Dungeon Situational – Five Shields
Shields, the piece of metal or wood between you and pain, and the thing that turns your fighter from a bucket of hit points into an indomitable tank. Because it’s not dealing damage it often gets overlooked by today’s modern bloodthirsty types, and it might take more than a hefty plank with handles to convince your players to maybe drop a sword in favour of some protection.
Presented below, five examples of shields with story, magical power, secrets, or just present something more interesting than a boost to armour class. The rules referenced are for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, but can be readily modified for other editions or systems. (more…)
Dungeon Situational – Made By Sphinxes
Sphinxes are divine, extraplanar entities, mostly good, but exacting and demanding, and pitiless to the unworthy. The catlike beings are highly intelligent, powerful both physically, and mystically, they are trusted by the gods to ward places of power from the corrupt who might seek to use divine power to terrible ends. Leonine paws are ill-adapted to weapons that we might recognise, and their arcane majesty relies more upon their innate divinity, rather than arcane learnings, so what kind of items might a sphinx craft, or even need?
As in all previous Dungeon Situational articles, the following ideas use Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rules, but should be easily modified for other systems and settings. Here are some items, crafted by, and for the use of sphinxes… (more…)
The Shropshire Dungeon Master Update VII
It’s been a couple of months, and I was waiting on a few more things to come about, but there has been a great deal of progress made in the last eight weeks. It’ll be a short update, but let’s start with…
Dungeon Situational – Unusual Traders
Any given group of players – when presented with a marketplace or new town – will ask for some fairly predictable things; blacksmiths, magic items, herbalists and alchemists, spell components (if you as a DM insist on such things) and some kind of transport like a horse and cart. But can you pull their eye with something else? Can you present them with something new, and memorable?
A good vendor, trader, or shopkeeper can really lend some memorable characterisation to a town or city. Those assembled below are presented using D&D 5th edition rules, but are readily adjusted for other systems and editions. (more…)
Review – Xanathar’s Guide To Everything
Last year I kicked off the schedule by reviewing Volo’s Guide to Monsters, a fantastic alternative to wave after wave of Monster Manuals that we’ve enjoyed in previous editions, told from the perspective of Volothamp Geddarm, a peddler of of guidebooks in the Forgotten Realms. I finally got my hands on the guidebook written from the perspective of another famous denizen of the Realms, the beholder crimeboss Xanathar, who has knowledge in all fields that might profit or threaten him or his goldfish.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything covers a wide variety of categories for players and dungeon masters alike, combining properties of both a Players Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide expansion. This book was awash with hype, partially because it’s been visibly in the making for months, maybe years. So without further spiel, let’s get into it: (more…)
DMing 101 – Rewards
In DMing 101 I’ll be giving generalized advice on how to run a tabletop role-playing game. The articles will not presume any knowledge, except being able to read. And maybe knowing what dice are. And paper. And a computer. Maybe some other stuff. I’ll also presume that you can remember that DM means Dungeon Master. Some people call it a Game Master or GM, but I don’t. Suck it up.
There are a few quick start guides on how to DM out there, but DMing 101 will offer a fairly easy set of tips that a novice can follow to make his/her games something truly memorable.
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