Critical Role Spotlight is a series of DM and player tips based on the events of this week's episode of Critical Role! Learn from the glowing successes and hilarious mistakes of the Mighty Nein and their illustrious Dungeon Master. This week, we shine a spotlight on one of Matthew Mercer's DMing choices that could help you improve your D&D game.

Previous installments of Roleplaying 101 have talked a lot about improvisation and going into games with low-prep characters, but what about the other side of the coin? How do you build a backstory that helps you play a character that’s fun for you and your entire group?

Prepare for Saltmarsh with a tongue-in-cheek encounter about a sea troll fighting fishermen and getting tangled in their net. What’s the best way to solve this problem—a flame war?

Critical Role's record-breaking Kickstarter campaign went on to raise over $11 million, funding a full 10-episode animated series. What does this mean for D&D?

Critical Role Spotlight is a series of DM and player tips based on the events of this week's episode of Critical Role! Learn from the glowing successes and hilarious mistakes of the Mighty Nein and their illustrious Dungeon Master. This week, we shine a spotlight on one of Matthew Mercer's DMing choices that could help you improve your D&D game.

Trolls are a uniquely D&D monster, insofar as it differs significantly from trolls of world folklore. Why do trolls regenerate? Why are they harmed by fire and acid? And more importantly, how do you make them terrifying for your players?

Encounter of the Week brings you a brand-new D&D encounter every week! This week, an evil sorcerer has cast a spell upon the rain itself. This fell shower has transformed the beautiful flowers that grow upon a safe, grassy plain into a nightmarish killing field of carnivorous blooms!

Critical Role Spotlight is a series of DM and player tips based on the events of this week's episode of Critical Role! Learn from the glowing successes and hilarious mistakes of the Mighty Nein and their illustrious Dungeon Master. This week, we shine a spotlight on one of Matthew Mercer's DMing choices that could help you improve your D&D game.

It’s springtime, and that means it’s time to celebrate! Festivals brimming with merchants selling sweet treats and rare antiques are popping up all across the land. If your adventurers want a good deal, they’re going to have to work for it.

Critical Role Spotlight is a series of DM and player tips based on the events of this week's episode of Critical Role! Learn from the glowing successes and hilarious mistakes of the Mighty Nein and their illustrious Dungeon Master. This week, we shine a spotlight on one of Matthew Mercer's DMing choices that could help you improve your D&D game.

A pair of tricksy satyrs want to scam your low-level adventurers with a story of gold. Little do they know that their work has upset some cranky earth elementals, and that their cheerful prank may turn deadly.

Acquisitions Incorporated is going to be a D&D book published by Wizards of the Coast in partnership with Penny Arcade! A boatload of new information was revealed today at PAX East, so let's dig through the announcements!

Want to have more fun playing your character? Want to get deep into your character’s head and lose yourself in the story? Want to form meaningful relationships with your fellow party members? Look no further. We’re going to build you into a better roleplayer. 

Encounter of the Week brings you a brand-new D&D encounter every week! This week, the PCs encounter a group of faerie dragons trapped in the web of a herd of ettercaps. Will you help them escape, or simply take the dragons’ treasure and run?

Critical Role Spotlight is a series of DM and player tips based on the events of this week's episode of Critical Role! Learn from the glowing successes and hilarious mistakes of the Mighty Nein and their illustrious Dungeon Master. This week, we shine a spotlight on one of Matthew Mercer's DMing choices that could help you improve your D&D game.

Phantasmal spells have a place in any good illusionist’s combat toolkit. Learn how to adjudicate them cleanly and dramatically as a Dungeon Master. Plus, check out a table of spooky illusions to help you DM these spells on the fly!

Encounter of the Week brings you a brand-new D&D encounter every week! This week, the PCs come face-to-face with a fearsome flameskull. This arcane abomination yearns to recover its long-lost memories, and begs—nay, commands!—the adventurers to help. Do they dare help this undead monster? Is there even a fool’s chance that it could have good in it?

Critical Role Spotlight is a series of DM and player tips based on the events of this week's episode of Critical Role! Learn from the glowing successes and hilarious mistakes of the Mighty Nein and their illustrious Dungeon Master. This week, we shine a spotlight on one of Matthew Mercer's DMing choices that could help you improve your D&D game.

Xanathar has every reason to be paranoid. Enhance your Waterdeep and Skullport campaign with this short story about infighting within the Xanathar Guild by none other than the famed author Volo! Observant players could even learn a thing or two about the organization’s weak points—where to travel to reach Xanathar’s audience chamber, who’s a traitor, and who’s weak-willed enough to be bribed or intimidated.

Encounter of the Week brings you a brand-new D&D encounter every week! This week, the PCs are beset by a pack of werewolves hunting a traveling caravan of werebears. These werewolves don’t care that the characters are innocents: they just want a meal.

Critical Role Spotlight is a series of DM and player tips based on the events of this week's episode of Critical Role! Learn from the glowing successes and hilarious mistakes of the Mighty Nein and their illustrious Dungeon Master. This week, we shine a spotlight on one of Matthew Mercer's interesting DMing choices that could help you improve your D&D game.