Author: Wimwick (Neil Ellis)

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Top 10

Top Fantasy Movies From the 80s

Unless you have been living under a rock you know that Conan is back! That’s right later this summer everyone’s favourite barbarian will once again be on the silver screen, in 3D no less. The news and trailers of this release got me thinking back to the original release of Conan back in the 80’s. From there it wasn’t hard to begin thinking about all the other great and not so great fantasy movies from that era.

The movies on the list aren’t ranked and there is no rating. They are all worth seeing for one reason or another. Some have begun cult favourites in their own right and continue to endure as popular movies to this day. In each case I’ve provided my memories or brief thoughts about each film. I’ve also included a plot hook inspired by each movie. In some cases these plot hooks aren’t spectacular, but the movies listed below do represent the most basic of fantasy films.

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Class Discussions

Divine Connections

Dwarf InvokerThe divine power source more than any other carries with it great connections between its various classes. This is due to the link that the various deities provide between the classes. Due to this link, a campaign that features only divine characters is easier to manage than a campaign that features only one other power source. Divine campaigns can be a lot of fun to participate in and they provide plenty of opportunities for interesting role-playing.

While divine classes share a common element in their deity, they all approach how to serve that deity in a different manner. In many cases there is a striking contrast in acceptable behaviour from one class to another. This post will briefly discuss the various classes that comprise the divine power source and how they relate to their other divine peers.

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Player Resources Technology

Move Over Character Builder

Can you recall the first Dungeons & Dragons character you ever created? Mine, like many others, was a Fighter from the Red Box set. I remember running him through the adventure contained in the box. I was hooked. The process was so creative, so imaginative.

Through the evolution of editions character creation has changed. We’ve gone from one book to many. During 3.5e I remember having multiple books open in front of me as I created my character sheet in excel. With the release of 4e we were given the gift of the character builder. I was in heaven, this is how character creation should be in our day and age. Everything I needed was available at my fingertips.

However, as 4e has continued to evolve and grow I realize that character builder is not the ultimate tool for designing your character. That role now falls to the Compendium. You are still building the character in the character builder, but all the research is occurring ahead of time with the Compendium.

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Player Resources

Exploiting Racial and Class Abilities: Dwarven Resilience

The ability to heal your character without assistance from the party cleric was one of the biggest changes in 4e Dungeons & Dragons. It gave every character the opportunity to recover from a devastating attack by themselves. In the category of healing themselves, none are better than the Dwarf. Now, I’ve already stated the Dwarves Are The Best Raceand today I want to examine their defining racial feature: Dwarven Resilience.

Second Wind is a great ability allowing an player to use a standard action to heal. However, let’s be honest, no one likes to use their standard action for anything but rolling dice on an attack power. As a player I feel slightly cheated when I use my second wind. I recognize that it’s a tactical decision, but I would rather be using my standard action for attacking and rolling dice!

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Player Resources

Exploiting Racial and Class Powers: Dragon Breath

Be All You Can Be. This was the recruiting slogan for the U.S. Army for over twenty years. When you create your D&D character do you design them to be the best they can be?

Of course, the term ‘best’ is subjective. Everyone has their own idea of what the best really is. It is also situational, what is best for one situation may not be the best for another. However, there are undeniably certain power builds that exist within D&D. Some are certainly better than others, but all are worth examining.

The Dragonborn’s dragon breath is an interesting power. At first glance it’s a useful and intriguing encounter power that only requires a minor action to use. It gives these characters an extra option during combat and if we’re honest the idea of breathing fire or acid is pretty cool. It lets us get our geek on.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Television Scripts As D&D Adventures

Week in and week out the DMs of the nation are writing phenomenal adventures for the players who gather around the gaming table. The work is endless and occasionally we DMs run out of time and energy. Game day is approaching and we haven’t even started writing out the adventure. We have what is more commonly referred to as writer’s block. We just don’t know what to do with the game this week and a blank page is staring back at us.

Normally, when this happens I put away my D&D supplies and I switch on the television. It doesn’t matter what I watch, I just need to let me mind wander allowing ideas to come to me freely. It’s at the end of several hours of mindless television watching that it hits me, the adventure I’ve been looking for has been literally staring me in the face for the past several hours.

Television and the endless and often mindless content that it produces is the DMs best friend.

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Editorial

RPG Blog Carnival: Negotiating For Souls

Who truly determines whether a soul can return to the realm of the living – the ritualist who just performed the Raise Dead ritual, the gods themselves or the soul of the recently departed?

Yesterday as part of the RPG Blog Carnival hosted by Campaign Mastery we took a look at what it means to Cast the Raise Dead Ritual. Today I wanted to follow up on that post and examine the inner workings and role playing possibilities that are available when this ritual is cast. Some of these idea’s were inspired by the excellent comments in yesterdays article.

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Categories
Editorial

RPG Blog Carnival: Casting Raise Dead

What happens when you cast the raise dead ritual?

While Raise Dead is only a level 8 ritual, I would argue that it is one of the most powerful rituals in 4e Dungeons & Dragons. The ability to return a soul to its body is awesome and is a power beyond the understanding of most people.

This month the RPG Blog Carnival is hosted by Campaign Mastery and the focus is on Life and Death in RPGs. At Dungeon’s Master our contribution to this discussion will focus on the implications of casting the Raise Dead ritual.

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Player Resources

11 Articles Everyone Should Read

After a long and busy week, Friday is finally here. What better way to relax than putting together a D&D list. It started simply enough, just a list of tips for players. That’s when I realized that buried within the 600+ articles we have at Dungeon’s Master are more than enough tips for any D&D player.

Presented below are 11 articles that I enjoyed re-reading and think you will too. When I put together this list together my only criteria was to find interesting article that would appeal to a wide gaming audience. I wasn’t looking for our greatest hits (although a couple included below have already earned that distinction). These articles are a great place to begin a conversation about various aspects of the great game we call Dungeons & Dragons.

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DM Resources

How To Make Your Players Feel Heroic

I’ve realized of late that I enjoy designing tough encounters. Encounters where perhaps the forces border on overwhelming. Where encounter after encounter my players are being pushed to the brink. It’s almost like a test of endurance, can they take just one more encounter? Will they prevail or will I have finally pushed them too far?

Much of my motivation for designing encounters this way comes from taking too many extended rests with daily powers unused and healing surges remaining. These extended rests haven’t been taken because we though we needed them or could get away with them. No, they came about because we had completed the adventure. In short as a player in 4e there have been few encounters that I feel have truly pushed myself and other players to the edge.

Of course what I have also realized is that making every encounter a slug fest, where at the end of the final encounter the party is completely out of resources is also boring. Furthermore, my players are beginning to wonder if I’m out to kill their characters. When the time for an extended rest rolls up they have a look of relief on their faces. Instead of a feeling of satisfaction or euphoria at completing the encounters, they are just glad it’s over.

I realize that while I’m challenging the players, I’m not creating moments for them to feel truly heroic. As a result I’ve developed a series of guidelines to assist me in my adventure design.

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