Mark Seifter and Linda Zayas-Palmer are Paizo veterans who spent a total of nearly two decades on the design and organized-play teams. Now, they use their experience crafting fantastic and creative Pathfinder supplements with young players in mind. We got to hear from them about their nerdy childhoods, their experience developing tabletop RPGs, modifying Pathfinder for kids, and why they think the medium is so good for bringing young people together.

Delicious in Dungeon, also known by its original name, Dungeon Meshi, is essentially a Dungeons and Dragons game in anime form. The Delicious in Dungeon characters are all classic DND builds, like Fighter, Cleric, and Rogue. And the show itself is literally a dungeon crawl: they fight monsters, find treasures, and survive the dungeon as they delve ever deeper. So when I got the chance to run a one-shot for the Young Dragonslayers holiday-break games, I decided that I would craft my own Delicious in Dungeon DND homebrew for my players. I built a self-contained dungeon crawl with two goals in mind: collect ingredients and cook a delicious dish. My players and I had such a good time that I wanted to share it with you. I present to you: Delicious in Dungeons and Dragons!

Lots of people are poking around the internet for DND Thanksgiving one shot ideas. And why shouldn’t they? Dungeons and Dragons and Thanksgiving have a lot in common. Both a joyous occasion of friends and family gathered around the table to share something together. A DND Thanksgiving adventure is a great way to bring together your loved ones for a shared experience you won’t soon forget! Just to make things fun, we’ve come up with our own Thanksgiving DND ideas to share with you and yours this holiday season. 

Dungeons and Dragons is a key element of Stranger Things. The characters not only play D&D in the show, but the game impacts their relationships, how they see the world, and even what they call the monsters they encounter! There’s also just a lot of natural crossover between Stranger Things and DND. Both have a team of heroes who investigate strange happenings, fight both monsters and humans, and save the day. I got to chat with Jonathan Gilmour-Long, a game designer and Stranger-Things fan who co-created his own DND Stranger Things game called Kids on Bikes. Here’s his story, from exploring the woods and reading DND books as a teen in the 80s to designing games in the 2000s and beyond. 

With the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters, all of geek-dom is talking about this super-team, and we’re here for it. Like The Justice League and The Avengers, The Fantastic Four exemplify a truth that’s core to DND: when powerful individuals work together, they can accomplish so much more than they can alone. So why not make the Fantastic Four D&D characters? We’ve homebrewed some Fantastic Four D&D builds, tying in and explaining each of the Fantastic Four’s powers. So put on your super-suit and join us for an epic adventure!

The new Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual brings a fresh look at popular monsters in D&D 5e. You may be familiar with some monsters, but did you know that many of them were actually directly inspired by Lord of the Rings! Here are a few classic monsters from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, their Dungeons & Dragons counterparts, and how the new D&D monsters 2024 shape up. 

Some Dungeons & Dragons stories become legendary: a perfectly timed natural 20, a ridiculous use of a spell or item, or a plan of attack the Dungeon Master never expected. I've been a Dungeon Master for a while, so I’ve been witness to many such moments. Now, whenever I see a meme template, hear a song, or watch a movie, somewhere in the back of my head is a D&D story that fits right along. So of course, with the upcoming release of the Wicked movie (and the soundtrack I've had memorized since 2009), my brain has been pairing up my favorite songs with my favorite D&D stories, which I have decided to share with you. Enjoy these moments from my many D&D campaigns along with a matching song from the musical Wicked. 

There is no official Dungeons & Dragons holiday (not yet, anyway), but Halloween is the next best thing. It's the perfect celebration for D&D fans: you can dress up as your favorite characters, revel in the spooky vibes, and enjoy all sorts of classic D&D monsters (zombies, ghosts, witches, and more)! Halloween also comes with some of the most iconic spooky characters from pop culture. We’ve taken inspiration from these characters to give you ideas to make your own in the game of D&D!

We are big fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings here at Young Dragonslayers, and we aren't alone. Many of the very first people working on Dungeons & Dragons loved Lord of the Rings, taking inspiration from the books as they crafted the rules and world of the game. So, that got us wondering - what would Tolkein's stories have looked like in D&D? Could we use these classic tales to teach people how the game worked? Let's find out together!

Dungeons & Dragons has so many different elements to incorporate into your games: swordplay masters, magical fireballs, or eyestalked monsters. These work great for the high-fantasy world of many D&D games and have given players hours of fun for years and years. But sometimes people want to create their own elements for games. This is called homebrew! Individual D&D players make homebrew materials for their games, sharing it with their friends or on sites like Tumblr, Reddit, DMs Guild, or D&D wikis. So do professional companies like Kobold Press, Green Ronin, and MCDM Productions. With so many homebrew options, it seems like you could play anything you want! But randomly shoving in new elements could potentially muck up an already-good game. Here’s what you need if you’d like to incorporate homebrewed elements as a Dungeons & Dragons player.

Star Wars is filled with heroes fighting to save the day in a wide world of mystery and wonder - sounds a lot like Dungeons & Dragons to us! One of the coolest parts of Star Wars is the lineup of awesome Force users whose mastery of the Force lets them wield a lightsaber, summon Force Lightning, or lift an X-Wing with their minds. There are a ton of different ways to create a character with Force-like abilities in Dungeons & Dragons. Here are some places we recommend for you to start when creating your own Force user in D&D!

Dungeons & Dragons is known for its high-fantasy setting, with elements like elves, mages, dwarves, and clerics. This setting can be a ton of fun to play in (we often do!), but with the power of third-party content or good old-fashioned reskinning, you can play D&D in other settings: cyberpunk action, space exploration, or superhero adventures. If you’d like to play a superhero-style character in D&D, there are plenty of options in the core game resembling the powers and abilities of iconic superhero characters like Batman or Wonder Woman. Whether you’re going for a full-on superhero tale or you just want a little inspiration from your favorite heroes, here are our recommendations to get you started.

Ready to design the Studio Ghibli-D&D mashup of your dreams? Check out this video to learn how you can incorporate elements from movies like Spirited Away, Ponyo, and Howl’s Moving Castle into your next Dungeons & Dragons campaign.