Category: Humour

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Editorial Humour

Greatest Hits 2013: The Big Bang Theory D&D Episode – A Gamer’s Perspective

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2013. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

So what do nerds do for fun? The Big Bang Theory has done a pretty good job of showing the guys indulging in all sorts of nerdy hobbies from video games, to sci-fi movie marathons, to cosplay, to board gamers, to Dungeons & Dragons. The hobbies may get the occasional cheap laugh because of the mainstream audience’s unfamiliarity with them, but for the most part they’re all shown in a fairly positive light.

The Big Bang Theory has been good for nerd hobbies and nerds in general. The show is one of the most popular on TV right now and it’s exposing the masses to all sorts of things they’d never herd of or seen before.

It’s no secret in my office that I’m a huge nerd, and my co-workers will often ask me about things they see on episodes of The Big Bang Theory. I haven’t been able to get any of my colleagues to game with me yet, but the curiosity factor is encouraging. They see the characters on TV having fun doing something they’ve never heard of and think that perhaps they’d have fun if they tried it.

I’m particularly encouraged when I see The Big Bang Theory cast playing D&D. When they play on the show their games tend to focus on a good mixture of exploration, solving puzzles, and general role-playing. They don’t seem to engage in combat or even roll dice that often but honestly that would be boring to show on TV so I understand why we don’t see that very often.

In my opinion, the most important aspect of the D&D games we’ve seen on The Big Bang Theory is that they’re always having fun. This is the best endorsement the game can get and I’m glad we keep seeing the gang play D&D in prime time. If this episode’s popularity was any indication then I expect we’ll see them playing more D&D in upcoming episodes.

From May 10, 2013, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: The Big Bang Theory D&D Episode – A Gamer’s Perspective.

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Friday Favourites Humour

Friday Favourite: Confessions of a D&D Camp Counselor

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From July 12, 2010, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Confessions of a D&D Camp Counselor.

I have a great job, I’m a counselor at D&D camp, which is to say that I have the best job ever. I don’t mean to gloat, but my time as a D&D counselor has been incredibly enjoyable and I’m sure if you read along you’ll share in the fun of the last week.

Before camp began, I spent a week learning about how to spot child abuse (very important!) and care for kids. Before I met the kids I went over to the camp director’s house in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Myself and the other counselors met up and we played some D&D; I taught the old schoolers how to play 4e, while the director of the camp gave me a refresher on how to play 3.5e. After four hours of being paid to play D&D and think up campaign ideas it was time to get ready for the first day of camp.

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Editorial Humour

The Big Bang Theory D&D Episode – A Gamer’s Perspective

tbbt-02The Big Bang Theory (TBBT) has made nerds cool by thrusting them into the main stream. The show has shone a spotlight on many nerd hobbies people used to make fun of and made them cool, or at least less nerdy. In this week’s episode “The Love Spell Potential” they guys played Dungeons & Dragons with their girlfriends. This wasn’t the first time the characters in TBBT played D&D but it was the first time they played for the entire episode. Although there were a few cheap shots taken at D&D and the people who play the game, the show did a pretty good job of bringing the game into the public eye.

As a hard core D&D nerd and vocal member of the gaming community I feel it is my responsibility to comment on this episode of TBBT. There was a lot of things right with this show and a few things wrong. Gamers and non-gamers alike can learn a few things about D&D from what they saw in this episode. Let’s review the highlights.

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Humour

The Valentine’s Day Skill Challenge (Encore)

Are you a lonely gamer looking for love? Do you have trouble talking to members of the opposite sex? Do you wish there was some kind of gaming-related guide that you could follow to improve your chances of meeting that special someone? Look no further, Dungeon’s Master has you covered! Last year we crafted a special Valentine’s Day Skill Challenge that can help you in real life. We were going to rerun this tomorrow, but since Thursday is D&D Encounters recap day we decided to put this out a day early. Enjoy and good luck!

Originally published on February 14, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: The Valentine’s Day Skill Challenge.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day so we decided to take a light-hearted look at the day most associate with love. All the members of the Dungeons’ Master team are happily married or in a long-term relationship, so we felt that we should do our part to help those looking for love. However, we are by no means experts on the subject so please take the advice provided below with the good humour in which it is indented.

It’s unfortunate that many envision the gamer stereotype as a lonely guy who’s awkward around girls. Although there are certainly a few gamers out there that fall into this category, in my experience many gamers are not really that much different that the rest of the non-gaming masses. Everyone is looking for someone and hopes to avoid painful rejection along the way. With that in mind we’ve put together some tips in the form of a skill challenge. By framing this advice in a familiar wrapper we hope that it will make it easier for all those gamers looking for love on Valentine’s Day.

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Editorial Humour

Greatest Hits 2012: What Your Weapon Says About Your Character

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2012. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

Considering how common laughter is at the gaming table I’ve found that writing humourous articles is really difficult. Instead of going for outright funny ha-ha, I’ve had a lot more success writing observational pieces that demonstrate wit and focus on shared experiences most gamers will relate to and chuckle. In that vein I put together this article on the correlation between weapons and character personalities.

This is clearly a light-hearted piece that may seem a bit silly and simplistic at first glance. However, I’ll bet that by the time you get to the end you’ll agree with many of my observations and see the personality of some of your own PCs accurately paired to their weapon of choice. Think about this the next time you equip a character.

In the original article I asked our readers to add to my list of weapons. Here are some of their contributions. If you’ve got another one please add it to the comments below.

  • Rapier – You have a piercing wit as well as the sword. You also have a flair for the dramatic. (Al)
  • Flail – You enjoy making a mess of things, twisting people’s words or just tripping them up. (Eamon)
  • Tome – You possess a lot of power, but that power is a heavy burden. You have difficulty relating to others because you spend so much of your time inwardly focused. (dmscorpio)
  • Sling – You’re a child at heart, though maybe not so innocent. You try to get your way, and complain or lash out if you don’t. (Zeroarmada)

From March 21, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: What Your Weapon Says About Your Character.

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Humour Skill Challenges

In Anticipation of GenCon: Road Trip to GenCon Skill Challenge

Those of us lucky enough to be going to GenCon this year are likely making the trek to Indianapolis tomorrow. For me it’s a 9-hour car ride that starts at 6:00 a.m. in Toronto.

Road trips can be a lot of fun as long as you have good company, suitable refreshments and plenty of stuff to do. With that in mind we once again present the Road Trip to GenCon Skill Challenge. It’s fun and lighthearted, while being geeky enough to keep even casual gamers interested. I encourage you to print a copy of this sill challenge and bring it with you to help make things more exciting on the way to GenCon. Enjoy.

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Humour

Master of the Dungeon Webcomic – Epic Treasures

Back by popular demand, Matthew Domville has created another Master of the Dungeon, D&D-themed webcomic based on situations that came out of our weekly D&D game. I guess all the kind words for his first Master of the Dungeon contribution, Epic Combat, Round 1, convinced him to keep dong these comics for us. If you want to see more comics, let us know in the comments section below.

Be sure to check out Matt’s other webcomic, Cinema Bums, a comic about movies and the folks who love ‘em. If you enjoy his stuff be sure to leave him a comment and like his page.

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Humour

Master of the Dungeon Webcomic – Epic Combat, Round 1

Today we’re trying something new at Dungeon’s Master – a webcomic that we’re calling “Master of the Dungeon.” One of our players, Matthew Domville, is a talented writer and artist who has been publishing his own webcomic, Cinema Bums, for over a year now. We’ve finally convinced him to branch out and do a D&D comic for us.

Today we present the first of what we hope are many D&D-themed webcomics by Matt based on situations that come out of our weekly D&D game. Help us convince Matt to become a regular contributor at Dungeon’s Master by singing his praises in the comments below.

Be sure to check out Matt’s other webcomic, Cinema Bums, a comic about movies and the folks who love ‘em. If you enjoy his stuff be sure to leave him a comment and like his page.

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Editorial Humour

What Your Weapon Says About Your Character

“The clothes make the man.” It’s a pretty common expression. It quite literally means that you can draw a conclusion, and usually a fairly accurate conclusion, about a person’s personality just based on what they’re wearing. In D&D, the type of clothes (or armor) a person wears will usually indicate with great accuracy what class he is but it’s less likely to accurately indicate what kind of a man he is – for that you have to look at his weapon.

During character creation most players I’ve gamed with will equip their character before they determine his personality. I know that’s how I usually do it. But I’ve noticed over the years that the personality of a PC is very often directly related to the type of weapon he carries. It’s like the weapon imprints a specific personality type on the characters wielding them.

So I’ve put together a list of my observations. This is simply my first-hand account of how I see things. It’s not based on any scientific method or precise sampling, it’s just what I’ve seen over and over again in the many years that I’ve played D&D. I think that despite my rather loose methodology the results are surprisingly accurate.

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Adventure Hooks Humour

Adventure Hooks Inspired by The Simpsons (Part 1)

As a DM I’m always on the lookout for ideas that I can throw into my campaign. It doesn’t matter how seemingly irrelevant the source may be, once I put my gaming mind to work I can often come up with an idea for an encounter or an adventure in just about any source of popular media be it a movie, novel, video game, comic book or television show. The key is to imagine how the situation could be adapted to suit your needs. You’re not often going to find a situation or idea that’s perfectly suited for D&D when you experience it (sorry, the real world just isn’t a fantasy role-playing game) so you need to be creative.

To demonstrate the abundance of ideas in the most obvious places I focused my attention on The Simpsons. I think it’s safe to say that most gamers are fans of the show and that almost every scene and snippet of dialogue from the first few seasons is emblazoned in the minds of gamers in the 35-45 demographic. Yet even with a table of gamers who all possess near perfect recall of the earliest episodes of The Simpsons, you can still base an adventure or encounter around some of the best episodes and the players are unlikely to recognize that it was inspired by The Simpsons. To prove it, here are five examples.

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