What happens when your PCs make a choice that takes your adventure 180 degrees away from where you intended? Or when those same PCs kill the NPC who will provide the information they require to move onto the next step? Or when the PCs just aren’t picking up on the very obvious, to your mind, clues that you are leaving them? What do you do?
It’s well known that the PCs bring vast amounts of wealth back to town after a weekend plundering the local ruins. However, the citizens of a local town are tired of catering to the needs of spoiled, holier-than-thou adventurers. The town isn’t getting rich from the adventurers and no monsters ever attack. Add on the property damage that drunken adventurers cause and something needed to be done. A plan is hatched, when the PCs return to town the locals will take advantage of their need for rest. As the PCs enjoy a meal the locals will poison their food and drink.
It’s rare that all members of an adventuring party are the same race. The existence of exotic races is one of the defining signatures of fantasy role-playing games. But is it necessary? How much would the game change if there were only a few races or even just one race?
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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.
A few months ago we provided you with a Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) magic item treasure bundle list. The original list included a complete inventory of magic items available from 78 different LFR adventures. As promised, we’ve updated the list and added loot from 23 more LFR adventures. This includes 8 paragon adventures for PCs level 11-14 and the first paragon adventure for PCs level 14-17.
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5 Must-Read Zombie Books
Vampires, vampires, vampires. I’m getting sick of vampires. There are plenty of other cool undead out there. We don’t need to spend all of our time focusing on vampires. Take zombies, for example. This week the movie Zombieland was released on DVD. It’s a great movie that was lost in the shadow of all the vampire hype. Don’t get me wrong, I like vampires, but for monsters that shun bright lights they’re sure spending a lot of time hogging the spotlight. So move over vampires, and let the zombies have some attention for a while.
My first exposure to zombies in pop culture was through movies. It wasn’t until recently that I started reading zombie fiction. I was looking for something a little bit more engaging than just people being chased by the mindless undead. I’d had plenty of that on the big screen. I wanted my zombie story to have some kind of twist, something that sets it apart from the classic Dawn of the Dead, we’re coming to eat your flesh, zombies. I found exactly what I was looking for in the zombies stories below. Each combines a unique spin on the zombie genre with an excellent story.
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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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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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Traps & Hazards: The Open Portal
During the coming weeks we’ll be looking at traps and hazards in 4e D&D. I’m not going to waste time taking about pit traps or exploding doors, there’s plenty of that stuff in the DMG. What I’m going to focus on are traps and hazards that are much more elaborate and interesting.
These are things that make up a significant part of an encounter that is not the monsters. It’s usually going to take the form of a skill challenge or at the very least some skill checks. My intention is to provide examples of traps and hazards I’ve used in my campaign, describe how and why they were created, and give suggestions for using them in your campaign.
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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.