Tag: Wizards of the Coast

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 3)

It’s been 10 days since the heroes defeated the spellplauge-infected White Dragon along side the Lost Heir of Neverwinter. Since then the PCs have each pursued their own sources of information and tried to learn more about this mysterious stranger. Tonight they agreed to meet at the Beached Leviathan, a local tavern, to share what they’d learned and to possibly find out more about the rapidly shifting politics in Neverwinter.

During the first week of this season I ran my table through encounters 1 and 2 back-to-back. Rather than take week 2 off and let the other players catch up the guys at my table decided that they wanted to push forward another week and stay ahead of the crowd. However, as game time approached two players who did the double session didn’t show. The remaining three guys had to decide if they wanted to proceed short handed, play the week 2 encounter again or head home. They all decided to push on.

Fortunately a player who missed week 1 decided that he’d rather start at the beginning of a new chapter than join the other group in fighting the Dragon. So the party rounded out with four PCs and we pushed on and played the week 3 encounter last week. The party composition ended up being the Human Fighter, Human Cleric (War Priest) and Eladrin Avenger from the previous two weeks. The new party member decided to play the Valenae, the pre-generated Eladrin Cleric.

Support for the Lost Heir grew considerably over the past week. There were more and more attacks by plague-changed creatures within the Protector’s Enclave, a supposedly safe area, and each time the Lost Heir arrived on the scene to defeat the creatures. The Sons of Alagondar, a group of rebels who oppose Nevermember, have thrown their support behind the Lost Heir. Residents and shop owners are being forced to choose sides. Those who remain loyal to the Nevermember, the Lord Protector, have become the victims of ridicule, harassment and vandalism.

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Editorial

The Future of Dungeons & Dragons – Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about what The Future of Dungeons & Dragons might look like by considering what the present edition of Dungeons & Dragons offers us as players in order to get a sense of what might lie ahead for the game. The ongoing Legends & Lore series by Mike Mearls provides some insight into what the designers are thinking about and they are clearly looking to the player base for feedback. Why else would Mike be writing his column? In short, the fine folks at Wizards of the Coast want to create a gaming experience that we, the players, want to play. Pretty simple really.

But in fact it’s not going to be simple at all. The reality is that everyone wants something slightly different from the game. We all play it a little differently. Go from one group to the next and you’ll encounter a new house rule or certain source books that are off limits. So designing a game we will all enjoy is a tougher prospect than it might originally seem.

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Editorial

The Future of Dungeons & Dragons

It happens every year, right after GenCon. I don’t know if it’s the hangover of a great week of gaming, which I missed this year, or if it’s the plethora of new information that GenCon brings us, but this time of year always makes me ask the question: what next? Where do we go from here? Normally we get a very clear picture of what’s forthcoming over the next 12 months at the D&D Preview Seminar. However, this year we only got highlights for the next few months. The primary reason for this is that Mike Mearls only just took over as the guy in charge and things are in flux. Or is there something more than that going on? Conspiracy theorists, think what you will.

If you want to know if there is something more going on in the background all you need to do is read Mike Mearls’ Legends & Lore column on the D&D website. If you’ve been following Mike’s column for the past little while you’ve gained some insight into what he’s thinking, the questions he’s asking the community and what it means for the future of D&D. I’m sure that 5e is being discussed behind closed doors, but I have no idea when it will be released. Actually I don’t care because I’m having a lot of fun playing 4e right now.

However, I am interested in where WotC is going with D&D and what the next incarnation will look like. In my mind the best way to figure out where you’re going is to look at what you’ve done in the past. I have no doubt that Mike and his team are doing this. But just to fulfill my ego, here are my thoughts on the subject.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter (Week 2)

Last week’s encounter not only set the stage for what is going to be a fantastic season of D&D Encounters, but it ended with a great cliff-hanger. The PCs managed to defeat the drakes and plague-changed maniacs with some assistance from a mysterious stranger wearing the Lost Crown of Neverwinter and called the king by onlookers. Before the heroes could ask questions of the so-called king, a large White Dragon wreathed in blue fire (and clearly infected by the Spellplague) landed in the market square in the Protector’s Enclave.

Knowing that this encounter would likely be completed quickly, we actually ran it back-to-back with last week’s encounter, so our party remained unchanged from week 1. At my table was a Human Fighter, Human Cleric (War Priest), Eladrin Avenger, Dwarf Slayer (Fargrim) and Drow Ranger (Belgos). Three of the players were D&D Encounters regulars with plenty of gaming experience where as the other two players were new to both D&D Encounters and 4e D&D and used pre-generated characters.

The Lost Heir (the man wearing the Crown of Neverwinter) stepped forward and locked eyes with the Dragon, memorizing it as a snake charmer would a mighty asp. The heroes quickly caught their breath following the last fight (short rest) and then prepared to battle the mighty wyrm.

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

Sneak Preview – Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan and D&D Encounters: Beyond the Crystal Cave

While at GenCon this past weekend I attended the seminar on Playing D&D in Public hosted by Greg Bilsland and Chris Tulach from Wizards of the Coast. It began with a general discussion about public play and then they provided us with a lot of great details about the next season of D&D Encounters and the upcoming Lair Assault.

Playing D&D in Public

During the general discussion there was a lot of back and forth with the audience. Everyone agreed that there was tremendous benefit to playing in public, most notably that it gives you a chance to meet new people. Together we can all learn from each other about the game. Everyone who participates in public play grows and develops as a player or DM. By playing in public we have an opportunity to portray D&D in a positive light and allow experienced gamers to act as positive role models to younger gamers.

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Editorial Player Resources

The 2011 D&D Open Championship

The D&D Open Championship is a chance for the best D&D players to pit their skills against one of the most difficult adventures Wizards can put together. It’s intended to be grueling and to force players into making really difficult decisions. And to make it even more difficult the players have only 45 minutes in which to complete each encounter. When the clock runs out it’s game over. This is one instance when it truly is the players vs. the DM

This year Wizards had help creating the adventure, The Fires of Mount Hotenow. There was a contest in which they asked people to submit their ideas for killer encounters. The best five were used to make up the adventure. One other important aspect of the D&D Championship that was changed was that this year players were allowed to continue playing the adventure, even if they timed out. However, they didn’t earn any additional points after timing out. In past years if you ran out of time you were done – full stop. But this year it was possible to complete the entire adventure even if you took more than 45 minutes in the first encounter. If, however, the entire party was killed then it was truly over.

I was again teamed up with the members of “The C Team.” We played in the second slot of the second day. Of the 44 parties that went before us only two completed the Championship for real, and five more completed it after timing out. As it turned out, no one else managed to complete the adventure in any of the subsequent slots. So once again Wizards put together an adventure that was brutal. And man, was it both fun and frustrating at the same time!

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Humour

7 Reasons Why I’d Rather Be At GenCon

If you’re like me you were left behind. Unable to attend the experience that is GenCon. Sadly I had to give the pilgrimage to Indy a pass this year. So to all my fellow gamers who were also left behind I present a list of 7 reasons why I’d rather be at GenCon. This should serve as motivation to ensure we all make the trip next year.

Until then read on…

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter – Preview

Next week we begin season 6 of D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter. The adventure showcases a lot of the new materials from the new Neverwinter Campaign Setting available at your FLGS this month. So whether you’re a D&D Encounters die hard who can’t wait to find out what’s in store next season or a new player trying to decide if it’s worth the effort to come out Wednesday night, we expect that you’ll find this advanced preview of D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter helpful and exciting.

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D&D Encounters Player Resources

D&D Game Day: Gates of Neverdeath Preview

Next Saturday, August 6, is D&D Game Day. This year D&D Game Day happens to coincide with GenCon. However, this was an intentional choice made by Wizards of the Coast in order to run Game Day tables in Indianapolis. So no matter if you’re at GenCon or at your local FLGS, everyone can participate in D&D Game Day: Gates of Neverdeath.

Anyone who’s planning to play in the upcoming season of D&D Encounters  beginning on Wednesday, August 10 should make an effort to participate in Game Day. The Game Day adventure, Gates of Neverdeath is a prelude to D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter. PCs run on Game Day can be ported over to D&D Encounters with whatever XP, equipment and magical items they earn.

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D&D Encounters

D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard (Week 12)

As last week’s encounter finished the sun set below the horizon and the PCs shifted back into the Shadowfell. They took a short rest, looted the bodies and then proceeded to the library in search of Vontarin.

In daylight the abbey was in complete ruin. After all, it was abandoned for 50 years. However, in the Shadowfell the Abbey and the library were both in pristine condition. The PCs immediately noticed light coming from the second storey window. Someone was inside the library.

This week we ended up with one table of 9. Had we known that we’d end up so many players we would have divided into two smaller groups, however, three of the players arrived well into the encounter so by then we were pretty much committed to going with just one table. It made for a much longer encounter, but I think everyone had fun in the end.

The party consisted of a Dragonborn Paladin, a Dwarven Fighter (male), a Dwarven Fighter (female), an Eladrin Avenger, an Eladrin Vampire, a Human Druid (with bear companion), a Tiefling Ardent, a Tiefling Warlock and a Tiefling Wizard (Necromancer).

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