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Greatest Hits 2012: The 5 Ws of Treasure Maps

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 2012. 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 all 5 Ws are all important I find that “who” can often be the most interesting. Finding out who drew they map can be a rich part of any adventure. Assuming that the PCs don’t want to the whole world to know they have this map and are searching for information on its origins, it can lead to some very interesting role-playing. No doubt the PCs will want to consult with experts, look up answers for themselves in lost tomes, and likely be secretive about the whole thing. Perhaps they even realize that misdirection can throw others off their trail. The point is that no matter which skills your party is good at, almost every skill can be put to use in some meaningful way when it comes to finding out who drew the map.

As almost an afterthought in the original article I mentioned providing the players with a handout. In retrospect I think this point should have been given more prominence. Players love handouts. As soon as they have something tangible in their hands they’re hooked. Provide them with a rough map, throw on some unlabelled locations, a few cryptic notes in the margins, and maybe some strange symbols that they can’t immediately decipher, and you know that the PCs will stop at nothing to solve the mystery and find the treasure.

The beauty of treasure maps is that they’re equally useful in any role-playing game, any editions, at any level, and in any campaign setting. This is a big reason why I like giving the PCs treasure maps regardless of what game I’m playing.

From October 10, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: The 5 Ws of Treasure Maps.

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Editorial

Merry Christmas and a Holiday Themed Adventure

The Dungeon’s Master team wishes all of our readers a safe and happy holiday season.

We’re coming up on four years since we launched Dungeon’s Master and we’re still going strong. Thank you to all of our readers and to everyone who’s helped make Dungeon’s Master a success.

As a Christmas present to all our readers we’d like to share a D&D holiday themed heroic tier adventure with you. Way back in December 2009 we ran a one-page holiday adventure design contest. The winner was an entry from Corwin Riddle entitled: Krangel’s Workshop. This adventure was inspirited by the Christmas classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” by Dr. Seuss. A clever D&D interpretation of a cherished children’s story.

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Editorial Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2012: Don’t Be a Dick – 4 Tips for Following Wheaton’s Law

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 2012. 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 strongly believe that the overwhelming majority of gamers are good people. It’s unusual for a gamer to intentionally be a dick. But there are certainly shades of grey when it comes to dickish behaviour. When it comes to minor infractions, pet peeves if you will, it’s up to all of us to identify the problem and work together to fix it. Of course what bothers me may not be a big deal to you and that’s where we get the shades of grey.

My own experience taught me that everyone has their own gaming-related pet peeves. There are things the people in my regular gaming group do that I don’t like and I’m sure there are things I do that they don’t like. In some cases the issues stem from personality clash, but in some cases it stems from ignorance. The former is tough to deal with, the later not so much… at least it shouldn’t be.

If someone at the table does something that bothers you should say something? Personally I would, but that’s just me. I’m a very direct person. I know that if you ignore a problem it doesn’t usually get better. But for many gamers this is not something they feel comfortable doing, especially if the person isn’t a close friend (think of situations during public-play or at a con).

Now think about it from the point of view of the person demonstrating dickish behaviour. There’s a good chance they don’t know that what they’re doing is causing problems. If you don’t tell them, how can they be expected to change? Nobody likes a player who’s being a dick, so as tough as some players may find this conversation I think a fellow gamer would appreciate the feedback. That’s just my two cents.

One more thing – when I ran this article the first time it was quickly brought to my attention that the original Character Builder is still available online and that some dedicated members of the gaming community have kept it updated as new materials come out. So keep this in mind when you get to the section “Ensure your character sheet is accurate.”

From July 16, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Don’t Be a Dick – 4 Tips for Following Wheaton’s Law.

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DM Resources

Greatest Hits 2012: Undead of Different Races

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 2012. 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.

Many years ago my home group played an extended campaign in the Ravenloft setting. In this setting each country (or Domain as they’re called in Ravenloft) is ruled by a Lord. The overwhelming majority of these Lords are undead and exceptionally evil. Any campaign that takes place in Ravenloft is going to be filled with every kind of undead imaginable. Most Lords have undead armies at their disposal so Skeletons, Zombies and Vampire Spawn are the typical foot soldiers that PCs will engage, at least initially.

As much as we loved playing in Ravenloft we eventually just got sick of fighting undead. So when we finally escaped from the horrific setting and returned to the Forgotten Realms we decided as a group that none of the DMs would use undead for a long time to come. For years following our Ravenloft expedition our party never ran into a single undead opponent – which we were ok with.

Looking back on our decision to ban undead from the game I realize that it wasn’t so much undead that we were sick of but the plainness of the undead we fought most often. The only variation between the Skeletons was the weapon in their hand. Even though each new Monster Manual presented us with plenty of new undead creatures, none were really that different than what we’d seen before.

I suspect there are other DMs and gaming groups that have gone through undead fatigue much like my group did, and I’ll bet that in many cases it was the lack of variation that led to the problem. Before taking an extreme measure like we did all those years ago, take steps to make your undead more interesting. You don’t necessarily have to give them new powers (although that is certainly an option); you just have to make them interesting. By describing a detail as simple as their original race you can add life back into your undead, so to speak. And if you feel that giving them access to their racial power that’s certainly a way to make even the most boring and predictable undead foe something to fear again.

From October 15, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Undead of Different Races.

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DM Resources

Greatest Hits 2012: Staying Alive: 8 Ways to Keep Wounded PCs in the Game

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 2012. 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.

In the original article we talked about ways to bend the rules or tweak the numbers to give PCs a fighting chance when they’re low on hit points and healing surges. One thing that we didn’t really address that I think deserves mentioning are the PCs starting number of healing surges.

There will always be times when the party cannot continue because they’re out of surges. More often than not it’s the PCs that began with few surges in the first place that make the most noise about taking an extended rest. At my tables it always seems to be the strikers, and more specifically the Rogues and the Vampires.

I think it’s important for the DM, and even the other players in your gaming group, to talk to players who choose to run characters with minimal starting healing surges. It is a striker’s job to get into the thick of things which usually results in them talking some hits; however, good tactics and planning ahead can reduce the chances of these PCs running out of surges before everyone else. Yet trying to convince these players to have a good starting Con score, take the Durability feat, or just play smarter is often a challenge.

If the entire group addresses the low healing surge issue early, the party as a whole can develop tactics to overcome this obstacle and ensure the softest PCs stay on their feet and don’t blow through all their surges in the first fight. It’s a behavioural change that a lot of D&D players are not comfortable making but by addressing this early (possibly even during character creation) it can make for better games down the road and eliminate the frequency of the 5-minute work day without the need for any of the tricks we suggest in the article below.

From June 5, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Staying Alive: 8 Ways to Keep Wounded PCs in the Game.

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DM Resources

Greatest Hits 2012: The New Initiative – Talk then Fight

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 2012. 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.

Nothing makes me happier than hearing a player say that his PC wants to try and talk their way out of a fight. I try to encourage my players to have their PCs pursue options for resolving conflict that don’t involve combat, but it’s usually a hard sell since they want to fight monsters. When someone actually thinks talking is a better option I will go out of my way to let them have their say before the swords start swinging and the arrows start flying.

In order for the new initiative I’ve proposed to be successful the DM needs to remember the importance of saying yes. Sure it normally takes a standard action to get a bloodied opponent to surrender, but if you’re going to allow for a talking initiative then you need to be flexible enough to allow an Intimidate check done at the beginning of combat as a free action to have a similar effect. If the DM rewards creativity and demonstrates that he’s willing to bend the rules to let something cool and interesting happen, more players will try acting during the talking phase of initiative.

A good DM will let the role-playing and a solid skill check lead to results that the PCs are not used to seeing. These results can vary from an all out surrender to delaying combat for a few rounds. Different skills should result in different outcomes as well. Bluff can be used to distract or misdirect, Diplomacy to negotiate surrender or non-aggression, and Intimidate to command into submission or scare enemies away. Words can be powerful and when delivered at the right time and in the right way PCs will see that a Diplomacy check can yield better results than all of their daily and encounter powers combined.

From September 17, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: The New Initiative – Talk then Fight.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: War of Everlasting Darkness (Week 8.)

war-of-everlasting-darkness-cover

Over the past seven sessions we got used to weekly self-contained mini-adventures with a few small pockets of combat. This week we returned to the old format with one massive battle – and what a battle it was! The heroes found themselves in the right place at the right time to stop Lolth from completing her Demon Weave and usurping the mantle of goddess of magic. If she succeeded the Darkening would likely become permanent and there would be nothing to stop the Underdark denizens from claiming the surface as their own. This was the culmination of the Rise of the Underdark.

This week we had 2 DMs and 9 players at my FLGS for the grand finale. I ended up with the smaller table. We had an Eladrin Cleric (Valenae pre-gen), Shade Warlock (Binder), Half-Orc Barbarian, and Revenant (Pixie) Vampire.

This week’s encounter was tough, intentionally so. Even though it was a lot of combat it was more than just monsters on one side of the map, heroes on the other, and the two sides pounding on each other until they ran out of hit points. There was so much more going on. It was a fantastic conclusion to a very story-heavy season of D&D Encounters.

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DM Resources Editorial

Greatest Hits 2012: How a Blind Player Improved Our Game

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 2012. 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.

Describing enough detail for a blind player to visualize in their minds what’s happening in a typical game of D&D is tough. It requires a vivid imagination and a good grasp on the creatures and places in the game. Doing it well requires practice. Unfortunately it’s not a skill that too many DMs or players possess. But that’s changing.

A lot of people have had a chance to delve into this kind of gaming experience through the D&D Next play testing. It encourages quick combat encounters that don’t use a map or minis. It encourages exploration through description and experimentation. In essence it expects you to describe places and actions as if there was always a blind person at the table. You may not have thought about it in those terms but it’s true.

It all comes down to details. DMs should stop making generalizations by giving something a title; instead describe the details. When you tell the players the room has a king-sized bed and a dresser and a table they’ll get that it’s a master bedroom and not a kitchen. So why use the term “bedroom” at all? Just describe the contents and let the players determine the function. The same goes for people and monsters. Don’t describe NPC by race and class; rather describe their attire, mannerisms, speech patterns, smell and personality. Let the players decide if this is a noble, a thief, or an adventurer.

By making the players use their imagination to take in a scene it will open their thirst for details. They’ll ask questions they never usually ask like what colour is the carpet or if they smell incense. When players can’t use their eyes to see a map or a mini they’ll fill in the blanks with the details the DM provides and likely add a few of their own. When this happens it will take your game to a whole new level of enjoyment.

From March 19, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: How a Blind Player Improved Our Game.

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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2012: The Advantages of Using 3d6 Over Point Buy

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 2012. 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.

Most gamers I’ve met like rolling dice. And most gamers I’ve met like to power game. So when you ask gamers if they’d rather roll their six ability scores randomly or assign them and get the most optimized stats possible you’re unlikely to get a consensus. Personally I like rolling 3d6 for abilities. It makes you play the character and not the numbers. In my experience this always makes for more interesting characters which in turn makes the gaming experience more enjoyable.

I’ve found that experienced gamers are the ones who are most open to the ides of rolling their abilities. This could be in some part because they’ve likely played previous editions of D&D where that’s just how it was done, so they don’t see it as a big deal. I also think experienced gamers are more open to rolling their ability scores because they realize that there is something to be said for randomness. They realize that it’s not the extraordinary scores that make your character interesting, but the lower ones. Rolling your stats makes you intimately and immediately aware that a character is more than the raw numbers on the page; something many newer gamers have a hard time understanding.

By rolling your stats you’re more likely to be appreciative of that one good score, even if it is only a 14. And in cases where an ability score is particularity high, say an 18, it’s going to have a big impact on the PCs and the game. In a world where most people have relatively flat ability scores, anyone with an 18 will be truly extraordinary. Just think of how people will treat a guy with an 18 Charisma? This super-Charisma guy is going to be a spectacle for all the right reasons. His 18 makes him special. However, if an 18 Charisma is extremely commonplace, as it is when everyone uses a point buy system, it denies everyone that chance to feel special because they happen to roll something statistically improbable.

I’m not suggesting that we completely abandon point buy; it certainly has its place and serves a practical purpose. But I think that we should all realize that there is something to be gained from trying the 3d6 method of generating ability scores as anyone who has participated in the D&D Next play testing can attest to.

From January 24, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: The Advantages of Using 3d6 Over Point Buy.

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Editorial Player Resources

Greatest Hits 2012: When the Plus (+) No Longer Matters

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 2012. 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.

When I wrote this article it was to make a statement about character development. The idea was that having a magic item with a special power you found interesting was more important than whether or not the magic was +2 or +3. But when I reread this article I realized that it’s also a commentary on the abundance of magic in 4e D&D. When we have so much magic in the game it really belittles all of it.

In a game where only one PC has a magic sword (think King Arthur and Excalibur, for example), everyone will look at the item and the character wielding it as extraordinary. But when every member of the party has a magic sword none of them are seen as special. This is compounded even further if all the bad guys have magic swords. Yet this is exactly how games in the 4e D&D world play out. There’s magic everywhere. And with so much choice it’s no wonder that players will overlook some items for the promise of something more to their liking later. Or in the case of the examples I use in this article, the PCs won’t trade up to better items because they’re happy with the ones they’ve got.

Personally I like games that are magic rich. To me that’s D&D. I’ll admit that eventually too much magic can complicate things (as we’ve learned during 4e epic play) but I’m ok with that. On the opposite end of things I’ve played games in low magic settings (Dark Sun, for example) and I’ve realized that this is not something I enjoy. There needs to be some kind of middle ground and I believe that we’re seeing that shape up in the D&D Next play-test packets.

There seems to be a definite shift with D&D Next towards making magic items special again. The mechanics are being retooled so that adding a +1 sword to any character is going to be a big deal. Tack on some kind of additional special property like a fire, lighting, or acid and now you’re really got something unique. I have high hopes that there will be a lot more balance in the distribution of magic items when they land on final rules. If done right, any magic treasure will be coveted and players won’t find that they reach a point where they no longer care about the plus on their item because they’ll just be happy to have any item at all.

From May 29, 2012, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: When the Plus (+) No Longer Matters.

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