DM Tips Twitter Archive: July 2011

by Mike Shea on 5 August 2011

Below is an archive of all of the Sly Flourish DM Tip Twitter posts for July 2011. Get daily DM tips at http://twitter.com/slyflourish!

#dnd gencon tip: Only pack the books you absolutely need. Most often, one of your other gencon friends will have the book you want.

What criteria do you have to determine if a #dnd feat, power, item, paragon path, or epic destiny is "broken"?

Balance is a poor word. How about a list of "broken" #dnd powers, feats, items, paragon paths, and epic destinies?

Just like a Limited Magic tourney, #dnd needs a banned feat, item, and power list for "balanced" play. Who wants to start one with me?

The flavor text in the #dnd Gloomwrought book saves me significant adventure prep time. Great job @Wizards_DnD! http://t.co/oEj4Mbx

Gencon #dnd tip: Save yourself a lot of energy and pack monster tokens instead minis even if it means @DaveTheGame will make fun of you.

In case you missed it; Dissection of a Plague Demon: http://bit.ly/np6yNJ #dnd

if you haven't picked up Monster Vault 2: Threats to the Nentir Vale yet, it's awesome. http://t.co/PynX8Hv #dnd

#dnd tip: Steal some of the more detailed tiles from older Dungeon Tiles sets and throw them in your Master sets. Runes, sigils, etc.

Pics of Lolth battle: http://t.co/3PenIPS http://t.co/QG6CFlm http://t.co/4EExih3 #dnd

. @JaredvonHindman It helped keep the battle challenging for broken level 30 PCs without making it last four hours.

Ran my lvl 30 Lolth battle last night. Crazy high damage auras, remove any status effect, and banish PCs below 0 hp helped a lot. #dnd

.@KatoKatonian From a story perspective, Athas itself is the antagonist. In mechanics, every plant wants to eat you. #dnd

#dnd tip: In your Dark Sun game, always remember that the environment itself is an enemy.

I like the format for Evard's Shadow but I'd still like to see all #DDI adventures make use of their own Dungeon Tile products. #dnd

#dnd tip: If you run a single monster type in an encounter, give them both a melee and ranged attack.

Don't forget to check out @gamefiend's #dnd Worldbreaker, Etherkai the Nightmare Dragon for $2 on RPGNow: http://bit.ly/n2GsPn

#dnd tip: You don't always have to completely retire your campaign. Take a year off and come back later in the PC's story.

#dnd tip: Have an elite boss you don't want to get stuck in a corner? Give him teleports and a way to shake off any status effect.

#dnd tip: Have lots of monsters planned? Average out the damage of non-elites to make your battle a little faster.

Great #dnd article from Chris Perkins on using interesting voices for your NPCs: http://t.co/HGBqegN My group loved my Boggle voice.

Awesome new epic-tier #dnd beasts from @rjschwalb: http://t.co/6lmHsQV

#dnd tip: Always give your monster stat blocks a full read-through before a game. It's easy to forget about auras or interrupts.

In case you missed it, check out @gamefiend's #dnd class theme on #ddi, the Fatedancer:http://t.co/JEjf9LZ

#dnd tip: Misplaced your monster? Give him a ranged attack that matches his basic melee. No one will know the difference.

The challenge level was fine. Two level 4 guys can push a group of five level 1s. I think it's the only level where that happens.

So last night I ran six battles in 2.5 hours. Fast combat can happen at level 1 with 1/2 the creatures. #dnd

Great Gencon tip from the awesome folks at Penny Arcade: http://bit.ly/oyh2xN

#dnd tip: It's a lot easier to just play out of the Monster Vault book or the Dark Sun Creature Catalog. Don't think you have to tweak.

#dnd tip: Make brutes the staple monster in your battles. They do tons of damage and are easy to hit. DMs and players both love them.

#dnd tip: Spend some time surfing the #dnd hashtag to meet new folks as into our hobby as we are.

#dnd tip: Make your "who's coming this week?" email exciting with some quick lore and sneak previews. Make them REALLY want to come.

#dnd tip: A burning building about to collapse makes for a great encounter "out". Give the PCs five rounds before it collapses around them.

#dnd tip from @stuffershack Letting your players build an ambush site reminds them that you're all telling a story and not just competing.

#dnd tip: Want to run faster combats? Try using average damage for PCs and monsters instead of rolling damage dice.

@davidnett @davethegame It's not a test of their retention, it's a test of how overwritten your game is.

#dnd tip: Quiz your players to figure out how many NPCs and plot twists they can actually keep track of.

#dnd tip: Monsters that burst when hit bring a great challenge to your paragon and epic PCs. See the Monster Vault Black Dragon.

#dnd tip: Don't have two NPCs with the same first letter of their name. No Zanthar and Zulamen and Zytheria. Old tip from Stephen King.

#dnd tip: Here's a good Dark Sun high-res map: http://bit.ly/kxPgTz

#dnd tip: Hill giants with a Beast Giant leader makes for a great desert oasis encounter for paragon-tier Dark Sun PCs.

Awesome crib sheet for #dnd 4e. http://t.co/acHp953 Thanks @gjmueller

#dnd tip: It's easy to turn a normal encounter into a Dark Sun encounter. Grass turns to sand and water turns brackish.

#dnd tip: The good cop gone too far is a great villain archetype. Consider Alonzo Harris from Training Day.

#dnd tip: Make Revenge of the Giants and Tomb of Horrors useful again by updating monster damage with a sharpie.

@irosrod 1. No crits on anything but 20; 2. save vs OAs with dominate. 3. Zones don't damage on forced movement.

Seriously thinking of just simply houseruling that solos are immune to Daze and Stun. Go use them on normal guys. http://t.co/dKGccR1 #dnd

#dnd tip: Denzel Washington in Training Day makes for a great ally turned villain. Don't surprise your party, have them watch him turn slow.

4e is definitely great for DM prep. It's just not as much fun at the table above level 12 unless you severely limit PC source material. #dnd

@newbiedm That's actually what Neverwinter does, right? http://t.co/PthaRi0

Honestly, the best way to have fun with 4e is stick with Essentials only above level 10. Everything else gets broken really fast.

This is the broken power of the day. Characters can have -263 hit points and are still fighting. http://t.co/sbfObw3

Sometimes I really feel like 4e D&D made the game a lot more fun for players by taking fun away from the DM's (who actually buy the product)

In case people didn't already know it, #dnd 4e's sweet spot is probably level 1 to 5 and gets more frustrating for a DM as it goes up.

Finished the first half of my level 30 Lolth adventure. Pretty much a cake walk until I put out the ongoing 60 damage zone-wide effect. #dnd

#dnd tip: Steal good scenes for your game from everywhere. Consider a mini-adventure based on the gang movie The Warriors.

@TheAngryDM @arcanespringbrd Sure, but it's the DM's responsibility to deal with it. Don't just shake your fist in the air(like your icon!).

@TheAngryDM @arcanespringbrd Exactly. If the game system is not working, switch. That's what @newbiedm did and who can blame him.

@arcanespringbrd I take that back. It's not about fault. Game masters need to take responsibility to get better and not blame companies.

@ArcaneSpringbrd @theangrydm @newbiedm They're only a slog if you let them be a slog. It's still your game.

@TheAngryDM @arcanespringbrd We also have the math to build any epic-tier monster we want in about 3 minutes.

@TheAngryDM @arcanespringbrd We already have a bunch of good stuff to reskin in MM3, MV, and Dark Sun Creature Catalog. We could use more.

@TheAngryDM @arcanespringbrd Don't get me wrong. Would I like more @wizards_dnd epic support? Yes. Is my game dead without it? No. #dnd

@TheAngryDM @arcanespringbrd I'm confident that few run epic tier without rolling their own stuff.

@TheAngryDM @arcanespringbrd I don't know of any DM who doesn't build their own monsters and adventures. They're not going to take math away

.@ArcaneSpringbrd #dnd is the game you choose to run. The state of any particular slice of the industry matters little to the game you play.

@ArcaneSpringbrd not in my game. Epic tier is alive and well #dnd

There's a clear focus from @dnd_articles on the #dnd heroic tier (http://t.co/xbiawpy) but I sure had fun writing a level 30 adventure.

#dnd tip: A good mastermind villain always has a good side-kick who is in the face of the PCs a lot. Think Grace Jones from View to a Kill.

.@Abstruse DM Guys, D&D Round Table, Critical Hits podcast, The Tome Show are all great #dnd podcasts.

#dnd tip: Need inspiration for a great Dark Sun big brawl scene? Check out the beginning of "Gangs of New York": http://bit.ly/io39FA

Going to spend more time watching the #dnd hash tag and less watching my regular timeline I think. Awesome dnd stuff going on there.

#dnd tip: For a good #gammaworld story about a derelict Martian space ship, check out Broken Angels: http://amzn.to/mhfrLk

If you enjoyed these tips, take a look at Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips book or Sly Flourish’s Running Epic Tier D&D Games. You can also use these links to purchase the Dungeon Master’s Kit, the Monster Vault, the Heroes of the Fallen Lands or bookmark this link to buy anything from Amazon.

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Send feedback to mike@mikeshea.net.