Tag: Wizards of the Coast

Taking the Dungeon Out of Dungeons and Dragons

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date April 7, 2009
23 Comments on Taking the Dungeon Out of Dungeons and Dragons

Throughout the life-cycle of Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons have been evolving. Recent discussion around the RPG Bloggers Network has revolved around the Mega-Dungeon. The nostalgia brought up from this discussion is fantastic and brings to mind memories of exploring vast labyrinths. For that matter, it reminds me of playing The Bard’s Tale on my Commodore, but I digress.

Recently, Ameron has written about dungeons. He’s covered the topic through a skill challenge and as a DM aide on pacing the adventure. His articles got me thinking about dungeons and the place they hold in the game. First and foremost I’m not advocating that dungeons be removed from our great game and that we rename it Dragons. I do think there is a case to be made towards handling dungeons in a different manner and the mechanics of 4e lend themselves to it.

Tags 4e, D&D, dungeon crawl, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, megadungeon, Skill Challenge, Wizards of the Coast

DM Resources

Campaign Design: Geography

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date April 3, 2009
3 Comments on Campaign Design: Geography

All the world is a stage and you get to design it. Creating the geography for your gaming world is more than just placing mountains, streams and forest. Every decision you make during this stage of the game will effect future gaming sessions and expansions to your campaign setting. The geographic elements you work into your game world form the natural boundaries that are used to define the kingdoms and territories of your world. It’s important to get it right from the start.

Tags 4e, campaign design, D&D, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon Master Resources, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Eberron, geography, resource, RPG, Wizards of the Coast

Editorial

Worldwide D&D Game Day 2009

Post author By Ameron (Derek Myers)
Post date March 22, 2009
4 Comments on Worldwide D&D Game Day 2009

gameday2009 I spent Worldwide D&D Game Day 2009 at 401 Games, a game store in downtown Toronto meeting new gamers and playing the adventure One Night in Weeping Briar. This was an adventure for five, 11th level characters and was designed to appeal to experienced gamers as well as people trying out D&D for the very first time. Overall, I think it was a great success, but I do have some feedback about Game Day that I’d like to share based on my experience.

Tags 4e, D&D, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, One Night in Weeping Briar, PHB2, RPG, Wizards of the Coast, Worldwide Game Day 2009

Editorial

Why Wizards Missed The Boat With The Insider

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date March 18, 2009
17 Comments on Why Wizards Missed The Boat With The Insider

Over the past few weeks there’s been some debate over what it means to play Dungeons & Dragons, whether you’re an old school player or part of the new school. If you’re interested in these debates you can read more at A Butterfly Dreaming or at Whitehall ParaIndustries. I don’t want to enter into this debate, but the question of “What is D&D?” got me thinking about what I enjoy about the current edition. It also made me think of the aspects of 4e where I feel Wizards of the Coast fell short.

Before I go any further I should explain that I’m a fan of D&D in all its incarnations, but currently 4e has my heart. I enjoy the pacing, tactics and feel of the game. My gaming group debated upgrading as we always do when a new edition is released and as we usually do we tried out the new edition. Our group is happy with the decision to switch, 4e works for us.

Tags 4e, D&D, digital, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons & Dragons Insider, Dungeons and Dragons, massive multiplayer online, MMO, Wizards of the Coast

Editorial

How Many Classes Are Too Many?

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date March 17, 2009
18 Comments on How Many Classes Are Too Many?

Player’s Handbook 2 hits shelves today and in it are eight new core classes. Eight more! In my opinion, that’s too many. I don’t have the PHB2 yet – I wasn’t one of the lucky bloggers to get an advance copy. And you know what? I’m not sure if I’m going to buy it since the character builder will be updated with all the new classes, races, feats and powers at the end of the month anyway. But I have read the tidbits already released through the Dungeons & Dragons Insider and the abundance of new classes infuriates me.

Tags 4e, barbarian, bard, character class, D&D, druid, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, evoker, gnome, half-orc, PHB2, players handbook 2, resource, skills feats, sorceror, Wizards of the Coast

Class Discussions

Necromancer: Epic Tier

It’s Friday the 13th and we thought what better way to celebrate than with some Necromancer Epic Tier powers. The Necromancer Epic Tier powers follow up on our previous posts containing Necromancer powers for the Heroic Tier and Paragon Path.

With Wizards of the Coast releasing Arcane Powers later this year it’s only a matter of time before we have the official Necromancer Paragon Path and a slew of powers to support it. In the meantime, if you’re playing a high level Dungeon Delve and would like to play a Necromancer at the Epic Tier we hope that these powers will add some flavour to your game.

Tags 4e, D&D, D&D 4e, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Necromancer, necromancer epic tier, necromancer heric tier, necromancer paragon path, player, Player Resources, resource, RPG, Wizard, Wizards of the Coast

Class Discussions

What Class Are You? – Wimwick

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date March 12, 2009
5 Comments on What Class Are You? – Wimwick

Wizards of the Coast wants to know what class you are. It’s to help determine the classes that will be released in PHB3. Ok, maybe not but it’s a fun little quiz.

Me I’m a Rogue, but that’s no suprise. I knew I was a Rogue when I introduced myself to you, so I can’t say I’m shocked at the outcome..

The quiz is fun, but it isn’t rocket science to figure out what class you’ll end up with. Check it out.

D&D Home Page – What Class Are You? – Build A Character – D&D Compendium

Tags 4e, character class, Cleric, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Fighter, Paladin, Player Resources, quiz, Ranger, resource, Rogue, RPG, Warlock, Warlord, what class are you, wizards, Wizards of the Coast

Editorial Humour

Confessions of a Gamer

Are you proud to be a gamer? Or do you hide the fact that once a week you play Dungeons & Dragons? I’m 34 years old, I’m a gamer and I’m proud to admit it.

I’ve been playing RPGs since I was 10, so 24 years now. And during that time I’ve met many different types of gamers. Most, like me, are proud to be gamers. Others are what I like to call “in the closet gamers.” They loved to play D&D, but would die a slow and painful social death if anyone outside of our immediate gaming group learned this terrible secret.

Tags 4e, Confessions of a Gamer, D&D, DM, dungeon master, Dungeon's Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Nerd, stereotype, Wizards of the Coast

DM Resources

Campaign Design: Historical and Fictional References

Post author By Wimwick (Neil Ellis)
Post date February 28, 2009
6 Comments on Campaign Design: Historical and Fictional References

In the last article we dealt with the Next Steps in campaign design, today we’ll discuss various campaign settings, historical periods, novels and talk about the themes that exist within the fantasy genre. This is my favourite part of design as it’s where you get to really dream about the different possibilities. Make sure you have your notebook handy and any of the Resources that you’ve collected to help you along the way. You’re bound to have more than a few flash insights at moments that you aren’t actively working on your campaign world and you’ll want to jot them down for future use.

Tags 4e, a song of ice and fire, Beowulf, campaign design, D&D, DM, DM Resources, dungeon master, Dungeon Master Resource, Dungeon's Master, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, george rr mart, Glen cook, JRR Tolkien, resource, RPG, the black company, Wizards of the Coast

Class Discussions

Necromancer Paragon Path

black-mage-colour With the launch of Open Grave, Wizards of the Coast have begun to release powers and rituals geared towards Necromancers. They have also announced that the Arcane Powers source book will have a Necromancer Paragon Path. While I’m glad that this is upcoming, I still believe they provided a disservice by not having any specialists in the first PHB.

Building on the Necromancer: Heroic Tier we published a few weeks ago, we now present the Necromancer: Paragon Path, an option for you to play until the official version is released. If you are interested in the Necromancer at the Epic Tier, visit our article about that.

We see the Necromancer as an individual who fights for good but is often mistaken as evil. Just like the early practitioners of medicine in our own world, who dug up graves to study anatomy. A practice that was deemed unethical and morally wrong at the time. The Necromancer is an individual who walks the dividing line of ethical behaviour.

Tags 4e, D&D, DM, dungeon master, Dungeon Master Resources, Dungeon's Master Resources, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon’s Master, Necromancer, PC, player, resource, RPG, undead, Wizard, Wizards of the Coast, wotc