If you’ve ever stumbled across a YouTube video that you thought would make the perfect backdrop for an in-character speech but didn’t know how to go about setting it up, great news! I’ve just posted a tutorial on how you can download any YouTube video for use later over at my new blog, Loni, the Witch, & the Wardrobe. I use this technique all the time, perhaps most notably during our costume contest to have an animated haunted house behind me:

I look forward to seeing what backdrops you choose to use in future meetings!

Whether as a player or as a Dungeon Master (DM), I’m sure you may have favorite monsters that you love to include or encounter in your Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), or other game system adventures, yes?! Perhaps you love to hate said monsters. Perhaps you love to encounter them as a player or throw them at your players if you’re a DM in order to provide them with encounters that challenge them.

Here are some of my favorite D&D monsters. Please note that I’m pulling this list of monsters from first and second editions of D&D in terms of their powers and abilities even though they’re probably in later editions of D&D as well, because I prefer to stay on the player facing side of fifth edition D&D so as to keep from spoiling the mystery . . . and the fun!

First off, the majestic, the iconic, dragons. Even the red dragons are enough to send icy shivers of fear through your veins and running down your spine!

Faerie Dragons are fun. They provide nice, local color, pun intended, to a world, and they can provide a more lighthearted encounter for your players.

Beholders are nice too! Although they aren’t nice per se, as monsters go, they are a nice, terrible monster to throw at your players as a DM.

And then we have the classic Orcs and Goblins, meanies and baddies of the worst sort.

Gelatinous Cubes are fun, as are molds, puddings, and oozes. Any monster or encounter that presents a challenge to the players, gives them pause and makes them think Do I really want to do this? And if so, how do I want to do this? Or worse, or better, depending upon your point of view, How am I going to get out of this situation!? If an encounter makes players get creative and puts more on the line than just character hit points, such as their equipment, is good in my book.

Want to throw some confusion into the ranks of your party? Introduce a Doppelganger and watch the chaos begin!

Does every encounter with a monster have to end in combat and bloodshed? No. Any well designed encounter with thought put into it by the DM will present a challenge the players. When I DM, I like to challenge my players with monsters that make them think and poses a challenge to them, rather than just monsters thrown in for the purpose of mindless hack and slash. (Although, for variety, a straightforward pure combat encounter is good at times too and also serves to keep the players on their toes in other encounters with monsters so they’re never sure what type of encounter it will be.) And monsters should have morale and play smart, and never just fight endlessly to the death, except for some mindless undead, that is, which presents a terror all its own.

I know that many wonderful new monsters, monster combinations, and iterations of these monsters have, in all probability, occurred over the years. Search online if you want creative ideas to build challenging encounters for your players. If you’re players are ho-hum about your encounters with monsters they encounter because they’ve encountered them before or they are already well established in the cultural lexicon, pull in monsters from other game systems and convert them to D&D.

Other fun monster options are to run a horror adventure or role-playing game, change up the stats and abilities of monsters, put a twist on the monsters—maybe that tribe of Goblins is benevolent or is on a pilgrimage to a sacred shrine of their peaceful deity—do a monster mash-up with unusual and different combinations of monsters paired up in the same encounter. (This might require some thought on the part of the DM to come up with reasons why the monsters are working together.) Another option is to get in there and flesh out those monsters, maybe the one-eyed Orc tribe is so deadly and fearsome because they follow a Cyclops, and a clever one at that if it leads a tribe of Orcs, or have a Beholder as their leader, all of which is unbeknownst to the player characters, of course.

If all else fails, let your imagination run wild and make your own D&D monster! That ought to scare the living daylights out of your players, or yourself if your DM pulls this on you! Now that I’ve shared some of my favorite monsters with you, I’d like to hear what some of your favorite monsters are and why.

Now that the party of adventurers has formed, how do you begin the adventure or campaign? Here are a couple of ways (aka adventure hooks) to start the adventure or campaign:

You all meet in a tavern. I can here the groans from the players already . . . “We’re starting the adventure in a tavern . . . again!?” Ah, the classics. There’s nothing like them. This is a standard, tried and true method, trope if you will, of fantasy role-playing games as a way to start an adventure or campaign. (And some may say cliché.) What happens from here, after the characters get to know each other, if they’re lucky enough to do so before the adventure begins, is up to the Dungeon Master (DM) and the players. This scenario is rife with role-playing opportunities and character interaction, along with some possible pitfalls and perils.

A peril I’ve encountered in the you all meet in a tavern scenario, or any other scenario where characters meet each other for the first time, is that I’ve had some players that I’ve met for the first time or have known for a while, have their character do what I consider to be tantamount to an interrogation of my character, which is a less than ideal circumstance, and less than fun. You mean to tell me that my character just entered the tavern to have a flagon of their favorite beverage, meet some other fine folks and adventurers in the realm, and is already imperiled!?

That’s a way to get a relationship, whether between people in real life or between characters in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), off on the wrong foot. D&D is a game, the purpose of which is to have fun! Let’s keep it that way! One way around this particular potential peril (character introductions) is to have the characters already know each other.

Adventures or campaigns can also be started by the local ruler, or some other local personage of importance, who summons the party for an audience with them as they seek a party of adventurers to go on a quest for them. A variation of this is a scroll posted in the town square requesting adventurers to go on a quest or perform some service for them. Now that Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has introduced Group Patrons (83), that is yet another way to get this party (of adventurers) started! (As are any class specific ideas found in the character class descriptions that can be used to generate adventure hooks!)

Yet another way is to have the characters smack dab in the middle of a situation, called in medias res, usually an action filled one, right from the start. Mysteries are also a great way to start the adventure or campaign.

An online search will reveal more ways than the ways I mentioned above to start an adventure or campaign. Here are some unique ways to start an adventure or campaign of your own!

If you’re doing a one-shot, rather than any of the above adventure starters, I suggest using pre-generated characters and have the party already know each other or keep the character introductions brief as time is short. You’ll lose some of the role-play aspect; however, if you want to finish the adventure in one-session, though, sacrifices may have to be made.

What about you? What are your favorite ways to start an adventure, either as a DM, or Game Master (GM) if you’re playing a different game system, or as a player?