Author Archives: MssngrDeath

When Anton Met Pepper

Players love messing with NPCs. That’s kind of their thing, perhaps even more than petty crime and distributing loot. Whether the DM presents a haughty nobleman or a vicious warlord or even a curmudgeonly shopkeeper, the players feel it’s their … Continue reading

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The Vampire Ambush

I’m something like a recovering simulationist. I’m happiest with a campaign when it makes sense, when causes lead naturally to effects, and when I don’t have to leverage my willing suspension of disbelief too much. I do understand that we … Continue reading

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Selling

A few actual, non-hyperbolic years ago, I said this: Yes, having an odd ability score as an ability damage buffer is a type of metagaming. But it’s also a way of defining a character. As in, “Rock Hardslab is so … Continue reading

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The Principle of Explosion

DMs are wary of giving power to players, partially because few DMs can prepare for or react to players with too much freedom and partially because players are guaranteed to abuse it. This is why wishes are granted so rarely, … Continue reading

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Slyghen the Unfortunate

Sometimes I forget just how much DMing I’ve done. I have loose numbers in mind, like the number of campaigns I’ve run, but the weight of all the time and effort I’ve spent usually escapes my notice. I only think … Continue reading

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The Many Tones of Shade

I’ll admit the name of the last post inspired this one, but its a valid topic besides. I have been fortunate in my DMing career in that I’ve rarely had to deal with players who cannot stand each other. It’s … Continue reading

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The Many Shades of Tone

I’ve begun a new campaign, because I am very dumb. While Faith is closing out its first season I’ve also put together Under the Stars, a campaign I loosely described to the players as Breath of the Wild meets Ni … Continue reading

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Apparatus of Kwalish

Every player can recall a moment when they latched onto something in a book, never to let it go. In fact, each player probably has several. Something about a class or a race or a spell tickled their brain and … Continue reading

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Session Hangover

In my last post I mentioned what I do the day after I run a session. That’s not exclusive to this campaign. Most of the time I use the next day to think about what worked, what didn’t, and where … Continue reading

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Ask the DM

Small blog update: I’ve added an “Ask the DM” link to the menu at the top of the page. If you have any questions or requests for future blog posts, hit me up.

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