Adventures Are Killing Your D&D Campaign

Adventures Are Killing Your D&D Campaign

Summary: Running adventures, where everyone needs to show up at your table or the session is cancelled, is ruining your campaign. There is a better way, which involves running an open world sandbox.
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Last night I was GM in my two-player Dungeons & Dragons campaign, but only one player could make it.

And it was a blast!

The thing is, there was no set adventure, which meant we could play even though there was only one player.

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Revisiting What The Monsters Are Doing Chart

Revisiting What The Monsters Are Doing Chart

Back in 2021 I released Issue 1 of my d12 Monthly zine which had a table that let you roll what a monster was doing when the PCs showed up.

This was mainly for random encounters, but could be used for any encounter really.

Later that year I wrote an article about it to showcase how it could be used and the importance of it when trying to simulate a fantasy world and to keep verisimilitude.

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D&D Monster Intelligence: Stop Playing Them Like Idiots (Unless They Are)

D&D Monster Intelligence Stop Playing Them Like Idiots (Unless They Are)

Here’s the hard truth: if your wolves, orcs, and liches all fight like fearless sacks of hit points until they fall over, you’re not running monsters, you’re running target dummies.

Intelligence is the deciding factor in how a monster acts, reacts, and tries not to die.

Ignore it, and every encounter feels the same. Use it, and suddenly the dungeon feels alive and hostile – in the best possible way.

This is a guide to running monsters by Intelligence.

No theory. No fluff. Just behaviour you can apply at the table.

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My 2-Player D&D Campaign

My 2-Player D&D Campaign

In short: I run a 2-player D&D campaign (that is, a GM and 2 players) and find it incredibly fun and rewarding and have noticed much more player buy-in.  

Over the last few weeks I have been running a 2-player Dungeons & Dragons campaign (GM + 2 players) using Old School Essentials (OSE) as the rule set.

I wasn’t sure if so few players would have an impact on the campaign – I mean, most D&D campaigns have 4-6 players.

But it’s been a blast!

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Opportunity Attacks in Old School DnD

Opportunity Attacks in Old School DnD

In short: By using Attacks of Opportunity in your old school or OSR D&D game, you can up the ante in combats – just remember to keep it simple. 

Attacks of Opportunity (or Opportunity Attacks in the more modern parlance) is a rule that was introduced in D&D 3.0, and has been part of Dungeons & Dragons ever since.

Older versions of the game – like Old School Essentials (OSE) and B/X – never had a rule that covered this as it was left completely up to the GM, never even considered, or handled in a different way (long weapons going first in melee combat, is an example in AD&D).

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