Month in Review: September 2012

In September I officially became a professional gamer as I had two articles published in Dungeon Magazine. At the same time my home gaming group decided that we needed a short break from D&D so we’ve been trying out other board games and RPGs. I’ve realized that by taking a step back it’s provided new perspective which is serving as a great source of inspiration.

In September we borrowed from Doctor Who and Dresden Files to come up with articles on New Initiative and Collaborative Dungeon Design. Who knows what October will bring?

Last month we continued to focus heavily on D&D public play with our preview of the new Lair Assault: Kill the Wizard, and weekly coverage of D&D Encounters: Council of Spiders. Even if you’re not actively playing D&D Encounters you should check out our actual-play podcast and our weekly show “Recounting Encounters” in which we dissect each week’s session.

We’d like to thank everyone who visited Dungeon’s Master in September. Please leave us your comments and let us know what you think. We welcome your feedback, opinions and questions. I also encourage you to follow me on Twitter (@ameron_dm).

Highlights

Dungeon Magazine

• 5 Adventure Hooks: Happy Birthday – Wimwick and I both celebrated our birthdays in September and to mark the occasion we put together some birthday-themed adventure hooks.
• Collaborative Dungeon Design – Drawing inspiration from the Dresden Files RPG city creation process, we look at creating a D&D dungeon in much the same way.
• D&D Encounters Map Gallery – When you need a good map for a random encounter or a pivotal point in your campaign you can draw inspiration from the maps provided for every season of D&D Encounters.
• The New Initiative – Talk then Fight – Don’t let the fast-acting strikers ruin a good chance at diplomacy, try using two initiatives to let the talkers defuse the situation (much like it’s done in the Doctor Who RPG).

Player Resources

• It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Kill the Wizard – In this Lair Assault the PCs play a villainous Drow strike team that ventures to the surface to stop an Elvin Wizard from unleashing a weapon designed to exterminate the dark elves.

D&D Encounters

Season 10 of D&D Encounters, the second of three Drow-themed adventures, hit its stride in September as the PCs face off against the Council of Spiders.

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: Council of Spiders (Week 2)
• D&D Encounters: Council of Spiders (Week 3)
• D&D Encounters: Council of Spiders (Week 4)
• D&D Encounters: Council of Spiders (Week 5)

A Look Ahead

In October gaming bloggers and Wizards of the Coast use Halloween as an excuse to feature undead and other scary monsters. We’re going to do the same in October with articles on how to keep undead fresh in your campaign (pun intended), a look at why intelligent undead seek such transformation, and undead of different races.

We’ll look at solo adventuring that requires your full party, the value of treasure maps, and a few ways to inject some humour to your adventuring group. I’ll also be sharing details about my Dungeon articles, as mentioned above.

And of course we’ll have weekly D&D Encounters coverage of Council of Spiders and a sneak preview of season 11. October sounds like it’s going to be a very busy and exciting month here at Dungeon’s Master so be sure to visit frequently.

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