Tag: 4e

Greatest Hits 2009: D&D Lego

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 26, 2009

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 2009. 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.

I’ll admit that the title is a bit of a tease since the article isn’t really about Lego at all. It’s actually about playing in a campaign that relies on a story and characters that everyone knows and loves, as many of the Lego inspired video games do.

The more I’ve thought about this approach to gaming the more I think it would be a lot of fun. The more popular and familiar the setting, story and personalities, the more interesting it would be to adapt it into a D&D adventure.

Of course, if following this kind of established story feels too much like railroading then I suggest you take a look at our article Playing a Recognizable Archetype. Sometimes it’s fun to just take familiar characters and then let the story unfold in a completely unexpected way.

Whether you choose to try either of these approaches to D&D or you just conform to the traditional way of building characters and campaigns, you should always strive to make your campaign exciting and your characters memorable – even if they were drawn from somebody else’s imagination.

As a side note, for those who might be interested, I’ve since completed both versions of Star Wars: Lego as well as Batman: Lego. And even thought I’m a huge Batman fan, I must admit that not knowing where the story was going and who I was likely to encounter (like I did in the Star Wars games) really made it feel like something was missing. I liked Batman: Lego but not nearly as much as I did Star Wars: Lego. Never underestimate the comfort of familiarity.

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Lego, DM idea, DM inspiration, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Greatest Hits, Lego, resource, Star Wars Lego

Editorial

Merry Christmas

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 25, 2009

The Dungeon’s Master team wishes all of our readers a safe and happy holiday season.

When we launched our blog back in February we had no idea how long this little project was going to last. Yet here we are almost a year later and we’re still going strong. Thank you to all of our readers and to everyone who’s helped make Dungeon’s Master a success.

If you’re still looking for a great gift to give yourself or someone in your gaming group, we have a suggestion that’s in everyone’s price range. Give the gift of 4e D&D content directly into your inbox weekdays throughout 2010 by subscribing to the Dungeon’s Master RSS feed.

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Merry Christmas

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: Are All Gamers Fat?

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 24, 2009
5 Comments on Greatest Hits 2009: Are All Gamers Fat?

Sterling may not post often at Dungeon’s Master, but when he does he certainly knows how to generate discussion and debate. In this article he looked at the type and quantity of snacks our gaming group consumed during a night of D&D. Although this particular night was atypical for our group (although not by much) it’s sadly the norm for many other groups out there. There’s a reason that the fat gamer stereotype exists.

Once a week our group gets together to play D&D, and while we play we eat some of the most unhealthy snacks available. Sure they taste great, but as six intelligent guys with over 30 years of university and college education between us you’d think we’d realize just how bad this decision really is. If we were teenagers with raging metabolisms we might be able to get away with this kind of weekly binging, but we’re all in our mid 30s and have careers that mostly involve sitting and typing for 8 or more hours a day.

Sterling is a pharmacist in real life and has extensive knowledge of the working of the human body. By using our group as a case-study it certainly opened our eyes and with any luck it hit home with a lot of our readers. We still eat junk when we play, but since running this article we have (tried to) cut back. Most of us have switched to diet soda and on occasion we actually have healthy snacks. I don’t think Sterling expected anyone to change radically after reading this article, but if it generated discussion and got gamers taking stock of their snacking situation then I think it did its job.

So as we stuff ourselves with Christmas turkey this holiday season, keep this article in mind as a cautionary tale. The occasional indulgence may not be so bad as long as it’s not your typical behaviour. If you eat a lot of junk during your weekly game, make sure that your diet the rest of the week is a little bit healthier.

Tags 4e, are all gamers fat, calories, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Greatest Hits, pizza

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: What’s a +1 Sword?

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 23, 2009
3 Comments on Greatest Hits 2009: What’s a +1 Sword?

The idea of giving names to magical items really struck a chord with our readers. This article quickly jumped to the top of our analytics and still remains one of our most popular and often read articles.

Many of the people who commented on the original article agreed that PCs should cherish their magic treasures and not just treat them as portable wealth. By naming items, the players become more attached to their sword or wand. It becomes more important to the player and enhances the role-playing.

Other comments suggested not immediately revealing a magical treasure’s true power or potential until the PCs either identified the item or had an opportunity to use it. After all, if the PCs don’t know that it’s a +1 sword then they have to call it something else. This is certainly a reasonable approach, but my experience was that by not revealing the item’s power up front – at least out of game – then the PCs waste a lot of time identifying items, not to mention the havoc of recording an unidentified item in Character Builder.

Another comment about scaling power in magical items reminded me of a campaign we ran a couple of years ago in which our DM approached things very differently. All the PCs found or earned +1 items early in the campaign. Then as the PCs leveled up, the items would get more powerful. This way a PC who became particularly attached to their +1 sword didn’t have to trade it for something better as they got more powerful.

The day after running this article we ran another article about magic items. The follow-up explored the pros and cons of introducing Intelligent Magic Items into your campaign. So whether your sword got a name because you named it or because it already named itself, PCs should never have refer to their weapon as just a +1 sword.

Tags 4e, D&D, Drizzt, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Elric, Excalibur, Greatest Hits, Icingdeath, King Arthur, magic weapon, naming items, Player Resources, Stormbringer, sword name, Twinkle, What’s a +1 Sword

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: The Hangover: The Movie That Begs to Be a D&D Adventure

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 22, 2009

With the movie The Hangover just out on DVD I thought it timely to run this as part of our 2009 Greatest Hits. I still haven’t had an opportunity to use this idea in my campaign but I’m always looking for the right time to spring this on my regular group. If you’ve tried this kind of adventure, please let us know how it worked out in the comments below.

We received some great feedback after we ran this the first time. One reader rightly pointed out that this kind of adventure works better with players who are more interested in role-playing than just killing everything. After all, if the PCs are more the hack and slash types then there wouldn’t be much of a mystery as to what they did the night before. They probably fought and killed everything in their path and need only follow the bodies and blood trail to solve the mystery.

It occurred to me afterwards that the Forgotten Realms novel, Azure Bonds by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb is structured in pretty much this exact way. The hero, Alias, awakens in a dark room without anything other than a strange glowing azure tattoo on her arm. But in her case she’s missing more than the last 24 hours; she’s got absolutely no memory of who she is or how she ended up in the room where she awakens. It’s an excellent read and if you can find the novel (which is unfortunately out of print) I highly recommend it.

If you’re watching The Hangover on DVD this holiday season, think about how you can adapt it into a D&D adventure. There’s plenty of great material in there to work with so multiple viewings may be required. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Tags 4e, D&D, DM Resources, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Greatest Hits, Plot Hook, Skill Challenge, Skill Challenges, The Hangover

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: Avoiding Death

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 21, 2009
2 Comments on Greatest Hits 2009: Avoiding Death

This was one of the very first articles I wrote for Dungeon’s Master. All of the examples came from actual events that took place at my gaming table. And in the months since I wrote this article, I’ve seen all of these things happen over and over again whenever I play with new gamers.

My intent with this article was to highlight (in a humourous way) the dumb things we’ve all done as PCs. If you avoid making even one of these mistakes after reading this, then I’ve done my job.

A few of these tips and reminders are less pertinent today then they were when this article was first published thanks to Character Builder. Since Character Builder does all of the math for you, you’re a lot less likely to miss or forget modifiers.

If I had to add #11 to this list it would be to use your daily powers every day. But as a more general reminder, the only other piece of advice I’d offer is to just play intelligently. It’s the stupid things that get your PC into trouble.

Tags 4e, character death, D&D, DM, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Greatest Hits, player, resource, total party kill, tpk

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: Keith Baker Answers 13 Questions

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 20, 2009

Scoring this interview with Keith Baker was certainly a high point for the Dungeon’s Master team. I met Keith at GenCon this past summer and he was a really nice guy. He answered questions about Eberron and seemed genuinely interested and enthusiastic to meet the fans who play in the campaign world he created.

I’ve almost finished reading Keith’s latest Eberron novel, The Son of Khyber (book two in the Thorn of Breland series). I don’t want to say too much yet, but it’s quite good. I’ll post my complete review in early 2010. For those who may be thinking of picking it up, pay close attention to questions 9 and 13 below. If you’re interested in learning more about House Tarkanan then this book is a must read.

Not long after we ran this interview I had the opportunity to meet another Eberron author, Don Bassingthwaite. Our interview with Keith Baker was mainly about the Eberron setting, whereas our interview with Don was more about how he broke into the business. If you enjoy the interview below, I encourage you to check out An Interview With Eberron Author Don Bassingthwaite (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3).

If you’re a fan of Eberron be sure to check out all of our articles in the Eberron Category. In 2010 we’ll continue with our ongoing series, Secrets of Eberron Revealed (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4). The locales we’ve described work best in Eberron, but are easily adaptable to fit just about any campaign setting.

Tags 4e, D&D, Draconic Prophecy, Dragonmark, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Eberron, Greatest Hits, House Tarkanan, Keith Baker, Legacy of Dhakaan, Mark of Death, The Son of Khyber, Thorn of Breland, Wizards of the Coast

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: The Gaming Jerk

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 19, 2009

Ever since I wrote this article I’ve been keeping a close eye on just how “helpful” I am at the gaming table when I’m a player. I’ve realized that quite often I could easily be classified as a Gaming Jerk. There is indeed a very fine line between being enthusiastic and a Gaming Jerk. But once I realized that this was the case it’s been a lot easier to keep things in check.

My greatest challenge is when I’m at a gaming table with rookies. I have to really resist the urge to play their character for them. I’ll still help when I can; like reminding them to add their +1d6 when they roll a crit with a +1 weapon or reminding them that they have an action point when they try to do too many things on their turn. But I’ve stopped suggesting that thy use this power or that power in a certain situation. I want them to gain the experience that comes from playing a class and trying out their own powers a certain way.

When I’m the DM I’ve discovered a whole new way to tackle the Gaming Jerk problem. Some of the comments from the original article suggest that DMs side-step the Gaming Jerk by changing the monster’s statistics or simply creating your own monsters. With the release of the D&D Monster Builder this is easier then it’s ever been before. I think we’ll find that the Gaming Jerk who used to be confident enough to shout out all the monster’s powers and abilities is at the same time savvy enough to realize that many DMs no longer use the stats right out of the Monster Manual. Suddenly the Gaming Jerk is making those monster knowledge checks to see how much his PC knows rather than making assumptions.

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Gaming Jerk, Greatest Hits, Monster Knowledge

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date December 18, 2009

With 2009 nearing completion the Dungeon’s Master team is taking another look at some of our favourite articles from the past year. With over 250 articles posted since our launch in February, there are bound to be a few that you missed somewhere along the way. If you’ve only found Dungeon’s Master recently, this is a good way to discover some of our best work. For those readers who have been with us since the beginning, we think you’ll enjoy revisiting these articles again.

Over the next two weeks we’ll dig up those hidden gems that generated a lot of discussion among the gaming community or that we think best represent what we’re all about.

Each of our greatest hits articles will include the original article in its entirety, along with a new introduction. In some cases our opinions have changed since the article was originally published and in others we’re holding fast to our initial stance (as unpopular as it might be). You’ll have to check out the greatest hits every day to find out which opinions we still agree with and which ones we’ve reconsidered.

Dungeon’s Master returns to its regular weekly publishing schedule in 2010. Be sure to keep coming back in 2010 for all new articles about 4e D&D.

Looking for instant updates? Subscribe to the Dungeon’s Master feed!

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Greatest Hits

Top 10

10 Ways To Get Your D&D Fix Over The Holidays

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date December 17, 2009
5 Comments on 10 Ways To Get Your D&D Fix Over The Holidays

The Holidays are here. Time to kick back and relax with family and friends. Perhaps you’re blessed with a few days off work or a slower paced environment for a few short weeks. As a D&D player your mind will invariably drift to your favourite hobby and how you can get a few more hours of game time in.

My normal gaming group is on holiday hiatus and we won’t reconvene until the new year when we begins a new campaign. It’s actually more of a ressurected 3.5e campaign that’s been given a face lift and fresh legs with 4e, but I digress.

Tags 4e, character builder, D&D, dragon magazine, dungeon magazine, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Humour, Keith Baker, The Son of Khyber, Wizards of the Coast