Tag: D&D Next

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DM Resources Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: Adjudicating and House Rules

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From February 19, 2009, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Adjudicating and House Rules.

DM – The bugbear sneaks up behind Ethan the Rogue and strangles him with a garrote. You’re immobilized until you make a successful escape check.

Nenia – I attack the Bugbear with a Magic Missile and use my Orb of Unlucky Exchanges to switch the immobilized condition from Ethan to the Bugbear.

DM – Wait a minute, you mean the garrote magically goes from around Ethan’s neck to around the Bugbear’s own neck? That doesn’t seem right.

Nenia – That’s right and if the Bugbear wants to free himself he needs to make an escape check.

DM – Against himself?! That definitely doesn’t sound right.

What happens when a situation comes up and you as the DM don’t know what to do? Generally it’s one of two things: 1) you know there’s a rule that will solve the dilemma but you can’t find it, or 2) the situation is so unprecedented that you never thought of how to handle it. As the DM, what do you do?

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast (Week 3)

scourge-of-the-sword-coast-coverSo far this season the PCs have spent all their time in Daggerford exploring the town, getting to know the locals, and discovering rumours. By the end of the last session they’d met with Duke Daggerford himself and agreed to head to the nearby village of Julkoun to investigate the missing shipment of good and absence of travelers or messages from Julkoun. When we picked things up this week, a few days in game had passed and the party could see Julkoun in the distance as the approached by boat.

At Harry T North in Toronto we ran four tables this week, one using 4e and the other three using D&D Next. All told we had 21 players. Many of our regulars were absent this week but we did have two brand new players join in the fun: one with zero D&D experience, and one who hadn’t played since 3e.

The combined two-table group that Craig and I are running cooperatively had nine players this week. Even though the players were technically sitting at two different tables the story required that the parties be together at the outset. The group consisted of the following PCs: Halfling Rogue, Gnome Druid, Tiefling Rogue, Drow Paladin, Half-Orc Mage, Half-Orc Paladin, Elf Ranger, Human Monk, and Elf Cleric/Rogue.

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Editorial

Gaming Resume

It’s fair to say I was a decent athlete in my teenage years, but I was never the best player on the team. Growing up, I knew that there was no way I’d ever play sports professionally. However, as a gaming nerd, I’ve always thought it might be possible to get a job in the RPG industry, or specifically to get the chance to work for Wizards of the Coast.

A couple of years ago I got the chance to write some articles for Wizards as a freelancer, and that certainly got me a bit closer to living the dream. Last week I applied for a contract position with Wizards of the Coast as one of three D&D Organized Play Administrators. It’s not a full time job, but it’s a chance to make a meaningful contribution to the game I love and the public play program that I participate in every week.

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Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: Only Ten – Ameron’s List

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From July 25, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Only Ten – Ameron’s List.

“If you could only keep ten of your printed RPG books, which would you pick?”

This is the question Brendan from the gaming blog Untimately asked on Monday. He then proceeded to share his ten. Many of his readers shared their list in the comments section of the original post and I’ve seen more than a few bloggers post their essential ten list around the blogosphere. Today it’s my turn to join in this show and tell exercise and share my list.

Yesterday I looked around my gaming room to try to narrow it down to just ten books. After giving it some consideration I finally narrowed it down to just ten (which was a lot harder than I thought it would be). I’ve actually cheated in a few instances and grouped a few books together as one entry, but the reasons will be apparent as you read through my list.

You’ll notice the absence of any PHB, DMG and MM from my list. This was a deliberate choice. In my opinion some iteration of these books should be on everyone’s list; after all they’re called core books for a reason. I approached this task with the assumption that the core books were a given and these were the next ten I’d choose after those.

Rather than struggle with ranking, I decided instead to list the books alphabetically. I want you to see my list as a collection. Theses all made my list and that’s all that should matter, not which one is more important or useful that the next.

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast (Week 2)

scourge-of-the-sword-coast-coverIn the opening session last week two adventuring parties arrived at the gates of Daggerford. They’d heard the call for adventurers and came to slay the monsters that were plaguing the nearby lands. They also came to Daggerford because one of the items on their scavenger hunt list could only be found in the town for a limited time.

Unfortunately Daggerford was not allowing anyone to enter or exit the town. One of the PCs attacked a guard causing him to shoot his crossbow into the crowd of gathered refugees and then all hell broke loose. In the confusion the Druid transformed into a bear and while the guards were distracted the party ran past the guards and into Daggerford. Once inside they sought refuge in the Lady Luck Tavern and that’s where we left things last week.

This week at Harry T North in Toronto we ran four tables. We’re running three tables using D&D Next and one using 4e. The 4e table was packed with seven players. The independent D&D Next table was also full with six players. Craig and I had 9 players between us as we continued with out shared table experiment. We were expecting two more of our regular players to join us, but they never did.

Our massive party consisted of the following PCs: Drow Paladin, Half-Orc Wizard, Elf Ranger #1, Elf Ranger #2, Half-Orc Paladin, Elf Cleric/Rogue, Halfling Rogue, Gnome Druid, and Tiefling Rogue.

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Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 17 Week 2) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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Friday Favourites Player Resources

Friday Favourite: Addressing Your Weaknesses

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From January 5 & 15, 2010, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Addressing Your Weaknesses (Part 1 | Part 2).

When we make characters we often focus on their best ability score. We do whatever we can to get our key ability as high as possible right out of the gate. When we hit level 4 and level 8 we use that opportunity to push our best score even higher. But what about the scores on the other end of the scale? If you started with a 20 Strength it probably means that you’ve got an 8 in something else. How does that 8 affect your PC?

In previous editions of D&D the starting attributes were determined by dice and that meant the possibility for really low scores. Even less random methods of character creation like point-buy weren’t foolproof. Racial penalties to starting attributes still meant a chance of having a couple of really low starting ability scores. The revised point-buy system in 4e and the elimination of racial penalties means that you’re less likely to have any abilities lower than an 8, but even 8 is still just on the low side of average.

So what impact does a starting ability score of 8 have on your PC and how you play him? That may depend on how you explain your lowest score.

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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast (Week 1)

scourge-of-the-sword-coast-coverThis week we started season 17 of D&D Encounters. The adventure is called Dreams of the Red Wizards: Scourge of the Sword Coast. It’s the third of five adventures that crossover with The Sundering storyline. Scourge of the Sword Coast is also billed as part 1 of 2 adventures that concludes next season with Dead in Thay.

The PCs began play this season at level 2. Wizards of the Coast has only provided support for D&D Next despite rumours that they would keep supporting 3.5e and 4e through this season.

At Harry T North in Toronto we’re running four tables this season; three using D&D Next and one using 4e. This season I’m running a D&D Next table. My party had the following characters this week: Half-Orc Mage, Drow Paladin, Elf Rogue/Cleric, Elf Ranger, and Half-Orc Paladin. We’re also saving a seat for another regular who couldn’t make it this week so we’ll top out as a party of six.

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Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 17 Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Legacy of the Crystal Shard (Week 12)

legacy-of-the-crystal-shard-coverThe heroes finished last week’s session inside the Audience Chamber of the Black Ice tower. The fought and killed the Bear Tribe King and his loyal followers and were ready to take the winding staircase up to the next level.

This was the final session for season 16 of D&D Encounters. At my table we’re using 4e and the PCs are level 5. We only had three players at first, but knew a fourth would be along after the first hour. One of the players decided to run him as an NPC until he arrived. The party ended up with the following members: Tiefling Warlock, Tiefling Paladin, Dragonborn Cavalier, and a Gnoll Barbarian (run as an NPC until the player arrived). We also had Hengar the Human Warlord tagging along, but he mainly threw around some Inspiring Words to revive fallen PCs and offered free attacks when needed.

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Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 16 Week 12) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast – Preview

scourge-of-the-sword-coast-coverOn Wednesday, February 19, we begin Scourge of the Sword Coast, season 17 of D&D Encounters. This is the first of a two part story arc called Dream of the Red Wizards that concludes next season in the adventure Dead in Thay. Scourge of the Sword Coast is also the third of five adventures in current story-line running through all Wizards product lines called The Sundering.

Any players or DMs who are familiar with the adventure Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle may recognize some of the locales and NPCs in Scourge of the Sword Coast. The events of this season’s adventure take place after those of Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle.

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DM Resources Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: Running A Game With New Players

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From February 3, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Running A Game With New Players.

Over the past couple seasons of D&D Encounters I’ve had the opportunity to play with a lot of new players. Many of these players (usually the younger ones) were completely new to D&D or any RPG for that matter. While some of the DMs have found it frustrating to run tables with so many inexperienced players, I’ve found it to be quite rewarding.

During this time I’ve come up some guidelines for running games with new players. Although I put these together to help me manage tables of newbies, many of these points are still good to keep in mind when running any table, no matter how much experience your players have.

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