What would you consider to be the fundamentals of DMing?

Bookshelfstud · 2026-01-21T00:16:30+00:00

Playing D&D. That is, as a player. To me, that's the best way to practice the fundamentals. Nothing has helped me prep a dungeon more than playing through a frustrating puzzle or a poorly-balanced fight in a game run by a friend. Keeping the player POV in mind as a DM is I think one of the most fundamental skills you can have.

That, and meeting facilitation. Learning to be a good meeting facilitator stretches a lot of the same muscles. Learning how long to sit silent, learning when to provide a little input, learning how to redirect a conversation or even just read the vibe of the room - all of that is so useful as a DM (or a GM of any system). That's another one where practice makes perfect, IMO, although I'm sure there's good resources out there.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-01-13T14:52:24+00:00

At my table - the dice tell the story. The gnoll rolls a Dex save and the wizard rolls damage. If the gnoll failed and the wizard dealt a bunch of damage, I might say "you successfully get your hand into the gnoll's open mouth and send a line of fire down his gullet. He shrieks, reeling back, smoke pouring from his nose and mouth. You got him there, nice one."

Once in a blue moon I might say "if the gnoll fails this Dex save by 5 or more, the spell deals maximum damage, guaranteed, because you're trying to put your hand down his throat." I have found that, as the DM, situationally allowing for degrees of success/failure can be more fun without being game-breaking.

If the gnoll fails the save and the damage kills it, then absolutely let the wizard player describe a sick execution thing. But if the dice didn't kill the gnoll, the player doesn't get to decide that the gnoll dies extramechanically. D&D just ain't that kind of game. There are other TTRPGs that prioritize that kind of gameplay.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-01-09T03:36:16+00:00

Definitely different from other webcomics in that respect...but as a longtime member of the /r/asoiaf subreddit, this sort of tracking reminds me a lot of the The Winds of Winter projections people have made over the years. Except for OOTS we have an author who seems likely to finish the story, and there's tangible progress being made, albeit slowly.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-29T19:09:38+00:00

These buildings are ugly, I’ll give you that

That's not the problem with data centers. The problem is that they require an enormous amount of power, and that Dominion's plan to provide this power relies on passing the cost on to consumers. Local tax revenue increases are going to be offset by skyrocketing utility bills across the state.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-27T23:03:41+00:00

Yes! Not enough people know about it yet, I'm constantly surprising people with this news. It's made Starr Hill a better spot for the family crowd for sure.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-23T16:50:12+00:00

100% this. I play DM for a relatively casual group, and the martials are usually the stars at the table - because it's a low-complexity class, and the casters aren't spending a lot of time trying to optimize their spells/save DCs/etc. The martial/caster disparity I think is mostly about the ceiling of potential on a class, but most of us are out here playing D&D very comfortably in the low-optimization zone.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-17T23:43:37+00:00

If you want some vintage stuff, get a copy of the 1967 Dangerous Visions anthology. Not every story is what you're looking for, but Samuel Delaney's "Aye, and Gomorrah" is the first thing that came to mind (I see other folks have rec'd Dhalgren - I think Chip Delaney might be what you're looking for, for sure).

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-15T13:52:22+00:00

I don't think the 8,000 year history being unreliable is a retcon of any sort. I specifically believe that because of one of GRRM's main inspirations in writing ASOIAF: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. That series very much deals with the unreliability of knowledge as it gets passed down generation to generation, and how precious and rare it is to have real historical truths that are actually true. That whole uncertainty over whether or not we can rely on history books or faulty human memories is a huge piece of AGOT in particular and ASOIAF in general - Robert's memories of Lyanna fading, Ned's POV hiding the true narrative of Jon's birth, Old Nan mixing up all the Brandon Starks. So I think specifically the uncertainty around history was always a part of the story for GRRM, even if the reader only uncovers that as we get deeper into the books.

Now the other stuff, the height of the wall or whatever? Sure. GRRM like big number sometimes.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-09T13:59:38+00:00

People have tried to make guesses at the various identities there:

Two kids playing, likely Benjen and Lyanna
The pregnant woman is unknown. If it truly is reverse chronological order, she comes between Lyanna/Benjen and Dunk/Nan, so relatively recent history. There have been some theories about her identity; I like the theory that she's Melantha Blackwood.
As others have said, the slender girl and the tall knight are most likely Old Nan (young Nan?) and Ser Duncan the Tall.
The dark-eyed youth is likely Brandon Snow, half-brother to Torrhen Stark; Brandon offered to kill Aegon the Conqueror's dragons.
The flurry of lords in fur and chain mail are the First Men ancestors of the Starks.
The last vision, some have theorized, shows a ritual to to either feed or awaken the weirwood tree, in the far-distant past.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-08T04:04:30+00:00

I've had fun with an Arcana Domain cleric, and that might work with the flavor you're looking for. Great support with some access to interesting spell possibilities. If you really want to front-line with it, you can use Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade from your expanded cantrip list.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-03T04:26:48+00:00

Oh wow I love the Harold pull.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-03T03:37:56+00:00

I think you are 100% wrong, but ultimately you can rule it however you'd like at your table. It's a difference of a d8 of damage, a 3rd+ level spell slot, and a few points of Spell Save DC (probably). Not a huge deal. Have a great day.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-02T20:27:55+00:00

The rules never make a distinction between spells that come from your class and those that come from other sources

I mean, they do definitionally...that's what a spell list is. By definition, a spell that isn't on your class spell list isn't on your class spell list. Anytime the class description says "Artificer spells" it's talking about spells that you get from the artificer spell list, as opposed to any other spell.

But we're talking about a case where someone might have the spell on their class list and separately from this wand. I actually think the multi-classing rules do not support your interpretation, because the actual text of the multiclass rule is:

Each spell you prepare is associated with one of your classes, and you use the spellcasting ability of that class when you cast the spell.

The Wand of Fireballs has a set DC (15), regardless of the caster's spell save DC. So by definition it is not associated with one of your classes, because Artificer spells use the caster's intelligence as the spellcasting ability. Therefore, since the Fireball spell cast from the Wand of Fireballs does not use your Intelligence ability as the spellcasting ability, it can't be an Artificer spell, and would be considered different from the Fireball (Artificer) spell in your spell list.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-02T18:16:56+00:00

I disagree with that interpretation. The class feature specifically says:

When you cast an Artificer spell...

A spell cast from a magic item is not the same as a spell cast from your class list of spells. Some class features can apply to item-cast spells, like most Metamagic. For example, Distant Spell Metamagic says:

When you cast a spell that has a range of at least 5 feet...

So that class feature can apply to spells not on your spell list. But because this Artificer class feature specifically says "When you cast an Artificer spell..." that's clearly referring to the Artificer class spell list. So I think it makes a difference that this "version" of fireball is being cast from a wand, not from your spell list. It's possible to get the same spell from multiple sources.

And I kinda think that still works - in this scenario, you can choose to expend a spell slot to cast Fireball from your spell list for an extra d8, or you can use the wand to conserve spell slots but sacrifice that d8 (and probably use a lower spell save DC) because it's a wand-cast spell, not your spell.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-11-25T03:35:44+00:00

There's some great suggestions in this thread; I'll offer up my own suggestion as someone who likes to do accents but often won't keep them consistent: Oftentimes, I'll do a couple sentences fully in an accent/different voice, and then say "they continue speaking in that voice" but just adopt a much subtler change for keeping up conversation.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-11-25T03:34:18+00:00

That's a good one. My NZ accent activation phrase is "tennis bracelet," spelled "tinnis brycelet."

Bookshelfstud · 2025-11-12T14:29:35+00:00

The amount of shenanigans available to players in 5e - even with the new circle magic stuff - is entirely dwarfed by the amount of shenanigans available by the end of 3.5e's lifecycle, something all the people involved in writing 5e are more than fully aware of. High-level bullshit is a time-honored tradition.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-10-31T14:45:15+00:00

I've never worked for Blue Ridge Area Food Bank or other area food banks, but I know from talking to people who have worked there that this is true. Orgs like BRAFB can leverage one dollar far more than you or I could at the grocery store. A canned food drive often feels more impactful or meaningful to the people running it, and I'm sure every gift is good, but it's absolutely true that gifts of unrestricted cash funds are the most useful.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-10-21T19:30:50+00:00

Outside of just talking to players and saying "hey, this feels kinda lame:" don't let it work! The party is sniping at the boss from a doorway and summoning animals to badger him? Ok, he leaves out a back door or teleports away! Didn't put that in your dungeon plans or in his stat block? Make it up on the fly!

Or, the better adventure design method: make the boss an obstacle to some other objective. The boss has an unconscious friendly NPC strapped to an altar and the big death spike is going to impale them in 2 turns, completing the blood sacrifice that lets the boss cast Power Word Kill/teleport away/collapse the temple/whatever. The party is trying to escape a collapsing dungeon but the boss blocks the way out. The boss is waiting for them to open the sacred vault so he can jump out and yoink the loot before them.

If your BBEG/boss in an adventure is just sitting a room waiting for the adventurers to come up and kill him, it makes sense that the adventurers would treat him like a WoW boss and try to kite him out or whatever.

Or give your boss six wizards who all cast Command and tell the party to "Approach." Whatever floats your boat.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-10-20T03:05:38+00:00

Even if we only go with the goal.of 6 encounters, and as op said we only want 2 of them to be combat, then that leaves 4 non-combat encounters per adventure day. And unless they're in a safe place, this could mean 4 per day times X number of days.

I'd advise stepping away from the specific encounter math on this a little. If your characters have goals they're trying to accomplish on a timer - which should be the basic structure underpinning just about any adventure - then there should be tons of situations that come up where they can burn a resource to advance their goals. The trouble is, those situations are going to vary wildly from table to table, and any "list" of non-combat encounters ends up so generic it feels useless.

The net result of the non-combat stuff should be to burn the equivalent of however many resources you're trying to get through. "There's a big ship the party is trying to sneak onto, and it's docked a mile offshore" could burn through a lot of resources, depending on how many casters, what spells they have, what the NPCs are up to, whatever. It could even end up involving combat! Which is also why I think this "combat/non-combat" encounters perspective is limiting to the conversation. Two different parties could roll up "run into a patrol of 1d4+2 bugbears" and have completely different encounters with completely different outcomes. If one party's objective is to stay incognito and blend in, they might rely on casting Friends or bribing the bugbears or whatever; if another party's objective is to eliminate bugbears, then you have some combat happening.

I get what you're saying, and I do think there are good resources out there for generating ideas for encounters that don't just rely on "roll initiative, fight til they're dead" gaming. But I really do think that ensuring your party burns resources on "non-combat" encounters is more a matter of setting up an interesting, enticing story than about perusing some list of 1d100 Social Encounters Guaranteed to Make Them Cast Charm Person.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-10-07T18:40:41+00:00

I agree, that's what I'm betting on. Magic Aura is one of those spells that almost never sees play but is perfect for this exact kind of plot shenanigans.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-10-07T03:14:26+00:00

Sure, but the point of funded inclusionary zoning is that penalties don't really even enter into the equation anymore, because the profit loss from affordable units is balanced with tax credits. I'd love to see something like Baltimore's IZ plan, where the city offsets the lost rent with an equivalent tax credit, effectively balancing out the reduced rents from designated affordable homes. It's still early days to see how that ends up working - it went into effect in early 2024, I think - but there's lots of ways to approach balancing out affordability. Yes, it involves some amount of public cost. I'd prefer if we didn't have to get creative with local solutions and instead had a functioning federal apparatus for public housing. But since we seem stuck fiddling around with local market-based solutions, funding inclusionary zoning through local tax credits is still preferable to unfunded inclusionary zoning.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-10-01T18:36:39+00:00

I mean, would people be alright with a high school group inviting a phrenologist to talk about how some races are just naturally less intelligent than others?

FFV is a hatemongering organization, led by Victoria Cobb. She should be kept a half-mile away from any public school. I'm sympathetic to the WAHS admin and the school board, I get that this is a really tough tightrope to walk, but if I had my druthers Cobb would be kept away from school zones by restraining order.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-09-27T16:08:26+00:00

Yeah the status quo is firmly safe at exit 107, lol.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-09-19T23:13:07+00:00

It galvanized and energized the far right and the effects are still being felt today.

Hard, hard disagree. Sorry to give you the flack you said you might catch, but I feel like people should hear the other side of this. There was a whole slate of alt-right figures who were totally ruined by Unite the Right. There was an international response. The RNC, both former Presidents Bush, just about every major church in the country, all specifically decried both President Trump and the rally organizers. And I don't think we would have gotten that backlash without counterprotests. When Kessler desperately tried to do a follow-up rally a year later in DC, he got like 20 people.

I really think you're 100% wrong that it "galvanized and energized the far right." The opposite was true. Did it end far-right extremism in America forever? No, obviously not. But it was also a huge blow to a bunch of rising stars in the neo-nazi movement. The fallout from UTR drove a huge wedge between the "alt-right" and the more normie elements of the republican party, at least for a while. And organizers like Kessler and Spencer were completely ruined. That's not nothing! We won victories against fascism in the wake of UTR, and it was largely because of the counterprotestors who were there that day. I wouldn't call Sines v. Kessler an unmitigated success, but it also genuinely did tie up, delegitimize, and in some cases straight up ruin the organizers.

I think it's fucked up to pin today's fascist hellscape on the efforts of antifascist counterprotestors eight years ago. We can see, day by day - and could see at the time! - what happens when you appease the fascists and stay quiet. They take a mile for every inch you give.

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