Tag: D&D

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 5)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverWe began this session in the cellar of the Golden Grain Inn. The PCs defeated Bertram, Derek, four goons and two Bullywugs last week. With the festivities still going full force upstairs they didn’t know how long they had before these guys were missed. They took a short rest, cleaned up evidence of the fight and moved the bodies into the secret passage. Hopefully this would buy them some time if anyone got curious and came to check on things.

This week we continued to draw in new players at our FLGS. Two of my friends visiting from out of town joined us as well as three brand new players and the return of a player who was absent for the past few sessions. Had we not had a few regulars absent we wouldn’t have had room to accommodate everyone at the three tables in the store. As it was I ran a table of seven PCs. The party included an Elf Fighter (Slayer), Pixie Wizard (Witch), Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), Drow Wizard, Svirfneblin Seeker, Ryltar the Drow Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen and once again Fargrim the Dwarf Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen.

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Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Week 5) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Week 5) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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D&D Encounters

Lair Assault: Round-Up and Podcasts

lair-assault-logoThe Lair Assault program provides power gamers with the chance to prove once and for all who’s the best of the best. Wizards designed killer adventures that challenge the most experienced gamer. When the players at my FLGS heard that such a thing existed they demanded that we play these adventures as quickly as possible and as often as possible. Although we’ve suffered a lot of TPKs along the way it’s been a thrilling program that’s met with great success in the Greater Toronto Area gaming community.

Every time we played Lair Assault we recorded the session. Some of the players found it useful to go back and listen to the games to see what they could do differently the next time through to improve their chances of victory. Others just enjoyed listening to the party fumble their way around a killer encounter. Today we’re sharing these podcasts for your listening pleasure.

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DM Resources Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: How Observation Changes Characters’ Behaviour

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From November 28, 2011, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: How Observation Changes Characters’ Behaviour.

dreams-of-red-wizardHow often has your character done something during the heat of combat that he would never do under normal circumstances? Usually these uncharacteristic actions revolve around killing the enemy. It could be something marginally questionable like attacking an unarmed opponent or it could be a lot more extreme like killing an opponent that has already surrendered.

We don’t often worry too much about the consequences of these actions because the only witnesses are the other members of your party, and let’s face it they’re probably just as guilty of the questionable behaviour as you are. But lately I’ve wondered if players would make different decisions for their characters if they knew that the PCs were being watched. Would PCs still act with impunity if there was a good chance of their actions being seen by others?

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 4)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverLast week the PCs traveled to the Caves of Chaos where they faced wave after wave of monstrous minions. They managed to save Otis, retrieve the Chaos Blade, and escape with their lives. They were too wounded to make the long trip back to Hommel Lane so they camped and took an extended rest.

They questioned Otis who was very forthcoming. He explained that the ghost who helped them was none other than Hafferon Hommel. He told Otis and his adventuring party all about what was really going on including that existence of a chaos mote, an imprisoned deity of evil trying to escape a celestial prison, and three items of power that were needed to seal the rift and stop this god from slipping through. The first item was the Chaos Blade blade which the party now possessed. The second was the Scroll of Final Words which the ghost beleived was in possession of an evil cleric known as “Beautiful.” The third was the Death Circlet which was currently in the possession of great evil near Hommel Lane.

This week I ran a table of five PCs. Elf Fighter (Slayer), Pixie Wizard (Witch), Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), Drow Wizard, and Ryltar the Drow Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen.

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Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Week 4) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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DM Resources Friday Favourites

Friday Favourite: How Art Inspires Campaigns

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From January 24, 2011, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: How Art Inspires Campaigns.

As both a DM and a player I draw my inspiration from four different sources: fantasy literature, movies, my daily walk and art. It is amazing how a single phrase, scene, tree or image can inspire a character’s history or indeed an entire campaign. I walk my dog daily and on the path I take through a forest there was a dead tree that was covered in vines. This image inspired the idea for an entire campaign where the natural world was being threatened by rot and corruption. Not the most original idea, I’ll admit, but as the dead tree was surrounded by life I decided to represent this by an antagonist that the party trusted. Over time his duplicitous nature would be revealed. Not bad for an idea inspired by a tree.

I find that simple images and stills can often provide great ideas for campaigns and character concepts. Fantasy art has inspired me in more ways than I can count. The idea of taking an image and providing a history for that image is an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Art clearly is a popular subject and I’m obviously not the only one inspired by it. Two of our most popular articles here at Dungeon’s Master are The Art of D&D (Part 1 | Part 2). My purpose here isn’t to go back as Ameron did and talk about artists who have shaped our thoughts of Dungeons & Dragons. Instead I want to look at some select images and create things from them. Today’s post is a workshop and I’m interested in the stories we will create.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 3)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverLast week the party faced the bandits in the Moat House, this week they ventured to the Caves of Chaos. One of the things that I’m really enjoying about this season of D&D Encounters is that the players decide the order of events.

Despite some inclement weather in the GTA we still had a remarkably good turnout. We ran three solid tables with only two regulars absent. However, we had one new player show up so that was a plus. I think it really speaks to the quality of this season’s adventure that the players aren’t finding excuses to miss weeks. In the past a little bit of snow might have kept 1/3 of our regulars away, but not this season.

My table had four players from last week and one brand new guy. The returning players were running an Elf Fighter (Slayer), Pixie Wizard (Witch) and Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid). The player who was running the Fargrim pre-gen last week brought a Half-Orc Barbarian this week. Our fifth player was brand new to D&D having never played any edition before. He opted for Ryltar, the Drow Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen.

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Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Week 3) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Week 3) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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D&D Encounters DM Resources

Lair Assault and D&D Encoutners Tokens

If you’re like me you use minis instead of tokens. However, when it comes to Lair Assault a sheet of tokens is provided for each adventure. It gives the DMs tokens for all the monsters, special terrain features, mounts and even a few boats. After seven seasons of Lair Assault it’s an extremely versatile collection of tokens which is why (after numerous requests) we’ve finally got around to sharing them with you.

When it comes to D&D Encounters everyone brings their own character so there are no standard tokens. However, with most seasons DMs are provided with one of the generic token sheets. I always assumed they were identical until I looked a bit closer in preparation for this post. It seems that I’ve acquired three sets of generic token sheets over the seasons.

I’ve scanned the token sheets, front and back, for all seasons of Lair Assault as well as the three generic token sheets from D&D Encounters and presented them below for your convenience. Using these scans you can print them and create your own token library.

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D&D Encounters

It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Into the Pit of Madness

lair-assault-7-cover

Into the Pit of Madness is the very last Lair Assault. The program was cancelled. However, before it goes away we have one final offering. A level 10 extravaganza that players are sure to love despite its difficulty.

For the grand finale Wizards of the Coast provided an adventure that is likely to be the most difficult and challenging Lair Assault yet. The challenge is so immense that it requires PCs to be at the very top of the heroic tier – level 10 – to even have a chance of success. The fate of the world hangs in the balance ensuring that the Lair Assault program ends with a bang, one way or another.

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Friday Favourites Player Resources

Friday Favourite: 10 Good Reasons to Play D&D

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From November 16, 2010, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: 10 Good Reasons to Play D&D.

Have you ever had to justify your love for D&D? Did you stand up for the game or did you deny everything? Are you one of those gamers who proudly and openly talks about his love of D&D? Maybe you enjoy D&D but don’t need to give anyone another reason to know that you’re a nerd? Perhaps you’re a closet gamer who nerds it up behind closed doors, but refuses to acknowledge anything D&D related in front of your social peers or members of the opposite sex?

Over the years I’ve often had to defend my love for D&D to my friends, family and even my wife. In my article Confessions of a Gamer (written shortly after Dungeon’s Master was first launched) I dared to bare my soul and shout from the (virtual) rooftops that I play D&D and I was proud of it.

I realized long ago that playing D&D was nothing to be ashamed of; in fact I went to the other extreme and created a D&D blog so I could write about D&D every day. The more I thought about it the more I realized that there are a lot of strong up-sides to playing D&D. So for anyone who faces ridicule for playing D&D, here’s a list of 10 good reasons to play D&D.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 2)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverBeginning this week every party participating in this season’s adventure will have the option of following one of three adventure paths. So there is a strong likelihood that the path my group took this week will not match the path your group took this week. It’s going to be tough to describe what happened without giving away some spoilers. Please be mindful of this as you continue reading.

Players who don’t want to know what’s still to come may want to delay reading this recap until they’ve had an opportunity to complete this part of the adventure. DMs who have not yet run this adventure path can hopefully learn from my ups and downs to make their DMing experience better when the time comes.

This week we had a great turn out as our numbers continued to grow. We had three tables with five players each. We haven’t seen this kind of turnout since the Dark Sun adventure back in season 2. My table had five players: two new players (one brand new last week, one brand new this week) along with three seasoned veterans (one a DM at another FLGS). The party consisted of an Elf Slayer, Pixie Wizard (Witch), Drow Wizard, Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), and Fargrim the Dwarf Fighter (Slayer) pre-gen.

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