DM David Hartlage

2024 monsters reevaluated based on adventure I just ran:

Assassin - brutal

Kraken - rough

Bone devil - good match for cr

Evoker wizard - also just right

Chain devil - weak and sad

Unearthed Arcana (1985) actually put a benefit for readiness into print. “A bow specialist who begins the round with arrow nocked, shaft drawn, and target in sight is entitled to loose that arrow prior to any initiative check.

In the early days of D&D, players liked saying, “I ready my sword” or “I nock an arrow.” I witnessed it all the time. This helped counter DMs who might otherwise insist players spend a turn drawing a sword or preparing an arrow.

The @slyflourish.com trick of improvising the reveals of secrets & clues during play keeps gaining my favor. The technique helped me remix an adventure that would have run well short of my 4-hour con slot. I gave leads to the mod's written encounters until time came to reveal how to finish the quest

I’m one of those who loved playing Fall of Blackbottom because of a real sense of peril and choices that made the difference between success and failure. Plus the villains did bad things so I loved taken down.

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Dndbeyond is having a night

Guess I’ll have to reference books like a caveman

Bitter Sweet Draw Steel game today. Only 2 of 5 heroes made it to the safehouse. But, they saved 8 other souls. Real. Hard. Choices.

Your action pose! Tks for bringing @ghostfiregaming.bsky.social s The Grim Hunt to life for all your players.

No way!!!!

Same here

I’m counting down hours until I get in the car and drive to Fort Wayne to the Winter Fantasy convention!

Blood and Poison looks outstanding! I’m excited to run it

Moving On section in adventure text

I’m prepping to run 3 Grim Hollow adventures at Winter Fantasy.

In my own adventures, I add “Leads” sub-sections that list the players’ likely next steps after a scene.

In these GH mods, I’m thrilled to see “Moving On” sections that serve the same purpose. So helpful!

Remember when the pages of the original 2014 D&D books all fell out of their bindings? I put the pages in these comb bindings, but I suppose it’s time to recycle.

My adventure's timeline:

1. Party of evil NPCs visit a dungeon and start waking a threat.
2. PCs learn something's up and go to investigate.

Me at 2am: Wait! Why hasn't team evil finished when the PCs arrive?

Finally, D&D's 5-minute work day *aids* storytelling.

I’m not ready to pick a favorite, but I like mechanics that let dying characters act and discourage pogoing in and out of 0 hp.

Also, if players would typically exploit a blaze-of-glory rule to quaff a healing potion, then the rule has failed.

I love books of random tables, but few reach the heights of The Creative Game Masters Guide to Extraordinary Locations by Duncan Rhodes.

This book keeps adding ways to prove invaluable, including dispensing advice, inspiration, and adventure seeds. It’s rocket fuel for your imagination.

Sign of Labrys by Margaret St Clair among other books that inspired D&D and Gamma World

I picked up Sign of the Labrys (1963) because it features a megadungeon-like underground that Gary cited as an inspiration. Also, it’s post apocalyptic like Gamma World.

TTRPGs have avoided higher tariffs on games due to an exemption for printed, hardbound books.

Reminds me of 2003 case where a judge ruled the X-Men non-human, gaining their action figures the reduced tariffs for toys rather than dolls.

So on the nose for the X-Men's themes.

I'm working on a level-12 D&D adventure and facing the usual challenge of finding enough high-level monsters that are (a) plausibly found in a group and (b) reasonably simple to run as a group. Once again, the answer is fiends. #FeelingDevilish

Wow! This interactive map makes a great way to explore the Realms.

RPG Design: How a Roleplaying Game like D&D Could Make Rounds Play Better Since D&D dropped the declaration phase in favor of cyclic initiative, it has let one round blur into the next without any phases that trigger between rounds. Still, each round represents a sho…

New post: How a Roleplaying Game like D&D Could Make Rounds Play Better
• Making retreat practical like in 1974
• "Join me, and together, we can rule the galaxy"
• 6 seconds of simultaneous effects, just like AD&D
dmdavid.com/tag/rpg-desi...

My Winter Fantasy judging schedule

Feb 07 - Saturday (9AM - 1PM) Grim Hollow #7 - Blood & Poison
Feb 07 - Saturday (2PM - 6PM) Grim Hollow #5 - Requiem for the Living
Feb 08 - Sunday (9AM - 1PM) Grim Hollow #6 - Worse than the Disease
Feb 08 - Sunday (1PM - 5PM) Grim Hollow #7 - Blood & Poison

d20play Live 90 Learning to Run Draw Steel YouTube video by d20play

If you are curious about running Draw Steel and are hesitant to get in the system, I recommend this discussion between @d20play.bsky.social and @dmdavid.com
Tom has put a lot of time and effort into the system and has some valuable insight into running Draw Steel.

Brilliant answer. Thanks

Grammar mavens: Should I be writing, "The fifth-edition designers opted to skip all that rules baggage," with or without the hyphen?

Making the Most of Cyclic Turn Order in Games Like D&D and Pathfinder My post Turns and Turn Order Are the Worst, so Why Do Roleplaying Games Make Us Spend So Much Time Deliberating Them? compared the two most common methods for setting turn order, player-driven and …

New post: Making the most of cyclic turn order in games Like D&D and Pathfinder. dmdavid.com/tag/making-t...

My group started our #Dragonbane mini-campaign last week. Here are some thoughts and highlights (very mild spoilers).
#ttrpg #dnd

I’ve always been bothered that healing becomes proportionally less effective as characters gain hp.

I always figured AD&D Clerics boasted good saves vs. poison because of tales of preachers handling snakes as a proof of faith, but that doesn't fit with Gary's explanation here on p.81. (3/3)