Author: Ameron (Derek Myers)

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Editorial

Ameron’s 2011 GenCon Schedule

GenCon 2011 is quickly approaching. The best four days in gaming start in just 22 days on Thursday, August 4. This year I’m making the trip to Indianapolis solo. It will be my fourth GenCon. Here’s what my schedule looks like. In addition to the events I’ve already got tickets for, I plan to try and get in on as many rounds of the Convention Delve as I can.

Dungeons & Dragons

As you know (or as you should be able to guess by now if you’re a regular reader) the majority of my schedule is filled with D&D games. I was very disappointed to learn that there was only one paragon level LFR adventure being offered this year and I was shocked that there were no epic level games on the schedule.

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Player Resources

Choosing An Epic Destiny Is Harder Than You Think

No matter what level my current character happens to be I’m always looking ahead to the next level. Usually I’m looking even farther ahead that that. Every time Wizards releases a new product – be it the next PHB, one of the Powers book, or an issues of Dragon – I scour through it to look for that next great “something” that will help my character become truly awesome. But as the characters in my regular game approach the epic tier I find that even though I’m still eagerly looking ahead at powers, feats, items and epic destinies, the criteria by which I judge those things is really beginning to change.

Usually when I look ahead I’m trying to discover the things that will help my PC the most – and when I say “help” in this context it’s always a number crunch. The feat that will give me the best attack score modifier, resistance or way out of a jam, or the power that will target the most enemies, deal the most damage or instill the most debilitating effects. It’s always a numbers game.

But as I look ahead at the epic destinies that my PC qualifies for, I find that the number crunching suddenly seems less important. Of all the criteria I’m using to decide upon which epic destiny to take for my PC, the numbers have become significantly less important. My priorities as a player have changed.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard (Week 9)

This week things began with a little bit of role-playing as the party had their first skill challenge in many weeks. The success or failure of the skill challenge had real implications on the forthcoming combat encounter. As this was the fifth and final encounter of chapter 2, the PCs were in rough shape and knew that a major climax was going to happen before the night was up. They would not be disappointed.

This week I had seven at my table. The party consisted of Jarren 1, Jarren 2, a Shardmind Bard, a Shadar-kai Vampire, a Drow Ranger, an Elven Ranger and a Goliath Warden. For the second week in a row I had a lot of younger gamers at my table. It made for a much longer and slower night, but the game was still a lot of fun.

During last week’s encounter this party did not manage to capture or kill the Dark One Shadow Bolter. He managed to escape while the PCs fought the Twig Blights. This week they spent time trying to track down the elusive archer, but had no luck. He was simply gone.

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DM Resources

What Do You Mean All My Magic Items Are Gone!

The fastest way a DM can unite all the players into wanting to do him unspeakable harm is to even suggest taking away all of their magical items. The more items they have and the more powerful each item is, the more likely that the DM would face real bodily harm for going through with this suggestion. Nothing angers players more than taking away items that they earned.

Over the many years in which I’ve played D&D one common problem I’ve faced in every edition is power creep. Nothing has changed the balance of power in my games more than magic items. As soon as one player gets something that’s a little bit better than the rest of the party, everybody else wants one too. No, want isn’t a strong enough descriptor. The rest of the players feel entitled to something just as grand. So the DM eventually gives everyone else something to bring them in line with that first player. The cycle repeats and before you know it the power level of the party is exponentially higher than it has any right being at their current level.

Better item means better attack scores, higher output and higher defenses, which means that the DM needs to throw tougher monsters at the PCs in order to challenge them. When the PCs defeat these creatures (which under normal circumstances they’d have no business fighting in the first place and would normally not have a prayer of defeating) they expect treasure commensurate with the monster’s increased level. And the cycle continues.

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Month in Review

Month in Review: June 2011

June was another great month for Dungeon’s Master as our web stats and readership numbers continue to climb thanks to you, our loyal readers. This month we hosted our first RPG Blog Carnival, and although it started slowly, we saw a lot of enthusiasm and support as the month neared completion. Our own entry nearly set a record for most visits on a single day.

In June our articles on D&D math, social issues in D&D, opportunity attacks, PCs charging PCs for services, and ways to increase role-playing all created great debate in our comments section. We also continued covering D&D Encounters and we added a video component after completing chapter 1 (which you might have seen on the Wizards of the Coast Facebook page).

Thanks to everyone who visited Dungeon’s Master throughout June. We hope you enjoyed reading the articles as much as we enjoyed writing them. Whether you only just discovered us (perhaps because of the RPG Blog Carnival) or whether you’re a long time reader, this is your chance to read (or reread) all of the articles we ran in June.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard (Week 8)

Dusk is but a few short hours away and the town of Duponde is about to once again shift into the Shadowfell. The heroes were unable to find the Wizard Nathaire, the one responsible for triggering Evard’s curse and beginning this chain of events. They headed back to town for a brief rest before night fall and were once again called upon to help defend the town from the creatures that lurk in the realm of shadows.

This week at my FLGS we ran two tables each with six players. The party at my table consisted of a Jarren 1, Jarren 2, a Drow Wizard, a Shade Assassin, a Drow Ranger and a Dragonborn Paladin. Over the past two seasons of D&D Encounters we’ve had a few younger gamers join the regular Wednesday night crew. This week the number of younger gamers increased since school is out.

Five of the six players at my table were between 11-14 years-old. Two have been playing at my table for weeks, three were first timers. As the DM I had to decide if I should change the way I was planning to run the encounter. I asked the new players if they were experienced gamers of if this was their first time playing D&D. They all assured me that they’d played many times before and were experienced gamers. With that being said I decided not to change anything and run the game as I would regardless of the average age of the players at my table.

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Editorial Player Resources

Are You Willing to Provoke an Opportunity Attack?

One of the more difficult things that new players have trouble remembering is that moving away from an opponent will draw an opportunity attack. As soon as players hear that moving their character more than one square away from an adjacent creature will result in that creature getting a free attack, all tactics that involve moving are thrown out the window. It’s almost as if they believe that drawing an attack and possibly taking the hit is the absolute worst thing that they can do on their turn.

As an experienced DM I’m going to tell you that you need to be willing to take an opportunity attack once and a while. From a mechanics point of view all opponents know as well as you do under what circumstances they’ll get to make a free attack on you. If you move away they’ll attack you as soon as your back is turned. If you try to use a ranged attack while standing next to them, they’ll see the hole in your defenses and attack you. And if you try to crawl away while prone you bet that you enemy will kick you as you scurry away.

But so what if they do? In most cases a monster’s basic attack is just that – basic. It usually is a straight up weapon attack, be it a sword or claw. Yes, it has the potential to hurt you but you need to weigh that against the value of taking the action that draws the attack in the first place.

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DM Resources

RPG Blog Carnival: Eldrick Tont – Defender of the Tiger Woods

Today Dungeon’s Master presents our contribution to this month’s RPG Blog Carnival: Memorable Characters Inspired From Real Life. The real life person, upon which my memorable character was inspired, is golf icon Tiger Woods.

Encounter Setup

The PCs seek the fabled Green Jacket. This enchanted cloth armor is awarded to the most deserving champion annually each spring. Combatants must travel to the Tiger Woods and defeat the reigning champion, Eldrick Tont. Tont accepts all challengers and is ruthless in defense of a prize he believes he rightly deserves.

The competition always takes place in the same clearing deep within the Tiger Woods. The terrain changes during each new encounter. Some areas are only covered in fine grass, while other areas have more dense foliage preventing movement and even line of sight. Some areas are completely devoid of plants, creating sandy traps and hazards. Pools of varying sizes and depths are also common obstacles that combatants must face.

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DM Resources

RPG Blog Carnival Reminder

There are only a few days left to participate in June’s RPG Blog Carnival: Memorable Characters Inspired From Real Life. The Dungeon’s Master team wants you to look to reality for gaming inspiration. Create a memorable character (hero or villain) based on a real life person and provide guidelines for how this character might be used in an RPG.

The character you create should have a clear connection to the real-life person from which they were inspired. The person can be someone from the past or present, dead or alive, hero or villain. Be creative.

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Book Reviews

Review: Gods Behaving Badly

Gods Behaving Badly
Marie Phillips

What if the gods of ancient Greek mythology lived among us? Where would they live, how would they get by, and as immortals what would they do to pass the time? In Marie Phillips’ novel, Gods Behaving Badly, she explores this possibility.

The gods no longer live upon Mount Olympus; instead they all share a run-down, dilapidated flat in one of London’s less savory neighbourhoods. They’ve been living there for hundreds of years and retain only the bare minimum of their godly powers. Aside from their immortality, they’ve become very much like regular people. They’ve even had to get jobs.

Apollo is a failed actor reduced to performing as a TV psychic (and a poor one at that). Aphrodite makes a living as a saucy phone-sex operator. Artemis is a dog walker. Dionysus operates an underground nightclub. Life for the gods has become pathetic and boring.

But their hard times have not taught the gods humility. They still believe that they’re better than mortals and don’t understand why they have to play by the same rules as everyone else.

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