lots of NPCs. Narrow down to the ones the players enjoy the most.
#dnd tip from the archive: What are the three most interesting features of the city your characters visit?
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players to describe the interesting features of their headquarters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce NPCs the characters know from their backgrounds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie NPCs to faces. Show pictures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print NPC face cards four to a page. Cut them out and keep them in front of the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: What characteristics make your next NPC unique? What interests your players?
#dnd tip from the archive: Adding an extra attack can dramatically and easily boost a monster's threat.
#dnd tip from the archive: In each session give each character a chance to shine both mechanically and in the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's happening in the background while the characters go about their business?
#dnd tip from the archive: What forgotten tunnels, sewers, chambers, ruins, and caverns lie beneath your city?
#dnd tip from the archive: Embrace the quantum ogre. Let the world shift in interesting ways as the characters choose their path.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give boss monsters movement that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks and some extra attacks of their own to make up for the big crosshair on their back.
#dnd tip from the archive: Balance a large number of characters with a large number of monsters, but expect the battle to go long.
#dnd tip from the archive: Share observations from the point of view of the characters. What do they see, hear, and know?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters the opportunity to discover traps. Discovered traps are far more rewarding than sprung traps.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add traps that make sense for the location, not just ones that "challenge" the characters. Walking right through a bunch of low-level traps is a fun way to enjoy a higher-level character.
#dnd tip from the archive: The MCDM minion rules are an easy way to run dozens of monsters. Give creatures a trait that, when successfully hit with an attack or failing a saving throw, they die. It's a fast way to get lots of monsters on and off the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players meaningful choices when exploring a dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Address the characters of quiet players.
#dnd tip from the archive: What ten secrets and clues might the characters uncover in your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your game around the plotlines you enjoy the most.
#dnd tip from the archive: Embrace third party material. Expand your selection of campaigns, adventures, monsters, and character options.
#dnd tip from the archive: What can the characters learn about the activities of the villains behind the scenes?
#dnd tip from the archive: Write and email short flash fiction between games to keep players engaged.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce villains early and often.
#dnd tip from the archive: Foreshadow villains with annoying heralds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't be afraid to let players know when they've crossed a line you don't want crossed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Extra attacks dramatically increase a monster's threat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters turn prisoners into turncoats, informants, employees, or good citizens who turn over a new leaf.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players what they look forward to in future sessions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players know what story events lead to new levels.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters a home base they can evolve and upgrade as their campaign continues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players an easy way to travel back to their home base, even from afar. Shadow-roads, elven gateways, ancient portals, glyphed stones of returning.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify what sources you allow for character creation and clarify how to keep track of this in tools like D&D Beyond.
#dnd tip from the archive: Embrace third party material.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary of a reliance on digital tools. They don't last the hundreds of years a book does.
#dnd tip from the archive: What scene excites you to run in your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to describe their new character abilities to you and the other players whenever they level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Note what character abilities excite your players. Build encounters to show them off.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let fantastic art Inspire NPCs, villains, locations, and whole campaigns.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change campaigns with your own fantastic ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep and drive campaigns with the goals and quests of your villains.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give mini-bossess double HP and maybe an extra attack to set them apart from the rabble.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep with handouts. Pack them with important names, places, and plots.
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan roughly one scene for every 45 minutes of game time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Recap previous sessions - either provided by you or your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about the beat and pacing you want to end with in your session and how you might get there.
#dnd tip from the archive: Break up long travel with interesting encounters and locations along the way
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the time to design your big knock-down drag-out set piece battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Develop your comfort in improvising smaller situational combat encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a library of re-usable encounter maps for improvised battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build battles that let players show off their cool abilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players what combat abilities they want to use. Give them situations to use them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have players describe the new capabilities of their characters when they level up. Note it in your character notes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players meaningful choices as often as possible.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print out art and hand it out during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use third party campaign worlds as a hub for lots of third party content. Build an entirely new flavor of D&D around it.
#dnd tip from the archive: End on a cliffhanger and your strong start is built in.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players what types of magic items they'd like for their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down notes right after a session before you forget them all.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill travel with interesting situations with choices to make and lore to discover.
#dnd tip from the archive: Watch carefully for players having a poor time from bad luck. Find ways to give them an upward beat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe in the lore of your world, whether your own or published.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down page numbers in your notes for quick referencing at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer tactical suggestions for hard battles. The characters know more than the players. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple paths with clear choices during travel.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build two-stage bosses that turn into their final form after their first defeat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add environmental features that weaken bosses. Destroy the four unholy glyphs to remove the boss's advantage on all attacks and saving throws.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward lots of healing potions for groups with limited healing spells.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify the lack of urgency when traveling so players can go off the trail sometimes and enjoy the sites.
#dnd tip from the archive: Every few sessions ask your players what they're enjoying about the campaign and what they want to see more of. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Every few sessions run a "campfire tales" scene in which the players describe what their characters think of the current situation, their hopes for the future, and what it reminds them of from their past.
#dnd tip from the archive: Combine multiple random encounters together to build something rich and unique.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep interesting and unique magic items for each of the characters. Reward them when the time and situation is right.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build scenes from interesting set pieces, creatures, and situations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer a couple of meaningful choices for paths of overland travel.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use monuments as the backdrop for a scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make random encounters meaningful with interesting lore and the revelation of secrets and clues.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe fantastic features of a city and the locations of most likely interest to the characters and their players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie monuments to the history and theology of your campaign world so the players can learn about it a piece at a time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build motivations for the characters to enter the room in combat to avoid the dreaded doorway fight. Flaming walls, hordes of skeletons, necrotic gas. Whatever works.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build encounters from the story first and challenge rating second.
#dnd tip from the archive: Paint your adventures and locations in short descriptions of lore, history, and setting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Double-check spell descriptions. If it feels too good to be true, it probably is.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie third-party spells to single-use magic items. If the spell is broken, it only works once.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let tag-along NPCs handle their part of a battle off-screen. Keep the focus on the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters secret paths and side quests during travel sequences.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build fantastic locations from random tables and your own imagination fueled by fantastic fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use monuments, items, and locations to tell small pieces of the history of the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print or screenshot pictures of NPCs or monsters to hand out during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Look for opportunities for roleplaying and discovery even in the thick of a battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pull on the characters’ backgrounds during NPC roleplaying. How do the NPCs act based on the characters’ history?
#dnd tip from the archive: Note new character features, magic items, and wish lists in your character notes. Review before every session. 
#dnd tip from the archive: End on a cliffhanger. Give yourself a strong start next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep scenes with fantastic locations, interesting NPCs, potential secrets to unravel, and a situation to unravel. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Expose history and narrative in small bites over the course of an adventure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don’t take away magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of potential magic items that fit the characters. Award them when it fits the situation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make each magic item unique with a history and, if it makes sense, a once per day spell effect. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Be wary putting the characters up against undefeatable foes. It’s a downward beat before it even begins. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Dot your maps with small lairs and old ruins to explore as sidequests. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw simple pointcrawl maps by hand. Be a kid again!
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave blanks in your story and setting. Fill them in as the campaign moves forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't get too wrapped in the zeitgeist of D&D. Focus on what helps you and your friends enjoy the game around the table. 
#dnd tip from the archive: It's easy to get overwhelmed with how awesome this game is. Remember it's just a game and focus on what will make it fun at your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build overland travel like a dungeon with paths and locations instead of hallways and chambers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Increase the detail of a location only when you know the characters are going there.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add interesting side locations to your overland travel. Fill them with interesting lore and treasure to discover.
#dnd tip from the archive: Playing D&D one-on-one is a fantastic way to focus the campaign around a single character and much easier to schedule. Give it a try.
#dnd tip from the archive: What choices can the characters make in each scene in your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: What lore can the character learn about in your next dungeon crawl?
#dnd tip from the archive: What's the history of that new magic item the characters picked up?
#dnd tip from the archive: Who inhabited this lair before the characters showed up? Who before that?
#dnd tip from the archive: What non-hostile NPC frequents this dark lair?
#dnd tip from the archive: Why are the monsters here? What do they do when they're not busy eating characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: What traps did this dungeon's occupants set up? Who else ran into them?
#dnd tip from the archive: Remind players to take careful note of the equipment they buy when they're in town, not when they're already deep in a dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build digital tokens quickly and easily, even in the middle of a session, with Token Stamp (google it!).
#dnd tip from the archive: What horror did the characters unknowingly release when defeating their last foe or accomplishing their last mission?
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the first scene of your next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Creating anything faces resistance, including running D&D games. Focus on your process and think about enjoying your time with your friends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Email your players a day or two before your game to remind them of the game to come.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep players engaged by emailing short flash fiction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write a secret and clue built around each character. What bit of lore ties each character into the next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters find interesting ways to avoid combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make every magic item unique. Each one is a vehicle for a secret, clue, or piece of lore.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't forget about those tag-along NPCs!
#dnd tip from the archive: Kick yourself out of a creative rut with random tables.
#dnd tip from the archive: Sharpen your tools and clean your toolbox. What works for your game and what can you discard?
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about what ties your characters into the world, not what you think they'll do in the next session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Revel in the joy of playing a game with your friends and family. It's a rare and wonderful thing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of building a combat encounter, think about what the enemies what and what the characters might learn from them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Push well-rested characters with waves of combatants.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give players options for magic items. A strand of the witch queen's hair might weave a ring of fire resistance, a suit of resistant armor, or a flametongue blade.
#dnd tip from the archive: Develop battles you know are going to happen and prepare to improvise those that *may* happen.
#dnd tip from the archive: What fantastic feature defines the town or city the characters visit?
#dnd tip from the archive: What locations in a town are most likely to interest the characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up musical playlists based on relaxing scenes, sinister and suspenseful scenes, and action-packed combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't forget what makes this game great -- spending time with our friends and family creating awesome stories together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend extra prep time on the characters; their gear, their hooks in the campaign, and the secrets they haven't yet discovered.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a set of generic tokens (either physical or for online VTTs) handy for improvised combat scenes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Common D&D tropes become unique and fantastic with the lore we wrap around them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe in the lore of big world sourcebooks. Take the ideas you love and drop them into your own campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize your campaigns with a focus on particular character options.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build maps with loopbacks, secret hallways, shortcuts, asymmetry, and changes in elevation.
#dnd tip from the archive: Get characters moving around the battlefield. Give them advantageous positions or dangerous zones to get out of.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build in ways to ensure your characters get the hell out of the doorway. Pull them with treasure. Push them with fire.
#dnd tip from the archive: Intelligent magic items are the NPCs that keep on giving.
#dnd tip from the archive: It's easy to get swept up in the big parts of this hobby. Focus on the characters, your starting scene, cool NPCs, fun locations, and a hook to drive things forward.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus extra attention on character-focused secrets, locations, NPCs, and items. Put the characters in the center of the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make quick boss versions of monsters by doubling their hit points and giving them more attacks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try other RPGs. 
#dnd tip from the archive: D&D belongs to you. You decide what to run and how you want to run it. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Customize the theme of your campaign with third party supplements. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give maps deep vertical shafts connecting to the unknown.
#dnd tip from the archive: Who are the three big movers in your campaign and what are they doing right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Prepare your ingredients. Cook at the table. 
#dnd tip from the archive: How would the dungeon inhabitants behave if the characters weren't there?
#dnd tip from the archive: When intending to run some downtime scenes in your game, identify potential downtime activities for each character during your prep.
#dnd tip from the archive: What celebrations might occur around the town the characters visit?
#dnd tip from the archive: In Theater of the Mind combat, identify which creatures are next to who and describe it between each turn.
#dnd tip from the archive: What areas in town are the characters likely to want to visit?
#dnd tip from the archive: Build interesting encounters with fantastic locations, interesting NPCs, and scary monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll up a few random magic items during prep. Pick those that make sense to reward during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Try other RPGs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Occasionally run big multi-wave battles where the characters defend a ruined keep or fortified town or some defensible position.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add a starving vampire trapped in an oubliette and see how the characters respond.
#dnd tip from the archive: Bathe monuments in interesting lore, religions, and histories of the region.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players what character options they're excited to use.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let any player (and yourself) use "pause for a minute" to break character and clarify things as players around the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down page numbers in your prep notes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a mixture of theater of the mind, abstract combat, and big tactical encounters. Don't limit yourself to just one style of combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: When running a heist-style adventure: clarify the goal, give them useful information through recon, understand the typical behavior of the inhabitants, be ready for a complication.
#dnd tip from the archive: When playing online, call on individual players instead of asking the whole group.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know which decisions require a unanimous decision and which can be made by the majority.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show pictures of NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have friendly NPCs help the characters off-screen instead of becoming tag-along NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Act how the NPCs would act.
#dnd tip from the archive: Underground sewers and caves are a great way to infiltrate a fortified castle or keep.
#dnd tip from the archive: Develop locations, fill them with inhabitants, give the characters a goal or two, and enjoy how the game unfolds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters of missing players handle secondary activities off-screen. Maybe they’re keeping the get-away clear or maybe they’re transferring useful information from a high tower.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build encounters from what makes sense in the story. Worry about difficulty only if you may inadvertently kill all the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Guards are guards whatever level the characters are. Just because the characters are 7th level doesn’t mean all the guards turned into veterans.
#dnd tip from the archive: Your 5e game is your own. There’s nothing “official” and nothing “third party”. Use any 5e material you want to make your game awesome.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a backup plan if your favorite digital tools fall apart or start to suck. Relying on only one platform puts your joy of the hobby at risk.
#dnd tip from the archive: Enemies don’t always act optimally. They can be as confused as the characters are.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the players options at the end of a session so you can focus your prep on their decision.
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan for one scene for every 45 minutes of gameplay.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give your players time to plan and prepare for large scale attacks against defensible positions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build combat encounters that show off what the characters can do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pool damage done to large numbers of enemies. Remove one every time the pool takes enough damage to kill one of them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Minions often flee when their boss is killed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steer the game towards the decisions and actions of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: For each scene you plan, write down a few things your specific characters might do in the scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show the results of the characters' actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Not all dark magic items are cursed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters take a specific part in a larger war or military campaign.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shake up stereotypes. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Run phased battles. Lots of minions followed by some big bruisers followed by a boss.
#dnd tip from the archive: Share art, either printed or shared online.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never forget. The number one goal of an RPG is to get together and share some laughs and tales of high adventure with your friends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Your friends love you. You're game will be great.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stack multiple encounters together. Mix in roleplaying and exploration.
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters often aren't tactical masterminds. Play them dumb.
#dnd tip from the archive: Provoke opportunity attacks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep tools on hand to improvise monster statistics at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a handful of basic monster powers you can drop in when you need them.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's the coolest part of the next session you're going to run?
#dnd tip from the archive: Print or share overland maps, NPC art, and captured letters as handouts to your players. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build monsters on the fly with the Forge of Foes quick monster builder!
#dnd tip from the archive: Embrace 5e adventures, character supplements, and monster books from many publishers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand how the species and backgrounds of the characters tie them to the world. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters get away with shenanigans. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Add monsters intended to be crowd controlled. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Put big decisions towards the end of the game so you know where things are heading next. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Always consider what the characters can do in any given scene. 
#dnd tip from the archive: End just before a big battle and you have a strong and meaty start to your next game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for four players at your game. It's the ideal mix of character synergy and focus.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build fantastic locations. You have an unlimited special effects budget. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of rolling monster initiative, just give them a static score of 12.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask your players to take notes. Refer to their notes during your recap. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down one cool character-focused event for each character in your next session. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players for a loose wishlist of magic items every few levels. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give magic items a unique name and history. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What is the history of your fantastic location? What happened here before?
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer choices. Ensure the characters have something to do. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Leave mysteries unanswered. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Spotlight character traits and backgrounds through the eyes and actions of the NPCs. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters manipulate magical monuments in combat recklessly as a bonus action, potentially suffering damage on a failed attempt.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give as clear description of the situation that you can. Avoid gotchas.
#dnd tip from the archive: See the world, NPCs, locations, situations, and items through the eyes of the characters. What do *they* see?
#dnd tip from the archive: Let NPCs recognize characters and their reputations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Describe points of interest likely to interest the characters and their specific backgrounds and interests.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build puzzles or riddles that show off a characters' skills and approaches.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random tables to fuel your prep. Build your ideas off of the results.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't forget the simplicity of this hobby. It's friends around a table rolling dice and having some laughs. Don't let the game psyche you out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about secrets from the points of view of the characters. Which of them are most likely to reveal the secret?
#dnd tip from the archive: Grab what the players bring to the table and run with it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a handful of your favorite monster stat blocks handy. Use them liberally.
#dnd tip from the archive: Scenes are built from fantastic features, interesting NPCs, cool monsters, intriguing secrets, and eye-opening treasure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll randomly for treasure during prep but select items you know the players are interested in.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up situations. Let the players choose their approach.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters a chance to plan a strategy for a big complex combat encounter. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters the option to skip random encounters. Let the monsters wander right by.
#dnd tip from the archive: Lean in on the characters' coolabilities. Put in monsters intended to take in those powerful abilities. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up treasure with random rolls and items selected for the characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What are your three villains doing right now?
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on your next session. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't forget how simple this game is. Don't let the vastness of possibility overwhelm you. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters something to do in every scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players name interesting NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use third-party spells as features of magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple paths when traveling overland.
#dnd tip from the archive: Provide a graceful way to flee from combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use narrative ability checks when fleeing or chasing enemies.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include interesting non-combatant NPCs in dungeons or hostile regions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce lasting, non-mechanical flaws for failed stress checks—ink-bleeding eyes, odd limps, etc.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show what came before — slain creatures, broken weapons, warning signs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters reasons to get out of the doorway and into the room.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reward high perception checks by giving the characters the jump on hidden enemies.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use ambivalent undead as secret-revealing NPCs in the darkest dungeons.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players discover secret passages to the boss's main sanctum.
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up situations to give characters a chance to catch sentries off-guard.
#dnd tip from the archive: Monsters don't always behave optimally. Chaos affects both sides.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run waves of monsters in big boss fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Run some super-hard battles and let the characters get away with lots of shenanigans. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters (and players) get a glimpse of the environment in which they're going to engage in a big boss battle.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep track of what magic items the characters have. Know who's due for another one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give the characters their opportunity to shine when they've prepared something really fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think through the eyes of your villains. There's a time to fight and a time to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer options with different gameplay styles. Let the players choose between combat, exploration, and roleplaying.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the players see the world through the trained eyes of their characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Get your player's permission before revealing earthshaking secrets about their character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pay attention to which characters haven't gotten a good magic item in a while.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print individual rooms of a big dungeon. Piece them together like a puzzle during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print pictures of monsters and NPCs. Pass them around during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer to run scenes offline for players who miss a session.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix factions in a single location.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix random and hand-selected magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print rooms of a big dungeon on single sheets of paper. Show each one as discovered.
#dnd tip from the archive: Check in player when dorking with their backstory. Make sure they're cool with your ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a big dinner or pot luck with your group an hour before the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Celebrate player birthdays.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add interactive objects into big combat encounters. Have improvisational tools for the effects.
#dnd tip from the archive: When going into a dungeon, ask about lighting and positioning. Remind them of the limitations of darkvision (disadvantage on perception checks, -5 on passive Perception).
#dnd tip from the archive: Find music that inspires your game – both during prep and play. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer chances for villainous redemption. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple paths for long-distance travel. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep quick build monster stats on hand. Whip up a simple stat block when you cant be bothered to look up a monster in a book. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give custom monsters one or two notable abilities based on their fiction. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give every magic item a name and a cool ability. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Spells are encapsulated mechanics you can tie to monsters or magic items. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a mix of theater of the mind, drawn maps, printed maps, and 3d terrain for various types of combat. Don't force any one approach all the time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the tools on hand to help you improvise during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask yourself how you can hook each character into the next session. What's in it for them specifically?
#dnd tip from the archive: Run homebrew adventures in published campaign settings – get the best of both worlds.
#dnd tip from the archive: Borrow liberally from published material. Take what works for your game. Dump the rest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Modify published adventures to fit what you and your friends enjoy at the table.
#dnd tip from the archive: "That's what the adventure says" is as bad as "that's what my character would do".
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up battles against lots of monsters, a handful of monsters, and solo monsters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Begin your prep by asking how you'll hook each character into the next session's adventure. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Lean in on the humor that happens at the table. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim towards what brings the most excitement and fun at the table. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up simple and complex battles. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Include interesting NPCs even in the darkest dungeons. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build battles to showcase character abilities. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce cities from the desire of the characters outwards. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal city locations characters are
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus cities on one neighborhood at a time. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What three notable features make your city unique?
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters something to do while exploring a city. Seeing it isn't enough. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters one to three NPCs to help them understand the city around them. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Spend the time to read up on the cities you plan to run. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up exploration, roleplaying, and combat encounters. Don't run too much of one series in a row.
#dnd tip from the archive: Strange healing pools are an easy upward beat in a dangerous dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up strange magic items and those that directly benefit a character's mechanics in your treasure hoards.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stick to one or two monster books at a time. Drawing monsters from too many sources can complicate your prep.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print or screen-shot artwork and show it off during your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Treat single "gotcha" monsters as traps. A wraith hidden in an altar or a black pudding lurking in the bottom of a garderobe are fun traps but not big combat encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Paint dungeons with murals, statues, mosaics, and frescoes of their history.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a players showing up for just one session? Give them an interesting NPC to play.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show the characters what happens based on their earlier choices. They avoided hulking tomb guardians who ended up turning the other tomb raiders into mashed potatoes.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep things simple. Add complications during the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill secrets and clues with one-sentense pieces of lore from your game's world.
#dnd tip from the archive: 9 out of 10 traps should be detected.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid "gotchas". Describe to players the things their characters would definitely notice. Let players roll back if they didn't understand the first time.
#dnd tip from the archive: Wrap magic items in the lore of your world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clearly describe when characters face a foe too powerful to defeat. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters the option of engaging in wandering encounters or not. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Plan one scene for roughly every 45 minutes of session time
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep locations, NPCs, villains, and goals. Let players choose paths and approaches. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix easy combat, hard combat, exploration, and roleplaying scenes. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players choose from three paths forward at the end of a session. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw connections between character backgrounds and the story in front of them. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Even in sessions of heavy roleplaying and narration – make sure there's something for the characters to DO. Focus on opportunities for decisions and actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Introduce cities by the locations you think specific characters would be interested in visiting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Gangsters like hanging out in bath houses.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus less on the intentions for a scene such as one focusing on combat, roleplaying, or exploration. Set up the situation and see how it plays out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on one monster book at a time. Pick out cool monsters befitting your next session's situations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write down random NPC names as soon as they're spoken. Keep track of them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to take notes and draw maps.
#dnd tip from the archive: Wrap typical locations and settings in the lore and pantheons of your world.
#dnd tip from the archive: How are you going to get the characters out of that stupid doorway?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use published maps as inspiration for your own designs or story ideas.
#dnd tip from the archive: Game cancelled? Take the extra time to flesh out what you had planned.
#dnd tip from the archive: Review and refresh your notes as close to game-time as you can.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pantheons are a fantastic wrapper for otherwise mundane locations. It's not just a crypt. It's a crypt in worship of Anu-Akma!
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't expect the characters to choose a given path. Be ready to go with whatever choice the characters make.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reskin published NPCs as character relations – relatives, former lovers, former enemies, lost legends, and so on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple meaningful paths and options in most situations.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use swarms of undead or necrotic mists to push characters through doorways.
#dnd tip from the archive: Drop monuments into combat encounters, let the characters manipulate them to shift the environment.
#dnd tip from the archive: Quick sketches of maps on a dry-erase map work well for dungeon crawls in in-person play. Print out bigger detailed chambers as needed.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print or post pictures of monsters, NPCs, scenes, and villains. Show them to your players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Share information freely. Tell the players what their characters would know.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix in opportunities for roleplaying right into combat. Talk while you fight!
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep a list of all those proper names you've been throwing out.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about what the monuments in your big set-piece battles do.
#dnd tip from the archive: Help the players make big choices at the end of a session so you know where things are going to go in the next one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Move things forward by summarizing the remaining exploration of a completed dungeon.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tell players when they've fully explored a location.
#dnd tip from the archive: Designate a note taker and treasure keeper.
#dnd tip from the archive: Make NPC names distinct from one another. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Select a handful of solid NPC names during prep. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give dungeons multiple potential entrances.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Warn players when their characters should group back up after splitting up. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Switch regularly between two or more split up groups of characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer options in situations that fit the pillars of combat, exploration, or roleplaying. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't overuse that one well-loved NPC. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider what you really need for your very next session. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Everyone feels nervous before running a game. Remember your friends love you and just want to have a good time. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Secrets are the rewards of exploration. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build boss battles around waves of combatants.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give wizards big groups of low hit point monsters to fireball.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters who love to crowd control big weak-willed monsters to banish, polymorph, or hypnotize.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give heavy-hitters big low-AC monsters they can tank and cut down.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to describe old memories in impactful situations. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer opportunities for characters to set up businesses, trade routes, and other establishments that operate while they're off adventuring. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Aim for four to six players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Consider what choices you offer in any given scene. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about what pitfalls a given scene might have. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll up treasure during prep. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Mash together mysteries, dungeon crawls, and big battles with waves of opponents into one big adventure. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Warn your players before running downtime scenes so they can prep their activities. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Warn players of the dangers their characters face. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What choices can the characters make in any given scene?
#dnd tip from the archive: What are the common pitfalls for particular scenes you plan to run? How do you avoid them?
#dnd tip from the archive: What process do you have for buying or crafting magic items?
#dnd tip from the archive: Think one adventure out so you can seed your next session in your current one. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Review old NPCs to see who you can reintroduce into the story. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What choices can the characters make in each scene you prepare?
#dnd tip from the archive: Double-check those NPC names to make sure they're not silly. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build environments with fun z-axis features. Build with height, not just length and width. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus your prep on the characters outwards. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Add upward beats when all seems grim. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Are your players enjoying the theme of your campaign? If not, change it up or move to something new. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up situations instead of combat encounters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build big scenes involving combat, exploration, and roleplaying all mashed together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Think about your dungeons in three dimensions. What's above and what's below?
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw in lots of extra monsters and let your characters get away with all sorts of shenanigans.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players hurl bad guys off of cliffs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Provoke opportunity attacks.
#dnd tip from the archive: Are your characters particularly powerful? Throw more monsters at them.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid stereotypical intelligent creatures. Derro aren't "crazy", they see multiple worlds simultaneously!
#dnd tip from the archive: Ensure there's a choice and multiple outcomes in every scene.
#dnd tip from the archive: Strong starts need not be combat but they should draw the characters (and the players) into the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: What's your minimum viable set of tools and prep to run a great game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Discard NPCs that don't resonate with the players.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters' exploits follow ahead of them as they meet new NPCs.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give gods "masks"; alternative personas they wear while engaging in the world of mortals.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each monster you run an interesting flavorful move or power that defines them in the world.
#dnd tip from the archive: Note the characters' resistances. Attack them with those resistances. 
#dnd tip from the archive: The higher the characters go, the more monsters you'll want to throw their way. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Single monsters typically can't stand up to a group of characters above 6th level.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters several meaningful paths through a location. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Note the story and game effects of notable features in big combat arenas. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build vertical combat arenas. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each magic item a story and unique property or effect.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the characters at the center of your prep. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What hooks do you have for each character in your next session?
#dnd tip from the archive: Cut the boring middle. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use spells as interesting rewards on single or daily use magic items. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw and show the layout of the location for a heist-style adventure. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Design magic items around the characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let monsters get crowd controlled. Have enough that it doesn't completely remove the threat. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Tell players when they may accidentally trigger multiple groups of monsters.  
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up a whole location with small groups of monsters who move around and may or may not become aware of the characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: The dungeon crawl and the heist are two common adventure models. Know how they work and build around their strengths. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Embrace shenanigans!
#dnd tip from the archive: Throw mixtures of low and high CR monsters at your characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use more monsters and let them get thrown off pits and ledges or banished to the forbidden zone. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use random generators to spark your creativity. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix easy battles, hard battles, interesting conversations, and exploration throughout your adventures.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let mid-bosses be destroyed by good player tactics, surprises, and good luck. You can always whip up another boss.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use non-core and lesser known spells as powers for single-use or once-per-day magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Shake up battles. Include big single or duo monsters sometimes, huge hordes another time, one-on-one wolfpacks another time. Run easy fights, hard fights, and multiple waves of combatants.
#dnd tip from the archive: Pathfinder flip mats offer great table-usable and re-usable locations you can use for years. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Cull your tools. Keep those that help you run awesome games and get rid of the rest.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal secrets anywhere — carved into old dead trees, whispered among tavern patrons, or shouted out from villains as you engage them in combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Change up the themes and feeling of your adventure arc by focusing exclusively on a new monster book.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep in the space where you’re going to run your game. Visualize what it’ll be like to play. Fill in the gaps.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build three musical playlists to run during your game: Relaxing, sinister, and battle music.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about the larger D&D and RPG zeitgeist. What do you want and need to have a great time playing games with your friends?
#dnd tip from the archive: Run small experiments.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players what mechanics they’re eager to see play out in the game. Build encounters to show them off.
#dnd tip from the archive: Great table aids: blue sticky tack, index cards, adhesive re-usable bookmarks, generic tokens, Pathfinder flip mat, dry-erase markers, big flat acrylic sheet.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the 13th Age “escape” rule. The group can run from combat, avoiding further attacks and collecting downed allies but at the cost of a significant shift in the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let enemies retreat when you think it makes sense to them to do so.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use the simplest tools you need to help you run your game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Take a deep breath. Your friends love you and want to have a great time. You’re all on the same side sharing an awesome story together.
#dnd tip from the archive: Worry less about the TTRPG industry news and the larger zeitgeist and focus on running an awesome game for your friends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Spill too many secrets.
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify out of game what the characters learned in-game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give bosses strong protections and include easily disrupted lackeys. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie the history of magic items to the story, the wielder, and the character who may acquire it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build interesting environmental effects into boss fights.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have a good handle on the mechanics of unique combat monuments like godly statues protecting boss monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Damage is the strongest dial in combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Note the many types of combat: big boss battles, set-piece battles, small skirmishes, conversations-gone-wrong. Know how best to run them and what tools you need to do so.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters a single-use nuclear bomb. See what they do with it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Only have a few minutes to prep? Plan a strong start and write ten secrets the characters might discover in the game. Add in anything else you really need such as locations, monsters, treasure.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need a map in a hurry? Grab one from Dyson Logos!
#dnd tip from the archive: Rely on random treasure generators to inspire your rewards.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add a daily-use spell to typical magic items for a unique treasure your players will love.
#dnd tip from the archive: Narrow your campaign down to the big final scene as you get close to the end.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build monuments in battle like monsters. Choose their CR, AC / DC, hit points, and damage if needed. Successful skill checks apply damage equal to a portion of their HP such as 1/2 or 1/3.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose the components you want to build the D&D you want at the table. Only you and your players get to choose what you want to run.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give new characters the "Heroic Spark" and avoid the tiresome "who the hell is this guy" moment of their introduction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Understand and reinforce what motivates the characters to risk their lives in such dangerous places.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print maps and annotate with a pen. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Your prep notes are just for you. They don't have to be fancy or complete.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write notes to spark your memory and imagination not to publish.
#dnd tip from the archive: Choose monsters that make sense for the situation. Then check to see if that might inadvertently wipe the characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Know the play structure of various situations like dungeon delving or overland exploration. How do these situations play at the table?
#dnd tip from the archive: Print or share pictures of NPCs with names and titles. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw and share maps of cities, towns, and settlements noting important locations and landmarks. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Have encounters in your back pocket that go against the potential flow of the adventure. Combat encounters for mostly roleplay sessions. Upward beat NPC interactions in dungeons. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up larger "situations of situations" where characters can choose many locations or factions to follow or thwart. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Have locations of light in the darkest cities. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let the characters' reputation precede them. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer paths and clarify gameplay styles. Negotiate your way through city streets or fight monsters in the sewers. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't depend on digital tools for your happiness with your favorite RPG.
#dnd tip from the archive: Offer multiple paths. Prep enough to fill out whichever ones your players choose.
#dnd tip from the archive: Restate and reinforce the characters' goals often.
#dnd tip from the archive: When things get complicated in the story, add another complication.
#dnd tip from the archive: There's always another faction.
#dnd tip from the archive: Fill your mind with fantastic fiction – books, movies, TV shows, games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Layer history under the streets of your cities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Continually expand and contract the aperture of your lens to keep the focus on the fun parts of the game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Know the capabilities of the characters. Showcase their strengths.
#dnd tip from the archive: You're the architect of your game. The books and rules are tools you can use or discard to serve that game.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use paper character sheets.
#dnd tip from the archive: Buy physical books.
#dnd tip from the archive: Support independent publishers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't let your game depend on any digital tool.
#dnd tip from the archive: Mix up small improvised encounters with big set-piece battles.
#dnd tip from the archive: Don’t worry about saving time — focus on appropriate pacing.
#dnd tip from the archive: Steal ideas from movies, books, TV shows, and video games.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal information in the second person. What do the characters discover?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use initiative when characters split up. Keep the spotlight moving.
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid linear maps. Give players meaningful options. Steer them towards the fun.
#dnd tip from the archive: Never forget — your goal is to have a great time laughing and sharing stories with your friends.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep things simple. Focus on prepping a fun session for your friends. 
#dnd tip from the archive: We each get to decide what D&D is to us. Don't be afraid to make it your own.
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus characters around factions for deadlier games so character motivations continue even when characters die. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Don't let others determine your happiness with your games. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Boil your next game to its minimum and build up from there. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask questions. Write down answers. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Read your sourcebooks. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Build complex combat encounters with two or three complementary monster types.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use simple stat blocks for lieutenants of more complicated boss monsters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use environmental effects that either side can turn to their advantage. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Focus on the flavor of spells more than their mechanics.
#dnd tip from the archive: When your players come up with something awesome, lean into it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Print maps, write simple descriptions.
#dnd tip from the archive: What would be going on at this location if the characters weren't around?
#dnd tip from the archive: Find ways to get the characters into the room. Hallway fights are boring.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build a series of rooms together as one big multi-dimensional encounter.
#dnd tip from the archive: Use GM rule and sourcebooks from many different 5e publishers.
#dnd tip from the archive: The Trials and Treasure book from Level Up Advanced 5e is a fantastic drop-in replacement for the DMG.
#dnd tip from the archive: Give characters the chance to craft interesting magic items.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build environments that showcase character abilities.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your own game from your favorite components behind the GM screen.
#dnd tip from the archive: Write out a loose outline of scenes even if you know they could go off track.
#dnd tip from the archive: Prep NPCs with appearance, mannerisms, and motivations. What do they want? What would they be doing if the characters aren't around?
#dnd tip from the archive: Avoid chains of hard combat. Throw in easy fights, conversations, and elements of exploration.
#dnd tip from the archive: What can the characters learn in your next game?
#dnd tip from the archive: Use maps and minis for conversations. Use theater of the mind for combat.
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters knock bad guys into their own traps and make your players love you forever.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put choices and options in front of your players near the end of a session so you know what to prep next.
#dnd tip from the archive: Expect single monsters to be taken out with a single ability above 7th level. 
#dnd tip from the archive: What did this location used to be?
#dnd tip from the archive: The enemy of their enemy may be their friend.
#dnd tip from the archive: Be very careful taking agency away from a character.
#dnd tip from the archive: Go around the table for quick initiative during small battles. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use a d6 as an oracle die to determine things like guard patrols or other random events. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to discuss new abilities when they level up. Write them down.
#dnd tip from the archive: Keep the situation dynamic in big battles. Change up the tactics and environment. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Roleplay villains in combat. What do they say? How do they react to the characters?
#dnd tip from the archive: More monsters are a bigger threat than big monsters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Boss monsters almost always have allies. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Intelligent magic items are tag-along NPCs who don’t take up the spotlight. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Did a character die? Give their player an NPC to control. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Set up hard set piece battles with lots of monsters and then lean in on cool character ideas. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Pool damage in one tally for large groups of monsters. Each time it has enough damage to kill a monster, remove the last monster hit. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Roll once for several attacks or saves for large numbers of monsters. Choose a number of rolls and divide total damage by the number of rolls.
#dnd tip from the archive: For quick skirmishes, go around the table or alphabetically instead of rolling for initiative. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask players to describe new features to the group when they level up. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let characters build their own safe haven for resting even in the darkest dungeons. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Feeling overwhelmed? Boil your next session down to its most necessary elements: a strong start, a map, some monsters, and some discoveries. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Improvise monsters with core stats and an interesting feature or two.
#dnd tip from the archive: Watch out for the long monologue. Get to character decisions quickly. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Let players customize improvised home bases. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Make it clear when social chatter has stopped and the game begins. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Clarify the need for player consensus on in-world conflicts. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Use table tools and notebooks you love and connect you to the joy of the game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Have an easy way to take notes during the game. 
#dnd tip from the archive: A weird trans-dimensional home base is a great way to bring in irregular characters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Give each monster type one cool unique defining ability. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Draw quick maps to orient players during a dungeon crawl. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask one player to act as the cartographer. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask one player to manage initiative. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask one or more players to be the official note taker. Ask them to share their notes with the group. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Always include a friendly NPC the characters can talk to. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Run a mix of easy and challenging encounters. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Write your own map key on a printed map.
#dnd tip from the archive: For dungeons, focus on one or two word descriptions for each chamber. Save longer descriptions for complicated set-piece chambers.
#dnd tip from the archive: Build your own binder with your favorite reference pages in it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Stuck for an idea? Write down ten and pick the best one.
#dnd tip from the archive: Need inspiration? Take a walk and let your mind wander.
#dnd tip from the archive: Find a suite of tools for your prep that you love and you'll be drawn to use it.
#dnd tip from the archive: Put dialog-friendly NPCs in the deepest dungeons – talking statues, paintings, magic items, or ghosts. Everyone wants a friend!
#dnd tip from the archive: Name villains and sentient opponents. Make each one unique.
#dnd tip from the archive: Have players identify monsters with interesting physical characteristics.
#dnd tip from the archive: Add an interesting usable environmental object or effect into significant combat encounters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Tie clues, treasure, and MacGuffins to the backgrounds, knowledge, and history of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Reveal the world through the eyes of the characters.
#dnd tip from the archive: Ask each character what they think about from their past and their current larger goals during short or long rests.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show the characters the worldly results of their actions.
#dnd tip from the archive: Challenge high-level characters by attacking several vectors: AC, various saves, area attacks, advantageous terrain, flippable environmental effects, and so on.
#dnd tip from the archive: Benchmark encounters with the Lazy Encounter Benchmark: A battle may be deadly if the sum total of monster CRs is 1/4 the total of character levels; or half of character levels if they're 5th level or above. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Tweak the lazy encounter benchmark based on what you know of the characters. Really powerful? Pretend there is one additional character of the party's level.
#dnd tip from the archive: Warn players when they're going to enter a big long fight. Change the fight and keep up the story to keep long battles interesting.
#dnd tip from the archive: Include switchable terrain that works *against* the characters at first and *for* them later on. A unholy effigy gives evil creatures advantage but gives characters advantage when turned into a holy effigy.
#dnd tip from the archive: Level characters after significant accomplishments in the story.
#dnd tip from the archive: Damage is the biggest threat a monster offers that doesn't take agency away from the characters. Want a bigger threat? Do more damage.
#dnd tip from the archive: Show players the results in the world of the choices they made. 
#dnd tip from the archive: Show players how powerful their characters have become. 