Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
New DM basic dungeon preparation question
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="jcayer" data-source="post: 4772280" data-attributes="member: 76960"><p>We use a whiteboard with 1 inch squares. It has served us well and with colored markers makes it easy to see where there is water or fire for example. Although, I do like the idea of the large gridded pad for pre-drawing intricate locals.</p><p></p><p>I try to draw only what the players can see and when they can see it. An excellent example of this is they walked into a large room with a dragon in the center. No one looked around and for a change, the DM's plan worked. There were 4 alcoves on the wall where they walked in that no one saw until the guards walked out mid first round and everyone was out of position.</p><p></p><p>As for mini's, I had a bunch of the old lead ones, so each party member chose their own and uses it every session. For monsters, I use dice. It works well since I can group the dice based on monster group(all the orcs are D6s, the goblin archers, d8, etc). What is really nice is we take the time to make sure they all have a unique number facing up. It makes targeting them and keeping track of their hit points so much easier.</p><p></p><p>For initiative, each player has a small post it with their name on it. We put them in init order, along with dice(for the monsters) down the side of the board. Works great. Someone usually moves something down the order so everyone knows who is coming up next.</p><p></p><p>But like everyone said, have fun. Improvise. If you ask my players, one of the most memorable experiences was something I improvised. They were fighting a black dragon in the top of a tower. The party attempted to draw him into the hallway where the terrain was much better for them. So they all flee out there and ready an action for when he comes through the door. Instead I tell them it sounds like he is flying away. Then he crashed through the ceiling on top of 3 of them. Never planned it, cheated in that he crashed through where it would impact them the most, and they never saw it coming.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jcayer, post: 4772280, member: 76960"] We use a whiteboard with 1 inch squares. It has served us well and with colored markers makes it easy to see where there is water or fire for example. Although, I do like the idea of the large gridded pad for pre-drawing intricate locals. I try to draw only what the players can see and when they can see it. An excellent example of this is they walked into a large room with a dragon in the center. No one looked around and for a change, the DM's plan worked. There were 4 alcoves on the wall where they walked in that no one saw until the guards walked out mid first round and everyone was out of position. As for mini's, I had a bunch of the old lead ones, so each party member chose their own and uses it every session. For monsters, I use dice. It works well since I can group the dice based on monster group(all the orcs are D6s, the goblin archers, d8, etc). What is really nice is we take the time to make sure they all have a unique number facing up. It makes targeting them and keeping track of their hit points so much easier. For initiative, each player has a small post it with their name on it. We put them in init order, along with dice(for the monsters) down the side of the board. Works great. Someone usually moves something down the order so everyone knows who is coming up next. But like everyone said, have fun. Improvise. If you ask my players, one of the most memorable experiences was something I improvised. They were fighting a black dragon in the top of a tower. The party attempted to draw him into the hallway where the terrain was much better for them. So they all flee out there and ready an action for when he comes through the door. Instead I tell them it sounds like he is flying away. Then he crashed through the ceiling on top of 3 of them. Never planned it, cheated in that he crashed through where it would impact them the most, and they never saw it coming. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
New DM basic dungeon preparation question
Top