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Advanced Gamemaster's Guide
Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s
Handbook, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
This product utilizes updated material from the v.3.5 revision
ADVANCED
By Owen KC Stephens
GAMEMASTER ’ S
GUIDE
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The Advanced
Gamemaster's Guide
Design: Owen KC Stephens
Additional Material: JD Wiker Editing: Mike Johnstone Development: Robert J. Schwalb
Graphic Design: Marc Schmalz Art Direction and Additional Graphic Design: Hal Mangold
Cover Art: William C. Eaken
Interior Art: Toren "Macbin" Atkinson, Kent Burles, Marcio Fiorito, Pat Loboyko,
Terry Pavlet, James Smith III. Joseph Wigfield, Lisa Wood
Executive Producer: Chris Pramas
Green Ronin Staff: Steve Kenson, Nicole Lindroos, Hal Mangold, Chris Pramas,
Marc Schmalz, Evan Sass, and Robert J. Schwalb.
Playtesters: Ben Aber, Jennifer Ban, Noah Ban, Tyler M.
Carey, Jacob Chabot, Travis Dale, Gareth Edel, h ad Erickson,
Mike Garner, Beth Hendrickson, Douglas Hendrickson,
James Journey, Anthony Lemus, Zach Lint, Andrew McCool,
Andrew Putnam, Jeremy Putnam, Bruce Ripka, Rebecca
Rosnoske, Robin Sullivan, Nathan Tolbert, Aaron Wamsley,
Jennifer Wamsley, Dave Weiner, Mark Wiener.
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of
Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and are used according to the
terms of the d20 System License version 6.0. A copy of this
License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
h e Game Mechanics and h e Game Mechanics logo, are
trademarks of h e Game Mechanics, Inc. Initiative Cards
designs are copyrights of h e Game Mechanics, Inc. Used
with permission.
Advanced Gamemaster’s Guide is © 2005 Green Ronin
Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Reference to other
copyrighted material in no way constitutes a
challenge to the respective copyright holders of
that material. Advanced Gamemaster’s Guide,
Advanced Player’s Manual, Green Ronin,
Advanced Rulebooks, and their associated logos
are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC.
h e following text is Open Gaming Content:
Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and Appendix 1.
Printed in the U.S.A.
Green Ronin Publishing LLC
P.O. Box 1723
Renton, WA 98057-1723
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® and Wizards of the
Coast® are registered trademarks of Wizards of
the Coast, Inc., and are used with permission.
Email: custserv@greenronin.com
Web Site: www.greenronin.com
1
An Advanced Rulebook for the d20 System
The Advanced
Gamemaster's Guide
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Designing a World ........................4
h e Play Environment ...............13
Bushwhacking Rules ..................27
Representative Battles ................30
Set Criticals ...............................33
Set Damage ...............................33
Simplifi ed Attacks
of Opportunity ........................34
Experience Debt .........................35
More Average Rolls ....................35
Cards ........................................35
Magic Rules................................41
Metamagic Points ......................41
Chapter Three:
Preparing Adventures .....................43
Readying Pre-Written
Reading for Comprehension .......44
Scaling Adventures ....................44
Personalizing Pre-Written
Adventures .............................45
Starting an Adventure ...............45
Contents
Boosting Power Levels .............112
Chapter Seven:
Treasure and Magic Items ......130
Boons .......................................133
Mundane Item
Chapter Eight:
Conditions & Environments..166
New Environments
Inconveniences .........................168
Starvation ...............................168
Waking Up ..............................173
Magic Locations .......................175
Chapter Four:
Non-Player Characters.................58
Chapter Five:
Running a Campaign..........................84
Choosing a Campaign h eme ......84
h e Evil Campaign ...................96
Magic-Free or Low-Magic
Feats in a Campaign ................100
Campaign Worksheets ..............108
References ................................109
2
Table of
Table of
Contents
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Read this First!
W elcome to Green Ronin’s Advanced Gamemaster’s
Guide . My name is Owen K.C. Stephens, and
I’ll be your host and author for this manual. I
know introductions can be boring, so I’ll keep this one
short — but it is an important part of this tome. Like the
description says, no matter what you’re looking for, read
this fi rst.
and I decided that covering the basics was better than
assuming that everyone who picks up this tome already
knows it all. Many of the rules I put forward I’ve used
and playtested myself, either as a GM or a player. A
lot of it I’ve modifi ed from the form I used, drawing
on experience of what worked and what didn’t. I’ve
spread sidebars throughout the book with peeks behind
the GM’s screen, showing how I came to particular
conclusions, so even if you don’t agree with me you can
see what assumptions I did make and change them.
h is is not a book for players to look through hoping to
fi nd something to convince their Game Master (GM)
to use. If you’re a GM and a player is trying this, tell
him to buy his own copy of the book to look over, and
you’ll let him know about his specifi c request later. Under
no circumstances should you allow anything from this
manual into your games without thoroughly considering
it and reading the section on how it will change your
game. In fact, a fair chunk of this book comprises advice
on how to decide what to include in your campaigns and
what to forbid.
h e rules presented in the Advanced Gamemaster’s Guide
are not new rules for the sake of new rules. h ey’re
designed to help GMs create specifi c eff ects and feels
within their games. Rules aff ect what characters can do,
and that aff ects what they try to do. h e basic d20 rules
make a lot of assumptions — about the nature of evil,
the role of a hero, the nature of combat and injury, the
frequency of magic, and the permanence of death. h ese
assumptions encourage a particular style of play, popular
with many people. It’s not the only possible style of play,
however, and changing a few rules can produce a very
diff erent game.
Nor is this book merely a list of new ways to make
character’s lives diffi cult. Creating and running
opponents is an important function of GMing, and we
have advice on making memorable, eff ective, and even
easily-run villains in here, but it’s not the book’s only
focus. Being a GM involves a lot more than picking bad
guys to slaughter, and this book assumes you already
know that.
h e elements of the Advanced Gamemaster’s Guide can be
broke into three broad categories: advice, alternate rules,
and expansions. All of these elements are independent
of one another — a GM can grab anything he likes and
ignore the rest of the book. Not everything here will
appeal to every GM, nor is it all appropriate for every
campaign. When I say “Advanced Game Master,” I
mean someone who already knows the basics of running
a d20 campaign. h at runs the gamut from GMs who
are still checking the core books regularly and have
never put together a unique campaign, to masters of the
craft who’ve built their own worlds, written their own
rules, and designed their own adventures for decades.
Hopefully, everyone will fi nd something useful in here,
but if a section doesn’t seem to speak to you in particular,
skip it and go on to the next section.
Expansions are elements that fi t into the normal d20
game but have yet to appear anywhere I know of. h ey
aren’t so much designed to change the feel of a game as
to expand options of a standard d20 campaign. GMs can
combine them with any of the new rules, use them as
is, or ignore them entirely without aff ecting other parts
of the book. h e expansions should put new life in old
campaigns, thus they have sections that discuss how to
work them into an ongoing game, how to build them
into a new campaign, and how to gauge what results are
likely.
h is book doesn’t assume any GM will decide to use
every new rule and idea presented in it. In fact, doing so
would likely create a real mess of a campaign. h e ideas
are presented as ways to achieve specifi c results, and
GMs are trusted to be smart enough to make informed
choices for their games. h at’s the real defi nition of
an “advanced” GM: one who just needs the tools to
accomplish a given campaign goal. I’ve tried to include
the best tools I could in this book and arm you with the
guidelines to take what you like from other books as well.
Have fun and enjoy!
h e advice is all designed specifi cally for GMs of d20
games who know the basic rules. Some of the tips and
guidelines are pretty straightforward, and I tried not
to spend too much time on anything too obvious. Yet
running and modifying a d20 System game can be tricky,
Owen K.C. Stephens
April, 2004
3
Introduction:
Introduction:
Read this First!
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Chapter One: Running a Game
run a game session. h e GM is part storyteller,
part referee, part social director, and part willing
participant. h is chapter looks at the aspects of this job
that have the least to do with game rules: designing a
world, managing information, setting mood and pacing,
recognizing and dealing with styles of play, and narrative
tricks. All these things have an impact on play and may
suggest or support game rule decisions, but they are
separate from such things as character classes, die rolls,
skills, feats, and even the adventures themselves.
- Designing a World -
A roleplaying game takes place in a world under the
control of the GM. While beginning GMs may not ever
take the time to think about that world, advanced GMs
know that their world is an important part of the game.
It’s like the biggest and most important NPC in the
game, and its look, name, size, and biases have a strong
aff ect on all games run in it. Deciding what a world is
like and who and what are in it is known as world design
or worldbuilding.
notice has an impact on the world he presents to the
players. Many of these decisions are easier if made well
in advance of the game session, and there are several
techniques a GM can employ to do so.
Starting Small
It’s not necessary for you to know much about the world
as a whole to start playing. h is is especially true for
games starting at 1st level, when characters can’t travel
very quickly anyway. One way for you to avoid doing a
lot of work in advance is to describe only the world as a
whole in the vaguest terms, focusing instead on the lands
in which he plans to set the early adventures. As the
campaign progresses and characters become competent
enough to survive longer trips, you can design the
areas just outside the beginning adventure sites. As the
campaign grows, the world grows with it.
All GMs do some world design, even if they don’t
realize it. Even a GM who decides to use a pre-
written commercial campaign setting will do some
worldbuilding, as PCs go places sourcebooks don’t
describe or talk to NPCs with few if any notes on
personality, goals, or outlooks beyond a simple alignment
and short description. Every decision a GM makes about
what is and isn’t available, how NPCs (as individuals or
groups) act or react, and which things PCs do or don’t
4
Chapter One: Running a Game
T he most basic and important job of a GM is to
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