The RPG Guild https://therpgguild.com/ D&D Made Easy Fri, 21 Oct 2022 21:40:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://therpgguild.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-therpgguild-logo-600x600-1-32x32.png The RPG Guild https://therpgguild.com/ 32 32 The RPG Guild – Helping Dungeon Masters & players learn how to start & play their own D&D campaigns https://therpgguild.com/videos/the-rpg-guild-helping-dungeon-masters-players-learn-how-to-start-play-their-own-dd-campaigns/ Fri, 21 Oct 2022 20:05:00 +0000 https://therpgguild.com/?p=104 The post The RPG Guild – Helping Dungeon Masters & players learn how to start & play their own D&D campaigns appeared first on The RPG Guild.

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]]> How to start a D&D Club at school https://therpgguild.com/dd-academy/how-to-start-a-dd-club-at-school/ https://therpgguild.com/dd-academy/how-to-start-a-dd-club-at-school/#respond Thu, 20 Oct 2022 12:20:19 +0000 https://therpgguild.com/?p=50 How to create a D&D at school.

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Dungeons and Dragons teaches math, reading, team work and creativity.

If you’re reading this post then you’re either an educator looking to teach students Dungeons and Dragons or your a student in middle school, high school or college looking to share your love of D&D. You’re not alone and D&D is becoming quite popular again and schools everywhere are creating clubs to let young adventurers gather and play the world’s great role playing game.

You have this idea to start a D&D Club – now what?

Each school is going to have its own rules and regulations for creating any type of club so first thing to do is find out what your school policy is for creating a club and then make sure you follow those rules. To get some initial momentum, share this idea with friends and students to generate interest so you can determine how many people will be in the club.

How are you going to manage the D&D sessions?

  • If you’re a teacher creating this club will you be the DM or will you have an experienced student DM?
  • If you have more than 6 or 8 people, will you rotate the DMing duties?
  • Determining who will run campaigns will be key to successfully getting this club off the ground.
  • Have a room available to host the club after school and determine the weekly meeting time and location.

To successfully manage a D&D club you should keep the length of each campaign to 2 – 3 sessions. This will allow the members to rotate campaigns, take turns being the dungeon master, or game master, and prevent from getting into a campaign rut.

Benefits of playing Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons can teach students many things that will help them in school. Playing Dungeons and Dragons can help students with presentation skills, collaboration, math, problem-solving, leadership skills, public speaking, and even expanding their imagination. A D&D club is also a great outlet for introverted students, sometimes socially awkward, or those who are not used to interacting with groups. Plus any time students use their imaginations is a good time.

Create a Code of Conduct

The code of conduct should follow the rules for clubs at your school but they also should be relevant to playing Dungeons and Dragons. An example of a code of conduct for D&D Club members to follow:

  1. I will make by best effort to come on time and stay until the end.
  2. I will not bring food or drink to the D&D table. I will ask permission before touching the maps or materials provided by others.
  3. I will encourage others and use positive and uplifting language. I will support, validate, and encourage myself and others.
  4. If things don’t go my character’s way, I will accept it gracefully. If I cannot accept it gracefully, I will leave until I can.
  5. If I am not being heard, I will raise my hand and wait for the DM to call on me.
  6. I will avoid excessive conversation that is not relevant to the adventure. I will listen to others. I will allow others to get attention from the DM.

Promotion

Now that you have rules, have followed your school policy it is time to promote the club. Flyers, announcements, social media are all ways to get the word out to students. The goal is to have fun with the club, meet new people and play as much Dungeons and Dragons as possible.

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]]> https://therpgguild.com/dd-academy/how-to-start-a-dd-club-at-school/feed/ 0 How to Create a Balanced D&D 5e Party https://therpgguild.com/pc-resources/how-to-create-a-balance-dd-party/ Fri, 14 Oct 2022 11:27:00 +0000 https://therpgguild.com/?p=91 How to create a balanced D&D party.

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As a new player and a new DM, one of the questions that always comes up is how many players make up a balanced party? Which classes compliment each other so the party survives their first 1 – 3 levels. Granted, not all parties start at level 1 but that is always a good place to start. Once you have played for awhile and have become more familiar with the rules you can start at other levels but for the sake of this post we are focusing on starting from scratch at level 1.

A balanced party that you may be familiar with is from Lord of the Rings.

How do you balance a party in DnD 5e?

I have been playing D&D since 4th grade in 1980, as both a DM and PC, and strongly believe a balanced party is made up of 4 – 5 characters. Does that mean that to play DnD you need 4 – 5 players and a DM so 6 people to play? No, you can play with 2 if you want, however, the player will most likely be playing 2 or more characters which is not common in D&D 52e. The cliché’ of the more the merrier definatly applies to building a balanced D&D 5e party. Having 4 – 5 characters in your party will allow you be more successful in both role playing and combat situations and the number of player characters (PCs) will allow everyone to have enough time to play and not wait so long for their turn.

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How to create a D&D character for 5e

Now that you have the right number of characters for your party, you need to decide on your character profession, referred to in DnD 5e as class and choose your character’s race. Both go hand-in-hand and the right character race will compliment your character class.

The Players Handbook has the common classes listed out on page 45 as you will see in the image. There are additional classes in other official D&D 5e books but for simplicity and for the beginner, this is the best place to start.

At first this table may be overwhelming, but it is full of useful information that will help guide your choice for building the perfect D&D 5e character for you. What do you want to be in the D&D realm, a wizard, spell caster, a great warrior or something in between? All of those options are available and are perfectly described in the description column.

Caption goes here

When it comes to choosing a race for your character, look at ‘Primary Ability’ and ‘Saving Throw Proficiences’ columns. If you want to be a Barbarian for instance, you will want to choose a race that compliments their primary ability of strength and so on for each class.

On the left-hand side of page 15 of the Players Handbook under the ‘Ability Score Summary’ table, you can see which character race adds bonuses to your potential character’s primary abilities and that can help guide your decision. Humans have a +1 on all ability scores, no other race has such a bonus. Of course, you don’t need to follow this line of thinking. The beauty of D&D is you can create any type of character you want, just be sure that the DM you’re playing with is open to those options and it is discussed in Session Zero.

There are also additional character races in Volo’s Guide to Monsters that are great options as well. Some include:

  • Goliath – Barbarian, Ranger
  • Tabaxi – Rogue, Monk, Bard
  • Lizardfolk – Barbarian, Ranger, Cleric
  • Firbolg – Druid, Cleric, Ranger
  • Aasimar – Cleric, Paladin, Bard
  • Kenku – Rogue, Monk
  • Variant Human – Any

The options in the Players Handbook should suffice, especially if you’re on a budget and can’t afford another book like Volo’s.

Getting back to party balance, what make up a balanced party that will help your party survive.

Every good party needs balance – recommended classes

  • A fighter (ranger, barbarian, paladin) – live to fight, wear armor and wreck havoc with some spellcasting abilities.
  • A cleric – healer, wear armor, good vs. undead.
  • A wizard (sorcerer, warlock, druid) – when brawn is not enough, rely on magic.
  • A rogue – detect traps, stealth movement, pick locks.
  • A utility player (bard, monk). Monk focus on martial arts so think Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan where Bards are true utility players that focus on music as the focus of their magic. I don’t think either of these classes help with party balance per se but they definitely are fun options to play and that is the whole point of playing D&D 5e, to have fun.

Some common combinations include but are certainly not limited to the following:

  • Dragonborn Paladin
  • Dragonborn Sorcerer
  • Goliath Barbarian
  • Hafling Rogue
  • Hill Dwarf Cleric
  • Firbolg Cleric
  • Tiefling Sorcerer
  • Tiefling Warlock
  • Gnome Wizard
  • Wood Elf Ranger
  • Lizardfolk Ranger
  • Firbolg Ranger
  • Human Fighter

Obviously, these are all suggestions and you can choose any character or class you want. One word of caution, your party is more likely to encounter PC death without a healer (Cleric) than if they have a party without. PC death is part of the game and happens even when the party has a Cleric and that is a chance you’re going to have to take. Playing the party healer isn’t for everyone, consider it a typecast, and with short rest and other classes with minor healing spells you can forego a Cleric.

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]]> How to Make Your First D&D Character https://therpgguild.com/pc-resources/how-to-make-a-dd-character/ https://therpgguild.com/pc-resources/how-to-make-a-dd-character/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2022 05:27:00 +0000 https://therpgguild.com/?p=33 How to make a D&D character

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Creating a character is easier than you think.

Some people will create their first D&D character after their favorite LOTR, Twilight, Harry Potter or another movie character that inspires you. But if you’ve never played before, how would you know what kind of character to create? So to get started, I recommend you embrace the race and attributes of who your character will be. Once you choose a race, choose a class – their purpose or role in D&D, and then start rolling those d6s for ability scores.

Which race to choose?

  • Human
  • Elf
  • Half-Elf
  • Dwarf
  • Halfling
  • Half-Orc
Image

These were the original races you had the option of choosing back in the first edition.

With Dungeons and Dragons 5e you have almost unlimited options to the race of your character, assuming your DM will approve of your choice. Some of the newer and popular races include:

  • Dragonborn – Player’s Handbook
  • Gnome – Player’s Handbook
  • Aasimir – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Firbolg – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Goliath – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Kenku – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Lizardfolk – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Tabaxi – Volo’s Guide to Monsters

Of course, there are many more races to play in many of the other additional books but a majority of the character races are included above. You want to play a monster, you can do that with DM’s permission, kobolds, orcs, bugbears, centaurs, all can options but each have their own pros and cons. For the sake of this blog post I’m going to keep it to the races above.

You’re creating an adventurer and in Dungeons and Dragons, that is called a ‘class’. A class is defined as what your character can do. Do you want to be a brave warrior who is skilled in hand-to-hand combat? Choose a Barbarian, Fighter or Paladin? Want to cast spells that solve problems and protect your party, your group of adventuring friends? Then choose a spellcaster Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Druid or Cleric? Want to bring something different to the party then choose Ranger, Monk, Rogue or Bard.

Every good party needs balance – recommended classes:

  • A fighter (ranger, barbarian, paladin) – live to fight, wear armor and wreck havoc
  • A cleric – healer, wear armor, good vs. undead
  • A wizard (sorcerer, warlock, druid) – when brawn is not enough, rely on magic
  • A rogue – detect traps, stealth movement, pick locks

I covered my definition of a balanced party in this post, but most classes these days allow for some spellcasting but each class has its pros and cons. Want to be a jack-of-all-trades and really get into roleplaying then Bard is the class to choose. Want to be the party’s meat shield and rage against the BBEG then choose a Barbarian. The main goal of making a character is to have fun help your party succeed on their quests.

You’ve picked your race and your class – now it’s time to break out those new dice and get to rolling your ability scores. Each character has the same base abilities:

  • Strength: Natural athleticism and physical power. Important for fighters, you’ll want to have high strength if you use melee weapons (things you hit monsters with hand-to-hand) or want to use heavy armor.
  • Dexterity: Agility, reflexes, balance and poise. Important for characters with ranged attacks (things you throw or shoot at monsters) or who don’t want to be hit.
  • Constitution: Health and stamina. Important for everyone. Constitution determines how much damage you can take before you pass out or die.
  • Wisdom: Awareness, intuition and insight. Wisdom increase spell effectiveness of divine spellcasters like clerics.
  • Intelligence: Mental acuity, information recall and analytical skill. Intelligence increases spell effectiveness for wizards.
  • Charisma: Confidence, eloquence and leadership. Charisma helps determine how well a character can bluff, charm or otherwise manipulate others. Charisma is important for spontaneous spellcasters like sorcerers and warlocks.

Each of these allows you to act out your character and perform the special skills that are attributed to your class. The ability scores are modified based upon the race you chose, a list of increases to add to what you rolled is on page 12 of the PHB.

How do you roll your ability scores? Roll a d6 (6-sided dice) 4 times for each and drop the lowest roll. There are other ways to determine ability scores but this is how I roll.

Congratulations – you made your character, now you need to pick your background, write your backstory, pick your equipment, armor, weapons, spells and other attributes and you’re ready to go on your first adventure.

Final Important Stats

Hit Points (HP): Your life. The amount of damage your character can take before dying.

Experience Points (XP): What you get for defeating monsters and completing adventures helps you level up. The higher your level, the more hit points, abilities and spells you get.

Level: Everyone starts their character at level 1 and gains a level when they accrue enough experience points.

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]]> https://therpgguild.com/pc-resources/how-to-make-a-dd-character/feed/ 2 Essential D&D Books for PCs https://therpgguild.com/pc-resources/dungeons-and-dragons-books-for-player-characters/ https://therpgguild.com/pc-resources/dungeons-and-dragons-books-for-player-characters/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2022 23:27:37 +0000 https://therpgguild.com/?p=32 Lots of options but you only need a few. When it comes to the books you ‘need’ to build your D&D character it begins with the Player’s Handbook. The PHB is core with all the classes, races, and gameplay mechanics to get you going on your road to adventure. However, there are many other options […]

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Two core books to build and enhance your character.

Lots of options but you only need a few.

When it comes to the books you ‘need’ to build your D&D character it begins with the Player’s Handbook. The PHB is core with all the classes, races, and gameplay mechanics to get you going on your road to adventure. However, there are many other options to consider to provide you with options that will stretch your imagination. First I will focus on only the books I believe are core to you starting new to the game or getting back into it after a long layoff.

In our other post, we share how to create your first D&D character. We go in-depth on what you get from the Player’s Handbook. The other races mentioned in that post are from Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Volo’s Guide to Monsters is a great book for several reasons but for the player, you have several new races to choose from that offer more than what you find in the PHB.

Volo’s Guide to Monsters

If you always wanted to play a cat, you can choose to be a Tabaxi. Want a character with massive size and strength? Choose to be a Goliath. Want a holy angel, choose Aasimir and the list goes on. Each of these races are a lot of fun to play and bring different benefits to your party. I’ve personally enjoyed playing a Firbolg and a Lizardfolk, the race features are great and bring benefits the core races don’t offer.

  • Aasimir – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Firbolg – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Goliath – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Kenku – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Lizardfolk – Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Tabaxi – Volo’s Guide to Monsters

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

We have pictured Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and spoiler alert – it doesn’t have everything. This book is simply a supplement to the PHB and offers new class features and subclasses to the ones you may already be using in your existing campaign. If you are new to D&D and don’t want to be one of the races listed above, I recommend you stick with the PHB and Tasha’s book. There are a ton of additional books that may include a new race or subclass but I wouldn’t say they are essential to get going.

If you enjoy your D&D playing experience and want to get into different races and settings then I welcome you to get additional books. Ideally, you will become a DM and start running your own campaigns. When you do this, you will already have a foundation in gameplay from a PC’s perspective and the idea of DMing won’t be as intimidating. D&D needs more dungeon masters and you are closer to running your own session than you realize.

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]]> https://therpgguild.com/pc-resources/dungeons-and-dragons-books-for-player-characters/feed/ 2 Best D&D Homebrew Resources https://therpgguild.com/dm-resources/dd-homebrew-resources/ https://therpgguild.com/dm-resources/dd-homebrew-resources/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2022 23:27:00 +0000 https://therpgguild.com/?p=31 Here are the best links to improve your homebrew campaign Resources Name Type URL Xanathar’s Lair Adventure https://kingsway-role-playing-group.fandom.com/wiki/Xanathar%27s_Lair Anyflip Books https://anyflip.com/ DnD Speak Generators https://www.dndspeak.com Kasoon Generators https://www.kassoon.com/dnd/ Random Encounters Generators https://www.dndspeak.com/encounters/ Homebrew Natural Vrit Homebrew stat blocks https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/ Forgotten Realms Wiki Lore https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page Deities Lore https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Portal:Deities 100 Fireside Stories Lore https://www.dndspeak.com/2021/04/23/100-fireside-stories-from-retired-adventurers/ European Folktales Lore […]

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Here are the best links to improve your homebrew campaign

Resources
NameTypeURL
Xanathar’s LairAdventurehttps://kingsway-role-playing-group.fandom.com/wiki/Xanathar%27s_Lair
AnyflipBookshttps://anyflip.com/
DnD SpeakGeneratorshttps://www.dndspeak.com
KasoonGeneratorshttps://www.kassoon.com/dnd/
Random EncountersGeneratorshttps://www.dndspeak.com/encounters/
Homebrew Natural VritHomebrew stat blockshttps://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/
Forgotten Realms WikiLorehttps://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page
DeitiesLorehttps://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Portal:Deities
100 Fireside StoriesLorehttps://www.dndspeak.com/2021/04/23/100-fireside-stories-from-retired-adventurers/
European FolktalesLorehttps://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
Elvish DictionaryLorehttps://www.elfdict.com
InkarnateMapshttps://inkarnate.com/maps/edit/5981027/
Dynamic DungeonsMapshttps://www.patreon.com/dynamicdungeons
Dynamic DungeonsMapshttps://store.steampowered.com/app/1694430/Dynamic_Dungeons_Editor/
ArkanforgeMapshttps://arkenforge.com/
Cozy MapsMapshttps://www.patreon.com/CozyMaps/posts
WonderdraftMapshttps://www.wonderdraft.ne
DungeondraftMapshttps://dungeondraft.net/
Exandria MapMapshttps://i.redd.it/h7bdbcs2k5651.jpg
Lost Atla (Battlemap search engine)Mapshttps://lostatlas.co/
Foundry Virtual Table Top (VTT)Mapshttps://foundryvtt.com/
Artwork: katemaxpaintMinishttps://www.deviantart.com/katemaxpaint
Artwork: ShiprockMinishttps://www.deviantart.com/shiprock
Monster Stat Blocks (Tetra Cube)Monstershttps://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-statblock.html
Homebrew MonstersMonstershttps://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/rllq0i/give_me_a_dd_monster_and_ill_homebrew_you_a/
Manticore Deep DiveMonstershttps://dumpstatadventures.com/blog/deep-dive-the-manticore
Fantasy Name GeneratorNameshttps://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
Codex NominaNameshttps://codexnomina.com/
Intro to DnD (Matt Colville)New Playershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo_oR7YO-Bw
DnD Basic RulesNew Playershttp://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
NPC GeneratorNPCshttps://www.kassoon.com/dnd/npc-generator/
100 Tavern PatronsNPCshttps://www.dndspeak.com/2021/09/05/100-tavern-patrons/
Armenia SurnamesNPCshttps://surnames.behindthename.com/names/usage/armenian
Weapon Damage TableNPCshttps://bit.ly/3s6paSq
DnD Beyond CampaignOtherhttps://www.dndbeyond.com/campaigns/2476565
AlignmentOtherhttp://easydamus.com/trueneutral.html
Faerun CalendarOtherhttps://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Faer%C3%BBn
Dice RollerOtherhttps://tacticaltokens.com/dice-roller/
Urban Logic PuzzlePuzzleshttps://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/rlseit/getting_the_horn_in_sculptors_square_an/
MP3 CompressorSoundshttps://www.freeconvert.com/mp3-compressor/
WIld Magic TableTableshttps://www.nerdsandscoundrels.com/wild-magic-table/
BattlemapsSubreddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/battlemaps/
DnDSubreddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/
DnD AcademySubreddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/
DnD MemesSubreddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/dndmemes/
DnD 5eSubreddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/
Dungeons and DragonsSubreddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonsAndDragons/

Caption goes here

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]]> https://therpgguild.com/dm-resources/dd-homebrew-resources/feed/ 17 Why You Don’t Need the Dungeon Master’s Guide to be a Good DM https://therpgguild.com/dm-resources/how-to-become-a-dungeon-master/ https://therpgguild.com/dm-resources/how-to-become-a-dungeon-master/#comments Sat, 01 Oct 2022 12:19:00 +0000 https://therpgguild.com/?p=48 The 224-page DM's Guide for 5e

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Imagination, Improv and intrigue make a good DM

DMing for the first time isn’t easy.

You want to start playing D&D but none of your friends want to be the Dungeon Master (DM). Don’t worry, you got this. You bought the Dungeon Master’s Guide but reading, memorizing, and completely grasping 224-pages of detailed content is overwhelming. You don’t need the DM’s guide to be a good DM. You simply need to have a Player’s Handbook and an understanding of what can happen in a turn and you’re good to go.

Sure, others will tell you the DM’s guide is a core book, foundational to running the game. Yes and maybe, but the Dungeon Master’s Guide is a tool for when you get a hang of running sessions. It is a great resource for world-building, magic items, and other cool components for running D&D but you don’t really need it. Yep, I said it. I rarely use it during sessions and if I do it’s for the magic items that the PCs earn or find during their quests. Others will argue the DM’s guide isn’t really an ‘in session’ book like the Player’s Handbook or Monster Manual, and I will agree with that. The Dungeon Master’s Guide is a resource for before sessions and for building your own Homebrew campaign, which I am a big fan of creating.

To run a campaign and for the players to have fun you need these 4 things:

  1. Player’s Handbook
  2. Monster Manual
  3. Dice
  4. Story hook and setting

To add some depth to your game and enhance the in-person experience I also recommend:

  1. Battleboard
  2. Minis
  3. Music – music really adds to the imersive experience

You can easily get intimated by watching ‘Critical Role’ and think, how can I afford or do all of those cool things? Don’t worry about that, just start with the basics and you can eventually evolve to a point where you have more tools to enhance the in-person experience.

If you did buy the Dungeon Master’s Guide, some areas I would consider using Part 1, chapters 1 and 2. It will give you some details on creating your own campaign and adventure settings and give you the tools to get as in-depth as you want to go. The other area to look into is how you run XP – experience points. We will have a blog post on this but the image below shows how you can distribute XP by difficulty level of encounter.

DM’s Guide Index

XP Encounter Difficulty

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