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D&D Encounters

Public Play

a-to-z-letters-pI believe that public play is one of the best advertisements we have for our games. By playing in plain sight you give others a chance to see what’s going on. The mystery of Settlers of Catan or Dungeons & Dragons is revealed as people hover around the table and watch. This is true for all games including RPGs, card games and board games. Every time I play a board game at my FLGS someone walks by and asks about it.

For years the only place I ever played games was at home. D&D was just another one of my nerd hobbies. I had enough problems with social awkwardness during my teenage years that the last thing I needed was additional ridicule from my peers because I was playing D&D in public. It wasn’t until many, many years later that I realized how much there was to be gained through public play.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. We bring gaming to the masses as “P” is for Public Play in today’s article.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter (Week 1)

storm-over-neverwinter-coverThis season we return to Neverwinter. The adventure takes place after the events from D&D Encounters season 6, Lost Crown of Neverwinter. Knowledge of Neverwinter, the Forgotten realms or even the previous season is not required, but it would give players and DMs some insight about the people and places they’re likely to encounter this season.

The Neverwinter Campaign Sourcebook will be an invaluable asset this season. It would be helpful if at least one person at your gaming table had one (preferably the DM). It’s a solid sourcebook and is well worth the price. I strongly encourage DMs to pick it up for themselves if they haven’t already.

D&D Next

Each FLGS will have the option of running this season’s adventure using 4e rules or D&D Next rules. Those interested in trying D&D Next need to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). The DM will also need to download the conversion kit from the Wizards of the Coast website. The 4e adventure is still required. You cannot run this without the adventure provided in the DM kits (for the maps if nothing else).

We’ve decided to continue running with the 4e rules this season at the two FLGS where I play. The weekly recaps will only comment on the adventure as written (4e) and not reference any of the D&D Next conversions materials. However, we will be discussing it on our Recounting Encounter podcasts each week so if you’re playing D&D Next you should listen.

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D&D Encounters

Lair Assault: Into the Pit of Madness – Round-up

a-to-z-letters-lOn May 31 the Liar Assault program comes to an end. Until then the active adventure is the level 10 extravaganza Into the Pit of Madness. I had an opportunity to run it for two groups at my FLGS last week and today I’m going to share my thoughts and insights on the 7th and final Lair Assault.

The adventure puts the PCs in a situation where the very fate of the world hangs in the balance. Cultists are trying to free the Chained God, Tharizdun, form his eternal prison. If freed Tharizdun will plunge the world as we know it into eternal darkness. High stakes for powerful PCs.

In the first part of the challenge the PCs interrupt the cultists during their ritual. In the second part of the challenge the PCs try to reach the Chained God’s aspect and destroy it before it awakens and calls forth Tharizdun.

lair-assault-7-coverSpoiler Warning! This Lair Assault is still active. If you plan to play it, do not read this article. This article is for DMs only. DMs should take the knowledge I’m sharing here and use it to make your sessions better and more enjoyable.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. “L” is for Lair Assault as we review the final offering in this fantastic public play program in today’s post.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos – Report Card

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverAs we say goodbye to another season of D&D Encounters we reflect and discus what we liked and did not like about season 12. I’ll admit that I think Against the Cult of Chaos was one of the better seasons of D&D Encounters we’ve had so far. I do have some criticisms, but in the grand scheme of things I think the good far outweighs the bad. Review my list and let me know your thoughts on D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos as a whole in the comments below.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 8.)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverThis week was the grand finale of D&D Encounters season 12. The PCs would face of against the forces off evil in an attempt to seal the rip in the Chaos Mote and ensure Miska remained imprisoned. The PCs would either be successful or die trying.

We ran a party of six this week. The members included a Drow Cleric, Half-Orc Barbarian, Elf Fighter (Slayer), Ryltar the Drow Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen, Pixie Wizard (Witch), and Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid). In their possession were all three chaos artifacts: the Chaos Blade, Death Circlet, and Scroll of Final Words. With these three items the PCs felt that they had the means to ensure the forces of good would prevail.

Last week the PCs defeated Lareth the Beautiful and his minions. This week we began with the PCs returning to Hommel Lane from the Moat House. In the centre of town a crowd had gathered around the statue of Haffron Hommel. It seemed that the statue was now smiling. As the PCs approached the statue it spoke. “It feels incredible to be whole again, even if I cannot move!” it said.

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D&D Encounters

Recounting Encounters with Against the Cult of Chaos author Shawn Merwin

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverToday Dungeon’s Master and 20ft Radius are proud to present a special episode of our podcast, Recounting Encounters. In this episode we talk to Shawn Merwin, one of the authors of this season’s adventure Against the Cult of Chaos.

Shawn is a freelance writer and game designer with a long list of impressive gaming credits to his name. His writing credits for Wizards of the Coast include Dungeon Delve, Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress, and Halls of Undermountain. He’s also been a very active member of the D&D public-play community having written for Living Greyhawk (LG) and Living Forgotten Realms (LFR). Most recently Shawn was one of the authors of the D&D Encounters season 11 adventure War of Everlasting Darkness and this season’s adventure Against the Cult of Chaos.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter – Preview

storm-over-neverwinter-coverD&D Encounters season 13, the spring 2013 season, begins on April 10 with week 0. The adventure itself – Storm Over Neverwinter – runs 8 weeks from April 17-June 5.

This is an adventure for characters level 3-6. It says levels 4-6 on the cover, but the text inside clearly trumps that and expects new PCs to begin at level 3. This is a first for D&D Encounters. It may make things a bit tougher for brand new players to just jump in with a character above level 1, but those of us who have played since season 1 will certainly appreciate an adventure with a bit more teeth.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 7)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverIn week 2 this party visited the Moat House and nearly got wiped out by the bandits. This week they finally decided it was time to return to the Moat House and investigate the strange happening going on in the dungeon level below the old fort.

I ran a party of five that included a Half-Orc Barbarian, Drow Cleric, Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), an Elf Fighter (Slayer), and Drow Wizard. I’ve now got seven regular players rotating in and out of my group, but their respective schedules have kept at least one away for the past month. Next week I expect all of them to be there for the finale which should make things interesting.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 6)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverLast week the party stormed the Temple of the Lawbringer and faced off against Bullywugs, Wights and Priestess Devi. After the fight the PCs took a short rest and that’s where we picked things up.

This week I ran a table of six. One of our regulars was absent but another player brought a friend. I’ve had a brand new player at my table every week since we started. The fact that they all keep coming back is a good sign. The party included a Drow Wizard, Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), an Elf Fighter (Slayer), Half-Orc Barbarian, Ryltar the Drow Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen, and Syndrina the Drow Paladin (Cavalier) pre-gen.

As the PCs searched the basement of the temple they found a Drow in one of the cells. Since we already had two Drow in the party we said that they knew her. This made adding the new PC marginally plausible. In the other cells they found evidence that people were held here recently although no one was there now.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 5)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverWe began this session in the cellar of the Golden Grain Inn. The PCs defeated Bertram, Derek, four goons and two Bullywugs last week. With the festivities still going full force upstairs they didn’t know how long they had before these guys were missed. They took a short rest, cleaned up evidence of the fight and moved the bodies into the secret passage. Hopefully this would buy them some time if anyone got curious and came to check on things.

This week we continued to draw in new players at our FLGS. Two of my friends visiting from out of town joined us as well as three brand new players and the return of a player who was absent for the past few sessions. Had we not had a few regulars absent we wouldn’t have had room to accommodate everyone at the three tables in the store. As it was I ran a table of seven PCs. The party included an Elf Fighter (Slayer), Pixie Wizard (Witch), Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), Drow Wizard, Svirfneblin Seeker, Ryltar the Drow Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen and once again Fargrim the Dwarf Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen.