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Editorial

D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 8.)

Using the information gained from the small copper dragon at the end of last week’s encounter the PCs rushed into the swamp in hopes of saving Benwick from ambush. Our party this week consisted of Berrian, Hagen, Quinn, Sola and two unique characters, an Assassin and a Wizard. So with a full roster we braved ahead.

We arrived at the ambush site just in time to witness the ambush taking place. As we approached we overheard the Dragonborn leader addressing Ronnik and telling him that they will “seal their arrangement with blood.” The Dragonborn was standing menacingly over Benwick; Ronnik was standing over Benwick’s fallen comrades Sal and Gordi. Four lizardfolk address Ronnik in Draconic before attacking the PCs.

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Player Resources

27 Questions To Ask Your New Character

The character creation process is one of the most important steps at the beginning of any campaign. The choices you make will echo over the course of many levels. Making a truly memorable character requires you to make a lot of important choices. From race, class and attribute distribution all decisions will factor into the overall enjoyment of playing this character.

While the numbers and powers that describe your character are of great importance they are not the most important factors in the design process. The key to creating an engaging character is developing a back-story full of life and intrigue. This process isn’t easy and often takes more time than selecting powers and equipment.

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DM Resources Editorial

Who’s Really In Control At Your Gaming Table?

The common belief is that the DM is in charge, but the more I’ve been looking at things objectively the more I’m inclined to disagree. It seems to me that the players have a lot more power and influence over the campaign than anyone may realize.

At the very beginning of any game the DM is indeed in charge. He’s in control of the overall setting, the campaign objective, the party’s motivation and the monsters. The very first time the players sit down at the gaming table the DM is firmly in control. But as we all know, no plan survives contact with the enemy (the enemy being the players).

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Player Resources

Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts (Part 2)

What do you get when six experienced gamers that have never played the Tomb of Horrors try to survive a delve into the most infamous dungeon adventure in D&D history? A whole bunch of exciting actual play podcasts. With a DM who plays for keeps, the players continue to match wits with a dungeon famous for killing all who dare to enter. So far none of the PCs have died, although there have been a few very close calls.

In this article we bring you episodes #4 and #5, which make up the second night of our ongoing adventure. Before diving intop these podcasts, make sure you listen to the first three Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts.

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Editorial

What Happened To The Chaos?

We’ve all been in this situation. The party is planning how to handle the next encounter. Strategy is being discussed and the groundwork for an epic battle is being laid out. The debate and conversation around such plans could last longer than the combat itself if we allowed it to. Just as the plan is coming together chaos takes over.

Delian the Paladin – We know that Balador favours undead as allies. I feel it would be prudent to lead with an attack that unleashes the power of the gods.

Nenia the Wizard – Wisely spoken Delian, however we know that Balador is truly a coward. He hides behind his numerous servants. I feel if we quickly eliminate these foes we will have a direct path to Balador.

Ethan the Rogue – These idea’s sound great! I just need a minute to sneak behind our adversaries. It will allow me to unleash a tirade of death upon them.

Merric the Cleric – That’s fine Ethan, just don’t separate yourself from the rest of us. My healing magic will only stretch so far.

Delian the Paladin – Great, I say Braddoc and I advance together and form a defensive wall, then Ethan can move in to flank our foes. Braddoc, can we count on you with this plan of attack? Braddoc?

Braddoc the Fighter – (To the DM) I charge!

The remaining players are shocked and upon lifting their jaws from the floor they ask why? Why are you attacking? The response? I’m chaotic neutral, it’s in my nature.

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Editorial

D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands (Week 7)

For the first time this season a character was killed, dead-dead. At one point three PCs were making death saves having already wracked up two strikes and staring the third in the face. Our arrogance, over-confidence, and poor tactics resulted in heavy damage and one fatality. The party felt challenged and quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be another cake-walk.

Our party consisted of five PCs. Quinn, Sola, Berrian plus a Dwarven Rogue (basically Merric with a couple of small changes) and a Human Wizard. So we had a balanced party with a defender, leader, striker and two controllers. But in the end balance it wasn’t enough to earn a quick or easy victory.

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Editorial

Fortune 500 – Extreme Wealth in D&D

Today marks our 500th post. When we’ve hit significant milestones at Dungeon’s Master in the past we’ve tried to relate the number of that milestone into that article. Our 100th post was a list of 100 Great Things About D&D. For our 300th post Wimwick and I each created King Leonidas from the movie 300. Post 404 was all about Errors I’ve Made as a DM. When I was trying to come up with a subject to tie in to our 500th post I kept thinking of the Fortune 500 – a list of the most wealthy and profitable companies in the U.S. From there it wasn’t much of a leap to start thinking about extreme wealth in D&D.

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Editorial

The 2010 Hobby Show & The Great Canadian Game Show

The 2010 Hobby Show & The Great Canadian Game Show is happening this weekend in Toronto. It’s a showcase for many hobbies and games including, but not limited to, Dungeons & Dragons. If you live in the Greater Toronto Area or are a reasonable driving distance from here I strongly encourage you to check it out.

The convention is happening at the International Centre in Mississauga, located at 6900 Airport Road and runs all weekend. Here are the hours of operation.

  • Friday, November 5, 1 p.m. – 9 p.m.
  • Saturday, November 6, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
  • Sunday, November 7, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Daily Admission is $12 for adults, $7 for children under 15 and free for kids 5 and under. For $2 off admission, just visit their website and print the coupon.

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DM Resources Player Resources

Does Alignment Matter in 4e D&D?

How important is alignment? Does it serve a practical purpose in D&D , or does it just take up room on the character sheet? The alignment mechanic underwent significant changes when 4e D&D was launched. The traditional or classic view of alignment was turned on its head. Nine alignments were pared down to only five; and two of the remaining alignments are, for the most part, off limits to players. So with only three real choices remaining does alignment even matter? Is this just a carryover from previous editions that no longer has a place in D&D?

As a player and a DM I believe that alignment is a vitally important part of every character sheet and that it doesn’t get nearly enough attention. In fact I’m extremely dissatisfied with how alignment is handled in 4e D&D.

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Month in Review

Month in Review: October 2010

In October we returned to our roots and wrote about skill challenges… a lot. We looked at ways to make skill challenges more exciting and we provided new skill challenges for your campaign. We made sure that you knew what was going on with changes to LFR, provided an adventuring hook that generated a lot of discussion, looked back at the history of D&D computer games and forward to Neverwinter, and covered weeks 3-6 of D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands.

Thanks to everyone who visited us during October and we hope that you keep visiting us in November. We welcome your feedback and appreciate it when you leave your comments. If you missed any of the great stuff we published in October then this is your chance to get caught up.

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