Tag: D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter (Week 3)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date May 2, 2013
7 Comments on D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter (Week 3)

Last week the PCs rescued the kidnapped son of Lady Nadris. This week they continue their search for “The Tormentor,” the man in the devil mask who is apparently behind the rash of kidnappings in Neverwinter, including the one the PCs foiled last week. To sweeten the pot, Lord Neverember has offered a 10,000 gp reward for anyone who captures the person or persons responsible for the kidnappings.

This week’s recap follows the group at Harry T North in Toronto. We’ve had just enough people to run two solid tables for months, but the addition of two brand new players pushed us to 13 this week. With only two DMs ready to run the session we ended up with a table of six and another with seven. I played with the larger group and helped the two newbies.

The party consisted of a Tiefling Ardent, Human Assassin, Tiefling Warlock, Wilden Wizard, Goliath Monk (my character), and the two new players used the pre-gens Eboncross the Shade Wizard and Gardain the Dwarf Fighter.

Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 13 Week 3) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Season 13 Week 3) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Storm Over Neverwinter

Month in Review

Quarterly Review: Q1 2013

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date May 1, 2013

At the end of every month since we started Dungeon’s Master we provided a Month in Review recap of everything we ran that month. When we were running new articles every day the Month in Review was need to ensure that our loyal readers didn’t miss any of the great stuff we were providing. However, over the past year we’ve published fewer articles each month and the Month in Review posts were a bit sparse. When the blog reached its fourth birthday we decided to make a change and stop running the Month in Review. Instead we decided from that point forward we’d do a Quarterly Review. Our first quarter of 2013 ran from February 1 – April 30.

Today we collect all the articles we ran over the past three months, group them by category, and share the links with you. It’s exactly like the way we used to do the Month in Review.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who visited Dungeon’s Master over the past three months. It’s your loyalty and your comments that keep us going. We welcome your feedback and encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments, by email, or on Twitter.

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Encounters, DM Resources, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Month in Review, Player Resources, Quarterly Review

D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter (Week 2)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date April 25, 2013
7 Comments on D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter (Week 2)

Last week’s session ended when the PCs arrived at Lady Nidris’s home and discovered that her son had disappeared. This week they searched for the lost boy.

We had a great turn out at my FLGS with 19 players and three DMs. I ran a table of six that consisted of a Deva Wizard (Necromancer), Tiefling Warlock (Hexblade), Wilden Cleric, Drow Sorcerer, Halfling Rogue, and Shade Wizard (pre-gen).

Before we got into this week’s adventure I reminded the players that they wouldn’t get an extended rest until after week 4. That meant that they had to complete three more encounters with whatever resources they had left.

Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 13 Week 2) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Season 13 Week 2) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Neverwinter, Storm Over Neverwinter

D&D Encounters

Public Play

I believe that public play is one of the best advertisements we have for our games. By playing in plain sight you give others a chance to see what’s going on. The mystery of Settlers of Catan or Dungeons & Dragons is revealed as people hover around the table and watch. This is true for all games including RPGs, card games and board games. Every time I play a board game at my FLGS someone walks by and asks about it.

For years the only place I ever played games was at home. D&D was just another one of my nerd hobbies. I had enough problems with social awkwardness during my teenage years that the last thing I needed was additional ridicule from my peers because I was playing D&D in public. It wasn’t until many, many years later that I realized how much there was to be gained through public play.

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. We bring gaming to the masses as “P” is for Public Play in today’s article.

Tags 4e, Blogging from A to Z Challenge, D&D, D&D Encounters, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Lair Assault, LFR, Living Forgotten Realms, Player Resources, Public Play

D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter (Week 1)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date April 18, 2013
11 Comments on D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter (Week 1)

This season we return to Neverwinter. The adventure takes place after the events from D&D Encounters season 6, Lost Crown of Neverwinter. Knowledge of Neverwinter, the Forgotten realms or even the previous season is not required, but it would give players and DMs some insight about the people and places they’re likely to encounter this season.

The Neverwinter Campaign Sourcebook will be an invaluable asset this season. It would be helpful if at least one person at your gaming table had one (preferably the DM). It’s a solid sourcebook and is well worth the price. I strongly encourage DMs to pick it up for themselves if they haven’t already.

D&D Next

Each FLGS will have the option of running this season’s adventure using 4e rules or D&D Next rules. Those interested in trying D&D Next need to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). The DM will also need to download the conversion kit from the Wizards of the Coast website. The 4e adventure is still required. You cannot run this without the adventure provided in the DM kits (for the maps if nothing else).

We’ve decided to continue running with the 4e rules this season at the two FLGS where I play. The weekly recaps will only comment on the adventure as written (4e) and not reference any of the D&D Next conversions materials. However, we will be discussing it on our Recounting Encounter podcasts each week so if you’re playing D&D Next you should listen.

Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 13 Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Season 13 Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Neverwinter, Storm Over Neverwinter

D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos – Report Card

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date April 11, 2013
8 Comments on D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos – Report Card

As we say goodbye to another season of D&D Encounters we reflect and discus what we liked and did not like about season 12. I’ll admit that I think Against the Cult of Chaos was one of the better seasons of D&D Encounters we’ve had so far. I do have some criticisms, but in the grand scheme of things I think the good far outweighs the bad. Review my list and let me know your thoughts on D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos as a whole in the comments below.

Tags 4e, Against the Cult of Chaos, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons

D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 8.)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date April 4, 2013
5 Comments on D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 8.)

This week was the grand finale of D&D Encounters season 12. The PCs would face of against the forces off evil in an attempt to seal the rip in the Chaos Mote and ensure Miska remained imprisoned. The PCs would either be successful or die trying.

We ran a party of six this week. The members included a Drow Cleric, Half-Orc Barbarian, Elf Fighter (Slayer), Ryltar the Drow Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen, Pixie Wizard (Witch), and Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid). In their possession were all three chaos artifacts: the Chaos Blade, Death Circlet, and Scroll of Final Words. With these three items the PCs felt that they had the means to ensure the forces of good would prevail.

Last week the PCs defeated Lareth the Beautiful and his minions. This week we began with the PCs returning to Hommel Lane from the Moat House. In the centre of town a crowd had gathered around the statue of Haffron Hommel. It seemed that the statue was now smiling. As the PCs approached the statue it spoke. “It feels incredible to be whole again, even if I cannot move!” it said.

Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Week 8.) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Week 8.) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, Against the Cult of Chaos, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons

D&D Encounters

Recounting Encounters with Against the Cult of Chaos author Shawn Merwin

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date April 1, 2013

Today Dungeon’s Master and 20ft Radius are proud to present a special episode of our podcast, Recounting Encounters. In this episode we talk to Shawn Merwin, one of the authors of this season’s adventure Against the Cult of Chaos.

Shawn is a freelance writer and game designer with a long list of impressive gaming credits to his name. His writing credits for Wizards of the Coast include Dungeon Delve, Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress, and Halls of Undermountain. He’s also been a very active member of the D&D public-play community having written for Living Greyhawk (LG) and Living Forgotten Realms (LFR). Most recently Shawn was one of the authors of the D&D Encounters season 11 adventure War of Everlasting Darkness and this season’s adventure Against the Cult of Chaos.

Tags 4e, Against the Cult of Chaos, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos, Dungeons and Dragons, Recounting Encounters

D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter – Preview

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date March 29, 2013
30 Comments on D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter – Preview

D&D Encounters season 13, the spring 2013 season, begins on April 10 with week 0. The adventure itself – Storm Over Neverwinter – runs 8 weeks from April 17-June 5.

This is an adventure for characters level 3-6. It says levels 4-6 on the cover, but the text inside clearly trumps that and expects new PCs to begin at level 3. This is a first for D&D Encounters. It may make things a bit tougher for brand new players to just jump in with a character above level 1, but those of us who have played since season 1 will certainly appreciate an adventure with a bit more teeth.

Tags 4e, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Storm Over Neverwinter, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms, Neverwinter, Storm Over Neverwinter

D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 7)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date March 28, 2013
2 Comments on D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 7)

In week 2 this party visited the Moat House and nearly got wiped out by the bandits. This week they finally decided it was time to return to the Moat House and investigate the strange happening going on in the dungeon level below the old fort.

I ran a party of five that included a Half-Orc Barbarian, Drow Cleric, Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), an Elf Fighter (Slayer), and Drow Wizard. I’ve now got seven regular players rotating in and out of my group, but their respective schedules have kept at least one away for the past month. Next week I expect all of them to be there for the finale which should make things interesting.

Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Week 7) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Week 7) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, Against the Cult of Chaos, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons