@ChrisPerkinsDnD the players in my CoS campaign are visiting Strahd’s castle soon. Any advice on DMing navigation in Castle Ravenloft? Its complexity and size makes it hard to draw on a normal grid. What works best? Only use theatre of the mind? Show them the map I have? Etc

— Jon Sciandra (@JonSciandra) January 2, 2019

Theater of the mind lends itself well to Castle Ravenloft because it makes the experience of exploring the castle more disorienting. You can always map a specific room if the players are having trouble visualizing it. #wotcstaff https://t.co/4IXZXtYt2k

— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) January 2, 2019

MIGHTY HEROES!

Today is an important day for me because sageadvice.eu will have a little earthquake.

When I started this website I had no idea that it would be so successful and, at the beginning, I chose a picture from the internet to represent my avatar: this portrait represents the Dungeon Master character from Dungeons&Dragons animated series from the ‘80s.

The avatar that I have always used is not mine, I do not have the copyright to use the image and I can no longer use it for this site.

So I decided to look for a good illustrator who could design a new avatar. As with every adventure the search was not an easy task, because my objective was to make a portrait different but similar to the one I had. At last I’ve found Salah a talented illustrator that patiently followed my requests.
In the next days I will be showing you the drawings of the new avatar of Sage Advice and the final result, that I hope you will enjoy because I love it!
Here are the two sketches of the new portrait!

Two things I learned in 2018:

1. Don’t ask people what they do for a living. Ask what keeps them busy. That lets people talk about what’s really important to them.

2. Don’t use analogies to explain things. You won’t get far explaining something by making it into something else.

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) January 1, 2019

Serious question @mikemearls : How do you explain D&D to someone totally unfamiliar with it without analogies? Would love to be better at explaining my favorite hobby. 🙂 This is what I’d say: It’s a game where each player creates a persona in a fantasy world, and one player, the DM, creates that fantasy world. The action is all improvised, with the DM judging the chance that something might happen and the players rolling dice to see how it goes.

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) January 1, 2019

How do you balance Keen Mind with Wizards? By reading what Keen Mind does, it would allow for a Wizard to just see a spell being used and then can use it themselves. There is MUCH MORE to casting a spell beyond a gesture and a sound. The mind of the mage has memorized elaborate equations and glyphs they weave in their mind’s eye as they cast it. Just seeing a spell be cast wouldn’t enable you to.

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 22, 2018

Hiding behind an illusion is not the same thing as having cover. A real wall provides cover. An illusory wall does not, though it can block line of sight (which is not the same as granting cover). #wotcstaff https://t.co/AAqRbdRwXx

— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) January 6, 2019

If a creature is heavily obscured and has cover, it gains the benefits of the cover and the benefits of being invisible, which is why cover doesn’t use the advantage/disadvantage mechanic but invisibility does. #wotcstaff

— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) January 6, 2019

would this be a blanket factor for all things with perception check/ passive perception? Or does this specifically make a difference because some creatures see through illusions (like dragons i believe innately?) Only specifying because ‘illusion’ and fog obvious are not a wall** ** but would then fog be considered a cover or no then in this example because its not physical?

— Robin Tipton (@Cinderluna) January 6, 2019

Fog won’t stop an arrow, so it’s not cover, but it can lightly or heavily obscure you, making you harder if not impossible to see. #wotcstaff https://t.co/gnYcxO3wyl

— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) January 6, 2019