King Boranel an impostor? Impossible. Or is it? And just how are so many criminals avoiding the well trained soldiers of House Deneith. In this installment of the Secrets of Eberron Revealed we look into a possible conspiracy within the royal house of Breland where a king might in fact be a changeling and House Deneith tries to solve the mystery of how its soldiers are being detected. Is there a traitor within the house or is it something else all together?

Click on the Eberron tab above the Dungeon’s Master banner to find the previous installments in this ongoing series as well as many other great Eberron articles and resources.

The King and the Changeling

King Boranel has always been considered a radical thinker. He, more than any of the other monarchs, pushes for a democratically elected government. He’s been called radical, progressive, liberal and a visionary. But many are starting to also call him impostor. A man living in the slums of Sharn and bearing a striking resemblance to King Boranel claims to be the actual king.

Known only as Canty, this Boranel look-a-like does not seek power. He’s a docile man who only wants to be left alone. He claims that as a teenager he and a changing swapped places on occasions so that he could meet secretly with a woman. But the changeling grew too comfortable in the seat of power and refused to give up his new identity. The changeling became Boranel permanently while the real Boranel was forced to flee to the slums of Sharn to avoid death at the hands of the changeling’s assassins.

Anyone who’s met Canty realizes that he’s not just a common beggar or down-on-his-luck criminal. He exudes a radiance of Charisma that immediately makes people like him. He gives hope to the downtrodden simply by acknowledging them and shaking their hand. King or not, there is certainly something majestic about Canty.

Many fiercely loyal soldiers who love and respect their king disagree with his political agenda and long to go back to war. These men would never act against their king, but if he turned out to be a changeling in disguise… Seeking to undo the social and political changes that King Boranel has introduced during his reign, a group of Brelish soldier are now actively seeking Canty in hope to put him on the throne, real king or not.

• The PCs discover soldiers harassing a beggar and intercede. One of the PCs recognizes the beggar as King Boranel (Canty)
• The PCs are hired by the throne to find and eliminate a changeling called Canty who is parading around the slums of Sharn claiming to be the King.
• The PCs need to get into a posh party. They realize that if they clean Canty up he can pretend to be the King and get them inside. Of course, when the real King arrives there could be trouble.

Deneith Detection Device

Not long after the Day of Mourning, while House Cannith was in turmoil, a prospector met with a junior house member to try and sell the rights to the minerals he discovered in his mine. The prospector explained that he purchased the mine years ago with the hope of finding Dragonshards or gemstones. After the Day of Mourning, he discovered a vein of strange metal. He felt that Cannith might be interested in owning the rights to this rare find.

The junior house member examined the samples the prospector provided and discovered that the metal was stronger than any she’s ever examined. She immediately purchased exclusive rights to this find and Cannith has used this metal to make some of the finest blades in Khorvaire ever since.

What the prospector failed to tell Cannith during his dealings is that the metal has another unique property besides its unusual strength. When the prospector discovered the metal, he also discovered small, spider-like bugs nesting near the metal. Whenever the bugs were near the metal they glowed. The prospector also learned that if he held one of these bugs in his hand, he could feel it getting warmer as the bug got closer to the metal.

The prospector made a good deal of money when he signed on with house Cannith, but he makes even more money these days by selling the bugs. It turns out that House Cannith uses the metal in weapons sold exclusively to House Deneith. Now the criminal elements can get an early warning whenever Deneith soldiers are approaching, as long as they’ve got one of these little bugs touching their skin. When the bug gets warm, Deneith is on the way.

• The PCs are on the run from House Deneith. They learn that there’s a way to avoid detection and seek the prospector for aid.
• House Deneith realizes that many criminals are being tipped off and eluding capture. The PCs are hired by House Deneith to investigate.
• One of the PCs finds a magic blade made of the rare metal. He doesn’t understand why so many people assume he’s a member of House Deneith working undercover.

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In preparation for GenCon we’ve scoured our archives and compiled the most useful convention tips for players and DMs. Of course, most of these tips are suitable for any gaming environment, so if you’re unable to get to Indianapolis next weekend we think you’ll still find this collection helpful.

Player Resources

We’ve written a few player resource lists since we first launched the site and most of these tips are just as relevant today as they were when we first published them. You may notice that a few of these tips appear on more than one list. Our feeling is that if it’s important it’s worth repeating.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind all players that there’s a fine line between being helpful and being a Gaming Jerk. Please bear this in mind when you’re at GonCon. We’re all excited to be there and it’s easy to let your enthusiasm get the better of you. Being helpful, especially when there are new players at the table, is a great idea. Just remember not to be too helpful.

• 6 D&D Convention Tips for Players
• 10 Reminders for All D&D Players
• 10 Things I Learned at Worldwide D&D Game Day
• Avoiding Death (Part 1 | Part 2)
• The Gaming Jerk

DM Resources

Our DM resources stem from our own personal experiences. We understand that a good DM makes all the difference at any game table. These tips are timely reminders to all the DMs running games next weekend at GenCon. The Dungeon’s Master team wants to thank everyone who volunteered to DM at GenCon this summer. Without the DMs there wouldn’t be any games.

• 6 D&D Convention Tips for DMs
• Eight Rules That Will Make You A Better DM

Living Forgotten Realms (LFR)

For many of us, D&D is the game we play most often (if not exclusively). The most popular D&D games going on at GenCon are the LFR adventures. Before you sit down to play, make sure you’re familiar with the latest RPGA update.

If you’ve got time to squeeze another game or two in before GenCon, be sure to check out our updated treasure bundle list. Find the treasure you most want on the list and ask your DM to play that adventure this weekend.

• Change, Change, and More Change to RPGA Play
• LFR Magic Item Treasure Bundle List (July 2010)

D&D Championship

The D&D Championship is one of those rare times when you can actually win at D&D. It’s a tournament where players are scored for their performance and the winners advance to compete for great prizes. Last year, each member of the winning team walked away with about $1,500 in D&D swag. This year, the Dungeon’s Master team wants to win.

The 2010 D&D Championship adventure, A Hole in the World, uses level 25 pre-generated characters. Those lucky or skilled enough to advance to the finals get to use the level 30 versions of the same pre-generated PCs. For many, this is likely to be the first time their experiencing epic play.

The event is completely sold out, but if you already have a ticket and are scheduled to play Thursday, August 5 at 1:00 p.m. we want you to join our team. Good luck to all participants.

• Characters for the D&D Open Championship
• Tiers Of Play: Epic
• Join the Dungeon’s Master GenCon Championship Team

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We’ve updated our LFR Treasure Bundle List. We’ve added 23 new adventures to the list bringing the total to 124. Among the new entries are 13 paragon adventures. That brings us to 18 adventures in the P1 band (level 11-14) and 4 adventures in the P2 band (level 14-17). With GenCon only a few weeks away, our list can help you decide what adventures to play in order to get that special item you’ve always wanted before you get to Indianapolis.

• LFR Magic Item Treasure Bundle List July 2010 (Excel)

Last month Wizards relaxed the rules regarding character creation for RPGA sanctioned events, including LFR adventures. Players no longer need to create character at level 1. You can begin at level 5, 8 or 11. I for one I’m getting really bored with low-level, H1 band (level 1-4) games. Knowing that I can start at a higher level means that I won’t have to play Sense of Wonder any more. (Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great adventure, but I think I’ve played it with 5 different characters now.) This should also get more players into the paragon games more quickly. Without this change, the only character you’d find in the really high level games were those created from the original PHB. Now there’s a pretty good chance to find a Minotaur Monk in a P2 game.

While reviewing this latest batch of LFR adventures, I was very please to see that more and more adventures included a bundle that let you pick anything. Usually it was an item of your level or lower, although in some cases there were tasks that if completed let you choose an item above your current level. As more classes and races are release through PHB2 and PHB3 and as more treasure becomes available through the AV and AV2, it makes a lot of sense to just let players choose what they want. Anyone playing a psionic character certainly appreciates these “choose any item” bundles.

See the official RPGA Character Creation Guide for the most up to date rules and regulations. Visit Wizards of the Coast for more information about Living Forgotten Realms.

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Movies are always inspiring my D&D games. It was about this time last year when my inner DM was inspired by the movie The Hangover and then in January it was Daybreakers. This time it’s Predators that has me thinking D&D. I’ll admit that Predators is already more closely aligned with a combat-oriented RPG then The Hangover, but as a source of influence on this impressionable DM it was no less intriguing.

Before reading any further be forewarned that if you haven’t seen Predators yet, this article contains spoilers. I’ve broken down most of the film into a series of D&D encounters. But given the kind of action adventure movie it is I don’t think these spoilers will ruin the movie for you.

Predators is a really good movie. If you liked the original Predator from 1987 then you’ll really like this new sequel. And it is a sequel, not a reboot. They actually make reference to the Schwarzenegger movie in this new version.

Below is a 6-encounter D&D adventure that follows the plot of the new Predators film. I’ve intentionally left the level of the adventure ambiguous. This should make it easier for a DM to use this outline regardless of the PCs current level.

Encounter 1 – Where are we? (Skill Challenge)

The PCs awaken in a strange jungle environment. They do not know each other and at first they cannot see each other. As the PCs start moving around and investigating their surroundings they can make Perception checks to detect the other PCs. In the movie the soldiers fight each other a little bit at the beginning, but it’s unlikely that the PCs will do that.

The DM may decide that it’s easier if the PCs already know each other. The skill challenge is about getting to know the surroundings more than each other. The PCs have never been here before and need to scout it out. A series of Dungeoneering, Nature and Perception checks will provide clues.

The most important information the PCs learn is that some of the plant life is deadly. If they move or are forced into squares occupied by these deadly plants they will be immobilized (save ends). If they do not save then they are stunned (save ends). The PCs will likely want to cover some ground to get a better idea of where they are. Athletics, Endurance and Heal checks are primary skills for this leg of the skill challenge.

Encounter 2 – Booby Traps

The PCs enter a trapped field. They, of course, don’t know it’s trapped. When they are within 10 squares of a hidden bunker, everyone can make an active Perception check. Success means they find the bunker before setting off any traps. Failure means that they are going to have to face the traps first.

If the PCs find the bunker first, they can try to get inside. It requires a Thievery check or a lot of brute force. The PCs may not want to make a lot of noise and attract unwanted attention. Inside the bunker the PCs find a dead adventurer. He possesses a magical ranged weapon and plenty of ammunition. Hidden in the bunker is a journal. The journal provides details about the hunters (Predators) and their combat tactics. The final passage in the journal indicates that the entire field is bobby trapped. The PCs get a +2 bonus to Perception check to find the traps.

If the PCs don’t immediately find the bunker then they face the traps unaware. The traps are a combination of spikes that shoot up from the ground, pits with spikes at the bottom, large objects suspended from trees that fall or swing down onto the PCs.

After the traps all go off the PCs have no trouble finding the bunker. Noise is no longer an issue since the traps were quite loud when they were activated.

Encounter 3 – Flushed Out

After dealing with the traps a group of wild animals come charging through the heavy growth towards them. The creatures work together as a pack trying to force the PCs to run in different directions. The creatures are fast and have a really high AC. This encounter should force the PCs to expend some of their strongest powers (daily powers and consumable items). The animals should grossly outnumber the PCs. The creatures only fight until half the party is bloodied or one PC falls unconscious. Then a high pitch whistle is heard in the distance and the animals retreat in that direction.

What really happened was that the animals were sent to test the PCs strengths and weaknesses. The whistle blower wanted to force the PCs to expend resources including healing surges.

Encounter 4 – Ambush at the Camp

The PCs have no trouble tracking the pack animals using Perception and Nature. They end up in a campsite. While investigating the campsite they find a Predator bound to a large rocky outcropping. He’s conscious but securely bound. The PCs can make a Perception check to avoid being ambushed by the lurking Predators. Combat ensues. Three Predators attack using ranged powers from different positions around the camp. The Predators won’t fight to the death. They use mobility and stealth to avoid direct confrontation. They press the attack until half of the PCs fall unconscious. They flee if any of Predators become bloodied.

Encounter 5 – Mysterious Benefactor (Skill Challenge)

A mysterious adventurer approaches the PCs after the ambush. He introduces himself as Noland and explains that he’s been avoiding the hunters for years. An Insight check reveals that he’s not completely sane having been alone in the jungle for so long.

Noland offers to share his camp with the PCs. It’s not far and it is safe from the hunters. The camp is located within a series of catacombs. He leads the party very quickly through the maze. Eventually they arrive at his camp. Once inside he slides a heavy boulder in place securing the door.

The PCs can try to get some information out of him. Bluff and Diplomacy work best. Intimidate earns his respect, but physical threats are met with resistance. His camp is very well equipped with weapons and food. The PCs can try and convince him to party with these treasures. If they succeed they each get a magic item from his stash. Noland has a Predator camouflage suit that he will party with if a suitable trade is offered. If they fail, he’s unwilling to part with anything.

If the PCs succeed in the skill challenge they also learn more about the Predators, including that they have an airship anchored nearby. If one PC makes three successful hard checks using Insights, Heal or a combination of these two skills you realize that he’s being too helpful.

Encounter 6 – Betrayal

While the PCs are resting, Noland betrays them. His sleeping nook contains a secret passage which he uses to slip away while the PCs are sleeping. He barricades it from the outside so none of them can use it to follow him. He then causes a fire outside of the doorway, and fans the thick smoke into the sleeping chamber. He plans to subdue the PCs and steal their equipment.

The PCs have not yet gained the benefits of an extended rest (but they would have the benefits of a short rest). They need to escape before the smoke suffocates them. During their scramble to escape and avoid suffocating, the PCs can each grab one item from the adventurers stash (assuming they didn’t already successfully negotiate for it earlier). Most of the gear is low level items. The real prize is a sword (light or heavy blade) that was designed to kill the Predators. It functions like a Dragonslayer Weapon, except it’s tuned to Predators.

The smoke obscures all visions in the room after three rounds. PCs must make an Endurance check every even round (round 2, round 4, round 6) while in the room. Failure means they loose a healing surge. If they have no surges remaining then they loose hit points equal to their healing surge value.

The door is barricaded and required eight successful melee attacks to break it down. A critical hit counts as one extra hit. Encounter powers count as two hits. Daily powers count as four hits.

When the PCs get out there is a Predator waiting for them in the passageway. Noland is dead at his feat. This Predator fights to the death. PCs that flee are forced to navigate the maze. The Predator knows the maze and can easily circle around the PCs and appear in front of them after only a round or two.

After killing the Predator, the PCs can rest safely, gaining the complete benefits of an extended rest. By this point in the movie many of the troops were dead. Obviously killing off PCs makes for a boring night if you’re the first to fall. In stead, the DM is encountered to just exhaust the party of as many resources as possible.

What’s Next?

As you can see the action-packed first half of the movie Predators makes for a deadly and equally action-packed D&D adventure. The second half of the movie has the remaining troops (the big stars) fight the remaining Predators one on one. Again, this is boring if you’re not the PC fighting.

Rather than spoil the ending of the movie I’m going to leave the rest of this adventure up to all the creative DMs out there. If you’ve seen the movie then you may just want to follow its path to completion. If you haven’t there are enough hooks in play to make for a great second chapter.

The PCs will likely look for the airship as a means to escape. If they free the captive Predator bound in the camp he is willing to reveal the airship’s location and pilot it for the PCs.

The PCs can certainly continue fighting the Predators directly. Be sure to use the creature’s vulnerability to fire and the toxic plant life to best effect during combat.

How powerful do you think the Predators should be? Do you think this works best as a heroic, paragon or epic adventure?

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Cruven – I use Arcana to investigate the origins of the portal in order to learn how we might vanquish the elder evil that has attacked the realm.

DM – Will anyone assist Cruven? The DC to assist is 17.

Dox – 29. I assist.

Jacinth – 25. I assist.

Luk – 17. I assist.

Josey – 18. I assist

Cruven – Ok, with four assists that’s +8 to my roll. My base is a 17, so I’m rolling on a 25. Here goes…

DM – Don’t bother. The DC is only 23 so with the assists you can’t fail this check.

How often has this happened at your gaming table? Assisting is a great way to help a PC out with a check that they might not make on their own. It’s a potentially game breaking mechanic if a PC is already highly proficient at a given skill. As the DM, how do you prevent reckless assist roles?

PCs shouldn’t be assisting just because the rules let them. While the spirit of 4e encourages us to say yes, sometimes doing so ruins or breaks the experience. Should a Rogue raised in the back alleys of a large city, who has never travelled beyond its borders be assisting the Bard with a History check about an ancient civilization that hasn’t existed for well over 1,000 years?

There is certainly an argument to say yes and allow the assist. The Rogue could have obtained this information from any number of sources. Saying yes allows the game to flow uninterrupted, everyone gets to participate. Rather than say no to the request, as a DM be proactive and set your expectations on assisting before the campaign starts.

Assisting Takes An Action

The easy way to eliminate spontaneous assisting during every players’ action is to require that the assist be the players action for that turn. One or two players might still opt to assist on certain checks, but most players will not – preferring to take a full action on their own turn.

This option makes sense to me. Assisting takes time, often just as much time as the action you are helping with. It’s only reasonable then that the assist take as much time and that the player sacrifice their turn to help. After all if assisting is an action worth taking, then it should trump any other action the PC might want to take on their turn.

Training Required

In order to assist with a task some basic knowledge is required. Another way DMs can keep the entire party from spontaneously assisting is requiring PCs to be trained in the appropriate skill they wish to assist. How else are you going to assist with an arcane ritual or lie convincingly to a master spy?

This option is a little heavy-handed as some classes only have a few trained skills. Certain martial classes receive training in only physical skills. Limiting the ability to assist with only trained skills means these characters may not be able to fully participate in social skill challenges. As a result I would recommend instituting this limitation on assisting sparingly.

The Evil Eye

Perhaps my favourite convention to dissuade PCs from arbitrarily assisting is a technique I like to call the evil eye. The evil eye requires some work to institute, but once done it can be very effective.

The PCs are required to a have a long term nemesis, which isn’t usually very difficult in most D&D campaigns. This opponent or nemesis has access to magic or the ability to curse the PCs. During a combat encounter, which the nemesis escapes, a hex is placed on each of the PCs. The only way to end the hex, is to defeat or kill the villain.

The mechanics of the hex are simple. Each PC rolls a d20 after every extended rest. Anytime before the next extended rest that this number is rolled the enemy becomes aware of the PCs and his eye is drawn towards them. Imagine this being similar to Frodo putting on the one ring and drawing the attention of Sauron and the Nazgul. The result is the enemy knows the physical location of the PC and until the next short rest that PC suffers a -1 to all ability, skill and attack rolls.

The fear of this consequence will keep PCs from making any arbitrary d20 rolls. It also adds an interesting dynamic to the game that will keep the PCs motivated towards eliminating this foe.

Additional Resources

This isn’t the first time we’ve looked at ways to improve assisting. In our article Skill Focus: Assisting (Part 2), we discuss these topics which you may also find useful at your gaming table.

• Assist with Other Skills
• Add Value
• Play To Your Strengths

How have you dealt with every PC at the table deciding that they would like to assist during every skill check being made? Have your efforts been successful or met with further frustration?

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Normally when combat is finished the PCs take a short, 5-minute rest. They get to rest up, heal, catch their breath, and regain the use of encounter powers. But what many players forget is that all of the benefits that come from taking a 5-minute rest come at then end of those five minutes. If the party is attacked or decides to venture onwards before the short rest is finished, they are still hurt and resource depleted.

In a recent game the PCs found themselves in a situation where they really needed a short rest, but couldn’t just drop their guard for five minutes. I decided to turn the 5-minute rest into a skill challenge. If they succeeded, then after five minutes they got all the benefits of taking the short rest (and some XP for completing the skill challenge). If they failed then at least some of the PCs would have to engage in combat to guard the others still resting. Here’s how it played out.

The PCs are on a quest for five lost magic items. One of these items was used as part of the binding ritual that keeps an air elemental bound to a House Lyrander airship. As luck would have it that very ship just arrived in the same city as the PCs. The party decided to board the ship and take the item.

Rather than use force and blast their way onto the ship (which is what I’d prepared for) they decided to play to their strengths and use bluff and stealth to gain access to the ship. This turned out to be easier than they thought. They easily secured the lower decks and started to dismantle the elemental binding in order to recover the magic item. This didn’t go unnoticed for long. The crew above deck started pouring down below to engage the party. The PCs held their position, defeating the sailors who rushed down to fight.

The party’s Wizards, an engineer bearing the Mark of Making, told the PCs that in order to remove the item they sought without blowing up the ship (and everyone inside it) he needed between five and ten minutes to work his magic and safely remove the item. So began the short rest.

Although the few remaining crewmen on deck weren’t dumb enough to follow their fallen brethren into combat with the saboteurs, they were smart enough to call for aid. The PCs clearly heard the cries and the footfalls of people running on and off the ship. The PCs may not have five minutes before they had to face reinforcements.

I asked each PCs to describe what they were doing during for each minute of the rest. After each minute they could make one check towards the skill challenge. Some worked to barricade themselves in the bowels of the ship by pushing crates around or securing hatchways. Others worked with the Wizard to suppress the magic and get the item.

One player who was absent the week before didn’t need the benefit of a short rest since he missed the last combat. He decided to act as scout and point-man. He also declared that he’d do what he could to hold off any advancement himself if need be.

The PCs were creative and completed the skill challenge with flying colours. The situation brought about some great role-playing and the players didn’t try to do anything that would exert the PCs and blow the benefits of resting.

Failing the skill challenge did pose significant risk to the party. I wasn’t going to be a complete jerk and rob them of their 5-minute rest, but for each extra minute they needed to complete their rest, more reinforcements would have arrived above deck making their escape all the more difficult.

Just because the mechanics of 4e D&D allow the PCs to recharge after each fight doesn’t mean that it should always be an automatic happenstance. By taking an already time-sensitive situation I managed to turn what is normally just a boring “You take a short rest” statement and create some tension. In a situation that was likely to be a combat-heavy night, we managed to inject some quality role-playing into our game.

So the next time you get a short rest, think about what the PCs are actually doing during those five minutes. Most of the time they’re in no immediate danger and can do as they please, but every once and a while you’ll need to catch your breath while danger looms in the nearby shadows.

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DMs aren’t perfect. There I’ve said it. Any DM that claims he’s never made an error when running a game is lying. Even the best DMs make mistakes. Over the years I’ve made plenty of errors while playing D&D. I’ve found that the best thing to do in these situations is to try and learn from the experience. So today I’m going to share with you the 5 biggest and most egregious errors I’ve made as a DM. I think you’ll find that these are fairly common mistakes made by DMs across the board.

By sharing my mistakes I’m giving you a chance to learn from them, ideally so you’ll never have to experience these firsthand at your game table. I try to turn every mistake, every error into a learning opportunity. Once the error’s been made there’s often nothing you can do about it. But if you can learn from the experience then you are less likely to make that same error again. This is a good philosophy to follow in you job, your personal life and when you play D&D.

This article is blog post 404 at Dungeon’s Master. While discussing what to do to mark our 400th article we kept coming back to the idea of tying in the internet errors 400, 403, 404, etc. into this milestone. Eventually we decided to talk about error we’ve made in D&D. We share our mistakes to help other gamers avoid them – not something we’re likely to find in the rule books “404 Error, page not found… in the DMG.”

1. Overestimating the party’s strength

Wizards of the Coast does extensive play-testing. Just because you think an encounter looks weak or unbalanced, don’t fudge the numbers. If the product made it to print assume it’s been play-tested and it’s right.

One of the biggest errors I made as a DM since 4e was release was my first go at running an Epic Dungeon Delve. In order to spice things up I decided to add one more monster to the 3-encoutner adventure. The idea was that this monster would move between the rooms and assist the other monsters already printed in the adventure. My rationale for making this adjustment was that I thought a) the monsters were too weak and b) the players were exceptionally experienced and would welcome the challenge. The result was terrible. My extra monster only acted twice in the first encounter, but it tipped the balance way over to the monsters’ favour. The PC were decimated in the first encounter and the players were angry that I tampered with the adventure as it was written.

I’ve taken a lot of heat for this misstep and I’ve kept it in the back of my mind when I’ve DM’ed ever since. Now I follow adventures as written when playing from a printed source and when I’m building my own encounters I carefully follow the guidelines for creating balanced encounters set out in the DMG.

2. Predicting the players’ actions

Many D&D groups are made up of a core, tight-knit group of friends. Our group has members who have been friends for over 30 years and have been role-playing together for 20 or more. That friendship and camaraderie can lead the DM to think he knows what his players will do. Sometimes this is true. When I was in high school, I played with two guys that were so predictable I knew if they’d turn right or left at a fork in the dungeon. But this is the rare exception. I’ve found that the DM needs to be ready or anything. Assuming you know you your players well enough not to have contingencies ready is a common DM error. Regardless of what I think my players will do, I always have a “random encounter” ready just in case they do the completely unexpected. The alternative is to railroad your players to head in the direction you’ve prepared and not allow them the freedom to choose their own path.

3. Using too many monsters

The best encounters have a variety of monsters filling a variety of roles. In much the same way the best adventuring parties have a controller, defender, leader and striker, so to should the monsters. The down side to this kind of balanced encounter is that you have a lot of different monsters to keep track of. The error I make most often is mixing up the bad guys. I apply damage to the wrong monster or I look at the wrong defenses and tell a player he missed when he really should have hit.

One easy solution is to limit the variety of monsters you use when building encounters. This works from time to time, but it makes for boring encounters. A better solution is to know your limits and only use a number of creatures you’re conformable controlling. It seems like such an easy and obvious way to avoid errors, yet DMs still populate their encounters with too wide a variety of monsters. Keep it simple.

4. Saying No

When I first read the whole “say yes” part of the 4e DMG I thought it was a waste of time. After all, didn’t all DMs do this already? Did Wizards really have to spell it out? Apparently they did. And in retrospect, I’m glad they did. Thinking back on my numerous stints behind the DMs screen I realize that I say no a lot. I’ll admit that I’m trying to say yes a lot more than I used to, but it’s not always easy. In fact I don’t realize I’m saying no until after the game. Seeing “say yes” in the print materials over and over again really has opened up my eyes and I find I say yes a lot more now then I ever did in previous editions of D&D.

5. Admitting when you’re wrong

After you’ve made the error of Saying No comes this gem. Being the DM can be a rush. You’re in charge of everything in the game other than the 4-6 PCs at the table. It’s a power trip. The key is not to let that power go to your head. Some of my biggest regrets as a DM come from situations where I’ve been wrong and refused to admit it. Sometimes I genuinely didn’t think I was wrong and in others I realized I was wrong but was too proud to admit that I made an error.

The lesson I’ve learned from this error is that as the DM you should be willing to take a step back and be objective. Remember that everyone is at the table to play a game and have fun. Although D&D is not a game that you win, player can feel like they’ve lost if they’ve had to argue with a bad call by the DM. A DM who argues over little details has to remember the fundamental reason for playing D&D – to have fun.

This is certainly not a complete list of my less than stellar moments behind the screen. But these are certainly among the biggest errors and the ones that have impacted my game the most. If reading about my mistakes helps you avoid similar issues in your games then humbling myself by admitting my imperfections was worth it.

What are some of the biggest errors you’ve made as a DM? Were you able to learn from the experience?

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Last week both the RPGA Character Creation Guide and the Living Forgotten Realms Character Creation Guide were updated. Both documents are effective tomorrow (June 22, 2010). This is the last update scheduled for either document until October. So if you play Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) or you’re planning on going to GenCon to play D&D then you should check out these updates. This is probably the largest single update since 4e was released. Here are the highlights.

Creating Characters above level 1

You can now create character at levels 5, 8, and 11. This ensures you’re at the low end of the spectrum, while guaranteeing that you don’t try and play down. You follow the rules for creating high level characters from the DMG (which are the same rules you’d use for one-off RPGA sanctioned special events like the Ultimate Dungeon Delve). These guidelines include rules for starting gold and magic items. You begin play with one open item slot. Item slots from your previous levels are assumed to be filled.

The RPGA will also be releasing a series of pre-generated characters for use with LFR. They will be created using the same guidelines. So the only advantage to using their builds is that it’s faster. This character becomes your character and you have full control over them. When you level you choose the new feats and powers. You also have the option to retrain following the normal rules.

It’s about time they introduced this rule. Every time Wizards releases a new PHB there are cool new classes and races. It would be nice to try out some of these new builds in an LFR adventure, but I hate going back to level 1 every time. It takes so long to work a character up to paragon tier. I’m getting sick of playing those same level 1-4 adventures again and again just because I’ve got a new character. With GenCon offering a new set of paragon tier adventures this summer, I’m glad that I can create a new PC at level 11 and use him right away. Otherwise we’d see very few players with eligible character for these games.

Converting D&D Encounters PCs to LFR

“Characters played in Season One (and only Season One) of the Dungeons & Dragons Encounters program can easily be brought into Living Forgotten Realms.”

If you were lucky enough to find a magic item or two during D&D Encounters you can keep those items – even if you don’t technically have enough item slots available (for example, a level 1 character has two magical items). If this is the case you must commit your next available item slot to these other items (in essence your level 2 slot is already spoken for). Alternatively you can just sell these items and not commit to using any item slots.

RPGA Reward Card

There were two major updates in regard to the RPGA reward cards. This first update is that “…you may not have more than one copy of any particular card in your stack.” So for everyone (me included) who had multiple Snap Out Of It or Desperate Spell in your repertoire, you can only use one of each moving forward. Sorry paragon level controllers, you can’t take five Minion Slayers any more.

The second update is that “all RPGA Rewards cards, with the exception of Creation, Expansion, and Quest cards, will retire from play after December 31, 2010.” I have it on good authority that something new will be introduced to replace the reward cards, but I don’t have any additional information yet. Players who have become used to having those +1s and +2s on the table will have to live with more near misses in 2011.

Friendly Fire

How many times have you suffered damage from friendly fire? Have you taken enough damage from an ally’s attack to drop your PC? It doesn’t happen often, but it happens (as we discussed in Should Players Suffer When PCs Die?). The RPGA has introduced a new rule to ensure that players can’t attack other players.

“If you are in control of your character and want to use a power that could include other PCs in its area of effect, always ask the players controlling the affected characters if it’s OK to damage or otherwise hinder their character before you make the attack. If they agree, you may proceed, but if any of the affected players does not wish you to attack or otherwise hinder his or her PC, you must respect their wishes. This could mean retargeting the power so that it doesn’t include the other PC in the area of effect, or choosing a different power altogether, depending on the situation.”

Upward Progression

When your PC reaches the top level of their level band they have the choice of continuing to play at the top of their current band or move to the bottom of the next level band. But if you decide to move up, you’re committed to staying in the next band. “Once you level out of a particular band, that character is no longer eligible to play the lower-level adventures.”

So let’s say your PC is level 4 and you decide to play an adventure in the H2 band (levels 4-7). Assuming you’re still level 4 at the end of the adventure, you cannot then go back to play an adventure in the lower H1 adventure band (levels 1-4). Once you move up, you’re there to stay. I can’t image this happened very often, but now there’s rule to ensure forward progression.

Additional Resources

• RPGA Character Creation Guide (PDF)
  Effective June 22, 2010
  Next Update: October, 2010
• Living Forgotten Realms Character Creation Guide (PDF)
  Effective June 22, 2010
  Next Update: October, 2010
• D&D Organized Play Downloads
• Living Forgotten Realms
• For a preview and discussion of some of these upcoming changes, please keep an eye on the RPGA blog at http://community.wizards.com/lfr/blog.

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It’s not something we like to think about, the death of the party, the end of the campaign. On occasion it is the right thing to do. Earlier this week we discussed Avoiding The Total Party Kill. This task falls jointly on the shoulders of the DM and the players. Embracing The Total Party Kill, falls on the players and is a decision that only they can make.

The rational for that is simple, no DM should be deliberately designing encounters that cause a TPK. It just isn’t fair to the players. The exception being if the campaign is a test of survival where the DM and the players are battling it out to see who will prevail. In these instances the PCs are normally disposable and there is little story to the campaign, just combat.

With a normal campaign, one that balances story, role playing and combat together the idea of a TPK is usually in the back of everyone’s mind. It’s locked up in the closest, best forgotten about. However, there are instances when a TPK just makes sense. The occasions are usually related to the story telling and role playing aspect of the game.

There needs to be a compelling reason for the players to justify a TPK and it’s rare that the whole party might agree on the issue. After all several players might really enjoy playing their PCs. After months of playing and levelling up a PC who wants to throw it away just for the sake of the story? I would imagine few players are truly willing to do contemplate this, never mind executing on the idea.

Recognizing The Disconnect

Part of the reason embracing a TPK is unthinkable is due to the disconnect we have due to our social circumstance. For the most part we live in a free society that is relatively safe. We don’t have the perils that faced society five hundred or a thousand years ago. We have health care and sanitation. We have elected governments, not Kings who could send us off to war at a moments notice.

Further, we’re playing a game and we want to keep playing this game in the way we understand and that we find comfortable. Character death, let alone the complete party’s death is not usually a comfortable experience, it also leaves the DM with a shattered campaign to deal with. For more on how the DM can handle the PCs ending the campaign read our article on When Players Kill The Campaign.

Overcoming the disconnect between the comfort of our modern life and the disappointment of character death requires a level of immersion. Embracing the TPK is a role playing decision and as such it requires strong in game motivation. Think of the movie 300, those men marched off to what they knew and understood to be certain death. They also understood why they were making that decision, beyond their loyalty to their King.

Building The Immersion

Ironically a player led initiative to end the campaign through a TPK is most often going to occur because the DM has done an outstanding job at making the players care about the game world. The level of immersion and the buy in from the players provides the necessary rationale for them to execute a TPK.

The players aren’t going to make this decision lightly and it isn’t going to happen early in the campaign. The players don’t know their PCs well enough early in the campaign for them to initiate a TPK. Also, it’s doubtful that any plot devices of significant consequence exists that would warrant the PCs to make this type of decision. It’s only as the story is built upon and the players become involved that the notion of a party driven TPK becomes remotely possible.

Committing To The Action

A player led TPK will occur when two critical elements align. First, the drama or point of action needs to be at a critical moment. A random encounter of no consequence isn’t going to generate this type of action or sense of purpose. More likely this moment will occur during a climactic moment of the campaign. Second, the encounter is just enough to push the PCs to the edge. They might begin questioning if they are going to survive at all. Healing surges are low and daily powers are expended.

It’s at this point that the players might wonder if they’d like the campaign to have an epic ending. By sacrificing themselves for the sake of the story or campaign an event will have been created that they will discuss at the gaming table for years to come. It’s a rare eventuality, but if this combination of events comes to pass so too might the party driven TPK.

More likely you’re going to have one player who decides that his PC will make the sacrifice allowing the party to complete its objective. While this will make for a heroic death it doesn’t have the same impact as the entire party deciding to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Has your party ever made the decision to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the game? Has the story the DM created been so compelling that it warranted the death of the entire party.

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Even though we’ve spent a lot of time discussing Dark Sun over the past few weeks we still play our weekly game in Eberron and are still committed to bringing you Eberron-specific articles. With this latest installment in our ongoing series, Secrets of Eberron Revealed, we look at how Dragonmarks are permanently removed and how Dragonmarks can be made to manifest for a short time.

• Every member of a Dragonmarked house knows that one of the harshest punishments they can receive is to be excoriated – permanent banishment from the house. But when the house brings in The Effacers the punishment becomes so much worse.
• Have you every wished you had a Dragonmark, even for just a short time? The Drakes may be able to help you.

Click on the Eberron tab above the Dungeon’s Master banner to find the previous installments in this ongoing series as well as many other great Eberron articles and resources.

The Effacers

When a member of a Dragonmarked house is excoriated there is more at stake than suffering the social indignity of being erased from the house records. Few outside of a Dragonmarked house may even know of an excoriate’s circumstance, especially if the excoriate still posses a true Dragonmark. Anyone bringing shame and disgrace to their house shall not benefit in any way from association with the house nor from a Dragonmark on their person. To ensure a complete separation of the excoriate from the house, steps may be taken to physically remove the excoriate’s Dragonmark. In these extreme cases the Dragonmark emblazoned on the excoriate’s skin is forcibly removed from their body – permanently.

In circumstances where removal of the offender’s Dragonmark is deemed necessary, the houses rely on the services of the Effacers. This secret organization ensures that family allegiances and emotional ties don’t interfere with the edict of the Dragonmarked house. The Effacers have perfected their craft over the years and perform their task as swiftly and as humanely as possible.

Should a Dragonmark be removed by traditional (and excruciatingly painful) means, the mark will manifest itself somewhere else on the excoriate’s body. This causes the excoriate a tremendous amount of physical pain and puts the house right back in the same position it was in when they started. By using various techniques (arcane, divine, primal and psychic) the Effacers ensure that when they remove a Dragonmark it does not manifest again on that person.

The Effacers rarely collect coin for their services, preferring instead to collect favours from Dragonmarked houses. When the favour is redeemed the Dragonmarked houses always comply with the request, no matter how outrageous. After all, the Effacers know the identities (and likely the current whereabouts) of former members of the Dragonmarked house. Members the house does not want anyone else to know about.

Adventuring Hooks

• A PC with ties to a Dragonmarked house is approached by an excoriate. The disgraced member of the house seeks revenge against the Effacer who robbed them of their birthright.
• A PC is asked to join the Effacers and the first task is to track down a renegade member of a Dragonmarked house. When captured, the PC will be initiated by participating in their first ritual to remove a Dragonmark.
• A Dragonmarked PC is wrongfully disgraced within his own house and is sentenced to excoriation. He must avoid capture and prevent the Effacers from removing his Dragonmark.

The Drakes

True Dragonmarks only manifest on those of carefully groomed bloodlines. Those who possess Dragonmarks are treated like royalty within their own house and are immediately accepted into the upper echelons of most societies. The Dragonmark also gives its possessor some minor magical ability.

To say that people are envious of the Dragonmarked heirs is an understatement. There are people who would give anything to have a true Dragonmark. And if you know where to look, the Drakes can help you manifest one for a short time.

The Drakes have the ability to craft potions that when consumed will cause the imbiber to manifest a true Dragonmark. The effect only lasts for a few minutes, but depending on the need, a few minutes is often more than enough time to accomplish one’s task.

The Dragonmarked houses deny even the possibility of a potion that can produce a true Dragonmark, even if it is only for a short time. Dragonmarks are not something that can be bottled and sold. But in this case, the houses are completely wrong. What they don’t know, nor does anyone outside of the Drakes, is that the Drakes and the Effacers are part of the same organization. The magic the Effacers use to remove the Dragonmarked flesh from house excoriates captures the power of the mark in the flesh. It is later used to create Dragonmark potions.

Because the flesh needed for the material component is so rare, the potions are difficult to come by and are quite expensive. After all, the Dragonmarked houses don’t go around excoriating members of their own house with great regularity. The Drakes know that if they are discover by the Dragonmarked houses, they will likely be exterminated. Therefore they rarely deal with new customers unless referred by someone they already know.

Dragonmark Potion (Level 15)

Level 15. 1,000 gp. Minor action. When you drink this potion you must expend a daily magic item use. The type of Dragonmark the potion causes to manifest is determined when the potion is created. The character chooses where on their body the Dragonmark manifests and it lasts until the end of the encounter. It functions in all respects as if the character had the appropriate Dragonmark feat. The potion offers no benefit to a character that already has a Dragonmark feat, even if the potion is for a different Dragonmark then the one they already possess (a character cannot possess two Dragonmarks). If a character that already has a Dragonmark feat drinks a Dragonmark potion he does not expend a daily magic item use, but the potion is wasted.

Adventuring Hooks

• One night in a crowded tavern something is slipped into a PC’s drink. When the beverage is consumed the PC manifests a visible Dragonmark attracting the wrong kind of attention.
• Only a person bearing a true Dragonmark can complete the task the PC’s are hired to do. They can try to enlist such a person or they can get a few Dragonmark potions and try it themselves. The only problem now is where to find the Drakes.

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