Long Island Dungeon Master
@longislanddungeonmaster.com
When a scene sags, cut to the moment right before the worst choice. Skip the walk to the village. Open on the mob already at the door, torch already lit, asking the party to hand someone over. Start late, leave early. #DMtips
September 25, 2026 at 3:42 PM
When a scene sags, cut to the moment right before the worst choice. Skip the walk to the village. Open on the mob already at the door, torch already lit, asking the party to hand someone over. Start late, leave early. #DMtips
The most dangerous NPC at your table is the one who loves the party. He'll hide the letter that says their patron sold them out, because the truth would break them. Loyalty makes better betrayals than hate ever will. #DMtips
September 24, 2026 at 2:04 PM
The most dangerous NPC at your table is the one who loves the party. He'll hide the letter that says their patron sold them out, because the truth would break them. Loyalty makes better betrayals than hate ever will. #DMtips
Stop rolling to see if the party finds the clue. They always find it. Roll to see what it costs: do they find it before the guard shift changes, or after. Failure should move the story, never stall it. #DMtips
September 24, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Stop rolling to see if the party finds the clue. They always find it. Roll to see what it costs: do they find it before the guard shift changes, or after. Failure should move the story, never stall it. #DMtips
Start with a will. A dead aunt leaves the party a house, a debt, and a locked room. The turn: the room isn't locked to keep them out. It's locked to keep something in, and the key was buried with her on purpose. Human first, wrong second.
September 22, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Start with a will. A dead aunt leaves the party a house, a debt, and a locked room. The turn: the room isn't locked to keep them out. It's locked to keep something in, and the key was buried with her on purpose. Human first, wrong second.
The dead in this city still owe taxes. The collector salts them and puts them back to work until the debt clears. Nobody thinks it's strange anymore, and that's the horror. When the monstrous becomes routine, you've found your adventure.
September 21, 2026 at 4:25 PM
The dead in this city still owe taxes. The collector salts them and puts them back to work until the debt clears. Nobody thinks it's strange anymore, and that's the horror. When the monstrous becomes routine, you've found your adventure.
Talk Like a Pirate Day, and the table runs on sea rules. Say "arr" and roll with advantage. Suggest splitting the party and you walk the plank. And the chest the bosun won't let anyone open? Aye. It has teeth. 🏴☠️🎲 #DnD
September 19, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Talk Like a Pirate Day, and the table runs on sea rules. Say "arr" and roll with advantage. Suggest splitting the party and you walk the plank. And the chest the bosun won't let anyone open? Aye. It has teeth. 🏴☠️🎲 #DnD
I have run Descent into Avernus four times, all the way through. Every one ends standing in front of Zariel, and nobody has ever beaten her. Straight off the page.
How to play Zariel in combat:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/how-to-play-zariel-in-combat
How to play Zariel in combat:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/how-to-play-zariel-in-combat
September 18, 2026 at 5:00 PM
I have run Descent into Avernus four times, all the way through. Every one ends standing in front of Zariel, and nobody has ever beaten her. Straight off the page.
How to play Zariel in combat:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/how-to-play-zariel-in-combat
How to play Zariel in combat:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/how-to-play-zariel-in-combat
"I understand you did some pruning at my winery. Bad weeds, every one of them."
He has known about the winery for weeks. He waited until they had eaten to bring it up.
Dinner at Castle Ravenloft, the whole night:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-dinner-at-ravenloft
He has known about the winery for weeks. He waited until they had eaten to bring it up.
Dinner at Castle Ravenloft, the whole night:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-dinner-at-ravenloft
September 17, 2026 at 5:00 PM
"I understand you did some pruning at my winery. Bad weeds, every one of them."
He has known about the winery for weeks. He waited until they had eaten to bring it up.
Dinner at Castle Ravenloft, the whole night:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-dinner-at-ravenloft
He has known about the winery for weeks. He waited until they had eaten to bring it up.
Dinner at Castle Ravenloft, the whole night:
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-dinner-at-ravenloft
I secretly love it when the players fail to recover St. Andral's bones.
Vallaki gets to have a very bad night, and the Feast is the best chance in the whole campaign to show what Strahd looks like when he stops playing with his food.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-failing-vallaki
Vallaki gets to have a very bad night, and the Feast is the best chance in the whole campaign to show what Strahd looks like when he stops playing with his food.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-failing-vallaki
September 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM
I secretly love it when the players fail to recover St. Andral's bones.
Vallaki gets to have a very bad night, and the Feast is the best chance in the whole campaign to show what Strahd looks like when he stops playing with his food.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-failing-vallaki
Vallaki gets to have a very bad night, and the Feast is the best chance in the whole campaign to show what Strahd looks like when he stops playing with his food.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-failing-vallaki
What finally made my Strahd scary wasn't increasing his numbers. It was making him calculated.
He is the land, and the land does what he says. He doesn't have to be in the room to be in the scene.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-omnipresent-strahd
He is the land, and the land does what he says. He doesn't have to be in the room to be in the scene.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-omnipresent-strahd
September 15, 2026 at 5:00 PM
What finally made my Strahd scary wasn't increasing his numbers. It was making him calculated.
He is the land, and the land does what he says. He doesn't have to be in the room to be in the scene.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-omnipresent-strahd
He is the land, and the land does what he says. He doesn't have to be in the room to be in the scene.
https://longislanddungeonmaster.com/villaincraft-omnipresent-strahd
The cruelest villain isn't the one who wants power. It's the one who's sure he's saving everyone, and the math only works if a few people burn. Give him a kindness he'd die to protect, then put the party in front of it. #DnD
September 13, 2026 at 2:15 PM
The cruelest villain isn't the one who wants power. It's the one who's sure he's saving everyone, and the math only works if a few people burn. Give him a kindness he'd die to protect, then put the party in front of it. #DnD
Does darkvision mean your dwarf sees in the dark? No. It means sixty feet of grey.
Darkness counts as dim light for him. Dim light is lightly obscured. So he rolls Perception at disadvantage in the room he can supposedly see.
Half the table has been playing a rule nobody read. #DnD #DMTips
Darkness counts as dim light for him. Dim light is lightly obscured. So he rolls Perception at disadvantage in the room he can supposedly see.
Half the table has been playing a rule nobody read. #DnD #DMTips
September 9, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Can I just kill him? He's a level one shopkeeper.
New DM: roll initiative I guess. Four hit points.
30-year DM: yes. He sold arrows. Cheapest fletcher in the valley.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Grave Matters" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: roll initiative I guess. Four hit points.
30-year DM: yes. He sold arrows. Cheapest fletcher in the valley.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Grave Matters" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
September 3, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Can I just kill him? He's a level one shopkeeper.
New DM: roll initiative I guess. Four hit points.
30-year DM: yes. He sold arrows. Cheapest fletcher in the valley.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Grave Matters" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: roll initiative I guess. Four hit points.
30-year DM: yes. He sold arrows. Cheapest fletcher in the valley.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Grave Matters" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: he will take forty.
30-year DM: he will not go under fifty. Buy the helmet and he hands you the sword for thirty. Same roll. One buys ten gold, one buys a man.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Ghost Story" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
30-year DM: he will not go under fifty. Buy the helmet and he hands you the sword for thirty. Same roll. One buys ten gold, one buys a man.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Ghost Story" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
September 1, 2026 at 10:01 PM
New DM: he will take forty.
30-year DM: he will not go under fifty. Buy the helmet and he hands you the sword for thirty. Same roll. One buys ten gold, one buys a man.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Ghost Story" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
30-year DM: he will not go under fifty. Buy the helmet and he hands you the sword for thirty. Same roll. One buys ten gold, one buys a man.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Ghost Story" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Can I play an evil character? Session three, he robs the party.
New DM: no, evil characters break parties.
30-year DM: yes. Not session three. Session eleven.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Dark Times" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: no, evil characters break parties.
30-year DM: yes. Not session three. Session eleven.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Dark Times" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
September 1, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Can I play an evil character? Session three, he robs the party.
New DM: no, evil characters break parties.
30-year DM: yes. Not session three. Session eleven.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Dark Times" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: no, evil characters break parties.
30-year DM: yes. Not session three. Session eleven.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Dark Times" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Is this a trap? The last three rooms had traps.
Perception, eighteen, both tables. You find nothing. Eighteen finds traps. Eighteen found none. That is not the same as safe.
Ask yourself who takes the bones out. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Unseen Horrors" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Perception, eighteen, both tables. You find nothing. Eighteen finds traps. Eighteen found none. That is not the same as safe.
Ask yourself who takes the bones out. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Unseen Horrors" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
August 30, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Is this a trap? The last three rooms had traps.
Perception, eighteen, both tables. You find nothing. Eighteen finds traps. Eighteen found none. That is not the same as safe.
Ask yourself who takes the bones out. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Unseen Horrors" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Perception, eighteen, both tables. You find nothing. Eighteen finds traps. Eighteen found none. That is not the same as safe.
Ask yourself who takes the bones out. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Unseen Horrors" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Can I check the chest for mimics? I'm poking it with my ten foot pole.
Nineteen, both tables. The chest is wood and iron, honest work.
Now roll for the pole you are holding. Measure it tonight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Chee Zee Cave" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Nineteen, both tables. The chest is wood and iron, honest work.
Now roll for the pole you are holding. Measure it tonight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Chee Zee Cave" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
August 28, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Can I check the chest for mimics? I'm poking it with my ten foot pole.
Nineteen, both tables. The chest is wood and iron, honest work.
Now roll for the pole you are holding. Measure it tonight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Chee Zee Cave" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Nineteen, both tables. The chest is wood and iron, honest work.
Now roll for the pole you are holding. Measure it tonight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Chee Zee Cave" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Days since the last dragon incident: zero. Again.
Twenty-two round wood signs for the game room and the home bar, printed on real Baltic birch. Every one is a joke somebody at your table has already made.
longislanddungeonmaster.com/shop
#DnD #TTRPG
Twenty-two round wood signs for the game room and the home bar, printed on real Baltic birch. Every one is a joke somebody at your table has already made.
longislanddungeonmaster.com/shop
#DnD #TTRPG
August 27, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Days since the last dragon incident: zero. Again.
Twenty-two round wood signs for the game room and the home bar, printed on real Baltic birch. Every one is a joke somebody at your table has already made.
longislanddungeonmaster.com/shop
#DnD #TTRPG
Twenty-two round wood signs for the game room and the home bar, printed on real Baltic birch. Every one is a joke somebody at your table has already made.
longislanddungeonmaster.com/shop
#DnD #TTRPG
Is the innkeeper evil? Nobody gives out three free rooms.
New DM: he's just nice.
30-year DM: he is exactly what he seems. Kind. Patient. That does not clear him.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Comfortable Mystery 3" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: he's just nice.
30-year DM: he is exactly what he seems. Kind. Patient. That does not clear him.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Comfortable Mystery 3" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
August 26, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Is the innkeeper evil? Nobody gives out three free rooms.
New DM: he's just nice.
30-year DM: he is exactly what he seems. Kind. Patient. That does not clear him.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Comfortable Mystery 3" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: he's just nice.
30-year DM: he is exactly what he seems. Kind. Patient. That does not clear him.
Two DMs, thirty years apart. Follow for the next one.
Music: "Comfortable Mystery 3" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
Can I kill the quest giver? He's been talking for ten minutes.
New DM: his brother shows up, same job. Thirty years in: the contract is in his coat. Half already paid. The mill still expects somebody at midnight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Echoes of Time v2" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: his brother shows up, same job. Thirty years in: the contract is in his coat. Half already paid. The mill still expects somebody at midnight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Echoes of Time v2" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
August 24, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Can I kill the quest giver? He's been talking for ten minutes.
New DM: his brother shows up, same job. Thirty years in: the contract is in his coat. Half already paid. The mill still expects somebody at midnight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Echoes of Time v2" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0
New DM: his brother shows up, same job. Thirty years in: the contract is in his coat. Half already paid. The mill still expects somebody at midnight. #DnD #DMTips
Music: "Echoes of Time v2" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0