DM Tip Twitter Archive: October 2010

by Mike Shea on 5 November 2010

Below is an archive of all of the Sly Flourish DM Tip Twitter posts for October 2010. Get daily DM tips athttp://twitter.com/slyflourish!

#dnd tip: To scare your powergamers, hit them with fearsome status effects: 1/2 healing, vulnerability 20, scaling ongoing damage

#dnd Halloween Tip: To scare your exploration focused players, keep changing the landscape and layout so it makes little sense.

Listen to @squach, @thadeousC, @sarahdarkmagic, and I on the latest Halloween Tome Show: http://bit.ly/cXsLmn #dnd

Hmm, if Monster Vault: Nentir Vale is Heroic / Paragon, is there an epic-tier Monster Vault planned? http://bit.ly/d1YiVb

#dnd Halloween Tip: To scare story-focused players, give them lots of gory detail. You can't go wrong with gore.

#dnd productivity tip: Spend a few minutes tweaking your next game BEFORE you start surfing twitter and checking email...doh, too late!

Never mind, I get it. He rolls a save as soon as he's hit by an effect that a save can end.

Reading Ogremoch's stat block, it appears his "no action" save vs effects can be used indefinitely, right? He can save until success?

The more I think about it, I'm not worried about the lack of monster creation rules in Essentials. I just reskin existing monsters anyway.

#dnd tip: Keep a notebook on you and jot down ideas for NPCs, encounter areas, story seeds, etc. Good ideas come from everywhere.

The #dnd dungeon master's kit has almost everything it needs. It's just missing maps for 2 encounters and monster creation rules. So close!

Interesting take on rewarding #dnd magic items by @wolfsamurai: http://bit.ly/9h3tw1

#dnd tip: Strimko puzzles with symbols replacing numbers can make for fun in-game puzzles: http://bit.ly/9ASv6F

@WesDecker Far more likely that we were all seeing the same problems and coming up with similar solutions.

Check out @sarahdarkmagic's excellent article on item rewards in #dnd: http://bit.ly/9Vl806

Now THAT is a Red Dragon! #dnd http://bit.ly/coxTCM Solo designers take note.

RT @matt_james_rpg: This week @SlyFlourish's campaign finally reaches Orcus at level 29. He's been running this for the past 2+ years. #dnd

RT @SarahDarkmagic: New post on Critical Hits: Magic Item Wishlists and You. http://bit.ly/cWmUJp

RT @WotC_Chuck: If you are running a game I recommend @SRMacFarland Save my Game article. http://bit.ly/9Wx8a2

#dnd tip: Give older solos some sort of effect when bloodied. Doubling aura damage is an easy way if not too creative.

#dnd tip: Remember, most of my desires to drop the hammer on PCs comes at paragon and above. Heroic PCs are much more easily killed.

Sharing monster defenses with players is the one major speed increase in my game in the last year. Give it a try. #dnd

And The Grimace is down... Somewhere, Emperor McCheese laughs from his oily throne.

The Grimace animatronic mindbreaker: http://yfrog.com/emkc3lj

#dnd tip: In-battle skill challenges that require PCs be adjacent can help bring them into a room they might be apprehensive of.

I'm playing a mindbending McDonalds animatronic android with a railgun and Ronald-head flail named The Grimace.

#dnd tip: Surge stealing can get old. Try custom diseases or other penalties to mimic life-draining. 1/2 healing, vulnerable 5, -2 to defs.

@DaveTheGame Unfortunately, to turn around a bad joke, show me the best Dwarven Forge setup and I'll show you a group tired of seeing it...

@davethegame could you be referring to my fine encounter setups like this? http://flic.kr/p/8LMHCo hmmm, yes....

@DaveTheGame I am also loud and obnoxious at the table. I'm not afraid to mimic how a roper pulls in his foes using interpretive dance.

@SarahDarkmagic No bad DM can still be bad after several severe doses of Sly Flourish!

#dnd tip: Try having both puzzle and skill-challenge ways to get around a trap. Let players choose the way they get around the trap.

Reading @ChrisSSims's article on treasure: http://bit.ly/arxruC I had a player last night say "+6 Vorpal Glaive? I wanted a dancing one"

@newbiedm I tell you, I'm having a blast in Epic - no pun intended. Took 97 sessions but I have my groove I think.

.@KevinKulp All us DMs challenge each other to be better. That's the beauty of the internet! @tychobrahe 's games make mine look like crap.

Three games left in my 100 session uber 1 to 30 campaign. Next week....Orcus...

Built an awesome embalming lab in Orcus's citadel of Everlost: http://bit.ly/aDeMxj #dnd

Look at this awesome battle @matt_james_rpg missed: http://bit.ly/dkED5i #dnd

#dnd tip: Every monster above level 11 published before the MM3 needs its damage updated using the July update: http://bit.ly/cO4NWo

My article "Essentials, Choices, and Jams" was posted to @criticalhits earlier this week: http://bit.ly/c8KRO0 #dnd

Say what you will about Essentials, but I wish this was how I started playing 4e.

The DM kit is nice but if you have the other DMGs and Rules compendium, you have all the text already.

#dnd tip: Use superhero comic storylines as seeds for epic-tier games. PCs are more like the Justice Leage than the Fellowship now.

Just spliced together "I don't want to set the world on fire" and "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" as my Gamma World theme song.

@JaredvonHindman Lots of mechanical ways for fire. I had huge weights dropped into molten rock that poured up tubes onto the PCs.

#dnd tip: Think about the mechanics of a trap. How does it work and how does it reset itself? How does it still work after 10,000 years?

#dnd tip: Consider limiting sources for character building in one-shot high level games. Essentials only for example.

#dnd tip: Design environments that match your heroes's status. Level 15 PCs shouldn't still be hunting down lost farm maids.

@gregbilsland I reskinned Doresain the Ghoul King using the stats from Lalali-Puy in Dark Sun.

#dnd tip: Don't worry too much about tracking status effects on monsters. Players keep very good track of them on their own.

DMs, how do you plan on incorporating Essentials into your group? Essentials only? Everything allowed? A hybrid method?

@newbiedm I used the gargantuan blue mini for the Tarrasque.

Tarrasque doughnut aura does 30 dam to players outside reach. Inside risks vorpal bite.

Our 29th lvl #dnd group fought a Tarrasque tonight. Worked great. Doughnut aura worked very well. Monster Op article to come.

#dnd tip: The Orcus mini also makes for an awesome cultist statue: http://amzn.to/atW108

#dnd tip: For a break, have your players run a group of your NPCs as they have an adventure related to your main story.

#dnd tip: Consider limiting a high-level one-shot game to D&D Essentials only.

The new item rules should make a big difference at paragon+ Looking at @rosamoonshadow's sheet (left on printer) she has 21 magic items.

#dnd tip: All solos above level 11 should have a no-action way to remove status effects or they'll be paralyzed for an entire fight.

I bet these Fallout 3 tunes (http://amzn.to/aRpXDw) would work well mixed with Borderlands (http://amzn.to/9owjMY) for Gamma World.

Yes, the DM Cheat Sheet has updated DCs: http://bit.ly/anq0MC #dnd

#dnd tip: Consider limiting character generation to specific published sources that fit your campaign theme to avoid game-breaking combos.

#dnd tip: Always keep your DM cheat sheet handy at your game: http://slyflourish.com/master_dm_sheet.PDF

@DaveTheGame your drunken #dnd game was about getting screwed by your HOA.

#dnd tip: As @davethegame proved, even getting screwed by your HOA can make for a good adventure seed.

@ChrisSSims @gamefiend what about a series of specific skill challenges for overland travel: Navigating a bog, dealing with cannibal tracker

The party must decide, sacrifice a Solar or risk death passing through the next doorway? http://bit.ly/bnaK3B Then the demilich!

Party hit level 29 and finished my #dnd end-game dungeon, Valley of the Crypt Things: http://bit.ly/dCCGPJ Onwards to Orcus!

#dnd tip: Try to have at least one meaningful choice in every game you run.

#dnd tip: At higher levels, award experience based on effort, not the encounter budget.

Videos of the PAX celebrity #dnd game: http://bit.ly/d32x8Y

Really digging the look of the new Wicked Additions 3 set of Dwarven Forge coming in December: http://bit.ly/cdNG2H Hey Santa! Take Note!

#dnd tip: Have dragons use the Chamber of Vulnerability ritual to create vulnerable environmental sections: http://bit.ly/bwMOR8

#dnd tip: If you give your elite or solo a way to shake conditions, make sure it's a "no action" action. This works with stunned and uncon.

@philosopherlawr Dwarven Forge tips and articles: http://bit.ly/cnwzAb - http://bit.ly/cHxTAE - http://bit.ly/dti3SV

Congratulations to my friends and partners at @criticalhits on 5 years!: http://bit.ly/cF6n53

#dnd The Eight Most Useful Lords of Madness Minis http://goo.gl/fb/1mKkD

@ThadeousC I try to give transportation once per tier. Heroic is horses. Paragon is ships and teleport. Epic is Spelljammers and Chaos Ships

From the Adventure Building Seminar: http://bit.ly/cP0TDW - Make your primary dungeons Familiar, Functional, and Fantastic.

Excellent playtest review of #dnd Essentials by @shawnmerwin at @criticalhits: http://bit.ly/9WSMM7

I was on the #dnd DM Round Table podcast. Listen in as I manage to monopolize all the time... http://bit.ly/cVG2Yw

If you enjoyed these tips, take a look at Sly Flourish's Dungeon Master Tips book or use these links to purchase theMonster Manual 3, thePlayer Strategy Guide, theHeroes of the Fallen Lands or bookmark this link topurchase anything from Amazon. You might also pick up some Gamemastery Flip-Maps from Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.

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