Annabelle's Nerdy D&D Blog

How to tailor your DMing to individual D&D classes

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

How to tailor your DMing to individual D&D classes

One of the keys to DMing a great Dungeons and Dragons game is tailoring the game to the party navigating it. This is as true for a Dungeon Master journeying through established sourcebooks as it is for one writing a homebrew campaign! A fantastic starting point is to weave the strengths and abilities of each character class into your storytelling and encounters. In this guide I'll give an overview of the 12 core D&D classes, highlighting their unique capabilities and offering tips on showcasing their strengths within your campaign.   Understanding D&D Classes - A quick primer   “Classes” is the name D&D gives to the...

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The D&D Alignment System Explained

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

The D&D Alignment System Explained

So what is the D&D Alignment System?   Character alignment is how Dungeons and Dragons measures a character's moral view of the world. Alignment acts both as a guide for roleplay and as a mechanic for determining the effect of certain spells or items. Morality tends to be subjective, so I wouldn’t recommend taking the alignment system too seriously in your games! It's not set in stone either. More often than not I see a characters alignment being determined by the roleplay rather than the other way around!     The alignment chart   The D&D alignment system measures characters...

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Painting Guide: How to make realistic mossy dungeon tiles

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

Painting Guide: How to make realistic mossy dungeon tiles

Hullo all! As you probably know, I really love having modular terrain that I can use and re-use. What I love even more is having modular terrain that doesn't look modular :P In todays guide I'm going to show you how to make your tiles look even more realistic by adding a mixture of flock and sand between the surface flagstones. I would rate this tutorial as "a bit harder". It's not too hard (most of it is sponge work after all!) but it is a bit more involved than say the lava painting guide. But totally worth the extra...

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How to use AI as a Dungeon Master Tool

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

How to use AI as a Dungeon Master Tool

  We all have tools that help us dungeon master. They might be source-books, loot tables, or monster guides. They help us with our preparation, and often make our work lighter and faster to get through.  One of the newer tools in a DMs arsenal is AI. It’s something I’ve started really investigating this year. Before we begin I just want to put forth a sort of disclaimer, because people can have all sorts of preconceptions when it comes to AI. So, key thing to remember: AI is a tool that can help you do your job, it cannot do your job...

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The floor is lava! Painting guide for some fiery modular dungeon tiles!

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

The floor is lava! Painting guide for some fiery modular dungeon tiles!

Hello all! Today I'm going to take you through painting your Modular Realms "cracked stone" dungeon tiles to have a lava-like feel. I like to use it as traps (whoops! You got dropped into a room where THE FLOOR IS LAVA!) or as whole areas when the party travels to hell or the halls of the Fire Giants. It's a surprisingly easy effect to paint and, like my "Old Stone" effect, can achieved without ever needing to pick up a paint brush. I'm big on painting cool effects with minimal skills required - makes it much easier for me! I would rate painting...

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