Tag: D&D

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Editorial

What Music Is Playing During Your Battle?

In grade 5 my teacher asked the class if we could only have one song playing as our theme song, what would it be?

For the life of me I don’t recall what song I selected. However, John Arcadian’s post at Gnome Stew got me thinking about this again. John highlights the tool Pandora. Now, because I live in Canada I don’t have access to this nice tool. I do however have access to my ipod and all the CDs I still haven’t copied over to a digital format.

John’s article brought me back to that question my grade 5 teacher asked, only this time it was what songs would compose my D&D soundtrack?

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters (Week 10)

We’ve got more information about D&D Encounters Season 2: Dark Sun. But before we get into that, let’s see how things went for our heroes in the week 10 session of D&D Encounters.

D&D Encounters is a 12-part adventure from Wizards of the Coast and it’s played out one encounter each week over 12 weeks.

If not for two PCs who made miraculous death saves we were looking at another TPK. Even with those great rolls at exactly the right time, the two other members of the party were killed this week. I’m quickly learning that the final chapter (encounters 9-12) of the adventure, Halaster’s Lost Apprentice, is a lot more difficult that the first two chapters. And I have some thoughts on just why that’s the case.

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DM Resources

Traps & Hazards: The Sword in the Stone

What do you do when you discover an ancient red dragon living in your neighbourhood? You get adventurers to kill it, of course. But what happens if the adventurers don’t kill the dragon? It will be angry that you tried to kill it and it will likely destroy your village. If only there was a way to keep sending adventurers against the dragon while avoiding the dragon’s wrath after each failed attempt. The inhabitants of Burrow’s Scar have come up with just such a plan. Unfortunately for your PCs, they are likely to be the next heroes tricked into face the dragon.

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Player Resources

Don’t Bring A Dagger To A Sword Fight

Dagger or long sword? Club or mace? Hand axe or executioner’s axe? Hand crossbow or great bow?

Which one should you select? What prompts you to select the weapon your PC wields in battle? Are you concerned with aesthetics? Or does the desire to roll as big a die as possible trump all other factors?

I must confess I’m often at a loss over what weapon to select. In the real world a dagger to my heart will kill me just as quickly as a long sword to the heart. Idea’s of d4s and d8s don’t really come into play. Granted a dagger cut to my arm is just that, a cut. A long sword on the other hand might take my arm off.

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DM Resources

My Campaign Should Be On TV

My personal spin as a DM is to think of each individual gaming session as a television episode and have the overall arc of my campaign play like a television season. Television shows such as Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules and Legend of the Seeker have a genre similar to that of Dungeons & Dragons and can provide some insight and ideas into your own campaign.

Here are some basic elements to keep your campaigns fresh so you don’t get “canceled” by your gaming group.

The Dungeon’s Master team welcomes Skallawag into the fold. Skallawag, Wimwick and Ameron have played D&D together for over 20 years. Since Dungeon’s Master launched, Skallawag has provided many insightful comments. It took some coaxing, but we finally convinced him to write an article. We hope that this is his first of many articles and that you find his perspective on D&D as helpful and insightful as we do.

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DM Resources

Tavern Trappings

Last week we provided a list of 118 Tavern Names. In the article, Wimwick provided some good positioning around making a tavern more than just a typical, average, run-of-the-mill establishment. Giving it a name is an excellent start. But why stop there?

Considering how often PCs find themselves in taverns, it’s important that you take some time to make each one unique and memorable. You don’t have to spend hours on it; a few minutes will do the trick. Adding those little details brings the setting to life. Without these details your tavern is just a forgettable background. So before the PCs head to the next watering hole for a quick drink, take a minute to flesh it out a little bit. Using our list to find an appropriate tavern name is a great start, but don’t forget to describe the staff, the patrons and the décor.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters (Week 9)

Before starting D&D Encounter week 9, I had a tough decision to make. Last week we had a total party kill (TPK). I had to decide if I wanted to resurrect my Gith Monk and keep playing him for the remaining four weeks or if I should play a totally different character? I weighed the pros and cons very carefully all week.

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Dark Sun Editorial

In Anticipation Of Dark Sun

Dark Sun is coming later this year. In anticipation of the release of the next 4e campaign setting I’ve been doing my homework about the campaign setting. I never played Dark Sun when it was originally released, nor did I even purchase the box set. Though the setting looked interesting I never made the decision to get myself a copy. As a result I’ve apprehended Ameron’s copy and have been doing some reading.

Athas always appeared as a very savage, destructive and hard land. This is what the artwork has led me to believe, reading other people’s thoughts on the setting and of course reading through the source books themselves.

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Technology

Technology Is A Double Edged Sword

For the past five years the group at Dungeon’s Master have used MapTools as the primary means for displaying our combat encounters. To say that MapTools has changed the way we play the game would be an understatement. In a previous post, Desktop Killed The Tabletop Game, I wrote about how software like MapTools has the ability to change the way the entire hobby is played and I still believe that to be true. I believe that a blend of software and hardware, such as what the Surface Scapes project is doing, will also revolutionize the way we play our hobby. Perhaps not in its current form, but certainly we are seeing the beginnings of how technology can be applied to Dungeon & Dragons and bring our minis and maps to life.

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DM Resources Editorial

When Players Kill the Campaign

Players inevitably do the unexpected. A good DM anticipates the most likely options and plans for them. After all there are only so many choices during a dungeon crawl. But what happens when the unexpected scenario involves the characters themselves and not the choices they make? How can a DM prepare for players who want to changes their characters without warning? How is the long-term camping affected when the players decide that they want to try something new?

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