Props and Handouts - NPC Cards

I have been thinking about making some handouts that many people could use just filling some PDF forms to enhance the game, like NPC cards to give to the players so they know who they have met; Quest cards, so the players have a more clearer reminder of their objectives; Reward cards, and so on.

On this first post of this subject I will be posting NPC cards that I have made that can be used by anyone. All that is needed to do is filling the forms on the file and printing it. Ideally you will want to print 4 of these cards in a sheet of paper (you need to adjust the print dialog for that).

Adventure Building (Part III): Cast

On the previous post I wrote a few things about elements of an adventure such as Plot and Location. Today we will talk a bit about the Cast of an adventure, another main element of any interesting story.

The player's characters are obviously the main characters of the adventure, but any story needs its supporting cast and, of course, a antagonist. About the antagonist, every cool adventure needs a villain, a character the players hate and want to defeat it, that makes the adventure goes forward.

Adventure Building (Part II): Location

On our last post we talked about the elements of a good adventure. Three of those I consider the main elements, which are the plot, the location and the cast. We already talked about the plot and suggested a few themes and some questions for you to think about on each one. Today we will talk about the location element.

The location element is where the adventure takes place, where the main acts of the story happen, where the final epic battle get fought. Those places have a significant influence on the adventure, and can make the story much more interesting and alive. It's one thing to battle kobolds on a bare dungeon room, but it's entirely different to battle them in an ancient temple dedicated to Tiamat built beneath an dragonborn's city ruin. The possibilities and images that come to your mind on the second scene are almost endless compared to the first one.

When you think about the place where the events will unfold you have to ask yourself what is different about that place that makes it special? Is there something that makes that particular location different from the others? Is there something magical, fantastic, terrible there? Those kind of questions help you think about where the adventure takes place. Sometimes the location can even be the adventure it self, like when the party needs to escape a dangerous maze-like dungeon. So when you plan your adventure, try to give the location a personality, interesting characteristics and an unique story. This will help you bring the story to life.

Adventure Building (Part I): Plot

I am about to DM an adventure for some people that never played D&D before. So I wanted to create a small, fast and exciting adventure so they would be hooked into D&D for now on. But how can I do that? By creating an adventure that makes them believe in it, an adventure they could not forget easily, an adventure with compelling elements.

So, what are those elements? Well there are numerous elements in an adventure, but the most important are the plot, the location, and the cast. Those three are the main elements that are the core of the adventure and define everything else like encounters, skill challenges, puzzles, atmosphere and others.

In order to make a memorable adventure, those elements should be worked very well by the Dungeon Master. Because of that I decided to make a helping sheet to make me think about those important elements. This post we will look at the plot element.