How do you make travel interesting, challenging, and meaningful? This is a regular topic in my D&D circles. There is a general perception that Fifth Edition does not provide a workable travel subsystem “out of the box,” and I’ve seen many proposals to address this deficiency. I recently wrote a convention adventure that required the characters to travel along a perilous road. Because it was a…
A Healer’s Kit contains herbs, bindings, salves, tinctures, and other field remedies useful for treating wounds. It has ten uses. As a Utilize action, you can expend one of its uses to stabilize an Unconscious creature that has 0 Hit Points without needing to make a Wisdom (Medicine) check. Alternatively, you can expend one use of this kit to tend to a stable creature taking a Short Rest or a Long…
Soup of the Night shares RPG advice I wish I had received . Kobold Press explains how to end a campaign . Scott F. Gray shares his FRPG tips for June 2025 . Sultan's Musings explains the benefits of shorter, more frequent sessions for RPG campaigns. Sly Flourish shares his lazy treasure parcels as a method for stress-free loot distribution. These are useful! Grognardia advises DMs to keep…
Pointless Monument shares some roleplaying improv techniques . Paul Russ is a Professional DM, and here are his 10 favourite house rules . Brandes Stoddard introduces twenty strange but helpful people to meet in the dungeon. Goblin's Henchman explains usage dice mechanics . Oracular Somnambulist offers a d66 list of demonic mutations and their effects . Monsters and Manuals analyzes resurrection…
These items were emailed between November 16th and January 2nd, 2025. Onieladb suggests that things get interesting when the big boss gets it wrong. Roleplaying Tips explains when to roll the dice. D&D Beyond shows you how to prepare an adventure using the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. Explorer's Design presents a five-step method for designing anything. Alone in the Labyrinth shares more curses.…
TSR Periodicals released Dragon #8 in July 1977. It is 32 pages long and has a cover price of $1.50. This issue features the planes, mutant monsters, and the first-ever "Featured Creature" contest! The cover, by Bill Hannon, depicts a magician holding a fantastical beast in his hand. Hannon, who painted the cover for Dragon #1 , was editor Tim Kask's art teacher at college. Interior art includes…
Leveling up is one of the most important milestones in a character’s journey, but it is often reduced to a quick character sheet update between sessions. If we want leveling to feel meaningful in the fiction of the game, then we need to slow it down and surround it with ritual. In real life, growth is marked by rituals: graduations, promotions, birthdays, and rites of passage. These help us…
Herein are presented the rules for the game of Magister , a most noble contest of wit and cunning, first devised on the island of Rulk Majier but now favored by learned minds and rulers throughout the known realms. I. The Field of Honour Let first a square board be crafted, five squares wide and five squares deep, forming twenty-five equal spaces. The initial disposition of pieces shall be thus:…
TSR Periodicals released The Dragon #7 in June 1977. It is 32 pages long and has a cover price of $1.50. This issue features the D&D origin story, Tekumel's armies, and a mind-controlling monster! The cover is by "Elrohir" (artist Ken Rahman, who later created Divine Right with his brother). It depicts a red dragon lurking at the bottom of an oubliette, gnawing on the bones of a fallen adventurer,…
This investigative horror game is my first attempt at a one-page RPG in the style of John Harper, Grant Howitt, etc.
I read many books in 2024, primarily short sci-fi/fantasy novels and novellas. I was looking to fill in the gaps in my reading with some genre classics, but I also read a few newer books. Here's the list: The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. The House on the Borderlands by William Hope Hodgson The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman The Roaring Trumpet by L. Sprague de Camp and…
Each week, I send out ten D&D related links to my newsletter subscribers. Following are ten of my favourite links from 2024. My compatriot, Merric, spent some time musing about the objective of published adventures . His first sentence contains a brilliant insight, and adventure writers should take note. Do you need help running urban and wilderness adventures? Davyd Barker suggests one solution…
Here's a personality generator I've created, for use with NPCs or PCs. It was inspired by an NPC taxonomy defined by Spitting Image . This is based on the big five personality model. I've tried to define the the traits such that they could co-exist with any alignment type. From my first version, I’ve changed the system to work using a d10 and I’ve also updated the personality traits to blend…
These items were emailed between August 30th and November 9th, 2024. Sly Flourish suggests you incorporate the "Flee" action into your game. And I just did. Uncanny Ramblings shares an extensive list of OSR setting books . Many of these are commercial, but there are at least a dozen free options that you should have a look at. I frequently open up other setting books to inspire my Iskandar…
D&D uses an abstract combat system based on hit points. It is very good from a gameplay perspective, but it misses some of the grittiness that actual battle would entail. The system allows characters to heal up and walk away looking as good as new, and glossing over the increasingly worn state of adventuring bodies. The following battle scar table adds some visual reminders of the danger your…
D&D Fifth Edition defines a long rest as "a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity." At the end of the long rest, characters regain all their lost hit points and reset all their class and subclass features. They set out afterwards completely refreshed, as if it were the first day…
Herbal remedies for various ailments and injuries are a staple of fantasy literature, but the D&D core rules scarcely mention them. The ability to brew a natural remedy in the wilderness leans into this colourful trope and provides an alternative to healing magic. The system below suggests that various herbs provide unique healing abilities when harvested fresh from the wild. But these herbs lose…
There are few things as satisfying in D&D as a challenging and memorable boss battle. When they go well, boss battles serve as a satisfying climax to all the encounters that have gone before, and it involves a combination of storytelling, game mechanics, and player engagement. Here are ten essential tips to help you design boss battles that your players will talk about long after the game is over.…
An effective travel montage in D&D can transform a mundane journey into a meaningful and immersive experience. If well-crafted, it enriches worldbuilding, creates memorable moments, and engages the players. Why Use a Travel Montage? In the original version of D&D, travel involved counting hexes and rolling on random encounter tables. I still do this, and it is fun! But it's also time-consuming,…
These items were emailed between May 25th and August 23rd, 2024. The boffins at the DM Academy discuss how to make a monster that players avoid rather than fight . There is some good advice in the comments. Eli says we can make gold more meaningful in our games by introducing a "wealth hurdle." I hadn't heard that terminology before, but the idea is good. Spitting Image has defined an NPC taxonomy…