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Friday Favourite: Time in D&D

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From April 7, 2010, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Time in D&D.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever created a level 1 PC, entered a dungeon, killed a bunch of monsters, gained a bunch of levels while still inside the dungeon and then realized that only a few weeks of actual in-game time passed when you emerge. I know I’m not the only one reading this that has his hand up.

Time in D&D is an aspect of the game I find is overlooked way too often. Tracking time in your game may not be that big a deal, but the longer you continue playing that same PC the more important time becomes.

So just how long does it take to go from level 1 to level 2? In 4e D&D it takes about 10-13 encounters or about four gaming sessions. But what I really want to know is how much time passes in-game between levels?

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 3)

murder-in-baldurs-gate-coverThe PCs, working as agents of the Flaming Fist, closed down two gambling dens during last week’s adventure. During this week’s session they didn’t have any official duties so they took the opportunity to get to know the streets and landmarks of Baldur’s Gate a little better.

At Harry T North in Toronto we continue to see a fantastic turn out for D&D Encounters. We ran two tables, one with eight players and one with nine players. Our third DM knew he would be absent this week so he and his six players took the week off and plan to do a double session next week. Our fourth DM was unable to play this week so we proceeded with the massive tables.

My party was relatively unchanged from last week. Seven PCs returned, one player changed his character, and we had one brand new player. This is how the party shaped up in the end: two Elf Rangers, Human Cleric, Dwarf Fighter, two Human Monks, Half-Elf Paladin, Halfling Rogue, and Elf Mage.

Without any clear direction or orders this session, the PCs were free to do whatever they wanted. This seemed to throw the players off, but as the night progressed they got more into it. They decided to break into smaller groups as they each explored different areas of Baldur’s Gate.

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Player Resources

Back to School Tips for Gamers

Going to college was an opportunity for me, as a gaming and comic book nerd, to try and reinvent myself. I could be one of the cool kids if I wanted to be; after all no one knew me so I could try to pass myself off as anything I wanted. Good in theory, but I quickly realized that I’m a gamer and that I couldn’t change or hide that fact. Instead I took my first steps as a gaming ambassador. I shared my love of games – board games, card games and role-playing games – with all of the new people I met while I was away at school. The key was to ease people into it gaming and let them discover for themselves just how much fun gaming can be.

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DM Resources Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: 5 Tips To Increase Role-Playing At Your Game Table

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From February 8, 2011, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: 5 Tips To Increase Role-Playing At Your Game Table.

Role-playing has featured prominently in several 4e blogs over the past few weeks. The topics and approaches to the subject have varied widely, from how to speed up combat to allow for more time to role-play to introducing new mechanics to encourage role-playing. Our own post on the 4th action is one of the later articles. The subject of role-playing in 4e has been of great debate since its release with many debating how much role-playing the edition allows.

Some have argued that skill challenges are the mechanic in 4e that facilitates role-playing. While skill challenges can certainly accomplish this task, to state that they are the only way to role-play in 4e is rather naive. I strongly believe that if your gaming group wants to role-play it will. I also believe that some players are more willing to embrace role-playing than others.

Role-playing can be an uncomfortable experience for some players. It requires taking on an alternate personality and sharing that with the rest of the game table. Included below are five tips that a DM can use to foster role-playing at the table.

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 2)

murder-in-baldurs-gate-coverDuke Abdel Adrian is dead – killed in front of hundreds of witnesses while addressing the people of Baldur’s Gate on Founder’s Day. Fortunately a group of adventurers were on site and helped defeat the assassin before there was any other loss of life.

That’s how things began last week for the PCs. Following their spectacular heroics they were approached by three different people who wished to enlist their services while Baldur’s Gate tries to reestablish some sense of order in light of the Duke’s death. By night’s end they needed to decide which of the three offers seemed most appealing.

Last week at Harry T North in Toronto we had a lot of players and only 2 DMs. This week we were back up to 3 DMs but had even more players. The result was two tables of seven and one table of eight.

I ran the table of eight which included seven new players. None of them had ever played D&D Next, and three had never played any form of D&D. After letting them choose from the pre-generated characters, we ended up with the following PCs in the party: Half-Elf Paladin, Gnome Druid, Dwarf Fighter, Elf Mage, Human Monk, Halfling Rogue and two Elf Rangers.

I spent the first 30-40 minutes providing a recap of last week’s events and tried to offer an unbiased breakdown of what each of the three factions had revealed to the PCs during week 1. Eventually the PCs agreed to side with Marshal Ulder Ravengard of the Flaming Fist company. A few were leaning towards supporting Silvershiled, but they were eventually convinced to come on board.

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 1)

murder-in-baldurs-gate-coverWe begin another season of D&D Encounters. Season 15 is called Murder in Baldur’s Gate and it’s part of Wizard of the Coast’s next big cross-over event, The Sundering. The Sundering will bring about changes that will transition the Forgotten Realms from 4e to D&D Next.

This past weekend Wizards encouraged FLGS that normally participate in D&D Encounters to run the Murder in Baldur’s Gate launch weekend adventure. This adventure is a prequel to this season of D&D Encounters. Fortunately I got a chance to play the launch weekend adventure at GenCon, as did a few others from my FLGS. However, my FLGS did not order the kits so players who were not at GenCon (which was most of them) didn’t play it. As it turned out, that was a good thing.

This season the weeks are divided into stages rather than sessions. The first stage is the Introductory Stage which we played this week. It begin by repeating the events of the lunch weekend, albeit it an abridged version, and then gave the PCs opportunities to meet with up to three significant NPCs. Anyone who played in the launch weekend and then showed up for D&D Encounters this week would have likely been bored having to do pretty much the same encounter twice.

This season the PCs will have a tremendous amount of freedom. The choices they make will have a direct impact on the story as it unfolds. There are no right or wrong choices, but the final outcome will be different depending on what choices each group makes along the way. For this reason we are going to try and have fixed tables this season keeping the same parties together whenever possible.

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Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 15 Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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Player Resources

In Anticipation of GenCon: 7 Reasons Why I’d Rather Be At GenCon

gencon-logo-01For those of you not lucky enough to be at GenCon 2013, I think you’ll find that Wimwick very accurately summed up his feelings of jealousy and longing in this post from our archives.

Originally published on August 5, 20011, Dungeon’s Master once again presents 7 Reasons Why I’d Rather Be At GenCon.

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Search for the Diamond Staff – Report Card

search-for-the-diamond-staff-coverWe have once again concluded another season of D&D Encounters. The season 14 adventure, Search for the Diamond Staff, had its ups and downs and we’re going to look at many of them today as we put together our report card on the season.

This report card will follow the same format I’ve used many times before; I’ll start with the good and then move on to the bad. However, as this was the first time we used the D&D Next rules for D&D Encounters I’ll do a special good/bad breakdown of the elements unique to the playtest rules.

Without further ado here are our thoughts on season 14 D&D Encounters: Search for the Diamond staff. Let us know your thoughts on the season as a whole in the comments below.

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Player Resources

In Anticipation of GenCon: 10 Things I Learned at Worldwide D&D Game Day

gencon-logo-01Many people try role-playing games for the first time at their FLGS or at a gaming convention. Events like D&D Encounters and D&D Game Day present great opportunities for curious observers to sit at the table and join in the fun.

This weekend at GenCon and at FLGS in the U.S.A. and Canada, the Murder in Baldur’s Gate launch weekend event provides the perfect opportunity for new people to try D&D for the first time. As experienced gamers it’s up to us to act as ambassadors for the gaming community and welcome these new members into the fold.

A someone who knows what it’s like to wear the gaming ambassador hat on a regular basis I’d like to offer some suggestions on how we can all work together to ensure that new gamers have a good time. These tips are valid for any public play game including D&D Encounters, Game Day, or GenCon.

Originally published on May 25, 2009, Dungeon’s Master once again presents 10 Things I Learned at Worldwide D&D Game Day.

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Player Resources

In Anticipation of GenCon: 7 Appalling Things I Witnessed at the Gaming Table

gencon-logo-01Many gamers assume that people who share their hobby also share their sensibility regarding what’s considered socially acceptable at the gaming table. Regrettably this is not always the case. From time to time during public play games (such as those run at conventions) players will be clueless about what’s expected of them when it comes to the social contract. I’m not even talking about matters of personal hygiene, although that’s an issue too. I’m talking about what most consider to be acceptable behaviour and the line that’s cross all too often.

This article was written following my personal experiences at GenCon a few years ago. I have rerun it every year since as a reminder that a little bit of courtesy and common sense go a long way at the gaming table. As you read this article make note of the offenses you think you might be guilty of this year at GenCon and do your best to avoid committing any of these violations.

We ran this as part of our Great Hits 2011 at which time I wrote a new intro for it. I think that the new intro is just as important as the original article so I’ve decided to include it with today’s re-post.

Originally published on August 12, 2011, and then again on December 19, 2011, Dungeon’s Master once again presents:

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