Tag: Dungeon Master Resource

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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: I’m Your Cleric, Not Your Bitch!

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 2009. 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.

This was one of the very first articles I ever wrote for Dungeon’s Master. I found it amazing that one of the guys at my gaming table came up with such an interesting way to play his character (in this case, a leader). At first I was kind of upset that this player would be so selfish and not do his job. But the more I thought about it I realized that each player can play his own PC however he wants. If the rest of the party doesn’t like it, then that’s just too bad for them.

When I wrote this I’d only ever played a defender and striker. So even though I agreed with this player’s decision not to heal until a PC used his second wind, I didn’t truly appreciate his point of view until I played a leader. After that I was 100% on board with this attitude.

Too many players assume that the leader’s job it to heal them… and that’s all they’re supposed to do. It’s these players more than any others that I think need to adopt the second wind first behaviour. Until you can appreciate the leader as an equally important part of the adventuring party and not just your personal medic, taking this kind of extreme view to healing is the best way to make your point.

Comments on the original article came down on equally on both sides of this debate. I think in the end it comes down to how the you want to play your PC if you’re the leader and for everybody else it comes down to an issue of respect for the other role and classes in your party.

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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: Taking The Dungeon Out Of Dungeons And Dragons

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 2009. 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.

The concept of the dungeon crawl has had a great deal of debate since the release of 4e. The design of encounters in 4e, has changed the nature of the dungeon. Rather than a large, traditional-style dungeon that players explore five feet at a time, dungeons in 4e are more about large set piece encounters. The dungeon is little more than a series of hallways connecting the rooms that drive the plot or adventure forward.

The focus of this article was to debate whether the dungeon crawl could be removed in favour of a skill challenge. The article generated a great deal of discussion amongst the community. Looking back on those comments it’s apparent that the community has a great deal of interest in trying out new concepts. It was also apparent that there is a great deal of passion and debate about how this classic aspect of Dungeons & Dragons should be handled.

Without desiring to launch an edition war, we decided to bring this article out of the archives for a second look. There are a great many concepts presented that we at Dungeon’s Master will be following up on in the new year.

From April 7, 2009 Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Taking the Dungeon Out of Dungeons & Dragons.

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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: D&D Lego

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 2009. 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.

I’ll admit that the title is a bit of a tease since the article isn’t really about Lego at all. It’s actually about playing in a campaign that relies on a story and characters that everyone knows and loves, as many of the Lego inspired video games do.

The more I’ve thought about this approach to gaming the more I think it would be a lot of fun. The more popular and familiar the setting, story and personalities, the more interesting it would be to adapt it into a D&D adventure.

Of course, if following this kind of established story feels too much like railroading then I suggest you take a look at our article Playing a Recognizable Archetype. Sometimes it’s fun to just take familiar characters and then let the story unfold in a completely unexpected way.

Whether you choose to try either of these approaches to D&D or you just conform to the traditional way of building characters and campaigns, you should always strive to make your campaign exciting and your characters memorable – even if they were drawn from somebody else’s imagination.

As a side note, for those who might be interested, I’ve since completed both versions of Star Wars: Lego as well as Batman: Lego. And even thought I’m a huge Batman fan, I must admit that not knowing where the story was going and who I was likely to encounter (like I did in the Star Wars games) really made it feel like something was missing. I liked Batman: Lego but not nearly as much as I did Star Wars: Lego. Never underestimate the comfort of familiarity.

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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: The Hangover: The Movie That Begs to Be a D&D Adventure

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 2009. 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.

With the movie The Hangover just out on DVD I thought it timely to run this as part of our 2009 Greatest Hits. I still haven’t had an opportunity to use this idea in my campaign but I’m always looking for the right time to spring this on my regular group. If you’ve tried this kind of adventure, please let us know how it worked out in the comments below.

We received some great feedback after we ran this the first time. One reader rightly pointed out that this kind of adventure works better with players who are more interested in role-playing than just killing everything. After all, if the PCs are more the hack and slash types then there wouldn’t be much of a mystery as to what they did the night before. They probably fought and killed everything in their path and need only follow the bodies and blood trail to solve the mystery.

It occurred to me afterwards that the Forgotten Realms novel, Azure Bonds by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb is structured in pretty much this exact way. The hero, Alias, awakens in a dark room without anything other than a strange glowing azure tattoo on her arm. But in her case she’s missing more than the last 24 hours; she’s got absolutely no memory of who she is or how she ended up in the room where she awakens. It’s an excellent read and if you can find the novel (which is unfortunately out of print) I highly recommend it.

If you’re watching The Hangover on DVD this holiday season, think about how you can adapt it into a D&D adventure. There’s plenty of great material in there to work with so multiple viewings may be required. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

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Editorial Skill Challenges

Skill Challenges In A Vacuum

One of the fundamental design concepts behind skill challenges is that they provide a mechanic for large scale, out of combat encounters. Skill challenges were meant to assist in advancing the story. But the story doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The actions of the PCs should bring about reactions from NPCs or the environment they are in.

This is a problem with many of the skill challenges I’ve encountered, they don’t evolve. We’re guilty of it too, many of our skill challenges are static. Certain checks provide certain information, make enough successful checks and you can get on to the next combat encounter. In other words skill challenges feel like they’re tacked onto the game. I know I’ve participated in more than a few where I wondered what I should be doing next. This is because the skill challenge didn’t evolve. Nothing new happened.

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Editorial

Tiers Of Play: Epic

One of the joys of 4e Dungeons & Dragons is that the various tiers of play open the game up, changing the flavour subtly so that it always stays fresh. Recently my regular gaming group decided to try some epic tier Dungeon Delves. In fact, we decided to go for broke and take on the level 30 delve.

It was a blast and no where near as tough as I thought it would be, which is good because it increased my enjoyment factor.

Each of the tiers in 4e D&D adds an additional layer of complication to the game and as you can imagine the epic tier has highest level of difficulty. This is mainly because you have so many options. Not too many options, just lots of options.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Crafting Items

When the skills were streamlined for 4e D&D one of the skills that disappeared was Craft. That’s not to say that PCs can’t create things anymore, it’s just that this kind of task isn’t something you’re likely to use very often. It’s a task more suited for an NPC, not an adventurer.

However, there might still be times when you do want to create something yourself. You might require a unique device to accomplish a goal, you might need to pose as a smith or carpenter, or you might need to craft your own weapon as the first part of an epic quest.

When PCs find themselves in this situation the DM needs to determine just how significant the outcome is going to be. If it’s just something you’re doing during your down time then no role playing is probably required. In fact no roll is likely required either. However, if the success or failure of your handiwork will affect the outcome of things to come, then perhaps it’s time to turn your labours into a skill challenge.

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Player Resources

Using Rituals In Skill Challenges

circleStonehengeIf your gaming group is anything like mine, rituals are the most under utilized aspect of 4e. Since the release of the newest edition of D&D, I’m not sure if one of our PCs has ever used a ritual. For me, this is because I’ve played PCs who aren’t trained in ritual casting for our long term games. When I have played PCs who have the feat, it’s been for one-off Dungeon Delves, which don’t normally require the use of rituals to progress through to the end.

Recently I’ve been considering skill challenges from the perspective of a PC and how players can make skill challenges more fun for themselves. You can only make so many Diplomacy or Perception checks before you start getting bored. If your PC is heavy on knowledge skills you may find that you have nothing to do or don’t feel qualified to fully participate in the majority of skill challenges. So you settle with assisting those PCs who are trained in the relevant skills.

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DM Resources

Engaging Your Players

You’ve laboured over your new campaign for months, meticulously going over the various details of the world. You’ve planned out the campaign’s major points and can’t wait until the PCs are required to rescue the Twilight Princess from her prison in the Nine Hells.

As you reach that pinnacle in the campaign you realize something disheartening, your PCs don’t really care. All the work you’ve done, all the creativity and detail you’ve put into this grand moment is going unnoticed by your PCs.

They haven’t bought into the campaign.

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DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Unlock the Phylactery

The Lich
The Lich

In our earlier skill challenge, the PCs defeated a Lich and managed to find its phylactery. Liches are wily combatants and they plan for all contingencies, including having their phylactery found. If the PCs thought vanquishing a Lich was based on pure combat, then they didn’t do their research properly.

This is the second of two skill challenges that deals with Liches and their phylacteries. In part 1 the PCs must Find The Phylactery and in part 2 the PCs must Unlock The Phylactery.

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