Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Adventure Hooks: Politics

a-to-z-2014-pA casual watching of any of the “news” channels on television will show you how passionate many people get about politics. Why should that be any different in the D&D world? Murder In Baldur’s Gate showed us a brief look at Ducal elections, but overall the inner-workings of various groups in a fantasy city or town are overlooked by many setting writers (unless it’s the murderous politics of a Drow city). With recent films like the new Captain America: Winter Soldier bringing political thrillers back to the forefront of our minds, we thought you might be interested in playing with the political leanings of your party.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Joe Lastowski has come up with more great adventure hooks as today “P” is for politics.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Adventure Hooks: Ogres

a-to-z-2014-oThey’re dumb, and big, and also dumb, and did I mention dumb? Ogres are a mainstay in many D&D encounters that require a big brute who hits hard and acts directly. However, there may be other options for these hulking masses of muscle. Here are some adventure hooks related to Ogres.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “O” is for Ogre as Joe Lastowski once again shares some great adventure hooks featuring everyone’s favourite dumb brutes.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast (Week 9)

scourge-of-the-sword-coast-coverLast week’s session ended with the PCs defeating the Orc Pale Chief (who was really a Wight). Unfortunately the toll was high as the Pale Chief killed the Halfling Rogue before the fight ended. The PCs took a much needed short rest back in the barracks of Harpshield Castle and that’s where we picked things up this week.

At Hairy T North in Toronto we ran four tables this week. The 4e table was back up to six players, the solo D&D Next table was holding strong with six players and the double cohort Craig and I were running using D&D Next had seven players. Our group consisted of the following PCs: Elf Ranger #1, Elf Ranger #2 (new player), Elf Cleric/Rogue, Human Monk/Barbarian, Drow Paladin, Dwarf Fighter (new character, returning player), and Half-Orc Cleric.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Adventure Hooks: Necromancy

a-to-z-2014-nNecromancers are known for their power over the dead and undead. In D&D, Wizards who specialize in necromancy often have evil in their heart and an overwhelming desire for power at all costs – especially the power over life and death. Necromancers are often corrupted by the dark magic they seek to control making them the epitome of evil and perfect villains for any campaign.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “N” is for necromancy as we share adventure hooks that deal with those who practice the dark arts and have an affinity for the undead.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Adventure Hooks: Music

a-to-z-2014-mIn a world of Bards and actual magical flutes, music can play a key role in your fantasy games. As a dramatic endeavor, background music can also be an awesome flourish to make a combat feel more epic. Here are some ideas for incorporating music as a key element in your adventure plots, followed by some neat musical tips for adding musical flair to your gaming experiences.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “M” is for Music as Joe Lastowski shares some great adventure hooks and additional resources for adding music to your campaign.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Adventure Hooks: Lords of Waterdeep Board Game

a-to-z-2014-lLords of Waterdeep is of my favourite board games; it’s definitely in my all-time top 5. I’m sure a big part of why I enjoy it so much is the D&D theme. Yet the D&D elements are more flavour than anything else. You could strip them away and the game would still work. But I choose to embrace the D&D parts. The reference to familiar characters, places, and monsters all add to why I enjoy the game. As I’ve played the game over and over and over again I’ve often thought to myself “how can I incorporate the elements of the board game in my actual D&D game?” The answer was actually quite simple – use the quests as adventuring hooks.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “L” is for Lords of Waterdeep as we use the game’s quest cards to inspire adventuring hooks for your D&D game.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Adventure Hooks: Not Your Typical Knights

a-to-z-2014-kIf I asked you to imagine a knight I’ll bet you’d picture a man in shining plate armor, with a sword in one hand and a big shield bearing a fancy coat of armor or religious symbol in the other. If I asked you to predict the knight’s attitude you’d likely say that he stands for truth, honor, justice, and loyalty. This is the stereotypical knight of history and legend. This is what most people immediately think of when you use the term knight. But just because this is what people (and your players) expect, doesn’t mean that this is the only kind of knight. Surely there are others who call themselves knights who don’t fit into this narrow view.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “K” is for knight, but these aren’t your regular stereotypical knights which makes them all the more interesting to insert into your next campaign.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Adventure Hooks: Welcome to the Jungle

a-to-z-2014-jThe jungle can be a difficult and dangerous place for PCs to go adventuring. The unusual plant and animal life are foreign to uneducated and inexperienced travelers and even the cutest looking creature or prettiest plant can be hazardous and deadly. On top of the dangers that indigenous plants and animals pose, PCs also need to worry about the extreme heat, exhaustion and dehydration. And in many D&D setting the jungles are filled with exotic and fantastic creatures like dinosaurs.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “J” is for jungle as we give you plenty of ways to keep unsuspecting adventurers on their toes as the explore unfamiliar terrain.

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Adventure Hooks

Adventure Hooks: Illusions

a-to-z-2014-iWhen people play D&D for the first time the class they often end up running is a Fighter. Most experienced gamers will agree that the Fighter is the simplest class to run. You grab a big weapon, throw on some armor, and attack the monsters. On the flip side of that coin I think the most difficult class to run is the Illusionist. Think about it, none of your illusion spells can inflict any direct damage to a monster. If you want to be useful and contribute to the party you need to be exceptionally creative and be able to use your illusions in really creative ways. Not something all players can do successfully or consistently.

Throughout April Dungeon’s Master is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge is to write a new article ever day in April, excluding Sundays. That’s 26 articles over the course of the month. To make things even more interesting the title of each article will begin with a different letter of the alphabet. This year we’ve decided that every article will provide our readers with new adventure hooks. Today “I” is for illusions as we share some crafty ways in which DMs can mess with heir players using nothing but make imaginary images and sounds.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast (Week 8.)

scourge-of-the-sword-coast-coverDuring our last session the heroes took care of the Orcs, Orogs, and the Ogre that inhabited the upper levels of Harpshield Castle. Afterwards the party decided to split into two groups and head down into the lower levels of the castle ruins using different entry points.

This week we were back to running four tables at Harry T North in Toronto, although a lot of our regular players were absent. The 4e table only had three players, the other D&D Next table had their usual six, and Craig and I had seven players divided into two groups and using D&D Next. So we were down to 16 players from our usual 20+.

I ran Team Noisy: Drow Paladin, Hal-Orc Paladin, Half-Orc Cleric, and Half-Orc Mage. Craig ran Team Sneaky: Halfling Rogue, Elf Cleric/Rogue, and Human Monk/Barbarian.

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