August was a great moth for gamers and for us here at Dungeon’s Master. The month began with another fantastic GenCon. Following the Con we shared some of the things we saw (good and bad) including previews of D&D Encounters, Lair Assault and the D&D Open Championship. We also received a shout out from Bart Carroll on the Wizard of the Coast website in his August 17 article A Look Back at Gen Con.
In August we continued narrowing the list of best feats in 4e (voting is still open), we looked at playing in a party where everyone is the same race, and we shared more of the antics from D&D camp. Our critique of 4e D&D and our speculation of what might be in store for 5e D&D also generated a lot of excellent discussion. August we saw the conclusion of D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard and the beginning of D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter.
If you missed any of the great articles from August, this is your change to get caught up. We want to thank everyone who visited Dungeon’s master in August and hope that you continue to visit our website everyday in September. We always welcome your comments and feedback so don’t be shy.
Highlights
DM Resources
- Campaigns Set in One Location – There’s no need to travel across the country in search of adventure when there are many interesting locations that can contain an entire campaign.
- The End Is The Beginning – Showing the players how their campaign might (or will) end can set a very positive tone for the entire campaign to come.
- The Future of Dungeons & Dragons – Part 1 | Part 2 – Wimwick begins by running 4e D&D through a skill challenge as he critiques what’s working and what’s not before he speculates on what 5e D&D might look like and where there’s room for improvement.
- Incremental Encounters – Let the party’s successes and failures determine the difficulty of subsequent encounters.
Player Resources
- Band of Brothers: Adventuring Parties of the Same Race – Inspired by one of the glory awards in the upcoming Lair Assault we look at some examples of adventuring parties made up of only one race.
- Let The PCs Plan The Next Party Vacation – In most cases little time is spent describing or playing out the events that happen between adventures, but if the players are encouraged to plan the next vacation things might be a lot more exciting.
- More Confessions of a D&D Camp Councilor: Year II – Bauxtehude shares more tales from his second year at D&D Camp.
- What are the Best Feats? Final Round, Vote Now! – You narrowed the list down to the 10 best feats in 4e D&D. Voting continues while we determine the best of the best.
D&D Encounters and Lair Assault
Visit the Dungeon’s Master D&D Encounters Archive for all of our ongoing weekly coverage as well as other great D&D Encounters articles and resources.
D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard
- D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard (Week 13) – The adventure comes to an end as the heroes battle Vontarin’s ghost and attempt to break Evard’s curse once and for all.
D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter
Set in the Neverwinter, season 6 of D&D Encounters has the heroes returning to the Forgotten Realms where they find themselves swept up in a civil war between the Lord Protector Nevermember and a mysterious stranger called the Lost Heir wearing the Lost Crown of Neverwinter.
- D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter – Preview
- D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 1)
- D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 2)
- D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 3)
Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan
The newest public-play event from Wizards of the Coast begins in September and we have two preview articles to raise awareness and excitement.
- Sneak Preview – Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan and D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave
- It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan
GenCon 2011
- In Anticipation of GenCon: Skill Challenge, Road Trip to GenCon – We share an article from our archives and hope that your trip to GenCon this summer was as much fun as the Con itself.
- 7 Reasons Why I’d Rather Be At GenCon – Wimwick tries to make the best of a bad situation as he stayed behind and the rest of us played games in Indianapolis.
- The 2011 D&D Open Championship – Although we didn’t make the finals, I was able to get a pretty good account of the entire adventure from a very forthcoming DM.
- 7 Appalling Things I Witnessed at the Gaming Table – Some behaviour is inexcusable at the gaming table and I regrettably witnessed a few first hand while at GenCon this summer.
Eberron
The Eberron tab at the top of the page provides easy access to all of our Eberron resources.
- Secrets of Eberron Revealed (Part 12) – If you thought there was a lot of excitement and adventure on the surface of Khorvaire, wait until you learn about the underwater metropolis called Madidus.
A Look Ahead
In September Lair Assault is set to make its debut at your FLGS. I’m predicting that this will be all the rave in the D&D community over the next month. As we have an opportunity to play Forge of the Dawn Titan ourselves we’ll be sure to provide you with more insights and possibly even a few actual play podcasts. I suspect that we’ll see a lot of very interesting and optimized characters played at Lair Assault which will no doubt lead us to write about character creation in the coming month. We’ll still continue to bring you weekly field reports on D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter and more actual play podcasts of those experiences as well.
Also in September we look forward to welcoming a new member to the Dungeon’s Master writing team so be sure to visit every day in and see what we’re writing about next.
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