When Dungeons & Dragons began, large parties of characters entered the dungeons. When AD&D came along, it was basically assumed that nine people would venture into the dungeon, in a 3 by 3 square. By the rules of the time, three men could stand abreast in a 10-foot corridor. Although D&D was inspired by miniature gaming, it quickly lost the miniatures and became what we … Continue reading Trends of Lowering Character Numbers
We ran this session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, February 12, 2024. The party began the session at the great crossroads at the heart of Gibbet Crossing, after killing the lone alpha grick that was there. Listening carefully, they heard rustling sounds to the west. My party is very much of the mind that you shouldn’t leave monsters to creep up on them, so … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 16
On Friday, February 16, 2024, our World of Greyhawk continued with the party exploring a lost temple of Xan Yae at the foot of the Ullspurs. By this stage, it was an underground structure, with indications that the worship of Xan Yae was once more than just as the Mistress of the Twilight. The exploration of the temple had begun with the players defeating bugbears … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk – The Lost Temple
We played this session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, February 6, 2024. The action continued through Chapter 6, and the exploration of the dwarven crypt sacred to Dumathoin’s clergy. The characters started this session looking at a blank wall. The players had worked out it would be opened when they pulled both levers at once, but let’s consider the wall. How out of place … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 15
We played our thirteenth session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, January 22, 2024. We were proceeding through Chapter 6. It was an unusual session. One of our players (Vel’rali) had lost his voice. So, he communicated to us throughout the session with posts on Roll20 chat while the rest of us talked on Skype. It worked surprisingly well. I will mention this here: I … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 13
We played this session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, January 15, 2024, the first session after a long break. Vel’rali was back, and Nymia’s player had chosen to create a new character – Killin, a NG earth genasi paladin (Oath of Ancients) following Mielikki. Syzoth and Jake the rogue henchman made up the rest of the group to rescue Simeon, Nymia, and the others. … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 12
On Friday, February 2, 2024, we got together to play the latest session of our World of Greyhawk campaign. Characters are around 10th level at this stage, and in the previous session, they’d obtained the Staff of Xan-Yae, which when taken to her holy shrine far to the west would allow the goddess to protect the Paynims against the great horde coming towards it. And, … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk: The Plains of the Paynims
We played our eleventh session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, December 18, 2023. During our last session, the group had fared very poorly in their first expedition into Zorzula’s Rest (part of Chapter 5). Simeon, the fighter of the group, had been captured. And for this session, one of our players couldn’t make it. I typically play Simeon as an NPC, so that just … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 11
We played our tenth session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, December 11, 2023. This was our first session comprised entirely of new material, as we continued through Chapter 5: Paths of Peril. The party had found a long tunnel leading away from Phandalin that some of the goblins had used to flee, but they quickly abandoned their idea of following the tunnel when I … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 10
In Dungeons & Dragons, there are dungeons. And in those dungeons are doors. Doors were tremendously important in Classic D&D (the term I’ll use to describe the original, B/X and AD&D versions of the game), and I have a few thoughts I’d like to share with you about them, and how you can use them well. The basic purpose of a door is to divide … Continue reading D&D Procedures: Doors
