Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

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Class Discussions Player Resources

Adventuring With A Sub-Optimal Party

Recent events in the Dungeon’s Master home game have resulted in a sub-optimal adventuring party make-up. What do I mean by sub-optimal? One of the four roles is missing. In our case we are blindly adventuring without the benefit of a leader to keep us healed and buffed up.

The subject of playing in an unbalanced party is one we have covered before. However, over the next few weeks we will take a deeper look at what it means to adventure when one of the four roles is missing. Today our focus is on the absence of the leader.

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Adventure Hooks DM Resources

Predators: The Movie That Begs to Be a D&D Adventure

Movies are always inspiring my D&D games. It was about this time last year when my inner DM was inspired by the movie The Hangover and then in January it was Daybreakers. This time it’s Predators that has me thinking D&D. I’ll admit that Predators is already more closely aligned with a combat-oriented RPG then The Hangover, but as a source of influence on this impressionable DM it was no less intriguing.

Before reading any further be forewarned that if you haven’t seen Predators yet, this article contains spoilers. I’ve broken down most of the film into a series of D&D encounters. But given the kind of action adventure movie it is I don’t think these spoilers will ruin the movie for you.

Predators is a really good movie. If you liked the original Predator from 1987 then you’ll really like this new sequel. And it is a sequel, not a reboot. They actually make reference to the Schwarzenegger movie in this new version.

Below is a 6-encounter D&D adventure that follows the plot of the new Predators film. I’ve intentionally left the level of the adventure ambiguous. This should make it easier for a DM to use this outline regardless of the PCs current level.

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Editorial Humour

Confessions of a D&D Camp Counselor

I have a great job, I’m a counselor at D&D camp, which is to say that I have the best job ever. I don’t mean to gloat, but my time as a D&D counselor has been incredibly enjoyable and I’m sure if you read along you’ll share in the fun of the last week.

Before camp began, I spent a week learning about how to spot child abuse (very important!) and care for kids. Before I met the kids I went over to the camp director’s house in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Myself and the other counselors met up and we played some D&D; I taught the old schoolers how to play 4e, while the director of the camp gave me a refresher on how to play 3.5e. After four hours of being paid to play D&D and think up campaign ideas it was time to get ready for the first day of camp.

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Editorial

2010 ENnie Nominations

The ENnie Award nominees were announced today. Regretfully, Dungeon’s Master did not make the final cut in the best blog category. We want to congratulate the great gaming blogs that did get nominated and we wish them all good luck in the Best Blog category.

Best Blog

Here’s the complete list of all the 2010 ENnie Award nominees.

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Dark Sun Editorial

D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 5)

The party survived. I was shocked. When I was reading the encounter in preparation for week 5 I was sure it would be a TPK. But as so often happens in D&D, the players did the unexpected and lived.

Since week 1 the PCs have had their butts kicked all over the place. They’ve taken exorbitant amounts of damage and use way more resources each week than one might expect to during a typical D&D encounter. Coming into week 5 they were literally down to their last legs. But after four weeks of hell, the PCs finally got lucky and that made all the difference.

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DM Resources

The Problem With Assisting

Cruven – I use Arcana to investigate the origins of the portal in order to learn how we might vanquish the elder evil that has attacked the realm.

DM – Will anyone assist Cruven? The DC to assist is 17.

Dox – 29. I assist.

Jacinth – 25. I assist.

Luk – 17. I assist.

Josey – 18. I assist

Cruven – Ok, with four assists that’s +8 to my roll. My base is a 17, so I’m rolling on a 25. Here goes…

DM – Don’t bother. The DC is only 23 so with the assists you can’t fail this check.

How often has this happened at your gaming table? Assisting is a great way to help a PC out with a check that they might not make on their own. It’s a potentially game breaking mechanic if a PC is already highly proficient at a given skill. As the DM, how do you prevent reckless assist roles?

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DM Resources

The 5-Minute Rest as a Skill Challenge

Normally when combat is finished the PCs take a short, 5-minute rest. They get to rest up, heal, catch their breath, and regain the use of encounter powers. But what many players forget is that all of the benefits that come from taking a 5-minute rest come at then end of those five minutes. If the party is attacked or decides to venture onwards before the short rest is finished, they are still hurt and resource depleted.

In a recent game the PCs found themselves in a situation where they really needed a short rest, but couldn’t just drop their guard for five minutes. I decided to turn the 5-minute rest into a skill challenge. If they succeeded, then after five minutes they got all the benefits of taking the short rest (and some XP for completing the skill challenge). If they failed then at least some of the PCs would have to engage in combat to guard the others still resting. Here’s how it played out.

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Editorial

Ameron’s 2010 GenCon Schedule

GenCon 2010, the four best days in gaming, starts exactly one month from today on Thursday, August 5. This year both Wimwick and I are going to Indianapolis. It’s my third GenCon and his first.

Although we’ve both registered for as many events as we could, there were still a lot of question marks in our schedule. Some events, like the Wizards of the Coast seminars, do not have firm times and dates yet. Other events, like Dark Sun Arenas: Glory and Blood and the Convention Delve: Lair of the Dread Witch were not available for preregistration. So with that in mind, here’s what my schedule looks like so far.

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Dark Sun

Dark Sun Is Deadly

Expect your PCs to die if you are playing a campaign set in Dark Sun. Dark Sun is a deadly campaign setting and death is par for the course.

“This rule reflects the fact that daily life on Athas is much harsher than it is in other AD&D realms, forcing characters to mature more quickly if they are to survive.” – AD&D 2e Dark Sun Rules Book

The rule in question is the one which states that characters start at level 3 in the AD&D version of Dark Sun. With the changes in the game since this edition, especially the fact that in 4e level 1 characters are a lot tougher than their previous counterparts, this rule is no longer needed.

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Dark Sun Editorial

D&D Encounters Dark Sun (Week 4)

Today is Canada Day, a holiday across Canada, which meant that last night’s D&D Encounters Dark Sun had less than usual attendance. After three weeks with 20 or more participants, this week we were down to only 12 (including the two DMs). So with two tables of five, we returned to Athas.

Before we started the encounter itself, Jarvix performed a Comrades’ Succor ritual. This allowed the PCs to redistribute their remaining healing surges. So going into the encounter for week 4 everyone had full (or nearly full) hit points and at least one healing surge at their disposal during the combat. I want to thank the other DM running D&D Encounters for pointing out this ritual and explaining how to use it. Having never played an arcane character with Ritual Casting I had no idea. It made a huge difference.

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