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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Back to School

There comes a time in every adventurer’s career when they need to do something that is beyond their skill-set. In most cases it’s probably something that they’ve never had any need to do before or never expect that they would have to do themselves. When this happens, the DM can simply say that you spend time training or he can make the training sessions a little bit more exciting and throw this skill challenge at you.

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Editorial

Does Character Builder Limit Creativity?

The character builder is great. I’d even go so far as to say that it’s the most important and valuable resource currently available for 4e D&D. It makes creating new character fast and easy. It incorporates all legal source materials from Wizards of the Coast and makes them available with the click of a button. From what I saw at GenCon it looks like the vast majority of gamers are using the character builder. The days of pen and paper character creation are gone. But is this acceptance by the masses of the character builder a good thing?

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Class Discussions

Playing In An Unbalanced Party

The PHB suggests that all adventuring parties should have at least one PC representing each of the four roles: controller, defender, leader and striker. Most parties, in my experience generally follow this guideline. But what happens when this balance is disrupted. What if your party make-up is missing some of the roles? How will that affect your game?

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DM Resources

Snakes On An Airship

Snakes on an AirshipThe Lyrander airship cleared the Endworld Mountains and cruised above the Blade Desert. The journey from Q’barra was pleasant and the captain expects to arrive at the Boneyard ahead of schedule. A cry from the crow’s nest signals trouble. Riders are seen in the distance. The number of hippogryph’s is astounding. Ridden by Halfling warriors they quickly form up and attack. Three of the hippogryph’s break off from the main force and pass over the deck of the ship. The riders release a crate that smashes on to the deck below, covering it in very angry snakes.

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Eberron Editorial

An Open Letter to Wizards of the Coast on the D&D Championship

Dear Wizards,

At this year’s GenCon I participated in my very first D&D Championship. My team did remarkably well and we advanced to the final round. Unfortunately we did finish in the top three and did not win any prizes. Looking back on my experience with the 2009 D&D Championship I have some feedback for you, and for anyone thinking of participating in this kind of event at future cons.

Categories
Book Reviews Player Resources

Wizards of the Coast: 2009-2010 Release Schedule

Wizards of the Coast shared some highlights of their upcoming release schedule through the next year. I’ve compiled the list for your easy access. Where possible I’ve provided a link to the Wizards of the Coast product description and a link to Amazon.com. If you want to see what the covers of these upcoming releases look like, click though. Some of the products releasing much later in the year do not have links available at this time. I’ll try to keep this page up to date and add the links in as I see that they’ve become available. So bookmark this page and keep coming back throughout the next year to find out what Wizards is releasing next.

Categories
Editorial

GenCon: D&D Championship Finals

I made it. My team advanced to the finals of the 2009 GenCon D&D Championship. We played it smart in the qualifying round, and even though we didn’t complete all four encounters we still advanced. The semi-finals were even more difficult and only because two characters had training in Thievery did we make it through the second round of the D&D Championship. With only eleven teams remaining, we still had a legitimate shot at winning some fabulous prizes.

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Editorial

GenCon: D&D Championship Semi-Finals

I was pleased to learn that my party did advance to the semi-finals of the D&D Championship even though we only completed three of the four encounters during the qualifying round. This time around we finished the entire adventure and it was a very rough ride for a whole bunch of different reasons.

Categories
Editorial

GenCon: D&D Championship

Last night I participated in my first D&D Championship. We didn’t complete the adventure but I think our party has a very good chance of advancing to the semi-finals this afternoon.

The D&D Championship Rules

Each participant is required to bring a level 2 character for the qualifying round of play. If you advanced to the semi-finals then you use a level 3 version of that character. If you advance to the finals you use a level 4 version of that character.

Categories
Editorial

GenCon: Ultimate Dungeon Delve

Yesterday I made my first attempt to conquer the ultimate dungeon delve and failed. My party only made it through three of the six encounters required to win the competition. If I can get a ticket, I’m going to try and tackle the delve again before GenCon is over. I figure I can put my knowledge of the first three encounters to good use and not make the same mistakes twice. Until then, here are the highlights of my ultimate dungeon delve experience at GenCon.