Questions tagged [gm-preparation]
For questions about the techniques that game masters use to prepare for a game session. (For preparing a campaign, use the [campaign-development] tag instead.)
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How do I get my D&D group to engage to a minimum
I've been DMing for a group for a year. Initially, they were mostly new to D&D—one had a bit of experience, and two were fans of D&D shows. I've played quite a bit myself, so they asked me to ...
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What adventures are good for use with a square grid map? [closed]
I'm new as a DM, and I'm planning to run Dragon of Icespire Peak for a group of four players. However, I already can tell that it will be time-consuming to map out each of the potential locations the ...
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How can I make online combat more interesting?
I'm a fairly new GM, this coming Saturday is going to be about my 4th session, I think, and I'm playing a 5e reskin of a video game with a good group online via Discord and the Owlbear Rodeo VTT. So ...
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How do you handle your data backend as DM? [closed]
I'm a brand new DM with zero experience in the field, though I have played a few campaigns as a player. My first campaign is almost finished, at least for the plot/writing/arc parts. My problem now is:...
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Should my players fill out their character sheets during a tutorial session?
I am starting a new dnd 5e group, and all the players have never played before. I did session zero, it all went well, but I think they were overwhelmed by the amount of information. I asked them for ...
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Already have the story before a PBtA game
I'm studying the rules for MOTW for the first time and I think I'd like to run a round soon.
I'm getting a little confused reading the rules for the agenda where it says "play to see what happens&...
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I want to pivot our campaign to Curse of Strahd, but the party is level 13. What should I do? [closed]
I'm a newbie DM running a remix of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. Our version of this adventure is less about speedy chases and clock ticking, but more about politics, alliances, mystery and deception. We'...
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What do mailed letters look like in the Forgotten Realms?
I've got a noble NPC that will be sending an important letter to the PCs, but I can't decide how that should work. I imagine he'd be paying a courier to bring it straight to them, so size and shape ...
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What are the strongest uncommon magic items? [closed]
So soon enough I am going to be hosting a level 10 one-shot, and each player gets to start with 1 uncommon magic item. I want to know which ones are strong so I can look over them and make sure they ...
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Are there any 'official' templates used for writing out adventures in D&D 5e?
I'm trying to seat this question in the idea of "Tools and equipment used while playing table-top RPGs" and not just have it be a matter of opinion. Please feel free to suggest edits so I ...
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Is it appropriate to bring a player character back after they had been "killed"?
A player character "died" in battle early on in this current arc I'm DMing, and I had already decided that either this character would be in pursuit by the big bad or would be taken captive. ...
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When do you consider a scene important enough to warrant a battlemap? [closed]
I was thinking about the act of looking for battlemaps, and was wondering when, in pre-planning, did you ever decide that a scene was important enough for a battlemap?
Example 1: A room where you ...
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How do node-based scenarios interact with the GM vs. Players turn system in Mouse Guard?
With node-based scenarios, you plan multiple nodes and place three or more clues from the current node to adjacent nodes. The Alexandrian has a good series on them, that starts here.
From what I ...
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What to do when a player roleplays an extremely persuasive argument, but flubs their Persuasion check?
I have been the DM of a wonderful group of Stack Exchange friends playing an urban fantasy campaign of D&D 5e for some time now, and a question came up in our group Discord that has got me ...
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Shortcuts for GMs preparing a boss sheet
Due to time constraints, I simply do not have the time any more to read through the list of all the feats, all possible enchantments, and all the prestige classes, to then build a boss.
What are the ...
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