The Game Master’s Book of Non-Player Characters – A Review with Bonus Content
In any great RPG, the world is more than just the main characters—it’s filled with shopkeepers, mercenaries, nobles, rogues, and all the colorful individuals who give the setting its depth. The Game Master’s Book of Non-Player Characters provides over 500 fully realized NPCs, each with...
The Zookeeper’s Guide: Running the Perfect Zoo Mafia Session
Welcome to the world of Zoo Mafia, where the fur flies, the drinks flow, and crime rules the jungle. As a Zookeeper (Game Master), your job is to craft a compelling, high-stakes underworld filled with rival gangs, daring heists, and the ever-present risk of attracting...
How to Safely Explore Romance in a Role-Playing Game
Happy Valentine's Day to those of you who celebrate. In relation to the holiday I thought it fitting to talk about romance in your Tabletop RPG. Romance in role-playing games (RPGs) can add depth, drama, and emotional investment to the story. However, it must be...
Rolling the Dice: Luckhaven, the City of Chance
In a far-flung corner of your D&D world lies Luckhaven, a dazzling city built on the unpredictable tides of fortune. Here, dice and cards rule every interaction, from bartering goods to determining [caption id="attachment_77819" align="alignright" width="300"] Art from Dreams of Fire: An Illustrated Fantasy Novel by...
Symbiotes in D&D: A New Twist on Magical Items
When it comes to creative storytelling and world-building, drawing inspiration from sources like Marvel Comics can breathe life into your D&D campaign. One particularly fascinating concept is the symbiote—an alien lifeform that bonds with a host to grant incredible powers, often at a significant cost....
The Game Master’s Book of Astonishing Random Tables: A Review and Creative Expansion
If you’re a Game Master (GM) looking to spice up your tabletop adventures with the unexpected, then The Game Master’s Book of Astonishing Random Tables is a must-have. This book is packed [caption id="attachment_51220" align="alignright" width="244"] A water weird as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons...
Angelic Steel: The Radiant Metal of Celestia
In the multiverse of Dungeons & Dragons, few materials carry the divine weight and otherworldly majesty of Angelic Steel. Known as "Heaven's Forge" among celestial scholars and "Radiant Silver" in bardic tales, this rare white metal is more than just a material—it is a symbol...
The Mage Forge: An Arcane Workshop of Wonder and Peril
In the vast tapestry of fantasy worlds, few places inspire as much awe and curiosity as the Mage Forge. This mythical location, often the stuff of whispered legend and ancient scrolls, is said to be a nexus of arcane energy where the greatest magical items...
The Ultimate Power: A Deep Dive into the Wish Spell in Dungeons & Dragons
Few spells in Dungeons & Dragons carry the mystique and narrative weight of the Wish spell. It's the pinnacle of arcane power, a spell that can reshape reality with a single utterance. Whether you’re a player dreaming of wielding ultimate magic or a Dungeon Master...
Pulling Runes from the Tower: Using Jenga in Your D&D Sessions
In the grand tapestry of Dungeons & Dragons, it’s the little surprises that often make a session truly memorable. Enter Jenga, the tension-filled party game we all know and love. But instead of stacking blocks for fun, we’re going to reimagine the tower as a...
The Ultimate Guide to Running Holiday-Themed RPG Games: One-Shots and Campaign Ideas with Whimsy and Wonder
Holidays bring more than festive cheer—they're the perfect excuse to sprinkle some extra magic into your RPG sessions. Whether you're playing D&D, Pathfinder, or another system, holiday-themed games offer a unique opportunity to blend seasonal whimsy with high-stakes adventure. Let’s explore how to craft unforgettable...
5 Reasons Dice Goblins Make the Best D&D Players
Dice Goblin is a term that has emerged within the Dungeons & Dragons community to describe any player who hoards dice like a dragon hoards gold. For some the term rings like “hoarder” but many wear the title as a badge of honor. If I’m being honest I’m much more of a dice minimalist myself. I like to have my dice in neat rows with only a single set for any game at a time. Call me a D&D neat freak. I was recently thinking about dice goblins and if hoarding dice is really so bad a practice. In so doing I came up with five reasons dice goblins could be viewed as the best players to have in a D&D game.
Identifying and Handling Emotional Bleed at the Game Table
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about emotional bleed. In the context of tabletop roleplaying games by this I mean when a character’s emotions get pretty intense and the player starts feeling them too. The first thing I want you to know is this isn’t a bad thing! You shouldn’t feel bad when this happens. It is perfectly normal and most roleplayers have a tale or two about this happening to them.
Thrust Player Agency Upon TTRPG Players with Questions to Engage
Whether I’m acting as Game Master or not the thing I dislike the most about any tabletop roleplaying game experience is a group who interacts in isolation from each other. As a player I want to interact with the other players through our characters and as a GM I hope to see this behavior from the people in the group. There’s several reasons for this and a technique I began using a few years ago helps tremendously. So let’s get into it.
Start Your 5E D&D Campaign with a Single Encounter
How long is a typical session of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? When I was much younger with many fewer responsibilities my friends and I gathered to play D&D for a lot longer than the game sessions I experience these days. Scheduling and time management are factors in this as well as the influence of online gaming both streamed or simply using communication software to connect with fellow players. Newer Dungeon Masters and those curious about what life is like on the other side of the DM screen already have lots to consider (and feel anxious about) and session length is rarely something I see discussed when it comes to 5E D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game for that matter. So let’s get into it.
