Author: Ameron (Derek Myers)

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 4)

After getting their butts kicked by a bunch of drunken teenagers last week, the heroes accepted General Sabine’s invitation to meet with Lord Nevermember at the Hall of Justice. The wounded adventurers healed up during the ferry ride across the river before arriving at the Hall. Once there they were escorted to a room where lavish food and beverages were laid out, awaiting their arrival. Inside the room was someone the party had never met before.

The heroes introduced themselves to this stranger; the party consisting of a Kalashtar Psion, Human Cleric, Human Fighter and Eladrin Avenger. The stranger introduced himself as a Deva Wizard (Necromancer) and said he’d been summoned to meet with Lord Nevermember, just like the PCs. The five PCs exchanged niceties and explained who they were and what they they’d been up to over the past couple of weeks.

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Month in Review

Month in Review: August 2011

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.

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Player Resources

It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan

If you’d asked me yesterday what my favourite D&D product was I would have really struggled to give you an answer. Today I can answer you immediately – Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan. This adventure is awesome! I’m even going to go so far as to say that it’s one of the best 4e D&D products released so far. Yes, I believe it’s that good.

I don’t want to ruin anyone’s first time though the adventure so I’m not going to reveal any spoilers. Instead I’m going to share things that the players will learn as soon as they sit down at the gaming table, as well as my thoughts on some of the more interesting aspects of the adventure.

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DM Resources

Campaigns Set in One Location

It’s hard to imagine a D&D adventure that doesn’t involve travel. Most PCs have a back-story that involves them leaving home in order to see the word and seek adventures. Who wants to stay in one location when there’s a whole world of excitement out there? If you do it right, there could be plenty of characters who are very content and even excited to stay in one place.

Location, Location, Location

In order for a campaign set in one location to really work the setting has to be interesting. I’ve participated in two campaigns that were set in one location. Once the setting was a lavish Tavern/Inn called the Sun & Moon, the other was set on board a pirate ship. In both cases the locations were as much a character as the other NPCs.

The Sun & Moon Tavern was a large structure that was more than just a taproom and a few rooms for rent. It also included a small theater, a courtyard garden, and even a Wizard’s tower. The setting varied enough that the PCs never got bored hanging around.

The adventure on the ship brought its own excitement. The ship itself was interesting, but the fact that it was a vehicle meant that we could stop at various ports whenever the plot called for it. But even so, the majority of the adventuring took place on the ship, at sea, and usually involved ship-to-ship battles or combat against giant solo monsters.

Just think of your favourite sit-com, and chances are it takes place in only one location. Most take place entirely on one or two sets and these are usually part of the same building. The fact that most of the action involving the principle cast happens in one place rarely hurts the show. Some of the most popular and longest running shows took place in only one or two locations (e.g., All In The Family, Cheers, Gilligan’s Island, Two and a Half Men, and Night Court).

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DM Resources

Let The PCs Plan The Next Party Vacation

What do PCs do after they reach the climatic ending of their latest adventure? Simple, they go on vacation. At least that’s what I assume a lot of PCs do. After all, even an adventurer needs a vacation every now and then.

We rarely play out the parts of the adventurers’ lives when they’re not adventuring. And why would we, it’s probably boring and dull, but that doesn’t have to be the case; especially if the adventurers stay together during their down time. Depending on what the party has accomplished, and the positive or negative reputation they’ve acquired because of it, they may find it beneficial to remain in each other’s company between adventures. After all, if they’ve made powerful enemies then letting everyone go their separate ways with the intent of dropping their guard and relaxing for a few days could be the last thing they ever do. By sticking together the party can afford to let their guard down and relax because they know that if things get ugly for any reason the rest of their crew is nearby to help them out.

Now assuming that your party is made up of adventures of different races, classes, and form different geographic regions, how do they all agree on a place to go when they’re not working? Easy, they take turns deciding. Leaving this kind of choice in the hands of the players could present an excellent opportunity to turn a vacation into an interesting adventure.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 3)

It’s been 10 days since the heroes defeated the spellplauge-infected White Dragon along side the Lost Heir of Neverwinter. Since then the PCs have each pursued their own sources of information and tried to learn more about this mysterious stranger. Tonight they agreed to meet at the Beached Leviathan, a local tavern, to share what they’d learned and to possibly find out more about the rapidly shifting politics in Neverwinter.

During the first week of this season I ran my table through encounters 1 and 2 back-to-back. Rather than take week 2 off and let the other players catch up the guys at my table decided that they wanted to push forward another week and stay ahead of the crowd. However, as game time approached two players who did the double session didn’t show. The remaining three guys had to decide if they wanted to proceed short handed, play the week 2 encounter again or head home. They all decided to push on.

Fortunately a player who missed week 1 decided that he’d rather start at the beginning of a new chapter than join the other group in fighting the Dragon. So the party rounded out with four PCs and we pushed on and played the week 3 encounter last week. The party composition ended up being the Human Fighter, Human Cleric (War Priest) and Eladrin Avenger from the previous two weeks. The new party member decided to play the Valenae, the pre-generated Eladrin Cleric.

Support for the Lost Heir grew considerably over the past week. There were more and more attacks by plague-changed creatures within the Protector’s Enclave, a supposedly safe area, and each time the Lost Heir arrived on the scene to defeat the creatures. The Sons of Alagondar, a group of rebels who oppose Nevermember, have thrown their support behind the Lost Heir. Residents and shop owners are being forced to choose sides. Those who remain loyal to the Nevermember, the Lord Protector, have become the victims of ridicule, harassment and vandalism.

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DM Resources

The End Is The Beginning

One of the great things about role-playing games is that they are a shared story-telling experience. No matter what the DM might have plotted out as a story arc, as soon as the players get their characters into the action things are going to change. This is an expected part of the experience. The outcome is not set (although it’s a pretty good bet that the heroes will be victorious). But what if the players and DM set the end before the game ever begins?

Imagine that five players and a DM get together to begin a new level 1 campaign. Before anyone talks about character concepts or story ideas, the DM begins with the end. He gives a very high-level overview of how he sees that campaign ending at epic level. The players are then encouraged to help shape this final battle. They each get to talk about their character (the ones they’re about to create) and how they see these characters participating.

Before anyone even opens character builder or fills out a character sheet, this final epic battle is described in great detail. The heroes save the world and defeat the evil on the very first night. Now they’re ready to begin.

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Class Discussions Player Resources

Band of Brothers: Adventuring Parties of the Same Race

In the upcoming Lair Assault public play adventure series Wizards is introducing “Glory,” a new achievement system where players earn points for accomplishing different goals. However, not all Glory is earned for defeating the monsters. In order to encourage repeat play they’re awarding Glory for trying things you might not normally consider trying – one such scenario is playing a party where everyone is the same race.

Have you ever played in a party where everyone was the same race? Normally, when you’re creating a character you can choose from any race or class that interests you; the sky’s the limit. What this usually means is that the party ends up with five PCs each representing different races and classes, and that’s ok. In fact it’s practically expected. A party where everyone’s the same race is an anomaly in D&D. But after hearing that Wizards would reward players with special Glory for trying this unusual party make-up I started considering just what such a party might look like. The more I thought about it the more excited I got about where this might lead.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 2)

Last week’s encounter not only set the stage for what is going to be a fantastic season of D&D Encounters, but it ended with a great cliff-hanger. The PCs managed to defeat the drakes and plague-changed maniacs with some assistance from a mysterious stranger wearing the Lost Crown of Neverwinter and called the king by onlookers. Before the heroes could ask questions of the so-called king, a large White Dragon wreathed in blue fire (and clearly infected by the Spellplague) landed in the market square in the Protector’s Enclave.

Knowing that this encounter would likely be completed quickly, we actually ran it back-to-back with last week’s encounter, so our party remained unchanged from week 1. At my table was a Human Fighter, Human Cleric (War Priest), Eladrin Avenger, Dwarf Slayer (Fargrim) and Drow Ranger (Belgos). Three of the players were D&D Encounters regulars with plenty of gaming experience where as the other two players were new to both D&D Encounters and 4e D&D and used pre-generated characters.

The Lost Heir (the man wearing the Crown of Neverwinter) stepped forward and locked eyes with the Dragon, memorizing it as a snake charmer would a mighty asp. The heroes quickly caught their breath following the last fight (short rest) and then prepared to battle the mighty wyrm.

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DM Resources

Incremental Encounters

A typical encounter has five PCs facing off against five equally powerful monsters and everything happens simultaneously. But what if the encounter was broken down into five incremental steps, each step representing one monster, and the outcome of each step determined the threat level of the step to follow?

Before diving into this scenario let’s not overlook skill challenges. What if, instead of automatically using five monsters, the DM used five complexity 1 skill challenges, or even a combination of five monsters and skill challenges? Assuming that monsters and skill challenges can be used interchangeably to create balanced and satisfying encounters, is this kind of incremental encounter viable? Absolutely.

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