Tag: DnD Next

Friday Favourite: Time in D&D

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date September 6, 2013
7 Comments on Friday Favourite: Time in D&D

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From April 7, 2010, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Time in D&D.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever created a level 1 PC, entered a dungeon, killed a bunch of monsters, gained a bunch of levels while still inside the dungeon and then realized that only a few weeks of actual in-game time passed when you emerge. I know I’m not the only one reading this that has his hand up.

Time in D&D is an aspect of the game I find is overlooked way too often. Tracking time in your game may not be that big a deal, but the longer you continue playing that same PC the more important time becomes.

So just how long does it take to go from level 1 to level 2? In 4e D&D it takes about 10-13 encounters or about four gaming sessions. But what I really want to know is how much time passes in-game between levels?

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Next, DM Resources, DnD Next, DnDNext, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Friday Favourite

D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 3)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date September 5, 2013
13 Comments on D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 3)

The PCs, working as agents of the Flaming Fist, closed down two gambling dens during last week’s adventure. During this week’s session they didn’t have any official duties so they took the opportunity to get to know the streets and landmarks of Baldur’s Gate a little better.

At Harry T North in Toronto we continue to see a fantastic turn out for D&D Encounters. We ran two tables, one with eight players and one with nine players. Our third DM knew he would be absent this week so he and his six players took the week off and plan to do a double session next week. Our fourth DM was unable to play this week so we proceeded with the massive tables.

My party was relatively unchanged from last week. Seven PCs returned, one player changed his character, and we had one brand new player. This is how the party shaped up in the end: two Elf Rangers, Human Cleric, Dwarf Fighter, two Human Monks, Half-Elf Paladin, Halfling Rogue, and Elf Mage.

Without any clear direction or orders this session, the PCs were free to do whatever they wanted. This seemed to throw the players off, but as the night progressed they got more into it. They decided to break into smaller groups as they each explored different areas of Baldur’s Gate.

Harry T North (Season 15 Week 3) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate, D&D Next, DnD Next, DnDNext, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Murder in Baldur’s Gate

D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 2)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date August 29, 2013
10 Comments on D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 2)

Duke Abdel Adrian is dead – killed in front of hundreds of witnesses while addressing the people of Baldur’s Gate on Founder’s Day. Fortunately a group of adventurers were on site and helped defeat the assassin before there was any other loss of life.

That’s how things began last week for the PCs. Following their spectacular heroics they were approached by three different people who wished to enlist their services while Baldur’s Gate tries to reestablish some sense of order in light of the Duke’s death. By night’s end they needed to decide which of the three offers seemed most appealing.

Last week at Harry T North in Toronto we had a lot of players and only 2 DMs. This week we were back up to 3 DMs but had even more players. The result was two tables of seven and one table of eight.

I ran the table of eight which included seven new players. None of them had ever played D&D Next, and three had never played any form of D&D. After letting them choose from the pre-generated characters, we ended up with the following PCs in the party: Half-Elf Paladin, Gnome Druid, Dwarf Fighter, Elf Mage, Human Monk, Halfling Rogue and two Elf Rangers.

I spent the first 30-40 minutes providing a recap of last week’s events and tried to offer an unbiased breakdown of what each of the three factions had revealed to the PCs during week 1. Eventually the PCs agreed to side with Marshal Ulder Ravengard of the Flaming Fist company. A few were leaning towards supporting Silvershiled, but they were eventually convinced to come on board.

Harry T North (Season 15 Week 2) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, Baldur’s Gate, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate, D&D Next, DnD Next, DnDNext, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Murder in Baldur’s Gate

D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 1)

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date August 22, 2013
17 Comments on D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate (Week 1)

We begin another season of D&D Encounters. Season 15 is called Murder in Baldur’s Gate and it’s part of Wizard of the Coast’s next big cross-over event, The Sundering. The Sundering will bring about changes that will transition the Forgotten Realms from 4e to D&D Next.

This past weekend Wizards encouraged FLGS that normally participate in D&D Encounters to run the Murder in Baldur’s Gate launch weekend adventure. This adventure is a prequel to this season of D&D Encounters. Fortunately I got a chance to play the launch weekend adventure at GenCon, as did a few others from my FLGS. However, my FLGS did not order the kits so players who were not at GenCon (which was most of them) didn’t play it. As it turned out, that was a good thing.

This season the weeks are divided into stages rather than sessions. The first stage is the Introductory Stage which we played this week. It begin by repeating the events of the lunch weekend, albeit it an abridged version, and then gave the PCs opportunities to meet with up to three significant NPCs. Anyone who played in the launch weekend and then showed up for D&D Encounters this week would have likely been bored having to do pretty much the same encounter twice.

This season the PCs will have a tremendous amount of freedom. The choices they make will have a direct impact on the story as it unfolds. There are no right or wrong choices, but the final outcome will be different depending on what choices each group makes along the way. For this reason we are going to try and have fixed tables this season keeping the same parties together whenever possible.

Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Season 15 Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags 4e, Baldur’s Gate, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate, D&D Next, DnD Next, DnDNext, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Murder in Baldur’s Gate

D&D Encounters D&D Next

D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate – Preview

Post author By The Average Joe (Joe Lastowski)
Post date August 9, 2013
40 Comments on D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate – Preview

Next week begins season 15 of D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate. August 14 is the week 0 character generation session, with things kicking off officially with the D&D Launch weekend event August 17-18. There are a lot of changes this time around, so read on for a preview of what to expect.

Today Dungeon’s Master welcomes our newest contributor, Joe Lastowski (a.k.a. The Average Joe). Joe has over 20 years of gaming experience and has participated in the public play program including D&D Encounters for many years now.

Normally I write the D&D Encounters preview article each season, however, changes to the program now require the DMs to purchase the materials. My FLGS hasn’t yet received their copies, but as luck would have it Joe got his hands on the materials earlier this week. I think Joe does a great job of explaining what’s in store during season 15 and I think his initial impression of the materials aligns with mine (based on what I’ve seen and read so far). We welcome your feedback and encourage you to leave your comments below.
– Ameron

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Encounters: Murder in Baldur’s Gate, D&D Next, DnD Next, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Murder in Baldur’s Gate, Player Resources

D&D Next DM Resources

Making Healing Easier in D&D Next

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date July 24, 2013
10 Comments on Making Healing Easier in D&D Next

One of the challenges most commonly faced by adventuring parties is the ability to heal wounds quickly and easily. Time heals all wounds, but in the heat of battle time is a precious commodity. You’re not likely to leave the fight and rest for a few days when you can keep swinging your blade or slinging your spells in hopes of defeating the foe in front of you right now. That’s where magical healing comes in.

In 4e D&D the leader classes took on equal responsibility for healing. The powers to heal were abundant, minor actions that you could throw around from great distances. Let’s face it, in 4e any party with a half-competent leader shouldn’t have suffered many losses. Between Healing Word (or the equivalent) and Second Wind there was plenty of healing to go around. Healing was fast and easy.

As appealing as this abundant healing was to some players (me included), it was a radically different approach than what we’d seen in previous editions of D&D. Traditionally in D&D the Cleric was the healer. Other classes had abilities and powers that let them provide supplemental healing but the Cleric was usually the primary medic. This is the direction that magical healing has taken in D&D Next – it’s back to the Cleric as party healer with Paladin, Ranger and Druid providing back-up support.

Making the Cleric special again by giving them exclusivity in the super healing department is fine with me. However, most healing is now limited to a range of touch. The Cleric has to get up close and personal to heal the wounded or revive the fallen. This is how things used to work and it looks like this is how things will work again. Fair enough. But after playing 4e for so long it’s tough to go back to the idea that healers are hands on.

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D Next, DnD Next, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Healing