About D&D Magic Shop

Who I Am

I'm Grant — a Dungeon Master with years of experience running spy-thriller campaigns for a rotating table of players who've come to expect plot twists, double agents, and missions that feel more like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy than a standard dungeon crawl. I'm also a technologist who got deep into AI tooling early and started applying it to session prep, NPC generation, and encounter design.

The two things fit together better than you'd expect.

What This Site Is

D&D Magic Shop is a practical resource for Dungeon Masters who want to run great sessions without spending 20 hours on prep. The focus is on two things that don't get enough coverage elsewhere:

• Spy campaign content — intelligence agencies, espionage mechanics, heist adventures, and double-agent NPCs built specifically for D&D 5e.
• AI and tool workflows — honest, practical guidance on how AI can compress prep time and which VTTs, apps, and accessories are actually worth the money.

Everything here is tested at a real table with real players who will absolutely notice if something doesn't work.

Why AI + D&D

The angle here is simple: AI assists DMs, it doesn't replace them. A language model can generate 12 NPC backstories in 90 seconds. It cannot decide which one creates the most interesting dramatic tension for your specific party. That's still your job.

Think of it this way: every DM deserves a handler. Someone in the background doing research, compiling dossiers, cross-referencing sources — so you can show up to the table with everything you need and spend your mental energy on the actual game. AI is that handler.

The guides on this site show you exactly how to set that up, with specific prompts, workflows, and tool recommendations rather than vague "use AI for your campaign" advice.

How to Use This Site

If you're new here, start with the Spy Campaign Starter Kit — it's free, it includes a complete first mission, and it gives you a feel for the kind of content this site produces.

From there, browse by pillar in the Guides section. Reviews and comparisons are organized by product category. The newsletter goes out every Friday with a tip, a tool pick, and a free encounter or resource.

Affiliate links are disclosed on every page that uses them. Recommendations are only made for products that would genuinely improve your game. See the full disclosure for details.