Annabelle's Nerdy D&D Blog

  Turns out I've written quite a few blogs now so here's a handy-dandy contents page! ^ ^       Dungeon Master Tips   An Introduction to D&D for beginners What is a Dungeon Master How to start as a Dungeon Master on a Budget What is a session Zero and how to run one How to use AI as a Dungeon Master Tool How to use the D&D Beyond Encounter Builder: A step by step Guide How to make DnD Character sheets easier for beginners to understand How to add flavor to your D&D games How to make Combat...

  The Challenge Rating (CR) system in Dungeons and Dragons is essentially like levels in a video game. A CR 2 encounter is meant to be “of medium difficulty” for a party of level 2 adventurers.   Nine times out of ten the party will be able to walk away from an encounter of that challenge rating with no casualties beyond expended resources. A party can usually handle around six to eight encounters with the same challenge rating as themselves within a day. Assuming the party is able to take a couple of short rests of course!   This system...

  Although there are a lot of cool accessories out there, you can definitely learn how to become a great Dungeon Master without spending a penny. The only investment you really have to make is your time! Truth be told, you don’t need all the books or mini figurines or cool terrain to be a good DM (and I say that as someone who’s livelihood is based around making cool terrain!). What you really need is to understand your role, the rules, and the kind of story you want to tell - all of which you can do for free. Check...

  Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a co-operative story-telling game. Players play as their characters, going on adventures in a world narrated by the Dungeon Master (DM). Each Player Character has their own unique set of skills and abilities, determined by their race and class. The party work together as a team to complete quests. The DM plays the game in a different way to the rest of the players. Their role is to guide the story and controls the non-player characters (NPCs).   In many ways, playing in a weekly campaign is much watching an episode of your favourite show with...

If your players have completely de-railed your campaign then congratulations! This happens to pretty much every DM at some point and is a perfectly normal (if stressful) part of running a DnD game.

It may feel uncomfortable right now but you will be riding this wave to another really awesome story line in no time!