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.

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!

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).

Summer is one of the best times of the year; freedom from school means lots of time for activities like sports, reading, games, and hanging out with friends and family. Playing D&D.0 rolls these all into one, and summer is the perfect time to roll your dice and go on epic adventures with your friends. If you’re thinking of running or joining a campaign this summer, you could adventure the high seas, explore the coastline, or dive deep below the surface of the ocean to find whole underwater societies. There are tons of cool water items, environments, and creatures in the world of D&D; here are a few of our favorites for your summer campaign.

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!

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.

Here at Young Dragonslayers™, we love the game Dungeons & Dragons - it’s our bread and butter (or perhaps you could say, meat and ale)! It’s by far the most popular game of its kind, but it’s not the only one out there. Just like there are plenty of movies outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are plenty of tabletop roleplaying games outside of Dungeons & Dragons. You don’t have to be a math genius or have a super analytical mind (though you can use both of these skills in designing your game), just a creative idea and a little bit of elbow grease. 

D&D (owned by Wizards of the Coast, owned by Hasbro) is more than just a game—it’s also a brand and a business. There are endless tools, accessories, and add-ons available for purchase, and you can spend quite a pretty penny when it comes to buying books, constructing intricately scaled landscapes in the middle of your living room, and/or developing a crippling dice addiction.

However, one of the best things about Dungeons and Dragons (in my humble bardic opinion) is that you can absolutely play for free. Whether you’re a first-time player or the forever DM, there are countless official and fan-made resources that won’t put you out a single copper piece.

This list could very well be endless, but here are a few of my personal favorites.

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.

You may have heard about “reskinning” in video games, whether that’s turning your Fortnite character into Harley Quinn or making your MOBA champion wear an anime costume. But in games like Dungeons & Dragons, where the visuals are only limited to the realms of your imagination, it costs nothing at all to simply give a dragon a top hat or turn an owlbear into a giant talking raccoon. Since there’s no coding required, it’s also entirely possible for that dragon to create tornadoes of fire or the raccoon to control minds. When starting to make these kinds of changes, though, you have to be careful: you don’t want to accidentally kill your players with a superpowered werewolf wizard or create a nonsensical enemy, like a giant with low strength. Luckily, there are some tried-and-true methods for D&D reskinning that avoid mistakes like this while still keeping your awesome ideas in the game. 

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.

There are a multitude of reasons people love playing Dungeons & Dragons. But one that I see over and over is the way you can tell a story through the game. By creating characters, describing actions, rolling dice, and going on adventures, players and the Dungeon Master can build a story together. Some ambitious players have even recorded their characters’ adventures in the form of a book! If you’ve ever considered making this leap, now is the perfect time; November is National Novel-Writing Month, where thousands of writers of all ages make it their goal to write a novel-length story in thirty days. If you feel you’re up to the task, read on to learn how you, too, can create a novel from your Dungeons & Dragons campaign!

It’s time to pull back the curtain that your sneaky DM hides behind and uncover the secrets of how monsters work in Dungeons & Dragons. As a bonus, you’ll even learn how to create your own monster!

Join us, adventurers, on a deep dive into the world of DND ability scores. We’ll earn what the 6 types of scores are, what makes a “good” score, and how to calculate them to build your character. Let’s go!