Tag: Dungeon’s Master

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D&D Encounters

It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Temple of the Sky God

Lair Assault is designed to challenge the most experienced and hard-core D&D players and I have no doubt that season 6 will certainly live up to that reputation. The gimmick this time around is that most of the adventure takes place in the air with the PCs on the backs of flying mounts. Players who think they’re the best at D&D now have to demonstrate that mounted combat in three dimensions is something they can handle otherwise they’re in for a shock to the system and a TPK.

Lair Assault is part of Wizard of the Coast’s public play program. It’s the Top Gun of D&D where the best of the best can demonstrate just how good they are at the combat and tactical side of the game. Role-playing is practically non-existent in these adventures but that’s by design. In this case the DM is actively trying to kill the PCs. For once it really is DM vs. players. So come on out and show your DM that you really are as good as you claim.

The new season of Lair Assault runs from December 1 – February 28. Below I share some of the high-level details. I’ve tried to keep it as spoiler-free as possible. Some of my suggestions and observations may seem a bit on the nose but most of my points are pretty obvious or fairly common sense things so I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I’m certainly not going to give away anything that will give players an unfair advantage.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: War of Everlasting Darkness (Week 4)

After fighting their way into Mithral Hall, ancestral home of the Dwarven clan Battlehammer, and meeting with King Connerad Battlehammer himself, the heroes received a strange letter from Axelcrantz. In the letter, Axelcrantz (a Dwarf that none of the PCs had ever met before) wrote of things that had happened and things to come. He claimed that the he would meet the heroes when they arrived at Citadel Adbar at some time in the future. Curious about whom this Dwarf may be and what he may have to say, the PCs headed to the Citadel to rendezvous with him.

This week we had two DMs and only four players. The second DM decided to head home and take the week off and I ran the only table at my FLGS. About 10 minutes into our session one more player arrived bringing us up to five players. As we’re in Canada and don’t have Thanksgiving this weekend there was really no reasonable explanation for the sharp decline. Hopefully next week we’ll be back up to two tables.

The party eventually rounded out as follows: Drow Assassin, Pixie Vampire, Half-Orc Barbarian, Shade Warlock (Binder) and our last minute arrival was the Revenant [Gith] Bard. Four of the five were my regular players from the previous two sessions. As we’ve been switching up the tables this season it was nice to be back to the familiar for a week.

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DM Resources Player Resources

D&D Bingo

One of the things that I really like about the Lair Assault program is Glory awards. These are objectives that the characters can do throughout the course of the adventure that will earn them points. The points have no in-game significance; they’re merely earned by the players for bragging rights. At first I thought Glory was just a nice add-on but after only one or two sessions I realized that the players had their character take actions simply to fulfill the conditions listed on their Glory tracker. The more I thought about this phenomena the more I realized that using something like a Glory tracker in a home game could help the DM guide the party in certain directions without railroading the group. It could also add some brevity to the game as the PCs tried doing all sorts of crazy things simply because it was on their to-do list.

Initially I thought about just creating a laundry list and calling it Glory just like Liar Assault, but then I had a brainstorm: D&D Bingo! As players or their PCs accomplish pre-defined objectives they get to mark off squares as complete. The DM can elect to award prizes if PCs complete a single line, two lines, inside square, four corners, X, T, or full card – it really doesn’t matter. The idea is that once every player has a D&D Bingo card they’ll find additional motivation to do things they might not otherwise be inclined to do.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: War of Everlasting Darkness (Week 3)

Last week’s session ended when the heroes escaped the confines of the Kingdom of Many-Arrows and headed towards Mithral Hall to inform the Dwarves that rogue Orc war-bands had defied King Obould Many-Arrows and joined forces with the treacherous Drow to bring chaos to the surface world. As the Darkening continues to spread across the realms, the heroes find themselves deep inside hostile Orc territory as they seek safe harbour in the Dwarven kingdom.

We had a good turnout this week with two DMs and 10 players. We continue to shuffle the groups so this week I had a Drow Assassin, Revenant (Pixie) Vampire, Shade Ranger (Hunter), Revenant [Gith] Bard, and Human Swordmage.

Scene 1 – Arrival at Mithral Hall

When the heroes arrived at Mithral Hall they realized that it was under siege from the Orcs. Orcs had the entrances to Mithral Hall and the entrances to many large cave mouths guarded. On the mountainside near the PCs, Orcs had set up tents and cook fires. About 500 feet away guards surround an enormous wooden horn atop a plateau. When the horn was blown, the attacking Orcs troops adjust their positions around the entrances to Mithral Hall.

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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
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DM Resources Player Resources

Magic Items With Charges

Magic wands used to be packed with power in previous editions of D&D. Wands were like loaded guns waiting to go off. Finding a magic wand in a treasure trove was a big deal because if it had the right magic contained within, it could drastically change a party’s balance of power. Now in 4e D&D wands are just sticks that Wizards, Bards, Artificers and Warlocks use to focus and channel their magic through.

Wands and other consumable or limited-use items used to be a big part of D&D. These items could replicate almost every power spell-casting classes brought to the table from healing to flying, from turning someone invisible to shooting fireballs. With the right items you could often make up for an individual character’s inadequacies or an unbalanced party’s shortfalls. No one was forced to play a Cleric when you could just buy everyone a Wand of Cure Light Wounds.

In 4e D&D things changed, and although there are still consumable items they certainly don’t pack the punch we saw in previous editions. By removing the abundance and variety of throw-away items, players quickly realized that there are going to be certain things unbalanced parties simply cannot do on their own.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: War of Everlasting Darkness (Week 2)

Last week the adventure began when the PCs arrived in the logging community of Quaervarr on the edge of the Glimmerwood. The recent appearance of a wandering phantom had the locals worried and the PCs were encouraged to investigate. The heroes discovered the ruins of Methergrist, a long-abandoned Temple to Helm that lay in ruins. The PCs battled an Imp in the dungeon beneath the rubble eventually defeating it and banishing the wandering ghost. Their victory coincided with the emergence of The Darkening, dark filaments that shot up from a hole in the earth to spin a web of blackness across the sky blocking the starlight at night and masking the sun during the day.

Over the past few seasons at my FLGS the players have divided into two parties and then stuck to those parties throughout the entire season. This season we’re trying something a little bit different. Each week we’re randomly assigning players to one of the two tables. This lets the players and DMs meet and play with new people every week. Since each week is a complete mini-adventure and the PCs get to level up and take an extended rest between sessions this approach shouldn’t have a detrimental impact on anyone.

This week we had eight players again; the same number as last week. Two of our regulars were absent but two other familiar faces joined us again. My table included a Human Fighter (Slayer), Revenant (Pixie) Vampire, Shade Ranger (Hunter), and Shade Warlock (Binder).

The biggest negative criticism that I got from players after last week’s session was the lack of meaningful combat. They liked the quick, map-less battle and the fight against the Imp, but they didn’t feel that either battle really challenged the party or posed any real danger. Looking at what this week had to offer I didn’t see anything that addressed this concern so I decided to make a big change (keep reading).

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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
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Book Reviews

7 Great Post-Apocalypse Books

What does a nuclear war, a plague, zombies, and robots all have in common? They could all lead to the apocalypse and bring about the end of the world. In fact some of the best works of fiction are part of the sub-genre the deals with the aftermath of a disaster that nearly wipes out the human population. In each of these tales the apocalypse serves as the back-drop for a survival story. The best stories don’t spend too much time focusing on the cause of the disaster and instead explain who survived and how they survived. In each story unlikely heroes emerge and try to put back the pieces of the shattered world that they once knew. I always find it fascinating to discover that it’s usually a combination of luck and preparation that keep people alive when the world comes to an end.

With the recent success of NBC’s new show Revolution (Wikipedia | NBC.com), the post-apocalyptic survival genre is reaching a wider and more main stream audience. So for everyone who enjoy Revolution and is looking for more of the same we’ve got plenty of good recommendations for you. At first glance it may not seem like these books could all possibly share anything in common, but in each case the world ends and a select few are left to pick up the pieces.

Post-apocalyptic survival stories are defiantly one of my favourite genres. Any time I hear about a new story in this vein I immediately check it out. More and more of these stories are becoming movies, but in some cases the transition is an apocalypse in and of itself (The Postman, we’re looking at you!). So do yourself a favour and pick up some (or all) of these books before they’re stripped down and streamlined for the big screen.

These are definitely (in my opinion) the best examples of the post-apocalyptic survival genre. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but these are the ones that are most likely to get new readers hooked on the genre. If you’ve got any recommendations of your own please leave them in the comments below.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: War of Everlasting Darkness (Week 1)

This week we began season 11 of D&D Encounters. This is the third and final part of the Rise of the Underdark campaign arc. It also marks a significant change in the D&D Encounters program as it allows the PCs to level up after every week bringing them from level 1 to level 8. It’s still a 4e adventure but it does incorporate some aspects that are being play-tested in D&D Next. I for one am anticipating great things this season.

We had eight players and two DMs for this first session but we think that the weather and Halloween kept some players. We’ll see if more people show up next week. At my table I had a Half-Orc Barbarian, Drow Assassin, Pixie Vampire and Revenant (Githzerai) Bard. I know that Gith are technically not allowed but the player explained his concept and back-story which I thought was pretty cool so I’m going to allow it. After two seasons of enforcing character class and race restrictions I’ve decided to open the floodgates again.

One of the big changes this season is that each week’s session is a mini-adventure rather than just one encounter. This allows for more dynamic story-telling and gives the players more choices (and less railroading). I like to think of each encounter within a session as a scene since most of them don’t really meet the criteria for a 4e encounter. That being said each adventure has multiple scenes, but your group may not get to all of them depending on what choices they made along the way (as we saw this week).

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Actual Play Podcast at Harry T North (Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Actual Play Podcast at Dueling Grounds (Week 1) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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Month in Review

Month in Review: October 2012

Two articles we wrote in October made a big splash with our readers: one about treasure maps and one about a player who did something very unexpected. Thanks in large part to Twitter and Reddit these two articles generated a lot of traffic and a lot of discussion. Although these were our most read articles last month they weren’t the only things we talked about in October. Undead also featured prominently at Dungeon’s Master as we posted three new articles on the subject.

If you missed any of the great articles we ran in October than this is your chance to get caught up and join in the discussion. Below we provide links to everything we ran last month.

We’d like to thank everyone who visited our site in October. We’d also like to thank everyone who took the time to leave us a comment. Your feedback is the best gauge we’ve got to determining if we’re on the right track and if our articles are helping you and your D&D games.

If there’s something you’d like to see on Dungeon’s Master or there’s a topic you like us to cover, let us know in the comments or contact us by email or Twitter.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Council of Spiders – Report Card

I don’t think it’s fair to say that this was the worst season of D&D Encounters, but it’s the one I’m most happy to leave behind. There’s not any one reason that I can point to and say that’s what I didn’t like; rather it was a bunch of little things that all came together at once.

As I’ve done after most seasons of D&D Encounters, I’m going to share my thoughts on what I did and didn’t like about the season that was. This is not an exhaustive list, but it does cover the things that topped the list on both sides of the scales (in my opinion). After reading my take I encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments below.

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