Next in our string of death and defeat posts, we wanted to work through some ways that DMs can enhance the drama and tension of failure without wiping everyone out. Especially in one-on-one games, where the death of the primary character could result in the end of a game, it’s a good idea to keep non-deadly stakes on the table. What follows are a few ideas on increasing dramatic tension through the threat of non-deadly (at least for the party) failure.
DM Resources
Deadly Stakes (and why you should have them)
The ever-present threat of death lends a satisfying weight to the choices we make in tabletop games. Mortality ultimately lends a sweetness to life.
Incorporating Multiple Eras in Your Homebrew World
Part of creating a vibrant, full world is working with multiple timelines. Just as understanding the past allows us to make sense of our political, cultural, and personal present, knowing your game world’s history helps you to determine conflicts, alliances, trade relationships, religious practices, and more. In this post, we will work through some practical steps and questions for thinking through these past eras.
Worldbuilding on Patreon
We all know how time-consuming planning a campaign can be, and that investment increases even further when you’re creating your own world! That’s where we come in! On our Patreon, we’ll be creating unique mini-adventures each month that can easily be inserted into your homebrew campaign or can add variety and intrigue to an officially-published campaign.
Getting Quipy: A Podcast Interview
We have something really special and different to share with you! A podcast episode! Jonathan sat down with Dan of the Quips’n’Crits Network for the first episode of their new show, Getting Quipy, where Dan talks to world-builders and artists in the D&D-verse. Dan and Jonathan talk about one-on-one play in detail; we hope you enjoy!
Earth Month Giving & One Tree Planted
In this post, we announce that we’re giving 100% (!) of our profits to OneTreePlanted for Earth Month! As part of that announcement, we walk through our sales on DMsGuild thus far, breaking down paid and unpaid downloads and averages for sales.
Character-Driven vs World-Driven Conflict in your Duet Game
This post looks at the differences between a fantasy world that’s driven by characters’ internal state or external circumstances. In it, we also ask some deeper questions: What do you believe about D&D or other RPGs? About literature, fiction, storytelling? What kind of stories do you think the world needs more of?
Resources for New DMs: Researching an Encounter
In this post, I walk through a few resources to get you going on your journey as a DM. These are the pages I found most helpful when I was starting out. I also talk about how I found them, going through which search terms I used to find what I was looking for.
