Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard (Week 7)

Last week the party discovered that a group of Tiefling bandits had turned the remains of Vontarin’s mansion into their base of operations. The PC managed to kill the Tieflings that were on the main floor, and after the combat found a trapdoor leading into the basement. This week they decided to continue their search for Vontarin’s ghost by going downstairs. But during what should have been a fairly routine and straightforward exploration of Vontarin’s basement, the party was betrayed by one of their own while another put material gain ahead of helping his allies.

This week we ran two tables at our FLGS. The party at my table consisted of six PCs – Jarren 1, Jarren 2, an Eladrin Warlock, a Dragonborn Paladin, a Human Blackguard and a Half-elf Druid with a bear companion. Our numbers have dropped noticeably over the past few weeks, but we attributed this to the nicer weather outside and students finishing their final exams. With any luck will gain a few players come July.

The party took complete stock of the mansion’s ground floor at the end of last week’s encounter so when we began this week they were ready to descend into the basement through the trapdoor in the floor.

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Editorial

D&D & Kids: How To Scare A Dragon

Every time I leave the house for my weekly Dungeons & Dragons game my son asks me, “Daddy, are you going to scare the dragons now?” To which I will invariably reply as I give him a hug, “Yes, daddy is going to scare the dragons.”

With this conversation completed I head out to scare the dragons. My son will be three later this summer, his concept of D&D is non-existent he just knows that every week his daddy goes to scare the dragons. I’m not even sure if he really knows what a dragon is, other than a big dinosaur.

The focus on my son’s question to me is on the word scare. He doesn’t ask if daddy is going to go slay the dragons, he uses the word scare. He might be just shy of three-years-old, but I think the word scare is an important distinction.

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DM Resources Editorial

D&D Math – Adding the Numbers

Player – I rolled a 15, plus 7. Do I hit his AC?

DM – What’s the total?

Player – Um, hold on. 15… (Counts under breath) 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. (At full volume again) 22! Does that hit?

DM – Yes it does. His AC is 14.

I’ve been playing a lot of public-play D&D over the past year; mostly D&D Encounters but also a fair amount of LFR. This is of course in addition to my regular weekly game. Playing in all of these games allows me to see how other people play and lets me learn from the experience. It also highlights problem areas in my game and in the game of the other players and DMs.

One disturbing trend that I’m seeing more and more is players that don’t (or possibly even can’t) do the math. They roll a d20, call out the result and then give me their modifiers and ask if they hit. In many cases the roll is high enough to beat the monster’s defences, so I know they hit even without the modifier added in; however, I always ask for the total before confirming a hit or miss. And it’s not only happening with attack rolls. It’ happens with damage rolls too.

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DM Resources Editorial

Should Monsters Employ Smart Tactics?

As the DM it’s my job to control all of the monsters during a fight. Each player runs his own character but everyone else involved in the battle is my responsibility. In some cases the Monster Manual provides tactics (albeit very basic tactics), but in the vast majority of situations it’s completely up to me to decide which monster attacks which PC and what power they use.

As the DM I have to decide if the monsters are going to do what’s most tacitly sound (basically, what’s best for the monsters), or are they going to do what seems most fair to the players at my gaming table? For a long time I’ve been doing what’s fair and paid little attention to tactics. But the more I’ve been thinking about this approach the more I think that it’s hurting my game.

D&D isn’t (or shouldn’t be) the DM vs. the players. It’s a cooperative, story-telling experience with a lot of thrilling combat thrown in. Although we often joke about winning D&D when the PCs defeat all the monsters during an encounter, this is obviously not the case. Yet if a PC dies during combat the player certainly feels like he’s lost the game. For this reason I generally try not to pick on one PC and have the monsters gang up on him. After all, no one like it when their PC dies. But am I really doing the players any favours by not having the monsters employ sound tactics?

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard (Week 6)

After fending off an attack by werewolves last week, the heroes head to Vontarin’s manor in search of the Wizard Nathaire, now possessed by Vontarin’s ghost. The town of Duponde, still under Evard’s curse, will once again shift back into the Shadowfell come nightfall. As the sun races across the sky, the PCs have only hours to find the Vontarin’s ghost and figure out how to reverse Evard’s curse before they end up stuck in the Shadowfell forever.

For the past two seasons of D&D Encounters I’ve been the DM at two different gaming stores. That means that in addition to playing Wednesday night when everyone else does, I also play on Monday night. The Monday night group is currently ahead of the rest of the world and I get to use them as a slot 0 practice game in preparation for Wednesday. This week I was unable to play on Wednesday night because, as a life-long Boston Bruins fan, I had to watch game 7 of the NHL Stanly Cup finals. (Congratulations to the Boston Bruins on winning the Stanley Cup!) So this week’s field report will feature the adventures of the Monday night group as they fight their way through the week 6 encounter.

The party consisted of six level 3 PCs – a Dwarf Fighter, Drow Ranger, Goliath Warden, Half-Elf Druid, Human Warlock and a Tiefling Ardent. Two players have extensive 4e D&D experience but the rest are quite new, only finding the hobby with this season or last season of D&D Encounters. I try to take it easy on this group, but at the end of the day a lot of what happens comes down to hot or cold dice.

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Editorial

The End of All Things is a New Beginning

How do you end an epic adventuring career? At the end of your adventures, what do you retire too? After Orcus has been pushed back into the depths of hell, the undead hordes have been repelled and the various forces of evil have been destroyed, what does an adventurer do?

They take on the biggest challenge imaginable, they settle down and open a tavern.

It seems every tavern in fantasy gaming is run by a retired adventurer. An old axe or sword hangs above the mantle, reminding all of the tavern owners exploits. When the hour grows late the proprietor can be found sharing tales of past adventures to eager patrons. The twinkle in the owners eyes isn’t just from the joy his audience is getting from the story, it’s also from the extra gold that is flowing into the tavern.

Of course the real question is why would a retired adventurer, rich beyond all imagining, more powerful than most living beings want to be a tavern owner?

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

9 Adventure Hooks

The best adventures begin with a simple idea. And if you’ve been DMing as long as I have then you know that sometimes coming up with that idea is tougher than you might think. Whether you’re looking to begin a long-term campaign or a one encounter adventure, the right adventure hook makes all the difference. If the PCs aren’t interested right off the bat everything becomes more difficult.

To help new and experienced DMs alike, Dungeon’s Master again shares 9 adventure hooks. They’re generic enough to be suitable for almost any camping, yet provide enough intrigue and mystery to get even the most skeptical PC asking questions and biting the hook.

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Eberron

Secrets of Eberron Revealed (Part 11)

Today Dungeon’s Master returns to Eberron and reveal more secrets. We explore a new power group out of Xen’Drik and speculate how this new presence might affect the region and the Five Nations. House Tarkanan also rears its ugly head with a powerful member who’s manifested an aberrant Siberys Mark.

Click on the Eberron tab above the Dungeon’s Master banner to find the previous installments in this ongoing series as well as many other great Eberron articles and resources.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard (Week 5)

“Who’s buried in Evard’s Tomb?” During this week’s encounter the PCs learned more about what caused Duponde to shift into the Shadowfell, details of Evard’s Curse and the fate of the Wizard Nathaire. So begins Dark Legacy of Evard, chapter two.

Before we began this week’s encounter I cautioned the players that this chapter of the adventure has five encounters. That means that they have to survive through five battles before they get an extended rest. In most cases they’d have to really pay attention to how many healing surges they used during each battle. PCs with 10 or fewer healing surges couldn’t afford to use more than two per fight. With this cautionary tale behind us we continued.

This week the party at my table consisted of Jarren, an Eladrin Cleric, a Human Druid, a Vryloka Blackguard and a Dragonborn Paladin.

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Book Reviews DM Resources Player Resources

Playing Yourself as a D&D Character

Last week fantasy author Joel Rosenberg died. Rosenberg’s Guardians of the Flame series was my introduction to fantasy fiction. In book one, real world college students become the characters they created when they are transported into their fantasy role playing game. Once inside the game world they realize that in addition to possessing all of the powers and skills of their characters, they still also know everything they did in real life. These characters apply their modern beliefs and values along with rudimentary technology into the game world and become a powerful force striving to make an imperfect world better. As an avid gamer I thought this was the most brilliant premise I’d ever heard the first time I read these books.

The series capped at 10 books, but for many fans the essence of what made this series great ended with book five. Books six through 10 saw the real world character retire (or die) and their children become the focus of the adventures. I’ve read those first five books many times. And even though I’ve read hundreds of other fantasy novels since then I still think that the initial premise of the series holds up. I mean, really, who among us hasn’t imagined themselves as their character at one time or another?

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