Tag: Dungeon’s Master

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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2011: Should PCs Charge Other PCs for Services?

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2011. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

Although charging for services can have devastating consequences for your game – especially if the demand for payment is completely unexpected – I do think there are ways to make it work. An alternative way to tackle this issue it not to charge PCs for services out of the blue, but to make special arrangements where payment will guarantee services or garnish special treatment.

For example, in a lot of the D&D encounters sessions I ran this year there was only one leader for a party of six or more. With only two Healing Words to go around per encounter the competition for who got healed was pretty fierce. When multiple characters were injured the leader knew he needed to heal someone on his turn but wasn’t usually very picky about who it was. If two character were in equal peril (both bloodied or both unconscious) then it became a coin toss or roll of the dice. But what if one of those PCs made an arrangement with the leader ahead of time? He’s not asking for special treatment, just preferential treatment.

In circumstances where this PCs need is equal to that of another PC, the leader will earn extra compensation if he chooses to heal this PC first. The leader isn’t charging but is willing to accept payment for the service in order to help him decide who to help first. Once the other players learn that the leaders service are for sale they can offer him more lavish rewards or a greater cut of the loot. In this case they are less likely to resent the leader since he’s not charging all-of-a-sudden for healing, nor is he withholding it when needed most. He’s merely letting the PCs determine the way to break the ties. It wasn’t his idea to charge, he’s just taking advantage of the situation his allies created.

It could work.

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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2011

With 2011 nearing completion the Dungeon’s Master team is taking another look at some of our favourite articles from the past year. With over 250 articles posted over the past 12 months there are bound to be a few that you missed somewhere along the way. If you’ve only found Dungeon’s Master recently, this is a good way to discover some of our best work. For those readers who have been with us since the beginning, we think you’ll enjoy revisiting these articles again.

Over the next two weeks we’ll dig up those hidden gems that generated a lot of discussion among the gaming community or that we think best represent what we’re all about.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave (Week 4)

The heroes finished last week’s encounter by passing through the waterfall and emerging in a room with a couch, a wooden table and a fresco of an enchanted forest. They followed the only passage towards the sounds of crashing waves and weeping.

This week I managed to run the encounter twice. The beginning of the encounter was pretty much the same for both groups as it was a huge information dump designed to set the stage for the rest of the adventure. I’ll provide specifics about how the two groups handled things differently later in the article. For now let’s get right to the story.

As the heroes continued through the passage it seemed to transform from support beams to actual trees. The change happened so gradually that the PCs didn’t immediately realize they were no longer in the cave, but in a forest. They found themselves in a wide circle of toadstools. They worn path they followed along side the same stream continued towards the sounds of the weeping. Behind them they could hear the crashing of waves.

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Class Discussions Player Resources

Changing Classes

If your Wizard wants to dabble in swordplay he can always choose to multi-class in Fighter (assuming you meet the prerequisites). Or, if this is something you decided during the character creation process then you can make a hybrid character that combines aspects of both classes equally. But what happens if, after many levels as a Wizard, you decide that you don’t just want to be a dabbler who multi-classes. What if he wants to give up the arcane arts entirely and become a Fighter? What does he do then?

If you’re following the rules as written then you don’t really have any acceptable options. However, a creative player may be able to convince an adventurous DM to explore other possibilities, especially if they make sense in the context of the game.

Changing classes after character creation isn’t something that the 4e mechanics allow for. However, previous editions of D&D did. It’s not something that happens often so I’m not surprised that no 4e mechanic exists to accommodate this kind of thing. But sometimes there will be a really good in-game story rationale for why a PC must abandon his old class entirely and pursue another. In these cases we need to get creative.

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Player Resources

The Golden Level of Heroic Adventure

As a player and DM through four editions now, I have observed the effect commonly referred to as “the sweet spot.” This is the point at which the game functions as intended, is fun for players and DMs alike, the PCs can handle most fights, and the monsters can be threatening without being overpowering. While the sweet spot in 2e was a strange one due to the difference in classes’ experience charts and earning, and 3e and its iterations had multiple sweet spots, 4e to date has had the longest, most sustainable sweet spot that I have experienced. It starts around level 3, and lasts until about level 23.

However, within this sweet spot, there stand four levels which I feel are the best time to be an adventurer in D&D. While three of them stand firmly in the paragon tier, being levels 12, 16 and 20, one stands in the heroic tier of play. Level 6 is the goal to shoot for in lower heroic, and it is where the PCs truly begin to feel their power. It’s when character choices in build, theme, and class truly begin to differentiate themselves. It is when heroic characters can get their first taste of the paragon tier challenges ahead, and the best time to start defining a campaign’s themes. It is the golden level of heroic adventure.

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Humour

Dungeon’s Master Presents: Christmas with the Gamer (Encore)

With Christmas less than two weeks away I felt it was a good time to dust off this holiday-themed article from the Dungeon’s Master archive and give it an encore performance. First published last December, this D&D holiday-themed tale was inspired in part by real events that happened in my household over the holidays. Merry Christmas.

Originally published on December 15, 2010, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Christmas With the Gamer.

I’d rather be playing D&D. But it’s Christmas and my family is coming over for a big holiday dinner. So I’m forced to settle for the banality known as real life for the next few hours.

I lumber downstairs from my bedroom, making no effort to be stealthy. Anyone in the living room or kitchen with a half-way decent passive perception knows I’m on my way. As a triggered action when I reach the bottom of the staircase my mother, the controller, starts giving me orders. I have to clean the basement, playfully called the dungeon, before company arrives.

As I pass by the living room I notice my father watching football. My dad is the epitome of the Warlord class. He’s a generous leader who constantly gives up his actions to let other act in his place. Whether that action is taking out the trash, cleaning the basement, or mowing the lawn, he’s always been very generous and giving. He’s just that kind of guy. Even when my mother asks him to do something he takes advantage of his class features to give up his action and let someone else do twice as much on their turn.

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Technology

Heroes of Neverwinter: Adventure Bundle Giveaway

Heroes of Neverwinter continues to enjoy success on Facebook. As part of the ongoing promotion of the game Dungeon’s Master is pleased to offer 25 Adventure Bundle codes to our readers.

If you’d like to receive one of these codes all you have to do is leave a comment below telling us which Dungeon’s Master article you’ve most enjoyed and why. With over 800 articles in our archives there are plenty to choose from.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave (Week 3)

Last week’s encounter had the party battle an Echo Spirit and an Ochre Jelly. When the combat was over the party took a short rest, searched the cavern for treasure and then found The Oracle. The Oracle directed the party deeper into the cavern if they wanted to find Juliana and Orlando.

This week I was only able to play at one FLGS. I was in Seattle at the Wizards of the Coast head office for the last few days and by the time I got home Wednesday I knew I wouldn’t have the energy to do more than one session. I’ll be making up the missed session for the Harry T North crew next week. Anyone who’s been listening to our podcasts should note that I’ll still record and post the other week 3 encounter, but it won’t be up until next week.

This party consisted of a Half-Orc Barbarian (Berserker) [Unseelie Agent], Hamadryad Druid [Fey Beast Tamer], Human Assassin, Eladrin Sun Elf Warlock (Hexblade) and two of the pre-gens Belgos the Drow Ranger and Jarren the Human Wizard.

The heroes continued through the caverns and following the sounds of rushing water eventually came to a large cavern partly filled with a large muddy pool. The water feeding the pool originated further into the cavern. In the centre of the pool were three large mounds of mud.

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DM Resources

No New Magic Items

What if it was no longer possible to make new magical items? We don’t often focus on the magic item creation side of the game; we just assume that somewhere in the background new items are being created. When your PC needs new magical items he can usually got to “Ye Olde Magic Shoppe” and purchase what he needs. But if the supply of new items stopped how would the economy of D&D change and what would that mean for your campaign?

How things play out really depends on whether or not you’re introducing this idea to an existing campaign world where magic used to be plentiful and is about to dry up, or if you’re establishing this as the norm for a brand new setting. If the PCs and other inhabitants of the world don’t know any differently then this is just going to mean a shift in the way your players think about acquiring items. If items have always been rare then the world’s mentality should reflect this. The idea of a party walking around and each PC having 10 or more magic items would be absurd. But if this is a sudden change then the only way to acquire new magical items is to find them in a treasure horde or take them from someone else. Both situations present interesting challenges and both could make for a very interesting long-term campaign.

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DM Resources Player Resources

Nationality and Character Backgrounds

Most players select a background for their PC during the character creation process. In many cases it’s done for purely mechanical benefits. Being from this location may give you a resistance to fire, while this one may give you a bonus to your initiative. In all cases it also gives you access to a new skill or a bonus to one specific skill. When it comes to power gaming, no one overlooks a background benefits.

The background options that I see taken most often are the geographic backgrounds from the Forgotten Realms. Usually the player doesn’t really care that his PC is from Waterdeep, Akanul or Cormyr, they just want to additional benefit that being from those places provides. And that’s fine. It’s not the ideal reason to choose a background but it’s well within the rules. Any character can have any background.

This season during D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave the adventure strongly encourages the DM to insist that the PCs choose one of the three backgrounds provided. This helps give the players a good in-game reason as to why such a rag-tag and mismatched adventuring party would work together. Being from one of the three areas directly impacted by the happenings in the adventure gives PCs a strong motive for accepting the mission.

While at first a few of the players in my group resented being told they had to choose one of only three options (none of which they felt provided particularly appealing benefits) after only two sessions these same players really started working their background into the way the characters behaved. Without any prompting from me, the players instilled within their characters a sense of national pride.

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