In October we returned to our roots and wrote about skill challenges… a lot. We looked at ways to make skill challenges more exciting and we provided new skill challenges for your campaign. We made sure that you knew what was going on with changes to LFR, provided an adventuring hook that generated a lot of discussion, looked back at the history of D&D computer games and forward to Neverwinter, and covered weeks 3-6 of D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands.
Thanks to everyone who visited us during October and we hope that you keep visiting us in November. We welcome your feedback and appreciate it when you leave your comments. If you missed any of the great stuff we published in October then this is your chance to get caught up.
Highlights
Skill Challenges and Skill Aides
Dungeon’s Master has always been one of the best online resources for skill challenges. In October we added to our skill challenge archive with new articles on how to run skill challenges, as well as offering a couple of skill challenges ready to use in your existing campaign. Check out our extensive Skill Challenge archive by clicking on the Skill Challenges tab at the top of the page.
- Inside Out Skill Challenge
- Making Boring Skill Challenges More Exciting
- Knowledge is Power (Part 2)
- The Challenges Of War: Large Scale Battles
- Skill Challenge: The Revolving Door
D&D Encounters
Our weekly write-ups of D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands, A Season of Serpents continued throughout October. A big thanks to Lahrs (Rob Quinton) for sharing his group’s week 6 experiences while Ameron was on vacation.
- D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 3)
- D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 4)
- D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 5)
- D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 6)
Player Resources
- Some feats are so important that every PCs should have them; or at least that’s what Wimwick thinks as he shares his thoughts on 16 Feats Worth Selecting.
- Wimwick looked back at The History of Dungeons & Dragons Computer Games compiling a massive list spanning the past 25 years. He then looked forward and provided his initial thoughts on the good and the bad facing all those who will Play Neverwinter.
- We released the first three Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts including an interview with the DM and the first five hours of play.
- Our only Eberron article in October was a review of Paul Crilley’s latest novel, Taint of the Black Brigade.
Living Forgotten Realms (LFR)
With the release of D&D Essentials, LFR is undergoing changes in a big way. The community Admins are doing their best to include everyone in the redesign process providing full disclosure and asking for your input. We highlighted the announced changes and weighed in with our thoughts.
- Will D&D Essentials Ruin LFR?
- More LFR Changes – Level Bands and Encounters Levels
- Zeroing in on Magic Item Changes for LFR
DM Resources
- Adventure Hook: The Metamorphosis Curse – In this hook players are transformed into new races and forced to deal with the consequences. Some felt this was a great way to allow players to try new races without abandoning their current characters while others though it was too much like punishment. Weigh in on the discussion and leave your comments.
- Putting Some Fairy In Your Tale – The next time you’re looking for inspiration try turning to some children’s classics.
A Look Ahead
In November we’ll continue our resurgence on skill challenges with more examples that you can drop into your game as well as revisions to some of our classics currently available in our skill challenge archives. Our delve into the Tomb of Horrors continues with more actual play podcasts coming throughout the month. The players and the DM will share their thoughts on the campaign including our thoughts on why this adventure remains one of the most popular in all of D&D. We’ll be looking at alignment in 4e D&D with a special focus on chaotic on Guy Fawkes Day (November 5). In the Dungeon’s Master 500th post – coming later this week – the Fortune 500 gets a D&D makeover as we look at extreme wealth in D&D. And of course on Thursdays you’ll continue getting recaps of the previous evening’s D&D Encounters session. As always we welcome your input, comments and suggestions. If there’s a particular topic you’d like us to write about or if you have an idea for an article, please leave us a comment below or email us directly.
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