Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips on, what does a Dungeon Master do?

Emily

The Dungeon Master, or DM, is the main storyteller and guide to the game. The DM controls the world, monsters, effects, and NPCs of the game.

Sierra

NPC stands for a Non-player character which are the monsters, villagers, royalty, and of course little Tommy who fell down the well.

Emily

The only people you don’t have ultimate control over are the PCs. PC stands for Player-character. These are your real-life friends playing the game with you.

Sierra

As a Dungeon Master you are the Master of Worlds! Which just means you create and control the world you are in.

Emily

Now that may seem a bit daunting at first, but there are many Dungeons and Dragons Sourcebooks, or guides, to various worlds and game settings that have already been made for you.

Sierra

Or you can do what us in the D&D world like to call “homebrew” where you can create your own world. Your world could be stuck in the clouds or a planet covered in savage lava monsters. You make it what you want!

Emily

In addition to being the “Master of Worlds”, you are also the “Master of Adventures”. Which means that you spend some of your own time crafting adventures, or quests, for your friends to play through. 

Sierra

Like saving little Tommy from the well! But don't worry, if you don't feel up to making your own adventure yet. There are PLENTY of D&D source books with pre-written adventures for you to use.

Emily

Exactly. As a DM, you are also the Master of Rules. This doesn’t mean you need to know every rule in the handbooks. You are a referee. You help mediate between the rules and the players.

Sierra

Personally I haven't memorized every rule in the handbook. What I do when there is a question on a rule, is turn to the books. Most rule clarifications reside in the player's handbook and the Dungeon Masters guide. 

Emily

The most important tip to note is that D&D is NOT a player versus dungeon master game. It is a collaborative game in which you both work together to create a story and have fun. Work together, not against each other.

Sierra

Part of working together includes, as a dungeon master, knowing your players and what they enjoy doing most in the game.

Emily

Generally there are seven different aspects of the game that your players will enjoy most. Acting, Exploring, Instigating, Fighting, Optimizing, Problem Solving, and Storytelling.

Sierra

Players who enjoy acting love to role play as their characters with NPC’s, monsters, and of course the other players. A great way to engage your players this way is to give them opportunities to act out their characters with various interesting NPCs in the adventures. As for those who like exploring, they enjoy making discoveries and finding hidden treasures. You can make these players day by rewarding them with items, clues, and treasures when they explore. 

Emily

The players who like instigating are eager to make anything and everything happen within your world. Ways to help them have fun include allowing them to affect their surroundings and letting their actions put them into a tight spot. Those who enjoy the fighting aspect love kicking ‘bad guy butt’ on the regular. They are best engaged by springing unexpected combat encounters on them, describing in avid detail the havoc they bring by their attacks, and having combat with large numbers of weak monsters.

Sierra

Optimizing players love to fine-tune their characters and make them the best they can be. They love leveling up, receiving magic items, and having chances to show how awesome their character’s build can be. You can engage them best by including encounters that will let their characters shine and including quantifiable rewards for non-combat encounters. Problem solving players, despite the name, won’t solve your problems. They do however love to solve puzzles, analyze the motives of even the seemingly sweetest NPC, and unravel the villains' plans. Give them opportunities to solve puzzles, discover true motives, and reward them for their unique solutions.

Emily

Players who love storytelling want to contribute to the narrative you’re creating. They are heavily invested in the plot. Ways to engage them are through using their character backgrounds to help shape the campaign, making their character actions guide future events, and giving NPCs they encounter ideals, bonds, and flaws the players can exploit.

Sierra

Ultimately the Dungeon Master has control over the world and story, but make sure to work with the players and let them affect the world so you ALL can have the most fun with this game.

Emily

Being a Dungeon Master can sometimes be a little overwhelming, but you can do this! Work with your friends and talk about what kind of game you want to run. Find your passion behind it, and everything will fall into place.

Sierra

Everything we've talked about today you can find in the introduction to the Dungeon Masters Guide, and remember D&D is meant to be fun for both the players and the Dungeon Master!

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time!

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips on how to run a “Session 0”.

Emily

Session 0 is a special session that takes place prior to the start of the game. This is where you discuss the world, create characters, combine backstories, and set a Social contract.

Sierra

This is a great time for the players to workshop a backstory with the DM, discuss important NPC’s to their story, and incorporate  the other players in their backstory.

Emily

Part of that creation process is tied to creating a party origin. The party is what we call your whole group of player characters. The party origin is answering the question of, “How did we all get together?”

Sierra

The answer could be really anything. Maybe you all grew up in the same town, you were united to overcome a big enemy, or you’re all entertainers coming together to form the first ever rock band. Whatever the reason is, the point of this is to establish character connections with the rest of the party.

Emily

As a DM, make sure to discuss with your players what kind of game they want to play. Whether that be horror, comedy, drama, or something else. Also asking them what type of gameplay they prefer like combat, exploration, roleplay, or solving puzzles.

Sierra

Most likely not all of your players will enjoy the same type of gameplay, so session zero is the perfect time to learn an appropriate balance between all of them.

Emily

Now the most important part of Session 0 is to create a social contract. A social contract outlines the expectations and boundaries of the players and Dungeon Master for however long you run the game.

Sierra

Some of the general expectations groups will use include the DM respecting the players by running a fun, fair game which gives each of them a moment to shine.

Emily

Also, having the players respect the Dungeon Master by allowing them to guide the story, mediate the rules, and settle arguments. The players should also respect the DM by listening when they’re talking and accepting a “no” answer.

Sierra

The players should respect each other by listening, supporting one another, and working together to help the party get along. Everyone should be aware that violating the social contract can lead to the individual being removed from the game. 

Emily

And these are just a few examples of expectations listed in a social contract. Some groups may need more or less guidelines. One important piece to discuss together are each other's Hard and Soft limits.

Sierra

A soft limit is a threshold someone should think twice about crossing because it may lead to genuine fear, anxiety, and discomfort for another player.

Emily

A hard limit is a threshold that should never be crossed.

Sierra

Everyone has hard and soft limits which may be uncomfortable for them to talk openly about. If you think some players may have a hard time speaking up in a group discussion, you could ask everyone to message you their limits directly or have them all write their limits on postcards to give you. Once you have the soft and hard limits, share with the whole group what they are without sharing the name of the players.

Emily

Some of those limits could be, but are not limited to: unwanted flirting, gorey descriptions, scenes of intercourse, violence towards children and animals, overuse of swears, unwanted physical contact, shouting, vulgarity, distracting use of cell phones, disrespectful behavior, dice-throwing, and for some dice sharing.

Sierra

If any of these hard or soft limit triggers apply to you, speak with your DM today.

Emily

Please make sure to discuss these limits as DMs and players may have phobias or triggers that others may not be aware of. You can also bring this social contract up again during the game if it needs to be revised or reminded of again.

Sierra

Some of these limits may even lead to house rules. For instance, we have personally seen a LOT of contention out-of-game come from Player vs. player fighting. This has led to our house rule of players not being able to attack, or kill, each other unless they are being controlled by monsters or other pre-agreed upon conditions.

Emily

We have a list of all of the additional “homebrew” rules that are of our own creation linked in the description below. Feel free to look through them and see if they would be good to apply in your campaign.

Sierra

The point of session zero is to create a fun and safe environment for everyone to play.

Emily

So get out there, roll some dice, and have some fun.

Sierra

Everything we have talked about today you can find in the additional D&D sourcebook, Tasha‘s Cauldron of Everything in the beginning of chapter 4.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips for how to create an NPC for your D&D game.

Emily

NPC stands for Non-Player Character. These are the monsters, townspeople, villains, and quest-givers of your world.

Sierra

NPC’s are the supporting cast of your world while your friends, also referred to as the Player Characters or PC’s, are the stars of the adventure.

Emily

There are two kinds of NPCs, Quick NPCs and Detailed NPCs. A quick NPC consists of three components: A name, an appearance, and a memorable feature.

Sierra

A quick NPC has no stat block and is often made up on the spot. But they can also be prepared before a session as well. An example of a quick NPC would be Tingle from the legend of Zelda games. He has a name, Tingle, a recognizable appearance as an old man in a green leotard, and his memorable feature is that he thinks he’s a fairy.

Emily

These Quick NPCs can be recurring like a shopkeeper or a crazy person, but they don’t have to be. You could also introduce them once and then let them slip away into the NPC afterlife.

Sierra

A detailed NPC often shows up more than once, is attached to a PC’s backstory, or is a villain. These NPC’s take a little more forethought and include 5-6 components such as a name, an appearance, a memorable feature, a story, useful knowledge and, if needed, a stat block. So start off with the makings of a quick NPC and then add more.

Emily

The story for a detailed NPC includes aspects like their Backstory, Personality, Ideals, and Secrets. These generally pertain to how the character acts towards the PCs and other NPCs in the campaign. Creating an NPCs story will help you to understand what this NPC wants and how they are going to get it. Knowing the story helps you roleplay the character and helps your players feel immersed in your world.

Sierra

You’re not writing a book, so this information does not need to be very long. You could just have a few bullet points or a paragraph to keep track of what you need to know. 

Emily

Additionally, a detailed NPC will have some sort of useful knowledge. This is information that your PCs could find helpful towards the plot they will be following.

Sierra

Because your Detailed NPC will be playing a bigger role in the player's adventure than a Quick NPC will, there is a higher chance the Detailed NPC will end up in a fight for or against your PC’s. In case this happens, it’s a good idea to either pick a stat block from the Monster Manual or to create a stat block of your own beforehand.

Emily

A detailed NPC example would be the notorious “Obsidian Knight” (aka Esmound Tamaron) from our Live D&D campaign, the Harbingers. 

Sierra

My character, Nuri Tamaron’s, husband.

Emily

Esmound is a dark elf with unique triangular markings on his cheeks. His story is that he is the right-hand man for the main villain. To him, the villain is just his childhood best friend, rather than a power-hungry dictator. Over the course of the campaign, more of his story is revealed to the players, and in turn, we get to see what he believes through his words and actions.

Sierra

Esmound also has lots of useful information that our party can use to learn more about the main villain and what he’ll do next.

Emily

Additionally, Esmound is known for being an exceptionally powerful warrior. So I went ahead and created a stat block specific to his character design. This I cribbed off of the “Drow Elite Warrior” stat block in the monster manual and just modified it to fit Esmound better.

Sierra

The Dungeon Masters Guide on pages 89- 96 have several charts you can use to help you make the basics of a detailed NPC.

Emily

For making a detailed NPC, you’ll want to make sure that you build them prior to the campaign starting. Or at least before the session that you’ll be playing them in. It’s good to have your detailed NPCs prepared.

Sierra

A Quick NPC can sometimes develop into a detailed NPC as your Players interact with them more or adopt them into their party. Believe us, it happens more often than you think.

Emily

Ultimately, creating an NPC can feel very daunting, but it’s so rewarding when you see your players having fun with those characters you’ve created. Plus, it’s like you get to put a little bit of yourself into every NPC.

Sierra

Everything we’ve talked about today you can find in chapter 4 of the official D&D Dungeon Master Guide.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips on how to run a D&D battle.

Emily

Battles in Dungeons and Dragons have a lot going on at once and can take a while to play out, but they are some of the most critical parts of every game session. To know where your players and monsters are you’ll need a gridded map and some tokens to represent your characters.

Sierra

You can use maps with squares or hexes but we personally prefer square gridded maps.

Emily

All of your players, including you, will be going in turn order. This is called initiative. Initiative is decided by rolling 1d20 and adding your initiative bonus.

Sierra

Which is just your dexterity ability modifier. The order goes from the highest to lowest roll. And if there is a tie, the creature with the higher Dexterity ability goes first. 

Emily

The battle is made of rounds in which every person can take one turn per round. Each round counts as 6 seconds in-game. Out of game, a round can go for a lot longer than that.

Sierra

In a turn a person can do three things, take an action to attack, or among other things, search around. The second thing you can do on your turn is a bonus-action which is a smaller, specific spell, attack, or ability that states it's a bonus action. Lastly a creature on their turn can choose to move up to the number of feet equal to their walking speed.

Emily

Each square or hex on your map counts as 5ft within the game. So a creature that can move up to 30ft can move 6 spaces. The movement can be lateral and/or diagonal.

Sierra

Some spells or abilities will say “reaction.'' A reaction is an action you get to take in between your turns if the requirements for the spell or ability are met. Such as a shield spell which is triggered by an enemy attacking. Also if an enemy moves 5 ft away from you, you can use your reaction to attack them, called an opportunity attack. You only get one reaction between each of your turns.

Emily

On the Dungeon Master’s turn, or the “BG Turn” as we like to call it, you’ll be controlling the monsters, animals, and Non-Player Characters (also known as NPCs) involved in the battle. Should you choose so, NPCs can also act on a different initiative number.

Sierra

You can move all the creatures you control at once or move them individually as they take their actions, bonus-actions, and movement. If two creatures are on either side of a miniature this is known as “flanking”. When the creatures on either side attack the miniature in between them they get advantage to attack. Advantage means they roll 2d20 and take the higher roll.

Emily

As a Dungeon Master you’ll be controlling a wide variety of monsters throughout your battles, so it’s good to know how to read a monster card. We’ll be using the classic Owlbear as an example.

Sierra

The first line defines how big the creature is and what type of monster they are.

Emily

The next section includes the Armor Class, Hit Points, and Speed. The Armor class, referred to as AC, shows how hard a creature is to hit. In order to damage this Owlbear, you have to roll 1d20 and the result must be a 13 or higher. The Hit Points or HP denotes how much health a creature has before it falls unconscious or dies. The speed shows how fast the creature can move on the battle map.

Sierra

Monsters have ability scores just like players and skills they are proficient in, such as perception. The senses describe any special ways the creature sees and their passive perception which is what the creature will notice without searching. The owlbear doesn't understand any language. The Challenge rating, or CR, is how difficult this monster is on a scale of 0-30. Keep in mind however that just because it says CR of 3 that it won't kill an entire party of 1st levels. Once it's dead, the party gets the experience (XP) points listed.

Emily

Below that we have the abilities the monster can perform. This is where generally passive and always active abilities go. Lastly we have the Actions section of the monster card. This shows the options of actions the monster can take in addition to the various actions available on a turn.

Sierra

Whenever you or a player makes an attack they roll 1d20, add any attack bonus modifiers, and if it equals or succeeds the target's AC they then deal damage. If a natural 20, meaning the d20 lands on the highest numerical side, is rolled the attacker automatically succeeds no matter the AC and they get to double the damage on their dice roll. If they roll a natural 1 it’s a fail and DM’s generally, but do not have to, make something negative happen because of it. Like the attacker dropping the weapon or stabbing themselves for a point of damage. The range of melee weapons is 5 feet, meaning they have to be in a square next to the target. With ranged weapons, like a crossbow, you see the range of 80/320, the first number is how far the bow can shoot normally and the second number is how far it can go with disadvantage.

Emily

Once it’s been determined that you hit your opponent, now it’s time to roll damage! With every weapon and natural weapon (aka beaks, claws, and more) there will always be listed a way to roll damage, and it’s usually inside parenthesis. For the Owlbear’s claw attack the damage reads 2d8+5. This means you roll 2d8 and add 5 to the result. The number to the left, 14, denotes the general amount of damage this attack brings. Now the damage you’ve dealt gets taken out of the HP of your opponent. When your enemy falls to 0 HP they become unconscious. If the damage they receive would make them go to negative hit points, then the creature dies.

Sierra

And that's the basics to running a battle for D&D!

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our combat tips on what the Dungeon and Dragons 5th edition conditions are.

Emily

Conditions affect a creature’s capabilities in a wide variety of ways. It’s the spice of battles! They usually last until countered or for a duration specified by the condition.

Sierra

There are 15 conditions that can hinder or be helpful to your party. The first one is Blinded. Since the creature can't see they fail any rolls that require sight and have disadvantage on attacking others. This also gives the opponent’s attacks advantage against the blinded target.

Emily

Then there’s the charmed condition. Someone who has been charmed cannot attack or do anything harmful to the charmer (the person who charmed them). The charmer also has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the charmed individual.

Sierra

Deafened is just how it sounds, you can’t hear anything and fail all rolls that require hearing.

Emily

[ASL] But you can still communicate with your hands!

Sierra

If something really scary like a fierce dragon's roar happens your party could become frightened. They can’t willingly move closer to the source of their fear and because things are scary they are likely to freeze up while doing tasks. A frightened creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks while their source of fear is within line of sight.

Emily

Whether you’re entangled by vines or just trapped in a companion's bear hug, you’re under the grappled condition. A grappled creature’s speed becomes 0 and can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed. The effect ends in two ways. Either the grappler is incapacitated or if another effect would move the grappler away from its target.

Sierra

When a creature is incapacitated they can’t take actions or reactions. A great advantage for your party if it’s on a villain but a big oof if it’s on one of your players.

Emily

The invisible condition is great because you are impossible to see without the aid of magic or another special sense. For hiding, a creature can only be detected by any sound it makes or tracks it leaves. Attack rolls against an invisible creature have disadvantage and any attack rolls made by the invisible creature have advantage.

Sierra

A creature that succumbs to the paralyzed condition can't take actions, reactions, move, or even speak. Since they can't move they automatically fail STR and DEX saving throws. Attack rolls against them have advantage and if an enemy hits them while within 5ft. it automatically counts as a critical hit, which means you double the damage on the dice.

Emily

A petrified creature is turned, along with any non-magical objects it’s carrying, into stone. The creature becomes heavier and ceases aging. They are incapacitated, can’t move or speak, are resistant to all damage, immune to poison and disease, and automatically fail all STR and DEX saving throws. Attack rolls against them also have advantage.

Sierra

Poison, like all poison, is really bad for people. A creature who is poisoned has disadvantage on all attack and ability checks.

Emily

When a creature is knocked to the ground, they are prone. This means that the only movement option is to crawl or stand up. Standing up removes the condition. While prone the creature has disadvantage on all attack rolls. All attacks made towards it within 5ft have advantage, but if they are further away then the attacker has disadvantage to attack.

Sierra

The restrained condition is like a lesser form of the grapple. If your character is tangled in spider webs their speed becomes 0, their attacks have disadvantage, attacks against them have advantage, and any DEX saving throws they make are at disadvantage because of the sticky webs around them.

Emily

A stunned creature is incapacitated. They can’t move and can speak only falteringly. STR and DEX saving throws are automatically failed and attack rolls made against it have advantage.

Sierra

When a creature in unconscious they are incapacitated, can’t speak or move, and are unaware of their surroundings. Cause they’re unconscious [image of slug lady from Monster Inc. appears for a split second]. They fall prone, drop whatever their holding, and automatically all fail STR and DEX saving throws. When your opponent is passed out it's very easy to hit them so attacks have advantage and, if the attacker is within 5ft, it's automatically  a critical hit.

Emily

Exhaustion is a special condition in which it can stack on a character. The more exhaustion you gain, the worse the effects become. Here’s a chart that shows the effects that come from the amount of exhaustion you have.

Sierra

To get rid of exhaustion the creature needs a long rest which is 8 hours of relaxation and sleep. Each long rest will only remove one point of exhaustion…. [yawn] Taking a nap actually sounds really nice right now.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips for how to run your first session in Dungeons and Dragons 5 edition.

Emily

To start you’ll want to go around and have each player introduce their character to the group. Most of the time, this is an out of game conversation, but it can also be in-game. 

Sierra

Essentially, each player will share their character’s name, fantasy race, class, and general description. If you’re playing with an experienced group it can be fun to have them share what weapons they are carrying instead of what class they are. It can be interesting for the players to discover what class each other is playing as throughout the game.

Emily

After character introductions, as a Dungeon Master, you’ll want to set the scene. Are they in the local tavern sharing a couple drinks? At a local festival playing carnival games? Sailing the high seas hunting for monsters? Describing the location of the characters helps to immerse your players into the world right from the get-go.

Sierra

You’ll also want to give each player a connection in-game to another player. This can be done beforehand in session 0 or at a different time before your first game. Another great option you can do is to have your players at the start of the game pull from a hat showing how they are connected to the player on the right. For example, if they’ve all been on the same boat, they could have taken guard duty, swabbed the deck, or played a round of dragon chess together.

Emily

Additionally after character introductions, you could just let your group chat in-game together as their characters for a short bit to let them “get to know each other” in game. While this is a pretty easy play, it’s always best to have the party make their characters connected beforehand.

Sierra

For example, in my first game I set the scene by telling the party that they had all been traveling in a caravan together for about a week. Now, the characters had no connection to each other that they knew of beforehand, So I had each player draw from the hat on how their characters were connected to the player’s character on their right. 

Emily

My character won a three-legged race with another PC due to this method. It was definitely a conversation starter.😜

Sierra

I gave the players a little bit of time to talk and work out together how this interaction went or what secrets they shared and then I described how it was mid day when the caravan was attacked by bandits!

Emily

Which leads right into the next step, the inciting incident! An inciting incident is essentially a problem that the party has to face that brings them directly into the story.

Sierra

This can be their ship being attacked by a sea monster, a dragon visiting the local festival, or a townsperson running into the tavern and collapsing to the ground with an arrow in their back.

Emily

Whatever the situation, you want to make sure that this inciting incident gets your players moving. You want to have them interact or “deal” with it. Whether that’s fighting the sea monster, investigating the dragon, or rushing to defend the tavern.

Sierra

This inciting incident should give a clue or clear direction on what your players should be doing and where they go next. The inciting incident should be the hook your players follow for the bigger plot that turns your session 1 into a successful campaign.

Emily

Going forward make sure to have every adventure hide clues that lead to the next step in your story so the party always knows where they need to go. 

Sierra

This does NOT mean you should railroad your players. Railroading means you force your players to follow your plot or a certain course of action. This is never fun for your players.

Emily

If you want to make sure your players will follow the plotline you’ve written WITHOUT railroading them, then make sure to heavily connect the plot to each of their backstories and seed bits of that through every encounter. Players always want to follow their backstory and uncover the secrets they don't know about.

Sierra

You can learn tips on how to connect your players backstories to your plot in our video linked above!

Emily

You’ve got this! Session 1 is fun and exciting, and don’t worry if you slip up or make a mistake. Just pretend like you planned it all along, and your player will believe you are a mastermind.

Sierra

I know Emily is.

Emily

Aww! Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips for starting out your D&D campaign when no one knows how to play.

Emily

Dungeons and Dragons is a cooperative storytelling game. You, as the DM or Dungeon Master, work together with your friends, the players, to create an amazing adventure! The epic tales of rising to heroism or the solemn defeat of said heroes.

Sierra

Or you just get a whole bunch of murder hobos. That being said, you can run a one time game called a one-shot or you can have a game last anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple years called a campaign.

Emily

Now each game you play is called a session. And each session is going to be following a simple, repeatable pattern. One, the DM describes the situation. Two, the players decide what they want to do. Three, the DM describes the consequences.

Sierra

When we first started playing Emily was our DM and she described to us a ship port we had arrived at with fishermen boats and a drunken sailor laying in a pile of ropes.

Emily

Yeah! And Sierra’s character, Mara, decided to go distract the drunken sailor and have another player steal from the poor fool.

Sierra

It was a great plan. My companion quickly cleaned out his pockets and Emily described to us how we found a few copper coins and a child's drawing of their family.

Emily

Big oof.

Sierra

After a small conversation we slipped the picture back in his pocket but kept the money.

Emily

And this is how we implemented this pattern. The DM describing, the player acting, and then the DM describing the good or bad consequences. What helped us determine these outcomes was the roll of our dice.

Sierra

In D&D there are 7 types of dice you will use throughout the game which are abbreviated in the books to a number, a D, and another number. This abbreviation stands for the number of dice you roll, the D stands for dice, and the last number denotes the type of dice. Meaning, how many sides.

Emily

And the d20, a dice with 20 sides, is the central dice of the game. 

Sierra

It’s the dice of fate!

Emily

Lovely. In the example before, when Mara, Sierra’s character, wanted to distract the drunken sailor, I had her roll 1d20. Now I had a specific DC or Difficulty Class in mind before I had her roll.  A Difficulty Class sets how hard a task will be. Distracting a drunken sailor is an easy task, so my DC was pretty low. I had it set at 7.

Sierra

Mara was a bard, a character type that’s musically inclined, so I distracted the sailor by playing my lute. I rolled 1d20, got a 5, which is very low, but with my skill modifier I had a +5 to performance and I barely managed to succeed the challenge with a total of 10.

Emily

And we’ll talk more about modifiers in another episode! But since her roll of 10 was equal to or higher than my Difficulty Class of 7, she was able to distract successfully, giving the other player advantage on her roll to steal from the sailor. Advantage means that you get to roll 2d20 and take the higher roll. 

Sierra

And Disadvantage is the opposite, you have to take the lower of the two rolls.

Emily

And so they were able to successfully steal the man’s money, and his kid’s drawing.

Sierra

Hey, we weren't complete jerks. We put the drawing back! 

Emily

And ultimately, there’s a lot more rules to D&D, more than we can cover in one episode. Though, if you encounter a very specific rule, maybe pertaining to a character type, magic, or a monster that contradicts the general rules of the game, go with the specific rule. So remember, the specific rule always trumps the general rule.

Sierra

Here's one last tip to know, when it comes to a fraction or dividing a roll, you always round down to a minimum of 1. 

Emily

When in doubt, round down!

Sierra

Everything we've talked about today you can find in the introduction to the official D&D Player's Handbook.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips on weaving character backstories into the plot.

Emily

To start off, the best way to get your players involved with the plot of your D&D game is through the Non Player Characters, also known as NPCs. These are all the extra people in the world, from the tavern keeps, the children, down to the very monsters.

Sierra

Make sure to give your players background on the world and any major NPCs in the game. This could be any background you’ve created, or from one of the official D&D campaign books. By knowing more about the world, your players will then be able to have a better idea as to what they want in their character backstory. Give them as much creative liberty as you can!

Emily

Now when we say give them some history on your world, I wouldn’t give them a novel. Just a basic premise will suffice.

Sierra

Encourage your players to have NPCs in their backstories that play a key role in their character’s life. Then turn that around and give that NPC a key role in your plot.

Emily

For example, one of our friends played a Tabaxi rogue (basically they’re half-human half-cat). She had a past lover in her backstory named Gideon. So our DM pulled Gideon into the limelight and made him one of the major problem-causing NPCs in that campaign. This instantly made our friend invested in that plotline because her character wanted to redeem Gideon from his past mistakes.

Sierra

Where you have gaps in your plot line or an important NPC you just have a vague idea for, use the NPC’s your players mention in their backstories. This will connect the dots and fill in that NPC you just can’t come up with.

Emily

Your players will also become more invested in the plot as they encounter NPCs that are in their backstory. Another fun way to weave the players backstories together is by taking an NPC from two or more of their backstories, and making it one person.

Sierra

In one campaign there was a mysterious NPC that wreaked havoc in each person's backstory. So I made these dastardly people all one bad guy the players collectively disliked. They slowly put together their connections and discovered the NPC was the main villain.

Emily

Combining these NPCs together and pulling them from the player backstories makes it a lot easier for you as the Dungeon Master to create these major NPCs. This helps you with fleshing out the NPCs' motives and seeing how far they’re willing to go to achieve their goals.

Sierra

Like all good stories, you’ll want to keep a few secrets from your players. The anticipation of discovering the identity of the evil villain always keeps your players hooked. 

Emily

Mystery and intrigue are key elements to the plot. Nobody enjoys hearing a spoiler. So be mindful of what information you give out to the players regarding your major NPCs.

Sierra

Take key events from your players backstories, such as a loved one being kidnaped or a village raided, and have similar events to those be repeated as part of the major plot. They’ll follow the traces of those plots with more vigor.

Emily

By following these tips, you can bring the players' backstories into the adventure. This helps the players with feeling more connected and important to your world and the events happening within it.

Sierra

Don’t railroad your players! This means, as a DM, don’t force your players to go where you want them to go. Give them leeway and freedom to interact with your world. 

Emily

You want your players to actively chase the plot you’ve created. So make sure to personally invest their characters into the story in whatever ways you can.

Sierra

Players love to discover more about their backstories, run into old rivals, and unearth how they are connected to the plot. It’s also really fun to see their reactions as a DM when they figure out those secrets you’ve been hiding.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips for What you need to start playing D&D.

Emily

First off we’ll be talking about the bare essentials of what you’ll need to run a successful game. It all starts off with dice.

Sierra

You’ll need 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d10, 1d12, and 1d20. Don't worry they come in packs! You can find them in local shops or order them off the internet. 

Emily

If you're not ready to purchase your own set of dice yet, you can easily find some free dice rolling apps on your phone.

Sierra

Besides dice, your players are going to need character sheets. These are extremely necessary to play the game as it contains what a player's character can do and states their possessions all in one localized spot.  You can find free fillable PDFs online by Wizards of the Coast.

Emily

Next you’ll need a gridded map for battles. Now you can easily find battle maps on any online shopping site. I personally recommend dry erase mats. But, you can also use white boards and graph paper to design your battle maps as long as the squares are 1inch by 1inch.

Sierra

Battles can get really confusing if you don't know where any of the players or monsters are, so you’ll need tokens to represent them on the maps. Most commonly you'll see 3d miniatures but, if you're starting out with little to no money like I did, you can use flat miniatures, legos, or even coins!

Emily

Alongside the tokens you’ll need the 3 Core rule books of Dungeons & Dragons. Which are the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual.

Sierra

The players handbook contains everything you need to create and play a character as well as the base rules and spells.

Emily

The Dungeon Master’s Guide contains all the information on creating worlds and adventures, along with additional game rules.

Sierra

And the Monster Manual is the DM’s best friend. Within its pages you'll find the secrets of the-

Emily

Hold up. It has a ton of monster cards you can use for your players to battle against.

Sierra

You can find downloadable PDFs of the books online however, I personally encourage purchasing the books as it supports the game development and makes navigating the pages SO much easier and quicker.

Emily

Now those are all the essentials that you’ll need for running your Dungeons & Dragons game! When you’re ready to invest more into the game there are a few add-ons we would recommend.

Sierra

A DM screen is very helpful to hide your notes or to put your players on edge by the sudden sound of mysterious dice rolling. 

Emily

And there are several other expansion source books for more rules, classes, races, monsters, spells, and more. We’ll talk further in depth about those expansion books in another episode.

Sierra

You can also upgrade your bits in the way of terrain, unique maps, and Miniatures.

Emily

And lastly, more dice.

Sierra

In this game, you can never have enough dice.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.

Emily

Hey y’all! I’m Emily.

Sierra

And I’m Sierra. Today we’re going to share our tips on how to build a one-shot, with a little Halloween flair!

Emily

Creating a generic One-Shot starts with giving the players a simple, clear goal. Like killing the evil necromancer or retrieving a legendary item. Keep it straight to the point, as anything too complex will take a while and soon enough you’ll be in the middle of a campaign.

Sierra

Have a clear bad guy for your players to know about that they will face. They could be going through a huge compound to destroy the bloodthirsty bandit or be searching for the mysterious killer of the haunted woods. You want them to have a clear target and purpose.

Emily

Make sure to have some kind of reward at the end: whether that be a magic item or a dragon’s hoard!

Sierra

Having a one shot that is all battles and nothing else will not be very fun for your players. You’ll want to have a healthy balance of combat, roleplay, and exploration for the best experience for your group. And make sure not to have any major loose ends. Players just won’t feel satisfied if the bad guy gets away. 

Emily

Another pro tip is having a Twisted Trope. A twisted trope is a familiar story that has been changed in some way. For example, the trope could be the Hansel and Gretel story in which the players encounter a witch that wants to eat them. The twist could be that the witch has shrunk them down and now they must find a way to grow themselves while also avoiding her attempts at eating them. Having a twisted trope is exciting as it helps players relate to the story in a much more personalized way.

Sierra

This is the basics of what you’ll want to include in any one shot you make, but to spookify it for Halloween we suggest setting the mood with some haunting music to play in the background. What I've found for Halloween one shots, or sessions, is that it relies more on the theatrical side. If they’re in a haunted house, put your players on edge by the sound of a little child giggling. Or if your adventures are sneaking through a haunted forest describe the chilling fog and how they, for a moment, catch a glimpse of a pale woman with claws peeking around a tree.

Emily

To hit the classic Halloween vibes, make sure to include some of the iconic Halloween monsters. They can be encountered on the way to their destination, or you can place them as the major villain of the one shot. Some classic monsters are werewolves, vampires, spiders, witches (referred to as Hags in the game), and undead. You could have banshees, wraiths, ghosts, and/or zombies.

Sierra

To make a really terrifying session you don't scare the characters, you scare the players.

Emily

Along those lines, try to build tension throughout the session. For example, you could have a creepy doll that keeps moving to a new spot whenever the players aren’t looking. Or have the players hear someone screaming in the room ahead only to find it empty when they go to investigate. Whatever you do, include that spooky stuff.

Sierra

Halloween one shots or sessions are meant to be fun so if you want, go full nerd and dress up! Set up Halloween decorations and have those creepy themed snacks. This is the perfect time to be in the Halloween spirit with your friends.

Emily

Thank you so much for joining us today. Put in the comments below the D&D questions you want answered!

Sierra

And we’ll see you next time.