The moon hangs high in the sky, full in its brilliance. A bank of clouds slides lazily across the sky and obscures part of the moon shining down on you as you scale the side of the building. You love how the moon illuminates the world at night. In fact, for most of your life, you’ve considered the moon your closest companion. For a job like this, you would’ve preferred a new moon and utter darkness, but time won’t allow it. That’s fine with you. The moon gives you comfort.“As it should,” whispers a small silky voice into your ear. You smile. It’s not the first time your protector has whispered in your ear on a job. You don’t really know when the voice started, but it’s always helped you out. At first you were distrustful of it, but it never asked for anything so you’ve learned to trust it over the years.Finally you reach the zenith of the Serpent’s Dome. This Museum houses precious artifacts from across Integrity. But you and your companions only need one artifact. You pull out your tools and pry open one of the windows. You set up the pulley system and start to lower yourself down.“Use the dust,” whispers the voice. You stop your descent and smile. You reach into your pack and pull out a handful of dust and toss if below you. A small spark flashes and then you see a field of magic appear and then fade. That dust was definitely worth the cost. You begin your descent again.Finally you reach the glass case and use your tools to extract the artifact. Easier than you thought it would be.You begin to pull yourself back up but halfway to your exit you hear the whisper, “It’s a trap. They know you’re here, drop it and leave.”What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 20th episode of How to Be a Better DM. As always, I’m your host, Justin Lewis, and I’m here to help you create more engaging stories for you and your players as you DM a nice session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e. First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I am incredibly grateful for you all who listen in every week. Thank you to all of you who support the show and thanks for your continued backing.Second, I’m happy to announce that we are working on our Patreon and that should be done pretty soon. Stay tuned for that and get ready for the goodies that come with it.Now, last week I talked about who shouldn’t play as a rogue. This week, let’s talk about who should be steered toward playing a rogue.Sneaky SneakyIf you have a player who wants to sneak places, then the obvious choice is a rogue. Every character will probably be forced to stealth at some point, but generally rogues are the ones who excel the most at stealth. Stealy StealySimilarly, if you are interested in pick pocketing and stealing stuff then the rogue is for you. It’s basically the job description for a rogue. Their natural dexterity  allows them to get in and out quickly.AssassinationsAny character can assassinate enemies. With sneak attack damage making a secret kill becomes much easier. Add the stealth and the dexterity to it and it becomes almost a cinch.The Underworld of CrimeAs a Rogue, you gain the ability to speak Thieve’s Cant which is only really spoken in the seedy underbelly of society. This naturally connects rogues with Crime syndicates, gangs and the like. If you have a player who is interested in that, encourage them to choose a rogue.Stay Away from SpellsEven if your player wants to choose arcane trickster, a rogue is a perfect character for someone who doesn’t want the complexity of spells. Rogues get to do awesome stuff that doesn’t deal with spell components, concentration, or ritual spells.Avoiding DamageRogues get to use their bonus action to disengage, hide, or dash. This allows Rogues to be very mobile and or stealthy even during combat. When you pair this ability with sneak attack, a rogue becomes the perfect role for someone who wants to cause specific damage with minimal damage taken.While not an exhaustive list, this should help you direct newbies to the character class that they will love!Thanks again everyone for listening to today’s show. As always you rock. And have a very happy thanksgiving everyone.We’ll see you next week.Until then, let’s roll initiative…Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Hire Us as Your Dungeon MasterDid you know that you can have one of our hosts here at How to Be a Better DM be your dungeon master? That’s right. All of our podcast hosts are professional dungeon masters that you can hire for your private or corporate dungeons and dragons game. We can do one-shots or long-term campaigns. If you want to schedule your first session with us, go to https://session0studios.com/dungeon-master-for-hire/ and get started. Dungeon Master for HireJoin Our DiscordSo a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today. Discord

You find yourself creeping through a dark hallway. You’ve left your companions outside so you could come in and do the dirty work. Your friends always let you take care of the “unsavory” elements of your work. You’re ok with that. You’ve been ok with that all your life.You creep through the dark hallway. You stop. You slink into the shadow of a large pillar. You see a guard walk-by. He continues on his way. You let him pass and then continue. Finally you find the door. You open it up slowly and slink in. You’ve been creeping around for most of your life. Sneaking into forbidden places always seemed too easy for you. You approach the bed to finish the job. You then notice something wrong. The body on the bed lay lifeless. It’s then that you notice the green spittal leaking out of the man’s mouth. Dead. That’s a problem. Who killed him?That’s when you hear the guards shouting. “Intruder! Intruder! The King’s been murdered!”The king? You came to murder the king’s adviser. The king was also murdered?That’s when you realize, you need to get out of there, fast. So what would you like to do?Welcome back to the 19th episode of How to Be a Better DM. As always, I’m your host, Justin Lewis, and I’m here to help you create better stories as you and your friends play D&D 5e.As a DM, the hardest part of getting a campaign going is finding a group of people that have time and are willing to play on a reasonably periodic schedule. After that, there’s another challenge that isn’t talked about enough: guiding your players to choosing the right character.Not every player will like every class. It’s a simple fact. So your job as a DM is to help them find the right choice for themselves. So let’s talk about who shouldn’t choose to play a rogue.If you want to play Lawful GoodNow I’m not saying that you can’t be a lawful good rogue. What I am saying is that most rogues aren’t. Add to that the fact that most skills that a rogue gets are of the underhanded and secretive nature. Generally, a rogue fits naturally into the chaotic alignment (good, neutral, or evil) and avoids the lawful disposition. I suppose that could make for a very interesting story, but generally for newbies, if they generally try to follow all the rules and laws, then a rogue might not be the best choice.If you Love Armor.Rogues don’t generally get heavy armor. I suppose you could use the feats to allow yourself to be fully armored, but unless you have some sort of magic ability to avoid having disadvantage on stealth rolls. Now I know armor is a somewhat small consideration but in case that’s a dealbreaker for you, you shouldn’t pick a rogue.If You want to be the Star of CombatThe rogue either does a huge amount of damage in combat or a moderate amount or none. Rarely will you bear the brunt of the damage or deal the lion’s share of the damage. Instead, as a rogue you’ll enjoy darting in and out over and over again doing sneak attack damage when you can. Casting SpellsIf you want to cast all the spells, a rogue is not for you. There is a Roguish Archetype that allows you to cast certain spells, but that is limited compared to some of the other spellcasters. If you are excited mostly about the prospect of casting fireball or Wish, choose a different class. If you don’t like sneakingGenerally, the rogue is the person the group turns to first when stealth is a necessity. If someone needs to sneak into somewhere, usually it’s the rogue. I’m not saying that’s how you have to play, but I am saying people will probably expect that of your character. Don’t like stealthing? Maybe choose a paladin or barbarian.Well there are 5 guidelines that might help you steer your player away from a rogue character they won’t like that much and towards another character they’ll enjoy much more. But make sure, you let your players do what they want. They can be any character they like, and that’s one of the best things about D&D. Just be their guide and shepherd them to a fun character choice.Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Next week, we’ll talk about who should play a rogue so come back next time. Don’t forget to follow the show and leave a rating and review. Just a heads up, I’m getting a Patreon ready with goodies and such, so get ready for that.As always, thanks for listening. We’ll see you next week.Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Always Have Your Sessions Prepared!You work 8 hours a day. You spend time with your family when you come home. You do work around the house and it seems you never have as much time as you would like to prepare your D&D sessions. Does this sound like you? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have endless material prepared for your D&D sessions anyways? That’s where Roll and Play Press comes in. Roll and Play Press provides D&D 5e Compatible materials for any type of session. Running a one-shot? Check out their One Shot Wonders book with over 100 one-shot ideas. Getting started with your new sci-fi campaign? Get their Game Master’s Sci-Fi Toolkit to have your games much more prepared. Why reinvent the wheel? Check out Roll and Play Press at rollandplaypress.com and get 10% off when you buy something by using the code BETTERDM10. Roll and Play PressWe Like YouHey Bud… How’s it going? Just wanted to say… we like you. We’re think you’re pretty cool. We hope you like us too. If you do like us and what we’re doing, you can support us on our Patreon. Just $1 a month is enough. Just go to https://session0studios.com/patreon and show your support. But even if you don’t… we still like you. See ya around bud. Patreon

d&d campaign ideas for beginners“Sir, you and your companions are the only guests who are here completely by chance. That is why you four must be in charge of the investigation. Even I myself, as a servant of the house, must be placed under suspicion. Since you showed up as the murder was supposedly taking place, it can be assumed that none of you were responsible. Add to that the fact that you all arrived in town not but 2 hours ago, never having journeyed here nor making the acquaintance of Sir Merrimont. I feel therefore reasonably comfortable trusting this investigation to you.”The old gnome butler bows gracefully and excuses himself to see to other duties. It is then that you and your companions return to the dining hall to see the other dinner guests. You’d come here seeking a favor from Sir Merrimont to help in another quest you were engaged in. When you arrived at the manor you were invited in and were waiting for about 30 minutes before screams were heard and the bloody body of Sir Merrimont discovered. The great hall is a resplendent room with beautiful tiled floors and amazing reliefs on the walls. The room is taken up by a beautiful table set for 8 guests. All the chairs are filled but one, that of Sir Merrimont. The guests look at each other nervously. You look at your companions and shrug. What would you like to do? Welcome back to the 18th episode of the How to Be a Better DM Show. I’m your host Justin Lewis and we’re here to help you create better, more immersive stories for yourself and your friends as you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.As we all know, creating a new campaign is hard. It gets much easier when you have a great idea that is simple enough to start with relatively little worry or complication. So here are a few D&D campaign ideas for beginners.Rescue a damsel in distressThis is a classic trope. A specific damsel has been stolen and a specific group has stolen her. You get to choose who the damsel is (and even the form of the damsel) and the group that stole her (or if she was stolen by one nemesis). You can draw this campaign idea out as long as you want or make it a single session storyline. Makes it real simple for a novice DM.Recover an artifactIt’s the classic Indiana Jones switching a bag of rocks for an artifact story. General idea of the story is this: a powerful magical (or non-magical) artifact is somewhere and needs to be brought somewhere else. Whether the artifact was originally stolen is up to you. Whether the artifact is guarded by enemies is up to you. How far away the artifact is is up to you. You can make this as complicated or simple as you want. You can also connect this storyline with others within your campaign or leave it as a standalone storyline.Carry a messageGet your adventurers to take a message from one place to another. You can add in as many difficulties as you’d like. Maybe the message needs to be taken behind enemy lines during a major war engagement. Perhaps the message needs to get to and convince a leader who is malignant towards the adventurers. You can spice this up easily by connecting the message to one of your adventurers’ backstories.Beast HunterThis one is simple. There is a beast. There are people who want the beast to be no more. There is a reason the adventurers would be ok getting rid of the beast. In most situations there will either need to be a reward or intense moral connection for the adventurers to have a reason to care about whether or not the beast exists. Again, this scenario works for all levels and can be made more complicated as desired.On the Hunt for LoreRather than hunting a beast, this scenario sends the adventurers to hunt for information. You can make the task easier by identifying the place the knowledge must be acquired. Add in adversaries who want the knowledge to remain hidden to make it more difficult. InterceptionA nice simple start to a campaign is sending your players to intercept something that is traveling somewhere for some reason. They could intercept a messenger, hunting party, dragon or whatever else. You can make the intercept location basically anywhere that makes your story more interesting. You could even make the intercept location a place where the plot complicates much more and turns your story on its head.Survive the WavesAnother simple story start is having your players start somewhere that is under threat, and the characters will have to survive waves of enemies. This could be in a war situation, or maybe a village is under attack from a tribe of raiders. Whatever it is, the players will have to use their wits to keep themselves alive. Help may or may not be coming, depending on your story, but survival seems doubtful. The formula.If you haven’t figured it out yet, a simple formula you can use for a lot of story campaign ideas is the player characters need to travel to point B to do some specific action (kill, protect, convince, intercept, find) that affects a third party who is contrary to the desire of the group. Here’s the simple formula. The group must go to Blank to Do Blank so Opposing Group Blank can’t do Blank. You can use that formula to start many many stories and weave incredible tales for yourself and your friends.As always, it’s been a pleasure to hang out with you guys. If you liked today’s show or have suggestions about it or other episodes, reach out to me on Instagram @geronimolevis where we can continue the conversation.Make sure you follow the show and leave a rating and review. That would be very awesome of you. Last, of all, come back next week for another great show.Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Signup for Our Email NewsletterDo you love the show but can't always listen to it? Do you prefer written content? Go to session0studios.com/newsletter/ and sign up to get weekly tips and tricks sent to your inbox so you can become the greatest DM the world has ever seen.Level Up GuideBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Add the Magic of Sound to Your GameplayWhen you set the scene you need to tap into the five senses. When it comes to sound one of the best ways to do that is with music, sound effects, and ambience. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Monument Studios. Monument Studios provides an easy-to-use Soundboard perfect for Dungeon Mastering. If you want to see this in action, go to fantasy-plus.com and get 10% off of your first month of their Fantasy+ App by using the code BETTERDM at check out. Again that is fantasy-plus.com and BETTERDM at checkout. Monument Studios

“How many of your crops are like this?” the Constable asks.Rosdan, the local farmer who asked for this meeting, looks right into Constable Yerip’s eyes and says, “All of them sir. There’s not a single grain that isn’t tainted.”Yerip steeples his hands and sits back in his chair. He sits for a moment thinking. “What happened to the few people who ate the grain?”Rosdan paused and then said, “they turned into monsters. There’s something evil in that grain and I don’t know what it is. It might have something to do with that star that fell not one month ago. I tell ya sir, twas a bad omen to be sure.”Yelp holds the tainted stalk of grain up to you and your companions. “What do you make of this adventurers?”You hold it up to your nose. The stalk which would normally have the familiar scent of summer and the harvest bears a sickly sweet stench that seems to hide something more bitter. The stalk that was once golden is now turned a purplish color. Very faint blue lights can almost be seen within the veins of the plant. You hand it to Bophregar whose eyes glow for the briefest of seconds.“The tainted stalk of grain leaks faint magical energies. This fact does not bode well for the people of this village. I recommend the rest of the tainted crops be burned immediately and not consumed. Other foods must be procured.”Constable Yerip stands and says, “Well that’s the problem. We have no other food stores. We must find the source of the taint and destroy it. Actually, that is why I called you adventurers here. Can you please rid us of our taint?”So what would you like to do?Welcome back to the 17th episode of How to Be a Better DM.It’s me again, your host Justin Lewis (yes I do have a name). I’m here to help you craft ever better stories for yourself and your players as you dungeon master sessions of D&D 5e.I want to thank you all for coming back week after week. Lately, I’ve gone through some personal struggles and I’m very grateful for those who enjoy the show even when I don’t feel like myself while doing it. You guys are awesome and are the real stars of this show. Now let’s talk about characters, specifically Non-player characters. For those of you who are the newest of the new at this, a non-player character is simply any character in the story that will be played by you. In that, it’s kind of a misnomer because even though you are the DM, you are still playing a game with your friends, a fact that by definition makes you a player, but I digress.These are the characters your players will interact with and will use to help immerse themselves into your world. So they gotta be good right.But making characters that come alive can be really hard. So here are a few tips to help make better Non-Player characters.Think about their purposeAll of your NPC’s need a purpose. Sometimes that purpose is just to make your players laugh and add in some comedic relief. Sometimes the NPC is just there to buy and sell items or to move the plot along. Sometimes the NPC is the plot. Most of the time, your NPC’s will have a mix of multiple purposes. Knowing the NPC’s purpose will help with everything else in the story. Just be prepared when the players decided to take the purpose you’ve designed for your NPC and twist it and generally muck things up. You might have a simple merchant that the players decide they really like so they spend way more time getting to know their back story than should’ve ever happened. Oh well.Give them something memorableWith each NPC that you want your players to remember, give them something memorable. This might mean making the NPC funny, or rude so the players remember the interaction with the NPC. Or maybe you give them a defining feature that you constantly bring up in describing the interaction because the players’ characters keep noticing it. Maybe it comes out in the voice you use for the NPC. The best way to do this is probably to think, “What do I want my players’ characters to feel about this NPC or after they’ve interacted with them.” That generally helps create the mix of memorable traits. For NPC’s that are supposed to be very memorable, make their traits that much more memorable. Know what the NPC WantsWith NPC’s you either need to understand what they want or be able to answer that question quickly while improvising during your session. This will help the players know where they stand as well as whether or not incentives align for the NPC and the party. For most NPC’s you probably won’t need to know the answer to this question (and its accompanying questions) but for those that you do, it often helps to write down this info. Don’t overwrite your NPC’sI think a mistake I myself might fall into is either fleshing out the NPC completely or not enough. I’m usually either not using content I’ve created for my NPC or making stuff up on the spot during the session. Therefore you need to cultivate the skill of understanding how much is enough for your NPC. I think a good rule of thumb is building out your NPC based on how much “screen time” they’ll have. If your NPC is a bit player, don’t worry about fleshing out whether they like beer, mead, wine or whiskey for their drink. If the NPC is set to reappear over and over, you might want to make sure you know what the NPC is doing off screen, and why they do what they do. Make the NPC’s ChangeableSpeaking of what the NPC does off screen, you want to make sure that both the actions of your players and the world wide events around you affect your NPC’s. In fact you want your NPC’s to make their own choices as well. It talks about this in the Dungeon Master’s Guide but as time passes NPC’s shouldn’t be static. Things should happen in their lives and the passing of time should be noted. Maybe they’ve decided to farm a different crop rather than farming the same crop they’ve been doing for years. Maybe their child has grown and left to join the army. Perhaps they’ve decided to close their store. Whatever happens, make sure it doesn’t affect your story plot or if it does, make sure there’s a reason why. You can’t just close an NPC’s store down just because (though you might be tempted to if you’ve given the storekeeper an annoying voice).Copying Cool Characters is an Ok place to startThis is my personal opinion, but adding cool characters to your story that you’ve pulled from other stories is totally fine. Most characters are based on archetypes and tropes anyways so adding in a Yoda-like character is totally ok. You’ll never get it exactly like the original character and your players will probably feel the familiarity of the NPC and enjoy having them in the story. Now after you start with those transplanted characters start experimenting and trying new things. Maybe instead of just adding Yoda to your campaign, you make him a combination of Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street and Yoda. When you copy someone else, take the copy and add a twist to make it your own. But remember, don’t plagiarize or steal commercial copyrighted property when doing this for money. For home games, feel free to play a campaign that features Darth Vader, Harry Potter and Gandalf. Well hopefully these 6 tips help you make some awesome characters. I know they’ve helped me. Keep making great characters and telling great stories. I’d love to keep the conversation going so feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. Just send a message to @geronimolevis to let me know what you think about these tips, or to share any tips you have from your campaign. I’d love to get your opinion.Thanks for listening. We’ll be back next week. Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Follow us on InstagramThanks again for listening to our show. If you like our content and would like to engage with more of our content, head over to our Instagram account, @howtobeabetterdm, and give us a follow. Make sure to watch some of our helpful Dungeon Master Rules videos to give yourself some structure and procedure as a Dungeon Master. Don’t forget to reach out with a DM and we can talk shop. https://www.instagram.com/howtobeabetterdmpodcast/Listen to Our New PodcastAs a listener of this show, you obviously love story. Now that you’ve learned how to craft your own story on this show, wouldn’t it be nice to have some inspiration? Or maybe just a moment of immersion and escape? Then come join us in our new Actual Play D&D 5e show, Pact and Boon. Enter the World of Calignos where our characters, Jolly, Wolfgang and Alon will meet each other in Hell. Enjoy our troublemaking and near-death experiences wherever great podcasts are heard. Just go to session0studios.com/pactnboon and start listening today.

The grand city of Tornlock boasts a population of 100,000 citizens. From the port district to the affluent Crown district, many call this city their home. In a city like this though, many find themselves in less than fortunate circumstances.You and your companions find yourselves in an Inn, sleeping when a loud knocking on your doors awakens you. It’s a member of the guard. He informs you that Lawmaster Sotan requires your immediate presence. After you and your companions prepare yourselves for the day, you follow the guard out the inn and into a slightly overcast day. The guard leads you down main streets, side roads, and eventually leads you to an alleyway in a darker part of town. He leads you toward a small huddle of guardsmen in the center of the alley way. As you approach, a head raises from the group and signals to you all a basic, if not taciturn greeting. It’s Lawmaster Sotan. You and your companions had worked with the Aasimar on a few occasions and your dealings had always been cordial and productive.“Good morning adventurers. I apologize for the inconvenience at having to wake you at such an early hour, but it could not be helped. Please inspect the grisly scene before us and tell me what insights you can glean. We will talk more after you’ve had a chance to examine the corpse,” Sotan says as he beckons you and your companions forward.The group of guards part and you encounter one of the most grisly scenes of your life. A pastel purple tiefling lies on the ground, eyes wide open starting silently into the gray sky. The body lies with arms and legs akimbo, tied to four posts stuck in the ground. A look of deep fear and consternation adorns the face, frozen in time forever. You also notice the tieflings chest andbelly are flayed open revealing the internal organs of the once living tiefling. Blood has splattered all over the alley way and footprints of blood leave down the opposite side of the alley.You turn to talk to Lawmaster Sotan, but not before he says, “This is the third victim exactly like this in 15 days. We need your help.”What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 16th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m here to help you create better stories for yourself and your friends while you play Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Thanks for coming back for yet another episode. I really appreciate your patronage and your support. So let’s get into today’s episode.As you build out your stories, one-shots and campaigns, you’ll indubitably need resources. Whether you need maps, monsters, or motivation there are many places to find what you need. Here are my top places I go for resources.Google searchAlmost without exception, a simple search on the internet will give me a quick path to what I need. Now, obviously this will take you to the place you need to go, but never underestimate the power of a Google search. For example, I built out a one-shot recently and I needed a very specific type of monster. So I just searched on Google and it took me to what I need. The only caveat here is that if you are streaming or putting your content out commercially, you need to make sure that whatever stuff you pull from the internet is ok to use in that way. InstagramThis is more of passive method for finding cool things, but as I scroll and I find cool things, I just save them in different saved collections. I have a collection for Monsters, Items, simple hacks, Story Hooks and more. Specifically with monsters, items and story hooks there are many Instagram profiles out there that constantly put out new monsters, items and story hooks. I would share them but I have not gotten the ok to so if you want to check them out go to my Instagram @geronimolevis and go to the list of profiles I follow and give it a look.D&D BeyondI know I talk a lot about D&D Beyond but specifically for monsters, it’s very useful (specifically the encounter builder) but finding monsters, spells or items is really easy because you can just search (just like on Google) and generally it comes up. You can also find other peoples’ homebrew content which is nice when you want to supplement what you already got.PinterestWith my earlier Google Search my internet safari eventually took me to the wilds of Pinterest where I indeed found the monsters that I was looking for. I simply copied and pasted the images of the monsters and their stats into the doc in which I was preparing my one-shot and boom, I was good to go. Again, here you have to get the go ahead before you use the content in a commercial way but for home games, Pinterest is great.Other PeopleA great resource that many people never tap into is other people. I know in a personal way, I recently had a few moments of collaboration with a friend creating a murder mystery dinner party. Now obviously that’s not D&D but the principle still applies. If you need help, just reach out to a fellow Dungeon Master and ask a simple question of, “What would you do if you were planning this type of session?” Works wonders and you become better friends.There you have it. 5 non-sourcebook places to go to get the content you need to Dungeon Master an epic session of D&D. I’d love to continue the conversation so reach out to me on Instagram @geronimolevis and let’s continue the fun.We’ll be back next week for another fun episode.Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Hire Us as Your Dungeon MasterDid you know that you can have one of our hosts here at How to Be a Better DM be your dungeon master? That’s right. All of our podcast hosts are professional dungeon masters that you can hire for your private or corporate dungeons and dragons game. We can do one-shots or long-term campaigns. If you want to schedule your first session with us, go to https://session0studios.com/dungeon-master-for-hire/ and get started. Dungeon Master for HireJoin Our DiscordSo a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today. DiscordBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

You awake in the log cabin in which you’d taken shelter the night before. You look around at the warm crackling fire in the giant hearth. The large white bear that led you to the cabin lies at the foot of the fire. You and your companions slowly awake. You look around and notice one figure not of your company sitting at the large oak table in the corner. His feet are up and he sits smoking a slender pipe. You stand and draw your sword. “Who are you?” you ask.“Well that’s a fine hello to someone who was gracious enough not to kill you in your sleep while you sleep in his bed,” the man retorts.You pause, then stow your blade.“That’s more like it.” The man says as he snuffs his pipe. He stands. “Welcome to my cabin. I am Lord Gelick Grayson of The Kingdom of the Golden Deer, but you may call me Judir Fiendirsen. I am your adopted uncle.”What do you do?Welcome back to the 15th episode of How to Be a Better DM. Together we will discuss tips for how to create more immersive stories for you and your friends as you dungeon master a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.As always, I’m excited to hop into today’s show, but first off one announcement. I am working on getting new team members on the show. It’s looking pretty good, but if you want more people on the show, make sure you share the show with your cool DM friends to make sure we have enough support for the show.Anyways, to today’s show.With all the many books produced by Wizards ofthe Coast, it can be somewhat difficult knowing which books to read and which to buy and in what order. So here is my take on things. As a bonus, I’ll tell you whether to buy the book in print, or through DnDBeyond. Obviously, you’d want them both in physical format and in digital format, but my recommendations are assuming you will only buy one format (like most normal people).First there is one caveat. If you are never planning on playing using DnDBeyond or having your players use DNDBeyond then obviously your buying choices will skew towards the physical format.With that said, here are book recommendations.Players HandbookEvery Dungeons and Dragons player should have access to a Player’s Handbook. It will teach you the basic rules as well as give you the basic gamut of character options. This is the first book any DM should buy. If you have this book you never need to have to depend on others in order to play D&D (aside from the fact you need others to be players in your world). This is also the first book you should read. This will help you know the rules and be able to guide your players through the game. As far as whether you should buy this in physical or digital format, I would say digital format all the way. This allows you the search the book for rules as well as give you the opportunity as a DM to have your players to use DND Beyond to make their their characters. It makes things way easier as a DM. Plus it is slightly cheaper.The Monster ManualThis book is extremely helpful for knowing new and exciting monsters to pitch your players up against. Throwing your players in encounters of the same type of monsters over and over will get very boring. You’ll also be very bored as a DM unless you can find cool baddies to fit into the dastardly plans you make. Honestly, I am torn between whether you should buy the book digitally or physically. On one hand, i love looking at the pictures and reading the book. On the other hand having it digitally makes it so much easier to use the DNDBeyond Encounter builder because the stats for the monsters are provided in the encounters when you have the digital version of The Monster Manual. So really it depends on what you value. I think this one might be a both scenario.The Dungeon’s Master GuideEvery DM should read this manual. There are many topics I’ve thought about covering on this show that I’ve held myself back simply because you can get the same content from the Dungeon’s Master Guide. You’ll learn how to really craft great stories and all the extra rules that will make it more fun. You also get access to tens of magical items that will make your campaign. I don’t see the tremendous need to have this book in digital format other than being able to use the magical items in conjunction with D&D Beyond (which you can add the items to your homebrew collection anyways) and the ability to search through rules and such. I don’t see it as particularly necessary to have it digitally.Other SourcebooksThis is the other category. Here basically spend your money buying books because you’ve gotten the previous 3. The exact books you get will depend on what types of campaigns you want to run as well as what character options/items you are looking for. For example, I was very interested in the artificer class and the Warforged race option so I bought Eberron: Rising from the Last War. Since I wanted those character options, I bought the book digitally so my players could use them too. This is where you’ll really build out your collection of dungeons and dragons sourcebooks.There you have it. Let me also take this moment to say that I have no affiliate to D&DBeyond, it’s just a great tool. There are other tools out there, but this is the tool that I use right now.Do you have any thoughts on which books to buy? Let me know your thoughts by sending a direct message on instagram to @geronimolevis .Remember, keep supporting and sharing the show so we can add more people to the show and get you ever better content so you can create better stories while playing D&D.We’ll be back next week, until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:We Like YouHey Bud… How’s it going? Just wanted to say… we like you. We’re think you’re pretty cool. We hope you like us too. If you do like us and what we’re doing, you can support us on our Patreon. Just $1 a month is enough. Just go to https://session0studios.com/patreon and show your support. But even if you don’t… we still like you. See ya around bud. PatreonBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Always Have Your Sessions Prepared!You work 8 hours a day. You spend time with your family when you come home. You do work around the house and it seems you never have as much time as you would like to prepare your D&D sessions. Does this sound like you? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have endless material prepared for your D&D sessions anyways? That’s where Roll and Play Press comes in. Roll and Play Press provides D&D 5e Compatible materials for any type of session. Running a one-shot? Check out their One Shot Wonders book with over 100 one-shot ideas. Getting started with your new sci-fi campaign? Get their Game Master’s Sci-Fi Toolkit to have your games much more prepared. Why reinvent the wheel? Check out Roll and Play Press at rollandplaypress.com and get 10% off when you buy something by using the code BETTERDM10. Roll and Play Press

You and your companions walk slowly through the town. The sky is mottled gray and a slight breeze chills your skin. You see the townsfolk walking by as if nothing had happened. You stop a young lady to ask her what happened. She looks at you with a smile too big for her face. “Nothing happened good sir. We all love living here in Teel’s Hollow.” Her response didn’t feel natural, and her eyes seemed different. You’d all seen this girl before. You let her go. You and your companions stand in the street, discussing, when suddenly, you notice a figure across the way. They stop. Your eyes meet theirs, their cold mechanical eyes. The machine man suddenly bolts.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 14th episode of How to Be a Better DM. This is the show designed to help you tell better stories as you dungeon master a nice session of D&D 5e with your friends. Let me first start off with a big apology. There wasn’t an episode released last week and I am so sorry for that. I got sick and was totally unprepared for it. In fact, I’m still sick, so hopefully this week's episode doesn’t suck.Before we get to today’s show, let me tease out something really cool that might happen. If we’re able to get enough listeners to this show, we’ll be able to add a couple team members to the show. That’s all I’ll say for now, so make sure you share the show so we can bring on new guys !Now, we’ve all tried telling an amazing story. We’ve tried to weave the beginning, introducing important plot points and seamlessly transitioning to breathtaking moments of conflict. We’ve all been there. Most of us though still struggle with that. Maybe we struggle using our words to effectively paint the scene. So here are a few tips to better narrate your game.Slow downOne of my biggest problems is that I tend to talk really fast. Most people who talk fast do so unconsciously as a way to hide their insecurity. Subconsciously we feel that talking fast masks the fact that we might not have much value to say.  Instead, slow down. Breathe. Be very deliberate with what you say. If it takes a long time to get there, that’s ok. Narrate with your sensesAs you narrate your game, make sure you use words that call forth each of the senses. “The springtime scents of alfalfa assail you as you walk through the fields,” sounds much better than, “You walk through a field”. Immerse yourself and your players by giving them words that evoke their senses.Refine your written textIn D&D you’ll definitely ad lib at least once per session, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare some sort of text block as well. Whether you’re in a dungeon or about to fight a big boss, you can create a descriptive block of text that perfectly sets the scene. When you do, use this time to really practice your narration. What you say while improvising and what you say when you’ve prepared yourself are both linked. When one improves, the other improves.Give seemingly insignificant detailsYou gotta be careful with this tip, but when describing a foe, add in something that the players will remember. Rather than fighting a banshee, explain that the group sees a young maiden in a shroud of shimmering white garments, and that she holds something in her right hand, something that looks to be a star carved out of wood. Notice how I didn’t describe the whole monster, but it was still interesting. There you have it, 4 simple tips to help improve your narrative skills. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these tips, or any other tips you may have. Send me a direct message on instagram @geronimolevis  and I’ll be happy to start up a conversation.We’ll see you next week. Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Signup for Our Email NewsletterDo you love the show but can't always listen to it? Do you prefer written content? Go to session0studios.com/newsletter/ and sign up to get weekly tips and tricks sent to your inbox so you can become the greatest DM the world has ever seen.Level Up GuideBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Add the Magic of Sound to Your GameplayWhen you set the scene you need to tap into the five senses. When it comes to sound one of the best ways to do that is with music, sound effects, and ambience. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Monument Studios. Monument Studios provides an easy-to-use Soundboard perfect for Dungeon Mastering. If you want to see this in action, go to fantasy-plus.com and get 10% off of your first month of their Fantasy+ App by using the code BETTERDM at check out. Again that is fantasy-plus.com and BETTERDM at checkout. Monument Studios

You and your friends walk into the deepest catacomb of the crypt. The summons you’d received were cryptic and specific. It said to descend to the lowest portion of the crypt in order to receive a special mission. You’ve passed ancient bones and less ancient bones, and now you find yourself in a large room completely made out of stone. Bluish light seems to emanate from the corners of the room but you see no movement. Suddenly, mist fills the floor of the room, bubbling up as if from some great beast’s maw.In the corner you see an object rise off of a shelf. It floats towards you. As it enters the light, you see a single floating skull with jewels for eyes and teeth. A Demilich. You and your companions draw your weapons when you hear a voice.“Wait.”The voice is small and childlike. It emanates from the skull.“I called you here. I am Isaac. I don’t know how, but I’ve somehow been trapped as a demilich. I’ve been here for so long and have only recently heard of your exploits. I know I look like a demilich, but I’m really just a child. This form has imbued with its knowledge but I just want to go home. Please, there is an artifact that has great power. Retrieve it and bring it back to return me to life as small boy. I’ll give you whatever I have. Please just help me.”You stare in disbelief. You look at your companions, all equally bewildered.You open your mouth to speak.What do you do?Welcome back to the 13th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m here to help you create better stories for you and your players as you dungeon master games of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Again, thanks for listening to today’s show and without further ado, let’s dive right in.Here are 5 Signs of a Bad Dungeon MasterObviously, right off the bat, you should know that the purpose of this episode is to help you not be a bad dungeon master. So don’t do or be these things.Forcing storylines.It’s one thing to create obvious plot paths. It’s another thing to make players turn their characters around to go the way you want them to when they were presented a choice and they chose the other way. D&D is all about role-playing and immersing yourself in the story. If you feel your character can’t choose anything they want to do, they won’t have as much fun. Relax. Your players will choose to do something completely different than what you want. That’s ok. In fact, in my campaign (Princes of the Apocalypse by Wizards of the Coast) our group was supposed to go into this riverside keep. Instead, the group went in for a second and then left and hasn’t returned. Big deal. The story’s been fun so far so who cares.Afraid of looking dumbAs a DM you will make mistakes. In fact, one of your players will probably call you out on your mistake. A bad DM will puff up their chest and stick out their chin, flare their nostrils and claim that the player is wrong and that King Kong DM rule world and everyone bow down. That’s not the way to play. Your players will think you’re ridiculous and no one will have fun. Instead, just laugh at yourself and chuckle and then say anyways, and move on.Favorite PlayersThis one is tough for me because I DM a group that includes my wife… But actually, I think I might have the opposite problem in that I might be too hard on my wife and her character. Don’t do that either. Be generous with your attention to each player and each character. If you realize you haven’t worked on the arc of one particular player, put that in the next session. Look critically at who gets the most loot. Try and make it more even.No SubstanceA bad DM will spend thousands of dollars on all the coolest Mini’s, have the perfect gaming table, all sorts of props, a billion dice, but won’t spend any time on the story. I’d take a great story teller with no cool widget over one who’s bought everything but can’t tell a story to save their life. Focus on your storytelling abilities, improvisation skills and campaign preparation. The rest will come in time.No Patience for the PlayersA bad DM will have 0 patience for their players. They won’t explain rules or will do it in a rushed fashion. A bad DM might even shame players for doing things a certain way while playing. Don’t be that way. You are the shepherd of your players. Guide them lovingly through the story you’ve created. The players are as much a part of your world as you are. If you don’t have players, you don’t have a game. So be patient and enjoy the nascient tendencies of a novice murder-hobo group just learning how to play.Stop Having FunLastly, a bad DM will let their preparation get in the way of having fun at the table. If being a DM becomes too much of a headache for you, switch things up. Try things a new way. Maybe spend a little less time on the preparation. Or listen to more episodes of this show (shameless plug) to get inspiration for how to make things easier for yourself. You can find all sorts of cool stuff online to help make your process easier. Or maybe, DMing isn’t for you and you should really just play the game while someone else is the dungeon master. That’s ok too. Just make sure everyone is having fun.That’s it for today. But first a quick question.What is your biggest struggle in being a DM? Honestly? I need to know. Send me a private message on Instagram @geronimolevis    to tell me what you need and I’ll get that prepped and put up on a podcast episode.Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Listen to Our New PodcastAs a listener of this show, you obviously love story. Now that you’ve learned how to craft your own story on this show, wouldn’t it be nice to have some inspiration? Or maybe just a moment of immersion and escape? Then come join us in our new Actual Play D&D 5e show, Pact and Boon. Enter the World of Calignos where our characters, Jolly, Wolfgang and Alon will meet each other in Hell. Enjoy our troublemaking and near-death experiences wherever great podcasts are heard. Just go to session0studios.com/pactnboon and start listening today. Follow us on InstagramThanks again for listening to our show. If you like our content and would like to engage with more of our content, head over to our Instagram account, @howtobeabetterdm, and give us a follow. Make sure to watch some of our helpful Dungeon Master Rules videos to give yourself some structure and procedure as a Dungeon Master. Don’t forget to reach out with a DM and we can talk shop. https://www.instagram.com/howtobeabetterdmpodcast/

The dinosaurs had been one thing, but this was ridiculous. You stand there facing down a humanoid who looked to be wearing armor of some type that completely covered their head. It was black, but it seemed to have a glass faceplate that allowed the person to look out. The glass seemed to be glowing though as if lit with some strange magic. The person had a pack on that was metallic and sleek. They were holding a blade that seemed to be made of energy and pointing some sort of crossbow at you though it had no wood or bolts. In stead it fit in the person’s hand and had numbers blinking on the side. The person was gesturing at you and saying something you didn’t understand. Before, you’d been walking in a meadow and dinosaurs had appeared out of these portals. Now, in this forest, more portals had opened. A group of people who looked like your opponent had all appeared and immediately started fighting you. They’re weapons seemed sophisticated. They’d already downed on of your friends. Then it hit you. Maybe these people were from the future?What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 12th episode of How to Be a Better DM. Here, we’ll learn how to weave better stories for you and your friends as you play Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Usually, I like to give you tools to create awesome stories rather than giving you awesome stories to just use. Kind of the idea of teach a man to fish rather than giving him a fish.Today, I’m gonna just give you some fish. You’ll still have to prepare them for consumption however you like, but at least this should get you started. So let’s talk about a ideas for one shots.Hopefully, these ideas do 2 things for you. It should jump-start your creative juices and really get you moving on your campaign or next session.It should give a starting point from which to make these one-shots your own. I’m not going to give you everything, but you’ll have enough to get going.I also want you to know that I’m purposefully not giving you a lot. I want you to be able to come up with some on your own and make them happen. I’ll probably come up with more down the road, but for now, here are 2 to get you started.1.Grimstock ManorThis is the haunted mansion that I just finished up with my group. Admittedly, it wasn’t a one shot, but you can modify it to be that way. Just a heads up, I’m going to give you a spoiler so if you want to play this yourself, you might want to close your ears.The group will be tasked to clear out a mansion of ghosts in order to repurpose it as an orphanage. The mansion has always been haunted, or as long as the people in the nearby town can remember.The group will encounter only undead creatures in the mansion. You can fill the mansion with puzzles (like I did) as well as many encounters, but the story of the mansion is that a suitor named Mitro Zelx came and courted Anandra, daughter of Lord and Lady Grimstock. She fell in love with Mitro, and Mitro used her pure love to turn the mansion into a demi-plane of undead necromancy. He gave her three gifts in order to cement his control over the house. You can modify it for time to be one gift or two. I would recommend for sure a ring and either a golden rose or a music box. You can have as many encounters as you want, but I would at least have the group fight Anandra (an undead bride with the stats of either a banshee or a wraith) and Mitro (a Death Tyrant with stats that are modified to fit your groups level). I would have these be two separate encounters. Once the group defeats Mitro, Anandra reappears to thank the group for setting her free (even if the group had killed her before fighting Mitro). Simple but a nice and easy one-shot.2. The Fountain of ArmolenosLegend tells of a fountain that will grant the answer to one question of anyone who is worthy and enters into its pool. Lately, reports have emerged of the fountain having become tainted. It seems a local cult is trying to siphon the pool’s magics and bend them to their will.This is another side-quest I’m taking my group on. It’ll be about 1 and a half sessions but I’ll probably find a way to string it along. You’ll have the group make their way into the wilderness. At one point they’ll come to a clearing in that they have to cross. As they do cross, portals open up and actual dinosaurs walk out. The dinosaurs will be confused, but once they spot the adventurers they’ll attack them. After the group defeats the dinosaurs they will move on towards the fountain.The next encounter will happen with the group finds themselves walking through a copse of trees. Suddenly, portals will open up and strange people will walk out, again acting confused. They will attack the adventurers. These people will have stats the adventurers can handle, but they will look like they are from the future, shooting laser weapons and force rifles. It give the players a puzzle in their minds to think through.Once the group gets to the pool, they see priests trying to steal the magic from the fountain. Obviously they’ll have to defeat the priests (and any beasts or elementals the priests summon). After that the group will have to surmise a way to cleanse the pool. You can think of a fun way to do this. Then the group gets to have a question answered and you can leave the session on a cool cliff hanger. Viola.There you go. Two one-shots, ready to go.Let me know what you think and how these go for you.If you have any suggestions, send them in a private message to @geronimolevis on Instagram. I can’t wait to hear from you.Thanks for listening and until next time, roll initiative. Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Hire Us as Your Dungeon MasterDid you know that you can have one of our hosts here at How to Be a Better DM be your dungeon master? That’s right. All of our podcast hosts are professional dungeon masters that you can hire for your private or corporate dungeons and dragons game. We can do one-shots or long-term campaigns. If you want to schedule your first session with us, go to https://session0studios.com/dungeon-master-for-hire/ and get started. Dungeon Master for HireJoin Our DiscordSo a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today. Discord

You and your companions wake up on a sandy beach. You rub your eyes to try. Your head is aching and you feel as if you’ve filled with water and strung out to dry. You stand up, looking around. You see flotsam littering the shore as well as rocky crags a few meters into the ocean. That’s right. You and your companions shipwrecked. You were sailing until a storm hit. Next thing you knew, some creature had taken hold of your ship and drew you towards this island. Last thing you remembered was the ship being pulled under the waves.You look up. The island seems to be home to a large jungle. It’s quiet, but you hear the lapping of the waves and almost the sound of distant drums. Curious.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 11th episode of How to Be a Better DM. Together we are going to discover how to tell better stories as you dungeon masters sessions of D&D 5e.As always, let me shout out Cowchy Audio who helps out with our audio on the show. Reach out to them for your audio needs by sending a direct message on Instagram to @ kahootaz and he’ll help you out too.Now, let me tell you a few mistakes I’ve made while being a Dungeon Master (and more importantly how to fix or avoid them)Not limiting playersMost of these mistakes are because I’m too nice of a person. When you decide you want to start a campaign set a number of players in your mind and stick to it. If you’re like me, you should set it two or three people lower than what you think because you’ll still somehow acquire a few extra players. Having lots of people is fun, but tough to manage. Stick with more manageable groups for better gameplay.Giving too many magic itemsI’m constantly tempted to give players awesome items way too fast. That just looks weird. You end up having level 2 characters with Legendary items. It’s just weird. I’d suggest giving no more than 2 magic items to your group in any particular dungeon. If you’re giving more than 2 items to the group in a session, that’s too many. Now the group can buy or make however many they have the resources for, but finding items is totally different. Making Dungeons too longThis is a mistake I made while trying to make the dungeon cool. If your group likes it, it’s not as big of an issue. Still, you shouldn’t make dungeons last longer than other plot points unless they are central plot points. If they are a side-quest, maybe 2-3 sessions. If they’re a major side-quest then maybe 5 max. It shouldn’t be any more than that. You don’t want your players forgetting what the goal of the campaign is.Making Friendly NPC’s too strongI made this mistake by making an NPC I knew would be traveling with the players. I didn’t want this guy to die so I made him a bit too strong. He deals way too much damage. As soon as we get out of this really long dungeon (eye roll) he is going away. No more helpful NPC that does a lot of damage and doesn’t die.Shielding my PlayersSometimes I’m more lax on my players than I should be. I forget enemy resistances until it’s too late, or I give them enough healing potions or things like that. The best way to fix this is to grow a spine (talking to myself here). Their characters are going to fall, and possibly die. That’s just a fact of the game. I gotta get used to it (and you do too).What mistakes have you made while DMing? What have you learned from it. Send your answers to @geronimolevis on Instagram and next episode I’ll shout you out and read your responses on the show.Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully, you’ve learned from my mistakes and are becoming a better DM than I am. Until next time,Let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.We Like YouHey Bud… How’s it going? Just wanted to say… we like you. We’re think you’re pretty cool. We hope you like us too. If you do like us and what we’re doing, you can support us on our Patreon. Just $1 a month is enough. Just go to https://session0studios.com/patreon and show your support. But even if you don’t… we still like you. See ya around bud. PatreonAlways Have Your Sessions Prepared!You work 8 hours a day. You spend time with your family when you come home. You do work around the house and it seems you never have as much time as you would like to prepare your D&D sessions. Does this sound like you? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have endless material prepared for your D&D sessions anyways? That’s where Roll and Play Press comes in. Roll and Play Press provides D&D 5e Compatible materials for any type of session. Running a one-shot? Check out their One Shot Wonders book with over 100 one-shot ideas. Getting started with your new sci-fi campaign? Get their Game Master’s Sci-Fi Toolkit to have your games much more prepared. Why reinvent the wheel? Check out Roll and Play Press at rollandplaypress.com and get 10% off when you buy something by using the code BETTERDM10. Roll and Play Press