After the TPK (Total Party Kill) in Death House, we started playing the full Curse of Strahd adventure. And, of course, things promptly got interesting. Curse in Strahd is an adventure where the players need to deal with a great threat – the vampire Strahd, ruler of Barovia – without initially having the tools to do so. There are a lot of people who think … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd, part 1
The latest D&D accessory from Gale Force 9 is the Tarokka deck: a deck of 54 black-and-white cards designed to use with the Curse of Strahd adventure. The cards are a standard Magic size and so are easily protected with deck sleeves. The art – as seen in many places around the web – is glorious. Unfortunately, the cards don’t really show the art in … Continue reading D&D Accessory Review: Tarokka Deck
A few weeks ago, I was listening to Jeff Greiner, Sam Dillon, Mike Shea and Wolfgang Baur discuss designing adventures for the DMs Guild on the Tome Show. One of the many interesting comments they made was that there was a need for very short side treks that could be dropped into campaigns. That was the starting point. I’ve been interested in writing and publishing … Continue reading Inspiration and Designing an Adventure
In which Merric demonstrates why he’s a Killer DM, and the players learn about horror. Continue reading Death House, session 3: Report and DM Notes
During the last season of the D&D Adventurers League, I created a set of first-level characters that I could give out to new players at conventions and store sessions when we didn’t have enough time to create a character for them. So, now it’s time to start creating another set of characters! This set will be slightly more advanced than the first set, and will be … Continue reading A Half-Elf Bard for Curse of Strahd
The fourth season of the D&D Adventurers League adventures has been approached in a different manner to the first three. In previous seasons, each adventure (mostly) stood alone, with only light links to previous instalments. This season, set in the Ravenloft setting, will be different. The intention is to tell one story over fourteen adventures. Each adventure could be played as a stand-alone, but they … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists
Our second session of Death House changed the nature of the horror the players faced: from somewhat disturbing to life-threatening! Continue reading Death House session 2: Report and DM Notes
Two tables at Guf Ballarat began playing through the new season of the D&D Adventurers League on Saturday – the other tables are yet to finish Princes of the Apocalypse, so we’re allowing them the time to do so. I was able to move people around a little bit, so for the first time in two years I don’t have Josh F and Danielle at … Continue reading Death House session 1: Report and DM Notes
It’s time for the fourth season of the D&D Adventurers League to begin. It’s title? Curse of Strahd. As in previous seasons, this is my article about the guidelines for creating a legal character to play in official D&D Adventurers League adventures. The naming conventions for those adventures has changed a little bit, but the same types of adventures are still available: Big multi-table Epics at conventions, … Continue reading Creating a Curse of Strahd Character
The newest season of D&D is upon us! Curse of Strahd, the first 5E adventure set in the land of Ravenloft, a dark gothic horror setting, will be released in select game stores on March 4th and more widely on March 15th. Many stores around the world will be running the Launch Event Death House, an introduction to the full adventure, which provides an adventure … Continue reading Entering the Death House
