All in DM Tips

Spotify soundtracks for your DnD game

Spotify soundtracks for your DnD game

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips

If you have a Spotify, even better, Spotify Premium, this post is for you. There are many ways to enhance your games with music, yet most of the time, searching for the right soundtracks on Youtube is somewhat uncomfortable at best. If you use Spotify for your sessions and games, here is a Dungeon Goblin curated a list of soundtracks that you can use and follow for your games. The list most of the time is renewed, and feedback is excellent for what kind of soundtracks would like to see in the future.

Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign (Part IV - Dungeon Maps)

Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign (Part IV - Dungeon Maps)

Rokas Malinauskas
Guide, DM Tips, Worldbuilding, Maps

Dungeons are the bread and butter of adventuring in D&D, and dungeon maps are one of the most exciting things for the players to explore and engage with. Since we already learned from the previous articles how to design world, region, and hub maps for our sandbox campaign, let's see how we could design and create dungeon maps and learn how to organize all of them for your next session.

How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part III - Hub Maps 

How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part III - Hub Maps 

Rokas Malinauskas
Worldbuilding, Homebrew, Guide, DM Tips

So why is it important for us as DMs to have Hub Maps? Hub Maps are mainly used to organize your NPCs, stories, and plot hooks in one place that would lead to your quests or other locations. Hubs might also be an excellent avenue to add some side quest content for your players to invest more into the NPCs and add a layer of story for the quests connected to a hub. 

How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part II - Region Maps

How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part II - Region Maps

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips, Worldbuilding, Guide, How to Use a Monster, Maps

While World Map is the most helpful tool for the DM to design their overarching sandbox campaign, Region Maps is one of the most valuable tools for the player to experience your story in your Sandbox Campaigns. Regional Maps entice the players to go to different plot hooks and be intrigued by what the region offers. For the DM, it's also a valuable tool for planning your quests and having a player progression that does not go out of hand with too many choices for your players but also provides the freedom to explore your sandbox campaign organically. 

How to Design Maps for Sandbox Campaigns (Part I - World Map)

How to Design Maps for Sandbox Campaigns (Part I - World Map)

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips, Guide, Worldbuilding, Starting Out

World Maps are essential for DMs to grasp the big picture and define the type of world in which your campaign is set. Even though it's the first step, and it's not the most crucial map type, but its creation leads to the most important map type creation - Region Maps. The reason is that the players will not use World Maps the most often, but a good World Map is a founding block for everything else.

Powerful Ways How AI Can Enhance Your D&D Sessions

Powerful Ways How AI Can Enhance Your D&D Sessions

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips, Characters, Worldbuilding, Encounters

Was it about a good year since AI took off as the next big thing? Even though it's remarkable technology, it's still a bit sketchy, raising important questions about regulations, intellectual property, and ethics, which are still being explored. However, until Skynet takes over, I'm here to delve into how we can enhance our Dungeons & Dragons sessions and generate some silly things!

10 Mistakes To Avoid as a New DM

10 Mistakes To Avoid as a New DM

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips

There are numerous pitfalls to avoid when you start as a newbie Dungeon Master. This post will share a couple of ways a new DM can make their life way less complicated than it needs to be. I'm not a smart man, and I made most of these mistakes or witnessed them as a player. Now, let’s look at a couple of the crucial ones…

LegendKeeper Review: Note App That Will Change The Way You Create Your Worlds

LegendKeeper Review: Note App That Will Change The Way You Create Your Worlds

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips, Worldbuilding

Not so long ago, I wrote an article about which Note/Worldbuilding app DM's should use for their games. And the thing was, I didn't hear about LegendKeeper at that time, but afterward, after getting a couple of recommendations, I tried it. Previously, I said it's not worth migrating your notes into a new app if it's not good enough since it takes a lot of time. And boy, oh boy, my notes are flying off into LegendKeeper for a good week now, and they will not stop.

So what made me change when it comes to LegendKeeper instead of Evernote? Well, let's find out.

How To Play D&D Online

How To Play D&D Online

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips

I love playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends next to a table with some terrain props, snacking, and laughing next to other people at the table. I always thought it's the best way to do it. But besides, organizing logistical aspects of your game is not the only hardship for playing D&D in these times.

And it's pretty hard to play one of the most social games when the social distancing is settling in our daily routine. But there are other alternatives, that to be honest, are not that bad. They are pretty great and offer new opportunities for your tabletop games, and today let us talk about that.

Which App To Use For DM Notes?

Which App To Use For DM Notes?

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips

For every Dungeon Master out there, note structure is one of the most challenging aspects to master running D&D games. How do you keep the whole "World" full of characters, plot twists, and encounters organized? It's not easy, but today we will be looking at some applications that might help you in the process and finally pick one to keep our worlds from falling apart.

How To Create a DnD Shop?

How To Create a DnD Shop?

Rokas Malinauskas
Characters, Worldbuilding, Guilds, DM Tips

A lot of times, I see that DM's treat their shops and merchants as vending machines. Players put in the Golden coins inside the machine, an item or potion drops from it. That's D&D shops for you unless players get frustrated with bartering and start beating the living crap out of the merchant like a vending machine instead. DMs might think that Shops and Merchants are not as important as the story. However, I see them as an excellent opportunity that might enhance your storytelling. And today, we shall see how I run my D&D shops and Merchants…

7 Exciting Hardcore Homebrew Rules for DnD 5e

7 Exciting Hardcore Homebrew Rules for DnD 5e

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips, Villains, Homebrew

It's almost taboo to run games associated with "Hardcore" homebrew mechanics that can bring negative feelings to the table. No one likes their character to die, fail, but I believe that players should learn how to thrive on their mistakes, not only being a hero, all the time. Let's find a way to give our games a little bit of spice while balancing it all with your player satisfaction.

How to Create a DnD Town?

How to Create a DnD Town?

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips, Worldbuilding, Starting Out, Guilds

Towns are probably the most balanced location for Dungeon and Dragons stories. They are not too big like the cities or small as villages, yet towns strike a perfect balance in their scale. I choose Towns over other areas since they don't require as much work and preparation as the cities and give way more content opportunities than the villages..

Christmas Inspired D&D Adventures Hooks

Christmas Inspired D&D Adventures Hooks

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips

Christmas is right around the corner, and it's about time to have your Christmas inspired adventure with your party. Holidays are great, and having a special holiday one-shot or a small detour from your usual campaign is great for bringing some comical relief for a year's worth of adventures or have something different. If you're still shopping for a new plot hook for Christmas, this is an article for you to get inspired.

5 Quick Fixes for New DM's

5 Quick Fixes for New DM's

Rokas Malinauskas
Guide, DM Tips, Starting Out

So, you had a couple of DnD sessions. You got into the hobby, the party is waiting for the next session, everything swell, right? Well, like any other hobby, everybody can improve in their craft, and being a Dungeon Master is not an exception. Let's talk about the common mistakes I see from newly baked DMs and what we can learn from them.

How To Prepare For Your FIRST D&D Session

How To Prepare For Your FIRST D&D Session

Rokas Malinauskas
DM Tips, Starting Out, Videos, Encounters

It's quite daunting to start your first D&D session. There are many tools that you might not know yet. You will need to decide on your Note structure, for having a productive D&D session, how to balance the game itself, since there are so many things to juggle at the same time. Today we will be looking at how to prepare for your D&D session and learn a couple of ways how to avoid some of the mistakes I made as a Fresh Dungeon Master.

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