DMing from The Mummy (1932) | How to DM D&D (video)

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The Mummy (1932)

Dungeon masters need to immerse themselves in stories and knowledge. We can’t be flipping through books at the gaming table or spending hours prepping before a session. We need to create a catalog of stories in our minds that we can draw from while running D&D.

Let’s consider The Mummy from 1932. To appreciate this film, we need to transport ourselves to another era. Filmmaking was still a new medium, and synchronized dialogue was barely five years old. If you watch The Mummy, please don’t expect a rollicking adventure; it has more in common with a silent film than even King Kong, which came out just one year later.

Here are elements we can draw from The Mummy:

D&D Tips from the Mummy 1932

Tombs: The Mummy was inspired by the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. D&D is built on exploring ancient tombs or dungeons. I mean, it’s right in the name. Though I hear many groups these days are not doing dungeon crawls, I think this is a mistake. Dungeons are tons of fun and can be used in character growth as well. As characters explore a dungeon, include hints or clues that relate to the PCs’ backstories.

Curses: Obviously, The Mummy involves a curse. Use curses in your D&D games. Put curses on dungeons, curse characters—use curses to draw your players into another world and let them know that supernatural forces are at work all around them.

Magic Items: Much of the setup in The Mummy concerns the fictional Scroll of Thoth. DMs should remember that magic items aren’t just for giving characters more powers; they are story hooks. A real magic item would be world-changing. Let’s see how we can get some of that mystery back.

Vision Pools: Imhotep uses a magic pool to view his victims. Let’s include these in our games. Sure, they are clichés at this point, but who cares? They are such a staple of fantasy that they fit right into D&D. Our players are familiar with magic viewing pools, which is good. They will enjoy seeing one that they can interact with.

Rituals: The Mummy features several rituals. In D&D, we should use rituals. They provide the feeling of tapping into unknown forces beyond our reality. Holding rituals or breaking up rituals is classic adventure material.

Reincarnation: Helen, the female lead, is a partial reincarnation of Anck-su-namun. This adds a nice element to the story. In D&D, we can use reincarnation or past lives to create a deeper narrative. Maybe the PCs have bits of their ancestors in them, or an NPC is the reincarnation of a key figure.

Living Dead: Of course, the mummy is a reanimated corpse with intelligence and supernatural powers. The living dead, or the undead, is a powerful trope to include in our games. Encountering such beings means we have truly left the realm of the natural and are battling forces beyond our understanding.

Resurrections: The Mummy involves Imhotep being resurrected and his wish to resurrect Anck-su-namun through Helen. D&D includes resurrections, of course. However, many DMs throw out resurrection, which I think is shortsighted. Sure, there can be problems with cheap resurrections or ones without cost, but we must remember we are playing a game, and resurrection is a critical part of the fiction that inspired D&D. Use resurrection to add the feeling of otherworldliness to your games, not just to get the favorite PC back.

Satisfying End: Sadly, the ending of The Mummy is a bit lacking, but it can still be instructive. In the film, Helen prays to Isis, and the goddess fixes everything, and the movie is over. The idea is that no human can defeat the mummy because he is a supernatural creature. That impulse is correct, but unsatisfying. The protagonists of the story are then merely observers. We need to make sure our players have an impact on the story. Things like burning the scroll or disturbing the vision pool could have been added to allow the heroes to alter the course of the story. Keep that in mind when running games.

D&D Tips from the Mummy

If you would like to watch The Mummy, I’ve provided a link in the description. Also, in the description are links to my dungeon master resource books. They make DMing more fun. Thank you, and keep gaming!


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