I’m glad Wizards and Atari settled their feud, because this is pretty cool. You get eight D&D video games in this bundle.
According to the Amazon Page:
The Dungeons & Dragons Anthology: The Master Collection packages 6 of the most beloved classic RPG video games of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise and their expansions into a single SKU – the ultimate RPG package for the ultimate D&D fan.
The pre-order price is 19.99 and the game will be available on Nov. 15th
In a recent press release, True Dungeon Ltd. announced it will expand its fantasy world with NPCs, magic item crafting, and meals; all without breaking character. Also, by the sound of it, the tavern is back. Here’s an excerpt of the release:
“Gen Con Indy 2012 will be our 10th annual True Dungeon™ event, as well as Gen Con’s 45th anniversary, and I am incredibly excited about how our new location will help us celebrate these important milestones,” said Jeff Martin, CEO/Owner of True Adventures, Ltd. “True Dungeon will be an exciting celebration of Gen Con’s 45th anniversary as True Dungeon expands with an immersive story-scape area that players can enjoy before and after each two-hour adventure.”
“It will be possible for a group of gamers to spend an entire day immersed inside True Dungeon. They could arrive in the morning, speak with some NPCs for useful rumors, and then attempt to make magic items, gather information and obtain protective magic with a new event called “Truecraft,” noted Martin.
“After that, they could enjoy one of our famous two-hour adventures, and then they can sit down for a nice lunch. A little later they could take on the epic challenge of True Grind, and then they can enjoy a round of adult beverages as they boast of their incredible victory. Next, they could delve into a different two-hour adventure that would bring them back into the story-scape area at dinner time. A quick meal and more drinks could then be enjoyed – as well as another session of “Truecraft”. In short, gamers can spend the entire day immersed in True Dungeon’s fantasy setting.” said Martin. Washroom facilities will be available inside the event space.
Gen con announced yesterday that they will be signing a four-year contract with True Dungeon Ltd. According to their press release:
After a record-setting show in Indianapolis this August with almost 120,000 turnstile attendance, Gen Con LLC is building huge plans for the next four years of Gen Con along with True Adventures, Ltd. Gen Con Indy 2012 is not only the 45th anniversary of North America’s largest game convention, it will also be the 10th year of True Dungeon. Long-term planning together between the two companies has yielded an unprecedented four-year agreement. True Dungeon is slated to run at Gen Con Indy through 2015! In a strategic move, True Dungeon will, for the first time, be hosted entirely within the Indiana Convention Center, directly in the heart of Gen Con.
TD claims that the move out of the hotel will allow for larger, and “more immersive” sets. Is it August yet”?
The following are tips on planning a challenging encounter for your D&D or Pathfinder game. Some of the ideas may seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many DMs (myself included) forget to work them in.
In no real order:
Wide open spaces
I no that a 20 x 20 room sounds large, but that is only sixteen squares in which to move, flank, run, tumble, fly, etc. Realistic architecture be damned, make your encounter area large enough for people to spread out and manuever.
Impede direct movement
Don’t place your archwizard bad guy in the middle of the room with a clear path for the melee characters to charge on their first round. Put that bad boy up out of reach. Make players work a few rounds before they get the satisfaction of shanking your evil caster.
Multiple Opponents
I know you want to use all your CR on the main baddie. But in most cases one enemy versus a party will end quickly and badly for your arch villain. Though some monsters can solo a party better than others, dragons, constructs, and elemental for example, but most times you will want multiple creatures. Players tend to fall back on tired out party tropes, tank, heal, stack on the spell damage. Shake things up, make the players scared.
If you use one monster it is easy for them to slip into old routines, but if you have multiple creature all hell breaks loose. The wizard is running for her life and can’t drop bombs, the cleric is unable to heal the wizard, the fighter is too busy to tank…you get my point.
Play around with an encounter calculator, you can often times add some weenies to the encounter without changing the CR. Use these minions to harass the spell casters (see below), provide flanking to your real threats, or simply impede the characters movement.
Mix combat styles
You don’t have to have all melee combats. Think of your encounter in terms of an adventuring party. Do you have ranged combat? Do you have a caster? Do you have healing? Do you have a tank?
Healing
Why is it the players have a healer and carry potion and healing devices but every bad guys in every printed module seems to be unaware that there are curative magics in the D&D multiverse? Throw a cleric in that encounter, stock your baddies with healing potions and actually use them.
Harass spellcasters
Left unthreatened a wizard with metamagic feats will nuke your best laid plans. Plan for this when you write your encounter, how can you put the fear of Orcus into those robe-wearing Nancys?
Run a simulation
Keep copies of your players’ sheets (at least the important parts, to hit, dmg, hps, AC, etc). Run your encounter ahead of time and test it out. See where you can shore up any glaring weaknesses you find. You know how your players think, what will they do and how can surprise them?
It isn’t about slaughtering your players, but it is about making sure that everyone (including yourself) has a good time. The players will feel like they earned their treasure. Shake things up. Disrupt their plans. Be unpredictable.
The sandbox style of gaming gives your players greater agency over the world. Sometimes players feel like they are riding a train through their campaign with the DM as conductor. They feel powerless, which is sad, because we play RPG’s to feel powerful and to escape a world we feel unable to control.
I will be the first to admit that the sandbox style of gaming is more work upfront for the DM. You need have every angle covered in case your players go there, unlike a normal rail-style campaign were you know the players are going to the vampire’s castle and that is where you can focus your scheming for the week.
Here are a few tips for creating your first sandbox:
Don’t Scale Encounters
The idea of the sandbox is that players may get in over their head and be forced to run for their lives. I’m not saying but a dragon in the area next to the starting town, but don’t be afraid to place higher CR encounters in your area than you normally would. There should be a real sense of danger in the sandbox, the players should know that they run a real risk of death if they’re not careful.
Don’t Scale Treasure
This goes along with the last rule, if your players decide to take a big risk and attempt a challenge that is over their head, they should be rewarded with great treasure. Also, the sandbox is about going out into the wilds and the ruins and the dungeons, there won’t (shouldn’t be a lot of places to spend coin, so increase the items and decrease the coinage when rolling up your treasure)
Don’t Plan Every Hex
There shouldn’t be a monster every step of the way in your sand box, reason being, that isn’t a believable ecosystem and it will make travel sluggish and tedious. Try making encounter tables or use the existing ones in the DMG.
Not Too Small, Not Too Big
If you make your sandbox too small your players will explore it in no time, but if you make it too big you as the DM will have to plan for a million years to plot it all out.
I think every DM should try to run at least one sandbox. It stills allows you to flex your creative muscle but it also has a different feel to a standard game. In a rail style game the DM is seen as an adversary that the players must work against, while in the sandbox the DM takes on a new role entirely. The players choose their own path and this allows the DM to shrug some of the responsibility and just enjoy the ride. I find myself cheering for the players as they fight and I don’t feel like I have to win a battle. I have no investment in the npcs and monsters that I might feel in a rail-style campaign (I have read article by other DM that feel the same way, so I know I’m not alone on this).
Below are two links to other sand boxes, the first being the blog, ars ludi, where the author walks you through his sandbox campaign. The second link leads to Gabe’s (from Penny Arcade) sandbox game inspired by the West March campaign.
Wizard’s of the Coast announced at this year’s Gen COn that they would resume the production of miniature for a new skirmish board game. Rodney Thompson from Wizard’s said, “we are planning to release themed sets of miniatures in the future; accompanying these minis will be new skirmish rules that we are pleased to offer now for playtesting.”
If you want to learn more, visit this link to visit the article on Wizards.com.
I only hope that “themed sets” means, orcs, drow, goblins, etc., and not factions. Themed sets would sell like crazy. No more having to buy thirty packs in the hopes of getting enough orc miniatures to run an encounter.
pic via Wizard's.com
Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium drops today from Wizard’s of the Coast. According to their website:
Welcome to Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium, a wondrous collection of magic items—each one with a story to tell. This tome provides Dungeon Masters with a ready assortment of treasures to tempt greedy players, along with historical nuggets and alluring adventure hooks that set these items apart from your run-of-the-mill flaming sword or bag of holding. This book adds rich flavor to the treasures and trinkets presented within, and a dash of inspiration for Dungeon Masters looking to liven up a monster’s trove. Hold on to your magic hats—everything must go!
This 160 page D&D 4e product sells for 29.95
pic via Wizards.com
Tomorrow Wizards will release Madness at Gardmore Abbey. According to the Wizards website:
This deluxe adventure takes heroes into the ruins of Gardmore Abbey, a monastery that was once the base of a militant order of paladins devoted to Bahamut. According to legend, the paladins brought a dark artifact back from a far crusade and stored it in their abbey for safekeeping, and evil forces gathered to assault the abbey and take it back. What the legends don’t tell is that this artifact was actually the Deck of Many Things, a force of pure Chaos.
This adventure brings characters into the extensive dungeons beneath the ruins—dungeons that are warped and twisted with the raw forces of Chaos surrounding the cards of the deck.
I am glad to see that boxed sets are making a comeback. While I personally prefer 3.5e. I do miss the box sets from second edition. You really felt like you were getting your money’s worth because along with the books, you got poster maps, handouts, code wheels, 3d cardboard terrain, etc.
Another awesome aspect of this adventure is that it comes with a deck of many things. While this artifact has ended or destroyed more campaigns than it’s helped, it is still an icon of D&D.
This boxed set comes with a bunch of cool stuff:
The adventure begins tomorrow and will retail for 39.99USD
Example of the DoMT artwork:
A good back story is an amazing thing. It helps a player feel a greater connection to his/her character and make writing adventures easier for the DM. A bad back story on the other hand, creates work for the Dm and infringes on his/her story arc. Keep your character’s past in the past, and don’t let it affect the present; leave that option to the DM.
I remember a game I played in a few years back. One of the other characters had a very detailed back story for his character, and it was clear that he’d worked really hard on it. The only problem was that it detailed a kingdom and massive political group that didn’t exist in the DM’s game world. The player had created a powerful story that had nothing to do with the campaign we were about to embark on.
So how does a player create a back story that is detailed and exciting and fits with the campaign? Here are some tips:
Learn about your GM’s game world.
GM’s spend a lot of time detailing the world that you play in and often times that level of detail seems to get overlooked by some players. See if there are new or different twists that your GM uses in his/her system and write your background to include some of those unique elements.
Mention interesting characters or family members
If you mention a run in you had with a crime boss, or that your character has a planes-traveling uncle with a penchant for mischief, for example that gives your GM great fodder for side quests.
Lost family treasure
Maybe the character’s family treasure was taken by a marauding band of barbarians or a dragon. The ideas create possible places to take your character without infringing on the present.
Inheritance
Maybe they character inherited a broken sword, or a mysterious arcane object. These may not be more than family gossip and worthless, but they may give your DM a place to go if his idea well runs low.
Here are a few ideas to use in your game to replace standard dexterity and intelligence challenges. Those are really the only skills that can be taken into the real world. Handing your player a steel bar and telling them to bend it will be amusing, but result in certain failure for your player, unless you game with the Hulk. Likewise injecting your players with Anthrax as a means of switching up boring old Constitution checks will result in a decrease in players in your area.
Jenga
This wooden puzzle would work great as a dexterity challenge. In place of rolling a dex check or using a dex-based skill (like open lock, balance, etc) you could have your player(s) pull blocks and set the difficulty in number of blocks removed as opposed to a simple DC/roll. The problem with this method is that Glinfor the elvish ranger has a 17 dex while, Joe the gamer does not. But it could be fun and present a new challenge at the table.
Tilt Puzzles
Remember those little plastic tilt games with silver balls inside them? They would also serve as an excellent replacement for a dexterity challenge. The tech-savor GM could use a tilt game on his/her smart phone also.
Sudoku
A Sudoku puzzle makes a perfect mental challenge. In a past game I used a Sudoku puzzle on a pc that wanted to read the mind of a person trained to resist mental probing. Rather than adding a couple of points to the DC of the roll, I gave the player a Sudoku puzzle to simulate the mental struggle and shifted the focus to another player to allow the mentalist time to work. It was a neat trick, but again you run into the problem of player skill vs. character skill, though with mental challenges you always draw on player knowledge so it isn’t as glaring. (For example, your wizard has a 24 int, that isn’t helping you solve that riddle). Sudoku comes in varying difficulties so they require little adaptation.
Mazes
A printable maze serves as another physical representation of a mental challenge. They also work great as an alternate to rolling an int check when under the effects of a Maze spell. They can be found easily on the web in varying levels of difficulty. A maze may also work in place of a saving throw for mind-affecting spells or after a player has failed a spell and that die roll will prevent him/her from finishing the encounter.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas for changing things up at the game table and giving your visual and tactile players something to do. Using them all the time will get tedious and lose effect, but trying it once a campaign will be sure to impress your players. Remember, as the DM you’re the entertainer and you have to keep your act fresh to ensure your audience is having a good time and keeps coming back to drink your Dew and eat your Doritos.
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