Ten Cool D&D Things #161-170
Soup of the Night shares RPG advice I wish I had received.
Kobold Press explains how to end a campaign.
Scott F. Gray shares his FRPG tips for June 2025.
Sultan's Musings explains the benefits of shorter, more frequent sessions for RPG campaigns.
Sly Flourish shares his lazy treasure parcels as a method for stress-free loot distribution. These are useful!
Grognardia advises DMs to keep characters hungry if you want a prolonged and satisfying campaign.
The Man with a Hammer has some observations on onboarding new players into RPG campaigns.
Domain of Many Things explains how to prepare room descriptions to enhance immersion and clarity.
UsedUpAnimePillow posted a visual guide to oldskool hexcrawling over on Reddit.
Weird Wonder shares the Tom Bombadil approach to RPG lore.
DM David discusses five tropes that make exciting stories but ruin D&D games. David posts rarely these days, but he always has something valuable to share.
Kobold Press recently hosted a world-building design seminar with Wolfgang Baur, Zeb Cook, and Richard Green. A very talented panel!
Mike Mearls is putting the magic back into magic items. I liked his reworking of the flying broom, though a friend felt it was overcooked. Who is right?
Johnn Four identifies a common DM mistake in dialogue delivery. I hadn't considered this before.
Dyson has assembled a big collection of house rules for RPG campaigns. I love reading house rules.
Eldritch Fields overviews the best adventures from Footprints, which was the magazine for the Dragonsfoot website. It is entirely free.
Attronarch announces the launch of Ever and Anon, a Creative Commons zine intended as a spiritual successor to the recently deceased Alarums and Excursions.
James Wallis introduces the Interactive Fantasy archive, a short-lived 90s magazine dedicated to narrative game design.
The Alexandrian has some roleplaying tips for the new DM. As always, Justin is spot on.
Real Lars shares a recent "illusion encounter" in his game and the takeaway lessons.
Viridian Void asks what we need in an NPC and defines the minimum viable person. Very insightful.
Hipsters & Dragons introduces a one-page NPC tool. Duncan has a very cool book coming out soon.
Veritas Tabletop just completed a three-part series on coins and currency. This article is for serious worldbuilders.
Gnome Stew discusses moms who game. It is a topic that deserves more attention.
The Alexandrian offers some solid tips on managing your session prep load.
Goblin Punch suggests you should write a dungeon of your own. Listen to Arnold.
Bocoloid shares what he learned from changing a campaign midway through.
Grinning Rat has just invented the Tetromino Dungeon. It's a neat method for creating maps.
Kobold Press explains how to benchmark your own spells. Useful!
Forlorn Encystment argues that dealing with NPCs should be expensive and irritating. Sometimes I make my NPCs too helpful and friendly.
Traverse Fantasy presents a relationship complication table. It's great! I've often wanted an "NPC secret" table, and I think this could form the core of it.
Hipsters & Dragons dives deep into breaking down doors. Duncan has written some bangers lately, and he has a new book coming out later in the year.
Sly Flourish suggests you should track turns the Shadowdark way. I feel embarrassed to admit I've never tried out-of-combat turns, but I want to.
Accidental Cyclops explains how to create encounters informed by creature ecology. Nice article, and they currently have a crowdfunder running.
Patchwork Paladin introduces speedcrawls. I'd really like to try this one week when my group lacks a quorum. I could do it with a "rules lite" system I'm working on, called "The M.T. Black Hack".
Revivify Games shares the lazy guide hexcrawl building. Enough said.
Aboleth Overlords suggests we adopt action-oriented interaction at the table. He makes a good point.
Domain of Many Things explains how to prepare room descriptions.
Dungeon Merlin introduces a pattern language for adventure design. Pattern languages were a big deal in the IT world for a while, and I've also thought there was room for one in game design.
Here's a bit of fun - I Cast Light discusses the downtime demands of sentient weapons. One of our most memorable campaigns was a level 1-20 romp based around the sentient sword, Blackrazor.
Grinning Rat shares 100 ways to improve as a DM. It's a great list with many good ideas.
Dododecahedron explores NPC design by the masters. He also includes a list of best practices.
Roleplaying Tips shares a trick that gets your players to roleplay. I use this technique myself, to good effect.
Eldritch Fields created some monster generator spark cards. Simple but evocative.
Sea Light Studios considers some alternative paralysis mechanics. Hmmm... what do you think?
Ruckerworks compares several Dungeon Master Guides and identifies the strengths of each.
Pointless Monument explains how to make huntable monsters and provides some strong examples.
Ars Ludi presents the star pattern, which he considers a DM anti-pattern. There's a link to part 2 at the bottom.
Kobold Press explains the difference between a villain and a foe. It's a good distinction!
The Puzzle Dungeon blog is presenting a series on puzzle dungeon design. The first part looks at design themes and gimmicks.
Gnome Stew introduces the invocation reroll mechanic. I think this rule is inspired, and I plan to try it at my table.
Duncan explains how to make consistent rulings at the table.
Jacke has a fresh take on the ancient game of riddles.
Hilanderrpgs presents an excellent settlement generator.
Traipse categorises ten types of "special" dungeon rooms.
The Alexandrian shares a nice tip for running background adventures.
Patchwork Paladin explores the dynamics between close and distant playstyles. It's an enlightening read.
The Conversation examines how Ursula K. Le Guin's maps reveal her approach to world-building. Earthsea had a significant influence on my Iskandar world map.
Sage Sanctum presents the "hole theory" of interesting combat design.
A friend of a friend shares a poetic reflection on his gaming table.
Prince of Nothing analyses monster design through various editions. He has some good insights, and it was fun comparing the stat blocks through the ages.
Monsters and Manuals suggests the Wikipedia trawl as a campaign generator. His worked example is excellent.
Afraid of Encounters argues that all gamemasters are game designers. Complete agreement from me.
Kobold Press shares eight ideas from the Predator movies to steal for your game. Or you could use an Orthon.
Dump Stat Adventures introduces a d100 table of magical side effects. These are very neat; the druid in my last campaign was under a curse that caused magical side effects. This table is better than the one I devised.
Alchemist Nocturne is in favour of guns in fantasy. I had no firearms in Iskandar—until one of my players asked to play a gunslinger.
Monte Cook reflects on rolling the dice and discovering outcomes. He highlights a subtle but important distinction in approach.
Roleplaying Tips describes an ancient technique for unlocking creativity.
The DM Lair outlines ten dungeon map design tips every DM should know. You probably do know most of these, but it's helpful to revisit them.
Dice Goblin presents the seven anchors of wilderness play. I enjoy these sorts of patterns, although they are vulnerable to metagamming.
Gus thinks your dungeon needs less combat and more obstacles. I think he is on to something.
This link is one for the data nerds. And the blog nerds. Elmcat has created an interactive graph of the RPG blogosphere. It is fascinating to filter it year by year and watch blogs grow and fade.
The Alexandrian explains why he still plays D&D - and why that might soon change.
Mekhami outlines 20 ways to get an RPG unstuck. Nice list.
Snow presents must-read articles on game design. I always enjoy such lists, and there is plenty of material there that I have not seen before.
Sly Flourish explains why you should cheat when you play D&D. It's a contentious topic, but he makes a strong case.
Patchwork Paladin uses a goblin ambush to illustrate good and bad encounters. Strong article!
Roleplaying Tips suggests we need to add pokey bits to our NPCs. I agree.
Mindstorm Press shows how to create a pocket-sized powder keg for TTRPG play. It's all about potential energy.
Nova shares a step-by-step guide to her adventure-writing process. These kinds of articles are always helpful.
Forlorn Encystment suggests thatthe player-drawn dungeon map is fast, flexible, and fun.
Katt Kirsch makes the case for replaying modules.
Advantage on Arcana outlines a plan for better gaming locations.
Pikliz Dungeon has thoughts on dungeon weapons.
D. Bolinsky shares 100 adventure hooks from official sources.
Missives from Mooncastle explores the fine art of failing forward.
Sly Flourish explains a neat hack for tracking damage.
The Alexandrian explains how to make combat timers work.
Failure Tolerated suggests players should talk to the dungeon.
Gnome Stew assures us that prep is aspirational.
Explorers Design presents The Bloggies 2026. This includes the finalists and winner in each category--an absolute feast of quality RPG articles.
Knight at the Opera explores the challenges of dungeon mapping. This is a very good article about the exploration pillar of D&D.
The Graverobber’s Guide describes the tell–test–twist approach to adventure location design. I like it!
Monstrous Company introduces trophic encounter tables. It's a cool idea based on real-life food chains.
Ponder the Goose suggests we use spellbooks as encounters. Such a fun idea, but I need to think how to apply it to my setting.
Dice and Inkwell explains how to craft unforgettable NPCs. Very solid.
Mindstorm Press proposes settlement-oriented sandbox campaign design. I just finished a 3-year Iskandar campaign that took place entirely in the province, with much of the action centered on towns and villages, with the characters having to return to the city to level up. There's a lot of adventure that can take place in settled areas.
Pikliz Dungeon explains how to make better encounter tables. I like the developed example.
Goblin Punch introduces Divine Patronage: a system for party advancement. Intriguing!
The Alexandrian shows us how to handle player planning. Justin always brings the goods.