dungeons and dragons hardcover publications

[...]... characters on the adventure, a handful of minor quests to spice things up, and at least two or three definite encounters and a like number of possible encounters Make notes about the encounters you’ll design next week No Time to Prepare! Sometimes you have no time to get ready for your game Check out the sections on “Improvising” (page 28), “Random Dungeons (page 190), and “Random Encounters” (page 193)... exploration, conversation, encounter, and passing time Understand what you need to run the game in each mode ✦ Narration: A big part of the DM’s job is letting the players know what’s going on Give the players the information they need and keep it lively ✦ Pacing: Keep the rhythm of action and anticipation going in your game ✦ Props: Bring your game to life with props and handouts ✦ Dispensing Information:... specific goals and a real chance of failure The PCs just ask questions, and the NPC responds Sometimes a check is involved—usually Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Insight, or Perception Often the characters and NPCs trade questions and answers until the PCs have the information they need to make a decision and carry it out Conversation mode ends in one of two ways: The conversation ends and the PCs move... evocative description and imagining the scene in their heads For the rest of us, there are props Props are concrete They give players something they can see, read, and handle, helping them to engage and participate in the game Use every prop you can to enhance immersion and fun, but keep the narration lively just the same DEPICTING COMBAT ENCOUNTERS ✦ Battle maps ✦ Miniatures HANDOUTS ✦ Illustrations... the world, but it does help the players understand what’s in the room and where Printed maps (such as in D&D adventures and D&D Miniatures products) and D&D Dungeon Tiles are even better They show professional artistic representations of common and fantastic dungeon features D&D Miniatures portray the monsters of the D&D game as no other miniatures can, and they include a helpful prop for your own use—a... adventures into their component encounters and loot them Or rotate an older encounter map to a different orientation and change the names in a pinch D&D Insider provides many short dungeons and encounters you can also use in short notice Campaign Lists: Keep track of what’s going on in your campaign Keep the story of the adventure and the whole campaign in mind, and keep a list of things that can happen... than I did, and I didn’t want to get caught in a stupid mistake Eventually, I got over that When I’m not sure of a rule, I ask my players what they think If I make a mistake, my players point it out respectfully, and I reconsider my decision From my perspective, the DM is the person who prepares adventures, plans a campaign, and runs the monsters and NPCs I don’t want to be a referee or judge, and my players... I A M O ’ CO N N O R The game has a rhythm and flow, and the action in the game is interspersed with lulls These lulls are like the places where a movie fades to black and comes up again with the understanding that some time has passed Don’t give these situations any more time than the movies do When a rest period passes uneventfully, tell the players that and move on Don’t make the players spend time... The game relies on your descriptions and players’ imaginations to set the scene Using a few time-honored techniques of effective narration helps paint a vivid picture in each player’s mind and bring the game to life Lead by Example When you roleplay and narrate with enthusiasm, you add energy to the game and draw the players out Encourage them to follow your lead and to describe their actions in the... consequences, and the things the PCs do should have an impact on the world The people and creatures of the world should behave with consistency in ways that players can understand Sometimes realism is a matter of very small details If two wooden doors appear to be exactly the same, but one requires a DC 16 Strength check to break through and the other one requires a DC 20 check, the world feels arbitrary and . imagination, all about fantas- tic worlds and creatures, magic, and adventure. You find a comfortable place where you can spread out your books and maps and dice, and you get together with your friends. school and a public library, in my parents’ basement and in their dining room, sprawled out on couches and crammed in at too-small tables, at my house and at many different friends’ houses, and. grid and minia- ture figures, gives you a place to roll dice and write on character sheets, and holds piles of books and papers. You can pull chairs around a dining table or sit in recliners and