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Editorial

Spellstorm 2010 Update

Attention Toronto gamers, Spellstorm is less than two weeks away. The event list is up and registration is underway. For those interested in Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) adventures, there are plenty of options for new and experienced players. If you’re new to LFR play or you’re interested in starting a new PC at level 1, the MINI story-arc is a great place to begin. The entire MINI six-game story-arc is offered during the convention. If you’re more interested in a regular LFR experience, the SPEC 2-1 adventures provide opportunities for you to try your hand at level 1-4, 4-7, 7-10, or 11-14.  The Special adventures are available only during convention play, so these are games you’ ve never played before and are not likely to have the opportunity to play again for some time.

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Editorial

300th Post: Creating King Leonidas

Today marks our 300th post. To mark the occasion I challenged Wimwick to a contest. Create King Leonidas as depicted in the movie 300. We chose level 16 and used the RPGA character creation guidelines. We have to use character builder and he has to be legal. Let the best man win. – Ameron

The challenge was simple: recreate Leonidas as represented in the movie 300. Sounded like a great idea to use for our 300th post. Of course the challenge was to create a better version of Leonidas than Ameron. Below I’ve outlined the thinking behind my major decisions. I’ll also say for the record that I love this character and look forward to playing him in a Dungeon Delve soon. – Wimwick

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Editorial

Ritual Casting – Opening Up The System

Rituals are “complex ceremonies that create magic effects” according to the description in the Player’s Handbook. It makes sense then that only classes who receive in-depth training should have access to rituals. The concept behind rituals is that they are used outside of combat, perhaps during skill challenges, and represent powerful magic that requires concentration and time. Effects such as raise dead and magic item creation are not events to be taken lightly, they are game altering. A Rogue from the streets of Waterdeep or a Fighter who is a refugee from Cyre should not have automatic access to these rituals. Or should they?

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Editorial

State Of The Dungeon – 1 Year Later

What a year it’s been. When Ameron and I launched Dungeon’s Master a year ago, we did so with humble expectations. While we anticipated that others would find our corner of the Internet, we weren’t sure how far our reach would extend. Our goal was to post articles about 4e D&D 5 days a week . We’d cover a wide range of topics that we found interesting, specifically articles about skill challenges and DDI’s impact on the game. As I look back at the posts from the past year I can see that we’ve done that and much more.

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Editorial

PHB3 First Look: Hybrid Characters

Hybrid characters, the newest Player’s Handbook 3 debut content, were released as part of Dragon Magazine #383 (DDI subscription required). The concept of a dual classes and how the game designers were going to differentiate multi-classing from hybrids is something I’ve wanted to see for some time. I was very excited to see this update and to get my hands on the debut rules. Based on my first impression with the hybrid system I’m very impressed.

In short, the hybrid system opens up a wealth of new character options for players. While not every option will make sense or be optimized, the hybrid system allows players to tinker with various character concepts and build something unique.

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Editorial

Dungeon’s Master Spotlight Interview on Wizards of the Coast

About a month ago Bart Carroll from Wizards of the Coast asked the Dungeon’s Master team if we’d be interesting in doing an interview. Needless to say we were flattered to receive the offer and ecstatic about the possibility of getting some props from Wizards.

Well, today they published the interview. If you visit the Wizards of the Coast website you’ll find a little article called Dungeon’s Master — Spotlight Interview.

The Dungeon’s Master team wants to thank Bart Carroll and Wizards of the Coast for giving us the opportunity to talk a little bit about our site and to share a little bit more about the team behind the scenes.

We’d also like to thank all or our reader who continue to visit every day. It’s because of your continued support that Dungeon’s Master has been so successful and so much fun.

For those just discovering Dungeon’s Master (thanks to Wizards) we encourage you to visit regularly and comment often. We welcome your feedback and your ideas.

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Editorial

Spellstorm 2010: February 19-20

Attention Toronto gamers, Spellstorm is coming again this February. This is your chance to play some D&D, try some new games and meet other gamers in your community. I attended last year’s Spellstorm and it was a lot of fun. If you live in the GTA or can make the trip to Toronto in February, you’re in for a great weekend of gaming. Whether you’re new to role playing games or you’ve been playing all your life, Spellstorm caters to everyone’s varying levels of experience.

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Editorial Player Resources

Addressing Your Weaknesses (Part 2)

How do you explain you character’s low mental attributes (Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma)? How do these low ability scores affect the way you role-play your PC? We continue looking at how an ability score of 8 has in-game consequences and provide some in-game suggestions to explain your low scores.

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DM Resources Editorial

A World Run By Monsters: How Daybreakers Inspired My Campaign

This ain’t Twilight! Michael and Peter Spierig’s recent release Daybreakers takes traditional vampires and reminds us just how bloody, violent and cool vampires actually are. The visual style and the futuristic setting feel like a combination of Gattaca, The Matrix and Minority Report, and the vampires are reminiscent of Blade, 28 Days Later and 30 Days of Night. None of these vampires are cute, cuddly, pretty-boys. They’re monsters pure and simple.

I originally saw this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September 2009, and ever since then I’ve been thinking of how this idea can be applied to a D&D adventure. You have a complete society that is made up of monsters, and in this case they still try to act and behave like humans. This is the part that really intrigued me as a DM.

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Editorial Player Resources

Getting The Most Out Of Rituals

Rituals are the aspect of 4e that I have invested the least amount of time in. This is mainly because I’ve only played classes that don’t receive the ritual casting feat. It is also because I find the ritual system unfriendly. Now, I should clarify the ritual system isn’t difficult to understand, in fact it’s dead easy. What’s unfriendly about rituals is that they feel tacked on to the game; they don’t seem to really have their own place.

It’s very clear to see where rituals originate from in terms of previous editions. Rituals are the utility spells that never had a place in combat. Rituals are, however, a great way to add flavour to any D&D game. As the Dungeon’s Master team transitions into a new campaign, and I into a character who knows over 20 rituals, I have given rituals a renewed focus through my D&D lense. My objective is to find a way to integrate rituals more fully into my game and that might require some tweaking of the rules as written. Fortunately, Ameron is the DM and if there is anything we’ve learned through writing this blog it’s to be flexible regarding new ideas and in the spirit of 4e, to say yes.