Image by Sally Tennant
GMing Workshop: Making Combat Dynamic and Cinematic
Learn how to make your combat encounters more fun and dynamic by making the environment more interactable and using secondary objectives.
$25.00
/ Session
Details
Once / Wednesday - 11:00 PM UTC
Jul 1
Session Duration / 2–3 hours
0 / 6 Seats Filled
Report Adventure
StartPlaying Money Back Guarantee
If your game doesn't happen, we guarantee a refund. Just reach out to StartPlaying Support. Refund Policy
About the adventure
In this workshop we will discuss ways to use the environment of an encounter to make a combat more exciting. We will talk about traps, illusions, varying heights and levels, and more. We will also discuss the use of secondary objectives and a "ticking clock" to give the players more to do than kill the enemy. Lastly, after our discussions we will build an encounter together. You will decide the location, environmental elements, secondary objectives, and enemy stat blocks. Then we will grab some pre-gen character sheets and run the encounter with the GM rotating to a new student each round.
Game style
Combat Heavy
Theater of the Mind
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(10)
1 year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Storytelling, Teacher
About me
I love TTRPGs! I have been playing D&D and other TTRPGs for about 15 years, I have been GMing for the last 6 years, and I have been GMing professionally for the last 2 years. I already work as a GM for three companies (Wizard Staffing Co, Rough Magic, and Chicago Role Players' Guild) but I wanted to expand my reach into the online world. In my years of GMing I have found that I really enjoy facilitating fun experiences for others and I love telling stories collaboratively. I went to collage to study acting and voiceover and I like to use what I learned along with my over 15 years of improv training to bring my stories and NPCs to life. I also use what I learned as an improv teacher to teach GMing workshops and offer private GMing coaching. I am friendly and respectful and so excited to GM for cool people!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
You do not need to bring a character to this workshop. If you want to you can make a level 5 character using 2014 or 2024 rules with the starting equipment from your class, you can.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
All you need is a Discord account and to add me as a friend so I can put you in the group chat we will use to do the workshop.
What Ben Guest brings to the table
I have years of experience as an improv teacher and professional GM. I will use this experience to lead you in discussions and exorcises, and coach you through running an encounter we build together.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Webcam
Physical Dice
Platforms used
Safety
How Ben Guest creates a safe table
We will discuss and use safety tools like x card, and lines and veils.
Content warnings
Safety tools used