Happy Halloween & House Rules for XP

The one time a year that us hard core Dungeons & Dragons players don’t get funny looks when we are heading to a game!

To be honest I never dressed up and none of my friends dressed up for games. If anyone did dress up I think I would have given them like 1,000 XP (Experience Points) extra that game.

Many of my friends do get into character and when they do I always give them extra XP. D&D is not just about dice roles and complex rules it’s about having fun. If someone makes me laugh during the game I give them XP. Remember that as the DM you can award XP for anything you want OR take them away!

Think about making a few house rules for earning XP. Think of things like:

• Arrives to play early or on time 100XP,
• Player stays at least 3 hours to play 500XP,
• Players brings snacks or drinks 1,000XP,
• Player offers to pay for pizza delivery 2,000XP!

This is a great way to make your games a bit more fun because players love to earn XP.

But wait…

Some people think advancing characters fast is not as fun. I say it just allows you to bring out the big monsters sooner! It’s no fun killing hundreds of Orcs for 3 hours. Players what to try their hand at killing a dragon!

Also, you could also create new characters more often. Character creation is half the fun sometimes.

Happy Halloween & Have a great game!

Ian Hopfe

Chronicles of a Dungeon Master

No one wanted to be the DM or Dungeon Master when I first started to play Dungeons and Dragons back in the early 90’s. “You bought the book” was their excuse for not wanting to be the Dungeon Master. I know now that the truth is my friends just wanted to be the giant sword wielding Fighter, the cunning and free willed Thief, or the all-powerful Mage.

I was not a very good reader or writer back then but I was good at making up stories. Most of these stories were used to keep me out of trouble with my parents and teachers of course. After my initial resistance to being the Dungeon Master I found I began to like it!

I was now the true master of my world! I was every character in the game not just one. I could tell crazy stories and no one could argue with my story and if someone found a flaw…I mad it law! I was a god creating a world for my friends to live in and I never wanted to give the power up.

Every now and again one of my friends would try to be the Dungeon Master but it just wasn’t the same. Their stories were short and narrow but mostly they didn’t understand all the rules I used to run a game of Dungeons and Dragons. So, I always ended up being the DM again.

My longing to be just a normal D&D character was not enough to overpower my love of being a DM. I may have begun to be lost in the game more than my friends.

I created towns and places that I would like to live or adventure in and created Non-Player Characters or NPC’s that I used all the time. My imagination was allowed to run free with every aspect of life, love, adventure, and death.

My DM role opened me to so much I now write in my spare time and I read all the time. D&D has helped me personally and kept me out of trouble in my teen years. So, don’t let anyone say you’re wasting your time on D&D because as the DM you have to read a lot of books to learn the game and you have to learn a lot about vastly different things to make your game worlds fun.

This is my first post on a blog I plan to have fun with! I will talk about Dungeons and Dragons, being a Dungeon Master, how to create your world, changes with the D&D game, rules of the D&D game, ideas for game play, and anything DM related.

Have a great day!

Ian Hopfe