Author: Ameron (Derek Myers)

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave – Pre-Generated Characters

For the past four seasons of D&D Encounters, Wizards of the Coast has provided us with the same six pre-generated characters. There’s nothing wrong with theses pre-gens but they’re getting a little bit too familar. Not only that, but they don’t feature any of the new optioins from Heroes of the Feywild.

Realizing that a lot of people are looking for new pre-gens, our friend Kiel Chenier took it upon himself create a slew of new characters for use with D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave. He’s created nine new characters to choose from. The four pre-gens that highlight new classes and races from the Heroes of the Feywild are presented below. The rest of the new pre-gens are available on Kiel’s website Dungeons & Donuts.

During this season of D&D Encoutners all the PCs must choose a background establishing them from either Crystalbrook, Sildaine Forest or the city of Sybar. Each of the new pre-gens is from one of these locations. You’ll likely recognize the heroes from Sybar – three members of the famous adventuring company Acquisitions Incorporated.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

10 Adventure Hooks Found in the Library

If your character is only good at killing monsters you likely dread when the adventure leads the PCs to a library so they can perform research. That’s something best left for the smart PCs. After all, what can you possibly contribute to this situation except mayhem and grief? A creative DM can find plenty of ways to get the whole party excited the next time they find themselves dealing with books instead of monsters, and today we’ve got 10 adventure hooks to make the job even easier.

I’m actually surprised how often my own adventuring party has found themselves wading through books looking for some lost kernel of wisdom. Many DMs prefer to rely on an interesting social interaction with a wise sage or local expect to convey the information the PCs need, but leaving the heroes alone with a whole lot of books can be more fun than you might think.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Time Travel in D&D

If you’re looking for a way to pump some new life into a long-running or stagnant campaign why not make a radical change like thrusting the PCs into the past. I can already hear some of you scoffing at the idea, but in a world with magic is time travel really that unlikely?

Players get bored when they’re not challenged. Sure you can throw more powerful monsters at them but even that gets repetitive. What I’ve found is that anything that takes them out of their comfort zone is good for the game. Players don’t realize how much the success of their characters relies on the familiar. High level PCs usually have a reputation and their deeds are well-known by the community. Taking all of that away from them can have a greater effect that you might think.

Although I’ve played multiple characters in multiple campaigns over the years every camping took place in more or less the same time period. In established worlds like Forgotten Realms or Eberron, keeping the action in line with cannon allowed us to interact with well-known NPCs and work elements from new releases into our games. Even though I played in numerous campaigns set in the Realms during my high school years they all happened simultaneously.

Now fast forward your campaign setting 50 years. Assuming there wasn’t a cataclysmic disaster (like the Spell Plague) and things progressed without any significant interference, what changes do you think happened to the world and the people in it during that time. Just think of how much things have change in the last 50 years in real life and imagine the kinds of change that will come in the next 50.

So in a world with magic what do you think their future will look like? How technologically or magically advanced to you think your campaign world will become in the next 50 years? A more important question is how much has your campaign world advanced over the last 50 years? While contemplating that brain teaser think about how your PCs would react if they found themselves thrust back into that time.

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan – Round-Up

There are only two weeks left before Forge of the Dawn Titan is replaced with Talon of Umberlee. I assume that most players who are interested in trying Lair Assault have done so at least once by now. I’ve had the pleasure of running it five times and playing it twice and I think that every time was more fun than the last.

Anyone looking for tips or hints on how to make their Lair Assault experience better should have no trouble finding plenty of articles online. In fact we’ve got plenty of useful links at the end of this article that you may find useful. But what you might find even more useful are the actual play experiences of those who have gone before you. So today I’m sharing seven podcasts of my experience with Forge of the Dawn Titan.

I’d like to draw special attention to session 6 which features the Dungeon’s Master creative team. This is your chance to hear us play D&D and get a sense of the camaraderie between this tight-knit group of friends.

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D&D Encounters Editorial

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter – Report Card

Another season of D&D Encounter has ended. I for one had a great time playing through the adventure. But that’s not to say there weren’t areas that could use some improvement. As I’ve done after the other seasons of D&D Encounters I’ll go through what I felt were the high and low points of the adventure and the D&D Encounters program making judgment and singing the praises. I encourage you to share your thoughts and feelings on how season 6 went at your FLGS whether you agree or disagree with my take on things.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

8 Adventure Hooks for Campaigns on the High Seas

Adventures that take place on the high seas (or at least on a ship) and feature pirates seem to be very popular these days. When we posted the preview of Lair Assault: Talon of Umberlee last week it generated a lot of excitement – in large part because of its pirate theme. There’s just something about an adventure that takes place on a pirate ship that appeals to so many D&D players. I know that when I first saw the Pirates of the Caribbean movies I immediately started thinking about how to shift my existing D&D camping onto the high seas. The question was how to make that transition?

If you find yourself in a similar situation and you’re looking for a way to get your heroes involved in an adventure at sea than we’ve got just what you need. Below are 8 adventure hooks for campaigns on the high seas. These adventure hooks are easy to work into any game whether you’re already immersed in a campaign on the high seas or you’re looking for a jumping off point. Use them as presented or tweak them as necessary to better suit your needs.

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DM Resources Player Resources

You Make the Call – Questions About Rules (Part 1)

Every now and then a situation arises during game play that we’re not sure how to adjudicate. This kind of thing happens much less frequently now that we’re familiar with the 4e rules, but it does still happen. In our experience it’s better for the DM to make a quick ruling and keep the game moving foreword, and most time this is how we handle these unusual situations at my game table. However, we pride ourselves on knowing the rules inside out so when we have something unexpected come up and we don’t know the answer we see it as a challenge and after the game’s over we start digging.

When trying to find the right answer we of course begin by searching in the PHB, DMG, Rules Compendium or online compendium. If we can find a definitive ruling we go to the internet and the various forums. But this doesn’t always provide us with a satisfactory answer either. So we’ve decided to try a new series where we present the situation, explain our ruling and ask for your feedback. This might end up being a very informative series that clears up a lot of confusion for players and DMs alike or it may become a series where we get flamed by the online community for not knowing something obvious. We’re hoping that the good outweighs the bad so we’ve moving forward with it.

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Player Resources

Characters with Secret Identities

Normally D&D characters are glory hounds. They’re always looking to make a name for themselves. When they accomplish something noteworthy they usually go to great lengths to ensure that everyone knows it. The proudly wear their magical armor and make no attempt to hide the magical weapon hanging at their hip or strung over their back. For most characters, level advancement is synonymous with fame. The greater your reputation the more likely you are to take on better paying assignments with more danger and even greater chances for glory.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with this approach. After all this is what almost all adventurers do, but there is something to be said for keeping a low profile. Certainly most adventuring parties have learned this over time and have likely even had an adventure or two where they needed to conceal their true identity. But what if this was the way your party operated all the time. Think about it. There are considerable advantages to anonymity. Think of what you can do if there is no chance that anyone can tie the deeds to your PCs?

I’m not suggesting that your character don a mask and go on a killing spree; quite the opposite in fact. I’m thinking of all the potential good that can be accomplished by keeping your identity secret, not to mention the fantastic role-playing opportunities that arise from having a dual identity.

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Player Resources

It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Talon of Umberlee

If you thought the first Lair Assault was good wait until you have a chance to play the latest offering from Wizards of the Coast. I thought that they’d set the bar incredibly high with Forge of the Dawn Titan but it looks like Talon of Umberlee is every bit as good, if not better.

For those of you not familiar with Lair Assault let me enlighten you. Wizards of the Coast is touting this public-play series as a way to challenge the most hard-core D&D players. Lair Assault pits the DM against the players like never before. The adventure is designed to be more challenging than any D&D game you’ve ever played. Over 80% of parties are expected to fail the first time though.

The new season of Lair Assault begins on December 1 and runs until the end of February.

There are a few general and very obvious differences between Talon of Umberlee and Forge of the Dawn Titan. Read on to find out more.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 14)

The Lost Crown of Neverwinter rolled off Seldra’s head as she collapsed. “My Gods, what have I done?” she asked as she looked around at the damage to the town square. This was the scene after last week’s exciting encounter. The party defeated the False Heir/Seldra and she surrendered. The White Dragon was only minutes away from freedom.

For the third week in a row we had exactly the same players present. The continuity leading into the final encounter made things a lot more interesting and a lot more exciting for everyone. The party consisted of a Gnome Bladesinger, Tiefling Battlemind, Warforged Druid, Goliath Fighter (Battlerager), Human Cleric, and Human Wizard (Enchanter).

While the heroes caught their breath, they kept an eye on the emerging dragon. It was still encased in stone, but would be free soon. They took a few minutes while resting to speak with Seldra and tried to figure out what was really going on.

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