Say “Dungeons & Dragons” and most people picture a scene right out of Stranger Things: a group of players huddled around a basement table, rolling dice and moving tiny plastic figures around. But, unlike Stranger Things, we have the whole internet at our fingertips (and are also free from supernatural horrors, but that's beside the point). These days people play Dungeons & Dragons over the internet. But that begs the question: how do you take a game designed to be played on a table and move it entirely online? Well, online D&D is kind of our whole thing, so let us talk you through what you need to know. 

I’ve recently been re-watching Alex Hirsch’s masterpiece, Gravity Falls—a Pacific Northwest adventure full of magic, cryptids, and mouthwatering mysteries. This is one of my favorite TV shows ever made, and what makes it even more fun is Alex’s hilarious references to D&D. (Seriously—there’s a whole episode on it. Go watch “Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons” featuring the hip-hop version of their in-world spoof, Diggity Dungeons & All That.)

There’s so much potential for both giggles and gasps in the madcap world of Gravity Falls (I’ve been working on a one-shot that I really need to stop procrastinating), but one standout aspect of the show is the hilarious, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable characters. If you want to bring some Gravity Falls goodness into your own game, here are a few suggestions for how to adapt your favorite characters into powerful, playable OCs.

Some Dungeons & Dragons stories become legendary: a perfectly timed natural 20, a ridiculous use of a spell or item, or a plan of attack the Dungeon Master never expected. I've been a Dungeon Master for a while, so I’ve been witness to many such moments. Now, whenever I see a meme template, hear a song, or watch a movie, somewhere in the back of my head is a D&D story that fits right along. So of course, with the upcoming release of the Wicked movie (and the soundtrack I've had memorized since 2009), my brain has been pairing up my favorite songs with my favorite D&D stories, which I have decided to share with you. Enjoy these moments from my many D&D campaigns along with a matching song from the musical Wicked. 

One of the great strengths of Dungeons & Dragons is getting to play with others: going on adventures as a team, interacting in-character, and getting to spend time with geek-minded friends. But this strength can also be a weakness. Many a well-intentioned campaign has fizzled out due to scheduling mishaps, interpersonal conflicts, or difficulty finding a Dungeons Master - and that's if you can get a party together in the first place! This struggle has many D&D enthusiasts asking if it’s possible to play the game alone. With a little bit of creativity, the answer is yes! Here are a few different options if you want to play D&D by yourself.

Creating a Dungeons & Dragons campaign from scratch is a lot of work. Not only do you need a good grasp of how the game plays, but you need fun ideas for characters, plots, encounters and more - plus the chops to put them all together! If you want to be a Dungeon Master but don’t want to spend hours crafting a custom campaign, there are plenty of pre-made campaigns that you can use.

No matter what tone of game you’re looking for (wholesome and cozy? traditional fantasy? dark and spooky?) there’s a D&D campaign on this list for you. Drawing from both official and indie sources, here are a few campaigns we recommend for beginner Dungeon Masters and D&D players alike.

There is no official Dungeons & Dragons holiday (not yet, anyway), but Halloween is the next best thing. It's the perfect celebration for D&D fans: you can dress up as your favorite characters, revel in the spooky vibes, and enjoy all sorts of classic D&D monsters (zombies, ghosts, witches, and more)! Halloween also comes with some of the most iconic spooky characters from pop culture. We’ve taken inspiration from these characters to give you ideas to make your own in the game of D&D!

We are big fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings here at Young Dragonslayers, and we aren't alone. Many of the very first people working on Dungeons & Dragons loved Lord of the Rings, taking inspiration from the books as they crafted the rules and world of the game. So, that got us wondering - what would Tolkein's stories have looked like in D&D? Could we use these classic tales to teach people how the game worked? Let's find out together!

You get to do a lot in Dungeons & Dragons: go on fantastical adventures, fight cool monsters, and embark onmysterious quests. But perhaps the best part is that you get to go on those quests using a character that you made yourself! Using the basic rules of D&D and a little guidance, you can create your own original character that's playable in any D&D game. We've helped tons of players create their own characters, so let us give you a hand!

It’s one of the most searched D&D terms on the internet: “how to make a good dungeon.” And no wonder. The dungeon crawl is a quintessential aspect of the game, else we’d be playing High-Rises and Humans or Shambling Mounds and Shopping Malls.

But what actually makes a dungeon fun? And how can you keep your players engaged, equipped, and emotionally captivated throughout a two-hour, four-hour, or even multi-session crawl?

I’m by no means a master builder, but I’ve crafted more than a few daring delves for my players. Whenever I feel like it’s time to venture beyond the open world and into the clutches of a deep, dark lair, here are a few factors I consider.

This year has been filled with cool Star Wars media, like the live-action series The Acolyte, the animated series Tales of the Empire, and the video game Star Wars: Outlaws. Force users like the ones in The Acolyte are awesome! But don’t forget the outlaws, rebels, droids, and other non-Force-users living on the scrappy edges of the Star Wars universe. Who's Luke Skywalker without Han Solo or Chewbacca? Who’s Rey without BB-8? For that matter, what's Star Wars itself without characters like Boba Fett or Padme Amidala? If you ever looked at the cast of smugglers, droids, mandos, and more and wondered “what if I could play that in D&D?” we’re here to tell you the answer is yes (and share some ideas to bring these kinds of characters into your own games).

If you're around the D&D sections of the internet, whether that's subreddits, YouTube channels, or even your TikTok FYP, you've probably at least heard about the upcoming release of a new version of D&D. This news raises a lot of questions, especially for new players. What is a new version exactly? What will happen to the old version? What changed? And, most importantly, how can my D&D group deal handle this? D&D is our bread and butter here at Young Dragonslayers™, so let us guide you through what this means for D&D and how you can expect the game to change (or not).

Many Dungeon Masters use official materials to find elements like magic items, terrible monsters, or even entire stories to run for their parties. These elements can be found in books like the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the Monster Manual, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, or Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. But sometimes people want to create their own elements for their games to realize their own vision for a character, story, or battle. These unofficial elements are called homebrew; some materials are made by individual players to share with their friends or on sites like Tumblr, Reddit, DMs Guild, or D&D wikis, and some by professional companies like Kobold Press, Green Ronin, and MCDM Productions. These materials can breathe new life into your Dungeons & Dragons games…but they could potentially ruin an already-great game. Here’s what you need to know if you’d like to incorporate homebrewed elements as a Dungeon Master.

June is Pride Month, where the LGBTQ+ community celebrates who they are and remembers where they came from. Many of the Dungeon Masters here at Young Dragonslayers (myself included) are a part of this community, which informs the way we play the game.

If you think about it, it makes sense; the roleplaying and fictional aspects of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) are a great way to explore, express, and learn more about all kinds of identities - and do so in a safe place that doesn’t carry the pressure of “real life.” So it’s no surprise that D&D has a rich history of LGBTQ+ creators and players bringing their own ideas to the game. But, especially for those outside the community, trying to portray an LGBTQ+ character accurately and respectfully can feel like a lot of pressure. Here is some advice on how to create an LGBTQ+ character that is imagined with sensitivity, interesting to learn about, and, of course, fun to play!

Dungeons & Dragons has so many different elements to incorporate into your games: swordplay masters, magical fireballs, or eyestalked monsters. These work great for the high-fantasy world of many D&D games and have given players hours of fun for years and years. But sometimes people want to create their own elements for games. This is called homebrew! Individual D&D players make homebrew materials for their games, sharing it with their friends or on sites like Tumblr, Reddit, DMs Guild, or D&D wikis. So do professional companies like Kobold Press, Green Ronin, and MCDM Productions. With so many homebrew options, it seems like you could play anything you want! But randomly shoving in new elements could potentially muck up an already-good game. Here’s what you need if you’d like to incorporate homebrewed elements as a Dungeons & Dragons player.

Star Wars is filled with heroes fighting to save the day in a wide world of mystery and wonder - sounds a lot like Dungeons & Dragons to us! One of the coolest parts of Star Wars is the lineup of awesome Force users whose mastery of the Force lets them wield a lightsaber, summon Force Lightning, or lift an X-Wing with their minds. There are a ton of different ways to create a character with Force-like abilities in Dungeons & Dragons. Here are some places we recommend for you to start when creating your own Force user in D&D!

Dungeons & Dragons is known for its high-fantasy setting, with elements like elves, mages, dwarves, and clerics. This setting can be a ton of fun to play in (we often do!), but with the power of third-party content or good old-fashioned reskinning, you can play D&D in other settings: cyberpunk action, space exploration, or superhero adventures. If you’d like to play a superhero-style character in D&D, there are plenty of options in the core game resembling the powers and abilities of iconic superhero characters like Batman or Wonder Woman. Whether you’re going for a full-on superhero tale or you just want a little inspiration from your favorite heroes, here are our recommendations to get you started.

Hang out with a Dungeons and Dragons group long enough, and you’ll probably pick up on some tabletop tropes—maybe even the legendary struggle between so-called “Rules Lawyers” and believers of the “Rule of Cool.” Rules Lawyers are often depicted as insufferable, know-it-all nerds with an encyclopedic knowledge of the game, always gleefully ready to pull out some obscure regulation that’s sure to spoil everyone’s fun. On the other hand, those who play by the proverbial Rule of Cool—that is, bending or even trashing certain rules in order to make things more fun, interesting, and/or triumphant—can be seen as sloppy, disorganized, or even just plain cringe.

These two caricatures are often portrayed as opposing forces engaged in an epic battle that has raged since time immemorial, but in my humble, bardic opinion, I’ve found the topic to be much more complicated than a 1v1 showdown. The debate between Rules Lawyers and the Rule of Cool isn’t an “either/or” or even an “us-versus-them” discussion, and for both players and DMs, either style can have both pros and cons.

Above all, D&D should be a fun, engaging, safe, and inclusive space for everyone at the table. So instead of throwing ourselves into one camp or another, let’s explore why both sides have their merits—and when we might want to use one philosophy over the other.

There are whole books filled with wondrous monsters, difficult enemies, and interesting characters for use in Dungeons & Dragons games. These creatures come from all different places - fantasy tropes, popular stories, and, of course the imagination of D&D creators. Many come from real-world mythologies: Medusa from Greek mythology, the Sphinx from Egyptian mythology, or Frost Giants from Norse mythology. But these popular mythologies aren’t the only ones to make an appearance in the world of D&D. Irish mythology is filled with its own array of strange and wondrous tales, many of which got their own interpretation in the official lore of Dungeons & Dragons! Let’s take a look at a few.

Many people love romance plotlines; they show up in a ton of books, movies, and TV shows. Video games can make these plots even more immersive; players can create their own character who meets and falls in love with another character from the same world. This can (and does!) happen in tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, too. But unlike in a roleplaying video game, D&D and other tabletop roleplaying games aren’t programmed and written ahead of time. You’re playing with real people (sometimes people you already know) who are portraying these characters. So how does romance work in a game like that? How do you tell the kinds of stories you want without making anyone feel weird (or feeling weird yourself)? We know a thing or two about making games that are fun for everyone, so we’re here to tell you!

When you play Dungeons & Dragons, the first thing that you do is make a character, choosing a class, race, and background. Each background gives your character abilities that can come in handy on your adventures. But a background can also give you ideas about your character’s backstory: who they were and what happened to them before the start of a game. Making up a backstory from thin air can feel intimidating, especially to new players, but starting from a background can help you build up some key details and bring your character to life.