Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

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Editorial Player Resources

Don’t Be a Dick – 4 Tips for Following Wheaton’s Law

I’ve been gaming a long time and for the most part I’ve had very positive experiences. This is especially true when it comes to public-play gaming. The people who come out to my FLGS to play D&D Encounters, Lair Assault, LFR, D&D Game Day, Free RPG Day, or just a pick-up game are for the most part really good people. I’ve found this to be true when I’ve gone to conventions as well. Gamers in generally are pretty good people who enjoy the hobby and want to have fun.

However, every now and then you get a player that is the exception. In some cases they’re genuinely trying to be extra helpful and come off as the Gaming Jerk, and in other cases their inexperience and lack of gaming protocol leads them to step over the line. At the end of the day it’s important to follow Wheaton’s Law: Don’t be a dick! Obviously, no one comes to the gaming table planning to break Wheaton’s Law but it happens. Regrettably I’m seeing it happen more often so I felt it was time to help the newer players by sharing a few words of wisdom and providing four tips on how to avoid breaking Wheaton’s Law.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen (Week 8.)

After last week’s fight against the elite Drow of House Jaelre the PCs advanced though the secret passage. The tunnel eventually led them to a vast, wide-open cavern so deep that they could not see the floor. Extending out into the darkness in front of them was a rope bridge clearly made in part from spider web strands. Three other similar-looking bridges stretched out from other walls of the cavern. All of the bridges converged at the top of a huge stalactite. The naturally inverted tower seemed to be hollowed out with chambers within.

This week our numbers were down at both locations where I play D&D Encounters. At Dueling Grounds we were down from 12-15 players most weeks to only seven this week. At Harry T North (which is the group I write about) we were ready to split into three tables but with a few players absent we were down to two tables of five. So my group kicked out the non-Drow interloper and ended up all Drow once again. Here’s how the party broke down.

  • Drow Rogue #1
  • Drow Rogue #2
  • Drow Wizard (Bladesinger)
  • Drow Druid
  • Drow Cleric
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DM Resources Editorial

The Things We Do Not Talk About in D&D

Warning: This article discusses topics that are for mature readers. The ideas presented herein are intended to encourage a frank and mature discussion about adding darker, seedier topics to games with mature players. These ideas are being presented in the context of an imaginary, fantasy, role-playing game and are in no way intended to encourage, promote or glamourize them.

Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, Slavery. These are not the kind of things you generally think about including in a typical D&D game. After all, in a fantasy world why not preserve the fantasy and keep things idyllic? The only Evil (with a capital “E”) in most D&D campaigns are the monsters and NPCs bent on ruling or destroying the world. These are things the heroes can deal with, often at the end of a sword. Throwing more complicated Evils into a campaign setting, problems like substances abuse and slavery, for example, are not generally the kinds of things that can a) be handled by the PCs alone, or b) resolved in a single adventure. These are “big picture” problems that would just muddy the waters of most D&D campaign settings. Yet they are problems and issues that would certainly be present in most campaign settings. After all, these are problems that almost every society on Earth has faced and still does face in one way or another. So why not add them to your role-playing games and give the players a chance to try to do something about it?

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen (Week 7)

Chapter 2 began with some role-playing and a comprehensive skill challenge, but no combat. This week made up for the absence of fighting with a pure hack and slash encounter as the PCs faced a party of Elite Drow. Was this to be another TPK?

I ran one of the two tables of seven this week at my FLGS. Here’s how my table broke down.

  • Drow Fighter
  • Drow Rogue #1
  • Drow Wizard (Bladesinger)
  • Drow Cleric
  • Drow Druid
  • Drow Rogue #2
  • Kobold Druid (Sentinel)

The players are really showcasing the best way to embrace the chaotic nature of playing Drow. Of course this is completely unintentional, they just suck at teamwork. However, some of them are finally starting to show some sense of party cohesion as they gain more familiarity with their characters. They still have plenty of room for improvement but now that everyone has a pretty good idea of what everyone else can do things are running a lot more smoothly. Now they just need better teamwork.

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Month in Review

Month in Review: June 2012

After a fantastic Canada Day long weekend we bring you the Month in Review for June (better late than never). Although June was one of the leanest months since we launched Dungeon’s Master we made up in quality what we lacked in quantity.

Our articles on minions, TPKs and Ameron’s D&D bucket list all generated discussion and got a lot of excellent comments. Our ongoing coverage of what some are calling the most deadly season of D&D Encounters since Dark Sun is also generating a lot of buzz. Throw in a D&D web comic and you get a pretty good idea of what we were up to in June.

We want to thank all of our readers for visiting Dungeon’s Master in June. We realize that a lot of people are play-testing D&D Next but we like to think that most of our articles are edition neutral and will still apply to your campaign regardless of what edition you play. So be sure to keep visiting and keep commenting.

If you missed any of the great articles from last month than this is your chance to get caught up.

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Adventure Hooks

5 Adventure Hooks: Time is Running Out

A lot of DMs, me included, have run into the problem known as the 5-miute work day or the bed problem. This is when some or all PCs expend all of their resources more quickly than expected and demand an extended rest to recharge, regardless of what is happening in the story. We’ve run numerous articles on this topic and even offered a few ways to overcome it. (See The 5-Minute Work Day: Blame the Players and Solutions.)

Today we’re examining this problem from a slightly different angle. In my experience the best way to avoid the 5-minute work day is to put the PCs on the clock. Set up a situation where resting is simply not an option. Tie something in the story to a ticking clock and make it clear that the zero-hour event (whatever it may be) will happen well before 8 hours are up. So if the PCs try to take an extended rest it’s essentially game over.

This kind of adventure should only be undertaken on rare occasions. After all, very few PCs lives as exciting as Jack Bauer and will only find themselves working under this kind of exceptionally tight deadline in the most unusual and rare of circumstances. When DMs decide that it’s time to put the PCs into one of these situations you want to make it memorable. The encounters shouldn’t seem overly forced in order to work. With this in mind we present 5 Adventure Hooks below that will help you put the heroes in a fight against time as well as the usual hazards and monsters.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen (Week 6)

Chapter 2 began with the party refreshed and recovered from the perils that they faced through the first five encounters. If they had not already level up, everyone should have been level 2 for this chapter. Having completed their extended rest they were once again back on Valan’s trail in an attempt to recover the Pendent of Ashaba.

This week’s encounter was very different than most players expected. There was no combat; it was a series of puzzles and skill challenges. The last time this happened was way back in D&D Encounters season 1. I’m sure some players hated it while others reveled in the opportunity to actually role-play their character for a change.

The no combat, all skill challenge encounter had the added benefit of being short. At the two FLGS where I play all tables finished in under an hour with most taking about 45 minutes. I’m sure the short encounter was designed this way intentionally to allow DMs in the U.S. to either play two encounters this week and get ahead, or play two encounters two weeks from now catch up since stores (in the U.S) will be closed on Independence Day.

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DM Resources

Minions: Full Disclosure

Is the DM obligated to tell the players that monsters are minions? I never do. Players don’t treat minions like they do other monsters. They don’t see them as threatening. And why should they, after all a minion only has 1 hit point and will fall with any hit that inflicts damage. In my mind the minion was one of the best additions to 4e D&D.

DMs can throw lots of monsters at the heroes, and as long as a bunch of them are minions then the PCs will just mow through them. They still have to target and hit them, but if a hit is scored the monster falls. There are, of course, some variations and exceptions to traditional minions – some minions explode when killed, some get a final attack and others still will rise from the dead to fight again after they’ve been killed once. Here at Dungeon’s Master we’ve introduced two-hit minions that, as the name implies, need to be hit twice to finally kill them. Regardless of what kind of minion you’re facing the commonality is that it doesn’t make a difference if you deal 1 point of damage or 100 points of damage with a single hit, you just have to hit them.

Minions are great and I encourage DMs to use them regularly, but DMs need to be careful how and when they reveal that some monsters are minions. As soon as player know that some for their opponents are minions they use this meta-knowledge to influence their PCs’ actions. For this reason I never disclose the fact that monsters are minions. I let the players discover this fact when their characters do. And if they make some poor assumptions I rarely correct them.

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Humour

Master of the Dungeon Webcomic – Epic Combat, Round 1

Today we’re trying something new at Dungeon’s Master – a webcomic that we’re calling “Master of the Dungeon.” One of our players, Matthew Domville, is a talented writer and artist who has been publishing his own webcomic, Cinema Bums, for over a year now. We’ve finally convinced him to branch out and do a D&D comic for us.

Today we present the first of what we hope are many D&D-themed webcomics by Matt based on situations that come out of our weekly D&D game. Help us convince Matt to become a regular contributor at Dungeon’s Master by singing his praises in the comments below.

Be sure to check out Matt’s other webcomic, Cinema Bums, a comic about movies and the folks who love ‘em. If you enjoy his stuff be sure to leave him a comment and like his page.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen (Week 5)

“The Drow know we’re coming,” Tharinel said coldly as last weeks session ended. The heroes fought a very difficult battle against Drow warriors and their Lolthbound Goblin slaves. When the encounter ended the heroes were the only ones left standing and the Spider Gates had been thrown open. Now they must venture onward despite the heavy toll they’ve paid fighting the Drow so far.

This week one of the regulars at my table was absent, which actually worked out nicely as a player we hadn’t seen since last season arrive ready to play. This is how our party shaped up with current healing surges noted.

  • Drow Fighter [6/14]
  • Drow Rogue #1 [0/6]
  • Drow Druid [5/9]
  • Drow Cleric [2/9]
  • Drow Rogue #2 [3/9]
  • Kobold Druid (Sentinel) [9/9]
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