DM Tip Twitter Archive: April 15-22 2009

by Mike Shea on 23 April 2009

Below are the tweets for the seven days between 15 and 22 April 2009.

Un-cursing a possessed Treant during combat made for a fun skill challenge when the treant was bloodied. Good for earthday! \#dnd

Having a lot of trouble with the Paladin "Healing Boon" paragon ability. It totally negates elites, solos, and area attackers. Help! \#dnd

@DMingNicholas I found the Manual of the Planes too fluffy. I wanted crunch like Draconomicon and Open Grave. Planes Below looks good. \#dnd

Every good villain thinks they're a hero. What drives your villains to do what they do? The best villains have good reasons for evil. \#dnd

@Dragonshaos For a named boss, standard actions can be converted to minors they can use once a turn. Gives them a variety of actions. \#dnd

@AsmodeusLore Groups of five are ideal. I mostly run groups of six but its a three-ring circus of constant "You're up!" shouting. \#dnd

For major elite or solo villains convert standard actions to once-per-turn minor actions. Recharges still apply. \#dnd

Received "Death's Reach" epic tier module. Very epic. WOTC finally started using Dungeon Tiles directly as adventure maps. \#dnd

@exedore6 That's always a good idea in theory. Show a monster that can eat another party and your party will be more afraid. \#dnd

Higher level solos aren't harder, just harder to kill. Keep BBEG solos equal level to the party and add some strikers or brutes. \#dnd

Simple Caesar ciphers make for fun secret messages for players to decode. Make it crackable and don't make it vital. http://tr.im/jhkp \#dnd

Excellent article on shaking up Minions for your players by Sterling on Dungeon Mastering: http://tr.im/jef2

Great tips for integrating new players, from RoleplayingTips.com: http://tr.im/jdDV

Have your boss villain wielding that fancy weapon you want the players to have. Let them feel it before they own it. \#dnd

Gaiman's description of Ghoulheim in "Graveyard Book" makes for a great description of the Abyss, Hell, or the Shadowfell. Page 82. \#dnd

For a twist, build a large elite creature with a built-in skill challenge to defeat or redirect his wrath.

and so begins the great Crashing of the Gencon Registration Servers! Yeehaa!

Make the Feywild really fantastic. Ten thousand year old trees. Cyclopean ruins. Mile high waterfalls. Mountanous fallen statues. \#dnd

Write out your own flavor text before your next game. It's easier to read your own prose than it is to describe the Feywild ad-lib. \#dnd

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