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Adventure Hooks Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: Adventure Hooks – Campaigns in the Cold

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From January 18, 2011, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Adventure Hooks – Campaigns in the Cold.

This summer we ran a series of adventure hooks that featured numerous bizarre and strange happenings that occurred in the Sun & Moon Tavern (part 1part 2). These articles have been incredibly popular and continue to be among our most widely read pages from the past six months. It seems pretty clear to us that our readers want more short, quick adventure hooks.

One of the reasons the Adventure Hooks from the Sun & Moon Tavern were so popular was that they all centered around one common location. It made coming up with the adventure hooks easier for me as the DM, but I think it also made them more appealing for readers.

Before I sat down to brainstorm more adventure hooks I wanted to come up with a theme to tie them all together. The answer was as simple as looking out my front door. I decided to put together adventure hooks that all took place in a snowy environment.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Legacy of the Crystal Shard (Week 1)

legacy-of-the-crystal-shard-coverThis was the official start to D&D Encounters season 16. Last week we played the launch weekend adventure which set the stage for this season, but this week we got into the guts of it. We picked things up seconds after the battle at the gates of Bryn Shander ended. The PCs patched their wounds and took in their surroundings, surveying the damage and trying to get a sense of what would happen next.

This week at Harry T North in Toronto we had another big turnout. We’re running four tables this season and I think that may not be enough. Three tables are running D&D Next, while I’m running a 4e table. A handful of our regular players were absent due to illness, but we filled their seats with two brand new players. The D&D Next groups had six, six, and five players while at my 4e table we ran with four.

My party consisted of the following level 3 PCs: Revenant (Eladrin) Assassin, Dragonborn Cavalier, Tiefling Paladin, and Gnoll Barbarian. Our Halfling Rogue was ill.

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D&D Encounters DM Resources

D&D Encounters Podcast Now Available One Day Sooner!

It’s fair to say the Dungeon’s Master is one of the most vocal supporters of the D&D Encounters public play program. We’ve shared our weekly gaming experiences every week since the program began and we have an abundance of resources available to support your gaming experience.

A few seasons back we began doing a weekly podcast called Recounting Encounters in which three DMs talked about their personal experiences at the gaming table that week. One thing we often talk about during our show is what we’d do differently if we had a chance to run it again. We realized that this feedback would be a lot more helpful to DMs if they heard it BEFORE they played the session. So we’ve decided to make Recounting Encounters available one day earlier.

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DM Resources Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: No New Magic Items

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From December 7, 2011, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: No New Magic Items.

What if it was no longer possible to make new magical items? We don’t often focus on the magic item creation side of the game; we just assume that somewhere in the background new items are being created. When your PC needs new magical items he can usually got to “Ye Olde Magic Shoppe” and purchase what he needs. But if the supply of new items stopped how would the economy of D&D change and what would that mean for your campaign?

How things play out really depends on whether or not you’re introducing this idea to an existing campaign world where magic used to be plentiful and is about to dry up, or if you’re establishing this as the norm for a brand new setting. If the PCs and other inhabitants of the world don’t know any differently then this is just going to mean a shift in the way your players think about acquiring items. If items have always been rare then the world’s mentality should reflect this. The idea of a party walking around and each PC having 10 or more magic items would be absurd. But if this is a sudden change then the only way to acquire new magical items is to find them in a treasure horde or take them from someone else. Both situations present interesting challenges and both could make for a very interesting long-term campaign.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Launch Weekend

legacy-of-the-crystal-shard-launch-weekend-coverThis week we began D&D Encounters season 16. The Legacy of the Crystal Shard is the second of five adventures that ties in to The Sundering, an ongoing tale that will reshape the Forgotten Realms and whose conclusion will coincide with the official launch of D&D Next (or whatever Wizards will be calling it by this time next year).

Much like Murder in Baldur’s Gate, this season’s adventure began with a launch weekend adventure. And much like last season’s introduction the launch weekend was really just an expanded and more detailed version of the events printed in the actual adventure. Knowing this, we decided not to run launch weekend on the weekend, but instead used it as our opening night adventure during week 0.

It seems a bit silly to me that Wizards scheduled the launch weekend adventure to run before the character creation session for the second season in a row. Fortunately we finished season 15 a week early and held a character creations session last week.

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Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: Your Coin is No Good Here

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From August 28, 2009, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Your Coin is No Good Here.

“That’ll be two gold for the drinks and the meal,” says the waitress as she clears your plates and refills your mugs.

“Here you go, darling” says Braddoc the Fighter as he slides a few coins across the table. “This should take care of the bill along with a few extra for you.”

“Um, thanks,” she says as she eyes the coins awkwardly.

“What’s the problem?” ask Braddoc.

“You have to pay in real money. I can’t take these strange coins.”

Many aspects of D&D are simplified in order to make the game run smoothly. Currency squarely falls into this category. Currency in D&D is typically the same regardless of where you are in the campaign world and what you’re trying to buy. What 1 gp buys in your home town is generally what 1 gp buys in the next town. But if you’re looking to add a little bit of flavour to your next campaign why not treat money in D&D a little bit more like it’s handled in real life?

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate – Report Card

murder-in-baldurs-gate-coverWe’ve reached the end of another season of D&D Encounters. Murder in Baldur’s Gate was a season unlike any we’d had thus far. It was a new kind of adventure and it introduced some significant changes to the way the D&D public play program works. Many long-time participants of D&D Encounters were upset that they now had to buy the adventure, but the quality of the product Wizards produced was substantive and quickly won over many of the naysayers.

There were plenty of good things about this season, but there were certainly areas for improvement. Today we’ll look at the season as a whole and go over the good and the bad. We welcome your feedback and want to know if you agree or disagree with our assessment. We also want to hear about anything we missed that you feel was important.

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D&D Encounters D&D Next Dark Sun

Older D&D Encounters Modules Now Available!

dnd-encounters-logoOne of the most common criticisms of the D&D Encounters program is that the materials were not available for purchase, even after the seasons were over. Obviously that’s changed with season 15, but what about all the other adventures that came before it? Well, some of them are now available for sale online.

We’ve collected all the relevant links and product descriptions and provided them below in one easy to find and convenient location. Although every season isn’t available yet, it looks like Wizards will be making them available online in one format or another. We’ve also provided links to the Game Day and Launch Weekend materials related to the seasons that followed them.

We’ll continue to update this page as additional seasons of D&D Encounters become available at DnDClassics.com or in Dungeon magazine. If we’ve missed any seasons that are available now, please let us know in the comments below or by email.

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Preview

legacy-of-the-crystal-shard-coverLegacy of the Crystal Shard is different than any other D&D Encounters adventure we’ve seen so far – and I mean that in a good way. Although it does bear some similarities to previous season and holds true to some of the conventions you’ve come to expect from the D&D Encounters program, it takes a huge leap into new territory as we’ll describe below. My initial impression is that this will either be the very best or very worst season of D&D Encounters; there will be no middle ground.

The adventure itself is part of The Sundering, the ongoing series of stories happening throughout the Forgotten Realms. It’s the second of fives D&D Encounters adventures that tie in to The Sundering, the first being last season’s Murder in Baldur’s Gate. This adventure builds on the events of R.A. Salvatore’s original Icewind Dale trilogy. Although it’s not necessary for the DM or any of the players to have read these books, if they have it will give them with additional insight this season (so read them if you haven’t because they’re fantastic!).

Legacy of the Crystal Shard is presented as edition-neutral and can be run using 3.5e, 4e, or D&D Next mechanics.

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Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: What Do PCs Do For Fun?

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From December 16, 2009, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: What Do PCs Do For Fun?

Adventuring is hard work. You’re always putting your life on the line for fame and fortune. But what do you do when you’ve got some down time? How do PCs relax and unwind? We’ve given it some thought and present a few options for your consideration.