ChatGPT is impressive. It summarised psychoneuroimmunology for me, while also creating poems glorifying stoicism. But can it help with your campaign prepping?

How do you design a puzzle that’s not too easy and not too hard, but just right? That’s far simpler than you might think.

Can you be a control freak and a great GM? The conventional wisdom is no. Here’s how that wisdom might be wrong.

Game Masters have a lot to keep track of. That means it’s easy for the players to overwhelm them, deliberately or otherwise. Here’s the mature way to stop that.

Hardcore players get “Never split the party” tattooed on their sleeves, and for good reason. Here’s how and why you might encourage them to do it anyway.

Today, I share a simple algorithm I often use when running encounters. It mixes up the fights and (usually) lets the players feel smart, cool and professional.

What does a GM need to do to balance a party? Depending on the situation, either something or nothing. Here’s how to tell the difference.

D&D is a social game, so what happens when one person sucks all the attention (and maybe even air) from the room?

I get peeved with turn-based games in general, D&D in particular. If you’re sick of encounters feeling more like chess and less like battle, read this.

How do wise GMs prepare? By doing the opposite of these two common mistakes - mistakes that take more time and make your role harder.

When an NPC turns invisible, GMs could get lazy, mean or fair. You can probably guess which one I lean towards.