Tag: Dungeon’s Master

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Editorial

The Origin Of Dragonmarks

Mark of Scribing
Mark of Scribing

The Dragonmarked Heirs that walk the streets of Khorvaire are a unique and powerful group. Their Dragonmarked Houses control much of the industry and commerce that occurs on Eberron. Their power expands across national borders and in some cases beyond continents. But what is a dragonmark and how does it manifest?

Dragonmarks are tied to the Draconic Prophecy, the mark is a physical manifestation of the prophecy on flesh. For those with the right knowledge, the prophecy can be read on the skin of the mortals who carry the various marks. Most dragonmarked heirs are ignorant of this fact, believing only that their mark grants them priviledge and status above all others.

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Humour Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Battle for the Remote

How often do you think of real-life situations in game terms? A recent “discussion” in my household inspired me to put together this skill challenge. It’s played from the male point of view. I’ve discovered that in real life whenever my wife needs to make a skill check she uses her at-will, wife paragon path ability to re-roll checks until she gets a result that she feels is favourable.

Background

You’ve worked hard all week and now all you want to do is kick back and enjoy the game. But your significant other has other plans. Her favourite show is on at the same time and she plans to watch it on the flatscreen TV. If you haveany chance of watching the game you’d better act quickly and whatever you do, don’t give up the remote.

Setup

You want to watch sports; she wants to watch something else (not sports). You’re already on the couch with the remote in hand. The game is already on and the kick-off, first pitch, tip-off or puck drop is happening in the next few minutes.

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DM Resources Eberron

Secrets of Eberron Revealed (Part 4)

More secrets of Eberron are revealed as we look at two areas outside of the traditional Five Nations. Discover the dangers and riches that accompany the Q’barra Jungle Hunt. If you need a message delivered to a prisoner in the worlds most secure prison the only way to do it is to contact the secretive Dreadhold Information Network.

Discover more Secrets of Eberron Revealed in our latest installments of this ongoing series.

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Editorial

All Men Are Created Equal… Except the Revenant

Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling. Since the first edition of D&D players have had a wide variety of fantasy races to choose from when creating their characters. With 4e D&D the list of races is quite extensive and it continues to expand with every new version of the Players Handbook and with every monthly update of the character builder. The worlds of D&D are full of tolerant people willing to accept everyone based on deeds rather than their race. No matter what race your PC happens to be, he’s usually accepted as a hero and welcomed into villages, towns and cities. An adventuring party that consists of a Dragonborn, a Drow, a Half-Elf, a Tiefling, a Half-Orc and a Gnome doesn’t draw attention, ridicule or suspicion as they enter a tavern for the first time. We don’t question it; we just accept that this is how things work when you’re playing D&D.

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Top 10

Top 10 of the Past 200

Dungeon’s Master was launched in February and since then we’ve published a lot of content that we are really proud of. Today marks our 200th post and to celebrate we’re sharing the top 10 posts of the past eight months with our readers. It was an interesting exercise examining the information provided by Google Analytics and I can honestly say I’m surprised by the results. While I expected some articles to be in the top 10, I didn’t anticpate the order in which they would appear.

I’d like to thank you our readers for visiting the site, and for providing your comments and insight on the game that we all love. So here they are, the top 10 posts as selected by you, our readers.

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DM Resources Player Resources

D&D Party of One: Solo Adventuring (Part 1)

When was the last time you played D&D and it was just one PC and one DM? I’d be amazed if anyone can say that they’ve done this since the release of 4e D&D. The changes that accompanied 4e make solo gaming almost too difficult to be practical. That’s not to say that it’s impossible, but it’s a lot more work for a DM to create and run a game with just one player in 4e then it ever was in previous editions.

Some of the most memorable and enjoyable games of D&D I ever played had only one player. It’s an entirely different way to experience D&D regardless of which side of the screen you’re on. As much as I like 4e and as much as I believe it’s a vastly improved system over its predecessors, these improvements have come with some sacrifices. One of those sacrifices is the feasibility of the one player game.

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Month in Review

Month in Review: September 2009

September was a big month for D&D with the release of the DMG2. Keeping that in mind, we ran a lot of articles geared towards the DM last month. But that didn’t mean that we forgot about the players entirely. As usual we try to provide a good balance between DM and player resources. We also provided two new skill challenges, a couple of book reviews, some Eberron-specific materials and of course our opinion on a number of D&D related topics. September was another great month at Dungeon’s Master and as we so often do we want to thank you, the readers, for visiting us every day. If you’re new to Dungeon’s Master then you might have missed some of the great articles we ran throughout September. Here are the highlights.

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DM Resources

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

The Dungeon MasterAs the DM you have an important role. You control the action, pacing, drama, intrigue and excitement that exists during your gaming sessions. This role is an important responsibility, that if misused will result in player defections, absences or the demise of your group. Time spent between gaming sessions becomes critical regarding your preparation. Nothing is more disappointing to a PC than to arrive for the weekly gaming session and discovering that the DM isn’t ready.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Babysitting the Brats

The PCs are about to face the most dangerous threat of their adventuring careers… kids.

Setup

The PCs need a favour from an innkeeper, merchant or noble figure. The cost of the favour is babysitting. This might be only for a few hours but it could be as long as a few days (this is left up to the DM). Fighting monsters is easy compared to watching young children. Can the PCs entertain and feed the children without getting them killed?

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Book Reviews

Review: Word of Traitors

word-of-traitors

Word of Traitors
(Legacy of Dhakaan, Book II)
Don Bassingthwaite

An Eberron Novel

Word of Traitors is without a doubt the best Eberron novel to date. It’s book two of the Legacy of Dhakaan trilogy. If you haven’t already read The Doom of Kings, book one in the Legacy of Dhakaan trilogy then be forewarned that this review will contain spoilers.

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