Month: July 2014

D&D, D&D 5E, D&D Encounters, Uncategorized

The Future of D&D Encounters and the Adventurer’s League

We’re moving towards the release of the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons as well as the Organised Play offerings supporting the game. I couldn’t be more excited about D&D, but there are many aspects of what’s going on with Organised Play – otherwise known as the D&D Adventurer’s League – that concern me greatly. The objective of Organised Play is, ultimately, to build the … Continue reading The Future of D&D Encounters and the Adventurer’s League

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D&D, D&D Encounters, D&D Next, Dead in Thay, Session Report, Uncategorized

D&D Encounters: Dead in Thay sessions 9 & 10

This season of D&D Encounters is now hurrying towards its conclusion: the next session we run will be the last! Session 9 saw us somewhat down on numbers, with only(!) 20 people turning up, but Session 10, which coincided with the release of the D&D Starter Set saw us reach a high of 27 people. As this session also had one of our DMs absent … Continue reading D&D Encounters: Dead in Thay sessions 9 & 10

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D&D, Review, Uncategorized

D&D Review – O1: The Gem and the Staff

There are many unusual things about O1: The Gem and the Staff, but perhaps the strangest is that it consists of two, linked 30-minute adventures designed for a single player and a DM. It was originally used as a tournament adventure at Wintercon VII in 1978 and saw limited publication there by Metro Detroit Gamers as Quest for the Fazzlewood, but it was re-released by … Continue reading D&D Review – O1: The Gem and the Staff

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Uncategorized

D&D Concepts: Marching Order

One of the suggestions in the new D&D Starter Set is that you work out a Marching Order for your party. This is a pretty simple concept – it’s the formation that you use when moving around – that has seen some development through the history of D&D. In the early years of the game, adventuring parties were often much bigger than they are now. … Continue reading D&D Concepts: Marching Order

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D&D, D&D 5E, Lost Mine of Phandelver, Session Report, Uncategorized

The Lost Mine of Phandelver – Session 1

The new Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set was released to all stores this week. If you look around, you’ll find a lot of reports as to how the adventure in it plays. This is one of them. If you plan to play the adventure, it’s probably a good idea to stop reading now. Because there are going to be lots of SPOILERS ahead for the … Continue reading The Lost Mine of Phandelver – Session 1

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Play Advice, Uncategorized

Visualising Combat in Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons was originally published as “Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures”. The use of miniature figures was mandatory, right? Well, even in the very early days, Gary Gygax was playing the game without miniatures. In fact, there weren’t all that many rules in the early D&D that actually required the use of miniatures; nothing like the … Continue reading Visualising Combat in Dungeons & Dragons

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AD&D, D&D, Design, Uncategorized

Caverns of the Oracle: One of my personal megadungeons

When you get down to it, my D&D designs are greatly influenced by the form of the game that Gary Gygax seemed to be writing about in the DMG. And that means dungeons. Lots and lots of dungeons. Yes, I know that he also wrote about territory development and wilderness exploration, but those sections are rather scant in the DMG, whilst there’s a lot on … Continue reading Caverns of the Oracle: One of my personal megadungeons

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D&D, D&D 5E, Greyhawk, Uncategorized

My next Greyhawk campaign: Onnwal, 606 CY

The next few months are going to see my Friday night D&D game playing through the Starter Set adventure, getting used to how the new Dungeons & Dragons rules work, incorporating the additional features of the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide as they come out. Based on comments from the Wizards design team, I expect it will take five or six sessions … Continue reading My next Greyhawk campaign: Onnwal, 606 CY

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D&D 4E, Greyhawk, Session Report, Uncategorized

Finishing off D&D 4E in style!

Last Friday, the Greyhawk D&D 4E campaign we began in June 2008 finished. Six years and over a hundred sessions since we started, the group stopped the cultists of Tharizdun from unchaining the Chained God, and thereby stopped the End of the World. Just as well – I’ve got another campaign running in Greyhawk on Saturdays. It would be a bit unfortunate for the other … Continue reading Finishing off D&D 4E in style!

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Uncategorized

A Primer on Skills and Proficiencies in the new Dungeons & Dragons

Skills have seen a wide variety of approaches over the years. The earliest forms of D&D tended to only have formal mechanics for the functions of the thief, but the role of mechanisms for overcoming non-combat challenges have expanded since then. The current skill system is relatively pared down and uses a simple resolution system. D&D 5E uses the Ability Check as the basis of … Continue reading A Primer on Skills and Proficiencies in the new Dungeons & Dragons

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