The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters

The “must-have” (R.A. Salvatore, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Monsters Know What They’re Doing from the creator of the popular blog of the same name—an essential strategy guide for all Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters!

In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior—and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It’s easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away.

In The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the player charaters have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat.

Easy to read and apply, The Monsters Know What They’re Doing is essential reading for every DM.

Keith Ammann is the creator of the award-winning blog and book The Monsters Know What They're Doing and author of a series of books by the same name, including the recent Making Enemies: Monster Design Inspiration for Tabletop Roleplaying Games and How to Defend Your Lair. He's been a roleplaying gamer and game master for more than thirty-five years. He likes to play outwardly abrasive helpers, out-of-their-element helpers, and genuinely nice, helpful helpers. Mostly, though, he plays non-player characters. And monsters.