Most GMs love their players and running games is a labor of love for them.  However, burnout can happen to all of us and it might be a good idea for you to give your DM a night off now and then.  In today’s episode I give you some suggestions on how to do so.

#dmtips #dnd #pf2e #GMtips #burnout

Resources:

Clay-o-Rama (2017 republish) - https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/dragon/D15_Clay-O-Rama.pdf

Dungeons are core to many of our game systems out there.  This week, in part 2 of the dungeon crawl series, I give DMs some tips for populating dungeons, using room descriptions and making them a bit more realistic.

#DMtips #dnd #Pathfinder #GMtips #Dungeons

Resources:

Jennell Jaquays GoFundMe:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/jennell-jaquays-has-a-long-road-back

Redd Horrocks on Fiverr - https://www.fiverr.com/reddhorrocks 

5e monster filter:  https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/monsters/

Pathfinder 2e creatures:  https://2e.aonprd.com/Creatures.aspx 

Sly Flourish:  Running a Dungeon Crawl:  https://slyflourish.com/running_a_dungeon_crawl.html

Dungeon crawl adventures can be some of the most fun adventures that you run and they are relatively simple to set up provided you have a few pieces of information prepared ahead of time.  Tune in this week to find out what those are:

#pf2e #dnd #DMTips #Dungeon

Resources:

Redd Horrocks on Fiverr - https://www.fiverr.com/reddhorrocks 

5 Room Dungeons - https://www.roleplayingtips.com/5-room-dungeons/ 

Jaquaysian Dungeons - https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/xandering-the-dungeon

This isn't your normal advice episode.  In this surprise gift to all of you, here is a peek behind the curtain at just how many times I mess up while recording.  This is a collection of some of my blooper reel for 2023.  I hope you laugh as much listening as I did while making it.

There are two types of changes players and GMs can make to rules, spells, effects, weapons, and other aspects of tabletop RPGs:  flavor or fluff changes and mechanical or crunchy changes.  In this episode I talk about the difference, why one should be allowed almost always and why the other type of changes should be approached with caution.

#dnd #pf2e #DMTips #FlavorIsFree

Resources:

3D Crafts & Curios etsy store - https://etsy.com/shop/3DCraftsAndCurios 

Flavor is Free - https://tabletopbuilds.com/flavor-is-free/ 

Know Direction Podcast Article - Energy Type Rundown by Dustin Knight:  https://knowdirectionpodcast.com/2021/05/foxs-cunning-energy-type-rundown/

Not every combat needs to be a slog to determine which side grinds down the other to 0 hit points.  By considering enemy motivations, the “why” of the fight you can introduce more variety to the end result of encounters.

#dnd #pf2e #DMTips #rpgcombat

Resources:

3D Crafts & Curios etsy store - https://etsy.com/shop/3DCraftsAndCurios 

Matthew Colville:  Why Are We Fighting?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAfPoOxIVm0&t=1s 

The decision to fight or flee – insights into underlying mechanism in crickets - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2012.00118/full

We GMs have a certain way of thinking, sometimes lightning quick and nimble, and sometimes more methodical and measured.  We need to learn how to get out of our own heads and think like enemies do during combat.  In this episode, I give you some tips for running very intelligent and very unintelligent enemies for your players.

#dnd #pf2e #DMTips #rpgtips

Resources:

3D Crafts & Curios etsy store - https://etsy.com/shop/3DCraftsAndCurios 

Keith Amman The Monsters Know What They Are Doing:  https://www.themonstersknow.com/intelligent-enemy-tactics/

DMs, our job is varied and difficult at times.  We have so much on our plate to get ready for the game that we sometimes lose sight of the most important advice we can heed behind the screen.  In this episode, I’m going to remind you of that advice that keeps your game centered and your players excited to come back.

#dnd #pf2e #DMTips #OneImportantRule

Resources:

3D Crafts & Curios etsy store - https://etsy.com/shop/3DCraftsAndCurios 

Players, your DMs love you and enjoy having you at their table but some of them could use a little help even if they don’t know how to ask for it.  In this episode I encourage players to talk to DMs about how they can help carry the burden of keeping a weekly game going.

#dnd #pf2e #DMTips #Burnout

Exploration is the shortest of the three legs of RPGs and doesn’t get the love that combat or social encounters do at most tables.  However, with a little planning, and learning how to run a hexcrawl or prepare some mysteries and histories, exploration can be a lot of fun for your entire table.  Plus you will get to hear Jeremy struggle to say Lothlorien.

#dnd #pf2e #DMTips #RPGExploration #GMTips

Resources:

3D Crafts & Curios etsy store - https://etsy.com/shop/3DCraftsAndCurios 

Badooga’s Exlploration Guidelines - https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MEVza9zokR5wbbwbs5c

Sly Flourish article on Pointcrawls - https://slyflourish.com/pointcrawls.html

The Angry GM - Exploration - https://theangrygm.com/what-makes-exploration

The Alexandrian article on Hexcrawls:  https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/17308/roleplaying-games/hexcrawl