DMs are encouraged to say yes whenever possible in 4e D&D. But in a recent game we experienced a situation that was very unusual and saying yes didn’t seem appropriate. As the DM I said no at the time but agreed that we should do some investigation before the situation happens again. I’ve been scouring the boards to see if anyone else has encounter the same problem and after two weeks of searching I haven’t found a definitive answer. So for the first time since we started Dungeon’s Master I’m asking our readers for their thoughts and interpretation on the correct way to interpret this ruling. I suspect that there won’t be a clear-cut right or wrong answer, but I’d like to get some input from the online 4e D&D community before my next home game.
Tag: Dungeon’s Master
The first session of D&D Encounters: Dark Sun was a sink or swim lesson in desert survival. This second season of the program takes place on the world Athas, an endless expanse of sand and searing heat having been blasted lifeless by the ravaging effects of magic. On Athas the majority of the population swelters in the heat of oppression in slavery while tyrannical sorcerer-kings live lavish and absurd life styles within the walls of their city states.
Welcome to Athas! Following an introduction to the world that our characters found them selves in, we joined the action as we took part in a caravan as guards. Since resources are so scarce on Athas and the wilderness is inhabited by cruel raiders (not to mention cannibalistic Halflings), cargo moves from city to city in large caravans fortified by hired swords fighting to earn their next meal. It is on this errand that our party was devastated by a rain of jet black obsidian from above which obliterated the majority of the caravan after only one days travel from civilization. It was after most of the caravan was killed by falling stone when we were ambushed.
As lizard men began to raid the wagon train a very strong tone was set that I hope will persist throughout the arc of the season: Life on Athas is pragmatic at best. Where did that obsidian come from? Why is in raining on us? I suspect that these questions and many more will never be answered. Our characters didn’t have time to ponder the source of our assailant because we had the task of grabbing as many days’ supplies as we could before running for our lives into the endless desert. You know that the circumstances are dire when the best course of action includes a life denying wasteland.
D&D Encounter season two kicks off tonight. Unless you’ve been living under a rock then you know that season two is set in newest 4e campaign setting Dark Sun, scheduled for released later this summer. With this in mind we’re bringing you our very first encounter set in Dark Sun. And this wouldn’t be Dungeon’s Master if it the encounter was anything but a skill challenge. The following encounter is intended for use within Dark Sun, but can easily be adapted to fit any campaign world.
D&D Encounters: Dark Sun – Fury of the Wastewalker begins Wednesday, June 9. Wizards of the Coast has provided six pre-generated characters – all of them highlighting unique aspects to the upcoming Dark Sun setting for 4e D&D. Over the past week there has been a great deal of discussion about the character sheets provided. More than a few errors have been pointed out as well. Below are four of the six characters available in character builder format for download along with the cards provided by Wizards of the Coast.
In rebuilding the characters there are obviously certain aspects that can’t be reproduced. Namely the theme’s and the new weapons. In the case of weapons I’ve selected the closest item available through Character Builder. For theme’s player’s will need to manually add the appropriate power onto the character sheet. All the characters are as accurate as I can make them based upon the information available. If you plan to use a character builder version of one of the characters I would advise you to check with the DM who is running your encounters session and to double check that no errors were made in rebuilding the characters.
The Outcast
(Tribe of One, book I)
Simon Hawke
A Dark Sun novel
I’ve read over a hundred Forgotten Realms novels, a dozen Ravenloft novels and all of the Eberron novels, but this was my first Dark Sun novel. Having never played in the Dark Sun camping setting when it was originally released back in the early 90s I never had any desire to read about a world I was unfamiliar with. However, in light of the upcoming re-launch of Dark Sun for 4e D&D I felt it was time to give the Dark Sun books a chance. I had no idea what I was in for.
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D&D Encounters (Week 12)
After 12 weeks the adventure came to a thrilling conclusion. The PCs finally came face-to-face with Xeres. But he wasn’t alone. The ensuing battle was a worthy conclusion to season one of D&D Encounters, Halaster’s Lost Apprentice.
D&D Encounters is a 12-part adventure from Wizards of the Coast and it’s played out one encounter each week over 12 weeks.
A couple of weeks ago we ran the Player’s Primer for the upcoming D&D Encouners: Dark Sun. As a part of our Dark Sun week here at Dungeon’s Master we felt we should post this again for anyone who might have missed the original article.
Tonight we play the final session of D&D Encounters season one. We’ll finally get the payoff of our 12-week commitment. But rather than look back on the previous 11 weeks, we’re looking forward to the next 15. Without any delay or interruption, beginning next Wednesday, June 9, we jump right into the second season of D&D Encounters. You can wait until next week to find out all about it you can read on as we share a high level overview of the next season of D&D Encounters.
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Dark Sun: New Rules
The Dark Sun Campaign Guide won’t be out for another two months. But you can get your Dark Sun fix starting on June 9 when the the second season of D&D Encounters begins. The adventure – Dark Sun: Fury of the Wastewalker – gives players and DMs their first taste of Athas, the world of Dark Sun. Yesterday we posted the pre-generated characters Wizards of the Coast provided with the D&D Encounters kit. Each character has some flavour unique to the Dark Sun setting, including character themes. What are character themes you ask? Good question. Here is the sidebar from the page 8 of the adventure.
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Month in Review: May 2010
May was a great month for Dungeon’s Master. As we learned anything about the upcoming Dark Sun setting we shared it with eager readers. Our weekly recap of the D&D Encounters program continues to be popular and gets a lot of great comments. We also provided our usual opinion of how to make your D&D better for players and DMs.
Every month we publish a recap of all the material we published in the previous month. This is a great way for readers to get caught up on anything they might have missed. You’ll find all of May’s highlights below. Thanks to everyone who visited in May. We’ll keep striving to put out top quality work and welcome your comments, feedback and discussion.