This is the first in a series of posts on designing dynamic and unique TTRPG boss fights for your campaigns.
Opening up this new series exploring how to design effective boss battles, we will talk about adding “minions” to the fight. No, not the little yellow guys or the fish from Megamind. We’re referring to allies that support the main boss. Here are some examples:
An army captain supported by foot soldiers.
A giant spider supported by offspring.
A dragon supported by elemental worshippers.
Minions can be the defining factor in how engaging and challenging TTRPG boss fights are. They give your players something else to have to worry about and focus on. They also help to flesh out the world and cement that your villain isn’t alone. Here are some of the reasons minions will help your TTRPG battles feel more epic:
Quick Rewards: It can take many turns for your party to take down the big boss. Being able to also defeat weaker enemies in the meantime keeps morale up.
Added Challenge: Depending on how many minions you add and how powerful they are, you can increase the difficulty of the fight.
More Dynamic Rounds: Let’s face it, it isn’t really fun to have all the heroes take a turn before your villain gets to, even if they get legendary actions. Minions add in more bad guy turns to keep up the intensity for everyone involved.
Prolonging the Fight: No one wants their villain to go down in one round. But if you have a very strong party that unleashes all their most powerful attacks in the first round, that is a possibility. Minions prolong the fight by adding in more targets and more overall HP.
If you want to add minions into your fight, consider who would support your villain. These could be fanatic supporters, simple servants following orders, or even monsters with little intelligence other than to kill.
Have fun in those fights! And stay tuned for more in this series.
What is a collaborative TTPRG check-in, and why is it important? These check-ins are when players together, or a GM and a player, take time to talk about the game they are playing. It’s a great opportunity to brainstorm ideas for the story ahead, as well as talk about character development.
We’ve employed these TTPRG check-ins throughout our nearly eight years of playing. We did it when we had a very large group at the table, and we do it even more now with just the two of us.
These can be formal, sit-down occasions with note taking. Or they can be more informal text messages whenever you’re free. It depends on the schedule of the people involved, and how much you want to cover.
These check-ins are so important for the game to be what everyone wants it to be. For everyone to have fun at the table. And to tell a mutual story together.
Here is what we recommend discussing during your check-ins:
Character Development – This is a very broad topic. But you should talk about what you want the future to look like for your character. This can evolve as the game carries on, and the plot affects your character. It’s great to talk about where their mind is at, what they are feeling right now, and what you’d like to explore with them next.
Character Backstories – You can touch base about how to involve your character backstory in the next section of the campaign in either a major or minor way. This gives your character agency and motivation to go on quests.
Battles – You can talk about enemies you’d like to fight and interesting encounters you’d like to have. Combining ideas helps battles not to feel repetitive and gives everyone their dream fight. A giant anaconda in a swamp? Battling a yeti while escaping an avalanche? A pirate ship battle? All of it is possible if you share your ideas!
The Overall Plot – Obviously this depends on how much players and GMs are involved together in the story. Some players want to know nothing and be completely surprised. Other times they like to collaborate with the GM on what they’d like to see. Be respectful of everyone’s ideas. A player who is so invested in the story they want to brainstorm, and a GM who wants to surprise players so much they keep secrets, are not bad things. They are good things. And they can work together to both get what they want.
Passion for the story you are telling together is a wonderful thing to have. That’s why sharing ideas collaboratively is good for everyone. Just remember to be respectful of what the GM or other players also have in mind. We can assure you, there’s room for everyone’s ideas at the table.
We give our advice on how to get started with TTRPG homebrewing!
Most of the people who play TTRPG’s are creatives. We love to build characters, to roleplay, and to imagine. So if you are a Game Master or even a player, you might find yourself interested in doing some homebrewing. After all, the rulebooks can feel limiting to those of us who think outside of the box.
Dorian and I got started in TTRPGs with many standard rulesets. Pathfinder, 5e, Forbidden Lands, Lord of the Rings, etc. As soon as we got the hang of how to play a TTRPG, we wanted to start homebrewing. That has evolved over the years into creating our own rule system, or own spells, monsters, classes, items, and world. But you don’t have to go all out like we did! Here are some of our tips to get started with TTRPG homebrewing.
Pull Inspiration From What You Like
We have found inspiration from many things we enjoy and converted them into the game. Here are some examples:
We converted Gandalf’s spells from Lord of the Rings into spells we can use.
We created a warlock subclass based on Talion and Celebrimbor from Shadow of Mordor.
We designed a region of our game inspired by the beauty of the Scottish Highlands.
We created dungeon traps inspired by the Indiana Jones movies.
All it takes is to think creatively about how such an item or place would exist in a TTRPG setting. From there, you can continue to test and tinker until you get it exactly how you want it.
What if I Don’t Know How to Balance Monster Stats?
We love to homebrew our own monsters and villains. But if you read a how-to guide from one of the core rulebooks, it will make it seem like an impossible task. But it doesn’t have to be! The key is to keep things flexible.
If this is your first time homebrewing a stat block, give yourself some flexibility once it comes into play. If your players are getting hurt much worse than you planned, reduce the hit points/life points or armor class of the opponent. Give them less advantages and less deadly attacks. You can do this in a subtle way so it won’t be noticeable. The opposite is also true if the monster is much weaker than you anticipated!
Here’s a tip to keep in mind for how powerful you want your monster/villain to be. Imagine they are the only monster fighting your party. Think about your party’s more powerful attacks and how much damage they can do in one round.
That dual-wielding ranger? She easily deals out 30 points.
That barbarian? 40 points.
The wizard will probably attempt to do a support spell to bolster the party.
The cleric could use his radiant strike spell for 25 points.
All together that’s 95 points if all of them hit. Will your creature get taken down in one round? If the answer is yes and you don’t want them to be, adjust accordingly.
How Do I Build a Believable Culture?
The best way to build a believable fantasy culture is to look at the world around you. Some curiosity about other places, religions, rituals, and holidays are great starting points. You can even be inspired by just the architecture of other places. Example:
The colorful Moroccan architecture could inspire a culture that is lively and full of festivities.
Mexico’s Day of the Dead practices could inspire a culture that focuses on honoring their ancestors and family ties.
The floating houseboats in Louisiana could inspire a culture that lives on the water and respects nature.
Here’s something not to do.
While you might be inspired by war, conflict, and political struggles in our real world, be careful what you carry into the game. Not everyone is comfortable indulging in a fantasy world that also has them deal with their real-life issues of racism, sexism, and homophobia. It is supposed to be escapism, after all. If you find yourself using logic such as, “Well, women are abused a lot because they’re weaker than the men here,” then stop yourself. No one likes those ideas in real life, and no one wants to play them, either. The only exception is if a player asks to explore these themes and everyone at the table agrees.
Players should feel empowered and confident at the table, not bullied and belittled.
General Tips for TTRPG Homebrewing
Don’t try to do it all at once! Start with just an item or just a spell. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easier to do a lot more.
Watch movies, read books, play games, and travel to get more inspiration!
Look at photos online of places around the world.
Use tools like Inkarnate to help with map-building.
Rules are made to be broken. Think outside of the ruleset when creating!
If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.
There can be pressure on those both new and seasoned to TTRPG’s, especially GM’s, to do voices when roleplaying. After all, you see big personalities and talented actors online playing their games and able to do endless voices.
So, do you need to at your game? And does it take away from play if you don’t?
Dorian is really great at voices, though he has done professional voice acting training, did the narration for our audio book, and has done a variety of commercial work across his career. He can do different accents, mannerisms, and tones of voice.
I consider myself less prolific. I can do a couple of accents and switch between a few different tones. But otherwise, if I’m voicing multiple characters at once, most of them end up sounding the same.
Across our handful of players at the table, only one put on a voice. Most just altered their mannerism of speaking to be more aligned with their character. Sometimes that ends up being a very subtle difference, other times a major difference.
You should, by no means, feel obligated to whip out a bunch of crazy voices when roleplaying just because someone on TV does it. This is especially true if you’re not comfortable with it or feeling insecure.
My suggestion is to add “narration” to your dialogue to inform others at the table who you are roleplaying. For example, I’m female and when I do roleplay, I have pretty much one Man Voice I use for my male characters. It’s a little deeper and little raspy and that’s all I got.
So to help, I’ll add in narration tags.
“Wash seems uncomfortable and says…”
“Taliesin speaks up…”
“Sen shakes his head and says…”
It helps Dorian know who I am speaking as, which is crucial in situations where we have a large group of characters all together.
Helpful Tips!
Your mannerism of speaking is usually more important than a perfect accent.
Add dialogue tags before each character speaks to help clarify.
Character voices may be immersive and fun, but they are not essential to enjoying a TTRPG.
We talk about virtual or physical maps in TTRGs and the pros and cons of each.
You’ve seen the photos online. Elaborate TTRPG maps spread across a gaming table. Or perhaps you’ve built them yourself for your DnD, Pathfinder, Forbidden Lands, Call of Cthulhu, or other tabletop game. During the pandemic years, virtual games became more common, relying on digital maps for dungeon crawling and battles.
But is one better than the other?
We have done both in our eight years of playing. And we give our thoughts to help you determine what is best for you.
The Physical TTRPG Map
We started out our game with just a graph paper and some lego characters. But we fell so in love with the game that we kept pushing the boundaries of physical map-building. We bought and painted miniatures and set pieces. We spent way too much money on Dwarven Forge. We bought LED pieces, speakers, ambient lighting, and scented candles to set the mood.
It really was something special. It pulled you right into the world and gave you something tangible to interact with. One of my favorite builds required us to bring along a tiny lit lantern and we had to stay in the light and not cross into the shadows.
Pros:
Allows you to feel a part of the world with touchable elements.
Allows for fun effects such as flickering lights, traps, and multi-level builds.
It is fun to setup.
Cons:
It can become extremely expensive to collect enough pieces.
You are limited to builds based on what you have on hand.
You need a large enough space for your builds.
The Virtual TTPRG Map
When we traveled out of a campervan for awhile, we donated all of our TTRPG items to a local library that wanted to start its own program. We’re talking thousands of dollars worth of books, miniatures, and set pieces. It is both a happy and sad memory at the same time. We spent so many years and so many dollars collecting those. But we are happy that they went to a good cause, to bring others joy like they brought us.
The need to travel more easily made us switch to virtual maps. We built through Inkarnate, one of our favorite systems, and then used the maps on online gaming platforms like Roll20.
Pros:
You can create anything. You aren’t limited by pieces.
It doesn’t matter where you are, you can always play virtually.
It is free. Or at least cheaper if you end up paying for a subscription or a premium version of software.
Cons:
It lacks the personal touch. You can’t interact with it.
You need to find a good online system that allows you to move your characters and bad guys around easily.
It requires some technology and artistic understanding to build these sets and create characters the way you envision them.
The Verdict
So, which one is best? Both of them. We’ve enjoyed both for different reasons. We loved the full sets we used that were so immersive and sprawling. But we also like the cost effectiveness and portability of virtual sets. Perhaps in the future, we will buy set pieces again. And then we can vary between physical or virtual TTRPG builds depending on what we need in the moment.
We talk stereotypes on TTRPG players, and about who all played at our table.
It’s a tired stereotype that still hangs around in the media. The overweight role-player who lives with their parents, has no job, and can’t socialize. They can name stats for the most obscure monsters but can’t cook more than box mac and cheese. Even big companies in the TTRPG world (which shall rename nameless in this blog) said they are realizing they had a stereotypical idea of who plays their games and see now they were wrong.
So, who are the TTRPG players? Drawing only on our own personal experience, we’ll list who has played at our table across the years.
A rogue character was played by an x-ray technician who worked in the ER at a local hospital. She owned her own home on enough land to have a farm. She liked to sing, play instruments, and was actively involved in her church.
A fighter character was played by her husband, another x-ray technician. He enjoyed playing video games and going out in the evenings. He was also a cancer survivor.
A ranger character was played by a legal assistant who worked for the social security administration. She was a former high school athlete that continued to play rec sports as an adult, and enjoyed video games and board games.
A wizard character was played by her husband. He transitioned from marketing to healthcare administration in his career. He enjoyed social activities of all kinds. They had an apartment in the city before building a house.
A paladin character was played by a math teacher and baseball coach. He liked to collect comic books and still played rec baseball as a hobby. He rented a house along with a group of friends.
A barbarian character was played by a music teacher who had a Master of Music degree. He enjoyed pizza and composing and relaxing with friends. He owned a house with his wife.
Our ranger and wizard characters are played by Dorian, an executive producer in television and a business owner. He likes video games, editing videos, and traveling.
Our cleric and druid characters are played by me, Talia, a professional writer and a professor. I like drawing, traveling, and fashion.
If you’re a TTRPG player and feel comfortable sharing, let us know your profession and hobbies!
As someone who has roleplayed a druid for eight years, and has written a druid character for five years, I definitely am familiar with all things TTRPG druidic. Here are some of my favorite druid spells that I always keep prepared when I play Jade (in no particular order).
Healing Word
This is something I always have on hand in case of an emergency. With a fully healing focused cleric in the party, there is rarely a need for my druid to need to heal anybody. With this spell, I can deliver life-saving healing at a distance. When playing a TTRPG, crisis situations always happen. This is my “just in case everyone is dying” spell.
Hold Person
This paralysis spell extremely useful both in and out of combat. There’s been a handful of times when I’ve needed to stop someone from escaping, running away, or killing another party member and Hold Person provided that opportunity. It’s another spell that doesn’t get used every game, but is crucial in clutch moments.
Conjure Animals
Not only is this spell useful, it’s just plain fun! I usually end up conjuring a group of large birds to carry party members when we are escaping a dangerous situation, but I’ve also conjured horses to carry civilians, and a rhino to cause a distraction. This spell does get used quite a bit and I make sure it is always prepared.
Commune With Nature
This is a great spell when you’re lost or confused and need some guidance on what to do next. I like that it can be ritually cast, as well, if you are short on spell slots. You sit in one spot and get to learn about the environment around you, including the populace, plants, and passages. I’ve used it to help find the path and to learn more about new areas we’ve entered. It’s a really fun way to roleplay as a druid, too.
Wind Walk
This is one of the beautiful benefits of being an upper-level druid. Travel is now much faster! Slipping into wind, you can lead your whole party across vast distances very quickly. We’ve also used it to sneak through places (mostly) successfully. I never wake up in the morning without this spell ready to go!
Do you have a favorite druid spell that isn’t on this list? Share below!
We give our recommendations for the best gifts for the TTRPG players in your life!
As TTRPG players ourselves and people who have friends that enjoy these role-playing games, we thought it fitting to write a gift guide. Whether you play D&D, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, the Lord of the Rings RPG, or indie games, there is something for everyone who enjoys rolling dice.
The Dice Dragon
It’s hard to find a TTRPG player that will turn down a new set of dice. But if they already have so many sets, what do you get them? A typical game store in town won’t be the place to go. We recommend going online to Etsy and finding dice makers. These creators have a variety of interesting, unique, and whimsical products in their shops. Some even give you the option to customize, adding personalization to your gift.
The Cosplayer
By asking some questions, you can get to know about the character your friend plays. While you don’t need to buy them a full cosplay set, there are some things you can do to let them wear their character while playing their game.
A customized t-shirt with their character name on it
A necklace with a symbol related to their character (if their character wields a war hammer have it be a war hammer)
A hat that their character wears (if they play a pirate, get them a pirate hat)
An accessory that their character wears (a pair of white gloves, a flower crown, a red scarf, steampunk goggles)
A customized dice mat or box with colors or designs related to their character
The Game Master
Most Game Master’s always have need of fun, new accessories for their games. Be mindful how big of a playing space your friend has. If they have an entire room and storage devoted to gaming, you can go big. But if they just have a re-purposed small space, give them something easy to store away.
High-quality terrain from Dwarven Forge
“Condition” rings that show if characters are currently Paralyzed, Poisoned, Charmed, etc
A set of dry erase 2D maps for a variety of locations
A Bluetooth speaker to play music through
A fun dice tower to roll large amounts of dice with
We take a look at our favorite free resources for creators we use in our projects.
Whether you are a writer, an artist, a TTRPG player or game master, or anything else in the wonderful world of creativity, having a good set of resources is a must. We’re talking about tools you use, software you rely on, and a go-to’s to generate ideas. This is a list of our favorite resources.
For Naming Characters
Sometimes you think for a long time to come up with the perfect character name. Other times, you just need something fast. Our free resource go-to is a site called Baby Names. The reason why we like this so much is its Advanced Search option. Here you can search for names on a global scale by letters, by syllables, and even by their meaning. I particularly love to look up meanings to get ideas. For example, I may want a name that means “hope” or “light” and I’ll get a huge list based off of only that.
For World-Building
Whether you need a battle map for a TTRPG game, a city map for reference, or an entire world map, we are big fans of Inkarnate. We use it both in our games and for our book series. Having a map to reference is invaluable, and even Inkarnate’s free option has a huge array of possibilities. We recently reviewed Inkarnate and its features.
Map of the Oasis in Berenzia created by us on Inkarnate
For Note Keeping
Note: as of December 2023 Evernote raised its price from $60 a year to $130. We no longer recommend this app given the value for the money and no longer use it ourselves.
We are in the middle of writing an eight-book epic fantasy series based off our TTRPG game. There is a lot to keep track of! What designs were in this god’s temples? Did that library have a name? Have these two crossed paths before? It can easily get overwhelming. Evernote has been a game-changer for us. It’s our top pick as a free resource for creators that need to keep track of details. It does have a free option, though we used paid so we can share it across two computers. You download it on your computer and can organize notes through tags and categories to make them more searchable.
For Designs & Mood Boards
I always love Pinterest when it comes to mood boards and ideas, however, if you want to customize things, we love to use Canva. The one drawback is that its free version is limited in options. We pay for it simply because we use it for so many things. But for a long time, we only used free and still enjoyed it. You can do graphic design, choose from photos, search gifs and videos, and much more! We’ve used it to design city symbols and banners, to create pantheon sigils, and for in-game digital handouts.
Symbol of Sunspire created by us on Canva
Do you have any free resources for creators that aren’t on this list? Share below!
Some may say level 18 characters in DnD are overpowered and no longer fun, but we disagree.
“My GM ended the campaign at level 10. He said that’s how most people do it because upper levels are too powerful.”
“We ended at level 14. Things get too complicated above that.”
“Does anyone actually get to tier 4? Most campaigns fizzle out before that.”
After a number of similar things being said from friends and online, we now find ourselves in the talked-about scenario. After nearly eight years of playing the same TTRPG campaign, we have level 18 characters. And this isn’t a game we just play once a month, either. We play it every week with the exception of being sick or being out of town (though we have played from a lakeshore cabin before!).
Progressing This Far in a Story
Being able to bring characters from level 1 all the way to level 18 in DnD is thrilling. You feel them grow up, get stronger, and take on bigger challenges. They change, for the better or the worse, with the story. You build relationships with NPC’s, with other party members, and you definitely get long-running rivalries with antagonists. It’s truly a joy to tell a story for eight years, and now be so close to seeing it come to a satisfying conclusion.
Level 18 Character Powers
We played in a short-term level 20 game with B. Dave Walters. He said, “Some people think you can’t challenge players at this level. I disagree.”
That certainly was the case in his game, with many of us coming close to death. And that’s been the case in ours, as well. There is no shortage of challenges. In fact, they just get bigger and more difficult. We’ve had characters go down, we’ve had spell slots run low, and we’ve had mid-battle stress deciding what to do next.
To clarify, we are heavy homebrewers. While DnD stat blocks are very useful for level 18 characters, it’s also entirely possible and simple to build your own bad guys and monsters from scratch that are up to the task.
Tips on Tier 4 Storytelling
If you find your party in tier 4, that is to say levels 16 – 20, here are some of our tips to make it less daunting.
When you’re this deep in the story, it’s not always about combat. The narrative and the characters are driving it at this point. Don’t worry so much about the biggest, baddest monster you can find.
The environment can play a huge factor in challenges for high-level DnD characters. Steep drops, crumbling ground, dangerous thunderstorms, blizzards, and more offer expanded challenges beyond just who can hit the hardest.
Keep it character-focused. Involve NPCs and antagonists frequently. Give characters situations they don’t want to just firestorm their way out of, like saving innocents.
When role-playing a high-level character, think about the weight of their power on them. How does this affect them? Are they more or less likely to use it? Do they feel heavy responsibility? Or has it made them arrogant and reckless?
