Latest Posts
Two Mistakes in the Monster Manual
There are two statblocks in the Monster Manual that have grievous errors and require correction. One of them is so surprisingly that most people are shocked to learn it, the other is a choice that unnecessarily detracts from the fun. Cats have darkvision. How on earth did they miss this? Real world cats have the…
Phrases to Steal
I have learned a lot from watching other DMs at work, whether they are folks I’ve gotten to play with at home, or Actual Play DMs on streams or podcasts. Among the latter, I’m most familiar with three: Matt Mercer, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Aabria Iyengar. They are all very different DMs—though they’ve clearly influenced…
Reverse-engineering Skill in TTRPGs
Part of a series, maybe? In which I reverse-engineer what I’m sure are basics of game design. A friend of mine recently picked up Blades in the Dark and we are eager to get into some heisty hi-jinks. Heists are hot right now. I just listened to A County Affair from Worlds Beyond Number, which…
Where are the Non-Combat Mechanics?
In the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Chapter 8, “Running the Game,” specifically pages 242–245. Done. … Why are you still here? Okay, okay. A common-enough critique of D&D 5e is that it focuses most of its rules on Combat. Even if we assume this is true of the Player’s Handbook (which is actually questionable—in the PHB,…
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James DM 