Alphastream

The Alphastream Game Design Blog

D&D 5E’s Top-Selling Adventures and What It Means for the Hobby

D&D adventures historically don’t sell well. 5E has tried several approaches. Let’s take a look at 5E adventure sales in the BookScan data.

September 29, 2023 · 19 Comments

Spelljammer’s Most Dangerous Creatures in 5E

Take a look at the deadliest creatures the new 5E D&D Spelljammer campaign setting has to offer… including creatures from Dark Sun!

August 13, 2022 · Leave a comment

Ambitious (Dark Sun) Adventure Design

My favorite adventures are bold and innovative. We look at how to take risks, using an Ashes of Athas adventure as an example.

October 22, 2020 · Leave a comment

Why Dark Sun Was 4E’s Most Successful Setting (Part 2)

4th edition Dark Sun saw only three books, but felt like much more. Here’s how it became a huge success.

January 24, 2020 · 7 Comments

Why Dark Sun Was 4E’s Most Successful Setting (Part 1)

Why did 4E have so few campaign settings? What happened in the past and what might D&D do in the future?

January 16, 2020 · 11 Comments

Which Products to Buy During a DMs Guild Sale!

A huge sale on the DMs Guild? Here are the products I think should be a part of every gamer’s collection!

January 24, 2018 · Leave a comment

Ashes of Athas: The Development Process

The development process can help identify and resolve an adventure’s weakest points.

October 20, 2015

Ashes of Athas: Where to Begin

Find out how Ashes of Athas designed its first adventure, and the start of its campaign, with a bang!
Use these techniques for your campaign!

October 20, 2015 · 2 Comments

Ashes of Athas – Looking Back on the Dark Sun Organized Play Campaign

The secrets of Ashes of Athas, the Dark Sun organized play campaign, are shared with Mike Shea and with the Misdirected Mark podcast. Find out how Chad Brown, Derek Guder, and I lost so much sleep.

October 20, 2015 · 1 Comment

Death Mark – Dark Sun Book Review

Rob Schwalb’s my hero. Not only did he help craft an excellent 4E Dark Sun setting, he writes a Dark Sun novel full of Athasian flavor and great campaign hooks.

October 12, 2015

Making Silt Horror Tentacles!

Turn a cheap rubber octopus into silt horror tentacles! This is a fun and easy do-it-yourself project.

October 11, 2015

Organizing and Using WotC Poster Maps

The amazingly beautiful and inspiring WotC poster maps, captured as a downloadable image gallery for DMs. Plan your next exciting battle!

October 11, 2015

Support This Site

Become a patron at Patreon!

Support this Site

Mastodon

Follow me on

Mastodon logo Mastodon

BlueSky

Follow me on

BlueSky logo BlueSky

Privacy Policy