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Wagon trains are traditionally associated with the Wild West, but the trope can easiliy apply to fantasy campaigns too. Far from simple travel, these journeys were complex undertakings, fraught with peril and dependent on careful planning and collective resilience. For DMs looking to capture...

Nestled in the remote, rugged landscape of Cimarron, New Mexico, stands the St. James Hotel, now a living monument to the American Wild West. From its humble beginnings as Lambert's Inn in 1872, established by former Lincoln chef Henri Lambert, it quickly became a legendary stopover on the Santa...

Towering majestically over the Colorado landscape, Pikes Peak, known as "America's Mountain," is a treasure trove of inspiration for Dungeon Masters seeking to infuse their D&D campaigns with verticality, elemental peril, and the thrill of exploration. I visited it before summiting the Tooth of...

My visit to this Colorado landmark (before the Philmont hike) was a great way to acclimate ourselves to the new elevation and get inspired for my next D&D campaign. Earth: Petrified Colossi and Ancient Peaks At the heart of the Garden of the Gods lies a collection of towering, jagged rock...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Dungeons & Dragons' Dungeon Master's Guide offers various ways to check for random encounters, suggesting anything from once an hour to just once during a long rest. The standard method usually involves rolling a d20, with an 18 or higher (a 15% chance) indicating...

Learn to Play Dungeons & Dragons Saturday, October 25 and the First Saturday of every month Calling all adult adventurers (Ages 18 and up)! Join us to play the legendary tabletop game, Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2024 Rules). Whether you are a total beginner who wants to learn the basics...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Camping in the wilderness offers breathtaking vistas and unforgettable memories, but as I learned the hard way on my hike in Philmont, it's the multitude of small discomforts that truly wear you down. These aren't climactic monster battles, but the insidious grind...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. This mantra echoes through the mind of any experienced backpacker, a constant negotiation between necessity and comfort, safety and speed. Extended wilderness trips demand meticulous packing, where every item is weighed, scrutinized, and often grudgingly left...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. In theory, party order is a neat line where everyone stays in place. In reality, boredom, fatigue, and rough terrain can all conspire to break it up. The rigid lines drawn on paper rarely survive the messy reality of dynamic environments and human (or adventuring...

I learned a lot from my week-long, 30-mile trek through the rugged Cimarron, New Mexico backcountry, and the parallels between managing a hiking crew and guiding a Dungeons & Dragons party became strikingly clear. Just like an adventuring party navigating a dungeon, a group embarking on a...

Day 7 began before dawn with the roaring wind. At 3:30 a.m., the wind bellowed so loudly it was hard to think, though mercifully it never reached our tents. Fearing we'd be blown off the mountain peak trying to scale the Tooth of Time, our leaders decided to wait it out for another hour. In...

Day 6 began with a truly magical, if challenging, experience. A staff member, dressed fittingly in wizard robes, led us in the morning up a scramble of rugged rocks to see the sunrise. She easily scaled the rocks while the rest of us huffed and puffed (me in particular), struggling with the...

Day 5 began beautifully for us. I, along with another adult leader, awoke early just to enjoy the gorgeous sunrise. The wind had whipped our tents quite a bit that night, but blessedly, there was no rain. Instead, warm gusts of wind kept blowing through our campsite, a truly welcome reprieve...

Day 4 marked the midway point of the hike. It's often considered the hardest day too, as this is when our Ranger said his farewells and left us. It was a bittersweet moment; while we were ready to prove we could do it (and frankly, were eager to get on with the hike without him), he was the last...

After a good night's sleep and breakfast at our starting camp, Day 3 was meant to be the second leg of our trek with our Ranger still guiding us. They were there to help us sharpen our camping skills, and the plan was for them to eventually leave us on our own, likely by early Day 4. Our...

After a good night's rest at Base Camp/Headquarters, our Day 2 began bright and early. We had to check out of tent city no later than 8:30 a.m. and report to the Welcome Center at our scheduled departure time. This was it – the real beginning of our trek! We hopped on a Philmont bus that took...

We finally made it to the Welcome Center of Philmont Scout Ranch! We drove in right beside the gateway to the unloading area and were immediately greeted by staff members who gave us our instructions for unloading and parking. While in the bathroom I bumped into a Ranger -- he would turn out to...

Our hike at the BSA Philmont Scout Ranch was a seven day 30-mile trek designed to test our eleven-person crew (consisting of three adults and their boys, plus an additional four scouts and a Ranch-assigned ranger who leaves after Day 3). Starting from Camping Headquarters on Day 1, we would...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. It's hard. As Dungeon Masters, we meticulously craft encounters, balancing challenge ratings, hit points, and legendary actions, to make an encounter challenging. But sometimes, that intent is for the party to face an insurmountable obstacle, a force meant to...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. What Do You Mean You've Never Heard of Me? As Dungeon Masters, we invest heavily in our bad guys. We craft intricate backstories, devise cunning schemes, and anticipate the look on players' faces when a past foe steps back into the spotlight with a flourish. It...