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I started using minis(actually, lego characters. A lot cheaper than minis and you can take off their heads when they're dead) and a map about a year ago, and it has made the game play a lot faster. We no longer argue about how they wouldn't get caught in the blast of a fireball, be able to flank...

My players are strange little creatures. They regularly scoff at the idea of working for someone, refuse tasks given to them by kings and emperors, consider themselves too important to obey orders.... unless said order comes from the god they worship. King of Good Generic Country: I will...

Another vote for Savage Worlds. I switched from D&D to Savage Worlds a few months ago and I've been having so much fun with it that I can't see myself returning to D&D anytime soon.

I use long words and cut off a few letters. Kazakhstan becomes Kazhan, good for some fancy wizard with a big hat. Dissimulate becomes Dimle, a fancy gnome with a big hat. Obstreperous becomes Ostros, a fancy... you get the idea.

Used to take a minute or more when I played D&D, as the players often forgot to think about their action and spent a long time thinking about it. Now that I'm playing Savage Worlds, it usually takes about 15 seconds.

I tend to make any mythical creature a lot more physically imposing than they should be(according to the rules). I've always used the legged version, but my players are a lot more concerned about being swallowed whole than kicked.

Music fits my rather cinematic style of DMing quite well, especially since I switched from D&D to Savage Worlds. I use the World of Warcraft soundtrack and Midnight Syndicate as background music, and have setlists for battles and boss battles. It's mostly video game music, and a current favorite...

Final Stand. I love this game and it's free. http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9913.phtml It's a martial arts game and it takes about a minute to create a character for it.

You can't succeed on a spot check against a ninja. The ninja only exists when time has come to strike, he is not really hidden anywhere before then.

I had been meaning to make a thread about ninja encounters, but this will do fine. Forget about players wanting to be ninjas. Forget about players claiming that nothing can beat a ninja. Ninjas are the DM's sword, ready to strike whenever he pleases. You've all seen movies where armies of...

One time I gave my players a cursed ring with the head of a ram engraved on it because they kept making decisions based on things they knew and not things their characters knew, so I figured one of them would go "hey, ring of the ram!" and not bother with identifying it. The ring forced the...

A baby basilisk. Too small to petrity a human, but it saved us from a hellwasp swarm.

-Inside a structure sliding/tumbling down a hill. Every d6 rounds, the structure hits a hard spot and rolls over. Everyone who does not succeed on a reflex save is tossed around and placed on a random tile inside the structure, on top of taking damage from bouncing on the walls. I ran a fight...

I only ask for basic acrobatics and knowledge of how to be a decent human being.

The problem I have with high level campaigns is that designing encounters that should challenge the players without killing them is getting harder. I'm getting to the point where the players are so powerful that it takes something with incredible power to threaten them. The players all have huge...

I once had to deal with two tantrums over the phone. I was getting ready to DM and had 4 players with me when I received a phone call from one of the players saying that he and his girlfriend, also a player, couldn't make it to the game. I was fine with that and told him I'd tell them about the...

Voted undead and dragon, because both contain monsters that players fear before they even get into a fight. My players are so terrified of liches that they pretty much incinerate every skeleton they find lying around, just in case. Liches are also good because they don't necessarly die once...

I link CHA and Beauty, but the bigger part of CHA should always have to do with confidence and force of personality. Being pretty might help you be more charismatic but it won't do if you're pretty and have the personality of a otyugh. I wouldn't associate beauty with CON and CHA because I...

My players found a deck of many things while exploring old castle ruins. They recovered what they were looking for from the ruins but during the final battle in the castle 3 of the characters died horribly. The remaining characters, a sorcerer and a cleric of mask, decided to draw 3 cards each...

Ankhegs could be trained to create tunnels. Iron Golems, while expensive, would be devastating.