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

The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Book 1

By: Keith Ammann

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

From the creator of the popular blog The Monsters Know What They're Doing comes a compilation of villainous battle plans for 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 fifth edition 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 PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat.

©2019 Keith Ammann (P)2020 Tantor

Excellent insight

Not simply limited to DND gameplay, this book provides interesting tactics that are rooted in psychology, history, religion, and logic. The author is genius in thinking through how foes might actually act. It’s also simple and thorough. Very well done. I will be reading the sequel.

Really interesting, but get the physical book

The content & presentation of this book is really interesting and is an invaluable tool to take your DM skills to the next level. I found that this was a bit more difficult to follow in audio format because the stat blocks get hard to follow. As a DM resource it is difficult to reference specific monster groups section as well.

I ended up returning the audio book, but will definitely be buying a physical copy.

it is awesome!!!!!

I really like this book. because I am wanting to be a DM for my dad and little brother so this has been a big help.

great info for new DMs!

great to listen to and take notes. detailed examples for NPC character play and combat interactions. highly recommend for all new DMs to DnD.

as a Professional DM this is a great resource

everything is great now make with new monsters.or 3 rd party monsters. tpk book be awesome