Dungeons are the bread and butter of adventuring in D&D, and dungeon maps are one of the most exciting things for the players to explore and engage with. Since we already learned from the previous articles how to design world, region, and hub maps for our sandbox campaign, let's see how we could design and create dungeon maps and learn how to organize all of them for your next session.
So why is it important for us as DMs to have Hub Maps? Hub Maps are mainly used to organize your NPCs, stories, and plot hooks in one place that would lead to your quests or other locations. Hubs might also be an excellent avenue to add some side quest content for your players to invest more into the NPCs and add a layer of story for the quests connected to a hub.
While World Map is the most helpful tool for the DM to design their overarching sandbox campaign, Region Maps is one of the most valuable tools for the player to experience your story in your Sandbox Campaigns. Regional Maps entice the players to go to different plot hooks and be intrigued by what the region offers. For the DM, it's also a valuable tool for planning your quests and having a player progression that does not go out of hand with too many choices for your players but also provides the freedom to explore your sandbox campaign organically.
World Maps are essential for DMs to grasp the big picture and define the type of world in which your campaign is set. Even though it's the first step, and it's not the most crucial map type, but its creation leads to the most important map type creation - Region Maps. The reason is that the players will not use World Maps the most often, but a good World Map is a founding block for everything else.
Was it about a good year since AI took off as the next big thing? Even though it's remarkable technology, it's still a bit sketchy, raising important questions about regulations, intellectual property, and ethics, which are still being explored. However, until Skynet takes over, I'm here to delve into how we can enhance our Dungeons & Dragons sessions and generate some silly things!
There are numerous pitfalls to avoid when you start as a newbie Dungeon Master. This post will share a couple of ways a new DM can make their life way less complicated than it needs to be. I'm not a smart man, and I made most of these mistakes or witnessed them as a player. Now, let’s look at a couple of the crucial ones…
Holidays are almost around the corner! And it's time to start looking for a perfect Dungeons and Dragons gift. Well, if you already know that your special person loves Dungeons and Dragons or wants to try it out, it's a job half done. And this Ultimate guide is the second part of the job - to tailor the perfect gift from a wide array of Dungeons and Dragons gifts available for this Christmas holidays.
Not so long ago, I wrote an article about which Note/Worldbuilding app DM's should use for their games. And the thing was, I didn't hear about LegendKeeper at that time, but afterward, after getting a couple of recommendations, I tried it. Previously, I said it's not worth migrating your notes into a new app if it's not good enough since it takes a lot of time. And boy, oh boy, my notes are flying off into LegendKeeper for a good week now, and they will not stop.
So what made me change when it comes to LegendKeeper instead of Evernote? Well, let's find out.
Zombies are one of the most iconic monstrous creatures not only in D&D and fantasy. And over the years of their existence, we saw different variations of zombies in movies and TV. However, today we will be looking at the D&D depiction of zombies and how to use them in our encounters.
Character flaws are among the most crucial story tools for any character, whether it's the Player or DM playing the character. Character flaws let us create more conflict in our games, but flaws make a path for a character to overcome them in the long run, creating memorable stories.
I love playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends next to a table with some terrain props, snacking, and laughing next to other people at the table. I always thought it's the best way to do it. But besides, organizing logistical aspects of your game is not the only hardship for playing D&D in these times.
And it's pretty hard to play one of the most social games when the social distancing is settling in our daily routine. But there are other alternatives, that to be honest, are not that bad. They are pretty great and offer new opportunities for your tabletop games, and today let us talk about that.
For every Dungeon Master out there, note structure is one of the most challenging aspects to master running D&D games. How do you keep the whole "World" full of characters, plot twists, and encounters organized? It's not easy, but today we will be looking at some applications that might help you in the process and finally pick one to keep our worlds from falling apart.
A lot of times, I see that DM's treat their shops and merchants as vending machines. Players put in the Golden coins inside the machine, an item or potion drops from it. That's D&D shops for you unless players get frustrated with bartering and start beating the living crap out of the merchant like a vending machine instead. DMs might think that Shops and Merchants are not as important as the story. However, I see them as an excellent opportunity that might enhance your storytelling. And today, we shall see how I run my D&D shops and Merchants…
I like worldbuilding, mechanical props, miniatures, everything that supports D&D. But not everybody enjoys long written books on the lore of the game you're running. It can become tedious for players if you overexpose worldbuilding in some capacity. These are a couple of Magical Items I use for better worldbuilding...
Rejoice, adventurers! a New D&D Adventure Book has been announced - “Candlekeep Mysteries” and will release on March 16, 2021. So this adventure book will have seventeen mystery-themed adventures that revolve around the location of Candlekeep - the biggest Library of the Forgotten Realms. Let’s see what the Wizards of the Coast get to say about “Candlekeep Mysteries”…
Inkarnate is one of my favorite map-making tools that I use most of the time when I'm creating world or region maps. I have used this tool for about two years now, and I think I'm quite qualified to write a review about it. So let's see what kind of maps Inkarnate can help you create and if it fits you.
Ghouls are an iconic lower-tier monster with their razor-sharp teeth and jagged claws, ghouls roam the night in packs, driven by an insatiable hunger for humanoid flesh. And today, we will try to learn how to use Ghouls in our combat encounters.
It's almost taboo to run games associated with "Hardcore" homebrew mechanics that can bring negative feelings to the table. No one likes their character to die, fail, but I believe that players should learn how to thrive on their mistakes, not only being a hero, all the time. Let's find a way to give our games a little bit of spice while balancing it all with your player satisfaction.
Towns are probably the most balanced location for Dungeon and Dragons stories. They are not too big like the cities or small as villages, yet towns strike a perfect balance in their scale. I choose Towns over other areas since they don't require as much work and preparation as the cities and give way more content opportunities than the villages..
Christmas is right around the corner, and it's about time to have your Christmas inspired adventure with your party. Holidays are great, and having a special holiday one-shot or a small detour from your usual campaign is great for bringing some comical relief for a year's worth of adventures or have something different. If you're still shopping for a new plot hook for Christmas, this is an article for you to get inspired.
