Tag: Tomb of Horrors

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DM Resources Editorial

Dungeon Master Appreciation Month – DM Monty

February is Dungeon Master Appreciation Month. Although I tend to be the DM more often than I’m a player, I have had the good fortune to play under some great DMs over the years. Throughout February I’m writing about a few DMs I’ve had, the best of the best, and sharing stories about what I found most interesting and memorable about them. This is my way of reminding them how good they are at what they do and showing my appreciation for fellow DMs.

Today I’m going to tell you a little bit about DM Monty (a.k.a. Steampunked) and why he’s an outstanding DM. I met Monty at my FLGS when I started playing Living Forgotten Realms shortly after 4e was released. He was a fellow player and I was always fascinated by how much careful thought he put into building and developing his characters. He was an optimizer who always looked for the best way to get the most out of his PC. As we met other players at our FLGS we were both invited to join a newly forming home game and for the next two years we played side-by-side week after week.

One night at our new home game someone started talking about the classic Gary Gygax super-dungeon adventure, the Tomb of Horrors. By then a 4e conversion of the original had been released as reward for public play DMs and there was a 4e hardcover that was positioned as a sequel to the original. DM Monty said he wanted to run the Tomb of Horrors as a 4e adventure and try to make it as deadly and fun as the original had been for 1e D&D. I immediately expressed an interest to be in that game.

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DM Resources

Only Ten – Ameron’s List

“If you could only keep ten of your printed RPG books, which would you pick?”

This is the question Brendan from the gaming blog Untimately asked on Monday. He then proceeded to share his ten. Many of his readers shared their list in the comments section of the original post and I’ve seen more than a few bloggers post their essential ten list around the blogosphere. Today it’s my turn to join in this show and tell exercise and share my list.

Yesterday I looked around my gaming room to try to narrow it down to just ten books. After giving it some consideration I finally narrowed it down to just ten (which was a lot harder than I thought it would be). I’ve actually cheated in a few instances and grouped a few books together as one entry, but the reasons will be apparent as you read through my list.

You’ll notice the absence of any PHB, DMG and MM from my list. This was a deliberate choice. In my opinion some iteration of these books should be on everyone’s list; after all they’re called core books for a reason. I approached this task with the assumption that the core books were a given and these were the next ten I’d choose after those.

Rather than struggle with ranking, I decided instead to list the books alphabetically. I want you to see my list as a collection. Theses all made my list and that’s all that should matter, not which one is more important or useful that the next.

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Player Resources

Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts (Part 4)

This is it. The final chapters in our adventure into the Tomb of Horrors. Who lives, who dies? You’ll have to listen to find out. Follow the adventures of six experienced gamers as they delve into the Tomb of Horrors for the very first time.

Before diving into these podcasts, be sure to check out the DM’s introduction as well as the earlier podcasts and an assortment of photos in Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts (Part 1 | Part 2 |Part 3).

You can find all episodes of our Tomb of Horrors actual play podcasts in iTunes. Search for “The Shattered Sea” in the iTunes store’s podcast section. The artist is Liam Gallagher (Bauxtehude’s name in real life). You can also subscribe to The Shattered Sea with any feed-reader of pod-catcher by visiting The Shattered Sea and clicking on “Subscribe in a Reader.”

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Player Resources

Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts (Part 3)

The actual play podcasts of our trip to the Tomb of Horrors continues with five new episodes. Follow the adventures of six experienced gamers as they delve into the Tomb of Horrors for the very first time.

Before diving into these podcasts, be sure to check out the DM’s introduction as well as the earlier podcasts and an assortment of photos in Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts (Part 1 | Part 2).

You can find all episodes of our Tomb of Horrors actual play podcasts in iTunes. Search for “The Shattered Sea” in the iTunes store’s podcast section. The artist is Liam Gallagher (Bauxtehude’s name in real life). You can also subscribe to The Shattered Sea with any feed-reader of pod-catcher by visiting The Shattered Sea and clicking on “Subscribe in a Reader.”

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Player Resources

Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts (Part 2)

What do you get when six experienced gamers that have never played the Tomb of Horrors try to survive a delve into the most infamous dungeon adventure in D&D history? A whole bunch of exciting actual play podcasts. With a DM who plays for keeps, the players continue to match wits with a dungeon famous for killing all who dare to enter. So far none of the PCs have died, although there have been a few very close calls.

In this article we bring you episodes #4 and #5, which make up the second night of our ongoing adventure. Before diving intop these podcasts, make sure you listen to the first three Tomb of Horrors: Actual Play Podcasts.

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DM Resources Editorial Player Resources

Unearthing the Tomb of Horrors

Welcome to a new series for Dungeon’s Master where I’ll be talking about encounter design, emergent storytelling, setting the tone of your game, finding ways to challenge your players, and revitalizing the classic dungeon crawl for a new generation of gamers – all through the lens of the classic Tomb of Horrors adventure as I run it as a mini-campaign for group of veteran gamers. The players will provide their perspective as well, as they talk about their preconceptions of the Tomb of Horrors and their character creation process for this iconic adventure. We’ll also have real-play podcasts of our entire Tomb of Horrors experiences hosted at the Shattered Sea in the coming weeks.

Today the Dungeon’s Master team welcomes Steampunked, our newest contributor. He brings a wealth of gaming experience to our blog and a unique perspective on D&D. He’s played and DMed many games with Ameron and Bauxtehude including LFR adventures, D&D Encounters and the Shattered Sea campaign.

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Editorial

D&D Camp and the Tomb of Horrors

During the final week of D&D camp I had a group of great kids. They knew the game well and I had DMed for all of them the week before. They were all friends from school who had been playing together for a number of years. They were the very best group of D&D kids you could find. There was the lifer, the child of two professional actors, the athletic competitive kid, the brain, and the kid who was in it just to make his friends laugh. They had all been to D&D camp in previous years and on the first day of this week (after a “D&D weekend” at the cottage) expressed an interested in playing through a campaign that was a little more involved than the typical “find sword, fight dragon” type game. Enter the Tomb of Horrors. I recently received my copy of the level 9 adventure in the mail and so proposed the Tomb to them by reading Gary Gygax’s original introduction and from there the tone was set. The week of play that followed was a brutal fight against oblivion which 13 adventurers would not survive.

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