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Humour Top 10

7 Appalling Things I Witnessed at the Gaming Table

While at GenCon I played in my share of D&D adventures. For the most part it was a lot of fun and I had a great time playing. But one thing that really stood out for me a lot more this year than any other was the egregiousness with witch other players violated the social contract you agree to uphold when playing D&D or any RPG.

I’ve put together a list of all the social faux pas and violations of the social contract that actually happened at my gaming table during GenCon. I encourage you to use the comments section below to add violations you witnessed at your gaming tables to this list. Maybe if we put them in print enough gamers will read them and hopefully stop doing them or at least realize that these actions aren’t acceptable.

I’ll admit that I’m actually guilty of a committing a couple of these myself, but when I do I am aware that it’s a problem and I apologize to the table. Regrettably when these happened at my table during GenCon none of the offenders excused their behaviour because they likely didn’t even realize that they what they were doing was extremely uncool.

Categories
Humour

7 Reasons Why I’d Rather Be At GenCon

If you’re like me you were left behind. Unable to attend the experience that is GenCon. Sadly I had to give the pilgrimage to Indy a pass this year. So to all my fellow gamers who were also left behind I present a list of 7 reasons why I’d rather be at GenCon. This should serve as motivation to ensure we all make the trip next year.

Until then read on…

Categories
Humour Skill Challenges

In Anticipation of GenCon: Skill Challenge, Road Trip to GenCon

GenCon, is only two days away. This means that some time in the next 48 hours gamers all over Canada and the U.S.A. will pack up the car and head to Indianapolis. Last year Wimwick and I were among those driving (a trip that was 9 hours in each direction). This year I’m on my own so I opted to travel by plane. However, knowing that thousands of you will be on the highways I felt that rerunning this skill challenge was appropriate.

Remember that getting there is half the fun. In that sprit we put together a skill challenge before last year’s trip. We succeeded with flying colours, but Wimwick did accumulate a few automatic failures in the “He who smelt it…” part of the skill challenge. Print a copy of this sill challenge and bring it with you to help make things more exciting in anticipation of GenCon. Enjoy.

Categories
Humour

Magic Items That Aren’t Magical – April Fools!

Too often we take D&D too seriously. That’s not to say that funny things don’t happen during the course of an adventure, but when it comes to the rules and the mechanics of the game it’s usually all business.

Today, in honour of April Fool’s Day we’re taking a step back and adding a little bit of humour to one of the more serious aspects of the game – magic treasure.

As we’ve discussed before, the way the players describe their magical items is certainly not the way that their characters describe their items (see What’s a +1 Sword?). With that in mind, every now and then the DM should have some fun at the player’s expense. This isn’t intended to be mean spirited; it’s merely a way for the DM to inject some hilarity into the game by exploiting player greed.

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Editorial Humour

Greatest Hits 2010: Confessions of a D&D Camp Councilor

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2010. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

Ahhhh! The off season. It has been months since I hung up the dice bag and folded up my poster maps, but when the boys at Dungeon’s Master asked me to reflect on my time as a D&D camp councillor I couldn’t resist.

The most important lesson I learned playing D&D with kids was that no matter where you go, people are people. When I started up the Shattered Sea there was a 20 year spread between my oldest and youngest player but I thought nothing of it because I could remember a time when I was still in high school, and I could relate to working 9 to 5 jobs to help provide for someone I cared about. When I got to D&D camp I didn’t know how things were going to go. In talking to my coworkers I was told some of the age old ticks to fill for time and how to prepare quick and dirty campaigns. I needed to run a new story-arc every week and at some point they expected the well to run dry. Instead of doing as suggested, I realized that children have no mercy and if I was going to make it through each day I really had to run my best stuff.

What ended up happening was that the kids at my table went through the same growing pains of picking up my style of DMing and each kid’s playing style that my own adult players did. I encountered the same gamut of interests I found at home. There were kids who where there to just have fun, there were kids who knew the rules inside out on day one, as well as kids who wanted to kill the big bad guy just like in every movie they have ever seen. As I spun my tales at the table the kids of course would never pick up on the sources I was pulling from simply because they had spent fewer years on this earth than I had. At the end of the day I couldn’t get away with bad writing at camp anymore than I could at my home game. I saw the same social problems in my campers that I had seen in people of all ages all my life. I will admit that they kids did have an extraordinary penchant for cheating, something I won’t try to account for.

Bring your A-Ggme DMs, no mater what game you run and no matter who it’s for because every time you roll dice it’s a chance to improve your self as a DM. Moreover it’s a chance for you to better understand the people around you, because at the end of the day, people are people no matter where you go. As you read the account try to place the players at your own table in the seats that my campers took at mine. I think you wont find the exercise too much of a stretch. R.I.P. Stealth Phoenix, I’ll never forget you.

Categories
Humour

Dungeon’s Master Presents: Christmas with the Gamer

Today Dungeon’s Master presents a D&D, holiday-themed tale based in part on real events that happened in Ameron’s household over the holidays. Merry Christmas.

I’d rather be playing D&D. But it’s Christmas and my family is coming over for a big holiday dinner. So I’m forced to settle for the banality known as real life for the next few hours.

I lumber downstairs from my bedroom, making no effort to be stealthy. Anyone in the living room or kitchen with a half-way decent passive perception knows I’m on my way. As a triggered action when I reach the bottom of the staircase my mother, the controller, starts giving me orders. I have to clean the basement, playfully called the dungeon, before company arrives.

As I pass by the living room I notice my father watching football. My dad is the epitome of the Warlord class. He’s a generous leader who constantly gives up his actions to let other act in his place. Whether that action is taking out the trash, cleaning the basement, or mowing the lawn, he’s always been very generous and giving. He’s just that kind of guy. Even when my mother asks him to do something he takes advantage of his class features to give up his action and let someone else do twice as much on their turn.

Categories
Humour

Achievement Rewards Are Coming To D&D

Breaking news! As you already know Player Rewards are being eliminated from organized D&D game play at the end of 2010. The big question is what’s replacing it? Today we have the answer. A reliable source (who has asked to remain anonymous) provided the Dungeon’s Master team with some specific details. Today we’re sharing everything we have and asking you to weigh in with you thoughts on these upcoming changes.

Achievements are on the horizon for 4e Dungeons & Dragons. The new achievement system is officially launching in January 2011. One of the lead developers of the achievement system had this to say about it.

“The new achievement system is going to shine; we can’t wait to reveal it to our fans. Giving players tangible goals to achieve while playing D&D, aside from killing orcs and ruining the well laid plans of DMs, achievements are going to enhance and change the way the game is played forever! I just wish I could say more, but I’ve already said too much!”

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Humour Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Road Trip to GenCon

Tomorrow Wimwick and I undertake the 9-hour drive from Toronto to Indianapolis for GenCon. Knowing that many of our readers will be in exactly the same predicament we decided to put together a GenCon Road Trip skill challenge to mark the occasion.

Setup

You pack up the car for the long, arduous road trip to GenCon. The question isn’t if you’re going to get there but when you’re going to get there. The more successes you accumulate in the skill challenge will determine how quick and painless the journey is. No matter what obstacles you might endure along the way, it’s all worth it to get to GenCon.

Categories
Editorial Humour

More Confessions of a D&D Camp Counselor

This week I’m going to share more of my experiences from D&D camp, but I’m going to focus on the things that I learned from the kids and offer some advice for getting younger people into D&D. See last week’s Confessions of a D&D Camp Counselor for an introduction to D&D Camp.

I was really proud of my kids this week. I was fortunate to have four of the six kids I worked with the previous week and two new kids who were very clever and eager. Since I knew the kids a little better I decided that I should branch the programming out a bit. So in addition to playing D&D we did 3D paper craft dungeons and monsters, monster building and a LARP (live action role-playing game).

Categories
Editorial Humour

Confessions of a D&D Camp Counselor

I have a great job, I’m a counselor at D&D camp, which is to say that I have the best job ever. I don’t mean to gloat, but my time as a D&D counselor has been incredibly enjoyable and I’m sure if you read along you’ll share in the fun of the last week.

Before camp began, I spent a week learning about how to spot child abuse (very important!) and care for kids. Before I met the kids I went over to the camp director’s house in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Myself and the other counselors met up and we played some D&D; I taught the old schoolers how to play 4e, while the director of the camp gave me a refresher on how to play 3.5e. After four hours of being paid to play D&D and think up campaign ideas it was time to get ready for the first day of camp.