Category: DM Resources

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Why Are We Doing This?

In the past couple of weeks character motivation has become a big issue in my home game and at D&D Encounters. Despite an engaging and interesting story, the players found themselves asking why their characters would actually do the task the DM set before them. What’s lacking was an immediate motivation.

The way I see it, characters in D&D have two different kinds of motivation – big picture motivation and immediate motivation.

Big picture motivation will answer questions like why is this party of misfits adventuring together. It’s usually a much broader and more generalized motive. Examples of the big picture motivation include things like “We’re together to fight our common enemy, the Red Dragon that’s ravaging the countryside,” or “We’re on a quest to find the lost sceptre because he who possesses it will become king.” As long as the PCs know and understand the big picture motivation then things generally run smoothly and no one wonders why a Drow, Dragonborn, Halfling, Eladrin and Minotaur are in the same adventuring party. They have a common goal or a common big picture motivation.

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DM Resources Player Resources

The Honor System

What do mafia hit men, Wild West gunslingers, Japanese samurai and the Knights of the Round Table have in common? They all work under a code of honor. Despite the danger, brutality and violent nature of their jobs, each of these examples has a strict code that helps them define what actions they are willing (and not willing) to do to get the job done.

Aside from alignment, most PCs don’t have any strict code that dictates their actions; although in previous editions of D&D the Paladin did have this restriction. Now it comes down to the player running the character. The only honor your character has is that which you instil in him. Honor, however, is certainly subjective. Two players who play their PC with an honor code are likely to have some differing opinions on what is allowed and what is not.

A common aspect in the code of honor is that women, children and innocent bystanders are usually exempt from any part of an ongoing conflict. If you’ve got a beef with a local merchant you won’t kidnap or harm his family as leverage. His business might be fair game, but his son or grandfather is not to be harmed. Assassins generally have a similar code; remember Leon’s motto in the movie the Professional: “No women, no kids.”

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D&D Encounters DM Resources

8 Things I Learned at D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters began in March 2010. Since then, I’ve ventured down to my FLGS every Wednesday night after work to play D&D. I started in season 1 as just a player. Through seasons 2-3 I still played but I was ready to jump in and DM if needed. When season 4 began I decided to become the primary DM. Now, five weeks into season 6, I’m still the DM and still have a blast every week at D&D Encounters.

Before D&D Encounter started up I had experience with public play D&D but it was limited to LFR and D&D Game Days. Both presented excellent opportunities to play D&D but these were very different experiences than what I see weekly at D&D Encounters. D&D Encounters is designed as a gateway for new players to try out D&D for the first time. However, it also serves as a pick-up game that many experienced players can fall back on if they don’t have a regular game of their own. This leads to a variety of players with ranging levels of D&D and even gaming experience.

Over the past year and a half I’ve seen a lot of stuff while participating in D&D Encounters – some of it good, some of it bad. I’d like to think that in the end everything I’ve absorbed has made me a more savvy DM and that I’ve developed a pretty good idea of exactly what needs to be done to keep the adventure great every single week.

Today I’m going to share a few of the things I’ve learned during my run at D&D Encounters. Many of the points in my list are common sense things that most DMs are likely already doing. However, for the newer DMs out there a list like this can be a good reminder of the kind of things to keep in mind when running your weekly game.

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DM Resources

Naked Combat

When was the last time you participated in an encounter without your weapons or armor? I’m not talking about characters like Monks that are designed for unarmed combat; I’m talking about characters like Paladins, Rangers, Wizards and Warlords that find themselves in situations where they have to fight monsters without the gear that they normally have equipped on their character sheet. It doesn’t happen very often.

Since we became dependent upon character builder and started printing out character sheets rather than writing them out by hand, any scenario that requires numbers to change becomes a lot more difficult to run on the fly than it ever was in previous editions of D&D. But that shouldn’t mean that such encounters are eliminated from the game all together. There are a ways to make combat without equipment work, and today we present four options.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Even a Regular Item Can Become an Adventure Hook

Sometimes the most interesting and memorable part of a D&D adventure is the stuff that happens between the structured encounters. These are often instances when the players do something unexpected and the DM is forced to fly by the seat of his pants. If the DM pulls it off successfully the result can be a scenario that is talked about for a long time. If only there was a way to scrip this kind of strange happenstance?

Spontaneity cannot be scripted by its very nature; however there are ways to still get the effect you’re looking for by giving the PCs a nudge in the right direction. And you don’t have to look any further than their equipment list. When it comes to inventory on a character sheet, most players are really only concerned with magical items and money. The other regular stuff is usually added to the list as an afterthought. So why not have so fun with the regular stuff.

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DM Resources Player Resources

What are the Best Feats? The Results Are In!

Two months ago we began this rollercoaster ride by asking the simple question “What are the best feats in 4e D&D?”. Today we end the speculation and share the results that you helped us collect. We are ready to announce the findings and provide our commentary on the results.

The poll is now closed. We had 353 people cast 1151 votes. Although this is clearly just a small sampling of gamers, I think we can safely say that the trending we saw was indicative of many, if not most gamers.

Let’s begin with the results. For the past month our active poll asked our readers to choose the top four feats from a list of 10 provided. Here are the results.

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DM Resources

Giving Character Backgrounds And Themes Teeth

Da Vinci - Man in CircleCharacter backgrounds and themes are a great way to flesh out your character. They provide players with additional motivation to create a compelling back story for their character. This motivation appears in the form of additional class skills, bonuses to those skills and in the case of themes, encounter powers. From a meta-game perspective there isn’t a good reason not to take advantage of these optional elements that are presented during character creation.

By opting in you give your character an edge, simply put you have a more powerful character at your disposal. Beyond the mechanics your character background and theme gives you a role-playing edge. Your choice at character creation reinforces the vision you have for your character. The choice of background and theme gives your back story additional credibility.

In fact you can use the background and theme to either assist you in creating your back story. Playing a Rogue who you envision is down on his luck and from the lower class? The Guttersnipe theme might fit in with your concept and provide you with some additional ideas on how to play your character. Of course backgrounds and themes can assist in supporting a back story you have already created. A character I created a few years ago was inspired by the Beijing Olympics. I was up late at night with my newborn and was watching a lot of gymnastics. I decided I would make a Rogue who aspired not to being an adventurer, but an athlete. In this case the Athlete background is a perfect fit for my character concept.

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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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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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