Bookman, our party wizard, has a rather colorful character trait that makes him a bit of a collector. He doesn’t crave fine wines or historical relics. Instead, he fishes for the unusual and extreme. He’s a bit of a DIY caster and often needs unique components to concoct new, experimental spells. Leftovers are saved for his next visit to the local trading post in hopes of a better barter with the shop’s proprietor. Let’s take a look at some of his recent finds.

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Ben is making a concentrated effort to better incorporate terrain effects into his game boards. Bypassing this occasional combat twist feels like a bit of a lost opportunity. While you never want to overwhelm an encounter, a subtle tactic stimulant now and again is certainly worthy of DM consideration. Ben’s got a quick modular mud hive square tutorial that when complete, will serve as a sort of a Monsters-at-Work road sign for his adventurers…perceive with caution.

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Have you ever used the discovery of an old book or journal to help tell a D&D adventure’s ongoing story? This week Ben explains how a great role playing bookstore encounter accidentally turned into a brand new game accessory. One that can actually help the DM convey new story clues, monster sightings, and side quests to its game group. Let’s turn the next page together.

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The tone of your town’s local tavern often sets the table for the entire city encounter. Do you want a raucous watering hole or a young Halfling’s ho-hum lemonade stand? Well, your DM prep may ultimately answer that particular question. Ben mulled over his options and ultimately came up with a pretty good plan. Maybe you’ll agree. Let’s see.

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With a little extra thought and game preparation, your next D&D town trip can go from a five-minute grab-and-go-routine to a fun, immersive experience. Don’t worry – Ben never really had a city blueprint to follow either and consequently, just glazed over this role playing bonanza. This week, he’s got real motive though as his game group is about to hit the open road in its next module. Let’s see what urban tricks he’s got up his sleeve before the party departs.

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Even though we’ve spotlighted some of the individual rooms on the second floor of the Paldemar’s Tower of Mysteries inside D&D’s Thunderspire Labyrinth, we decided to seize the day by taking a step back and showing you how the entire level came together. Ben thinks there are some hidden details and worthy artistic licenses worth sharing in this 4E module.

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NewbieDM.com recently called upon fellow DMs to share their binders with the RPG community. A grand idea indeed – let’s see what lies behind Ben’s screen on any given game night.

Everything starts with a running campaign outline filled with core characters and key plot points. Ben is running the Shadowfell three-part module series and this outline has helped remove some of the story complexities.

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Ben decided to give you some food for thought at your next D&D game. Let’s explore he how typically feeds the troops.

We can most certainly all agree that the simple act of gathering around a big ol’ table with good friends is half the game night fun. But did you realize your menu can play a real role in upping the fun. Choose wisely and you can save some extra expendable gp for more important things (including more game gear).

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“Five characters walk into a bar and the bartender says…” Oh no, not that line again. Thankfully, the Oracles of Eight – the Octagons of Fate kit fills in the role playing blanks.

Translated from the French fortune telling game, “Evening of Readings”, the premise is rather simple. Roll three different eight-sided jumbo dice. Then calculate a numeric result: The blue color represents the first number, purple becomes the second and black signifies the third.

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D&D Fortune cards finally fell on Ben’s game table this week and there are reasons to celebrate including fun game implementation options and the card art/text themselves.

I’ve encountered some crazy Podcasts episodes and Twitter posts that say that the Dungeons and Dragons Shadow over Nentir Vale Fortune Cards are a dagger to 4E’s core game mechanics. Seriously? It’s an optional supplement – plain and simple. How are these bonus cards any different from something like Paizo’s critical hit and miss decks?

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