I just opened a discord server for rules discussions, workshops and the like. People interested in thoughtful
discussions on 5e or TTRPG rules, adventures or more are welcome to sign up. Please note that general rules of
good social interactions and good-faith conversations apply. This will likely be a small server but anyone is
welcome who wants to get into a deeper conversation than Twitter allows. Please feel free to share this link.
The server just opened this weekend and is still getting set-up.
Our site migration is now complete! This should mean a much better and faster experience for everyone visiting the site. You will have noticed it’s been a bit quiet around here and this has been the reason. The previous wordpress site was just too slow and solutions to make it faster were either too expensive or as difficult as switching hosts. Given this is a content oriented blog and doesn’t need a lot of scripting, I decided to switch over to building the site on Jekyll and hosting in Github Pages.
I greatly enjoyed my recent interview on the podcast, Thinking Critically: A D&D Discussion. We talk about agency in games in all it’s many forms, what agency is and isn’t, where it ends, how it’s traded, and how it interacts with game mechanics. I highly recommend the podcast for anyone running tabletop RPGs of any kind.
Evocative artwork and imagery is a great add to any 5e fan resource, but finding usable images can be a challenge. I aggregated this list of resources for myself to help navigate the the different resources for potentially usable artwork in RPGs. I also asked some followers on twitter for their recommendations and aggregate all of those together here. I hope you’ll find something useful to help you create more works and honor the artists who put so much work into their own creations.
Optional Rule Hat and one handsome fella.
How to manage anxiety as a Dungeon Master (DM) in Dungeons and Dragons has got to be the most common question I see right after, “first time DM, any advice”. Naturally this makes sense, as being a DM sits at an intersection of a number of high anxiety pursuits. That is, it combines the difficulties of managing social groups, event planning, writing, as well as improvisation and performance. Additionally, you represent every enemy, obstacle, and challenge to a group of people who themselves may be feeling similar anxiety. Given this, it’s no wonder DMs ask for advice and find anxiety to be one of the major roadblocks to running a game.
If the OptionalRule Twitter account reaches eight hundred (800) followers by Noon EST March 15th 2021, I will give away a gift code for an electronic copy of D&D Candlekeep Mysteries on DnDBeyond! See details below for how to enter.
Learning different RPG systems is the most useful thing a DM or player can do to up their game. Doing so teaches you all sorts of ways to approach narration, mood, play, resolutions, and any number of other skills that could be useful in a game.
Here are my thoughts on how I can use content from Arcadia in my 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons game. Arcadia is a new magazine style digital publication for 5e in the tradition of the old Dragon Magazine. In particular, the content is a useful buffet of DM resources, adventures, and lore that enhances existing games.
I will write a whole post someday on the importance of friendship in Tabletop Roleplaying groups. Today though I want to capture two tweets I made because I don’t think you can ever say this enough.