Tag: RPG

Spellstorm 2010 Update

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date February 8, 2010

Attention Toronto gamers, Spellstorm is less than two weeks away. The event list is up and registration is underway. For those interested in Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) adventures, there are plenty of options for new and experienced players. If you’re new to LFR play or you’re interested in starting a new PC at level 1, the MINI story-arc is a great place to begin. The entire MINI six-game story-arc is offered during the convention. If you’re more interested in a regular LFR experience, the SPEC 2-1 adventures provide opportunities for you to try your hand at level 1-4, 4-7, 7-10, or 11-14. The Special adventures are available only during convention play, so these are games you’ ve never played before and are not likely to have the opportunity to play again for some time.

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, LFR, Player Resources, RPG, Spellstorm 2010

Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: The Necromancer

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date December 30, 2009

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2009. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

The sixth post at Dungeon’s Master was the Necromancer: Heroic Tier, published way back on February 4, 2009. When you consider that two of the preceding posts were launching soon and our official launch post, the Necromancer series was the fourth content post on the site. As a result the series of articles on the Necromancer have a long history. They have also been one of the most surprising series of posts we’ve written.

The articles were originally written to address the lack of specialist Wizards. The release of 4e and the creation of power sources altered the way several classes worked in previous editions and I felt that the Wizard class was most deeply effected. I always enjoyed the idea of specialists and felt that the Necromancer series was a way to address that. I honestly expected to see more about specialist Wizards in Arcane Power, but that was not to be.

As I mentioned, the Necromancer series has been with us since the beginning and has been one of the biggest surprises about the site. The keyword “Necromancer” is one of the most used terms that drives traffic to our site from search engines. Ameron and I were genuinely surprised when we consistently saw that the Necromancer articles were getting multiple pages views a day, months after being published. This trend has not slowed down. What really surprises us is if you just search necromancer through Google, which is how the majority of people find these articles, I’m not sure if we are ranked in the first ten pages. If you add 4e D&D to the search, we come up a bit higher but those keywords are used less frequently.

As a result of the frequency the original articles were being found through Google we decided to write a follow-up piece on the Necromancer. This article, found below, is our take on the Necromancer from a role playing perspective. Resulting from that article were some comments and criticism on the powers for the original series which prompted a revision. You’ll find the links to the original series and the updated powers contained within the article below.

We hope you enjoy our take on the Necromancer. We’ve been enjoying the traffic it has generated and we plan to do more with the class in the future. We also haven’t forgotten about specialist Wizards, they are still an issue that I think have a lot of potential to explore in 4e D&D to push the power system even further.

Tags 4e, Black Arts, character class, D&D, Dark Arts Necromancer, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Greatest Hits, Lich, Life Seeker, Necromancer, Necromancer Epic Destiny, Necromancer Heroic Tier, necromancer paragon path, Necromancy, Player Resources, RPG, True Necromancer, undead

Editorial

Dungeons & Dragons Is More Than A Roleplaying Game

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date December 3, 2009
6 Comments on Dungeons & Dragons Is More Than A Roleplaying Game

The first chapter of the 4e Players’s Handbook references Dungeons & Dragons as a roleplaying game. Of course, this is correct, but is D&D more than a roleplaying game? Let’s take a look at what these two words mean. To roleplay is to assume the attitudes, actions and mannerisms of another in a make believe situation. A game is an amusement or pastime. Putting these two words together we certainly see that they define D&D well, but is that all D&D is? Is D&D just a simple roleplaying game or is it really much more?

When we prepare for and play D&D is it really just a game we are playing? What is really involved in playing a game of D&D? To your surprise, it might be more than you think.

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, roleplaying game, RPG

DM Resources Player Resources

A Dragon’s Horde of D&D Resources

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date October 15, 2009
9 Comments on A Dragon’s Horde of D&D Resources

As players and DMs we love our tools and toys. The things that make playing Dungeon’s & Dragons even more enjoyable. Assembled here is a list of resources that are available on the web that I’ve found of use during my time playing D&D. I won’t pretend that this is a complete list, indeed in some cases I’m directing you to even more lists of great D&D resources.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to point out other items that might be of interest to others.

Tags 4e, character builder, character sheets, D&D, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon Master Resources, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, maps, Maptools, Player Resources, RPG, Skill Challenge, Skill Challenges, tools, Wizards of the Coast

Class Discussions Player Resources

The Necromancer

Necromancy, the study of the Black Arts.

Necromancers study death in a way that few other mortals would contemplate. Motivated by power, knowledge, greed or life eternal, these individuals will stop at nothing in their search for the understanding of life and the secrets it holds.

Our exploration of the Necromancer in 4e D&D continues at Dungeon’s Master. We’re expanding on our initial Necromancer articles and focusing on the motivation behind this often misunderstood class. In our previous examination of the Necromancer we provided powers and resources that you could use in your regular games.

Revised

We’ve recently undertaken the process of updating these articles to balance the powers.

Over the past few weeks we’ve noticed increased activity on these pages and as we enter into October and Halloween draws nearer, this article on the Necromancer is the first of several articles that will discuss the undead and their place in Dungeons & Dragons.

Tags 4e, Black Arts, character class, D&D, Dark Arts Necromancer, Dungeons and Dragons, Lich, Life Seeker, Necromancer, Necromancer Epic Destiny, Necromancer Heroic Tier, necromancer paragon path, Necromancy, Player Resources, RPG, True Necromancer, undead

DM Resources

Your AC Is What?!?

The evenings gaming session is going great. So far you’ve had some great role playing, a unique skill challenge and now you’re entering the first encounter of the evening. The defender charges into combat. The NPC’s turn comes up and you decide to attack the defender by using one of the NPC’s encounter powers. You roll the dice and call out the attack score. This is going to hit you think, only to have the defender calmly announce that you’ve missed his AC by a long shot.

What do you do when session after session you can never hit the defender or when one player min/maxs their character to the point of absurdity?

Tags 4e, character builder, D&D, Defender, DM, DM Resources, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, RPG

DM Resources

Snakes On An Airship

The Lyrander airship cleared the Endworld Mountains and cruised above the Blade Desert. The journey from Q’barra was pleasant and the captain expects to arrive at the Boneyard ahead of schedule. A cry from the crow’s nest signals trouble. Riders are seen in the distance. The number of hippogryph’s is astounding. Ridden by Halfling warriors they quickly form up and attack. Three of the hippogryph’s break off from the main force and pass over the deck of the ship. The riders release a crate that smashes on to the deck below, covering it in very angry snakes.

Tags 4e, airship, D&D, DM, DM Resources, Dungeon Master Resources, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, encounter, Indiana Jones, RPG, Samuel L Jackson, Snakes on a plane

DM Resources

Has Your Campaign Stalled?

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date August 11, 2009
7 Comments on Has Your Campaign Stalled?

You’ve just finished up a night of gaming. Your players are gone and you’re reflecting on the nights encounters. You go over each encounter in your mind, scratching your head trying to figure out just how the party made it through so easily. They didn’t get a thrill out of the encounters and as you reflect you realize that they were bored!

Just how did your players get so bored with the campaign, how did they get so lazy?

Simple. They followed your lead.

Tags 4e, campaign, challenge, D&D, DM, dungeon master, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, encounter, lazy, RPG

Editorial

Staff Picks

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date July 20, 2009

We’ve added a new feature to Dungeon’s Master, the Staff Pick. These are older posts from our archives that Ameron and I wanted to highlight. Look for our Staff Picks in the left navigation below our five most popular posts. We’ll update our Staff Picks regularly with articles we think new readers might find interesting and that long-time readers may benefit from discovering again.

Tags 4e, D&D, DM Resources, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, Necromancer, playing faster, RPG, speeding up your game