Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

Categories
DM Resources Player Resources

Screw Morals, Just Keep the Game Moving

Sometimes PCs need to do what’s best for the game even though it may not be what’s best for the character. The PC’s personal politics, morals and ethics need to be set aside in order for the campaign to proceed.

An example of this scenario happened to our party in a recent game. Although we chose to do what was best for the game, it seemed really out of character for at least a couple of the PCs in the party. We’ve played these characters for almost a year and during that time we’ve worked to make them feel like unique individuals. They have distinct personalities and mannerisms. So what happens to all that character building when the adventure dictates that the role-playing be shelved during certain circumstances in order to keep the larger story arc moving?

Continue reading “Screw Morals, Just Keep the Game Moving”
Categories
Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge Week – Roundup

Seven new skill challenges and one Eberron-specific skill aide later, skill challenge week wraps up at Dungeon’s Master. We now offer 24 unique skill challenges and 13 skill aides in our library.

The Eberron Player’s Guide was released during our skill challenge week so we made a point of releasing two skill challenges that are Eberron specific:

When we create skill challenges, our goal is to keep them generic enough to fit into any campaign setting (including Eberron). However, if you’re looking for more skill challenges with that Eberron feel, Border Crossing was designed specifically with Eberron in mind

Our focus on skill challenges and skill aides will continue, but I think it will be a couple of weeks before we revisit them again

We welcome your comments and input about any of our skill challenges. If you’ve had opportunity to use them in your game we’d really like to hear how things worked out. And if you have any specific topics you’d like to see covered in a future skill challenge post a comment or send us an email.

Categories
DM Resources Eberron Player Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Aide: Dragonmarks

dragonmark-sivisYour character has just manifested a Dragonmark. In Eberron this is a big deal. Dragonmarks have a huge impact on NPC reactions. Here are some tips on how to get a little extra from your Dragonmark during your next skill challenge.

There are going to be circumstances where having a Dragonmark or being affiliated with a particular Dragonmarked House may provide advantages during a skill challenge. The forthcoming Eberron Campaign Guide will likely cover this to some extent, but until its release here are a few guidelines that you can use.

Continue reading “Skill Aide: Dragonmarks”
Categories
DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: The Dungeon Crawl

Moving from room to room in a dungeon has historically been handled by drawing the map and the DM asking the party how they advance. Do they turn right or left at the t-junction. In 4e, the amount of crawling through a dungeon has been reduced with more focus given to large rooms and the encounters they contain within. Indeed, even traps are now incorporated into combat encounters. An adventuring group in 4e is more likely to find a pit trap in a combat encounter than randomly placed within a dungeon corridor.

Continue reading “Skill Challenge: The Dungeon Crawl”
Categories
DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Prison Break

From time to time the PCs may find themselves incarcerated. There are plenty of reason why this might be the case, but I think it’s fair to say most PCs will try to escape if the alternative is life imprisonment or execution. How the PCs ended up in prison and what happens to them when they get out is entirely up to the DM. This skill challenge just focuses on scenarios the PCs may find themselves in while incarcerated. This can be run as one large skill challenge or a series of smaller ones.

Continue reading “Skill Challenge: Prison Break”
Categories
DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Stormy Waters

Pirates and adventure on the high seas haven’t always been the typical D&D adventure setting. However, almost all PCs are required to travel by ship at some point in their adventuring career. The skill challenge below tackles the issue of surviving during a raging storm at sea.

Continue reading “Skill Challenge: Stormy Waters”
Categories
DM Resources Eberron Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Fixing The Lightning Rail

Today is all about Eberron. The Eberron Player’s Guide is finally in wide release and earlier today we posted the skill challenge Maintaining the Karrnathi Army. As an added bonus, here is another Eberron-specific skill challenge.

The lightning rail is a key component of transportation and daily life in Eberron, so when service is disrupted the commerce of the Five Nations is effected. This skill challenge provides the DM with a quick encounter for the PCs that could lead to further adventure and intrigue.

Continue reading “Skill Challenge: Fixing The Lightning Rail”
Categories
DM Resources Eberron Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Maintaining the Karrnathi Army

Eberron is here and with our continued focus on skill challenges I thought I’d combine the two. My favourite nation in Eberron has always been Karrnath. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s ruled by a Vampire, the militant nature of the nation or that Atur reminds me of Las Vegas. Either way, I thought a skill challenge about the Karrnathi Army’s undead shock troops would be fun. Enjoy.

Continue reading “Skill Challenge: Maintaining the Karrnathi Army”
Categories
Humour Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: The Princess Bride

Movies and television serve to inspire DMs as we dream up new ideas to run our players through. The Princess Bride is a movie that, on top of providing great drama, incorporates humour into its narrative. The movie will never get old, remaining fresh and entertaining. So, as I reminisced about the Cliffs of Insanity, the Fire Swamp and true love I pondered… could this be turned into a skill challenge?

Of course, the answer is yes, and so I present in all its down and dirty glory The Princess Bride (only the good parts) via skill challenge.

Continue reading “Skill Challenge: The Princess Bride”
Categories
DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Research

When PCs need information they generally go to a sage or some other knowledgeable NPC. But many PCs have training in the various knowledge skills so why not give them an opportunity to use them for more than monster identification. This skill challenge provides DMs with a way to reward PCs who have opted to take training in the knowledge skills with XP.

Continue reading “Skill Challenge: Research”