DM Tip Twitter Archive: May 2010
by Mike Shea on 10 June 2010
Below is an archive of all of the Sly Flourish DM Tip Twitter posts for April 2010. Get daily DM tips at http://twitter.com/slyflourish!
#dnd tip: Model your fantasy towns and cities after the economics of real medieval castles and cities. http://amzn.to/bOAkTA
did tip: It only takes a power or two to turn a vanilla orc into an orc paladin. Pick interesting at-wills and encounter powers for flavor.
#dnd tip: What makes your villain think they're actually a good guy? What good do they believe they are doing?
#dnd tip: Write short stories in email showing your players the unseen worldly and NPC reactions of their actions.
#dnd tip: Scale environmental effect damage by 5 damage per tier. An epic pool of lava should do 15 damage when someone steps in it.
#dnd tip: When making an NPC or villain, sit back, close your eyes, and imagine what he or she is seeing and feeling.
#dnd tip: Write and keep a checklist of the things you need to put together a night's game. Check it two days before your game.
May 24, 2010 @ 11 AM#dnd tip: Give some off-camera background stories in email to give your players a wider view of their story. Actual time sent: May 24, 2010 @ 11 AM
#dnd tip: Use psionic powers from PHB3 as monster abilities to recreate the psionic abilities of old-school D&D monsters.
#dnd tip: Dig into your Lovecraft to pick up strange and interesting ways to describe the Far Realm: http://amzn.to/9KPhoT
#dnd tip: Don't be afraid to modify a monster to fit your party's experience level. Avoid making epic beasts too easy though.
#dnd tip: Save the ink and use a computer or tablet to display DDI adventures. The ink cost alone makes an adventure about $10.
#dnd tip: avoid the "destiny" plot motivator. It's no fun to think you have no control over the outcome.
#dnd tip: Get the required components for your next game done early so you have time for your creative juices to flow into it.
#dnd tip: For a more dangerous beholder, don't count the eyestalk aura as an attack when determining mark penalties.
#dnd tip: Have players roll skill checks off of their turn to discover bits of information during a battle and keep them involved.
#dnd tip: Have a ballroom battle? Use a crashing chandelier as an encounter power: level+3 vs reflex; medium limited damage and knock prone.
#dnd tip: Defending an area can make for a fun multi-battle encounter. Give the PCs a chance to build up their defenses.
#dnd tip: Playing Eberron? Give your PCs a choice of being mercenaries, investigators, or artifact hunters.
#dnd tip: Try using the detective-show crime investigative trope as a campaign path.
#dnd tip: Use random #dndenc encounter alterations in your own home game.
#dnd tip: If you're having trouble getting people excited about skill challenges, try using them during combat to change the encounter.
#dnd tip: Want to beef up your powerful solo? Turn all of its actions into minor actions to give them more powerful attacks per round.
#dnd tip: take a red marker and mark anything in your books that's been errata'd in the updates.
#dnd tip: Start your adventures with a bit of action. Too much storytelling and skill challenging up front might put people to sleep.
Awesome article with tips for upgrading #dnd solos by @chrisSSims: http://bit.ly/d5KAoE Thanks Chris!
#dnd tip: Keep your D&D Dungeon Tiles (http://bit.ly/bmD3oY) in separate ziploc bags so you can pull from each set independently.
#dnd tip: The huge Chain Golem makes a great mini for Codricuhn, the Blood Storm: http://bit.ly/9yyV5Q
#dnd tip: Watch out for solos more than 2 levels higher than the party. They're going to be a slogfest unless you prepare for it.
Absolutely awesome article on powering up #dnd solos by friend @gamefiend: http://bit.ly/9JvKy0
From @SarahDarkmagic: excellent and free Dungeon Delves. http://bit.ly/cbgFCB #dnd
Bilfaaz, Young White Dragon. http://tweetphoto.com/20416247 /via @gamefiend
@gamefiend I like how your uber-solos have minions that share the defenses of the main - much easier to run at the table that way.
.@gamefiend I used a 4-minion-spawning Elite boss last night. He could transfer damage to a minion 1/rnd. Worked great!
.@ChrisSSims I ran the Worm of Ages for my group. They passed an in-battle skill challenge that let them ride it around Death's Reach.
My group found Orcus's secret twitter account: @princeofundeath. Now they get the inside scoop as they head to the Kingdom of the Ghouls!
Building out a Worldbreaker: http://bit.ly/c8Vqw8
RT @countingku: @ChrisSSims I think the cooperative worldbuilding and party creation in the DMG2 is something that everyone should read, ...
RT @JaredvonHindman: There is an Art Crash looming on the horizon. You were warned. From 4 years back: http://www.headinjurytheater.co ...
RT @criticalhits: D&D Monster Man makes noises for all the monsters in the Monster Manual http://is.gd/ctCXC
RT @krisstraub: New D&D podcast about Dark Sun http://tinyurl.com/33zj4j6 - DM is @tychobrahe played by @pvponline, @cwgabriel, @krisstraub
RT @newbiedm: Neat handout fonts for #dnd http://www.thehutt.de/tolkien/fonts.html
Awesome airship battle skill challenge by the venerable @davethegame http://bit.ly/abHoGN #dnd
@Mittop Heroic lava might be hot mud. Epic lava would be molten iron.
RT @4eBlogs: Wizards.com - Dungeons & Dragons: Penny Arcade/PvP Ep1 http://goo.gl/fb/tdNHj #dnd
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