How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Monster Manual
A Primer on How to Run 5e D&D 5e is a great RPG -- probably the best edition of D&D -- but it's not great at telling you how to ::looks at camera:: run a game. A major challenge that new and experienced GMs alike stumble over is encounter design. Encounter design is the art of setting up a discrete, relatively isolated conflict with NPCs or monsters. Because the conflict in D&D is usually with NPCs or monsters, there's a high risk of a fight breaking out. At least a third of D&D encounters featuring monsters or NPCs wind up in combat, and the system for challenge rating (CR) makes estimating how hard these battles will be very difficult. Monsters within the same CR vary wildly in lethality. Dragons and undead don't match other monsters at their level, for different, intentional reasons. Worse, the math you're supposed to use to determine if your encounter is Easy, Medium, Hard, or Deadly is messy, challenging, and produces wild results. Finally,
Comments
Post a Comment