Month: October 2011

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DM Resources Player Resources

7 Halloween-Themed Articles

"Zombies Playing D&D" by Mandi Tremblay
"Zombies Playing D&D" by Mandi Tremblay

Every year around this time DMs are inspired by Halloween and PCs find themselves facing off against skeletons, zombies, vampires and werewolves. Campaigns become darker as the DM taps into the fear associated with Halloween. But creating something original can be more challenging than many DMs realize. In order to help, we’ve combed through our archives and found 7 articles that we think will help DMs add that Halloween flavour to their campaign without just rehashing the same things you’ve done year in and year out.

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DM Resources

Let Monsters Use the Treasure

DM – With that final blow the evil Warlord falls. You’ve defeated him and saved the village from his ruthlessness and cruelty. Well done.

Player – I search his body. Does he have anything good on him?

DM – As a matter of fact he does. Let’s see… he has a few potions, some gp and a +3 flaming weapon.

Player – Really? He has a flaming weapon? I wonder why he didn’t use it when he fought us.

How often have you found yourself in a situation similar to this one? You fight a bunch of monsters, search their treasure horde after the battle’s over, and find a bunch of stuff that the monsters could have – but didn’t – use in the fight against the party. Regrettably I find this happens way too often.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 12)

This week’s encounter was different than any we’ve had before in the D&D Encounters program. Rather than having just one combat encounter level-appropriate for the PCs, there were two smaller combat encounters without a short rest in between. I think this kind of surprise is good for the players and reminds them that things aren’t going to follow the same formula every single time they sit down to play D&D. In my home game we actually do this a lot and we find it makes both combat encounters more exciting.

The number of players showing up at my FLGS keeps fluctuating between eight and 12. The last few weeks we’ve had enough people to run two tables, but this week we were back in that awkward zone where it was too few for two tables but too many for one. We ended up running one table with seven PCs. On the plus side we did have one brand new player who’d read about D&D Encounters online and decided to come out and give D&D a try for the very first time.

The party consisted of a Human Wizard (Enchanter), Warforged Druid, Human Cleric, Tiefling Battlemind, Gnome Bladesinger, Goliath Fighter (Battlerager), Drow Ranger (Belgos pre-gen).

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DM Resources

Breaking Away From Procedural Story-Telling

When you watch an episode of CSI, Law & Order, or NCIS you know that by the end of the show all the loose ends will be tied up. The villain will be captured, the conflict resolved and the story wrapped up nicely. This formula for procedural story-telling is gratifying because you know that it’s going to be self-contained. There’s rarely an expectation that you’ll need any more than a rudimentary knowledge of the story coming in and that when it’s done you can walk away satisfied that no questions were left unanswered.

D&D adventures usually follow a similar procedural approach. The DM sets the stage, introduces the conflict and the villains, and after a few encounters everything is resolved. The exception is a long-term home campaign where the DM creates a much larger story arc, but even when this is the case the stops along the way are almost always resolved as quickly as they happen.

This is not to say that procedural story-telling is a bad thing. If it’s what everyone expects and it makes all the participants happy then by all means keep doing it. But if this is the way your game has run for as long as you can remember then perhaps it’s time to leave some details unresolved. After all, real life isn’t usually anything like the procedural shows we see on TV. There are always loose ends and things left unresolved.

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DM Resources Humour

Embracing the Silly Aspects of Fantasy Gaming

Sometimes we focus so much on the serious aspects of D&D that we forget the importance of the humorous and ludicrous. This is a fantasy game in which magic is commonplace. So with that kind of framework doesn’t it seem right that there should be some outrageously silly things that are just accepted as a part of the fantastic world?

That’s not to say that things shouldn’t make sense. There needs to be some explanation for the unbelievable and the unexpected within the established framework, but the players don’t always have to take it so seriously. By throwing in a few humorous things every once and a while the players come to realize that just because they think something seems bizarre and out of place doesn’t mean that their characters feel the same way.

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Editorial

Death’s Impact in D&D

Is the fact that characters can come back from the dead a good or bad thing for the game of D&D? From a player perspective nothing sucks more than spending countless hours building up and developing a character only to have him get killed permanently. The creators of the game understand that the fun ends when the PC dies so they introduced mechanics to bring dead characters back to life.

Sometimes these mechanics are as simple as the DM waving his magic wands and the character is suddenly back in the game (which is pretty much how it works in most public-play scenarios like D&D Encounters and LFR). Sometimes the mechanic is a little bit more difficult, but not out of reach. In these cases the PCs spend the appropriate resources to have the dead character returned to life, and depending on the power-level of the campaign the PCs may even have the power to do this without any outside assistance. And then there’s the situation when an entire campaign arc revolves around getting a fallen hero resurrected. It might be a quest to get the necessary material components for a ritual or the search for an item or artifact capable of such powerful magic. The point is that death is rarely final in D&D.

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DM Resources

Curse Your Sudden, Yet Inevitable Betrayal

There is a spoken contract at my gaming table which dates all the way back to when I first started Dungeon Mastering. Characters brought to my table are a part of a story that we, being the players and I, are telling. Characters do not cease to exist while their player is absent. If you cannot make the session, arrangements can be made to either have your character elsewhere for the adventure or played by another PC for combat and the like. While playing another player’s character has been addressed already in this blog, there is another aspect to this contract which I make clear to my players.

If you are not enjoying your character, feel free to bring in a new character. If you are not having fun at my game, feel free to leave it. I will not think less of you. Your old character, though, they now belong to the story. And they will invariably die or turn evil.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 11)

The PCs awoke in the rebel hideout of the Sons of Alagondar refreshed after their extended rest and ready to face the Lost Heir. Arlon, the rebel leader, explained that although the Sons of Alagondar were at first fully supportive of the Lost Heir, they realized that their hasty decision to support him was not the best course of action. The Lost Heir is instigating violence and full out rebellion against Lord Neverember when such a radical course of action is not necessary. Arlon wants what’s best for the people of Neverwinter and the Lost Heir’s plan will only cause pain and suffering to a lot of innocent people.

Arlon asked the PCs to help him by meeting with the Lost Heir and trying to talk him out of his plan to attack the Protector’s enclave. If the Lost Heir won’t listen to reason Arlon believes that fighting him will be the only way to stop him. The PCs understood and agreed to meet with the Lost Heir.

The Sons of Alagondar blindfold the PCs and then lead them to the surface to meet with the Lost Heir. The PCs didn’t have to wait long before the Lost Heir appeared.

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DM Resources

Design Encounters That Reward Cooperative Play

D&D has always been a game where players work together to accomplish a common goal rather than compete against each other for a prize. It is a game where the DM provides a backdrop for character conflict. Players are likewise not competing against the DM. Instead everyone should collaborate to create a great story and a fun experience.

In order to provide a backdrop where players can develop their characters, we need to let go of the tendency to design encounters to challenge the party’s damage output. The story should advance by developing such themes as characters actively helping others, conquering foes, and overcoming afflictions or wounds. If we use valid rewards for contributing to a team effort this will inspire others to reciprocate.

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Player Resources

Hurry Up and Wait – A Look a Delaying and Readying Actions

Pay attention players, your spot in the initiative order is not set in stone. Players get so excited when it’s their turn all they want to do is attack. Many players forget, or don’t even know, that they can wait and hold their action whenever they want to. There’s nothing in the rules that says you must go when your turn in the initiative comes up. If more players took this to heart, combat encounters could be a lot more exciting and in some cases a lot faster.

Once combat is in full swing players should talk to each other in-character (assuming that PCs can actually hear one and other and don’t care if they’re overheard). As the battle unfolds situations will arise where some PCs will see an opportunity to shine. It might be a chance to inflict a lot of damage, it might be a chance to push an opponent off a cliff or it might be a chance for the defender to mark everyone with a close burst attack. As soon as you see this golden opportunity let everyone know. By announcing what you want to do the other players can act accordingly and delay as necessary. Remember that the party is a team, not a bunch of individuals all trying to steal the spotlight. By defeating the monsters quickly and efficiently the battle ends faster which is a win for everyone.

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