Wandering DMs

Dan & Paul look back to our favorite covers in classic D&D modules. What makes for a great cover? How well do they balance the tension between showing the most exciting content versus giving away too much of the surprise? Do covers matter in the online streaming environment today?

Paul and Dan chat about Fatigue rules in D&D and other RPG's. It was a key part of the Chainmail progenitor to D&D, and also an important mechanic in modern 5E rules. But it was absent or overlooked in classic rulesets like AD&D and B/X. Doesn't movement and encumbrance make sense without it? Is it too exhausting to track? Or is there some better way?

Dan and Paul talk about mapping the dungeon: how does the DM communicate an unknown physical space to the players as they explore it? Do you describe the dungeon entirely through words and let the players build a map in their heads? Have one player draw the map as the DM describes each room and corridor? Sketch it out on a battle mat? Use a VTT? Or simply give the players a map and let them figure...

Paul and Dan chat about the history of poison mechanics in D&D. Is the classic save-or-die a realistic model, or does it make for lousy gaming? Should we distinguish between ingestible poisons versus animal venoms? Should your PCs have access to poisons, or should they be gatekept by alignment or class categories? We'll figure out the best way to handle them!

Dan and Paul dive into the practical problem of keeping notes and records for long-running D&D campaigns. Paul is gearing up to run a new campaign in the same world and setting he's been developing since 2010, which means digging back through nearly 15 years of old campaign notes, player-generated play reports, maps, and other records. What information is actually useful when you return to a s...

Dan and Paul celebrate the 50th anniversary of Swords & Spells, Gary Gygax's 1976 rules for bringing large-scale battles to Original Dungeons & Dragons. What was the history and reception of what could be considered the final supplement in the OD&D line? How did Swords & Spells attempt to bridge the gap between D&D and its wargaming roots? And how can mass combat work at the ta...

Dan & Paul chat about level titles in early D&D. Did you know in the earliest editions of D&D (original, 1E, B/X), that every class level had a distinct title? You weren't just a 4th-level fighter, you were officially a "Hero". Were these titles diagetic (known by characters in-game), or were they purely a metagame tool for players? Did they have any effect on game play? And why did th...

With Dan still away on vacation, Paul is taking on a solo Dungeon Design Dash! Inspired by a suggestion from our Discord community, today's challenge is to design an entire adventure built specifically for one Dungeon Master and one player. How does adventure design change when there's only a single hero? What kinds of encounters, puzzles, and challenges work best? And can we build something fun a...

With Dan away traveling for the next two weeks, Paul is going solo… so what better time to play one of his favorite solo fantasy games ever? It's Barbarian Prince! Barbarian Prince is a sprawling fantasy hexcrawl game published by Dwarfstar Games in 1981 and designed by Arnold Hendrick. This game has been a personal favorite of Paul's for decades. It directly inspired his mobile game Road of Kings...

Dan and Paul discuss one of D&D's most iconic and surprisingly complicated—spells: Invisibility. On the surface it seems straightforward, but once players start dropping items, picking up treasure, attacking, casting spells, or sneaking around a dungeon, the questions begin. What can it be cast on? What breaks the spell? How should a DM rule on all the gray areas that the rules leave open? We'...

Paul and Dan look back to our marathon holiday weekend playthrough of the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, the classic D&D tournament adventure that first appeared 50 years ago! Does the module still stand up today for modern players? What lessons or surprises would we take from our actual-play experience? What's the grade on how well Dan ran this elder adventure from the canon of Gygax? Watch our h...

Dan and Paul, the Wandering DMs, are joined by Kelsey Dionne, creator of the award-winning Shadowdark RPG. Shadowdark has become one of the most talked-about fantasy RPGs in recent years, winning over both old-school gamers and players coming from modern editions of D&D. How did the game come to be? What were the guiding design principles behind it? And how does Shadowdark blend the fast-paced...

Dan and Paul discuss the many ways they've brought tactical combat to life at the tabletop over decades of running Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. From classic wet-erase mats and gaming paper to elaborate 3D terrain, projector systems, and modern digital battle mats, every solution comes with its own strengths, weaknesses, and surprises. What makes a battle mat worth using? When is detailed...

Dan and Paul discuss diseases in D&D and other fantasy roleplaying games. From the surprisingly extensive disease rules found in the earliest editions of D&D to the colorful afflictions found in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, how have RPGs handled sickness over the years? Does disease create interesting gameplay, meaningful worldbuilding, or just another hazard for adventurers to avoid? Join...

Paul & Dan are joined by Matt Finch of Mythmere Games to chat about the competing motivations when using legendary references from the real world in your fantasy campaign world. How much do we want players to feel a deep-seated sense of recognition from our shared languages and legends? But, how much can we disentangle those mythological elements from the real-world people and places that spaw...

Dan and Paul discuss the role of physical size in D&D. From adventures set in giant-sized environments to scenarios where player characters are magically shrunk, changing scale can completely alter how players experience the game world. How have classic D&D adventures used size as a central theme? What happens when spells and magic items like Enlarge or Potions of Diminution change a chara...

Paul and Dan review the 3rd supplement to Original D&D from May 1976: Eldritch Wizardry! An exotic mix of new and challenging ideas for Dungeons & Dragons from a variety of creators, shaped by editor Tim Kask. Introducing options for Psionics, Demons, Artifacts, and Druids as a playable class. Plus a super-detailed segment-breakdown approach to movement and combat. How much of it stood the...

Dan and Paul dive into the D&D adventures they would happily run again and again. From classic tournament modules to sprawling campaign epics, what adventures stand the test of time? Which modules keep surprising players, reveal new depths on repeat play, and remain endlessly rewarding for Dungeon Masters? Join us as we discuss the adventures we'd revisit forever, what makes a module replayabl...

Paul and Dan review all the different editions of the D&D XP advancement tables for player characters, and assess which was best. Is it better to have tables customized for each class, or one universal table for all? Should there be an easy-to-recall formula behind them, or careful customization at each level step? Which classes outstrip the others? And were XP points ever really a good idea i...

Dan and Paul dig into the many ways the humble d6 powers classic Dungeons & Dragons. From opening doors and hearing noises to wandering monsters, surprise, morale, and reaction rolls, early D&D is full of small bespoke mechanics built around simple dice checks. Why are some rolls 1d6 while others are 2d6? When do ability modifiers apply - and when don't they? Are these disconnected systems...

Dan and Paul review how their live dungeon design dash turned out at Rising Phoenix Game Con, and how the resulting adventures played at the table. Both ran Pleasure Palace of the Pirate Prince, created live during a Friday night panel and inspired by RPGCon's dress-like-a-pirate day. What worked, what surprised us, and what we'd change next time?

Dan and Paul dive into one of the trickiest questions in D&D adventure design: how many magic items should player characters actually have? Looking at classic tournament modules, treasure tables, and real-world convention play, we break down expectations across different level ranges. Whether you are building pre-generated characters for a con game or trying to balance rewards in your home cam...

Dan and Paul review the Scarlet Stockade of the Bear Druid, the dungeon they designed live with fans at GaryCon during Dungeon Design Dash #7! After building the adventure in front of a live audience, both Dan and Paul ran the dungeon for different groups at the convention - with very different results. What worked at the table? What broke? And what final changes are needed before publication? Joi...

Paul & Dan chat about their amazing experiences at Gary Con XVIII! From playing games with some of their personal heroes, to running a bunch of tournaments, designs sessions, and playtests, to fascinating seminars with the elite of D&D gaming history, we'll share of our favorite moments from this year's premiere convention for classic D&D gaming.

Paul & Dan grapple with the biggest of all monsters in original D&D: Purple Worms and Sea Monsters! Why were these beefy guys picked as the apex predators of D&D? What are some alternative ways they could be represented or used in your Dungeons & Dragons games? And what's the best response when you find yourself swallowed up Noah-style?