Tag: Blogging from A to Z Challenge

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The Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2014: Round-Up

a-to-z-2014-survivorThroughout April Dungeon’s Master participated in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. This was our second year participating so you’d think we’d have known what to expect. We were wrong. The Blogging From A to Z Challenge was a lot of fun, but man, it was a lot of work. Certainly more than I remember from a year ago.

This time around we thought we’d pick a theme in order to make things easier for ourselves. Every article we ran in April was filled with brand new adventure hooks, something all DMs find useful. In retrospect focusing on just one theme tied my hands more that I thought it would, but we still managed to get through the full run of A to Z by month’s end.

I’d like to give a huge shout out to Joe Lastowski (The Average Joe). He volunteered to write a few adventure hooks articles for us and I don’t think I would have made it through the full month of 26 articles without his help. Thanks, Joe!

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Adventure Hooks: This Place is a Zoo!

a-to-z-2014-zZoology is the scientific study of all things related to animals including their classification, physical characteristics and behaviour. In a fantasy gaming world this would naturally extend to monsters and other fantastic beasts. Those interested in zoological studies will often collect animals in a zoo, sometimes for the protection and wellbeing of these creatures, sometimes just to make them easier to observe and study by bringing them all together.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “Z” is for zoo, and you’d better believe that a zoo in a fantasy game setting will be more wild and exotic than anything in the real world.

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Adventure Hooks: Yuan-Ti

a-to-z-2014-ySome of my favorite cult-related foes in the D&D world are the Yuan-Ti. Servants of a snake god, they often kidnap regular folks so that they can infect them with snakey parts. The more pious the servants, the more snake-like they become. This can create an interesting dichotomy between the Yuan-Ti who became so by choice, and those who were kidnapped into the cult and now have no other option.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “Y” is for Yuan-Ti, the serpentine race of snake folk. Thanks to Joe Lastowski for another great contribution.

Growing up watching Conan the Barbarian, where James Earl Jones portrays the snake-like foe Thulsa Doom, the Yuan-Ti are exactly what I wanted to fight in my younger gaming days. And somehow, that desire has never changed. Ever since their debut in the 1981 AD&D adventure “Dwellers of the Forbidden City”, something about the Yuan-Ti just cried out to me. Also, there are a wide variety of D&D, Pathfinder, and generic RPG minis out there of snake people, so chances are you can populate a map fairly easily, too. Here, for your perusal, are some snakey plot hooks related to the Yuan-Ti.

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Adventure Hooks: The Xanathar – Crime Lord of Waterdeep

a-to-z-2014-xWaterdeep is to the Forgotten Realms what New York City is to the real world. If you can buy it, sell it, eat it, or experience it then you can find it in Waterdeep. It’s the centre of commerce, which naturally attracts thieves and villains. Between the City Watch and the Secret Lords of Waterdeep crime is kept to a minimum, or at least that’s what those in charge want visitors and residents of Waterdeep to believe. In truth there is a criminal master mind that secretly runs all of the criminal activities in Waterdeep, a man known only as The Xanathar.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “X” is for Xanathar, the infamous Crime Lord of Waterdeep.

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Adventure Hooks: If Only Wishing Made It So

a-to-z-2014-w

Wishes will change your game. A wish is the most powerful magic in D&D, so powerful and so broken that it doesn’t even exist in the mechanics for 4e. But as the DM you have the power and the choice to introduce wishes into your campaign as you see fit. It’s not something that you should consider lightly, but it is something you should be willing to consider.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “W” is for wish as we look at some epic level adventure hooks for truly powerful characters.

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Adventure Hooks: Volcanos

a-to-z-2014-vThe intense power of a volcano is something that, I feel, is often underutilized in fantasy settings. That’s not to say it’s been ignored, though. Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series (which is awesome, by the way) uses volcanic eruptions to great (and horrible) effect a few books into the series. A volcano was the only power strong enough to destroy the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings series. Before the release of their Neverwinter Campaign setting, Wizards of the Coast even held an open submission contest for writers to send them adventures related to the eruption of Mt. Hotenow, which had a drastic effect on the Neverwinter region. Sure, a Red Dragon can breathe fire, but a volcano can turn the land for miles around into a mass of fire and smoke and ash and melted rock while blotting out the sun and turning the oceans black with ash. That’s something you can definitely use in your games.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will be provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “V” is for volcano, one of the most awesome and powerful forces in the natural world.

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Adventure Hooks: The Dangers of the Underdark

a-to-z-2014-uThe Underdark is the vast subterranean network of interconnected caverns that run beneath the surface world. The Underdark is filled with creatures living and thriving underground, uniquely adapted for life without sunlight. It’s the perfect place for adventures to explore when seeking fame, fortune and forbidden knowledge.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “U” is for Underdark as we look at hooks suitable for campaigns that take place underground.

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Adventure Hooks: Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Television

a-to-z-2014-tWe game because it’s a social interaction with friends. Many of us find our own stories better than what we’d find on a TV. However, as a dominant social medium for more than 60 years, we cannot deny that television has had a lasting effect on the way stories are told, and once or twice they’ve gotten it right and even told some awesome tales. We’re going to look at TV tropes and how you can use them to draw your players into your plots.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “T” is for television as Joe Lastowski looks at how we can borrow common TV tropes and use them to inspire adventure hooks for our D&D adventures.

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Adventure Hooks: Scoundrels of Skullport Board Game

a-to-z-2014-sLast week we looked at using quest cards from the Lords of Waterdeep board game as the inspiration for adventure hooks. Today we’re looking at the expansion, Scoundrels of Skullport, and drawing upon 10 more examples.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “S” is for Scoundrels of Skullport as we use the game’s quest cards to inspire adventuring hooks for your D&D game.

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Adventure Hooks: Resurrection

a-to-z-2014-rDying sucks! You spend all that time and effort developing an interesting character that you know as well as (or possibly better) than your real life friends and in one roll of the dice he’s killed. This might be an untimely crit by the DM, a poor saving throw, or failed jump check. Regardless of how it happened, dying sucks. Now you’ve got to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new character concept. Of course the other option is to find a way to bring the deceased character back to life.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today’s “R” is for resurrection which is timely since today is Easter Monday.

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