A year ago, I ran a module in which the adventurers needed to get into a city unseen. They received a message to meet at a particular location outside the city; when they arrived, no contact or obvious hideout awaited them. The adventure text told the DM to have the players make a Perception roll: … Continue reading Avoiding boring failures
For the last several months, I have had the good fortune to play about as much D&D as I can handle. The large majority of these games have occurred under the banner of the Adventurers League on Roll20 (using Discord for voice and out-of-game text chat) and, to a lesser extent, at a local gaming … Continue reading How I recruit for online AL games
Random encounters can accomplish a lot of things. Some groups see them as annoying obstacles. Others like them for a bit bonus XP while the GM puts a little extra strain on their resources. But they can also give a hint of weirdness to tell your players that the world has more going on than kobolds … Continue reading Road mysteries
A recent question on /r/rpg caught my eye and I thought I'd write a bit more on my thoughts about it. Here's the core: I love the game but everyone (including myself) seems disappointed when combat happens. I try to narrate it a bunch and make it exciting with surprises and stuff but it still … Continue reading Gamers who don’t enjoy combat
Compare: You can tell that the goblin is lying. versus The goblin glances from side to side, looking for any excuse to cover his lies. You can tell that the temple has not been visited in some time. versus A thick layer of dust indicates that the ancient temple has not seen any visitors for years. You can … Continue reading You can tell that…
Technoskald's Forge 