Categories
Player Resources

Interviewing for Party Members

a-to-z-letters-iShould inclusion in an adventuring party be automatic? We always assume that when a player is present at the gaming table his character will be welcomed into the current adventuring party. The problem is that you can end up with some characters that just don’t really fit in. This might be because they’re a non-traditional race, different alignment, opposing religious beliefs, or some other off-the-wall and completely unexpected reason. The point is that players shouldn’t assume that whatever character they choose to create will automatically be awarded membership in an existing adventuring party.

In order to weed out potential bad seeds, the party should conduct interviews of all potential candidates and choose the ones they want to let into the group. It’s not typically how things are done in D&D, but maybe it’s something we should begin doing on a regular basis.

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. Should the party have a chance to interview prospective new members? We find out as today “I” is for Interview.

Categories
D&D Encounters

Recounting Encounters with War of Everlasting Darkness author Shawn Merwin

Today Dungeon’s Master and 20ft Radius are proud to present a special episode of our podcast, Recounting Encounters. In this episode we talk to Shawn Merwin, one of the authors of this season’s adventure War of Everlasting Darkness.

Shawn is a freelance writer and game designer with a long list of impressive gaming credits to his name. His writing credits for Wizards of the Coast include Dungeon Delve, Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress, and Halls of Undermountain. He’s also been a very active member of the D&D public-play community having written for Living Greyhawk (LG) and Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) before taking on this season of D&D Encounters.

Marc and I ask Shawn about working for Wizards, being part of a collaborative design team on War of Everlasting Darkness, this season’s changes to the D&D Encounters format and of course what’s in store for Shawn and D&D Encounters in the future. Whether you’re the DM or a player this season, you’ll find this interview interesting and valuable.

Categories
Technology

Interview With D&D: Heroes of Neverwinter Developer Ed Del Castillo

D&D Heroes of Neverwinter was released to the general public earlier this week. The game is a great way to get 4e Dungeons & Dragons fun in a short amount of time. Dungeon’s Master was fortunate enough to get 100 Beta Codes to give to our readers early in September. We are following-up on our coverage of Heroes of Neverwinter with an interview with the game’s developer, Ed Del Castillo. Ed took the time to answer some questions about the game and his background with all things D&D.