Know your system - Dungeon Master Tools

The player's handbook compels you!

 I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition for several years now.  I've came to the realization that this game has a very specific style it is going for. Understanding that helps me prep and run my games in a way that works for me and the players.

This seems like obvious advice, but I can't tell you how much I've struggled against what 5th edition is, and what I wanted it to be. It created an odd disconnect that ended up frustrating me, and in one case ended a campaign way too early.

So what is D&D 5th edition at its core? It is a game about super heroic characters in a high fantasy-high magic setting fighting monsters and performing impressive heroic acts.

The game works best when you embrace these key elements:

• The player characters are powerful and will only get more powerful.
• The game expects a setting where magic is everywhere and well known and used often.
• Anything can happen and it often does.
• Most of the rules in the game revolve around combat with monsters and how to resolve it.

Keeping these points in mind while prepping for your next session or building your campaign can lead to more fun at the table and a better experience overall.

Let's look at some examples for making this work.

• Know your player characters - review the spells, abilities, feats, and magic gear they have as part of your prep session. Then build encounters (monsters, traps, NPCs) that allow them to use these cool features. If using a published adventure, modify encounters to highlight these elements. 
• After hitting level three, and certainly by level five, most players characters are very powerful. You can toss a lot at them, and they will survive. Embrace this instead of fighting against it. The bigger threats and overcoming them are part of the fun.
• Most 5th edition settings are full of magic and magical mayhem. This means that you can play around with all kinds of storylines and elements including time travel, dimension hopping, encountering gods (or god like beings) and more. The scope for a 5th edition campaign can be HUGE, and leaning into that gives the players a sense of achieving important and amazing tasks.
• Combat is a big part of the game. As much fun as roleplaying and exploring are, combat is where the characters shine. So spend a bit of time giving your combat encounters a bit of flavor, with memorable monsters, or an interesting environment, or an element of added tension. Don't go overboard with combat, but keep in mind it is a key element of the game.

If they are level 7, they've got this.