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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...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Fantasy narratives often imbue characters with powerful staffs, portraying them as tools of authority and magic. From Gandalf's iconic wizard's staff to Marcille Donato's staff Ambroisa from Delicious in Dungeon, staves are as much tools as part of their identity...

In a monster-filled world, what's okay to eat? Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Drawing inspiration from the book Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat, let's explore the often-unexamined categories of creatures that adventurers in Dungeons & Dragons might consider off-limits, acceptable...

There's been a trend for a while now in video games and anime: crafting what you kill. D&D is finally catching up. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Dungeons & Dragons has always supported the concept of collecting stuff, with detailed inventory lists and encumbrance rules. Despite this, the...

Wandering monsters aren't the only beings you might encounter in a dungeon; NPC adventurers can be helpful too (even unintentionally). Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Dungeons in D&D are often portrayed as desolate places, populated only by malevolent monsters. But what if these subterranean...

In traditional D&D dungeons, traps are everywhere. But what keeps them running? Picture By George E. Koronaios - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=126583620 In the world of Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons are often steeped in magic, with traps triggered by...

Megadungeons, long a staple of D&D, can be just as complex as any other ecosystem in your campaign. Picture by Thompsma - Own work, CC BY 3.0, File:TrophicWeb.jpg - Wikimedia Commons The concept of megadungeons conjures images of sprawling underground complexes filled with untold riches and...

As much as I love dice, I'm always open to trying other randomizers. Enter these spinners. Dice Tower Spinner The concept is definitely intriguing. It's essentially a spinning tower that houses all six standard RPG dice (D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20) in one place. The idea is to spin the...

I'm always on the prowl for Steampunk-themed dice for my artificer characters, but there's an eternal battle between legibility and design. When it comes to branding dice like this, you have two options: put something in the dice or change the outside of the dice. Let's take a look. Galaxy...

I'm always a fan of terrain, and particularly terrain that doesn't require a lot of work. This are some rather expensive hills ... ranging between 40 and 80 bucks. Owlbear Terrain Set The Owlbear set, retailing for $80, boasts over 98 pieces covering a footprint of about 3.5 square feet. The...

The era of bulk unpainted miniatures, once dominated by companies like Reaper with their Bones line, is over. Smaller companies are now creating their own miniatures and while they may not have quite as much detail, they are certainly good enough -- and they can be a surprisingly reasonable deal...

If your table is like mine, cup stains are a constant threat to character sheets when table space is limited. That's where the coasters from CZYY come into play. This set of twelve round wooden coasters features laser-engraved icons representing a diverse array of D&D species – from the...

I love playing necromancers in Dungeons & Dragons (long unlive Gauskel Blackcloak!) so I'm always on the lookout for skull dice. Unfortunately, nearly every form of skull dice suffers from the same flaw, and that's legibility. These dice are no different. The gothic aesthetic is striking, and...

Gothic terrain is a staple of a lot of tabletop role-playing games, including D&D and Warhammer, which is why there's lots of sets for sale like this one. This set offers a couple of ruined church buildings, designed for 18-28mm miniatures. The detail is solid. There are plenty of nooks and...

There are two types of DMs: the kind who like to print their maps and the kind who use dry- or wet-erase maps. The problem is that if say, you have a valuable map you need to markup that isn't made for markers, the DM has to mark up the map permanently or not touch it at all. These Gaming Paper...

If you're a Dungeon Master or a player who frequently uses area-of-effect spells, you know the struggle of accurately visualizing those spell ranges. In my opinion, the gold standard for spell effects are wire templates by Steel Sqwire, which make it easier to just plop a template over a...

The trend of letting social media platforms manage engagement for gaming communities is coming to an end. What's replacing it? Picture courtesy of State of Create The "State of Create 2025" report, published by ConvertKit, offers a valuable snapshot of the evolving creator economy, revealing...