Virtually Isolated

DM'ing!
Snippets and tricks about DM'ing tabletop







General stuff

What I've found to be the strongest rule to start with is the following:

"The world will provide."

This is a personal rule I formed over the years in regards to tabletop and perhaps even roleplaying itself.

I was so tired of hearing my group demand a healer of some sorts for their parties. I would end up as some generic healer I was not invested in who barely added to any of the conversations.

I started to say that my party shouldn't not have to worry about the action economy of their class or being forced to bring both a Divine and Arcane spellcaster next to a Tank/DPS and a skiller. I would just put easily identified potions in boxes or on people. If I had some one with Use Magic Device, scrolls and wands that have base info writting on the side can be used to replace utillity casting. Maybe even buffing.

The world will provide, if you don't bring a character that can reliably buff or cure, you get items from me to do instead. Heck, you can just walk into a magic store and pay 5 bucks for an assist most of the time.

If you don't bring a super plated tanky type, I can just put more obstacles in the terrain or build more clever ways to engage these enemies with the surrounding area. I can put a few domestic items around to encourage some trap making.

There's always ways around something.


 
Roll it all!

Maybe this comes from slow sessions with many members and long combat; but I really recommend rolling multipe things at once.

The best example is Attack and Damage. Just a D20 and you D6 or 8 or whatever. Instead og taking the time to roll the other, stare at it and say it out loud you can already say:
"15 hits? Yea? 5 Piercing Damage"
When you do combat with many enemies, this can start saving you 10's of minutes in a 4 hour sessions, even more if you're an all-day warrior.
  
 
Keep Organized!

Maybe a bit redundant, but you never wanna lose a character sheet right you;re about to play! A good, sturdy folder with a tough pencil case will protect your papers and pens and giving it all a long life!

Consider laminating sheets you reference a lot, but don't have to write on. Which leads into my next thing: 		 
 
Battlemaps!

For my set-up, I have printed out various A4 sized battlemaps with the 1 Inch grid on them. These range from a few bland,empty dungeon tiles, a grassy field, a beach, a town, an inn, an altar and a few others. I put them back to back and had them laminated. Now they stay preserved, I can use markers on them and they fit in simple binders and such. While small household Laminating machines are a thing, I understand not everyone has access to those. You can ask around in hobby shops if some one might be willing to help you for a few bucks or a gift in return. If not, most Copy Shops or Print Shop will be able to do it for you. 		 

Made by [I use like 15 online names]
Made in Dreamweaver MX 2004.
Hosted on Neocities.org
Not made for mobile, Just landscape it.