Is This the Death of D&D?
How’d we get here? Dungeons & Dragons originated from war games, which are adversarial by nature. When you combine that history with two creators who had a rocky relationship, it’s easy to see why conflict’s baked into the DNA of the hobby. Over the last couple of years, the community has felt more fractured than…
How to Build Random Dungeon Maps Fast with This Dice Hack
Generating unique settings for your tabletop sessions doesn’t have to be a chore. If you’ve been looking for the fastest and easiest way to create random dungeon maps for D&D or your favorite TTRPG, I’ve found a fantastic hack in the ShadowDark rulebook. It’s a clever method that turns a handful of dice into a fully fleshed-out…
Mastering Rule Zero: Is Your Cheating DM Breaking the Game?
Ever heard of rule zero? In the world of tabletop roleplaying games, this concept states that the rules are not in charge of your game. The GM is. While some players might get frustrated and claim their cheating DM is ignoring the book, the reality is that nearly every RPG is designed with this authority in mind. Most…
10 Essential New Dungeon Master Tips from the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide
Since the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide is now an established part of the hobby, it is a great time to look back at the most enduring new Dungeon Master tips it introduced. Whether you are just starting your first campaign or you are a veteran looking to refine your style, the core advice in this edition remains a vital…
How ShadowDark Fixes the D&D Experience
With four Ennie awards and a growing legion of fans, ShadowDark has quickly become a standout in the tabletop RPG world. It successfully blends old-school style with modern mechanics, offering a streamlined gameplay experience that many players find refreshing. In fact, many enthusiasts argue that it actually manages to fix D&D by addressing specific pain points found in 5th…
Why Every GM Should Use Random Tables
Inspiration, unpredictability, and complexity – every Game Master wants these elements in their campaign. Whether you are running D&D, Pathfinder, Shadowdark, or any other TTRPG, there is one classic tool that provides them all: random tables. Watch the Video | Buy TTRPG Books and Accessories | More Game Content While some players and GMs might shy away from them, fearing…
D&D vs. Call of Cthulhu: 5 Reasons to Try This Classic Horror TTRPG
If you’ve spent your life exploring dungeons and slaying dragons, you’re used to being the hero. You have the high-level spells, the heavy armor, and the legendary loot. But what happens when you step away from the high fantasy of D&D and into the shadows of a horror TTRPG like Call of Cthulhu? Watch the Video | Buy…
Why Balanced Encounters are Boring: How to Fix Your Game
As Game Masters (GMs), we often get bogged down in the mechanics of balancing encounters. We pour over CR calculations, worry about XP budgets, and stress over whether the last fight was too recent. You might spend two weeks of beautiful-minding the calculus trying to design the most perfectly balanced encounters in history, only for the actual fight…
Steal This: Bringing the Awesome Luck Mechanic of Dungeon Crawl Classics to D&D 5e
The core of tabletop role playing games inherently involves luck. We roll dice to determine outcomes, but in games like Dungeons & Dragons, your chance of success is generally influenced by modifiers derived from your character’s skills and abilities. Well, what happens when a character finds themselves in a situation where success is improbable, but essential…
The Scorched Basin – An IMMENSE New Campaign Setting – Is On Kickstarter NOW
Adventurers, I’m excited to share something special with you – Scorched Basin, a new, system agnostic tabletop RPG setting created by my friends at Homie and The Dude. I had the privilege of collaborating on this project, and it’s been such a rewarding experience to see it come together. You can check it out on Kickstarter…