Top 5 Dungeons and Dragons Accessories

5. Dice Storage

Don’t worry, we’ll get to dice later on. But how do you transport your dice. For me that is a bit of an all over the place question. I have some special cases for the metal dice or the set I got through Awaken Realms. And I keep another set in a bag that it came in. But for the bulk of your dice, and yes you’ll probably have more, what do you keep them in.

There are the classic clothe bags that you can buy. I’ve seen bags for dice that look like monsters from Dungeons and Dragons. Or, what I did, was convert a box we got that looks like a treasure chest into my dice storage. Because, what is more of a treasure than a pile of dice that you can roll. And it’s cool to open up a treasure chest when I need to grab a handful of dice to roll.

4. DM Screen

Now this one is specific to the DM. That is why I thought it could make sense to do two lists. But so many of the others work for both. But the DM screen, whether it’s the Dungeons and Dragons official one or a awesome expandable wooden one that looks like a castle, that is up to you.

As a DM, I own a screen but I don’t use it all that often. So this is one of those really fancy extra things that you maybe or maybe don’t use. But I want it on the list because it can be very useful. I think the custom ones even more useful. Those often let you customize with whatever you want on there. So the information might be the NPCs that you’ve created, the random monsters for your campaign or some campaign notes. And you really can make it work for you that way.

3. Campaign Journal

I say journal but you can use whatever you want. This is somewhere to take your notes while playing Dungeons and Dragons. As the DM, you use it for combats and keeping track of hit points and whose turn it is. Or I also add in the characters who I come up with, which I need to do a better and more consistent job of than just putting down a name. As a player, it’s taking notes on what is happening in the campaign. It might even have a spot for your character sheet.

I like something that has removable sheets. For me I run a 3 hole binder with some dividers. Why, because I can run two games at once, if I wanted. Or there is space to workshop future ideas. I also bring that notebook along at times to take notes on board games that I play or things that have RPG like elements. But there are a lot of specific and custom ones out there for Dungeons and Dragons that are awesome.

2. Minis

How I run and play Dungeons and Dragons you don’t need minis. Is it a hobby that I’d love to get into, sure, but painting minis and building terrain and battle maps is either a lot of work or a lot of money. But when you can create your character in the game, it’s awesome. It is great to have a copy of what you look like.

And now with 3D printing you can get your character. You might buy the file from some website and print it yourself. Or you might pay them to print it. Hero Forge is one that I think of which has a ton of different things that you can customize to create your character. A tiefling sorcerer with the entertainer background, you can customize your character to that if you want. That is an awesome feature. And I’d love to get a map and terrain and have my players bring their characters. But it can be pricy, so that’s why I don’t have this accessory yet.

1. Dice

You need dice to play Dungeons and Dragons. Are they really accessories? I say yes, because I don’t need as many dice as I own. And I don’t need giant squishy dice. I don’t need metal dice, I don’t need silicon dice. I own all of them. Not because you really need more than a single set of dice and maybe some extra D6. But because they are fun to play around with.

I can walk into a game store and have no plan of buying any dice, but if there is an awesome set, I’ll add them to my collection. That is the pull of dice. Plus they are something that you need for Dungeons and Dragons, but not as many as you probably have. And certainly, for me, not as many as I own.

And there is more…

I didn’t want to overload the list. I mention some other things like terrain or battle maps. There are also digital battle maps that you can use. Or with dice, since dice can’t be the whole list, there are dice trays and towers that you can get and use. And there are life counters, and really so much more that you can mess around with in Dungeons and Dragons.

Do you have a favorite accessory that you like to bring to your game? For me, I love my dice the best, but if I could start to dive into it, painting minis and terrain and making some cool set pieces would be awesome for adding a bit of flair to my campaign.

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I thought about doing a list for the Dungeon Master and one for the Players, but I am putting them all together, because, well, there is a lot of overlap. So let’s dive into the first one.

Players Versus Dungeon Master

The first thing new players (and Dungeon Masters0 do is they try and win Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons is not a game that can be won. It is a cooperative story telling game. The Dungeon Master guides the story and the players fill in the details of the story through their actions.

But, for a lot of new players and Dungeon Masters, they see Dungeons and Dragons as any other game. In chess there is a winner and a loser, in most games there are. So people think that is the same for Dungeons and Dragons. If as a player you try and win or break what the Dungeon Master is doing. The game will lose it’s fun for the Dungeon Master. For the Dungeon Master, an ancient black dragon on level 1 characters isn’t a fair fight.

The RPG Academy, a podcast on D&D that I recommend highly, puts it something like this. No matter what rules you get right or get wrong, if you are having fun, you are doing it right. And for a cooperative game that means that there are no losers to the game and that everyone at the table is having a good time. No one is trying to win Dungeons and Dragons.

Knowing Too Little or Too Much

This one might seem confusing. It makes sense that you don’t want to know too little. You need to know how to play your character. For a Dungeon Master, you need to know how to create an encounter. Plus you want to know what the other characters are doing as well.

But you also don’t want to know too much. That one sounds a whole lot weirder because it’s good to know a lot. Except that there is a ton of information. If you’ve been reading my tips for creating NPC’s, building out your first homebrew campaign, and more, you know I am always going to tell you to keep it simple. As the Dungeon Masters, know the players classes but don’t know all of them. As a player, know your class, but you don’t need to know all the other players perfectly or all the monsters.

Knowing too much can at times be worse because it means you don’t get to the table. There is always more to learn, review, and read in Dungeons and Dragons. So just know what you need to know. Oh, and if you are spell caster, know your spells. You don’t need to write them down in detail, but when you add a spell, add the page number so that you know how to find them fast.

Hogging the Spotlight

Now, this one isn’t as universal, but it does affect all players at the table and happens more in games with mainly new players. The Dungeon Master will spend 15 minutes talking without the players interacting. A player will jump in before anyone else at the table every time. This goes back to everyone at the table having fun and that it’s job of everyone at the table to police this.

The Dungeon Master helps guide the story, they don’t tell the whole story. And as tempting as it might be, they don’t have an NPC in the party to be a character they play. And players, give other players chances, in character ask other characters for advice. If someone isn’t getting a word in, pause, or ask them what they were going to say. Make it so that everyone feels engaged when what is going on.

This isn’t an Exhaustive List

That should be pretty obvious that there are more things that can trip people up. I keep on going back to that RPG Academy motto, if you’re having fun you’re doing it right. For a lot of players and Dungeon Masters, you need to make sure everyone at the table, including yourself is having fun.

What have you found that has tripped you up in Dungeons and Dragons? Was there something, if you’re a more experienced player, that you wish you knew when you started?

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This begs to ask, do all board games need expansions? And what makes a good expansion? Or even, what is an expansion? So let’s start there and work our way back.

What Is A Board Game Expansion?

An expansion basically a way to get additional content into a board game without printing a new game. There are second editions or ultimate editions of games that come out. These might have the expansion content in them. But normally publishers just put out expansions so that they can add in more content to their games.

What Makes A Good Board Game Expansion?

This question is harder to answer. Expansions can do a lot of different things. Expansions can just add more stuff into a game. I’ll try and give examples of all of them. There are ones that add new game play and ones that add more players as well.

More Players

The ones that are more players are simple. Lords of Hellas has a 5th Player expansion. Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea adds in a lot of players, three total in the two expansions. So you can play with a way higher player count than the base game. These are pretty straight forward in what they do. Catan was actually one of the first games to do that. They got a 5th and 6th player for basically every version of the game.

More Stuff

The next easiest one is the expansion that just adds in more stuff. This is something that doesn’t add any new rules or game play, it just gives you more of what you’ve already had. Dominion is the prime example of this. While the rules might change slightly, a lot of the times the cards can just be shuffled in with no problem. You don’t need to teach anything new, it’s just more variety in the content. Silver Amulet, Coin, Bullet, and Dagger add in new cards that behave differently, but you can learn them by looking at the card.

More Rules

The final one is the one that adds in more content. This basically always adds in rule changes as well. Lords of Hellas has this as well with the different player counts. It adds in a different statue with how things connect. But also games like Claim with the reinforcements and different suits and how they play. This is almost just the more stuff with Claim, but since the cards don’t teach it, I need to. Ascension and Dominion both do this as well. They will give you more stuff for the game but also some of that requires teaching new rules.

All of those can be good, but some of them aren’t always great. adding in a player can make the game go much longer. Or it can increase downtime in turns. Adding in more stuff for an engine building game can mean the engines can’t be built. Adding in more rules increases the complexity of the game and makes it harder to get to the table. So it depends on the expansion and the game if it works or not.

Do All Board Games Need Expansions?

You can probably guess my answer to this, but it is no. All board games do not need expansions. In fact, not all expansions improve the board game you are playing. I tossed out a few negatives that can occur. And they can take a good game to a poor game depending on what they do. Now, on the flip side, they can also improve games. They can add in needed content.

An example of improving would be Horizon Zero Dawn. Now I am just doing this one off of what I’ve heard. The base game box is fine, however, the amount of game play in that box is very limited. You need the Kickstarter expansions to get enough game play into it to make it a really big and more enjoyable experience.

Or Marvel United, it adds in more content and easy to get characters to the table. I can grab any character and play. I can grab any villain and play. Having the massive variety of characters means that the game has something for everyone. Marvel United X-Men even adds in more that you can do. Being able to play as a villain because of Marvel United X-Men takes it from being a cooperative game even.

So yes, they can be good. And I really do recommend expansions for games that you love. However, look into them, there are expansions that won’t help the game. And while I’d love to see a ton of expansions or have a ton in my collection, I can only really add them for the games that I really love.

What is your favorite board game expansion?

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Fun

The first thing that everyone needs to bring to the table is fun. Dungeons and Dragons is meant to be a fun experience. Even if the game is serious and the stakes are high, it shouldn’t feel like work playing it. You should leave still having a memorable experience, and a memorable experience should be something that you want to tell others about and should be fun. Now, I want to say, fun doesn’t mean it needs to be goofy, silly, light-hearted, while all of those can be fun, so can a serious or darker game. But everyone at the table needs to help everyone else have fun while having fun themselves. As The RPG Academy says: “If you’re having fun you’re doing it right.”

Flexibility

Now, flexibility isn’t something that people might think about. And everything, really, ties into having fun. What I mean with flexibility is that as the Dungeon Master when the players find and almost kill the big bad guy or banish them somehow to another plane before you’re ready, you can adapt and change. When the Dungeon Master adds something to a player character’s backstory or a debt or obligation, the player can adapt to that.

Now, a Dungeon Master shouldn’t make a character do something that is out of character, and players shouldn’t be intentionally trying to punch holes into the story the Dungeon Master is helping the players weave. Those things, however, happen from time to time. Even when players and the Dungeon Master keep an eye out so it doesn’t happen, it will happen. So be flexible so when it does happen you are ready to adjust and adapt and keep having fun.

Preparation

Preparation matters most to the Dungeon Master, and most to some Dungeon Master. I bullet point out a few keys for a session, and that is my preparation. For other Dungeon Masters preparation means that they spend hours planning out set piece encounters and building those set pieces, NPCs, and whatever else it might be. This also includes the campaign preparation of where the Dungeon Master wants to direct the whole of the game.

For the players, preparation means they know their characters. Also, when characters need to be leveled up, that is done by the start of the next session, if they don’t do it in the session. Knowing ones character entails the skills and bonuses that you have to stats, having an understanding or your spells or where to find what they do, knowing what new spells you have, how many spell slots you have, what various attacks do, and what your default is going to be on an attack.

Preparation isn’t fun always. I like figuring out the highlights for my next session, personally, but it seems like work at times as well. The reason we prepare goes back to having fun. Down time is not that much fun, a meandering story with little focus or changing focus is not as much fun. I put fun at the top for that reason, because having fun in the most important and everything else leads into it.

Final Thoughts

The RPG Academy really has it right here. Playing a game should always be about having fun. Getting rules perfectly right is less important than having fun. And attitude at the table should always be leading into having fun. As the Dungeon Master, you help people stay engaged by preparing and following the queues of the players. As players, you grab onto storylines and see where they go and give clear signs and directions to the Dungeon Master. You also don’t hog the spotlight from other players at the table.

What is the most important attitude at the Dungeons and Dragons gaming table for you?

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Dice Set – Now, I am going to primarily suggest that you get the normal 7 dice set which has a D20, D12, D10, D10 Percentile, D8, D6, and D4. These are the most common, and for games like D&D and Pathfinder. If you play other systems, you need to look at what dice those games use. The Fantasy Flight Star Wars RPG and Genesys use specific dice that you can use normal dice for, but having a couple of sets of those dice make the game easier for everyone as well.

Dice Tray/Dice Tower – These are not something that you need for playing an RPG, but they can be useful. Both of them are basically something that can add for rolling dice. It’s nice if you have a wood table or something like that to use a dice tray as they are often padded so it makes rolling dice less noisy. It also keeps an enthusiastic roller from rolling them off of the table. A dice tower doesn’t make it any quieter, but it does the rolling for you. And it’s kind of fun to hear or see it bonk down the dice tower until it’s rolled.

The Core D&D Books – This is for someone who is getting into RPG’s and wants to run a game, the core D&D books are going to be great for getting them up and running. You get the Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide. That’s enough to run as many games of D&D as you want. It’s possible that they already have some of them, but you can buy them separately or as a bundle. If they don’t have them, the bundles sometimes have cool covers. I wouldn’t spring this on someone who hasn’t expressed any interest in DM’ing though, because they might feel like you’re pressuring them into DM’ing.

Adventure Modules – Now, it might be that you have someone who likes D&D plays, as a player, fairly often, but is intimidated by running their own game from scratch. This is where you can use the adventure modules. The starter kit would be a great one to get them, but there are a lot of other adventures. Curse of Strahd is generally the best received one, and while I didn’t have the best time running it, I think that it is put together well and that my issue was more the group than it was the module itself. But you have a ton to choose from, so if you want dragons, you can get that, demons you can get that, or giants, that’s out there as well. This is where I’d encourage someone who likes D&D a lot to maybe thing about DM’ing by giving them an adventure module.

DM Screen – This one is definitely for the person who is the DM in you game, otherwise there’s no real need for it, but if they have a makeshift DM screen, get them an official one or a cool one off of Etsy. The basic one from Dungeons and Dragons/Wizards of the Coast is fine, and I have it and I like it, but there are some custom CNC cut wood ones that are amazing out there and if you want to bling out your game, a custom DM screen, some with built in dice towers, but those tend to be a bunch spendier.

Adventure Zone Comic Books – What, this isn’t an RPG, no, but it’s RPG related, and with all the RPG podcast information out there, and all the people who are doing them, even me for a while. But this takes one of the actual play podcasts that is extremely popular and turns it into a comic. Definitely good for someone who likes the podcast and got into D&D because of the podcast, or just loves the podcast. I’ve looked a little bit at the books, but the artwork is nice, and definitely looks like a fun time.

Legacy of Dragonholt – This is often put into an area between choose your own adventure and RPG and board game, but I think that it’d scratch the itch for people who like the ideas of RPG’s but aren’t ready to make the leap. The character creation is simple, the role playing piece is low in it, but it’s story driven, and you have a character that can do things. It works simply on you either being able to do something or not. It is also a game that can be played solo, so if there is someone in your life who doesn’t have a group or who can’t play as often as they would want, this would be a solid option as well, though, a serious min/maxing player will find this way to light.

There’s so much more out there. There are a lot of indie RPG’s that people can check out as well that give you more specific settings than fantasy. And I talked only about the basic Dungeons and Dragons books and adventures, but there are other books that add in more monsters, more character options and many other things. Overall, there is a ton out there for RPG’s right now, and it’s a hobby that is growing still, which is cool. If you have someone who you think might like an RPG, you can also just give the gift of running a game for them, maybe you have a relative who they are their friends want to try and RPG, but none of them want to run it, you can give the gift of running a few sessions.

What would you want for your pen and paper RPG collection? Is there something on the list that looks really cool?

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“True.”

“Bring forth the character sheet and the lighter to usher Gornag to the afterlife.”

“He shall be remembered.”

“We send him back into the ether from whence he came.”

“He shall be remembered.”

Alright, that might be very goofy, and you don’t need to do any routine or anything like that, but it’s a topic that I don’t think ends up being talked about that much in Dungeons and Dragons or any RPG, how do you handle the death of a character.

It isn’t something that I’ve had a ton of experience with, I’ve “killed” three characters. The first was a convention game at the end of the one shot, so it worked out well, and technically, it was another character failing to throw a dart horribly and then hitting the unconscious character who was one death saving throw short and floating face down in water. Then, in Dungeons and Flagons, Finja died, sacrificing her life in their successful attempt to destroy a beholder. It was a sad but fitting end for that character. Finally, a barbarian who was amazing and smashing everything came up against some specters that he couldn’t kill as easily and he was rolling poorly. He got to come back, but with some pretty dire consequences for the party.

So I haven’t done a TPK (total party kill) and have to end a campaign because of that, or pick it up with new characters. I’ve knocked out characters before, but that was all with a plan of what was going to happen next and with a reason why the monsters wouldn’t just kill the players.

There are several questions that come out of death, but let’s start for a Dungeon Master even before death of a character.

Do you need to have the threat of death in your game?

It might seem like you need to, but do you really need to have that threat of death in your game? I would say that yes, death is something that has to be a threat in your game, but it should be a rare threat. You are playing with heroes, so why should these heroes be likely to go down in every fight? They shouldn’t, is my answer. There will be times when fighting against a level boss that it should be a threat, but if they are fighting a random encounter of goblins on the road, it probably shouldn’t be enough to kill them, unless I’m rolling very hot and they are rolling ice cold.

What do you do when death does happen?

This is a harder question, because you need to know how your players would react and how it happened. If it happened because a character jumped out of a fourth story window as a first level wizard, yeah, it’s going to be easier because that player was doing something dumb with their character.

If it’s because it was in an epic combat, I think that most players would still be pretty cool with it. Especially if they sacrificed themselves to do damage to get that BBEG to deaths doorsteps and the party was able to kill them. That sort of heroes death can even be a big story element and driving force for a character if you want it. But even if it wasn’t something for the character, that death feels like it has meaning.

The harder ones to deal with are the ones that come out of the blue. It could be that the monsters were rolling hot, like I said, and the player was doing poorly, and with a critical failure on a death saving throw, you can be out fast. How do you as a DM deal with that, and then, how do you as a player deal with that?

I think as a DM, it’s about giving some time. I wouldn’t gloat about it, I wouldn’t rush quickly into the next thing. It’s fairly dumb in movies when you get that moment where the protagonists best friend dies in a fight and you get that flow motion moment of the protagonist crying, but that’s what you kind of want to do in your game. Give the players at the table that reprieve from the battle, don’t ask for any rolls, any checks, just let the players process it. Then, once there has been a little bit of time, or the players have said their piece, then you jump back into what was happening. And once that is done, you can give the other players the options of things that they can do.

Also know that players will act differently. Some are going to try and find a way that the encounter was unbalanced or something along those lines and justify why they shouldn’t have died. Others are going to find that whole moment just humorous. Then there are others who are going to be ready to start rolling up their next character right then and there. The best thing, as a DM you can do in any of those situations is just give them a moment and be considerate.

As a player, how do you deal with it when another character dies, not yours? It’s pretty similar to the DM, you give it some time. You buy into the moment and are there for the player as you can be, and in character, you play out that movie moment where you fight your way to the side of your dead comrade and pick up their body in your arms and scream at the sky. You don’t treat it lightly.

If it was your character that died, it can be tough. You grow to like your character, you want to know what is going to happen with your character and you had ideas of the story that was going to continue with them for longer in the campaign until the campaign was done. You wrote a backstory for them, you drew a picture of them, it is hard to lose something that you put time and effort into. It is kind of hard to write, because it is fairly trite to say, but remember that this is a game. You are going to like the new character that you roll up as well. The best I can liken this to is Doctor Who when you get a new Doctor, I’m always a bit hesitant with the new Doctor and I don’t think I like them as well, but basically all of them have grown on me to the point where I’m sad to see them leave. That’s the case with your D&D character as well, you might not like the new one as well at the start, but you’ll grow to love them too.

But allow yourself some time to soak in the death of the character. Don’t rush yourself into creating that new character if you don’t want to. Don’t feel like you need to be more than an observer for the rest of the session. It’s fine to wait and then when the next session is come back with a new character for the game.

Finally, as a group, when you have that first character death, come up with a way that you are going to memorialize it. I have a very silly thing written at the top, but figure out what you want to do. It doesn’t need to be much, but do something in game or out of game that you want to do for future deaths. This will help with the sense of closure for the dead character and it can be something fun to do. Toasting the fallen character in and out of game would make a lot of sense. Or, if the person doesn’t want to keep the character sheet, burning it, ideally after being folded into a paper boat and floating in a bathtub to give it a proper Viking burial, would make a lot of sense as well, but that’s going to be up to your group.

How have you dealt with the death of character in your Dungeons and Dragons games? Have you had a particularly epic character death or any really funny one?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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First, what do I mean by complete a campaign. I think that there are a few different things, but I want to clarify a few things that it isn’t. First, it doesn’t mean that you get to level 20, in fact, very few campaigns ever get to level 20, and the campaign books that Wizards of the Coast puts out for Dungeons and Dragons, most of those stop around level 10. The reason being, anything else would be too much leveling quickly, and they don’t want to start at a mid level campaign, because it’s harder for new players to jump in there. It also doesn’t mean t hat the campaign ends for one of several reasons. When I say completed I’m talking about the story the DM has set forth being done.

Why might your campaign end, there are two main reasons. The group falling apart or the DM burning out. There can be a lot of reasons for the first one, the group falling apart. It can be because someone moves away, or someone gets too busy, or really anything that might divide the group. It’s unfortunate that it happens, but it does happen, and there isn’t much you can do about it. The other one of DM burnout can come for a couple of reasons. If the DM is driving the story and the players are passengers on the DM’s story, it makes it a lot of work for the DM. Or the DM can have split up there story so much that it has become too much work for them to keep all of the threads together, or it might just be that the DM has been a DM for a very long time.

But, that’s not how we want our campaign to end. Whether you’re building up to that final epic encounter against the evil deity at level 20, or the BBEG who is a Wizard you can fight at level 10, you want to finish the story. It’s more satisfying for the DM and for the players. And, if you can do that, you likely will create more people who want to continue playing or maybe try running their own game.

So what can you do as the DM? I’ll come back later for players.

1. Keep the story varied. And by that, if you are going to have McGuffins around that the players have to collect, keep the collection process different and changing. Make the settings feel unique and make what the players need to do feel very different so that they feel like they’re not just hacking and slashing their way through the same adventure.
2. Keep the players involved in the story telling. If you want the players to feel like their not just along for the ride, have them help you come up with details. This can be tricky if you aren’t great at improv, but if you aren’t, send out Google Surveys to your players between sessions, have them give you character names or descriptions of places that you can work into your next session as you continue planning it. This means that it isn’t just going to be your creative juices in it, so the players are more apt to stay involved with the story and you, as the DM, are less likely to burn out.
3. Take Breaks. It’s a surprising one, but I think it’s good. If you are playing every two week for four hours, take a break every six months and just cancel a game or however often you need it. This, again, helps with burnout so that you don’t feel like you’re always pushing to your next session of the game.
4. Don’t feel like you have to push to level 20. It’s fine for a game, and normal for a story to be complete before level 20. You might have thought you wanted the big bad to be fought at level 20, but to help with your burnout or the odds of someone dropping out, keep your story tight. That way you won’t burn out and players won’t get bored, and if you can tell a good and tight story to level 20, more power to you, but it isn’t needed.

So that was for DM’s, but it’s also on the players, there are things you can do to help complete your game:

1. Miss as little as possible. It seems fairly obvious, but if you aren’t there or if enough players aren’t there, the story probably won’t progress as fast so that you don’t miss anything important. Now, at a larger table, it might still progress, but get caught up on your own time, don’t slow down the game when you get there just so you can be caught up. And when you do miss, let the DM know as far ahead of time as possible.
2. Be engaged. This is several things rolled into one. Being engaged means don’t be on your phone at the table, unless you’re looking up a spell or ability. That contributes to DM burnout. Be ready to help the DM when they ask for it in terms of creating the world and more of the setting. I often ask for character names or descriptions, be ready to come up with some on the fly, and if you can’t, that’s fine, just don’t be surprised when the DM asks. Also know your character sheet. It’s a pretty simple engagement, take the notes you need so that you know what you are going to need to do. And finally, be engaged with the planning of missions and the story. It’s so many things, but if you have a side conversation or if you are just even passive in the story, it causes more DM burnout and can end a campaign before it’s time.
3. Share the spotlight. You might be always engaged, you might never miss a session, and those things are huge for keeping the DM going in the game, but if you hog the spotlight as a player, it might cause other players to do the first two items on the players list. As the RPG Academy says, “If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right.” And that means fun for you and fun for everyone at the table. So share the spotlight, if you see someone who isn’t engaged, get them more engaged in the game. The DM might not have noticed, but you have the same power to take control of the story and get the player engaged as the DM does in a lot of cases.
4. Be open and honest with the DM. If you aren’t enjoying the game, or if there aren’t parts of the game that you enjoy. Let the DM know, but better yet, let the DM know what you are enjoying. Framing the positives of what is really keeping you engaged allows the DM to do more things that they know the players will like, versus having to guess at what might work only if you say what you don’t like. And this can be tricky, especially after a rough session, but take a minute the day after to text or e-mail your DM and let them know what you’ve liked or what you haven’t and you’ll find that the game likely improves and it means that the DM has something more focused to prepare.

There are going to be more tips, I’m sure, for completing a campaign. But this is a good spot to start if you’re a DM or if you’re a player. Realize, still, that there are going to be a lot of campaigns that just end, and that isn’t a bad thing. But if you can bring your game to completion, you’re going to have a ton of fun with it and create some memories in the process.

What are some things you’ve used for running a game to the completion of it’s story? Are there things as a player you’ve found that have helped you?

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