Hook and Chance

There's a lot of baggage around puzzles, and many players have some serious beef. In presenting them as a DM, you risk players that get angry, lose interest, or table flip and light a fire in their pure rage. Well, In this episode we address the reasons behind this fury, and provide guidelines that help you put enjoyable puzzles into D&D.

The options seem binary when writing; spend less time and carefully avoid dodgy tropes or sterotypes or write a truly unique piece of fiction and spend more time writing than playing in your unique world. Too bad there is no better options... or is there? Wonder not, we have a solution!

It's challenging to choose the right flaw for your character. This is because character flaws range from a humorous quirk like hiding weapons around the office to a representation of everything they fight against like being afraid that they can't protect their loved ones. In this episode we cover different types of flaws, what ties them to your characters story, and how to run them through a quick test to see if they're good for D&D.

The Umber Hulk is far more than just a stat block. This humble entry in the massive tome that is the Monster Manual is easy to underestimate. An encounter with this beastie should feel like going mano a mano with the most fearsome people gnasher around and it all comes down to setting the tone and mood.

The choices appear to be only two as a DM, run a game on rails and remove player choice, or run a sandbox game where anything can happen but finding meaning in the story takes some digging. Well taking inspiration again from John Trubys book The Anatomy of Story, we can drop in some simple structure to campaign or even adventure planning.

What is four corner opposition? Well, it's a writing method that allow the creation of messy interweaving webs that are fun and interesting to explore. DM's and players everywhere deserve rich worlds that feel dynamic and evolving, and this system provides the best results!

Monks are among our favorite classes, but the question of how to avoid playing a cliche (or hella problematic and groan worthy) monk is always top of mind. The Shaolin monks have an incredible history, one that is worth exploing and paying respect to as the primary inspiration for D&D monks. That or we can reskin a monk into something nobody would expect!

Getting everyone invested in the story seems like a challenge sometimes, and as soon as you see them cell phones, you know it's game over. It's tick But as soon as everyone feels like they have a hand in directing the game, they jump right back in. We can get everyone on board a lot easier with a little more crafting of character choices.

Presenting an antagonist that your players care about can be maddening. To release your brainchild of a baddie complete with haunting eyes and a tragic tale to your group feels fantastic! Right up until a player asks "Who's this? Are we supposed to kill them? Will this level us up?" Well, we've been there, and that's why we spent time figuring out what we were missing. This episode takes you through our process.

1. Know your heroes

2. Choose your villain archetype

3. Build the Character of your villain

4. Build up to your villain

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