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I love when the advice in pre-written adventures includes how npc/monsters will act for the encounter or the first 3 rounds,etc. This is a great help. But maybe that type of advice belongs in the adventure itself rather than the monster Manuel/base stat block. Actions of most creatures are...

Session 1 – Leaving Neverwinter Met up with some adventurers: Heinrick (Dwarven Paladin); Gerald (Human Cleric); Rasputin (Half-Elf Warlock); Brace (Wood Elf Rogue) Me, I’m Lenora, a High Elf Wizard castigated from my clan in the Silvertree Forest. I’m studying to become a Bladesinger...

I think we have to face the fact that it is much harder to run higher level adventure/encounters than lower level ones. I can sympathize with someone who wants it to be easier to pull monsters off the shelf and run them without having to be overly tactical. That's actually why I enjoy running...

Hi Mike, I responded to the survey, but over the past few years, I've been using pre-written adventures mostly so I had to respond accordingly with much less prep time. There have been times in my years as a DM that I do completely homebrew, so if I filled out the survey even 2 years ago, my...

That's how I see it. When I play, I seem to always feel as if something bad can happen at any time, so even when my PC doesn't take damage, or takes only a little, I still feel the fear of possible bad turn of fate. On the other hand, when I DM, I always feel as if I'm not really challenging...

You should decide before hand if you think the curse should be revealed or not. That's just a judgment call. In my last session, the group found a magical great axe. One of the pcs was really hyped up (and has been talking about finding a magical great axe, so I threw one in). He let the...

Lots of good advice. I'm going to repeat some of what others have said as I add. 1) Start small and build up - in a way, I agree with robus about Lost Mines of Phandelver. It might be good to read it and get ideas, but only run it if you feel comfortable with it. A lot of the times, I find...

Nice, when I play I always try to make my character story/RP driven rather than combat optimized. When I DM, I encourage the same. I prefer rp/story driven D&D with combat as one aspect rather than combat maximized D&D with other elements sprinkled in. Bravo. Have fun.

Movies and books are great inspirations. In one of my campaigns, I ran a section that was based on The Odyssey by Homer. The PCs were sailing the seas trying to get home through storms and rough weather. They touched down at a number of islands because the storm was too dangerous. They had...

I agree with a lot of what everyone is saying here, and I find it really interesting that your group has 5 of 6 actors, but those actors feel uncomfortable rping because they are not "at work." Here's my take on it. If the people in your group want to develop the Roleplaying aspect (and they...

Not, sure, but did you actually call her a "witch"? If you did, that might have set up a false expectation. Most people associate witches wit devil/demon worship, etc. The players might just have been taken off guard that she would politely ask them to put back the stolen goods and apologize...

I know this is late in the thread, but I can see the "number" of enemy as problematic just because it seems to guarantee specific numbers. As a DM, I'd rather have it less specific. Something like relative numbers or concentration of enemy (none, low, moderate, large, etc.).

Cool. That would be an interesting twist, but is it "good" to use evil souls as animated scarecrows? Either way, once the players/PCs solve the threat/problem, that's when they should be rewarded. If they are not rewarded by roleplaying or story advancement, give them something material that...

I agree with Hathorym. They kind of sound like sore losers. Also, how do they know that they will not gain anything if they eventually defeat the witch? Now they know that this creature is harvesting evil souls, and they have been given a moral test. If they can come back and defeat the...

I still think that sometimes the urge to kill in game stems from the thought (true or only perceived) that PCs can get away with it. If PCs spare lives, and those spared come back to haunt them, players/PCs become distrustful and kill to avoid later complications. Also, if they kill...

That's exactly how I use passive checks when players/PCs shouldn't know how easy or difficult something is. I roll a d20 as DM and add modifiers that I think might be important (using the monsters active perception, or other skill that is applicable, or I just make it up). I also roll a die...

This is one of the best advantages for using Fantasy Grounds (lately all of my games have been online using FG) - select the foes and have them auto save - then apply damage. 1/2 damage is automatically applied to the ones that make the save, full to the others. Overall, the die rolling and...

This reminds me of one particular moment in a game I ran a while back. The 8th level PCs (party of 4) were exploring a frozen mountain to find a device that was affecting the weather in the region. They knew that there were giants in the mountain, and perhaps a dragon. Eventually they got to...

This is an interesting topic. I've never actually run a game where the players have agreed to play a low violence, moral game, but I have noticed some patterns that might make it more viable. First, when the players/PCs know that any type of combat will be deadly, they tend to avoid combat and...

Easy and moderate encounters are between 1 and 3 for me. Hard and deadly ones, depending on the number of foes, can be anywhere from 4-12 so far. Encounter length is often situational, foe motives, PC motives, when in the adventuring day it occurs, and party composition. Lots of foes tends...