This is how I D&D
Issue 11 of my Dungeons and Dragons zine is out!
Issue 11 is all about familiars & followers. It will feature articles on followers’ loyalty, and new leadership system, familiars – both normal and advanced, and a guest article by Dark Realm Maps, and much more! (See below for details).
Continue reading “d12 Monthly – Issue 11 – Familiars And Followers”
I have written about how good Dungeons & Dragons random encounter tables are before, both in this blog and in issue 7 of my zine.
In this post I want to respond in a way to a video I watched where the host was explaining how bell-curve random tables are not truly random and shouldn’t be used. A single die with a way to roll higher than the max would be better.
I both agree and disagree with this notion.
It all comes down to what you want to get out of the table and what area in your campaign world the table is for.
Let’s dive into it.
This is the second episode for a podcast that I have put together and includes Ian from Black Dragon Games and Jon from Tale of the Manticore.
Featuring myself, Ian, and Jon answering D&D questions from the Twitter and Facebook TTRPG communities.
The theme was Magic and we managed to answer some really interesting questions over an hour or so.
Listen and let us know what you think in the comments below, or on my Twitter.
Issue 10 of my Dungeons and Dragons zine is out!
Issue 10 is all about monsters. It will feature articles on new traits for monsters, a new monster stat block, talking your way out of a fight, monster team-ups, and much more! (See below for details).
Random encounter tables are a great way to bring diversity to your campaign.
The biggest error most GMs make with random encounter tables is they use stock standard ones from official books, which are filled primarily with monsters. Continue reading “Random Encounter Tables – A GMs Best Friend”
Monster stat blocks are an essential part of the Dungeons & Dragons game.
They let the GM know a lot about the monster – at least they should.
What they tend to end up like is a combat block, rather than a monster stat block, focusing on combat-orientated information.
Helpful in combat, but not very complete, given the characters may want to parley or interact with the creature in other ways.
What I have developed is a modular monster stat block that will give GMs the information they need – at a glance – to run the monster in any situation.
Issue 9 of my Dungeons and Dragons zine is out!
Issue 9 is all about dragons. It will feature articles on dragon lairs and the cohorts who fill it, new kobold varieties to throw at your players, how to easily make dragon magic more powerful, an example dragon’s lair, and also a feature on a tavern that sells dragon meat, and much more! (See below for details).
One of the great things about the Dungeons And Dragons 3rd edition Monster Manual is the additional information they give you regarding monsters.
This includes the climate and terrain the monsters are found in, and their organisation (numbers appearing).
This blog post will focus on the latter.
Continue reading “Encounter Numbers – Using D&D 3e Monster Manual”
Tracking my success is important to me.
2021 was a good year for YUMDM, even though the world around me (and many others) seemed to be closing in.
For starters, I launched my D&D zine, launched a Patreon, and also have some goals going into 2022.
But, to know how far you have come you need to be able to track your success (and failures).
One way to do this is to track some important metrics.
Continue reading “Tracking My Success – Metrics From 2021 And How I Track Them”
Reaction rolls are an old school mechanic in D&D that allows you to determine how an NPC or monster will react to the PCs.
This mostly forgotten mechanic (at least in the modern game) was a core rule in earlier versions of the game (OSR).
When the party came upon a random encounter with intelligent monsters, and the party decided to parley with them instead of attacking them, the GM would then roll a reaction check for the monsters.