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3 Years Behind the Screen

July 20, 2011 by newbiedm

Last month marked my third anniversary as a full time DM, and I still enjoy it so much that I haven’t passed the baton to someone else. It’s actually pretty incredible that I’ve been able to do it for so long without losing much interest (and the same goes for running this blog), as I […]

The Easiest Combat Map You’ll Never Make

July 15, 2011 by TheSheDM

Like a kid playing with Legos, I derive a childish glee from clearing off my coffee table and laying out dungeon tiles. I also have vinyl grids and wet-erase pens. When tiles can’t help me, carefully drawing vinyl maps is a close second in the glee department. I’m a busy DM though, I don’t always […]

Reader Tutorial: Build Your Own Aerial Combat Stand

June 20, 2011 by newbiedm

Hey guys, NewbieDM here…. As you may know, I love showcasing what readers of the site do in their own games, and often provide a space here for tutorials and other things that DM’s may find useful. This article, by Scott Harris, caught my eye when he first proposed it to me. Aerial combat is […]

The Ipad DM: Index Cards

June 2, 2011 by newbiedm

I recently purchased an Ipad, and am now using it at my gaming table. My primary use for it is my gaming books, which are in PDF form, rather than print copies. But this series of articles will not really be only about reading pdf’s (although I’ll cover pdf software eventually in this series), but […]

Bribing Participation

May 27, 2011 by TheSheDM

I have always disliked “bribing” my players. Background write ups, treasure wish-lists, and other issues some DM laments that his players don’t contribute enough of it and inevitably someone replies with a suggestion to bribe the player with experience, items, gold, bonuses, action points, or whatever else seems applicable. It’s not usually my cup of […]

The DM Binder Project

May 3, 2011 by newbiedm

I had an idea while recording the latest “Dungeon Master Guys Podcast” that I thought would be cool for the blog. Some time ago, I posted an article called “The DM’s Binder, Folder or Notebook” that proved to be pretty popular. In it I wrote about different things that DM’s should keep in their notebook, […]

Splitting the Party

March 18, 2011 by TheSheDM

“Never split the party!” When the party decides to split up all kinds of problems arise. A DM has to juggle focusing on two groups interacting with two different environments or NPCs. Maybe characters struggle not to die as an encounter meant to face six players gleefully wallops its way through three players. The DM […]

Moral Conundrums & Tough Choices in Your Game

March 17, 2011 by newbiedm

One of the things I’ve learned since I began DMing Dragon Age is just how good placing moral conundrums in front of your players is. The Dragon Age adventure philosophy, by design, encourages this approach to story-telling, and I’ve found that it really makes players become more involved in the story you are all trying […]

NewbieDM.com Minicast Ep.14

February 24, 2011 by newbiedm

There’s a new episode of the ENnie nominated NewbieDM.com Minicast out today, and my guest this time around is Dave “The Game” Chalker , Editor-In-Chief of the Critical Hits blog. Also, regarding the Minicast, I intend to get back on a more regular schedule, and I’m opening it up to the Dragon Age RPG as […]

Gametable organization

February 3, 2011 by newbiedm

I enjoy the occasional online game of D&D, and while it will never really replace good old fashioned face to face gaming for me, it satisfies a need every so often. My virtual table of choice, and I’ve said it before, is Gametable. It is a no frills, easy-to-use program that gives me exactly what […]