When you first get into Dungeons & Dragons, it can feel like a world of endless possibilities has opened up before you.
However, over time you might find that the experience loses its sheen and even becomes stale if you are just playing in the same old way with the same old scenarios.
To help you drag yourself out of a Dungeons & Dragons rut, here are a few ways to mix things up when you start your next campaign.
Add new obstacles
In spite of the fact that this game is supposed to give your imagination a workout, it still helps to have physical terrain on the tabletop to act as the framework around which you can build your adventure.
This is where investing in new Dungeons & Dragons terrain is a way to revitalize your enthusiasm for playing.
Whether you choose to add a fairly simple set of terrain objects, or go all-out with more complex obstacles to throw in the path of your intrepid heroes, even this small alteration can make a big difference to the experience, along with other unusual accessories.
Turn to the dark side
For the most part, the people who play Dungeons & Dragons want to embody the more heroic aspects of their personalities, or at least role-play as a character who is partly flawed but fundamentally good.
This is fine for a while, but if you are looking for a new challenge and a way to explore your darker urges, opting for an evil campaign is an excellent idea.
Bear in mind that this is probably better suited to groups who have plenty of experience under their belt, because with evilness comes more innate selfishness, and so keeping things cohesive as the adventure unfolds can be tricky if you are not already a bit of a D&D master.
Change the way you travel
If it feels like every campaign boils down to endless trekking between important locations, plowing through wave after wave of cookie-cutter monsters in the interim, then it is time to adjust how travel plays out .
One option is to integrate encounters that are not necessarily related to combat, but are rather there to drive the overarching narrative forward in some way, even if they do eventually boil down to sword-and-board action.
Another is to factor in incidental stories about the regions through which the players are moving, which could inspire discussion among the players and will at the very least help to flesh out their characters and perhaps develop the bonds between them.
Make things tougher
Breezing through campaigns with barely a scratch on you is a surefire way to become a bit bored, so adopting the rules of Meat Grinder Mode and requiring that death saving throws are rolled at 15 or higher as opposed to a measly 10 will inject some peril into proceedings.
This is just one example of how you can twist the odds to up the challenge, so experiment to find the right balance for you and your group.
