This is how I D&D
The old school D&D category contains many articles about playing and GMing old school D&D. That is, D&D that highlights the styles of playing from the 70s and 80s. It also includes OSR material.
How I give out experience points and how PCs level up in my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
I have combined XP and levelling as they tend to go hand-in-hand.
First off, I am not a huge fan of experience points (XP) as they are written – in any edition of the game – for two main reasons:
Continue reading “How I Do Experience Points And Leveling In D&D”
Show. Don’t Tell.
This is an old adage in creative arts live movie-making and writing.
It generally means that a movie, for example, is better when you show the audience what has happened, rather than telling them – via character dialogue (or the dreaded voiceover).
Continue reading “My Issues With Pre-Written Adventures In D&D”
Abilities scores define your character.
Of all the various editions of Dungeons and Dragons, nothing is as standardized (well, except using a D20) as the six abilities.
No matter how you generate them (or in which order you list them), Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are synonymous with the game.
Continue reading “Using Ability Scores In D&D To Define Your Character”
Dungeons and Dragons random encounter tables are great, but they only tell you one part of the encounter – what the encounter is.
It doesn’t tell you what that encounter – or monster – is doing.
That’s why I created the table below.
Continue reading “Random Encounter Tables In D&D – What Are The Monsters Doing?”
Before I start this review I want you to know I am a big fan of Five Torches Deep and all past supplements (I even ran a FTD Fan Page on Facebook at one stage, and have created a complete proficiency list). The base game was a breath of fresh air when I needed one (being over 5e) and the past supplements have been really good additions to the base game.
Five Torches Deep: Origins is a mixed bag.
I have been playing Five Torches Deep for a while now and thought a complete list of proficiencies would be useful.
You can download the one-page PDF using the link below and use it as you need.
FTD Complete List of Proficiencies
Enjoy!
This is a bit of an on-going experiment, but I decided to strip Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition down to its core to see how close I could replicate the earlier editions of the game.
Or, in other words, make it more like an old school D&D or OSR (Old School Renaissance) game.
And surprisingly, it works pretty well.
Continue reading “How To Surprisingly Turn D&D 5e Into An Old School OSR Game”
I have been getting some feedback on my last article around making adjudications and using what I like to call the Common Sense test when making them.
Basically, the common sense test boils down to you asking yourself ‘does this make sense?’
And if it does, all good. But if it doesn’t then you are within your rights to change it. Or even disallow it.
Continue reading “Examples Of The Common Sense Test In Action”
Don’t be afraid of overruling the rules in Dungeons and Dragons.
You are the DM, which means you have final say. Even over what’s written in the books.
That’s not to say however, you should make up a whole bunch of random stuff whenever you feel like it.
There are some guidelines you need to stick to.
Continue reading “Overruling The Rules In D&D – With An In-Game Example”
After watching Web DM’s video on making your D&D game more deadly, I quickly jotted down 37 ways you could make combat more challenging (and deadly) for your players without going down the road of changing the rules.
Continue reading “37 Ways To Make Your Dungeons And Dragons Battles More Deadly”