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Our Team and Ethos
We believe in making games that are as easy to pick up and play as possible. With every product, we ask ourselves “how can we make this easier to run?” in an attempt to bring more people into the game and ensure that even the busiest people can get to the table come game night.
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We believe in making games that are as easy to pick up and play as possible. With every product, we ask ourselves “how can we make this easier to run?” in an attempt to bring more people into the game and ensure that even the busiest people can get to the table come game night.
DM Resources
Here’s a collection of useful tools and other tricks of the trade for any aspiring DM. It includes affiliate links for all the campaign and rulebooks (which partially support us), as well as tools for generating free maps, level-appropriate encounters, and other useful stuff!
5e: Keeping Track of In-Game Time
A round of 5e combat takes 6 in-game seconds; ten rounds make a minute. Outside combat, short rests take an hour; long rests, 8 hours. Chunking time into hours is useful for wilderness exploration and urban activities. For longer trips, days are best. Beyond that, narrative beats set the pace.
5e Roleplay Guide: Tips and Tricks
Roleplaying is inhabiting a fictional world through a character, taking charge of their actions and expressing their personhood through action. D&D roleplay is a mix of freeform storytelling and mechanical gameplay (aka “rollplay”). Even freeform roleplay doesn’t necessarily equal acting.
5e: Madness and Sanity Scores
D&D Madness isn’t about accurately portraying mental illness. It’s about a fantastical shattering of the mind by the uncanny, weird, or magical. This manifests as short or long-term Madness effects or more-or-less permanent character flaws. There are even variant rules concerning a Sanity Score.
5e Unarmored Defense & Unarmed Strikes: Bare of Chest & Knuckle
D&D 5e allows you to make a powerful combatant with no arms or armor, and it doesn’t have to be a monk. Fighter and barbarian are terrific options, too, if built right. It takes multiple good ability scores to manage it, though, more so than most builds.
5e Spellsword Builds: The Mobile Slash & Blast Striker
A spellsword is more magically adept than a half-caster, better at melee than most full casters, and not as hardy as a martial character. They move quickly to make the most of good positioning, switching between weapons (often magically enhanced) and spellcasting as needed. A striker, not a tank.
5E: Making Cursed Items
Cursed items are objects of power that negatively affect the user against their will. Sometimes a cursed item provides a tempting benefit along with the negative effect, or it influences the user’s mind to make them unwilling to part with it. Sometimes, the curse doesn’t bother the user at all or can be used to their benefit.
5e: Best Magic Items for Each Class
One of the most exciting aspects of wandering and plundering the worlds of D&D is the loot that you find along the way. From ancient swords to cursed tomes, there’s plenty of treasure to find as you adventure. Though, some items are better than others depending on your class.
5e: Building a Town, City, or Village for DMs
When building a town, you need to have these things in order: Social, Political, Economic, Religious, and Military. Once you have those in order, your town will fill itself out. Let’s take a look.
5e: Mastering The Action Economy
The action economy measures how many acts creatures or groups can do in a round of combat. In a 5e round—six in-game seconds—a creature can do: one action, one bonus action, one reaction, one free object interaction (like unsheathing a blade), move up to their speed.
D&D 5e: Beginner DM Tips
Start small; develop the world as you go. You should also be enjoying yourself when playing. Take inspiration from everywhere. Don’t bother studying the rulebook; study key basics, then learn as you go. Embrace chaos, stop the game when needed, and adapt the world to the party.
5e: How to Run Horror Adventures
The horror genre covers a broad spectrum of scenarios. What unites them are the feelings of mounting dread and powerlessness. Though D&D 5e is ultimately about acquiring power and beating the odds, you can still achieve a riveting horror experience through narrative and careful tweaking.