From the monthly archives:

February 2009

Campaign Design: Historical and Fictional References

February 28, 2009

In the last article we dealt with the Next Steps in campaign design, today we’ll discuss various campaign settings, historical periods, novels and talk about the themes that exist within the fantasy genre. This is my favourite part of design as it’s where you get to really dream about the different possibilities. Make sure you [...]

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Skill Focus: Assisting (Part 1)

February 27, 2009

As I’ve said numerous times before, the addition of skill challenges to 4e D&D was a stroke of genius. It has provided us with the means to develop our characters in ways beyond excellence with a sword. We finally have a mechanism for using Acrobatics, Diplomacy and Thievery in a meaningful way that will yield [...]

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Skill Challenge: Rightful Heir

February 26, 2009

The lord of the land is ill and dying. The man next in the line of succession is a tyrant. There are rumours that the lord has an illegitimate son who could challenge for the throne.
Setup

The reputation of the PCs honesty and fairness has reached the ear of the lord’s loyal aide. Since the PCs are [...]

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Necromancer Paragon Path

February 25, 2009

With the launch of Open Grave, Wizards of the Coast have begun to release powers and rituals geared towards Necromancers. They have also announced that the Arcane Powers source book will have a Necromancer Paragon Path. While I’m glad that this is upcoming, I still believe they provided a disservice by not having any specialists in [...]

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Avoiding Death (Part 2)

February 24, 2009

In Avoiding Death, Part 1 we covered these five recommendations for how to avoid needless character death.

Don’t chase monsters
Know you character
Check for traps every time
Take a short break
Pay attention

Now we’re going to add five more ideas to the list. Most of these tips rely on you keeping your cool and not doing anything stupid. Sometimes that [...]

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Skill Challenge: The Missing Ingredient

February 23, 2009

This skill challenge can be run in both urban and rural settings. They are similar, but in some circumstances make use of different skills. Both variations are presented below.
The Missing Ingredient (Urban)
This Skill Challenge can easily be adapted for any scenario where the PCs need to find an item or object that is rare, dangerous, [...]

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Skill Focus: Perception

February 22, 2009

In previous editions of D&D Perception was broken out into separate skills for spot and listen. In 4e, Perception is just one skill, essentially a catch-all for five senses. I think this is a huge improvement and opens the door to possibilities. With that in mind, I’ve come up with some alternate uses for Perception.
This [...]

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Is A Blog Right For Your Game?

February 21, 2009

The advent of technology has had a large impact on the RPG community. I can still remember several years ago pulling my laptop out for my regular Sunday night game. I explained I’d found a new mapping program I wanted to use for the game. That was the beginning of Maptools for my group and [...]

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Campaign Design: Next Steps

February 20, 2009

You have decided to design your own Campaign World and you have the necessary resources in place.  Now you’re wondering what are the next steps? It’s time to consider how you’re going to approach game design. There are a number of different ways to begin working on your campaign and there are still a few [...]

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Adjudicating and House Rules

February 19, 2009

DM – The bugbear sneaks up behind Ethan the Rogue and strangles him with a garrote. You’re immobilized until you make a successful escape check.
Nenia – I attack the Bugbear with a Magic Missile and use my Orb of Unlucky Exchanges to switch the immobilized condition from Ethan to the Bugbear.
DM – Wait a minute, you [...]

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