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Feel your pain. Happens to me frequently. If there's a lot to cover, try keeping your summary to only the key points. They'll get lost all over again if there's too much to review. You may find that they start filling in and laughing about things they're starting to recall, so expect a longer...

I see what you're saying. Our "second" group were intended to be mercenaries for hire and nothing more. Just an excuse to get a run out on a night when we were missing two or more of the six. All I needed to do was connect their employers to something afoot that was at odds with the other group...

Yep, can be a real challenge and requires two sets of notes with loads of NPCs. Basically, you're running multiple campaigns at once. Even the players get crossed up now and again about who they're playing. The tension leading up to their parties meeting was great fun, though. They kept narrowly...

I have a group with two sets of characters. Due to absences, we started up a "side" campaign in the same city. They've since met their counterparts, and now we deploy mixed parties for quests depending on who can make the session. It allows one player to have two PCs at once if that's what it...

So, you set up the encounter during the session or are you prepping randomly? Nice ideas with the GM layer. I have only recently started incorporating it and I feel so silly for not having done so sooner for a number of reasons. Not sure yet how to "number" more than one map on the same page...

I'm speaking generally and certainly not outside of traditional D&D fantasy. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, but not enough to move the needle for me.

I feel seen more than attacked, as to this I must say "guilty as charged" – but mostly with VTTs. I've found that I need far more control over proceedings if I need to pre-load maps and have tokens at the ready. Random tables are for things like treasure, fumbles, hunting, and wild magic. At...

I play/read CN as a true opportunist who takes advantage of a frequently chaotic world. CN characters always come off "cooler" than other alignments because they aren't penned in by allegiances or alliances. They're kind of the "cats" of the realms. CG purr in your lap. CE topple everything off...

There seems to be a strong tie to fables and folk tales with hags. They've always been, all the way up to the wicked witches of Disney. Some kind of crone-phobia, I reckon. I have a hag that appears in two of my groups: Auntie Mae. She's a night hag coven variety who keeps the heads of her...

One of my groups got me the rolled neoprene mat from Abishai. It's gorgeous, and has a clear vinyl overlay that can be clipped down for writing on and covering poster or homemade maps. The included markers and tiny eraser work fine, but I supplemented them with larger, nicer brands and they fit...

And I fancy myself a fledgling pop star! 👋

True, but with one not-too-tiny difference: flight for grounded races costs something. That's easier to manage. Aarakocra fly whenever they want and for as long as they want unless you put something over or around them. When played within reason, it adds a heroic element that can be fun. It...

I love random tables and generators and use crit hit/miss and random effects tables all the time (drunken, wild magic, etc.). I also love rolling dice so to combine them would be a lot more fun for me and probably the group. The problem I have with something like weather or dungeon randomness...

Agreed. It was almost certainly designed to strengthen company-customer relationships and champion the community—or if we're obliged to be the least bit cynical—give the appearance of doing so. They don't need nor want to solicit free art from the hoi polloi for so many reasons, many of which...

Exposure models do favor the larger, more powerful entities, but it can't be ignored that those entities have done the work of existing and accept a lot of the risk to create the opportunity. It's a sensitive time now for artists who do get ripped off and/or have their work and time undervalued...

Cheers for the explanations. For the life of me I couldn't glean the dirty details from what I'd read. I imagine they could have offered some form of credit and promotion for the non-winning art they selected every time they used it, as well as notifying the artist where and when it would be...

I messed up and introduced an element designed to lure the PCs to an NPC that I wasn't planning on introducing until later. Now I have to find a way to finesse them away from aforementioned elaborately described and slightly home-brewed element. Being that it's a scrying orb with a save they all...

I would probably do the same if I didn't find that most often my players want the challenge. If they seem to like rolling, we roll. If failures are bogging down the pace, I'll find a subtle way to make things simpler without removing their chance to succeed at something. If they look bored, the...

These are brilliant, DG.

It's a tool that every single one of my 20 players uses, so for all intents and purposes it is essential and does represent the D&D experience for us. I'm not sure I could overstate its importance since without it, I probably don't get to run games. I will say it's less important at the real...