This area is a resource page for fellow DM’s. It includes…
Ask a Dungeon Master
Recommended reading list
More to come…
Ask a Dungeon Master
Ask a Dungeon Master
Perhaps you’ve had questions about Dungeons and Dragons that you’ve been unable to ask of fear of embarrassment or maybe you are an aspiring dungeon master and just need some general advice. Feel free to ask those questions here, and I’ll do my best to answer them. All questions will be anonymous unless you state otherwise.
Questions received so far:
Q: “What’s one thing your players did that completely derailed your plans—but ended up making the campaign better?”
A: I once spent the nearly an entire session watching a party debate and explore a well in a dungeon because they were absolutely convinced that the well had some special significance or that it was a secret passage to somewhere important. It was just a well.
Another time, I had players completely kill a big bad by taking a portable hole and putting in into a bag of holding. Spoiler alert! this creates a mini-black hole that most things can’t escape from.
Q: “What NPC started as a throwaway character but somehow became important because the players got attached to them?”
A: A guard who had no name, helped the party take on a dragon. His name ended up being Steve. He was adopted by the party and became a mainstay for the rest of the campaign, even getting some pretty significant MVP moments.
Feel free to send me your question below:
Recommended Reading List for Dungeon Masters:
I can’t recommend enough the books by Keith Amman on monster tactics. These books break down what the stats and abilities of monsters mean on the stats block to help you be more effective in managing how monsters typically fight. One of the biggest issues I see many dungeon masters have is not knowing what their monsters would do on during fight beyond just “move and attack”. These books by Amman help dungeon masters make their monsters feel more alive and capable on the battlefield. These books were written with 5e stat blocks in mind, but it takes very little adjustment to use the 5.5e stat blocks for the same tactics. The books by Amman include:
The Monsters Know What They Are Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters by Keith Ammann
Moar! Monsters Know What They Are Doing by Keith Ammann
How to Defend Your Lair by Keith Amman
Recommended Reading List for Players:
Additionally, if you want to help your players more effectively use their characters, I recommend another book by Keith Amman that you can use to help your players feel more comfortable with their character’s abilities. Again, this book was written with 5e in mind but still holds up with small adjustments to 5.5e. The book by Amman includes:
Live to Tell the Tale: Combat Tactics for Player Characters by Keith Ammann
Page Last Updated - 18 May 2026