Author: Wimwick (Neil Ellis)

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Book Reviews Humour

What Monster Are You?

Monster Manual 2 hits shelves today. Ameron got his copy last week and wrote up a killer early review. So far there seems to be a consensus among the gaming community that the Monster Manual 2 is the latest must-have book. As more blogs post their own reviews we’ll see just how much love for the Monster Manual 2 is out there. We gave it 10 on a d10. So be sure to pick up your own copy of the Monster Manual 2 and give your PCs fair warning. Or just ambush them with new monsters, it’s your call.

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Class Discussions

You’re a Striker, He’s a Defender… Big Deal: Looking at Roles

Do you define your character by his class or his role? We continue to look at roles in 4e and their defining characteristics. We’ve already explored the idea of how to make the Fighter a striker and we pondered whether the roles could be redefined. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to looking at roles. Since this is a new element in 4e perhaps it can be done better. We think there is room to introduce some new house rules around roles, but before we start developing them we thought it prudent to take a deeper look at how the existing presentation of roles affect the game.

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Technology

Desktop Killed The Tabletop Game

On August 1, 1981, MTV played their very first music video, Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles. What does a song from the 80s have to do with Dungeons & Dragons? Perhaps more than we know. This month’s blog carnival, hosted by Role Playing Pro, is about the future of RPGs. As our contribution, the Dungeon’s Master team wants to focus on technology and what it means for the future of RPGs and D&D in particular. Much has already been written on this topic and our intent is not to repeat or regurgitate old arguments. In stead, I intend to add to the conversation and provide our particular point of view.

Video killed the radio star
In my mind and in my car
We can’t rewind we’ve gone to far

Video Killed the Radio Star, The Buggles

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Class Discussions

Redefining Character Roles

The advent of class roles to 4e D&D changed our perception of character classes. All classes now fit into one of four predefined roles within the party: controller, defender, leader and striker. Even though we’ve only had these four roles since the release of 4e last summer, they have become engrained in the discussion of gaming groups.

These four classifications are quickly becoming more than just roles. You could argue that they have become the new default character classes and that the current classes as we know them are just archetypes of the controller, defender, leader and striker. What I’m seeing more often are players deciding to play the striker and select whether they’d like to try the arcane, divine, martial or primal archetype of that class.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Running Memorable Skill Challenges (Part 2)

As we continue to explore how to run and design skill challenges we’ll look at the importance of creativity, the consequences of failing and new, advanced ideas for skill challenges. This builds on the basics of skill challenge design we covered yesterday in Running Memorable Skill Challenges (Part 1) including what is a skill challenge, how to introduce them and the basics of designing skill challenges.

Reward Creativity

Skill challenges are about creativity. They challenge the DM to think creatively when designing the challenge in order to give the PCs something new to experience. They also force PCs to look at their skill selection in new ways. The Fighter who is all thumbs in social encounters might consider training in Intimidate or even Diplomacy to increase his level of participation.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Running Memorable Skill Challenges (Part 1)

What is a skill challenge? These two words redefined encounters in Dungeons & Dragons. Since the release of 4e almost a year ago, skill challenges have been a thorn in the DM’s side, and a challenge for players to participate in. Much has been written about them in the blogosphere and this article certainly won’t be the last. The fundamental question I want to answer is “How to run and design skill challenges?”. The paradox here is that as I write this article I know I don’t have one solid answer. Rather, there are a myriad of ways to run skill challenges. All of them have merit, all of them have negatives and no one answer is right for all gaming groups. Further, what worked in the design of one challenge may fail in another.

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Categories
Editorial

Why We Do What We Do

Wizards of the Coast puts out great materials for 4e D&D, but when looking at the bigger picture they have two significant problems. Addressing these shortcomings and making D&D better was a big reason we created Dungeon’s Master.

We’re coming up on our three month anniversary at Dungeon’s Master and we think we’re on the right track. I know what you’re thinking, Wimwick is about to toot his own horn, and you’re right I am. This is my soap box and I’m going to use it.

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DM Resources

Campaign Design: Fleshing Out Your NPCs

Every campaign world is made of living, breathing NPCs. All of them have stories and a role to play within the campaign setting. From the lowly farmer to the mighty king, every NPC has a function and a purpose. As the campaign designer, your job is to define that role. Is the king a sinister tyrant? Is the peasant forming a rebellion? These are questions that you need to answer in order to bring your world to life.

This part of our series in Campaign Design picks up where the article on Politics and Groups of Influence left off. Now we look at the names and faces that dominate these political structures. Of course, not every NPC requires a fully fleshed out background, but the generalities are required. We’ll handle our look at NPCs in three sections: Common citizens, major players and villains.

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Class Discussions

Rangers: A Breed Apart

Elf Ranger by Devin HarriganYou are the protector of the wild, guardian of forbidden frontiers and shepherd to the weak. You attack your foe with blade, bow or beast. You provide no warning of your attack, dispatching your opponents quickly and decisively. You are a Ranger, and to you falls the duty and the privilege of fighting to protect the natural world.

In a recent poll held here at Dungeon’s Master we asked which class in the Players Handbook was most deadly. The response favoured the Ranger over all other options. As a result I’ve decided to take a deeper look at the class to explain just why it is such a deadly choice.

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DM Resources

Campaign Design: Politics and Groups of Influence

The world is starting to take shape, the geography has been defined and named and you have appropriate resources on hand to assist you. Now comes the time to start breathing life into your campaign setting. This entry in the Campaign Design series takes a look at Politics and Groups of Influence. This is a high-level view at the different powers and factions that exist within the world. We will examine particular individuals and NPCs in our next entry, but today it’s all about the organizations.

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