We’ve all been there. We’ve all been a Beginner at some point in our lives, and hopefully even as we navigate adulthood we’ll never lose the joyous curiosity that comes with the Beginner’s Mind. Whether it’s Benjamin Hoff describing the childlike wonder of the Uncarved Block in The Tao of Pooh or coming to Dungeons and Dragons for the first time, being a beginner is both a wondrous and terrifying place. 
           In terms of D&D, oftentimes a beginner’s expectations are colored by either the common (often reductive) portrayals of TTRPGs in mainstream media or assume the game functions in a way it doesn’t based on their experiences with RPG video games. This means a Dungeon Master has a monumental responsibility in guiding new players to discover the most out of their experience. After all, as a Dungeon Master, you may be the individual that’s responsible for how someone views tabletop role-playing as a whole, and a bad experience can sour someone’s taste for years or possibly their whole life. And while that may sound a little dramatic, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. So my question is, what are they going to walk away with? Are they going to bask in the sheer creative possibility this space provides? Are they going to discover something new about themselves through the characters they portray? Are they going to go on and become a Dungeon Master in their own right, and be empowered to tell their own stories when all is said and done? How are you going to introduce them to this grand, sometimes overwhelming new world?
            Now as with all responsibilities, you will make mistakes. That’s what this game is all about: how we deal with both failure and success. After all, it’s what the d20 represents. The best laid plans could fail and the most cockamamie of schemes can succeed. How you handle these mistakes and your tolerance to forgive others will set the standard for how others are expected to behave, and also set the mood for the new player you’ve invited to your table.
            Before we proceed, I do have a small disclosure. If you’re a new DM, be kind to yourself. Like I said, you’re human and you’ll make mistakes. If it’s not in your rulings, it’ll be with handling the passionate personalities you’re bound to attract playing this kind of game. If you’re a new player, don’t sweat the small stuff. Most people are playing to tell a great story (which doesn’t necessarily mean structured or coherent), and forgetting how bonus actions work or forgetting that random racial feature that grants you advantage on saving throws against poison isn’t going to make or break a game. Come to this experience with respect and empathy, and you’ll create a culture of trust where everyone can have fun.
            There are also a lot of soft skills I can’t teach through text like this. They come through experience and learning from the mistakes you will make along the way. The kind of actionable advice I can give has to do with creating an environment that reduces resistance to learning what D&D is all about. Through my experience, I’ve found that the easiest way to introduce a new player to D&D is what we’ve coined the Rule of Three: have a three hour one-shot session with characters built to 3rd level that touches on all three pillars of play.
            Now I’ve introduced a lot of new players to D&D, and as I write this, I’m reflecting on every time I’ve DM’d a game with a new player, and whether or not their experience would have been enhanced by this simple setup. I’ve thankfully never had a game where I’ve turned off someone from TTRPGs (at least to my knowledge), but I do wonder how a new player’s experience could have been deepened if I approached it with these three conditions.
One more time, if a list is easier to visually process, here are the three parameters:​

1.      Plan for a three hour one-shot session
2.      Have everyone build or play 3rd level characters
3.      Include all three pillars of play

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   Now, the reason there’s value in categorizing these roles is to clarify the decisions you're making as well as identify gaps in the party’s performance. Oftentimes, I find that when a party underperforms in combat, it means that somehow the flow of these four roles has been disrupted, either because a party member has been incapacitated or the best person for the role is not fulfilling it (which usually stems from someone unwilling to pivot into a role their character is not built for). That being said, the best combats I’ve participated in have had a combination of understanding with these four roles, as well as having characters built to fulfill them. To understand how to identify characters built for them, here are some characteristics:


+  Damage Per Round     Maximizes the amount of damage they inflict on a single target. Also values a higher attack roll bonus and rare / changing damage types.

+ Tank     Draws attention and potential damage away from other party members. Values a high Armor Class, Hit Point maximum, damage resistance, and damage reduction.

+ Support     Strengthens and heals allies. Usually a spellcaster, although there are some non-casting features that fulfill this role (like a Mastermind Rogue’s Master of Tactics feature).

+ Control     Weakens enemies and influences their behavior. Area of effect spells, like fireball tend to fall in this category because not only can it wipe out many smaller enemies earlier in the fight, “smart” enemies will avoid certain positional patterns to avoid falling into an area that encourages its use.

    And, like I said, there will be some overlap. For example, the druid’s entangle spell creates an area of difficult terrain which can hamper an enemy’s movement (which falls under Control). However, if an enemy gets restrained by the spell, the druid's allies have Advantage on attack rolls against them  (Support). 
    Certain classes will also fulfill these roles more obviously than others. A Barbarian’s high hit points and resistance-granting Rage ability make it a great Tank, and a Rogue’s sneak attack make it great for DPR.  I've also found that players get frustrated when a character class doesn’t perform well in a role the player expects it to (like when a Cleric isn't the best Healer option). 
    Now let’s dive a little deeper into the roles and find character classes that fit them.

Damage Per Round

    This is a short-hand term Adamus and I use with each other to describe when a player is trying to deal the most amount of damage that they can. It comes from the MMO term DPS (Damage per Second), but because 5e is played in rounds instead of real-time, you get Damage Per Round.
    Now, this can also be the hardest role to categorize because it’s by far the broadest. Most characters can deal some kind of damage to an enemy, and there will be times where it’s more efficient to just attack the darn thing instead of create a cockamamie scheme that probably won’t work. However, there are some statistics to consider when optimizing a character for DPR.
    First is the attack roll bonus. It doesn’t matter how much damage you can do if you can’t hit the target’s AC. Usually, this is as easy as investing in the ability score that governs your attack rolls. This same ability score will usually also help you lean into your secondary role, but we'll talk more about that later.
    Second is selecting features that contribute to the amount of damage you can deal. For Fighting Styles, this is usually Dueling or Great Weapon Fighter. For Warlocks, it’s the Agonizing Blast invocation. For Rogues, it’s just investing in more rogue levels to progress your Sneak Attack.
    The third factor is damage type. You either want a damage type that’s rarely resisted to or two damage types you can switch between. For example, eldritch blast is such an effective cantrip because almost nothing in 5e resists force damage (unless you homebrew something), and its damage die is also pretty high. Another example might be picking up Elemental Adept as a caster, meaning that if you love your fire spells, you can ignore resistance a creature may have to fire damage. In baseline 5e, as a weapons class, most creatures aren’t resistant to magical bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, so if you can find a magic weapon you’re usually good for the rest of the campaign (unless your DM homebrews something to make you ineffective).
    And that’s pretty much it for DPR. Like I said earlier, most classes have some kind of DPR option, but that doesn’t mean every class is optimized for DPR. It’s great that a Bard can Vicious Mockery (Psychic is one of those damage types that’s rarely resisted to). However, the 1d4 damage is pitiful, even at low levels, and pales in comparison to a Divine Smite or Sneak Attack. That doesn’t mean the Bard shouldn’t try to deal damage; it just means that they aren’t the “DPR” character of the party.


Tank

    Tanks are much easier to build to. Invest in Constitution to get higher hit points, find some armor or features that grant you damage resistance, and do what you need to in order to invest in Armor Class. I’m a sucker for Unarmored Defense. It’s easy to maintain, can often be stronger than Plate Mail, and it can’t be destroyed by rust monsters.
    With all that being said, viable options for tanking are much fewer than DPR. Barbarians are excellent tanks because of their Rage ability, and their Unarmored Defense keeps their AC competitive. Most of their subclasses also have ways to get more bang for your buck when you Rage, sometimes dealing damage and sometimes increasing the amount of resistances you have. Paladins are also excellent tanks because of their heavy armor proficiency, and because at 6th level their Aura of Protection grants them bonuses to their Saving Throws. Either way, both classes get great durability for relatively little action-investment.
    Now, some critics of the term “tanking” in 5e compare the function of tanks to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, where such characters have abilities that program bigger threats to target them, relieving pressure from a less durable ally. There are some abilities like this in 5e, but because enemies are controlled by a human (the DM) rather than programming, the DM can always choose to target a less survivable ally. 
    This doesn’t mean that building a tank doesn’t have value. In D&D, tanking refers to a character’s survivability, and I’ve seen some ridiculous stunts in my time with 5e. I’ve seen a Barbarian swim through lava, a Barbarian/Rogue multi-class shrug off 100+ points of damage because of stacking resistance with evasion, and a well built sorlock take a meteor swarm to the face and maintain concentration (that was my Sorlock). Accounting for RAW and math, these things can happen, and even if you can keep one ally up by the end of the fight, they can run around and use healing potions to keep incapacitated allies alive. 
    This is also why oftentimes the best support characters also invest in their survivability. A Druid’s Wild Shape is a great tanking feature, and many Clerics have a heavy armor proficiency that lets them avoid damage and heal their allies. Healing does no good if the healer is down, so many forward thinking players build their healers accordingly.


Support

    Speaking of Support, I’m of the belief that this is the most difficult role to play effectively in combat, and is why many players avoid it. It can be a thankless job, and your impact on the party isn’t always immediately felt. A well timed bless spell can be the difference between an attack hitting and missing, and that attack finishing a dangerous enemy or giving them another turn to use legendary actions and wipe the team. There are also many overlaps with Control, so we’ll work to clarify which is which.
    Support is defined as “buffing” your allies and healing. A “buff” is any spell that makes them better at their job, or strengthens them in any way. For example, the bless spell allows those it targets to add a d4 to attack rolls and saving throws, making them slightly more accurate and more survivable. If we look back at the entangle example earlier, if a character can restrain an enemy, it allows attacks against that enemy to have advantage, meaning that rogues get Sneak Attack and everyone is more likely to get a critical hit.
    Healing is a much more nuanced topic. Healing and damage are not created equal in 5e, and it’s always more efficient to prevent damage than to try and heal damage taken. Let’s go back to our example of cure wounds. For a 1st level spell slot, cure wounds heals between 4 and 12 hit points with an average 1st level character. With a 1st level spell slot using inflict wounds (the same resource expended), the spell deals 3d10 damage on a hit, with a yield of between 3 and 30 damage. The ceilings aren’t even comparable. 
    What makes healing so difficult is the required sense of timing on the player’s part. An ill-timed healing word or cure wounds could have no effect at all, especially if the enemy is a real bruiser. Say you see an ally get hit for 15 points of damage. You cast healing word as a bonus action, healing 5 points of that damage. Then the next round they get hit for another 15 points, and get knocked unconscious. That healing word you casted was wasted.
    That being said, let’s look at a counterexample. You see an ally get hit with 15 points of damage and fall unconscious. They make a death saving throw, and unfortunately roll a Natural 1, meaning they have two failures. By casting your healing word at range, the failures are negated, and the ally needs to get knocked to 0 before being in danger again. You probably just saved that character’s life.
    Like tanking, there are few characters that can dedicate themselves to Support, although there are plenty of smaller features that allow an ally to support as a secondary role. Bards, Clerics, and Druids have a plethora of buffing and healing spells, with the Bard’s defining class feature (Bardic Inspiration) being one of the most efficient buffs especially at low levels. However, the aforementioned Master of Tactics feature from Mastermind Rogue and Aura of Protection from Paladin also are great support features. 


Control

    Control characters look at combat differently than the other three. Rather than seeing exchanges as dealing and healing damage, control players view combat as a series of choices and possible outcomes, and work to remove choices from their opponent. While Support is about strengthening allies and allowing them to be better versions of themselves, Control is about hampering the effectiveness of their enemies.
    Is there a major bruiser in the enemy team that’s being a pain? Hold Monster can remove them from the fight. Is the real threat the group of goblins shooting at us from that ledge? Fireball can take them all down at once. Control is about figuring out the enemy’s strengths and using that strength against them. Like Support, what makes Control difficult is that it’s a mindset more than a set of obvious mechanics.
    Some classes are easier to use control strategies than others. The Wizard’s sheer amount of spell access allows it to be an excellent controller, because it can cast the right spell for the right situation. The Druid spell list is similar, in which many of its best support spells also hamper the enemy’s effectiveness (again, just look at entangle). 
    However, that doesn’t mean that to be a Control character, you need area of effect abilities or spellcasting to play this role. If you’re playing a Tank, and you manage to distract an enemy from hurting your less survivable allies, you’re influencing their behavior and removed a choice, leaving their effectiveness up to the luck of the dice. That’s a Control role even though it’s outside of the game’s mechanics.
    Oftentimes, when I design my set-piece encounters, I try to have my enemies not only have a mechanical weakness (like a low stat or some kind of damage vulnerability), but also some kind of personality flaw the party can take advantage of through role-playing. Sometimes that flaw is aggravated through taunting, empathy, or targeting one of their possessions. However, it’s a way to allow any player to assume the control role if they’re clever enough to figure it out.

​Now, after identifying the four roles, the hidden fifth role is that of pivoting. Fifth Edition has classically rewarded characters that are built to specialization rather than versatility. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for adapting to circumstance.
    Let’s say you build a powerful melee weapons character, but you end up in a combat where there’s a ravine or pool of lava separating you and your target. You may have to play a different role in that combat than you’d like to. 
    To prevent circumstances where you’re only viable option is “I take the Dodge action” and don’t participate, I usually advise my players to think through a Primary and a Secondary role their character can play as. This can be as simple as “I have a melee character but I keep a crossbow on me” to “I play support but I can pivot to control as the need arises”. This also doesn’t mean to devalue the specialization this edition rewards. 
    Let’s look at a character I built, Kurama, as an example. Kurama, a higher level Druid, was built in order to cast healing spirit and thorn whip. However, in a well constructed party like Knight Owls, healing spirit isn’t always the most appropriate. Oftentimes, healing is covered by other characters. This means that if enough other people are willing to play Support, I’m freed to pivot to Control in order to maximize our party’s effectiveness. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to hit a big bad with contagion, or pull an enemy with thorn whip so the paladin can smite it. Also, there have been times I’ve been known to deal damage. It’s laughable that I've finished multiple big bads with a 1st level ice knife just because everyone else did such a good job of covering us that I as the Druid was left to just damage deal. These things happen, and the memories made are cherished.
    Hopefully you’ve found some value from this perspective of play, and if you choose a less optimized style of play, you’re doing so intentionally. That’s the whole point of this: clarify your decisions so when you make it, you do so with intention.


Study Hard, Play Hard. 
-John

First, some build up.  
For those uninitiated, Gray Owls is a dark fantasy electric-punk D&D campaign that I've been running professionally for about 3 years now.  It is a game of secrets, shadows, and danger.  The magical weave is broken, and magic is wild again.  Throughout all the intrigue, however, there is always the looming threat in the North.  Hordes of swarming beasts from the shattered Shadowfell (yep, obliterated) called The Brood.  After 14 Chapters of huge groups parties and split goals, it became apparent to run two smaller groups instead.  A group to fight "the bugs," (Team Bug, the main subject of this post) and another to rebuild the Worldtree, and deal with threats within the city (Team Tree).
  Chapter 15, the first mission on their own, was some of the best D&D I've run, and it was dark, gritty monster action.  And in a campaign where the majority of threats have been the machinations of other people (monsters in different ways), this was a welcome change of pace.  Chapters 16 and 17 had some huge story thread reveals and plot hole filling, permanently adjusting the trajectory of this group.  The focus shifted from "killing the bugs", to reaping vengeance upon the "grand orchestrator" behind it all, probably preventing future cataclysm and saving more lives.
  But Chapter 18 felt...halted.  In the grand scheme of things, we didn't DO a lot.  There was a fair amount of little reveals, setups, unexpected twists (but minor on the action), and then they met a guy.  Now, I really, really dislike looking at sessions like this, because it skips over any sense of depth while you're in the moment and tends to discount the little things that can really add up.  HOWEVER, what it did reveal was a lack of momentum.  You can have sessions where not a lot happened, but there was enough momentum/release/satisfaction that it FELT like you accomplished a lot...because you did!
  Social development is still development, and combat and exploration still play a role.  In truth, though, it doesn't matter which pillar you're in; each can be momentous and satisfying in its own way, which, in turn, also means that each can lose momentum.  This was a curious case of achieving a set out goal...and then not knowing what to do next.  Now, I try to get homework from players about what they're planning for next time so I can better align to their story, but I admit to missing that beat this time around.  And, upon really thinking about it, I used to ask this question with the players in this team before, and would get minimal response or direction...so I stopped.  When, in actuality, this was the BEST time to bring it up.  We're approaching the end game, and though that final set piece is ready to go, GETTING THERE isn't.  I THOUGHT that we were aware of more of our available resources, that we had built up momentum and expectations, but in reality...I'm exhausted.  I'm overwhelmed with trying to build a satisfying experience, barely sleeping, trying to balance my life and my liberties and my activism and my creativity, all while believing in my soul that I'm just letting everyone down.
  This seeming lack of direction, my exhaustion with running games, a missing player, and then, to top it all off, new perceptions from long-time players about the tone of the campaign and its direction...threw me right off.  Even though folks report to having a good time, I was not pleased with myself.  I've run better sessions, and I was sub-par to my own standards, pushing a combat when I felt I was losing them - even though it wasn't quite appropriate.  But there's so much more to consider here beyond beating myself up.

...not just tying up loose ends.
​  Everyone is moving simultaneously.  These aren't video game NPCs.  These are faction leaders, detectives, bounty hunters...all with their own goals and schemes.  If the players are moving, they're moving too.
  The lack of information plays a role, too.  The players don't know everything, nor should they, but they need to know enough to act.  And what they know and choose to act on can be completely different.  The players decide through their questions and actions what is important to focus on.  This doesn't mean the other content stops moving, it just doesn't need to be broadcast.
  There was a point in each team where the focus shifted away from reacting to dangers and proactively, as a group, making their own plans.  A new surge of purpose; utilizing resources, information gathered, and connections they've built up to make much more informed decisions.  That change in agency fundamentally changes the course of a campaign, and can act as a release of tension - the point when the characters rise above or past the restrictions of lower class or lower levels.  They clarified what they needed to fight for.
  This was Chapter 12 for the Gray Owls.  After 11 chapters of keeping secrets and distrusting one another, we had a whole 8-hour session of satisfying role-playing and putting everything on the table, identifying a target - a clear villain to crush - and coming together as a team.  Discussing with many of my players, this became the theoretical beginning of Phase II in the grand story.  Which shifts the tone naturally.  But there may be other factors that push the lens in unexpected ways.
  We all remember the first "Iron Man," but it can be hard to look at that film now without the grand timeline of the remaining MCU.  And I'm no Marvel storyteller, but many DMs try to interweave and setup hooks with satisfying payoffs, only possible after their players experience the initial setup.  What I'm getting at here is that the story is not over.  Each session, or Chapter in this case, is a singular event - yes - but it is ALSO one piece of a much larger thread.  The same way that our Chapters 3 and 8 - on their own, arguably two of my weakest sessions - only gained traction and value when sewn into the fabrics of Chapters 4 and 9, and beyond.  And unlike a film, with pre-written dialogue and directions, the players and DM heavily influence the trajectory of this story.
  We must also consider the immediacy of this timeline.  Gray Owls functions differently than my broader audience Knight Owls.  The latter takes place over a year of time, with episodes often weeks apart in game time, while the former...picks up immediately where they left off, give or take a few hours.  Meeting monthly makes the timeline feel a little wonky, (something I address below in the last section) but it's valuable to recognize that all of these crazy events are taking place over the course of a month so far.  Meaning, the impressions of certain organizations, big players in the mix, sweeping counter moves by factions seizing power...are all very quick and decisive.  This isn't normal.  Before was normal, we are now in the Aftermath.  Which also means, undoubtedly, there will be a response to this chaos to help restore order...because that's how governments work.
​
  The information of their actions and consequences may paint a curious picture when compared to the expanded lens of the DM, too.  I might see dark machinations brewing, but if the player lens doesn't look for it, it doesn't exist.  Lately I've been practicing being more liberal in dripping content to players during sessions, predominantly through the Whisper Function on Roll20 - both as an engagement and as a reward for their perceptions.  These additional records aid the players in piecing together the cloaks and daggers, but there's much more that can be done.

As I reflect on Gray Owls, there's a lot to commend.  The world built, the course of the players and their characters, the freeing of deep roleplaying, and the overall tone - dark and dangerous.  But something happened along the way, and I'd be remised if I didn't reflect on these observations and think critically on how they may have manifested.  The following comments or questions have come from players as they have observed the campaign as a whole.  

"Is magic broken or not?"
  This one irks me a bit.  Yes.  It has been demonstrated as such; many spells do not behave as intended, some in cataclysmic ways - this fact has never changed.  This discourages magic usage, AND, depending on your socio-economic class, can get you taken by the Vertigo Caste (the world's secret police).  This was demonstrated in Chapter 1.
  HOWEVER, and this is where trajectory and party composition plays a role, some players haven't seen much of those consequences.  In Chapter 2, the party traded two characters out (one would return later, and the cast would continue to rotate, complicating matters and perspectives) for two characters from the noble houses that rule the city.  As established and discussed in Session 0, the rich have access to magic in ways the rest of the city doesn't, and we got to witness the immensely wide gap between the noble houses and the lower terraces of Stormwrack. For the urchins and wanted of the group, this was a safe haven for the first time in their lives, and would become a huge motivator in maintaining that sanction and safety.  In fact, an entire session was devoted to changing their "ownership" from one member of the house to another, so that they could stay for a few more days.  This "headquarters", though, was not my original intention.  Gray Owls was supposed to feel grittier - scraping by on the will of their wits and cut of their blade (reinforcement for campaign 2).  But this became a main focus from the party.  Something sought after enough that it shifted the campaign's focus.  ...But that doesn't mean that magic isn't still a problem for everyone else.
  In fact, on numerous occasions, the party has witnessed the consequences of casting magic in the open, even if the players failed to take note of it.  Characters they've interacted with are now missing.  In fact, people continue to disappear every day.  Just because the players are in their high towers, safe from that scrutiny, doesn't mean it isn't still happening.  But again, the player lens is the view of the campaign.  I can TELL them it's happening, or I can SHOW them.  
Lesson For Self: More Show, Less Tell.  
Next to ponder - how to show if they aren't looking.  ;)

"Just how bad is the Brood anyway?"
In the first campaign of Gray Owls, dubbed Book 1, there has been the looming threat of The Brood in the North.  With all the cloak and dagger politics of the main city, we only hear about these devastating creatures through trickling news reels and shreds of propaganda here and there.  It is known among most people that these "bug-like" creatures move in accordance with a Queen, and are very difficult to kill - for this reason, the city produces through one of its noble houses an elite line of nigh-immortal warrior shapeshifters called Broodhunters.  These hunters come from the Ironwood Family, one of the ruling families of the high court and people with little tolerance for the BS found among other nobles - it wins them respect from the people.
  The Brood were intended to be mysterious.  In fact, there was a chance early campaign that we would never have encountered them.  But then a player made a character from the North - so now there's a vendetta arc - and in maintaining that noble protection, they aligned themselves with the Ironwoods almost without question.  Soon, more and more decisions became influenced by that looming threat, until the invariable beginning of Phase III with the party splitting up core objectives.  One stays in the city, and the other heads North to fight the Brood.
  What we discover, though, is two-fold.  
1) The Brood is coordinated, making moves as strike points, not occupations.  They aren't behaving like a swarm suddenly.  Someone is controlling them.  Most recently revealed: one of the three airship captains of the city is calling them somehow, becoming the Orchestrator of not only that player-character's tribe nearly getting wiped out, but responsible for hundreds if not thousands of other deaths.  

2) The other creatures of the North have been corrupted by the Brood's presence.  Though not under the same control, a rising "infection" in the North continues to spread from even the shadows of a Brood.  
    This second fact -  by the way - has only been hinted at.  It was something I forgot about until I consolidated my notes and went back to the cave for deep prep.  That affliction might have further cemented the danger of the Brood, even if they're being manipulated.  That's an oops for me.

"Choices used to have tragic consequences."
I would argue that they still do.  I have been trying to strike a better balance between appropriate danger to power level, erring on the side of danger *most* of the time.  However, Team Bug's players try to be monster slaying heroes - which isn't really what the campaign was built for initially - and I DO want to give them some measure of that success.  And harder choices are coming...we're just in a low point.  This is also where we have to consider player lens and DM lens - I know what's coming and how certain choices have sent ripples in terrible, delicious directions.  The players won't see that immediately - nor should they.  Yet, I can still think on and plan for ways to show this still to be true.  To show glimpses of it through the player POV.
  The other variable to consider is the other Team in the city.  A common sentiment among the players - happily, by the way - is that although they are high level, they don't always feel as powerful as their character sheet says.  This was a consistent tone.  You might know some cool spells and have great hit points, but you may still lack the resources of your enemy.  Your level and features can be potentially powerful, but you also need to gather information and plan your attack.  Play smarter, not harder.
  Somewhere along the way, that vulnerability left Team Bug.  The moment they left the intimacy of the city, something shifted in the dynamic.  They stopped being in danger, and started becoming superheroes.  And, to them, their choices stopped mattering.  In a way, they lost their sense of mortality.  I will seek to get it back.

"The structure of the session has changed."
I agree.  And that's on me.  The mission doesn't seem clear anymore, despite everything put in place.  Chapter to Chapter, session to session, I've had a much harder time keeping everything straight, even with my notes sitting under my nose.  The pressure of it all became too much, and I started making missteps in preparation and presentation.  This is where I see the most introspective growth and planning moving forward.  I am thankful for the observations surrounding this point in particular, and welcome the focus it brings to the table.

And these observations shouldn't be taken as a twisting of the knife.  
  I'm pretty damn good at what I do, which means anything voiced at this point is actually minor in the long haul, AND if I can pivot and correct THOSE, how much more elevated will all of this be?  But in exploring this path, I "unearthed" something painful.  If you'll entertain me the tangent, I'd like to share a perspective with you.

It isn't something I talk about much, but my greatest fear is theft.  I've had credit card numbers stolen, bank accounts hacked, and my car broken into.  I make sure to be as safe as possible when web browsing and using my information.  And still it's happened.  Multiple times.  It's almost like a running joke now.
  Every time it happened it was smaller, but it didn't hurt any less.  And when you try to live your life honestly and do right by others, it hurts so much to know that to someone else...you're just a credit card number.  The kind of person that thinks that way...I have very extreme responses to.  They hurt me in deep, personal ways that I can only begin to describe and it would be silly of me not to acknowledge that I still seek vengeance and justice over those wrongs, only to be told that the "crime is too small to pursue."  That if I ever met one of these garbage humans that robbed me of my livelihood and thought it was no big deal...I want to hurt them.  I want them to understand the pain that they put me through and how they invaded my life; shattered my sense of self security.  I know that's a visceral reaction.  And I know it pales in comparison to the events and perspectives of today, but it does not invalidate how wrong this act was, and how unsatisfying that lack of justice was.  My pain didn't matter.  That invasion of my soul wasn't valid.  And that erosion of humanity wasn't important enough to seek retribution.
  Last Christmas was the first year where something like that hadn't happened, and it was a bittersweet feeling.  Like somehow that curse had finally skipped me, at least temporarily, but it has been such a stain that now it just looms.  Forever in the background.  So that in my moments of weakness, when I am in a state less than my best, I can have challenging "knee-jerk" reactions to certain stimuli - like other GMs finding success where I struggled.  It is rooted in fear, and stoked by envy.

​I am not a perfect human.  
​And though I do a decent job of mitigating those defense mechanisms before they come out in real life, they are still there and I still deal with them.  It is getting better, and I've thought more and more about why.  There are really two ways I can approach a few recent events.  Through Scarcity and Fear - a belief that we are all competing in our various lanes, threads, and niches for the same acclamation and clientele, there only being room for one at the top of this pedestal.  OR.  Through Abundance and Community - recognition that we all benefit from the accomplishments and accolades of each other in our individual and shared threads, and that their successes augment our own.  There is plenty of room for all of us to lead, follow, create, and thrive.
For some real life examples:

Seeing a fellow GM record sessions and rewrite them as stories, and receive wonderful accolades for that.
Scarcity: Well, I did that with the Knight Owls archive and people complained about "required reading"!  How come when he does it, it's the best thing ever?
Abundance: I have my style and he has his.  We're both growing and learning from each other's journeys.  Everyone has a different presentation, and maybe I can learn something from his success to help breathe new life into my own Adventure Archive.  Good for him, and both still have value.

Opening up the GM's Corner to include other perspectives.
Scarcity: It's my blog and I want my content to be featured!  What if they become more popular than me?  What if they produce more than me when I get really busy?
Abundance: It is still my blog, and it's always been our mission to continue to grow through other perspectives.  A rising tide lifts all ships.  And how beautiful would it be if for every voice we raise up, another player comes to love this game and the value it can add to their lives.  This is a yes/and, and it can only make the site and its mission stronger.

Receiving kind, constructive feedback for your cool campaign.
Scarcity: I ruined the game for them and I don't know how to recover...
Abundance: Every session we run is a rep.  Instead think on how you can pivot to make the next one better, because there will be a next one.  Also, taking space to recharge is not giving up; you haven't failed anyone, you're just growing.

And I still feel those pangs of protective guards rising up around the things I built or pioneered in my little circles, but part of our development as human beings is to become awake to those elements, and open yourself to the hard work of self-improvement.  It is one thing to acknowledge our lack of skill in an area and do nothing about it - or at worse, look for collective affirmation in our ineptitude - and to pursue consistent growth.  ESPECIALLY in our current social and economic climate, a Growth Mindset will be the key skill every human must cultivate entering the new age.

I'm taking my space for the month of July on running big games.  I've been running games almost non-stop for 3 years now.  I need some time to get my head right, and, to take a page from one of my fellow GMs, to "go back in the cave."  I want to do my deep prep in these worlds I've built, instead of feeling like I MUST keep going or everything will fall apart.  
  And when I return, we'll have the best close to a campaign yet and a fine start to the next.

To aid in this, I want to produce a few items.  These will help EVERYONE in immersion, memory, agency, and direction.  They'll also help me tremendously in my development as a GM as I upgrade my consistency, world-building, and custom content (I keep pretty good books for myself, but I need to expand what my players have access to).
And in case it wasn't clear, this is for every campaign moving forward.  That's the goal, and I need time to go deep.

A GLOSSARY OF PLACES, PEOPLE, AND TERMS
It keeps coming up in conversation.  A glossary helps more than a summary.  The players need to know who's who between and during play, and an active document that has this available to everyone at every session is a "no duh" to me for a cloak and dagger campaign.  I have one for myself every session, it's just wicked messy.  It's actually painful that it's taken me this long to compile what I have.  Time to clean it all up, and get back to basics.  I can add and subtract things from the "living document" as players discover things - which is also neat - and that way there's no worry of revealing secrets too early.  This has the added bonus of never requiring notes; there are still players that do that and love it, and still will, but in this case redundancy is fine.  And!  If I misspoke or messed up a term, I can fix that in the running doc.  It ensures that everyone has the same access to information, and removes our initial resistance to immersion.

CHAPTERS AS STORIES or CHAPTERS AS RECAP
This one I'm on the fence about, because our shift to Roll20 changed how we consumed and ran the campaign for both groups.  Some form of recap, either as fiction or summary, is definitely needed, but I need to experiment with what is going to be A) Efficient and B) Creatively freeing.  Before quarantine mode, I recorded the audio of my various games for study and internal consistency, and when I did that I would AT LEAST try to recap Knight Owls sessions here and there.  However, the process was insane.  I'd have to comb through meticulously 6-9 hours of audio every time, and it just wasn't conducive to a consistent workflow.  If I follow it like a fiction, it might be freeing enough to provide a more energizing experience for myself, my readers, and my players, both current and future.

MAPS
I have gone all-in on a map-making software subscription and am designing professional maps for ALL of my campaigns.  It's a blast.  Again, how nice would it be if you actually knew WHERE you were beyond a few sketches.

​WORLD-BUILDING FICTION
For a time there, I was producing 1-3 short stories a month.  Then it became 0-1.  Then 1 every two months.  I had originally planned for 60 entries by Chapter 19, and I'm sitting at 30 at the moment.  
  Writing the fiction grounds the world in my own head.  Remember how I mentioned that the NPCs are always moving?  That's the fiction sometimes.  Other times, it's just lore; stories and news written by other creatures in the setting.  It allows me to shift focus momentarily elsewhere as an act of immersion, and it's fun for me!  So I'm going to go have some fun, and help set the stage for a climactic close for those reading along with the snippets.  :)  

And looking at some of these, I can already see some other GMs shaking their head going "why didn't you have these at the start?"  And to that I meet you with:
Scarcity: ...Mean things to tell myself about missed opportunities...
​Abundance: Players have consistently returned to my table for the last five years for a good reason.  I am good at what I do.  And now I'll be even better.  

See you at the table.
Get ready to rock.
​-Adamus

PS: Feywild and Shadowfell campaigns will continue through July, but on a more limited schedule.

Enjoy this take from another corner?  Smash that Like button and stay tuned for more every month.  
Other perspectives help us grow as fellow gamers.  :)
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See you soon, and remember to Game Responsibly.
-Adamus

Originally Transcribed on 5/12/20

Originally Transcribed on 5/5/2020
     Besides the official material printed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual, there are veritable terabytes of information out there in the shape of online forums and posts discussing helpful tips to becoming an effective DM.  Immersing oneself into the vast expanse of resources, tools and video-blogs can often be overwhelming, however, and so I find myself forced to turn away from the immense forest that is D&D and start with a single, tall oak tree: the Rules As Written.
    Many people come into Dungeons & Dragons with a sense of inspiration and wonder, excited to be able to tell any story they want in this unique game. All campaigns have the goal of creating a satisfying story for both Players and DM. However, it can be easy to let this unbridled creativity get away from us during play. This is why it is important for new DM’s to mediate and regulate the mechanics of the story through the Rules as Written in order to bring out the best in their Players.
    This is especially true for a table with new Players. I run a home campaign in the Tyranny of Dragons setting, and four of my five Players have no experience with D&D whatsoever. If I were to introduce special homebrew rules, such as drinking a Healing Potion as a bonus action, then I would be setting them up for confusion should they eventually crack open the Player’s Handbook to learn more. Or, if a Player has already done their homework before attending the session, the confusion could bog down gameplay and change the dynamic between Player and DM. 
    Generally speaking, one can look at the game of D&D as a blank canvas, and the Rules as Written as the pencil. When learning to paint, you must first learn to draw, and so you use the pencil to learn the essentials: lining, shading, perspective, and more. Once this has been mastered, you begin to introduce new elements to the game to increase satisfaction and fun. When starting out as a new DM, there are so many other lessons to learn - it’s unnecessary to worry about homebrew at this stage. But don’t worry, there will be plenty of time to discuss that in a later entry. 
Good luck on your journeys.
​- Ian

DUNGEON COACH'S APPROACH
I'm not rolling stats the same way this time.  Instead, I'd like to take a page from Dungeon Coach's book (linked HERE), and try an alternative roll.  See, sometimes I get really lucky in my spread, and sometimes I stink hardcore, but Point-Buy doesn't thrill me and to me, Standard Array is boring.  I still enjoy rolling quite a bit, even if the outcome is less than optimal.
  So "DC" proposed something a bit different.  First, we roll FIVE stats using our standard 4d6, drop the lowest, sort of fare.  I'll do that now...

10 (blargh)
12
6 (oh gods why...)
16
12

OUCH.  Now, my DM in charge *might* take a look at this trend and say "Nope.  Start over."  BUT NO SIR!  WE'RE TRYING SOMETHING DIFFERENT TODAY.
  Because DC's idea involves one more step.  I add up all of these (shudder) numbers and I get...56.  I then take a magic number that DC has discovered is the total of your numbers whenever you use the Standard Array - 72.  I subtract the two, and I get my sixth stat: another 16.
  The philosophy here is that for all the possible suckage one could roll out, you'd be guaranteed at least one decent stat out of everything, and conversely if you rolled remarkably well, you're guaranteed one stat as your main flaw - something we openly embrace around here.  It's no fun playing characters that are just good at EVERYTHING.

​RACIAL MODIFIERS AND WHERE THE STATS GO
Kobolds get some nice little bonuses, but their penalties are nasty in Volo's Guide, with a +2 Dexterity bonus but a -2 Strength penalty.  Lump onto that some lovely SUNLIGHT SENSITIVITY and you've got a LOVELY little Package of Argh.  But Pack Tactics is nice for the "group up" mentality and, though I hate the name, "Grovel, Cower, and Beg" will be great for setting up my (hopefully) Rogue and Barbarian allies.
  Keesh is intended to be quirky, smart, observant, and adorably weird.  The latter might convince you to put that already low 6 into my Charisma BUT NO I say!  No, no.  ADORABLY weird.  Nah, I'm going to lean into that Strength penalty like WHOA.  Monks need Dex and Wisdom, so let's save our 16 and (now) 18 for that madness.  We're level 7 for his little adventure, so I'll need to pick a Feat or max out my Dex, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  All told, my Attributes are as follows:

STR - 4 (!)
DEX - 18
CON - 10
INT - 13
WIS - 16
CHA - 12

​But who needs Strength when I'm FAST and cute!  He said, unknowing of the horrors his friend DM will unleash upon him for his birthday.  Lawl.
  By Level 7 I've got most of the things that make Monk great: Evasion, my fists overcome resistances, stunning strike, DEFLECT MISSILES, Ki, and Unarmored Defense.  Next, I have a Feat to consider, and in a game that supports most raw numbers better than flavor, my first experience with 5E monk in a full campaign avoided Feats in favor of maxing out that beautiful Dex score.  However, Mobile has served me well in the past (but Drunken Technique will open that door nicely) and Lucky or Alert are always super helpful.  This time around, I'm favoring story over numbers, and I like the idea that this little Kobold can be favored by decent luck when things go awry; another testament to his survivability.  Tonight I choose Lucky, and call it a day.  Meaning, I shall shape up as such:

Name: Keesh
Race: Kobold
Class: Monk - 7 (Way Of The Drunken Master)
AC: 17
HP: 49
STR - 4 (-3)
DEX - 18 (+4)
CON - 10
INT - 13 (+1)
WIS - 16 (+3)
CHA - 12 (+1)

I'm going to use stale potatoes as projectiles, jerky as nunchucks, and spices as emotional currency.  Keesh seeks to improve everyday cuisine by unlocking your senses, enhancing your flavor palette, and pairing everything with chocolate - because you can't go wrong with chocolate.  Ever.
I'll let ya'll know how he plays at the table.
See you there.
-Adamus

Gary Gygax often had a thing for strange juxtapositions.  Take the Owlbear, for example.  A cute, cuddly bear with the face of a freaking owl.  I mean...why?  Other than the fact that it easily captures the hearts of every adventurer I play with, even as its powerful claws rend the onlookers in twain, its rhyme and reason are nestled in the grand plans of its creator.  
  However, some beasties follow a logical evolution.  If elves, then what about dark elves?  If these "Drow" exist, what do they worship and why?  How can such worship be rewarded, or scorned?  This is more the case of the tragic Drider.
  In Faerun, the mystical canonical realm of Dungeons and Dragons's published materials and adventures, the Drider is a product of chaos and evil.  Tied directly to those scorned by Lolth, the Spider Queen, a Drider is the result of a Drow insulting or betraying the deity.  Driders are cursed reminders of the power of Lolth, and are equally feared and scorned by the Drow population.

A Drider is a terrible juxtaposition of a Drow warrior and a giant spider, where the upper half is a humanoid elf and the lower, well, is a freaking giant spider.  Powerful and dangerous, driders are accomplished fighters that make use of their versatile movement and superior size.  Walking on walls, trapping foes, and some even casting spells, a Drider is a deadly opponent against an unsuspecting party.
  By the book, these entities enjoy only the standard boons of their elven nature, but have a pretty decent AC (19 on most).  Innate Spellcasting is helpful, and with three attacks to spare, they can cut down a Player Character pretty quickly.  In packs of 2 or more, with a Drow strike team on the ground, a tactical group of Drider can overwhelm a party from the safety of the ceiling and the distance of their longbows.  Do not underestimate them; to do so might just be the TPK you're looking for.

Lolth may be vicious to her followers, but I find it strange to think that those that displease her would be twisted into a visage that most resembles her.  In fact, I'd think such an outcome to be quite the opposite.  Would not a vicious deity bless those that most please her with the great power inherent in her favorite creatures?  To grant them but a piece of the power she knows from beyond the veil, that they may better serve her fearsome wishes in the material plane.
  It is this driving belief that created the Thirteen Coins.  Thirteen prime specimens of great Drow stock, or perhaps a few of different make, that have completed the Sins of the Spider - a grueling test of wills, might, and devastating physical and mental tasks.  Seekers of the Coin perform these tasks in pursuit of greater power, following a grand vision of the goddess, who bestows upon them more and more innate abilities - all the while twisting them further toward her ideal.
  For every Seeker, the tasks are different, but each serve the greater scheme of the master.  If they complete the Seventh Sin, Lolth may bestow upon them one of her Coins; a piece of prime power, embedded in the body of her follower.  In this way, the Coin becomes an extension of the goddess, and another form of influence she can exude upon the world.
  Coins are resilient and devastating creatures, but they are not unkillable.  If ever they are bested in battle and killed, the Coin is left behind to tempt the victors with visions and power.  Destroying such an artifact is difficult and draining.  
  Such trouble to discard such a thing.  Besides, wouldn't you rather...keep it?

See you at the table, friends.
​-Adamus