RotR Articles

The Mirror of Life Trapping Heist

This blog post is described in greater detail on the most recent episode of Running off the Rails where we describe the key elements of a fun TTRPG puzzle.

Temple Protections

Ages ago, during the golden age of whatever civilization created the most powerful magic items of your setting, a temple was erected to protect something very dangerous. I've first two rooms of the jungle temple that I use in the 1-shot that I run for new DnD players. These first two rooms that I present guard Trafalgar's tomb in my adventure. The players are racing to brave the challenges of the temple and claim whatever lies within before their pursuers.

Disclaimer. The mechanics present in this article are still a draft. They are very potent and as such require editing and testing before recommended use at your tables.

We should all stop using the phrase the Matthew Mercer Effect. The Matthew Mercer Effect (MME) has become a scapegoat and a Shibboleth for the lazy Dungeon Master that has failed to effectively communicate with their players.

If you show up to a brand new campaign and half the creatures you interact with are ghosts, you’ll know real quick you aren't in Kansas anymore. Maybe the first ghost you meet had been around so long, they’d witnessed the first human ever born! That’s the kind of thing that gets me excited to play Dungeons and Dragons. So I made some rules for my ghost-inhabited world.

In all of D&D there are few spells as controversial as Counterspell. Counterspell is a 3rd level Spell that allows one spellcaster to cancel a spell cast by another. Some love the spell, some hate it.

If you prefer to consume Podcasts, check out our podcast episode: Sandboxing Vs Railroading.

It is typical of our time to choose sides. However, few feuds have as clear an underdog as Railroad Vs Sandbox. Redditors, Youtube personalities, and authors alike disparage the Railroad. They slander it as the tool of choice of the tyrannical Dungeon Master and celebrate the Sandbox as the pinnacle of D&D excellence.