THE MONSTERS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING

From the creator of the popular blog of the same name comes a strategy guide for dungeon masters of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a dungeon master (DM) has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior - and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It's easy for even an excellent DM to allow combat to devolve into monsters running directly at the player characters (PCs) and going, "Rrrrahhhh, stab stab stab."

However, in The Monsters Know What They're Doing, Keith reveals that the way to avoid this is to make as many decisions as possible before the session begins, just as a trained soldier - or accomplished athlete or musician - relies on reflexes developed from thousands of hours of training and practice. A soldier doesn't whip out his field manual for the first time when he's already under fire, and a DM shouldn't be deciding how bullywugs advance, fight, and retreat when the PCs have just encountered twelve of them.

Easy to read and apply - with illustrations throughout - THE MONSTERS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING is essential reading for every DM of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

Keith Ammann has been a Dungeons & Dragons player since before there were flumphs. Back in those days, the manuals were set in Futura and plate mail was AC 2. Now, Keith runs the Dungeons & Dragons blog The Monsters Know What They're Doing. He lives in Chicago.