For a decade now, we’ve been told that Dungeons & Dragons (and roleplaying more generally) rests on three pillars of play: combat, exploration, and social interaction. This was brought up throughout the D&D Next playtest and laid out most clearly in the 2014 Player’s Handbook.
The cool part about being a GM for hire is that I’ve learned a huge amount about adventure structure, design, and utility over the last 5 years. Because I make an effort to fit whatever material I’m running into my own particular style, I’ve developed an approach to “popping the hood” and messing with the inner workings of these adventures.
It’s a turbulent time in the D&D sphere! We’ve gotten through nearly 10 years of fifth edition and in that time there have been seismic shifts in the roleplaying game community: fads and crises and critical darlings have risen and fallen in that time. I’m still processing just how much fifth edition D&D (and its culture of play) have changed since 2014.
