Tag: Dungeon’s Master

Categories
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.

Continue reading “Friday Favourite: How Art Inspires Campaigns”
Categories
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.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 3)”
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
Categories
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.

Continue reading “Lair Assault and D&D Encoutners Tokens”
Categories
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.

Continue reading “It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Into the Pit of Madness”
Categories
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.

Continue reading “Friday Favourite: 10 Good Reasons to Play D&D”
Categories
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.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 2)”
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
Categories
DM Resources

What is the Town’s Attitude?

Kelmarsh medieval villageA lot of D&D adventures begin with the PCs arriving in town. In most cases it’s someplace the PCs have never been before so everything is new – the people, the locale, and the problems. This is just a natural part of the adventurer’s life; going from place to place, getting in adventures and helping people along the way.

I’ll admit that I’ve run many adventures that start just like this. It’s not a bad thing, but it is a bit boring. The longer you play D&D the more often this will happen and the more trivial each town will seem as you continue on your quest for adventure.

After playing through this scenario for the umpteenth time during last week’s D&D Encounters introduction it occurred to me that a clever DM can turn this traditionally boring introduction into something a lot more interesting by adding one little detail – the town’s attitude towards strangers.

Continue reading “What is the Town’s Attitude?”
Categories
DM Resources

Friday Favourite: DM Tips for Restarting a Retired Campaign

On Friday we comb through our extensive archives to find an older article that we feel deserves another look. From July 30, 2009, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: DM Tips for Restarting a Retired Campaign.

After almost a year we are putting our current campaign on hold, and rather than start something brand new we’ve decided to return to a campaign that we put on hold just before the release of 4e. In many ways going back to a retired campaign can be even more difficult than starting from scratch. As I prepare to put on my DM hat and dust off my old notes I’ve been thinking about all the things I need to do to make this transition run smoothly.

I’ve come up with a few tips for DMs planning to go back to a campaign that’s been on hold for any extended period of time. These are guidelines that I’ve used and found useful. If you have additional tips that have worked for you, please leave them in the comments section below.

Continue reading “Friday Favourite: DM Tips for Restarting a Retired Campaign”
Categories
D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 1)

against-the-cult-of-chaos-coverD&D Encounters Season 12, Against the Cult of Chaos, is finally underway. After a long break, Wednesday night D&D returned to FLGS across the country and around the world. This season returns to the more traditional D&D Encounters mold with one normal encounter each week. For an overview of what’s on tap this season I encourage you to check out our D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos – Preview.

One significant change this time around is that DMs have a choice of running the adventure using the 4e D&D mechanics provided in the adventure or downloading the play test kit and running it using the D&D Next rules. At both FLGS where I play we polled our regulars to gauge their interest. We had one or two at both locations say they were interested in trying D&D Next but they wouldn’t be terribly disappointed if we stuck with 4e. As none of the DMs have been involved in recent D&D Next play testing we opted to just stick with the 4e rules we already know.

At our FLGS we had 15 people, just enough to split into three tables. Despite losing a few of our regulars after the long break, we did have three brand new players join the fun. I got a good mix of experience and anticipation at my table. The party consisted of a Drow Wizard, Tiefling Ardent/Battle Mind (hybrid), Pixie Wizard (Witch), and Elf Fighter (Slayer). The player running the Ardent is the DM this season at another FLGS and the player running the Slayer was playing D&D for the very first time in any edition.

SPOILER WARNING: This season the party is given a lot of freedom to explore the town of Hommel Lane in whatever order they see fit. There are three threats to the village that can be uncovered and tackled in any order. If you have problems separating player knowledge from character knowledge then you may want to skip these weekly recaps until after you’ve completed week 7.

Continue reading “D&D Encounters: Against the Cult of Chaos (Week 1)”
Actual Play Podcast at Silver Snail (Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Categories
Humour

The Valentine’s Day Skill Challenge (Encore)

Are you a lonely gamer looking for love? Do you have trouble talking to members of the opposite sex? Do you wish there was some kind of gaming-related guide that you could follow to improve your chances of meeting that special someone? Look no further, Dungeon’s Master has you covered! Last year we crafted a special Valentine’s Day Skill Challenge that can help you in real life. We were going to rerun this tomorrow, but since Thursday is D&D Encounters recap day we decided to put this out a day early. Enjoy and good luck!

Originally published on February 14, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: The Valentine’s Day Skill Challenge.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day so we decided to take a light-hearted look at the day most associate with love. All the members of the Dungeons’ Master team are happily married or in a long-term relationship, so we felt that we should do our part to help those looking for love. However, we are by no means experts on the subject so please take the advice provided below with the good humour in which it is indented.

It’s unfortunate that many envision the gamer stereotype as a lonely guy who’s awkward around girls. Although there are certainly a few gamers out there that fall into this category, in my experience many gamers are not really that much different that the rest of the non-gaming masses. Everyone is looking for someone and hopes to avoid painful rejection along the way. With that in mind we’ve put together some tips in the form of a skill challenge. By framing this advice in a familiar wrapper we hope that it will make it easier for all those gamers looking for love on Valentine’s Day.

Continue reading “The Valentine’s Day Skill Challenge (Encore)”