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Yes. When I burn-out, it's usually off the back of an endless prep grind, where I'm only just keeping ahead of the campaign. When I'm fully ahead and ready for just about anything the PC's might do, everything is fine. In the last few years I fixed this problem by agreeing to be our group's...

More specifically, what makes you, as a DM, sit down and change a rule? I only ever houserule something (i.e. put it in a document) for clarity. There have been occasions where we, as a table, have agreed that a certain ability or combo is best avoided, but these are usually campaign specific...

Hmm, 'pointless' encounter. The only definition I can think of--that applies to me, anyway--is a throwaway combat just to end a session, or give me some breathing room to go away and prep an unexpected turn by the party. In that respect I do try to avoid them.

Looks good to me. A heightened reality fantasy vibe is exactly what I'd expect from a family friendly movie. The trailer will answer just about all other questions I have. Fingers crossed.

The only certain railroad in D&D is the one travelled by threads like this.

I know the in's and out's of the classes in play in my weekly game, but I couldn't recite the level progression table off the top of my head. I've never had the best recall and don't see it as an attainable goal. We bat rules questions around the table until an agreement is reached, and if we...

I'm primarily a DNDB purchaser right now, but I intend to have a complete shelf of second-hand 5E by the time this edition is in its twilight.

Which would seem to make The Boyz the perfect modern incarnation of those myths.

My experience with training costs, however well intentioned, is parties forever in debt to generous patrons, and an attitude to dungeon exploration exemplified by questions like, "How much are those curtains worth, do we think?" I know (and play with) DM's who still enjoy this mode of play, but...

My first exposure to character driven narrative D&D was on this site via the Story Hour forum. Headliners over there, like Sagiro and PirateCat, opened my eyes to what those kinds of games might look like. It changed my style of campaign almost overnight.

I need a map, with towns, cities, rivers, roads, interesting locales, and a scale. That's about all I worry about from a world-building perspective. For a particular campaign, faction conflict is the next layer added. After that, the only 'real' that I worry about is how the NPC's treat the...

I recently bought the Loot Crate Demogorgon off eBay. I anticipated a show-down with the Demon Lord at my table, and being of the considered opinion that every miniature of Demo released so far was absolute cack, I needed a better option since he is the big bad of the campaign. I paid for that...

(Note: I haven't yet watched the video.) 'Shenanigans' is the filter through which I view all my design prep. It's why I always build encounters one difficulty level higher than the guidelines. It's why I'm never, ever worried about providing enough clues to solve a mystery. It's why I don't...

1. Directly engage your narrative with the PC's background. 2. Put player fun above your own. 3. Journal every session.

My friend was selling a load of Dragonlance material at a time when the prospect of deep-diving into a singular setting was very appealing, so I snapped it up and read the lot. When an opportunity came alone to start a game at uni, it became my setting of choice for a good couple of decades...

Fair to say I think most DM's have been expecting this at some point? I'll be interested to see how this effort lives up to the promise.

After narrowly escaping a mind-flayer laboratory (with one PC insensate amd another in dire need of a new brain), the party regrouped in Waterdeep to report to the Lords Alliance on a truly dreadful set of discoveries down in Athkatla. Wild elves are being used as carriers for a curse that can...

I remember those heady days. :) Happy Birthday, DLN.

Backer here. I'm perfectly happy with how this has been handled. Just a little data point for you.

My wife is in every group I DM. We are patiently awaiting the all-too-slow growth of nieces, nephews, and friend-sprogs before showing them the game.