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I use a VTT with dynamic lighting for all my dungeons with really nice art assets I've been building up over the years. Pit traps filled with poisoned spikes and an overhead pipe that spews acid.

In a situation where I have any concerns about character death, I'm just going to take death off the table full stop. Or at least establish at the outset of any given encounter that this one's for all the marbles or failure means capture or something other than death. Then I don't have to worry...

Presumably the DM is in alignment with the players as to what they find acceptable as a group. As someone said, "That's what discussing things like adults in Session 0 is for." I would suggest to players, and do, that they shouldn't just assume difficulty (e.g. that they know the monster is...

My point is I don't need the screwdriver in the first place because there's nothing that needs fixing. I don't create stakes I'm not willing to live with if the dice go either way.

Fudging is, to me, not so much about trust (though there's some of that, depending) but just that it's a tool that serves no purpose. I don't rely on the dice to make decisions for me that could go in a direction that is not fun for everyone, given that particular group's preferences. If we've...

The PCs in my Get Bargle game last night got to within just 2 rooms away from confronting him before pulling back. They're tasked with capturing him to take him back to Threshold for the murder of Aleena. I intend to use some of the arguments here as something he'll tell them to sow doubt that...

You don't stay rich by overpaying for provisions!

My principles demand honesty with everyone and that extends to my players. Fudging a die roll certainly isn't on the same level as purposefully spreading misinformation or the like, but it is still against my principles, so it's right out. As well, I don't find that it's even necessary as long...

Thinking back to a previous post of yours regarding a player who was offended at being reminded his character wore glasses... you can start a fire with a pair of glasses.

At a minimum, I need to hear a goal and approach from the player. What they are hoping to achieve and what they set about doing to achieve it with reasonable specificity. "Reasonable specificity" here means that I don't have to make any guesses about their character's actions. They are free to...

Yep - it's a good DM practice in my view that if you're going to let the dice decide, make sure the success and failure states are both exciting and memorable for the players, even if failure sucks for the characters. If the DM can't imagine what that looks like in the moment, don't let the dice...

I think it's one of those situations where we can talk about the rules, the theory, and the ideals we strive for eloquently, but no fallible human can be expected to get them all right all the time in practice. We will all miss the mark from time to time. It's the striving that matters.

Whether or not the DM is assigned a role of "storyteller" is largely defined by the rules of the edition we're talking about. In D&D 3e and 4e, I believe it was mostly defined as writing adventures and controlling pacing. In D&D 5e, the DM is the "lead storyteller," suggesting they are first...

At my table, the story is whatever happened during play. I have no particular desire to push it one way or another, but rather to just see how it turns out through collaboration with the players and the outcome of dice, which I roll in the open. That often results in something more interesting...

No, I don't think it's going to be good. I think that because I've been hurt before and can never trust again.

I'm happy to report they've finally adapted themselves to this fictional reality. While the fleeing party executed a rather decisive attack on the kobolds guarding the route out of the ruins, their captured companion negotiated a tentative peace with the kobold chieftain. They could pass...

As in D&D 4e, I prefer the caster or effect rolls against the target's defense (e.g. Fort, Ref, Will). This keeps everything in the hands of the attacker rather than having a clunky back-and-forth between sometimes attack rolls and sometimes saves. I definitely would not like the "competition"...

I prefer rewarding exploration challenges with treasure, and avoiding encounters is often its own reward since the PCs can conserve resources that way. I would not give XP here. I think going for a set number of hours of content is a good way to plan out how much you're going to create. Some...

Standard XP, but only for killing monsters or changing their attitude from hostile to indifferent or unfriendly via social interaction. Very little treasure on monsters - you have to poke around to find that reward. There are factions in the dungeon that don't get along or have alliances that...

I actually like it as it is, that is, as long as it's post-MM3 monsters and Rules Compendium skill challenges. I still play and run the game. Removing some of the old monsters and old skill challenge design just to clean things up a bit would about do it for me.