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Book of Secrets

Every Tuesday explore worldbuilding, roleplay, character & setting development with Kevin Victor Rae

Book of Secrets

How to Use Side Quests to Up the Stakes

Welcome back to this series on side quests. Today we’re going to take a look at how to up the stakes of a campaign with a side quest. You can build tension with a side quest. They can grow the ...
Book of Secrets

How to Use Side Quests to Genre Hop

Last week we explored how to use side quests to deliver exposition. But giving the player information is not the only thing that sidequests are good for. They can also be a way to bring a refreshing change of pace ...
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How to Use Side Quests to Deliver Exposition

Today, as part of our ongoing series on side quests, we’ll take a look at how side quests can help further the main throughline or quest of a campaign by delivering important information to the party.  You can check out ...
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What Makes a Good Side Quest

When planning a campaign, a lot of energy and preparation time is spent on the main throughline or the main quest. It is the spine that each session hangs on, providing a sense of continuity and build to dramatic action. ...
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How to Easily Incorporate Side Quests

Side quests don’t have to be distracting fetch quests or the infamous escort quests so often present in MMORPG games. In tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, they can be exciting opportunities to explore characters, deliver key exposition, and ...
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Using Sentient Magic Items to Further Character Development

Sentient magic items offer a unique way to offer players new opportunities to roleplay their character. Maintaining a relationship with one’s magic sword can become annoying if it is not tied into the overall arch of the character wielding it. ...
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Using Rumors to Create a Living World

As a DM it’s my goal to create a believable world for my players to explore, interact with, and change. Their actions shape the campaign as much as the NPCs and encounters that I built. One way you can add ...
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Finding a Big Bad: Undead

In our final article of this series, we’ll take a look at a group of monsters so varied and vast that many campaigns have been made to solely fight the scourge that is the undead. Undead are so versatile because ...
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Finding a Big Bad: Oozes

The evil shampoos of the Dungeons and Dragons multiverse, oozes are classic monsters that no dungeon worth its treasure would be without. While the monsters with the Ooze type only have a handful of entries, each has potential to test ...
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Finding a Big Bad: Monstrosities

This week we take a look at one of the broadest categories of monsters in Dungeons and Dragons 5e: Monstrosities. The introduction to the Monster Manual defines monsters as being “frightening creatures that are not ordinary, not truly natural, and ...