Tag: D&D Encounters

Categories
Dark Sun Editorial

D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 5)

The party survived. I was shocked. When I was reading the encounter in preparation for week 5 I was sure it would be a TPK. But as so often happens in D&D, the players did the unexpected and lived.

Since week 1 the PCs have had their butts kicked all over the place. They’ve taken exorbitant amounts of damage and use way more resources each week than one might expect to during a typical D&D encounter. Coming into week 5 they were literally down to their last legs. But after four weeks of hell, the PCs finally got lucky and that made all the difference.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 5)”
Categories
Editorial

Ameron’s 2010 GenCon Schedule

GenCon 2010, the four best days in gaming, starts exactly one month from today on Thursday, August 5. This year both Wimwick and I are going to Indianapolis. It’s my third GenCon and his first.

Although we’ve both registered for as many events as we could, there were still a lot of question marks in our schedule. Some events, like the Wizards of the Coast seminars, do not have firm times and dates yet. Other events, like Dark Sun Arenas: Glory and Blood and the Convention Delve: Lair of the Dread Witch were not available for preregistration. So with that in mind, here’s what my schedule looks like so far.

Continue reading “Ameron’s 2010 GenCon Schedule”
Categories
Dark Sun

Dark Sun Is Deadly

Expect your PCs to die if you are playing a campaign set in Dark Sun. Dark Sun is a deadly campaign setting and death is par for the course.

“This rule reflects the fact that daily life on Athas is much harsher than it is in other AD&D realms, forcing characters to mature more quickly if they are to survive.” – AD&D 2e Dark Sun Rules Book

The rule in question is the one which states that characters start at level 3 in the AD&D version of Dark Sun. With the changes in the game since this edition, especially the fact that in 4e level 1 characters are a lot tougher than their previous counterparts, this rule is no longer needed.

Continue reading “Dark Sun Is Deadly”
Categories
Dark Sun Editorial

D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 4)

Today is Canada Day, a holiday across Canada, which meant that last night’s D&D Encounters Dark Sun had less than usual attendance. After three weeks with 20 or more participants, this week we were down to only 12 (including the two DMs). So with two tables of five, we returned to Athas.

Before we started the encounter itself, Jarvix performed a Comrades’ Succor ritual. This allowed the PCs to redistribute their remaining healing surges. So going into the encounter for week 4 everyone had full (or nearly full) hit points and at least one healing surge at their disposal during the combat. I want to thank the other DM running D&D Encounters for pointing out this ritual and explaining how to use it. Having never played an arcane character with Ritual Casting I had no idea. It made a huge difference.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 4)”
Categories
Month in Review

Month in Review: June 2010

Dark Sun is the hottest topic in D&D right now. We posted 10 Dark Sun articles here at Dungeon’s Master throughout the last month and promise to keep writing more on Athas and D&D Encounters season two. But that’s not all we covered in June. We still brought you plenty of player and DM resources as well as news from the D&D community. And just to let you know we haven’t forgotten about Eberron, we provided another installment in our ongoing Secrets of Eberron series. So whether you missed an article or two throughout June or you’ve only just stumbled upon our site, the Month in Review is a great way to get caught up on everything we ran in the past month. We’d also like to take this opportunity (as we do every month) to thank all of our readers for visiting Dungeon’s Master and for coming back again and again.

Continue reading “Month in Review: June 2010”
Categories
D&D Encounters Dark Sun Player Resources

D&D Encounters Dark Sun Character Skill Cards

The six pre-generated characters provided for D&D Encounters Dark Sun are so condensed that they only list the three or four skills each PC is trained in. So for everyone playing D&D Encounters season two, I’ve created skill cards for each character.

I’ll admit that the character sheet cards Wizards provided look great, but other than the aesthetic quality, the cards are terrible. They provide the absolute bare minimum detail required to play the characters. Some might even argue that they don’t even contain that much.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters Dark Sun Character Skill Cards”
Categories
Dark Sun Editorial

D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 3)

What do you get when four PCs are attacked by goblins from high atop a rocky outcropping? One hell of a tough encounter. Week 3 was another grueling session for the players at my table. They eventually defeated all of the monsters, but the toll on their personal resources was costly. If they thought encounter 3 was tough, encounters 4 and 5 will be nearly impossible without a significant turn of events.

There they were getting pelted from above when we took stock of party’s ranged attack options. Yuka, no ranged attacks. Phye, no ranged attacks. Shikirr, no ranged attacks. That left Barcan. The same Barcan with only 2 healing surges remaining. Barcan with the poorest defenses of all the pre-generated characters. After only 5 minutes we knew this was going to ugly.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 3)”
Categories
DM Resources Player Resources

Change, Change, and More Change to RPGA Play

Last week both the RPGA Character Creation Guide and the Living Forgotten Realms Character Creation Guide were updated. Both documents are effective tomorrow (June 22, 2010). This is the last update scheduled for either document until October. So if you play Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) or you’re planning on going to GenCon to play D&D then you should check out these updates. This is probably the largest single update since 4e was released. Here are the highlights.

Continue reading “Change, Change, and More Change to RPGA Play”
Categories
Dark Sun Editorial

D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 2)

This week I got a double dose of Dark Sun. I was on vacation last week, but before I left I made arrangements with 6 players to skip the first week and run encounters one and two back-to-back this week. After just two sessions of Fury of the Wastewalker I have to admit that I like this adventure a whole lot more than Halaster’s Lost Apprentice.

D&D Encounters is a 15-part adventure from Wizards of the Coast and it’s played out one encounter each week over 15 weeks.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 2)”
Categories
Dark Sun Editorial

D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 1)

The first session of D&D Encounters: Dark Sun was a sink or swim lesson in desert survival. This second season of the program takes place on the world Athas, an endless expanse of sand and searing heat having been blasted lifeless by the ravaging effects of magic. On Athas the majority of the population swelters in the heat of oppression in slavery while tyrannical sorcerer-kings live lavish and absurd life styles within the walls of their city states.

Welcome to Athas! Following an introduction to the world that our characters found them selves in, we joined the action as we took part in a caravan as guards. Since resources are so scarce on Athas and the wilderness is inhabited by cruel raiders (not to mention cannibalistic Halflings), cargo moves from city to city in large caravans fortified by hired swords fighting to earn their next meal. It is on this errand that our party was devastated by a rain of jet black obsidian from above which obliterated the majority of the caravan after only one days travel from civilization. It was after most of the caravan was killed by falling stone when we were ambushed.

As lizard men began to raid the wagon train a very strong tone was set that I hope will persist throughout the arc of the season: Life on Athas is pragmatic at best. Where did that obsidian come from? Why is in raining on us? I suspect that these questions and many more will never be answered. Our characters didn’t have time to ponder the source of our assailant because we had the task of grabbing as many days’ supplies as we could before running for our lives into the endless desert. You know that the circumstances are dire when the best course of action includes a life denying wasteland.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 1)”