Earlier this year my online ‘London D&D group’ got back together for a new campaign, with my friend Mike taking up the reins as Dungeon Master. The story so far is that our party has been recruited into a dissident faction which is dedicated to fighting slavery in the autocratic, tiefling-run state that constitutes the […] The post In 2024, Ambiguity Rules first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

Much proverbial ink has been spilt on the subject of running skills checks in D&D, including on this very blog (…discussing adjusting the default Difficulty Classes, using passive skills as a solution for swingy dice, and an early suggestion that certain proficiencies should be considered ‘technical’ proficiencies). Like most DMs, my methodology for adjudicating such […] The post Failing Forward in D&D (and Some Alternatives!) first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

Designing and running truly fantastic Dungeons & Dragons scenarios time after time ain’t easy. More often than not your instincts and tools will help you create a great gaming session… but sometimes what sounded cool in your imagination doesn’t spark the game into life, the players lose interest and the session falls flat. I’d be […] The post The Secret Ingredient to Great D&D… first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

While cities in Dungeons & Dragons are jam-packed with adventure potential, it can be much harder for DMs to find the drama in an urban setting, versus that of the dungeon or wilderness. This is largely because the Dungeon Master’s main tool – monsters – can’t be deployed with the same frequency and credibility in […] The post How To Run Urban Campaigns in D&D first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

The other day I saw that Sly Flourish answered a question on his RPG talk show about running gladiatorial arenas in D&D. Given that I dedicated 1.5 years of my life writing an epic 300-page arena adventure, I figured this is probably a topic I should also address on my own media! Especially since writing […] The post How To Run An Epic Gladiatorial Adventure first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

I was thinking about healing potions the other day (as any 40-something responsible adult does), and I believe I came up with a pretty good solution to the two big issues that healing potions suffer from in 5e D&D. The first problem is, famously, that they don’t scale at all, and your humble, standard issue, […] The post Healing Potions That Scale & Are Easy to Remember first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

Recently, I have run two big trial scenes in two separate D&D campaigns. The first led to one of the most dramatic sessions I have ever run (or so the players who took part told me!), full of twists, turns, revelations and surprises. The second was full of prevaricating, repetitions, belligerent brow-beating and farcical pretence. […] The post Zone of Tedium… The Truth About ZoT! first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

It’s a common lament in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons that players accrue bags and bags of cash, but have very little to spend it on. Inquisitive players start to wonder why they bother delving into dungeons, or accept life threatening missions, to amass more and more gold, when they can’t even spend the coin […] The post How I Fixed “Too Much Gold And Nothing To Spend It On”… first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

If you’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons for any reasonable length of time, you may well have heard the enigmatic phrase ‘West Marches Campaign’ dropped into your D&D discourse. What is a West Marches Campaign? West Marches was the solution of Dungeon Master (and game designer) Ben Robbins to the age-old issue of RPG scheduling […] The post Dirty Jobs: An Urban ‘West Marches’ Campaign first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more

“Heists don’t work in D&D!” retorted my friend and fellow Dungeon Master, when I announced I was excited to get my hands on Keys from the Golden Vault. It’s a common refrain, usually followed by: “You should try Blades in the Dark!” According to its many detractors Dungeons & Dragons is, in fact, a terrible […] The post Designing & Running Heists in 5e D&D first appeared on Hipsters & Dragons ..read more