Friday, August 17, 2018

Dungeon Mastering 101: Good Ideas Should Be Carried Over





I've been running DnD 5E for about 7 years now (when you count the playtest) and one of the ideas it brought to my attention was using average damage for antagonists. It's less math at the table, less time, it's just cool.

However, when I run other games, I don't import this idea. Why not? It's serviceable, I enjoy it, it's a win-win. I'm sure other DMs are smarter than me and have already thought about this and did it, but it was a EUREKA moment for me this morning.

Currently, I'm running Shadow of the Demon Lord, another game I love, and as I was going over last night's combat, I started wandering why I wasn't using average damage? In many ways it's even easer than DnD, because you generally don't add anything to damage in SotDL. 

Then it occurred to me, that the only reason I don't is because the rulebook didn't spell it out. That's sad. I've been a DM for over three decades and I shouldn't need that spelled out.

If you happen to be like me and enjoy a rule from a game your currently running, go ahead and try importing it. I give you and myself permission to do so.

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